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VIII.

The Woman of Samaria.

As Jesus returned to Galilee he must needs pass through the land of Samaria. And he cometh to the city of Samaria which was called Sychar, or Shechem. Now Jacob's Well was there. While the disciples went into the city to buy food, Jesus, wearied with his journey, sat upon the well. It was the sixth hour, or meridian; and beneath the shade of the trees which were planted there, he sought rest and refreshment. Gerizim looked down upon him on the one side, and Ebal on the other: Gerizim, fruitful and smiling as the seat of God's blessing; Ebal, frowning in barrenness, as the land which the Lord hath cursed. For upon these mountains the tribes stood, by the command of Moses,-six upon Gerizim to bless, and six upon Ebal to curse the people, as they observed the law which God gave by Moses, or disobeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and walked not in His law which He set before them. On the spot where was pronounced the sanction of the law which came by Moses, rested Him by whom came grace and truth. In the valley where the people, trembling, said Amen to the cursings which the Levites denounced against disobedience, and where their

happier voices responded to the blessings promised to the faithful, He who is "The End of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth," waited the coming of her to whom he would first explicitly declare himself.

The tomb of Joseph is among the sepulchres of Shechem. Eleazor and Joshua rest there. All the local attachments of the Samaritans were sacred, in this their stronghold; for upon Gerizim they had built their temple. It was the centre of the national prejudices, which Jesus came to remove, when he should draw all men unto him. And as he sat upon the well, there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, " If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." The woman saith unto him, "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep, from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?" Jesus answered and said unto her, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life."

Not the least interesting point in this conversation was

the attention with which the Samaritan woman listened to the Redeemer. At first she would have repulsed him. But so benign was his presence, that in a few moments she was wrapt in the words which fell from his lips. Even what he said of the well was received without anger, though it was Jacob's Well. The waters, to the Jew and to the Samaritan, were the fittest emblem of the highest earthly good. The well was digged by Jacob; antiquity consecrated its value, successive generations had testified to its excellence, and the ready answer to any who seemed to doubt, was, "Art thou greater than our father Jacob?" And it will be observed that our Saviour did not degrade the Well of Sychar by comparison with any earthly standard. He says of it only what may be said of all draughts of terrestrial happiness: "Whosoever shall drink of this shall thirst again." Jacob digged this well, and drank of it, himself, his children and his cattle. Whatever purely sensual joy we covet or possess, is shared in common with irrational creatures. Patriarch and potentate, prince, and, what is a higher title than all, Christian, in the mere joys of time and sense, are in the same condition with the beasts that perish, if indeed the latter, in the gratification of animal wants, are not our superiors in enjoyment.

But He who brought life and immortality to light, shows man a higher destiny:-"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst."

The woman of Samaria pressed Jesus for this water; but in such a mode as showed that she had no apprecia

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looked for an earthly But when the Saviour

tion of its character-that she benefit and advantage from it. convinced her, by his knowledge of whatsoever she did, that he was a prophet, she left the subject of conversation, and like many others, instead of seeking direction for her individual conduct, proposed to him mooted points of dispute between her own nation and the Jews. "Our fathers," she said, "worshipped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.' When she had brought out the people of the city to him, we may presume that they offered the like questions. We read of no miracles which he performed. here. It was the Word spoken in power. We discover no flattery of their self-righteousness, for what he said to the woman he doubtless said to all, "Ye know not what ye worship ;"-no courting of their national vanity, for he declared, "Salvation is of the Jews;"-no blindness to their transgressions, for he charged upon them "whatsoever they did." The multitudes who came out to him were drawn by none of the popular charms which delight the ear, and please the vanity for an hour, to be presently forgotten. The words of the Great Teacher unquestionably were unpalatable to the minds of the Samaritans, as the truth always is to those who build upon their own. righteousness. And that the seed sown in Samaria bore much fruit, we have evidence in the readiness with which these people afterward received the Apostle's testimony of the risen Saviour.

To this woman Jesus declared the spiritual nature of his

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kingdom; that God is a Spirit, and seeketh those who worship in spirit and in truth. To her he announced himself in distinct terms as the Messiah. To her he declared that the hour is come when the true worshipper shall worship the Father neither in this mountain exclusively, nor in that Temple. He sent her to her friends a willing herald of the Christ, the Messiah who should come into the world. Those to whom she spake believed on him for the saying of the woman, but many more, as they professed and declared, because of his own word: We have heard him. ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ. enemies of Israel, and waylayers of the Jews who passed through their country, accepted a Jew as their prophet, and besought Jesus to tarry with them, while even the disciples marvelled. Thus doth Christian charity, the very bond of perfectness, and the inspiration of Him who is no respecter of persons, disarm enmity and conquer prejudice. Such was his meat, to do the will of the Father in heaven, and to finish His work, which the disciples, in their imperfection, yet knew not of: such will be the support of all men, when all, from the least unto the greatest, shall know Him whose office is Mediator-whose law is love.

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