Father seeketh these for his worshippers." These are the wor shippers whom he acknowledges. The worshipper at Jerusalem, without this, will not be accepted. The worshipper at Gerizim, with this, will not be rejected. The economy, whose grent characters were externality and typism, is about to close; the economy, whose great characters are spirituality and reality, is about to take place. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."" The Father seeketh those who worship in spirit and truth as his worshippers. They are the objects of his choice and preference; and the reason is plain-he himself is spiritual" God is a Spirit." These words are equivalent to"God is a living, intelligent, active being.' And, from is nature as God, he must possess all those attributes in the greatest possible, or rather, in an infinite, measure. He is the author and fountain of life; he knows everything, and is infinitely wise; he is the great original power in the universe," who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will;" "who doth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth;" whose arm none can stay, and to whom none dares say, "what doest thou?" Worship, to be acceptable to him, must be suited to his nature. It must be spiritual; it must be the worship of man as an intelligent being the worship of the mind and of the heart; it must be true worship, not false, like that of the idolater; not merely external and apparent, like that of the formal ceremonialist; not insincere, like that of the hypocrite. "How has the lofty truth, the world-historical import of this saying of Christ, been lost sight of by those who have taken it as an isolated expression, apart from its connection with christian theism, and with the whole divine process for the development of christian life; by those abstract, naked, one-sidedlyintellectual deists and pantheists, who have dreamed that they could incorporate it into their discordant system by their spiritual fetichism, which substitutes the deification of an idea for the spiritual, truthful, adoration of God as a Spirit. The aristocracy of education, the one-sided intellectualism of the ancient world, was uprooted by Christ when he uttered this great truth to an uneducated woman, who belonged to an ignorant and uncaltivated people." 1746 These sublime truths, to which nothing comparable is to be found in the writings of the most accomplished of the heathen sages, were, no doubt, but imperfectly understood by the Samaritan woman. She was probably mortified at his determining the question so decidedly against her country; and though she does not contradict him, she refers the settlement of the controversy to 43 Even under the former economy, such alone were acceptable worshippers in the true sense of the word. Psal. I. 7-23. Isa. i. 11-20. Micah vi. 6-8. Amos V. 21-24. "John iv. 24. 45 Morus' Dissertation "De Deo, Spiritu, ad popularem intelligentiam accom modate describendo" may be consulted with advantage.-Dissertt. Theolog. et Phi lolog., Vol. i., Diss. x., p. 328. 46 Neander. the Messiah, who, on his coming, would "restore all things"-set all things to rights. "I know," said she, "that the Messiah cometh," or is coming; (the words, "who is called Christ," form an explanatory note of the Evangelist, showing that the Gospel was originally published among those who did not understand Hebrew ;) "when he is come, he will tell us all things.' 9747 It seems probable that the expectation of the speedy appear. ance of the Messiah was general at this period among the Samar itans, as well as the Jews. The former do not seem to have mingled the political element with their expectations; and anticipated in him a teacher as well as a deliverer. That expectation, probably, was founded on the oracle: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken."48 Our Lord, with infinite condescension and kindness, revealed his true character to this poor woman, and assured her that He was the Messiah, whose coming she was expecting, and that this was the instruction which was to be expected from him :-"I that speak unto thee am he."" Our Lord was very cautious of owning, in so many words, his Messiahship among the Jews, for two reasons-they were ready, either to stir up insurrection, and take him by force, and make him their leader, or to accuse him to the Roman government as a seditious person. There was no such hazard here. The Samaritan woman believed our Lord's declaration, and, we can have no doubt, asked and obtained the living water; but, impatient to impart intelligence so important and so delightful to her fellow-citizens, "she left her pitcher, and ran back into the city." Just about this time his disciples returned with the provisions they had obtained; and though they were amazed that their Master should have entered into familiar conversation with a Samaritan woman, being under the influence of their national prejudice, which held it unworthy of a wise man to talk with a woman," and unfit for a Jew to be familiar with a Samaritan, yet such was their reverence for him, that they did not presume to make any remark on his conduct." On arriving at the city, the woman invited her fellow-citizens to come along with her, and see a person who had discovered a perfect acquaintance with her history, and who, she had reason to think, was the long-promised Messiah:-"Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?'"""" Struck with her statements, many of them accompanied her in her return to the well." Meanwhile our Lord's disciples, seeing their Master apparently absorbed in thought, urged him to partake of the provisions they had brought." He replied to their friendly requests:-"I have 48 Deut. xviii. 15. 49 John iv. 26. 47 John iv. 25. "He who instructs his daughter in the law is like one that plays the fool."-Talmud, Tr. Sota, f. 20. of John iv. 27. * John iv. 28, 29. 63 John iv. 30. 54 John iv. 31. meat to eat that ye know not of." Our Lord's meaning plainly is, 'Something of which you are ignorant has occurred, which has delighted and invigorated me, so as that I have no appetite for natural food.' His disciples, though even already they must have been in some measure accustomed to his enigmatical form of speech, understood him literally, and supposed that, in their absence, some person might have furnished him with food." To remove their misapprehension, our Lord subjoins:-"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work;" that is, the work he has entrusted me with. In performing the great work committed to me, I find more pleasure than even in my necessary food; success in that, is, in my apprehension, the richest feast.' At this moment, the multitude of Samaritans appear to have been seen leaving the city, and coming towards them. On perceiving them, our Lord thus addressed the disciples: แ "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, one soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors." 1957 'It is a common saying among you, When the seed is cast into the ground, in four months we shall have harvest; but lift up your eyes, and say, if, though we have but commenced sowing, it be not harvest already; are not this people really a people prepared for the Lord ?" It is likely our Lord refers here not only to what had just occurred, but also to the great success which had attended his labors, and those of his disciples, in Judea. "And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together," q. d., 'This is a work in which it is indeed a privilege to be engaged.' "The reaper," that is, the person who succeeds in converting men to the faith of Christ, "he receiveth wages," he obtains a glorious reward; and "the fruit he gathers shall be to life eternal." This either refers to his reward being an eternal one, or rather, denotes that those who are converted by his means, the fruits of his ministry, shall be saved everlastingly; so that the sower, he who used means for their salvation, and did not see their complete success, and he that reapeth-that is, who has been the means of their conversion-may, in their everlasting salvation, find a common enjoyment. The proverb, "one soweth, and another reapeth," was fulfilled in the case of our Lord's disciples-other men had labored, and they had entered into their labors: "I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men labored, and ye are 55 John iv. 32. 58 John iv. 35. 66 John iv. 33, ST John iv. 35-38. 1960 entered into their labors." It was owing to John's preliminary labors that their preaching had been so successful. This was, very likely, said by our Lord, to repress the vanity of his disci ples, who might be flattered by the great multitudes that in Judea had been induced to submit to baptism. Some interpreters have supposed that these words are prophetic, and refer to what took place when his disciples entered into his labors, as well as those of John the Baptist, and the ancient prophets, thus including the abundant harvest of vast multitudes, both of Jews and Samaritans. Many of the Samaritans were induced, by the report of their towns-woman, to believe in Christ Jesus as the Messiah; which almost necessarily leads us to the conclusion, that, in so short a narrative, many circumstances which took place must have been omitted. These converts, on coming to our Lord, earnestly requested him to remain with them some time." With this request our Lord graciously complied, and continued with them two days. These two days were no doubt busily employed by him, in instructing them in the word of the kingdom. Whether he performed any miracles here we cannot certainly say; there being no mention of them is not certain evidence that they were not wrought. At any rate, by means of his discourses, a great number of additional disciples were gained to his cause. The "creed," or profession of faith of the Samaritans, deserves notice:-"We know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. They seem to have been freer from prejudice as to the design of the Messiah's mission than the Jews. This may have arisen from the principal prediction of the Messiah, recognized by them, distinctly stating, "That to him should the gathering of the peoples be." The passage we have been considering is replete with practical instruction. Let us be grateful that we live under the spiritual dispensation; let us improve our privileges; let us recollect that they bring with them a heavy responsibility, and that a carnal, nominal, hypocritical professor of Christianity will be punished much more severely than a carnal, nominal, hypocritical Jew or Samaritan. Let ministers and others engaged in cultivating the spiritual harvest beware of becoming "weary in well-doing;" "in due season they shall reap if they faint not." Let them imbibe the spirit, and imitate the conduct, of their Lord and Master. And let all seek to know, not only from the testimony of others, but from their own experience, that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the divinely-commissioned and qualified Saviour of the world. It is only as the Saviour of the world that any of us can ever have access to him as our own Saviour. But if we do not through faith receive him as our own Saviour, it will avail only to our deeper condemnation that he was made known to us-it may be acknowledged by us, as the Saviour of the world. 6 John iv. 37, 38. 61 John iv. 39-41. 62 John iv. 42. 68 Gen. xlix. 10. EXPOSITION III. OUR LORD'S DEFENCE OF HIS WORKING MIRACLES ON THE SABBATH-DAY. JOHN V. 17-47. To understand aright the very interesting passage which has now been read, it is of importance that we keep steadily in view who it is that makes these statements, and what were the circumstances in which he was placed when he made them. The speaker is Jesus Christ, the incarnate Only-begotten of God; the divine, and the divinely-appointed and qualified, Saviour of men; "the Word, who was in the beginning, who was with God, who was God;" who had become "flesh, and dwelt among men, full of grace and truth," possessing and displaying, amid all the weakness of the nature he assumed, and the debasement and suffering of the state to which he submitted, a glory peculiar to himself "the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father." If this be not steadily kept in view, many of the statements contained in this discourse will be unintelligible, and apparently inconsistent. The circumstances in which this illustrious speaker was placed when he uttered this discourse, must also be attended to, if we would rightly understand it. On the Sabbath-day, the day appropriated by Divine command to cessation from labor, Jesus Christ had miraculously cured a man who had labored for thirtyeight years under a paralytic affection; and had commanded him, as an evidence of the completeness of his cure, to take up the bed on which he lay, and carry it. On this account, he was charged by the Jewish rulers with the violation of the rest of the Sabbath, which, under that economy, was not only, in a religious point of view, a sin, but, in a civil point of view, a crime, exposing him who was guilty of it to the punishment of death. This was a charge repeatedly brought against our Lord by his enemies; and his ordinary mode of meeting it was by pleading the character of the works which he performed. They were acts of mercy and it was admitted, even by themselves, that the law of the Sabbath was not violated by such acts, however laborious and troublesome. Of this mode of vindication we have various instances:-" And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on 1 John i. 1, 14, 16, 18. |