in Canaan, or in any other country-he, he alone, is the genuine worshipper.' 66 Το 66 worship in spirit," is to worship spiritually; to worship in truth,” is to worship truly. They are not two different kinds of worship; they are two different aspects of the same worship: to worship spiritually, is in opposition to the performance of mere external rites, to give to God the homage of an enlightened mind, and an affectionate heart; to know, admire, esteem, love, trust, and submit to him; and to worship him truly, is either to worship him according to the truth—that is, in a manner suited to the revelation he has made of his character; or really, not merely in appearance, but in substance-not in pretension only, but in sincerity. Such-such alone-are the acceptable worshippers. The Father seeketh these for his worshippers. These are the worshippers 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 great characters were externality and typism, is about to close; the economy, whose great characters are spirituality and reality, is about to take place. 2 "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 his 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 1 Even under the former economy, such were alone acceptable worshippers, in the true sense of the word. Psal. i. 7-23. Isa. i. 11-20. Micah vi. G-8. Amos v. 21-24. * John iv. 24. 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?”1 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 the 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-sidedly-intellectual deists and pantheists, who have dreamed that they could incorporate it into their discordant system by their spiritual fetishism, 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 uncultivated people."" 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 the Messiah, who, on his coming, would restore all things-set all things to rights. "I 1 Morus' Dissertation "De Deo, spiritu ad popularem intelligentiam accommodate describendo" may be consulted with advantage.--Dissertt. Theolog. et Philolog., Vol. i., Diss. x., p. 328. 2 Neander. 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." 1 It seems probable that the expectation of the speedy appearance of the Messiah was general at this period among the Samaritans, 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." 2 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 1 John iv. 25. 2 Deut. xviii. 15. 3 John iv. 26. man to talk with a woman,1 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. 2 On arriving at the city, the woman invited her fellowcitizens to come along with her, and see a person who had discovered a perfect acquaintance with her history, and whom she had reason to think was really the long-promised Messiah :- Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ? "3 Struck with her statements, many of them accompanied her in her return to the well.4 Meanwhile our Lord's disciples, seeing their Master apparently absorbed in thought, urged him to partake of the provision they had brought. He replied to their friendly requests :-"I have 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: He who instructs his daughter in the law is like one that plays the fool.Talmud, Tr. Sota, f. 20. 2 John iv. 27. 5 John iv. 31. 3 John iv. 28, 29. 4 John iv. 30. 7 John iv. 33. "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 labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours." 1 '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 has just occurred, but also to the great success which had attended his labours, and those of his disciples, in Judea. 3 "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 shall obtain 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 laboured, and they had entered into their labours:" "I 1 John iv. 35-38. 2 John iv. 35. 3 John iv. 36. |