Volume II Part 7 (1/2)
Another effect resulting from the introduction of the Christian age concerned the _variety and number of wors.h.i.+ppers_. The limitations which had hitherto prevailed in communicating truth to the world were to be superseded; for, though the commissioned apostles were to deliver their message ”to the Jew _first_,” they were expressly directed to convey it ”_also_ to the Gentiles.” How calculated is this precedure to allay animosities and unite hearts! and what a motive is here presented to us to dismiss every petulant and revengeful disposition from the Christian sanctuary, remembering that whether Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, bond or free, every one is accepted of G.o.d _only as he is a_ SPIRITUAL WORs.h.i.+PPER!
As ”G.o.d is a spirit,” witnessing our movements and acquainted with our thoughts at all times and in every place, we should often consecrate our moments to his service. In the hour of seclusion and retirement, as well as on public occasions and in religious a.s.semblies, it becomes us to direct our meditations to him by whom we are encircled. Let us contemplate G.o.d, and feel his awful presence. He is on heaven and on earth; his eyes behold us amidst the shades of midnight as well as in the brightest noon of day; he pervades all s.p.a.ce, is in all time, above all creatures, before all being, and through all eternity. ”Canst thou by searching find out G.o.d? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?”
At the period of this conversation at Jacob's well, a very general expectation of the speedy appearance of the Messiah was prevalent, and the woman was aware of the reference in the words, ”The hour cometh, and _now is_, when the true wors.h.i.+ppers shall wors.h.i.+p the Father;” although at present ”her eyes were holden,” that she did not know him through the concealment of his mean attire and unstately solitariness. This, however, was wisely planned; and while it tended to cast contempt on worldly glory, it enabled him to become a fellow-sufferer with his people, and to cherish a holy familiarity with his disciples. Hence we find him not in palaces, but in cottages--on the highways of common resort--healing the sick at the pool of Bethesda, conversing with a poor woman at Jacob's well, and in other similar situations: and never shall we be worthy to bear his name till we imitate his conduct. ”The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.” This was the point to which all his discourse was directed, this the revelation he intended from the first to disclose; but how wisely was it delayed! Such an a.s.sertion at the commencement of the conversation would have kindled animosity or excited ridicule; but that mind which was originally so prejudiced and so resentful, is brought to receive the most glorious and spiritual discovery. If we wonder at her ignorance, and lament her prejudices previously to this declaration, how much more criminal would she have _now_ been had she persisted in unbelief! Yet, alas, how often is Christ proclaimed, all his glories revealed, and all his truth exhibited, by the ministry of the Gospel, and nevertheless rejected!
Upon Christ's explanation of his true character, the Samaritan woman immediately left her water-pot, and went into the city, to announce her discoveries to the neighbourhood, and invite her fellow citizens to the Messiah. Glowing with zeal for others, she said, ”Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” And the historian records the success of her efforts; for ”they went out of the city, and came unto him;” and ”many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him.” This induced them to solicit his continuance for some time amongst them, ”and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
Grat.i.tude becomes us in reflecting upon that diversity of means which divine wisdom uses to promote the circulation of his truth, and ”win souls to Christ.” The greatest beings are at his control, and are sometimes commissioned to visit the ”heirs of salvation”--”Bless the Lord, ye his _angels_, that excel in strength, _that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word_;” while on other occasions he employs the most unlikely agents, or the feeblest instrumentality, to ”do his pleasure.” He can from the very stones ”raise up children unto Abraham,” convert an infuriated persecutor into an ”apostle of the Gentiles,” or change a Samaritan into a Christian, an infidel Gentile into a child of Abraham by faith, and a woman coming casually to draw water for her household, into an instrument of dispensing the living streams of salvation to a peris.h.i.+ng vicinity.
The early part of the narrative before us, is sufficient to show, that however slow persons whom we have an opportunity of instructing in religious truth may seem in understanding, or however reluctant to obey it, we ought never either to despair of success, or be weary of repeating our instruction. ”I charge thee,” says Paul in addressing Timothy, ”before G.o.d and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.”
Who can tell the favoured period? Who can calculate the extent of the benefit conferred when one sinner is ”converted from the error of his ways?” And who would not rejoice at the thought of having his final hour cheered by the recollection of having been the means of letting in the light of an eternal day even upon an individual of the human race, who was once sitting in the darkness of spiritual delusion, and pining in the dungeon of guilt, and misery, and helplessness?
Many things in religion, which we at present misunderstand, may probably become intelligible in the course of future experience, and a great variety of interesting truths now unknown will certainly be revealed in another world. The woman of Samaria could not for a considerable time comprehend the metaphorical allusions of Christ; but when she had ”found the Messiah,” she was no longer at a loss to ascertain the signification of the stranger's a.s.surance, that he could have given her, had she requested it, ”living water.” The disclosure of one fact, ill.u.s.trated another, and in spiritual knowledge and attainment she went on doubtless with a rapidity proportioned to her extraordinary advantages.
With what deep interest, at every subsequent period of her life, would this woman recollect the conversation at Jacob's well! Never, surely, would she repair again to that spot, without presenting to her imagination the image of Jesus sitting there, like a weary traveller, asking for water to refresh his pilgrimage, incidentally adverting to topics of supreme importance, addressing her conscience, and gradually unveiling his character to her view--first as a prophet, then as the Messiah of the Jews, and the glory of the Gentiles! Never could she forget that wonderful morning--a morning which shone with such glory in the annals of her existence, and was destined to occupy a conspicuous place in the recollections of eternity! And it is our privilege, as well as duty, to remember the place of our spiritual birth, the instructer of our infant piety, the guide of our religious inquiries, and all ”the way in which the Lord our G.o.d has led us in the wilderness.” Experience will rivet our affections to every circ.u.mstance; life will derive a charm, in many of its future years, from such welcome reflections; and memory will not discard, amidst the ineffable joys of paradise, the well--the stranger--the converse--the whole scene of those first impressions, which ripened into religion and were the seeds of immortality.
In a sense more important than that in which the subject of this narrative originally employed the words, each reader may feel encouraged to address the Saviour, ”Give me this water, that I thirst not.” Holy prophets concur with the evangelical publishers of ”glad tidings,” in urging you to partake of the heavenly supply, which is dispensed with perfect freeness, and in undiminis.h.i.+ng abundance. ”Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
The Woman Who Was a Sinner.
Chapter V.
Jesus and John contrasted--the former goes to dine at the House of a Pharisee--a notorious Woman introduces herself, and weeps at his Feet--Remarks on true Repentance and Faith, as exemplified in her Conduct--Surmises of Simon the Pharisee--the Answer of Jesus--the Woman a.s.sured of Forgiveness--Instructions deducible from the Parable.
There was a remarkable dissimilarity between Christ and his celebrated precursor. The latter was unbending in his manners, austere in his mode of living, and abrupt in his public discourses: in fact, John was distinguished by all those qualities of a great reformer, which fitted him for the service a.s.signed him by Providence; zealous, eloquent, intrepid, inconsiderate of himself, and resolutely exposing the vices of those around him, to whom he pointed out ”a more excellent way.” The wildness of the wilderness seemed to accord with the singularity of his character; and the rocky standing from which he might probably often address his auditors, was well adapted to the design of his preaching, and the mode of his appearance. His Divine Master gave ample testimony to his excellence--”What went ye out for to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women, there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.”
But the character of the ”Son of man” differed in many respects from that of his forerunner. He was familiar, affable, and ready to a.s.sociate with others; he a.s.sumed no austerity of manners, and no reserve of behaviour.
The cast of his public preaching, too, was of a milder and more winning strain, suited to his character as the image of the G.o.d who is love, and adapted to the merciful nature of that dispensation which he came to introduce.
It was this diversity which excited the malignant revilings of the Jews, who said of John, ”he hath a devil;” and of Christ, ”Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners:” but the success of the means has fully justified the use of them, as the prescriptions of the physician are justified by the restoration of health to the diseased, and the mode adopted by the agriculturist in cultivating his soil is effectually vindicated by its fertility. G.o.d bestows upon his church a diversity of gifts, and upon men a variety of qualities, that different stations may be occupied to the best advantage, and his cause promoted in the most effectual manner. The formation of suitable instruments to accomplish his purposes, is one of those arrangements of Providence which we can never sufficiently admire. Whatever peculiarities exist, they are all made to concur to the same end, and are all regulated by the same influence: the ”gifts” and the ”operations” are diverse, but ”it is the same G.o.d which worketh all in all.”
Happily for mankind, there was a sense in which a part of the accusation preferred against Jesus Christ held true. He was indeed ”a friend of publicans and sinners”--if he had not been, what would have been the situation of a Matthew, whom he called from the receipt of custom to ”follow him;” or of a Zaccheus, whom he addressed in the sycamore tree, and to whose house he ”that day” conveyed ”salvation;” or of a Bartimeus, ”blind and sitting by the highway-side, begging,” whose eyes he opened, and to whose mind he imparted faith? If he had not been a ”friend of publicans and sinners” the songs of descending spirits would never have charmed the shepherds of Bethlehem--a church would never have been formed on earth and ultimately taken to heaven--the mansions of eternity would never have been peopled by the children of transgression--the hymns of human grat.i.tude would never have mingled with the hallelujahs of the blessed--nor would the sacred writings have contained such a history as that before us of the penitent sinner.
It is introduced by an account of one of the Pharisees having solicited the company of Jesus to dinner, and of his having accepted his invitation.
The Pharisees were amongst his bitterest enemies, and yet here is one who courteously introduces him into his house. He might have been affected by his discourses or miracles; and it is pleasing to recollect, that divine grace is not limited in its operations to one community, cla.s.s, or age, but peoples the heavenly world by the redemption of sinners of every rank in life, every period of time, every degree of moral corruption, and every nation of the globe.
Our Saviour's visit to the Pharisee is related for the sake of the incident and discourse with which it was connected, and which are given in the following words: Behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman, ”Thy faith hath saved thee: go in peace.”
The woman is denominated a _sinner_, because incontinency was her trade and the means of her subsistence. Her character is branded with merited infamy, but her name is mercifully veiled. She was notorious in the city; and one would have imagined that as it could be no defamation to name her, the sacred historian need not have manifested any scrupulousness upon the point; nevertheless, as justice did not require it, and as it was the writer's purpose rather to record her penitence than to expose her crimes, she is mentioned only in general terms, as _a sinner, a woman in the city._
What compa.s.sionate mind can help deploring the immoralities of populous towns and crowded cities! What an ill.u.s.tration of human depravity does it afford, that wherever mankind resort in great mult.i.tudes, vice is proportionably varied in its nature, atrocious in its character, and barefaced in its practice--as if it were thought that the numbers who perpetrated wickedness, tended to conceal from the view of Omniscience individual delinquency! It is common to acquire boldness by a.s.sociation; and society, which ought rather to purify the mind, is often the means of its pollution. The facilities for secrecy in sin which exist in considerable places, the incalculable variety of forms in which temptation appears, the force of example operating upon an extensive scale, and enhanced by a thousand tributary streams that pour into the tide of transgression flowing down the streets, concur to involve the inhabitants of populous vicinities in circ.u.mstances of great moral danger. Apart from all persuasion or direct influence, the very sight of immoralities is liable to injure that delicate sensibility to wrong which it is of the utmost importance to preserve in a pure and uncontaminated state. The nicely polished mind is susceptible of the breath of impurity; and when it once becomes dim and obscure in its perceptions, it is difficult to restore it. Many have on this account withdrawn into retirement, supposing that they should be able to secure that leisure for devotional exercises which they have believed conducive to religious eminence. But they have forgotten that the human heart is sown with unholy principles, which will spring up in solitude as well as in society; that in avoiding dissipation, they are liable to be narrowed into selfishness; and that the honourable and heroic part which Christianity requires, is not to fly from difficulties, but, ”in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,” to contend with, and conquer them.
In the woman whose brief but instructive history is to be reviewed, we see indications of a ”repentance that needeth not to be repented of.” It is to be traced, in the first place, in the _posture_ she a.s.sumed, and the _tears_ she shed. When she found that Jesus was dining in the house of Simon, she went and ”stood at his feet behind him weeping.” She who had known no shame, but whose unblus.h.i.+ng impudence and obtrusive familiarities had so often scandalized the city, now avoids a look, shrinks even from respectful notice, and is overwhelmed with a consciousness of guilt.
This conduct bespeaks the most pungent and unaffected sorrow. Her sins present themselves in array before her mind, and she ”abhors herself, and repents in dust and ashes.” Though all around was festivity, her heart was sad--she wept as in secret; and those eloquent tears bespoke the Saviour's pity, in a manner more powerful than the most studied language could have done! Those tears were precious in his sight--that silence expressed the depth and sincerity of her grief--and he approved it!
With what pleasure must holy angels have contemplated from their radiant spheres this impressive scene; for ”there is joy in the presence of the angels of G.o.d over one sinner that repenteth!” The gayeties of life, and the appearances of worldly grandeur, excite no satisfaction in them; they are not attracted by those tinsel shows and glittering nonent.i.ties which fill the circle of human vanity, and fire the ardent wishes of mankind; the most splendid t.i.tles, the most opulent condition, the most celebrated heroes, pa.s.s before them like shadows that haste away, unregretted and in quick succession; but they bend from their thrones of light to witness the sorrows of the meanest penitent, and listen to his secret moanings.