more about the perfon of Chrift. Her heart now felt what it meant ; fhe was a witness that a foul that has drank of it shall thirst no more; it led her fo far, as to forget a little while her lawful business, that the might bring others to the Fountain of life, and let them alfo fee him and be faved. I fuppofe, when he went into the city, fhe told her people, Rejoice with me, for I have found the Lord; I have found the King of Ifrael, the Chrift, who fhould fave" his people from their fins; efpecially methinks I fee her telling the man with whom he had lived in adultery, O come with me, and as we have been fellow fervants of fin, let us fhare pardon together; I have met the Meffias that told me all that ever I did, and laid all my finful life open before me; he mentioned my guilt and fin with thee, and bid me call thee to him: come then, he has pardoned and washed me, he will do the fame for thee. I am fure the fame living water which gave her eternal life, washed away her fins, and quenched her lufts for ever. She could no more live as the had done, but now was invited to be the spouse and bride of the Lamb. To this day it is the fame; for as foon as any have found mercy, they can no longer love fin, but they bid an everlasting farewell to all: The very thoughts of their mif-fpent life, and of the pain Jefus has endured to expiate the guilt of it, the re membrance of his grief and tortures, makes them loath their pleasures, their company, and all their lying vanities. Oh, they think, we have done with you for ever; you pierced our dear master through; you have mingled him the direful cup of wormwood and gall; you have heaped many forrows on his heart and put him to grief; you have fet him at nought, reviled, and crucified our Beloved, and robbed us many days and years of real happiness; but now

we are faved, and delivered, and will go back no

more.

As foon as the woman came and told her people the glad tidings, many more came through her means, and when they had heard Jefus they alfo believed, and he stayed with them two days preaching his gofpel among them. Then they faid to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of thy word, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that he is indeed the Chrift, the Saviour of the world." Happy men! Happy fouls! who can fay this, We know the Chrift the Saviour of the world. This is life eternal: This is the greatest bleffing we can enjoy in this world. O that all here could fay with them, We know the Chrift! We know the Saviour of the world!

But the time forbids me to add more to these obfervations, I will go on to speak of the text, for what was spoken to the woman of Samaria is spoken to us and to our children, and we as well as the are eternally concerned. No doubt you must think the woman and her fellow-citizens happy to have had the Lord fo nigh to them, and to feel his eternal life, like a well, flowing up in their hearts; but then you may be happy along with them; the Lord will be as nigh to you, if you ask him, he will give you the living water.

The words naturally divide themselves into four parts, which I fhall fpeak of as they are fet down.

Firft, Our Saviour fays, "If thou kneweft the gift of God, then thou wouldeft afk of him." He means the gift of eternal life, and therefore calls it a gift, left the or we might be tempted to suppose it was bought, or deferved or merited by any thing we can give. It is elsewhere called the free gift; and the kingdom, the falvation, the grace, and mercy of God muft fo be preached in oppofition to all the falfe

notions in the world of being received and pardoned, or obtaining heaven by our obedience, fervice, or good works. God gave his only begotton Son. Jefus gave himself for us. He gives the living water. He gives it freely, and fells it without money or without price, and all whoever come to heaven or obtain falvation, muft be witneffes that it was given to them. This is neceffary to be known of all men, becaufe fome have fought to enter the straight gate, and have not been able; wherefore? because they fought it as it were by their works, and did not know the gift of God. But they who know it is free grace and a free gift, and are enlightened to fee their own unworthiness and unprofitablenefs, fuch, like poor vile beggars, come to Jefus, who is the door of mercy, and the very gate of heaven, and there they beg and are relieved. Our Saviour will have us feel and know we have done nothing but what would merit eternal judgment, left after he had vouchsafed us mercy we should think, by a fober life, by meritorious deeds to have deferved it, and fo we be found fpiritual thieves and robbers, who have rubbed the Son of God of his due praise and honor. It is well, therefore, that the holy Spirit gives us thoroughly to fee ourselves, and makes us groan under the weight of our mifdeeds, and excites in us a thirst for mercy, that to all eternity we may glorify the Lamb, who in our diftreffed and loft state gave us peace, and loved us freely.

But the fecond part of the text is, "If thou knewest who it is that faith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest then ask that gift of him, and he would give it thee."

Many fouls perish for want of knowing who Jefus is: They regard him only as a prophet, or as one of the higheft, or the greatest of the martyrs; or perhaps an angel, or one fomewhat beneath, or lefs than

B. 6

the

the Lord; and this is the most dangerous error in the world. Believe of him what you will, if you do not believe that he is the true God, and Lord, you will never be the better for him. It is this alone makes his humiliation and fufferings fo weighty and defireable, and brings the foul to truft in him. What is his obedience more than the obedience of Noah,, Job, or Daniel, if he be not God? Or what is his blood more than the blood of the martyrs, or the blood of bulls and goats, if he be not the Jehovah, the everlafting Son of the everlasting Father? If one jot or tittle of all the bible be true, then is he who talked with the woman of Samaria, and who fat down wearied with his journey upon Jacob's well, at Sychar, the Lord from heaven, the very and effential God. When this is once known, with what boldness can one venture upon his death, and with what confidence truft his blood, and adore and stand aftonished at that love wherewith he loved us; at that love which fo humbled him even to the death of the crofs, that he might fave us from death eternal, who were vile duft and afhes. This doctrine is as true as amazing and ftrange: the Creator and Lord of all did leave the bofom of his Father, and was made lower than the angels for the fuffering of death. So great was his love to finners, that he left heaven to feek and win them back to himfelf; fo great his pity, that rather than fee them fuffering the vengeance of eternal fire, he chofe to be a burnt offering, and bleed and die in our room and stead; therefore, faid he to the woman, " If thou knewest who fpeaketh with thee, thou wouldeft afk him," &c. O! had fhe known what an Almighty God fat by her, she would not have behaved fo coldly, the would have funk down before him, and faid, with greater wonder that when the thought a Jew would vouchfafe to speak with her, "How is it that the Lord

my

my God deigns to speak with me?" She must have broke out like her father Jacob, "How dreadful is this place! God is here, and I knew it not!" Or faid, "Lord, what am I, or what is my father's house, that thou fhouldeft fhew fuch mercy to thine handmaid!" Or had the known what a dear Saviour he was, how much he loved finners, how tender. and merciful, he would have prayed him, O Lord Jefus, doft thou afk water of me? Lo, heaven and earth are thine, and of thine own I will give thee joyfully, but I befeech thee give me better water, let me drink of that river which flows out of the throne, and makes glad the city of God, and he would certainly have given it to her; he would have faid as he did once to another poor woman, it to thee even as thou wilt ;" for, for that purpose was he come, and therefore "muft needs go through Samaria."

"Be

I may say the same to all you who hear me preach, if you knew who Jefus is, you would ask him, and he would help you. If you knew he was the Lord God Almighty, you would think then, why do I tarry any longer? what though my fins are red like. fcarlet, he can make them like wool, and though they are like crimson, he can make them like fnow. What horrid guilt, what curfed nature cannot he wash and make clean! If all the fins of the world were laid upon one foul, a fingle drop of his fweat, one precious drop of his blood, could make him in a moment fairer than an angel of God. Nor is he able or mighty to fave only, but he is willing. His mercy is as great as his majefty. When a certain leper in the days of his fleth prayed him, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean ;" he anfwered, "I will, and immediately his leprofy was cleansed:" and this he did for our fakes, that we may venture to come to the throne of grace boldly, and obtain mercy in the 8