sion of Christ ! It is now as it was eighteen hundred years ago. The dealings of Christ are still a marvel both to the Church and to the world.
If there was more real faith on the earth, there would be less surprise felt at the conversion of souls. If Chris- tians believed more, they would expect more, and if they understood Christ better, they would be less startled and astonished when He calls and saves the chief of sinners. We should consider nothing impossible, and regard no sinner as beyond the reach of the grace of God. The astonishment expressed at conversions is a proof of the weak faith and ignorance of these latter days. The thing that ought to fill us with surprise is the obstinate unbelief of the ungodly, and their determined perseverance in the way to ruin. This was the mind of Christ. It is written that He thanked the Father for conversions. But He mar- velled at unbelief. (Matt. xi. 25 ; Mark vi. 6.)
We see, secondly, in this passage, hoio absorbing is the influence of grace^ when it first comes into a believer's heart. We are told that after our Lord had told the woman He was the Messiah, " She left her water-pot and went her way into the city, and saith to the men. Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did." She had left her home for the express purpose of drawing water. She had carried a large vessel to the well, intend- ing to bring it back filled. But she found at the well a new heart, and new objects of interest. She became a new creature. Old things passed away. All things be- came new. At once everything else was forgotten for the time. She could think of nothing but the truths she had heard, and the Saviour she had found. In the fulness of her heart she "left her water-pot," and hastened away to express her feelings to others.
We see here the expulsive power of the grace of the Holy Ghost. Grace once introduced into the heart drives