had actually complied with this command11 ; and had thereby sanctified that mountain in a more especial manner, and marked it out as the place which God had chosen for his more peculiar worship in all future ages.
But, in answer to all this, our Lord informed her, that the Samaritans " knew not whom they wor- shipped." Though they occupied the land of Israel, they were not Israelites, but foreigners, whom the king of Assyria had sent to occupy the land, when he carried captive the ten tribes of Israel6. Nor did they, in reality, know the true God : for it was only in consequence of the judgments which God had in- flicted on them for their idolatries, by sending lions to devour them, that they had ever thought of wor- shipping him at all. To avert his displeasure, they had desired that a Jewish priest might be sent back to the land, to instruct them how to worship Jehovah; but, at the same time, they retained their own idola- tries ; thus " fearing the Lord, and serving other Godsf." The Jews, on the contrary, worshipped Je- hovah alone ; (for never after the Babylonish captivity did they return to idolatry ;) and they possessed that revelation of God's will, through the knowledge of which alone any human being could be saved : " Ye worship ye know not what : zoe know what we wor- ship ; for salvation is of the Jews."
Thus was the controversy determined in favour of the Jews. But that being no longer of any conse- quence to the Church, we forbear to notice it any- further ; and shall fix our attention on that general declaration, which is still of as great importance as ever, that " salvation is of the Jews."
It is of them originally, as derived from them ; and it is of them instrumentality, as communicated alto- gether by them.
I. It is of the Jews, as being originally derived from them —
The way of salvation has been one and the same,
11 Josh. viii. 33, 34. « 2 Kings xvii. 24.
f 2 Kings xvii. 25 — 27.