John iv. 29. Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
LITTLE do we know what a day or an hour may bring forth. It was probably owing to an unexpected temptation that this Samaritan woman fell into the sin which led to that vicious and abandoned course which she afterwards pursued. And to what the world in general would call a most accidental cir- cumstance, she was indebted for the salvation of her soul. It happened, as we say, that the Lord Jesus Christ came to relieve his weariness and thirst at Jacob's well, whither she also had come to draw water. There, contrary to what might have been expected, the Saviour entered into conversation with her, and brought conviction to her mind, and revealed himself to her as the promised Messiah; and made her, who had been an occasion of evil to many, to become to many the means of their salvation: for, on being interrupted in her conversation by his Disciples, who had gone into the adjacent city to purchase food, she herself went into the city, and said to all whom she met, " Come, and see a man who told me all things that ever I did ! Is not this the Christ?"
In considering this address of hers to her fellow- citizens, I shall take occasion to shew,
I. The power of God's word to produce conviction — Our Lord had told her what were undoubtedly the most remarkable occurrences of her life, that " she had had five husbands, and that the man with whom she was now living was not her husband." This brought all her former life so strongly to her recol- lection, that it seemed as if he had " told her all things that she had ever done." And this is no uncommon effect of God's word upon the mind and conscience; as St. Paul has told us: " If all in a Church prophesy, (that is, preach,) and there come