m explicitly to say, "I that speak unto
thee am the Messiah."

To this unfortunate and ill-living alien woman, then, Jesus declared
Himself as He had not declared Himself to the well-to-do, respectable
Jewish rabbis. The reason of this difference in our Lord's treatment of
individuals arises from the different dispositions they manifest.
Acknowledgment of His power to work miracles may seem at first sight as
good a certificate for Christian discipleship as acknowledgment of His
prophetic power. But it is not so; because such an acknowledgment of His
prophetic insight as this woman made is an acknowledgment of His power
over the human heart and life. He who is thus felt to penetrate to the
hidden acts, and to lay His hand upon the deepest secrets of the heart,
is recognised as in a personal connection with the individual; and this
is the foundation on which Christ can build, this is the beginning of
that vital connection with Him which gives newness of life. Those who
are merely solving a problem when they are considering the claims of
Christ, are not likely to have any personal revelation made to them. But
to every one, who, like this woman, shows some desire to receive His
gifts, and who is not above owning that life is a very poor affair
without some such thing as He offers; to every one who is conscious of
sin, and who looks to Him as able to deliver from all its foul
entanglement, He does make Himself known. To such persons He will
disclose Himself when He sees that they are ripe for the disclosure. To
such the moment of moments will come, when to them He will say: "I that
speak unto thee am He."

This distinction between the chemist who analyses the living water, and
the thirsting soul that uses it, runs very deep, and may be commended
to the consideration of any who are apt to be carried away by the
current of unbelief that characterizes much of our literature. I think
it may be said that in writers distinguished by a lack of Christian
belief there will commonly be found an absence of what is popularly and
fitly called "an awakened conscience." It will be found that they do not
know what it is to look at Christ from the point of view of this woman,
from the point of view of a shattered and wretched life, and a
conscience that day by day is saying, It is I myself who have broken my
life, and doing so I have become a transgressor, and need pardon,
guidance, strength. Acute thought, an admirable faculty of explainin