The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1904-02-19

lt,tk97szzxee.$37l172sezEs which the jews
avoid ed Jesus
must needs pass through" that He
might emphasize the blessed fact that
there is no place so poor and despised
and forsaken but that He seeks op-
portunity to visit it. The people with
whom the Jews had no dealings what
ever Jesus must come into heart-to-
heart touch with, that He might reveal
His worldwide mission, and teach that
GOD is no respecter of persons" but
would have all men to be saved, and
come to the knowledge of the truth"
Samaria gives to US one of the rare
gems of the Gospel, and this story of
Jesus two-days' sojourn there has not
ceased to flash forth its lesson. Jesus
tact in dealing with human souls has
proved a perpetual textbook on soul
winning to the Christian worker. The
woman in her great need $50 great that
she knew no need) coming in touch
with the gentle but strong. tender but
heart-searching Christ, and having the
heart thirst which He created satisfied
with the Living Water which He Of
fered her, has never ceased in her min
1stry of encouragement and hope to
are many, many lessons to be learned
from this two-days' mission to Samaria,
there are many, many golden sheafs of
thought to be garnered, but it is not of
the woman or of Jesus wonderful dis
course with her at the well which we
want to consider. Our text tells us of
others in that Samaritan village who
came to know Jesus and who drank deep
at the well of salvation. What may
they teach us of the way of salvation?
TWO references are made to their
faith. First in the thirty-ninth
verse, where it is stated that many
of the Samaritans believed on Him
(Jesus) because of the word of the wo-
man." and again in the forty-first and
forty-secOnd verses where We are told
that many more believed because of His
(JesusO word; and they said to the wo-
man: Now we believe, not because of
thy speaking: for we have heard for
ourselves, and know that this is indeed
the Saviour of the world Two kinds
of ffaith, marking two distinct periods il
the experience of these Samaritans
Many believed because of the testimony
of the woman, that is, they believed in
the fact of the Christ. They accepted
her testimony as being reasonable and
trustworthy, and believed that the prom
Ised Messiah had come. 1t was a faith
of the head, rather than that of the heart
The second experience and the deeper
and larger faith came with the personal
contact with the Christ. The first was
a faith which heard of the Christ, the
second was a faith which heard the
Christ Himself and laid hold of Him as
personal possession These Samaritans
heard of Jesus" and believed on Him,
but when they heard Jesus" and had
come into personal contact with Him,
they believed on Him to the salvation of
their souls. These two experiences are
characteristic, and mark exactly the two
kinds of faith there are in the world to-
day. The faith of the head, which is a
good beginning, but is not enough, and
the faith of the heart, which is the saw
ing faith, for with the heart man be-
lieveth unto righteousness" That we
are warranted in making a clear and
marked distinction between the faith
which came with the wOman's testimony
and the faith which came when they re-
eeived and heard Jesus is plain from the
declaration of the Samaritans that they
knew that He was the Saviour of the
world, because they had heard Him for
themselves. There is danger in confus-
ing these two kinds of faith, and great
peril may come to the soul as a conse-
Quence. For this reason we feel it i'm
portant to study carefully, and prayer
fully, this matter.
EIRST, they heard of Jesus, and it is
j said of them that they believed
on Him" This type of faith is COM
mon in the world to-day. PROBABLY nine |
out of every ten persons to whom you |
might put the question would declare |
that they believed in Christ. They |
might even be indignant and quickly re- |
tort: ''Of course l do! Do you take me |
for heathen!" But in the majority OF |
cases the belief would be one of the head;
the acceptance of the historic fact of the |
Christ, without the heart feeling the new |
life throb from contact with that Christ. |
This nation and the great nations of Eu- |
rope are what are called Christian ma |
tions, and the fact of the Christ is gener- !
ally known and believed in. In fact, |
Jesus is in much favor in a certain |
patronising way with many classes and |
sects and ismites, who profess to be /
charmed by His life and ruled by His |