NOTE ON CHRIST AS A CONVERSATIONALIST.--Christ as a preacher has been studied; Christ as a conversationalist is quite as worthy the Christian’s study. Many of his so-called discourses were simply conversations; this is notably the case with the discourse to Nicodemus (ch. 3:1-21) and the discourse here to the woman of Samaria. Observe, I. _The contrast._ In the first the conversation is with a religious teacher, of honorable position, of unexceptionable life; in the second, with an abandoned woman, of licentious life; in the first, conversation with Christ is sought, in the second, repelled; in the first, Christ impresses the truth that the moralist must be born again, and without personal trust in a personal Saviour is condemned; in the second, he impresses upon the outcast the truth that for the lost there is new life in him; the first he discourages, the second encourages; to the first he proclaims duty, to the second he preaches deliverance. II. _The harmony._ Both are skeptical; both receive his declaration with scoffs; both invite argument; with both Christ refuses to argue; to both he simply proclaims the truth, but without strife or debate; with both he conquers cavilling by patience, not by argument. III. _Christ’s method._ (_a._) Though wearied, he does not neglect the occasion and opportunity afforded to him. (_b._) He commences the conversation by a natural request. (_c._) He opens the woman’s heart by requesting from her a favor. (_d._) He passes, by a natural transition, from the physical to the spiritual world, from nature to the truth which nature typifies. (_e._) He presents to her not ethical, but spiritual truth; not the simple moralities, but the deep things of the Gospel. (_f._) Her badinage does not affront him, nor does he reprove her for it, or indicate surprise, astonishment, or even objection. (_g._) He answers it by a direct and unanswerable appeal to her conscience, by convicting her of sin. (_h._) In this, while his rebuke is sharp, his language is courteous, the language of commendation clothing condemnation. (_i._) Having once awakened her conscience, he does not pursue the rebuke; leaving conscience to do its work, he suffers her to change the subject. (_j._) He answers her theological question not by direct response, but by asserting a principle of worship which lifts the soul above all controversies respecting forms and methods of worship. (_k._) Finally, he makes his first and fullest disclosure of his Messiahship to this Samaritan woman, showing himself most a Saviour to her who most needs his salvation. IV. _His example._ It illustrates the enthusiasm (Rom. 10:1; Col. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2), the skill (Prov. 11:30), the patience (2 Tim. 2:24; 1 Thess. 2:7), and the spirituality (1 Cor. 2:13, 14) needed for the most efficient, direct, personal work of soul-saving. * * * * *