ing compassion and melting tenderness of heart for poor sinners, such his ability and willingness to save, that he will no more cast you out, than deny his own existence. Precious Jesus! set us as a seal upon thine heart, and by thy Spirit, seal thyself upon our hearts; and give us, unworthy though we are, a place among "them which are sealed."

CHAPTER VII.

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.

JESUS THE TRUE GOD, AND HIS WORK ALL-SUFFICIENT.

"He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself." 1 John v. 10.

WE have now regarded the work of the Spirit in some of its solemn and important aspects. We have considered his quickening, indwelling sanctifying, and sealing offices; and the spiritual eye will not have failed to discover the intimate and beautiful relation of each of these separate parts of his work to the others, and of all of them to the perfection and symmetry of his work as a whole. One important point at least must have been established in the mind, and that is, the equality of the personal glory of the Spirit with the first and second persons of the adorable Trinity. The work ascribed to him in the preceding pages, and proved from Scripture especially to belong to him, can only be predicated of the Divine Being. On this essential doctrine of Divine truth, we cannot too frequently nor too strongly insist. And, with regard to our real belief in it, we cannot institute too rigid an examination. It is to be feared that the principles of many professing Christians touching this point need sifting. We profess We profess a belief in his distinct personality in the Godhead,—do we worship him as such? We acknowledge his supreme divinity, do we ( 190 )

render to him Divine honour, by reposing in him our faith, hope, and love? We admit as an article of our creed, that he sustains an equal part in our salvation with the Father and the Son,-do we render to him equal praise and glory? Touching these important points, may there not exist a painful want of harmony between our professed belief and its corresponding practice? And we would, with all lowliness, suggest the consideration, -may not the small measure of the anointing, sanctifying, and sealing influence of the Spirit, which many professors appear to possess, be mainly attributed, as a cause, to the low views they entertain of the personal dignity of the Spirit? Can any believer expect a growth of spirituality, an increase of vital godliness in his soul, while he secretly, and it may be unsuspectingly, cherishes opinions derogatory of the personal glory of the Holy Ghost? Never! His gracious and all-important work is inseparably connected with the glory of his person. His deity imparts to it its efficacy,—and his personality, its adaptation to our peculiar circumstances. And never may we look for the unction that anoints, for the light that instructs, for the seal that testifies, or the influence that sanctifies, while we secretly or openly trench upon his personal glory, and refuse him the honour, the praise, and the worship that are his just and proper due. The force of these remarks will be felt, as we advance in the discussion of the subject immediately before us.

The witness of the Spirit is a highly important and blessed part of his great work. Hence we find repeated and marked allusions to it in the word of God. These will appear as we proceed in the unfolding of the subject. The following are sufficient to prove it a doctrine of revelation. John xv. 26: "He (the Spirit) shall testify of

me." Heb. x. 15:"Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us." 1 John v. 6: "And it is the Spirit that beareth witness." Rom. viii. 16: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit."

In view of what has been advanced touching the personal character of the Spirit, it will be the less necessary that we enlarge at length upon his qualifications as a Witness. Of his perfect competence to this office, there can be no question. Is it essential to a competent witness, that he should be of sound mind, and capable of judging of the facts to which he testifies? In a preeminent degree does this belong to the Holy Spirit. Thus, in the language of prophecy, is he spoken of: "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (Christ), the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Isaiah xi. 2. Who will deny that the Spirit, in this particular, is a competent witness to testify of the Lord Jesus to the church?

Is it another indispensable qualification, that he who testifies to a fact should do so from a personal knowledge of the fact which he attests? The Holy Spirit, the witness, is intimately acquainted with every fact which he relates, and with the nature and the truth of the work to which he testifies. His testimony is not grounded upon the knowledge or the evidence of others-what he has heard; but upon his own personal knowledge,-upon what he knows of the great facts, to the truth of which he witnesses. He reveals to his people what no creature eye ever saw, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, but what he first enlightened and renewed. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them

that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things (ra Caon, the depths,) of God." As a distinct person in the Godhead, it is impossible that it should be otherwise. He must know all that passes within the hidden recesses of the Divine mind. No "depths of God," but he fathoms them,-all the designs of Jehovah's mind, the counsels of his will, the thoughts of his heart, the purposes of his grace, and the acts of his love, are known to the eternal Spirit, and by him, as far as the revelation involves, the holiness and the happiness of the saints are disclosed to them; and this knowledge, let it be remembered, arising from his essential union with the Divine Essence; but for which he must have remained. eternally ignorant. The "judgments of God are a great deep," which no creature line—not the most capacious finite intellect-could ever fathom. The reasonableness of accounting in this way for the secret knowledge of the Spirit, is thus argued by the apostle. Referring to the same principle in man, he reasons: "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." It requires no further argument nor illustration to show that a full and minute personal knowledge of the facts to which he witnesses, is a qualification belonging to the Spirit.

One more qualification is essential : - he who assumes

the character of a witness should be known for the strictest probity. If the veracity of the witness cannot bear the closest investigation, "his witness is not true." Pre-eminently does this qualification attach itself to the blessed Spirit. Truth is not merely a property, but it is an essential characteristic. It is his very essence: to