The Chariot of the Spirit

“The Spirit of God fides most tninnphantly in his own cha7’iot”: that is to say, he is best pleased to convey conviction and comfort by means of his own word. God’s word, not man’s comment on God’s word, is the most usual means of conversion. This is done to put honour upon the divine revelation, and to make us prize it with all our hearts. Our Lord said not only, “Sanctify them,” but, “sanctify them through thy truth”; and then he added, “thy word is truth.” Our author does well to liken the Scriptures to a chariot, because they are the ordinary means by which the Holy Ghost comes to us, but they are only the chariot, and without the quickening Spirit they bring us no good. The Scriptures do not make our hearts burn till the Spirit kindles them into flames, and then we say, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures.” Let us reverence Holy Scripture because the Holy Ghost is its author, expositor, preserver, and applier. We cannot too often use the weapon which the Spirit himself calls his sword.