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 he feared that the principles of many professing Christians touching this point need sifting. 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 nf the Spirit? Can any believer expect a growth of spirituality, an increase of vital godliness in his soul, while he secretly, ahd 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
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
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.” Kom. 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 pre-eminent 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 be 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 ai;d 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. Bat God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things (roc /3u6^ 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 17
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
deprive him of it, or, in the slightest degree, to impeach it, would be to undeify him. He cannot exist without being true. As sustaining this character, he is emphatically spoken of. “Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.” John xvi. 13. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth.” ch. xiv. 16, 17. “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” 1 John v. 6. Thus does the Spirit possess all the essential qualifications of a competent witness. He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding — he searches the depths of God — he is the Spirit of truth.
We proceed to specify some of those important facts to which especially the Spirit witnesses. And in the first place it may be proper to remark, the Spirit is a witness to the truth of Grod’s word. It is no small attainment to arrive at the full belief of the heart in the truth of the Divine record. I speak not now of the historical credence which an enlightened judgment may yield — I speak of a higher faith than this. Nor do I confine myself to that entire assent of the mind, and trembling belief of the heart, upon the grounds of which the soul may have ventured a humble reliance upon Christ, although this is no small attainment; but I allude to that firm, unmoved, and immoveable belief of the truth, which is often an after work — a work of time and of deep experience, before the heart becomes thoroughly schooled into it. Let me not be supposed to undervalue the smallest degree of faith. To believe that God’s word is true, and on the strength of that belief to be willing to renounce all other dependence, and to rest simply and implicitly upon its revealed plan of salvation, is a blessed attainment — an attainment only to be realised by the power of the Holy Ghost; but, to know it from a deep experience of its sanctifying power, — from the heartfelt preciousness and fulfilment of its promises, — from its sustaining and soothing influence in sorrow, — its all-sufficient light in darkness and perplexity, — to be brought to trust the naked promise because God has spoken it, — to believe, and to go forward, because he has said it, is a still higher step in faith’s ladder, and a more illustrious display of the grace and power of the Spirit. It is an unspeakable mercy to be well grounded in the belief of the truth. Let those speak who have thus been blessedly taught. Let them testify that God’s word was, when they first believed, as a sealed book, compared with what it is now, — that, since they have advanced in the Divine life, led and instructed by the Spirit of truth, it has opened to their minds with all the light and freshness of a new revelation: doctrines once mysterious, are now beautifully lucid, — promises once unfelt, are now sweetly consolatory, — precepts once insipid, are now powerfully persuasive. And to what is this maturity of the heart in the full belief of the truth to be ascribed? We unhesitatingly reply, — the witness of the Spirit — the Holy Ghost deepening his work in the heart, — teaching the soul more experimentally, and guiding it more fully into all truth, — in a word, bringing the truth to the mind with a more realising and convincing power.
Nor can we refrain from remarking, that this deeper experience of the truth of God, is frequently the result of sore but sanctified trial. A believer knows but imperfectly what he is in himself, or what the truth of God is to him, until placed in circumstances favourable to the
WITNESS OP THE SPIKIT.
development of both. The Lord will have his people, and especially the ministers of his gospel, experimentally acquainted with his truth. They shall not testify of an unknown, unfelt, and unexperienced Saviour. They shall be enabled to say, “That which wo have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life, declare we unto you.” And more valuable and precious is one grain of the truth of God experienced in the heart, than the whole system occupying a place only in the judgment. To deepen, then, their knowledge of the truth — to ground and settle them in it — to bring it out in all its practical power, the good, the covenant God often places his children in sore trial and temptation. It is in the storm and the hurricane, amidst rocks and shoals, that the mariner becomes practically acquainted with his science. All that he knew before he launched his vessel on the ocean or encountered the storm, was but the theory of the school; but a single tempest, one escape from shipwreck, has imparted more experimental knowledge than years of mere theoretical toil. So learns the believer. Oh, how theoretical and defective his views of Divine truth, — how little his knowledge of his own heart, — his deep corruptions, perfect weakness, little faith, — how imperfect his acquaintance with Jesus — his fulness, preciousness, all-sufficiency, sympathy, until the hand of God falls upon him! — and when, like Job, messenger after messenger has brought the tidings of blasted gourds, of broken cisterns — when, brought down and laid low, like him they are brought td confess, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job xlii. 5, 6.
But, before we pass to consider the testimony the Spirit bears for Christ, there is yet another preliminary step, so to speak, which must ever precede the manifestation of Jesus to the soul, and that is, — the witness which the Spirit bears to the holiness, spirituality, and justice of the Divine law. This, as we have remarked, is a preliminary step. Conviction of sin by the law of Cod, in the hands of the eternal Spirit, must ever precede faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is, with many, a favorite theory to deny that the Holy Spirit is the convincer of sin; but, to deny this, is to oppose the mind and conscience to the clear and express testimony of God’s word. “And when he (the Comforter) is come, he will reprove (marg. convince ) the world of sin.” John xvi. 8. This is the great office of the Spirit — this is his first work, prior to his bringing the soul to rest; on the great sacrifice for sin. Not a step will the soul take to Christ, until that soul has been brought in guilty and condemned by the law of God. And this is the work of the Spirit. “No man,” says the excellent Newton, “ever did, or ever will feel himself to be a lost, miserable, and hateful sinner, unless he be powerfully and supernaturally convinced by the Spirit of God.” And what is the instrument by which the Spirit thus powerfully and supernaturally convinces of sin? We reply the Law. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. iii. 20. “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” Gal. iii. 24. The law, brought into the conscience by the Holy Ghost, condemns the man, and leads him to condemn himself; it holds up to view the holiness of God, — the purity and inflexibility of every precept, — contrasted it with the unrighteousness, guilt, and misery of the sinner, and thus prostrates the soul in the dust, exclaiming
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
in all tho lowliness of self-accusation, “i the law is holy, just, and good’ — I am guilty, guilty, guilty.’ * What need we any further testimony than that of the apostle: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by .the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” Rom. vii. 7 — 9. Through this instrument — the law of God — and thus effectually, does the Holy Spirit convince the soul of sin, and lay it low before God.
We now come to show in what especial point of view the Spirit testifies of Christ to the believer. Our warrant for believing this, we have in our dear Lord’s own words: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” John xv. 26. u He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you,” ch. xvi. 14.
First, — The Spirit, witnessing to the glorg of the person of Christ, testifies to his supreme, absolute deity. Strong is the testimony of the Holy Ghost in the Word to the essential deity of our blessed Lord. And if he has laid such amazing stress upon it, surely it should be a solemn matter with us how we think of, and treat it. The great, the grand glory of Immanuel is his essential glory — the glory of his Godhead. It is only in this light that we can approach him with the hope of pardon and acceptance. It is then we talk of him as a Mediator — it is then we view him as the Sin-bcarcr of his people — it is then we contemplate him as their Surety, their Righteousness, their covenant Head. In vain we speak of his atoning blood, — of his finished righteousness, — of his mediatorial fulness, if we look not up to him in tho “^lory he had with the Father before the world was.” This it is that imparts such efficacy to his work, and throws such surpassing lustre around it. And what is the witness of the Spirit to this doctrine? It is this; that all the names, the perfections, the works, and tho worship proper only to Deity, belong to Christ, — thus proclaiming him with a loud voice to be, what he really is, — Jehovah Jesus. Reader, ponder the testimony. Jesus of Nazareth, the anointed Saviour of poor sinners, is emphatically styled, the “Great God,” Tit. ii. 13. The “Mighty God,” Isa. ix. 6. The “Only wise God,” Jude 25. The “True God,” 1 John v. 20. The “Only Lord God,” Jude 4. The name Jehovah peculiarly belongs to God: it is never in a solitary instance applied to a mere creature. “I am Jehovah: that is my name.” And yet tho very name is ascribed to Jesus by the Holy Ghost — “This is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness.” He is then Jehovah Jesus, “God over all, blessed for evermore.” Could testimony be more clear and decisive? 0 precious truth on which to live — 0 glorious rock on which to die? Jesus is Jehovah — He is “Immanuel, God with us” — “God manifest in the flesh.” Hold fast this truth, reader. Let nothing weaken your grasp of it. It is your plank, your life-boat, your ark, your all. This gone, — all goes with it! You will need it when you come to die, — in that solemn hour, when all else fails you, — when sin in battle array rises before you, and you think of the holiness of the holy God, — then you will
WITNESS OP THE SPIRIT.
want a rock to stand upon; and, as the Spirit leads you to Jesus, the Rock, testifies to your soul of his blood, witnesses to his Godhead, unfolds him in his essential glory, you shall be enabled to shout, “victory! victory!” as you pass safely and triumphantly over Jordan. The blood that speaks peace will be felt to be efficacious, — and the righteousness that justifies will be seen to be glorious, — and the Rock that sustains will be felt to be firm and immovable, just as the blessed Glorifier of Christ witnesses to the truth of his deity. 0 then to see the Law-giver in the character of the Law-fulfiller — to behold the God-Man obeying, suffering, dying — and therefore the law honoured, justice satisfied, and the Father well pleased, — truly may the believing soul adopt the triumphant language of the apostle, and take up his challenge — “who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died.” Dear reader, set a high value on the doctrine of our Lord’s deity, — guard it with a jealous eye, — pray to be established in its full experimental belief; for the more you see of the dignity of his person, the more you will see of the glory of his work.
The Spirit witnesses to the personal glory of Christ, as God-Man. There are many believers who unhesitatingly admit the doctrine of our Lord’s humanity, but delight not to linger around those passages in the sacred word which prove and unfold it, lest an essential inferiority in Jesus should be implied, and an impression should be left upon the mind unfavourable to his personal dignity. But this arises from the want of an enlarged, harmonious, and scriptural view of the Divine method of salvation. Viewed in its proper aspect, the humanity of our Lord will be found to occupy a place in that scheme, as important and essential to its perfection, as his deity;
—that the humanity was pure humanity, and the deity absolute deity; — but the mysterious union of the two, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, constituted him the proper and the “one Mediator between God and man.” Glorious is this aspect of our Lord’s complex person. And full and clear is the testimony of the Spirit to its truth. Thus we read, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John i. 14. In the following passages Christ is evidently spoken of as subordinate to the Father, but touching his mediatorial character only. There cannot be the slightest essential inferiority. It would be fatal to his entire work. The following passage would seem to imply an inferiority in Christ, but an inferiority only of office, not of nature: “Yerily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” John v. 19. That these words of our Lord refer to his Divine nature we cannot believe, while in another place we find him declaring, “All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.” Matt, xxviii. 18. Where, then, Christ, speaks of himself as inferior to the Father, — as having “received glory from the Father,” — as “receiving life from the Father,” — of “the Father being greater than he,” he must invariably be regarded as alluding to himself in his mediatorial office only, and not in his Divine character, lie is equal to the Father in nature, subordinate to him only in office. On this truth hinges all the glory and efficacy of redemption.
It was, then, essential to his fitness as the Surety and Mediator of his covenant people, that he should be “bone
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
of their bone and flesh of their flesh.” That forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; “it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren.” The nature of his office, and the success of his undertaking, required that the union of every Divine and human perfection should meet and centre in him. He was to be the middle person between God and man. He was to bring together these two extremes of being — the Infinite and the finite. He was to mediate between the offended Creator, and the offending creature. How could he possibly accomplish this great and peculiar work, without a union of the two natures — the Divine and the human? Jehovah could admit of mediation only by one of equal holiness and glory, and man could negotiate in this great business of reconciliation but with one “in all points (sin excepted) like unto himself.” Behold this wondrous union in the person of Jesus. As man, he was made under the law — honouring it in its precepts by his obedience, and in its penalty by his sufferings. As God, he imparted a dignity to that obedience, and a virtue to those sufferings, which rendered them eternally efficacious in the salvation of men, glorious in the sight of angels, and infinitely satisfactory to law and to justice.
Beloved reader, stand not aloof from the pure humanity of your blessed Lord. It was humanity that obeyed, that bled, and died for you. Cling to the doctrine of his deity. It was God in the man that rendered his obedience meritorious for your justification, and his death effectual for your redemption. 0 glorious person of the God-Man-Mediator! What a foundation is here laid for a poor condemned sinner to build upon! What a “new and living way” to God is opened, — what a wide ‘WITNESS OP THE SPIRIT. door* to his very heart! He may come now, and feel that not a perfection of Jehovah is trampled upon in his coming, — that not an iota of his law is dishonoured in his salvation, — but that the law appears in its richest lustre, and every perfection shines in its resplendent glory, in the full and free redemption of a sinner through the blood and righteousness of the Son of God. Is it any wonder that over the door of mercy should be written in letters of brightness that might dazzle an angel’s eye, “Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life? 1 ‘The Holy Ghost witnesses to the personal glory of Jesus, when he brings the soul to count all other glory as loss, and to hang upon Christ as all his salvation. 4 ‘What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Phil. iii. 7, 8.
The Spirit witnesses to the atoning work of Jesus — his priestly office. We have already seen that the foundation of the work of Christ is the Godhead of his nature. It is important that the eye be kept immoveably fixed upon this, as we survey the atoning work of our Lord. Every step we take in developing that work, introduces us to new wonders as we keep the glory of the person of Christ in view. The transcendent efficacy of the sacrifice arose from the infinite dignity of the Priest. The priests under the law could impart no personal efficacy or glory to their sacrificial offerings. Their sacrifices were only available for the atonement of transgression, as they were offered up in obedience to the command of God. But the sacrifice which Christ presented, derived all its efficacy and glory from hid person. It is this doctrine that attaches such importance to the
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
death of Jesus, and that throws such surpassing glory around his obedience. The blood of the Lord Jesus “cleanses us from all sin/* because it is the blood of the God-man; the righteousness of the Lord Jesus “justifies us from all things,” because it is the “righteousness of God.” Hence arises the costliness of the sacrifice which Jesus presented to God.
It was also an entire sacrifice. It was himself he offered. “Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.” Eph. v. 2. It was himself he offered up. More he could not give, less would not have sufficed. He gave himself — all that he possessed in heaven, and all that belonged to him on earth, he gave in behalf of his people. His life of obedience, his death of suffering, he gave as “an offering and a sacrifice to God.” It was an entire surrender.
It was a voluntary offering. “He gave himself.” It was not by compulsion or by constraint that he surrendered himself into the hands of Divine justice — he went not a reluctant victim to the altar — they dragged him not to the cross. He went voluntarily. It is true that there existed a solemn necessity wherefore Jesus should die in behalf of his people. It grew out of his covenant engagement with the Father. Into that engagement he voluntarily entered. His own ineffable love constrained him. But, after the compact had been made, the covenant of redemption ratified, and the bond given to justice, there was a necessity resting upon Jesus wherefore he should finish the work. His word, his honour, his truth, his glory, all were pledged to the entire fulfilment of his suretyship. He had freely given himself into the power of justice; he was therefore, on his taking upon him the form of a servant, under obligations to satisfy all its claims, he was legally bound to obey all its commands.
And yet it was a voluntary surrender of himself as a sacrifice for his people. It was a willing offering. If there was a necessity, and we have shown that there was, it grew out of bis own voluntary love to his church. It was, so to speak, a voluntary necessity. See how this blessed view of the death of Jesus. is sustained by the Divine word. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” Isaiah liii. 7. His own declaration confirms the truth. ’ “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” John x. 17, 18.
Nor was it a voluntariness founded on ignorance. He well knew what the covenant of redemption involved — what stern justice demanded. The entire scene of his humiliation was before him, in all its dark and sombre hues#-the manger, — the bloodthirsty king, — the scorn and contumely of his countrymen, — the unbelief of his own kinsmen, — the mental agony of Gethsemane — the bloody sweat, — the bitter cup, — the waywardness of his disciples, — the betrayal of one, the denial of another, the forsaking of all, — the mock trial, — the purple robe, — the crown of thorns, — the infuriated cry, “Away with him, away with him! crucify him! crucify him!” — the heavy cross, — the painful crucifixion, — the cruel taunts, — the vinegar and the gall, — the hidings of his Father’s countenance, — the concentrated horrors of the 18
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
curse, — the last cry of anguish, — the falling of the head, — the yielding up his spirit, — all, all was before the omniscient mind of the Son of God, with vividness equal to its reality, when he exclaimed, “Save him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” And yet, he willingly rushed to the rescue of ruined man. He voluntarily, though he knew the price of pardon was his blood, gave himself up thus to the bitter, bitter agony. And did he regret that he had undertaken the work? Never! It is said that it repented God that he had made man, but in no instance is it recorded that it repented Jesus that he had redeemed man. Not an action, not a word, not a look betrayed an emotion like this. Every step he took from Bethlehem to Calvary, did but unfold the willingness of Jesus to die. “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!”
Oh, how amazing was the love of Jesus! This, this was the secret why he loved not his own life unto the death. He loved sinners too well. He loved us better than himself. With all our sinfulness, guilt, wretchedness and poverty, he yet loved us so much as to give himself an offering and sacrifice unto God for us. Here * was the spring-head whence flowed these streams of mercy. This was the gushing fountain that was opened when he died. And when they taunted him and said, “If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself,” 0 what a reply did his silence give! “I came not to save myself, but my people — I hang here, not for my own sins, but for theirs — I could save myself, but I came to give my life a ransom for many.” They thought the nails alone kept him to the cross, — he knew it was his own love that fastened him there. Behold, reader, the strength of Immanners love! Come, fall prostrate, adore and worship him. 0 what love was his! 0 the depth! Content
not thyself with standing upon the shore of this ocean: enter into it, drink largely from it. It is for you, if thou dost feel thy nothingness, thy poverty, thy vileness; this ocean is for you. It is not for angels, it is for men. It is not for righteous men, but for sinners. Then drink to the full from the love of Jesus. Be not satisfied with small supplies. Take a large vessel to the fountain. The larger the demand, the larger the supply. The more needy, the more welcome. The more vile, the more fit. Then plunge into this ocean, and count all things else hut loss for Jesus, and sing, as you wade, —
41 The cross! the cross! oh that’s my gain,
Because on that the Lamb was slain;
’Twas there my Lord was crucified,
‘Twas there my Saviour for me died.
44 What wondrous cause could move thy heart
To take on thee my curse and smart;
Well knowing that my soul would be
So cold, so negligent to thee 1
44 The cause was love: I sink with shame
Before my sacred Jesus’ name;
That thon shouldst bleed and slaughter’d be
Because, because thou lovedst me.”
We have yet to show in what way the Spirit witnesses to the atoning work of Jesus. He does so, by leading the guilty, condemned, broken-hearted sinner to rest on Jesus alone for salvation. In this way he testifies of Christ. He first convinces the soul of sin, — brings the holy law of God with a condemning, slaying power into the conscience; then, having wounded and laid low, he leads the soul to Jesus as an all-sufficient Saviour. He opens
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
the understanding to comprehend, and the heart to welcome his own recorded testimonies of the all-sufficiency and readiness of the Lord Jesus Christ to save the vilest of the vile. He ‘leads to the fountain of Immanuel’s precious blood — plunges the guilty sinner beneath its cleansing stream, and then raises it to newness of life, — “washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” And this is the testimony: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John iii. 14 — 16. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” vi. 37. “He that believeth shall be saved.” Mark xvi. 16. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.” Heb. vii. 25. What a witness is this to the power and readiness of Christ to save! And this is the testimony of the Holy Ghost to the blessed Son of God. But he does more than this. He brings home the record with power to the soul. He writes the testimony on the heart. He converts the believing soul itself into a witness that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
And what a gospel is this for a poor sinner! “There
is not,” says an old divine, “an ill word in it against a poor sinner stripped of his self-righteousness.” It speak’s of pardon — of acceptance — of peace — of full redemption here, and unspeakable glory hereafter. It proclaims a Saviour to the lost; a Redeemer to the captive; a Surety to the insolvent; a Physician to the sick; a Friend to the needy; an Advocate to the criminal, — all that a self-ruiiied, sin-accused, law-condemned, justice-threatened, broken-hearted sinner wants, this “glorious gospel of the blessed God” provides. It reveals to the self-ruined sinner, One in whom is his help, Hos. xiii. 9. To the sin-accused, One who can take away all sin, 1 John i. 7. To the law-condemned, One who saves from all condemnation, Rom. viii. 1. To the justice-threatened, One who is a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, Isa. xxxii. 2. To the broken-hearted, One who bindeth up, and healeth, Isa. lxi. 1. That One is — Jesus. 0 name ever dear, ever sweet, ever precious, ever fragrant, ever healing to the “poor in spirit!”
The blessed Spirit witnesses to the all-sufficiency of Christ, for all the wants of his people. He testifies that “it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.’ * He takes of the things of Christ, and shows them to the believer. Perhaps this is his greatest witness to a child of God in reverence to Jesus. And why? because the highest act by which a believing soul glorifies Christ, is a life of daily faith upon him. There is a vast difference between an acknowledgment of Christ in the judgment — a bowing of the knee to him outwardly — a real, experimental, daily living upon him. The very essence of experimental religion is, living upon Christ daily as a poor, empty sinner. We live in a day of easy and splendid profession, — a day in which the many can speak well of Christ, and “profess and call themselves Christians.” But all is not gold; there is much tinsel, much that is but dross, much that is counterfeit. And while many a man has been applauded for his money, and admired for his philanthropy, and worshipped for his 18*
WITNESS OP THE SPIRIT.
talent, and followed for his eloquence, God has said, “I see no lowliness of spirit, no brokenness of heart, no humbling views of self; I hear no voice of prayer, no acknowledgment of my power; I behold no crowning of my Son, no honouring of me with the glory*** And while many a man has been as the scum and the offscouring of all things, — despised for his feeble gifts, his poor talents, his humble sphere, looked down upon by the great, and the wise, and the haughty, the “high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,** has said, “I see a broken heart — I see a lowly mind — I see the work of my Spirit — I see the image of my Son
—I dwell with him that is of a humble and contrite spirit.’* 0 yes! a poor believing soul, going to Jesus in all his emptiness and weakness, going to him, leaning on his blood and righteousness, — going to him in the face of all opposition, pleading his worth and worthiness, — going with all his sins, with all his infirmities, with all his backslidings, with all his wants, has more real glory in it than all the glory of all worlds collected in ono blazing focus. What a witness, then, is this which the eternal Spirit bears for Jesus! He assures the believer that all he can possibly want is treasured up in Christ,
—that he has no cross but Christ can bear it, — no sorrow but Christ can alleviate it, — no corruption but Christ can subdue it, — no guilt but Christ can remove it, — no sin but Christ can pardon it, — no want but Christ can supply it. Lift up your heads, ye poor, ye needy, ye disconsolate! Lift up your heads, and rejoice that Christ is all to you, — all you need in this vale of tears,
—all you need in the deepest sorrow, — all you need under the heaviest affliction, — all you need in sickness
—all you will need in the hour of death and in the day of judgment. Yea, and Christ is in all too. He is in all your salvation, — he is in all your mercies, — he is in all your trials, — he is in all your consolations, and in all your afflictions. What more can you want? What more do you desire? A Father who loves you as the apple of his eye, — a full Saviour to whom to go, moment by moment, and a blessed indwelling, sanctifying, comforting Spirit to reveal all to you, and to give you himself as the “earnest of your inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” “Happy is that people that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.” Another and an important witness which the eternal Spirit bears for Christ is, when he impresses upon the believer the image of Christ. It is the peculiar work of the Spirit to glorify Christ; and this he does in various blessed ways; but, perhaps, in none more strikingly than in drawing out the likeness of Christ upon the soul. He glorifies Christ in the believer. He witnesses to the power of the grace of Christ in its influence upon the principles, ‘the temper, the daily walk, the whole life of a man of God. The image of Christ — what is it? In one word, it is holiness. Jesus was the holiness of the law embodied. He was a living comment on the majesty and purity of the Divine law. The life he lived, the doctrines he proclaimed, the precepts he enjoined, the announcements he made, the revelations he disclosed, all, all were the very inspiration of holiness. Holiness was the vital air he breathed. Although in a world of impurity, all whose influences were hostile to a life of holiness, he yet moved amidst the mass of corruption, not only untouched and untainted, but reflecting so vividly the lustre of his own purity, as compelled the forms of evil that every-WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
where flitted athwart his path, either to acknowledge his holiness and submit to his authority, or to shrink away into their native darkness. And this is the image the Holy Spirit seems to draw, though it be but an outline of the lineaments, upon the believing soul. What a testimony he bears for Christ, when he causes the image of Jesus to be reflected from every faculty of the soul, to beam in every glance of the eye, to speak in every word of the tongue, and to invest with its beauty every action of the life! 0 that every child of God did but
more deeply and solemnly feel, that he is to be a witness for Jesus! — -a witness for a cross-bearing Saviour, — a witness to the spotless purity of his life, the lowliness of his mind, his deep humility, self-denial, self-annihilation, consuming zeal for God’s glory, and yearning compassion for the salvation of souls, — a witness to the sanctifying tendency of his truth, the holiness of his commands, the purifying influence of his precepts, the elevating power of his example. It may not be that all these Divine characteristics centre in one person, or that all these lovely features are reflected in a single character. All believers are not alike eminent for the same peculiar and exalted graces of the Spirit. It was not so in the early and palmy days of the Gospel, when Jesus himself was known in the flesh, and the Holy Ghost descended in anextraordinary degree of sanctifying influence upon the churoh. It would therefore be wrong to expect it now. And yet, we have a right to look for one or more of the moral features of our dear Lord’s character in his people. Some resemblance to his image; something that marks the man of God; some lowliness of mind — gentleness of temper — humility of deportment — love — patience in the endurance of affliction — meekness in the suffering of persecution — forgiveness of injuries — returning good for evil — blessing for cursing, — in a word, some portion of “the fruit of the Spirit,” which is “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” If one or more of these are not “in us and abound, so that they make us that we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and in a resemblance to his likeness, we have great reason to doubt whether we have ever “known the grace of God in truth.” That is indeed a melancholy profession in which can be traced nothing that identifies the man with Jesus; nothing in his principles — his motives — his tone of mind — his spirit — his very looks, that reminds one of Christ, — that draws the heart to him, — that makes the name of Immanuel fragrant, and that lifts the soul in ardent desires to be like him too. This is the influence which a believer exerts, who bears about with him a resemblance to his Lord and Master. A holy man is a blessing, go where he may. He is a savour of Christ in every place. It is a mercy to be brought into contact with him. We extract a blessing from him, — we get, it may be, a drop of oil from his vessel, or a single ray from his heat. And although it is more blessed to possess the solar beam, to ascend to the “fountain of light,” yet a reflected warmth in this wintry world is too valuable and blessed to be lightly esteemed. Would that the saints of God who may have drawn largely upon the fulness of Christ, who have been made to possess some peculiar manifestations of his loving-kindness, some especial revivings of his Spirit, were more ready to seek the communication of the same blessing to others. A believer is not his own, nor is he to live to himself. And when the Lord imparts a gift or
WITNESS OP THE SPIRIT.
a grace to any one member, it is for the edification and comfort of the whole body.” Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul,” is an invitation that has often refreshed the spirit, and revived the heart, and kindled the love, and “strengthened the things that remained that were ready to die,” in the saints of God.* Thus is the Spirit a Witness for Christ in his people, by conforming them to his image.
It were to present but a partial view of the Spirit’s work as a witness, did we confine his work in this character, to the testimony he bears for Christ. He is not only a witness for Christ, but he witnesses to the saints of Q-od. This is clear from his own sacred word: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.” 1 John v. 10. “Hereby know we that we
dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of
* The history of American revivals presents a striking and beautiful illustration of this fact. The author can testify, from personal observation and experience, that some of the most gracious and remarkable outpourings of the Spirit with which that honoured land has been favoured, have resulted from the simple testimony to an especial reviving of the Lord’s work in his own soul, borne by some individual member of the church, moving, it may be, in a humble and limited sphere of influence. God has honoured his testimony. His narrative has awakened interest, — his zeal has rebuked indolence, — his fervour has excited to prayer, — his tears and pleadings have moved to exertion; and thus an impulse has been created, which has gone on strengthening and expanding, until it has embraced and blessed an entire community. It was but as a small pebble cast into the stagnant water: yet the circle included a family, — it widened, until it embraced a church, — and still wider it grew, until an entire village, or town, felt the power of the Spirit, and every house became vocal with “thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” his Spirit.” 1 John iv. 13. “Who hath also sealed us,
and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” 2 Cor. i. 22. But the most direct allusion to this truth is this: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” Rom. viii. 16. Let us present a brief outline of this subject; beyond this we cannot venture.
The* doctrine of an assured belief of the pardon of sin, of acceptance in Christ, and of adoption into the family of God, has been, and yet is, regarded by many as an attainment never to be expected in the present life; and when it is expressed, it is viewed with a suspicion unfavourable to the character of the work. But this is contrary to the Divine word, and to the concurrent experience of millions, who have lived and died in the full assurance of hope. The doctrine of assurance is a doctrine of undoubted revelation, implied and expressed. That it is enforced as a state of mind essential to the salvation of the believer, we cannot admit; but that it is insisted upon as essential to his comfortable and holy walk, and as greatly involving the glory of God, we must strenuously maintain. Else why these marked references to the doctrine? In Col. ii. 1, 2, Paul expresses “great conflict” for the saints, that their “hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,” &c. In the epistle to the Hebrews, vi. 11, he says, “We desire that evei’y one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end.* 9 And in chap. x. 22, he exhorts them, “Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.** And to crown all, the apostle Peter, 2 Epistle, i. 10, thus earnestly exhorts, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
to make your calling and election sure.” We trust no further proof from the sacred word is required to authenticate the doctrine. It is written as with a sunbeam, “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Let us present a brief explanation of these words.
Three important things are involved in them, — first, the Witness — then that with which he witnesses,’ — and lastly, the great truth to which he witnesses. First, “the Spirit itself beareth witness.” The great business of making known to a poor sinner his acquittal in the high court of heaven, and his adoption into the King’s family, is entrusted to no inferior agent. No angel is commissioned to bear the tidings, — no mortal man may disclose the secret. None but God the Holy Ghost himself. “The Spirit itself.” He that resteth short of this testimony wrongs his own soul. Dear reader, be satisfied with no witness to your “calling and election” but this. Human testimony is feeble here. Your minister, your friend, schooled as they may be in the evidences of experimental godliness, cannot assure your spirit that you are “born of God.” God the eternal Spirit alone can do this. He only is competent, — he only can fathom the “deep things of God,” — he only can rightly discern between his own work and its counterfeit, between grace and nature, — be only can make known the secret of the Lord to them that fear him; all other testimony to your sonship is uncertain, and may fearfully and fatally deceive. “It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” Again, and yet again, would we solemnly repeat it, — take nothing for granted touching your personal interest in Christ, — rest not satisfied with the testimony of your own spirit, or with that of the holiest saint on earth; seek nothing short of “the Spirit itself.” This only will do for a dying hour.
The second thing to be observed in the declaration is — that with which he witnesses — “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit.” It is a personal testimony — not borne to others, but to ourselves — “with our spirit.” The adoption of the believer into the family of God is so great a privilege, involving blessings so immense, for beings so sinful and in all respects unworthy, that, did not their heavenly Father assure them by his owh immediate testimony of its truth, no other witness would suffice to remove their doubts and quiet their fears, and satisfy them as to their real sonship. The eternal Spirit of God descends, and enters their hearts, as a witness to their adoption. He first renews our spirit, — applies the atoning blood to the conscience, — works faith in the heart, — enlightens the understanding, — and thus prepares the believing soul for the revelation and assurance of this great and glorious truth — his adoption into the family of God. As it is “with our spirit” the Holy Ghost witnesses, it is necessary that, in order to perfect agreement and harmony, he who has the witness within himself should first be a repenting and believing sinner. He who saith that he has this witness, but who still remains “dead in sins” — a stranger to faith in the Lord Jesus, — to the rene wings of the Holy Ghost, — in a word, who is not born of Grodp is wrapping himself up in an awful deception. The witness we plead for, is the holy testimony, in concurrence with the holy gospel, by the holy Spirit, to a holy man, and concerning the holy truth. There can be no discrepancy, no want of harmony between the witness of the Spirit and the word of 19
WITNESS OP THE SPIRIT.
God. He witnesses according to, and in agreement with, the truth. Vague and fanciful impressions, visions, and voices, received and rested upon as evidences of salvation, are fearful delusions. Nothing is to be viewed as an evidence of our Divine sonship which does not square and harmonise with the revealed word of God. We must have a 6 thus saith the Lord,’ for every step we take in believing that we are the children of God. Let it be remembered, then, that the Spirit bears his testimony to believers. His first step is, to work repentance and faith in the heart; then follows the sealing and witnessing operation. We shall / be pardoned for again quoting the words, “In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.”
The last particular is, the great truth ta which he testifies, “that we are the children of Q-od” The Spirit is emphatically spoken of as a Spirit of adoption. “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Rom. viii. 15. And again, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father,” Gal. iv. 6. Now it is the peculiar office of the Spirit to witness to the adoption of the believer. Look at the blessed fact to which he testifies — not that we are the enemies, the aliens, the strangers, the slaves, but, that we are “the children of God.” High and holy privilege! “The children of God!” Chosen from all
eternity, — “having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” — all their iniquities laid on Jesus their blessed Surety, justified by the “Lord our righteousness, ’ — called by the effectual operation of the eternal Spirit, — inhabited, sanctified, sealed by God the Holy Ghost. — 0 exalted state! 0 holy privilege! 0
happy people! Pressing on, it may be, through strong corruptions, deep trials, clinging infirmities, fiery temptations, sore discouragements, dark providences, and often the hidings of our Father’s countenance, and yet, u the children of God” now, and soon to be glorified hereafter.
My reader, in closing, suffer me to inquire — have you the witness of the Spirit? Has he convinced you of sin by the law? Has he made you acquainted with your guilt and pollution? Is it written upon your conscience as solemnly and as undoubtedly as it is written in the Bible, that you are guilty and condemned, lost and undone, and must finally and awfully perish, without Christ? Have you sought a secret place for humiliation, ahd confession, and supplication before God, the eternal and holy God, the Sovereign of all worlds, the Judge of the quick and the dead, at whose tribunal you must soon stand? Ah, solemn, searching questions! You may evade them, — you may frame some vain excuse, — you may wait for ‘a more convenient season,’ — you may even seek to stifle the seriousness and the thoughtfulness which these interrogatories have occasioned, by another and a deeper plunge into the world, but they will follow you there, and will be heard amidst the din of business and the loud laugh of pleasure, — and they will follow you to your dying bed, and they will be heard there, amidst the gloom and the silence and the terror of that hour, — and they will follow you up to the judgment-seat, and will be heard there, amidst the gatherings and the tremendous disclosures of that scene, — and they will follow you down to the abode of the lost, and will be heard there,
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
amid the ‘ weeping, and the wailing, and the gnashing of teeth.* Sinner! from an enlightened, but guilty and accusing conscience, you can never escape. It will be the ‘ worm that never dies !* From the wrath of God, once lost, you can find no shelter — it will be the ‘fire that never shall be quenched.* Again we earnestly inquire, — Have you the witness of the Spirit? Has he testified to you of Jesus, — of his renewing grace, pardoning love, sin-cleansing blood, justifying righteousness, full redemption? Have you joy and peace in believing?
To the child of God we would say, — covet earnestly the witness of the Spirit. Be not cast down, nor cherish rash and hasty conclusions as to your adoption, if you possess it not so fully and clearly as others. The holiest believer may walk for many days without the Sun. Bead the record of the experiences of David and of Job and Jeremiah, and the last moments of our dear and adorable Immanuel, and mark what shadows at times fell upon their souls, how sensible comforts failed them, how joys fled, and they mourned an absent Q-od. But were they the less dear to the heart of J ehovah, — were they the less his beloved children because thus tried? No! God forbid! Still, we plead for the full enjoyment of the witness of the Spirit. It is the high privilege of the children of God — let no one rob them of it — to look up to God, and humbly yet unceasingly cry, ‘Abba, Father!’