September 24

The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.—Romans 8:16.

WE have considered the witness of the Holy Spirit, we will now notice the witness of our own spirits.

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with," along with, "our spirit." The Spirit of God alone, we have seen, can bear direct witness to the fact of our forgiveness and adoption. Why, then, is the testimony of our own spirit introduced, and conjoined with the testimony of the Divine Spirit? Certain it is that "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty" and light. He speaks with a voice by which the faithful soul can not be deceived. But though there can be no delusion where the Spirit of God dwells and shines, yet there may be impressions not from him, and which we may mistake for the sacred testimony which he bears. Against a delusion of this sort you must be most carefully guarded. Nor are the means by which such a delusion may be detected and exposed, of difficult application. When the Spirit of God dwells as the Spirit of adoption, he dwells as the great Author of regeneration; as the source of all holy principles and feelings. Our justification and our sanctification are thus inseparable. The Spirit of God dwells with all his graces where he dwells at all.

"He sheds abroad a Saviour's love, And thus enkindles ours."

He enables us to love God, by showing that God loves us; and thus, when he comes to the heart of the believer as a witnessing and comforting Spirit, he comes as the Spirit of all holiness. When the impression of which we may speak produces not true love to God, and all those fruits which spring from the love of God, and prove its existence, then ought we to feel that it is not from the Spirit of God. Of the change which that good Spirit always effects, our own spirits must always be conscious. If we love God; if we love our neighbor; if, in a word, we are spiritually-minded, as having the fruits of the Spirit, which are always where the Spirit himself is, then have we the witness of our own spirits to the fact that we have received the Spirit of God; that those impressions from which we say we have derived so much comfort, are not delusive ones, but are indeed from the Spirit of God. To this fact, that we have the fruits of the Spirit, our own spirits bear a direct testimony, and thus bear, indirectly, a testimony to the fact of our adoption.

"We by his Spirit prove, And know the things of God; The things which, freely of his love He hath on us bestow'd.

"Our nature's turn'd, our mind Transform'd in all its powers; And both the witnesses are join'd The Spirit of God with ours."