Wisest of sparrows that sparrow which sitteth alone
Perched on the housetop, its own upper chamber, for nest: Wisest of swallows that swallow which timely has flown Over the turbulent sea to the land of its rest: Wisest of sparrows and swallows, If I were as wise !
Wisest of spirits that spirit which dwelleth apart
Hid in the Presence of God for a chapel and nest, Sending a wish and a will and a passionate heart Over the eddy of life to that
Presence in rest: Seated alone and in peace till God bids it arise.1
2. We need the Witness of the Spirit in order to realize our spiritual inheritance. You know the feeling of sadness which 1 Christina G. Rossetti.
484 THE ASSURANCE OF SONSHIP
comes when gazing at night into immensity — the thought that this short life will soon be over, and we shall be swept away and forgotten, like withered leaves before the drifting winds of autumn. Then how grandly comes the witness to our sonship, saying, " Thou cast down ? Look up into immensity, it is all thine, fear not, thou art a child of the Infinite."
Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west, And I said in underbreath, — All our life is mixed with death, And who knoweth which is best ?
Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west, I smiled to th incompleteness —
And [ smiled to think God's greatness flowed around our
Eound our restlessness, His rest
3. And we need the Witness of the Spirit in order to compre- hend the glory of suffering. Mark the connexion in Paul's words between the sufferings of this life, and the glory to be revealed hereafter, as if he had said, — " as the suffering is great, so also shall be the glory." None but the man who has the " witness of the Spirit " is able to look through the sorrow to the blessedness hereafter.
^[ The paper you sent me speaks of the deteriorating effect of pain. I most entirely recognize the accuracy of the observa- tion. It is one of the most terrible features of suffering. But then it must be remembered that anything, not only pain, may be deteriorating — either by fault of the will, if health and faculties are unimpaired, or, as is, we hope, often the case in illness, by failure of that physical organization through which the will acted soundly and loyally when the man was in health. And how terribly deteriorating is the effect sometimes, not merely of success, but of a simply quiet, undisturbed life. We are poor creatures, and yet we have in us the making of heroes and saints.2
III.
HOW DOES THE SPIRIT BEAR WITNESS?
" The Spirit himself," says the Apostle, " beareth witness with our spirit." The verb which he employs denotes a joint testimony.
1 Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 2 Life and Letters of Dean Church, 276.
ROMANS viii. 16 485
The cry, " Abba, Father," is a human cry. It expresses our con- sciousness of a filial relation to God. But it is also superhuman. For it is prompted by the Spirit of God, " in whom we cry, Abba, Father."
1. Now observe here, first of all, that Paul distinguishes between the Spirit of God and our "spirit." For "the Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God." His witness to our sonship is distinct from our personal consciousness of sonship. Again, " we know not how to pray as we ought ; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." What He desires for us He must know ; and there are times when He is able to draw us into perfect and intelligent sympathy with His own thought and His own longing; but there are other times when the great things that He desires for us transcend our vision and our hope ; and then the Spirit who dwells in us carries on His intercession for us alone ; He is too near to us, too intimately one with us, for us not to be conscious of the energy and earnestness of His desires; and we ourselves, as the result of His energy and earnestness, may have a vague and even a passionate longing for some infinite good, but what it is we cannot tell.
2. There are therefore two witnesses to our sonship. As two witnesses were required, under the Law, to establish a charge that was made against any man ; so, under the Gospel, we have two witnesses to establish our claim to be the children of God, — first, the witness of our own spirit, and then the second and far greater Witness, the Holy Spirit Himself; and by the mouth of these two witnesses shall our claim be fully established. If our own spirit were our only witness, we might hesitate to receive its testimony, for it is fallible and partial ; but when the infallible and impartial Spirit of God confirms the unfaltering witness of our own heart and conscience, then may we have confidence toward God, and believe without hesitation that we are indeed the children of the Most High God.
^[ As you look at the clock in the tower of some great public building, you remember that behind the gilt letters of the dial there is an elaborate mechanism which moves the fingers. But you also remember that, after all, everything does not rest upon