testimony to the truth asserted in our text : " There are three that bear record on earth ; the Spirit, and the water, and the blood : and these three agree in one :" they agree in attesting that the Lord Jesus " Christ came by water and blood ; not by water only, but by water and blood."
How can we be sufficiently thankful for such clear and unquestionable testimonies to these important truths ! Here is nothing left to arbitrary interpretations of a few select pas- sages, which an advocate for some favourite doctrine might be supposed to pervert for the purpose of establishing his own sentiments : here are ordinances which speak for themselves, and which cannot be perverted : the spiritual import of them cannot admit a doubt : so that we may consider the truth of our text as fully declared, and incontrovertibly established.]
2. By visible operations on the souls of men —
[The Holy Spirit has yet further attested this truth by his immediate agency on the soul. He came down in a visible shape, in cloven tongues, as of fire, upon the Disciples on the day of Pentecost, in order to qualify them to proclaim these truths in all manner of languages ; and, in confirmation of their word, he converted not less than three thousand souls to God in one day, enlightening all their minds, renewing all their souls, and filling them all with the richest consolations. When Peter opened the Gospel to the Gentiles also in the house of Cornelius, the Holy Spirit again bore witness to the truth in the same manner. The manner in which this is noticed by the historian, is worthy of particular observation. St. Peter, in his discourse respecting Christ, said, " To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whoso- ever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." Then we are told, " While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." Here you per- ceive, it was at the very moment when Peter was proclaiming Jesus as a Saviour, not as a teacher, but as a Saviour, who was " come not by water only, but by water and blood," that the Holy Spirit descended visibly upon all to attest that blessed truth. So, in like manner, at the present day, the Holy Spirit bears witness to this truth in every place: he works by it to the conversion of men to God, to the enriching of them with peace and joy, to the transforming of them into the Divine image, and to the bringing of them safely to glory. No other doctrine is ever honoured by him for these ends ; but this is invariably, wherever it is proclaimed with that fidelity which becomes a servant of Christ. The people, who receive this doctrine into their hearts, are themselves made living witnesses of its truth, being enabled by it to live as no other persons can live, and to shine as lights in a dark benighted world. In