What is meant by the Testimony of the Spirit,
It is necessary, before going further, to determine what is meant by the testimony of the Spirit, which is said to be the ground of saving faith.
God, or the Spirit of God, testifies to the truth of the Scrip- tures and of the doctrines which they contain. This testimony, as has been seen, is partly external, consisting in prophecies and miracles, partly in the nature of the truths themselves as related to the intellectual and moral elements of the soul, and partly special and supernatural. Unrenewed men may feel the power of the two former kinds of testimony, and believe with a faith either merely intellectual and speculative, or with what may be called from its ground, a moral faith, which is only temporary. The spiritual form of testimony is confined to the regenerated. It is, of course, inscrutable. The operations of the Spirit do not reveal themselves in the consciousness otherwise than by their effects. We know that men are born of the Spirit, that the Spirit dwells in the people of God and continually influences their thoughts, feelings, and actions. But we know this only from the teaching of the Bible, not because we are conscious of his operations. " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou near- est the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. " (John iii. 8.)
This witness of the Spirit is not an affirmation that the Bible is the Word of God. Neither is it the production of a blind, un- intelligent conviction of that fact. It is not, as is the case with human testimony, addressed from without to the mind, but it is within the mind itself. It is an influence designed to produce faith. It is called a witness or testimony because it is so called in Scripture ; and because it has the essential nature of testimony, inasmuch as it is the pledge of the authority of God in support of the truth.
The effects of this inward testimony are, (1.) What the Scrip- tures call " spiritual discernment." This means two things: A discernment due to the influence of the Spirit ; and a discernment not only of the truth, but also of the holiness, excellence, and glory of the things discerned. The word spiritual, in this sense, means conformed to the nature of the Spirit. Hence the law is said to be spiritual, t. e., holy, just, and good. (2.) A second effect flowing necessarily from the one just mentioned is delight
70 PART HI. Cm XVI. — FAITH.
and complacency, or love. (3.) The apprehension of the suit- ableness of the truths revealed, to our nature and necessities. (4.) The firm conviction that these things are not only true, but divine. (5.) The fruits of this conviction, i. e., of the faith thus produced, good works, — holiness of heart and life.
When, therefore, a Christian is asked, Why he believes the -Scriptures and the doctrines therein contained, his simple answer is, On the testimony or authority of God. How else could he know that the worlds were created by God, that our race aposta- tized from God, that He sent his Son for our redemption, that faith in Him will secure salvation. Faith in such truths can have no other foundation than the testimony of God. If asked, How God testifies to the truth of the Bible ? If an educated man whose attention has been called to the subject, he will answer, In every conceivable way : by signs, wonders, and miracles ; by the exhibition which the Bible makes of divine knowledge, excel- lence, authority, and power. If an uneducated man, he may simply say, " Whereas I was blind, now I see." Such a man, and indeed every true Christian, passes from a state of unbelief to one of saving faith, not by any process of research or argument, but of inward experience. The change may, and often does, take place in a moment. The faith of a Christian in the Bible is, as before remarked, analogous to that which all men have in the moral law, which they recognize not only as truth, but as having the authority of God. What the natural man perceives with regard to the moral law the renewed man is enabled to perceive in regard to "the things of the Spirit," by the testimony of that Spirit with and by the truth to his heart.
Proof from Express Declarations of Scripture. 1. That this is the Scriptural doctrine on the subject is plain from the express declarations of the Scriptures. Our Lord prom- ised to send the Spirit for this very purpose. " He will reprove the world of sin," especiaUy of the sin of not believing in Christ ; " and of righteousness," that is, of his righteousness, — the right- fulness of his claims to be regarded and received as the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, and the Saviour of the world ; " and of judgment" that is, of the final overthrow of the kingdom of darkness and triumph of the kingdom of light. (John xvi. 8.) Faith, therefore, is always represented in Scripture as one of the fruits of the Spirit, as the gift of God, as the product of his en- ergy Oknsrfc ivepyefc toO 0€oC) (Colossians ii. 12). Men are