obeyed me in the act of Christian baptism?" they
would not have the testimony of their spirit that they had so obeyed;
they would have to fall back upon the church record or that of their
father and mother. Others may be satisfied with such testimony, but, as
for myself, if I did not have the testimony of my own spirit that I had
obeyed the Lord in Christian baptism, I would obtain that testimony
before the going down of the sun.

"Well," says one, "is that all the witness of the Spirit mentioned by
the apostle?" Yes, that is all; absolutely and unqualifiedly all. What
more can you desire? "Well," says another, "I want something more than
the mere word; I want to be saved like the thief on the cross." How do
you know that the thief on the cross was saved? "Oh, the Bible says he
was." True, but that is the testimony of the "mere word"; so you have as
much testimony to your own salvation as you have for the salvation of
the thief on the cross, and it would be impossible for you to have any
more. Suppose the Lord were to come down and take you up bodily and set
you down before his throne in heaven, and, in the presence of all the
angels and archangels, say to you: "My child, your sins are all
forgiven." "Now," says one, "that would be testimony indeed." Yes, it
would be testimony, but no more testimony than you have in the word of
God now; you would then have only the testimony of the "mere word" of
God that you were forgiven. All such criticisms arise out of infidelity
as to the truthfulness of God's word.

3. _The Spirit maketh intercession for us_. This is not a work done in
us nor upon us, but is something done for us before the throne of God.
We can not dogmatize as to _how_ the Spirit maketh intercession, but
Paul says he does it "_according to the will of God_." This is a fact
that appeals to _our faith_ and not to our Christian _experience_. It
"can not be uttered." We can rest upon it and draw comfort from it as a
child draws strength from its mother's breast. We can also draw comfort
from the fact that Christ "ever liveth to make intercession for us,"
though we have no knowledge as to _how_ he does it.

4. Another work of the Spirit is to "_change us from glory to glory_."
"But we all, with unveiled face, reflecting as a mirror the glory of the
Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
from the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18). The figure used here by the
apostle is taken from the pr