The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-03-16
The Witness of the Spirit
BY REV. S. E. ARSON OF ROME GA


BY REV. S. f. ARSON OF ROME, GA.
All Christians are agreed that one way
and that the most certain, way-in
which believers are assured of their gra-
cious state, is by the witness or testimony
of the Spirit But there is difference
of belief among them touching the man
ner in which this testimony of the Spirit
is borne. By one class the witness of the
Spirit is held to be a direct revelation or
suggestion to us of the fact of our sonship.
By the other class it is held to be the
production in us of certain graces, which
graces are the signs and evidences of the
fact of our sonship. Thus Richard Wat
son, speaking for the former class of
Christians says: Justification is an act
of God: it is secret and invisible: it pass
es in his own mind it is declared by no
outward sign. 1t must therefore be ad-
nltted either that this act of mercy is
Kept secret from us; or that by some
means it is made movable by us. If the
latter is the true supposition, then the
question is: By what means the knc WI
edge of this secret act of God is attained
by us?" And the answer he gives is !:
That there is direct testimony or in
ward impression on the heart whereby
the Spirit of God witnesses to my Spirit
that am child of God" While Pres
ident Edwards, speaking for the other
class, says: The witness of the Spirit is
no revelation of any fact by immediate
suggestion, but is grace itself in the soul.
1t is that gracious, holy effect of the
Spirit of God in our hearts, disposing us
to behave ourselves towards God as to a
Father. THIS is.the witness or evidence
that we are children, viz, that we have
the spirit or disposition of children
Perhaps the obscurity in which this
matter appears to many persons to be
involved, arises from a failure to distin-
guish between the two senses in which
the term witness" is used in the Bible.
Sometimes it has the meaning of an as
sertion or testimony: person witnesses
or testifes that thing is true: that is to
say, he asserts that it is true. In this
sense the women witnessed to the apos-
ties that Christ was risen from the dead
Sometimes it denotes the holding forth of
evidence, whereby thing may be argued
or proven to be true. Thus God is said
to have borne witness to the mission of
Jesus with signs and wonders and divers
miracles and gifts Of the Holy Ghost
These miracles with which God attested
the mission Of his Son, are called Gods
witnesses, not because they were of the
nature of assertions, but evidence and
proofs. So Christ says: The works
that | do in my Fathers name, they bear
witness Of me NOT that the works spake
or asserted anything, but they were
proofs and evidences. So, too, Gods
works of providence in the rain and sun
shine are said to be witnesses of Gods
being and goodness; that is, they are
evidences Of Gods being and goodness.
And 50 the witness Of the Spirit consists
in 'oorks wrought by the Spirit in our
hearts, just as Christ's works were his
witnesses, and just as Gods works are his
witnesses.
1t is from overlooking this two-fold
use to which the term witness" is ap-
piled in the Scriptures, that the advo-
Gates Of the doctrine Of the direct witness
Of the Spirit have been betrayed into a
view that is both erroneous and hurtful.