t with the world. What the wagons were to
Jacob, proving that Joseph lived and thought of him still, and was
indeed supreme in Egypt, that the day of Pentecost was in declaring
that Christ's personal righteousness had been vindicated, and that the
righteousness He had wrought out for man had received the hallmark of
the Divine assay. Therefore the apostle says, "The Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us that He hath perfected forever by one offering them
that are sanctified." And again, "Him hath God exalted with His right
hand to be a Prince and a Saviour; and the Holy Ghost, whom God hath
given to them that obey Him, is witness of these things."

III. THE CONVICTION OF JUDGMENT.--When we have been freed _from_ sin,
and made righteous in Christ, we are left face to face with a
tremendous struggle against sin. The sin of the past is indeed
forgiven, the voice of conscience has been hushed, the sinner rejoices
to know that he is accepted on the ground of righteousness; but the old
temptations still crop up. Passion prompts us to live for present
gratification; the flesh deadens the burning aspirations of the spirit.
We ask in sad earnestness, How shall we be able to survive the terrible
struggle and to come off victorious? It appears a vain hope that we
should ever rise to perfect and victorious purity.

At such a time the Comforter convinces us of judgment. Not, as the
words are so often misquoted, of judgment to come, but in the sense in
which our Lord spoke of judgment to the inquiring Greeks: "Now is the
judgment of this world; now shall the Prince of this world be cast
out." Our Lord's references to the existence and power of Satan are
always distinct and unhesitating. It is impossible to accept Him as
our supreme Teacher without accepting His statements concerning His
great antagonist, to undo whose work brought the Son of God to earth.

The whole Gospel is a story of the duel in which our Lord forever
worsted and mastered Satan. The conflict began with the lonely
struggle of the temptation in the wilderness; it pervaded Christ's
earthly career; it culminated in the Cross. Its first note was, "If
Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread"; its
last note was, "If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross."
But when our Lord cried, "It is finished," with the shout of a
conqueror, He proclaimed to the universe that, though tempted to the
uttermost, He had not yielded in one pa