towards God in man is God's voice in the
human heart; and were it not for the possession and operation, the
sanctifying and quickening, of a living divine Spirit granted to us,
our souls would for ever cleave to the dust and dwell upon earth, nor
ever rise to God and live in the light of His presence. Every
Christian, then, may be sure of this, that howsoever feeble may be
the thought and conviction in his heart of God's Fatherhood, _he_ did
not work it, he received it only, cherished it, thought of it,
watched over it, was careful not to quench it; but in origin it was
God's, and it is now and ever the voice of the Divine Spirit in the
child's heart.

But, my friends, if this principle be true, it does not apply only to
this one single attitude of the believing soul when it cries, Abba,
Father; it must be widened out to comprehend the whole of a
Christian's life, outward and inward, which is not sinful and
darkened with actual transgression. To all the rest of his being, to
everything in heart and life which is right and pure, the same truth
applies. 'The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit' in every
perception of God's word which is granted, in every revelation of His
counsel which dawns upon our darkness, in every aspiration after Him
which lifts us above the smoke and dust of this dim spot, in every
holy resolution, in every thrill and throb of love and desire. Each
of these is mine--inasmuch as in my heart it is experienced and
transacted; it is mine, inasmuch as I am not a mere dead piece of
matter, the passive recipient of a magical and supernatural grace;
but it is God's; and therefore, and therefore only, has it come to be
mine!

And if it be objected, that this opens a wide door to all manner of
delusion, and that there is no more dangerous thing than for a man to
confound his own thoughts with the operations of God's Spirit, let me
just give you (following the context before us) the one guarantee and
test which the Apostle lays down. He says, 'There is a witness from
God in your spirits.' You may say, That witness, if it come in the
form of these convictions in my own heart, I may mistake and falsely
read. Well, then, here is an outward guarantee. 'As many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God'; and so, on the
regions both of heart and of life the consecrating thought,--God's
work, and God's Spirit's work--is stamped. The heart with its love,
the head with its understanding,