n in the closest union God
remains God and man man. But the passage is at least as important as
opening up a special avenue of insight into St. Paul's conception of
Christian worship and spiritual life generally. He speaks first of a
witness of the individual spirits of Christians to the fact of their
divine sonship; and he distinguishes from it something greater, a
witness of the divine Spirit, supporting the human. What exactly does
he mean by this witness of the divine Spirit as distinct from the
consciousness which--under the leading of the divine Spirit--Christians
are led themselves to form? How are we to distinguish the Spirit's
witness from the witness of our own hearts inspired by Him? Is it
merely[6] that the 'consciousness (of the individual) is analyzed, and
its _data_ are referred partly to the man himself, partly to the Spirit
of God moving and prompting him?' I do not think that a closer
examination will lead us to be satisfied with this.

{295}

The witness of the divine Spirit is apparently fixed by the context to
consist in the supply to us of the phrase 'Abba, Father[7]'. It is the
Spirit 'in whom we cry' (or, as the passage in the Galatians says, 'who
Himself comes into our hearts crying) Abba, Father,' who thus, by
suggesting this cry to us, bears witness with our own spirits that we
are sons of God. Thus the supporting witness of the Spirit lies
especially in a certain mode of address to God or formula of prayer
which He supplies. But this 'cry' or prayer the Spirit supplies to the
hearts of the Church as a whole. The whole Church, and not the
individual soul only, is the Spirit's home. 'Know ye not that ye are
(corporately) a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you'[8]? The witness of the Spirit is thus a witness borne in the
whole Church, which supports and sustains the witness of the individual
soul. This is a thought full of consolation. The life of the
individual Christian reposes upon, and is infolded by, the larger life
of the whole body. Behind his own spiritual consciousness, with all
its vicissitudes, lies the inspired consciousness of the whole body,
the witness of the Spirit; and this in part expresses itself in
inspired {296} formulas--the Lord's Prayer, the psalms, the creeds of
the divine name, the Church's worship; and these formulas, representing
our best self, are to sustain us in our fluctuations of feeling, and
carry us over our periods of dryness a