Sanctification, the progress of the spiritual life, is by the agency of the Holy Ghost. Prayer, the breath of the spiritual life, is by the aid, often in "groanings that cannot be uttered," of the Holy Ghost. Good works, the proof and product of the spiritual life, are the fruits of the Holy Ghost. The whole work of the spiritual life is the work of the Holy Ghost. As Christ is a Mediator with the Father to bring us to him, the Holy Ghost is a Mediator between the soul and Christ to draw us to Jesus, and enable us to lay hold of him by faith.

Here we reach a most important fact that is often overlooked, the intercession of the Holy Ghost. We think almost exclusively of the intercession of Christ, forgetting that there is another intercession that is also most priceless to us, and should ever be cherished. There is an important distinction between these two intercessions, though a distinction but little regarded. Christ intercedes as Mediator with God; the Holy Spirit, as Paraclete, Pleader, with man. Christ intercedes as a Priest, completing the sacrificial and sacerdotal work which he assumed as our representative; the Holy Spirit, as an applyer of this priestly work to the human heart. Christ intercedes with the Father on the ground of his merit, having purchased a right to the travail of his soul; the Holy Spirit, on the ground of compas

sion, pleading only the guilt and ruin of man. Christ intercedes in heaven; the Holy Spirit, on earth.

Hence we are brought to a most touching fact in our spiritual relations, that a double intercession is ever going on in regard to us, if we are God's children; Christ making intercession by his blood in heaven, the Holy Spirit making intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered, on earth; the one at the throne of glory above, the other at the throne of grace below; the one preparing a place for us in the inheritance of the saints in light, the other preparing us for that place, by working in us a meetness for this heavenly inheritance. The promise of the Father, therefore, for which the disciples were to wait, was the great blessing of the New Testament, the great hope of a sinful world, the great reliance of a struggling church, the influences of the Holy Spirit, by which, "convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel," and by which "we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness."

III. Effects of the fulfilment of the promise.

"Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jeru

salem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

There is a peculiar ense in which the apostles were to be witnesses for Christ, as they were to attest his resurrection from the dead from their own personal knowledge. Hence they must have seen the risen Saviour. And in their writings, they are witnesses to the ends of the earth.

But there is a sense in which all Christians are included in this testifying character, for all are witnesses for Christ, and thus only can this witness be carried to the uttermost part of the earth.

Each Christian, by his life, must be a witness for Christ, and show that he has been with Jesus, and learned of him. Some are to witness for him in the pulpit, some in the pews, some in the city, some in the wilderness, some at home, some far hence away among the heathen, some in the parlour, some in the kitchen, some in the nursery, some in the senate; but all required to bear the same testimony, that "Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God unto salvation, to all them that believe." To bear false witness against our neighbour is a great sin, but to bear false witness for Christ, is much more fearful, for the man who does this lies, not against man, but against God.

But there is a passive witnessing for Christ as well as an active, and often a much harder testi

mony to bear. So important is this kind of witnessing, that the word martyr, which means witness, has been appropriated in common language to this kind of witnessing for Christ. Mr. Cecil relates that it was the example of his mother in enduring affliction with so much patience, that convinced him of the reality of religion, when he was a sceptical and godless youth. Lying one night in bed he reflected thus, as he records in his life: "I see two unquestionable facts. First, my mother is greatly afflicted in circumstances, body and mind, and yet I see that she cheerfully bears up under all, by the support she derives from constantly retiring to her closet and Bible. Secondly, that she has a secret spring of comfort of which I know nothing, while I, who give an unbounded loose to my appetites, and seek pleasure by every means, seldom or never find it. If however there is any such secret in religion, why may not I attain it as well as my mother? I will immediately seek it of God." He did seek it, and found it in Jesus.

Thus it often is in cases that will never be known fully until "the books" are opened. The humble, poor, and suffering christian, who bears in loneliness and poverty the sufferings of life, is testifying to all around the power of Christ, as really, and often as successfully, as Paul in the midst of Mars' Hill. If it was an impressive

witness for the power of religion that was given by the great English essayist, when he sent for his nephew to see in what peace a christian can die; it is a more impressive testimony that is given by some poor, lonely, neglected sufferer, who, without feeling that she is acting a part for the inspection of the world, yet in obscurity and desertion, shows to those who are permitted to watch her daily life, with what patience a christian can suffer. She may testify for Christ in her poverty and sickness, with more powerful effect than the most eloquent orator in the pulpit, for she is what he only describes. Hence in every department of life, in joy and sorrow, we are able to be witnesses for Christ, and testify by our conduct what the Lord has done for our souls; and as the circle of christian influence widens, this witness shall at last be carried to the uttermost part of the earth.