sufferer just alluded to as a specimen of the groans of the children of God: "O Saviour, I have nought to plead The need will soon be past and gone, VI. But finally, the great doctrine of the Trinity is remarkably illustrated in all this. For first of all, (a) the intercessions of the Spirit for the saints are "according to the will of God;" orig. "according to God.” Thus the text bears witness to the oneness of will, and yet to a distinctness of working, between the Holy Spirit and the God and Father of all. Oneness of will there must be indispensably, because of the unity of nature; distinctness and separateness of working, likewise, because of the threefold personality. And so again, (b) "He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit." This may either be spoken of the Son of God, who claims to Himself this Divine office and attribute of the "Heartsearcher;" as, "All the churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the reins and the hearts."* Or it may be said of the Father; as, "I the Lord search the heart, and try the reins, to give to every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." In the latter case these words, "He that searcheth the hearts," contain another witness to the perfect accordance, co-operation, oneness of understanding which subsists between the Spirit and the * Rev. ii. 23. + Jer. xvii. 10. Eternal Father. And equally plain is the witness to the distinctness of person. These lispings and stammerings, ill-expressed and half-uttered desires, are all interpreted, all heard and responded to on high; and how is this, but that the Spirit's promptings and suggestings are in them? through the human voice, though of the faintest and feeblest, the Spirit's accents are caught by the ear that listens on high. The God that is above us recognises the God that speaks within us. The heavenly Father waits to catch, though but the dimmest, faintest trace of the Good Spirit breathing and speaking in the child of His love. Oh, will you not be led by this thought to pray much for the presence of the Holy Spirit in prayer; that the Father of our spirits, bending as He does so condescendingly, waiting to find the voice of the Spirit, may discern it, accept it, answer it, in you? Then, as St. John reminds us, we are certain to be heard, and no less certain to "have the petitions which we desire of Him." For "this is the confidence which we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He heareth us, we know that we have the petitions which we desired of Him."* Thus the most perfect conceivable interchange of knowledge is that which holds between the persons of the ever-blessed Trinity; and that perfect interchange of knowledge is made to minister and be subservient (I would speak reverently) to the establishing of an actual intercourse, transaction, and commerce between the soul of the believer and his God in prayer. These mutual interchanges of knowledge, of witness, of sending and being sent, and the like, are a 1 John v. 14, 15. * very important part of the proof of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Take, for instance, the interchange of knowledge. "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him."* So here, "He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit." And again, "The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."+ And the same clear teaching have we in the Word of God, regarding the interchange of witness: "It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth."‡ "The Father which hath sent me hath borne witness of me."§ And again, "Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ."|| And once more, "Jesus Christ the Amen, the faithful and true witness."¶ And no less strikingly than truly has a great divine (De Litsch) said, that "if the mystery of redemption were not from eternity 'hid in God that created all things,' it would never have come to pass in the new creation of men. The new creation, as the old, is all in Christ. After the creation of the world, the incarnation of the Son was so far from introducing a contradiction into the relation of the Three Persons of the Trinity, that rather we must believe the Three Persons to co-operate to the redemption of man in such manner as is the historical mirror of the mutual relations which from all eternity subsisted between them." One or two brief thoughts before we close. (a) Taking the text to be, as it is, God's solid truth, * Matt. xi. 27. + 1 Cor. ii. II. I John v. 6. § John v. 37. Rev. i. 2. Rev. iii. 14. we shall learn from it, not to think it needful to stir up ourselves to great emotional excitement in order to pray; nor to suppose that only where there is this excitement and emotion prayer is genuine; but rather to wait humbly, thoughtfully, patiently, for the promised help: humbly, as feeling our dependence on this great promised Intercessor; thoughtfully, that you may take notice of the petitions which He bids you ask; patiently, as those who are well assured that the vision will come, if sought; and, if it tarry, are yet satisfied to wait for it. For it is one of the very things for which the Spirit in-dwells in us, that He may help; and, therefore, doubt not He will. I believe many of you can testify that He does. (b) But again we seem to gather from the text that we may work a great deal too much for God. What! work too much! Yes, truly, if work hinders us from prayer. I was struck in reading lately some words of that devout and loving spirit, Daniel Corrie, of Madras. "In general my mind has been too much occupied in outward work. I have lived too little in habits of ejaculatory prayer, and contented myself with very little spirituality of mind; so that if success had depended on me, it must have utterly failed. But the spiritual temple grows up, "not by might nor by power, but by MY SPIRIT, saith the Lord of hosts."* And again he says, "My own folly and perverseness appear in the preference of outward labour and bodily exercises to spiritual obedience and mental discipline." I am sure that the lesson of working less and praying more may be a very needful lesson to a child of God, and is taught him sometimes in stern and painful experience. *Zech. iv. 6. (c) But, finally, as the Holy Spirit prays for the saints in the way of undertaking for them and helping them to pray, so also does He show His love for the saints by stirring up in some eminent Christian very special prayer on behalf of all saints; as St. Paul calls it, "all perseverance and supplication for all saints."* Mr. Brainerd's life is a remarkable instance of this. In his faithful and very profitable diary we find him continually pouring out his heart for his fellow-Christians and the heathen world, in words such as these: "I cried to God for the enlargement of His kingdom in the world, and in particular among my own dear people. I saw God was both able and willing to do all that I desired for myself, my friends, His Church." Thus He employs His saints to bring blessings down upon the saints, and most of all blesses them in so using them. And does not all this convince us of the "love of the Spirit"? Do you not see by what sweet constraints He seeks to carry and bear you through all your weaknesses and difficulties? Are you tempted to think that you shall one day perish by the hạnd of Saul; that the pressure of the conflict will bear you down; that from some fall you will never rise again? Take comfort from the proof here afforded of the abundance of that provision by which He turns our weakness into occasions of ministering fresh strength, and instead of leaning on your own strength and creature strength, brings you to lean on the arm of your God: so that even while the battle lasts hot and fierce, you may sing your chant of victory, "If God be for us, who can be against us ?" * Eph. vi. 18. + Rom. viii. 31. |