does not say, "bear witness _to_ our spirits," but "_with_ our spirits."
Many people gauge the witness of the Spirit by feelings within
themselves. If they feel good, it is evidence to them of the Spirit's
testimony, but they frequently feel bad also; whose testimony is that?
The testimony of the Spirit should be clear testimony, and not
fluctuating; it should be in words, and not in feelings. Feelings,
impressions and emotions come and go like the waves of the sea, but
words remain forever the same. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
word shall not pass away," saith the Lord. The idea of the conscious
testimony of the Spirit is not sustained by either the word of God nor
a correct psychology. It is the testimony of metaphysicians, from Sir
William Hamilton down to the writer, that consciousness does not take
cognizance of causes, but effects. Feelings are effects and not causes.
Consciousness tells us when we feel good or bad, but it does not tell us
what makes us feel good or bad. When a man has been taught that a
certain feeling in the heart is produced by a certain agency, his faith
and reason may decide that that agency produced the feeling, but
consciousness has nothing whatever to do with _the cause_ of the
feeling. Likewise, a certain feeling in the heart may be attributed to
the Spirit because one has been taught that the Spirit will produce such
a feeling, but consciousness can not trace that feeling to the Spirit
himself. A man should feel right because he knows he is right, and not
know he is right because he feels right.

In deciding whether we be children of God, we have two witnesses: first,
the Spirit himself, and, second, our spirit. The Spirit testifies as to
who is a child of God; our spirits testify as to what we are. If our
spirits testify that we are the character which the Spirit says belongs
to a child of God, then we have the testimony of the Spirit himself
bearing witness with our spirits that we are children of God. The