you know that the thief on the cross was saved? "Oh, the Bible says he
was." True, but that is the testimony of the "mere word"; so you have as
much testimony to your own salvation as you have for the salvation of
the thief on the cross, and it would be impossible for you to have any
more. Suppose the Lord were to come down and take you up bodily and set
you down before his throne in heaven, and, in the presence of all the
angels and archangels, say to you: "My child, your sins are all
forgiven." "Now," says one, "that would be testimony indeed." Yes, it
would be testimony, but no more testimony than you have in the word of
God now; you would then have only the testimony of the "mere word" of
God that you were forgiven. All such criticisms arise out of infidelity
as to the truthfulness of God's word.

3. _The Spirit maketh intercession for us_. This is not a work done in
us nor upon us, but is something done for us before the throne of God.
We can not dogmatize as to _how_ the Spirit maketh intercession, but
Paul says he does it "_according to the will of God_." This is a fact
that appeals to _our faith_ and not to our Christian _experience_. It
"can not be uttered." We can rest upon it and draw comfort from it as a
child draws strength from its mother's breast. We can also draw comfort
from the fact that Christ "ever liveth to make intercession for us,"
though we have no knowledge as to _how_ he does it.

4. Another work of the Spirit is to "_change us from glory to glory_."
"But we all, with unveiled face, reflecting as a mirror the glory of the
Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
from the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18). The figure used here by the
apostle is taken from the process of mirror-making among the ancients.
They hadn't the glass mirrors of our day, but a mirror of highly
polished metal. A piece of coarse metal would be placed upon a stone and