CONCLUSION. 213 



ascribed in the Scriptures to the Holy Spirit, thus 

 showing that he acts on men as moral and accountable 

 beings, while the word of God is as clearly and con- 

 stantly referred to as the instrument by which this 

 change is effected. Taking revelation as our guide, 

 nothing is more obvious than that the word of God 

 and the Spirit of God are absolutely necessary to the 

 conversion of a sinner, and that whenever it takes 

 place, it is the effect, not of their separate, but their 

 combined influence. 



The operation of the Spirit without the word would 

 produce no explicable effect ; the operation of the word 

 without the Spirit would leave the sinner as guilty and 

 polluted as before. The one is the revealed remedy, 

 the other is the power which disposes to receive it. 

 The one makes known the pardon, the other applies it. 

 The one presents the light of Heaven, the other un- 

 scales the eye to behold and enjoy it. The one testifies 

 of Christ and pleads his cause, the other opens the mind 

 to receive him, and stamps his image on the heart* 

 With the words of the Saviour these remarks may, 

 therefore, be properly concluded : " Ask, and it shall 

 be given you : seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it 

 shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh 



