THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRAYER.-F.B.Meyer

But there is a fourth work of the Spirit of God. In Joh_15:26-27, it is said: “He, (that is, the Spirit) shall bear witness of Me, and ye shall bear witness.”
Now the Church is in the world not to argue, not to defend God, not to stand forth as an advocate for God, but simply to witness to the truth of the unseen and eternal. And directly, brother ministers, you and I step away from that position, and become advocates pleading instead of witnesses bearing testimony, we step away from the position of power. You and I and the Church are called to bear witness to the death of Christ, His resurrection, His ascension, and the advent of the Holy Ghost. You can talk as you like about His social work, about His teaching, about the philosophy of the administration of His kingdom; but your prime work is to stand up before men, and say:
“I have known and tasted and handled of the death, resurrection, ascension and return of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
And whilst you do that the Holy Spirit says: “Amen.”
The other day I came on a saw pit. I could see a man sawing a great beam of timber with the long saw which rose and fell, and though I could not see his confederate, I knew that down in the pit there was another man who had hold of the saw; and I could tell the rhythm and the motion of the body of the man I could not see, by noticing the rhythm and the motion of the body of the man I could see. And I saw at once that that was an illustration of the co; witness of the Holy Ghost.
When a man stands up in his pulpit and says; “Jesus died,” the Holy Ghosts says: “He did, and it was by Me that He offered Himself to God.” When the minister says: “He rose,” the Holy Ghost says: “He did: and it was by My power that He was raised and declared to be the Son of God.” When we say: “He went back to God and liveth and reigneth with the Father,” the Holy Ghost, brooding in the Church, says: “Yea, Amen, I have just left Him; I am in loving fellowship with Him; I and the Son and the Father are one.”
O, brother ministers, ever since I learned this, my work has been quite altered, because now, when I enter my pulpit, I go as only a very small part of the great machinery which is in operation. I have to speak, but the Holy Ghost is all the time working with me, and hence the salvation of my people does not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. If they received simply upon my putting of it, the effect would be evanescent, but when the Holy Spirit demonstrates a thing to the conscience it is permanent.
You and I were once at school. We had a problem in geometry. We might have seen at a glance that such and such a thing must be so, but we were called upon to demonstrate it, and the demonstration would be our conclusion. So the Holy Ghost establishes the word of the child, tile servant of God, in the Bible class, in the mission, and in the church.
In London, in the winter, after the services of the church are over, we have our magic-lantern service from nine to ten o’clock for people whose clothes are too shabby to come among the more respectable audiences. If is so dark that Nicodemus does not mind coming in. I carefully prepare my sermon, and keep one proof of it, and give the other to my secretary, who operates from the gallery. I begin to preach. When I say: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” I know that as I utter the words he flashes on the screen behind me a picture of the world, a globe with a scroll around it: “God is love.” When I say: “Now is the time to accept this Christ,” the word “now” will appear behind me. And if I speak of the Savior’s dying love and pity, instantly I know, by previous agreement, that Dore’s picture of the crucified Christ is appealing to the people. I do not need to look to see if it is there, because the awe, the reverence, the silence of the people indicate to me that that great sight is represented on the canvass. My secretrary demonstrates to the eye what I say to the ear.
My meaning, I trust, is distinct. You and I may go to work for God, may go into

F.B.Meyer