The Scriptures reveal the truth clearly, that the Spirit of God gives efficiency to the means of grace. And not only this, but he operates in accordance with those necessary principles which have been developed in the progress of these chapters. Christ instructed his disciples to expect that he would send the Holy Spirit; and when he is come, said Jesus, 'He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment;' that is, the Holy Spirit will produce conviction of sin in the hearts of the unsanctified and impenitent:--the office-work of the Spirit of God in relation to the world is to convince of sin. In relation to the saints he exercises a different office. He is their Comforter. He takes of the things that belong to Jesus, and shows them to his people.[42] That is, he causes the people of God to see more and more of the excellency, and the glory, and the mercy manifested in a crucified Saviour; and by this blessed influence they 'grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.' Christ, by his ministry and death, furnished the facts necessary for human salvation: the Holy Spirit uses those facts to convict and sanctify the heart. Paul, in a passage already noticed, alludes to the influence of the Spirit operating by the appointed means of prayer, or devout meditation. 'But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' [42] John xvi. 7-14. Further: At what juncture, in the progress of the great plan of salvation, would this agency be most powerfully exerted? We answer, at the time when the whole moral machinery of the dispensation through which the effect was to be produced was completed. Whatever is designed and adapted to produce a definite result as an instrument must be completed before it is put into operation, otherwise it will not produce the definite effect required. An imperfect system put into operation would produce an imperfect result. Here a special effect was to be produced; it was necessary, therefore, that the truth should be revealed, and the manifestations all made, before the power was imparted to give them effect. Under the new dispensation the greatest and most imposing manifestations were the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus: had the system been put into operation before these crowning manifestations were made, the great end of the gospel would not have been accomplished. It follows, then, that the material would be first prepared, the manifestations made and adapted to the material, the appropriate means ordained, and then the agency of the Spirit would be introduced to guide the dispensation to its ultimate triumphs, and to give efficiency to its operations. These deductions harmonise with the teachings of the Scriptures. First, they expressly teach that without the agency of God no perfect result is accomplished.