They shall be very simple witnesses, and to the eye of man quite insignificant. They shall not have in themselves any apparent power of testimony; but yet I believe they are intended to speak in words of irresistible argument to all thinking men, and I trust will carry home to the hearts of those who are not “willingly ignorant” the most conclusive evidence of the truth of God. I refer to the two Sacraments of the Lord’s appointment—Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In 1 John v. there appears to be a distinct reference to the Jewish rule, and there are three witnesses mentioned as bearing testimony upon earth—“the Spirit, and the water, and the blood.” The passage is not an easy one, and it behoves us to speak with caution. But I cannot help believing that by “the Spirit” is meant the testimony of the Holy Ghost in His inspired Word; and by “the water and the blood,” the two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It is to the testimony of these two latter witnesses that I now propose to refer; but we must remember there is nothing in either of them of a conspicuous or ostentatious character. In neither one nor the other is there anything like a material monument, nor anything to attract the attention of “the world;” there is no erection of granite or marble, nor any inscription like those on the stones from Nineveh; but they are both simple acts of the simplest possible character. A little water is all that is visible in the one, and a little bread and wine in the other; and yet, though so simple, so insignificant, and so absolutely without any visible monument, for the last eighteen hundred years they have been bearing their testimony as “witnesses” for Christ. Let us then conclude our series by the examination of their evidence, and let us consider two points: (1) Their present position; and (2) When and how did they acquire it? May God so bless our study by the Holy Ghost as to bring home conviction to all our hearts and understandings. (1.) _Their present position_.