Otherwise, he is
reduced to a state of mental infancy, and kept in intellectual
swaddling clothes. He will guide us in judgment; but it is only
as we resolutely, and in the best light we have, exercise
judgment.
John Wesley said that God usually guided him by presenting
reasons to his mind for any given course of action.
(c) The Psalmist says, "Thou shalt guide me with Thy
counsel," and "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way
that thou shalt go." Now, counsel, instruction, and teaching not
only imply effort upon the part of the teacher, but also study
and close attention on the part of the one being taught. So this
guidance of the Holy Spirit is such as will require us to
attentively listen, diligently study, and patiently learn the
lessons He would teach us. And so we see that the Holy Spirit
does not set aside our powers and faculties, but seeks to awaken
and stir them into full activity, and develop them into well-
rounded perfection, and thus make them channels through which He
can intelligently influence and direct us.
What He seeks to do is to illuminate our whole spiritual being,
as the sun illuminates our physical being, and bring us into such
union and sympathy, such oneness of thought, desire, affection,
and purpose with God, that we shall, by a kind of spiritual
instinct, know at all times the mind of God concerning us, and
never be in doubt about His will.
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