We learn the same truth from the fact that the same effects are ascribed indiscriminately to the Spirit and the Word, showing clearly that where one is, there the other is also, and that one acts through the other.

Thus the divine call is ascribed in one place to the Spirit, and in another to the Word.  Rev. xxii. 17. "The Spirit ... says come." In the parables, Christ’s ministers, preaching the Word, say:  "Come, for all things are ready."

In like manner, enlightening, or teaching, is ascribed to both.  John xiv. 26, Jesus says of the Spirit:  “He shall teach you all things;” chapter xvi. 13, “He shall guide you into all truth.”  He is called a “spirit of wisdom”—­a “spirit of light.”  On the other hand, the Word is called a “Word of wisdom;” also, Ps. cxix. 130:  “The entrance of thy Words giveth light;” 2 Tim. iii. 15:  The Scriptures are said to be “able to make wise unto salvation;” 2 Pet. i. 19:  It is as “a light that shineth in a dark place.”

So, also, regeneration is ascribed to both.  John iii. 5:  “Born of water and of the Spirit:”  verse 6:  “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit;” verse 8:  “So is every one that is born of the Spirit:”  1 John v. 4:  “For whatsoever is born of God (i.e., of God’s Spirit) overcometh the world.”  But of the divine Word it is said, 1 Pet. i. 23, “Born again ... by the Word of God;” James i. 18:  “Of his own will begat he us, with the Word of truth.”

In like manner, sanctification is ascribed to both.  John xvii. 17:  “Sanctify them through thy truth:  thy Word is truth;” but 1 Cor. vi. 11, “Ye are sanctified ... by the Spirit of our God.”

And thus we might go on, and show that what is ascribed in one place to the Spirit, is ascribed in another place to the Word—­proving conclusively that the two always go together.  Where one is, there the other is also.  The Spirit operates through the Word, whether it be the written, the preached, the sacramental, or the Word in conversation or reflection.  The ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit are through that Word.  Those who are renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit are those who have been influenced by this regenerating and sanctifying Word.

This blessed Word of God, quick, powerful, able to save the soul, because of the life-giving Spirit connected with it, is not only to be read, but to be preached and heard.  This is God’s own arrangement.  From the days of Enoch, Noah, the patriarchs and prophets, down to Jesus and the apostles, and from them to the end of the Gospel dispensation, He has had and will have His preachers of righteousness.