All Consolation Traced Up to Its Divine Source

As we have pursued the various toyics of consolation wliicli reside in the attributes, the covenant, and the promises of God, in their application to different conditions of humanity, we have been perpetually led to observe that these means of comfort have no efficiency of themselves, but need to be impressed upon the sufferer’s soul by an omnipotent hand. If in treating our subject we had observed the order of nature, and begun with the cause, we should have opened our subject with the Fountain of all grace, even God himself We have, however, arrived at the same point by an inverse method, and out some of the numerous streams, have traced them up to the divine excellency from which they flow. But this deserves our more particular consideration.

In much of the foregoing remarks we have found occasion to make reference to the Apostle Paul. There is scarcely a single writing of his preserved to the church in which this subject is not touched. But there is one of his epistles, namely, the second to the Corinthians, in which he more fully opens the stores of Christian consolation. It was penned after emerging from a great and severe trial, in wliicli lie was pressed out of measure above strength, insomuch that he despaired even of life, and had the sentence of death in himself. (2 Cor. 1: 8, 9.) These extraordinary afflictions, as he informs us, were intended to fit him for the delisrhtful work of consoling others. “And whether we be afflicted,” says he, “it is for your consolation and salvation, which is wrought in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.” (1: 6, inavfjin And in recollection of what he had graciously received, he breaks forth into a doxology, which contains a very remarkable ex23ression: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all COMFORT!” Although this is introduced by us only as introductory to the chief subject, it certainly merits a moment’s regard. When God is here spoken of as the source of all consolation, it is to be observed that he is so exhibited, not in his essential or his rectoral glory, but in his covenant relation that is, as the God ,and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;” justifying what we have had repeated occasion to say in these pages, that all God’s mercies, and all his comforts, come to us only through the channel provided by the j)lan of grace in Christ Jesus.

That God is the great Consoler is abundantly testified by the Old Testament, which in all its parts is a consistent prelude and anticipation of the New

GOD THE COISrSOLEE. 427

To establish this assertion, we might cite a large portion of the book of Psalms. Every parental heart comprehends and feels the tender figure, when David sings, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (Ps. 103: 13, 14.) And the same assurance is presented even more touchingly, where the Lord thus addresses his people: “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (Is. 66: 13.) This special work of fatherly kindness is largely set forth in the prophecies. “For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he shall comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” (Is. 51: 3.) Without resorting, however, to textual proof, we cannot fail to observe, from the patriarchal days downward through all the tracts of the Hebrew annals, how benignant a regard the Almighty bestows upon his suffering servants, and how ready his hand is to wipe away their tears. Yet it must be acknowledged, that during all this preparatory discipline of the ancient church, their eye is directed to a period yet firture, in which divine consolations should have larger scope. And the blessed agencies thus indicated are seen to centre themselves in Him who is “the desire of all nations.” It has frequently been remarked by commentators, that the hope of the coming Messias

428 CONSOLATIO]S

is thrown in, upon many occasions, precisely where the prospects of the chosen seed were most enveloped in darkness. The jMessuis of prophecy cliaracterizes himself as a Consoler. “The Sphit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach glad tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn j to ajipoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” (Is. 61: 1, 2, 3.) Accordingly, when the Lord Jesus Christ, in the fulness of time made a public demonstration of his Messiahship in the synagogue of Nazareth, he unrolled the sacred scroll, and read aloud this very prediction. (Luke 4:16.) And the whole series of his words and his benefactions were in the spirit of this prophetic word.

But we approach more touching manifestations of this spirit of consolation in those days when the cloud of his mediatorial suiferings was growing more dark, and he was about to be separated from his disciples. We shall here find a new aspect of the doctrine which may properly occupy our thoughts in conclusion.

zlfter the institution of the Lord’s Supper, and in that discourse which preceded his arrest in the garden, our blessed Saviour uttered some of his most remarkable words of grace. Among these one great promise stands pre-eminent; it is in these terms: ‘* And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spiiit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless (orphans), I will come to you. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, wdiich is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14: 16, 17, 18, 25, 26.)

For the satisfactory understanding of this delightful passage, it is necessary for us to give especial attention to its principal term. Expressive as is the word Comforter, it does not reach the full comprehension of the original. Paraclete which signifies also a monitor and an advocate.”^* The first

* The verb from wliicli it is derived means to call upon, to admonish, and to exhort in the way of consolation. The derivative hero as3i, HnpuKXT^Tos-, is therefore an advocate, an intercessor, who pleads ine cause of any one before a judge, and then a consoler or comforter. See Robinson’s Lexicon. The word Paraclete has been freely introduced into the elevated language of all Christian cliur:hes. It carJy a[)peared in the Latin hymns: for instance,

Bcata nobis gaudia

Anni reduxit orbita,

Cum Spiritus Paraclitus

Illapsus e;;t apostoHs.

observation which suggests itself is that this promised visitant was to come in Christ’s stead. “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you; but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, shall teach,” (fee. That is, He shall come in my name and place. And there are unspeakable grace and fulness in this, which we shall not duly estimate unless we consider what the actual presence of Jesus conferred on the disciples. They were “the children of the bride-chamber,” and could not mourn, because the Bridegroom was with them. He was to them an ever-present spring of consolation. Imperfect as were some of their views, before the resurrection and Pentecost, they were nevertheless with Christ. They saw his countenance. They witnessed his mighty works. They heard him speak as never man spake. They had communication with him. They enjoyed his love. They were overshadowed by his continual protection. If sorrow sometimes broke forth, there was a hand always near to wipe away their tears. He was himself their personal monitor, advocate, and comforter. The promise is one which intimates a gracious substitution, and was suited to that moment of sorrow. How much they were confounded by the tidings of his approaching departure, is sufficiently manifest from the words, “What is this that he saith unto us, A little while and ye shall not see me: and again, A little while and ye shall see me; and. Because I go to the Father?” (16: IT.) And it is to console them under this expected removal, that the Comforter ia promised, just at this jmictnre.

The Holy Spirit is here unquestionably proposed, as able and willing to do for disciples all that they would seek from the personal yresence of Christ. Our Lord expresses this most strongly, when he represents the mission of the Comforter as a great reason why he was about to ascend into the heavenly places. “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but iy I depart, I will send him unto you.” (16: 7.) Ihey should not lose, but gain, by such a departure of our Lord to the completion of his mediatorial work. The Spirit, as we shall presently see more fully, was eminently able to supply these wants, for he is the Spirit of Christ, by whom, as man, Jesus himself was anointed above measure, and endowed for his work; by whom also, in their measure, each believer is endowed and anointed, receiving from his fulness, “and grace for grace.’’ We are therefore authorized to believe, that the divine Paraclete fully, gloriously, and increasingly, supplies to disciples the place of a present Jesus.

Another observation, by no means to be bmitp led, is that the promised Comforter is to come from the Father. God himself is the author of this consolation; as he is the eternal fount of all excellency. But it is not as Creator, Preserver, Sovereign, or Lawgiver that he now acts, but as the God of grace and redemption. And hence we are led anew to admire the harmony of the Dildne Persons. The

Holy Spirit is not a creature, llo^Yeve exalted, nor a power, nor an effluence, nor an agency, but a coe([ual and co-eternal Person in the Divine essence, hi every moment of the mediatorial work the Three, who are One, are equally and gloriously operative towards the end in view; but according to a mysterious economy, in which the office and acts of each are distinguished. The Comforter is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. He proceedeth eternally from the Father and the Son. And in the dispensation of time, he is sent by the Father, in those influences which are needed to complete the work of grace in believers. The adorable Father himself, “our Father which is in heaven,” loves us. He is especially and primarily the fountain of redeeming mercy; the deviser of the covenant, the giver of the Surety. He moreover loves his people, in the carrying on of this very work; and it is in the exercise of an eternal and ineffable love that he sends the Holy Spirit; for he is “the God of all comfort.” This should dispose us, especially in times of trial, to look up to God the Father with unwavering filial confidence. Yet these manifestations of favour observe a due order, and are connected with the merit and intercession of Him, who is more strictly our Redeemer.

This will be more apparent, when we add the observation, that the promised Comforter is to come in Christ’s name. All spiritual blessings so come; and we may regard the Holy Ghost as the all-comprehensive blessing. He who has this gift has all

Now, this gift is bestowed with a direct reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. “Whcm,” said he, “the Father will send in my name.” We have already seen that he comes in Christ’s place. It remains to be said, that he comes at Christ’s request. The Lord assured them that he would pray the Father for this gift. For our blessed Redeemer, though ascended to heaven in his human nature, is not indifferent to the interests of his people; “seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us.” Every benefit of the covenant which we receive during our whole existence is the result of Christ’s prevalent agency for us in the court of heaven. No application of the righteousness procured by his suffering and obedience would ever be made but for the perfect carrying on of this work in the Holy of Holies, beyond the vail of the visible heavens. And when, as High Priest, he bears the stones of the breastplate graven with the names of the holy tribes, he forgets no one of his chosen, but looks down with an individual regard on each of his people, with a wise and merciful reference to every particular case of want or affliction. Nor can I think of a doctrine more fraught with consolation, if properly considered, than that the Lord Jesus Christ makes each of us the subject of his prayers in heaven; unless it be this further limitation of the same truth, that what he so prays for is nothing less than the gift of the Holy Ghost.

When it is said that the Comforter shall be sent in Christ’s name, the meaning unquestionably is that he shall be sent in consideration of Christ’s merits We are not to look on this august communication aa among those bounties which come to us in the ordinary routine of common providential dispensations. There would have been no sending of the Holy Ghost but for the covenant work, the nghteous deserving, the federal subjugation, and the atoning death of the Son of God. This death placed the crown of glory on his work of humiliation. When, at a certain time, preaching in the temple, he promised this blessing under the beautiful image of rivers of living water, it is added by the evangelist: “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7: 39.) Some communications in this kind had doubtless been made, even under the Old Testament dispensation; but the moment was not fully come “for the ministration of the Spirit;” nor could it come until the day of his ascension in triumph unto glory. Let it then be fixed in our -minds, that the gift of the Comforter is a purchased gift. It i» the desert of our Lord’s mediatorial obedience unto death. The work of Gethsemane and of the cross must precede this effusion. So felt the apostles on the day of Pentecost, when, after visible and audible tokens of this presence, Peter, speaking in their name, said, “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy GJiost he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” (Acts 2: 33.) In deed the communication of the Holy Spirit is but a carrying forward in heaven of the work which Christ began on earth. It is Christ himself working by the Spirit in the hearts of his people.

An equally important observation is, that, even in his consoling work, the promised Spirit comes as a teacher and monitor. ‘Not only “is all truth, in order to goodness;” but it may be added, all truth is in order to consolation. Hence we read concerning “patience and comfort of the Scriptures;” the solace of didne truth. This connection is very obvious in the promise, “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remambrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

No careful reader will fail to observe, that this is one of the most important senses in which the Holy Spirit, as the Paraclete, was to supply the place of Christ. The Lord Jesus, in his prophetic office, was the teacher of his disciples. These his personal and direct instructions were valuable and delightful beyond expression. Grace was poured into his lips. The loss in this respect must have seemed irreparable, and all human instructors must have been despicable in comparison. Kemembering how he spake, we may be almost forgiven if we sometimes regret that we had not seen one of these days of the Son of Man. But that which the Lord Jesus once did with his own lips, he now and henceforth accomplishes by the Holy Spirit. “He shall teach you all things.” The apostle John, in speaking of false and seducing teachers, contrasts with them this teaching of the Holy Ghost, as enjoyed by believers. “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” (1 John 2: 20, 27.) Thus we are enabled to perceive more clearly and fully how the adorable Spirit comes in Christ’s name. He teaches what Christ taught. He takes of the things of Christ, and shows them unto us. From the infinite fund of wisdom and knowledge, of which he is the inspirer, and which is no less Christ’s, he draws and dispenses, according to the diversified necessities of the church. It is scarcely a change of teacher. The Spirit gives the same lesson. He repeats and re- ldves it; brings out afresh in the chambers of memory the characters which had faded on the walls; and touches the sluggish heart to awaken it to new impressions. All this we believe to be by a direct influence on the soul; opening the receptive faculty, pouring in light, causing knowledge, belief, emotion, and will, no less than providing an objective revelation in the Scriptures. There is a condescension even to the weakness of humar memory. It need scarcely be said that truth derives much of its value from being seasonable. Experience testifies that a doctrine or promise of the word, long neglected or forgotten, may be so applied in a moment of emergency, by the Holy

GOD THE CONSOLER. 4:S^

Spirit, as to diffuse a sudden and unspeakable joy over the soul. It is this which accounts for the difference between reader and reader, between hearer and hearer, and between different states of the same individual. In order that truth be efficacious, especially to consolation, something more is necessary than that it should be revealed; something more than that it should be apprehended by the natural understanding; it must be brought home to the spiritual perception and the faith. And to do this is the especial province of the Holy Spirit. In the preceding discourses our minds have been brought into the presence of many divine truths which are suited to lift up the heart that ia cast down; but this effect will not be produced, except so far as the Holy Spirit takes, shows, and impresses them. And this he graciously does to many a broken-hearted Christian.

But why should we be detained from that which after all is the great import of these divine communications? The promised Spirit is sent to believers, as a Comforter, in the common acceptation of the word. This it is which brings the subject more particularly within the scope of the present investigation. It is the “God of all comfort,” in the person of the adorable Spirit, pouring his consolations over the sorrowing heart. For the words of Jesua had failed of their application if this had not been included. The disciples were in unexampled grief; sorrow had filled their hearts; they were expecting orphanage and desolation. That which the benignant Redeemer promises them is a Comforter; and this it is which we all need. It is into a world of sighs and tears, from manifold and multiform calamity, and into a church which through much tribulation presses on towards the kingdom, that this divine Visitant deigns to come.

The primary mode of communicating consolation has been already pointed out. It is by the instrumentality of truth. This truth, as to the matter of it, is not a new revelation; but the Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shows them to us. This truth is summed up in the canon of Scripture; and, therefore, the word of God is beyond all other volumes the Book of Consolation. Though neglected in days of prosperity, and seasons of religious decline, it is sure to be open on the tables and in the hands of sorrowing disciples. The disposition to fly to the Bible in hours of trouble is so strong and constant, that it ma be denominated an instinct of the new nature. Not more naturally does the new-born babe turn to the fount of infant nutrition. And the testimony of all Christian mourners is, that at these wells of salvation they have found refreshment and solace. It would be next to death to remove the Scriptures from a burdened saint. But though persecution has often removed the letter of the external volume, the Holy Spirit, even in dungeons, has awakened the inward ear of the sufferer, and brought to remembrance the words of this life.

The truth which we have been last considering, is clearly taught in those words of the Apostle Paul, in which he says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all peace and joy in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Rom. 13: 3.) Here the consolation is very distinctly ascribed to belief of the truth. This truth, as containing the plan of salvation for lost sinners, is denominated the Gospel, or good tidings; and as such it is made to rejoice the believer’s heart from the very beginning of the Christian life. To a soul properly exercised, all its truths are consolatory, and more and more so as progress is made in divine things. As the views of divine truth Ijecome more clear and comprehensive, the comforts of the Spirit become more abiding, agreeably to what we attempted to lay down in treating of Hope and Joy in the Lord.

It is of great importance to remember, that direct and large and believing views of precious Christian doctrines, concerning God, Christ, salvation, and heaven, are the principal means which the Holy Spirit uses for the support of the soul, even under heavy afflictions. On this head serious errors are prevalent. First, the thoroughly worldly man, having treasure and heart in the present life, neither desires nor seeks any portion but that which is carnal; and if this is taken away, he is like Micah of old when bei-eft of his gods. Kemaining in this condition, he is utterly insusceptible of any spiritual relief from the chosen means of the great Consoler. He lacks all taste and relish for those divine realL ties which are angels’ food. Under sudden and alarming strokes of providential judgment, he is sometimes stupefied and sometimes frantic; and when the storm of rebellious passions lulls itself to I’est, he murmurs awhile, like the tempest-tossed 3cean, and then subsides into the caln) of unbelievmg security. In all this there is no operation of comforting truth. Secondly; the partially enlightened believer, as yet inexperienced in these lessons of the heavenly Monitor, is at first greatly surprised by the access of severe chastening. The mode in which divine comforts are communicated is as yet unknown to him. He looks for removal of the rod as the only relief which can sufiice; and for a time his earnest supplications go out in this direction. If, for example, he has been impoverished, he expects some indemnity in kind. If some grievous burden is laid upon him, he hopes that it may be removed; and it is only after repeated trials that he learns the method of grace. But thirdly, the ripe Christian, long tried in the school of sorrows, is made to know that the soul may be comforted amidst the very billows. In some unexpected moment divine illumination reveals to him the great abiding truths of the spiritual world; truths which avo as precious and as satisfying, in adverse as in prosperous days. By a process of holy attraction, his thoughts are drawn away from self and all its interests and losses, to be fixed and absorbed by the character of God, by his mighty works, by the pei son of the Redeemer, by the work of redemption.

by the progress of the kingdom, and by the glory yet to be revealed. Filled and animated and tranquillized by these, he is led to forget his private griefs; and thus the Comforter performs his office by means of the truth. “The things of Christ,” applied to the inner sense, direct the mind from its earthly pangs, and to a certain extent afford a prelibation of the celestial joy.

From what has been said it might readily be anticipated, that the processes by which the Holy Spirit forms the soul to holiness, do, at the same time, conduce to its consolation. Plere the work of the Sanctifier and the work of the Comforter really coalesce. Sin is a disorder of the human powers, in which their harmony is destroyed, and the result is the turbulence of wretched passions. If this discord were not limited, it would become absolutely hellish; and such is in part the penal woe of the eternal torment. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” But every step in sanctification is a restitution in measure to the primitive harmony and peace of man. And this work cannot go on without a proportionate augmentation of happiness. To arrive at consolation we must be made more holy.

Nothing is more evident than that those graces which are denominated the fruits of the Spirit, are, in their very nature modes of happiness. ‘No man can possess them without a diminution of suffering. Some of them are directly consolatory, because they «tiike at the very root of our inward disquietudes.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” (Gal. 5:22, 23.) “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth.” (Eph. 5: 9.) For instance, Faith, by realizing to the soul the divine truths which we have been considering, carries it away above its sufferings, and so consoles; while we look not at the things which are seen, which are temporal, but at the things which are not seen, which are eternal. Goodness, or evangelical benevolence, is delightful in its very acts; and we never so forget our own sorrows as when we are endeavouring to increase the happiness of our neighbour. Gentleness diffuses a blessed calm over the nature. Love is the atmosphere of heaven. Long-suffering and Meekness counteract all those distresses — and they are innumerable — which arise from pride, anger, and revenge. Joy, as we have already seen, drives out the soul’s pains by the expulsive power of a new dominant affection. And Peace is but the scriptural name for the entire result of combined holy satisfactions in the heart. When the promised Spirit enters into a soul, and produces these its fruits, it does, in the same degree, tend to dispel troubles, and is the efficient cause of consolation amidst the greatest fight of afflictions.

We might here enlarge upon the comforting effects produced by the witness of the Spirit, and the assurance of God’s love; but this has abeady been made the subject of a separate discourse. Let ug rather bestow a few thoughts upon the enduring nature of this spiritual influence. It is found in these clauses of the promise “For he dwelleth with you, and shall he in you;” “And he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” Their Lord was about to be removed from them, in respect to his personal presence, and they were filled with sorrow. He promises them a Consoler who should never be removed. It is one of the most precious truths of our holy religion, that the Spirit of grace is not merely a guest or visitor, but a perpetual inhabitant. This is true in regard both to the collective body of saints, who are a temple of the Lord, and to the individual believer. Both were prefigured by the constant residence of Jehovah, with the manifested Shekinah, in the tabernacle and the temple. “I will dwell among the children of Israel,” said the Lord, “and will be their God.” (Exod. 29: 45.) He is, therefore, addressed as dwelling between the cherubim, that is, in the Holy of Holies, above the golden propitiatory of the ark. The temple was typical of the JSTew Testament church, “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also,” says Paul to the Ephesians, “are builded together, for a habitation of God through the Spirit.” (2: 20, 21, 22.) And to other Christians of primitive days, “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (2 Cor. G: 16.) Nor is this inhabitation confined to Christians as a collective church; for the same apostle says, with individual application, ‘• Wha+! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Cor. G: 19.)

There is somethinof at once dreadful and delightful in this indwelling of the Holy One in hoT-ises of clay. It is dreadful to be so near that divine glory, before which the Seraphim veil their faces. The argument hence derived against the abuse of the body to purposes of sin, is natural and cogent. It is on the other hand delightful to consider, that the source of all holiness and comfort is within us, if we belong to Christ. The promised Comforter has made his shrine in our very bodies, and possesses our souls with his presence. He cannot be ignorant of our condition, and no trial can befall us without his permission, as there is also no sorrow which he cannot assuage. This is felt with unutterable peace when the Divine witness testifies within the soul. “And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” (1 John 3: 24.)

While, as we have seen, there is a perpetual indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the soul of the true believer, it by no means follows that the manifestations of his consoling attributes are equal at all times. On the contrary, as he keeps his throne in this palace of his choice, so he exercises his sovereignty

111 regard to the time and the degree of his joy-giving disclosures. There are various stages of advancing comfort, and sometimes there are decays and echpses of the beatific light. Nevertheless., the Spirit of grace, by v, horn we are sealed unto the day of redemption, is never absent, and never inaccessible. It is sometimes his pleasure to shine forth with splendour from amidst the temp<,tttuous cloud; and his chief triumphs of consolation often gleam from the falling ruins of his frail sanctuary, in the hour of dissolution. Happy would it be for us, if we could always maintain an unwaveri jg persuasion as to the reality and the greatness of this inhabitation of God through the Spirit. It would confer a dignity of which we now kno-/ too little upon the whole tenor of a Christian life. Temptation would be disarmed by the sense of such a presence, and we should tremble at the thought of grieving one so great and yet so near. The current philosophy of this world disallows the existence of all these spiritual facts, which are matters of pure revelation, and loves to dwell in the realm of bare phenomena, seemings, or appearances. Yet to one whose mental eye has been purged of its film, and who is raised “above the stir and smoke of this dim spot, which men call earth,” there is nothing more substantially true than the reality and presence of this divine and blessed Paraclete. And when by long habits of holy contemplation the human spirit has acquired the sacred art of turning inward, resorting to the most holy place, and consulting the

Urim and Thummim of divine communications, these truths begin to establish themselves as articles of faith, sources of peace, and principles of action. Can we then too earnestly crave the presence of the Comforter in our souls? Or can we any longer be indifferent to the means whereby we may receive more of his consoling suggestions?

When we spoke of Divine Truth, as an instrument in the hand of the Spirit, for the accomplishment of his work, we really indicated one of the principal ways in which to seek this great blessing. If we would be comforted, we must seek it by the truth. The Comforter is the Spirit of Truth. The consoling process is carried on by the application of truth. In all which we find a very strong argument for making ourselves early familiar with the Scriptures. Afflictions come with so little warning, that it is a part of our Christian forecast to have knowledge in store, against the time of need. Our very acquaintance with the Divine Consoler himself, is derived solely from the revealed word; and there also we learn the methods of Providence and the grounds of consolation.

If, as has been already observed, the Holy Spirit works our comfort by means of our sanctification, then holiness must be reckoned among the means of Christian enjoyment, and we should seek our solace in conformity to God’s will. Excluding every self-righteous or pharisaic assumption on this subject, we may nevertheless say in a safe sense, that God will not pour so rich a balsam into an impure ressel. It is no part of his gracious plan to comfort us in our sins. The very pains and fears into which his good providence casts us are occasioned by our delinquencies, and are chastisements for our faults. The way of return is, therefore, by the thorny path of contrition and repentance. Nor do backsliding disciples usually find themselves restored to favour, until they have done their “first works,” and passed afresh through exercises like those which first brought them to Christ. We may state the truth therefore with some generality, that genuine consolation is not to be looked for independently of increased holiness.

The conclusion which ought to be drawn is, that he who leads a worldly life under a Christian profession is in a most unfit state to grapple with great trials. To him they will be sore surprises, “as snow in summer and as rain in harvest.” They will arouse him at midnight, as when besiegers suddenly break upon a city without gates or walls. We have been called to witness such experiences, when some poor carnal professor has been driven up from his resting-place and cast into utter discomfiture. It is well for such, if the rod in God’s hand is made the means of bringing them back to holy living. For as it is altogether uncertain in what hour or instant the dart may pierce us in the most sensitive spot, it is the part of wisdom to be always in a condition suited to receive divine communications, and in a posture in which it shall be easy to roll our burden on the Lord. And in the very height of afflictive visitations, when all God’s waves and billows go over the soul, the method of seeking relief is the same: we return to peace only by returning to God.

Before leaving the means of attaining religion?* consolation, we must name the most important of all. It is indicated in those words of our blessed Lord: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more rhall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11: 13.) It is difficult to conceive of greater encouragement to pray for this gift than is afforded by this promise of our Lord Jesus Christ. The comparison which he uses goes home at once to the parental heart. The benefit which he offers is plainly exhibited as the greatest; for, indeed, if God gives us his Holy Spirit, he gives us all that is requisite to our comfort here and our salvation for ever.” Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.’’