The holy spirit as comforter

THE HOLY SPIRIT AS COMFORTER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
This topic is so popular, and so many have written such wonderful articles on it that
all I can do is share what I think are among the best, for I can add nothing to them.
by Pastor Jack Hyles
(Chapter 17 from Dr. Hyle's excellent book, Meet The Holy Spirit)
John 16:7, 8, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go
away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I
will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and
of righteousness, and of judgment."
One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to comfort the believer. The word "comforter"
means "one to run to our side and pick us up." This is what Jesus had done while
He was on the earth. I John 2:1, "My little children, these things write I unto you,
that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous." The word "advocate" is the same word as "comforter" in
John 16:7, 8. Hence, Jesus is our advocate, or comforter, or the one who runs to our
side to pick us up. Especially was this true during His earthly life, but when He went
back to Heaven, He sent us ANOTHER comforter. John 14:16, 17 and 26, "And I
will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide
with you for ever; even the Spirit 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. But the Comforter, Which 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." In a sense, the Holy Spirit came to
be the babysitter for the Christians. Jesus was the One Who ran to our side; now He
goes back to Heaven. He sends the Holy Spirit to do to all of us what He did when
He was here.
Yet, according to I John 2:1, in a sense, Jesus is still our comforter, so the Holy Spirit
is not exactly a substitute but an additional one to run to our side.
It is interesting to note that the word "comforter" was also used for legal aid or the
counsel for the defense; so the Holy Spirit is that. Jesus is our aid at the right hand
of the Father; the Holy Spirit is our aid on earth. Jesus is a positions advocate in
Heaven; the Holy Spirit is a conditional advocate on earth.

Someone has described it this way. God made a will. When Jesus died, it became
valid to those who trust Him. He went to Heaven as our attorney at the right hand of
the Father. The Holy Spirit distributes that will for Jesus on earth. There are two
things in this will. First, Ephesians 1:7, "In Whom we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Notice the
words, "The riches of His grace." This is salvation by grace through faith in the
finished work of our Saviour on Calvary. Second, "the riches of His glory."
Ephesians 3:16, "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to
be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." This will come at the
rapture when we see Him as He is.
Perhaps the reason Jesus had to return to Heaven was twofold. First, He went to do
His work. Hebrews 7:25, "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
Second, He went to give the Holy Spirit HIS work to do.
As the comforter, there is another thing the Holy Spirit does. He helps our
comforters. John 14:18, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." In
other words, He uses human instruments to do His comforting. There are times
when the Holy Spirit will comfort you himself without human aid.
There are other times when He will empower and strengthen OTHERS to say just
the words you need and give you just the comfort you need. This does not mean the
Holy Spirit is not doing the comforting. He is leading and strengthening someone
and using him to comfort us and strengthen us in our time of need. At times He runs
alongside to help and there is no human aid in sight. At other times, He leads
someone to come to us to be our aid, our comforter, to pick us up. In either case, this
is the work of the Spirit. He simply sometimes chooses not to use human help and
other times He chooses to do so.
In my own life there have been many times the Holy Spirit alone has been my
comforter. When I paused at the casket of my unsaved father I touched his face. It
was cold and hard as a stone. Suddenly I felt a hand grip my arm. I turned to see
who it was, and there was no one there. I could definitely feel fingers touching my
arm. It was blessed Holy Spirit coming HIMSELF to give me comfort. Then this
same Holy Spirit led the pastor to speak words of comfort to me; He led loving
friends to encourage my heart. He was comforting and strengthening me both
WITH and WITHOUT human instruments. The Christian should yield himself to
the Holy Spirit in order that the Spirit may use him to comfort, strengthen and
restore others. When the Christian writes a note of comfort, he should ask the Holy
Spirit to deliver it for him and to use it as a strength and comfort. When a word of
comfort or strength is spoken to a bereaved or weary friend, the power of the Holy

Spirit should accompany that word. Hence, the Christian should speak to the Holy
Spirit BEFORE he speaks the word of comfort, asking Him to speak words that he
cannot speak and to leave impressions that he cannot leave in order that he may be
used as a tool of the Holy Spirit to comfort and strengthen the discouraged, weak,
lonely, bereaved or fallen brother. There is a wonderful truth in John 14:26, "But
the Comforter, Which 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." Notice the words, "and bring all things to your remembrance."
The Spirit-led and Spirit-filled Christian may so yield himself to the Holy Spirit that
when he comforts , the Holy Spirit will bring to mind what he ought to say. The
Christian will enter into the very work of the Spirit Himself as a tool to be a
comforter.
Thank God for those times the Holy Spirit Himself has come to life me up and
strengthen me and to comfort me. Thank the Lord for those times when He has
touched a friend and spoken through him as a human instrument to comfort me and
strengthen me and lift me up. And thank God for those times when He has used me
as a tool to comfort others! Oh, Holy Spirit, use me again and again and again and
again to strengthen the weak, lift up the fallen, encourage the discouraged, offer
fellowship to the lonely, give a smile to the sad and comfort to the bereaved and
weary.
It is interesting to note that in a sense Jesus had to leave in order for the Holy Spirit
to come, that the Christian might be benefited to the fullest. For one thing, Jesus can
serve us better in his glory and we can do greater works because the Holy Spirit
came. John 14:12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works
that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go
unto My Father." Jesus entered the very presence of the Father; at the Father's side
He can help us and intercede for us. He knows our needs more. He felt them while
He was here, so He can send the Holy Spirit to dispense the fulfillment of our needs.
Hence, He helps the Father tot know our needs. Though He doesn't have to
persuade the Father to help us, He does remind Him of what help we need.
When I was a young pastor, I did so many things I do not do now. I once filled the
baptistery, prepared the communion cup, cooked the unleavened bread, cleaned the
building, turned on the lights, built the fire, printed the church bulletin and even led
the choir. However, with the passing of the years and the increasing of the church
membership I have had to have others to do what I used to do. Though I miss the
personal contact and many of the tasks, it is expedient for my people that I
administrate so that greater works can be done than were once done when I did it
all myself. I could say to my people, "It is expedient that I go to administrate, for I
can send many others to do the work that did and get more done."

There is a sense also in which the Lord Jesus can teach us better from the right hand
of the Father. When He was on earth, for example, He was in the flesh. Mark 13:32,
"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in
Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." The word "neither" means "not yet".
Jesus did not know the day nor hour of the Son of man's coming; at least, not yet,
but in His resurrection body, seated at the right hand of the Father, He would know.
Consequently, from that position, He can teach us better than through His earthly
body here with us.
In summary, our Lord was our comforter while He was here. Though in a sense He
continues to comfort from the right hand of the Father, He has sent us the Holy
Spirit to comfort us and through that Holy Spirit greater works can be done than
were done when our Lord was here.
I am dictating this chapter from the Lucerne Conference Grounds in Lucerne,
California. I am in my room. It is 1:30 a.m. If Jesus were in Jerusalem tonight, I
would catch the first plane tomorrow morning and I would fly to see Him, but I may
not get to see Him or talk to Him, for millions of others would be seeking the same
privilege as I. If He were here on earth, it just may be I would never get to touch His
hand, see His face or talk to Him personally, but now that He is gone and has sent
the Holy Spirit, He is in this room with me in the wee hours of the morning, and I
feel His presence. I can talk with Him. In this sense, it was expedient for me that He
go away, for through the Holy Spirit, I can be with Jesus anywhere I am, even in the
wee hours of the morning in a quiet hotel room in the mountains of northern
California.
REV. C. H. Spurgeon
"But the Comforter, which 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 14:26.
Good old Simeon called Jesus the consolation of Israel; and so he was. Before his
actual appearance, his name was the Day-Star; cheering the darkness, and
prophetic of the rising sun. To him they looked with the same hope which cheers the
nightly watcher, when from the lonely castle-top he sees the fairest of the stars, and
hails her as the usher of the morn. When he was on earth, he must have been the
consolation of all those who were privileged to be his companions. We can imagine
how readily the disciples would run to Christ to tell him of their griefs, and how
sweetly, with that matchless intonation of his voice, he would speak to them, and bid
their fears be gone. Like children, they would consider him as their Father; and to

him every want, every groan, every sorrow, every agony, would at once be carried;
and he, like a wise physician, had a balm for every wound; he had mingled a cordial
for their every care; and readily did he dispense some mighty remedy to allay all the
fever of their troubles. Oh! it must have been sweet to have lived with Christ. Surely
sorrows were then but joys in masks, because they gave an opportunity to go to
Jesus to have them removed. Oh! would to God, some of us may say, that we could
have lain our weary heads upon the bosom of Jesus, and that our birth had been in
that happy era, when we might have heard his kind voice, and seen his kind look,
when he said, "Let the weary ones come unto me."
But now he was about to die. Great prophecies were to be fulfilled; and great
purposes were to be answered; and therefore Jesus must go. It behoved him to
suffer, that he might be made a propitiation for our sins. It behoved him to slumber
in the dust awhile, that he might perfume the chamber of the grave to make it—
"No more a charnel house to fence
The relics of lost innocence."
It behoved him to have a resurrection, that we, who shall one day be the dead in
Christ, might rise first, and in glorious bodies stand upon earth. And if behoved him
that he should ascend up on high, that he might lead captivity captive; that he might
chain the fiends of hell; that he might lash them to his chariot wheels, and drag
them up high heaven's hill, to make them feel a second overthrow from his right
arm, when he should dash them from the pinnacles of heaven down to the deeper
depths beneath. "It is right I should go away from you," said Jesus, "for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come." Jesus must go. Weep, ye disciples; Jesus must
be gone. Mourn, ye poor ones, who are to be left without a Comforter. But hear how
kindly Jesus speaks: "I will not leave you comfortless, I will pray the Father, and he
shall send you another Comforter, who shall be with you, and shall dwell in you
forever." He would not leave those few poor sheep alone in the wilderness; he would
not desert his children, and leave them fatherless. Albeit that he had a mighty
mission which did fill his heart and hand; albeit he had so much to perform, that we
might have thought that even his gigantic intellect would be overburdened; albeit he
had so much to suffer, that we might suppose his whole soul to be concentrated upon
the thought of the sufferings to be endured. Yet it was not so; before he left, he gave
soothing words of comfort; like the good Samaritan, he poured in oil and wine, and
we see what he promised: "I will send you another Comforter—one who shall be
just what I have been, yea, even more; who shall console you in your sorrows,
remove your doubts, comfort you in your afflictions, and stand as my vicar on earth,
to do that which I would have done had I tarried with you."
Before I discourse of the Holy Ghost as the Comforter, I must make one or two
remarks on the different translations of the word rendered "Comforter." The
Rhenish translation, which you are aware is adopted by Roman Catholics, has left
the word untranslated, and gives it "Paraclete." "But the Paraclete, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things."

This is the original Greek word, and it has some other meanings besides
"Comforter." Sometimes it means the monitor or instructor: "I will send you
another monitor, another teacher." Frequently it means "Advocate;" but the most
common meaning of the word is that which we have here: "I will send you another
Comforter." However, we cannot pass over those other two interpretations without
saying something upon them.
"I will send you another teacher." Jesus Christ had been the official teacher of his
saints whilst on earth. They called no man Rabbi except Christ. They sat at no men's
feet to learn their doctrines; but they had them direct from the lips of him who
"spake as never man spake." "And now," says he, "when I am gone, where shall
you find the great infallible teacher? Shall I set you up a pope at Rome, to whom
you shall go, and who shall be your infallible oracle? Shall I give you the councils of
the church to be held to decide all knotty points?" Christ said no such thing. "I am
the infallible paraclete, or teacher, and when I am gone, I will send you another
teacher, and he shall be the person who is to explain Scripture; he shall be the
authoritative oracle of God, who shall make all dark things light, who shall unravel
mysteries, who shall untwist all knots of revelation, and shall make you understand
what you could not discover, had it not been for his influence." And, beloved, no
man ever learns anything aright, unless he is taught of the Spirit. You may learn
election, and you may know it so that you shall be damned by it, if you are not
taught of the Holy Ghost; for I have known some who have learned election to their
soul's destruction; they have learned it so that they said they were of the elect,
whereas, they had no marks, no evidences, and no works of the Holy Ghost in their
souls. There is a way of learning truth in Satan's college, and holding it in
licentiousness; but if so, it shall be to your souls as poison to your veins and prove
your everlasting ruin. No man can know Jesus Christ unless he is taught of God.
There is no doctrine of the Bible which can be safely, thoroughly, and truly learned,
except by the agency of the one authoritative teacher. Ah! tell me not of systems of
divinity; tell me not of schemes of theology; tell me not of infallible commentators,
or most learned and most arrogant doctors; but tell me of the Great Teacher, who
shall instruct us, the sons of God, and shall make us wise to understand all things.
He is the Teacher; it matters not what this man or that man says; I rest on no man's
boasting authority, nor will you. Ye are not to be carried away with the craftiness of
men, nor sleight of words; this is the authoritative oracle—the Holy Ghost resting in
the hearts of his children.
The other translation is advocate. Have you ever thought how the Holy Ghost can be
said to be an advocate? You know Jesus Christ is called the wonderful, the
counsellor, the mighty God; but how can the Holy Ghost be said to be an advocate? I
suppose it is thus; he is an advocate on earth to plead against the enemies of the
cross. How was it that Paul could so ably plead before Felix and Agrippa? How was
it that the Apostles stood unawed before the magistrates, and confessed their Lord?
How has it come to pass, that in all times God's ministers have been made fearless as
lions, and their brows have been firmer than brass; their hearts sterner than steel,
and their words like the language of God? Why, it was simply for this reason; that it

was not the man who pleaded, but it was God the Holy Ghost pleading through him.
Have you never seen an earnest minister, with hands uplifted and eyes dropping
tears, pleading with the sons of men? Have you never admired that portrait from
the hand of old John Bunyan?—a grave person with eyes lifted up to heaven, the
best of books in his hand, the law of truth written on his lips, the world behind his
back, standing as if he pleaded with men, and a crown of gold hanging over his
head. Who gave that minister so blessed a manner, and such goodly matter? Whence
came his skill? Did he acquire it in the college? Did he learn it in the seminary? Ah,
no. He learned it of the God of Jacob; he learned it of the Holy Ghost; for the Holy
Ghost is the great counsellor who teaches us how to advocate his cause aright.
But, beside this, the Holy Ghost is the advocate in men's hearts. Ah! I have known
men reject a doctrine until the Holy Ghost began to illuminate them. We, who are
the advocates of the truth, are often very poor pleaders; we spoil our cause by the
words we use; but it is a mercy that the brief is in the hand of a special pleader, who
will advocate successfully, and overcome the sinner's opposition. Did you ever know
him fail once? Brethren, I speak to your souls; has not God in old times convinced
you of sin? Did not the Holy Ghost come and prove that you were guilty, although
no minister could ever get you out of your self-righteousness? Did he not advocate
Christ's righteousness? Did he not stand and tell you that your works were filthy
rags? And when you had well-nigh still refused to listen to his voice, did he not fetch
hell's drum and make it sound about your ears; bidding you look through the vista
of future years, and see the throne set, and the books open, and the sword
brandished, and hell burning, and fiends howling, and the damned shrieking
forever? And did he not convince you of the judgment to come? He is a mighty
advocate when he pleads in the soul—of sin, of righteousness, and of the judgment
to come. Blessed advocate! Plead in my heart; plead with my conscience. When I sin,
make conscience bold to tell me of it; when I err, make conscience speak at once;
and when I turn aside to crooked ways, then advocate the cause of righteousness,
and bid me sit down in confusion, knowing by guiltiness in the sight of God.
But there is yet another sense in which the Holy Ghost advocates, and that is, he
advocates our cause with Jesus Christ, with groanings that cannot be uttered. O my
soul! thou art ready to burst within me. O my heart! thou art swelled with grief. The
hot tide of my emotion would well-nigh overflood the channels of my veins. I long to
speak, but the very desire chains my tongue. I wish to pray, but the fervency of my
feeling curbs my language. There is a groaning within that cannot be uttered. Do
you know who can utter that groaning? who can understand it, and who can put it
into heavenly language, and utter it in a celestial tongue, so that Christ can hear it?
O yes; it is God the Holy Spirit; he advocates our cause with Christ, and then Christ
advocates it with his Father. He is the advocate who maketh intercession for us, with
groanings that cannot be uttered.
Having thus explained the Spirit's office as a teacher and advocate, we now come to
the translation of our version—the Comforter; and here I shall have three divisions:
first, the comforter; secondly, the comfort; and thirdly, the comforted.

I. First, then, the COMFORTER. Briefly let me run over in my mind, and in your
minds too, the characteristics of this glorious Comforter. Let me tell you some of the
attributes of his comfort, so that you may understand how well adapted he is to your
case. And first, we will remark, that God the Holy Ghost is a very loving Comforter.
I am in distress, and I want consolation. Some passer-by hears of my sorrow, and he
steps within, sits down, and essays to cheer me; he speaks soothing words, but he
loves me not; he is a stranger; he knows me not at all; he has only come in to try his
skill. And what is the consequence? His words run o'er me like oil upon a slab of
marble—they are like the pattering rain upon the rock; they do not break my grief;
it stands unmoved as adamant, because he has no love for me. But let some one who
loves me dear as his own life, come and plead with me, then truly his words are
music; they taste like honey; he knows the password of the doors of my heart, and
my ear is attentive to every word; I catch the intonation of each syllable as it falls,
for it is like the harmony of the harps of heaven. Oh! there is a voice in love, it
speaks a language which is its own; it has an idiom and a brogue which none can
mimic; wisdom cannot imitate it; oratory cannot attain unto it; it is love alone which
can reach the mourning heart; love is the only handkerchief which can wipe the
mourner's tears away. And is not the Holy Ghost a loving comforter? Dost thou
know, O saint, how much the Holy Spirit loves thee? Canst thou measure the love of
the Spirit? Dost thou know how great is the affection of his soul towards thee? Go
measure heaven with thy span; go weigh the mountains in the scales; go take the
ocean's water, and tell each drop; go count the sand upon the sea's wide shore; and
when thou hast accomplished this, thou canst tell how much he loveth thee. He has
loved thee long, he has loved thee well, he loved thee ever, and he still shall love thee;
surely he is the person to comfort thee, because he loves. Admit him, then, to your
heart, O Christian, that he may comfort you in your distress.
But next, he is a faithful Comforter. Love sometimes proveth unfaithful. "Oh!
sharper than a serpent's tooth" is an unfaithful friend! Oh! far more bitter than the
gall of bitterness, to have a friend turn from me in my distress! Oh! woe of woes, to
have one who loves me in my prosperity, forsake me in the dark day of my trouble.
Sad indeed; but such is not God's Spirit. He ever loves, and loves even to the end—a
faithful Comforter. Child of God, you are in trouble. A little while ago, you found
him a sweet and loving Comforter; you obtained relief from him when others were
but broken cisterns; he sheltered you in his bosom, and carried you in his arms. Oh,
wherefore dost thou distrust him now? Away with thy fears; for he is a faithful
Comforter. "Ah! but," thou sayest, "I fear I shall be sick, and shall be deprived of
his ordinances." Nevertheless he shall visit thee on thy sick bed, and sit by thy side,
to give thee consolation. "Ah! but I have distresses greater than you can conceive of;
wave upon wave rolleth over me; deep calleth unto deep, at the noise of the Eternal's
waterspouts." Nevertheless, he will be faithful to his promise. "Ah! but I have
sinned." So thou hast, but sin cannot sever thee from his love; he loves thee still.
Think not, O poor downcast child of God, because the scars of thine old sins have
marred thy beauty, that he loves thee less because of that blemish. O no! He loved
thee when he foreknew thy sin; he loved thee with the knowledge of what the

aggregate of thy wickedness would be; and he does not love thee less now. Come to
him in all boldness of faith; tell him thou hast grieved him, and he will forget thy
wandering, and will receive thee again; the kisses of his love shall be bestowed upon
thee, and the arms of his grace shall embrace thee. He is faithful; trust him, he will
never deceive you; trust him, he will never leave you.
Again, he is an unwearied Comforter. I have sometimes tried to comfort persons,
and have been tired. You, now and then, meet with a case of a nervous person. You
ask, "What is your trouble?" You are told; and you essay, if possible, to remove it;
but while you are preparing your artillery to battle the trouble, you find that it has
shifted its quarters, and is occupying quite a different position. You change your
argument and begin again; but lo, it is again gone, and you are bewildered. You feel
like Hurcules, cutting off the evergrowing heads of the Hydra, and you give up your
task in despair. You meet with persons whom it is impossible to comfort, reminding
one of the man who locked himself up in fetters, and threw the key away, so that
nobody could unlock him. I have found some in the fetters of despair. "O, I am the
man," say they, "that has seen affliction; pity me, pity me, O, my friends;" and the
more you try to comfort such people, the worse they get; and, therefore, out of all
heart, we leave them to wander alone among the tombs of their former joys. But the
Holy Ghost is never out of heart with those whom he wishes to comfort. He attempts
to comfort us, and we run away from the sweet cordial; he gives us some sweet
draught to cure us, and we will not drink it; he gives some wondrous potion to
charm away all our troubles, and we put it away from us. Still be pursues us; and
though we say that we will not be comforted, he says we shall be, and when he has
said, he does it; he is not to be wearied by all our sins, nor by all our murmurings.
And oh, how wise a Comforter is the Holy Ghost. Job had comforters, and I think he
spoke the truth when he said, "Miserable comforters are ye all." But I dare say they
esteemed themselves wise; and when the young man Elihu rose to speak, they
thought he had a world of impudence. Were they not "grave and reverend
seigniors?" Did not they comprehend his grief and sorrow? If they could not
comfort him, who could? But they did not find out the cause. They thought he was
not really a child of God, that he was self-righteous, and they gave him the wrong
physic. It is a bad case when the doctor mistakes a disease and gives a wrong
prescription, and so perhaps kills the patient. Sometimes, when we go and visit
people, we mistake their disease; we want to comfort them on this point, whereas
they do not require any such comfort at all, and they would be better left alone, than
spoiled by such unwise comforters as we are. But oh, how wise the Holy Spirit is! He
takes the soul, lays it on the table, and dissects it in a moment; he finds out the root
of the matter, he sees where the complaint is, and then he applies the knife where
something is required to be taken away, or puts a plaster where the sore is; and he
never mistakes. O how wise is the blessed Holy Ghost; from ever comforter I turn,
and leave them all, for thou art he who alone givest the wisest consolation.
Then mark, how safe a Comforter the Holy Ghost is. All comfort is not safe, mark

that. There is a young man over there very melancholy. You know how he became
so. He stepped into the house of God and heard a powerful preacher, and the word
was blessed, and convinced him of sin. When he went home, his father and the rest
found there was something different about him, "Oh," they said, "John is mad, he is
crazy;" and what said his mother? "Send him into the country for a week; let him
go to the ball or the theatre." John, did you find any comfort there? "Ah no; they
made me worse, for while I was there I thought hell might open and swallow me
up." Did you find any relief in the gayeties of the world? "No," say you, "I thought
it was idle waste of time." Alas! this is miserable comfort, but it is the comfort of the
worldling; and, when a Christian gets into distress, how many will recommend him
this remedy and the other. "Go and hear Mr. So-and-so preach;" "have a few
friends at you house;" "Read such-and-such a consoling volume;" and very likely it
is the most unsafe advice in the world. The devil will sometimes come to men's souls
as a false comforter; and he will say to the soul, "What need is there to make all this
ado about repentance? you are no worse than other people;" and he will try to make
the soul believe, that what is presumption, is the real assurance of the Holy Ghost;
thus he deceives many by false comfort. Ah! there have been many, like infants,
destroyed by elixirs, given to lull them to sleep; many have been ruined by the cry of
"peace, peace," when there is no peace; hearing gentle things, when they ought to be
stirred to the quick. Cleopatra's asp was brought in a basket of flowers; and men's
ruin often lurks in fair and sweet speeches. But the Holy Ghost's comfort is safe, and
you may rest on it. Let him speak the word, and there is a reality about it; let him
give the cup of consolation, and you may drink it to the bottom; for in its depths
there are no dregs, nothing to intoxicate or ruin, it is all safe.
Moreover, the Holy Ghost is an active Comforter; he does not comfort by words, but
by deeds. Some comfort by, "Be ye warmed, and be ye filled, giving nothing." But
the Holy Ghost gives, he intercedes with Jesus; he gives us promises, he gives us
grace, and so he comforts us. Mark again, he is always a successful Comforter; he
never attempts what he cannot accomplish.
Then, to close up, he is an ever-present Comforter, so that you never have to send for
him. Your God is always near you; and when you need comfort in your distress,
behold the word is nigh thee; it is in thy mouth, and in thy heart. He is an ever-
present help in time of trouble. I wish I had time to expand these thoughts, but I
cannot.
II. The second thing is the COMFORT. Now there are some persons who make a
great mistake about the influence of the Holy Spirit. A foolish man, who had a fancy
to preach in a certain pulpit, though in truth he was quite incapable of the duty,
called upon the minister, and assured him solemnly, that it had been revealed to him
by the Holy Ghost that he was to preach in his pulpit. "Very well," said the minister,
"I suppose I must not doubt your assertion, but as it has not been revealed to me
that I am to let you preach, you must go your way, until it is." I have heard many
fanatical persons say the Holy Spirit revealed this and that to them. Now, that is

very generally revealed nonsense. The Holy Ghost does not reveal anything fresh
now. He brings old things to our remembrance. "He shall teach you all things, and
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have told you." The canon of
revelation is closed, there is no more to be added; God does not give a fresh
revelation, but he rivets the old one. When it has been forgotten, and laid in the
dusty chamber of our memory, he fetches it out and cleans the picture, but does not
paint a new one. There are no new doctrines, but the old ones are often revived. It is
not, I say, by any new revelation that the Spirit comforts. He does so by telling us old
things over again; he brings a fresh lamp to manifest the treasures hidden in
Scripture; he unlocks the strong chests in which the truth has long lain, and he
points to secret chamber filled with untold riches; but he coins no more, for enough
is done. Believer! there is enough in the Bible for thee to live upon forever. If thou
shouldst outnumber the years of Methuselah, there would be no need for a fresh
revelation; if thou shouldst live till Christ should come upon the earth, there would
be no need for the addition of a single word; if thou shouldst go down as deep as
Jonah, or even descend as David said he did into the belly of hell, still there would be
enough in the Bible to comfort thee without a supplementary sentence. But Christ
says, "He shall take of mine, and show it unto you." Now, let me just tell you briefly
what it is the Holy Ghost tells us.
Ah! does he not whisper to the heart, "Saint, be of good cheer; there is one who died
for thee; look to Calvary, behold his wounds, see the torrent gushing from his side—
there is thy purchaser, and thou art secure. He loves thee with an everlasting love,
and this chastisement is meant for thy good; each stroke is working thy healing; by
the blueness of the wound thy soul is made better." "Whom he loveth he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Doubt not his grace, because of thy
tribulation; but believe that he loveth thee as much in seasons of trouble, as in times
of happiness. And then, moreover, he says, "What is all thy suffering compared with
that of thy Lord's? or what, when weighed in the scales of Jesus' agonies, is all thy
distress? And especially at times does the Holy Ghost take back the veil of heaven,
and lets the soul behold the glory of the upperworld! Then it is that the saint can
say, "O thou art a Comforter to me!"
"Let cares like a wild deluge come,
And storms of sorrow fall;
May I but safely reach my home,
My God, my heaven, my all."
Some of you could follow, were I to tell of manifestations of heaven. You, too, have
left sun, moon, and stars at your feet, while, in you flight, outstripping the tardy
lightning, you have seemed to enter the gates of pearl, and tread the golden streets,
borne aloft on wings of the Spirit. But here we must not trust ourselves; lest, lost in
reverie, we forget our theme.
III. And now, thirdly, who are the comforted persons? I like, you know, at the end of
my sermon to cry out, "Divide! divide!" There are two parties here—some who are

comforted, and others who are the comfortless ones—some who have received the
consolations of the Holy Ghost, and some who have not. Now let us try and sift you,
and see which is the chaff and which is the wheat; and may God grant that some of
the chaff may, this night, be transformed into his wheat!
You may say, "How am I to know whether I am a recipient of the comfort of the
Holy Ghost?" You may know it by one rule. If you have received one blessing from
God, you will receive all other blessings too. Let me explain myself. If I could come
here as an auctioneer, and sell the gospel off in lots, I should dispose of it all. If I
could say, here is justification through the blood of Christ—free; giving away,
gratis; many a one would say, "I will have justification; give it to me; I wish to be
justified; I wish to be pardoned." Suppose I took sanctification, the giving up of all
sin, a thorough change of heart, leaving off drunkenness and swearing; many would
say, "I don't want that; I should like to go to heaven, but I do not want that holiness;
I should like to be saved at last, but I should like to have my drink still; I should like
to enter glory, but then I must have an oath or two on the road." Nay, but, sinner, if
thou hast one blessing, thou shalt have all. God will never divide the gospel. He will
not give justification to that man, and sanctification to another—pardon to one, and
holiness to another. No, it all goes together. Whom he call, them he justifies; whom
he justifies, them he sanctifies; and whom he sanctifies, them he also glorifies. Oh; if
I could lay down nothing but the comforts of the gospel, ye would fly to them as flies
do to honey. When ye come to be ill, ye send for the clergyman. Ah! you all want
your minister then to come and give you consoling words. But, if he be an honest
man, he will not give some of you a particle of consolation. He will not commence
pouring oil, when the knife would be better. I want to make a man feel his sins
before I dare tell him anything about Christ. I want to probe into his soul and make
him feel that he is lost before I tell him anything about the purchased blessing. It is
the ruin of many to tell them, "Now just believe on Christ, and that is all you have
to do." If, instead of dying, they get better, they rise up white-washed hypocrites—
that is all. I have heard of a city missionary who kept a record of two thousand
persons who were supposed to be on their death-bed, but recovered, and whom he
should have put down as converted persons had they died; and how many do you
think lived a Christian life afterwards out of the two thousand? Not two. Positively
he could only find one who was found to live afterwards in the fear of God. Is it not
horrible that when men and women come to die, they should cry, "Comfort,
comfort?" and that hence their friends conclude that they are children of God,
while, after all, they have no right to consolation, but are intruders upon the
enclosed grounds of the blessed God. O God, may these people ever be kept from
having comfort when they have no right to it! Have you the other blessings? Have
you had the conviction of sin? Have you ever felt your guilt before God? Have your
souls been humbled at Jesus' feet? And have you been made to look to Calvary alone
for your refuge? If not, you have no right to consolation. Do not take an atom of it.
The Spirit is a convincer before he is a Comforter; and you must have the other
operations of the Holy Spirit, before you can derive anything from this.
And now I have done. You have heard what this babbler hath said once more. What

has it been? Something about the Comforter. But let me ask you, before you go,
what do you know about the Comforter? Each one of you, before descending the
steps of this chapel, let this solemn question thrill through your souls—What do you
know of the Comforter? O! poor souls, if ye know not the Comforter, I will tell you
what you shall know—You shall know the Judge! If ye know not the Comforter on
earth, ye shall know the Condemner in the next world, who shall cry, "Depart, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire in hell." Well might Whitefield call out, "O earth, earth,
earth, hear the word of the Lord!" If ye were to live here forever, ye might slight the
gospel; if ye had a lease of your lives, ye might despise the Comforter. But, sirs, ye
must die. Since last we met together, probably some have gone to their long last
home; and ere we meet again in this sanctuary, some here will be amongst the
glorified above, or amongst the damned below. Which will it be? Let you soul
answer. If to-night you fell down dead in your pews, or where you are standing in
the gallery, where would you be? in heaven or in hell? Ah! deceive not yourselves; let
conscience have its perfect work; and if in the sight of God, you are obliged to say,
"I tremble and fear lest my portion should be with unbelievers," listen one moment,
and then I have done with thee. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,
and he that believeth not shall be damned." Weary sinner, hellish sinner, thou who
art the devil's castaway, reprobate, profligate, harlot, robber, thief, adulterer,
fornicator, drunkard, swearer, Sabbath-breaker—list! I speak to thee as well as to
the rest. I exempt no man. God hath said there is no exemption here. "Whosoever
believeth on the name of Jesus Christ shall be saved." Sin is no barrier; thy guilt is
no obstacle. Whosoever—though he were as black as Satan, though he were filthy as
a fiend—whosoever this night believes, shall have every sin forgiven, shall have
every crime effaced; shall have ever iniquity blotted out; shall be saved in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and shall stand in heaven safe and secure. That is the glorious gospel.
God apply it to your hearts, and give you faith in Jesus!
"We have listened to the preacher—
Truth by him has now been shown;
But we want a GREATER TEACHER,
From the everlasting throne;
APPLICATION
Is the work of God alone."
The Promise of the Comforter
George Everard, 1868
"I have told you these things while I am still with you. But the
Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener),
the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place,
to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things.
And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your
remembrance) everything I have told you." John 14:25-26 (Amplified

Bible)
"These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But
the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in
My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatever I have said unto you." John 14:25, 26.
(Compare 16,17; also 15:26, 16:7-15.)
The consolation of His people is one chief purpose for which God has
given to us the revelation of His Word. He has inspired His servants to
write them, that we "through patience and comfort of the Scriptures
might have hope." He has confirmed His promise by an oath, that "we
might have strong consolation." Hence the Father is spoken of as "the
Father of mercies and the God of all comfort." The Son is sent "to
comfort all who mourn," and He bears the name of "the Consolation
of Israel." And so likewise the Holy Spirit is named the Comforter, and
in a part of Scripture to which the Christian almost invariably turns
in the day of trouble.
No less than five times is the promise made that the Comforter shall
abide with the Lord's people. In the 14th and following chapters of
this Gospel our Lord repeatedly bids His people wait for the aid of His
Spirit. And why is this? Is it not because all the promises here made to
us — the abiding presence of the Father and the Son, the
manifestation of Christ, the peace which the world gives not — all
these can only be enjoyed as the Spirit dwells within the heart.
Without His special help . . .
not one throb of spiritual life,
not one holy desire,
not one joyful hope,
not one drawing of love —
can exist within the soul. May He Himself assist our meditations, and
reveal to us the fullness of His own grace and love!
The consolations of the Spirit depend much upon the fact that He is a
living, personal Friend and Helper of Christ's flock. He was to take
Christ's place, to be His Substitute on earth. Because Christ had gone
away, He would come to abide with those who would otherwise have
been left comfortless. Far greater is the benefit we thus derive from
Him as our Almighty, Personal Comforter and Helper, than it would
be possible to obtain from any mere gift, however precious it might be.
We might imagine a man living all alone by himself with very
insufficient means for his support in some remote and solitary part of
the country. Very acceptable might be a present of money, or food, or
clothes, or an interesting book. But how much more would it promote
his happiness, if you could send one to live with him — a congenial
companion, a kindly counselor, a ready helper, a friend in need — one
who had both the desire and the ability to supply all that was lacking.

The parallel will hold in the case of the believer. He is often solitary,
for his home is above, and He finds but little sympathy from many
around. He is poor and needy, without any goodness or merit of his
own, without wisdom and without strength. But the Spirit makes His
abode with Him, imparting all that is needful, and by His presence
bringing sunshine into the sad and sorrowful heart.
For such a Friend, how gladly should we prepare a guest-chamber
and invite Him to enter. The Shunammite prepared for Elisha a little
chamber, doubting not that if he would turn in thither — the presence
of so holy a man would bring a blessing to her household. Nor was she
disappointed. Doubtless he gave her much profitable instruction; and
when the joy of her home was gone, Elisha prayed, and her son was
restored to life. And never, never will you regret opening the door of
your heart to welcome the Spirit. Joys never before known will He
bestow — everlasting peace shall be the fruit of His indwelling.
The term "Comforter" — includes the idea of help and strength
afforded. A man is faint from loss of blood through some accident, a
friend comes up and lends him an arm upon which he leans and thus
reaches his home. Or a man is carrying a heavy load, another comes
and takes hold of it with him, so that the weight, before intolerable,
becomes now comparatively easy to be borne. Or a little child is trying
to open a door; the tears are just ready to flow because the attempt
has been made again and again in vain — but a strong hand is put
forth to help the feeble one, and the door flies open in a moment.
In like manner does the Spirit afford His help. He gives power to the
faint, strengthening with might in the inner man, upholding the soul
along the homeward path; He helps our infirmities, placing, as it
were, His own shoulder beneath the load of our cares and sorrows. He
takes away that which hinders.
Many a door is too hard for Christian too open, his own corruptions
block the way to the mercy-seat, so that prayer becomes a duty more
than a pleasure. Plans of usefulness seem unavailing through the
perverseness or indifference of those for whom they are made —
hence he is often cast down and ready to give up, but the Spirit is near
to help, and in some way the difficulty is met and overcome.
But the Comforter is also the Instructor of Christ's disciples: "He
shall teach you all things." "He shall guide them unto all truth." Very
wonderful was the fulfillment of this promise at Pentecost. Only read
the address of Peter — how clearly from Psalm and Prophecy could
he tell of Christ; and then compare it with his counsel to our Lord a
short while before, when he would have had him turn from that cross
which was to be the means of salvation to the world.
Nor is the teaching of the Spirit confined to inspired Apostles, or to
those engaged in the public ministry of the Word of life. All believers

need it, and all may look for it. "They shall be all taught of God."
Do you desire to enter more into the full understanding of Holy
Scripture? The Spirit will shine upon the sacred page, and bring the
truth to light. It is no less than a perpetual miracle to see the change in
this respect, when for the first time the Spirit is earnestly sought. A
new meaning seems to start up in every part of the Word, almost in
every verse, and those to whom the Bible had hitherto been little
better than a dictionary find in it a fountain of heavenly joy!
Would you know more of your own true character? The Spirit will be
your Teacher. He will reveal, gradually as you are able to bear it, the
evil that lurks within. He will reveal to you the selfishness, the pride,
the unbelief, or the impatience that may be your chief snare — and
while revealing, He will also enable you to resist and overcome it.
Would you know more of Jesus? The Spirit will take of the things of
Christ and show them unto you. He will testify of His grace as the
Savior of the lost. He will manifest to you His invitations and promises
as reaching yourself and all the peculiarities of your own sin or
temptation. He will enable you to see in Christ the good Physician
exactly suited to your necessities. He will set Christ before you . . .
as your Counselor in difficulty,
as your Intercessor in the hour of prayer,
as your everlasting Refuge and Strength in the days of feebleness and
decaying health.
But the Holy Spirit is also a Remembrancer. He recalls to the memory
that which would otherwise be forgotten. "He shall bring all things to
your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you." Hence were the
Apostles kept from error in recording the discourses of our Lord, and
giving precisely those gracious promises, upon a single word of which
so much of our comfort depends. Very interesting examples of this
office of the Spirit may be found in two passages of this Gospel:
namely, John 11:22; 12:14-16.
But all believers need the work of the Spirit in recalling the truth to
mind. For all that is evil our memories are very retentive; for all that
is good they are very treacherous — justly compared to "leaking
vessels." (See Hebrews 2:1)
But the Spirit in this grants His aid. He gives an increasing relish for
heavenly things that makes it so much the easier to remember them.
He brings back at the right moment a particular prayer, or promise,
or precept — some act of Christ, or some feature of His holy character
that may just then be requisite to counteract a temptation, or to
support the heart through some pressing emergency. And even when
the memory fails as to the very words of a passage, not seldom
through the Spirit a savor of the truth abides which effects the very
same result.

For this blessed Spirit to be your Comforter, your Helper, your
Teacher, your Remembrancer, let me entreat each reader of these
pages continually to pray. Our Father knows well that there is no gift
which so honors Himself or brings such blessedness to His people, as
His Spirit abiding in them. Hence there is no petition which He
delights more to answer than for this. The old promise of Luke 11 is
not yet worn out, and never shall be while a sinner remains to be
saved or a saint to be made fit for the inheritance of the saints in light:
"If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him
a stone? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children; how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy
Spirit to those who ask Him?"
Hence to ask for this gift in the name of our exalted High Priest, and
believingly to anticipate its bestowal, becomes one of the greatest
possible means of grace. Ask it for the glory of God; ask it for the
honor of Christ; ask it because of your own deep necessities. And
while you ask for yourself, ask for the whole Church of the Redeemed
that the Spirit may come down in power, that the Temple of the Lord
may be filled with His light and truth.
And take heed lest in any way you grieve the Divine Spirit to depart
from you. In the case I supposed in a former part of this chapter, it
might be possible in many ways for the man to grieve his guest to
forsake his roof. If the house were not properly ordered, if other
guests were introduced whose company were distasteful to him, if a
word of kindly counsel were disregarded, if he were in any way
slighted or his presence undervalued, he would be most likely to leave
the dwelling of one who thus requited his benefactor. And thus the
loving Spirit may also be vexed and provoked to leave the heart where
He has taken up His abode.
If impurity or ill-will defiles the temple,
if pride or envy or selfishness or unbelief are permitted to gain a
footing,
if wrath or malice or unchristian tempers are allowed to lodge within,
if the still small voice of reproof or counsel is unheeded,
if prayer, or the Word, or the Holy Communion be reckoned of small
importance
— then you will drive your Friend away; you will be left wretched,
desolate, and comfortless. And though in pity He may yet return
again, great will be your loss, great will be the advantage the enemy of
souls will gain.
Christian, be watchful, be circumspect. If you live in the Spirit — then
walk in the Spirit. Cherish His presence as the chief joy of your soul.
As the deer pants after the water-brooks, so you should long for His
refreshing grace. Do this, and the Holy Spirit will ever abide with you;
thus your peace shall be as a river, the foretaste of that joy which is

laid up for you in Heaven.
Our blessed Redeemer, before He breathed
His tender last farewell,
A Guide, a Comforter bequeathed,
With us to dwell.
He came sweet influence to impart;
A gracious, willing guest,
While He can find one humble heart
Wherein to rest.
And His that gentle voice we hear,
Soft as the breath of even,
That checks each thought, that calms each fear,
And speaks of Heaven.
And every virtue we possess,
And every victory won,
And every thought of holiness,
Are His alone.
Spirit of purity and grace,
Our weakness, pitying, see;
O make our hearts Your dwelling place,
And meet for Thee.
J. Parker, D. D.
John 16:7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come to you…
1. The teaching of Christ respecting the ministry of the Holy Ghost is
so peculiar as to raise the inquiry, Where was the Holy Ghost during
the earthly ministry of the Son of Man? Throughout the Old
Testament there are the clearest testimonies as to His personal service,
and yet Christ speaks of the descent of the Spirit as a new and special
gift. Was His ministry suspended? It may be suggested that the fulness
of the Spirit had not been realized in the ancient church, which is
undoubtedly true; yet it is sufficient to account for the treatment of
His descent as a new visitation. The answer would seem rather to be,
that the Holy Ghost was in Jesus Christ himself, and could not be
given to the Church as a distinctively Christian gift until the first
period of the Incarnation had been consummated in the Ascension —
"if I depart I will send Him unto you."
2. Christ gives a specific definition of the work of the Holy Ghost.

That His work admitted of definition is itself significant; and that the
Son of Mary should have presumed to define it is a marvellous
instance of His spiritual dominion, if it be not a covert yet daring
blasphemy. Let us now see with what simplicity and decisiveness
Christ defines and limits the functions of the Holy Ghost.
I. "HE SHALL NOT SPEAK OF HIMSELF." Why not? Because He
would be speaking an unknown tongue. We cannot understand the
purely spiritual. Whatever we know of it must come through mediums
which lie nearer our own nature. The whole ministry of God is an
accommodation to human weakness. When He would teach truth He
must needs set it in the form of fact: when He would show Himself, it
must be through the tabernacle of our own flesh; when He would
reveal heaven, He must illustrate His meaning by the fragments of
light and beauty which are scattered on the higher side of our own
inferior world. The Holy Ghost does not speak of Himself, because
there must be a common ground upon which He can invite the
attention of mankind.
II. "HE SHALL GLORIFY ME." The common ground is the work of
the Man Christ Jesus.
1. What is meant by glorifying Christ? We know what is meant by the
sun glorifying the earth. The sun does not create the landscape. Yet
how wonderful is its work! Everything was there before, yet how
transfigured by the ministry of light! In this respect, what light is to
the earth, the Holy Ghost is to Christ. The work of the Spirit is
revelation, not creation. He does not make Christ, He explains Him.
The sun in doing all his wonderful work does not speak of himself; he
will not, indeed, allow us to look at him. The Holy Ghost, in like
manner, does not speak of himself. He will not answer all our inquiries
respecting His personality. We cannot venture with impunity beyond a
well-defined line. Yet whilst He Himself is the eternal secret, His work
is open and glorious. His text is Christ. From that He never strays.
The Christian student sees a Christ which he did not see twenty years
ago. This increasing revelation is the work of the Holy Ghost, and is
the fulfilment of Jesus Christ's own promise. This is an incidental
contribution towards the completeness and harmony of the mystery
that is embodied in Christ Jesus. The beginning and the end are the
same — equal in mystery, in condescension, in solemn grandeur.
Thus: "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" — this is
the beginning; "He shall not speak of Himself, He shall glorify Me;"
— this is the end. The incarnation of the Son of God was the work of
the Holy Ghost: how natural that the explanation of the Son of God
should be the work of the same minister! As He was before the visible
Christ, so He was to be after Him, and thus the whole mystery never

passed from His own control.
2. The life of the Son of Man, as written in the Gospels, needs to be
glorified! He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief: He made Himself of no reputation: upon all
this chasm we need a light above the brightness of the sun. When that
light comes, the root out of a dry ground will be as the flower of Jesse
and the plant of renown, and the face marred more than any man's
will be the fairest among ten thousand and altogether lovely. Such is
the wizardry of light!
3. This claim to be glorified by the Holy Ghost is without precedent in
human history. That is a fact which ought to have some value attached
to it. It is the kind of claim which an imposter would have avoided.
Besides, for such a man, or for any man indeed, to have had such an
idea is most marvellous. Had He merely committed His case to the
care of time and the judgment of posterity, He would have taken the
course of ordinary sagacity; but instead of that He expressly stated
that the Holy Ghost would glorify His person, and complete His
meditation on the earth. The work of the Holy Ghost was to be
infinitely more than a work of mere explanation: it was to move
"forward to the very point of glory, even the glory which the Son of
Man had with His Father before the world began. Having spoken of
the ministry of the Holy Ghost in relation to Himself, our Lord
proceeds to speak of it in relation to His disciples.
III. "HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH."
1. Not "He will add to the number of miracles which you have seen at
My hands," but "I am the Truth; He will glorify Me, He will show you
all My riches." Our Lord Himself did not guide His disciples into all
truth, nor have men even yet been so far guided. Truth is an infinite
quantity. At first it may seem to be compassable, but it recedes as it is
approached; yet it throws the warm rays of promise upon every
honest and loving pilgrim to its shrine. Our Lord's expression is
comprehensive, — not only into truth that is distinctively theological,
but into all truth, — scientific, political, social, religious. Is truth not
larger than the formal church? Our Lord does not open one
department of truth and refuse the key of others. It is not to be
supposed that any one man is to be guided into all truth. Some
possessions are put into the custody of the whole race. No single star
holds all the light. No single flower is endowed with all the beauty.
What man is there who knows all things? Every honest student has
some portion of truth that is in a sense his own, and every eye sees at
least a tint which no other vision has seen so clearly as itself. Men
make up man, churches make up the Church, truths makes up Truth,

and it is only by a complete combination of the parts that the majesty
and lustre of the whole can be secured.
2. "The Spirit of Truth" as such is to "guide into all truth." The
quantity is unlimited; the method assumes consent and co-operation
on the part of man. A reference to Old Testament history will show
how grave is the error which limits it to thinking and service which
are supposed to be purely theological. It may indeed show that
"theology" is the all-inclusive term, holding within its meaning all the
highest aspects and suggestions both of speculative and practical
science. Can anything be farther from theology, as popularly
understood, than stone-cutting or wood-carving? Can any two spheres
be much more widely sundered than those of the preacher of the
gospel and the artificer in iron and brass? Apparently not. But the
biblical testimony sets the inquiry at rest (Exodus 31:2-5). Bezaleel
was an inspired theologian. More than this, and apparently still
farther away from the theological line: "I have created the smith that
bloweth the coals in the fire," &c. Then, intermediately at least, may
stand the agriculturalist, of whose treatment of the earth is said:
"This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in
counsel and excellent in working." The rulers and soldiers of Israel
were qualified for their work by the Spirit of the Lord. The
ministration of the Spirit is various: by it Moses was made wise,
Bezaleel was made skilful, and Samson was made strong (1
Corinthians 12:11).
3. Upon the Church itself this promise of guidance into all truth
should exert a healthful influence, especially in the direction of
enlarging and refining its charity. The danger is that the Church
should be content with a limited range of dogma and purpose when it
is invited to the mastery and enjoyment of a kingdom that cannot be
measured. Men of the most inquisitive mind should be encouraged by
the Church to lead the van of inquiry, and subject every doctrine and
every spirit to a cross-examination which to minds of an opposite type
may become wearisome and even vexatious. The Church should
extend to its adventurous sons who go out to shores far away and to
lands unmapped and unclaimed, the most ardent and loving
recognition. Even when they return with hopes unfulfilled and with
banners torn by angry winds, proving the abortiveness of their
chivalry, or the mistake of their method, they should be hailed with a
still tenderer love. To such men the promise of being guided into all
truth becomes a personal torture. They yearn for its fulfilment: they
are straitened until it be accomplished.
IV. "HE WILL SHOW YOU THINGS TO COME." Such a promise
would seem to imply that secret communications about the future will

be made to the Church; yet this construction must be admitted with
extreme caution, for men would in some cases mistake prejudices and
frenzies for inspiration, and in others they would inflict needless
trouble upon themselves and upon society at large. Limited to the
immediate hearers of our Lord, of course the promise is exhausted
and the results are to some extent recorded in apostolic history; but it
cannot be so limited. Merely to "show things to come" in the sense of
prevision is a blessing greater in appearance than in reality; but to
prepare the mind for things to come — to show the mind how to deal
with new and perplexing circumstances — is an advantage which
cannot be expressed in human terms. Whatever the premised
"announcement" may include, it must involve this supernatural
preparedness of mind and heart, or it will merely excite and bewilder
the Church. Whatever may come, and with what violence soever its
coming may be attended, the Church will be prepared to withstand
every shock and surmount every difficulty. Out of this assurance
comes rest; the future is no longer a trouble; the clouds that lie upon
the remote horizon will be scattered by the brightness of the image of
God.
V. "HE SHALL BRING ALL THINGS TO YOUR
REMEMBRANCE, WHATSOEVER I HAVE SAID UNTO YOU."
There is an inspiration of memory. Readers of the Gospels must have
been surprised by the minuteness of recollection which is shown in
their pages. Conversations are reported; little turns of dialogue, which
seem to be merely artistic, are not omitted; records of occasions on
which the disciples were actually not present, and of which they could
only have heard from the lips of the Lord Himself, are presented with
much particularity and vividness: how, then, was this done, and
especially done by men who certainly were not conspicuous for the
kind of learning which is needful for the making of literary
statements? The explanation of this artless art, and this tenacious
memory, is in this promise.
(J. Parker, D. D.)
the Holy Spirit, during the present dispensation, is revealed to us as the Comforter.
It is the Spirit's business to console and cheer the hearts of God's people. He does
convince of sin; he does illuminate and instruct; but still the main part of his
business lies in making glad the hearts of the renewed, in confirming the weak, and
lifting up all those that be bowed down. Whatever the Holy Ghost may not be, he is
evermore the Comforter to the Church; and this age is peculiarly the dispensation of
the Holy Spirit, in which Christ cheers us not by his personal presence, as he shall

do by-and-bye, but by te indwelling and constant abiding of the Holy Ghost the
Comforter. Now, mark you, as the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, Christ is the
comfort. The Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ is the consolation. If I may use the
figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Christ is the medicine. He heals the
wound, but it is by applying the holy ointment of Christ's name and grace. He takes
not of his own things, but of the things of Christ. We are not consoled to-day by new
revelations, but by the old revelation explained, enforced, and lit up with new
splendour by the presence and power of the Holy Ghost the Comforter. If we give to
the Holy Spirit the Greek name of Paraclete, as we sometimes do, then our heart
confers on our blessed Lord Jesus the title of the Paraklesis. If the one be the
Comforter, the other is the comfort. (Spurgeon's Sermon on "Consolation in
Christ")
Candlish, James Stuart, 1835
THE COMFORTING WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
ALTHOUGH the name Comforter, by which we render the title
Paraclete or Advocate, given to the Spirit by Jesus, must be
understood to include many more functions besides what we
generally mean by comfort ; yet there can be no doubt that it
does comprehend the narrower use of the word, in the sense of
giving consolation in trouble or sorrow ; and there are other
passages of Scripture that describe the agency of the Holy Spirit
in this special way. We must not indeed separate this part of
His work from the others ; for indeed one great lesson that we
should learn from all our consideration of the work of the Holy
Spirit is, that no part of it can be isolated from the others, and

that the various functions that we ascribe to Him, of convincing,
converting, sanctifying, witnessing, interceding, and comforting
are rather different aspects of one and the same great work. We
cannot study deeply any one of the special works of the Spirit,
without finding that it rests upon His agency in creating and
fostering spiritual life in the soul, and is but a special form or
application of that work. Yet we do well to consider distinctly
these several aspects of the Spirit's work in us ; for not only are
they all suited to our several wants, but each reveals a special
aspect of the Holy Spirit Himself. Thus His converting and
sanctifying work especially illustrates His power and His holi-
ness ; His function as a witness shows His truth and faithfulness ;
and above all His agency as the Comforter reveals His love. For
this work has to do with men considered as liable to dejection
trouble, and sorrow ; and has for its object to relieve these painful
affections, and to fill our souls with joy. Now this can proceed
from nothing but love, desiring and delighting in the happiness
of the loved ones. The deliverance of men from actual danger of
perishing may be due simply to pity or compassion ; their sancti-
fication may be due to a love of holiness ; but to seek their comfort
is sure evidence of love. Out of mere pity one might procure the
release of a criminal from prison; out of zeal for virtue one miaht
labour to reform him ; but both these ends might be secured
though nothing were done to relieve him from sad feelings of
gloom and self-reproach, and to make his life positively happy •

and if one were found caring for this too, and taking pains to
comfort and cheer him, this would show, that such a benefactor
was moved, not merely by general philanthropy, but by personal
affection. So, when the Holy Spirit is revealed in Scripture as
not only saving and sanctifying us, but undertaking the office of
a Comforter, to fill us with joy and peace, we see in this a most
wonderful evidence of His love.
This office the Holy Spirit performs partly by presenting to our
minds the objects best fitted to give encouragement and comfort
especially the person and work of Christ, and the grace and
faithfulness of God therein revealed. This is what Jesus speaks
of the Spirit as doing, when He promised Him as a Comforter
to supply His place. "He shall teach you all things, and bring
to your remembrance all that I said unto you ;" "He shall bear
witness of me ; » " He shall glorify me, for He shall take of mine
and declare it unto you" (John xiv. 26, xv. 26, xvi. 14). This is
a particular aspect of His work as a witness, of which Jesus
speaks more generally. His testimony to the ungodly and
unbelieving world is also of Christ, but is such as to produce
conviction of sin, and so awaken feelings of distress, anxiety, and
alarm. But the person and work of Christ are the only things
that can give real comfort to the soul in a religious point of view,
and hence to those who look to Christ in faith, this work of the
Holy Spirit is truly one of consolation. In giving us ever clearer

views and more certain convictions of what Jesus is and has done
as our Saviour, the Spirit acts as our Comforter.
But He also performs this work inwardly, inasmuch as peace,
and joy, and hope, which form the elements of comfort, are the
effects of His presence and work in the soul. We read of the
disciples who heard in faith the tidings of the grace of God being
filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (Acts xiii. 52) ; and of the
Thessalonians, to whom the gospel came in power, and in the
Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, receiving it with joy of the
Holy Spirit (1 Thess. i. 5, 6). Paul includes in the fruit of the
Spirit joy and peace (Gal. v. 22), and declares the kingdom of
God to be righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit
(Rom. xiv. 17), and prays that God would fill his readers with all
joy and peace in believing, that they may abound in hope by the
power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. xv. 13). These passages show
that joy is not merely the effect of the truths of the gospel, of
which the Holy Spirit gives us evidence, but a direct exercise of
that new life in the soul, of which the Holy Spirit is the author.
Nor is this a thing hard to explain. Joy is an element of healthy
religious life, without which it would be defective. It is right and
proper for one who is a child, under the care of an all-wise and
loving God, not only to adore and love and trust his Father in
heaven, but also to rejoice in thinking of His greatness, His
goodness, His love. Indeed, there cannot be genuine religious

feeling without some measure of that delight in God that is so
often expressed in the devotional utterances of Scripture. If then
the Spirit of God produces in us that life of devotion, there cannot
but be awakened, as a part of it, holy and religious joy. Thus
the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, not only by presenting to us
those objects that are fitted to dispel grief and fear, and cause joy
and hope, but also by inwardly moving us to cherish and exercise
holy joy. The former function is connected with His work as a
Teacher and Witness, the latter with His work as the Author and
Nourisher of spiritual life. This twofold function may also explain
the striking language of Scripture about the sealing and the
earnest of the Spirit.
When the figure of sealing is used in this connection, it is God
who is said to have sealed believers in Christ with the Holy Spirit
(2 Cor. i. 22 ; Eph. i. 13, iv. 30). In the first of these passages,
a parallel is drawn between Christ and His followers primarily in
regard to stability or constancy of purpose, and then also in regard
to those spiritual endowments that produce that constancy. Paul
s defending himself against the charge of duplicity or fickleness,
of wavering in promise or purpose from yea to nay. He affirms
that he had not done so, because Christ, whom he proclaimed as
the Son of God, had not done so ; and God had made him, and
his readers too, stedfast, had established them unto Christ. In
allusion to the meaning of that title, he adds, that God had

anointed them also, and sealed them. This reminds us of Jesus
saying of Himself, "Him the Father, even God, hath sealed"
(John vi. 27). That was the assurance He gave to the people
that they might safely trust Him for the food which abideth
unto eternal life. Now as the Holy Spirit is elsewhere compared
by Jesus to food (Luke xi. 11-13), and as we are taught that Jesus
was able to baptize with the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit
descended and abode on Him ; we are led to regard the sealing
He speaks of having received as referring to the gift and mani-
festation of the Holy Spirit on Him. The sealing in His case was
chiefly a testimony to others, though doubtless also to His own
human soul ; in the case of believers it is mainly for their own
encouragement that the seal of the Spirit is referred to.
The special use of sealing, to which allusion is made in these
applications of the idea, both to Christ and to Christians, seems
to be that of marking property to which the owner attaches value,
but which may be in danger of being neglected or lost. When
God sent His Son into the world, the world knew Him not, and
sought for a sign that they might believe. Jesus said, that the
Father had borne witness to Him, and sealed Him, and so
marked Him out as His own, doing the works of God in the
power of His Spirit. So too God takes those who believe in
Christ to be His special possession, which He has purchased or
obtained for Himself. 1 But they are not at once taken out of the

world, but left in it, often unknown and unesteemed by men.
Meanwhile God has marked them for His own, as men mark
valued property, with the seal of His Spirit until the time when
He shall openly take them to Himself in full possession. This
idea is also implied in the use made of the figure of sealing the
servants of God in the Apocalyptic vision (Rev. vii. 1-8, ix, 4),
that they may be marked as those who are to be spared in
impending judgments (compare also Ezek. ix. 4-6) ; but there is
no indication to connect that sealing especially with the work of
the Spirit. The Pauline idea of the sealing of believers by the
Spirit may possibly bear an allusion to the restoration of the
image of God through Christ, who is said in Heb. i. 3 to be
the very image of His substance (lit. impress or stamp, as
on a seal) ; but it is not to be identified with the progressive
work of moral renewal ; for it is always described as done at
once, and when we believe. It is therefore rather that spiritual
or religious likeness and affinity to Christ, that is a token of real
union to Him, even where there is much imperfection of moral
character ; that trustful love and loyalty that shows a heart right
with God amid much that is sinful in conduct. Such was the
love of the sinful woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears
(Luke vii. 36-50) ; such that of Simon Peter even after he had
denied his Master in the hour of temptation (John xxi. 15-17).
So also Paul speaks of bearing branded on his body the marks
of Jesus (Gal. vi. 17), in the scars of his stripes and wounds for

Jesus' sake, which gave evidence, not of his moral perfection, but
of his loyalty and love to his Lord. This unmistakable seal of
1 The word "purchased" is used in the Authorized Version of the Bible in
its old sense, from the French po?irchasser, to chase after, to obtain for one-
self, without necessarily implying the payment of a price. So Shakspeare
uses it : "I sent thee forth to purchase honour " (Rich. II., Act 1. Sc. 3).
true godliness is what distinguishes such a man as David, with
strong unruly passions, that often hurried him into great crimes
of sensuality and cruelty, but with as passionate a devotion to
God, repentance for sin, and longing for purity as well as pardon,
from one like Saul less outwardly guilty, but cold, timid, and
worldly. "The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for him-
self," one whom He favoureth, and who responds to that favour
in the prayer of childlike trust (Ps. iv. 3). While many who
profess and seem to be godly give way before error and tempta-
tion, the firm foundation of God abides, the people whom He has
built on Christ the foundation-stone, having the twofold seal :
" The Lord knoweth them that are his," and, " Let every one that
nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness"
(2 Tim. ii. 19). In writing thus, Paul had probably in his mind
the narrative of the rebellion of Korah (Num. xvi.), where it is
said on the one hand (v. 5), " In the morning the Lord will show
who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near
unto him ;" and on the other hand (v. 26), " Depart, I pray you,

from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs,
lest ye be consumed in all their sins." They who act in the spirit
of these two sayings, have the seal of God marking them as the
people whom He has made His own, and will finally deliver
from all evil ; and the Holy Spirit enabling them so to do, seals
them unto the day of redemption.
The Spirit whereby they are thus sealed is also the earnest of
the inheritance destined for them (2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5 ; Eph. i. 14 l ).
An earnest is not only a pledge but a foretaste or anticipation of
the benefit secured by the pledge ; and when this name is given
1 The word translated "earnest" in these places is the same that is
rendered "pledge" in Gen. xxxviii. 17-20 ; indeed the Hebrew word has
simply passed into the Greek and Latin languages, probably through com-
mercial dealings with the Phoenicians, the great trading people of ancient days.
Originally it meant no more than a pledge ; but in usage it came to denote
that particular kind of pledge which is a part of the full price of an article
paid in advance ; and as it is joined with the figure of a seal when applied to
the Spirit, it seems to be used by Paul in this specific sense.
to the Holy Spirit, we are taught that His gracious presence and
working in us constitute a foretaste of the blessedness of heaven.
The same thing seems to be indicated when Paul speaks of the
first-fruits of the Spirit (Rom. viii. 23), which is most naturally
interpreted as meaning the Spirit as the first-fruits of glory.

These representations refer to the Holy Spirit as the source of
joy and peace. The sealing of the Spirit may often be not joyous,
but painful; it may imply a self-denying departing from iniquity,
or an endurance of suffering for Christ's sake ; the chastisements
of our heavenly Father are pledges of the blessing He has in store
for His children, though in themselves they are of an opposite
nature. But He who knows our frame, and remembers that we
are dust, is graciously pleased to give us, not only pledges of
future blessedness, but foretastes of it also. The former appeal
to our faith, and may be even painful to our sensibilities : the
atter are necessarily joyful, and are meant for our comfort.
This truth, that the joy of the Holy Spirit is a beginning of the
blessedness of heaven, is of great practical use, as a safeguard
against dreamy and fanciful ideas, that may even degenerate into
earthly and sensual expectations of future bliss. There is ever a
danger of this when we regard the joy that is set before us as
something of which we have no experience here. It will in that
case be either entirely vague and indistinct, or we shall introduce
into our thoughts of it those enjoyments of this world that we
have to deny to ourselves for the sake of Christ, and we shall
simply hope to be recompensed in a future life for the sacrifices
made in this. If however we have any experience of a holy joy,
even amid the sins and sorrows of this world ; if we know in any
measure what Peter meant when he said, that believing in Christ

we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and what Paul
meant when he spoke of rejoicing in tribulations, and rejoicing in
God through Jesus Christ our Lord ; then we can form a concep-
tion of one element at least in the future blessedness that is not
in the least degree earthly or sensuous. We have also a strong
assurance of the truth and certainty of our hope. It promises us
nothing different in kind from what we already enjoy imperfectly,
though in degree something inconceivably more pure and perfect.
Here it may only be fitfully and in snatches that we have, or
believe that we have, something of the joy of the Holy Spirit :
we hardly dare trust ourselves to enjoy it ; and we are encom-
passed and interrupted with much that humiliates, pains, tempts,
and wearies us. We just know enough of this holy joy to make
us feel how real it is, and to give us a faint idea how great must
be the blessedness when it is perfect, unalloyed, and unbroken.
The Spirit that makes Christians happy in the midst of shame
and suffering is called the Spirit of glory and of God (i Pet. iv.
14), as the Spirit who possesses the glory of God, who glorifies
Christ, and will glorify all who are Christ's. This title is an
appropriate sequel to that of the spirit of grace, for glory is but
grace perfected, as grace is glory begun. He is the Spirit of
grace, as beginning the new life in the sorrows of self-accusing
repentance ; and the Spirit of glory as completing it, in the joy of
the open manifestation and glorious liberty of the sons of God."

Spirit of Comfort by simpson
“Walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 9: 31.
Our English translators have given to the Greek work ‘Paraclete,’ which the Lord
Jesus applied to the Holy Ghost, the translation of the Comforter. And while this
term is not expressive of the complete sense of the original, yet it expresses very
beautifully one of the most blessed characters and offices of the Holy Spirit.
I. He is the author of peace.
It is twofold peace, peace with God and the peace of God. We find many references
to this twofold rest. “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will
give you rest.” This is the rest which the troubled soul receives when it comes to
Christ for pardon. But then there is a deeper rest: “Take my yoke upon you and
learn of me who am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
This is experienced after the surrender of the will to God, and the discipline of the
Spirit fully received. So again the prophet Isaiah announces, “Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.”
There is a deeper peace, so we find the risen Savior meeting the disciples in the
upper room with the salutation, “Peace be unto you,” as He shows them His hands
and His side; but later, He breathes on them and adds a second benediction of peace
as they receive the Holy Ghost. Peace with God is the effect of forgiveness,
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ.” This is the gift of the Holy Spirit as He seals upon the heart the assurance of
God’s pardoning work, and breathes the witness of acceptance. And yet this is
dependent upon our believing and resting in the promise. We must cooperate with
the Holy Spirit. He witnesses ‘with’ our spirit, not ‘to’ our spirit, that we are the
children of God. “In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise.” “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that
ye may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost.” Thus we see that we must
cooperate in believing.
The peace of God is a deeper experience; it comes from the indwelling of God
Himself in the heart that has been surrendered wholly to Him, and it is nothing less
than the very heart of Christ resting in our heart, possessing our Spirit, and
imparting to us the very same peace which He manifested even in that awful hour
when all others were filled with dismay, but He was calm and victorious, even in the
prospect of the garden and the cross. It is the deep, tranquil, eternal rest of God,
taking the place of the restless, troubled sea of our own thoughts, fears and

agitations. It is the very peace of God, and it passeth all understanding, and keeps
the heart and mind through Christ Jesus our Lord. It is the special gift of the Holy
Ghost; nay, it is rather His own personal abiding, as the Dove of Rest, spreading His
tranquil wings over the troubled sea of human strife and passion, and bringing His
own everlasting rest.
Have we entered into His rest, and are we walking with Him in the secret place of
the Most High? What gift is more necessary and delightful in this world of disquiet
and change? What would the world not give for an opiate that could charm away its
cares and fears, and lull its heart to such divine repose; and yet from the Paraclete
of love, and the brooding wing of the holy Dove, men refuse the gift for which their
hearts are breaking, and their lives are wearing out in the fret and friction of strife
and sin. This is the true element of spiritual growth and power. “In quietness and
confidence shall be your strength,” is the mission of the very Comforter to bring.
“Let us, therefore, fear lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of
you would seem to come short of it. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into this rest lest
any of you should fail after the same example of unbelief.”
II. The Spirit of Joy.
This is a deeper and fuller spring, but the source is the same, the bosom of the
Comforter. The kingdom of God, we are told, is not meat and drink, but
righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. This also is the joy of Christ
Himself. It is the Spirit’s business to take the things that are Christ’s and reveal
them to us. And so the Master has said, “These things have I said unto you, that my
joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” “Hitherto have ye asked
nothing in my name; ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full.” We have
some conception of His joy. Even in the dark and dreadful hour when the powers of
darkness were gathering about Him for the final struggle, and even His Father’s
face was about to be covered with the awful cloud of desertion and judgment, still he
could rise superior to His surroundings and so forget His own troubles as to think
only of His disciples and say to them, “Let not your heart be troubled.”
Like the martyrs, afterwards, at the stake and amid the flames, who testified that so
deep was their inward joy that they were unconscious of external agony, so He was
transported above His anguish by the very joy of His Father’s presence and love. It
was this that enabled Him to endure, “for the joy set before Him He endured the
cross, despising the shame.” He saw not the deep, dark valley of humiliation, but the
heights of resurrection-life and ascension-glory just beyond; and He was lifted above
the consciousness of the present by the vision of hope, and the joy of the Lord. This
is the joy He will give to us. It is nothing less than the fullness of His own heart
throbbing in our breast and sharing with us His own immutable blessedness.

Therefore, this joy is wholly independent of surrounding circumstances of natural
temperament. It is not a spirit of native cheerfulness, but it is a perennial fountain of
divine gladness, springing up from sources that lie far below the soil of human
nature. It is the same anointing of which the prophet said of Christ Himself, “Thy
God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
Now this divine joy is the privilege of all consecrated believers. We need it for
victory in the trying places of life. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Satan
always takes special advantage of a depressed and discouraged heart. Victory must
be won in the conflict by a spirit of gladness and praise. The hosts of God must
march into the battle with songs of rejoicing. The world must see the light of heaven
in our faces if it would believe in the reality of our religion.
Therefore, we find the Scriptures exhorting us to “rejoice in the Lord always, and in
everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us.”
But the secret of such a love must be a heart possessed and overflowing with the
Holy Ghost. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace.” We cannot find these
springs in the soil of time, they flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb. But a
soul that dwells in the innermost shrine of the Master’s presence will ever know it
and reflect it. It can no more be concealed than the sunshine of heaven, and it will
light up the humblest life and the most trying situation, just as the sun itself lights
up the lowly cabin, and shines through the dark vault, if only it can find an opening
where it may enter in. Are you walking in the light of the Lord and filled with His
joy? And can we sing:
God is the treasure of my soul,
A source of lasting joy;
A joy which want cannot impair
Nor death itself destroy?
III. The Spirit of Comfort and Consolation.
It is especially in the hour of distress and trial that the Comforter becomes manifest
in His peculiar ministry of consolation and love. It is then that the promise is
fulfilled which applies more especially to this person of the Godhead as the very
Mother of the soul. “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and
ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
1. Comfort implies the existence of trial; and the happiest life is not the one freest
from affliction, but they who walk in the Spirit will always be found familiar with
the paths of sorrow and the adverse circumstances of life. Nowhere are the followers

of the Man of Sorrows promised exemption from the fellowship of His sufferings,
but every element of blessing they possess carries with it an added source of trial. To
them the world is less a home than to its own children, and their dearest friends are
the readiest to misunderstand their lives and cross their wishes. To them comes the
experience of temptation and spiritual conflict, as it does not come to the worldling
and the sinner, and they have often cause to feel and know
“The path of sorrow and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.
No traveler ever reached that blessed abode,
Who found not thorns and briers in the road.”
But all these are but occasions to prove the love and faithfulness of God. The storm
cloud is but the background for the rainbow, and the falling tear but an occasion for
the gentle hand of the Comforter to wipe it away.
2. The comfort is in proportion to the trial. There is a blessed equilibrium of joy and
sorrow. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds in
Christ. As far as the pendulum swings backward, so far it swings forward. Every
trial is, therefore, a prophecy of blessing to the heart that walks with Jesus. A dear
saint of God once remarked, near the close of life, “God has seemed all my life to be
so sorry for the trials He gave me in the beginning, that He has been trying to make
up for it ever since.” This is a blessed compensation even here, and by-and-by we
shall find that “our light affliction, which was but for a moment, worketh for us a
far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory.”
3. Times of trial are, therefore, often our times of greatest joy. God’s nightingales
sing at midnight, and
Sorrow touched by God grows bright
With more than rapturous ray,
As darkness shows us worlds of light
We never saw by day.
It was when the apostles were turned out of Antioch by a mob of respectable men
and honorable women, that the record was added, “The disciples were filled with
joy and with the Holy Ghost.” It was when the fig-tree refused to blossom, and the
vines were stripped of their accustomed fruit, and nature was robed in a winding
sheet of death, that Habakkuk’s song rose to its highest notes of triumph, and he

could say “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the God of my salvation.”
There is such a thing as “sorrowful yet always rejoicing;” a bitter sweet which
draws its quintessence of joy from the very wormwood and the gall, and which
knows not whether to weep or sing as it cries, with Pascal, in the one breath “joy
upon joy, tears upon tears!”
Oh! it is a blessed testimony to the grace of God and the Spirit’s abundant love,
when we can rise above our circumstances and “count it all joy, even when we fall
into diverse temptations,” and “rejoice, inasmuch as we are partakers of the
sufferings of Christ, because when His glory shall be revealed we shall be glad with
exceeding joy.”
4. If we would know the full comfort of the Holy Spirit we must cooperate with Him,
and rejoice by simple faith, often when our circumstances are all forbidding, and
even our very feelings give no response of sympathy or conscious joy. It is a great
thing to learn to ‘count it’ all joy. Counting is not the language of poetry or
sentiment, but of cold, unerring calculation. It adds up the column thus: sorrow,
temptation, difficulty, opposition, depression, desertion, danger, discouragement on
every side, but at the bottom of the column God’s presence, God’s will, God’s joy,
God’s promise, God’s recompense. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory.” How much
does the column amount to? Lo! the sum of all the addition is “ALL JOY,” for “the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be
revealed.”
That is the way to count your joy. Singly, a given circumstance may not seem joyful,
but counted in with God, and His presence and promise, it makes a glorious sum in
the arithmetic of faith. We can rejoice in the Lord as an act of will, and when we do,
the Comforter will soon bring all our emotions into line, yea, and all our
circumstances too. They who went into battle with songs of praise in front soon had
songs of praise in the rear, and an abundant, visible cause of thanksgiving.
Therefore, let us say with the apostle, “I do rejoice, yea, and I will rejoice.”
5. The Holy Spirit’s joys and consolations are administered to the heart in His
infinite and sovereign wisdom, according to His purpose, for our spiritual training,
and with reference to our spiritual state, or our immediate needs and prospects.
Frequently, He sends His sweetest whispers as the reward of special obedience in
some difficult and trying place. Not only at the judgment, but now also does the
Master say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.”
That joy is experienced here, and the good and faithful servant has the recompense
of special service and obedience in the place of difficulty and testing.

Sometimes, again, the Spirit’s comforts are sent to prepare us for some impending
hour of trial, that when the storm bursts upon us we may remember the Master’s
love, and be cheered and sustained through the trying hour, even as the Holy Spirit
came on Jordan’s banks, and the Father’s voice just before the forty days of dark,
fierce temptation. Sometimes, again, the Spirit’s love-tokens come just after some
dark and terrible conflict, even as the angels appeared after Gethsemane to comfort
our weary and suffering Lord. Sometimes, also, His comforts are withdrawn to keep
us from leaning too strongly on sensible joys, and to discipline us in the life of simple
faith, and teach us to trust when we cannot see the face of our Beloved, or hear the
music of His voice.
6. But we must ever remember, in connection with our varied experiences, that even
comfort and joy are not to be the aim and goal of our hearts, but rather that the
principle of our Christian life is simple faith, and the purpose, faithful obedience
and service to our Master.
“Not enjoyment and not sorrow
Is our destined end and way;
But to act that each tomorrow
Finds us farther than today.”
The life that is naturally influenced by sunshine or shadow will be ephemeral, and
change its hue like the chameleon, with the seasons and surroundings. Indeed, the
very source of lasting joy is to ignore our own emotions and feelings and act
uniformly on the twin principles of faith and duty. Many people are trying to get
joyful emotions just as they would buy cut flowers in winter. They are bright and
fragrant for a few hours, but they have no root, and they wither away with the
sunset. Far better and wiser to plant the root in the fertile ground, to water it, and to
wait for it, and in a little while the lasting blossoms will open their petals and
breathe out their fragrance on the air. So the joy that springs from trust and
permanent spiritual life is as abiding as its source.
Let us, therefore, learn to ignore the immediate impressions that lie upon the
surface of our consciousness, and steadfastly walk in the fellowship and will of the
Divine Spirit, and thus there shall grow in our hearts and lives the roots of
happiness and all their blessed fruits of joy and consolation. Often, therefore, has
God to withdraw, for a time, the conscious joy, that He may prove us and develop in
us the faith that trusts Him, and loves Him for Himself, rather than for the sweetest
of His gifts.

The holy spirit as comforter

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