Works (theological treatises)

The general consequences in the hearts of believers of the effects of the Holy Ghost before mentioned — Consolation; its adjuncts, peace, joy — How it is wrought immediately, mediately.

Having proceeded thus far in discovering the way of our communion with the Holy Ghost, and insisted on the most noble and known effects that he produceth, it remains that it be declared what general consequences of these effects there are brought forth in the hearts of believers; and so we shall at least have made mention of the main heads of his dispensation and work in the economy of grace. Now, these (as with the former) I shall do little more than name; it being not at all in my design to handle the natures of them, but only to show what respects they bear to the business in hand:—

1. Consolation is the first of these: "The disciples walked in the fear of the Lord, and in the consolation of the Holy Ghost," Acts ix. 31, Te paraklesei tou hagiou Pneumatos, He is ho parakletos, and he gives paraklesin: from his work towards us, and in us, we have comfort and consolation. This is the first general consequent of his dispensation and work. Whenever there is mention made of comfort and consolation in the Scripture given to the saints (as there is most frequently), it is the proper consequent of the work of the Holy Ghost towards them. Comfort or consolation in general, is the setting and composing of the soul in rest and contentedness in the midst of or from troubles, by the consideration or presence of some good, wherein it is interested, outweighing the evil, trouble, or perplexity that it hath to wrestle withal. Where mention is made of comfort and consolation, properly so called, there is relation to trouble or perplexity; so the apostle, 2 Cor. i. 5, 6, "As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." Suffering and consolation are opposed, the latter being a relief against the former; so are all the promises of comfort, and all the expressions of it, in the Old and New Testament still proposed as reliefs against trouble.

And, as I said, consolation ariseth from the presence or consideration of a greater good, that outbalances the evil or perplexity wherewith we are to contend. Now, in the effects or acts of the Holy Ghost before mentioned lie all the springs of our consolation. There is no comfort but from them; and there is no trouble that we may not have comfort in and against by them. That a man may have consolation in any condition, nothing is required but the presence of a good, rendering the evil wherewith he is pressed inconsiderable to him. Suppose a man under the greatest calamity that can possibly befall a child of God, or a confluence of all those evils numbered by Paul, Rom. viii. 35, etc.; let this man have the Holy Ghost performing the works mentioned before towards him, and, in despite of all his evils, his consolations will abound. Suppose him to have a sense of the love of God all the while shed abroad in his heart, a clear witness within that he is a child of God, accepted with him, that he is sealed and marked of God for his own, that he is an heir of all the promises of God, and the like; it is impossible that man should not triumph in all his tribulations.

From this rise of all our consolation are those descriptions which we have of it in the Scripture, from its properties and adjuncts; as, —

(1.) It is abiding. Thence it is called "Everlasting consolation," 2 Thess. ii. 16, "God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation;" — that is, comfort that vanisheth not; and that because it riseth from everlasting things. There may be some perishing comfort given for a little season by perishing things; but abiding consolation, which we have by the Holy Ghost, is from things everlasting:— everlasting love, eternal redemption, an everlasting inheritance.

(2.) Strong. Heb. vi. 18, "That the heirs of the promise should receive strong consolation." As strong opposition lies sometimes against us, and trouble, whose bands are strong, so is our consolation strong; it abounds, and is unconquerable, — ischura paraklesis. It is such as will make its way through all opposition; it confirms, corroborates, and strengthens the heart under any evil; it fortifies the soul, and makes it able cheerfully to undergo any thing that it is called unto: and that because it is from him who is strong.

(3.) It is precious. Hence the apostle makes it the great motive unto obedience, which he exhorts the Philippians unto, chap. ii. 1, "If there be any consolation in Christ;" — "If you set any esteem and valuation upon this precious mercy of consolation in Christ, by those comforts, let it be so with you."

And this is the first general consequent in the hearts of believers of those great effects of the Holy Ghost before mentioned. Now, this is so large and comprehensive, comprising so many of our concernments in our walking with God, that the Holy Ghost receives his denomination, as to the whole work he hath to perform for us, from hence, — he is the Comforter; as Jesus Christ, from the work of redemption and salvation, is the Redeemer and Saviour of his church. Now, as we have no consolation but from the Holy Ghost, so all his effects towards us have certainly this consequent more or less in us. Yea, I dare say, whatever we have in the kinds of the things before mentioned that brings not consolation with it, in the root at least, if not in the ripe fruit, is not of the Holy Ghost. The way whereby comfort issues out from those works of his, belongs to particular cases. The fellowship we have with him consists, in no small portion of it, in the consolation we receive from him. This gives us a valuation of his love; teacheth whither to make applications in our distress, — whom to pray for, to pray to, — whom to wait upon, in perplexities.

2. Peace ariseth hence also. Rom. xv. 13, "The God of hope fill you with all peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." The power of the Holy Ghost is not only extended to hope, but to our peace also in believing. So is it in the connection of those promises, John xiv. 26, 27, "I will give you the Comforter:" and what then? what follows that grant? "Peace," saith he, "I leave with you; my peace I give unto you." Nor doth Christ otherwise leave his peace, or give his peace unto them, but by bestowing the Comforter on them. The peace of Christ consists in the soul's sense of its acceptation with God in friendship. So is Christ said to be "our peace," Eph. ii. 14, by slaying the enmity between God and us, and in taking away the handwriting that was against us. Rom. v. 1, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God." A comfortable persuasion of our acceptation with God in Christ is the bottom of this peace; it inwraps deliverance from eternal wrath, hatred, curse, condemnation, — all sweetly affecting the soul and conscience.

And this is a branch from the same root with that foregoing, — a consequent of the effects of the Holy Ghost before mentioned. Suppose a man chosen in the eternal love of the Father, redeemed by the blood of the Son, and justified freely by the grace of God, so that he hath a right to all the promises of the gospel; yet this person can by no reasonings nor arguings of his own heart, by no considerations of the promises themselves, nor of the love of God or grace of Christ in them, be brought to any establishment in peace, until it be produced in him as a fruit and consequent of the work of the Holy Ghost in him and towards him. "Peace" is the fruit of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22. The savour of the Spirit is "life and peace," Rom. viii. 6. All we have is from him and by him.

3. Joy, also, is of this number. The Spirit, as was showed, is called "The oil of gladness," Heb. i. 9. His anointing brings gladness with it, Isa. lxi. 3, "The oil of joy for mourning." "The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," Rom. xiv. 17; "Received the word with joy in the Holy Ghost," 1 Thess. i. 6, — "with joy," as Peter tells believers, "unspeakable and full of glory," 1 Epist. i. 8. To give joy to the hearts of believers is eminently the work of the Comforter; and this he doth by the particulars before instanced in. That "rejoicing in hope of the glory of God," mentioned Rom. v. 2, which carries the soul through any tribulation, even with glorying, hath its rise in the Spirit's "shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts," verse 5. Now, there are two ways whereby the Spirit worketh this joy in the hearts of believers:—

(1.) He doth it immediately by himself; without the consideration of any other acts or works of his, or the interposition of any reasonings, or deductions and conclusions. As in sanctification he is a well of water springing up in the soul, immediately exerting his efficacy and refreshment; so in consolation, he immediately works the soul and minds of men to a joyful, rejoicing, and spiritual frame, filling them with exultation and gladness; — not that this arises from our reflex consideration of the love of God, but rather gives occasion thereunto. When he so sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts, and so fills them with gladness by an immediate act and operation (as he caused John Baptist to leap for joy in the womb upon the approach of the mother of Jesus), — then doth the soul, even from hence, raise itself to a consideration of the love of God, whence joy and rejoicing doth also flow. Of this joy there is no account to be given, but that the Spirit worketh it when and how he will. He secretly infuseth and distils it into the soul, prevailing against all fears and sorrows, filling it with gladness, exultations; and sometimes with unspeakable raptures of mind.

(2.) Mediately. By his other works towards us, he gives a sense of the love of God, with our adoption and acceptation with him; and on the consideration thereof enables us to receive it. Let what hath been spoken of his operations towards us be considered, — what assurance he gives us of the love of God; what life, power, and security; what pledge of our eternal welfare, — and it will be easily perceived that he lays a sufficient foundation of this joy and gladness. Not that we are able, upon any rational consideration, deduction, or conclusion, that we can make from the things mentioned, to affect our hearts with the joy and gladness intended; it is left no less the proper work of the Spirit to do it from hence, and by the intervenience of these considerations, than to do it immediately without them. This process of producing joy in the heart, we have, Ps. xxiii. 5, 6, "Thou anointest my head with oil." Hence is the conclusion, as in the way of exultation, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me." Of this effect of the Comforter, see Isa. xxxv. throughout.

4. Hope, also, is an effect of those workings of the Holy Ghost in us and towards us, Rom. xv. 13. These, I say, are the general consequents of the effects of the Holy Ghost upon the hearts of believers; which, if we might consider them in their offspring, with all the branches that shoot out from them, in exultation, assurance, boldness, confidence, expectation, glorying, and the like, it would appear how far our whole communion with God is influenced by them. But I only name the heads of things, and hasten to what remains. It is the general and particular way of our communion with the Holy Ghost that should nextly ensue, but that some other considerations necessarily do here interpose themselves.

Some observations and inferences from discourses foregoing concerning the Spirit — The contempt of the whole administration of the Spirit by some — The vain pretence of the Spirit by others — The false spirit discovered.

This process being made, I should now show immediately, how we hold the communion proposed with the Holy Ghost, in the things laid down and manifested to contain his peculiar work towards us; but there are some miscarriages in the world in reference unto this dispensation of the Holy Ghost, both on the one hand and the other, in contempt of his true work and pretence of that which is not, that I cannot but remark in my passage: which to do shall be the business of this chapter.

Take a view, then, of the state and condition of them who, professing to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, do yet contemn and despise his Spirit, as to all its operations, gifts, graces, and dispensations to his churches and saints. Whilst Christ was in the world with his disciples, he made them no greater promise, neither in respect of their own good nor of carrying on the work which he had committed to them, than this of giving them the Holy Ghost. Him he instructeth them to pray for of the Father, as that which is needful for them, as bread for children, Luke xi. 13. Him he promiseth them, as a well of water springing up in them, for their refreshment, strengthening, and consolation unto everlasting life, John vii. 37-39; as also to carry on and accomplish the whole work of the ministry to them committed, John xvi. 8-11; with all those eminent works and privileges before mentioned. And upon his ascension, this is laid as the bottom of that glorious communication of gifts and graces in his plentiful effusion mentioned, Eph. iv. 8, 11, 12, — namely, that he had received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, Act ii. 33; and that in such an eminent manner as thereby to make the greatest and most glorious difference between the administration of the new covenant and old. Especially doth the whole work of the ministry relate to the Holy Ghost; though that be not my present business to evince. He calls men to that work, and they are separated unto him, Acts xiii. 2; he furnisheth them with gifts and abilities for that employment, 1 Cor. xii. 7-10. So that the whole religion we profess, without this administration of the Spirit, is nothing; nor is there any fruit without it of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

This being the state of things, — that in our worship of and obedience to God, in our own consolation, sanctification, and ministerial employment, the Spirit is the principle, the life, soul, the all of the whole; yet so desperate hath been the malice of Satan, and wickedness of men, that their great endeavour hath been to shut him quite out of all gospel administrations.

First, his gifts and graces were not only decried, but almost excluded from the public worship of the church, by the imposition of an operose form of service, to be read by the minister; which to do is neither a peculiar gift of the Holy Ghost to any, nor of the ministry at all. It is marvellous to consider what pleas and pretences were invented and used by learned men, — from its antiquity, its composure and approbation by martyrs, the beauty of uniformity in the worship of God, established and pressed thereby, etc., — for the defence and maintenance of it. But the main argument they insisted on, and the chief field wherein they expatiated and laid out all their eloquence, was the vain babbling repetitions and folly of men praying by the Spirit. When once this was fallen upon, all (at least as they supposed) was carried away before them, and their adversaries rendered sufficiently ridiculous: so great is the cunning of Satan, and so unsearchable are the follies of the hearts of men. The sum of all these reasonings amounts to no more but this, — "Though the Lord Jesus Christ hath promised the Holy Ghost to be with his church to the end of the world, to fit and furnish men with gifts and abilities for the carrying on of that worship which he requires and accepteth at our hands, yet the work is not done to the purpose; the gifts he bestows are not sufficient to that end, neither as to invocation nor doctrine: and, therefore, we will not only help men by our directions, but exclude them from their exercise." This; I say, was the sum of all, as I could undeniably evidence, were that my present business, what innumerable evils ensue on this principle, in a formal setting apart of men to the ministry who had never once "tasted of the powers of the world to come," nor received any gifts from the Holy Ghost to that purpose; of crying up and growing in an outside pompous worship, wholly foreign to the power and simplicity of the gospel; of silencing, destroying, banishing, men whose ministry was accompanied with the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, — I shall not need to declare. This is that I aim at, to point out the public contempt of the Holy Ghost, his gifts and graces, with their administration in the church of God, that hath been found even where the gospel hath been professed.

Again: it is a thing of most sad consideration, once to call to mind the improvement of that principle of contempt of the Spirit in private men and their ways. The name of the Spirit was grown a term of reproach. To plead for, or pretend to pray by, the Spirit, was enough to render a man the object of scorn and reproach from all sorts of men, from the pulpit to the stage. "What! you are full of the Spirit; you will pray by the Spirit; you have the gift: let us hear your nonsense;" — and yet, perhaps, these men would think themselves wronged not to be accounted Christians. Christians! yea, have not some pretending themselves to be leaders of the flock, — yea, mounted a storey or two above their brethren, and claiming a rule and government over them, — made it their business to scoff at and reproach the gifts of the Spirit of God? And if this were the frame of their spirit, what might be expected from others of professed profaneness? It is not imaginable to what height of blasphemy the process in this kind amounted. The Lord grant there be nothing of this cursed leaven still remaining amongst us! Some bleatings of ill importance¹ are sometimes heard. Is this the fellowship of the Holy Ghost that believers are called unto? Is this the due entertainment of him whom our Saviour promised to send for the supply of his bodily absence, so as we might be no losers thereby? Is it not enough that men should be contented with such a stupid blindness, as, being called Christians, to look no farther for their comfort and consolation than moral considerations common to heathens would lead them, when one infinitely holy and blessed person of the Trinity hath taken this office upon him to be our comforter, but they must oppose and despise him also? Nothing more discovers how few there are in the world that have interest in that blessed name whereby we are all called. But this is no place to pursue this discourse. The aim of this discourse is, to evince the folly and madness of men in general, who profess to own the gospel of Christ, and yet contemn and despise his Spirit, in whomsoever he is manifested. Let us be zealous of the gifts of the Spirit, not envious at them.

From what hath been discoursed we may also try the spirits that are gone abroad in the world, and which have been exercising themselves, at several seasons, ever since the ascension of Christ. The iniquity of the generation that is past and passing away lay in open, cursed opposition to the Holy Ghost. God hath been above them, wherein they behaved themselves presumptuously. Satan, whose design, as he is god of this world, is to be uppermost, not to dwell wholly in any form cast down by the providence of God, hath now transformed himself into an angel of light; and he will pretend the Spirit also and only. But there are "seducing spirits," 1 Tim. iv. 1; and we have a "command not to believe every spirit, but try the spirits," 1 John iv. 1; and the reason added is, "Because many false prophets are gone out into the world;" — that is, men pretending to the revelation of new doctrines by the Spirit; whose deceits in the first church Paul intimateth, 2 Thess. ii. 2; calling on men not to be "shaken in mind by spirit." The truth is, the spirits of these days are so gross, that a man of a very easy discerning may find them out and yet their delusion so strong, that not a few are deceived. This is one thing that lies evident to every eye, — that, according to his wonted course, Satan, with his delusions, is run into an extreme to his former actings.

Not long since, his great design, as I manifested, was to cry up ordinances without the Spirit, casting all the reproach that he could upon him; — now, to cry up a spirit without and against ordinances, casting all reproach and contempt possible upon them. Then, he would have a ministry without the Spirit; — now, a Spirit without a ministry. Then, the reading of the word might suffice, without either preaching or praying by the Spirit, — now, the Spirit is enough, without reading or studying the word at all. Then, he allowed a literal embracing of what Christ had done in the flesh; — now, he talks of Christ in the Spirit only, and denies him to be come in the flesh, — the proper character of the false spirit we are warned of, 1 John iv. 1. Now, because it is most certain that the Spirit which we are to hear and embrace is the Spirit promised by Christ (which is so clear, that him the Montanists' paraclete, yea, and Mohammed, pretended himself to be, and those of our days affirm, who pretend the same), let us briefly try them by some of the effects mentioned, which Christ hath promised to give the Holy Ghost for:—

The first general effect, as was observed, was this, — that he should bring to remembrance the things that Christ spake, for our guidance and consolation. This was to he the work of the Holy Ghost towards the apostles, who were to be the penmen of the Scriptures: this is to be his work towards believers to the end of the world. Now, the things that Christ hath spoken and done are "written that we might believe, and believing, have life through his name," John xx. 31; they are written in the Scripture. This, then, is the work of the Spirit which Christ hath promised; — he shall bring to our remembrance, and give us understanding of the words of Christ in the Scripture, for our guidance and consolation. Is this, now, the work of the spirit which is abroad in the world, and perverteth many? Nothing less. His business is, to decry the things that Christ hath spoken which are written in the word; to pretend new revelations of his own; to lead men from the written word, wherein the whole work of God and all the promises of Christ are recorded.

Again: the work of the Spirit promised by Christ is to glorify him: "He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you," John xvi. 14. Him who was to suffer at Jerusalem, who then spake to his disciples, it was to make him glorious, honourable, and of high esteem in the hearts of believers; and that by showing his things (his love, kindness, grace, and purchase) unto them. This is the work of the Spirit. The work of the spirit that is gone abroad, is to glorify itself, to decry and render contemptible Christ that suffered for us, under the name of a Christ without us; which it slights and despiseth, and that professedly. Its own glory, its own honour, is all that it aims at; wholly inverting the order of the divine dispensations. The fountain of all being and lying in the Father's love, the Son came to glorify the Father. He still says, "I seek not mine own glory, but the glory of him that sent me." The Son having carried on the work of redemption, was now to be glorified with the Father. So he prays that it might be, John xvii. 1, "The hour is come, glorify thy Son;" and that with the glory which he had before the world was, when his joint counsel was in the carrying on the Father's love. Wherefore the Holy Ghost is sent, and his work is to glorify the Son. But now, as I said, we have a spirit come forth whose whole business is to glorify himself; whereby we may easily know whence he is.

Furthermore: the Holy Ghost sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts, as was declared, and thence fills them with joy, peace, and hope; quieting and refreshing the hearts of them in whom he dwells; giving them liberty and rest, confidence, and the boldness of children. This spirit whereof men now boast is a spirit of bondage, whose utmost work is to make men quake and tremble; casting them into an un-son-like frame of spirit, driving them up and down with horror and bondage, and drinking up their very natural spirits, and making their whole man wither away. There is scarce any one thing that more evidently manifesteth the spirit whereby some are now acted not to be the Comforter promised by Christ, than this, — that he is a spirit of bondage and slavery in them in whom he is, and a spirit of cruelty and reproach towards others; in a direct opposition to the Holy Ghost in believers, and all the ends and purposes for which, as a spirit of adoption and consolation, he is bestowed on them.

To give one instance more: the Holy Ghost bestowed on believers is a Spirit of prayer and supplication; as was manifested. The spirit wherewith we have to do, pretends the carrying men above such low and contemptible means of communion with God. In a word, it were a very easy and facile task, to pass through all of the eminent effects of the Holy Ghost in and towards believers, and to manifest that the pretending spirit of our days comes in a direct opposition and contradiction to every one of them. Thus hath Satan passed from one extreme to another, — from a bitter, wretched opposition to the Spirit of Christ, unto a cursed pretending to the Spirit; still to the same end and purpose.

I might give sundry other instances of the contempt or abuse of the dispensation of the Spirit. Those mentioned are the extremes whereunto all other are or may be reduced; and I will not farther divert from that which lies directly in my aim.

Of particular communion with the Holy Ghost — Of preparation thereunto — Valuation of the benefits we receive by him — What it is he comforts us in and against; wherewith; how.

The way being thus made plain for us, I come to show how we hold particular communion with the Holy Ghost, as he is promised of Christ to be our comforter, and as working out our consolation by the means formerly insisted on. Now, the first thing I shall do herein, is the proposal of that which may be some preparation to the duty under consideration; and this by leading the souls of believers to a due valuation of this work of his towards us, whence he is called our Comforter.

To raise up our hearts to this frame, and fit us for the duty intended, let us consider these three things:—

Secondly, Wherewith he comforts us.

Thirdly, The principle of all his actings and operations in us for our consolation.

First. There are but three things in the whole course of our pilgrimage that the consolations of the Holy Ghost are useful and necessary in:—

1. In our afflictions. Affliction is part of the provision that God hath made in his house for his children, Heb. xii. 5, 6. The great variety of its causes, means, uses, and effects, is generally known. There is a measure of them appointed for every one. To be wholly without them is a temptation; and so in some measure an affliction. That which I am to speak unto is, that in all our afflictions we need the consolations of the Holy Ghost. It is the nature of man to relieve himself, when he is entangled, by all ways and means. According as men's natural spirits are, so do they manage themselves under pressures. "The spirit of a man will bear his infirmity;" at least, will struggle with it.

There are two great evils, one of which doth generally seize on men under their afflictions, and keep them from a due management of them. The apostle mentioneth them both, Heb. xii. 5, Me oligorei paideias Kuriou, mede ekluou, hup' autou elenchomenos, — "Despise not the chastisement of the Lord; neither faint when thou art reproved." One of these extremes do men usually fall into; either they despise the Lord's correction, or sink under it.

(1.) Men despise it. They account that which befalls them to be a light or common thing; they take no notice of God in it; they can shift with it well enough: they look on instruments, second causes; provide for their own defence and vindication with little regard to God or his hand in their affliction. And the ground of this is, because they take in succours, in their trouble, that God will not mix his grace withal; they fix on other remedies than what he hath appointed, and utterly lose all the benefits and advantage of their affliction. And so shall every man do that relieves himself from any thing but the consolations of the Holy Ghost.

(2.) Men faint and sink under their trials and afflictions; which the apostle farther reproves, verse 12. The first despise the assistance of the Holy Ghost through pride of heart; the latter refuse it through dejectedness of spirit, and sink under the weight of their troubles. And who, almost, is there that offends not on one of these hands? Had we not learned to count light of the chastisements of the Lord, and to take little notice of his dealings with us, we should find the season of our afflictions to comprise no small portion of our pilgrimage.

Now, there is no due management of our souls under any affliction, so that God may have the glory of it, and ourselves any spiritual benefit or improvement thereby, but by the consolations of the Holy Ghost. All that our Saviour promiseth his disciples, when he tells them of the great trials and tribulations they were to undergo, is, "I will send you the Spirit, the Comforter; he shall give you peace in me, when in the world you shall have trouble. He shall guide and direct, and keep you in all your trials." And so, the apostle tells us, it came to pass, 2 Cor. i. 4-6; yea, and this, under the greatest afflictions, will carry the soul to the highest joy, peace, rest, and contentment. So the same apostle, Rom. v. 3, "We glory in tribulations." It is a great expression. He had said before, "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God," verse 2. Yea, but what if manifold afflictions and tribulations befall us? "Why, even in them also we glory," saith he; "we glory in our tribulations." But whence is it that our spirits are so borne up to a due management of afflictions, as to glory in them in the Lord? He tells us, verse 5, it is from the "shedding abroad of the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Ghost." And thence are believers said to "receive the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost," 1 Thess. i. 6; and to "take joyfully the spoiling of their goods." This is that I aim at:— there is no management nor improvement of any affliction, but merely and solely by the consolations of the Holy Ghost. Is it, then, of any esteem or value unto you that you lose not all your trials, temptations, and affliction? — learn to value that whereby alone they are rendered useful.

2. Sin is the second burden of our lives, and much the greatest. Unto this is this consolation peculiarly suited. So Heb. vi. 17, 18, an allusion is taken from the manslayer under the law, who, having killed a man unawares, and brought the guilt of his blood upon himself, fled with speed for his deliverance to the city of refuge. Our great and only refuge from the guilt of sin is the Lord Jesus Christ; in our flying to him, doth the Spirit administer consolation to us. A sense of sin fills the heart with troubles and disquietness; it is the Holy Ghost which gives us peace in Christ; — that gives an apprehension of wrath; the Holy Ghost sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts; — from thence doth Satan and the law accuse us, as objects of God's hatred; the Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. There is not any one engine or instrument that sin useth or sets up against our peace, but one effect or other of the Holy Ghost towards us is suited and fitted to the casting of it down.

3. In the whole course of our obedience are his consolations necessary also, that we may go through with it cheerfully, willingly, patiently to the end. This will afterward be more fully discovered, as to particulars, when I come to give directions for our communion with this blessed Comforter. In a word, in all the concernments of this life, and in our whole expectation of another, we stand in need of the consolations of the Holy Ghost.

Without them, we shall either despise afflictions or faint under them, and God be neglected as to his intendments in them.

Without them, sin will either harden us to a contempt of it, or cast us down to a neglect of the remedies graciously provided against it.

Without them, duties will either puff us up with pride, or leave us without that sweetness which is in new obedience.

Without them, prosperity will make us carnal, sensual, and to take up our contentment in these things, and utterly weaken us for the trials of adversity.

Without them, the comforts of our relations will separate us from God, and the loss of them make our hearts as Nabal's.

Without them, the calamity of the church will overwhelm us, and the prosperity of the church will not concern us.

Without them, we shall have wisdom for no work, peace in no condition, strength for no duty, success in no trial, joy in no state, — no comfort in life, no light in death.

Now, our afflictions, our sins, and our obedience, with the attendancies of them respectively, are the great concernments of our lives. What we are in reference unto God is comprised in them, and the due management of them, with their contraries, which come under the same rule; through all these doth there run a line of consolation from the Holy Ghost, that gives us a joyful issue throughout. How sad is the condition of poor souls destitute of these consolations. What poor shifts are they forced to betake themselves unto! what giants have they to encounter in their own strength! and whether they are conquered or seem to conquer, they have nothing but the misery of their trials!

The second thing considerable, to teach us to put a due valuation on the consolations of the Holy Ghost, is the matter of them, or that wherewith he comforts us. Now, this may be referred to the two heads that I have formerly treated of, — the love of the Father, and the grace of the Son. All the consolations of the Holy Ghost consist in his acquainting us with, and communicating unto us, the love of the Father and the grace of the Son; nor is there any thing in the one or the other but he makes it a matter of consolation to us: so that, indeed, we have our communion with the Father in his love, and the Son in his grace, by the operation of the Holy Ghost.

1. He communicates to us, and acquaints us with, the love of the Father. Having informed his disciples with that ground and foundation of their consolation which by the Comforter they should receive, our blessed Saviour (John xvi. 27) shuts up all in this, "The Father himself loveth you." This is that which the Comforter is given to acquaint us withal, — even that God is the Father, and that he loves us. In particular, that the Father, the first person in the Trinity, considered so distinctly, loves us. On this account is he said so often to come forth from the Father, because he comes in pursuit of his love, and to acquaint the hearts of believers therewith, that they may be comforted and established. By persuading us of the eternal and unchangeable love of the Father, he fills us with consolation. And, indeed, all the effects of the Holy Ghost before mentioned have their tendency this way. Of this love and its transcendent excellency you heard at large before. Whatever is desirable in it is thus communicated to us by the Holy Ghost. A sense of this is able not only to relieve us, but to make us in every condition to rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorious. It is not with an increase of corn, and wine, and oil, but with the shining of the countenance of God upon us, that he comforts our souls, Ps. iv. 6, 7. "The world hateth me," may such a soul as hath the Spirit say; "but my Father loves me. Men despise me as a hypocrite; but my Father loves me as a child. I am poor in this world; but I have a rich inheritance in the love of my Father. I am straitened in all things; but there is bread enough in my Father's house. I mourn in secret under the power of my lusts and sin, where no eyes see me; but the Father sees me, and is full of compassion. With a sense of his kindness, which is better than life, I rejoice in tribulation, glory in affliction, triumph as a conqueror. Though I am killed all the day long, all my sorrows have a bottom that may be fathomed, — my trials, bounds that may be compassed; but the breadth, and depth, and height of the love of the Father, who can express?" I might render glorious this way of the Spirit's comforting us with the love of the Father, by comparing it with all other causes and means of joy and consolation whatever; and so discover their emptiness, its fulness, — their nothingness, its being all; as also by revealing the properties of it before rehearsed.

2. Again: he doth it by communicating to us, and acquainting us with, the grace of Christ, — all the fruits of his purchase, all the desirableness of his person, as we are interested in him. The grace of Christ, as I formerly discoursed of at large, is referred to two heads, — the grace of his person, and of his office and work. By both them doth the Holy Ghost administer consolation to us, John xvi. 14. He glorifies Christ by revealing his excellencies and desirableness to believers, as the "chiefest of ten thousand, — altogether lovely," and then he shows them of the things of Christ, — his love, grace, all the fruits of his death, suffering, resurrection, and intercession: and with these supports their hearts and souls. And here, whatever is of refreshment in the pardon of sin, deliverance from the curse, and wrath to come, in justification and adoption, with the innumerable privileges attending them in the hope of glory given unto us, comes in on this head of account.

Thirdly. The principle and fountain of all his actings for our consolation comes next under consideration, to the same end; and this leads us a little nearer to the communion intended to be directed in. Now, this is his own great love and infinite condescension. He willingly proceedeth or comes forth from the Father to be our comforter. He knew what we were, and what we could do, and what would be our dealings with him, — he knew we would grieve him, provoke him, quench his motions, defile his dwelling-place; and yet he would come to be our comforter. Want of a due consideration of this great love of the Holy Ghost weakens all the principles of our obedience. Did this dwell and abide upon our hearts, what a dear valuation must we needs put upon all his operations and actings towards us! Nothing, indeed, is valuable but what comes from love and good-will. This is the way the Scripture takes to raise up our hearts to a right and due estimation of our redemption by Jesus Christ. It tells us that he did it freely; that of his own will he hath laid down his life; that he did it out of love.² "In this was manifested the love of God, that he laid down his life for us;" "He loved us, and gave himself for us;" "He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." Hereunto it adds our state and condition, considered as he undertook for us, — sinners, enemies, dead, alienated; then he loved us, and died for us, and washed us with his blood. May we not hence, also, have a valuation of the dispensation of the Spirit for our consolation? He proceeds to that end from the Father; he distributes as he will, works as he pleaseth. And what are we, towards whom he carrieth on this work? Froward, perverse, unthankful; grieving, vexing, provoking him. Yet in his love and tenderness doth he continue to do us good. Let us by faith consider this love of the Holy Ghost. It is the head and source of all the communion we have with him in this life. This is, as I said, spoken only to prepare our hearts to the communion proposed; and what a little portion is it of what might be spoken! How might all these considerations be aggravated! what a numberless number might be added! It suffices that, from what is spoken, it appears that the work in hand is amongst the greatest duties and most excellent privileges of the gospel.