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:—
First, What it is he comforts us against.
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, Μὴ ὀλιγώρει παιδείας Κυρίου, μηδὲ ἐκλύου, ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ ἐλεγχόμενος, — “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.