BY REV. JOHN COLQUIHOUN, D.D.,
Minister of the Gospel, Leith, 1813.
(Continued from page 77.)
Triumph is the highest degree of consolation. The saints triumph, when they so greatly rejoice, as almost to shout for joy, on account of the victory given them over their spiritual enemies. They triumph, when, more than conquerors through Him who loved them, they exult or rejoice, in their mighty Redeemer, with rapturous delight. This was often the attainment of the holy apostle Paul, and of his fellow-labourers in the gospel. “Thanks be unto God,” says he, “which always causeth us to triumph in Christ” (2 Cor. ii. 14). A lofty description of this their triumph, he giveth in Rom. viii. 31-39. How high did heavenly consolation rise, in the soul of that holy apostle, when he was writing that sublime passage! In like manner does the believer triumph, when, in his pursuit of more communion with Christ, and conformity to Him, he is enabled to vanquish great opposition. In some happy moments of his life, his joy, like a river swelled by impetuous rain, bursteth all its banks, and carrieth all the joys and all the sorrows of this world before it. It is then, especially, that it may be styled, “Joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet. 1, 8). It is glorious in itself, and is attended with glorying in the Lord Jesus. When the heart of the Christian is elevated to this degree of consolation, he glories in the Lord. All that is in this world is brought under him: the greatest calamities cannot daunt him. He sets Christ, and God in Christ, against all enemies and all evils, whether external or internal. This triumphant glorying in the Lord, is like that of the holy Psalmist, who said, “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord” (Ps. xxxiv. 2). It is remarkable, that these three degrees of spiritual comfort are, by our apostle mentioned in a single passage (Rom. v. 1-3): “We have,” says he, “peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ; we rejoice in hope; and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.”
3. Spiritual consolation is, according to the covenant of grace, given to believers, by God the Father, by Christ the second Adam, and by the Holy Spirit. God the Father giveth it, by sovereign and judiciary authority; Christ the mediator, by gracious dispensation; and the Holy Spirit, by effectual operation. God the Father ordaineth it for His children (Isa. xxix. 12); Christ the last Adam, administers it; and the blessed Spirit, as the Spirit of Christ, applieth it to them.
Holy consolation is given them by God the Father. None but Jehovah himself, can pour consolation into a troubled soul. All true comfort is, originally and fundamentally in Him. He it is, whom the apostle Paul styles, “The God of all comfort, who comforteth the saints in all their tribulation” (2 Cor. i. 3, 4); and, “The Father, who hath loved them, and hath given them everlasting consolation” (2 Thess. ii. 16). He also calls Him, “The God of consolation” (Rom. xv. 5), and “The Comforter of those that are cast down” (2 Cor. vii. 6). The Lord compareth himself to a father pitying his children (Ps. ciii. 13), and to a mother comforting, with tenderest concern, her afflicted infant (Isa. lxvi. 13). He chargeth His servants, “to strengthen the weak hands, to confirm the feeble knees, and to say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not; behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense, He will come and save you” (Isa. xxxv. 3, 4). He suffered His only and beloved Son to be, in all points, tempted like as His people are, that he might sympathise with, and comfort them, under all their temptations.
Comfort is administered to them by Jesus Christ, their Covenant-head. The Lord Jesus is the Trustee, the store-house, of all spiritual comfort, to the saints: from Him, as the hope set before them, they may daily derive strong consolation. Hence He is styled, “The Consolation of Israel” (Luke ii. 25). He is the matter of His people’s consolation; the Prince of Peace, the true Noah, “who comforteth them, concerning the work and toil of their hands.” It is a part of His high office, to which he was anointed by the blessed Spirit, “to comfort them who mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isa. lxi. 2, 3). There is therefore “consolation in Christ” (Phil. ii. 1); and the consolation of the saints aboundeth by Christ (2 Cor. i. 5): they have it, in Him and through Him, with Him and by Him. His person, righteousness, fulness, and love, are the source and substance of abundant consolation to them, against trouble of every kind. He it is, who giveth peace to His people: and “when He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?” (Job. xxiv. 29.) Nothing can comfort the heart without Christ. He removes from the soul, all that is dismal, and bestows upon it, all that is comfortable. He it is, who maketh even the darkness of trouble itself, to be light before them who trust in Him. He is the Sun of righteousness, whose light, and warmth, and healing, cheer their souls. When He vouchsafes His reviving presence to them, He leaves a delightful perfume of comfort behind Him. Indeed, a man can never know what true pleasure is, till he know Christ. The Compassionate Redeemer, therefore, saith to all who are weary, toiling in a fruitless pursuit of happiness, and also to all who are heavy laden, oppressed with the servitude of sin, or bowed down under a load of misery, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest” (Matth. xi. 28).
Comfort is applied to the saints by the Holy Spirit. He is therefore styled, “The Comforter” (John xv. 26). Being the inestimable gift of the Father, through the mediation of the Son, He is “another Comforter” (John xiv. 16). The adorable Spirit dischargeth this His office, by testifying of Christ, or by taking of the things of Christ, and shewing them to believers; by opening and applying the promises of the everlasting covenant to them, and by enabling them to believe these, with application to themselves; by shedding abroad the love of the Father and of the Son, in their hearts; by witnessing to them their adoption, and their being heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; by abiding in them, as the seal, the earnest, and the pledge, of their eternal inheritance; and by dwelling in them, as the spirit of grace and of supplications. The Holy Spirit, like Noah’s dove, flieth with the olive-leaf of peace, to assure believers, that “the winter is past, and that the rain is over and gone.” He not only bringeth words of comfort to their remembrance, but opens their hearts to receive them. Comforts may be so applied as to be brought close to the heart; but, if the heart do not open for them, no consolation is experienced. The Spirit, therefore, not only openeth and applieth the promises to the heart; but, openeth the heart for the comfort of the promises; and then pours consolation into it. He comforts the saints also, by enabling them to trust that, in the Lord Jesus, they have righteousness and strength, forgiveness of sins, and a title to eternal life; as well as, by renewing them after the image of the Son of God, and so, uniting their hearts to the holy will of God. The original word, in the New Testament, which we have translated, a Comforter (John xiv. 16), signifies likewise, an Advocate. One special way, in which, the Holy Spirit comforts believers, is the exercise of His Advocacy or intercession in them (Rom. viii. 26). The more they are enabled to pray in faith, the more do they walk in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost (Acts ix. 31).
4. The spiritual consolation, which is given to believers, is a part of eternal life.
“Believing ye rejoice” (1 Pet. i. 8). “He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life” (John iii. 36). One part of the fruit of the Spirit, when He imparteth spiritual life to the soul, is joy (Gal. v. 22). But spiritual life in the soul is eternal life begun. When God who cannot lie, promised, before the world began, eternal life to the second Adam for his spiritual seed; He promised to him, that, upon condition of his bearing their griefs, and carrying their sorrows, they should become heirs of everlasting joy, and heirs of Himself as their exceeding joy. As the saving knowledge of Christ, in this world, is the earnest, and beginning of the beatific vision of God and the Lamb, in the heavenly world, and as conformity to Christ in holiness here, is the beginning of perfect conformity to Him there; so the consolation, which the saints, on some occasions, feel, in this valley of tears, is the first fruits or beginning of that fullness of joy, which will constitute a part of their blessedness, in that holy place on high. The joy of the Holy Ghost, which enters into them here, is the same in kind, as the joy of their Lord, into which they will enter hereafter. It is therefore, by one apostle, styled “Everlasting consolation” (2 Thess. ii. 16), and by another, “Joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet. i. 8). It is joy that is full of glory, or glorious joy; the very dawning of the day of glory. Holy consolation, is glory begun in the soul; a bud, which will open in heaven, and spread into ineffable and endless glory; a dawn, which will shine more and more, until the glorious Sun of righteousness, brighten it into perfect and eternal day. All the joy of the saints below, is but as a spark, a feeble spark, compared to that blaze of rapture, which will burn intensely in their spirits above. It is but a slight foretaste, a small drop, of that immense ocean of unmixed joy, which they are to inherit in the mansions of glory. Although they are not far from the heavenly Caanan; yet their hearts are often ready to faint, under their sufferings from without, and their conflicts with corruption from within: but a taste of the grapes of Eshcol, the first fruits of heaven, revives their spirit, rouses their zeal, and quickens their desire of that endless rest, which there remaineth for them. Consolation keeps the holy soul upon the wing, and increases her strength. It is the very life of the soul. When Naomi would express the comfort that Boaz should afford to Ruth, she said to her, “He shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life” (Ruth iv. 15). If the contentment and delight of the heart be taken away, it dieth. The souls of the wicked, have an existence in hell; yet, because it is an existence without comfort, their state is never said in Scripture, to be a state of life, but on the contrary, a state of death. Accordingly, the restoring of comfort to mourners, is called, a reviving of them (Isa. lvii. 15).
(To be continued.)