Of Spiritual Comfort in General

BY REV. JOHN COLQUHOUN, D.D.,
Minister of the Gospel, Leith, 1813.

(Continued from page 103.)

1. The grounds and sources of holy consolation, are especially the following: God in Christ, with all His glorious perfections, as a God of love, grace, and mercy, and as the God and portion of the saints (Ps. xliii. 4); Christ, in His glorious Person (Phil. iii. 3), righteousness (Isa. lxi. 10 and xxxii. 17), fulness, offices, and relations, or Christ living in them (Gal. ii. 20), and living for them (Rev. i. 18); the Holy Spirit, as inhabiting, quickening, sanctifying, and sealing them, and as the earnest of their eternal inheritance (2 Cor. i. 22); the covenant of grace, as well ordered in all things and sure, according to which, Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is their God, and they are His people, His peculiar people (Jer. xxxi. 33); the infinite atonement (Rom. v. 11), the continual intercession (Rom. viii. 34), the supreme dominion, the inviolable faithfulness, and the gracious presence, of the Lord Jesus, who is given for a covenant of the people; and the ordinances, doctrines, promises, and offers, of His gospel (Isa. xii. 3 with lxvi. 11), with the peremptory commandment, given to sinners in common, to believe on Him (Ps. xix. 8, 1 John iii. 23): these are the leading, and the immediate grounds, upon which, the saints do by faith, build their comfort; and they are, at the same time, the sources, from which, by the exercise of faith, they derive their consolation. Besides these, their faith and sense of the pardon of their sins, of the acceptance of their persons as righteous, of their adoption, of their sanctification, and of the witnessing of the blessed Spirit, are matter of consolation to them; and so is the lively exercise of all the graces of the Holy Spirit, especially of faith, hope, and love. The comfort of justification, because it is founded upon a righteousness which is perfect, and always the same, is more stable and permanent, than that of sanctification. The great things, which believers have in possession, and the greater, which they have in hope, are the sustenance of their consolation (Heb. vi. 18). The suitableness of those inestimable blessings to their hearts (2 Sam. xxiii. 5), together with their sense of personal interest in them, affords them unspeakable joy (Luke i. 47, Prov. xiii. 12). As to their experiences and evidences of grace, these are, strictly speaking, not grounds, upon which they build their comfort (Gal. vi. 14); but they are proofs, of their saving interest in those grounds of consolation, above mentioned, as well as, encouragements to build their comforts upon them; and so, they are matter of consolation to their souls (2 Cor. i. 12). The most comfortable of the saints, are they who, trusting at all times in the second Adam, as given for a covenant to them, can think of all dispensations, of all conditions, and of all duties, with comfort (Isa. xxvi. 3). They who have the love of Christ displayed in the covenant of grace, most constantly in their view, and most frequently warm on their heart; are of all believers, the most free from perplexing doubts and fears.

2. The duty and the privilege of true believers.
   It is both the duty and the privilege of true believers, to attain spiritual consolation. It is their duty, for it is required of them in the law; and their privilege, for it is promised to them in the gospel.

It is the duty of all the saints, to be of good comfort. Their God, the God of consolation, would not have them to be, at any time, disconsolate or gloomy: and therefore he expressly forbiddeth them, to fear, to be discouraged, to let their heart be troubled, and to yield to oppressive grief. He saith to them, “Fear ye not, neither be afraid” (Isa. xliv. 8): “Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God” (Isa. xli. 10): “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee” (Isa. xliii. 1). And saith the Lord Jesus, “Fear not them which kill the body” (Matt. x. 28): “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John xiv. 27): “Fear not; I am the first and the last” (Rev. i. 17): “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer” (Rev. ii, 10). The apostle Paul forbids the believers in Thessalonica, to sorrow for deceased saints, as others who have no hope (1 Thess. iv. 13). The Lord authorizeth no sorrow, but godly sorrow; which is consistent with holy joy, and tends to the increase of it. He forbiddeth His people, all oppressive grief, all desponding fear, and all perplexing trouble of mind, as hindrances to the exercise of love, and to the practice of holiness. He is displeased, when they suffer themselves to be uncomfortable in His service (Mal. ii. 13), when they sit in sackcloth in His gate. He commands them, on the contrary, to rejoice before Him. He hath made it their indispensable duty, to cast all their care upon Him (1 Pet. v. 7); “to eat their bread with joy, and to drink their wine with a cheerful heart;” “to have their garments always white, and to let their head lack no ointment” (Eccles. ix. 7, 8). He delighteth to see them joyful, and to hear them singing in His righteous ways: and therefore His high command is, “Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous; for praise is comely for the upright” (Ps. xxxiii. 1): “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (Ps. xxxii. 11): “Delight thyself also in the Lord” (Ps. xxxvii. 4): “Let all those that put their trust in Thee, rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love Thy name, be joyful in thee (Ps. v. 11): “Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven” (Matt. v. 12): “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord” (Phil. iii. 1): “Rejoice evermore” (1 Thess. v. 16): “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again, I say, Rejoice” (Phil. iv. 4): as if the apostle had said, “I, in the most earnest and urgent manner, charge you to rejoice, not at some times only, but at all times; not only when upon the mount with God, but when in the valley; not merely when the Lord shineth upon you, but when he hides his face.” Although no affliction is so hard to bear, as the distress of soul, which the believer sometimes, when he is without comfort, endures; yet, that is but little, very little indeed, in comparison of the sin, of his disobeying God’s authoritative command, by refusing to be comforted. It is remarkable that, though Asaph had, once and again, offered reasons of comfort to his troubled mind, as appears from his soul’s refusing to be comforted; yet, he still persisted in refusing consolation, until he could say, “This is my infirmity,” my sin, the distemper of unbelief in my heart; and then, he ceased to refuse it any longer (Ps. lxxvii. 2-12).

It is also the privilege of the saints, to have spiritual comfort. They have the beginnings of eternal life, and so have joy, as a part of it. It is their inestimable privilege, to have peace with God, to rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and to glory even in tribulation (Rom. v. 1-3). They have joy, with which, a stranger doth not intermeddle (Prov. xiv. 10). To them, “wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace” (Prov. iii. 17). “My mouth,” says the holy Psalmist, “shall praise thee with joyful lips” (Ps. lxxii. 5). “My lips shall greatly rejoice, when I sing unto thee; and my soul which thou hast redeemed” (Ps. lxxi. 23). The apostle Paul, speaks of his having been filled with comfort; of his having been exceeding joyful in all his tribulation (II Cor. vii. 4); and of his having been sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (II Cor. vi. 10). “Blessed be the God of all comfort,” says he, “who comforteth us in all our tribulation” (II Cor. i. 3, 4). He doth not say, Who hath comforted, or, Who will, or, Who can comfort us, if it please him; but—Who comforteth, Who always comforteth us. Neither doth he say, Who comforteth us in some, or in many tribulations; but, “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,” of whatever kind or degree. Indeed, the Lord always comforteth his people, in a greater or less measure. He giveth them songs even in the night (Job xxxv, 10).

1. Believers have always the seed, or principle of spiritual comfort, in them, but not always, the sense or feeling of consolation. As they have, at all times, ground of consolation, and must have it, so long as the everlasting covenant continues to be established with Christ, and with them in him (Isa. liv, 8-10; Ezek. xxxvii, 26); so, they have always the seed and root of it in their hearts. “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart” (Ps. xcvii, 11). Gladness is sown for the upright in heart; and though, like seed sown in winter, which lies long under the clod, it seems to be lost; yet, it is preserved, and it will in due season spring up to view, and yield a plentiful increase. Though the seed of consolation appointed for the saints, may lie covered for a time, yet it is not destroyed. Believers have at all times, the seed or principle, and also the habit of spiritual joy, in their hearts. Even in their deepest dejection, they have a seed of comfort that will spring up. The fruit of the Spirit in them, is joy and peace; and the Spirit as a Comforter, abideth with them for ever (John xiv, 16). But although they always have the principle, yet they have not, at all times, the sensible enjoyment, of comfort. They do not continually, exercise the grace of joy; and therefore, they do not always see or feel in themselves, the principle and habit of that grace. It is, when they are exercising any grace of the Spirit, that they commonly perceive it. Their sensible enjoyment of consolation in this life, is often interrupted, by the remaining corruptions of their nature, by the fiery darts of the wicked one, and by the hidings of God’s countenance from them. In interrupting their sensible comfort, they themselves have a sinful hand (Jer. ii, 17-19; Isa. lxiii, 10); Satan and his instruments have a malicious hand (I Pet. v, 8); and the Lord, in order to manifest his sovereignty, to chasten them for their sins, to try and exercise their graces, to excite their more earnest prayers, and to teach them to improve for the future the sense of his favour, hath a holy hand (Ps. xxx, 7). Hence, though the believer is, sometimes, lively, and in his exercise of faith and love, feels at his heart a glow of heavenly joy; yet at other times he is languid, cold, and in a great degree disconsolate. Like Hagar at the well, his eyes are so held, that he cannot perceive as formerly, his grounds of comfort; and then, his day of gladness, is turned into a night of heaviness (Lam. v, 15).

(To be continued.)