was to assist us and comfort us, after Christ had left the world: and thus may our Lord be said to be with us always, even unto the end of the world. "These things," said he, “I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." It is a great consolation to Christians, to know that they are not left dependent upon human nature; were man left to himself, without the voice of the Comforter whispering in small still accents, the end of his days would surely be perdition, and his existence here one of misery and wretchedness. But Christ declared, that he would not leave us comfortless; and according to his promise was the Holy Spirit sent. And had not this Holy Spirit followed the ascension of our Saviour, there would have been nothing left to comfort man in this world, nothing to prepare him for eternity, nothing to enable him to work out his own salvation: indeed without this heavenly assistant, man must have perished; because without him he can do nothing good; human nature would have had no restraint; evil passions would have continued breaking out; and misery and wretchedness would have hurried us on to eternal ruin. But now the Comforter has been sent; it is he, who curbs the evil passions; it is he, who sets a bound upon human nature; it is he, who brings peace and consolation to the mind, when it is bent down by trouble and disease, and directs it, by his still small voice, to that Rock of ages, against which the storm may impotently rage, but from which it cannot dislodge the believer. Thus was it expedient, that Christ should go to the Father, that he might send the Comforter, but let it never be forgotten, that this Divine monitor may be resisted; that the Divine light, which it is his office to shed upon the heart, may be shut out, and thus all within be kept in its natural darkness, without spiritual life communicated to the soul, without blessings temporal and eternal. At one time, the sun shines upon the stream, as it winds its way through the rich and verdant plains, leaving upon the waters that brightness, which indicates his glory and his power; at another, the moon, in the stillness of night, lets fall her light upon the ocean, as it presses its huge waves to the shore, and displays around the immensity of the great deep; but let a little while pass away, and a new scene opens for the admiring eye to feast upon, and the human intellect to contemplate. So the Comforter, at one time, emits his rays upon the heart, to light up the moral darkness, and dissipate the gloom that hangs upon the soul; at another time, he comes, bringing with him various means and various ways to turn us to God; and if we resist not his influence, he continues with us for ever. Blessed are the eyes, which saw our Lord; but more blessed they, who hear his words and keep them! More blessed they, who receive the Comforter willingly, whether he brings with him temporal happiness or passing misery! Whatever the Lord wills, it is for the good of the creature. If this truth be established in the mind, contentment, as a matter of course, will preserve it from breaking be 5 66 neath the heavy load, with which it may be depressed. Contentment, with respect to the various visitations, which Providence may send, invests the mind with a panoply, which cannot be pierced. Misery may threaten it, but it cannot depress it. Pain may afflict it, but it cannot destroy faith. Sin may tempt it, but in a religious mind hope becomes stronger, trust in God firmer, and happiness more secure. Whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth;" and it often happens, that those persons, who are the most religious, are the most afflicted. But in a little while, though the sky be overcast, the sun shall break through the tempest, and the dark clouds shall yield to a superior power, and vanish to rise no more for ever. Let not then our hopes fail us, our faith grow weak, our action, our energy, our zeal lie dormant. If the Lord at times appears to forsake us, let our prayers be the more frequent; let them proceed from us the oftener. Let us, like Jacob, wrestle with him, until we prevail; for his promise is sure, his words |