"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever."--John xiv. 16.
The Abiding Comforter.
When one beloved earthly friend is taken away, how the heart is drawn
out towards those that remain! Jesus was now about to leave His
sorrowing disciples. He directs them to one whose presence would fill up
the vast blank His own absence was to make. His name was, _The
Comforter_; His mission was, "to abide with them for ever." Accordingly,
no sooner had the gates of heaven closed on their ascended Lord, than,
in fulfilment of His own gracious promise, the bereaved and orphaned
Church was baptized with Pentecostal fire. "When I depart, I will send
Him unto you."
Reader, do you realize your privilege--living under the dispensation of
the Spirit? Is it your daily prayer that He may come down in all the
plenitude of His heavenly graces on your soul, even "as rain upon the
mown grass, and showers that water the earth?" You cannot live without
Him; there can be not one heavenly aspiration, not one breathing of
love, not one upward glance of faith, without His gracious influences.
Apart from him, there is no preciousness in the word, no blessing in
ordinances, no permanent sanctifying results in affliction. As the angel
directed Hagar to the hidden spring, this blessed agent, true to His
name and office, directs His people to the waters of comfort, giving new
glory to the promises, investing the Saviour's character and work with
new loveliness and beauty.
How precious is the title which this "Word of Jesus" gives Him--THE
COMFORTER! What a word for a sorrowing world! The Church militant has
its tent pitched in a "valley of _tears_." The name of the divine
visitant who comes to her and ministers to her wants, is _Comforter_.
Wide is the family of the afflicted, but He has a healing balm for
all--the weak, the tempted, the sick, the sorrowing, the bereaved, the
dying! How different from other "sons of consolation?" _Human
friends_--a look may alienate; adversity may estrange; death must
separate! The "Word of Jesus" speaks of One whose attribute and
prerogative is to "abide with us for ever;" superior to all
vicissitudes--surviving death itself!
And surely if anything else can endear His mission of love to His
Church, it is that He comes direct from God, as the fruit and gift of
_Jesus' intercession_--"_I_ will pray the Father." This holy dove of
peace and comfort is let out by the hand of Jesus from the ark of
covenant mercy within the veil! Nor is the gift more glorious than it is
free. Does the word, the look, of a suffering child get the eye and the
heart of an _earthly_ father? "If ye then, being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask Him?" It is He who makes these
"words of Jesus" "winged words."
"HE SHALL BRING ALL THINGS TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE, WHATSOEVER I HAVE
SAID UNTO YOU."