comfortless, I will pray to the Father, and he shall send you another Comforter, who shall be with you, and shall dwell in you for ever.” He would not leave those few poor sheep alone in the wilderness; he would not desert his children and leave them fatherless. Albeit that he had a mighty mission which did fill his heart and hand; albeit that he had so much to perform that we might have thought that even his gigantic intellect would be overburdened; albeit he had so much to suffer, that we might suppose his whole soul to be concentrated upon the thought of the sufferings to be endured; yet it was not so; before he left, he gave soothing words of comfort; like the good Samaritan, he poured in oil and wine; and we see what he promised: “I will send you another Comforter — one who shall be just what I have been, yes even more; who shall console you in your sorrows, remove your doubts, comfort you in your afflictions, and stand as my vicar on earth, to do that which I would have done, had I stayed with you.”
3. Before I discourse on the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, I must make one or two remarks on the different translations of the word rendered “Comforter.” The Rhemish translation, which you are aware is adopted by Roman Catholics, has left the word untranslated, and gives it “Paraclete.” “But the Paraclete which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things.” This is the original Greek word, and it has some other meanings besides “Comforter.” Sometimes it means the monitor or instructor: “I will send you another monitor, another teacher.” Frequently it means “Advocate”; but the most common meaning of the word is that which we have here: “I will send you another Comforter.” However, we cannot pass over those two other interpretations without saying something about them.
4. “I will send you another teacher.” Jesus Christ had been the official teacher of his saints while on earth. They called no man Rabbi except Christ. They sat at no men’s feet to learn their doctrines; but they had them direct from the lips of him who “spoke as never man spoke.” “And now,” he says, “when I am gone, where shall you find the great infallible teacher? Shall I set you up a Pope at Rome, to whom you shall go, and who shall be your infallible oracle? Shall I give you the councils of the church to be held to decide all knotty points?” Christ said no such thing. “I am the infallible paraclete or teacher, and when I am gone, I will send you another teacher and he shall be the person who is to explain Scripture; he shall be the authoritative oracle of God, who shall make all dark things light, who shall unravel mysteries, who shall untwist all knots of revelation, and shall make you understand what you could not discover, had it not been for his influence.” And beloved, no man ever learns anything correctly, unless he is taught by the Spirit. You may learn election, and you may know it so that you shall be damned by it, if you are not taught by the Holy Spirit; for I have known some who have learned election to their soul’s destruction; they have learned it, so that they said they were among the elect, whereas they had no marks, no evidences and no work of the Holy Spirit in their souls. There is a way of learning truth in Satan’s college, and holding it in licentiousness; but if so, it shall be to your souls as poison to your veins, and prove your everlasting ruin. No man can know Jesus Christ unless he is taught by God. There is no doctrine of the Bible which can be safely, thoroughly, and truly learned, except by the agency of the one authoritative teacher. Ah! tell me not of systems about divinity; tell me not of schemes about theology; tell me not about infallible commentators, or most learned and most arrogant doctors; but tell me about the Great Teacher, who shall instruct us, the sons of God, and shall make us wise to understand all things. He is the Teacher; it does not matter what this or that man says; I rest on no man’s boasting authority, nor will you. You are not to be carried away with the craftiness of men, nor sleight of words; this is the authoritative oracle, the Holy Spirit resting in the hearts of his children.
5. The other translation is advocate. Have you ever thought how the Holy Spirit can be said to be an advocate? You know Jesus Christ is called the wonderful, the counsellor, and mighty God; but how can the Holy Spirit be said to be an advocate? I suppose it is thus: he is an advocate on earth to plead against the enemies of the cross. How was it that Paul could so ably plead before Felix and Agrippa? How was it that the Apostles stood unawed before the magistrates and confessed their Lord? How has it come to pass that in all times God’s ministers have been made fearless as lions, and their brows have been firmer than brass, their hearts sterner than steel, and their words like the language of God? Why, it is simply for this reason, that it was not the man who pleaded, but it was God the Holy Spirit pleading through him. Have you never seen an earnest minister, with hands uplifted and eyes dropping tears, pleading with the sons of men? Have you never admired that portrait from the hand of old John Bunyan? A grave person with eyes uplifted to heaven, the best of books in his hand, the law of truth written on his lips, the world behind his back, standing as if he pleaded with men, and a crown of gold hanging over his head. Who gave that minister so blessed a manner and such excellent subject matter? Where did his skill come from? Did he acquire it in the college? Did he learn it in the seminary? Ah! no; he learned it from the God of Jacob; he learned it from the Holy Spirit; for the Holy Spirit is the great counsellor who teaches us how to advocate his cause correctly.
6. But, besides this, the Holy Spirit is the advocate in men’s hearts. Ah! I have known men to reject a doctrine until the Holy Spirit began to illuminate them. We who are the advocates of the truth are often very poor pleaders; we spoil our cause by the words we use; but it is a mercy that the brief is in the hand of a special pleader, who will advocate successfully and overcome the sinner’s opposition. Did you ever know him to fail once? Brethren, I speak to your souls; has not God in old times convicted you of sin? Did not the Holy Spirit come and prove that you were guilty, although no minister could ever get you out of your self-righteousness? Did he not advocate Christ’s righteousness? Did he not stand and tell you that your works were filthy rags? and when you had almost still refused to listen to his voice, did he not fetch hell’s drum and make it sound about your ears, bidding you look through the vista of future years and see the throne set, and the books open, and the sword brandished, and hell burning, and fiends howling, and the damned shrieking for ever? and did he not thus convince you of the judgment to come? He is a mighty advocate when he pleads in the soul — of sin, of righteousness, and of the judgment to come. Blessed advocate! plead in my heart, plead with my conscience. When I sin, make conscience bold to tell me about it; when I err, make conscience speak at once; and when I turn aside to crooked ways, then advocate the cause of righteousness, and bid me sit down in confusion, knowing my guiltiness in the sight of God.
7. But there is yet another sense in which the Holy Spirit advocates, and that is, he advocates our cause with Jesus Christ, with groanings that cannot be uttered. Oh my soul, you are ready to burst within me! Oh my heart, you are swelled with grief; the hot tide of my emotion would almost overflow the channels of my veins. I long to speak, but the very desire chains my tongue. I wish to pray, but the fervency of my feeling curbs my language. There is a groaning within that cannot be uttered. Do you know who can utter that groaning, who can understand it, and who can put it into heavenly language and utter it in such a celestial tongue, so that Christ can hear it? Oh! yes; it is God the Holy Spirit; he advocates our cause with Christ and then Christ advocates it with his Father. He is the advocate, who makes intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered.
8. Having thus explained the Spirit’s office as teacher and advocate, we come now to the translation of our version — the Comforter; and here I shall have three divisions. First, the comforter; secondly, the comfort; and thirdly, the comforted.
9. I. First, then, the COMFORTER. Briefly let me summarize in my mind and in your minds too, the characteristics of this glorious Comforter. Let me tell you some of the attributes of his comfort, so that you may understand how well adapted he is to your case.
10. And first, we will remark that God the Holy Spirit is a very loving Comforter. I am in distress and want consolation. Some passerby hears of my sorrow, and he steps within, sits down and tries to cheer me; he speaks soothing words; but he does not love me, he is a stranger, he does not know me at all, he has only come in to test his skill;
