though in truth he was quite incapable of the duty, called upon the minister, and assured him solemnly that it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, that he was to preach in his pulpit. “Very well,” said the minister, “I suppose I must not doubt your assertion, but as it has not been revealed to me that I am to let you preach, you must go your way until it is.” I have heard many fanatical people say the Holy Spirit revealed this and that to them. Now that is very generally revealed nonsense. The Holy Spirit does not reveal anything fresh now. He brings old things to our remembrance. “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatever I have told you.” The canon of revelation is closed; there is no more to be added. God does not give a fresh revelation, but he rivets the old one. When it has been forgotten, and laid in the dusty chamber of our memory, he fetches it out and cleans the picture, but does not paint a new one. There are no new doctrines, but the old ones are often revived. It is not, I say, by any new revelation that the Spirit comforts. He does so by telling us old things over again; he brings a fresh lamp to reveal the treasures hidden in Scripture; he unlocks the strong chests in which the truth had long lain, and he points to secret chambers filled with untold riches; but he comes no more, for enough is done. Believer! there is enough in the Bible for you to live upon for ever. If you should outnumber the years of Methuselah, there would be no need for a fresh revelation; if you should live until Christ should come upon the earth, there would be no necessity for the addition of a single word; if you should go down as deep as Jonah, or even descend as David said he did, into the belly of hell, still there would be enough in the Bible to comfort you without a supplementary sentence. But Christ says, “He shall take of mine and shall show it to you.” Now let me just tell you briefly what it is the Holy Spirit tells us.
18. Ah! does he not whisper to the heart, “Saint, be of good cheer; there is one who died for you; look to Calvary; behold his wounds; see the torrent gushing from his side; there is your purchaser, and you are secure. He loves you with an everlasting love, and this chastisement is meant for your good; each stroke is working your healing; by the blueness of the wound your soul is made better.” “Whom he loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.” Do not doubt his grace, because of your tribulation, but believe that he loves you as much in seasons of trouble as in times of happiness. And then, moreover, he says, “What is all your suffering compared with that of your Lord’s? or what, when weighed in the scales of Jesus’ agonies, is all your distress?” And especially at times the Holy Spirit pulls back the veil of heaven, and lets the soul behold the glory of the upper world! then it is that the saint can say, “Oh, you are a Comforter to me!”
Let cares like a wild deluge come,
And storms of sorrow fall;
May I but safely reach my home,
My God, my heaven, my all.
Some of you could follow me, if I were to tell about manifestations of heaven. You too have left sun, moon, and stars, at your feet, while in your flight, outstripping the tardy lightning, you have seemed to enter the gates of pearl, and tread the golden streets, borne aloft on wings of the Spirit. But here we must not trust ourselves, lest, lost in reverie, we forget our theme.
19. III. And now thirdly, who are the COMFORTED people! I like, you know at the end of my sermon to cry out “Divide! divide!” There are two parties here — some who are the comforted, and others who are the comfortless ones — some who have received the consolation of the Holy Spirit, and some who have not. Now let us try and sift you, and see which is the chaff, and which is the wheat; and may God grant that some of the chaff may this night be transformed into his wheat.
20. You may say, “How am I to know whether I am a recipient of the comfort of the Holy Spirit?” You may know it by one rule. If you have received one blessing from God, you will receive all other blessings too. Let me explain myself. If I could come here as an auctioneer, and sell the gospel off in lots, I could dispose of it all. If I could say here is justification through the blood of Christ, free, giving away, gratis; many a one would say, “I will have justification: give it to me; I wish to be justified, I wish to be pardoned.” Suppose I took sanctification, the giving up of all sin, a thorough change of heart, leaving off drunkenness and swearing, many would say, “I do not want that; I would like to go to heaven, but I do not want that holiness; I would like to be saved at last, but I would like to have my drink still; I would like to enter glory, but then I must have an oath or two on the road.” No, sinner, if you have one blessing, you shall have all. God will never divide the gospel. He will not give justification to that man, and sanctification to another; pardon to one and holiness to another. No, it all goes together. Whom he calls, those he justifies; whom he justifies, those he sanctifies; and whom he sanctifies, those he also glorifies. Oh; if I could lay down nothing but the comforts of the gospel, you would fly to them as flies do to honey. When you come to be ill, you send for the clergyman. Ah! you all want your minister then to come and give you consoling words. But if he is an honest man, he will not give some of you a particle of consolation. He will not commence pouring oil when the knife would be better. I want to make a man feel his sins before I dare tell him anything about Christ. I want to probe into his soul and make him feel that he is lost before I tell him anything about the purchased blessing. It is the ruin of many to tell them, “Now just believe on Christ, and that is all you have to do.” If, instead of dying they get better, they rise up whitewashed hypocrites — that is all. I have heard of a city missionary who kept a record of two thousand people who were supposed to be on their deathbed, but recovered, and whom he should have written down as converted people had they died, and how many do you think lived a Christian life afterwards out of the two thousand? Not even two! Positively he could only find one who was found to live afterwards in the fear of God. Is it not horrible that when men and women come to die, they should cry, “Comfort, comfort?” and that hence their friends conclude that they are children of God, while after all they have no right to consolation, but are intruders upon the enclosed grounds of the blessed God. Oh God! may these people ever be kept from having comfort when they have no right to it! Have you the other blessings? Have you had conviction of sin? Have you ever felt your guilt before God? Have your souls been humbled at Jesus’ feet? And have you been made to look to Calvary alone for your refuge? If not, you have no right to consolation. Do not take an atom of it. The Spirit is a Convicter before he is a Comforter; and you must have the other operations of the Holy Spirit before you can derive anything from this.
21. And now I am finished. You have heard what this babbler has said once more. What has it been? Something about the Comforter. But let me ask you, before you go, what do you know about the Comforter? Each one of you before descending the steps of this chapel, let this solemn question thrill through your souls — What do you know about the Comforter? Oh! poor souls, if you do not know the Comforter, I will tell you what you shall know — You shall know the Judge! If you do not know the Comforter on earth, you shall know the Condemner in the next world, who shall cry, “Depart you cursed into everlasting fire in hell.” Well might Whitfield call out, “Oh earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord!” If we were to live here for ever, you might slight the gospel; if you had a lease on your lives, you might despise the Comforter. But sirs, you must die. Since last we met together, probably some have gone on to their long last home; and before we meet again in this sanctuary, some here will be among the glorified above, or among the damned below. Which will it be? Let your soul answer. If tonight you fell down dead in your pews, or where you are standing in the gallery, where would you be? in heaven or in hell? Ah! do not deceive yourselves; let conscience have its perfect work; and if, in the sight of God, you are obliged to say, “I tremble and fear lest my portion should be with unbelievers,” listen one moment, and then I am finished with you. “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he who does not believe shall be damned.” Weary sinner, hellish sinner, you who are the devil’s castaway, reprobate, profligate, prostitute, robber, thief, adulterer, fornicator, drunkard, swearer, Sabbath breaker listen! I speak to you as well as the rest. I exempt no man. God has said there is no exemption here. “Whoever believes in the name of Jesus Christ shall be
