HOW THE SPIRIT RESTORES COMFORT. a sight of the grace that I have wrought in his heart also, which has been long buried under the rubbish of sin and loads ofguilt. I will uncover the face ofhis soul, and shew him the characters of his adoption, the gravings of the finger of my own spirit, which has been filledup with the du,st of this world, so that he could not read them. I will'hrigliten his evidence of salvation ; I will give hire peace and joy also in his outward circumstances, and remove the rod wherewith I smote him ; I will forgive all his iniquities, and heal all his diseases ; he shall walk with me in the ways of holiness and comfort; and he shall rejoice in the hopes of everlasting glory. Secondly, What is meant by restoring comfort- to him ? Ans. He shall renew his taste of the pleasures of re- ligion again, which he has lost in the days of his back- sliding and guilt; the comforts that he once fed upon in the days of his first conversion, he shall feed upon again with new relish and sweet delight, even the joys that arise from a sense of recovering grace. He shall know afresh what it is sensibly to receive a word of pardon from my promises, and the voice of consolation frommy witness- ing spirit, and taste those pleasures that he has a long time been a stranger to. I will restore to him the light of my countenance, who might have . hid my face from him for ever. I might have bid him go fetch comforts from the creature which he has idolized, from the riches or pleasures that he has pursued. Go and fetch comfort from the passions that you have indulged, and all the follies and humours that you have been gratifying while you wandered away from me. I, might say to him, go to the gods that you have served ; your self-will, your pride and vanity of mind, and all, the lusts of your heart: but I will givehim peace liberally and not upbraid : I myself will undertake to be his comforter. Come tome, O thou backslider, saith the Lord, and receive my peace : thou hast grieved my Spirit, the comforter, but he shall return unto thee with all his consolations. Thirdly, What signify the mourners of Israel ? Ans. I. The .backsliders themselves, that have been somewhat, uneasy under all their wanderings from God, and now begin to mourn that they have departed from him; the soul that could not find satisfaction and rest among all its idols, and yet it hardly knew the way to re- turn to its God, the only satisfying good, till he began to,
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