640 / 652
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
of
guilt.
I
will
uncover
the face
of
his soul,
and
shew
him
the characters
of
his
adoption,
the gravings
of
the
finger
of
my
own
spirit, which
has
been
filled
up
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
from
my 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
give
him
peace liberally and
not upbraid
:
I
myself
will
undertake
to
be
his
comforter. Come
to
me,
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,