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I. OUR NEED OF A COMFORTER. We live in a world of sorrow and suffering.

II. IS THERE A REMEDY? God is love; and it is impossible that He should intend His creatures to sink under such a burden.

1. Shall we seek for it in the influences of nature?

2. Shall we seek for it in our fellow men? Many seem to think so.

3. It may be said, indeed, that there is no need, even if we feel that all these earthly stays and solaces are insufficient, to think of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. We have "consolation in Christ," and we need no other. We need a present Comforter to make them efficacious.

III. HOW, THEN, DOES THE HOLY GHOST COMFORT US? When we first approach the consideration of the work of the Comforter, we meet with certain views of that work which seem to be the reverse of comforting. How can He who convinces us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, be a Comforter to us who are sinners? The friend who is found to be the truest and most trustworthy comforter is not he who whispers merely pleasant things in our ears; but he who tells us the truth, who, by telling us the truth, prepares us to understand what is wrong with us and to seek for a remedy. And how does He administer to the necessities which He thus makes apparent?

1. By revealing the fulness and sufficiency of Christ for all our spiritual wants. We say the work of comfort must begin here; for it is plain that, unless there be a supply for those deepest wants of our nature, we can have no real comfort or happiness. How, for instance, can a man be happy, or what kind of comfort can he enjoy, while he is laden with the burden of unforgiven sin?

2. By giving grace and strength in temptation.

3. And as it is in our spiritual trials, so also He comforts us in the ordinary troubles of life.

(W. R. Clark.)

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KJV: And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

WEB: I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,—