Between Two Worlds

In Communion with God, John Owen explains why we need the comforts, or consolations, of the Holy Spirit:

• Without them, we shall either despise afflictions or faint under them, and God be neglected as to his intendments in them.
• Without them, sin will either harden us to a contempt of it, or cast us down to a neglect of the remedies graciously provided against it.
• Without them, duties will either puff us up with pride, or leave us without that sweetness which is in new obedience.
• Without them, prosperity will make us carnal, sensual, and to take up our contentment in these things, and utterly weaken us for the trials of adversity.
• Without them, the comforts of our relations will separate us from God, and the loss of them make our hearts as Nabal’s [1 Samuel 25].
• Without them, the calamity of the church will overwhelm us, and the prosperity of the church will not concern us.
• Without them, we shall have wisdom for no work, peace in no condition, strength for no duty, success in no trial, joy in no state—no comfort in life, no light in death.