e the possibility to be in
our hearts turned into the actuality.

God has given, therefore God will give. That in heaven's logic, but it
does not do for men. It presupposes inexhaustible resources,
unchangeable purposes of kindness, patience that is not disgusted and
cannot be turned away by our sin. These things being presupposed it is
true; and the prayer of my text, that God would comfort, can have no
firmer foundation than the confidence of my text, that God has given
'everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.' 'Thou hast helped
us; leave us not, neither forsake us, O God of our salvation.'

III. The last thing here is the petitions based upon the contemplation
of the divine hearers of the prayer, and of the gift already bestowed by
God.

May He 'comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and
work.' I have already said all that perhaps is necessary in regard to
the connection between the past gift of everlasting consolation and the
present and future comforting of hearts which is here desired. It seems
to me that the Apostle has in his mind the distinction between the great
work of Christ, in which are supplied for us the materials for comfort
and hope, and the present and continuous work of that Divine Spirit, by
which God dwelling in our hearts in Jesus Christ makes real for each of
us the universal gift of consolation and of hope. God has bestowed the
materials for comfort; God will give the comfort for which He has
supplied the materials. It were a poor thing if all that we could
expect from our loving Father in the heavens were that He should
contribute to us what might make us peaceful and glad and calm in
sorrow, if we chose to use it. Men comfort from without; God steals into
the heart, and there diffuses the aroma of His presence. Christ comes
into the ship before He says, 'Peace! be still!' It is not enough for
our poor troubled heart that there should be calmness and consolation
twining round the Cross if we choose to pluck the fruit. We need, and
therefore we have, an indwelling God who, by that Spirit which is the
Comforter, will make for each of us the everlasting consolation which He
has bestowed upon the world our individual possession. God's husbandry
is not merely broadcast sowing of the seed, but the planting in each
individual heart of the precious germ. And the God who has given
everlasting consolation to a whole world will comfort _thy_ heart.

Then, again, the comf