God of all comfort

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When others suffer and we are able to give help and comfort, we learn more about "the God of all comfort." We are able to comfort "with the comfort with which He comforts us." 

Mary Helen Purcell (7/30/1926-2/23/2010) lived with us for 11 years. Her attitudes toward her own blindness opened our eyes to much good, including the importance of "a place for everything and everything in its place." Her other medical needs taught us how quickly wheelchair, oxygen machine, and other apparatus can become part of home routine.

Mary Helen's heart ran its course. As Martin Luther wrote, "The body they may kill; God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever." They are not only the evils expressed through human or warring threats, but also through illness, frailty, and suffering.

"His kingdom is forever": God gives an eternal, living hope through His Son, the Redeemer of the world, Jesus. Eternal life is for those who by faith trust Him. And, those who trust Him will meet in heaven. The knowledge of these truths comforts all who believe.

2 Corinthians 1: 3, 4: 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  

For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

Related articles to consider:

• Accepting Christ (anointedplace.wordpress.com)
• How To Fight Against Worry, Anxiety and Fear (pastorpaulvbsblog.blogspot.com)
• Hebrews 6 (asorensen.wordpress.com)
• Hebrews 1 (asorensen.wordpress.com)

Related articles

• Accepting Christ (anointedplace.wordpress.com)
• How To Fight Against Worry, Anxiety and Fear (pastorpaulvbsblog.blogspot.com)
• Hebrews 6 (asorensen.wordpress.com)
• Hebrews 1 (asorensen.wordpress.com)

Chapter 6. The Garment of Praise-excerpts

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness... (Isaiah 61:3d)

"...whereas the first [sacred exchange] adorned the face with beauty, and the second anointed the head with joy, this last and widest covers the whole person with a garment of praise. Man's first garment was of his own making, and it could not cover his shame; but this garment is of God's making, and it makes us comfortable in ourselves and comely in the sight of God and man. Those to whom God gives the garment of praise are better adorned than Solomon in all his glory." (page 113)

The spirit of heaviness..."shall be removed. The blessings that Jesus gives to us are not surface ones, yet they touch the center of our being. At first, we may not perceive their depth, but only know that beauty is given instead of ashes....However, in the words before us, the very spirit of heaviness--the fountain from where the mourning flows, the hearth upon which the ashes are burned--is dealt with and taken away." (page 114)

"Faith, too, that blessed gift of God, works to the clearing away of heaviness, wherever it resides....Faith takes the telescope, looks beyond the narrow range of time into the eternal heavens, and sees a crown laid up for the faithful. ...

"Hope enters, too, with her silver light, borrowed from faithful promises. She expects the future glory....so, again, she drives away the gloom of the heart.

"Love, also, the sweetest of the three, comes in and teaches us to be resigned to the will of God, and then sweetly charms us into acquiescence with all the divine purposes. When we reach that point--and so love God that whatever He may do with us we are resolved to trust Him and praise His name--then the spirit of heaviness must vanish." (page 124)

Faith takes the telescope, looks beyond the narrow range of time into the eternal heavens, and sees a crown laid up for the faithful. 

With appreciation, thanks to Bing images for the traditional Christmas scene.

The Mourner's Comforter and Dark Memory

After a nightmare in the midst of mononucleosis sickness, I opened The Mourner's Comforter, and my eyes fell on a beautiful distraction--trees. The words said: 

"Trees frequently become marvels of grandeur... What a history is embodied in those gnarls and knots and twisted branches... How they tell of stormy nights and days of heavy snow! All over the bark and the boughs time has with his pencil written records of sunshine and tempest. Now, such is a Christian when God makes him rich in grace: if you could but know him and read him he is a mass of history. His virtues are the results of severe trial, and the records of sublime joys. All the lines of his face mean something; there is not a scar upon his soul, or a dark memory upon his spirit, or a bright recollection in his mind but what it redounds to the glory of God." 

What a contrast to the Pit of my nightmare.

Quote from The Mourner's Comforter, C H Spurgeon, Opine Publishing, p. 220. In Not All Roads Lead Home (second ed., p. 106; first ed.,pp. 127, 128), Jane Bullard. Bold font emphasis added.

(c) Jean Purcell 2010

We Wanted to Know

The first large order for THE MOURNER'S COMFORTER was by phone from a Reformation university and seminary bookstore. The publisher said:  "Then you liked our advance copy packet?"

The buyer said, "I don't know anything about a packet."

"How did you know about this book?" the publisher wanted to know.

"Somebody saw a copy lying on the checkout counter and asked for copies. We only had that one," he said. "I don't know where it came from. I got your phone number, and called for more." 

Opine Publishing's newest treasure, a comfort classic by C H Spurgeon, caught the attention of a book shopper. The bookstore ordered a large number, as a result, and ordered again at Christmas.

Is your book important? Then be sure to send advance copy packets of it to key reviewers and other places where book lovers, reviewers, and buyers hang out. That's how they learn about special new books...whose copies even might get separated from the publisher's packet and end up in plain sight at the checkout counter.

(c) Opine Publishing 2007-2010-"Early Days of the New Edition of our Treasured Book"

From the writer of the Foreword

There is spiritual uplift and strength on the pages of THE MOURNER'S COMFORTER for many, including those who are spiritually hungry or suffering spiritual depression. Here is the cure. Its truths comfort the mind and restore the soul. 

This book became a valued companion and help during an uncertain time for me, many years ago. I treasure the copy I saved, full of underlines and highlights from that memorable time. I still return to this book.

Jane Bullard [pen name]

Writer, Foreword, The Mourner's Comforter new edition

The Names Behind the Newest Edition

Gerald C. Primm of Greensboro NC made possible the newest edition of this treasured book, THE MOURNER'S COMFORTER. As a 20 year old in early days of WWII, Mr. Primm "completed more than 60 fighter-pilot combat missions in his P-38 Lightning and had his share of crash landings as well. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his combat aviation prowess."* After the war, he became aware of God's call to him to preach, a direction he had never anticipated. He felt unable to speak in public, a fear he determined to overcome. As a young pastor, he began to read and collect books and articles by C. H. Spurgeon. He immediately admired Mr. Spurgeon's teaching, humble beginnings, and determined faith. There were life experiences he shared with the London preacher, as well, although separated by two generations and different nations and continents. Mr. Primm's book collection grew beyond expectations, to become the largest known personal collection of original and early C H Spurgeon books and articles. Opine Publishing greatly appreciates and is indebted to Mr. Primm for his help for its edition of THE MOURNER'S COMFORTER-and his Acknowledgments, prepared for the Opine Publishing edition.

Carolyn J. Hesson gave countless days and months to co-edit and format this new edition, a labor or loving care and respect for the work and its effects. Along with Mr. Spurgeon and Mr. Primm, Mrs. Hesson's name is "behind the newest edition."

* "Ask Veterans to Share Their Stories," Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009, Greensboro News & Record, Harry Thetford