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I. THE WORK OF CHRIST AS IMPLIED IN THE ALLUSION TO HIMSELF. Christ is a Comforter.

1. In the needs He came to meet. To have had no mission for the sorrowful would have been to neglect the most evident of the world's wants.

2. In the predictions concerning Him — "He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted," etc.

3. In the nature of His words and works. To alleviate pain, to console bereavement, to meet doubt, to lighten death, He set Himself with all the absorbing interest of a master passion.

II. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT RESEMBLES THAT OF CHRIST. The life of Jesus is an index of the work of "the Comforter."

1. What we read of Jesus doing as a consoler, we read also of the Holy Spirit doing.

2. What men saw Jesus doing in Judaea, we may see and feel is being done by the Spirit now. As Christ led, inspired, soothed, and elevated human hearts, so the Spirit will ever do.

III. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT TRANSCENDS THE SIMILAR WORK OF CHRIST.

1. In its permanence. Jesus Christ "went away." His stay was only for "a little while." But the Spirit abides "forever."

2. In its universality. Jesus was only known to the comparative few who were around Him. But on every shore, and under every sky, the Spirit dwells with men.

3. In its nearness. Those who came nearest to Christ but kissed His feet or lay in His bosom. This is distant in comparison with the Spirit's indwelling.

(V. R. Thomas.)

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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,—