Olney Hymns · Chapter
True and False Comforts explained
This poem contrasts the false comforts experienced by hypocrites—who, through Satan's art, experience a fleeting, intoxicating joy that leads to spiritual ruin—with the true comfort found in God's presence.
What happens
This poem contrasts the false comforts experienced by hypocrites—who, through Satan's art, experience a fleeting, intoxicating joy that leads to spiritual ruin—with the true comfort found in God's presence. True comfort, the speaker asserts, is holy and heavenly, and it works to reclaim the soul from sin, producing a godly sorrow and a deeper hatred of sin. The poem concludes with the speaker finding ultimate joy and security in lying at the feet of Christ, their 'All in All.'
Themes in this chapter
Grace and Unmerited Favor
The poem contrasts the false comfort of self-made religion with the true comfort that comes from God's grace, which alone can revive the sin-sick soul and reclaim it from Satan's power.
Spiritual Warfare
The poem depicts a battle for the soul between God's reviving presence and Satan's deceptive arts, highlighting the danger of being lulled into a fatal spiritual sleep.
Characters to notice
- God
The source of true comfort, whose favourable eye revives the sin-sick soul and whose shining presence gives holy joy.
- Satan
The deceiver who prepares a false, intoxicating 'dose' of comfort for hypocrites, leading them into a fatal sleep and spiritual night.
- Jesus Christ
Referred to as the 'Saviour' whose voice true sheep hear, and as the speaker's 'All in All' at whose feet they find their ultimate joy and security.
- The Narrator
The speaker who distinguishes between true and false comforts, expressing a desire for the comfort that leads to repentance and a deeper hatred of sin.
Key passages
“Not such as hypocrites suppose, Who, with a graceless heart, Taste not of thee, but drink a dose Prepared by Satan’s art.”
The joy that comes from God is not what hypocrites imagine it to be. They, lacking true grace, do not experience God's presence but instead are deceived by Satan into a false sense of comfort.
This clarifies the origin and nature of false comfort as a deceptive work of the enemy.
“Be mine the comforts that reclaim The soul from Satan’s pow’r; That make me blush for what I am, And hate my sin the more.”
I ask for the kind of comfort that rescues my soul from Satan's control, a comfort that leads me to be ashamed of my sinful state and to despise my sin even more.
This defines true comfort as that which produces repentance and a deeper aversion to sin, not mere emotional elation.
“’Tis joy enough, my All in All, At thy dear feet to lie; Thou wilt not let me lower fall, And none can higher fly.”
It is sufficient joy for me, my everything, to rest humbly at your feet. You will prevent me from sinking further into sin, and no one can be raised higher than to be in this position of humble dependence on you.
This expresses the ultimate security and joy found in complete surrender and trust in Christ.