When in Solitude

We see here again that a godly man can make a good use of solitude. When he is forced to be alone, he can talk with his God and himself; one reason for this is that his heart is a treasury and storehouse of divine truths, from this storehouse he can speak to himself, by way of correction or encouragement. He has a Spirit over his own spirit, to teach him to make use of that store he has laid up in his heart. The Spirit is never nearer him than when by way of witness to his spirit he is thus comforted. This is one way the child of God differs from another man, who cannot endure solitariness, because his heart is empty; he was a stranger to God before, and God is a stranger to him now, so that he cannot go to God as a friend.
We read of great princes, who after some bloody designs were as terrible to themselves as they were formerly to others, and therefore could never endure to be awaked in the night, without music or some like diversion. We may be cast into such a condition, where we have none in the world to comfort us; as in contagious sickness, when none may come near us, or we may be in such a state where no friend will own us. Therefore, let us labour now to be acquainted with God and our own hearts, and acquaint our hearts with the comforts of the Holy Spirit. Then, though we have not so much as a book to look on, or a friend to talk with, yet we may look with comfort into the book of our own heart and read what God has written there by the finger of his Spirit. All books are written to amend this one book of our heart and conscience. By this means we shall never lack a divine to comfort us, a physician to cure us, a counsellor to direct us, a musician to cheer us, a controller to check us, because, by help of the word and the Spirit, we can be all these to ourselves.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
The Soul's Conflict with Itself, Works, vol. 1, pp. 148-49
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