Why we need the comforts of the Holy Spirit

In Communion with God, John Owen explains why we need the comforts, or consolations, of the Holy Spirit:

• Without them, we shall either despise afflictions or faint under them, and God be neglected as to his intendments (true meaning) in them.
• Without them, sin will either harden us to a contempt of it, or cast us down to a neglect of the remedies graciously provided against it.
• Without them, duties will either puff us up with pride, or leave us without that sweetness which is in new obedience more examples here