* Nunquam minus solus, <jnam cum solus, never less alone than when alone, said the heathen ; and may not a saint say so much more, that has communion with Father, Son, aud Spirit ? My God and 1 are good company, said famous Dr Sibbes.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROITBLES. 501
Moses frequently did ; and to ' dwell in God,' 1 John iv. 15 ; and to ' sup with God,' Eev. iii, 20; and to ' lodge with God,' Cant. vii. 11. The nearness of this fellowship which we have with the Father, is represented by a gradation of allusions in Scripture, all which do excellently illustrate this truth. There is some kind of participation that a servant hath with his master ; yet greater is that which one friend hath with another ; but yet greater is that which a son hath with the father ; but greatest of all is that which the bride hath with the bridegroom. Now in all these relations we stand to the Father ; we are his servants and he is our Lord, Exod. xii. 7; we are his friends, John xv. 14, 15 ; James ii. 23 ; and he is our friend. Cant. V. 1 ; an able friend, a sure friend, a faithful friend, a close friend, a constant friend. Plutarch's reasoning is good, ra tmv cficXcov Trdvra Kotva, friends have all things in common. But God is our friend : ergo we cannot want ; a most rare speech from a poor heathen ! He is our Father, Isa. Ixiii. 16, and Ixiv. 8; and we are his children, Isa. Ixiii. 8. He is our bridegroom, and we are his bride, Isa. Ixi. 10 ; Hosea ii. 19, 20 ; Isa. Ixii. 5. And therefore it is no pride nor presumption for believers to say, ' Our fellowship is with the Father.' Our fellow- ship with Jesus Christ is set forth by the parable of the wedding-feast, and by the entertainment of the prodigal son, and by such relations or various similitudes, as carry communion in their bosoms, as of the head and the members, root and branches, foundation and building, husband and wife. Mat. xxii. 1-3 ; Luke xv. The head hath com- munion with the body by sense, influence, motion. The root with the branches, by leaf, sap, and juice. The foundation with the build- ing, by support and strength. The husband with the wife, by love and consent. Thus it is betwixt Christ and the believers : 1 Cor. i. 9, * God is faithful, by whom ye are called to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ.' All believers have fellowship with Christ, whether they be strong or weak, rich or poor, high or low, ripe and well grown, or new-born babes, and very tender. Gal. iii, 28 ; 1 Pet. ii. 2 ; John xvii. 20-23, The head hath conjunction with all the members, and an influence into all the members, even the little toes, as well as into the strongest arms ; and the root, in the virtue of it, extends to the weakest branches, as well as to the strongest limbs of the tree. Com- munion is as large as union. All believers are united to Christ, and all believers have communion with Christ. Though one star exceeds another in magnitude, yet all are alike seated in the heavenly orb ; and though one member be larger in the body than another, yet every one hath an equal conjunction with the head : and as believers have fellowship with the Father and the Son, so they have fellowship with the Spirit also. Every believer's communion extends to all the persons in the Trinity : 2 Cor. xiii. 14, ' The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.' Now no men, no devils, no wrath, no rage, no malice, no enmity, no afflictions, no oppositions, no persecutions, no troubles, no trials, no bonds, no banishment, can interrupt or hinder a believer's communion with the three persons in Trinity. But,
[7.] Seventhly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us?' I answer, None, so as to Jiinder' our private trade to heaven. All the
502 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
world can never hinder a sincere Christian from driving a secret trade with heaven, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin together.! J^ Christian can as well hear without ears, and live without food, and fight without hands, and walk without feet, as he is able to live without secret prayer. Secret prayer is the life of our lives, the soul, the sweet, the heaven of all our enjoyments. Of all the duties of religion, secret prayer is the most soul-sweetening, soul- strengthening, soul-nourishing, soul-fattening, soul-refreshing, soul- satisfying, and soul-encouraging duty. In all the ages of the world, the saints have kept the trade. In spite of all opposers and perse- cutors, in prisons, in dungeons, in dens, in bonds, in banishments, on racks, and in the very flames, the saints have still kept up this secret trade ; as you may see at large in my treatise on closet prayer, called ' The Privy Key of Heaven,' to which I refer you. 2 But,
[8.] Eighthly, 'If God be with us, who can be against us?' I answer. None, so as to deprive us of the sweet testimony of our renewed consciences: 2 Cor. i. 12, 'For our rejoicing,' or boasting, ^ 'is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our con- versation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.' They were in great and pressing troubles in Asia, ver. 8, and yet they boasted in the testimony of their consciences ; they were under a sen- tence of death in themselves, ver. 9, and yet gloried in the testimony of their consciences. Joy of conscience is the greatest joy, as trouble of conscience is the greatest trouble ; when conscience bears its testi- mony with us, and for us, how full of joy is the soul, even in the midst of the deepest sorrows and greatest sufi'erings ! Conscientia pura semper secura, a good conscience hath sure confidence, and he that hath it, sits Noah-like —
mediis tranquillus in undis —