(2.) Qonstancy. Dwelling uoteth his residence, or a permanent and constant abode. He doth not act upon them, or affect them by a tran- sient motion only, or come upon them as he came upon Sampson, at times, or as he came upon the prophets or holy men of God, when in some particular services they were specially inspired and carried beyond the line of their ordinary abilities ; but he dwelleth in us by working such effects as carry the nature of a permanent habit. On the carnal he worketh per modum, actionis iransetmtis, but on the sanctified there are effects wrought, not transient, but permanent, j'ler modum hahiius permaneniis, as faith, love, and hope. There is differ- ence between his acting upon us and dwelling in us ; the Holy Spirit Cometh to us not as a gne.st but as an inhabitant ; not for a visit and away, but to take up his abode in us. Therefore, when the Spirit is promised, Christ saith, ' He will give us a well of water always springing into eternal life ; ' John iv. 14, — Not a draught nor a plash
486 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XI.
of water, nor a pond, but a living spring : so John xiv. 23, 'We will come to him, and make our abode with him. He liveth in the heart, that, by constant and. continual influence, he may maintain the life of grace in us, Gal. v. 25 ; by degrees he deadeneth and mortifieth our dearest and strongest sin, Rom. viii. 13, and contimially stirreth us up to the love and obedience of God in Christ : 1 Peter i. 22 ; exciteth us to prayer, and quickeneth our spiritual desires, Rom. viii. 26 ; giveth us consolation in crosses, 1 Peter iv. 14, and counsel in all our ways, and Rom. viii. 14 ; and sets us a longing for heaven, Rom. viii. 23. In short, the Spirit is said to dwell there where his ordinary and constant work is, and where he doth by his constant and continual influence form and frame men's hearts and lives to holiness.
(3.) Sovereignty. This is implied also in the notion of dwelling ; take the metaphor either from a common house, or from a temple. From an house : where the spirit dwelleth, he dwelleth there as the owner of an house, not as an underling. The apostle int'erreth from the Spirit dwelling in us, that we are not our own, 1 Cor. vi. 19. We were possessed by another owner before we were recovered into his hands; our hearts are Satan's shop and workhouse; the evil spirit saith. Mat. xii. 44, 45, ' I will return to mine own house.' But he is dispossessed by the Spirit, and then it becomes his house, where he commandeth and doth dispose and govern our hearts after his own will. But it more clearly floweth from the other notion of a sacred house or temple : 1 Cor. iii. 16, ' Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? ' and 1 Cor. vi. 19, ' VVhat ? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you ? ' A temple is a sacred house, and must be employed for the honour of the God whose temple it is. The heart of man naturally is a temple full of idols ; every dunghill-god is worshipped there, Mam- mon, the belly, Satan ; but when this temple is cleansed, and becometh a mansion for the Holy Spirit, he must be chief there, and all things must be done to his honour, that he may be obeyed, reverenced and worshipped in his own temple. This much we get from either notion : of a common house, that the Spirit is owner or lord of that house ; or from a sacred house or temple, that he is the god of that temple ; and so wherever he dwelleth he is chief, and principally beareth sway in the heart ; whatever opposeth or controlleth his motions, it is as au intruder in a common house, or as an idol set up in a temple.
[2.] What it is to be, or live in the flesh. It noteth two things, the natural life, or the carnal life.
(1.) The natural life, as Gal. ii. 20> ' The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God ; ' that is, while I exercise the functions and actions of this natural life : Phil. i. 22, ' But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour ; ' that is, if I still enjoy this natural life : for the apostle was in a strait which to desire, to be in the flesh, or out of the flesh.
(2.) The carnal life, as the 8tli verse of this chapter, ' They that are in tlie flesh cannot please God.' Sometimes it is put for some acts belonging to the carnal life ; but more usually for the state of carnality : ' if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.' Now I say, the children of God having his Spirit dwelling in them, though they live in the flesh,