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and work for tliem to do, and will follow them in all the places of their dispersion with the testimonies of his love and respect : Ps. xcix. 14, * For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.' Men often cast them off, as unworthy to be members of the church or any civil corporation, yet God will not cast them off. He may suffer them to be exercised and tried, but, because of his interest in them, he will take care of them.
(2.) Consider his covenant and promise. God offereth to be his people's dwelling-place, and they choose him and use him as such. The covenant is both expressive of God's grace and our duty, what God is, and what the saints should make him to be, how they should use him and employ him. God undertaketh to be our habitation, and we accordingly must address ourselves to him for this benefit. See Ps. xci. 1, ' He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.' The qualification and the privilege are both expressed there, almost in the same terms, implying that if we will take God to be to us what he offereth to be, and what he hath promised to be, we shall find him actually and indeed to be so when need shall require it, and we make use of him for that end. Therefore why should a believer doubt of safety, comfort, and rest ? It is not any other privilege that is promised, viz., that he that dwelleth in God shall have more grace, or heaven at last. No ; but he shall dwell in God. Nor is it any other qualification that is required, whether love, or fear, or exact obedience, but he that dwelleth in God. Now when this duty and this privilege are suited, use God as an habitation, and he becometh so. As delight is rewarded with delight : Isa. Iviii. 13, 14, ' If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, &c., then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; ' and courage or stiength of heart is rewarded with strength of heart : Ps. xxvii. 14, ' Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart ; ' Ps. xxxi. 24, ' Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord ; ' so dwelling in God is rewarded with dwelling in God ; for God loveth to make good the undertaking of faith, and will every way answer his people's expectation. Surely this should encourage us that our privilege and our duty are so near of kin, and that God promiseth much and requireth little, only that we should own him by faith to be what he is, and what he hath promised to be. Dwell in God, and you shall dwell in God ; in all dangers and distresses you shall have a safe and comfortable lodging in him. Our dangers that compass us about are great, and every day grow more and greater, and therefore will easily invite us to seek a safe refuge. God Almighty only requireth that he may be this refuge ; trust him, and you shall have all that trust can expect from him. Among men, protection costs dear ; every private man, that he may be protected by the government he liveth under, is willing to support it with a good part of his estate. God, that protects our soul and body, desireth only that he may be trusted with the keeping of both ; and then he will be to us whatsoever faith will have him to be. Use God as your habitation, and he becometh so.
(3.) Consider the constant experience of the saints ; in the text, ' Thou
180 SERMONS UPON PSALM XC. 1.
hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.' He hath been so to his people living in every place and in every age. When their fathers were travellers in a strange country, God was a dwelling-place to them ; to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when they were in Egypt, when in Gerar, and when in Padan-aram. By one means or other they were still driven up and down in the world ; sometimes by special command, some- times by some judgment, as by famine ; but still God provided a place of shelter for them. So for themselves, in all their troubles and travels ; in Egypt there was a Goshen provided for them there ; in the wilder- ness they had tents, and quails, and manna, that fell round about them ; God kept a market for them in the wilderness, and sent in provisions from heaven. Now they gather confidence in their remaining troubles, and that God's people cannot be houseless and harbourless : Exod. xxxiii. 14, * My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest' Under his defence they dwell safe and sound in the wilderness. The Shekinah, or God's majestic presence, went along with them, though they had not an opportunity to build an house ; therefore God supposed they would not forget this, even when they had built to themselves goodly houses, Deut. viii. 12-16. Now God once gracious is ever gracious, for God is always like himself. If he was so to former saints, or his people living in former ages, he will ever be so ; we may lay claim to the same privileges, the same mediator, the same covenant, the same terms of grace. The Lord's kindness to his people is alike in all ages.