(1st.) By his Spirit. Clirist dwells in this house, and every stone of it, by his Spirit : * Know ye not that Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates ?' 2 Cor. xiii. 5. ' Christ in you:' that is, the Spirit of Christ, Christ by his Spirit. So the Holy Ghost expounds it, Rom. viii. 9. ' If the Spirit of God dwell in you,' which, ver. 10. is, ' if Christ be in you.' Christ and his Spirit, as to indwelling, are all one ; for he dwells in us by his Spirit. ' The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, that is given unto us;' Rom. v. 5. There is not only the ' love of God,' a grace of the Spirit * shed abroad' in us ; but there is also the ' Holy Spirit given unto us.' This is fully asserted, Rom. viii. 11. 'The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus, dwells in you:' as also, 2 Tim. i. 14. ' Keep the good thing committed to thee, by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us.' Hence the saints are said to be 'temples of the Holy Ghost.' Jesus Christ doth not build temples merely for graces, created graces ; he dwells in them himself, he dwells in them by his Spirit. And this is a glorious privilege of this house, that Jesus Christ in a mystical and wonderful manner should dwell in it, and every stone of it. Hereby all believers come to be not one personal, but one mystical Christ; 1 Cor. xii. 6. However we are distanced in respect of his human nature, yet mystically we are one, one body, one mystical Christ, because we have one Spirit, dwelling in us and him. If a man were never so tall, so that his head should reach the stars, and his feet stand upon the ground ; yet having but one soul, he is but one man still. Though Christ in his human nature be exceedingly distanced from us; yet there being one and the same Spirit in him and us, we are one mystical Christ. Yet observe.
Observation 1. Though Christ be united unto the persons of the saints, by the indwelling of the Spirit : yet the saints have not that which is called personal union with him, nor with the Spirit. Personal union is by a person of tiie Deity, assuming the nature of man into one personality with itself.
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that having- of its own no personal subsistence. Things are here clean otherwise : Christ doth not assume the saints into a personal subsistence with himself, but dwells in their per- sons by his Spirit.
Observation 2. That the operations of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, and all his manifestations, are voluntary. He worketh as he will, and revealeth what he will, even where he dwells. He doth not work in us naturally, but volunta- rily, unto what proportion he pleaseth; therefore though he dwell equally in all saints in respect of truth and reality, yet he doth not in respect of working and efficacy.
(2dly.) By his graces. Christ dwelleth in this house, and in all the stones thereof, by his graces. He * dwells in our hearts by faith;' Ephes. iii. 17. He dwells in us by his word in all wisdom; Col. iii. 16. All the graces we are made partakers of, we receive from his fulness, and by them he inhabits in us. They are indeed the ornaments of the living stones of this house, to make them meet and fit for such an indweller, as the Lord Christ. Christ will not dwell in a soul, whose mind is darkness, his will stubbornness, and his affections carnal and sensual. He puts light, and life, and love upon the soul, that it may be meet for him to dwell in. Christ dwells in all the world by his power and presence, but he dwells only in his saints by his Spirit and grace.
(3dly.) By his ordinances. Where two or three of his are assembled together, there is he in the midst of them. The ordinances of Christ are the great ornaments of his kingly court, by them he is glorious in all the assemblies of mount Zion. Some would fain cast out this indweUing of Christ from among his saints : in due time he will tho- roughly rebuke them : some again would thrust him out into the world ; but he will make men know, that his ordinances are given unto his. It is true, the benefit of some of them extends to the world, but the right and enjoyment of them is the privilege of his saints. Thus Christ dwells in his house. Hence observe,
Observatioji 1. The intimacy of the Lord Jesus with his saints, and the delight he takes in them : he dwelleth with them, he dwelleth in them, he takes them to the nearest union with himself possible : he in them, they in him, that
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they may be one. He hath made many an admirable change with us. He took our sin, and gives us his righteousness : he took our nature, and gives us his Spirit. Neither is it a bare indwelling, he thereby holds with us all acts of the choicest communion. ' If,' saith he, ' any man hear my voice, and open to me, I will come to him :' and what then? 'I will sup with him, and he with me ;' Rev. iii. 20.