large : it is all the peculiar and exclusive privilege of the saints; who, from having been " strangers and foreigners, like others, have been made fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of Gode."]
But they are also near to him,
II. By choice —
[It is certainly true, that " they have not chosen God ; but God, in the first instance, chose themf." It is true, also, that they have been " drawn by the Father" himself to the state in which they standg. They have, however, been drawn, not as stocks and stones, but " with the cords of a man, and with the bands of loveh;" and they have been made " a willing people in the day of God's power1." They no more serve God by compulsion, than they served Satan. They were free agents in their former state ; and they are so still. They come to God in Christ, and " offer up their whole selves to him as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God as a reasonable service k." They wish to be entirely and altogether his, " sanctified wholly unto him in body, soul, and spirit1." Were it in their power, they would have " every thought of their hearts captivated to the obedience of Christ™." This they would account perfect freedom : it is the freedom and felicity of heaven ; and every approach to it they regard as a heaven upon earth. Could they attain their perfect wish, they would be ever with, and altogether like, him; being "holy, as he is holy; and perfect, as he is perfect."]
Iii consequence of this choice, they are also near to him,
III. By habit—
[They live as ever in his presence, and as " seeing Him who is invisible"." When they lie down to rest, they commit themselves altogether to his care. " When they wake in the morning, they are still with him0," and he is present to their minds. With him they hold sweet converse, not only in the stated seasons of prayer, but throughout the day. They " set him always before them ;" and " whether they eat or drink, or whatever they do, they do it to the glory of his name." " In him they live and move and have their being." They " walk with him, even as Enoch didp;" consulting him in all their doubts, relying on him in all their difficulties, and receiving both good and evil at his hands. So intimate and continued is
e Eph. ii. 19.
f John xv. 16.
s John vi. 44.
h Hos. xi. 4.
1 Ps. ex. 3.
k Rom. xii. 1.
1 1 Thess. v. 23.
m 2 Cor. x. 5.
11 Heb. xi. 27.
0 Ps. cxxxix. 18.
P Gen. v. 24.
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their fellowship with him, that " they dwell in God, and God in them; they are one with him, and he with themq." In a word, " Christ liveth in them," and " is their very life ;" so that it is " no longer they that live, but Christ that liveth in them;" so entirely do " they live the life which they now live in the flesh, by faith in the Son of God, who hath loved them, and given himself for them1." To them, in a measure, is the Paradisiacal state restored; so that " they walk altogether, as it were, in the light of God's countenance s."]
Improvement —
1. What cause, then, have the saints for gratitude!
[Are you brought to this state ? Remember in what state you once were : you were once as far from God as any of the human race are at this hour; and you would have been as far from him as hell itself, with an impassable gulph between you, if he had not mercifully interposed by the blood of his Son, and the operations of his Spirit, to prevent it*. When, therefore, you look at others of the human race, and see the difference which Divine Grace has made between you, say, 1 Why me, Lord? why me?' You cannot but see that " some are taken, and others left" :" and you can trace this to no cause but the sovereign grace of God. Are you then taken ? O ! admire and adore the grace of God ; and let your adoration be such as is observed amongst the heavenly hosts : they " fall upon their faces," whilst they sing x. Do ye likewise so : let there be no self-preference or self-complacency in you ; but let God be magnified, and your souls be abased in the dust.]