ion between Christ and soul shadowed
out in scripture, by the nearest relations among creatures, (for truly
these are but shadows, and that is the body or substance,) and because an
union that is mutual is nearest, it is often so expressed, as it imports
an interchangeable relation, a reciprocal conjunction with Christ. The
knot is cast on both sides to make it strong. Christ in us, and we in him;
God dwelling in us, and we in him, and both by this one Spirit, 1 John iv.
13. "Hereby we know that God dwelleth in us, and we in him, by his Spirit
which he hath given us." You find it often in John, who being most
possessed with the love of Christ, and most sensible of his love could
best express it: "I in them, and they in me. He that keepeth his commands
dwelleth in him, and he in him," as the names of married persons are
spelled through other, so doth he spell out this indwelling; it is not
cohabitation but inhabitation: neither that alone singly, but mutual
inhabitation, which amounts to a kind of penetration, the most intimate
and immediate presence imaginable. Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith;
and we dwell in Christ by love, Eph. iii. 17 , and 1 John iv. Death
bringeth him into the heart; for it is the very application of a Saviour
to a sinful soul. It is the very applying of his blood and sufferings to
the wound that sin made in the conscience; the laying of that sacrifice
propitiatory to the wounded conscience, is that which heals it, pacifies
it, and calms it. A Christian, by receiving the offer of the gospel
cordially and affectionately brings in Christ offered into his house, and
then salvation comes with him. Therefore believing is receiving, (John i.)
the very opening of the heart to let in an offered Saviour; and then
Christ, thus possessing the heart by faith, he works by love, and "he that
dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." Love hath this special
value in it, that it transports the soul in a manner out of itself to the
Beloved, Cant. iv. 9. _Anima est ubi amat, non ubi animat_;(196) the
fixing and establishing of the heart on God is a dwelling in him; for the
constant and most continued residence of the most serious thoughts and
affections, will be their dwelling in their all-fulness and riches of
grace in Jesus Christ. As the Spirit dwelleth where he worketh, so the
soul dwelleth where it delighteth; its complacency in God making a
frequent issue or outgoing to him in desires and breathin