2. That I may dwell in my love to him, that I may 'abide in his love,'
people meet together in the church, God is present among them. So you see in what respect the tabernacle then, and particular churches now, which answer it, are called the house of God.
Let us learn this for our duty, as well as consider our comfort, in that the church is the house of God, let us carry ourselves as we should, decently, in the house of God. Those that are to look to the house of God, they should purge out all unclean corners, that God may delight to dwell in his house still, that we give him no cause to depart out of his house. 'That I may dwell in the house of the Lord,' &c.
The act here is, that I 'may dwell in house of the Lord.' He did not desire to be in it for a day or a little time, to salute it, and so leave to it; but to 'dwell in the house of the Lord,' and to dwell there for ever.
You see hero that Christians have a constant love to the best things, a constant desire to dwell in the house of God. You may think it a strange desire of this holy man to dwell in the house of God; but think then of the continuedness of his desire, it was even to heaven itself; he desired 'to dwell in the house of God for ever.'
For what end?
1. I desire to dwell in the house of God, that I may dwell in the love of God, and in the care of God to me in Christ for ever. I do not desire to dwell in the house of God, as it is a meeting, and there an end; but I desire to dwell in the house of God, that I may dwell in the love and care of God, and not only dwell in his care and love to me, and his care and esteem of me; but, 2. That I may dwell in my love to him, that I may 'abide in his love,' and faith in him; that I may abide in Christ. It is not only for a man to abide in the house of God, and go no further than so, but to abide in the love of God; and in our love, and care, and faith, and dependence upon him, to make God our house, to live, and walk, and abide in, 'to dwell in God,' as St John saith, 1 John 4:13; not only in the house of God, but God himself. And the upshot of all his desire,