[2.] Actual establishment, when these habits are fortified and quickened by the actual influence of God. As God doth establish by these habitual principles, so by the actual motions of his Spirit ; for otherwise neither the stability of our resolutions nor of gracious habits will support us. Not stability of resolutions : Ps. Ixxiii. 2, ' As for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped.' Not habit : Kev. iii. 2, ' Be watchful, and strengthen those things which remain, that are ready to die.' It is true, God ordinarily worketh most strongly with strongest graces, because tlieir hearts are most prepared ; yet sometimes weak Christians have gone through great temptations when strong ones have failed : Rev. iii. 8, ' Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.' Sometimes the strong Christian stumbleth and falleth when the weak standeth. God may in an instant confirm a weak person in some particular temptation, by his free assistance, but ordinarily concurreth with the strongest grace. Thus with respect to the power wherewith we are assisted.
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2. With res])ect to the ohject or matter about wliich it is conver- sant : stablished in every good word and work ; stability in the doctrine of faith and practice of godliness.
[1.] In the doctrine of faith. It is a great advantage in the spiritual life to have a sound judgment. Some men are never well grounded in the truth, and in the nature and reasons of that religion which they do profess, and tlicn are always left to a wandering uncertainty, because they resolve not upon evidence ; as men ordinarily abide not in the place to which they are driven by a tempest, or tlie current of the tides, rather than by aim and choice, though they take shelter there for the present : 1 Thes. v. 21, ' Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.' Certainly religion in the general must be taken up by choice, and not by chance ; not because we know no other, but because we know no better : as Jer. vi. IG, ' Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein.' And the same is true of particular opinions and controversies about religion, till we have iSt,ov a-rrjpijfia, ' our own stedfastness,' 2 Peter iii. 17. We stand by the stedfastness of others, when we profess the truth merely because of company ; and when the chain is broken, we all fall to pieces. Now we ought to be well settled, lest we appear to the world with a various face, which breedeth atheism in others, and shame to ourselves. It is possible, in particular things, future light may disprove present practice ; but then we must be -able to give a very sufficient account of it. Luther, when he was charged with apostasy, Conjitetur se esse aposfafam, sed heatuni et sanctum, quifidem Diabolo datam non servavit. While we cry up constancy, we must not cherish stubborn prejudice, which shuts the door upon truth. However, to avoid the opinion of lightness, before religious persons profess anything, their warrant need to be very clear, both for the world's sake and their own, that they may not make needless troubles, and afterwards change their mind, to the scandalising of others : and their own sake : hL-\\rv)(o<i dvr]p, James i. 8, ' A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.' And we had need to take care to be right, because every error hath an influence upon the heart and practice : upon the heart, as it weak- eneth faith and love; and practice: some opinions have no malig- nity in themselves, yet the profession of them may divide the church, and make us by contentions enemies of the growth and progress of Christ's kingdom. Now, if we would be established in the truth, we must see what influence every truth hath upon the new nature, either as it worketh towards God by faith, to keep up our respects to him, or men by love, as it furthereth our duties to them. A man will not easily let go truth that is wont to turn it into ])ractice, and to live as he believeth. Once more, we need to be established in the present truth ; it is no zeal to figlit with ghosts and antiquated errors, but to take God's part in our time ; but usually the orthodoxy of the world is an age too short, men please themselves in tilings received.
[2.] In every good work, or in holiness of life. Here needeth the greatest establishment, that we may hold on our course to heaven ; and the usual apostasy and baclcsliding that men are guilty of is from the practice of religi<ni. It is ill when the mind is tainted, but worse when the heart is ahcuated from God; and commonly it is the perverse
2 ThES. II. 17.] THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON. 179
inclination of tlie will that tainteth the mind. Therefore the great establishment is to be settled in a course of godliness: 1 Thes. iii. 13, * That he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints.' JSTow this establishment is very difficult.