Secondly, Be fortified within, by taking heed to the causes of apos- tasy, and falling off from the truth either in judgment or practice. Wliat is there will make men apostates ?
VeR. 31.] SERMONS UPON PSALBI CXIX. 319
1. Ungrounded assents. A clioice lightly made is lightly altered. When we do not resolve npon evidence, and have not taken up the ways of God upon clear light, we shall turn and wind to and fro as the posture of our interest .is changed. First we must ' try all things,' then ' hold fast,' 1 Thes. v. 21. Men waver hither and thither for want of solid rooting in truth. They take up things hand over head, and then like light chaff they are ' driven about with every wind of doctrine,' E^ih. iv. 14. Half conviction leaveth us open to changes: James i. 8, 'A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways ; ' a man that seems to have a faith concerning such a thing, then seems to have a doubt concerning such a thing ; sometimes led by 'his faith, at other times carried away by his doubts. If we have not a clear and full persuasion of the ways of God in our own minds, we shall never be constant.
2. Want of solid rooting in grace, that is, ' rooted in faith,' Col. ii. 7, or ' rooted and grounded in love,' Eph. iii. 17 ; as to both it is said, Heb. xiii. 9, 'It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace,' that is, by a sound sense of the love of God in Christ. A sweet superficial taste may be lost, but a sound sense of the love of God in Christ will engage us to him. Oh ! we have felt so much sweetness, and have had such real proof of the goodness of Christ, that all the world cannot take us off. The more experience you have, and the deeper it is, the more you will be confirmed. The most of its content ourselves but in a superficial taste. When w^e hear of the doctrine of salvation by Christ, we are somewhat pleased and tickled with it ; but this is not that wdiich doth establish us, but a deep sense of God's grace, or feel- ing the blood of Christ pacifying our consciences ; this is that which establisheth our hearts, and settleth us against apostasy.
3. Unmortified lusts, which must have some error to countenance them. By an inordinate respect to worldly interests, we are sure to miscarry. A man governed by lusts will be at uncertainty, according as he is swayed by the fear or favour of men or his carnal hopes : 2 Tim. iv, 10, ' Demas hath forsaken us, having loved this present world.' If a man hath love to present things, if that be not subdued and purged out of his heart, he will never be stable, never upright witli God. It may be he may stand wdien put upon some little self-denial for Christ ; he may endure some petty loss, or some tender assault. Ay, but at length the man will be carried away as Joab, that turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom, 1 Kings ii. 28 ; there will some temptation come that will carry them away, though at first they seem to stand their ground, as long as lust remains unmor- tified in the heart.
4. Sometimes a faulty easiness. As there is an ingenuous facility — ' The wisdom that is from above is gentle, and easy to be entreated,' James iii. 1 7 — so there is a faulty easiness, when men cannot say nay ; when they change their religion with their company, out of a desire to please all, and cameleon-like they change colour with every object. Some are of such a facile easy nature, soon persuaded into great in- convenience. This faulty easiness always makes bold with God and conscience to please men, when we are of this temper : Jer. xxxviii. 5, ' The king is not he that can do anything against you.' It is not a
320 SERMONS UPON PSALM cxix. [Ser. XXXTII.
good disposition, but baseness and pusillanimity. It is observed of Clirysostom, though a good man in the main, yet he ran into many inconveniences. Why ? Because he was, through simplicity and plainness of his nature, easily to be wrought upon. Therefore though a good man (in regard of the sweetness of his temper and converse) should be as a loadstone, yet he should be also resolute and severe in the things of God. Paul, though they did even break his heart, they could not break his purpose.
5. Self-confidence, when we think to bear it out with natural courage and resolution, as Peter did, ' Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I.' We are soon overborne, and a light temptation will do it. God gives men over that trust in themselves, for the Lord takes it to be his honour to be the saint's guardian, to ' keep the feet of his saints,' 1 Sam. ii. 9. He will be owned and depended upon.
6. There is an itch of novelty, when men are weary of old truths, and only rejoice in things for a season, John v. 35. There are many that look for all their virtue and their experience from their notions in religion. Thus they run from doctrine to doctrine, from way to way, so remain immortified.