his ways, and keep all his commands, seeking his glory as our end. For when God requires us to know him, to think of him, to acknowledge him, or to remember him, he always means, as our Saviour more plainly expresses it, (when speaking of love to God,) that it should be with our heart, and with our soul, and with our mind. and with our strength. And hence those that do not thus remember God, do in Scripture-account forget the Lord, and God is said to be not in all their thoughts: yea, the Scriptures carry the point so far, as to express it thus, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God; because wicked men in their security, although they are not professed atheists, yet they practically deny the God that is above, and feel at heart as if there was no God; for they do not worship him in spirit and in truth; they do not come to him in and by Christ; they do not love him, nor fear him, nor trust in him; but they feel, and act, and live, as if in very deed there was no God; and hence they are said to be without God in the world. Faith without works is dead, saith St. James and that remembrance of God which is unaffecting, and inefficacious, is dead, and good for nothing.

But to be particular,

1. Remembering God implies, that we know him, that we have right apprehensions of him, that we see him to be just such an one as he is. For we cannot with any propriety be said to remember that God, whom we do not know: and if we have wrong apprehensions of God, though we think of him ever so much, yet it is not God that we remember, but only that false image we have framed in our own fancy. A right remembering of God therefore supposes, that he who commands the light to shine out of darkness, shineth into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; and that we with open ⚫face behold as in a glass, (in the glass of his works and of his word, of the law and of the Gospel,) the glory of the Lord; so as to take in that very representation of God which he himself has made.

2. Remembering of God implies, that we have a vital sense of God in our hearts; a realizing, living sense of his Bo ing and perfections, that we see and feel there is a God, and

such an one as he really is: a Being of infinite understanding, and almighty power, of infinite wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth; and so a being of infinite majesty and greatness, of boundless glory and excellency, absolutely, worthy to be esteemed, and loved, and feared, trusted in and obeyed, for what he is in himself. Such a sense of God on our hearts is necessarily implied in remembering of God; and seems indeed to be that in which it primarily and principally consists. To forget God, and to be without such a sense of God on our hearts, seems to be much the same thing in Scripture-account. Beware, says Moses to the children of Israel," that thou forget not the Lord thy God, when thou hast eaten, and art full," encompassed about with all the good things of this world; but thou shalt then remember the Lord thy God, &c. Deut. viii. 11-18. As if he had said, "Innumerable methods have been taken with you in the wilderness, to beget in you a sense of GOD; beware then that you do not lose this sense of God, when you come into that good land, and have plenty of all things." Then do persons remember God, when they daily have a living sense of God on their hearts; a living sense of his all-seeing eye and all-governing hand, a living sense of his glorious moral excellency and infinite all-sufficiency. This will make the thoughts of God natural and free, genuine and unforeed. He will become the object of our continual devout contemplation. We shall think of him wherever we be; at home or abroad, in company or alone. In the day-time our hearts will be with him, and in the night season. On our beds we shall remember him, and when we awake in the morning we shall still be with him. Having tasted that the Lord is gracious, the Saviour of his grace will lie always on our spirits, in some degree.

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3. Remembering God, also implies a sort of forgetting all other things. It includes in its idea a taking our eyes off from ourselves, and losing a sense of our own fancied excelcies; a turning away our eyes from beholding vanity, a losing sight of the glory of this world, and losing our relish for carnal and worldly delights; ourselves and all things about us appearing infinitely mean in our eyes, compared with God.

It implies a hearty divorce from ourselves, and from all other things, out of a superlative love to God. Forget thine own people, and thy Father's house, Ps. xlv. 10. A living sense of God on our hearts will naturally beget this spiritual weanedness from all other things. A sense of his greatness and glory will make us, (like Job,) to abhor ourselves, and comparatively to loath life under its highest temporal advantages, all earthly grandeur appearing mean and worthless to us. A sense of God's infinite beauty and excellency will make all the gay and enchanting things of this world fade away into insignificant and empty toys; and the sweetness there is in the enjoyment of him, will for ever spoil our relish for worldly lusts and the pleasures of sin. So that a due sense of God will effectually deaden us to all other things. Yea, what things were gain to us, this will make us to account but loss and dung, that we may win Christ, and God in him. This is necessarily implied in remembering God.

Surely, those cannot be said to remember God, who are always full of themselves, full of a sense of their own goodness, and are dwelling for ever upon their own high attainments; ready always to say, God, I thank thee, I am not as other men! Such may be said to remember their own duties, or their own experiences and good frames. But in the Scripture-sense, God is not in all their thoughts. Neither can those be said to remember God, who are full of a sense of the glory of this present world, full of worldly views and worldly schemes, and only seek after worldly and sensual enjoyments. No man can serve two masters, says our Saviour; ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Ye cannot remember God, whilst your hearts are full of other things, and entirely wedded to them. If young people would remember God, they must be brought to have just such a temper of mind towards all youthful lusts, and carnal sports and vanities, as old Barzillai had towards the entertainments of David's court; that is, no relish, no heart for them. "I am this day, says he, fourscore years old. And can I discern between good and evil? Can thy servant taste what I eat, and what I drink? Can I hear any more the voice of singing men, or singing women? Wherefore let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again; that I may die in

my own city." 2 Sam. xix. 34-37. To love youthful vanities and sensual pleasures, is inconsistent with remembering God. Whosoever will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God, (James iv. 4.) Such are they who are lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God. Persons of this character cannot possibly be such as remember God. The hearts of young people must therefore be divorced from all their beloved pleasures and carnal merriments; or else there can never be any room for God in their souls. Thus a remembering of God implies that all other things are set light by, and are in a sense out of mind and forgotten. They are in a manner quite done with; the heart being otherwise taken up.

4. Remembering God also implies, that we choose him as our chief good, and are devoted to him, to seek his glory, as our last end. That we bid adieu to all other lords and lovers, and cleave to him only as the satisfying portion of our souls. That we renounce all other masters, and become his servants in the very temper of our hearts, steadfastly bent to do his will, to walk in his ways, and keep all his commands ; seeking his glory as our supreme end. When we look upon God as a satisfying portion, and take contentment in him, as such; when we look upon God as a being infinitely worthy, and as such are entirely devoted to him, accounting it the chief end of man to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever; then do we remember God in deed and in truth. Nor will any thing short of this effectually keep our hearts from departing from God, and growing unmindful of him. Mat. vi. 21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And a due sense of God on our hearts will effectually influence us to choose him and adhere to him. It did so influence the Psalmist, when he said, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee? Thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Ps. lxxiii. 25, 26. It did so influence the primitive Christians, who could say, Whether we live, we live to the Lord, or whether we die, we die to the Lord. Rom. xiv. 8. It was a maxim with them in those happy days, Whether they did eat, or drink, or whatever they did, to do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. x. 31. And

when God comes to be truly remembered by us, to be uppermost in our hearts, it will be our maxim too.

In a word, this remembering God, implies in it both the principle and practice of "repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ: a turning to God from all idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven;" a thorough conversion to God, and a good conversation in Christ.

Thus, remembrance of God supposes, that we know him, that we have right apprehensions of him, that we see him to be just such an one as he is; that we have a living sense of God on our hearts; that we become strangers and pilgrims on earth in the temper of our minds, dead to ourselves, weaned from the world; that we look out towards another and a better country, even an heavenly, and that we cleave to God with all our hearts, and are consecrated to him, to do his will, and seek his glory. And a due remembrance of God will make Christ precious to the soul, will afford powerful inducements to live by the faith of the Son of God, and lay a foundation for all holy living. We shall love to think on his name, to read and hear his word, and to keep it, to live a life of conformity to him, and of communion with him. If young people remembered God as they ought, they would esteem a day in his courts better than a thousand elsewhere." And one evening spent in prayer alone, would be better to them than a thousand spent in vain company abroad. And such children will love, and honour, and obey their parents, and be kind and endearing in their behaviour to all. Happy parents, that have such children! And happy children, that thus remember their Creator in the days of their youth! We are now,

II. To consider the obligations that young people are under, thus to remember God their Creator in the days of their youth. And,

1. They are under infinite obligations to do so, arising from the consideration of what GOD is, in HIMSELF. To forget and slight things, that are mean and worthless, is no evil : but for children to forget and slight their parents, especially if they are knowing and wise, holy and good, argues a very