Remember God as your Redeemer. When you, together with all the rest of mankind, were in a lost state through sin, God was mercifully pleased to redeem-to save you from that state, by giving his Son Jesus Christ to die for your sake. He tasted death for every man. It is in him that we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. Remember, therefore, that being thus redeemed-thus bought with a price-even the blood of the Son of God, you are no longer your own, are no longer at liberty to live according to your own will, according to your own appetites and desires, but are bound by every tie, both of justice and of gratitude, to live according to the will of him who has thus bought you.

Remember God as your Sanctifier. So weak and corrupt is the nature of man in consequence of the transgression of our first parents, that we cannot serve God acceptably without his grace, without the assistance of his Spirit. That assistance is freely offered to you if you will ask for it-if you will seek it in fervent prayer. Ask and ye shall have, says our Lord, seek and ye shall find'; and he assures us, that his heavenly Father will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Remember, then, that it is the Holy Spirit alone who can effectually help your infirmities. Implore his aid to enlighten your understanding, to give strength to your good resolutions, to correct and purify your heart and affections.

Lastly, remember God as your Judge. Never for a moment forget that God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness; that God shall bring every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil": and ever remember, that he who will judge you is a Being from whom nothing can be hidden. All things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we d Eccles. xii. 14,

b Luke xi. 9.

⚫ Acts xvii, 3.

have to do. He is about our path, and about our bed, and spieth out all our ways. There is not a word in our tongue, but God knoweth it altogether. He even spieth out the secret thoughts and intents of the heart. Young people sometimes venture to yield to temptations to sin, in the hope of concealment: but there is no possibility of concealing any thing from God. If I say, peradventure the darkness shall cover me, then shall my night be turned into day; yea, the darkness is no darkness with God, but the night is as clear as the day, the darkness and light to him are both alike. Remember therefore that there is no possibility of escaping the observation of an all-seeing Judge. If, in the high spirits of youth, you are tempted to walk after the way of your own heart, according to your own appetites and desires, and after the sight of your own eyes, yet be assured that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

The keeping upon your mind of this habitual remembrance of God, will require some attention and watchfulness on your part. Both from the distractions, the cares, and the pleasures of the world, and from the waywardness of your own heart, you will be in no small danger of forgetting him. But reflect, that though you may forget God, God will not forget you; and think both on the ingratitude, and on the awful danger of forgetting him. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God. O consider this, ye that forget God, lest he pluck you away, and there be none to deliver you.

Make use therefore of every means in your power for maintaining the habitual remembrance of God upon your minds. Often employ yourself in reading religious books, and especially in studying the holy Scriptures. It was to his early knowledge of the Scriptures, that the early piety of Timothy appears

Heb. iv. 13.

f Ps. cxxxix.

g Ps. ix. 17.

to be attributed by St. Paul; and the Psalmist speaks of the study of the word of God as being the most likely means of preserving the young and inexperienced from the temptations to which they are exposed; Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? Even by ruling himself according to thy word. Let the Scriptures then, especially the New Testament, be often in your hand. Read them attentively. Read them with an earnest desire to understand them, and with a real resolution to regulate your faith and practice by what you read. When, for instance, you find any sin forbidden, reflect whether you have ever been guilty of that sin, and if you have been guilty of it, implore the forgiveness of God through the merits of Jesus Christ; and resolve in humble reliance upon the aid of the Holy Spirit, that you will be guilty of it no more. If you find any duty commanded, any moral grace of character recommended and inforced, consider how far you have been diligent in the performance of such duty, or in the cultivation of such grace or virtue, or how far you have fallen short of it. Implore the divine blessing upon what you read. Beseech God to enlighten your understanding, so that you may see and know what things you ought to do, and also to give you grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same.

To preserve the remembrance of God upon your mind, nothing will contribute more than the habit of private devotion. Be regular and constant in addressing yourself in prayer to the Author and Giver of all good things. Every morning when you rise to your daily occupations, and every night when you return to rest, remember to fall on your knees before God, to implore the forgiveness of your manifold transgressions, to beg of Him protection and support, the strengthening of your weakness, and the supply of your wants. And besides your more re

gular devotions, you should endeavour to acquire and cultivate a habit of, often in the course of the day, directing your thoughts to God, and offering to him short ejaculations of prayer and praise in all circumstances, whether of affliction and distress, or of prosperity and rejoicing. It has been well observed, that prayer is the breath of a Christian, and that it is as easy to live without breathing, as to support the Christian life without prayer.

But you must not consider private prayer alone as sufficient for the purposes of piety, but must also embrace every opportunity of joining with your fellow Christians on the Lord's day in public or social prayer. Public worship is a duty in many respects different, and resting on different grounds, from private worship. It is a duty which, however it may be neglected by some, and perhaps scoffed at by others, is in itself of no little importance. You must remember, that the apostle earnestly exhorts us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is". You must consider, that public worship tends peculiarly to promote the glory of God, and to advance his kingdom among men. Be regular therefore in your attendance at church. Join in the prayers devoutly; and during the whole time that you are in the house of God, be on your guard against falling into any levity or impropriety of behaviour. It is painful to see young persons laughing and talking in church instead of attending to the service, thus distracting the attention and interrupting the devotions of those near them. Such conduct shews a want of good sense, as well as of religious principle. Those who are guilty of it should consider the holy place in which they are, and learn to shew more reverence for the sanctuary of God.

h Heb. x. 25.

Nothing however will contribute more to keeping up in your minds the habitual remembrance of God than the devout partaking of the Lord's supper. This holy ordinance was appointed for the benefit of all Christians; for the young no less than the old; for all, in short, who are sensible of their need of a Redeemer. It was instituted by our Saviour in the same night in which he was betrayed. You ought to be induced to receive it by a feeling of gratitude ;by a sense of duty and obedience to the command of a dying Redeemer ;-and also by a regard for your own best interests, for it was appointed for the strengthening and refreshing of your souls. You are old enough to partake of it, if you are old enough to understand the religion which you profess; if you are old enough to believe in Jesus Christ, old enough to repent of your past sins, and stedfastly to intend to lead a Christian life for the time to come. It is true, that young people are too much in the habit of neglecting the Lord's supper. But you must not follow a multitude to do evil. A duty does not cease to be a duty, because numbers of thoughtless beings are unmindful of it. But you should regard the partaking of the Lord's supper not merely in the light of a duty. Consider it rather as a high privilege, as constituting part of that spiritual armour of God, by which you may be enabled to overcome the peculiar temptations, to which your time of life is exposed.

This attention to your religious duties, your thus openly arraying yourself on the Lord's side, may perhaps expose you to observation. Those of your own age, who are themselves destitute of religious principle, and little under the influence even of common sense, will perhaps, in their thoughtlessness and folly, call you too religious and over scrupulous, will perhaps even pretend to laugh at and to make

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