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to diffuse the knowledge of the Gospel to earth's remotest bound. Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly-kindness; and to brotherlykindness charity... for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Finally, Recollect, that what you do in time, you do for eternity: whether time be redeemed or squandered, its "record is on high." The Christian repents, and prays, and hears, and acts for eternity! and-oh awful thought!-the sinner sins for eternity! The character is now forming, which shall soon bear the stamp of eternity. Oh say, is it that in which we should wish to appear when the Judge, arrayed in pomp and power, and seated on his great white throne, shall say, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still?" "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

May divine grace bless and crown our present meditations, and enable us to redeem the time, as looking "not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

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SERMON XIX.

A CALL TO EARLY PIETY.

ECCLES. xii. 1.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.

WORDS derive much of their weight from the character of the speaker, and the seasons and circumstances in which they are addressed. These are the words of king Solomon, the wisest of men. He was not only eminently learned in subjects of general information, (for "he spake of trees from the cedar to the hyssop, and of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes;" and the fame of his wisdom had brought from a great distance the queen of Sheba to witness it,) but he was also divinely instructed and taught; or else, though he might have been the most learned, he never could have been the wisest of men. He had been religiously educated by his pious father David: from his dying lips he received this solemn exhortation; "And thou Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy Father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind;

for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever:" and it appears, that by the grace of God, he was enabled to obey it. During the course of a long and prosperous reign, he had every opportunity of trying the utmost value of every earthly enjoyment; and this is the total estimate he has left of all: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." But, upon an impartial review, still convinced that "the fear of the Lord is wisdom," he left to all who should come after him, this concluding advice: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth."

In discoursing from these words, I shall consider,

I. The duty enjoined: "Rememberthy Creator." II. The peculiar propriety of fulfilling it in the season specified: "now, in the days of thy youth;" and address myself to different characters by way of improvement.

I. I begin with explaining the nature of the duty enjoined: "Remember thy Creator." This not merely signifies that we should now and then bestow a thought upon the blessed God, and not entirely forget that there is such a Being, and that we are his creatures, but it intends a constant habitual sense of his presence-a constant desire

after his favour, and a regular conformity to his image. It may be said to include the following particulars;-knowledge; fear; faith; love; and obedience. To remember our Creator aright, we must know something of him as he is revealed in the sacred Scriptures; we must know him as he is in himself, a Being infinitely blessed and glorious, every where present, without beginning and without end, infinitely wise and gracious, holy, just, and merciful. We must also know what God is in relation to us: he is our Creator; he "made us, and not we ourselves." Hence, we are not our own, but his. He is our Preserver; in him we move and act, as well as live and have our being. Ever since we came into existence his hand has upheld us; he has guarded us, and protected us in dangers which no human eye could have foreseen, no human prudence have averted. Hence we shall see the reasonableness of devoting the lives he has preserved to his service. He is our Benefactor: we are the constant pensioners of his bounty for all the supports and all the comforts of this life, and all the hopes we enjoy of a better. He is our great Redeemer; though we have wickedly departed from, and become enemies to him, he has not treated us as our sins have deserved; but he has remembered us in our low estate, has had thoughts of compassion towards us, "because his mercy endureth for ever." He gave his only-begotten Son to die for mankind, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but