(3.) Set and solemn, when from the bent, purpose, and incHnation of our own hearts, without any outward impulsion, we set ourselves to remember the God that made us. From first to last there is great use of meditation and serious thoughts of God in the spiritual life.
80 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXI.
Our first awaking is occasioned b}" tliem : Ps. xxii. 27, ' Tiiey shall remember and turn to the Lord.' For a great while we live without God in the world, till we recollect ourselves, and consider where we are and whither we are going. We are like men drunk oi* asleep, and do not make use of our reason and common i^rinciples that may be learned from the inspection of the creature and everything about us ; and when once we are brought into the communion of the life of God, and have grace planted in our hearts, it cannot be carried on unless we take time to remember God. Oar faith, our love, our desires, our delight, they are all acted and exercised by our thoughts ; so that the spiritual life is but an imagination, unless we do frequently and often take time for serious meditation of him. It is not con- sistent with any of the three vital graces, faith, hope, and love, that a man should be a stranger to the remembrance of God ; therefore God complaineth of it as a strange thing : Jer. ii. 32, ' My people have forgotten me days without number ;' do no more regard me than if they had never known me, Besides, the habits of grace are so weak, and our temptations so strong, and the difficulties of obedience so great, that I cannot see how we can keep afoot any interest of God in ourselves, if we seldom think of God, and do not sometimes sequester ourselves to revive this memorial upon our souls. Can a sluggish heart be quickened, or weak and inconstant resolutions be strengthened, or the sparks of love ever blown up into a flame, and fainting hopes cherished, unless we seriously set our minds awork to consider of God and our obligations to him ? Will a sleepy profession, without con- stant and lively thoughts do it ? It cannot be. Oh, no ! If you mean to keep in the fire, you must ply the bellows and blow hard. Whet truths upon the understanding, and agitate your minds in this holy work.
Secondly, My next work is to show that this is a notable help to godliness; and that appeareth enough in that forgetting God is assigned as the cause of all mischief, and remembering God the engagement to all duty. We forget God, do not meditate upon his name, and so fall into sin : Ps. ix. 17, ' The wicked shall be tiu'ned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.' Some deny God, but most forget him ; they cast away the knowledge of God out of their minds. So Ps. 1. 22, ' Consider this, all ye that forget God ; ' that is the description of the wicked. So it is the charge u]ion Israel, as their great sin and cause of thtir defection : Deut. xxxii. 18, ' Thou art unmindful of the rock that begat thee ; thou hast forgotten the God that formed thee.' Ob- livion is an ignorance for the time. Truths lose their efficacy when not remembered. On the other side, remembering God is made to be the immediate and next cause of our duty : Eccles. xii. 1, ' Remem- ber now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.' Youth would not miscarry so shamefully if they did oftener remember God, nor be led away by vain and sensual delights, if the thoughts of God did more dwell in their iaiinds. So Deut. viii. 11, 12, ' Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments.' Our lives will declare whether we do remember God. Those that do often and seriously keep God in their thoughts, will be most careful to keep his commandments.
VeR. 55.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX, 81
Thirdly, The reasons of the point.
1. It doth encourage us, and quicken us to diligence in our work. As soldiers fight best in their general's presence, and scholars ply their books when under their master's eye, so by living always in the sight of God we study to please him. The oftener we consider him the more we see no service can be holy and good enough for such a God as he is ; a God not to be provoked and resisted, so not to be neglected and slighted : Mai. i. 14, ' Cursed be the deceiver that hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing ; for I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen ; ' implying that when they came with a sickly sacrifice, they did not remember his excellency and greatness. Either they had no or mean thoughts of God ; but if they had remem- bered what an one he is, they would employ the best of their strength, time, and affection in his service.
2. The madness of our natures is bridled and restrained bv thoughts of God : 3 John 11, 'He that doth evil hath not seen God.' ' Will he force the queen before my face ? ' Esther vii. 8. You will not sport with sin, nor play with the occasions of it, nor dare to venture upon God's restraints. It is said of an archangel, ovk eTokfirja-e, ' he durst not bring against him a railing accusation,' Jude 9, because they be- held the face of God. So if we had a deep sense of God impressed upon our hearts, we would b» more awe-ful. You make very bold with God when you dare knowingly venture upon the least sin. Will 3'ou affront God to his face ? Children that are quarrelling or falling out, when the father or mother cometh, all is hush and silent.