8.11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God And Positively as in the Words of the Text Remember now thy Creator But why doth God put a Memento upon this Duty here Why there is a Fivefold Reason for it First To Intimate to us the Opposition of our corrupt Hearts to this great Duty naturally Man cannot endure the Yoak of Obedience to God He is without God in the World God is not in all his Thoughts therefore he calls us to Remember him Secondly The Sum of all Religion lies in the Observation of this one Command there can be no such thing as Religion where God is forgotten Jacob gave a severe Charge to his Sons concerning Benjamin because he lay nearest his Heart the Honor of God lies nearest his Heart of any thing and no Man can Honor him that doth not Remember him therefore he gives such a strict Charge about it It is this that frames our Spirits for all other Duties and makes them fit for every good Work Sin never prevails more upon our Hearts than when God is shut out of our Thoughts the Children of Israel did Evil and forgat the Lord therefore Remember thy Creator Thirdly It implies that no Age is so prone to forget God as that of Youth Youthful Pleasures and youthful Lusts and Vanities do frequently turn the Heart away from God therefore Solomon says Childhood and Youth are Vanity in the Words before the Text. It is Vanity both In a Natural and In a Moral Respect It is Vanity in a Natural Respect as being Frail and Mortal Though by the Course of Nature Young Ones may think to Live long yet by reason of the Frailty of Nature they may Die before the Eldest many Younger than you lye yonder Rotting in their Graves Now thou hast the Seeds of Death in thee and thou hast Sin the Cause of Death cleaving to thee and the Sentence lies against thee and therefore tho' thou mayest please thy self with the Thoughts of Living many Years like the Fool in the Gospel yet thou mayest Dye before to Morrow as he did Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee And as Youth is Vanity in a Natural Sense so it is in a Moral Sense for it is Tainted and Defiled with Lust and Corruption all over Thou art a Child of Wrath from the Womb under a Damning Guilt before ever thou didst commit one actual Sin For by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation Rom. 5.18 But alas How much Guilt hast thou Contracted by thy Actual Sin thy Lying thy Swearing thy Drunkenness thy Gluttonny thy Pride and Envy thy Lewdness and Uncleanness thy sinful Mirth and Levity thy Slothfulness and Vanity thy Stubbornness and Obstinacy These are the common Sins of Youth And no wonder that that Soul is prone to forget God where these Lusts reign therefore Remember thy Creator Fourthly It is a Duty of the Greatest Equity not only from the Will of him that Commands it but from the Reason of the Command it self which Consults Man's Good as well as God's Glory and is it not Equal that we should Remember that God that never forgets us and that we should mind his Glory who is mindful of our Good Besides how Equal is it that God who is the First Cause the Chief Good and Last End should be first owned best loved and most served And is it not Equal that Time being so rare a Jewel so great a Betrustment so Rich a Talent should be employed for him who gave it and who can either continue it or cut it short as we either lay it out upon God or profusely lavish it upon our Lusts Therefore Remember thy Creator Fifthly God gives us this Memento to mind us of that strict Account we must e're long give to him for all our Time Youth is to Account to God for a few Years as well as Old Age is for many more and therefore the Wise Man warns Young Ones of a Judgment Day for them as well as for those of more Years Eccles 11.9 Rejoice O Young Man in thy Youth But know that for all those things God will bring thee to Judgment If we do not Remember to keep this Precept God will Remember to punish the breach of it If we forget our Obedience to God he will not forget to punish our Disobedience and therefore God puts a Memento upon this Command that so we may be Awakened to our Duty from the Sense of an Approaching Judgment Remember thy Creator But it is not barely an Act of the Mind that is here called for it is not enough meerly for you to Remember or Think of God for that is done in Hell they all Remember God there the Memory of the Damned shall then be more quick and strong than ever and shall bring all your Sins into an Eternal view Now the Sins of Youth are committed and forgotten by us and we are apt to think God forgets them too and that they shall never be remembred more they say Tush the Lord seeth us not Ezek. 8.12 But mark what God says Psalm 50. ver 21. These things hast thou done speaking of their Sins before These things hast thou done and I kept Silence But I will Reprove thee and set them in Order before thine Eyes Every Sin shall be set in Order and come into Remembrance in that Day Son says Abraham to the Rich Man Son Remember Luke 16.25 pointing him back to his Lusts If Sinners could but forget in Hell it would be a Comparative Happiness A Loss though never so great yet when it is forgotten the trouble of it ceases It would be an ease to Sinners in Hell if they could never think of God more and if they could raze out the Remembrance of Christ and the Gospel out of their Minds and forget that ever they heard of a Redeemer to Remember what a God what a Creator what a Redeemer what a Heaven what a Happiness they had tendered to them and therefore might have secured but would not to Remember what Calls they were once under to Convert and Turn to God and Close with Christ and Live O how will this wound and afflict in that Day I had once the Means of Grace I heard the Preacher often Calling and Wooing me to leave my Lusts and come to Christ I have many times felt the Convictions and Strivings of the Spirit in me under the Word to bring it about and had I had Wisdom to Consider and a Heart to Comply O how Happy had I been I might have been one amongst the Blessed Saints in Heaven who are here Tormented amongst Damned Spirits O how often have I had Life and Death set before me and therefore this Misery is the Fruit of my own Choice To Remember Lost and Past Opportunities O how will this Torment Fool that I was to have such a Price put into my Hands to get Wisdom as once I had and yet to have
spend thy Youthful Days in thy sensual Delights why then go on and take thy Course but consider were this will end and what follows there is a Reckoning Day a coming thy pleasant Way will have a doleful End though the Beginning may be Sweet the Conclusion will be Bitter for thou must Die e're long nor canst thou say how soon and then thou must answer to God for all thy sinful Courses and sensual Vanities for Know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment and therefore Put away Evil from thy Flesh And then he proceeds to Exhort to the Positive Part of Godliness and that in the Words of the Text Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth He tells you in the Last Words of the former Verse Childhood and Youth are Vanity and the Vanity of it appears in nothing more than in indulging to Sense and Flesh and forgetting God therefore these Words of the Text are the wise Man's Memento to young Ones wherein he gives this seasonable Counsel for the Cure of their Vanities Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth whilst the Evil Days come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no Pleasure in them In which Words you have an Exhortation to a very concerning Duty and it is backed with a threefold Argument in the Six following Verses In the Duty exhorted to you have Three Things First The Act Remember Secondly The Object to be Remembred Thy Creator Thirdly The Time when he must be Remembred Now. Remember now thy Creator But lest you should think that this now takes in the whole Time of this Life therefore he Excludes the latter Part of Life and Limits this now to the former Part Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth And then you have a Threefold Argument or Motive upon which the Duty is urged Old Age with its Infirmities Hastening Mortality Approaching And Judgment Ensuing First The Approaching of old Age with the Infirmities that accompany it that we have in those Words While the evil Days come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no Pleasure in them and what these Days and Years are he tells you in the various Allegories in the following Verses While the Sun or the Light or the Moon or the Stars be not Darkned nor the Clouds Return after Rain in the Day when the Keepers of the House shall Tremble and the strong Men Bow themselves and the Grinders Cease and they faâ— that Look out at the Windows c. Secondly You have an Argument from Death and Mortality approaching Verse 15. Man goeth to his Long Home Verse 7. Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was Then when When the Sun and the Light c. is Darkned when the Keepers of the House Tremble when the strong Men Bow themselves and and the Grinders Cease then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was Thirdly You have the Judgment ensuing Verse 7. The Spirit shall return to God who gave it it is the Soul that is here intended which is frequently called a Spirit because of its Spiritual and Immaterial Nature as the Body of every one Returns to the Dust so does every Soul Return to God not to God as a Chief Good but to God as a Great Judge not to his Blissful Presence but to his Judicial Presence All Souls do not Return to God to Enjoy him for that is the Portion but of a few but all Return to God to be Judged by him both Good and Bad Saint and Sinner So says the wise Man in the Third Chapter of this Book Verse 17. God shall judge the Righteous and the Wicked for there is a Time there for every Purpose and for every Work so that there is such a Returning of the Soul to God as sets it before his aweful Tribunal where it must be Sentenced to its Everlasting State either to Enjoy God for Ever or to be Everlastingly Shut out of his Presence and Favour so that these are the Arguments to Inforce the Duty in the Text. Old Age is Hastening Death follows it And then comes the Judgment In old Age you will have no list to Remember God in Death you cannot Remember God and in Judgment you must be called to an account for not Remembring God and therefore since it is thus Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth I shall open the Words and then apply them First I will begin with the Act Remember this is applied sometimes to God he is said to Remember God Remembred Noah Gen. 8.1 He Remembred Abraham Gen. 19.29 He Remembred his Holy Covenant Luke 1.72 But there is to speak properly no such thing in God as Remembring for he that can never Forget cannot be said to Remember But it is properly applied to Man and so to Remember is either To call to Mind some Past or To keep a thing in Mind for the Time to come Sometimes it is to call to Mind something past thus it is said that Peter Remembred the Words of Christ Mat. 26.75 and as it Imports keeping in Mind for the Time to come so it is said Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy Exod. 20.8 To Remember is put here in a double Opposition First It is opposed to a Forgetfulness of the Duty mentioned And Secondly It is opposed to a slight Performance of it Both which are Sin It is a Sin to forget God and it is a Sin to have slight Thoughts of God the Act should be some way answerable to the Object the Great God is thy Maker and he should not be put off with slightly Respects Remember thy Creator The manner in which the Duty is Inforced is such as does import that it ought to be our chief Business God does not use in his Word to put his Memento's upon slight and indifferent Matters but upon such Duties as are Necessary and of the greatest Importance As First To press us to Repentance Rev. 2.5 Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent Ezek. 16.61 Thou shalt Remember thy Ways and be Ashamed Secondly To mind us of our latter End Eccle. 11.8 If a Man Live many Years and Rejoice in them all yet let him Remember the Days of Darkness for they shall be many Thirdly To press upon us the Duty of Sabbath Holiness Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy Exod. 20.8 Fourthly To keep in our Hearts the great Works of Providence Psalm 105.5 Remember the Marvellous Works that he hath done and Mat. 16.9 says Christ Remember the Five Loaves that fed Five Thousand and how many Baskets full he took up Fifthly It is used to incite to a full and compleat Obedience Num. 15.39 Remember all the Commandments of the Lord to do them Sixthly To stir us up to be mindful of himself and therefore this Duty of all the rest is charged both Negatively and Positively Negatively Deut.
utterly shut oâ— of our thoughts therefore says David Psal 119.55 I have remembred thy Name O Lord and have kept thy Law Thus you see how much this Remembring thy Creator carries in it to wit Knowledge of God Faith in God Repentance toward God Love to God And Obedience to the Will of God When you Know God so as to Believe in him and Believe in God so as to Repent of Sinning against him and Repent so as to express your Love to him and Love God so as to conform to his Will and keep his Commandments then is this Duty done as it ought and you therein answer the Call in the Text Remember thy Creator And that brings me to the Second thing The Object to be remembred thy Creator Remember thy Creator In the Hebrew Text it is Remember thy Creators in the Plural Number so it is used frequently Gen. 1.1 Gods Created the Heaven and the Earth so Isa 54.5 Thy Makers is thy Husband in the Plural so Job 35.10 None saith where is God my Makers And its being thus Plurally expressed it is very Emphatical for it points us to Father Son and Spirit all the Three made Man they were our Makers The Father made Man Gen. 6.7 The Lord said I will Destroy Man whom I have Created The Son made Man Col. 1.16 By him were all things Created in Heaven and Earth The Holy Spirit made Man Job 33 4. The Spirit of God hath made me and the Breath of the Almighty hath given me Life There is a great Truth which will give you to understand this I say there is a great Truth in that Maxim amongst Divines That the Works of the Trinity ad extra towards the Creatures are undivided All the Three Father Son and Spirit sate in Counsel to make Man Let us make Man in our Image in the Plural Number Gen. 1.22 And it is very observable that though our Makers here are expressed Plurally yet the Image is put in the Singular Number Let us make Man in our Image not in our Images but in our Image to note that though the Persons are Three yet the Image is but One They have but one Nature and so are but one God therefore it is said Mal. 2.13 Have we not all one Father Hath not one God Created us Father Son and Spirit and yet but one God and shall we not Remember him that made us Remember thy Creator It is a Term that gives a Claim God is thy Creator and that gives him a Right to thee All Souls are mine as the Soul of the Father so also the Soul of the Son is mine Ezek. 18.4 The Soul that is the Person a Part being put for the Whole frequently in Scripture Let every Soul be Subject to the Higher Powers All Persons are mine whether Father or Son whether Old or Young I am their Creator I am their Common Father and this gives God a just Right to thy Soul to thy Body to thy whole Person to thy Life to thy Strength to thy Talents to all thou Art and all thou Hast and to all thou canst Do for he is thy Creator He doth not say here Remember thy God but Remember thy Creator God is not every one's God we have lost him by the Fall that Relation is cut off by Sin till Grace restore it But though he be not every one's God yet he is every one's Creator Fallen Creatures are his Creatures still as much as ever and therefore thy Remembring him as thy Creator is that that brings thee to Claim him as thy God Thou owest thy Time thy whole Time to him for thou art Created every Day by him for Preservation is a continual Creation Thou owest thy Self and Service to this Creator As thou art what thou art by his Power and Goodness so thou oughtest to live to his Glory He made thee after his own Image and as thou art hereby more capable so thou art more obliged to Remember him and Honour him Thirdly Here is the limitation of the Time when he must be Remembred that is now Remember now thy Creator which now sometimes used in a more Extended Sense and sometimes in a more Restrained Sense First In a more Extended Sense it is taken for the present Life all the Time a Man lives in this World and then it is opposed to Death Death is no time to Remember God in so says the Psalmist Psal 6.5 In Death there is no Remembrance of thee in the Grave who shall give thee thanks It is the same with that of the Wise Man Eccles 9.10 There is no Work nor Device nor Knowledge nor Wisdom in the Grave whether thou goest that is when Death comes it cuts off all our Opportunities There is no Work in the Grave that is no place of Business there is none can be done by us and therefore there is none required of us And as there is no Work so there is no Device as there is nothing to be done to procure Salvation so there is no Devising any way to escape Damnation you cannot lye and think there He returns to his Earth in that very Day his thoughts perish Psal 146.4 Nor is there any Knowledge there either of Good or Evil For the Dead know not any thing Eccl. 9.5 And if there be no Work nor Device nor Knowledge there can be no Wisdom Wisdom is profitable to Direct but there is none of this in the Grave Wisdom lyes in Chusing a Right End and Pursuing it by Due Means but there is none of this in the Grave Wisdom lyes in finding and imbracing the Chief Good but there is none of this Wisdom in the Grave When Death comes it puts an end to all your Opportunities In Scripture Opportunity is often called a Door 1 Cor. 16.9 A great Door is opened to me 2 Cor. 2.12 A Door was opened to me of the Lord. When God sends and makes way for the Gospel and inlarges the Hearts of Ministers to Preach the Gospel and opens the Hearts of People to receive the Gospel then a Door is opened Now if Death shuts this Door it puts an end to all our Opportunities And is there not a time coming when this Door this open Door will be shut Pray Read Luke 13.24 25. Strive to Enter in at the strait Gate for many will seek to Enter in and shall not be able when once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut to the Door and ye begin to stand without the Door and knock saying Lord Lord open to us he shall answer and say to you I know you not whence ye are the Master of the House is risen up and the Door of Opportunity is shut So Matt. 25.10 it is said of the Foolish Virgins While they went to Buy Oyl the Bridegroom comes and they that were ready went in with him and the Door was shut a sad word Now you Read in Scripture of several Doors which will all be shut in that
Christ's Kingdom If there be but one Lamb one Young One in all this Assembly added to the Flock of Christ this Day all the Angels in Heaven will rejoice Ay all the Angels in Heaven nay it will be the Day of the very Gladness of Christ's Heart For as the Bridegroom rejoices over his Bride so shall thy God rejoice over thee Isa 62.5 Fifthly Consider how uncertain the measure of thy Life is thou mayest think to live many Years and yet may'st die soon How many have you gone after to the Grave that came after you into the World Job says speaking of the Sinner The number of his Months are cut off in the midst Job 21.21 It is not only a Description of Death but of Early Death an immature Death is the cutting off our Months in the midst this is that David deprecates Take me not away in the midst of my Days As our Times are in God's Hand in regard of the event of them so they are in regard of the length of them either God may not give thee time to grow old or not a heart to repent when thou art old When so many offers of Grace are refused and so many motions of the Spirit resisted by thee I tell thee thy heart is in great danger of being for ever hardened How many Young Ones are now awake and that for ever in Endless Flames that would never open their Eyes to see their danger till they came thither That is an aweful Word Psalm 58.9 Before your Pots can feel the Thorns he shall take them away as with a Whirlwind both living and in his Wrath. Before your Pots can feel the Thorns That is before you have any real Sence of your danger To what shall I compare the Miseries of Young Ones that are taken away so often in the midst of all their Pleasure before ever they thought of Death It is a thing sad beyond comparison beyond all expression Have you then Young Ones no pity for your Souls Or do you resolve not to prepare for the Tryal till the Assizes come and the Judge sits on the Bench If we had a certain knowledge from Heaven that this was the last Sermon we should ever hear that this was the Last Call to Remember our Creator that God would ever allow us that we should be in another World before another Day comes about with how many Tears should we bewail our Folly of neglecting God And how should we rend the Heaven with Cries that God would own us and help us to own him and that he would reprieve us a little longer that we might make sure of an Interest in him before we go hence and be no more And why should we not do so now seeing we know not the day nor hour when the Son of Man will come The Lord awaken Young Ones for none else can awaken them and perswade them to seek after God betimes O that you would be perswaded to this He is the most Eligible Object in the World they that have chosen him will tell you so they have found him so you will never have cause to repent of your Choice you may have cause to repent of other Choices None ever made a carnal Choice but he repented first or last either here with a godly Sorrow whilst Matters were capable of retrieving or in Eternal Misery where there is Repentance without returning But who ever repented of chusing God Name one that ever did Job once cursed the Day of his Birth but who ever cursed the Day of his New Birth Who ever repented of his closing with Christ or of his being sanctified and made like God When Death comes then the Cry begins amongst Carnal Sinners How have I hated Instruction How have I forgotten God and my Eternal Interest How have I regarded Lying Vanities to the forsaking of my own Mercies O this Flattering World How hath it deceived and undone me This will be your cry when you come to a Sick Bed Now did you ever hear any one say I have chosen God but God hath deceived me I have ventured my Soul upon the Lord Christ for Pardon for Righteousness and Christ hath deceived me I have chosen the Way of Holiness and that hath deceived and misled me Did you ever hear such a Complaint No nor never shall Arise then Young Ones in the Name of the Lord I say to thee arise and shake your selves from the Dust and Vanities of Youth betake your selves out of hand to God in Christ make Religion your Business whatever you do for the Lord's sake this will make you a Blessing in your Generation Truly let me tell you the Days we live in calls aloud upon you Youth in this Matter we are in declining times sad times for Religion it loses ground apace in this Age and if God do not stir up the Young Generation to keep up Religion I tell you it will be quite lost in the next O therefore that you would resolve to devote your selves heartily and betimes to the Lord Never think it too soon to seek him nor too long to serve him You will not count a whole Eternity too long for your own Happiness do not therefore count your whole Life too much for God's Service I had thought to have laid down some Directions for your guidance and help in this great Duty of chusing God I will but name Five or Six First Labour for a deep Sence of your Natural State this furthers the Work No Man comes to Christ till he is weary and heavy laden and that no one is or can be till a Sence of Sin and of his Natural State makes him so Secondly Another should have been this Whenever the Spirit of the Lord strives with you carry it becomingly to him especially in Two Things Labour to know his Striving Seasons And Labour to cherish all his Motions Then Thirdly I would have said Do not consult Flesh and Blood on the one hand nor give ear to the Suggestions of Satan on the other for he will always draw you from God Fourthly Do not put off this Work of chusing God from time to time but resolve to set upon it now without any more de ay And Fifthly Besure shun the Conversation of such as Deride and Scoff at serious Godliness and such as deny all Revealed Religion it will be the Undoing of your Souls else And then I would have said Lastly Beg the renewing Grace of God to carry on all Fear and Shame may conceal a Sinner Morality may varnish him but it is only renewing Grace can change him and bring him to chuse God for his God And then I would have spoken to the Second Branch of the Exhortation that is to such of you as have chosen God in your Early Days I am perswaded I speak to many such this Day many Young Ones who have chosen God in their chusing Time Why First Bless God O bless him magnifie his Grace who hath counselled and inclined your Hearts to this When David had chosen God for his Portion he presently cries out I will bless the Lord who hath given me Counsel Psal 16.7 O Sirs What a blessed Thing is it to be an early Convert to be an early Christian It is not only Matter of Comfort to you but I tell you it is a Comfort to your poor Ministers How do they Rejoice when they can beget one Soul to Christ What says Paul to the Philippians to whom God had blessed his Ministry in their Conversion Ye are our Crown and our Joy Phil. 4.1 And again to them 1 Thes 2.20 Ye are our Glory and our Joy we bless God that blesseth us to bring in any one of you to Christ O that every Young One in this Place were of this Number You are our Comfort that God has some to keep up Religion when we are Dead and Gone You are a Comfort likewise to your Godly Parents that can in you see the Return of many Prayers and that they can now Die with Comfort because they leave you their Children to Walk in the Steps of your Fathers and to Honor God when they are gone to Heaven O it is a blessed Sight to see Young Ones Walk with God! Therefore bless God for inclining your Hearts to this whilst you have a Day to Live Secondly Let it be your Care to renew your Choice of God every Day renew your choice of God daily and also the Dedication of your selves unto God Our first Dedication is not enough though it may be Sincere therefore it must be Improved by repeated Acts We should be often renewing our Choice of the Lord and should think it not enough to be the Lord's but we should labour to be more the Lord's for let me tell you though God cannot be more ours yet we may be more his and one Excellent Way to be so is by chusing God and dedicating our selves to God Lastly Live as they that have chosen God for their God your claim is high let your carriage be answerable In short if you have indeed chosen God and have given up your selves to him make it appear let it be known prove it by all Acts proper to such a Priviledge How is that By daily putting off the Old Man and putting on the New by Dying more to Sin and Living more to Righteousness giving up your selves to the Conduct and Leadings of the Spirit to be guided by him in all his Motions making the Word of God the whole Rule of your Lives labouring in all things to Walk worthy of God who hath called you to his Kingdom and Glory and in so doing you will have a sure evidence that you have obeyed this Call of God in the Text Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Choice FINIS ERRATA PAge 8. line 18. for some read something p. 9. l. 16. r. slighty p. 21. l. 23. f. ruine r. mind p. 32. l. 20. r. when Christ touched p. 34. l. 16. r. not known p. 62. l. 21. r. so say I.