the last Verse of that Chapter the latter in the fiâ—st Verse of this in the words of the Text Both which he is backing wiâ—h the former Argument the breviâ—y of Life and the certainty of approaching Death The first Inference or Duty exhorted to in the last Verse of the former Chapter is Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flâ—sh so I do may the young man think while I rejoyce in my youth and my heart chears me while I walk in the wayes of my heaâ—t and in the sight of mine eyes if this be not to remove sorrow from my hâ—art and put away evil from my flesh what is Such indeed is the opinion of the flesh touching sensual pleasures but sure the judgement of the Spirit of God is quite contrary hereunto and it is quite another thing that is here intended viz. the putting away sorrow by the putting away sin the removing of the Effect the evil of afflictâ—on and suffering by removing the Cause the evil of concupiscence and inordinate affâ—ctâ—â—n according to the truth of that which he is elswhere speaking Prov 14.13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness A holy heart and a merry heart go together and a sinful heart and a sorrowful heart cannot will not be long asunder be that puts not away the evil of sin from his flesh cannot long put away the evil of smart and suffering whatever vain sensual men may imagine the winding up will prove that of the Wise-man true Prov. 11.29 As righteousness tendeth to life so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death and the Reason backing it is bottomed upon the same main Argument the flittingness brevity and uncertainty of Life even in the young and lusty for Childhood and Youth is vanity i.e. are fading passing uncertain soon spent Young men may bear and behave themselves as if imagining their hot blood lusty bodies activity beauty would last alwayes and their youthful pleasures never be at an end but Childhood and Youth are vanity Death may not wait till they be gray-headed or however the earliest Morning hastens apace to Noon and then to Night The second Inference or Duty exhorted to you have in the words of the Text Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth As in the former he was calling off from sin vanity the empty pursuance of the Creature so in this he is calling to and putting upon the remembrance of the Creator q.d. relinquish your vanities and your sensual pleasures and contentments which will be bitterness in the latter end and set your hearts seriously God-ward turn your thoughts toward the minding him And this Exhortation of young men to the now remembring of their Creator is urged upon them by the same main Argument still The flittingness and vanity of Life and the approaching certainty and the evil and dark dayes of old Age and Death While the evil dayes come not c. as in this and the following Verses q.d. old Age and Death are hastening upon you and will certainly and soon overtake you It is the former part of the Verse Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth that I shall insist upon taking no further notice of the latter but as it may be an Argument to enforce this And here because I study expedition and the Explication will necessarily take up some room and time as also that the Reason of the duty here required of us is couched in the expressions wherein it is commended to us We shall first lay down the Conclusion or Point of Doctrine from the words and then open it to you and fetch the Reasons out of its own bowels The Observation then according to the terms of the Text which we shall after more fully unfold is this Doct. That it is every mans Duty every young mans Duty now in the dayes of his youth to Remember his Creator Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth It is every mans duty to remember God it is every young mans duty to do it now in the dayes of his youth For the clearing up of the Doctrine and making way for the Application and Improvement of it we have three things to handle and unfold 1. What this Remembring our Creator he duty which the Text and Doctrine calls for is importing 2. The Reasons of our so doing which the term of Creator is implying 3. Why the Younger may not put it off but it must be now done now in the dayes of their youth I. What this remembring God remembring our Creator is importing Remembring commonly in Scripture acceptation is not strictly taken for the simple act of memory the meer retaining a thing in our heads nor is so here to be taken for any one simple act of the Soul nor yet divers and continued acts of one and the same Faculty but it is taken for the compleat entire motion of the whole Soul the whole man towards God It is the common saying of Divines That words of knowledge of sense in Scripture imply affection and action cogitation and practice take in both the head and heart include the whole Soul by one word of knowing remembring and the like is included the compleat entire motion of the whole Soul the whole man towards God Such is the combination and concatenation of all the Faculties of the Soul as of Links in a Chain that draw one and draw all break one and break all upon this account any one act or the act of any one single Faculty as knowing remembring c. is usually in Scripture put for the compleat entire motion of the whole Soul The term of our remembring God so of his remembring us is used ordinarily not strictly but in such a latitude as we have been speaking if you consult Neh. 4.14 Judg. 8.34 Lev. 26.42 Luke 23.42 and a number of Texts more that might be named and recited but I fear to be tedious you will finde the sense of the phrase to run according to the breadth which we have been saying In a word we then remember God not when we barely think of him but when as such we affectionately and practically acknowledge him when we really own and bear our selves toward him as our Creator in sum when the whole entirâ— motion of the whole Soul is Godward Thus briefly and in general But because the burthen of the Duty of the Text hangs upon this word Remember we shall yet a little further unfold it and shew you yet somewhat more fully distinctly and particularly what the remembring God is implying and inferring briefly 1. Remembring God is implying and inferring converting turning unto God Psal 22.27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord All men naturally are forgetting God and turning from him and men then remember God when they convert and turn unto him men naturally too earnestly remember the Creature and
clothed with such Considerations presented under such Notions and Titles as may carry with them the ground and reason of and motive to the duty called for as in Isa 8.13 14. Jer. 5.22 and elswhere So here there is Reason Ground Motive enough in the Notion and Title of our Creator that God is set forth by to put us upon the duty required the remembring of him O come say they Psal 95 6. let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker And this is their Motive Psal 100.1 2 3. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with singing Know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture At that day saith the Prophet Isa 17.7 a man shall look to his Maker and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel To whom should the Creature have a respectful eye whiche should he look but to his Maker whom should man remember but his Creator But that we may more fully see this we must know that the term of Creator here used sets forth God as the Author of our Being out of nothing so of all our Being and well bring our bringing into Being our continuance in Being our preservation our well-being all the administrations of God about us as to this are wrapped up in his being set forth as our Creator nor onely so but consequently the Right that he hath in us the Regiment and Dominion that he hath over us and the Disposure that he hath of us are here included These things considered Why we should Remember our Creator is most evident and the Reason runneth very strong But to touch some things 1. Because God being our Creator the Author and Fountain of our Being is the End of our Being the first Cause must needs be the last End he that made all of himself made all for himself Prov. 16.4 The Lord made all things for himself Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things Of whom and through whom are all things to him are all things he that primarily made all things of himself made all things ultimately for himself 2. Because God is not onely bringing us into but continuing us in Being preserving and administring to our well-being we must all of us bespeak God in Job's language Job 10.12 Thou hast granted me life and favour and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit i.e. Being and well-being and continuation of both He is styled The preserver of men Job 7.20 He holdeth our soul in life Psal 66.9 In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.18 He maintaineth and bloweth up the spark of his own kindling He giveth to us life and breath and all things ver 25. of the same Chapter It is from his careful Providence that is continually exercised about us that such frail needy creatures are supported and supplied having a subsistence and a comfortable one God is not like the Carpenter or Mason that buildeth the House and then leaveth it to it self or the care of others but he keepeth up what he setteth up we should quickly lose all and sink into our nothing again did not the same hand that brought us out of nothing keep us where we are And to whom then do we owe our service whose are we whom should we remember to whom should we be but his to him from whom we have our maintenance and preservation who is not our Maker onely but our continual Upholder and most bountiful Benefactor 3. Because God being our Creator is our Proprietor Possessor Owner Lord Governour As the Lord builds the house and keepeth it in repair so he holdeth it himself as he built it for himself so he continueth to be the Proprietor Owner Lord Governour Possessor of it as he putteth not man out of his own hands in respect of preservation so neither in respect of possession and dominion Isa 43.1 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and that formed thee O Israel thou art mine To whom God saith I have created I have formed thee he saith also Thou art mine It is most probable indeed that the Prophet here speaks rather of spiritual then natural formation of Gods making them in Grace then in Nature but the reason holdeth the same and alike good in both God is said to possess us upon a Creating account his forming is phrased his possessing of us Psal 139.13 Thou hast possessed my reins thou hast covered me in my Mothers womb so he possesseth us upon a Creation account as he possesseth us in making so he possesseth us having made us God then challengeth us and layeth claim to us in the most Absolute Right for it is beyond us to imagine nor indeed can there be a more full and undoubted Right and Title then Creation giveth he being our Creator then is in the most unquestionable Right our Possessor Proprietor Lord Owner Disposer and we are his possession for his use at his dispose bound thereunto in the highest and most unquestionable Right More might be added from the knowledge God hath of us as being our Maker and intimately acquainted with us He that made man knoweth what is in man he that formed the heart soundeth it John 2.25 Psal 33.15 Heb. 4.13 Acts 15.18 Psal 139.1 and the following Verses and from the power that he hath over us being easily able to reach us and punish us at pleasure for all our forgetfulness of him and neglects of duty towards himself the same hand that made can break us he that built can easily pull us down 2 Kings 5 7. Jâ—b 10 8. Psal 104.29 30. but I may not further amplifie these things Let what hath been said suffice as to the Grounds and Reasons of the Duty which the term of Creator is implying III. The third and last thing to be spoken to for the clearing up of the Doctrine is Why the youngest may not put it off but they are now to remember their Creator now in the dayes of their youth We shall fetch the Reasons of this also out of the Text it self and they are but to name them as it were 1. Because young men now in the dayes of their youth owe thâ—iâ— Creator this present debt of remembrance this debt of duty and acknowledgement is due from man to his Maker as and as soon as years of discretion render him capable of it This debt doth not come to be due in Sickness at Death or in old Age but it groweth upon us with our capacity from our very Cradles it is from first to last Gods due and our duty according to our capability it is as well our duty that we remember him in our youth as in our age it is as well his due that we remember him now as hereafter every man is deeply
obliged as you may see from the grounds before given to remember his Creator and young men will find if they examine them that those reâ—sons lye as hard upon them as the gray-headed Is God the God of the Jews only saith the Apostle is he not also of the Gentiles Yes of the Gentiles also Is God the Creator Preserver Proprietor of the old man onely is he not also of the young man yes of the young man also Every man is indispensibly presently bound it is the young mans now duty it is Gods now due 2. Because as it is young mens now duty Gods now due that they remember him so God calleth for it now it is Gods due from young men that they remember him now in the dayes of their youth and God gives not day for payment he requireth it out of hand of the Youngest Look through the Scriptures and you will finde I may not stay to instance in particular all the commands of God respecting turning from sin and vanity and the neglect of him and turning to remembring and acknowledging of him to lye upon you in the present tense as what is to be now instantly presently and without delay attended 3. As it is young mens now duty Gods now due that they remember him and God now calleth for his due so now is the fittest time of payment It is Gods now due and God requireth it now and such may best do it and discharge it now in the dayes of youth there is no such season as this now these dayes of youth are affording this reason you have expressed in the text and prosecuted in the following verses Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them c. I do but meerly touch these things here because as time will gâ—ve leave we shall have occasion to improve them further in the Application of the Doctrine which we now come to And the Uses we shall make of it are onely these two 1. For Conviction and Reprehension 2. For Exhortation Vse I. is for Conviction and Reprehension of mens forgetting God mens forgetfulness of God Is it every mans duty every young mans duty as you have heard now in the dayes of his youth to remember his Creator How is it God is so forgotten as he is Men forget him in their youth and remember him not in their Age of young and old it may be complained as of Israel Hos 8.14 Israel hath forgotten his Maker The charge Ezek. 23.35 Thou hast forgotten me and cast me behinde thy back may be sadly applied to persons of every estate and condition God for the most part is so gotten he is thrown by in the world by all sorts and ranks of men the Vanities of the world take up the mindes of the younger sort and the Cares of it drink up the spirits of the elder When shall we be merry say young men and how shall we be rich say old men but none saith Where is God my Maker as it is complained Job 30.10 If men may but have their Profi s and their Pleasures and the world go well with them God may go where he will for any â—hiâ—g that they regard him Whoso looks upon the present Generation amongst our selves and here and there and every-where and sees how little God is minded by men that are well and warm in the world will finde reason to revive that old complaint Hos 13.6 According to their pasture so were they filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me In Sickness perhaps at the gates of Death under some sore Affliction it may be said of them as of those Psal 78.34 35. When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God and they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer But take men in their ruff and jollity and pride and plenty and self-sufficiency and most true is that of the Psalmist Psal 10 4. The wicked through the pride of his countenance will nâ—â— seek after God God is not in all his thoughts A day of Sickness of distress of want may bring them to some remembrance of God but let them shake off their fears and sorrows recover their health repossess a full estate and how soon are they in their tune Jer. 2.31 We are lords we will come no more unto thee O sad world O sad world how do men having the world live without God in the world live on Earth as if there were no God in Heaven either in regard of any need they have of him or duty that they owe him O how much is God forgotten in the world how little is he remembred amongst men and that man should not remember but forget his Maker what strange impiety what provoking sin is it One would think that whatsoever men forget or were unmindful about it should be rather of any thing rather of everything then his Creator the God that made him the God that is as you have heard the Author and End of his Being that is his Upholder Preserver and gracious visitant every moment that is his Proprietor Owner Possessor Lord Governour that challengeth him in the most Absolute and unquestionable Right that is throughly acquainted with him and as throughly able to reach and punish him for all his neglects of duty towards himself yet alas what doth many a man less remember more forget then his Maker At that day saith the Prophet in the place before-mentioned Isa 17.7 shall a man look to his Maker and his eyes shall have respect to the holy One of Israel but at this day the contrary in sad experience is to be seen and said of most men They look not to their Maker and their eyes have no respect to the holy One of Israel Oh how little God-ward their Maker-ward do most men look how little respect have they for him they have enough and more then enough for the Creature but they have little or none for the Creator Alâ—s how do men gad up and down the world setting their eyes upon things that are not scrabling here as if the dust of the earth would not suffice for every man a handfull but thought-less of God and forgetting their resting-place Oh! to look with an awakened understanding upon rational Creatures men of Gods own making and made for and made able and meet for this end and purpose to remember know acknowledge own him their Creator and then consider how little they do it how mindless regardless forgetful of God they are How astonishing is it and yet alas how common O it is a strange sinful doleful world wherein it is so rare to finde a man seriously mindful of his Maker Alas Sirs men mindless of God are mindless too what it is to be mindless of him but to an enlightened to an awakened
Family in all his life Young men I am afraid it is not once nor twice nor thrice nor ten times that will excuse some of you 'T is the complaint of Parents of Masters and a sad complaint it is that they cannot keep their Children their Servants in but that they will be out at all hours and if you observâ—â—t the bottom-Argument is Others do so and they must and will O that you would be perswaded to follow his better Example 4. To adde no more He was a young man that seemed to savour of and affect the best things What is said of young Abijah 1 King 14.13 appeared very hopeful concerning him that in him there was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel I do not doubt but that it may be truly said of him That he had more Sermons by him of his own hand-writing not onely then the most of the young men in Fair-field but then most of his Age have His writing Sermons at Meeting was commendable and imitable as also the after-improvement that he made of them his Notes were not laid by as useless or served to put under Pies but they were overlook'd and repeated by himself and to others as occasion offered The Sermons that he took here the last Winter as I am informed have been since called over in his Fathers Family That he was ready and forward upon such accounts is the account that such give of him that best knew him and as to this there is one thing more that would not be omitted That when he came now lately out of the Bay a little before his last Sickness that being at Sea upon the Sabbath and seeing the Morning well spent and nothing going forward of a Sabbath dayes work he began to minde them though the youngest of the Company of the Day and Duty thereunto belonging desiring they might go to Prayer and he would repeat a Sermon to them which accordingly he did both Forenoon and Afternoon Young men let I beseech you his Example upon these accounts Provoke your Imitation Secondly As in these things observable in him as to his Life he was a Patern for your Imitation so in some things observable about him as to his Death he was an Example for your Admonition Very briefly but to touch upon two or three things lest I utterly tire you 1. The Time of his Death being in the flower of his Age little more then Eighteen is for your Admonition to Remember now your Creator in the dayes of your youth who are now in your bloss me he was not arrived at the strength of his Age he was but newly come as it were to years of discretion Art thou past a Childe dost thou begin to understand thy self it is dangerous for thee to put off God the remembring thy Creator not for a longer but for any time Art thou Fifteen Sixt en Eighteen years old it is too great an adventure to put it off till thou art Twenty or One and twenty Thou art young and strong and lusty and thinkest thou mayest more boldly adventure measuring thy Life by thy Age and Constitution but are these certain Evidences as to adventure thy Soul upon are these such infallible Probabilities as to run the hazard of thy hopes for Heaven upon The Example that is before thee in this young man whom Death scarce suffered to be called a man may convince thee of the contrary O who would not be alwayes ready when his Summons are so exceeding uncertain 2. The Manner of his Sickness is Admonitory also and may lesson you this That it is good doing your great Work before the evil dayes of Sickness come Alas there is little time room opportunity or ability then A pained Body a distempered Brain a disturbed Spirit disability of Speech necessary Rest and these and those Attendances incapacitate divert take up the time and leave men commonly but a sorry opportunity of doing any thing to purpose for their Souls I was with him divers times in his Sickness yet had opportunity but once to say any thing to purpose to him one while flumbeâ—ing another while distempered in his Head or busily taken up by his bodily necessities and attendances O man Death may snatch thee away suddenly it doth not give every one a weeâ— or ten dayes warning but if not a leisurely Sickness may afford thee little leisure for thy Soul 3. How it was with him in his Sickness too how his Spirit wrought may admonish you to make thorow work of your great Work It was difficult to him to speak from an obstruction in his Throat and somewhat difficult to understand him when he did speak and so the less can be said but so much in substance might be gathered from him That he looked upon himself an undone man without an interest in Jesus Christ yet he was not without some hope that he was at peace with God in him yet not without fears bemoaning himself in respect of his hardness of heart and blindness of minde and that he had been no more throughly wrought upon by the Means that he had formerly enjoyed O Sirs Dying times are Trying times to die causlesly confidently I am afraid is too common but to die groundedly comfortably is a great work O do do throughly what thou hast to do man when Death comes thou wilt not finde it is too well done FINIS