of you was made in the Image of God every one though the Moral Image of God is blotted out by the Fall that Image that consisted in Righteousness and Holiness that is lost yet there is a Natural Image of God which is seated in the Intellective and Elective Powers of the Soul and this every one of you hath this Image every one brings into the World with him it cannot be lost it shall be carried to Heaven and Life and to Hell too It will be the Comfort of Saints in Heaven and the Torment of Sinners in Hell to lye there with this Image of God there their Mind Understanding Memory to Consider and Remember how they Sinned against this God in their Lives Now why has God stamped every one with his Image but to make him capable of Knowing God and Chusing God and Loving God and Closing with God and Desiring God and Serving God and Injoying Communion with God This is the End why he put his Natural Image into every Soul otherwise Man might have Served God as Brute Creatures do but he could never have known him never have had Communion with him Now shall we bear this Image of God and shall we not labour to know the Lord Secondly Remember him so as to make it the Chief Business of your Lives to seek him and to Seek him while he may be found It is the Counsel of the Holy Ghost Seek the Lord while he may be found VVhen is that He tells you Prov. 8.17 They that seek me early shall find me Now he seeks God early that makes it his first Work therefore says our Lord Seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you Mat. 6.33 Seek the Kingdom of God as the End and his Righteousness as the Means for Grace is the way to Glory Holiness to Happiness Without Righteousness there is no Heaven to be had but with it comes both Heaven and Earth too for Godliness hath the Promise of both Lives both that which is now and that which is to come But this Kingdom must be first sought First seek the Kingdom of God first before every thing and first above any thing else Our Interest in God is lost by the Fall it may be recovered and there is nothing so useful to be sought and secured as that Is not the Life more than Meat and the Body than Raiment Says Christ So say is not Heaven more than Earth Is not God better than the VVorldi and Spiritual Blessings better than Temporal O therefore let not the Lean Kine devour the Fat nor the things of the VVorld shut God and Christ out of our Hearts and Thoughts The Spiritual Blessings are the best therefore God Promises them first He will give Grace and Glory Psal 84.11 There be Spiritual Blessings and he will withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly there follow Temporals God suits his Mercies to our Necessity therefore he gives them first that we need most This should direct our Duties and teach us what to Beg and what to Seek Seek God in the the first place God in Christ and and if Spiritual Mercies be secured Temporal Mercies so far as is for your good shall never be denied Therefore let it be your VVork to seek God before all above all and more than all for he is all in all But be sure to seek him in Christ or I tell you you will never find him nor find acceptance with him Since the Fall God is not to be found but only by a Mediator He that finds me saith Christ findeth Life and shall obtain favour of the Lord Prov. 8.33 O get an Interest in Christ of all things Young Ones get an Interest in Christ a hearty Closing with Christ a Saving Faith in Christ this is the right way of Remembring your Creator Remember him so as to Obey him and Live to him that is the Sence of the Apostle's Counsel 1 Pet. 4.19 Commit your Souls to him in well-doing as to a faithful Creator it must be in well-doing He hath promised Eternal Life to them who seek him by Patient continuance in well-doing Rom. 2.7 And therefore let me add this as you must Remember him first so you must Remember him to the Last Pray take that and I will have done As you must remember God first so you must remember him to the last You must begin with God and you must end with him O take heed of beginning in the Spirit and ending in the Flesh You Read in the 20th of Matthew that the Labourers came to VVork in the Vineyard at very different Hours Some came Early in the Morning some at the Third Hour some at the Sixth some at the Ninth Hour and some at the Eleventh Some came in Earlier and some Later they did not all come in in the Morning Ay but they all tarried till the Evening they all Laboured till the Evening It is the VVise Man's Counsel and O that God would help you to take it In the Morning Sow thy Seed and in the Evening hold not back thine Hand Eccles 11.6 My Brethren God must have the Duty of the whole Day of your Life Christ says so I must work the Work of him that sent me while it is Day Christ never spent one Hour of his Day Idlely The Lord Pity Young Ones How do they Idle away their Time God must have the Duty of the whole Day for as we are here in the Text called to seek him Early so we are commanded to seek him continually 1 Chron. 28.7 God is Alpha and Omega the beginning and the Ending therefore as we are to begin with him first so we are to hold on with him to the last For he that indures to the end shall be saved Be thou faithful to the Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 Now I might urge this Duty upon you which is so great by many Arguments From what God is to us our Creator From the Command laid upon thee to Remember him as such From what he deserves of us For of him and through him and to him are all things therefore Glory should be to him for ever Rom. 11.32 But I shall urge but this one Motive and I have done The Present Time is only thine thou hast a great Work to do a God to remember a Christ to seek Sin to kill Grace to get a Heaven to mind a Hell to avoid a Soul to save a strict Day of Judgment to pass through O what work have we to do And all the Time we have to do it in is but Now The Present Season is only thine thy Days are here limited and bounded in the Text to a Present now Now in the Days of thy Youth What Fools are Young Ones now to say by the Grace of God I intend to Repent hereafter and I will seek after God hereafter I am too Young now when God
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.
says Remember thy Creator now in the Days of thy Youth You little think how soon Death may come it doth not always give warning what warning had the Rich Man Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee when he cries out I have Goods laid up for many Years What warning had Job's Children that were all taken away in an Hour O Sirs Death hath several passages to your strong Holds that you cannot find out He doth not lay long Siege to all There is no saying to Death when it comes there is one Older than I take him there is one was Gray when I was but a Child let him go first No Sirs you must know that Sin hath alter'd the Course of Nature the Son Dies before the Father and the Daughter before the Grand-Mother I say therefore the Present Time is only yours yesterday can never be recalled and to Morrow may never be enjoyed The Present Time is only yours Young Ones Die as well the Old Blossoms are liable to Nipping in the Spring as well as full Grown Fruit to Rotting in Autumn Thou that art Young and Strong thou art not sure of another Year no nor of another Day O therefore who would hazard his precious Soul upon such uncertainties Opportunity ended returns no more There is hope of a Tree if it be cut down saith Job that it will sprout again but Man lyeth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more Sirs Pray remember we have but one Arrow of Life to hit the Mark with and if we shoot at Random we loose all therefore we had need be good Archers O what will you do Young Ones what will you do if your Day be ended before your work be finished if your Paradice be laid waste before the Tree of Life be planted in it O therefore that you would be perswaded to hearken to God here in the Text To Remember thy Creator now in the Days of thy Youth while the Evil Days come not nor the Days draw nigh wherein thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them THE YOUTH's Best Choice II. DISCOURSE Eccles xii 1. Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth while the Evil Days come not nor the Years draw nigh in which thou shalt say I have no Pleasure in them THere are two great Concerns which lye upon all our Hands which ought to be seriously thought of by us and duly attended the one is A Wise Improving this present Life and the other is A careful providing for a better two Things which none can be too Diligent about and he that is truly Faithful in one will in some Measure be Conscious in both And both these are pointed at in the Text. For he that in the Days of his Youth Remembers his Creator as he ought does at once rightly improve the present Life and wisely provide for that to come and so unites in his Practice those Duties that God hath joined together in the Precept Remember thy Creator now in the Days of thy Youth c. In which Words you have the Call and Command of God to a very Important Duty wherein we may observe First The Act or Duty it self to Remember Secondly The Object to be Remembred Thy Creator Thirdly The Season wherein this Duty is to be put in Practice now But least you should think that this now takes in the whole time of the Present Life therefore he does exclude the latter Part of Life and limits this now to the former Part Remember thy Creator now in the Days of Youth I did the last Year as some of you may remember upon this Occasion speak from these Words I then only opened them to you and shewed the Comprehensive Sence of them without making any Observation from them I told you that this remembring our Creator points to a Fivefold Duty First To a right Knowledge of God and he cannot be rightly known but in and by Christ we cannot else know the Way of doing it for he is the Way the Truth and the Life And therefore the right Remembring our Creator includes in it a Saving Knowledge of God in Christ Secondly This Remembring includes believing we cannot be said to remember God in the Sence of the Text if we do not depend upon him and trust in him therefore David expresses his Faith in God by remembring of him Psalm 20.7 Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God That is others trust in Creatures but our trust shall be in God Thirdly Remembring implies Repenting Forgetfulness and Impenitency always go together Sinning is called in Scripture a Forgetting God and Repentance is a calling Sin to Remembrance with a true Sence of the Evil of it and Sorrow for it as done against God and therefore where God is forgotten and out of our Remembrance there can be no Repentance Fourthly Remembring our Creator carries in it Love and Respect Though an Object be every way Amiable and made up of Delights yet it can never be remembred with pleasure when it hath no room in our Respect God's Design and End in requiring to be remembred by us is that he may be loved by us and his bespeaking a Place in our Thoughts is that he may have a Room in our Hearts The highest Act of Honour the Creature can do to God is to trust him and love him A Remembrance of God without suitable Respect cannot answer the Call in the Text because it is but passant and transcient For when any other Object possesseth our Affections God is soon forgotten and forsaken What we love we love to think on as what we slight we soon forget As it is said of Jeshurun he forgat God that made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation Fifthly This Remembring of God includes obedience to his Will Obedience is nothing else but Knowledge digested into Affection and Action Hence is that Counsel of David to his Son Solomon Know thou the God of thy Fathers and serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind As there can be no Obedience where God is not known so that Knowledge of God stands for nothing that is not fruitful in Obedience Mark that Counsel of Moses Deut. 8.11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God How is that The next Words tell you in not keeping his Commandments Disobedience is a forgetting God so that that which in the Text is called a Remembring our Creator is in the last Chapter of this Book ver 13. expressed by fearing God and keeping his Commandments If the Authority of God be cast off and we make not his Word the Rule of our Lives he is as much forgotten in a Scripture Sence as if he were utterly shut out of our Thoughts So says David I have remembred thy Name O Lord and have kept thy Word So that you see this Remembring is a very Comprehensive Term. Then the Object to be
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.