no Heart to it Wretch that I was that I could find Time for every thing else but no Time for Eternity I had Time to Eat and Drink and Sleep and to mind the Work of my Calling but no Time to Work out my Salvation I had Time for my Mirth and my Games and my Sports and Pleasures and Youthful Vanities but I could find no Time for God and my own Soul To Remember upon what easie Terms they might have Escaped Wrath and Misery and have been Happy for ever will not this wound and torment I was not put upon what was Impossible Christ told me his Yoke was Easie and his Burden Light that his Commands were not grievous it was but forsaking my Lusts and Cordially accepting of Christ for my Saviour and Lord and I had been Happy for ever and how reasonable was this If he had bid me do some great Matter should I not have done it How much more then when he laid upon me no other Conditions but these Believe and be Saved Seek my Face and Live Remember thy Creator now in the Days of thy Youth O how bereft of Judgment was I when I thought my self too Young for this Work when I called God a Hard Master and his Service Bonds and Bondage when I Censured the Holy Ways of God as needless Preciseness and cast off his Holy Laws as too Severe and Strict O Cursed Wretch that I was and am not to be Perswaded to Own and Imbrace them To Remember what it was that they Chose in lieu of Blessedness and what they parted with Heaven and Glory for this will Amaze and Confound a few Short-lived Pleasures and Carnal Delights a little Sensual Satisfaction of the Flesh a few Pleasant Cups or Sweet Morsels a Heap of Gold or a Puff of Honour this is all I had for my Immortal Soul and Eternal Salvation and for a God who is the Chief Good and in whose Favour is Life so that you see God is Remembred in Hell Nay let me say it he is in some Sence Remembred more there than he is here for here the Ruin is so Distracted with divers Lusts and Sensual Vanities that they divert the Thoughts from their Proper Object but in Hell there is nothing to flatter the Sences no Objects to divert them God is perpetually Remembred there not as a Duty but as a Punishment not as a Comfort but as a Torment And let me tell you it will be one of the greatest Torments of Sinners in Hell to Remember what a God they have lost what a Heaven they have missed what precious Souls they have undone But this Momento here in the Text is a very Comprehensive Duty in this Place it takes in the Whole of Religion it comprehends the Whole Duty of Man It is usual with the Spirit of God in Scripture to include all the Operations of the Soul in the mention of one single Act and to denominate the Whole of Religion by some one Chief Part of it which is a Principle Productive of all the rest sometimes we are Commanded to love God sometimes to fear God sometimes to seek God and here in the Text to remember God and in any one of these all the rest are included so that this Injunction to Remember thy Creator points us to a five-fold Duty without which it is not done as a Duty First This Remembring implies and supposes Knowledge you can never Remember your Creator unless you Know who he is the Memory is the Store-House of the Soul where known Truths are Treasured up Christ says of the Scribe instructed for the Kingdom of Heaven that he brings out of his Treasury Things New and Old Knowledge is the first Step to Salvation he will have all Men to be Saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth 1 Tim. 2.4 and therefore the great Design of the Devil is to blot out the Knowledge of God from the Mind his Kingdom is a Kingdom of Darkness and he rules in the Darkness of this World for he can lead the Blind which Way he will and therefore he that doth not know God cannot remember him and he cannot be rightly known but in Jesus Christ If one had a Knowledge of God as clear as that of the Angels who never sinned yet he cannot be rightly known by us but in Jesus Christ without the Knowledge of Christ we shall be miserable with all our Knowledge Though the Knowledge of Christ be not simply necessary to the Angels that never sinned and therefore needed not a Mediator yet it was necessary for us who are by Sin Obnoxious to God's Wrath and so need a Reconciler because of our Enmity and a Redeemer because of our Slavery a Refiner because of our Filthiness and a Mediator because of our Distance that he may bring us to God and therefore the Knowledge of Christ is as necessary to Happiness as the Knowledge of God both are joined together as a needful Means of Salvation This is Life Eternal to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17.3 If we do not know God we cannot know what is our Duty to him and if we do not know Christ we cannot know the way of Performing that Duty the more we come to understand the Nature of God and the Offices of Christ the more we shall know of our Duty and how to do it There can be no Right Knowledge of God but in and by Christ He is the True Light that lightens every Man that comes into the World John 1.9 Every One that partakes of this Light hath it from Christ Natural Light is from Christ and Spiritual Light much more No Man hath seen God at any time the only Begotten Son who is in the Bosom of the Father he hath Declared him John 1.18 And therefore this Remembring thy Creator includes in it the Saving Knowledge of God in Christ Secondly This Remembring includes Faith he cannot be said to Remember God who doth not Depend upon God and Trust in him therefore David Expresseth 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 we will trust in his Name others trust in Creatures but we will trust in the Creator others rely on an Arm of Flesh but we will rely upon the Name of the Lord then God is Remembred aright when the Remembrance of him is accompanied with Faith and Trusting Faith in God is the best the truest way of Remembring of God It is said of Israel Psalm 78.32 They believed not for his Wondrous Works but when he slew them then they sought him and they remembred that God was their Rock and the High God their Redeemer that is then they believed So Isaiah 26.8 The Desire of our Souls is to thy Name and to the Rememberance of thee that is to keep up the Glory of thy Name by Acting Faith
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
and Confidence in thy Word and Promises Thirdly This Remembrance implies Repentance Forgetfulness and Impenitence always go together Repentance is a Calling Sin to Remembrance with a Due Sence of the Evil of it and Sorrow for it as it is done against God and how can this be where God is forgotten If there be no right Conceptions of the Nature of God His Omniscience His Holiness and Justice there can be no Repentance for Sinning against him They are frequent Remembrances fresh Views of God that work to Repentance and Self-abhorring So it did in Job Chap. 42.5 6. Mine Eye seeth Thee therefore I abhor my Self and Repent in Dust and Ashes The Clearer Manifestations a Soul hath of God the Deeper will its Humiliation for Sin be When Peter remembred the words of Christ then he went out and Wept bitterly Till we Remember and Consider God in the Purity of his Holiness the Severity of his Justice the Tenderness of his Mercy the Inevitableness of his Wrath we can never truly Repent of Sin Fourthly This Remembring of God carries Love in it Though an Object be every Way Amiable and made up of Delights yet it can never be let into the Affections so long as it is shut out of the Thoughts nor on the other hand can it be with any pleasure Remembred when it has no room in our respect God's Design and End is not so much to be Remembred by us as to be Loved by us and his bespeaking a room in our Thoughts is that he may Dwell in our Hearts The Highest Act of Honour the Creature can do to God is to trust him and love him Those that Distinguish the Order of the Angels place the Seraphims above the Cherubims because they have a more ardent Love as well as a more clearer Light a Remembrance of God without a suitable respect will neither be Profitable nor Durable for when any other Object Possesses our Affections God is soon forsaken and forgotten then a Man Remembers God aright when his Affections are suitable to his Apprehensions As it is with Sin a Man hath not the right Notion of Sin unless he feel the Weight of it and loath it Then shall ye Remember your own Evil Ways and shall Loath your Selves for your Iniquity Ezek. 36.31 Or as it is with the Word of God no Man remembers the Word aright if he do not Believe it and Love it So no one can have right Apprehensions of God who has not Choice Affection to him and his Chief Delight in him Look what that is which we Love best and we always think of that most what a Man Loves best is his Chief Good and his Chief Good is his Treasure and where the Treasure is there the Heart will be Christ says What we Love we Delight to think upon as what we hate we soon forget So it is said of Jeshurun Deut. 32.15 He forgat God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation He lightly esteemed him and therefore soon forgets him If one that is but a common Acquaintance with you be Absent you soon forget him out of Sight out of Mind but a bosom Friend a dear Friend a Friend that is as a Man 's own Soul you cannot forget such a one Love will remember him when the Eye cannot see him and makes him Present when he is Absent nay he lives in the Mind when perhaps he lies dead in the Grave therefore I Pray mind that Precept of our Lord Matth. 22. ver 37. Thou shalt Love the Lord with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind Mark ye it is not said only Thou shalt Love God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul but with all thy Mind we Love him with the Heart and Soul when we Devote our selves to him and we Love him with our Mind when we have him daily in our Thoughts and Remembrance the Desire of our Souls is to thy Name and to the Remembrance of thee Isa 26.8 Fifthly This Remembring of him implies Obedience Obedience to his Will the Will of God is the Rule of Obedience and his Will is made known in his Word Obedience is Knowledge digested into Affection and Practice Hence is that Counsel of David to his Son Solomon Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect Heart and with a willing Mind 1 Chro. 28.9 Paul's first Question when touched his Heart was Who art thou Lord And then the next was What wilt thou have me to do Acts 9.5 6. to shew us that all Obedience is produced by Knowledge As Ignorance is the Cause of Sin so a Right Sence of God is the best Antidote against it for this begets Love and the more God is beloved the more readily he will be obeyed a weak Conception and a fruitless Remembrance of God Glorifies him no more than a Painter does the Person whose Picture he draws The Glory of God consists not in the lifeless Notions of him but in active Conformity to him a Natural Man may have some Pleasure in knowing the Nature of God Ay but he cares not for knowing the Ways of God Job 21.14 They say we Desire not the Knowledge of thy ways He would own him in his Mercy and Goodness but he hath no regard to his Precepts Mercy is suitable to our Wants but Obedience is repugnant to the Interest of the Flesh That Knowledge of God which doth not take root in the Heart and grow up into Obedience in the Life it is Blindness and Ignorance in God's Account whatever our Notions of it may be Those Gentiles which are said to know God Rom. 1.21 they are said ver 28. not to know God The Sons of Eli could not but know the Lord having such a good Father and being the Lord's Priests But yet because they were Loose and Vile in their Carriage and Behaviour therefore they are said not to know the Lord 1 Sam. 2.12 As there can be no Obedience where God is known so that Knowledge of God stands for nothing which is not fruitful in Obedience It is a Blessed thing so to know God and so to Remember him as not to forget his Precepts It is Moses his Counsel to that People and it is mine to you Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God Deut. 8.11 How is that The next Words tell you in not keeping his Commandments that is forgetting of God Disobedience is called a Forgetting God They forgat God their Saviour Psalm 106.21 And we are said to forget his Words when we do not Remember his Commandments to do them Psalm 103.18 And that which here in the Text is called Remembring thy Creator is in Chap. 12. Ver. 13. expressed by Fearing God and keeping his Commandments which is said to be the Whole Duty of Man If the Authority of God be cast off and we make not his Word the Rule of our Lives he is as much forgotten as if he were
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