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
MATTHEW MEAD Minister of the Gospel Aetatis Suce 70. An. o Do 1699. Printed for Iohn Marshall Sold by him at the Bible in Grace-church-Street THE Young Man's REMEMBRANCER AND YOUTH's Best Choice BEING An Exhortation to Conversion in Two Anniversary Discourses from Eccl. 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 LONDON Printed in the Year MDCC THE EPISTLE TO Young Readers Looking towards the Kingdom of God Dearly Beloved in our Lord THE Hopes that there is a Harvest of Young Ones to Christ for which the Fields are Already White when Christ shall have in this sense the Dew of his Youth from the Womb of the Morning and You Free-will Offerings to Him in that Day of his Power This gives Encouragement of this Address to you in Confidence there will be many of You Readers It is Evident Young Persons are One Eminent Portion of the Lord Jesus his Love and Care and so of the Gospel Ministry and of the Servants of God in all Ages God was assured of Abraham he would Instruct his Children after Him in his Knowledge and Fear Moses took great Care of this to leave Monuments for Young Israelites growing up David the Father gave Excellent Principles to his Son Solomon And in a Holy Zeal and Love to Young Men cries out Wherewithal shall a Young Man cleanse his Way As if he should say What Spiritual Engine shall I find to raise the Hearts of Young Men to Buoy them up from the World the Raging Sea of Vanity Lust and Wickedness I should rejoice in such a One and I have found it even thy Word to which they should always give heed Solomon in this Penitential Sermon of his after some Declinings recovering the Piety of his Youth in which he stiles himself Ecclesiastes or the Preacher is much engaged in it as you will see in the Following Discourses Jesus Christ in Love to the Rising Hopes of Young Ones Blessed early even Infant Age The Beloved Apostle that lay in the Bosom of Christ says I write to you Young Men because you are strong Vigorous in Mind Body full of Spirit and Vivacity and in all of them who are Christians the Word of God abideth and as Vigorous Persons the Champions of Christ overcome the Wicked One though the Strong Man Obadiah feared God from his Youth that early Saint of the Old Testament Timothy of the New Testament Knew the Scriptures from a Child Christ remembers the Kindness of Youth the Love of First Espousals before farther Alienations from him and Prostitutions to Sin Satan the World His Soul desires the First Ripe Fruit. Oh that all this might perswade But I especially recommend the following Directions prepar'd for you given forth by some Excellent Master of Assembly whom I will not attempt to suppose who he was being not entrusted with it and whether he did not Animam in Vulnere Ponere He did not draw out his very Spirit and Life in shooting this Sharp Arrow of Christ into your Hearts that you might fall under Christ Oh therefore You in the Ascendency of Life against all Temptation flee Youthful Lusts sacrifice this Choice Part of Life to God take heed that Curse come not on you You who have in your Flock this Male of Life even Youth Oh design not to Vow to Sacrifice to God the Corrupt Thing of Old Age Grown old in Sin The Brand of a Deceiver is set on all such Know therefore in this your Day the Lord hath made for you the Day of your Visitation the Accepted Day of Salvation the Things of your Peace This is recommended to you in the following Instructions under the Blessing of the Eternal Father through the Redemption of the Eternal Son by the mighty Efficacy of the Eternal Spirit the One Eternal God the Ancient of Days the Father of Lights with whom is no variation of Age nor shadow of Turning to the West of Days to whom be Glory for Ever Amen TO THE READER IT may not be amiss to inform thee that this Piece thou hast now in thy Hand may truly he called Orphan and therefore it cannot be expected to come forth in such a Curious Dress as becomes the Child of such a Parent there being no possibility of access to his Wardrobe to adorn it Yet notwithstanding I hope there are many Witnesses to its Birth into whose Hands it may come that may give sufficient Testimony of its Legitimacy It cannot be at all questioned but you who have so often desired and have with pleasure heard its Voice but will also add this Request to your former Let me see thy Face It now with Samuel to Eli cries out Here am I for thou didst call me Say not of it as the God of Israel How shall I put thee among the Children But let this which was the Parents Benoni be thy Benjamin and the rather because as the Reverend Mr. Mead says * Preface to Four Vseful Discourses by J. Burroughs The Publishing the Labours of such Men of Worth is of Happy Tendency to promote our Communion with them in the Spirit whom it may be we never saw in the Flesh and it is to be reckoned among our Mercies when the Dead are made to speak that the Living may be perswaded to hear May the God of Heaven attend this Essay with his Blessing that its Publication may be attended with such Success as was the Author's Design in its Preaching and may'st thou by this Small Tract be Enabled to have an Eye to that Reward which now he reaps as the end of so Liberal a Seed-time here even Everlasting Joy and Felicity in the World to come Farewel THE Young Man's REMEMBRANCER I. 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 THE Two great Duties of the Christian Life are to Cease to do Evil and to Learn to do Well the one is Negative Godliness the other is Positive the latter can never be without the former No Man can be Good that doth not Cease to be Evil and therefore Solomon Exhorts to the former in the Last Verse of the foregoing Chapter and he brings it in with an Illative Particle Put away Evil from thy Flesh It referrs to the Ninth Verse Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment These things that is these youthful Lusts these sensual Pleasures which by a sharp Satyr he does reprove in the former part of the Verse Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth and let thy Heart Cheer thee in the Days of thy Youth and Walk in the Ways of thy own Heart and in the Sight of thine Eyes As if he should say if thou art resolved upon thy Lusts and bent to
Day there is the Door of Gospel Grace Rev. 3.18 I have set before you an open Door and no Man can shut it but when Death comes that will shut it There is a Door of Faith Acts 14.27 He opened a Door of Faith unto the Gentiles that is he brought them to Believe in Christ but when Death comes the Door of Faith shall be shut There is a Door of Hope Hos 2.15 I will give them the Valley of Achor for a Door of Hope but when Death comes this Door shall be shut for them that never enter'd into the Good Land the Heavenly Canaan in this Life Whose Hope shall be cut off and whose Trust shall be a Spider's Web Job 8.14 There is the Door of the Heart where God stands and knocks Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the Door and knock And my Brethren God is this Day knocking at the Door of the Hearts of you Young Ones He is now knocking by his Word and what does he say Remember now thy Creator If any Man hear my Voice and open the Door I will come in to him and Sup with him and he with me that is I will give him the Saving Influences of my Spirit he shall have Communion with me in Grace here and Glory hereafter O how should you Young Ones beg now that God would Put in his Hand by the hole of the Door that you may open to him Open ye Gates stand open ye everlasting Doors that the King of Glory may come in Psal 24.7 Rowl away the Stone those Sins and Lusts that keep Christ out of the Heart and do it now lest God give you up to the Hardness of your Heart and then when Death comes you Perish in your Sins Again there is a Personal Door in Scripture that is the Lord Christ I am the Door by me if any Man enter in he shall be saved John 10.9 Now never did God set open such a Door of Hope such a Door of Grace such a Door of Salvation as this is In whom we have Boldness and Access with Confidence to God by the Faith of him Ephes 3.15 We have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus Heb. 10.9 Now this Door stands open ready to let you in Christ calls you this Day to come and he hath promised he will not shut you out John 6.32 Is there never a Young Sinner here that hath a Heart to enter in at this Door to Day Do it whilst it may be done before it is too late for when Death comes this Door will be shut to If we stand out now there can be no entring in then you must be shut out for ever The Door of the Gospel will be shut the Door of Faith the Door of Hope the Door of the Heart the Door of Christ's Blood and Righteousness will be shut and therefore the Door of God's Bowels and Mercy will be shut All these Doors will be shut against thee in that Day therefore then there can be no Entring for Death will put an end to all thy Opportunities therefore Remember now thy Creator that is now in the time of this Life for Now is the Accepted Time now is the Day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 And thus much for the Extended Sence of this NOW in the Text. Secondly Sometimes this NOW is used in a more Restrained Sence not only for the present Life but for the present Time of this present Life So it is used in the Text therefore Mark it is not said only Remember now thy Creator that is only now in this Life but now in the Days of thy Youth in the early part of thy Life and so now is opposed to hereafter and this makes the Work of Closing with God in Christ to be a present Duty a Duty to be done without delay Remember him now in the Days of thy Youth The Life of Man from the Womb to the Grave consists of Three Stages Infancy Youth and Old Age and the Duty here is not affixed to the first for Infancy is too soon to know God when we cannot know our Selves Nor is it affixed to the latter for Old Age is too late to serve God when we cannot serve our Selves But it is affixed to Youth this is the only time to know both our Selves and God and our Lost Condition without him and our Happiness by an Interest in him therefore Remember now thy Creator now in the Days of thy Youth Indeed Youth is the only time of Life for this In Infancy we are too Young to live being but in our Imperfect Beginnings in Age we are too Old to Live being in our Droopings and Declinings The Life of Man is a Life of Reason now Children are too Young to understand and Old Men are twice Children and therefore the Days of thy Youth are the only Days of thy Life to Remember thy Creator in Remember now thy Creator now in the Days of thy Youth And so I should come now to the Conclusion I thought to speak to but I pass that by for the present and come from Explication to the Application but in two Uses The first shall be of Reproof to all such as forget God now in their Youth O what a Common Sin is this especially amongst Young Ones A Sin I think that never was so common as now it is a Complaint every where that the Youth of the Nation is generally Corrupted and Debauched and it may appear by the Bills you put up full of Complaints of their States Pray for an Undutiful Child that despises his Parents Counsel says one Pray for a Sabbath-breaking Child says another Pray for a Child that Dishonours God by Cursing and Swearing and Lying says a third and so many more And truly Parents may very much thank themselves for this It very much proceeds from want of Good Government by timely Instruction and Correction and the want of this at home together with Evil Examples abroad hath so leavened the Youth of this Day and stained them with such vicious Tinctures that God is not in all their Thoughts Nay they cannot endure the Name of God unless it be to Curse or Swear by it And is not this for a Lamentation It is such a Sin as would you be perswaded seriously to consider of it you would be ashamed of for it is the most unreasonable thing in the World to forget God It is such a Sin as if God would help you to lay it to Heart you would be ashamed of it See how God Disputed the Case with Israel Jer. 2.2 What Iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they have gone far from me and walked after Vanities and becomr Vain neither say they where is the Lord As if God should say tell me what have you against me What Evil have I done As Christ says Many Good Works have I done for which of them do you Stone me What have you to lay to my Charge Have I been a Barren
You should therefore Chuse God betimes because you know not how soon the Day of Grace may be past These are the Reasons of the Point And now I come to the Application and I shall make but two Uses of it One by Way of Trial And The other by Way of Counsel First By Way of Trial you have heard Young Ones what your Duty is to begin with God in the first Place and make him the Object of your Choice Now the Question I would ask you is what have you done in this Matter You that are in your Youth and Prime of your Days what have you done in this Matter Now is your chusing time pray what Choice have you made It is a needful Question God help you to answer it in your own Hearts One Chuses this Imploy another that one Chuses to go to Sea another Chuses to tarry on Shore one Chuses this Calling another Chuses that but have you Chosen God to be your God Have you ever made that Choice It was David's Question to the Egyptian 1 Sam. 30.14 To whom belongest thou To whom belongest thou Young Ones to whom do you belong Pray do you belong to God Why you will say how may I know this It can't be known a Priori as we say by God's Chusing of you that is an Imminent Act and Imminent Acts cannot give Evidence they Prove nothing therefore it must be known a Posteriori by some Subsequent Act of our own There are two Ways of being the Lord's People but there is but one Way of knowing it we are made his both by his Act and our own by his Electing of us and by our Electing of him Now we cannot know that we are God's by his Act by his Chusing of us but we may know it by our Act by our Chusing of him This is the Question that I would put to you have you seriously Chosen God to be your God Did you ever make this Choice This must be before any one can lay a true Claim to him God will never be yours let me tell you without your own Choice Now have you ever Chosen God I do not mean at a Present Pinch it may be under the Checks of Conscience or in some Present Distress many will take God to be their God but this Choice seldom comes to any thing it lasts but till the Storm is over and the Distress removed but have you ever chose God in the Sence Described Have you Chosen him by a Deliberate Act of the Will Guided by Judgment and with full Purpose of Heart to cleave to God How shall I know this you will say Briefly there are divers Ways by which it may be known I will name but Two or Three It may be known First By a Self-dedication and devoting of your selves to be the Lord's Whenever the Soul truly Chuses God for his God it is always accompanied with a Self-dedication to God So it is said of those Macedonians 2 Cor. 8.5 They gave themselves to the Lord. Now what can you say to this Have you ever given up your selves to be the Lord's resolving to live in an Intire Submission to his Will Have you ever made a Solemn Covenant between God and your own Souls that God shall be your God and that you through his Grace will be his Why if so then you have Chosen God and he is your God Secondly It may be known by your Behaviour in Reference to Sin When you are Tempted to any Sin either by Satan or by your own Lusts what do you do Do you give Way to it or do you run to Christ for Strength against it Do you Comply with it or do you Resist it Do you Countenance or Curb it Is it Loved or Hated This is no hard Case to Determine every Child can tell what he Loves and what he Hates No one that Lives in the Love of any known Sin can say that ever he hath Chosen God mind it any one Lust indulged will certainly confute this claim For where Sin is Loved there it Reigns and where Sin Reigns God is Disowned And can any one Disown God and yet say he hath Chosen God It cannot be Thirdly It may be known by your Obedience He that Chuses God for his chief Good Chuses him for his only Lord and that necessarily inferrs Obedience to him in all things So says the Apostle His Servants ye are whom ye obey Rom. 6.16 Many make their Boast of God and Claim a Propriety in him but whom do you obey Pray mind that doth the Flesh bear sway Doth Pride reign Do youthful Lusts and Vanities command the Heart Why then I tell you God was never the Object of your Choice you may Profess him and Talk of God but you have never Chosen God for your God It is not Profession but Affection and Action that must warrant our Title to God David Psalm 119.94 tells God I am thine Lord I am thine Ay but how does he prove it Why says he I have sought thy Precepts Pray mind he does not only say I have kept thy Precepts I have done them but I have sought them Now to seek them is much more than barely to do them It implies Four Things First An earnest Desire to know them and that is a great Evidence of an upright Heart and a sincere Love to God to be Inquisitive into the Will of God Secondly It implies an Affection and Respect no Man seeks what he doth not Love I have Respect says David to all thy Commandments Thirdly It implies a constant Endeavour to Practice them for the end of seeking is keeping we seek to know his Will that we may do it and therefore seeking and keeping are put together Psalm 119.2 Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies and that seek him with the whole Heart Fourthly It implies earnest Desires after higher Measures of Grace for the bettering of our Obedience this is seeking Now such a seeking is a sure Evidence of your chusing of God O therefore that I could prevail with Young Ones to come to the Trial in this Matter whether ever you have really chosen God or no! And I tell you why I urge it for Three Reasons First Because it is about the most concerning Case in the World as it is the greatest Duty in the World to seek after God so it is the greatest Priviledge in the World to know my Interest in God therefore it is a Matter worth Inquiring into What if all the World were thine If God be not thine you are undone and will you not know whether he be yours or no Secondly I urge it because of the Treachery and Deceitfulness of your Hearts The Heart is Deceitful above all things the Prophet says so in Young Ones especially and in nothing more than in this Matter How fondly and presumptuously do many Boast of their Propriety in God when alas they have no manner of Interest in him It was the very Case of Laodicea She
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.