many Sins against such a good God as the Lord is III. What Mercies I had received for which I desire to bless the Lords Name 1. He hath given me to be born of Godly Parents 2. I have always had the means of Grace lengthen'd out unto me 3. The Lord hath graciously pleased to give me some answers of Prayer 1. As to the lengthning out of my Health 2. As to the Increase of my Library What shall I render to the Lord for all his loving kindness towards me I resolved to Dedicate my self wholly to God and his Service And he did accordingly This Year did not roll about before he had in a manner very solemn entred in to Covenant with God. This weighty and awful thing was not rashly done by him or in a sudden Flash and Pang of Devotion He Thought he Read he Wrote and he Prayed not a little before this Glorious Transaction between God and him and upon Mature Deliberation he judged it most adviseable for him to make his Covenant with God as Explicit as Writing and Signing could render it that so it might leave the more Impression upon his Heart and Life and be an Evidence likewise which in Temptation or Desertion he might have recourse unto Wherefore he set apart a Time for I think secret Fasting and Prayer before the Lord and then behold how this Young Man counting it high time for him to be bound out unto some Service took a course for it He subscribed an holy Covenant of which this was the Matter this the Form. The Covenrnt between God and my Soul renewed confirmed and signed Nov. 22. 1683. Whereas not only the Commands of God who hath often called upon me by his Word Preached to give up my self both Body and Soul to be at his Disposal which calls by the publick Ministry were enough to engage me unto this but also the Christian Religion which I profess and my Baptism in which I took the Lord to be my God and promised to Renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil and to dedicate my self unto the Service Work and Will of God do bind me hereunto In that God is such a God as deserves this yea infinitely more than this at my hands my Creator the Fountain of my Being my Preserver my Benefactor my Lord my Soveraign my Judge He in whose Hands my Life my Breath and all my concerns are He that doth protect me from all Dangers and supply me in all wants support me under all Burdens and direct me in all streights He alone that can make me happy or miserable He alone that can save me or damn me He alone that can give inward Peace and Joy that is my Friend my God In that Self-Dedication is the Creatures Advancement these First-fruits if in Sincerity putting upon me a Gloriousness and Excellency In that Felicity hereafter depends upon my dedicating of my self unto God now In that this is the highest piecâ— of Gratitude I am capable of expressing unto God and I know no better way to Obey the Will of God than first to give up my self unto him And whereas the Mercies which the Lord hath been pleased graciously to bestow upon me are so many that even bare Morality doth shew me that I can never enough requite one that hath done so much for me except by giving up my self wholly to him 1669 Whereas God hath given me a Godly Father and Mother 1674 In that when I was like to dye being twice sick of a Feaver God was pleased to bless means for my Recovery and lengthen out the Thread of my Life 1675 Whereas when I by an Accident fell down and had like to have been deprived of the use of my Tongue God was in his good Providence graciously pleased to give me the use of it 1678 Whereas when I was sick of the Small-Pox God was pleased to bless means for my Recovery Whereas then I made Promises unto God that if he would give me my Health I would endeavour to become a New Creature and he hath done so for these five Years And whereas God hath of late been bestowing many and wonderful mercies upon me What can I do less than give up my self wholly to him Which now I do And O Lord God I beseech thee to accept of thy Poor Prodigal now prostrating of himself before thee I confess O Lord I have fallen from thee by my Iniquity and am by nature a Son of Hell but of thy Infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn unto thee with all my Heart Therefore upon the Call of thy Gospel I come in and from the bottom of my Heart I renounce all thy Enemies with whom I confess I have wickedly sided against thee firmly Covenanting with thee not to alloâ— my self in any known Sin but coâ—scientiously to use all means which â— know thou hast prescribed for the uâ—ter destruction of all my Corruptions And whereas I have inordinately I out my Affections upon the World here resign my Heart unto thee thâ—â— made it humbly Protesting before tâ—â— Glorious Majesty that it is the finâ— Resolution of my Heart and that I 〈◊〉 unfeignedly desire Grace from thee thâ—â— when thou shalt call me thereunto â— may put in practice my Resolution through thine Assistance to forsake 〈◊〉 that is dear unto me in the World râ—ther than to turn from thee to tâ—â— ways of sin and that I will watch againâ— all it's Temptations whether of Prosperty or Adversity lest they should witâ—draw my Heart from thee beseechiâ—â— thee to help me I renounce all my own Righteousnesâ— and acknowledge that of my self I aâ— helpless and undone and without Rigâ—teousness And whereas of thy bottomless Mercy thou hast offer'd to accept of 〈◊〉 and to be reconciled to me and 〈◊〉 be my God through Christ if I woulâ— accept of thee I do this day avouch thee to be the Lord my God. I do here take the Lord Jehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my portion and chief Good and do give up my self Body and Soul for thy Servant promising to endeavour to serve thee in Righteousness and Holiness I do here also on the bended knees of my Soul accept of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only and living Way by which sinners may have access to thee and do here joyn my self in a Marriage-Covenant with him O Lord Jesus I come to thee hungry poor miserable blind and naked and a most loathsome Creature a condemned Malefactor Who am I that I should be Married unto the King of Glory I do accept of thee for my Head and Husband and embrace thee in all thy Offices I renounce my own Worthiness and do choose thee the Lord my Righteousness I do renounce my own Wisdom and do take thine for my Guide I take thy Will for my Will and thy Word for my Law. I do here willingly put my Neck under thy Yoke I do subscribe to all thy
Laws as Holy Just and Good and do promise to take them as the Rule of my Thoughts Words aâ— Actions but because I am subject 〈◊〉 many failings through frailty I do heâ— protest here before thee that unalloâ—ed miscarriages contrary to the constaâ—bent of my Heart shall not disanâ—â— this everlasting Covenant Nathanael Matheâ— It may justly be taken for granted thâ— such a work as this would have an inflâ—ence into his Conversation afterwards and so it had producing in him a Conveâ—sation which became the Gospel of Christ Hâ— kept waiting upon God not only in tâ—â— Family but also under the Ministry of tâ—â— that were near a-Kinn unto him namely his Father and his Brother whereby thâ— Grace thus begun in him was not a liâ—tle cherished and promoted And untâ— all known sins he now kept saying asâ— find once in Short-hand written by him To my Lusts I have had Communion with you all thâ—â— while but I dare not have so any longer Wherefore I renounce all Communion with yâ—â— any more I will cleave to the God that made mâ— But a Year or two after this it was witâ— him as I have observed it is too commonly with such as are Converted betimes unto God. An unhappy gradual Apostacy carried him aside from those degrees of seriousness and intenseness in divine things which he had been used unto 'T is possible an entanglement in a Familiarity with some that were no better than they should be did abate of the good savour which had been upon him and decoy him by insensible steps to some vanities tho' not to any scandalous immoralities that were disadvantageous to him For divers Months he seemed somewhat yet not totally much less finally forsaken of that Wisdom and Vertue which he had before been an example of but the good Spirit of God will not let go his Interest in a Soul of which he hath taken a saving hold This Young Man soon entertained just resentments of his own declensions and it was impossible for the most Badger-tooth'd malice in the World to aggravate any of his Errors half so much as he did himself in his own Repentance for them In the Year 1685. God visited him with sore Terrors and Horrors in his wounded Soul the anguish whereof he thought intolerable yet he made not his condition known to any Body all the while He could say My complaint is not to man but he made it unto the Lord This poor man cryed and the Lord heard and delivered him out of his distresses He arrived in time unto some settlement and renewal of his Peace with God He confessed and bewailed his own sins before the Lord and declared his detestation of them and applyed himself unto the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation from them all Good terms being thus establish't between the Almighty Lord and this Immortal Soul he maintained I think a constant and an even Walk with God until he dyed I find now that Language in his MSS Let me be as active a Servant of Christ as I was of Satan heretofore For more than the three last years of his Life he lived at a strange rate for Holiness and Gravity and retired Devotions He read Mr. Scudders Christians daily walk and Dr. Owen of Spiritual Mindedness and had a restless raging Agony in his Mind untiâ— the Methods of Religion advised by thosâ— worthy Men were Exemplified in his own Behaviour 'T is a note in one oâ— his Diaries O my great unprofitableness under thâ— means of Grace I have cause to bless God for ever for the Writings of that never enough to be admired and loved by me Dr. Reynolds and for the Light I have received thereby concerning the sinfulness of Sin as also that excellent Book of him whom I shall always honour Dr. Owen of Spiritual-mindedness and Mr. Scudders Christians daily Walk by which three Books I have profited more than by any other S. Scripturis exceptis in the World. He was at first surprized at the measure of Spiritual-mindedness without which that great Saint Dr. Owen apprehends the Life and Peace of Souls to labour under prejudice and he thought a Mind swallowed up in such Heavenly Frames and Works as were needful thereunto almost wholly to be despair'd of until as himself a few hours before he dyed said unto me he deem'd he saw an Instance of such a Walk with God not very far from the place of his abode To which purpose his reserv'd Papers have a large Discourse of which this is in the Conclusion There might be a greater Progress in Religion than is commonly thought for What have I Examples for but to imitate them Abraham is fam'd for believing so strongly when he had no Example before him Let me try and see whether I having such opportunities may not arrive to as high a pitch in Christianity as any that I have known He then in the strength and thrô the Love of God set himself into a vvay of strict secret laborious Devotion vvhereby thô none but God and He fill'd the Theatre vvhich he acted upon he vvould be in the Fear of the Lord all the day long He withdrew from the delight of this World and gave himself up to an assiduous Contemplation of God and Christ and a sedulous endeavour after utmost conformity unto him Thus 〈◊〉 kept abounding in the Work of the Lord until three Years of wonderful Holiness had ripened him for eternal Happiness My Account of him will be an unfinished Piece unless all the ensuing stroke go to make it up These things he was Exemplary for First He was one that walked by RVLE He was very Studious to learn the waâ— of conversing with God in every Duty and there vvas a Rule which he attended still unto In his private Papers I find a wiâ—â— Collection of Rules by which he goverâ—ed himself in the several Duties of Chrâ—stianity and in all the Seasons and Stations of his Life He consulted the best Authors for Instruction in the Affairs of practical Religion and not into Paper only but into Action to be transcribed what he most approved in all which The Will of God was the bright Pole-Star by which he steer'd his Course The Reader shall enjoy and O that he would follow two of this Young Man's Directories One of them was this I. O that I might lead a spiritual Life Wherefore let me regulate my Life by the Word of God and by such Scriptures as these 1. For regulating my Thoughts Jer. 4. 14. Isa 55. 7. Mal. 3. 17. Psal 104. 34. Phil. 4. 8. Prov. 23. 26. Deut. 15. 9. Eccles 10. 20. Prov. 24. 9. Mat. 9. 4. Zech. 8. 17. 2. For regulating my Affections Col. 3. 2 5. Gal. 5. 24. For my Delight Psal 1. 2. Psal 37. 5. For my Joy Phil. 4. 4. Psal 43. 4. My Desire Isa 26. 8 9. Ezek. 7. 16. My Love Mat. 22. 37. Psal 119. 97. My Hatred Psal 97. 10. My Fear Luk. 12. 4 5. My Hope Psal 39. 7.
Looks made the Treasure in him wholly unsuspected by Strangers to him yet they that were intimately Acquainted with him can attest unto the Veracity of him that giveth this Description and there are no mean Persons who will profess with Admiration That they could scarce encounter him in any Theme of Discourse which he was not very notably acquainted with But the Bark is now split in which all these Riches were stowed A Spanish wrack hath not more Silver than the Grave of such a Young Man hath Learning buried in it Indeed these things Mortâ— Erunt perhaps they dyed with him Buâ— there is a more Immortal thing to be observed in him and that is II. His PIETY Tho' a fine Carriage was the least thing that ever he affected yet a Good Nature made him dear to those that were familiar with him He was always very obliging and officious and more ready to do than others could be to ask a good turn at his hands But he was above all happy by being Early in pure Religion The Common Effects of such a Piouâ— Education as the Family in which he lived afforded unto him were seen even in his Childhood and secret Prayer became very betimes one of his Infant Exercises He does in his MSs. particularly take notice of a Scripture Copy set for him when he learned to Write as a thing that had much Efficacy on him but when he was Twelve or more Years old more powerful Convictions did the Spirit of God set home upon him than he had been used unto some Records therefore I find in his Papers with this Clause in the Head of the Account Rejoyce O my Soul for the Lord has dealt bountifully with thee Now it was that he allowed his Pen to write these among other Expressions of his Trouble about his Estate Feb. 19. 1682. What shall I do What shall I do to be sav'd Without a Christ I am undone undone undone for Evermore O Lord let me have Christ tho' I lye in the Mire for ever O for a Christ O for a Christ a Christ Lord Give me a Christ or I dye It was now another of his Registred Meditations I have been in a Great Hesitancy whether I should choose Jesus Christ for my Prophet Priest and King with all his Inconveniencies to take up my Cross and follow him Wherefore I do now take him as mine my whole Christ and my only Christ and I am resolved to seek him All that I have shall be at his Service and all my Members and all my Powers shall endeavour his Glory And yet again there were these Considerations in his Mind Had I not better seek the Lord Christ while I have a Time of Prosperity and Peace while he offers himself to me saying Come unto me and I will save thee and lay all thy Burdens upon me and I will sustain thee Than in Affliction to cry and not be heard when he stretcheth forth his Hand and says Believe on me and thou shalt be saved and now to Day he offers himself shall I refuse and say Lord To Morrow No surely And these pathetical Groans then likewise got a Room in his Papers O that I had a Christ O that I had Him who is the Delight of my Soul Then O then I should be perfectly Blessed and want no food that would make me so This is a Copy of the Passages then Recorded in this Young Believers Diary Thus did he now Labour to affect his own Soul with his own State and leave things no more at peradventures between God and him He read many savoury Books about Faith and Repentance and Conversion and he Transcribed many Notes therefrom not resting satisfied within himself until he had some experience of a true Regeneration Among other workings of his Heart at this Age his Papers have such things as these Reasons for my speedy closing with Jesus Christ First It 's the Command of Jesus Christ that I should come unto him Secondly Jesus Christ Invites me also in Matt. 11. 28. Come unto me Thirdly He hath laid me under many Obligations to turn unto him in that he hath recovered me from Sickness so often and now given me a curious Study Fourthly In that I have vow'd unto the Lord if he would do so and so for me I would make a solemn Covenant with him and endeavour to serve him And again elsewhere O that God would help me to seek Him while I am Young O that he would give unto me His Grace However I will lay my self down at his Feet If he Save me I shall be happy for ever if he Damn me I must Justifie him O thou Son of God have mercy on me I know not what to say but I will take thee at thy Word Thou sayst Come unto me my Soul answers Lord at thy Command I will come He thus continued following hard after God enjoying and answering many striveings of his Holy Spirit until he was about Fourteen Years Old. In this time he did not a little acquaint himself with profitable Godliness being frequent and fervent in his Prayers to God upon all occasions and careful not only to hear Sermons but also to consider after them what Improvement he should make of what he heard Not only his Prayers but his Praises too now took notice of even the smallest Affairs before him I know not whether you can see any thing Childish I am sure I see something serious in a passage or two that I shall fetch out of his Diary written when he was about Thirteen years old On March 13. he wrote This day I received of my Father that famous Work The Biblia Polyglotta for which I desire to praise the Name of God Again on June 29 he wrote This day my Brother gave me Schindlers Lexicon a Book for which I had not only longed much but also prayed unto God Blessed be the Lords Name for it The Thoughts of Death also now found a Lodging in his Heart and he Rebuked himself because he had been so much without them Tho' at this Age for the most part Persons think of any thing every thing more than of their dying day And his writings discovered him to be pecâ—liarly affected with that Ancient History or Apologue of him who after a dissolute and ungodly Youth going to repent in Age heard that Voice from Heaven to him Des illi Furfurem cui dedisti Farinam The Devil had thy Flower and thou shalt not bring thy Bran to me Self-Examination was also become one of his Employments and once particularly in one of his Diaries he does thus express himself April 8. 1683. This Morning I was much cast down with the sense of my Vileness I Examin'd I. What Sins I had that were not Mortified 1. My sin of Pride 2. My sin of Vnthankfulness 3. My not improving the means of Grace as I ought to do II. What Graces I find need of 1. Converting and Regenerating Grace 2. Humiliation for my
Meditation to humble my self and every tvvo Months to keep a Day of private Thanksgiving But though his Prayers were chiefly in yet they were not confined to his Closet There vvere divers Private Praying Meetings of younger People in North-Boston vvhich he visited as often as he could and one of those might peculiarly be called His. Yea it vvas his desire though vvith as little aim to be seen of men as could be to support all such opportunities of Good among them that vvere of the same age with him Wherefore I find this among the Notes in his Diary Quest What shall I do for God Ans It vvas suggested to me to get some of my Acquaintance to spend some vvhile every Friday night in Prayer for the Success of the Work of Grace in New-England especially in Boston on the Souls of the Rising Generation Let me propound this to some serious devout young Persons Thus vvas his Prayer as it vvere his Breath and thus he vvas always fetching of it untll at last it expir'd in Praise Praise for evermore Thirdly He was one that Thought much of his GOD and his END There was a sort of Heaven formed in the just Soul of this Young-man by the Thoughts that were continually sparkling there He had an unpacifiable Dissatisfaction at himself until good Thoughts were lodg'd in him and vain ones were forced to gnash their teeth and melt away Nothing would content him but the bringing of his Thoughts into a Subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore he chew'd much on the excellent Sermon of Mr. Charnock about Thoughts which he wrote out not only with his hand but in his heart and made it the very Mould of his gracious Mind There are none but very Renew'd Souls that are at great pains in a course of Meditation on the things of God. Yet this Young-man like another Isaac vvas grovvn very expert at it and frequent in it It was his manner in the Morning to meditate very seriously and fixedly upon some Truth or some Text for a good part of an hour together He had collected a good variety of Subjects and Scriptures to handle in thus communing with himself and went over more than a little Divinity in this transcendent Exercise Sometimes when thus he separated himself to intermeddle with all wisdom I find him committing his Thoughts or some breviate of them unto the durable custody of his Papers from vvhich Memoirs I vvill produce but an Instance or tvvo of many August 16. 1685. Med. about The reason I have to love God because of what he has been to me and what he is in himself And I thought Is not God the Best Good Surely then he is worthy to be my Last End. Has he not been shewing many Mercies to me and what shall I not resign up my self to Live unto God because of his goodness to me Much affected with the thoughts of these things And I hope I closed with the Motion Again October 1. Meditated on that If a Man does intend to be truly Religious he must expect nothing but to save his Soul But how can this be true Must I lose my Body altogether Must I be vvilling that the Vnion between my Body and Soul should for evermore be loosed Must I be willing to be for ever without a Body No no. All that the Lord requires of me is to have my Body for a few days or years a few I say for they cannot be many to be wholly at the service of my Soul and to be willing that the Vnion between those two Mates then should be dissolved the Soul first taking its progress into everlasting Bliss the Body being laid in the Dust to rise at the Resurrection accompanying the Soul into its eternal Felicity My present Notion of this thing is this This Dissolution of the Union between the Soul and Body is but a Dismission of the Spirit into its happiness after a wearisom conflict here And as long as it shall be best for me to be here here I shall continue Infinite Wisdom is to be the Orderer of this and it will be a grievous and shamefuâ— reflection thereupon for me to say It will be better for me to live than to dye at such a time when I am called thereunto With my Body I must expect to lose all the pleasant Enjoyments of this World Liberty Library Study and Relations But yet neither shall I lose these As for my Liberty by True Religion and by Dying for it too when need requires I shall gain the only Liberty even from the body of sin As for my Library if I die for Christ or in the Lord I shall have no need of it My Understanding shall be enough enlarged and I shall not need to turn over Books for Learning As for my Study my Paradice I shall have a better a larger and a more compleat than this As for my Relations those of them that are truly pious I shall only go before them and if there should be any of them not pious the longer I should stay with them here if they continue impenitent it would but make my Grief more intolerable to think vvhen I leave them that I shall have no hopes to see them again for ever But this is not all neither My Body must be used as the Souls Instrument and here all that strength and â—ase vvhich I have must be used for the Soul And truly there is reason enough for it that so there may be eternal happiness for both together In Marriage the Husband and Wife should have the same design Would it not be inhumane for the one to have a design which tends to the ruine of the other Just so my Soul and Body should have the same design and the Body being the more vile of the two should be subordinate to the Soul. And it is a necessary disjunction either the Body the strength and ease and members of it must be used for the good or for the hurt of the Soul there is no medium here Let me then herein make my Body useful to my Soul in accomplishing all the good-designs of it which it is capable of being interested in Nor is there any thing else worth speaking of that must be foregone except health and the momentaneousness of all bodily Torments will make them very tolerable My Resolutions be That I will not expect by devoting my self unto the Fear of God to gain any thing as to my Body in this World. That through the Grace of Christ I will use the strength ease health of my Body yea my whole Body in Subordination to my Soul in the Service of the Lord Jesus With such Meditations as these he kept mellowing of his own Soul and preparing it for the state wherein Faith is turned into Sight But there was yet a more delightful and surprizing way of Thinking after which he did aspire He considered that the whole Creation was full of God and that there was not
Trinity is more particularly insisted on Athanasius of old would say unto them that had any Doubt about the Trinity Go to Jordan and you may see what you seek On the Banks of Jordan at the Baptism of our Saviour in Matth. 3. 16 17. we have a Glorious Representation of it But in the Old Testament too the Mistery of a Trinity is not concealed from the Church of God the History of the Creation alone may be enough to give a mention of it We find God the Creator we find a Creating Word and we find a Creating Spirit there distinctly spoken of The very first Clause in the Bible is In the Beginning God Created The Name God is in the plural Number but the Verb Created is in the singular which intimates that though there be but one God yet there is more than one Person in Him. The like Intimation is given to us in Gen. 1. 26. Where God said Let us make Man in our Image It is impious to suppose that the Angels are consulted or invited for the making of Man 't is expresly said God made him Nor in any Case would the Most High speak to Instrumentul Causes in the fiâ—st Person plural so The fond and blind Jews are put unto wretched shifts when they would banish their Notice of a Trinity from Scriptures thus plain and clear Now this great God who is thus Three in One is the Creator of the World. The most High God who is the Possessor is also the Creator of Heaven and Earth It is true that in some sort the Work of Creation belongs most properly to the Father but the Son and the Spirit also are not excluded from a glorious concurrence in it Unto him is every Man to ascribe his own Creation and Original We are thus called upon in Psal 100. 3. Know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves That style my Maker that is the style in which all Men that were not far worse than Devils have ever spoken of the Lord. Prop. II. It is the Duty of All Men to Remember their Creator It is a just matter of Enquiry here What it is to Remember God The Answer in short is this To Remember God is to Acknowledge God. Or Take Solomon's own Explanation of it in our Context here It is to fear God and keep his Commandments There is both Vnderstanding and Affection imply'd in this Remembrance To Remember God is to Remember all the Respect which we owe unto him and to Render all that we Remember The Phrase of Scripture is to be Interpreted by such comprehensive Rules as this It is the Character of wicked Men to forget God. 'T is said in Psal 9. 17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God. So then to Remember God this is the Character of Godly Men To be sensible of God that that is to Remember him There is a two-fold Remembring of a thing There is a keeping of it in our minds and there is a calling of it to our minds This Remembrance we are to acknowledge God withal In short we may observe that Solomon much imitated his Father both in the matter and the manner of his Preaching to the World particularly what Solomon here says to us is but an Expression of the same that his Father said to him in 1 Chron. 28. 9. My Son know thou the God of thy Father and serve him In this manner we are to Remember God. First We should Remember God by our knowing of him We are to Remember That God is and That he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him We are to Remember that there is a God who is Infinite in his Power his Wisdom his Justice and his Goodness and that his Kingdom ruleth over all It is said in Jer. 51. 50. Remember the Lord afar off Part of the meaning is Know the Lord. Strictly 't is impossible for a Man to Remember what he do's not Vnderstand We should know God in his sufficience and Know God in his efficience we should know God as represented in his Words in his Works and above all in the Lord Jesus Christ It was of old counted a needful Counsel Know thy self it is no less important and pertinent Know thy God This Knowledge it hath Life Eternal in it Secondly We should Remember God by our Thinking on him The Psalmist could say in Psal 63. 6. I Remember thee upon my Bed and Meditate on thee in the Night-watches We should have a Remembrance of with a Meditation on the Holy God awful and serious Thoughts of God should come into our Hearts often in a day We should often be Thinking of God as our Judge and we should Remember with our selves I am now under the flaming Eye of God and I shall one day stand before the Judgment-seat of God. We should often be Thinking of God as our End and we should Remember with our selves God has formed me for himself I should shew forth his praise We should often be Thinking of God as our Good and we should Remember with our selves The Lord is my portion and I have a goodly heritage Briefly what the Lord is in himself the same is he to be in our daily Thoughts of him Thirdly We should Remember God by Turning to him It is a Prophecy in Psal 22. 27. All the Ends of the World shall Remember and turn unto the Lord. We should have a Remembrance of God that shall produce Repentance for sin The Psalmist has communicated this Experience of his unto us I Remembred God I was troubled O thus we should Remember God and be troubled for our forsaking of him be troubled for our provoking of him and when we are troubled for we should also be turned from all our evil wayes We are to Remember God so as to choose him and to take him for our God and sincerely say Lord What have I any more to do with Idols sincerely say I will be now for the Lord and not for another Fourthly We should Remember God by Living for him It is the Profession of that good man in Psal 119. 55. I have remembred thy Name and have kept thy Law There should an Obedience accompany that Remembrance which we have of God. The Prophet could say I Remembred the Lord and my Prayer came unto thee Thus we should be able to say I Remembred the Lord and I sought his Face Be able to say I Remembred the Lord and I heard his Word Be able to say I Remembred the Lord and with my whole care I pleased the Lord. An Honouring of the Lord is the best Remembring of Him. Fifthly We should Remember God by Trusting in him It was an Holy Triumph in Psal 20. 7. Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God. A Remembrance of God should be with a Reliance on him That Believer could say
it is not too late as yet for you so to do The Lord said in Jer. 3. 1. Though thou hast play'd the Harlot with many Lovers yet return unto me Even so thô thou hast committed many sins thô thou hast been sinning many years yet return unto me saith the Lord. There was in this very Land one that had lived a carnal stupid ignorant Person for about an hundred years and yet became a serious Christian before he dyed Unto the Oldest Enemy of God among us all I this day proclaim the mercy of the Lord O let this break thy heart and cause thee to come and say I will do Iniquity no more But let this also Terrifie you it will be too late for you e're long It is said in Psal 6. 5. In Death there is no Remembrance of thee Thy Death thy Death is just ready to seize upon thee and there is no work no wisdom in the Grave whither thou art going Then thy cry will be like that of Despairing Ones All too late All too late God prevent such a miscarriage of thy never-dying Soul. VSE II. Let us that are in our Youth Now Remember our Creator in it There are a multitude of young Persons to vvhom the Word of God may reach this day Now the Almighty God make this Word of his Quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged Sword within their Souls Hear O Young People Hear that your Souls may live It is reported of Jotham in Judg. 9. 7. He stood in the top of the Mount and he lift up his voice and cryed and said Hearken unto me that God may hearken unto you Thus would I do thus would I speak this day Here I stand in the Name of God that made you all I would lift up my voice and cry and say O Remember your Creator now in the dayes of your youth If you will not hear this Call of God now God will not hear your cry to Him another Day God will be deaf to the Words of thy Roaring in the dayes of thy Age and of thy Death and of thy Wrath if thou art now deaf to the Words of his Counsel The Counsel and it is wholsome Counsel of our God now unto us is Remember me betimes In order thereunto these things are to be done Rule I. Let us Remember that which will help us to Remember God. First Remember thy Death and thou wilt Remember thy God. A Remembrance of Death will produce in a Man a serious and godly frame of Spirit One that was Remarkable for his Devotions gave that Reason of it O I must Dye I must Dye If a Young Man would awfully realize unto himself that thing I must dye it would highly promote an Acquaintance between God and him And young Man it is not too soon for thee to have the Apprehensions of it There was a young Man in this Land that left behind him in Writing Meditations to promote Preparation for Death O that every young man would be no Stranger to such prudent Meditations Let every young Person Remember this I shall dye very certainly As Job could say in Ch. 30. 23. I know that thou wilt bring me to Death So let the young Person say I know that I must e're long look the King of Terrors in the Face and I know that e're long I shall go thither whence I shall not return Often look upon that Scripture in Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed unto all Men once to dye Often look upon that Scripture in Psal 89. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see Death And let these warnings make a deep Impression upon thy Mind There was a Prince who gave a Pension unto a Person that he might once a day come and say unto him Remember that thou art a Mortal Man Do that office unto thy self every Day Look upon Death as the way of all the Earth And Remember I must go that Way Look upon Death as the End of all men and Remember I shall have that End. Remember there is no discharge in that War. Let every young Person also Remember this I shall dye very speedily While we are young we strangely promise our selves to live long Do not harbour that mistake but rectifie it by that Premoniton in Jam. 4. 14. What is your life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and vanisheth away Rectifie it by that Premonition in 1 Chron. 28. 15. Our dayes on the Earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding What are the poor Seventy years that the Life of Man is now contracted into Remember they are winged things they fly away with a marvellous Velocity We are truly told of them in Job 9. 25. that they are swifter than a Post yea more than so swifter than a Ship yea more than that swifter than an Eagle hast'ning to the Prey Besides Remember 't is possible that half of those years may be all that thou shalt ever see it hath been well said That an old Man has Death before his Face but a young Man has Death behind his Back Perhaps Death may strike thee down before him that is old enough to be thy Father Remember that there are Skulls of all sizes in Golgotha Secondly Remember thy Soul and thou wilt Remember thy God Thou hast a never-dying Soul within thee a Spiritual and an Immortal Substance able to discern and argue and affect with a wonderful Apprehension How frequently and fearfully do young Persons forget that they are Owners of such a Jewel Let every young Person Remember this The state of my Soul is miserable Remember the guilt and filth which thy Soul by it's becoming a constituent Essential part in one of Adams Children soon was defil'd withal Remember what a dreadful Anger and Vengeance of God thy Soul by thy sin is expos'd unto Remember that Character of thy Soul in Gen. 6. 5. Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart is only evil continually Remember that condition of thy Soul in Eph. 2. 12. Without Christ a stranger from the Convenant of promise having no hope and without God in the World. Remember what thou hast been doing unto thy Soul ever since thy Birth It is said in Prov. 8. 36. He that sinneth wrongeth his own Soul. O Remember what Wrongs what Wounds thy own Soul has had from thy own hand and Remember what an ever-gnawing Worm what an ever-burning Fire is now ready to seize upon that poor Soul of thine Thou art mindful of thy Body of thy Estate of thy Credit and mindful of almost every Creature which thou art concerned in Thy Soul now begs of thee O Remember me Let every young Person likewise Remember this The worth of my Soul is invaluable A Great Man was well advised once every day to remember that Sentence of our Lord in Matt. 16. 26. What is a man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own soul Thou canst not Remember a