for God effectually to convert and call home to himself in elder years such as have not enjoyed the Means in their younger time is more common but to grow aged under Means and then to be wrought upon is a sight seldome seen Look into the Scripture and see if thou canst fiâ—de one Example of such a thing look into thy own Experience and think how many hast thou known savingly wrought upon in their old Age in their declensions that lived constantly under the Means of grace in their younger time Many the sad and dreadful Examples of men grown Sermon-proof sensless past feeling upon whom the Word hath no power unless to blinde and harden them further that being often reproved perswaded called upon have stood out put off are before thee in the Bible upon record and in present sad Experience there are many very many that having turned a deaf ear to the Calls of God to Remember their Creator in the dayes of their youth are strangely infatuated besotted hardened rendred sensless and obdurate in their Age but there are few very few very very few if any that neglecting the Calls of God to remember him in their youth have attended it in their old Age. Man believe this that as thou hast little very little cause to hope that the Calls of God resisted refused in thy youth will be savingly effectual in thy Age so thou hast much very much cause to fear that the Word that now avails not with thee to bring thee to a serious remembring of God will be judicially sealing of thee up under blindness of minde and hardness of heart for refusing and putting off his Call thus it befell the Jews in like case Isa 6.9 10. But I hasten 2. Consider now in the dayes of thy youth is the best the most opportune time to Remember thy Creator not onely for the facility of the work as hath been said but because thou shalt be sure to finde God facile in accepting and remembring thee now remembring and turning to him as God hath sadly and severely threatned such as put off his Call put off when he calls to remember and turn unto him the slipping of their season that they shall after finde the door of acceptance shut against them Zech. 7.13 and often elswhere so God hath graciously promised and laid forth his readiness to shew mercy unto such as remember and seek him betimes in Prov. 8.17 and other places you may see the promise of finding made over to early seeking and to this purpose is that of the Prophet Isa 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found there is a season there is a while when God may be found but put off a while miss this season and the case may be altered You may see God at once and together Prov. 1.23 and following verses promising as to the present and threatning as to the future I intreat thee to take notice of it God calls thee Remember now thy Creator c. and as to the present attendance of his Call thou hast many gracious Promises but as to the future if thou wilt adventure to delay dally and put it off the sad threatnings of a too late look wishly upon thee Well may I say of thy now remembring God now in the dayes of thy youth as the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.2 Behold now in the accepted time now is the day of salvation O now man is a time of acceptance a salvation day O now now remember and turn unto the Lord without any more delay or loâ—ger putting off set thy self seriously to seek and acknowledge him O be not guilty of that great imprudence to put off and trifle away a sure season of gracious beâ—â—g acceptance and by thy so doing run thy self upon the woful hazard of having the door of Grace and Mercy shut and bolted against thee which now by its standing wide open invites thy entrance but lay hold upon the now season as the acceptable time the day of salvation 3. Consider now in the dayes of thy youth is the best the fittest time to remember thy Creator because this is acceptable to him worthy of him as I may so speak but to put him off to elder years to old age is to offer him great indignity and cannot but be exceeding provoking he is worthy of the first and best to whom thou owest thy all and to devote and dedicate to him the morning of thy time the flower and strength of thy age this is worthy of him this God takes well takes kindly you may see how affectionately how pathetically God bespeaks Israel upon this account Jer. 2.2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying Thus saith the Lord I remember the kindness of thy youth he takes this so well he accepts this so kindly that he will after pass by many backslidings and infirmities as you may see by what follows in the beginning of the next Chapter God will not easily cast off such as early cleave unto him Honour the Lord with thy substance as it is Prov. 3.9 and with the first fruits of all thine increase 't is applicable to what we are as well as what we have to our selves our abilities of body and minde as well as our outward estates and by it we see that God challengeâ—h our whole but he layes a peculiar claim as it were to our first and bâ—st as to the first-fruits of old To put him off then wâ—th the worâ—t and â—â—st the dregs of thy time the decayes of thy strength what is it to think to put him off thus how unworthy how provoking 〈◊〉 it shall the flâ—â—h and world and Devil be first minded regarded sâ—rved shâ—â—â— these go away with the first and best of thy time strength abilities which is Gods due and will it be enough to put him off at last with the dregs and leavings of all dost thou thus require the Lord O think what contempt this reflects upon God what indignity is hereby done him how unworthily how unreasonably thou art dealing with him and how provoking it must needs be to him think of the argument in the Text Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Thou art now in thy prime in thy strength in thy flower thy spirit is lively thy memory fresh all thy abilities strong and vigorous but this will not always last the impotent unpleasant listless times of old age are hastning upon thee Now therefore Remember him do not put him off till then Alas man to delay now while he calls upon thee now in the dayes of thy youth to remember him with purposes and intendments of doing it hereafter what is it but implicitly to say the first and best is too good for God when thou hast laid out the prime and choice of thy time and abilities elsewhere thou art purposing and intending to reserve
silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self O did not men forget that God is as to any serious thoughts of his Being so who and what God is and what duty and acknowledgement they owe him men would not durst no Whore and Sâ—eal and Slander and Lie c. We have not to stand upon iâ— the Scripture frequently gâ—ving in this as the reason of the vileness unreasonableness of men their forgeting their not remembring God Psal 14 7. Ezek. 22.12 Hos 8.14 Psal 54.31 c. The feare of the Lord as the Wise-man speaks Prov. 6.10 is the beginning of wisedome the knowledge fear the remembrance and acknowledgement of God is the fountain and well-head of Piety and Religion the beginning and maintainer of all holiness and honesty of heart and life and it is forgetfulness of God that is the root of all prophaness dishonesty wickedness Men are prone to flatter themselves as was before intimated that they are not gross sinners and men are apt to promise themselves that they will not be such though they do not apply themselves to the indeed remembring God but believe it Sirs that man doth not know whither he shall be left or what wickedness he shall be given up to whatsoever he may hope or think or perswade himself that sets not himselfe to the indeed remembring and acknowledging God alas how many such have been sadly left that as little thought it by themselves as any of you can do who had they been foretold what they should be and do would have answered with Hazael Am I a dâ—g that I should do such great things flatter not thy self man If thou wilt not remember God indeed be throughly godly be â—â—od in good earnest thou canst not tell how bad how vile and wicked thou shalt be 6. And lastly there is yet this more manifesting the exceeding greatness of this sin that it is against the light and law of nature it self Such as forget and disacknowledge God sin against their very Reason it self against their certain knowledge against the clearest light and strongest conviction of a naturall Conscience That there is a God that made us and we ought to remember him that there is of duty and acknowledgement due to him is a truth generally deeply and indelibly engraven upon the hearts of all whosoever he be therefore whosoever thou art that forgettest and disacknowledgest God thou art convicted by thy own Conscience thou art condemned by thine own heart thou art going against the shining light and strongest evidences of thy own reason and sure when God shall Judge thee according to the Law of the remembrance of him written in thy heart thy sin will be found to be so much the more sinfull hateful inexcusable by how much thou hast gone against the very light of Nature thy own certain knowledge and reason it self But so much of the greatness of this sin Secondly A few words of the danger of it Possibly some that are little or nothing affâ—ctâ—d with the greatness of this sin in it self may be somewhat awakened with the conâ—â—deration of the â—â—â—ger of it to them selves Consider then 1. The forgetting and disowning God will provâ—ke him to forget disown you 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with y u â—â—chile ye he with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsâ—ke him he will forsake you Remember God and he will remember you own him and he will own you but disacknowledge him and he will disacknowledge you Relations are mutual and the due of Relates each to other is reciprocal if thou dost not remember and own him as thy Creator he will not remember and own thee as his Creature and what can be worse then this Sâ—e what God threatneth Jer. 23.39 Behold I even I will utterly forget you and I will forsake you and it is spoken of as you may see by the Context as the forest doom the heaviest burthen that can be laid upon the back of a poor creature Forget God and it will come to that which the Prophet speaks of Isa 27.11 He that made them will have no mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour It is an Argument much made use of in Scripture moving the Lord to remember us in mercy moving him to compassion towards us to tell him that we are his creatures that he is our Maker and we are the work of his hands Job 10.3.9 Psal 118 8. Isa 64.8 but not to own him as such invalidates this Argument such forfeit the favour and merciful regard of the God that made them and if this be the doleful condition of such as do not remember him that he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour it is high time for every one to look about him A day may come man dost not thou think so when thou wilt be glad to plead the Priviledge of a poor Creature with the God that made thee but will not God stop thy mouth with thy not remembring thy Creator Dost thou not know or dost thou think thou shalt never know what it is in a day of extremity to have no where else to fly but to the mercy of the God that made thee to the favour and pity of the God that formed thee and to have this way blockt to have God shake thee off and forget and disown thee as thou hast done him as to shewing thee any favour Thinkest thou the time will never be as little as thou carest for or standest in need of God now when thou shalt know thou standest in as much need of God as he doth of thee thou standest in as much need of his merciful remembrance his beneficence as he of thy dutiful remembrance and obedience 2. Consider the not remembring the forgetting God will provoke him to blow upon and blast you in all your Enterprizes rendring them fruitless and unsuccessful rendring them vain and empty and vexatious it is Gods favour and presence that is the happiness of every condition that sweetens all our enjoyments and succeeds all our undertakings and it is the absence of God his disfavour that makes all but a meet heap of vanity and vexation and such as forget God though the world smile upon them for the present shall at last finde this so to their sorrow Isa 17.10 11. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants and shalt set it with strange slips In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow The plain meaning of it is that howsoever those that forget God pursue the world may go smoothly on for a while yet vexatious
it is then so as by fire as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 3.15 or as it is Jude ver 22.23 And of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire so God acts such a difference he makes in seasoning some with his grace in their young and tender years and more easily workâ—ng them to himself whilest others that run on are saved with fear and pulled as brands out of the fire many fears heart-misgiving despairing thoughts such are ordinarily attended with God commonly makes those that long put off a Magar-missabib if ever he shew them mercy such are more seldome humbled converted saved and when they are it is not without much ado 3 The sins of youth which such have deeply run into and long run on in though God do at last recover them by a sound and soaking Repentance and save them through much fear and terrour remain many times a Corrosive gnawing upon their Spirits all their dayes the sting of such and such a sweet sin that they have been deeply in sticks with them to a dying day it is made the hypocrites portion to have his bones full of the sins of his youth Job 20.11 but it is many times the lot of such whom God hath brought home to himself by a sound Repentanâ—â— to be made to possess the iniquities of their youth as is evident from Jobs complaint Job 13.26 and Davids prayer Psal 25 7. Upon this account by remembring and turning to God now thou mayest haply prevent such sins which should God give thee hereafter Repentance may stick with thee to a dying day and bring down as Jacob speaks thy gray hairs with sorrow to the grave See then this advantage in a present early turning unto God it will prevent many sorrows a great deal of sad work O therefore take the Wise-mans counsel in the last Verse of the foregoing Chapter Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh do not put it upon thy self but take the course the onely wise way to remedy and prevent it which he prescribes in the Text Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth 2. As hereby much sin and sorrow will be prevented so hereby thou shalt abundantly provide for thy own good comfort benefit in after-time if God take thee sooner hence it will be well thou art ready if not thou wilt abundantly reap in thy Age the benefit and advantage the good and comfort of thy early remembring and turning to God Youth or Spring as one saith is the Seed-time of grace and goâ—liness if in the Spring no Seed be sown or none but Cockle or Darnel or such Weeds what hope of Harvest or what a Harvest may be expected Forgetfulness of God in time of youth causeth old Age to perish to be good for nothing so some carry the sense of that Job 30.2 In whom old age was perished i.e. their old Age was good for nothing but an early Seeds-time is a good presage of and preparatory to a plentiful Harvest of grace joy and comfort in after-times Consider more particularly a few things here but to touch them 1. To remember and turn to God to be good take a right course betimes is the way to be seâ—â—edly good to be setled and established in the way of God and godliness in Age the sooner thou art seasoned with right principles pâ—ous principles in youth the more deeply and indelibly will they be rivertâ—d into thee in Age Prov. 22.6 Train up a childe in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it The Proverb is A young â—â—intâ— and an old Devil but the Spirit of God knows better and tells us A Saint in youth and an established Saint in Age that which is suckedâ—in in youth and a person is then seasoned with becomes well rooted and setled in him in Age. As it is a dreadfull thing to grow Aged in sin because such are hardly removed so is it a happy thing to grow Aged in Grace and Godlinesse because such are most firmly estabâ—â—shed but the onely way to this is to begin betimes 2. To remember turn to God betimes to begin to be indeed good early is the ready way to be good indeed to be eminently good a forward Spring and Seeds-time is here the forerunner of a plentifull Harvest as he that begins betimes and long continues to drive a gainfull trade is long in taking in and treasuring up must needs be well stored and furnished so it is with the early Christian in his age he is rich in grace in spiritual experiences c. Those ordinarily are most fat and flourishing and bring forth most fruit in their age that begin betimes Oh think how rich in knowledge practicall saving knowledge how strong in faith how intimately acquainted with God how humble holy and heavenly minded how abounding in every grace and rich in all manner of good works mightest thou be wouldst thou be perswaded now in the dayes of thy youth to remember thy Creator O be indeed good godly now this is the way to be good indeed eminently good and godly 3. The last advantage that I shall name as to this that thou shalt have by an early turning unto God is this It will greaten thy reward in heaven none shall serve God for nought begin quickly and hold on carefully and cheerfully thou shalt lose nothing by it 1 Cor. 15.58 indeed the reward is not of work it is of grace but yet it is according to work 2 Cor. 9.6 begin ever so soon and follow it ever so diligently and continue ever so long thou shalt then receive a full reward for every moments service 3. And lastly Hereby thy own good and comfort shall be as most abundantly so most certainly provided for Do it now and then thou wilt be sure to do it but neglect it new and thou art not certain of a future time to attend it Were there nothing in all that hath been already said yet one would think there were enough in this one Consideration were it seriously thought upon to put an issue to all thought of delaying and putting off and put thee upon a now present remembring God without more ado or whiling it off any longer Childhood and Youth are vanity it is the Argument in the last words of the former Chapter by which the Exhortation in the Text to a timely remembrâ—ng God is as it were ushered in and were it laid to heart sure it would make thee lay by all delayes Thy flourishing Youth man O think of it is fickle flitting frail subject to Death as well as old Age Jam. 4.14 For what is your life it is even a vapour Man's life in general is so the young man's life is even a vapour as well as the old man's as we see in continual experience Death's Motto is Nulli Caedo I give place to I spare none We are like