Remembred was opened to you thy Creators for in the Original it is in the Plural Number and so it points to Father Son and Spirit It is not said Remember thy God but Remember thy Creator God is not every one's God but he is every one's Creator fallen Creatures they be his Creatures still as much as ever and this Remembring him as thy Creator is that that gives thee a Claim to him as thy God And then in the last place I opened to you the Season of this Duty now not now as intending any time of Life but now in the Days of thy Youth I insisted largely upon these things in the opening of them to you and improved them by a Particular Application And this is the sum of what I spake last Year upon these Words I now come to give you some Observations from them one is this That Youth is naturally very prone to forget God this is plainly implied For what need else of this Memento in the Text Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth Another might be this that the true and best Improvement of Youthful Days is to devote them to God to mind Religion betimes But I shall not speak to any of these my Design at present is to speak to the Words as they lye in the Original Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Choice The Word that we render Youth here the Days of thy Youth is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Elect to Chuse and accordingly Montanus renders the Word Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Choice Now this admits of a double Sense Either Thy Choice Days or thy Chusing Days First The Days of Youth they are your Choice Days the Prime of your Time the Flower of your Age. As the Spring is the choice time of the Year so is Youth the choice time of Life Nature is then most brisk and active and full of vigor and the Spirits quick and lively the Wit sharp the Affections strong the Memory retentive and therefore there is no time to mind Religion like this choice time of Youth O where now are those Isaacs that meditate whilst they are young Where are those Jacobs that seek for the Blessing betimes Where are those Children that ask their Parents as they under the Law did What mean the Sabbaths and the Ordinances of the Lord that we may also keep them Where are the Children amongst you that sing Hosannah's to Christ as they did in the Days of his Flesh These are the Young Mens Looking Glasses and because we are led by Example more than by Precept therefore the Holy Ghost has set before you these Presidents in Scripture that you may imitate and copy them out these are choice Paterns and if you make Conscience to follow them in your Choice Days you will shew your selves to be a Chosen Generation Children that God will delight to own But Secondly For I will pass that too the Days of Youth they are your Chusing Days as they are Choice Days so the Days of your Choice Chusing What is that Why it is a deliberate Act of the Soul it is done upon Consideration and Debate when a Man upon a Judgment rightly informed and Affections thereby ingaged does cleave to God and the Ways of God that is Election and Choice The Observation then that I shall lay down from the Sence of the Words is this that it is the great Concernment and Duty of Young Ones to make God the Object of their First Choice to begin with God in their First Setting Out in the World We never enter into God's Service aright till we enter upon it by Choice for God will have it so Chuse you this Day whom you will Serve either the true God or Idols Not as if it were at their own liberty to serve which they pleased No but to convince them of the Folly of a bad Choice and to direct them to a right Choice But for the clearing of the Doctrine I will show you First What it is to chuse God Secondly I will give you the Reasons of the Concernedness of the Duty And so apply it First What is it to chuse God It implies Five Things First A due Consideration of the Object its Nature Worth and Excellency till things are duly weighed in the Ballance of a true Judgment we can never make a right Choice and here the business sticks with Young Ones In this first Work we cannot perswade them to consider they will not weigh things but they will act according to the inclination of their Lusts therefore the Apostle advises us to resolve upon trial 1 Thes 5.21 Prove all things and hold fast that which is good A Man will never hold fast that which is Good until he first prove and try it Indeed the things which are usually opposed to Religion are such poor paltry Vanities that they are not worthy to be set in competition with God or to come into a serious Debate How easie is it to resolve which is fittest to be pleased God or the Flesh Whether the Transitory Pleasures of Sin should be preferred to the Life and Salvation of an Immortal Soul A Serious Consideration on these Things would soon determine the Matter on God's side Secondly This Chusing of God implies Esteem and Preference for Election and Choice is the preferring one thing before another Our Choice of all Objects is according to our Esteem of them As far as we judge a thing needless so far we count it worthless Let a Man have but slight Thoughts of God and his Duties shall be as short as his Thoughts are slight Mean Apprehensions are ever attended with listless Devotions It is the Soul that highly esteems God that chuses and seeks him What said Caleb and Joshua when they returned from spying out the Land of Canaan and had tasted the sweet Fruits of it O say they it is a good Land let us go up and take it at once But the other Spies that undervalued it laid aside the thoughts of Possessing and are for facing about to Egypt Though God and Christ are the best Good yet there are many Competitors that stand as Rivals with them in the Soul and therefore your Choice can never be right unless these Rivals be trampled under foot It is said of the Wise Merchant that when he had found a Pearl of great Price he went and Sold all that he had and bought it Mat. 13.46 First he shews his Esteem of it as a Pearl of great Price and then he parts with all to purchase it What a high Esteem had Paul of Christ The Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord Phil. 3.8 There is his Value of him and see how it drew his Heart after him I count all things but Loss that I may Win Christ It is not enough to approve of God and his Ways simply but we must approve of them comparatively not only as good in themselves
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
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