utterly shut oâ— of our thoughts therefore says David Psal 119.55 I have remembred thy Name O Lord and have kept thy Law Thus you see how much this Remembring thy Creator carries in it to wit Knowledge of God Faith in God Repentance toward God Love to God And Obedience to the Will of God When you Know God so as to Believe in him and Believe in God so as to Repent of Sinning against him and Repent so as to express your Love to him and Love God so as to conform to his Will and keep his Commandments then is this Duty done as it ought and you therein answer the Call in the Text Remember thy Creator And that brings me to the Second thing The Object to be remembred thy Creator Remember thy Creator In the Hebrew Text it is Remember thy Creators in the Plural Number so it is used frequently Gen. 1.1 Gods Created the Heaven and the Earth so Isa 54.5 Thy Makers is thy Husband in the Plural so Job 35.10 None saith where is God my Makers And its being thus Plurally expressed it is very Emphatical for it points us to Father Son and Spirit all the Three made Man they were our Makers The Father made Man Gen. 6.7 The Lord said I will Destroy Man whom I have Created The Son made Man Col. 1.16 By him were all things Created in Heaven and Earth The Holy Spirit made Man Job 33 4. The Spirit of God hath made me and the Breath of the Almighty hath given me Life There is a great Truth which will give you to understand this I say there is a great Truth in that Maxim amongst Divines That the Works of the Trinity ad extra towards the Creatures are undivided All the Three Father Son and Spirit sate in Counsel to make Man Let us make Man in our Image in the Plural Number Gen. 1.22 And it is very observable that though our Makers here are expressed Plurally yet the Image is put in the Singular Number Let us make Man in our Image not in our Images but in our Image to note that though the Persons are Three yet the Image is but One They have but one Nature and so are but one God therefore it is said Mal. 2.13 Have we not all one Father Hath not one God Created us Father Son and Spirit and yet but one God and shall we not Remember him that made us Remember thy Creator It is a Term that gives a Claim God is thy Creator and that gives him a Right to thee All Souls are mine as the Soul of the Father so also the Soul of the Son is mine Ezek. 18.4 The Soul that is the Person a Part being put for the Whole frequently in Scripture Let every Soul be Subject to the Higher Powers All Persons are mine whether Father or Son whether Old or Young I am their Creator I am their Common Father and this gives God a just Right to thy Soul to thy Body to thy whole Person to thy Life to thy Strength to thy Talents to all thou Art and all thou Hast and to all thou canst Do for he is thy Creator He doth not say here Remember thy God but Remember thy Creator God is not every one's God we have lost him by the Fall that Relation is cut off by Sin till Grace restore it But though he be not every one's God yet he is every one's Creator Fallen Creatures are his Creatures still as much as ever and therefore thy Remembring him as thy Creator is that that brings thee to Claim him as thy God Thou owest thy Time thy whole Time to him for thou art Created every Day by him for Preservation is a continual Creation Thou owest thy Self and Service to this Creator As thou art what thou art by his Power and Goodness so thou oughtest to live to his Glory He made thee after his own Image and as thou art hereby more capable so thou art more obliged to Remember him and Honour him Thirdly Here is the limitation of the Time when he must be Remembred that is now Remember now thy Creator which now sometimes used in a more Extended Sense and sometimes in a more Restrained Sense First In a more Extended Sense it is taken for the present Life all the Time a Man lives in this World and then it is opposed to Death Death is no time to Remember God in so says the Psalmist Psal 6.5 In Death there is no Remembrance of thee in the Grave who shall give thee thanks It is the same with that of the Wise Man Eccles 9.10 There is no Work nor Device nor Knowledge nor Wisdom in the Grave whether thou goest that is when Death comes it cuts off all our Opportunities There is no Work in the Grave that is no place of Business there is none can be done by us and therefore there is none required of us And as there is no Work so there is no Device as there is nothing to be done to procure Salvation so there is no Devising any way to escape Damnation you cannot lye and think there He returns to his Earth in that very Day his thoughts perish Psal 146.4 Nor is there any Knowledge there either of Good or Evil For the Dead know not any thing Eccl. 9.5 And if there be no Work nor Device nor Knowledge there can be no Wisdom Wisdom is profitable to Direct but there is none of this in the Grave Wisdom lyes in Chusing a Right End and Pursuing it by Due Means but there is none of this in the Grave Wisdom lyes in finding and imbracing the Chief Good but there is none of this Wisdom in the Grave When Death comes it puts an end to all your Opportunities In Scripture Opportunity is often called a Door 1 Cor. 16.9 A great Door is opened to me 2 Cor. 2.12 A Door was opened to me of the Lord. When God sends and makes way for the Gospel and inlarges the Hearts of Ministers to Preach the Gospel and opens the Hearts of People to receive the Gospel then a Door is opened Now if Death shuts this Door it puts an end to all our Opportunities And is there not a time coming when this Door this open Door will be shut Pray Read Luke 13.24 25. Strive to Enter in at the strait Gate for many will seek to Enter in and shall not be able when once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut to the Door and ye begin to stand without the Door and knock saying Lord Lord open to us he shall answer and say to you I know you not whence ye are the Master of the House is risen up and the Door of Opportunity is shut So Matt. 25.10 it is said of the Foolish Virgins While they went to Buy Oyl the Bridegroom comes and they that were ready went in with him and the Door was shut a sad word Now you Read in Scripture of several Doors which will all be shut in that
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
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