your Sins The Presence of his Power to support your Persons The Presence of his Omniscience to know your Wants And the Presence of his Goodness to supply them He is your God your own God as David calls him God even our own God shall bless us A Man can never be happy that has nothing of his own and a Man can call nothing his own but God All things else may be lost but he that has made sure of God his Right can never be invaded nor his Propriety lost Mary hath chosen that good part which shall never be taken from her And is not this a Benefit Secondly Is it not a great Benefit to have the Heart fixt and stedfast in the Ways of God The Cause of all Halting in Religion is the Want of a Choice and Purpose resolutely set The Apostle says James 1.8 A Double-minded Man is Vnstable in all his Ways 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Two-Soul'd Man one that has a Heart and a Heart one for this way another for that one for God and another for the World Such a one must needs be unstable and of an inconstant Soul being as ready to depart from God as to close with him But he that owns God and his Ways by choice will suit his Conversation to his Election If he be sincere in his choice of God that will make him faithful in all his carriage to God And therefore Joshua when he would ingage the People to continue faithful with God he draws them on to a choice and then lays that upon their Conscience to bind them Joshua 24.22 Ye are witnesses against your selves that ye have chosen the Lord to serve him and they said we are witnesses It greatly strengthens a Bond when a Man freely binds himself Thirdly This resolute choice of God is of great advantage in carrying on the Work of the Heavenly Calling with the more ease and delight because a choice is nothing else but an inclination of the Soul guided by Judgment strengthened by Resolution and actuated by Love Now as Judgment justifies our choice and Resolution makes it entire so Love makes it easie and sweet and so our delight in obeying God answers to the sincerity of our chusing of him Fourthly This chusing God gives great peace and comfort in the Ways of God this is as natural as for the Fire to produce Heat The Fruit of Righteousness is Peace As Sin causes a Sting in the Conscience and a Wound in the Soul so every good Action done in Sincerity hath the approbation of the Conscience and that gives peace and the witness of the Spirit that brings joy and comfort This is intended in that of the Apostle Rom. 14.7 The Kingdom of God is Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Here is a double Benefit mentioned Peace and Joy There is a difference between them Peace is a tranquility of Mind springing from the rectitude of our Actions Joy is from the Impression of the comforting Spirit Peace is an acquittance from Conscience but Joy in the Holy Ghost is an acquittance from God himself who is our Supream Judge is the beginning of that Endless Joy that he has prepared for them that love him Fifthly This intitles you to a future and a fuller reward for in chusing God you chuse him for the future as well as for the present in chusing the ways of God you chuse all that is intailed upon them and that is Life and Blessedness So says Wisdom Whoso findeth me findeth Life The Word sets before every one of us Life and Death as Moses did to that People of old Deut. 30.15 Now many chuse Death rather than Life for they chuse to please their Lusts and to gratifie their carnal Appetite and therein they chuse Death as Christ says All they that hate me love Death But he that chuses God and the Ways of God chuses Life and he shall have it he chuses Endless Felicity in another World and he shall never be disappointed O the benefit of chusing God and his Ways That is a Third Thing Fourthly The Chusing God and his Ways in our Youth is the only Means to Prevent or Cure the many Mischiefs that flow from our Neglect of it Days of Youth are Days of Folly now the Way to correct the Follies of Youth is to be Wise toward God Childhood and Youth are Vanity Now the Way to Cure this Vanity is to be Serious and Earnest about Eternity Youth is most apt to be carried away by the Power of Lust hence is that Counsel of the Apostle Flee Youthful Lusts and the proper Way to flee from them is to flee to God in Christ for Help and Strength against them Youth has a great Advantage against Sin had they but Wisdom to Improve this now in the Text. Now Sin is but Budding and therefore may the easier be Nipt now Corruptions are but Twigs and therefore may sooner be Lopt off now Lust is but Conceiving and therefore may more easily be Stifled in the Birth A green Wound is soon Cured but if it be let alone long it may turn to a Gangreen that may prove Incurable O my Brethren there is no Age so fit so suitable to the Nature of Religion as Youth is Religion is the Christian Race now who Chuses an old Man to run a Race It is called a Wrestling and who will call an old Man into the Ring that is ready to have his Heels tript up by his own Age It is called a Warfare and under the Law the Aged were Discharged from War to shew that it is the proper Work of Youth Religion is a Calling a High a Holy a Heavenly Calling Now Youth is the fittest Season for Chusing any Calling and therefore the Text bids us to Chuse the Heavenly Calling by Chusing God in the Days of our Choice The Chusing of worldly Things first shuts God out of our Thoughts and Sensual Objects quickly draw the Heart from God therefore you should Chuse God first that is the Fourth Thing Fifthly To name no more No Man knows how soon his Day of Grace may be past therefore he ought to Chuse God betimes The Seasons of your Closing with God are Arbitrary Salvation is not to be had when you will but when God will and God's Will is that you should seek after it now in your Youth God hath his set Time of finding Seek the Lord while he may be found Isa 55.6 And let me tell you if God's Time be once past though you seek him you will never find him They shall seek me Early but they shall not find me Prov. 1.28 I say this is the very thing that most perish upon their slighting of God's Time Esau he would have had the Blessing but alas he came too late he missed the Season Heb. 12.6 The Foolish Virgins would fain have entred in but when they should have entred their Oil was to Get and when they would have entred the Door was Shut
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
but as better than all other good whatever We shall never chuse God before all till we come to Esteem him above all Thirdly This chusing of God implies a voluntary Inclination and Desire a Man is said to chuse those things which he Likes and Loves and which his Soul Inclines to So that he is carried after them not by the Force of any External Principle but by his own Propension and Inclination and this supposes Love for Desires are the Natural Issues of Love The Soul can never mount upward if the Affections tend downward and therefore when the Holy Ghost would give an advance to the Life of God in the Soul he begins first with the Affections Set your Affections on things above and then as Desires always spring from Love so they are drawn forth by a Sence of Want for what we Love and have not that becomes a Want and Sence of Want will quicken Appetite and set Desires on Work now these Desires must be fed and satisfied and that none can do but God therefore it is God that he chuses Fourthly This chusing implies a firm Purpose and a fixed Resolution of adhering to our choice We never chuse till we bring our Minds and Wills to a firm Purpose there may be many good Thoughts and Wishes in the Soul but still till we are resolved for God we do not chuse him When the Heart is Peremptory and Fixed for God that will come to something when the Soul says I see I am an undone Creature I am convinced of my State and the Necessity of my Case I must have God I must secure an Interest in Christ I must be Born again I must mind the saving of an Immortal Soul this will come to somewhat and a Profession of Religion let me tell you signifies very little till it comes to this Who is this that hath engaged his Heart to Approach to me says God Jer. 30.21 It is Resolution that ingages the Heart for God and makes our choice of him firm and unalterable especially if it be deliberate and intire First It must be deliberate from a Sence and Conscience of our Duty and Interest Resolves taken up upon Sudden Surprizes or Present Heats rarely produce any good Effect This is often the Case of you Young Professors that are like an Early Spring all Blossoms but no Fruit or like a Vapour Exhaled by the Warmth of the Sun that rises no higher than the middle Region where it is Condensed and drops down again This is that very thing that makes so many Apostates from God and his Ways they take up a Profession of Religion too soon before the Word of God has taken Root in the Heart Indeed a Soul that chuses God aright can never Profess him too soon the sooner the better but he that makes a Profession of God before he makes a choice of God before the Word is rooted in the Heart or any thing of the Power of Religion is felt within such a one takes up a Profession too soon It is said of the Seed Sown in stony Places Mat. 43. Forthwith it sprung up Above ground too soon it grows upward but not downward all Blade but no Root So says Christ Verse 21. Yet hath he not Root in himself And what follows He dureth but for a while A Mushroom Christian the Birth of a Night and the Abode of a Day Such begin too soon to hold out with God long This has caused many Scoffers at Religion to take up that Envious Proverb A young Saint and an old Devil whereas if they had said A young Hypocrite and an old Apostate it had been a Truth too too often Experienced Flashy Affections that have no Principles to maintain them within come to nothing they are like Fire in Green Wood that burns no longer than it is blown or like Water hanged over a Quick Flame that is soon Hot but when it is taken off again is as soon Cold nay Colder than it was before because the Natural Spirits are evaporated How nimbly does the Windmill Work when it blows a Brisk gale but the Wind no sooner ceases but the Mill stands So sudden and immature Resolutions come to nothing they must be managed with Judgment and Deliberation David's Practice is an excellent Pattern Psalm 119.59 I considered my ways and turned my Feet to thy Testimonies David speaks like a Man under a Dilemma as having two ways before him there is the Way of Sin and Lust and Carnal Delight this the Flesh presents and it seems an easie and a pleasant Way Ay but it leads to Destruction Then there is the Way of God's Commandments This the Word presents it is Narrow it is Troublesome but it leads to Life and that makes amends for all Now when we stand still and debate upon the Choice which of these is the better Way and consider the Loss and the Gain of either Side and the final Issue of the one Way and the other and thereupon resolve to take in with the Ways of God as promoting our truest Interest and Felicity this is a deliberate Resolution And this was the Course of that Prodigal Son when he came to himself Luke 15. v. 17. he first bethinks himself falls into a serious Debate of his Case How many Hired Servants of my Father's have Bread enough and I perish with hunger What shall I do I will arise and go to my Father and say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants Thus he debates the case with himself and thereupon takes up this resolve well I will arise and go to my Father there is his deliberate Resolution Secondly Our Resolution must be entire that is without boggling at any of God's Commands and without the reserve of any one Sin or Lust for no Man can serve two Masters the Commands of Christ and Satan are absolutely inconsistent Obedience to the one is downright Rebellion against the other we must not capitulate with Christ and think that strictness in some Duties will excuse our Indulgence to any Lust the great standing Law of Heaven is Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart and with all thy mind and with all thy strength and him only shalt thou serve The Work of the Christian Calling is such as that it cannot be done without this we have many Enemies to oppose many Sins to conquer many Lusts to mortifie many Duties to perform therefore our Resolution must be entire and that is a Fourth Thing Fifthly This Chusing in the Text implies a complacency and delight in the Object of our choice though Election be an Act of the Will yet it is quickened by the Motions of the Affections As where the Will is bent against Sin there is always a hatred of it included so where-ever it fixes upon God it is attended with pleasure and delight When David had chosen God