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
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