spend thy Youthful Days in thy sensual Delights why then go on and take thy Course but consider were this will end and what follows there is a Reckoning Day a coming thy pleasant Way will have a doleful End though the Beginning may be Sweet the Conclusion will be Bitter for thou must Die e're long nor canst thou say how soon and then thou must answer to God for all thy sinful Courses and sensual Vanities for Know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment and therefore Put away Evil from thy Flesh And then he proceeds to Exhort to the Positive Part of Godliness and that in the Words of the Text Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth He tells you in the Last Words of the former Verse Childhood and Youth are Vanity and the Vanity of it appears in nothing more than in indulging to Sense and Flesh and forgetting God therefore these Words of the Text are the wise Man's Memento to young Ones wherein he gives this seasonable Counsel for the Cure of their Vanities Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth whilst the Evil Days come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no Pleasure in them In which Words you have an Exhortation to a very concerning Duty and it is backed with a threefold Argument in the Six following Verses In the Duty exhorted to you have Three Things First The Act Remember Secondly The Object to be Remembred Thy Creator Thirdly The Time when he must be Remembred Now. Remember now thy Creator But lest you should think that this now takes in the whole Time of this Life therefore he Excludes the latter Part of Life and Limits this now to the former Part Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth And then you have a Threefold Argument or Motive upon which the Duty is urged Old Age with its Infirmities Hastening Mortality Approaching And Judgment Ensuing First The Approaching of old Age with the Infirmities that accompany it that we have in those Words While the evil Days come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no Pleasure in them and what these Days and Years are he tells you in the various Allegories in the following Verses While the Sun or the Light or the Moon or the Stars be not Darkned nor the Clouds Return after Rain in the Day when the Keepers of the House shall Tremble and the strong Men Bow themselves and the Grinders Cease and they faâ— that Look out at the Windows c. Secondly You have an Argument from Death and Mortality approaching Verse 15. Man goeth to his Long Home Verse 7. Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was Then when When the Sun and the Light c. is Darkned when the Keepers of the House Tremble when the strong Men Bow themselves and and the Grinders Cease then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was Thirdly You have the Judgment ensuing Verse 7. The Spirit shall return to God who gave it it is the Soul that is here intended which is frequently called a Spirit because of its Spiritual and Immaterial Nature as the Body of every one Returns to the Dust so does every Soul Return to God not to God as a Chief Good but to God as a Great Judge not to his Blissful Presence but to his Judicial Presence All Souls do not Return to God to Enjoy him for that is the Portion but of a few but all Return to God to be Judged by him both Good and Bad Saint and Sinner So says the wise Man in the Third Chapter of this Book Verse 17. God shall judge the Righteous and the Wicked for there is a Time there for every Purpose and for every Work so that there is such a Returning of the Soul to God as sets it before his aweful Tribunal where it must be Sentenced to its Everlasting State either to Enjoy God for Ever or to be Everlastingly Shut out of his Presence and Favour so that these are the Arguments to Inforce the Duty in the Text. Old Age is Hastening Death follows it And then comes the Judgment In old Age you will have no list to Remember God in Death you cannot Remember God and in Judgment you must be called to an account for not Remembring God and therefore since it is thus Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth I shall open the Words and then apply them First I will begin with the Act Remember this is applied sometimes to God he is said to Remember God Remembred Noah Gen. 8.1 He Remembred Abraham Gen. 19.29 He Remembred his Holy Covenant Luke 1.72 But there is to speak properly no such thing in God as Remembring for he that can never Forget cannot be said to Remember But it is properly applied to Man and so to Remember is either To call to Mind some Past or To keep a thing in Mind for the Time to come Sometimes it is to call to Mind something past thus it is said that Peter Remembred the Words of Christ Mat. 26.75 and as it Imports keeping in Mind for the Time to come so it is said Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy Exod. 20.8 To Remember is put here in a double Opposition First It is opposed to a Forgetfulness of the Duty mentioned And Secondly It is opposed to a slight Performance of it Both which are Sin It is a Sin to forget God and it is a Sin to have slight Thoughts of God the Act should be some way answerable to the Object the Great God is thy Maker and he should not be put off with slightly Respects Remember thy Creator The manner in which the Duty is Inforced is such as does import that it ought to be our chief Business God does not use in his Word to put his Memento's upon slight and indifferent Matters but upon such Duties as are Necessary and of the greatest Importance As First To press us to Repentance Rev. 2.5 Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent Ezek. 16.61 Thou shalt Remember thy Ways and be Ashamed Secondly To mind us of our latter End Eccle. 11.8 If a Man Live many Years and Rejoice in them all yet let him Remember the Days of Darkness for they shall be many Thirdly To press upon us the Duty of Sabbath Holiness Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy Exod. 20.8 Fourthly To keep in our Hearts the great Works of Providence Psalm 105.5 Remember the Marvellous Works that he hath done and Mat. 16.9 says Christ Remember the Five Loaves that fed Five Thousand and how many Baskets full he took up Fifthly It is used to incite to a full and compleat Obedience Num. 15.39 Remember all the Commandments of the Lord to do them Sixthly To stir us up to be mindful of himself and therefore this Duty of all the rest is charged both Negatively and Positively Negatively Deut.
says Remember thy Creator now in the Days of thy Youth You little think how soon Death may come it doth not always give warning what warning had the Rich Man Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee when he cries out I have Goods laid up for many Years What warning had Job's Children that were all taken away in an Hour O Sirs Death hath several passages to your strong Holds that you cannot find out He doth not lay long Siege to all There is no saying to Death when it comes there is one Older than I take him there is one was Gray when I was but a Child let him go first No Sirs you must know that Sin hath alter'd the Course of Nature the Son Dies before the Father and the Daughter before the Grand-Mother I say therefore the Present Time is only yours yesterday can never be recalled and to Morrow may never be enjoyed The Present Time is only yours Young Ones Die as well the Old Blossoms are liable to Nipping in the Spring as well as full Grown Fruit to Rotting in Autumn Thou that art Young and Strong thou art not sure of another Year no nor of another Day O therefore who would hazard his precious Soul upon such uncertainties Opportunity ended returns no more There is hope of a Tree if it be cut down saith Job that it will sprout again but Man lyeth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more Sirs Pray remember we have but one Arrow of Life to hit the Mark with and if we shoot at Random we loose all therefore we had need be good Archers O what will you do Young Ones what will you do if your Day be ended before your work be finished if your Paradice be laid waste before the Tree of Life be planted in it O therefore that you would be perswaded to hearken to God here in the Text To Remember thy Creator now in the Days of thy Youth while the Evil Days come not nor the Days draw nigh wherein thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them THE YOUTH's Best Choice II. 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 THere are two great Concerns which lye upon all our Hands which ought to be seriously thought of by us and duly attended the one is A Wise Improving this present Life and the other is A careful providing for a better two Things which none can be too Diligent about and he that is truly Faithful in one will in some Measure be Conscious in both And both these are pointed at in the Text. For he that in the Days of his Youth Remembers his Creator as he ought does at once rightly improve the present Life and wisely provide for that to come and so unites in his Practice those Duties that God hath joined together in the Precept Remember thy Creator now in the Days of thy Youth c. In which Words you have the Call and Command of God to a very Important Duty wherein we may observe First The Act or Duty it self to Remember Secondly The Object to be Remembred Thy Creator Thirdly The Season wherein this Duty is to be put in Practice now But least you should think that this now takes in the whole time of the Present Life therefore he does exclude the latter Part of Life and limits this now to the former Part Remember thy Creator now in the Days of Youth I did the last Year as some of you may remember upon this Occasion speak from these Words I then only opened them to you and shewed the Comprehensive Sence of them without making any Observation from them I told you that this remembring our Creator points to a Fivefold Duty First To a right Knowledge of God and he cannot be rightly known but in and by Christ we cannot else know the Way of doing it for he is the Way the Truth and the Life And therefore the right Remembring our Creator includes in it a Saving Knowledge of God in Christ Secondly This Remembring includes believing we cannot be said to remember God in the Sence of the Text if we do not depend upon him and trust in him therefore David expresses his Faith in God by remembring of him Psalm 20.7 Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God That is others trust in Creatures but our trust shall be in God Thirdly Remembring implies Repenting Forgetfulness and Impenitency always go together Sinning is called in Scripture a Forgetting God and Repentance is a calling Sin to Remembrance with a true Sence of the Evil of it and Sorrow for it as done against God and therefore where God is forgotten and out of our Remembrance there can be no Repentance Fourthly Remembring our Creator carries in it Love and Respect Though an Object be every way Amiable and made up of Delights yet it can never be remembred with pleasure when it hath no room in our Respect God's Design and End in requiring to be remembred by us is that he may be loved by us and his bespeaking a Place in our Thoughts is that he may have a Room in our Hearts The highest Act of Honour the Creature can do to God is to trust him and love him A Remembrance of God without suitable Respect cannot answer the Call in the Text because it is but passant and transcient For when any other Object possesseth our Affections God is soon forgotten and forsaken What we love we love to think on as what we slight we soon forget As it is said of Jeshurun he forgat God that made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation Fifthly This Remembring of God includes obedience to his Will Obedience is nothing else but Knowledge digested into Affection and Action Hence is that Counsel of David to his Son Solomon Know thou the God of thy Fathers and serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind As there can be no Obedience where God is not known so that Knowledge of God stands for nothing that is not fruitful in Obedience Mark that Counsel of Moses Deut. 8.11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God How is that The next Words tell you in not keeping his Commandments Disobedience is a forgetting God so that that which in the Text is called a Remembring our Creator is in the last Chapter of this Book ver 13. expressed by fearing God and keeping his Commandments If the Authority of God be cast off and we make not his Word the Rule of our Lives he is as much forgotten in a Scripture Sence as if he were utterly shut out of our Thoughts So says David I have remembred thy Name O Lord and have kept thy Word So that you see this Remembring is a very Comprehensive Term. Then the Object to be
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
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
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
Wilderness or a Land of Darkness If so you have some occasion to Revolt and Forget me but if not why say ye We will come no more at thee Jer. 2.31 O what a shame is it that any one should forget God that never did him hurt but good all the Days of his Life Pray Consider that first Question in your Catechism Who made you You once were not and that which once was not could not make it self as Nothing has no Existence so it can have no Operation Nothing cannot be a Creator to every one of you You derive your Beings from God It is he that made us and not we our selves Psalm 100.3 therefore you are called the Offspring of God Acts 17.28 In him we live move and have our Being for we are his Offspring Now what a shame is it that a Creature that is made by God should forget his Maker God complains of this Isa 51.13 They forgat the Lord their Maker and should he be forgotten that gave us our Being Honour thy Father and thy Mother it is a Law written in Nature they deserve the highest Respect and Reverence because they were the Instruments of our Being Now God is much more the Author of our Being than he that Begat us or than she that Brought us forth Thou art he says David that took me out of the Womb thou art my God from my Mother's Belly Parents are but the Second Causes of our Being God is the First Cause and all Second Causes depend upon the First in their Being and Operation therefore Man is nothing in our Production if compared with God and shall this God be forgotten and sinned against He calls Heaven and Earth to witness against such Rebels Isa 1.2 Hear O Heaven and give Ear O Earth for the Lord hath said I have nourished and brought up Children and they have Rebelled against me Heaven and Earth will cry out against you if he that made us be not remembred and owned by us Secondly Consider what a Price God has put into your Hands for the good of your Souls He hath not only made you but he hath made Seasons of Grace for you Seasons for the getting the Knowledge of God in Christ Seasons for getting an Interest in Christ He has given you his Sabbaths his Word his Ordinances a Powerful Means and Ministry Nay many Young Ones have felt somewhat of the Power of these things God has been at Work with them betimes their Hearts have been touched the Spirit of God hath wrought in them some Convictions of Sin and of their lost undone State O what a Price has God put into your Hands and how can you answer the neglect of it What says Solomon Prov. 17.16 Wherefore is there a Price put into the Hand of a Fool to get Wisdom seeing he hath no heart to it He that hath a Price put into his Hands to get Wisdom and hath no Desire in his Heart to it that Man is a Fool God says so He is a Fool And as he is so now in the Judgment of others so he will be so one Day in his own It will be a Sword in his Heart to consider I might have had God for my God but I forgat him I might have had an Interest in the blessed Redeemer but I neglected it I might have been Saved but I let slip all these Opportunities that God put into my Hands I have now wofully destroyed a Precious Soul by my Impenitent continuance in my Cursed Lusts against the Calls and Counsels of God It is an awakening Passage Eccles 8.6 Because to every Purpose there is Time and Judgment therefore the Misery of Man is Great upon him Therefore Wherefore VVhy because he hath not Judgment to discern the fittest Opportunity for every Purpose Many Young Ones O how do they purpose that they will seek God hereafter How do they purpose to mind their Salvation One purposes a New Life and a Better Course and God has given every one of you time for this but they want Wisdom to know the Time and so the Opportunity is lost and gone and they are miserable for ever Because to every Purpose there is Time and Judgment therefore the Misery of Man is great Sirs Consider it Young Ones how will your fruitless Repentance begin when your Opportunities are past and gone then you will see your Folly At his Latter End he shall be a Fool He was a Fool at first but he shall see it at last at his Latter End he shall be convinced of his Folly Thirdly Young Ones you that now forget God and slight Religion and indulge to your Lusts let me tell you you are a Judgmen to the Nation a Judgment and a Plague to the Land I have formerly said it to you and I say it again the Youth of a Nation are always a great Good or a great Mischief to the Nation they are either the Hope or the Plague of the Land When Young Ones are Serious and mind God and their Souls when the Word of God is Precious to them to Awaken and Convert them to Season their Hearts with Wisdom to Know and Remember God to Seek after Christ to Honour Religion by a Sober and Holy Conversation such a Race of Youth are a Blessing in any Age they are a Blessing of God to a Land But when the Youth of a Nation cast off Religion cast off all Duty to God and Man and all Sobriety and Vertue and grow Proud Profligate Profane tainted with all manner of Wickedness even to Atheism it self What shall we say then Then I say this is a sad sign of some Judgment of God coming upon the Land and indeed we have many Young Ones in this Day such Monsters in Wickedness as hath not been known in any Age such Young Swearers that can scarce speak plain Young Sabbath-breakers Young Blasphemers Young Atheists never any Age produced the like and for accompanying with Harlots and all manner of Uncleanness that is become a Fashion Therefore I tell you and I tell you from the Word of the Lord and I beg you would Consider it there is some sore Judgment of God near at hand I tell you the truth it is near and hastens greatly a Day of Trouble and Distress a a Day of Wasting and Desolation therefore my Brethren I speak it with an Aking Heart England is now big with such a Brood as will Eat out our Bowels the Children will Destroy the Mother therefore Pray hearken to a word of Exhortation and not from me but from the Lord it is the Exhortation in the Text O Remember your Creator now in the Days of your Youth Now if ever now or never now in the Days of your Youth As ever you would have Good Times as ever you would have God own this Nation as ever you would have the Gospel continued in the midst of you O Remember your Creator First Remember how he Created you in his own Image every one