and Confidence in thy Word and Promises Thirdly This Remembrance implies Repentance Forgetfulness and Impenitence always go together Repentance is a Calling Sin to Remembrance with a Due Sence of the Evil of it and Sorrow for it as it is done against God and how can this be where God is forgotten If there be no right Conceptions of the Nature of God His Omniscience His Holiness and Justice there can be no Repentance for Sinning against him They are frequent Remembrances fresh Views of God that work to Repentance and Self-abhorring So it did in Job Chap. 42.5 6. Mine Eye seeth Thee therefore I abhor my Self and Repent in Dust and Ashes The Clearer Manifestations a Soul hath of God the Deeper will its Humiliation for Sin be When Peter remembred the words of Christ then he went out and Wept bitterly Till we Remember and Consider God in the Purity of his Holiness the Severity of his Justice the Tenderness of his Mercy the Inevitableness of his Wrath we can never truly Repent of Sin Fourthly This Remembring of God carries Love in it Though an Object be every Way Amiable and made up of Delights yet it can never be let into the Affections so long as it is shut out of the Thoughts nor on the other hand can it be with any pleasure Remembred when it has no room in our respect God's Design and End is not so much to be Remembred by us as to be Loved by us and his bespeaking a room in our Thoughts is that he may Dwell in our Hearts The Highest Act of Honour the Creature can do to God is to trust him and love him Those that Distinguish the Order of the Angels place the Seraphims above the Cherubims because they have a more ardent Love as well as a more clearer Light a Remembrance of God without a suitable respect will neither be Profitable nor Durable for when any other Object Possesses our Affections God is soon forsaken and forgotten then a Man Remembers God aright when his Affections are suitable to his Apprehensions As it is with Sin a Man hath not the right Notion of Sin unless he feel the Weight of it and loath it Then shall ye Remember your own Evil Ways and shall Loath your Selves for your Iniquity Ezek. 36.31 Or as it is with the Word of God no Man remembers the Word aright if he do not Believe it and Love it So no one can have right Apprehensions of God who has not Choice Affection to him and his Chief Delight in him Look what that is which we Love best and we always think of that most what a Man Loves best is his Chief Good and his Chief Good is his Treasure and where the Treasure is there the Heart will be Christ says What we Love we Delight to think upon as what we hate we soon forget So it is said of Jeshurun Deut. 32.15 He forgat God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation He lightly esteemed him and therefore soon forgets him If one that is but a common Acquaintance with you be Absent you soon forget him out of Sight out of Mind but a bosom Friend a dear Friend a Friend that is as a Man 's own Soul you cannot forget such a one Love will remember him when the Eye cannot see him and makes him Present when he is Absent nay he lives in the Mind when perhaps he lies dead in the Grave therefore I Pray mind that Precept of our Lord Matth. 22. ver 37. Thou shalt Love the Lord with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind Mark ye it is not said only Thou shalt Love God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul but with all thy Mind we Love him with the Heart and Soul when we Devote our selves to him and we Love him with our Mind when we have him daily in our Thoughts and Remembrance the Desire of our Souls is to thy Name and to the Remembrance of thee Isa 26.8 Fifthly This Remembring of him implies Obedience Obedience to his Will the Will of God is the Rule of Obedience and his Will is made known in his Word Obedience is Knowledge digested into Affection and Practice Hence is that Counsel of David to his Son Solomon Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect Heart and with a willing Mind 1 Chro. 28.9 Paul's first Question when touched his Heart was Who art thou Lord And then the next was What wilt thou have me to do Acts 9.5 6. to shew us that all Obedience is produced by Knowledge As Ignorance is the Cause of Sin so a Right Sence of God is the best Antidote against it for this begets Love and the more God is beloved the more readily he will be obeyed a weak Conception and a fruitless Remembrance of God Glorifies him no more than a Painter does the Person whose Picture he draws The Glory of God consists not in the lifeless Notions of him but in active Conformity to him a Natural Man may have some Pleasure in knowing the Nature of God Ay but he cares not for knowing the Ways of God Job 21.14 They say we Desire not the Knowledge of thy ways He would own him in his Mercy and Goodness but he hath no regard to his Precepts Mercy is suitable to our Wants but Obedience is repugnant to the Interest of the Flesh That Knowledge of God which doth not take root in the Heart and grow up into Obedience in the Life it is Blindness and Ignorance in God's Account whatever our Notions of it may be Those Gentiles which are said to know God Rom. 1.21 they are said ver 28. not to know God The Sons of Eli could not but know the Lord having such a good Father and being the Lord's Priests But yet because they were Loose and Vile in their Carriage and Behaviour therefore they are said not to know the Lord 1 Sam. 2.12 As there can be no Obedience where God is known so that Knowledge of God stands for nothing which is not fruitful in Obedience It is a Blessed thing so to know God and so to Remember him as not to forget his Precepts It is Moses his Counsel to that People and it is mine to you Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God Deut. 8.11 How is that The next Words tell you in not keeping his Commandments that is forgetting of God Disobedience is called a Forgetting God They forgat God their Saviour Psalm 106.21 And we are said to forget his Words when we do not Remember his Commandments to do them Psalm 103.18 And that which here in the Text is called Remembring thy Creator is in Chap. 12. Ver. 13. expressed by Fearing God and keeping his Commandments which is said to be the Whole Duty of Man If the Authority of God be cast off and we make not his Word the Rule of our Lives he is as much forgotten as if he were
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
You should therefore Chuse God betimes because you know not how soon the Day of Grace may be past These are the Reasons of the Point And now I come to the Application and I shall make but two Uses of it One by Way of Trial And The other by Way of Counsel First By Way of Trial you have heard Young Ones what your Duty is to begin with God in the first Place and make him the Object of your Choice Now the Question I would ask you is what have you done in this Matter You that are in your Youth and Prime of your Days what have you done in this Matter Now is your chusing time pray what Choice have you made It is a needful Question God help you to answer it in your own Hearts One Chuses this Imploy another that one Chuses to go to Sea another Chuses to tarry on Shore one Chuses this Calling another Chuses that but have you Chosen God to be your God Have you ever made that Choice It was David's Question to the Egyptian 1 Sam. 30.14 To whom belongest thou To whom belongest thou Young Ones to whom do you belong Pray do you belong to God Why you will say how may I know this It can't be known a Priori as we say by God's Chusing of you that is an Imminent Act and Imminent Acts cannot give Evidence they Prove nothing therefore it must be known a Posteriori by some Subsequent Act of our own There are two Ways of being the Lord's People but there is but one Way of knowing it we are made his both by his Act and our own by his Electing of us and by our Electing of him Now we cannot know that we are God's by his Act by his Chusing of us but we may know it by our Act by our Chusing of him This is the Question that I would put to you have you seriously Chosen God to be your God Did you ever make this Choice This must be before any one can lay a true Claim to him God will never be yours let me tell you without your own Choice Now have you ever Chosen God I do not mean at a Present Pinch it may be under the Checks of Conscience or in some Present Distress many will take God to be their God but this Choice seldom comes to any thing it lasts but till the Storm is over and the Distress removed but have you ever chose God in the Sence Described Have you Chosen him by a Deliberate Act of the Will Guided by Judgment and with full Purpose of Heart to cleave to God How shall I know this you will say Briefly there are divers Ways by which it may be known I will name but Two or Three It may be known First By a Self-dedication and devoting of your selves to be the Lord's Whenever the Soul truly Chuses God for his God it is always accompanied with a Self-dedication to God So it is said of those Macedonians 2 Cor. 8.5 They gave themselves to the Lord. Now what can you say to this Have you ever given up your selves to be the Lord's resolving to live in an Intire Submission to his Will Have you ever made a Solemn Covenant between God and your own Souls that God shall be your God and that you through his Grace will be his Why if so then you have Chosen God and he is your God Secondly It may be known by your Behaviour in Reference to Sin When you are Tempted to any Sin either by Satan or by your own Lusts what do you do Do you give Way to it or do you run to Christ for Strength against it Do you Comply with it or do you Resist it Do you Countenance or Curb it Is it Loved or Hated This is no hard Case to Determine every Child can tell what he Loves and what he Hates No one that Lives in the Love of any known Sin can say that ever he hath Chosen God mind it any one Lust indulged will certainly confute this claim For where Sin is Loved there it Reigns and where Sin Reigns God is Disowned And can any one Disown God and yet say he hath Chosen God It cannot be Thirdly It may be known by your Obedience He that Chuses God for his chief Good Chuses him for his only Lord and that necessarily inferrs Obedience to him in all things So says the Apostle His Servants ye are whom ye obey Rom. 6.16 Many make their Boast of God and Claim a Propriety in him but whom do you obey Pray mind that doth the Flesh bear sway Doth Pride reign Do youthful Lusts and Vanities command the Heart Why then I tell you God was never the Object of your Choice you may Profess him and Talk of God but you have never Chosen God for your God It is not Profession but Affection and Action that must warrant our Title to God David Psalm 119.94 tells God I am thine Lord I am thine Ay but how does he prove it Why says he I have sought thy Precepts Pray mind he does not only say I have kept thy Precepts I have done them but I have sought them Now to seek them is much more than barely to do them It implies Four Things First An earnest Desire to know them and that is a great Evidence of an upright Heart and a sincere Love to God to be Inquisitive into the Will of God Secondly It implies an Affection and Respect no Man seeks what he doth not Love I have Respect says David to all thy Commandments Thirdly It implies a constant Endeavour to Practice them for the end of seeking is keeping we seek to know his Will that we may do it and therefore seeking and keeping are put together Psalm 119.2 Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies and that seek him with the whole Heart Fourthly It implies earnest Desires after higher Measures of Grace for the bettering of our Obedience this is seeking Now such a seeking is a sure Evidence of your chusing of God O therefore that I could prevail with Young Ones to come to the Trial in this Matter whether ever you have really chosen God or no! And I tell you why I urge it for Three Reasons First Because it is about the most concerning Case in the World as it is the greatest Duty in the World to seek after God so it is the greatest Priviledge in the World to know my Interest in God therefore it is a Matter worth Inquiring into What if all the World were thine If God be not thine you are undone and will you not know whether he be yours or no Secondly I urge it because of the Treachery and Deceitfulness of your Hearts The Heart is Deceitful above all things the Prophet says so in Young Ones especially and in nothing more than in this Matter How fondly and presumptuously do many Boast of their Propriety in God when alas they have no manner of Interest in him It was the very Case of Laodicea She