GOD set up two great Lights in Solomons Heart, one shewing the Excellency of Christ, Ecclesiastes, i. e. a Preacher. in the Canticles; the other, the Vanity of the Creature, as in Ecclesiastes, which is the second Book of Solomon; and it is called Ecclesiastes because Solomon was so called: And that either because he speaks unto a Multitude at once, or else because of his Wisdom, with which he was indeed (after a copious manner) endowed. The whole Book is a [Page 2] declaration of Solomons repentance written in his old age, as may be gather'd both out of the title of it, and the closure of it in, the six last verses, and also out of the whole body of it, being written upon a serious view of the passages and practices of his life past, and the great and manifold experience he made and found therein. He treats chiefly of the worlds vanity, true felicity, the maladies of old age, & the Advantage of being good betimes. Hence it is that young men in the conclusion of all are call'd upon to mind their Creator; and that whatsoever they are employed in besides is vanity of vanities, and no wise yielding true satisfaction, but anxiety and torment unto their souls.
Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth, while the evil dayes come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I [Page 3] have no pleasure in them.
The words in general do press unto a duty of the greatest moment in the world; wherein you may take notice of these several things.
1. The Act, Remember. 2. The Object, Creator. 3. The adjunct of Time; Now, in the dayes of thy youth, exegetically repeated, while the evil dayes come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.
The words will afford us many points of Doctrine. I shall only observe two, and so insist upon them.
Doct. 1. That above all things whatsoever, we should not forget, but Remember our Creator.
[Page 4] Doct. 2. That there is great reason why we should remember our Creatour in the dayes of our youth, The evil dayes spoken of in the text, and the years wherein we have no pleasure, is old age. even while we are young, and before old age over-takes us.
These in order; and with the first I begin, viz. That above all things whatsoever, we should not forget, but Remember our Creator.
The prosecution of this Point, I purpose, through Gods assistance in this wise:
1. I shall set my self to amplifie it. 2. To Apply it.
The amplification will consist of Explication and confirmation.
1. Explication, and so I shall shew you. 1. What this Creator is. 2. What it is to remember our Creator. 3. What it is to remember our Creator above all things whatsoever.
1 First, I am to shew you, What this Creator is, whom we are call'd [Page 5] upon in the text to mind, Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth.
In the Hebrews it is (Thy Creatours) alluding to the Trinity, so that by Creatour we are to understand God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; for though the Creation of the world is peculiarly ascribed to God the Father, and look't upon as his proper work, in respect of order and relation, as he is the first person of the Trinity, yet not so as to exclude the rest; Quoad ordinem, Patris oper andi modus est à se, per Filium, & Spiritum Sanctum. Hinc origo rerum, nempe Creatio, propriè tribuitur Patri, qui ordine originis est personarum prima. Deus) Hebr. Elohim, id est, unus ex Elohim, scil. Pater, alloqui Filium & Spiritum Sanctum Synecd. integri. Non alloquitur Angelos. Piscat. in loc. for all the persons of the Trinity (to speak after the manner of men) had a hand in the Creation of the world, Gen. 1. 26. And God said, Let us make man ni our Image, after our likeness: who should the Father [Page 6] speak unto here; Let us, but unto the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Secondly, What it is to Remember our Creator; It is not onely a bare thinking on him, and that now and then, but to remember our Creator implyes these several things.
First, To know him; to know that he is, and what he is. That God is, and that he is to be worshipped, is, [...], Homo naturâ duplicem format syllogismum de Deo, theoricum et practicum. Theoricus est duplex 1. Deus est: ergo debeo eum cognoscere. 2. Deus est bonus, ergo debeo cum colere. Practicus est, in quo conscientia format assumptionem: Deus mihi bonus est; Ergo mihi est colendus, Alsted. Syst. Theolog. a Law written in the heart of man, and that which the book of the Creatures teacheth as well as the book of the Scriptures. But now who This God is, and the right mode of worshipping him, many are at a loss; and the candle-light of Nature (without the help of the Holy Spirit in and by the Scriptures) [Page 7] cannot direct us, neither can our knowledge of God by them be a comprehensive knowledge, what God is in his Essence, in his Attributes, in his persons & in his works, no man or Angel hath, doth, or ever shall know; Though we must (if we would remember our Creator aright) know something of each, yet he must have the wisdom of God, and so be a God, that comprehendeth God in his Essence, Attributes, Persons and works, what say you now Sirs, do you remember your Creator in this sense? such who do not experimentally know God, that he is; and in measure, What he is, cannot properly be said to Remember him. Remember your Creator, that is no less than the Import of knowing and acknowledging your selves with God, whereby peace may come unto you, according unto that excellent counsel of Eliphaz to Iob, Acquaint now thy self [Page 6] [...] [Page 7] [...] [Page 8] with God, thereby Good shall come unto thee, Job. 22. 21.
Remember your Creator: That is of no less Import than the dying words of King David to his Son Solomon; And thou Solomon my Son, know thou the God of thy Father, 1 Chron. 28. 9.
Secondly, To Remember our Creator, implyes a reverent Fear of Him. Remembring of God is fearing of God. Prov. 23. 17. Be thou in the Fear of the Lord all the day long. How darest thou to say, that thou Remembrest God, when thou fearest him not, and hast but little dread of his Greatness in thy Heart? Where the Fear of God is, there Sin is conquer'd as to its reigning Power, and it shall no more storm Walls, demolish Castles, break through Guards, beat up Quarters, and let in Enemies. Thou canst fear Afflictions, Death, or any Evil approaching towards thee, and for the diverting whereof, applyest thy self to the Means in order thereunto, but how little doest thou use thy Strength and Prudence [Page 9] against Sin that cursed thing, and which rendreth thee obnoxious to the Wrath of God, which if thou fearest not here, shalt hereafter to thy sorrow and eternal detriment.
Thou canst reverence a Person of Quality, or any Earthly Monarch, and when Access unto him is granted thee, how great is thy Care and Diligence in demeaning thy self before him? and how dost thou tremble lest by any uncomely Gesture or Action thou shouldst offend him, By the Fear of God Men do not only depart from that which is Evil, but are also inclin'd to do that which is Good. knowing that in case of Default, thou mayst not onely meet with Repulse, but also Penalty? And shall the Presence of Worms so awe thee, and not God, in whose presence the blessed Saints and Angels cover their Faces, as being unworthy of Beholding him? Prov. 16. 6. It's no marvel why Conscience bears so little sway now adayes, Deut. 5. 29. why Piety is so little countenanc'd, why Gods Glory [Page 10] is so little preferr'd, why one Man even becomes a Devil to another, and why Young men Remember not their Creator. The Reason of all lies here; So did not I ( said good Nehemiah) because of the fear of God. The Fear of God is not before their Eyes, nor his Greatness studyed by them. Our Creator is God over all Blessed for evermore, the Lord of Hosts is his Name; all the Creatures are at his Beck and Check; he is the stronger side, and whosoever fears the Lord, need not fear any thing else. Confidence and strong Confidence is in the Fear of the Lord, Prov. 14. 26. yea a Fear-freeing Fear this Fear is.
Thirdly, To Remember our Creator implies setting the Mind on work on the Excellencies of him. Pulchra sunt omnia faciente te Domine, & ecce tu inenarr abiliter pulchrior qui fecisti omnia. Chrys. All those things which thou hast made, are beautifull, but thou thy self art infinitely more beautifull. Psal. 104. v. 34. My Meditation of him shall be sweet. The [Page 11] Excellencies of God are many, great and incommunicable: Many and wonderfull are the Excellencies of the Creature, but not to be compar'd with God's; because all Creature-Excellencies are but Derivatives. Some Eyes have been dazled too much with the glitterings of the Creatures, so as to take the Servant for the Master; and have been so much in admiring the Glass, as that they forgot the glorious Beauty that is represented. What Worship and Adoration hath the Sun had? even almost as much as the great Creator of Heaven and Earth himself. Strange! that they should see so darkly, as not to discern the Face from the Veil that covers it. For the Sun is at best but umbra Dei, and nubecula citò transitura, a mere spot, a cloud, if compar'd with so bright an Essence; and as He saith notably, the same Worshippers must needs be [...], Atheists in the Night-time. And what are the Streams, compar'd to the Fountain; the Rivers to the Ocean, and the excellencies of the Creature to the Excellencies of the Creator? being in him primitively and incommunicably, yea the proper subject and seat of all Excellencies whatsoever, God is. And canst thou Ovain young man set thy Heart on these transitory Excellencies of the Creature, [Page 12] and yet canst not look up so high as to the Creator, and take a View of his glorious and transcendent Excellencies that have and do ravish the Hearts of all their Contemplators? Davids Meditations of his Creators Excellencies were sweet unto him. Call back, O young Man, all thy stragling Affections; it is high time now, they have been long enough seeking Rest in these terrene things, and finding none. Call home (O vain man) thy Love, thy Joy, Hope, Grief and Fear: These are to the Soul, as the Souldiers to the Centurion; If he said to one, Go, he went; if to another, Come, he came: These (say some) are the Messengers of the Will; these (say others) are the Wheels, the Chariots, the Wings, the Feet of the Soul. But now if thy Love, which is the first, and General of all the Affections, should be set, not on God, but the World; if [Page 13] your Hatred should be directed, not against Sin, but Good men, or (which is worse) against Goodness it self; if your Zeal should not be pure Flames for Divine Glory, but a burning Rage against the Truth of God; if your Fear should not be a flight from Evil, but an Apostasie from Christ; if your Anger should be a Displeasure at anothers Eminencies, and not at your own Exorbitances; if your Hope should not be a well-ballanced Expectation of Happiness, but a blind and venturous Presumption of Mercy; and if your Grief should be a trouble that you cannot be and doe more evil; Ah how vile, how irregular, how dangerous are Affections thus misplac'd! When Love and Hatred keep to their right Centres, and move towards their proper Objects, to love nothing but Good, to hate nothing but Evil.
[Page 14]Fourthly, To Remember our Creator implies to recollect our selves, and return unto him as the Fountain of our Salvation, Psal. 22. 27.
All the Ends of the World shall remember and turn unto the Lord.
By Sin we have Apostatiz'd from God; are we yet return'd unto him? is there a Conversion of the whole man unto God? Are Old things past away, and all things become New? Hast thou a New Heart? till then thou canst not remember God with any Affection. Hast thou a New Will? till then thou canst not do as thou oughtest. Hast thou a New Eye? till then thou canst not see the difference that there is between things Spiritual and Temporal. Hast thou a new Appetite? till then thou canst not know what is bitter, or what is sweet. Every Faculty is become the seat of Sin, and therefore a Necessity there is, of a universal [Page 15] Change. The Understanding is dark, and stands in need of Divine Illumination. The Will is contumacious, Man is defiled à capite ad calcem, from Head to Foot; that (as the Philosopher saith concerning the Soul, It is in every part; where there is Life, there is the Soul, for the Soul is the Life; so) whatever is in us, and cometh from us, and is acted by us, receiveth defilement from us. Sin is like a Leprosie, over the whole man; like a gangrene spreading over the whole Soul. and needeth the Almighty Power of God to make it flexible. The Memory is weak, and needeth supernatural strengthening. The Affections are dull, and need spiritual Operation. The Conscience is benumm'd, and needeth the beams of God's Spirit to warm it, and quicken it, that it may no more mislead, and be as a blind Guide. And thus our whole Life is crooked and perverse; hast thou gotten it made strait by a sincere Repentance and Reformation? The Holy Scriptures are a Rule, hast thou measured thy Life by it? The Curse of the Law hangs on thee, why dost thou not satisfie its Demands, [Page 16] and Appeal to the Grace of God in Christ for freedom therefrom? Thy miseries (O Natural man) are many, great, and intolerable, why dost thou not endeavour to extricate thy self out of them? Read this Scripture, O Graceless Prodigal: Psal. 9. 19. The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the Nations that forget God.
Recollect therefore your selves, oh Old Men, before your dayes are quite concluded. Remember your Creator Oh Young Men, while the evil dayes come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Is it not better to live than die, turn than burn? O Sirs, persist not till it be too late, but choose God your chiefest Good, onely Good, suitable Good, and everlasting Good.
Fifthly, To Remember our Creator, implies a due Considering what [Page 17] may Please or Displease him.
Col. 1. 10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
But how few are there that make this their work, studying how to please God? Doth not the Course of their Lives rather tend to the contrary? Who lives to please God, but rather to displease him? How little is Gods Favour now adayes esteemed of? Most of us are ambitious of doing things that may please Persons highly dignified in this World, but the pleasing of God is look'd upon as a superfluity, and that which may be as well omitted as perform'd; as if Gods good word would not honour us so much as a Mortals, and His Favour do us more good than the Favour of Man, whose breath is in his Nostrils, and must suddenly perish. Mans Favour is good in its place, but when compar'd with Gods, there is vast difference as to the [Page 18] Nature, In thy favour is life, Psal. 30. 5. Property, Effects and Perpetuity of it. Foolish therefore is he who preferres the pleasing of Man before the pleasing of God, and chooseth rather the one than the other; that can remember what pleaseth the Creature, but not what pleaseth the Creator. This is preferring the less before the greater, and the Servant before the Master. How stands it therefore with us? Are Gods Smiles our Heaven, and his Frowns our Hell? Is there nothing that we take in hand, but we seriously pensitate and ponder it in our Minds, saying with our selves, Will this and that make for Gods Glory? if so, I'le do it; if not, I shall forbear. But, Oh Christians, how many are remiss in this kind of spiritual Exercise, excusing themselves with Phrases that will not excuse them at the Day of Judgement. This is too strict, say some; what need is there [Page 19] of it, say others? and, Who can do so, is the language of many: But I wish I might have the Opportunity of telling part of my Mind to such persons. Is there not a Necessity of Remembring our Creator, if we would prosper? but can we remember him aright, if we please him not? and if we please him not, can we be saved?
Sixthly, To Remember our Creator, implies a remembring his Mercies and retaining a thank full sense thereof.
Psal. 106. 21. They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt.
Doest thou often think on the Mercies of God, so frequently and bountifully conferred on thee? Doest thou often revish thy Soul in calling Mercies past to mind, living upon Mercies present, and depending upon Mercies to come? Remember your Creator, will surely [Page 20] bear this Interpretation without any wrong to the words. Remember what your Creator has done for you, his Mercies bestowed on you in such and such a kind, at such and such a Time, in such and such a Place, among such and such Company. It is a sign that we sincerely esteem, and heartily remember a Friend, when we do not forget his Kindness, but do even write them down in our Memorandum Book: And so it stands good in this Case also; if we say, we remember God, and forget his Mercies, we lie, and the Truth is not in us; it being that which cannot stand together. Such who have received Mercies from the hands of God, yea such Mercies without which they could not have subsisted, and yet are unthankfull, Hostis Gratiae, inimica salutis. Bern. forgetting both God and his Benefits too, surely such of all are most ungratefull. Mercies above us, and beneath us, [Page 21] Mercies before us and behind us, Mercies on the right hand and on the left, renders us (if still we are barren) the most ungratefull Monsters that ever lived on Earth. To be unthankfull, where there is the greatest reason of being thankfull, is Folly in the Abstract. And where Mercy is not a Load-stone to draw to God, it will be a Millstone to sink into Hell. Vinegar you know 'tis [...] Filius Vini; and the sweetest Wine degenerates into the sharpest vinegar. And as nothing is more cold than Lead, yet nothing more scalding than that when melted; so nothing is more sweet than mercy, when thankfully received, yet nothing more terrible than that when abused; Grace abused turns to fury, and Mercies forgotten turn to sore Wrath.
Seventhly and lastly, To Remember our Creator, is to serve and obey him; and this indeed is [Page 22] the summe of all, Deut. 8. 11. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his Commandments and his Iudgements, and his Statutes, which I command thee this day.
Many, Every wicked man carries (saith one) the Devils, Pack. nay more serve the Devil and their own Lusts, than there do serve God. God made man for himself, but he hath less from him than any other Creature. Man should serve God, and that in the first place; but instead thereof he serves himself first, the Devil and his Lusts first. Oh, wonderfull Degeneration, and the Cursedness of our lapsed Estate! One would think it incredible, that the Creature should not serve the Creator; we may Wonder at it indeed, and yet Believe it we must, because that it is, nothing is more certain; God who is Truth it self hath said so, and we by daily Experience find it so: here then is a Mystery of Iniquity, That Man [Page 23] should Renounce God who made him, and Side with the Devil who hates him, and will Eternally destroy him, if still sided with: That Man should take more Delight in Self-destruction, than in Self-felicitating: That Man should sell himself to sin, and take more delight therein than in Obeying one reasonable Commandement: Why should all this be, O vain man? Are the wayes of God unequal, his Demands impossible, his Commands intollerable? Have a care of harbouring hard thoughts of God, who hath said that his Yoak is easie, and his burden is light, Matth. 11. 29.
If thou hast but a mind to be engaged in the Service of God, God's Spirit is an assisting and supporting Spirit. let not the Difficulties that attend it discourage thee; but know, that God can by the sweet Discoveries of himself (whilest thou art in his Service) chear thy Heart, and make that which seemed hard [Page 24] and difficult, the very Delight of thy Soul. Iacobs meeting with, and enjoying of Rachel, rendered his hard and long Service easie and delightfull unto him: And so a feeling of Gods Spirit moving on thy Heart, when thou art engaged in any Religious Exercise, will make it joyous and not grievous, a Delight and not a Burden, a Heaven, and not an Hell.
Besides, holy Obedience is only hard and difficult to the Ignoble part of a Saint, viz. the Flesh, not to the Noble part of a Saint, viz. the Soul. All the Wayes of God (though tending to the pulling out of right Eyes, and cutting off of right Hands) are wayes of Pleasantness to the Noble part of a Saint. So far as every Christian is Renewed, he is best when he can serve God most, according unto the Apostle; I delight in the Law of God after the inward Man: with my Mind I serve the Law of [Page 25] God, though with my Flesh the Law of Sin.
Remember thy Creator; that is, Remember him so as to love, serve, and obey him. And thus you have heard first and last the full Import of these words; Remember thy Creator.
The third thing I am to speak unto by way of Explication, is this. What is it to remember our Creator above all-things whatsoever, which may fall under these three heads.
- 1. Loving God above all things whatsoever.
- 2. Fearing God above all things whatsoever.
- 3. Obeying God above all things whatsoever.
First, Loving God above all things whatsoever. Here is Love in its highest stature, and such a kind of Love God requires; nay, no other Love will he acccept of; [Page 26] either of that kind we must give him, or none at all. The prime of our Affections must God have; and indeed who deserves Love is due to God, not onely for the Good he hath done us, and for the Good that we hope for from him, but for the Good that is in him. Yea God is to be loved for himself. Du Moulin, Treatise of Peace and Contentment of Mind. them more than He? who shall have them, if not He? Verily, our selves have not so great a right unto our selves, as He? We and our selves, and all that is ours are Gods; yea we are more Gods than our own. How is it then, that God is no more lov'd than he is, and that even some who profess Love unto him, do not love him above all things whatsoever? Surely here lies the Reason, Ignorance, Ignorance, Ignorance; Ignoti nulla cupido, sayes the old Poet; what we know not, we love not. Did persons but know God more, they would love him more. O who would not but love that infinite Love and [Page 27] Excellency, though he had no Interest of his own in it! God is Love it self, and if we will not love Love it self, surely we are distracted.
Doest thou therefore, O my Soul, Remember thy Creator? and doest thou so Remember him as to Love him? Tota Lex Christi tribus literulis includitur: Ama. Deum ama, & omnes leges servasti. Drexelius. and doest thou so love him, as to love him above all things whatsoever? How many, I fear, if weighed in the Ballance would be found wanting as to this, which is the summe and substance of Christianity! And shall I here expostulate with the Young man? What sayest thou? Art thou willing to give Christ the First-born of every Affection in thy Soul? Doest thou love God above all things whatsoever? Doest thou love him above thy Relations, Estate, and very Life? Canst thou preferre Gods Glory before all Secular Interest whatsoever, and even deny thy [Page 28] very Life for him, if called thereunto? This indeed is Love like Gold tried in the Fire. Verily, when Carnal Relations come in competition with, and stand in opposition unto Christ, we must hate them; when our Friends would prove Snares, and hinder us from doing our Duty, Christus inter Amicos maximus. we must either leap over them, or tread upon them; like Galeacius Caracciolus, that most famous Patron and Second Moses; who though he was the Son of a Marquess, the Pope's Nephew, yet deserted Italy, and (with Moses) Pharaoh's Court, treading upon and leaping over his Wife and Children, rather than he would worship Idols, and so that he might be with Reverend Calvin, under his Ministry in Geneva. So that in this case, Odium in suos, is Pietas in Deum. Ierome likewise hath an excellent passage: If my Wife (saith he) should hang about my [Page 29] Neck, Praecepta docent, exempla movent. my Mother shew me the Breasts that gave me suck, perswading me to deny Christ, I would not.
Peter though a Friend and Disciple of Christ, yet when he prov'd a Tempter, Christ saith unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan. I cannot omit that excellent Passage of Mr. Swinnock, Treatise of making Religion ones Business, pag. 333. that Laborious and Pious Divine, concerning Love to God, being as followeth: I wish (since Love is the greatest thing my Saviour can give, for God is Love, and the greatest which I can give my Saviour,) that his love to me may be reflected back again; that my chiefest Love may be as a Fountain seal'd up to all others, and broached onely for him who is altogether lovely, that I may hate Father, Mother, Wife, Child, House and Land, out of Love to him; that many Waters of Affliction may not quench this Love, but rather like snuffers make this Lamp to burn the brighter.
[Page 30]Again, Doest thou love Christ (O Young man) above thy Estate or this present World? Hast thou put thy Love to Christ in one Ballance, and thy Love to the World in another; Mr. Francis Xavarias counsel'd Iohn the Third, King of Portugal, to meditate every day, a quarter of an hour upon this Text: What shall it profit a man to gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul, Mark 8. 36? and doth thy Love to Christ weigh down thy Love to the World? or is not thy Case like the young Man in the Gospel, who was Christs Hearer, but not his Follower: When Christ said unto him, Sell all and give to the Poor; it is said, Abiit tristis, he went away sorrowfull, Mat. 19. 22. Doth the World lye nearer thy heart than Christ? How then dost thou love Christ above all things whatsoever?
Again, The Apostle Paul carryed the Image of Christ in his heart as a Saint, the Message of Christ in his mouth as a Minister, and the Mark of Christ in his body as a Martyr. Is Christ (O young Man) of more esteem unto thee than [Page 31] thy Life? canst thou lay it down for his sake? His Love to thee was stronger than Death, is thy Love to him stronger than Life? Can wicked Men be content to suffer for their Lusts, and will not ye suffer for Christ?
Heroick Luther hath an Expression, and indeed it is like himself: I would rather (saith he) be a Martyr than a Monarch. And the same said again, Disce mori ut vivat Christi Gloria: Learn to die that the Glory of Christ may live.
Such who do preferre Christ, The way to Paradise is by a flaming Sword, the way to Canaan is through a howling Wilderness, and the way to Heaven is by the Gates of Hell. think not much to die for him; and that it is so, see it confirm'd in this Cloud of Witnesses. The Prophet Isaiah was kill'd with a Saw, Ieremiah with Stones, Amos with an Iron-barre, and St. Luke was hanged on an Olive-tree: So that this is clear, he who preferres his Life before Christ, is not worthy of him. He that with Iudas [Page 32] and Spira will rather sin than suffer, must with them suffer a Hell on this side of Hell.
Secondly, Fearing God above all things whatsoever. Thou fearest thy Father and Mother, thy Master, and such who have the Rule over thee; but doest thou fear thy Maker? How many, I fear, (especially Young men) may I find tardy in this? Why now to remember thy Creator above all things whatsoever, is to fear him; and to fear him above all things whatsoever, is to fear him in an otherguise manner than one Mortal fears another. Civil or Natural Difference among us here below, commandeth proportionable Reverence, and if such Reverence be due from one Creature to another, when they are all made of the same coarse earthly Mould, and must all be buried in the bowels of their common Mother, the Earth; when there [Page 33] is no Essential, but onely an Extrinsecal difference between them: What Fear and Reverence then is due from us poor dust and ashes to the God of the Spirits of all Flesh, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, between whom and his Creatures there is an infinite distance! O be perswaded (above all things) to fear that glorious and fearfull Name, The Lord thy God. That Name which is the greatest prop of thine Affiance, commandeth thy Fear and Reverence, when thou hearest: In the fear of God give Audience to his Word; Constantine the Great, when hearing a Sermon, would ever and anon start out of his Chair of State, and stand up for a while, being affected, and (it may be) terrified with the Word, insomuch that his Courtiers were amazed, because such a posture did not become so high a place. Euseb. de vit. Constant. l. 3. c. 17. Acts 13. 16. Poor Peasants should tremble when this Prince is speaking. It becomes the greatest Person to be awfull in Gods Presence, more than in the presence of any other. Abraham, who had the honour and favour [Page 34] to be Gods Friend, yet when God spake to him, fell on his face, Gen. 17. 3. Moses, though high in the Heart of God, yet is humble when he hears from God; He bowed his Head towards the Earth and worships, Exod. 34. 8.
And so when thou prayest, put up thy Petitions to God with a great deal of Trepidation, knowing that though thou takest upon thee to speak unto the great God of Heaven and Earth, yet still thou art but Dust and Ashes. Luther prayed with Confidence as to a Father, Tantâ reverentiâ ut si Deo, & tantâ fiduciâ ut si amico. but with Reverence as to a God. Thou art at best but a Begger, and a proud heart will not suit a Beggers purse. The Eastern Christians when they called on God, threw themselves on the ground.
The Lord will give Grace and Glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly, Psal. 84. 11.
[Page 35]God resisteth the proud, [...]. but giveth Grace to the humble.
God sets himself in battel-array against a proud man, as the Greek word emphatically signifies: To this man will I look, Deus propitius est illis qui dolent quòd ipsum peccatis suic offenderunt, ac proinde trepidant, quum cogitant se damnationem aeternam esse meritos. Piscat. in loc. even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my Word, Isa. 66. 2.
Again, when thou approachest to the Lords Supper, is another special time when God should be more than ordinarily reverenced and feared. This is Mysterium tremendum, a Mystery to be trembled at. Read that excellent Scripture. [...], v. 28. [...], v. 29. Let us have Grace whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire, Heb. 12. 28, 29.
[Page 36]This holy Fear and Trembling it is that graceth all our performances, and makes them acceptable unto God.
Thirdly, Obeying God above all things whatsoever. All Service must be denyed, rather than Gods must be neglected: Not that I would hereby encourage Servants unto Neglect in their Masters Employ, that is not my drift; that which I would have Servants and all do, is serving and obeying God in a right manner. And now God is obey'd and serv'd in a right manner, and above all things whatsoever,
First, [...], Esau mourned, Iudas confessed, Ahab humbled himself in dust, and Cain sacrificed, but none of these were accepted with God, because the root of the matter was not in them. When he is serv'd sincerely and without the mixtures of hypocrisie. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, 1 Cor. 5. 6.
My Son give me thy Heart, Prov. 23. 26.
[Page 37]'Tis the Heart that God looks at, the Heart that God requires, and the Heart it is that makes the Service acceptable, and shews the sincerity of him that performs it. My Son give me thy heart; not lend me thy Ear, or afford me thy Tongue. A Sacrifice unto God without the Heart, is an abomination unto him. I hate your Burnt-Offerings, my Soul nauseates your solemn Assemblies. Odi Dianos, & dona [...]erentes. Bring me no more vain Oblations; [...]. Hypocrisie spoyls every Prayer, Hypocritae cupit se videri justum. soyls every Ordinance, stains and discolours every Duty, invenoms every Mercy. If such an one Pray, 'tis esteemed Howling; if he Mourn, 'tis hanging down the head like a Bulrush; if he Sacrifice, 'tis cutting off a Dogs Neck; if he Rejoyce, 'tis but a Blaze, a crackling of Thorns under the Pot.
Secondly, When he is serv'd, not [Page 38] with a servile, but with a filial Fear; when he is serv'd, not with constraint, but willingly and chearfully. God loves a willing Servant. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, Psal. 110. 3. Hebr. Willingnesses, the Abstract, and in the Plural Number. See Psal. 68. 10. As if the Holy Ghost could not speak enough how willing they are, to note exceeding great willingness to submit to every Commandment of the Lord; or it may signifie Free-will Offerings, voluntary Oblations. Jun. & alii. Religion should be full of Alacrity. Heavenly Duties and spiritual Performances are to flow freely from the Soul, like those voluntary drops that come sweating from the Honey-comb of its own accord, without any pressing or crushing. It is onely the Dregs of Obedience that will not come forth without squeezing and wringing. The better any thing is, the more freely doth it diffuse it self. If therefore you would serve God as you should do, serve him with a chearfull Fear; because Chearfulness puts a gloss and lustre upon Religion, and makes it amiable even in the eyes of the world.
[Page 39]Thirdly, When he is served universally, in all respects, in Holiness towards God, in Righteousness towards man.
Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy Commandments, Psal. 119. 6.
How many are there that pick and cull their Duties, and so indeed serve not the will of God, but their own Choyce? That answer the Lord with half-Obedience, like the Eccho, which makes not a perfect Respondence of the Voice, but of some part thereof? Many make such a difference amongst the Tables, Our Obedience must be compleat. as if onely one side, or one part were of Gods writing; The Man that (like Agrippa) doth but almost Believe, almost Repent, almost Obey, that man shall be sav'd proportionably, almost.
Fourthly, When he is serv'd constantly; not now and then admitting Cessations, but all the [Page 40] dayes of our Life, We must not only begin well but end well. constantly in all Estates, unto the End, Col. 1. 10. I have done with Explication, and so have shewed you the Import of Remembring your Creator, Finit coronat Opus. as it lies before you in the Text and Doctrine. The Second part of the Amplification will be Confirmation, which shall consist of several Scripture-Reasons.
First, Rea. 1. Above all things whatsoever, we must not forget, but Remember our Creator, because He hath commanded us: Remember thy Creator. Doth it become a Child when commanded, to dispute his Fathers Command? Is it not his Father that commands him, and therefore he must do it? Why, is not God the Father of us all by Creation, and are we not obliged to Obey him? The Wind and Seas do obey him, and shall We turn Rebels? All Creatures pay Homage unto him, and shall Man refuse? Doth the Oxe [Page 41] know his Owner, and the Ass his Masters Crib; Isa. 1. 3. And shall not we whom God hath endowed with Reason, and made capaces Religionis, capable of Religion? Are all the Creatures at Gods beck, and ready to obey him whensoever he desireth it, and yet shall we spurn against him, provoking him to wrath, and grieving his holy Spirit? Why cannot we find in our hearts to obey our Father, Creator and Lord? Is he not our Sovereign, and have any gone on in a course of Rebellion against him, that did ever prosper? Is it not a vain thing to stand it out with God, or contend with the Almighty? Would it not be more advantagious to lay down the Weapons, and crie peccavi, than to wrestle and be foyl'd, fight and be kill'd? Is it not better to remember our Friend, that he may remember us, when the proudest and most ambitious [Page 42] shall e're long see their need of him.
Secondly, Rea. 2. We must not forget, but above all things Remember our Creator, Religion that was first in Gods intention, is now become last in mans execution. because it is the End of our Creation. Man was made to love, serve and obey his Maker, and God hath made him capable, though now by Sin degenerated.
Thirdly, Rea. 3. God who made us, can destroy us; our Creator is our Preserver; God can easily look us into the Grave, & frown us into Hell. as we had our Being from God, so on him doth our Being depend. The same Power that made the World, upholds the World; the same God that made us out of nothing, can make us into nothing: It concerns us therefore that all of us do see to this main thing, Remember thy Creator. Are we not in Gods hands, as the Clay is in the hands of the Potter; we are his Creatures, and he may do with us what he pleaseth, and who shall gainsay [Page 43] or oppose him in the least? Let us now therefore deferre no longer, but remember and call to mind our Holy Creator, lest he becomes so angry as not to be pacified, but to destroy us for evermore.
Fourthly, God is a bountifull Benefactor, he feeds us, cloaths us, and gives us House-room, and therefore not to remember him, is double Ingratitude. God shewed Mercy unto thee before thou couldst understand it; he prevented thee with Blessings, before thou couldst desire them. He is a beast in the shape of a Man, that will not serve that God at whose Mercy he lies every moment. When thou wast in the Womb, his Bounty embrac'd thee; when thou hangedst on thy Mothers Breast, he did care for thee. How many years are past, in which thou wast not? yet God erected this House of thy Body for thee; gave thee a Reasonable Soul, made thee a Man and not a Stone or a Serpent; And yet wilt thou [Page 44] not love this God, take delight in this God, fear this God, serve and obey this God? Is it not in and by him that thou livest, movest and hast thy being? Is not the Aire which thou breathest in, his? Is not the Night and Day his, whose Intercourses serve for thy Labour and Rest? Is not the Earth his, whose Fruits do nourish thee most plentifully? Yea doth not this Benefactor wonderfully form, furnish and conserve all the Creatures for thy sake, some whereof serve to obey thee, some to nourish thee, some to cloath thee, some to cure thee, some to chastise thee; but all of them to teach and inform thee? What sayest thou now, wilt thou resolve to think now and then on this precious Creator of ours? Muzzle not, I beseech you, the mouth of Conscience, but give it leave to speak its mind freely.
Fifthly, We should not forget, [Page 45] but above all things remember our Creator, because he is our Redeemer also. We do not onely owe unto God our Creation, Sustentation, but Redemption likewise. So that thou mayst say, The work of Redemption is many wayes to be admired more than Creation. I was in the jaws of Hell, but thou O God didst pluck me out by the Blood of thy Son; I was the slave of Satan, but thy Grace hath deliver'd me out of his power: I owe unto thee more than I can perform for my Creation, how then shall I do to repay thee for my Redemption? The lost Sheep thou hast deliver'd out of the Claws of the infernal Wolf. The fugitive Slave thou hast brought out of the Prison of Hell. The lost Groat thou hast sought out with great carefulness. In Adam I fell, and thou hast erected me. In Adam I was captivated, but thou hast set me at liberty. In Adam I was lost, and again thou hast saved me.
Sixthly and lastly, we must not forget, but above all things whatwhatsoever [Page 46] Remember our Creator, God is Centrum quietativum (as the Schools speak) the proper, quieting resting Centre of the Soul, and in him alone can it truely rest. because our chiefest Happiness and Felicity consists therein. God is the summum bonum, and if we would be happy, it must be by resting in him, setling and staying the heart on him, not the Creature but the Creator is the Souls Centre: The Soul is immortal, and nothing can satisfie it but God who is immortal.
The Needle of the Compass trembles till it turns to the North Pole. There is in Man a Natural Pulse that beats after Happiness. Noahs Dove could find no rest for the sole of her foot, till she came to the Ark. Return unto thy Rest, In h [...]c peccabam quod non in Deo, sed in creaturis ejus, me atque caeteras voluptates quarebam, atque ita irruebamin dolores, confusiones & errores animae. Aug. O my Soul, Psal. 116. 7. There is an impossibility of finding true Rest, Solace, and Satisfaction of [Page 47] Soul any where but in God, and with God alone. You may as soon find Life in Death, or Light in Darkness, as Rest for your Souls any where but in God alone. On the transitory things of this world the Soul often seeks for Rest, but finds it not, why? Because the Soul is more worthy than all the Creatures. God is the End whereunto the Soul was created: For it was made after the Image of God; therefore it cannot be quiet and at rest but in its End, that is, in God. As the Soul is the Life of the Body, so is God the Life of the Soul. Tu bonum null▪ indigens bouo, semper quietus es, quoniam tua quies tuipse es. Idem. And where wilt thou go, Sinner? thou canst not find Rest here below in any thing at all. Can Sin give rest, that is the greatest Evil in the world? Can that give rest, that is the Cause of all the Confusions and Desolations that are in the world? Can that give Rest, that was the first and onely Cause and Founder of [Page 48] Hell? Can that give rest, that makes us like the Devil, that restless Spirit? will you have recourse to the good things of this world, to Creature-comforts and Enjoyments; to Friends, Relations, Estate, and the like? The Creatures (sayes a worthy Divine) are not good; at least they are not the Souls good; nothing (says he) but an infinite Godhead can allay your hunger after Happiness. And so another; The understanding, Will and Affections are such a Triangle, as that nothing but the Trinity can sill them. Dura sunt omnia, & tu solus requies: Bonus est qui secit me, & ipse est bonum meum, & illi exulto omnibus bonis meis. All things (sayes Austin) are full of trouble and difficulty; Thou alone, He is Good that made me (saith Aug) and he is My Good, and in him do I exult and rejoyce. O God, art the true Rest. All things on this side God have their Mixtures, they have a dark as well as a bright side: Is not our Wine mixt with Water, our Honey with Gall, [Page 49] our Sugar with Wormwood, and our Roses with Prickles? But now God is every way a pure and immixed Good; He is all Light, Love, Sweetness and Holiness. Deus meus, Vita mea, Dulcedo mea, &c. O my God, my Life, my Sweetness! saith Augustine. Why then should we seeke Happiness in those things that cannot give us Health, or Strength, or Ease, or a good Nights Rest, or an Hours Sleep, or a good Stomach.
The Application of the first Doctrine.
It will be of great Use unto us by way of Reprchension, Exhortation and Commendation.
First, Vse 1. By way of Reprehension; if this be so, then such are to be Reproved that neither remember God or his Mercies, whose Minds are fill'd with Vanity, and swell therewith, but God and his Mercies [Page 50] are out of their Thoughts.
Secondly, Vse 2. By way of Exhortation; we who have given God but little of our Time, Strength and superior Powers, let us now begin; For shame let us not live longer in the world without God and Christ; how comfortless and dangerous is it? Some of us have liv'd a great while, and yet have not made choyce of our chiefest Good, but are as far from it as when we came first into the world.
Thirdly, Vse 3. You who have call'd upon God betimes, and do serve, love and obey him, are to be commended; and whatsoever Reputation or Fame ye may get among men, yet know this is your highest Dignity, that you Know God, Obey God, Love God, and Walk with God. This Man fears God, is an Encomium indeed.
The Second Doctrine is this:
There is great Reason why we should Remember our Creator in the dayes of our Youth, Doct. 2. even while we are young, and before Old Age overtakes us.
And this I shall endeavour to make obvious in these several particulars.
First, Rea. 1. Because your Creator requires it. Young men, God calls upon you, saying, Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth. Young men, Ministers call upon you, saying, Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth. Young men, Good Company calls upon you, saying, Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth. Angels desire it, the Spirit strives; Christs Invitation is, Come; the Gospel cries, Now; and what, will you rather listen unto Satan? will nothing prevail with you? Shall [Page 52] God call for your Youth, and will you deny it? How can ye think then to prosper? As therefore you would tender your own safety, answer like the Eccho; Lord doest thou call for my Youth? O take it then, and thank thee too; for what is there in me that should attract God, and make him accept of me? My Youth, is it not full of Levity, Wantonness and Vanity? Am I not all over corrupt, from the Crown of the Head unto the sole of the Foot, full of wounds, bruises and putrifying Sores? Iuventutis assecla est stultitia; as a Page follows his Master, so Folly follows Youth. Nazian. orat. 46. in Ecclesiast. Am I not (especially considering me in my Youth) as an untamed Beast? all my Actions being rash and rude, Vicina la [...]sibus est Adolescentia: Youth is the Age whereunto men are neerest, and most ready to fall; witness the Prodigal. and no Good in me can be found at all; my Affections being strong, are impatient of Reproof and Correction, they will [Page 53] not submit their shoulders to the Yoke of God, but like wild shee-Asses they snuffe up the wind, and despise the Hunter. Satan hath Temptations suited to every Age: And the Age whereupon he works most busily, and prevails most mightily, is Youth. The Devil he is for the prime of our Dayes, and God he is for the prime of our Dayes, and who hath the most right, God or the Devil? surely God, thy Conscience will say: But yet how many (notwithstanding this) are there that give their young and lusty years unto the Prince of the Aire, the God of this World, who allures them so to doe, by telling them that their old, withered and decrepit Age is good enough to serve God. But Iniquity many times is repaired with a proportionable Plague, that because they will not give their young Years unto the Lord, he will not accept [Page 54] the service of their Old Age, but cuts them away, (yea, which is most fearfull, in their sins) and lets them never come to the Honour of a hoary head. Will ye now Young Men, hearken unto this, and flee Youthfull Lusts; God requires the Cream of your dayes. In the Law he required unto himself the First-fruits, Lev. 2. 14. Wheat beaten out of the green Ears; to signifie that he will be serv'd with the First-fruits of our green and flourishing Age.
Secondly, Rea. 2. Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth, because too soon you cannot Remember him. Nunquam sera est ad bonos mores via: The way to be Good is never too late. I am sure the way to be Good, is never too soon; and though Divines do say, a True Repentance is never too late, yet a late Repentance is seldom true. True Repentance (without doubt) cannot be too [Page 55] late; but then, late Repentance is very suspicious, being seldom true: Could we have served God in our Mothers Womb, yet we could not serve him too soon. And those who shall serve him to Eternity, cannot serve him too much. Hark, young men, hark, but let it not amaze you; We can never serve God too soon, because he lov'd us from Eternity; and we cannot serve him too much because he loves us to Eternity. Never fear thy setting out too soon, for the sooner the welcomer, and too soon thou canst not be. The consideration of this methinks should perplex the Aged that have lost their time, and spur on such who are in their full vigour and strength, and tempus commodum, they have for God. Know, you who are here present, and yet shall not put in practice what has been told you, will have nothing to say for your selves. You cannot [Page 56] not serve God too soon, why then do you not begin, run, and keep on in that way?
Thirdly, Rea. 3. Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth, because it is a Time that is most Acceptable. Now is the acceptable time, Now is the day of Salvation. 2 Cor. 6. 4. Upon this Monosyllable Now, (saith one) depends Eternity. As there is a present Time, so there is a present Truth to lay hold on. The great weight of Eternity hangs upon the small wire of Time. The time of our Youth is the onely time to lay hold on Eternal Life, and to make a surrender of our selves unto God and Jesus Christ. When we take a far Journey, it is requisite that we have the Morning before us. Sirs, to goe from Earth to Heaven is a great Journey, let us then be carefull to set out in the Spring and Morning of our Age; deferre not till thou beest Old, but walk while thou hast Light, lest the Darkness and Night [Page 57] of Old Age and Death overtake thee, when no man can work. If therefore, young Men, you would ever be serviceable to God, let it be while your strength lasts, and before it quite fails. Give not the Devil the Prime, Bud, Blossome, Flower of your Age, and the Cream of your dayes, and in your Old Age (when you can do nothing) offer your selves to God; as if he were bound to have you then, and onely then when the Devil has done with you: And O unreasonable Creature, that hast nothing for thy Maker but the Devils Leavings, viz. Old Age, a Receptacle of all manner of Maladies! Behold, the wrinckled Face, rotten Teeth, stinking Breath, withered with Drieness, dim'd with Blindness, absurded with Deafness, overwhelm'd with Sickness, and bowed together with Weakness, having no use of any sense but the sense of Pain. [Page 58] Therefore (said the Wise-man) Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth, Dumvires annique sinunt, tolerate laborem, I am veniet tacito curva senecta pede. Ovid. while the evil dayes come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; And so the Wiseman goes on, Allegorically describing Old Age; shewing the Miseries that do attend the same; a little whereof you may take notice of, for the quickening you unto an Improvement of your Time while ye are young. While the Sun, or the Light, or the Moon, or the Stars be not darkened, nor the Clouds return after the Rain: Shewing hereby, that in Old Age all the Abilities of the Mind shall be decayed: The Clouds retrn after the rain;] As in Winter, one Evil following another. In the day when the Keepers of the House shall tremble;] The Hands and Arms prove crazy. And the strong men shall bow themselves;] The Thighs and Leggs shall bend under [Page 59] us. And the Grinders cease, because they are few;] Dentes molares. Teeth cease. And those that look out of the Windowes be darkened;] The Eyes darkened and dimm'd with Blindness. And the Doors shall be shut in the streets;] Their Maladies so noysome, that none can come to visit them. And he shall rise up at the voyce of the Bird;] That is, take little rest; the chirping of a Bird, or any little thing shall awake and disturb him. And all the daughters of Musick shall be brought low;] This may be interpreted by comparing it with 2 Sam. 19. 35. Man goeth to his long home;] Comp. Iob 30. 23. and Isa. 26. 4. Or ever the silver Cord be loosed;] Some interpret it of the Marrow, others of the Sinews. Or the golden Bowl be broken, or the Pitcher be broken at the Fountain;] The Liver is the Fountain of Blood, the Heart of Spirits, these lose their drawing and distributing Power.
[Page 60]These things considered, viz. the Inconveniencies of Old Age, and the Fitness of Youth for the Service of his Creator, should (methinks) prevail with young men to live henceforth not unto themselves, but unto their Creator and Redeemer. The time of Youth is Seed-time. Iuveni parandum, seni utendum, Sen. The Proverb is, Youth▪ layes in, and Age lives upon it: The one sowes, the other reaps. Now is your Market-time, in which, if ye be wise, ye may make a happy Exchange of Earth for Heaven, of a Valley of Tears for a Paradise of Delights. Young Men, consider, you are now Flowers in the bloom; your Friends Delight, Primitiae terrae, & primitiae aetatis Deosacrae. your Countreys Hope; It lyeth very much in your Sphere, to be either a Crown of Rejoyceing to them, or to bring down their Gray hairs with sorrow to the Grave. But I dare not enlarge.
Fourthly, Rea. 4. Remember your Creator [Page 61] in the dayes of your Youth, because if thou thinkest of deferring till Old Age, it is a question whether thou mayst live so long; besides the Inconveniences of Old Age, which I have told you, (as above written,) The Best of us cannot promise our selves a day. The present Time is onely ours; the Morrow we are not sure of. Take Time therefore by the Forelock, and cry not Cras, Cras, to Morrow, to Morrow; Manna must be gathered in the Morning; the Orient Pearl is generated by the Morning Dew. Egregious folly it is to procrastinate and put off to the last:
At tu dum primi floret tibi temporis aetas, Vtere.
Improve your Time while you are Young.
Fifthly, Rea. 5. Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth, because the Day of Grace may have its Sunset on a sudden: Thou mayst live [Page 62] perhaps to an Old Age, but the Day of Grace may not last so long. Now the Gospel is preached, Christ crucified set forth, the assistance of the Spirit offered, It is observed, that the Season of Grace is call'd but a Day, not a Month, Week or Year. and the Gates of Heaven opened to entertain you; O therefore Now, The Season of Grace (saith one) is a Summers day for Clearness, but a Winters day for Shortness. To day if ye will hear his voyce, Heb. 3. 7. If to day thou sayst thou wilt not pray, Caesar's deferring to read his Letter before he went to the Senate-house, cost him his Life. to morrow thou mayst say thou canst not pray. Now therefore, now, as you would tender the good of your own Souls, work apace; you have the Sun-shine of the Gospel, but a Cloud will come: While the Sun therefore doth shine, cock your Hay, shock your Corn; wanton not away your Summer, lest you begge in Winter: The Night indeed is for sleeping, but the Day (especially a Sun-shine Day, a clear Day,) is [Page 63] for working. One being in a fit of Anger, a person said unto him, Domine, Sol ad Occasum; The Sun is going down. If the Sun must not go down upon our Wrath, let it not go down upon our Loytering.
Sixthly, Rea. 6. If you have your Life prolonged, and the Means of Grace continued, yet if no more gales of the Spirit be afforded, The Word is as the Wax, the Spirit is as the Seal, so that the Spirit is the principal Verbal in the sentence. what art thou the nearer? When Gods Spirit blows upon us, we shall go full Sail to Heaven. It is good striking therefore while the Iron is hot, and lanching out while Wind and Tide serve; open all thy Sails to every breath and gale of Gods Spirit: Welcome every Suggestion, reverence every Dictate, cherish every Illapse of this blessed Monitor. Let every Inspiration find thee as the Seal doth the Wax, or the Spark the Tinder.
Seventhly and lastly, Rea. 7. Remember [Page 64] your Creator in the dayes of your Youth, because the Promise is made unto Early Seekers; Prov. 8. 17. They that seek me Early, shall find me.
Application.
Is there good Reason why we should Remember our Creator in the dayes of our Youth? Then let my Message to you (O Young Men) this day be accepted. The Reasonableness of my Message I have shewed in several Respects. Did I press you to things that might tend to your hurt, it were something; but I am onely intreating you this day to be kind unto your Souls, and make your peace with God: While the dayes come not, nor the years draw nigh, when ye shall say, I have no pleasure in them.
The Result of all therefore is; Young men, Remember your Creator, by whom it is that you live, [Page 65] move, and have your Being. Forget him not, lest he forget you, but seek him Early, and ye shall find him. Motives hereunto I think very convenient. As,
First, If Honour will sway you, Motive 1. know that it is the Honourablest thing in the world to Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth. Is it commendable for a Child to obey his Earthly Father, how much more commendable is it then for us to Obey our Heavenly Father? Shun (O Young Men) the Worlds Ambition, and make this your Ambition (with good Iosiah) to set out betimes; with spiritual Isaac, to give your selves to Meditation while ye are young; with heavenly Iacob, to prize and seek the Blessing, while others in the use of their vain Sports lose it; with King Solomon, to know the God of your Fathers; with righteous Obadiah, to fear the Lord from your Youth; and [Page 66] with Ingenious Timothy▪ to know the Scriptures from a Child. And what a Cloud of young Worthies are here? and are they not Honoured, Renowned and made Famous, and that for their soon beginning? The like will be with you, Young men. Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth, and he will Honour you. But alas, how few are the number of these young Branches!
How few are there of the Sons of Wisdom, that being enticed by Men, consent not! But how Honourable is it (I say) for young Men, like Samuel, to minister and serve before the Lord while he was but a Child! and how comely was the Carriage of those Children that sang Hosanna's unto Christ! Contemplate often (Young men) these Looking-glasses; imitate and copy out these patterns and Presidents; Besides, King Edward the Sixth, that Phoenix of [Page 67] his time; that truely Noble Prince Henry, and the young Lord Harrington; with many others, who blossomed as the Almond-tree, betimes.
Secondly, Motive 2. The longer you neglect, the more difficult will the setting upon your Duty be. Much Sloath and Procrastination will at last take away the very Heart and Desire of seeking God; but now, Youth improved, will make the Performance of the Duty more facile. Opportunity improv'd, (sayes one) facilitates every Action and Employment, making a work come off sweetly, smoothly and with facility. It is as the laying of the Knife upon the Joynt, when we would divide the Bone. It is Wind and Tide to the Oars of Industry.
Thirdly, Motive 3. The more Wrath you will treasure up unto your selves, by having more sins to answer for. The sooner we begin, the less we [Page 68] shall have to answer for; but the longer we deferre, the more we shall have to answer for.
Fourthly, Motive 4. Young Men shall come to Iudgement as well as those of riper years: You think that you have a Priviledge by your Age; Youth must have its course, (say some;) they must sow their wild Oats. But now the Counsel of the Spirit is otherwise. In the Morning sow thy Seed, and in the Evening withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper. And David doth tie up your untamed Age to the horns of the Altar, saying, That even You must cleanse your wayes, by taking heed thereto according to Gods Word. Think not (I say) because you are Young, you shall be excused: For the dead, small and great shall stand before the Lord, and you that now take your pleasures, know, that for all that, ye shall come to Judgement, [Page 69] and your Pleasures shall have an End. Methinks that Scripture in the 11 of Eccles. v. 9. should cool the Courage of such Young men who go on in their Career to Hell in the midst of their Pleasures. Rejoyce, O young Man, in thy youth, and let thy Heart cheer thee in the dayes of thy youth, and walk in the wayes of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into Iudgement.
Fifthly, You will not Repent▪ that you have call'd God to mind so soon. But thou shalt esteem Gods Grace the more for it; rejoyce in the sense of it, and in Comfort conclude thy Life whensoever God shall call thee hence.
I would fain lay down some Cautions and Exhortations unto the Young Men of this Age, which if observed by them, I am confident would help them much in remembring of their great Creator. [Page 70] But should I doe this, it would make this little Book swell too much, which for the Poor's sake I would prevent; and yet a little too I will venture.
First more generally, have a care Young Men of laying a stress on Parentage, Birth, Education, Civility, and your Natural Endowments: They are all but painted shews of Righteousness, and crack'd Titles to Heaven. Faith comes not by Birth, Generation, or Education; and he who is Gifted, is not alwayes Believing.
But (Secondly) more particularly, I would caution you from these Vices, which tend much to the Corruption of Youth:
First, I would caution you from Love of the World. If any man love the World, the love of the Father is not in him, 1 Joh. 2. 15. O let not the World lye so neer your Hearts, as it did to the Young Man's in the Gospel. You [Page 71] can never Love your Creator so as to die for him, if the World get root in your Heart. Have a care (I beseech you) of preferring the Gifts of God before God himself. All Creatures that the Lord made, he made for Man, and Man for himself: But this is a fearfull Contempt of God and disestimation of his Majesty, when the Creature is better lov'd than God; as Evah for the love of an Apple lost the love of the Lord; and Esau for a Mess of Pottage sold his Birthright; and the Gadarens counted their Swine more precious than the Son of God, Christ Iesus. He that loveth these bodily, worldly, and perishing Riches, cannot love the spiritual, heavenly and eternal Riches. Love not this World, Noli (anima) diligere ea quae sunt in mundo, peribit Mundus, & omnia quae sunt in eo exurentur. Ger. Meditat. because the Devil is the God of it; love not [Page 72] this World, because it cools thy Affections to God and the things of God. Love not this World, because it is the Bird-lime of spiritual Amor rerum terrenarum viscus est spiritualium poenarum. Aug. Punishments; Love not this World, because the Love of the World is Enmity towards God. The Riches in this World are call'd Thick Clay, Hab. 2. 6. which will sooner break the Back, than lighten the Heart. O that I could but disswade Young men from this peccatum peccatorum, sin of Earthly-mindedness. Consider, O young Men, what Solomon sayes of this World, who knew as much as ever any did as to the sweetness of sensual pleasures. Three Advantages Solomon had above others to know the Vanity of the Creature. (1) In regard of his Wisdome, 1 Kings 4. 29, 30. (2) Riches, 1 King. 10. 23. (3) In that he gave himself to make trial and Experience of the Creature: Yet, Vanity of Vanities (saith the [Page 73] Preacher) Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity.
Five times Vanity. 1. Vanity, not vain onely, but Vanity it self in the Abstract. 2. Excessive Vanity; Vanity of Vanities, Hebraism, superlative, by doubling he signifies most vain, imperfect, uncertain, transitory, void of Content▪ full of Grief. 3. An heap of Vanities; Vanity of Vanities; an Hebraism, and imports most great Vanity. 4. An universal Proposition; all is Vanity. Fugiamus hinc ubi nihil est, ubi inane est omne quod magnificum putatur. Let us flye from this World, wherein is nothing but Vanity. Nihil siquidem a somni Vanitate differt rerum praesentium figura, sive illae tristes sint, sive prosperae: The most excellent Shews of this Life are but Dreams, which may affect for a time, but do vanish so soon as the man awaketh. And this is the first Caution, Love not the [Page 74] World. The Love of the World is an Obstacle that must be removed, where Love to Christ and to thy Soul (Young man) is to be shewn.
Secondly, I would caution you from Evil Company. I know very well, that we are mighty apt to follow a Multitude to do Evil; I know that Youth, above all, is apt to keep Company, especially had Company. And how many have been brought to Ruine thereby? Wirness Thomas Savage that penitent Sinner. Have not many at the Gallowes laid their sins at the Door of bad Company, forewarning all to shun the same, and take Example by them. Every man is as his Company: The Heathen could say, Noscitur ex comite qui non cognoscitur ex se; He is known by his Company, that cannot be known by himself. A Mans Company is as it were a Commentary on his Life. A Company or Multitude (and I pray Young Men [Page 75] do you especially take notice of it) is not the Rule you should walk by, as for doing Evil, so for doing Good. He that doth Good because a Multitude doth it, Non saciendum, quia Multifaciunt. sed quia Bonum ut Bon [...]m faciunt, aut bene satis mihi sunt pauci, satis unus, satis nullus: August. will also do Evil because a Multitude doth it. We must not (saith Austin) do a good thing because Many do it, Si potenti [...]res faciunt, non faciunt, sed gaudeo quia faciunt. but because it is Good: If others doe that which is Good (saith he) I will rejoyce because they doe it, but I will not do it because they do it, &c. Keep good Company we must, it is profitable, but we must not make their doing Good as the Grounds of our doing Good. Shun Evil Company; Is it not an hard thing for a Bird to flie away that is taken in the Lime-twigs? Why Evil Company are the Devils Lime-twigs; And what is the Reason that many a man doth [Page 76] continue in Sin, who is convinced of the Evil of it, but because he is held fast in the Bands of his wicked Company?
Thirdly, I would caution you from Pride. This is a Vice which is incident to all more or less, but especially to young men. Converted young men, beware of Pride, for it is that which will rankor all your Graces; know that you are vile in Progress, Egress and Ingress. Unconverted young Men, do you also beware of Pride, for it tends to your hurt, as well as it doth to the other; for that self-conceitedness of yours is that which helps to barre your Hearts against Christ. Young Men, be cloathed with Humility; let every one of us look with one eye upon Grace, to keep the Heart cheerfull; and with the other eye upon Sin, to keep it humble.
Fourthly, I would have young [Page 77] men to beware of Lust, it being their Complexion, Constitution, and beloved Sin; the sin that attends their Age, and therefore so much the more diligence and pains must be taken in the Mortification thereof; and I know not any thing that is so proper hereunto as being moderate in Diet, keeping the Body down by frequent Fastings in private between God and thy own Soul upon that Occasion. Flee Youthfull Lusts, 2 Tim. 2. 22.
Fifthly and lastly, Beware of Hypocrisie. Perhaps the Devil may flatter you, with telling you, That if ye can get the Shape, Figure, and Form of Godliness, it is no matter for any thing else, thou mayst (saith he) go for a Christian eminent enough among men. Ah, but tell the Tempter, It is onely Piety that hath the Promise of the Life to come, and though thou mayst goe for a Christian [Page 78] amongst Men, and seem well enough in their sight; yet know, in Gods sight thou shalt be discern'd; God will one day pull off thy paint, discover thee, and shew thee to the world in thy proper Colours. The very Interiour Intents of thy Soul he knows, thy heart he can read without a Commentary, and those things that are secret, which thou keepest under Lock and Key, he knows; and though thou mayest deceive Man, yet thou canst not deceive God. Deus nee f [...]llere, nec falli potest.
I should now give some Exhortation, but I cannot, because of being prevented as to that which I spoke before. Remember your Creator in the dayes of your youth: And as Helps hereunto take these, and enlarge upon them your selves.
1. View often the Creation of the World; what Man in the [Page 79] World can forget God, that has himself and the whole Creation to contemplate at any time?
2. Call to mind his signal Favours vouchsafed unto you, in such a Time, at such a Place, among such Company. Can the Begger soon forget that hand which he constantly receives his Alms from?
3. Study the Holy Scriptures. Who can soon forget a holy God, that may read of him every day in the Holy Scriptures?
4. Attend upon the Ministry of the Word. You in London may hear from God every day, and surely cannot soon forget him.
5. Keep good company, and then you cannot easily forget God, because you converse with his Friends; and 'twill be marvel if they do not talk of him sometimes unto you.
I shall conclude with the words of the Text.
[Page 80] Remember now your Creator in the dayes of your youth; that you may be as so many Vessels of Gold for the Prayse and Service of your Maker. Amen.