The Substance of a SERMON, Preached at the Funeral of MRS. Elizabeth Bell,( Aged Sixteen Years, odd Months) AT St. M. Overies, in Southwark, Upon those Words( chosen by her) of Solomons.  Eccles. 12.1. 
Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth, while the Evil days come not.  
By Samuel perk Minister of poplar.  

Imprimatur.  
Jan. 4. 1686. Guil. Needham, R. R. in Christo P. ac D. D. Willielmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacr. Dom.   
 skeleton in casket  
Printed by Alex. Milbourn, for J. Blare at the Sign of the Looking-glass on London-Bridge. 1687.   

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The Substance of a Sermon, Preached at the Interment of MRs. Elizabeth Bell, &c.  Eccles. 12.1. Remember thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth, while the Evil Days come not. 
SAint Paul, who knew by experience the great disadvantage of losing the Prime of our Age in the ways of Sin, commands Titus to use his utmost endeavours, to persuade Men to an early Piety, betimes to mind the best things, and led a Life becoming the Gospel of Christ, saying: Young men exhort to be sober minded;( Tit. 2.6.) using such a word,[ {αβγδ}] as implys a continual Consultation with a Man's self, for the due government or well-ordering of his whole Course, that Wisdom, virtue, Religion, and Piety, may shine forth in all his words, ways, and actions; or prevail upon him,( as the Apostle expresseth it) To deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lust, and to live soberly, righteously, and godlily in this World.( Ver. 12.) An Exhortation, or Caution, not unlike this of the Wise Man's: Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy Youth, while the Evil days come not. And indeed Youth have need, great need to be often thus admonished; for the sooner Satan takes possession of any Soul, and the longer he keeps it, the harder 'tis to dispossess and cast him out; which makes him so diligent and desirous to corrupt Youth, and to steal away the hearts of young Persons, from their Maker; hoping, that if he be first served by them, he shall at last serve himself upon them: Therefore, if any Motive, if any Wile, Stratagem, or Argument will prevail, he will see that shall not be wanting. He will watch, and wait all opportunities and occasions, make large and fair promises of Profit, Honour, and Pleasure: and allures them to smaller Sins first, thereby making way for Temptations to greater; sticks not to allege and pervert the very Word of God, to draw them to, and encourage them in a licentious Course, or sinful Liberty, saying: GOD himself makes an allowance for your Years. Rejoice, O Young-man, in thy Youth, and let thine Heart cheer thee in the dayes of thy Youth: walk in the sight of thine Eyes, and in the ways of thine own Heart. As if God gave young Persons a Liberty to Sin: But in the mean time conceals from them the following Memento of the Wise-man; But know, that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement; Eccles. 11.9. And therefore Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth.  
From which words, two things offer themselves to our consideration; ( Viz.) 

1. There is in Young Persons a wilderness to forget their Creator, and their Duty towards Him.  
2. That GOD requires and looks for Service from young Persons. Of each of these, I shall speak somewhat briefly.    

Prop. 1.  
THere is in Young Persons a natural wilderness to forget their Creator, and their Duty towards Him.  
This appears by the Advice frequently given in Scripture, to, and concerning Youth; sometimes by Solomon, who speaking to Parents and Governours, adviseth, that they Train up Children in the way they should go,( the way of Piety and Religion,) and when they are Old, they will not depart from it. For Young Ones like new Vessels, 
Quo semel est imbuta recens sevabit Odorem, testa din.—  long retain the relish of those Principles or Instructions, that are first poured into them. Sometimes again the Wise-man directing his Discourse to young Ones themselves, saith, My Son, be wise, hear Instruction, and incline thine ear to Understanding: my Son, if Sinners entice thee, consent thou not; Prov. 1.10. Seek Wisdom, and lift up thy voice for Understanding; Chap. 2. and 3. Seek her as Silver: dig for her as for hide Treasure: she is more precious than Rubies; all things thou canst desire, are not to be compared to her; length of days are in her Right Hand, and in her Left Hand Riches and Honour. And in the Text he counsels thee to Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth; That is, Be mindful of thy Duty towards him; Shun and avoid with all thy care, the Sins, the Vices, and Vanities of this Age, and devote thyself to God by an Early Repentance, and an Holy Life. In like manner David calls upon Young-men and Maidens to praise the Lord, or to live his praises, Psal. 148.12. And St. Paul exhorts young persons to be sober-minded, Tit. 2.6. Which implys Evangelical affections, or an holy frame and temper of mind.  
Now, I say, such frequent Exercitations and Calls, as these, to young persons in the Word of God, does imply a wilderness in them to forget God, and their Duty to Him, in their Youth, to be regardless and unmindful of Religion, and the serious practise of it. Yea; and daily experience gives us but too sad a proof of the Truth of this. Look abroad into the World: consider the generality of our Youth in this Age, what they are, what manner of Lives they led, how vain, lewd, and debauched the most are in their Conversation; how rare it is to find one amongst many that is solid, sober, and religious, that makes real Conscience of avoiding all known Sin, and of performing Holy Duties, or of exercising himself to Godliness, as becomes his Christian Profession. Nay, do not many of them walk, and act, and talk more like Atheists, or Infidels, than Christians, as if they believed no future State, no judgement, no Punishment, or Reward to come? And what is the ground of all this irreligion and profaneness, but an utter forgetfulness of the God that made them, and will shortly judge them? A forgetfulness of their own Mortality, and approaching Dissolution, which( when ever it comes) will make them as happy as Angels, or as miserable as Devils, for ever? I know ( Young men) you have sometimes some Convictions wrought in you by the Word of God, and thereupon promise fair, talk of returning to God, and of forsaking your youthful Lusts and Vanities, yet set not about this great and needful Work in good earnest; but this your goodness is as the Morning-Cloud, and early due, which quickly passeth away. Sirs, as in the Presence of God, ask your Consciences if this be not Truth. Do you not always find something in your hearts ready to stifle all your purposes and promises of Repentance and Amendment of Life, so that you are delaying from this day to another, and still delaying, hoping for a time at last: till God take you away with his stroke: till you drop into your Graves, and all your thoughts perish? And what is the reason of this procrastination, but an Oblivion of your Creator? The sooner you repent and are pardonned, Is it not the better? The sooner you are reconciled to God, are in the way to Heaven, and obtain a well-grounded Hope of Gods saving-love in Christ to your Souls, Is it not the better? What is the ground then of your delay to be religious, of your forgetfulness of God, and of your Duty to him and your own Souls? Why,  
1. Solomon tells you, one Reason is Sloth and Idleness:( Prov. 6.10.) You are loathe to buckle to the Yoke of Gods Commandments; you look upon him as an hard Master; account his ways too strict and holy; his Injunctions and Institutions unreasonable and grievous, and so are unwilling to submit and comform to them.  
2. Another may be excessive Love to youthful Lusts and Pleasures; These stolen Waters are sweet to your Souls; so that tho' you hear your Sins Reproved, and think of forsaking them, yet( God knows) that's all, you do but think of it: for your immoderate love to, and delight in them, obstructs your doing it.  
3. Confidence of long Life, and that you have time enough before you, and Repentance hereafter will do as well as now. God, upon true Repentance, forgives all; Let the Wicked forsake his way, and the Unrighteous man his thoughts, and turn unto the Lord, he will have Mercy upon him: and to our God, He will abundantly pardon; Isa. 55.7. This is Gods promise, and it holds good to the Old as well as Young Penitent or Convert. Since therefore my Sins may be pardonned, and my Eternal State secured by repenting any time before I die, as well as now, why should I embitter my youthful days with the unpleasant severities of Religion, and sour acts of Repentance and Mortification? Not I; Old Age suits melancholy and sorrow much better than Youth; then I may harken to your Advice, but not before.  
4. The many Escapes that young persons have from Dangers and dangerous Sicknesses. Nature is strong and vigorous in them, and they wade through all: and when the Danger is over, they forget the vows and promises their Lips have made in the day of their distress: and that Reformation and Holiness which they were so forward to put on and engage in, in their Adversity, they are as ready to forget and put off again in the day of their prosperity. Well, but remember what Solomon saith here: The Evil days will come; Sickness and Death will come, and how soon you know not. You have here an Example before your Eyes, that Death lays his could hand upon Youth; And daily experience tells you, that For One that dyes in his Old Age, there are Hundreds die in their Youth; therefore, saith he, Now in thy Youth, remember thy Creator, while the Evil days come not. And this brings me to the second Observable in these words. Namely;   

Prop. II.  
THat God expects and looks for Service from young persons: That these should set their Hearts and Affections upon Him, honour, glorify, and serve Him, by doing his Will, and keeping his Commandments; for so this Phrase ( Remember thy Creator) imports Affection, practise, Love, and Obedience. That of Moses may serve for a Comment upon this Text of Solomon; Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his Commandments, his Judgments, and his Statutes, which I command thee this day.( Deut. 8.11.) Mark Sirs, to Remember thy Creator then, is to keep his Statutes, and to obey his Commandments, and that in your Youth, whilst all the Powers and Faculties of thy Body and Soul are strong, active, and vigorous, and most fit for his Service. Under the Law, God called for the first Fruits, and for the Firstling of the Flock; the Gospel of it is this: That so soon as we come to years of understanding, to dispose of our hearts and affections, we should offer them first to God. And you have many Examples of this in Scripture; Josiah, at Eight years old, did that which was right in the sight of God; Samuel heard and obeied Gods Voice when a Child; Timothy, of a Child, knew the Scriptures; And the Children of the Elect Lady were found walking in the Truth( 2 Epistle of St. John.) And why may I not propound to your imitation, this young Gentlewoman,( not full 17. years of Age) whose Remains lie yet before you, who( doubtless) remembered her Creator, and had a Sense of God, and of Religion, upon her mind in her Youth? I confess, I knew her not in her life; but being twice with her in her last Sickness, I perceived that in her( that strong love to God, those vehement desires after Him, and unusual consolations from Him, to her Soul, before Death) as wrought in me a persuasion, that she walked with God in her life; Her sweet and inward peace of Conscience, her hearty and holy Ejaculations, her pious and Heavenly Discourse, her freedom from the fears of Death, her contempt of this Life and World, and all the Vanities of it, her impatient longings to depart, and to be with Christ ( insomuch, that she begged of me not to pray for her life or recovery) that she might enjoy him more fully in Glory: I say, these are rare to be found in a person so young; or in any indeed, but those who have kept up a close Communion with God, and have walked in Christ, as they have received him. And if that Saying be true, Qualis vita, finis it a: As is the life, so is the death; we may believe her Life was Holy, whose End was so Heavenly, joyous,& full of comfort; and consequently, that she is arrived at the Haven of all Joy and Felicity, in the Morning of her Age. O what a support must this needs be to you, who bewail her loss, or rather the loss of her! for your loss is her gain! And, O that all you young Ones, who knew her, would follow her in this, to Remember your Creator in the days of your Youth! Considering, That,  
1. 'tis most reasonable, That He who made you, should be first served by you; that all the affections and motions of your hearts and minds, all the works and actions of your lives should be primarily towards Him, in whom you live, move, and have your Beings, the Father and Fountain of all your Mercies in this Life, and whose love in Christ Jesus is the only Foundation of Hope for Mercy and Glory in the Life to come.  
2. The time of Youth is the most seasonable time for Gods Service; you lose the best part of your life, if you lose your Youth; 
Optima queque dies miseris mortalibus aevi prima Fugit.—  now you are most capable of any thing that is good: most capable of divine Instructions, of performing holy duties, of keeping Gods Commandments,& of discharging whatever is incumbent upon you in your Christian Calling. Remember this, young men, if you forget God, and neglect your Duty towards God now, you can't imagine what an hard matter you will find it to buckle to the Yoke, and sustain the burden of a Gospel-Obedience,& to frame your lives to godliness hereafter. If Christs Yoke be easy, and his burden light, it is so to them who bear it in their Youth. If you are Satan's Scholars young, you will be his Souldiers when you are old; if you follow him now, you will fight for him then. For tho' you now think it an easy matter to repent, that 'tis in your own power, and you can forsake your sins, change your course, and become new creatures at your pleasure: yet let me tell you, this is only a Diabolical Delusion: you will( when you come to't) find it very difficult, and next to impossible; oft red that of the Prophet: Can the Aethiopian change his Skin, or the Leopard his Spots? Then may you who are accustomend to do evil, learn to do well. Jer. 13.23. Here God sufficiently declares the difficulty of it, as easy as the Tempter makes it; And whom will you believe, God or the Devil, the Author of all Truth, or the Father of all lies? Again,  
3. The time of Youth is the most acceptable time; the Service you now do for God, is the most pleasing. What the Apostle saith of the day of Grace, in respect to God, that I may say of the day of Youth: Behold, now is the accepted time. The Evening or Noon-tide of thine Age may be, but to be sure the Morning will be accepted. Now to seek the Kingdom of God, and his Righteousness, before Satan and the World have captivated your affections,& ravished away your hearts to Sin and Vanity: now to dedicate them to God by an early Piety and the power of godliness, will be as a reasonable, so an acceptable Sacrifice or Service;( Rom. 12.1, 2.) And this you may be sure of; the rather, because God calls for, and commands it in the Text, saying, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. O then Sirs, if God requires and expects Service from you, 'tis high disobedience in you to deny it; yea, and prodigious Folly in you to refuse or delay it. God commands, his Spirit strives, and his Ministers entreat; but young Ones will not harken, they will not obey, they will not learn to fear an oath, to flee the impurities, excesses, and follies of a wanton Age, and youthful inclinations. Certainly, Friends, you must needs see the folly of this, if you would give your selves so much time,& do your souls so much right, as to consider after this manner,  
1. That all the time you spend in Sin, or out of Gods Service, is utterly lost, or spent to no purpose, nothing of the great Work done which you came into this World for: which is to glorify your Maker, and make your Eternal Salvation sure. Now, what Folly is it to lose that time, which well improved and employed, may be as much worth to you as Heaven and endless Happiness!  
2. The longer you defer your Repentance and turning to God, the longer you do put off true Peace, Joy,& Happiness from yourselves. Peace, Joy, and Happiness are very desirable, and you think you have more of these in the ways of Sin, than ever you expect to find in Gods Service. This is also your Folly: for The service of God is perfect freedom, and his ways are pleasantness, and his paths peace. O what is the enjoyment of a vile and beastly lust, to the fruition of the chiefest Good, GOD, blessed for ever! What is carnal Peace and Joy with the World, to the Joy and Peace of the Holy Ghost, which Joy is unspeakable and glorious, and the Peace such as passeth all Understanding? or, What are the pleasures of Sin for a moment, to the pleasures at God's Right Hand for evermore? What the Smiles of the World, to the Light of Gods Countenance, the Sense of his love, better than life itself? All which Spiritual Joy, Peace, Happiness, and Pleasure, you put off from your souls, so long as you forget your Creator, and decline his Service: and( like the prodigal Son) are eating Husks, when you might be feeding on the fatted Calf; and are gathering of Onions, while you might be gathering Heavenly Manna; And, Is not this Folly?  
3. If ever you do intend to serve God, or become Religious, 'tis great Folly not to begin betimes, because there is no reason can be given for doing this hereafter, which is not a reason for doing it now. As for instance.  

1. Will this be the way to please God hereafter? So 'tis the way to please Him now.  
2. Must you perish if you do it not hereafter? So you must now, if you die in your Sins, without Repentance. And what Assurance have you of your life for a day longer?  
3. Will the assurance of Heaven, and the hoped-for glory, be desirable and comfortable to thy Soul hereafter? So it will now; i● will put more Joy into thine heart, than when thy Corn, Wine, oil, or Riches increase. So that, whatever may be an Argument or Motive to Repentance and Holiness hereafter, is, an● ought to be an Argument and Motive to it now. Lastly,   
4. Consider the Motive in the Text; The Evil days will come, and the years dray nigh wherein you shall say, I find no pleasure. Come they will, Sickness, Death, and judgement, that is certain, these are unavoidable: And whether in thy Youth, Manhood, or old Age, is altogether uncertain. And you do but gratify your Enemy, by putting these evil Days far from you; You harden your hearts more, and render this Work, if ever it be done,( as done it must be, or you can never be saved) much more hard and difficult. Satan, no doubt, will tell you, You have time enough, for you are young, and shall not die yet; all which he would do, if he knew you should die to morrow, or this night before the next morning; for he is the Father of lies, and his Work is to go about, Like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; as St. Peter tells you, and bids you Resist him steadfast in the Faith:( 1 Pet. 5.8, 9) That is, by believing the written Word of God, which adviseth you, That whatever your hand finds to do, to do it with all your might, for there is no Wisdom, nor Knowledge, nor Working in the Grave, whither we are all going;( Eccles. 9.10.) For Man knoweth not his time, as the Fishes taken in an evil Net, and as Birds that are caught in the snare: so are the Sons of Men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.( Ec. 9.12.)  
Therefore let me entreat you,( and, O that I might prevail with some of the Youth, who hear me this Evening) to take the Wiseman's counsel, to be wise for your Souls betimes, to Remember now your Creator, before the Evil daies come; wherein the Silver Cord shall be loosed, the golden Bowl broken, the Keepers of the House tremble, the strong men bow themselves, the Almond-Tree flourish, and those that look out at the Windows be darkened. O, before these evil daies come, wherein you shall find no pleasure, Remember thy Creator: By doing those things, by walking in those ways which shall prevent much sin and sorrow to yourselves, promote the glory of God, and peace of your own souls here, and secure to them a Blessed and Happy Eternity hereafter.  
To which Eternal Felicity God of His mercy in His due time bring us All, through the merits of Jesus Christ: To whom, with the Father, and Holy Spirit, be praise, honour, and glory, World without end. Amen.  
FINIS.