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I. THE SUCCESSIVE STAGES OF HUMAN LIFE.

1. Here we have the growing stage. "The days of thy youth." Beautiful period this! It is the opening spring, full of germinating force and rich promise.

2. Here we have the declining stage. "While the evil days come," etc. The world, looked at through the eye of age, is a very different thing from what it is viewed through the eye of youth. There is no glow in the landscape, no streaks of splendour in the sky; there is a deep shadow resting over all.

3. Here we have the dissolving stage. "Man goeth to his long home." The grave is the long home of his body, eternity the long home of his soul.

II. THE SOVEREIGN OBLIGATION OF HUMAN LIFE. There is an obligation which runs through all these stages, meets man in every step he takes. What is it? "Remember now thy Creator." Two things are necessary to the discharge of this obligation.

1. An intellectual knowledge of the Creator. Three ideas are included in our conception of this transcendent character.

(1) Absolute origination. We think of Him as one antecedent to all other existences, existing in the unbroken solitudes of immensity, having in Himself the archetypes of all that ever has been, of all that ever will be; and the power of giving them forms of existence distinct from Himself.

(2) Absolute proprietorship. What He has created is His unconditionally, and for ever His. "All souls are mine," etc. There is yet another idea included in the conception of Creator.

(3) Absolute obedience. If we all have and are His, ought we not in all things to be regulated by His will? Ought not His will to be our sovereign law in all things?

2. A heart sympathy with Him. What has God done for us, and what has He promised to do? Let the heart be duly impressed with gratitude for the past, and with hope for the future, and we shall assuredly remember Him.

III. The choicest period of human life. "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth."

1. It is the best period for cultivating a godly life. Lusts lie comparatively dormant, habits are unformed, prejudices have attained no power; the conscience is susceptible, the heart is tender, the intellect is free, etc.

2. The cultivation of a godly life in youth will bless every subsequent period of being. Through manhood, through old age, through death, into eternity, and through all future times a godly life will ensure true blessedness of being.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

WEB: Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, "I have no pleasure in them;"