Front matter (continued, part 9)
*' I thank thee. Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that t
*' these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed the And let it ever be a humbling consideration to me ; for yi
to differ .'' Is not this one principal thing God aims at, in jis I am ; that boasting may be excluded, and himself ale
NAVIGATIOX SPIEITirALIZED.
And will not this one dav in judgment rise
Against your souls ? AIi ! can you be so wise
In smaller matters ; what, and yet not know How to improve fresh gales of grace that blow ?
Fast moor'd in sin your wind-bound souls can lie,
And let these precious gales rise, blow, and die. Sometimes on your affections you may feel Such gracious breathings : Ah, but hearts of steel,
They move you not, nor cause you to relent ;
Tho' able, like Elijah's wind, to rent The rocks asunder : If you do not prize Those breathings, other winds will shortly rise. And from another quarter ; those once gone. Then next look out for an Euroclydon, A dreadful storm : how soon, no man can tell ;
But when it comes, 'twill blow such souls to helL
^*^n3i8S90^»'*
CHAP. IX.
If seamen lose a gale^ there they may He ;
The soul, ivhen 07ice becalvid in sin, itmy die.
OBSEKVATION.
JoEAMEN are very watchful to take their opportunity of wind ; tide, and it much concerns them so to be ; the neglect of a ^ew \\o\ sometimes loses them their passage, and proves a great detrimen them. They know the wind is an uncertain, variable thing; they ui take it when they may : they are unwilling to lose one flow, or brej that may be serviceable to them. If a prosperous gale offers, and ti not ready, it repents them to lose it, as much as it would repent ui see a vessel of good wine, or beer, tapped and run to waste.
There are also seasons, and gales of grace, for our souls, golden portuuities of salvation afforded to men, the neglect of which pre
the loss and ruin of souls. God hath given unto man a day of vis tion, which he hath limited, Heb. iv. 7. and keeps an exact accoun
every^ year, month, and day that we have enjoyed it, Luke xiii. 7. . XXV. 3. I^uke xix. 42. The longest date of it can be but the time this life; this is our day to work in, Job ix. 4. and upon this small ^
240 A XEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN; OR,
and then the blessing, power, and efficacy is gone from stead thereof a curse seizeth the soul, Heb. vi. 7, 8. an(
Therefore it is a matter of high importance to our souls these seasons. How pathetically doth Christ bewail Jei this account ! Luke xix. 42. " O that thou hadst kno>
*' this thy day, the things of thy peace ! but now they *' thine eyes." If a company of seamen are set a-shore v mote, uninhabited island, with this advice, to be aboard at such an hour, else they must be left behind ; how do them to be punctual to their time ? The lives of those upon a quarter of an hour. Many a soul hath perished gospel leaving them behind in their sins, because they time of their visitation.
IIEFLECTION.
What golden seasons for salvation hast thou enjoyed
■what halcyon days of gospel-light and grace hast thoi have the precious gales of gi*ace blown to no purpose up the Spirit waited and striven with thee in vain ? " Th( ** heaven, (being opened in the gospel dispensation) 1 *' violence." Multitudes have been pressing into it in i I myself have sometimes been almost persuaded, and not kingdom of God: I have gone as far as conviction for sir yea, I have been carried by the power of the gospel, t< purpose to turn to God, and become a new creature ; been too subtle and deceitful for me : I see, my resoluti as an early cloud, or morning dew ; and now my hear dead again, settled upon its lees. Ah ! I have cause tremble, lest God hath left me under that curse. Rev. x
*' him that is filthy be filthy still." I fear I am become place, Ezek. xlvii. 11. that shall not be healed by the si gospel, but given to salt, and cursed into perpetual bar Lord ! wilt thou leave me so ! and shall thy Spirit strive ; me.? Then it had been good for me that I had nevei Ah ! if I have trifled out this season, and irrecoverably
I may take up that lamentation, Jer. viii. 20. and say, * " is past, my summer is ended, and I am not saved." Every creature knows its time, even the turtle, crane, j know the time of their coming, Jer. viii. 7. How brutis have not known the time of my visitation ! O thou. Lord of life and time, command one gracious season n and make it effectual to me, before I go hence, and
NAVIGATION SPIRITUALIZED.
And wait the seamen's leisure. Well, to-morrow They will put out ; but then, unto their sorrow. That wind is spent, and by that means they gain Perchance a month's repentance, if not twain. At last another offers, now they're gone ; But ere they gain their port, the market's done. For ev'ry work, and purpose under heav'n, A proper time and season God hath giv'n. The fowls of heaven, swallow, turtle, crane. Do apprehend it, and put us to shame. Man hath his season too, but that mis-spent,
There's time enough his folly to repent Eternity's before him, but therein No more such golden hours as these have been : When these are pass'd away, then you shall find That proverb true, — Occasion's bald bchiiid. Delays are dang'rous, see that you discern Your proper seasons: O that you would learn
This wisdom from those fools that come too late With fruitless cries, when Christ hath shut the gate.
By navigation one place stores another. And by communion we must Jielp each othef.
A HE most wise God hath so dispensed his bounty to the seve
nations of the world, that one standing in need of another's comt ditias, there might be a sociable commerce and traffick maintair amongst them all, and all combining in a common league, may, the help of navigation, exhibit mutual succours to each otlier. 1 staple commodities proper to each countrv, I find expressed by i
poet, Bart. Coll.
Hence comes our sugars from Canary isles : From Candy currants, muskadels, and oils ;
From the Molucco's, spices; balsamum. From Egypt ; odoui's from Arabia come ;
■.f.-M-JI Tlljlia tTtim^ ■».ii-»V» rifn.-^^ rt»-»i^ 1 1 -.-.».•«. .
242 A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN ; Olt,
From Holland, hops ; horse from the banks of Ri From France and Italy the choicest wine; From England, wool ; all lands as God distribute
To the world's treasure pay their sundry tributes. APPLICATION. Thus hath God distributed the more rich and precic graces of his Spirit among his people ; some excelling i some in another, though every grace, in some degree, be even as in nature, though there be all the faculties in i faculties are in some more lively and vigorous than in o have a more vigorous eye, others a more ready ear, o voluble tongue; so it is in spirituals, i^braham excel Job in patience, John in love. These were their pecul cies. All the elect vessels are not of one quantity ; ye that excel others in some particular race, come short spects of those they so excelled in the former, and may i proved by converse with such as in some respects are them. The solid, wise, and judicious Christian may ws liness of affections and tenderness of heart that appear i and one that excels in gifts and utterance may learn hi the very babes in Christ.
And one principal reason of this different distribution is fellowship among them all, 1 Cor. xii. 21. " The head c
" the feet, I have no need of you." As in a family w] much business to be done, even the little children bear a ] ing to their strength, Jer. vii. 18. " The children gath(
" fathers kindle the fire, the women knead the dough.'' family of Christ, the weakest Christian is serviceable tc
There be precious treasures in these earthen vessels, f should trade by mutual communion. The preciousness sure should draw out our desires and endeavours after consideration of the brittleness of those vessels in which tl should cause us to be the more expeditious in our trading and make the quicker returns. For when those vessels dies of the saints) are broken by death, there is no mor ten out of them. That treasure of grace which made the fitable, pleasant, and desirable companions on earth, t with them into heaven, where every grace receives its ado perfection : and then, though they be ten thousand tim
cellent and delightful than ever they were on earth, yet ' no more communion with them till we come to glory ours
XAVICATIOX SPIRITUALIZED. S
cnbe all the choice notions we meet with in it, that they may be o owrn wlien the book is called for, and we can have it no longer by i
REFLECTION'. Lord, how short do I come of my duty in communicating to, receiving good by others ! My soul is either empty and barren, if there be any treasure in it, yet is but as a treasure locked up
some chest, whose key is lost, when it should be opened for the u of others. Ah Lord ! I have sinned greatly, not only by vain wore
but sinful silence. I have been of little use in the world.
How little also have I gotten by communion with others ? Son it may be, that are of my own size, or judgment, or that I a otherwise obliged to, I can delight to converse with : but O, whe is that largeness of heart and general delight I should have to, ar m all thv people ? How many of my old dear acquaintance are nc in heaven, whose tongues were as cJwice silver, while they were hei Prov. X. 20. And blessed souls ! how communicative were they what thou gavest them ? O what an improvement had I made of n talent this way, had I been diligent ! Lord pardon my neglect those sweet and blessed advantages. O let all my delight be in tl saints, who are the excellent of the earth. Let me never go out their company, without an heart more warmed, quickened, and e iarged, than when I came amongst them.
J. O several nations God doth so distribute
His bounty, that each one must pay a tribute Unto each other. Europe cannot vaunt. And say, Of Africa I have no want. America and Asia need not strive, Which of itself can best subsist and live.
Each country's want, in something, doth maintain Commerce betwixt them all. Such is the aim And end of God, who doth dispense and give More grace to some, their brethren to relieve. This makes the sun ten thousand times more bright. Because it is diffusive of its light ; Its beams are gilded gloriously ; but then
This property doth gild them o'er again. Should sun, moon, stars, impropriate all their light, What dismal darkness would the world benight ? On this account men hate the vermin brood,
S44 A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN ; OK,
Grace is a treasure in an earthen pot ;
When deatli hath dash'd it, no more can be got Out of that vessel : then, while it is whole,
Get out the treasure to enrich your soul.
CHAP. XI.
'J'hc rocks abide, though seas against them rag So shall the church, ichich is GocVs hei'itage.
fwy
jL he rocks, though situate in the boisterous and ocean, yet abide firm and immoveable from age to age. tuous waves dash against them with great violence, bi move them out of their place. And although sometim over them, and make them to disappear, yet there they and impregnable.
This is a lively emblem of the condition of the chun dangers and oppositions wherewith it is encountered anc this world. These metaphorical waves roar and beat i against it, but with as little success as the sea against the
xvi. 18. " Upon this rock will I build my church, anc
*' of hell shall not prevail against it."" The gates of power and policy of hell ; for it is conceived to be an al to the gates of the Jews, wherein their ammunition lodged, which also were the seats of judicature, there sai but yet these gates of hell shall not prevail. Nay, tlv ottly invincible in the midst of their violence, but al
that dash against it, Zech. xii. 3. " In that day I wil
" salem a burdensome stone for all people ; all that b " selves with it shall l>e cut in pieces, though all the ]
" earth be gathered together against it.'' An allusioi essays to roll some great stone against the hill, which s upon him, and crushes him to pieces.
And the reason why it is thus firm and impregnable, self; for alas, so considered, it is weak, and obnoxious from the almighty power of God, which guards and pr
and night, Psal. xlvi. 5, 6. " God is in the midst of 1 not be moved : God shall help her, and that right oi
XAVIGATIOM SPUilTCALIZKD.
'• about it."" Some think this phrase alludes to the cherubim th kept the way of the tree of life with flaming swords : others to t fiery clianots round about Dathan, where Elisha was ; but ni( think it to be an allusion to an ancient custom of travellers in the c
sarts ; who, to preventthe assaults of wild beasts in the night, ma a circular fire round about them, which wa^as a wall to them. Th
will God be to his people a wall of fire, w hich none can scale.
Exod. iii. 3, 4 5. we have an excellent emblem of the church's h and dangerous condition, and admirable preservation. You ha here both a mai-vel and a mystery. The marvel was to see a bu all on fire and yet not consumed. The mystery is this, the bu represented the sad condition of the church of Egypt; the fire fla ing upon it, the grievous afflictions, troubles, and bondage it was there ; the remaining of the bush unconsumed, the strange and i mirable preservation of the church in those troubles. It lived th( as the three noble Jews, untouched in the midst of a burning fie furnace : and the angel of tlie Lord in a flame of fire, in the mi( of the bush was nothing else but the Lord Jesus Christ, powerfu and graciously present with his people amidst all their dangers a
sufi*erings. The Lord is exceeding tender over them, and jealous ; them, as that expression imports, Zech. ii. 8. " He that toucht
" them toucheth the apple of mine eye.'" He that strrikes atahe strikes at the face of God, and at the most excellent part of the fai the eye, and at the most tender and precious part of the eye, the ap] of the eye. And yet, as a learned modem observes, this people whom he uses this tender and dear expression, were none of the b of Israel neither ; but the residue that staid behind in Babylon, wli
their brethren were gone to rebuild tlie temple ; and y^t over the I^» he is as tender as a man is over his eye. ^P REFLECTION'. And is the security of the church so great I and its preservati so admirable, amidst all storms and tempests I then why art thou
l^^a>rone and subject to despond, O my soul, in the day of Sion's trt I^Fble ? Sensible thou wast, and oughtest to be : but no reason to ha
down the head through discouragement, much less to forsake Zi
in her distress, for fear of being ruined Avith her.
What David .spake to Abiathar, 1 Sam. xxii. 23. that may Zi
speak to all her sons and daughters in all their distresses ; " Thou " he that seeketh thy life seeketh mine also ; yej, with me shalt th •' be in sa&^ffuard."^ God hath entailed ereat salvation and deliv
ances upon Zion ; and blessed are all her friends and favourers ; l
246 ■ A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN : OR,
storms, yet tliere they abide ; and so shall Zion, whe: waves have spent their fury and rage against it.
-ESOPOTAMIA, situate in the seas, May represent the church ; or, if you please, A rock, o'er which the waves do wash and swell. May figure it ; chuse either, which you will. Winds strive upon those seas, and make a noise, The lofty waves sometimes lift up their voice, And, swelling high successively, do beat With violence against it, then retreat. They break themselves, but it abides their shock ; And when their rage is spent, there stands the rot Then they are out that do affirm and vote,
Peace, pomp, and splendor is the church's note. And they deserve no less reproof that are
In Zion's troubles ready to despair. This rock amidst far stronger rocks doth lie, Which are its fence ; so deep, so thick, so high, They can't be batter'd, scal'd or undennin'd : And these, eviron'd by them, daily lind Their bread ascertain'd ; waters too secur'd : Then shout and sing, ye that are thus immur'd.
»®-x-®« CHAP. XII.
What dangers run they for little gains.
Who, for their souls, would ne''er talce half the pt
-OW exceeding solicitous and adventurous are se small portion of the Avorld ? How prodigal of strength it ? They will run to the ends of the earth, engage in dangers, upon the hopes and probability of getting a s Per mare, per terias, per mille pericula currunt. Hopes c them willing to adventure their liberty, yea, their life, am them to endure heat, cold, and hunger, and a thousand difficulties, to which they are frequently exposed.
APPLICATION. How hot and easier are men's affections after the worlc
NAVIGATION SFiniTL'AtlZED.
<• there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain," James iv. 13. 1 i s the Tn E^/ov, the master-design, which engrosseth all their time, dies, and contrivances. The will hath past a decree for it, the h and affections are fully let out to it, Thci/ xcill be rick, 1 Tim. v
This decree of the will, the Spirit of God takes deep notice of;
indeed it is the clearest and fullest discoveryof a man's portion condition : for look what is highest in the estimation, first and la: the thoughts, and upon wliich we spend our time and strength ^ delight ; certainly, that is our treasure, Afatth. vi. 20, 21. [ heads and hearts of saints are full of solicitous cares and fears al:
their spiritual condition ; the great design they drive on, to whicl other things are but Tasi^ya, things by the by, is to make sure tl calling and election. This is the pondus, the weight and bias oft) spirit ; if their hearts stray and wander after any other thing, reduces them again.
REFLECTION'. Lord, this hath been my manner from ray youth, may the can minded man say ; I have been labouring for the meat that perishe
disquieting myself in vain, full of designs and projects for the wo and unwearied in my endeavours to compass an earthly treasure ;
therein I have either been checked and disappointed by Providei or if I have obtained, yet I am no sooner come to enjoy that cont
and comfort I promised myself in it, but I am ready to leave it to be stript out of it by death, and in that day all my thoughts rish : But, in the mean time, what have I done for my soul ? W]
did I ever break a night's sleep, or deny and pinch myself for Ah ! fool that I am ! to nourish and pam|)er a vile body, which m
shortl}' lie under the clods, and become a loathsome carcase : and the mean time, neglect and undo my \>oox soul, which partakes the nature of angels, and must live for ever. I have kept otli vineyards, but mine own vineyard I have not kept. I have bcc perpetual drudge and slave to the woi;ld ; in a worse condition h my soul been, tiian others that are condemned to the mines. Lo change my treasure, and change my heart : O let it suffice tha have been thus long labouring in the fire for very vanity ; now ther up my heart and affections in thyself, and let my great des: now be, to secure a special interest in thy blessed self, that I n
once say, " To me to live is Christ.''
HE face of man impressed and stamp'd on gold,
S4-8 A XEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEK ; OK,
Cliarm'd with its chinking note, away they go. Like eagles to the carcase, ride and row.
Thro' worlds of hazards foolish creatures run. That into its embraces they may come. Poor Indians, in the mines, my heart condoles, But seldom turns aside to pity souls, Which are the slaves, indeed, that toil, and spend Themselves upon its service. Surely, friend, They are but sextons, to prepare, and make Thy grave, within those mines, whence they do ta And dig their ore. Ah ! many souls, I fear, Whose bodies live, yet lie entombed there.
Is gold so tempting to you .'' Lo ! Christ stands. With length of days, and riches in his hands.
Gold in the fire try'd he freely proffers. But few regard, or take those golden offers.
CHAP. XIII.
Millions of creatures in the seas are Jed:
Why then are saints in doubt irf daily bread f
OBSEIIVATION.
HERE are multitudes of living creatures in the sea.
ist saith, there are in it, " Things creeping innumc
*' small and great beasts," Psal. civ. 25. and we read, that ^^ hen God blessed the waters, he said, " Let the \ " forth abundantly, both fish and fowl, that move in it, a *' it." Yet all those multitudes of fish and fowl, both
land, are cared and provided for, Psal. cxlv. 15, 16. " '
"them their meat in due season : thou openest thy han " fiest the desire of every living thing." APPLICATION.
If God take care for the fishes of the sea, and the fow much more will he care and provide for those that fear hin
" the poor and needy seekcth water, and there is " their tongue faileth for thirst ; I the Lord will hear 1 " God of Israel will not forsake them," Isa. xii. 1 7- " thought for your life, (saith the Lord) what ye shall
XAVIGATIOX SPiarrrALIZED. 2
the one is, that the gift of Jesus Christ amounts to more tlian all tli<
tilings come to ; yea, in bestovnng him, he has given that which v tiiallv and eminently comprehends all these inferior mercies in
RonJ. viii. 32. " He that spared not liis own Son, but delivered h
•• up for us all ; how shall he not with him freely give us all things And 1 Cor. lii. 22. " All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, a " Christ is God"'s.'' Another argument is, that God gives these te: poral things to tliose he never gave his Christ unto, and thereft there is no great matter in them ; yea, to those which, in a lit while, are to be thrust into hell, Psal. xvii. 14. Now if God clot and feed his enemies, if (to allude to that, Luke xii. 28.) he clot the grass, which to-day is in its pride and glory in the field, and 1
morrow is cast into the oven, into hell : how much more will clothe and provide for you that are saints?
This God, that feeds all the creatures is your Father, and a Fatl that never dies ; and therefore you shall not be as exposed orpha that are the children of such a Father. " For he hath said, I \<
" never leave you nor forsake you," Heb, xiii. 3. I have read o good woman, that in all wants and distresses was wont to encoura herself with that word, 2 Sam. xxii. 47. The Lord Uveth. But o time, being in a deep distress, and forgetting that consolation, o
of her Uttle children came to her, and said, ' Mother, why weep
"so.'' What! is God dead now.'' Which words, from a clii shamed her out of her unbelieving fears, and quickly brought 1 spirits to rest. O saint, whilst God lives thou canst not want wl is good for thee.
How sweet a life might Christians live, could they but bring thi
hearts to a full subjection to the disposing will of God .'' to be conte not only with what he commands and approves, but also with wl he allots and appoints. It was a sweet reply that a gracious worn
once made upon her death-bed, to a friend that asked, * Whet I:
' she were more willing to live, or die.''' She answered, ' I am ph ' sed with what God pleaseth.' ' Yea, (saith her friend) but if G
* should refer it to you, which would you chuse r" * Truly, (s£ ' she) if God would refer it to me, I would refer it to him agai Ah ! blessed life, when the will is swallowed up in the will of Gc and the heart at rest in his care and love, and pleased with all I appointments.
REFLECTION.
I remember my fault this day, may many a gracious soul say. A how faithless and distrustful have I Ijeen, notwithstanding the grt seciinfv rinil hntli o-ivpn tn mv fnith K^itli in liic wrirrJ unA wrii'Lc (
250 A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN ; OR,
my Father, though I have ten thousand times more res
than they have to trust me, Matth. vil. 21. Surely, i
jealous of my Father's affection, I could not be so dubioi vision for me. Ah ! I should rather wonder that I hj
than repine that I have no more. I should rather hai bled that I have done no more for God, than that I 1
no more from God. I have not proclaimed it to the conversation, that I have found a sufficiency in him saints have done, Hab. iii. 17, 18. How have I deba: fulness and all-sufficiency of God, and magnified these e by my anxiety about them ? Had I had more faith,
would not have made such an heavy heart. Lord, h( thou convinced me of this folly, and put me to the blus hast confuted my unbelief! so that I have resolved ne\ thee more, and yet new exigencies renew this corruptioi
tradictory also hath my heart and my prayers been .'' I ] conditionally, and with submission to thy will ; I da thee, I must have them ; yet this hath been the Ian heart and life. O convince me of this folly !
\ ARIETY of curious fish are caught Out of the sea, and to our tables brought; We pick the choicest bits, and then we say, We are sufficed ; come, now take away.
The table''s voided, you have done ; but fain I would persuade to have it brought again. The sweetest bit of all remains behind. Which, through your want of skill, you could n A bit for faith, have you not found it .'' Then I've made but half a meal ; come, taste again, Hast thou considered, O my soul ! that hand Which feeds those multitudes in sea and land !
A double mercy in it thou shouldst see ; It fed them first, and then with them fed thee. Food in the waters we should think were scant For such a multitude, yet none do want. What numVous flocks of birds about me fly .' When saw I one, through want, fall down, and
They gather what his hand to them doth bring, Tho' but a worm, and at that feast can sin<j.
XAVIGAXrON SPIEITUALIZED.
CHAP. XIV
Sea-waters drained tkroitrrh f/ie earth, are srcccf ,• to
So are tlC affiktions which God's people meet.
jL he waters of the sea, in themselves, are brackish and unple sant, yet being exhaled by the sun, and condensed into clouds, the fall down into pleasant showers ; or if drained through the eartl 'their property is thereby altered, and that which was so salt in tl
sea, becomes exceeding sweet and pleasant in the springs. This v find by constant experience, the sweetest crystal sprmg came fro the sea, Eccl. i. 7.
Afflictions in themselves are evil, Amos ii. 6. very bitter and ui
pleasant. See Heb. xii. 11. Yet not morally and intrinsically evi as sin is ; for if so, the holy God would never own it for his ow act as he doth, ]VIic. iii. 2. but always disclaimeth sin, James i. Besides, if it were so evil, it could, in no case or respect, be the ol ject of our election and desire, as in some cases it ought to be, He xi. 25. but it is evil, as it is the fruit of sin, and grievous unto sens Heb. xii. 11. But though it be thus brackish and unpleasant
itself, yet, passing through Christ and the covenant, it loses th ungrateful property, and becomes pleasant in the fruits and effec thereof unto believers.
Yea, such are the blessed fruits thereof, that they are to accoui
It all joy when they fall into divers afflictions. Jam. i. 2. David coul bless God that he was afflicted, and many a saint hath done the lik
A good woman once compared her afflictions to her children : ' Fc * (saith she) they put me in pain in bearing them ; yet as I know n
' which child, so neither which affliction I could be without.'
Sometimes the Lord sanctifies afflictions to discover the corruptic that is in the heart. Dent. viii. 2. it is a furnace to shew the dros
Ah ! when a shai-p affliction conies, then the pride, impatience, ar
unbelief of the heart appear : Mutura vcratioprodit scipsam. Wh( the water is stirred, then the mud and filthy sediment that lay at tl bottom rise. Little, saith the afflicted soul, did I think there hi been in me that pride, self-love, distrust of God, carnal fear, and u belief, as I now And. O where is my patience, my faith, my glory tribulation ? 1 could not have imagined the sight of death would ha^
252 A XEW COMPASS FOU SEAMEN ; OR,
truly observed) is then only great in our eyes, when wi sense and self: but now affliction makes us more spiritu
it is nothing. It di'ives them nearer to God, makes t necessity of the life of faith, with multitudes of other h
But yet these sweet fruits of afflictions do not natur their own accord, spring from it ; no, we may as well loo from thorns, or figs from thistles, as for such fruits frc till Chrisfs sanctifying hand and art have passed upon
The reason why they become thus sweet and pleasant before) is, because they run now in another channel ; . hath removed them from mount Ebal to Gerizim ; they the effects of vindictive wrath, but paternal chastisemer *Mr. Case well notes, ' a teaching affliction is to the g£ * suit of all the offices of Jesus Christ. As a king, he t * a prophet, he teacheth, viz. by chastening ; and, as * hath purchased this grace of the Father, that the dr * blossom, and bear fruit.' Behold, then, a sanctified i cup, whereinto Jesus hath wrung and pressed the juice ; all his mediatorial offices. Surely, that must be a cup royal wine, like that in the supper, a cup of blessing tc of God. UEFLECTION.
Hence may the unsanctified soul draw matter of fear even from its unsanctified troubles. And thus it may itself: O my soul ! what good hast thou gotten by all, c
afflictions ? God's rod hath been dumb to thee, or the
I have not leai'ned one holy instruction from it ; my ti left me the same, or worse than they found me ; my hear earthly, and vain before, and so it remains still ; th purged out, but only given vent to the pride, munnur, of ray heart. I have been in my afflictions, as that \ was in his, 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. who, " in the midst of
" yet trespassed more and more against the Lord." Y been in storms at sea, or troubles at home, my soul wit been as a raging sea, casting up mire and dirt. Sure!
not the rod of God's children ; I have proved but dros nace, and I fear the Lord will put me away as dross, as to do to the wicked, Psal. cxix. 119.
Hence also should gracious souls draw much encour; comfort amidst all their troubles. O these are the frt
fatherly love to me ! why should I fear in the day of e
NAVIGAT10>f SPIRIT0ALI7ED.
Lord, what a nivsterv of love lies in this dispensation ! that s
-which first brought afflictions into the world, is now itself carri out of the world by affliction, Rom. v. 12. Isa. vii. 9. O what c frustrate my salvation, when those very things that seem most oppose it, are made subservient to it, and, contrary to their own i ture, do promote and further it ?
A IS strange to hear what different censures fall Upon the same affliction ; some do call Tlieir troubles sweet, some bitter ; others meet Them both mid-way, and call them bitter sweet.
But here's the question still, 1 fain would see. Why sweet to him, and bitter unto me .'' Thou drink'st them, dregs and all, but others find Their troubles sweet, because to them refin'd And sanctityd ; w hich difference is best, By such apt similies as these exprest : From salt and brackish seas fumes rise and fly.
Which, into clouds condensed, obscure the sky; Their property there altered, in few hours. Those brackish fumes fall dovm in pleasant showVs: Or as the dregs of wine and beer, distilfd By limbec, with inoredients, doth vield
A cordial water, tho' the lees were bitter. From whence the ch3mist did extract such liquor. Then marvel not, that one can kiss that rod. Which makes another to blaspheme his God.
O get your troubles sweeten'd and refined. Or else they'll leave bitter effects behind. Saints troubles are a cord, let down my love,
To puUy up their hearts to things above.
CHAP. XV.
The seas xcithin their bounds tlie Lord contains: He also men and devils Itolds in chains.
T is a wonderful work of God to limit and bound such a vast t
furious creature as the sea, which, according to the judgment mor>.. i^..^,,„,i • i,:_T .^i ^1- .^1, 1 *!,_* :» i,„*u
254) A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN ; OB,
" Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake foi *' issued out of the womb ? I brake up for it my decn " set bars and doors, and said. Hitherto shalt thou " further ; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed
APPLICATION. And no l«ss is the glorious power and mercy of God bridling the rage and fury of Satan and his instrume break not in upon the inheritance of the Lord, ai
" Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the " wrath thou shalt restrain," Psal. Ixxvi. 10. By wl than hinted, that there is a world of rage and malice ii wicked men, which fain would, but cannot vent itsell Lord restrains, or, as in the Hebrew, girds it up. Si vious one, and his rage is great against the people of ( 12. But God holds him, and all his instruments in a
vidence ; and it is well for God's people that it is so. They are limited as the sea, and so the Lord in a pre speaks to them, " Hitherto shall ye come, and no furl times he ties them up so short, that they cannot touc though they have the greatest opportunities and adva
cv. 12, 13, 14, 15. " When they were but a few mei *' yea, very few, and. strangers in it; when they went *' tion to another, from one kingdom to another peopl *' no man to do them wrong ; yea, he reproved kings f •' saying, touch not mine anointed, and do my proph And sometimes he permits them to touch and troub but then sets bounds and limits to them, beyond whi not pass. That is a pregnant text to this purpose
**• Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison " be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days." Here are four remarkable limitations upon Satan anc reference to the people of God : a limitation as to thepe but some ; a limitation of the pimishmcrit^ a prison, nc hell ; a limitation upon them as to the end, for trial, i lastly, as to the duration, not as long as they please,
REFLECTION. O ray soul ! what marrow and fatness, comfort an mayest thou suck from the breast of this truth in th( of trouble ? Thou seest how the flowing seas drives the earth. W^ho h.is nrrpRtpd if in its rnnrsp. ;ind stnn
NAVIGATION SPIEITUALIZED. U
Thus the fiercest element is repressed by the feeblest thhigs : th seest also how full of wrath and fury wicked men are, how they n like the troubled sea, and threaten to overwhelm thee, and all i
Lord's inheritance : and then the floods of ungodly men make tl afraid ; yet are thev restrained by an invisible, gracious hand, tl
they cannot execute their purpose, nor perform their entei'prize. H full of devils and devilized men is this lower world ? Yet, in the mi of them all, hast thou hitherto been preserved. O ! my soul, adnn and adore that glorious power of God, by which thou art kept u salvation. Is not the preservation of a saint in the midst of such he of enemies as great a miracle, though not so sensible as the preser tion of those three noble Jews in the midst of the fiery furnace, Daniel in the den of lions ? For there is as strong a propension
Satan and wicked men, to destroy the saints, as in the fire to burn, c lion to devour. O ! then, let me cheerfully address myself to faithful discharge of my duty, and stand no longer in a slavish feai creatures, who can have no ]X)wer against me but what is given th from above, John xix. 11. And no more shall be given than si turn to the glory of God, Psal.lxxvi, 10. andtheadvantageof my so
Rom. viii. ^^8. ' THE POEM.
X HIS world's a forest, where, from day to day, Bears, wolves, and lions, range and seek their prey ; Amidst them all poor harmless lambs are fed, And by their very dens in safety led. They roar upon us, but are held in chains ; Our shepherd is their keeper, he maintains Our lot. Why then should we so trembling stand ^ We meet them, true, but in their keeper s hand. He that to raging seas such bounds hath put. The mouths of rav'nous beasts can also shut. Sleep in the woods, poor lambs, yourselves repo(?e Upon his care, whose eyes do never close.
If unbelief in you don't lose their chain, Fear not their struggling, that's but all in vain.
If God can check the Maves by smallest sand, A twined thread may hold these in his hand.
Shun sin, keep close to Christ; for other evils
You need not fear, tho' compass'd round with devils.
2jG a xew compass fok seamen ; or,
they can coast a little way by the shore, yet they dari far into the ocean without it: it is their guide, and direc their course for tliem : and if by the violence of wind and are driven beside their due course, yet by the help of thl duced, and brought to rights again. It is wonderful to c by the help of this guide, they can run in a direct line n leagues, and at last fall right with the smallest island ; v ocean comparatively, but as the head of a small pin u]
application.
What the compass and all other mathematical instn the navigator, that and much more is the word of God course to heaven. This is our compass to steer our c{
it is truly touched ; he that orders his conversation by i
arrive in heaven at last. Gal. vi. 16. " As many as Wi
** to this rule, peace be on them and mercy." This word is as necessary to us in our way to glory, lanthorn is in a dark night, Psal. cxix. 105. that is a li^
a dark place, till the day dawn, and the day-star arise 2 Pet. i. 19. If any that profess to know it and own it i lieaven at last, let them not blame the word for misguidi their own negligent and deceitfid hearts, that shuffle in shape not their course and conversation according to its
What blame can you lay upon the compass, if you ste by it ? How many are there, that neglecting this rule, v heaven by their own reason ? No wonder such fall sho in the way. This is a faithful guide, and brings all tha
blessed end ; " Thou shalt guide me with thy counse
" wards receive me to glory,"" Psal. Ixxiii. 24. Th dred and nineteenth psalm is spent in commendation o
dent excellency and usefulness. Luther profc^ssed that ] highly, that he would not take the whole world in exd leaf of it. Lay but this rule before you, and walk ace and you cannot be out of your way to heaven, Psal.
" have chosen the way of truth, (or the true way;) 1 " have I laid before me." Some indeed have opened ing blasphemous mouths against it ; as Julian, that vile feared not to say, there was as good matter in Phocill
lomon, in Pindarus's odes, as in David''s psalms. And the papists generally slight it, making it a lame, in yea, making their own traditions the touclistone of d
XAVIGATION SPIRITUALIZED. U
tions. And thus do they make it void, or, as the word r,x-j§u6i signifies, Matth. xv. 6. unlord it, and take away its authority a rule. But those that have thus shghted it, and followed the by-pa unto which tlieir corrupt hearts have led th^ii, they take not hold the paths of life, and are now in the depths of hell. All other lig to which men pretend, in the neglect of this, are but false fires ti will lead men into the pits and bogs of destruction at last
BEFLECTION,
And is thy word a compass, to direct my course to glorj'? O wh am I then like to arrive at last, that in all my course have neglec it, and steered according to the counsel of my own heart ! Lord have not made thy word the man of my council, but consulted w flesh and blood ; I have not enquired at this oracle, nor studied and made it the guide of my way, but walked after the sight of eyes, and the lust of my heart. Whither, Lord t can I come at U but to hell, after this way of reckoning .-' Some have slighted 1 word professedly, and I liave shghted it practically. 1 have a p soul embarked for eternity, it is now floating on a dangerous oce rocks and sands on every side, and I go a-drift before every wine temptation, and know not where I am. Ah, Lord ! convince of the danger of this condition. O convince me of my ignorance thy word, and the fatal consequence and issue thereof Lord, me now resolve to study, prize, and obey it ; hide it in my hei that I may not sin against it. Open my understanding, that I a understand the scriptures; open my heart to entertain it in love, thou that hast been so gracious to give a perfect rule, give me s
a perfect heart to walk by tliat rule to glory !
A HIS world's a sea, wherein a num'rous fleet Of ships are under sail. Here you shall meet Of evVy rate and size ; frigates, galleons. The nimble ketches, and small pickeroons : Some bound to this port ; some where \rinds and weather Will drive them, they are bound they know not whither. Some steer away for heaven, some for hell ; To which some steer, themselves can hardly telL The winds do shape their course, which tho' it blow From any point, before it they must go.
They are directed by the wind and tide. That have no compass to direct and guide :
S58 A NEW COMPASS FOll SEAMEN ; OR,
O let me understand, and be so wise, To know upon what point my country lies : And having set my course directly thither,
Great God preserve me in the foulest weather. By reason some will coast it ; but I fear. Such coasters never will drop anchor there. Thy word is truly touch'd, and still directs A proper course, which my base heart neglects. Lord, touch my iron heart, and make it stand Pointing to thee its loadstone. To that land
Of rest above, let ev'ry tempest drive My soul, where it would rather be than live.
CHAP. XVII.
Look as the sea, by turns, doth ebb andjlow So their estates, that use it, come Q,nd go.
A HE sea hath its alternate course and motion, its flowings ; no sooner is it high water, but it begins to eb leave the shore naked and dry, which but a little befo and overflowed. And as its tide, so also its waves are of inconstancy, still rolling and tumbling, this way an( fixed and quiet. Instabilis unda : as fickle as a wave.
to a proverb. See Jam. i. 6. " He that wavereth is \i\ " the sea driven with the wind, and tossed." So Isa. ] " cannot rest."
Thus mutable and inconstant are all outward things depending on them : nothing of any substance, or any i ence in them, 1 Cor. vii. 31. " The fashion of this w
"away." It is an high point of folly to depend upon si Prov. xxiii. 5. " Why wilt thou set (or, as it is in the He
*' thine eyes to fly upon that which is not ? For rid " make themselves wings, and fly away, as an eagle towa In flying to us (saith Augustine) they have, alas vix
serinas, scarce a sparrow's wings ; but in flying from \ an eagle. And those wings they are said to make to thei the cause of its transitoriness is in itself: the creature
WAVIGATION SPIRITUALIZED.
^%late aiid honour, and stands in the world as a bare dry stalk in field, whose flower, beauty, and bravery are gone : one puff of w bioM s it awav, one churlish easterly blast shrivels it up, 1 Pet. iv.
How mad a thing is it, then, for any man to be lifted up in pr upon such a vanity as this is ! to build so lofty and over-jetting a i upon such a feeble, tottering foundation ! We have seen meadows of such curious flowers, mown down and withered ; men of great tates impoverished suddenly ; and when, like a meadow that is mo they have begun to recover themselves again, (as the phrase is) Lord hath sent " grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting u
'• the latter growth,'' Amos vii. 2, Just as the grasshoppers j other creatures, devour the second tender herbage as soon as field begins to recover its verdure ; so men, after they have been nuded and blasted by Providence, they begin after a while to floui again ; but then comes some new affliction and blasts all. None h more frequent experience of this than you that are merchants < seamen, whose estates are floating ; and yet such as have had highest security in the eye of reason, have, notwithstanding, exp enced the vanity of these things. Henry IV. a potent prince was
duced to such a low ebb, that he petitioned for a prebend's plao the church of Spire. Gallimer, king of the Vandals, was broughi low, that he sent to his friends for a spunge, a loaf of bread, and harp : a spunge to dry up his tears, a loaf of bread to maintain
life, and an harp to solace him in his misery. The story of Bell: rius is very affecting : he was a man famous in his time, general oi array, yet having his eyes put out, and stripped of all earthly c( forts, was led about crying, Date obolum Bellisario. Give one per to poor Bellisarius. Instances in history of this kind are intin Men of the greatest estates and honours have nevertheless beco the very ludibria fortunes ^ as one speaks, the very scorn of fortu
Yea, and not only wicked men that have gotten their estates rapine and oppression, have lived to see them thus scattered bv P
vidence : but sometimes godly men have had their estates, how'jus soever acquired, thus scattered by providence also. Whoever had estate, better gotten, better bottomed, or better managed, than Jc
f'et all was overthrown and swept away in a moment ; though ercy to him. as the issue demonstrated.
^Pni.
Oh then ! what a vanity is it to set the heart, and let out the fections on them ! you can never depend too much upon God, i too little upon the creature, 1 Tim. vi. IT. <* Charge them that ; " rich in this world, that they be not high-minded and trust in \
260 A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN ; OR,
I am to enrich my soul ^vith solid and everlasting treasi ever a sensual lust should be more operative in them tl of God in me ! O my soul, thou dost not lay out thy s earnestness for heaven with any proportion to what the world. I have indeed higher motives, and a surer rewan but as I have an advantage above them herein, so they vantage above me in the strength and entireness of the which they are acted. What they do for the world, th all their might; they have no contrary principle to oj their thoughts, strength, and affections are entirely ca channel ; but I find " a law in my members warring agi
" of my mind;" I must strive through a thousand dif contradictions to the discharge of a duty. O my Go my heart be more enlarged in zeal, love, and delight i theirs are after their lusts .'' O let me once find it so.
Again, is the creature so vain and unstable ? Then affections so hot and eager after it ? And why am I sc upon its beauty, especially when God is staining all i glory ! Jer. xlv. 5, 6. Surely it is unbecoming the spiri tian at any time, but at such a time we may say of it, i AhithophcPs counsel, " It is not good at this time."
O that my spii'it were raised above them, and my more in heaven ! O that like that angel. Rev. x. 1, 2. down from heaven, and set one foot upon the sea, and £
the earth, having a crown upon his head, so I might upon all the cares, fears, and terrors of the world, and £ all the tempting splendor and glory of tlie world, tread derfoot in the dust, and crowning myself with nothing excellencies and glory !
THE POEM. J UDGE in thyself, O Christian ! is it meet
To set thy heart on what beasts set their feet ?
'Tis no hyperbole, if you be told. You dig for dross with mattocks made of gold. Affections are too costly to bestow
Upon the fair-fac'd nothings here below. The eagle scorns to fall down from on high, (The proverb saith) to catch the silly fly. And can a Christian leave the face of God,
T' embrace th' earth, or doat upon a clod ?
>:AV1CATI0N SPtniTUALTXED.
Or like the silly bird that to her nest Doth carry straws, and never is at rest.
Till it be feathered well, but doth not see The axe beneath, that's hewing down the tree. If on a thorn thy heart itself repose With such delight, what if it were a rose ? Admire, O sauit, the wisdom of thy God, Who of the self-same tree doth make a rod. Lest thou shouldst surfeit on forbidden fruit. And live not hke a saint, but like a brute.
CHAP. XVIII.
LiTie hungry lions, u'avesjbr sinners gape : Leave then your sins behind, if yoit II escape.
OBSERVATIOX.
3l he waves of the sea are sometimes raised by God's commis to be executioners of his threatenings upon sinners. When Ji
fled from the presence of the Lord to Tarshish, the text saith, " *' Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. and there was a mi
*' tempest, so that the ship was like to be broken,'" Jonah These wei'e God's bailiffs to airest the run-away prophet. And ■cxiviii. 8. The stormy winds are said Xojtiljil his xcord; not
his word of command, in rising when God bids them, but his ' of threatening also. And hence it is called a destroying sind,
li. 1. and a stormy wind in Gods Jury, Ezek. xiii. \^.
If these be the executioners of God"'s threatenings. how sad is their condition that put forth to sea under the guilt of all their i Or, if God should commlssionate the winds to go after and a thee for all thou owest him, where art thou then t How dare put forth under the power of a divine threat, before all be ck betwixt God and thee .'' Sins in scripture aje called debts, M vi. 12. They are debts to God ; not that we owe them to hit ought to sin, but metonymically, beavuse they render the sinnei
noxious to God's judgments, even as pecuniary debts oblige him hath not w here%nth to pay, to suffer punishment. All sinners i undergo the curse, either in their own person, according to th< press letter of the law, Gen. ii. IT. Gal. iii. 10. or their surety
cord'mg to the tacit intent of the law, manifested to be the mil
2C2 A >fEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN ; OR,
" And be sure thy sin will find tliee out, wherever 1 Numb, xxxii. 23. i. e. God's revenging hand for sin will bi Thou mayest lose the sight and memory of thy sins, b not the sight of thee ; they follow after, as the hound dc ing game upon the scent, till they have fetched thee up consider, " How feai'fui a thing it is to fall into the 1 " living God," Heb. x. 31. How soon may a storm bring thee before the bar of God ?
REFLECTION.
O my soul, what a case art thou in, if this be so.'' Ar sins yet upon thine own score ? Hast not thou made lig] and that precious blood of his, and hitherto persisted 1 lion against him ? And what can the issue of this be at la: There is abundant mercy indeed for returning sinners ; pel speaks of none for persisting and impenitent sinners, many who are going on in their sins are overtaken by gra is no grace promised to such as go on in sin. O ! if God s me by the next storm, and call me to an account for al him, I must then lie in the prison of hell to all eternity never pay the debt ; nay, all the angels in heaven cannot Being christless, I am under all the curses in the bool cliild of Hagar. Lord pity and spare me a little longer thy Christ unto me, a*id give me faith in his blood, an art fully satisfied at once, and I discharged for ever. C the debt at my hand, for then thou wilt never be satisfi( quitted. What profit, Lord, is there in my blood ! O m haste to this Christ, thy refuge city ; thou knowest not I
avenger of blood may overtake thee.
TTHE POEM. HY sins are debts, God puts them to account Canst tell, poor wretch, to what thy debts amouni Thou filPst the treasure of thy sins each hour. Into his vials God doth also pour Proportionable wrath : Thou seest it not ; But yet assure thyself, there's drop for drop. For every sand of patience running out, A drop of wrath runs in. Soul, look about ! God's treasure's almost full, as Avell as thine : When both are full, O then the dreadful time Of reck'ning comes ; thou shalt not gain a day Of patience more, but there hastes away
NAVIGATION SPISITUALIZED.
The sum is great, but if a Christ thou get, Fear not, a prince can pay a beggar s debt. Now if the storm sliould rise, thou need"'st not fear; Thou art, but the dehnquent is not there. A pardon'd soul to sea may boldly go : He fears not bailiffs, that doth nothing owe.
CHAP. XIX.
To save the ship, rich lading's ca^ a-jsay. Thy said is shiprcrech'd if thy lusts do stay.
JLx Storms and distresses at sea, the richest commodities are overboard ; they stand not upon it, when life and all is in jeop
and hazard, Jonah i. 5.' The mariners cast forth the wares that in the ship into the sea, to hghten it. And, Acts xxN^ii. 18 they cast out the very tackhngs of the ship. How highly sc men prize such commodities, yet reason tells them, it were b these should perish, than life. Satan himself could say, Jc
" Skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his lif APPLICATION.
And surely, it is every wav as highly reasonable, that men sh mortify, cast out, and cut off their dearest lusts, rather than thei
mortal souls should sink and perish in the storm of God's wrath, indeed is a precious treasure, and highly valued by men : You k
■what Solomon saith, Eccl. ix. 4. That " a living dog is better
" a dead lion." And we find men wilhng to part with their est limbs, or any outward comfort for the preservation of it. The man in the gosjiel spent all she had on the phvsicians for her he; a degree below life. Some men indeed do much overvalue t lives, and part with Christ and peace of conscience for it ; bu that thus saves it, shall lose. Now if life be so much worth, \
then is the soul worth .' Alas ! life is but " a vapour, which appea " for a little while, and then vanisheth awav,"" Jam. iv. 14.
Life indeed is more worth than all the world, but my soul is e worth than ten thousand lives. Nature teacheth you to value the so high, and grace should teach you to value the second much big Max. xix. 20. Now here is the case : Either you must part with \ sins, or with your souls; if these be not cast out, both must sink
264! A >;ew compass for seamen ; on,
REFLECTION,
And must sin or the soul perish ? Must my life, yea, i life go for it if I spare it ? O then let me not be cruel to
soul in sparing my sin ; O my soul, this foolish pity and c gence will be thy ruin : If I spare it, God hath said, " 1
" spare me,"" Deut. xxvi. 20. It is true the pains of m arc sharp, but yet is easier than the pains of hell. To cut hand, or pluck out a right eye is hard ; but to have my i eternally from God is harder. Is it as easy (O my soul !) them in hell, as to mortify them on earth ? Surely, it is
*' for me, that one member perish, rather than that all " hell," Matt. v. 24. I see the merchant willing to pai wares if embarked with them in a storm : And those tha
grened legs or arms, willingly stretch them out to be cu serve life : And shall I be willing to endure no difficulties f
Christ reckoned souls worth his blood : And is it not wo
denial ? Lord, let me not warm a snake in my bosom, last sting me to the heart.
X HY souFs the ship, its lading is its lusts,
God's judgments, stormy winds, and dangerous gi Conscience the master ; but the stubborn will Goes supra cargo^ and doth keep the bill : Affections are the men. The winds do rise, The storm increases : Conscience gives advice
To throw those lusts o'erboard, and so to ease The vessel, which else cannot keep the seas.
The will opposes, and th' affections say. The master's counsel they will not obey. The case is dang'rous, that no man can doubt, Who sees the storm within, and that without. Lusts and affections cannot part ; no, rather.
They are resolv'd to swim or sink together. Conscience still strives, but they cannot abide That it or reason should the case decide Lust knows that reason, in like cases, still Determines well : Then chuse ye whom ye will.
Shall make the devil judge ? This case has been
Before him, and he judg'd that skin for skin.
KAVIGATION SfnnXUALI/ED,
CHAP. XX.
Christ, with a xcord, can surging leaves appease : His voice a trouUed soul can quickly ease.
VV HEN the sea works, and is tempestuous, it is not in the p of any creature to appease it. When the Egyptians would by
hieroglypliics express aa impossibilit}-, they did it by the pictu a man treading upon the waves. It is storied of Canute, an an Danish king, that when a mighty storm of flattery arose upon he appeased it by shewing that he could not appease the sea: one ot his courtiers told him as he rode near, the sea-side, ' Th,
' was Lord of the sea as well as land.*" ' Well, (said the king) we ' see that by and bv ;' and so went to the water-side, and with a voice cried, ' O ye seas and waves, come no further, touch not my But the sea came up notwithstanding that charge, and confutet flattery. But now Jesus Christ hath command of them indeed : said of him, Mat. viii. 20. Tliat he rebuked them. And Mark i\ He quiets them with a word, Peace, be still ; as one would hi child, and it obeyed him.
Conscience, when awakened by the terrors of the Lord, is li raging tempestuous sea ; so it works, so it roars ; and it is not ii power of all creatures to hush or quiet it. Spiritual terrors, as as spiritual consolations are not known till felt. O when the ar of the Almighty are shot into the spirit, and the terrors of Goi
themselves in array against the soul; when the venom of those ar drink up the spirits, and those armies of terrors charge violently successively upon it, as Job vi. 4. What creature then is able to s before them ! Even God's own dear children have felt such te as have distracted them, Psal. Ixxxi. 15. Conscience is the se guilt : it is like a burning glass, so it contracts the beams of threatnings, twists them together, and reflects them on the soul,
it smoke, scorch, and flame. If the wrath of the king be hke the i
ing of a lion, then what is the Almighty's wrath ! which is bur, tvrath, Jobxix. 11. Tearing -u-rath, Psal. 1.22. Surprizing zd Job XX. 23. And abiding icrath. Job iii. 36.
In this case no creature can relieve : all are physicians of no va some under these terrors have thought hell more tolerable, and violent hand have thrust themselves out of the world into it to a
these gnawings : Yet Jesus Chnst can quickly calm these mvs
266 A XEW COMPASS Foil SEAMEN ; OR,
man, justice and mercy meet and kiss each other, Eph. i hence fetches in peace to the soul, Rom. v. I.
REFLECTION.
Can none appease a troubled conscience but Christ .f* T my soul, to understand, and daily more and more to save rious name, even Jesus, that delivers not only from the wr but that which is felt here also. O, if the foretaste of hell 1 able, if a few drops, let fall on the conscience in this life b and insufferable, what is it to have all the vials poured nity, when there shall be nothing to divert, mitigate, oi
Here men have somewliat to abate those terrors, so! mercy, at least a possibility : but there is none. O my s< thou loaded with guilt ! and what a Magormissabib wou should God rouse that sleepy lion in thy bosom ! My coi at all the better because my conscience is quiet. Ah coming when it must awake, and will lighten and thui within me, if I get not into Christ the sooner. O Lord, the power of thy wrath ? O let me not carry this guil world with me, to maintain tliose everlasting flames, lei sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eye-lids, till I f
fort of that blood of sprinkling, w'hich alone speaketh j
THE POEM. Among the dreadful works of God, I find No metaphors to paint a troubled mind.
I think on this, now that, and yet will neither Come fully up, though all be put together.
'Tis like the raging sea that casts up mire, Or like to ^Etna, breathing smoke and fire;
Or like a roused lion, fierce and fell ;
Or like those furies that do howl in liell. O conscience ! who can stand before thy power,
Endure thy gripes and twinges but an hour.'*
Stone, gout, strappado, racks, whatever is Dreadful to sense, is but a toy to this. No pleasures, riches, honours, friends can tell
How to give ease : In this 'tis like to hell. Call for the pleasant timbrel, lute, and harp ;
Alas ! the music howls, the pain's too sharp For these to charm, divert, or lull asleep :
These cannot reach it, no, the wound's too deep.
NAVIGATION SPIKlTOJtt.lZED.
There goes a powV, with his majestic voice. To hush the dreadi'ul storm, and still its noise. Who would bu^ fear and love this glorious Lord, That can rebuke such tempests with a word ?
CHAP. XXI.
Ourjbod out of the sea God doth command;
Yetjiui therein take notice of his hand.
OBSEKVATION.
X HE providence of God in furnishing us with such plenty variety offish, is not slightly to be past over. We have not (
several sorts of fish in our own seas, which are caught in their sons ; but from several parts, especially the western parts of I land, many sail of ships are sent yearly to the American parts oi world; as Xe^vfoundland, New-England, Sec Whence every ^ is brought home, not only enough to supply our own nation, many thousand pounds worth also yearly returned from Spain, other countries ; by which trade many thousand families do sub
But now, what returns do we make to heaven for these mere O what notice is taken of the good hand of Providence, which 1 supplies and feeds us with the blessings of the sea : I fear there but few that own, or act in submission to it, and are careful to ret^
according to received benefit Men do not consider, " That t " works are in the hand of God,'' Eccl. ix. 1. And even those have the most immediate dependence upon Providence, as merch
and seamen, yet are very prone to undertake designs in the confidi of their o\vn wisdom and industry ; not looking higher for the I
sing. Jam. iv. 1.3. They often " sacrifice to their own net, and 1:
" incense to their drag, because by them their portion is fat, " their meat plenteous,'' Hab. i. 16. viz. They attribute what is to God unto the creature : now this is a sin highly provoking to Lord ; for look in what degree the heart cleaves to the second ca in the same degree it departs from the living God, Jer. x. 5.
And how do you think the blessed God will take it, to see 1 self thus debased, and the creature thus exalted into his place ; tc you carrv vourselves to the creature as to a Gcyd. and to the ble
S68 A XEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN ; OR,
But certainly all endeavours will be un sanctified, if not !
which God is not eyed and engaged.
" It is in vain for you to rise up early, and sit up late " bread of sorrows ; for so he giveth his beloved si
cxxxvii. 2. i e. It is to no purpose for men to beat thei their spirits, and rack their consciences for an estate. 1 of acquiring and enjoying the creature, is by submittir the will of God, in a prudent and diligent, yet moderat ful means : Nothing can thrive with us till then.
REFLECTIOX.
Why then should I disquiet my self in vain ; and rob peace, by these unbelieving cares and distractions ? O t] my sin ! I have acted, as if my condition had been at my < I nave eyed creatures and means too much, and God to< have my hands hanged down with discouragement, causes have disappeared, or wrought cross to my designs ready to transfer the fault on this thing, or that ! An( apt am I to be vainly lifted up in carnal confidence, w 1: self competently furnished with creature munition, an( Oh, what a God-provoking wickedness, is this ! How ( vidence checked my carnal presumption, and dashed n projects .'' Yet have I not owned it, as I ought, and sul Oh, it is a wonder this hath not closed the hand of provi( me, and pulled down a curse upon all ! Ah Lord, let m