Who, for their souls, would ne'er take half the pains!
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They can'tbe batter'd, scal'd, or undermin'd :
And these, environ'd by them, daily find Their bread ascertain'd; waters toodequr'd :
Then shout and sing, ye that are thus immur'd.
CHAP.
XII.
What dangers run they for a little gains, Who, for their souls, would ne'er take half the pains!
OBSERVATION.
OW exceeding folicitous and adventurous are seamen for a small portion of the world ? How prodigal of ftrengthand life for it ? They will run to theendsofthe earth, engage in a thou land dangers, upon the hopes and probability of getting a small eltate.
Permare, perterras, per millepericula currunt. Hapes of gain make them willing to adventure their liberty, yea, their life, and encourage them to endure heat, cold, and hunger, and a thousand straits and difficulties, to which they are frequently exposed.
APPLICATIO Ν.
How hot and eager are mens affections after the world ! and how remiss and cold towards things eternal! they are careful, and troubled about many things ; but seldom mind the great and neceffarymatter, Lukex. 40. They can rise early, go to bed late, and eat the bread of carefulness ; but when did they sodenythemselves for their poor souls ?
Their heads are full of designs and projects to get, or advance an estate : " We will go
" into such a city, continue there a year, and buy and fell, and 66 get gain," James iv. 13.
This is the τό έργον, the mater-design, which engrosseth all their time, Audies, and contrivances.
The will hath past a decree for it, the heart and affections are fully let out to it, They will be rich, 1 Tim. vi. 9
This decree of the will, the Spirit of God takes deep notice of; and in deed it is the clearest, and fallest discovery of a man's portion and condition : for look what is highest in the estimation, first and last in the thoughts, and upon which we spend our time and strength with delight ; certainly, that is our treasure, Matth. vi. 20, 21. The heads and hearts of faints are full of folicitous cares and fears about their spiritual condition ; the great design they drive on, to which all other things are but [παρεργα], things on the by, is to make sure their calling and election.
This is the [pond us] the weight and bias of their spirit; if
VOL. VI...
ANew Compass for Seamen : Or, their hearts stray and wander after any other thing, this reduces them again.
REFLECTION.
Lord, this hath been my manner from my youth, may the carnal mindedman say; I have been labouring for the meat that perisheth ; disquieting myself in vain, full of designs and projects for the world, and unwearied in my endeavours to compass an earthly treasure ; yet therein I have either been checked and disappointed by Providence, or if I have obtained, yet I am no sooner come to enjoy that contentandcomfortI promised myself in it, but I am ready to leave it all, to be stript out of it by death, and in that day all my thoughts perish : But, in the meantime, what have I done for my soul ? When did I ever break a night's sleep,or deny and pinchmyselffor it ? Ah! fool, that I am! to nourish and pamper a vile body, which must shortly lie under theclods, and become a loathiome carcafe; and, in the meantime, neglect and undo my poor soul, which partakes of the nature of angels, and must live for ever.
I have kept others vineyards, but mine own vineyard I have not kept ? I have been aperpetualdrudge and slave to the world ; in a worse condition hath my soul been, than others that are condemned to the mines. Lord, changemytreasure, and change my heart : Olet it suffice that Ihavebeenthus long labouring on the fire, for very vanity: now gather up my heart and affections in thyself, and let my great design now be, to secure a special interest inthyblessedself,thatImayonce say, "Tome to live is Christ ."
T The POEM.
HE face of man impress'd and stamp'don gold, With crown, and royal sceptres, we behold.
No wonder that a human face it gains, Since head, heart, foul, and body, itobtains.
Nor is it strange a fceptre it should have, That to its yoke the world doth so enslave..
Charm'dwith its chinking note, away they go, Like eagles to the carcass, ride and row.
Thro' worlds of hazards foolish creatures run, That into its embraces theymaycome.
Poor Indians, in the mines, my heart condoles, But seldom turns afside to pity souls, Which are the slaves, indeed, thattoil, and spend
Themselves upon its service.
Surely, friend, They are but sextons, to prepare, and make Thy grave, within those mines, whence they do take
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And dig their ore. Ah ! many fouls, I fear, Whose bodies live, yet lie entomhed 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 fed:
Why then are faints in doubt ofdailybread?
OBSERVATION.
Here are multitudes of living creatures in the sea. The Pfalmist saith, there are in it, " Things creeping innu- " merable, both small and great beasts," Psal. civ. 25. and we read, Gen. i. 20. thatwhenGod blessed the waters, he said,
" Let the waters bring forth abundantly,both fish and fowl, that "move in it, and fly about it." Yet all those multitudes of fish andfowl, both in sea and land, are cared and provided for.
Psal. cxlv. 15, 16. " Thou givest them their meat in due sea- " son: thou openest thy hand, andfatisfiest the desire of every
" living thing."APPLICATION.
If God take care for the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, much more will he care and provide for those that fear him. " When the poor and needy secketh water, and there
" is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst ; I, the Lord, will " hear them ; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them,"
Ifa. xli. 17. " Take no thought for your life, (faith the Lord) " what ye shall eat, or whatye shall drink; or for the body,
" what ye shall put on :"
Which he backs with an argument from God's providence over the creatures, andenforceth it with a [much rather] upon them, Matth. vi. 25, 31. God would have his people be without carefulness, (i. e.) anxious care, 1 Cor. vii. 32. " And to cast their care upon him, for he
" careth for them," I Pet. v. 7.
There are two main arguments suggested in the gospel, to quiet and satisfy the hearts of saints in this particular : the one is, that the gift of Jesus
Christ amounts to more than all these things come to; yea, in bestowing him, he has given that which virtually and eminently comprehends all these inferior mercies in it, Rom. viii. 32.
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall he not with him freelygiveus all things ?"
Mm2
A Nerv Compass for Seamen : Or, And 1 Cor. iii. 22. "All things are yours, an dye areChrift's,
"and Christ is God's."
Another argument is, that God gives these temporal things to those he never gave his Christ unto, and therefore there is no great matter in them ; yea, to those which, ina little while, are to be thrust into hell, Plaim xvii 14. Now ifGodclothe and feed his enemies, if (to allude to that, Luke xii. 28.) he clothe the grass, which to-day is in its pride and glory in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven, into hell : how much more will he clothe and provide for you that are faints ?
This God, that feeds all the creatures, is your Father, and a Father that never dies; and therefore you shall not be as exposed orphans, that are the children of such a Father. " For he
" hath said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you," Heb. lii. 3.
I have read of a good woman, that inallwantsand distresses was wont to encourage herself with that word, 2Sam. xxii. 47. The Lord liveth. But onetime, being in a deep di stress, and forgetting that consolation, one of her little children came to her, and said, Mother, why weep ye fo ?
What! is God dead now?
Which words, from a child, shamed her out of her unbelieving fears, and quickly brought her spirits to rest. O faint, whilftGod lives, thou canst not want what is good for thee.
How sweet a life might Christians live, could they but bring their hearts to a fullsubjection to the disposing will of God ? to becontentnotonly with what he commands and approves, but alsowithwhathe allots and appoints: It was a sweet reply, that a gracious woman once made upon her death-bed, toa friend that asked, Whether the were more willing to live, or • die ?" She answered, ' I am pleased with what God pleaseth."
Yea, (said her friend),but ifGodshouldrefer it to you,which <would you chuse ?"
Truly, (said the)ifGodwould refer it ⚫to me, I would refer it to him again.
Ah ! blessed life, when the will is fwallowedupin the will of God, and the heart
at rest in his care and love, and pleated with all his appointe ments.
REFLECTION.
I remember my fault this day, may many a gracious foul say.
Ah! how faithless and distrustulhave I been, notwithstanding the great security God hath given to my faith, both in his wordandworks ! O my soul, thou hast greatly finnedtherein, and dishonoured thy Father !
I have been worse tomyFa ther, than my children are to me.
They trouble not their thoughts with what they shall eat or drink, or put on, but
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trust to my care and provision for that; yet I cannot trust my Father, though I have ten thousand times more reason so to do, than they have to trust me, Matth. vii. 21.
Surely, unless I were jealous of my Father's affection, I could not be to dubious of his provision for me.
Ah ! I should rather wonder that I have fo much, than repine that I have no more. I should rather have been troubled that I have done no more for God, than that I have received no more from God.
I have not pro claimed it to the world by my conversation, that I have found a fufficiency in him alone, as the saints have done, Hab. iii. 17,
18.. How have I debased the faithfulness and all fufficiency of God, and magnified these earthly trifles, by my anxiety about them?
Had I had more faith, alight purse would not have madefuch an heavy heart. Lord, how oftenhaft thou convinced me of this folly, and put me to the bluth, when thou haftconfuted my unbelief! so that I have resolved never todiftrust thee more, and, yet new exigencies renew this corruption. How contradictory also hath my heart and my prayers been ? I pray for them conditionally, and with submission to thy will ; I dare not say to thee, I must have them; yet this hathbeenthe lan guage of my heart and life. Oconvince me of this folly!
The POEM.
Variety of curious fiffi are caught Out of the sea, and to our tables brought; We pick thechoicestbits, and then we lay, We are fufficed; come, now, take away.
The table's voided, youhavedone ; but fain 1wouldperfuadetohave it brought again.
The sweetest bit of all remains behind, Which, through your want of skill, you could not find.
A bit for faith, have you not found it? Then I've made but half a meal ; come, taste again,
Hast thou confider'd, O my soul ! that hand Which feeds those multitudes in sea and land !
Adoublemercy in it thou thouldst fee; 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 num'rous flocks of birds about me fly ?
When saw i one, through want, fall down, and die ?
They gather what his hand to them doth bring, Tho' but a worm, and at that feaftcan sing.
How full a table doth my Father keep?
Blush, then, my naughty heart, repent, and weep;
A New Compass for Seamen: Or, How faithless and distrustful hast thou been, Altho' his care and love thou oft hast seen ?
Thus in a single dish you have a feast, Your first and second course, the last the best.
CHAP.
XIV.
Sea-waters drained through the earth, are sweet ; So are th' afflictionswhichGod'speoplemeet.
OBSERVATΙΟΝ.
THE waters of the sea, in themselves, are brackih, and unpleasant, yet being exhaledby the fun, and condensed into clouds, they fall down into pleasant showers ; or if drained through the earth, their property is thereby altered, and that which was so salt in the sea, becomes exceeding sweet and pleasant in the springs.
This we find by constant experience, the sweetest crystal springcamefrom the sea, Ecclef. i. 7.
APPLICATIΟΝ.
Afflictions in themselves are evil, Amos ii. 6. very bitter and unpleasant.
See Heb. xii. 11.
Yet not morally and intrifically evil, as in is ; for if so, the holyGodwouldneverown it for his own act as he doth, Mic. iii. 2. but always disclaimeth fin,
Jam. i. 3.
Besides, if it were so evil, it could, in no case, or respect, be the object of our election and desire, as in some cases it ought to be, Heb. xi. 25. but it is evil, as it is the fruit of sin, and grievous unto sense, Heb. xiv. 11. But though it be thus brackish, and unpleasant in itself, yet, passing through Christ and the covenant, it loses that ungrateful property, and becomes pleasant in the fruits and effects thereofuntobelievers,
Heb. xii. tr .
Yea, such are the blessed fruits thereof, that they are to account it all joy, whentheyfall into divers afflictions, Jam. i. 2.
David could bless God that he was afflicted, and many a faint
hath done the like. A good woman once compared her afflictions to her children : ' For, (faith she) they put me in pain in bearing them ; yet as I know not which child, so neither
• which affliction, I could be without."
Sometimes the Lord sanctifies afflictions, to discover the corruption that is in the heart, Deut. viii. 2. it is a furnace to shew the dross. Ah ! when a sharp affliction comes, then the pride, impatience, and unbelief of the heart appears : Matura vexatio proditfeipfam.
When the water is stirred, then the nudand filthy sediment, that lay at the bottom, rises.
Little, faith the afflicted foul, did I think, there had been in me that
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pride, self-love, distrust of God, carnal fear, and unbelief, as I now find.
O where is my patience, my faith, my glory in tribulation ?
I could not have imagined the fight of death would have so appalled me, the loss of outward things have fo pierced me. Now what a blessedthing is this, to have the heart thus discovered.
Again, sanctifiedafflictionsdiscoverthe emptiness and vanity of the creature. Now, the Lord hath stained its pride, and veiled its tempting splendor, by this or that affliction ; and the soul fees what an empty, shallow, deceitful thing it is.
The world (as one hath truly observed) is then only great in our eyes, when we are full of sense and self: but now affliction makes us more spiritual, and then it is nothing. It drives them nearer to God, makes them fee the necessity of the life of faith, with multitudes of other benefits.
But yet these sweet fruits of afflictionsdonot naturally, and of their own accord, spring from it; no, we may as well look for grapes from thorns, or figs from thittles, as for such fruits from affliction, till Christ's fanctifying hand and art have passed upon them.
The reason why they become thus sweet and pleasant (as 1 noted before) is, because they run now into another channel ;
Jesus Christ hath removed them from mount Ebal toGerezim ; they are no more the effects of vindictive wrath, but paternal chastisement. And, as * Mr Case well notes, ' a teaching af4 fiction is to the saints, the result of all the offices of Jesus
Christ.
As a king, hechastens ; as a prophet, he teacheth, * viz. by chastening; and, asa priest, he hath purchased this grace of the Father, that the dry rod might blossom, and • bear fruit.'
Behold, then, a sanctified affliction is a cup, whereinto Jet us Christ hath wrung and pressed the juice and virtue of all his mediatory offices.
Surely, that must be a cup of generous, royal wine, like that in the supper, acupofbles sing to the people of God.
REFLECTION.
Hence may the unsanctified foul draw matter of fear and trouble, even from its unsanctified troubles. And thus it may reflect upon itself: O my soul ! what good haftthou gotten by all, or any of thy afflictions ? God's rod hath been dumb to thee, or thou deaf to it.
I have not learned one holy instruction from it; my troubles have left me the fame, orworsethan they found me; my heart was proud, earthly, and vain before,
* Correction, Instruction, p. 82.
A New Compass for Seamen: Or, and so it remains still; they have not purged out, but only given vent to the pride, murmur, and atheism of my heart.
have been in my afflictions, as that wicked Ahaz was in his, 2Chron. xxviii. 22. who, " in the midst of his distress, yet " trefpaffedmore and more against the Lord." When I have been in storms at sea, or troubles at home, my soul within me hath been as a raging sea, casting up mire and dirt.
Surely this rod is not the rod of God's children; 1 have proved but dross in the furnace, and I fear the Lord will put me away as drofs, as he threatens to do to the wicked, Psal. cxix. 419.
Hence also should gracious fouls draw much encouragement and comfort amidst all their troubles.
O these are the fruits of God'sfatherly love to me! why should I fear in the dayofevil! or tremble any more at affliction ?
Though they seem as a serpent at a distance, yet are they a rod in the hand. Obleffedbe that skilful and gracious hand, that makes the rod, the dry rod to blossom, and bear such precious fruit.
Lord, what a mystery of love lies in this dispensation ! that fin, which first brought afflictions into the world, is now itself carried out of the world by affliction, Rom. v. 12. Ita. vii. 9.
Owhat can frustrate my salvation, when those very things that seem molt to oppose it, are made subservient to it, and, contra ry to their own nature, do promote and further it ?
The POEM.
TIS Grange to hear what diss'rent cenfures fall Upon the fame affliction ; some do call Their troubles sweet, some bitter ; others meet
Them both mid-way, and call them bitter sweet.
But here's the question still, Iofain would fee,..
Why sweet to him, and bitter unto me ?...
Thou drink'stthem, dregs and all, but others find Their troubles soveet, because to them resin'd,
And sanctify'd; which difference is best, By such apt fimilies as these exprest :
From salt and brackisn seas fumes rise and fly, Which, into clouds condens'd, obscure the sky.;
Their property there alter'd, in few hours, Those brackish fumes fall down in pleasant show'rs
Or as thedregs of wine and beer, distill'd By limbec, with ingredients, doth yield A cordial water, tho' the lees were bitter,
From whence the chymist did extract such liquor.
Then marvel not, that one can kiss that rod,
Which makes another toblafpheme his God,
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Oget your troubles sweeten'd, and resin'd, Orelsethey'll leave bitter effects behind.,
Saints troubles are a cord, letdownby love, To pully up their hearts to things above.
CHAP.
XV.
The seas within their bounds the Lord contains :
Healsomen anddevilsholds in chains.
OBSERVATION .
IT is a wonderful work of God, to limit and boundfuch a vast and furious creature as the sea, which, according to the judgment of many learned men, is higher than the earth ; and that it hath a pro pension to overflow it, is evident both from its nature and motion: were it not that the greatGodhad laidhislawupon it. And this is aworkwherein the Lord glories, and will be admired.
Psal. civ. 9. " Thou hast set a " bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again
** to cover the earth." Which it is clear they would do, were they not thus limited.
So Job xxxviii. 8, 10, 11. "Who ** shut up the feawith doors, when it brake forth, as if it had
" issued out of the womb ?
I brake up for it my decreed "place, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou
" come, but no further ; and here shall thy proud waves be ** stayed."
APPLICATION .
And no less is the glorious powerandmercyofGoddiscovered inbridling the rage and fury of Satan and his instruments, that they break not in upon the inheritance of the Lord, and destroy it. " Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remain- " der of wrath thou shalt restrain," Psal. lxxvi. 10. By which
It is more than hinted, that there is a world of rage and malice in the hearts of wicked men, which fain would, but cannot vent itself, because the Lord restrains, or, as in the Hebrew, girdsitup.
Satan is the enviousone, and his rage is great against the people of God, Rev. xii. 12. But God holds him, and all his instruments, in a chain of providence; and it is well for God'speople that it is so.
They are limited as the sea, and so the Lord in a providential way speaks to them, " Hitherto shall ye come, and no further."
Sometimes he ties them up so short, that they cannot touch his people, though they have the greatest opportunities and advantages.
Psal. cv. 12, 13, 14, 15. " When theywerebut a few VOL. VI.
ANew Compass for Seamen : Or, " men in number ; yea, very few, and strangers in it; when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to " another people, he suffered no man to do them wrong ; yea,
" he reproved kings for their fakes, saying, touch not mine a- " nointed, and do my prophets no harm."
And sometimes he permits them to touch and trouble his people, but then sets bounds and limits to them, beyond which they must not pass.
That is a pregnant text to this purpose, Rev. ii. 10. " Behold " the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be
" tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days."
Here are four remarkable limitations upon Sat an and his agents, in reference to the people of God : a limitation as to the persons, not all, butfome ; a limitation of the punishment, a prison, not a grave, not hell; a limitation upon them as to the end, for trial, not ruin ; and lastly, as to the duration, not as long as they please, but ten days.
REFLECTION.
Omy foul ! what marrow and fatness, comfort and consolation mayest thou fuck from the breast of this truth, in the darkest day of trouble ? Thou seest how the flowing sea drives to overwhelin the earth. Who has arrested it in its course,and stopt its violence ? who has confined it to its place ?
Certainly none other but the Lord.
When I see it threaten the shore with its proud, furious, and insulting waves, I wonder it doth not fwallowup all: but I fee it no sooner touch the sands, which God hath made its bounds, but it retires, and, as it were, with a kind of submission, respects those limits whichGodhath set it.
Thus the fiercest element is repressed by the feeblest things : thou seest also how full of wrath and fury wicked men are, how they rage like the troubled sea, and threaten to overwhelm
*thee, and all the Lord's inheritance : and then the floods of ungodlymenmake thee afraid; yet are they restrained by an invisible, gracious hand, that they cannot execute their purpose, nor perform their enter prize. How full of devils, and devilized men, is this lower world ? Yet, in the midst of them all, haft thouhithertobeen preserved. O ! my soul, admire and adore that glorious power of God, by which thou art kept unto salvation,
Is not the preservation of a faint in the midst of such hosts of enemies, as great a miracle, though not so sensible, as the preservation of those three noble Jews, in the midst of the * See the Turk's letter to the emperor of Germany, lately publish edbyauthority.
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Fiery furnace, or Daniel in the den of lions ? For there is as trong a propenfion in Satan, and wicked men, to destroy the saints, as in the fire to burn, or a lion to devour. O ! then, let me chearfully address myself to the faithful discharge of my duty, and stand no longer in a slavish fear of creatures, who can have no power against me, but what is given them from above, John xix. 11. And no more shall be given than shall turn to the glory of God, Pial. lxxvi. 10. and the advantage of my soul, Rom. viii. 28.
The POEM.
THIS world's a forest, where, from day to day, Bears, wolves, and lions, range and seek their preys
Amidst them all poor harmless lambs are fed, And by their verydens 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 mouth of rav'nous beasts can also hut.
Sleep in the woods, poor lambs, yourselves repose Upon his cat care, whose eyes do never close.
If unbelief in you don't lose their chain, Fear not their struggling, that'sbut all in vain.
If God eancheck the waves by smallest sand, A twinedthread may hold these in his hand.
Shun fin, keep close to Christ ; for other evils You need not fear, tho' compass'd round with devils.
CHAP.
XVI.
Tofeawithout a compass none dare go:
Our course without the word is evenfo.
OBSERVATION.
Ο F how great use and necessity is the compass to seamen ! though they can coast a little way by the shore, yet they dare not venture far into the ocean without it; it is their guide, and directs and shapes their course for them : and if by the violence of wind and weather they are driven beside their due course, yet by the help of this they are reduced, and brought to rights again.
It is wonderful to confider, how, by the help of this guide, they can run in a direct line many hundred leagues, and at last fall right with the smallest island; which N02
New Compass for Seamen : Or, is in the ocean, comparatively, but as the head of a small pin uponatable.
APPLICATION.
What the compass, and all other mathematical instruments are to the navigator, that, and much more, is the word of God to us in our course to heaven.
This is our compass to steer our course by, and it is truly touched ; he that orders his conversation by it, shall safelyarriveinheaven at last. Gal. vi. 16.
" As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, " and mercy."
This word is as necessary to us in our way to glory, as a Jampor lanthorn is in a dark night, Psal. cxix. 105. that is a light thining in a dark place, till the day dawn, and the daystar arise in our hearts, 2Pet. i. 19.
If any that profess to know it, and own it as a rule, miss heaven at last, letthemnot blametheword for misguiding them, but their own negligent and deceitful hearts, that shuffle in and out, and shape not their courseandconversation according to its prescriptions.
Whatblamecanyou lay upon the compass, if you fleernot exactly by it ? How many are there, that neglecting this rule, will coast it to heaven by their own reason ? No wonder such fall short, and perish in the way.
This is a faithful guide, and brings all that follow it to ablessedend; " Thou shalt guide
" me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory,"
Psal. Ixxiii. 24.
The whole hundred and nineteenth psalm is spent in commendation of its transcendent excellency and usefulness.
Luther professed that he prized it so highly, that he would not take the whole world in exchange,for one leaf of it.
Lay but this rule before you, and walk accurately by it, and you cannot be out of your way to heaven, Plalm cxix. 30.
" I have chosen the way of truth, (or the true way;) thy "judgments have I laid before me."
Some indeed have open edtheir detracting blasphemous mouths against it ; as Julian, that vile apostate, who feared not to say, there was as good matter in Phocillides as in Solomon, in Pindarus's odes, as in David's psalms.
And the papists generally flight it, making it a lame, imper sect rule; yea, making their own traditions the touchstone of doctrines, and foundation of faith.
Montanus tells us, that although the apostle would have fermonsand service celebrated in a known tongue, yet the church, for very good cause, hath
otherwise ordered it.
Gilford called it the mother of herefies.
Bonner's chaplain judged it worthy to be burnt as a strange doctrine. They fituptheirinventionsabove it, and frequently
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come inwithanon obstante against Christ's institutions. And thus do they make it void, or, as the word ανατειλοητες signifies,
Matth. xv. 6. unlord it, and take away its authority as a rule.
But those that have thus flighted it, and followed the by paths unto which their corrupt hearts have led them, they take not hold of the paths of life, and are now in the depths of hell.
All other lights, to which men pretend, in the neglect of this, are but false fires, that will lead menintothepits and bogs of destruction at last.REFLECTION.
And is thy word a compass, to direct my course to glory ?
Owhere am I then like to arrive at lalt, that in all my course have neglected it, and steered according to the council of : my own heart !
Lord, I have not made thy word the man of my counsel, but consulted with flesh and blood; I have not enquired at this oracle, nor studied it, and made it the guide of my way, but walked after the sight of my eyes, and the lust of my heart.
Whither, Lord ! can I come at last, but to hell, after this way of reckoning ?
Some have flighted thy word professedly, and I have lighted it practically.
I have a poor soul embarked for eternity, it is now floating on a dangerous ocean, rocks and sands on every side, and I go a-drift before every wind of temptation, and know not where I am. Ah,
Lord! convince me of the danger of this condition. O convince me of my ignorance in thy word, and the fatal consequence and issue thereof. Lord, let menowresolve to study, prize, and obey it; hide it in my heart, that I may not fin against it.
Open my understanding, that Imayunderstand the scriptures; open my heart to entertain it in love. O thou that hast been so gracious to give a perfect rule, give me also a perfect heart to walk by that rule to glory !
T The POEM.
His world's a sea, wherein a num'rous fleet Of thips are under fail. Here you shall meet
Of ev'ry rate and size; frigates, galleons, The nimble ketches, and small pickeroons :
Some bound to this port; somewhere winds and weather Will drive them, they are bound they know not whither.
Some steer awayforheaven, some for hell; i To which some steer, themselves canhardlytell.
Thewindsdoshape 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:
A New Compass for Seamen : Or, For want of this, must run themselves a-ground, Brave ships are cast away, poor souls are drown'd.
Thy word our compass is, toguideourway To glory ; it reduces such as stray.
Lord, let thy word dwell richly in my heart, And make me skilful in this heavenly art :
O'let me understand, and be so wife, 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 till directs Apropercourse, which my base heart neglects.
Lord, touch my iron heart, and make it stand Pointing to thee, its loadstone.
To that land Of reft above, let ev'ry tempest drive My foul, where it would rather be than live.
CHAP.
XVII.
Look as the sea, by turns, doth ebb and flow :
So their estates, that use it, come andgo.
OBSERVATION.
HE sea hath its alternate course and motion, its ebbings T and flowings ; no sooner is it high water,but it begins to ebb again, and leave the shore nakedanddry, which but alittlebefore it covered and overflowed. And as its tides, so also its waves are the emblem of inconftancy, still rolling and tumbling, this way and that, never fixed and quiet. Instabilis unda : as fickle as a wave, is common, to a proverb, See Jam. i.6.
" He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the *" wind, and tossed."
So Isa. lvii. 20. " It cannot rest."
APPLICATIΩΝ.
Thus mutable and inconstant are all outward things, there is no depending on them: nothing of any substance, or any solid confifstence in them. I Cor. vii. 31. "The fashion of this world
" passeth away." It is an high pointoffollytodependupon such vanities. Prov. xxiii. 5.
Whywiltthou set (or, as it is in the " Hebrew, cause) thine eyes to fly upon that which is not ? For "riches certainly make themselves wings, and fly away, as an " eagle towards heaven."
InAying to us, faithAugustine, they have, alas vix quidem passerinas, scarceasparrow's wings; but
in flying from us, wings as an eagle. And those wings they are said to make to themselves, (i.e.)the cause of its tranfitorinels is
Navig tion Spiritualized.
in itself; the creature is suojected to vanity by fin; they are sweet flowers, but withered presently,Jam.i. 10. " As the flow- " erofthegrafs, soshalltherich man fade away."
The man is like the stalk or grass, his riches are the flower of the grass ;his glory and outward beauty, the stalk, is soon withered, but the flower much sooner.
This is either withered upon, or blown off from it, while the stalk abides.
Many a man outhves his estate and honour, and stands in the world as a bare dry stalk in the field, whose flower, beauty, and bravery are gone : one puff of wind blows it away, one churlish easterlyblast shrivels it up, 1 Pet. iv. 24.
How mad a thing is it, then, foranymantobe lifted up in pride, upon such a vanity as this is ! to build fo lofty and overjettinga roof upon such a feeble, tottering foundation ! We have seen meadows full of such curious Howers, mown down and withered; men of great estates impoverished suddenly ; and when, like a meadow that is mown they have begun to recover themselves again, (as the phrase is) the Lord hath sent
" grashoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth," Amos vii. 2.
Just as the grafhoppers, and other creatures, devour the second tender herbage, as soon as the field begins to recover its verdure; fo meu, aftertheyhave been denuded and blasted by Providence, they begin, after awhile, to flourish again ; but then comes some new affliction, and blasts all.
None have more frequent experience of this, thanyouthat are merchants and seamen, whose eslates are floating; and yet such as have had the highest security in the eye of reason, have, notwithstanding, experienced the vanity of these things.
Henry IV. a potent prince, was reduced to such a low ebt, that he petitioned fora prebend's place in the church of Spire.
Gallimer, king of the Vandals, was brought to low, that he sent to his friend for a spunge, a loaf of bread, and an harp : a fpunge to dry up his tears, a loaf of bread to maintain his life, and anharp to solace himself in his misery. The story of Bellisarius is very affecting: he was am an famous in his time, general of an army, yet having his eyes put out, and stripped of all earthly comforts, was led about, crying, Date obolum
Bellifario. Give one penny to poor Bellifarius. lustances in history of this kind are infinite. Men of the greatest estates and honours, have nevertheless become the very ludibria fortunae, as one speaks, the very scorn of fortune.
Yea, and not only wicked men, that have gotten their estates, by rapine and oppression, have lived to fee them thus scattered by Providence: butsometimesgodlymenhavehadtheireftates,
A New Compass for Seamen : Or, how justly soever acquired, thus scatteredbyProvidence also.
Whoever had an estate, better gotten, better bottomed, orbettermanaged, than Job? yet all was overthrown and sweptawayinamoment; though in mercy to him, as the issue demonstrated.
Oh then! what a vanity is it to set the heart and let out the affections on them ! you can never depend toomuchuponGod, nor too little upon the creature, I Tim. vi. 17. " Charge them
" that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded " and trust in uncertain riches."
REFLECTION.
Are all earthly things thus tranfitoryandvain ? Then what a reproach and shame is it to me, that the men of this world should be more industrious and eager in the prosecution of fuchvanities, than I am to enrich my soul with solid and everasting treasure ? O that ever a sensual lust should be more operative in them than the love of God in me ! O my foul, thou dost not layout thy strength and earnestness for heaven, with any proportion to what they do for the world. I have indeed higher motives, and a surer reward than they : but as I have an advantage abovethemherein, so they have an advantage above me in the strength and entireness of the principle by which they are acted.
What they do for the world, they do it with all their might ; they have no contrary principle to oppose them; their thoughts, strength, and affections, are entirely carried in one channel ; but I find " a law in my members warring a- " gainst the law of my mind;" I must strive through a thou sand difficulties and contradictions, to the discharge of a duty.
O my God! shall not my heart be more enlarged in zeal, love, and delight in thee, than theirs are after their lusts ? O let me once find it fo.
Again, is the creature so vain and unstable ?
Then why are my affections so hot and eager after it ? And why am I fo apt to do at upon its beauty, especially when God is staining all its pride and glory1 Jer. xlv. 5, 6.
Surely it is unbecoming the spirit of a Christian at anytime, but at such a time we may say of it, as Hushai of Ahithophel's counsel, " It is not good at " this time."
Othat my spirit were raised above them, and my conversation more in heaven! O that like that angel, Rev.x. 1, 2. which camedownfromheaven, and set onefootuponthe sea, and another upon the earth, having a crown upon his head, sol might setonefoot upon all the cares, fears, and terrors of the world, and another upon all the tempting splendor and glory of