Like hungry lions, waves for sinners gape:
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the world, treading both underfootintheduft, and crowning myself with nothing but spiritual excellencies and glory !
J The POEM .
Udge in thyself, OChristian! is it meet To set thy heart on what beasts set their feet?
Sis no hyperbole, if you be told, You dig for dross, with mattocks made of gold.
Affections are too costly to bestow Upon the fair sac'd nothings here below.
Tine eagle scorns to fall down from on high, (The proverb faith) to catch the filly flie.
And can a Christian leave the face of God, T' embrace the earth, or do at upon a clod ?
Can earthly things thy heart so strangely move, To tempt it down from the delights above ;
And now to court the world at such a time A When God is laying judgment to the line?
Tis just like him that doth his cabin sweep And trim, when all is sinking in the deep :
Or like the filly bird, that to her nest Doth carry straws, and never is at rest,
Till it be feather'd well, but doth not fee The ax beneath, that'shewing down the tree.
If on at horn thy heart itself repose With such delight, what if it were a rose ?
Admire, O faint, the wisdom of thy God, Who of the self fame tree doth make a rod,
Lest thou should furfeit on forbidden fruit, And live not like a faint, but like a brute..
CHAP.
XVII.
Like hungry lions, waves for finnersgape:
Leave then your fins behind, if you'll escape.
OBSERVATION .
T ners.
HE waves of the sea are sometimes raisedbyGod's commission, to be executioners of his threatenings upon finWhen Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord to Tarsbish, the text faith, " The Lord sent out a great wind into the "sea, and there was a mighty tempest, so that the ship was
"like to be broken," Jonah i. 4.
These were God's bailiffs, to arrest the run away prophet. And Psalm cxlviii. 8. The stormy winds are faidto fulfil his word; not only his word of command,
VOL. VI.
New Compass for Seamen : Or, inrifingwhenGod bidsthem, but his word of threatening fo. And hence it is called a destroying wind, Jer. li. 1. and a
Stormy wind in God's fury, Ezek . xiii . 13.
APPLICATION.
If these be the executioners of God's threatenings, how fad then is their condition that put forth to sea under the guilt of all their fins ? O, if God snould commissionatethe winds togo after and arrest thee for all thouowesthim, whereartthou then?
How dare you put forth under the power of a divine threat, before all be clearedbetwixtGod and thee ?
Sins in scripture are called debts, Matth. vi. 12.
They are debts to God ; not that we owe them to him, or ought to fin, but metonymically, because they render the fianer obnoxious to God's judgments, even as pecuniasydebts oblige himthathath not wherewith to pay, tofafferpunishment. All fioners must undergo the curie, either in their own person, according to the express letter of the law, Gen. ii. 17. Gal. iii. 16. or their surety, according to the tacit intent of the law, manifested to be the mind of the law-giver, Gen. iii. 15. Gal. iii. 13, 14.
Now he that by faith hath interest in this surety, hath his discharge, his quietus eft, fealedinthebloodof Christ ; all process at law, or from the law, is stopt, Rom. viii. 1. But if thou be animpenitent, perfifting fioner, thy debt remains upon thine own score, " And be sure thy fin will find thee out, wherever
" thou goest," Numb. xxxii. 23. (i. e.) God's revenging hand for fin will be upon thee : Thou mayest lose the fight and memory of thy sins, but theylofe not the fight of thee ; they follow after, as the hounddoth the Beeting game upon the scent, tilltheyhave fetched thee up: And then confider, " How fear- " ful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God,"
Heb. x. 31. Howfoon may a storm arrest, and bring thee before the bar of God?
REFLECTION.
Omy foul, what acafe art thou in, if this be so ? Are not all thy fins yet upon thine own score ? Hast not thou made light of Christ, and that precious blood of his, and hitherto persisted in thy rebellion against him ? And what can the issue of this be at last, but ruin ? There is abundant mercy indeed for returning sinners; but the gospel speaks of none for perfifting and impenitent sinners. And though many who are going ou in their fins are overtaken by grace, yet there is no grace promised to such as goonin sm. O! if God should arrest me by the next storm, and call me to an account for all that I owe him, I must then lie in theprisonofhell to all eternity ; for i
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can never pay the debt ; nay, all the angels in heaven cannot satisfy for it.
Being christ lets, I am under all the curses in the book of God; a child of Hagar. Lord pity and spare me a little longer ! O discover thy Christ unto me, and give me faitla in his blood, and then thou art fully satisfied at once, and I discharged for ever. Orequire not the debt at my hand, for then thou wiltnever be satisfied, nor I acquitted.
What profit, Lord, is there in my blood!
O my soul, make haste to this Christ, thy refuge city; thou knowest nothowfoonthe avengerofbloodmay overtake thee..
The POEM.
THY fins are debts, God puts them to account; Canst tell, poor wretch, to what thy debts amount?
Thou fill'st the treasure of thy fins each hour.
Into his vialsGoddoth also pour Proportionable wrath : Thou seest it not; But yet afssure thyself, there's drop for drop.
For every land of patience running out, A drop of wrath runs ia.
Soul, look about!
God's treasure's almost full, as well as thine :
When both are full, then the dreadful time Of reck'ning comes; thou shalt not gain a day
Of patience more, but then there hastes away Heaven's pursevant, who comes uponthewing
With his commission seal'd, to take and bring.
Do'lt still reject Christ's tenders?
Well, next storm May be the bailiff order'd to perform This dreadful office. O then restless be,
Till God in Christ be reconcil'd to thee.
The sum is great, but if a Christ thou get, Fear not, a prince canpayabeggar's debt.
Now if the storm should rise, thou need not fear ; Thou art, but the delinquent is not there.
A pardoned foul to sea may boldly go :
He fears not bailiffs, that doth nothing owe.
CHAP.
XIX.
To save the ship, rich lading's cast away Thy soul is shipwreck'd if thy lusts do stay.
'N Aorms and distresses at sea, the richest commodities are cast I overboard; they stand not upon it, when life and all is injeopardyandhazard, Jonah i. 5. The mariners cast forth
A New Compass for Seamen: Or, thewares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it. And,
Acts xxvii. 18 , 19. they cast out the very tacklings of the ship.
How highly soever men prize such commodities, yet reason tells them, it were better these should perish, than life,
Satan himself could lay, Job. i. " Skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his life."
APPLICATIΟΝ.
And surely, it is every way as highly reasonable, that men should mortify, cast out, and cut off their dearest lusts, rather than their immortal souls should fink and perish in the storm of God's wrath.
Life, indeed, is a precious treasure, and highly valued by men : You know what Solomon faith, Ecclef. ix. 4.
That " a living dog is better than a dead lion." And we find men willing to part with their estates, limbs, or any outward comfort for the preservation of it.
The woman in the golpel spent all thehadonthe physicians for her health, a degree be low life.
Some men indeed do much overvalue their lives, and part withChrift and peace of conscience for it ; but he that thus saves it, shall lose it. Now if life be so much worth, what then is the soul worth ?
Alas ! life is but a vapour, " which appeareth for a little while, and thenvanisheth away,"
Jam. iv. 14.
Life indeed is more worth than all the world, but my soul is more worth than ten thousand lives.
Nature teacheth you to value the first so high, and grace should teach you to value the second much higher, Matth. xix. 26. Now here is the case : Either you must part with your fins, or with your souls; if these be not cast out, both must fisk together. " If ye live
" after the flesh, ye must die," Rom. viii. 13. God faith to you in this case, as toAhab, when he sparedBenhadad, 1Kings
ΧΧ. 42. " Because thou hast let goa man,whomGodhath ap- " pointed to destruction, therefore thy life hall go for his
" life."
Guilt will raise a storm of wrath, as Jonah did, if not cast out.
REFLECTION.
Andmutt fin or the soul perish ?
Must my life, yea, my eternal lifego for it, if I spare it ? O then let me not be cruel to mine own soul, in sparing my fin ; O my soul, this foolish pity, and cruel indulgence will be thy ruin : If I spare it, God hath said, " He will not spare me," Deut. xxvi . 20.
It is true, the pains of mortification are sharp, but yet it is easier than the pains of hell. To cut off a right hand, or pluck out a right eye, is hard ; but to have my foul cut off eternally from God, is harder, Is it as easy (O my soul!) to burn for them in hell,
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astomortify them on earth ? Surely, it is " profitable for me, " that one member perish, rather than that all be cast inro:
" hell," Matth. v. 24. I see the merchant willing to part with rich wares, if embarked with them in a storm: And those that have gangrened legs or arms, willingly stretch them out to be cut off, to preserve life: And shall I be willing to endure no difficulties for my soul ? Christ reckonedfouls worth his blood:
And is it not worth my self-denial ?
Lord, let me not warm a snake in my bolom, that will at last sting me to the heart.
T The POEM.
HY foul's the ship, its lading is its lusts, God's judgments, stormy winds, and dang'rous gusts ;
Conscience the master ; but the stubborn will Goes fupra cargo, and doth keep the bill :
Affections are the men.
The winds doth 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, andth' affections say, The master's counsel they will not obey.
The case is dangerous, that no man can doubt, Who fees 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, A ill Determines well : Then chuse ye whom ye will.
Shall's make the devil judge ?
This case has been Before him, and he judg'd, that skin for skin, And all men have, they'll part with for their life.
Then how unreasonable is this strife ?
They that their fins do with their persons ship, Do for their souls prepare adreadfulwhip.
CHAP.
XX...
Christ, with a word, can surging waves appease :
His voice a troubledjoul can quickly ease.
OBSERVATΙΟΝ.
THEN the sea works, and is tempestuous, itisnotinthe power of any creature to appease it. When the Egyp tians would by their hieroglyphics express an impoflibility, they did it by the picture of am an treading upon the waves
A New Compass for Seamen: Or, It is storied of Canute, an antient Danish king, that when a mighty storm of flattery arose upon him, he appeased it by shewing that he could not appease the sea: Butone of his courtiers told him, as he rode near the sea-side, ' That he was Lord of the sea, as well as land.' ' Well, (said the king) we shall see
' that by and by; and so went to the water side, and with a loudvoicecried, 'O ye seas and waves,come no further, touch
* not my feet.'
But the sea came up, notwithstanding that charge, andconfuted the flattery.
But now Jesus Christ hath command of them indeed:
It is said of him, Matth. viii. 26.
That he rebuked them. And Mark iv. 38. He quiets them with a word, Peace, be still ; as one would hush a child, and it obeyed him. APPLICATIΟΝ.
Conscience, when awakened by the terrors of the Lord, is like a raging tempestuous sea; so it works, so it roars ; and it is not in the power of all creatures to hush or quiet it.
Spiritual terrors, as well as spiritual confolations, are not know a till felt. O when the arrows of the Almighty are shot into the spirit, and the terrorsofGod set themselves in array against the soul; when the venom of those arrows drink up the spirits, and those armies of terrors charge violently and successivelyupon it, as Job vi. 4.
What creature then is able to standbeforethem !
Even God's own dear children have felt such terrors, as have distracted them, Psal. lxxxi. 15. Conscience is the feat of guilt; it is like a burning glass, so it contracts the beams of the threatnings, twists them together, and reflects them on the soul, until it smoke, scorch, and flame. If the wrath of a king be like the roaring of a lion, then what is the Almighty's wrath ! which is burning wrath, Job xix. 11. Tearing wrath, Plal.
1. 22.
Surprizing wrath, Job xx. 23. And abiding wrath, Job iii . 36.
Inthiscasenocreature can relieve; all are physicians of no value; some under these terrors have thoughtheil more tolerable, and by a violent hand have thrust themselves out of the world into it, to avoid these gnawings : Yet Jesus Christ can quickly calm these mystical waves also, and hush them with a word; yea, he is the Physician, and no other. It is the sprinkling of his blood, which, like a cooling fomentation, allays those heats within : That blood of sprinkling speaks peace, when all others have practised upon the foul to no purpose; and the reason is, because he is a Person in whom God and man, justice and mercy, meet, and kiss each other, Eph. ii. 14, And hence faith fetches in peace to the soul, Rom. v. 1.
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REFLECTION.
Can none appease atroubledconfcience, but Christ ? Then learn, O my soul, to understand, and daily, more and more, to favour that glorious name, even Jesus, that delivers not only from the wrath to come, but that which is felt here also.
0, if the foretaste of hell be so intolerable, if a few drops, let fall on the conscience in this life, be so scalding and insufferable, what is it to have all the vials poured out to eternity, when there shall be nothing to divert, mitigate, or allay it ?
Heremenhave somewhat to abatethose terrors, some hopes of mercy, at least a possibility ; but there is none. Omyfoul ! how art thou loaded with guilt ! and what a Magormissabib wouldst thou be, should God rouse that sleepy lion in thybofom! My condition is not at all the better, because my conscience is quiet. Ah, the day is coming, whenitmust awake, and will lighten and thunder terribly within me, if I get not intoChrift the sooner. O Lord, who knows the power of thy wrath ? O let me not carry this guilt out of the world with me, to maintain those everlasting flames ; let me give no sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to my eye-lids, till I feel the comfort of that blood of sprinkling, which alone speaketh peace.
AMOD The POEM .
Mong 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 castsup mire, Or like to Aetna, breathing smoke and fire;
Or like a roused lion, fierce and fell ; Or like those furies that do howl in hell.
Oconfcience ! 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 Howtogive ease : In this 'tis like to hell.
Call for the pleasanttimbrel, lute and harp ; Alas! the music howls, the pain's too tharp
For these to charm, divert, or lull asleep :
These cannot reach it, no, the wound's too deep.
Let all the promises before it stand, And set aBarnabas at it's right hand; These in themselves no comfort can afford,
'Tis Christ, and nonebutChrist, can speak the word.