With such a wind the saints have ever met, 31
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CHAP.
XXVIII.
Storms make discov'ry of the pilots skill :
God'swisdom-in affliction triumphs still.
OBSERVATION .
Nfairweather, when there is sea-room enough, then every commonperfon can guide the ship ; the pilot may then lie nown, and take his rest; but in great storms, and stress of weather, orwhennear the dangerous shore,then the most skilful pilot is putto it; then he thews the utmost of his art and
I skill, and yet sometimes all is too little.
They are (as the scripture speaks) at their wits end, know not what to do more; but are forced to commit all to the mercy of God, and the seas.
APPLICATIO Ν.
In the storms and tempests of affliction and trouble,there are the most evident and full discoveries of the wisdom and power of our God: it is indeed continually active for his people in all conditions, Ifa. xxvii . 3. " Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night
" and day." Psal . cxxi. 4. " He that keepeth Israel neither " slumbereth nor fleepeth." His people's dangers are without intermission, therefore his preservations are so too. But now, when they come into the strait of affliction, and deadly dangers, which threaten like rocks on every side; now the wisdom of their God rides triumphantly and visibly upon the waves of that stormy sea: and this infinite wisdom is then especially discovered in these particulars :
1. In leaving them still somewhat in the lieu and room of those comforts that they are deprived of; so that they fee God dothexchangetheir comforts, and that for the better ; and this supports then. So John xiv. 1, 2, 3. Christ's bodily presence is removed, but the Spirit was sent in the room of it, which was better.
2. In doubling their strength, as he doubles their burdens .
It is observed that the faints have many times very strong and sweet consolation, a little before their greatest trials : and this is so ordinary, that commonly when they have had their extraordinary confolations from God, they have then looked for some eminent trial. The Lord appeared to Abraham, and sealed the covenant to him, andthenputhim upon that great trial of his faith. So the disciples, Luke xxiv. 49. it was comVOL. VI.
ANew Compass for Seamen : Or, mandedthem that they " shouldtarry in Jerusalem, till they
" were endowed with power from on high."
The Lord knew what a hard providence they were like to have, and what great oppositions and dificulties they must encounter, encour in publishing the everlasting gospel to the world , and therefore first prepares andendows them with power from on high, viz. with eminent measures of the gifts and graces of the Spirit ; as faith, patience, self-denial, &c. So Paul had first his revelations, then his buffetings.
3. Incoming in so opportunely in the time of their great distress, with relief and comfort, I Pet. iv. 14. " Then the " Spirit of glory and of God resteth on them." As that martyr cried out to his friend Austin, at the very stake, He is come, he is come.
4. Inappointingandordering the several kinds ofafflictions to several faints; and alloting to everyone,that very af fliction, and no other, which is most suitable to his condition: which afflictions, like fo many potionsofphysic, are prepared for that very malignant humourthat predominates most in them.
Peter's fin was self-confidence, God permits him to fall by denying Christ , which doubtless was sanctified to his good in that particular.
Hezekiah's fin was vain-glory, therefore spoilers are fenttotake away his treasures.
5. In the duration of their troubles, they shall not ly always upon them, Psalm cxxv. 3. Our God is a God of judgment, Ifa. xxx. 18. Knows the due time of removing it, and is therein punctual to a day, Rev. ii. 10.
REFLECTION.
If the wisdom of God do thus triumph, and glorify itself in the distresses of the saints, then why thould I fear in the day of evil ? Psalm xlix. 4. Why doth my heart faint at the foresight and apprehension of approaching trouble ? Fear none of those things that thou shalt suffer,Omy foul; ifthyGodwill thus be with thee in the fire and water, thou canst not perish .
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yet let me fear no evil, whilst my God is thus with me. Creatures cannot do what they please, his wisdom limits and over-rules them all, to gracious and sweet ends. If my God caftme into the furnace, to melt and try me, yet I shall not be consumed there; for he will fit by the furnace himself all the while I am in it, and curiouflypry into it, observing when it hath done its work, and thenwillpresentlywithdraw the fire. O my soul, bless and adore this God of wisdom ! who himself will seethe
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Ordering of all thine afflictions,and not trust it in the hands of men or angels.
The POEM.
Hough tost in greatest storms, I'llnever fear, T If Christ will fit at th' helm to guide and steer :
Storms are the triumph of his skill and art ; He cannot close his eves, nor change his heart.
Wisdom and power ride upon the waves, And in the greatest danger helps and saves.
From dangers it by dangers doth deliver, And wounds the devil out of his own quiver;
Itcountermines hisplots, and so doth spoil, And make his engines on himself recoil.
It blunts the politician's rettless tool, And makes Ahitophel the verieft fool ; It shews us how our reason us misled, And if he had not, we had perished.
Lord, to thy wisdom I will give the reins, And not with cares perplex and vex my brains CHAP.
Things in the bottom are unseen : no eye Can trace God's paths, which in the deeps do lie.
OBSERVATIΟΝ .
HE ocean is so deep, that no eye can discover what lies TH in the bottom thereof. We use to say, proverbially, of athing that is irrecoverably loft, it is as good it were cast into the sea. What lies there, lies obscure from all eyes, but the eye of God.
APPLICATION.
Thus are the judgments of God, and the ways of his providence, profound and unsearchable, Psal. xxxvi. 6. " Thy righ- " teousness is like thegreatmountains, thy judgments are a " great deep;" (i. e.) his providences are secret, obscure, and unfathomable ; but even then, and in those providences, his righteousness stands up like the great mountains, visible and apparent to every eye. Though the saints cannot see the one, yet theycanclearly discern the other, Jer. xii. f. Jeremiah was at a stand ; fo was Job in the like case, Job xii. 7. So was Afaph,
Psal. lxxiii. and Habbakuk, chap. i. 3. These wheels ofprovidencearedreadful for their height, Ezek. i. 18. There be deep
Rr2
ANew Compass for Seamen : Or, mysteries of providence, as well as of faith. It maybe said of fomeofthem, as of Paul's epistles, Thattheyarehard to be understood, darkness and clouds are round about the throne of God: nomancan say what will be the particular issue and event of some of his dispensations. Luther seemed to hear God say to him, when he was importunate to know his n.ind in someparticularprovidence,Deusfum nonfequax : I am a God not to be traced. Some providences, like Hebrew letters must be read backward, Psal. xcii. 7. Some providences pose men of the greatest parts and graces. "His way is in the sea, his
"paths in the great waters,and his foot-steps are not known,"
Psal . lxxvii . 19. Who can trace foot-steps in the bottom of the sea ? " The angels," Ezek. i. " have their hands under their
" wings." The hand is either,symbolim rob or is,The symbol of strength ; or instrumentatum operation is, The instrumentofaction: where these hands are put forth, they work effectually, yea, but very secretly, they are hid under their wings. There be some of God's works that are such secrets, as thattheymay not be enquired into; they are to be believed and adored, but not pryed into, Rom. xi. 33. Others that maybe enquiredaf, ter, but yet are so profound, that few can understand them,
Psal. cxi . 2. " The works of the Lord are great, fought out of " all those that have pleasure therein." When we come to heaven, then all those mysteries, as well in the works as in the word of God, will lie open to our view.
REFLECTION.
Othen, why ismyheartdisquieted,because it cannot some. times discern the way of the Lord, and fee the connection and dependance on his providential dispensations ? Why art thou so perplexed, O my soul, at the confufions and disorders that are in the world ! I know that goodness and wisdom fits at the stern ;and thought he veffelofthe church be toflied and distressed in storms of trouble, yet it shall not perish:
Is it not e nough for me, that God hath condefcended so far, for my satisfaction, as to shew me plainly the ultimate and general issue of all these mysterious providences, Eph. i. 22. Rom. viii. 28. unless I be able to take the height of every particular, shall I presume to call the God of heaven to account ? Must he render a reason of his ways, and give an account of his matters to such a worm as I am ? Be silent (O my soul) before the Lord, subscribe to his wisdom, and submit to his will, whatsoever he doth. However it be, yet God is good to Israel; the eventwillmanifeft it to be all over a design of love. I know not how to reconcile them to each other, or many of them
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to the promise; yet are they all harmonious betwixt themselves,and the certain means of accomplishing the promises.
Owhat a favour is this,that in the midst of the greatest confufions in the world, God hath given such abundant security to his people, that it shall be well with them ? Amos ix. 8.
Ecclef. viii. 12 .
L The POEM.
ORD ! how stupendous, deep, and wonderful, Are all thy draughts of providence ? So full
Of puzzling intricacies,that they lie Beyond the ken of any mortal eye.
Awheelwithin a wheel'sthe scripture notion, And all those wheels transverse,and cross in motion.
All creatures serve it in their place ; yet so, As thousands of them know not what they do.
At this or that, their aim they do direct ; But neither this, nor that, is the effect :
Butfomething else they do not understand, Which sets all politicians at a stand.
Deep counsels,at the birth, this hand doth break, And deeper things performeth by the weak.
Men are, like horses, set at ev'ry stage, For providence to ride from age to age; Which, like a post,spurs on, and makes them run
From stage, to stage, until their journey's done ; Then take a fresh : but they the bus'ness know,
No more than horses the post-letters do.
Yet tho' it's work be not conceal'd from fight, 'Twillbe a glorious piece,when brought to light.
CHAP.
XXX.
Millions of men arefunk into the main ; But it shall not those dead always retain.
OBSERVATIΟΝ.
HAT multitudes of men hath the sea devoured! thou sands have made their graves in it. What numbers of menhavebeen ingulfed together in sea-fights, or storms, or inundations, whereby whole towns have been swallowed up ! certainly the dead which are there, are innumerable.
APPLICATIΟΝ .
But though thefeahas receivedsomanythousandbodies of men into its devouring throat, yet it is not the absolute lord,
A New Compass for Seamen : Or, or proprietor of them,but rather a steward in trusted with them, till the Lord require an account of them ; and then it mustde. liver up all it hath received, even to a person.
Rev. xx. 11, 12. "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God:
" And the books were opened; and another book was opened, " which is the book of life ; and the dead were judged out of " those things which were written in the book, according to " their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were
" in it."
The doctrine of the resurrection of the body, is a doctrine full of singular confolations to believers, 1 Cor. xv. and most clearlyafferted in Scripture, Acts xxvi. 8. Job xix. 25. 1 Cor. xv. &c. And it is well for us this point is so plainly revealed; because as it is a most comfortable truth to the people of God, so there is scarce any truth that lies under more prejudice, as to sense or reason, and is more difficult to receive, than this is.
The Epicures and Stoics laughed Paul to scorn when he preached it to them, Acts xvii. 32. The Familists and Quakers at this day reject it as a fable. The Socinians say the same body shall not rife, but an ærial body. And, indeed, ifmen set up reason as the onlyjudgeof supernatural things, it is incredible to think, that a body should be restored, that hath been burnt to ashes, and those ashes scattered in the wind ; as history tells us was frequentlydoneby the bodiesofthefaints in Dioclefian's reign! or when drowned in the sea, and there devoured by several fishes, and those again devoured by others.
But yet this is not to be objected to the almighty power of God, that gave them their first being : difficulties and impoffibilities are for men, but not for him. " Why should it be thought a thing
" incredible with you, that God should raise the dead ?" Acts xxvi . 8 .
REFLECTION .
And must I rise again, where-ever my body falls at death ?
Then, Lord, how am I concerned to get union with Christ while I live ? By virtue thereof only, my resurrection can be made comfortable,and blessed to me. Ah! let my body lie where it will, in earth or sea; let my bones be scattered, and flesh devoured by worms or fuh, I know thou canst, and wilt re-unite my scattered parts; and in thisbody I must stand before thine awful tribunal, to receive according to what I have done therein, 2 Cor. v. 10. Thou that commandest me to stand forth among the noblest rank of creatures, when I had no being, and fawest my substance, being yet imperfect, cant as eafilyreduceme to that being again.
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What though reason vote itimpoflible, and sense incredible ?
Though all these difficulties andincumbrancesgrow upon my faith, yet I know mybody is not lost for ever; the found of thy last and dreadful trumpet, shall awaken me ; and thy mighty power, to which all things are possible, shall bring me beforethybar.
O Lord, I know that I shall stand in that great assembly at the last day, when multitudes, multitudes, even all the sons and daughters of Adam, shall appear together.
O if I die Christless, it were good for me that there were no resurrection ; for then those eyes that have been windows of lust, must behold Christ the Judge, not as a Redeemer, but asa Revenger.
That tongue that hath vented so much of the filthiness of my heart, will then be struck speechless before him ; and this flesh which I fopampered and provided for, condemned to everlasting flames. O my God, let me make sure work for such a day! if I now getrealunionwiththySon, I shall awake with singing out of the dust; and then, as thou saidst to Jacob, soto me, when I go down into the sea,or grave, Gen. xlvi.3,4.
" Fear not to godown into the deep ; for Iwillfurely bring " thee up again."
The POEM.
I T should not seem incredible to thee, That God should raise the dead in seas that be:
We fee in winter, swallows, worms and flies Depriv'd of life,yet in the spring they rife.
Whattho' your bodies sev'ral fish devour, Object not that to the Almighty pow'r.
Somechymists in their art are fo exact, That from one herb they usually extract Four diss'rent elements ; whatthinkyethen,
Canpofe that God, who gave this skill to men ?
The gard'ner candiftinguish thirty kinds Of feeds fromone another, tho' he finds Them mix'd together in the self-fame dish ;
Much morecanGoddiftinguish flesh from fish.
They seem as loft,but they again must live ; The sea's a steward, and stewards account must give.
Lookwhatyou are, when in the ocean drown'd, The very fame at judgment you'll be found.
I would not care where my vilebody lies, Were I assur'd it shou'd with comfort rife.