23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 "They that go down
The Seaman's Farewel
For your encouragement to this duty,he hath assumed this title to himself, Psalm lxv. 2. " O thou that he a rest prayer, unto
" thee shall all flesh come."
You cry not as the Heathens do, to stocks and stones, that cannot help or hear them that seek to them, but to the living and true God,by whom never did any upright foul lose a prayer. And to come home to your case more fully, he is a God that hears the prayers of poor distressed men upon the seas, when all hope and human help have utterly failed them. So you read in Psalm cvii. 23, 24,
25, 26,27, 28. " They thatgodown to the sea in ships, that do "business in great waters ; these see the works of the Lord,
" and his wonders in the deep: for he commandeth, and raif- " eth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof:
" they mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths ; " their soul is melted, because of trouble.
They reel to and " fro, and stagger like a drunken man,and are at their wits " end.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he " bringeth them out of their distress."
So that what the Pfalmist elsewhere speaks of the mystical depths of trouble, is true here even in a proper literal sense : "Out of the depths
" have I cried unto thee,O Lord, hear my voice," Psal. cxxx.
1, 2.
Many a prayer hath been heard, and miraculously answered upon the sea.
There have men been convinced, and fully satisfied,that it is not in vain tocrytothe Lord.
So evident and clear have been the appearances of God at the cry of the poor distressed creatures, that they have sensibly and thankfully acknowledged him according to his name : " The hope
" of the ends of the earth, and the confidence of them that " are afar off upon the sea," Psalm lxv. 5. Who is there among you, that has not either heard of, or himselfbeenan example, and instance of this truth ? I might here insert many famous examples to confirm it, but the case is too plain to need them, and it would be too great a digression.
Motive 2. Prayer is certainly the best relief to the distressed. We may say of it, as Davidsaidofthe sword ofGoliah, give me that, for there is none like it.
You that are seamen, know what the use of the pump is, when the waters leak into your ship, and of what use the scupper-holes are to you,when waves break and dash over your necks : why, of the fame use is prayer, when sorrow leaks into your hearts, and distresses are ready to overwhelm your souls.
This gives a vent to that which else would quickly fink you. " Your hearts shall live
" that seek the Lord," Psalm lxix. 32.
Prayer will buoy up your fainting spirits; it will sensibly ease an oppressed heart.
The Seaman's Farewel.
No fear of fainting,while am an continues praying.
Luther waswonttocallprayers the leeches of his cares and troubles. O but if troubles come in upon a man everyway, and he have no vent, no outlet for them,when the ordinary vents of reason, courage, and resolution are all choaked (as sometimes they are) and there is no fuccour or reliefcomingin from heaven; what a wretched forlorn condition is suchapoor creature in ?
Otherefore get acquaintance with this excellent duty.
Motive3.Allfecondary means of deliverance and comfort neceffarilydepend upon the will and pleasure of God, andfignify nothing without him.
What the Pfalmist faith ofanhorie, I mayfayofa ship, Psalm xxxiii. 17. That it is a vain thing for safety. Alas! what a poordefence is it against those gianthkewaves of the sea? And thatmen(especially seamen)may be convinced of this,God hath many times caused those stately and strong-built ships to perish, and be dashed all to pieces, and preserved thosethatwere not safe inthemupon aplank or brokenpieceofthe ship, Acts xxvii. 44. which have carried them more safely to the shore than it could do. And will you not yet fee that means signify nothing without God, and that yourdependance upon him is necessary in every condition, and the acknowledgment thereof so too? I am persuaded there would not behalf so many shipwrecks and disappointments as there are, if your carnal confidence inthemeanswere less,and your reliance upon the Lord more. Therefore it is you so often receive the sentence of death in yourselves, that you may leam not to trust in yourselves, but in God. Oh ! were but your fails filled by prayer, how prosperous would your designs be?
Motive4. Whatever deliverancesfromdangers, or success in business, you receive out of the way of prayer, can yield you but little comfort ;for they are notfanctified to you. You maybe delivered,though you pray not, and success may follow those that seek not God for it ; but that which you call deliverance, is rather arefervation to future misery; and that you call success, is but a snare to your souls.
You have the things,but not the comfort and blessing of them. God may give your desire to your ruin , your lives nay be rescued for a time from death, that you may fill up the measure of your iniquities.
Your affairs may prosper, and that prosperity may destroy you,Prov. i. 32. At best it is but an effect of common providence; and of fuchdeliverances you can never say as Hezekiah said of his ; and every one that receives the like mercy in the way of prayer, may say of his, Ifa. xxxviii. 17. "But thou hast in love to
4برق The Seaman's Farewel
my foul,delivered it from the pit of corruption ; for thou haft cast all my fins behind thy back."
I deny not, but a deliverance by the hand ofcommonprovidence is a mercy in itself; and itmayprove a very greatmercyto you in the event, if time thereby added to your life be a space of repentance"; else it is but a short reprieval of your damnation, and leaves you to perish under greater guilt than was upon you before.
But, on the contrary, how sweet are those mercies that come inthewayofprayer ; thatdiscoverGod's love to you, and inflame yours to him ? One such mercy is worth a thousand of the former.
Motive 5. Confider all you that go out without prayer, howfoon you may be out ofa capacity of prayer. Now you will not, and shortly you may not, have one opportunity to pray for evermore :,now unbeliefshutsyour mouths, and shortly death may do it. How soon may you be past your prayers, both your own and others, and be fixed by death in yourunalterable condition? O seek the Lord therefore whilst he maybe found, call upon him whilfthe is yet near. Now is your praying season, hereafter there will be no use of prayer. " For this,
" (faith the Pfalmist,) shall every one that is godly pray unto " thee, in a time when thou mayst be found: surely in the " floods of great waters,they shall not come nigh unto him."
Psal. xxxii . 6. i. e. faith Deodateuponthe place, in the time of the general destruction of sinners, as it was in the deluge ; then there is no coming nigh to God by prayer, nor can'tthou come nighhim in the day of thy particular destruction, by the : flood of great waters. O therefore live not a day longer in the profane and sinful neglect of this great duty of prayer !
Object, Why, but Iobfervethosethat pray not, generally efcapeaswellas they that do...
Answ. This objection was once madebyasoldier in the time of fight, when he was preffedby his companion to pray ; and God quickly stopped hisblafpheming mouth with a mortal bullet. Have a care of such bold atheiftical pleas ; they greatly provoke the Lord against you : I had rather die praying, than liveprayerless.
Object. But to what purpose is it for me to pray, if I am unregenerate ? God hears not such prayers, if I make them : and, besides, the prayers ofthewickedare an abomination to the Lord.
Answ . Labour therefore to get into a regenerate state, and be not perfuadedto rest a day longer in so sad a condition.
VOL . VI.
Eee
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However, in the mean time,you must know, that prayer being a part of natural worship, all men, even the unregenerate, are obliged to it by the light and law of nature; otherwise, the neglect of it could not be their sin.
Object. But many pray, and receive not : I myself have oftendonefo.
Answ. " You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss,"
Jam. iv. 3. If we were disposed to receive as God is to give, we should not be long without the answer of our prayers.
(1.) If Your persons wereacceptedthrough Christ,your prayers should be accepted too,Gen. iv. 4. But you are in a state of nature,destitute of the Spirit, John xv. 7. And so your voice is to God not the voice ofa child, but a stranger.
"If we (2.) If your prayers were regulated by the will of God, they could not miss of the desired success ; I John v. 14.
" ask any thing according to his will,he heareth us."
(3.) If your prayers hadmorefaith andfervency,they would not return empty; see Jam. i. 6. and v. 16. Well then, object no more against your duty,but in the fear of God apply yourselves to it, and dare not to go forth in any design, until thou haft by prayer recommended thyself, and thy affairs to God.
Go alone, my friends,retire from the world;and fay not, you cannot fparetime for prayer ;better anything else were neglected than this.
Tell the Lord, thou art now launching forth into the ocean, and knowest not what this voyage may bring forth.
Possibly thou mayest never return to the land of thy nativity any more; but however itshallpleasehim to dispose the event, beseech him with all earneftness,that thou mayest have the pardon off in sealed to thee before thou go. O beg him toseparateguilt fromthyperson, before thou be separated fromthyhabitation and relations; left that stroke that shall separate thy soul from thy body, should eternally feparateboth foulandbody from God.
Defireofthe Lord that hisprefencemaygo withtheewhereever thou shalt go.
Tell him, it is the fountain both of thy safety and comfort.
Desire him, if his presence may not go with thee, not to carry thee hence.
All the relief thou hast against trouble, is wrapped up in that promise of his, I will be with him in trouble. Tell him,those will be tasteless comforts, and fuccourless troubles, in which he is not.
Intreat the Lord,with all importunity, to keep thee, by his fear, from the fins and temptations that are in the world. Tell him, thou art sensibly affected with the danger which thy own corrupt heartwilleverywhere expose thee to: sins in buying
The Seaman in a Storm.
and selling, into which thou mayest easily be drawn by an earthly covetous heart : fins in drinking, wherein thou mayest be entangled (except he keep thee) by evil company, and an irregular appetite : fins of uncleanness, by which thou mayest be overcome in the absence of lawful remedies, and presence of alluring objects, except his fear quench the temptation, and break the snare .
Be earnest also with the Lord for his gracious protection of thee in all thy dangers.
Tell him,thou canst not be in safety any where, but under the shadow of his wings.
Tell him, at what time thou art afraid, thou wilt trust in him ; and beseech him, that when thy heart shall be overwhelmed with fears and troubles, he will lead thee to the rock that is higher than thee.
Beseech him also to give thee counsel in all thy straits and difficulties, that thou mayest not lean to thine own understanding, but that he will make thy way plain before thee.
And if it be his good pleasure, that he would bless thy just and honest enter prizes with success and prosperity : which if he shall do, tell him, it is thy desire, and beg the assistance of his grace, that thou mayest improve all thy mercies to his praise.
If thus you set forth in the fearofGod, you may expect a sweet success, and happy issue.
THE SEAMAN in a STORM.
SERMON II.
PSAL. cvii. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,28. Theythatgo down tothefea in ships, that do business in great waters : these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths ; their foul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to andfro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress .
T HIS psalm contains an excellent account of the mysterious and admirable effects of providence : and this paEeez
The Seaman in a Storm. ragraphcontainsthatvein or branch ofdivineprovidencewhich respects seamen ; a fort of men more immediately depending upon the favour of providence than any men in the world ; though all do necessarily and continuallydependupon it.
In these verses we have a description, both ( 1.) of the per sons, (2.) of the danger, (3.) of the deliverance, by the wonderful working of divine providence for them.
F First, A description of the persons about whom this wonderful providence is exercised : " They that go down to the " sea in ships , that do business in great waters;" the periphrafis of afeaman.
These are said togo down to the sea in Jhips, not because the sea is lower than the land, but because it is lower than the shore, which is the rampart raised by providence against its inundations. And their endordefigningoingdown into the sea, is not pleasure and recreation,but to do business, (i. e. ) to export and import such wares andcommodi ties as are necessary, if not to the being, at least, to the well being of the several kingdoms and countries of the world.
These are the men here spoken off, who " fee (more than any) " the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep." Works and wonders by an εν δια δύσιν, usual figure, is as much as his wonderful works ; namely, of creation, in the strange and monstrous productions of the sea ; and of preservation, with respect to themselves,in the dreadful dangers they there encounter.
Thustheperfon or subject is described.
Secondly, The danger is likewise described, in which these sea-faring men are sometimes involved; and indeed the Pfalmist here gives us a very rhetorical and elegant description of their condition in the stormy sea; and shews us how deplorable their state and condition is at such a time.
Where we are to note both the causes and effects of these tempests.
1. The causes ; and they are twofold.
First, The principal cause,the willandpleasureofGod. He commandeth and raiseth the stormy winds.
This is God's prerogative; none can raise winds but himself; and if devils or witches do it at anytime,yet it is still by his permission ; as you fee in Job i. 12, 19. the Lord is said to hold the wind in his fists, Prov. xxx. 4. as a man holds a wild fierce beast in a chain, or by a collar : and whentheyblow, "He brings them out of " his treasuries," Psal. cxxxv. 7. There is indeed a natural cause of winds, of which philosophers give us this rational account,
• That it is a hot anddryexhalation raised from the earth, by the power oftheheavenlybodies,which being repelled or for cedbackby the coldness of the middle region,moves oblique
The Seaman in a Storm.
lyor flantingly, and sometimes very violently through the air.
But though this be the natural cause of the winds, yet this doth not at all restrain the absolute sovereignty of God over them.
It is he that commands, and raiseth them, as the text speaks ; and though it be said, John iii. 8. " The wind blows where it lifteth ;" yet that expression makes it not an arbitrary creature; but the meaning is, either thus, It blows where it lifteth, for any opposition that man can make to it, though it cannot blow where it lifteth in respect to God.
Or thus, such is the great variableness andinstabilityofthewinds, blowing now this way, now that, that it seems to move with a kindoffpontaneity, as a bird doth in the air ; though indeed it doth but seem so, for all its motions are ordered of the Lord.
And you cannot say in this sense, as 1 Kings ix. 11. " That God is not in the wind." Now when it pleaseth the Lord to shew his power upon the great deeps, he fends forth these winds out of his treasure.
This is the principal cause. Then next, 2. We have the instrumental, subordinate and next cause of the storm ; and that is, the winds lifting up the waves of the ocean.'
There is naturally in the sea a continual agitation, and rolling of its waters hither and thither; it cannot reft, as the prophet speaks it ; butwhenaviolent wind blows upon it, the ocean is incensed and enraged; and the winds roll, moving mountains of water before them.
Then, like wild beasts, the waves seem to break loose and rage, not only to be latrantes
undas, as Virgil calls them, barking waves, butχυματα αγρία, raging waves, as Jude speaks, ver. 13. Yea, roaring waves, as our Saviour stiles them, Lukexxi. 25.
Thus of the causes of the storm principal and subordinate.
Next we have, Secondly, The terrible effects of the tempests, and that both upon their bodies and their minds.
(1.) External upon their bodies ; it tosses them up and down in adreadfulmanner, which the Pfalmist elegantly expresses in the text, " They mount up to heaven, they go down to the " depths," a loftyhyperbolical expression ; very near unto it is that of Virgil :
Tollimur in coelum, curvatogurgite ; et iidem, Subducta, admanes imos defcemdimuns, unda !
Aen. 3
They seem to mix with the very clouds, and then open deep graves fortheminthebottomsands. Yea,it moves themnotonly perpendicularly, lifting them up, and caftingthem down, but
The Seaman in a Storm. obliquely and circularlyalfo. "Theyreeltoandfro,and stag- " gerlike a drunken man," or, as some translate, agitanturin gyrum, they run round :they are,indeed, movedaccordingto the unstable motion of the waves, on whose proud backs they are mounted.
This is the external effect of the storm upon their bodies.
(2.) The internal effect of it upon their minds,which is far more terrible.
For it is faidhere, Their foul is melted because of trouble, and they are at their wits end.
Both which expressions do import a greater commotion and storm in the passions of the mind, than that is in the waves of the sea. The stouteft spirit quails and meltswhen it comes to this; and the wisest artist is at his wits end.
Thus you have the description of the persons, and of their danger, both in the cause and effectsuponthebody and mind. Next,
(3.) We have theirdeliverancebythewonderfulhandofdivineprovidence, in ver. 27. " Then they cry unto the Lord- " in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress."
Theirusualcryin such extraordinary exigencies, is, mercy!mercy! Now they can pray, that could not pray before. Extremitydrivesthem to their knees, not only with cries,but vows to the Lord, and he delivers them out of their distresses: some des live red one way, and some another, but all in a stupendous way, which cannot but astonish them that are so delivered, and make them acknowledge the finger of God was in it.
From all this we observe, Doct. That the prefervations and deliverances of Seamen in thedreadfulstorms and tempests at sea, is the wonderful work of divine providence.
" The works of the Lord are great, fought out of all them "that have pleasure therein;" Psal. cxi. 2.And,amonghisprovidentialworks, none greater and more admirable, than those which feamendailybehold in their great and marvellousprotections upon the sea.
Now, the glory ofdivineprovidencetowards seamen, shines and displays itself in three things: especially,first, In making the ocean navigable for them at any time. Secondly, in prefervingthem from shipwrecks in the fury and stress of weather.
Thirdly, In finding out ways, and strangely providing means offafetywhen their ships are loft, and broken upon the sea.
1. It is a wonderful providence of God to make the ocean navigable for men at anytime ; that such a fluidbody as water is, which cannot support a stone or bullet of an ounce weight, should yet, by reason of its own faltness, and the innate pro-
The Seaman in a Storm.
pertyoftimber, be able to support ships of such vast burden, which are carried from place to place, being mounted on the T backs of its proud waves. Who can but acknowledge a most wife providence, in gratifying the natural wit and desire of man, which fits him for converse and traffic with foreign nations ; with instruments and materials so fit for his purpose as timber, iron,hemp,pitch, the load stone, and whatever else is necessary for his purpose ? I cannot open the wisdom of God's providence in this respect to better advantage than I find it done by the learned pen ofDr. More, in his Antidote against Atheism page 58. Navigation (faith he) being of so greatconfequenceto the delight andconvenienceofhuman life,and there
•being both wit and courage in man to attempt the seas,were •he but fitted with right materials, and other advantages re- * quisite ; when we see there is so pat a provision made for him
'to this purpose, in large timber for the building of his ship, a ⚫thick sea-water to bear the ship'sburden; in the magnet or • loadstone for his compass ; in the steady and parallel direct i- ' on of the axis of the earth for his cynofura : and then observ- •ing his natural wit and courage to make use of them; and •how that ingenite desire of knowledge and converse, and of the improving of his own parts and happiness, stir him up to so notable a design : we cannot but conclude from such a 'trainofcauses, sofitly and congruously complying together,
⚫that it was really the counsel of an universalandeternalmind, 'that hath the overseeing and guidance of it,' &c.
2. But (to come home to the case before us) that men should be preserved at sea from immediate ruin in the dreadful tempefts thatbefal them there ; this is a mysterious and admirable work of God : that a poor ship should not be swallowed up by the fúrious ocean, when mountains ofwatercome rolling towards it with an horrid noise,and give it such dreadful stripes when seas roll over it, and so cover it with the waves, that for a time they know not whether they fink or swim ; to fee it emerge out offuch fatal dangers, keep up its head, and mount uponthebacksofthose lofty seas that threaten immediately to overwhelm it : O how great is the power and care of providenceinsuch a case ! especially if you confider these following particulars, among many others, which threaten ruin on everyfide: and should but one ofthesemanycontingencies befal them, in the eye of reason, they are lostmen.
1. Ofhowmanyparts, comparted together, doth a ship consist ? These parts, indeed are fastened together with bolts of iron; but being in somanyplanks, what a wonder is it that
The Seaman in a Storm. none springs, that no bolt gives way, or seams open, whilste very part works with such violence, and so great a stress of weather lies upon it.
Should such a thing fall out, (as it isa wonder it should not), how foonwould the ship swim within as well as without ?
2. How often are they put from their course by stress of weather, and know not where they are ; not being able, for many days, to take any observation ? so that they must go whither winds and waves will drive them : for there is nodroppinganchors in the main, nor resisting the course of the seas, to which they can make no more resistance than a child to a giant. And how is it they are not dashed upon the rocks, or foundered in the sands, seeing the winds shape their course, and not art ? But there is a God that steers your course for you, when you cannot.
3. How often are you even fallen upon rocks and shoresbeforeyou fee them, and are almost past hope before you begin to fear? Sometimes almost imbayed, and as much as ever you can do to weather a rock or head-land, which you discerned not until it was almost too late.
I rememberDr Johnson, in that ingenious and wonderful, natrative of his voyage to the Sound, when he had survived two shipwrecks, and was embarked in the third ship,
We <had not (faith he) been above two or o three hours at sea, but ⚫there was a fad distraction among us in the ship, and the ، mariners crying, mercy ! mercy ! for we had almost fallen foul
'on a rock, which lay so cunning in the water, that we did 'note spy it till we were upon it ; but, by the goodness of God,
•we failed close by it, and so escaped it: the least touch of it had been our ruin.'
4. Howoftendo you ride at anchor in furious weather, near rocks and shores ? Your lives, under God, every moment depending upon a cable and anchor ; if the one break, or the othercomehome,you are lost men. And how wonderful is it they do not! what is a cable in a storm, but as the new cords with which the Philistines bound Samson, and as eafilywould
theybesnaptasunderlike athreadoftow,were it not for the care of providence over you ? These, and an hundred other accidents which hourly threaten you, might, and would fendyou down to the bottom, but that the Lord permits it not fo to be.
5. Andyetmore wonderful than all this; how often doth Godfuffer ships to founder and fink under you, and to be dashed to pieces against the rocks, and yet preserve you when the ordinary means of preservation are cut off and gone?
The Seaman in a Storm.
Who like these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep?
For,first, sometimes a small boat shall fave them, when a Gout ship could not : thus many of them have beenwonderfullypreserved; and thus the aforementioned author relates the manner of this wonderful preservation.
Our ship (faith he) had sprung a leak, or rather a plank, and was ready to fink : Ohow the face ofeveryman was changed at this af.
• frightment! one was at his prayers, another wringing his hands, a third shedding tears,when we had no need of more salt-water.
After this fit, they fell to work, and (as it is usual in such extremes)we were all busy in doing of nothing, anddidweknow not what.
The master's mate, whom we • fentdowntosearch out the leak, quickly returned to us with • a fad countenance, trembling hands, gnashing of teeth, a ⚫quivering tongue, and words half spoken, signifying unto us, that the wound was incurable.
Here was now no room for • counsel, neither had we time to ask one another what was best to be done; but we presently cast out our long-boat,
* and shot off eight or nine guns,which seemed to be so many • tolls ofa passing-bell before our death.
I leaped into the boat, but leaped short ; one leg in the boat, Alterum in Charontis cymba. Now were we left in the northfeas,which seldom wear a smooth brow; but at this time contending with • the wind, swelled into prodigious mountains.
It blew half a storm, and we were now ina small vessel: what credit ⚫could we give to our safety in as mall and open shallop,when
• so stately a castle of wood,which we but now lost,could not • defend itself against the infolency of the waves ? We were manyleaguesfromanyshore,having no compass to guide us ,
⚫nor provisions to sustain us, and the night grew black upon us Nothing but a miracle could preserve us, being
⚫out of the reachofhuman help We fell to prayer, and ⚫our extremity pleaded for us:
For in this moment of death,when we were without the least expectation of deli 'verance,he sent a ship to us, which we must needs confess
⚫to be the finger of God,' &c.
Thus he And this has been the wonderful door opened in extremity to multitudes ، more for their escape : but,oh ! how astonishing are these ways of the Lord ? Well may we say, " His ways are in the sea,
" and his paths in the great deep, and his footsteps are not " known," Psalm Ixxvii. 19.
Secondly, Sometimes they shall be cast upon a rock in the VOL. VI.
Fff
The Seaman in a Storm. sea,where they shall be preserved, until someotherwayofdeliverance come; yea,preserved strangely,God blessing as mall matter of provision which they saved to sustain them ; though theyfaidof it, as the widow of Sareptatothe prophet, 1 Kings xvii. 12. " I have but an handful of meal,and a little oil,and " I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for " me and my fou, that we may eat it, and die."
Or if they could fave nothing, yet a few muscles or birds eggs, with God's blessing, have sustained them until the timeofmercy come.
This hath been the case of many. Think upon this you that abuse the good creatures of God by drunkenness : how sweet would a cup of fresh water be to you when reduced to such extremity ? Oh! if your hearts be not harder than the rocks you lay upon, how would such extraordinary mercies melt you intoloveandthankfulness?
Thirdly, Sometimes theyhavebeenwafted to the shore safely upon the wreck *, or by making araft of the broken pieces of the ship, and toru fails, and ropes; and upon this (God knows,a poor security against the boisterous waves) have they ventured themselves : afinkingman (as wefay) will catch ar a bulrush.
Paul, and those that fufferedthipwreck with him, were thus saved ; " The centurion commanded, that they
" which could swim, should cast themselves first into the sea, " and get to land ; and the rest, some on boards, and some on " broken pieces of the ship; and so it came to pass that they
" escaped all safe to land," Acts xxvii. 43, 44.
Oh, the miraculous works of the Lord! to save by such contemptible and improbable means ! Whocanbutwithgreat joy fee and acknowledge the finger of God to be here ? " Lo,
" these are parts of his way ; but how little a portion is heard " of him ?" Job xxvi. 14.
1. Use ofreproof.
If your preservation in storms at sea,be the wonderful works of divine providence, then divers of you deserves to be sharply reproved from this truth. And I beseech you fuiferthe word of reproofmeekly and penitently. I shall speak nothing to reproach you; no, it is not to reproach, but to reform you: and if you hate reproof, and mock at counsel,
God may shortly speak in such thundering language to your consciences, as will be terrible for you to bear.
I remember, it is said of St. Bernard, That whilst he was seriously reprovingthe profaneness of one (and ifI misremember not, it was his own brother) who was a soldier, and observing how he
*Tabula post naufragium.
The Seaman in a Storm.
lightedhisholyandserious counsel,his spirit was greatly grieved at it, and he told him,
Brother,God, I fear, will shortly • make way to your heart with a sword, to which my words
⚫can findnoaccess : And the event soon verified thesadprediction.
I pray God none of you may be taught by captivities and shipwrecks, what it is to reject faithful reproofs, and wholesome counsel,seasonably given for your good.
You that read these lines, seriously ask your own consciences these following questions.
(1.) Have you not soon forgotten the works and wonders of the Lord, whichyoureyeshave seen? It may be, for the present, you have been sensibly affected with your danger, and the mercyofGod in your deliverance,but hath it remained upon your hearts? I doubt these mercies have been written in the dust, which should have been engraven, as in the rock, for ever.
Thus it was with Israel, a people that saw as many wonders wrought for them by the immediate finger of God,as ever did any people in the world; and yet it is faidof them, even after the red-sea deliverance, in which "God divided
" the sea for them, when the waves thereof roared," Ifa. li.
15. and with which, for the present, their hearts were greatly affected; for it is said, Psalm cvi. 12. " That they believed
" his word, and sang his praises ;" but in the next verse you read,that a little time easily wiped out the sense of this mercy ; for it is said,ver. 13. "They soon forgathis works, and waited
" not for his counsels."
I doubt this was not the fin of Israel only, but is the case of many of you at this day.
Well,God did not forget you in the time of extremity, though you fo quicklyforgothim. Think not toexcuseyourselves from this
: guilt, by saying, you do still remember the thing : you may do fo, and yet be said to forget his mercy: for a deliverance may be remembered, by him that received it, two ways; namely, fpeculatively, and affectingly. A speculative remembrance is only to call to mind the stories of such a danger, and preservation ; this you may do, andyetGod accounthimselfforgotten, except you so remember it, as still to feel the powerful impreffionsthereofupon your hearts, softening, and melting them intothankfulness,love, anddependanceuponthe God of your falvations.
(2.) Have you not walked very unanswerably to your deliverances,yea, and to the folemnengagementsyou made to God in the day of your distress ? I fear some of you have walked, after God hath rescued you by a wonderful immediate hand
Fff 2
412 .
The Seaman in a Storm. from the jaws of death, as ifyouhadbeen delivered to do all these abominations. As it is Jer. vii. 10. It maybe the last week, or month, you were reeling to and fro upon the stormy sea, and staggering like drunken men; and this, reeling and staggering along the streets, really drunken. O horrid abomination! doye thus requite the Lord,who pitied you in your distress, and, being full of compassion, saved you, when you cried to him ? Is this the fruit of your wonderful salvation ? Ifa man should have told you in that day it would havebeenthus, you yourselves could not have believed it, but would have anIwered as Hazaeldid to the prophet, 2Kings viii. 13. "What!
" is thy servant a dog, that he should do such things?" Yet fo it was, and so it is still :the Lord humble you for this great wickedness.
If this be all the fruit of mercy and deliverance, it had been better for you that you hadgonedown to the bottom then, rather than to live only to treasure up more wrath against the day of wrath, and fill up your measure.
(3.) Are there not a fort ofAtheistical seamen,who own not providence at all, either in the raising of these horrid tempests, or in their marvellous preservationinthem! but look on all as coming ina natural way, and their escape to be only by good fortune and chance ? How wonderful athing is it, in the eyes of all considering men, that providence should take any noticeofthem in away offavour, that so wickedlydifown it, and so directly disoblige it ? How can you possibly shut your eyes against such clear light, and stop your ears against such loud and plain language, whereby the power and goodness of God proclaims itself to you in these providences ? Ah ! methinks you should most readily and thankfully subscribe that great truth, Psal. lxviii. 20. "He that is our God, is the " God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues
" from death." But, thoughmensee signs and wonders,they will not believe; yea, though themselves become wonders to the world by their miraculous deliverances, yet so brutish and stupid are they, that they will not seethe hand that saves them.
Take heed whatyoudo: you set yourselves in the direct way todestructionbythis, and highly provoke the Lord to abandon and caftyou out of the care of his providence : and if he once do so, you are lost men.
(4.) Andyetmorevile (if more vileness can be in fin) than all this : are there not a generation of wretched men among you, that fall a swearing, cursing, and blafpheming God, evenwhenhe is uttering his terrible voice in the tempest, and everymomentthreatening to intombthem in the deep ?When
The Seaman in a Storm.
you should be upon your knees bewailing your fins, and pleading with God for mercy, (as I doubt not but some of you do) to be yet more and more provoking him, daring him to his face; and yetmoreincenfing his indignation,which is already kindled against you; who,that hears this, can chuse but admire the riches of God's patience and forbearance towards such men? The very heathen mariners in a storm called every man upon his God, Jonah i. 5. We say, extremity will cause the worstofmento pray, and compose the vainest spirit unto seriousness ; but it seems by you, it will not.
Is this the frame andtemperyou will meet death in ? What ! speaking the language of devils and damned spirits before you come among them; hafting on your own ruin, as if it were too flackand lingering in its motion ? The Lord open the eyes of these miserable creatures,and convince them, that they are not only going to hell, as others are, but that they are the forlorn of all that wretchedcrewthat areboundthither; andproportionably will be their misery, except they repent.
2. Use of exhortation. This point is yet farther improvablefor you byway ofexhortation, serving to press you to those
proper duties which God calls you to by his terrible providential voice in the storms, and by your wonderful deliverances.
1. And the first lesson you are to learn from hence is, To adore the power of God. O what a manifestation of divine power is here ! you arethemen that fee more than others the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
It is one of God's ends in shewingyou these wonders, " To make his " mighty power known," Psal. cvi. 8. Owhat a terrible voice doth God utter upon the seas, when the heavens are black above you, the furious winds and dreadful thunders ratthng about you, the sea and waves roaring beneath you! Is not this voice of the Lord full of majesty? Doth it not a we your hearts, and make them tremble? Inthreethings his infinite power is discovered to you.
First, In raising these terrible tempests, and that from so small and weak a beginning as a thinvapour from the earth is : this is the wonderful work of God,Psalm cxxxv. 7."Hecauf- " eth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth;hemak- " eth lightnings for the rain, he bringeth wind out of his
" treafuries."
F Secondly, In limiting and bounding theirforceandpower: what prodigious effects else would follow: The wind is a fierce and boisterous creature, and would (ifGoddidnotby his pro-
The Seaman in a Storm. vidence restrain) destroy, and overturn all, both by sea and land ; orifSatan, who is stiled The prince, or power of the air, were left at liberty to execute his malicebyfuch an instrument, not a ship should cross the seas, nor a house be safe at land; as is evident enough by the furious haste he made to overturn the house with an horrible tempest upon Job's children, as soon as he had received a permiffionfromheaven to do it.
And, thirdly, No less visible is the powerofGod in calming and appeafsing the stormy winds, and remanding them into his treasuries,Psalm cvii. 29. "He maketh the storm a " calm." Yea, he doth so in the very nickoftime, when all is concluded loft. Thus you read in Mark iv. 39. "When the
" waves beat into the ship," so that it was now full, and the disciples cried unto the Lord, " Master, carest thou not that " we perish ? He arose and rebukedthewind, and said to the " sea, Peace, be still ; and the wind ceased, and there was a " great calm." Just as one wouldhush a child, Peace, be still.
O the sovereign power of God! how should it be reverenced and adored by all that behold it, in these marvellous effects of it?
2. The second lesson you are taught by this doctrine, is, To admirethemercy of God. Mercy is no less discovered than power ; yea, the power of God is put forth to give his mercy a fair occasion to shine forth in your deliverance. God sometimes permits your dangers to grow to an extremity, and delays your deliverances to the last moment, till all hopes of fafetyare gone, upon the like reason that Lazarus's resurrection was deferred, that the work of God in your preservation may commend itself to you under the greatest advantage.Othatyou would view these mercies in all their endearing circumstances ! I can only hint your duty generally in this case; you may enlarge upon it, if you have hearts fit for such
ablessedwork.
And mark particularythe multitudes ofmer.. ciesthat are complicated and involved in one deliverance.
Observe the season when, the manner how, the means by which your salvation was wrought. It is a thousand pities that fo much of God's glory and your comfort, as any one, even the smallest circumstance, may contain, should ever be loft.
3. Lastly, And above all, See thatyeanswerGod's ends in your deliverance: If those be loft, God may say concerning you, asDaviddid ofNabal, I Sam. xxv. 21. " Surely, in vain
"have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness; fo
The Seaman in a Storm.
" that nothing was miffed ofallthatpertained to him ; and " he hath requited me evil for good."
So here, in vain have I kept this fellow upon the sea, when Ifufferedothers to fink ; in vain have I preserved his life, liberty and estate ; fo often by an out-stretched arm of power and mercy to him, seeing he requites me evil for good.
O let me intreat you to be careful to comply with thedeGgns and ends of God in these your wonderful preservations !
If you enquire what God's ends and designs in your deliverance are, I answer, First, It is to lead you to repentance. "The goodness of " God(faith the apostle) leadeth thee to repentance," Rom. ii. 4. Dost thou not know the voice of mercy ? Why, it bespeaks thy returntoGod. It maybe thou haft spent all thy life, to this day, in the service off in : Thou neverredeemeft one of all thy precious hours to confider thine own. estate, to bewail thy fin and misery, to seek after an interest in Christ. Why, nowhere is a providence fallen in, that doth, as it were, take thee by the hand, and lead thee to this great and necessary work. The end of God in raising this storm, was to deliver thee from the more dreadful tempest of his wrath, which, without repentance, must shortly overtake thy soul in the blackness of darkness for ever. Now God hath awakened thy conscience by this fright, made it chargehomethy fins upon thee, terrified thee with dismal apprehenfions of death and hell. O what a fairopportunityand advantage hath he now put into thy hand for repentance, reformation, and gaining an interest in Jesus Christ ! If this season be loft, conscience suffered again to fall into any dead sleep, and thy heart be againhardenedbythe deceitfulness of fin, thou mayestnever have such an opportunity for salvation opened to thee anymore.
Secondly, If this end be answered, then a farther design God hath inthydeliverance, is to engage and encourage thy foul to a dependance upon God in future straits and dangers.
This is food for faith ; and now you are furnished with experience of the power, mercy, and goodness of God, to enable you to rest yourselves upon him when new exigencies befal you.
IfGodexercise you with such extremities another time, youmaysaywith the apostle, 2Cor. i. 10. "Who delivered
" us from so great a death, and doth deliver ; in whom we " trust, he will yet deliver us."
Ifyourfirstdeliverancewereadeliverance withoutapromife, whenyouwere without Christ, what encouragement have you todependuponhim, whenhisend is answered in your repen
The Seaman in a Storm. tanceand conversion ? and, being in Christ, are entituledto all the promises.
Thirdly, and lastly, God's end in your marvellous preservations anddeliverances, is, to furnish you for, and to engage you to a life of praise. O how should the high praises of God beever in your mouths ! you have seen his works and wonders in thedeeps ; and this is it which thePfalmist presses upon you, as a becoming return for your mercies, in the words following my text; " O thatmenwouldpraise the Lord for " his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children
" of men !"
Owith what warm and enlarged affections should you ex press your thankfulnessto theGodofyoursalvation ! and say as David, " What am I, O Lord God,and what is my father's
" house, that thou shouldst do such great things for me ?"
Was such a life as mine worth the working of fo many wonders to save it ? O Lord, thou knowest ithasbeena life spent in vanity.
Thygloryhath not been precious in mine eyes, but my life hath been precious in thine eyes. Many more useleful, and less sinful than myself, have perished, and I am saved. O Lord, shew me the designs and gracious ends of these deliverances.
Surely there is some great thing to be done by me, or else so great a salvation had not been wrought for me. The Lord saw in what a sadcafe my poor soul was, to be summoned immediately before hisjudgmentseat; that if I had gonedownunder all my guilt, I had funk tothebottomofhell: But thou, in love to my foul, haftde. live red it from the pit of corruption, that I might yet enjoy a season for salvation, and be once more intrusted with the precious talents of time and means. Othat I may not reject or abuse the grace of God in this new instrument, as I have toooftendone in the former ! let me not live as one delivered to commitallthese abominations !
And now after all that is come upon me formyevils, seeing thou, my God,hast punished me so much less than my iniquities deserve; andhaftgiven me such a deliverance as this, should I again dare to break thy commandments ? Ezra ix. 13, 14. "O let this new mercy produce a newheartand
" life !"
[ 417 1 THE
SE A MAN'S PRESERVATIVE
In FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
SERMON III.
PSALM cxxxix. 9, 10.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea ; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy righthandfballhold me.
INN this psalm theomniprefenceandomniscience of God are the subjects of the Pfalmist's meditation ; and these attributes are here promifcuouslydiscoursed, not onlybecauseofthe near affinity that is betwixt their natures,but because the one is the demonstration of the other : It is evident God knows all things, because he fills all places.
Touching the omniscience of God, he discovers the infinite perfection of that attribute by the particular and exact notion it takes of all our ways : verse
3. " Thou compassest my paths, and art acquainted with all my ways. " Of all our words ; verse 4. " There is not a "word in my tongue,but lo,O Lord,thou knowest it altoge- " ther." Yea, of all our thoughts ; and that not only in the instant of their conception,butlongbefore theywereconceived ; verse 2. " Thou understandest my thoughts afar off," even from eternity.
Thus he displays the omniscience of God :
And thentomakedemonstration of the truth and certainty of this doctrine of God's omniscience,he proves it from his omnipresence : q. d. He that fills all things, cannot but know all things. Now God's presence fills heaven, yea, and hell too, verse 8. And all parts of the earth and sea,even the remotest, verse9, 10. And therefore no creature, nor action of any creature, can escape his cognizance. It is not here as amongmen ; if amalefactor be condemned by the laws of one kingdom, he may escape by flying into another ; but it is far otherwise here ; for faith thePfalmist,(personatinga guilty fugitive endeavouring to make an escape from the arrest of God's justice), " If I " take the wings of the morning, anddwellinthe uttermoft
" parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy " right hand shall hold me."
VOL, VI.
Ggg
The Seaman's Preservative In which words, you have these twothingsmainly remarkable.
1. The greatest security and encouragement toa finnerfuppofed.
2. That supposed security and encouragement utterly destroyed.
1. The greatest security and encouragement to a sinner supposed; " If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in tire
" uttermost parts of the sea" *. Where two things seem to offer towards his protection.
First, The place; the remotest part ofthefea ; by which you are to understand the most obscure nook in the creation; farthest removed from an inspection or observation.
And,secondly, his swift and speedy flight, after the commission of fin, to this supposed refugeandsanctuary : It is here supposed, that a sinner should fly as swift as the light of the fun, which in a moment shines from the east to the wek: and so the meaning is, could I flee with a celerity equal to the sun, or his beams of light, which breaking forth in the morning, do in an instant enlighten the remotest parts of the hemisphere : Could I as swiftly flee to the most obscure,remote, solitary place in all the world. Thus the sinner's security is supposed.
2.This supposed security and encouragement is utterly destroyed; " Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right
"hand shall hold me."
The leading hand of God is not here to be understood, as a directing or guiding hand, to shew the fugitive sinner the way of his escape;but contrarily, "Thy
" hand shall lead me," as a keeper leads his prisoner back to the place of custody, from which he endeavoured to escape.
And the following clause is exegetical: " Thy right hand " shall hold," or detain me, viz. in strict custody.
So that the sum of all is this :
Doct. That the whole world affords noplace of secrecy orfecurityforafinnertoescapethe observing eye, and righteous hand of God.
Jonah fled from the Lord to Tarshish; but could he escape fo ? No, the Lord sent a storm after him, which brought back the fugitive, Jonah i. 3, 4.
We read, Ifa. xxix. 15. offuch " as dig deep, to hide their counsels from the Lord," i. e.
* He alludes to the swiftest of all motion,even that of light,which fyringsin a moment from east to west.
Calvin.
+ Non accipitur deducerepro viam monftrare; feddeducet me xanus tua tanquemcuftos captivumfibi commissum deduxit, Varab.
in foreign Countries.
They plot, contrive and study to conceal theirwickeddesigns, to fin with greatest secrecy and security. But, what can poffi bly be a covering from him, to whose sight all things are naked and manifest ? Where can a sinner behidfromhim whose presence fills heaven and earth ? Jer. xxiii. 25.
The scripture gives full proof to this great truth.
It is clear from Prov. xv.
3. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the " evil and the good." And again, Job xxxiv. 21, 22. " For " his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his go- " ings; there is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the " workers of iniquity may hide themselves."
Whoever goes about to conceal a fin in secret, attempts a foolish and impossible design, Psalm xliv. 21. " Shall not God search this out ? For " heknoweththesecrets of the heart: For the eyes of the Lord
" run to and fro, through the whole earth," 2 Chron. xvi. 9.
Now in the handling of this point, I purpose to shew you, 1. That men are often induced to fin upon hopes offecrecy and concealment.
2. That to fin upon these encouragements, strongly argues their natural atheism : They think they are safe, ifmen know it not ; they reckon not upon God'sdiscoveryofthem.
3. That these encouragements to fin are wainthings, it being impossible anyplace can hide a finnerfrom God ; and how it appears that the eye of God is, and noust needs be upon us, and our actions, where-ever we are, and how closely soever we endeavour to hide them : And then apply it.
First, Men are often induced to commit sim upon the hopes of secrecy and concealment.
Sin (especially some forts off in) carry so much shame and odium in them, that it restrainsmen from the open practice of them ; but if Satan can persuade them they shall never be divulged to their reproach, they will. venture upon them.
See that text, " The eye of the adulterer " waiteth for the twilight, saying, no eye shall see me, and " disguiseth his face," Job xxiv. 15.
Reckoning himself secure, if he can carry his wickedness under a vail of darkness, not caring what wickedness he doth,so he may do it undifcerned: It is not the acting of fin,but the discovery of it, that purs them into terrors .
So it is added with respect both to the adulterer and the thief, ver. 17. "The morning is to them as " the shadow of death, if one know them ; they are in the ter- " rors of the shadow of death ;" i. e. If a man, especially a man in authority, a magistrate meet them, it is as if the image of death paffedbefore them ina vision.
So those idolaters, Ggg 2
The Seaman's Preservative Ezek. viii. 12. " Son of man, hast thou seen what the anti- " ents of the house of Israel do in the dark, everyman in the
" house of his imagery ? For they say,theLordfeethus not."
They conclude all is well, if nothing appear.
This encouragement of secrecy is the great argument by which Satan prevails with men to commit any finthathath shameordanger attending it : But his promises of concealment are usually made good, as his promises of great wealth are to witches.
This is the encouragement.
Secondly, Next, I will make it evidenttoyou, that tofinuponthis encouragement, argues atheism in him that commits it.
This is plain ; for,didmen believe the omnipresence and omniscience of God, such an encouragement to fin as secrecy could have no force with them.
Thus, when the antients of Israel practised their idolatry in the dark, it is plain they thought God fawthem not,Ezek. viii. 12. " For they say, the " Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth ;" i.e.
They did not really believe God's omnipresence and omniscie ence. And Job tells us, chap. xxxi. 26, 27, 28. " That if he
" had beheld the fun in his brightness," (i. e.) to admire and worship it as a God ; or, " his heart being secretly enticed,
" he should have denied the God that is above."
Every one that is enticed to finupontheencouragement offecrecy, doth fo far deny the God that is above.
If such a mapdidreallybelieve there is a God that sees him, "whose eyes are as flames
" of fire," Rev. i. 14. "To whom the darkness and the light " are both alike," Psal. cxxxix. 12. it were impossible he should be so terrified at the discovery ofa creature, and fo secure andwhollyunconcerned at the discovery of God: It could not be, that the observation of the great God should not so much trouble them, as the observation ofa little child.
Thus we find the inward thoughts ofmens hearts concerning God, discovered by their bold attempts upon secret fins, Ifa. xxxix. 15. " Woe to them that seek deep to hide their counsel
" from the Lord, and their works are in the dark ; and they " say, who feeth us, and who knoweth us ?" They think if their works are shrouded under a veil of darkness, theyarefafe enough ; if they can escape the bar of an earthly god (a magistrate) they shall never be accountable at any other bar. We have another fad instance of the same impietyin Psalm lxxiii.
11. "And they say, how doth God know? And is there "knowledge in the Most High ?" Ifmen did not fancy to themselves there is no God, or (which is allone) that he is like unto themselves, one that cannot fee in darkness, they could
in foreign Countries
never encourage themselves as they do, to fin upon such a foolish pretence..
Thirdly, But my proper business, in this place, is to prove; thattheseencouragements to finare vain things : 'That no finnercan hide himself from the eye of God.
This is plain both from scripture and reason.
The scriptures speak full home to this truth.
Prov. v. 21.
" The ways of a man are before the Lord, and he pondereth " all his paths."
To ponder or weigh our paths, is more than simply to observe and fee them. He not only fees the action, but puts it into the balances, with every circumstance belonging to it, and tries how much every ingredient in the action weighs, and what it comes to. So that God hath not only anuniverfal inspection upon every action,but he hath a critical inspection into it also.
" The Lord is a God of knowledge, " and by him actions are weighed," 1 Sam. ii. 3. So Jer. xiii. 25. 27. " Thou haft forgotten me, and trusted in false- " hood : I have seen they adulteries, and thy neighings, the " lewdness of thy whoredoms and abominations ;" q. d. Thou forget test there is a God in the heavens that beheld thee, and didst verily believe all was safe, because secret from man,
In this falsehood or cheat put upon thee, by the devil, and thine own atheistical heart, thou didst trust.
But I have seen thee, and all thy secret lewdness.
It is a proverb among sinners, Si non caste, tamen caute.
Carry the matter, if not honestly, yet warily : If thou hast a mind to fin, yet order it fo, that the world maybe never the wiser. But how vain athing is this?
If men do not, the Lord doth see it ; " I know, and am a wit- " ness, faith the Lord," Jer. xxix. 23.
Thus the scripture speaks roundly and fully to the point in hand.
But, because the atheism of the world is so great, and it is a hard thing toconvincemen of this great truth, so as to overawe them from any secret fin by it; I will, by rational arguments, demonstrate the truth to every man's conscience, and give you plain and full evidence, that how secretly soever men carry their sinful designs, yet the Lord must needs be privy to them ; and it is impossible they should escape his cognizance.
1. For, first, He that formed all, cannot but know all : the workman cannot be supposed to be ignorant of any part of his own work. Now God is the former of all things ; every place, and every person he hath made : where, then, shall the workers of iniquity hide themselves ? You have folly, of sinners, in thinking toconcealthemselves from the eyeofGod, convinced and reprovedby this very argument, Isa. xxxix. 1
The Seaman's Preservative.
16. " Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsels " from the Lord, and their works are in the dark ; and they
" fay, who feeth us ? And who knoweth us ? Surely, your " turning of things upside down, shall be esteemed as the pot- " ter's clay: for, shall the work say to him that made it, he
" made me not ? Or, shall the thing framed say of him that " framed it, he hath no understanding ?" q. d.
Think ye by deep-laid designs, by the advantage of darkness, by the moulding and new mouldingyourcraftydesigns in your heads, as the clay is moulded now into this, then into that shape by the potter's hand, to hide it from me ? O brutish creatures, and without understanding ! am not I the God that formed you ?
And can it be supposed I should not know the most secret thoughts, plots and designs of mine own creatures,who cannot contrive a design, nor conceive a thought without me ? How absurd is this ? Find out a place which God made not, or a creature which he formed not, and then your pretences to that creature's concealment fromGodinsuch a place, may have some colour : and this argument is again urged to convince the brutish atheist, Psal. xciv. 8, 9, 10. " Understand,
" yebrutish among the people, an dye fools,when will you " be wife ? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ? He
" that formed the eye, shall he not see ? He that chasteneth " the heathen, shall no the correct ? He that teacheth man
" knowledge, shall not he know ? The Lord knoweth the " thoughts of man, that they are vanity;" so that it is the vainest of all vanity in the world, to think of hiding your fins from the Lord.
2. He that sustains all, cannot but know, and discern all.
You that seek to hide counsel from the Lord, know ye not, " That in him you live, move, and have your being ?" Acts xvii. 28.
Do not you derive that very power from him, which you abuse by sinning against him ? And do you depend neceffarilyand continually uponGodfor all? Must he give you the power to move, and by that power can you move beyond bim, and get out of his reach ? You cannot think a thought without him, andyetcan exclude him from those very thoughts which you had no power to conceive,but from him ? Exercise butcommonreason in the case, and it willhiss at your absurd designs.
3. He that governs all, can be ignorant of nothing.
These isa per pet. 1 influence of providence, swaying and governing all the creatures, and all their actions; else the very ligaments ofnaturewould crack, and the world break up and disband,
in foreign Countries.
This providence extends itself to the least and lowest of creatures and their actions, Luke xii. 6. a sparrow falls not to thegroundwithout it. " The great God hath something to " do about the most minute * and in considerable things ;" yea,themostcontingent and uncertain things, as is the disposal of a lot, Prov. xvi. 33. And, indeed, this omniscience of God is that which is necessary to this universal government.
How shall he rule that person,or in that place, which he knows not? Indeed earthly governors may do so ; it is not necessary they have a personal immediate cognizance of each place and person in their do minions: it is enough that they be virtually andmediatelygovernedbythem ; but it is not so with God : it is neceffaryhiseye should immediately fee all the parts of his dominion.
He could not rule the world, if he were not anomniscientGod.
Psal. lxvi. 7. " Heruleth by his power for ever ; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt
" themselves ."
4. He that hath set a spy to observe and note what every man doth, cannot but know his actions,how secret-soever they be. Now, fo it is here ; God sends a spy with you, to observe and record your most secret actions, and thoughts, in every place, I mean your own consciences, from whose observation none of your ways can possibly be exempt. The sense of this made the heathen say, Turpequid an fur us, tefine tefte time.
When thou art attempting a finfulact, fear thyself without any other witness ; conscience is privy to your mostsecretdefigns and thoughts ; 1 Kings ii. 44. " Thou knowest all the " wickedness which thine heart (i. e. thy conscience) is privy
" to:" and if conscience know all, God must needs fee and know it.
So the apostle reasons,from the lesser to the greater, John iii. 20. " If our heart condemn us, (which is there put
" for conscience) God is greater than our hearts, and know- " eth all things."
If the spirit ofa man knows the things of a man, much more he that formed that spirit, and endowed man with it.
5. He that knows things more secret and unsearchable than our most secret actions can be, must needs know them how secretfoever they be. Now there are many things more close and secret than any action of ours can possibybe,and yet God knows them .
The thoughts of the heart are more fecretthan any external action ; so secret, that no creature can search them; the devil himself hath but a conjectural guess at them :
" But the Lord tellethunto man what is his thought;" as in * Deus maximus in minimus.
The Seaman's Preservative Amos iv. 13. SoJer. xvii. 1o. "I the Lord search the heart,
" I try the reins;" i.e. The most obscure, inward and deep secrets lodged in the heart; nay,which is more, he not only knows our thoughts whentheyare formedandconceived in the heart, but long before their conception; Psalm cxxxix. 2.
"Thou knowest my thoughts afar off."
Divines generally interpret it from eternity; even so long before they wereac. tuallythought, he foreknew everythoughtwe should think; and what can be imagined more secret, and undifcernible, than a future thought!
Now if this be known to him, how much more are our thoughts formed into projects and designs,and these executed by external actions ? O deceive notyourselves with hopes of secrecy! Nothing can be a secret to himthatknows the counsels of all hearts.
6.Hethatprovidentiallybrings to light the most secret contrivances of men,and publishes them before all Israel, and before the fun, must needs see them, and know them.
How closely hadAchancovered his wickedness: He never suspected... a discovery, yet God brought it to light. With how much contrivancewas the fin of David covered? yetGoddiscovered it: " Thou didst this thing secretly, but I will do this thing
" before all Israel,and before the sun," 2 Sam. xii. 12. Histories abound with examples of God's bringing to light murders, so secretly committed,that it was impossible they should ever be revealed in this world,without a miracleofprovidence; and yet so they have been brought to light.
Bessus, having committed such a murder,fancied the swallows that were chattering in the chimney, had said, Beffus killed a man, and thereupon confessed the fact. How secure were the contrivers of the popish powder-plot, that Catholic villany, in a double sense having sworn all their accomplices to secrecy, and managedthewholedesign so closely, that Guy Faux, upon the difcoveryof it, said, The devil must needs be the discoverer of it.
How easy were it to expatiate upon this theme ? But I will not be tiresome in instances: all ages are the witnesses of this truth.
Who canthendeny or question that great or confessed truth, Dan. ii. 28. " There is a God in heaven that reveals secrets :" and if he reveals them,he must needs know them.
7. He that will judge all secrets, cannot but know them.
" Now God will judge the secrets ofmeninthat great day,"
Rom. ii . 16. "God will bring every work into judgment,with " every secret thing, whether it be good, or whetheritbeevil,"
Eccl. xii. ult.
The Judge of the whole earth will not judge
in foreign Countries.
" at random ; his judgment will be infallible, because his omniIcience is fo.
His eyes are upon the ways of man, and he " seeth all his goings ; for he will not layuponman more than
" right, that he should enter into judgment with God," Job Xxxiv. 21 , 23 .
So that the truth of this point is beyond all controversy and contradiction, that the whole world affords no place of secrecy or security for a sinner to escape the observing eye, and righteous hand of God.
The uses follow in these inferences.
1. Inference. If this be so, then time,place, and opportuni. ty, how much soever they seem to promise secrecy and concealment, should never further a temptation to fin.
Suppose all circumstances concurring, so that in the eye of reason you seem secured from the shameful consequences of fin ; yet, methinks, the consideration of this truth should fufficientlydeteryou from a wicked purpose; Prov. v. 20. " And why
" wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and " embrace the bosom of a stranger ?
For the ways of am an " are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings." There be four things which strengthen temptations to fin, and particularly the finof uncleanness upon seamen.
First, The absence of lawful remedies. Secondly, The presence of alluring objects.
Thirdly, The instigation of wicked examples.
Fourthly, And the hopes of concealment, being remote from their acquaintance: so that their sins, in probability, shall never disgrace them.
This last circumstance is not the least: Ohowmanyhath it prevailed upon! but I hope you will never yield to this temptation, whoseheartand strength are broken by this consideration of the eye of God upon you. A chastewomanbeingonce sollicited tofolly, told him that follicitedher, the could never yield to the motion, until he could find a place where God should not fee.
Nay, my friends, it shoulddomore than restrain you from the gross acts of fin; it should powerfully curb the very thoughts and first motions of fin in your hearts.
That was the use holy Job made of this truth , Job xxxi. 1, 4. " I have " made a covenant with mine eyes ; why then should I think
" upon a maid?
Doth he not see my ways, and count all my " steps?"
Suppose you should carry your wickedness so close, that none on earth should know it; yet the Lord fees it, and will bring it into judgment, and your own conscience is privy to it.
VOL . VI .
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The Seaman's Preservative pray, firs, tell me, is it not a great comfort to amalefactor, that he acted his crime so closely, that none but the judge, and one authentic witness more, (whose testimony is as good as a thousand) beheld it ? Why, this is the case of all secret sinners.
But, to press home this great and necessary truth more particularly, I beseech you to confider,
1.God doth not onlybeholdyou, but beholds you withdeteftationand abhorrence in your ways of iniquity: It is a fight that grieves him to the heart, Gen. vi. 5, 6. "And the Lord saw
" the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that eve- " ry imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
" continually." Here was wickedness, great wickedness, breaking out externally,and evil, only evil, and that continually,working internally ; so that both heart and life were evil extensively, intensively,andprotensively. This the Lord saw; and how it affected him, the sixth verse tells you ; "And it repented the Lord
" thathehadmade man on the earth; and it grieved him at the " heart:" Ah ! it cuts him to the heart, to see your sinful hearts and courses.
Nothing can be so contrary to the pure and. holy nature of God as this is this made the prophet admire how his patience could endure such a sight,Hab. i. 13. "Thou
" art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity ; wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal τε treacherously ? " &c.
As if he should say, Lord, how canst thou behold thyself affronted by vile creatures, and hold
" thy hands from avenging it ? O the stupendous patience of God!
2. It doth not only grieve him to the heart, but it puts his patience to the greatest trial and exercise in be holding it: therefore he is said " to endure with much long-suffering," Rom. ix. 22.
It doth, as it were, create a conflict betwixt his pa tienceand justice: he is fo provoked by your fin, that he expresses it as a difficulty to bear it, Amos ii. 13.
I am pressed " under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sneaves ;" burdened till the axle-tree of infinite patience be ready to crack
" under the weight.
Nay, thirdly, He doth not only see your evils, but he registers and records them, in order to a day of reckoning with you for all together, except ye repent ; Deut. xxxii . 34. "Is not
" this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among mytrea- " sures ?" A metaphor taken from the clerk of the affize, who seals up the bag of indictments, against the time of trial. You think if you can blind the eyes of men, all is well, you shall hear no more of it: ah! but it is sealed up among God's trea-
in foreign Countries.
Fares; (i. e.) the things he records and reserves for the day of account.
4. Goddothnot only see you, but he will also one day make you see yourselves, and your ways, and that with horror and consternation. You think you shall-taste nothing but the sweet and pleasure of fin; but how are you deceived ?
The days are coming, when fin, that is now pleasant, shall be turned into wormwood and gall.
You will not fee the evil of it ; and because you fee it not, you think God doth not.
" These things " (faith God) haft thou done, and I kept silence, and thou " though test that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but " I will reprovethee, and set them in order before thine eyes,"
Psal. 1. 21. God fees them now, and he will make you fee them too, by opening your eyes in this world graciously, or in that to come judicially.
5. God doth not only fee your ways, but he will make all the world fee them too : For, " there is nothing hid that shall
" not be revealed, nor covered, that shall not be made known,"
Matth. x. 26.
" There is a daywhenGod will make manifest " the hidden counsels of the heart," 2Cor. iv. 5.
When " that which hath been spoken in darkness, shall be heard in " light ; and that which ye have spoken in the ears in closets,
" shall beproclaimedupon the house tops," Luke xii. 3. Well
then, whenever the occasions and opportunities of fin are presented to you, under this encouragement of security, I beseech you remember this truth, that noplace can hide you from the eye of God.
He fees all your ways, yea, he fees them with abhorrence ; the fight of them is the greatest exercise of his patience.
His fight of them is not a transient glance, but he sees and records your evils ; they are sealed up among his treasures :
He fees, and will make you see them too, with horror, when • he thall set them in order before you : he sees them, and will make angels andmensee them in the great day. O then, never let secrecy anymore encourage you to fin !
2. Inference. What prodigious sinners must they be, that seek no covert for their fin in darkness, but with an impudent face declare, yea, glory in their shame ; who are not ashamed to fin openly with a bare face, and a whore's forehead ?
These are sinners of the first magnitude.
They declare their fin " as Sodom, and hide it not, Ifa. iii. 9.
It is as natural to man to endeavour to hide his fin, as Adam, and you fee from the text, guilty sinners fain would, if it were possible, fly to any obscure corner from the observation of God and men; and Hhh2
The Seaman's Preservative it is a mercyGodhath planted such an affection, as shame is, in the soul of man, to be a bridle to restrain his exorbitant lusts.
But yet there is a generation of monstrous sinners, who have fo far unmanned themselves, " That they are not at all ashamed
" when they commit abominations, neither can they blush,"
Jer. vi . 15.
If there be any remains of shame left in them, they exercise it upon a wrong object: they are ashamed of that which would be to their glory, and glory in that which is their shame; they add impudence to their fin, and blush not to proclaim that which others study to conceal.
Such a vile temperas this, shews am an even ripe for wrath; he hath even filled up his measure, and is come to the very culminating point and top of wickedness. There be fame men arrived to such a degree of holiness, that all that converse with them, judge them even ripe for heaven: they speak the dialect, and have the very favour of heaven upon them .
Others are come to such a prodigious height of impiety, that understanding men cannot but conclude they are nigh unto damnation; they speak the very language, and have the very scent of hell upon them.
Such are they that openly declare their fin as Sodom, and glory in their hame.
Thus we fee some drunkards will glory in their strength, to pour down wine and strong drink, andcanboast of the number of their cups : some adulterers can glory in their acts of wickedness, not fufficing themselves to damn their own souls, but labouring to infect and corrupt as many as theycanby their filthy tongues, that they may draw them into the same misery.
We can hardly tell how to screw up fin one peg higher than this: first to practise sin, then defend it, then boast of it. Sin is first a man's burden, next his custom, next his delight, and then his excellency.
Lord, whither is man fallen ! that holiness should ever, be his disgrace ; and fin, yea, the vilest of sins, his glory ! O the power of divine patience !
3.Inference. If the eye of God searches every obscure corner in the world, to behold the evil that is committed there, thencertainlythe eye of God cannot but look into every secret placeintheworld, to fee the good that is done there.
" The " eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and " the good," Prov. xv. 3. The good as well as the evil ; yea, hebeholdswith delight the good done in secret.
As some sinners seek corners to act their wickedness in, and cannot satisfy themselves to commit sin in the light, (for, as our
Saviour faith , John iii. 20. " He that doth evil hateth the " light;) so, on the contrary, a truly godlyman seeks corners
in foreign Countries.
to pray in, to meditate in, and to examine his own heart in, and thinks these duties ofgodliness canneverbe managed with
100 great a privacy; not that he is in the least ashamed of his duty; no, that is not the reason, but he is afraid of hypocrisy, when duties lie too open, and exposed to the eyes of men. A sinner takes his full liberty to vent his corruptions, when he can do it in secret; and a faint takes his full liberty to vent and exercise his graces, when no eye but the eye of God fees him.
66 Thou, when thou prayett (faith our Saviour) enter into thy " closet, and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father which is in " secret, and thy Father (which feeth in secret) shall reward
" thee openly." O how much better is it, both as, to your present comfort, and future account, to get into a corner to pray, than to whore and drink ?
To pour out your souls to God graciously, than to pour out your lusts againtt God fo wickedly ? How contrary are the principles of grace and corruption? The study of sinners is to hide their evils from the eyes of men; the study of a faint is to hide his duties from the eyesofmen: The finnerwouldnothave the worldsuspectwhat he hath been about ; nor would the faint have all the world know what he hath been about.
The way of an adulterer is as the " way of an eagle in the air, or as a ferpentupon a rock ; " i.e. a secret way, where they leave no prints or tracts behind them.
So is the way of an adulterous woman ; the eateth andwip- " eth her mouth, and faith, I have done no wickedness," Prov.
Xxx. 19, 20.
By wiping the mouth, is there meant preventing allfufpicion ; suffering no sign of the action to remain upon them: So, contrarily, a gracious person that hath been with God in secret prayer, or fasting, when his duty is ended, he labours to avoid all oftentations.
And therefore you have the caution from Christ, Matth. vi. 17, 18. " But thou, when thou
" fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in " secret."
The meaning is, carry thy private duties so close, that none may know what passeth between God and thee :
When thou hast been entertained in secret with hidden manna, a feast of fat things, wipe thy mouth in a holy sense, i. e. wipe off all suspicion of hypocrisy and vanity by aprudentandhumbleconcealment. * " Religion doth not layallopen, as we say :"
As sinners have their secret pleasures, their stolen waters which are sweettothem; so the saints have their secret delights in God, their hidden manna, which no man knows but he that cateth of it. And as the eye of God vindictively beholds the *Non est religioubi omniapatent
The Seaman's Preservative one, so itdelightfullybeholds the other; and so you find it,
Cant. ii. 14.
" O my dove, (faith Christ to the church) that " art in the clifts of the rocks, in the secret places of the " stairs : Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice ;
" for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance comely."
Let to is encourage you to secret duties; let not others find more pleasure in secret lusts, than you candoinGod and secret duties.
4. Inference. Doth the eyeofGod see all the evil and wickedness that is committed in all the secret corners of the world ?
How admirable then is the patience of God towards the world !
Who can imagine how much wickedness is secretly practised in at own or city everyday ?
Or, if all the villanies that are perpetrated in a small circumference in one day, were known to us, we should admire thatGoddoth not make us, like Sodom, for judgment anddefolation, before the next day. What then are the innumerable swarms of fin, which are as the sands upon the seashore, from all the parts and corners of the earth !
Alas, there is not the ten thousandth part of the grosser fort of wickednesses committed in the world, thatever comes to our eye or ear; and if it did, we cannot estimate the evil of sin, as God doth; nor feel with that resentment the burden of it, as he doth ; and yet the long-fufferingGod forbears it with infinite patience.
Surely his power was not more discovered in making the world, than it is in forbearing to destroy it again, for the wickedness that is in it.
But the world slands for the church's fake that is in it.
" And were it not that the Lord " of hosts had left us as mall remnant, we had been as Sodom,
" we had been like untoGomorrah," Ifa. i. 9.
There is also anelect remnant to be called and gathered by the gospel out of it, in their several generations : and when that number shall be accomplished, God will set fire to the four quarters of it, and it shall lie in white ashes; till then the long suffering of God waiteth.
5. Inference. If God fees all the secret wickedness that is committed in every corner of the world; how clear is it, that there is a judgment to come, and that this judgment will be exact ?
That there is a judgment to come, is by this manifest ; and also that there is abundance of sin committed in the world, which never comes to light here, nor never will in this world.
It is true, mens fins are open ; and the judgments ofGoduponthem are as open ; but it is not so with all.
The apostle faith, 1 Tim. v. 24. " Some mens fins are open before hand, (
in foreign Countries.
going before-hand to judgment, and some mens they follow " after."
Some mens fins are written, as it were, in their foreheads, every one fees them ; but others follow after, are nor discovered till the day of the revelation of the secrets of all hearts, and then that which is now done in closets shall be proclaimed as upon house-tops : Though they were never put to shame for their sins, in the places where they committed them, yet God will shame them, before men and angels.
This is the day to judge secrets, 1 Cor. iv. 5.
And, as it is certain there will be such a judgment, so it is certain this judgment will be exact ; for the judge of all hath seen all : Whatever he charges any man with, hath been acted before his face, Psal. xc. 8. " Thou set test our secret sias in " the light of thy countenance."
Here can be no mistake, the omnipotent God will judge for what he hath seen ; " For his eyesareupon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings,
" for he will not lay upon man more than right, that he should enter into judgment with God."
The meaning is, he cannot mistake in his judgment, being omniscient, and having seen all the ways of man ; so that there can be no plea offered by any man for a reverse of his sentence.
Othen let us be exact and careful, as well in our secret as in our public actions; for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil, Eccl. xii. ult.
6. Inference. Lastly, If the eye of God be in every place up- \on us, and all our actions ; then let those whose condition of life hath sent them out of the eyes and observations of their parents and masters, keep the sense of God's eye upon their hearts, as ever they would escape sin and ruin.
It is no small advantage to young unprincipled persons, to live under the discipline of pious and careful governors ; but it. often falls out, that they are early transplanted into another foil, sent into foreign countries in order to their education or employment ; and as often are there corrupted and debauched by the evil examples of the places where they reside; they learn another language, or drive another trade than what their parents or masters designed them for.
But if the sense of this great truth might accompany them where-ever they are, O what a sovereign antidote might it prove against those deadly poisons of temptations ! This alone would be a sufficient preservative.
If our children and servants have but the awful sense of God's eye upon them, we may turn them loose into the wide world without fear.
The Seaman's Preservative If Providence shall direct this discourse to your hands, m heart's desire and prayer for you is, that the Spirit of the Lord would imprint this great truth upon your hearts.
And I am the more moved to endeavour your preservation, upon the con side ration of the apparent danger you are in, and the manifold disappointments and mischiets that must unavoidably follow the corrupting of your tender years.
The danger you are in is great, whether you confider, First, The infecting, catching nature of fin. No plague is more infectious and insinuating than sin is. Many are the wiles, devices, Itratagems, and baits, Satan lays todrawyou into fin,
2 Cor. ii. 11 .
Or, Secondly, The pronenessthat is in your own nature, to close with the offers and temptations that you are tried with ; it is as greatawonder if you escape, as that one that lives in a pest. house should remain healthy, or that dry tinder should not catch, when thousands of sparks fly about it, and light upon it.
Or, Thirdly, The absence of all those means by which you have formerly been preserved from fin.
You are now without the ordinances of God, the family duties, the admonitions, counsels, examples, and observations of your parents, masters, and friends: All which have been of great use to keep you from fin, and repress thevanitiesof youth. Or, lastly,
Fourthly, The manifold furtherance or temptations which your age affords Childhood and youth are vanity.
Inconfiderateness, rasiness, injudicioutness, and the want of experience, do all cast you into the very snare.
See how the Holy Ghost hath signifiedthedangerof persons at your age, inProv. vii. 7 .
All these things do greatlyendangeryou. And if any, or all of them together, prevail to the vitiating and corrupting of you, then what a train of fadconsequences will follow upon it! For, 1. The great God will bedishonoured and reproached by you, even that God whose distinguishing mercies are now before your eyes, and should be admired by you ; that caused you to spring up in abetter foil, and not from idolaters in a land of darkness.
2. Confciencewill be wounded and polluted with guilt; and though, at present, you feel not the remorse and gnawings of it, yet now you are preparing for it. The fins of youth are complaints and sorrows of old age, Job xiii. 26.
in foreign Countries.
3. The hearts of your friends, if godly, will be grieved, and greatly troubled, to find their expectations and hopes disappointed; and all those prayers for you, andcounselsbestowed on you, to come to nothing.
If an unequal match by Efau was such a grief of heart to Isaac and Rebecca, what will prophaneness and uncleannessbe to your parents? Gen. xxvi.
34.
4. The serviceableness and comfort of your whole life, will, in all probability, be destroyed by the corruption of your youth.
If blossoms be withered, and buds nipt, what fruit can be expected? To conclude, 5. Your precious and immortal souls are hazardedtoalleternity.
And " what shall it profit a man, to gain the whole " world, and lose his own soul ?
Or what shall a man give in " exchange for his soul? ' Matth. xvi. 26.
Allthismischiefmay be happily prevented by the seriousconfideration of this point you have now been reading.
For, if God thall fix that truth in your hearts by faith, then, First, Instead of running with others into the fame excess of riot, you will keep yourselves pure andunspotted in an unclean defiling world.
You will answer all temptations to fin, as Joseph did, Gen. xxxix. 9. " How can I do this great wickedness,
" and fin against God ? "
Secondly, Instead of joining with others in fin, you will mourn for the sins of others. You will say with David, Psal. exx. 5. " Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshec, that I dwell in " the tents of Kedar ! "
Your soul, like Lot's, will be vexed, from day today, with the filthy conversations of the wicked,
2Pet. i. 17, 18.
Thirdly, Instead of returning to your countrywithawoundędnameand conscience, you will return full of inward comfort and peace, and to the joy of all your friendsandrelations.
Fourthly, To conclude, You will give fair encouragements to the expectations of all that know you, of becoming useful instruments for the glory of God, and benefit of the world in your generation. O therefore beg of God, that this truth may bedeeplyengraven upon your hearts.
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