Chain of Providence and it is well for God's People that it is so They are limited as the Sea and so the Lord in a providential way speaks to them Hitherto shall you go and no further Sometimes he ties them up so short that they cannot touch his people though they have the greatest opportunities and advantages Psal. 105. 12 13 14 15. VVhen they were but a few men in number yea very few and strangers in it when they went from one Nation to another from one Kingdom to another people He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm And sometimes he permits them to touch and trouble his People but then sets bounds and limits to them beyond which they must not pass That is a pregnant Text to this purpose Revel 2. 10. Behold the Devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and ye shall have trihulation ten days Here are four remarkable limitations upon Satan and his Agents in reference to the People of God A limitation as to the Persons not all but some A limitation of the Punishment a Prison not a Grave not Hell A limitation upon them as to the end for trial not ruine And lastly as to the Duration not as long as they please but ten days REFLECTION O my Soul what Marrow and Fatness Comfort and Consolation maist thou suck from the Breast of this Truth in the darkest day of trouble Thou seest how the flowing Sea drives to over-whelm the Earth Who has arrested it in its course and stopt its violence Who has confin'd it to its place Certainly none other but the Lord. When I see it threaten the shore with its proud furious and insulting Waves I wonder it doth not swallow up all but I see it no sooner touch the Sands which God hath made its bounds but it retires and as it were with a kind of submission respects those limits which God hath set it Thus the fiercest Element is represt by the feeblest things Thou seest also how full of wrath and fury wicked men are how they rage like the troubled Sea and threaten to over-whelm thee and all the Lord's Inheritance and then the floods of ungodly men make thee afraid yet are they restrained by an invisible gracious hand that they cannot execute their purpose nor perform their enterprize How full of Devils and devillized Men is this lower World Yet in the midst of them all hast thou hitherto been preserved O my Soul admire and adore that glorious power of God by which thou art kept unto Salvation Is not the preservation of a Saint in the midst of such hosts of enemies as great a Miracle though not so sensible as the preservation of those three Noble Iews in the midst of the fiery Furnace or Daniel in the Den of Lions For there is as strong a propension in Satan and wicked men to destroy the Saints as in the fire to burn or a Lion to devour O then let me chearfully address my self to the faithful discharge of my duty and stand no longer in a slavish fear of creatures who can have no power against me but what is given them from above Iohn 19. 11. And no more shall be given than shall turn to the glory of God Psal. 76. 10. and the advantage of my Soul Rom. 8. 28. THE POEM This World 's a Forrest where from day to day Bears Wolves and Lions range and seek their prey Amidst them all poor harmless Lambs are fed And by their very Dens in safety led They roar upon us but are held in Chains Our Shepherd is their Keeper he maintains Our Lot Why then should we so trembling stand We meet them true but in their Keeper's hand He that to ranging Seas such Bounds hath put The mouths of ravenous Beasts can also shut Sleep in the Woods poor Lambs your selves repose Vpon his Care whose Eyes do never close If unbelief in you don't loose their chain Fear not their strugling that 's but all in vain If God can check the VVaves by smallest Sand A Twined Thread may hold these in his hand Shun Sin keep close to Christ for other evils You need not fear tho' compast round with Devils CHAP. XVI To Sea without a Compass none dare go Our Course without the VVord is even so OBSERVATION OF how great use and necessity is the Compass to Sea-men Though they can coast a little way by the Shoar yet they dare not venture far into the Ocean without it It s their Guide and directs and shapes their Course for them And if by the violence of Wind and Weather they be driven beside their due Course yet by the help of this they are reduced and brought to Rights again It is wonderful to consider how by the help of this Guide they can run in a direct Line many hundred Leagues and at last fall right with the smallest Island which is in the Ocean comparatively but as the head of a small Pin upon a Table APPLICATION What the Compass and all other Mathematical Instruments are to the Navigator that and much more is the Word of God to us in our course to Heaven This is our Compass to steer our course by and it is truly touched he that orders his conversation by it shall safely arrive in Heaven at lasâ— Gal. 6. 16. As many as walk according to this rule Peace be on them and mercy This Word is as necessary to us in our way to Glory as a Lamp or Lanthorn is in a dark night Psal. 119. 105. This is a light shining in a dark place till the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts 2 Pet. 1. 19. If any that profess to know it and own it as a Rule miss Heaven at last let them not blame the Word for misguiding them but their own negligent and deceitful hearts that shuffle in and out and shape not their course and conversation according to its prescriptions What blame can you lay upon the Compass if you steer not exactly by it How many are there that neglecting this Rule will coast it to Heaven by their own Reason No wonder such fall short and perish in the way This is a faithful Guide and brings all that follow it to a blessed end Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory Psal. 73. 24. The whole hundredth and nineteenth Psalm is spent in commendation of its transcendent excellency and usefulness Luther profest that he prized it so highly that he would not take the whole World in exchange for one Leaf of it Lay but this Rule before you and walk accurately by it and you cannot be out of your way to Heaven Psal. 119. 30. I have chosen the way of truth or the true way thy Iudgments have I laid before me Some indeed have opened their detracting blasphemous mouths against it as Iulian that
of thy riches So is this great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great Beasts Psalm 104. 24 25. And we read Lam. 4. 3. of Sea-Monsters which draw out their Breasts to their young Pliny and Purchas tell incredible stories about them About the Tropick of Capricorn our Sea-men meet with flying Fishes that have Wings like a Rere-mouse but of a Silver-colour they fly in flocks like Stares There are Creatures of very strange Forms and Properties some resembling a Cow called by the Spaniards Manates by some supposed to be the Sea-monster spoken of by Ieremy In the Rivers of Guiana Purchas saith there are Fishes that have four Eyes bearing two above and two beneath the Water when they swim Some resembling a Toad and very poisonous How strange both in shape and property is the Sword-fish and Thrasher that fight with the Whale Even our own Seas produce Creatures of strange shapes but the commonness takes off the wonder APPLICATION Thus doth the heart of Man naturally swarm and abound with strange and monstrous lusts and abominations Rom. 1. 29 30 31 Being filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness fuil of envy murder debate deceit malignity whisperers back-bitâ—rs haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to Parents without understanding covenant-breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful O what a swarm is here and yet there are multitudes more in the depths of the heart And it is no wonder considering that with this Nature we received the spawn of the blackest and vilest abominations This original lust is productive to them all Iam. 1. 14. 15. Which lust though it be in every Man numerically different from that of others yet it is one and the same speciffically for sort and kind in all the Children of Adam even as the reasonable Soul though every Man hath his own Soul viz a Soul individually distinct from another Man's yet is it the same for kind in all men So that whatever abominations are in the hearts and lives of the vilest Sodomites and most profligate Wretches under Heaven there is the same matter in thy heart out of which they were shaped and formed In the depths of the heart they are conceived and thence they crawl out of the eyes hands lips and all the members Mat. 15. 18. 19. Those things saith Christ which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and defile a man For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false-witness blasphemies Even such Monsters as would make a gracious heart tremble to behold What are my Lusts saith Fuller's Medone but so many Toads spitting of Venome tations p 11. and spawning of Poison croaking in my Iudgment creeping in my Will and crawling into my Affecttions The Apostle in 1 Cor. 5. 1. tells us of a sin Not to be named so monstrous that Nature it self startles at it Even such Monsters are generated in the depths of the heart Whence comes evils was a Question that much puzled the Philosphers of old Now here you may see whence they come and when they are begotten REFLECTION And are there such strange abominations in the heart of Man Then how is he degenerated from his Perfection and Glory His streams were once as clear as Chrystal and the Fountain of them pure there was no unclean Creature moving in them What a stately Fabrick was the Soul at first And what holy Inhabitants possessed the several rooms thereof But now as God speaks of Idumea Isai. 34. 11. The line of confusion is stretched out upon it and the stones of emptiness The Cormorant and Bittern posses it the Owl and the Raven dwell in it Yea as Isai. 13. 21. 22. The wild beasts of the desert lie there is is full of doleful creatures the Satyrs dance in it and Dragons cry in those sometimes pleasant places O sad change how sadly may we look back towards our first state and take up the words of Iob O that I were as in months past as in the days of my youth when the Almighty was yet with me when I put on righteousness and it cloathed me when my glory was fresh in me Job 29. 2 4. 5. Again think O my Soul what a miserable condition the Unregenerate abide in Thus swarmed and over-run with hellish Lusts â—nder the dominion and vassalage of divers Lusts Tit. 3. 3. What a tumultuous Sea is such a Soul How do these Lusts rage within them how do they contest and scuffle for the Throne and usually take it by turns For as all Diseases are contrary to health yet some contrary to each other so are Lusts. Hence poor Creatures are hurried on to different kinds of servitude according to the Nature of that imperious Lust that is in the Throne and like the Lunatick Mat. 17. are sometimes cast into the VVater and somtimes into the Fire Well might the Prophet say The wicked is like a troubled Sea that cannot rest Isai. 57. 20. They have no peace now in the serv ice of sin and less they shall have hereafter when they receive the wages of sin There is no peaec to the wicked saith my God they indeed cry Peace peace but my God doth not say so The last issue and result of this is Eternal Death no sooner is it delivered of its deceitfull pleasures but presently it falls in travel again and brings forth death Iam. 1 15. Once more And is the Heart such a Sea abounding with monstrous abominations then stand astonished O my Soul at that Free-grace which hath delivered thee from so sad a Condition O fall down and kiss the feet of Mercy that moved so freely and seasonably to thy rescue Let my heart be enlarged abundantly here Lord what am I that I should be taken and others left Reflect O my Soul upon the Conceptions and Births of Lusts in the days of Vanity which thou now blushest to own O what black imaginations hellish desires vile affections are lodged there Who made me to differ Or how came I to be thus wounderfully separated Surely it is by thy Free-grace and nothing else that I am what I am And by that Grace I have escaped to mine own astonishment the corruption that is in the World through Lust. O that ever the holy God should set his eyes on such an one or cast a look of love towards me in whom were Legions of unclean Lusts and Abominations THE POEM My Soul 's the Sea wherein from day to day Sins like Leviathans do sport and play Great Master-Lusts with all the lesser fry Therein increase and strangely multiply Yet strange it is not sin so fast should breed Since with this Nature I receiv'd the Seed And Spawn of every Species which was shed Into its Caverns first then nourished By its own native warmth which like the Sun Hath quickned them and now abroad they come And like the Frogs of Aegypt creep
cursed Apostate who feared not to say There was as good matter in Phocillides as in Solomon in Pindarus his Odes as in David's Psalms And the Papists generally slight it making it a lame imperfect Rule yea making their own Tradâ—tions the Touchstone of Doctrines and Foundation of Faith Montanus tells us that although the Apostle would have Sermons and Service celebrated in a known Tongue yet the Church for very good cause hath otherwise order'd it Gilford called it The Mother of Heresies Boner's Chaplain judged it worthy to be burnt as a strange Doctrine They set up their Inventions above it and frequently come in with a Non obstante against Christ's Institutions And thus do they make it void or as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Matth. 15. 6. unlord it and take away its authority as a Rule But those that have thus slighted it and followed the by-paths unto which their corrupt Hearts have led them they take not hold of the paths of Life and are now in the depths of Hell All other Lights to which men pretend in the neglect of this are but false fires that will lead Men into the Pits and Bogs of Destruction at last REFLECTION And is thy Word a Compass to direct my course to Glory O where am I then like to arrive at last that in all my course have neglected it and steered according to the counsel of my own heart Lord I have not made thy Word the Man of my counsel but consulted with flesh and blood I have not enquired at this Oracle nor studied it and made it the guide of my way but walked after the sight of my eyes and the lust of my heart Whither Lord can I come at last but to Hell after this rate and reckoning Some have slighted thy Word professedly and I have slighted it practically I have a poor Soul embarqued for Eternity it is now floating on a dangerous Ocean Rocks and Sands on every side and I go a drift before every Wind of Temptation and know not where I am Ah Lord convince me of the danger of this condition O convince me of my Ignorance in thy Word and the fatal consequence and issue thereof Lord let me now resolve to study prize and obey it hide it in my heart that I may not sin against it Open my understanding that I may understand the Scriptures Open my heart to entertain it in love O thou that hast been so gracious to give a perfect Rule give me also a perfect heart to walk by that Rule to glory THE POEM This VVorld's a Sea wherein a numerous Fleet Of Ships are under sail Here you shall meet Of every Rate and Size Frigats Galleons The nimble Ketches and small Pickeroons Some bound to this Port some where VVinds and VVeather VVill drive them they are bound they know not whither Some steer away for Heaven some for Hell To which some steer themselves can hardly tell The Winds do shape their course which though it blow From any Point before it they must go They are directed by the VVind and Tide That have no Compass to direct and guide For want of this must run themselves a-ground Brave Ships are cast away poor Souls are drown'd Thy VVord our Compass is to guide our way To Glory it reduces such as stray Lord let thy VVord dwell richly in my heart And make me skilful in this heavenly Art O let me understand and be so wise To know upon what Point my Country lies And having seâ— my Course directly thither Great God preserve me in the foulest Weather By Reason some will coast it but I fear Such Coasters never will drop Anchor there Thy Word is truly toucht and still directs A proper Course which my base heart neglects Lord touch mine Iron heart and make it stand Pointing to thee its Loadstone To that Land Of Rest above let every Tempest drive My Soul where it would rather be than live CHAP. XVII Look as the Sea by turns doth ebb and flow So their Estates that use it come and go OBSRRVATION THE Sea hath its alternate Course and Motion its Ebbings and Flowings No sooner is it High-water but it begins to Ebbe again and leave the Shoar naked and dry which but a little before it covered and over-flowed And as its Tides so also its Waves are the Emblem of Inconstancy still rouling and tumbling this way and that never fixt and quiet Instabilis unda As fickle as a VVave is common to a Proverb See Iam. 1. 6. He that wavereth is like a Wave of the Sea driven with Winds and tossed So Isai. 57. 20. It cannot rest APPLICATION Thus mutable and inconstant are all outward things there is no depending on them Nothing of any substance or any solid consistence in them 1 Cor. 7. 31. The fashion of this world passeth away It is an high point of folly to depend upon such vanities Prov. 23. 5. Why wilt thou set or as it is in the Hebrew cause thine eyes to fly upon that which is not For riches certainly make themselves wings and fly away as an Eagle towards Heaven In flying to us saith Augustine they have Alas vix quidem passerinas scarce a Sparrow's wings but in flying from us wings as an Eagle And those Wings they are said to make to themselves i. e. The cause of its transitoriness is in itself the Creature is subjected to Vanity by sin they are sweet flowers but withered presently Iam. 1. 10. As the flower of the grass so shall the rich man fade away The man is like the stalk or grass his riches are the flower of the grass his glory and outward beauty the stalk is soon withered but the flower much sooner This is either withered upon or blown off from it while the stalk abides Many a man out-lives his estate and honour and stands in the world as a bare dry stalk in the field whose flower beauty and bravery is gone One puff of wind blows it away one churlish easterly blast shrivels it up 1 Pet. 4. 24. How mad a thing is it then for any man to be lifted up in pride upon such a vanity as this is to build so lofty and over-jetting Roof upon such a feeble tottering Foundation We have seen Meadows full of such curioâ—s flowers mown down and withered men of great Estates impoverished suddenly And when like a Meadow that is mown they have begun to recover themselves again as the phrase is the Lord hath sent Grashoppers in the beginning of the shooting-up of the latter growth Amos 7. 1. Just as the Grashoppers and other Creatures devour the second tender Herbage as soon as the Field begins to recover its verdure So men after they have been denuded and blasted by Providence they begin after a while to flourish again but then comes some new affliction and blasts all None have more frequent experience of this than you that are Merchants and Sea-men whose estates are floating
one anothers mind nor aimed at one end much less the end that God brought about by them one acts out of Revenge another for gain a third out of Policy yet all meet together at last in that issue God had design'd to bring about by them even Ioseph's advancement Even so it is here Christian there be more instruments at work for thine eternal good than thou art aware of REFLECTION Chear up then O my Soul and lean upon this Pillar of Comfort in all distresses Here is a promise for me if I be a called one that like the Phillosophers Stone turns all into Gold it toucheth This promise is my security however things go in the world My God will do me no hurt Jer. 25. 6. Nay he will do me good by every dispensation O that I had but an heart to make all things work for his glory that thus causeth every thing to work for my good My God dost thou turn every thing to my advantage O let me return all to thy praise and if by every thing thou work my eternal good then let me in every thing give thanks But ah How foolish and ignorant have I been even as a beast before thee How hath my heart been disquieted and apt to repine at thy dispensations when they have crossed my Will not considering that my God faithfully pursues my good even in those things that cross as well as in that which pleases me Blessed Lord What a blessed condition are all thy people in who are within the Line of this promise All things friendly and beneficial to them Friends helpful Enemies helpful every thing conspiring and conducing to their happiness With others it is not so nothing works for their good nay every thing works against it Their very mercies are snares and their Prosperity destroys them Prov. 1. 32. Even the blessed Gospel it self is a savour of death to them When evil befals them it is an only evil Ezek. 7. 5. that is not turned into good to them and as their evils are not turned into good so all their good is turned into evil As this Promise hath an influence into all that concerns the people so the curse hath a influence into all the enjoyments of the wicked O my soul bless the Lord who hath cast thy lot into such a pleasant place and given thee such a glorious heritage as this promise is THE POEM When once the Dog star rises many say Corn ripens then apace both night and day Souls once in Christ that Morning-star le ts fall Such influences on them then that all Gods dispensations to them sweet or sowr Ripens their Souls for Glory every hour All their afflictions rightly understood Are blessings every Wind will blow some good Sure at their troubles Saints would never grudge Were Sense deposed and Faith made the Iudge Falls make them waryer amend their pace When gifts puff up their hearts and weaken Grace Could Satan see the issue and the event Of his temptations he would scarcely tempt Could Saints but see what fruits their troubles bring Amidst those troubles they would shout and sing O sacred Wisdom who can but admire To see how thou dost save from fire by fire No doubt but Saints in glory wondering stand As those strange Methods few now understand CHAP. XXVIII Storms make discovery of the Pilots skill Gods Wisdom in affliction triumphs still OBSERVATION IN fair Weather when there is Sea-room enough then every common person can guide the Ship the Pilot may then lie down and take his rest but in great storms and stress of weather or when neer the dangerous shore then the most skilful Pilot is put to it Then he shews the utmost of his Art and 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 APPLICATION 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 Isai. 27. 3. Lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Psal. 121. 4. He that keepeth Israel neither stumbereth nor sleepeth His peoples dangers are without intermission therefore his preservations are so too But now when they come into the Streight 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 see God doth exchange their comforts and that for the better and this supports them So Iohn 14. 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 Saints 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 extraordinary Consolations from God they have then looked for some eminent Trial. The Lord appeared to Abraham and sealed the Covenant to him and then put him upon that great trial of his Faith So the Disciples Luke 24. 49. It was commanded them that they should tarry in Ierusalem till they were endowed with power from on high The Lord knew what an hard providence they were like to have and what great oppositions and difficulties they must encounter in publishing the Everlasting Gospel to the World and therefore first prepares and endows them with power from on high viz. with eminent measures of the Gifts and Craces of the Spirit as Faith Patience Self-denial c. So Paul had first his Revelations then his Buffetings 3. In coming in so opportunely in the time of their great distress with relief and comfort 1 Pet. 4. 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. In appointing and ordering the several kinds of afflictions to several Saints and allotting to every one that very Affliction and no other which is most suitable to his condition Which Afflictions like so many Portions of Physick are prepared for that very malignant humour that predominates most in them Peter's sin was self-confidence God permits him to fall by denying Christ which doubtless was sanctified to his good in that particular Hezekiah's sin was vain-glory therefore Spoilers are sent to take away his Treasures 5. In the duration of their Troubles they shall not lie always upon them Psal. 125. 3. Our God is a God of Judgment Isai. 30. 18. Knows the due time of removing it and is therein punctual to a day Rev. 2.
poor Weather-beaten Vessel comes into the Harbour more like a Wrack than a Ship nor Mast nor Saile left The righteous themselves are scarcely saved i. e. they are saved with very much difficulty They have not all an abundant entrance as the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 1. 11. Some Persons as one well notes Manton on Iude are afar off Eph. 2. 23. i. e. touch p. 119. with no care of Religion Some come near but never enter as Semiconverts see Matth. 12. 34. Others enter but with great difficulty they are saved as by fire 1 Cor. 3. 13. Make an hard shift But then there be some that go in with full sail before a VVind and have an abundant entrance They go triumphing out of the world Ah! when we come into the Narrow Channel at the very point of entrance into life the Soul is then in the most serious frame all things look with a new face Conscience scans our evidence most crittically then also Satan falls upon us and makes his sorest assaults and batteries It is the last encounter it they escape him now they are gone out of his reach for ever And if he cannot hinder their Salvation yet if he can but cloud their Evening and make them go groaning and haling out of the world he reaches another end by it even to confirm and prejudice the wicked and weaken the hands of others that are looking towards Religion REFLECTION If this be so how inevitable is my perdition may the careless Soul say if they that strive so much and go so far yet perish at last and if the righteous themselves are scarcely saved then where shall such an ungodly Creature as I appear O Lord if they that have made Religion their business and have been many years pursuing a work of Mortification have gone mourning after the Lord Jesus and walked humbly with God yet if some of these have such an hard tug at last then what will become of such a vain sensual careless Flesh-pleasing Wretch as I have been Again Do Saints find it so streight an entrance Then though I have well-grounded Hopes of safe arrival at last yet let me look to it that I do not increase the difficulty Ah! they are the things that are now done or omitted that put Conscience into such an agony then for when it comes to review the life with the most serious eye O let me not stick my Death-bed full of Thorns against I come to lie down upon it O that I may turn to the Wall in that hour as Hezekiah did 2 Kings 20. 2 3. and say Remember now O Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. THE POEM After a tedious Passage Saints descry The glorious Shore Salvation being nigh Death 's Long boat 's launch'd ready to set ashore Their panting Souls O how they tug at Oar Longing to be at rest but then they find The hardest Tug of all is yet behind Iust at the Harbours mouth they see the Wrach Of Souls there cast away and driven back A world of dangerous Rocks before it lie The Harbours barr'd aâ—d now the VVinds blow high Thoughts now arise fears multiply apace All things about them have another face Life blazes just like an expiring light The Soul 's upon the lip prepar'd for flight Death till the Resurrection tears and rends Out of each other's arms two parting Friends The Soul and Body Ah! but more than so The Devil falls upon them ere they go With new temptations back'd with all his power And scruples kept on purpose for that hour This is the last encounter now or never If he succeeds not now they 're gone for ever Thus in they put with hardship at the last As Ships out of a Storm nor Sail nor Mast Yet some go in before a Wind and have Their Streamer of Assurance flying brave Lord give me easier entrance if thou please Or if I may not there arrive with ease Yet I beseech the set me safe ashore Though stormy Winds at Harbours mouth should roar CHAP. XXXII How glad are Seamen when they make the Shore And Saints no less when all their Danger 's o're OBSERVATION WHat Joy is there among Sea-men when at last after a tedious and dangerous Voyage they descry Land and see the desied Haven before them Then they turn out of their loath'd Cabbins and come upon open Deck with much joy Psal. 107. 30. Then they are glad because they be quiet So he bringeth them to their desired Haven Now they can reflect with comfort upon the many dangers they have past Olim haec meminisse juvabit It is sweet to recount them APPLICATION But O what transcendent Joy yea ravishing will ove-run the hearts of Saints when after so many Conflicts Temptations and Afflictions they arrive in glory and are harbour'd in Heaven where they shall rest for ever 2. Thes. 1. 7. The Scripture saith They shall sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb Rev. 15. 3. The Song of Moses was a triumphant Song composed for the celebration of that glorious Deliverance at the Red Sea The Saints are now fluctuating upon a troublesome and tempestuous Sea their hearts sometime ready to sink and die within them at the apprehension of so many and great dangers and difficulties Many an hard storm they ride out and many streights and troubles they here encounter with But at last they arrive at their desired and long expected Haven and then Heaven rings and resounds with their joyful acclamations And how can it be otherwise when as soon as ever they set foot upon that glorious Shoar Christ himself meets and receives them with a Come ye blessed of my Father Matth. 25. 34. O joyful voice O much desired Word saith Parâ—us What tribulation would not a man undergo for his Words sake Besides then they are perfectly freed from all evils whether of sin or suffering and perfectly filled with all desired good Now they shall joyn with that great Assembly in the high praises of God O what a day will this be if saith a worthy Divine Diagoras died away with an excess of Joy whilst he enbraced his three Sons that were crowned as Victors in the Olympic Games in one day And good old Simeon when he saw Christ but in a body subject to the insirmities of our natures cryed out Now let thy Servant depart in peace what unspeakable joy will it be to the Saints to behold Christ in his glory and see their godly relations also to whose conversion perhaps they have been instrumental all crown'd in one day with everlasting Diadems of bliss And if the stars did as Ignatius saith make a Quire as it were about that star that appear'd at Christ's incarnation and there be such joy in Heaven at the conversion of a sinner no wonder then the Morning-stars sing together and the Sons of God shout for Joy when the general Assembly meet in Heaven O how will the Arches
Navigation Spiritualiz'd OR A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN Consisting of XXXII Points Of Pleasant OBSERVATIONS Profitable APPLICATIONS and Serious REFLECTIONS All concluded with so many Spiritual Poems Whereunto is now Added I. A Sober Consideration of the Sin of Drunkenness II. The Harlot's Face in the Scripture-Glass III. The Art of Preserving the Fruit of the Lips IV. The Resurrection of Buried Mercies and Promises V. The Sea-man's Catechism Being an Essay toward their much deâ—â—â—d Reformation from the Horrible and Destable Sins of Drunkenness Swearing Vncleanness Forgetfulness of Mercies Violation of Promises and Atheistical Contempt of Death Fit to be seriously Recommended to their Profane Relations whether Sea-men or Others by all such as Unfeignedly desire their Eternal Welfare And they said Come let us cast Lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is come upon us Jonah 1. 7. Knowing therefore the terrours of the LORD we perswade Men 2 Cor. 5. 11. By Iohn Flavel Minister of the Gospel The Fourth Edition London Printed for M. Fabian in Mercers Chappel at the lower end of Cheapside 1698. What good might Seaman get if once they were But heavenly 〈◊〉 if they could but steer Thâ— Christâ—â—s course the Soul might then enjoy Sweet Peace they might like Seas or-flow with Joy Were God our All how would our Comforts double Upon us thus the Seas of all our trouble Would be divinely sweet Men should endeavour To see God now and be with him for ever To All Masters Marriners and Seamen Especially such as belong to the Borrough of Clifton Dartmouth and Hardnes in the County of Devon Sirs I Find it Story'd of Anacharsis that when one Ask'd him Whether the Living or the Dead were more He returned this Answer You must first tell me saith he in which Number I must place Sea-men Intimating thereby that Sea-men are as it were a Third sort of Persons to be Number'd neither with the Living nor the Dead their Lives hanging continually in suspence before them And it was anciently accounted the most desperate Imployment and they little better than lost Men that us'd the Seas Through all my Life saith Aristotle Three things do especially repent me First That ever I reveal'd a Secret to a Woman Secondly That ever I remain'd one day without a Will Thirdly That ever I went to any place by Sea whither I might have gone by Land Nothing saith another is more miserable than to see a Virtuous and Worthy Person upon the Sea And although Custom and the great Improvement of the Art of Navigation have made it less formidable now yet are you no further from death than you are from the waters which is but a remove of two or three inches Now you that border so nigh upon the confines of death and eternity every moment may well be supposed to be Men of singular Piety and Seriousness For nothing more composes the Heart to such a frame than the lively apprehensions of Eternity do and none have greater external advantages for that than you have But alas for the generality What sort 〈◊〉 Men are more ungodly and stupidly insensible of eterna concernments Living for the most part as if they had made a Covenant with death and with hell were at agreement It was an ancient saying Qui nescit orare discat navigare He that knows not how to Pray let him go to Sea But we may say now alas that we may say so in times of greater light He that would learn to be proâ—ane to drink and swear and dishonour God let him go to Sea As for Prayer it is a rare thing among Sea-men they count that a needless-business they see the prophane and vile deliver'd as well as others and therefore What profit is there if they Pray unto him Mal. 3. 4. As I remember I have read of a profane Souldier who was heard swearing though he stood in a place of great danger and when one that stood by him warned him saying Fellow-souldier do not Swear the Bullets flie he answer'd They that swear come off as well as they that pray Soon after a shot hit him and down he fell Plato diligently admonisht all Men to avoid the Sea For saith he it is the School-master of all Vice and Dishonesty Sirs it is a very sad consideration to me that you who float upon the great deeps in whose bottom so many Thousand poor miserable Creatures lie whose sins have sunk them down not only into the bottom of the Sea but of Hell also whither divine vengeance hath pursu'd them That you I say who daily float and hover over them and have the roaring waves and billows that swallow'd them up gaping for you as the next prey should be no more affected with these things Oh what a Terrible Voice doth God utter in the Stroms It breaks the Cedars shakes the Wilderness makes the Hinds to Calve Psal. 29. 5. And can it not shake your hearts This Voice of the Lord is full of Majesty but his Voice in the Word is more efficacious and powerful Heb. 4. 12. to convince and rip up the heart This Word is exalted above all his Name Psal. 138. 3. and if it cannot awaken you it is no wonder you remain secure and dead when the Lord utters his Voice in the most dreadful storms and tempests But if neither the Voice of God uttered in his dreadful Works or in his glorious Gospel can effectually awaken and rouze there is an Euroclidon a fearful storm coming which will so awaken your souls as that they shall never sleep any more Psal. 11. 6. Upon the wicked he shall reign Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest This is the portion of their Cup. You that have been at Sea in the most Violent storms never felt such a storm as this and the Lord grant you never may no Calm shall follow this Storm There are some among you that I am perswaded do truly fear that God in whose hand their Life and Breath is Men that fear an Oath and are an honour to their Profession who drive a Trade for Heaven and are diligent to secure the happiness of their Immortal souls in the Insurance-Office above but for the generality alas they mind none of these things How many of you are coasting to and fro from one Country to another but never think of that Heavenly Country above nor how you may get the Merchandize thereof which is better than the Gold of Ophir How oft do you tremble to see the foaming V Vaves dance about you and wash over you yet consider not how terrible it will be to have all the waves and billows of God's wrath to go over your souls and that for ever How glad are you after you have been long toss'd upon the Ocean to descry Land And how yare and eagerly do you look out for it who yet never had your hearts warmed with the consideration of that Ioy which shall be among the Saints when they arrive
at the Heavenly Strand and set foot upon the shore of Glory O Sirs I beg of you if you have any regard to those precious immortal Souls of yours which are also imbarqued for Eternity whither all winds blow them and will quickly he at their Port of Heaven or Hell that you will seriously mind these things and learn to steer your course to Heaven and improve all Winds I mean opportunities and means to waft you thither Here you venture life and liberty run through many Difficulties and Dangers and all to compass a perishing Treasure yet how often do you return disappointed in your Designs or if not yet it is but a fading short-liv'd Inheritance which like the flowing Tide for a little while covers the shore and then returns and leaves it naked and dry again And are not Everlasting Treasures worth venturing for Good Souls be wise for Eternity I here present you with the Fruit of a few spare Hours redeemed for your sakes from my other Studies and Imployments which I have put into a new Dress and Mode I have endeavoured to cloath Spiritual Matters in your own Dialect and Phrases that they might be the more intelligible to you and added some pious Poems with which the several Chapters are concluded trying by all means to assault your several Affections and as the Apostle speaks to catch you with guile I can say nothing of it I know it cannot be without its manifold imperfections since I am conscious of so many in my self Only this I will adventure to say of it That how defective or empty soever it be in other respects yet it is stuffed and filled with much true love to and earnest desires after the salvation and prosperity of your Souls And for the other defects that attend it I have only two things to offer in way of excuse It is the first Essay that I ever made in this kind wherein I had no President And it was hastned for your sakes too soon out of my hands that it might be ready to wait upon you when you undertake your next Voyage so that I could not revise and polish it Nor indeed was I sollicitous about the stile I consider I writ not for Critical and Learned Persons my design is not to please your Fancies any further than I might thereby get advantage to profit your Souls I will not once question your welcome Reception of it If God shall bless these Meditations to the Conversion of any among you you will be the Gainers and my heart shall rejoyce even mine How comfortably should we shake hand with you when you go abroad were we perswaded your Souls were interested in Christ and secured from perishing in the New Convenant What life would it put into our Prayers for you when you are abroad to consider that Iesus Christ is interceeding for you in Heaven whilst we are your Remembrancers here on Earth How quiet would our hearts be when you are abroad in Storms did we know you had a special Interest in him whom Winds and Seas obey To conclude what Ioy would it be to your Godly Relations to see you return new Creatures Doubtless more than if you came home laden with the Riches of both Indies Come Sirs set the heavenly Jerusalem upon the Point of your New Compass make all the Sail you can for it and the Lord give you a prosperous Gale and a safe Arrival in that Land of Rest. So prays Your most Affectionate Friend to serve you in Soul-Concernments IOHN FLAVEL IMPRIMATUR Geo. Stradling S. T. P. Rev. in Christo Pat. D. Gilb. Archiepisc. Cant. a. Sac. Domest Ex Aed Lamb. Dec. 14. 1663. To every Sea-man Sailing Heavenward Ingenious Sea-man THE Art of Navigation by which Islands especially are enriched and preserved in safety from Forensical Invasions and the wonderful Works of God in the great Deep and Foreign Nations are most delightfully and fully beheld c. is an Art of exquisite excellency ingenuity rarity and mirability But the Art of Spiritual Navigation is the Art of Arts. It is a gallant thing to be able to carry a Ship richly laden round the World but it is much more gallant to carry a Soul that rich loading a Pearl of more worth than all the Merchandise of the world in a body that is liable to leaks and bruises as any Ship is through the Sea of this World which is as unstable as water and hath the same brinish taste and salt gust which the waters of the Sea have safe to Heaven the best Haven so as to avoid splitting upon any Soul-sinking Rocks or striking upon any Soul-drowning Sands The Art of Natural Navigation is a very great mystery but the Art of Spiritual Navigation is by much a greater mystory Humane wisdom may teach us to carry a Ship to the Indies but the Wisdom only that is from above can teach us to steer our course aright to the Haven of Happiness This Art is purely of Divine Revelation The truth is Divinity the Doctrine of living to God is nothing else but the Art of Soul-Navigation revealed from Heaven A meer man can carry a Ship to any desired Port in all the World but no meer man can carry a Soul to Heaven He must be a Saint he must be a Divine so all Saints are that can be a Pilot to carry a Soul to the fair Haven in Emanuel's land The Art of Natural Navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of Christ before which time if there be truth in History the use of the Loadstone was never known in the world and before the vertue of that was revealed unto the Mariner it is unspeakable with what uncertain wandrings Sea-men floated here and there rather than sailed the right and direct way Sure I am the Art of Spiritual Navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of Christ it oweth its clearest and fullest discovery to the coming of Christ. This Art of Arts is now perfectly revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament but the Rulers thereof are dispers'd up and down therein The collecting and methodizing of the same cannot but be a work very useful unto Souls Though when all is done there is an absolute necessity of the teachings of the Spirit and of the anointing that is from above to make Souls Artists in sailing Heavenward The Ingenious Author of the Christians Compass or the Marriners Companion makes three Parts of this Art as the School-men of Divinity viz. Speculative Practical and Affectionate The principal things necessary to be known by a Spiritual Sea-man in order to the steering rightly and safely to the Port of Happiness he reduceth to four Heads answerable to the four general Points of the Compass making God our North Christ our East Holiness our South and Death our West Points Concerning God we must know 1. That he is Heb. 11. 6. and that there is but one God 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. 2. That this God is that