ΠΕΛΑΓΟΣ NEC Inter vivos NEC Inter Mortuos Neither Amongst the living nor amongst the Dead OR AN IMPROVEMENT of the SEA Upon the Nine Nautical Verses in the 107. PSALM Wherein is handled I. The several great and many hazzards that Mariners do meet withall in Stormy and Tempestuous Seas II. Their many several miraculous and stupendious deliverances out of all their helpless and shiftless distresses III. A very full and delightful description of all those many various and multitudinous objects which they behold in their travels through the Lords Creation both on Sea in Sea and on Land viz. All sorts and kinds of Fish Foul and Beasts whether wilde or tame all sorts of Trees and Fruits all sorts of People Cities Towns and Countries With many profitable and useful rules and Instructions for them that use the Seas By DANIEL PELL Preacher of the Word London printed for Livewell Chapman and are to be sold at the Crown in Popes-head Alley 1659. Pells Improvement of the Seas To the Right Honourable John Lord Desborough One of his Highnesses most Honourable Privy Council George Lord Munk Governour of Scotland and sole Commander of all the Forces in it George Lord Mountague General for the Narrow-Seas And George Askâ—e Knight and General for the Northern-Seas To the Right Honourable Commissioners for the Navy and Admiralty of ENGLAND Collonel Edward Salmon Col. John Clerk Col. Robert Beak Esquires c. Daniel Pell Wisheth all increase of saving Graces with true honour and prosperity in this life and eternal happiness in the life to come My Lords and Gentlemen LUke Dedicated his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles to that Honourable and Noble person Theophilus Luke 1.1 Act. 1.1 John dedicated as I finde in Scripture-Record his 2 Epist to the Elect Lady and his 3 Epist to his friend Gaius 2 Joh. 1 2. Alexander on his death-bed left his Kingdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Optimatum Optimo to him that was the best of the best To your Honours I dedicate this worthless yet painful peece and I pray God it may prove profitable I hope you will like it the better because there is none of this subject extant that I do know of or ever heard of in the world The Age wee live in is all for novelties This I can say for my comfort that I could not bee at rest nor at quiet and at peace in my own heart and conscience till I undertook the writing of this peece both to reprove such as go in the Seas to do them good when I shall bee gone and to stir up your Honours to appear for the Lord against that prophaneness that is in the Sea and also to let my own dear Relations and the world to know That Iâ— made some use of my time whilst amongst the Lords wonders in the Deeps and high-strained Jigs of Musick God in his good time alter it and the newest songs are now adayes commonly best liked of for once because they were never heard of before but however I hope you will accept of it and if that these Lines which were writ in a restless and turbulent Sea may but obtain your much-desired countenance and comprobation I will couragiously speak it with the Orator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I fear not any manscensure Nec frons Catonis movebit me nec Timonis lingua Perhaps some simple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will speak against it or some low-bred Pedantick Ex aula Telemachi or è Patrocli domo But no more shall it nor the Author regard them than the Moon doth the clamouring and snarling Cur in the Heavens of whom the Poet sings En peragit cursus surda Diana suos Some of Davids Psalms Insignis Ode Davidis Tremel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prae corona aestimatur hie Psalmus Right Honourable and Right Worshipful are called Michtam which in the Hebrew tongue signifies a precious Jewel or a Psalm of gold Propter mirificam ejus excellentiam which is of far better worth than its weight in gold both for the matter thereof and the manner And I hope that you will say the like of this Aureum flumen orationis said Cicero concerning Aristotles Politicks there is in that book a golden flood of discourse Liber iste auro contra non carus said another concerning the lives of the Philosophers written by Diogenes Laertius no gold is comparable to that gallant peace how much more then may it bee said of this notable and precious Psalm that is here handled Ad votivas Insulas humanitatis vostra fortunatas navigo and if I may but have Apparente Horizonte Phaebo scintillantis adinstar metâ—eri that is all that I desire and look for from you The Sea is neither scribendi studendi neque commorandi praeter pugnandi navigandi locus a place to study in nor to write in it is no place beleeve it to tarry any long time in it is onely a place for transportation or navigation and digladiation Therefore I hope that your Honours will expect no Tullianum scribendi fluxum amaenum from mee that would better become a Coriphaeus or an Eloquii sol a bonarum literarum Phoenix a musarum decus and a Leporum delicium gratiarum unicum neither words that are pickt phrase choice composition smooth sentences fluent cadencies sweet language polite stile flourishing look not for Tropes of Rhetorick or Syllogismes of Logick or Axioms of Philosophy nor words set in checker work the Sea is no place to do it in and indeed non benè Cymbalissant quum nihil prater inconceptis verbis those words are not very savoury that are delivered rudi Minerva raw crude and unpremeditated for a ship is but a confused place to undertake the writing of any thing in where Drums and Trumpets Pikes and Muskets great Guns and Harquebusses ranting Roysters and Ear-deafing sails and cordage are evermore roaring about one which make a far greater noise than the Cataracts of Egypt by which and through which the Inhabitants that live near unto them are extraordinarily deafned This Hulk and poor Pinnace was builded and meanly rigged a good while ago at Sea and being ready to put forth one storm or other arose which caused it to lye by the Lee. But the weather now clearing up and promising a calm I have adventured and exposed it to wind and weather and the censuring world hoping that those that will come on board of it and truck with it will finde some commodity in it worth as much as the Merchant Venturer the Stationer will ask them for it The Reasons why I shroud this Book under your Honours bee these Right Honourable Reason 1 1. Because it was hatched and slidged in one of your ships and never writ on land but every syllable of it was penned and drawn up at Sea and I have not had the leasure to polish it any more than it is and therefore both the service of my body and brain was
world in Books and Study Ennius could find and pick out gold out of a Dunghil The laborious Bee will fetch hony out of a flower before shee leaves it And I hope that you will see some thing in this peece worth the relishing I will assure you it was never writ studied nor composed on Land but in a turbulent Sea where there is nothing but a Chaos of hurry and confusion and so I hope you will pardon the weakness of the work for had I been on Land or had I had the time when on Land I would have sent it out into the world more accurrately furnished accomplished But Quid moror istis I cannot but speak of it to your praise and worth that I am very much affected and taken with that good life and conversation that you live and lead in my Ladies family and bless God in my soul many times for that gratious and pious voice of Prayer that I hear daily out of your Chamber into my Study that is adjacent I pray God bless you and bestow the riches of his grace and sweet comfortable Spirit upon you for that is the thing you daily press for Quo pede caepisti progrediare precor This I shall say the more you pray and the more holily and spiritually you live and walk the more serviceable will you bee both to your good God Nation and Country God has many times called you out of the world into a Parliamentary way and that undoubtedly to do your Country all the good you can your Motto and the Motto of the whole House now assembled may and should bee Adinstar Alphonsi Regis Arragonum qui in Symbolo habuit lumen ardens cum lemmate Aliis servio mihi consumor Or if you will Ludovicus's the King of France Qui in Symbolo habuit Pelicanum revocantem ad vitam sanguine proprio pullos emortuos God grant that the affairs of this Land may bee carried on for the peoples good and may resemble Virgils Eccho where all things went well Omnia sonant Hyla Hyla lemma Sanguis meus estis vivite Thus should the whole House bee and do for the Land and Country that has chosen them I would have our Parliament House to resemble that good Bishop Socrates tells of who did when a terrible fire was in Constantinople fastning on a great part of the City and Churches in it go to the Atar and falling down upon his knees would not rise from thence till the fire-blazing in the windows and flashing in every door was vanquished and extinguished Do what in you lies to put out the fire of the sword and the fire of Division that is gone forth and broke out upon us in this Nation I have met with this passage Non sit jam quod clamant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. O Jupiter pluit calamitates that a certain Rustick having blamed Antigonus while hee lived grew after some tryal had of his succession to recant his errour and to recount his crime and digging one day in the field was questioned what hee did there hee said O Antigonum refodio I seek Antigonus again Oh dig and delve for peace that you may see both order and decency in Church and State restored and the Land left in a blessed frame to the Posterities that are to come after you and betray as not in our good and wholesome Laws but maintain them you certainly see enough of that profane and giddy hair brainedness that has been all along in the heads of the illiterate who have sought to bring the whole Land into confusion and themselves into the saddle Honoured Sir I take my leave of you I present this peece unto you I pray accept of it and the God of Heaven bless you and guide you shall bee the prayer of him who is Sir Yours to serve you in the Service of Christ DANIEL PELL From my Study at my Lady Hungarfords in Hungarford House upon the Strand London April 20. 165◠To the Right Worshipful Mr. GILES HUNGARFORD Esquire D. P. Wisheth all prosperity in this life and felicity in the life to come Reverend and Worthy Sir IT is an usual saying Si musae Latine loquerentur inquit Varro Plantino sermone loquerentur Although I take the boldness to present you with this my Nec inter vivos Nec inter mortuos upon the 107. Psalm which was writ upon a frowning and tempestuous Sea whom I know to bee a person every way so well studied read and accomplished not in the least inferiour to him whom a great University Tutor much boasted of that was a Pupil to him fac periculum c. try him in the Tongues Rhetorick Logick and Philosophy c. in what you will hee is able to answer you I hope you will expect no such high strained stile and phrase from mee which the Muses would delight to speak in and whom it would far better become than mee for the Sea is no place to write and polish books in no more than hard riding is to him that would make a Map or true description of a Country I confess such is the great respect I bear you I speak now ex imis praecordiis that if it were not for that and also for that worth and merit that I clearly see in you together with that sweet mixture of ingenuity wisdome and good nature besides a great many more good things that is possible for to be in a person of your rank and quality I should scarce have adventured to have offered you this peece of my travelling Operam Oleum I beg your acceptance of it and shall assure you that you have a very high room in my thoughts which is indeed reserved for all such as both know and fear the Lord. I freely bestow this peece upon you and give you all the interest in it that possibly can bee bestowed upon you I hope you will both see and also find something in it worth the reading and the while in your perusing Sir You are descended of a very high and honourable Family a Family whom I much honour and respect and that is one of the grand inducements that puts mee upon an appearance unto you and the onely way to heighten your honour still is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I know no one thing this day upon the face of the earth that stamps such a Nobility and eminency upon our Gentry in the land as Piety and Religion doth Nobility by blood as one well said is but a fancy or an imagination but this hath a reality in it and where it is it evermore begets a splendor and a lustre But I will not further the prayers of him shall bee for you and yours who rests Sir Yours to serve you in the Service of Christ DANIEL PELL From my Study at my Lady Hungarfords in Hungardford house upon the Strand London May 4. 1659. TO ALL
night and so consequently is able at his pleasure to make it stormy or calm comfortable or dreadful It is the counsel of the Wise man and I present it to you for I know none stand more need of it than your selves Prov. 23.17 Bee thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long None knows what may happen unto them before the Sun goes down 4. If you would prepare for storms take fast hold on God by the hand of faith before they come and also when they come Job 13.15 Though hee stay mee yet will I trust in him Though hee should bring tempest after tempest upon thee let not thy hold go but take as fast hold of him as ever wrestling Jacob did upon his God and thou wilt finde both safety and comfort enough 5. Would you know now Sailors why the Lord sends many storms upon you And would you know also what Gods ends and aims are in storms I will give you in a few grounds to those preceding ones that I presented unto you and the first will bee this 1. That Gods aim in stormy winds is not alwayes for destruction but sometimes for trial Matth. 8.25 Gold is often thrown into the fire but what is the Goldsmiths end in so doing not that it should bee consumed but fined 2. God sits by his blowing blasts I know not whether it would bee worse or no that the heavens should alwayes look upon us with one face or ever varying for as continuall change of weather causes uncertainty of health so a permanent settledness of one season causeth the certainty of distempers perpetual moysture dissolves us perpetual heat evaporates or inflames us cold stupifies us and drought obstructs and withers us and stormy winds that are sent out upon the Seas you sit not more carefully by to hand in your Top-gallant Sails or Top-sails when winds blow high and fresh than hee doth sit by the winds to keep them from destroying of you The Goldsmith sits not more carefully by that precious metal to watch its first melting than hee doth by the winds lest that they should wrong your vessels This God doth for those that fear him in the Seas 3. Storms come for improvement God would have the grace of faith and of patience exercised Matth. 8.25 2. It will not bee amiss if that you that are the Great Statesmen of our land prepare for storms It is true you are out of the wind-blowing Sea blasts whilst on land but your gallant and sumptuous warlike Sea-boats are in them oftentimes at Sea Well all that I shall say unto your Honours is this Prepare to meet ill news and sad and dismal accidents to befall them now and then that comes in an hour that usually falls not out in an hundred And grant that ships bee cast away It was a brave minde that Antisthenes was of when hee desired nothing else in all the world to make his life either comfortable or happy with but the spirit of Socrates which was of that temper that it could cheerfully bear the saddest tydings that ever came or the greatest evills that ever befell man or that any other fatal Omen do befall them hee that trusteth in the Lord shall not bee moved at it Psal 112.7 Hee shall not bee afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. 3. It will not bee out of my way to give the great Merchants of our land the same advertisement to prepare for storms Gentlemen It is with your ships at Sea if but without Convoyes as it was with Aesops Geese and Cranes that were feeding in one Pasture altogether Venatoribus autem visis understand Pyrats the Cranes being light bodied volatiles betook themselves to their wings and would not stay to answer the reckoning but the Geese that were heavy bodied Sailors capti fuerunt were taken and knocked in the head by the Hunters The best Sailor escapes when the slowest falls into the Pyrats hands Great losses come upon you many times and how will you take and entertain the sad news that shall and oftentimes doth come to your ears of one ship lost in the North another in the South may bee one in the East and another in the West if you bee not prepared for this news it will bee too heavy a triall for you to bear When you send out your ships prepare for the worst and expect not alwayes the best and I will assure you that what ever contingencies befall you they will bee the more comportable for your spirits I have great ventures at Sea some in one bottome and some in another some in the Eastern parts of the world other some in the Western some in the Northern and some in the Southern and if the Lord will bee pleased to return them in safety I shall bee very thankful unto my God and if not I will pray for patience and strength to submit to his will As soon as ever the Souldier hath intelligence of the enemies advancing towards him hee prepares for the battel at the sound of Trumpet and the beat of Drum and on goes his best arms and armour for his defence and safeguard and the like provisions should you make in my apprehensions for the ships that you have out in perilous Seas But to proceed to the next words of counsel that I would present unto our Sea-men it will bee shortly this 3. And lastly Bear storms stoutly when dangerous and perilous sinking and shipwracking storms and tempests are upon you bear them couragiously with patience silence and without all murmuring or repining and without all passion choler distemper or any other unquietness of spirit or thinking hardly of the Lord. When David was under affliction wee hear no more of him but this Psal 39.9 I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it Plutarch in a consolatory Epistle to his good wife on the death of a child amongst many other arguments sent her this Wee must alwayes think well of what the gods do And will not you Sea-men think well of the Lord when it goes either ill or well with you at any time Vlysses encouraged his companions thus when in a raging storm upon the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Sirs saith he Wee are not now to learn what sorrows are When ill news came to Eli how did he bear it 1 Sam. 3.18 And hee said It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Paul and Silas were so far from murmuring and repining that they were very cheerful when in the Dungeon and Philpot and his fellows when in the Cole-house and the many Martyrs when in the flames It was a gallant speech of Stilpo that great Philosopher when King Demetrius had sacked that famous City of Megaera to the very foundation hee asked the Philosopher what losses hee had sustained none at all quoth hee for war can make no spoyl of vertue Jewel when banished comforted himself with this
or Castles if that you that are the Sea-ports of our Nation were but a praying pious and religious people and that holiness purity equity and justice dwelt amongst you and were pregnantly in you were these the fruits that the skirts or branches of our Nation brought forth for so I call you because you are but the feet of the Land you are far from the head and heart of the Nation how might you strengthen us that go in the Seas and weaken our enemies against whom wee fight Ah Sirs if you live irreligiously in these Towns and Ports Many Sea-port Towns are like to Rumny-marsh Neque hyeme uque aestate good neither Winter nor Summer The very scum of the Land dwells in them all the Nation will smart by it surely it would do better that the best people in England lived in Sea-ports and not the worst How many Sea-ports has the Turk made havock of both of the Venetians and also of the Spaniards they were well enough fortified but sin being within a filthy people living in them they were soon conquered and made fire faggot and captives of Inland-Towns fare the worse for Godless Sea-ports Ezek. 39.6 Ezek. 30.9 In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid and great pain shall come upon them as in the day of Egypt lo it cometh Ezek. 28.7 That great trading City of Tyrus which was the fame of the world for exporting and importing of Commodities If any one would ask me the definition of a Sea-port-Town I should tell him I would draw the Picture of the people speaking they are given to gross railing privy defamations and whisperings to the prejudice of one another hot scalding words and tongues set on fire in hell are the best fruits they bear Jam. 3.6 to whom resorted the Merchants of all Countries for traffique both of Palestina Syria Egypt Assyria Judea and Arabia by reason of her filthinesse was brought down from all her pomp and pride Alas They that live in Sea-ports should bee Moses's and Aaron's to stand in the gap and plead with God and not trash and trumpery When people live profanely and irreligiously in Sea-ports it makes all strangers think that people are no better that live higher up in the Land truly they will bee apt to censure the whole Nation if it bee not amended amongst you 2 Word is unto the States-men of our Land and that is succinctly this What Claudian the Heathen Poet sang of Theodosius's good success in the wars the like shall I sing of our English Warriours in the Seas O nimium dilecte Deo cui militat aether Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti That all their warlike Ships and Boats that are employed in the Seas derive their felicitous arrivals and good success abroad whether unto or from Spain and the West-Indies or off and from those many parts and corners of the World where now you send them from the Lord Almighty whose the the Sea is And hee bringeth them to their desired haven Italiam Italiam laeto clamore salutant Virg. Good news is coming to you oftentimes from them and that as thick as the three luckie messengers that were sent to King Philip of Macedon at one time 1. One came and told him that â—â—e had won the game at Olympus by the running of his Chariots 2. Another came and brought him word that his Captain Parmenio had overthrown the Dardanians 3. Another came and told him that his wife Olympia had born him a son which was called Alexander and hee was very fair for a fourth It is not the Pagans Neptune or the Papagans S. Nicholas I know not what that delivers people in the Seas brings them home to their harbours as many ignorant Papists fancy 3. Word is unto the Merchant and Sea-man I would wrap you both together because you are sharers most commonly either in each others losses or successes you have interests and that of great worth and value in several and sundry bottoms which cut their way through the Salt waters and great wisdom it is indeed not to venture all in one bottom for hee said wittily that said He liked not that wealth that hung in ropes meaning ships There bee many dangers not good to have all in one bottom the Mouse will not trust to one hole therefore shee has many if in case shee bee assaulted But that which I ayme at unto you Gentlemen is this when any of your ships come home and richly laden with the rich and wealthy Commodities of forein parts which you are partakers and sharers in Oh bee affected with such mercies and consider how undeservedly the Lord throws in the world upon you it flows in upon you and flyes â—ay from others Ah Sirs when your ships come home bless the Lord for his goodness towards you and them in bringing them home both to theirs and also your desired Haven 4. Word is unto the Inland Towns and Cities of the Nation Gentlemen I may say to our Inland-Towns Cities what the Orator in another case once said to his Auditory Non timet mare qui non navigat non bellum qui noâ— bellat non terae motum qui est in Galatia non fulmen qui est in Aethiopia They that sail not know not what the roughness of the Seas are Their condition in the Sea is like the mans in the Emblem that runs through thick thin foul fair saying Culmen ad Aonidum recto contendere cursu Fert animus Pindi saxa pâ—â— tribulos Friends and Country-men you live far from the Sea neither are you in the sight of it at any time nor in the hearing of its roaring and ear-deafening waves yet is not this any excuse for you to bee unmindful of those that are employed in it and daily upon it Sea-men which are the Nations servants run through a Million of hazzards to fetch in the rich and costly Commodities of forein parts viz. Silks Spices Oranges Figs and Lemmons c. The shipping of the Land is not onely Sub Deo instrumental to keep you in safety but also to afford you those Commodities that have not their growth nor entity in England David lived at Jerusalem far from the Sea as many of you do yet was not hee ignorant of the many sorrows and dangers that those that use the Seas do goe through and meet withall Whereupon you have him here composing of their condition into a Psalm and is much affected with it Hee was sensible of the blowing of the winds of the raging and roaring of the Seas of the Rocks and Sands of the dangers and shipwracks that men in those employments were liable to Ah Sirs pitty them that go in the Seas and bestow a thousand prayers upon them for their condition calls for it and requires it at your hands if you have any spark of pitty and Christianity in you
the sea Storms are the Lords surly Sergeants whom hee claps upon mens backs in the Seas to arrest them which say unto them that go in the Seas as Greg did to the Emperour Anastatius whom he took by the sleeve and told him Sir this silken cassock and this scarlet coâ—t you shall not carry hence with you This ship says a storm shall never go to her Harbour is by of and from the Divine permission and appointment of the Lord. God out of wrath and displeasure suffers some to go to the pot and perish Many ships have gone out with very famous names upon them some called the Swallow some the Antelope some the Lawrel and some again the Bonadventure some the Meer-maid some the Swift-sure and other some the Triumph and one Rock Sand Storm or casualty or other has in a short time given them the new name of a Non-such It is reported of a ship that had been a very long time out at Sea and having made a very good voyage of it shee was hard by and very fair for her Port but before shee could get into it a storm arose and drave her back and she mourningly said Per ware per procellas tutissime huc usque navigavi ac portum juxta infelicissime mergor I have hitherto gone clear and escaped all seas and storms and now my greatest misery is this I must perish in the sight of my harbour The Use that I would have all that go in the Seas to make of this Truth praedelivered will bee this Vse Nauf agium ad paucos ut mâ—tus ad omnes perveniat some suffer shipwrack that fear and terrour may strike upon the rest 1. Look upon the shipwrack of others with deep solid serious and not with flying and transient consultations that they may sink into your hearts and spirits fix your eyes upon such steep your thoughts in their sorrows ponder them in their certainty causes severity it is not possible that posting passengers can ever bee any serious or curious observers of homeward or forein Countries Ah Sirs dwell upon the Sea-monuments of Divine Justice transient thoughts does not become such dreadful and permanent judgements Quot vulnera tot ora Other mens harms should bee our warnings and Sea-standing spectacles Misericordia Judicium sunt duo pedes Domini are the two feet on which the Lord is oftentimes found walking upon with those that use the Seas I may say unto you that use the Seas as the Prophet said unto Israel in another case Isa 42.23 24. Who among you will give ear to this Who will hearken and hear for the time to come 2. Behold Gods Judgments in storms with particular application Many or indeed the major part of Sea-men hearing of the Judgments of God upon the Seas say within themselves and to the ships they are in as Peter once said to Christ These things shall not bee to us or as proud Babylon said of her self Ah Sirs mee thinks many of your calling run riot swagger swear drink and whore as if hell were broke loose God had dispensed with Justice and Judgement and granted you a general indulgence Your destruction in the Seas is never neerer than when you put it furthest from you Baltazar was tiplâ—ng but he was surprized in his bowels Dan. â— Ah! you live as if you had passed the day of Judgment over and the very torments of Hell Isa 47.8 I am and none else besides me I shall not sit as a widdow c. and though shee put destruction far from her yet was shee laid in the dust there cry the Ostriches and there dance the Satyres Isa 13.21 Few places have such prerogatives as Nineveh had so much state had that famous City says Volateran that it was eight years in building and all that time no less than ten thousand workmen upon it and Diodorus Siculus says that the height of the walls were an hundred foot the bredth able to receive three Carts in a brest it had one thousand five hundred Turrets and yet none of these have any other than paper walls to preserve their memories by Sin turned the seven Churches of Asia Nice Ephesus and Chalcedon who were famous for General Councils into rubbish and ruines pastures for Oxen and Sheep Sea-men In the Emblem there is a naked sword an halter about it Discite Justitiam laqueus monet illud et ensis Sirs you should learn goodness out of storms you are doing that your selves which you may see God punishing in others if you will but if God bee somewhat slack and loth to punish you as hee hath done others by sending them into the bottom of the Seas his patience should lead you to repentance Rom. 2.4 Make you better and not the worse Marke But Gods severity towards others and the same God that pays other men their deserved punishment will shortly pay you without speedy and sound repentance What ever you see God punishing in others in the Seas bee sure you beware of that in your selves if God punish a sinning Cain by setting a brand upon him it is to teach others to keep their hands from blood if God throw a Dives into Hell it is to teach others that they keep cleer of the sin of covetousness if hee set a fire on the Gates of Jerusalem for breaking the Sabbath it is to teach others to keep it holy Plurimae intrant pauciores perambulant paucissimae recedunt may bee the Motto of the Lords dealings with many ships that justly for their wretched unsavoury lives If hee hurl ships and Sea-men into the bottoms of the great deeps it is to teach others to take heed of swearing and the graceless lives that they lived and led whilst above water When the Epitamizer of Trogus had to the full described and set forth King Ptolomie's riot as the chief and principal cause of his ruine and destruction hee adds this Tympanum Tripudium It was when hee was fidling and danceing So should any ask mee when ships or wherefore such and such ships were cast away I should say it was when and because they were swearing 3. Behold Gods Judgments in storms with an eye of prudent anticipation and prevention Were such and such swearers and drunkards cast away in the last storm I may say of such ships as are cast away as one said of the fallen Angels 2 Pet. 2.4 5 6. God hanged them up in Gibbets that others might hear see and fear and do no more so wickedly So the Lord cast so many sail away in a stormy night or in a stormy day that you might take warning to live after another manner than they did Ah souls flye you then from that wrath which you are at such times warned of is it not easier to keep out of the Sea than to get out of it I have often times observed that both birds and beasts will avoid those places where
they have seen their fellow creatures to fal and miscarry in and to avoid building those places which they formerly built in both in Towns and Cities in the time of pestilent and contagious years When you hear of ship-wracks bee affraid and bethink with your selves why may not our turn bee the next if our lives bee not amended whilst storms are a brewing in the skies and are at hand to come upon you it is a special piece of wisdom to send out an Embassie of prayer for conditions of peace in a way of sincere turning unto the Lord. The sins and punishments of others should bee your instructions your afflictions your admonitions their woes should bee your warnings ther 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should bee your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their sufferings your Schoolmasters and remembrancers 4. Look upon the shipwrack of others with an impartial and speedy enquiry and examination into your own hearts whether such upon whom the severe vengeance of the Lord did so heavily fall upon What was Jeroms observation of the wicked upon Land is mine upon the Sea Bonus est Deus domos ergo eorum qui erant defixi in fecibus suis destruit nec eos in leprosis domibus habitaere permittit God being God cannot but destroy the dwellings of them that are bad were greater sinners than your selves ask your consciences that question which the Prophet once propounded and put forth unto the Israelites Are there not with mee even with mee the same sins against the Lord Ransack your hearts and you will quickly finde out the Jonah for which storms came down upon you therefore hide not your transgressions and abominations from the Lord which puts him I am confident upon the ruining and making so many publick examples as there bee and are to bee seen at this day A seeing eye may soon spell out the language of God in the casting away of ships Jer. 32.31 For this City bath been to mee a provocation of mine anger c. So the ships I have cast away This is the language of a sunk ship Oh man thou seest what I now am thou knowest what I have been I know those that use the Seas are as apt to say that to themselves which the Prophet complains of as Israel was to themselves Isa 28.15 Wee have made a Covenant with death and with hell are wee at an agreement when the over-flowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come unto us how many voyages I have gone in safety hitherto over the Seas now think with thy self what thou mayest come to bee 5. Look upon the ships you both know to bee cast away in such and such storms and also upon those whose Top-masts you see at this day standing in the Seas above the waters with an humble thankfulness not as rejoycing in those publick miseries but as blessing the unwearied patience and undeserved sparing and prolonging mercies of the Lord towards you Ah Sirs What an hard-heartedness is there amongst many of you for though you see wracks of ships upon sands and the Masts of sunk ships standing some in the East some in the West some in the North and other some in the South you can sail by them and over the graves of the dead in the Seas and never bee affected with them nor as much as say the Lord bee thanked that I was not in that Vessel or that it fell not so out with mee in those many voyages that I have made What was writ upon the Tomb of that great Assyrian Monarch punished by God for his impieties the same may well be writ upon every sunk ship in the Seas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look upon mee and learn to bee godlier What a mercy is it that you that equallize those in penalty of drowning whom you have far out-stripped and exceeded in sinning should bee preserved from day to day 6. Give your assent and faith to the truth of Gods judgements upon the ships that are broke in storms What is said in Exod. 15.10 may be well writ upon all cast away ships Thou didst blow with thy wind the Sea covered them they sank as lead in the mighty waters bee sure that you make this construction of every ruined ship that it was for some deserved sin or other It is and ever hath been the Devils policy and subtil contrivancy both in this and indeed in all ages to strike out the credulity of this truth out of the mindes of men I have read of Porphyry in what Authour I cannot for the present well tell one of Satans fine spun Sophisters and cunning agents that to overturn the miraculousness of the Israelites passage through the Red Sea would say that Moses took the advantage of the low ebbing water and so went thorow safely which the Egyptians not understanding came in with the flood and were drowned by the exuberancy of the waters Strabo also undertakes to weaken Gods raining down Hell out of Heaven upon Sodome and Gomorrah by saying that those Cities were situated on sulphurious soils which were full of holes out of which fire breaking forth consumed them and thus hee attributes the destruction of these Cities to natural causes It is a special act of mercy that God lets not all the Devils out of hell upon those that use the Seas as is supposed some of them were by Origen when the four corners of Jobs house in which his children was was thrown down to the ground It is a wonder that one Devil runs not up into the Main top another into the Fore-top another to the Helm one into the Mizon-top and another on to the Boltsprit and other some into the Howld to pull the Ships you sail in into a thousand peeces for your wickednesse And thus do many Sea-men their lost ships unto the cause of this and that Commonwealths and Kingdomes have their falls and periods let Athens Sparta Babylon Nineveh and Carthage bee witnesses who have at this day no other fences but Paper-walls to keep up their memories Now what have been the causes of these subversions most men are ignorant the Epicure will ascribe it to Fortune the Stoick to Destiny Plato Pythagoras and Bodin to Number Aristotle to an asymmetry and disproportion in the members Copernicus to the motion of the Center of excentrick Circles Cardanus and the major part of Astrologers to Stars and Planets but the Oracles of the Lord speak in other language that sin is the grand cause both of ships States and Commonwealths ruines You are apt to lay the blame of your miscarrying in the Seas upon the Pilot What one sayes of a Cities overthrow the same will I say of cast-away ships Civitatis eversio est morum non murorum casus A Cities overthrow is sooner wrought by lewd lives than weak walls upon the Master upon the Commander of the ship and not upon that abominable weight of sin that is in ships It is every way
their desired Haven Gods people upon the Sea even the very meanest of them may say I never stir out nor sail in the great deeps but my life-guard goes along with mee and if they want for preservation there is never a creature in heaven or earth Sea or land but both will and shall take their parts What man is able to finde out a danger in which God could not or the time when God did not help them Ah Sirs never distrust God Was it dangerous to bee shut out of the Ark when the waters increased upon the old world or to bee shut out of the City of Refuge when the Avenger of blood pursued or to want blood upon the door posts when the Angel was destroying and is it not as dangerous to those that go to Sea without the fear of God Consider but that What hath been said and recorded of Troys Palladium that whilst that image remained there the City was impregnable had not the Greeks found out the stratagem to steal their Idol away they could never have conquered the City I will say of the godly and religious that go in the Seas whilst they walk close with their God It is reported that the Seas on a time being very rough and tempestuous great waves and billows flying mountain high a great Vessel was sailing upon them and every wave threatning to drown her the wicked wretches that were in her scared not the Seas the Waves asked them how it happened that they were no more fearful quoth the Mariners Nos Nautae We are Mariners How much more may the godly say in time of storms Nos Christiani et Deum Omnipotentem habemus the waves shall never hurt them 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while you bee with him and if you seek him hee will bee found of you but if you forsake him hee will forsake you That the Lords merciful dealings with Observ 7 the sons of men in the Seas gives the world a convincing evidence of his gracious nature willingness and readiness to do good and to shew favour unto all Hee brings them to their desired Haven That when God will deliver a people out Observ 8 of storms in a shelterless Sea then no opposition shall nor can oppose or hinder him Hee brings them to their desired Haven No powers in Heaven Sea or Land that God cannot over-top and make vail and strike sail to him when hee pleases Psal 114.3 4 5 6 7. What ailed thee Oh thou Sea that thou fleddest thou Jordan that thou wast driven back Proud-vanting This was Davids experience of Gods readinesse to help him when in distresse Psal 18.10 And hee rode upon a Cherub and did flye yea hee did flye upon the wings of the wind The Lord is continually upon one Cherubs back or other over and upon the great deeps one while in the North and another while in the South c. for your deliverance and billow-bouncing Seas soon lower their top-sails at Gods rebuke Vers 31. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men IN the words wee may soon espye two remarkable things 1. A vehement desire Oh that men would praise the Lord. 2. A duplicatory reason of this desire 1 For his goodness 2. For his wonderful works to the children of men If the heavens were parchment the Seas Iâ—ke and every pile of grasse in the world a pen all would be too little to set forth the high praises of the Lord by This Verse seems to include the ardent earnestness of the Psalmists spirit that Sea-men would bee much in thankfulness and much and frequent in praising of the Lord their deliverer out of all their distresses Oh seems hee to say that I could put men upon this duty it would bee more comfortable to mee seems the Psalmist to say to finde such a principle in the hearts of those that are imployed in the great waters Ah Sirs you let the fresh running floods of Jordan I mean your Sea-deliverances fall into the mare mortuum of your forgetfulnesse than any one thing in the world again whatsoever Oh is but a little word consisting of two letters but no word that ever a man utters with his tongue comes with that force and affection from the heart as this doth Oh is a word of the highest expression a word when a man can say no more This Interjection oftentimes starts out of the heart upon a sudden from some unexpected conception or admiration or other In the composure of these words wee have two things onely considerable 1. The manner of it 2. The matter of it Oh that men would praise the Lord. But to open the words a little Oh that men would praise the Lord c. Heb. That they would confess it to the Lord both in secret and in society this is all the rent that God requires hee is contented that those that use the Seas should have the comfort of his blessings so hee may have the honour of them this was all the fee Christ looked for for his cures Go and tell what God hath done for thee words seem to bee a poor and slight compensation but Christ saith Nazianzen calls himself the Word That deliverances at Sea out of storms Observ 1 and Tempests call upon all the sharers therein and the receivers thereof to bee evermore thankfully praising and magnifying the wonderful goodness Lucan reports that the Elephants that come out of the Nabathaean Woods to wash themselves in the floods near unto them as if to purifie will fall down to adore the Moon or otherwise their Creator and return into the woods again And will nor you that use the Seas to your God that delivers you and undeserved kindness of the Lord vouchsafed unto them Oh that men would praise the Lord. Shall I prove the poynt I profess if Scripture were silent no man I should think should bee so audaciously impudent as to deny the verity thereof 1 Thes 5.18 In every thing give thanks for that is the will of God If in every thing then surely in and for Sea-preservations Men must take heed that they bee not thankless in this thing lest the Heavens blush at their ingratitude Psal 119.62 At midnight will I rise to give thanks to thee Ah that our Sea-men were as forward as they lie in their Cabbins and Hammocks Ah Sirs how many voyages make you to and again upon the Seas one while into the East-Indies So affected were the inthralled Greeks with their liberty procured by Flaminius the Roman Generael that out of thankfulness to him they would oftentimes lift up their voices in such shrill acclamations crying Soter Soter Saviour Saviour that the very birds would fall down from the heavens astonished and amazed And will not you Gentlemen be affected with your Sea deliverances and another while into the West one while into the North and another while
into the South but where are your thanksgivings all this time to God for your safe goings our and returnings home Go but to the Planets and they will tell you that they will not deal so with the Sun as you deal with your God wee say they receive much light from the Sun and for a testimony of our thankfulness wee do not detain it but reflect it back again upon the Sun Go to the Earth Sailors and shee will tell you that shee will not deal so with the Heavens as you do with your God shee will tell you that shee receives much rain from the Heavens and out of a testimony of much thankfulness shee detains it not but returns it back in Vapor again and after this manner may you hear her speaking Cessat decursus donorum si cesset recursus gratiarum Mercies from above would soon cease If my thanksgivings and returnings from below went not up It is said of the Lark that shee praises the Lord seven times a day with sweet melodious ditties Atque suum tiriletiriletiriletiriletirile cantat Alauda Isa 20. The beast of the field shall honour mee the Dragons and the Owls because I give waters in the Wilderness and rivers in the Desart to give drink to my people my chosen 1. Reason Because your lives were at the stake as Isaac's was upon the Altar's when the knife was at his throat yet did the Lord call and look forth very seasonably The Romans used to stick and bedeck the bosom of their great God Jupiter with Laurel as if they had glad tidings of fresh victories and that out of a testimony of their thankfulness for what they had out of the Heavens for you and spake to the winds when they were up in a rampant kind of hostility and rebellion against you and bid them be quiet and do you no harm otherwise you had perished in many a storm ere this day and is not this worthy a great many thanks Who can bee too thankful to that God that has been so careful and tender-hearted over you when in the Seas where there was no eye to pitty you 2. Reason Because in that storm if God had given it commission thou hadst been shortly after either in Hell I have met with a story of one when being risen from the dead therefore you that live ungodlily in the Seas think of it he was asked in what condition he was in when he was there he made answer No man will beleeve no man will beleeve no man will beleeve They asked him what hee meant by that he told them no man will beleeve how exactly God examines how strictly God judges and how severely hee punishes or Heaven or may I not leave Heaven out and thou hadst been in Hell where the Devils would have fallen upon thee to tear thee to peeces Ah Sirs your lives hang but upon small wyers and what would become of you if God should not spare you Bee affected with this mercy 3. Reason Because had the storm but had licence to have destroyed you and the ships you sailed in which the Lord would not suffer you had never come home with your rich lading nor never had that mercy granted you of ever seeing or enjoying of your loving friends wives children houses lands and acquaintance again and shall not all this move you unto thankfulness If this will not I know nothing in the world that will prevail with you I pray God that Sea-men do not with their deliverances at Sea as Pharaoh did with the miracles that were done before his face Exod. 7.23 Of whom it is said That hee would not set his heart to the miracle 4 Reason Because you have now at the present a still quiet and peaceable Sea to sail in and upon which in the storm you had not such was the proud vantingness of it that you durst not loose a knot of sail nor keep your Top-masts unlowred and un-peaked and the waves run mountain-high rageing and rowling on every hand you in such a miserable manner It seems strange to mee that Sea-men are not bettered by all the storms they meet with by all the calms God bestows upon them Iron is never cleaner than when it comes out of the furnace nor brighter than when it has been under the sharp file the Sun never shines clearer than when it comes from under a Cloud the Coale that has been covered with ashes is thereby the hotter the quicker every thing brightens betters but the rusty Sailor Gods mercies judgments in the Seas do not scour him as that you were at your wits-end but Oh what sweet peace and tranquil weather have you now insomuch that your Vessels go now upright without that nodding staggering and reeling which they were put to before How still are the waves how clear above bee the skies and Heavens how well escaped are you from the shore the Rocks and sands which you were so near to in the storm Are you not affected with this mercy The Lord soften your hard hearts then Give mee leave to present you with a few motives unto this duty of thankfulness 1. Consider Soul what an unspeakable mercy it is that God should hear thy Prayers in a storm when thou wast almost overwhelmed that God should hear prayers nay prating and babling rather than praying which is but an abomination unto the Lord that God should hear the prayers of the righteous that is nothing strange because hee hears them alwaies but that God should hear your prayers Sirs which are most sorry and sinful prayers The Stork is said to leave one of her young ones where shee hatched them The Elephant to turn up the first sprig towards Heaven when he comes to feed and both out of an instinct of gratitude to their Creator Sailors let not brute creatures excel you for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin this is wonderful Ah will not you bee thankful unto the Lord Sirs I have red of a Lyon that had but got a thorn in his foot as hee was walking and ranging in the Forrest for and after his prey and being exceedingly pained with it hee made after a foot-Traveller which hee spied in the Forrest making signs to him that hee was in distress which the Traveller seeing and apprehending that his case was dangerous if hee ran hee stood still to know the Lyons pleasure to whom the Lyon declared himself and the poor man pulled it forth and the Lyon to requite him followed him as guarding of him from all wrongs by other wild-beasts quite through the Forrest Ah Sirs will not you express your thankfulness to your good God 2. Consider the particular dealings of God with you he deals not so with every one Do you not see God in the winds Mercavab Velohaâ—ocheb how is hee to bee seen in the Chariot which he rides in though not the Rider says a Rabbi some goes down into the bottoms amongst the dead
whilst you do float above When the Lord would stir up David and melt his heart and bring it unto a kindly sorrow for all his mercies hee takes this course 2 Sam. 12.7 Did not the Lord do thus and thus Did hee not make thee King of Judah and of Israel Did he not give to thee thy Masters wives and houses into thy bosom and if this had not been enough hee would have done more for thee therefore recount the particular kindnesses and Sea-deliverances the Lord has bestowed upon thee does not the Lord seem to say I delivered thee at such a time and in such a storm did not I deliver thee from such a Rock and from such a sand God keeps a reckoning Sirs of what hee does and also of all your deliverances it is but wisdom then to kiss the Son lest hee bee angery to kisse him with a kiss of adoration and subjection all your daies 3. Consideration That thankful hearts are evermore full of thankful thoughts and these are such as are evermore suitable unto the benefits that are received Psal 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits Hee has delivered mee out of this and the other storm from this and the other shore from many Rocks and Sands both in this and also in the other parts of the world I have met with a story of a Company of Sailors in Zara called by some Jadera a Town in Sclavonia that they consecrated a Church to St. John di Malvatia which they built out of their own wealth and wages to express their thankfulness for their great deliverance out of a storm in which they had like every man of them to have gone to the pot This they vowed when at Sea and when come on Land they were as good as their words where are your thanks Sailors what shall I now bestow upon him How has hee preserved mee when shot has flown like hail When dangers have been unfordable and miseries innumerable then has the Lord stept in to deliver mee Ah Sirs what cause have you that use the Seas to fall down before the Lord in all thankful acknowledgment to him for your deliverances at Sea even as the Wise men of the East did before Christ and offer unto him Gold Incense and Myrrhe aurum fidei thus devotionis aromata pietatis mentes humiles probos mores animos dignos Deo The Gold of faith the Frankincense of Devotion the Myrrhe of Godliness humble minds good manners souls worthy of God 4. Consider That thankful hearts are evermore full of admiring thoughts I wonder at the goodness of God says a good and an honest heart that hee should come and step down so seasonably to deliver mee when I was in a Sea far from any eye or heart to pitty mee Ah how has mercy taken the pains to come and meet us How has mercy as it were fallen into our mouths and into our laps even very unexpectedly Abraham's servant was very full of admiring thoughts when hee saw providence so working for him Gen. 14.21 as the womans coming to the well and her willingness to give him and his Camels as much water as they pleased Ah stand amazed at Gods deliverings of your souls in the stormy and tempestuous Seas 5. Consider That thankful hearts are evermore full of awful and trembbling thoughts at the Judgments of God both executed and threatned upon others in the Seas when they see themselves so threatned in storms and others to bee cast away in them and yet notwithstanding they themselves spared this strikes thoughts of fear into them and upon them Psal 119.20 My flesh trembles for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy righteous Judgments 6. Consider That thankful hearts are evermore full of viewing and observing thoughts Oh how has the Lord delivered mee in this late storm and Tempest in what danger was I in but now our Sails rent our Mast fell about our ears wee pumped and toyled night and day for our lives Cables broke and at another time our Anchors came home and our ships drive And thus such hearts cannot but say Exod. 15.13 Thou in thy Mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed 7. Solemnly consider that thankful hearts after Sea-deliverances are full of improving thoughts and will not you bee so too Gentlemen You that use the Seas Such a soul has his whole mind taken up with the mercies of the Lord and hee plots contrives and designs how hee may make a good use and a good improvement of all that he has done for him in the Seas Pliny writes of Egypt It is well if it may not too truly be said of those that use the Seas that shee was wont to boast how shee owed nothing to the Clouds or any forein streams for her fertility being abundantly watered by the inundation of her ovvn River Nile I am affraid that you think that you are not beholden to your God and beheld with his eyes in the great deeps Such a soul sets all his Sea-deliverances in print and layes them up in the wardrobe of his heart The holiness goodness mercifulness and majesty of God is evermore much in such a souls eye 8. Consider That all good men are for it and that with tooth and naile and will you not then bee thankful unto the Lord I will tell you who bee against it the Devil and wicked men but I pray God preserve you from such Counsellors Psal 65. Praise waiteth for thee O God in Sion Psal 29.2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name Worship the Lord in the beauty of holynesse 9. Consider That God himself is for it Mal. 2.2 If yee will not hear and if yee will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name saith the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you 10. Consider That God commands it The shortest cut to ruine men is unthankfulness Trumpeters delight to sound when where they are answered with an Eccho 11. Consider That God expects it 12. Consider That God prizes it and commends it 13. Consider That God is hereby much honoured by it Psal 50. ult 14. Consider That God will fully and freely reward it A word or two now of Use and so I will leave the point because it is so painful to mee to write and lay down at large what I might and what every point would bear I do acknowledge that Spices when they are pounded and beaten small they do evermore smell the sweetest and points of doctrine or Scriptures when they are branched forth expounded and broken up into parts are evermore the profitablest For my part I know not what to say to the generality of Sea-men because they put me to as great a stand as the Turky Painter was once put to when he was to set forth all the several Nations of the world according to their Country dress and habit hee left one
a Kings heart Oh praise the Lord. Sirs you usually pay people in forein parts for your Anchorage in their Harbours for your Pilotage into them for boyage in the Seas and lightage upon land and will you return nothing unto your God You are the Lords Tenants you sit on very great Rents and great Rents you have to pay surely you had need to bee stirring do what you can you will dye in Gods debt Now thankfulness stands not in words and complements if you would express your thankfulness unto God Sirs then do thus 1. Labour to come out of all your storms and Sea-dangers as Job did out of his affliction Job 23.10 When hee hath tried mee I shall come forth as gold It would bee a brave thing that every Sailor that goes into the Furnace of a fiery stormy and raging Sea Beleeve it Sirs God looks for it at your hands What is said of the statue of Juno in the holy City near to Euphrates in Assyria that it will evermore look towards one let them sit where they will in her Temple shee stares full upon them and if you go by shee follows with her eye the same shall I say of the Lord go where you will on Sea or Land the Lords eye follows you should come out of it as gold doth out of the fire when they come on land Ah who would not but take a turn at Sea then to bee purified from their dross 2. Offer unto God the ransome of your lives as the Law runs Exod. 31. leave some seal or pawn of thankfulness behinde you The Gracians paint Jupiter in their Temples with his hands full of thunderbolts Sirs be afraid of unthankfulness Heathens after a ship-wrack a storm or a fit of sickness will offer something or other to their gods for every preservation That thanksgiving is to bee suspected that lyes in nothing but words Give God your hearts hee gives you his mercies Give God your lives hee gave you them when you were in danger 3. Let God have soul-thankfulness from you if wee receive but any benefit or special kindness from our friends our hearts acknowledge it and our tongues confess it Sirs Do what you can you will dye in Gods debt and wee cannot bee at quiet till wee some way or other requite it 4. Let God also have mouth-thankfulness from you let your tongues walk apace and speak at the highest rate you can to the praise of God Psal 124.2 3. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side then had the Seas at such and such a time swallowed us up and at another time drowned us 5. Let God have life-thankfulness from you this God had of and from David in full measure Psal 145.2 Every day will I bless thee and I will praise thy name for ever and ever I have known that those that have undertaken to buy and redeem poor captives out of a Turkish bondage slavery they have vowed to bee their servants all the dayes of their lives A certain Jew when travelling over a deep River in the night where the bridge was broken down saving onely that there was one narrow plank laid over to foot it on he rid very safely over and being asked the next day how he got over he knew nothing and going back through the peoples intreaty swounded away and dyed at the consideration of his deliverance Ah Sirs will not you be Gods servants all the daies of your lives who has delivered you so often out of storms and raging Seas and inevitable dangers 6. Let mee intreat you to look back upon mercy and then tell mee if you can bee unthankful Act. 27.1 And when they were escaped then they knew that the Island was called Melita They viewed their mercy on every side 7. Compare your selves with others others have been denied to be delivered and lye ship and men in the bottome of the Sea and you and your ships are still floating and swimming whilst others are drowned 8. Are not others that have tasted of your deliverances in the Seas often and many a time blessing and thanking of God both in private and publick and will you bee unthankful 9. Bee resolute for the duty of thanksgiving unto God 10. Consider what thou hadst been and where thou hadst been if mercy had not prevented Psal 89.48 and an hand been reached out of heaven as it were to have helped thee 11. Certainly if thou wert but changed from the state of a sinner thou wouldest bee oftner in the thanking of thy God than thou art 12. Were but our Sea-men a generation of people that were much and often in godly sorrows Now if you will not bee thankful unto the Lord for all your deliverances take heed lest hee say Judg 10.13 Wherefore I will deliver you no more they would bee oftner in their thanksgivings unto the Lord. 13. Were but those that use the Seas filled with divine relishes of Gospel graces they would bee thanking of their God oftner than they are He that is the fullest of the spirit of grace is the onely fittest man to bee thankful unto God 14. Were but those that use the Seas much in minding of the mercies and deliverances of the Lord bestowed upon them they would bee a far thankfuller people than they are I have read of one that was in very great debt and yet notwithstanding that he slept as well as if hee had had the greatest estate that could bee to pay it with a great Gentleman in the Country observing it desired him that hee would bee pleased to sell him his bed Ah Sirs you are much in debt to God Psal 5.15 I will sing unto the Lord because hee hath dealt mercifully with mee 15. Did but those that use the Seas take up their joyes and delights in God they would be more thankful unto their God than they are Ah may I not say Psal 78.42 They remembred not his hand nor the day when hee delivered them from the enemy Observ 7 That the Lords creating of the Seas for the use of Navigation to that end men who can neither flye nor swim might the more facilly and commodiously commerce one with another in all and throughout all the forein parts of the world is a point of Gods great praise Oh that men would praise the Lord Heraclitus was such an admirer of the Sea that he said if wee wanted the Sun we should be in perpetual darknesse if wanted the Sea live like barbarous people God has founded the Earth upon the Seas and established it upon the floods Psal 24.2 Aristotle looked upon this as one of the greatest wonders of nature and well hee might that God should set the solid Earth upon the back of the waters for mans conveniency Psal 104.6 7. Jer. 5.22 That the saving and delivering mercies Observ 8 of God at Sea are and ought to bee carefully had and kept in a perpetual remembrance Oh
that men would praise the Lord. Psal 105.5 Remember his marvellous works that hee hath done his wonders and the judgments of his mouth A gratious heart files all the Lords dealings with his soul either at Sea or Land in his heart and steers the same course the Sea-man does in the great deeps who makes it his daily business in long Voyages to keep his Quotidian reckonings for every elevation hee makes whereby hee judges of his advancings and deviations Mens memories should bee deep boxes or store-houses to keep their pretious Sea-mercies in and not like hour-glasses which are no sooner full but are a running out Bind all your sea-deliverances and preservations as fast upon your hearts as ever the Heathen bound their Idol Gods in their Cities in the time of wars siedges and common calamities which they evermore bound fast with Iron chaines and strong guards and sentinels lest they should leap over the walls or run out of their Cities from them Ah Sirs look to those things which Satan will bee very prone to steal from you who is like unto a theef that breaks into an house but will not trouble himself with the lumber of earthen or wooden vessels A gratious heart will resolve that the Orient shall sooner shake hands with the West and the Stars decline the azured Skies than he will forget the Lords deliverances out of gloomy stormy tempestuous and heart-daunting Seas Sirs you stand in need to be called upon for your hearts are not unlike to the leads and plummets of a Clock that continually drive downwards and so stand in need of winding up but falls foul on the plate and jewels Hee does and will steal away your hearts from minding the precious jewels of your Sea-deliverances I find in Scripture that the people of God of old were very careful and heedful to preserve the memory of their mercies I wish all the States Tarpowlings were of the like temper 1. By repeating them often over in their own hearts Psal 77.5 6 11. I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old Sea-men should say of their Sea-deliverances as Lypsius once did of the Book he took so much delight in pluris facio quum relego semper novum quum repetivi repetendum The more I read the more I am tilled on to read The more I think of what God hath done for me the more I still delight to think of it Vers 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night Paul when hee was amongst the Mariners writ down all their transactions in the time of their danger Acts 27.7 The wind not suffering us we sailed under Crete over against Salmone Vers 18. And being exceedingly tossed with a Tempest the next day they lightned the ship Vers 27. But when the fourteenth night was come as wee were driven up and down in Adria about midnight the ship-men deemed that they drew near to some Country Vers 28. And sounded and found it twenty faothms c. 2. By composing and inditing of pretious pious and melodious Psalms Remember the time of your inconsolabili dolore oppressi this was Davids practice Psal 38. which hee titles A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance Again in the 70. Psalm Wee have the very same title A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance In our late wars many had such a pretious spirit breathing in them that they have put the victories and battels of England into sweet composed meeter to the end they might bee remembred Ah Sirs call all your deliverances in this and in the other part of the world to remembrance 3. By giving names to persons times and places on purpose to remind them of Gods mercies This was Hannahs course in the 1 Sam. 1.20 And called his name Samuel saying The States ships resemble the tall Tree in Nebuchadnazzar's dream Dan. 4.20 Whose height reached unto the heaven and the sight thereof to all the earth They go into all parts in the world as much admired are they as Venus was by the Gods Who came flocking about her when shee went to heaven because I have asked him of the Lord to that very end shee might for ever perpetuate the Lords goodness towards her Abraham to keep alive the goodnesse of God towards him in the sparing of his Son would call the place where hee should have been sacrificed Jehovah-Iireth i.e. God will provide Gen. 22.14 The Jews that they might keep in remembrance the daies of their deliverance from bloody-minded Haman they titled them Purim i. e. Lots Esth 9.26 in memory of Lots cast by Haman which the Lord disappointed And very commendable is this Scriptural practice amongst us in England for I have observed it and I like it very well that our Military Grandees to perpetuate their dreadful Land and Sea-fights do give their warlike ships and battels such titles To keep alive that great and desperate engagement which our Army had with the Scots in Scotland one of their warlike ships is called the Dunbar Gentlemen Captains and Sea-men many of your Ships derive borrow their names from the stour-charged and fought Battels of the Souldiery in England to that end you may imitate their valour at Sea which they to the life performed on Land Some are called the Treddah some the Naseby and other some the Dunbar some the Plymouth some the Gainsborough and othersome the Massammore c. Be valiant Sirs the Souldiery fought apace when in those Battels To keep up the memory of Naseby great fight they have another ship which they call the Naseby To keep up the memory of Worcester fight they have a brave warlike ship which they call the Worcester To keep up the enemies defeating at Wakefield in Yorkshire they have a gallant warlike ship called the Wakefield To remember the fight at Nantwich they have a warlike ship called the Nantwich To remember their victory at Plymouth against the enemy they have a ship which they call the Plymouth To keep up the memory of that famous bout at Massammore when the three Nations lay at the stake they have a ship called the Massammore To remember that great fight that was fought at Treddah they have a warlike Vessel called the Treddah To perpetuate the memory of that great and hot dispute that was once at Selby in Yorkshire they have a famous ship they call the Selby To keep up the memory of that bout they had with the enemy at Portsmouth they have a warlike ship they call the Portsmouth To keep up the memory of their taking of Gainsborough they have a brave Prince-like ship called the Gainsborough To keep up the Memory of the dispute that they once had at Preston Bee valiant Sirs your ships have their names from valiant Exploits on Land and the States will deal as kindly with you as the Russians do by those they see behave themselves couragiously the Emperour
usually sends them a peece of gold stampt with the Image of St. George upon it Who was valiant amongst you had Medals in the Dutch wars they have a brave warlike ship which they call the Preston To keep up the memory of that dreadful Sea-fight which they had with the Dutch near Portland they call one of their warlike ships the Portland To keep alive the memory of their transactions against the enemy at Yarmouth they have a gallant ship which they call the Yarmouth That their dealings with the enemy at Famouth might bee remembred and celebrated to the praise of that God whom they serve they call one of their brave warlike Vessels the Famouth To keepe alive the goodness of God in their helping them to overcome their enemies at Bristow they call one of their sumptuous ships the Bristow To keep up the memory of one sore bout they had with the enemy in Kent they call one of their ships which they built afterwards the Kent That they might not forget their dispute with the enemy at Dartmouth one of their ships is stiled the Dartmouth To remember that bout they had with the enemy at Tarrington they call another ship the Tarrington To remember the engaging of the enemy in Essex All these ships are called by the names of Englands Battels and every ship carrying the name of an English Battel upon her cannot otherwise chuse but under God be heart daunting terrible to the proudest enemy that ever strutted in the Seas What is said of the Leviathan I think I may say of our ships Job 41.9 Shall not one bee cast down even at the fight of them they call one of their ships the Essex To keep up the memory of that bout they had with the enemy at Basin-house in Hampshire they call one of their Friggots the Basin To perpetuate their engaging the enemy in Pembrokeshire they call one Friggot the Pembroke Another they call the Hamshire Another the Glocester Another the Non-such And all these besides several others as the Lime c. have been built since and after these disputes and so named Paul after his ship-wrack I find to that end hee might remember that deliverance calls it Melita and the Maltezes's at this day La scala di San Paulo St. Pauls shipwrack or arrival Sea-men have you no names for the places where you have been shipwracked what call you the places where you have been in greatest danger Call to mind the many places that you have been in and the many storms and perils that you have gone through The States of England throw not their dear and costly purchased Victories at their heels Imitate the Tartars in valour who go slightly armed into the Battel upon their Backs as scorning and abhorring ever to turn their backs whâ—n once the chief Standard of the General is let flye in the field A certain Prince would bee pictured with this Motto which I give to you that use the Seas Luctor non mergor I was much endangered but God has preserved mee Sibyllae mos erat in palmarum foliis oracula scribere in meliori metallo autem tenete naufragia vestra which they have got in their late wars but to keep them alive they put them upon their warlike Sea-boats 4. By erecting Pillars to bee standing memorials and monuments of the Lords undeserved goodness unto them Samuel set up a stone and called it Eben-Ezar 1 Sam. 7.10 12. Hitherto quoth hee when the Philistins fought against them Hath the Lord helped us The States of England to keep up the memory of their Land-deliverances layd out very costlily three thousand pound upon one ship Accipe redde Cave is a Motto that is writ upon all mercies Upon Fire is writ take heat from me Upon Apparel take warmth from me Upon bread take strength from me Upon a piece of a plank in a storm take safety from me But make a good improvement of these things or else stand cleer four thousand Pound upon another and six thousand upon another And will you lay out nothing to perpetuate the memory of your deliverances Give mee leave to hand to every soul in the Sea this short and sweet word of advice 1. Improve all your Sea-mercies for Gods glory 2. For your own good 3. For the good and benefit of others 1. For Gods glory esteem of God highly look out for higher thoughts of God than ever you have had in your souls and labour daily to beat down your own pride loftiness and haughtiness of mind otherwise you will never bee able to maintain high thoughts of God and to say of the Lord in all your Sea-preservations Exod. 15.11 Who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods who is like thee glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders 2 Chron. 6.14 There is no God like thee in the Heaven nor in the Earth 2. To love God more dearly that has done so much for you David's heart began to bee on a burning glow within him when hee begun to consider of the Lords hearing of his prayers Psal 116.1 2. I love the Lord because hee hath heard my voice and my supplications Ah Sirs will not you that use the Seas love your God no more than you do Good Sirs do not with your God as the Heathens did by theirs of whom it is said that they would put them off with slight Sacrifices when called for a man they brought a candle Hercules offered up a painted man instead of a living one what had been become of you ere this day if God had not heard your prayers in your calamities 3. To thank and praise God Praecepta docent at exempla movent more heartily for what hee has done for you in all your straits at Sea Psal 103.1 2. Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within mee bless his holy name Tully calls gratitude Maximam imo matrem omnium virtutum reliquarum the greatest and the mother of all virtues 4. To obey God more cordially Many Sailors are a meer tortile lignum Too much a kin to the Crab Nunquam recte ingrediuntur Cancri Very disobedient and crooked unto God and freely this is to render again according to the mercies and favours God did for you when in the great deeps which Hezekiah nay not onely hee but thousands of our Sailors fail in this very duty 2 Chron. 32.25 But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him The Elements are obedient unto the Caelestial bodies the Orbs and Sphaeres to the moving intelligence and all the Intelligences to the chiefest of all which is the Lord loved of all Darius escaping a great danger in his return out of Scythia by the faithful counsel and assistance of Hysteus the Milesian hee was so taken with this kindness that to reward him hee sent for him to the Court to praefer him to one of his Privy Councel gave him this commendation
most high God for delivering mercies is not onely a very acceptable duty with God but also the readiest way to obtain mercy in the like exigency and necessity again Oh that men would praise the Lord Psal 50.23 Who so offereth praise glorifieth mee and then it follows Hee that orders his conversation aright to him will I shew the salvation of God Munera crede mihi placant hominesque Deosq This Scripture now proves it to bee an acceptable performance in the sight of God and that such as give God the most and best of praises they shall have the greatest and the sweetest salvations Improve Neptunum accusat iterum qui naufragium fecit Hee is very injurious to Neptune that complains of being shipwracked when unthankfulness is the cause Alexander the Great by burning Frankincense frankly and freely to the gods gained by conquest the whole Kingdome of Arabia where all the sweet Aromatick trees do grow Ah Sirs you do not know how you might prosper at Sea would you but bee liberal in your praisings of God and thanksgivings to him The people in the Low Countries by giving the Stork leave to build and nest it in their houses to requite the house-keepers shee comes every year at her appointed time Wee read of small or no rain that falls many times in divers parts of Africa and the grand cause is supposed to bee the sandy nature of the soil from whence the Sun can draw no vapours or exhalations which ascending from other parts in great abundance resolve themselves into kinde benign showers refreshing and helping of the earth that yeeldeth none and this is the reason many times why God poures not down his blessings and benefits in such an abundance as sometimes hee hath been wont to do because your hearts are as dry and barren as the barren grounds and sands of Africa for if vapours of melting prayers tears prayses and thanksgivings go not up to heaven mercies will soon bee stopt in their passage down If Sea-men were not so much behinde hand with God in the tribute of praise and good life God would soon lay a charge upon all his creatures both in heaven and in earth that they should pay their tribute unto man the Sun his heat Ah Sirs I am afraid that many in the Sea do vitam gentilem agere sub nomine Christiano live even Turks under the name of Christians The Sailor sometimes is like a Rubrick or Sunday letter very zealously red and all the week after you may write his deeds and his unthankfulness unto his God for Sea deliverances in black the Sea his calmness the Winds their gentleness the Moon her light the Stars their influences the Clouds their moysture the Sea and Rivers their Fish the Land her Fruits the Mines their Treasures c. And when neglected God shuts up the windows of heaven and locks up the treasuries of his bounty and so lets Winds and Seas rage and roar and the creatures gnash and grin their teeth at a people for their ingratitude Ingratitude is a sin supposed to taint the very influences of the Stars it dries up the Clouds infects the very Air makes Winds terrible and boysterous blasts the very fruits of the earth Cyprian attributes the great dearth in his time to the want of thankfulness and truly I shal attribute the many ships that are cast away unto their unthankfulness unto their God for had they been more thankful more holy and humble for those storms God delivered them out of they had never gone so sadly to the pot as they have done Here is quoth Cyprian a very great and general sterility or barrenness of the fruits of the earth and what is the reason of it because there is such a sterility of righteousness and purity Men complain now a dayes that springs are not full Sea-men deal with God as the Heathen who would when they had served their torns upon their gods as Prometheus c. put them off with beasts skins stuffed with straw If they get but out of the storm they never look behinde them who sate upon the floods all the time to deliver them themselves not so healthfull nor the Seas so calm as formerly they have been nor the Winds so quiet and peaceable nor the showers so frequent the earth so fruitful nor the heavens so obsequious unto them as they have been to serve their pleasure and natural profit to God the creatures are obedient and on his errands they go Deu. 28.38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field and shalt gather but little in for the locust shall consume it It is sin that makes the Sea so dangerous and so dreadful sin that makes the heavens as iron over head and the earth to grow so full of thorns and brambles But to proceed I shall not adventure pluribus morari but rather bee tanquam Canis ad Nilum in a restless Sea where I can neither hold my pen in my hand nor keep my paper and ink upon board scarce The Arguments why Sea-men should praise God are briefly these 1. Because God had such a special Reason 1 eye and provident care over you in the preserving of you in all the unlikeliest and irrecoverablest dangers and calamities that you have been exercised withall in the Seas 2. Because God did so much for Reason 2 you which hee would not do for others That when God hath delivered men out Observ 4 of their Sea-streights and calamities Sceva told all his friends that at the siege of Dyrrachium where he so long resisted Pompeys Army that he had two hundred and twenty Darts sticking in his Shield Densamque tulit in pectore Sylvam Ah set your deliverances before people it is their duty not onely to praise God for his goodnesses towards them but also to set the fruit of those mercies before others to taste of Oh that men would praise the Lord c. Vers 37. Let them exalt him in the Congregation Portus Olympiaca vocem acceptam septies reddit If any knock or speak at the Gate or Portal of Olympus it returns a sevenfold Eccho of the knock or speech Your mercies should make you speak Sirs Observ 5 That although a man hath nothing to speak of Gods wonderful deliverances in the Seas but what is known unto others as well as to himself yet is it a part of Gods praise and of his thankfulness to make Gods works known and the continual matter of his talk and discourse Oh that men would praise the Lord Psal 105.2 Talk yee of all his wonderful works Talk not of one or two of some of them but of all of them which you have seen and known done and wrought for you in the Seas Observ 6 That freedome from perils in the Seas and injoyment of life are two mercies that call for many thanks at the hands of those that go down into them He that hath but a subjects purse may have