company of cowards whom I have read of of whom Comminaeus observes at that Battel that was fought at Montlehery where some lost their livings for runing away and they were given to them that ran ten miles further Should all Sea-Captains and Sailors bee thus served when cowardize is to bee found in their hands towards their enemies they would bee well rewarded Their Friggots should bee lent unto those that would fight them 8. And yet in some cases count it no discredit to yield when over matched and bore down with plain force strength and violence both of Ordinance and men 9. Evermore count it murther â—t kill any in cold blood I have me with a story of one that murthered a man in Spain and being supposed to be the man that did the act being convented before the Judge hee caused his bosome to bee opened and his heart who had done the murther was found to palpitate and tremble far more than any of the rest whose bosoms were opened in the very same manner that his was You will find as little peace in so doing as hee did Ah That I should bee forced to say of Sea-men as it was once said of and by many prophane wretches in Luther's time when a religious Reformation began some of the worst of men professed that they had rather live under the government of the Turk than in those Countries where all things were ordered by the Word The Application is within any ones reach if you once make but the tryal But to proceed There bee two great evils that I observe amongst Sailors in the Seas and I would desire them to decline them 1. That they will and are ready to place themselves in those ships they know there is the least religion and where God has the least service and also where there is not strict and severe command Here licentious and Godless men love to bee Oh what work is there amongst the Sailors to bee cleered out of this and the other ship when the Commander is a little strict and severe with them in beating down their swearing and their drunkenness Sailor Sailor Thou wouldest Hagar-like leave a good family and fall into a worse But the Angel of the Lord bid her return 2. Many Sea-mens designes are to bee where wickedness may pass free Those ships and Commands under which they can have their liberties to rant swear and bee drunk in are the best Taverns they can put their heads and noses into Good and religious command in ships is a burthen to unruly Sailors There bee four evil things also to bee seen in most Captaines carriages in the Seas 1. An heedlesness in keeping down disturbing passions When rents breaches and divisions are made in your ships salve them up again or else couragiously stamp them down It was a brave saying of Caesar that hee could with one stamp of his foot quell the mutiny of an Army One Sea-man is all fire another all water so that there is but little heat for God One is a wing and another is a weight So that there bee many hindrances amongst them to the worship of God and very poor flights for Heaven When a Commander in a ship holds forth no light amongst his men of a good conversation I may say to such an one Matth. 24.29 The Sun is darkned the Moon doth not give her light and the Stars fall from Heaven in our ships The Sun shines and the Moon appears in some Commanders but in other some not so much as a twinckling Star of any thing that it good When the Fore-horse in the traces will not draw forwards but runs this way and that way he wrongs all the rest And thus does an irreligious Commander in a ship at Sea When Bees are out of their hives in a disordered flight then is the bell or brazen morter alarm'd and struck up to quell them again Angry passions and quarrels amongst your Sailors will pull the whole ships companies in pieces and set them together by the eares 2. A neglecting of enkindling their Sea-mens affections unto that which is good and stirring of them up unto love and unity The want of which is one strong reason why Sailors are so unfit for Morning and Evening Prayer as they are every day If there bee a decay of love and unity in your ships there will bee no encouraging of one another in any zeal for God When a ship is full of discord it will bee evermore empty of all religious acts 3. A want of a Gospel Spirit in speaking often of God and for God amongst their men Captains and Sea-men should be like the two Disciples of Christ that were going to Emaus who talked and conferred of all the things that had happened them and whilst they thus communed one with the other in comes Christ amongst them 4. A want of a Praying Spirit and a speaking often to God in Prayer with their Sea-men If you have not Ministers along with you you have fair opportunities to call them unto that needful duty Were your carriages good holy solid sound and not so light you might stamp that upon their spirits that would not rub out again a good while Every Commander should bee a pair of Oars in every ship hee goes in He should row and labour till hee sweat again if it were possible to land all his men in Heaven against wind and tyde But God knows where is the Sea-Captain that has his hand upon an Oar to save his Sailors I wil tell you of enow that have their eyes and their hands upon their Salary Gentlemen and Friends I will now leave you all that I desire or all the harm I wish any of you is this if it can bee termed any even to fear God in this life and to amend what is amiss that you may see the Lord to comfort and not to astonishment in the world to come I will say unto you as Socrates said unto his Schollars If I can but provoke you to learn I have attained my end after hee had followed them with elaborate instructions If I can but do the like with you in provoking and perswading of you to walk in these good counsels prescribed I shall greatly rejoyce in it These things premised I come unto the next thing in the words before mee 2. And that in order to their posture going down Two things would bee considered and enquired into 1. What is simply and absolutely to bee understood by going down into the waters or how that sailing may be said to bee a going down 2. What positively as to their posture and ingenious order and discipline in their going down 1. For their going down Water wee know has its natural course and tendency deorsum and not sursum downwards rather than upwards How can it bee forced upwards that is contra naturam When Solomon says Eccles 1.7 That all Rivers go into the Sea his meaning is that they go down into a lower place
Virgils Hypotoposis of a storm at Sea is their condition Tollimur in coelum curvato gurgite iidem Subducta ad manes imos descendimus undâ Consider but what a bustling the winds sometimes make and keep in a stormy day upon your Houses and Trees that are in your Orchards insomuch that many times trees are rent up by the roots and out-housing dismounted and thrown down to the very ground Now if the wind have such an influence upon all high things at Land how much more upon the tall spired Masts and shipping that go in the shelterless Seas 5. Word is unto the godly and pretious Ministry that is in great plenty in this Nation Gentlemen you are by your profession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rowers 1 Cor. 4. And beleeve it rowing is a very hard labour The Seas are as full of dangers to them that go down into them as Pandoras box was whom the Poet reports of that Prometheus the Father of Deucalion would needs pry â—nto out of which Mille morborum malorum genera â—rumpunt A thousand evils was in it for men in the Thames go with their dublets off all day their living is got by the sweat of their brows But your labour in the Lord 's Vinyard is far greater than theirs many have killed themselves by hard working to get the world and I am sure there lies many a pretious Preacher in the grave that might have lived longer if he had not preached himself to death and prayed himself to death though an unworthy world takes no notice of it I beg of you your publick and your private prayers for those that use the Seas Wee have a great number of ships frequently going to Sea above a thousand sail every year both of Merchants and Men of War and stand not these in need of being prayed for I fear many of them perish and finde it to go harder with them than it otherwise would bee did you but pray more for them Ah they stagger it in the Sea every day more then hee that has a cask a tankard Alas the Sea-mans life is a reeling to fro Nutant nautae vacillaâ—t cerebro pedibus may be their mottâ— or an hogshead of strong liquours in the belly of him And are in daily jeopardy of their lives Good Sirs bestow pulpit prayers study prayers family prayers and field-walking prayers upon them all is little enough to prosper Zebulun's Tribe in their goings forth and commings in But I proceed That God watcheth every opportunity Observ 3 and takes all occasions to do his people good Then hee bringeth them unto their desired Haven Very gladly would God have spared Jerusalem if there had but been one man in it that executed judgement and sought after the truth Jer. 5.1 Run thee to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem c. How compassionatly did the Lord affect any opportunity to cure Babylon Mans heart-daunting extremity is Gods goldenest opportunity Acts 27.23 For there stood by mee this night the Angel of God whose I am and whom I serve They all expected to be drowned but God looked out for them to preserve them The Sea is no delightful place to carry in for it is with them that use it as it is with travellers on Land who speed their pace through fields that afford no novelties though sometimes they bait their beasts rest themselves in places that are fruitful when hee intreated her with the best argumentative Oratory that the Heavens could compose till shee said I will not bee cured Jer. 51.9 How did God watch to spare Sodom for ten mens sakes Gen. 18.32 Ah were but Sea-men godly I durst undertake their safety in their well-going out to Sea and returning back from Sea Insomuch that they might bid defiance to the Seas and say unto them as Luther said of Henry the eighth's letters Agant quicquid possunt Henrici Episcopi atque adeo Turca ipse Satan nos filii sumus Regni So Agant venti freta c. What History sets out Neptune in in a statue of gold holding the two terrours of the Seas in his hands the one called Scilla the other Charybdes I may better say of the Lord and these hee has in chains and is feigned to call out aloud to the Mariners and ships that pass that way Pergite securae perfreta nostra rates Ships securely 〈◊〉 on Through our 〈◊〉 Ocean That when ships have been long out of Observ 4 the Land in forein parts their well coming home is evermore very delightful Italiam Italiam laeto clamore salutat Virg. and inexpressable pleasant to them Then hee brings them to their desired Haven It is said of Marcus Tullius that when hee was brought out of banishment it was with him as if hee had entered into a new world and had gotten Heaven for Earth he broke out into this language I am amazed to see the beautifulness of Italy Oh how fair are the Regions thereof what goodly fields what pleasant fruits what famous Towns what sumptuous Cities what Gardens what pleasures what humanity amongst Citizens and Country people It is said of the Trojans after they had been warring a long time in the Mediterranean Seas the like shall I say of our Warriours that as soon as they spied Land they cried out with exulting joyes Oh Italy Italy It is thus with our Sea-men Abigails bottles of Wine and frayles of Raisins were not more welcome to David in the hungry Wilderness of Paran nor the shady Juniper-tree more delectable to the Prophet when in the parching Sun nor Jacobs sat Kid more acceptable to his grave Father Isaac in his sickness than the Land is to the Mariner when he hath been long out of it when been a long tract of time out at Sea in the East or West Indies Oh England England poor Travellers that have been long out of their w◠〈◊〉 the night time wandring here and 〈◊〉 and ring there in a bewildered condition upon Hills and Mountains in vast and large Forrests far from any house destitute of monies and all comfortable refreshments weather-beaten with rain and wind terrified with thunder and lamentably starved with cold and hunger wearied with labour and almost brought to despair with a multitude of miseries if this man or those Travellers should upon a sudden in the twinckling of an eye I may write Epicharmes 's saying upon the Mariners calling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All good things are bought with labour bee fetched and placed in some goodly large and rich Palace that is furnished with all kind of rich accommodations warm fire sweet odours dainty meat downy beds pleasant musick fine apparrel honourable and noble company and al this prepared for them Oh how would they bee transported and over-joyed As great contentment and heart-ravishment as all this is the sight of England to the Mariner after a long voyage Observ 5 That every ships sinking and miscarying in
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
neither canst thou ever perform what thou hast vowed to whom hee replied in the storm Vers 26. Their soul is meltâ—d because of trouble They are even ready to dye at this time Junius understands it of extreme vomiting as if they that used the Seas were casting up their very hearts many times Anacharses for this very cause doubted whether hee should reckon Mariners amongst the living or amongst the dead And another said that any man will go to Sea at first I wonder not but to go a second time thither is little better than madness very softly and silently lest St. Christopher should hear him Hold thy peace thou fool dost thou think that I ever meant it if ever I recover shore the Devil take mee if ever hee gets as much as a small tallow candle of mee or the pairing of my nails Make you the Application 20. Beleeve that all storms that come upon you are of the Lords raising and commissionating I have met with this passage which was found sayes history in a Council above a thousand years ago Si quis credit quod Diabolus tonitrua fulgura tempestates sua authoritate sicut Priscillianus dixit Anathema This Canon was made against such as did simply attribute storms tempests thundrings and lightnings c. to the Devil and not to God as if so be that he should be the causer and the procurer of them whosoever beleeves this said the Council as Priscillianus hath done let him bee an Anathema But without any further wording of it to you I freely bestow this peece of my Nec inter vivos Nec inter mortuos upon you all that use the Seas and beg your acceptance of it The God of Heaven grant it may do you good read it heed it yee need it pray for mee and I shall not bee wanting in my prayers for you that God would bless and prosper you in your imployments and thus hee that takes his ultimum vale of you and the Sea rests Gentlemen 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 May 4. 1659. THE EPISTLE TO THE Christian Readers Whether at Sea or on Land Good Readers I Would very freely invite you had I but that chear that I judge you deservedly worthy of Let this Epistle bee thy Janisary or Pole-star to the perusal of this book The stars that do attend the Artick-pole are the greater and lesser Bear and the least star in the lesser Bears tail is called the Pole-star by reason of its nearness to it and this is the guide of the Mariners as Ovid in his Epistle sings it You great and lesser Bears whose stars do guide Sydonian and Grecian ships that glyde Even you whose Poles do view this c. if you therefore will come to such Fare as hath been provided dished cooked and prepared upon the Sea for you you shall bee freely and heartily welcome and in your coming take this Advertisement along with you or else you had better let it alone Guests that are invited unto some Grandee King Lord or Prince 1. Respect with great desire the hour of his feast and so give their diligent attendance that they may come in a decent seemly and orderly manner 2. That nothing pleaseth the Prince better than to see them feed soundly on the meat dished and prepared for them 3. They are cautelous that they do not speak any thing that may bee in the least offensive to the person that invited them 4. They do not statim by and by depart but stay and sit a while and interchange familiar conference with the Prince 5. At their departure they yeeld a great deal of reverence returning him a thousand humble thanks for the favour vouchsafed them offering themselves ready at his service I question not your wisdome in the applying of what is before you The strongest Arguments that I can lay you down that did put mee upon this laborious business in a restless unquiet and disconsolatory Sea were such as these 1. It was the good pleasure of the Lord to draw and hale mee to undertake it by a strong and an unwithstanding impulsiveness that lay every day upon my heart and spirit till I went about it 2. To reprove that spirit of machless and unknown prophaneness that is amongst many thousands that use the Seas 3. To that end they might bee healed in their souls amended and reformed in their lives and practices 4. Because I never saw any thing writ unto them as suitable to and for their imployment the want of which did the more affectionately lead mee on for the good of their souls 5. Because I bear an extraordinary strong love to the souls of those that go down into the Seas and would as gladly have them saved in the day of the Lord as I would my self 6. Because I would have the world to know a little what perils and hazzards those that use the Seas do run thorow and meet with all in their imployments 7. What Ulysses's commendation was by Homer I shall say of them that use the Seas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee knew the Cities and manners of many people They see many brave Cities and Countries that could not bee seen were it not for shipping Our Gentry travel both Sea and Land with much bodily hazzard and with great expence of state and all but to get a little more knowledge of fashions and a gentile behaviour To let the world know what works and wonders of the Lord those do see that go into the Seas and beyond them 8. To that end the world might know what great preservations and deliverances the Lord bestows upon them in their affairs 9. To that end the world might know I made some improvement of my time when at Sea for I never affected the mis-spending of one day all the time I was in it but lived though amongst men as if not amongst them Mihi musis knowing that time is precious and tarries not Vpon a Dialpeece of a Clock in the Colledge Church of Glocester are portrayed four Angels each of them seeming to say something to those that look up to observe the hour of the day which is made up of two old Latine verses 1. An labor an requies 2. Sic transit gloria mundi 3. Praeterit iste dies 4. Nescitur origo secundi Englished Whether you rest or labour work or play The world and glory of it passes away This day is past or near its period grown The next succeeding is to us unknown 10. And lastly To that end all the Lords people would bee mindful of those that use the Seas They are like to a direct North-Dial that hath but morning and evening hours on it They are far from good means on land pray for them and not forget them in their most serious and solemn addresses unto their God They stand in need
of being prayed for Job 9.26 They are called in that place Ships of desire 1. When a man sees a goodly and a stately ship that is then a ship of desire 2. A Merchants longing for his ships good return home is a ship of desire 3. A ship of desire is a swift Pinnace oâ— a Pyrats Bark or Vessel that is made on purpose for the prey to out-sail all others But to proceed Let mee tell thee Good Reader before I take my leave of thee that I can say of and by my going to Sea for which I had as clear a all to as ever man had to any place in this world as a good man once said who had lyon a long time in prison in the primitive times of persecution I have quoth hee got no harm by this No more harm hath all my troubles at Sea done my inward man than a going up to the rops of those mountains hath done them that have made the trial where neither Winds Clouds nor Rain doth over-top them and such as have been upon them do affirm that there is a wonderful clear skye over head though Clouds below pour down rains and break forth in thunder and lightning to the terrour of them that are at the bottome yet at the top there is no such matter Mee thinks I have heard the Seas say unto mee Vide hic mare hic venti hic pericula disce sapere See how ready the Winds and Seas are at Gods beck and wilt not thou fear him If I may tell thee my experiences of Gods doing of my soul good in the Seas then can I tell thee thus much bee it spoken to the praise of that sweet God whom I serve and honour that I have got no harm by going to Sea but a great deal of good both to my soul and also to my understanding and intellectual parts 1. I have learned by my going to Sea to love the world less than I did before Love not the world c. 1 Joh. 2.15 2. I have learned to know men and the world far better than I did before 3. I have learned to prize a life in heaven far before a reeling and staggering life here on earth 4. I have learned to bee far more shye and wary of sin than I was before because I found my self so fearful of death and drowning many times in storms when in the Seas I have read of a young man that lay on his death-bed and all that ever hee spoke whilst hee lived was this I am so sick that I cannot live and I am so sinful that I dare not dye It is good to keep clear of sin 5. I have learned to live upon God and to put my trust in him more than ever I did before so that I can comfortably speak it Psal 7.1 O Lord my God in thee doe I put my trust c. 6. I have seen more of the Creation by my going to Sea than ever I should have done if I had stayed on Land The Lord sets men the bounds of their habitations It is said of Lypsius that he took such delight in reading of a Book I wish that thou mayest as much in this that hee said Pluris faecio quum relego semper novum quum repetivi repetendum The more I read the more I am tilled on to read 7. I have learned to fear God more and to stand in awe of that God who hath the lives of all his creatures under his feet and is able to dispose both of a mans present and also future condition even as pleaseth him than ever I did before 8. I have learned to pray better and to ply the Throne of Grace oftner with my prayers for spiritual blessings than ever I did before 9 I have so learned Christ that I made it my work and businesse all the time I was at Sea to lead my life so as in the continual presence and aspect of the Lord Meer Heathens thought God to be every where as appears by their Jovis omnia plena Quascunque accesseris oraâ— Sub Jove semper eris c. Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me c. and so I lived and have lived both at Sea and also at Land that I shall give both foe and friend and friend and foe their liberty to speak and observe me as much as they can 10 I have learned to love my God more than ever I did before and if I had not I should appear to be a very rebellious Child As Demetrius Phalerius deceived the calamities of his Banishment by the sweetness of his Study so I the troublesome Seas and rude society by mine I know that this poor Peece of mine has in it its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naâ—vi its blacks and spots its Human frailties which the good Lord remit yet in it is there truths Divine and things very profitable and worthy to be embraced in respect the Lord has done so much for me to preserve me and mercy me as hee hath done in a cruel Sea which is a place as the Poet sings Luctus ubique pavor plurima mortis imago Good Reader doest thou live in times of trouble and daies of danger then turn over this Book and thou wilt finde that there is a wise and a powerful God in the Heavens that sits at the Helm both of Sea and Land to preserve poor souls in them Wouldst thou hear of those Sights and Wonders of the Lord that those that goe down into the Seas doe see then will I commend this small Treatise to thee what delight fuller thing canst thou read than a Theam or Subject of the Sea and Sea affairs here mayest thou read and peruse this my Nec inter vivos nec inter mortuos which cost me much pains and get some good out of it When Nebuzaradan burnt the rubbish of the Temple hee kept the Gold c. Though in reading thou meetest with Creature-defects which I will assure thee was never writ upon Land but drawn up as I studied it upon water Libentèr omnibus omnes opes concesserim ut mihi liceat vi nulla interpellante isto modo in literis vivere Tully I would freely give all the good in the world that I might sit down in the world live and lead a studying life But it was the Lords will that I should travel in the great and wide Sea yet wilt thou meet with many a savoury truth if thou hast but a gracious heart in the brest of thee Accept of it My sute to you Readers is that upon your perusal of it you would seek the Lord in its behalf that it may doe good to them that use the Seas I begge the prayers of every godly and gracious Minister into whose hands peradventure it may come that he would pray that it may be instrumental to reform these People that goe in the Seas who stand in need of
their pleasure Shall not this set an edge upon your spirits to do your utmost in the suppressing of these intolerable evils What is become of that Heroick and Warlike spirit that in former Wars have acted in you Hark! Hark! is not the Drum beating and the Trumpet sounding Hath not God bid England sound the Trumpet and beat the Drum and prepare war against the enemies of Christ God is setting on England to break the yoak of Christs and Sions enemies and many of you are sitting down in the Nation one in one place and another in another One Commander sits down with his hundred pound per annum that hee got in the late Wars and another sits down with his two hundred and perhaps another with his four or five hundred Thus it was with Alexanders Souldiers and it is the same with many of you that when they grew rich they would follow him no longer in the Wars What one of Englands late famous Sea-Generals said of some Sea-Captains the like may bee said of the Souldier sayes hee You are grown so wealthy by being Captains three or four years that you are afraid to fight What a shame is it that now your swords rust in your Scabbards and your Pistols in your Holsters which have been formerly very valiantly in your hands in the high places of the field That I may give you one sound alarm more where ever your quarters bee in this Land of ours let me tell you that you will grow aged therefore you have need to run wel and to do all the good you can both for God the world and Christ his Son It is usual for those that run races to whip and spur hard when they come within sight of the Goal Have not many of you gray hairs upon your heads or at leastwise will have very shortly and will you not have one fling at Spain and at the gates of Rome before you dye and go to your graves 2. A word unto the Sea-men This is a time wherein the ten Kings of Europe have given their power to the Beast but they are a tumbling down and if they fall surely many will fall with them I have read concerning Joshua that valiant Souldier that when he was a young man and more in the strength of nature he was then least in vigor and valour for God and sometimes in cases of danger concealed himself but when he grew older found the strength of nature declining and decaying then he be stirred himself for God I bring but this in as an instance now to our English Souldiery that they may take notice of this rare president weigh but what God is a doing and will do When the tree is falling the Proverb is Run for the Hatchet It is an old Proverb Gentlemen and a true one Post folia cadunt lirbores After the leaves are once off the trees the trees themselves do fall at last God hath prospered you against the Spaniard hitherto keep shaking of the tree and it will fall or break at last Bee every one of you willing now when the Monarchy of Spain is staggering and tottering to contribute all the help that lyes within you against them What It is not enough that the Merchandizings of this Nation bee kept up though sufficient reason enough for it but there is far greater work in hand Therefore what Domitians Empress said unto him the Emperour when fishing and angling O noble Emperour it doth not become you said shee to fish for Trouts and Gudgeons but for Towns and Castles The same I say to you Stand to your Arms. Now I will a little touch upon the means whereby wee may in England under God bring down the Spaniard Mahumet would never enter into any City and especially the City of Damascus lest he should be ravished with the pleasures of the place and so should forget to go on with the great work he had in hand This is a president for the Souldiery of England whether great or small who ly perfuming and effeminating of themselves in London and in the Land Mary Queen of Scots that was mother to king James was wont to say That she feared Mr. Knoxes prayers more than she did an army of 10000. knocking men Plutarch in the life of Pyrrhus said of Cyneas that rare Thessalian Orator that he overcame more by sweet words speeches than Pyrrhus did by the sword So more by prayer than by strength and the Pope of Rome and these I finde to bee twofold 1. By Prayer 2. Shipping 1. By Prayer In Salem was the arrows of the Bow broke Psal 76.3 and the shield and the sword Prayers and complaints unto God are the Churches best weapons to fight their merciless enemies with all Exod. 17 11. Whilst Moses held up his hands Israel prevailed but when he let his hands go down then Amalek prevailed 1 Chron. 5.20 When some of Israel who warred with the Hagarites the sons of Ishmael in the midst of the battel cried unto God hee heard them and gave them their enemies into their hands This was that which Solomon desired after the building of the Temple 1 King 8.44 45. When thy people shall go out to battel and shall pray unto the Lord toward the house that I have built hear thou in heaven their prayers and judge their cause O admirabilem piarum precum vim quibus caelestia cedant hostes terret manus illa quae victoriae suae trophaea in ipsis Caeli orbibus figit Oh the admirable power of godly prayers to which heavenly things give place that hand terrifies the enemies which fasteneth the tokens of its victory in the celestial orbes Bucholcerus St. Augustine gave this reason why David put off Sauls Armour when hee went to fight with the Philistim Mystica ratione significavit arma Ecclesiae non esse carnalia sed spiritualia The Churches weapons are not carnal but spiritual and David was not armed with iron but with faith and prayer Prayer is the very best whole Canon that is in England Luther calls it Bombarda bellicosissima The Lord in Scripture is called a man of War and he may be taken to fight against all the Navies and Gunn'd Armadoes in the world for four Reasons 1. Because he gives victory 2. Because he fighteth the battels of his people 2 Chron. 33 7 8. 3. In respect of his prudence and policy as a wise Captain will watch all opportunities of advantage against his enemy he knows how to bring down the crafty and how to take them napping 4. He will encounter his enemy boldly though not with so sâ—eming a strength as they have Pray unto this God If that the people of God in England would but joyn in their prayers together I am confident they would bee of greater force than if wee had a thousand Canons marching in the fields of Spain Therefore what a shame is it that there is no more zeal for God and for his
interest and glory in their bosomes and that they are no more pouring out of their hearts and spirits for the accomplishment of Gods promises and that Babylon may fall and rise no more God is resolved to down with it and it may be because England is not fit for such a mercy and because they pray not more earnestly constantly and vehemently for its downfall the work sticks and goes but slowly forward God is resolved to do it but hee will bee inquired of for and in the doing of it Ezek. 36.37 When God was about to do great and mighty things for Israel he tels them in plain terms totidem verbis that he would be inquired of and sought unto in the performance of them And wil not God bee sought unto more than he is for the downfall of the Pope and that incestuous and villanous house of Austria together with that cursed and tyrannical Inquisition before hee bring ruines and desolations upon you that live in your seiled houses and lye upon beds of down You that have all things at will and pleasure where are your prayers Where are your wrestlings with God you that live in the City And where are your loud cryes against the powers of darkness you that live in the Country History sayes that the Lord gave Naâ—setos victory more through zealous prayers that he used than his force and valour for he never went out into the Sea nor ever began battel or determined upon any war nor never mounted on his warlike Steed but first he went to the Temple and served God You did pray at a very high rate once and prayers issued out like a mighty stream some in the West and other some out the North some out the East and some out the South of England for your land Armies when they were ingaged in the fighting out your inbred Vipers where are they now for your water Armies For your Fleets and for that great and glorious work that is at this day on foot for God and Christ How might you help them on in those difficult and perillous undertakings and hazzards that they run How many thousands bee there that go in the Seas daily venturing of their lives in a just and lawful quarrel against one of Christs greatest enemies in the world Oh send send out your prayers for them and after them that you may hear of glorious things and remarkable and wonderfull actings from them that bee daily in the Seas Ovid begins his Metamorphosis and Cleanthes his Iambique verses with prayer Pliny in an Oration which hee made in the praise of Trajan commended the customes of the Antients in making invocations and prayers at the beginning of any great business saying That there can be no assured honest wise beginning The Lessons of Pythagoras Plato and their Disciples ever more began and ended with prayer The Brachmans among the Indians the Magi among the Persians never began any thing without praying unto God Prayer is Englands Alexipharmacum generale pretious drug against her many maladies her Cornucopiae because it brings her in many good tidings against her enemies It is her Delphicum gladium Delphian sword by which she prospers both at home and abroad or successful ending of any enterprize without the special aid and assistance of the gods For all works affairs imployments businesses and wars that wee or any Nation takes in hand are to begin with prayer and to bee daily followed with our prayers Prayer is so wonderfully advantagious that I cannot think that there is any in our late Land broils but will acknowledge the profitableness of it nay our Armies could not have done what they did nor gone thorow that which they have if they had not had the prayers of the godly in the Land and how must our Fleets prosper and do the hard and desperate work that they have to do if you give over praying for them now There bee ten sorts of people that I would gladly put upon this needful duty of prayer for the War that is begun by England against the Spaniard 1. Ministers 2. Magistrates 3. Parliament-men 4. States-men 5. Land and Sea-Generals 6. Collonels 7. Land and Sea-Captains 8. Religious sober and godly Souldiers 9. Honest and well-minded Sea-men 10. The Respublica or the Common people of England Gentlemen Do you desire the downfall of Babylon then let mee tell you that you must bee earnest with God in prayer for a speedy accomplishment of your desires Are not these feral Beasts of Rome Spain to be prayed against Pray consider Do you desire a blessing upon the Church and State in which you live Then let mee counsel you to pray hard for them that they may increase in purity piety peace and plenty Do you desire that the Pope at Rome and all that cursed rabble that is in and about that incestuous and libidinous house of Austria may stumble and stagger Longius vulnerat quam sagitta Prayer will wound an enemy further than a shot out of the longest Gun or Arrow out of the strongest bow Then let mee tell you that God will bee sought unto for this very thing ere hee do it Pray pray that that proud Romana urbs aeterna as they have formerly most lyingly stiled her may bee brought down to ruine and to shame and poverty though shee hath got up again since shee was sacked and ransacked twice by the Visigothes taken once by the Herulians surprised by the Ostrogothes destroyed and rooted up by the Vandals annoyed by the Lumbards pilled and spoyled by the Grecians and whipped and chased by many others I hope ere long that shee will receive her last blow of the indignation of the most mighty and bee thrown headlong into an everlasting and horrible desolation where shee shall never rise any more Now do you desire that your warlike Fleets may prosper against them then pray pray The Spaniard would be more afraid of our Fleets in England did we but pray more I profess bee it soberly spoken that you deal with prayer in this case as the world dealt with Christ Joseph and Mary How dealt the world with them you will aske mee I will tell you in few words the Scripture is pleased to inform us that they could provide no better lodging and entertainment than a stable for the Prince of Glory to lye in But the gallants and the rich guests of the world they had the best beds and chambers that the house afforded As unkindly deal many with prayer against the adversaries of the Lord Jesus Christ they both put it out of door and out of mind and thought God is a rising undoubtedly to cut down his great matured ripened and old gray-headed enemies When Athens was straightly besieged very stoutly assaulted so that within the walls they were hardly put to it to keep their enemy out Diogenes that before lived in his Tub tumbled it up and down the Town thinking it an
bee compared to a man that runs up an high ladder and as soon as ever hee is got up to the highest stave of it down hee goes till hee comes unto the lowest and by and by hee returns unto the highest Solomon tels us Prov. 23.5 that the Eagle taketh wing and flyeth towards heaven but hee does not say that shee flies so high but it denotes that shee is one of the highest flying birds of any of the fouls under the Heavens Christ tels us also Matth. 11.23 that Capernaum was exalted unto Heaven when alas it was not so nor so because it was but an hyperbolical but rather an Ironical expression for Capernaum was so far from Heaven that her feet was rather upon the very threshold of Hell than Heaven as appears by the poynt shee steered by But this elegant Hyperbole of the Psalmists is to set forth the Sea-mans high soaring sursums and his down-falling deorsums They mount up almost as high as that caelestial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is feigned to be Elemenci quarti nomen how that hee is one while carried upwards upon the swelling billows of the Seas even ad aulam astriferam as high as the starry mansions and bespangled roofs of Heaven and then by and by they are returned down again 2. They go down again to break up this word unto you there is nothing difficult in it onely wee may take notice that their descension in storms is not gradatim or pedetentim but rather in the violentest manner that can bee even as a stone that is hurled up in the air it will not tarry there any longer than the strength of the hand is upon it and then it will down again because it covets to bee at its Center So the weightier any thing is the speedier is and will bee the descent of it I am confident it would produce many a gallon of salt tears from the eyes of the godly that are on Land if there were but a possibility of their seeing of ships how they labour rock and reel ascend and descend in the restless Seas in time of storms for by and by they are to bee seen anon they are not to bee seen but as if they were covered all over in the Seas That Sea-men are the nearest Heaven Observation 1 of any people in the world when they are once got up upon the back of an high-rising water-billow They mount up to Heaven c. These are the onely cloud-climbing lads of the world Sea men are like to the pinnacles that are praefixed upon all high battlements which point upwards to Heaven but poyse downwards to their center Exod. 8.15 Whilst the judgments of God were upon Pharaoh he was some thing conformable but when the storm was over he was as vile as ever and none go so near or are so fair for Heaven as Sea-men are seems the Psalmist to say but let mee add this pray God they ever come there my prayers shall bee for them 1 Sam. 12.23 Moreover as for mee God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will teach you the good and right way Vers 24. Onely fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things hee hath done for you For I fear that many an hundred Sea-man when hee is got up to the top of an high water promontory in the Sea that hee is as near Heaven as ever hee will bee It was once said of one that preached well and lived ill upon a time when in the pulpit some importunate messenger or other came for him to come out of the Church but one of his auditors made answer Oh let him alone for hee is as near Heaven as ever hee will bee So I may say it is a thousand pitties that ever some Sea-men should come off and down from the high-towering waves of the Seas because they are in those stormy times peradventure nearer Heaven than ever they will bee when they come on Land again Observation 2 That all Sea-men generally without all exception whether they bee young or whether they bee old both do and shall assuredly go to heaven They mount up to the heaven Me thinks the Sea-man likes mee well in the laying down of this proposition and the godly on the other hand look very strangely upon it and so consequently conclude I knovv Sea-men are as confident of going to Heaven the Lord help them as the Turks either are or can bee of that lock vvhich they keep upon the top of their crownes that they shall bee dravvn up into Paradise by Pray God Sea-men vvould once forsake their confidence and then there vvould bee some hopes of them that I have no warrant nor ground in Scripture to build it upon To clear up the point unto you I would have you to observe that there are two parts in it 1. That they do go to Heaven 2. That they shall all go thither For the first of these that they do go thither I would have you to understand mee rightly without any misconstruction I will have nothing to doe with their Salvation in this point for that is as doubtful to mee as Solomon's was to Toledo the Arch-Bishop who weighing that much-disputed controversie whether Solomon was saved or damned and not being satisfied with their arguments caused Solomon to bee pictured upon the walls of his Chapel the one half in hell and the other half in heaven There be three Heavens 1. Coelum Aerium 2. Coelum Astriferum 3. Coelum Beatorum It is not the latter novv they go to in storms but the tvvo former But to the point in hand that you may understand my meaning in it take notice that it is stormy and tempestuous weather that Sea-men go to Heaven in even then when the winds lift up the waves of the Seas by which and upon which thay are in this sense transported unto Heaven what they do or whither they go when dead I have nothing to do to judge and therefore whilst they are living wee need not credit that they go into Heaven Sailors are like to Grashoppers in goodness vvho make faint essayes to fly up to Heaven and then presently fall dovvn to the Earth again Sea-men that have their feet as it vvere in stormy vveather upon the battlements of Heaven should look dovvn upon all earthly happiness in the world as both base abject slight and slender waterish and worthless The great Cities of Campaniae seem but small cottages to them that stand on the tops of the Alps. for I never knew any of them so holy Enoch indeed Gen. 5.24 Walked with God and hee was not for God took him There is a vast difference betwixt going to Heaven and into Heaven the Eagle that Solomon speaks of flew towards Heaven but hee doth not say that shee went into it There is a vast disproportion betwixt a mans going to a place and
rampant when there is no prayer on foot that they might bee bridled There bee two sorts of people that take not up this duty of prayer for the Sea 1. Many that live on Land 2. Many that go to Sea For the first of these you shall find not wanting in their prayers that their crops of corn may grow and that their fields of grass may bee full of plenty and it may bee also that they pray for the quietness and peaceable establishment of the Land but not one word for the Sea How fitly may it bee said of the Sea which Solinus said of the river Hipanis they that know it at first commend it but they that have experience of it at last do not without cause condemn it Qui in principits eum norunt praedicant qui in fine experti sunt non injuria execrantur in the remembrance of them that go through a thousand dangers I am confident that you might by your prayers make the Sea-mans passage the more facile and less dangerous to him Ah souls how do you know but that many Sea-men might bee much helped and prospered if you prayed but for them Jam. 5.16 The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much To put you upon the duty 1. Consider that the Seas are often tempestuous and stormy 2. Consider that many ships are frequently cast away in storms 3. Consider what a many Rocks and Sands rich and wealthy ships have to pass by before they can come into our Land and this might bee an argument to induce you to pray for them 4. Consider the many dangers and hazzards of Pyrats besides a thousand other several casualties that they have to run through 5. Consider the many desperate engagements that they do meet withall now and then That sin has without all doubt put an hurtfull quality both into the Element of water and wind Is it not more than probable think you that mans sin and transgression which did so much incense the Lord to provocation against him that hee cursed the ground for his sake Gen. 3.17 18. which unto this day is full of bryers and brambles that the same curse though in a different manner has seized upon the Sea and also upon the winds insomuch that there is little safety in venturing amongst them because they are up in such rebellion and hostility against mankind as if they would tell them at some times that their intentions are to tear their Vessels into pieces 1. It appears that there is an hurtful quality in the East-wind Of all the winds that bee in the world Pliny never liked the East-wind but evermore called it Navigantium pestis the Mariners plague Psal 107.43 Who so is wise will observe these things because it breeds sharp feavers in cholerick bodies and also rageing madness and perilous apostumations Acts 27.14 The stormy wind that ship-wracked the Vessel that Paul was in was called Euroclydon because it came out of the Oriental part of the world Quando una Eurusque Notusque ruant creberque procellis Africus vastos volvant ad littora fluctus 2. Has not sin put an hurtful quality into the South-wind How came it to bee so unhealthful as it is It is observed of this wind that when it continues long in one quarter that it breeds corrupt humours and in hot bodies cramps giddiness in the head the falling sickness pestilence and cruel fevers besides the many ships that are often cast away in it 3. Has not sin put an hurtful quality into the West-wind also How came it to bee thus otherwise It is observed of it that it breeds flegm in moyst bodies procures sleep causeth apoplexies and is worst of all in Winter besides ships are oftentimes cast away in it 4. Hath not sin put an hurtful quality into the North wind also If not One calls the North wind the Mundi magnus follis the great bellows of the world which blows cold into every part of it I would demand how it came to bee so unhealthful as it is it is observed of it that it breeds Coughs Gouts Sore-throats and in cold bodies Plurisies besides the many ships that are oftentimes lost in it That Sea-imployments are not onely fall of troubles but all other callings and imployments Observ 4 whether on Sea or on land have their stops and rubs They reel to and fro c. Ask but the Mariner at Sea and hee will not deny the truth of this Proposition Me thinks all perilous Sea-storms should commend heaven to you a tempest commends the haven and the preserved a strong hold Mare turbatur amatur You love to be upon the Seas trading to and fro though God makes it a bundle of thorns to you what would you do then if it were a nose-gay of flowers Ask but the Magistrates of our land and they will all say that this is a very undeniable truth Ask the reverend painful and godly Ministry of this land and they will all say uno ore that this is a truth Ask but the rational Commonalty of our land and they will cry up the Proposition for a truth To that end wee may bee kept from Reason 1 taking root and setling in our callings and imployments God oftentimes layes gall and wormwood upon the breasts of our comforts that wee might not too much delight in them for fear of surfeiting upon them This was the Churches experience Psal 102.10 Thou hast lifted mee up and cast mee down Reason 2 That God out of his infinite wisdome sees it good for us and also that it is one of the profitablest methods that hee can walk in with us Deut. 8.15 16. That hee might humble thee and that hee might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end God had a great care of his Israel to do them good But to bee short I will now speak a little unto the interest of the latter clause And are at their wits end To bee curt in the anatomizing of these few words they seemingly bear a twofold sense 1. Either when Sea-men are in such storms as that they are put by all sail and all skill and art I may say of the Sailor at this time as it was said of Achilles who hearing of the sad loss of his dear friend Patroclus cubans in faciem mox deinde supinus One while hee turned on his back and another while upon his belly for very grief and trouble How often have I seen the skilfullest of men in a ship for to beat their breasts with their hands and to stamp with their feet at the consideration of the present dangers they have been in which before they did and could make use of and so can do no more then may they properly bee said to bee at their wits end Or 2. When that they are in and under such an intricate condition as they know not what to do or what course to take for the best
The reason now is easily rendred why the Sea-man prayes 1. Because all humane helps are vain but the Lords divine assistance is never in vain Mans importunity is Gods opportunity Mans worst time is the Lords best and prime season Mans help comes oftentimes too lateâ— but the Lords never It is never too late for him to help were the ship half full with dreadful waves or were shee foundred in the Sea The words Logically handled afford these particulars Supplicantes 1. Persons praying and those are Sea-men Supplicatus 2. The person unto whom they pray and that is the Lord. Supplicaciones 3. Their prayers and requests are for preservation Modus 4. The manner how they desire to bee saved and that is not by any weak feeble frail evil or indirect means but by the Almighty power of the Lord. I have met with a pretty passage of one that trusted much to the strength of his arms and when lying something long upon them they grew very numb and senseless insomuch that he could not perform those exercises which he could before well sayes he whilst I used it to other services it never failed me now that I have rested upon it I finde it to complain Surely it is no trusting to an arm of flesh let the occasion be what it will The words Theologically handled and resolved take them then thus 1. How can deep distress bee better expressed than by pathetical and energetical prayer and such as is here offered up Then they cry 2. Who are or have greater need to pray than Sea-men 3. Who is more worthy to bee invocated and called on than the Lord Almighty 4. What can a man desire for himself bee it spoken with respect to his outward man that is better than salvation or preservation and this is the substance of the Sea-mans prayer 5. By what means can any bee better preserved from distress and danger than by the Almighty power and out-stretched Arm of God which is the Sea-mans onely Asylum That without a divine Providence there Observ 1 lyes no such stress dexterity or sufficiency Many prophane Sailors are too much Cyrus-like of whom it was said that he would have it Epitaphed over him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I could do all things in the highest pitch of humane wisdome as to carry any safely out of deep and deadly dangers Or if you will the point may lye thus That the making use of all the means that ever can bee studied procured and invented without God and the very placing of a mans confidence in them are not of ability to answer the creatures expectation Then they cry c. Paul and the Mariners together bare up very bravely against that dreadful wind and weather that lay upon them whilst either art skill or industry could befriend them but finding both to fail and that they could not any longer bear up into the wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or look it in the face they then let her drive Acts 27.15 The Mariners that Jonah sailed amongst wrought like men in the storm Chap. 1. vers 13. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the Land but they could not for the Sea wrought and was tempestuous against them Every man had his hand upon his Oar but all was in vain and to no purpose Many a mans too much doteing upon his own skil and parts in time of storms without a dependency upon God for help has smarted most shroudly for it Those men that stand upon the broken legs of their own wisdom parts projects and contrivances do many times get sad falls Many have confided to ride upon the steeds back of their own fore-castings whereas alas that unperforming Palfray has deceived them and left them in the lurch Many think themselves to bee never better mounted than when they have their feet in the stirrop of that saddle that sits upon the back of that ill conditioned beast called carnal policy Observ 2 The French Proverb is When the danger is over the Saint is forgotten Homo Deo servire debet non ad procellam annum vel ad tempus sed in aeternum It is not a little fit of Prayer in a storm will serve the turn but thou must bee holy all thy life long That the Sea-mans devoutness and religiousness is never to bee seen but in a storm Then they cry c. If it were not that they were in danger you should neither see them go to prayer nor hear them at any such sacred duty Jonah 1.5 Then the Mariners were affraid and cryed every man to his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the Sea to lighten it of them As you shall never see a white Weezel but against a storm of Frost and Snow so shall you never see any thing that is good in the generality of Sailors but when they are most dreadfully souzed in storms and hardly then neither That tempestuous storms and deadly Observ 3 dangers has brought those upon their knees that would never have bended in a calm Then they cry If any one would know at what time the Sailors take up the duty of Prayer let mee give them in this short hint it is when death stares them in the face If ever you see the Heavens vailed in sable blackness When the Sea rages stoâ—ms encrease think with thy self that God is angry who withall even with thee for some threat or other is come out against thee Lyons when they enter into their choller will beat the ground with their tails God is angry when hee beats up the waters into hills and mountains When Alexanders Macedonians had offended their Emperour they laid down their arms and put on mourning apparrel and came running in great troops both of wives and children sheding of many tears about his Tent acknowledging themselves sorrowful for what they did I would our Sailors were of this temper to their God the clouds flying and the winds roaring under them you may conclude that some of them though God knows but few are at prayer yea hard at it with their God But never beleeve it that there is any prayer amongst them when the skies are cleer the winds down and the Seas smooth David tells you not of their praying in good and comfortable weather but that it is in time of storms for I beleeve that neither hee nor I ever see many of them of that strain I have observed that in summer Thunders when the loud ratlings of it has run and ecchoed all the Country over that it has struck a very great fear and forced many unto prayer Exod. 8.9 28. Intreat the Lord for it is enough that there bee no more mighty thundrings and hail and I will let you go and yee shall stay no longer This was that that dreaded all Egypt and as soon as the blast were over Pharaoh was at his disobedience again Observ 4 That
They who â—oe really call upon the Name of the Lord in dreadful storms and dangers do acknowledge him to be omniscient one who knows best of all their wants and necessities 2. They acknowledge God to bee Omnipotent and one who is able to supply all their wants in their greatest straights that ever they are surrounded with 3. They acknowledge him to bee an all-good and one who is very merciful and bountiful and upon these considerations any one may take encouragment to pray That the Sea-man commonly makes the Observ 8 Lord many serious and solemn vows and protestations in the time of calamity I have read of some Mariners that vowed wonderful largely when their ship lives were at the stake what they would do for their God whom they served they told him if ever they got to shoar alive they would sacrifice a Candle to him that should have as much tallow in it as the main-mast was in length and substance but when got safe to Land they forgot their vow and one of them being more religious than the rest begun to tell them of it and to prompt them to itâ— push quoth the Sailors we are now at Land and onâ— small candle of eight in the pound will serve the turn which afterwards hee never performs Then they cry c. As if David should have said in time of danger they will both protest and vow nay and almost swear too that they will turn gratious and pretious souls but when the storm is over their vows are all forgotten and they are at their swearing again Jonah 1.16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a Sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows It seems that this is a very common thing amongst them Plato had perswaded Alcibiades to live justly and honestly in the world during the whole course of his life and when hee protested and vowed to him that he would do so I pray God said Socrates that hee would once begin So our Sailors make large vows in dreadful storms when the ship is upon Sands or when shee is leaky and half full of water and they tell God very largely what paenitents and what religious people they will bee if hee will but graunt them their lives but I may say unto them pray God they would once begin there is not a people under the heavens that are slower to good and that have a less skill in good than they are they are couzen Germans to Seneca's Semper victuri and I pray God that they hit on it before they dye Sailors are like Nebucadnezzar's image in storms whose head was all of pure gold the arms of silver the thighs of brass the legs of earth and clay They are gold and silver in storms but at Land and in calms meer dross and brass It is with Sailors in storms as it was with Israel at that dreadful time of Gods descending out of the heavens upon Mount Sinai Deut. 5.27 Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all and wee will hear it and do it Here was a large protestation you will say Well vers 29. carries sad tidings in it Oh that there were such an heart in them that they would fear mee and keep all my Commandments alwaies that it might bee well with them and with their children for ever The Sea-mans large promise to his God in a storm is like to false fire to a great Peece which dischargeth a rich expectation with a bad report Siquidem vovens non solvens quid nisi pejero Bern. Hee that vows in storms and does not perform his vows when delivered out of them forswears himself before the Lord. If there were but such an heart in Sailors as they pretend to have when in storms I am confident that no people under the heavens would outstrip them in piety That the Sea-man never takes up the Observ 9 duty of Prayer but when hee sees himself involved in an unlikely estate and condition of his ever recovery Then they cry This was an unsavory saying of one of the Sailors to the rest of his companions when labouring under a most dolorous storm My lads bee of good cheer I will go take a turn at prayer both for you and for my self for I am very confident that the Lord will hear mee because I am nâ— common beggar I used prayer as little as any man in the world I have observed it that at such times when wee have been thrown on Sands and when our sails have been rent in pieces by the violence of storm even as one would tear careless paper and linnen that then they have prayed Jonah 1.5 Then the Mariners were affraid and cryed every man unto his God You should never have heard those Sailors at Prayer that Jonah was amongst if that their lives had not been in that dreadful jeopardy It was a graceless saying of one Sailor when in a most inevitable danger that hee had never used any prayer for seaven years together but hee was now fallen into that distress that hee must bee forced to do that which hee neither liked nor never used to do Sailors are not unlike to Agrippa's Dormouse that would not nor could not bee awaked till shee was thrown into the boyling Copper and then the kettle rang with her dolorous Sonnets Ego uror Ego uror Alass I burn I burn It is danger makes many in the Sea go to prayer and not grace conscience or the fear of God The Sailors life is not unlike to Herman Biswick's of whom it is said that it was his judgment that the world was eternal and that there was neither Angels nor Devils Heaven nor Hell nor future life but that the souls of men perished with their bodies And if our Sea-men hold but of this strain they may live as they please But grant they doe not their prayerless lives tell us that the thoughts of Hell and the thoughts of God and of another world is not in their minds they have not another place in their eye but only this present world One of the sadest things that my soul has mourned for and at whilst in the Sea was my serious consideration of the many Vessels that go in the great deeps that neither do nor never did and I fear never will take up the work of prayer Prayer at Sea is like to a poor Beggar or Traveller on Land who goes from Town to Town and from Country to Country but is never invited in or taken notice of by any strangers and travellers we usually say meet but with cold entertainment Oh the many ships both in the States Ah that I should be forced to say that of the ships that go in the Seas which the Lord complained of once in the sons daughters of men Rom. 1.29 Being filled with all unrighteousness wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murther debate deceit malignity whisperers
back-biters haters of God despightful proud boasters inventers of evil things disobedient to Parents without understanding covenant-breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful and Merchants Service that cannot allow Prayer any room amongst them I speak not of ships that have Chaplins in them but of the Sea-men in general they cannot be got to take up prayer in those very ships that they have Chaplins in What was once said of Solomon's building I may even say of most ships that go in the salt-waters 1 King 6.7 There was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of Iron heard in the house while it was in building There is no noise of prayer amongst them or to be heard of you would think that all the Sailors were rather dead than living May I not most lamentably speak it as it was once said of Egypt Exod. 12.30 And there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not an house where there was not one dead Is there one ship in the Sea that is either in the States or Merchants Service but there is the greatest part the better half I and I fear even all indeed but are dead men I mean as to prayer or any thing that is good but grant there be is it not a dead Religion and a dead kind of prayer that they live in this is the state condition that Sailors live in excepting a few I question not that is amongst them whom God has otherwise taught principled and quickned To stir you up to take up the duty of Prayer consider of your danger by your neglect of it 1. You are in danger of being overcome by your enemies Exod. 17.12 And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed and when hee let down his hand Amalek prevailed If you take up the work of prayer you will engage the Lord to stand by you in the dreadfullest disputes that your enemies can assault you withall Zach. 2.5 For I saith the Lord will bee unto her a wall of fire round about and will bee the glory in the midst of her I and you will engage him to help you when you are at your wits end in time of storms If you will but good Sailors take up prayer-work I will engage in this for you against the proudest enemy that ever strutted in the salt-waters and it is that of Pope Pius the second which hee writ in a letter to that great Zamzummim of the World the Grand-Turk Niteris incassum Christi submergere navem I shall say of that ship where all the men use prayer in her as one said of Troy Victa tamen vinces eversaque Troja resurges Obrint hostiles illa ruma domos Fluctuat ac nunquam mergitur illa ratis Let both Sea and Out-landish enemies do their worst a godly ship was never known to bee overcome or drowned 2. You are in danger of being overcome and over-run with sin for want of prayer Sin is both Master Captain Boatswain and Yeoman in every ship and every man is at sins command amongst you for want of prayer how reigns sin in the Captain of the ship in the Master Gunner Boatswain Sin sits as a King in his Court in your ships who rules by immediate commands whereas the power Ships like bottles may dip and not drown may be filled with waves and yet â—ise again The Palm tree in the emblem had many weights upon the top of it and as many snakes at the very root of it yet could it say Nec premor nec perimor Ships in the Sea that use prayer in them are not unlike to the Artick Pole of which it is said Semper versatur nunquam mergitur and the voyce of prayer breaks the very head and insolency and dominion of sin your ships might bee wonderfully healed of all that filthiness that is amongst them would they but practise prayer It is no wonder though there bee such an hellish voyce of swearing lying idle talking and all manner of filthiness crawling in every mans tongue heart hands and eyes in the Seas as there is the main reason of it is because there is no prayer used by any of them 3. You are in danger of being overcome with Satan whereas fervent prayer would drive the Devil over-board and where no prayer is the Devil will bee sure there to take up his abode I am confident of it that the Devil hath not better entertainment in all the world again than hee hath in ships amongst the Sailors my reason is this they are such vassals and slaves to that unclean spirit even to rend and tear that sacred Name of God in their mouths besides that infinite mass of wickedness that they commit Matth. 17.21 Howbeit this kinde goeth not out but by prayer and fasting If any one would ask me at what sign the Devil dwells in the world or where the Devils dwelling is I would tell them that it is at the sign of a prayerless family that lives either on Sea or Land The Devils Iune called by the name of an Empty house Mat. 12.44 Every Sea-man that is a prayerless man is one of the Devils lodging houses and the Devil is the Landlord of all such houses Empty houses viz. empty of grace and prayer Prayer and the Devil it seems cannot set their horses together dwell together no more than sweet Spices and Tygers can accord together who will at the smell thereof betake themselves to their legs The Devil could no more indure powerful prayer in ships were it but there than the Tyger can indure the melodious sound of the Trumpet or skipping Squirrel the blowing of the Horn. 4. You are in danger of the wrath of Gods great and sore displeasure when in perilous and boysterous storms that this is a truth consult Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not and upon the families that call not upon thy Name If you would bee preserved in the Seas let not God finde you prayerless men Prayer is the best cable that is in the Hould or about the ship I and it is the best tackling and the best Anchor that is in any of your ships Prayerless men are open to the judgements of God in the Seas and are liable every hour whilst they are in them to be swallowed up by the mountainous waves Helericus King of the Goths after his conquest proclaimed by sound of Trumpet that none should molest or hurt those that were fled into the Temple of Peter and Paul to pray and worship God God will do thus for you in the Seas his Herauld shall go before you and declare unto the winds that they shall not hurt you than the Seas shall not drown you Rocks split you nor sands take hold of you Prayer is thus priviledged Never was there a ship cast away in the Seas I dare bee bold to say it if there were but some in it godly or grant they
were the people in them got safe to shore by one means or other Prayer will not onely keep off storms from ruining of you but also from fire and from the wrath of God to seize upon you Prayer will bee as commodious for our States ships and for our Merchant ships yea I dare bee bold to say it as that Antidote was which they used in antient times in their besmearing of all their wooden buildings with Alome in trial whereof Archilanus Mithridatis is a witness when hee washed all the wood of the Tower therewith which hee had in charge and when Sylla attempted to set it on fire hee could not but gave it up as invincible It is no wonder though wee have so many Frigots fired and so many warlike boats blown up rocked and stranded surely the main cause is there was not the fear of God in those mens hearts that sailed them Plutarch reports that at the sacking of Cities those houses that stood near to any Temples evermore fared well for it whilst others went to ruine and there was not prayer amongst those men that went out with them into the Sea Exod. 11.2 And the people cryed unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was quenched Pray Sailors pray or else your ships will either meet with fire rocks or sands 5. You are in danger of being unpittied and unhelped in the time of your distress because of your neglect of prayer What Chrysostome said in one case of the Christians sins I will say of the Sailors in another Nostri peacaâ—is fortes sint barbari That the Christians sins did furnish Arms to the very heathens to invade Christendome Prov. 28.9 Hee that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law even his prayer shall bee abomination Now who turn their backs and ears more from the sacred rules of the word than those that use the Seas Is it not one of the Lords great Commands that every one should pray How then canst thou expect that hee should look upon thee when the ship is even going into the bottome Doth not the Sailors swearing prayerless and irreligious lives lay them open and consequently furnish their enemies in the Seas with courage and valour to overcome them and doth it not also lay them open to the winds Seas sands rocks to catch hold of them to tear them to peeces I am afraid that God will say of you when in storms Prov. 1.26 27. I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you 6. And lastly you are not onely in danger of being unpittied at such times when you are most in danger but also of being unheard in your prayers though you call never so vehemently Prov. 1.28 Then shall they call upon mee but I will not answer they shall seek mee early but they shall not finde mee This is a dreadful thing that men should thus desperately run themselves out of Gods favour I could not if I had all the language in the world set off your misery souls I will pray that Sea-men may not give the Devil the like occasion to triumph over Christ as hee did in Cyprians dayes whose words I will thus invert quoth Satan I never dyed for any Sea-men that serve me with such diligence as Christ hath done for his I never promised my Sailors that serve me so great a reward as Christ hath done to his and yet I have more Sea-men that are servants unto me than Christ hath amongst them that are servants unto him Christ hath here one in a ship and there one in a ship but do not you see that the greatest number and the greatest part of men even in all Nations that are sent out in ships to the Sea are my servants And yet notwithstanding though you run your selves upon these six dangers besides the many more that I might reckon up unto you I am afraid that you will not for all this deal with prayer What Objections lye in my way I will remove and then Sea-men answer God another day for your prayerless and irreligious lives it is not I but your selves that must give an account of your selves yet such is my love and largeness of heart towards you all that I cannot better express it than in the Apostles words Rom. 10.1 Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved Whether ever or never that I shall see the face of a Sea-man again or set my foot in a States ship again yet shall my prayers bee for you both in private and publick and if I should not so do I think I should not bee well-pleasing to my God because I seriously lay to heart what need you have of it both for your conversion and also for your preservation and sanctification Object 1 Mee thinks I hear some poor Sea-men saying Alas Sir wee cannot pray wee have not those praying abilities to lay open our selves in to God otherwise we would not be so backward in the practising of your good and Christian counsel and advertisement as wee are Answer Abilities to pray are evermore found to increase upon and in the use of prayer Precando disces precare by practising prayer thou will learn to pray Do thy part and God will not bee wanting in the doing of his Moses begun to object to God his weakness in speaking but would God take or dispense with that excuse Exod. 4.12 Now therefore go and I will bee with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say Mee thinks I hear many Sea-men Object 2 speakieg unto mee on this wise Good Sir why are you so importunate with us to take up this duty of prayer there bee many thousand sail that goe to and again in the Sea that use no prayer at all and yet they prosper and meet with little danger or damage I am afraid that their prosperity is their plague and penalty Answer for because they prosper for the present Are not most Sailors Nero-like who said when counselled Ut facta superi semper comprebent sua that the gods above might approve of all his doings Stulte verebor esse cum faciam Deus Thou doting foâ—l shall I stand thinking or fearing the gods when I go about my own designs In like manner sayes the generality of Mariners What would you have us to be godly and to use prayer this we never did nor never will do they sinfully presume and sinfully presuming they presume to sin and sin will in the end set the doors wide open to let in the Seas and winds upon them Prayerless ships the more they prosper I am afraid that they are the nearer unto judgement Phericedes's boast was this that hee had as much contentment and safety though hee never sacrificed to the gods in all his life
any thing from God for prayer That the strength of the strongest faith Observ 15 in the hearts of Gods people in stormy and tempestuous Seas proves both small and little enough at those times when Gods help is delayed Then they cry c. Mat. 8.25 And his disciples came to him and awoke him saying Lord save us wee perish Psal 119.120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am affraid of thy Judgment Observ 16 Hee that would have the Lords help in a storm let him bid adiew to all confidence in the strength of ships and in the deepest wit of men Then they cry c. Psal 108.12 Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man This is a good conclusion and the onely way to engage your God to take care of you when neither man will nor can stand by you to help you That Sea-men seek not the Lord so earnestly Observ 17 in tempestuous storms Does not many Sailors say to prayer when the storm is once over what Felix said to Paul Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will send for thee Sea-men never pray but when the Sea crosses them and is ready to run them down by the board I am affraid that many Sea-men pray against sin as if they were of Austins mind malebam expleri quam extingui we had rather serve our corruptions than have God to grant our petitions How can you expect to be heard in time of danger when that you pray against sin as if you wished that God might not hear you but they have need of stirring up to seek him earnestlier Then they cry c. Jonah 1.6 The ship-master came unto him and said unto him what meanest thou Oh sleeper arise call upon thy God if so bee that God will think upon us that wee perish not I am affraid that there is these two ill properties in many a Sea-mans prayer at such times as these 1. That they flow from and out of a constrained heart 2. That they flow also from a divided heart 1. From a constrained heart Prayer comes from their hearts as fire out of a flint or as blood out of the nose that comes not spontaneously but wringingly Pii non trahuntur ad Tribunal Dei sed sponte accedunt Good souls are not drawn and haled before God in prayer but go freely and delightfully before the Lord. Psal 119.108 Accept I beseech thee the free-will Offerings of my mouth 2. From a divided heart Their hearts are not integral and entire in prayer Whereas the prayer of a gratious soul flows from the heart as naturally as water out of the fountaine or hony out of the comb Psal 119.10 With my whole heart I have sought thee 1. Sailors come not to God often 2. And with God they take no delight Observ 18 to stay long The Sea-man now appears in fits as if really looking towards God and good and by and by when out of danger hee casts off all again no Polypus nor Camaelion hath more coulours than the Sailor has changings You would think that some Sea-men in dreadful storms had directly set their hearts upon God and good and that they were really pitched upon him but when out of storms all presently breaks and falls unto the ground again That the worst and very vilest of men in the time of affliction and inevitable distress are forced to seek and sue unto the Lord for help Then they cry c. They that never practised prayer before but spoke as unkindly unto it as Pharaoh did unto Moses Get thee from mee and see my face no more now are constrained to call upon the Lord. Psal 78.34 When hee slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God Sailors cry hard that the storm may cease and bee allayed for it is the wind and the Sea that is all their trouble they cry not to God that sin may bee pardoned and mortified in them which raised the storm sin and the Devil has quiet entertainment amongst them 1. Reason Because nature it self is professly cross unto all trouble danger disquiet and vexation it is tired therewith and so willingly would have ease And upon this account I fear many cry unto God in storms even because the Lord has summoned in and called off those former comforts of calmness peaceableness and quietness that they had in the Sea 2. Reason Because all the means that can bee used in time of storms are but helpless without Gods help and therefore are they forced to fly unto God because all their helps have an invalidity in them Those prayers that are running out from mens mouths by force in the time of storms are never good Forced and constrained prayer is both commonly false and also of no esteem or accompt with God because men care for no more if they can but have their lives and ships it is not the living of an holy life afterwards that they beg for neither is or should much confidence bee imposed in them God loves prayer in the times of peace and when prayer comes out of love to God and to the duty hee likes it well else not Observ 19 That the dolefullest miseries that can befal mâ—n that go in the Seas or the extreamest dangers that they may ever bee surrounded withal if but laid forth before God in prayer are good arguments of hope that God will in his good time help them Then they cry c. Observ 20 That the dreadful dangers that Sea-men are in when in storms should make them sensible of their sin and of Gods just displeasure against them for the same Then they cry c. Jonah 1.7 Let us cast lots that wee may know for whose cause this evil is upon us Observ 21 That the estate of Sea-men may bee such at some times as God will lend no further succour and deliverance to it Then they cry c. They may well cry indeed Remember may the Lord say If you hear of any ships cast away at any time in any part of the Seas you may conclude that the Sailors were swearing drinking cursing at that time for had they been praying fasting humbling of themselves and calling upon their God their ships might have lived in the storm their lives also been spared the time was that I heard your cries your tears and prayers and has pittied you when your ships has been thrown upon Sands and I have taken care to keep them off from splitting upon the Rocks many and many a time but you have turned all these gratious deliverances of mine into wantonness therefore will I deliver you no more Jer. 5.7 How shall I pardon thee for this Isa 1.24 Ah I will ease mee of mine adversaries and avenge mee of mine enemies I am afraid that Sea-men are a burthen unto the Lord and that hee sends many of them packing to hell when hee sends them
down alive ships and all into the very bottoms When the Idol Apis of Egypt had a mind that Germanicus should bee ruined shee would not take meat from his hand This was the answer that the stormy-wind gave when demanded what was the reason that it had shipwracked so many goodly Vessels at such a time Si precantes eos ventus invenisset nihil contra eos efficere potuisset If I had but found them praying I could not have ruined them So God prayers from your hands That is is not for nought that the Lord Observ 22 sends down such calamitous and perilous storms as hee doth upon those that use the Seas Then they cry c. It was a great dispute betwixt Doctor Philomusus and Learned Philosophus what might bee the reason that Sea-men out-strip all people in rudeness deboystness wildness and ungodliness Philosophus Worthy Sir to answer you exactly ratione causae it cannot otherwise be but they should be a wild a brutish sort of people in respect they live so much out of the Land if they lived on land amongst good people there were some hopes of their reformation and amendment but living amongst vain idle and ungodly men they become like a drop that falls out of the clouds even one and the same with the Ocean Fowls that live on the waters are never known to bee tame viz. your Duck Mallard Goose and Seagul these are all wilde and not like unto your Land Fowl 2. They must needs bee wilde because they never tarried so long on land as to get good nurtriture literature and breeding but their parents pack them out to Sea from small children to seek and work for their living As it is with the Lapwings young so is it with the Sailors Naturalists observe of this Bird that if the shell doth but once crack and break they are of that running mettle that they will force their way out and run with the shells upon their heads The generality of Sea-men run to the Sea before they bee seven eight nine or ten years of age and therefore this is one main reason why they are so rude contemptible and absurd in their manners 3. Their ignorance and brutishness together with their audacious gracelesness arises from their early and timely running out of the land on to the water before they are able to give any account of Faith Scripture and the Ten Commandements 4. The main reason why Sea-men are such notorious and nefarious swearers rises either from their nesciency of that Commandement of the Lords Exod. 20.7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain There would be a greater number of Swearers Drunkards and Adulterers amongst the Sailors did not White-Hall keep them down and in awe Surely that is a dreadful house whose lofty Turrets keeps both Sea and Land in subjection I may say of Sailors what Juvenal once said of a people in the times he lived in Non habent ulterius quod nostris moribus addat posteritas Our Sailors flow with those sins in the Seas which former ages were ashamed of and which following posterities will never be able to adde or commit Or otherwise from a want of the fear of God 5. The main reason why Sea-men generally are such filthy and immoderate Drunkards is their want of principles to fortifie themselves against it or otherwise being kept out so long at Sea when they come on land they pour down their cups as Swine do their swill which are of such an avarous gurmundizing nature that they think they can never have enough 6. The main reason why the generality of Sea-men are such extravagant and irregular liars is their deficiency in Scripture-knowledge and also in the strong converting work of Gods grace upon their hearts were that once wrought in them the running issue of their foul-tongues would soon take up and cease Philomusus Worthy Sir you have very fully and pregnantly satisfied mee as to the question I propounded to you for which I thank you should I yet press you to tell mee more of them I know that you could do it but the time not permitting I will not move in this case any further To cast up all shortly Sailors you may conclude that God will one day reckon with you for your unparalleld prophaneness and that storms come not upon you for nought neither are any of you cast away in your ships but by reason of your ungodliness May I not objurgatorily speak it that there goes many ships in the Sea which if they were deeply loaded with the filthiest excrements that lye in the stinkingest Jakes Channels and Boghouses about the City of London would bee far sweeter receptacles for gracious hearts to breathe and walk in than they either are or ever will bee because of that voyce of swearing lying and prophaneness that is amongst them I have met with this passage concerning an Hermite that was taken away in the evening by the conduct of an Angel through a great City to contemplate the great wickedness that was daily and hourly done in it and meeting in the street a Cart that was full laden with the excrements of men the man stopt his nostrils and betook himself to the other side of the street hastening from the sowr carriage all hee could but the Angel kept on his way seeming no whit offended with the ill savour of it and the man much wondring at it followed after him and presently they met a woman gorgeously apparelled perfumed and richly attired well attended on with Torches and Coaches not a few to convey her to an house of Baudry Surely our States Captains and the Merchants Ship-masters have good noses and also good stomachs that can live so contentedly in ships which are meer Hell-houses of swearing and prophaneness If I were a Commander I would either run out of the stinke of swearing or make them to run out of the ship that should take that boldness to make such a filthy funke in it the good Hermite seeing this begun something to bee revived with the fair sight and sweet smell thereof and so begun to stand and gaze upon them but the Angel stopt his nose and hastened away beckning to his companion to retreat from the stench of the Coach telling him withal that that brave Courtezan laden with sin was a far fouler stench and savour to him and before God and his holy Angels than that beastly and stinking Dung-cart hee fled from which was laden with excrements They that are wise will make the Application Observ 23 That great is that stupidity and benummedness that is in Sea-men when they cannot nor will not bee awakened to seek unto God before and until storm and danger comes upon them Then they cry c. And he bringeth them out of their distresses This phrase is joyned to the other by a copulative particle And is
his glorious Majesty hee is able to do all things that are works of power might and strength and are not things against his own nature or things that imply contradiction Reason 2 Because when things are impossible in mans eye then is it the fittest time for the Lord to appear in It is a common saying and a true one That mans extreamity is Gods opportunity Observ 6 That God in his Judgments upon the Seas often times remembers mercy And hee bringeth them c. God is slow to wrath I wish I may not say of the Lords indulgency to profane wretches in the Sea what Sigismund the Emperour used to say of his enemies Is inimicum occidit qui inimico parcit I am affraid Deus non nunquam parcendo saevit That the Lords long sparing will end in rageing and may I so speak hee is seen walking towards sinners in the shooes of Asher which were of ponderous brass Deut. 33.24 25. Observ 7 That the greatest dangers of the Seas and the proudest waves that ever elevated are and should bee no plea for unbelief And hee brings them c. Matth. 14.30 31. When Peter saw the wind boysterous his heart begun to fail him but was hee not reproved for his distrusting of the Lord Poop-lantern ship-covering and yard-arm-rising waves should not daunt and discourage faith in God Were the Seas in a storm as high as the mountains of Merionethshire in Wales whose hanging and kissing tops come so close together that the shepherds sitting on their several mountains may very audibly stand and discourse together but if they would go to one another they must take the pains to travel many miles Sailors should not bee apalled and terrified Dangers are faiths Element and in them it lives and thrives best Such was the high-raised valour of Luther that when hee was to go to the City of Worms they told him of strange things Faith like the Ivie the Hop the Woodbine which have a natural instinct in them to cling lay hold upon the stronger Trees laies hold on God in time of danger as many will doe fresh-water travellers at Sea but quoth Luther if all the Tiles that bee upon every House in the Town were devils they should not scare mee Sailors should have the like courage in storms which one had when in a great straight Certa mihi spes est quod vitam qui dedit idem Et velit possit suppeditare cibum Good hearts may say to the Sea when in a storm what Luther said to his enemies Impellere possunt sed totum prosternere non possunt crudeliter me tractare possunt sed non extirpare Haec est fides credere quod non vides dentes nudare sed non devorare occidere me possunt sed in totum me perdere non possunt Faith will put your heads into Heaven and your ships into an Harbour when in a storm it will set you on the top of Pisgab with Moses and descry the promised Land when you may come to bee denied the sight of Land in storms 1. Great Faith is seen in this as much as any one thing whatsoever that it both can and will beleeve in God as a man may say with reverence whether God will or no it will beleeve in an angry God in a killing God and in a drowning God Job 15.10 Great Faith is not easily shaken 2. Great Faith is never clearer seen than when in the midst of souzing storms and dangers there is great confidence and strength of heart in the soul at such times Observ 8 That God will have every thing wrested from him by prayer And hee bringeth c. Good Sea-men should play the part of Daedalus Templum Cybelis Deorum matris non manibâ—es sed precibus solummodo aperiebatur The gates of Cybeles Temples could not bee opened by hands but prayer quickly threw them open who when hee could not escape by way upon Earth went by way of Heaven and that is the way of prayer Five Motives to put Sea-men upon Prayer 1. Solemnly consider that in the creature there is nothing but emptiness and helplesness 2. Solemnly consider that you cannot have any hopes of winning ought from God but by prayer The Champions could not wring an apple out of Milo's hand by strong hand but a fair maid by fair means got it presently 3. Solemnly consider of God what hee is whom you serve naturally no other but goodness it self Nothing animated Benhadad so much as this that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings It was said of Charles the great I would to God I could say so of every Tarpowling that goes in the Salt-waters that hee delighted so much in prayer that Carolus plus cum Deo quam cum hominibus loquitur That hee spake more and oftner to and with God than hee did with men Flectitur iratus voce rogante Deus And nothing encouraged Titus Vespatian the Emperour's Subjects so much as this that hee did nunquam dimittere tristem never send any away sorrowful 4. Solemnly consider how many in the Seas go upon the very same errand that you go on to him and mind how they speed and are carried securely out of all their distresses 5. Solemnly consider what Prayer is to God hee loves it Let mee hear thy voice for it is comly 6. Call to mind your former experiences did you ever pray in a storm but you fared the better by it Consider what cases you have been heard in That servent Prayer will prevail with Observ 9 God in the greatest storms I would all the States Tarpowlings were of James the Just's principle of whom Eusebius tells us Genua ejus in morem cameli obditrata sensum contactus amiserunt That his knees were hardned like the Camels by his frequent kneeling to Prayer Prayer is Optimus dermientium cuslos certissima navigautium salus tutissimum viatoribus scutum The slâ—epers best keeper the Sailors surest safety the Travellers protecting Shield And hee brings them out c. Witness the Mariners calm Jonah 1. and witness Christs disciples deliverance in the storm Impartial fire that comes from above has been often times seen to spare yeelding objects and to melt resisting metal to pass by lower roofs and to strike upon all high-Towered pinnacles I wish that our Sailors were as much given to Prayer as Anna the daughter of Phannel of whom it was said that shee never departed out of the Temple but served God night and day in prayer and fasting I wish it were the resolution of them that use the Seas to do as Ambrose the Bishop of Millain did when news came to him that Justina the mother of Valentinian intended to banish him hee told them that hee would never run away but if they had any purpose to kill him they should at any time find him in the Church praying for himself and for his people 1. Vse of Comfort For
out side of which was nothing but deep water saying Lente equidem tamen attente gradior morae nulla est Si modo sat bent quo vis cito sat venies but of divers others also now the remote and Inland Towns of our Nation have not that delectable aspect that you daily have they are far from beholding the mountainous Seas the dreadful storms and shipwracks that are perpetually happening and befalling that restless element which you both see and daily hear of Sea-men tell you many a story how at such a time the winds blew their sails rent their masts broke and how at such a time they were shipwracked some got to shore upon this peece of plank and another upon that and at another time how they were put to it by reason of the leakiness of their ship and a thousand more dangers besides these do they tell you of All that I aim at unto you is this Bee affected with your deliverances Exod. 4.31 And when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that hee had looked upon their affliction then they bowed their heads and worshipped Oh bee melted at the goodness of God towards men in this imployment and when they come into your Towns perswade the poor Sea-men to fear the Lord and win them if you can unto the liking of the good wayes of God One of the saddest plagues that I know of this day in England is in our Sea-port Towns the people in them care not if they can but get their monies though they leave a thousand Oaths behinde them in their houses 2. When you see great Fleets upon the Seas or going out of your Harbours or from the other parts of our Nation put up your prayers unto the Lord for them and in their behalf perhaps your eyes may never see them more The Sea-mans life is not unlike to the roof of the great Temple in Jerusalem which as Villalpandus records out of Josephus shewed flowers growing amongst gilded prickles The best dayes of your lives have many a thorn in them nor they ever see the land or shore again their imployment hath so many thousand casualties attending it Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labrae That comes in an hour that happens not in a thousand The Sea is not unlike to Proteus whom Homer tells of A ship in the Sea is in as much danger of being lost as the Owl in the Emblem who had many fowls pecking at her to tear her in peeces Perfero quid faciam nequeo compeâ—cere multos Spumat aper fluit unda fremit Leo sibilat anguis It foams like a Boar flyes like a flood hisses like a Snake and roars like a Lion Did Inland Towns but see and know of the staggering dangers that Sea-men go through they would send out their prayers for them that God would allay storms moderate Seas halter the winds and that God would prosper them to their desired Ports Ah Sirs No grace resembles God so much as the promoting of the good of others as well as our own private and particular good Every man looks upon his own things Phil. 2.21 Sea-port Towns in this case should resemble the Emblem of the candle pro vobis luceo ardeo I am willing to do all the good I can All minde themselves sayes the Apostle all comparatively in respect of the paucity of those that do pray for the good of others It was Tacitus's word of that famous Roman Emperour Sibi bonus aliis malus Hee that is too much for himself fails to bee good to others I may say of Haven Towns as some Antients used to say of the Statues of their Princes that they would have them alwayes placed by their fountains intimating that they were or at leastwise should bee Fountains of publick good Your dwellings are by the great Ocean side from whence you should learn to resemble it in the publick good it doth it admits every Bark Ship and Vessel to come and sail in it and upon it You should not bee for your selves onely but for others Sea-men sit in the waves of the Sea as he in the Emblem did of whom it is said Dum clavum rectum teneam navimque gubernem Uni committam caetera cuncta Deo Pray for them Oh let ships that sail in the Seas have many prayers from you bee they our Country or any other Country shipping that you see pray for them Is not the good of many to bee preferred above and before a private good Matth. 5.45 God makes his Sun to shine and his rain to fall upon the unjust as well as upon the just You cannot resemble God in any thing more than in being publick-spirited for the good of others 3. When you see the great ships of War that are the woodden walls of our land go out to Sea pray for them and for their good success and prosperity against the enemies of Jesus Christ to the end they may bee preserved in those hot and dreadful disputes that they are oftentimes called unto You can salute them now and then with your roaring Ordnance from off your Castles and Sea-ports Town and make all flye in fire and smoak when they are takeing their farewel of the Land The Sea is ful of perils not unlike to the English Colledge at Valladolid in Spain which at ones very first entrance bee terribiles visu formas terrible shapes and representations of men with knives at their throats Alas to the eye of reason death attends their imployment in the Seas every day they uprise or at their return home from some prolix voyage Ah Sirs salute them with your prayers that will do them most good Can you see the Warlike Frigots of this Land sailing and crusing of it every day upon the Seas before your eyes which lye out night and day in an uncomfortable and restless Sea to secure your Harbours Towns and Trading and yet never bee affected with their dangers fears and sorrows Can you go to your beds at an evening and rise up in the morning and never think of them who lye rocking reeling and staggering in the roaring and raging waves Let mee argue the case with you Is not the Commonwealth of England a great first rate And is not or hath not every one in the Nation their cabbins houses The Sea-mans habitation is Ubi nil est nisi pontus aer But yours is upon firm land and habitations in it our Nation is but an Island and stands in the Sea and so may very well bee resembled to a ship all of you are passengers and partners in this ship and if shee prosper miss or hit upon the rocks and sands that bee in the Seas you are like to bee sharers therein so that in seeking the publick good you most wisely seeke your own good 4. Certainly my friends Praying people in Sea-ports are Englands best Bombardae bellicosissimae Guns either in Towns
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