Supreme Good in the enjoyment of whom all true happiness lies Psal. 4. 6 7. Mat. 5. 8. 18. 20. 3. That Life eternal lying in God and he being incomprehensible and unconceivable in Essence as being a Spirit our best way to eye him is in his Attributes Exod. 34. 5 6 7. and works Rom. 1. 20. and especially in his Son 2 Cor. 4. 6. 4. That as God is a Spirit so our chiefest yea only way of knowing enjoying serving and walking with him is in the Spirit likewise Ioh. 4. 24. Concerning Christ we must know 1. That he is the true Sun which ariseth upon the World by which all are enlightned Iohn 1. 9. Mal. 3. 2. Luke 1. 78 79. 2. That God alone is in him reconciling himself to the World 2 Cor. 5. 19. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Iohn 14. 6. 3. That Jesus Christ is only made ours by the union and in-dwelling of himself in us through the spirit 1 Cor. 2. 9 10. and 6. 17. Ioh. 16. 8 9. 1 Cor. 12. 3. 13. 4. That the way of the spirits uniting us to Christ is by an act of Power on his part and by an act of Faith on our parts Iohn 3. 16. last 5. 29. Eph. 3. 17. Concerning Holiness we must know 1. That whoever is in Christ is a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. 1 Cor. 6. 11. 2. Holiness is the Souls highest lustre Exod. 15. 11. when we come to perfection in Holiness then is our Sun at the height in us 3. Holiness is Christ filling the Soul Christ our Sun is at highest in our hearts when they are most holy 4. This Holiness is that which is directly opposite to sin sin eclipses holiness and holiness scatters sin Heb. 7. 26. Phil. 2. 15. 2 Pet. 3. 11. Concerning Death we must know 1. Death is certain the Sun of our Life will set in Death when our days come about to this Western-point it will be night Heb. 9. 27. Psal. 49. 7 9. 2. If we die in our sins out of Christ we are undone for ever Iob 8. 24. Phil. 1. 21. 3. It is our benighting to die but it 's not our annihilating 1 Cor. 15. Rev. 20. 12. 4. After Death comes Judgment all that die shall arise to be judged either for life or death the second time Heb. 9. 27. Mat. 25. Heb. 6. 2. These four heads and the particulars under them are as necessary to be known in Spiritual Navigation as the four Points of the Compass are in Natural Navigation The things which we ought to do in order to our arrival to our Happiness our Author makes as many as there be Points in the Compass And for an help to memory we may begin every particular with initial known Letters on the Points of the Compass 1. N. Never stir or steer any course but by â—ight from God Psal. 119. 105. Isa. 8. 10. 2. N. and by E. Never Enter upon any Design but such as tends towards Christ Act. 10. 43. 3. N. N. E. Note Nothing Enviously which thrives without God Psal. 73. 12 13. 4. N. E. and by N. Never Enterprize Not-warrantable courses to procure any the most prized or conceited advantages 1. Tim. 6. 9 10. 5. N. N. E. Now Entertain the sacred Commands of God if hereafter thou expect the soveraign consolations of God Psal. 119. 48. 6. N.E. and by E. Never Esteem Egypt's Treasures so much as for them to forsake the People of God Heb. 11. 26. 7. E. N. E. Err not Especially in soul-affairs Ia. 1. 16. 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. 2 Tim. 2. 18. 8. E. and by N. Eschew Nothing but sin 1 Pet. 3. 11. Iob 1. 7 8-31 34. 9. E. Establish thy heart with grace Heb. 13. 9. 10. E. and by S. Eye Sanctity in every action 1 Pet. 1. 15. Zech. 14. 29. 11. E. S. E. Ever Strive Earnestly to live under and to improve the means of Grace 12. S.E. and by E. Suffer Every Evil of punishment of sorrow rather than leave the ways of Christ and Grace 13. S.E. Sigh Earnestly for more enjoyments of Christ. 14. S.E. and by S. Seek Evermore some Evidences of Christ in you the hope of glory 15. S.S.E. Still Set Eternity before you in regard of enjoying Jesus Christ Ioh. 17. 24. 16. S. and by E. Settle't Ever in your soul as a principle which you will never depart from that holiness and true happiness are in Christ and by Christ. 17. S. Set thy self always as before the Lord Psal. 16. 8. Acts 2. 25. 18. S and by W. See Weakness hastning thee to death even when thou art at the highest pitch or point 19. S. S. W. See Sin Which is the sting of Death as taken away by Christ 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. 20. S.W. and by S. Store up Wisely Some provisions every day for your dying day 21. S.W. Set Worldly things under your feet before death come to look you in the face 22. S.W. and by W. Still Weigh and Watch with loins girded and lamps trimmed Luk. 12. 35 36 37. 23. W. S. W. Weigh Soul-Works and all in the ballance of the Sanctuary 24. W. and by S. Walk in Sweet communion with Christ here and so thou maist die in peace Luk. 2. 29. 25. W. Whatsoever thy condition be in this world eye God as the disposer of it and therein be contented Phil. 4. 11. 26. W. and by N. Walk Not according to the course of the most but after the example of the best 27. W.N. W. Weigh Not What men speak or think of thee so God approve thee 2 Chro. 10. 18. Rom. 2. 28 29. 28. N. W. and by W. Never Wink at but Watch against small sins nor neglect little duties Eph. 5. 15. 29. N.W. Never Wish rashly for death nor love life too inordinately Iob 3. 4. 30. N. W. and by N. Now Work Nimbly ere night come Ioh. 12. 35 36. Eceles 9. 10. 31. N. N. W. Name Nothing When thou pleadest with God for thy Soul but Christ and Free-grace Dan. 9. 17. 32. N. and by W. Now Welcome Christ if at death thou wilt be welcomed by Christ. A tender quick enlivened and enlightened Conscience is the only Point upon which we must erect these Practical Rules of our Christian Compass Heb. 13. 1. 2 Cor. 1. 12. Our Memory that is the Box in which this Compass must be kept in which these Rules must be treasured that we may be as ready and expert in them as the Marriner is in his Sea-compass So much for the speculative and practical parts of the Art of Soul-Spiritual-Navigation The Affectionate part doth principally lie in the secret motions or movings of the Soul towards God in the Affections which are raised and warmed and especially appear active in Meditation Meditation being as it were the Limbeck or Still in which the Affections heat and melt and as it were drop sweet spiritual Waters The affectionate Author of the Christians Compass doth indeed in the third and last part of his Undertaking hint
and riches of it if they will but submit to the terms on which it is tender'd to them In the vastness of the Ocean we have also a lively Emblem of Eternity Who can comprehend or measure the Ocean but God And who can comprehend Eternity but he that is said to inhabit it Isa. 57. 15. Though shallow Rivers may be drained and dried up yet the Ocean cannot And though these transitory Days Months and Years will at last expire and determine yet Eternity shall not O! it is a long World and amazing Matter What is Eternity but a constant permanency of Persons and Things in one and the same State and Condition for ever putting them beyond all possibility of change The Heathens were wont to shadow it by a Cricle or a Snake twisted round It will be to all of us either a perpetual Day or Night which will not be measured by Watches Hours Minutes And as it cannot be measured so neither can it ever be diminished When thousands of years are gone there is not a minute less to come Gerhard and Drexelius do both illustrate it by this known similitude Suppose a Bird were to come once in a thousand years to some vast Mountain of Sand and carry away in her Bill one Sand in a thousand years O what a vast time would it be e're that immortal Bird after that rate had recovered the Mountain and yet in time this might be done For there would be still some diminution but in Eternity there can be none There be three things in Time which are not competent to Eternity In Time there is a Succession one Generation Year and Day passeth and another comes but Eternity is a fixed now In Time there is a Diminution and wasting the more is past the less to come But it is not so in Eternity In time there is an Alteration of condition and states A Man may be poor to day and rich to morrow sickly and diseased this week and well the next now in contempt and anon in honour But no change passes upon us in Eternity As the Tree falls at Death and Judgment so it lies for ever If in Heaven there thou art a Pillar and shalt go forth no more Rev. 3. 12. If in Hell no Redemption thence but the smoak of their torments ascendeth for ever and ever Rev. 19. 3. REFLECTION And is the Mercy of God like the great Deeps an Ocean that none can fathom What unspeakable Comfort is this to me may the pardoned Soul say Did Israel sing a Song when the Lord had overwhelm'd their corporal Enemies in the Seas And shall not I break forth into his Praises who hath drowned all my sins in the depth of Mercy O my Soul bless thou the Lord and let his high praises ever be in thy mouth Mayst not thou say that he hath gone to as high an extent and degree of Mercy in pardoning thee as ever he did in any Oh my God who is like unto thee that pardonest Iniquity Transgression and Sin What mercy but the Mercy of a God could cover such abominations as mine But O! what terrible Reflections will Conscience â—ake from hence upon all the Despisers of Mercy when the sinners eyes come to be opened too late for Mercy to do them good We have heard inâ—eed that the King of Heaven was a merciful King â—ut we would make no address to Him whilst that Scepter was stretched out We heard of Balm in Gilead and a Physician there that was able and willing to cure all our wounds but would not commit our seives to him We read that the Arms of Christ were open to embrance and receive us but we would not O unparallel'd folly O Soul-destroying madness Now the Womb of Mercy is shut up and shall bring forth no more Mercies to me for ever Now the Gates of Grace are shut and no cries can open them Mercy acted its part and is gone off the Stage and now Justice enters the Scene and will be glorified for ever upon me How often did I hear the Bowels of Compassion sounding in the Gospel for me But my hard and impenitent heart could not relent and now if it could it is too late I am now past out of the Ocean of Mercy into the Ocean of Eternity where I am fixed in the midst of endless Misery and shall never hear the Voice of Mercy more O dreadful Eternity Oh Soul-confounding Word â— An Ocean indeed to which this Ocean is but as a drop for in thee no Soul shall see either Bank or Bottom If I lie but one Night under strong pains of body how tedious doth that Night seem And how do I tell the Clock and wish for day In the World I might have had Life and would not And now how fain would I have Death but cannot â— How quick were my sins in execution And how long is their punishment in duration O how shall I dwell with everlasting Burnings Oh that God would but vouchsafe one treaty more with me Buâ— alas all tenders and treaties are now at an end with me On Earth peace Luke 2. 13. but none in Hell O my Soul consider these things come let us debate this matter seriously before we launch oâ— into this Ocean THE POEM Who from some high-rais'd Tower views the ground His heart doth tremble and his head doth round Even so my Soul whilst it doth view and think On this Eternity upon whose brink It borders stands amazed and doth cry O boundless bottomless Eternity The Scourge of Hell whose very Lash doth rend The damned Souls in twain What! never end The more thereon they ponder think and pore The more poor wretches still they howl and roar Ah! though more years in torments we should lie Than Sands are on the Shore or in the Skie Are twinkling Stars yet this gives some relief The hope of ending Ah! but here 's the grief A thousand Years in Torments past and gone Ten Thousand more afresh are coming on And when these Thousands all their course have run The end 's no more than when it first begun Come then my Soul let us discourse together This weighty Point and tell me plainly whether You for these short-liv'd Ioys that come and go Will plunge your self and me in endless woe Resolve the Question quickly do not dream More Time away Lo in an hasty stream We swiftly pass and shortly we shall be Ingulphed both in this Eternity CHAP. III. Within these smooth-fac'd Seas strange Creatures crawl But in Man's Heart far stranger than them all OBSERVATION IT was an unadvised saying of Plato Mare nil memorabile producit The Sea produceth nothing memorable But surely there is much of the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God manifested in those Inhabitants of the Watery Region Notwithstanding the Seas azure and smiling face Strange Creatures are bred in its Womb. O Lord saith David how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full
infatuating sin The danger of falling this way must needs be great and the fall very desperate because few that fall into it do ever rise again I shall lay two very terrible Scriptures before you to this purpose either of them enough to drive thee speedily to Christ or to drive thee out of thy wits the one is that Eccles. 7. 26. And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are bands Whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her The Argument which the spirit of God uses here to disswade from this Sin is taken from the subject they that fall into it for the most part are persons in whom God has no delight and so in judgment are delivered up to it and never recovered by Grace from it The other is that in Prov. 22. 14. The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein Oh terrible word able to daunt the heart of the the securest sinner your whores embrace you yea but God abhors you you have their love oh but you are under Gods hatred What say you to these two Scriptures If you are not Athiests methinks such a word from the mouth of God should strike like a Dart through thy Soul And upon this account it is that they never are recover'd because God has no delight in them If this be not enough view one Scripture more Prov. 2. 18 19. For her house inclineth unto Death and her paths unto the Dead None that go to her reture again neither take they hold of the paths of life Reader if thou be a person addicted to this sin go thy ways and think seriously what a case thou art in None return again i. e. a very few of many the examples of such as have been recovered are very rare Pliny tells us the Mermaids are commonly seen in green Meadows and have inchanting Voices but there are always found heaps of dead mens bones lying by them This may be but a fabulous Story But I am sure it is true of the Harlot whose Syren-Songs have allured thousands to their inevitable destruction It 's a captivating sin that leads away the sinner in triumph they cannot deliver their souls Prov. 7. 22. He goeth after her straightway as an Ox goeth to the slaughter or as a Fool to the correction of the stocks Mark a Fool it dementates and befools men takes away their understanding the Septuagint renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As a dog to the Collar or like as we use to say a dog in a string I have read of one that having by this sin wasted his body was told by Physitians that except he left it he would quickly lose his Eyes he answered If it be so then Vale lumen amicum Farewel sweet light And I remember Luther writes of a certain Nobleman in his Country who was so besotted with the sin of Whoredome that he was not ashamed to say That if he might live here for ever and be carried from one stews to another he would never desire any other Heaven The greatest Conquerors that have subdued Kingdoms and scorned to be commanded by any have been miserably enslaved and captivated by this Lust. O think sadly upon this argument God often gives them up to Impenitency and will not spend a rod upon them to reclaim them See Hos. 4. 14. Revel 22. 11. Arg. 7. And then in the 7th place Those few that have been recovered by Repentance out of it oh how bitter hath God made it to their souls I find it saith Solomon more bitter than death Eccles. 7. 26. Death is a very bitter thing Oh what a struggling and reluctance is there in Nature against it But this is more bitter Poor David found it so when he roared under those bloody lashes of Conscience for it in Psalm 51. Ah! when the Lord shall open the poor Sinner's eyes to see the horrid guilt he hath hereby contracted upon his own poor soul it will haunt him as a Ghost day and night and terrifie his soul with dreadful forms and representations O dear-bought pleasure if this were all it should cost What is now become of the pleasure of sin Oh! what gall and wormwood wilt thou taste when once the Lord shall bring thee to a sight of it the Hebrew word for Repentance Nacham and the Greek word Metamelia the one signifies an irking of the Soul and the other signifies After grief Yea it is called A renting of the heart as if it were torn in pieces in a mans breast Ask such a poor soul what it thinks of such Courses now Oh now it loaths abhors it self for them Ask him if he dare sin in that kind again You may as well ask me will he answer whether I will thrust my hand into the fire Oh it breeds an indignation in him against himself That word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 7. 11. signifies the rising of the stomach with very rage and being sick with anger Religious wrath is the fiercest wrath Oh what a furnace is the breast of the poor penitent what fumes what heats do abound in it whilst the sin is even before him and the sense of guilt upon him One night of carnal pleasure will keep thee many days and nights upon the rack of horrour if ever God give thee repentance unto life Arg. 8. And if thou never repent as indeed but â—ew do that fall into this sin then consider how God will follow thee with eternal vengeance Thou shalt have flaming Fire for burning Lust. This is a sin that hath a scent of fire and brimstone with it wherever you meet with it in Scripture The Harlots guests are lodged in the depths of Hell Prov. 9. 18. No more perfumed beds they must now lie down in flames Whoremongers shall have their part in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Rev. 21. 1. Such shall not inherit the Kingdom of God and Christ 1 Cor. 6. 9. No Dog shall come into the new Ierusalem there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth or that worketh abomination You have spent your strength upon sin and now God sets himself a work to shew the glory of his Power in punishing Rom. 9. 22. The wrath of God is transacted upon them in Hell by his own immediate hand Hâ—b 10. 30. Because no Creature is strong enough to convey all his wrath and it must all be poured out upon them therefore he himself will torment them for ever with his own immediate Power now he will stir up all his wrath and sinners shall know the price of their pleasures The punishment of Sodom is a little Map of Hell as I may say Oh how terrible a day was that upon those unclean wretches but that fire was not of many days continuance when it had consumed them and their
of thy riches So is this great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great Beasts Psalm 104. 24 25. And we read Lam. 4. 3. of Sea-Monsters which draw out their Breasts to their young Pliny and Purchas tell incredible stories about them About the Tropick of Capricorn our Sea-men meet with flying Fishes that have Wings like a Rere-mouse but of a Silver-colour they fly in flocks like Stares There are Creatures of very strange Forms and Properties some resembling a Cow called by the Spaniards Manates by some supposed to be the Sea-monster spoken of by Ieremy In the Rivers of Guiana Purchas saith there are Fishes that have four Eyes bearing two above and two beneath the Water when they swim Some resembling a Toad and very poisonous How strange both in shape and property is the Sword-fish and Thrasher that fight with the Whale Even our own Seas produce Creatures of strange shapes but the commonness takes off the wonder APPLICATION Thus doth the heart of Man naturally swarm and abound with strange and monstrous lusts and abominations Rom. 1. 29 30 31 Being filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness fuil of envy murder debate deceit malignity whisperers back-bitâ—rs haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to Parents without understanding covenant-breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful O what a swarm is here and yet there are multitudes more in the depths of the heart And it is no wonder considering that with this Nature we received the spawn of the blackest and vilest abominations This original lust is productive to them all Iam. 1. 14. 15. Which lust though it be in every Man numerically different from that of others yet it is one and the same speciffically for sort and kind in all the Children of Adam even as the reasonable Soul though every Man hath his own Soul viz a Soul individually distinct from another Man's yet is it the same for kind in all men So that whatever abominations are in the hearts and lives of the vilest Sodomites and most profligate Wretches under Heaven there is the same matter in thy heart out of which they were shaped and formed In the depths of the heart they are conceived and thence they crawl out of the eyes hands lips and all the members Mat. 15. 18. 19. Those things saith Christ which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and defile a man For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false-witness blasphemies Even such Monsters as would make a gracious heart tremble to behold What are my Lusts saith Fuller's Medone but so many Toads spitting of Venome tations p 11. and spawning of Poison croaking in my Iudgment creeping in my Will and crawling into my Affecttions The Apostle in 1 Cor. 5. 1. tells us of a sin Not to be named so monstrous that Nature it self startles at it Even such Monsters are generated in the depths of the heart Whence comes evils was a Question that much puzled the Philosphers of old Now here you may see whence they come and when they are begotten REFLECTION And are there such strange abominations in the heart of Man Then how is he degenerated from his Perfection and Glory His streams were once as clear as Chrystal and the Fountain of them pure there was no unclean Creature moving in them What a stately Fabrick was the Soul at first And what holy Inhabitants possessed the several rooms thereof But now as God speaks of Idumea Isai. 34. 11. The line of confusion is stretched out upon it and the stones of emptiness The Cormorant and Bittern posses it the Owl and the Raven dwell in it Yea as Isai. 13. 21. 22. The wild beasts of the desert lie there is is full of doleful creatures the Satyrs dance in it and Dragons cry in those sometimes pleasant places O sad change how sadly may we look back towards our first state and take up the words of Iob O that I were as in months past as in the days of my youth when the Almighty was yet with me when I put on righteousness and it cloathed me when my glory was fresh in me Job 29. 2 4. 5. Again think O my Soul what a miserable condition the Unregenerate abide in Thus swarmed and over-run with hellish Lusts â—nder the dominion and vassalage of divers Lusts Tit. 3. 3. What a tumultuous Sea is such a Soul How do these Lusts rage within them how do they contest and scuffle for the Throne and usually take it by turns For as all Diseases are contrary to health yet some contrary to each other so are Lusts. Hence poor Creatures are hurried on to different kinds of servitude according to the Nature of that imperious Lust that is in the Throne and like the Lunatick Mat. 17. are sometimes cast into the VVater and somtimes into the Fire Well might the Prophet say The wicked is like a troubled Sea that cannot rest Isai. 57. 20. They have no peace now in the serv ice of sin and less they shall have hereafter when they receive the wages of sin There is no peaec to the wicked saith my God they indeed cry Peace peace but my God doth not say so The last issue and result of this is Eternal Death no sooner is it delivered of its deceitfull pleasures but presently it falls in travel again and brings forth death Iam. 1 15. Once more And is the Heart such a Sea abounding with monstrous abominations then stand astonished O my Soul at that Free-grace which hath delivered thee from so sad a Condition O fall down and kiss the feet of Mercy that moved so freely and seasonably to thy rescue Let my heart be enlarged abundantly here Lord what am I that I should be taken and others left Reflect O my Soul upon the Conceptions and Births of Lusts in the days of Vanity which thou now blushest to own O what black imaginations hellish desires vile affections are lodged there Who made me to differ Or how came I to be thus wounderfully separated Surely it is by thy Free-grace and nothing else that I am what I am And by that Grace I have escaped to mine own astonishment the corruption that is in the World through Lust. O that ever the holy God should set his eyes on such an one or cast a look of love towards me in whom were Legions of unclean Lusts and Abominations THE POEM My Soul 's the Sea wherein from day to day Sins like Leviathans do sport and play Great Master-Lusts with all the lesser fry Therein increase and strangely multiply Yet strange it is not sin so fast should breed Since with this Nature I receiv'd the Seed And Spawn of every Species which was shed Into its Caverns first then nourished By its own native warmth which like the Sun Hath quickned them and now abroad they come And like the Frogs of Aegypt creep
when it gives its colour in the Glass the Harlot's beauty whose eye-lids are snares hiding always the Hook and concealing the issue from them He promises them gain and profit pleasure and delight and all that is tempting with assurance of Secresie By these he fastens the fatal Hook in their Jawes and thus they are led captive by him at his Will REFLECTION And is Satan so subtil and industrious to entice Souls to sin Doth he thus cast out his golden baits and allure Souls with pleasure to their ruine Then how doth it behove thee O my Soul to be jealous and wary How strict a guard should I set upon every sense Ah let me not so much regard how sin comes towards me in the Temptation as how it goes off at last The day in which Sodom was destroyed began with a pleasant Sun shine but ended in Fire and Brimstone I may promise my self much content in the satisfaction of my Lusts But O how certainly will it end in my ruine Ahab doubtless promised himself much content in the Vineyard of Naboth but his blood paid for it in the portion of Iezreel The Harlots Bed was perfumed to entice the simple young man Prov. 7. 17. But those Chambers of Delight proved the Chambers of Death and her House the way to Hell Ah with what a smiling face doth sin come on towards me in its temptations How doth it tickle the carnal phantasie and please the deceived heart But what a dreadful Catastrophe and Upshot hath it The delight is quickly gone but the guilt thereof remains to amaze and terrifie the Soul with ghastly forms and dreadful representations of the wrath of God As sin hath its Delights attending it to enter and fasten it so it hath its horrours and stings to torment and wound And as certainly as I see those go before it to make away so certainly shall I find these follow after and tread upon its heels No sooner is the Conscience awakened but all those Delights vanish as a Night-vision or as a Dream when one awakes and then I shall cry Here is the Hook but where is the Bait Here is the guilt and horrour but where the delight that I was promised And I whether shall I now go Ah my deceitful Lusts You have enticed and left me in the midst of all miseries THE POEM There 's skill in Fishing that the Devil knows For when for Souls Satan a fishing goes He Angles cunningly He knows he must Exactly fit the Bait unto the Lust. He studies Constitution Place and Time He guesses what is his delight what thine And so accordingly prepares the Bait Whilst he himself lies closely hid to wait When thou wilt nibble at it Dost incline To drunken Meetings then he baits with Wine Is this the way if unto this he 'll smell He 'll shortly pledge a Cup of Wrath in Hell To Pride or Lust is thy vile Nature bent An Object suitable he will present O think on this when you cast in the hook Say Thus for my poor Soul doth Satan look O play not with Temptations do not swallow The sugar'd Bait consider what will follow If once he hitch thee then away he draws Thy captive Soul close Prisoner in his paws CHAP. XXIII Doth Trading fail and Voyages prove bad If you cannot discern the cause 't is sad OBSRRVATION THere are many sad Complaints abroad and I think not without cause that Trade fails nothing turns to account And though all Countries be open and free for Traffick a general Peace with all Nations yet there seems to be a Dearth a secret Curse upon Trading You run from Country to Country and come losers home Men can hardly render a reason of it few hit the right cause of this Judgment APPLICATION That prosperity and success in Trade is from the blessing of God I suppose few are so Atheistical as once to deny or question The Devil himself acknowledges it Job 1. 10. Thou hast blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the Land It is not in the power of any man to get Riches Deut. 8. 18. Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth It is his Blessing that makes good men rich and his Permission that makes wicked men rich That Maxime came from Hell Quisque fortunae suae faber Every man is the Contriver of his own Condition Certainly The good of man is not in his own hand Job 21. 16. Promotion cometh not from the East or West Psal. 76. 6 7. This being acknowledged it is evident that in all disappointment and want of success in our Callings we ought not to stick in second cause but to look higher even to the hand and dispose of God For whose it is to give the Blessing his also it is to with-hold it And this is as clear in Scripture as the other It is the Lord that takes away the Fishes of the Sea Hos. 4. 3. Zeph. 1. 3. It is he that curseth our blessings Mal. 2. 2. This God doth as a punishment for sin and the abuse of mercies And therefore in such cases we ought not to rest in general complaints to or of one another but search what those sins are that provoke the Lord to inflict such Judgments And here I must request your patience to bear a plain and close word of Conviction My Brethren I am perswaded these are the sins among many other that provoke the Lord to blast all your Imployments 1. Our undertaking designs without Prayer Alas how few of us begin with God Interest him in our dealings and ask counsel and direction at his mouth Prayer is that which sanctifies all employments and enjoyments 1 Tim. 4. 5. The very Heathen could say A Iove Principium They must begin with God O that we had more Prayers and fewer Oaths 2. Injustice and Fraud in our dealings A sin to which Merchants are prone as appears by that expression Hos. 12. 7. This is that which will blast all our enjoyments 3. An over-earnest endeavour after the World Men make this their business they will be rich And hence it is they are not onely unmerciful to themselves in wearing and wasting their own spirits with carking cares but to such also as they employ neither regarding the Souls or Bodies of Men Scarce affording them the liberty of the Lord's Day as hath been too common in our New-found-Land Employments or if they have it yet they are so worn out with incessant Labours that that precious time is spent either in sleep or idleness It is no wonder God gives you more rest than you would have since that day of Rest hath been no better improved This over-doing hath not been the least cause of our undoing Lastly Our abuse of Prosperity when God gave it making God's Mercies the Food and Fewel of our Lusts. When we had an aâ—fluence and confluence of outward Blessings this made us kick against
enjoy it The business you have to do in it is of unspeakable weight and concernment this great work this Soul-work and Eternity-work lies upon your hands you are cast into streights of time about it And if so Oh what an evil is it in you to waste it away thus to no purpose Arg. 3. It 's a sin that few are sensible of as they are of other sins and therefore the more dangerous It 's commonly committed and that without checks of Conscience Other sins as Murther and Adultery though they be horrid sins yet are but seldom committed and when they are Conscience is startled at the horridness of them Few except they be prodigious wretches indeed dare make light of them But now for idle and vain words there are inumerable swarms of these every day and few regard them The intercourse betwixt the heart and tongue is quick they are quickly committed and as easily forgotten Arg. 4. And then 4thly They have mischievous effects upon others How long doth an idle word or foolish jest stick in mens minds and become an occasion of much sin to them The froath and vanity of thy Spirit which thy tongue so freely vents among thy vain Companions may be working in their minds when thou art in the dust and so be transmitted from one to another for unto that no more is requisite than an objective existence of those vain words in their memories And thus mayst thou be sinning in the persons of thy Companions when thou art turned into dust And this is one reason that Suarez gives for a general Judgment after men have past their particular judgment immediately after their death Because saith he after this multitudes of sins by their means will be committed in the world for which they must yet be judged to a fuller measure of wrath So that look as many of the precious Servants of God now in glory have left many weighty and holy Sayings behind them by which many thousands of souls have been benefitted and God glorified on Earth after they had left it So thou leavest that vanity upon the mind of others behind thee by which he may be dishonoured to many generations And then 2. For PROPHANE OATHES thâ— corrupt fruit of a graceless heart Oh how common are these among you yea the habit of swearing 〈◊〉 so strengthened in some that they have lost all Sensâ—â—â— and Conscience of the sin Now Oh that I mighâ— prevail with you to repent of this wickedness anâ— break the force of this customary evil among you Will you but give me the reading of a few pageâ— more and weigh with the reason of men what yoâ— read If you will not hearken to counsel it is a fatâ— sign 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. and you shall mourn for thâ— obstinacy hereafter Prov. 5. 12 13. Desperate that evil that scorns the remedy And if you haâ—â— patience to read it the Lord give you an heart 〈◊〉 consider what you read and obey the Counsels of God or else it were better thine eyes had never â—een these lines Well then I beseech you consider Arg. 1. That prophane Oathes are an high abuse of the dreadful and sacred Name of God which should neither be spoken or thought of without the â—â—eepest awe and reverence It is the taking of that â—acred Name in vain Exod. 20. 7. Now God is â—xceeding tender and jealous over his Name it is â—ear to him his Name is dreadful and glorious Malac. 1. 14. I am a great King and my Name is â—readful among the Heathens The Heathen would â—ot ordinarily mention the names of such as they â—everenced Suetonius saith that Augustus proâ—ibited the common use of his name he thought it 〈◊〉 indignity to have his name tost up and down in â—very one's mouth Yea saies Dr. Willet on Exod. 〈◊〉 it was a use among them to keep secret such â—ames as they would have in reverence They durst â—ot mention the name of Demogorgon whom they â—eld to be the first God They thought when he â—as named the earth would tremble Also the â—â—me of Murcurius Trismegistus was very sparingly â—ed because of that reverence the people had for 〈◊〉 Now consider shall poor worms be so tender 〈◊〉 preserving the reverence of their names Shall 〈◊〉 Heathens dare to use the names of their Idols 〈◊〉 shall the sacred and dreadful name of the true 〈◊〉 be thus bandied up and down by tongues of his 〈◊〉 Creatures Will not God be avenged for these â—ses of his Name Be confident it shall one day 〈◊〉 sanctified upon you in judgment because ye did 〈◊〉 sanctifie it according to your duty Arg. 2. Swearing is a part of the Worship of 〈◊〉 and therefore prophane swearing can be no less than the profanation of his worship and robbingâ—â— him of all the glory he has thereby Deut. 6. 13. â— Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and shalt swear by his Name So Jer. 4. 2. Thou shalâ— swear the Lord liveth in Truth in Iudgment and 〈◊〉 Righteousness If a man swear by God after thiâ— manner God is exceedingly glorified thereby Now that you may see what revenue of Glory Goâ—â—â— hath from this part of his worship and how it beâ—omes a part of Divine Worship you must know That an Oath is nothing else but The asking oâ— desiring a Divine Testimony for the confirmation of thâ— truth of our testimony Heb. 6. 16. For men verilâ— swear by the greater and an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife The corruption oâ— humane nature by the fall has made man such a falsâ— and â—ickle creature that his single testimony cannoâ— be sufficient Security for another especially iâ— weighty Cases to rest upon and therefore iâ— swearing he calleth â—od for a witness of the trutâ— of that he affirms or promiseth I say calleth Goâ— to be a witness of the truth of what he saith becauâ—â— he is Truth it self and cannot lie Heb. 6. 18. Noâ— this calling for or asking of a Testimony from Goâ— makes an Oath become a part of Gods Worshiâ— and gives him a great deal of Glory and Honour For hereby he that sweareth acknowledgeth 〈◊〉 Omnisciency and Infallible Truth and Righteousneâ—â—â— His Omnisciency is acknowledged for by this appeâ—â— to Him we imply and acknowledge him to be 〈◊〉 Searcher of the hearts and reins that he knows 〈◊〉 secret intents and meaning of our spirits His 〈◊〉 preme and Infallible Truth is also acknowledged 〈◊〉 this is manifestly carried in an Oath That thougâ— am a false and deceitful Creature and my affirmatiâ—â— cannot obtain universal and full credence yet that is greater than I by whose Name I swear cannot deceive And lastly his Righteousness is acknowledged in an Oath for he that sweareth doth either expresly or implicitly put himself under the curse and wrath of God if he swear falsely Every Oath hath â—n execration or imprecation in it Neh. 10. 29. They entered into a curse and an
of God The Obligation of it is by Casuists judged to be as great as that of an Oath It is a sacred and solemn bond wherein a Soul binds it self to God in lawful things and being once bound by it it is a most heinous evil to violate it It is an high piece of dishonesty to fail in what we have promised to men saith Dr. Hall but to disappoint God in our Vows is no less than Sacriledge The act is free and voluntary but if once a just and lawful vow or promise hath past your lips saith he you may not be false to God in keeping it It is with us for our vows as it was with Ananias and Saphirah for their substance VVhilst it remained saith Peter was it not thine own He needed not to sell and give it but if he will give he may not reserve it is death to save some he lies to the Holy Ghost that defalks from that which he engaged himself to bestow If thou have vowed to the mighty God of Iacob look to it that thou be faithful in thy performance for he is a great and jealous God and will not be mocked Now I am confident there be many among you that in your former distresses have solemnly engaged your Souls thus to God that if he would deliver you out of those dangers and spare your lives you would walk more strictly and live more holy lives than ever you did You have it may be engaged your Souls to the Lord against those sins as Drunkenness Lying Swearing Uncleanness or whatsoever evil it was that your Conscience then smote you for the vows of God I say are upon many of you But have you performed those vows that your lips have uttered Have you dealt truly with God or have you mocked him and lyed unto him with your lips and omitted those very duties you promised to perform and return'd to the self-same evils you promised to forsake I only put the question let your Consciences answer it But if it be so indeed that thou art a person that makest light of thy engagements to God as indeed Seamens Vows and Sick mens Promises are for the most part deceitful and slippery things being extorted from them by fear of Death and not from any deep resentment of the necessity and weight of those Duties to which they bind their Souls I say if this sin lie upon any of your Souls I advise you to go to God speedily and bewail it humble your self greatly before him admire his patience in forbearing you and pay unto him what your lips have promised And to move you thereunto let these Considerations among many other be laid to heart Consid. 1. Think seriously upon the greatness of that Majesty whom thou hast wronged by lying to him and falsifying thy engagements Oh think sadly on this It is not man whom thou hast abused but God even that God in whose hand thy life and breath is For although as one truly observes there be not in every vow a formal invocation of God God being the proper Correlate and as it were a party to every vow and therefore not formally to be invoked for the contestatioâ— of it yet there is in every vow an implicite calling God to witness so that certainly the Obligation of a Vow is not one jot beneath that of an Oath Now if God be as a party to whom thou hast past thy promise and its obligation on that ground be so great oh what hast thou done for a poor worm to mock with the most glorious majesty of Heaven and break Faith with God what a dreadful thing is that If it were but to thy fellow-creature though the sin would be great yet not like unto this Let me say to thee as the Prophet Isai. 7. 13. It is a small thing for you to weary men but you will weary my God also If you dare to deceive and abuse men dare you do so by God also Oh if the exceeding villanies of the sin do not affect thee yet methinks the danger of provoking so dreadful a Majesty against thee should And therefore consider Consid. 2. Secondly That the Lord will most certainly be avenged upon thee for these things except thou repent O read and tremble at the word of God Eccles. 5. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed But better it is that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not not pay Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neithey say thou before the Angel that it was an errour wherefore should God be angry at thy vice and destroy the works of thy hands Mark God will be angry and in that anger he will destroy the Work of thy hand i. e. saith Diodate Bring thee and all thy actions to nought by reason af thy perjury Now the anger of God which thy breach of promise kindles as appears by this Text is a dreadful fire Oh what Creature can stand before it as Asaph speaks Psal. 76. 7. Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry Consid. 3. Consider thirdly that all this while thou sinnest against knowledge and Conviction for did not thy Conscience plainly convince thee when imminent danger open'd its mouth that the matter of thy neglected vow was a most necessary duty If not why didst thou bind thy Soul to forsake such practises and to perform such duties Thou didst so look upon them then by which it appears thy Conscience is convinced of thy duty but Lust masters and over-rules And it so poor sinner what a case art thou in to go on from day to day sinning against Light and Knowledge Is not this a fearful rate of sinning And will not such sinners be plunged deeper into Hell than the poor Indians that never saw the evil of their ways as thou doest Ponder but two or three Scriptures in thy thoughts and see what a dreadful way of sinning this is Rom. 2. 9. ' Tribtlation anguish and wrath to every Soul of man that doth evil to the Iew first and also to the Gentile To the Jew first i. e. to the Jew especially and principally he had a precedency in means and light and so let him have in punishment So Iam. 4. 17. To him thrt knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin i. e. Sin with a witness horrid sin sin that surpasses the deeds of the wicked So Luke 12. 47. And that servant that knew his Lords will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes Which is a plain allusion to the Custom of the Iews in punishing an offender who being convicted the Judge was to see him bound fast to a Pillar his cloaths stript off and an Executioner with a Scourge to beat him with so many stripes But now those