God Concerning our next Cardinal point viz. Christ who is our star in the east I will name no more points in number concerning him neither but four 1. Christ is the first and clearest light the true Sun which ariseth upon the world by which all are enlightned Joh. 1.9 He is our Sun of Righteousness and till he arise there is no healing for us Mal. 3.2 He is that light which alone makes day as the Sun in the East doth Luke 1.78 79. The whole world lyes in a Night of dismal damnable darkness until Christ as the Day-spring from on high visite it to give light to them that fit in darkness 2. God alone is in him reconciling himself to the world 2 Cor. 5.19 We can never be reconciled justified adopted c. but in and by Jesus Christ and he is made all to us in these grand soul-saving matters 1 Cor. 1 30. Christ is the Way as well as the Truth the way of God to us as well as the light of God upon us no man cometh to the Father but by him as it is Joh. 14.6 3. Jesus Christ is onely made ours by the union and in-dwelling of himself in us through the spirit It 's the spirit alone who can annoint our eyes to see and behold this Sun 1 Cor. 2.9 10 c. It 's the spirit who uniteth us to Christ 1 Cor. 6.17 It 's the spirit who doth fit us for and bring us to Jesus Christ Ioh. 16.8 9 c. Where God intends to bring any to himself in his son he there giveth the Holy Ghost none can call Jesus Lord but by the spirit 1 Cor. 12.3 How then can any come by him and be one in Christs body but by the same spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 4. The way of the spirit uniting us to Christ is by an act of power on his part and by an act of faith on our part The spirit uses no other grace either to fasten Christ on us or us to Christ but Faith Believing is the all and the onely means of having Christ Other things may predispose but faith alone takes hold of and intitles us to Christ Other graces will follow but not as things joyning us to Christ but as fruits of our being united unto Jesus Christ Ioh. 3 16. last 5.29 Eph. 3.17 Ioh. 1.12 13. with others As Christ is the onely foundation so these things are fundamentally necessary to be known of him Now concerning our next point viz. holiness which is our South I would fain possess my self and others with these four principles about it 1. That whoever is in Christ is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 which new creature is renewed in holiness Eph 4.24 Although Christ in free-grace takes sinners when sinners yet he leaves them not so but makes them Saints or sanctâ—fied ones 1 Cor. 6.11 This know Though the unholiest soul may have Christ yet none but the holy soul can onely say I have Christ though Christ did not condemn or cast off that great sinner Ioh. 8.3 yet hee cautions her against sinne ver 11. 2 Holiness is the souls highest lustre it s the Sun in the South at the highest The holy soul is in the right and full aspect of God as South is towards the North God is and surely we are when we are holy glorious to holiness Exod. 15 11 When we come to perfection in holiness then is our Sun at the height in us and in order unto this we are to improve the promises 2 Cor 7 1 3 Holiness is Christ filling the soul As the Sun which passeth from East to South is highest in the South so Jesus Christ is at his highest in the heart when the heart is most holy A soul in the height of holiness hath Christ in the height in him 4. This holinesse is that which is directly opposite to sin as the clearest light is to the greatest darkness so is holiness to sin Sin eclipses holiness and holiness scatters sin Holy and undefiled are all one in Scripture they are all parallel expressions of one and the same thing Heb. 7 26 Phil. 2.15 2 Pet. 3.11 14 Our last principal point is the West that is our night-point our death-principle And certainly it 's necessary for us to know something of death Moses propounded the thought and sight of death to Israel as well as life Now with reference to death take four principles 1 Death is certain There is none that liveth and shall not see death It 's the certain wages of sin men do but deceive themselves when they put off the thoughts of death from themselves for all must dye The Sun of our life will set in death When our dayes come about to this Western-point it will be night Heb 9 27 Psal 49.7 9 2. If we dye in our sins out of Christ we are undone for ever Joh. 8 24 Miserable are the wisest the richest the greatest of men who cannot dye with Christ in their arms As to dye in Christ is gain so out of Christ it's loss yea the greatest loss Phil. 1 21 3 Death is but the souls or rather the bodyes night The setting-Sun will rise again It 's our benighting to dye but it 's not our annihilating All even the worst shall rise again and be brought to appeare before Jesus Christ As the Sun which sets in the West shall rise in the East So they that go hence by death shall rise by Christ 1 Cor 15 Apoc. 20 12 4. After death comes judgement Men that dye shall arise to be judged either for life or death the second time Good men shall arise to life wicked men to death Heb 9 27 Matth. 25 Do not slight this truth for it 's a principle in Religion Heb. 6 2 These are things all of them very necessary to be known As necessary as the four prints in the compass so necessary are these four heads and the particulars under them to be known I shall not passe from this without an addition of some other things from the connexion of these points in our Christian Compass 1 From the North-point we pass to the East God passeth forth to the world by Christ He comes only down to us by his Son No man cometh to God but by him Joh. 14 6 And as soon as we have thought of God it becomes us to passe on in our thoughts to Christ For God out of Christ is no lightsome nor chearing thought God out of Christ is a consuming fire 2. From East we proceed to South And indeed as Christ cometh into and advances upon the soul so holinesse appears even as the Sun doth as it riseth Southward Christs passage in the soul is in the Southern line of holinesse 3. From South we come to West Even the most Southern sanctified Saints that are must pass on to death Holiness fits for but frees not from death The warmth of Southern heat i e holinesse will enable us to bear the cold of death
Ship laden with some rich treasure at Sea in a dark night without Card or Compass not knowing where the Haven lieth unto which it would go nor how to shape or steer a course unto it so is it with Mankind since the fall Our Body is our Ship our Soul is our rich lading a Pearl indeed of great price worth more then all the merchandise of this world this world is the Sea and as we come into it naturally we want both the knowledge of our Haven unto which we ought to bend our course and also the knowledge of that by which we might be directed in it Indeed Heaven is our proper Haven there where Christ now is even the presence of God called Heaven it self Heb. 9.24 thither we ought to steer our course And the Word and Spirit 〈◊〉 the onely Rule by which we can 〈◊〉 to that spiritual knowledge where 〈◊〉 wee may be able to shape our course straitly and safely thither But alas naturally we are blind as to both and our being here is as in a darke place 2 Pet. 1.19 All the time of our life being rather a night of darkness than a day of light As much therefore as it concerns the Merchant to endeavor the safty of his Ship so much doth it concern us to endeavor the safety of our soul and the way of the one is a fit Embleme of the way of the other you know that Parable Mat. 13.35 where a Christian under the state or in the dispensation of the Gospel is called or likened unto a Merchant-man seeking goodly or precious Pearl and well he may for in many particulars a Christian and a Merchant are parallel or a man at sea and a soul in the world As to illustrate this in a word First Let this world be eyed as a sea or a place of waters indeed well it may be the waters being no more unstable then the world is there are not more changes in the Sea then are in the World the affairs thereof rouling up and down in as great a tossing as the waves of the sea do Ebbe and Flood are not more certain in the Waters then they are in the World by the flux and reflux of all our worldly affairs and the same brinish taste the same salt gust is in the things of the world which is in the waters of the Sea And indeed persons not used to the Sea are not more Sea-sick upon the water then Saints are while in the world Now are we mounted on high as to Heaven anon we are tumbled down as to Hell Sometimes our way is smooth at other times rough by which as the passenger at Sea we are continually distempered have constant cause to long to flee this Sea out of this world Secondly our body may well pass for a ship which is in its passage upon the waters of this world passing away as a Ship so Job's phrase is A great massie Hull As liable to leaks and bruises as a ship is And were it not for traffique-sake for a time a wise Christian would as little care for it as a Landman doth for a Ship or bark Thirdly therefore it 's not it viz our body but our soul which is our treasure Epietet us and many of the more refined Heathens then saw this and so spake when they said the Body was the Organ or vessel the Soul was the man and Merchandise The empty hull of the Ship without Merchandise is of more value then the body without the soul It 's our soul and its concernments that are our precious lading of these it is alone that we are to fear shipwrack Fourthly Souls have their Rocks their Sands their Scylla their Carybdis their Syrenes c. endangering them in this world as much as ships at sea sins corruptions temptations prophane companions carnal pleasures earthly-mindednesse c. these cause many to drown themselves in perdition as it is 1 Tim. 6.9 Indeed it 's the misery of the most that they either are ignorant of or wholly negligent in the minding of these dangers They let their Ship run at an adventure neither considering Sands or Rocks c. But 't is their madness so to do it ought to be our wisdom to mind our danger And all have reason to cry out ofâ—en in this respect as David did Save me O God out of the waters or as it is Isal 69.1 For the waters come into my soul You see the similitude will run well upon these four feet and indeed many more But let this suffice to hint it in the general That all souls are sea-men and that our way in the world is as the way of a Ship in the mighty waters CHAP. II. Spiritual Navigation pointed at and divided according to the division of the Body of Divinity SUrely sith we are Sea-men it 's our duty and wisdom to be skilled in the Art of Navigation How else shall we be able to â—â—eer our course aright to shape our way so as to have a happy voyage Q. But How shall we learn it who shall teach it us A. Certainly flesh and blood cannot reveal this mystery unto us Art may make a Sea-man but it cannot make a Saint One may be able to carry a Ship round the world safely as a man and yet not know how to steer a few Leagues in his soul-voyage without miscarrying Men may teach us artificial but they cannot as meer men acquaint us with the mystery of spiritual Navigation Humane wisdom may teach us to carry a Ship to the Indies but it cannot teach us to steer our course to the Haven of happiness In this matter as the wise Verulam said Transeundum est è navicula rationis c. i. e. we must leave come out of yea deny and depart from the Bark of Reason we must lay aside at least not trust to the compass of humane wisdom And we must to the Sanctuary if ever we will learn this myststerie He that would steer aright to happiness must have Jacobs staffe Pauls compass the spirits teaching and that annointing which is from above otherwise hee 'l sink into the deep of the bottomless pit and never arrive the fair haven in Emmanuels land In a word he must be an artist in the mysteries of the Kingdom He must be a Divine for so all Saints are that can be Pilot to carry a ship a soul to God Divinity is the Art of Soul-Navigation That alone tells us which and where our Haven is that acquaints us how to steer aright course thereunto Now Divinity hath been cut out by the Pen-knife of the Schools into three parts viz. Speculative Practical 〈◊〉 Affectionate Thomas was for the first Scotus for the second Hales for the third But a sound serious believer must joyn all together We must know and do and love We must not divide unless we intend to be destroyed I shall therefore reduce my thoughts to these three heads viz. Knowledge Practice
Affection and give you short Rules for so the Rules of Art ought to be in these things to make up the mystery of spiritual soul-navigation CHAP. III. Things necessary to be known by a spiritual Sea-man according to the points of his compass THE first thing which God made was light And the first piece of the new Creation is knowledge That therefore we may begin aright wee l begin with this and shew what are the principal things necessary to be known by a spiritual Sea-man Now ere I proceed I will premise this That I shall make the Seâ—… compass as it were the rule and pattern of my discourse which indeed was the occasional ground of these contemplations And answerable to the general points of the compass I shall hint such things as I conceive necessary to be known and done by a Christian in order to the steering rightly and safely to the blessed Port or Haven of happiness Upon this account I shall lay down four heads of truth to be known according unto the principal points of the compass and in allusion unto them I shall make God my North Christ my East Holiness my South and Death my West points Now the reason of this my allusion is this Jerusalem hath been generally conceived to be in the midst of the Earth and therefore some have called it the Navel of the World for as the Navel is in the midst of the body so say they is Jerusalem in the midst of the earth And hence it was that especially in Scripture-notion and language places have their denomination of scituation according as they lay about or stood with reference unto Jerusalem Eying therefore Jerusalem as our center I remember that on the North-side of it was the City of the Great King on the East the Mount of Olives on which Christ stood when he came at first to that City and on which he shall stand when he comes again Zach. 14.4 On the South-side was Mount Sion called the Mountain of holinesse Psal 87.1 And on the West-side was Mount Calvery and the valley of dead mens bones Upon this account it is I shall make my allusion to the North for God to the East for Christ to the South for holiness and to the West for death Now there can be no exception against this Allegorical speculation as to the handling of the things alluded unto save onely the first is not so clear viz. that the North should be for God It 's clear enough to any eye that as to the other three particulars there can be no ground to question their parallelling But why the North should be put by way of parallel for God may seem not so evident To clear that therefore consider that of Psal 48 2. Beautiful for scituation the joy of the whole Earth is Mount Sion on the sides of the North the city of the great King The meaning of which I cannot conceive as some do viz. that its spake of Mount Sion as if that were on the North-side of Jerusalem Our Maps and Geographers shew the contrary Mount Sion being on the South but I take it thus that on the North-side of Sion was the city of the great King i. e. Jerusalem or that part which was called the City lay North-ward of Sion as Josephus and others attest and so when it is said The joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion on the sides of the North the city of the great King the meaning is clear that the North side of Sion was the city of the great King Hence I conceive was that speech of the pride of Lucifer who when he would exalt his throne above the stars of God adds he would sit also in the sides of the North Isa 14.13 i. e. on the side which was accounted Gods which if it should be understood of the Mount Moriah as some do it still holds with our notion of the Norths being eyed as the place of God for Moriah was on the North-side of Sion and why may not I harmlesly at least collect that God stands for the North from that in Psal 75.6 where promotion is denyed to come from the East or South or West and without mention of the North it 's said to come from God as if it were a known motion God put for the North I will therefore presume that if I erre in the exactness of my allusion that yet 't is pardonable and therefore I 'le proceed hereupon as I said to put North for God East for Christ South for Holinesse and West for Death A Jove principium Let 's begin therefore as Mariners do with our North-point i.e. with God surely we shall not make a prosperous voyage without him sith he is the first to be known And being wel skilled in this point we shall presume and may expect fair weather will come out of this North as the phrase is Job 37.22 to make us happy in our spiritual failing Concerning God therefore I shall lay down these particulars as necessary to be known which I shall not expatiate upon only clearly and distinctly mention 1. We must know that God is Heb. 11.6 we must beware of saying with the fool there is no God Creation Providence even rain and fruitful seasons are his witnesses Aâ—â— 14.17 not to mention those grand and undeniable testimonies of scriptures and conscience But this is the first set it in your hearts that there is a God and however Heathens speak of many yet to us Christians there is but one God 1 Cor 8.5 6 2. We must know that this God is the chiefest good It 's onely himself and the light of his countenance which can make us happy Psal 4.6 7. Blessed are they that see i. e that enjoy him Mat. 5.8 Mat. 18.10 Now this is a principle necessary to be known viz. That God is that supreme good in the enjoyment of whom all true happinesse lyes All our love and labour to and for God depends upon this principle and the knowledge and belief hereof is of absolute necessity to make us happy 3. Life eternal lying in God and he being incomprehensible and unconceivable in essence as being a spirit We must know our best way to eye him is in his attributes Exod. 34.5 6 7. and works as Rom. 1.20 Especially in his Son as 2 Cor. 4.6 Read these Scriptures rememember them Gods Names declare his Nature his works intimate his being but his Son is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person 4. We must know that as God is a spirit so our onely and chiefest way of knowing enjoying serving and walking with him is in the spirit likewise Joh. 4.24 As God is so he ought to be known and served And he being a spirit he is only in a saving way known by the light of his own spirit and served in the simplicity and strength of our spirits These four things are the least that we can know in order to happiness concerning
Haven of Heaven worthy thy observation Is it not joy to hear by thy watchman that thou art neer the fair haven of the holy Land Look out look up O soul and rejoyce to see how neer thou art to thy blessed port 4. What care is there of this cable to preserve and strengthen it both that it may hold fast to the Anchor and that it may not break any where but hold fast the ship to it Surely I have in my vessell both my Cables I have in my vessell both my Cables and Anchor too The great promises of grace and the good hope which is through that grace as it is 2 Thess 2.16 and this Anchor is cast within the vail Heb. 6.19 where it hath sure ground from whence it will not slip Why do I not carefully and diligently attend it Why do I not study to secure these Cables and this Anchor that in every storm and tempest they may secure me 5. With what desires do all the Seamen tarry and pray for a good winde How troubled are they at a cross winde and how much perplexed at a calm What means all this but a desire to speed the voyage and to arrive the intended and desired Port which a calme and no winde doth as well hinder as a storm and cross winde Call thou O my soule upon the Spirit who is the breath of God and the winde of the soul-ship call upon him to arise blow Be grieved when thou art becalmed so as that thou must float and fluctuate upon the waters of this world for want of the winde and gales of the Spirit Mourn likewise when thou art hindered so as that thou canst not speed and haste in thy Heavenly Voyage by reason of cross breathings and opposite windes of thy corruptions Be sure diligently to observe everie gale spread all thy sailes neglect no opportunity take the winde of the Spirit when it blows and rejoyce that in the help of it tâ—ou hastest to thy desired port 6. What labour and paines doe all take in a storme How do these tend the sails and those the pump How do these stand by this and the others by the other rope And how do all secretly at least cry out and say Lord save us that we perish not Why then doest thou O my soule Jonah-like lye and sleep securely in many a tempest which doth befall thee Is the sinking of thy soul less then the perishing of a ship or art resolved desperately to go a-drift to see if God will save thee at a venture O take heed of this Awake and call upon thy God up and take hold of the means Set every faculty a work This is the hour and power of darkness as Christ said truly we may speak it of our present times If ever there were a tempestuous time now it is Soul art insensible Dost not thou see before thee many an Alexandrean and Hymean shipwrack as it is 1 Tim. 1.19 Hark! The windes blow the floods arise thy sails and rigging are rent and torn many a stately ship is sunk by thee and thy leaks are more then the pump of thy repentance can clear yet hope in God and be laborious though salvation be of grace yet good security is not without works and diligence 7. How doth each Mariner and Seaman eye and care for the whole crew as well as himself How doth he mainly intend the safety of the whole vessell while yet he singly cares for his own Cabbin What a safe and sweet harmony is there between the care of the whole and each particular part And how well doth selfe and the publike consist together Fool that I am why do I not thus in the ship of the Church seek as well the good of others as of my selfe Minde so my owne as not to neglect others and minde so others as yet particularly to minde my selfe How many like him in the Gospel ask concerning the number or multitude of such as shall be saved and yet in the interim neglect to stir themselves to secure their own salvation by striving to enter in at the strait gate And how many so singly eye themselves and enquire what they shall do to be saved that they seem altogether to neglect and not to care for others Steer Oh my soul a strait course between these rocks regard thy self and yet minde thy fellow-passengers Let not self-privacy wrong the publike nor a Pragmatick publickness cheat self 8. How oft hath a calm evening deceived the Seaman who when he thought he might go to his cabbin and sleep securely hath bin raised up in half a watch by some unexpected and boysterous storm And on the oher hand How hath some stormy day which made the Seamen fear a tempestuous and sad night how oft hath such a day ended in a calm at night So that when he thought to watch with fear he could go and lie down to sleep in peace Surely thus it hath bin more then once with thee O my soul in the voyage over the Sea of this world Many a storm hast thou unexpectedly met withall when visible appearances promised nothing but peace joy so that when-as thou hast said I wil lie me down in peace c. and my mountain is so sure I shal not be moved how upon a sudden hath God hid his face and the tempter arose in a tempest and thou wert suddenly troubled so that where thou wert ready to say I am in peace may rest sweetly Trouble came and thou wert afflicted and tossed as with a tempest and not comforted But canst not thou call to minde on the contrary to thy Redeemers praise that somtime thou hast expected trouble and yet hast met with peace And when thou hast said Hezekiah-like I shal go in bitterness softly all my dayes then hath not the Lord ere thou didst expect it speak peace in the blood of the Cross by the word of the Promise so that about the evening time when thodidst fear a night of darkness and tempest it was light and thou couldst rest and lie down with joy in the bed of grace in the bosome of Jesus Recall O soul thy spiritual experiences to remembrance by these sea-observations 9. How beautiful is the ship when under sail going before a fair winde and making fine weather With what ease and cheerfulness do all the sailors tend their business And how sweet and pleasant is such a passage when neither windes nor waves do in the least interrupt or indanger the ship in its course Hath it not been thus sometimes with thee O my soul hast not thou sometimes sailed with a full and fair gale Have not the winds above thee and the waters under thee sweetly served thee in thy voyage Hast not speeded well and sailed farr upon some Watches Verily it becomes thee to call to minde such former dayes and to render praise even for what is past And by or from the thought of some former Soul-calm
meditate terror Yet rejoyce in this that we are within ken of the good land A few Watches more we must run and indeed we must watch as we sail and then we shall see eye to eye and discern the fair haven fairly open for us to enter and land where we long to be On an Anchor that lost its hold and came home and left the ship adrift This Anchor sure had not good ground For if it had it would have kept its hold and not have left the ship thus to drive I see the anchor of hope will not serve the turne to hold the soul in a tempest except the ground of that hope be good There is a hope which hath but an evill ground and in the day of distress it will fail and force the soul to drive O my soule look to thy Hope see where thou castest it Be sure thy Anchor be within the vaile Hope is not good nor grounded except on Christ and free-grace Now the Lord Jesus Christ himselfe and God even the Father who hath loved mee and hath given me everlasting consolation and good hope through grace even that same God comfort my heart and establisheth me in every good word and work that though my hope be singly grounded on grace yet it may bee accompanied with good words and works that I deceive not my self lest my anchor come home and I run afloat ful of fear without hopes or hold in the day of Tempest and tryals On a ship that was left by the Mariners upon the Goodwin-sands in a storm and fetcht off by some Seamen sent to relieve it by my Lord of VVarwick What fearful and unfaithful Mariners were these that left the Vessel to sink and shifted for themselves while their stay and pains might have secured themselves and it well enough Ah Lord may the ship of the state never meet with such Mariners But if that doth stir up some noble Warwicks to send relief to secure the ship which the perfidious Seamen cowardly and unconscionably desert Trust not in men Oh my soul who are unstable as the waters Rely only upon the living God who never forsakes his in a storm or tempest If they prove fearfull and false that ought to tend thy security God can raise up others if he pleases to fetch thee off at any time from any rocks or sands Yea if men fail Sands shall be so good as to keep thee from wracking till Jehovah send help from above to save thee from the waters on which thou sailest that thou sink not and perish On the parting of a ships company at the end of a voyage With what joy do these all part and how glad are these men to leave each other and yet without any malice or ill will They love each other as companions and yet are glad to part company this is indeed a friendly farewell of friends Why should it not be thus between thy soul and body O my heart at the end of thy voyage when death comes and calls upon thee to strike sail and part Why art so loath to leave the carkase thy companion when thou art to go ashore in thy spirit upon Emmannels land Come leap and skip O soul part with the carkase with joy Thy voyage is ended thy months are out Go take thy pay receive thy wages which yet is of grace and not of works Be as glad to go out of the body and to leave it as the Seaman is to leave his ship Yet remember you shall return to your ship again when Mortality shall have put on Immortality your body shall be new rigged and trimmed up And though at the end of time in the World to come John tells us there shall be no Sea yet the Psalmist tells us there shall be a River of Pleasures on which thy soul and body shall sail and swim in an eternall calm of unexpressable bliss in the presence of God in the company of Christ Angels and Saints for evermore Strike fail here O my soul and turmoyle thy self on the Sea of this World no longer THese were some occasional Meditations of my own in the yeer 1642. when I was at sea And I make them thus publike as a pattern that all spiritual Saylors if they have no better may by this imitate themselves upon the like occasions to raise up such Meditations as these are REader I have now ended my Voyage I 'le conclude my Navigation If thou by the help of this Compass arrive the Port I mean Heaven I have my ayme and end therefore I 'le add no more but this This is my desired Haven which I sail unto And while I sail I 'le sing Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderfull works to the children of men So it is in the Psalm which I commend to every Saylor to studie and to sing Ps 107.30 31. FINIS