thy goodnesse ouer all the world whereby thou chearest and comfortest all things liuing but also beholdest all things and actions of the world which are naked and conspicuous in thy sight and dispellest and scatterest all thicke clouds and darke mists of ignorance infidelity and error and shewest vnto thy children the right way to heauen preseruing them from stumbling slipping and dangerous falling in that way Grant vs therefore that in thy light wee may see light And seeing thy Sonne Iesus Christ is the true life and light of men that enlighteneth euery man that commeth into the world who when the naturall light of rectified reason which thou gauest vnto man in his creation was by sinne extinguished and put out did supply the defect thereof by a better light the light of faith whereby thy children do vnderstand the mysteries of the kingdome of heauen O Lord make vs euery day more and more partakers of this light Enlighten our vnderstandâ—ngs by thy blessed Spirit and our hearts by the light of faith and our affections by thy Word that we being naâ—urally darkenesse may be light in thee and may shine as lights in a froward and peruerse generation and may let our light so shine before men that they may see our good workes and glorifie thee our Father in heauen And seeing the night of our ignorance is passed and the day is at hand and thy grace which bringeth saluation to all thy faithfull hath appeared teaching vs to denie vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to walke soberly and iustly and godly in this present world Grant vs thy grace whereby we may cast off the workes of darkenesse and put on the armour of light and walk as children of the light that thy Son being come a light into the world we may not loue darkenes more then light because our works are euil but Lord let the light of thy countenance shine vpon vs that the light of faith which we receiue of thee in this life may make vs liue in expectation of thy light of glory in the life to come being by thee made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light And now Lord we humbly intreate thy fatherly protection of our bodies soules from all dangers both outward and inward this day giue vs grace to make spiritual vse to our soules of all the actions and occurrences therein make vs conscionably carefull not to offend thee either in thought word or deede and prosper we beseech thee whatsoeuer wee vndertake in thy feare that wee may chearefully goe on in the seuerall workes of our places and callings so as we may seale vp our election by good workes and worke out our saluation in feare and trembling that whensoeuer this miserable and sinfull life of ours shall be ended wee may rest and raigne with thee in glory through the merits of thy deare Sonne Iesus Christ in whose name wee further call vpon thee as he hath taught vs saying Our Father c. An Euening Prayer WE present ouâ—â—â—lues again before thee most merciful Father acknowledging and confessing against our selues our manifold sins which wee haue daily multiplied against thy Maiestie and against our owne consciences from the beginning of our dayes and euen this day now passed We confesse O Lord that we were at first conceiued and borne in sinne and that from that originall corruption there haue euer since proceeded so many wicked and vngodly thoughts words and works that if thou examine what we haue done amisse we were not able to abide it or to answere one of a thousand of our actions for euen our best workes our prayers are accompanied with so many imperfections of wandring imaginations that when we haue done praying we had need to pray vnto thee againe to forgiue the scapes and negligences and ignorances of them Wee confesse further O Lord God that in respect of our sinnes wee are not worthy to looke vp to heauen or to call vpon thy name for we haue iustly deserued not onely to be depriued of all thy good blessings both concerning this and a better life which hitherto by thy mercies we haue enioyed and which we more fully expect hereafter by thy gracious promise but also wee haue deserued and doe daily deserue thy wrath and indignation to bee poured downe vpon vs vpon our bodies and soules in this life and in the life to come if thou shouldest enter into iudgement with vs. But there is mercy with the O Lord that thou maist be feared And we appeale therefore from thy seuere iustice against sinne vnto thy tender mercies in thine owne Sonne in whom wee know thou art well pleased Wee humbly beseech thee for his sake to be mercifull vnto â—s to pardon and to forgiue vs all our sinnes to wash them away in his blood to bury them in his death and passion so as they may neuer be imputed to vs either in this life to the terror and affrighting of our consciences or in the world to come to our vtter condemnation Good Lord giue vs euery day more and more the true sight of our sinnes the true sense and feeling of them and of thy great iudgements hanging ouer our heads in respect of them Giue vs a true sorrow and hearty repentance for all our sinnes past and a full resolution in the residue of our liues to be more wary and circumspect ouer all our words and actions that we may not onely striue to abstaine from sin but auoid those occasions which we haue formerly found to haue drawne vs thereunto And now Lord seeing the night is come vpon vs and hath not onely depriued vs of the light of the Sun but hath also brought with it darkenesse and terrors fearefull to our weake natures yet wee still depend vpon thy holy protection for as the day is thine so the night is thine Thou hast made darkenesse thy secret place and thy pauillion round about thee euen darkenesse of waters and clowds of the aire and yet the darkenesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkenesse and the light to thee are both alike Preserue vs therefore we humbly beseech thee from the perils and dangers of this night following giue our bodies rest and sleepe and let our soules continually watch for the time when our Lord Iesus Christ shall come for our full deliuerance out of this mortall life O Lord the sleepe wee now desire is an image of death while our senses being thereby bound vp from the performance of their functions and operations wee lye still as dead men not able to see or heare or doe any thing Let our beds therefore put vs in mind of our graues and the rest which we desire for our wearied bodies put vs in minde of the true rest and quiet both of body and soule which thou hast prouided for thy children after this life eâ—ded And
himselfe intâ— a Mountaine and sometime to the Desert and sometime to a ship at sea as his places of refuge 4 But principally as I take it he entred into a ship and sailed in it that by his example he might both giue warrant to those that haue a lawfull calling to aduenture thâ—mselues and their liues at sea depending vpon Gods protection as also to shew the necessitie that his Apostles should be tied vnto to take that course afterward when they receiued commission to goe preach the Gospell to all Naâ—ions which they could not doe especially to Islanders but by passing of the sea Here then we obserue the honour of the Art of Nauigation and of the professors and practisers thereof graced in this place by the presence and practice of our Sauiour Christ and this miracle wrought by him at sea for as we account it none of the least dignities of that honorable estate of Matrimonie that Christ adorned and beautified a Marriage with his presence and first miracle that hee wrought at Cana in Galile so must we think it a great honour to Nauigation and Nauigators that Christ himselfe vouchsafed to enter into a ship and therein to worke a greateâ— miracle and certainely the honours of Nauigators by sea are very great For â—irst howsoeuer they trade and spend the best part of their liues in another â—lement then the ordinary course of other men doe yet is that element of water nothing inferiour but rather more excellent then the earth the lowest and basest of all the rest and in the opinion of a great Philosopher this is the Element of Elements or the first matter whereof al bâ—dies were made whose opinion in the iudgement of one of the best Diuines of our age is most agreeable to the truth deliuered by Moses That the Spirit of God moued vpon the waters where the word mouâ—d being a metaphor taâ—en from birds sitting vpon egges to hatch their young doth shew that God out oâ— those waters as out of the first matter did produce all bodies as well celestiall as terrestiall for the word heauens in originall being a compound doth signifie nothing else but there water answerable to that which followeth in the historie of the Creation of the waters beneath and aboue the firmament vnto which if we shall adde for the dignitie of this element That the earth was specially cursed for the sinne of man That in the generall destruction of all liuing creatures in the deluge the fishes the inhabitants of this element escaped That our Sauiour Christ did chuse fishermen for his principall Apostles That he ordained this element as the matter of the Sacrament of baptisme and that by his owne vndertaking this Sacrament in â—his element Hee sanctified the Flood Iordan and all other waters to the mysticall washing away of sinne All these doe shew the dignitie of this element aboue the earth Secondly whereas the difference of excellencie in Trades doth best appeare in their dependance vpon Gods prouidence insomuch as the greatest argument of the Fathers against Vsury is that the Vsurer will not relie or depend vpon Gods blessing and prouidence but vpon such security as their wits can find out of Bonds Statutes Morgages and Pawnes This is the second honour of Nauigators and Merchants that of all other men they most rest and trust vpon Gods blessing and protection In which respect if we will call to mind the blessings that God hath bestowed especially vpon this our Nation in this last age of the world more then euer since the beginning of the world for the perfecting of the Art of Nauigation and for the discouery of new Nations which may in comparison be called neâ— worlds so that those cold parts of the world towards the Poles and hot Zone vnder and neere the Line which by ancients were thought to be inhabitable are now as familiarly gone vnto as from Douer to Calice we cannot but admire Gods mercie and goodnesse to reserue this honour to this last and worst age of the world that we may at last learne to crie out with the Prophet What shall I render vnto the Lord for all his benefits which he hath giuen me Thirdly whereas amongst men the degrees of honour consist in the difficulty and hardnesse of the atchiuement so that the greatest honour is the hardest to be obtained is best esteemed by hardnesse in getting it this is the third honour of Nauigators especially in great and long voyages that they purchase their honour the hardest of any other they indure and ouercome more apparant difficulties and dangers then any other men in the world and therefore their honour so deare bought to be highly preferred Fourthly whereas in all professions they are most honourable which bring most knowledge and vnderstanding because reason and the true vse of it is held the specificall difference betwixt men and beasts And among all humane learning the Mathematicall sciences haue had the precedence both for certainty because they are grounded on demonstration and also because they acquaint vs with all the courses motions proportions of the celestiall and elementarie bodies This is the fourth honour of Nauigators that they haue the most and best vse of all Mathematicall discipline Arithmeticke Geometry Astronomie and as it is set downe as a commendation of Moses that he was learned in all the wisedome of the Egyptians and therefore powerfull in words and in deeds and this wisedome of the Egyptians was in the Mathematicall sciences especially in Astronomie whereby they obserued not only the distinction of the Planets from the fixed starres but their site or place their magnitudes their coniunctions and oppositions and their influences and forces vpon bodies beneath the Moone the ingendring of all meteors the cause of the ebbing flowing and saltnesse of the sea and such like so this cannot but adde to the honour of Nauigators that they not only examine the truth of former obseruations but doe daily encrease knowledge in the world concerning these most excellent speculations Fifthly antiquitie hath euer been held a true badge of honour especially in those artes and professions which were first found out by men famous renouned in their times And this is the fifth honour of Nauigators for howsoeuer prophane historians in their histories doe ascribe both the inuention of shipping and the art of Nauigation to one of themselues one Atlas a Moore whom for his skill in Astronomie the Poets faine to beare vp the heauens with his shoulders as if he were the first inuentor and in part a perfecter of this excellent Art yet we Christians as we reade in the Scripture do hold that the first vse of shipping and the Art of Nauigation came both immediately from God himselfe and were reuealed to Noah in forme of an Arke which hee was not only commanded to make but had particular directions both for the matter whereof
by their feare whereby they awoke him and indeede prayer in it selfe is so excellent that as the word of God is the foode of the soule so thiâ— is the exercise of the soule for the obtaining keeping and increasing of all spirituall grace So that as a man cannot keepe his body for any long time in health and strength vnlesse he vse some exercise yea though he fill it with good meate and feed it most carefully So although a man doe heare the Word of God euery day preached vâ—to him and so feede his soule with the foode of life yet vnlesse he doe by this spirituall exercise of praier draw the said heauenly food into the seuerall parts of his soule he shall sensibly feele his faith hope loue patience all other spirituall graces to decrease by little and little yea as â—he exercising of the body doth not onely preserue it in the naturall vigour but also â—ncreaseth the strength of it by keeping it from growing fat and foggy and preseruing it from sicknesse so by the daily vse of prayer we shall find that the Lord will increase in vs all spirituall graces farre aboue our owne expectation or the opinion of any other Yea euen in this life hearty and feruent prayer comming from a faithfull man is health in sicknesse riches in pouerty safety in danger comfort in aduersitie and makes supply of all temporall defects and wants whatsoeuer But aboue all the sea-man â—specially in long voyages being for the most part debarred of the spirituall food of his soule that is the Word of God ordinarily preached should labour to redeeme and recouer that losse both by reading the Word of God and learned mens workes but specially by hauing continuall recourse to God in prayer For it is the end of our preaching to teach men how to pray and there is not a more infallible signe of a true childe of God then the spirit or gift of prayer whereby a man is made able and willing and ready to pray aright vnto God as the present occasion doth require Art thou by distance of place imprisonment trauell or otherwise remoued from the ordinary hearing of the Word preached haue daily recourse vnto God by prayer three times in a day with Daniel seuen times in a day with Dauid alwaies as Christ teacheth and continually as Saint Paul commandeth Offer vp this sacrifice morniâ—g and euening and say with the Prophet Let my prayer ascend vnto thee as the incense and the lifting vp of my haâ—ds as the euening sacrifice Let it be thy first and thy last worke euery day for this is clauis dieâ— a key to open the day and it is Sera noctis a locke to shut vp the night it is Signaculum cibi that which makes thee looke for a blessing on thy meat thy prayer or grace before and after mâ—ales and whatsoeuer thou goest about though thou haue not time to conceiue a prayer in words yet learne of Nehemiah to lift vp thy heart vnto the Lord. Art thou tempted to any euill pray to God to giue theâ— grace and strength to ouercome the tentation and if thou receiue it not at the first pray with Saint Paul the second and third time Hast thou giuen way and art thou ouercome by the tentation pray for repentance and faith that thou maist bee reconciled vnto God againe Dost thou find that thou hast deserued Gods iudgements and that they hang ouer tâ—y head for sinne pray that if it be his will they may be turned away from thee Hath God found thee out and are his iudgements vpon thee rip vp thy heart consider thy former life confesse thy sinnes vnto him pray for deliuerance either to remoue his iudgements or to lessen them or to encrease thy strength and patience to beare theÌ„ Again dost thou find any want of any spirituall grace in thee pray to him that is only able and willing to bestow it vpon thee Dost thou find any comfort by any grace already receiued pray for the continuance and increase in it and for multiplying and increasing of more graces Giâ—â— alâ— diligence to ioyne vnto your faith vertue and with vâ—â—tue kâ—owlâ—dge and with knowledge temperance anâ— with temperance patience and with patience godlinesse and with godlinesse brotherly kindnes and with brotherly kindâ—esse louâ— c. Pray not only for thy selfe but for others both with thee and farre from thee Frater si prote solùm oras solus pro te oras si pro omnibus ores omnes pro te orant Brother saith Saint Augustinâ— if thou onely pray for thy selfe thou alone prayest for thy self if thou pray for all men all doe pray for thee A man in the remotest parts of the world should not onely remember his friends at home but his enemies abroad and pray for all that they all may pray for him Now for the necessity of this duty of prayer if we consider Gods commandement Call vpon me in the day of thy trouble This is all that he requires and therefore we say with Naamans seruants If the Prophet hâ—d commanded thee a great thing wouldst thou not haue done it how much rather then c. This commandement of God were a sufficient reason by the Centurions rule And Christ speaking of an obedient seruant Doth his Master saith he thanke him for doing this But secondly our owne wants and necessities do constraine vs for wee haue nothing of our selues but what wee receiue of him neither haue we any promise of receiuing any thing without prayer Aske and you shall haue Thirdly our enemies are first strong like the strong man armed that holdeth possession in peace Secondly many euen principalities powers worldlie gouernours princes of darknesse c. Thirdly crafty for the diuell is a deepe polititian And lest we should be circumuenâ—ed wee must not be ignorant of his enterprises As that sometimes hee transformes himselfe into an Angell of light And there is more heede to be taken of him when he comes in the wilie serpent then when he comes with open mouth roring like a Lion We see when he came to tempt our Sauiour Christ he comes as it weâ—â— with his Psalter in his hand and scriptum est in his mouth It is wâ—itten saith he as though he had Scripture for his warrant Seeing then God commands vs our necessities compell vs and our enemies are so strong so many and so craftie and wee can haue no helpe but of God and no meanes to obtaine helpe from him but by prayer to which he hath annexed his promise and he is faithfull that hath promised Seeing that which Saint Iames telles vs that the prayer of a righteous man preuaileth much is confirmed by examples in holy Scripture that no dutie hath wrought such miracles not onely in the Elements as the opening of the earth to swallow vp
sixe skorâ— thousand that knew not their right hand from the left And they had fortie daies liberty to bethink themselues before the destruction should come yet at one dayes preaching of one Prophet one short Sermon The men of Niniueh beleeued God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them for the word came to the King of Niniueh and hee arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him and put one sackcloth and sat in ashes c. No maruell therefore if our Sauiour say of the men in his time that the men of Niniueh shall rise in iudgeâ—ent with this generation and coâ—demne it for they repented at the preaching of Ionah But much more may it be said of our generation now for we are not Heathen as they were we haue heard not one onely but many Ionahs not one day but many daies and yeeres preaching and threatning Gods iudgements We haue not liberty of forty daies granted vs before we are to expect his iudgement except we repent we haue seene and felt many iudgements both vpon our neighbours and our selues and yet we are so farre from ioyning together from the greatest to the least to repent and humble our selues in prayer and fasting for the diuerting his iudgements and to turne from our euill wayes as they did that we continue in sinne and daily multiply our sinnes to prouoke him to hasten his iudgement yea many of vs I feare may bee accounted among those that the Apostle prophecied of that in the last daies should be mockers which would walke after their owne lusts and say Where is the promise of his comming for since the fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the Creation But to all such mockers of Gods iudgements denounced by his Prophets let that one example of the Iewes Gods owne people be sufficient of whom we reade That the Lord God of their Fathers sent vnto them by his messengers rising vp earely and sending for he had compassion on his people and on his habitation But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets vntill the wrath of the Lord arose against his people and till there was no remedy We see how the good thiefe in the Gospel rebuked the other thiefe that suffered with him and railed vpon our Sauiour Christ Fearest thou not God saith he seeing thou art in the same condemnation The feare of which condemnation did so worke with him that in the next verse after hee had acknowledged his owne sinne and Christs innocency he entreateth of Christ Lord remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome And receiued this comfortable promise This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Now if the feare of Gods iudgements worke so powerfully vpon the wicked to be in some of them the beginning of wisedome that is as Saint Augustine compares it as a needle to draw in the thread of the faith and loue of God wherby the rent is sowne vp betwixt God and them How is it possible but the iudgements of God vpon his owne Saints shuld make them cleaue vnto him and call and crie and roare and neuer giue ouer till they haue deliuerance and if their griefes and sorrowes bee so great that they cannot expresse them in words it being true of griefes Leâ—es loquuntur ingentes tacenâ— that light griefes may bee vttered in words but extreame griefes doe astonish and depriue men of speech yet euen in the greatest with Anna the mother of Samuel They doe in their troubled spirit poure out their soule before the Lord or with Hezekiah They chatter as a crane or a swallow and mourne as a doue And when we know not what to pray as wee ought the spirit helpeth our infirmities and maketh request for vs with sighes and grones which cannot be expressed But hee that knoweth the heart knoweth what is the meaning of the spirit for he maketh request for the Saints according to the will of God And thus wee see how the deuotions in our prayers are quickened and excited and stirred vp by the sensible feeling of Gods fatherly corrections which all his children are partakers of The vse whereof vnto sea-men nay their aduantage by occasion and necessity is that seeing they spend their liues in continuall dangers so that they may say with Saint Paul In iourâ—eying often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of mine own nation in perils among the Gentiles in perils in the Citie in perils in the wildernesse in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren The more perils they vndergoe the oftner they should and shall repaire to God by prayer in Iesus Christ seeing hee hath made two promises the one that whosoeuer asketh shall receiue and the other that whatsoeuer ye aske the father in my name he will giue it If wee ioyne these two that whosoeuer asketh whatsoeuer hâ— aske shall bee granted that will make vs like children in all dangers to run vnto our father and call and cry to him with assured trust to be deliuered And if we cleaue fast to God and haue continuall recourse vnto him and then most especially when we are in most danger then are we sure that nothing shall separate vs from his loue neither tribulation nor anguish nor persecution nor famine nor nakednesse nor perils nor sword No neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. But heere may bee demanded and obiected Shall any man whosoeuer receiue any thing whatsoeuer he shall aske of God in Christs name To this Saint Iames makes answere Let him not aske amiâ—se to consume vpon his owne lusts And againe Let him aske in faith and not wauer for a wauering minded man is like a waue of the sea And as our Sauiour Christ saith let him know what he askes expounded by Saint â—ohn If we aske any thing according to his will he heareth vs. Not as the theese that Saint Chrysostome speakes of that going to rob prayed that he might not be taken and was taken so much the sooner For conclusion of this point we obserue two things 1. That it is no certaine signe of Gods grace and fauour to haue a request granted at Gods hand For when the Israelites would needs haue flesh the Psalmist telles vs That he rained flâ—sh vpon them as dust and feathered foules as the sands of the sea And hee made it fall in the middest of their campe round about their habitations So they did eate and were filled for he gaue them their desire They were not turned from their lusts but their meat
Christian resolution depending vpon Gods prouidence without which a haire shall not fall from their heads so to encounter the greatest difficulties by this that they know their hope to bee in Christ and if it were onely in this life then were Christians of all other the most miserable but now they are so farre from perishing that God so loued the world that he gaâ—e his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting Hitherto we haue seene the occasions of the miracle Christ being fast asleepe and by reason of the extreme danger now newly awaked by the crie of his Disciples It remaines that wee come to the miracle and the meanes whereby it was wrought to wit his word onely rebuking the winds and the sea But yet our Sauiour makes no such haste but that first he reprehends his Disciples and â—aith Why are you fearefull O ye of little â—aith And yet some writing vpon this place doe thinke it to bee no reprehension but rather that before he will calme the sea hee doth onely strengthen and encourage his disciples in their faith and hope which was yet very weake and rid them of their feare and fainting And if we do so vnderstand it the meaning is that as in the apparitions of Angels to holy men and women botâ— in the old new TestameÌ„t they were strucken ordinarily with such feare that they could not deliuer their messages till they had rid theÌ„ froÌ„ that feare and therfore began their speeches so Feare not or Be not afraid Or as our Sauiour doth himselfe afterward to his Disciples at sea when they were troubled and cried out for feare thinking him to be a spirit He saith to them Be of good comfort It is I be not afraid So according to this interpretation it should be a speech to raise vp their deiected harts and spirits and to relieue and comfort them And if wee vnderstand the meaning in this sense then we learne here the difference betwixt this and other of Christs miracles for that in them he cured the bodily diseases of the leprosie paulsey blindnesse deafenesse lamenes but in this he cured the inward afflictions of the mind in immoderate griefe feare fainting and distrust of his mercie which are farre greater then bodily sicknesses And herein he teacheth vs that though their faith was very weake that he doth not breake the bruised reede nor quench the smoaking flaxe but comfort and nourish and cherish the least desires of goodnesse in his Saints and children And in that hee doth this before he worke the miracle he not onely sheweth that he hath more care of their soules then of their bodies but withall teacheth them and in them all Christians to be principally carefull for the health of their soules without which they are dead spiritually while they are aliue But I take it rather as the current both of the ancient Fathers and new Writers doe agree to be a reprehension or reproofe of the Disciples containing first a question Why are ye fearefull Secondly an answere O ye of little faith The question may seeme strange for how should they not be feareful that saw the danger of present death before their eyes as they verily thought They were men subiect to passions and imminent perils cannot but produce the passion of feare they must be either Stoicks or stocks that are not moued with such apparent danger But it was not their feare but the excessiue measure thereof that our Sauiour reprehends and therefore Saint Marke renders it so Why are you so fearefull that is though the danger be neuer so great yet you ought not thus to be faint-hearted and dismaied you might call vpon me but not with such exclamations you might awake me but not so ouercome with passion as if you were in despaire of helpe your extreame feare and want of faith doth you more harme then either the winds or the â—eaes Why are you so fearefulâ— Now to let passe the nature and necessity of feare in generall and to hold me to the text It was necessary at this time for them to feare For without it there would haue been little occasion and small vse of the miracle following neither could it haue wrought such impression in them as it did Neither are Christians to behold Gods iudgements but with feare The Lyon hath roared who will not be afraid And Moses at the giuing of the Law with lightnings and thunders said â— feare and quake much more the people of whom God saith O that there were such an heart in them to feare me alway Now howsoeuer the Scripture telleth vs that Christ hath deliuered vs from the hands of our enemies that wee being deliuered may serue him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the daies of our life And againe That we haue not receiued the spirit of bondage to feare againe but we haue receiued the Spirit of adoption whereby we crie Abba Father And so Saint Iohn There is no fâ—are in loue but perfect loue casteth out feare In which respect our Sauiour giueth this charge Feare not little flocke for it is your fathers pleasure to giue you a kingdome Yet these and all such places as they are to be vnderstood of a seruile and â—lauish feare not of that filiall and childlike feare wherby children stand in awe of their parents and dare not offend them especially while they are young for feare of correction yea for feare of disinheriting so as Salomon saith There is a time for all things there is a time in Gods children for seruile feare and that is in their first beginning of their repentance and conuersion vnto God For no man can truly repent vntill the Spirit of God by the shrill trumpet of the Law and the punishments due vnto the breakers of the law contained in that one sentence Cursâ—d is euery man that contiâ—ueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the Law to doe them which is a fearefull sentence if we obserue the words that they are not only miserable and wretched but accursed not onely some or many but euerie one not onely that doth not begin but that doth not continue and constantly perseuere vnto the end not onely in some points of the Law but in all things written in the booke of the Law not onely to affect and desire but to doe them This I say is a fearefull sentence and vntill it haue rowzed vp the â—inners drowzie conscience and both set before his eyes his manifold breaches and transgressions of Gods commandements and presented him with the fearefull spectacle of eternal death and condemnation due vnto him therefore so that the poore sinner holding vp his hand as it were at the barre of Gods iudgement seat being selfe-conuicted and condemned doth in a manner find himselfe in hell feeling the terrors of God fighting
seruants the prophets rising vp early and sending them saying Returne now euery man from his euill way and amend your workes c. but you would not obey mâ— Now if the obedience of the Rechabites to their father should be so great an argument to moue the Iewes to obedience vnto God how much more may the example of these rough seas and stormy tempests being calmed at the word of our Sauiour Christ only be a greater means if we truly meditate vpon it both to coÌ„sider how many words of his in the mouthes and writings of his Ministers haue bin in vaine vnto vs in former times and to put vs in mind of our duty of obedience that we be not worse then other creatures which are ready to obey and doe his will as it appeareth in this place And surely the word of God which is so powerfull in other creatures should be of as great command in man for the Apostle tels vs that the word of God is liuely and mighty in operation and sharper then any two edged sword and entreth through euen to the diuiding asunder of the soule and the spirit and of the ioynts and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and of the intents of the heart And this word will produce a worke for so saith the Prophet in the person of God Surely as the raine commeth downe and the snow from heauen and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it to bring forth and bud and that it may giue seede to the sower aâ—d bread vnto him that eateth So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth it shall not returne vnto me void but it shall accomplish that which I will and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it It is true that if we examine the working of this word in men it hath not many times that successe to be the power of God vnto saluation and the sauour of life vnto life but if it faile of that it is the sauour of death vnto death vnto them that perish for the earth saith the Apostle which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft vpon it and bringeth forth herbes meete for them by whom it is dressed receiueth blessing of God but that which beareth thornes and briers is reproued and is neere vnto cursing whose end is to be burned And to apply this vnto the text the Prophet telles vs That the wicked are like the raging sea that cannot rest whose waters casâ— vp myre and dirt There is no peace saith my God vnto the wicked That is they are continually troubled with stormes and tempests for their exorbitant passions and affections bee as violent and contrary winds distracting them on the one side to wanton lust and on the other to hatred and malice sometime feeding them with vaine hopes and sometimes renting and tearing them with desperate feares So that these and all other passions of the mind are fitly termed perturbations that corrupt the iudgement and seduce the will causing wicked men neuer to be at rest and quiet And the chiefe end of the word of God preached or read is to quiet and calme these tempests of the soule to moderate the violence of these furious passions and perturbations of the mind The vse whereof to all men but specially to Sea-men when they see stormes and tempests and their ship in danger is to consider their soules and the spirituall danger they are in by these outragious winds that sometime their ship or heart is driuen a shoare and sticks fast in the mire and dirt of lust and vncleannes which I heare hath been the wracke of many a poore soule in his trauels and sometime they are driuen into the gulfe of intemperance whereby they are swallowed vp quicke for want of calming that passion of their greedy appetite and desire sometime they are driuen vpon the rocke of desperate profanenesse swearing and cursing and blaspheming God vntil the ship of their soule be quasht in pieces and sometime on the sands of selfe-loue and selfe-conceit which passions and all other so long as they be inordinate doth driue their ship dangerously they know not whether Saint Augustine writing vpon that in the Psalme He would make haste for my deliuerance from the stormy wind and tempest sheweth both the cause and the remedie of all such tempests arising in thy heart and mind Forte nauis tua ideo turbatur quia Christus in te dormit c. Happily saith he thy ship is troubled because Christ is asleepe in thee The ship in which Christ sailed with his Disciples was sore troubled and in danger but the reason waâ— Christ was asleepe when his Disciples awaked him â—e rebuked the winds and the sea and there followed a Calme Thy heart and mind are therefore perhaps worthily troubled because Christ in whom thou hast â—eleeued â—s not awake in thee thou sufferest many perturbations because thou hast forgotten Christ his Passion and suffering for thee Recouer thy faith in him call vpon him awake him and â—e will arise and rebuke the storme and giue thee a Calme The cause then of all thy tempests in thy soule is that thou sufferest Christ to sleepe in thee the remedy against them is to awake him and call vpon him for helpe and deliuerance Doth the tentation to lust and vncleannesse seaze vpon thee as a tempest say vnto thy soule I am a Christian and haue giuen my name to Christ and am a member of his Mysticall body Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid Thus doe thou rouze vp Christ by thy spirituall meditation the storme will blow ouer and a Calme follow And as in this so in all other tentations if thou repaire to Christ his word will be as powerfull to giue thee peace and quiet as it was here to appease the fury of the windes and waues Thus much shall suffice of the third generall part of the historie to wit the miracle The fourth and last followeth concerning the successe of it in the beholders consisting in two things First They maruelled Secondly They acknowledged What man is this that both the Windes and Sea obey him For the first we neede not stand long with interpreters vpon this place to enquire who they are that are that are here said to maruell and wonder Our Euangelist calleth them the men and Saint Marke and Saint Luke they among themselues and seeing Saint Marke saith There were also with him other little ships It is plaine that both the Disciples and all the rest that were the beholders marueled for the Disciples as was shewed before were yet but young beginners raw fresh water souldiers and are reproued before for their little faith and therefore they as well as the rest could not chuse but wonder The Prophet Esay speaking of the birth of Christ saith that they shall call his name
house of this their tabernacle is dissolued they haue an euerlasting habitation in the heauens and therefore like to sea-men they vse the world as sea-men vse the sea as a way or place of passage to goe through neuer more ioyfull then when their voyage is ended by death and they brought into their right port or hauen that they may leaue their ship the Church Militant and goe ashore into the land of the liuing the Church Triumphant in heauen To conclude this point and not to passe it any further in the things wherein the sea is a true resemblance of the world as the vastnesse both of the one and of the other and that the sea casteth vp her dead vnto the shoare and so the world casteth vp those that are dead vnto it as the filth of the world aâ—d the off-scowring of all things to make them a gasing stock vnto the world to the Angels and to men and such like things wherein the sea and the world are alike We see that as the sea is bitter inconstant full of dangers full of monsters full of deuouring fishes and no place to settle and abide in so likewise is the world in all these respects to teach all men so to vse the world as sea-men vse the sea who in respect of the conditions and dangers before spoken of doe continually stand vpon their guard and watch day and night and specially in the night lest they should be suddenly ouertaken It is fit for all Christians to be as carefull and rather more for their soules then for their bodies the losse being much greater if they should miscary for what shall it profit a man to winne all the world and to lose his soule or what shall he giue for a recompence for his soule And the danger greater wherefore Christ chargeth vs Feare not them that can kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but feare him which is able to destroy both soule and boâ—y in hell And wee hauing so many commandements and charges in these regards to Watch and pray lest we fall iâ—to tentation to be sober and watch because the diuell goeth about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may deuour Let not the children of the world be wiser in their generation then we But though we bee vpon the land yet let vs thinke our selues to be at sea seeing this world is to vs as a sea and let them that are at sea compare the world and the sea together and bee as carefull and watchfull to preuent the dangers of the world as the dangers of the other sea or else there will be small comfort in making neuer so speedy prosperous and gainefull a voyage when their bodies shall returne safe home and their soules be drowned by the way in the gulfe of the worlds pleasures And thus wee see the sea is an image of the world Secondly the ship is an image of the true Church of Christ Militant here on earth So speakes Saint Chrysostome vpon this place It is not to be doubted saith he but this ship was a figure of the Church according to which exposition the holy Ghost speaketh by Salomon She is like a ship of Merchants which fetcheth her goods from farre that is the Church which the Apostles sayling in and the Lord guiding it the Spirit of God blowing on them with a fresh gale doth runne through the sea of the world by the preaching of the Gospell carrying in it the rich and inestimable iâ—well of Christs bloud the price paid by him for the redemption of all mankind In which words of Saint Chrysostome agreeing with the current of all writers we obserue another honour of Nauigation for as we account it a great honour to the holy estate of matrimony that Christ in the coniunction of the man and the woman would mystically signifie and represent the spirituall marriage and vnion betwixt himselfe and his Church so may we not idly ouerpasse the honour done here to Nauigation that our Sauiour did make the ship here as hee did Noahs Arke before a figure of his Church by which all Christians might learne of trauellers by sea how to passe through the sea of the world And certainely a ship may be the true resemblance of the Church of Christ in many respects First in the building a ship must be made in the keele toward the water and the earth very close and tight but is open aloft in the vpper part toward heauen so the Church of Christ is close and shut vp toward the world the sea but open vpwards towards God for our conuersation is in heauen from whence also we looke for the Sauiour euen the Lord Iesus Christ. Secondly in the forme a ship is made a Head and a Sterne that is before and behind very narrow but in the middle it is broad so the Church of Christ in the beginning was very narrow kept within the limits of Iudaea and in the middle when Christ came it spread abroad by the Ministery of the Apostles and their successours but in the end of the world it shall againe bee narrow for Thinke you when the Sonne of man comes that hee shall find faith in the earth Thirdly a ship that intends to make a long voyage must not onely be built but well furnisht and prouided of many necessaries she must haue her Ballast her Mast her Rigging her Sayles her Victualing her Ordinance her Lading and that neither too light nor too heauy and of such Merchandize as will best vent in the place whether she is to trade she must haue her Helme to bee guided by and her Compasse whereby to steere a right course and she must haue skilfull Commanders and seuerall Officers and painefull Saylers she must haue a Wind to carry her along and instruments to take the height of the Sunne and the Starres whereby she may be sure to steere a good course And lastly she must be prouided of an Anchor both in time of danger and being arriued in the Port or Hauen But if I should prosecute this comparison in all things belonging to a ship it would require a whole volume of it selfe and I must confesse that I am out of my element and that this taske would require the helpe and art of a skilfull Nauigator It shall suffice according to these short obseruations that the ballast of Christs ship is the feaâ—e of God to keepe it vpright That her Mast is the Crosse of Chrisâ— That her Sayles are the Faith of Christians That her Rigging consists in applâ—cation of the examples of the Saints that haue gone before vs That her victualing is the Flesh and bloud of Christ which will neuer perish buâ—â—ndure to life euerlastiâ—g That her Ordinance are the threâ—tnings of Gods Law thundring out death to all malefactors That her Lading is Good workes according to which euery man shall make his voyage That Sin is