let every Mariner look out and look about him Happy are they whom God will chuse and use at all But more happy are they who as the ships of Tarshish shall come first as Isa 60.9 As there is glory in being in Christ first unto which Paul alludes Rom. 16.7 So there is a peculiar priviledge in being used by Christ first in any great service Seamen therefore now if ever look after godliness God hath chosen the godly man for himself and service Wicked men whom God doth use may and shall have large rewards and good wages but yet they shall lose their voyage Even Nebuchadnezzar had his wages for his service as it is Ezek. 29.18 Yet alas what became of him O ye gallant Mariners who are to swim and serve in gallant ships upon a gallant service strive to be truely gracious which will be your greatest gallantry and glory now and to eternity without which you will either be fit for no service or fit for no wages Now it 's high time to flye from those Sea-monsters of swearing drunknness uncleanness c. Now its time to purge your heart's and hands and to goe from those abominations that ye may be vessels fitted for the Master use and prepared unto every good work But I 'le speak no more unto you now yet I 'le fight out the rest for you in secret Verily ye Mariners you have a great place in my heart My first publike service in the Gospel of Christ was in the Sea I cannot chuse therefore but love and pray for Seamen Let me beseech you therefore to accept of this short hint in love Now the blessed God who glorifiess his power in mans weakness glorifie himself by blessing this little book with the furtherance of souls in their spiritual sea-voyage Reader I am thine in the service of thy soul for Christs sake and his Gospels John Durant The Spiritual Sea-man OR A Manual for Mariners CHAP. I. The Introduction to the Discourse setting forth the state of a Christian in this world to be as of a ship at Sea LIke as it is with a 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 of steer a course unto it So is it with Mankinde 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 merchandize 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 As much therefore as it concerns the Merchant to endeavour the safety of his Ship so much doth it concern us to endeavour the safety of our soul And the way of the one is a fit Embleme of the way of the other A Christian under the state or in the dispensation of the Gospel is called or likened unto a Merchant-man 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 And to illustrate this in a word First let this world be eyed as a sea or a place of waters the waters being no more instable 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 Eb and Flood are not more certain in the waters then they are by flux and reflux of 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 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 Land-man doth for a Ship or Bark Thirdly therefore it 's not it but our soul which is our treasure Epictetus and many of the more refined Heathens when they saw this when they said the Body was the Organ or vessel the soul was the man and Merchandize The empty hull of the ship without Merchandize is of more value then the body without the soul It 's our soul and it's concerments that are our precious lading and 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-mindedness c. These cause many to drown themselves in perdition as it is 1 Tim. 6.9 And all have reason to cry out ofter in this respect as David did Save me O God out of the waters or as it is Psal 69.1 For the waters come into my soul You see the similitude will run well upon these four feet indeed upon many more But let this suffice to hint it in the General That all souls are seamen 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 Seamen it 's our duty and wisdom to be skilled in the Art of Navigation How else shall we be able to steer 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 and blood cannot reveal this mystery unto us Art may make Seaman but it cannot make a Saint 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 enavicula rationis c. i.e. we must have 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 mystery He that would steer aright to happiness must have Jacobs staffe Pauls compass The spirits teaching and that anointing which is from above otherwise hee 'l sinke 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
THE Spiritual Sea-man OR A MANUAL FOR Mariners Being of short Tract comprehending the principal heades of Christian Religion handled in an allusion to the Sea-mans Compass and Observations Which was first drawn up at Sea and fitted for the service of Sea-men yet such as may serve all Christians to help them in their passage over the troublesome Sea of this world By John Durant Preacher of the Gospel and sometimes in the Navy London Printed for L. Chapman at the Crown in Popes-head-alley 1655. To the Honorable His very much esteemed friend General PEN Much Honoured and very dear Sir I Have printed your name before this book that I might evidence how deeply your remembrance is printed in my bosome I will not tell the world how much I honor you upon these grand accounts of piety and the publike lest I be judged guilty of that odious crime of flattery yet suffer me to say that your frequent and friendly remembrance of me before to my knowledge I saw you and your loving entertainment of me when I waited on you do deserve and therefore constrain me to a thankful acknowledgement of both which I beseech you to accept of by this The subject befuls you as a Sea man and the manner of its handling is suitable for you as a Saint You are called to have your business in the mighty waters and there you have once and again yea many times seen the worke of Jehovah and his wonders in the deep Now my desires are that the same spirit who moved upon the face of the waters in the first Creation for the bringing forth of the glorious fabrick of this visible world which we behold and admire may again yea alwayes move upon your heart to the producing and perfecting of the most glorious workmanship of the second creation in the invisible and spiritual workings of internal and mysterious godliness A help unto which I humbly hope and heartily pray this smal Manual may be Peruse it therefore sometimes at your leisure And imagine it to be as really it 's intended a hint and help to longer meditations I had no better present at hand to send you and let me therefore request you to accept of this The truth is I have some other maritime speculations but they are not as yet fit for sight neither I think is the publike sight fitted for them This onely will I hint Englands Navy is to do service for Christ even in the Isles a far of God who hath done great things on the dry will yet do as great on the deep And I verily believe English men shal be his instruments I Know we are untoward tools but yet notwithstanding God will fit us by degrees I 'le say no more but this My desires and prayers are that the great God would thoroughly fit you for and use in his service upon the Seas You are best now upon your advance as to the work of God abroad and a great encouragement it may be to reflect upon that success that God hath already given in his late work neer home I mean in the Holland war verily let me assure you the same God will never leave nor forsake you And my desires are that you may have a large portion of Joshuas spirit to follow the Lord fully in his yet to be done work Now the Lord who maketh his way in the Sea go along with you and keep you safe and make you successeful in this expedition I hope all who are of a publike pious spirit will joyn to fill your sailes with a gale of prayers Really Sir my breathings are for you and shall follow you and when ere you go I shall remain Your Honors hearty friend and servant in the Gospel of Jesus John Durant To the Reader but in an especial manner to the Mariner THere are many yeers past since these meditations were first conceived and albeit I have once and again had thoughts of publishing them yet still I have been diverted from these thoughts until now And now they come abroad almost in the very same dress in which they were at first The notions are the very same and the matter throughout is not any thing altered only I have expunged and blotted out some more pedantick phrases which some of the heads were expressed in And I accounting the blooting out of them no blot to the book Indeed the enticing words of mans wisdom would have been a great blemish to the truths of Christ which are ever most powerful and glorious when most plainly held forth The designe was to spiritualize the observations of a Sea voyage unto some soul-advantage and my thoughts were to have held forth the principal if not the whole result of my meditations to the Sea-men in that ship I was in the yeer 1642. as a farwell to them But our sudding parting after we came to an Anchor in the Thames prevented it Hereupon I resolved some time or other to print it For I confess I was loath to conceale the things which so well pleased me then and indeed do yet if I may with humility say any thing of my own pleaseth me hoping they may please and profit some others as well as my self And Reader whoever thou art I perswade my self that thy pains in the perusual of this will be profitable in case thou observe those directions 1. Read with a sober minde Do not run from any head as soon as thou hast read it The things are delivered briefly yet comprehensively A little meditation and serious consideration will make every page swell into yea and exceed a sheet All who know what belongs to handling Divinity-heads know that this small manual might have made a large volume But the truth is I did industriously shorten and contract it that I might put thee Reader upon an industrious and diligent inlargement by medtation and consideration 2. Commit the whole if and as much as it may be unto memory That thou mayest if the matter be reduced in Catechatical way to questions and answers as readily answer unto and hall any head in this spiritual Compass as our Mariners can their Sea-Compass 3. Indeavor to improve this by imitations Especially in the last heads of meditations Men at Sea make many observations and so may men at land likwise which if they were but so wise and holy as to improve unto some Divine meditations might be very useful for practical and pious application in sundry spiritual cases These directions I commend to every one into whose hand providence shall put this book But to such as are Mariners I have two other words to add and let me beseech them to minde and consider them 1. The great God is arose from his place and is now upon the waters to do great things by those whose cry is in the ships Jenovan hath mighty works to be done upon the mighty waters and Seamen are to be his instruments for the accomplishment of many glorious prophesies Therefore 2. Now
with him you may say We trust we have a good conscience Heb. 13.8 Indeed without this there is no trust to those rules What are the best rules if men make no conscience of them A painted Compass upon the leaf of the book is of no use to steer by It must be an erected Compass set on a needle which stirs and moves by which our ship at Sea is to be guided and cunned And writen rules though never so full or few are of no profit if they be not laid upon the conscience and that conscience quick and tender Remember therefore this as an additional yet fundamental point that if ever you will be the better for the former Compass you must make conscience of the fame Eye it therefore and out of conscience unto God endeavor to steer according to it In every point of thy compass eye God as the main and out of conscience unto him carry thy thy self in all things as neer as possible according to this Compass Then mayest thou rejoyce and expect that God upon thy endeavors should speak unto thee Well done steer away or steer thus And certainly it 's no small rejoycing in those things to have the testimony of our conscience that in all simplicity and godly sincerity by the grace of God we have had our conversation according to the rule and Compass That may be and thus are agreeable to his own word Secondly For the box in which this Compass must be kept I shall onely name our Memory O treasure ye these rules there and strive to be as ready and expert in this compass as the Mariner is in his Sea-compass I have on purpose made this little that our memory might hold it Had I been as large as I might I should have made my Compass too large and I fear the biggest and best memories could not have contained it But 't is short that the smallest memory might retain it Wherefore do as our Sea-boyes do at first Con over this Compass again and again Get it into the head nay into the heart that when thou art any where though in the dark or deep and canst not have the help of larger discourses these things may be in thy memory to help thee here to steer and carry thy self upon all occasions I will not say if thou remembrest these things thou needest no more But this I do humbly assure thee of If thou remember these things and doest them thou shalt not miscarry but safely arrive at the Port of eternal felicity when thou shalt have cause to bless God for the little help of this short Compass CHAP. IX The third head of Divine Navigation opened and spoke unto viz. Affectionate Meditation I Called Divinity the Art of soul-spiritual-Navigation and branched it out Chap. 2. into three heads viz. Speculative Practical and Affectionate I have dispatched the two first and shall now treat upon the last Affectionate divinity doth principally lie in the secret notions of the soul towards God in the Affections These affections are raised and warmed and especially appear active in meditation I shall therefore hint at some affectionate meditations which our spiritual Seaman is to be acquainted with Now my meditations shall be of two sorts viz. some meditations of a more single simple nature and others of a mixed such as we call miscellaneous Fixed and simple meditations are such as may arise from some particular special texts of Scripture which concern Seamen of this sort I shall onely instance in two First that of Psalm 77.19 Thy way is in the Sea and thy paths in the mighty waters This Scripture indeed is used in a Spiritual sense with reference to the secret unknown wayes of God in his actings in the world and in his dealings with his Saints But yet it relates unto and is spoke of God in allusion to the literal Sea and waters where God maketh his way for he walketh and is in the deeps as on the dry Hence meditate thus 1. Why should I fear dangers more or sin less at Sea then on the land The Lord is here even in these mighty waters Amidst all those rowling waves he walks and rules Then though I steer in the mighty ocean yet I 'le fear no evil for God is with me And yet I 'le fear to sin for God is here as well as at land Though I am not on shore neer Magistrate or punishing place yet here at Sea is the great God who is chief Judge of all the world therefore even here I 'le stand in aw and sin not 2. See oh my soul is not here a place for worship as well as on land Is not God here on the waters and ought he not here to have his worship This great ocean is no other then his open temple Even here he walks those Seas and winds do serve him at his pleasure O my soul worship thy God even here Say not shall I live on land to go up to the Temple Loe the Lord is nigh thee even before thee Worship thy God in the mighty waters kneel before his footstool and adore his presence even in the seas 3. What though thou be alone on these deeps O my soul as to relations society Though wife children friends c. be on shore and thou as to them upon Sea alone yet art not thou alone alto 〈◊〉 my soul for the Father is with 〈…〉 walketh in the deep while thou walkest on thy Deck His path is in the waters and thou hast alwayes his presence Rejoyce O my soul thy God is at Sea though all thy friends be at land 4. Oh that my eyes were enlightened to observe the invisible paths which God wakes in these waters God is here and I am not aware of it The way of a ship in the Sea is not seen how much less are the print of his feet who is past finding out Come Oh thou Spirit of anointing And as God moves upon the face of the mighty waters move thou on my soul that I may see and apprehend the Divinity which swims in the deep Thus meditate on this text The second is that Psal 107.23 24 25 to the 31. They that go down to the Sea in ships that do business in great waters 24. These see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep 25. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof 26. They mount up to the heavens they go down againe to the depths their soul is melted because of trouble 27. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end 28. Then they cry unto the Lord in their troubles and he bringeth them out of their distress 29. He maketh the storme a calme so that the waves thereof are still 30. Then are they glad because they are quiet so he bringeth them into their desired haven 31. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful