at several Meditations which the spiritual Seaman is to be acquainted with unto which thou hast an excellent Supplement in this New Compass for Seamen This Collection is prefixt that at once thou mayest view all the Compasses both the Speculative Practical and Affectionate by which thou must steer Heaven-ward What further shall be added by way of Preâ—â—â—e is not to commend this New Compass which indeed 2 Cor. 3. 1. needs no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Letters of Commendation or any Panegyrick to usher it into any honest heart but to stir up all especially Sea-men to make conscience of using such choice helps for the promoting the sanctification and salvation of their Souls for the making of them as dexterous in the Art of Spiritual Navigation as any of them are in the Art of Natural Navigation Consider therefore 1. What rich Merchandize thy Soul is Christ assures us one Soul is more worth than all the world The Lord Iesus doth as it were put the whole world in one scale and one soul in the other and the world is found too light Mat. 16. 26. Shouldst thou by skill in Natural Navigation carry safe all the treasures of the Indies into thine own Port yea gain the whole world and for want of skill in spiritual Navigation lose thy soul thou wouldst be the greatest loser in the world So far wilt thou be from profiting by any of thy Sea-voyages There is a plain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in those words of Christ What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul More is meant than is spoken 2. What a leaking Vessel thy body is in which this unspeakable inconceivable rich Treasure thy soul is embarked O the many diseases and distempers in the humors and passions that thy body is subject to It is above 2000 years ago that there have been rekoned up 300 Names of Diseases and there be many under one name and many nameless which pose the Physicians not only how to cure them but how to call them And for the affections and passions of the Mind the distempers of them are no less deadly to some than the diseases of the body But besides these internal causes there are many external causes of Leaks in this Vessel as poisonous malignities wrathful hostilities and casual mishaps very small matters may be of great moment to the sinking of this Vessel The least Gnat in the Air may choak one as it did Adrian a Pope of Rome a little hair in Milk may strangle one as it did a Counsellor in Rome a little stone of a Raisin may stop ones breath as it did the Poetical Poet Anacreon Thus you see what a leaking Vessel you sail in Now the more leaky any ship is the more need there is of skill to steer wisely 3. Consider what a dangerous Sea the World is in which thy Soul is to sail in the leaking ship of thy body As there are not more changes in the Sea than are in the World the world being only constant in inconstancy The fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 31. so there are not more dangers in the Sea for ships than there are in the world for souls In this world Souls meet with Rocks and Sands Syrens and Pyrates Worldly Temptations worldly Lusts and worldly Company cause many to drown themselves in perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. The very things of this world endanger our Souls By worldly Objects we soon grow worldly It is hard to touch Pitch and not be defiled The lusts of this world stain our glory and the men of tâ—is world pollute all they converse with A man that keeps company with the men of this world is like him that walketh in the Sun tanned insensibly Thus you have hinted the dangerousness of the Sea wherein you are to sail Now the more dangerous the Sea is the more requisite it is the Sailer be an Artist 4. Consider what if through want of skill in the heavenly Art of spiritual Navigation thou shouldst not steer thy Câ—â—rse aright I will instance only in two consequents thereof 1. Thou wilt never arrive at the Haven of Happiness 2. Thou shalt be drowned in the Ocean of God's wrath As true as the Word of God is true as sure as the Heavens are over thy head and the Earth under thy feet as sure as thou yet livest and breathest in this Air so true and certain it is thou shalt never enter into Heaven but sink into the depth of the bottomless pit Am I not herein a Messenger of the saddest Tidings that ever yet thy Ears did hear Possibly now thou makest a light matter of these things because thou dost not know what it is to miss of Heaven and what it is for ever to lie under the wrath of God but hereafter thou wilt know fully what it is to have thy Soul lost eternally so lost as that God's mercies and all the good there is in Christ shall never save it and as God hath set and ordered things can never save it Hereafter thou wilt be perfectly sensible of the good that thou mightest have had and of the evil that shall be upon thee this is God's peculiar Prerogative to make a Creature as sensible of Misery as he pleaseth then thou wilt have other thoughts of these things than now thou hast Then the thoughts of thy mind shall be busied about thy lost Condition both as to the pain of loss and the pain of sense so that thou shalt not be able to take any ease any moment then that thy torments may be increased they acknowledge the truth of thy apprehensions yea the strength of them shall be encreased thou shalt have true and deep apprehensions of the greatness of that good that thou shalt miss of and of that evil which thou shalt procure unto thy self and then thou shalt not be able to choose but to apply all thy loss all thy misery to thy self which will force thee to roar out O my loss O my misery O my unconceivable unrecoverable loss and misery Yea for the increasing of thy torments thy Affections and Memory shall be enlarged O that to prevent that lose and misery these things may now be known and laid to heart O that a blind Understanding a stupid Judgment a bribed Conscience a hard Heart a bad Memory may no longer make Heaven and Hell to seem but trifles to thee Thou wilt then easily be perswaded to make it thy main business here to become an Artist in Spiritual Navigation But to shut up this Preface I shall briefly acquaint Sea-men why they should of all others be Men of singular Piety and Heavenliness and therefore more than ordinarily study the heavenly Art of Spiritual Navigation O that Sea-men would therefore consider 1 How nigh they border upon the Confines of Death and Eternity every moment There is but a step but an
all Process at Law or from the Law is stopt Rom. 8. 1. But if thou be an impenitent persisting sinner thy debt remains upon thine own score And be sure thy sin will find thee out where-ever thou goest Num. 32. 23. i. e. God's revenging hand for sin will be upon thee Thou maist lose the sight and memory of thy sin but they lose not the sight of thee they follow after as the Hound doth the fleeting game upon the scent till they have fetcht thee up And then consider How fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. 31. How soon may a storm arrest and bring thee before the Bar of God REFLECTION O my Soul what a case art thou in if this be so Are not all thy sins yet upon thine own score Hast not thou mane light of Christ and that precious Blood of his and hitherto persisted in thy Rebellion against him And what can the issue of this be at last but ruine There is abundant mercy indeed for returning sinners but the Gospel speaks of none for persisting and impenitent sinners And though many who are going on in their sins are overtaken by Grace yet there is no Grace promised to such as go on in sin O if God should arrest me by the next Storm and call me to an account for all that I owe him I must then lie in the Prison of Hell to all Eternity for I can never pay the debt nay all the Angels in Heaven cannot satisfie for it Being Christless I am under all the Curses in the Book of God a Child of Hagar Lord pity and spare me a little longer O discover thy Christ unto me and give me Faith in his Blood and then thou art fully satisfied at once and I discharged for ever O require not the debt at my hand for then thou wilt never be satisfied nor I acquitted What profit Lord is there in my Blood O my soul make hast to this Christ thy Refuge-City thou knowest not how soon the avenger of Blood may overtake thee THE POEM Thy sins are debts God puts them to account Canst tell poor wretch to what thy debts amount Thou fill'st the treasure of thy sins each hour Into his Vials God doth also pour Proportionable wrath Thou seest it not But yet assure thy self there 's drop for drop For every Sand of Patience running out A drop of Wrath runs in Soul look about God's Treasure 's almost full as well as thine When both are full O then the dreadful time Of Reckoning comes thou shalt not gain a day Of patience more but then there hastes away Heaven's Pursivant who comes upon the wing With his Commission seal'd to take and bring Do'st still reject Christ's tenders Well next storm May be the Bailiff ordered to perform This dreadful office O then restless be Till God in Christ be reconcil'd to thee The Sum is great but if a Christ thou get Fear not a Prince can pay a Beggar 's debt Now if the Storm should rise thou need not fear Thou art but the Delinquent is not there A pardoned Soul to Sea may boldly go He fears not Bailiffs that doth nothing owe. CHAP. XIX To save the Ship rich Ladings cast away Thy Soul is Shipwrackt if thy Lusts do stay OBSERVATION IN Storms and Distresses at Sea the Richest Commodities are cast over-board they stand not upon it when Life and all is in jeopardy and hazard Ionah 1. 5. The Mariners cast forth the Wares that were in the Ship into the Sea to lighten it And Act. 27. 18 19. they cast out the very tacklings of the Ship How highly soever Men prize such Commodities yet reason tells them It were better these should perish than Life Satan himself could say Job 1. Skin for skin and all that a Man hath will he give for his Life APPLICATION And surely it is every way as highly reasonable that Men should mortifie cast out and cut off their dearest Lusts rather than their Immortal Souls should sink and perish in the Storm of God's wrath Life indeed is a precious Treasure and highly valued by Men You know what Solomon saith Eccles. 9. 4. That a Living Dog is better than a Dead Lion And we find Men willing to part with their Estates Limbs or any outward Comfort for the preservation of it The Woman in the Gospel spent all she had on the Physicians for her Health a degree below Life Some Men indeed do much over-value their Lives and part with Christ and Peace of Conscience for it but he that thus saves it shall lose it Now if Life be so much worth What then is the Soul worth Alas Life is but a vapour which appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away Jam. 4. 14. Life indeed is more worth than all the World but my Soul is more worth than Ten thousand Lives Nature teacheth you to value the first so high and Grace should teach you to value the second much higher Mat. 19. 26. Now here is the case Either you must part with your Sins or with your Souls if these be not cast out both must sink together If ye live after the flâ—sh ye must die Rom. 8. 13. God saith to you in this case as to Ahab when he spared Benhadad 1 King 20. 40. Because thou hast let go a Sin which God hath appointed to destruction therefore thy Life shall go for his Life Guilt will raise a Storm of Wrath as Ionah did if not cast out REFLECTION And must Sin or the Soul perish Must my Life yea my Eternal Life go for it if I spare it O then let me not be cruel to mine own Soul in sparing my Sin O my Soul this foolish pity and cruel Indulgence will be thy ruine If I spare it God hath said He will not spare me Deut. 26. 20. It is true the pains of Mortification are sharp but yet it 's easier than the pains of Hell To cut off a right hand or pluck out a right eye is hard but to have my Soul cut off eternally from God is harder Is it as easie O my Soul to burn for them in Hell as to Mortifie them on Earth Surely it is profitable for me that one member perish rather than that all be cast into Hell Mat. 5. 24. I see the Merchant willing to part with rich Wares if embarqued with them in a Storm And those that have Gangreen'd Legs or Arms willingly stretch them out to be cut off to preserve Life And shall I be willing to endure no difficulties for my Soul Christ reckon'd Souls worth his Blood And is it not worth my Self-denyal Lord let me not warm a Snake in my Bosom that will at last sting me to the heart THE POEM Thy Soul 's the Ship its Lading is its Lusts God's Iudgments stormy Winds and dang'rous gusts Conscience the Master but the stubborn Will Goes Supra Cargo and doth keep the Bill Affections are the Men
that the body may be more fit and expedite for duty Prov. 31. 7. But further no man proceeds without the violation of Sobriety When men sit till Wine have inflamed them and reason be disturbed for Drunkenness is the privation of reason caused by immoderate drinking then do they come under the guilt of this horrid and abominable Sin To the Satisfaction and refreshment of nature you may drink for it is a part of the Curse to drink and not be satisfied but take heed you go no further For Wine is a mocker strong Drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise Prov. 20. 1. The Throat is a slipery place how easily may a sin slip through it into the Soul these sensual Pleasures have a kind of inchanting power upon the Soul and by custom gain upon it till they have enslaved it and brought it under their power Now this is the sin against which God hath delivered so many Precepts and denounced so many Woes in his Word Ephes. 5. 18. Be not drunken with wine wherein is excess Rom. 13. 18. Not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness Isa. 5. 11. Wo to them that rise early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue until night till wine inflame them with many other of dreadful importance Now to startle thee for ever from this abominable and filthy lust I shall here propound to thy Consideration these ten ensuing Arguments and oh that they might stand in the way as the Angel did in Balaam's when thou art in the prosecution of thy sensual Pleasures And the first is this Arg. 1. It should exceedingly disswade from this Sin to consider that it is an high abuse of the Bounty and Goodness of God in affording us those sweet Refreshments to make our Lives comfortable to us upon earth In Adam we forfeited all right to all earthly as will as heavenly Mercies God might have taken thee from the Womb when thou wast a Sinner but of a span long and immediately have sent thee to thine own place thou hadst no right to a drop of water more than what the bounty of God gave thee And whereas he might have thrust thee out of the world as soon as thou camest into it and so all those days of mercy thou hast had on earth might have been spent in howling and unspeakable misery in Hell Behold the Bounty and Goodness of God in thee I say behold it and wonder He hath suffered thee for so many years to live upon the earth which he hath prepared and furnished with all things fit for thy necessity and delight out of the earth on which thou treadest he bringeth forth thy food and VVine to make glad thy heart Psal. 104. 14 15. And dost thou thus requite the Lord Hath Mercy armed an enemy to fight against it with its own Weapoâ—s Ah that ever the Riches of his Goodness Bounty and Long sâ—ffering all which are arguments to lead thee to repentance should be thus abused If God had not been so bountiful thou couldst not have been so sinful Arg. 2. It degrades a man from the honour of his Creation and equalizeth him to the beast that perisheth Wine is said to take away the heart Hos. 4. 11. i. e. the wisdom and ingenuity of a man and so brutifies him as Nebuchadnezzar who lost the heart of a man and had the heart of a beast given him Dan. 4. 32. The heart of a man hath is generosity and sprightliness brave vigorous spirit in it capable of and fitted for noble and worthy actions and imployments but his lust effeminates quenches and drowns that masculine vigour in the puddle of excess and sensuality For no sooner is a man brought under the dominion of this Lust but the government of Reason is renounced which should exercise a coercive power over the Affections and all is delivered up into the hand of Lust and Appetite and so they act not by discretion and reason but by Lust and Will as the Beasts do by Instinct The spirit of Man entertains it self with intellectual and chast Delights the soul of a Beast is onely fitted for such low sensitive and dreggie Pleasures Thou hast something of the Angel and something of the Beast in thee thy Soul partakes of the nature of Angels thy Body of the nature of Beasts Oh how many pamper the Beast while they strave the Angels God in the first Chaper put all the Creatures in subjection to thee by this Lust thou puttest thy in self Subjection to the creature and art brought under his power 1 Cor. 6. 12. If God had given thee the feet or head of a beast Oh what a misery wouldst thou have esteemed it And is it nothing to have the heart of a Beast Oh consider it sadly Arg. 3. It is a Sin by which thou greatly wrongest and abuseth thine own Body The Body is the Souls Instrument it is as the Tools are to a skilful Artificer this Lust both dulls and spoils it so that it 's utterly unfit for any service of him that made it Thy body is a curious piece not made by a word of command as other Creatures but by a word of counsel I am fearfully and wonderfully made and curiously wrought saith the Psalmist Psal. 139. 14. or as the Vulgar Ace pictus sum Painted as with a Needle like a Garment of Needlework of divers colours richly embroydered Look how many members so many wonders There are Miracles enough saith one betwixt head and foot to fill a volume There is saith another such curious workmanship in the eye that upon the first sight of it some Atheists have been forced to acknowledge a God especially that fifth Muscle in the eye is wonderful whereby as a learned Author observes Man differeth from all other Creatures who have but four one to turn the eye downward a second to hold it forward a third to move it to the right hand a fourth to the left but none to turn it upward as a man hath Now judge in thy self did God frame such a curious piece and enliven it with a Soul which is a spark a ray of his own light whose motions are so quick various and indefatigable whose flights of reason are so transcendent did God thinkest thou send down this curious piece the top and glory of the Creation the Index and Epitome of the whole world Eccl. 12. 2. did God I say send down this picture of his own perfection to be but as a striner for meats and drinks a spung to suck in Wine and Beer Or canst thou answer for the abuse and destruction of it By this excess thou fillest it with innumerable diseases under which it languisheth and at last thy life like a lamp extinguisnt being drowned with to much Oyle Infinite Diseases are begotten by it saith Zanch. hence come Apoplexies Gouts Palfies sudden Death trembling of the hands and legs herein they bring Cain's
at the Heavenly Strand and set foot upon the shore of Glory O Sirs I beg of you if you have any regard to those precious immortal Souls of yours which are also imbarqued for Eternity whither all winds blow them and will quickly he at their Port of Heaven or Hell that you will seriously mind these things and learn to steer your course to Heaven and improve all Winds I mean opportunities and means to waft you thither Here you venture life and liberty run through many Difficulties and Dangers and all to compass a perishing Treasure yet how often do you return disappointed in your Designs or if not yet it is but a fading short-liv'd Inheritance which like the flowing Tide for a little while covers the shore and then returns and leaves it naked and dry again And are not Everlasting Treasures worth venturing for Good Souls be wise for Eternity I here present you with the Fruit of a few spare Hours redeemed for your sakes from my other Studies and Imployments which I have put into a new Dress and Mode I have endeavoured to cloath Spiritual Matters in your own Dialect and Phrases that they might be the more intelligible to you and added some pious Poems with which the several Chapters are concluded trying by all means to assault your several Affections and as the Apostle speaks to catch you with guile I can say nothing of it I know it cannot be without its manifold imperfections since I am conscious of so many in my self Only this I will adventure to say of it That how defective or empty soever it be in other respects yet it is stuffed and filled with much true love to and earnest desires after the salvation and prosperity of your Souls And for the other defects that attend it I have only two things to offer in way of excuse It is the first Essay that I ever made in this kind wherein I had no President And it was hastned for your sakes too soon out of my hands that it might be ready to wait upon you when you undertake your next Voyage so that I could not revise and polish it Nor indeed was I sollicitous about the stile I consider I writ not for Critical and Learned Persons my design is not to please your Fancies any further than I might thereby get advantage to profit your Souls I will not once question your welcome Reception of it If God shall bless these Meditations to the Conversion of any among you you will be the Gainers and my heart shall rejoyce even mine How comfortably should we shake hand with you when you go abroad were we perswaded your Souls were interested in Christ and secured from perishing in the New Convenant What life would it put into our Prayers for you when you are abroad to consider that Iesus Christ is interceeding for you in Heaven whilst we are your Remembrancers here on Earth How quiet would our hearts be when you are abroad in Storms did we know you had a special Interest in him whom Winds and Seas obey To conclude what Ioy would it be to your Godly Relations to see you return new Creatures Doubtless more than if you came home laden with the Riches of both Indies Come Sirs set the heavenly Jerusalem upon the Point of your New Compass make all the Sail you can for it and the Lord give you a prosperous Gale and a safe Arrival in that Land of Rest. So prays Your most Affectionate Friend to serve you in Soul-Concernments IOHN FLAVEL IMPRIMATUR Geo. Stradling S. T. P. Rev. in Christo Pat. D. Gilb. Archiepisc. Cant. a. Sac. Domest Ex Aed Lamb. Dec. 14. 1663. To every Sea-man Sailing Heavenward Ingenious Sea-man THE Art of Navigation by which Islands especially are enriched and preserved in safety from Forensical Invasions and the wonderful Works of God in the great Deep and Foreign Nations are most delightfully and fully beheld c. is an Art of exquisite excellency ingenuity rarity and mirability But the Art of Spiritual Navigation is the Art of Arts. It is a gallant thing to be able to carry a Ship richly laden round the World but it is much more gallant to carry a Soul that rich loading a Pearl of more worth than all the Merchandise of the world in a body that is liable to leaks and bruises as any Ship is through the Sea of this World which is as unstable as water and hath the same brinish taste and salt gust which the waters of the Sea have safe to Heaven the best Haven so as to avoid splitting upon any Soul-sinking Rocks or striking upon any Soul-drowning Sands The Art of Natural Navigation is a very great mystery but the Art of Spiritual Navigation is by much a greater mystory Humane wisdom may teach us to carry a Ship to the Indies but the Wisdom only that is from above can teach us to steer our course aright to the Haven of Happiness This Art is purely of Divine Revelation The truth is Divinity the Doctrine of living to God is nothing else but the Art of Soul-Navigation revealed from Heaven A meer man can carry a Ship to any desired Port in all the World but no meer man can carry a Soul to Heaven He must be a Saint he must be a Divine so all Saints are that can be a Pilot to carry a Soul to the fair Haven in Emanuel's land The Art of Natural Navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of Christ before which time if there be truth in History the use of the Loadstone was never known in the world and before the vertue of that was revealed unto the Mariner it is unspeakable with what uncertain wandrings Sea-men floated here and there rather than sailed the right and direct way Sure I am the Art of Spiritual Navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of Christ it oweth its clearest and fullest discovery to the coming of Christ. This Art of Arts is now perfectly revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament but the Rulers thereof are dispers'd up and down therein The collecting and methodizing of the same cannot but be a work very useful unto Souls Though when all is done there is an absolute necessity of the teachings of the Spirit and of the anointing that is from above to make Souls Artists in sailing Heavenward The Ingenious Author of the Christians Compass or the Marriners Companion makes three Parts of this Art as the School-men of Divinity viz. Speculative Practical and Affectionate The principal things necessary to be known by a Spiritual Sea-man in order to the steering rightly and safely to the Port of Happiness he reduceth to four Heads answerable to the four general Points of the Compass making God our North Christ our East Holiness our South and Death our West Points Concerning God we must know 1. That he is Heb. 11. 6. and that there is but one God 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. 2. That this God is that
5. 10. and then they shall suffer no more 2 Thes. 1. 7. But all tears shall be wiped away from their eyes Rev. 7. 17. But my Troubles look with a long Visage Ah! they are but the beginning of sorrows but a parboiling before I be roasted in the flames of God's eternal wrath If I continue as I am I shall but deceive my self if I conclude I shall be happy in the other World because I have met with so much sorrow in this For I read Iude 7. that the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha though consumed to ashes with all their Estates and Relations a sorer Temporal Judgment than ever yet befel me do notwithstanding that continue still in everlasting Chains under Darkness in which they are reserved unto the Iudgment of the Great Day The Troubles of the Saints are sanctified to them but mine are fruits of the Curse They have spiritual Consolations to ballance them which flow into their Souls in the same height and degree as Troubles do upon their Bodies 2 Cor. 1. 5. But I am a stranger to their Comforts and intermeddle not with their Ioys Prov. 14. 10. If their hearts be surcharged with Trouble they have a God to go to and when they have open'd their Cause before him they are eased return with comfort and their Countenance is no more sad 1 Sam. 1. 18. When their Belly is as Bottles full of new Wine they can give it vent by pouring out of their Souls into their Father's Bosome But I have no interest in nor acquaintance with this God nor can I pray unto him in the Spirit My griefs are shut up like fire in my bosome which preys upon my spirit This is my â—orrow and I alone must bear it O my Soul look round about thee What a miserable case art thou â—n Rest no longer satisfied in it but look out for a Christ also What though I be a vile unworthy wretch yet he promiseth to love freely Hos. 14. 4. and invites such as are heavy laden to him Mat. 11. 28. Hence also should the gracious Soul reflect sweetly upon it self after this manner And is the World so full of trouble O my Soul what cause hast thou to stand admiring at the indulgence and goodness of God to thee Thou hast hitherto had a smooth â—assage comparatively to what others have had How hath Divine Wisdom ordered my Condition and cast my Lot Have I been chastised with Whips others with Scorpions Have I had no peace without Some have neither had peace without nor within but terrours round about Or have I felt trouble in my flesh and spirit at once Yet have they not been extream either for time or measure And hath the World been a Sodom an Aegypt to thee Why then dost thou thus linger in it and hanker after it Why do I not long to be gone and sigh more heartily for Deliverance Why are the thoughts of my Lord 's coming no sweeter to me and the day of my full deliverance no more panted for And why am I no more careful to maintain peace within since there is so much trouble without Is not this it that puts weight into all outward troubles and makes them sinking that they fall upon me when my spirit is dark or wounded THE POEM My Soul art thou besieged with troubles round about If thou be wise take this Advice to keep these troubles out Wise Men will keep their Conscience as their eyes For in their Conscience their best Treasure lies See you be tender of your inward peace That shipwrackt then your Mirth and Ioy must ceas If God from you your outward Comforts rend You 'll find what need you have of such a Friend If this be not by sin destroy'd and lost You need not fear your Peace will quit your cost If youl 'd know How to sweeten any grief Though ne'r so great or to procure relief Against th' afflictions which like deadly Darts Most fatal are to Men of carnal hearts Reject not that which Conscience bids you chusc And chuse not you what Conscience saith Refuse If sin you must or Misery under lie Resolve to bear and chuse the Misery CHAP. II. In the vast Ocean Spiritual Eyes desâ—ry God's boundless Mercy and Eternity OBSERVATION THE Ocean is of a vast extent and depth though supposedly measurable yet not to be sounded by Man It compasseth about the Whole Earth which in the account of Geographers is Twenty one thousand and six hundred Miles in compass yet the Ocean invirons it on every side Psal. 104. 25. and Iob 11. 9. Suitable to which is that of the Poet. Tum freta diffudit rapidisque tumescere ventis Iussit ambitae circumdare littora terrae Ovid He spread the Seas which then he did command To swell with Winds and compass round the Land And for its Depth who can discover it The Sea in Scripture is called The Deep Job 38. 30. The Great Deep Gen. 7. 11. The gathering together of the Waters into one place Gen. 1. 9. If the vastest Mountain were cast into it it would appear no more than the head of a Pin in a Tun of Water APPLICATION This in a lively manner shaddows forth the infinite and incomprehensible Mercy of our God whose Mercy is said to be over all his works Psal. 145. 9. In how many sweet Notions is the Mercy of God represented to us in the Scripture He is said to be Plenteous Psal. 4. 5. Abundant 1 Pet. 1. 3. Rich Eph. 2. 4. in mercy then that his Mercies are unsearchable Ephes. 3. 8. High as the Heaven above the Earth Psal. 10. 4. Which are so high and vast that the whole Earth is but a small point to them yea they are not only compared to the Heavens but to come home to the Metaphor to the Depths of the Sea Mic. 7. 19. which can swallow up Mountains as well as Mole-hills and in this Sea God hath drowned sins of a dreadful height and aggravation even Scarlet Crimson i. e. deep dyed with many intensive aggravations Isa. 1. 18. In this Sea was the sin of Manasseh drowned and of what magnitude that was may be seen 2 Chron. 33. 3. Yea in this Ocean of Mercy did the Lord drown and cover the sins of Paul though a Blasphemer a Persecutor Injurious 1 Tim. 1. 13. None saith Augustine more fierce than Paul among the Persecutors and therefore none greater among sinners to which himself willingly subscribes 1 Tim. 1. 1â—â— yet pardoned How hath Mercy rode in triumph and been glorified upon the vilest of Men How hath it stopâ— the slanderous mouth of Men and Devils It hath yearned upon Fornicators Idolâ—ters Adulterers Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners to such hath the Scepter of Mercy been stretched forth upon their unfeigned repentance and submission 1 Cor. 6. 9. What doth the Spirit of God aim at in such a large accumulation of Names of Mercy But to convince poor sinners of the abundant fulness
and riches of it if they will but submit to the terms on which it is tender'd to them In the vastness of the Ocean we have also a lively Emblem of Eternity Who can comprehend or measure the Ocean but God And who can comprehend Eternity but he that is said to inhabit it Isa. 57. 15. Though shallow Rivers may be drained and dried up yet the Ocean cannot And though these transitory Days Months and Years will at last expire and determine yet Eternity shall not O! it is a long World and amazing Matter What is Eternity but a constant permanency of Persons and Things in one and the same State and Condition for ever putting them beyond all possibility of change The Heathens were wont to shadow it by a Cricle or a Snake twisted round It will be to all of us either a perpetual Day or Night which will not be measured by Watches Hours Minutes And as it cannot be measured so neither can it ever be diminished When thousands of years are gone there is not a minute less to come Gerhard and Drexelius do both illustrate it by this known similitude Suppose a Bird were to come once in a thousand years to some vast Mountain of Sand and carry away in her Bill one Sand in a thousand years O what a vast time would it be e're that immortal Bird after that rate had recovered the Mountain and yet in time this might be done For there would be still some diminution but in Eternity there can be none There be three things in Time which are not competent to Eternity In Time there is a Succession one Generation Year and Day passeth and another comes but Eternity is a fixed now In Time there is a Diminution and wasting the more is past the less to come But it is not so in Eternity In time there is an Alteration of condition and states A Man may be poor to day and rich to morrow sickly and diseased this week and well the next now in contempt and anon in honour But no change passes upon us in Eternity As the Tree falls at Death and Judgment so it lies for ever If in Heaven there thou art a Pillar and shalt go forth no more Rev. 3. 12. If in Hell no Redemption thence but the smoak of their torments ascendeth for ever and ever Rev. 19. 3. REFLECTION And is the Mercy of God like the great Deeps an Ocean that none can fathom What unspeakable Comfort is this to me may the pardoned Soul say Did Israel sing a Song when the Lord had overwhelm'd their corporal Enemies in the Seas And shall not I break forth into his Praises who hath drowned all my sins in the depth of Mercy O my Soul bless thou the Lord and let his high praises ever be in thy mouth Mayst not thou say that he hath gone to as high an extent and degree of Mercy in pardoning thee as ever he did in any Oh my God who is like unto thee that pardonest Iniquity Transgression and Sin What mercy but the Mercy of a God could cover such abominations as mine But O! what terrible Reflections will Conscience â—ake from hence upon all the Despisers of Mercy when the sinners eyes come to be opened too late for Mercy to do them good We have heard inâ—eed that the King of Heaven was a merciful King â—ut we would make no address to Him whilst that Scepter was stretched out We heard of Balm in Gilead and a Physician there that was able and willing to cure all our wounds but would not commit our seives to him We read that the Arms of Christ were open to embrance and receive us but we would not O unparallel'd folly O Soul-destroying madness Now the Womb of Mercy is shut up and shall bring forth no more Mercies to me for ever Now the Gates of Grace are shut and no cries can open them Mercy acted its part and is gone off the Stage and now Justice enters the Scene and will be glorified for ever upon me How often did I hear the Bowels of Compassion sounding in the Gospel for me But my hard and impenitent heart could not relent and now if it could it is too late I am now past out of the Ocean of Mercy into the Ocean of Eternity where I am fixed in the midst of endless Misery and shall never hear the Voice of Mercy more O dreadful Eternity Oh Soul-confounding Word â— An Ocean indeed to which this Ocean is but as a drop for in thee no Soul shall see either Bank or Bottom If I lie but one Night under strong pains of body how tedious doth that Night seem And how do I tell the Clock and wish for day In the World I might have had Life and would not And now how fain would I have Death but cannot â— How quick were my sins in execution And how long is their punishment in duration O how shall I dwell with everlasting Burnings Oh that God would but vouchsafe one treaty more with me Buâ— alas all tenders and treaties are now at an end with me On Earth peace Luke 2. 13. but none in Hell O my Soul consider these things come let us debate this matter seriously before we launch oâ— into this Ocean THE POEM Who from some high-rais'd Tower views the ground His heart doth tremble and his head doth round Even so my Soul whilst it doth view and think On this Eternity upon whose brink It borders stands amazed and doth cry O boundless bottomless Eternity The Scourge of Hell whose very Lash doth rend The damned Souls in twain What! never end The more thereon they ponder think and pore The more poor wretches still they howl and roar Ah! though more years in torments we should lie Than Sands are on the Shore or in the Skie Are twinkling Stars yet this gives some relief The hope of ending Ah! but here 's the grief A thousand Years in Torments past and gone Ten Thousand more afresh are coming on And when these Thousands all their course have run The end 's no more than when it first begun Come then my Soul let us discourse together This weighty Point and tell me plainly whether You for these short-liv'd Ioys that come and go Will plunge your self and me in endless woe Resolve the Question quickly do not dream More Time away Lo in an hasty stream We swiftly pass and shortly we shall be Ingulphed both in this Eternity CHAP. III. Within these smooth-fac'd Seas strange Creatures crawl But in Man's Heart far stranger than them all OBSERVATION IT was an unadvised saying of Plato Mare nil memorabile producit The Sea produceth nothing memorable But surely there is much of the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God manifested in those Inhabitants of the Watery Region Notwithstanding the Seas azure and smiling face Strange Creatures are bred in its Womb. O Lord saith David how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full
Bread ascertain'd VVaters too secur'd Then shout and sing ye that are thus Immur'd CHAP. XII VVhat Dangers run they for a little gains VVho for their Souls would ne'r take half the pains OBSERVATION HOw exceeding solicitous and adventurous are Sea-men for a small portion of the World How prodigal of strength and life for it They will run to the ends of the Earth engage in a Thousand dangers upon the hopes and probability of getting a small Estate Per mare per terras per mille pericula currunt Hopes of gain makes them willing to adventure their liberty yea their life and encourages them to endure Heat Cold and Hunger and a Thousand streights and difficulties to which they are frequently exposed APPLICATION How hot and eager are Mens affections after the World And how remiss and cold towards things eternal They are careful and troubled about many things but seldom mind the great and necessary matters Luke 10. 40. They can rise early go to bed late eat the bread of carefulness But when did they so deny themselves for their poor Souls Their heads are full of designs and projects to get or advance an Estate VVe will go into such a City continue there a year and Buy and Sell and get gain Jam. 4. 13. This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Master-design which engrosseth all their time studies and contrivances The Will hath past a Decree for it the Heart and Affections are fully let out to it They will be rich 1 Tim. 6. 9. This Decree of the Will the Spirit of God takes deep notice of it and indeed it is the clearest and fullest discovery of a Man's portion and condition For look what is highest in the estimation first and last in the thoughts and upon which we spend our time and strength with delight certainly that is our Treasure Mat. 6. 20 21. The Heads and Hearts of Saints are full of solicitous cares and fears about their Spiritual Condition The great design they drive on to which all other things are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things on the by is to make sure their Calling and Election This is the Pondus the weight and byass of their Spirit if their hearts stray and wander after any other thing this reduces them again REFLECTION Lord this hath been my manner from my Youth may the Carnal minded Man say I have been labouring for the Meat that perisheth disquieting my self in vain full of designs and projects for the World and unwearied in my endeavours to compass an earthly treasure yet therein I have either been checkt and disappointed by Providence or if I have obtained yet I am no sooner come to enjoy that Content and Comfort I promised my self in it but I am ready to leave it all to be stript out of it by Death and in that day all my thoughts perish But in the mean time What have I done for my Soul When did I ever break a Night's sleep or deny and pinch my self for it Ah fool that I am to nourish and pamper a vile Body which must shortly lie under the Clods and become a loathsome Carkass and in the mean time neglect and undo my poor Soul which partakes of the Nature of Angels and must live for ever I have kept others Vineyards but mine own Vineyard I have not kept I have been a perpetual drudge and slave to the World in a worse condition hath my Soul been than others that are Condemned to the Mines Lord change my Treasure and change my Heart O let it suffice that I have been thus long labouring on the fire for very vanity Now gather up my heart and affections in thy self and let my great design now be to secure a special interest in thy Blessed Self that I may once say To me to live is Christ. THE POEM The Face of Man imprest and stampt on Gold VVith Crown and Royal Scepters we behold No wonder that an humane Face it gains Since Head Heart Soul and Body it obtains Nor is it strange a Scepter it should have That to its Yoke the World doth so enslave Charm'd with its chinking Note away they go Like Eagles to the Carcass ride and row Through worlds of hazards foolish creatures run That into its embraces they may come Poor Indians in the Mines my heart condoles But seldom turns aside to pity Souls Which are the slaves indeed that toyl and spend Themselves upon its service Surely Friend They are but Sextons to prepare and make Thy Grave within those Mines whence they do take And dig their Ore Ah! many Souls I fear Whose Bodies live yet lie entombed there Is Gold so tempting to you Lo Christ stands VVith length of days and riches in his hands Gold in the fire tried he freely proffers But few regard or take those Golden Offers CHAP. XIII Millions of Creatures in the Seas are fed Why then are Saints in doubt of daily bread OBSERVATION THere are multitudes of Living Creatures in the Sea The Psalmist saith There are in it things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts Psal. 104. 25. And we read Gen. 1. 20. that when God blessed the Waters he said Let the Waters bring forth abundantly both Fish and Fowl that move in it and fly about it Yet all those multitudes of Fish and Fowl both in Sea and Land are cared and provided for Psal. 145. 15 16. Thou givest them their meat in due season thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing APPLICATION If God take care for the Fishes of the Sea and the Fowls of the Air much more will he care and provide for those that fear him When the poor and needy seeketh water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them Isai. 41. 17. Take no thought for your life saith the Lord what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink or for the body what ye shall put on Which he backs with an Argument from God's Providence over the Creatures and enforceth it with a much rather upon them Matth. 6. 25 31. God would have his people be without carefulness i. e. anxious care 1 Cor. 7. 32. And to cast their care upon him for he careth for them 1 Pet. 5. 7. There be two main Arguments suggested in the Gospel to quiet and satisfie the hearts of Saints in this particular The one is that the Gift of Jesus Christ amounts to more than all these things come to yea in bestowing him he has given that which virtually and eminently comprehends all these inferiour mercies in it Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things And 1 Cor. 3. 22. All things are yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's Another Argument is That God gives these Temporal Things to those he never gave his Christ
impatiency and unbelief of the heart appears Matura vexata prodit seipsam When the Water is stirred then the mud and filthy sediment that lay at the bottom rises Little saith the afflicted Soul did I think there had been in me that pride self-love distrust of God carnal fear and unbelief as I now find O where is my Patience my Faith my Glory in tribulation I could not have imagined the sight of Death would have so appalled me the loss of outward things so have pierced me Now what a blessed thing is this to have the heart thus discovered Again Sanctified Afflictions discover the emptiness and vanity of the Creature Now the Lord hath stained its pride and vailed its tempting splendour by this or that affliction and the Soul sees what an empty shallow deceitful thing it is The World as one hath truly observed is then only great in our eyes when we are full of sense and self But now Affliction makes us more spiritual and then it is nothing It drives them nearer to God makes them see the necessity of the Life of Faith with multitudes of other benefits But yet these sweet fruits of Affliction do not naturally and of their own accord spring from it No we may as well look for Grapes from Thorns or Figs from Thistles as for such Fruits from Affliction till Christ's sanctifying Hand and Art have past upon them The reason why they become thus sweet and pleasant as I noted before is because they run now into another channel Jesus Christ hath removed them from Mount Ebal to Gerezim they are no more the effects of vindictive Wrath but paternal Chastisement And as Mr. Case well notes A teaching affliction is to the Saints the result of all the Offices of Iesus Christ. As a King he chastens as a Prophet he teacheth viz. by chastening and as a Priest he hath purchased this grace of the Father that the dry Rod might blossom and bear fruit Behold then a sanctified affliction is a Cup whereinto Jesus Christ hath wrung and prest the juyce and virtue of all his Mediatory Offices Surely that must be a Cup of generous Royal Wine like that in the Supper a Cup of Blessing to the people of God REFLECTION Hence may the unsanctified Soul draw matter of fear and trouble even from its unsanctified troubles And thus it may reflect upon it self O my Soul what good hast thou gotten by all or any of thy afflictions God's Rod hath been dumb to thee or thou deaf to it I have not learned one holy Instruction from it My troubles have left me the same or worse than they found me my Heart was proud earthly and vain before and so it remains still They have not purged out but onely given vent to the pride murmur and atheism of my heart I have been in my afflictions as that wicked Ahaz was in his 2 Chron. 28. 22. Who in the midst of his distress yet trespassed more and more against the Lord. When I have been in storms at Sea or troubles at home my Soul within me hath been as a raging Sea casting up mire and dirt Surely this Rod is not the Rod of God's Children I have proved but dross in the Furnace and I fear the Lord will put me away as dross as he threatens to do by the wicked Psal. 119. 119. Hence also should gracious Souls draw much encouragement and comfort amidst all their troubles O these are the fruits of Gods fatherly love to me Why should I fear in the day of evil or tremble any more at affliction though they seem as a Serpent at a distance yet are they a Rod in hand O blessed be that skilful and gracious hand that makes the Rod the dry Rod to blossome and bear such precious fruit Lord what a mystery of love lies in this dispensation That sin which first brought afflictions into the world is now it self carried out of the world by affliction Rom. 5. 12. Isa. 7. 9. O what can frustrate my Salvation when those very things that â—eem most to oppose it are mad subservient to it â—nd contrary to their own nature do promote and â—urther it THE POEM â—Tis strange to hear what different censures fall Vpon the same affliction some do call Their troubles sweet some bitter others meet Them both mid-way and call them bitter-sweet But here 's the question still I fain would see Why sweet to him and bitter unto me Thou drink'st them Dregs and all but others find Their troubles sweet because to them refin'd And sanctifi'd which difference is best By such apt Siâ—ilies as these exprest From Salt and Brackish Seas Fumes rise and fly Which into Clouds condens'd obscure the skie Their property there alter'd in few hours Those brackish fumes fall down in pleasant showers Or as the dregs of Wine and Beer distill'd By Limbeck with ingredients doth yield A Cordial water though the Lees were bitter From whence the Chymist did extract such liquor Then marvel not that one can kiss that Rod Which makes another to blaspheme his God O get your troubles sweet'ned and refin'd Or else they 'll leave bitter effects behind Saints troubles are a Cord let down by love To pully up their hearts to things above CHAP. XV. The Seas within their bounds the Lord contains He also Men and Devils holds in Chains OBSERVATION IT is a wonderful work of God to limit and bound such a vast and furious Creature as the Sea which according to the judgment of many Learned Men is higher than the Earth and that it hath a propension to overflow it is evident both from its nature and motion were it not that the great God had laid his Law upon it And this is a work wherein the Lord glories and will be admired Psal. 104. 9. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the Earth Which it's clear they would do were they not thus limitted So Job 38. 8. 10. 11. Who shut up the Seas with doors when it breake forth as if it had issued out of the VVomb I brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors and said Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and here shall thy proud VVaves be staid APPLICATION And no less is the glorious Power and Mercy of God discovered in bridling the rage and fury of Satan and his Instruments that they break not in upon the Inheritance of the Lord and destroy it Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain Psal. 76. 10. By which it is more than hinted that there is a World of Rage and Malice in the hearts of wicked men which fain would but cannot vent itself because the Lord restrains or as the Hebrew Girds it up Satan is the envious one and his rage is great against the people of God Rev. 12. 12. But God holds him and all his Instruments in a
Chain of Providence and it is well for God's People that it is so They are limited as the Sea and so the Lord in a providential way speaks to them Hitherto shall you go and no further Sometimes he ties them up so short that they cannot touch his people though they have the greatest opportunities and advantages Psal. 105. 12 13 14 15. VVhen they were but a few men in number yea very few and strangers in it when they went from one Nation to another from one Kingdom to another people He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm And sometimes he permits them to touch and trouble his People but then sets bounds and limits to them beyond which they must not pass That is a pregnant Text to this purpose Revel 2. 10. Behold the Devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and ye shall have trihulation ten days Here are four remarkable limitations upon Satan and his Agents in reference to the People of God A limitation as to the Persons not all but some A limitation of the Punishment a Prison not a Grave not Hell A limitation upon them as to the end for trial not ruine And lastly as to the Duration not as long as they please but ten days REFLECTION O my Soul what Marrow and Fatness Comfort and Consolation maist thou suck from the Breast of this Truth in the darkest day of trouble Thou seest how the flowing Sea drives to over-whelm the Earth Who has arrested it in its course and stopt its violence Who has confin'd it to its place Certainly none other but the Lord. When I see it threaten the shore with its proud furious and insulting Waves I wonder it doth not swallow up all but I see it no sooner touch the Sands which God hath made its bounds but it retires and as it were with a kind of submission respects those limits which God hath set it Thus the fiercest Element is represt by the feeblest things Thou seest also how full of wrath and fury wicked men are how they rage like the troubled Sea and threaten to over-whelm thee and all the Lord's Inheritance and then the floods of ungodly men make thee afraid yet are they restrained by an invisible gracious hand that they cannot execute their purpose nor perform their enterprize How full of Devils and devillized Men is this lower World Yet in the midst of them all hast thou hitherto been preserved O my Soul admire and adore that glorious power of God by which thou art kept unto Salvation Is not the preservation of a Saint in the midst of such hosts of enemies as great a Miracle though not so sensible as the preservation of those three Noble Iews in the midst of the fiery Furnace or Daniel in the Den of Lions For there is as strong a propension in Satan and wicked men to destroy the Saints as in the fire to burn or a Lion to devour O then let me chearfully address my self to the faithful discharge of my duty and stand no longer in a slavish fear of creatures who can have no power against me but what is given them from above Iohn 19. 11. And no more shall be given than shall turn to the glory of God Psal. 76. 10. and the advantage of my Soul Rom. 8. 28. THE POEM This World 's a Forrest where from day to day Bears Wolves and Lions range and seek their prey Amidst them all poor harmless Lambs are fed And by their very Dens in safety led They roar upon us but are held in Chains Our Shepherd is their Keeper he maintains Our Lot Why then should we so trembling stand We meet them true but in their Keeper's hand He that to ranging Seas such Bounds hath put The mouths of ravenous Beasts can also shut Sleep in the Woods poor Lambs your selves repose Vpon his Care whose Eyes do never close If unbelief in you don't loose their chain Fear not their strugling that 's but all in vain If God can check the VVaves by smallest Sand A Twined Thread may hold these in his hand Shun Sin keep close to Christ for other evils You need not fear tho' compast round with Devils CHAP. XVI To Sea without a Compass none dare go Our Course without the VVord is even so OBSERVATION OF how great use and necessity is the Compass to Sea-men Though they can coast a little way by the Shoar yet they dare not venture far into the Ocean without it It s their Guide and directs and shapes their Course for them And if by the violence of Wind and Weather they be driven beside their due Course yet by the help of this they are reduced and brought to Rights again It is wonderful to consider how by the help of this Guide they can run in a direct Line many hundred Leagues and at last fall right with the smallest Island which is in the Ocean comparatively but as the head of a small Pin upon a Table APPLICATION What the Compass and all other Mathematical Instruments are to the Navigator that and much more is the Word of God to us in our course to Heaven This is our Compass to steer our course by and it is truly touched he that orders his conversation by it shall safely arrive in Heaven at lasâ— Gal. 6. 16. As many as walk according to this rule Peace be on them and mercy This Word is as necessary to us in our way to Glory as a Lamp or Lanthorn is in a dark night Psal. 119. 105. This is a light shining in a dark place till the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts 2 Pet. 1. 19. If any that profess to know it and own it as a Rule miss Heaven at last let them not blame the Word for misguiding them but their own negligent and deceitful hearts that shuffle in and out and shape not their course and conversation according to its prescriptions What blame can you lay upon the Compass if you steer not exactly by it How many are there that neglecting this Rule will coast it to Heaven by their own Reason No wonder such fall short and perish in the way This is a faithful Guide and brings all that follow it to a blessed end Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory Psal. 73. 24. The whole hundredth and nineteenth Psalm is spent in commendation of its transcendent excellency and usefulness Luther profest that he prized it so highly that he would not take the whole World in exchange for one Leaf of it Lay but this Rule before you and walk accurately by it and you cannot be out of your way to Heaven Psal. 119. 30. I have chosen the way of truth or the true way thy Iudgments have I laid before me Some indeed have opened their detracting blasphemous mouths against it as Iulian that
and yet such as have had the highest security in the eye of Reason have notwithstanding experienc'd the vanity of these things Henry the Fourth a potent Prince was reduced to such a low ebb that he petitioned for a Prehends place in the Church of Spire Gallimer King of the Vandals was brought so low that he sent to his Friend for a spunge a Loaf of Bread and an Harp a Spunge to dry up his tears a Loaf of bread to maintain his life and an Harp to solace himself in his misery The story of Bellisarius is very affecting He was a man famous in his time General of an Army yet having his eyes put out and striped of all earthly comforts was led about crying Date abolum Bellisario Give one penny to poor Ballisarius Instances in History of this kinde are infinite Men of the greatest estates and honours have nevertheless become the very Ludibria Fortunae as one speaks The very scorn of Fortune Yea and not onely wicked men that have gotten their Estates by rapine and oppression have lived to see them thus scattered by Providence But sometimes godly Men have had their Estates how justly soever acquired thus scattered by Providence also Who ever had an estate better gotten better bottomed or better managed than Iob yet all was overthrown and swept away in a moment though in mercy to him as the issue demonstrated Oh then what a vanity is it to set the heart and let out the affections on them You can never depend too much upon God nor too little upon the creature 1 Tim. 6. 17. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded and trust in uncertain riches REFLECTION Are all earthly things thus transitory and vain Then what a reproach and shame is it to me that the men of this world should be more industrious and eager in the prosecution of such vanities then I am to enrich my Soul with solid and everlasting Treasure O that ever a sensual lust should be more operative in them then the love of God in me O my Soul thou dost not lay out thy strength and earnestness for Heaven with any proportion to what they do for the World I have indeed higher Motives and a surer Reward than they But as I have an advantage above them herein so have they an advantage above me in the strength and intireness of the principle by which they are acted What they do for the World they do it with all their might they have no contrary principle to oppose them their thoughts strength and affection is entirely carried in one Channel But I find a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind I must strive through a thousand Difficulties and Contradictions to the discharge of a Duty O my God! Shall not my heart bemore enlarged in Zeal Love and Delight in thee than theirs are after their Lusts O let me once find it so Again is the Creature so vain and unstable then why are my Affections so hot and eager after it And why am I so apt to dote upon its beauty especially when God is staining all its pride and glory Ier. 45. 5 6. Surely it is unbecoming the spirit of a Christian at any time but at such a time we may say of it as Hushai of Ahitophel's Counsell It is not good at this time O that my Spirit were raised above them and my conversation more in Heaven O that like that Angel Revel 10. 1 2. which came down from Heaven and set one foot upon the Sea and another upon the Earth having a Crown upon his head so I might set one foot upon all the cares fears and terrours of the World and another upon all the tempting splendour and glory of the World treading both under foot in the dust and crowning my self with nothing but spiritual excellencies and glory THE POEM Iudge in thy self O Christian is it meet To set thy heart on what Beasts set their feet 'T is no Hyperbole if you be told You dig for Dross with Mattocks made of Gold Affections are too costly to bestow Vpon the fair-fac'd Nothings here below The Eagle scorns to fall down from on high The Proverb saith to catch the silly Flie. And can a Christian leave the Face of God T' embrace the Earth or dote upon a Clod Can earthly Things thy heart so strangely move To tempt it down from the Delights above And now to court the World at such a time When God is laying Iudgment to the Line It 's just like him that doth his Cabbin sweep And trim when all is sinking in the Deep Or like the silly Bird that to her Nest Doth carry straws and never is at rest Till it be feather'd well but doth not see The Axe beneath that's hewing down the Tree If on a Thorn thy heart it self repose With such delight what if it were a Rose Admire O Saint the Wisdom of thy God Who of the self-same Tree doth make a Rod Lest thou shouldst surfeit on forbidden Fruit And live not like a Saint but like a Brute CHAP. XVIII Like hungry Lions Waves for Sinners gape Leave then your Sins behind if you 'll escape OBSERVATION THE Waves of the Sea are sometimes raised by God's Commission to be Executioners of his Threatnings upon sinners When Ionah fled from the presence of the Lord to Tarshish the Text saith The Lord sent out a great Wind into the Sea and there was a mighty Tempest so that the Ship was like to be broken Joh. 1. 4. These were God's Bailiffs to arrest the Run-away Prophet And Psal. 148. 8. The stormy winds are said to fulfil his word not only his word of Command in rising when God bids them but his word of threatning also And hence it is called a destroying wind Jer. 51. 1. and a stormy wind in God's fury Ezek. 13. 13. APPLICATION If these be the Executioners of the Lord's threatnings how sad then is their condition that put forth to Sea under the guilt of all their sins O if God should commissionate the Winds to go after and arrest thee for all thou owest him where art thou then How dare you put forth under the power of a Divine threat before all be cleared betwixt God and thee Sins in Scripture are called debts Mat. 6. 12. They are debts to God not that we owe them to him or ought to sin but Metonymically because they render the Sinner obnoxious to God's Judgments even as pecuniary debts oblige him that hath not wherewith to pay to suffer punishment All sinners must undergo the Curse either in their own person according to the express letter of the Law Gen. 2. 17. Gal. 3. 10. or their surety according to the tacite intent of the Law manifested to be the mind of the Law-giver Gen. 3. 15. Gal. 3. 13 14. Now he that by Faith hath Interest in his Surety hath his Discharge his Quietus est sealed in the Blood of Christ
American parts of the VVorld as New-found-Land New-England c. Whence every Year is brought home not only enough to supply our own Nation but many thousand pounds worth also yearly returned from Spain and other Countries by which Trade many thousand Families do subsist APPLICATION But now what retâ—rns do we make to Heaven for these Mercies O what notice is taken of the good hand of Providence which thus supplies and feeds us with the Blessings of the Sea I fear there are but few that own act in submission to it and are careful to return according to received benefit Men do not consider That their works are in the hand of God Eccles. 9. 1. And even those that have the most immediate dependence upon Providence as Merchants and Sea-men yet are very prone to undertake designes in the confidence of their own wisdom and industry not looking higher for the blessing Iam. 4 13. They often sacrifice to their own net and burn incense to their drag because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous Hab. 1. 16. viz. They attribute what is due to God unto the creature Now this is a sin highly provoking to the Lord for look in what degree the heart cleaves to the second cause in the same degree it departs from the living God Ier. 10. 5. And how do you think the blessed God will take it to see himself thus debased and the creature thus exalted into his place to see you carry your selves to the creature as to a God and to the Blessed God as to a creature Surely it is a great and common evil and such as will blast all if not timely discover'd and lamented If we make flesh our arm it 's just with God to wither and dry up the arm Do we not my Brethren look upon second causes as if they had the main stroke in our business And with a neglective eye pass by God as if he came in but collaterally and on the by into it But certainly all endeavours will be unsanctified if not succesâ—ess in which God is not eyed and engaged It is in vain for you to rise up early and sit up late and eat the bread of sorrows for so he giveth his beloved sleep Psal. 127. 2. i. e. It is to no purpose for men to beat their brains tire their spirits and rack their Consciences for an estate The true way of acquiring and enjoying the Creature is by submitting quietly to the Will of God in a prudent and diligent yet moderate use of lawful means Nothing can thrive with us till then REFLECTION Why then should I disquiet my self in vain and rob my self of my peace by these unbelieving cares and distractions O this hath been my sin I have acted as if my condition had been at my own dispose I have eyed creatures and means too much and God too little How have my hands hanged down with discouragement when second Causes have disappeared or wrought cross to my designs in the World ready to transfer the fault on this thing or that And again how apt am I to be vainly lifted up in carnal confidence when I see my self competently furnish'd with Creature-munition and provision Oh what a God provoking wickedness is this How oft hath Providence checked my carnal presumption and dasht many hopeful projects yet have I not owned it as I ought and submitted to it Oh it is a wonder this hath not closed the hand of Providence against me and pulled down a Curse upon all Ah Lord let me now learn to acquaint myself with thee then shall I decree a thing and it shall be established Job 22. 28. THE POEM In all the Gifts of God we should advance His glorious Name not say It came by chance Or to the Idol of our Prudence pay The tribute of his praise and go our way The waves do clap their hands and in their kind Acknowledge God And what are they more blind That float upon them yea for what they get They offer Sacrifices to their Net This is your manner thus to work you go Confess the naked truth say Is 't not so This Net was wisely cast 't is full 't is full O well done Mates this is a gallant pull Thus what is due to God you do apply Vnto your selves most Sacrilegiously I cannot wonder such come empty home That are so full of self and sin yet some I hope look higher and on God reflect Due praise A Blessing such may well expect CHAP. XXII Whilst thou by art the silly Fish dost kill Perchance the Devils Hook sticks in thy Gill. OBSERVATION THere is skill in Fishing they that go to Sea in a Fishing Voyage use to go provided with their Craft as they very fitly call it without which they can do nothing They have their Lines Hooks of several sizes and their Bait. They carefully observe their Seasons when the Fish falls in then they ply their business day and night APPLICATION But how much more skilful and industrious is Satan to ensnare and destroy Souls The Devil makes a Voyage as well as you he hath his Baits for you as you for the Fish he hath his Devices and Wiles to catch Souls 2 Cor. 2. 11. Ephes. 6. 11. He is a Serpent an old Serpent Rev. 12. 9. Too crafty for Man in his perfection much more in his collapsed and degenerated State his understanding being cracked by rhe Fall and all his Faculties poisoned and perverted Divines observe four steps or degrees of Satan's tempting Power First He can find out the Constitution-evils of Men he knows to what sin their Natures are more especially prone and inclinable Secondly He can propound suitable objects to those Lusts he can exactly and fully hit every Mans humour As Agrippina mixed her Poison in that Meat her Husband loved best Thirdly He can inject and cast motions into the Mind to close with those tempting objects as it is said of Iudas Joh. 13. 2. The Devil put it into his heart Fourthly He can sollicite irritate and provokâ— the Heart and by those continual restless sollicitations weary it and hereby he often draws Men to commit such things as startled them in the first motion All this can he do if he find the work stick and meet with rubs and difficulties yet doth he not act to the utmost of his skill and power at all times and with all persons neither indeed need he so to do the very propounding of an object is enough to some without any further sollicitation The Devil makes an easie conquest of them And beside all this his Policy much appears in the election of place time and instruments to tempt by And thus are poor Souls caught as Fishes in an evil Net Eccles. 9. 12. The carnal Man is led by Sense as the Beast and Satan handles and fits him accordingly He useth all sorts of Motives not only internal and intellective but external and sensitive also as the sparkling of the Wine
walk as they please but broad i. e. extending it self to all our words thoughts actions and affections Laying a Law upon them all conniving at no evil in any Man 1 Pet. 2. 1. And as the word gives no allowance for the least sin so it is the very nature of sincerity and uprightness to set the heart against every way of wickedness Psal. 139. 23 24. Iob 4. 23. And especially against that sin which was its darling in the days of his vanity Psal. 18. 23. True hatred as the Philosopher observes is of the whole kind He that hates sin as sin and so doth every upright Soul hate all sins as well as some Again the Soul that hath had a saving sight of Jesus Christ and a true discovery of the evil of sin in the Glass both of the Law and Gospel can account no sin small He knows the demerit of the smallest sin is God's eternal wrath and that not the least sin can be remitted without the shedding and application of the Blood of Christ Heh 9. 22. which Blood is of infinite value and price 1 Pet. 1. 19. To conclude God's People know that little as well as great sins are dangerous deadly and destructive in their own nature A little poyson will destroy a Man Adrian was choakt with a Gnat Caesar stabbed with Bodkins A man would think Adam's sin had been no great matter yet what dreadful work did it make It was not as a single Bullet to kill himself only but as a Chain-shot which cut off all his poor miserable Posterity Indeed no sin can be little because its object against whom it is committed is so great whence it receives a kind of infiniteness in it self and hecause the price paid to redeem us from it is so invaluable REFLECTION And is the smallest sin not only damning in its own nature but will certainly prove the ruine of that Soul that hides and covers it O then let my spirit accomplish a diligent search Look to it O my Soul that no sin be indulged by thee Set these considerations as so many flaming Swords in the way of thy carnal delights and lust Let me never say of any sin as Lot did of Zoar It is a little one spare it Shall I spare that which cost the Blood of Jesus Christ The Lord would not spare him When he made his Soul an offering for sin Rom. 8. 32. Neither will he spare me if I defend and hide it Deut. 29. 20. Ah! If my Heart were right and my Conversion sound that lust whatever it be that is so favoured by me would especially be abhorred and hated Isai. 2. 20. and 30. 22. Whatever my convictions and reformations have been yet if there be but one sin retained and delighted in this keeps the Devils interest still in my Soul And though for a time he seem to depart yet at last he will return with seven worse spirits and this is the sin will open the door to him and deliver up my Soul Matth. 12. 43 44. Lord let me make through work of it let me cut it off and pluck it out though it be as a right Hand or Eye Ah shall I come so near the Kingdom of God and make such a fair offer for Christ and yet stick at a small matter and lose all for want of one thing Lord let me â—â—ed the blood of the dearest lust for his sake that shed his dearest blood for me THE POEM There 's many a Soul eternally undone For sparing sin because a little one But we are much deceiv'd no sin is small That wounds so great a God so dear a Soul Yet say it were the smallest Pen-knife may As well as Sword or Lance dispatch and slay And shall so small a matter part and sever Christ and thy Soul What make you part for ever Or wilt thou stand on Toys with him when he Deny'd himself in greatest things for thee Or will it be an ease in Hell to think How easily thy Soul therein did sink Are Christ and Hell for trifles sold and bought Strike Souls with trembling Lord at such a thought By little sins belov'd the Soul is lost Vnless such sins do great repentance cost CHAP. XXVII Ships make much way when they a Trade-wind get With such a VVind the Saints have ever met OBSERVATION THough in most parts of the World the Winds are variable and sometimes blow from every point of the Compass by reason whereof sailing is â—low and dangerous yet about the Equinoctial Seamen meet with a Trade-wind blowing for the most part one way and there they Sail jocund before it and scarce need to Lore a Top-sail for some hundreds of Leagues APPLICATION Although the People of God meet with many seeming Rubs and Set-backs in their way to Heaven which are like contrary Winds to a Ship yet are they from the Day of their Conversion to the day of their compleat Salvation never out of a Trade-winds way to Heaven Rom. 8. 21. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them that are the called according to his purpose This is a most precious Scripture pregnant with its Consolation to believers in all conditions a Pillar of comfort to all distressed Saints Let us look a little nearer to it VVe know Mark the certainty and evidence of the Proposition which is not built upon a guess or remote probability but upon the knowledge of the Saints we know it and that partly by divine Revelation God has told us so and partly by our own experience we find it so That all things Not only things that lie in a natural and direct tendency to our good as Ordinances Promises Blessings c. but even such things as have no natural fitness and tendency to such an end as afflictions temptations corruptions desertions c. All these help onward They VVork together Not all of them directly and of their own nature and inclination but by being over-ruled and determined to such an issue by the gracious hand of God Nor yet do they work out such good to the Saints singly and apart but as adjuvant causes or helps standing under and working in subordination to the supream and principal cause of their happiness Now the most seeming opposite things yea sin in itself which in its own nature is really opposite to their good yet eventually contributes to it Afflictions and Desertions seem to work against us but being once put into the rank and order of Causes they work together with such blessed instruments as Word and Prayer to an happy issue And though the faces of these things that thus agree and work together look contrary ways yet there be as it were secret chains and connections of Providence betwixt them to unite them in their issue There may be many instruments employed about one work and yet not communicate counâ—els or hold intelligence with each other Ioseph's Brethren the Midianites Potiphar c. knew not
one anothers mind nor aimed at one end much less the end that God brought about by them one acts out of Revenge another for gain a third out of Policy yet all meet together at last in that issue God had design'd to bring about by them even Ioseph's advancement Even so it is here Christian there be more instruments at work for thine eternal good than thou art aware of REFLECTION Chear up then O my Soul and lean upon this Pillar of Comfort in all distresses Here is a promise for me if I be a called one that like the Phillosophers Stone turns all into Gold it toucheth This promise is my security however things go in the world My God will do me no hurt Jer. 25. 6. Nay he will do me good by every dispensation O that I had but an heart to make all things work for his glory that thus causeth every thing to work for my good My God dost thou turn every thing to my advantage O let me return all to thy praise and if by every thing thou work my eternal good then let me in every thing give thanks But ah How foolish and ignorant have I been even as a beast before thee How hath my heart been disquieted and apt to repine at thy dispensations when they have crossed my Will not considering that my God faithfully pursues my good even in those things that cross as well as in that which pleases me Blessed Lord What a blessed condition are all thy people in who are within the Line of this promise All things friendly and beneficial to them Friends helpful Enemies helpful every thing conspiring and conducing to their happiness With others it is not so nothing works for their good nay every thing works against it Their very mercies are snares and their Prosperity destroys them Prov. 1. 32. Even the blessed Gospel it self is a savour of death to them When evil befals them it is an only evil Ezek. 7. 5. that is not turned into good to them and as their evils are not turned into good so all their good is turned into evil As this Promise hath an influence into all that concerns the people so the curse hath a influence into all the enjoyments of the wicked O my soul bless the Lord who hath cast thy lot into such a pleasant place and given thee such a glorious heritage as this promise is THE POEM When once the Dog star rises many say Corn ripens then apace both night and day Souls once in Christ that Morning-star le ts fall Such influences on them then that all Gods dispensations to them sweet or sowr Ripens their Souls for Glory every hour All their afflictions rightly understood Are blessings every Wind will blow some good Sure at their troubles Saints would never grudge Were Sense deposed and Faith made the Iudge Falls make them waryer amend their pace When gifts puff up their hearts and weaken Grace Could Satan see the issue and the event Of his temptations he would scarcely tempt Could Saints but see what fruits their troubles bring Amidst those troubles they would shout and sing O sacred Wisdom who can but admire To see how thou dost save from fire by fire No doubt but Saints in glory wondering stand As those strange Methods few now understand CHAP. XXVIII Storms make discovery of the Pilots skill Gods Wisdom in affliction triumphs still OBSERVATION IN fair Weather when there is Sea-room enough then every common person can guide the Ship the Pilot may then lie down and take his rest but in great storms and stress of weather or when neer the dangerous shore then the most skilful Pilot is put to it Then he shews the utmost of his Art and Skill and yet sometimes all is too little They are as the Scripture speaks at their wits end know not what to do more but are forced to commit all to the mercy of God and the Seas APPLICATION In the Storms and Tempests of Affliction and Trouble there are the most evident and full Discoveries of the Wisdom and Power of our God It is indeed continually active for his people in all conditions Isai. 27. 3. Lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Psal. 121. 4. He that keepeth Israel neither stumbereth nor sleepeth His peoples dangers are without intermission therefore his preservations are so too But now when they come into the Streight of Affliction and deadly dangers which threaten like Rocks on every side now the Wisdom of their God rides triumphantly and visibly upon the waves of that stormy Sea And this infinite Wisdom is then especially discovered in these particulars 1. In leaving them still somewhat in the lieu and room of those Comforts that they are deprived of so that they see God doth exchange their comforts and that for the better and this supports them So Iohn 14. 1 2 3. Christ's bodily presence is removed but the Spirit was sent in the room of it which was better 2. In doubling their strength as he doubles their burdens It is observed that the Saints have many times very strong and sweet Consolation a little before their greatest Trials And this is so ordinary that commonly when they have had extraordinary Consolations from God they have then looked for some eminent Trial. The Lord appeared to Abraham and sealed the Covenant to him and then put him upon that great trial of his Faith So the Disciples Luke 24. 49. It was commanded them that they should tarry in Ierusalem till they were endowed with power from on high The Lord knew what an hard providence they were like to have and what great oppositions and difficulties they must encounter in publishing the Everlasting Gospel to the World and therefore first prepares and endows them with power from on high viz. with eminent measures of the Gifts and Craces of the Spirit as Faith Patience Self-denial c. So Paul had first his Revelations then his Buffetings 3. In coming in so opportunely in the time of their great distress with relief and comfort 1 Pet. 4. 14. Then the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth on them As that Martyr cried out to his friend Austin at the very stake He is come he is come 4. In appointing and ordering the several kinds of afflictions to several Saints and allotting to every one that very Affliction and no other which is most suitable to his condition Which Afflictions like so many Portions of Physick are prepared for that very malignant humour that predominates most in them Peter's sin was self-confidence God permits him to fall by denying Christ which doubtless was sanctified to his good in that particular Hezekiah's sin was vain-glory therefore Spoilers are sent to take away his Treasures 5. In the duration of their Troubles they shall not lie always upon them Psal. 125. 3. Our God is a God of Judgment Isai. 30. 18. Knows the due time of removing it and is therein punctual to a day Rev. 2.
10. REFLECTION If the Wisdom of God do thus triumph and glorifie itself in the Distresses of the Saints then why should I fear in the day of evil Psal. 49. 4. Why doth my heart faint at the foresight and apprehension of approaching trouble Fear none of those things that thou shalt suffer O my Soul if thy God will thus be with thee in the fire and water thou canst not perish Though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death yet let me fear no evil whilst my God is thus with me Creatures cannot do what they please his wisdom limits and over-rules them all to gracious and sweet ends If my God cast me into the Furnace to melt and try me yet I shall not be consumed there for he will sit by the Furnace himself all the while I am in it and curiously pry into it observing when it hath done its work and then will presently withdraw the fire O my Soul bless and adore this God of Wisdom who himself will see the ordering of all thine Afflictions and not trust it in the hands of Men or Angels THE POEM Though tost in greatest Storms I 'll never fear If Christ will sit at Helm to guide and steer Storms are the triumph of his Skill and Art He cannot close his Eyes nor change his Heart VVisdom and Power ride upon the VVaves And in the greatesâ— danger helps and saves From dangers it by dangers doth deliver And wounds the Devil out of his own Quiver It countermines his Plots and so doth spoil And make his Engines on himself recoil It blunts the Politicians restless Tool And makes Ahitophel the veriest Fool It shews us how our Reason us misled And if we had not we had perished Lord to thy VVisdom I will give the Reins And not with Cares perplex and vex my brains CHAP. XXIX Things in the bottom are unseen No eye Can trace God's Paths which in the Deeps do lie OBSERVATION THE Ocean is so deep that no Eye can discover what lies in the bottom thereof We use to say proverbially of a thing that is irrecoverably lost It is as good it were cast into the Sea What lies there lies obscure from all eyes but the Eye of God APPLICATION Thus are the Judgments of God and the Ways of his Providence profound and unsearchable Psal. 36. 16. The Righteous is like the great Mountains and thy Iudgments are a great Deep i. e. his Providences are secret obscure and unfathomable but even then and in those Providences his Righteousness stands up like the great Mountains visible and apparent to every eye Though the Saints cannot see the one yet they can clearly discern the other Ier. 12. 1. Ieremiah was at a stand so was Iob in the like case Iob 12. 7. So was Asaph Psal. 73. and Habbakkuk Chap. 1. 3. These Wheels of Providence are dreadful for their height Ezek. 1. 18. There be deep Mysteries of Providence as well as of Faith It may be said of some of them as of Paul's Epistles That they are hard to be understood Darkness and Clouds are round about the Throne of God No man can say what will be the particular issue and event of some of his dispensations Luther seemed to hear God say to him when he was importunate to know his mind in some particular Providence Deus sum non sequax I am a God not to be traced Some Providences like Hebrew Letters must be read backward Psal. 92. 7. Some Providences pose Men of the greatest parts and graces His way is in the Sea his paths in the great VVaters and his foot-steps are not known Psal. 77. 19. Who can trace Foot-steps in the bottom of the Sea The Angels Ezek. 1. Have their hands under their wings The hand is either Symbolum roboris The Symbol of strength or Instrumentum Operationis The Instrument of Action Where these hands are put forth they work effectually yea but very secretly they are hid under their wings There be some of God's Works that are such Secrets as that they may not be enquired into they are to be believed and adored but not pryed into Rom. 11. 33. Others that may be enquired after but yet are so profound that few can understand them Psal. 111. 2. The works of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure therein When we come to Heaven then all those mysteries as well in the Works as in the Word of God will lie open to our view REFLECTION O then why is my heart disquieted because it cannot sometimes discern the way of the Lord and see the connection and dependence on his providential dispensations Why art thou so perplexed O my Soul at the Confusions and Disorders that are in the world I know that Goodness and Wisdom sits at the Stern And though the Vessel of the Church be tossed and distressed in Storms of Trouble yet it shall not perish Is it not enough for me that God hath condescended so far for my satisfaction as to shew me plainly the ultimate and general issue of all these mysterious Providences Ephes. 1. 22. Rom. 8. 28. unless I be able to take the height of every particular Shall I presume to call the God of Heaven to account Must he render a reason of his ways and give an account of his matters to such a worm as I am Be silent O my Soul before the Lord subscribe to his Wisdom and submit to his Will whatsoever he doth However it be yet God is good to Israel the event will manifest it to be all over a design of love I know not how to reconcile them to each other or many of them to the Promise yet are they all harmonious betwixt themselves and the certain means of accomplishing the Promises O what a favour is this that in the midst of the greatest confusions in the world God hath given such abundant security to his people that it shall be well with them Amos 9. 8. Eccles. 8. 12. THE POEM Lord how stupendious deep and wonderful Are all thy draughts of Providence So full Of puzling Intricacies that they lie Beyond the ken of any mortal eye A Wheel within a Wheel's the Scripture Notion And all those VVheels transverse and cross in motion All Creatures serve it in their place yet so As thousands of them know not what they do At this or that their aim they do direct But neither this nor that is the effect But something else they do not understand VVhich sets all Politicians at a stand Deep Counsels as the birth this hand doth break And deeper things performeth by the weak Men are like â—orses set at every stage For Providence to ride from age to age VVhich like a Post spurs on and makes them run From stage to stage until their Iourney 's done Then take a fresh But they the business know No more than Horses the Post-Letters do Yet though its work be not conceal'd from sight 'T will
poor Weather-beaten Vessel comes into the Harbour more like a Wrack than a Ship nor Mast nor Saile left The righteous themselves are scarcely saved i. e. they are saved with very much difficulty They have not all an abundant entrance as the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 1. 11. Some Persons as one well notes Manton on Iude are afar off Eph. 2. 23. i. e. touch p. 119. with no care of Religion Some come near but never enter as Semiconverts see Matth. 12. 34. Others enter but with great difficulty they are saved as by fire 1 Cor. 3. 13. Make an hard shift But then there be some that go in with full sail before a VVind and have an abundant entrance They go triumphing out of the world Ah! when we come into the Narrow Channel at the very point of entrance into life the Soul is then in the most serious frame all things look with a new face Conscience scans our evidence most crittically then also Satan falls upon us and makes his sorest assaults and batteries It is the last encounter it they escape him now they are gone out of his reach for ever And if he cannot hinder their Salvation yet if he can but cloud their Evening and make them go groaning and haling out of the world he reaches another end by it even to confirm and prejudice the wicked and weaken the hands of others that are looking towards Religion REFLECTION If this be so how inevitable is my perdition may the careless Soul say if they that strive so much and go so far yet perish at last and if the righteous themselves are scarcely saved then where shall such an ungodly Creature as I appear O Lord if they that have made Religion their business and have been many years pursuing a work of Mortification have gone mourning after the Lord Jesus and walked humbly with God yet if some of these have such an hard tug at last then what will become of such a vain sensual careless Flesh-pleasing Wretch as I have been Again Do Saints find it so streight an entrance Then though I have well-grounded Hopes of safe arrival at last yet let me look to it that I do not increase the difficulty Ah! they are the things that are now done or omitted that put Conscience into such an agony then for when it comes to review the life with the most serious eye O let me not stick my Death-bed full of Thorns against I come to lie down upon it O that I may turn to the Wall in that hour as Hezekiah did 2 Kings 20. 2 3. and say Remember now O Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. THE POEM After a tedious Passage Saints descry The glorious Shore Salvation being nigh Death 's Long boat 's launch'd ready to set ashore Their panting Souls O how they tug at Oar Longing to be at rest but then they find The hardest Tug of all is yet behind Iust at the Harbours mouth they see the Wrach Of Souls there cast away and driven back A world of dangerous Rocks before it lie The Harbours barr'd aâ—d now the VVinds blow high Thoughts now arise fears multiply apace All things about them have another face Life blazes just like an expiring light The Soul 's upon the lip prepar'd for flight Death till the Resurrection tears and rends Out of each other's arms two parting Friends The Soul and Body Ah! but more than so The Devil falls upon them ere they go With new temptations back'd with all his power And scruples kept on purpose for that hour This is the last encounter now or never If he succeeds not now they 're gone for ever Thus in they put with hardship at the last As Ships out of a Storm nor Sail nor Mast Yet some go in before a Wind and have Their Streamer of Assurance flying brave Lord give me easier entrance if thou please Or if I may not there arrive with ease Yet I beseech the set me safe ashore Though stormy Winds at Harbours mouth should roar CHAP. XXXII How glad are Seamen when they make the Shore And Saints no less when all their Danger 's o're OBSERVATION WHat Joy is there among Sea-men when at last after a tedious and dangerous Voyage they descry Land and see the desied Haven before them Then they turn out of their loath'd Cabbins and come upon open Deck with much joy Psal. 107. 30. Then they are glad because they be quiet So he bringeth them to their desired Haven Now they can reflect with comfort upon the many dangers they have past Olim haec meminisse juvabit It is sweet to recount them APPLICATION But O what transcendent Joy yea ravishing will ove-run the hearts of Saints when after so many Conflicts Temptations and Afflictions they arrive in glory and are harbour'd in Heaven where they shall rest for ever 2. Thes. 1. 7. The Scripture saith They shall sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb Rev. 15. 3. The Song of Moses was a triumphant Song composed for the celebration of that glorious Deliverance at the Red Sea The Saints are now fluctuating upon a troublesome and tempestuous Sea their hearts sometime ready to sink and die within them at the apprehension of so many and great dangers and difficulties Many an hard storm they ride out and many streights and troubles they here encounter with But at last they arrive at their desired and long expected Haven and then Heaven rings and resounds with their joyful acclamations And how can it be otherwise when as soon as ever they set foot upon that glorious Shoar Christ himself meets and receives them with a Come ye blessed of my Father Matth. 25. 34. O joyful voice O much desired Word saith Parâ—us What tribulation would not a man undergo for his Words sake Besides then they are perfectly freed from all evils whether of sin or suffering and perfectly filled with all desired good Now they shall joyn with that great Assembly in the high praises of God O what a day will this be if saith a worthy Divine Diagoras died away with an excess of Joy whilst he enbraced his three Sons that were crowned as Victors in the Olympic Games in one day And good old Simeon when he saw Christ but in a body subject to the insirmities of our natures cryed out Now let thy Servant depart in peace what unspeakable joy will it be to the Saints to behold Christ in his glory and see their godly relations also to whose conversion perhaps they have been instrumental all crown'd in one day with everlasting Diadems of bliss And if the stars did as Ignatius saith make a Quire as it were about that star that appear'd at Christ's incarnation and there be such joy in Heaven at the conversion of a sinner no wonder then the Morning-stars sing together and the Sons of God shout for Joy when the general Assembly meet in Heaven O how will the Arches
esteem'd ALthough Dedications are too often abused to a vain flattery yet is there an excellent use and advantage to be made of them Partly to encourage Persons of VVorth and Eminency to espouse the Interest of Religion themselves and partly to oblige those Readers for whom such Books are principally intended to a diligent perusal of them by interesting such Persons in them for whom they have great Respects oâ— on whom they have any dependance Vpon the first account a Dedication would be needless to you for I am perswaded you do not only in your Iudgment approve the Design I here manage viz. The Reformation of the prophane and looser sort of our Sea-men but are also heartily willing to improve your Interest to the uttermost for the promotion of it I cannot look upon you as Persons acted by that low and common spirit that the most of your Profession are acted by who little regard if they be good Servants to them whether God have any Service from them or no and if they pay them the Wages due for their work never think of the Wages they are to receive for their sin You are judged to be Persons of another spirit who do not only mind but advance Christ's Interest above your own and negotiate for his Glory as well as for your own gain And yet herein you consult your own Interest as well as God's Subordinata non pugnant Your Interest is never more prosperously managed or abundantly secured than when it is carried on in a due subordination to God's Their Reformation will apparently tend to your advantage Those sins of theirs against which I have here engaged are the Jonahs in your Ships 't is sin that sinks them and drives them against the Rocks One sinner destroys much good Eccles. 8. 11. How much more a leud Crew of them conspiring to provoke God! The death of their Lusts is the most probable means to give life to your Trade And as these Counsels prosper in their hearts so will your Business thrive in you hands Piety and Prosperity are married together in that Promise Psal. 1. 3. Onesimus was never so profitable a Servant to Philemon as when he became his Brother in a Spiritual as well as his Servant in a Civil Capacity Philem. vers 11. and 16. compared And yet if your Interest were forced to step back to give way to Christ's I hope you would notwithstanding rejoyce therein So that my present business is not so much to perswade you whose hearts I hope God haâ—h already perswaded to so good a work as to make your Fames and Respects which are great among them an innocent Bait to tempt them to their Duty And if either your Name or Interest may be useful to such an end I presume I may use them freely and welcome for sure I am they can never be put to a better use Well then I will make bould to send this small Adventure in your Ships and if the Return of it be but tke Conversion of one Soul to God I shall reckon that I have made a better Voyage than you let your Returns be never so rich How these things will affect them I know not I do suppose it will produce different effects upon them according to the different tempers of their spirits and according as God shall command or suspend the Blessing Possibly some will storm at the close and cutting Rebukes of the Word for most mens Lusts are a great deal more sensible and tender than their Consciences and will fondly imagine that this necessary plainness tends to their reproach But if none but the guilty can be supposed to be angry at them they will thereby reproach themselves a great deal more than ever I intend to do I confess it is a bitter Pill and compounded of many â—perative and strong Ingredients which do acute it â—ut not a jot more than is necessary I shall beg the â—ssistance of your Prayers to God for them and of your â—rave Admonitions and Exhortations to them for God â—hich will much help its Operation and facilitate my Design to do their Souls a piece of everlasting Service â—ith which Design I can truly say I even travel in pain 〈◊〉 them Your assistance therefore in this good Work â—ill put the highest Obligation upon Your most affectionate Friend and Servant to be commanded IOHN FLAVEL A Sober Consideration Of the SIN of DRUNKENNESS IN the former Treatise I have endeavoured to Spiritualize earthly Objects and elevate your thoughts to more sublime and excellent Contemplations that earthly things may rather be â—â— step than a stop to Heavenly You have therein my best advice to guide you in your Course to that Poâ—â— of your Eternal Rest and Happiness In this I have given warning of some dangeroâ—â— Rocks and Quick-sands that lie upon your left handâ— upon which millions of Souls have perished and â—â—thers are wilfully running to their own preditioâ—â— Such are the horrid Sins of Drunkenness Vncleanness profane Swearing Violation of Promises and Ingagements made to God and Atheistical slighting and coâ—tempt of Death and Eternity All which I have 〈◊〉 given warning of and held forth a Light to dâ—cover where your danger is If after this you â—â—â—stinately prosecute your Lusts and will not be â—â—â—claimed you perish without Apology I have freâ—â— mine own Soul Let none interpret this necessary plainness asâ—â— reproach to Sea-men as if I represented them 〈◊〉 the world worse than they are If upon thatâ—â— count any of them be offended methinks these three or four Considerations should remove that offence First that if this close and plain dealing be necessary in order to your Cure and you will be offended thereat it 's better you should be offendâ—d than God Ministers are often put upon lamentable streights they sail betwixt Sylla and Charibdis the wratâ— of God upon one side if we do not speak 〈◊〉 and home as the necessity of the Case â—equires and Man's wrath if we do What shall we do in this streight Either God or you it seems must be offended and if it cannot be avoided I shall rather hazard your anger than Gods and think it far more tolerable Secondly If you did but see the necessity and end of this manner of dealing with your Souls you would not be offended But put it into a more sensible case and you will see and acknowledge it presently If I should see an high-bult Wall giving way and ready to fall upon you would you be angry with me if by plucking you out of the danger I should pluck your arm out of joynt Certainly you would not Why this is the case here See Isa. 30. 13. Therefore this Iniquity shall be unto you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high Wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at as instant Thirdly What a madness is it to abide in a condition over which all Woes and Curses hang and yet not be able to endure to hear of it Why
the dust Job 20. 11. Ah soul One of these days thou shalt be laid on thy Death-bed or see the waves that shall entomb thee leaping and roaring upon every side and then thou wilt surely have other thoughts of the happiness that lies in remission of sin than thou hast now Observe the most incorrigible Sinner then hark how he sighs and groans and cries Ah Lord and must I die And then see how the tears trickle down his Cheeks and his heart ready to burst within him Why what 's the matter Oh the Lord will not pardon him he holds him guilty If he were sure his sins were forgiven then he could die but oh to appear before the Lord in them appals him daunts him kills the very heart of him He would fain cry for mercy but Conscience stops his mouth Oh saith Conscience how canst thou move that tongue to God in prayer for mercy that hath so often rent and torn his glorious Name by Oaths and Curses Sirs I pray you do not make light of these things they will look wishly upon you one of these days except ye prevent it by sound conversation Arg. 5. And then lastly to name no more I pray you consider that a custom of vain words and prophane Oaths is as plain an indication and discovery of an unregenerate Soul as any in the world This is a sure â—ign thou art none of Christs nor hast any thing to do with the promises and priviledges of his people for by this the Scripture distinguisheth the state of Saints and Sinners Eccl. 9. 2. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an Oath Mark he that sweareth and he that feareth an Oath do as manifestly distinguish the Children of God from wicked men as clean and unclean righteous and wicked sacrificing and not sacrificing This fruit of the tongue plainly shews what the tree is that bears it Isai. 2. 6. The vile person will speak of villany and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Loquere ut videam said one Speak that I may see what you are Look what is in the heart that is vented by the Tongue where the treasures of Grace are in the Heart words ministring Grace will be in the Lips Psal. 37. 30. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of Iudgment for the law of the Lord is in his heart To this sense we must understand that Scripture att 12. 27. By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Certainly Justification and Condemnation in the day of Judgment shall not pass upon us meerly for the good or bad words we have spoken but according to the state of the Person and frame of the heart But the meaning is that our words shall justifie or condemn us in that day as evidence of the state and frame of the Soul We use to say such Witnesses hang'd a man the meaning is the Evidence they gave cast and condemned him O think seriously of this if words evidence the state of the Soul what an woful state must thy Soul needs be in whose mouth overflows with Oathes and Curses How many witnesses will be brought in to cast thee in the great Day Your own tongue shall then fall upon you as the expression is Psal. 64 8. And out of your own mouth God will fetch abundant evidence to condemn you And thus I have opened unto you the evil of vain words and prophane Oathes and presented to your view their several aggravations If by these things there be a relenting pang upon thy heart and a serious resolution of reformation then I shall commend these few helps or means to thy perusal and conclude this Head And the first help is this Help 1. Seriously fix in thy thoughts that Scripture Matth. 12. 36. But I say unto you that every idle word that Men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of Iudgment Oh let it sounâ— in thine ears day and night Oh ponder them in thy heart I say unto you I that have always been in the Fathers bosome and do fully know his mind I that am constituted the Judge of quick and dead and do fully understand the rule of Judgment and the whole process thereof I say and do assure you that every idle word that men shall speak i. e. every word that hath not a tendency and reference to the Glory of God though there be no other obliquity or evil in them than this that they want a good end How much more then scurrilous Words bloody Oathes and Blasphemies Men shall give an account thereof that is shall be cast and condemned to suffer the wrath of God for them as appears by that parallel Scripture 1 Pet. 4. 4 5. For as the Learned observe there is plainly a Matalepsis in these words The Antecedent to give an account is put for the Consequent punishment and condemnation to hell fire the certainty whereof admits but of this one exception viz. intervenient repentance or a pardon obtained through the blood of Christ here before you be presented at that judgment-seat Oh then what a bridle should this Text be to thy extravagant tongue I remember Hierom was wont to say Whether I eat or drink or whatever I do methinks I still hear the sound of these words in mine ear Arise ye dead and come to judgment O that the sound of the words may be always in your ears Help 2. Consider before you speak and be not rash to utter words without knowledge He thâ—â— speaks what he thinks not speaks Hipocitically 〈◊〉 he that thinks not what to speak sperks inconsiâ—â—rately You have cause to weigh your words before you deliver them by your tongue for whether you do or do not the Lord pondereth them Records are kept of them else you could not be called to an account for them as I shewed you you must Help 3. Resign up your Tongues to God every day and beg him to guide and keep it So did David Psal. 141. 3. Set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep thou the door of my lips Beg him to keep you from provocations and temptations or if you fall into them intreat him for strength to rule your spirits in them that you may not be conquered by temptations Help 4. But above all labour to get your Souls cleansed and purified by Faith possest with saving and gracious Principles All other means will be ineffectual without this Oh see the vileness of thy nature and the necessity of a change to pass upon it First make the tree good and then his fruit good a new Nature will produce new words and actions To binde your souls with Vows and resolutions while you are strangers to a regenerate work
persons they are but panders for Lust. Evil communication corrupts good manners The tongues of sinners do cast fire-balls into the hearts of each other which the corruption within is easily kindled and enflamed by Direct 4. Exercise thy self in thy Calling diligently It will be an excellent means of preventing this sin It is a good observation that one hath That Israel was safer in the Brick-kilns in Egypt than in the Plains of Moab 2 Sam. 11. 2. And it came to pass in the even-tide that David arose from off his bed and walked on the roof of the Kings house and this was the occasion of his fall See 1 Tim. 5. 11 13. Direct 5. Put a restraint upon thine appetite feed not to excess Fulness of bread and idleness were the sins of Sodom that occasioned such an exuberancy of Lust. They are like fed horses every one neighing after his neighbours Wife When I had fed theâ— to the full then they committed Adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the Harlots houses Jer. 5. 7 8. This is a sad requital of the bounty of God in giving us the enjoyment of the Creatures to make them fuel to lust and instruments of sin Direct 6. Make choice of a meet Yoke-fellow and delight in her you have chosen This is a lawful Remedy See 1 Cor. 7. 9. God ordained it Gen. 2. 21. But herein appears the corruption of nature that men delight too tread by-pathes and forsake the way which God hath appointed as that Divine Poet Mr. Herbert saith If God had laid all common certainly Man would have been the closer but since now God hath impal'd us on the contrary Man breaks the fence and every ground will plow O what were Man might he himself misplace Sure to be cross he would shift feet and face Stollen waters are sweeter to them than those waters they might lawfully drink at their own fountain but withal know it is not the having but the delighting in a lawful Wafe as God requires you to do that must be a â—ence against this sin So Solomon Prov. 5. 19. Let her be as the loving Hinde and pleasant Roe Let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravisht always with her love Direct 7. Take heed of running on in a course of sin especially Superstition and Idolatry in which cases and as a punishment of which evils God often gives up men to these vile affections Rom. 1. 25 26. Who changed the truth of God into a lye worshipped and served the Creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen For this cause God gave them up to vile affections c. They that defile their Souls by Idolatrous practices God suffers as a just recompence their bodies also to be defiled with uncleanness that so their ruine may be hastned Let the admirers of Traditions beware of such a judicial Tradition as this is Wo to him that is thus delivered by the hand of an angry God No punishment in the world like this when God punishes sin with sin When he shall suffer those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those common notices of Conscience to be quench'd and all restraints to be moved out of the way of sin it will not be long ere that sinner come to his own place IV. CAUTION IN the next place I shall make bold to expostulate a little with your Conscience concerning the precious mercies you have received and the solemn promises you have bound your selves withal for the obtaining of those mercies I fear God hath many bankrupt debtors among you that have dealt slipperily and unfaithfully with him that have not rendered to the Lord according to the great things he hath done for them nor according to those good things they have vowed to the Mighty God of Iacob But truely if thou be a despiser of mercy thou shalt be a pattern of wrath God will remember them in fury who forget him is his favours I will tell you what a grave and eminent Minister once told his people dealing with them about this sin of unthankfulness for mercy and I pray God it may affect you duely Let us all mourn saith he and take on we are all behindhand with God The Christian world is become bankrupt quite broke makes no return to God for his love He is issuing out process to seize upon body goods and life and will be put off no longer Bloody Bayliffs are abroad for bad debtors all theâ— world over Christians are broke and make no return and God is breaking all He cannot have what he would have what he should have he will take what he can get for money he will take goods limbs arms legs he will have his own out of your skin out of your blood out of your bodies and souls He is setting the Christian world as light and as low as they have set his love Ah Lord what a time do we live in Long-suffering is at an end Mercy will be righted in Iustice Iustice will have all behind it will be paid to the utmost farthing 't will set abroach your blood but 't will have all behind c. Do you hear Souls Is not this sad news to some of you who have received vast sums of mercy and given God your bond for the repayment of him in praise and answerable fruit and yet forfeited all and lost your credit with God Oh how can you look God in the face with whom you have dealt so perfidiously I am now come in the Name of God to demand his due of you to call to remembrance the former receipts of mercy which you mind not but God doth and there is a witness in your bosome that doth and will one day witness to your faces that you have dealt perfidiously with your God your souls have been the graves of mercy which should have been as so many gardens where they should have lived and flourished I am come now to open those graves and view those mercies that your unthankfulness hath killed and buried to lay them before your eyes and see whether your ungreatful hearts will bleed upon them Buried mercies are not lost for ever they shall as certainly have a day of Resurrection as thy self It were better for thee they should have a Resurrection now in thy heart than to rise as witnesses against thee when thou shalt rise out of the dust that will be a terrible Resurrection indeed when they shall come to plead against thy Soul nothing pleads more dreadfully against a Soul than abused mercy doth But I shall come to the particulars upon which I interrogate your Consciences and I pray deal truly and ingenuously in answering these Queries Quer. 1. And first I shall demand of you Whether you never had experience of the power and goodness of God in restoring you to Health from dangerous Sickness and Diseases Have you not sometimes had the sentence of Death in your selves and that possibly when you have been
ran if he had but received him into the house it had been much but he fell on his neck and kissed him He bespeaks him much after that rate he exprest himself to returning Ephraim My Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him Jerem. 31. 20. There is not the least Parenthesis in all the pages of Free Grace to exclude a Soul that is sincerely willing to come to Christ. Quest. 13. But how may it appear that he is willing to receive me Answ. Make trial of him thy self If thou did but know his heart to poor sinners you would not question it Believe what he saith in the Gospel there thou shalt find that he is a willing Saviour for therein thou hast First his most serious invitations Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden Isai. 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters These serious Invitations are Secondly backt and confirmed with his Oath Ezek. 35. 11. As I live I desire not the death of a sinner Thirdly amplified with pathetical wishes sighs and groans Matth. 23. 29. Oh that thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day Fourthly Yea delivered to them in undissembled tears Matth. 23. 37 38. He wept over it and said O Ierusalem Ierusalem Fifthly Nay he hath shed not only tears but blood to convince thee of his willingness View him in his dying posture upon the Cross stretching out his dying arms to gather thee hanging down his blessed head to kiss thee every one of his wounds was a mouth opened to convince thee of the abundant willingness of Christ to receive thee Quest. 14. But my sins are died in grain I am a sinner of the blackest hue will he receive and pardon such an one Answ. Yea Soul if thou be willing to commit thy self to him Isai. 1. 18. Come now let us reason together Though your sins he as scarlet I will make them as snow though they be red like crimson I will make them as wool See p. 10 11. Quest. 25. This is comfortable news but may I not delay my closing with him for a while and yet not hazard my eternal happiness seeing I resolve to come unto him at last Ans. No. There must be no delays in this case Ps. 119. 60. I made hast and delayed not to keep thy commandments Quest. 16. Why may I not defer it at least for a little while Ans. For many weighty reasons this work can bear no delays First the offers of Grace are made to the present time Heb. 3. 15. Wbile it 's said to day harden not your heart There may be a few more days of God's patience but that is unknown to thee Secondly your Life is immediate uncertain how many thousands are gone into Eternity since the last Night If you can say to sickness when it comes Go and come again another time it were somewhat Thirdly Sin is not a thing to be dallied whith Oh! who would be willing to lie down one Night under the guilt of all his sins Fourthly delays increase the difficulty of Conversion Sin still roots itself deeper habits are the more strengthened and the heart still more hardned Fifthly There be thousands now in Hell that perish through delays Their Consciences often urged and prest hard upon them and many resolutions they had as thou hast now but they were never perfected by answerable executions and so they perisht Sixthly Thy way of sinning now is desperate for every moment thou art acting against clear light and conviction and that is a dreadful way of sinning Seventhly There can be no solid reason for one hours delay for thou canst not be happy too soon And be sure of it if ever thou come to taste the sweetness of a Christian Life nothing will more pierce and grieve thee than this that thou enjoyedst it no sooner Qu. 17. Oh but the pleasures of sin engage me to it how shall I break these cords and snares Ans. That snare may be broken by considering solemnly these five things First that to take pleasure in sin is an argument of a most deplorable and wretched state of Soul What a poysonful nature doth it argue in a Toad that is sucking in nothing but poyson and filth wherever he crawls Oh what an heart hast thou hast thou nothing to find pleasure in but that which makes the Spirit of Christ sad and the hearts of Saints ache and groan which digged Hell and let in endless miseries upon the world Secondly think that the misery it involves thee in is infinitely beyond the delights it tempts thee by It doth but delight the sensual part and that but with a brutish pleasure but will torment thy immortal Soul and that for ever The pleasure will quickly go off but the sting will remain behind I tasted but a little honey on the top of my rod said Ionathan and I must die 1 Sam. 14. 43. Thirdly Nay that 's not all but the Lord proportions wrath according to the pleasures souls have had in sin Rev. 18. 7. How much she hath lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give unto her Fourthly What dost thou pay or at least pawn for this pleasure Thy soul thy precious soul is laid to stake for it and in effect thus thou sayest when thou deferrest the closing with Christ upon the account of enjoying the pleasures of sin a little longer Here Devil take my Soul into thy possession and power if I repent I will have it again if not it is thine for ever Oh dearb ought pleasures What is the the world A great exchange of ware Wherein all Sorts and Sexes cheapning are The Flesh the Devils sit and cry What lack ye When most thay fawn they most intend to rack ye The wares are cups of joy and beds of pleasure There 's goodly choice down-weight and flowing measure A soul 's the price but they give time to pay Vpon the Death-bed or the Dying-day Hard is the bargain and unjust the measure When as the price so much outlasts the pleasure Quarles Lastly It 's thy gross mistake to think thou shalt be bereaven of all delights and pleasures by coming under the government of Christ For one of those things in which his Kingdom consists is joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. Indeed it allows no sinful pleasures to the subjects of it nor do they need it but from the day thou closest in with Christ all thy pure real and eternal pleasures and delight begin and bear date When the Prodigal was return'd to his Father then saith the Text They began to be merry Luke 15. 24. See Acts 8. 5 6. No no Soul thou shalt want no joy for the Scripture saith They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink the rivers of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of light c. Psal. 36. 8 9. Qu. 18. But how shall I