AN EXTRACT

 

FROM THE

 

WORKS

 

OF

 

MR. FLAVEL.

 

NAVIGATION SPIRITUALIZED:

 

OR

 

A NEW COMPASS

 

FOR

 

CONSISTING OF THIRTY-TWO POINTS.

 

THE

 

EPISTLE DEDICATOR

 

TO ALL

 

MASTERS MARINERS, AND SEAMEN.

 

 I FIND it storied of ANACHARSUS, that when one asked him, Whether the living or the dead were more He returned this answer, " You must first tell me in which number I must place seamen:" Intimating thereby, that seamen are, as, it were, a third sort of persons, to be numbered neither with the living nor the dead, their lives hanging continually in suspense. And it was anciently accounted the most desperate employment,, and they little better than lost men that used the seas. And although custom, and the great improvement of the art of navigation, have made it less formidable now, yet are you no further from death than you are from the waters; which is but a remove of two or three inches. Now you that border so nigh upon the confines of death and eternity every moment, may well be supposed to be men of singular piety and seriousness. But alas! for the generality, what sort of men are more ungodly, and stupidly insensible of eternal concernments Living for the most part as if they had made a covenant with death, and with hell were at an agreement.

 

 It was an ancient saying,’ He that knows not how to pray, let him go to sea.' But we may say now, (alas, that we may say so in times of greater light,)’ He that would learn to drink and swear, let him go to sea.' As for prayer, it is a rare thing among seamen; they count that. a needless, business: They see the profane and vile delivered as well as others; and therefore, " What profit is there if they pray unto him " (Mal. 3: 14.) As I- remember, I have read of a profane soldier, who was heard swearing in a place of great danger; and when one that stood by warned him, saying, Fellow soldier, do not swear, the bullets fly;' he answered,' They that swear come off as well as they that pray.' Soon after a shot hit him, and down he fell. PLATO diligently admonished all men to avoid the seas: For, says he, it is the schoolmaster of all vice and dishonesty.

 

 It is a very sad consideration to me, that you who float upon the great deeps, in whose bottom so many thousand poor creatures lie, whose sins have sunk them down, not only into the bottom of the sea, but of hell also: That you, I say, who daily float and hover over them, and have the roaring waves that swallowed, them up, gaping for you as the next prey, should be no more affected with these things. O what a terrible voice does GOD utter in the storms! -It breaks the cedars, shakes the wilderness." (Psalm 29: 5.) And can it not shake your hearts This voice of the LORD is full of majesty, but his voice in the Word is more powerful, (Heb. 4: 12,) to convince and rip up the heart. This Word is exalted above all his name, and if it cannot awaken you, it is no wonder you remain secure and dead, when. the LORD utters his voice in the most dreadful storms -and tempests. But if neither the voice of GOD uttered in his dreadful works, or in his glorious Gospel, can effectually awaken, there is a fearful storm coming, which will so awaken your souls, as that they never shall sleep any more. " Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest This is the portion of their cup." (Psalm 11: 6.) You that have been at sea in the most violent storms, never felt such a storm as this, and the LORD grant you never may; no calm shall follow this storm.

 

 There are some amongst you, that, I am persuaded, do truly fear that GOD in whose hand their life and breath is; men that fear an oath, and are an honor to their profession; who drive a trade for heaven, and are diligent to secure that happiness of their immortal souls in the insurance-office above: But for the generality, alas! They mind none of these things. How many of you are cast to and fro, from one country to another; but never think of that heavenly country above, nor how you "may get the merchandise, which is better than the gold of Ophir! How oft do you tremble to see the foaming waves dance about you, and wash over you; yet consider not how terrible it will be to have the waves and billows of GOD's wrath to go over your souls, and that for ever! How glad are you, after you have been long tossed upon the ocean, to descry land, and how eagerly do you look out for it; who yet never had your hearts warmed with the consideration of that joy which shall be among the saints, when they arrive 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 embarked for eternity, whither all winds blow them, and will quickly be 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 ye may 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-lived inheritance, which, like the flowing tide, for a little while covers the shore, and then returns and leaves it naked 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. I have endeavored to clothe spiritual matters in your own phrases, that they might be the more intelligible to you.

 

 If GOD shall bless these meditations to the conversion of any among you, you will be the gainers, and my heart shall rejoice, even mine. How comfortably should we shake hands with you, when you go abroad, were we persuaded your souls were interested in CHRIST What life would it put in our prayers for you, when you are abroad, to consider that Jesus CHRIST is interceding 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 an especial interest in Him whom winds and seas obey! To conclude, what joy would it be to your godly relations, to see you return new creatures! Doubtless, more than if you come home laden with the riches of both the Indies.

 

 Come, Sirs I 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 the land of rest!

 

So prays,

 

Your affectionate Friend to serve you, JOHN FLAVEL.

 

TO EVERY SEAMAN

 

SAILING HEAVENWARD

 

INGENIOUS SEAMEN

 

 THE art of navigation, by which islands especially are enriched, and preserved in safety from invasions; and the wonderful works of GoD in the great deep, and foreign nations are delightfully beheld, is an art of exquisite ingenuity: 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 as liable to leaks and bruises as any ship is) through the sea of this world (which is as unstable as water) 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. Human 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 mere man can carry a ship to any desired port in the world, but no mere man can carry a soul to heaven. He must be a saint, he must be a divine, (so all saints are,) that can pilot a soul to the fair haven in EMMANUEL'S land. The art of natural navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of CHRIST, before which time the use of the loadstone was never known; and before the virtue of that was revealed to the mariner, it is unspeakable with what uncertain wanderings seamen floated here and there. And, sure I am, the art of spiritual navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of CHRIST: This art of arts is now perfectly revealed in the Scriptures; but the rules thereof are dispersed up and down therein. The collecting and methodizing of the same, cannot but be a work very useful to souls: Though when all is done, there is an absolute necessity of the teachings of the SPIRIT, to make souls artists in sailing heavenward.

 

 1. In order to this, O consider, what rich merchandise the soul is. CHRIST assures us, one soul is more worth than all the world. The LORD JESUS does as it were put the whole world in one scale, and one soul in the other, and the world is found too light. (Matt. 16: 26.) Should you 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, you wouldest be the greatest loser: So far wilt you be from profiting by any of thy sea voyages.

 

 2. Consider, what a leaky vessel thy body is, in which this unspeakable rich treasure, thy soul, is embarked! O the many diseases thy body is subject to! It is above two thousand years ago, that there have been reckoned up three hundred 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 mind, the distempers of it are no less deadly, than the diseases of the body. But besides these internal, causes, there are many external causes of leaks in this, vessel, and very small matters may be of great moment to the sinking of it. The least gnat in the air may choak one, as it did ADRIAN, the Pope of Rome; a little hair in milk may strangle one, as it did a Counselor in Rome; a little stone of a raisin may stop one's breath, as it did the Poet ANAC1REON. Thus you see what a leaky 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 the soul is to sail in the leaky 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; 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, and pirates. Worldly temptations, worldly lusts, and worldly company ' drown many 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 all our glory, and the men of this world pollute all they converse with. A man that keeps company with the men of this world, is like him that walks in the sun, tanned insensibly. Now, the more dangerous the sea is, the more requisite it is the Sailor be an Artist.

 

 4. Consider, what if through want of skill, in the art of spiritual navigation, you should not steer thy course aright. (1.) You wilt never arrive at the haven of happiness. (2.) You shall be drowned in the ocean of GOD's wrath. As sure 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 you yet livest and breathest in this air; so sure it is, you shall sink into the bottomless pit. Possibly now you makest a light matter of these things, because you dost not know what it is to miss of heaven, and what, it is for ever to be under the wrath of GOD: But hereafter you 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. Hereafter you wilt be perfectly sensible of the good that you might have had, and of the evil that shall be upon thee; then you wilt have other thoughts of these things than now you have 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 you shall not be able to take any ease one moment: Then you shall have true and deep apprehensions of the greatness of that good that you shall miss of, and of that evil which you shall procure thyself; ~,nd then you shall not be able to choose, but to apply all thy loss, all thy misery to thyself, which will force thee to roar out,’ O my loss! O my misery! O my inconceivable, unrecoverable loss and misery!' O that, to prevent that loss and misery, these things may now be 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 seem but trifles to thee! You wilt then easily be persuaded to make it thy main business here, to become an Artist in spiritual navigation. But to shut up this, I shall briefly acquaint seamen, why they should, of all others, be men of singular piety, and therefore more than ordinarily study the art of spiritual navigation. O that seamen would therefore consider,

 

 [1.] How nigh they border upon death and eternity every moment. There is but a step, but an inch or two, between them and their graves continually. The next gust may overset them; the next wave may swallow them up. In one place he lurking dangerous rocks, in another perilous sands, and every where stormy winds, ready to destroy them. Well may the seamen cry out,’ I have not had a morrow in my hands these many years.' Should not they then be extraordinary serious and heavenly continually

 

 [2] Consider (seamen) what extraordinary help you have by the book of the creatures; the whole creation is GOD's voice; it is GOD's excellent hand-writing, to teach us much of GOD, and what reasons we have to bewail our rebellion against GOD, and to make conscience of obeying GOD continually. The heavens, the earth, the waters, are the three great leaves of this book of God, and all the creatures are so many lines in those leaves. All that learn not to fear and serve GOD by the help of his book, will be left inexcusable. (Rom. 1: 2O.) How inexcusable then will ignorant and ungodly seamen be! Seamen should, in this respect, be the best scholars in the LORD'S school, seeing they do, more than others, see the works of the LORD,, and his wonders in the deep.

 

 [3.] Consider how often you are nearer heaven than any people in the world. " They mount up to heaven." (Psalm cvii. 26.) It has been said of an ungodly Minister, that contradicted his preaching in his life and conversation, that it was a pity he should ever come out of his pulpit, because he was there as near heaven as ever he would be. Shall_ it be said of you upon the same account, that it is pity you should come down from the high-towering waves Should not seamen, that in stormy weather have their feet (as it were) upon_ the battlements of heaven, look down upon all earthly happiness but as base, waterish, and worthless The great cities of. Campania seem but small cottages to them that stand on the Alps. Should not seamen that so often mount up to heaven, make it their main business to get into heaven What (seamen) shall you only go to heaven against your wills When seamen mount up to heaven in a storm, the Psalmist tells us, that "their souls are melted because of trouble." O that you were continually as unwilling to go to hell, as you are in a storm to go to heaven!

 

 [4.] And lastly, consider what engagements he upon you to be singularly holy, from your singular deliverances. They that go down to the sea in ships, are sometimes in a valley of the shadow of death, by reason of the springing of perilous leaks; and yet miraculously delivered, either by some wonderful stopping of the leak, or by GOD's sending some ship within sight, when they have been far out of sight of land; or by his bringing their near perishing ship near to shore. Sometimes they have been in great danger of being taken by the pirates, yet wonderfully preserved, either by GOD's calming of the winds in that part of the sea where the pirates have sailed, or by giving the poor pursued ship a strong gale of wind to run away from their pursuers; or by sinking the pirates. Sometimes their ships have been cast away, and yet they themselves wonderfully got safe to shore upon planks, yards, masts. I might be endless in enumerating their deliverances from drowning, from burning, from slavery. Sure (seamen) your extraordinary salvations lay more than ordinary engagements upon you, to praise, love, fear, obey, and trust in your Deliverer. I have read, that the enthralled Greeks were so affected with their liberty, procured by FLAMiNius, the Roman General, that their shrill acclamation of *, a Savior, a Savior,' made the very birds fall down from the heavens. O how should seamen be affected with their sea-deliverances! Many that have been delivered from Turkish slavery, have vowed to be servants to their redeemers all the days of their lives. Ah, Sirs; will not you be more than ordinarily GOD's servants all the days of your lives, seeing you have been so oft, so wonderfully redeemed from death itself by him i' Verily, do what you can, you will die in God's debt. " As for me, GOD forbid that I should sin against the LORD, in ceasing to pray for you:" That by the perusal of this short and sweet treasure, wherein the judicious and ingenious Author has well mixed profit and pleasure, you may learn the good and right way, even to fear the LORD, and to serve him in truth with all your hearts, considering how great things he has done for you This is the hearty prayer of

 

Your cordial friend,

 

(Earnestly desirous of a prosperous voyage for your precious and immortal souls,)

 

A

 

NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN

 

OR,

 

NAVIGATION SPIRITUALIZED.

 

CHAPTER 1:

 

Upon the Launching of the Ship.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 No sooner is a ship built, launched, rigged, victualled and manned, but she is presently sent out into the boisterous ocean, where she is never at rest, but continually tossing and laboring, until she be overwhelmed and wrecked in the sea, or through age and bruises grows leaky and unserviceable, and so is haled up, and ripped abroad.

 

APPLICATION.

 

 No sooner come we into the world as men, or, as Christians, by a natural, and supernatural birth; but thus we are tossed upon a sea of troubles: " Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards." (Job 5: 7.) The spark no sooner comes out of the fire, but it flies up naturally; it needs not any external force, but ascends from a principle in itself: So naturally, so easily, does trouble rise out of sin. There] is all the misery and trouble in the world in our corrupt natures. As the spark lies close hid in the coals, so'4 does misery in sin: Every sin draws a rod after it. And these sorrows and troubles fall not only on the body, in those' breaches, pains, aches, diseases, to which it is subject, which are but the groans of dying nature, and its crumbling, by degrees, into dust again; but on all our employments and callings also: These are full of pain, trouble, and disappointment. We earn wages, and put it into a bag with holes, and disquiet ourselves in vain.

 

 It were endless to enumerate the sorrows of this kind; and yet the troubles of the body are but the body of our troubles. The spirit of the curse falls upon the spiritual and noble part of man. The soul and body, like to EZEKIEL's roll, are written full with sorrows, both within and without. So that we make the same report of our lives, when we come to die, that old JACOB made before PIIARAOR: " Few and evil have the days of the years of our lives been." (Gen. xlvii. 9.) " For what has man of, all his labor, and the vexation of his heart, wherein he has labored under the sun For all his days are sorrow, and his travel grief, yea, his heart taketh no rest in the night This is also vanity." (Eccles. 2: 22, 23.)

 

Neither does our new-birth free us from troubles, though then they be sanctified, sweetened, and turned into blessings. - We put not off the human, when we put on the divine nature; nor are we then freed from the sense, though we be delivered from the sting and curse of them. Grace does not presently pluck out all those arrows that sin has shot into the sides of nature. " When we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side." (2 Cor. 7: 5.) " These are they that come out of great tribulations." (Rev. 7: 14.) The first cry of the new-born Christian (says one) gives hell an alarm, and awakens the rage both of devils and men against him. Hence PAUL and BARNABAS acquainted those new converts, that " through much tribulation they must enter into the kingdom of GOD." And we find the state of the church in this world set out by the similitude of a distressed ship at sea: "' O you afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted." (Isai. liv. 11.) ~' Tossed" as JONAH'S ship was; for the same word is there used; (Jonah 1: 11, 13;) as a vessel at sea, violently driven without rudder, mast, sail, or tackling. Nor are we to expect freedom from those troubles, until harbored in heaven. O what large catalogues of experiences do the saints carry to heaven with them, of their various exercises, dangers, trials, and marvelous preservations and deliverances out of all! And yet all these troubles without, are nothing to those within them, from temptations, corruptions, and passions: Besides their own, there; come daily upon them the troubles of others, many rivulets fall into this channel, yea often overflow the banks: " Many are the afflictions of the righteous." (Psalm xxxiv. 19.)

 

REFLECTION.

 

 HENCE should the graceless heart thus reflect upon itself O my soul! into what a sea of troubles art you launched forth! and what a sad case you art in! full of trouble, and full of sin, and these mutually produce each other And that which is the most dreadful consideration of all is, that I cannot see the end of them. As for good men, they suffer in the world as well as I, but it is but for a while, and then they shall suffer no more; but " all tears shall be wiped away from their eyes:" But my troubles are but the beginning of sorrows. If I continue as I am, I shall but deceive myself; if I conclude I shall be happy in the other world, because I have met with so much sorrow in this: For I read, (Jude 7,) that the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, though consumed to ashes, with all their estates and relations, (a sorer temporal judgment than ever yet befell me,) do, notwithstanding that, continue still in " everlasting chains, under darkness, in which they are reserved unto the judgment of the great day."

 

 The' troubles of good men are sanctified to them, but mine are fruits of the curse: They have spiritual consolations to balance them, which flow into their souls in the same height and degree as troubles do upon their bodies; but I am a stranger to their comforts, and " intermeddle not with their joys." If their hearts be surcharged with trouble, they have a GOD to go to, and when they have opened their cause before him, they are eased, and their countenance is no more sad:" 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 bosom, which preys upon my spirit. This is my sorrow, and I alone must bear it. O my soul, look round about thee! What a miserable case art you in! Rest no longer satisfied in it, but look out for a CHRIST also. What though I be a vile unworthy wretch! Yet he promises to’1 love freely," and invites such as are heavy laden to him.

 

 Hence also should the gracious soul reflect sweetly And is the world so full of trouble O my soul, what cause has you to stand admiring at the goodness of GOD! You has hitherto had a smooth passage comparatively to what others have had. How has Divine Wisdom ordered my condition! Have I been chastised with whips Others with scorpions. Have I had no peace without Some have neither had peace without nor within. Have I felt trouble in my flesh and spirit at once Yet have they not been extreme, either for time or measure. And has the world been a Sodom, an Egypt to thee Why then 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 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

 

CHAPTER 2: On the vast Extent and Depth of the Ocean.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 THE ocean is of vast extent and depth, not to be sounded by man. The earth is twenty-one thousand and six hundred miles in compass; yet the ocean environs it on every side. And. for its depth, who can discover it The sea in Scripture is called, "the' deep;" (Job xxxviii. 3O;) 11 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 shadows forth the infinite and incomprehensible mercy of GOD, " whose mercy is over all his works." In how many sweet notions is the mercy of. GOD represented to us in the Scripture! He is said to be " plenteous;" (Psalm 4: 5;) " abundant;" (1 Pet. 1: 3;) "rich in mercy;" (Eph. 1: 4;) "his mercies are unsearchable;" (Eph. 3: 8;) " high as the heavens above the earth." (Psalm 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 " the depths of the sea," (Mic. 7: 19,) which can swallow up mountains as well as mole-hills; and in this sea GOD has drowned sins of a dreadful height and aggravation. In this sea was the sin of MANASSEH drowned, and of what magnitude that was, may be seen, -O Chron. xxxiii. S. Yea, in this ocean of mercy did the LORD drown and cover the sins of PAUL, though a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious. None,' says AUGUSTINE, I more fierce than PAUL among the persecutors; and therefore none greater among sinners; yet pardoned.' How has mercy rode in triumph, and been glorified upon the vilest of men! How has it stopped the slanderous mouth of men and devils! It has yearned upon " fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners;" to such has the sceptre of mercy been stretched forth, upon their unfeigned repentance. What does the SPIRIT of GOD aim at in such names of mercy, but to convince poor sinners of the abundantfulness and riches of it, if they will but submit to the terms on which it is tendered 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 in it" (Isa. lvii. 15.) Though shallow, the rivers may be drained and dried up, yet the ocean cannot. And though these transitory days, months, and years, will at last expire, yet eternity shall not. What is eternity, but a constant permanency of persons and things, in one and the same state for ever, beyond all possibility of change The Heathens were wont to shadow it by a circle, or a snake twisted round. It will bee to all of us, either a perpetual day or night, which will not be measured by hours or 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. Suppose a bird were to come to some vast mountain of sand, and carry away in her bill one sand in a thousand years; what a vast time would it be ere that immortal bird (after that rate) had carried away 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, in which there is a succession; one generation, year, and day passes, 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. In time there is an alteration of condition; a man may be poor to-day, and rich to-morrow; sickly this week, and well the next; now in contempt, and anon in honor: But no change passes upon us in eternity. As the tree falls at death and judgment, so it lies for ever: If in heaven, " you shall go forth no more:" If in hell, no redemption thence, but " the smoke of their torment ascends for ever and ever."

 

REFLECTION.

 

 AND is the mercy of GOD, like the great deeps, an ocean that none can fathom What unspeakable comfort is this tome, may the pardoned soul say! Did Israel sing a song, when the LORD had overwhelmed their enemies in the sea And shall not I break forth into His praise, who has drowned all my sins in the depth of mercy O my soul, bless you the LORD, and let his praise ever be in thy mouth. May not you say, that he has gone to as high a degree of mercy, in pardoning thee, as ever he did in any O 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 make from hence, upon all the despisers of mercy, when the sinner's.eyes come to be opened too late! We have heard, indeed, that the King of heaven was a merciful King, but we would make no address to him, whilst that sceptre 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 ourselves to him. We read that the arms Of CHRIST were open to embrace us, but we would not. O unparalleled folly! Now the womb of mercy is shut up, and shall bring no more mercies to me for ever. Now the gates of grace are shut, and no cries can open them.

 

How often did I hear the bowels of compassion sounding in the Gospel for me! But my hard and impenitent heart would not relent, and now it is too late. I am now passed 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! An ocean indeed, to which this ocean is but a drop; for in thee no soul shall see either bank or bottom. If I he but one night under strong pains, how tedious does 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! How quick were my sins! And how long is their punishment! O how shall I " dwell with everlastings burnings!" O that GOD would but vouchsafe one treaty more with me! But, alas, all treaties are now at an end. " On earth, peace;" (Luke 2: 13;) but none in hell. O my soul, consider these things; let us debate this matter seriously, before we launch into this ocean.

 

CHAPTER 3: On the Inhabitants of the Deep. OBSERVATION.

 

 IT WAS an unadvised saying of PLATO, " The sea produceth nothing memorable." Surely there is much of the wisdom, power, and goodness of GOD manifested in the inhabitants of the watery region: " O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom has you made them all; the earth is full of thy riches. So is the great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great." There are creatures of very strange forms and properties; some resembling a cow, called by the Spaniards Manatee; by some supposed to be the seamonster spoken of by JEREMIAH. In the rivers of Guiana, PLIRCHAS says, there are fishes that have four eyes, bearing two above and two beneath the water when they swim; some resembling a toad, and very poisonous. How strange both in shape and property is the sword-fish and thrasher, that fight with the whale! Even our own seas produce creatures of strange shapes, but the commonness takes off the wonder.

 

APPLICATION.

 

 Thus does the heart of man naturally swarm and abound with strange and monstrous lusts and abominations,", being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity." (Rom. 1: 29, 3O, 31.) O what a swarm is here! And yet there are multitudes more in the depths of the heart. And it is no wonder, considering that with this nature we received the spawn of the blackest and vilest abominations. This original sin is productive of them all; which is one and the same, for sort and kind, in all the children of ADAM; even as the reasonable soul, though every .man has his own soul distinct from another man's, yet is it

 

the same for kind in all men. So that whatever abominations are in the hearts and lives of the vilest Sodomites, and most profligate wretches under heaven, there is the same matter in thy heart out of which they were shaped and formed. In the depths of the heart they are conceived,

 

and thence they crawl out of the eyes, hands, lips, and all the members; -64 those things (says CHRIST) which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies;" (Matt. 15:.18, 19;) even such monsters as would make one tremble to behold. The Apostle, in 1 Cor. 5: 1, tells us of a sin, "not to be named;" so monstrous, that nature itself startles at it; even such monsters are generated in the depths of the heart. Whence come evils was a question that much puzzled the philosophers of old. Now here you may see whence they come, and whence they are begotten.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 And are there such strange abominations in the heart of man Then how is he degenerated from his primitive perfection! His streams were once as clear as crystal, and there was no unclean creature moving in them. What a stately fabric was the soul at first! And what holy inhabitants possessed the rooms thereof! But now, (as GOD speaks of Idumea,) " the line of confusion is stretched out upon it, and the stones of emptiness; the cormorant and bittern possess it, the owl and the raven dwell in it." (Isaiah xxxiv. 11.) O sad change! How sadly may we look backwards to our first state and take up the words of Jon, " O that I were as in months past! as in the days of my youth; when the Almighty was with me, when I put on righteousness, and it clothed me, when my glory was fresh in me." (Job 29: f, 4, 5.)

 

 Again, think, O my soul, what a miserable condition the unregenerate abide in! thus swarmed and over-run with hellish lusts. What a tumultuous sea is such a soul! How do these lusts rage within them! How do they contest for the throne, and usually take it by turns! For as

 

all diseases are contrary to health, yet some contrary to each other; so are lusts. Hence poor creatures are hurried on to different kinds of servitude, according to the nature of that lust that is in the throne, and like the lunatic, (Matt. xvii.) are sometimes cast into the water, and sometimes into the fire. Well might the Prophet say, " The wicked is like a troubled sea, that cannot rest:' (Isa. lvii. 2O.) They have no peace now in the service of sin, and less they shall have hereafter, when they receive the wages of sin. " There is no peace to the wicked, says my GOD." They indeed cry, " Peace, peace;" but my GOD does not say so. The last issue of this is eternal death; no sooner is it delivered of its deceitful pleasures, but presently it falls in travail again, and brings forth death. (James 1: 15.)

 

 And is the heart such a sea, abounding with monstrous abominations Then stand astonished, O my soul, at that free grace which has delivered thee from so sad a condition! O fall down, and kiss the feet of mercy, that moved so freely and seasonably to thy rescue! LORD, what am I, that I should be taken' Reflect, O my soul, upon the conceptions and births of lusts, in the days of vanity, which you halt blushed to own. O what black imaginations, hellish desires, vile affections, are lodged there! Who made me differ Or, how came I to be thus wonderfully separated Surely, it is by thy free grace, and nothing else, that I am what I am: And by that grace I have " escaped (to minee own astonishment) the corruption that is in the world through lust." O that ever the holy GOD should set his eyes upon such an one, or cast a look of love towards me, in whom were legions of unclean lusts and abominations!

 

CHAPTER 4:

 

On the Flux and of the Sea.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 SEAS are in a continual motion; they have flux and reflux, by which they are kept from putrefaction; like a fountain it cleanses itself, "it cannot rest, but casts up mire and dirt;" (Isai. lvii. 2O;) whereas lakes and ponds, whose.waters are standing and dead, corrupt and stink: And it is observed by seamen, that in the southern parts of the world, where the sea is more calm and settled, it is more corrupt and unfit for use so is the sea of Sodom, called, " the Dead sea."

 

APPLICATION.

 

 Thus do regenerate souls purify themselves, and work out corruption that defiles them; they cannot suffer it to settle there: " He purifies himself, even as He is pure." (1 John 3: 3:) " Keepeth himself, that the wicked one toucheth him not." (1 John 5: 18.) They are doves, delighting in cleanness; " he despises the gain of oppression, he shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, stoppeth his ears from hearing blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil." (Isai. xxxiii. 15.) See how all senses and members are guarded against sin. But it is quite contrary with the wicked; there is no principle,of holiness in them, to expose or expel corruption. It lies in their hearts, as mud in a lake or well, which settles and corrupts more and more. Hence, " their hearts are compared to miry places, which cannot be healed:" (Ezek. xlvii. 11.) The meaning is, that the purest streams of the Gospel, which cleanse others, make them worse than before, as abundance of rain will a miry place: It cannot run through them, and be glorified, as it does in gracious souls: All the means and endeavors used to cleanse them, are in vain; all the grace of GOD they receive in vain: " They hold fast deceit, they refuse to let it go." (Jer. viii, 5.) Sin is not in them as floating weeds upon the sea, but as spots in the leopard's skin, (Jer. 13: 21,) or letters engraven in marble or brass, with a pen of iron, and point of a diamond. " Wickedness is sweet in their mouths; they roll it under their tongues." (Job 20: 12.) No threats or promises can divorce them from it.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 LORD! this is the very frame of my heart, may the graceless soul say: My corruption quietly settles in me, my heart labors not against it: I am a stranger to that conflict which is daily maintained in the regenerate soul. Glorified souls have no such conflict, because grace in them stands alone, and is perfectly triumphant over all its opposites; and graceless souls have no such conflict, because iA them corruption stands alone, and has no other principle to make opposition to it. And this is my case, O LORD I am full of vain hopes, indeed; but had I a living hope to dwell for ever with so holy a GOD, I could not but be daily purifying myself. But, O! what will the end of this be I have cause to tremble’at that last and dreadfullest curse in the book of GOD, " Let him that is filthy, be filthy still." (Rev. 22: 11.) Is it not as much as if GOD should say, Let them alone, I will spend no more rods upon them, no more means shall be used about them but I will reckon with them for all things in another world. O my soul, what a dismal reckoning will that be! Ponder with thyself in the mean time those terrible and awakening texts, that, if possible, this fatal issue may be prevented. See Isa. 1: 5; Hoe. 4: 14; Jer. 6: 29, 3O Heb. 6: 8.

 

CHAPTER 5

 

On the Watchfulness of Seamen to prevent danger.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 How watchful and quick-sighted are seamen to prevent danger! If the wind die away, and then fresh up - southerly; or if they see the sky hazy, they provide for a storm If by the prospective-glass they see a pirate at the greatest distance, they clear the gun-room, prepare for fight, and bear up, if able to deal with him; if not, they keep closee by the wind, make all the sail they can, and bear away. If they suppose themselves, by their reckoning, near land, how often do they sound! And if by a coast with which they are unacquainted, how careful are they to get a pilot that knows and is acquainted with it!

 

APPLICATION.

 

 Thus watchful ought we to be in spiritual concernments. We should study, and be acquainted with SATAN's wiles The Apostle takes it for granted, that Christians are not " ignorant of his devices."‘ The Serpent's eye (as one says) would do well in the dove's head.' The devil is a cunning pirate, he puts out false colours, and ordinarily comes up to - the Christian in the disguise of a friend.

 

O the manifold depths and stratagems Of SATAN, to destroy souls! Though he has no wisdom to do himself good, yet policy enough to do us mischief. He lies in ambush behind our lawful comforts and employments Yet for the most of men, how careless are they,, suspecting no danger! Their souls, like Laish, dwell carelessly; their senses unguarded. O what an easy prize does the Devil make of them!

 

Indeed, if it were with us, as with ADAM in innocency, or as it was with CHRIST in the days of his flesh, (who by reason of that overflowingfullness of grace that dwelt in him, was secured from danger,) the case then were otherwise; but we have a traitor within, (James 1: 14, 15,) as well as a tempter without. 11 Our adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." And like beasts of the forest, poor souls he down before him, and become his prey.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 Lord! How does the care, wisdom, and vigilancy of men in temporal things, condemn my carelessness in the deep concernments of my soul! What care and labor is there to secure a perishing life, liberty, or treasure! When was I thus solicitous for my soul, though its value be inestimable, and its dangers far greater Self-preservation is one of the deepest principles in nature. There is not the poorest worm or fly, but will shun danger if it can Yet I am so far from shunning those dangers to which my soul lies continually exposed, that I often run upon temptations, and volunta,-, rily expose it to its enemies.. I see, LORD, how watchful, jealous, and laborious thy people are;, what prayers, tears, and groans, searching of heart, mortification of lusts, guard-& ing of senses, and all accounted too little by them. Have not I a soul to save or lose eternally, as well as they Yet I cannot withstand one temptation. Oh, how am I convinced and condemned, not only by others' care and vigi lance, but by my own too, in lower matters!

 

CHAPTER 6. On the steering of the Vessel.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 IT is a just matter of admiration, to see so great a body as a ship is, and when under sail too, before a strong wind, by which it is carried, as the clouds, with marvelous force and speed, yet to be commanded with ease, by so small a thing as the helm is. The Scripture takes notice of it as a matter worthy our consideration. " Behold. also the ships, which though they be great, and driven of fierce winds, yet they are turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth." (James 3: 4.)

 

APPLICATION.

 

 To the same use has GOD designed conscience in man, which, being regulated by the Word and SPIRIT of Gon, is to steer his whole conversation. Conscience is as the oracle of Gon, the Judge and Determiner of our actions, whether they be good or evil; and it lays the strongest obligations upon the creature to obey its dictates. For it binds under the reason and consideration of the sovereign will of the great GOD; so that as often as conscience from the Word convinceth us of any sin or duty; it lays such a bond upon us to obey, as no power under heaven can dispense with. Angels cannot do it, much less man, for that would be to exalt themselves above GOD. Therefore it is an high and dreadful way of sinning, to rebel against conscience, when it convinces of sin or duty. Conscience sometimes reasons, it out with men, and shows them the necessity of changing their course, arguing it from the clearest maxims of right reason, as, well as from the indisputable sovereignty of GOD.

 

 As for instance: It convinceth their very reason, that things of eternal duration are infinitely to be preferred to all momentary and perishing things. And it is our duty to choose them, and make all temporary concernments to stand aside, and give place to them: Yet, though men be convinced of this, their stubborn will stands out, and will not yield to the conviction.

 

Further: It argues from this acknowledged truth, that all the delights of this world are but a miserable portion, and that it is the highest folly to adventure an immortal soul for them. Alas, what remembrance is there of them in bell They are the waters that pass away: What have they left of all their mirth, but a tormenting sting It convinceth them clearly also, that in matters of deep concern, it is an high point of wisdom, to apprehend and improve the opportunities of them.’; He that gathers in summer is a wise son." (Prov. 10: 5.) " A wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment." (Eccles. viii. 5.) " There is a season to every purpose." (Eccles 3: 1.) Namely, A nick of time, and happy juncture, when, if a man strikes in, he does his work effectually, and with much facility. Such seasons conscience convinceth the soul of, and often whispers thus in its ear Now strike in! Close with this motion of the SPIRIT, and be happy for ever!. You may never have such a gale for heaven any more. Now, though these be allowed maxims of reason, and con-, science enforce them strongly on the soul, yet it cannot

 

prevail; the proud stubborn will rebels, and will not be, guided by it.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 Ah, LORD! such an heart have I had before thee;. thus obstinate, thus rebellious, so uncontrollable by conscience.. Many a time has conscience thus whispered -in, my ear;, many a time has it stood in my way, as the angel did in BALAAM'S, or the Cherubim that kept the way of the tree of life, with flaming swords turning every way. Thus has it stood to oppose me in the way of my lusts. How often has it calmly debated the case with me! And how sweetly has it expostulated with me! How clearly has it convinced of sin, danger, and duty, with strong demonstration How terribly has it menaced my soul, and set the point of the threatening at my very breast! And yet my headstrong affections will not be remanded by it. I have obeyed the voice of every temptation'; but conscience has lost its authority with me. Ah LORD! what a sad condition am I in, both in respect of sin and misery! My sin receives dreadful aggravations; for rebellion and presumption are hereby added to it. I have violated the strongest bonds that ever were laid upon a creature. If my conscience had not thus convinced and warned, the sin had not been so great. Ah! this is to sin with an high hand, to come near -to the great and unpardonable transgression. (Psalm xix. 1d.) O how dreadful a way of sinning is this, with open eyes! And as my sin is thus out of measure sinful, so my punishment will be out of measure dreadful, if I persist in this rebellion. LORD, you has said, " such shall be beaten with many Stripes;" yea, LORD, and if ever my conscience, which by rebellion is now grown silent, should be in judgment awakened in this life, what an hell should I have within me! How would it thunder and roar upon me, and surround me with terrors!

 

 I know no length of time can wear out of its memory what I have done; no violence or force can suppress it; no greatness of power can stifle it; it will take the mightiest monarch by the throat; no music, pleasures, or delights can charm it. O Conscience! you art the sweetest friend, or the dreadfullest enemy in the- world; thy consolations are incomparably sweet, and thy terrors insupportable. Ah, let me stand it out no longer against conscience; the very ship in which I sail is a confutation of my madness, that rush greedily into sin against both reason and, conscience, and will not be commanded by it. Surely, O my soul, this will be bitterness in the end!

 

CHAPTER 7. On the Waves.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

WE have an elegant and lively

 

description in Psalm cvii: 95, 26, 27.

 

"He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof: They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble, they reel to and fro, they stagger like a drunken man, they are at their wit's end:' Or,,as. it is in the Hebrew, "All wisdom is swallowed up." What strange deliverances have many seamen bad!. How often have they yielded themselves for dead men, and thought the next sea would have swallowed them up! How earnestly then do they cry for mercy, and pray in a storm, though they regarded it not at other times!

 

APPLICATION.

 

 These dreadful storms do at once discover to us the mighty power of God in raising them, and the abundant goodness of God in preserving poor creatures in them.

 

 1. The power of GOD is graciously- manifested in raising them. The wind is one of the LORD's wonders. " They that go down to the sea, see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep; for he commandeth and raiseth the stormy winds." (Psalm cvii. 24, 25.) Yea, GOD appropriates it as a peculiar work of his: 11 He causes his wind to blow." (Ver. 18.) Hence, he is said in Scripture, " to bring them forth out of his treasury." (Psalm cxxxvii. 7.) There they are locked up and reserved; not a gust can break out, till he call for it to go and execute his pleasure. Yea, he is said to "hold them in his fist." (Prov. 30: 4.) What is more incapable of holding than the wind yet GOD holds it. And, although it be a strong and terrible creature, he controls and rules it. Yea, the Scripture sets forth GOD, as "riding upon the wings of the wind." (Psalm 18: 1O.) It is a borrowed speech from the manner of men, who, when they would show their pomp and greatness, ride upon some stately horse or chariot; so the LORD, to manifest the greatness of his power, rides upon the wings of the wind, and will be admired in so terrible a creature.

 

And no less of his glorious power appears in remanding them, than in raising them. The Heathens ascribe this, power to the God AELOS; but we know this is the sole prerogative of the true GOD; it is He that makes "the storm a calm." (Psalm cvii. 29.) And it is He that changes them from point to point as he pleases; for he has appointed them in their circuits: " The wind go towards the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and returneth again according to its circuits." (Eccles. 1: 6.)

 

 2. And as we should adore his power in the winds, so ought we to admire his goodness in preserving men in the height of all their fury and violence. O what a marvelous work of GOD is here! That men should be kept in a poor, weak vessel, upon the wild and stormy ocean, where the wind has its- full stroke, and they are driven before it as a wreck upon the seas, is a work of infinite goodness and power: That those winds which rend the very earth, mountains and rocks; "break the cedars, yea, the cedars of Lebanon," should not destroy you as in a moment, is an amazing instance of Almighty power, an astonishing work of mercy. O how dreadful is this creature, the wind, sometimes to you! And how does it make your hearts shake within you! If but a plank spring, or a bolt give way, you are all lost. Sometimes the LORD for the magnifying of the riches of his goodness upon you, drives you to such exigencies, that, as ST. PAUL speaks in a like case, " All hope of being saved is taken away." (Acts 17: 2O.) Nothing but death before your eyes. The LORD commands a wind out of his treasury, bids it go and lift up the terrible waves, lock you in upon the shore, and drive you upon the rock, so that no art can save you; and then sends you a piece of wreck, or some other means to land you safe And all this to give you an experiment of his goodness, that you may learn to fear that GOD, in whose hand your breath is.

 

 And it may be for the present, your hearts are much affected: Conscience works strongly, it smites you for sins formerly committed. Now, says the conscience, GOD is come in this storm to reckon with thee for these things. But, alas, all this is but a morning dew; no sooner is that storm without allayed, but all is quiet within too. How little of the goodness of GOD abides kindly and effectually upon the

 

heart!

 

REFLECTION.

 

 How often has this glorious power and goodness of GOD passed before me in dreadful storms and tempests at sea! He has uttered his voice in those stormy winds, and spoken in a terrible manner by them; yet how little have I been affected with it! " The LORD has his way in the*

 

whirlwind, and in the storm." (Nah. 1: 3.) To some he has walked in ways of judgment and wrath, sending them down in a moment to hell; but to me in a way of forbearance and mercy. Ah,- how often have I been upon the very brink of, eternity! Had not GOD shifted or allayed the wind, in a moment I had gone down into hell. What workings of conscience were then upon me! And what terrible apprehensions had I of my eternal condition! What vows did I make in that distress, and how earnestly did I beg for mercy! But, LORD, though thy vows are upon me, yet have I been the same, yea, added to the measure of my sins. Neither the bonds you have laid upon me, nor the sacred vows I have laid upon myself,

 

could restrain me from iniquity.'

 

 Ah LORD, what an heart have I! What love, pity and goodness have I sinned against! If GOD had but respited judgment so long, what a mercy were it! Sure I am, the damned would account it so: But to give me such a space to repent, what an invaluable mercy is this! And do I thus requite the LORD, and pervert and abuse his goodness' Surely, O my soul, if this be the fruit of all thy preservations, they are rather reservations to some further and sorer judgment. How dreadfully will justice at last avenge the quarrel of abused mercy! (Josh. 21: 2O.) How grievously, did GOD take it from the Israelites, that they provoked hit at the sea, even at the red- sea, (Psalm cvi. 7,) where GOD had wrought their deliverance in such a miraculous way!

 

 Even thus have I sinned, not only against the laws of GOD, but against the love of GOD. In the last storm he shot off his warning-piece; in the next, he may discharge his murdering-piece against my soul and body. O my soul, has he given thee " such deliverances as these, and darest you again break his commandments" (Ezra 9: 13, 14.) O let me pay the vows that my lips have uttered in my distress, lest the LORD recover his glory from me in a way of judgment!

 

CHAPTER VIII.

 

On the Mariner's Skill in managing the Sails.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 THE Mariner wants no skill and wisdom to improve several winds, and make them serviceable to his end: A. bare side-wind, by his skill in shifting and managing the sails, will serve his turn; he will not lose the advantage of one breath or gale that may be useful to him. I have many times wondered to see two ships sailing in a direct counter-motion, by one and the same wind. Their skill and wisdom herein is admirable.

 

APPLICATION.

 

 Thus prudent and skilful are men in lower matters, and yet how ignorant and unskillful in the everlasting affairs of their souls! All their invention, judgment, wit, and memory seem to be pressed for the service of the flesh. They can learn an art quickly, and arrive to great exactness in it; but in soul-matters, no knowledge at all; they can understand the equator, meridian, and horizon. And so in other arts and sciences, we find men endowed with rare abilities, and singular sagacity. Some have piercing apprehensions, solid judgments, rare invention, and excellent elocution: But put them upon any spiritual matter, and the weakest Christian, even a babe in CHRIST, shall excel them therein, and give a far better account of the work of grace, the life of faith, than these can.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 How inexcusable art You, O my soul! and how confounded must you needs stand before the bar of GOD, in that great day! You hadst a talent of natural parts committed to thee, but which way have they been improved I had an understanding indeed, but it was not sanctified;

 

a memory, but it was like a sieve, that let go the corn, and retained nothing but chaff; wit and invention, but alas none to do myself good. Ah, how will these rise in judgment against me, and stop my mouth! What account shall I give for them in that day

 

 Again: Are men (otherwise prudent) -such fools in spiritual things Then let the poor weak Christian, whose natural points are blunt and dull, admire the riches of GOD's free grace to him. O what an astonishing consideration is this! That GOD should pass by men of the profoundest natural parts, and choose me, whose natural endowments, compared with theirs, are but as lead to gold Thus under the law he passed by the lion and eagle, and chose the lamb and dove. O how should it make me to advance grace, as CHRIST does upon the same account: " I thank thee, FATHER, LORD of heaven and earth, that you has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes." (Matt. 11: 25.) And let it be ever an humbling consideration to me: For who made me to differ Is not this one principal thing GOD aims at, in calling such as I am; that boasting may be excluded, and himself alone exalted

 

CHAPTER 9:

 

On the Watchfulness ofMariner8 to take the Wind and Tide.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 SEAMEN are Very watchful to take their opportunity of wind and tide; and it much concerns them so to be: The neglect of a few hours, sometimes loses them their passage, and proves a great detriment to them. They know the wind is a variable thing; they must take it when they may; they are unwilling to lose one breath, that may be serviceable to them.

 

APPLICATION.

 

 There are also seasons and gales of grace for our souls; golden opportunities afforded to men, the neglect of which proves the loss and ruin of souls. GOD has given unto men a day of visitation, which he has limited; (Heb. 4: 7;) and keeps an exact account of every year, month, and day, that we have enjoyed it. The longest date of it can be but the time of this life. - This is our day to work in, and upon this small thread the weight of eternity hangs. But sometimes the season of grace is ended, before the night of death comes; the " accepted time" is gone, men frequently outlive it. (Luke xix. 44; 2 Cor. 6: 2.) Or, if the outward means of salvation be continued, yet the SPIRIT many times withdraws from those means, and ceases any more to strive with men; and then the blessing, power, and efficacy is gone from them, and instead thereof, a curse seizeth the soul.

 

 Therefore it is a matter of high importance to apprehend those seasons. How pathetically does CHRIST bewail Jerusalem upon this account! " O that you hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things of thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." (Luke xix. 42.) If a company of seamen be set ashore upon some uninhabited island, with this advice, to be aboard again exactly at such an hour, else they must be left behind: How does it concern them to be punctual in their time! The lives of those men depend upon a quarter of an hour. Many a soul has perished eternally, because they knew not the time of their visitation.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 What golden seasons for salvation has you enjoyed, O my soul! What halcyon days of Gospel light and grace has you had! How have the precious gales of grace blown to no purpose upon thee, and the SPIRIT waited and striven with thee in vain! " The kingdom of heaven" (being opened in the Gospel dispensations) " has suffered violence." Multitudes have been pressing into it in my days, and I myself have sometimes been almost persuaded, and not far from the kingdom of GOD. I have gone as far as conviction of sin; yea, I have been carried by the power of the Gospel, to turn to GOD; but sin has been too subtle for me: I see my resolutions were but as an early cloud, or morning dew; and now my heart is cold and dead again, settled upon its lees. Ah! I have cause to fear and tremble, lest GOD has left me under that curse: " Let him that is filthy be filthy still." (Rev 20: 11.) I fear I am become as that miry place, (Ezek. xlvii.-11,) that shall not be healed by the streams of the Gospel, " but given to salt," and cursed into perpetual barrenness. Ali LORD, wilt you leave me so And shall thy SPIRIT strive no more with me Then it had been good for me that I had never been born. If I have trifled out this season, and irrecoverably lost it, then I may take up that lamentation, and say, " My harvest is past, my summer is ended, and I am not saved." (Jer. viii. 2O.)

 

 Every creature knows its time, even the turtle, crane, and swallow, know the time of their, coming. (Jer. viii. 7.) How brutish am I, that have not known the time of my visitation! O you that art the LORD (of life and time, command one gracious season more, and make it effectual to me, before I go hence, and be seen no more!

 

CHAPTER 10 On Commerce with other Countries.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 Thus most wise GOD hash so dispensed his bounty to the several nations of the world, that one standing in need of another's commodities, there. might be a commerce and traffic maintained amongst them all, and all combining in a common league; may, by the help of navigation, exhibit mutual succors to each other.

 

APPLICATION.

 

 Thus has God distributed the more precious gifts and graces of his SPIRIT among his people: Some excelling in one grace, some in another, though every grace, in some degree, be in them all. As in nature, though there be all the faculties in all, yet some faculties are in some more lively and vigorous than in others; some have a more vigorous eye, others a more ready ear, others a more voluble tongue; so it is in spirituals. ABRAHAM excelled in faith, JOB in patience, JOHN in love. These were their peculiar excellences. All the elect vessels are not of one quantity;- yet even those that excel. others in some particular grace, come short in other respects of those they so excel, and- may be much improved by converse with such as is some respects are much below them. The solid, wise, and judicious Christian may want the liveliness of affection, and tenderness of heart, that appear in the weak; and one that excels in gifts and utterance, may learn humility from the very babes in CHRIST.

 

 And one principal reason of this different distribution, is, to. maintain a fellowship among them all: "The head cannot say to the feet, I have no need of you." (1 Cor. 12: 21.) As in a family, where there is much business to be done, even the little children bear a part, according to their strength: "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, the women knead the dough: " (Jer. 7: 18:) So in the family of CHRIST, the weakest Christian is serviceable to the strong.

 

 There be precious treasures in these earthen vessels, for which we should trade by mutual communion. The preciousness of the treasure should draw out our desires and endeavors after it; and the consideration of the brittleness of those vessels in which they are kept, should cause us to be the more expeditious in our trading with them, and make the quicker returns: For when those vessels (I mean the bodies of the saints) are broken by death, there is no more to be gotten out of them. That treasure of grace which made them such profitable companions on earth, then ascends with them in heaven: And then, though they be more excellent than on earth,, yet we can have no more communion with them till we come to glory ourselves. Now therefore it behoves us to be enriching ourselves by communication of what GOD has dropped into us, and improvement of them, as one well notes. We should do by saints, as we use to do by some choice book lent us for a few days, we should fix in, our memories, or transcribe all the choice notions we meet with in it, that they may be our own when the book is called for, and we can have it no longer by us.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 LORD, how short do I come of my duty in communicating to, or receiving good by others! My soul is either empty and barren, or if there be any treasure in it, yet it is but as a treasure locked up in some chest, whose key is lost when it should be opened, for the use of others. Ah LORD! I have sinned greatly, not only by vain words, but sinful silence. I have been but of little use in the world.

 

jHow little also have I gotten by communion with others! Some, it may be, that are of my own size, or udgment, or that I am otherwise obliged to, I can delight to converse with: But O, where is that largeness of heart, and general delight I should have to, and in all thy people

 

How many of my old dear acquaintance are now in heaven, whose tongues were as choice silver while they were here! (Prov. 10: 2O.) And, blessed souls! how communicative were they of what-you gayest them! O what an improvement had I made of my talent this way, had I been diligent! LORD, pardon my neglect of those blessed advantages. O let all my delight be in thy saints, who are the excellent of the earth. Let me never go out of their company, without an heart more warmed, quickened, and enlarged, than, when I came amongst them.

 

CHAPTER 11:

 

On the Stability of the Rocks.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 THE rocks, though situate in the boisterous and tempestuous ocean, yet abide firm and "immoveable from age to age: The impetuous waves dash against them with great violence, but cannot remove them out of their place. And' although sometimes they wash over them, and make them to disappear, yet there they remain fixed and impregnable.

 

APPLICATION.

 

 This is a lively emblem of the condition of the church, amidst all dangers and opposition wherewith it is assaulted in this world. These waves roar and beat with violence against it, but with as little success as the sea against the rocks: " Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16: 18.) The gates of hell are the power and policy of hell, an allusion to the gates of the Jews, wherein their ammunition for war was lodged, which also were seats of judicature, where sat the judges: But yet these gates of hell shall not prevail. Nay, this rock is not only invincible in the midst of their violence, but also breaks all that dash against it: " In that day I will.make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: All that burden themselves with it, shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered against it." (Zech: 12: 3.) An allusion to one that attempts to roll some great stone against the hill, which at last returns upon him, and crushes him to pieces.

 

 And the reason why it is thus firm and impregnable, is not from itself; for alas, so considered, it is weak, and obnoxious to ruin; but from the almighty power of GOD, which guards and preserves it day and night: " GOD is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved: GOD shall help her, and that right early.'-' (Psalm xlvi. 5, 6.) And this assiduous succor to his people, and their great security thereby, is set forth in the Scriptures by a pleasant variety of metaphors and emblems. G I," says the LORD, "will be a wall of fire round about it." (Zech. 2: 5.) Some think this phrase alludes to the cherubim, that kept the way of the tree of life with flaming swords: Others, to the fiery chariots round about Dotham, where ELISHA was: But most think it to be an allusion to an ancient custom of travelers in the desarts; who to prevent the assaults of wild beasts in the night, made a circular fire round about them, which was as a wall to them. Thus will GOD be to his people, " a wall of fire," which none can scale. So Exod. 3: 3-5, we have an excellent emblem of the church's low and dangerous condition, and admirable preservation. You have here both a marvel and a mystery: The marvel was to see a bush all on fire, and yet not consumed. The mystery is this; the bush represented the sad condition of the church in Egypt; the fire flaming upon it, the grievous afflictions, troubles, and bondage, it was in there; the remaining of the bush unconsumed, the strange and admirable preservation of the church in those troubles. It lived there as the three noble Jews, untouched in the midst of a burning fiery furnace: And the " angel of the LORD" in a flame of fire in the midst of the bush, was nothing else but the LORD JESUS CHRIST, powerfully and graciously present with his people, amidst all their dangers and sufferings.

 

 The Lord is exceeding tender over them, and jealous for them, as that expression imports: " He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye." (Zech. 2: 8.) He that strikes at them, strikes at the face of GOD; and at the most excellent part of the face, the eye; and at the most tender and precious part of the eye, the apple of the eye. And yet (as a learned modern observes) this people of whom he uses this tender expression, were none of the best of Israel neither; but the residue that staid behind in Babylon, when their brethren were gone to rebuild the temple; and yet over these, is he as tender as man is over his eye.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 And is the security of the Church so great, and its preservation so admirable, amidst all storms and tempests Then why art you so subject to despond, O my soul, in the day of Sion's trouble Sensible you wast, and oughtest to be; but no reason to hang down the head through discouragement, much less to forsake Sion in her distress, for fear of being ruined with her.

 

 What DAVID spoke to ABIATHAR, that may Sion speak to all -her sons and daughters in all their distresses " Though he that seeketh thy life, seeketh mine also, yet with me shall you be in safety." (1 Sam. 22: 28.) - GOD has entailed great salvation and deliverances upon Sion; and blessed are all her friends and favorites; the rock of ages is her defense. Fear not therefore, O my soul, though the hills be removed, and cast into the midst of the sea. O let my faith triumph, my heart rejoice upon this ground of comfort. I see the same rocks now, and in the same place and condition they were many years ago. Though they have endured many storms, yet there they abide; and so shall Sion, when the proud waves have spent their fury and rage against it.

 

CHAPTER 12:

 

On the Adventures of Mariners for Gain.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 How exceeding solicitous and adventurous are seamen 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 probability of getting a small estate. Hopes of gain make them willing to adventure their liberty, yea, their life and encourage them to endure heat, cold, and hunger, and a thousand straits and difficulties, to which they are frequently exposed.

 

APPLICATION.

 

 How hot and-eager are men's 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 matter. (Luke 10: 4O.) 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: "We will go into such a city, continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain." (James 4: 13.) This is the master-design, which engrosseth all their time, studies, and contrivances, the will has passed 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, and indeed it is the clearest discovery of a man's 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. The heads and hearts of good men 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 bye, is to make sure their calling and election. This is the weight and bias of their spirit; if their hearts wander after any other thing, this reduces them again.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 LORD, this has been my manner from my youth, may the worldly man say; I have been laboring for the meat that perisheth; disquieting myself in vain, full of projects for the world, and unwearied in my endeavors to compass an earthly treasure! Yet therein I have either been checked by Providence; or, if I have obtained, yet I am no sooner come to enjoy that comfort I promised myself in it, but I am ready to leave it all, to be stripped 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 myself for it Ah fool that I am, to nourish and pamper a vile body, which must shortly he under the clods, and become a loathsome carcass; 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 I have not kept; I have been a drudge and slave to the world: In a worse condition has 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 laboring in the fire, for very vanity. Now gather up my heart and affections in thyself, 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." 

 

CHAPTER 13

 

On the Care of Providence over the living Creatures of the Sea.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 THERE are multitudes of living creatures in the sea., 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. 11 You givest them their meat in due season: You openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."

 

APPLICATION.

 

 IF GOD takes 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 seek 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." (Isa. xli. 17.) " Take no thought for your life," says 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. GOD would have his people be without carefulness, (that is, anxious care,) and " to cast their care upon him, for he careth for them." There be. two main arguments suggested in the Gospel, to quiet and satisfy our hearts in this particular: The one is, That, the gift of JESUS CHRIST amounts to more than all those things come to; yea, in bestowing him he has given that which eminently comprehends all those inferior mercies in it: " 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" (Rom, viii. 32.) And, "All things are yours, and ye are CHRIST'S,

 

and CHRIST is GOD'S." (1 Cor 3: 22.) Another argument is, that GOD gives these temporal things to those he never gave CHRIST unto, and therefore there is no great matter in them: Yea, to those which, in a little while, are to be thrust into hell. (Psalm 17: 14.) Now, if GOD clothe and feed his enemies, if (to allude to that, Luke 12: 28,) He clothe this grass, which to-day is in its pride and glory in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, into hell; how much more will he clothe and provide for you that fear him

 

 This GOD that feeds all the creatures, is your Father, and a Father that never dies and therefore you shall not be as exposed orphans, that are the children of such a FATHER. For " he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." (Heb. 13: 3.) I have read of a good woman, that, in all wants and distresses, was wont to encourage herself with that word, " The LORD liveth." But one time being in deep distress, and forgetting that consolation, one of her little children came to her, and said,’ Mother, why weep you so is GOD dead' Which words, from a child, shamed her out of her unbelieving fears, and brought her spirit to rest.'

 

 How sweet a life might Christians live, could they but bring their hearts to a full subjection to the will of GOD! to- be content not only with what he commands and approves, but also with what he allots and appoints! It was a sweet reply, that a woman once made upon her deathbed, to a friend that asked her,’ Whether she was more willing to live or die' She answered, { I am pleased with what GOD pleases:’ Yea,' said her friend,’ but if GOD should refer it to you, which would you Rchoose'‘ Truly, says she,’ if GOD should refer it to me,. I would refer it to him again.' Ah, blessed life! when, the will is swallowed up in the will of~GOD, and the heart at rest in his care and love, and pleased with all his appointments.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 I remember my fault this day, may many a soul say. Ah how faithless and distrustful have I been, notwithstanding the great security "God has given to my faith, both in his word and works! O my soul, you has greatly sinned therein, and d}shonored thy Father! I have been worse to my Father, than my children are to me. They trouble not their thoughts with what they shall eat, or drink, or put on, but trust to my care and provision for that: Yet I cannot trust my Father, though I have ten thousand times more reason so to do, than they have to trust me. Surely, unless I were jealous of my Father's affection, I could not be so dubious of his provision for me. I should rather wonder that I have so much, than repine I have no more. I should rather have been troubled that I have done no more for Gon, than that I have received no more from God. I have not proclaimed it to the world by my conversation, that I have found a sufficiency in him alone. How have I debased the faithfulness and all-sufficiency of GOD, and magnified these earthly trifles by my anxiety about them! Had I had more faith, a light purse would not have made such a heavy heart. LORD, how often has you convinced me of this folly, and put me to the blush, when you has confuted my unbelief; so that I have resolved never to distrust thee more, and yet new exigencies renew this corruption! How contradictory also have my heart and my prayers been! I pray for them conditionally, and with submission to thy will; I dare not say to thee,’ I must have them;' yet this has been the language of myheart and life. O convince me of this folly!

 

CHAPTER 14: On the Disagreeableness of the Waters.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 THE waters of the sea, in themselves, are brackish and unpleasant, yet being exhaled by the sun, and condensed into clouds, they fall down into pleasant showers; or, if drained through the earth, their property is thereby altered; and that which was so salt in the sea, becomes exceeding sweet and pleasant in the springs.

 

APPLICATION.

 

 Afflictions in themselves are evil, very bitter and unpleasant. Yet not intrinsically evil, as sin is; for if so, the holy GOD would never own it for his own act, as he doth, Mic. 3: 2. But it is evil, as it is the fruit of sin, and grievous unto sense. But though it be thus brackish and unpleasant in itself, yet passing through CHRIST, it loses that ungrateful property, and becomes pleasant in the fruits thereof unto believers.

 

Yea, such are the blessed fruits thereof, that they are to account it all joy, when they fall into divers afflictions. (James 1: 2.) DAVID could bless GOD, that he was afflicted; and many have done the like. A good woman once compared her afflictions to her children; says she, 6 They put me in pain in bearing, them; yet as I know not which child, so neither which affliction I could be without. Sometimes the LORD sanctifies affliction to discover the corruption that is in the heart. (Deut. viii. 2.) It is a furnace to show the dross. When a sharp affliction comes, then the pride, impatience, and unbelief of the heart appear. When the water is stirred, then the mud and sediment that lay at the bottom rise. Little (says 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 Now what a blessed thing is this, to have the heart thus discovered!

 

Again: Sanctified afflictions discover the emptiness of. the creature. Now the LORD has stained its pride, and vailed its tempting splendor, by this or that affliction; and the soul sees what a shallow deceitful thing it is. The world (as one has -truly observed) is then only great in our eyes, when we are full of sense: But affliction makes us more spiritual, and then it is nothing. It drives us nearer to Gon, makes us see the necessity of the life of faith, with multitudes of other benefits.

 

 But yet these sweet fruits of affliction do not naturally 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 passed upon them. The reason why they become thus sweet and pleasant is, because they run now into another channel;, JESUS CHRIST has removed them from mount Ebal to Gerizim; they are no more the effects of vindictive wrath, but paternal chastisement; and as one well, notes,’ A teaching affliction is the result of all the offices of JESUS CHRIST. As a King, he chastens; as a Prophet, he teacheth, viz. by chastening; and as a Priest, he has 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 has wrung and pressed the juice and virtue of all his mediatory offices. Surely, that must be a cup of generous wine, a cup of blessing to the people of God.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 Hence may the unsanctified soul reflect upon itself; O my soul, what good has you gotten by all, or any of thy afflictions; Gon's rod has been dumb to thee, or you 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 only given vent to the pride and Atheism of my heart. I have been in my afflictions, as AHAZ was in his, who " in the midst of this- distress, yet trespassed more and more against the LORD." (2 Chron. 20: viii. 22.) When I have been in storms at sea, or troubles at home, my soul within me has been as a raging sea. Surely this rod is not the rod of Gon'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 the wicked.

 

 Hence also should holy souls draw much encouragement amidst all their troubles. These are the fruits of Goes fatherly love tome. 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. Blessed be that skilful and gracious hand, that makes the rod, the dry rod, to blossom, and bear such precious fruit!

 

Loan, what a mystery of love lies in this dispensation! That sin which first brought afflictions into the world, is now itself carried out of the world by affliction. O what can frustrate my salvation, when those very things that seem most to oppose it, are made subservient to it; and contrary to their own nature, promote and further it!

 

CHAPTER 15

 

On the Bounds of the Sea.. OBSERVATION.

 

 IT is a wonderful work of Gon, to 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 has a propension to- overflow it, is evident, b6th 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: " You has set a bound, that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth." (Psalm civ. 9.) Which it is clear they would do, were they not thus limited. So, " Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb I brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shall you come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be staid." (Job 28: 8, 1O,11.)

 

APPLICATION.

 

 AND no less is the glorious power and mercy of GOD discovered in bridling the rage 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 you shall restrain." (Psalm lxxvi. 1O.) 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; 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: " When they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and strangers; 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." (Psalm cv. 12, 1`3', 14, 15.) And sometimes he permits them to trouble his people,' but. then sets bounds to them, beyond which they must not pass. " Behold, the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days." (Rev. 2: 1O.)

 

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 ruin: And lastly, as to the duration, not as long as they please, but ten days.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 O MY soul, what comfort and consolation may you suck from the breast of this truth, in the darkest day of trouble! You seest how the flowing sea drives to overwhelm the earth: Who has arrested it in its course, and stopped its violence Who has confined 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 does not swallow up all; but I see it no sooner touch the sands, which GOD has made its bounds, but it retires, and, as it were with submission, respects those limits which GOD has set it.

 

 Thus the fiercest element is repressed by the feeblest thing You seest also, how full of wrath and fury wicked men are, how they rage like the troubled sea, and threaten to overwhelm thee, and all the LORD'S inheritance: And then the floods of ungodly men make thee afraid, yet are they restrained by an invisible hand, that they cannot execute their purpose, nor perform their enterprize. How full of Devils and devilized men, is this lower world! Yet in the midst of them all, have you hitherto been preserved. O my soul, admire and adore that glorious power of GOD, by which you art kept unto salvation. Is not the preservation of us in the midst of such hosts of enemies, as great a miracle, though not so sensible, as the preservation of those three Jews in the midst of the fiery furnace For there is as strong a propension in SATAN, and wicked men, to destroy us, as in the fire to burn. O then let me cheerfully address myself 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. (John xix. 11.) And no more shall be given, than shall turn to the glory of Gon, (Psalm lxxvi. 1O,) and the advantage of my soul. (Rom. viii. 28.)

 

CHAPTER 16:

 

On the Use and Necessity of the Compass.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 OF How great use and necessity is the compass to seamen! Though they can coast a little way, yet they dare not venture far into the ocean without it. It 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 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 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 last. " 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 in a dark night. 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 shape not their course 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. " You shall guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory." (Psalm lxxiii. 24.) The whole hundred and nineteenth Psalm is spent in commendation of its transcendent excellency and usefulness. LUTHER professed, 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.

 

 Some, indeed, have opened their blasphemous mouths against it; as JULIAN, that cursed apostate, who feared not to say,’ There was as good matter in PHOCYLXDES as in SOLOMON.' And the Papists generally slight it, making it a lame imperfect rule; yea, making their own traditions the touchstone of doctrines and foundation of faith: They set up their inventions above it. And thus do they make it void, or, as the word signifies, (Malt. 15: 6,) unlord it, and take away its authority as a rule. But those that have thus slighted it, and follow bye-paths, take not hold of the paths of life. All other lights to which men pretend, in the neglect of this, are but false fires, that will lead men into the pit of destruction.

 

REFLECTION.

 

 And is thy word a compass, to direct my course to glory O where am I then likely to arrive at last, that in all my course have neglected it, and steered according to the counsel of my own heart LORD, I have not made thy word the man of my counsel, but consulted with flesh and blood: I have not inquired at this oracle, nor studied it, and made it the guide of my way; but walked after the sight of my eyes, and the lust of my heart. Whither, LORD, can I come at last, but to hell, after this way of reckoning Some have slighted thy word professedly, and I have slighted it practically. I have a poor soul embarked for eternity; it is now floating on a dangerous ocean, rocks and sands on every side, and I go adrift before every wind of temptation, and know not where I am. Ah LORD, convince me of the danger of this condition. O convince me of my ignorance in thy word, and the fatal consequence thereof. LORD, let me now resolve to study, prize, and to obey it; hide it in my heart, that I may, not sin against it. Open my understanding, that I may understand the Scriptures: Open my heart to entertain it in love. O you that have been so gracious as to give a perfect rule, give me also a perfect heart, to walk by that rule to glory!

 

CHAPTER 17 On the Inconstancy of the Motion of the Waves.

 

OBSERVATION.

 

 THE sea has its alternate course and motion, its ebbings and flowings: No sooner is it high-water, but it begins to ebb again, and leave the shore naked and dry, which but a little before it covered and overflowed. And as its tide, so also its waves are the emblem of inconstancy, still rolling this way and that, never fixed and quiet. Instabilie unda' As fickle as a wave,' is common to a proverb. See James 1: 6. " He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with winds, and tossed."

 

APPLICATION.

 

 THUS mutable and inconstant are all outward things; there is no depending on them; nothing of substance, or any solid consistence in them. " The fashion of this world passes away." (1 Cor. 7: 31.) It is a high point of folly to depend upon such vanities. " Why wilt you set," (or, as it is in the Hebrew,) " cause thine eyes to fly upon that which is not For riches certainly make themselves wings and fly away, as an eagle toward heaven." (Prov. 23: 5.)’ In flying to us,' says AUGUSTINE, they have alas vix quideni passerinas, scarce a sparrow's wings; but in flying from us, wings as an eagle.' And those wings they are said to make to themselves, that is, the cause of its transitoriness is in itself; the creature is

 

subjected to vanity by sin; they are sweet flowers, but withered presently: " As the flower of the grass, so shall the rich, man fade away." (James 1: 1O.) The man is like the stalk of grass, his riches are the flower of the grass, his glory and outward beauty; the stalk is soon withered, but

 

the flower much sooner. This is either withered upon, or blown off from it, while the stalk abides. Many a man outlives his estate and honor, and stands in the world as a bare dry stalk in the field, whose flower, beauty, and bravery are gone; one puff of wind blows it away, one churlish easterly blast shrivels it up.

 

 How mad a thing is it then, for any man to be lifted up in pride, upon such a vanity as this is; to build so lofty a roof upon such a feeble, tottering foundation! We have seen meadows full of flowers, mown down and withered, men of great estates impoverished suddenly: And when, like a meadow that is mown, they have begun to recover themselves again, (as the phrase is,) the LORD has sent

 

grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth." (Amos 7: 1.) Just as the grasshoppers and other creatures devour the second tender herbage, as soon as the field begins to recover its verdure; so men, after they have been blasted by Providence, begin after a while to flourish again, but then comes some new affliction and blasts all. None have more frequent experience of this, than you that are merchants and seamen, whose estates are floating: And yet such as have had the highest security in the eye of reason, have, notwithstanding, experienced the vanity of these things. 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. BELISARIUS was a man famous in his time, General of an army; yet having his eyes put out, and stripped of all earthly comforts, was led about, crying, Date obolum Belisario, Give one penny to poor BELISARIUS. Instances in history of this kind are infinite. Men of the greatest estates and honors have nevertheless become the very ludibria fortunee, as one speaks, the very scorn of fortune.

 

 Yea, and not only wicked men, that have gotten their estates by rapine and oppression, have lived to see them thus scattered by Providence; but sometimes good men have had their estates, how justly soever acquired, scattered by Providence also. Who ever had an estate better gotten, or better managed, than JOB Yet all was overthrown and swept away in a moment, though in mercy to him, as the issue demonstrated.

 

 O 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. " Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, and trust in uncertain riches." (1 Tim. 6: 17.)

 

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 in the prosecution of such vanities, than I am to enrich my soul with everlasting treasure O my soul, you 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 entireness of the principle by which they are acted. What they do for the world, they do with all their might; they have no contrary principle to oppose them; their thoughts, strength, and affection, arc entirely carried in one channel: But I must strive through a thousand difficulties and contradictions. O my GOD, shall not my heart be more 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 eager after it And why am I so apt to dote upon its beauty, especially when GOD is staining all its pride and glory

 

 O that my spirit were raised above them, and my conversation more in heaven! O that like that angel, (Rev 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 terrors of the world, and another upon all the tempting glory of. the world; treading both under foot in the dust, and crowning myself with nothing but spiritual excellences and glory.