of being prayed for Job 9.26 They are called in that place Ships of desire 1. When a man sees a goodly and a stately ship that is then a ship of desire 2. A Merchants longing for his ships good return home is a ship of desire 3. A ship of desire is a swift Pinnace oâ— a Pyrats Bark or Vessel that is made on purpose for the prey to out-sail all others But to proceed Let mee tell thee Good Reader before I take my leave of thee that I can say of and by my going to Sea for which I had as clear a all to as ever man had to any place in this world as a good man once said who had lyon a long time in prison in the primitive times of persecution I have quoth hee got no harm by this No more harm hath all my troubles at Sea done my inward man than a going up to the rops of those mountains hath done them that have made the trial where neither Winds Clouds nor Rain doth over-top them and such as have been upon them do affirm that there is a wonderful clear skye over head though Clouds below pour down rains and break forth in thunder and lightning to the terrour of them that are at the bottome yet at the top there is no such matter Mee thinks I have heard the Seas say unto mee Vide hic mare hic venti hic pericula disce sapere See how ready the Winds and Seas are at Gods beck and wilt not thou fear him If I may tell thee my experiences of Gods doing of my soul good in the Seas then can I tell thee thus much bee it spoken to the praise of that sweet God whom I serve and honour that I have got no harm by going to Sea but a great deal of good both to my soul and also to my understanding and intellectual parts 1. I have learned by my going to Sea to love the world less than I did before Love not the world c. 1 Joh. 2.15 2. I have learned to know men and the world far better than I did before 3. I have learned to prize a life in heaven far before a reeling and staggering life here on earth 4. I have learned to bee far more shye and wary of sin than I was before because I found my self so fearful of death and drowning many times in storms when in the Seas I have read of a young man that lay on his death-bed and all that ever hee spoke whilst hee lived was this I am so sick that I cannot live and I am so sinful that I dare not dye It is good to keep clear of sin 5. I have learned to live upon God and to put my trust in him more than ever I did before so that I can comfortably speak it Psal 7.1 O Lord my God in thee doe I put my trust c. 6. I have seen more of the Creation by my going to Sea than ever I should have done if I had stayed on Land The Lord sets men the bounds of their habitations It is said of Lypsius that he took such delight in reading of a Book I wish that thou mayest as much in this that hee said Pluris faecio quum relego semper novum quum repetivi repetendum The more I read the more I am tilled on to read 7. I have learned to fear God more and to stand in awe of that God who hath the lives of all his creatures under his feet and is able to dispose both of a mans present and also future condition even as pleaseth him than ever I did before 8. I have learned to pray better and to ply the Throne of Grace oftner with my prayers for spiritual blessings than ever I did before 9 I have so learned Christ that I made it my work and businesse all the time I was at Sea to lead my life so as in the continual presence and aspect of the Lord Meer Heathens thought God to be every where as appears by their Jovis omnia plena Quascunque accesseris oraâ— Sub Jove semper eris c. Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me c. and so I lived and have lived both at Sea and also at Land that I shall give both foe and friend and friend and foe their liberty to speak and observe me as much as they can 10 I have learned to love my God more than ever I did before and if I had not I should appear to be a very rebellious Child As Demetrius Phalerius deceived the calamities of his Banishment by the sweetness of his Study so I the troublesome Seas and rude society by mine I know that this poor Peece of mine has in it its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naâ—vi its blacks and spots its Human frailties which the good Lord remit yet in it is there truths Divine and things very profitable and worthy to be embraced in respect the Lord has done so much for me to preserve me and mercy me as hee hath done in a cruel Sea which is a place as the Poet sings Luctus ubique pavor plurima mortis imago Good Reader doest thou live in times of trouble and daies of danger then turn over this Book and thou wilt finde that there is a wise and a powerful God in the Heavens that sits at the Helm both of Sea and Land to preserve poor souls in them Wouldst thou hear of those Sights and Wonders of the Lord that those that goe down into the Seas doe see then will I commend this small Treatise to thee what delight fuller thing canst thou read than a Theam or Subject of the Sea and Sea affairs here mayest thou read and peruse this my Nec inter vivos nec inter mortuos which cost me much pains and get some good out of it When Nebuzaradan burnt the rubbish of the Temple hee kept the Gold c. Though in reading thou meetest with Creature-defects which I will assure thee was never writ upon Land but drawn up as I studied it upon water Libentèr omnibus omnes opes concesserim ut mihi liceat vi nulla interpellante isto modo in literis vivere Tully I would freely give all the good in the world that I might sit down in the world live and lead a studying life But it was the Lords will that I should travel in the great and wide Sea yet wilt thou meet with many a savoury truth if thou hast but a gracious heart in the brest of thee Accept of it My sute to you Readers is that upon your perusal of it you would seek the Lord in its behalf that it may doe good to them that use the Seas I begge the prayers of every godly and gracious Minister into whose hands peradventure it may come that he would pray that it may be instrumental to reform these People that goe in the Seas who stand in need of
that use the Seas that these Water-Spouts come down from heaven in the form of a cloud and at the one end it is in the form and likeness of a funnel which will descend upon the surface of the water and suck till it bee full out of the Ocean and so returns ascending up again into the heavens These are daunting and dreadful unto the ships that pass on in the Seas for if the cloud rends then down falls that infinite massy weight of water into the Sea again which will make the Sea to flash and froth at a great distance but if it come directly upon any of the ships it will endanger to sink them and to break down their decks masts and boltsprits Many ships have come to sad losses and woful hazzards by the fall of Water-Spouts Certainly after this manner does the Lord call and send for the waters of and in the Seas to pour out upon the face of the Earth The Ordinances of the Heavens are not seen nor known by and to every one Job 38.33 But to such as go down to the Sea These water-carrying Tankards come out of the Heaven to fetch water out of the Seas at Gods appointment to distil in silver showers upon the face of the whole Earth even upon the face of every Nation and Country that is in the World Amos 5.8 Now these Water-Spouts are not seen to any but ships that sail in the Seas 8. That various view that they have of the several sorts and kinds of People that bee in the world how they differ one from another in form habit speech gesture and deportment The Indians are wont to paint themselves with divers and sundry colours some with white and othersome with red some with the characters of the Moon in white and othersome with the Sun in black upon their bodies c. 9. That burning Island Fogo Burning Fogo These are the lads now that do Ultimas Provincias terras peragere in Remotissimas mundi partes navigare which is of an unspeakable heat and in height computed to bee twenty miles and upwards At the top of this Mountain there is a burning fire that shews it self four times in an hour most terribly to all the ships that sail in the Seas neer unto it It flyes up in horrid flames as if the fire of it would not stay until it reached the heavens after this like manner I have seen burning Strumbilo very vehement which lies in the Austral parts of the world 10. The People in the Torrid zone is another sight that they have who are afflicted most sadly with the scorching heat of the Sun It is observed that if there were not all the day long in those scorching parts of the world as the Indies c. a cool breeze which blows for the greatest part of the day to moderate that excessive roasting heat that is there it were impossible almost either for man or beast to live there they are so tormented and rosted with the beams of the Sun that they curse the up-rising of the Sun every morning they get out of their beds yet notwithstanding this vehement heat they have these accommodations to allay the intemperateness of the Zone many sweet springs of cool water to refresh themselves in and goodly rivers to bathe in many great and pleasant trees for shade which yeeld them both meat and drinks and besides they want not for Spices Sugars Lemons Oranges and juyces to quench their thirst withall and cool their bodies c. 11. A sight of those many Orange Olive and Lemon besides many other trees which they see growing where none inhabit Job 38.26 27. even their boughs ready to break with plenty of fruit and no hand nigh to take them in their maturity before they fall to the ground and perish In these parts lies the Lords store-houses of Snow Hail and Ice Job 37.9 Out of the North comes forth cold 12. The Northern parts of the world into which parts they adventure sometimes as far as they can for extreamity of cold but there is such an intolerable frigidity in some parts under the Poles as that they cannot bee discovered nor approached unto Job 38.18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the Earth declare if thou knowest it all Many will make great cracks and brags that the world is so many thousand in rotundity and so many thousand in breadth but it is none of my judgement to beleeve any such trifling assertions or computations Nova-zembla 13. Those Septentrional Zones that bee in Greenland and Nova Zembla c. which onely in Summer-time may bee spoke with but not in the Hybernal insomuch that many parts under the Poles are inhospitable by reason of that excessiveness of cold frost snow and ice that lyes in those parts which would kill people to live there Those Sunless Starless and Moonless nights and days that bee in the Winter-time in those parts have fetcht in that in Matth. 25.30 to my thoughts And cast yee the unprofitable Servant into utter darkness there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth If a man were in those parts hee would find nothing else but darkness weeping Meditate the torments of hell Sea-man when thou goest Norward Thou durst as soon eat thy fingers as go into the Northern parts of the world as Greenland c. if thou thoughtest not that thou hadst a good ship under thee to bring thee back again Thou knowest full well that the cold in that place would kill thee and gnashing of teeth and with ten thousand times that hee were in England or in any part of the world than in that uncomfortable part and side of the world 14. Lapland A sight of that People which live in Finmark and Lapland c. who to avoid that extreamity of Winter-cold that commonly falls upon those parts turn Troglodites they delve themselves warm holes and caves in the Earth to shelter themselves from the rage of that brumale tempus that breaks out upon them in that bitterness 15. A sight of those huge Icy Mountains that bee in those Northern Zones which make such a dashing and crashing one against another making such hideous noises as if it were the very roarings of hell or those ear-deafing Cataracts that are to bee heard and seen in Egypt 16. This is one that is as remarkable as any thing that has been spoken of That in Island Greenland and in divers other Northern parts of the world that are destitute of wood scarce having one stick growing yet notwithstanding they are most miraculously provided for every year and though they have not vessels nor ships to fetch wood withall yet does the Lord supply them on this wise Many great trees and billets are carried unto them upon the waves and billows of the Seas both out of Norway and elsewhere which come and lie in their creeks It is no small wonderment to mee to think how prodigiously
in the South-West and by West c. Psal 107.43 Who so is wise will observe these things 4. And lastly The other Army lies quartered in the South and this oftentimes is very commonly the fiercest and furiousest of them all This Army may be called neque manere finet neque navigare Sometimes it will neither suffer ships to sail nor to keep the Sea insomuch that it makes the Seas run mountain-high and lye all upon a bubling froth and curded foam This Army marches one while into the South and by East South and by and by into the South-East South-East and by South c. and is very ready and attentive to carry on the Lords designs either for good or evil There is both a wonderful vertibility and also variableness in the winds one while they are here and by and by they are there Eccl. 1.6 The wind goeth towards the South and turneth about unto the North it whirleth about continually and the wind returneth again according to his circuits Oh what quick eyes hearing eares ready feet strong arms may I say has these four-wind armies to go yea run If that an Italian General could say when one of his Nobleâ— complained unto him of their want of men I can have all Italy up in arms with one stamp of my feet upon the Earth What do you think then of the Lord cannot hee have all his forces both in Heaven and Earth up in arms Land sooner than Armies of men can bee at the sound of trumpet or at the beat of drum and fly upon Gods commands What more frequent than to hear this amongst the Mariners Wee were shipwracked when the Nothern wind-army lay in the North North-West and wee lost our ship says another when the Eastern wind-army lay in the East and by South c. and wee lost our ship says another when the Southern wind-army lay in the South and by East South c. and wee lost our ship seems another to say when the Western wind-army was upon its march in the West South-West c. But to proceed I will run on in a few more particulars as God has wind-armies at command so has hee many other strange unminded and unobserved armies to march into the field against a people when hee pleases 1. God has his Angel-fighting-armies some whereof are good and other some are bad 2 Sam. 24.16 And when the Angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it the Lord repented him of the evil c. 2 King 19.35 And it came to pass that night that the Angel of the Lord went out If one Angel could do thus much what could not Christs twelve Legions have done upon the wicked Jews and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand c. 2. The Lord has his Sun Moon and Star fighting Armies and this is another sort of army that the Lord has sometimes mustred up to shew his mighty Power and these are called the Hosts of Heaven Deut. 17.3 This Host was up in Arms in Joshua's time Josh 18.12 13. But some may object and say this is something strange how should the Sun the Moon or the Stars fight I answer God may take away the use the benefit the light and the influences of them and in this sense the battel will bee found too hard to escape in 3. The Lord has his men-fighting-armies at command Exod. 12.51 By these did the Lord bring Israel out of Egypt The wicked are Gods sword and his Armies Isa 10.5 6 7. Jer. 25.9 God has Armies of men both good and bad and when hee pleases hee can presently arm them and send them upon errands of ruine and destruction against a Nation 4. The Lord has his water-fighting-armies at command Gen. 6.17 And behold I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven and every thing that is in the earth shall die 5. The Lord has his fire-fighting-armies at command Gen. 9.24 2 King 1.10 Levit. 10.2 And this Army shall bee up in arms either in ships at Sea or Houses Towns and Cities on Land to set them on burning flames 6. The Lord has his air-fighting army at command and when hee is pleased and displeased with a people hee lets flye the arrows of pestilence out of the strong bended bow of his fierce wrath and irresistable indignation He can infect the aire Numb 16.46 and this arrow shall neither flye over nor short but hit the white the person or the persons that the Lord aimes at whether they bee Towns or Cities Nations or Countries this contagious air shall lay siedge unto them and over them and the Sun shall not bee able to drive it away nor the winds to sweep it away and this stinking aire is able to stifle all whether in Towns Cities or Countries if hee do but impower it and set it on 7. The Lord has his Hail-stone-army at command this Army was up and on foot for God in Joshua's time Josh 10.11 I would all the Drunkards and Swearers Take heed Sailors how you sail to and again in the Seas with hearts full of guilt hands full of blood tongues full of lies and heads full of sinful projects and unreconciled men to God that are either in the States or Merchants Service would tremble before the Lord and bee in fear lest their pates should bee broken with hail-stones out of the Heavens 8. The Lord has his Earth-fighting-army at command Numb 16.32 And the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses c. Take heed Godless man how you walk on Earth lest at every step thou takest the Earth open to bury thee alive for thy drunken and swearing life 9. God has his fighting Armies at command out of the meanest and contemptiblest minutila's that are and these shall come in as good regimental and warlike order as the Souldier at the sound of trumpet or beat of drum viz. Lice Frogs Worms c. How have these adventured into Kings Palaces and who gave them that boldness These broke in at the windows ranged like rude Soldiers into every room belonging to Pharaoh's house Exod. 8.6 16.17 Acts 12.23 10. God oftentimes makes Conscience a terrible gnawing and fighting Army and this the great God of Heaven has command of to send a tormenting Hell into it who is able to stand in the face of this battel This enemy shoots through and through Job could not stand in it for hee cryed out Have pitty upon mee have pitty upon mee Oh my friends for the hand of the Lord hath touched mee But to proceed There is one phrase in the words before us that would bee a little opened and explained 1. What wee are to understand by a Stormy wind 2. What the effects of it are 1. I find that Scripture is delighted to speak of this very vapour Of that
force some storms are known to bee of that they will overturn houses on Land and â—â—nd up trees by the roots 1 King 19.11 Sambelicus sets out the strength the force and the power of the winds when hee tells us how whilst Cambyses and his Army sate down to dinner in a sandy desart a dreadful storm arose and beat up the sandy mountains about their eats and became as so many Sextons to delve the graves of the greatest part of his Army for them This vapour sets forth the great power of God let those therefore that go upon the Seas learn to fear the Lord lest hee bury them in the deep Psal 148.8 The stormy wind fulfilling his word The fierceness of this creature is little known and as little understood supposed and imagined to bee so terrible as it is I mean to those that live on Land and are far from the view of the dreadful and military force and power that is in it but it is too well known to those that live in sailing and floting houses upon the Seas The word Stormy wind comes from a borrowed metaphor from the Soldiary and Land-Armies who will when they do assault and storm either Forts Towns Castles or Cities even lay on their greatest force of Men and Ordnance and then is there the greatest frowns in their faces and palpitations in their hearts It is called here a Stormy wind in opposition to smooth gentle and benign gales and winds as the Sea was but ev'n now in a fair temperate and moderate calm so that the smalest boat might have rowed to and again in the Seas now cannot scarce the greatest and strongest ships live in them but are in perpetual jeopardy of being drowned 2. What the effects of a stormy wind are and these are twofold 1. Lifters up of the waters 2. Sinkers or ruiners of ships 1. The word lifting up has its countenance the clear demonstration of this like borrowed Metaphor as it is with and amongst men that are proud high and haughty and of an Elephantinum hominis genus who wil lift up themselves strut look big speak loftily and magnify themselves or else from those Strapados which they have in the Austral parts of the world by which they will hoyst up their malefactors many fadoms high and then lower them down again with the greatest violence that their weighty bodies can descend withall After this manner are the ships lifted up in storms that use the Seas and as violently thrown down again As the potentest military power is seen to put his enemy unto flight as great So dreadful are the downfals that are made in storms that they seem to outstrip the deepest Vallies that sit under the cloud-topping and cloud-imbraceingest mountaines that bee in the world I and greater disorder doe the Seas run in and flye before the stromy winds 2. Ships are oftentimes cast away by them Acts 27.41 And falling into a place where two Seas met they ran the ship a ground and the fore-part stuck fast and remained unmovable but the hinder-part was broken with the violence of the waves And again storms end in the debilitating and disinabling of ships That all perilous storms and ship-wracking Observ 2 Tempests are both of the Lords raising and sending What are storms but the uttering of Gods voice in wrath and judgement upon the Seas If the winds blow harder at some times than their ordinary course is which is most useful profitable unto the Mariner it is no other but a curse a judgment and a token of the Lords displeasure But where is the Sea-man that beleeveth this for hee commandeth c. If this point stand in need of proving I will make it out both pregnantly and sufficiently that the Lord lays claim to it and challenges his propriety in it and so consequently that it is his act and none but his therefore that I may not put you off with words I will throw you in these inlightning and doctrine-confirming Scriptures Psal 147.18 Hee causeth his wind to blow and the waters flow Psal 148.8 Stormy wind fulfilling his word That word of his that God has and will fulfill many times may bee sinking and perishing for ought I know as well as floting and keeping above water The Lord has the winds at command to bee his executioners and administratours either of destruction or preservation hee it is and hee alone that finds them with employment 2 Chron. 20.37 And the ships were broken that they were not able to go to Tarshish May bee many of them were hurled into the bottom of the Sea and others of them thrown upon the Rocks and Sands But to speak shortly now and yet exactly unto the interest of this praegoing point I would then have all the Sailors in the world to conclude upon this ground of truth that all stormy and tempestuous winds are of the Lords raising and sending and that hee is to bee acknowledged in them and herein I would have you to soare far higher than the natural causes of things Hee that drove man out of Paradise both doth and can drive graceless wretches out of the Seas and hurl them upon Rocks Sands and Shore The Rocks the Sands and the Winds I may fitly resemble unto the Cherubins and the flaming sword that was placed at the East end of the Garden of Eden Gen. 3.24 Which turned every way these are ready at the Lords command to break ships in the East in the North and in the South or in the West It is said of the Earth that it is given by God unto the children of men Psal 115.16 But the winds the Lord keeps in his own hands to move and flye to and again this way and that way in the Heavens even as it pleaseth him best to do this and to do that and their dependency is in the heavens no creature has them at command but God solely and properly for every Tempest that comes has as it were an express command from the Lord and that under both hand and seal and if the winds should bee questioned and summoned in to give an accompt of the sad perils they throw the Mariners into and the many shipwracks and great and innumerable losses they put them to year by year they would tell such as should demand an answer of them that they had order from above for so doing and that sin which abounds in ships was the onely cause of those fatal and ominous ruins and desolations But that I may give you the grounds of this Proposition you will in the end I question not bee fully satisfied about the Lords proceedings in this manner 1. Because God would shew his Divine Reason 1 displeasure and indignation against that sinful and ungodly generation of people that go in the Seas Seamen you may conclude it that there is never a storm that comes down upon the Seas to endanger you but God is exceedingly angry with you what more frequent
going into a place many a Sea-man may bee sent out to Spain and France and do business there by proxie and yet not go into France nor into Spain and on this wise would I bee understood of the Sailors going to Heaven for it is my judgment 1. That none can enter into the kingdom of heaven but they for whom it is prepared now it is not prepared for filthy and unclean swearers cursers adulterers and drunkards 1 Cor. 9.10 All such shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Matth. 20.23 But it shall bee given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father Charon in Lucian requested Mercurius to shew him Jupiters palace above how quoth Mercurius would such a Catiff as thou whose conversation hath been in hell and altogether with black shades and impure ghosts thinkest thou to set thy foul feet in that pure palace Ah what a dishonour would it bee to Heaven that thou shouldest ever come there 2. None can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but such as are prepared for it Now all villanous deboyst and graceless wretches are not prepared for it therefore they shall never come there 3. None can ever come to Heaven but such to whom it is promised now Heaven is not promised to the wicked and abominable James 2.5 but to the godly 4. None can come to Heaven but the friends of God now I fear that God has few friends amongst the Sailors because they like not his wayes nor cannot endure his Word therefore unlike to come to Heaven 5. None shall enter into Heaven but such as are born again this is a sad word may some say I but it is a true one Then I may conclude that there bee hundreds if not thousands of Sailors that never were born again and therefore they shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven till they bee born again John 3.3 Except a man bee born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God What will become of you poor Sailors that have no hand-writing of the work of Grace and of the Image of God stampt upon you as yet for to shew for Heaven 6. None shall ever come to Heaven but holy ones whither shall such swearers as our Sailors go then whither shall such drunkards as our Sailors are go then Now the Sailors life is like King Eldred's reign prava in principio pejor in medio pessima in ultimo Nought in the beginning worse in the middest and worst of all in the end and therefore I fear unlike to come to Heaven whither shall that irreligious crew that goes in the Seas go surely to Hell Heb. 12.14 and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 2. That they shall go to Heaven my meaning is if any will use the Seas they shall nolenti volenti climb the great water-mountains that are in it which are made by the stormy winds which will in David's sense mount them up to Heaven but neither hee nor I do say that they shall go into Heaven I will not take upon mee neither dare I flatter wicked wretches and therefore I have cleered up the proposition and yet again on the other hand I pitty them when I consider how much those that use the Seas are without the grace and fear of God Observation 3 That all Sea-men generally go to heaven against their wills They mount up to the heaven I would they were as unwilling to go to Hell as they are to go to Heaven in a storm I should then have great hopes that none of them would ever come there and David tells us that their souls are melted because of trouble from whence this point arises and is also firmly grounded that it is small pleasure for them to go to Heaven in a storm And as they have no mind to bee jetted up to the Heavens in a storm I fear that they have as little stomack to go to that Heaven in which God Christ Saints and his holy Angels live in I mean as to walk in that way that leads thither but truly it were the greatest piece of wisdom for all our Sailors let the wind bee never so cross and contrary to strive to get thither if they can by any means although they make a thousand yea a million or the greatest number of boardings that can bee reckoned up it will bee worth the pains so to do Observation 4 That when Sea-men are near to heaven they find no entrance or admission but are sent back again after a violent praecipitant and disrespected manner Sailers are like to Belerephon who got upon the back of his winged horse Pegasus and when thinking to ride in horse all at the gates of Heaven Jupiter looks out throws him down to the Earth again insomuch that hee had like to have broken both their bones They go down again to the depths c. I would I could or were able to perswade every soul in the Sea to look seriously into one text of Scripture which will tell them that Christ will disown and reject many that have strong hopes I and as good thoughts as any of you have of their Salvation Matth. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but hee that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven Then I fear that ther will be the fewest Sailors of any people under the Heavens that will come thither my reason is they do not Gods will but their own and the Devils I fear wee shall see but few Sailors saved at the day of Judgment Seaman call thy condition into question and debate the case with thy self and say what shall not I enter into Heaven Captain ask thy own heart this question Master say thou unto thy self shall not I enter into Heaven Boatswain Gunner Carpenter Vulcan left the Earth out of a dislike and went to Heaven but says the Poet the clown was no sooner there but Jupiter grew to be displeased with him and thereupon threw him down and before hee got unto the Earth a whole summers-day was run out from Sun to Sun and in Lemnos Isle he broke his leg I leave you to find out my meaning move this question ever and anone Christ says that every one shall not why mayest not thou doubt that thou shalt bee one of them Thou mayest justly fear it if thy life bee naught That Sea-men had need to have good Observation 5 heads and innocent hearts in respect that they are by the stormy Charriots of the winds so often times tossed and transported to the heavens They mount up to heaven c. It is not every head or brain that can brook and endure to soar into the volatile region of the air The Sea-man stands in much need to have such an head as Polyphemus had of whom it is said that hee was so tall that hee rubbed the hair of his skul off upon the Heavens A good head
They who â—oe really call upon the Name of the Lord in dreadful storms and dangers do acknowledge him to be omniscient one who knows best of all their wants and necessities 2. They acknowledge God to bee Omnipotent and one who is able to supply all their wants in their greatest straights that ever they are surrounded with 3. They acknowledge him to bee an all-good and one who is very merciful and bountiful and upon these considerations any one may take encouragment to pray That the Sea-man commonly makes the Observ 8 Lord many serious and solemn vows and protestations in the time of calamity I have read of some Mariners that vowed wonderful largely when their ship lives were at the stake what they would do for their God whom they served they told him if ever they got to shoar alive they would sacrifice a Candle to him that should have as much tallow in it as the main-mast was in length and substance but when got safe to Land they forgot their vow and one of them being more religious than the rest begun to tell them of it and to prompt them to itâ— push quoth the Sailors we are now at Land and onâ— small candle of eight in the pound will serve the turn which afterwards hee never performs Then they cry c. As if David should have said in time of danger they will both protest and vow nay and almost swear too that they will turn gratious and pretious souls but when the storm is over their vows are all forgotten and they are at their swearing again Jonah 1.16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a Sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows It seems that this is a very common thing amongst them Plato had perswaded Alcibiades to live justly and honestly in the world during the whole course of his life and when hee protested and vowed to him that he would do so I pray God said Socrates that hee would once begin So our Sailors make large vows in dreadful storms when the ship is upon Sands or when shee is leaky and half full of water and they tell God very largely what paenitents and what religious people they will bee if hee will but graunt them their lives but I may say unto them pray God they would once begin there is not a people under the heavens that are slower to good and that have a less skill in good than they are they are couzen Germans to Seneca's Semper victuri and I pray God that they hit on it before they dye Sailors are like Nebucadnezzar's image in storms whose head was all of pure gold the arms of silver the thighs of brass the legs of earth and clay They are gold and silver in storms but at Land and in calms meer dross and brass It is with Sailors in storms as it was with Israel at that dreadful time of Gods descending out of the heavens upon Mount Sinai Deut. 5.27 Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all and wee will hear it and do it Here was a large protestation you will say Well vers 29. carries sad tidings in it Oh that there were such an heart in them that they would fear mee and keep all my Commandments alwaies that it might bee well with them and with their children for ever The Sea-mans large promise to his God in a storm is like to false fire to a great Peece which dischargeth a rich expectation with a bad report Siquidem vovens non solvens quid nisi pejero Bern. Hee that vows in storms and does not perform his vows when delivered out of them forswears himself before the Lord. If there were but such an heart in Sailors as they pretend to have when in storms I am confident that no people under the heavens would outstrip them in piety That the Sea-man never takes up the Observ 9 duty of Prayer but when hee sees himself involved in an unlikely estate and condition of his ever recovery Then they cry This was an unsavory saying of one of the Sailors to the rest of his companions when labouring under a most dolorous storm My lads bee of good cheer I will go take a turn at prayer both for you and for my self for I am very confident that the Lord will hear mee because I am nâ— common beggar I used prayer as little as any man in the world I have observed it that at such times when wee have been thrown on Sands and when our sails have been rent in pieces by the violence of storm even as one would tear careless paper and linnen that then they have prayed Jonah 1.5 Then the Mariners were affraid and cryed every man unto his God You should never have heard those Sailors at Prayer that Jonah was amongst if that their lives had not been in that dreadful jeopardy It was a graceless saying of one Sailor when in a most inevitable danger that hee had never used any prayer for seaven years together but hee was now fallen into that distress that hee must bee forced to do that which hee neither liked nor never used to do Sailors are not unlike to Agrippa's Dormouse that would not nor could not bee awaked till shee was thrown into the boyling Copper and then the kettle rang with her dolorous Sonnets Ego uror Ego uror Alass I burn I burn It is danger makes many in the Sea go to prayer and not grace conscience or the fear of God The Sailors life is not unlike to Herman Biswick's of whom it is said that it was his judgment that the world was eternal and that there was neither Angels nor Devils Heaven nor Hell nor future life but that the souls of men perished with their bodies And if our Sea-men hold but of this strain they may live as they please But grant they doe not their prayerless lives tell us that the thoughts of Hell and the thoughts of God and of another world is not in their minds they have not another place in their eye but only this present world One of the sadest things that my soul has mourned for and at whilst in the Sea was my serious consideration of the many Vessels that go in the great deeps that neither do nor never did and I fear never will take up the work of prayer Prayer at Sea is like to a poor Beggar or Traveller on Land who goes from Town to Town and from Country to Country but is never invited in or taken notice of by any strangers and travellers we usually say meet but with cold entertainment Oh the many ships both in the States Ah that I should be forced to say that of the ships that go in the Seas which the Lord complained of once in the sons daughters of men Rom. 1.29 Being filled with all unrighteousness wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murther debate deceit malignity whisperers
in this verse as the Taches and Loops were amongst the Curtains of the Tabernacle The Taches put into the Loops did couple the Curtains of the Tent and sew the Tent together that it might be one Exod. 26.10 11. So doth this very particle couple with the other phrase In the words you have these two things 1. An act of mercy 2. An object of misery And hee brings them out of their distresses Here is transcendent mercy shewed to them that are oftentimes drowned and plunged into irrecoverable misery There is nothing difficult in the words but the view of them is very obvious unto the meanest capacity that is Observ 1 That God loves not to give deliverance till it bee welcome Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of distresses When the ship is upon the sand rapping and knocking as if at every blow shee takes upon the ground would make her flye into a thousand peeces then and not till then comes deliverance Act. 27.44 And the rest some on boards and some on broken peeces of the ship and so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land When the ship is half full of water with dangerous leaks then and not till then doth the Lord many times appear for them by sending some ship or other into their sight unto which they will make and thereby miraculously they are delivered from drowning by flying out of theirs into that When the ship that Christ and his Disciples were imbarked in was covered all over with waves then and not till then did Christ appear to abate and asswage the storm even but then when there was in the very eye of reason little or no possibility of being saved When Israels Bricks were doubled then and not till then was Moses sent and this is Gods usual time and method to deliver when there is no visible helps or hopes within sight for deliverance 1. Because mercy will not be valued if men should not be thus dreadfully put to it The sound man cryes puff Reasons a fig for the Physitian the Souldier a rush for his enemy when in a strong hold and so the Mariner a straw for storms when in a good harbor but when in the hazards of their lives the mercy then is highly prized 2. Because God would have the glory of his power wisdome and free goodness clearly beheld Act. 27.30 31. And as the ship-men were about to flee out of the ship when they had let down the boat into the Sea under colour as though they would have cast Anchors out of the fore-ship Paul said to the Centurion and to the Souldiers Except these abide in the ship yee cannot bee saved God is tender of his glory power wisdome and honor he would have it seen by the eyes of men 3. Because hee will have the tribute of praise out of every salvation and this is one reason why mercy and deliverance is so oftentimes delayed in the Seas Observ 2 That God in his providence hath a special hand a seeing eye and a prudent care in and over all his creatures for good And hee bringeth them out of their distresses Psal 104.10.21 Psal 107.6 Beasts of the field Fowls of the air Fish in the Sea and all crawling and creeping things upon the face of the earth are preserved and cared for by him If God stept not out of heaven may I so speak to fetch poor souls out of the griping talons of the stormy Seas where no succour and relief can come unto them from the land except it come out of heaven When God would express the tenderness of his love and care to to his people he makes it out by naming the very tenderest part that is in the body Zach. 2.8 Every little thing you know will offend the eye that which wee call the eyes Apple Philosophers call the Chrystalline humour Isbon in Hebrew Ish in Latine Pupilla of pupa because within there is the pretty resemblance of man or otherwise because man is prized and preferred before and above all the creatures besides Heb. 13.5 the Seas and the winds would tear them and their ships to peeces They would soon take down the proudest high decked ships that ever came upon the Seas if God watched not over them both by night and by day How soon would the Sea drink them up even as that great water-drinking Behemoth in Job 33. who drinks up a River I could abundantly inlarge my self in and upon this point but it is such tedious writing in the Sea that I shall bee short and give you in a few inductions to the bargain 1. I would have Sea-men to minde how undeservedly God is with them in their distresses even many wayes A gracious soul spoke on this wise when in a storm and tempestuous night Surely I shall not perish there be so many stars eyes of providence over my head because it was a bright and clear night one while strengthening of you and another while comforting of you Act. 27.22 And now I exhort you to bee of good cheer for there shall bee no loss of any mans life among you but of the ship This was the Apostles experience This was Davids experience Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with mee thy rod and thy staffe they comfort mee 2. Minde how God doth deliver you out of storms and also the manner and means thereof and the very nick of time that God appears for you and works it in All which circumstances well heeded and observed will make your Sea-deliverances the more wonderfully Sea-men may well say of their deliverances as Moses said of the burning Bush Exod. 3.3 I will now turn aside and see this great sight Ah turn about souls and look with a thankful eye upon all your preservations and the more marvellously glorious in your eyes Paul was a great observer of the deliverance that hee and those that sailed with him partaked oâ— Act. 27.44 And the rest some on boards and some on broken peeces of the ship and so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land Call to minde the times when you were shipwracked in Italy Spain or France c. and observe the manner of your deliverances 3. Minde how God delayes and defers sometimes to abate violent storms and to deliver you till that your wills bee conquered into a conformable contentment and obedience unto Gods will to bee delivered or not delivered This was Peters experience Matth. 14.30 31. that Christ reached him not his hand till he was a sinking And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him This was Abrahams experience Gen. 22.12 13 14. That God was not seen but in the Mount and Isaac was not delivered from being made a sacrifice of till the knife was at his throat Have you not found it many times that
at its appearance filling the air with many loud acclamations 2. That there is a tenderness of heart and spirit in you mourning for and under sin which renders you Elect holy and beloved amongst the Saints that know you I would all the new upstarts in England were of this good old sin-mourning temper Rom. 7.24 Oh wretched man that I am who Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self 3. That you make it your constant care and business to look to your life and conversation and I do know it that it is the desire of you soul that it should bee such and in such a way of holiness as does become the Gospel of Christ Philip. 1.21 4. That it is the great care and desire of your soul that all under you should bee engaged in the daily worship and service of God Joshua 24.15 But as for mee and my house wee will serve the Lord. 5. That you are a discourager of what you apprehend to bee evil in your family Psal 101.2 3 4 5 6 7. Hee that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight Were all Families so ordered it would bee better both in the City Country and the whole Land than it is at this day Prov. 14.1 Every wise woman buildeth her house 6. That you are exemplary in your Family and truly it is good so to bee if the Mountains overflow with waters the Valleys are the better for it and if the head bee full of ill humours the whole body fares the worse for it Give mee leave now my much Honoured Lady to present a few things to you which may tarry with you when Providence may call mee from you 1. Think of your dying day It is said that there stands a Globe of the world at the one end of the Library in Dublin and a Skeleton of a man at the other it seems they that go into that Library need not stand long to study out a good lesson What if a man were Lord or Lady King or Queen of all the known parts of the world yet must hee dye I like not the Proverb I no more thought of it than I did of my dying day It is written of the Philosophers called Brachmani that they were so much given to think of their latter end that they had their graves alwaies open before their gates that both going out and coming in they might bee mindful of their death There was once a discourse betwixt a Citizen and a Mariner my Ancestours said the Mariner were all Sea-men and all of them died at Sea my Father my grand Father and my great grand Father were all buried in the Sea then sayes the Citizen what great cause have you when you set out to Sea to remember your death I but says the Mariner to the Citizen where I pray did your Father and your grand Father die why saies hee they died all of them in their beds truly then saies the Mariner to the Citizen what a care had you need to have every night when you go to bed to think of your bed as a grave and the clothes that cover you as the earth that must one day bee thrown upon you You are wise and know how to apply it 2. Lay up treasure in Heaven God has done much for you in the bestowing the riches honours dignities and great things of this life upon you by making you taller by the head and shoulders than thousands both in City and Country are Matth. 6.19 20. Is a Scripture I would commend to your leasurable considerations 3. Take heed of the bewitching honors entertainments and the deluding and heart-insinuating great things of this world It was a good saying of Luther I hope your Ladyship will make it yours when offered great things that hee protested to the Lord hee would not bee put off with the things of this life for his portion Psal 17.14 Men of the world have their portion in this life That is all it seems that ever they are like to have The Rubenites Numb 23. having taken a liking of the Country which was first conquered because it was commodious for the feeding of their Cattel though it was far from the Temple where they might have fed their souls to enjoy it they renounced all interests in the Land of Promise It is said of the Locusts that came out of the bottomless pit that they were like unto Horses and on their heads were as it were Crowns of gold and their faces were as the faces of men their hairs as the hair of women their teeth as it were the teeth of Lyons c. Rev. 9.7 8. in which Scripture wee have quasi Horses quasi Crowns quasi faces quasi teeth and quasi hairs of men In part such are all the honours and comforts of this life 4. Bee much in prayer hard and private wrestling with God in your closer for Heaven and Salavation If a man were assured that there were a great purchase in Spain Turkey Italy c. or some other remote parts would hee not run ride sail and adventure the dangers and hazzards of the Sea and of his enemies also if need were that hee might come to the enjoyment and possession thereof Heaven is better than Earth and a life in glory than a life in this sinful World and that you may prefer that above this in this lower world and may also live and bee with the Father and the Lamb in the highest glory when this life is ended for ever more shall bee the hearty prayer of him Madam Who is your Ladyships most humbly devoted DANIEL PELL From my Study in your own most Honourable House and Family London May 6. 1659. To the Right Worshipful Mr. HENRY HUNGARFORD Esquire And one of the Members of the Honourable House of Parliament D. P. Wisheth the grace mercy peace and love of God the Father in this life and eternal bliss and glory in the life to come Reverend and Right Honourable Sir Uno non possum quantum te diligo versu Dicere si satis est distichon ecce duos If I cannot in one verse my mind declare If two will serve the turn lo here they are SO great an honourer and admirer am I of you and the House and Family that you are descended of and belong unto that I cannot praetermit you without the presenting of this small Tract and Treatise which is of no great worth or value but onely an act or an expression of that superlative respect and service I bear you Certainly if I should I should then bee an Adinstar Niciae cujusdam Pictoris of whom it was said tantam in pingendo diligentiam adhibuit ut saepe numero intentus arti cibum sumere oblivisceretur è famulo quaereret LAVINE pransus ne sum a very forgetful person I question not but that you will find some thing in it worth your reading although you have travelled all or the greatest part of all the known parts of the
Age are infallibly Divine but I dare conclude it that this Psalm is and proceeded from God into Davids heart and herein is and lies the excellency and dignity of it For the Division of the words there be four things presenting and offering themselves unto our consideration 1. The Persons in this word They. 2. Their Posture in these words going down 3. Their Business or Occasions in these words that do business 4. and lastly Great waters in these words In the great waters The Persons they are to be considered under a threefold respect and denomination as they are most commonly 1. Juveniles 2. Cognoscentes 3. Servi These Lads are ad instar Halcyonis contra ventum like that bird Naturalists write of which evermore brests her self against the wind These are they that can live Fame frigore illuvie squalore inter saxa rupesque membraque saepe torrida gelu habent Juveniles They are then young men that use the Seas such as are robore nati full of manhood resolution strength and valour men that are of rugged and undaunted Spirits and dispositions Sea-headed Sea-brain'd Storm-proof hardy and stout to act and perform their hard and laborious Water-service even in all weathers that blows whatsoever And is there not a necessity now that they should be of this Tarpowling and Brass-pot-like metal who have perpetually the Freta indignantia froth-foming and hill-swelling Seas to ride over in their unruly and uncommandable wooden Chariots By these dangers are despised difficulties adventured on terrors contemned fears laughed at cowardize vanquished generosity and manhood is the onely thing that is in repute and esteem with them And is there not a necessity that it should be so and that every one that will take upon him to go to Sea should be a Ludibria rerum humanarum fortiter contemnens ac aleam fortunae novercantis ridens one that can pluck up a good heart in the midst of the stormiest Seas or proudest Waves that ever elevated Youth now is the prime time for the Sea because the body is in its best abilities to endure the Cradle-rocking Waves of restless Amphitrite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Old Age cannot brook the unkindness of the bouncing and rowling billows of the Seas for it makes their bones both to crack and ake and it s very frequently seen that when men that have used the Seas long The Sea is Navigandi locus ac tamen commorandi non It s good for navigation but bad for habitation and are come into yeers once that they betake themselves to their heels and bid farewell unto it as Gulls and Cormorants will hasten to banks or sheltring places when they see a storm a coming upon the Sea They can endure it no longer Let this word then ring in the ears of those many thousands of young and stout valiant and hardy pieces that go both in the Merchant and the States Service of England Had I but that faculty that Pericles that famous and learned Athenian Orator had I question not but it would take place of whom it s said that when ever he came up before the people ere he left them he did in animis Auditorum aculeos relinquere leave an itching upon their spirits I have read of Alphonsus King of Spain how that he was petitioned to succour a decaid Knight but inquiring into the reason of his poverty said Had he young spent his estate in my service I would supplied him when old It s well if God say not of you at last who forget God that you served the States the Merchant and the Devil and now when you come to dye you would have heaven and pardon of sin Go get you to hell So of Hermanius in the Bohemian History that that great Courtier when he came to die cried out most bitterly that he had spent more time in the Palace than in the Temple This will be the cry of Sailors one day that they have spent more time in the Seas and in the States and Merchants service than ever they spent in Gods Remember young men that as you are in your prime for States Common-wealths or Merchant Service that you are also in the same plight and equipage for Gods though you be now in your warm blood yet there is a time of infirmities a coming on wherein your fiery spirits will be cooled and your blood-shedding hands exceedingly weakned The time is coming when you shall say Eccl. 12.1 We have no pleasure in the gallant Ships that sail the Seas We take no delight in seeing the brave Gallies that go with Oars nor in the thundring and firing of Guns or in the sound of that ear-pleasing noise of Trumpets that play their Warlike Levets upon the gilded Poops of the State of Englands Ships Some there be though God knows very few amongst you which do both serve and really and sincerely fear and love the Lord and God will remember them and all their obedience Jer. 2.2 I remember thee the kindness of thy youth God is a great observer and notice-taker of the kindness of those that serve him in their youth and he takes notice also of the hard-heartedness of those that neither fear him nor obey him Isa 1.2 3 4. Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth The Heavens and the Earth blush at the graceless lives that you live and lead in the Seas Lay it to heart I beseech you and consider how flexible and how obedient some young men are unto God and how vile stubborn rebellious and obstinate you are against him Serve God with as much vigour strength heartiness and cheerfulness as you serve the States or the Merchant you will hazard and venture your lives over and over for them what will you do for God then Will you throw out of doors all Religion and the worship and fear of God Will you do the hard Service of the Common-wealth of England and will you not do the sweet blessed and easie Service of the Lord which will in the end bring you greater Salary than they can give you Live then in Prayer Reading Meditating and all the good means that you may in time have that carnal part that 's in you killed and sacrificed unto God 2. Cognoscentes As none will say but that the Sea requires the yong mans Service What a learned man in one case said of the unlearned people of the world I may say of the unlearned unskilful Mariner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be destitute of learning is to dance in the dark To go to sea without Nautical accomplishments is the only way to throw the ships upon the Rocks So I think none will deny but that it calls for judicious knowing and understanding men to be employed in it And such as have good skill in the Mathematicks and in the use of those many Navigating Instruments which Mariners take to Sea with them viz. Square Cube Astrolaby c. and in all
round about him Now if these Tongue-libelling-lads in the Sea would look into Rev. 21.8 and pause a while upon that Scripture they would finde such sharp tart and sowre sawce that they would never love lying more I dare say there bee thousands that have been of your imployment that are now roaring as so many damned miscreants in hell that feel the verity of this Scripture which they would never beleeve nor credit when they were alive in the world as you now are Let God Christ and Scripture then bear and carry the highest and strictest rule and command over you in your hearts and consciences and not the Devil Eph. 4.25 Putting away lying speak every man the truth with his neighbour c. Woe bee unto you if this sin and your lives end together What one sayes of the Pea and Turky-cock I will say of the Sailor Quodvis rubrum gallo-pavos animat Every thing that is red inrageth the Peacock Make the application Sailors are much what of Lysanders moral the Lacedemonian of whom it s said that he was of such an implacable disposition that nothing could appease his malice but the death of the person with whom he was angry whereupon grew the Proverb That Greece could not bear two Lysanders And truly I would have Captains to say that our ships shal harbour no such Sailors 4. Choler passion and anger If I had a desire or that I did know of any that were desirous to see these three feral passions in their proper raging and predominating colours I would either go or send them unto the Sea amongst the Mariners and there they should bee sure in two or three hours expence of time on board with them to behold them both in their faces tongues and hands as so many sparks of fire in barrels of Gun-powder These are the three Faggots or ingredients that a Sea-man is made of There is scarce one in ten thousand of them but hee hath fire and powder in the mouth of him and the sight of this drives all good people away from holding any society or converse with them and makes it an intolerable penance to bee near them or within the smoak of their Chymnies God pitty you and in his good time bestow another manner of heart and spirit upon you than is to bee seen amongst you Therâ— is the greatest weakness of spirit and unmanliness of minde to bee seen amongst the Sailors of all the people under the heavens again What argues the disgrace and inferiority of the understanding part more which is the noblest power of the soul than passion Prov. 17.27 A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit In the Hebrew he is of a cool spirit The lowest men of parts are oftentimes the passionatest men But that now this unclean spirit may bee clubd down and kicked over-board out of all the Navy ships in England I would present all the Sailors in the Seas with these ensuing Consectaries and I dare promise them that the practising of them will procure them much peace comfort quietness whilst and in what ships soever they sail in The main reason why Sailors are so contentious and quarrelsome one with another is because they are either ignorant of their carriage and behaviour one towards another or else in respect of trivial and frivolous provocations that arise amongst themselves which wisdome would soon hurl out of doors and dash out of countenance 1. Sailor Sailor Immensae virtutis est non sentire â—e esse percussum It will vvell become thee if thou meerest vvith vvrong on shipbâ—â—â— to take notice of them If you would then live peaceably and comfortably on board your ships Trample under foot all delicate niceness of bearing wrongs If thou wilt not do thus go not to Sea for thou wilt meet with them Where there is an impetuous impatiency and an effeminate facility in men they will be moved at every trifle It is a special peece of manly wisdome to be able to pass by many petty provocations to wrath and anger without notice taking And it is no less also to digest the witless brawlings and clamours of silly foolish irrational and head-strong men with the same patience that Chirurgions will the injuries and blows of mad and frantick men When an inconsiderate fellow had stricken Cato in the bath and afterwards cried him mercy he replied I remember not that thou didst strike me Tu linguae ego aurium Dominus said one to another that railed on him I cannot be master of thy tongue but I will be master of mine own ears S. Paul Act. 2.8 shook off the affronts injuries offered unto him with as much ease as once he did the Viper One having made a long â—…ous discourse to Aristotle at last pleaded his prolixity to whom Aristotle replyed that he was not tedious unto him because he gave no heed to any thing he said 2. If you would live peaceably and comfortably on board your ships Trample under foot all credulity and lightness in beleeving whatsoever comes first to hand and ear If thou wilt not do thus never look to live quietly on board any ship thou shalt set thy foot into To beleeve every word tale and tattle thou hearest is the onely way to set thee on a fire Tale-bearers whisperers and Tongue-slanderers are the Devils bellows 3. If thou wouldest live peaceably and comfortably on board any ship Out a doors with all curiosity itching humour and needless inquisitiveness to know and hear of every thing that is done or said My reason is this If a man bee thus disposed hee shall finde matter enough to fill his gall and set his Irascible part on a burning fire That man shall never want wrath and woe that lets the doors of his ears stand wide open to listen to every one I have read of Antigonus a most famous Prince how that hee did when hee heard two unworthy subjects of his speaking ill of him in the night near his Tent door willed them to go further off lest the King should hear them That man that is of this temper is the best to pass let him bee at Sea or on Land 4. If thou wouldest live peaceably and comfortably on ship-board Out of doors with all timerousness of being wronged or contemned by others in word deed or countenance Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath Eph. 4.28 but many Sea-men suffer the Sun to go down rise again upon their anger yea again and again before they will part with it But let that man know that lets the Sun go down upon his wrath he takes the Devil to bed with him I have observed it that many men do needlesly fret and perplex themselves when they see but two talking or smiling and now and then casting an eye upon them they presently conceit within themselves that they are their discourse and the object of their scornful observation This argues great weakness and folly
to flye nor to run so fast as to escape their pursuers in body somewhat less than a Goose but bigger than a Mallard short and thick having no feathers but instead thereof a matted down that is very hard and their beaks are not much unlike to the bills of crows these foul lodge in earth as Rabbets do 15. They have a sight and cognizance of that strange sort and kind of foul Noddy which is called a Noddy It is observed that when this bird is pleased to take her flight into foraign Countries being much toyled and wearied by flying over that dreadful deluge or Sea of water shee will betake her self to the first ships shee can descry to rest her self upon and the Mariners who both know them and are very observant of them or any other birds that light upon their ships which they know do come unto them out of a meer necessity will fall a hollowing and shouting at her and after shee hears that noise and clamour below the poor bird has no power to spread out her wings and bee gone but the Sea-men may run up the shrouds and fetch her down with their hands for there shee sits as one bewitched or necromantickly inchanted 16. They have a sight of that strange kind of bird which is called by some a Tumbler Tumbler of which sort there bee many in Barbary which will fetch a flight up to the Heavens and then come tumbling down again over and over as if some thing were a falling in a praecipitant manner out of the Heavens with very great violence This bird is in shape and form like to one of our Land-Pidgeons differing a little in size and colour 17. They have a frequent sight of that domableness that is in the major part of the birds and souls that bee in the Indies how one may walk amongst them turn them over with their feet It is observable that the fouls in the Indies will come and lay their eggs at ones foot if they walk amongst them on their Sand-hils and if they bee upon their nests they will not stir unless they pull them off The little Pygmies are forced to stand to their arms when they hear the sonorous alarms of the Cranes who will come and carry them into the clouds and take them up in their hands and it is probable that this tameableness is in them because man is a great stranger to them and seldom comes amongst them 18. Amongst the rest of that novelty and variety of objects they do tell us that if they shoot but off a gun in those parts and places where the Fouls lye that they will rise both off the waters and from off the land with such an hideous and sonorous noise that one would think the very heavens were a crashing and falling upon their heads Their clapping of their wings make a greater noise than an Army of horse and foot when they are on their march Hence sings the Poet from the like experience Ad subit as Thraeâ—um volucres nubemque sonoram Pygmaeus parvia currit Bellator in armis It would yeeld much laughter in our parts to see a Pygmye and a Craines quarrel 19. Amongst the rest of that novelty and variety of creatures they do survey and behold this is one which is no less admirable than the rest that they do call Pemblico because her usual and constant note is Pemblico Pemblico Pemblico this bird is seldom seen on the day time and in the night she is very clamorous but if heard by Sea-men it is oftentimes too true a presage prognostick of some dreadful storm and tempest When the Sea-man hears this bird in those occidental parts of the world hee looks for little good and moderate weather 20. Cahow They have a sight of the bird called a Cahow and is one of them The Arara is a bird which they often see about the bigness of a Goshawk seeming a whole garden of Tulips every feather being of a several colour which beheld in the Sun-shine dazles the eyes which is one of the nocturnal kinde and loves not to bee seen in the day but in the night as the Bat and the Owl with us but in the night when all other Foul are at roost and quiet shee will come forth and if shee hear any loud sounding hollowing or shouting shee will make directly towards them for shee hath no power of her self to stay where shee is so that oftentimes when Mariners have set up a shouting in the night they would come and light upon their heads and shoulders 21. Dotteril They have a sight of the Dotteril of whom they say that whatsoever is done in the sight of her shee will exactly imitate and endeavour to do the like if an hand bee but put forth shee will stretch out her leg if they beck or nod with the head shee will do the like with hers again And all this time the poor silly bird hath no power to flye away but becomes a prey unto the Fouler after this ridiculous order 22. It is observed of the Quail that when he is grown weary with flying that hee will light in the calm Sea on one side resting of himself with his other held up above the water towards heaven lest he should presume too long a flight so that at first he usually wets one wing and lest he should despair of taking a new flight afterwards he keeps the other wing dry Amongst the rest of that amaene novelty and variety that they have in the Seas is the Quail in whose flight over the Sea it is observed that when this bird is defatigable and wearied with flying that hee will betake himself to any ship that is within the sight of him to rest himself upon it Sometimes great flocks and droves of these birds will light clogging and cleaving to the yard arms of ships as if they would break all down with their ponderousness Thus much shall suffice now to speak of Birds and may I Apologize for my self it is but little in comparison of that which others that have travelled are able to report of I will now take my leave and run upon the other particular that I promised unto you and follow that rule of Alium post alium florem in pratis oarpere smelling and savouring of one flower after another The second circumstance comes now upon the stage to bee insisted and descanted upon is of those creatures that are Gressile 1. They that go down to the Sea in ships Amongst the rest of that novelty and variety that they have in their viewing of the Creation they have a full eye-satisfying sight of one of Gods greatest and mightiest land-creatures that bee upon the face of the whole earth again which is in Scripture called the Behemoth Elephant and with us an Elephant This beast is of a crusty nature and of an impenetrable skin Some Writers tell us that
Miscelaneous Observations These stand by themselves like the Quoe genus in the Grammer being deficients or redundants not to bee brought under any rule because the Seas are a debilitating to my spirits onely give me leave to throw you in a few Miscelaneous yet I hope delightful and pleasing Observations and then I question not but that I shall have given you a taste and relish of every thing in order though not in that multiplicity that I might have done 1. They that go down to the Sea in ships Amongst the rest of that amaene bundle of novelty that they have in their travels those sundry and strange kind of sensitive creatures that be in the Indies are some in which God has kindled many kinds of living and going fire walking to and fro in the Earth some creeping under feet some flying over head viz. in the Snake Adder Cockatrice flying Serpents and other strange kind of Flies In the evening if any bee disposed to walk in the Woods Sea-men tell us that there bee great swarms of flies which will keep a very great buzzing and humming about the trees and cost such a light and lustre as if there were sparks of fire or lighted matches hanging upon the boughs which will sting and burn to death Numb 21.4 And the Lord sent fiery Serpents among the people and they bit the people and much people of Israel died 2. Amongst the rest of that eye-delighting and mind-contenting novelty that they have in their travels those great and many Woods that bee in the Indies and elsewhere are some there bee such vast and unknown wilderness-places in the world in which grow such a rankness and thickness of trees that they cannot bee travelled through nor known how great and how far they reach it is not known to the Indians themselves what is on the other side of them and who or what lives beyond them 3. Amongst the rest of that eye-delighting and mind-contenting novelty that they have in their travels the Magellan Straits is very wonderful in respect of those terrible winds that bee frequently in them and upon them which fall with such vehemency as if the very bowels of the earth would set all at liberty or as if the clouds under the Heavens were called together to muster their fury and lay on their force upon that one place the Sea in it self naturally is of a very heavy and ponderous substance History tells us that Ferdinando Megalanus was the first that compassed the world and found out this Southern passage call'd Fretum Magellanieum and after him followed Sr. F. D. yet notwithstanding in this place it is so rowld up with storms that the very roots of rocks are unbar'd so that ones eye may almost behold the bottoms of the deeps the Seas swell run and rage in such monstrous hills and mountaines sometimes there that it is no small terrour to the Mariner when hee is either under sail or at an anchor Anchors are like false friends give way and the wind is so violent as if the mountains would rend and the heavens and the earth would come together 4. Those wonderful cloud-climbing and heaven-aspiring Promontories that bee in many parts of the world many or the most of them lye in the view of the ships that go in the Seas and other some lye-upon the very skirts of the Sea These are Natures bulworks Some writers tell us that the Land of Canaan was but threescore miles in length and twelve score in breadth and that it is exceeding mountainous so the hillier mountainouser any Country is the greater it is in this little land were there 1 Chr. 21.5 A thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword cast up as the Spaniard says at God Almighties charge and they call them heaps of rubbish or offals that were left at the Creation of the world and so remain as so many warts or pimples disfiguring the face and beauty of the earth the difficulty of their ascent is admirable the horridness of their craggs is wonderful and an uninhabited wilderness are many of them upon which and in which live nothing else but wild beast The Alpes Mount Ararat Mount Chego and Teneriffe c. are estimated to bee far higher than the clouds Upon these it is no matter of wonderment to see Snow lying all summer long although those parts have a greater heat from the Sun than wee have in England and the reason seems to bee this because that the Sun does leave its work as imperfect and has not that force and power to melt the Snows that bee upon them by reason of those chill aires that bee upon them Nay such an intollerable chilness is there upon some of their snowy and frosty tops Corpus-zant Sometimes Sea-men will aver that there will come down many of these Corpus-zants insomuch that they have seen upon evey yard-arme one as so many blazing lighted candles that they are altogether inhospitable and not to bee endured to breathe in for an hour 5. The Corpus-zant which is so called in the Spanish and Italian Language and in Latin Corpus Sancti which they say it is this is a very strange thing it seldom appears but before the ensuing of some dreadful storm It is like unto the light of a candle and is never seen but in the darkest and windiest nights upon the Sea It most commonly chuses to light upon the Truck of the Antient-staff about which the ships-colours do fly and there it will lye a long time like the light of a candle and what it is or from whence it comes or whither it goes none can well tell Sometimes Sea-men say that they will light in other parts of the ship and when they have endeavoured to touch them they would vanish away The sight of this thing did much admire mee 6. The Male-stream-well Male-stream-well which lies on the back of Norway this well draws water into it during the flood which continues for the space of six hours and twelve minutes with such an avarous indraught and force Mariners call this dreadful Gulph the Navel of the Sea that it makes a very hideous and most dreadful noise the waves tumble in with such a violence one upon the neck of another that would daunt the stoutest heart to hear it and suck up the strongest ships that should dare to come within a league of it and at the Ebb the water returns with the like violence that it went in in the Flood so that should the ponderousest thing that is bee thrown into it the strength of it is such that it would carry it up again 7. The Water-Spouts Water-spouts that bee to bee seen in the Southern parts of the world of which certainly David speaks of Psal 42.7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy Water-spouts It is observed by those
they are provided for that are without fuel in Island and elsewhere In this Island there is another very remarkable passage that there bee several waters in it which are of such a vehement ardency that they will boyl both fish foul and beef in And in these waters the people both dress and cook all their victuals and bays which the people take up and reserve for winter Certainly hee that guided the Kine which bare the Ark 1 Sam. 6.12 guides and orders that these parcels of wood faggots or fuel should come unto those that would bee starved if they were not thus helped every year and besides if there were not a visible hand of providence appearing for this people that live in a Country where doubtless wood will not grow or otherwise for firing it has been destroyed these peeces that swim upon the floods of the Seas might go from them and into the middle of the Sea rather than unto them if not directed c. 17. Their aspect of the Sea which is sometimes of such an ignifluous lustre as if it were full of Starrs insomuch that if a peece of wood or any other ponderous thing should be thrown into it at such times in the night it will show it self as if it were full of firesparkles Whence that Proverb As true as the Sea burns 18. The sight of those two burning Islands Hecla and Helga is another these are often times covered over with Snow yet burn within and belch out very terrible and vehement sparks of fire 19. Their viewing and walking up and down in the goodly sumptuous princely and stately Cities that bee in the world viz. Constantinople Grand-Cair Genoa Venice Naples Rome c. 20. A sight of those fearful and unusual Lightnings and Thunderings that bee sometimes in the Occidental and Austral parts of the world which are with such vehemency and dreadfulness that one would think that the Heavens and the Earth would come together I have heard the honestest and godliest of men that use the Seas say that when they have been in the Indies if they did but see a cloud appearing in the bigness of ones hand they need no other warning but that a most dreadful storm would ensue Insomuch that they have been forced to make all the haste they could to get sails furl'd yards peak'd and their ships fitted to endure it as well as they could The Observation was this That the most or the greatest part of Gods glorious and wonderful works are seen by Sea-men The point then will afford us these two uses 1. Of Reproof And 2. Of Exhortation 1. Vse Reproof 1. Is it thus then that you that are Sailors and Sea-men do see most of the Lords works yea more than all the people in the world besides Platonists by the sight of Nature see more yea and will shame thousands of our Sailors for they could say that all that pulchtitude and beauty that shines in the creature was but Splendor quidam summi illius boni pulchrum coelum pulchra terra sed pulchrior qui fecit illa Surely this point looks with a sour look upon you that make no improvement nor application of things unto your selves for better amendment than you do I may say unto you in the words of Job 35.11 who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven that God hath taught us more than the beasts of the field and hath made man wiser than the fowls of heaven therefore God looks for another manner of glory and understanding from you that are men than hee doth from them and more from those that are Christians than from natural and carnal men It is a notable saying of Mr. Calvins Diabolica ist aec scientia said hee quae in natura contemplatione nos retinens a Deo avertit That is a Devillish kinde of knowledge that in the contemplation of nature keeps men in nature and holds them back from God After this manner may I speak unto you that it is a devillish kinde of knowledge that you have of the Seas and of the Creation if that all you see know and hear of keep you still in nature what better art thou than a beast for all thy travel Give mee leave to tell you thus much 1. That there is a seeing eye in the world an eye that is much in Quaelibet herba Deum stella creaturaque and upon Gods works Isa 40.26 Job 26.8 Hee bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds and the cloud is not rent under them A seeing eye looks on nothing that is either in Sea or Land but thinks of God in it I have read of one that was so spiritual and heavenly-minded that when hee was in the world where hee had a full view of many wonderful things hee said there was nothing that ever hee did behold but hee saw God in it When I cast mine eyes upon the Earth I saw that God was every where When I looked upon the Heavens I considered with my self that that was his Throne When I looked into the depths of the Sea I beheld the power and wisdome of God in the creating of them And when I looked upon the many creeping things that were in it they told mee that God was there I looked also into the breathing air with all the inhabitants of it and it told mee that God was there whose proper Attribute is to bee every where I looked up into the Starry sphere and spangled roof of heaven which glisters with innumerable stars from whence I learned that that is a Christians Country who is in Christ and from thence do I look for my Saviour and the longer I do look upon those glorious and burning and shining Tapers of the heavens which are estimated the very least of them to bee bigger than the whole earth I consider that God hath undoubtedly great and just expectations from man that hee will do some work and service for his Maker Most Masters will not allow their servants to sport and idle whilst their candles are burning but if they finde them so doing they will blow them forth Certainly Sea-men you may conclude that God looks for great things from you who see so much of the Creation that others see not Will it not bee tollerabler for the ignorant Indian c. and the miserable heathen that is in the world than it will bee for you who have no other light but the light of nature to walk by I may compare the generality of Sea-men unto a Traveller who doth in his vagaries leave all things behind him in his way he passes by stately Towers and comely Turrets brave buildings both of Marble Brick and hewn stone goodly Cities Towns and Countries comely and beautiful people and other some both black and tawny and these hee beholds for a while and admires them and passeth on and leaveth them afterwards he goes thorow the â—ields
than to hear this out of Scripture Psal 7.11 That God is angry with the wicked every day If God bee angry with the wicked every day then I will pawn my salvation upon it that hee is not pleased with you every day But Sea-men to fasten this truth upon your spirits and to drive it into your heads pray consider what a dreadful storm the Lord sent out after Jonah when hee sinned against him and provoked him to anger Jonah 1.4 But the Lord sent out a great wind into the Sea and there was a mighty Tempest in the Sea so that the ship was like to bee broken Did not Jonah now and those Heathen that hee sailed amongst acknowledge that that storm came upon them for their sins This was more than ever I heard English Sailor say or confess in all my life during that too long time I have spent amongst them where is the Sailor that wil say when the masts are a going down by the board in a storm or the ship is a going to bee cast away upon the Rocks or upon the Sands and shore what is the Lords design now Some iniquity or other is amongst us some carnal filthiness some stinking and abominable impurity that wee have not been humbled for nor turned from that has brought this misery upon us now are our lives jeoparded and at the very stake by reason of that swearing drinking and audacious gracelesness that is amongst us I dare bee bold to say it that the ungraciousness of that generation of People that goes down into the Sea and is amongst them does put the Lord many and many a time to rouse up his wind-Lyons Seems not this to bee the language of all storms Isa 1.24 Ah I will ease mee of mine adversaries and avange mee of mine enemies or wind-Eagles to flye about their eares with a raging austerity and heart-daunting cruelty yet notwithstanding this generation cannot bee got to abate in swearing reform in drinking and return from their filthy doings Sailors if ever you would travel the Seas with safety and freedom from storm and Tempest follow the Example of the wild-geese that fly over Caucasus where the Eagles roost lest they should bee heard in their gagling they will not take any such flight or voyage before their mouthes bee well crammed with pebbles and then they know that they are far enough out of danger If you would not now have God to send down storms upon you let him not see you drunk nor let him not see you profaning of his holy Name yea bee sure of this that you never let him hear you swearing I am confident were you but an humble and a godly sort of people neither beasts of the field the Seas you swim in and the winds that are above you would never hurt you so much as they do and so you should find more peace more quiet and less dread and terrour than now you do What is it that sin will not do it will batter down Cities I have read a notable passage of some Heathens who when at Sea and in a very dangerous storm where they were all like to bee cast away began every one apart to examine themselves what was or should bee the reason of so dreadful a storm and after they had cast up all by quaerying with themselves what have I done and what have I done said another that his occasioned this storm it amounted to this they remembred that they had Diagoras the Atheist on board and rather than they would perish they took him by the heels and hurled him over board and then the storm ceased and the Seas were at quiet with them If any one would ask mee now what is the reason that the State-ships meet with such hard storms and so many Sands and dangers I should tell them this it is because they are so full of filthy Swearers Drunkards and Atheistical Adulterers These have made my heart for to tremble more than all the dreadful storms that ever I have been in in all my life Nations Towns and Countries and lay them level with the ground and therefore well may your sins bring many ships to ruine Hos 4. vers 2 3. It is that profaneness that is amongst you that puts the Lord upon suffering of your ships to blow up and to fall upon Rocks and Sands c. Think not that the strongest ship or ships in the world are able to keep you from drowning when there is nothing but swearing and carnal filthiness amongst you It was but a foul mistake and also a carnal conceit that Dionysius was of that great Sicilian Tyrant when hee said that his Kingdome was bound to him with chains of Adamant for time soon confuted him Is there not now as strong a conceit in you about your valour and the strength of your ships Alas one sturdy storm will make them rock and tremble I and carry them unto the bottome or throw them upon the shoar if but licensed and impowred by God The strongest walled Cities in the world cannot keep judgement out if sin bee but within neither are they sufficient Canon-proof against the Arrows and Canon-bullets of an heavenly vengeance the height of a Cities proud-daring and out-braving Turrets may for a time keep the earth in awe but they cannot threaten heaven nor stand it out against the Lord the sinfuller a City a Nation a Country a Ship or Family is the weaker are they and the more do they lye open to Gods dreadful thundring and lightning upon them Isa 40.15 I will tell you of a story that will make your ears to tingle when you have heard it and it is of that famous City of Jerusalem which was the glory and beauty of the whole earth It thought it self so strongly fortified and manned within that there were an impossibility of ever being stormed and ruined but alas sin being in its full weight within set open the sluces and flood-gates of Gods displeasure and so let in the raging surges of cruel and intestine wars and brought it unto a heap of stones and to an uninhabitable place After Titus Vespasianus Souldiers had set the Temple on fire it was observed all the industry and skill that ever could bee used imagined or thought on could not quench it Titus sayes the history would gladly have preserved it What is it that God cannot do who is able to marshal and draw into a body even all the scattered forces that lye upon the face of the Creation together and draw forth their vigour vertue and so arm them and that which is more set on every degree of that vigour force that is in the creature according to the strength of his own powerful Arm Gods anger is able to change and alter the very nature of all creatures yea the smallest and the weakest and feeblest of them shall not onely go but run upon Arrands of Destruction in obedience to their chief Generalissimo who can
infinite mercy goodness and undeserved kindness of the Lord that every day in the Seas is not a stormy Sailors the Seas are turbulent because of you the winds above thunder and roar more over our heads every day than they would the skies are cloudy thick and foggy because of you and the Sun doth not give his light unto the Sea we take not our enemies in our chases because of you neither do wee nor can we bring them down with that violency as we might if you were but good and gracious a gloomy and a dreadful day as long as our ships are full of Diagoras's and drunken Zeno's c. I am confident there is more danger in going to Sea amongst the unsavoury crew that is in ships in England whether Merchant or Men of War than there was for Lot to stay in a stinking Sodome and yet in very deed he had been burnt if the two Angels had not come down from heaven to give him warning and to usher him out of the City whilst fire-balls were making in heaven Gen. 19. The Mariners that carried Jonah had like to have lost their lives what then may one expect in going amongst Sailors that are as full of sin and filthiness as a Dog is full of hairs and fleas 6. To put faith on work Christ was Reason 6 resolved to try Peter Matth. 14.29 30. But when hee saw the wind boysterous hee was afraid and beginning to sinke hee cried saying Lord save mee The German drinks down his sorrows the Spaniard weeps it away the French man sings it away and the Italian sleeps it away all these are but sorry shifts but if thou hast faith in God in stormy times this will make thee sweeter melody in thy foul than all the fidling jigs of Musik in the world Christ soon saw the weakness of his faith It is a strong faith that God delights in and indeed the greater the strength and boldness of it is in God the more it makes for Gods honour declaring him to bee All-sufficient in the worst and greatest of dangers Hee that is faith-proof may go with comfort to Sea whether to the East or to the West to the North or to the South nay such an one ma adventure to imbrace the Artick an Antartick Poles when as a faithless person is but like a Souldier without hi arms Get this grace of faith and thou wilt then see that all thy safety is in God that hee is thy only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resson 7 7. That patience may bee set on work What a rare speech was that of Paulinus when under that great trial when the savage Goths had invaded the City Nola and ransacked it and taken from him all his richest goods out of his house and coffers hee yeelded not unto the stream of sorrow which might have carried him down into the gulf of despair When Cato's Souldiers were discouraged in their march through the Desart of Lybia because of thirst heat â—â—d and â—â—â—nts he 〈◊〉 this 〈◊〉 unto 〈◊〉 Come 〈◊〉 friends and â—â—at my â—â—uldiers impâ— nt and d câ—uraged these are all pleaâ—â— to a valiant man and to all the storms hazzards and dangers that Sailors meet with all to them that are both valiant and patient but striving against it hee lift up his hands to heaven after this manner Domine ne excrucier propter aurum argentum ubi enim omnia sunt mea tu scis Lord sayes hee let not the loss of these things vexe mee for thou knowest that my treasure is not in this world here was patience exercised The grace of patience is evermore in this world both at Sea and Land upon the trial and sanctified trials both do and will evermore leave in the soul a tranquil calm and quietness Heb. 12.11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to bee joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby This is Patiences language Plura sunt tolleranda there be harder storms to bee undergone Job 13.15 Though hee slay mee yet will I trust in him as if hee should have said Should an harder storm come upon mee I would bear it without murmuring Patience will bear every thing quietly and sit as mute in the Sea in time of storms as that Egyptian's goddess whom they call Constancy which they paint upon a rock standing in the Sea where the waves come dashing and roaring upon her with this Motto Semper eadem Storms shall not move mee Certainly all repining comes from an unmortified and an unsanctified spirit the fault lyes not in any condition how desperate soever but in the heart because the heart stoops not to it 8. To set prayer on work If fire bee Reason 8 in straw it will not long lye hid Bias the great Philosopher sailing over some small arm of the Sea amongst the Mariners at that very time there fell a most dreadful storm amongst them insomuch that the ship he was in was greatly endangered of being cast away and the Mariners falling to their strange and confused kinde of prayer and worship the poor Philosopher could not indure it but calls to them and intreats them to hold their peace lest the gods should hear them and he should thereby fare the worse for them if grace bee in the heart it will appear in time of storms and this is the method that God uses many times to put Seamen upon prayer Isa 26.16 Lord in trouble have they visited thee they powred out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them Isa 33.2 O Lord bee gracious unto us wee have waited for thee he thou our arm every morning our salvation also in the time of trouble Storms are like the tolling of a Bell in a ship and when they are dreadful and violent they call all that are in the Seas at those times to prayer and fasting The dumb Son of Craesus could then speak when hee saw the knife at his fathers throat Storms will open those mens mouthes at Sea that never opened them to God in prayer in all their lives The Sea-mans devotion is up in a storm but dead and down in a calm Hee is religious whilst the judgements of the Lord are roaring upon the face of the great deeps but as great a Swearer Drunkard and Adulterer is hee after they are over as ever hee was Reason 9 9. To urge them to seek unto God for pardon of sin There is none under the whole heavens that are more in debt to God than the Sea-man is yet is hee as little sensible of it and as little affected with it as the insensiblest thing in the world either is or can bee But gracious and penitent souls are much troubled for their sins in time of storms looking upon them as the products of their misery and so cannot sleep upon the pillow of worldly enjoyments without a pardon in their hands and hearts The hunted
and the rest of our feral and remote Antagonists 4. It is of wonderful use to the purifying of the air off and from its many infections and contagions the winds are the cleansing engines of the world or the airs sweeping-brooms by which the air is kept both sweet and salubrious and this they do by their oblique and ubiquitary motion which would otherwise corrupt and stench as standing pools Job 37.11 But the wind passeth and cleanseth them Jer. 4.11 This benefit every Land and Country hath of the winds both to fan and sweep the foul corners of the air that are amongst them 5. It is of wonderful use as to the scattering of the clouds here and there in this and in the other Country How are the clouds seen sometimes in a very pendulous manner to hang over the very heads of parched Countries as if unwilling to dilate and part with their watry liquor because of the sinfulness of those Countries Clouds fly and hang over them yet drop no fatness God allows all Countries excepting Egypt which is supplied in a wonderful manner by the River Nilus the benefit of the clouds and of the Heavens hee misses not the smallest of those many Islands that he has lying here and there up and down in the world but remembers them all yea the uninhabitablest place that is in the world both procul prope for the use and benefit and accommodement of mankind by these are the Lords water-pots or cloudy water-bowls of the Heavens shaked and poured down upon the dry and thirsty places of the Earth All Gardens Orchards Corn-fields valleys hils and desarts that bee in the world are watered by them Job 37 11. Hee scattereth his bright cloud The winds are of very considerable and important use as to the conducting and convoying of the aquatical clouds of the Heavens to water the many Islands Territories and Countries of the Lords that bee in and throughout the world It seems that God has a special care of every Country and corner in the world that none of his Gardens and Orchards should parch for want of water and therefore hee has cloudy tankards in the Heavens which flye upon the wings of the wind to fall upon what place hee pleases to supply them 6. It is of wonderful use in its various vertibility and instability Non ita Carpathiae variant Aquilonibus undae The wind is a very varying and turning thing in respect that all parts in the world are served by it one while it serves to carry some Mariners into the North some out of the East into the West and other some again out of the West into the South It stays not long in one quarter but is a meer Camelaeâ—nce mutabilior Eccl. 1.6 The wind goeth toward the South and turneth about unto the North it whirleth about continually and the wind returneth again according to his circuits And hereby is it the more commodious because if it should have its abode any long time either in the Eastern Southern Northern or Western parts of the world then the opposit parts would bee greatly obstructed in their sailing into those parts from whence the wind should blow Great is the Wisdom of our infinite and good God who has ordered and created all things for the good of man in that hee has thus appointed and disposed of the winds to bee one while in one place and another while in another both to fetch Mariners that are far from home and also to carry them out that are desirous and have busines and occupation to do from home 7. It is of wonderful use to alter Seasons it cannot bee gainsaled that the winds have not an altering influence in all Seasons because they bring in our heat and by and by comes in our cold Job 37.17 How thy garments are warm when hee quieteth the Earth by the South wind When the wind comes out of the South how is every one warm and cheerful both in City and in Country although but in a thin and Summers garment but when it comes out of the blustering North or the frigid and mordacious Oriental of the world how is every one then cold within doores and without doors I even in the thickest habit that they can put on Job 37.9 Out of the North cometh forth the cold Now undoubtedly that cold comes upon the wings of the winds out of and from under the Artick and also heat in the same manner from the Antartick of the world When the wind comes out of the North or out of the East how quickly is the heat of the Earth cooled and taken away but as soon as ever it comes out of the South how is the Earth warmed and all the Animals of the world revived Psal 107.43 Who so is wise will observe these things 8. It is of wonderful use to dry up the wetness and dirtiness that is upon the face of the Earth how are all foot-paths and all horse-rodes shoveled and cleansed by the winds It is wonderful to think how an Easterly wind will sweep all the beaten paths and corners that are in the world this wind is called in Scripture a supping wind Hab. 1.9 because it drinks up the moystures that have been laid upon the Earth by the clouds Psal 107.43 Who so is wise will observe these things 9. It is of wonderful use to clear the Heavens for us and to feed us with the light of those glorious lamps and luminaries that are hung up in the Heavens to make the world comfortable to us how would the Sun the Moon the Stars and the face of Heaven bee absconded over-shaddowed and obumbrated to us with clouds fogs mists and ascending vapours that are as so many curtains drawn over those great and glorious Lanterns of the Heavens if the winds did not sweep them and reduce them to an annihilation 10. It is of a wonderfull and most dreadful use in the hand of the Lord to break and ruine the greatest and the strongest ship or ships that ever crossed the salt-waters 2 Chron. 20.37 The ships were broken that they were not able to go to Tarshish And the great Spanish Armado that came against us to invade our Land were broken and scattered by the winds so that they were frustrated in their Dice-games and carried into the bottoms when that they thought they should have had the full possession and enjoyment of this English Island 7. Vse A word of Exhortation and that unto all you that go in the Seas Is it thus indeed that all perilous storms and ship-wracking Tempests are both of the Lords raising sending and impowering give mee leave then to commit three sweet words unto you and I will pray hard both in private and publick that they may be a heart-wining and an heart-perswading word but before I hand them unto you I will lay down a few of those natural symptomes prognosticks and common observations of the approaching of winds and storms only as
calm but intricate and desperate perils and hazards do and must they run in your affaires through the Seas to accomplish the work that you have in hand against our forein and cruel enemies That pitcher that goes long to the well comes home crackt at last But ten thousand pitties it is to and upon my spirit that any of your golden warlike boats should either perish in storms What Taxaris said to his Country-man Anacharsis when hee saw him in Athens the very same will I say unto any either in or out of England I will says hee shew thee all the wonders of Greece Viso Solone vidisti omnia So visis navibus nostris Anglicanis vidistis omnia They that see Englands warlike ships see the greatest wonders that are either in it or belonging to it or in any other accidents But alas they are not exempted from those ruines no more than others there are but few Trees that have their growth in the world that are free'd from the Thunder save the Lawrel and alas there bee very few ships but the winds and the Seas will have a bout with them Bee ever and anon looking for some sublunary and temporary accidents or other befalling of your ships they are out in the Sea where there is a million of dangers and not in the Harbour I would have you of the like resolution that Anaxagoras was of of whom it was said when news came to him that his son was dead that hee told the messenger hee knew full well that hee had begot him mortal Conclude you in the like manner that your ships the very best and strongest of them are but made up of wasting and frangible materials and ingredients and the looking for the approaching of these like contingencies now and then will in fine tend to the setlement I and to the better establishment of an Heroical spirit under them When the great Naval or the inferior rank of your ships are in their Harbours they are in the greatest safety that can bee but when out at Sea they are not onely lyable but must stand to all the hazzards that shall happen and befall them 3. You that are the great Merchants of England stand in need of cautioning to look for storms Your ships are a meer uncertainty whilst in the perilous Sea an obscurity a fallacy one while they are and by and by they are not they are like to stars which for a while appear but by and by disappear or meteors in the air or as the black dive-dappers in the salt-waters or as the flock of birds that lighted in the husband-mans field and when hee thought they had been his they took wing and flew away Yea they are not unlike to Bajazet that ball of fortune as one termed him because it was one while well with him and another while it went most sadly you live its true in the brave accomplished and best Cities and Sea-port-Towns in the Land but whilst you are on Land your great adventures are in dreadfull dangers in the Seas in one bottom it may be that you have a thousand in another four and in another twenty and truly there is small wisdom of adventuring all in one bottom I have read of one that wittily said hee never liked that wealth that hangs in ropes meaning ships because where one ship came well home twenty perished and miscarried and have you not great reason to fear and look for losses do not think that all the ships that you have either in the East or in the West in the North and in the South shall come all safely home The country Shepherd that puts his Lambs Ews to pasture upon the great and wide forrests does not think to find them all the next day some are worried with the dog some with the wolf and othersome taken away by stealth Many times your interests are seised on by storms sometimes by Pyrats and other sometimes by Rocks and Sands Qui in immenso mari navigant valde turbantur The Seas are not unlike to an hilly and mountainous country through which they that travel after they bee in the bottom of one Valley they know not what danger of way-liers may bee in the next it is the very same at Sea for it is not many leagues that one can see upon a direct line and what Pyrats may bee in those places the eye cannot reach unto is not known to the Mariner but the proverb is Sub omni lapide dormitat Australis Scorpius There is a peevish Pyrat in every corner to fetch off your ships from comming to you But to proceed My speech is unto and towards all the Sea-men again that they would make sure of one thing that I would fasten upon them were I able to drive the nail of Truth to the head in all their hearts and that is shortly this 1. That they would prepare themselves for storms Whilst Sea-men loose from the shoar of life they lanch out into the main of mortality immortality and that you may follow this sweet and blessed counsel that the Spirit of my God has put into my heart for to tell you of I will give you directions what you should do 1. Get sin pardoned to you 2. Rest not either on Sea or on Land till God bee at peace with you And when you have accomplished these two things go whither thou wilt Me thinks Sea-men do not look like those whom God will bless for the want of their putting on for these two things and the God of Heaven go along with thy poor soul then mayst thou leave the Land for many daies with a great deal of comfort 1. Get sin pardoned to you or else it would bee better for thee that thou never wentest to Sea How darest thou that art a Captain a Master a Lieutenant a Boatswain a Gunner a Carpenter a Purser or a common Sea-man be so bold to venture to Sea with thy back burthen of sin unremitted Ah how ought you to stand in fear of that God whilst you are in the Seas that is ablest to set on and to call upon the winds to destroy you and when you go with sin unpardoned may you not daily expect the roaring storms of the Lords displeasure Isa 7.18.19 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the Flye that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt and for the Bee that is in the Land of Assyria If it were my case now as it is yours I should verily fear every hour that I spent upon the Sea that God would hisse for the North South East or West winds to rear the vessel I were in to pieces should I venture to Sea without a pardon and an acceptation of my person with and from my God Take heed lest that the Lord do hear you swear c. If you give him occasion hee can presently hiss for the winds to overwhelm you and
a good and a merciful God for you to rejoyce in that is better than ten thousand Sail cannot I live without that ship that I have lost There is a pretty story in Esop of the Goose that laid the poor man her Master every day a golden egg and finding such a benefit by her hee thought that his best course was to kill her and then hee should find them all and upon that conceit hee did but finding himself frustrated Ansere Aesopico invento vacuo stupebat miser ac plangebat rem spem periisse hee fell a weeping for the loss of his golden eggs because hee had taken away her life which if had been preserved would have laid him more Thus the Merchant mourns when he loses his goodly ships that brought him in his riches and upon the consideration of their ruine hee laments to think what accommodement they were unto him But I will let pass this discourse and hasten unto another Proposition that I will lay down and it is shortly this 3. That God threatens before he strikes Observ 3 For hee commandeth the stormy wind How cleer and undeniable is this point unto every ordinary capacity that goeth in the Sea where is the Mariner that is bet up to storms and Tempests but knows beforehand when a storm is coming in the Heavens Every Sailor is as perfect a scholar in the great volume of that over-head canopy of the skies I and knows as well by the Physiognomy of the skye out of what part the storm will come as the childe can tell you his A. B C. when posed in it Before the Lord sends out his stormy wind hee usually gives men that are in that employment notice of it Supra civitatem Hierosolymae stâ—tit sydus simile gladio perannum perseveravit When God was about to strike Jerusalem hee gave them warning by a Star that hung in the form of a sword in a perpendicular manner over their heads which dreadful sign hung over the City for a year together either by the strange flying of the clouds or otherwise clothing of the skies with the black thick and sable curtains of a nocturnal darkness or otherwise by laying upon the airy region a condensation of fogg and mist which are usually forerunners and contemporaneous messengers of what the Lord is above preparing to lay upon that Element and besides these they have many other familiar signs and observations to tell them that the storm is a hastening upon them When the Cormorants leave the Seas and betake themselves to the shore or any of the other Sea-foul that ship that is in the Sea would bee very happy if shee were but in the Harbour But to lay down the ground of this point 1. Because hee is not willing to execute judgment Alexander the Great when ever hee laid siege to any City he hanged up three flags 1. white 2. red 3. black if they compounded and surrendered not before the black flag was set up there was no mercy for them Take heed that God do not so with you Sailors if either threatning or fair means would but serve the turn The loving Father is very loth to lay the rod upon the childs back if admonition would but serve the turn And good Physicians that bear tender love to their Patients when upon the dye will shed tears when they will not take their potions prescribed for their health Luke 19.41 And when hee was come near hee beheld the City and wept over it Gen. 18.32 And hee said I will not destroy it for tens sake God takes little pleasure in the cutting off of souls hee is loth to destroy you Sailors but that you wrest judgments out of his hands to sink you 2. Because hee would let the world know that hee is full of patience Omnis minatio amica monitio Every threatning is a gratious warning Psal 103.8 The Lord is merciful and gratious slow to anger and plentious in mercy 3. The Jews when ever they see the Rain-bow in the clouds they will not stand gazing upon it but presently go forth and confess their sins acknowledging that they are worthy of being deluged and drowned with a second flood They are perswaded that that holy Name of Jehovah is written upon the Bow and therefore do they celebrate his Name at those times Oh that Sailors were in this posture to confess their sins to God when they see storms appearing by the heavens To that end men may bee left without all excuse does not the School-masters warning take off the Scholars excuse when hee comes to whipping A people proudly standing at defiance with their enemy when hee sends them in his summons and tenders of peace for a surrender may thank themselves and not blame the enemy when their streets run down with blood blame not God if hee split your ships in a thousand pieces upon the Seas so that your masts swim one way the rudder another and the broken parcels round about you God shewed you his wrath before it came in the face of the skies but you took no notice of it neither prepared you your selves to meet your God Vers 26. They mount up to the Heaven they go down again to the depths their soul is melted because of trouble FOr the division of the words you have three things that are very remarkable in them 1. Their ascension in these words They mount up to the Heaven 2. Their descension in these words they go down again into the depths 3. Their perturbations in these words their soul is melted because of trouble I will begin with the first and give you a brief explication of their ascending and mounting up The word comes of Mons a Mountain shewing that the Seas are oftentimes conglomerated or accumulated into great and dreadful pyramidical hills and mountains They mount up to the Heaven This phrase in the extent of it is but metaphorical and not really and absolutely so that any ship or ships should rise so high in the violentest storm that is but it is to shew that their elevation is exceedingly raised beyond their ordinary altitude usque ad sedem Hyperbole beatorum Olympicam far above and beyond that hight that calm Seas are of for when the Seas are of a virgin-like smoothness and clearness then are all the ships that go upon them at quiet there is no mounting then nor no going up nor no going down but when the ever-moving Ocean that is lyable to continual agitation and subject to every storm and blast is once raised and stirred up by the winds Storms are like to Ovids Chaos when hee sung that there was Tanta est discordia rerum There is an omnium rerum permixtio in them it flyes in rowling billows and raging surges upon the backs of which the great and weighty ships are tossed up as the ball that is jetted to and fro upon the racket In a troubled Sea ships may
bee compared to a man that runs up an high ladder and as soon as ever hee is got up to the highest stave of it down hee goes till hee comes unto the lowest and by and by hee returns unto the highest Solomon tels us Prov. 23.5 that the Eagle taketh wing and flyeth towards heaven but hee does not say that shee flies so high but it denotes that shee is one of the highest flying birds of any of the fouls under the Heavens Christ tels us also Matth. 11.23 that Capernaum was exalted unto Heaven when alas it was not so nor so because it was but an hyperbolical but rather an Ironical expression for Capernaum was so far from Heaven that her feet was rather upon the very threshold of Hell than Heaven as appears by the poynt shee steered by But this elegant Hyperbole of the Psalmists is to set forth the Sea-mans high soaring sursums and his down-falling deorsums They mount up almost as high as that caelestial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is feigned to be Elemenci quarti nomen how that hee is one while carried upwards upon the swelling billows of the Seas even ad aulam astriferam as high as the starry mansions and bespangled roofs of Heaven and then by and by they are returned down again 2. They go down again to break up this word unto you there is nothing difficult in it onely wee may take notice that their descension in storms is not gradatim or pedetentim but rather in the violentest manner that can bee even as a stone that is hurled up in the air it will not tarry there any longer than the strength of the hand is upon it and then it will down again because it covets to bee at its Center So the weightier any thing is the speedier is and will bee the descent of it I am confident it would produce many a gallon of salt tears from the eyes of the godly that are on Land if there were but a possibility of their seeing of ships how they labour rock and reel ascend and descend in the restless Seas in time of storms for by and by they are to bee seen anon they are not to bee seen but as if they were covered all over in the Seas That Sea-men are the nearest Heaven Observation 1 of any people in the world when they are once got up upon the back of an high-rising water-billow They mount up to Heaven c. These are the onely cloud-climbing lads of the world Sea men are like to the pinnacles that are praefixed upon all high battlements which point upwards to Heaven but poyse downwards to their center Exod. 8.15 Whilst the judgments of God were upon Pharaoh he was some thing conformable but when the storm was over he was as vile as ever and none go so near or are so fair for Heaven as Sea-men are seems the Psalmist to say but let mee add this pray God they ever come there my prayers shall bee for them 1 Sam. 12.23 Moreover as for mee God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will teach you the good and right way Vers 24. Onely fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things hee hath done for you For I fear that many an hundred Sea-man when hee is got up to the top of an high water promontory in the Sea that hee is as near Heaven as ever hee will bee It was once said of one that preached well and lived ill upon a time when in the pulpit some importunate messenger or other came for him to come out of the Church but one of his auditors made answer Oh let him alone for hee is as near Heaven as ever hee will bee So I may say it is a thousand pitties that ever some Sea-men should come off and down from the high-towering waves of the Seas because they are in those stormy times peradventure nearer Heaven than ever they will bee when they come on Land again Observation 2 That all Sea-men generally without all exception whether they bee young or whether they bee old both do and shall assuredly go to heaven They mount up to the heaven Me thinks the Sea-man likes mee well in the laying down of this proposition and the godly on the other hand look very strangely upon it and so consequently conclude I knovv Sea-men are as confident of going to Heaven the Lord help them as the Turks either are or can bee of that lock vvhich they keep upon the top of their crownes that they shall bee dravvn up into Paradise by Pray God Sea-men vvould once forsake their confidence and then there vvould bee some hopes of them that I have no warrant nor ground in Scripture to build it upon To clear up the point unto you I would have you to observe that there are two parts in it 1. That they do go to Heaven 2. That they shall all go thither For the first of these that they do go thither I would have you to understand mee rightly without any misconstruction I will have nothing to doe with their Salvation in this point for that is as doubtful to mee as Solomon's was to Toledo the Arch-Bishop who weighing that much-disputed controversie whether Solomon was saved or damned and not being satisfied with their arguments caused Solomon to bee pictured upon the walls of his Chapel the one half in hell and the other half in heaven There be three Heavens 1. Coelum Aerium 2. Coelum Astriferum 3. Coelum Beatorum It is not the latter novv they go to in storms but the tvvo former But to the point in hand that you may understand my meaning in it take notice that it is stormy and tempestuous weather that Sea-men go to Heaven in even then when the winds lift up the waves of the Seas by which and upon which thay are in this sense transported unto Heaven what they do or whither they go when dead I have nothing to do to judge and therefore whilst they are living wee need not credit that they go into Heaven Sailors are like to Grashoppers in goodness vvho make faint essayes to fly up to Heaven and then presently fall dovvn to the Earth again Sea-men that have their feet as it vvere in stormy vveather upon the battlements of Heaven should look dovvn upon all earthly happiness in the world as both base abject slight and slender waterish and worthless The great Cities of Campaniae seem but small cottages to them that stand on the tops of the Alps. for I never knew any of them so holy Enoch indeed Gen. 5.24 Walked with God and hee was not for God took him There is a vast difference betwixt going to Heaven and into Heaven the Eagle that Solomon speaks of flew towards Heaven but hee doth not say that shee went into it There is a vast disproportion betwixt a mans going to a place and
does well in the deeps but a clean heart is far better company Observation 6 That the Sea-man has a very notable head for the Sea but not at all for the Land They mount up to the Heaven c. They go down to the Sea in ships c. It is requisite that they should have very good skil and knowledge The Sea-man will never make good States-man Not one of a thousand of them have the brains for the Land What a Country-man said of a goodly head which hee saw most exquisitly painted I shall say of the Sea-man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What an excellent skul is here but no brains at all in it So it is admirable to think what excellent Sea-brains those men have that use the Seas but very shallow Land-brains they can very well sit and abide the jumping waves of the Seas even when they are thrown up unto the heavens but no brains for the great affairs of the Republick 3. As to their perturbations Their soul is melted because of trouble The Sailors Motto may be this Cum Homero loqui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maror ex marore subit One sorrow follows in the heels of another I have observed that their troubles are infinite at such times some of which I will give you in at this time 1. Vomiting Tempestuous Seas both do and will oftentimes put the stoutest and the strongest stomached Sailor upon the picking up of whatsoever lyes in his stomach Now I conceive it is not the tossing but the stomach that causes their sickness It is choler within and not altogether waves without that doth it And this now is no small trouble that lyes upon some in storms and yet it is comparatively but a pulex culex urtica pungens a meer fly-biting to what they undergo 2. Day-labouring How is the Sea-man now at work running to and fro and up and down into every corner of the ship When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of an Orator what the second and what the third hee answered Action the same I shall say if any should demand of mee what is the first the second and the third in a Sailor even Action Action in a storm for it is no dallying then one while they are running up to the yards another while they are lashing of their Guns one while they are peaking of their yards another while lowring of their Masts The Sea-mans Motto in a storm should be that of the Emperours Laboremus Let us I beseech you Siâ—â— be doing what ever wee can to save both the vessel and our precious lives Hic labor hoc opus est all hands are then full in a storm whereas before when the Sea was calm they were at their sports and playes of mirth and jovialty perhaps dancing after the musick of the Fiddle or some such recreating game or other But in a storm all this is laid by and every man falls to Circa res arduas exerceri occupari in multis magnis negotiis The Sea-mans otium in the time of storm would end in a doleful and woful naufragium It is reported of a ship that when shee was in great danger of being cast away through the Sea-mens negligence that shee spoke on this wise unto the Master and the Helmsman Aristotle was not more careful of too much sleeping when he held the brazen ball in his hand to keep him waking by its fall into the brazen bason than the Sailor is in time of storms Perge contra tempestatem forti animo ant sax is illis miserrime perirem Bear up good Helmsman against this storm or otherwise I shall fall upon yonder rocks for I am nearer unto them than thou art aware of but the Helmsman and the Master not giving car unto her minded not the cunning of the ship and shortly after shee ran upon them and went downright unto the bottome 3. Night watching As long as the storm lasts there is a careful walking to and fro in the Hold of the ship and that from side to side all night long lest that any leaks should spring and break in upon them for such is the violency of storms that they will make the strongest timber and the thickest ship sides to dis-joynt and open in at which water will flow most dreadfully Now hang the lighted Lanthorns betwixt decks and in the Hold to give them light to watch and work by and if that ships be in a fleet together sailing or at an anchor in such nocturnal tempestuous seasons every one keeps out their light upon their Poops that thereby they may judge of one anothers driving sailing or breaking loose for should one ship light upon another in a storm they would instantly stave themselves and go downrights into the bottome If Elephants go backward in a fight when wounded they tread all under their feet they come near what then will not ships do if they break their cables in a storm All sleeping now is abominable in the eyes and thoughts of every one that is in the ship Jonah 1.6 So the ship-master came to him and said unto him What meanest thou O sleeper It is reported of a ship that shee made this doleful complaint when she was run upon the rocks in a dark blustring night Ego scopulis perii dum naucleri somno sepulti I was ruined when all my Mariners were fast a sleep As if hee were a going to say Is it fitting that thou shouldest sleep when wee and the ship that wee are in are like to perish I have observed some of the skilfullest of the Mariners when dreadful storms have surrounded us insomuch that wee have thought that neither cables nor anchors would hold nor Masts stand before the fury and violency of the winds that they would go out in the night time and look one while upon the East and another while upon the West one while into the North and another while into the South to see if they could espye the rising and appearance of any one Star the sight of which is taken by them for an infallible sign that the storm will not last long but when the stars are all veiled and covered over insomuch that they cannot bee seen that is a sign of a storms long continuance and after long waiting they have got the sight of a star which hath given them as great an occasion of rejoycing as ever Archimedes had when hee found the resolution of the knotty Mathematical question God out of his infinite goodness suffers not the violent Belluas of the air to continue long which are so called oftentimes for their violency because they roar like the roarings of Bulls and beasts or as the roarings and howlings of hell which transported him into such an hilarous fit of mirthsomness that hee broke out into this expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found it I have found it 4. Perpetual life danger I wonder what day what
Crocodile is of the Safron or the Tyger of the Trumpet 4. If our Sailors trembled but as much at their committing of sin as they both do and will when a leak springs and breaks in upon them in their ships I would wish my self to bee amongst them for there would bee no fear of sinking of winds or seas ever to have any power over them for to drown them 5. If our Sailors were but as much affraid of oathing of it and of liveing that vain vile If our Sailors were but as fearful of letting God-dishonouring oaths fly out of their mouths and of doing and commiting that filthiness which they do even as the three famous children were of sining against their God in bowing unto the Kings great Idol Dan. 3.13 Who was resolved rather to burn than do it I would put the meanest of them into my bosom and cry them up as fast for Saints as I doe decry them down for notorious sinners and soul-damning life that they lead as they are of the roaring broad-sides that their enemies pour into them then you should not hear one oath nor lye in the mouths of them 6. It that our Sailors feared but God as much and stood but in the like fear of committing sin swearing drinking and prophaning of the holy name of God as they do of sparks of fire when lyeable to fall amongst their barrels of powder I dare then bee bold to say that there would not bee that braze-face of voicing oaths that there is amongst them both in the States and Merchants service 7. If our Sailors trembled but as much for sin and at the allowing of sin in their souls Ah that I should say of the generality of Sailors what Salvian said once of many in those ill times that hee lived in that they objected and said that Religion was but the stain the blur and blemish of honour whereas nothing in the world ignobles men more than the want of godliness as I have seen them tremble at an Anchor when the wind has come suddenly upon them and endangered them of being cast away those men would be far fitter for Heaven than for the world 8. If our Sailors were but as much affraid of offending God and damning of their poor immortal souls as they are in stormy weather of meeting one another when under sail stem for stem I dare conclude it that no people in the world would have that fear upon them either of sining against their God or losing of their souls 9. If our Sailors stood but in the quarter of that fear of hell and of eternal death that they do of perishing in the Seas when that the Rudder of their ship is broken off I dare bee bold to say it you should not at the day of Judgement see one of them to go to hell with the Devil and the damned 10. If our Sailors were but as much affraid of losing the favour of God as they are of losing life when the Cable breaks in a storm I dare speak it that they would bee a people as high in the favour of God as any under the Heavens bee what they will I find four very ill things in the Seas amongst the Sailors 1. A very slight apprehension of sin I once very sharply reproved a wicked wretch for his audacious open swearing when wee were run most dangerously under much sail upon a Sand and that which troubled mee most was his most lamentable want of the fear of God as appears in the answer he returned me Is it any more or any worse to swear now quoth hee than it is at another time What delight is there to bee taken amongst these filthy spirits and that it is too hard and too difficult a task for any man let him preach his heart out amongst them to make them beleeve that sin is so criminal and so damning as it is And this I conceive arises from that commonness of profaneness that is amongst them 2. A strong connaturalness in them unto the sinfullest courses that possibly they can follow Tell them of their wickedness and they are apt to say as a graceless Sea-man once said when reproved for his leud life What would you have Sea-men Saints I never knew any Saints of our profession in all my life and for my part you shall not perswade mee to bee one yet 3. That they are very fully and strongly bent with an inward resolution to cleave to sin even as it is said of Ahab that hee was sold to doe wickedness I may say the same of them I may write Solomon's words upon the Sailors Eccl. 8.11 The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil I profess unto you Sea-men Nil nisi peccatum timeo I never feared any thing in the Sea but sin I was never so much affraid of Storms Rocks Sands or engaging with an enemy as I have been of that filthiness that is amongst you Eccl. 9.3 Madness is in their heart while they live and after they go to the dead 4. That they are apt to reject and disesteem of all Scriptural counsel and exhortation as if preaching and speaking in sound words were but wind and so consequently that all such wind will shake no corn Vers 27. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end TO speak shortly and yet pregnantly to the interest of this Scripture Sea-reeling and Sea-staggering then is very well known to those that go down into the deeps but those that have their abode on Land I do confess are altogether ignorant in it and therefore upon that accompt I will bee a little the larger in this my rerum gestarum narratio The waves seem as if it were a matter of sport and pastime to them to throw the greatest of ships from billow to billow Ut levi Zephyro graciles vibrantur aristae As full ears of Corn do fall and rise and rise fall by the strength of winds even so do the greatest and the very strongest of ships that go in the Seas and that with such violency that one would think that it were impossible for either Wood or Iron for to hold in those tempestuous seasons One while they are thrown upon one side by and by they are thrown upon the other Sometimes they are tossed up with the waves as if the Seas intended to shew spectators their very keels and bottoms Sometimes their masts lye in the Sea as the glorious morning Titan of the world dips in his golden locks into the Sea at his rising But to follow the Metaphor a little it is borrowed from a filthy Drunkard that has poured in more strong liquor than the Vessel would carry by which means it has sometimes been overset Wee know when a man has over-drunk himself and that his heels are tript up with it that all runs round with him in the house hee lives in It seems David
his glorious Majesty hee is able to do all things that are works of power might and strength and are not things against his own nature or things that imply contradiction Reason 2 Because when things are impossible in mans eye then is it the fittest time for the Lord to appear in It is a common saying and a true one That mans extreamity is Gods opportunity Observ 6 That God in his Judgments upon the Seas often times remembers mercy And hee bringeth them c. God is slow to wrath I wish I may not say of the Lords indulgency to profane wretches in the Sea what Sigismund the Emperour used to say of his enemies Is inimicum occidit qui inimico parcit I am affraid Deus non nunquam parcendo saevit That the Lords long sparing will end in rageing and may I so speak hee is seen walking towards sinners in the shooes of Asher which were of ponderous brass Deut. 33.24 25. Observ 7 That the greatest dangers of the Seas and the proudest waves that ever elevated are and should bee no plea for unbelief And hee brings them c. Matth. 14.30 31. When Peter saw the wind boysterous his heart begun to fail him but was hee not reproved for his distrusting of the Lord Poop-lantern ship-covering and yard-arm-rising waves should not daunt and discourage faith in God Were the Seas in a storm as high as the mountains of Merionethshire in Wales whose hanging and kissing tops come so close together that the shepherds sitting on their several mountains may very audibly stand and discourse together but if they would go to one another they must take the pains to travel many miles Sailors should not bee apalled and terrified Dangers are faiths Element and in them it lives and thrives best Such was the high-raised valour of Luther that when hee was to go to the City of Worms they told him of strange things Faith like the Ivie the Hop the Woodbine which have a natural instinct in them to cling lay hold upon the stronger Trees laies hold on God in time of danger as many will doe fresh-water travellers at Sea but quoth Luther if all the Tiles that bee upon every House in the Town were devils they should not scare mee Sailors should have the like courage in storms which one had when in a great straight Certa mihi spes est quod vitam qui dedit idem Et velit possit suppeditare cibum Good hearts may say to the Sea when in a storm what Luther said to his enemies Impellere possunt sed totum prosternere non possunt crudeliter me tractare possunt sed non extirpare Haec est fides credere quod non vides dentes nudare sed non devorare occidere me possunt sed in totum me perdere non possunt Faith will put your heads into Heaven and your ships into an Harbour when in a storm it will set you on the top of Pisgab with Moses and descry the promised Land when you may come to bee denied the sight of Land in storms 1. Great Faith is seen in this as much as any one thing whatsoever that it both can and will beleeve in God as a man may say with reverence whether God will or no it will beleeve in an angry God in a killing God and in a drowning God Job 15.10 Great Faith is not easily shaken 2. Great Faith is never clearer seen than when in the midst of souzing storms and dangers there is great confidence and strength of heart in the soul at such times Observ 8 That God will have every thing wrested from him by prayer And hee bringeth c. Good Sea-men should play the part of Daedalus Templum Cybelis Deorum matris non manibâ—es sed precibus solummodo aperiebatur The gates of Cybeles Temples could not bee opened by hands but prayer quickly threw them open who when hee could not escape by way upon Earth went by way of Heaven and that is the way of prayer Five Motives to put Sea-men upon Prayer 1. Solemnly consider that in the creature there is nothing but emptiness and helplesness 2. Solemnly consider that you cannot have any hopes of winning ought from God but by prayer The Champions could not wring an apple out of Milo's hand by strong hand but a fair maid by fair means got it presently 3. Solemnly consider of God what hee is whom you serve naturally no other but goodness it self Nothing animated Benhadad so much as this that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings It was said of Charles the great I would to God I could say so of every Tarpowling that goes in the Salt-waters that hee delighted so much in prayer that Carolus plus cum Deo quam cum hominibus loquitur That hee spake more and oftner to and with God than hee did with men Flectitur iratus voce rogante Deus And nothing encouraged Titus Vespatian the Emperour's Subjects so much as this that hee did nunquam dimittere tristem never send any away sorrowful 4. Solemnly consider how many in the Seas go upon the very same errand that you go on to him and mind how they speed and are carried securely out of all their distresses 5. Solemnly consider what Prayer is to God hee loves it Let mee hear thy voice for it is comly 6. Call to mind your former experiences did you ever pray in a storm but you fared the better by it Consider what cases you have been heard in That servent Prayer will prevail with Observ 9 God in the greatest storms I would all the States Tarpowlings were of James the Just's principle of whom Eusebius tells us Genua ejus in morem cameli obditrata sensum contactus amiserunt That his knees were hardned like the Camels by his frequent kneeling to Prayer Prayer is Optimus dermientium cuslos certissima navigautium salus tutissimum viatoribus scutum The slâ—epers best keeper the Sailors surest safety the Travellers protecting Shield And hee brings them out c. Witness the Mariners calm Jonah 1. and witness Christs disciples deliverance in the storm Impartial fire that comes from above has been often times seen to spare yeelding objects and to melt resisting metal to pass by lower roofs and to strike upon all high-Towered pinnacles I wish that our Sailors were as much given to Prayer as Anna the daughter of Phannel of whom it was said that shee never departed out of the Temple but served God night and day in prayer and fasting I wish it were the resolution of them that use the Seas to do as Ambrose the Bishop of Millain did when news came to him that Justina the mother of Valentinian intended to banish him hee told them that hee would never run away but if they had any purpose to kill him they should at any time find him in the Church praying for himself and for his people 1. Vse of Comfort For
into the South but where are your thanksgivings all this time to God for your safe goings our and returnings home Go but to the Planets and they will tell you that they will not deal so with the Sun as you deal with your God wee say they receive much light from the Sun and for a testimony of our thankfulness wee do not detain it but reflect it back again upon the Sun Go to the Earth Sailors and shee will tell you that shee will not deal so with the Heavens as you do with your God shee will tell you that shee receives much rain from the Heavens and out of a testimony of much thankfulness shee detains it not but returns it back in Vapor again and after this manner may you hear her speaking Cessat decursus donorum si cesset recursus gratiarum Mercies from above would soon cease If my thanksgivings and returnings from below went not up It is said of the Lark that shee praises the Lord seven times a day with sweet melodious ditties Atque suum tiriletiriletiriletiriletirile cantat Alauda Isa 20. The beast of the field shall honour mee the Dragons and the Owls because I give waters in the Wilderness and rivers in the Desart to give drink to my people my chosen 1. Reason Because your lives were at the stake as Isaac's was upon the Altar's when the knife was at his throat yet did the Lord call and look forth very seasonably The Romans used to stick and bedeck the bosom of their great God Jupiter with Laurel as if they had glad tidings of fresh victories and that out of a testimony of their thankfulness for what they had out of the Heavens for you and spake to the winds when they were up in a rampant kind of hostility and rebellion against you and bid them be quiet and do you no harm otherwise you had perished in many a storm ere this day and is not this worthy a great many thanks Who can bee too thankful to that God that has been so careful and tender-hearted over you when in the Seas where there was no eye to pitty you 2. Reason Because in that storm if God had given it commission thou hadst been shortly after either in Hell I have met with a story of one when being risen from the dead therefore you that live ungodlily in the Seas think of it he was asked in what condition he was in when he was there he made answer No man will beleeve no man will beleeve no man will beleeve They asked him what hee meant by that he told them no man will beleeve how exactly God examines how strictly God judges and how severely hee punishes or Heaven or may I not leave Heaven out and thou hadst been in Hell where the Devils would have fallen upon thee to tear thee to peeces Ah Sirs your lives hang but upon small wyers and what would become of you if God should not spare you Bee affected with this mercy 3. Reason Because had the storm but had licence to have destroyed you and the ships you sailed in which the Lord would not suffer you had never come home with your rich lading nor never had that mercy granted you of ever seeing or enjoying of your loving friends wives children houses lands and acquaintance again and shall not all this move you unto thankfulness If this will not I know nothing in the world that will prevail with you I pray God that Sea-men do not with their deliverances at Sea as Pharaoh did with the miracles that were done before his face Exod. 7.23 Of whom it is said That hee would not set his heart to the miracle 4 Reason Because you have now at the present a still quiet and peaceable Sea to sail in and upon which in the storm you had not such was the proud vantingness of it that you durst not loose a knot of sail nor keep your Top-masts unlowred and un-peaked and the waves run mountain-high rageing and rowling on every hand you in such a miserable manner It seems strange to mee that Sea-men are not bettered by all the storms they meet with by all the calms God bestows upon them Iron is never cleaner than when it comes out of the furnace nor brighter than when it has been under the sharp file the Sun never shines clearer than when it comes from under a Cloud the Coale that has been covered with ashes is thereby the hotter the quicker every thing brightens betters but the rusty Sailor Gods mercies judgments in the Seas do not scour him as that you were at your wits-end but Oh what sweet peace and tranquil weather have you now insomuch that your Vessels go now upright without that nodding staggering and reeling which they were put to before How still are the waves how clear above bee the skies and Heavens how well escaped are you from the shore the Rocks and sands which you were so near to in the storm Are you not affected with this mercy The Lord soften your hard hearts then Give mee leave to present you with a few motives unto this duty of thankfulness 1. Consider Soul what an unspeakable mercy it is that God should hear thy Prayers in a storm when thou wast almost overwhelmed that God should hear prayers nay prating and babling rather than praying which is but an abomination unto the Lord that God should hear the prayers of the righteous that is nothing strange because hee hears them alwaies but that God should hear your prayers Sirs which are most sorry and sinful prayers The Stork is said to leave one of her young ones where shee hatched them The Elephant to turn up the first sprig towards Heaven when he comes to feed and both out of an instinct of gratitude to their Creator Sailors let not brute creatures excel you for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin this is wonderful Ah will not you bee thankful unto the Lord Sirs I have red of a Lyon that had but got a thorn in his foot as hee was walking and ranging in the Forrest for and after his prey and being exceedingly pained with it hee made after a foot-Traveller which hee spied in the Forrest making signs to him that hee was in distress which the Traveller seeing and apprehending that his case was dangerous if hee ran hee stood still to know the Lyons pleasure to whom the Lyon declared himself and the poor man pulled it forth and the Lyon to requite him followed him as guarding of him from all wrongs by other wild-beasts quite through the Forrest Ah Sirs will not you express your thankfulness to your good God 2. Consider the particular dealings of God with you he deals not so with every one Do you not see God in the winds Mercavab Velohaâ—ocheb how is hee to bee seen in the Chariot which he rides in though not the Rider says a Rabbi some goes down into the bottoms amongst the dead
most high God for delivering mercies is not onely a very acceptable duty with God but also the readiest way to obtain mercy in the like exigency and necessity again Oh that men would praise the Lord Psal 50.23 Who so offereth praise glorifieth mee and then it follows Hee that orders his conversation aright to him will I shew the salvation of God Munera crede mihi placant hominesque Deosq This Scripture now proves it to bee an acceptable performance in the sight of God and that such as give God the most and best of praises they shall have the greatest and the sweetest salvations Improve Neptunum accusat iterum qui naufragium fecit Hee is very injurious to Neptune that complains of being shipwracked when unthankfulness is the cause Alexander the Great by burning Frankincense frankly and freely to the gods gained by conquest the whole Kingdome of Arabia where all the sweet Aromatick trees do grow Ah Sirs you do not know how you might prosper at Sea would you but bee liberal in your praisings of God and thanksgivings to him The people in the Low Countries by giving the Stork leave to build and nest it in their houses to requite the house-keepers shee comes every year at her appointed time Wee read of small or no rain that falls many times in divers parts of Africa and the grand cause is supposed to bee the sandy nature of the soil from whence the Sun can draw no vapours or exhalations which ascending from other parts in great abundance resolve themselves into kinde benign showers refreshing and helping of the earth that yeeldeth none and this is the reason many times why God poures not down his blessings and benefits in such an abundance as sometimes hee hath been wont to do because your hearts are as dry and barren as the barren grounds and sands of Africa for if vapours of melting prayers tears prayses and thanksgivings go not up to heaven mercies will soon bee stopt in their passage down If Sea-men were not so much behinde hand with God in the tribute of praise and good life God would soon lay a charge upon all his creatures both in heaven and in earth that they should pay their tribute unto man the Sun his heat Ah Sirs I am afraid that many in the Sea do vitam gentilem agere sub nomine Christiano live even Turks under the name of Christians The Sailor sometimes is like a Rubrick or Sunday letter very zealously red and all the week after you may write his deeds and his unthankfulness unto his God for Sea deliverances in black the Sea his calmness the Winds their gentleness the Moon her light the Stars their influences the Clouds their moysture the Sea and Rivers their Fish the Land her Fruits the Mines their Treasures c. And when neglected God shuts up the windows of heaven and locks up the treasuries of his bounty and so lets Winds and Seas rage and roar and the creatures gnash and grin their teeth at a people for their ingratitude Ingratitude is a sin supposed to taint the very influences of the Stars it dries up the Clouds infects the very Air makes Winds terrible and boysterous blasts the very fruits of the earth Cyprian attributes the great dearth in his time to the want of thankfulness and truly I shal attribute the many ships that are cast away unto their unthankfulness unto their God for had they been more thankful more holy and humble for those storms God delivered them out of they had never gone so sadly to the pot as they have done Here is quoth Cyprian a very great and general sterility or barrenness of the fruits of the earth and what is the reason of it because there is such a sterility of righteousness and purity Men complain now a dayes that springs are not full Sea-men deal with God as the Heathen who would when they had served their torns upon their gods as Prometheus c. put them off with beasts skins stuffed with straw If they get but out of the storm they never look behinde them who sate upon the floods all the time to deliver them themselves not so healthfull nor the Seas so calm as formerly they have been nor the Winds so quiet and peaceable nor the showers so frequent the earth so fruitful nor the heavens so obsequious unto them as they have been to serve their pleasure and natural profit to God the creatures are obedient and on his errands they go Deu. 28.38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field and shalt gather but little in for the locust shall consume it It is sin that makes the Sea so dangerous and so dreadful sin that makes the heavens as iron over head and the earth to grow so full of thorns and brambles But to proceed I shall not adventure pluribus morari but rather bee tanquam Canis ad Nilum in a restless Sea where I can neither hold my pen in my hand nor keep my paper and ink upon board scarce The Arguments why Sea-men should praise God are briefly these 1. Because God had such a special Reason 1 eye and provident care over you in the preserving of you in all the unlikeliest and irrecoverablest dangers and calamities that you have been exercised withall in the Seas 2. Because God did so much for Reason 2 you which hee would not do for others That when God hath delivered men out Observ 4 of their Sea-streights and calamities Sceva told all his friends that at the siege of Dyrrachium where he so long resisted Pompeys Army that he had two hundred and twenty Darts sticking in his Shield Densamque tulit in pectore Sylvam Ah set your deliverances before people it is their duty not onely to praise God for his goodnesses towards them but also to set the fruit of those mercies before others to taste of Oh that men would praise the Lord c. Vers 37. Let them exalt him in the Congregation Portus Olympiaca vocem acceptam septies reddit If any knock or speak at the Gate or Portal of Olympus it returns a sevenfold Eccho of the knock or speech Your mercies should make you speak Sirs Observ 5 That although a man hath nothing to speak of Gods wonderful deliverances in the Seas but what is known unto others as well as to himself yet is it a part of Gods praise and of his thankfulness to make Gods works known and the continual matter of his talk and discourse Oh that men would praise the Lord Psal 105.2 Talk yee of all his wonderful works Talk not of one or two of some of them but of all of them which you have seen and known done and wrought for you in the Seas Observ 6 That freedome from perils in the Seas and injoyment of life are two mercies that call for many thanks at the hands of those that go down into them He that hath but a subjects purse may have
that men would praise the Lord. Psal 105.5 Remember his marvellous works that hee hath done his wonders and the judgments of his mouth A gratious heart files all the Lords dealings with his soul either at Sea or Land in his heart and steers the same course the Sea-man does in the great deeps who makes it his daily business in long Voyages to keep his Quotidian reckonings for every elevation hee makes whereby hee judges of his advancings and deviations Mens memories should bee deep boxes or store-houses to keep their pretious Sea-mercies in and not like hour-glasses which are no sooner full but are a running out Bind all your sea-deliverances and preservations as fast upon your hearts as ever the Heathen bound their Idol Gods in their Cities in the time of wars siedges and common calamities which they evermore bound fast with Iron chaines and strong guards and sentinels lest they should leap over the walls or run out of their Cities from them Ah Sirs look to those things which Satan will bee very prone to steal from you who is like unto a theef that breaks into an house but will not trouble himself with the lumber of earthen or wooden vessels A gratious heart will resolve that the Orient shall sooner shake hands with the West and the Stars decline the azured Skies than he will forget the Lords deliverances out of gloomy stormy tempestuous and heart-daunting Seas Sirs you stand in need to be called upon for your hearts are not unlike to the leads and plummets of a Clock that continually drive downwards and so stand in need of winding up but falls foul on the plate and jewels Hee does and will steal away your hearts from minding the precious jewels of your Sea-deliverances I find in Scripture that the people of God of old were very careful and heedful to preserve the memory of their mercies I wish all the States Tarpowlings were of the like temper 1. By repeating them often over in their own hearts Psal 77.5 6 11. I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old Sea-men should say of their Sea-deliverances as Lypsius once did of the Book he took so much delight in pluris facio quum relego semper novum quum repetivi repetendum The more I read the more I am tilled on to read The more I think of what God hath done for me the more I still delight to think of it Vers 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night Paul when hee was amongst the Mariners writ down all their transactions in the time of their danger Acts 27.7 The wind not suffering us we sailed under Crete over against Salmone Vers 18. And being exceedingly tossed with a Tempest the next day they lightned the ship Vers 27. But when the fourteenth night was come as wee were driven up and down in Adria about midnight the ship-men deemed that they drew near to some Country Vers 28. And sounded and found it twenty faothms c. 2. By composing and inditing of pretious pious and melodious Psalms Remember the time of your inconsolabili dolore oppressi this was Davids practice Psal 38. which hee titles A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance Again in the 70. Psalm Wee have the very same title A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance In our late wars many had such a pretious spirit breathing in them that they have put the victories and battels of England into sweet composed meeter to the end they might bee remembred Ah Sirs call all your deliverances in this and in the other part of the world to remembrance 3. By giving names to persons times and places on purpose to remind them of Gods mercies This was Hannahs course in the 1 Sam. 1.20 And called his name Samuel saying The States ships resemble the tall Tree in Nebuchadnazzar's dream Dan. 4.20 Whose height reached unto the heaven and the sight thereof to all the earth They go into all parts in the world as much admired are they as Venus was by the Gods Who came flocking about her when shee went to heaven because I have asked him of the Lord to that very end shee might for ever perpetuate the Lords goodness towards her Abraham to keep alive the goodnesse of God towards him in the sparing of his Son would call the place where hee should have been sacrificed Jehovah-Iireth i.e. God will provide Gen. 22.14 The Jews that they might keep in remembrance the daies of their deliverance from bloody-minded Haman they titled them Purim i. e. Lots Esth 9.26 in memory of Lots cast by Haman which the Lord disappointed And very commendable is this Scriptural practice amongst us in England for I have observed it and I like it very well that our Military Grandees to perpetuate their dreadful Land and Sea-fights do give their warlike ships and battels such titles To keep alive that great and desperate engagement which our Army had with the Scots in Scotland one of their warlike ships is called the Dunbar Gentlemen Captains and Sea-men many of your Ships derive borrow their names from the stour-charged and fought Battels of the Souldiery in England to that end you may imitate their valour at Sea which they to the life performed on Land Some are called the Treddah some the Naseby and other some the Dunbar some the Plymouth some the Gainsborough and othersome the Massammore c. Be valiant Sirs the Souldiery fought apace when in those Battels To keep up the memory of Naseby great fight they have another ship which they call the Naseby To keep up the memory of Worcester fight they have a brave warlike ship which they call the Worcester To keep up the enemies defeating at Wakefield in Yorkshire they have a gallant warlike ship called the Wakefield To remember the fight at Nantwich they have a warlike ship called the Nantwich To remember their victory at Plymouth against the enemy they have a ship which they call the Plymouth To keep up the memory of that famous bout at Massammore when the three Nations lay at the stake they have a ship called the Massammore To remember that great fight that was fought at Treddah they have a warlike Vessel called the Treddah To perpetuate the memory of that great and hot dispute that was once at Selby in Yorkshire they have a famous ship they call the Selby To keep up the memory of that bout they had with the enemy at Portsmouth they have a warlike ship they call the Portsmouth To keep up the memory of their taking of Gainsborough they have a brave Prince-like ship called the Gainsborough To keep up the Memory of the dispute that they once had at Preston Bee valiant Sirs your ships have their names from valiant Exploits on Land and the States will deal as kindly with you as the Russians do by those they see behave themselves couragiously the Emperour