of fatherlesse children and their prayers will bee the best gale to waft your soules through the waves of this troublesome world unto your desired haven the Kingdome of Heaven Whither he bring us all that hath so dearely purchased it for us Iesus Christ the righteóus To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost bee all Honour and praise might and Majesty now and for ever Amen * ⎠* PSAL. 107.24 These see the workes of the Lord and his wonders in the Deepe YOu have seene before that the businesse of the Seaman is warrantable honourable and profitable and yet there is another adjunct waites upon it and that is that it is a pleasant and delightfull businesse for they see those works and wonders of the Lord in the deep which they could not see upon dry land If you put the same question to mariners that our Saviour did to the multitude Mac. 11.8 What went you out for to see The text answers for them that they see the workes of the Lord and not his ordinary and every dayes workes as reeds shaken with the winde or men clothed in soft raiment for this is too common to be a wonder but they see things that are indeed strange rare admirable and wonderfull In which verse there are two things to be considered First the object or things that may be seene and they are of two sorts the works and the wonders of the Lord. Secondly the subject or place where they may be seen and that is the deep waters But I had rather resolve the text into these three conclusions First God is a working God for here are the workes of the Lord. Secondly among the workes of God some are more wonderfull and admirable then others for here are the wonders of the Lord. Thirdly the Sea is a place wherein wee may see both his workes and wonders For the first some have beene so transcendently presumptuous as to enquire how God imployed himselfe in that vast space of eternitie and what he did before hee created the world which is not yet of sixe thousand yeares standing Quid faciebat Deus antequam faceret coelum terram Alta inquit scrutantibus gehennam parabat Aug. conf lib. 11. cap. 12. To them I say as the Angell did to Manoah Aske not after it for it is secret Or as David Such knowledge is too wonderfull for thee or as he in S. Augustine God was making hell to torment such as will pry into the Arke of his mysterious and reserved secrets The first worke of God ad extra was the Creation which consists of many faire and noble pieces Some were of opinion that God created the Angels and then the Angels as his instruments created inferiour natures Job 38.7 Indeed the Angels were created first and are the first fruits of Gods wayes and they did sing together and shout for joy when the foundations of the world were fastened but they did not lay so much as one stone in that building It may be Moses in the history of the Creation makes no mention of the Angels least describing the glory and excellencie of their natures wee might joyne them in Commission with God and make them his associates and so rob him of the glory Another errour there was and that amongst the Jewes Putabant Deum post laborem fabricati mundi usque ad hunc diem quasi dormire Aug. in c. 5. Joann Iohn 7.15 that God after hee had finished the worke of the Creation sate downe and ever since hath kept a Sabbath and made it holy day But our Saviour confutes this for sayes he My Father worketh hitherto governing and conserving what he hath made that they slide not back againe into their first nothing Deus agens quiescit quiescens agit August There is no day wherein God doth not create new soules which he infuses into these bodies which are daily conveyed in the womb there is no day wherein he does not justifie some sinner Agit animas rationales quotidiè creando impios justificando purgatos ab omni reatu in coelis beatificando Carth. in 5. Ioann and to justifie a sinner is a greater worke then to create one just there is no day wherein hee does not glorifie some Saints who lived in his feare and dyed in his favour Nay let me tell you that those workes which we call our owne are of his working witnesse the Prophet Thou hast wrought all our workes in us Esay 26.12 Phil. 2.13 witnesse the Apostle It is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Witnesse our Saviour Without me yee can doe nothing Iohn 15. The Apostle therefore uses this correction Not I but the grace of God that was in me Now as man is the image of his Maker so he should affect conformity and resemblance to his patterne and be a worker together with God The maine worke of a Christian is the worke of Salvation Worke out your salvation with feare and trembling saith the Apostle A worke which if we dispatch not before we die we are undone for ever And therefore our Saviour quickens us Iohn 9.4 and calls upon us to ply it hard whilest it is day So long as wee are in this world it is day with us and we may worke and it is the day of salvation too so that we may worke out our salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 but when we dye it is night with us and who knowes whether it may not be this night and then we cannot worke But besides this we have a worke to doe and that is the worke of our particular callings S. Paul would have every man eate his owne bread and his owne it is not till his head or his hand hath wrought for it Salomon hath appointed a time to every businesse but he allowes no time for idlenesse Minimam vitae portionem dabat somno minorem cibo nullam otio in vita Ieron and Erasmus reports of S. Ierome that hee allowed but little time to sleepe lesse to meat but none to sloth But of this we have heard more in the former Sermon The second part of the Text is that amongst the workes of God some are more wonderfull and admirable then others for here are wonders as well as workes I confesse with the Prophet that God is a wonderfull and excellent workeman Esay 28.29 and that all his works are admirable For they were made of nothing It is true in Philosophy that out of nothing can nothing be made but it is true in Divinity that out of nothing were all things made that are made So the Poet. Nothing but nothing had the Lord Almighty Whereof Du Bartas wherewith whereby to make this City Againe all the workes of the Lord are wonderfull if wee consider the manner of their making If you aske what tooles what leavers Quis humeris saxa convexit quis congessit impensas
quis laboranti Deo suam operam ministravit Ambr. in orat de fid resurr what engines what instruments what labourers God used in so great a worke Moses tells you he did but say let it be so and it was so and David sayes He spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created So that the creation of the world was like the building of the Temple there was no noyse of any toole or hammer heard in it but like Ionas his gourd though it was not planted nor watered grew up on a sodaine even in the short space of sixe dayes and this is another wonder John 2 20. Sex diebus faectus mundus Non quod Deus tempore indiguerit ad constitutionem ejus cui intra momentum suppetit sacere quae velit sed quiaea quae fiunt ordinem quaerum Ambr. in ep ad Horont Ista est causa admirationis cum res aut fingularis est cutrara Aug in ep ad Evod. Perseverantia consisetudinis amisit ad mirationem Aug. de Trin. l. 3. c. 2. Quam multa usitata calcantur quae considerata slupentur The Temple of Ierusalem was a stately and magnificent building yet it was not built in lesse time then forty and sixe yeares notwithstanding many hands went to it but the whole fabricke of heaven and earth was finished in the space of sixe dayes and hee that made it in so few dayes could if he had pleased have made it in as few minutes Thus then are al the workes of the Lord wonderfull yet as the Apostle sayes of the starres One starre is more glorious then another so say I of Gods workes some are more admirable and wonderfull then others as being either lesse common or more curious First that which makes some of them more wonderfull then others is because they are lesse frequent and common The people marvelled at the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and were so affected with the strangenesse of the miracle that they would have made Christ a King for it Quid non mirum facit Deus in ommbus creaturae motibus nisi consuetudine quotidiana viluissent Aug. in epist ad Volusian Psal 19. yet we wonder not at the increase of harvest and multiplication of the seed though in some grounds it brings forth twenty in some thirty and in some an hundred fold We wonder not at the Sunne though it be the beauty and bridegroome of nature as David calls it yet wee wonder at the faint light of a Comet because the one we see every day and the other but seldome Secondly some are more wonderfull and admirable because more curious and exquisite In some creatures wee have onely vestigium the print of his foot but in others imaginem his image Some are the workes of his fingers some of his hand some of his arme and the more power or wisdome God hath expressed in their forming the more wonderfull are they in our eyes And because I would not lose my selfe in this field of Zoan Eunt homines mirari alta monrium c. relinquunt seipsos nec mirantur V. August conf l. 10. cap. 8. In homine principatus est omnium animantium summa quaedam universitatis omnis mundanae gratia creaturae Ambr. Hexam lib. 6. cap. 10. Mark 16.15 Cura divini ingemi Tertul. this field of wonders I will determine you to the consideration of your selves first S. Augustine taxes such of folly that admired the height of mountaines the waves of the Sea the windings of rivers c. yet never wondered at themselves who are Gods Master-piece and the abridgement and Epitome of the whole creation for man hath being with stones life with trees sense with beasts and understanding with Angels and hence is it that he is called every creature In the making of other things God did but say let this or that be so and so and it was so but when he came to make man all the persons in the Trinity consult and advise about it Let us make man after our likenesse The Sunne Moone and Starres are glorious creatures Psal 3.3 yet are they but the workes of Gods fingers Psal 119.73 but man is the work of his hands Thy hands have made mee and fashioned me I need say no more but what the Psalmist does Psal 139.14 I will praise thee for I am fearefully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy workes and that my soule knowes right well yea I am curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Compono hic canticum in laudem creatoris nostri c. V. Galen l. 3. de usu partium and the word in the originall signifies such art and curiositie as is used in needleworke and imbroidery And as Man is more wonderfull then other creatures so some parts of man are more admirable and artificiall then others In ep ad Volusian quod sol luna in coelo hoc oculi in homine Ambr. Hexam lib. 6. cap. 9. S. Augustine wonders most at the eye which though it bee but a small member yet in an instant runs from one side of the heavens to the other And thus having a little discovered you to your selves let me lead you abroad into the world and see what wonders we can there meet with If we climbe up into heaven we shall finde it as full of wonders as it is of starres for euery star is a wonder being as Astronomers observe if truly of a greater magnitude then the body of the whole earth If we descend a little lower who is able to satisfie these questions Job 38. Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow or hast thou seene the treasures of the haile Hath the raine a father and who hath begotten the drops of dew out of whose wombe comes the ice and the hoary frost who hath gendred it If we goe downe yet lower from the aire to the earth Quid enumerem succos herbarum salubres quid virgultomem ac soliorum remedia c. V. plura in Amb. Hex cap. 8. de dietertio we shall finde that plants and trees and mineralls have wonderfull vertues nay that the earth it selfe is a wonder for it hangs as a ball in the midst of heaven and though it have no pillers to uphold it nor but tresses to comprehend it yet it stands fast for ever and shall never be removed Looke sayes Tertullian upon the buildings of the Bee Imitare si potes apis aedisicia formicae stabula araneae retia hombycis flamina Tertul. l. 1. advers Marcion or the lodgings of the Ant or the webs of the Spider or the threds of the silkeworme and imitate them if thou canst And thus we see the point cleared Now our duty is when we see these wonders to breake out in an acknowledgement of God of his excellencies and glorious Attributes which are displayed in these creatures O the depth of the riches
both of the wisdome Rom 11.33 knowledge of God! O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth Psal 8.1 Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord Psal 86.8.10 neither are there any workes like thy workes for thou art great and dost wondrous things thou art God alone O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare his wonders to the sonnes of men Little children and ignorant persons when they see a curious picture gaze upon it and please themselves in the beauty of the colours but they consider not the art and skill of that hand which limmed it so we see the wonders of God with our eyes we heare of them with our eares wee taste them with our mouthes wee feele them with our hands yet our hearts are not affected with them as they should be neither doe we consider those glorious Attributes of power wisdome goodnesse and mercy laid open in them If we did the consideration of his power would make us feare him the meditation of his goodnesse would make us love him the contemplation of his wisdome would make us praise him according to that of the Psalmist Declare his glory among the heathen Psal 96.3.4 his wōders amōg all the people for the Lord is great greatly to be praised he is to be feared above al gods Secondly if the Lord hath made such wonderfull and admirable things for us in this world which is but our cottage how excellent and admirable are those things which hee hath provided and prepared for us in heaven which is our palace If I was the sweetest singer in all Israel if I had the tongues of men and Angels I should not be able to expresse the least part of them S. Paul spoke with tongues more then all the rest of the Apostles and the Barbarians called him Mercury the god of eloquence yet these things are so admirable and transcendent that the strength of his expressions and the straines of his eloquence could not reach them And therefore he telleth us not what they are but what they are not Eye hath not seene nor eare heard 1 Cor. 2.9 neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The eye of man sees much yet the eare heares of many things which the eye never saw I never faw Salomons Temple in its beautie nor Rome in her glory nor Christ in the flesh yet my eare hath heard much of them But if there be any thing which my eare hath not heard yet my heart is able to conceive it I never heard the thunders that were upon mount Sinai I never heard Paul in the pulpit yet I conceive how terrible was the one and how powerfull was the other But these things are so high and admirable that I can neither perceive them by the sense nor conceive them by the understanding When the Queene of Sheba came to the Court of Salomon she was ravished with the wonders she saw there when we come to heaven the Court of him that was greater then Salomon how shall we be ravished to heare the Hymnes and Hallelujahs of Angels to see the face of God the body of Christ our Saviour the beauty of the new Ierusalem and our vile bodies made like his glorious body But who is fit for these things I leave therefore these wonders which God hath provided for us in Coelo in heaven and come to those which are in Salo in the Sea for this is our third and last part That the workes and wonders of the Lord may be seene in the Sea and deep waters God who is wonderfull in all his workes 3. Part. is most wonderfully wonderfull in the Sea for it is as full of wonder as it is of water Some restraine my Text too strictly to those wonders which God shewed in the red-sea which was a Causie to the Israelites but a grave to the Egyptians Or to those which he shewed in the Sea when the Prophet Ionas was cast into it as the sodaine calme and the restitution of his Prophet from the belly of the whale But our Prospect will be more faire and delightfull if wee inlarge it in these particulars following First the situation of this Element is wonderfull I will not here dispute the question whether the Water or the Earth be higher sure I am that the elevations and swellings of the Sea are wonderfull and were it not that the Lord on high is mightier then the noise of many waters it would breake out as once it did into an universall Deluge and Inundation Job 38.8 9 10. But God hath shut up the Sea with doores he hath swadled it with darkness he hath set it bounds saying Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed I reade of one Canutus sometimes a king of this Island that standing by the Thames at a flowing water commanded the waves to come no nearer But the River for all this kept its course and if the King had not given ground would have drowned him with which saies the story hee was so much affected that he hanged up his Crowne in Westminster and would never after weare it To command the Elements is his prerogative that made them Feare you not me Ierem. 5.22 saith the Lord Will yee not tremble at my presence which hath placed the Sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it and though the waves thereof tosse themselves Infirmissimo emnium vilis sabuli pulvere vis maris etiam in tempestate cohibetur Ambr. Hexam c. 2. de die 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet they cannot prevaile though they roare they cannot passe over it And Hesychius saies that the Sea is as afraid of the banke of sand as we are of thunder Secondly the Motion of the Sea is as strange and wonderfulles the former It is reported of Aristotle that great Secretary of Nature that not being able to conceive the reason of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea he threw himselfe into it using these words Because I cannot comprehend thee thou shalt comprehend mee And howsoever this hath received many subtile and curious discussions yet all confesse it a wonder and secret of Nature For suppose it be the naturall inclination of this Element which at the first covered the face of the Earth and does as it were labour to recover its ancient Inheritance Or suppose the Moone to be the cause of it as most determine for this Planet hath a regencie and dominion over moist bodies yet it is a wonder still It is as admirable that the Influence of the Moone should cause such an elevation and agitation of the waters as if God had imprinted this qualitie in the Element it selfe For my part I shall ever say with the Psalmist Thy way is in the
Sea and thy path in the great waters and thy footsteps are not knowne Thirdly the Multitude and Variety of creatures that live Psal 104.24 25 and move in it is very wonderfull O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisedome hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches So is the great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts Quicquid nascitur in parte naturae ullà in mariesse praeterquam multa quae nusquam alibi Nat. hist l. 9. cap. 2. Pliny is of opinion that there is no creature upon the earth but there is something in the sea that resembles it and so the Poet elegantly As many fishes of so many features Du Bartas That in the waters one may see all creatures Adverte O home quanto plura in mari quam in terris sunt Amb. Hex l. 5. c. 2. Genes 1.11.20 And all that in this All is to be found As if the world within the Deepes were drown'd When God blessed the earth hee said let it bring forth but when he blessed the waters hee said let them bring forth abundantly Dag a Dagah And the Hebrew word which signifies a fish comes of a root which signifies to increase and multiply Now to discourse of the severall creatures in the Sea would be as hard a taske as to count the waves or number the sands and therefore I will follow David and single out only the Leviathan a creature so strange and admirable that Iob sayes Job 41.33 upon the earth there is not his like In the history of the Creation it is observable that God does not mention any beast or fowle or fish but this onely It is said that God created the fowles of the ayre but there is no mention of the Dove or Eagle It is said that he created the beasts of the field but neither the Horse nor Elephant is named Genes 1.21 But in the worke of the fifth day it is said God created the great Whales Great they are indeed for some have appeared in the waters as if they had beene Islands Plinie writes Aequalia momibus corpora habere praedicantur Hexam l. 5. c. 10 that in the Indian sea they are found of three or foure acres or furlongs long S. Ambrose sayes they are reported to have bodies as big as mountaines That they are very great appeares by the Scripture for their jawes are likened to doores Job 41.5.6.22 their Scales to sheilds and they are said to make the Sea boile like a pot or caldron And this fish being of so stupendious a magnitude was named for the declaration of Gods power and also of his goodnesse who gave us dominion over it Magnus parvo vastus immensas imbecilli fit praeda Bas hom 10. in Hexam S. Basil speaking of the manner of catching them in his time wonders that so vast and immense a creature should be taken by so weake a thing as man is I come now unto the last yet not the least wonder and that is the Art of Navigation Psal 104 26. for David hath joyned both these together There goes the ships there is that Leviathan Howsoever a Ship be the work of the Canpenter yet I may truely call it one of Gods wonders The first ship that ever I read of was the Arke and howsoever it was built by Noah and others yet the truth is that Noah was but Gods Foreman God himselfe was the Master Ship-wright that drew the mould and gave directions and therefore a ship is and may well be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a divine thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 3.4 S. Iames wonders much at the Helme which being but a small piece of wood is able to turne and command the whole vessell Who does not wonder at the compasse Acus Magnetica and needle whether the invention of the needle be new or knowne unto Salomon is a great question But why might he not know the vertue of this stone as well as of others especially seeing there was great store of it in Arabia and in that part which bordered upon him And surely if it was not knowne to Salomon he was ignorant of the most polite and pleasant secret of all Nature They that would be satisfied in this may reade what Pineda Pined de reb Salom. l. 4. c. 15. Lemnius de occult naturae mirac l. 3. c. 4. and Levinus Lemnius have written of it To close up all then when we goe to Sea we must not onely intend the advancement of our owne profit but wee must make a spirituall use of the deepe waters we must see and consider and meditate upon these wonders those Attributes which are infolded in them that so they may strike us with an awfull reverence and imprint upon us a religious respect to the Divine power Hexam cap. 5. de die tertio Hence it is that S. Ambrose calls the Sea the incentive of devotion and schoole of pietie for there is nothing in it but doth administer to a spirituall minde matter of pious and heavenly meditation For example the ship wherein you saile is a remembrancer of the swiftnesse and shortnesse of your dayes My dayes saith Iob are swifter then a Post they are passed away as the swift ships And as in a ship whatsoever a man is doing he still sailes on to the end of his voyage so whether we eate or drinke or sleepe or sinne or whatsoever wee doe wee hasten to the grave which is the end of all flesh As for the Sea it is an embleme of the world for the world is compared to it and the people to the waters Here as in the Sea we have our calmes of peace and our stormes of persecution our faire-weather of prosperity and health and our foule-weather of adversity and sicknesse Here some are swallowed up in the gulfe of despaire Aliquid subintrabit August some are split upō the rocks of presumptiō the best men are a little leakie For as a ship cannot passe thorow the waves of the Sea but some water will sinke through so the best men passing through the world will taste a little of the corruptions that are in it Habemus pro mari mundum pro navi ecclesiam pro velo paeniteutiam pro gubernaculo crucē pro nautā Christum pro vento Spiritum Sanctum Chrysost Super Math. but S. Augustine advises us in this case to ply the pump of Repentance and then there is no danger of sinking or perishing everlastingly In a word the world is the Sea the Church is the ship our soules are the passengers Christ is our Pilet the word is our compasse Faith is our Helme Hope is our anchor Charity our sailes Perseverance our ballast the Holy Ghost our Gale and Heaven our haven whither he bring us that hath purchased it for us Iesus Christ the righteous To whom with
the faithfull It is said of the Cities of the Amorites that they were walled up to heavē Deut. 1.28 but he that would raise a wall so high must lay the foundation as low as the Center of the earth and we see in the storie of Nimrod that God would not suffer such bold undertakings Exod. 3.17 It is reported of the land of Canaan that it was a land flowing with milk and honie and yet I beleeve there were no such rivers in Paradise And it is here said that such sometimes is the violence of the windes and the elevation of the waters that ships are mounted to heaven and cast down to hell and David sayes no more then what many have said after him Tollimur in coelum curvato gurgite Virg. Aeneid 3. iidem Subductâ ad Manes imos descendimus undâ We mount to heaven or dive to hell As wanton billowes sinke or swell Me miserum quanti montes volvuntur aquarum Ovid. l. 1. Trist eleg 2. Iamjam tacturos syder a summa putes Quantae diducto subsidunt aequore valles Iamjam tacturas Tartara nigraputes Wretch that I am such hills of water rise As seeme to touch the heavens and wash the skies And in a trice such gaping gulfes appeare As if that way to hell a passage were Nubila tanguntur velis terra carina Lucan l. 5 The top-sailes touch the clouds the keele the sands Now these and the like hyperbolicall expressions are not to be understood precisely according to the sound but according to the sense and they intimate thus much that the miracles of Christ were very many that the seed of Abraham was very numerous that the walls of the Amorites were very high that the fruitfulnesse of Canaan was very much and that the dangers of the Sea are very great and indeed such a Poeticall and superlative expression was the fittest for this Argument The Poet will not be perswaded but he had an heart of oake Ille robur aes triplex circa pectus erat c. Horat. l. 1. Car. ode 3. Aut insanit aut mori cupit aut mendicus est Alex. in Stob. I nunc ventis animam committe dolato confisus ligne digitis a morte remotus quatuor aut septem si sit latissima taeda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nam propè tam lethum quam propè cernit aquam Ovid. l. 2. de Ponto Acts 27.18 or brasse that first adventured to Sea and trusted himself in a wooden vessell with that mercilesse element And another will not beleeve but hee that goes to Sea is either a mad man or a beggar or desirous to die Anacharsis be asked whether the number of the dead or the living was the greater answered that he knew not in what number to reckon mariners and having learnt that the thicknesse of a ship was but foure fingers said there was no more distance betwixt them and death Let a ship bee built as strong as art can possibly make her let her bee laden with gold silver and the most precious commodities let her cary never so many guns let her beare the name of some dreadfull and hideous monster yet the winde playes with it as a toy and the waves tosse it as a tennis ball as S. Paul saith of the ship wherein he sailed that she was exceedingly tossed Now if the danger bee so great that you are mounted up to heaven and throwne downe againe into the depths dare any of you venture to Sea till you have mounted up to heaven on the wings of prayer that Gods power and protection would goe along with you and gone downe into the depths of your own hearts by repentance and confession of your sinnes S. Ieromes counsell is that we should not stirre abroad till we have armed our selves with prayer Egredientes de hospitio armet oratio in ep ad Eustoch for Leo in via there is a Lion in the way and danger in all places It may bee some incensed Lamech or unnaturall Cain may meet thee and kill thee It may be some loose tile or unjoynted piece of timber may fall upon thee and brain thee And if it be thus in the fields or streets of the City what is it at Sea which is as full of danger as it is of water every wave and puffe of winde threatning destruction nay though the Sea be never so calme and the winde never so still yet there is but the thicknesse of a plank betwixt you and ruine Pitty it is that when men goe to Sea they are carefull to have their number of men their provision of victuals their tire of guns and whatsoever else is necessary for their voyage yet the one thing that is necessary for the most part is least regarded The Church of Rome teaches her disciples to cary with them to Sea the relique of some Saint as an antidote and preservative against all dangers or to invocate some commentitious Patron But call upon mee sayes God and there is good reason wee should doe so for the Sea is his and he made it and he that made it can rule it be the waves thereof never so unquiet S. Paul intending a voyage to Ierusalem would not enter into the ship till he had kneeled down upon the shore and commended himselfe to Gods protection The gravell I confesse was but a hard cushion and it may be the mariners called upon him to come aboard because the tide was far spent or the winde ready to alter or else they would hoise sayles and leave him yet for all this he will pray before hee will saile and commit himselfe to God before he commit himselfe to the deepe waters and goe thou and doe likewise And prayer if it save not thy ship will save thy soule if it keepe not thy body from the water for all things happen alike to all men it will keepe thy soule from the fire which is the greater deliverance Againe are the dangers of the Sea so great and dare any of you when you are at Sea behave and demeane your selves prophanely and irreligiously S. Peter discoursing of the dissolution of the world when the heavens shall be rouled up like skins of parchment and the elements melt with fervent heat makes this inference What manner of men ought we to bee in all holy conversation and godlinesse And truly when I consider how you are sometimes mounted up to heaven where God is ready to judge you and sometimes throwne downe into the depths where hell is ready to swallow you I cannot but say What manner of men ought ye to be Doubtlesse a Seaman that is profane is as prodigious a monster as a poore man that is proud or a rich man that is a lyer or an old man that is wanton and the Lord abhorres him as well as any of the other S. Ambrose calls the Sea the schoole of temperance chastity and sobriety Secretiem temperantiae exercitium