4. Take heed of security under guilt for the Lords judgments come upon such in a way of surprize Such Nations or Persons are not prepared to meet the Lord in the way of his judgements they are taken all on a sudden as the Foolish Virgins were by the coming and appearing of the Bride-groom Now it is very sad to have any judgment come upon us by way of surprize Sudden things bring much astonishment along with them such poor guilty Souls as are secure will say I never thought of this never thought of my death this Voyage never thought of sinking O what a Fool am I that should no more think of my latter end 5. Security under guilt grieves the Spirit of God Jonah had now grieved the Spirit of God and it let him sleep for it is the Spirit of God that is the great keeper of the Soul awake Nay we keep awake no longer than the Spirit doth keep jogging of us one way or other The Spirit of the Lord came upon Sampson and what then did he sit still O no! He arose and shook himself But when Mat. 26. 45. the Spirit of God is grieved it sayes to the Soul as sometimes Christ did to his Disciples Now sleep on And how sad is it for the Spirit to let a poor Soul alone to say Sin on sleep on He that is filthy let him be so still and he that is unclean let him be so still But now methinks by this time I here some poo souls say I am the afraid Mariner now I see my danger my danger not of drowning only but of damning the fears of my sinking is turned now to fears of sinking into Hell of going down into the bottom of Hell Now I feel a storm in my own bosom And what are outward storms to inward storms and O now sayes the Soul What shall such a guilty Soul as I do that hath such a load of unpardoned guilt upon the back of my Soul what shall I do under sense of guilt 1. Direction to the guilty sinner or Mariner Cry to the Lord under sense of thy guilt O what shall I cry sayes the Soul If peradventure that thou perish not as these in Text did What poor Soul if thou have but a Peradventure to cry upon to go upon to the Lord A divine it may be may keep thy Soul from sinking Many a poor Soul have by the help of an it may be gone to the Lord Jesus O guilty Souls cry after Christ what said the Disciples in that storm they were in Lord carest thou not that we perish What did Saint Peter in the storm when sinking Master save me or else I perish So poor guilty Soul cry hard after Christ Carest thou not Lord that a poor Soul should perish hast thou not said that thou camest into the World that Whosoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life 2. Art thou sensible of guilt Then own the punishment of thine Iniquity Thus did Jonah For my sake is this storm come upon you O what an ingenuous confession was here after God had awakened his Conscience Conscience will be ingenuous when God works kindly upon it We read a promise made to the Accepting the punishment of Lev. 26. 41. our Iniquity If they with a good will acknowledg it so the Italians reads it If they accept it as a Love-token from the hand of a Friend Jonah accepted his punishment under the sense of guilt two wayes 1. By Confession 2. By Submission Take me up and cast me into the Sea O thus own your guilt though it be before others Lord if thou cast me into Hell sayes the guilty sinner Thou art righteous 3. Though you be not heard at first cry again Thus did Jonah I will look again towards thy holy Temple O poor guilty sinner what may a look out of the Belly of Hell towards the Lord Jesus Christ do what though you see not mercy coming to you at first yet look again it may be the next look it will bring it it is an excellent frame of Heart to turn Faith's eye often Christ-ward under Sense of guilt this was the way that healing came to the stung Israelites The sting was the guilt of sin The Brazen Serpent typed out the Lord Jesus Christ Their looking was believing Their healing was justification by pardoning grace 4. Art thou under the Sense of guilt take heed of drawing black Conclusions against thy own Soul This was the infirmity of Jonah I said I am cast out of thy sight Jonah 2. 4. If Satan can but drive a poor guilty Soul upon the Rock of despair he then hopes to split it for ever this was the Rock that guilty Judas was split upon this is the Devils fiery dart with which he doth not only think to wound the Soul but to strike it as I may say through the Liver to all Eternity 5. Art thou under Sense of guilt O now thou wilt highly prize Christ The whole need not the Physitian but the sick O now thou wilt cry with David Heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee Lastly Art thou under Sense of guilt then know that there is a fulness of grace in the heart of Christ therefore we read of sheading grace aboundantly upon Souls what Tit. 3. 6. though there be abundance of guilt in thy heart yet there is abundance of grace in Christs heart a spring of grace in his heart and it runs freely upon guilty Souls He abundantly Pardons or multiplyes Pardons Esay 55. 5. Jonah 1. 6th So the Ship-Master came unto him and said unto him what meanest thou O sleeper Arise and call upon thy God if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not In the verse before you had a discovery of the deportment of a Ship-Company that were in distress In this verse we have a discovery of further means they use for their preservation some means you have had an Accompt of Did they swear in their distress did they prophane the Name of their Gods did these Heathen Mariners do as many who profess themselvs Christians do viz. Take the Name of God in vain and so as that wicked King who sinned more and more in the time of his distress O no They cryed to their Gods In this Verse here you have further means used for preservation of their whole Ships-Company in this great storm 1. Reprehension of guilt So the Ship-Master came unto him and said unto him What meanest thou O sleeper 2. Here is exhortation to a duty The duty is To arise and call upon God 3. Here is the Motive or Encouragement the means are to be used upon If so be that God will think upon us that we perish not Here is no certainty alas Idolaters can speak at no Certainty O say they though there be not a Certainty yet there is a Probability of it That our Prayer will be heard and our Persons
case Out of the depths have I cryed unto thee An Allusion to Shipwrackt Mariners that send their shreeks and crys to Heaven when sinking 3. This is very sinful in you to neglect calling upon God because you cannot expect a blessing upon your endeavours without it you may go out and come in but yet all this while little blest these things may be common Providences to you you may make good and prosperous Voyages all things come alike to all But what is this if you be not blest with the favour of God and the love of God in what you injoy A little that the righteous man hath is better than much riches of the Wicked God may let you have success in his wrath and it may be designed for a Curse and a Snare unto you though it may lye in your comforts invisibly now the more invisible and insensible a Curse is the sadder it is We read of God's Cursing their Malac. 2 2. Blessings Every one thinks it a Curse to be poor to be in want But how few think of a Curse to lye under their Comforts under their Riches Well now can you expect a blessing without asking It is worth little if it be not worth seeking Moses when he Deut. 33. 18. comes to bless the Tribes before his death he blesses the Tribe of Zebulun in their going Gen. 47. 13. out Rejoyce Zebulun in thy going out God so bless thee in thy goings out as thou may rejoyce This Zebulun was the Tribe of Mariners Zebulun shall dwell at the Haven of the Sea and his Haven shall be for ships Now Moses blesses the Tribe of Mariners at their going out O think of this and go not out without the Lords blessing It is said that our English-Sea-men in times of Heathenism and since then in times of Popery offered their Oblations at their going to Sea that they might have good success and will not you in these times of the Gospel look up to the Lord for it 4. Your not calling upon the Lord is the cause of all that Prophaness and Atheism that abounds among you There is a holy Majesty in the worship of God that if solemnly performed would have an awe upon men's Spirits Will men believe there is a God when they never see you call upon him do not your Ships-Company say in their hearts There is no God if there be a God why is not he called upon why is he not worshipped why is he not prayed unto may not many of you Commanders say Lord forgive me my other-mens sinnes O when your Company 's sins shall be laid at your doors how sad will this be What a sad reckoning will there be to answer for their swearing and drinking and blaspheming God When God will ask you What did you to prevent it did you warne them of it did you pray against it endeavour against it instruct against it 5. You Masters What do you know but your calling upon God and being faithful to your charge â—â— this Sense may be a means for the Conversion of them that are under your charge what do you know but you might win them to God Many a childs Soul hath been given in as a return of Prayer and many a Servants Soul The Puritans loved the Souls of their Families better than we do in these days and so God honoured them with converting grace breaking in upon them O what pains did they take in instructing them in Catechising them in examining them after Ordinances what they had Hos 14. 8 heard O what a mercy would this be to carry it so under your charges as they that live Jam. 5. ult under the shaddow of your wing might Return Will not this be to save Souls from death He that converteth a Soul from the errour of his way saves a Soul from Death He speaks of it as a very great matter as a worthy business What! to keep a Soul out of Hell If you could keep your Ships-Company from sinking you would do it O do what in you lyes to keep them from sinking into Hell What Were the Souls of poor Sinners worth Christs Prayers Tears nay Blood and not worth your cryes and your Prayers and your Tears O what a low rate do you set upon your Souls that do so little for either your own or others 6. Is not this sinful in you Not calling upon God for he hath soveraign power over the Winds and the Seas The Wind and the Seas obey him The Windâ— blow by his Commission The Poets Neptune is but a Fiction but this is a truth that Jesus Christ is great Lord Admiral at Sea What a proud attempt was that in that Prince to check the waves with his Scepter Alas this belongs to no Scepter but Christ's O then why should any go to the Divil for a Wind if it belongs to the Soveraignty of God to command them I tell you Masters that when out of your own Countries you buy winds they will be dear commodities to you You may buy a Wind with the loss of your Souls 7. Your not calling upon God hath much ingratitude in it your poor Wives they put up Bills and your Relations they get you pray'd for but O what ingratitude it is Not to do it your selves Should not you think What shall I be sinning at Sea against God and it may be at this very moment and instant prayed for at Land by my dear Relations I have heard of a godly Minister being acquainted with a godly Woman whose Husband was opposite to the wayes of God and upon a time the Husband discharged the Minister his house being very angry against him even that he entred into a temptation to kill the Minister to which end one day he goes to the Wood where the Minister in his Retirements used to walk and there resolved to fall upon him but hearing a voice he stands the Minister being at prayer and presently he heard him praying particularly for him which so melted him that he threw down his Weapons and cast himself at his feet and confess'd all and so became an excellent Christian afterwards So did but many Sea-Commanders and other Mariners hear what prayers are put up for them by their Relations by their Ministers O how would these melt their hearts And what for all this never pray your selves 3. Use is of Caution If it be duty in Masters to manage their charge and trust faithfully O then take heed of neglecting those under your charge and custody None of you will neglect your Ships your Goods your Time your Gales and Why should any of you neglect your Souls your pretious Souls 1. Take heed you neglect not the Souls under your charge You shall one day stand before the Lord to be accountable for the Souls under your charge as is said of the Watchman If he warn not the People their blood was to be required at his hand so may I Ezek 34. 4.
with the same breath send forth Prayers and Oaths alas such Prayers never reach Gods ears 3. The Prayers that are such excellent means for preservation at Sea are Prayers sent up in Faith As hearing without believing James 1. 5. profits not so praying without believing profits not There are many Sea-mens Prayers that are like the waves of the Sea it is a Scripture-Similitude Let him ask in Faith without wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the Sea driven with the Wind and is tossed for let not that man think he shall receive any thing of the Lord. The word wavering it signifies when a man is at no certainty with himself but at variance somtimes being of one mind somtimes of another we should in our distress pray believingly therefore our Lord Jesus did chide his Disciples for not acting faith in that storm we read of Why are you afraid O 2. Pet. 2. 9. ye of little faith 1. We at such times are to act faith upon the power of God He knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation when neither Angels nor Men know what way a mercy shall come in a deliverance shall be sent yet the Lord knows he is never at a loss for ways and means a piece of the Ship-wrack't Vessel a Mast a piece of a broken Plank any thing shall do it if God command it Nothing sets off so much the Power of God in a preservation as the utter unlikelihood and improbability that was in it when all hope of being Saved was taken Acts 17 away then came the Angel to Paul Here was the power of God How much of the power of God did appear in saving the Vessel where the Disciples were when it was filled with Waves O how much of the power Maâ—k 4. 34. of God did appear in the preservation of Jonah that Salvation should come to him out Jonah 2. 2. of the belly of Hell 2. Our faith in times of danger must have respect to the promise of God Faith will not venture to God without a promise The great encouragement to prayer is the Promise Call upon me in the day of trouble Here is the precept but where is the promise and I will deliver thee 1. Faith eyes Ps â—0 15. the saithfulness of the promise in time of danger The more Believers plead this in ther daingers the better they are usually fetched off God loves to have his faithfulness leaned on in distress 2. Faith in Prayer Heâ— 6. 13. eyes the immutability of the promise Hope in the promise as to its unchangeableness in your storms is your best Anchor This is the Anchor that will never come home again This made Luther say he had rather be in the bottom of the Sea with a promise than in Paradise without a promise 4. Those prayers that are such excellent means for preservation from Sea-dangers are to be presented to God by the hands of Christ no prayers are prevailing prayers either at Land or Sea but such Christ is the great Friend of poor Creatures in all their dangers We read of Christ praying when the Disciples were sinking Why were Maâ—k 6. 46. they not lost and cast away O Christ was praying for them The Angel that stood by Paul when all the Ships-company were so nigh being cast away was Christ Christ carries the prayers of poor Creatures unto his Father when they are in dangers and distress and brings answers suddenly from Heaven and so the storm is quiet and becomes a Calm And you little it may be know how it comes O Christ many times prayes for it no question Paul had been praying for the preservation of the Vessel when the Angel brought him that good news All that sayl with thee are given thee He had been begging their lives and Jesus Christ gives in the answer 5. Those Prayers that are such excellent means for preservation are unfeigned Prayers Sea-men often do with their Prayers and Consciences as they do with their goods in a storm they cast them over-board but in a Calm they wish for them again So many of them pray in their storms but these prayers are but forced prayers God never hears from them but in danger Alas God looks upon such praying to be only flattering and lying and so he calls Hypocritical praying They flattered me with their lips and lyed unto Psal â—8 34. me with their tongues Why they were praying O but their hearts were all this while a deceitful Bow they were Hypocritical in all this And we read of some though the Lord Hos â— 13. redeemed them yet they spake lyes against him O how often have you done so 6. The prayers that are such excellent means for preservation are prayers flowing from a broken and a contrite heart He is Psal 34. 18. nigh them that are of a contrite heart Nigh them how nigh them to save them so sayes the next word some read it he preserveth the dismayed in Spirit or bruised Are you dismayed in dangers under the sense of your sins fear not God is nigh such But alas what are the Prayers of a Company of poor wretches unbroken either for their sins or from their sins who it may be before the storm were Swearing and Blaspheming God the Prayers of such is no more then to cut off a Dog's neck 1. Reason why Prayer is such an excellent means for preservation because In this duty God's honour is highly concerned this is Gods great Name and Title a God hearing prayer in which he much glories All his Attributes are much honoured in calling upon him especially in times of dangers and distresses 1. When you call upon God at Sea you honour his Soveraignty his Soveraignty over the Winds and Seas is acknowledged by calling on him God sayes to these proud waves So far and no further So the storm and hail they fulfil his will and when he pleases he commands a Calm 2. Prayer in time of danger honours God's Wisdom when we see no way open for mercies and deliverance to come in at then to look up to him believing he knows how to deliver out of Temptation O how much of the wisdom of God appears in preservations in time of danger and is it not a good token of mercy coming in when Persons pray though all visible wayes are block't up this honours God's Wisdom which we acknowledg is never at a loss as to wayes of bringing in mercy and deliverance 3. The Faithfulness of God is much honoured in times of danger when he is called upon the faithfulness of a Friend doth most appear in a strait now if you can rely upon his Promise Gods faithfulness is the best line men sinking at Sea can lay hold on So I might add Calling upon God honours all his other Attributes 2. Reason because the promise of preservation runs to Prayer Call upon me in the day of trouble here is the Precept Is not