Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A14261
|
Foure sea-sermons, preached at the annuall meeting of the Trinitie Companie, in the parish church of Deptford: by Henry Valentine vicar
|
Valentine, Henry, d. 1643.
|
1635
(1635)
|
STC 24574; ESTC S103489
|
42,166
|
77
|
whereof all our workes endeavours and devices are to no purpose Help us therefore O God of our salvation to whom in the Trinity of persons and unity of essence be ascribed all power praise might and majestie now and for evermore Amen FINIS A Prayer to be used by the Mariner before he goe to Sea OAlmighty and most glorious God who hast disposed of the sons of men in those callings which seeme meetest to thy divine Wisedome and hast appointed me to goe downe into the Sea in Ships and assigned mee my businesse in the great waters I thy creature and the worke of thine hands doe with all humility and thankfulnesse embrace the order of thy good providence who art a God which doest whatsoever pleases thee in heaven in earth in the Sea and in all places And forasmuch as I am now ready to commit my selfe unto the waters I most humbly beseech thee of thy goodnes to pardon and forgive me all my sins cast them into the bottomelesse Sea of thy mercy drown them in the red Sea of thy Sons blood as thou didst the Egyptians in the waters lest they cause thee to vexe me with thy stormes and persecute me with thy tempests And sith the dangers of the Sea are great and many and a ship is counted but a vaine thing to save a man O let thy presence and protection goe along with me to save me from the hands of Pirates from the fury of the windes and waves from bondage and captivity amongst infidels who are enemies to the crosse of thy Sonne and howsoever it shall please thee to dispose of my body be mercifull to my soule for thy Names sake Keepe me also ô God of my salvation from the snares and infections of the devil who is ready in all places to devoure me make mee constant in my religion just and true in all my dealings and give mee grace in all places where I come to demeane my selfe as one that professes the name of Christ lest I give occasion to the adversary to speake evill of it And because the issue and successe of every businesse depends onely upon thy blessing blesse this voyage to mee thy servant blesse it to my soule let those wonders wherewith thou hast replenished the deepe waters affect mee with a due consideration of thy glorious attributes and imprint upon my soule a sense of thy power an acknowledgement of thy wisdome an awe of thy Majesty that so my heart may be filled with thy feare and my mouth with thy praises Blesse it also to my outward man and as my calling hath thy warrant so let it not want thy benediction that I may bee inabled by my substance to honour thee and helpe others Finally ô God I commend unto thy fatherly goodnesse this Church and Kingdome whereof I am a member my friends kindred acquaintance beseeching thee if it be thy blessed will to returne mee safe unto these comforts Heare my prayers for them and theirs for me and thy Son Christ Jesus for us all in whose most blessed name and words I come unto thee and call upon thee saying O our Father which art in heaven c. A Prayer to be used at Sea O Most mighty and most mercifull God who hast commanded us to call upon thee in the day of trouble and hast promised to deliver us I thy servant doe in obedience to thy command and confidence in thy promise flee to thee for succour ô God most holy for trouble is at hand and there is none to deliver me Behold me now ô God in the dangers of the Deep my life is continually in thy hand and I am ready to perish every moment O thou that didst heare the prayers of thy Prophet from the bottome of the Sea thou that didst awaken at the cryes of thy disciples thou that leddest thy people through the red Sea thou that didst save Noah and his family in the Arke from perishing by water save and deliver me my King and my God rebuke the stormy windes locke them up in thy treasuries and command the proud waves of the Sea to be still that I may arrive safe at my desired haven for the Sea is thine and thou hast made it though the floods lift up their voice yet thou Lord on high art mightier then the noyse of many waters yea then the mighty waves of the Sea I confesse ô Lord if thou shouldst deale with me after my deservings thou mightest make the Sea my sepulchre and cover me with the deepe waters as thou didst the old world for their security and Pharaoh and his hoast for their obstinacy I have multiplyed my sinnes above the sands upon the shore and my heart is as full of wickednesse as the Sea is of water But spare me O God good Lord spare me who hast not spared thine owne Son to redeeme me Pardon my sins blot out my offences forgive me my trespasses and let the light of thy countenance shine upon me through those pretious wounds which thy Son and my Saviour suffered in his body upon the Crosse for me And now O God I resigne and give up my selfe wholly unto thy good pleasure saying with thy servant David Here I am do with me whatsoever seemeth good in thine eyes I know thou art a God able alike to save in all places I know that the windes and waves obey thee I beleeve that the haires of my head are numbred and that the Sea shall give up her dead at the last day thy will therefore O God bee done in heaven in earth in the Sea and in all places if thou hast appointed me for life grant that I may live in thy feare if thou hast appointed me for death for my times are in thy hands grant that I may die in thy favour so long as I live guide mee with thy grace and so soone as I die receive mee into thy glory and all this for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most blessed name c. A Prayer after our returne from Sea O Most great and most gratious God I have called upon thee in the day of trouble and thou hast heard me thou hast sent from above and drawne me out of many waters thou hast delivered me from all my feares thou hast considered my trouble and knowne my soule in adversities so that the water-flood hath not overflowne me neither hath the Deep swallowed me up And now what shall I render unto thee ô God of my salvation for all thy benefits towards me I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of Thanksgiving and pay that that I vowed when I was in trouble And here I offer up my soule and body a holy and a living sacrifice to thee ô thou preserver of men and let it be as that sacrifice which Noah offered when he came out of the Arke a sacrifice of a sweet smelling favour I confesse I am unworthy of the least of thy mercies but the more unworthy I am of them the more thankfull I will be for them and therefore blesse the Lord ô my soule and all that is within mee praise his holy name blesse the Lord ô my soule and forget not all his benefits for he hath redeemed my life from destruction and satisfied my mouth with good things And further I confesse to the glory of thy mercy that it was not the strength of the ship nor our art and skill that saved us but thy mighty hand and outstretched arm not unto us therfore not unto us but unto thy Name be all the glory for who amongst the sonnes of men can bee likened unto thee ô Lord and amongst the Gods there is none that can doe as thou doest thou art great and doest wondrous things thou art God alone thou rulest the raging of the Sea and when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them And now ô Lord as thy mercy hath preserved me from drowning and shipwrack so let it preserve thy servant from the deluge of intemperance and from making shipwrack of faith and a good conscience lest having escaped the Sea thy vengeance suffer me not to live and grant that I may expresse my thankfulnesse by walking humbly saithfully and obediently before thee in the land of the living for for this end thou hast delivered mee that I might serve thee without feare in holinesse and righteousnes all the dayes of my life and so thy blessing shall be still upon mee thy providence still over mee and thou shalt never be weary to doe me good And lastly as thou hast put an end unto this perilous voyage and brought me safe to the comforts of mine owne countrey So when I shall have runne my course through the waves of this troublesome world bring mee to my heavenly countrey the new Jerusalem and gather my soule into the bosome of Abraham that place of peace and haven of true happinesse even for thy deare Sons sake Jesus Christ the righteous in whose name and merits mediation and words I call upon thee saying O our Father which art in heaven c. FINIS
continentiae mundi hujus sobrietas Hexam l. 3. and therefore such as will not be ruled on land we send to Sea that being disciplined with the spectacles of Gods power and the strong apprehensions of death and danger they may be reformed and yet such is the invincible and incorrigible wickednesse of our hearts that men come out of a ship as the beasts out of Noahs Arke as very beasts and as uncleane as when they went first in and like the Catadupi continually hearing the falls of Nilus grow deafe and heare nothing And if at any time the extremity of a storme extort from them a vow of amendement it is for the most part blowne over with the foule weather and like Manna melts with the next Sun-shine I remember a merry story of one who in a tempest vowed he would offer our Lady a wax light as big as his maine mast if he escaped and being reproved by one of his fellowes for vowing a thing impossible peace foole sayes he we must speake our Lady faire now but if I get to shore one of eight in the pound shall serve her Much better did a company of mariners who vowed if they escaped the tempest to build a Church to S. Heylin Iohn di Malvatia whose morter should be tempered with malmesey and accordingly they paid it Which Church is in Zara or Iudera a City in Dalmatia for the possession of which towne there have beene great warres betwixt the Hungarians and Venetians Vow therefore unto the Lord and pay it and say as the Psalmist Psal 66.13 I will goe into thine house with burnt offerings I will pay thee my vowes which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble Againe are the dangers of the Sea so great and can you forget God when he hath delivered you from them must not you needs say with the Apostle Thankes be unto God who hath delivered me must not you needs confesse with David that if the Lord had not helped you the waters had overwhelmed you yea the proud waters had gone over your soule But because I shall hereafter have occasion to speak of your duty after your deliverance which is to praise the Lord and declare the wonders which he doth for the sons of men I will here passe it over We have now seene the literall sense of the words as for allegories and allusions Expositours are full of them Musculûs in Io. A ship thus mounted up to heaven and throwne downe to hell is the embleme of a proud man who lifting up his heart as high as heaven meets with a God which refists the proud and beates him into the depths againe for he that exalteth himselfe shall be humbled Lucifer said in his heart that he would ascend into heaven and exalt his throne above the starres of God that he would ascend above the height of the cloudes and be like the most high you heare his mounting up to heaven Ascendit Angelus deseendit diabosus Aug. Soliloq c. 28. but God tells him when hee had done so he should be brought downe to hell to the sides of the pit there is his going downe into the depths againe Edom having made his habitation high said in the pride of his heart who shall bring me dawne to the ground one undertakes it that was able to doe it Obediah 3.4 for though Edom exalt himselfe as an eagle and though he set his nest among the stars yet thence will I bring him down saith the Lord. Luke 10.15 And so Capernaum which was exalted to heaven was thrust downe to hell for of a proud and populous City there remaines but seven or eight fishermens cottages Stella in loc Aesope being asked how God was imployed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laërt l. t. in Chilon Dominare tumidus spiritus altos gere Sequitior superbos ultor à tergo Deus Sen. in Herc. answered that his businesse was to hūble such as are prond to exalt such as are humble Arnobius applyes this unto S. Peter who when he said he would die for Christ rather then deny him and follow him though all forsooke him seemed in the conceit of his owne strength and ability to be mounted up to heaven but when he denied him at the voice of a silly maide hee went downe into the depths nay hee went yet lower for he did not only deny him but forsweare him yet after all this he went out and wept bitterly and so as it followes in the text his soule was melted in him And so wee come to the sad consequences and attendants of this danger the first whereof is expressed in an elegant metaphor of melting and liquefaction Their soules are melted in them because of thetrouble A tempest is here called a trouble and howsoever in the Hebrew the word be in the singular yet S. Ierome renders it in the plurall number In malis for indeed many are the troubles that constitute and make up this trouble Is not the ayre troubled with the clashing and collision of the clouds Esay 57.20 and conflicts of the windes being let loose out of their treasuries Doe we not read of a troubled Sea in the prophet which being disquieted by its neighbour element cannot rest nay does not S. Iude tells us Jude 13. that the Sea is so troubled that the waves thereof are mad and raging And now must not the hearts of the mariners and passengers be troubled with the apprehension of death which is the King of feares Praesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem Virg and of all things in the world the most terrible when they see it approach in every billow and heare it threaten in every blast The disciples in the storme thought of nothing but of perishing S. Paul speaking of the tempest that lay upon them sayes that all hope of being saved was taken away from them Acts 27.20 and can you blame flesh and blood if it change countenance and be troubled in such a case Yet secondly though we be naturally troubled with the sense and apprehension of death yet some kindes of death there are which trouble us more then others And I know not how it comes to passe but drowning hath ever been accounted a miserable and inglorious death as appeares by that of the Poet. Ovid. l. 1. Trist eleg 2. Non let hum timeo genus est miserabile lethi Demite naufragium mors mihi munus erit Et non aequoreis piscibus esse cibum I feare not death death is the thing I wish And yet I would not drowne and feed the fish And the reason hereof it may be was because they thought the soule Ignava fortes sata consument viros Sen. in Agam which they supposed to be fire was extinguished in the waters or else because it is a death wherein a man can give no testimony of his valour Maximè detestaban