Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
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A14261
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Foure sea-sermons, preached at the annuall meeting of the Trinitie Companie, in the parish church of Deptford: by Henry Valentine vicar
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Valentine, Henry, d. 1643.
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1635
(1635)
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STC 24574; ESTC S103489
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42,166
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77
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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
let us cut them off from being a nation that the name of England may be no more in remēbrance yea let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession But thou O God diddest persecute them with thy tempest and madest them afraid with thy storme thou filledst their faces with shame so that they were confounded and troubled for ever and now men may know that thou whose name alone is Iehovah art the most high over all the earth Thirdly stormes and tempests are the documents and instructions of our lives Documenta humanae vitae for in their loud accent they read us this Lecture that we must not alwayes expect a serenity of peace Saeculum hoc tibi mare est habet diuersos fluctus undas graves saevas tempestates Ambr. l. 3. de sacram cap. 1. Acts 27.13.14 but sometimes a storme of Persecution nor alwayes enjoy a calme of content but sometimes bee exercised with a tempest of Tribulation Paul and his company when they first loosed from the Haven had as faire weather as could blow but non multò post sayes the text not long after there arose a tēpestuous winde which tossed them so exceedingly that all hope of being saved was taken away from them Iob in the morning was the richest man in the East yet non multò post not long after a tempest was raised and the messengers come in like the waves of the Sea one in the necke of another and of all his sheepe and oxen he hath not so much as a Lambe left to offer for a sacrifice If the ayre was not sometimes fanned and ventilated with tempests it would corrupt and become full of unwholesome and contagious vapours If a Christian was not sometime exercised with crosses and afflictions and duckt over head and eares in salt water pride security and an immoderate love of the world would grow upon him Iron though it be never so bright yet if it be not used will rust Ground be it never so good yet if it be not tilled and plowed will bee overgrowne with weedes The body be it never so lusty yet if it want exercise will be obstructed with grosse and ill humours Let a Christian be never so well weighed and the frame of his soule never so well moulded yet if the waves and billowes of afflictions goe not sometimes over him he will contract soyle and corruption See how the soule of that wise King Salomon melted and thawed into a wanton effeminatenesse and declination in religion and a wise man may spell something out of those words 1 King 5.4 He had no adversary nor evill occurrent and therefore God raises up a storme of war and stirres up an adversary unto Salomon 1 King 11.14 Againe as stormes at Sea exercise the abilities and experience of a Mariner so doe crosses the graces of a Christian What tryes the valour of a souldier The battle What tryes the skill of a Pilot A tempest What tryes the graces of a Christian Adversity Iob you know had lost all but his wife and his life and if his wise was no better then the Translation makes her it had beene no matter if he had lost her too now see how he stood to his tacklings and how bravely he rid out this storme The Lord sayes hee hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. Yea though the Lord kill me yet will I trust in him Lastly a storme makes the weather-beaten Mariner desire nothing so much as his haven therefore is it in this Psalme called the desired haven verse 3. And surely were not our life inroughed with some tempests and imbittered with some troubles we should say as Peter did upon mount Tabor It is good for us to be here and so love our way instead of our countrie and never desire to make that Port of peace and Haven of all happinesse the Kingdome of Heaven When David lay under a storme of persecution his soule breakes out into these desires and wishes Psal 55.6.8 O that I had wings like a Dove then would I flee away and be at rest yea I would hasten my escape from the stormy winde and tempest And so we come to the third and last part of the Text which is this There is no storme in the ayre nor tempest in the Sea no commotion in the one nor concitation in the other Third part but it is the Lords doing for ipse dinit hee commandeth A Christian acknowledges no other Aeolus for the windes nor Neptune for the waters then God Ionas 1.4 That great winde which arrested Ionas was of Gods sending for Dominus injecit saith the Text the Lord hurld it upon them The blasts of winde are called the breath of his nostrils Psal 18.15 David tels us there are certain store-houses or treasuries of the winde and well may the winde be compared to treasure for it brings it in and the treasurer or storekeeper is the Lord. He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth Psal 135.7 hee maketh lightnings for the raine he bringeth the winde out of his treasuries and dispatches this winged messenger into all quarters And as he is the God of the windes so of the waters too His way is in the Sea and his path in the great waters Psal 77.19 His mandate is the Mace or Trident which can allay the waves or make them swell to such an height as if they would quench the very lights of heaven Object But that great Tempest which overthrew the house wherein Iobs children were feasting was raised by the devill And travellers affirme that in Lapland and some other countries a man may buy a winde and purchase a speedy passage Suidas reports that in Corinth there was a family which could allay the windes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veutis opii for which cause they were much reverenced and esteemed of Mariners And if at any time the ayre bee troubled with extraordinary tompests the opinion and speech of people is that some witch or conjurer is stirring Answ It cannot bee denyed but the devill who is Prince of the ayre can doe strange things in that element And that witches and conjurers who have an interest in his power as he hath in their soules can do more then ordinary Yet cōcerning the winde that oppressed Iobs children the text does not say the devill raised it but onely that it came out of the wildernesse God did raise it though the devill made use of it when it was raised Or if wee say that the devill raised it then Chrysostome and Origen deny that it was a true winde but an ayre like unto it Aērvento simills v. etiam Pined in Iob 1. The Sorcerers could not doe the same miracles that Moses did yet they could doe in like manner So the devils I beleeve cannot make a winde yet they can counterfeit and come very neare