in remote parts far from your Friends and Relations and destitute of all means and accommodations Did you not say in that condition as Hezekiah did in a like case Isai. 38. 10 11 12. I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave I am deprived of the residue of my years I said I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world Remember thy self man canst not thou call to mind the day when the Arrows of death came whisking by thee and it may be hit those next thee took away those that were as lively and as lusty as thy self when you began your Voyage and yet they were cast for death thou for life and that when there was but an hairs breadth betwixt thee and the grave Tell me Soul What friend was that stood by thee then when thou wast forsaken of all friends When it may be thy Companions stood ready to throw thee over-board Who was it that pitied and remembred thee in thy low estate Who was it that rebuked thy disease of as one very aptly expresses it restrained the humours of thy body from overflowing and drowning thy life for when they are let out in a sickness they would overflow and drown it as the Waters would the earth if God should not say to them Stay you proud waves Who was it man that when thy body was brought low and weak and like a crazy rotten Ship in a storm took in water on all sides so that all the Physitians in the World could not have stopt those Leaks consider what hand was that which quieted and calmed the tempestuous Sea careened and mended thy crazy Body and launched thee into the World again as whole as sound as strong as ever Was it not the Lord that hath done all this for thee Did not he keep back thy Soul from the Pit and thy Life from perishing Yea when thou wast chastened with pain upon thy Bed as Elihu speaks Iob 33. 19 20 21. and the multitude of thy bones with strong pains so that thy life abhorred bread and thy Soul dainty meat thy flesh consumed away that it could not be seen and thy bones that were not seen stuck out yet then as it is vers 28. he delivered thy Soul from going down into the Pit and caused thy Life to see the Light Had the Lamp of life been then extinguisht thou hadst gone into endless Darkness Hell had shut her mouth upon thee Now tell me Soul What hast thou done with this precious mercy Hast thou walked before the Lord in a deep sense thereof and answered his end therein which was to lead thee to Repentance Or hath thy stupid or disingenious heart forgotten it and lost all sense of it so that God's end is frustrated and thy Salvation not a jot furthered thereby O If it be so wo to thee for the blood of this Mercy which thy Ingratitude hath murther'd like the blood of Abel cries to God against thee What a Wretch art thou thus to requite the Lord for such a Mercy He saw thy Tears and heard thy groans and said within himself He shall not die but live Alas poor Creature if I cut him off now he is eternally lost I will send him back a few years more into the World I will try him once more it may be he will bear some fruits to me from this deliverance and if so well if not I will cut him down hereafter He shall be set at liberty upon his Good Behaviour a little longer And is all this nothing in thine eyes Wretch that thou art Dost thou forget and flight such a favour as this Is it worth no more in thine eyes Well it would be worth something in the eyes of the poor Damned Souls if they might have so many years cut out of their Eternity for a meer intermission of their Torments much more as a time of patience and mercy O consider what pity and goodness thou hast abused Quer. 2. Wast thou never cast upon miserable streights and extremities wherein the good Providence of God relieved and supplied thee How many of you have been beaten so long at Sea by reason of contrary winds and other accidents till your Provisions have been even exhausted and spent To how short allowance have you been kept And what a mercy would you have esteemed it if you could but have satisfied Nature with a full draught of Water Certainly this hath been the case of many of you Oh what a price and vallue did you then set upon those common Mercies which at other times have been slightly over-look'd and when you have seen no hopes of relief Have you not looked sadly one upon another and it may be said as that Widow of Zarephtah did to the Prophet 1 King 17. 12. And she said As the Lord thy God liveth I have not a cake but a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oyl in a cruse aud behold I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son that we may eat it and die Even such hath been your case yet hath that God whose Mercies are over all his Works heard your sorrows and provided Relief for you either by some Ship which Providence sent to relieve you in that distress or by altering the Winds and sending you safe to the Land before all your Provisions have been spent And hast thou kept no Records of these gracious Providences yea Dost thou abuse the Creature when thou art brought again to the full enjoyment of it and possibly receivest the Creatures whose worth thou so lately hast seen in the want of them without thanksgiving or a sensible acknowledgment of the goodness of God in them I say dost thou thus answer the expectations of God Well beware lest God teach such an unworthy Creature by woful experience that the opening of his hand to give thee a Mercy is worth the opening thy Lips to bless him for it Beware lest that unthankful Mouth that will not bless the Lord for Bread and Water have neither the one or the other to bless him for I can give you a sad instance in the case and I have found it in the Writing of an eminent Divine who saith he had it from an eye and ear-witness of the truth of it A young Man lying upon his Sick-bed was always calling for meat but when the meat he called for was brought unto him he shook and trembled dreadfully at the sight of it and that in every part of his body and so continued until his food was carried away And thus he did as often as any food was brought into his presence and not being able to eat one bit pined away but before his death he freely acknowledged the Justice of God in this punishment For said he in the time of my Health I ordinarily received my
Answer to Dr. Russel Mr. Marlow c. Bury's Looking-Glass for the Unmarry'd Discourses upon the Rich Man and Lazarus by Mr. Timothy Cruso BOOKS Printed for and Sold by M. Fabian in Mercers Chappel at the lower end of Cheapside Viz. HYmens Praeludia or Loves Master-piece being that so much admired Romance called Cleopatâ—a Gouges Word to Saints and Sinners Christian directions The Protestant School or a Spelling-book by Moses Lane School-master being the most copious extant The Pastoral Letters of the Incomparable Iurieu directed to the Protestants in France groaning under the Babylonish Tyranny translated Wherein the Sophistical arguments and unexpressible Cruelties made use of by the Papists for making Converts are laid open and expos'd to just abhorrence Unto which is added a brief account of the Hungarian Persecution The History of Scotland from the year 1423 to 1542 containing the Lives and Reigns of Iames the 1 2 3 4 and 5 with several memorials of State during the Reigns of Iames the 6 and Charles the 1. Illustrated with their Effiges in Copper Plates by W. Drummond of Hauthornden With a Prefatory Introduction taken out of the Records of that Nation by Mr. Hall of Grays Inn. The 2 Edition with a brief account of the Authors Life Collyers Compendions Discourses Self denyal Bampfields reply to Dr. Wallis Gosnold of Baptism Post with a Pacquet of Letters School for Princes Spiritual guide to disentangled Souls by P. Molino Learnings Foundation firmly laid in a short method of teaching to read English more exact and easie than ever was yet publish'd by any comprehending all things necessary for the perfect and speedy attaining the same Whereby any one of discretion may be brought to read the Bible truly in the space of a Month tho' he never knew a Letter before the truth whereof hath been confirm'd by manifold experience by George Robertson School-master A New Compass for Sea-Men OR Navigation Spiritualiz'd CHAP. I. The Launching of a Ship plainly sets forth Our double State by First and Second Birth OBSERVATION NO sooner is a Ship built launched rigged victualled and manned but she is presently sent out into the boisterous Ocean where she is never at rest but continually fluctuating tossing and labouring until she be either overwhelmed and wrecked in the Sea or through Age knocks and bruises grows leaky and unserviceable and so is haled up and ript abroad APPLICATION No sooner come we into the World as Men or as Christians by a natural or supernatural Birth but thus we are tost upon a Sea of Troubles Job 5. 7. Yet Man is born to trouble as the sparks flie upwards The spark no sooner comes out of the fire but it flies up naturally it needs not any external force help or guidance but ascends from a principle in it self So naturally so easily doth trouble rise out of sin There is radically all the misery anguish and trouble in the World in our corrupt Natures As the spark lies close hid in the coals so doth misery in sin Every sin draws a rod after it And these sorrows and troubles fall not only on the Body in those breaches flaws deformities pains aches diseases to which it is subject which are but the groans of dying Nature and its crumbling by degrees into dust again but on all our Imployments and Callings also Gen. 3. 17 18 19. These are full of pain trouble and disappointment Hag. 1. 6. We earn Wages and put it into a Bag with holes and disquiet our selves in vain all our Relations full of trouble The Apostle speaking to those that Marry saith 1 Cor. 7. 28. Such shall have trouble in the flesh Upon which words one glosseth thus Flesh and Trouble are Marry'd together whether we Marry or no But they that are Marry'd Marry with and Match into new troubles All Relations have their burdens as well as their comforts It were endless to enumerate the sorrows of this kind and yet the troubles of the Body are but the body of our troubles The spirit of the Curse falls upon the spiritual and noblest part of Man The Soul and Body like to Ezekiel's Roll are written full with sorrows both within and without So that we make the same report of our lives when we come to die that old Iacob made before Pharaoh Gen. 47. 9. Few and evil have the days of the years of our lives been For what hath Man of all his labour and of the vexation of his heart wherein he hath laboured under the Sun For all his days are sorrows and his travel grief yea his heart taketh no rest in the night This is also vanity Eccles. 2 22 23. Neither doth our New Birth free us from troubles though then they be sanctify'd sweetned and turned into blessings to us We put not off the Humane when we put on the Divine Nature nor are we then freed from the sense though we be deliver'd from the sting and curse of them Grace doth not presently pluck out all those Arrows that sin hath shot into the sides of Nature 2 Cor. 7. 5. When we were come into Macedonia our Flesh had no rest but we were troubled on every side without were fightings and within were fears Rev. 7. 14. These are they that come out of great tribulations The first cry of the New-born Christian says one gives Hell an alarm and awakens the rage both of Devils and Men against him Hence Paul and Barnabas acquainted those new Converts Act. 14. 22. That through much tribulation they must enter into the Kingdom of God And we find the state of the Church in this World set out Isa. 54. 11. by the similitude of a distressed Ship at Sea O thou afflicted and tossed with Tempests and not comforted Tossed as Iona's Ship was for the same word is there used Ionah 1. 11. 13. as a Vessel at Sea stormed and violently driven without Rudder Mast Sail or Tacklings Nor are we to expect freedom from those Troubles until harboured in Heaven see 2 Thess. 1. 7. O what large Catalogues of Experiences do the Saints carry to Heaven with them of their various Exercises Dangers Trials and marvellous Preservations and Deliverances out of all And yet all these Troubles without are nothing to those within them from Temptations Corruptions Desertions by Passion and Compassion Besides their own there comes daily upon them the Troubles of others many Rivulets fall into this Channel and Brim yea often overflow the Banks Psal. 34. 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous REFLECTION Hence should the graceless heart thus reflect upon it self O my Soul into what a Sea of troubles art thou lanched forth And what a sad case thou art in Full of Trouble and full of Sin and these do mutually produce each other And that which is the most dreadful Consideration of all is That I cannot see the end of them As for the Saints they suffer in the World as well as I but it is but for a While 1 Pet.
Christ in the days of his flesh who by reason of that overflowing fulness of Grace that dwelt in him the purity of his Person and the Hypostatical Union was secured from the danger of all temptations the case then were otherwise but we have a Traytor within Jam. 1. 14 15. as well as a Tempter without 1 Pet. 5. 8. Our adversary the Devil goes about as a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour And like the Beasts of the Forest poor Souls lie down before him and become his prey All the lagacity wit policy and foresight of some Men is summoned in to serve their Bodies and secure their fleshly enjoyments REFLECTION Lord how doth the care wisdom and vigilancy of Men in temporal and external things condemn my carelesness in the deep and dear concernments of my precious Soul What care and labour is there to secure a perishing life liberty or treasure When was I thus sollicitous for my Soul though its value be inestimable and its dangers far greater Self-preservation is one of the deepest Principles in Nature There is not the poorest Worm or Flie but will shun danger if it can Yet I am so far from shunning those dangers to which my Soul lies continually exposed that I often run it upon temptations and voluntarily expose it to its enemies I see Lord how watchful Jealous and laborious thy People are what Prayers Tears and Groans searching of Heart Mortification of Lusts guarding of Senses and all accounted too little by them Have not I a Soul to save or lose eternally as well as they Yet I cannot deny one fleshly lust nor withstand one temptation O how am I convinced and condemned not only by others care and vigilancy but my own too in lesser and lower matters THE POEM I am the Ship whose Bills of Lading come To more than Mans or Angels art can sum Rich fraught with Mercies on the Ocean now I float the dangerous Ocean I do plow Storms rise Rocks threaten and in every Creek Pirates and Pickeroons their Prizes seek My Soul should watch look out and use its Glass Prevent Surprizals timely but alas Temptations give it chase it 's grappled sure And boared whilst it thinks it self secure It sleeps like Jonah in the dreadful'st storm Although its case be dangerous and forlorn Lord rouze my drowsie Soul lest it should knock And split it self upon some dangerous Rock If it of Faith and Conscience shipwrack make I am undone for ever Soul awake Till thou arrive in Heaven watch and fear Thou mayst not say till then the Coast is clear CHAP. VI. How small a matter turns a Ship about Yet we against our Conscience stand it out OBSERVATION IT is just matter of admiration to see so great a body as a Ship is and when under Sail too before a fresh and strong Wind by which it is carried as the Clouds with marvellous force and speed yet to be commanded with ease by so small a thing as the Helm is The Scripture takes notice of it as a matter worthy our consideration Jam. 3. 4 Behold also the ships which though they be great and driven of fierce winds yet they are turned about with a small Helm whithersoever the Governour listeth Yea Aristotle himself that Eagle ey'd Philosopher could not give a reason of it but looked upon it as a very marvellous and wounderful thing APPLICATION To the same use and office has God design'd Conscience in Man which being rectified and regulated by the Word and Spirit of God is to steer and order his whole Conversation Conscience is as the Oracle of God the Judge and Determiner of our Actions whether they be good or evil and it lays the strongest obligatons upon the creature to obey its dictates that is imaginable For it binds under the reason and consideration of the most Absolute and Soveraign Will of the great God So that as often as Conscience from the Word convinceth us of any sin or duty it lays such a bond upon us to obey it as no power under Heaven can relax or dispense with Angels cannot do it much less Man for that would be to exalt themselves above God Now therefore it is an high and dreadful way of sinning to oppose and rebel against Conscience when it convinces of sin or duty Conscience sometimes reasons it out with Men and shews them the necessity of changing their way and course arguing it from the clearest and most allowed Maxims of right Reason as well as from the indisputable Soveraignty of God As for instance It convinceth their very Reason that things of Eternal Duration are infinitely to be preferred to all momentary and perishing things Rom. 8. 18. Heb. 11. 26. And it is our duty to chuse them and make all secular and temporary concernments to stand aside and give place to them Yet though Men be convinced of this their stubborn Will stands out and will not yield up it self to the conviction Further It argues from this acknowledged truth That all the delights and pleasures it this World are but a miserable portion and that it is the highest folly to adventure an immortal soul for them Luke 9. 25. Alas what remembrance is there of them in Hell They are as the waters that pass away What have they left of all their mirth and jollity but a tormenting sting It convinceth them clearly also that in matters of deep concernment it is an high point of wisdom to apprehend and improve the right seasons and opportunities of them Prov. 10. 5. He that gathers in summer is a wise Son Eccles. 8. 5. A wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment There is a season to every purpose Eccles. 3. 1. viz. A nick of time an happy juncture when if a Man strikes in he doth his work effectually and with much facility Such Seasons Conscience convinceth the Soul of and often whispers thus in its ear Now Soul strike in close with this motion of the Spirit and be happy for ever thou maist never have such a gale for Heaven any more Now though these be allowed Maxims of Reason and Conscience inforce them strongly on the soul yet cannot it prevail the prou'd stubborn Will rebels and will not be guided by it See Ephes. 2. 3. Iob 34. 37. Isai. 46. 12. Ezek. 2. 4. Ier. 44. 16. REFLECTION Ah Lord such an heart have I had before thee thus obstinate thus rebellious so uncomptrolable by Conscience Many a time hath Conscience thus whispered in mine ear many a time hath it stood in my way as the Angel did in Balaams or the Cherubims that kept the way of the Tree of Life with flaming swords turning every way Thus hath it stood to oppose me in the way of my Lusts. How often hath it calmly debated the Case with me alone And how sweetly hath it expostulated with me How clearly hath it convinced of sin danger duty with strong demonstration How terrible hath it menaced my soul and set
Bread ascertain'd VVaters too secur'd Then shout and sing ye that are thus Immur'd CHAP. XII VVhat Dangers run they for a little gains VVho for their Souls would ne'r take half the pains OBSERVATION HOw exceeding solicitous and adventurous are Sea-men for a small portion of the World How prodigal of strength and life for it They will run to the ends of the Earth engage in a Thousand dangers upon the hopes and probability of getting a small Estate Per mare per terras per mille pericula currunt Hopes of gain makes them willing to adventure their liberty yea their life and encourages them to endure Heat Cold and Hunger and a Thousand streights and difficulties to which they are frequently exposed APPLICATION How hot and eager are Mens affections after the World And how remiss and cold towards things eternal They are careful and troubled about many things but seldom mind the great and necessary matters Luke 10. 40. They can rise early go to bed late eat the bread of carefulness But when did they so deny themselves for their poor Souls Their heads are full of designs and projects to get or advance an Estate VVe will go into such a City continue there a year and Buy and Sell and get gain Jam. 4. 13. This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Master-design which engrosseth all their time studies and contrivances The Will hath past a Decree for it the Heart and Affections are fully let out to it They will be rich 1 Tim. 6. 9. This Decree of the Will the Spirit of God takes deep notice of it and indeed it is the clearest and fullest discovery of a Man's portion and condition For look what is highest in the estimation first and last in the thoughts and upon which we spend our time and strength with delight certainly that is our Treasure Mat. 6. 20 21. The Heads and Hearts of Saints are full of solicitous cares and fears about their Spiritual Condition The great design they drive on to which all other things are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things on the by is to make sure their Calling and Election This is the Pondus the weight and byass of their Spirit if their hearts stray and wander after any other thing this reduces them again REFLECTION Lord this hath been my manner from my Youth may the Carnal minded Man say I have been labouring for the Meat that perisheth disquieting my self in vain full of designs and projects for the World and unwearied in my endeavours to compass an earthly treasure yet therein I have either been checkt and disappointed by Providence or if I have obtained yet I am no sooner come to enjoy that Content and Comfort I promised my self in it but I am ready to leave it all to be stript out of it by Death and in that day all my thoughts perish But in the mean time What have I done for my Soul When did I ever break a Night's sleep or deny and pinch my self for it Ah fool that I am to nourish and pamper a vile Body which must shortly lie under the Clods and become a loathsome Carkass and in the mean time neglect and undo my poor Soul which partakes of the Nature of Angels and must live for ever I have kept others Vineyards but mine own Vineyard I have not kept I have been a perpetual drudge and slave to the World in a worse condition hath my Soul been than others that are Condemned to the Mines Lord change my Treasure and change my Heart O let it suffice that I have been thus long labouring on the fire for very vanity Now gather up my heart and affections in thy self and let my great design now be to secure a special interest in thy Blessed Self that I may once say To me to live is Christ. THE POEM The Face of Man imprest and stampt on Gold VVith Crown and Royal Scepters we behold No wonder that an humane Face it gains Since Head Heart Soul and Body it obtains Nor is it strange a Scepter it should have That to its Yoke the World doth so enslave Charm'd with its chinking Note away they go Like Eagles to the Carcass ride and row Through worlds of hazards foolish creatures run That into its embraces they may come Poor Indians in the Mines my heart condoles But seldom turns aside to pity Souls Which are the slaves indeed that toyl and spend Themselves upon its service Surely Friend They are but Sextons to prepare and make Thy Grave within those Mines whence they do take And dig their Ore Ah! many Souls I fear Whose Bodies live yet lie entombed there Is Gold so tempting to you Lo Christ stands VVith length of days and riches in his hands Gold in the fire tried he freely proffers But few regard or take those Golden Offers CHAP. XIII Millions of Creatures in the Seas are fed Why then are Saints in doubt of daily bread OBSERVATION THere are multitudes of Living Creatures in the Sea The Psalmist saith There are in it things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts Psal. 104. 25. And we read Gen. 1. 20. that when God blessed the Waters he said Let the Waters bring forth abundantly both Fish and Fowl that move in it and fly about it Yet all those multitudes of Fish and Fowl both in Sea and Land are cared and provided for Psal. 145. 15 16. Thou givest them their meat in due season thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing APPLICATION If God take care for the Fishes of the Sea and the Fowls of the Air much more will he care and provide for those that fear him When the poor and needy seeketh water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them Isai. 41. 17. Take no thought for your life saith the Lord what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink or for the body what ye shall put on Which he backs with an Argument from God's Providence over the Creatures and enforceth it with a much rather upon them Matth. 6. 25 31. God would have his people be without carefulness i. e. anxious care 1 Cor. 7. 32. And to cast their care upon him for he careth for them 1 Pet. 5. 7. There be two main Arguments suggested in the Gospel to quiet and satisfie the hearts of Saints in this particular The one is that the Gift of Jesus Christ amounts to more than all these things come to yea in bestowing him he has given that which virtually and eminently comprehends all these inferiour mercies in it Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things And 1 Cor. 3. 22. All things are yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's Another Argument is That God gives these Temporal Things to those he never gave his Christ
so many delights and hurried in a moment into the Land of Darkness to be cloathed with flames and drink the pure wrath of the Almighty for ever This is it that makes it terrible Quest. 5. If Death be so weighty a matter am I prepared to die Answ. I doubt Not I am afraid I want many things that are necessary to a due preparation for it Quest. 6. What are those things wherein a due preparation for Death consisteth Answ. Many things are necessary First Special and Saving Union with Jesus Christ. This is it that disarms it of its sting O Death where is thy sting Thanks be to God who hath given us the victoâ—y through our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. So Joh. 11. 26. VVho soever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Whosoever liveth i. e. is quickned with a new spiritual Life and Principle and so puts sorth the principal act of that life viz. Faith he shall never die i. e. eternally This hornet Death shall never leave its sting in his sides Secondly To entertain Death comfortably the evidence and knowledge of this Union is necessary 2 Cor. 5. 1. â—or we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God c. And then he cannot only be content but groan to be uncloathed vers 2. A mistake in the former will cost me my Soul and a mistake here will lose me my peace and comfort Thirdly In order to this evidence it's necessary that I keep a good conscience in all things both towards God and Man 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoycing even the testimony of our Conscience that in sincerity and godly simplicity not in fleshly wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our conversation in the world This good Conscience respects all and every part of our work and duty to be done and all and every sin to be renounced and denied So that he that is early united unto Christ by Faith hath the clear evidence of that Union and the evidence fairly gathered from the testimony of a good Conscience witnessing his faithfulness as to all duties to be done and sins to be avoided he is fit to die Death can do him no harm but alas these things are not to be found in me Quest. 7. But what if I die without such a preparation as this is what will the consequence of that be Answ. Very terrible even the separation of my Soul and Body from the Lord to all Eternity John 3. 36. He that believeth on the Son bath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him He shall not see life there 's the privative part of his misery separation from the blessed God And the wrath mark it not anger but wrath not the wrath of a man bat of God at whose rebukes the Mountains skip like frighted men and the Hills tremble The wrath of God not only flashes out upon him as a transient flash of lightinng but abideth dwells sticks fast there is no power in the world can loose the soul from it Vpon him not the body only nor the soul only but on him i. e. the whole person the whole Man Here is the principal positive part of that man's misery Quest. 8. Can I bear this misery Answ. No My heart cannot endure nor my hand be strong when God shall have to do with me upon this account I cannot bear this wrath Angels could not bear it it hath sunk them into the depths of misery Those that feel but a few sparks of it in their Consciences here are even distracted by it Psal. 88. 15. Christ himself had never born up under it had he not been subported by the infinite power of the divine nature Isai. 42. 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold How then shall I live when God doth this what will be done to the dry tree Oh! there is on abiding of it it is insufferable The sinners in Zion are afraid trembling surprizeth the hypocrite who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who can endure the everlasting burning Isai. 33. 14. Quest. 9 If it cannot be born is there any way to prevent it Answ. Yes there is hope in I srael concerning this thing And herein I am in better case than the damned I have the may-be's of mercy and they have not Oh what would they give for a possibility of Salvation Isai. 1. 16 17 18. Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well c. Come now let us reason together and though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as snow Isai. 55. 7. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Though my disease be dangerous it is not desperate it doth not scorn a remedy Oh there is Balm in Gilead and a Physician there There is yet a possibility not only of recovering my Primitive glory but to be set in a better case than ever Adam was Quest. 10 How may that be Answ. By going to the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus Rom. 8. 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect It is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again Quest. 11. But what is it to go to Christ Asw. To go to Christ is to embrace him in his Person and Offices and to rest intrely and closely upon him for pardon of sin and eternal life being deeply sensible of the want and worth of him Joh. 1. 12. To as many as received him he gave power to become the sons of God even to as many as believed on his Name John 3. 36. He that believed on the Son hath life 1 Cor. 1. 30. And of him are ye in Christ Iesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Acts 4. 12. Neither is there Salvation in any other c. Acts 13. 39. And by him all that believe are Iustified from all things from which ye could not be Iustified by the Law of Moses Isai. 45. 22. Look unto me and be ye saved Acts 2. 37. Now when they heard this they were pricked to the heart c. Quest. 12. Bâ—t will Christ receive me if I go unto him Answ. Yes yes He is more ready to receive thee than thou are to come to him Luk. 15. 20. And he â—â—ose and came to his Father But when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion on him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him The Son doth but go the Father
at the Heavenly Strand and set foot upon the shore of Glory O Sirs I beg of you if you have any regard to those precious immortal Souls of yours which are also imbarqued for Eternity whither all winds blow them and will quickly he at their Port of Heaven or Hell that you will seriously mind these things and learn to steer your course to Heaven and improve all Winds I mean opportunities and means to waft you thither Here you venture life and liberty run through many Difficulties and Dangers and all to compass a perishing Treasure yet how often do you return disappointed in your Designs or if not yet it is but a fading short-liv'd Inheritance which like the flowing Tide for a little while covers the shore and then returns and leaves it naked and dry again And are not Everlasting Treasures worth venturing for Good Souls be wise for Eternity I here present you with the Fruit of a few spare Hours redeemed for your sakes from my other Studies and Imployments which I have put into a new Dress and Mode I have endeavoured to cloath Spiritual Matters in your own Dialect and Phrases that they might be the more intelligible to you and added some pious Poems with which the several Chapters are concluded trying by all means to assault your several Affections and as the Apostle speaks to catch you with guile I can say nothing of it I know it cannot be without its manifold imperfections since I am conscious of so many in my self Only this I will adventure to say of it That how defective or empty soever it be in other respects yet it is stuffed and filled with much true love to and earnest desires after the salvation and prosperity of your Souls And for the other defects that attend it I have only two things to offer in way of excuse It is the first Essay that I ever made in this kind wherein I had no President And it was hastned for your sakes too soon out of my hands that it might be ready to wait upon you when you undertake your next Voyage so that I could not revise and polish it Nor indeed was I sollicitous about the stile I consider I writ not for Critical and Learned Persons my design is not to please your Fancies any further than I might thereby get advantage to profit your Souls I will not once question your welcome Reception of it If God shall bless these Meditations to the Conversion of any among you you will be the Gainers and my heart shall rejoyce even mine How comfortably should we shake hand with you when you go abroad were we perswaded your Souls were interested in Christ and secured from perishing in the New Convenant What life would it put into our Prayers for you when you are abroad to consider that Iesus Christ is interceeding for you in Heaven whilst we are your Remembrancers here on Earth How quiet would our hearts be when you are abroad in Storms did we know you had a special Interest in him whom Winds and Seas obey To conclude what Ioy would it be to your Godly Relations to see you return new Creatures Doubtless more than if you came home laden with the Riches of both Indies Come Sirs set the heavenly Jerusalem upon the Point of your New Compass make all the Sail you can for it and the Lord give you a prosperous Gale and a safe Arrival in that Land of Rest. So prays Your most Affectionate Friend to serve you in Soul-Concernments IOHN FLAVEL IMPRIMATUR Geo. Stradling S. T. P. Rev. in Christo Pat. D. Gilb. Archiepisc. Cant. a. Sac. Domest Ex Aed Lamb. Dec. 14. 1663. To every Sea-man Sailing Heavenward Ingenious Sea-man THE Art of Navigation by which Islands especially are enriched and preserved in safety from Forensical Invasions and the wonderful Works of God in the great Deep and Foreign Nations are most delightfully and fully beheld c. is an Art of exquisite excellency ingenuity rarity and mirability But the Art of Spiritual Navigation is the Art of Arts. It is a gallant thing to be able to carry a Ship richly laden round the World but it is much more gallant to carry a Soul that rich loading a Pearl of more worth than all the Merchandise of the world in a body that is liable to leaks and bruises as any Ship is through the Sea of this World which is as unstable as water and hath the same brinish taste and salt gust which the waters of the Sea have safe to Heaven the best Haven so as to avoid splitting upon any Soul-sinking Rocks or striking upon any Soul-drowning Sands The Art of Natural Navigation is a very great mystery but the Art of Spiritual Navigation is by much a greater mystory Humane wisdom may teach us to carry a Ship to the Indies but the Wisdom only that is from above can teach us to steer our course aright to the Haven of Happiness This Art is purely of Divine Revelation The truth is Divinity the Doctrine of living to God is nothing else but the Art of Soul-Navigation revealed from Heaven A meer man can carry a Ship to any desired Port in all the World but no meer man can carry a Soul to Heaven He must be a Saint he must be a Divine so all Saints are that can be a Pilot to carry a Soul to the fair Haven in Emanuel's land The Art of Natural Navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of Christ before which time if there be truth in History the use of the Loadstone was never known in the world and before the vertue of that was revealed unto the Mariner it is unspeakable with what uncertain wandrings Sea-men floated here and there rather than sailed the right and direct way Sure I am the Art of Spiritual Navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of Christ it oweth its clearest and fullest discovery to the coming of Christ. This Art of Arts is now perfectly revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament but the Rulers thereof are dispers'd up and down therein The collecting and methodizing of the same cannot but be a work very useful unto Souls Though when all is done there is an absolute necessity of the teachings of the Spirit and of the anointing that is from above to make Souls Artists in sailing Heavenward The Ingenious Author of the Christians Compass or the Marriners Companion makes three Parts of this Art as the School-men of Divinity viz. Speculative Practical and Affectionate The principal things necessary to be known by a Spiritual Sea-man in order to the steering rightly and safely to the Port of Happiness he reduceth to four Heads answerable to the four general Points of the Compass making God our North Christ our East Holiness our South and Death our West Points Concerning God we must know 1. That he is Heb. 11. 6. and that there is but one God 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. 2. That this God is that
at several Meditations which the spiritual Seaman is to be acquainted with unto which thou hast an excellent Supplement in this New Compass for Seamen This Collection is prefixt that at once thou mayest view all the Compasses both the Speculative Practical and Affectionate by which thou must steer Heaven-ward What further shall be added by way of Preâ—â—â—e is not to commend this New Compass which indeed 2 Cor. 3. 1. needs no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Letters of Commendation or any Panegyrick to usher it into any honest heart but to stir up all especially Sea-men to make conscience of using such choice helps for the promoting the sanctification and salvation of their Souls for the making of them as dexterous in the Art of Spiritual Navigation as any of them are in the Art of Natural Navigation Consider therefore 1. What rich Merchandize thy Soul is Christ assures us one Soul is more worth than all the world The Lord Iesus doth as it were put the whole world in one scale and one soul in the other and the world is found too light Mat. 16. 26. Shouldst thou by skill in Natural Navigation carry safe all the treasures of the Indies into thine own Port yea gain the whole world and for want of skill in spiritual Navigation lose thy soul thou wouldst be the greatest loser in the world So far wilt thou be from profiting by any of thy Sea-voyages There is a plain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in those words of Christ What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul More is meant than is spoken 2. What a leaking Vessel thy body is in which this unspeakable inconceivable rich Treasure thy soul is embarked O the many diseases and distempers in the humors and passions that thy body is subject to It is above 2000 years ago that there have been rekoned up 300 Names of Diseases and there be many under one name and many nameless which pose the Physicians not only how to cure them but how to call them And for the affections and passions of the Mind the distempers of them are no less deadly to some than the diseases of the body But besides these internal causes there are many external causes of Leaks in this Vessel as poisonous malignities wrathful hostilities and casual mishaps very small matters may be of great moment to the sinking of this Vessel The least Gnat in the Air may choak one as it did Adrian a Pope of Rome a little hair in Milk may strangle one as it did a Counsellor in Rome a little stone of a Raisin may stop ones breath as it did the Poetical Poet Anacreon Thus you see what a leaking Vessel you sail in Now the more leaky any ship is the more need there is of skill to steer wisely 3. Consider what a dangerous Sea the World is in which thy Soul is to sail in the leaking ship of thy body As there are not more changes in the Sea than are in the World the world being only constant in inconstancy The fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 31. so there are not more dangers in the Sea for ships than there are in the world for souls In this world Souls meet with Rocks and Sands Syrens and Pyrates Worldly Temptations worldly Lusts and worldly Company cause many to drown themselves in perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. The very things of this world endanger our Souls By worldly Objects we soon grow worldly It is hard to touch Pitch and not be defiled The lusts of this world stain our glory and the men of tâ—is world pollute all they converse with A man that keeps company with the men of this world is like him that walketh in the Sun tanned insensibly Thus you have hinted the dangerousness of the Sea wherein you are to sail Now the more dangerous the Sea is the more requisite it is the Sailer be an Artist 4. Consider what if through want of skill in the heavenly Art of spiritual Navigation thou shouldst not steer thy Câ—â—rse aright I will instance only in two consequents thereof 1. Thou wilt never arrive at the Haven of Happiness 2. Thou shalt be drowned in the Ocean of God's wrath As true as the Word of God is true as sure as the Heavens are over thy head and the Earth under thy feet as sure as thou yet livest and breathest in this Air so true and certain it is thou shalt never enter into Heaven but sink into the depth of the bottomless pit Am I not herein a Messenger of the saddest Tidings that ever yet thy Ears did hear Possibly now thou makest a light matter of these things because thou dost not know what it is to miss of Heaven and what it is for ever to lie under the wrath of God but hereafter thou wilt know fully what it is to have thy Soul lost eternally so lost as that God's mercies and all the good there is in Christ shall never save it and as God hath set and ordered things can never save it Hereafter thou wilt be perfectly sensible of the good that thou mightest have had and of the evil that shall be upon thee this is God's peculiar Prerogative to make a Creature as sensible of Misery as he pleaseth then thou wilt have other thoughts of these things than now thou hast Then the thoughts of thy mind shall be busied about thy lost Condition both as to the pain of loss and the pain of sense so that thou shalt not be able to take any ease any moment then that thy torments may be increased they acknowledge the truth of thy apprehensions yea the strength of them shall be encreased thou shalt have true and deep apprehensions of the greatness of that good that thou shalt miss of and of that evil which thou shalt procure unto thy self and then thou shalt not be able to choose but to apply all thy loss all thy misery to thy self which will force thee to roar out O my loss O my misery O my unconceivable unrecoverable loss and misery Yea for the increasing of thy torments thy Affections and Memory shall be enlarged O that to prevent that lose and misery these things may now be known and laid to heart O that a blind Understanding a stupid Judgment a bribed Conscience a hard Heart a bad Memory may no longer make Heaven and Hell to seem but trifles to thee Thou wilt then easily be perswaded to make it thy main business here to become an Artist in Spiritual Navigation But to shut up this Preface I shall briefly acquaint Sea-men why they should of all others be Men of singular Piety and Heavenliness and therefore more than ordinarily study the heavenly Art of Spiritual Navigation O that Sea-men would therefore consider 1 How nigh they border upon the Confines of Death and Eternity every moment There is but a step but an
and riches of it if they will but submit to the terms on which it is tender'd to them In the vastness of the Ocean we have also a lively Emblem of Eternity Who can comprehend or measure the Ocean but God And who can comprehend Eternity but he that is said to inhabit it Isa. 57. 15. Though shallow Rivers may be drained and dried up yet the Ocean cannot And though these transitory Days Months and Years will at last expire and determine yet Eternity shall not O! it is a long World and amazing Matter What is Eternity but a constant permanency of Persons and Things in one and the same State and Condition for ever putting them beyond all possibility of change The Heathens were wont to shadow it by a Cricle or a Snake twisted round It will be to all of us either a perpetual Day or Night which will not be measured by Watches Hours Minutes And as it cannot be measured so neither can it ever be diminished When thousands of years are gone there is not a minute less to come Gerhard and Drexelius do both illustrate it by this known similitude Suppose a Bird were to come once in a thousand years to some vast Mountain of Sand and carry away in her Bill one Sand in a thousand years O what a vast time would it be e're that immortal Bird after that rate had recovered the Mountain and yet in time this might be done For there would be still some diminution but in Eternity there can be none There be three things in Time which are not competent to Eternity In Time there is a Succession one Generation Year and Day passeth and another comes but Eternity is a fixed now In Time there is a Diminution and wasting the more is past the less to come But it is not so in Eternity In time there is an Alteration of condition and states A Man may be poor to day and rich to morrow sickly and diseased this week and well the next now in contempt and anon in honour But no change passes upon us in Eternity As the Tree falls at Death and Judgment so it lies for ever If in Heaven there thou art a Pillar and shalt go forth no more Rev. 3. 12. If in Hell no Redemption thence but the smoak of their torments ascendeth for ever and ever Rev. 19. 3. REFLECTION And is the Mercy of God like the great Deeps an Ocean that none can fathom What unspeakable Comfort is this to me may the pardoned Soul say Did Israel sing a Song when the Lord had overwhelm'd their corporal Enemies in the Seas And shall not I break forth into his Praises who hath drowned all my sins in the depth of Mercy O my Soul bless thou the Lord and let his high praises ever be in thy mouth Mayst not thou say that he hath gone to as high an extent and degree of Mercy in pardoning thee as ever he did in any Oh my God who is like unto thee that pardonest Iniquity Transgression and Sin What mercy but the Mercy of a God could cover such abominations as mine But O! what terrible Reflections will Conscience â—ake from hence upon all the Despisers of Mercy when the sinners eyes come to be opened too late for Mercy to do them good We have heard inâ—eed that the King of Heaven was a merciful King â—ut we would make no address to Him whilst that Scepter was stretched out We heard of Balm in Gilead and a Physician there that was able and willing to cure all our wounds but would not commit our seives to him We read that the Arms of Christ were open to embrance and receive us but we would not O unparallel'd folly O Soul-destroying madness Now the Womb of Mercy is shut up and shall bring forth no more Mercies to me for ever Now the Gates of Grace are shut and no cries can open them Mercy acted its part and is gone off the Stage and now Justice enters the Scene and will be glorified for ever upon me How often did I hear the Bowels of Compassion sounding in the Gospel for me But my hard and impenitent heart could not relent and now if it could it is too late I am now past out of the Ocean of Mercy into the Ocean of Eternity where I am fixed in the midst of endless Misery and shall never hear the Voice of Mercy more O dreadful Eternity Oh Soul-confounding Word â— An Ocean indeed to which this Ocean is but as a drop for in thee no Soul shall see either Bank or Bottom If I lie but one Night under strong pains of body how tedious doth that Night seem And how do I tell the Clock and wish for day In the World I might have had Life and would not And now how fain would I have Death but cannot â— How quick were my sins in execution And how long is their punishment in duration O how shall I dwell with everlasting Burnings Oh that God would but vouchsafe one treaty more with me Buâ— alas all tenders and treaties are now at an end with me On Earth peace Luke 2. 13. but none in Hell O my Soul consider these things come let us debate this matter seriously before we launch oâ— into this Ocean THE POEM Who from some high-rais'd Tower views the ground His heart doth tremble and his head doth round Even so my Soul whilst it doth view and think On this Eternity upon whose brink It borders stands amazed and doth cry O boundless bottomless Eternity The Scourge of Hell whose very Lash doth rend The damned Souls in twain What! never end The more thereon they ponder think and pore The more poor wretches still they howl and roar Ah! though more years in torments we should lie Than Sands are on the Shore or in the Skie Are twinkling Stars yet this gives some relief The hope of ending Ah! but here 's the grief A thousand Years in Torments past and gone Ten Thousand more afresh are coming on And when these Thousands all their course have run The end 's no more than when it first begun Come then my Soul let us discourse together This weighty Point and tell me plainly whether You for these short-liv'd Ioys that come and go Will plunge your self and me in endless woe Resolve the Question quickly do not dream More Time away Lo in an hasty stream We swiftly pass and shortly we shall be Ingulphed both in this Eternity CHAP. III. Within these smooth-fac'd Seas strange Creatures crawl But in Man's Heart far stranger than them all OBSERVATION IT was an unadvised saying of Plato Mare nil memorabile producit The Sea produceth nothing memorable But surely there is much of the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God manifested in those Inhabitants of the Watery Region Notwithstanding the Seas azure and smiling face Strange Creatures are bred in its Womb. O Lord saith David how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full
of thy riches So is this great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great Beasts Psalm 104. 24 25. And we read Lam. 4. 3. of Sea-Monsters which draw out their Breasts to their young Pliny and Purchas tell incredible stories about them About the Tropick of Capricorn our Sea-men meet with flying Fishes that have Wings like a Rere-mouse but of a Silver-colour they fly in flocks like Stares There are Creatures of very strange Forms and Properties some resembling a Cow called by the Spaniards Manates by some supposed to be the Sea-monster spoken of by Ieremy In the Rivers of Guiana Purchas saith there are Fishes that have four Eyes bearing two above and two beneath the Water when they swim Some resembling a Toad and very poisonous How strange both in shape and property is the Sword-fish and Thrasher that fight with the Whale Even our own Seas produce Creatures of strange shapes but the commonness takes off the wonder APPLICATION Thus doth the heart of Man naturally swarm and abound with strange and monstrous lusts and abominations Rom. 1. 29 30 31 Being filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness fuil of envy murder debate deceit malignity whisperers back-bitâ—rs haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to Parents without understanding covenant-breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful O what a swarm is here and yet there are multitudes more in the depths of the heart And it is no wonder considering that with this Nature we received the spawn of the blackest and vilest abominations This original lust is productive to them all Iam. 1. 14. 15. Which lust though it be in every Man numerically different from that of others yet it is one and the same speciffically for sort and kind in all the Children of Adam even as the reasonable Soul though every Man hath his own Soul viz a Soul individually distinct from another Man's yet is it the same for kind in all men So that whatever abominations are in the hearts and lives of the vilest Sodomites and most profligate Wretches under Heaven there is the same matter in thy heart out of which they were shaped and formed In the depths of the heart they are conceived and thence they crawl out of the eyes hands lips and all the members Mat. 15. 18. 19. Those things saith Christ which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and defile a man For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false-witness blasphemies Even such Monsters as would make a gracious heart tremble to behold What are my Lusts saith Fuller's Medone but so many Toads spitting of Venome tations p 11. and spawning of Poison croaking in my Iudgment creeping in my Will and crawling into my Affecttions The Apostle in 1 Cor. 5. 1. tells us of a sin Not to be named so monstrous that Nature it self startles at it Even such Monsters are generated in the depths of the heart Whence comes evils was a Question that much puzled the Philosphers of old Now here you may see whence they come and when they are begotten REFLECTION And are there such strange abominations in the heart of Man Then how is he degenerated from his Perfection and Glory His streams were once as clear as Chrystal and the Fountain of them pure there was no unclean Creature moving in them What a stately Fabrick was the Soul at first And what holy Inhabitants possessed the several rooms thereof But now as God speaks of Idumea Isai. 34. 11. The line of confusion is stretched out upon it and the stones of emptiness The Cormorant and Bittern posses it the Owl and the Raven dwell in it Yea as Isai. 13. 21. 22. The wild beasts of the desert lie there is is full of doleful creatures the Satyrs dance in it and Dragons cry in those sometimes pleasant places O sad change how sadly may we look back towards our first state and take up the words of Iob O that I were as in months past as in the days of my youth when the Almighty was yet with me when I put on righteousness and it cloathed me when my glory was fresh in me Job 29. 2 4. 5. Again think O my Soul what a miserable condition the Unregenerate abide in Thus swarmed and over-run with hellish Lusts â—nder the dominion and vassalage of divers Lusts Tit. 3. 3. What a tumultuous Sea is such a Soul How do these Lusts rage within them how do they contest and scuffle for the Throne and usually take it by turns For as all Diseases are contrary to health yet some contrary to each other so are Lusts. Hence poor Creatures are hurried on to different kinds of servitude according to the Nature of that imperious Lust that is in the Throne and like the Lunatick Mat. 17. are sometimes cast into the VVater and somtimes into the Fire Well might the Prophet say The wicked is like a troubled Sea that cannot rest Isai. 57. 20. They have no peace now in the serv ice of sin and less they shall have hereafter when they receive the wages of sin There is no peaec to the wicked saith my God they indeed cry Peace peace but my God doth not say so The last issue and result of this is Eternal Death no sooner is it delivered of its deceitfull pleasures but presently it falls in travel again and brings forth death Iam. 1 15. Once more And is the Heart such a Sea abounding with monstrous abominations then stand astonished O my Soul at that Free-grace which hath delivered thee from so sad a Condition O fall down and kiss the feet of Mercy that moved so freely and seasonably to thy rescue Let my heart be enlarged abundantly here Lord what am I that I should be taken and others left Reflect O my Soul upon the Conceptions and Births of Lusts in the days of Vanity which thou now blushest to own O what black imaginations hellish desires vile affections are lodged there Who made me to differ Or how came I to be thus wounderfully separated Surely it is by thy Free-grace and nothing else that I am what I am And by that Grace I have escaped to mine own astonishment the corruption that is in the World through Lust. O that ever the holy God should set his eyes on such an one or cast a look of love towards me in whom were Legions of unclean Lusts and Abominations THE POEM My Soul 's the Sea wherein from day to day Sins like Leviathans do sport and play Great Master-Lusts with all the lesser fry Therein increase and strangely multiply Yet strange it is not sin so fast should breed Since with this Nature I receiv'd the Seed And Spawn of every Species which was shed Into its Caverns first then nourished By its own native warmth which like the Sun Hath quickned them and now abroad they come And like the Frogs of Aegypt creep
make your hearts shake within you If but a Plank spring or a Bolt give way you are all lost Sometimes the Lord for the magnifying of the riches of his goodness upon you drives you to such exigencies that as Paul speaks in a like case Acts 17. 20. All hopes of being saved is taken away Nothing but Death before your eyes The Lord commands a Wind out of his Treasury bids it go and lift up the terrible Waves look you in upon the shore and drive you upon the Rocks so that no Art can save you and then sends you a piece of Wreck or some other means to land you safe And all this to give you an experiment of his goodness and pity that you may learn to fear that God in whose hand your Soul and Breath is And it may be for present your hearts are much affected Conscience works strongly it smites you for sins formerly committed such cannsels of Ministers or Relations slighted Now saith Conscience God is come in this storm to reckon with thee for these things But alas all this is but a morning-dew no sooner is that storm without allayed but all is quiet within too How little of the goodness of God abides kindly and effectually upon the heart REFLECTION How often hath this glorious power and goodness of God passed before me in dreadful storms and tempests at Sea He hath uttered his Voice in those stormy Winds and spoken in a terrible manner by them yet how little have I been affected with it The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm Nah. 1. 3. To some he hath walked in ways of Judgment and Wrath sending them down in a moment to Hell but to me in a way of forbearance and mercy Ah how often have I been upon the very brink of Eternity Had not God shifted or allaid the Wind in a moment I had gone down into Hell What workings of Conscience were at present upon me And what terrible apprehensions had I then of my eternal condition What Vows did I make in that distress and how earnestly did I then beg for Mercy But Lord though thy Vows are upon me yet have I been the same yea added to and filled up the measure of my sins Neither the bonds of Mercy thou hast laid upon me nor the sacred and solemn Vows I have laid upon my self could restrain me from those ways of iniquity which then appeared so dreadful to me Ah Lord what an heart have I What love pity and goodness have I sinned against If God had but respited Judgment so long what a mercy were it Sure I am the damned would account it so but to give me such a space to repent Ah what an invaluable Mercy is this And do I thus requite the Lord Deut. 32. 6. and pervert and abuse his goodness thus Surely O my Soul if this be the fruit of all thy preservations they are rather reservations to some further and sorer judgment How dreadfully will Justice at last avenge the Quarrel of abused Mercy Iosh. 24. 20. How grievously did God take it from the Israelites that they provoked him at the Sea even at the Red Sea Psal. 106. 7. where God had wrought there deliverance in such a miraculous way Even thus have I sinned after the similitude of there transgressions not onely against the Laws of God but against the Love of God In the last storm he shot off his VVarning-piece in the next he may discharge his Murdering-piece against my Soul and body O my Soul hath he given thee such deliverances as these and darest thou again break his Commandments Ezra 9. 13 14. O let me pay the Vows that my lips have uttered in my distress lest the Lord recover his glory from me in a way of Judgment THE POEM The Ship that now sails trim before a Wind E're the desired Port it gains may find A tedious passage Gentle Gales a-while Do fill its Sails the flattering Seas do smile The Face of Heaven is bright on every side The wanton Porpice tumbles on the Tide Into their Cahbins now the Sea-men go And then turn out again with What chear ho All on a sudden darkned are the Skies The Lamp of Heaven abscur'd the Winds do rise Waves sâ—ell like Mountains Now their Courage flags The Masts are crackt the Canvas torn to rags The Vessel works for life anon one cries The Main mast's gone by th' Board another plies The â—ump until a third do strike them blank With Sirs prepare for Death w' have sprung a Plank Now to their Knees they go and on this wise They beg for Mercy with their loudest Cries Lord save us but this once and thou shalt see What Persons for the future we will he Our former â—im's mis-spent but with a Vow VVe will engage if thou wilt save us now To mend what is amiss The gracious Lord Inclin'd to pity takes them at their word The VVinds into their Treasures he doth call Rebukes the stormy Sea and brinâ—s them all To their desired Haven once ashore And then their Vows are ne'r remembred more Thus Souls are shipwrackt tho the Bodies live Vnless in time thou true Repentance give CHAP. VIII The Navigator shifts his Sails to take All VVinds but that which for his Soul doth make OBSERVATION THE Mariner wants no Skill and wisdom to improve several Winds and make them serviceable to his eud A bare side-wind by his skill in shifting and managing the Sails will serve his turn He will not lose the advantage of one breath or gale that may be useful to him I have many times wonder'd to see two Ships failing in a direct counter-motion by one and the same wind Their skill and wisdom herein is admirable APPLICATION Thus prudent and skilful are Men in secular and lower matters and yet how ignorant and unskilful in the great and everlasting affairs of their Souls All their Invention Judgment Wit and Memory seem to be prest for the service of the flesh They can learn an Art quickly and arrive to a great deal of exactness in it but in soul-matters no knowledge at all They can understand the Aequator Meridian and Horizon By the first they can tell the Latitude of any place South or North measuring it by the degrees in the Meridian by the second they can tell you the Longitude of a place East and West from the Meridian measuring it by the degrees of the Aequator And by the third they can discern the divers risings and settings of the Stars And so in other Arts and Sciences we find men endowed with rare abilities and singular sagacity Some have piercing Apprehensions solid Judgments stupendious Memories rare Invention and excellent elocution But put them upon any spiritual pernatural matter and the weakest Christian even a babe in Christ shall excel them therein and give a far better account of Regeneration the Work of Grace the Life of Faith than these can 1 Cor. 1. 26. Not many
all Process at Law or from the Law is stopt Rom. 8. 1. But if thou be an impenitent persisting sinner thy debt remains upon thine own score And be sure thy sin will find thee out where-ever thou goest Num. 32. 23. i. e. God's revenging hand for sin will be upon thee Thou maist lose the sight and memory of thy sin but they lose not the sight of thee they follow after as the Hound doth the fleeting game upon the scent till they have fetcht thee up And then consider How fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. 31. How soon may a storm arrest and bring thee before the Bar of God REFLECTION O my Soul what a case art thou in if this be so Are not all thy sins yet upon thine own score Hast not thou mane light of Christ and that precious Blood of his and hitherto persisted in thy Rebellion against him And what can the issue of this be at last but ruine There is abundant mercy indeed for returning sinners but the Gospel speaks of none for persisting and impenitent sinners And though many who are going on in their sins are overtaken by Grace yet there is no Grace promised to such as go on in sin O if God should arrest me by the next Storm and call me to an account for all that I owe him I must then lie in the Prison of Hell to all Eternity for I can never pay the debt nay all the Angels in Heaven cannot satisfie for it Being Christless I am under all the Curses in the Book of God a Child of Hagar Lord pity and spare me a little longer O discover thy Christ unto me and give me Faith in his Blood and then thou art fully satisfied at once and I discharged for ever O require not the debt at my hand for then thou wilt never be satisfied nor I acquitted What profit Lord is there in my Blood O my soul make hast to this Christ thy Refuge-City thou knowest not how soon the avenger of Blood may overtake thee THE POEM Thy sins are debts God puts them to account Canst tell poor wretch to what thy debts amount Thou fill'st the treasure of thy sins each hour Into his Vials God doth also pour Proportionable wrath Thou seest it not But yet assure thy self there 's drop for drop For every Sand of Patience running out A drop of Wrath runs in Soul look about God's Treasure 's almost full as well as thine When both are full O then the dreadful time Of Reckoning comes thou shalt not gain a day Of patience more but then there hastes away Heaven's Pursivant who comes upon the wing With his Commission seal'd to take and bring Do'st still reject Christ's tenders Well next storm May be the Bailiff ordered to perform This dreadful office O then restless be Till God in Christ be reconcil'd to thee The Sum is great but if a Christ thou get Fear not a Prince can pay a Beggar 's debt Now if the Storm should rise thou need not fear Thou art but the Delinquent is not there A pardoned Soul to Sea may boldly go He fears not Bailiffs that doth nothing owe. CHAP. XIX To save the Ship rich Ladings cast away Thy Soul is Shipwrackt if thy Lusts do stay OBSERVATION IN Storms and Distresses at Sea the Richest Commodities are cast over-board they stand not upon it when Life and all is in jeopardy and hazard Ionah 1. 5. The Mariners cast forth the Wares that were in the Ship into the Sea to lighten it And Act. 27. 18 19. they cast out the very tacklings of the Ship How highly soever Men prize such Commodities yet reason tells them It were better these should perish than Life Satan himself could say Job 1. Skin for skin and all that a Man hath will he give for his Life APPLICATION And surely it is every way as highly reasonable that Men should mortifie cast out and cut off their dearest Lusts rather than their Immortal Souls should sink and perish in the Storm of God's wrath Life indeed is a precious Treasure and highly valued by Men You know what Solomon saith Eccles. 9. 4. That a Living Dog is better than a Dead Lion And we find Men willing to part with their Estates Limbs or any outward Comfort for the preservation of it The Woman in the Gospel spent all she had on the Physicians for her Health a degree below Life Some Men indeed do much over-value their Lives and part with Christ and Peace of Conscience for it but he that thus saves it shall lose it Now if Life be so much worth What then is the Soul worth Alas Life is but a vapour which appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away Jam. 4. 14. Life indeed is more worth than all the World but my Soul is more worth than Ten thousand Lives Nature teacheth you to value the first so high and Grace should teach you to value the second much higher Mat. 19. 26. Now here is the case Either you must part with your Sins or with your Souls if these be not cast out both must sink together If ye live after the flâ—sh ye must die Rom. 8. 13. God saith to you in this case as to Ahab when he spared Benhadad 1 King 20. 40. Because thou hast let go a Sin which God hath appointed to destruction therefore thy Life shall go for his Life Guilt will raise a Storm of Wrath as Ionah did if not cast out REFLECTION And must Sin or the Soul perish Must my Life yea my Eternal Life go for it if I spare it O then let me not be cruel to mine own Soul in sparing my Sin O my Soul this foolish pity and cruel Indulgence will be thy ruine If I spare it God hath said He will not spare me Deut. 26. 20. It is true the pains of Mortification are sharp but yet it 's easier than the pains of Hell To cut off a right hand or pluck out a right eye is hard but to have my Soul cut off eternally from God is harder Is it as easie O my Soul to burn for them in Hell as to Mortifie them on Earth Surely it is profitable for me that one member perish rather than that all be cast into Hell Mat. 5. 24. I see the Merchant willing to part with rich Wares if embarqued with them in a Storm And those that have Gangreen'd Legs or Arms willingly stretch them out to be cut off to preserve Life And shall I be willing to endure no difficulties for my Soul Christ reckon'd Souls worth his Blood And is it not worth my Self-denyal Lord let me not warm a Snake in my Bosom that will at last sting me to the heart THE POEM Thy Soul 's the Ship its Lading is its Lusts God's Iudgments stormy Winds and dang'rous gusts Conscience the Master but the stubborn Will Goes Supra Cargo and doth keep the Bill Affections are the Men
the VVinds do rise The Storm increases Conscience gives Advice To throw those Lusts o're-board and so to ease The Vessel which else cannot keep the Seas The VVill opposes and th' Affections say The Master's Counsel they will not obey The case is dangerous that no man can doubt Who sees the storm within and that without Lusts and Affections cannot part no rather They are resolv'd to swim or sink together Conscience still strives but they cannot abide That it or Reason should the Case decide Lust knows what Reason in like cases still Determines well Then chuse ye whom ye will Shall 's make the Devil Iudge This case has been Before him and he judg'd That skin for skin And all men have they 'll part with for their life Then how unreasonable is this strife They that their sins do with their persons ship Do for their Souls prepare a dreadful whip CHAP. XX. Christ with a word can surging Waves appease His Voice a troubled Soul can quickly ease OBSERVATION WHen the Sea works and is tempestuous it is not in the power of any Creature to appease it When the Egyptians would by their Hieroglyphicks express an Impossibility they did it by the Picture of a Man treading upon the Waves It is storied of Canute an ancient Danish King That when a mighty storm of Flattery arose upon him he appeased it by shewing that he could not appease the Sea But one of his Courtiers told him as he rode near the Sea-side That he was Lord of the Sea as well as Land Well said the King we shall see that by and by and so went to the Water-side and with a loud Voice cried O ye Seas and Waves come no further touch not my feet But the Sea came up notwithstanding that charge and confuted the flattery But now Jesus Christ hath the command of them indeed It is said of him Mat. 8. 26. That he rebuked them And Mark 4. 38. He quiets them with a word Peace be still as one would hush a Child and it obeyed him APPLICATION Conscience when awakened by the terrors of the Lord is like a raging tempestuous Sea so it works so it roars and it is not in the power of all the Creatures to hush or quiet it Spiritual Terrors as well as spiritual Consolations are not known till felt O when the Arrows of the Almighty are shot into the Spirit and the Terrors of God set themselves in array against the Soul when the Venome of those Arrows drink up the Spirits and those Armies of Terrours charge violently and successively upon it as Iob 6. 4. What Creature then is able to stand before them Even God's own dear Children have felt such Terrours as have distracted them Psal. 81. 15. Conscience is the seat of Guilt It is like a Burning-glass so it contracts the Beams of the Threatnings twists them together and reflects them on the Soul until it smoke scorch and flame If the wrath of a King be like the roaring of a Lion then what is the Almighties wrath which is burning wrath Job 19. 11. Tearing wrath Psal. 50. 22. Surprizing wrath Job 20. 23. And abiding wrath Job 3. 36. In this case no Creature can relieve all are Physicians of no value some under these terrors have thought Hell more tolerable and by a violent hand have thrust themselves out of the World into it to avoid these gnawings Yet jesus Christ can quickly calm these mystical Waves also and hush them with a word yea he is the Physician and no-other It is the sprinkling of his Blood which like a cooling Fomentation allays those heats within That Blood of sprinkling speaks Peace when all other have practised upon the Soul to no purpose and the reason is because he is a Person in whom God and Man Justice and Mercy meet and kiss each other Eph. 2. 14. And hence Faith fetches in peace to the Soul Rom. 5. 1. REFLECTION Can none appease a troubled Conscience but Christ Then learn O my Soul to understand and daily more and more to savour that glorious Name even Jesus that delivers not only from the wrath to come but that which is felt here also Oh if the foretaste of Hell be so intolerable if a few drops let fall on the Conscience in this life be so scalding and insufferable what is it to have all the Vials poured out to Eternity when there shall be nothing to divert mitigate or allay it Here men have somewhat to abate those Terrours some hopes of Mercy at least a possibility but there is none O my Soul how art thou loaded with Guilt And what a Magormissabib wouldst thou be should God rouze that sleepy Lion in thy bosom My condition is not at all the better because my Conscience is quiet Ah the day is coming when it must awake and will lighten and thunder terribly within me if I get not into Christ the sooner O Lord who knows the power of thy wrath O let me not carry this guilt out of the World with me to maintain those everlasting flames let me give no sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to my eye-lids till I feel the comfort of that Blood of Sprinkling which alone speaketh Peace THE POEM Amongst the dreadful works of God I find No Metaphors to paint a troubled Mind I think on this now that and yet will neither Come fully up though all be put together 'T is like the raging Sea that casts up mire Or like to Aetna breaâ—hing smoke and fire Or like a rouzed Lion fierce and fell Or like those Furies that do howl in Hell O Conscience Who can stand before thy power Endure thy gripes and twinges but an hour Stone Gout Strapado Racks whatever is Dreadful to Sense is but a toy to this No Pleasures Riches Honours Friends can tell How to give ease in this 't is like to Hell Call for the pleasant Tymbrel Lute and Harp Alas The Musick howls the pain 's too sharp For these to charm divert or lull asleep These cannot reach it no the wound 's too deep Let all the Promises before him stand And set a Barnabas at his right hand These in themselves no comfort can afford 'T is Christ and none but Christ can speak the word And he no sooner speaks but all is still The storm is over and the mind tranquil There goes a power with his Majestick Voice To hush the dreadful'st storm and still its noise Who would but fear and love this glorious Lord That can rebuke such Tempests with a VVord CHAP. XXI Our Food out of the Sea God doth command Yet few therein take notice of his hand OBTERVATION THE Providence of God in furnishing us with such plenty and variety of Fish is not slightly to be past over We have not only several sorts of Fish in our own Seas which are caught in their Seasons but from several parts especially the Western parts of England many Sail of Ships are sent yearly to the
poor Weather-beaten Vessel comes into the Harbour more like a Wrack than a Ship nor Mast nor Saile left The righteous themselves are scarcely saved i. e. they are saved with very much difficulty They have not all an abundant entrance as the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 1. 11. Some Persons as one well notes Manton on Iude are afar off Eph. 2. 23. i. e. touch p. 119. with no care of Religion Some come near but never enter as Semiconverts see Matth. 12. 34. Others enter but with great difficulty they are saved as by fire 1 Cor. 3. 13. Make an hard shift But then there be some that go in with full sail before a VVind and have an abundant entrance They go triumphing out of the world Ah! when we come into the Narrow Channel at the very point of entrance into life the Soul is then in the most serious frame all things look with a new face Conscience scans our evidence most crittically then also Satan falls upon us and makes his sorest assaults and batteries It is the last encounter it they escape him now they are gone out of his reach for ever And if he cannot hinder their Salvation yet if he can but cloud their Evening and make them go groaning and haling out of the world he reaches another end by it even to confirm and prejudice the wicked and weaken the hands of others that are looking towards Religion REFLECTION If this be so how inevitable is my perdition may the careless Soul say if they that strive so much and go so far yet perish at last and if the righteous themselves are scarcely saved then where shall such an ungodly Creature as I appear O Lord if they that have made Religion their business and have been many years pursuing a work of Mortification have gone mourning after the Lord Jesus and walked humbly with God yet if some of these have such an hard tug at last then what will become of such a vain sensual careless Flesh-pleasing Wretch as I have been Again Do Saints find it so streight an entrance Then though I have well-grounded Hopes of safe arrival at last yet let me look to it that I do not increase the difficulty Ah! they are the things that are now done or omitted that put Conscience into such an agony then for when it comes to review the life with the most serious eye O let me not stick my Death-bed full of Thorns against I come to lie down upon it O that I may turn to the Wall in that hour as Hezekiah did 2 Kings 20. 2 3. and say Remember now O Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. THE POEM After a tedious Passage Saints descry The glorious Shore Salvation being nigh Death 's Long boat 's launch'd ready to set ashore Their panting Souls O how they tug at Oar Longing to be at rest but then they find The hardest Tug of all is yet behind Iust at the Harbours mouth they see the Wrach Of Souls there cast away and driven back A world of dangerous Rocks before it lie The Harbours barr'd aâ—d now the VVinds blow high Thoughts now arise fears multiply apace All things about them have another face Life blazes just like an expiring light The Soul 's upon the lip prepar'd for flight Death till the Resurrection tears and rends Out of each other's arms two parting Friends The Soul and Body Ah! but more than so The Devil falls upon them ere they go With new temptations back'd with all his power And scruples kept on purpose for that hour This is the last encounter now or never If he succeeds not now they 're gone for ever Thus in they put with hardship at the last As Ships out of a Storm nor Sail nor Mast Yet some go in before a Wind and have Their Streamer of Assurance flying brave Lord give me easier entrance if thou please Or if I may not there arrive with ease Yet I beseech the set me safe ashore Though stormy Winds at Harbours mouth should roar CHAP. XXXII How glad are Seamen when they make the Shore And Saints no less when all their Danger 's o're OBSERVATION WHat Joy is there among Sea-men when at last after a tedious and dangerous Voyage they descry Land and see the desied Haven before them Then they turn out of their loath'd Cabbins and come upon open Deck with much joy Psal. 107. 30. Then they are glad because they be quiet So he bringeth them to their desired Haven Now they can reflect with comfort upon the many dangers they have past Olim haec meminisse juvabit It is sweet to recount them APPLICATION But O what transcendent Joy yea ravishing will ove-run the hearts of Saints when after so many Conflicts Temptations and Afflictions they arrive in glory and are harbour'd in Heaven where they shall rest for ever 2. Thes. 1. 7. The Scripture saith They shall sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb Rev. 15. 3. The Song of Moses was a triumphant Song composed for the celebration of that glorious Deliverance at the Red Sea The Saints are now fluctuating upon a troublesome and tempestuous Sea their hearts sometime ready to sink and die within them at the apprehension of so many and great dangers and difficulties Many an hard storm they ride out and many streights and troubles they here encounter with But at last they arrive at their desired and long expected Haven and then Heaven rings and resounds with their joyful acclamations And how can it be otherwise when as soon as ever they set foot upon that glorious Shoar Christ himself meets and receives them with a Come ye blessed of my Father Matth. 25. 34. O joyful voice O much desired Word saith Parâ—us What tribulation would not a man undergo for his Words sake Besides then they are perfectly freed from all evils whether of sin or suffering and perfectly filled with all desired good Now they shall joyn with that great Assembly in the high praises of God O what a day will this be if saith a worthy Divine Diagoras died away with an excess of Joy whilst he enbraced his three Sons that were crowned as Victors in the Olympic Games in one day And good old Simeon when he saw Christ but in a body subject to the insirmities of our natures cryed out Now let thy Servant depart in peace what unspeakable joy will it be to the Saints to behold Christ in his glory and see their godly relations also to whose conversion perhaps they have been instrumental all crown'd in one day with everlasting Diadems of bliss And if the stars did as Ignatius saith make a Quire as it were about that star that appear'd at Christ's incarnation and there be such joy in Heaven at the conversion of a sinner no wonder then the Morning-stars sing together and the Sons of God shout for Joy when the general Assembly meet in Heaven O how will the Arches
of Heaven ring and eccho when the high praises of God shall be in the mouth of such a Congregation then shall the Saints be joyfbl in glory and sing aloud upon their Beds of everlasting Rest. REFLECTION And is there such a day approaching for the Sons of God indeed and have I authority to call my selfe one of the number Iohn 1. 12. O then let me not droop at present difficulties nor hang down my hands when I meet with hardships in the way O my Soul what a joyful day will this be for at present we are tost upon an Ocean of troubles fears temptations but these will make Heaven the sweeter Chear up then O my Soul thy Salvation is now nearer than when thou first believedsts Rom. 13. 11. And it will not now be long ere I receive the end of my Faith 1 Pet. 1. 9. And then it will be sweet to reflect even upon these hardships in the way Yet a few days more and then comes that blessed day thou hast so long waited and panted for Oppose the glory of that day O my Soul to thy present abasures and sufferings as blessed Paul did Ram. 1. 18. And thou shalt see how it will shrink them all up to nothing Oppose the Inheritance thou shalt receive in that day to thy losses for Christ now and see how joyfully it will make thee bear them Heb. 10. 34. Oppose the honour that will be put upon thee in that day to thy present reproaches and see how easieiâ— will make them to thee 1 Cor 4. 5. What condition can I be in wherein the believing thoughts of this blessed day cannot relieve me Am I poor Here is that which answers Poverty Jam. 3. 5. Hearken my beloved Brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in Faith and heirs of the Kingdom Am I tempted Here is relief against that Revel 12. 16. Now is come Salvation and strength for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down c. Am I deserted Here is a remedy for that too Revel 22. 5. And there shall be no night there c. Come then my Soul let us enter upon our Inheritance by degrees and begin the Life of Heaven upon Earth THE POEM VVhen Solomon in Isreal first was King Heaven's Arches Earth's Foundations seem'd to ring VVith joyful Exclamations How much more VVill Heaven resound when Saints are come ashore How will the ravish'd Souls transported be At the first glimpse of Christ VVhom they shall see In all his glory and shall live and move Like Salamanders in the fire of love A flood of tears convey'd them to the Gate VVhere endless Ioys receiv'd them Now the date Of all their Sorrow 's out henceforth they walk In Robes of Glory Now there 's no more talk Of fears temptations of that snare or this No Serpent in that Paradise doth hiss No more desertions troubled thoughts or tears Christ's full enjoyment supersedes those fears Delights of Princes Courts are all but toys To these delights these are transcendent joys The joys of Christ himself and what they are An Angel's Tongue would stammer to declare Were our Conceptions clear did their Tongues go Vnto their Ela yet the Note 's too low What! Paint the Son too bright it cannot be Sure Heaven suffers no Hyperbole My thoughts are swallowed up my Muse doth doth tire And hang her Wings Conception soars no higher Give me a place among thy Children there Although I lie with them in Dungeons here A Concluding Speech I Have now done and am looking to Heaven for a blessing upon these weak Labours what use you will make of them I know not but this I know that the day is coming when God will reckon with you for this and all other helps and means afforded to you And if it be not improved by you be sure it will be produced as a witness against you Sirs I beg you in the Name of Christ before whom both you and I must shortly appear that you receive not these things in vain Did I know what other lawful means to use that might reach your hearts they should not be in vain to you but I cannot do God's part of the work nor yours Onely I request you all both Masters common Men and all others into whose hands this shall come that you will lay to heart what you read pray unto him that hath the Key of the House of David that openeth and no man shutteth to open your hearts to give entertainment to these truths Alas If you apply it not to your selves I have Iaboured to no purpose the Pen of the Scribe is in vain But God may make such an application of them in one Storm or another as may make your hearts to tremble O Sirs when Death and Eternity look you in the face Conscience may reflect upon these things to your horror and amazement and make you cry out as Prov. 5. 12 13. How have I hated knowledge and my heart despised reproof And have not obeyed the voice of my Teacher nor inclined my ears to them that instructed me And O what a dreadful shriek will such Souls give when the Lord opens their eyes to see that misery that they are here warned of But if the Lord shall bless these things to your Conversion then we may say to you as Moses did to Zebulun the Mariner's Tribe Deut. 33. 12. Rejoyce Zebulun in thy going out The Lord will be with you which way soever you turn you selves and being in the bosome of the Covenant you are safe in the midst of all dangers O! thou that art the Father of Spirits that formedst and canst easily reform the heart open thou the blind eye unstop the deaf ear let the Word take hold upon the heart If thou wilt but say the word these weak Labours shall prosper to bring home many lost Souls unto thee Amen FINIS A Pathetical and Serious DISSWASIVE From the Horrid and Detestable Sins OF Drunkenness Swearing Uncleanness Forgetfulness of Mercies Uiolation of Promises and Atheistical Contempt of Death APPLIED By way of CAUTION to Sea-men and now added as an APPENDIX to their NEW COMPASS Being an Essay toward their much desired Reformation Fit to be seriously recommended to their Profane Relations whether Sea-men or others by all such as unfeignedly desire their Eternal Welfare By IOHN FLAVEL Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 5. 19. Knowing therefore the terrours of the LORD we perswade men Ezek. 3. 19. Yet if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way he shall die in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy soul. LONDON Printed by Tho. Parkust and M. Fabian 1698. To the Right Worshipful Sir Iohn Frederick Kt One of the Worshipful Aldermen of the City of LONDON and their Honourable BURGESS in the present PARLIAMENT And to the truly Religious and ever Honoured Mr. Iohn Lovering Of the City of London MERCHANT Much honour'd and
that the body may be more fit and expedite for duty Prov. 31. 7. But further no man proceeds without the violation of Sobriety When men sit till Wine have inflamed them and reason be disturbed for Drunkenness is the privation of reason caused by immoderate drinking then do they come under the guilt of this horrid and abominable Sin To the Satisfaction and refreshment of nature you may drink for it is a part of the Curse to drink and not be satisfied but take heed you go no further For Wine is a mocker strong Drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise Prov. 20. 1. The Throat is a slipery place how easily may a sin slip through it into the Soul these sensual Pleasures have a kind of inchanting power upon the Soul and by custom gain upon it till they have enslaved it and brought it under their power Now this is the sin against which God hath delivered so many Precepts and denounced so many Woes in his Word Ephes. 5. 18. Be not drunken with wine wherein is excess Rom. 13. 18. Not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness Isa. 5. 11. Wo to them that rise early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue until night till wine inflame them with many other of dreadful importance Now to startle thee for ever from this abominable and filthy lust I shall here propound to thy Consideration these ten ensuing Arguments and oh that they might stand in the way as the Angel did in Balaam's when thou art in the prosecution of thy sensual Pleasures And the first is this Arg. 1. It should exceedingly disswade from this Sin to consider that it is an high abuse of the Bounty and Goodness of God in affording us those sweet Refreshments to make our Lives comfortable to us upon earth In Adam we forfeited all right to all earthly as will as heavenly Mercies God might have taken thee from the Womb when thou wast a Sinner but of a span long and immediately have sent thee to thine own place thou hadst no right to a drop of water more than what the bounty of God gave thee And whereas he might have thrust thee out of the world as soon as thou camest into it and so all those days of mercy thou hast had on earth might have been spent in howling and unspeakable misery in Hell Behold the Bounty and Goodness of God in thee I say behold it and wonder He hath suffered thee for so many years to live upon the earth which he hath prepared and furnished with all things fit for thy necessity and delight out of the earth on which thou treadest he bringeth forth thy food and VVine to make glad thy heart Psal. 104. 14 15. And dost thou thus requite the Lord Hath Mercy armed an enemy to fight against it with its own Weapoâ—s Ah that ever the Riches of his Goodness Bounty and Long sâ—ffering all which are arguments to lead thee to repentance should be thus abused If God had not been so bountiful thou couldst not have been so sinful Arg. 2. It degrades a man from the honour of his Creation and equalizeth him to the beast that perisheth Wine is said to take away the heart Hos. 4. 11. i. e. the wisdom and ingenuity of a man and so brutifies him as Nebuchadnezzar who lost the heart of a man and had the heart of a beast given him Dan. 4. 32. The heart of a man hath is generosity and sprightliness brave vigorous spirit in it capable of and fitted for noble and worthy actions and imployments but his lust effeminates quenches and drowns that masculine vigour in the puddle of excess and sensuality For no sooner is a man brought under the dominion of this Lust but the government of Reason is renounced which should exercise a coercive power over the Affections and all is delivered up into the hand of Lust and Appetite and so they act not by discretion and reason but by Lust and Will as the Beasts do by Instinct The spirit of Man entertains it self with intellectual and chast Delights the soul of a Beast is onely fitted for such low sensitive and dreggie Pleasures Thou hast something of the Angel and something of the Beast in thee thy Soul partakes of the nature of Angels thy Body of the nature of Beasts Oh how many pamper the Beast while they strave the Angels God in the first Chaper put all the Creatures in subjection to thee by this Lust thou puttest thy in self Subjection to the creature and art brought under his power 1 Cor. 6. 12. If God had given thee the feet or head of a beast Oh what a misery wouldst thou have esteemed it And is it nothing to have the heart of a Beast Oh consider it sadly Arg. 3. It is a Sin by which thou greatly wrongest and abuseth thine own Body The Body is the Souls Instrument it is as the Tools are to a skilful Artificer this Lust both dulls and spoils it so that it 's utterly unfit for any service of him that made it Thy body is a curious piece not made by a word of command as other Creatures but by a word of counsel I am fearfully and wonderfully made and curiously wrought saith the Psalmist Psal. 139. 14. or as the Vulgar Ace pictus sum Painted as with a Needle like a Garment of Needlework of divers colours richly embroydered Look how many members so many wonders There are Miracles enough saith one betwixt head and foot to fill a volume There is saith another such curious workmanship in the eye that upon the first sight of it some Atheists have been forced to acknowledge a God especially that fifth Muscle in the eye is wonderful whereby as a learned Author observes Man differeth from all other Creatures who have but four one to turn the eye downward a second to hold it forward a third to move it to the right hand a fourth to the left but none to turn it upward as a man hath Now judge in thy self did God frame such a curious piece and enliven it with a Soul which is a spark a ray of his own light whose motions are so quick various and indefatigable whose flights of reason are so transcendent did God thinkest thou send down this curious piece the top and glory of the Creation the Index and Epitome of the whole world Eccl. 12. 2. did God I say send down this picture of his own perfection to be but as a striner for meats and drinks a spung to suck in Wine and Beer Or canst thou answer for the abuse and destruction of it By this excess thou fillest it with innumerable diseases under which it languisheth and at last thy life like a lamp extinguisnt being drowned with to much Oyle Infinite Diseases are begotten by it saith Zanch. hence come Apoplexies Gouts Palfies sudden Death trembling of the hands and legs herein they bring Cain's
curse upon themselves saith Ambrose Drunkenness slays more then the Sword Oh! what a terrible thing will in be to consider upon a Death-bed that these pangs and aches are the fruits of thy Intemperance and Excess VVho hath wo Who hath sorrows VVho hath contention VVho hath babling VVho hath wounds without cause VVho hath redness of eyes They that tarry long at VVine they that go to seek mixt VVine Prov. 23. 29 30. By this Enumeration and manner of Interrogation he seems to make it a difficult thing to recount the miseries that Drunkenness loads the outward man with for look as Vermine abound where there is store of Corn so do Diseases in the bodies of Drunkards where crudities do so abound Now methinks if thou have no regard to thy poor Soul or the glory of God yet such a sensible Argument as this from thy body should move thee Arg. 4. Drunkenness wastes and scatters thine estate Proverty attends excess the Drunkard shall be cloathed with Rags and brought to a morsel of bread Solomon hath read thy fortune Prov. 21. 17. He that loveth Wine and Oyl shall not be rich Luxury and Beggary are seldom far asunder When Diogenes heard a Drunkards house cryed to be sold I thought quoth he it would not be long ere he vomited up his house also The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie Luxury the former is compounded of two words which signify Thou shalt be poor and the latter signifies the losing of the possession of that good which is in our hand The Drunkard and the Glutton shall surely come to poverty Prov. 23. 21. In the Hebrew it is He shall be disinherited or disposessed It doth not only dispossess a man of his Reason which is a rich and fair inheritance given to him by God but it also dispossesses him of his estate it wastes all that either the provident care of thy Progenitors or the blessing of God upon thine own industry hath obtained for thee And how will this sting like and Adder when thou shalt consider it Apicius the Roman hearing that there were seven hundred Crowns only remaining of a fair estate that his Father had left him fell into a deep Melancholly and fearing want hanged himself saith Seneca And not to mention the miseries and sorrows they bring hereby upon their Families drinking the tears yea blood of their Wives and Children Oh what an account will they give to God when their reckoning day comes Believe it Sirs there is not a shilling of your estates but God will reckon with you for the expence thereof If you have spent it upon your luâ—ts while the necessity of your families or the poor called upon you for it I should be loth to have your account to make for a thousand times more than ever you possessed O woful expence that is followed with such dreadful reckonings Arg. 5. Consider what vile and ignominious Characters the Spirit of God hath put upon the subjects of this sin The Scripture every where notes them for infamous and most abominable persons When Eli supposed Hannah to be drunken Count not thy hand-maid a daughter of Belial said she 1 Sam. 1. 16. Now a Son or daughter of Belial is in Scripture-language the vilest of men or women So Psal. 69. 12. They that sit in the gate speak against me and I am the Song of Drunkards i. e. of the basest and vilest of men as the opposition plainly shews for they are opposed to them that sit in the gate that is honourable persons The Lord would have his people shun the society of such as a pest Not to eat with them 1 Cor. 5. 11. Yea the Scripture brands them with Atheism they are such as have lost the sense and expectation of the Day of Judgment mind not another world nor do they look for the coming of the Lord Matth. 24. 27 28. He saith the Lord delayeth his coming and then falls a drinking with the drunken The thoughts of that day will make them leave their Cups or their Cups will drown the thoughts of such a Day And will not all the contempt shame and infamy which the Spirit of God hath poured on the head of this sin cause thee to abhor it Do not all Godly yea Moral Persons abhor the Drunkard Oh methinks the shame that attends it should be as a fence to keep thee from it Arg. 6. Sadly consider there can be nothing of the sanctifying Spirit in a soul that is under the dominion of this lust for upon the first discovery of the Grace of God the Soul renounces the Government of Sensuality The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth men to live soberly Tit. 2. 11 12. That is one of its first effects Drunkenness indeed may be found among Heathens that are lost in the darkness of Ignorance but it may not be once named among the Children of the Day They that be drunken are drunken in the night but let us that are of the day be sober 1 Thes. 5. 7 8. And the Apostles often oppose Wine and the Spirit as things incompatible Eph. 5. 16. Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit So Jude 19. Sensual not having the Spirit Now what a dreadful Consideration is this If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom 8. 9. Sensual persons have not the Spirit of Christ and so can be none of his It 's true Noah a Godly man once fell into this sin but as Theodoret saith and that truly it proceeded ab inexperientiae non ab intemperantia from want of experience of the force and power of the Grape not from Intemperance and besides we find not that ever he was again overtaken with that sin but thou knowest it and yet persistest O wretched Creature the Spirit of Christ cannot dwell in thee The Lord help thee to lay it to heart sadly Arg. 7. It 's a Sin over which many direful woes and threats hang in the Word like so many lowring clouds ready to power down vengeance upon the heads of such Sinners Look as the condition of the Saints is compassed round with Promises so is yours with Threatnings Isai. 5. 11. Wo to them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink and continue until night until VVine inflame So Isai. 28. 1 2. Wo to the Crown of Pride to the Drunkards of Ephraim c. With many other too long to enumerate here Now consider what a fearful thing it is to be under these woes of God Sinner I beseech thee do not make light of them for they will fall heavy assure thy self not one of them shall fall to the ground they will all take place upon thee except thou repent There are woes of Men and woes of God Gods woes are true woes and make their condition woful to purpose on whom they fall Other
persons they are but panders for Lust. Evil communication corrupts good manners The tongues of sinners do cast fire-balls into the hearts of each other which the corruption within is easily kindled and enflamed by Direct 4. Exercise thy self in thy Calling diligently It will be an excellent means of preventing this sin It is a good observation that one hath That Israel was safer in the Brick-kilns in Egypt than in the Plains of Moab 2 Sam. 11. 2. And it came to pass in the even-tide that David arose from off his bed and walked on the roof of the Kings house and this was the occasion of his fall See 1 Tim. 5. 11 13. Direct 5. Put a restraint upon thine appetite feed not to excess Fulness of bread and idleness were the sins of Sodom that occasioned such an exuberancy of Lust. They are like fed horses every one neighing after his neighbours Wife When I had fed theâ— to the full then they committed Adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the Harlots houses Jer. 5. 7 8. This is a sad requital of the bounty of God in giving us the enjoyment of the Creatures to make them fuel to lust and instruments of sin Direct 6. Make choice of a meet Yoke-fellow and delight in her you have chosen This is a lawful Remedy See 1 Cor. 7. 9. God ordained it Gen. 2. 21. But herein appears the corruption of nature that men delight too tread by-pathes and forsake the way which God hath appointed as that Divine Poet Mr. Herbert saith If God had laid all common certainly Man would have been the closer but since now God hath impal'd us on the contrary Man breaks the fence and every ground will plow O what were Man might he himself misplace Sure to be cross he would shift feet and face Stollen waters are sweeter to them than those waters they might lawfully drink at their own fountain but withal know it is not the having but the delighting in a lawful Wafe as God requires you to do that must be a â—ence against this sin So Solomon Prov. 5. 19. Let her be as the loving Hinde and pleasant Roe Let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravisht always with her love Direct 7. Take heed of running on in a course of sin especially Superstition and Idolatry in which cases and as a punishment of which evils God often gives up men to these vile affections Rom. 1. 25 26. Who changed the truth of God into a lye worshipped and served the Creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen For this cause God gave them up to vile affections c. They that defile their Souls by Idolatrous practices God suffers as a just recompence their bodies also to be defiled with uncleanness that so their ruine may be hastned Let the admirers of Traditions beware of such a judicial Tradition as this is Wo to him that is thus delivered by the hand of an angry God No punishment in the world like this when God punishes sin with sin When he shall suffer those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those common notices of Conscience to be quench'd and all restraints to be moved out of the way of sin it will not be long ere that sinner come to his own place IV. CAUTION IN the next place I shall make bold to expostulate a little with your Conscience concerning the precious mercies you have received and the solemn promises you have bound your selves withal for the obtaining of those mercies I fear God hath many bankrupt debtors among you that have dealt slipperily and unfaithfully with him that have not rendered to the Lord according to the great things he hath done for them nor according to those good things they have vowed to the Mighty God of Iacob But truely if thou be a despiser of mercy thou shalt be a pattern of wrath God will remember them in fury who forget him is his favours I will tell you what a grave and eminent Minister once told his people dealing with them about this sin of unthankfulness for mercy and I pray God it may affect you duely Let us all mourn saith he and take on we are all behindhand with God The Christian world is become bankrupt quite broke makes no return to God for his love He is issuing out process to seize upon body goods and life and will be put off no longer Bloody Bayliffs are abroad for bad debtors all theâ— world over Christians are broke and make no return and God is breaking all He cannot have what he would have what he should have he will take what he can get for money he will take goods limbs arms legs he will have his own out of your skin out of your blood out of your bodies and souls He is setting the Christian world as light and as low as they have set his love Ah Lord what a time do we live in Long-suffering is at an end Mercy will be righted in Iustice Iustice will have all behind it will be paid to the utmost farthing 't will set abroach your blood but 't will have all behind c. Do you hear Souls Is not this sad news to some of you who have received vast sums of mercy and given God your bond for the repayment of him in praise and answerable fruit and yet forfeited all and lost your credit with God Oh how can you look God in the face with whom you have dealt so perfidiously I am now come in the Name of God to demand his due of you to call to remembrance the former receipts of mercy which you mind not but God doth and there is a witness in your bosome that doth and will one day witness to your faces that you have dealt perfidiously with your God your souls have been the graves of mercy which should have been as so many gardens where they should have lived and flourished I am come now to open those graves and view those mercies that your unthankfulness hath killed and buried to lay them before your eyes and see whether your ungreatful hearts will bleed upon them Buried mercies are not lost for ever they shall as certainly have a day of Resurrection as thy self It were better for thee they should have a Resurrection now in thy heart than to rise as witnesses against thee when thou shalt rise out of the dust that will be a terrible Resurrection indeed when they shall come to plead against thy Soul nothing pleads more dreadfully against a Soul than abused mercy doth But I shall come to the particulars upon which I interrogate your Consciences and I pray deal truly and ingenuously in answering these Queries Quer. 1. And first I shall demand of you Whether you never had experience of the power and goodness of God in restoring you to Health from dangerous Sickness and Diseases Have you not sometimes had the sentence of Death in your selves and that possibly when you have been
of God The Obligation of it is by Casuists judged to be as great as that of an Oath It is a sacred and solemn bond wherein a Soul binds it self to God in lawful things and being once bound by it it is a most heinous evil to violate it It is an high piece of dishonesty to fail in what we have promised to men saith Dr. Hall but to disappoint God in our Vows is no less than Sacriledge The act is free and voluntary but if once a just and lawful vow or promise hath past your lips saith he you may not be false to God in keeping it It is with us for our vows as it was with Ananias and Saphirah for their substance VVhilst it remained saith Peter was it not thine own He needed not to sell and give it but if he will give he may not reserve it is death to save some he lies to the Holy Ghost that defalks from that which he engaged himself to bestow If thou have vowed to the mighty God of Iacob look to it that thou be faithful in thy performance for he is a great and jealous God and will not be mocked Now I am confident there be many among you that in your former distresses have solemnly engaged your Souls thus to God that if he would deliver you out of those dangers and spare your lives you would walk more strictly and live more holy lives than ever you did You have it may be engaged your Souls to the Lord against those sins as Drunkenness Lying Swearing Uncleanness or whatsoever evil it was that your Conscience then smote you for the vows of God I say are upon many of you But have you performed those vows that your lips have uttered Have you dealt truly with God or have you mocked him and lyed unto him with your lips and omitted those very duties you promised to perform and return'd to the self-same evils you promised to forsake I only put the question let your Consciences answer it But if it be so indeed that thou art a person that makest light of thy engagements to God as indeed Seamens Vows and Sick mens Promises are for the most part deceitful and slippery things being extorted from them by fear of Death and not from any deep resentment of the necessity and weight of those Duties to which they bind their Souls I say if this sin lie upon any of your Souls I advise you to go to God speedily and bewail it humble your self greatly before him admire his patience in forbearing you and pay unto him what your lips have promised And to move you thereunto let these Considerations among many other be laid to heart Consid. 1. Think seriously upon the greatness of that Majesty whom thou hast wronged by lying to him and falsifying thy engagements Oh think sadly on this It is not man whom thou hast abused but God even that God in whose hand thy life and breath is For although as one truly observes there be not in every vow a formal invocation of God God being the proper Correlate and as it were a party to every vow and therefore not formally to be invoked for the contestatioâ— of it yet there is in every vow an implicite calling God to witness so that certainly the Obligation of a Vow is not one jot beneath that of an Oath Now if God be as a party to whom thou hast past thy promise and its obligation on that ground be so great oh what hast thou done for a poor worm to mock with the most glorious majesty of Heaven and break Faith with God what a dreadful thing is that If it were but to thy fellow-creature though the sin would be great yet not like unto this Let me say to thee as the Prophet Isai. 7. 13. It is a small thing for you to weary men but you will weary my God also If you dare to deceive and abuse men dare you do so by God also Oh if the exceeding villanies of the sin do not affect thee yet methinks the danger of provoking so dreadful a Majesty against thee should And therefore consider Consid. 2. Secondly That the Lord will most certainly be avenged upon thee for these things except thou repent O read and tremble at the word of God Eccles. 5. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed But better it is that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not not pay Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neithey say thou before the Angel that it was an errour wherefore should God be angry at thy vice and destroy the works of thy hands Mark God will be angry and in that anger he will destroy the Work of thy hand i. e. saith Diodate Bring thee and all thy actions to nought by reason af thy perjury Now the anger of God which thy breach of promise kindles as appears by this Text is a dreadful fire Oh what Creature can stand before it as Asaph speaks Psal. 76. 7. Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry Consid. 3. Consider thirdly that all this while thou sinnest against knowledge and Conviction for did not thy Conscience plainly convince thee when imminent danger open'd its mouth that the matter of thy neglected vow was a most necessary duty If not why didst thou bind thy Soul to forsake such practises and to perform such duties Thou didst so look upon them then by which it appears thy Conscience is convinced of thy duty but Lust masters and over-rules And it so poor sinner what a case art thou in to go on from day to day sinning against Light and Knowledge Is not this a fearful rate of sinning And will not such sinners be plunged deeper into Hell than the poor Indians that never saw the evil of their ways as thou doest Ponder but two or three Scriptures in thy thoughts and see what a dreadful way of sinning this is Rom. 2. 9. ' Tribtlation anguish and wrath to every Soul of man that doth evil to the Iew first and also to the Gentile To the Jew first i. e. to the Jew especially and principally he had a precedency in means and light and so let him have in punishment So Iam. 4. 17. To him thrt knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin i. e. Sin with a witness horrid sin sin that surpasses the deeds of the wicked So Luke 12. 47. And that servant that knew his Lords will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes Which is a plain allusion to the Custom of the Iews in punishing an offender who being convicted the Judge was to see him bound fast to a Pillar his cloaths stript off and an Executioner with a Scourge to beat him with so many stripes But now those
be able to undergo the severities of Religion There are difficult Duties to be done and an heavy cross to be taken up these be the things that daunt me Ans. If Pain and Suffering daunt thee how is it thou art not more out of love with sin than with Religion For it is most certain that the Sufferings for Christ are nothing to Hell the just reward and certain issue of sin the pains of Mortification are nothing to the pains of Damnation There is no compare betwixt suffering for Christ and suffering from Christ Matth. 5. 29. If thy right hand or eye offend thee cut it off and pluck it out It is profitable for thee that one member suffer than that the whole body be cast into Hell Secondly thou â—eest the worst but not the best of Christ. There be Joys and Comforts in those difficult Duties and Sufferings that thou seest not Col. 1. 24. Who now rejoice in my sufferings Jam. 1. 2. My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into diverstemptations c. Thirdly Great shall be thy assistance from Christ Phil. 4. 13. I can do all things through him that strengthens me The Spirits helps our infirmities takes the other end of the burden Rom. 8. 26. What meanest thou to stand upon such terms when it is Heaven or Hell eternal Life or Death that lie before thee Qu. 19. But to what purpose will all my endeavours to come to Christ be unless I be elected all will be to on purpose Ans. True If thou be not elected thou canst not obtain him or happiness by him But yet that is no discouragement to strive For in thy unconverted state thy Election or Non-election is a secret to thee the only way to make it sure is by striving and giving all diligence in the way of duty 2 Pet. 1. 10. And if you ponder the text well you will find that Election is not only made sure in the way of diligence and striving but Calling is put before it and lies in order to it First secure thy effectual Calling and then thine Election Qu. 20. But I have no strength of my own to come to Christ by and is it not absurd to urge me upon Impossibilities in order to my Salvation Ans. First Certainly you are more absurd in pleading and pretending your impotence against your duty for you do think you have a power to come to Christ else how do you quiet your Conscience with Promises and solves of Conversion hereafter Secondly Though it be true that no saving Act can be done without the concurrence of special Grace yet this is as true that thy inability to do what is above thy power doth not excuse thee from doing what is in thy power to do Canst thou not forbear at least many external acts of sin And canst thou not perform at least the external acts of duty Oh if thou canst not come to Christ yet as the blind man lie in the way of Christ do what thou canst do and confess and bewail thine impotency that thou canst do no more Canst thou not take thy Soul aside in secret and thus bemoan it My poor Soul what wilt thou do Oh what will become of thee thou art Christless Covenantless Hopeless and which is most sad sensless and bowelless O! thou canst not bear the infinite Wrath of the Eternal God whose Almighty Power will be set on work to torment such as thou art and yet thou takest no course to prevent it Thou seest the busie diligence of all others and how the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence by them and art not thou as deeply engaged to look to thy own happiness as any in the world Will Hell be more tolerable to thee than others Oh what a composition of stupidity and sloth art thou Thou livest after such a rate as if there were neither Fire in Hell to torment thee nor Glory in Heaven to reward thee If God and Christ Heaven and Hell were but dreams and fables thou couldst not be less affected with them Ah my Soul my Soul my precious Soul Is it easie to perish Wilt thou die as a fool dieth Oh that men would but do thus if they can do no more And now Soul you see what death is that you have made so slight of and what is the only way that we poor Sons of Death have to escape its sting You have here seen the vanity of all your pleas and pretences against Conversion and the way to Christ prepared and cast up for you Now Sirs I beg you in the name of God that made you and as if I made this request upon my bended Knees to you that you will now without any more delays yield your selves to the Lord. Soul I beseech thee hast thee into thy â—hamber shut thy door and bespeak the Lord after some such manner as this before thou darest to launch out into the Deeps again O dreadful and glorious Majesty thou hast bowels of mercy as well as beams of glory I have heard the sounding of these bowels for me this day Lord I have now heard a representation of the grim and ghastly face of Death Ah! I have now seen it as the King of Terrors as the door of Eternity as the Parting-point where sinners take their eternal farewel of all their delights I have seen this black Prince mounted on his pale Horse and Hell following him I have been convinced this day that if he should come and fetch away my Soul in that condition it is Hell would follow him indeed Lord I have now heard of the Prince of Life also in whose bleeding side Death hath left and lost its envenomed sting so that though it may kill yet it cannot hurt any of his Members To this glorious Redeemer I have now been invited all my pretences against him have been confuted and my Soul in his Name assured of welcome if I come unto him and cast my self upon him And now Lord I come I come upon thy call and invitation I am unfeignedly willing to avouch thee this day to be my God and to take thee for my portion Lord Iesus I come unto thee thy Clay thy Creature moves towards the Fountain of pity look hitherto Behold a spectacle of misery Bowels of mercy hear behold my naked Soul not a rag of righteousness to cover it behold my starving Soul not a bit of bread for you to eat ah it has fed upon wind and vanity hitherto Behold my wounded soul bleeding at thy foot every part Head and Heart Will and Affections all wounded by sin O thou compassionate Samaritan turn aside and pour thy Soveraign blood into these bleeding wounds which like so many opened mouths plead for pity Behold a returning submitting Rebel willing to lay down the weapons of unrighteousness and to come upon the knee for a pardon Oh I am weary of the service of sin I can endure it no longer Lord Jesus thou wast anointed to preach glad tidings to