I have read of a young prodigal Londoner who had a great longing to give all his five Senses a pleasure at once and allowed to the delight of every sense a several 100 l. by which and such like practices within the space of three years he wasted an estate of 30000 l. in mony left him by his father besides land plate jewels and houses furnished very richly to a great value I bring but this in as an instance to tell you that he that w ll feast his eye with the sight of the Creation it will both cost him penny and pains by which hee sees his works withall and then I will lay-down the promised particulars of what Mariners do see 1. Very wonderful is the sense of hearing tasteing smelling feeling but far more wonderful is the sense of seeing If it should bee demanded of mee what definition may bee given of the eye and what it is I think it may bee said truly that the eye is a little globe that is very full of visory spirits which do exceedingly resemble the round animatedness of the world The visory spirits have their generation from the Animal which flows from the brain to the eye by the nerve Optic and from those proceed the visible and reflected rayes in the eye as in a glass which will soon form any image that it beholds and so is received into the Chrystalline humour and by the visory spirits through the Nerve Optic is conveyed to the brain the object to bee considered of and by the internal senses as imagination memory and the common sense Observ 3 That good and perfect eye-sight is a singular mercy and special blessing from the Lord. These see the works of the Lord c. If it were not for this comfortable sense that God hath bestowed upon man his works could not bee seen nor discovered and viewed as to this day they are to his everlasting praise glory and honour I would exhort all the Sailors in the Seas now to consider how favourably God hath dealt with them in giving them eyes and perfect sight without which their lives would bee but a burden to them as his was that was brought to our Saviour Christ Mat. 12.22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil blinde and dumb and hee healed him in so much that the blinde and dumb both spake and saw Are you not bound and much engaged to God that hee hath given you eyes to see withall whilst other men wanting sight better deserving it than you are like to go without it and so are forced and must go groping and groveling in the dark all their dayes till they come to lye down in their graves with what suspicion and fear walks the blinde up and down in the world how doth their hands and staves examine their way with what jealousie do they receive every morsel and every draught how do they meet with many a poast and stumble upon many a stone fall into many a ditch and swallow up many a flye to them the world is as if it were not or were all rubs gins snares and miserable downfalls and if any man will lend him an hand hee must trust to him and not to himself Consider but the blinde in the Gospel how they lay in the high wayes and roads that lead unto the City of Jerusalem and also amongst us here in England in every high way Towns end or Bridge and you will finde reason enough of your blessing of the Lord for his goodness unto you more than unto others Mark 10.46 47. And when hee heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth hee began to cry out and say Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on mee 2. The eyes in number are two the better to give direction to us Oculists observe that whereas other creatures have but four muscles to turn their eyes about with which is the main reason that they cannot look upwards but altogether downwards now man hath a fifth whereby he can look upwards into the Caelum Empyraeum Os homini sublime dedit caelumque tucri Oculus ab oculendo I may say as God hath set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the great world both the Sun and Moon as instruments of light to serve it so hath he most wisely wonderfully placed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in man the little world two eyes in the highest part of the body as Organs to serve him This is the sense by which the Sailor or the Traveller turns over and over that Volumen magnum Creationis Elephantinam And though this be a very quick and nimble sense and one that is never weary of seeing yet is there work enough for it in the Creation to behold and more than it can ever run thorow and range over should it do nothing else but travel the whole Creation over and information unto the internals in figure round and thereby they are the more capable of all objects by their motion Their situation is placed very high above the rest of the senses to direct our motion and to foresee our dangers 3. The necessity of this Organ is very great if wee do but seriously ponderate for the welfare of our outward being and the government of our selves and our affairs without which sense the life of man would but bee a very toylsome and wearisome thing unto him in the world 4. By this Organ man sees and foresees that which is good or evil helpful or hurtful and that at a distance The Mariners Proverb is Praevisa saxa minus feriunt Rocks but seen before-hand will never hurt us The first circumstance then that I will a little run on in is those creatures that are Aquatical live in the element of water which are some of the principal and wonderful works of God which Sea-men or men that go down into the Seas do behold And these I will a little set out in view to the end it may the cleerlier appear that they see most or the greatest part of the works of the Lord in and thoughout the Creation 1. They that go down to the Sea in ships c. They often times have a frequent sight of that strange and prodigious sort or kind of fish called the flying-Flying-fish flying- flying-Flying-fish whom God out of wisdom has given wings unto like a foul for the preservation of its life in the great waters This poor creature is often hunted chased and pursued by the Boneto Porpise and other ravenous fish which follow it with as much violence as the hungry hound does the poor silly and shelterless Hare Insomuch that it is forced one while to fly and another while to swim and although nature has provided for it in giving it two strings for its bow yet is all little enough to carry him cleer of the snatching chaps and jaws that make after him This fish whilst in the water I have observed in the Mediterranean is exceedingly exposed to irrecoverable danger and when
resemble one another save onely that there bee a-many of sharp spikes or scuers as it were upon either edge of it and the property of this Fish is to get underneath the Whale and there to riple him and rake him all over the belly which will cause him to roar and exclaim upon the Theeves that beset him as if there were a dart in the heart of him and the Tresher playes his part above table Thresher for when his partner forces him upwards hee layes on to purpose upon the Whales back insomuch that his blows are audible two or three miles in distance and their rage and fury is so great against the Whale that one would think they would cut him and thrash him to peeces 8. Amongst the rest of the works of God in the waters they have a frequent sight of that strange sort and kinde of fish Sea-swine called Porcus Marinus the Sea-hog or Swine This creature is headed like an Hog toothed and tusked like a Boar and this kinde consort and keep much together What hurt and harm Swine do on land when they get into fields of Corn Meadows and Pasture-grounds far greater hurt harm and havock do the Sea swine make in the salt waters by their killing up of the great and small fishes that be in it according to the Proverb Pares cum paribus facillime congregantur These beasts take such delight in one anothers company that they are to be seen in greater troops and herds than the greatest land-herds of Swine that ever were seen for they are not comparable unto the multitudes that bee of them and are in the Seas sometimes a Porpise troop is to bee seen consisting of four or five hundred and sometimes more and sometimes less running and ranging and snorting in the waters like the snuffing and snorting of Swine at land or as a pack of Hounds that run stragling and bawling after an Hare I have observed that when this fish hath been wounded by shot or Harping-iron that hee is no sooner peirced and mortally wounded but every one of the same kinde will follow him with the greatest violence that can bee striving and contending who should beat him first and have their teeth and mouthes the deepest and fastest in his carkass now whilst they are living they will not meddle with one another but when dead or dying they will fall foul upon them as their proper right and due It brought this into my minde 1. Meditation That when a man is once down and underfoot in the world that every malapart Pedantick is ready to set his foot upon him Lucianus Timon when he lived in prosperity was the sole spectacle of Greece who but Timon then loved honoured and applauded by all every one offering their service to him and seeking to be a kin to him out when his gold was spent fair possessions gone Timon was then of no more value with them I leave the Application Every one looks upon the Sun-rising of a man but they will never look upon his Sun-setting 9. They are not without a frequent sight of that admirable fish called the Sea-calf Sea-calf which is both headed and haired like a Calf swiming oftentimes with his head above water There be very many of this kinde in and about the several Islands in Scotland being providentially sent into those parts I have observed very many of them at night they will come on shore to sleep and rest themselves and early in the morning they will betake themselves to the Sea not daring to stay on land for fear of surprizals 1. Meditation It hath brought this to my mind that many take the night in the States service for their cloak knavery As the Theef and the Adulterer that Job tels us of used to do Job 24.15 16. The eye of the Adulterer waiteth for the twilight saying No eye shall see mee and disguiseth his face In the dark they dig thorow houses which they had marked for themselves in the day time they know not the light Sea-turtle 10. They are not destitute of a frequent aspect of that wonderful and Jehovah-extolling-creature called the Sea-Turtle If the Turtle float long above water then will the Sun-beams harden her shell that shee cannot go down any more into the Sea but lye for a prey both to Mariners that go thorow the Seas to fishes in them and fâ—wls that live upon them or the Tortoise This Bird-fish at the time of the year constantly leaves the Sea and betakes her self to the shore where shee will shoot an infinite number of Eggs and cover them in the sand and as soon as ever she hath done shee departs the place and makes for the Sea again not daring to stay and brood them as other birds will do because shee hath no wings to flye withall and to help her self if in case shee should bee set at And when her young ones are once hatched which come to that maturity by reason of that warmth that is in the sand they will go as directly towards the Sea as if they had been in it many a time before they had their being and although the Sea bee a mile or two from the place the old one left her Eggs in out of a natural instinct they will finde the Sea although it bee out of fight It is observable that if any of these Sea-fowl bee taken on land as oftentimes they are by Sea-men that they will never give over sighing sobbing weeping and bewayling of their Captivity as long as life is in them tears will drill and trickle from their eyes as from children in great abundance The sight of this creature imprinted no less than this upon my spirit 1. Meditation that all those affronts indignities wrongs and injuries that the righteous ones do suffer in this world whose eyes are evermore running down with tears like the surprized Sea-turtle shall turn to their good and the time is advancing on when sighing shall flye away fears cares troubles griefes wrongs and afflictions shall cease and all tears bee wiped away from their eyes Jam. 1.8 The support of the Apostles spirit lay in this that the coming of the Lord was drawing near and that was one thousand and six hundred years ago therefore what cause have all the godly to rejoyce in that that time is one thousand six hundred years the nearer than it was in the Apostles time 11. They have oftentimes a sight of that admirable Fish called the Torpedo Torpedo or the Cramp-fish which is indued with a very prodigious clandestine quality if it be but touched or handled the body is presently stunned and benummed as an hand or leg that is dead and without all feeling I have known some that have taken of this kinde at unawares who have not a little lamented and repented of their infelicitous and incogitant misery They have been for some hours in a very desponding estate
as thick as hail about these mens ears they no more regard them than the Leviathan does the throwing of darts Job 41.29 which he counts as stubble and laughs at the shaking of of the spear What Job says in one case of the Leviathan I 'll say in another of the Sailor Job 41.33 Upon earth there is not his like who is made without fear I 'll say of Sailors what Paterculus said of some Caitiffs in his time in Rome quod nequiter ausi fortiter executi that what they wickedly attempted they desperately performed These Blades laugh when broad-sides are poured into their Ships And let me tell you a strange story You are Cousen-Germans to the great Leviathan in the Sea his heart and yours are both of a metal Ver. 24. His heart is as firm as a stone yea as hard as a piece of the nether Milstone It s not the loud Peals of Ordnance and of broad-sides from your Enemies that will dismay or break your hearts Nay when the Sea is on a curded dye of gore blood and runs as freely out of the Skuppers of their Ships as water does down the leaden Pipes of high-tyled houses in a rainy day these Lads have as good a stomach to behold it as ever Hannibal had when he saw a pit of Mans blood and cried out O famosum spectaculum he was so far from swooning at it that he took great delight in it Our Sailors like the Romans are so used not only unto gladiatory fights but great roaring Gun-fights and bloody spectacles and this acquaintance that they have got of Wounds and Blood makes them the lesse fear it in the Wars These are the Lads that make their Guns to roar far louder upon their Enemies than Homers Mars when hurt whom the noise of a thousand men and bells could not drown These are they that do totum concutere Orbem puzzle and amaze the whole world Where ever these go and sail they give every Coast a most dreadfull Alarm And that Immortale nomen that these blades in their late Wars have got is daunting terrible Prope Procul far and near so that they are talked of not onely Lingua Gallica but Italica Turcica Arabica Persica Belgica Hispanica c. and with and by all the Tongues that be in the World and hapned at the Confusion of Babel These Lads These are they that do Tonare armis fulminare cum Bombardis thunder in their arms and lighten the night with their guns who ride in the golden Saddle of their Wooden and Warlike Horses over the great waves and billows of the seas are of the very same metal of that proud prauncing and curvetting Horse in Job 39.19 20 21 22 23 24 25. They are men whose necks are clothed with thunder They with their Frigots go on to meet the armed men They mock at fear and are not affrighted neither turn they back from the Sword or all the Ordnance that 's fired on them They say amongst the Trumpets The glittering Spear and thundering Guns Ha! ha They smell the battel afar off and the thunder of the Ships and Captains They tear the Waves of the Sea in pieces with their fiercenesse And what Job 41.19 speaks of the Leviathans mouth I may say of these mens Gun-mouthes Out of their Gun-mouthes go burning lamps and smoke and sparks of fire leap out of their Gun-nostrils as out of a seething Pot or Cauldron Nay it s wonderful either to see hear or think how cheerfully the Mariners will shout and throw their Caps over-board into the Air and the Sea when they come unto an Engagement and though shot fly as neer their Coats and Caps as the Grecians accent came unto their Greek letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they turn but up the nose at it Who will or who can deny but that by this Art Mariners have the fairest and fullest view and delightfullest aspect of the whole Creation above all others whatsoever Who will deny that the Seaman has not the amplest prospect of the great Waters These are the Lads that bark against the Crucifix of Rome It has been a Papal Proverb that never any barkt against the Crucifix but he ever ran mad But see you not how our Sailors keep in their right wits notwithstanding all that These are the Lads that have taken as much pleasure in setting the Hollanders ships on a fire when they engaged them in their three last dreadful Disputes as Alexander did in Persipolis when it was on a burning blaze or as Alcibiades did in seeing that Athenian heap of Scrolls on a fire of which he said with much rejoycing Nunquam vidi ignem clariorem I never saw a better fire in my life and of the Works and Wonders of the Lord in them and upon them whilst others that sit on Land neither see nor hear of What Art or Science is there in the world that outstrips this Let them come forth to match her I have read of one in Aristaemeus Ephemeris by name who did so much admire his Mistrisses beauty that he challenged all tho Beauties both of the East West North and South to compare with her Truly so much an admirer am I of this rare Art of theirs who have by Providence been conversant amongst them little lesse than a full Quatuorennium of time that I am transported to say Let the Wits of the East West North and South come in and compare as much of the flower strength and wit of Man and wisdom of the Creator is centred and apparent in this one Art and is daily demonstrable to those that are but tantum beholders as is sufficient to put the ingeniousest piece that is into a Labyrinthical admiration And this rare Art is Nuper admodum of late within these few years more abundantly advanced and improved than ever and I believe if my judgement fail not grown up into a Superlativer perfection than can or does appear to have had or been in quondam times or ages Was there ever more Merchandizing than there 's now Was there ever more crossing and adventuring upon the salt-Salt-waters in Ships than there 's now Was there ever more busking or ranging the Seas out of England with great and terrible Fleets of the Warlikest Ships that ever were seen in the world before than there 's now Was there ever more going down into the great Waters from Country to Country according to Davids phrase than there 's now Go but to years past and enquire of them and they will tell you We never practised so much in the Art as you in these days do Before the vertue of the Loadstone that pointeth out the North was revealed unto the Mariner it s not to be spoke with what uncertain wandrings men were driven about following doubtful conjectures and fallacious accounts and reckonings indirectly floating here and there rather than sailing the right and direct way When the weather was fair when either Sun Moon
sweet flowers in the Spring which are not known nor seen by the owners of the Cattel Altamen occultum referunt in lacte Saporem Virg. Georg. 4. So though no eye can behold the Merchant in a foreign Nation what hee trades in yet the benefit of his going out is evermore found at his return such ship or ships is to make report thereof by firing of Guns and if in the night by hanging out of lights and firing of Guns 9. If that the Admiral in a Fleet bee minded and resolve to anchor in the night hee makes sign thereof by hanging out perhaps his two lights in the Mizzen shrouds one above another and when anchors fires a peece of Ordinance and all the rest of the Fleet come to an anchor 3. Their business or occasions and those has respect unto two things 1. Merchandizing 2. Warring and Fighting 1. Merchandizing The Merchant-mans employment lyes wholly in traffiking from Country to Country buying and selling and selling and buying according to that in the Poet Impiger extremos currit Mercator ad Indos He goes down into the Sea to bring into the Land those costly Silks Spices Wines Sugars Stuffs Fruits c. which are in other parts very plentifully to bee had And by these wealthy and vendible commodities is both the City of London and the whole Nation besides both marvellously benefited and inriched What our Nation is destitute of it is fetcht into it out of other Countries that affords it by shipping So that England wants not for those scattered varieties that have their growth and being in other climates but hath a full and sufficient supply of every thing Now the Merchants business is various in respect that it lyes sometimes here and sometimes there sometimes in the Eastern parts of the world and sometimes in the Western sometimes in the Southern and other some times again in the Northern It s an Italian Proverb that the world is theirs that are bold Paradise theirs that are devour and Learning theirs that will but study for it The application is fair enough in view Sometimes for one commodity and other some times for another by which rare calling and imployment hee doth Angliam valde locupletari Hee goes into Countries Omnia copiarum genere abundantes that flow with all manner of varieties The Merchant-ships are continually going and coming and coming and going into England and out of England into the remote parts of the world as Bees out of an Hive in Summer time Vt in prat is ubique apes serenâ floribus infidunt variis As in Summer time every eye may behold the laborious Bee one while in the field and another while in the garden one while bringing home and another while flying out for hony so do our ships take flight upon their Canvass wings and bring home the riches and the wealth that is in other parts These are they that are like to Zebulun the Mariners Tribe who dwelt at the Haven of the Sea Josh 33.19 and sucked of the abundance of the Seas They that go too and again in the Sea may see in one part twenty sail in another forty in one fifty and in another sixty or an hundred going this way and that way Eastward Westward Northward and Southward Sicuti apes omnes circumvolitantes quod est utile domum adducunt As Bees light on every flower so some or other of the Merchants ships upon every Nation and that which is profitable and beneficial they bring with them into the Land Observation 2 That the worlds wealth is not to bee gotten without great pains and diligence whether at Sea or Land That do business in the great waters Many a perilous and rocking storm doth the Merchant-ship go thorow before shee either gets to her journies end into a forein part or from thence unto her home again What one said when hee stood admiring what pains Gentlemen take in hunting of the Hare the same I may say of the Merchant in his hunting out of forein Countries Tanto labore pro uno lepore homines valde torqueri video quos montes ascendunt quas paludes transibunt quas vepres sentesque sine sensu percurrunt modo unum lepusculum Capiant What mountains doth the Hunter climb what waters runs hee thorow and hedges breaks hee over with what toyl and sweat doth hee follow after the Hare Even the like pains takes the Merchant in climbing over the great mountains in the stormy Seas There is scarce any wind that blows but some ships are both going out and coming in or out one harbour or other in England But 2. Warring and fighting I would have our Sailors when they fight an enemy to strive as much for the wind as the Heron doth her endeavour to be above the Falcon that she may wet his wings with her excrements to that end he may flye both heavily and also that his purpose may be made ineffectual Having now spoke something of Merchandizing business it follows that I should descant a little upon that warring and fighting work and business that wee have now in this age to do Shipping business then lyes not altogether in trading but sometimes in fighting and warring upon the Seas when there bee breaches and fallings out betwixt State and State And when the quarrel is once begun betwixt two Nations there is great care taken on both sides who should run down one another by the board first So that if there were not a careful imploying of warlike Fleets both at home and abroad 1 For securing of Merchant-trade And 2. For guarding of the Nation Englands enemies are so many that they would soon put down the Merchandizing of it Ships might either stay in their harbours or otherwise if they went out to Sea without men of War they would come short of their homes How quickly would our cruel and bloody-minded enemies clip their Canvass wings from ever coming into our English Ports again Nay they would not stick to come and visit us with great and dreadful Armadoes threatning to land and break in upon us Besides wee have a cunning and subtil enemy to deal withal which plaies us as notable pranks as the Fowler doth the birds with his Larking-day-net which he spreads out in fair mornings and himself whirling about with his artificial motions thereby not onely the merry Lark and fearful Pidgeon are dazled and drawn into it out of admiration Let me say thus much unto the Hollander which Archidamus once said unto the Aeolians when he saw them intending to aid the Argives against him He writ a letter unto them the substance of which was in this Quietness is far better Take heed of aiding the Spaniard but stouter birds of prey the swift Merlin and towering Hobbie are sometimes inticed to stoop unto it which proves the loss of their lives Our Merchants that are small birds are not onely snapt and taken by the enemy now and then but
all doubt and controversie even take shipping and make trial of it Let the waters saith God bee gathered together and at his word they fled and tarried not for another word of command but away they ran roaring and raging off the Land which they held in their possession till God gave them Commission to give it up to mankinde and the creatures the Lord intended to live in it which were choyser inhabitants and so ever since that word of Command they have continued in those Caves Pits Depths Cells and bottomless receptacles which God out of wisdome digged and delved for them Psal 104.9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the earth 2. And that in order it will appear that they may well bee called great What Writers say of the Jasper may better be said of the Seas that its easier to admire them than to declare them in and upon a fourfold account 1. For Latitude 2. Longitude 3. Profundity 4. Potency 1. Respectus latitudinis Every string in Davids Harp warbles out the immense latitude of the Seas In Psal 104.25 26. You may behold David as one amazed at the beholding of the great works of God in the deeps So is this great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts There go the ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein They are called in this Psalm both great and wide What Policritus writes of a certain water in Sicily the same will I write upon the Superficies of the Seas Quam si quis irgrediatur in latum extenditur into which the deeper a man wades the larger it doth extend in self and the further he goes into it the further he may Some call it into question and debate whether the Sea or the Land be greater and the controversie cannot well be decided By the Maps of the world it is told us that some of the Southern parts in the world are not yet known and discovered which they title at this day by the name of Terra Australis nondum cognita and whether it be Sea or whether it be Land it is not yet known These are two words if but well considered which comprehend such vast dimensions as is not easily demonstrable by reason of that roomy and spatious magnitude that they are of Some wee call the narrow Seas because Lands and Countries are not far distant from each other In the Straights the Sea carries the name of Mediterranean because it parts Europe and Africa which are but a very small run betwixt each other But after one is out of the Straights-mouth or the Mediterranean they may in sailing Westward travel long enough ere they see any land again And after that ships get out of our narrow Seas in England here they may sail many hundreds of Leagues ere they come within the sight of land again The Seas that are betwixt England and France is but a very narrow cut and also betwixt it and Holland and betwixt England and Denmark Norway Jutland and Zealand c. in comparison what other Seas bee both Westward Southward Northward Some to prove that the Earth is far greater than the Sea alledg that in Esd 6.42 that God gathered the waters from off the seventh part of the earth and dried up the six other parts and if this Scripture were Canonical and of authority in the Church of God we might beleeve it But it is not my judgement to think that the Land is greater than the Seas 2. Respect a longitudinis What an unspeakable and almost incredible way may one sail directly end-wayes in the Seas from the East into the West and from the North into the South Of all visible latitudes indeed the East and the West are the largest What a vast longitude is that which our shipping run when they go out of the East into the West the North star and the Septentrional spangles are run down into the Sea out of their sight long before they come within sight of the Indies and at their return back when they come to such an elevation as once to behold the peepings of it forth out of the Sea which doth ask them a long time sailing before they can bring themselves within the sight of it how cheerful are they in their spirits of their advancings England-ward The Mariner makes many a look in his solitary and nocturnal Navigations upon the heavens for the appearance of this Star and when once his eye beholds it his first sight of it is as if it riss out of the water or as the rising of the Sun in a Winter or Summers morning which rises so low to outward appearance as if it had its surrection out of the earth After the same manner doth the North star to them which go far down into the Seas as if it riss out of the waters 3. Respectu profunditatis The salt waters are of such an unfadomable and intangible depth and abyss in many parts that no bottome is to bee found though one would tyre themselves with Line and Lead to make the trial of it I have heard it told again and again by some of the civilest and soberest of Sea-men that they have known of the Dutches who are very great and expert Mariners to have taken with them a small vessels loading of Line to sound the Seas in some of the Southern parts I have read of one that fell almost into an irrecoverable swound at the sight of seeing one sounding of the Seas in the ship he sailed in beholding such an infinite length of Line run thorow his hands he looked like a dead man on it when he apprehended what dangerous depths he sailed over and when he came to himself he cried out Mira profunditas and though they have painfully rafled out all that great and mighty Clew consisting of many thousands of Fathoms insomuch that they have been a whole day in letting down of Line and Lead and haling up yet not touched the bottome of it What truth there may bee in this report I know not But without all controversie the Sea is of an unkennable depth Some that are of the wisest and prudentest of Sea-men are of this judgement that the Seas in some parts are twenty thirty yea forty miles in depth from the very top upon which ships swim unto the very bottome Of such depth are the Seas after our ships get out of the Channel Southward that there is no anchoring for them because the Seas are far deeper than their Cables are in length 4. Respectu potentiae I will follow the Musicioners method in the handling of this for hee that playes upon the Harp strikes not upon one string but upon all and that is it that makes the Musick The great waters then are of such power force and strength when the winds lift them up into swelling Hills and pyramidical Mountains that they
some use or other and also the secret vertue that is betwixt the Loadstone and the two Polar points the Artick and the Antartick which keeps the Mariners Card most firm and stable in all his Navigations and courses that hee steers and shapes if this art were not lawful I will give you now in a few particulars a Praelibamen or taste of those various uses and singular benefits that mankinde generally hath of and by the Seas 1. All the Nations of the world have this benefit by the Seas They yield them an easy quick and speedy passage or transportation to and fro by which every place or part in the world partakes of what one another enjoys Hereby are earthly blessings transmitted unto one another Esau's earthly portion or blessing was the fatness of the Earth plenty of corn wine and oyle c. Gen. 27.39 and these good things that are in the world some in one part and some in another are carried into those parts that are wanting and destitute of them Now speed is a great advantage in all businesses for quick dispatch of things What one says of the heavenly bodies I may in one sense as well say of the Art of Navigation Heavenly bodies do convey their sweet influences non qua calidae sed qua velocis motus England thou art happy that thou art an Island and at a great distance from the cruelty of the dark corners of the Earth And wee know that all Nations are carefull to keep up and maintain their Stationary post both in England France Spain Italy Turky Germany and the rest of them to that end the Nations may bee quickly informed in all secular occurrences or all assaults by the breaking in of forein powers And of the same use are the Seas upon which and through which do our shipping and the shipping in all Nations fly upon their canvas wings and are by good winds in a little time carried unto the furthest ports in the world and when fraughted if weather favour as speedily returned 2. They quell the rage of the hottest Element and are very useful and instrumental to keep sublunary mansions from being converted into cinders and ashes 3. They part Nations from one another If all the world were in one continent it is more than probable that sin which has brought in such an hurtfull Principle into the minds of men that there would bee nothing but a daily killing slaughtering and murthering of one another Now God might if hee had pleased have laid all the whole world in one continent and not separated one Nation from another as hee has done What intrudeing is there upon one anothers borders what fireing of Towns what burning of Villages what slaughtering at their pleasure is there evermore amongst those that are in one Continent would it not bee thus every where were there not a Sea betwixt them to part them from pulling one another by the throat And hee might have given commission to the great waters to have lain upon the back of the world and not in the heart of it as they doe but the Lords unsearchable and incomprehensible Wisdom has contrived all things for the good and conveniency of mankind blessed and ever blessed bee his holy name Does not the great infinite and wonderful Wisdom of God appear in this in that hee hath divided and taken the world and broken it into many pieces for one people to live in one place and another people in another of it Look but into some great continents in the world where there be several Kings Princes Dukes and Emperours and they are never at quiet but in a perpetual hostility and enmity one against the other witness France and Spain the Turk and the Persian and divers other parts in the world 4. The ebbing and flowing of the Seas are of marvellous use and benefit unto all the Haven-towns in all Nations whatsoever whether East or West North or South far or near by this ships come in with the flood and goe out with the ebbe Gen. 41.13 Zebulun that dwelt at the Haven of the Sea found the benefit of the fluxes and the re-fluxes of the Seas by which their ships came in and by which they went out How useful is the flowing What this ebbing and flowing of the Seas it as to the natural causes of it none knows the supernatural every one can tell Some fictitiously attribute it unto an Angel whose office is as it was in the Pool of Bethesda to move the waters to and fro Other some have these guesses at it that there are certain subterranean or under Sea-fires that give the Seas their motion One calls the ebbing and flowing of the Sea Arcanum naturae magnum natures great secret Contra rationem nemo sobrius Contra Scripturam nemo Christianus Contra Ecclesiam nemo pacificus They that are wise may see both reason and Scripture in the proof of the point and re-flowing of the Seas both to London in the Thames and Hull in Humber besides many other ports and places in this Land and Nation where ships are continually comming in and going out Some attribute the flowings and the re-flowings of the Seas which is a most wonderful thing to the various effects of the divers appearances of the Moon and this is not improbable not unlikely for experience teacheth us that according to the courses of the Moon tides they are both ordered and altered from whence wee may positively conclude that the waters have their attraction from the Moon And indeed it is the judgement of the best Philosophers that the Moon by her operation sets the Sea the worlds great wonder on ebbing and flowing Aristotle because hee could not find out the natural cause of the Seas flowing and ebbing told the Sea that if hee could not comprehend the reason of it the Sea should comprehend him and out of grief immediately hee threw himself into the Sea Others again think that the final cause of the Seas motion was ordained by God for the purging and preserving of the waters as the aire has its purgings by and from the winds which are as brooms and besoms to sweep away all the contagious vapours and infectious savours that climb up into it Standing waters wee know are apt to putrify corrupt and stink if it were not for sweet springs that feed them but what are small Rivulets that are extracted and strained waters through the veins of the Earth though out of all the Nations in the world to the great and wide Sea they are but as the drop of a bucket or a mole-hill to a Mountain 5. The Sea affords all mankind this great singular and publique benefit in respect it yields them such an innumerable variety of all sorts and kinds of Fish both great and small which is a great supply to many Towns Cities and Countries both in the Eastern Western Northern and Southern parts of the world And of these are killed infinitely every
interest and glory in their bosomes and that they are no more pouring out of their hearts and spirits for the accomplishment of Gods promises and that Babylon may fall and rise no more God is resolved to down with it and it may be because England is not fit for such a mercy and because they pray not more earnestly constantly and vehemently for its downfall the work sticks and goes but slowly forward God is resolved to do it but hee will bee inquired of for and in the doing of it Ezek. 36.37 When God was about to do great and mighty things for Israel he tels them in plain terms totidem verbis that he would be inquired of and sought unto in the performance of them And wil not God bee sought unto more than he is for the downfall of the Pope and that incestuous and villanous house of Austria together with that cursed and tyrannical Inquisition before hee bring ruines and desolations upon you that live in your seiled houses and lye upon beds of down You that have all things at will and pleasure where are your prayers Where are your wrestlings with God you that live in the City And where are your loud cryes against the powers of darkness you that live in the Country History sayes that the Lord gave Naâ—setos victory more through zealous prayers that he used than his force and valour for he never went out into the Sea nor ever began battel or determined upon any war nor never mounted on his warlike Steed but first he went to the Temple and served God You did pray at a very high rate once and prayers issued out like a mighty stream some in the West and other some out the North some out the East and some out the South of England for your land Armies when they were ingaged in the fighting out your inbred Vipers where are they now for your water Armies For your Fleets and for that great and glorious work that is at this day on foot for God and Christ How might you help them on in those difficult and perillous undertakings and hazzards that they run How many thousands bee there that go in the Seas daily venturing of their lives in a just and lawful quarrel against one of Christs greatest enemies in the world Oh send send out your prayers for them and after them that you may hear of glorious things and remarkable and wonderfull actings from them that bee daily in the Seas Ovid begins his Metamorphosis and Cleanthes his Iambique verses with prayer Pliny in an Oration which hee made in the praise of Trajan commended the customes of the Antients in making invocations and prayers at the beginning of any great business saying That there can be no assured honest wise beginning The Lessons of Pythagoras Plato and their Disciples ever more began and ended with prayer The Brachmans among the Indians the Magi among the Persians never began any thing without praying unto God Prayer is Englands Alexipharmacum generale pretious drug against her many maladies her Cornucopiae because it brings her in many good tidings against her enemies It is her Delphicum gladium Delphian sword by which she prospers both at home and abroad or successful ending of any enterprize without the special aid and assistance of the gods For all works affairs imployments businesses and wars that wee or any Nation takes in hand are to begin with prayer and to bee daily followed with our prayers Prayer is so wonderfully advantagious that I cannot think that there is any in our late Land broils but will acknowledge the profitableness of it nay our Armies could not have done what they did nor gone thorow that which they have if they had not had the prayers of the godly in the Land and how must our Fleets prosper and do the hard and desperate work that they have to do if you give over praying for them now There bee ten sorts of people that I would gladly put upon this needful duty of prayer for the War that is begun by England against the Spaniard 1. Ministers 2. Magistrates 3. Parliament-men 4. States-men 5. Land and Sea-Generals 6. Collonels 7. Land and Sea-Captains 8. Religious sober and godly Souldiers 9. Honest and well-minded Sea-men 10. The Respublica or the Common people of England Gentlemen Do you desire the downfall of Babylon then let mee tell you that you must bee earnest with God in prayer for a speedy accomplishment of your desires Are not these feral Beasts of Rome Spain to be prayed against Pray consider Do you desire a blessing upon the Church and State in which you live Then let mee counsel you to pray hard for them that they may increase in purity piety peace and plenty Do you desire that the Pope at Rome and all that cursed rabble that is in and about that incestuous and libidinous house of Austria may stumble and stagger Longius vulnerat quam sagitta Prayer will wound an enemy further than a shot out of the longest Gun or Arrow out of the strongest bow Then let mee tell you that God will bee sought unto for this very thing ere hee do it Pray pray that that proud Romana urbs aeterna as they have formerly most lyingly stiled her may bee brought down to ruine and to shame and poverty though shee hath got up again since shee was sacked and ransacked twice by the Visigothes taken once by the Herulians surprised by the Ostrogothes destroyed and rooted up by the Vandals annoyed by the Lumbards pilled and spoyled by the Grecians and whipped and chased by many others I hope ere long that shee will receive her last blow of the indignation of the most mighty and bee thrown headlong into an everlasting and horrible desolation where shee shall never rise any more Now do you desire that your warlike Fleets may prosper against them then pray pray The Spaniard would be more afraid of our Fleets in England did we but pray more I profess bee it soberly spoken that you deal with prayer in this case as the world dealt with Christ Joseph and Mary How dealt the world with them you will aske mee I will tell you in few words the Scripture is pleased to inform us that they could provide no better lodging and entertainment than a stable for the Prince of Glory to lye in But the gallants and the rich guests of the world they had the best beds and chambers that the house afforded As unkindly deal many with prayer against the adversaries of the Lord Jesus Christ they both put it out of door and out of mind and thought God is a rising undoubtedly to cut down his great matured ripened and old gray-headed enemies When Athens was straightly besieged very stoutly assaulted so that within the walls they were hardly put to it to keep their enemy out Diogenes that before lived in his Tub tumbled it up and down the Town thinking it an
hee is out of the water upon his wings hee is then again in no less hazzard than hee was before in respect of that multitude of Sea-fouls that lye upon the waters for the catch and to make use of all such opportunities It is observed by the Mariners that this fish rather than it will bee taken by its enemies in the waters it will many times betake it self in its flight into ships or boats And alas this makes the Proverb good Out of the frying-pan into the fire Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim Our blessed Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ had an excellent way and faculty of drawing holy and heavenly thoughts and discourses out of and from terrestriall objects as appears by his Parables and the whole course of his life and conversation his eye was one while upon birds another while upon lilies Matth. 6.26 28. One while upon the Sower and another while upon the Seed one while upon the ground and another while upon the tares one while upon the mustard-seed and another while upon leaven one while upon hid treasure and another while upon pearls one while upon the net cast into the Sea Mat 13. and another while upon the five Virgins one while upon lamps and another while upon oyle one while upon the Master and another while upon the servant one while upon the Shephard and another while upon the sheep besides many other things which I might reckon up and instance in The use now that I have made unto my self upon the sight of this creature will bee as follows for I have made it my business and it has also been my practice whilst at Sea and I wish it were the practice of all Sea-men who where I have seen a leaf of the Creation they have seen a volume to abstract spiritual thoughts from all the uncouch creatures that they fix their eyes upon whether in the Seas or in the Nations beyond the Seas This has been my exercise whilst in the Seas and I think and take it to bee a very notable improving way to grow heavenly and spiritually minded Rom. 8.6 For to bee carnally minded is death but to bee spiritually minded is life and peace 1. That if God had not Satan in his chain hee would make greater spoil and havock of the Saints of God than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do in the Seas whose work and business is to go about like a roaring lyon seeking whom hee may devour He may well be called a murtherer for hee has been so from the beginning hee has been a soul-killer this five thousand years and upwards and hee is the same still But this is the Saints comfort though hee bee one of the ragingest beasts that walks in the Forrest that Christ Jesus who is the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah bridles him 2. That many a pretious and gratious soul is as hardly chased and pursued with heart-daunting terrours both from sin conscience law and Satan as ever this poor creature was in the waters and in a far dolorouser sort Sin makes a Hubbub in the soul and Satan hee makes an assault and conscience accuses and often-times there is little peace but at last like the Moon that wades through many clouds or the ships that go through many stoâ—ns they arrive at the fair Harbour and port of quietness All the good creatures of God whether fish in the Seas fouls in the aire or beasts of the field are flowers and none but the labourious Bees of contemplating spirits that give themselves unto meditation either do or can suck forth the sweet hony of instruction out of them Therefore it is good and would do well that all our Sailors were found praying unto Christ for the teaching of them this holy art skil to behold God more fully in the creature for it is the custom of the Lord Jesus to send in a Quietus est into the soul after it has been troubled with the tempestuous storms of the guilt of sin Son be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Matth. 11.28 Come unto mee yee that are weary and heavy laden c. 2. They that go down to the Sea in ships oftentimes have a frequent sight of that marvailous fish Sun-fish called the Sun-fish whose usual property is to come out of the depths in the sweetest and calmest weathers to lye sleeping and beaking of himself upon the Surface of the Seas not fearing nor thinking nor praesupposing in the least of any fish to prey upon him or of Sea-foul to light upon him or of ships to run over him or of boats to row to him or of darts or bullets to be shot and thrown at him The very sight of these creatures have very much wounded mee when I have seen them sleeping when the ship has been even ready for to run over them Mariners sometimes will hoyse out their boats and take them up but when once they come to bee awake then they will and do struggle very much to regain their pretious liberty which they lost so carelesly by sleeping 1. It brought into my mind that it is a very perilous thing for a Christian to bee found asleep by that mortal and deadly enemy Satan when and whilst hee is standing Sentinel upon his guard Meditations The Devil is of an indefatigable spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present tense which reports him not to bee lazy but busy not a loyterer but a stickler and a stirrer in his pernitious work shut him out at the street door and hee will come in again at the back-door 2. That as the sun-Sun-fish lyes carelessly upon the salt-salt-waters exposing of himself in the very warmth of summer to bee preyd upon by the ranging fish in the Seas or to bee surprized by the Mariner or crushed by the ships which have their quick and speedy passage through the Seas after the like carelessness live thousands of the poor Sailors of what shall become of their pretious and immortal souls Their souls are starving and there is a delusion upon their spirits that all is well when alas all the sail is out that ever they can make to carry them hood-winkt to hell The Devil has winds gales baits traps and gins in all corners to carry them destruction-ward Yet the Lord knows my soul even bleeds for the poorest and the meanest of them to doe them good They are too ignorant of his devices But knowing the subtilty of the Devil and also in some measure the terrours of my God whom I serve I would perswade you all upon the bended knees of my soul to make more conscience of your ways of Gods good Word and how you may come to bee eternally saved at the last than you do 3. They oftentimes have a frequent sight of that sociable companionable Sea-fish called the Dolphin Dolphin Naturalists tell us that these creatures do take great delight to accompany the swift-sailing ships that
come through the Seas out of an ambitious and aspiring nature to compare and try whether they or the ships should swim or sail the fastest This is not unlikely for to my experience I have seen them accompanying of us for a longtime together both in the Mediterranean and elsewhere some swimming on head some on stern some on the Starbord-side of us and othersome on the Larbord like so many Sea-pages or Harbingers runing before our wooden horses as if they were resolved by the best language that fish could give us to welcome us into and through the waters and telling us that they would go along with us And notwithstanding all this wonderfull kindness of theirs to us which I have oftentimes much delighted in it has ended very tragically unto their sorrow For it is the Sea-mans custom to take al opportunities of killing those fish that are good and mandable and thereupon they have got their fisgigs or other instruments in readiness and upon and by reason of their propinquity and neerness have oftentimes most sadly wounded and killed of them Meditations 1. I have hereby learned thus much wisdom that it is dangerous fawning upon strangers and that all acquaintance and intimateness with carnal natural and unregenerate men who are and have no more in them than a natural principle and are in possession of no higher excellencies that their friendship will suddenly turn into enmity and hatred ruining both a mans good name estate and liberty Our Saviour Christ who was so well accomplished and imbued with all spiritual wisdom would not commit himself unto man John 2.24 25. Because he knew right well what was in man They that disclose their secrets to plausible and carnal men they play the Thrashes part to halter themselves I◠is said of this bird Turdus sibi malum cacat Shee leaves her doing in the trees and the Fowler makes Bird-lime of it to take her withall Wisdom will apply it Is it not then great folly in people to lay open themselves to men whom they know not 2. That Gods righteous and holy children who are both harmeless and innocent doves even as quiet and peaceable in the world as domable or indomable doves are that sit upon their Columbaries or other birds that perk themselves upon the highest or lowest branches or as Dolphins in the Sea which intend the Mariner no hurt nor harm yet cannot the godly and the upright live at quiet for them in the world for their arrows are dayly notched and upon their strings that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart Psal 11.2 It is an infallible argument that the spirit of the Devil is in those that have no love unto the godly for they tarry but here for a while till death the Saints transporting charriot comes to waft them out of it of whom the world is not worthy Heb. 11.38 and then they will bee gone from that unclean impure and soul-vexing rabble that they doe live near and amongst 3. That the wiseman foresees a danger and therefore hides himself whilst the foolish run on and are punished Prov. 22.3 4. They have in the salt-Salt-waters a frequent aspect of the ravenous feral and preying sort of fish called a Shark Shark of whom the Mariner is more afraid than of all the fish in the Sea besides Some have observed of this fish that they have not stuck to clammer up upon their ship sides out of a greediness to feed upon the Sailors in their ships This Pickroon if hee can but take any of them bathing themselves in it in the Summer-time hee will tear them limb from limb so great a lover hee is of the flesh of man To describe you this creature I must tell you that he is of very great bulk and of a double or treble set or gang of teeth which are as sharp as needles but God out of his infinite wisdom considering the fierceness and violence of the creature has so ordered him that hee is forced to turn himself upon his back before hee can have any power over his prey or otherwise nothing would escape him This fish has dismembered many a poor Sea-man and also taken away the life of many a man before ever they could bee rescued out of their cruelty Meditations 1. The sight of this creature imprinted no less than this in and upon my spirit That sin has not onely brought a curse upon the earth and upon and into many of the creatures that are upon the Land Psal 8.6 The foul of the aire and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea Not so now Fallen man has lost Imperium suum Imperium sui the command of himself the command of the creatures but also into and upon those that bee and now are also in the Seas Insomuch that there is both great danger in walking amongst them and sailing upon the Seas Sin has exceedingly dishonoured man in respect that the creatures have such ferity and audacity in them to disown him and to rise up in arms against him whom at the first they owned as their Supream All the creatures when they came before Adam subjected themselves but now not so for that was in the time or state of mans innocency and integrity in which if he had permained and continued hee might still have expected the same or a more willing obedience and subjection from them than either now is or can bee had since the fall Certainly they should then have carried man and not have groaned under their burthen as now they do The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it imports thus much that all the creatures stand upon tip to listning hearkning for the day of their deliverance Rom. 8.21 Look upon all the creatures and tell me what hearts they have to serve sinful man It is true God gave man at first dominion over all the creatures Gen. 1.26 And this prerogative being given to man the question may bee to what man and in what condition not to sinfull man but to man after Gods own Image and likeness to man made upright Eccles 7.29 Not to the ungodly man so that the prime end of all the creatures service was directed to righteous man man after Gods own Image and likeness but for the creatures to serve wicked ungodly and unrighteous men is both beyond and besides the prime end and therefore according to their nature they groan because they obtain not their first end that is they are not pleased Indeed they are not intelligent and in that respect they know it not but yet it is against the first law of their creation that they should bee servants unto wicked men they were not created for that end If the Horse the Oxe c. knew but thus much it would greatly displease them but it is not fitting nor convenient that they should know it because it would bee great
greatest Sea-beasts or Monsters of all the creatures that are to bee found either in the Seas or upon the Land What the sweet and blessed Spirit of the Lord is pleased to say of him in that Job 41.12 the very same shall I conclude with that I will not conceal his parts nor his power nor his comely proportion And this Scripture its wonderful pregnant in the describing of him in very elegant Dialect and excellent Rhetorical Phraseology what hee is in the Seas Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook That is canst thou by an angling line bring such a beast as hee is out of the Seas in that order thou doest pull small fishes out of some shallow standing Pond or running Rivulet Here the Lord speaks of him in opposition unto small Fishes that are caught by small Line and Angle Vers 8. Lay thy hand upon him Whale remember the battel do no more Give me leave to run over a few of these verses 5. Ver. Wilt thou play with him as with a bird Wilt thou binde him for thy Maidens that is Canst thou handle him like a bird that will come at thy chat and beck It is impossible to reduce this feral creature unto that domableness that young women might play with him who hath so much dreadfulness and ferity in the very shape proportion and countenance of him which lye so fair in my way and you will have him lively enough emblemed or limned out unto you The spirit of the Lord then seems to say from those words draw but neer this terrible creature and offer him but the least violence and hee will make the stoutest of your hearts to quake and tremble and wish to bee out of his reach When the Mariners go about to kill of these Sea-beasts it stands them in hand as indeed they are very carefull to have their line ready to vere forth otherwise when wounded the Whale flyes with such violence that shee would pull an hundred boats underwater so fast does the line thunder out of the boat that the boats head it often times set on a fire did not the Mariners throw on water to quench it When they wound the Whale it is observable that blood wil spurt up twenty or thirty fadom high into the aire This creature is of such an incredible and inexpressible strength and force in the Seas that in Greenland that great Whale-slaughtering place of the world when they come once to dart an Harping-Iron into him hee will so rage rend and tear that if there were an hundered boats or shallops neare unto him hee would make them fly in a thousand shivers into the skyes Vers 9. Behold the hope of him is in vain shall not one bee cast down at the sight of him God would here set him forth as indeed he is a very formidable creature insomuch that there is very small hopes of taking of him because his assailants and pursuers may as well bee slain in the battel I and sooner too than escape They that adventure to encounter him cannot say wee will come off conquerours for there is many a boatfull of lusty hardy and stout-hearted fellows that leave their bones in the Sea by medling with him The very sight of this creature is so terrible and dreadfull affrighting that it would even share one to behold him when hee raises himself up above the waters which is with such majesty and fierceness as if hee were able to overturn the greatest ships that sail upon the Ocean Vers 13. Who can discover the face of his garment or who can come unto him with his double bridle The meaning of the words is who can or dare go unto him in the waters as hee can unto a gentle and tamed horse that feedeth in the fields or standeth in the stable Can any one go to him in the Seas without shipping or can any one go to him in shipping as the stable groom does unto his geldings with halter or with bridle Hee that shall venture either to saddle or bridle this unruly and indomable beast never need to look to come off again with life and his bones unbroke in his skin Vers 14. Who can open the doors of his face his teeth are terrible round about A man might as well go and take a wild Lion by the chaps or a truculent Bear or a merciless Tyger by the ears as medle with this creature after that manner They that will attempt the killing of these beasts stand in need of a great deal of art skill and dexterity otherwise it may cost them their lives were there a thousand of them in a boat together When this creature comes once to receive a mortal blow what by expence of blood and extream pain which hee undergoes hee gives up his life to him that gave it and his body to his pursuers and at such time as this may any one go unto him and look upon him and open the doors of his mouth for there is neither life nor strength in him then to make resistance but were hee living all the men in the world could not hold him nor do so by him Now may they take a view of his head When the victory is got over the Whale then they may go round about him and tell all his goodly fins which are as so many Oars upon his sides to row his great and corpulent carkass to and again in the Seas at his pleasure which are reckoned to bee three hundered and upwards and by these hee goes at what rate hee ploases in the waters as violently as an arrow out of a bow or a bullet out of a peece of Ordnance in which are eyes as large as some pewter dishes and room enough in his mouth for many people to sit in Now may they look upon his terrible teeth and handle his great and tree-like tongue which is upwards of two yards in breadth and in length longer and thicker than the tallest man that is upon the earth Out of which part the Marines extract above an Hogshead of Oyle Vers 20. Out of his nostrils goes smoake as out of a seething pot or cauldron In the Mediterranean I have seen and observed these creatures but it is not very usual to see any store of these beasts in those Austral parts for there be more in those parts of your Minor Whales and Granpisces than of those Major Sea-beasts In smooth water warm and calm weather they are now and then to bee seen sporting and playing of themselves and shewing their great and massy bodies above the waters unto the aspect of the ships that sail hard by them in the Seas One while rising up and another while falling down one while appearing and by and by disappearing and in their mounting up above water there goes evermore a smoaking breath out of their Nostrils as if it were the smoak of some thundring Bombard or peece of Ordnance the report of which is commonly audible above
that use the Seas that these Water-Spouts come down from heaven in the form of a cloud and at the one end it is in the form and likeness of a funnel which will descend upon the surface of the water and suck till it bee full out of the Ocean and so returns ascending up again into the heavens These are daunting and dreadful unto the ships that pass on in the Seas for if the cloud rends then down falls that infinite massy weight of water into the Sea again which will make the Sea to flash and froth at a great distance but if it come directly upon any of the ships it will endanger to sink them and to break down their decks masts and boltsprits Many ships have come to sad losses and woful hazzards by the fall of Water-Spouts Certainly after this manner does the Lord call and send for the waters of and in the Seas to pour out upon the face of the Earth The Ordinances of the Heavens are not seen nor known by and to every one Job 38.33 But to such as go down to the Sea These water-carrying Tankards come out of the Heaven to fetch water out of the Seas at Gods appointment to distil in silver showers upon the face of the whole Earth even upon the face of every Nation and Country that is in the World Amos 5.8 Now these Water-Spouts are not seen to any but ships that sail in the Seas 8. That various view that they have of the several sorts and kinds of People that bee in the world how they differ one from another in form habit speech gesture and deportment The Indians are wont to paint themselves with divers and sundry colours some with white and othersome with red some with the characters of the Moon in white and othersome with the Sun in black upon their bodies c. 9. That burning Island Fogo Burning Fogo These are the lads now that do Ultimas Provincias terras peragere in Remotissimas mundi partes navigare which is of an unspeakable heat and in height computed to bee twenty miles and upwards At the top of this Mountain there is a burning fire that shews it self four times in an hour most terribly to all the ships that sail in the Seas neer unto it It flyes up in horrid flames as if the fire of it would not stay until it reached the heavens after this like manner I have seen burning Strumbilo very vehement which lies in the Austral parts of the world 10. The People in the Torrid zone is another sight that they have who are afflicted most sadly with the scorching heat of the Sun It is observed that if there were not all the day long in those scorching parts of the world as the Indies c. a cool breeze which blows for the greatest part of the day to moderate that excessive roasting heat that is there it were impossible almost either for man or beast to live there they are so tormented and rosted with the beams of the Sun that they curse the up-rising of the Sun every morning they get out of their beds yet notwithstanding this vehement heat they have these accommodations to allay the intemperateness of the Zone many sweet springs of cool water to refresh themselves in and goodly rivers to bathe in many great and pleasant trees for shade which yeeld them both meat and drinks and besides they want not for Spices Sugars Lemons Oranges and juyces to quench their thirst withall and cool their bodies c. 11. A sight of those many Orange Olive and Lemon besides many other trees which they see growing where none inhabit Job 38.26 27. even their boughs ready to break with plenty of fruit and no hand nigh to take them in their maturity before they fall to the ground and perish In these parts lies the Lords store-houses of Snow Hail and Ice Job 37.9 Out of the North comes forth cold 12. The Northern parts of the world into which parts they adventure sometimes as far as they can for extreamity of cold but there is such an intolerable frigidity in some parts under the Poles as that they cannot bee discovered nor approached unto Job 38.18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the Earth declare if thou knowest it all Many will make great cracks and brags that the world is so many thousand in rotundity and so many thousand in breadth but it is none of my judgement to beleeve any such trifling assertions or computations Nova-zembla 13. Those Septentrional Zones that bee in Greenland and Nova Zembla c. which onely in Summer-time may bee spoke with but not in the Hybernal insomuch that many parts under the Poles are inhospitable by reason of that excessiveness of cold frost snow and ice that lyes in those parts which would kill people to live there Those Sunless Starless and Moonless nights and days that bee in the Winter-time in those parts have fetcht in that in Matth. 25.30 to my thoughts And cast yee the unprofitable Servant into utter darkness there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth If a man were in those parts hee would find nothing else but darkness weeping Meditate the torments of hell Sea-man when thou goest Norward Thou durst as soon eat thy fingers as go into the Northern parts of the world as Greenland c. if thou thoughtest not that thou hadst a good ship under thee to bring thee back again Thou knowest full well that the cold in that place would kill thee and gnashing of teeth and with ten thousand times that hee were in England or in any part of the world than in that uncomfortable part and side of the world 14. Lapland A sight of that People which live in Finmark and Lapland c. who to avoid that extreamity of Winter-cold that commonly falls upon those parts turn Troglodites they delve themselves warm holes and caves in the Earth to shelter themselves from the rage of that brumale tempus that breaks out upon them in that bitterness 15. A sight of those huge Icy Mountains that bee in those Northern Zones which make such a dashing and crashing one against another making such hideous noises as if it were the very roarings of hell or those ear-deafing Cataracts that are to bee heard and seen in Egypt 16. This is one that is as remarkable as any thing that has been spoken of That in Island Greenland and in divers other Northern parts of the world that are destitute of wood scarce having one stick growing yet notwithstanding they are most miraculously provided for every year and though they have not vessels nor ships to fetch wood withall yet does the Lord supply them on this wise Many great trees and billets are carried unto them upon the waves and billows of the Seas both out of Norway and elsewhere which come and lie in their creeks It is no small wonderment to mee to think how prodigiously
they are provided for that are without fuel in Island and elsewhere In this Island there is another very remarkable passage that there bee several waters in it which are of such a vehement ardency that they will boyl both fish foul and beef in And in these waters the people both dress and cook all their victuals and bays which the people take up and reserve for winter Certainly hee that guided the Kine which bare the Ark 1 Sam. 6.12 guides and orders that these parcels of wood faggots or fuel should come unto those that would bee starved if they were not thus helped every year and besides if there were not a visible hand of providence appearing for this people that live in a Country where doubtless wood will not grow or otherwise for firing it has been destroyed these peeces that swim upon the floods of the Seas might go from them and into the middle of the Sea rather than unto them if not directed c. 17. Their aspect of the Sea which is sometimes of such an ignifluous lustre as if it were full of Starrs insomuch that if a peece of wood or any other ponderous thing should be thrown into it at such times in the night it will show it self as if it were full of firesparkles Whence that Proverb As true as the Sea burns 18. The sight of those two burning Islands Hecla and Helga is another these are often times covered over with Snow yet burn within and belch out very terrible and vehement sparks of fire 19. Their viewing and walking up and down in the goodly sumptuous princely and stately Cities that bee in the world viz. Constantinople Grand-Cair Genoa Venice Naples Rome c. 20. A sight of those fearful and unusual Lightnings and Thunderings that bee sometimes in the Occidental and Austral parts of the world which are with such vehemency and dreadfulness that one would think that the Heavens and the Earth would come together I have heard the honestest and godliest of men that use the Seas say that when they have been in the Indies if they did but see a cloud appearing in the bigness of ones hand they need no other warning but that a most dreadful storm would ensue Insomuch that they have been forced to make all the haste they could to get sails furl'd yards peak'd and their ships fitted to endure it as well as they could The Observation was this That the most or the greatest part of Gods glorious and wonderful works are seen by Sea-men The point then will afford us these two uses 1. Of Reproof And 2. Of Exhortation 1. Vse Reproof 1. Is it thus then that you that are Sailors and Sea-men do see most of the Lords works yea more than all the people in the world besides Platonists by the sight of Nature see more yea and will shame thousands of our Sailors for they could say that all that pulchtitude and beauty that shines in the creature was but Splendor quidam summi illius boni pulchrum coelum pulchra terra sed pulchrior qui fecit illa Surely this point looks with a sour look upon you that make no improvement nor application of things unto your selves for better amendment than you do I may say unto you in the words of Job 35.11 who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven that God hath taught us more than the beasts of the field and hath made man wiser than the fowls of heaven therefore God looks for another manner of glory and understanding from you that are men than hee doth from them and more from those that are Christians than from natural and carnal men It is a notable saying of Mr. Calvins Diabolica ist aec scientia said hee quae in natura contemplatione nos retinens a Deo avertit That is a Devillish kinde of knowledge that in the contemplation of nature keeps men in nature and holds them back from God After this manner may I speak unto you that it is a devillish kinde of knowledge that you have of the Seas and of the Creation if that all you see know and hear of keep you still in nature what better art thou than a beast for all thy travel Give mee leave to tell you thus much 1. That there is a seeing eye in the world an eye that is much in Quaelibet herba Deum stella creaturaque and upon Gods works Isa 40.26 Job 26.8 Hee bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds and the cloud is not rent under them A seeing eye looks on nothing that is either in Sea or Land but thinks of God in it I have read of one that was so spiritual and heavenly-minded that when hee was in the world where hee had a full view of many wonderful things hee said there was nothing that ever hee did behold but hee saw God in it When I cast mine eyes upon the Earth I saw that God was every where When I looked upon the Heavens I considered with my self that that was his Throne When I looked into the depths of the Sea I beheld the power and wisdome of God in the creating of them And when I looked upon the many creeping things that were in it they told mee that God was there I looked also into the breathing air with all the inhabitants of it and it told mee that God was there whose proper Attribute is to bee every where I looked up into the Starry sphere and spangled roof of heaven which glisters with innumerable stars from whence I learned that that is a Christians Country who is in Christ and from thence do I look for my Saviour and the longer I do look upon those glorious and burning and shining Tapers of the heavens which are estimated the very least of them to bee bigger than the whole earth I consider that God hath undoubtedly great and just expectations from man that hee will do some work and service for his Maker Most Masters will not allow their servants to sport and idle whilst their candles are burning but if they finde them so doing they will blow them forth Certainly Sea-men you may conclude that God looks for great things from you who see so much of the Creation that others see not Will it not bee tollerabler for the ignorant Indian c. and the miserable heathen that is in the world than it will bee for you who have no other light but the light of nature to walk by I may compare the generality of Sea-men unto a Traveller who doth in his vagaries leave all things behind him in his way he passes by stately Towers and comely Turrets brave buildings both of Marble Brick and hewn stone goodly Cities Towns and Countries comely and beautiful people and other some both black and tawny and these hee beholds for a while and admires them and passeth on and leaveth them afterwards he goes thorow the â—ields
or both of those ships that do so meet goes down with all their passengers in the very bottome where they are never seen more Other sometimes again I have seen them meet and through mercy they have escaped sinking only this they have gone off with a great deal of damage as to the breaking of the ships heads Boltsprits ships Boles and strong Timbers c. These are as cunning to watch all opportunities as the little Arabian Spider who spreads out her tent for the prey how heedfully doth shee watch for the passenger as soon as ever she hears the noise of the Five a far of he hastens to look out at his door and if she come near unto him he presently weighs and stands after her and brings her at last to a most cruel end for he bindes him fast with his most subtil cords and so drags the helpless Captive into his Cave 12. Some have been taken sometimes in the West-Indies by that feral and savage kinde of people which are both of a Cannibal and Anthropophagite nature It is very common for that people in some parts of the Indies to come running out of the Woods Holes and Caves if they espie any Outlandish people coming amongst them and to kill them with their bows and arrows and many a poor man have these cut off for they are an avarous and an inordinate kinde of people as unto the flesh of man which they do love-above Duck Goose and Mallard which they have in as great plenty to go to when they please as the greatest Prince in the world hath any thing at his command And if they take any men that come in ships they will feed them with the best Venison and the fattest and finest Fowls that ever they can get and after they have got them once fat and in good liking they will kill them and eat their bodies I knew one that was a very sober-minded man that affirmed it unto mee for a truth that hee was in their hands for above a quarter of a year and lay in holes and caves with them and being begged by an Indian-woman shee kept him from being killed and living not far from the Sea side I may write upon this deliverance Non avis utiliter viscatis effugit alis hee every day had an eye upon it looking out if hee could see any ships a coming to that place and after the expence of some sad and solitary time amongst the Indians it happened that the same ship came to that very place again little expecting him to bee alive and as soon as hee saw the ship hee ran down to the Sea side unto her where they most joyfully imbraced him and the woman that kept him seeing him running away from her made after him with the greatest violence that could be ran up to the middle in the sea for him 13. Some are many and many a time thrown upon sands and rocks and yet notwithstanding those danting I may write this upon this deliverance Evasi per mille pericla demum incolumis He that will go to Sea had need to carry an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 along with him whether to drown or live and dreadful hazzards they have by and through the mighty power of Gods out-stretched Arm lyen safe and in the end got happily off them How commonly visible is this very thing that ships may be seen here and there sticking and stopping upon the sands whereas if the Lord should but give the windes commission to blow and to raise up the waves of the Seas upon them they would beat them into a thousand parcels Oh the many ships and Mariners that have been thus delivered Who deserves the praise of this mercy 14. Others oftentimes are most sadly hazzarded in stormy and tempestuous weather insomuch that when they have been busied about their Masts Yards and Sails of their Ships that both the Yards and Masts have broke and the poor men have fallen over-board into the Sea and although that the ship hath had fresh way and is long before shee can bee stopped many of them have been saved The great and wide Sea is not unlike to that Sea in Panten of which it is said that who or whatsoever falleth into it is never seen after It is like the Spanish Inquisition into which if any one come they are never heard of more God keep our poor Sailors out of it yea even such as never had the art to strike one swiming stroke have been found lying upon the water to admiration as if the Sea had no commission to hurt or drown them Oh the many Sea-men that are still living and can tell of these very deliverances bestowed upon them 15. Some oftentimes when they have been thousands of miles from any Portland or Country have been in smarting want and most miserable Certainly it is a dishonour for a parent or any special friend to hang his Picture in a dark hole in some obscure and contemptible place because it is expected thâ—â— we should make it as conspicuous as may be and so hang it up in some eminent place signifying that we do rejoyce in it as an ornament to us Let me therefore take upon me to tel all the Sailors in England that it is a great evil in them to hide obscure great and remarkable deliverances by which God should be glorified both before Men and Angels I have therefore endeavoured to hang up some of your forgotten and underfeet trodden mercies and preservations in the very view of the whole world and pinching stints and allowance and the wind hath lain in their very teeth even in the very way that they should steer homewards as if threatning to block them up and starve them in the Seas I have heard some Sailors say that they have been glad to feed upon Rats to keep themselves alive with and othersome have been forced for want of victual to kill Porpoise and other uncouth fish they could dart shoot or lay their hands upon in the salt waters You may now see that it oftentimes goes hard with the Mariner I and that the Lords own people have not alwayes the fattest Pastures to graze in Daniel lived on Pulse Elijah upon his Cake that was baked upon the Coal and Cruse of water Luther lived upon his Herring and Junius upon his one Egg a day when means was short with him by reason of the Civil wars that were in France 16. Some are oftentimes so hard put to it in the remote parts of the world in their long and prolix voyages that for want of fresh water Sailors Darius like who said in his flight when he could get no better liquor for his thirst than thick and muddy water that stood in an horse-stepping that he never drunk sweeter water in his life I will write thus much upon this hard case and condition that the Mariner is often in Qui fitiunt in Mediâ— mari non statiâ—
of sorrow amongst the Sea-men for they are all at work now in the throwing over-board both Wines Fruits Silks and Spices even any thing that their Vessel may bee lightned they also take the course that some fishes do Lympham ore immissam per branchi as emittere let in water at their mouths but pump it out at their gills 6. Shiprest lesness Inter alia dura The Sea is like Plutarchs Moon never in one shape long vvho desired the Taylor to make her a Petricoat but before the Taylor got it made and brought it home the Moon vvas hopt into another quarter tristia amongst the many other sad and gravaminous troubles this of the Mariners inquiescentialness is none of the inferiour ones If the winds begin once to hollow and to fiddle upon the Sea if there were ten thousand sail of ships they should all of them quickly dance after the musick of it Prophane History speaks of the powerfulness of Orpheus's musick that it was so melodious and ear-charming that the beasts of the field could not stand upon their legs at the audience of it but were most admirably acted and transported beyond the nature of brute creatures to dance after that high strained musick which they heard And truly I may tell you that when ever the Southern Northern Eastern or Western Bagpipes of the world begin to play there is never a ship in the Seas excepting those that bee in their harbours but dance their Galliards and cut their Capers after it Now begins every Sea-man to stand fast to take hold with his hands If that the Wind-timbrel of the East the Vial of the North the Tabret of the South and the Harp or Pipe of the West begin but once to musick it all the ships that be in the Seaâ— have no power to stand still but after it they will dance and cut far higher Capers than ever the conjured body did of whom history tells us that he danced chamber height with the brass pot upon his head or lye flat down upon his belly in the storm or otherwise the ships rowling and bouncing will indanger the beating out of his brains And now begins the Cooks Kettle for to dance in the Cook-room and to terrifie all that come near it for their victuals I have often thought that if the stone bigd houses of the world and also that if the famous Towns and Cities thereof of reeled but as ships do in the Sea the inhabitants thereof would not bee in such deep love with them as they are and so little in love with heaven No they would not take that delight they do in their great inheritances and possessions that they have upon earth if that their earthly mansions staggered but as our wooden transporting and sailing habitations do upon the Seas But hee that puts his foot into the stirrup of a States or Merchants Woodden-horse must look for more jumping leaps and frisking capers before hee gets out of the saddle again than the wildest unbackt or untaught beast in the world can give him The Seas vaunting and out-braving trepidations together with their ascending tumors and raging murmurs have not very seldome exasperated my spirit into this like irascible It is reported that a company of Sea-men did upon a time very strictly summon in the Seas to give them an account why they vvere so restless and vvherefore they svvallovved up so many ships every year as they did and the Seas being at the bar gave them this ansvver That it vvas not in their povver to be quiet because the vvinds above did beat them up into undulating billovvs if they vvould not disturb us your passage would be both smooth and quiet enough but we are thrown into heaps that you may fear that God that is above because your are men that live without the fear of God and therefore are quiekly up in arms to sâ—â—k you and objurgatory speech unto them because they have been so unquiet and restless under us Quousque quousque tandem abutere Neptuni unda patientia nostra quamdiu nos etiam furor iste tuus cludet quem ad finem sese effraenata jactabit audacia nihil ne te quotidianum naut arum praesidium nihil eorum pericli nihil eorum timor nihil eorum maestitia nihil consensus honorum omnium nihil opulentarum navium nihil horum ora vâ—ltusque moverunt Quamdiu inhorrestes subito mare tenebrae multoties conduplicantur noctisque nimborum occaecat nignon flamma inter nubes coruscat Coelum tâ—nitru contremit grandomixta imbriâ—largistuo repante praecipitans cadit undique omnes venti erumpunt saevi existunt turbines fervet aestu pelagus perpetua mortis imago ante omnium oculos oâ—versatur 7. Trouble of conscience Many a Sailor that never knew before what the compunction of conscience meant comes to have a shreud guessing at it when the ship is like to bee lost in the storm then flyes in his face all his whoring swearing lying wronging of men all his drunkenness and his graceless unprofitable living and walking before God in the world and this storm within is ten thousand times more dreadful than the storm without From the foregoing words I would lay down this point of truth Observ 1 That the generality of Sea-men are far more fearful of being drowned in storms than they are of sin or of the second and eternal death Their soul is melted because of trouble Their sorrows and tears are spent upon the likelinesse of their losing of their lives and not for their sins and the great hazzards that their souls are in at such times 1. If our Sea-men were but as much affraid of sin as they are of dangerous sands I am confident that the good people in England would think that there were more Saints at Sea than there are on Land When I consider how I have seen the Mariner for to quake and tremble yea their faces to gather paleness their spirit even ready to run over their lips out of their bodies and their joynts to bee loosed and their very knees to knock upon one another as they did in Belshazzar I have wished that the committing of sin startled them but as much and then there were hopes that they would bee out of conceit with it 2. If our Sea-men were but as much affraid of sin as they are of those known and unknown in Sea-lying rocks that be up and down in the great Ocean wee should have them a very pretious people nay an unparalleld and matchless squadron of souls 3. If our Mariners stood but in the half of that trembling fear which they doe in stormy foggy and Euroclydon daies that come upon them in the Seas in which they are so much be darkned that they have neither the light of the Sun Moon nor Stars I am confident they would bee as much affraid of lying swearing and whoring as ever the burnt childe is of the fire or the
before deliverance hath come Masts have broke upon your heads Sails have rent Cables broke and Anchors come home The Patient earnestly desires such and such things under his distemper but the Physitian wants nor will to give them him but resolves to give them him so soon as hee is fit and therefore makes him stay till hee hath purged for till hee bee made fit for it and for such a cordial and such a medicine it may prove very hurtful for him Ships half filled with water or by stress of weather thrown upon sands Psal 107.43 Who so is wise will observe these things 4. Mind how God Sounds the deeps for you in calm and serene weather when you are boldly sailing on in the Seas with a great deal of confidence and security that your depths of water are sufficient to swim your ponderous ships in that even then Qui scrutantur saepe marinas aranas nihil potest illudere They that will but sound the Seas carefully in dubious places cannot bee deceived but they that are overcome with laziness to throw the Lead over-board may quickly for ought I know run the ship on ground at such times God has struck some in the ship with a great fear putting it into their hearts that they were in great danger whereupon they have called for the Lead and made inquiry into the Sea and water has scarce been found to keep up the ship from the very bottom Who so is wise will observe these things 5. Mind how the Lord goes before you sounding of your depths in the darkest foggiest and mistiest weather that you are surprised withall when you are going on with strong confidence that there is no danger even contra improvisum omnem ictum then are you in very great peril It is with Sailors in black dark and foggy weather as the Poet tells us of Virg. Eclog. 3. Dic quibus in lymphis eris mihi magnâ—s Apollo Tres pateat coeli spatium non amplius ulnas There it little of the heavens to bee seen in the Seas at these times The fire that came down from Heaven upon the Altar was miraculous yet when it was kindled they kept it in with wood Sea-men let your deliverances never starve for keeping warm upon your hearts for having neither the benefit of the Sun nor of the Moon nor of the Stars you are so dreadfully bewildred that you know not how near you are to any Land nor how such and such sand-banks bear off you nor what course to shape and steer then does the Lord direct you and when you are near to Sands hee gives some or other amongst you secret and impulsory hints and warnings to make an examination of your depths by which you are many and many a time preserved Who so is wise will observe these things 6. Minde how God informs you when you are not aware of many in-Sea-lying sand-banks which are visible and obvious enough to a seeing and a watchful eye that is but careful to cast about for the preventing of danger yet when you have mindlessly been running on without either wit or fear holding a direct course upon them it has pleased the Lord to put it into the heart of one or other to look out of the ship It was a good saying of one at Sea when espyed a breach and making report of it the Mariners within said that they could not beleeve it and withall asked him where it was Ne quaeramus ubi sit sed quomodo illam fugiamus Let us not make inquiry where it is but let us strive how to avoid it who has cast his eye this way and that way and quickly observed the breaches that the waters make upon the sands by which means they have brought the ship with all the speed that ever in them lay upon the stayes and so gone cleer Who so is wise will observe these things 7. Minde how God directs you in your Navigations when you are not advised of those many in-Sea-lying Rocks that bee up and down in the great Ocean both North and West and South and East Ah how near have you come to these with your ships The Butterfly in the fable asked the Owle how hee should deal with fire which had singed her wings her counsel was this be sure thou never come so near it again nor as much as ever come within the sight of the smoak of it Your are prudent and want not the skil of applying of it many and many a time before you have been aware of them and when you have been steering upon a direct line to the hazzad of both your ships and lives upon them God has providentially put some or other upon the looking out who have seen the Seas breaking over them in most dreadful froth and presently have made report thereof by which means the ship has been stopped and altered in her course Ah Sea-men surely the Lord has a great care of you Who so is wise will observe these things 8. Mind how God does miraculously many times in misty and foggy weather when you are nearer to Land than you do estimate your selves to be One was lost when nearer Land than he was aware of but quoth the Ship-master It is but a fog-bank there is no danger when they came neer unto it it proved the white clifs of the Land there the ship perished in the storm All are not so favoured even pull by the obumbrated curtains that are drawn over the face of the deeps by which providential dispensation you have a cleer vision of the white clifts of the Land and thereby alter your course upon the sight of danger whereas otherwise you might have perished sundry times if God had not haled up the foggy curtains of the air and let you see that if you ran any neerer death would bee the conclude of that undertaking Who so is wise will observe these things 9. Minde how frequently I and what tender care the Lord has of you in the Seas by his often hushing of the winds when they are up in roaring and rampiant hostility against you at such times when you are irrecoverably run upon Sands and cannot get your ships off them again if the Lord did not thus appear for those that go in the deeps who are I fear very slow in the seeing and also in the acknowledging of this singular mercy many an hundred sail had been split to pieces at this day which have been at time and times preserved Do not you often see this favour undeservedly to bee bestowed upon you Theseus was never better guided by Ariadnes's threâ— which shee tyed at the entrance of Daedalus's labyrinth than those ships that fear the Lord are guided by their God from Rocks Shoars and Sands in the great and wide Seas May I not say of this frequent experienced mercy that the eyes of the Lord are as swift as the very shoots or flashes of Lightning
English page 435 Prayer how should resemble the stars about the North-pole page 460 Prayer begged at the hands of all the godly and powerful Ministry in England for poor Sea-men page 542 Pliny's expression of Rome given to men that use the Seas page 478 Pliny's judgement what the wind is page 367 Prayer how prevalent with God page 482 Perpetual life-danger of Sea-men page 420 Philostrates's life compared to Sea-men page 392 Prophane Sea-mens Motto ibid. Prayer forced is never ought page 486 Plutarchs report of men dejected what done withall page 401 Paulinus how hee bore his great trial under the savage Goths page 352 Patience an excellent vertue the heathen thought it so when page 353 Praising of God in several directions page 576 Pythagoras scholars what their custome was page 109 Plato how answered Socrates in his rashness page 25 Persons what should not bee taken in into Navy ships page 32 Physiognomer what hee said of an Emperour page 80 Plato's great desire to convert Dionysius page 61 Paul how desirous to have them saved that sailed with him page 52 Pepper-tree how it grows page 263 Pemblico a bird page 242 Q. Question fifteen page 150 R. REasons why Sea-men should bee thankful unto their God for their deliverances are five page 565 Reasons laid down are sixteen why storms arise upon the Seas page 348 Reasons two strong ones why men are so fearful in storms page 455 Righteous man of what worth page 36 Reasons five why young men should bee looked after in the Sea page 73 Roman Ambassadors what said of them page 78 Romans highly esteem of faithfulness page 84 Roman General what a command he bore page 30 Romans cannot indure any without a calling page 166 Rome how once laid down to the ground page 180 Rocks in the Sea what their language is page 322 Richard the first how travelled to the Holy Land page 124 S. SEa compared to Plutarchs Moon page 427 Sea summoned in by the Mariners why it did drown so many of them as it did page 427 Speech objurgatory to the rest less Sea ibid. Speech of Galienus the Emperour when lost all that ever hee had page 402 Sea-men how compared to all high pinacles page 409 Sea-men too confident of going to heaven page 410 Seneca's speech page 401 Sea-men in storms are nearer heaven than any in the world besides page 409 Ships when cast away may bee concluded on that it was when the Mariners were swearing page 487 Several Reasons why Sea-men are the worst people in the world page 488 Sea-mans life and conversation page 393 Sea what it saith to prophane men ibid. Sea-mens lives very uncertain page 388 Ships uncertainty of ever returning whilst at Sea page 383 Sailors Motto what page 417 Sea-mans head what compared to page 416 Ships how rest less in the Sea page 27 Sailors Motto what page 445 Seasons six in which Sea-men are evermore out of their wits page 445 Sea hath four ill things in it page 446 Sea-mans Motto in a storm page 418 Sea-mans night-watching in time of storms page 418 Ship-leak springing how terrible page 426 Sea-mans day labouring in time of storms page 417 Sea-men how seemingly good in time of danger page 484 Shark what said of him page 206 Sea-horses what said of them page 209 Sea-men compared to the Nightingale page 191 Sea-swine what said of them page 222 Sea-calf page 224 Sea-turtle ibid. Stork what said of her page 234 Strange-sheep in Cusko page 249 Sivet-cat what shee is page 251 Scorpion what page 258 Strumbilo how it burns page 273 Sea-men too like the traveller that leaves all things behinde him page 281 Sea like the Sea in Pauten page 301 Ship-masters how reproved and for what page 91 Ship-masters exhorted to imitate Tiberius in his honest minde page 90 Sabbath day how sweetly it is observed at Sea page 95 Swearing complained of and exclaimed against at Sea page 101 Subjects that should bee preached on at Sea laid down page 102 Swearing ships but unhealthful air to breathe in page 103 Sea-men if ever they would bee good and Religious must practise seven things page 111 Socrates how fearful of Alcibiades page 115 Spanish Proverb what page 116 Sea-men prophane how compared to Pharaohs seven ill-favoured Kine page 118 Sun how said to shine and would not shine were it not for the godly page 119 Sea-men must practise six things if ever they would have credit ibid. Sea-men exhorted to practise nine very singular good things page 123 Sea-men counselled in three good things page 125 Sea-men should rather dye than stain their credits ibid. Sea-men prophane too like to those in Luthers time page 126 Ships when miscarry may be said that they never sought God in their going out page 132 Ships what order they observe in their going to Sea in nine things page 133 Sea-men how valiant they should bee when they hear of an enemy page 141 Spaniard in what to bee disgusted page 141 Spaniard how massacred many English page 144 Sea or Land a controversie whether bee greater page 153 Sea-men when come out of the West-Indies how glad they are when they can once see the North star page 154 sea-Sea-water how far it excels land-Land-water in strength page 156 Seas wonderful beneficial to all Countries in five things page 161 Sea-men exhorted to bee of Themistocles temper page 172 Sea separates many Nations a great mercy page 162 Sorrow and pleasure how they fell out page 598 Sea-men how wished a bottle of Nepenthe in storms page 596 States ships how said to resemble Nebuchadnezzars tree page 589 Ships how said to derive their names from the stout fought Battels in England page 290 Ships what several names they have to perpetuate the memory of Englands Battels page 591 Ships that carry the names of Englands Battels upon them are terrible page 592 Sea what manner of place it is page 4 Ship how shee commended the Pilot that steered her well in a storm page 598 Sea hath no lanes foot-paths nor high-wayes to travel by page 12 Sea-men counselled to bee of Fabritius's minde page 16 Sea-men far more on stern in matters of good than any in the world besides page 18 Scipio how of a brave spirit page 21 Sea-Captains some how compared to Thales page 22 Sin the only of Commanders being hurled out ibid. States how little they set by men at Sea whose carriages are naught page 23 Ships carry famous Titles and wherefore page 26 Sea-men too like the Cypress tree page 29 Sea-men that are prophane should bee cast out of ships page 33 Ships have good names but want of government in them page 30 States ships might prosper wonderfully had they but these men in them page 35 States ships should bee little Churches and Chappels page 42 Sea-man how defined page 46 Sea-men how backward to all good in divers particulars page 48 Sabbath day how sweetly it is observed at Sea page 55 Sea Commanders some too like Harpocrates
the Egyptian ibid. Spots soon seen in the Ermin page 64 Suspicious ships should not bee neglected to hee spoke withall page 65 Song that the poor bird sung when got out of the Fowlers hands ibid. Suevians estimation of peace page 70 Ships how they should bee governed ibid. Strong drink should bee kept out of ships page 77 Sailors that are naught too like the unsavoury Elder tree ibid. Star the Mariner sails by what page 12 Sailors prophane life like to King Eldreds Reign page 413 Sea-men how they will go forth in windy nights to see if they can espye any star in the heavens page 420 Sea-men how fearful of Rocks and Sands page 430 Sea-men how unkindly they deal with Prayer page 483 Saylors in storms how compared to the Froggs in the Country-mans Pond page 481 Saylors how resemble the Siryphian Froggs page 478 Swearing ships worse habitations than the stinking Jakes and Channels about the City of London page 490 Saylors like to the people in the time that Juvenal lived in page 489 Seas turbulent and dangerous to Passengers because of prophane men in ships page 350 Security taken napping at sea as the old World was page 364 Sea how compared to lovely Paris in Hectors eye page 376 Sea-men exhorted in their employments to imitate the Nobilities of Rome ibid. Storms as well as Calms come from the hand of God page 379 Signs of the coming of storms be fifteen page 373 Ships at sea how resemble the Owl in the Embleme page 535 Saylors imployment how compared to the picture of the naked man in the Almanack page 530 Sea-ports should resemble the Emblem of the Candle page 535 Sea-men how they sit in the Waves and upon the Flouds like him in the Emblem page 536 Sea compared to the English Colledge at Valladolid in Spain for danger page 536 Sea-port Towns if naught how they endanger and threaten the whole Land with ruine page 538 Sunk ships bespeak Sea-men to make seven good applicatory uses page 550 Ships that have fair names upon them oftentimes very foulely miscarry page 547 Sea-mans life and conversation page 548 Sea how compared to Pandora's Box for danger page 542 Ships brought to ruine by reason of sinful men that saile in them page 555 Sea-men if godly need not fear the seas page 544 Saylors life what it is page 458 Sea compared to Proteus page 454 Syracucian when in a storm to save himself threw his wife over-board page 455 Sea how compared to the river Hypanis page 438 Seas why turbulent and Winds boysterous be divers in respect of the prophane wretches that goe in them ibid. Storms how the uttering of Gods voyce in wrath against them that use the seas page 340 Sea-mens large vowes to their God when in storms page 461 Sea-men in want of fear how compared to Sigismund page 475 Sea-men how they call upon God in storms and never in calms page 476 Sea-mans employment as dangerous as the Snails going over the bridge page 533 Story of one risen from the dead page 566 Storms better not bad men page 567 Stork how she expresses her thankfulnesse page 568 Saylors of Zara what they offered to their God for a deliverance in a storm page 570 Sea-men deal with their God as Egypt with the Clouds page 572 Seas upon a time how spoke to a pack of swearing Saylors and asked them why they was not affraid page 560 Shipwrack many suffer and why page 547 Saylors compared to Bees page 452 Sea-men how should prepare for storms page 394 Storms what Gods aimes are in them page 395 Sceva how he told of all his deliverances to his friends page 573 Seamen what they should say of their deliverances page 588 Sea-men how they deal with God page 580 Ship how covered over with Celestial curtains page 318 Storms how dreadful sometimes in Egypt page 329 Sea-lights when burn dimme make the Mariners curse and rage page 509 Seas as difficult to Navigate as the Hircinian Forrests bee to travel through page 510 Sigismund Emperour what used to say of his enemy page 514 Seas in storms run as high as the mountains in Mirioneth-shire in Wales page 514 Spaniard how may be dealt withall page 182 Spanish Ambassadors proud Ambassage into England page 185 Sea-men exhorted to bee as valiant for England as the two Scipio's were page 185 Sea-men exhorted to charge the Spaniard stoutly page 187 Sea-men how they see the riches honours and beauties of Countries page 191 T. TRojans how glad after their long Warre when came within the sight of their own Country page 545 Toledo the Arch-Bishop how hee despaired of Solomon page 410 Thankfulnesse how gainful it was to Alexander page 578 Tyger what page 254 Toddy-tree what page 265 Terebinth-tree page 266 Torrid Zone how people live in it page 273 Troy how ruined when secure page 298 Torpedo what page 226 Tumbler page 441 Titus Vespasian how sweetly spoken page 517 Travellers on Land what course they take page 11 Teneriff how difficult to goe up to the top of it page 600 Tree in Pliny how delightful page 2 Theodore how careful of his Childrens education page 35 Turkycock how said to rage page 106 Thistle in the Scottish coyn what it said page 139 Trumpet sounds England stand to thine Arms. page 143 Turks how allow none to be idle page 166 Thescus how guided by Ariadnes thred page 500 Thresher what said of him page 222 Thrush how brings evil upon her self page 205 Turk what said of England when looking for it in a Map page 183 V. ULysses what said of eloquence page 45 Voluptuous Londoner how feasted his five senses page 100 Vines in India how compared page 21 Virgils observation of a storm page 542 Ulysses how sadly hee raged when like to bee drowned in a storm page 556 Venice how lived a thousand years in one form of Government page 529 Use of comfort to those that use the Seas that God is the great Commander of them and of the winds page 360 Voyages are all to bee begun in the fear and by the good leave of God page 387 Vulcan so proud that hee would dwell no longer on earth but c. page 415 Vses of Information Circumspection and Reproof page 361 Unthankfulness reproved page 576 577 W. VVInd what it doth page 36â— Wars of old what they did when they went into them page 388 Wonders the greatest in England are her famous and stately Fabricks of warlike ships page 382 White-hall how a curb both to Sea and Land page 489 Winds how overthrow Sambelicus and his Army whilst at dinner page 338 Wind-Armies bee four page 331 Walnot tree how better for beating page 504 Winds are allayed six several wayes page 522 Waves of the Sea what called by some page 524 World if travelled what to be done page 194 Whale what said of him page 212 Wilde-Ass what page 247 Water-spouts at Sea what page 271 Wilde-Cows what page 255 Wilde-Goat what page 254 Wilde-Bore what page 255 Waters of the Sea why called great page 152 Water in Sicily what page 153 War how ought to begin and bee carried on page 145 World how often it hath been fought for page 170 World divided how few Christians in it page 271 Williams valour when went to Sea page 124 West-Indies how tame Fowls are page 241 Weeping-tree page 266 X. XErxes trusting in a multitude of men how betrayed page 520 Xerxes angred at Helespont how threw Irons into it page 521 Y. YEars ago could not sail far at Sea because wanted the use of the Loadstone page 9 Z. Zebra what page 250
Kings and Princes of the Seas and the Conquerours of all the Armadoes in the world that shall dare to meddle with you Inter caetera providentiae divinae opera hoc quoque dignum est admiratione c. Amongst other works of a divine providence this is very admirable that the winds lye upon the Sea for the furtherance of Navigation and that they may all strike and vail to you as forein Nations once did unto the Kings and Princes that were their Conquerors of whom it is said that at what time they sent their Ambassadors to them whom they both had subdued and would have subdued to them they desired of them Terram Aquam and in token of their subjection they sent them both Water and Earth because all command is either by Sea or by Land and all possessions and riches are either gotten out of the Sea or out of the Land And now after all that I have said in the high commendations of you I pray God bestow peace on our Nation both at Sea and Land for that is far better than these dreadful and heart-amazing Wars There is small comfort in it to see Nation rising up against Nation and an imbruing of their hands in one anothers blood It is a very sad sight in these our dayes the Lord amend it to see Nations running one against another like the two Mountains in Pliny of which hee tells Montes duo inter se concurrerunt crepitu maximo assultantes recedentesque inter eos flamma fumoque in Calum exeunte that they ran continually one against the other Plin. cap. 2.83 Nat. Hist from whom nothing but smoke and fire rise up and ascended towards the heavens with a great sonorous and formidable noise they that take delight to see it I wish they may have enough of it Give mee leave to take my leave of you in a few directions which I would have you to look upon as one of the highest expressions of my love and affection that a man can possibly bear you I speak not only unto you altogether that fear the Lord but unto the other prophane crew also shall I commend a word of counsel and this Treatise is one of the greatest Legacies of my love that I either have or know how to bestow upon you and truly I could wish that every Minister that goes in your ships and in the States service would endeavour to shew something of the improvement of his time that it may stand upon record for the good of you that use the Seas and so far would I have any from carping at what I have done that I would wish them to mend it if they can or shew something of their own I had no warm study to sit in nor no place that was free of noyse and tumult when I writ it Sirs You may visibly behold the great love I bear you who hath taken all this pains in the Sea for you What would you have mee to do for you I have gone a begging to all the good Ministers in the land to pray for your preservation conversion and sanctification I have gone a begging to all the Saints and servants of God to pray for you It was somewhat a soure saying of one concerning the viler sort of Sea-men when he said if you see them not in Sea-port Towns in November December January and March which are the windiest Months in the year then you may conclude that they are all gone to Heaven or else they will never come there They mount up to Heaven c. vers 26. I have exhorted all the Sea-ports in England to pray for you and to remember you that go in the turbulent deeps and I will assure you that I will never forget you neither in Pulpit nor in private but pray hard for your prosperity in the Seas and felicity in the life to come My hearts desire is that you may bee saved in the day of the Lord. The Rules I would commend to you that travel are such as these following and I would hand them not onely to every good and honest heart that goes in the Seas but to every prophane wretch whatsoever 1. Let not the irreligion of those places you travel into whether France Spain Italy Barbary or Turky c. breed in you a neglect of divine duties or a disgustion unto the pure and most reformed Religion that is amongst us in England 2. When you meet the Host or Eucharist in the streets through which it is often born to the houses of the sick get out of the way that you kneel not to it which if a stranger neglects hee is lyable to the Inquisitors or one mischief or other 3. Go no further into the Outlandish Churches in the world than the hand of your own Religion and conscience will lead you lest you dash upon the rocks of Atheism and Idolatry 4. Pitty rather than spurn scoffe and scorn at those you see prostrate before a Crucifix or a Saint It hath been matter of pitty unto my soul many and many a time when in forein parts 5. Neglect will sooner kill an injury than revenge If you meet with injuries in forein parts prudently and patiently put them up an ill turn in those parts is far cheaped passed over than revenged the endeavour of which many times is but Gentleman usher to a greater 6. Keep your selves out of all the Mercenary Harlot houses that bee in the Italian French and Spanish Cities or in any other parts of the world you traffick to Prov. 5.8 Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the door of her house 7. Begin all your voyages with fear and sincere and hearty prayer unto God to go along with you through and over the Seas to carry you well out to return you wel back You go very rashly upon all your designs The Israelites usually asked counsel of God first and then they went The Grecians went to their Oracles Gentlemen and Sea-men in your perusal of this Treatise you will finde me sharply striking at prophaneness in the Sea and to those that are bad I speak to and those that are honest and godly are very silly and simple if they quarrel with it thereby they will bring upon themselves an evil name for let but me hear a man speaking against it and I shall conclude him to bee some Swearer or c. the Persians to their Magi the Egyptians to their Hierophantae the Indians to their Gymnosophista the ancient Gauls and Brittains to their Druides the Romans to their Augures It was not lawful to propound any thing of weight and moment in the Senate Priusquam de coelo observatum est before they had observed from heaven whether God would shine upon their proceedings and enterprises yea or no. 8. Abhor to go to Sea out of any Sea-port Town in England in a drunken posture I would have those that are naught in the Sea to say with
instruction and I fear perish for want of it and also of knowledge I took the pains the Lord knows my heart upon no other account but to doe the Souls of those good that goe down into the Seas and it shall bee my prayer perpetually that God would prosper this poor and imbecil Peece to every one of their Souls certainly that God that put me upon the dressing of this wholsom and savoury Dish for them will blesse it to them Which that it may be shall be the hearty and constant prayer of mee for you and them that the ever-living all powerful and most gracious God would fire and enflame your hearts and theirs in all the duties of holinesse that both you that sit on Land and they that goe to Sea may find his favour and such acceptance as may sweeten your Souls and theirs in the saddest seasons So prayeth he that is Yours willing to serve you in Soul affairs DANIEL PELL Study at my Lady Hungarfords in Hungarford House upon the Strand London May 4. 1659 Reader IT is impossible that any Book should come from the Press void of Errata's provided thou knowest what belongs to Printing therefore what thou findest amiss in much meekness correct for it is neither the fault of the Author nor the minde of the Printer THE PROOEMIUM I Question not but that the gallant Englishmans rare Navigating Art and deserving Science is an Art out-stripping Arts. Who will deny but Ignoramus's that this Art carries the Poop-lanthorn or the high-hoised Maintop-light and many others for their inferiority and indignity come on Stern If any will go about to set up their own what would such do but Splendente Sole lucernam accendere light up dim burning Torches or Candles in the shining Sun Who will say that this pre-excelling Art is not an Art of exquisite Excellency Rarity Mirability and Ingenuity Who will say that this Art brings not in fair Engleterra's Wealth her Silks her Wines her Sugars Spices Stuffs her Silver and her Gold besides many other innumerable and unreckonable Commodities Whence came Solomon to and by all his Gold Precious Stones Silver Ivory Apes Peacocks Almug-trees was it not by shipping He built himself a Fleet of Ships 1 King 9.26 27 28. which were employed and sent about to that very end and purpose to fetch unto Jerusalem the Gold of Ophir and those other Barbary Commodities And how should we come by the Silver Mynes in Hispaniola and those inestimable Riches that lye in great abundance in those remote Occidental and Oriental parts of the World if we built not Ships and sent them out unto them The Riches that are in other Nations and Countries will not come to as we must go down to Sea to them and for them if we would have them These Lads are Masters oâ— the Seas and the greatest Princes that ever crossed the salt waters They beat their enemies in the Seas make them run as fast before them as ever the Bezar ran or runs before the dogs of whom it s said Cupiens evadere damno Testiculorum adeo medicatum intelligit inguen rather than lose his life he bites them off his stones when an enemy is pursued out of fear goes overboard his Cask next his Chests and then his Boat or any thing that may but lighten his vessel to escape his hungry followers Who will say that this Art under God is not Englands safety from Forinsical Invasions If not let that Octogesimus Octavus Mirabilis Annus speak in which was that desperate attempt that the Spaniard made against this Nation under God that little shipping that was then at that time in England was wonderfully instrumental to scatter and break to pieces their long hatched and contrived purposes Oh England England write this and all thy other deliverances from those dreadful fulminations of Rome in aereis memoriae tuae foliis in the brassy leaves of a never-dying memory write them down I 'll say again with the Pen of a Diamond What would have become of England if we look but into nearer times viz. in our late Wars with Holland and the French if we had not had warlike Ships out at Sea both to have boxed them and broke their bones Under God this shipping that is in England has been instrumental to keep the Inhabitants of our Nation in their Possessions Houses Lands and Livings which otherwise would have been most miserably hazarded and prey'd upon ere this day by a multitude of truculent and unmerciful Wretches It s said of Constantinople that it is sufficiently fortified with three sorts of Bulwarks 1. With Wood 2. With Stones 3. With Bones By Wood is meant their warlike Ships which they keep out at Sea in the defence of the City and their Sea-Port Towne By Stones is meant their thick and impenetrable Walls which is round about the City And by Bones is understood an invincible Number of stout Sword-handling men to fight any Enemy that shall or dare oppose them Such a threefold Bulwark as this is the onely way to keep up England in a flourishing estate and posture and that in despight both of the Devil and all its Adversaries Our warlike Ships are the best Walls and Sea-Port Castles that be about the whole Nation of England keep but them up and bid a button for the World Our warlike Ships at Sea are to us in England what those Canes Allatrantes sive Stridentes Anseres were to the Romans which kept their Capitol by whose barking and galling if any attempted those Treasury-Houses Give but chase unto one of these Coast-creeping Pirats and alas he is but a Virfugiens hand moratur lyrae strepitum he will not stay to dance after the Musick of a lower Tyre of our Ordnance but runs from us like the frantick Satyr who had no sooner blown his horn but ran away amazed in the sound of it the Citizens were presently up in Arms. Englands safety lies in keeping out their Gun-barking and Gun-fighting Ships upon the Seas which scare our Enemies more than if the Devil were amongst them Nay they are as much terrified at the sight of one of our Warlike Frigots as ever Brutus was with that Malus Genius that disquieted him the night before he died Nay they are as fearful of them as ever the Burgundians were of every Thistle they did see which they thought was a Lance and every Tree a Man and every Man a Devil Every great Ship the Pirate sees in the Sea he takes for a Statesman of War Non ita Bovem Argus Argus never kept his transformed Io nor that watchful Dragon the Golden-fleece nor Cerberus the coming in of Hell so narrowly as our vigilant and watchful warlike Frigots do the Coasts and Shipping of this Land and Nation And indeed there is great necessity that they should act and bestir themselves with a Juno's-like jealousie a Danae's custody and an Argus's vigilancy for had they as many hands as Bryareus
requisite that those that go into the Seas with ships of such worth as they do that they should be well acquainted and furnished with all those Nautical dexterities that tend both unto the preservation of ships and lives A Traveller at Land that has many hundreds of miles either to ride or foot and not knowing above ten or twenty miles of the way he will not take it as sufficient that the Countrey that he is to go unto lies East West or North but he will get himself a short schedule of the names of all the Towns Countreys or Counties he is to travel by and through and this note he carries with him in his Pouch for his guide and direction That which I would infer now from this is thus much That it is not enough for a Sea-man to know that his course to such or such a Countrey lyes South East North or West but its requisite that he should have an exquisite cognisance of the Rocks Sands and Shallows that lye in his way that thereby he may be in a capacity to save both himself and the ship he takes charge of otherwise he may sing Qui non ante cavet post dolebit Had they not need think you to be skilful men that will venture themselves to go into the Sea where there is neither Lanes Foot-paths High-wayes Houses Countries Trees Sea-marks Mercuries or men to ask which is the way to such a place but all the directions that they can procure in their long Travels are fetch'd from the Pole and the Stars These are their Mercuries that they consult withall the men that they ask for the way unto any place and these guides dwell in the Heavens they come not down out of their Orbs to tell the Sailors whereabouts they are in their Voyages in the Seas neither are they sociable or to be spoke withall and yet notwithstanding though they be both mute and dumb directors yet can the Mariners interpret their Language and pick out their way in the Sea out of them and get intelligence from them though they be many hundreds of miles from them both of their advancings and disadvancings which they evermore compare with their Card and Compass What mad work would unskilfull men make with a ship Had they not need to be better Artists that go down to sea than he in Pliny who when finding a disproportion betwixt a Dial the Suns motion thought surely that the Earth was moved from its Centre or that the Sun had taken a new course but suspected not that the Dial had been shaken by an Earthquake were they two or three hundred leagues in the Sea off any Land even let her drive this way and that way like a company of children in a small Boat that 's carried with great violence down the Tide or Stream Phaeton get but leave one day of his father to rule the Horses of the Sun and for want of art and skill overturn'd the Chariot and set the World on fire The like mad work would many men make were they but trusted with ships in the Seas either set the Vessels they sailed in upon their heads or run them upon the first Rocks and Sands they came at and thereby involve themselves in a dolorouser labyrinth than ever the Cretan Minotaure was shut up in The Sea is like that Egyptian Labyrinth which Histories tell of that was full of dark and intricate mazes and turnings so that there was no passing in nor out without Guide Torch and Candle So no going to Sea without Card and Nautical skill Have they not great need to be pregnantly well skill'd in the Precepts of Navigation and that after the exactest manner that can be in all those Rocks which lye lurking in the Seas to catch ships by the Keel They that will go to Sea had need be Ex procera praescientes specula ventura videntes men looking about them He that will ride we say must have an eye ad cursum equum to the running of the horse He that will plow ad arandam bovem must keep the ox in the furrow He that will hunt must have an eye ad indigandam canem and he that wil sail ad Navigandam Navem Quod in Navi gubernator quod curru agitator quod in choro precentor quod denique Dux in exercitu A skilful Master in a ship is a comely thing and in all those Quick-sands which many ships are swallowed up with how they bear and lye which things are engraven in their Maps and Waggoners to that very end they may not perish nor be to seek Surely Sailors should be as cautious in the Sea as the Foxes of Thrace which is a very cold Countrey and subject unto much frost and snow every Winter are who will not when they are to passe over any frozen Pool come upon the Ice without great fear and jealousie laying their ears unto the ground to listen if they can hear any stream of water bubbling underneath which if they do then back they go as from an unsound and dangerous passage but if they hear no breach of water underneath then on they go very boldly But to conclude every one that uses the Seas has not the ability to take charge of ships though for advantage sake they would be undertaking To such I shall say what Sylla that Noble Roman said of young men That they must first take a turn at the Oar before they come either to the Helm or Stern Such Novices as those that have not skill when that they come once to lose sight of Land they have not the Art nor Prudence to judg how many leagues they are run in distance from it for being in the water though they sail never so many leagues water is all alike at the furthest run as it was at their first setting forth As it is with the Sun-dial even after the same manner is it with the Sea Horologii umbram progressam sentimus progredientem non We may perceive that the shadow goes but cannot see it going so men may perceive themselves to have departed from land but not know how far they are from it unlesse that they have better judgement in the Mariners Art 3. Servi and these are to be considered under a twofold denomination 1. As they are servants unto the Merchant And 2. As they are servants also unto the State 1. Unto the Merchant It s with gracelesse Sailors as it was with Bruso Zeno's servant when being taken with theft alleged for himself that it was his destiny to steal to which his Master answered it was his destiny then to be beaten You are employed by Merchants whose moneys you are oftentimes betrusted with into the Forein parts of the World to lay out for them in all those several Commodities they send you into the sea for to bring them home viz. Silks Wines Stuffs Sugars Figs Lemons Oranges Raisins c. And if you be light-fingered and rotten-hearted men
5. If Sea-men would live peaceably and comfortably on ship-board when occasions of anger and discontentments are given them I would have them to follow these Rules 1. Contain your bodies in quiet and your tongues in silence because the stirring and agitation of the body and stamping and flinging about Plutarch writeth that it was the custome of Pythagoras his Scholars however that they had been at odds jarring jangling in their disputations yet before the Sun set would kiss shake hands as they departed out of the School I would all our Sailors in the States ships were of this temper sets the blood and humours on a fire The walking of the tongue will keep in that passionate heat that usually starts up in the heart which otherwise would evaporate its self and dye Silence is an admirable cooler to all indignities and affronts Would Sea-men take this advice there would not be such wording of it as oftentimes there is amongst themselves 2. If Sea-men would live comfortably on ship-board and seek the peace of the ships they go in let them then alwayes give reason leave to interpose and debate It was very good advice that was given to Augustus the Emperour when the object and occasions of choler were in his eye Angry fools in former times were counselled to look themselves in a glass If Sea-men did but see their faces when they are angry they would be ashamed of them when they are calm and quiet Prov. 16.32 Latius regnes avidum domande Spiritum quam si Lybiam remouis Gadibus jungas Horat. Od. l. 2. The Hebrews call anger Aph because therein the nose riseth the colour changeth the tongue stammereth the teeth gnash and the hands clap the feet stamp the pulse beats the heart pants the whole man swells like a Toad and glares like the Devil that hee should not bee moved before hee had pronounced over the letters of the Alphabet When Sea-men give the reigns unto their passions it beats out of doors and out of their brains both all reason and judgement 3. If Sea-men would live comfortably on shipboard and seek the peace and welfare of the ships they sail in then would I have them to set their hearts and stomacks against all the feral passions and bodily distempers they see in other men What heating of the blood and the vital spirits bee there in many Sailors How are they transported with fieriness of the eyes inflamations of the face furiousness in their looks extraordinary panting of the heart beating of the pulse swelling of the veins stammering of the tongue gnashing of the teeth bad language and many other uncomly behaviours Abhor these devillish gestures that are in thousands of your pedling Sailors bend your minds and spirits against them and consider what a sweet loveliness and amiable vertue there is in a milde gentle and unpassionate spirit It is the very finew of all delightfull society the flower of humanity and the very sweetness of civil converse it both draws love from others and also keeps the heart in a perpetual calmness If Sea-men love nothing but frowardness and hastiness you that are wise will never take any delight in their company It is storied of Earl Elzearus that hee was much given to immoderate anger and the means hee used to cure this disordered affection was by studying of Christ and of his patience and this meditation hee would never let pass from him before hee found his heart transformed and conformed into that heavenly pattern But further I have one word more and that unto all the young Sea-men in England It hath been my observation that many thousands of them are apt to bee spoiled and corrupted with that Soul-poysoning society they daily are in company of in the ships they sail in and could I now or were I able to rescue them out of the hands of the Devil and to fetch them off from under the nose or command of hell and all the black powers of darkness and also out of a dislike unto all ungodly wretches I should then think my self extreamly happy To worke this effect amongst them I will give them a whole broad-side of Arguments and if they will not doe nothing in the world will prevail upon them I may even then do as a Physician who hath striven long with his patient and sees no hopes gives him up at last I shall give you up for lost men 1. Take heed of holding any intimate compliance and correspondency with men that are publickly profane It is a very hard thing for a man to live amongst corrupt fellows without corruption it is easier to walk upon burning coales or to carry fire in ones bosome than to bee amongst such not bee tainted with them Prov. 6.27 Admit said Isidore that a man were made of iron yet if hee stood continually before some great fire he is in danger of growing supple soft as wax Though a man greatly like not the sin yet company with a sinner may work him to it Et quos vitium non potuit vincere familiaritas vincit Whom vice cannot overcome familiarity will and wicked My reason is this There evermore steals in upon that man that does not a very secret insensible and undiscernable dislike of his own former pious sober and commendable courses Such a man in time wil begin to shake off his former strictness of piety and innocency of life and conversation and boldly say I was but too straight laced before I will now have my youthfull liberty and I am sure that will bring mee in more pleasure and contentment in an hour than my other life did in a whole year It may bee thou wert a very civil serious and sober-minded man before thou camest to Sea but since it has been thy hap to fall in amongst a pack of rude Sailors as a drop that falls out of the clouds into the Ocean thou hast become one of them The sweetest apples are soonest corrupted and best natures are quickly depraved Sailor Sailor live in all the ships thou goest in as fish in the Sea who are both born and bred in it yet have no taste at all of the salt-salt-waters in them Bee sure thou live at Sea as not to have any taste of a stinking Sailor in thee and take up none of their stinking rotten and unsavoury speeches and phrases And as thou wentest on shipboard well educated so come out again without any tang or smell of their ill-bredness 2. He that has not a care of himself herein it is no wonder though there slily insinuates into that mans heart a pleasing approbation and delightful assenting and consenting unto the sinfull practices sensual courses and wanton pleasures and dalliances of such men God knows many young men are utterly undone and led away into much soul-damning evil by keeping company and following the counsel of rotten companions Laus tribuenda Murenae non quod Asiam viderat sed quod in Asia
company of cowards whom I have read of of whom Comminaeus observes at that Battel that was fought at Montlehery where some lost their livings for runing away and they were given to them that ran ten miles further Should all Sea-Captains and Sailors bee thus served when cowardize is to bee found in their hands towards their enemies they would bee well rewarded Their Friggots should bee lent unto those that would fight them 8. And yet in some cases count it no discredit to yield when over matched and bore down with plain force strength and violence both of Ordinance and men 9. Evermore count it murther â—t kill any in cold blood I have me with a story of one that murthered a man in Spain and being supposed to be the man that did the act being convented before the Judge hee caused his bosome to bee opened and his heart who had done the murther was found to palpitate and tremble far more than any of the rest whose bosoms were opened in the very same manner that his was You will find as little peace in so doing as hee did Ah That I should bee forced to say of Sea-men as it was once said of and by many prophane wretches in Luther's time when a religious Reformation began some of the worst of men professed that they had rather live under the government of the Turk than in those Countries where all things were ordered by the Word The Application is within any ones reach if you once make but the tryal But to proceed There bee two great evils that I observe amongst Sailors in the Seas and I would desire them to decline them 1. That they will and are ready to place themselves in those ships they know there is the least religion and where God has the least service and also where there is not strict and severe command Here licentious and Godless men love to bee Oh what work is there amongst the Sailors to bee cleered out of this and the other ship when the Commander is a little strict and severe with them in beating down their swearing and their drunkenness Sailor Sailor Thou wouldest Hagar-like leave a good family and fall into a worse But the Angel of the Lord bid her return 2. Many Sea-mens designes are to bee where wickedness may pass free Those ships and Commands under which they can have their liberties to rant swear and bee drunk in are the best Taverns they can put their heads and noses into Good and religious command in ships is a burthen to unruly Sailors There bee four evil things also to bee seen in most Captaines carriages in the Seas 1. An heedlesness in keeping down disturbing passions When rents breaches and divisions are made in your ships salve them up again or else couragiously stamp them down It was a brave saying of Caesar that hee could with one stamp of his foot quell the mutiny of an Army One Sea-man is all fire another all water so that there is but little heat for God One is a wing and another is a weight So that there bee many hindrances amongst them to the worship of God and very poor flights for Heaven When a Commander in a ship holds forth no light amongst his men of a good conversation I may say to such an one Matth. 24.29 The Sun is darkned the Moon doth not give her light and the Stars fall from Heaven in our ships The Sun shines and the Moon appears in some Commanders but in other some not so much as a twinckling Star of any thing that it good When the Fore-horse in the traces will not draw forwards but runs this way and that way he wrongs all the rest And thus does an irreligious Commander in a ship at Sea When Bees are out of their hives in a disordered flight then is the bell or brazen morter alarm'd and struck up to quell them again Angry passions and quarrels amongst your Sailors will pull the whole ships companies in pieces and set them together by the eares 2. A neglecting of enkindling their Sea-mens affections unto that which is good and stirring of them up unto love and unity The want of which is one strong reason why Sailors are so unfit for Morning and Evening Prayer as they are every day If there bee a decay of love and unity in your ships there will bee no encouraging of one another in any zeal for God When a ship is full of discord it will bee evermore empty of all religious acts 3. A want of a Gospel Spirit in speaking often of God and for God amongst their men Captains and Sea-men should be like the two Disciples of Christ that were going to Emaus who talked and conferred of all the things that had happened them and whilst they thus communed one with the other in comes Christ amongst them 4. A want of a Praying Spirit and a speaking often to God in Prayer with their Sea-men If you have not Ministers along with you you have fair opportunities to call them unto that needful duty Were your carriages good holy solid sound and not so light you might stamp that upon their spirits that would not rub out again a good while Every Commander should bee a pair of Oars in every ship hee goes in He should row and labour till hee sweat again if it were possible to land all his men in Heaven against wind and tyde But God knows where is the Sea-Captain that has his hand upon an Oar to save his Sailors I wil tell you of enow that have their eyes and their hands upon their Salary Gentlemen and Friends I will now leave you all that I desire or all the harm I wish any of you is this if it can bee termed any even to fear God in this life and to amend what is amiss that you may see the Lord to comfort and not to astonishment in the world to come I will say unto you as Socrates said unto his Schollars If I can but provoke you to learn I have attained my end after hee had followed them with elaborate instructions If I can but do the like with you in provoking and perswading of you to walk in these good counsels prescribed I shall greatly rejoyce in it These things premised I come unto the next thing in the words before mee 2. And that in order to their posture going down Two things would bee considered and enquired into 1. What is simply and absolutely to bee understood by going down into the waters or how that sailing may be said to bee a going down 2. What positively as to their posture and ingenious order and discipline in their going down 1. For their going down Water wee know has its natural course and tendency deorsum and not sursum downwards rather than upwards How can it bee forced upwards that is contra naturam When Solomon says Eccles 1.7 That all Rivers go into the Sea his meaning is that they go down into a lower place
is not onely all neither but hereby where such are either at Sea or Land there may the sooner bee a looking for a curse than a blessing in all their undertakings And again a war that is undertaken upon just and good grounds It is not unlawfull to use the help of those who fight out of a bad intention either out of hatred violence ambition honour or desire of plunder for their bad intention does not violate the righteousness of the cause Is there not many Sea-Captains that fight for nothing in the world but their 10 pound and 15 pound per moneth I may say of Sailors what one said of Law Logick Switsers They may bee hired to fight for any one Sea man Sea-man get better principle And is there not thousands of Sea-men that fight for their 18. shillings per moneth Nay may I not say that they would fight for the Devil would hee but give them better wages than the States do How many thousands bee there of them that are now fighting day by day in one part or other of the world and they know not what they fight for save onely this Saile ship and come pay-day They look not upon the glory of God nor the cause that is in hand against the proud opposers of Christ and his glorious and everlasting Gospel And now I will not deny but that these will serve to goe on in the wars to do Christs work in the world withall though hee hurl the rod into the fire after all is done It is well known in all Histories that the trash and trumpery of the world have evermore gone in the wars and indeed they are the fittest men to lose their lives for the godly and well-minded people in the world cannot well bee spared and should they bee slain the world would sustain great loss in their deaths But now what shall I say of all the wars that are on foot in the world whether in the North or in the East in the South or in the West May I not say that sin has made a man a very hurtful and harmful creature man is not now become hurtful to beasts and beasts to man but one man unto another and one Nation with and to another And this has been so of old and is no new thing still but likely to bee so as long as there is so much of the first Adam in the world both acting and ruling in the sons of men as long as Pride shall bee seen exalted above the grace of Humility Covetousness above Contentedness Lust above Chastity and Enmity above Love and Charity never look for better in the world Man till sinfull was never thus hurtfull Before hee sinned was hee not naked and neither feared nor offered wrong and will not his sinless estate ever bee known by the state of innocency When that lost Image of God comes once to bee recovered again in all men generally and when the Kingdoms of the Earth shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord Jesus Christ then shall there bee peace and quietness in the Earth that one may walk up and down in the world at pleasure but not till then When mankind shall become a lamb then will it bee a glorious age and never till then It is observed that all other creatures save the lamb are armed by natures providence but the lamb is sent into the world naked and un-armed comes into it with neither offensive nor defensive weapons When mankind comes once to receive the glorious Image of the Lord then will there bee no longer this fighting and contentious principle that is in the hearts of most men but they will bee as meek and harmeless as the Dove who in the Greek is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sine cornibus non feriens cornibus An hornless creature Phil. 2.15 But now Dii boni what indignities what affronts what pushing with the ten horns and with the little horn spoken of in Scripture When that you see once the Lyons Bears ravening Wolves and Tygers of the world to bee turned into Lambs and their wolvish and Lion-like natures changed and metamorphosed into a Dove-like meekness then may it be said that there is then new Heavens and new Earth and in the interim never look for a cessation of war in the world till there bee some great Gospel-work wrought in the Earth But fourthly That which now follows in order is the consideration of this word Great waters The Spirit of the Lord here takes great delight to put this distinguishing accent upon them and indeed it is a very famous and glorious title that God is pleased to set upon their heads Great waters calling them great in opposition to small Rivulets which the eyes of Inland dwellers are upon It is a well known axiom in Philosophy Set but contraries in the presence of each other Opposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt and the difference is quickly made Therefore in our speaking of the Great waters pray what are the Aquae Stagnantes in a Land and what are the Fontaneae Scaturigines sive Torrentes sive Fluvii maximi What are the great Rivers or the standing pools and running torrents of a Land in comparison to the great and wide Ocean As vast a disproportion and dissimilitude is there betwixt them as there is betwixt the shining Sun and a twinckling star or betwixt the massy Elephant and the little bodied Mouse The Spirit of the Lord titles them Great waters and to speak re vera Legere non intelligere est negligere in re tamen seria really they are so as I shall by and by declare upon several accompts They who have never seen the Seas nor ever sailed in them and upon them they cannot credit their magnitude latitude and longitude and when they read over that 1 Chap. Gen. 9. where God said Let the waters under the Heaven bee gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so it is but transiently inconsiderately and at the best unponderingly for there is but few that mind or apprehend what they read Why These are waters indeed in respect they are little less in spatiousness nay if not greater than the whole Earth joyn all the small Ex pede Hereulem wee say The skilful Geometrician finding the length of Hercules foot upon the hill Olympus made the portracture of his whole body by it You may judge of the Seas though you never saw them and great Islands and Continents that be either in the East and West North and South together they are not so vast and large as the Seas bee Now I know that many are very prone to deem this assertion as a thing not credible because of the weakness of their judgements but that I may bring those into a beleef of it that may call what is laid down here into question I will tell them what they shall do to put the thing out of
do no more value ships of a thousand or sixteen hundred Tun than the wind vallues a light and unballasted feather The sporting Student for recreation bandies not his Tennis-ball with more facility from side to side yea and sometimes over the Court-wall than the Seas do both the great and small ships that they carry upon their shoulders It is true water is a very weak creature The water in the Sea far exceeds the strength of waters out of it viz. in Rivers Pools Wells and Ponds It is observed of ships in their coming up the River of Thames that they will draw a foot or two more water than they will do when in the Sea and of creatures one of the very weakest if my judgement fail not but when and where there is much of it congregated into an Alpine mountain and so carried up on the wings of the wind in a rowling manner it carries no small terrour in it The rising of a Lion out of his sandy Den or the appearance of a Greenland Leviathan looks not more grimly and gastly upon one than merciless and rowling waves in time of stormy Seas Many a one that is in the stormy Seas would wish to bee at a distance from those great rowling waves and billows that threaten to run over their heads ships and yard arms of such force are the Seas that let a ship bee great or small strong or weak if it bee her hap to fall upon sands or stick upon the bottome they will knock her all to peeces If any one would read what terrible and dreadful Majesty there is in God let him go down into the Sea a while and hee shall see so much of God in that clear water-looking glass as might be sufficient to turn him from sin to holiness from the world unto heaven and from the devil unto God all his dayes What Jerom speaks of Asella I may even say of my self after all that I have said Habebat silentium loquens whilst she spoke she was silent quicklier than if there were an hundred Carpenters set on work to do such a thing The Seas did so by the ship the Apostle Paul was in Act. 27. and they will and do so still if they take ships but once stranded The Eagle is a great bird yet is her vertue seen in a feather because it will consume all other feathers As mighty as the fire of Aetna is yet may one feel the beat of it in one spark as huge as the Sea is one may taste of its saltness in a drop and as great as the Whale is one may perceive his power at a distance So the Sea either in a little storm or quiet calm if but in it And now what shall I say the more Painters when they have used strokes of gold to make the brightest radiancy they can of the Sun wee see how weak and faint a shadow they represent of its beams and light So what I or any other would undertake to write of the Seas it is nothing comparatively what they are in themselves That the Mariners imployment in and Observation 3 upon the great water how dangerous or how perilous soever it bee is both lawful warrantable and allowable They that go down This text of Scripture which wee are at this time handling and speaking from doth naturally treat of Navigation as the vocation and occupation of some men viz. Such as have business in the great waters And have not many men affairs and commerce betwixt Nation and Nation to manage and dispatch which cannot any otherwise bee either done or performed but by this art If it were not for this art the creation could not bee travelled into nor the eminent works of God discovered nor the excellent fruits and commodities of the earth that bee in other parts of the world participated of Now this vocation hath been an antient imployment and of very long standing and continuance it hath been in use before Christs time and of use in his time and ever since Christs coming into the world Gods own people the Jews were very great Merchants and so are all the Jews generally unto this day the word Canaan signifies a Merchant denoting that they were not ordinary but of the greatest of Merchants And God hath not prohibited nor forbid men from coming upon the Seas no more than hee did in those times If that this calling had been unlawful and unwarrantable then Zebulun the Mariners Tribe would have been forbad it Deut. 33.18 And of Zebulun hee said Rejoyce Zebulun in thy going out c. vers 19. For they shall such of the abundance of the Seas and of treasures hid in the same But it is so far from being forbid that it is rather encouraged and allowed of and if it were lawful for Zebuluns Tribe it is the same for England or any other Nation in matters of trading and commerce one with another Some have their callings stations and habitations on Land some again at Sea Some are ingenious in one thing and some again in another All men have not the like equality of gifts parts and graces that othersome have and certainly one main end is that they bee helpful to one another Moses had not the voluble tongue therefore hee was beholden to Aaron to bee his prolocutor God sets men their bounds and their work and task whilst they are in this world some must go to Sea all their dayes and other some not so much as set their footupon the Salt waters But now for a little further confirmation of the Doctrine were there no Scripture to prove the lawfulness of the Mariners Calling I would then demand of any one 1. To what end the Lord did cut out all those Harbours Creeks Chanels and convenient places for ships to ride in in time of storms and to go into to fraught themselves both in this Nation of ours and in all the other Nations in the world 2. To what end were the great Rivers cut out for but to carry ships up to Cities and Towns viz. All the Sea-port Towns and Cities whether in England France Spain Holland Norway and the rest of the Nations in the world 3 To what end grows the great and tall Fir of which is made masting and yarding for all the ships that bee or shall bee built in the world These grow in great plenty both in Norway New England and divers other parts in the world Now I would not bee misunderstood I do not deny but that Fir is useful in many other things But I propound but this as a question and so leave it with you 4. To what end were Pitch Tar and Iron in such abundance as is in many parts of the world though useful in and about divers things besides if this art were not lawful 5. To what end is the use of the Loadstone discovered It is a well-known axiâ—me Deus nihil frustra fecit God never made any thing in vain but for
them hearing them telling of the wonderful works of God Nay it is more than probable that they did tell him and inform him of many things that his eyes had never seen otherwise wee had not had such a sweet composed Psalm upon the Mariners most famous art of Navigation and going down into the Seas as is now extant to bee read of by us at this very day I shall adventure to speak it Dabe audaciam verbis and give it out deny it who will and that in laudem Nautarum in the praise and honour of the Sailors and Sea-men both in England and elsewhere that they have the fairest view and the greatest discoveries of the works of God of all the men upon the face of the earth What is there that Travellers do not see whilst others do but read Sea-men have a full sight of the strength riches honors glories and sweetnesses of Countries They see the great Cities the renowned men the magnificent Courts the rich Mines and veines of gold silver the spicy Islands the Chrystal mountains coasts of pearl rocks of Diamond how the earth is paved with her various sweet smelling herbs and glorious flowers how she is decked in forein parts with flourishing trees green woods watered with Seas and Rivers replenished with great Majesty of towns Cities garnished with all manner of fruits spices and furnished with all living creatures Beasts Fowls and Fishes serving for mans necessity use and pleasure They that follow their callings on Land and have no other discoveries but Map-knowledge or Book-knowledge they may read of much but the Navigating Viator carries the bell away Such may say Insulam videmus etiam cum non videmus wee see a fair Island by description when wee see it not but they that go down into the Sea in ships they have a real a full and satisfactory sight of all the sweet and delightful Countries and fruitful Islands whilst others by Maps and Books do but read of or at the best but hear of them Before I go any further I will cut up the words in this following method and set them together again in a Doctrinal composure In the words you may soon espy these two things 1. Persons seeing 2. Things seen 1. The persons seeing They are declared to bee such as go down into the Seas These see the works of the Lord c. 2. The things that are seen They are of two sorts 1. Opera Creationis The works of Creation 2. Opera Conservationis Works of Salvation For the first of these The thing then in hand and that which is inquirable into is what is to bee understood by Works in this place or what those Works of God are that Sea-men or Sailors and Mariners have such a full sight of in their goings down into the Seas To bee short I humbly conceive that they may bee ranked into these five infallible heads under which I shall comprehend what I will and do intend Deo permittente in a rowling and quarrelling Sea the Lord assisting to speak of and herein I shall bee forced to stay you a little till I have broke off the opening of these promised particulars that I may come unto the next verses that I would speak to and infer something from These Works then are 1. Aquatical 2. Terrestrial And under this term I would comprehend 1. Gressile 2. Volatile 3. Reptile Now these are the things when opened that Mariners and Travellers have a very large and ample satisfying sight of That the most or the greatest part of Observ 1 Gods glorious Works and Wonders whether in the deeps or on land The Sea is an Hive wherein the hony of good instruction may be made and gathered are seen by Sea-men These see the Works of the Lord c. I will now leave the point thus collected and stated onely thus much I will say for and in the behalf of it that man hath not now that advantage which Adam primarily had in Paradise before whom all the creatures were summoned in to come and make their personal appearance before him the Lords chief Deputy or Terrestrial Vice-roy that hee might behold their several forms shapes kindes and species It is a question whether the fish in the salt waters or fresh waters were seen by Adam yea or no it is likely hee did not see them because they live in another element and would soon perish if but any while removed out of it Those that were volatile it is probable that they took wing and hastened to present themselves before their Lord and Sovereign and those that were Gressile it is likely and of slow pace and heavy bodies that they paced it unto him and the rest that were Reptile they came crawling and rowling upon the ground with all the speed they could make to shew themselves and acknowledge Adam with the rest as their supreme But it is not thus now these creatures that were thus seen by Adam are wandred up and down into the world some dwell in the East some in the West some in the South and other some in the North. Hee that would behold the various living creatures and the wide world must betake himself to travel or would bee acquainted with the habit modes and fashions laws and actions of Countries these cannot bee seen though may bee known by reading without perambulatory pains and travel Observ 2 That travel is the onely thing to compleat He that would travel the world must take this course 1. He must furnish himself with Out-country language or otherwise it will be but a beggarly thing to live upon borrowing from friends or Interpreters 2 He must have a veil over his eyes a key on his ear and a compass on his lips furnish adorn and perfect any man These see the works of the Lord c. Their eyes behold that by going into the Seas which will finde them matter of discourse and meditation all the dayes of their lives Nay they hear that which they would not for a world but hear and know that which they would not for a world but know Josh 2.1 And Joshua the Son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spye secretlie saying Go view the land even Jericho Thus much I would infer from this presented Scripture That it is travel that doth accomplish a man and not sitting at home for hereby he comes to have a copious cognizance of forein parts and of the whole Creation These see the works of the Lord c. I would a little now speak unto and of the excellency of that ocular Organ that God hath bestowed upon man The eye hath the greatest variety of objects to feed on and delight it self in above all the other senses in the body none ranges so much thorow the world nor thorow the Seas by shipping into forein parts and Countries nor none pierces the skies and the fixed stars so much as this ocular and visory sense doth
a mile In some serene mornings I have seen many of them playing and sporting of themselves in the Seas Is not this a most formidable creature that sends out a smoak out of his Nostrils as if it were the smoak that flyes out of a great gun or a smoak that comes out of some great seething vessel when taken off the fire at a great distance one from another and sending forth such strange and prodigious smoaks and fumes as if there were some Town or Village of smoaking chimneys in the Seas Until I became acquainted with their postures I have been oftentimes put into no small wonderment what smoak it should bee that flyes so high above the waters Vers 25. When hee raises up himself the mighty are affraid by reason of breakings they purify themselves When hee is pleased to shew himself upon the waters and to come forth out of the deeps to the view of all that shall or dare behold him hee puts them into an astonishment and trembling fear and pavor Sword and buckler are no weapons to fight him withall for such is the fierceness of his motion in the waters that the great and burthensome ships cannot make their way with that speed that hee will do though they have the stiffest and strongest gale that ever blew This beast seems the Lord to say will make the boldest and the hardiest of men to betake themselves to flight and prayer and seriously to consider of their latter end before they can get clear of him after they have once encountered him Vers 31. Hee makes the deep to boyl like a pot of oyntment I have observed that when this creature is pleased to cut his sporting capers in the Seas and to take his frisks and skipping gambals or to dance his musical galliards in the waters The sight of this creature has put mee to a Me non tantum admiratio habet sed eâ—tam stupor being then in his pomp and grandeur all the waters forsooth fly round about him in fomeing froth and bubble which has oftentimes occasioned that in the Psalms to come into my mind Psal 104.26 There is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein This creature is very much delighted in playing and sporting of himself in the waters insomuch that I have observed of them to curvet and rear themselves directly upwards out of the water so that the waters have flown this way and that way into the very aire at his falling down again he has been so much out of the water with his great and massy body Vers 32. Hee makes a path to shine after him one would think the deep to bee hoary This creature being of such an incredible magnitude latitude and longitude whose fins are like to the boughs or branches of the tallest Cedars and are the Oars which row and carry on the great vessel of his body withall from place to place at his pleasure The Whale puts as admirable a beauty upon that part of the Sea his body swims in as the Sun does upon the Rainbow by gilding of it with its golden and irradiating beams by which when hee comes and makes his princely appearance near unto the surface of the waters the Seas where hee is are of such a lustre verdancy and greenness as is most admirable to behold insomuch that if this creature never shewed himself at all one might know where hee is by the shining of the water were hee a mile or two in distance from the ship the Mariners sail in The often sight of this clear truth has not been a little delightful unto mee The sight of this creature 1. Meditation Naturalists tell us that the Whale never swims any way without his Pilot which is a small kind of fish called Musculus for hee being a deep drawing vessel stands in need of a guide to direct him lest hee should either run on ground shallows creeks rocks and sandâ— and when hee comes near any of these his Pilot gives him warning and intelligence thus beautifying of the Seas imprinted no less than this upon my heart that the Saints and servants of the most high God should shine with a bedazeling lustre and beauty in the several places of the world they live in Ezek. 43.2 The earth shined with the glory of the Lord. Holyness has a majesty in the countenance of it How should the people of God get and labour for shining lives shining faces and shining conversations hereby comes the Gospel of Christ to be honoured and others incouraged to come unto Christ and to bee won with the love of the truth and this is that which our Saviour expresly commands when hee says Matth. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may glorify God c. and that they may say yonder is a childe of God and yonder is a beleever and yonder is one that lives up in very deed to the height of his profession Vers 33. Upon earth there is not his like for hee is made without fear Look and range all the whole earth over look into all the store-houses of Gods creatures examine and run through the deeps and the earth round about from East to West and from the South into the North none shall or can bee found either in the Sea or on Land resembling this intremendous and fearless creature all creatures else are fearful and timorous and are not without something of fear in them but there is none at all in this This has imprinted upon my spirit 2. Meditation no less than a bewailing of thousands yea of millions of people that live in the world as if they would tell all round about them that they are of this Leviathan Metal without all trembling fear of God the fear of sin and the fear of hell as if they had neither sins to bee pardoned souls to bee saved heaven to look after nor a God to serve and please Vers 34. He beholds all high things he is King over all the children of pride This creature it seems is not without pride loftiness and arrogance swelling with selfe-confidence in his own strength who is of a conceited undauntedness of spirit out of a scornful opinionativeness that the mightiest and greatest of monsters either in the Seas or upon the Land are not comparable to him accounting them his inferiours and himself the supream and sovereign of all the elementary creatures whatsoever 7. I cannot but write this upon these three crearures Creaturae ego Creatorem admiror They have many times a frequent sight of that pleasurable and most delightful fish-combat that is betwixt the Sword-fish the Whale and the Thresher the manner of this Fish-fight is admirable and very contentful to behold for the Sword-fish is so weaponed Sword-fish and well armed to encounter his enemy that hee has upon his head a fish-bone that is as long and as like to a two-edged sword as any two things in the world
whether they should ever recover their pristine constitution and health again or no 1. Meditation It laid no less than this applicatory truth upon my spirit That it is dangerous handling touching or looking upon any of those prohibited objects the Lord hath writ a Noli me tangere upon Elisha's servant had a very good stomach to finger and digest Naaman the Assyrians silver 2 King 5.22.27 and golden wedges but no sooner were they in his hands but the Leprosie was upon his body Better is a little with right than great revenues without right Prov. 16.8 12. They have a frequent sight of that Water-beast called a Crocodile Crocodile and in respect that hee lives in the water as well as upon the land I will bring him in amongst the rest of these there bee to bee seen both in Egypt and the Indies hee is of a scaly and impenetrable substance tongue-less say some but marvellously cruel toothed It is said of this creature that hee will weep over a man when hee hath devoured him and the reason of it is not out of pity but out of an apprehension of his want of another prey to live upon from whence started that Proverb of Lachrymae Crocodili The sight of this creature did fasten 1. Meditation and fix thus much upon my spirit That it is a very common thing for desperate hasty passionate and hot-spirited men to kill Sailor Sailor Let the life of a man be pretious in thy sight God will have no murthering if thou wilt fulfill thy bloody minde in thy brutish challenges think with thy self that thy life lyes at the staâ—e to answer his whom thou gracelesly goes about to take away Thou art just then going to the Devil when thou art about such work I would all the Murtherers in the world would spend a few hours in serious consideration of these Scriptures Numb 35.30 31 32. 2 King 24.4 Whither go all Murtherers when God will not pardon them but unto the Devil and commit murther in their hot blood but when in their cold it hath cost them many a tear to get the guilt of it washed off Psal 51.14 When Murther was sound in Davids hands hee could take no rest day nor night till hee found a pardon from the hands of the Lord for it Deliver mee from blood-guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation The blood of the murthered stuck upon his stomach and the like it will be and do to every one that bathe their hands in innocent blood 13. They have sometimes a sight of that strange kinde of creature called a Meermaid q. Maris mulier and the Meerman also q. Maris vir which is very admirable Meermaid of these here bee both male and female The Sea-men have a sight of these sometimes in their Voyages into the Indies but their espying of them proves very unfortunate and ominous for when they appear they presage no good to the Mariner Storm and shipwrack often ensues those ships that gets a sight of them I have heard of the honest and soberest of men that frequent the Seas say that they have seen of these sort of creatures but presently after hath the windes rise clouds begin to drop and Seas to rage and swell to their terrour and affrightment as if all were a going to wrack and ruine 14. They have a frequent aspect of that wonderful and impenetrable sort of Beasts which the Mariners call an Alligator Alligator This creature is mostly visible in the Indies and in respect that hee lives in the water as well as upon the land I give him his entity amongst the rest This Beast is of a vast longitude and magnitude some say many yards in length in colour hee is of a dark brown which makes him the more invisible and indiscernable when hee lyes his Trapan in the waters and Sea sides as it were an old liveless tree or as one destitute of motion and his onely subtilty and policy of lying conchant is to get hold of the fat This beast hath his three tyer of teeth in his chaps and so firmly scaled and armed with coat of Male that you may as well shoot or strike upon or at a Rock and Iron at offer to wound him This beast is of a very slow pace and goes jumping leaping and gathering up of his body and had not the wisdome and goodness of God so ordered it he would soon make the Indies uninhabitable for he would kill up all the people and the varieties of Cattel and creatures that be in the Mountains and wilde Cows and Bullocks that bee in those parts in great abundance when they come down out of the woods and mountains to cool themselves in the waters but no sooner are they in the water but hee hath hold of the throat of one or other of them which hee tears to peeces Of such strength is this beast that no creature is able to make his escape from him if hee get but his chaps fastened in them This beast at his pleasure goes into the waters and again unto the land Now lest I should bee too tedious both to you and to my self in a bitter restless and uncomfortable Sea either to write or study in I will take leave of the scaly inhabitants in the salt waters which I might have asserted for indeed I have but spoken of small or very little in comparison of what Sea-men have experience of both as to their kinds and qualities but this I hope will serve for a praelibamen unto any that are either delighted in reading or taking a view of the works of the Lord in the Seas The second circumstance then comes above board to bee discoursed on and that is about Terrestrials under which term I am minded to comprehend and handle some of those creatures that are both 1. Volatile 2. Gressile 3. Reptile And these are objects which none but those that go down into the Seas either do or can behold Pelican 1. Volatile They that go down to the Sea in ships They have a very ordinary and frequent aspect of that most amiable and delectable bird called the Pelican from the Greek word I suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfozo to beat or peirce Naturalists say that this bird to recover her young when they are upon a dye King John late King of Portugal to express his tender care and affections to his people and Subjects would bee emblemed by no other kind of creature than the Pelican and wounded by stinging and mordacious Serpents shee will tear her body to give them of her own dear blood to fetch life and health into them again The sight of this creature has not procured little wonderment from mee when I have considered her shape and form which is on this wise shee has a great bag or sachel hanging under her bil which is the likest unto a leathern pouch of any thing that I can resemble it to
flight This bird is too ponderous indeed to flye but what by the help of her wings and legs together the swiftest horse that runs will scarce fetch her up When they are brought forth shee is monstrously unnatural unto them and the reason of it is God has given other birds an instinct of love and providence to love their young which shee is both denyed and deprived of 7. They have a frequent aspect of a bird which is called by the Mariner a Fezerallo Fezerallo which is a black-coloured bird but somewhat less than a Sea Gull Such is the truculent and feral property of this bird that hee will give unkind assaults to the Gulls and the rest of the Sea-birds who take great pains in fishing till that they vomit up all that they have caught out of their bellies to feast this tyrant withall This bird will not take the paines to fish himself as the Sea Gulls and other birds do who fly up and down in the Seas day by day to feed themselves but hee will have his dyet and daily commons out of their panches or else hee will break their bones It has been matter of much wonderment unto mee in the Sea to observe this bird The Hawk chases not the Partridge with greater violence than the Fezerallo does the Gulls in the Seas till they vomit up their almost digested modioum how hee will hunt up and down in the Sea to find out the Gulls and when hee has found them hee will not leave pursueing of them one by one till they drop the fish they have taken upon the waters and when hee has stooped down to take it up he will fall fresh of another Gull and so upon the rest till hee has satisfied his hunger 1. Meditation 1. The sight of this bird presently imprinted this collection upon my spirit That there is many an idle person in the Commonwealth and more than ever both at Sea and Land that lives upon the sweat of another mans brow What was said of some Poets may well bee said of such that Homer vomitted and they licked it up 8. They have in the Indies a frequent sight of an infinite and numberless number of Cranes Cranes that dwell in that part of the world which fly and feed together in great flocks and troops It is observed of these birds When these birds flye our of Cilicia over the Mountain Taurus c. they diligently carry with them in their mouthes little pebbles lest that by their galling and gagling they should become a prey unto the Eagles that listen to all such opportunities upon the cragged rocks Uobrideled tongues bring themselves into much mischief often times and rouze the Eagles about their eares whereas in little medling is much security and tranquillity and nothing said is soon amended that where ever they light that they wil appoint one to stand Sentinel and when his time is expended there is another ordered to take his turn and after him another whilst the rest both feed and repose themselves It is also further reported that the Crane-sentinel lest hee should sleep in his watch he will hold a little pebble in his claws that if in case hee should chance to nod or slumber the fall of it will awake him It is observed of these birds that if in case there bee any jangling or disagreement amongst themselves the King and Supream over them and amongst them quickly salves it up and moderates betwixt them 9. They are frequently seeing an other sort and kind of bird which is called the Heron which are in great plenty and abundance in the Indies Heron. and elsewhere This is a foul that lives much about waters and does exceedingly abhor and dislike of rain and tempests and to avoid them they will betake themselves to their wings and flye as far on high as ever they are able into and above the cloudy region that they may bee above the winds and rains that fall upon and into the lower world 10. They are frequently seeing a sort and kind of bird which the French call an Hop-foy and these are to bee seen upon the banks in New-found Land Hop-foy and that which is admirable in them is this that they are so greedy of the livers that the Fisher-men throw out in the dressing of their fish that rather than they will forsake their desired food they will bee taken with ones hand and forfeit both lives and liberties for a worthless morsel 11. They are ever and anon seeing of those strange kind of creatures in the Indies which the Spaniards call Muscitos and these flyes will draw the blood where ever they light Muscetos though it bee upon the cloths and not upon the bare skin Insomuch that there is scarce any sitting standing lying or walking in the fields for them in the summer-time they are such a mordacious and phlebotomizing creature 12. They have a frequent sight of that strange kind of creature called a Fire-fly Fire-fly which is an uncouch and admirable light and lustre In the night it shines like the coal of a match It is observed The Indians say Sea-men do use of the Fire-flies in the night time instead of candles binding five or six of them together and by this bundle it affords them very good light in their Booths and Cottages even as well as if they had burning torches or candles to spend in their houses that this creature carries four lights about him two in the sight of his eyes sparkling like candles and two which hee shows when hee opens his wings 13. They have a sight of that sort of creature that is commonly called a flying Locust which are to bee seen in great supernumerary swarms in Barbary Locust and other of the Austral parts of the world Sometimes these creatures come in such volatile multitudes that they are observed to darken the very skies in their military marches upon the wings of the wind These if God will but give them a Commission will take wing and come and fall upon any Nation which hee pleases and eat up all the fruits of the earth the plenty the fatness the sweetness If that Proverb bee true Erucam viz pascit hortâ—s unam that the whole Country will scarce satisfie one avarous Caterpillar what will then satisfie a multitude God knows wee have a great many of these vermine Locusts and Catterpillars in England that do nothing in the world but eat up the green fâ—â—â— of God Word and the very greenness and verdancy of Nations they will devour and swallow up the grass corn and grape of Countries Psal 78.46 Psal 109.23 I am tossed up and down as a Locust David offers to our view in this Scripture that they are carried to and fro up and down at the will of the Lord upon the wings of the wind 14. They are not indigent of the sight of those strange kind of birds which are neither able
to flye nor to run so fast as to escape their pursuers in body somewhat less than a Goose but bigger than a Mallard short and thick having no feathers but instead thereof a matted down that is very hard and their beaks are not much unlike to the bills of crows these foul lodge in earth as Rabbets do 15. They have a sight and cognizance of that strange sort and kind of foul Noddy which is called a Noddy It is observed that when this bird is pleased to take her flight into foraign Countries being much toyled and wearied by flying over that dreadful deluge or Sea of water shee will betake her self to the first ships shee can descry to rest her self upon and the Mariners who both know them and are very observant of them or any other birds that light upon their ships which they know do come unto them out of a meer necessity will fall a hollowing and shouting at her and after shee hears that noise and clamour below the poor bird has no power to spread out her wings and bee gone but the Sea-men may run up the shrouds and fetch her down with their hands for there shee sits as one bewitched or necromantickly inchanted 16. They have a sight of that strange kind of bird which is called by some a Tumbler Tumbler of which sort there bee many in Barbary which will fetch a flight up to the Heavens and then come tumbling down again over and over as if some thing were a falling in a praecipitant manner out of the Heavens with very great violence This bird is in shape and form like to one of our Land-Pidgeons differing a little in size and colour 17. They have a frequent sight of that domableness that is in the major part of the birds and souls that bee in the Indies how one may walk amongst them turn them over with their feet It is observable that the fouls in the Indies will come and lay their eggs at ones foot if they walk amongst them on their Sand-hils and if they bee upon their nests they will not stir unless they pull them off The little Pygmies are forced to stand to their arms when they hear the sonorous alarms of the Cranes who will come and carry them into the clouds and take them up in their hands and it is probable that this tameableness is in them because man is a great stranger to them and seldom comes amongst them 18. Amongst the rest of that novelty and variety of objects they do tell us that if they shoot but off a gun in those parts and places where the Fouls lye that they will rise both off the waters and from off the land with such an hideous and sonorous noise that one would think the very heavens were a crashing and falling upon their heads Their clapping of their wings make a greater noise than an Army of horse and foot when they are on their march Hence sings the Poet from the like experience Ad subit as Thraeâ—um volucres nubemque sonoram Pygmaeus parvia currit Bellator in armis It would yeeld much laughter in our parts to see a Pygmye and a Craines quarrel 19. Amongst the rest of that novelty and variety of creatures they do survey and behold this is one which is no less admirable than the rest that they do call Pemblico because her usual and constant note is Pemblico Pemblico Pemblico this bird is seldom seen on the day time and in the night she is very clamorous but if heard by Sea-men it is oftentimes too true a presage prognostick of some dreadful storm and tempest When the Sea-man hears this bird in those occidental parts of the world hee looks for little good and moderate weather 20. Cahow They have a sight of the bird called a Cahow and is one of them The Arara is a bird which they often see about the bigness of a Goshawk seeming a whole garden of Tulips every feather being of a several colour which beheld in the Sun-shine dazles the eyes which is one of the nocturnal kinde and loves not to bee seen in the day but in the night as the Bat and the Owl with us but in the night when all other Foul are at roost and quiet shee will come forth and if shee hear any loud sounding hollowing or shouting shee will make directly towards them for shee hath no power of her self to stay where shee is so that oftentimes when Mariners have set up a shouting in the night they would come and light upon their heads and shoulders 21. Dotteril They have a sight of the Dotteril of whom they say that whatsoever is done in the sight of her shee will exactly imitate and endeavour to do the like if an hand bee but put forth shee will stretch out her leg if they beck or nod with the head shee will do the like with hers again And all this time the poor silly bird hath no power to flye away but becomes a prey unto the Fouler after this ridiculous order 22. It is observed of the Quail that when he is grown weary with flying that hee will light in the calm Sea on one side resting of himself with his other held up above the water towards heaven lest he should presume too long a flight so that at first he usually wets one wing and lest he should despair of taking a new flight afterwards he keeps the other wing dry Amongst the rest of that amaene novelty and variety that they have in the Seas is the Quail in whose flight over the Sea it is observed that when this bird is defatigable and wearied with flying that hee will betake himself to any ship that is within the sight of him to rest himself upon it Sometimes great flocks and droves of these birds will light clogging and cleaving to the yard arms of ships as if they would break all down with their ponderousness Thus much shall suffice now to speak of Birds and may I Apologize for my self it is but little in comparison of that which others that have travelled are able to report of I will now take my leave and run upon the other particular that I promised unto you and follow that rule of Alium post alium florem in pratis oarpere smelling and savouring of one flower after another The second circumstance comes now upon the stage to bee insisted and descanted upon is of those creatures that are Gressile 1. They that go down to the Sea in ships Amongst the rest of that novelty and variety that they have in their viewing of the Creation they have a full eye-satisfying sight of one of Gods greatest and mightiest land-creatures that bee upon the face of the whole earth again which is in Scripture called the Behemoth Elephant and with us an Elephant This beast is of a crusty nature and of an impenetrable skin Some Writers tell us that
Miscelaneous Observations These stand by themselves like the Quoe genus in the Grammer being deficients or redundants not to bee brought under any rule because the Seas are a debilitating to my spirits onely give me leave to throw you in a few Miscelaneous yet I hope delightful and pleasing Observations and then I question not but that I shall have given you a taste and relish of every thing in order though not in that multiplicity that I might have done 1. They that go down to the Sea in ships Amongst the rest of that amaene bundle of novelty that they have in their travels those sundry and strange kind of sensitive creatures that be in the Indies are some in which God has kindled many kinds of living and going fire walking to and fro in the Earth some creeping under feet some flying over head viz. in the Snake Adder Cockatrice flying Serpents and other strange kind of Flies In the evening if any bee disposed to walk in the Woods Sea-men tell us that there bee great swarms of flies which will keep a very great buzzing and humming about the trees and cost such a light and lustre as if there were sparks of fire or lighted matches hanging upon the boughs which will sting and burn to death Numb 21.4 And the Lord sent fiery Serpents among the people and they bit the people and much people of Israel died 2. Amongst the rest of that eye-delighting and mind-contenting novelty that they have in their travels those great and many Woods that bee in the Indies and elsewhere are some there bee such vast and unknown wilderness-places in the world in which grow such a rankness and thickness of trees that they cannot bee travelled through nor known how great and how far they reach it is not known to the Indians themselves what is on the other side of them and who or what lives beyond them 3. Amongst the rest of that eye-delighting and mind-contenting novelty that they have in their travels the Magellan Straits is very wonderful in respect of those terrible winds that bee frequently in them and upon them which fall with such vehemency as if the very bowels of the earth would set all at liberty or as if the clouds under the Heavens were called together to muster their fury and lay on their force upon that one place the Sea in it self naturally is of a very heavy and ponderous substance History tells us that Ferdinando Megalanus was the first that compassed the world and found out this Southern passage call'd Fretum Magellanieum and after him followed Sr. F. D. yet notwithstanding in this place it is so rowld up with storms that the very roots of rocks are unbar'd so that ones eye may almost behold the bottoms of the deeps the Seas swell run and rage in such monstrous hills and mountaines sometimes there that it is no small terrour to the Mariner when hee is either under sail or at an anchor Anchors are like false friends give way and the wind is so violent as if the mountains would rend and the heavens and the earth would come together 4. Those wonderful cloud-climbing and heaven-aspiring Promontories that bee in many parts of the world many or the most of them lye in the view of the ships that go in the Seas and other some lye-upon the very skirts of the Sea These are Natures bulworks Some writers tell us that the Land of Canaan was but threescore miles in length and twelve score in breadth and that it is exceeding mountainous so the hillier mountainouser any Country is the greater it is in this little land were there 1 Chr. 21.5 A thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword cast up as the Spaniard says at God Almighties charge and they call them heaps of rubbish or offals that were left at the Creation of the world and so remain as so many warts or pimples disfiguring the face and beauty of the earth the difficulty of their ascent is admirable the horridness of their craggs is wonderful and an uninhabited wilderness are many of them upon which and in which live nothing else but wild beast The Alpes Mount Ararat Mount Chego and Teneriffe c. are estimated to bee far higher than the clouds Upon these it is no matter of wonderment to see Snow lying all summer long although those parts have a greater heat from the Sun than wee have in England and the reason seems to bee this because that the Sun does leave its work as imperfect and has not that force and power to melt the Snows that bee upon them by reason of those chill aires that bee upon them Nay such an intollerable chilness is there upon some of their snowy and frosty tops Corpus-zant Sometimes Sea-men will aver that there will come down many of these Corpus-zants insomuch that they have seen upon evey yard-arme one as so many blazing lighted candles that they are altogether inhospitable and not to bee endured to breathe in for an hour 5. The Corpus-zant which is so called in the Spanish and Italian Language and in Latin Corpus Sancti which they say it is this is a very strange thing it seldom appears but before the ensuing of some dreadful storm It is like unto the light of a candle and is never seen but in the darkest and windiest nights upon the Sea It most commonly chuses to light upon the Truck of the Antient-staff about which the ships-colours do fly and there it will lye a long time like the light of a candle and what it is or from whence it comes or whither it goes none can well tell Sometimes Sea-men say that they will light in other parts of the ship and when they have endeavoured to touch them they would vanish away The sight of this thing did much admire mee 6. The Male-stream-well Male-stream-well which lies on the back of Norway this well draws water into it during the flood which continues for the space of six hours and twelve minutes with such an avarous indraught and force Mariners call this dreadful Gulph the Navel of the Sea that it makes a very hideous and most dreadful noise the waves tumble in with such a violence one upon the neck of another that would daunt the stoutest heart to hear it and suck up the strongest ships that should dare to come within a league of it and at the Ebb the water returns with the like violence that it went in in the Flood so that should the ponderousest thing that is bee thrown into it the strength of it is such that it would carry it up again 7. The Water-Spouts Water-spouts that bee to bee seen in the Southern parts of the world of which certainly David speaks of Psal 42.7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy Water-spouts It is observed by those
Meadows Vineyards flourishing Pastures upon which hee looks a while with great delight and on he goes again and meets with fruitfull Orchards green Forrests sweet Rivers with silver streams and behaves himself as before and at length he meets with Desarts hard wayes rough and unpleasant soul and overgrown with Bryars and Thorns here he is intangled for a time to stay labouring and sweating with grief to get out of them and after our he neither remembers his toyl nor the objects that he saw yet doth many of them learn out of it and from the creature that there is a God God upbraided Israel for their stupidity and will hee excuse you think you they had before them the Oxe and the Ass which were creatures that they might have learned wisdome enough out of Isa 1.3 The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Ass his Masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider The word consider comes of con and sydus and so signifies say some not one bare simple stella but a multitude of stars intimating that it is not a bare transient aspect or flash but an abiding and dwelling upon a thing that is to bee pondered and considered of as a Bee will stick upon the flower till shee extract honey out of it God complains again in Jer. 8.7 The Stork in the Heaven knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgement of the Lord. God puts an En ecce exprobrantis upon them for their Caecity and inobservantness of the works of God And will not the Lord say to you one day that go down into the Seas and see his creatures and store-houses that are both in the waters and on the land viz. Fish in the Sea Beasts of the field and Fowls of the air c. that in respect you have made no soul-profiting uses of them they shall bee bitter and tart aggravations of your future condemnation Oh lament lament your blindness and inexcusable stupidity that you can look upon the wonderful works of God and go so boldly and undauntedly and unaffectedly amongst them without wondring at the wisdome of God and reading of Divinity lectures out of them Can you look upon the Leviathan when hee playeth in the Seas or upon the Trunked Behemoth when hee feedeth upon the land and not stand admiring and blessing of the Creator of them Can you look upon the many and strange kinde of Fishes that bee in the Seas of creatures that bee on the land and Fowls that bee in the air and not bee affected and drawn out with new love new fear and new obedience to serve your good God Ah Sea-men Sea-men I will deal plainly with you If I should see the Lord feeding of Sparrows and cloathing Lilies I should bee both stupid and faithless if I learned not that his providence were the same over mee both to cloath mee and to feed mee If that I should look upon the Heavens and see nothing in them but that they are beyond my reach the Horse and the Mâ—â—e would see that as well as I. May not many Sea-men bee painted as the Egyptians were wont to set out an inconsiderate man by To set such an one out in his colours they pictured him with a Globe of the earth before him and his looking-glass behinde him What Solomon sayes in Prou. 17.24 I shall say unto those that travel Wisdome is before him that hath understanding but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth If that thou seest nothing in the earth but a place to walk in or to take thy rest on the Beasts of the earth and Fowls of the air sees that as well as thou If thou canst see nothing in the Sea to admire God for but a place to swim and sail ships in the fowls that daily sit upon the floods see that as well as thou If thou seest nothing in the Bee and Bird but that they are winged other creatures see that as well as thou doest though not to admire them how they sail thorow the vast sea of air that when the Bee is out in the flowry field shee should bee able to steer directly homewards again to her hive and the Bird when abroad to her nest though at never so a geat a distance What shall I say If thou seest nothing in gorgeous apparel but pride the proud Peacock sees that as well as thee Laudatus paevo extendit pennas If of all thy meat and drink that thou livest upon thou knowest nothing but the pleasure and the sweetness that is in them unto thy taste the Hog and the Swine have as great a portion as thou hast If of hearing seeing smelling tasting feeling bee all the delight that thou canst finde in the works of God the dumb creatures do far excel thee in this and thy heart is little better than the heart of a Beast 2 Vse of Exhortation If it bee thus that you that go in the Seas have the fullest and greatest aspect of the Lords works and wonders both in the Sea and Land suffer mee but to leave two things with you and I will pray unto my good God that they may bee profitable unto you and do some good upon you Oculi idcirco dati sunt corpori ut per eos intutamur creaturam ac per hujusmodi mirabilem harmoniam agnoscamus â—pificem 1. Labour for a conscientious eye There is an eye in the world that makes not a little conscience of that glorious sight and Chrystalline humour that God hath put into it for to behold his works with all What a large Book is the Earth that the eye ranges over and how large a Volume is the Sea thorow which you sail certainly you might learn more than you do and bee better scholars in Christs School than you are They that live pind up in one Nation or Country are far from the view of the Creation for they stand but as a man that comes to some great Earl's or Knight's house and stands in the Court now unless hee be invited in hee sees not the sumptuous rooms and places that bee within it onely at a distance hee sees a little of the outward superstructure but they that go into the Sea from Country to Country they see the riches of the Earth the beauties wealth honours and strength of Nations and Kingdoms and truly let mee say thus much that they that see all these things and learn nothing out of them as incentives to love and fear their God Creatio Mundi Scriptura Dei. Vniversus mundus Deus explicatus The whole Creation is nothing else but Gods excellent hand-writing or the Sacred Scripture of the Most high The Heavens the Earth and the waters are his three large Volumes or the three great leaves in which all the creatures are contained and the creatures themselves are as so many
out their hearts do exceedingly fail them and there is nothing else then but crying weeping wailing and wringing of the hands for that lamentable and deplorable condition that they see themselves irremediably involved in now are they in a confusion ransacking and running to and again to throw the ponderousest of their goods over bord that their Vessel may bee the lighter What Dolor cordis is there amongst the Sea-men when the ship is dangerously leaky yea what animi molestiae and what Suspiria flebilia ab imo pectore one while they work and another while they weep to see themselves irrecoverably at deaths door Undique facies pallida mortis Death is now on every side them and with David they cry Psal 39.13 O spare mee that I may recover strength before I go hence and bee no more Being once in a dangerous and leaky Vessel in which the hearts of the Mariners were greatly daunted in respect that wee were very far from Land when wee arived safe on shore I could not but turn about and in the first place look up unto my God with a thankful feeling of heart and in the second look back upon the Sea from whence wee were delivered and write down this upon his undeserved mercy Psal 56.13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death and now doe they unloose every knot of sail that they can make to run unto the nearest shore that they can get unto to save their lives and ever and anon are they sending up one or other unto the top-mast head to see if hee can descry either Land or ships in the Seas which if they can but espy towards them they will make with the greatest cheer that can bee I have known some that have been seven or eight dayes in this very praecedent case and condition that I am now speaking off wherein they have most laboriously pumped and sailed as for their lives and at the last when they have been both despairing and desponding of life in respect that all their strength has been spent with hard working and the ship they sailed in filled even half full of water the Lord has looked down upon the travel of their souls and sent them one ship or other within the sight of them when they have been far out of sight of any Land towards which they have made with all the speed that in them lay and by firing of Guns which is commonly a signal of that ships distress that fires they steered their course directly towards her and taken out the men that would have been lost in her and in a little time the ship that they sailed in has sunk into the bottom Again others in leaky ships when that they have been denyed the sight of any ship in the Seas to flye to have got safe to Land notwithstanding that dreadful distress But now to look back upon and over this deliverance permit mee to move these two questions and they will magnifie it 1. Who is it that sends the Sea-man a ship out of the Seas to take him up when there is no possibility of keeping the ship that hee is in on flote and above water is it not the Lord 2. And who is it also that gives the Leakship leave to arrive safe on shore whereas in the eye of reason shee might rather have perished in the Seas having so far to sail before shee could come to any port and besides could see no support nor succour from ships in her way Is it not the Lord 2. They that go down to the Sea in ships in their passage and re-passage from Country to Country and Nation to Nation have been oftentimes most sadly set at and assaulted by the Turk and other Pyrats insomuch that when the enemy has come up very near unto them almost within the reach of his Ordinance God has most wonderfully many a time appeared for them either by calmning of the winds in that part of the Sea their pursuing enemies have been in or by giving of them a strong gale of wind to run away from them when the enemy has lain in a calm with his sails flat to his Masts God has many and many a time calmed the winds for the English when they have been pursued with the Turk c. insomuch that the Seas have layn to admiration like a Mare mortuum de quo antiqui feruns sine vento sine motu By which means God has kept them from unmerciful thraldom and captivity And the enemy for want of wind has not been able to come up with and to his desired prize or otherwise by granting them a stiff gale until the going down of the Sun by which they have made their escape from the Pyrat in the black of the evening for then has not the enemy been able to see his chase nor to cast for the best because the chased very gladly alters his course This has the Lord Almighty done for many a Merchant ship blessed and for even blessed bee his sweet Name hee has denyed to fill the enemies sails with wind when they have had strong intentions to make spoil and prey of them Oh the many Sea-men that have been thus delivered 3. They that go down to the Sea in ships often and sundry times when they have been surrounded with way-lying Pyrats and Robbers I sometimes with two or three for one which is contrary to that well known rule Ne sit Hercules contra duos notwithstanding in their hot disputes and exchange of Ordnance one against the other even when shot has flown like hail on every side them some striking their Hulls I say no more but this Good Lord how bold and witty men are to kill one another what fine devices have they found out to murther a far off to slay many at once and to fetch off lives at pleasure what honour do many place in slaughter the monuments of most mens glory are the spoils of the slain and subdued enemy whereas contrarily all Gods titles sound of mercy and gracious respects to man some their Shrouds and othersome their men and though they have been most desperately beset both on head and on stern they have most couragiously by the assistance of the Lord cleered themselves out of their hands with very little and small damage I and other sometimes got the victory in their quarrels by sinking of the enemy and sending him down into the bottoms Oh the many Sea-men that have been thus delivered 4. They that go down to the Sea in ships many times when they are in chase of a pestilent enemy this I have seen satis superque satis and when wee have come almost up with him within Demi-culverin distance so that Ordnance has been levelled upon him and the shot has flown over and beyond him the Sea has presently layn all on a calm and as it were the winds have been called off from filling our sails insomuch that there has been a stop put
e quovis bibunt fonte Jejunus stomachus raro vulgaria temnit Lapsana called of the Arabians Wilde Colewort and of Physicians Cera with the roots of this herb lived the host of Cesar a long time when far off any refreshments and this was at Dyrrachium from whence came that Proverb Lapsana vivere to live wretchedly and hardly which they cannot come to by reason of their great distance from any land or harbour they are constrained out of an impulsive necessity to lay their lips unto the same water the ship swims in now the water of the Sea wee all know is inutilis potui though good alere pisces servire navigantibus the drinking of which water throws many of them into irrecoverable sicknesses and diseases Again it is the special care of Mariners in these long voyages when grown short of water to hang out all the sail that ever they have that it may bee in readiness to receive all the showers of rain that falls upon the ship and this they will wring out of the Canvass to quench their thirst withall And this is sweet water in their mouthes although it run down the Tarry shrouds and Roaps about the ship which doth exceedingly imbitter it Against Rain Sailors are like Spiders in providence who hang their Nets in windows where they know Flyes do most resort and work most in warm weather because Flyes are then most abroad buzzing and stirring in every corner Prov. 27.7 To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet 17. Others are oftentimes most sadly endangered in rugged and violent storms I will write thus much upon this remarkable deliverance Ps 142.4 I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soâ—â— insomuch that the Rudder is forced off its bands by their being thrown upon ground or sands and then is their case to the eye of reason so impossible of being remedied that they have no more command of the ship than the driver hath of the wilde Ass spoken of in Job 39.7 Who scorneth the multitude of the City c. Now will not neither can the ship bee got to go by the Card at this and that Point as formerly shee would I have known some that have been many dayes in this condition driving too and again upon the Seas Vers 5. I cried unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living not able to help themselves and though they have made great and vast recompencing promises unto ships that have seen them and comm'd by them in this distress yet would they not take them in a tow nor afford them any relief and yet notwithstanding when they have been thus forsaken in all their hopes and no eye hath pittied them nor no help from man hath come unto them yet hath the Lord looked out of the heavens upon their sorrows and beat down the waves of the Seas and the raging winds over their heads and then by weak and poor means they have got themselves safe to land Oh the many Sea-men that are yet living and can tell of this very mercy I may write thus much upon this deliverance In communi rerum acervo plurima videmus saepe inter Scyllam Charydim pofita I may further say of this memorable mercy Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such us be of a contrite spirit Vers 15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry 18. Some are many times by and through the violence of storm and tempest exceedingly hazzarded in their being overset insomuch that the ships Masts have been seen to lye in the very Sea and the ships decks covered all over with water which is one of the dreadfullest and heart-bleedingest conditions that can bee seen They that fall into this predicament of misery there is small hopes of their recovery or rising up again because when a vessel is or comes once to bee foundered there is no possibility of her being helped up insomuch that where one recovers five goes to the bottome 19. Many times when they are riding at an Anchor they are very dolorously hazzarded by violent gusts and stormy blasts of wind insomuch that Cables oftentimes break and their Anchors give way and so are most dreadfully put upon the drift and that which is the saddest circumstance in this unparalleld misery is the propinquity and nearness of sands upon which they are many times likely to perish I may write upon this remarkable deliverance Tria talia poma quadrante cara sunt Three other such Apples are too dear of a farthing I leave the Application It is with Mariners in this case as it was with the Egyptians when they had the Israelites amongst them Exod. 12 3â— Wee bee all dead men I may say of Sailors as the Spirit of the Lord saith of the Church Lamentat 5.9 Wee get our bread with the peril of our lives if there were not a singular providence stepping betwixt and to prevent the fatal stroak of such like stormy consequences Many through the undeserved kindness of the Lord have escaped when their Cables have broke in storms and others have gone to the bottome Is not this a mercy worth perpetual boxing and recording in the heart 20. It falls out oftentimes in rugged and blustering weather that they are forced both when they are at an Anchor and also when under sail to lay violent hands upon their masting and yarding and cut down all by the Board for the safe-guarding of their lives and vessel Being once in this condition when upon the coast of Norway I observed that there was not a little terrour and affrightment of being cast away among the Sailors for the wind failed us and the current heavâ—d us into the shore and the Rocks lay round about us and the Sea was so deep that there was no anchoring for us so that all hopes of being saved was taken away yet casting our selves upon our God he provided deliverance and sent out his breezes some from the Land and some out of the Sea some on Head and some on Stern making all the haste that ever they could as if they had been resolved to tell us that they strave who should bee the first at us to fill our sails and carry us back from dying upon the Rocks and oftentimes before they can take the leasure to hew them down the strongness of the winds breaks them down now in this most dreadful and heart-affrighting and soul-amazing weather when the Seas run Mountain-high as if resolved to swallow them up alive the Lord doth wonderfully preserve them they live in this hard stormy time and others perish in it 21. Others are oftentimes becalmed in the Seas when that they are in the dangerousest and perillousest of places and when that there
preserve them and to carry them away from the fire for it is a common thing amongst the Mariners in such cases to run away with the boat and leave all the rest to the mercy of the fire yet notwithstanding boats have been sent off from shore with all speed and their lives have been saved 49. Others have been delivered after this miraculous manner when the ship hath sprung a dangerous and an incurable leak which could in no manner art Now have the Sea-men trembled within themselves and their inward desires have been like those of Moses Deut. 3.25 I pray thee let me go over and see the good Land that is beyond Jordan that goodly Mountain and Lebanon The Lord has given them leave to come safe on Land when that they thought that they should have drowned in the Sea and skil bee stopped their lives being greatly hazarded the Lord has sent unto them a fish that has gone into the leak and made it up with its own body as firm and as tite as ever the ship was before to the admiration of all that were in the Vessel insomuch that when they have brought the ship on shore they have found the fish lying in the leak as fast as any planck about the Vessel 50. Others for want of victuals in their long voyages in the Seas have been forced to put into strange and uninhabited places into which they have come thinking to find relief yet could they not see with their eyes neither man beast nor foul yet in some time tarriance there the Lord has to admiration provided for them insomuch that great flocks of fouls have been seen to come out of other parts I may say of this wonderful preservation as it is said of Israels manna Joshua 5.12 Neither had the children of Israel manna any more but they did eat of the fruit of the Land of Canaan that year and light in those inhospitable places where the poor people were like to starve and lay them eggs in great abundance and thus they did for many daies till at such times they got supplies and then the fouls went away and left them but not till then 51. Others have been no less wonderfully delivered when sprung great and dangerous leaks in time of dreadful storms they have been thrown upon the sands and when thinking themselves past all hopes of being saved God has turned all for good by calming of the Seas and winds The sight of this truth appeared to bee no small mercy in my eye Seems not this to be the language of those many Sands that ly up and down in the Seas that sin has filled the great deeps with them and many other unequal shallows by which ships are most dreadfully perplexed and ruined many and many a time If mankind had not sinned nothing should have lain in his way to harm him in the Seas As that curse at mans unhappy fall fell upon the whole world Gen. 3.18 to this day all grounds are cumbred with Thorns and Thistles and so the Sea with thousands of Rocks and Sands and also stoping of the leak and to boot besides both their ship and lives again 52. Others again have wonderfully been preserved when in boats that have been towing at a Friggots stern the ships way being so furious and violent through the Seas the boats bows has been pulled out and all the men thrown into the naked Sea some lying here and some lying there in a most dreadfull condition insomuch that hee that is a spectator of these lamentable accidents would think that never a one of them should bee saved and besides it is a long time ere a ship can bee put upon the stayes when shee has her freshest way 53. Others again have been most wonderfully preserved when storms have come down upon them in the dreadfullest rage that ever was seen or heard insomuch that their cables break and are thereby forced from their anchors and that which ponderates and proves the greatest inconveniency in the circumstance is their propinquity unto Sands being thus put to it in a Moonless and Starless evening This seems also to be the language of all the in-Sea-lying Rocks We know that the Mariner would have us to depart the deeps and lye in the bowels of the Earth with the rest of our fraternity but truly here we are ordered for to lye and to be a trouble unto mankind that he might not have all the sweetnesse safety and security in his trading it is something terrible in respect that they are thrown upon them and at every held the ship has laid her very hatches in the water and the poor men looking at every rowl that the Vessel should overset upon them I have known some in this condition that have lived and got off again both with ship and lives 54. Others have been very admirably preserved when sailing in the Seas without any mistrust or jealousy of Sands or runing on ground yet has it pleased the Lord to put into the hearts of some or other in the ship and given them secret hints to sound the Sea and no sooner have they fadomed their depth but the ship has struck and by a speedy handling of the Helm through the blessing of the Lord they have very narrowly escaped 55. Others again have been wonderfully preserved in this respect when they have unawars come on ground or upon a Sand-bank it has but been upon a smal point of it I cannot look upon any of these prementioned deliverances but my soul tels me that there is the visible finger of the Lord in them Psal 92.6 A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this whereas had the ship run directly upon it shee had been lost without all recovery The often sight of this pretious deliverance I hope will lye warm upon my heart as long as I live But to break off what shall I now say of all and after all these remarkable and notable deliverances My thinks I cannot pass by the point that was laid down without one short word or two of use 1. Of Reprehension 2. Of Exhortation Use 1. Of Reprehension If it bee thus That the Sea-man of all the men under the whole heavens none excepted is one that is both a partaker and a seer of the greatest and remarkablest of temporal deliverances How are such to bee checked that out of blinde eyes hard hearts and sottish spirits never look upon these pre-mentioned mercies and deliverances as either mercies or deliverances but hurl them at their heels and value them no more than they do their old shooes The end of my gathering up these your mercies and deliverances is only to stir up your hearts unto thankfulness and to let the people that live on land both see and know what God doth for you in the deeps the truth of it is these are buried mercies that I have been telling of and such mercies as have lyen in the
grave of oblivion where few have taken any notice of them many of these I have gleaned up both from my own experience and from the mouthes of others that have been both good and pious I never knew any one that ever undertook to write any thing upon this subject nor to gather up the Sea-mercies that I have done If they bee not savoury unto thee or any that reads them let me tell you thus much it is an argument of a carnal heart Did Jacob Gen. 33.10 undervalue his deliverance from the hand of his brother Esau as you do Did David look upon it as a small mercy that hee had so good a friend as Jonathan 1 Sam. 20.36 Did the Apostle Paul and the rest of those passengers that escaped that dreadful storm and shipwrack look lightly and think lightly of that deliverance Act. 27. God knows you are men that are at this day trampling these mercies under your feet Swine tread not corn nor trample Acorns under feet more brutishly than many do their deliverances at Sea Use 2. Of Exhortation Bee perswaded to bee much in thankfulness and more than ever you have been Ah souls consider what you owe unto your God you are in so great a debt to him that do what you can you will never bee able to come out of it I may say unto you in the words of Job 33.29 Thanks laid out this way are laid up non percunt shall I say of them sed parturiunt Is 32.8 The liberal man deviseth liberal things and by liberal things he shall stand One would think that he would the rather fall by being so bountiful but indeed he takes the right course to thrive Giving is the only way to an abundance God looks not that mens thankfulness should come from them â— as drops of blood from their hearts or that it should be squeezed out of them as wine out of the grape but that it flow from us as water out of a spring as light from the Sun and as hony from the Comb. Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man Even all those deliverances that I have been telling you of Let mee press these things upon you 1. Acknowledge that it is the Lord and hee alone that hath wrought all these deliverances both for you and for others and that not for your merits or for theirs but his own mercies sake 2. Praise his most glorious Name with your tongues and call upon others so to do 3. Obey God the more in your lives and intreat every Sea-man so to do 4. Love him intirely in your hearts and beseech every Sea-man so to do 5. Depend wholly upon him in all your distresses for the time to come and bid other Sea-men so to do 6. Bee evermore in a diligent circumspection and godly fear of provoking of the Lord unto anger and beseech other Sea-men so to do But to proceed Exod. 9.30 I know that yee will not yet fear the Lord God 4. And lastly If it bee demanded of mee What is meant and understood by the Lords Wonders in the deeps I shall give you my most humble thoughts in brief before you had it Works of the Lord and now his Wonders why his Works which wee have spoken of before are wonderful works and works and wonders in this place are both relatives and concomitants and as they go and may bee taken together I shall say of them Deus conjunxit nemo separet Such excellency and eminency is there in the works of the Lord that a seeing eye cannot but look upon the meanest of them as matter of wonderment and astonishment All the deliverances that have been presented and now stand in view upon the Stage before the whole world are nothing else but Gods wonders in the deeps and all those fishes in the Seas of which I have run upon and told you of are Gods Wonders in the deeps viz. the Whale the Sea-horse the Granpisce and the Sea-monster c. Again every wave is a wonder and he that hath a seeing eye in a storm may see ten thousand wonders how one mountainous wave rowls and follows in the heels of another which make most dreadful and amazing downfalls and hollows in so much that it is a terrible thing for a strong brain to look out of a ship into them and amongst them When the Seas are congregated into mountainous heaps rowling tonanti voce ships are jetted up unto the heavens and this is matter of wonderment Yonder is a wave a coming sayes the Sea-man that will bee with us by and by yea and break in upon us and in it comes over the ships waste and when that is over yonder is another a coming that will rowl over our Poops and Lanthorns and when delivered from that a while they sail and by and by rises another billow that threatens to run over the Main-yard arm which is four or six Fathom higher and above the ship insomuch that the Mariner is exceedingly affrighted lest that the ships decks should bee broke with that intolerable weight of water and also of being run down into the bottome But thus much shall serve for an account of those Works and Wonders that Sea-men do see in the Seas and so I proceed Vers 25. For hee commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof IN our handling of these words I will not stand upon that curious quaint and fine-spun division that might bee made of them beleeve mee the Sea will not permit it onely thus much I shall promise to give you all that this Scripture will afford us and that which is materially in it In the words then you have these two things 1. Gods Sovereign and Supreme power 2. The creatures ready and willing obedience The Seas like the Heliotrope or your solsequii flores Sun following flowers which stand constantly gazing and opening unto the Sun from whom they draw their life and nourishment even follow the blowing blustring winds if they be stiff and strong they make the Seas for to rage and roar For hee commandeth c. The particle for in this verse is used as a note of the effect or sign and in our common speech when wee would express our selves in something that others are either ignorant of or desirous to know we then take an occasion to proclaim it and say yonder 's ships in the Offin of the Sea for I see their white sails and yonder 's Guns fired to wind-ward for I see the smoak flying and ascending so that wee may read the word thus Because hee commandeth the winds to blow therefore is it that the waves are lifted up When the winds have blown hard in the remote parts of the Seas whether in the East West North or South the effects thereof are usually seen in far distant parts of the Seas that that storm never light upon for the winds disturb the Seas by blowing upon one part when they travel not
argumentative motives to induce you unto the practice of what I intend for you will see the more clearly that there is a great deal of reason for so doing when you have heard all 1. If the body of the Sun it self appears at its first setting of the colour of blood It is Virgils observation in the first of his Georgicks that if the Sun be never so glorious at his rising yet if he set in a cloud at night Quid cogitat humidus Auster Signa dabit It is a sign that foul weather will follow it then presages great and tempestuous winds for many dayes 2. If the Sun when it rises bee encompassed with a circle let wind be expected on that side which the circle opens on 3. If clouds look red at Sun rising they are true prognosticks of wind if at Sun setting of a fair and beautiful day 4. If about the rising of the Sun clouds gather themselves about it it foretokens rough and dolorous storms that day 5. When clouds encompass the Sun the less light they leave it and the lesser the orb of the Sun appears so much the more furious will the tempest bee 6. If circles about the Moon is a common nautical observation bee double or treble they are the prodromus's or the preindicants of a rough and violent tempest 7. The running and shooting of stars in the heavens is a common observation of stormy winds to come from those places from whence they run and shoot 8. If clouds spread abroad like fleeces of wool in the skies here and there this is a most certain evidence of a strong and boysterous wind 9. When the superficies of the Sea is calm is a common observation and smoothe also in the harbour and yet murmures within it self though it doth not swell signifies wind 10. The shores resounding in a calm and the sound of the Sea it self with a clear noise and a certain eccho heard plainer and further than ordinary presages winds 11. If in a calm and smooth Sea there bee water bubbles or froth lying here and there or white circles upon the waters it foretells winds 12. Sounds from the hills and murmurs from the woods growing shriller and lowder presage winds 13. When Water-fowls are seen flying one over another or flocking and flying together but especially the Gulls and the Mews that live upon the Sea when these begin to leave the Sea and to betake themselves to land lakes banks and shores making there a noise and a clutter in their consorting together betokens a most dreadful storm a coming 14. It is an observation also when leaves and straws are seen to play and dance upon the ground without any apparent breath of wind that can bee felt or the down of plants flying about betokens wind at hand 15. Is not this another common observation besides the many more that I might reckon up that you have to fore-tell you of the coming of a storm even the blewness of your Ordnance what spots bee there in them many times which you usually say are fore-runners both of wind and rain your knowledge of these things besides the many more signs that you have of storms should put you upon the fearing of that God who is able to brew you such a cup of liquor in a storm as would be sufficient to run you down by the board into the bottome of the Seas The three words then that I have premised I shall present unto three sorts of men 1. Sea-men 2. States-men 3. Merchants In the first place my speech is to you Sea-men 1. Look for storms You usually say as I have frequently observed and I wish you had no worse phrases amongst you that when you have fair I would have all Sea men to imitate the Nobilities of Rome in one case and also of Arcadia in another of whom Plutarch speaks that they were evermore accustomed to wear half Moons upon their shoos to that end they might alwayes have the mutability of their prosperity before their eyes and hath not the Pope and his Nobles the same occasion now Your calms Sea-men are often turning into storms look for it calm and comfortable weather you shall have heart-aking weather for it ere long looking for these things will prove auxiliary and useful to take away or at least-wise to mitigate the bitterness of them when they do come upon you then will you bee able to bear up your selves in the violency of them and to say this is that wee looked for wee expected no less than to see the Seas runing in mountainous billows and the winds to roar upon us and make our lives both bitter and uncomfortable Licet in modum stagni fusum aequor arrideat licet vix summa jacentis elementi spiritu terga crispetur magnos hic campus montes habet tranquillitas ista tempestas est Look for a storm Sea-man though the smoothe Sea smile upon thee and seem to bee no other than a standing pool I although the top of the water by the wind be not so much as cast into bubbles like the curles of hair trust not the deep the plain thou seest hath many mountains in it for the present calm both may and will end in a very bitter storm I have seen the heavens very fair and lovely to the eye as lovely Paris was in Hectors The Sea resembles the Moon in its mutability which is subsubject to many changes never continuing long in one shape but sometimes horned sometimes half and sometimes again in the full from whence Horace called the Moon Diva triformis and Virgil Trigeminamque Hecaten tria virginis or a Dianae The Sea is full of vicissitudes and its motto may be that dis-joynted verse in Ovid Mihi nulla quies ut lapis aequoreis nudique pulsus aquis I neither have nor can give any quiet unto the ships that go thorow mee I cannot but toss them again described by Homer Il. γ. 45. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shee had beauty in her face but inconstancy in her breast Presently hath a great change of weather come upon us and the Seas been thrown out of a calm into a frowning raging and rowling storm Were that brave spark and high-fortuned gallant of the world that the Apostle James 2. speaks of who was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the worlds golden fingured Lads at Sea in a storm though hee hath great respect in the world in all tablings banquettings feastings and meetings yet would the Sea favour him no more than the raggedest Sailor that is either in the Merchant or States-service The Seas will not bee brought to any such composition to favour one more than another no further than there is a divine Commission from above for the doing of it they will not bee brought to do that which history tells us of as Hospinian observes that the Dogs that kept Vulcans Temple did as others of the Bohemian Curs would do fawn upon a good suit but
flye upon a ragged one Sea-men Sea-men look for storms it is your usual saying that Pallida luna pluit rubicunda flat alba serenat The Moon looks red and tells us that wee shall have winds You have just occasions many times to look for winds and storms therefore give mee leave to say Delicatus nauta est qui fortunae rabiosas novercantis procellas non expectat that hee is too little a right bred Sea-man that neither would nor doth look for storms the best sort of Sea-men dare not trust the smiling countenance of any one day or night though never so fawning and proffering If he comes to an anchor he sits down and casts about and considers how and what the harbour is and how the winds may turn and change Minus etiam quam luscinia dormit the pleasant Nightingale sleeps more than hee doth because hee is burdened with many cares about his fore-casting of all things for the best It is a great folly for any to think that they may go to Sea and not meet with brushing storms and that man that desires to go to Sea for recreation and not for imployment save onely to see the Seas and sail here and there a little upon them would wish with all his heart that hee was back again when hee sees a storm a coming Alas the Sea is a place where the greatest storms are laid on that ever befell any element whatsoever there are not those gusts and storms to bee found on land that bee upon the Seas neither are the great deeps like the smooth-faced fontes fluvia stagna and lacus's of a land that lyes with never a wrinckle upon their frontlets but they lye in raging froth and fome and by their restlesness give all that come upon them a bitter cup of a plus aloes quam mellis telling them that they shall have more storms than calms 2. Storms as well as calms come from the hands of God For hee commandeth the stormy winds Matth. 8.25 The stormy wind was up for a while in which the Disciples of Christ were most dreadfully rocked and tossed in but afterwards it was rebuked and stilled this is a comfort Nullum violentum est perpetuum things that are violent are not long lasting I would have all Sea-men to bee of that heavenly temper that Job was of when they are in and under perilous storms Job 2.10 What shall wee receive good at the hands of God and shall wee not receive evil It seems evil as well as good happens sometimes for a peoples trial 3. Dayes are evermore seen for to travel with Gods decrees Fair Sun-shine mornings have I seen and known to end in sad and dismal evenings the Proverb is Nescis quid serus vesper vebat Thou knowst not what is in the womb of a big-bellied day The Willow would never bee good if it were not lopt and cut cutting of it makes it spring the better at the root and bear the fairer head The Sailors will never bee ought till they bee cut to peeces I mean laid low upon the bark of affliction if hee say they shall be stormy who can let it and if hee give command that they shall bee tranquil and calm they shall bee so Prov. 27. Boast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth It may bring forth sickness as well as health storms as well as calms and death as well as life 4. God will humble and correct you and stand you not in very great need of being humbled and corrected Where is the Sailor in the Sea that is so good as may not look for a brushing The Sun is more resplendent after an ecclipse the Sea more calm after a storm and the air much brighter after a shower which made a great Statesman of out Nation to say that storms and tempests contribute to the cleerness of the heavens and the smoothness of the Seas 5. Where there is a looking for smooth and calm Seas the sudden alteration thereof Art thou going to Sea my friend make much of this short word of counsel there is multum in parvo nè quare mollia nè tibi contingant dura wouldst thou have i◠Englished Sailor then this it is Expect not too much favour from the Sea Jactantur oequora ventis He that will sail the great and wide Sea must look for many a roaring gust both hath and doth prove a sad and bitter disappointment to many a mans expectations when Christs Disciples were out at Sea they looked for smooth and calm water and meeting with a rugged and boysterous storm and tempest where they saw themselves greatly endangered they could not bear it Matth. 8.25 Lord save us wee perish Jer. 8.15 Wee looked for peace but no good came and for a time of health and behold trouble They that will go down to the Sea must not look for to have all calms and no storms but oftner storms than calms They that will travel upon the Sea to this and that far and remote Country in the world they must expect to meet with many a sore rub and brushing storm before they shall or can bee transported to them 2. I would have all those that are Grandees and Statesmen of our land to look for storms also my reason is this in respect that your Honours have many brave Golden-stern'd and Golden-headed Sea-boats going to and fro and up and down in the great waters where all the other ships do go and much work you have now in hand for them to do which lies both far and near and I think that it is my judgment that there never was an Age or people called on so much as the English now are both to do and carry on that work and those glorious designs that God has on foot against the Anti-Evangelical and Antichristian powers of the world it is clear to mee that the Lord Jesus Christ who both will and shall rule all Nations with a rod of Iron and in whom is all power and through whom is the guidance of all the affairs that are on foot upon the face of the Earth that you are acted by him against them but that which I aim at is this Right Honourable your gallant ships are now and then rocking and staggering in the waves as well as others and are now and then most dreadfully spending of their Masts and Yards by the board and some again most dangerously are hazarded in their running upon the ground the winds favour them no more than they do the other ships that use the Seas but fall upon them belluino impetu with as much violence as they do upon others The winds take no more notice of the golden gildedst ship than they do of the coarsest Nunc pluit claro nunc Juppiter aethere fulget meanest and plainest stern-painted that goes in the salt-Salt-waters You cannot expect it that the Seas should bee alwaies of a gentile and silver-glistering
bee compared to a man that runs up an high ladder and as soon as ever hee is got up to the highest stave of it down hee goes till hee comes unto the lowest and by and by hee returns unto the highest Solomon tels us Prov. 23.5 that the Eagle taketh wing and flyeth towards heaven but hee does not say that shee flies so high but it denotes that shee is one of the highest flying birds of any of the fouls under the Heavens Christ tels us also Matth. 11.23 that Capernaum was exalted unto Heaven when alas it was not so nor so because it was but an hyperbolical but rather an Ironical expression for Capernaum was so far from Heaven that her feet was rather upon the very threshold of Hell than Heaven as appears by the poynt shee steered by But this elegant Hyperbole of the Psalmists is to set forth the Sea-mans high soaring sursums and his down-falling deorsums They mount up almost as high as that caelestial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is feigned to be Elemenci quarti nomen how that hee is one while carried upwards upon the swelling billows of the Seas even ad aulam astriferam as high as the starry mansions and bespangled roofs of Heaven and then by and by they are returned down again 2. They go down again to break up this word unto you there is nothing difficult in it onely wee may take notice that their descension in storms is not gradatim or pedetentim but rather in the violentest manner that can bee even as a stone that is hurled up in the air it will not tarry there any longer than the strength of the hand is upon it and then it will down again because it covets to bee at its Center So the weightier any thing is the speedier is and will bee the descent of it I am confident it would produce many a gallon of salt tears from the eyes of the godly that are on Land if there were but a possibility of their seeing of ships how they labour rock and reel ascend and descend in the restless Seas in time of storms for by and by they are to bee seen anon they are not to bee seen but as if they were covered all over in the Seas That Sea-men are the nearest Heaven Observation 1 of any people in the world when they are once got up upon the back of an high-rising water-billow They mount up to Heaven c. These are the onely cloud-climbing lads of the world Sea men are like to the pinnacles that are praefixed upon all high battlements which point upwards to Heaven but poyse downwards to their center Exod. 8.15 Whilst the judgments of God were upon Pharaoh he was some thing conformable but when the storm was over he was as vile as ever and none go so near or are so fair for Heaven as Sea-men are seems the Psalmist to say but let mee add this pray God they ever come there my prayers shall bee for them 1 Sam. 12.23 Moreover as for mee God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will teach you the good and right way Vers 24. Onely fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things hee hath done for you For I fear that many an hundred Sea-man when hee is got up to the top of an high water promontory in the Sea that hee is as near Heaven as ever hee will bee It was once said of one that preached well and lived ill upon a time when in the pulpit some importunate messenger or other came for him to come out of the Church but one of his auditors made answer Oh let him alone for hee is as near Heaven as ever hee will bee So I may say it is a thousand pitties that ever some Sea-men should come off and down from the high-towering waves of the Seas because they are in those stormy times peradventure nearer Heaven than ever they will bee when they come on Land again Observation 2 That all Sea-men generally without all exception whether they bee young or whether they bee old both do and shall assuredly go to heaven They mount up to the heaven Me thinks the Sea-man likes mee well in the laying down of this proposition and the godly on the other hand look very strangely upon it and so consequently conclude I knovv Sea-men are as confident of going to Heaven the Lord help them as the Turks either are or can bee of that lock vvhich they keep upon the top of their crownes that they shall bee dravvn up into Paradise by Pray God Sea-men vvould once forsake their confidence and then there vvould bee some hopes of them that I have no warrant nor ground in Scripture to build it upon To clear up the point unto you I would have you to observe that there are two parts in it 1. That they do go to Heaven 2. That they shall all go thither For the first of these that they do go thither I would have you to understand mee rightly without any misconstruction I will have nothing to doe with their Salvation in this point for that is as doubtful to mee as Solomon's was to Toledo the Arch-Bishop who weighing that much-disputed controversie whether Solomon was saved or damned and not being satisfied with their arguments caused Solomon to bee pictured upon the walls of his Chapel the one half in hell and the other half in heaven There be three Heavens 1. Coelum Aerium 2. Coelum Astriferum 3. Coelum Beatorum It is not the latter novv they go to in storms but the tvvo former But to the point in hand that you may understand my meaning in it take notice that it is stormy and tempestuous weather that Sea-men go to Heaven in even then when the winds lift up the waves of the Seas by which and upon which thay are in this sense transported unto Heaven what they do or whither they go when dead I have nothing to do to judge and therefore whilst they are living wee need not credit that they go into Heaven Sailors are like to Grashoppers in goodness vvho make faint essayes to fly up to Heaven and then presently fall dovvn to the Earth again Sea-men that have their feet as it vvere in stormy vveather upon the battlements of Heaven should look dovvn upon all earthly happiness in the world as both base abject slight and slender waterish and worthless The great Cities of Campaniae seem but small cottages to them that stand on the tops of the Alps. for I never knew any of them so holy Enoch indeed Gen. 5.24 Walked with God and hee was not for God took him There is a vast difference betwixt going to Heaven and into Heaven the Eagle that Solomon speaks of flew towards Heaven but hee doth not say that shee went into it There is a vast disproportion betwixt a mans going to a place and
could not find a better emblem in the world to set out a ships reeling and staggering by than by one that is in a drunken and reeling posture because hee flyes first of all this way and by and by hee goes with as great violency that way again Observ 1 That Sea-men reel not alwaies by and through the swelling raging and rest less waves of the salt-waters but frequently and too often both on bord and on shore by and with strong drink and heady liquors I will say for the confirmation of this point Job 24.25 And if it bee not so now who will make mee a liar and make my speech nothing worth Englands foulest stain or one of its tauntingest reproaches at this day in the world is for the sin of dunkenness How common a sin is this even in the very skirts of our Land is not every Sea-port-Town England throughout a meer nest of Drunkards and a seat of piping tiplers whereas these Towns should bee full of righteousness and sobriety because they are the very skirts of our Land and if filthiness and iniquity bee found abounding in them strangers that come from beyond Seas will bee apt to conclude that the whole Land is as ill let them adventure to travel never so far into it But again were our Sea-mens carriages good in forein parts they would not disparrage our Land so much as they do by their swearing and drunkenness Certainly if you carried your selves soberly and religiously they would say of you as Gregory the first once did when hee beheld some English boyes to bee sold in the open Market at Rome and asking them of what Country they were of beholding of them to bee fair skinned beautifully faced and flaxen-haired the answer returned him was that they were of an Isle called England and they were Angli well quoth the Pope they may well bee called Angli English-men quasi Angeli for they have very Angelical faces of their own Oh Sea-men labour to bee like Angels in grace and purity Ah that I should be forced to say that of Sea-men which Parafius an exquisit Painter said once of Helen when hee was to take the counterfeit of her person he drew her with her head attyre loose and being demanded the reason thereof hee said Shee was loose Ah Sea-men you are loose creatureâ— I would have all Commanders in the Seas to bee very careful in their discouraging and beating down of drunkenness in and amongst their men upon these considerations if they ponderate not I know not what will when you are in the forein parts of the world that they may say you are rather Angels in practice than men But that I may take you off from this sin of drunkenness which is a blemish to our Land to our Governours in it and to the Commanders that you serve under in their respective ships 1. Consider that by thy taking in too much strong drink at any time that thou dost thereby very sinfully deface the Image of God in thee And is not that a grievous and an hainous sin for thee to do Gen. 1.26 And God said Let us make man in our Image after our likeness Now what kind of creatures do men make themselves when they drown themselves in drink what boyled and distorted eyes have they What redness have they in their faces and how mis-shapen are they and carried out of that image God made them in 2. Consider that by thy immoderate drinking thou art about the selling of the excellentest part that is in all the whole nature of man even for a contemptible and despicable pleasure and that is the use of reason Prov. 23.34 Yea thou shalt bee as hee that lieth down in the midst of the Sea or as hee that lieth upon the top of a mast 3. Consider that all immoderate drinking does render men unfit and uncapable either of serving their God or men 4. Hee that has no moderation in his drinking is at the very next dore of all profaneness that man will not stick to do murther and commit adultery When men tarry long at strong drink they get this evil by it In one hours drunkenness Lot uncovered those thighs which had been covered six hundred years by sobriety Hierome Quem non vicerat Sodome vicerunt vina Whom Sodom could not overcome wine did Prov. 23.33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter strange things Nunquam vidi ebrium castum I never saw a drunken man a chaste man said Jerome 5. By immoderate drinking a man exposes himself to many mischiefs which are very incident to light either upon the body name Vbi fuisti where hast thou been Apud inferos said Erasmus very wittily when hee compared tipling-houses unto Hell or outward condition Prov. 23.29 30. Who hath wo who hath sorrow who hath contentions who hath babling who hath wounds without cause who hath redness of eyes They that tarry long at the wine they that go to seek mixt wine Many Sailors drink God out of their hearts wit out of their brains mony out of their purses health out of their bodies themselves out of their ships strength out of their joynts wives and children out of doors and themselves also out of the Land and hereby are miserably constrained to go to Sea for a subsistency all their lives long These lads drink the Land out of quiet and threaten both Sea and Land with misery If they have but a groat it burns the purse bottom out till it bee melted into liquor Had these lads gold they would change it or plate they would pawn it or if great Lordships all should go in a merry quaft and humour amongst their fellow Compotators That the great and wide Sea is of such a restless nature that every thing that Observ 2 swims upon or in the superficies of it is liable to horrid staggering and reeling He that would go to Sea had need to bee of that candid or rather hardy temper that they are of that exercise themselves in Olympick playes who patiently suffer their hands to bee bruised their feet to bee disjoynted their mouths to be filled with dust and gravel and now and then very sad smarting blows They reel to and fro c. Isa 57.20 The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt The Seas do superba gerere fronte caperata supercilia The Sea tosses every thing that comes into it not because it is wronged but because it is unquiet One main reason why the Sea is so restless seems to be this 1. Because People do not pray for the Seas The Inundations of Nilus make Egypt fruitful and I dare say that if you were but importunate with God at the throne of grace in poor Sea-mens behalfs that you would soon make their voyages the more prosperous and successful No wonder though the Seas bee so rageing and the winds above so roaring
all that fear the Lord that when they cry they have a God to hear them when they call they have a God to answer them when they need they have a God to help when they mourn they have a God to pitty them when ready to bee overwhelmed with the great waves of the Sea they have a God to defend them So that I may say of such that go in the Seas blessed are the people that bee in such a case yea happy are all they that have the Lord for their God Psal 144.15 who is easily prevailed withall by Prayer That in tempestuous and ship-hazzarding Observ 10 storms it is every mans duty to stand still Charles the fifth gave the Emblem Vlterius stand noâ— still but go on further But in this case us amplius procedas and look up to God for life and for Salvation And hee bringeth c. If the Lord must bring ships out of their distresses then let Sea-men look up unto the Lord for deliverance and trust not too much to their own art and skill Vicount Hugo de Millains motto was on a ship without tackling to stay it with In filâ—ntio spe fortitudinem My strength is in silence and in hope Haedera undemis invenit quo se alliget 〈◊〉 Ivie being weak upon a time looked upon the Elme and spoke on this wise I am not able to stand of my self pray let mee lean on you Sailors you are not able to save your selves in storms lean upon your God That God is the great Saviour and deliverer Observ 11 of mankind Sailors are evermore hurling out of their mouths the demiculverin shot of their own praises Decempedalia sesquipedalia verba You shall seldom hear them say that God ever delivered them out of a storm in and out of all their storms and Tempests And hee bringeth c. The sweet singer of Israel quickly spies out the Sea-mans deliverer But this is more than many a beetle-headed Sailor can do Every eie observes not the stupendious and astonishing mercies of the Lord. Dextra mihi Deus est said a profane man my right-hand was my God or else I had lain my bones in the danger I was surrounded with Another said Haec ego feci non fortuna but never prospered after Wee see that Nebuchadnezzar trusted in his princely City Babel and that Babel became a Babel of confusion to him Xerxes trusted in his multitude of men and his multitude incumbered him Darius trusted to his wealth and his wealth sold him Eumenes in the valour of his Regiment called the Silver-shields and his Silver-shields sold him and delivered him up to Autigonus Roboam in his young Counsellors and his young Counsellors lost him the ten Tribes Caesar in his old Senatours and the Senate conspired against him Domitian in his Guard and his Guard betrayed him Adrian in his Physicians and his Physicians poysoned him so that the proverb ran Multitudo Medicorum perdidit Adrianum Imperatorem Observ 12 That although men at Sea in their dangerous storms seem as it were both forgotten and forsaken yet does the Lord at last very frequently make it evident unto them and to the world that hee does not forget them And hee brings c. Observ 13 That the evil and unworthy deservings of men at Sea does not alwaies interrupt the course of Gods goodnesse towards them And hee brings c. Vers 29. Hee maketh the storm a calm So that the waves therof are still THe words offer unto us two things to bee considered of 1. The Agent 2. The Act or the Effect 1. The Agent that is the Lord in these words Hee maketh the storm a calm 2. The Act or the Effect So that the waves thereof are still That the cessation of all storms and Observ 1 Tempests is by through and from an irresistable and an uncontroulable omnipotentiary power that is in God Hee maketh the storm a calm c. Xerxes finding Helespont to be a little unsmooth would needs throw Irons into it to fetter it so impatient Or if you will take the point thus That God is the great allayer and principal calmer of the raging winds and Seas Philosophers tell us that the winds are allayed several waies 1. When the air is over-burdened troubled and softned by vapours contracting themselves into rain 2. When vapours are dispersed and subtilized whereby they are mixed with the air and agree fairly with it and they live quietly then is the wind allayed 3. When Vapours or Fogs are exalted and carried up on high so that they cause no disturbance until they be thrown down from the middle Region of the air or do penetrate it 4. When vapours gathered into clouds are carried away into other Countries by high-blowing winds so that for them there is peace in those Countries which they fly beyond 5. When the winds blowing from their nurseries languish through their long travels finding no new matter to feed on then does their vehemency abate and expire 6. Rain oftentimes and for the most part does allay winds especially those which are very stormy Observ 2 That the insensiblest of creatures have an ear unto their makers speech It is said of Caesar that hee could with one word quel the discontentedest motion that ever rise in his Army What is the Lords power then in the stilling of the winds and do out of an obediential subjection yeeld to his will to carry on his purposes and designs whether of good or evil of preservation or of destruction towards a people He maketh the storm a calm c. If the Lord speak unto the winds they have an ear to hear him if to the Sea the Sea is attentive to listen to his divine pleasure and bee it good or bee it evil they are both of them loyal and fiducial Souldiers under Heavens Flag or Standard to execute his pleasure Jonah 1.4 Observ 3 That God can when hee sees it fit preserve a people from ruine in and after an incredible unlikely unexpected and miraculous manner Hee maketh c. Acts 27.20 When all hopes of being saved failed the Mariners then began the Lord to stir for them The Lord oftentimes keeps his hand for a dead lift That the great waters stilness and Observ 4 peaceableness at any time is by and from Gods calling off the flying and Sea-disturbing winds Hee maketh c. That it is the Lord that makes changes Observ 5 of conditions in the Sea and gives calmness out of his indulgent kindness and by and by storms for the abuse of the mercies of his calms Hee maketh c. The Seas are quickly alarm'd and beat up into dreadful waves even in all quarters at the commands of the Lord and shall puzzle and torment wicked men as much as those Ciniphes that bred in terra Egypti de fimo muscae quaedam sunt minutissimae inquietissimae inordinatè volitantes in oculos irruentes non permittentes homines quiescere
they have seen their fellow creatures to fal and miscarry in and to avoid building those places which they formerly built in both in Towns and Cities in the time of pestilent and contagious years When you hear of ship-wracks bee affraid and bethink with your selves why may not our turn bee the next if our lives bee not amended whilst storms are a brewing in the skies and are at hand to come upon you it is a special piece of wisdom to send out an Embassie of prayer for conditions of peace in a way of sincere turning unto the Lord. The sins and punishments of others should bee your instructions your afflictions your admonitions their woes should bee your warnings ther 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should bee your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their sufferings your Schoolmasters and remembrancers 4. Look upon the shipwrack of others with an impartial and speedy enquiry and examination into your own hearts whether such upon whom the severe vengeance of the Lord did so heavily fall upon What was Jeroms observation of the wicked upon Land is mine upon the Sea Bonus est Deus domos ergo eorum qui erant defixi in fecibus suis destruit nec eos in leprosis domibus habitaere permittit God being God cannot but destroy the dwellings of them that are bad were greater sinners than your selves ask your consciences that question which the Prophet once propounded and put forth unto the Israelites Are there not with mee even with mee the same sins against the Lord Ransack your hearts and you will quickly finde out the Jonah for which storms came down upon you therefore hide not your transgressions and abominations from the Lord which puts him I am confident upon the ruining and making so many publick examples as there bee and are to bee seen at this day A seeing eye may soon spell out the language of God in the casting away of ships Jer. 32.31 For this City bath been to mee a provocation of mine anger c. So the ships I have cast away This is the language of a sunk ship Oh man thou seest what I now am thou knowest what I have been I know those that use the Seas are as apt to say that to themselves which the Prophet complains of as Israel was to themselves Isa 28.15 Wee have made a Covenant with death and with hell are wee at an agreement when the over-flowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come unto us how many voyages I have gone in safety hitherto over the Seas now think with thy self what thou mayest come to bee 5. Look upon the ships you both know to bee cast away in such and such storms and also upon those whose Top-masts you see at this day standing in the Seas above the waters with an humble thankfulness not as rejoycing in those publick miseries but as blessing the unwearied patience and undeserved sparing and prolonging mercies of the Lord towards you Ah Sirs What an hard-heartedness is there amongst many of you for though you see wracks of ships upon sands and the Masts of sunk ships standing some in the East some in the West some in the North and other some in the South you can sail by them and over the graves of the dead in the Seas and never bee affected with them nor as much as say the Lord bee thanked that I was not in that Vessel or that it fell not so out with mee in those many voyages that I have made What was writ upon the Tomb of that great Assyrian Monarch punished by God for his impieties the same may well be writ upon every sunk ship in the Seas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look upon mee and learn to bee godlier What a mercy is it that you that equallize those in penalty of drowning whom you have far out-stripped and exceeded in sinning should bee preserved from day to day 6. Give your assent and faith to the truth of Gods judgements upon the ships that are broke in storms What is said in Exod. 15.10 may be well writ upon all cast away ships Thou didst blow with thy wind the Sea covered them they sank as lead in the mighty waters bee sure that you make this construction of every ruined ship that it was for some deserved sin or other It is and ever hath been the Devils policy and subtil contrivancy both in this and indeed in all ages to strike out the credulity of this truth out of the mindes of men I have read of Porphyry in what Authour I cannot for the present well tell one of Satans fine spun Sophisters and cunning agents that to overturn the miraculousness of the Israelites passage through the Red Sea would say that Moses took the advantage of the low ebbing water and so went thorow safely which the Egyptians not understanding came in with the flood and were drowned by the exuberancy of the waters Strabo also undertakes to weaken Gods raining down Hell out of Heaven upon Sodome and Gomorrah by saying that those Cities were situated on sulphurious soils which were full of holes out of which fire breaking forth consumed them and thus hee attributes the destruction of these Cities to natural causes It is a special act of mercy that God lets not all the Devils out of hell upon those that use the Seas as is supposed some of them were by Origen when the four corners of Jobs house in which his children was was thrown down to the ground It is a wonder that one Devil runs not up into the Main top another into the Fore-top another to the Helm one into the Mizon-top and another on to the Boltsprit and other some into the Howld to pull the Ships you sail in into a thousand peeces for your wickednesse And thus do many Sea-men their lost ships unto the cause of this and that Commonwealths and Kingdomes have their falls and periods let Athens Sparta Babylon Nineveh and Carthage bee witnesses who have at this day no other fences but Paper-walls to keep up their memories Now what have been the causes of these subversions most men are ignorant the Epicure will ascribe it to Fortune the Stoick to Destiny Plato Pythagoras and Bodin to Number Aristotle to an asymmetry and disproportion in the members Copernicus to the motion of the Center of excentrick Circles Cardanus and the major part of Astrologers to Stars and Planets but the Oracles of the Lord speak in other language that sin is the grand cause both of ships States and Commonwealths ruines You are apt to lay the blame of your miscarrying in the Seas upon the Pilot What one sayes of a Cities overthrow the same will I say of cast-away ships Civitatis eversio est morum non murorum casus A Cities overthrow is sooner wrought by lewd lives than weak walls upon the Master upon the Commander of the ship and not upon that abominable weight of sin that is in ships It is every way
as easie to say who cast away the brave ships that go in the salt waters as it is to say such a man built them every plank that is broken by the dashing waves of the Seas which are many times to bee seen swiming here and floating there hath a tongue to speak and to accuse the villany prophaneness and impiety of the persons so dealt with Mee thinks I see it written in fair legible and visible characters and capital letters upon all the sunk ships and wracks that bee and lye about the shores and Sea-coasts in all Countries whether East or West North or South A fruitful land maketh hee barren for the iniquity of them that dwell therein Many a ship that is well rigged tackled trimmed manned and gunned with her top and Top-gallant and her spread Sails proudly swelling with a full Sail in a fair day hath gone to the pot before the evening Brave Merchant and warlike ships comes to ruine by and through the wickedness of those that live in them Full little did the ship-builders or the owners think that the costly and brave warlike Fabricks should so soon violently end in a desolate rubbish It is not for us to bee high-minded but to fear no ship is so well cauked so well decked or planked but may give way and lay all her passengers in the bottome Surely Gentlemen you that use the Seas may very well say with the Magicians in Scripture when ships are cast away Exod. 8.19 Then the Magicians said unto Pharaoh This is the finger of God Lachrymae ubi vos subtraxistis Lachrymae ubi estis fontes lachrymarum fluite super facies nostras rigate maxillas 7. Bee filled with weeping tears either at the hearing or at your seeing of ships sunk and cast away in the Seas I confess those that dye in the waters are more to bee lamented than those that go to their graves by a timely death at land Lament 4.9 They that bee slain with the sword are better than they that be drowned Homer brings in brave Ulysses in great despair and disgustion of a drowning death when labouring in a dismal tempest I do not much wonder though the Lord knows it pities my heart that ships are cast away many times because it is nothing else but the infinite patience of God that they are kept up above water there bee so many oaths sworn in them which far exceed either the number of the stars in the heavens or of the drops in the Ocean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wishing hee had dyed among the Trojans than dye ignobly in the Seas Hee abhorred to dye in the waters Christ wept over Jerusalem when hee fore-saw her desolation and so did hee over Lazarus in his grave Bee affected with the sufferings of those that miscarry in the Seas Can you hear of Gods judgements in the Seas both against others and your selves and not bee affected with it Oh hardness of heart Oh mores Oh tempora Let mee tell you that I have seen a bird that hath got loose from a stone or stick unto which it hath been tyed yet in flying with the string about its heels it hath been intangled in the next bough or branch it may bee thus with you you have escaped in many a storm but take heed that you go not to the pot in the next I have observed it that there is a great deal of tenderness in the hearts of those that live in Sea-ports upon this account in respect there is much weeping and wringing of their hands for the deaths of their friends and acquaintance in such cases John such a one and Thomas such a one was cast away in such a storm I cannot blame them I have read of Achilles that hee took such delight and pleasure in his dear friend Patroclus En triftis rumor nostras pervenit ad aures that upon a time in his long absence he was much dejected because hee feared that hee should never see him more his mother Thetis to drive off his melancholy thoughts brought him an elaborate buckler made by Vulcan Cubans in facie â—ox deinde supinus One while he lay on his back and another while upon his face for grief which had imbost upon it Sun Moon Stars Planets Sea Land Men fighting running riding hills walls Towns Towers Castles Brooks Rivers Trees any thing every thing his heart could desire yet nothing could quiet him for his minde still ran upon his dear friend Patroclus Errat in nulla sede moratur amor may be the Motto of what is spoken of and so it must needs bee with those that live in Sea-ports who sometimes lose dear husbands other sometimes their children sometimes their brethren and other sometimes their kindred 8. Labour for a fruitful and profitable improvement both of your own and also of others sufferings in the Seas humbly intreat the Lord that no storm may blow over without benefit to your souls None sleep so soundly as they who continue sleeping under the greatest joggings Physick if it works not proves hurtful to the Patient If thou art so close nailed and glewed to thy swearing drinking whoring and dabling in sin that storms cannot part thee and them it is a provocation to God to leave thee It was a good saying of one after many storms and dangers upon the Seas I have had sayes her Pedem alterum in Cymba Charontis alterum in ripa Acherontica but I am the better for it It is good to bee sometimes in this life Inter Scyllam Charybdim inter scopulos et arenas Isa 1.5 and an encouragement to Satan that hee shall keep thee God is never more displeased than when hee takes away judgements in judgement than when he punishes you by delivering you out of storms and leaving you to your own hearts Ah Sirs beg of God that the blessed opportunities of shipwracking storms may never leave you as bad as they found you and that no wind may go down till it hath driven you nearer unto your God But I proceed to what remains That God hath power to do what hee Observ 6 will with our ships and ours and hath no Sovereign unto whom hee is Lauda navigantem cum pervenerit ad portum There is much danger to be tugged with all before the ship gets to her Port. or can bee made accountable or responsible for what hee doth Then hee brings c. How far then should every man bee from expecting that he should give them or any other an account of his actions and proceedings It should suffice them that what ever befalls them in the Seas is from the Lord Job 1.21 The Lord gives and the Lord takes blessed bee his name The Lord brings us home and other sometimes hee cuts us short of coming home blessed bee his name That those that fear God in their respective Observ 7 ships at Sea are never unsafe Hee brings them unto
their desired Haven Gods people upon the Sea even the very meanest of them may say I never stir out nor sail in the great deeps but my life-guard goes along with mee and if they want for preservation there is never a creature in heaven or earth Sea or land but both will and shall take their parts What man is able to finde out a danger in which God could not or the time when God did not help them Ah Sirs never distrust God Was it dangerous to bee shut out of the Ark when the waters increased upon the old world or to bee shut out of the City of Refuge when the Avenger of blood pursued or to want blood upon the door posts when the Angel was destroying and is it not as dangerous to those that go to Sea without the fear of God Consider but that What hath been said and recorded of Troys Palladium that whilst that image remained there the City was impregnable had not the Greeks found out the stratagem to steal their Idol away they could never have conquered the City I will say of the godly and religious that go in the Seas whilst they walk close with their God It is reported that the Seas on a time being very rough and tempestuous great waves and billows flying mountain high a great Vessel was sailing upon them and every wave threatning to drown her the wicked wretches that were in her scared not the Seas the Waves asked them how it happened that they were no more fearful quoth the Mariners Nos Nautae We are Mariners How much more may the godly say in time of storms Nos Christiani et Deum Omnipotentem habemus the waves shall never hurt them 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while you bee with him and if you seek him hee will bee found of you but if you forsake him hee will forsake you That the Lords merciful dealings with Observ 7 the sons of men in the Seas gives the world a convincing evidence of his gracious nature willingness and readiness to do good and to shew favour unto all Hee brings them to their desired Haven That when God will deliver a people out Observ 8 of storms in a shelterless Sea then no opposition shall nor can oppose or hinder him Hee brings them to their desired Haven No powers in Heaven Sea or Land that God cannot over-top and make vail and strike sail to him when hee pleases Psal 114.3 4 5 6 7. What ailed thee Oh thou Sea that thou fleddest thou Jordan that thou wast driven back Proud-vanting This was Davids experience of Gods readinesse to help him when in distresse Psal 18.10 And hee rode upon a Cherub and did flye yea hee did flye upon the wings of the wind The Lord is continually upon one Cherubs back or other over and upon the great deeps one while in the North and another while in the South c. for your deliverance and billow-bouncing Seas soon lower their top-sails at Gods rebuke Vers 31. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men IN the words wee may soon espye two remarkable things 1. A vehement desire Oh that men would praise the Lord. 2. A duplicatory reason of this desire 1 For his goodness 2. For his wonderful works to the children of men If the heavens were parchment the Seas Iâ—ke and every pile of grasse in the world a pen all would be too little to set forth the high praises of the Lord by This Verse seems to include the ardent earnestness of the Psalmists spirit that Sea-men would bee much in thankfulness and much and frequent in praising of the Lord their deliverer out of all their distresses Oh seems hee to say that I could put men upon this duty it would bee more comfortable to mee seems the Psalmist to say to finde such a principle in the hearts of those that are imployed in the great waters Ah Sirs you let the fresh running floods of Jordan I mean your Sea-deliverances fall into the mare mortuum of your forgetfulnesse than any one thing in the world again whatsoever Oh is but a little word consisting of two letters but no word that ever a man utters with his tongue comes with that force and affection from the heart as this doth Oh is a word of the highest expression a word when a man can say no more This Interjection oftentimes starts out of the heart upon a sudden from some unexpected conception or admiration or other In the composure of these words wee have two things onely considerable 1. The manner of it 2. The matter of it Oh that men would praise the Lord. But to open the words a little Oh that men would praise the Lord c. Heb. That they would confess it to the Lord both in secret and in society this is all the rent that God requires hee is contented that those that use the Seas should have the comfort of his blessings so hee may have the honour of them this was all the fee Christ looked for for his cures Go and tell what God hath done for thee words seem to bee a poor and slight compensation but Christ saith Nazianzen calls himself the Word That deliverances at Sea out of storms Observ 1 and Tempests call upon all the sharers therein and the receivers thereof to bee evermore thankfully praising and magnifying the wonderful goodness Lucan reports that the Elephants that come out of the Nabathaean Woods to wash themselves in the floods near unto them as if to purifie will fall down to adore the Moon or otherwise their Creator and return into the woods again And will nor you that use the Seas to your God that delivers you and undeserved kindness of the Lord vouchsafed unto them Oh that men would praise the Lord. Shall I prove the poynt I profess if Scripture were silent no man I should think should bee so audaciously impudent as to deny the verity thereof 1 Thes 5.18 In every thing give thanks for that is the will of God If in every thing then surely in and for Sea-preservations Men must take heed that they bee not thankless in this thing lest the Heavens blush at their ingratitude Psal 119.62 At midnight will I rise to give thanks to thee Ah that our Sea-men were as forward as they lie in their Cabbins and Hammocks Ah Sirs how many voyages make you to and again upon the Seas one while into the East-Indies So affected were the inthralled Greeks with their liberty procured by Flaminius the Roman Generael that out of thankfulness to him they would oftentimes lift up their voices in such shrill acclamations crying Soter Soter Saviour Saviour that the very birds would fall down from the heavens astonished and amazed And will not you Gentlemen be affected with your Sea deliverances and another while into the West one while into the North and another while
whilst you do float above When the Lord would stir up David and melt his heart and bring it unto a kindly sorrow for all his mercies hee takes this course 2 Sam. 12.7 Did not the Lord do thus and thus Did hee not make thee King of Judah and of Israel Did he not give to thee thy Masters wives and houses into thy bosom and if this had not been enough hee would have done more for thee therefore recount the particular kindnesses and Sea-deliverances the Lord has bestowed upon thee does not the Lord seem to say I delivered thee at such a time and in such a storm did not I deliver thee from such a Rock and from such a sand God keeps a reckoning Sirs of what hee does and also of all your deliverances it is but wisdom then to kiss the Son lest hee bee angery to kisse him with a kiss of adoration and subjection all your daies 3. Consideration That thankful hearts are evermore full of thankful thoughts and these are such as are evermore suitable unto the benefits that are received Psal 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits Hee has delivered mee out of this and the other storm from this and the other shore from many Rocks and Sands both in this and also in the other parts of the world I have met with a story of a Company of Sailors in Zara called by some Jadera a Town in Sclavonia that they consecrated a Church to St. John di Malvatia which they built out of their own wealth and wages to express their thankfulness for their great deliverance out of a storm in which they had like every man of them to have gone to the pot This they vowed when at Sea and when come on Land they were as good as their words where are your thanks Sailors what shall I now bestow upon him How has hee preserved mee when shot has flown like hail When dangers have been unfordable and miseries innumerable then has the Lord stept in to deliver mee Ah Sirs what cause have you that use the Seas to fall down before the Lord in all thankful acknowledgment to him for your deliverances at Sea even as the Wise men of the East did before Christ and offer unto him Gold Incense and Myrrhe aurum fidei thus devotionis aromata pietatis mentes humiles probos mores animos dignos Deo The Gold of faith the Frankincense of Devotion the Myrrhe of Godliness humble minds good manners souls worthy of God 4. Consider That thankful hearts are evermore full of admiring thoughts I wonder at the goodness of God says a good and an honest heart that hee should come and step down so seasonably to deliver mee when I was in a Sea far from any eye or heart to pitty mee Ah how has mercy taken the pains to come and meet us How has mercy as it were fallen into our mouths and into our laps even very unexpectedly Abraham's servant was very full of admiring thoughts when hee saw providence so working for him Gen. 14.21 as the womans coming to the well and her willingness to give him and his Camels as much water as they pleased Ah stand amazed at Gods deliverings of your souls in the stormy and tempestuous Seas 5. Consider That thankful hearts are evermore full of awful and trembbling thoughts at the Judgments of God both executed and threatned upon others in the Seas when they see themselves so threatned in storms and others to bee cast away in them and yet notwithstanding they themselves spared this strikes thoughts of fear into them and upon them Psal 119.20 My flesh trembles for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy righteous Judgments 6. Consider That thankful hearts are evermore full of viewing and observing thoughts Oh how has the Lord delivered mee in this late storm and Tempest in what danger was I in but now our Sails rent our Mast fell about our ears wee pumped and toyled night and day for our lives Cables broke and at another time our Anchors came home and our ships drive And thus such hearts cannot but say Exod. 15.13 Thou in thy Mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed 7. Solemnly consider that thankful hearts after Sea-deliverances are full of improving thoughts and will not you bee so too Gentlemen You that use the Seas Such a soul has his whole mind taken up with the mercies of the Lord and hee plots contrives and designs how hee may make a good use and a good improvement of all that he has done for him in the Seas Pliny writes of Egypt It is well if it may not too truly be said of those that use the Seas that shee was wont to boast how shee owed nothing to the Clouds or any forein streams for her fertility being abundantly watered by the inundation of her ovvn River Nile I am affraid that you think that you are not beholden to your God and beheld with his eyes in the great deeps Such a soul sets all his Sea-deliverances in print and layes them up in the wardrobe of his heart The holiness goodness mercifulness and majesty of God is evermore much in such a souls eye 8. Consider That all good men are for it and that with tooth and naile and will you not then bee thankful unto the Lord I will tell you who bee against it the Devil and wicked men but I pray God preserve you from such Counsellors Psal 65. Praise waiteth for thee O God in Sion Psal 29.2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name Worship the Lord in the beauty of holynesse 9. Consider That God himself is for it Mal. 2.2 If yee will not hear and if yee will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name saith the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you 10. Consider That God commands it The shortest cut to ruine men is unthankfulness Trumpeters delight to sound when where they are answered with an Eccho 11. Consider That God expects it 12. Consider That God prizes it and commends it 13. Consider That God is hereby much honoured by it Psal 50. ult 14. Consider That God will fully and freely reward it A word or two now of Use and so I will leave the point because it is so painful to mee to write and lay down at large what I might and what every point would bear I do acknowledge that Spices when they are pounded and beaten small they do evermore smell the sweetest and points of doctrine or Scriptures when they are branched forth expounded and broken up into parts are evermore the profitablest For my part I know not what to say to the generality of Sea-men because they put me to as great a stand as the Turky Painter was once put to when he was to set forth all the several Nations of the world according to their Country dress and habit hee left one
a Kings heart Oh praise the Lord. Sirs you usually pay people in forein parts for your Anchorage in their Harbours for your Pilotage into them for boyage in the Seas and lightage upon land and will you return nothing unto your God You are the Lords Tenants you sit on very great Rents and great Rents you have to pay surely you had need to bee stirring do what you can you will dye in Gods debt Now thankfulness stands not in words and complements if you would express your thankfulness unto God Sirs then do thus 1. Labour to come out of all your storms and Sea-dangers as Job did out of his affliction Job 23.10 When hee hath tried mee I shall come forth as gold It would bee a brave thing that every Sailor that goes into the Furnace of a fiery stormy and raging Sea Beleeve it Sirs God looks for it at your hands What is said of the statue of Juno in the holy City near to Euphrates in Assyria that it will evermore look towards one let them sit where they will in her Temple shee stares full upon them and if you go by shee follows with her eye the same shall I say of the Lord go where you will on Sea or Land the Lords eye follows you should come out of it as gold doth out of the fire when they come on land Ah who would not but take a turn at Sea then to bee purified from their dross 2. Offer unto God the ransome of your lives as the Law runs Exod. 31. leave some seal or pawn of thankfulness behinde you The Gracians paint Jupiter in their Temples with his hands full of thunderbolts Sirs be afraid of unthankfulness Heathens after a ship-wrack a storm or a fit of sickness will offer something or other to their gods for every preservation That thanksgiving is to bee suspected that lyes in nothing but words Give God your hearts hee gives you his mercies Give God your lives hee gave you them when you were in danger 3. Let God have soul-thankfulness from you if wee receive but any benefit or special kindness from our friends our hearts acknowledge it and our tongues confess it Sirs Do what you can you will dye in Gods debt and wee cannot bee at quiet till wee some way or other requite it 4. Let God also have mouth-thankfulness from you let your tongues walk apace and speak at the highest rate you can to the praise of God Psal 124.2 3. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side then had the Seas at such and such a time swallowed us up and at another time drowned us 5. Let God have life-thankfulness from you this God had of and from David in full measure Psal 145.2 Every day will I bless thee and I will praise thy name for ever and ever I have known that those that have undertaken to buy and redeem poor captives out of a Turkish bondage slavery they have vowed to bee their servants all the dayes of their lives A certain Jew when travelling over a deep River in the night where the bridge was broken down saving onely that there was one narrow plank laid over to foot it on he rid very safely over and being asked the next day how he got over he knew nothing and going back through the peoples intreaty swounded away and dyed at the consideration of his deliverance Ah Sirs will not you be Gods servants all the daies of your lives who has delivered you so often out of storms and raging Seas and inevitable dangers 6. Let mee intreat you to look back upon mercy and then tell mee if you can bee unthankful Act. 27.1 And when they were escaped then they knew that the Island was called Melita They viewed their mercy on every side 7. Compare your selves with others others have been denied to be delivered and lye ship and men in the bottome of the Sea and you and your ships are still floating and swimming whilst others are drowned 8. Are not others that have tasted of your deliverances in the Seas often and many a time blessing and thanking of God both in private and publick and will you bee unthankful 9. Bee resolute for the duty of thanksgiving unto God 10. Consider what thou hadst been and where thou hadst been if mercy had not prevented Psal 89.48 and an hand been reached out of heaven as it were to have helped thee 11. Certainly if thou wert but changed from the state of a sinner thou wouldest bee oftner in the thanking of thy God than thou art 12. Were but our Sea-men a generation of people that were much and often in godly sorrows Now if you will not bee thankful unto the Lord for all your deliverances take heed lest hee say Judg 10.13 Wherefore I will deliver you no more they would bee oftner in their thanksgivings unto the Lord. 13. Were but those that use the Seas filled with divine relishes of Gospel graces they would bee thanking of their God oftner than they are He that is the fullest of the spirit of grace is the onely fittest man to bee thankful unto God 14. Were but those that use the Seas much in minding of the mercies and deliverances of the Lord bestowed upon them they would bee a far thankfuller people than they are I have read of one that was in very great debt and yet notwithstanding that he slept as well as if hee had had the greatest estate that could bee to pay it with a great Gentleman in the Country observing it desired him that hee would bee pleased to sell him his bed Ah Sirs you are much in debt to God Psal 5.15 I will sing unto the Lord because hee hath dealt mercifully with mee 15. Did but those that use the Seas take up their joyes and delights in God they would be more thankful unto their God than they are Ah may I not say Psal 78.42 They remembred not his hand nor the day when hee delivered them from the enemy Observ 7 That the Lords creating of the Seas for the use of Navigation to that end men who can neither flye nor swim might the more facilly and commodiously commerce one with another in all and throughout all the forein parts of the world is a point of Gods great praise Oh that men would praise the Lord Heraclitus was such an admirer of the Sea that he said if wee wanted the Sun we should be in perpetual darknesse if wanted the Sea live like barbarous people God has founded the Earth upon the Seas and established it upon the floods Psal 24.2 Aristotle looked upon this as one of the greatest wonders of nature and well hee might that God should set the solid Earth upon the back of the waters for mans conveniency Psal 104.6 7. Jer. 5.22 That the saving and delivering mercies Observ 8 of God at Sea are and ought to bee carefully had and kept in a perpetual remembrance Oh
their voice which is not half so clear nor so pleasant as it was at first Nay they are as much down when their lives are at the stake as the Seryphian Frogs were of whom it is said in Observ 13 Scyrum deportatae mutescunt eaedem alio translatae canunt Carry them into Scyrus and you silence them What Pliny said of Rome I may say of the Sailors at Sea that there was never any earthquake in Rome but it was the fore-runner of some great change event and alteration So no appearance of windsly in the Physiognomy of the skies but some change of weather Praecedunt paenas nuntia figna graves There was one that went up and down Jerusalem 80. years before ever the war begun to bee commenced against it crying a voice from the East a voice against Jerusalem and the Temple a voice against all this people Sailors God gives you some warning many times before hee claps his stormy wind upon your backs let all external signs of storms carry you then out to seek your God let them alone in Seryphia and you shall hear them sing and croak That it is and would bee the Sea-mans greatest wisdom and safest course when hee sees a storm a comming to run unto the Lord that hee would become his friend Then they cry c. You see the heavens grow black and many observations and guessings you have from and of the skies what weather is a brewing will you not then prepare to meet the Lord by sending out your prayers as Ambassadours to plead with him in your behalf Amos 4. ult people that are on Land if they see but a Tempest or a shoure of Hail or Snow a coming they will with all the speed that ever they can make betake themselves either to some good sheltering hedg or the nearest neighbouring house that they can get unto How much more should you then fly even as the young Chickens will under the wings of the old ones when the Kite is hovering to fall upon them to the protecting arms of God that you may bee supported in a shelterless Ocean Shal the sight of a warlike ship coming before the wind with all the clew of sail that ever shee can make and spread Top-gallant sails Stay-sails and Boome-sails call upon you I and startle you too to get your ship into her fighting weed and dress Insomuch that you are in such a toss at those times that you cut down Hammoks knock down wooden stanchions hale out your guns keep your matches lighted and your Ordnance primed your chartages filled your shot and powder upon and betwixt decks and all your men in arms some to stand by the great Guns and other some upon deck by your small shot and will you not bee in the like fear when the Heavens frown above you How should you make towards your God at such times Plutarch reports of Athens that when their City was visited and long punished with mortal sickness that they had recourse to the Oracle of Apollo to know what they should do in their extreamity who made them this answer that their onely way was duplare aram to double their Sacrifices The onely way for Sailors to bee delivered in time of storms is to ply God hard both before and when they are come with prayer Nautae sereno coelo non nihil laxant vela cum autem suspicio tempestatis contrahunt In fair weather Mariners will have their Top-gallant sails out but if foresee foul they presently take them in I would have Sea-men to strive who should bee the first at prayer in such times as these as it is said in Zach. 8.21 Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of Hosts I will goe also The Tulipant which our Herbalists call Narcissus because it is an admirandos flos ad radios solis se pandens a flower that will constantly expose it self unto the fulgency of the Sun but when ever it apprehends the Suns setting or a Tempest a coming it hides it self and will not hazzard its tender flower to bee shaken and rent with the wind Learn thus much from this creature as to betake your selves unto your God when you see storms a mustering in the clouds and starry Sphaeres That hee that has a gratious purpose Observ 14 and design in time of storms to honour God in the remainder of his life may the warrantablierly pray for the prolonging of his life Then they cry c. Psal 119.175 Sailors in storms resemble the Frogs in the Countrymans pond of whom it is said that whilst it thundered they were very silent but no sooner was the thunder over but they betook themselves to their croaking and obstreperous notes again whilst storms are upon the Sailors backs they tell God many a fair story which afterwards they leave undischarged Let my soul live and it shall praise thee As if David were a going to say if it were not for that end I would not wish to live a minute nor a moment upon the face of the Earth Sea-men if this bee not your design in your prayers I cannot see how you can have the face to expect audience from your God at such times Tell mee what is thy end Captain in this storm what is thy end Master what is thy end Boatswain Sea-men what are your ends now in this storm where our lives are at the stake are they not to swear to lye to drink and to dishonour God as you have done are they now fixed upon the glory of God and the honour of God and the obedience of your God Fear not then I will joyn with you in prayer for the Lord will never drown us if our hearts have these resolutions in them Psal 119.17 Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy Word Oh that this were the prayer and the very thought of every poor Sea-mans heart when hee is beset both on head and stern with that affrighting enemy pale death I shall say thus much for the encouragement of all those that go in the Seas that are thus gratiously disposed as it was said to the Emperour Marcus Antonius when in Almany with a very great Army and being beset by the enemy in a dry Country where all passages was stopped up and there being no other likelyhood but that both hee and his whole Army should perish and that for want of water the Emperours Lieutenant seeing him so sadly distressed told him that hee had heard that the Christians could obtain any thing of their God by prayer whereupon the Emperour having a Legion of Christians in his Army hee put them all upon prayer both for him and for his Army and shortly after dureing the time that they were at prayer great thunder fell amongst their enemies and abundance of water upon the Romans whereby their thirst was quenched and the enemy routed and overthrown without any fight at all You shall have
any thing from God for prayer That the strength of the strongest faith Observ 15 in the hearts of Gods people in stormy and tempestuous Seas proves both small and little enough at those times when Gods help is delayed Then they cry c. Mat. 8.25 And his disciples came to him and awoke him saying Lord save us wee perish Psal 119.120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am affraid of thy Judgment Observ 16 Hee that would have the Lords help in a storm let him bid adiew to all confidence in the strength of ships and in the deepest wit of men Then they cry c. Psal 108.12 Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man This is a good conclusion and the onely way to engage your God to take care of you when neither man will nor can stand by you to help you That Sea-men seek not the Lord so earnestly Observ 17 in tempestuous storms Does not many Sailors say to prayer when the storm is once over what Felix said to Paul Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will send for thee Sea-men never pray but when the Sea crosses them and is ready to run them down by the board I am affraid that many Sea-men pray against sin as if they were of Austins mind malebam expleri quam extingui we had rather serve our corruptions than have God to grant our petitions How can you expect to be heard in time of danger when that you pray against sin as if you wished that God might not hear you but they have need of stirring up to seek him earnestlier Then they cry c. Jonah 1.6 The ship-master came unto him and said unto him what meanest thou Oh sleeper arise call upon thy God if so bee that God will think upon us that wee perish not I am affraid that there is these two ill properties in many a Sea-mans prayer at such times as these 1. That they flow from and out of a constrained heart 2. That they flow also from a divided heart 1. From a constrained heart Prayer comes from their hearts as fire out of a flint or as blood out of the nose that comes not spontaneously but wringingly Pii non trahuntur ad Tribunal Dei sed sponte accedunt Good souls are not drawn and haled before God in prayer but go freely and delightfully before the Lord. Psal 119.108 Accept I beseech thee the free-will Offerings of my mouth 2. From a divided heart Their hearts are not integral and entire in prayer Whereas the prayer of a gratious soul flows from the heart as naturally as water out of the fountaine or hony out of the comb Psal 119.10 With my whole heart I have sought thee 1. Sailors come not to God often 2. And with God they take no delight Observ 18 to stay long The Sea-man now appears in fits as if really looking towards God and good and by and by when out of danger hee casts off all again no Polypus nor Camaelion hath more coulours than the Sailor has changings You would think that some Sea-men in dreadful storms had directly set their hearts upon God and good and that they were really pitched upon him but when out of storms all presently breaks and falls unto the ground again That the worst and very vilest of men in the time of affliction and inevitable distress are forced to seek and sue unto the Lord for help Then they cry c. They that never practised prayer before but spoke as unkindly unto it as Pharaoh did unto Moses Get thee from mee and see my face no more now are constrained to call upon the Lord. Psal 78.34 When hee slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God Sailors cry hard that the storm may cease and bee allayed for it is the wind and the Sea that is all their trouble they cry not to God that sin may bee pardoned and mortified in them which raised the storm sin and the Devil has quiet entertainment amongst them 1. Reason Because nature it self is professly cross unto all trouble danger disquiet and vexation it is tired therewith and so willingly would have ease And upon this account I fear many cry unto God in storms even because the Lord has summoned in and called off those former comforts of calmness peaceableness and quietness that they had in the Sea 2. Reason Because all the means that can bee used in time of storms are but helpless without Gods help and therefore are they forced to fly unto God because all their helps have an invalidity in them Those prayers that are running out from mens mouths by force in the time of storms are never good Forced and constrained prayer is both commonly false and also of no esteem or accompt with God because men care for no more if they can but have their lives and ships it is not the living of an holy life afterwards that they beg for neither is or should much confidence bee imposed in them God loves prayer in the times of peace and when prayer comes out of love to God and to the duty hee likes it well else not Observ 19 That the dolefullest miseries that can befal mâ—n that go in the Seas or the extreamest dangers that they may ever bee surrounded withal if but laid forth before God in prayer are good arguments of hope that God will in his good time help them Then they cry c. Observ 20 That the dreadful dangers that Sea-men are in when in storms should make them sensible of their sin and of Gods just displeasure against them for the same Then they cry c. Jonah 1.7 Let us cast lots that wee may know for whose cause this evil is upon us Observ 21 That the estate of Sea-men may bee such at some times as God will lend no further succour and deliverance to it Then they cry c. They may well cry indeed Remember may the Lord say If you hear of any ships cast away at any time in any part of the Seas you may conclude that the Sailors were swearing drinking cursing at that time for had they been praying fasting humbling of themselves and calling upon their God their ships might have lived in the storm their lives also been spared the time was that I heard your cries your tears and prayers and has pittied you when your ships has been thrown upon Sands and I have taken care to keep them off from splitting upon the Rocks many and many a time but you have turned all these gratious deliverances of mine into wantonness therefore will I deliver you no more Jer. 5.7 How shall I pardon thee for this Isa 1.24 Ah I will ease mee of mine adversaries and avenge mee of mine enemies I am afraid that Sea-men are a burthen unto the Lord and that hee sends many of them packing to hell when hee sends them