THE SEAMAN'S INVITATION, WITH A Passengers Observation In some particular things which concern them that practice Navigation. 

1 Their remarkable Deliverances; and the use they make of them  
2 Their tempting and provoking of God about the Wind, which obeys the Lord.  
3 Their abusing themselves and their liberty when they go a shore, whereby the creature suffers.  
4 Something in particular to the Captains and Masters, and to all their Inferior Officers.  
5 How little the Seamen (with the soldiers in the Fleet) are profited by their Chaplains that in the year do get several groats out of their wages.  
6 And a more excellent way of Teaching shown then that of their Chaplains.    They that go down to the Sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep, Psal. 107.23, 24. And they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour, and every man his Brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know him from the least to the greatest of them, Jer. 31.34. 
By a servant of the Truth, and a lover of Righteousness, called William Caton.  
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Simmons, at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate, 1659.   

The Seaman's invitation, with a Passengers observation.  
GIve ear O ye Seamen; And listen, O all ye that practice Navigation; Is there any men upon the face of the earth that hath more eminent deliverances from apparent perils than you? Is there any calling or employment, wherein the Sons of men are exercised, that the wonders of the Lord are more evident, or do more frequently appear then in yours? Can any men that replenish the Earth, declare experimentally such remarkable deliverances from death, as you can? hath not the sentence of death been oftentimes passed by you upon yourselves, when you have seen no visible way to escape it? and even at the very time, hath not deliverance come from the Lord beyond expectation? what dreadful and boisterous, terrible and tempestuous storms do you often meet withal by Sea, which were able to bring down the courage of the strongest man among you, and to make his heart to faint, and his flesh to tremble? and have not your eyes seen those stilled by him whom the wind and seas obey? But consider in the height of them, and in the midst of your distress, when death was feared and expected, was not then amendment of life promised, and a full resolution and determination in your hearts to live more godly and righteously the residue of your days, if that the Lord would be pleased at that time to deliver you? and according to your desire it hath come to pass, and your request in that particular hath been granted, as many of you can witness.  
But now mark and consider what use you have made of the remarkable deliverances before mentioned, have you not been elevated and puffed up by them? have you not been the more negligent and careless in serving the Lord, thinking that he would deliver you as he had done, though you spent your life as you had done formerly? have you not often boasted of them, & vaunted yourselves in making vain repetitions of them over your cups and pipes, & do you not often times curse yourselves, and swear by your deliverer, when you are repeating of them as idle stories, rather than as remarkable deliverances? but hear oh ye despisers of the Lords rich mercy, of his forbearance and long suffering, How are your promises performed to the Lord, which you made in your distress, or how have you paid your vows unto him? seeing that after the hardness and impenitency of your hearts, you treasure up wrath unto yourselves, against the day of wrath, and Revelation of the righteous judgement of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, Rom. 2.4, 5.  
Moreover notwithstanding your manifold mercies, and the remarkable deliverances that you have above other men, who is there amongst the Sons of men, that exceeds many of you in iniquity, in licentiousness and Lasciviousness? alas for you, that you should thus requite the Lord, as if he were like unto yourselves; Surely friends, out of the multitude of his mercies, and in his tender compassion hath he been pleased to deliver you out of many external perils (which none besides him could have done) and eminent dangers in which you had been overwhelmed long, ago had he not had commiseration & pity upon you, who joins hand in hand to work wickedness, and doth rejoice in iniquity & takes more pleasure in unrighteousness then in the Lord your deliverer, who hath no delight in the death of a sinner, but rather in showing mercy on those that fear him, and work Righteousness.  
And be it known unto you O ye Sea-fairing men, that your iniquities exceed the sins of many, who have not seen half of the wonders of the Lord, that you have been eye witnesses of; How can superfluity of naughtiness abound more among a people than it abounds among some of you? and how few are there among you that will appear nobly to reprove it, but will rather connive and wink at it, yea and join with them that live in it, although there is a witness for God against it in your consciences, yet that is little regarded nor its reproofs; for if you did mind it and its reproofs, than would you rather reprove the evil in your companions then consent unto it, and so thereby you become guilty also, even as he who sees a thief, and consents unto him; but oh be awakened to righteousness, if there remains yet any true zeal in you for God, and let wickedness be expelled out from among you, that righteousness may take place in you, and this know that the spirit of the Lord God will not always strive with you; therefore learn to do well, and cease to do evil, that truth and equity may abound among you, as sin and iniquity hath abounded, then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily; yea, then shall you call, and the Lord shall answer you, you shall cry, and he shall say here I am.  
One thing I have often observed among you (oh ye seamen) and that is your tempting and provoking the Lord about the wind; but let me ask you doth it ever blow, but its fair for some of you? as for instance, if the wind be Easterly, and some of you be in Holland ready to come for England, than the wind is good and fair for such; and at the same time peradventure, some of you may be in England ready to go for Holland, but frets against the wind which obeys the Lord, and when he pleaseth he causeth it to come Westerly, so that it becomes good for you also, but not the sooner for your tempting of God about it. And if it continue not good until you by it be brought to your desired haven, alas, how will you then frown against it, and provoke him whom it obeys by your cursing and swearing, by your impatiency and frowardness? yet notwithstanding, he who causeth the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust, he also maketh the wind to be serviceable to you all, without which none of you could sail from Country to Country like as you do, though it might be just with the Lord (who is slow to anger) to cause the wind to be still, and so thereby deprive you of the benefit of it, because of your unthankfulness for it, and your unworthiness of it; and this know that, if he should bid or command it to be still, you (if you were ten times more than you are) could not make it blow; for it will not obey you, but him that created it (viz.) the Lord God of Hosts is his name, who is daily provoked by you concerning this thing, and you chafe and sret yourselves about it when it is against you; but which of you by cursing and swaying by chafing and fretting yourselves can make it blow as you list, though it bloweth where it listeth, and as he pleaseth whom it obeyeth? Were it not better therefore for you to be still and quiet and content, considering that although it be not good for you in particular, yet it is good and fair for some that practise Navigation, who ought to have the benefit of it as well as you, although none of you have ever seen it good for you all at once, yet I believe there is none among you that hath sailed upon the Sea half a year together, but that the wind hath been good for you at one time or another. And this I say concerning it, that it may teach you, who are disobedient to him whom it obeyeth (to wit the Lord) who rebuked the wind, and said unto the Sea, peace, be still, and then the wind ceased and there was a great calm; but though you are by him forbidden to swear, Mat. 5.34. yet you are more disobedient to him then the wind, which ceased at his rebuke, but so do not you from swearing at his reproof. He saith love your enemies, bless them that curse you, etc. But are not you disobedient to him in those things, and in many more which might be instanced? And therefore I say the wind may teach you, which sometime some of you will curse for obeying him, who saith bless and curse not; but your folly in this thing is mighty great, and the Lord he will judge you for it, and do not think that he'll hold you guiltless who curseth that which he bringeth out of his treasuries, Psal. 135.7. which in itself is very good.  
And who amongst men could more subsist without it than you, who sometimes will seem thankful for it, when it satisfies your wills, but if it cross you, bow froward and impatient are you? fretting yourselves and provoking him whom it obeys when it crosseth you; therefore consider of this ye that go down to the Sea in ships, that do business in great waters, and learn to fear the Lord, who commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind; Note, when stormy winds come (with which you are often offended, that it is the Lord that raiseth stormy winds, and who also stilleth them, and him they do obey who maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still: and then are not you glad when you are delivered from the rage of the proud swelling waves of the boisterous sea? but alas how quickly then do you forget your vows which you made to the Lord, when your hearts fainted and your souls melted because of fear and trouble that was upon you in the tempestuous storm, when you were almost at your wit's end? but O that you would now be persuaded to pay your vows to the Lord, and not to forget all his deliverances, nor yet his mercies and favours which he hath bestowed upon you, than would he oftentimes for your sakes rebuke the winds and the sea, yea he would hear your cry in the time of trouble, and bring you out of your distress.  
Wherefore be awakened to righteousness, oh ye Sea-fairing men, and cease from rejoicing in iniquity, and from takeing pleasure in unrighteousness, lest that the Lord cause the great deep to swallow you up, like as it hath done many thousands before you, who have been Rebellious and disobedient to the Lord whom the winds and the seas obey.  
Another thing hath been observed by others as well as myself among you, and that is this (to wit) when you have been several months upon the sea, (more or less) and that afterwards you by the providence of God come well into a Harbour; and being permitted to go a shore, either about your business, or to see your friends, or to refresh your bodies, or the like, even at such times do you most shamefully abuse yourselves, by drinking excessively until you make yourselves more like beasts than men; And thus you abuse yourselves and your liberty, and cometh thereby the more to be bereft of it, and in all this the creature suffers, being made subject to this vanity though not willingly.  
But for the sake of the weak, and of those that are almost void of understanding among you, I shall show you in three particulars how the creature suffers: First, it may suffer by being several months upon the sea, being kept with salt and dry victuals, and sometimes great scarcity thereof, not only of meat, but also of drink, insomuch that a cup of clear water with a crust of dry bread would be of great worth sometimes; and such a day some of you have seen. Secondly the creature suffers when you come a shore (even the very time when it should be refreshed,) by your excessive drinking & intemperate eating, you not being wise enough to govern yourselves in such a condition, when your stomaches will not bear much meat, partly by reason of the long scarcety, nor your heads much strong bear, having drunk little for a long time before; thus the good creatures of God being abused by you, you through the abuse of them become worse than you were when you had need of them. Thirdly, when you have so abused yourselves, with wine, strong-waters or strong bear, then can you not govern yourselves, but oftentimes doth that which you ought not to do, and thereby transgresseth the Law a shore, or the orders you have a board upon your ship, and then it may be one punishment or another is inflicted upon you (if the Officers neglect not their duty) whereby the creature is made to suffer; And then after your drinking excessively, you are for a time unfitter to do your business than you were before you went ashore; and then peradventure by reason of your abusing yourselves and others, you may come to be debarred of the liberty of the going a shore, to take the benefit of the wholesome Air, and to be refreshed with such things as the Country do afford, which you may have need of, and yet want them aboard.  

To the Captains and Masters of all Ships, and to all their inferior officers.  
HAd you been guiltless of those sins whereof the Seamen (whom you are set over) are guilty, than you should have been a terror to them that do evil, and much of the evil which abounds amongst them would have been suppressed by you, who are Authorized to rule over them; but much of your authority you lose by partaking of their sins; for behold, doth not the witness of God in your own consciences accuse you, and tell you, you are inexcusable yourselves, forasmuch as you are overtaken with those sins yourselves which you reprove them for? But consider, ought you not to have been good patterns, and examples of righteousness among them? aught you not to have walked in the fear of God among them, and endeavoured to have kept them in the same? aught you not rather sharply to have reproved them for their evil, then to have joined with them in the evil, as oftentimes many of you do? and have done, when you see they cannot govern themselves, ought not you therefore to govern them? wherefore are you Authorized and set as Masters and Captains over them, if not to govern and order them? But how can you do that when you are inflamed with wine, strong waters or strong bear? and at such times your weakness and nakedness doth appear unto them, and if you reprove and punish them for being as you are, than the Lord by his witness doth judge, and condemn you; for you being guilty, the Lord will not acquit you, neither shall you go unpunished; but this I would have you observe, that whilst you are guilty of those things for which you reprove them, you cannot reprove them with that authority and boldness you might do it if you were clear yourselves of those things for which you reprove them, neither is your reproof and punishment so effectual to them as it might be, if you were free from that for which you reprove and punish them; but alas what is that sin among them that you are free from? And therefore cannot their transgressions be reproved by you as they ought to be, until you have ceased from your own. And this I say, if you were but faithful unto the Lord in what you know, you might be instruments of good among them whom you rule over; but while your conversation is so vain, your carriage so light, your behaviour so wanton, and your words so unsavoury, there is little hope of their reformation who follow you for examples; Oh therefore be awakened to righteousness that you may be patterns of righteousness to those that thirst after it, if there be any such among you: and grieve not the holy spirit no longer, which daily, secretly reproves you, the reproofs of which hath been set at nought by many of you, as it appears by your continuance in the reprovable things for which you are reproved, and these few lines are to you Captains and Masters, with your inferior Officers, not to upbraid ye, but to reprove you to righteousness, that you may come faithfully to discharge your duty in those things which are committed to your charge and trust, for which you are not only to be accountable unto man, but also unto the Lord, who will render a reward to every one according to their deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil.  
And as for you who have Chaplains aboard with you, whom you look upon to be Ministers of the word, and whom you own as teachers; This I have to say unto you in general concerning them, That if they were sent of God to preach his word, and to teach you, than they would preach freely without coveting your groats or diminishing from your wages.  
Are they not of that sort of whom the Lord speaks by his Prophet Malachi, Malipiero 3.5. and saith I will be a swift witness against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, seeing they must have a groat in the month out of your wages, and hath the same wages allowed them that you have; mark, do you not work harder for your wages, and take more pains for the same then they? then judge you whether this be equal or not that they should have of your wages, for which you were hired, not being content with as much as must serve you who are worthy of your hire, and its pity that you should be oppressed by them hirelings, who it may be may have two hungroats in the month one of them more than one of you, If they did not come more for the love of your groats, than out of love to your souls, its probable that the same wages might serve one of them, that serves one of you.  
Moreover, if there be a hundred men in one Frigate more than in another, will not they seek to get into that Frigate where there is most men? and is not this one of their ends that they aim at, (viz) so many more men, so many more groats in the month? And here they resemble their brethren the parish teachers who will strive to get that parish Church (as they call it) where there is most Tithes, or the greatest benefice: Now I say such are not Ministers of the Gospel, neither doth the Lord send such to preach his word; therefore cannot they profit you at all: And again if they were Ministers of the word, or appointed of God to teach you, than they should be good examples to you, which they are not in their pride, in their covetousness, and in their oppressing you in your wages, neither are they good examples to you, in their intemperate drinking until they be inflamed, nor yet in their lightness and wantonness by which they cause you to err: And are not they inexcusable for judging and reproving you for these things whilst they themselves are guilty of the same? But some will say that after they are rejected upon the Land, they will serve poor seamen; And when you have them, what are you benefited by them? or what difference is there in your life and conversation that hath them, and theirs that have them not? hitherto I have perceived none; for wickedness and profaneness abounds, both among you that have them, and also among them that have them not. Therefore in love to your Souls am I moved to show unto you a more excellent way of teaching than theirs, which shall be free without money and without price.  
Hear now then O ye Sea-fairing men who practice Navigation, have you not been sometimes in jeoperdie of your lives? yea, have not your hearts sometimes fainted, and your souls even melted, (as it were) within you, by reason of the extremity of fear, and trouble that hath been upon you in perilous and tempestuous storms? And hath not there some thing even at that very moment of time been awakened in you, whereby you have in measure seen the wickedness of your condition, and the sins of your youth? now that which was thus awakened in you, was God's witness, or the light which Christ Jesus (the Son of God) hath enlightened you with all, which from thenceforth (if you had obeyed it) it would have taught you the residue of your life to have lived godlily, righteously and soberly in this present evil world, it would have taught you to have forsaken drunkenness, pride covetousness, lying, swearing, cursed speaking, yea in few words it would have taught you the whole duty of man, which is to fear God and keep his commandments; And this is that teacher, the excellency of whose teaching excels your Chaplains; For they teach you to believe that the Scripture is the light, and the word and the power of God, but this will teach you to believe that he is the light, 
Joh. 5.39. Rom. 1.16.  and the word of whom the Scripture doth testify, and that the Gospel is the power of God according to the Scripture; They will teach you by an hour glass, it may be two or three hours in the week, but this teacher will not be limited to an hour, to a time, nor yet to a place, but is always present with you to teach you the fear of the lord 
2 Tim. 3.  They through their Ministry may keep you always learning, and yet not be able to bring you to the knowledge of the truth; but they who are taught by this, come to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus; this teacher will teach you freely without money and without price; but your Chaplains must have a certain sum of money, otherwise many of them would lay down their trade of Preaching. This will teach you to sing with the spirit and with understanding, 
1 Cor. 14.15.  but they will teach you to sing David's conditions, which he passed through, and which many of you undergand not; 
1 Thes. 5.22.  This will teach you to pray with the spirit and with understanding; but they will teach you to pray formally at set times, as if the spirit were limited to a form, and the holy one of Israel to a set certain hour; This will teach you to shun evil in its appearance, to avoid the pollutions of the world; and to forsake sin, and to abstain from it, but they will teach you that you cannot escape the pollutions of the world while in the world, 
Prov. 14.34.  but that you must be polluted with them; neither that you can be free from that which is a shame (or a reproach) to any people; they will teach you to contend against that which reproveth you for sin and condemneth it in the flesh (viz. the light in your conscience:) But it will teach you to love it, to obey it, to follow it, though it judge you, and reprove you, it is for your good, that you by it might be brought out of the things for which you are judged and reproved into peace with God who teacheth his people by this teacher, whose teaching by it is a more excellent way of teaching then man's invention; which many in these latter days have received by tradition, of which sort your Chaplains are who oppress you in your wages; and teacheth for doctrines things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake; 
1 Tim. 3.3.  as in those particulars before mentioned you may see which briefly I have instanced, but many more might be alleged whereby it might be more evidently manifested that the way by which God teacheth (in the light) doth far excel the teachings of your Chaplains; 
1 Joh. 2.27.  and this teacher whereof I speak is that which teacheth of all things, which is truth, and no lie, which abode in the Saints and abideth in them, and as it taught them, so were they to abide in him who is light, Christ Jesus, and then they needed neither Priest nor Chaplain nor any man to teach them, and they that come to witness the teachings of this teacher (the anointing) they need not say one to another, know him who hath promised to teach his people himself, even him whom the winds and Seas obey; for such comes to know him and his teachings, even from the least to the greatest.  
Now if you would come to know this excellent way of teaching, you must come to the light which showeth you sin and evil, and convinceth you of the same, and then you'll come to know its teachings, guidings and leadings, love it, and you love Christ; believe in it, and you believe in Christ, obey it, and then you'll obey him whom the winds and the sea obey, therefore be not rebellious and stiffnecked, O ye that sail upon the great deep, but turn you unto the Lord at his reproof, who secretly oftentimes doth reprove you for your sin and transgression whereby you have been long separated from God, who doth not delight in the death of a sinner but rather in showing of mercy.  
O that you would be wise and learn to fear the Lord, then should I with thousands more rejoice in your Reformation; And this I know, that there are some among you which is daily burdened with the wickedness that abounds among you, and yet scarce dare to reprove you, finding so much in themselves that is reprovable, but if such do keep to the light whereby that which is reprovable is manifested, they will come to feel the opperaperation of the spirit of judgement and of the spirit of burning in themselves, whereby they will come to be purified, and then they may freely reprove that in another which is judged and condemned in themselves.  
Truly (O ye sea-fairing men) my soul pitpittieth you, 
Isay 57.20.  when I consider that you are like the troubled Seas which casteth up mire and dirt, your mirth and you melody, your jesting and your folly, your laughter, and your vanity, your pastime and your singing, your storming & your raging sometime against the wind, & sometime one against another, alas what is it more than the mire and the dirt, or the foam of the troubled Sea which is your figure: I have also observed that it is hard to find a grave solid sober man in a ship that feareth God and worketh righteousness, but upbraiding and provoking one another to naughtiness and folly; superfluity of that is to be found among you, as if you should not be called to an account for it; but O! let the time passed suffice wherein you have done very foolishly, and now learn to fear the Lord; and let the wind and Sea (which you have so much occasion for, teach you to obey him, who hath more delight in obedience to his voice, then in burnt-offerings and sacrifices.  
This is the day of your visitation wherein the hand of the Lords love is stretched out towards you, 
1 Sam. 15.22.  and wherein he is waiting to be gracious unto you, therefore now in this the day of the Lords everlasting power, seek ye the things which belong to your peace, while they may be found, lest the day come wherein they may be hid from your eyes; in love to your souls is this Paper write and sent among you as a token of God's visitation to you, from one who hath viewed your condition, and was moved with commiseration and pity towards you who now hath time, but how long you may have it you know not; therefore while you have it, prise it.  
Amsterdam in Holland the 4. Mon. 1659. W. C.    

THe mighty day of the Lord is coming, and he will teach his people himself, who is gathering his people, from all false shepherds, and Christ Jesus the great Shepherd, shall rule over them and teach them who will write his Law in their hearts, and put his Law in their minds, and he will be their God, and they shall be his people, Heb. 7. and his annoiting shall be in them, and as that doth teach them they shall abide in the Son, and in the Father, and his spirit in them shall lead them; and as that doth lead them, they are the Sons of God; and it shall lead them into all truth, and it shall comfort them, and bring all Christ's words to their remembrance which he hath spoken forth, and that spirit is it that doth reprove the world, which is the Saints Comforter, therefore to that, that doth reprove you all, must you come before you know the Comforter.  
THE END.