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NAVIGATION 
 
 SPIRITUALIZED; 
 
 OR A 
 
 NEW COMPASS 
 
 FOR 
 
 SEAMEN, 
 
 CONSISTING op XXXII POINTS-, 
 
 f pleasant OBSERVATIONS, 
 Of 4 profitable APPLICATIONS, 
 [and serious REFLECTIONS, 
 
 ALL CONCLUDED WITH SO MANY 
 
 SPIRITUAL POEMS. 
 
 by JOHN FLAVEL, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSP*L AT CARTM9UTH IN ENGLAND. 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 EDMUND M. BLUNT, 
 
 at the NEWBURYPORT BOOK-STORE, 
 1796. 
 
%rt#> 
 
 <■< : 
 
NAVIGATION 
 
 SPIRITUALIZED 
 
 OR 
 
 A new COMPASS for SEAMEN, 
 
 Confifting of XXXII points j 
 
 f pleasant OBSERVATIONS, 
 Of ± profitable APPLICATIONS, 
 Land serious REFLECTIONS. 
 
 All to conclude with Jo many Spiritual POEMS. 
 
 What good might feamen get, if once they were 
 But heavenly minded ? If they could but fteer 
 The chriftian's courfe, the foul might then enjoy 
 Sweet peace, they might like few o'erflow with joy. 
 Were God, our all, how would our comforts double 
 Upon us ! thus the feas of all our trouble 
 Would be divinely fweet : men mould endeavour 
 To fee God now, and be with him forever. 
 
 TO ALL 
 
 Majlersy Mariners, and Seamen. 
 
 Sirs, 
 
 I FIND it ftoryed of dnacharfis, that when 'one 
 afked him, whether the living or the dead 
 were more ? He returned this anfwer, You mvft 
 
4 ¥be Eptftle Dedicatory. 
 
 firft tell me (faith he"! in which number I muft place 
 feamen ; intimating thereby, that feamen are as it 
 were, a third fort of perfons, to be numbered neith- 
 er -with ''the living nor the dead ; their lives hang- 
 ing continually in fufpence before them. And it 
 was anciently accounted the moil defperate em- 
 ployment, and they little better than loft men that 
 ufed the feas. " Through all my life (faith Arif- 
 tot/ej three things do especially repent me : Firft, 
 That ever 1 revealed a iecret to a woman. Second- 
 ly, That ever I remained one day without a will. 
 Thirdly, That ever I went to any place by fea, 
 whether 1 might have gone by land. Nothing 
 (faith another) is more miferable, than to fee a vir- 
 tuous and worthy perfon upon the fea." And al- 
 though cuftom, and the great improvement of the 
 art of navigation, have made it le'fs formidable now, 
 ye 4 t you are no further from death than you are from 
 the waters, which is but a remove of two or three 
 inches. Now you that border fo nigh upon the 
 confines of death and eternity every moment, may 
 well be fuppoied to be men ot lingular piety and 
 ferious : for nothing compofes the heart more to 
 fuch a frame, than the lively apprehenfions of eter- 
 nity do : and none have greater external advanta- 
 ges for that, than you have. But alas ! for the 
 generality, What fort of men are more ungodly, 
 and (lupiuly inlenfible of eternal concernments ? 
 Living for the moft part, as if they had made a 
 covenant with- death, and .with hell were at an a- 
 greement. It was' an ancient faying, " Qui nefcit 
 orare,difcat navigare." He that knows not how 
 to pray, let him go to fea. But we may fay now, 
 (alas, that we may fay fo in times of greater light) 
 He that would learn to be profane, to drink, and 
 iwear, and difhonour God, let him go to lea. As 
 
. The Epifile Dedicatory. 5 
 
 for prayer, it is a rare thing among Teamen, they 
 count that a needlefs bufinefs :. they fee the 
 prophane and vile delivered as well as others ; 
 and therefore, What profit is there if they pray un- 
 to him ? Mai. 3.4. As I remember, I have read 
 of a profane foldier, who was heard fwearing, though 
 he flood in a place of great danger ; and when one 
 tint flood by him warned him, faying, " Fellow- 
 foldier, do not fwear, the bullets flie ;" he anfwer- 
 ed " They that fwear come off as well as they that 
 pray." Soon after a fhot hit him and down he fell. 
 Plato diligently admonifhed all men to avoid the 
 fea ; " For \ faith he) it is the fchool- mafler of all 
 vice and difhonefty," Sirs ! it is a very fad consid- 
 eration to me, that you who float upon the great 
 deeps, in whole bottom fo many thoufand poor mil- 
 erabie creatures lie, whofe fins have funk, them 
 down not only into the bottom of the fea, but of 
 hell alfo, whither divine vengeance hath purfued 
 them : That you (I fay) who daily float, and hov- 
 er over them, and have the roaring waves and bil- 
 lows that fwallowed them up, gaping for you at the 
 next prey, fhould be no more affected with thefe 
 things. Oh what a terrible voice doth God utter 
 in theflorms ! "It breaks the ceders, fhakes the wild- 
 ernefs, makes the hinds to calve,'' Pfa. xxix. 5. 
 And can it not (hake your hearts. This voice of 
 the Lord is full of majefty, but his voice in the 
 word is more efficacious and powerful, Heb. iv. 1 2. 
 To convince and rip up the heart. This word is 
 exalted above all his name. Pfa. exxxviii. 3. And 
 if it cannot awaken you, it is no wonder you remain 
 fecure and dead, when the Lord utters his voice in 
 the mofl dreadful florms and ternpefls. But i( 
 neither the voice of God uttered in his dreadful 
 works, or in his glorious gofpel, can effectually a- 
 
6 The Eptfile Dedicatory. 
 
 waken and rouze, there is an Euroclidon, a fearful 
 ftorm coming, which will fo awaken your fouls, as 
 that they (hall never fleep any more. Pfa. xii. 6. 
 " Upon the wicked he mail rain fnares, fire and 
 brimftone, and an horrible temped : This is the 
 portion of their cup." You that have been at fea 
 in the moft violent ftorm s, never felt fuch a ftorm 
 as this, and the Lord grant you never may ; no 
 calm (hall follow this ftorm. There are fome a- 
 mong you, that, I am perfuaded, do truly fear that 
 God in whofe hand their life and breath is :_ Men 
 that fear an oath, and are an honour to their pro- 
 feffion ; who drive a trade for heaven, and are dili- 
 gent to fecure the happinefs of their immortal fouls, 
 in the infurance-office above : but for the generali- 
 ty alas ! they mind none of thefe things. How 
 many of you are coafting to and fro, from one 
 country to another ? But never think of that heav- 
 enly country above, nor how you may get the mer- 
 chandize thereof, which is better than the gold of 
 Qt)bir. How oft do you tremble to lee the foam- 
 ing waves dance about you, and warn over you ? 
 vet conlider not how tcnible it will be to have all 
 the waves and billows of God's wrath to go over 
 your fouls, and that for ever. How glad are you, 
 after you have been long toffed upon the ocean, to 
 defcrv land. And how yare and eagerly do you 
 look out for it ? Who yet never had your hearts 
 warmed with the confideration of that joy which 
 (hall be among the faints, when they arrive at the 
 heavenly fir and, and fet foot on the fhore of glory. 
 
 O Sirs ! 1 beg of you, if you have any regard to 
 thofe precious immortal fouls of yours, which are 
 .alfo imbarqued for eternity, whether all winds blow 
 them, and will quickly be at their port of heaven 
 or hell, that you will ferioufty mind thele things, 
 
The EptjHe Dedicatory. y 
 
 and learn to fleer your courfe to heaven, and im- 
 prove all winds (I mean opportunities and means) 
 to waft you thither. 
 
 Here you venture life and liberty, run through 
 many difficulties and dangers, and all to compafs a 
 perilhing treafure -, yet how often do you return 
 difappointed in your defigns ? Or if not, yet it is 
 but a fading mort-lived inheritance, which like the 
 flowing tide, for a little while, covers the more, and 
 then returns, and leaves it naked and dry again : 
 And are not everlafling treafures worth venturing 
 for ? Good fouls, be wife for eternity : I here pre- 
 fent you with the fruit of afewfpare hours, redeem- 
 ed for your fakes, from my other fludies and em- 
 ployments, which I have put into a new drefs and 
 mode. I have endeavoured to clothe fpiritual matters 
 in your own dialed: and phrafes, that they might be 
 the more intelligible to you ; and added fome pious 
 poems, with which the feveral chapters are con- 
 cluded, trying by all means to affault your feveral 
 affe&ions, and as the Apoflle fpeaks, to catch you with 
 guile .^ I can fay nothing of it ; I know it cannot 
 be without its manifold imperfections, fince I am 
 confcious of fo many in myfelf : Only this I will 
 adventure to fay of it, That how defective or emp- 
 ty foever it be in other refpetfrs, yet it is fluffed and 
 filled with much true love to, and earned defires 
 after the falvation and profperity of your fouls. 
 And for the other defeds that attend it, I have 
 only two things to offer, in way of excufe : It is 
 the-firft effay that ever I made in this kind, where- 
 in I had no precedent : And it was haflened, for 
 your fakes, too foon out of my hands, that it might 
 be ready to wait upon you, when you undertake 
 your next voyage ; lb that I could not revife and 
 polifh it. Nor indeed was I follicitous above the 
 
8 2he Epijile Dedicatory, 
 
 flile, I confider, I write not for critical and learned 
 perfons : My defign is not to pleafe your fancies 
 any further than I might thereby get any advan- 
 tage to profit your fouls. I will not once queftion 
 your welcome reception of it: If God fhall blefs 
 thefe meditations to the converfion of any one a- 
 mong you, you will be the gainers, and my 
 heart fhall rejoice, even mine. How comfortably 
 fhould we fhake hands with you, when you go a- 
 broad, were we perfwaded your fouls were intereft- 
 ed in Chrift, and fecured from perifhing, in the 
 new covenant ? What life would it put into our 
 prayers for you, when you are abroad, to think 
 that Jefus Chrift is interceeding for you in heaven, 
 whilft we are your remembrancers here on earth ? 
 How quiet would our hearts be when your are a- 
 broad in dorms -, did we know you had a fpecial 
 intereft in him whom winds and feas obey ? To 
 conclude, what joy would it be to your godly rela- 
 tions, to fee you return new creatures ? Douhtlefs 
 more than if you came home laden with the riches 
 of both Indies. 
 
 Come, Sirs ! fet the heavenly Jerufakm upon the 
 point of your new Compafs ; make all the fail you 
 can for it ; and the Lord give you a profperous 
 gale, and a fafe arrival in that land of reft. 
 
 So prays 
 
 Your mofi Affectionate Friend 
 
 to Jerve you in Scul- Concernments* 
 
 JOHN FLAVEL. 
 
The Epiftk Dedicatory, 
 
 IMPRIMATUR E. 
 
 Geo. Strandling, S T. P, 
 Rev. in Chrijlo Pat. 
 Ex. s£d. Lamb. D. Gilb. de Archiepifc. 
 
 Dec. 14, 1663. Cant, a Sac. Domejl. 
 
 B 
 
To every Seaman failing Heaven- 
 ward. 
 
 Ingenious Seaman. 
 
 THE art of navigation, by which Inlands es- 
 pecially are enriched, and preferved in late- 
 ly irom forenfical invahons ; and the wonderful 
 works of God in the great deep, and foreign na- 
 tions are moil delightfully and fully beheld, &c. is 
 an art of exquiiite excellency, ingenuity, rarity, and 
 mirability : But the Art of Spiritual Navigation is 
 the art of arts. It is a gallant thing to be able to 
 carry a (hip richly laden round the world : 'But it 
 is much more gallant to carry a foul (that rich 
 loading, a pearl of more worth than all the mer- 
 chandife of the world) in a body (that is liable to 
 leaks and byuiles as any fhip is) through the lea of 
 this world (which is as unliable as water,, and hath 
 the fame brinifh tafte and fait guft which the wat- 
 ers of the fea have) lafe to heaven (the b?ft haven) 
 fo as to avoid Splitting upon any foul finking rocks, or 
 frrikinguponany foul drowning fands. The art of na- 
 tural navigation is a very great myftery ; but the an 
 of fpiritual navigation is by much a greater myltery. 
 Human wifdom may teach us to carry a fhip to 
 the Indies ; but the wifdom only that is from 
 above can teach us to fleer our courfe aright 
 
An Epiftle to Seamen. n 
 
 to the haven of haf)pinefs. This art is pure- 
 ly of divine revelation. The truth is, divinity (the 
 doctrine of living to God) is nothing elie but the 
 art of foul-navigation, revealed from heaven. A 
 meer man can carry a fhip to any defired port In 
 all the world, but no meer man can carry a foul to 
 heaven. He muft be a faint, he mull be a divine 
 (fo all faints are) that can be a pilot to carry a 
 foul to the fair haven in EmanuaP s land. The art 
 ot natural navigation is wonderfully improved fince 
 the coming of Chrifi, before which time (if there 
 be truth in hifiory) the ufe of the loadftone was nev- 
 er known in the world 5 and before the virtue of 
 that was revealed unto the mariner, it is unfpeaka- 
 ble with what uncertain wandrings feamen floated 
 here and there, rather than failed the right and 
 direct way. Sure I am, the art of fpiritual naviga- 
 tion is wonderfully improved fince the coming of 
 Chrift : it oweth its cleared and fullefl difcovery to 
 the coming of Chrift. This art of arts is now per- 
 fectly revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and 
 New Teilament ; but the rules thereof are difperf- 
 ed up and down therein. The collecting and 
 methodizing of the fame, cannot but be a work 
 very uieful unto fouls : Though when all is done, 
 there is an abfolute neceffity of the teachings of the 
 Spirit, and of the anointing that is from above, to 
 make fouls artifts in failing heavenward. The in- 
 genious author of the Chriftian's Compafs, or the 
 Mariners Companion, makes three parts of this art 
 (as the fchool men of divinity,) viz. Speculative, 
 Practical, and Affetlionate. The principal things 
 neceffary to be known by a fpiritual feaman, in or- 
 der to the fleering rightly and fafely to the port of 
 happinefs, he reduceth to four heads, anfwerable to 
 the four general points of the Compafs ; making 
 
12 An Epijile to Seamen 
 
 God our North ; Chrift our Ea/t, Holinefs our South, 
 and Death our /^/? points. Concerning God, we 
 muft know, i. That he is, Heb. xi. 6. And that 
 there is but one God, i Cor. viii. 5, 6. 2. That 
 this God is that fupreme good, in the enjoyment 
 of whom all true happinefs lies. Pfa. iv. 6, 7. 
 
 Mat. v. 8, 18, 20. 3. That (life eternal lying 
 
 in God, and he being incomprehenfible and incon- 
 ceivable in effence, as being a Spirit) our bed way 
 to eye him is in his attributes, Exod. xxxiv. c;, 6, 
 7. And work, Rom. i. 20. And efpecially in 
 his Son, 2 Cor. iv. 6, 4. That as God is a Spirit, 
 fo our chiefeft, yea, only way of knowing, enjoying, 
 ferving, and walking with him, is in the fpirit like- 
 wife, John iv. 24. Concerning Chrift we muft 
 know, 1, That he is the true Sun which arifeth up- 
 on the world, by which all are enlightned, John i. 
 ix. Mai. iii. 2. Luke i. 78, 79. 2, That God 
 alone is in him, reconciling himfelf to the world, 
 2 Cor. v. 19. 1 Cor. i, 30. John xiv. 6. 3. That 
 Jefus Chrift is only made ours by the union and in- 
 dwelling of himfelf in us through the fpirit, 1. Cor. 
 ii. 9, 10, and 6, 17. John xvi. 8, 9. 1 Cor. xii. 
 3, 13. 4. That the way of the fpirit's uniting us 
 to Chrift, is by an act of power on his part, and by 
 an act of faithon our parts, John iii. 16. laft 5, 29. 
 Eph. iii. 17. Concerning holinefs, we muft know, 
 1. That whoever is in Chrift is a new creature, 2 
 Cor. v. 17. 1 Cor. vi. 11. 2. Holinefs, is the 
 fouls higheft luftre, Exod. xv. 11. When we 
 come to perfection in holinefs, then is our fun at 
 the height in us. 3, Holinefs, is Chrift tilling the 
 foul '■> Chrift our iun is at higheft in our hearts, 
 when they are molt holy, 4. This holinefs is that 
 which is directly oppofite to fin : fin eclipfes 
 holinefs, and holin.els fcatters fin, Heb. viw 26* 
 
Sailing Heavenward. 13 
 
 Phil. ii. ij. 1 Pet. iii. 11. Concerning death, 
 we muft know, 1. Death is certain : the fun of 
 our life will fet in death 5 when our days come a- 
 bout to this weftern-point, it will be night, Heh, 
 ix. 27. Pia. xlxi. 7, 9. 2. If we die in our fins 
 out of Chrift, we are undone forever, Job. viii. 24, 
 Phil. i. 2i. 3. It is our benighting to die, but it 
 is not our annihilation, 1 Cor. xv. Rev. xx. 1 2, 
 
 4. After death comes judgment ; all that die (hall 
 arife to be judged, either for life or death the 
 fecond time, Heb. ix. 27. Mat. xxv. Heb. vi. 
 2. Thele four heads, and the particulars under 
 them are as neceffary to be known in fpiritual na- 
 vigation, as the four points of the compafs are in 
 natural navigation. The things which we ought 
 to do, in order to our arrival to our happinefs, our 
 author makes as many as there are points in the 
 compafs. And for an help to memory, we may be- 
 gin every particular with initial known letters on 
 the points of the compafs. 1. North. Never ftir 
 or fleer any courfe, but by light from God, Pfa. 
 cxix, 105, Ifa. viii. 10. 2. N. b. E. Never 
 enter upon any defign, but fuch as tends towards 
 Chrift, A6ts x. 43. 3. N. N. E. Note nothing 
 enviouily, which thrives without God, Pfa. lxxiii. 
 12, 13. 4. N. E. b. N. Never enterprize not 
 warrantable couries, to procure any the molt 
 prized or conceited advantages, 1 Tim. vi. 9, ip, 
 
 5. N. N. E. Now entertain the facred commands 
 of God, if hereafter thou expect the lovcreign con- 
 iolations of God, Pfa. cxix. 48, 6. N. E. b. E, 
 Never efteem Egypt's treasures io much, as for them 
 to forfake the people of God, Heb. 11.26. 7. 
 E. N. E. Err not, Efpecially in foul affairs, jftme^ 
 i. 16. 1 Tim. xix. 20. 2 Tim. ii. iS, 8. E 
 b* N. Efchew nothing but fin, 1 Pet. iii. 11. Job 
 
14 ■ '-An Epifile to Seamen. 
 
 I 7. 8—31, 34. 9. E. Eftablifh. thy heart with 
 grace, Heb. xiii. 9. 10. E. b. S. Eye Sanctity in 
 every action, 1 Pet. i. 15. Zech. xiv. 29. 11. 
 E. S. E. Ever ftrive earneftly to live under, and 
 to improve the means of grace. 12. S. E. b. E. 
 Suffer every evil punifhment of forrow, rather than 
 leave the ways of Chrift and Grace. 13. S. E. 
 Sigh earneftly for more enjoyments of Chrift. 14. 
 S. E. b. S. Seek ever more iome evidences of Chrift 
 in you the hope of glory. 15. S. S. E. Still let 
 eternity before you, in regard of enjoying Jefus 
 Chrift, John xvii. 24. 16. S. b. E. Settle ever in 
 your foul, as a principle which you will never de- 
 part from, that holinefs and true happinefs are in 
 Chrift and by Chrift. 17. S. Set thyfelf always 
 as before the Lord, Pfa. xvi. 8. Acts ii. 25. 18. 
 S. b. W. See weaknefs haftning thee to death, 
 even when thou art at the higheft pitch or point. 
 19. S. S. W. See fin which is the fting of death, as 
 taken away by Chrift, 1 Cor. xv. 55, 56. 20. S. 
 W. b. S. Store up wifely lbme provisions every 
 day for your dying day. 21. S. W. Set world- 
 ly things under your feet, before death come to 
 look you in the face. 22. S. W. b. W. Still weigh 
 and watch with loins girded and lamps trimmed, 
 Luke xii. 35, 36, 37, 23. W. S. W. Weigh 
 foul-works, and all in the balance of the fanctuary. 
 24, W. b. S. Walk in fweet communion with 
 Chrift here, and ib thou maift die in peace, 
 Luke ii. 29. 25. Weft. Whatfoever thy condi- 
 tion be in this world, eye God as the difpofer of it, 
 and therein be contented, Phil. iv. 1 1. 26. W. b. 
 N. Walk not according to the courfe of the moil, 
 butaafter the example of the beft. 27. W. N. W. 
 Weigh not what men fpeak or think of thee, fo God 
 approve thee, 2 Chro, x. 28. Rom. ii. 28, 29. 
 
Sailing Heavenward, 1$ 
 
 %% N W b. W. Never wink at, but watch a- 
 gainft foali fins, nor neglecl little duties Eph. v. 
 I- 29. N. W. Never wifh rafhly for death, 
 nor love life too inordinately, Job iii. 4. 30. N. 
 W b N. Now work nimbly ere night come, 
 johnxii. 35, 36. Eccl. 9. 17. &• «- N- W. 
 Name nothing when thou pleadeft with God lor thy 
 foul, but Chrift and free grace, Dan. 9. 17. 32. 
 N b W Now welcome Chrift, if at death thou wilt 
 be welcomed by Chrift. A tender, quick, enliven- 
 ed and enlighted conference, is the only point upon 
 which we muft ereft thefe practical rules of our chnf- 
 tian compafs, Heb.xiii. 1.2 Cor. i. 12. Our memo- 
 ry, that is the box in which this compafs mult be 
 kept, in which thefe rules muft be treafured, that 
 we may be as ready and expert in them, as the 
 mariner is in his lea compafs. So much for the 
 fpeculative and practical parts of the art of loul-lpi- 
 ntual-navigation. The affectionate part doth prin- 
 cipally lie in the fecret motions or movings of the 
 foul towards God, in the affections which are railed 
 and warmed, and efpecially appear active in medi- 
 tation : meditation being as it were the limbeck 
 or dill in which the affections heat and melt, and 
 as it were drop iweet fpiritual waters. The affec- 
 tionate author of the chriftian compafs doth indeed, 
 in the third and laft part of his undertaking, hint 
 at leveled meditations which the fpiritual feaman is 
 to be acquainted with, unto which thou haft an ex- 
 cellent fupplement in this mvo compajs for feamou 
 This collection is prefixt, that at once thou mayelt 
 view all the companies (both the fpeculative, prac- 
 tical, and affectionate) by which thou muft fteer 
 heavenward; What further lhall be added by way 
 q{ preface, is not to commend tins new compafs, 
 
1 6 An Epijlle to Seamen 
 
 which indeed (2 Cor. iii. 1.) needs no juftalicon 
 epiflolon, Letters of 'commendation, or any panegyrick to 
 uiher it unto any honeft heart \ but to ftir up all, 
 efpecially Teamen, to make conference of ufing fuch 
 choice helps for the promoting the fanclitication 
 and falvation of their fouls, for the making of them as 
 dexterous in the art of fpiritual navigation, as any 
 of them are in the art of natural navigation. Con- 
 fider therefore, 
 
 1. What rich merchandize thy foul is. Chrifl 
 afliires us, one foul is more worth than all the world. 
 The Lord Jems doth as it were put the whole 
 world in one fcale, and one foul in the other, and 
 the world is found too light, Mat. xvi. 26. Shouldft 
 thou by fkill in natural navigation carry fafe all the 
 treaiures of the Indies into thine own port, yea, gain 
 the whole world, and for want of fkill in fpiritual 
 navigation lofe thy foul, thou would (I be the great- 
 eft loler in the world. So far wilt thou be from 
 profiting by any of thy lea voyages. There is a 
 plain meiofts in thofe words of Chrift, What is a 
 man profited if he fl?all gain the whole zvorld, and lofe 
 his own foul * or what jhall a man give in exchange 
 for his foul f More is meant, than is fpoken. 
 
 2. What a leaking veflel thy 
 body is, in which this unfpeakable %f*" c - ! - w > t> 
 inconceivable rich treafure, thy loul, 
 is embarked ! O the many difeafes 
 and diftemoers in the humours and Thc f" 8 "?^?? 
 paflions, that thv body is lubjecx to I cnoagh to |w in 
 U is above 2000 years ago, that ^and^thy 
 there have been reckoned up 300 
 names of difeafes ; and there be many 
 under one name, and many namelefs, which pofe 
 the phyficians not only how to cure them, but how 
 to call them. And for the affeftions and paflions 
 
Sailin? Heavenward, 1 7 
 
 t>f the mind, the diftempers of them are no lefs 
 deadly to fome, than the difcafes of the body. But 
 befides thefe internal caufes, there are many exter- 
 nal caufes of leaks in this veffel, as * poifonous ma- 
 lignities, wrathful hoftilities, and cafual miiliaps ; 
 very (mall matters may be of great moment to the 
 finking of this veffel. The leaft Gnat in the Air 
 may choak one, as it did Adrian, a Pope of 
 Rome; a little hair in milk may flrangle one, as it 
 did a counfellor in 7? ome - y a little (lone of a raifin 
 may (lop ones breath as it did the poetical Poet 
 Anacreon. Thus you fee what a leaking VerTei 
 you fail in. Now the more leaky any (hip is, the 
 more need there is of flrill to fleer wifely. 
 
 3. Confider what a dangerous Sea the World is, 
 in which thy foul is to fail in the leaking (hip of 
 thy body. As there are not more changes in the 
 Sea, than are in the world being only conftant in 
 inconflancy, "the fafhion of this world fajjeih away> 
 1 Cor.vii. 31. fo there are not more dangers in the 
 feas for mips, than there are in the world for fouls. 
 In this world fouls meet with Rocks and fands, Sy* 
 tens and Pirates. Worldly temptations, worldly 
 luft, and worldly company caufe many to drown 
 them/elves in perdition, 1 Tim. vi. 9. The very things 
 of this world endanger our iouls. By worldly ob- 
 jects we foon grow worldly. It is hard to touch 
 pitch, and not be defiled. The lulls of this world 
 ftain our glory, and the men of this world pol- 
 lute all they eonve'rfe with. A man that keeps 
 company with the men of this world, is like him 
 that walketh in the Sun, tanned infenfibly. Thus, 
 C 
 
 * In Nubia, quas eft /Ethiopia, venerium eft cujus grani unias decima part 
 hominem, vel unum granum decern homines, Dan. Saner: Hypom. ^hyf. 
 Cap. 2. p. 47. 
 
i8 An EpijUe to Seamen 
 
 you have hinted the dangeroufnefs of the Sea, 
 wherein you are to fail. Now,the more dangerous the 
 S^a is,the more requifiteit is the Tailor be an artift. 
 4. Connder, what if through want of (kill in the 
 heavenly Art of Spiritual Navigation, thou 
 ihouldft not (leer thy Courfe aright ! I will in- 
 ilance only in two confequents thereof. 1 
 Thou malt arrive at the heaven of happineis. 2 
 Thou (halt be drowned in the Ocean of God's 
 wrath. As true as the word of God is true ; as 
 Jure as the Heavens are over thy head, and the 
 PLarth under thy feet ; as fure as thou yet lived 
 and' breathed in this Air ; fotrue and certain it is, 
 thou (halt never enter into heaven, but fink into 
 the depth of the bottomlefs pit. Am I not here- 
 in a meflenger of the (added tidings that ever yet 
 thy Ears did hear ? Poflibly row thou maked a 
 light matter of thefe things, becaufe thou dod 
 not know what it is to mils of heaven, and what it 
 is for ever to lie under the wrath of God : but 
 hereafter thou wilt know fully, what it is to have 
 thy foul lod eternally, fa loft, as that God's mer- 
 cies, and ail the good there is in Chrift, (hall nev- 
 er fave it ; and as God hath fet and ordered things, 
 can never five it. Hereafter thou wilt be perfect- 
 ly fenlible of the good that thou mighteft have had, 
 and of the evil that ihall be upon thee (this is 
 God's preculi.ir prerogative, to make a Creature as 
 fenlible of milery as be pleafeth,) then thou wilt 
 have other thoughts of thefe things than now thou 
 "had. Then the thoughts of thy 
 ignis Gehenne mind mall be bufied about thy loft 
 luccbh mifeiis, Condition, both as to the pain of 
 
 ut videantundc 1 Q { S) anc ] p a j n Q f fef\fe • fo that 
 
 doieant. ihjtd. dt tnou (halt not be able to take any 
 fim. ben. l 1. ea f e ^y moment : then, that thy 
 
Sailing Heavenward. 19 
 
 torments may be increafed, thy knowledge, 
 the truth of thy apprehenfions, yea, the ftrength 
 of them, mail be increafed , thou (halt have true 
 and' deep apprehenfions of the greatneis of that 
 good that thou malt mifs of, and of that evil which 
 thou malt procure unto thy feff ; and then 
 thou (halt not be able to choofe, but to apply all 
 thy lofs, all thy mifery to thy ielf, which will force 
 thee to roar out, O my lofs ! O my mifery ! O my 
 unconceivable unrecoverable lofs and mifery ! Yea, 
 for the increafiag of thy torments, thy affedtions 
 and memory (hall be enlarged : O that, to prevent 
 that lofs and memory mail be enlarged : O that, to 
 prevent that lofs and mifery, thefe things may now 
 be known and laid to heart ! O that blind Under- 
 {landing, a ftupid judgment, a bribed conicience* 
 a hard heart, a bad memory, may no longer 
 make heaven and hell to feem but trifles to thee ! 
 Thou wilt then eafily be perfwaded to make it 
 thy main bufinefs here, to become an artift in 
 fpiritnal navigation. But to {hut up this preface, I 
 lhall briefly acquaint Seamen, why they mould of 
 all others, be men of fingular piety and heave nlU 
 nefs, and therefore more than ordinarily fludy the 
 heavenly art of fpirit rial Navigation.. O that Sea- 
 men would therefore confider, 
 
 1 . How nigh they border upon the confines of 
 death and eternity every moment, There is but a 
 flep, but an inch or two between them and their 
 graves continually. The next guff may over-let 
 them ; the next wave may (wallow them up. In 
 one place lies lurking dangerous rocks, in another 
 perilous fends, and every where ftorroy winds, rea- 
 dy to deftroy them. Well may the 
 Seamen cry out, Eg, craftmum nan £&S55££; 
 habuii I have not had a morrow in & undi^j .tmari. 
 my hands thefe many years. Should 
 
a<3 -An Epijlle to Seamen 
 
 not they then be extraordinary feriousand heavenly 
 continually ? Certainly (as the reverend Author of 
 this Nezv Compafs well obferves) nothing more 
 compofeth the heart to fuch a frame than the lively 
 apprehenfions of eternity do : and none have great- 
 er external advantages for that, than Seamen have. 
 2. Confider (Seamen) what extraordinary help 
 you have by the book of the crea- 
 Mundicreatioeft ture ; the whole creation is God's 
 Scriptura Dei, cic voice, it is God's excellent hand- 
 tr.cr.s. univerfus writing, or the Sacred Scriptures of 
 rmmdaseft dense*, the Moft High to teach Us much of 
 piicatus. God, and what reaibns we have to 
 
 bewail our rebellion againft God, and to make con- 
 fcience of obeying God only, naturally and conti- 
 nually. The heavens, the earth, the waters are the 
 three great leaves of this Book of God, and all 
 the creatures are ib many lines in thofe leaves. All 
 that learn Dot to fear and ferve God by the help of 
 this book will be left inexculable, Rom. i. 20. 
 How inexculable then will ignorant and ungodly 
 Seamen be r Seamen mould in this refpect, be the 
 belt Scholars in the Lord's School, feeing they do 
 more, than others, fee the works of the Lord, and 
 Lis wonders in the great deep, Pfal. cvii. 24. 
 
 -. Confider how often, you are nearer heaven 
 than any people in the world, tfhey mount up to hea* 
 veftty rial. cvii. 26. It has been (Sid of an ungod- 
 ly miniiter, who contradicled his preaching in his 
 life ; •■ml converfation, That it was pity he mould 
 ever come out of the pulpit, becaule he was there 
 as near heaven as ever he would be. Shall it be 
 laid of you, upon the feme account, That 'tis pity 
 you ihould come down fiom the high towering 
 waves of theica ? Should not Seamen* that in (tor- 
 weather have their ket (as it were) upon the 
 
Sailing Heavenward* 
 
 it 
 
 battlements of heaven, look down upon all earthly 
 happinefs in this world but as bafe, wacerilh, and 
 worthlefs ? The great cities of Campania kern but 
 fmall cottages to them that fland on the Alpes. 
 Should not Seamen % XhaX (6 often mount up to hea- 
 ven, make it their main bufmefs here, once at laft 
 to get into heaven ? What (feamen) (hall you only 
 go to heaven againft your wills ? When feamen 
 mount up to heaven in a ftorm, the Pfalmift tells 
 us, that their fouls are melted becaufe of trouble. O 
 that you were continually as unwilling to go to hell, 
 as you are in a ftorm to go to heaven ! 
 
 4. -And laftly, Confider what engagements If 
 upon you to be Angularly holy, from your fingulas. 
 deliverances & falvations.They that go down to the 
 fea in (hips, are fometimes in the valley of the Ilia 
 dow of death, by reafon of the fpringing of peri 
 lous leaks ; and yet miraculoufly delivered, eithe 
 by fome wonderful flopping of the leak, or b) 
 God's fending fome fhips within their fight, whei 
 they have been far out of fight of any land ; or b} 
 his bringing their nca tperifhing fhips fafe to fhore 
 Sometimes they have been in very great danger 0, 
 being taken by pirates, yet wonderfully preferved, 
 either by God's calming of the winds in that part 
 of the (ea where the Pirates have failed, or by giv- 
 ing the poor~purfued fhip a flrong gale of wind to 
 run away from their purfuers - } or by finking the Pi- 
 rates, &c. Sometimes their fhips have been caft 
 away,& yet they themfelves wonderfully got fafe to 
 fhore upon planks, yards, mafls, &c. I might be end- 
 lefs in enumerating their deliverances from drown- 
 ing, from burning, from flavery, &c. Sure {feanen) 
 your extraordinary falvations lie more than ordinary 
 engagements upon you, topraife,love, fear, obey and 
 truft in your faviour and deliverer. I have read, that 
 
£2 An Epiftle to Seamen, 
 
 the enthralled Greeks were fo, affecled with their 
 liberty, procured by Flaminhcs the Roman general, 
 that their fhrill acclamations of Soter, Soter, A Sa- 
 viour, a Saviour, made the very birds fall down 
 from the heavens aftonifhed. O how fhould lea- 
 men be affecled with their Jea-deHverances ! Many 
 that have been delivered from Turkifhflavery, have 
 vowed to be fervants to their Redeemers all the 
 days of their lives. Ah, Sirs, will you not be more 
 than ordinarily God's (ervants all the days of your 
 . lives. Seeing you have been fo oft, fo wonderfully 
 redeemed from death itfelf by him ? Verily, do 
 what you can, you will die in God's debt. As for 
 me, God foi bid, that IJhouldfin againft the Lord, in 
 ceafing to pray for you, i Sam.xii. 23, 24. That by 
 theperufal of this fhort and fweet treatife, wherein 
 the judicious and ingenious author hath well mixed 
 utile dulci, profit and pleafure, you may learn the 
 good and right way, even to fear the Lord, and 
 ferve him in truth with all your hearts, confidering 
 how great things he hath done for you : This is the 
 hearty prayer of 
 
 Your cordial Friend, earnefily defirous of a pros- 
 perous Voyage for your precious and im- 
 ■norlal Souls. T. NL 
 
the AUTHOR to the READER, 
 
 " WHEN dewy-cheeckM Aurora doth difplay 
 
 fS Her curtains, to let in the new-born day, 
 
 " Pier heavenly face looks red, as if it were 
 
 «' Dy'd with a modeft blufh, 'twixt fliame and fear. 
 
 • f Sol makes her blufh, fufpecYing that he will 
 
 M Scorch fome too much, and others leave to chilly 
 
 «« With fuch a blufh, my little new-born book 
 
 < c Goes out of hand, fufpeding fome may look 
 
 «« Upon it with contempt, while others raife 
 
 " So mean a piece too high, by flattering praifc. 
 
 *' Its beauty cannot make its father dote j 
 
 « 'Tis a poor babe, clad in a fea-green coat. 
 
 t( Its gone from me too young, and now is run 
 
 " To fea, among the tribe of Zebu Ion. 
 
 «* Go, little book, thou many friends wilt findi 
 
 **. Among that tribe, who will be very kind ; 
 
 «' And many of them care of thee will take, 
 
 ** Both for thy own, and for thy father's fake. 
 
 * l Heaven fave it from the dangerous ftorms and gufta 
 
 " That will be raia'd againft it by men's lufts, 
 
 " Guilt makes men angry, anger is a ftorm j 
 
 " But facred truth's thy fhelter, fear no harm. 
 
 " On times, on perfons, no reflections found ; 
 
 <4 Though with reflection few books more abound. 
 
 *' Go, little book, I have much more to fay, 
 
 ** But fca-men call fer thee, thou muft away. 
 
 if Yet ere you have it, grant me cne requeft ; 
 
 " Pray do not keep it prifor.tr in your chcft." 
 
A new COMPASS for SEAMEN, 
 
 OR 
 
 NAVIGATION 
 
 SPIRITUALIZED. 
 
 C H A P. I. 
 
 The launching of afloip plainly Jets forth 
 'Our double ft 'ate , by ftrft andjecond birth. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 1VTO (boner is a fhip built, launched, rigged, vie* 
 X\ tualled, and manned, but (he is presently 
 lent out into the boifterous ocean, where (he is nev* 
 er at red, but continually fluctuating, toiling and 
 labouring, until (he be either overwhelmed and 
 wrecked, in the Tea, or through age, knocks and 
 bruifes, grows leaky and unferviceable ; and fo is 
 hauled up, and ript abroad. 
 D 
 
26 A New Compq/s for Seamen 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 No fooner come we into the world as men, or as 
 chrifti^ns, by a natural, or fupernatural birth ; but 
 thus we are toft upon afea of troubles, Job. v. 7. 
 Yet man is bom to trouble ■, as /parks Jiie upwards. 
 The fpark no fooner comes out of the fire, but it 
 flies up naturally ; it needs not any external force, 
 help, or guidance, but afcends from a principle in 
 itfelt : So naturally, fo eatily, doth trouble rife out 
 of iin ; There is radically all the mifery, anguifh, 
 and trouble in the world, in our corrupt natures. 
 As the fpark lies clofe hid in the coals, fo doth 
 mifery in fin : Every fin draws a rod after it. And 
 thele forrows and troubles fall not only on the body, 
 in thofe breaches, flaws, deformities, pains, aches, 
 difeafes to which it is fubjecl, which are but the 
 groans of dying nature, and its crumbling, by de- 
 grees, into duft again ; but on all our imployments 
 and callings alio, Gen. iii. 17, 18, 19. Thefe are 
 full of pain, trouble, and difappoint merit. . Hag. i. 
 6. We earn wages, and put it into a bag with 
 holes, and difquiet ourfelves in vain ; all our re- 
 lations are full of trouble. The apoftle fpeakingto 
 thofe that marry, faith, 1 Cor. vii. 28. Such Jh all 
 have trouble in the flejh. Upon which words one 
 glaffeth thus : Flefh and trouble are married to- 
 gether, whether we marry or no : But they that 
 are married, marry with, and match into new 
 troubles : All relations have their 
 SeeMr httattft burdens, as well as their corn- 
 Care ciotft. forts. it were endlefs to enu- 
 merate the lorrows of this kind and 
 yet the troubles of the body, are but the body of 
 troubles : The fpirit of the curie falls upon the 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. i J 
 
 fpiritual and noblcft part of man. The foul and 
 body, like to EzekiaFs roll> are written full with 
 forrows, both within and without. So that we 
 make the fame report of our lives, when we come 
 to die, that old Jacob made before Pharaoh, Gen. 
 xlvii. 9. Few and evil have the days of the years of 
 our lives been. For what hath man of all his labour, 
 and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath la- 
 boured under the fun 1 For all his days are forrows 
 and his travel grief yea, his heart takeib no reft in the 
 night : This is alfo vanity, Ecclef. ii. 22, 23. 
 
 Neither doth our new birth free us from trou- 
 bles, though then they be fancYified, fweetned, and 
 turned into bleflings to us. We put not off the 
 humane, when we put on the divine nature ; nor 
 are we then freed from the fenfe, though we be de- 
 livered from the Ring and curfe of them. Grace 
 doth not prefently pluck out all thofe arrows that 
 fin hath mot into the fides of nature, 2 Cor. vii. 5. 
 When we were come into Macedonia, our flejh had no 
 reft, but we were troubled on every fide : ivithout 
 were fightings and within were fears, Rev. vii. 14. 
 Ihefe are they that came out of great tribulation. The 
 firft cry of the Newborn chriftian (fays one) gives 
 hell an alarm, and awakens the rage, both of devils 
 and men againft him. Hence Paul and Barnabas 
 acquainted thofe new converts, Ads xiv. 22. "That 
 through much tribulation, they mud enter into the 
 kingdom of God :" And we find the ftate of the 
 church, in this world, fet out. (Ifa. liv. n. by the 
 fimilitude of a diftrefled fhip at fea : Otbou afjlicled 
 (and tojed) with tempefts, and not comforted. \Tof- 
 ied) as Jonas' fhip was ; for the fame word is there 
 ufed, Jonah i. 11, 13. As a vefTel at fea, flormed,. 
 and violently driven without rudder, maft,fail, or 
 iacklings. Nor are we to expect freedom from thofe 
 
2 8 A New Compafs for Seamen. 
 
 troubles, until harboured in heaven, fee 2 Theff L 
 vii. O what large catalogues of experiences do. the 
 faints carry to heaven with them, of their various 
 exercifes, dangers, trials, and marvellous preferva- 
 tions and deliverances out of all ! And yet alj thefe 
 troubles without, are nothing to thofe within them ; 
 from temptations, corruption, defertions, by pafli :>n 
 and compailion : Befides their own, there comes 
 daily upon them the troubles of others ; many ri- 
 vulets fall into this channel and brim, yea often 
 over/low the banks, Pfal. xxxiv. 19. Many are the 
 afflictions of the righteous. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Hence fhould the gracelefs heart thus reflect up- 
 on itfelf. O my foul ! into what afea of troubles 
 art thou launched forth ! And what a fad cafe thou 
 art in ! Full of trouble, and full of fin, and thefe do ■ 
 mutually produce each other. And that which is. 
 the moil -dreadful confjderation of all, is, That I 
 cannot fee the end of them. As. for the faints, they 
 fuffer in the world as well as I $ but it is but for a 
 while, 1 Ppt. v, 10. And then they fhall fuffer no- 
 more, 2 Theff. L 7. But all tears fhall be wiped, 
 azvay from their eyes, Rev. vii. 17. But thy troubles 
 look with, a long vifage : Ah ! they are but 
 the beginning of forrows, but a parboiling 
 before I be roafted in the flames of God's 
 eternal wrath. If I continue as I am, L fhall but 
 deceive myfelf, if I conclude 1 fhall be happy in the 
 other world, becaufe I have met with fo much for- 
 row in this : For 1 read 3 Jude vii. that the inhabi- 
 tants of Sodom and Gomorrah, though confumed tQ 
 afhes, with. all their eflates and relations, (a forer 
 temporal judgment than.- ever yet beiel me) dc^ 
 
Or, Navigation Spiritualized. 29 
 
 notwithstanding that, continue ftill in cc everlafting 
 chains, under darknefs in which they are referred 
 unro the judgment of the great day/' The 
 troubles of the iaints are iancYified to them, but 
 mine are fruits of the curie. They have fpiritual 
 confolations to ballance them, which flow into their 
 fouls in the fame height and degree as troubles do 
 upon their bodies, 2 Cor. i. 5. But I am a Granger 
 to their comforts, and intermeddle not with their joys, 
 Prov. xiv. 10. If their hearts be furcharged with 
 trouble, they have a God to go to ; and when they 
 have opened their caufe before him, they are eafed, 
 return with comfort, and their countenance is no more 
 fad> 1 Sam. i. 18. When their belly is as bottles 
 full of new wine, they can give it vent by pouring 
 out of their fouls into their father's boiom : But I 
 have no intereft in, nor aca^aintance with this 
 God ; nor can 1 pray unto him in the fpirit. My 
 griefs are fhut. up like fire in my bofom, which 
 preys upon my fpirit. This is my forrow, and I 
 alone mull: bear it. O my foul, look round about 
 thee ! What a miferable cafe art thou in ? Reft no 
 longer fatisfied in it, but look out for a Chriit alfo. 
 What though I be a vile unworthy wretch ? yet he 
 promifeth to love freely, Hof. xiv. 4. And invites 
 fuch as are heavy laden to him, Mat. xi. 28. 
 
 Hence alfo fhould the gracious foul re fie 61 fweet- 
 ly upon itfelf after this manner : And is the world 
 fo fuli of trouble ? O my foul., what caufe haft 
 thou to ftand admiring at the indulgence and good- 
 nets of God to thee ! Thou haft hitherto had a 
 fnooth paflage comparatively to what others have 
 had. How hath divine wifdom ordered my con- 
 dition, and caft my lot ? Have I been chafxifed 
 with whips ? Others with fcorpoins ; Have I had 
 no peace without : Some have neither had peace 
 
30 A New Compqfs for Seamen 
 
 without nor within, but terrors round about : Or 
 have I felt trouble in my flefli and fpirit at once ? 
 Yet. have they not been extream, either for time or 
 meafure. And hath the world been a Sodom, an 
 Egypt to thee ? Why then doft thou thus linger in 
 it, and hanker after it ? Why do I not long to be 
 gone, and figh more heartily for deliverance ? Why 
 are the thoughts of my Lord's coming no fweeter 
 to me, and the day of my full deliverance no more 
 panted for ? And why am I no more careful to 
 maintain peace within, fince there is fo much 
 trouble without ? Is not this it that puts weight 
 into all outward troubles, and makes them finking, 
 that they fall upon me when my fpiiit is dark or 
 wounded ? 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 " My foul art thou bcfieged 
 *\ With troubles round about > 
 
 ** If thou be wife, take this advice,. 
 ** To keepthefe troubles out. 
 * f Wife rnen will keep their confcience as their eyes 5 
 " For in their c-.nJMnce their beft treafure lies. 
 *' See you be tender of your inward peace : 
 •« That fhip wreck, then your mirth and joy muft ceafe. 
 " If God from ynu your outward comforts rend, 
 «« You'll find what need you have of fuch a friend. 
 «« If this be not by fin dertroyed and loft, 
 <f You need not fear, your peace will quit your coft. 
 t( If you know hoio to fweeten any grief, 
 •« Though ne'er fo great, or to procure relief, 
 ** Agaiiift f k" affliclicns, which like deadly darts 
 " Moft fatal are lo men of carnal hearts, 
 
Or, Navigation Spiritualized. 31 
 
 " Reject not that which confcience bids you chufe, 
 « f And chufe not you, what confcience faith, rcfufe, 
 " If fin you mujiy or mifery under lie, 
 ** Refolve to bear, and chufb the mifery.' * 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 In the vaft Ocean Jpiritual eyes defcry, 
 God's boundlefs mercy, and eternity. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THE ocean is of vail extent and depth, though 
 fuppofedly meafurable, yet nor to be found- 
 ed by man. It compaiXeth about the whole earth, 
 which in the account of geographers, is twenty one 
 thoufand and fix hundred miles in compafs ; yet 
 the ocean invirons it on every fide, Ffal. civ. 25. 
 And Job xi. 9. Suitable to which is that of the 
 Doet. 
 
 Turn fret a diffudit, rapidifque tumefcere veniis 
 JuJJh & ambit cc circumdare lift or a terrae. Ovid. 
 
 He fpread the fcas, which then he did command, 
 To fwell with winds, and compafs round the land. 
 
 And for its depth, who can difcover it ? The fea 
 in fcriptureis called, The deep, Job xxxviii. 30. The 
 Great deep y Gen. vii. it. The gathering together 
 of the waters into one place, Gen. i. 9. If the 
 vaftefl mountain were call: into it, it would appear 
 on more than the head of a pin in a ton of water. 
 
3^ A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 This in a lively manner fhadows forth the infi- 
 nite and incomprehenfible mercy of our God ; 
 whole mercy is faid to be over all his works* Pfal. 
 civ. 9. In how many fweet notions is the mercy 
 of God reprefented to us in the fcripture. He is 
 laid to be plenteous, Pfal. cxxx. 7. Abundant, 1 Pet. 
 j. 3. Rirhi Eph.ii. 4. In mercy ; then* that his 
 mercies are uufd-archable, Eph. iii. 8. High ns the 
 heaven above the earth, Pfal. xxxvi. 5.. Which are 
 fo high and vail, that the whole earth is but a fmall 
 point to them : yea, they are not only compared 
 to the heavens, but to come home to the metaphor, 
 to the depths of the fea, Mic. vii. 19. Which can 
 fwailow up mountains as well as mole-hills ; and 
 in this fea God had drowned fins of a dreadful 
 height and aggravation, even J car let, crimfon (i. e.) 
 deep dyed with many intenfive aggravations, Ifa. i. 
 i>8. In this fea was the fin of Manajjeh drowned * 
 and of what magnitude that was, may be feen, 2. 
 Chron. xxxiii. 3. Yea, in this ocean of mercy, did 
 the Lord drown and cover the fins of Paid, though 
 a blafphemer, a perfecutor, injurious, 1 Tim. i. 13. 
 <c None, faith Auguftine, more fierce than Paul a- 
 mong the perfecutors ; and therefore none greater 
 among tinners :" To which himfelf willingly fub~ 
 fcribes, 1 Tim. i. 15. Yet pardoned. How hath 
 mercy rode in triumph, and been glorified upon the 
 vileft of men ! How hath it itopt the flanderous 
 mouth of men and devils ! it hath yearned upon 
 fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, covetous, 
 drunkards, revilers, extortioners, to fuch hath the 
 fceptre of mercy been (Iretched forth, upon then- 
 unfeigned repentance and fubmiffion, i Cor. vi. 9, 
 
Or, Navigation Spirfiiialfeej. 33 
 
 What doth the fpirit of God aim at, in fuch a large 
 accumulation of names of mercy P But to convince 
 poor finners of the abundant fulneisand riches of it^ 
 it they will but fubmit to the terms on which it is 
 tendered to therm 
 
 In the vaftnefs of the ocean, we have alfo a live-, 
 ly emblem of eternity. Who can comprehend or 
 meaiuie the ocean, but God ? And who can compre- 
 hend eternity, but he that is faid to inkah\lit?\fa. lviii 
 15. Though mallow rivers maybe drained and 
 dried ttj$ yet the ocean cannot. And though thefe 
 traniitory day's, months, and years will at laft expire 
 and determine 3 yet eternity fhall hot. O ! it is 
 a long world ! and amazing matter ! What is 
 cternity,'buE a conftant permnanancy oFperfons and 
 things* in one and the fame (late and condition for 
 ever , putting them beyond all poflibility of change ? 
 The heathens were wont to fhadow it by a circle* 
 or a Inake twitted round. It will be to all of us, 
 either a perpetual day or night, which will not be 
 meaiured by watches, hours, minutes. And as it 
 cannot be meafured, fo neither can it ever be di- 
 minifhed. When thoufands of years are g<me, 
 there is not a minute lefs to come. Gerhard and 
 Drexellhis do both illufttate it by this known fimi- 
 litude : Suppofe a bird were to come once in a 
 thoufand year-, to tome vaft mountain of fand, and 
 carry away in her bill one fand in a thoufand years ; 
 O what a vaft time would it be, before that immor- 
 tal bird, after that rate, had recovered the moun- 
 tain ! yet in time this might be done. For there* 
 would be ftill feme diminution ; but in eternity 
 there can be none. There be three things in time 
 
 o 
 
 which are not competent to eternity : In time 
 there is zjuccejionj one generation, year, and day 
 E 
 
34 ^ Neiv Compajs for Seamen 
 
 paflcth, and another comes ; but eternity is a 
 fixed [now.) In time there is a diminution and 
 waiting ; the more is part, the lefs to come : Bur. 
 it is not fo in eternity. In time there is an altera- 
 tion of condition and Itates : A man may be poor 
 to day, and rich tomorrow ; fickly and difeafed this 
 W'?ek, and well the next; now in contempt, and 
 anon in honour : But no change paiTes upon us in 
 eternity. As the tree falls at death and judgment, 
 fo it lies forever. If in hesven, there thou arc a pil- 
 lar, and (halt go forth no more, Rev. iii. 12. If in 
 hell, no redemption thence, but the fmoak of their 
 torments afcendeth forever and ever, Rev. xix. 3. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 And is the mercy of God, like the great deeps, 
 an ocean, that none can fathom? What unfpeakable 
 comfort is this to me ? may the pardoned foul fay. 
 Did Ifrael ring a fong, when the Lord had over- 
 whelmed their corporal enemies in the feas J And 
 lhall not I break forth into his praifes, who hath 
 drowned all my fins in the depths of mercy ? O my 
 foul, blels thou the Lord, and let his high praifes 
 ewer be in thy mouth. Mayft not thou fay, that 
 he hath gone to as high an extent and degree o£ 
 mercy, in pardoning thee, as ever he did in any? Oh 
 my God, who is like unto thee ! that pardoned in- 
 iquity, tranfgreffion and fin. What mercy, but the 
 mercy of a God, could cover fuch abominations 
 as mine ! 
 
 But O ! what terrible reflections will confcience 
 make from hence, upon all the defpifers of mercy, 
 when the finners eyes come to be opened too late 
 for mercy, to do them good ! We have heard in- 
 dee^ that the King of heaven was a merciful King, 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 35 
 
 but we would make no addrefs to him, whilft that 
 Scepter was ftretched out. We heard of balm in 
 Gi/ead, and a phyfician there, that was able and wil- 
 ling to cure all our wounds, but would not com- 
 mit ourfelves to him. We read that the arms ot 
 Chrift were open to embrace and receive us, but we 
 would not. O unparallel'd folly ! O foul-deftroy- 
 ing madnefs? Now the womb of mercy is {hut up, 
 and (hall bring forth no more mercies to me for ev- 
 er. Now the gates of grace are ihut, and no cries 
 can open them. 
 
 Mercy afted its part, and is gone off the ft age j 
 and now juflice enters the fccne and will be glori- 
 fied for ever upon me. How often did I hear the 
 bowels ot companion founding in the gofpel for 
 me ? But my hard and impenitent heart could not 
 relent ; and now, if it could, it is too late. I am 
 now pad out of the ocean of mercy, info the ocean 
 of eternity, where lam fixed in the midft of end- 
 lefs mifery, and mail never hear the voice of mercy 
 more, 
 
 O dreadful eternity ! Oh foul-confounding word I 
 An ocean indeed, to which this ocean is but as a 
 drop ; for in thee no foul fhall fee either bank ov 
 bottom. If I lie but one night under ftrong pains 
 of body, how tedious doth that night feem 1 And 
 how do I tell the clock, and wifh for day ! In the 
 world I might have had life, and would not ; And 
 now, how fain would I have death, but cannot ? 
 How quick were my fins in execution ? And how 
 long is their punifhment in duration ? O, how fhall 
 I dwell with everlafling burnings ? Oh that God 
 would but vouchfafe one treaty more with me ! But 
 alas, all tenders and treaties are now at an end with 
 me. On earth peace, Luke ii. 14. But none in 
 hell. O my foul confider thefe things : come, let 
 
^S A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 us debate this matter ferioufly, before we launch 
 out into this ocean. 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 «< Who from fome h:'gh-rais'd tower views the ground;, 
 
 ■« His heart doth tremble, and his head doth round ; 
 
 *t Even fo my foul, whilft it doth view and think 
 
 «< On this eternity, upon whofe brink 
 
 «« It borders, flands amazed, and doth ay, 
 
 *< O boundlefs ! bottomh-fs eternity !■ 
 
 «< The fcourge of hell, whofe very lafh doth rend 
 
 " The damned fouls in twain : What! never endf. 
 
 <* The move thereon they ponder, think and. pore, 
 
 «,* The more, poor wretches, ftill they howl and roar, 
 
 ,s Ah ! through more years in torment we fhoulilU* 
 
 " Than fends are on the more, cr in the fkie 
 
 * l Are twinkling ftars : yet this gives fome relief, 
 
 il The hope of ending. Ah ! but here's the grief * 
 
 < r . A thoufand years in torments paft and gene, 
 
 «< Ten thoufand mere afrefn are coming on ; 
 
 " A;;d when thefe thoufandsall their courfe have run, 
 
 cc The end's no more than when at firft begun. 
 
 st Come then, my foul, let us difcourfe together 
 
 c: This weighty points and tell me plainly whether 
 
 *' You for thefe fhoit-liv'd points, that come and gc ( 
 
 (< Will plurge yourfclf and me in endlefs woe. 
 
 iC Refolve the queftion quickly, dc not dream 
 
 * l More time away. Lo, in an hafty ftream 
 
 •' We fwiftly pafs, and fhortly we (hall be 
 
 *' Ingulphcd both, inthi:- eternity. 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 37 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 IVithinihefe fmooth- faced fees firange creatures crazvl^ 
 But in man s heart, far greater than them all. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 IT was an unndvifed faying of Plato, Mare nil 
 memorabile producit \ The fea prod uceth noth- 
 ing memorable. But furely there is much of the 
 wifdom, power, and goodnefs of God manifeiled in 
 thofe inhabitants of the watery region : Notwith- 
 ftandin^ the feus azure and mailing; face, ftrange 
 creatures are bred in its womb. " O Lord, Haith 
 David) how manifold are thy works ? In wifdom 
 haft thou made them all ; the earth is full of thy 
 riches. So is this great and wide fea, wherein are 
 things creeping innumerable, both fmall and great 
 beafls, Pfa. civ. 24, 25. And we read, Lam. iv. 3. 
 effea-mon/iers, which draw out their breafts to their 
 young. Pliny 'and Purchas tell incredible (lories a- 
 "bout them. $About the topick of Capricorn, our 
 feamen meet with flying fillies, that have wings 
 like a rere-mcuje, but of a filver colour ; they fly in 
 flocks like flares. There are creatures of very 
 ftrange forms and properties ; fome relembling a 
 cow, called by the Spaniards, Manatee by fome 
 (uppofed to be thefea-menfter fpoken o^h^ Jeremy. 
 In the rivers of Guiana, Purchas faith, there are fiuV 
 es that have four eyes, bearing two above and two. 
 beneath the water when they iwim : fome refem- 
 fcling a toad, and very poifonous. . How ftrange 
 
38 A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 both in fhape and property is the fwotdfijh and 
 tbrajher, that fights with the whale f Even our own 
 feas produce creatures of ftrange fhapes, but the 
 commonnefs takes off the wonder. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 Thus doth the heart of man naturally (warm and 
 abound with ftrange and monftruous lulls and abo- 
 minations, Rom. i. 29, 30, 31. "Being filled with 
 all unrighteous, fornication, wickednefs, covetouf- 
 nefs, maliciouiheis, full of envy, murder, debate, 
 deceit, malignity, wbifperers, back-biters, haters of 
 God, defpiteful, proud, boafters, inventors of evil 
 things, difobedient to parents, without undemand- 
 ing, ccvenant-breakers,without natural affection, im- 
 placable, unmerciful." O what a fwarm is here 1 
 and yet there are multitudes more, in the depth of 
 the heart ! and it is no worder, confidering that 
 with this nature, we received the fpawn of the 
 black eft and yileft abominations. This original 
 luff is productive to them all, James i. 14, 15. 
 Which lull, though it be in every man numerically 
 different from that of others, yet it is one and the 
 fame fpecifically, for fort and kind, in jftll the children 
 of Adam : even a? the reafonable foul, though every 
 man hath his own foul, viz. a foul individually dif- 
 tin£b from another man's, yet is it the fame for kind 
 in all men. So that whatever abominations are in 
 the hearts and lives of the vileft Sodomites, and moft 
 profligate wretches under heaven, there is the fame 
 matter in thy heart out of which they were fhaped 
 and formed. In the depths of the heart they are 
 conceived, and thence they crawl out of the eyes, 
 hands, lips, and all the members, Mat. xv. 18, 19. 
 " Thofe things (faith (Thrift) which proceed out 
 
Or> Navigation Spiritualize J. 39 
 
 cf the mouth, come forth from the heart, and defile 
 a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, 
 murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, falfe wit- 
 ness, blafpemies :" Even fuch monfters, as would 
 make a gracious heart tremble to behold. " WJiat 
 
 are my lufls, (faith one) but fb 
 
 FuiLss Medira- many toads {pitting of venom, and 
 
 tons, P> ii. fpawning of poifon j croaking in my 
 
 judgment, creeping in my will, and 
 crawling into my affections ?** The Apoflle in 1 
 Cor. v. 1. Tell us of a fin, Not to be named ; fo 
 monftrous that nature itfelf ftartlesat it : even fuch 
 monfters are generated in the depths of the heart. 
 Whence come evils ? Was a queftion that much 
 puzzled the philofophers of old. Now here you 
 may fee whence they come, and where they are be- 
 gotten. 
 
 REFLECTION 
 
 And are there fuch ftrange abominations in ths 
 heart of man ? then how is he degenerated from 
 his primitive perfection and glory ! his ftreamswere 
 once as clear as a cryftal, and the fountain of them 
 pure, there was no unclean creature moving in 
 them. What a ftateiy fabrick was the foul at 
 firft ! and what holy inhabitants pofTefTed the lev- 
 eral rooms thereoi ? But now (as God fpeaks of 
 Iditmed) Ifa. xxxiv. 11. " The line of confufion 
 is ftretched out upon it, and the ftones of emptinefs. 
 The cormorant and bittern poffefs it ; the owl and 
 the raven dwell in it." Yea wild beafts of the de- 
 fart lie there ; it is full of doleful creatures, the fa- 
 tyres dance in it, and dragons cry in thofe fome- 
 times pleafant places " O fad change ! how fadly 
 may we look back towards our firft ftate ! and 
 
4-o A New Compafs fir Seamen 
 
 take up the words of Job, " O that I were as sri 
 months paft, as in the days of my youth ; when the 
 AlmigLtv, was yet wrifh me, when I put on righte- 
 outnefs, and it cloathed me ; when my glory was 
 frefh in me," Job xxix. 2,4, 5. 
 
 Again, think O my foul what a miferable con- 
 dition the unre^enerare abkte in ! thus fw armed 
 and over-run with hellifh lufts, under the dominion 
 and yafialage of divers lufts, Tit. iii. 3. What a 
 tumultuous Tea is fuch a foul ! How do thefe lufts 
 rage within them ! how do they conteft and fcuffle 
 for the throne ! and uiuatly take it by turns : For 
 as ail difeafes are contrary to health, yet fome con- 
 trary to each other, fo are lufts. Hence poor 
 creatures are hurried on to different kinds of iervi- 
 tude, according to the nature of that imperious luft 
 that is in the throne ; and like the lunatick, Mat. 
 17. Are fometimes cad into the water } and fome- 
 times into thzjire. Well might the prophet fay, 
 " The wicked is like a troubled fea that cannot 
 reft," lia. Ivii. 20. They have no peace now in 
 the fervice of fin, and lefs they (hall have hereafter, 
 when they receive the wages of fin. " There is no 
 peace to the wicked, faith my God;" They indeed 
 cry. Peace, peace ; but my God doth not fay ibi 
 The la ft ilfue and refult of this is eternal death 5 
 no fooner is it delivered of its deceitful pleafures, 
 but prefently it falls in travail again, and brings 
 forth death, James K 15. 
 
 Once more : and is the heart fuch a fea, abound- 
 ing with monftrous abominations ? then ftandafto- 
 nifhed, Q my foul, at that free grace which hath 
 delivered thee from fo fad a condition ! O fall 
 down, and kifs the feet of mercy that moved ib 
 freely and leaibnably to thy refcue ! let my heart be 
 
br Navigation Spirituahzecl. 41 
 
 enlarged abundantly here. Lord, what am I* that 
 I mould be taken, and others It ft ? Reflecl, O my 
 foul, upon the conceptions and births of lufts> in 
 the days of vanity, which thou now blufhtft to own. 
 O what black imaginations, hellifh defires* vile af- 
 fections, are lodged there ! Who made me to dif- 
 fer ? or, how came I to be thus wonderfully fepa- 
 rated ? furely, it is bv thy free grace, and nothing 
 elfe, that I am what I am : and by that grace I 
 have efcaped (to mine own aftonifhment) the cor- 
 ruption that is in the world through luft. O that 
 ever the holy God fhould fet his eyes oh iu..h an 
 one : or caft a look of love towards me, in whorrt 
 were regions of unclean lulls and abominations ! 
 
 THE POEM, 
 
 *« My foul's the fea wherein from day to day^ 
 
 " Sins like Leviathans do fport and play. 
 
 *« Great mafter-iufis, with all the lefler fry; 
 
 « c Therein increafe, and ftrangely multiply. 
 
 *« Yet ftrange it is not, fin fo fa ft mould breed j 
 
 ** Since with this nature I received the feed 
 
 « J And fpawn of every fpecies, which was flied 
 
 " Into its caverns firft, then nourilhed 
 
 « By its own native warmth : which like the furij 
 
 lf Hath quickened them, and now abroad they come^ 
 
 •* And like the frogs of Egypt creep and crawl 
 
 ** Into the cloieft rooms within my foul. . 
 
 ** My fancy (warns, for there they fri/k and play, 
 
 *< In dreams by night, and foolifli toys by day. 
 
 " My judgment's clouded by them, and my will 
 
 if 
 
A New Ccmpyfs for Seamen 
 
 t( Perverted every corner they do fill. 
 
 '» As locufts fa. e on all that's frefh and greeny 
 
 " Uneloath the beauteous fp-ing, aid make it feeni 
 
 << Like drooping Autumn ; fo my foul, thatfirft 
 
 " As Eden fcem'd, now's like a ground that's curft. 
 
 ** Lord purge my fh cams, and kill thefe lufts that lie 
 
 " Within them j if thou donot> I muft die. 
 
 CHAP. t% 
 
 Seas purge tbemfefoes, and call their filth afljore^ 
 But gracelefs fouls retain, and fuck in more. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 EAS are in a continual motion and agitation j 
 they have their flux and reflux, by which they 
 are kept from putrefaction : like a fountain it cleanfls 
 itfelf, Ila. 57.' 20. '* It cannot reft but cart up 
 r.ii'-e and d irt ;" whereas lakes and ponds, whole 
 waters are (landing, and dead,; corrupt and (link . 
 And it is obferved by lea-men, that in the fouthern 
 parts of the world, where the fea is more calm and 
 Settled, it is more corrupt and unfit for ufe - 9 fo i ( ; 
 the fea of Sodom called The dead Sea. 
 
 A P P L I C si r 1 O N. 
 
 Thu^do regenerate fouls purify them'felvcs, and 
 
 work out corruption that defiles them, they cannot 
 
 ■ r it to fettle there, 1 John iii. 3. u He purifi- 
 
 eth himfcif, even as he is pure. Keeping himielf, 
 
 H^fcthe wicked one toucheth him not," 1 John 
 
Or, Navigation Spiritualized. 43 
 
 v. 18. Sell- Taflo qualitative?, mth a qualitative 
 touch, as the load-ftone toucheth iron, leaving an 
 impfefTion of its nature behind it. They are doves 
 delighting in cleannefs, Jfa. xxxiii. 15. " He de- 
 fpifeth the gain of opprefiion, he fhaketh his hands 
 from holding of bribes, ftoppeth his ears from 
 hearing blood, and fhutteth his eyes from feeing 
 evil." See how all fenfes and members are guard- 
 ed againft fin : but it is quite contrary with the wick- 
 ed ; there- is no principle of holinefs in them, to 
 oppofe or expel corruption, It lies in their hearts 
 as mud in a lake or well, winch fettles and corrupts 
 more and more. Hence Ezek, xlviu 11. Their 
 hearts are compared to miry or marifh places, wlii'cti 
 cannot be healed, but are given to fait: The mean- 
 ing is, that the pureft ft reams of the gofpel, which 
 cleanfe others, make them worfe than before, as a- 
 bundance of rain will a miry place, The reafon is, 
 becaufe it meets with an obftacle in their fouls ; io 
 that it cannot run through them and be glorified, 
 as it doth in gracious fouls. All the means and en- 
 deavours ufed to cleanfe them, are in vain ; all the 
 grace of God they receive in vain : " They hold 
 fall deceit, they refufe to let it go," Jer. viii. 5. 
 Sin is not m them as floating weeds upon the lea, 
 which it -ftrives to expel and purge out, but as/pots 
 in the leopards fkin, Jer. xiii. 21. Or letters fafriion- 
 ed and engraven in the very lubftance of marble or 
 brafs 3 with a pen of iron, and point of a diamond, 
 Jer. xvii, 1. Or as ivy in aq old wall, that hath got 
 rooting into its very intrails. " Wickednefs is 
 fweet in their mouths, they roul it under their 
 tongues,'' Job xx. 12. No threats nor prom.iies 
 can. divorce them from it, Wk 
 
4 J ^ New Compqfs for Seamen 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Lord ! this is the very frame of my heart, may 
 the gracelefs foul fay : my corruptions quietly fet- 
 tle in me, my heart labours not againft it ; 1 am a 
 ftranger to that conflict which is daily maintained 
 in all the faculties of the regenerate foul. Glorifi- 
 ed fouls have no fuch conflict, becaufe grace in them 
 (lands alone, and is perfectly triumphant over all its 
 oppofites ; and gracelefs fouls can have no fuch con- 
 flict, becaufe in them corruption ftands alone, and 
 hath no other principle to make oppofition to it. 
 And this is my cafe, O Lord : I am full of vain /: •*J 
 hopes indeed, but had I a living and well-ground- 
 ed hope to dwell forever with fo holy a God", I 
 could not but be daily purifying myfelf. But O i - 
 what will the end of this be ? I have caufe to trem-\ 
 ble at that lafl and dreadfullefl curfe in the book of 
 God, Rev. xxii. u. " Let him that is filthy "be 
 filthy (till." Is it not as much as if God fhould 
 fay, Let them alone, I will fpend no more rods up- 
 on them, no more means (hall be ufed about them ; 
 but I will reckon with them for all together in an- 
 other world ; O my foul 1 what a dilmal reckon- 
 ing will that be ! ponder with thyfelf in the mean, 
 while, thofe terrible and awakening texts, that if 
 podible, this fatal ifTue may be prevented. See 
 Jla. i. 5. Hof. iv. 14. Jer, vi. 29, 30. Heb. 
 
Or, Navigation Spiritualized. 4- 
 
 T H E POEM. 
 
 f ' My heart's no fountain, but a (landing lake 
 « Of putrid waters ; if therein I rake, 
 f* By ferious fearch, O ! what a noifome fmell, 
 ** Like exhalations rifwg out of hell j 
 <« The (linking waters pump'd up from the hole, 
 '* Are as perfumes to fea-men : but my foul 
 ,{ Upon the fame account that they are glad, 
 
 . f{ (Its long continuance there ) is therefore fad. 
 " The fcripture faith, No foul God's face fall fee 
 " Till -from fuch filthy lufts it cleanfed be. ' 
 ft Yet though unclean, it may that way be rid, 
 «* As Hercules the Augean (labie did. 
 c; Lord turn into my foul that cleanfing blood, 
 *' Which from my Saviour's fide flow'd as a flood. 
 " Flow, facred fountain, brim my banks j and flow 
 
 ►*< Till you have made my foul as white as fnow. 
 
 C H A P. V. 
 
 Seamen fore-fee a danger > and prepare : 
 Yet few of greater dangers are aware. 
 
 B S E R V A T I O N. 
 
 HOW watchful and quick-fighted are Teamen, 
 to prevent dangers ? It the wind die away, 
 and then frefh uplbutherly ; or if they fee the iky 
 hazy, they provide for a ftorm : if by the projec- 
 tive glafs they ken a pirate at the greatefl diftance, 
 they clear the gun-room, prepare for fight, and 
 bear up, ifabletodeal with him 5 if not, they keep 
 
46 A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 clofeby the wind, make all the fail they can, and 
 bear away. If they fuppofe themfelves by their 
 reckoning near land, how often do they found ? 
 And if upon a r coaft with which they are unac- 
 quainted, how careful are they to get a pilot that 
 knows and is acquainted with it ? 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 Thus watchful and fufpicious ought we to be in 
 fpiritual concernments. We mould fludy, and be 
 acquainted with Satan's wiles and policy : The 
 Apoftle takes it for granted, that chriftians 
 are not ignorant of his devices, 2 Cor. ii. n . 
 The ferp&nfs eve (as one faith) would do well in the 
 dove's head : The devil is a cunning pirate, he puts 
 out falfe colours, and ordinarily comes up to the 
 chriftian in the difguife of a friend. 
 
 O the manifold deeps and ftratagems of Satan^ 
 to deftroy fouls 1 Though he have no wifdom to 
 do himfelf good, yet policy enough to do us mif- 
 chief, He lies in ambufli behind our lawful com- 
 forts and employments : yet for the moil of men, 
 how fupine and carelefs are they, fufpecling no dan- 
 ger ; Their fouls, like Lai/h, dwell careleily ; their 
 ienfcs unguarded. O what an eafy pri?e and con- 
 queft doth the devil make of them ! 
 
 Indeed, if it were with us, as with Adam in inno- 
 eency, or as it was with Chrift in the days of his 
 fkfh (who by reafon of that overflowing fulnefs of 
 grace that dwelt in him, the purity of his perfon, 
 and the hypoftacal union, was fecured from the dan- 
 ger of all temptations) the cafe then were other- 
 wife but we have a traitor within, James i. 14 15. 
 As well as a temper without, 1 Pet. v. 3. " Our 
 Sjdverfary the devil goes about as a roaring lion, 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 47 
 
 feeking whom he may devour," And like the 
 beads of the foreft, poor fouls, lie down before 
 him, and become his prey. All the fagacity, wit* 
 policy and forefight of fome Men, is fummoned in 
 to ferve their bodies^ and fecure their flelhy enjoy- 
 ments. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Lord ! how doth the care, wifdom, and vigilancy 
 of Men in temporal and external things, condemn 
 my carelefneis in the deep and dear concernments 
 of my precious Soul ! What care and labour is 
 there to fecure a perifhing life, liberty, or treafure \ 
 When was I thus folicitous for my foul, though 
 its value be inestimable, and its dangers far greater ? 
 Self-preftrvation is one of the deeped principles in 
 nature. There is not the pooreft worm or flie, 
 but will fhun danger if it can : Yet I am fo far 
 from fhunning thole dangers to which my foul lies 
 continually expofed, that I often run it upon tern- 
 tations, and voluntarily expofe, it to its enemies* 
 I fee, Lord; how watchful, jealous and laborious 
 thy people are, what Prayers, tears, and groans, 
 iearchirig of heart, mortification of lufts, guarding 
 of femes : and all accounted too little by them. 
 Have not I a foul to lave or lofe eternally, as well 
 as they ? Yet I cannot deny one • flefhly luft, nor 
 withttand one temptation. . O, how am I con- 
 vinced, and condemned ; not only by others care 
 and vigilancy, but my own too, in lefler and lower 
 matters ; < 
 
48 A New Compqfs for Seamed 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 " I am the (hip, whofe bills of lading come 
 " To more than mans or angels art can fum. 
 " Rich fraught with mercies, on the Ocean now, 
 *« I float, the dangerous ocean I do plow, 
 •' Storms rife, Rocks threaten, and in every creek 
 •' Pirates and Pickeroens their prizes feek. 
 ** My foul fhould watch, look out, and ufeits glafr, 
 *' Prevent furprizals timely ; but alas ! 
 " Temptations give it chafe, it's grappled fure, 
 " And boarded whilft it thinks it felf fecure. 
 " It fleeps like Jcnah> in the dreadfuTft rtorm, 
 M Although its cafe be dangerous and forlorn. 
 " Lord, rouze my drowfie Soul, left it ihould knock 
 « And fplit itfelf upon fome dangerous Rock. 
 •* If it of Faith and confeience fhipwrack make, 
 " I am undone for ever : foul awake ! 
 w Till thou arrive in heaven, watch and fear ; 
 is Thou may ft not fay till then, the coaft is clear.'* 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Hozv fmall a matter funis a Jhip about ? 
 Yet we againft our conjeience ft and it out, 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 IT is juft matter of admiration, to fee to great a 
 body as a (hip is, and when under fail too, be- 
 fore a freQi and ftrong wind, by which it is carried 
 
)r Navigation Spiritualized. 49 
 
 as the clouds, with marvellous force and fpeed, yet 
 to be commanded with eaie, by fo fmall a thing as 
 the Helm is. The fcripture takes notice of it as a 
 matter worthy our confederation, Jan. iii. 4. "Be* 
 hold alfo the (hips, which though they be great," 
 and driven of fierce winds ; yet they are turned a* 
 bout with a fmall helm, whitherfoever the Gover- 
 nor lifteth." Yea, Arijlotle himfetf 
 Ariitot. Sccunfa. t } iat Eagle ey'd philoiopher, could 
 Mecankon, c. 5 . not g? ve a re afon of it, but looked 
 upon it as a very marvellous and wonderful 
 thing, 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 To the fame, ufe and office has God defigned 
 confeience in 'man, which being rectified and regu- 
 lated by the word and fpirit cf G6d> is to fleet and 
 order his whole converfation. Conference is as th^ 
 oracle of God, the judge and determiner of our ac- 
 tions, whether they be good or evil ? And it lays 
 the ftrongefl obligations upon trie creature to obey 
 its dictates, that is imaginable : for it binds under 
 the reafon and confideration of the moft abfolute 
 and fovereign will'of the great God. So that as 
 often as conlcience from the word cooviuceth us of 
 any fm or duty, it lays fuch a "bond upon us to obey 
 it, as no power under heaven can relax or difpenfe 
 with. Angels cannot do it, much lefs man ; for 
 that would be to exalt themfe'lve's above God. 
 Now therefore it is an high and dreadful way of 
 (inning; to oppofe and rebel againft confeience^ 
 when n convinces cf fei and duty. Confeience 
 fome'times reafon:; it out with with men, and (hews 
 them the neceffity of changing their way and courfe ; 
 ar g u * n g it from the cleared and moft allowed max- 
 G 
 
co A Nezv Cornpafs for Seamen 
 
 1 
 ims of right reafqri, as well as from the indifpu table 
 iovereigntv of God. 
 
 As t^r inftance : it convinceth their very reafon. 
 that things of eternal duration are infinitely to be 
 prefered to all momentary and perifhing things; 
 Rom. viii. 18. Heb. xi. 26. And it is our duty to 
 chufe them, and make all fecular and temporary 
 concernments to ilarid afide, and give place to them. 
 Yet though men be convinced of this, their ftub- 
 born will (lands out, and will hot yield up itfelf to 
 the conviction. 
 
 Further, It argues from this acknowledged truth, 
 that all the delight and pleafures in this world are 
 but a miferabie portion, and that it is the highell 
 folly to adventure an immortal ibul for them, Luke 
 ix. 15. Alas ! what ' rememberance is there of 
 them in hell ? They are as the waters that pals a* 
 way. What have they left, of all their mirth and 
 jollity, but a tormenting fling ?Tt convinceth them 
 clearly, alfo, that in matters of deep concernment 
 it is an high point of v/ifdom, to apprehend and 
 improve the right feafons and opportunities of them. 
 Prov. x. 5.- " He that gathers in dimmer is a wife 
 f:n." Eccief. viii. 5. ""A wife man s heart dif- 
 cerns both time and judgment. " There is a fea- 
 fon to every purpofe," Eccief. iii. 1. viz. a nick of 
 time, an happy juncture; when, if a man ftrikes in, 
 he doth liis work effectually; and with much faciii- 
 tv : fuch feafons conference convinceth the ibul of, 
 and often whilpers thus in its ear : Now, foulflrike 
 in, ckjfe with this motion of the fpirit, and be hap- 
 py forever ; thou rhayeft never have fuch. a gale 
 lor heaven any more. Now, though theft be al- 
 lowed maxims of reafon, and conleience enforce 
 them ftrongly on the fcul, yet cannot it prevail ; 
 the proud, itubborn will rebels, and will not fee 
 
Or, Navigation Spiritualized, 51 
 
 guided by it. See Eph. ii, 3. Job xxxiv. 37. 
 Ifa. xlvi. 12. Ezek.ii, 4. Jer. xliv. 16. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Ah ! Lord, fuch an heart have I had before thee 5 
 thus obftinate, thus rebellious, fo uncontrollable by 
 confeience. Many a time hath conference thus 
 whifpered in mine ear, many a time hath it flood 
 in my way a as the angel did in Balaam's, or the 
 cherubims that kept the way of the tree of life with 
 flaming fwords turning every way. Thus hath it 
 flood to oppofe me in the way of my lufts. How 
 often hath it calmly debated the cafe with me alone ? 
 and how fweetly hath it expoflulated with me? 
 How clearly hath it convinced of fin, danger, duty, 
 with ftrong demonftration ? How terrible hath it 
 men?ced my foul, and fet the point of the threate- 
 ning at my very bread ? And yet my head-ftrong 
 affections' will' not be remanded by it. I have 
 obeyed the voice of every ltift and; temptation, Tit. 
 iii. 3. but confeience hath loft its authority with 
 me. Ah Lord ! what a fad condition am I in,. 
 both in refpecl of fin and milery ! My fin receives 
 dreadful aggravations, for rebellion and prefump- 
 tion are hereby added to it. I have violated the 
 flrongeft bonds that ever were laid upon a creature.. 
 If my confeience had not thus convinced and warn-. 
 ed, the (in had not heen fo great and crimfon-. 
 coloured, Jam. iv. 17. Ah ! this is to fin with an 
 high hand, Numb. xv. 30. To come near to the- 
 great and unpardonable tranfgreflion, Pfalm xix. 
 13. O how dreadful a way ot finning is this, with 
 opened eyes ! and as my fin is thus out of meafure 
 finful, fo my punifhment will be out of meafure 
 dreadful, if I perfifl in this rebellion. Lord 1 thou- 
 haft faid, Such fhall be beaten with many ftripes,. 
 
$z A Nm Compafs for Seaman 
 
 Luke xiL 48. Yea, Lord, and if ever my conference* 
 which by rebellion is now grown filent, mould be 
 be in judgment awakened in this life ; O I what 
 an hell mould I have within me ! how would it 
 thunder and roar upon me, and furround me with 
 terrors ? 
 
 Thy word alTuresme, that no length of time can 
 wear out of its memory what I have done, Gen. 
 xlii. 21. No violence or force can fupprefs it, Mat. 
 xxvii. 4, No greatnefs of power can ftifle it; it will 
 take the mightieft monarch by the throat, Exod. 
 x 16. Dan. v. 6, No mufick, pleafures, or delights, 
 can charm it Job xx. 22. O confcience ! thou art 
 the fweeteft friend, or the dreadfuleft enemy in the 
 World ; Thy confolations are incomparably fweet 
 and thy terrours infupportable. Ah let me ftand it 
 out no longer againft confcience ; the very fhip in 
 which I fail, is a confutation of my madnefs, that 
 rufh greedily into fin againft <both Reafon and con- 
 fcience, and will not be commanded by it; Surely 
 my Soul, this will be bitterneis in the end. 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 «• A fhip &£ grsateft burden will obey 
 
 « The rudder j he that fits at helm may fway 
 
 «* And guide its motion : If the pilot pleafe, 
 
 i{ The fhip bears up againft both Wind and ft as, 
 
 l< My foul's the /hip, afFedions, arc its fails, 
 
 * { Confcience the rudder. Ah ! but Lord what ails 
 
 " My naughty heart, to fluiffie in and out, 
 
 cc When Its convictions bid it tack about ? 
 
 " Temptations blow a countcr-blaft, and drive 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized* 53 
 
 *t The veffel where they pleafe, tho* confciencc ftrlvc. 
 
 «« And by its ftrong perfwafions it would force 
 
 * l My ftub'oorn will to (leer another courfe. 
 
 «« Lord, if I run this courfe, thy Word doth tell 
 
 «« How quickly I muft needs arrive at Hell. 
 
 <« Then rectify my confcience, change my will ; 
 
 *< Fan in thy pleafant Gales, my God, and fill 
 
 « All my afte£l:ions j and let nothing carry 
 
 W My foul from its due courfe or make it vary j 
 
 " Then if the Pilot's work thou wouldft perform, 
 
 ft I mould bear bravely up againft a ftorm. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Through many fears and dangers Sea-men rtm % 
 Yet alts forgotten when they do return. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 WE have an elegsnt and lively defcription of 
 their fears and dangers, Pfal. cyii, 25, 26, 
 27. tC He commandeth and raifeth the ftormy winds 
 which lifteth up the waves thereof : They mount 
 up to heaven, they go down again to the depths ; 
 their foui is melted becaufe of trouble, they reel to 
 and fro, they (tagger like a drunken man ; they are 
 at their wits end." Or, as it is in the Hebrew, All 
 wifdom is Jw allowed up. Suitable to which is that 
 of the poet. 
 
 Rector in incerto eft, nee quid fugiatave pettve 
 Invenit, ambiguis ars flupet ipfa malis Ovid. 
 
 The Pilot knows not what to chute or flee, 
 Art Hands amaz'd in ambiguity. 
 
\ A New Compdp for Seamen 
 
 O what a Arrange and miraculous deliverance 
 have many Teamen had ; How often have they 
 yielded themfeives for dead men, and verily thought 
 the next fea would have fwailowed them up ? 
 How earneftly then do they cry for mercy, and 
 like the Qymbrians, can pray in a ftorm, though 
 they regarded it not at other times, Pfal. cvii, 28. 
 Jam, i. 5, 6. 
 
 APPLICATION* 
 
 Thefe dreadful florms do at once difcover to us 
 the mighty power of God in raifing them, and the 
 abundant goodnefs of God in preferving poorcrea-- 
 tures in them. 
 
 1 ft. The power of God is gracioufly manifefted 
 in railing them : The wind is one of the Lord's 
 wonders, Pfal. cvii, 23, 24. " They that go down 
 to the fea, fee the works of the Lord, and his (wond- 
 ers) in the deep : for he commandeth and raifeth 
 the ftormy winds." Yea, Pfal. exjvii. 18. God 
 appropriates it as a peculiar work of his ; He can/-? 
 eth {fits winds to blow ) Hence, He is faid in 
 fcripture, to bring ihem forth of. his treafury, Job 
 xxxviii. 22. There they are locked up and referv- 
 ed, not a guft car: break forth till he command and 
 call for it to,go and'execute his pleafure: Yea, He 
 is faid to hold them in his fift, Prov. xxx. 4. 
 What is more uncapablc of holding than the wind $ 
 yet God holds it, Although it be a ftrong and ter- 
 rible creature, He controuls and rules it. Yea t the 
 fcripture lets forth God, " As riding upon the 
 wings of the wind," Pfalm. xviii. 10. It is a bor- 
 rowed fpeech from the manner of men, when they 
 would mew their pomp and great nefs, ride upon 
 
Or y Navigation Spiritualized. 53 
 
 ibme ftately horfe or chariot : fo the Lord to man- 
 ifeft the greatnefs of his power, rides upon the 
 wings of the wind, and will be admired info terri- 
 ble a creature. 
 
 And no lefs of his glorious power appears in re- 
 manding them, than in raifing them. The heath- 
 ens afcribe this power to their god Aeolus ; but we 
 know this is the Royalty and fole Prerogative of the 
 true God, who made heaven and earth ; it is he 
 that makes the ft or m d cdlm y Pfal. evil. 29. And it 
 is He that Ihitts and changes them from point td 
 point as he pleafeth ; for he hath appointed them 
 their circuits, Ecclef. i. 6. " The wind goeth to- 
 wards the fouth, and turneth about unto the north; 
 it whirleth about continually^ and returneth again 
 according to his circuits. 
 
 2d. And as we mould adore his power in the 
 winds, fo ought we to admire his Goodnefs in pre^ 
 ferving men in the height of all their fury and vio- 
 lence. O what a marvellous work of God is here 1 
 That men mould be kept in a poor weak vefTel, 
 upon the wide and ftormy ocean, where the wind 
 hath its full ftroke upon them, and they are driven 
 before it as a wreck upon the feas ; yet, I fay, that 
 God mould preferve you there, is a work of infinite 
 goodnels and power, thar*thofe winds which do 
 rend the very earth, mountains and rocks, 1 Kings 
 xix. 11. " Breaks the cedars, yea, the cedars of 
 Lebanon, fhakes the wildernefsnnd makes the hinds 
 to- calve :" which Katuralifts fay, bring forth with 
 greateft difficulty, Pfal. xxix. 5, 8, 9. Surely your 
 prelervation in fuch tempefTs, is an aftonilhingwork 
 of mercy. how dreadful is this creature, the 
 wind, fome times to you ? And how doth it make 
 your hearts fhake within you ; If but a plank 
 ipring, or bolt give wav, you are all loft. Some- 
 
5 6 A Nezv Compajs for Seamen 
 
 times the Lord for the magnifying of the riches of 
 his goodnefs upon you, drives you to fu'ch exigen- 
 cies, that as Paul {peaks in a like cafe, Ads xxvii. 
 20. AH hope of being javed is taken azvay ; Noth- 
 ing but death before your eyes. The Lord com- 
 mands a wind out of his treafury, bids it go and lilt 
 up the terrible waves ; lock you in upon the fhore, 
 and drive you upon the rocks, fo that no art can 
 fave you ; and then fends you a piece of wreck, or 
 fome other means to land you fate : And all this to 
 give you an experiment of his goodnefs and pity, 
 that you may learn to fear that God, in whofe hand 
 your loul and breath is. 
 
 And it may be for the prefent, that your hearts are 
 much affected ; confcience works ftrongly, it (mites 
 you for fms formerly committed, fuch counfels of 
 minifters or relations flighted. Now, faith con- 
 fcience, God is come in this florm to reckon with 
 thee for thefe- things. But alas, all this is but a 
 morning dew'; "no fooner is that florm without al- 
 layed, but all is quiet within too. How little of 
 the goodnefs of God abides kindly and effectually 
 upon the heart ? 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 How often hath this glorious power and good* 
 fiefs of God pafied before me in dreadful f tormi 
 and tempefts at fea ? He hath uttered his voice in 
 thofe ftormy winds, and fpoken in a terrible manner 
 by them , yet how little have 1 been affected with 
 it? " The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind, 
 and in the florm," Nah. i. 3. To fome he hath 
 walked in ways of Judgment and wrath, fending 
 them down in a moment to hell ; but to me in a 
 way of forbearance and mercy. Ah, how oftert 
 have I been upon llie very brink of eternity ?■ had 
 
Or Navigation Spiritndlizeti. $j 
 
 hot God fhifted or a! ayed the wind, in a moment* 
 I had gone down into hell. What workings of 
 confidence weFe at prtient upon rhe ? And what 
 terrible appreherifions had I then of my eternal con* 
 dition ? What, vows did I make in that diflrefs ? 
 and how earneftly did I then beg for mercy ? but 
 Lord, though thy vows are upon me, yet have I 
 been the fame $ yea added to, and filkd up the 
 meafure of my fills* Neither the bonds of mercy 
 thou haft laid upon me, nor the (acred and folemn 
 vows lb ve laid upon myfelf, could reft rain me from 
 th'ofe ways or iniquity, Which then appeared io 
 dreadful to me. 
 
 Ah Lord, what an heart have I ? What love, 
 pity, and goo'dnefs have I finned againft ? If God 
 had but reipited judgment To long what a mercv 
 were it ! Sure 1 am, the damned would account it 
 fo ; but to give me fuch a fpace to repent, Ah what 
 an invaluable mercy is this j And do J thus requite 
 thQ Lord Dcut. xxxii. 6. and pervert arid abu'e his 
 goodneis thus ? Surely, t> my foul, if this be the 
 fruit of all thy prefervations, they are rather referv- 
 ations to fome further and fprer judgments. How 
 dreadfully will juftice at lad: avenge the Quarrel of 
 abufed Mercy ? Jofh. xxiv. 20. How grievoufly 
 did God take it from the Ifrdektes, that they pro- 
 voked hirh at the Sea, even at the red Sea ? Pfal. 
 cvi. y, where God had wrought their deliverance in 
 fuch a miraculous way. Even thus have I finned 
 after the fimilitude oi their tranfgreffions ; not on < 
 ly againft the Lawsxtf God, but againft the Love 
 of God. In thelafl dorm he fhot off his Horn* 
 trig-piece;, in the next, he may difcharge his Mur- 
 derwg-prece againft my foul and body. O my foul « 
 hath he given thee «*fuch deliverancesas thefe, and 
 oareft thou again break his comma ndrr.ents Ezra, 
 H 
 
$"6 A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 x. 13, 14. « O let me pay the vows that my 
 ips have uitered in my diftrefs, left the Lord re'- 
 :over his gioiy iiom me in a way of judgment/' 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 •< The mip that now fails trim before a windj 
 '« E're the delired ports it gains, may find 
 ** A tedious pafTige : Gentle Gales a while 
 " Do fill its fails, the flattering feas do fmile, 
 f* The Face or Heaven is bright, on every fids 
 '« The wanton Pcrpokc tumbles on the Tide. 
 «' Into their cabins now the Seamen go, 
 *' And then turn out again, with, What cbtar hi t 
 <* All ou a fudden darkened are the ikies, 
 '« The lamp of heaven obfcur'd, the winds do rife ; 
 *< Waves fwelllike mountains : now their courage P.Ag* 
 " The marts are crackt, the canvas torn to rags. 
 " The veflel works for life j an.on one cries, 
 *< The main maji" $ gone by th % Board ; another plies 
 «< The pump, until a third do ftrike them blank 
 tc With Sirsy prepare for death wc have fprung a phr- 
 «* Now to th^ir knees they go, and on this wife 
 " They beg for mercy with their loudelt cries : 
 *' Lord, five us but this once, a:id thou malt fee 
 ■« What Perfons for the future we will be : 
 < c Our former time's mif-fpent, but <vith a vow, 
 « We will engage, if thou will five us now 
 " To mend what is amifs. The gracious Lord 
 « Inclined to pity, takes them at their word ; 
 «« The winds into their treasures he doth call, 
 " Rebukes the ftormy fea, and brings them all 
 " To their defired Haren : once afhure, 
 " And then their Vow« are ne'er remembered mo:.*. 
 
Or Navigation Spriiuahzed* ^ 
 
 • <f Thus foul's are fliipwracltt, tho 1 the bodies live, 
 f* Unltfs in time thou true Repentance give. 
 
 C H A P. VIII. 
 
 The navigator Jhit 'is his fails y to take, 
 
 All winds > but that which for his foul doth make, 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THE mariner wants no (kill and wifdom to 
 improve leveral winds, and make them fer- 
 Viceable to his end ; a bare fide-wind, by his ikill 
 in fhifting and managing the fails, will ferve his 
 turn : He will not lofe the advantage of one breath 
 or gale that may be ufeful to him, I have many 
 times wondered to fee two (hips failing in a diredi 
 counter motion, by one and the lame wind. Their 
 ikill and wifdom herein is admirable. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 Thus prudent and fkilful are men in fecular and 
 lower matters, and yet how ignorant and unfkilful 
 in the great and everlafting affairs of their fouls i 
 Ail their invention, judgement, wit, and memory 
 fecm to be preiled for the fervice of the fleili. They 
 can learn an art quickly, aed arrive to a great deal 
 
6g A New Compa/s for Seamen 
 
 pi exact nefs in it ; but in foul -matters, no' know- 
 !edn;e at all. They can underfiand the Equator, 
 Meidtan and Horizon : By the nrft they ean tell. 
 t'.e latitude of any place, South or 'Morth, meafur.,. 
 fag it by the degrees in the Meridian; by the iecond 
 they con tell you the long tude of a place, eaft and 
 weft, from the Meridian, meafuring it by the de- 
 grees of the Equator : And by the third, they 
 can difcern the the divers rifings andfettings of the 
 Stars. And lb in other Arts and fciences. we find 
 men endowed with rare abilities, and fingul x 
 fagacrty. Some have piercing apprehenfions, 
 folid judgments, ftupendous, memories, nrc 
 Invention, and excellent elocution : But put then\ 
 Upon any ipiwtual fupernafural matter, and the 
 Weakeft chriftian, even a babe in Chrift, (hall 
 excel them therein, and give a far bet- 
 ter account of Regeneration, the work of grace, the 
 Life of Faith than thefe can.* i. Cor. i. 26. u Not 
 many wile men after the flefn. &c. But God hath 
 chofen the fcolifli things of this world, &c/* 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 How inexcu fable then art thou, O my Soul ! and : 
 how mute and confounded muft thou needs ftand 
 before the bar of God, in that great day ? Thou 
 Judft a Ta'euf'oi natural parts committed to thee, 
 but which way have they Leen imp;oved ? I had an 
 understanding indeed, but it was not fanctified ;a 
 Memory, but it was like a Sieve, that let go the 
 corn, and reuin'd nothing but hufks and chaff; Wit 
 aril invention, but alas none to do myfelfgood. 
 Ah Ihow will Khefe rife in judgment againft me, and 
 flop my mouth ? What account (hall I give for 
 them in that day ? 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. Gx 
 
 Again : are men ( otherwifc prudent and ikillful) 
 fuch Tots and fools in fpiritual things ? Then let 
 the poor weak Chriftian, whofe natural parts are 
 blunt and dull, admire the riches of God's free 
 grace to him. O What an aftoniming confederation 
 is tliis ? x hat God Ihould pafs by men of the pro- 
 ioundeft natural parts, and chufe me, even poor me, 
 whofe natural faculties and endowments com- 
 pared with their$, are but as Lead to Gold ! Thus 
 under the law he pal! by the Lion and the eagle, 
 and chofe the Lamb and Dove. O, how mould it 
 .make me to advance Grace, as Chrift doth upon 
 the fame account, Mat. xi. 25. *' I thank thee, 
 Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou haft- 
 hid thefe things from the wife. and prudent, and re- 
 vealed them unto babes." And let it ever be an, 
 humbling consideration to me ; For who made me 
 to differ ? Is not this one principal thing God aims 
 at, in calling fuch as I am ; that boafling may be 
 ^eluded, and himfelf alone exalted ? 
 
 T H E P O E M. 
 
 «« One thing doth very much affect my mind, 
 •* Tp fee the Sea men husband every wind $ 
 «< With excellent art he (tufts the fails and knows 
 *« How to improve the faired Wind that blows, 
 *< If a dirett or fore-right gale he want, 
 « A fide wind ferves his turn, tho' ne'r fo fcant, 
 «« And will not this one day in judgment rife 
 " Againft your fouls ? Ah ! can you be fo wife 
 «' In fmaller matters } what, and yet not know 
 '« How to Improve frefli gales of grace that blow ? 
 " Faft moor'd in fin your wind-bound Souls can lie, 
 *' And let thefe precious gales, rife, blow, and die. 
 
$* 4; New Gcmpafs.for Semen 
 
 " Sometimes on you: afoaions. you^may feel 
 
 M Such gracious breathings. :Ah,but hearts of ftccl, 
 
 41 They move you not, nor caufe you to relent, 
 
 " Though able, like E!:jjc*s wind, to rent 
 
 «« The Rocks af ,nder s If you do not prize 
 
 «« Thote breathings, other winds w|U shortly rife, 
 
 '.« And from another quarter j thofe once gone, 
 
 ".The next look out for an Euroclydon t 
 
 «'.A dreadful ftorm : how foon no man can tell j 
 
 < l But when ic ccipcs 'twill blow fuch fouls to hell." 
 
 'i "j ' j 
 
 C H A P. IX 
 
 If Sea-men lofe a gn-Je, there they may lie : 
 The Soul when crnce becalnid^ in Jin may die.- 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 SEA-MEN are very watchful to take their op- 
 portunity of wind and tide ; and it much con- 
 cerns them (o to be : The negled of a tew hours, 
 fometimes lofes them their palftge, and proves a 
 great detriment to them. They know the wind 
 is an uncertain variable thing? they rauft take it 
 when they may ; they are unwilling to lopfe one 
 flow, or breath that may be ferviceable to them. 
 If a profperous gale offers, and they not ready, it 
 repents them to lole it, as much as it would repent 
 us to fee a veflel oi good wine or Beer tapt and 
 run to wade. 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 63 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 There are alio feafons and gales of grace for our 
 fouls i golden opportunities of falvation afforded to 
 men, the neglect of which proves the lofs and ruin 
 of fouls. God hath given unto men a day of vi- 
 fitation, which he hath limited, Heb. iv. j* and 
 keeps an exact account of every year, month and 
 day, that we. have enjoyed it, Luke xiii. 7. Jen 
 xxv. 3.- Luke xix. 42. The longed date of it can 
 be but the time of this life : This is our day to 
 work in, John ix. 4. and upon this frnall wire, the 
 weight of eternity hangs. But fometimes the fea^ 
 fon of grace is ended before the night of death 
 eomes ; the accepted time is gone, men frequently 
 out Jive it, Luke xix. 44. 2. Cor. vi. 2. Or, 
 if the outward means of falvation be continued, 
 yet the fpirit many times withdraws from thofe 
 means, and ceafes any more to drive with men ; and 
 then the bleffing, power and efficacy is gone from 
 them, and indead thereof a curfe feizeth the foul, 
 Heb. vi. 7.8. and Jer. vL 30. 
 
 Therefore it is a matter of high importance to 
 our fouls, to apprehend thefe feafons. How pathe* 
 ticaiiy doth Chrift bewail Jeru/a/em, upon this ac- 
 count ! Luke xix. 42. O that thou half known at 
 leaf in this thv day, the things of thy peace ! but now 
 they are hid from thine eyes. If a- company of Sea-* 
 men be fet a-fhore upon fome remote, uninhabited 
 Jfland, with this advice, to be aboard again exactly 
 at fuch an hour, elfe they mud be left behind : 
 how doth it concern them to be punctual to their 
 
64 Jt New Ccmpafs for Seamen 
 
 time ? The lives of thofe men depend upon a 
 quarter of an hour. Many a foul hath perifhed e- 
 ternally (the Gofpel leaving "them behind in their 
 Fins) becauie they knew not the time of their vifi- 
 tation* 
 
 R E T L E C T,I K 
 
 What golden feafbns fof felvation haft thou en- 
 joyed, O my foiil ? What Halcyon-days cf gofpel- 
 light and grace haft thou had ? How have the pre* 
 cious gales of grace blown to no purpoie upon thee ! 
 and the fpirit waited arid driven with thee in vain ? 
 The kingdom of heaven (being opened in the gofpel- 
 difpenfttions) hnth fuffered violence. Multitudes 
 have been prefling into it in my days, and I rnyfelf 
 have fometimes been almoft perfuaded, and not far 
 from the Kingdom of God : I have gone as far as 
 conviction of fin and mifery : yea, I have been car- 
 ried by the power of .the gofpel, to refolve and 
 purpoie to turn to God, and become a new crea- 
 ture ; but Tin hath been too fubtil and deceitful for 1 
 me : I fee, my resolutions were but as an early 
 cloud, br morning dew ; anc^ now my heart is cold 
 and dead again, fettled upon its lees: Ah ! I have 
 caufe to fear and tremble, left God hath left me 
 under that curie, Rev. ft'xik 1 r. Let him that is 
 filthy be fit hy fill. I fear I am hecome as that miry 
 place, Ezek. xlvii. it. that fhaii not be healed by 
 the dreams of the Gofpel, but -given to Jalt, and 
 curfed into perpetual bnrrenels. Ah Lord wilt thou 
 leave me fo ! and (hall thy Ipirit ftrive no more 
 with me? Then it had been good for me that I had 
 never been born. Ah, if 1 have trifled out this fea- 
 fon and irrecoverable loft it, tbcji I may take up 
 
Or Navigation Sfmttmlized. 63 
 
 that lamentation, Jer. viii. 20, and lay, My harvefi 
 is pa/?, my fumwer is ended, and I am notfaved. 
 
 Every creature knows its time, even the Turtle, 
 Vrane and Swa/Zow, know the time of their coming, 
 Jer. viii. 7. How brutifli am I, that have not known 
 the time of my vifitation ! O thou that art the 
 Lord or life and time, command one g i a:ious feafon 
 more for me, and make it effectual to me, before I 
 go hence, and be feen no mofe ? 
 
 THE POEM 
 
 " A frefh and whiftting gale prefents to day, - 
 
 5 But now the fhlp's not ready ; winds muft iray, 
 
 '■* And wait the fea»men*s leifure. Well, to morroVP 
 
 '**■ They will put out j but then, unto their forro\v a 
 
 *' That wind is fpent, and by that means they gaify 
 
 *' Perchance a mouth's repentance, if not twain. 
 
 •"• At laft another, offers now they're gone ; 
 
 ** But e're they gain their port, the market's done: 
 
 ft For every wcrlc and perpofc under heaven, 
 
 *■ A proper time and feafch Gpd hath given. 
 
 ** The fowls of heaven, f wallow turtle, crane, 
 
 M Do apprehend it, and put us to fhame. 
 
 u Man hath his feafon too ; but that mif-fpentj 
 
 ** There's time enough his folly to repent. 
 
 i* Eternity's before him, but therein 
 
 '** \q more fuch golden hours as theft have been. 
 
 u When thefe art pdft awsy, then you mall find 
 
 •* That Proverb true, rrce/fcaS bald behind. 
 
 •' DeJajj are danftraui ; f^e that you difce~n 
 
 ■* Your proper feafons. O that you would learn 
 
 '< This wifdomfrom thofe fools that come too late 
 
 v « With frjiclefs cries, when Chrift has ftttt the gate/ 
 
A. Ndzv Compajs for Seamen 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 P>y Navigation cue place /lores another ; 
 And bj communion <uce mail help each ether. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THE mod wife God hath fo difpenfed his boun- 
 ty to the fevefal nations of the world, that 
 one (landing in need of anothers commodities, 
 there might be a fociable commerce and traffkk 
 maintained amongfl: them all, and all combining in 
 a common league, may by the help of navigation, 
 exhibit mutual fuccours to each other. The fta- 
 ple commodities proper to each country, I find 
 thus expreiled by the poet, Bart. Coll. 
 
 Hence comes our ftigars from Canary iiles, 
 -From Candy currents, rriufkadels, and oyls % 
 From the Moluccoes, (piles ; balfamum 
 
 m Egypt 5 odours from Arabia come ; 
 From India gums, rich drugs and ivory ; 
 From Syria mummy ; black, red ebony 
 Frotti burning Chui ; from Peru, pearl and gold ; 
 From RuJJia turs, to keep the rich from coid. 
 From Florence filks ; irom Sprfin fruit, iaffron, lacks ; 
 From Denmark amber, c'ofdage, firs, and flax ; 
 •m Holfandfabpt ; horfe irom the banks bl ; Rhine ; 
 . ind wool : ail Lands, as God diftributes 
 the world's trealur'e pay their fiandry tributes. 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 67 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 Thus hath God diftribnted the more rich and 
 precious gifts and graces of his fpiru among his 
 people : Some excelling in one grace, iome in ano- 
 ther, tho' every grace, in fome degree, be m them, 
 all ; even as in Nature, tho' there be all the facul- 
 ties in all, yet fome faculties are in fome more lively 
 and vigorous than in others ; fome have a more 
 vigorous eye others a more ready ear, others a more 
 voluble tongue ; lb it's in fnirituals, Abraham ex- 
 ceh'd in Faith, Job in patience, John in love, Thefc 
 were their peculiar excellencies. All the elect vei- 
 feis are not of one quantity; yet even thofe that 
 excel others in fome particular grace, come fhort in 
 other refpects of thofe they lb excelled in the form- 
 er, and may be much improv'd by converfe with 
 fuch as in fome refpects are much below them. 
 The folid, wile, and judicious chriftian may want 
 that livelinefs of affections, and tendernefs of heart, 
 that appears in the weak ; and one that excels in 
 gifts and utterance, may learn humility from the 
 very babes in Chrift. 
 
 And one principal reafon of this different diftri- 
 button, is to maintain fellowfhip among them all, 
 1 Cor. xii. 21, " The head cannot lay to the feet 
 1 have no need of you." As in a family, where 
 there is much bufinei's to be done, even the little 
 children bear a part, according to their ftrength, 
 Jer. vii. 18: " The children gather wood the 
 fathers kindle the fire, the women knead the dough." 
 So in the .family of Chrift, the weakeft chriftian i:> 
 ierviceable to the ftrong. 
 
6& A New Compa/s for Seamen. 
 
 There be precious treafures in thefe earthen ve& 
 fels, for which w<* fhould trade by mutual, commu- 
 nion. The precioufnefs of the treafure, mould 
 dfaw out our defires and endeavours after it ; and 
 the confideration. of the brittlenels of thole vefTels 
 in which they are kept, fhould caufe us to be the 
 more expeditious in our trading with them, and 
 make the quicker returns : For when thofe vetlels 
 (I mean the bodies of the faints; are broken by 
 death, there is no more to be gotten out of them, 
 That treafure of grace which made them fuch pro- 
 fitable, pleafant, and defirable companions on earth, 
 then afcends with them into heaven, where every 
 grace receives its adolefence and perfection : And 
 then though they be ten thoufand times more 
 excellent and delightful than ever they were 
 on earth, yet we can have no more communion 
 with them, till we come to glory ourfelves. Now 
 therefore it behoves us to. be enriching ourfelves by 
 communication of what God hath dropt into us, 
 and improvement of them ; as one well notes. 
 
 We (hould do by faints, as we uie 
 M<. Gurnai. to do by fome choice book lent us 
 
 for a few days, we fhould fix in our 
 tnempries, or tranferibe all the choice notions w& 
 facet with in it, that they may be our own when 
 the book is called for, and we can have it no longer 
 by us. 
 
 £ E F L E C r I M 
 
 Lord, how fcotf do I come of my duty in com- 
 municating to, or receiving good by others ! My. 
 foul is either empty and barren, or if there be any 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 6g 
 
 tfeafure in if, yet it is but as a treafure locked up 
 in fome cheft, whofe key is loft, when it mould be 
 opened for the ufe of others. Ah Lord ! I have 
 finned greatly, not only by vain words, but finfu! 
 filence, I have been of little ufe in the world. 
 
 How little alio have I gotten by communion 
 Vvith others ? Some, it may be, that are of my ovvrt 
 fize or Judgment, or that I am otherwife obliged to, 
 I Can delight to converfe with : But O, where is 
 that largenefs of heart, and general delight I fhould 
 have to, and in all thy people ? How many of my 
 Old dear acquaintance are now in heaven, whofe 
 tongues were as choice fiver, while they were here, 
 ]?rov. x. 20. And blefled fouls, how communica- 
 tive were they of what thou gaveft them ? O what 
 an improvement had I made of my talent this way, 
 Jiad 1 been diligent ! Lord pardon my neglect of 
 thole fweet and bleiTed advantages. O let all my 
 delight be in thy faints, who are the excellent of the 
 earth. Let me never go out of their company ^ 
 without an heart more warmed, quickned, and en- 
 larged, than when I came amongft them. 
 
 THE POEM, 
 
 <• To fcveral nations God doth fo diftribute 
 «« His bounty, that each one muft pay a tribute 
 V Unto each other. Europe cannot vaunt, 
 *' And fay, oSAfrita I have no want, 
 *' America and Afie need not ftrive, 
 •« Which of itfclf can bed fubiift and live. 
 « 4 Each QCffftrks want, in (omcthiofc d«th rnzinta;?. 
 
A New Compap for Seamm 
 
 «« Commerce betwixt them all. Such Is tke aim 
 
 «« And end of God, who doth difpenfe and give 
 
 «« More grace to fome, their brethren to relieve. 
 
 « f This makes the fun ten thoufand times more bright 
 
 " Becaufe it is difTafive of its light, 
 
 c< Itsbca.r.s are gilded glorioufly } but then 
 
 M Tnis prop, rty coth gild them o'er again. 
 
 " Should fun, mocn, ftars, ; mpropriate all their light, 
 
 •' What difrral darknefs would the world benight ? 
 
 *' On this account men hate the vermin brood, 
 
 *« Becaufe ihey take in much, but do no good. 
 
 «« What harm, if I at yours, my candle light : 
 
 " Except thereby, I make your room more bright. 
 
 «« He that, by pumping, fucks and craws the fpring, 
 
 ** New dreams, end fleeter, to that well doth bring. 
 
 «' Grace is a treafure in an earthen pot $ 
 
 *' When death hath dafht it, no more can be got 
 
 " Out cf that vefiel : Then, while it Is whole, 
 
 « Get out the trcafure to enrich your fowl/ 1 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 The rocks ahifa> though feas again ft them rage, 
 Sp Jkail the Church, which is God's heritage. 
 
 OBSERFJTIO N. 
 
 THE rocks, though fituate in the boifterous 
 and tempeftuous ocean, yet abide fiim and 
 immovable from age to age : The impetuous waves 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. ji 
 
 dam againft them with great violence, but cannot 
 remove them out of their pbce. .And althougli 
 fometimcs they wafh over them, and make them to 
 difippear, yet there they remain fixt and impregna- 
 ble. 
 
 A P P UJC A T I O N. 
 
 This is a lively emblem of the condition of the 
 church> amidft all dangers and oppositions where- 
 with it is encountred and and affaulted in this 
 world. Thefe metaphorical waves roar and beat 
 with violence againft it, but with as little fuccefs as 
 the fea againft the rock, Mat. xvi. 18. " Upon 
 this rock will I build my church, and the (gates) 
 of hell (hall not prevail againft it." The gates of 
 hell are the power and policy of hell \ for it is con- 
 vinced to be an allufive fpeech to t\iQ gates of the 
 Jews wherein their ammunition for war was lodg- 
 ed, which alio were the feats of judicature, there 
 fate the judges : but yet, theft- gates of hell fhall 
 hot prevail. Nay, this rock is not only invincible 
 in the mid It 6f their violence, but: aao breaks all 
 that dalb againft it, Zech. xii. 3. " In that day 
 I will make Jernfaiem a burdenibme ftone for all 
 people : all that burden themfelves with it, fhall be? 
 cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be 
 gathered together, againft iu" An allufion to 
 one that eifays to roll iome great ftone againft the 
 hill, which at la ft returns upon him, and crufhes 
 him to piecfa%. 
 
 And thereaion why it is thus firm and impregna- 
 ble, is not from itfelf ; for alas, {0 ccnfidered, it is 
 
^ 
 
 A New Compifs for Stamen 
 
 weak arid obhdxious to ruin ; but frdm the al- 
 mighty power of God, which guards and prefcrves 
 it day and night, Pial. xlvi. 5, 6. (i God is in the 
 ttiidft of her, ilie (hail not be moved * God ihall 
 help her, and that right early.'* Vatab. Bum 
 afpicit mane. When the morning appears; Which 
 notes (faith Cnhin) God's afliduous and conftant 
 help arid iuccour, which is extended in all dangers, 
 as conftantfy as the fun rifes. And this aftiduous 
 fuccour to his people, and their great (eeurity there- 
 by, is fet forth in the ferijptures by a pleaiarit Varie- 
 ty of metaphors and emblems, Zech.it, j, "I 
 (faith the Lord) will be a wall of fire rotfad about 
 it. Some thtnlt this phraie alludes to the Cbe--u- 
 : t< e way of the tree of life witft 
 rds : Others, to the fiery chariots 
 round lit Datharri, where Eliiria was : but moft 
 think \z to be an afuii'on to an ancient cuftom of 
 Hers in the detarts ; who to prevent the affairs 
 ci wiicj be a lis in the night, made a Circulm fire 
 round about them, which was as a wall to them. 
 Thus will God be to his people, a wall cf fire, which 
 none can lcale. So Exod. iii, 3, 4, 5. We have 
 an excellent emblem of the churches low and dan- 
 gerous condition, and admirable prefervation. You 
 have here, both a maivel and a fnyffery i The mar- 
 vel was to fee a bufh all on fire and yet not confirm- 
 ed. The myflery is this : the bum reprefented 
 the fad condition of the church in Egypt ; the fire 
 flarriiiig upon ir, the grievious affiicYions, troubles, 
 and bondage it was in there ; the remaining of the 
 bxlfh Unccniumed, the ilrange and admirable pre- 
 iervation of the church in thofe troubles. It lived 
 there as the three rioble jfew, untouched in the 
 midil of a burning fiery furnace : And the angel bf 
 the Lord in a flame of fire in the midfi of the bui'B, 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 73 
 
 tvas toothing elfe bat the Lord Jefus Chriji, power- 
 fully and gracioufly prefent with his people, amidft 
 all their dangers and iufferings. The Lord is ex- 
 ceeding tender o\^r them, and jealous tor them, as 
 that expreffion imports, Zech. ii. 8. "He that 
 touches you, touches the apple of mine eye," He 
 that ftrikes at them* ftrikes at the face of God ; 
 and at the mod excellent part of the face, the eye ; 
 and at the moll: tender and precious part of the eye 
 the apple of the eye. And yet (as a learned mod- 
 ern oberves) this people of whom he ufes this ten- 
 er and dear expreltioh, were none of the beft of K- 
 rael neither ; but .the refidue that ftaid behind in 
 Babylon^ when their brethern were gone to rebuild 
 the temple ; and yet over thefe, is he as tender, as 
 a man is over his eye. 
 
 k E F L EC T I O N 
 
 And is the fecurity of the church To great I and 
 its preiervation fo admirable, amidft 'all ftorms and 
 tempefts! then, why artrhoufo prone and fubjecl to 
 'delpondj O my foul, in the day of Shift trouble ? 
 Senfible thou waft, and ougnteft to be ; but no 
 reafon to hang down the head through difcourage- 
 ment, much lefs to forfake Sion in her dift'refs, for 
 !:ear of being ruined with heir. 
 
 What David fpake to Ahiathar, 1 Sam. xxi'i. 23; 
 that may Zion fpeak to all her fons and daughters 
 in all their diftrefles : u Though he llikt feeketh 
 thy fire, feeketh mine alfo -> yet with me (halt thou 
 be infafeguard. God hath entailed great falvation 
 and deliverance upon Sion j and bieiTed are all her 
 friends and favourites ; the rock of ages is ibS de- 
 fence. Fear not therefore, O my foul> though the 
 K 
 
74 A New Compdfe for SeamM 
 
 hills be removed out of their place, and caft into the 
 midllof the fea. O let my faith triumph, and my 
 heart rejoice upon this ground of comfort. I fee the 
 fame rocks now* and in the fame place and conditi- 
 on they were many years ago. Though they h?Ve en- 
 dured many ftorms, yet there they abide ; and fo 
 fhall SjdH, when the proud waves have (pent their 
 fury and rage againft it* 
 
 THE POEM, 
 
 !i Mij'potamit, fituate in the fcas, 
 May reprefent the church, or if you pleafe, 
 A rock, o'er which the waves do wafh and fwilf. 
 May figure it ; chufe either, which you will. 
 Winds drive upon thofe fsas, and make a noifc, 
 The lofty waves fometirhes' lift up their voice, 
 And fweliing high, fucceflively do beat 
 With violence againft it, then retreat. 
 They break themfelves, but it abides their (hock , 
 And when ^heir rage is fpent, there (lands the rock- 
 Then they are out, that do affirm and vote, 
 Peace, pomp, and fplendour is the churches Note. 
 And they defcrve n) lefs reproof, that arc 
 In Zion y s troubles ready to defpair. 
 This rock amidir. far ftronger rocks do lie, 
 Which arc its fence* fo deeb, fo thick, ft high* 
 They can't be batter\i j itdj or undermln'd : 
 And thefe, en?iron'd by them, daily find 
 'Their bread afcertain'd ; waters too fecur'd 
 Then (bout and iiuj, yc that are thus inimur'^; 
 
75 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 What dangers run thev for a little gains, 
 
 IVhofor then fouls, would ne'er take half the fains ! 
 
 HOW exceeding foiicitous and adventurous are 
 Teamen for a fmall portion of the world ? 
 How prodigal of ftrength and life for it ? They 
 will run to the ends of the earth, engage in a thouf- 
 and dangers, upon the hopes and probability of get- 
 ting a fmall eftate. Per mare, per terras, per milk 
 perk u la current. Hopes of gain ,makes them willing 
 to adventure their Jiberty, yea, their lite ; and en- 
 courages them to endure heat, cold, and hunger, 
 and a thoufand ftreights and difficulties, to which 
 they are frequently expofed. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 How hot and eager are mens affections after the 
 world ? And how remifs and cold toward things 
 eternal ? They are careful, and troubled about ma- 
 ny things, butfeldom mind the great and neceilary 
 matters, Luke x. 41. They can rife early, go to. 
 bed late, eat the bread of careful n.efs : But when 
 did they fo deny themfelves for their poor fouls ? 
 Their heads are full of defigns and projects to get 
 or advance an eftate : " We will go into fuch a 
 city, continue there a year, and buy and fell, and 
 get gain," James iv. 13* This is the to ergon, the 
 
}& ~A Nw Compafs for Seamen 
 
 majler-defign, which engrofleth all their time, ftud- 
 les and contrivances. The will hath paft a decree 
 for it, the heart and affections are fully let out to 
 it, they will be rich, t Tim. vi. 9. This decree of 
 the will, the lpirit of God takes deep notice of it ; 
 and indeed it is the cleared and fulled diicovery of 
 man's portion and condition : For, look what is 
 higheft in the effimation, firft and lafl in the 
 thoughts, and upon which we fpend our treafure, 
 Mat. vi. 20, 2t, The heads and hearts of faints are 
 full of felicitous cares and fears about their fpiritual 
 condition : The great defign they drive on, to 
 which all other things are but {parraga^ things on 
 the by, is to make lure their calling and election. 
 This is the ? (pondus) the weight a:xi°byafs of their 
 ipirit : if their hearts ftray and wander after any o~ 
 iher thing, this reduces them a^ain, 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Lord, this hath been, my manner from my youth, 
 may the carnal minded men fay ; I have been la- 
 bouring for the meat that periilieth ; difquieting 
 myiejfin vain, full of deiigns and projects for the 
 world, and unwearied in my endeavours to compafs 
 an earthly treafure 5 yet therein I have either been 
 checkt and difappointed by providence ; or if I 
 have obtained, yet I am no fooner come to enjoy 
 that content and comfort I pronvfed myfelf in it, 
 but I am ready to leave it all, to be ftript out of it 
 by death, and in that day ail my thoughts perifh. 
 But in the mean time, what have I done for my 
 foul ? When did 1 ever break a night's fleep, or 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualtzed. 77 
 
 deny and pinch myfelf for it ? Ah fool that I am ! 
 to nourilh and pamper a vile body, which mud 
 ihortly lie under the clods and become a loath fome 
 carcafe ; and in the mean time, neglect and undo 
 my poor foul, which partakes of the nature of an- 
 gels, and mult live for ever. I have kept others' 
 vineyards, but mine own vineyard I have not kept : 
 I have been a perpetual drudge and flave to the 
 world j in a worfe condition hath my foul been, 
 than others that are condemned to the mines. 
 Lord change my treafure, and change my heart : 
 O let it fuffice that 1 been thus long labouring in 
 the fire, for very vanity. Now gather up my 
 heart and affections in thyfelf, and let my great de- 
 fign now be, to fecure a fpecial intereft in thy blef- 
 fed felf, that I may once fay, To me to live is 
 Chrift, 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 <* The face of man impreft and ftampt en Gold, 
 
 f( With crown and royal fcepters we behold. 
 
 f l No wonder that an humane face it gains, 
 
 " Since head, heart, foul and body if obtains. 
 
 « Nor is it ftrange a fcepter it fhould have, 
 
 f* That to its yoke the world doth fo enflave, 
 
 f« Charm'd with its chinking note, away they go 
 
 f< Like eagles to the carcafs, ride and row, 
 
 " Thrq' worlds of hazards foolifh creatures run, 
 
 f* That into its embraces they may come. 
 
 " Poor Indians in the mines my heart condoles, 
 
 f* But feldom turns afide to pity fouls, 
 
 << Which are the Haves indeed, that toil and fpend 
 
IS A New Compafs for Seamm 
 
 " Themfelres upon its fervice, Surely, fr/end, 
 
 " They are but fextons to prepare and make 
 
 " Thy grave within thofe mines, whence they do take 
 
 " And dig their ore. Ah ! many fouls, I fear, 
 
 " Whofe bodies live, yet lie entombed there. 
 
 " Is gold fo tempting to you ? Lo, Chrift ftarid?, 
 
 « With length of days, and riches in his hanls. 
 
 " Gold in the fire tried he freely proffers j 
 
 i* But few regard or take thofe golden offers. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Millions of creatures in the feas are fed \ 
 Why then are faints in doubt of daily bread ? 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THERE are multitudes of living creatures m 
 > the Tea. The Pjalmift faith, there are in it 
 " Things creeping innumerable, both {mall and 
 great beads/' Pial; civ. 25. And we read, Gen. i. 
 20. That when God bieiTed the waters he faid, 
 ht the writers bring forth abundantly, both fifh and 
 fowl, that move in it, and fly above it. Yet all 
 thofe multitudes of fifh and fowl, both in fea and 
 land, are cared and provided for, Pfal. cxlv. 15, 16. 
 " Thou giveft them their meat in due feafon ; thou 
 opened- thy hand, and fatisffefi the defire of every 
 living thing." 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. jf 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 If God takes care for the fifhes of the fea, and 
 fowls of the air, much more will he care and pro* 
 vide for thofe that fear him. " When the poor 
 and needy feeketh water, and there is hone, and 
 their tongue faileth -for thrift ; I the Lord will hear 
 them, 1 the God of Ifrael will not foriake them, 
 Ifa. xli. 17. Take no thought for your life [faith 
 the Lord) what ye fhali eat, or what ye (hall drink $ 
 or for the body what ye fhali put On :" Which 
 he backs with an argument from God's providence 
 over the creature, and enforceth it with a {much 
 rather) -upon them, Mat. vi, 25, £f< God would 
 have his people without carefuhiejs (i. e.) anxious 
 care, 1 Cor. vii. 32. * c And to call their care up- 
 on him, for he careth for them," 1 Pet. v. 7. 
 There be twd main arguments fuggefeed in the 
 gofpel, to quiet and fatisfie the hearts of faints in 
 this particular : The one is, that the gift of Jefus 
 Chrift amounts to more than all thefe things come 
 to ? Yea, in bellowing him, he has given that 
 which virtually and eminent!}' comprehends all 
 thefe inferiour mercies in it, Rom. 8. 32. " He 
 that fpared not his own Son but delivered him up 
 icr us all ? how, mall he not with him freely give 
 us ail things ? And 1 Gor. iii. 22. All things are 
 yours, and ye are Chrift's, and Chrift is God's," 
 Another argument is, that God gives thefe tempo- 
 ral things to thofe he never gave his Chrift unto, 
 and therefore there is no great matter fh them : 
 Tea, to thofe, which in a little while are to be 
 
8o A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 thruft into hell, Pfal. xvit. 14. Now, if God 
 clothe and feed his enemies, if (to allude to tha$j 
 Luke xii. 28.) He clothes this grafs, which to day 
 is in its pride and glory in the fields and tomorrow 
 is caft into the oven, into hell. How much more 
 will he cloath and provide for you that are faints ? 
 
 This God that feeds all the creatures, is your 
 father, and a father that never dies ; and therefore 
 you fhall riot be as expofed orphans, that are the 
 children of fuch a father. "For he hath laid, I 
 will never leave you, nor forfake you 3 " Heb. xiii. 
 g. I have read of a good woman, that iri all wants 
 and diftrefTes, was wont to encourage lierfeJf. with 
 that word, 2 Sam. xxii. 47. The Lord/iveth. But 
 one time being in a deep diftrefs, and forgetting 
 that confolation, one of her little children came to 
 her and faid, Mother, why weep ye fo ? What is God 
 dead now ? Which words from a child, fbamed 
 her out of her unbelieving fears, and quickly 
 •brought her fpirit to reft. O Saint ! whilft God 
 lives, thou canft not want what is good for thee. 
 
 How iweet a life might chriftians live, could they 
 but bring their hearts to a full fubjeclicn to the 
 difpofing will of God ! to be content not only with 
 what he commands and approves, but alio with 
 what he allots and appoints. It was a fweet reply, 
 that a gracious woman once made upon her death 
 bed, to a friend that afked her whether fhe were 
 more willing to live or die ? She anlwer'd, I am 
 pleas'd with what God pleafeth. Yea, laid her 
 rriend, but if God mould refer it to you> which 
 would you chufe ? Truly, ( faith /he) if God mould 
 refer k to me, I would refer it to him again. Ah 
 bleil life, when the will is fwallow'd up in the will 
 of God, and the heart at reft in his care and love, 
 and plca r cd with all his app>oiritirie*rit$ ! 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized* it 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 I remember my fault this day, may many a gra- 
 cious foul fay. Ah how faithlefs and diftruftml 
 have I been notwithstanding the great fecurity God 
 hath given to my faith, both in his word and works ! 
 
 my loul, thou haft greatly finned therein, and 
 dishonoured thy Father ! I have been worfe to my 
 Father, than my children are to -me. The"y trou- 
 ble not their thoughts with what they (hall eat or 
 drink, or put on, but truft to my care and provifion 
 for that : Yet I cannot truft my Father, though 
 
 1 have have ten thoufand times more reafon fo to 
 do, than they have to truft me, Mat. f. 21. Sure- 
 ly, uniels I were jealous of my Father's affection, I 
 could rYot be fo dubious of his provifion for me. 
 Ah, I fhould rather wonder that I have fo much* 
 than repine that I have no more. J mould rather 
 have been troubled that I have done no more for 
 God, than that I have received no more from God. 
 I have not proclaimed it to the world by my con- 
 verfation, that I have found a fufftciency in him a- 
 lone, as the faints have done, Hab. iii. if, 18. 
 How have I debafed the faithfulnefs and ail fuffi- 
 ciencyof God, and magnified theie earthly trifles, 
 by my anxiety about them ? Had I had more faith, a 
 light purfe would not have made fuch an heavy, 
 heart. Lord how often haft thou convinced me of 
 this tolly, and put me to the bktfh, when thou hafl 
 confuted my unbelief; fo that I have refolved nev- 
 er to diftruft thee more, and yet new exigencies re« 
 new; this corruption ? How contradictory alfo hath 
 my heart and my prayers been ? I pray for them 
 
 L 
 
Sz A Neiv Compajs for Seamen 
 
 conlitionnlly, and with fubmiifion to thy will : I 
 flJtift h:ive chern ; yet this hath heen the language 
 of my heart anJ Jite, O convince me of this fol- 
 ly. 
 
 T H E P O E M, - 
 
 " Variety of enfjewa fill are caught 
 
 e < Out ofjhe fea, and to our tables brought j 
 
 *« " Ve pick the chrTceft bits, and then we fay, 
 
 C{ We are fuffic*d 5 cone, nov/,take away. 
 
 tl The table's voile J, you have done j but fain' 
 
 « 1 would perfuade to have it brought again. 
 
 " The fweeteft bit of all remains behind 
 
 " Which through yo^r want of /kill, you could not find, 
 
 * l A bil for faith, have you not found it ? Then 
 
 «' I have made but half a meal ; come tafte agen, 
 
 «< Hafl thou confidered (Oray foul) that hand 
 
 " "Which feeds thofe multitudes in Tea and land ? 
 
 <( A double mercy in it thou fbould fee j 
 
 " It fed them iirft, and then with them fed thee. 
 
 €( Food in the waters we mould think were fcant 
 
 " For fuch a multitude, yet none do want. 
 
 " What numerous flocks of birds above me f!y ? 
 
 " Whn faw I One, through want fall down and die 3 
 
 " They gather what his hand to them doth brinj, 
 
 " Tho' but a worm, and at that feaft can fmg> 
 
 " How full a table doth my Father keep ? 
 
 " Blufh then, my naughty heart, repent and weep ; 
 
 " How faithlefs and difti uftful haft thou been, 
 
 " Although his care and love thou oft haft feen > 
 
 " Thus'in a Angle dim you have a feaft, 
 
 " Your fvft and fesond courfe, the laft the bofly 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized, Ij 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Sea-waters drained through the earth are fiveet -, 
 So are th* afflictions zvhich God's people meet. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THE waters of the fea in themfelves, are 
 brackifh and unpleafant, yet being exhaled 
 by the fun, and condejnfed into clouds, they fall 
 down in pleafant fhowers : or if drained through 
 the earth, their property is thereby altered ; and 
 that which was fo fait in the fea, becomes exceed- 
 ing fweet and pleafant in the fprings. This we 
 find by conftant experience, the fweetefl; cryflal 
 fpring came from the fea, Ecclef. i. 7, 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 Afflictions in themfelves are evil, Arnos ii. 6. 
 Very bitter and unpleafant. See Heb. xii. xi. 
 Yet not morally and intrinfically evil, as fin is ; for 
 if fo, the holy God would never own it for his own 
 act, as he doth, Mic. iii. %. but always difclaimeth 
 fin, Jam. i. 3. Befides, if it were fo evil, it could 
 in no cafe, or refpect, be the object of our election 
 and defire ; as in fome cafes it ought to be, Heb. 
 xi. xxv. But it is evil, as it is the fruit of fin, and 
 grievous unto fenie, Heb. xiv. 11. But though it 
 be thus brackifh and unpleafant in itfclf, yet paf- 
 fing through Chrifl, and die covenant, it lofes that 
 ungrateful property, and becomes pleafant m the 
 
$ 4 4 Nezv Compajs for Seamen ■ 
 
 fruits and effecls thereof, unto believers, Heb. xii. 
 ii. 
 
 Yea, fuch are the blefled fonts thereof, that they 
 are to account it all joy, when they fall into divers 
 afflicuons, Jam. i. 2. Ddyfd could blefs God, that 
 he was afflicled ; and many a faint hath done the 
 like. A good woman once compared her afflictions 
 to her children: « For (Jaiih foe) they put me in 
 pain in bearing them ; yet as I know not which 
 child, fo neither which affliction I could be with- 
 out." 
 
 Sometimes the Lord fandiiies affliction to difco- 
 ver the corruption that is in the heart, Deut. viii. 
 2. It is a furnace to mew tht drofs. Ah ! when 
 a (harp affliction comes, then the pride, impatiency, 
 and unbelief of the heart appears. Matura vexatd 
 prodlt feipfam. When the water is flirred, then the 
 mud and filthy fediment that lay at the bottom 
 riles. Little (faith the afflicted foul) did I think, 
 there had been in me that pride, felf-love, diftruft 
 of God, carnal fear, and unbelief, as I now find. O 
 where is my patience, my faith, my glory in tribu- 
 lation r I could not have imagined the fight of 
 death would have fo appalled me, the lofs. of° out- 
 ward things fo have pierced me. Now what a 
 blefled thing is this, to have the heart thus dis- 
 covered ? 
 
 Again : Sanctified afflictions diicovcrthe empti- 
 nets and vanity of the creature. Now the Lord 
 hath Rained its pride, and vailed its tempting fplen- 
 dour, by this or that affliction ; and the foul lees 
 what an empty, fhallow, deceitful thing it k. The 
 world (as one hath truly ob erred) is then only 
 great in our eyes when we are full of fenfe and feif: 
 But now affliction makes us more fp'rirual, and 
 t'iCn it is nothing. Jt drive? them nearer ro God, 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. %$ 
 
 makes them fee the necefiity of the life of faith, 
 with multitudes of other benefits. 
 
 But yet thefe fweet fruits of affliction do not na- 
 turally, and of their own accord, fpring from it : 
 No, we may as well look for grapes from thorns, or 
 Jigs from tbi files, as for fuch fruits from affliction, 
 till Chrift' s fanctitying hand and art have pad upon 
 them. 
 
 The reafon why they become thus fweet and 
 pleafant (as I noted before) is, becaufe they run now 
 into another channel ; Jefus Chrift hath removed 
 them from mount Ebel to Gerezim ; they are no 
 more the effects of vindictive wrath, but paternal 
 chaftifement. And (as Mr. Cafe 
 well notes) " A teaching affliction Cor ^ on > ™™* 
 is to the faints, the refult of all the tIon ' pase l82 - 
 offices of Jefus Chrift. As a king, he chaftens ; 
 as a prophet, he teacheth, viz. by chaftening ; 
 and as a prieft, he hath purchafed this grace of the 
 father, that the dry rod might blofTonv, and bear 
 fruit. " Behold then, a fanctified affliction is a cup, 
 whereinto Jefus chrift hath wrung and preft the 
 juice and virtue of all his mediatory offices. Surely, 
 that mutt be a cup of generous, royal wine, like that 
 in the flipper, a cup of bleffing to the people of God, 
 
 REFLECTION, 
 
 Hence may the unfanctified foul draw matter of 
 fear and trouble, even from its unfanctified troubles. 
 And thus it may reflect upon itfelf ; O my foul, 
 what good haft thou gotten by all, or any of thy 
 afflictions ? God's rod hath been dumb to thee, or 
 thou deaf to it. I have not learned one holy In- 
 
86 J New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 ftruction from it : My troubles have left me the 
 fame, or worfe than they found me ; my heart was 
 proud, earthly, and vain before, and fo it remains 
 ftill : They have not purged out, but onlv given 
 vent to the pride, murmur, and atheifm of my 
 heart. I have been in my afflictions, as that wick- 
 ed Ahaz Was in his, ; ron. xxviii. 22. " Who 
 in the midft of his diftrefs, yet trefpafTed more and 
 more againft the Lord/' When I have been in 
 ftorms.at fea, or troubles at home, my foul 
 within me hath been as a raging fea, cafting 
 up mire and dirt. Surely this rod is not the 
 rod of God's children. I have proved but drofs in 
 the furnace, and I frar the Lord will put me away 
 as^ drofs, as he threatens to do by the wicked, Pfal. 
 cxix. 1 19. 
 
 Hence alfo mould gracious iouls draw much en- 
 couragement and comfort amidft all their troubles. 
 O rhefe are the fruits of God's fatherly love to me I 
 Why mould I fear in the day of evil ? or tremble 
 any more at affliction ? though they feem as a 
 ferpent at a diftance, yet are they a rod in hand. 
 O bleffed be that fkiliul and gracious hand, that 
 makes the rod the dry rod to^bloflbm, and bear 
 Rich precious fruit, 
 
 Lord ! what a myftery of love lies in this difpen- 
 fatlon ! That fm which firft brought afflict" ion in- 
 to the world, is now itfclf carried oat of the world 
 by affliction, Rom. v. 12. Ifa. vii. 9. O what 
 can fruftrate my faivation, when thofe very things 
 that feem. mod to oppoie it, are made fubfervient 
 to it ; and contrary to their own nature do pro- 
 mote and further it ? 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized, $7 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 *' 'Tis Grange to hear what different cenfures fall 
 
 '* Upon the fame affliction ; fome Jo call 
 
 « Their troubles fweet, fome bitter j others meet 
 
 « Them both mid-way, and call them bitter fweet. 
 
 «« But here's the queftion ftlli I fain would fee, 
 
 '* Why fweet to him and bitter unto me ? 
 
 " Thou drink'ft them dregs and all, but others fin'«l 
 
 «« Their troubles fweet, becaufe to them refm'd, 
 
 « And fan&ifi'd j which difference is beft, 
 
 « By fuch apt S ; milies as thefe expreft. 
 
 «< From fait and brackiih feas fumes rife and fly 
 
 " Which into clouds condensed obfcure the fkle, 
 
 * Their property there alter'd in few hours 
 
 •« Thofe brackim fumes fail down in pleafant fliowers 
 
 " Or as the dregs of wine and beer diftilPd 
 
 *' By limbeck, with ingredients, doth yield 
 
 *' A cordial water, though the lees were bitter, 
 
 " From whence the chymi^t did extract fuch liquor* 
 
 ts Then marvel not that one can kifs that rod, 
 
 < f Which makes another to blafpheme his God. 
 
 " O get your troubles fweet'ned and refin'd 
 
 -<« Or elfe they'll leave bitter effe&s behind. 
 
 « Saints troubles are a cord, let down by Iove> 
 
 Si To puUy up their hearts to things above 
 
$8 A Nezv Compafs for Seamen 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Seas within their bounds the Lord contains j 
 He aljo men and devils holds in chains. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 IT is a wonderful work of God ; to limit and 
 bound fuch a vaft and furious creature, as the 
 lea 5 which, according to the judgment of many 
 learned men, is higher than the earth ; and that it 
 hath a propenfion to overflow it, is evident, both 
 from its nature and motion ; were it not, that the 
 great God had laid his law upon it. And this is a 
 work wherein the Lord glories, and will be admir- 
 ed, Pfal. civ. 9. " Thou haft fet a bound that they 
 may not pafs over, that they turn not again to cov- 
 er the earth." Which it is clear they would do, 
 were they not thus limited. So Job. xxxviii. 8, 
 to, 1 1 . " Who fhut up the feas with doors, when 
 it brake forth, as if it had ilfued out of the womb ? 
 I brake up for it my decreed place, and fet bars 
 and doors, and faid, hitherto {halt thou come, but 
 no further ; and here fhall thy proud waves be 
 ftaid. 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 8j$ 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 And nolefs is the glorious power and mercy of 
 God difcovered in bridling the rage and fury of 
 Satan and h s inftrumcnts, that they break not in 
 upon the inheritance of the Lord, and dtftroy it. 
 " Surely, the wrath of man (hall praiie thee, 
 the remainder of wrath flult thou reftrain." Pfal. 
 lxxvi. 10. By which it is more than hinted, that 
 there is a world of rage and malice in the hearts of 
 wicked men, which fain would, but cannot vent it- 
 felf, becaufe the Lord retrains, or as the Hebrew, 
 Gtrds it up. Satan is the envious one, and his rage 
 is great againft the people of God, Rev. xuvi2. 
 But God holds him and all his inftruments in a 
 chain of providence 5 and it is well for God's people, 
 that it is fo. 
 
 They are limited as the fea, and fo the Lord in 
 a providential way ipeaks to them, hitherto (hall 
 you come, and no further. Sometimes he ties them 
 up fo fhort, that they cannot touch his people, 
 though they have the greateft opportunities and 
 advantages, Pfal. cv, 12, 13, I4 V .15. "When 
 they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, 
 arid ftrangers in it ; when they went from one na- 
 tion to another, from one kingdom to another peo- 
 ple : He fuffered no man to do them wrong ; yea, 
 he reproved kings for their fakes, faying, touth not 
 mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." 
 And fometimes he permits them to touch and 
 trouble his people, but then fets bounds and limits 
 to them, beyond which they muft not pafs. That 
 M 
 
fl® A New Cmpqftftr Seamen 
 
 js a pregnant text to this purpofe « Revel ;; , 
 Behold, the d,vi,fl,a,lcaft P fonneoi you o£ p »£ 
 
 Here are four remarkable limitations, upon fatan 
 «d his agent;, ln reference to the, people of God 
 
 a S 2?" w f , the per,ons - not 3 but fee ; 
 
 A limitation of the punimment, a priton, not a 
 
 STfcXJ? : A limitation ^ tlim « toK 
 
 end , for trial not rum ■ And laftly as to the ** 
 «*, not as long as they pleafe, but ten days. ' 
 
 REFLECTION, 
 
 i 
 
 O my foul, what marrow and fatnefs, comfort, and 
 confolation, rmyeft thou fuck from the breaft of 
 this truth, in the darkeft day of trouble ? Thou 
 £5 fao ^eflo W .Dgfea drives to overwhelm the 
 ea.tn \\ho has arretted it in itscourfe, and flout 
 its violence! Who has confined it to its placed 
 Certainly none other but the Lord. When I fee 
 |t threaten, the ihore with its proud, furious, and 
 intultmg waves, I wonder it doth not fwallow up 
 ail : iiut I fee it no fooner touch the fands, which 
 V'Od hath made it, bounds, but it retires, and as it 
 were with a kind of lubmiffion, relpecls thofe lim- 
 its winch God hath fet it. 
 
 Thus tl -e fierceft element is reprefi by the feeblcfl - 
 things^ 1 hou fetft alfo, how full of wrath and fury 
 wicked men are, how they rage like the troubled 
 »ea, and threaten to overwhelm *thee, and all 
 
 ubiHtf' Tak ' S fcd « V *e%4eror of German, lately puHi/hcd by 
 
 Authority, 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualize J. 91 
 
 r.he Lord's inheritance : and then the floods. of un> 
 ^odly men make thee afraid, yet are they retrained 
 fey an invifible gracious hand, that they cannot ex- 
 ecute their purpefe, nor perform their enterprise. 
 How full of devils and devilized men, is this lower 
 world ? Yet in the midft of them all haft thou 
 hitherto been preferved. O my foul admire and 
 adore that glorious power of God, by which thoU 
 art kept unto iaivatiori. Is. hot the pfefervation of 
 a faint in the midft of fuch hofts of enemies as great 
 a miracle, though not lb fenfible, as the preserva- 
 tion of thofe three noble jews in the "mid ft of the 
 fiery furnace, or Daniel in the den of lions ? For 
 there is as ftrong a propenfion in Satan; and wicked 
 men, to' deftroy the faints ; as in the fire to burn, 
 or a lion to devour. Q then let me,chearlu!ly ad- 
 drefs myfelf to the faithful difcharge of my duty, and 
 ft'and no longer in a flavilri fear of creatures, who 
 can have ho power againft me, but what is given 
 them from above, John xix. 11. And no more 
 mall be given than mall turn to the glory of God, 
 Plal. lxxvi. 1 0. and the advantage of my foul, Rom; 
 tiii. 28, 
 
 THE FOE M. 
 
 c? This world's a foreft, where from day t> day t 
 
 « Bears, wolves, and lions rangs and feek their prey 
 
 if Amid:1 them all poor harmltfs Lambs are fed, 
 
 <* And by their very dens in fafety led. 
 
 '« They roar up3n us, but are held in chains : 
 
 * l Our Shepherd, is their keeper, he mgiritaiiis 
 
$* A New Cmpafs for Seamm 
 
 " Our lot. Whj fhen mould we fo tremblm* {land ? 
 " We meet them, true, but in their leper's hand. 
 '• He that to ragmg feas fuch bounds hath put 
 « The souths of ravenous beafr can alfo fhut. 
 6t Sleep i.i the wood3,poor lambs yourfelves repofe 
 <* Upon his care, whofe eyes do never clofe. 
 ** If unbelief In you don't loofe their chain, 
 " Fear not their ftruggling, that's b -t all in v?iif. 
 ( *' If God can check the wav-s by fmalleft Sand 
 
 " A f.vined thread may hold thefe in his hand. 
 « Shun fin, ke?p clofc to Ch>Lt ; for other evils 
 " You need not ftar, tho' compact round with devils. 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 To fea without a comta r s none dare go j 
 Our courje without the word is even Jo. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 OF how great ufe anJ n-ceflky is (he compafs 
 to Tea men ? Though they can coaft a little 
 way by the iliore, yet they dare not venture far in- 
 to the ocenn without it. ft is their guide, and 
 directs and thapes their courfe for them : And if by 
 the violence of wiud and weather they are driven 
 befide their due courfe, yet by the help of this, they 
 are reduced and brought to rights again. It is 
 wonderful to confider, how by the help of this guide 
 they can run in adi-ed line many hundred leagues, 
 and at kit fall right with the fmalleft ifland ; which 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 93 
 
 is in the ocean, comparatively, but as the head of 
 a fmall pin Upon a table. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 What the corhpafs, and all other mathemat- 
 ical inflruments are to the navigator, that and 
 much more is the word of Gcd to us in our courfe 
 to heaven. This is our compafs to fleer our courfe 
 by, and it is truly touched ; he that orders his con- 
 verfatioh by it, (hall fafely arrive in heaten at laft. 
 Gal. vi. 16. As many as walk according to this rule, 
 peace be on them and mercy. 
 
 This word is as neceffary to us in our way to 
 glory, as a lamp or lanthorn is in a dark night, 
 Pfal. cxix. 105. That is a light fhining in a dark 
 place, till the day dawn, and the day-ftar arife in 
 our hearts, 2 Pet. i. 19. If any that profefs to 
 know it and own it as a rule, mifs heaven at laft ; 
 let them not blame the word for mifguiding them, 
 but their own negligent and deceitful hearts, that 
 (huffle in and out, and fhape not their courfe and 
 converlation according to its prefcriptions. 
 
 What blame can you lay upon the compafs, if 
 you (leer not exactly by it ? How many are there, 
 that neglecting this rule, will coaft it to heaven by 
 their own reafon ? No wonder fuch fall fliort and 
 perim in the way. This is a faithful guide, and 
 brings all that follow jt to the bleffed end, " Thou 
 /hall guide me with thy coimfel, and afterwards receive 
 me to gtery, Pfal. lxxiii, 24. The whole hundredth 
 and ninteenth Pfalm is (pent in commendation of 
 its tranlcendent excellency and ufefulnefs. Luther 
 profeft, that he prized it fo highly, that he would 
 
94 A tew 'Compa/s for Szameh 
 
 not take the whole world in exchange for one leaf 
 of it. Lay but this rule before you, and walk ac- 
 curately by it, and you cannot be out of your way 
 to heaven, Pfal. cxix. 30. / have chofen the way of 
 truth, {or ike true way ,) thy judgment have I 'laid 
 before me. Some indeed have opened their detrac- 
 ting blafphemous mouths againft it ; as Julian, that 
 curled apoftate, who feared not to iky, there was as 
 good matter in Phocillides as in Solomon, in Pin- 
 dams* Odes, as in David's Pfalrhs, 
 
 And the papifts generally flight it, making it a 
 lame imperfect rule 5 yea, making their own tradi- 
 tions the touchflorie of dodrines, and foundation of 
 faith. Montanus tells us, that although the apof- 
 tie would have fcrmons and fervice celebrated in a 
 known tongue, yet the church, for very good caufe, 
 hath otherwife ordered it. Gilford called it, the 
 mother of herefies. Bonner's chaplain judged it 
 worthy to be burnt as a ftrange doctrine. They 
 kt up their inventions above it, and frequently come 
 •in with a Non cbflante againft Child's inftitutions. 
 And thus do they make it void, or, as the word 
 xnateilcntes fighifies, Mat. xv. 6. Urilord it and 
 take away its authority as a rule. But thole that 
 have thus flighted it, and followed the by-paths un- 
 to which their corrupt hearts have led them, they 
 take not hold of the paths of life, and are now in 
 the depths of hell. All other lights, to which men 
 pretend, in the negletf: of this, 'are but falfe fires; 
 that will lead men into the pits and bogs of de- 
 duction at lad. & 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 And is thy word a compafs, to diredi my coune 
 *o glory ? o where am I tberi (ike to arrive at laft, 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. $$ 
 
 that in all my courfe have neglected it, and fleered 
 according to the counfel of my own heart !■ Lord, 
 I have not made thy word the man of my counfel, 
 but confulted with flefh and blood; I have not en- 
 quired at this oracle, nor ftudied it, and made it 
 the guide of my way 5 but walked after the fight 
 of my eyes, and the luft of my heart. Whither 
 Lord can I come at laft, but to hell, after this rate 
 and reckoning ? Some have flighted thv word pro- 
 felTedly, and I have flighted it praaically. I have 
 a poor foul embarqued for eternity, it is now floating 
 on a dangerous ocean, rocks and fands on every fide, 
 and I go a drift before every wind of temptation, 
 and know not where I am. Ah Lord, convince 
 rne of the danger of this condition. O convince 
 me of my ignorance in thy word, and the fatal con- 
 fequence and iffue thereof. Lord, kt me now re- 
 folve to ftudy, prize, and obey it ; hide it in my 
 heart, that I may not fin againft it : Open 
 my underflanding, that I may underftand the 
 fcriptures : Open my heart to entertain it in love. 
 O thou that haft been fo gracious to give a perfect 
 rule, give me alfo a perfect heart to walk by that 
 rule to glory ! 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 ' " This world's a fca, wherein a numerous fleet 
 " Of fhips are under fail. Here you (hall meet 
 «' Of every rate and fize ; Frigates, Galleons, 
 V The nimble ketches and fmall pr'ckeroons : 
 •! Seme tPttnd to this port, Come where winds and wcathei 
 
}6 A Nw Compafs for Seamm 
 
 « Will drive them, they are bound they know not whith#ft 
 
 A Some fteeraway for heaven, forne for hell ; 
 
 »« To which fome fteer, themfelves can hardly tell. 
 
 »« The winds do fhape their courfe, which tho' it blow 
 
 *\ From any p^int, befgre it they muft go. 
 
 u They are directed by the wind and tide, 
 
 «' That have no compafs to direel and guide i 
 
 «< For want of phis, muft run themfelves a ground, 
 
 *« Brave ihips are caft away, paor fouls are drown'4. 
 
 « Thy word our compafs is to guide our way 
 
 M To glory ; it reduces fuch as ftray. 
 
 « Lord, let thy word dwell richly in my heart, 
 
 " And make me fkilful in this heavenly art, 
 
 <* O let me underftand and be fo wife, 
 
 ** To know upon what point my country lies. 
 
 « And having fet my coufe dire&ly thither, 
 
 •* Great God preferve me in the fouleft weather, 
 
 " By reafon fome will coaft it : but I fear 
 
 <« Such coafters never will drop anchor there. 
 
 '« Thy word is truly toucht, and ftill dirt&s 
 
 f* A proper courfe which my bafe heart neglect 
 
 " Lord touch mine iron heart, and make it ft and 
 
 " Ppinting to thee, its loadftone to that land 
 
 " Of Reft above. Let every tempt ft drive 
 
 '* My foul, where it would rather be than live." 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 J^ook as the Sea by turns doth ebb a-djlcw ; 
 So thdr Elates, that uje it, come and go, 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THE fea hath its alternate courfe and motion, 
 its ebbings and flowings : no fooner is it 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized* §y 
 
 high-water, but it begins to ebb again^ and leave 
 the (hore naked and dry, which but a little before 
 it covered and over-flowed. And as its tides fo al- 
 io its waves are the emblem of inconftancy, dill 
 rolling and tumbling, this way and that, never 
 fixt and quiet; InftabUis unda : As fickle as a wave, 
 is common to a Proverb. See James i. 6. He thai 
 waveretb is like a wave cfthefea, driven with winds ^ 
 mdtofled. So Ifai. lvii. 20. // cannot reft. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 . Thus mutable and inconftant are all outward 
 things, there is no depending on them : nothing of 
 any fubftance, or any folid confidence in them, 1 
 Cor. vii. 31. Thefajhion of this world pajfeth a- 
 way. It is an high point of folly to depend upon 
 fuch vanities* Prov. xxiii. 5. Why wilt thoufet (or 
 as it is in the Hebrew) caufe thine eyes to fly upon that 
 which is not ? For riches certainly make them/elves 
 Wings and fly away, as, an eagle tozvards heaven. In 
 flying to us (faith Augufwie) they have das vhc 
 quidem pajennas, fcarce a fparrow's wings ; but in 
 flying from us, wings as ail eagle. And thofe wings 
 they are faid to make to themfelves, (/. *.) the 
 caiifeofits tranfitorinefs is in itfelf ; the creature 
 is fubjeded to Vanity by f,h : They are fweet 
 flowers, but withered prefentiy, James i. 10 As 
 the flower of the grafs Jo jhall the rich man fade' away. 
 The man is like tfre fl a lk of the grafs ; his riches 
 are the flower of the grafs 3 his glory and outward 
 beauty, the flalk is foon withered, but the flower 
 much iooner. This is either withered upon,or blown 
 bff from it, while the ftalk abides, Many a roari 
 
$8 SI New Compajs for Seamen 
 
 out lives his eftate and honour, and Hands in the 
 world as a bare dry (talk in the field, whofe flower, 
 beauty, and bravery is gone ; one puff of wind blows 
 it away, one churliih eafterly blaft fhrivels it up, 
 I Pet. iv. 24. 
 
 How mad a thing is it then, for any man to be 
 lifted up in pride, upon fuch a vanity as this is ; to 
 build fo lofty and over-jetting roof upon fuch a fee- 
 ble tottering foundation ? We have feen meadows 
 full of fuch curious flowers, mown down and with- 
 ered, men of great eftates impoverished Suddenly ; 
 and when, like a meadow that is mown, they have 
 begun to recover themlelves again. (as the phrafe is) 
 the Lord hath fent Grafhoppers in the beginning of the 
 Jhooting up of the latter grozvth, Amos vii. 1. Juft as 
 the grafhoppers and other creatures devour the fec- 
 ond tender herbage, as foon as «the field begins to 
 recover its verdure. So men, after they have been 
 denuded and blafted by providence, they begin af- 
 ter a while to flourifh again, but then comes fome 
 new affliction, and blafts all. None have more fre- 
 quent experience of this, than you that are merchants 
 and fea-men, whofe eftates are floating : and yet fuch 
 as have had the higheft fecurity in the eye of rea- 
 fon, have notwithstanding experienced the vanity of 
 thefe things. Henry the fourth a potent prince, was 
 reduced to fuch a low ebb, that he petitioned for a 
 Prebend's place in the Church of Spire. Gal/imet, 
 king of the Vandals, was brought fo low, that he fent 
 to his friend for a fpunge, a loaf of bread and ah 
 harp : a fpunge to dry up his tears, a loaf of bread 
 to maintain his life, and an harp to folace himtelf in 
 his mifery. The ftory of BeHifartus is very affect- 
 ing : He was a man famous in his time, general of 
 an army, yet having his eyes put out, and flripped 
 of all earthly comforts, was led about, crying, Date 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 99 
 
 obolum B'ellifariO) Give one penny to poor Belli/arms. 
 Instances in hiftory of this kind are infinite. Men 
 of the greateft eftates and honours, have neverthelefs 
 become the very Ludibria fortune, as one fpeaks, 
 The very fcorn of fortune. 
 
 Yea, and not only wicked men, that have gotten 
 their eftates by rapine and oppreffion, have lived to 
 fee them thus fcattered by providence : but fome- 
 times godly men have had their eftates, how juftly 
 foever acquired, thus fcattered by providence aifo. 
 Who ever had an eftate better gotten, better bot- 
 tomed, or better managed, than Job ? yet all was 
 overthrown and fwept away in a moment : though 
 in mercy to him, as the ifibe demonftrated, 
 
 Oh then ! what a vanity is it to fet the heart and 
 let out the affections on them ! You can never de- 
 pend too much upon God, nor too little upon the 
 creature, 1 Tim. vi. 17, '* Charge them that are 
 rich in this world, that they be not high minded and 
 truft in uncertain riches." 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Are all earthly things thus tranfitory and vain ? 
 Then what a reproach and fhame is it to me, that 
 the men of this world fhould be more induftrious 
 and eager in the profecution offuch vanities, than I 
 am to enrich my foul with folid and everlafting treaf- 
 ure ? O that ever a fenfual'luft fhould be more op- 
 erative in them than the love of God in me ! O my 
 foul, thou doft not lay out thy ftrength and carn- 
 eftnefs for heaven, with any proportion to what they 
 do for the world. 1 have indeed higher motives, 
 and a furer reward than they : But as I have an ad- 
 vantage above them herein, fo they have an ad- 
 vantage above me in theftrength and intirenefs of 
 
roo A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 the principle by which they are acted. What they 
 do for the world, they do it with all their might y 
 they have no contrary principle to oppole them • 
 their thoughts, flrength, and affections are intirely 
 carried in one channel : But I find a law in my mem- 
 ben warring again/I the lazv of my mind ; I muft drive 
 through a thoufand difficulties and contradictions, 
 to the diicharge of a duty. O my God ! Shall not 
 my heart be more enlarged in zeal, love, and delight 
 in thee, than theirs are after their lufts I O let me 
 once find it fo. 
 
 Again, is the creature fo vain and unliable, then 
 why are my affections fo hot and eager after it I 
 And why am I fo apt to dote upon its beautv, efpe- 
 cially when God is ftaining all its pride and "glory !■ 
 Jer. xlv. 5, 6. Surely it is unbecoming the fpirit 
 oi a Chriftian at any time j bun at fuch a time we 
 may fay of it, as Eujhai of AhithopkePs counfel, // is 
 not good q& this time* 
 
 O that my fpirit were railed above tnem, and my 
 converfation more in heaven ! O that like that an- 
 gel, Rev* x. 1,2. which came down from heaven 
 and fet one foot upon the fea, and another upon the 
 earth, having a crown upon his head, fo I might fet : i 
 one foot upon all the cares, fears, and terrors of the * 
 world, and another upon all the tempting fplendour I 
 and glory of the world, treading both under foot in 
 the duff, and crowning my (elf with nothing but 
 Spiritual excellencies and glory ! 
 
 T H E POEM, 
 
 ; Judge in thyfelf (O Chriftian) is it meet 
 
 I I" fet thy heart on what bcafts fet their feet * 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized, i&x 
 
 f 'TIs no hyperboky if you be toW, 
 
 « Yo\i dig for drofs with mattocks made of gold. 
 
 « Affettions are too coftly to beftow 
 
 « Upon the fair-fac'd nothings here below. 
 
 « The eagle fcorns to fall down from on high 
 
 « (The proverb faith) to catch the filly flie. 
 
 f And can a Chriftian leave the face of God, 
 
 f T' embrace the earth, or dote upon a clod ? 
 
 « Can earthly things thy heart fo ftiangely movfi B 
 
 « Tp tempt it down from the delights above } 
 
 < And now to court the world at fuch a time 
 « When God is laying judgment to the line ? 
 f It's juft like him that doth his cabin fweep 
 « And trim, when all is finking in the deep ; 
 « Or like the filly bird, that to her neft 
 
 < Doth carry ftraws, and never is at reft, 
 
 « Till it be feathered well, but doth not fee 
 « The ax beneath that's hewing down the tree. 
 « If on a thorn thy heart itfelf repofe 
 
 < With fuch delight, what if it were a rofe ? 
 * Admire, O faint, the wif lorn of thy God, 
 
 « Who of the felf-fame tree doth make a rod, 
 
 < Left thou fhouldft furfeit on forbidden fruit, 
 « And live not like a faint, but like a brute.' » 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 Like hungry lions* waves for tinners gape : 
 Leave then your fins behind, if you 11 efcape. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 TH E waves of the Tea are fbme times railed by 
 God's commifTion, to be executioners of bis 
 
lot A New Gomfafs for Seamen 
 
 threatnings upon Tinners. When Jonah fled from 
 
 the prefence of the Lord to Tarjbijb, the text faith, 
 
 I he Lord fent out a great wind into the fea, and 
 
 there was a mighty tempeft, fo that the fhip was like 
 
 to be broken/' Jonah i. 4. Thefe were God's bail- 
 
 iiis,to arreftthe run-away prophet. And Pfal. cxlviii. 
 
 ». The ftormy winds are laid tofo/ftl bis wot d ; 
 
 not only his word of command, in rifing when God 
 
 bids them, but his word of threading alfo. And 
 
 hence it is called a deftroying wind, Jer. li. 1. and a 
 
 ftormy wind in God's fury, Ezek, xiii. 1 j. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 If thefe be the executioners of God's threat- 
 ning, how fad then is their condition that put forth 
 to fea under the guilt of all their fins ? O, if God 
 fhould commiffionate the winds to go after and ar- 
 reft thee for all thou oweft him, where art thou then ? 
 How dare you put forth under the power of a divine 
 threat, before ail be cleared betwixt God and thee ? 
 Sins in Scripture are called debts, Mat. vi. 12. They 
 are debts to God ; not that we owe them to him, 
 or ought to fin, but n:c;cnymi catty, becaufe they ren- 
 der the finner obnoxious 'to God's judgments, even 
 as pecuniary debts oblige him that hath not where- 
 with to pay, to fufter punimment. All finners muft 
 undergo the curfe, either in their own perfon, ac- 
 cording to the expreis letter of the law, Gen. ii. 17. 
 Gal. in. 10. or their iurety, according to the tacit 
 jntent of the law, manifefted to be the mind of the 
 law-giver, Gen. iii. 15. Gal. hi. 1-, t 4 . 
 
 Now he that by faith hath intereft in this furety, 
 hath his difdwge, his ^uietiq eft, fealed in the blood 
 of (Thrift ; all procefs at law, or from the law, is 
 ftopt. Rom. viii. 1. But if thou be an impenitent 
 
Of" Navigation Spiritualized. 103 
 
 pcrfiftine tinner, thy debt remains upon thine own 
 fcore. " And be fure thy fin will find theeout 
 where ever thou goeft,' Nam. xxxn.23. (t.e.) God s 
 revenging hand for fin will be upon thee : Thou 
 maid lofe the fight and memory of thy fins, but they 
 lofe not the fight of thee ; they follow after, as the 
 hound doth the fleeting game upon the icent tul 
 they have fetcht thee up : And then confidcr, 
 « How fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands ot 
 the living God," Heb. x. 31. How loon may a 
 ftorm arreft, and bring thee before the bar of God f 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 O my foul, what a cafe art thou in, if this be fo ? 
 Are not all thy fins yet upon thine own (core ? Haft 
 not thou made light of Chrift, and that precious 
 blood of his, and hitherto .perfifted in thy rebellion 
 a^ainft him ? And what can the iffue of this be at 
 laft, but ruin ? There is abundant mercy indeed for 
 returning finners ; but the gofpel fpeaks of none for 
 perfifting and impenitent finners* And though ma- 
 ny who are going on in their fins are overtaken by 
 grace, yet there is no grace promifed to fuch as go 
 on in fin. O, if God fhould arrefl me by the next 
 ftorm, and call me to an account for all that 1 owe 
 him, I muft then ly in the prifon of hell to all eter- 
 nity ; for I can never pay the debt ; nay, all the an- 
 gels in heaven cannot fatisfy for it. Being Chrift- 
 k(s, I am under all the curfes in the book of God ; 
 a child of Hagar. Lord, pity and fpare me a little 
 longer ! O difcover thy Chrift unto me, and give 
 me faith in his blood, and then thou art fully fatis- 
 fied at once, and I difcharged for ever. O require 
 not the debt at my hand, for then, thou wilt never 
 be fatisfied, nor I acquitted. What profit, Lord, 
 
*04 A New Ccmpafs for Seamen 
 
 is there in my blood ! O my foul, make hade to 
 this Chrift, thy refuge city ; thou knoweft not how 
 loon the avenger of blood may overtake thee. 
 
 THE POE M. 
 
 ' Thy fins are debts, God puts them to account s 
 
 ' Canft tell, poor wtetch, to what thy debts amount 1 
 
 c Thou fill'ft the treafure of thy fins each hour; 
 
 * Into his vials God doth alio pour 
 
 ' Proportionable wrath : Thou feeft it not ; 
 c But yet afiure thyfelf, there's drop for drop. 
 ' For every fand of patience running out, 
 
 < A drop of wrath runs in. Soul, lo»k about. 
 
 ' God's treafure's almoft full, as well as thine : 
 
 * When both are full, O then the dreadful time 
 
 < Of reckoning comes J thou fhalt not gain a day 
 
 * Of patience more, but then there haftes away 
 
 € Heaven's purfivant, who comes upon the \vin» 
 e With his commiflion feal'd, to take and bring. 
 « Do' ft ftill reject Chrift's tenders ? Well, next ftorm 
 
 < May be the bailiff ordered to perform 
 
 ' This dreadful ofnee. O then rcftlefs be, 
 
 * Till God in Chrift be reconcil'd to thee. 
 
 ' The fum is great, but if a Chrift thou get, 
 ' Fear not, a Prince can pay a beggar's debt. 
 
 < Now if the ftormftiould rife, thou need not fear ; 
 
 * Thou art, but the delinquent is not there. 
 
 * A pardon' d foul to fea may boldly go : 
 
 ' He fears no: bailiffs, that doth nothing owe." 
 
fir Navigation Spiritualized. id$ 
 
 CHAP. XIX, 
 
 To fave the flip, rich ladings cafl azvay^ 
 Thy foul isjlnpwreclzd if thy lufls do flay, 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 IN dorms and diflrefTes at fca, the richer!: com- 
 modities are cad over board ; they viand not 
 upon it,' when life and all is in jeopardy and hazard., 
 Jonah i. $. The mariners cafl forth the wares that 
 were in the fhip into, the fea, to lighten it. And 
 Acls xxvii, i8j 19. they call out the very tacklings 
 of the fhip. How highly foever men prize fuch 
 commodities* yet realon tells them, It were better 
 thefe mould perifh, than life. Satan himfelf could 
 fay, Job i. Skin for /kin, and all that a man halb will 
 he give for his life. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 And furely it is every way as highly reafonable, 
 that men fhould mortify, cafl out, and cut off their 
 dearefl lulls, rather than their immortal fouls mould 
 fink and perifh in the florm of God's wrath. Life 
 indeed, is a precious treafure, and highly valued by 
 men : You know what Solomon faicb, Ecclef. ix. 4. 
 That a living dog is better than a dead lion. And we 
 find men willing to part with their eftates, limb-:, 
 O 
 
io6 A New Compafs for Seamed 
 
 or any outward comfort, for the prefervation of it 
 The woman in the gofpel fpent all (he had on the 
 phyficians for her health, a degree below life. Some 
 men indeed do much overvalue their lives, and part 
 with Chnft and peace of confcience for it ; but he 
 that tnus faves it, (hall loofe it. Now if lift be fo 
 much worth, what then is the foul worth ? Alas ! 
 life is but a vapour, which appear eth for a little 
 wbiky and then vanijheth away, James iv' 14, 
 
 Lire indeed is more worth than all the world, 
 but my foul is more worth than tenthoufand lives - 
 Nature teacheth you to value the firft fo high, and 
 grace mould teach you to value the fecond much 
 higher, Mat. xix. 26. Now here is the cafe : either 
 you mud part with your fins, or with your fouls ; 
 if thefe be not caft out, both muft fink together If 
 ye hve after the flejh, yemu/i d<e,Rom, viii. 13. God 
 faith to you in this ca(e, as to Ahab, when he fpared 
 Benhadad, 1 Kings xx. 42. " Becaufe thou haft 
 kt go a man which God hath appointed todcftruc- 
 tion, therefore thy life IhalJ go for his life." Guilt- 
 will raife a ftorni of wrath, as Jonah did, if not caft 
 out. 
 
 REFLECTION, 
 
 And muft fin or the foul -pe-rifli ? Muft my life- 
 yea, my eternal life go for it, if I fpare it ? O then 
 let me not be cruel to mine own foul, in fparing 
 my fin ; O my loul, this fooliih pity, and cruel in- 
 dulgence will be thy ruin.; If I fpare it, God ha h 
 faid, He will not fpare me, t)eut. xxvi. 20. It is true, 
 the pains or mortification are (harp, but \et it is eafr-- 
 er than the pains of hell. To cut off a r ; ght hand 
 or pluck out a right eye, is hard ; but to have mv 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. ioy 
 
 foul cut off eternally from God, is harder. Is it as 
 eafy (O my foul !) to burn for them in hell, as to 
 mortify them on earth ? Surely, it is " profitable 
 for me, that one member perilh, rather than that 
 all be call into hell," Mat. v. 24. I fee the mer- 
 chant willing to part with rich wares, if embarqued 
 with them in a ftorm : And thofe that have g?.n- 
 green'd legs or arms, willingly ftretch them out to 
 be cut off to preferve life : And (hail I be willing 
 to endure no difficulties for my ioul ? Chrift reck- 
 oned fouls worth his blood, And is it not worth my 
 felf-denial ? Lord, let me not warm a fnake in my 
 bofom, that will at lait fling me to the heart. 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 f Thy foul's the (hip, its lading is its lufts, 
 
 * God's judgments ftormy winds and dang'rous guft s 
 
 < Confcience the matter j but the ftubborn will 
 f Goes fuprar cargo, and doth keep the bill. 
 
 f Affections are the men the winds do rife^ 
 1 The ftorm increafes { confcience gives advice, 
 \ To throw thofe lufts o'errboard, and fo to eafe 
 
 < The veficl, which elfe cannot keep the Seas. 
 f The will oppofes,and th' affections fay, 
 
 ' The maftjr's counfel they will not obey. 
 
 1 The cafe is dangerous, .that no man can doubt, 
 
 * Who fees the ftorm within, and that without. 
 
 * Lufts and affections cannot part, no, rather, 
 ' They arc refolv'd to fwim or fink together. 
 
 * Confcience ftill ftrives, but they cannot abide 
 
 * Thac it or reafon fhould the c«fe decide* 
 
ip$ A New Compafs for Seame% 
 
 « Luft knows what reafon in like cafes ftill 
 
 * Determines well : Then chufe ye whom ye will, 
 
 < ShiH'i make the Devil judge ? This cafe has been 
 6 Before him, and he ijudg'd, that /kin for fldn, 
 
 < And all men have, they'll part with for their life 
 ' Then how unreafonable is this ftrife ? 
 
 * They that their fins do with their perfons fliip, 
 
 < Do for their fouls prepare a dreadful whip. 
 
 CHAR XX, 
 
 Chrifl z^ith a word canfurging waves appeafe 5 
 'His voice a troubled foul can quickly eaje. 
 
 PBSERV A tVo N. 
 
 j 
 
 WHEN the Tea works, and is tempefluous, it 
 is not in the power of any creature to" ap- 
 peals it. When the Egyptians would by their hie- 
 roglyphicks exprefs an impoffibility, they did it bv 
 the picture ot a man treading upon the waves. I( 
 IS ftoried of Canute, an ancient Damjh King, Thai; 
 when a mighty ftorm of flattery arofe upon him] 
 he appeafed it by {hewing that he could Bot appeafe 
 the lea : But one of his courtiers told him, as he 
 rode near the iea-fide, That he was lord of the fea, 
 as well as land. Well, faid the king, we fhall fee 
 that by and by; and lb went to the water-fide, and 
 With a loud voice cried, « O ye leas and waves, come 
 f«o further, touch not my feet.' But the fea came 
 VP> notvyithftnnding that charge, and confuted rhr 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 109 
 
 flattery. But now Jefus Chrift hath the command 
 pf them indeed : It is faid of him, Mat. viii. 26. 
 That he rebuked them. And Mark iv. 38. He qui- 
 ets them with a word, Peace, be ftill : as one would 
 hufh a child, and it obeyed him. 
 
 APPLICATION 
 
 Confcience, when awakened by the terrors of the 
 Lord, is like a raging tempeftuous fea ; fo it works, 
 io it roars ; and it is not in the power of all 
 creatures to hum or quiet it. Spiritual terrors, as 
 well as fpiritual confolations 3 are not known till felt. 
 O when the arrows of the Almighty are fhot into 
 the fpirit, and the terrors of God fet themfelves in 
 array againft the foul ; when the venom of thofe 
 arrows drink up the fpirits, and thofe armies of ter- 
 rors charge violently and fucceffively upon it, as 
 Job vi. 4. What creature then is able to ftand be- 
 fore them 1 Even God's own dear children have 
 felt fuch terrors, as have diflfacled them, Pfal. Ixxxi, 
 15. Confcience is the feat of guilt. It is like a 
 burniqg glafs, fo it contracts the beams of the 
 threatnings, twills them together, and reflects them 
 on the foul, until it fmoke, icorch, and flame. If 
 the wrath of a king be like the roaring of a lion. 
 then what is the Almighty's wrath ! which is burn- 
 ing wrath, Job xix. 1 1 . Tearing wrath, Pfal. 1. 22, 
 Surprizing wrath, Job xx. 23-. And Abiding wro'^. 
 Job iji. 36. 
 
 In this cafe no creature can relieve, all are phyfi- 
 cians of no value ; fome under thefe terrors, have 
 thought hell more tolerable, and by a violent hand 
 have thruft themfelves out okthe world into it, tq 
 
jio A New Cotnpap for Stamen 
 
 avoid thefegnawmgs; Ye; Jefus Chrift can quickly- 
 calm theie mvftkal waves r.Ko, and hufh them with 
 a word ; y a he is the Fiiyficig*), and no other. It 
 is the fpnnkhng of his bl-^d, whi'. h, like a cooling 
 fomentation, allays thole heats within ; That blood 
 of sprinkling (peaks peace, when all others have 
 praclifed up n the foul to no purpofe ; and the rea? 
 fon is, becaufe he is a perfon in whom God and 
 man, juftice and mercy meet, and kifs each other, 
 Eph. ii. 14. And hence faith fetches in peace to the 
 foul; Rom. v. 1. ■ ' 
 
 REFLECTION, 
 
 Can none appeafe a troubled confeience, but 
 Chrift I Then learn, O my foul, to underftand and 
 .daily more and more to favour that glorious name, 
 even Je us, that delivers not ofily from the wrath to 
 come, but that which is felt here alio. Oh if the 
 foretafte of hell be fa intolerable, if a few drops let 
 fall on the confeience in this life, befo fcaldingand 
 uafiifferable ; what is it to have all the vials poured 
 out to eternity, when, there fhail be nothing to di- 
 vert, mitigate, or allay it ? 
 
 Here men have fomewhat to abate thofe terrors, 
 feme hoj.es of me cy, at ieaft a p -ffibility ; but 
 there, there is none. O mv foul ! how art tHou 
 loaded with guilt ! and what a Magomnjj'abib w. uldfl 
 thou be, fhould God rouze that fleepy lion in thy 
 bofom ! My condition is not at all the better, be- 
 caufe my confeience is quiet. Ah, the day is com- 
 ing, when it muff awake, and will lighten and thun- 
 der terribly within me, if 1 get not into Chrift the 
 (boner, O Lord, who knows the power of thy 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized, 
 
 lit 
 
 wrath ? O let me not carry this guilt out of the 
 world with me, to maintain thofe e'verlafting flames ? 
 \ci me give no fleep to mine eyes, nor flumber to 
 my eve-lids, till I feel the comfort of that blood of 
 fprinkling, which alone fpeaketh peace. 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 * Among the dreadful works of God, I find 
 
 * No metaphors, to paint a troubled mind. 
 
 •'♦•I think on this, now that, and yet will neither 
 
 * Come fully up, though all be put together. 
 
 * 'Tis like the raging fea, that cafts up mire, 
 
 * Or like to Etna, breathing fmeke and fire 5 
 
 * Or like a rouzed lion fierce and fell^ 
 
 * Or like thofe furies that do howl in hell. 
 
 1 O confeience ! Wbo can ftand before thy power, 
 
 * Endure thy gripes and twinges but an hour ? 
 
 * Stone,- gout, ftrapado, racks, whatever is 
 
 * Dreadful to fenfe; is but a toy to this. 
 
 * No pleafures, riches, honours, friends can tell 
 s How to give eafe : in this 'tis like to hell. 
 
 ' Call for the pleafant timbrel, lute,- and harp $ 
 ' Alas ! the mufick howls j the pain's too fliarp 
 
 * For thefe to charm, divert or lull afleep : 
 
 * Thefe cannot reach it $ no, the wound's too deep. 
 
 * Let all the promifes before him (land, 
 
 * And fet a Barnabas at its right-hand j 
 
 1 Thefe in themfclves no comfort can afford, 
 
 * 'Tis Chriit, & none but Chrift, ca; fpeafc the we\ 1 
 « And he no fooner fpeaks, bur al' 
 
 'The ftorm is over, and the mi. 
 
112 A Neiv Cbntpajs for Seamen 
 
 ( There gees a power with his majeftick. voice, 
 ■ To hufli the dreadful ftorm, and ftill its noife. 
 « Who would not fear and love this glorious Lord, 
 * That can rebuke fuch tempefts with a word ? 
 
 G H A P. XXL 
 
 Our food out of the Sea God doth command; 
 Yet jew therein take notice of his hand. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THE providence of God in furnifhing u5 with 
 fuch plenty and variety of fifli, is notflightly 
 to be pail over. Wc have not only feveral forts of 
 fifh in our own feas, which are caught in their fea- 
 fons 5 but from feveral parts, efpecially the weftern 
 parts of England, many fail of fhips are fent yearly 
 to the American parts of the world ; as New-found- 
 land, New- England, &c. Whence every year is 
 brought home, not only enough to fupply our own 
 nation, but many thoufand pounds worth alfo year- 
 ly returned from Spain, and other countries ; by 
 which trade many thoufand families do iubfift. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 But, now, what returns do we make to heaven 
 for thele mercies ? O what notice is taken of the 
 good hand of providence, which thus fupplies and 
 
dr Navigation Spiritualized* tij 
 
 feeds us with the bleffings of the fea ? I fear there 
 are but few that own, or act in fubmiffion to it, and 
 are careful to return according to received benefit. 
 Men do not confider, cf That their works are in 
 the hand of God," Ecclef. ix. i. And even thofe 
 that have the mofl immediate dependence upon 
 providence, as merchants and feamen, yet are ve- 
 ry prone to undertake defigns in the confidence of 
 their own wifdom and induftry* not ^looking high- 
 er for the bluffing, James iv. 13. They often " fit- 
 crifice to their own net, and burn incenfe to theitf 
 drag, becaule by them their portion is fat and their 
 meat plenteous," Hab. i. 16. viz. They attri- 
 bute what is due to God, unto the creature. Now 
 this is a fin highly provoking to the Lord : for 
 look in what degree the heart cleaves to the fecond 
 caufe, in the fame degree it departs from the living 
 God, Jet, x> £» 
 
 And how do you think the blefTed God will take 
 it, to fee himfelf thus debafed, and the creature 
 thus exalted into his place, to fee you curry your- 
 felves to the creature as to a God, and to the blef- 
 ied God, as to a creature. Surely, it is a great and 
 common evil and fuch as will blaftall, if not timely 
 dilcovered and lamented. If we make rleih our 
 arm, it's juft with God to wither and dry Up that 
 arm. Do we not, my brethren, look upon fecond 
 caufes, as if they had the main flroke in our bufi- 
 nefs ? And with a neglective eye pals by God, as 
 as if he came in but collaterally, and on the by, fti* 
 to it P But certainly, all endeavours will be Unfanc- 
 tified, if not fucceisiefs, in which God is not eyed 
 and engaged. 
 
 " It is in vain for you to rife up early, and fit up 
 late, and eat the bread cf furrows -, for io he giveth 
 P 
 
H4 A New Cofnpafs for Seamen 
 
 his beloved fleep," Pl'al, cxxvii. 2 . (i.e.) It it fo 
 no purpofe for men to beat their brains, tire their 
 lpints and crack their coniciences for an eftate- 
 :rue way pf acquiring and enjoying tht crea- 
 ture, is by fubrmtting quietlv to the will of God, 
 in a r lc ]ent and dihgeat, yet moderate ufe of law- 
 ful mean, : Nothing can thrive with us till then. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Why then (hould T difquief rnyfelf in Vain ; and 
 rob rnyfelf of my peace, by thefe unbelieving cares 
 *nd diltradions ? ) this hath been my fin I I have 
 acted, as if my condition had been at my own dif- 
 pofe; 1 have eye 1 creatures and means too much, 
 and God too little. How have my hands hanged 
 down with diicouragement, when fecond caufes 
 have disappeared, or wrought erois to my defigns 
 in the world, ready to transfer the fault on this 
 thing, or that ! and again, how apt am I to be 
 vainiy lifted up in carnal confidence, when I fee 
 rnyfelf competently furnifhed with creature muni- 
 tion and provifion ? Oh, what a God-provoking 
 wickednefs is this! How oft hath providence 
 checked my carnal preemption, aixl dalhcd many 
 hopeful projeds I yet have I not owrted it, as I 
 ought, and Submitted to it. Oh, it is a wonder 
 this hath not clofed the hand of Providence againft 
 me, and pulled down a curfe upon all 1 Ah Lord, 
 let me now learn to " acquaint rnyfelf with thee, 
 then (hall I decree a thing, and it (hall be cftab- 
 kfocd," Job xx, 28. 
 
Or Navigation Spirittmliztd. n-£ 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 * In all the gifts of God we mould advance 
 
 4 His glorious name ; not fay, it came by chance. 
 
 « Or to the idol of our prudence pay 
 
 « The tribute of his praife, and go our way. 
 
 « The waves do clap thtir hands, and in their kind 
 
 * Acknowledge God ; and what, are they more blind 
 ' That float upon them ? yea, for what they fet f 
 
 * They offer facrifices to their net. 
 
 « This is your manner, thus to work you go t 
 •Confefs the naked truth; fay,is't notfo? 
 
 • This net was wifely caft, 'tis full, 'tis full s 
 « O well done mates, this is a gallant pull. 
 
 • Thus what is due to God, you do apply 
 < Unto yourfelves moft facrilegiouflly. 
 
 « I cannot wander fuch come empty heme, 
 « That are fo full of felf and fin : yet fome 
 
 * I hope look higher, and on God reflect 
 
 • Due praife. A blefling fuch may well expecV* 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 JVhilfi thou h art the filly fijh doft kill, 
 Perchance the DeviVs bookjlicks in thy gill. 
 
 T 
 
 OBSERVATION.. 
 
 HERE is {kill in fifhing ; they that go to fea 
 ir> a filhing voyage, ufe to go provided with 
 
n6 A New Cmpafs for Seamen 
 
 their craft (as they very fitly call it) without which 
 they can do nothing. They have their lines, hooks 
 of ieveral fizes, and their bait. They carefully ob- 
 ferve their feafons ; when the fiih falls in, then they 
 ply their bufinefs day and night. 
 
 4 P P L I C A r 1 O N, 
 
 But how much more fkiiful and indubious is 
 Satan to enfnare and deftroy iouls ? The devil 
 makes a voyage as well as you ; he hath his baits 
 for you, as you for the ri(h : he hath his devices and 
 wiles to catch fouls, i Cor. ii. n, Ephcf. vi. n, 
 He is a ferpant, an old ferpant., Rev. xii. 9, Too 
 crafty for man in his perfection, much more in his 
 collapfed and degenerated (late, his underftan J ing 
 being cracked by the fall, and all his faculties poif, 
 oned and perverted. 
 
 Divines obferve foyr fteps, or degrees of Satan's 
 tempting power, 
 
 Fir/I, He can find out the conflitution-evils of 
 men ; he knows to what (in their natures are more 
 eipeaaLy prone and inclinable. 
 
 SecomLy, He can propound fuitable objects to 
 thoie lulls, he can exactly and fully hit every mans 
 humour. A:; Agnppinq mixed her poifon in that 
 meat her hufband loved beft. 
 
 Thirdly, He can inject and can: motions into the 
 mind, to clofe with thoie tempting objecls ; as it is 
 laid of Judas, John xni. 2. " Trie devil nut it into 
 his heart." 
 
 Fourthly, He can follicite, irritate, and provoke 
 the heart, and by thoie continual reiUeis felicita- 
 tions weary i.t ; and hereby he often draws men to 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 117 
 
 commit fuch things as ftartled them in the firft mo- 
 tion. 
 
 All this can he do, if he find the work flick, and 
 meet with rubs and difficulties ; yet doth he not 
 act to the utmoft of his fkill and power, at all times 
 and with all perfons ; neither indeed need he lo to 
 do, the very propounding of an object, is enough to 
 fome, without any further follicitation : The devil 
 makes an eafy conquefl of them. 
 
 And befide all this, his policy much appears in 
 the election of place, time and inftruments to tempt 
 by : And thus are poor fouls caught, as fifhes in an 
 evil net, Ecclef. ix. 12. The carnal man is led by 
 fenfe, as the beaft ; and fatan handles and fits him 
 accordingly. He ufeth all forts of motives, not on- 
 ly internal, and intellective, but external and fenfi- 
 tive alio ; as the fparkling of the wine, when it gives 
 its colour in the glafs : the harlot's beauty, whofe 
 eye-lids are inares ; hiding always the hook, and 
 Concealing the iflue from them. Hepromifes them 
 gain and profit, pleafure and delight, and all that 
 is tempting, with arTurance of fecrefy. By thefe he 
 fattens the fatal hook in their jaws, and thus th«y 
 are led captive by him at his will. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 And is fatan fo fubtle and induflrious to entice 
 fouls to fin ? doth he thus caft out his golden baits, 
 and allure fouls with pleafure to their ruin ? Then 
 how doth it behove thee, O my foul, to be jealous 
 an J wary ! How flrict a guard fhould I let upon 
 every fenfe ! Ah, let me not fo much regard how 
 fin comes towards me in the temptation, as how it 
 
n8 A New Compajs for Seamen 
 
 goes off at laft. The day in which Sodom was do 
 ftroyed, began with a pleaiant Sun-fhine, but ended 
 in fire and brimftone. I may promife myfelf much 
 content in the (atisfa&ion of my lufts : But O, how 
 certainly will it end »n my ruin ! Ahab doubtlefs 
 promifed himfelf much content in the vineyard of 
 Naboth, but his blood paid for it in the portion of 
 Jezreel. The harlot's bed was perfumed to entice 
 the iimple young man, Prov. vii. 17. But thofe 
 chambers of delight proved the chambers of death, 
 and her houfe the way to hell. Ah, with what a 
 failing face doth fin come on towards me in it£ 
 temptations ! how doth it tickle the carnal fancy, 
 and pleafe the deceived heart ? But what a dread- 
 ful cataftrophe and upfhot hath it ? The delight is 
 quickly gone, but the guilt thereof remains to a» 
 maze and terrify the foul with ghaftly forms, and 
 dreadful reprelentations of the wrath of God : As 
 fin hath its delights attending it to enter and fallen 
 it, lb it hath its horrors and flings to torment and 
 wound : And as certainly as 1 fee thofe go before it 
 to make away, fo certainly fhall I find thefe follow 
 after, and tread upon its heels. No fooner is the 
 confeience awakened, but all tbofe delights vanifli 
 as a night- vifion, or as a dream when one awakes ; 
 and then I (hail cry, here is the iook, but where is 
 the bait ? Here is the guilt and horror, but where 
 the delight that I was promifed ! And I, whither 
 fhall I now go ? Ah my deceitful lufts ! You have 
 enticed and left me in the midll of all miferies, 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. jiy 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 « There's flcill in fifhing, that the devil knows ; 
 
 «« For When for fouls Satan a fifhing goes, 
 
 •« He angels cunningly : He knows he muft 
 
 «« Exactly fit the bait unto the luft. 
 
 « He ftudies conftitution, place, and time, 
 
 «« He gueffes what is his delight, what thine j 
 
 «« And fo accordingly prepares the bait ; 
 
 •« Whilft he himfelflies clofely hid to wait 
 
 «« When thou wilt nibble at it. Doft incline 
 
 •' To drunken meetings } then he baits with whs; 
 
 *« Is this his way ; if unto this he'll fmell, 
 
 < c He'll fhortly pledge a cup of wrath in hell. 
 
 " To pride or luft is thy nature bent ? 
 
 ** An object fuitable he will prefenr. 
 
 ** O think on this, when you caft In the hook* 
 
 *« Say, Thus for m> poor foul doth Satan look- 
 
 ** O play not with temptations ; do not fwallow 
 
 *' The fugar'd bait, confider what will follow. 
 
 *' If once he hitch thee, then away he draws 
 
 " Thy captive foul clofe pn'foner in his paws. 
 
 CHAP. XXIIL 
 
 Doth trading fail, and voyages prove bad * 
 If you cannot difcern the caufe, 'tis fad. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THERE are many fad complaints abroad (and 
 I think not without caufe) that trade iails, 
 
120 A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 nothing turns to account. And though all countries 
 be open, and free for traflick, and a general peace 
 with all nations, yet there feems to be a dearth, a 
 iecret curfe upon trading. You ran from country 
 to country, and come loiers home. Men can hard- 
 ly render a reafon for it -, few hit the right caufe of 
 this judgment. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 That profperity and fuccefs in trade is from the 
 blefling of God, I fuppofe few are fo atheiflical, as 
 once to deny or queftion. The devil himlelf ac- 
 knowledges it, Job i. 10. " Thou haft blefled the 
 work of his hands, and his fubflance is increafed in 
 the land." It is not in the power of any man to 
 get riches, Deut. viii. 18. " Thou (halt remember 
 the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee pow- 
 erto get wealth." It is his blefling that makes good 
 men rich, and his permifiion that makes wicked 
 men rich. That maxim came from hell, Qui/que 
 fortiinafucefaber : Every man is the contriver of his 
 own condition : certainly, " The good of man is 
 not in his own hand," Job xxi. 16. "Promotion 
 cometh not from the eaft or weft," Pfal. lxxv. 6. 
 
 This being acknowledged, it is evident, that in 
 all diiappointment, and want of iuccels in our call- 
 ings, we ought not to flick in fecond caufes, but to 
 look higher, even to thC hand and diipofe of God : 
 For, whole it is to give the.bleiTinp, his alfo it is to 
 withhold it. And this is as clear in knpture as the 
 other. It is the Lord that takes away the rimes of 
 the fea, Hof. iv. 3. Zeph. i. 3. It is he that cwjelh 
 our bldEnzu Mai. ii. 2. 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. Ill 
 
 *This God doth as a punifhment for fin, and the 
 abufe for mercies : And therefore in fuch cafes, we 
 ought not to reft in general complaints to, or of one 
 another* but fearch what thole fins are that provoke 
 the Lord to inflict fuch judgments* 
 
 And here I muft requeft your patience, to bear 
 a plain and clofe word of conviction. My brethren, 
 I am perfuaded thefe are the fins, among many oth- 
 ers, that provoke the Lord to blaft all your imploy- 
 ments. 
 
 i * Our undertaking defigns without prayer. Alas, 
 how few of us begin with God ? Intereft him in our 
 dealings, and afk counfel and direction at his mouth, 
 frayer is that which fanctifies all employments and 
 enjoyments, i Tim. iv. 5. The very heathen could 
 fay, A Jove principium. They muft begin with God„ 
 O that we had more prayers and fewer oaths. 
 
 2. Injuftice and fraud in our dealings. A fin to 
 which merchants are prone, as appears by that ex- 
 preflion, Hot xii. 7. This is that which will blaft 
 all our enjoyments* 
 
 3. An over-earneit endeavour after the world, 
 Men make this their bufinefs, they will be rich t 
 And hence it is, they are not only unmerciful to 
 themfelves, in wearying and wafting their own fpir- 
 its with carking cares, but to Rich alfo as they cm- 
 £loy ; neither regarding the fouls or bodies of men : 
 icaree affording them the liberty of the Lord's day 
 (as hath been too common in our New -found- Land 
 employments ;) or if they have if, yet th^y are fo 
 worn out with inceflant labours* that that precious 
 time is fpent either in fleep or idlenefs. It is no 
 wonder God gives you more reft than you would 
 have, fince that day of reft hath been no better im- 
 proved. This over-doing hath not been the leaft 
 Cauie of our Undoing. 
 
 0. 
 
ill A New Compqfs for SeamM 
 
 Laftly, Our abufe of profperity, when God gave 
 it ; making God's mercies the food and fewel of 
 our tufts. When we have an affluence and conflu- 
 ence of outward bleffings, this made us kick againjt 
 God, as Dctit xxxiii. 15. Forget God, Deut. iv. 14. 
 Yea, grow proud of our ftrength and riches, Ezek, 
 xvi. 13. and Jer. ii.31. Ah ! How few of us in the 
 days of our profperity, behaved ourfelves as good 
 Jehojapkat did ? 2 Chron. xvii. 5,6. " He had fil- 
 yer and gold in abundance, and his heart was lifted 
 in the way of God's commandments j not in pride 
 and inlulence. 
 
 Reflection. 
 
 Are thefe the fins thai blaft our bleffings, and 
 wither our mercies ! O then let me ceaie to won 
 dcr it is no becter, and rather admire that it is no 
 worfe with me ; that my negte&of prayer, injuftice 
 in dealings, eartbly-mindednefs, and abufe ol former 
 mercies, have not provoked God to itrip me naked 
 of all my enjoyments. Let me humbly accept 
 from Lord thepunilhmentofmy iniquities, and 
 by m) hand upon my mouth. And O that thefe 
 dilkppbii tttri .-nts might convince me of the creatures 
 vanity, and caufe me to drive on another trade for 
 heaven ; then fhall I adore thy wifdom in rending 
 from- liie thofe idolized enjoyments. Ah, Lord) 
 when I had them, my heart was a perpetual drudge 
 to them How did I then forget God, neglecl my 
 duty and not mind my eternal concernments ! Oh, if 
 thefe had not perimed, in all probability I had per- 
 ilhed. My God, let my foul profper, and then a 
 finall portion of theie things (hall afford me more 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized, 123 
 
 comfort than ever I had in their greateft abundance. 
 ■" A little that a righteous man hath, is better than 
 the riches of many wicked," Pfal. xxxvii. 16. 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 tf There's great complaint abroad that trading's bad 
 
 f< You (hake your head, and cry, 'Tis fad, 'tis fad, 
 
 « Merchants lay cut their flock, feamen their pains, 
 
 «< And in their eye they both may put their gains. 
 
 " Your nfliing fails, you wonder why 'tis to, 
 
 " 'Tis this (faith one) or that : but I fay no ; 
 
 * l 'Twill ne'er be well till, you confefs and fay, 
 
 f It is our fin that frights the fifh away: 
 
 *' No wonder all goes into bags with holes, 
 
 <c Since fo the gofpel hath been in your fouls. 
 
 " We kick'd, like Jefu/un, when the flowing tide 
 
 *f Of wealth came tumbling in, this nourifh'd pride 
 
 ** 'Twixt foul and body, now I wifh it may 
 
 .'* Fare as betwixt the Jews and us this day. 
 
 ff O that our outward want and lofs may be 
 
 " To us a foul enriching poverty ! 
 
 " If difappointments here, advance the trade 
 
 i '• For heaven, then complain not ; you have mack; 
 
 " The richeft voyage, and vour empty fnino 
 
 ff Return deco laden with foul benefit?. u 
 
M4 A Nezv Compajs for Si amen 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 Infeas the greater fifh the hfs devour : 
 
 So [ome men cruJJj all ibefe within their power, 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THERE are fifoes of prey in the fea, as well as, 
 birds and beafts of prey on the land. Our 
 ieamen tell us, how the devouring whales, '(harks, 
 dolphins, and other rimes fpllpw the caplein, and 
 other fmaller fifh, and devour multitudes of them. 
 It is frequent with us, in pur own feas, to find fed- 
 eral fmaller fifhes in the bellies of the greater ones i 
 yea I have often heard feamen fay, That the poor 
 little fry, when purlued, are fo fenfible of the dan- 
 ger, that they have fometimes feen multitudes ot 
 them cafl themfelves upon the moar, and perifli 
 there, to avoid the danger of being devoured by 
 them. to . r 
 
 stPPLlCJ'flON. 
 
 Thus cruel, mercilefs, and oppreffive are wickecj 
 men, whofe tender mercies are cruelly, Prov. xxii. 10. 
 We fee the like cruelty in our extortioners,' and 
 over reaching marks a more, who grind the faces of 
 the poor, and regard not the cries of the fatherlefs 
 and widows, but rill their houfes with the gain of 
 oppreflion. Thcfc are, by the holy Ghoft, compar- 
 ed to the tithes of the fci, Hab. i. 13, 14. This 
 is a crying tin, yea, it fends up a loud cry to heaven. 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized, 125 
 
 for vengeance, Exod. xxii. 23. " If thou afRId the 
 widow and the fatherlefs, and they cry unto me, I 
 will furely hear their cry." And verfe 27. "I will 
 hear his cry, for I am gracious. Nay, God will 
 not only hear their cry, but avenge their quarrel. 
 That is a remarkable text, 1 Thef. iv. 6. <f That 
 no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any 
 
 matter, becaufe that the Lord is the 
 Ecdicos. (Avenger) of all fuch," This word is 
 
 but once more ufed in the New~7ejta- 
 tnenty Rom. xiii. 4. And there it is applied to the 
 civil magiftrate, who is to fee execution done upon 
 offender. But now this is a fin that fometimes 
 may be out of the reach of man's juftice, & therefore 
 God hirnfelf wilj be their Avenger. You may over- 
 power the poor in this world, and it may be they 
 cannot contend with you at man's bar, therefore 
 God will bring it before his bar, , 
 
 Believe it ? firs, it is a fin fo provoking to God, 
 that he will not let it efcape without fevere punifh- 
 ment, looner or later. The prophet Habakkuk, 
 Chap. 1. verfe I3r wondered how the holy God 
 could forbear fuch till the general day of reckoning 
 and that he did not take exemplary vengeance qn 
 them in this life. << Thou art of purer eyes than to 
 behQld evil, and canft not look upon iniquity • 
 Wherefore then looked thou upon them that deal 
 treacherously, and hojdeft thy tongue when the 
 wicked devours the man that is more righteous than 
 
 ;i e n w qd /'° y - , XxiiL IO > n - " Enter n ot into 
 the fields of the fatherlefs, /. e." Of the poor and 
 fielplels. But why is it more dangerous violently to 
 invade their right, than anoihers ? The reafon is 
 added "For their Redeemer is mighty, and he 
 fhall plead their caufe with thee." It may be they 
 
iz6 A Nezv Compafs for Seamen 
 
 are not able to obtain a council to plead their caufe 
 here ; therefore God will pjead their caule for 
 them. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Turn in upon thyfeli (O my foul) and confider^ 
 haft thou not been guilty of this crying fin ? Have 
 I not (when a fervant) over-reached and defrauded 
 others, and filled my mailer's houfe with violence 
 and deceit ? and fo brought myfelf under that 
 dread tul threatening, Zeph. i. 9. Or iince I came 
 to trade and deal upon my own account, have not 
 the bailances of deceit been in my hand ? I have (it 
 may be) kept many in my fervice and employment 5 
 have not I ufed their labours without reward, and 
 fo am under that woe ? Jer. xxii. 13. Or not giv- 
 en them wages proportionable to their work ? Ifai. 
 lviii. 3. Or by pad payment and unjuft deductions 
 and allowances defrauded them of a part of their 
 due? Mai. iii. 5. Or at leaft delayed payment, 
 out of a covetous difpofiticn to gain by it ; whilft 
 their neceffities in the mean time cryed aloud for it ; 
 and lb finned againft God's exprefs commands, 
 Deut. xxiv. 14, 15. Levit. xix. 30, Or have I not 
 perfecuted fueh as God hath fmitten ? Pfal. lxix. 
 z6. And rigoroufly exacled the utmoft of my 
 due, though the hand of God hath gone out againft 
 them, breaking their ethics ? O my foul, examine 
 thyieif iipefi 'theft particulars ; reft not quiet, until 
 this guilt be removed by the application of the 
 blood of fprikling. Hath not the* Lord laid, James 
 ii. 13. " That they fhah have judgment without 
 mercy, that hath mewed no mercy ? And is it not 
 a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
 God, zvho hath jaul, He will take vengeanec for 
 theie tilings ? 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 127 
 
 THE POEM^ 
 
 " Devouring whales ana* ravenous marks do follow 
 
 " The leffer fry, and at one gulp do fwallow 
 
 *' Some hundreds of them, as our feamen fay ; 
 
 " But we can tell far Arranger things than they. 
 
 M For we have marks a(hore, on every creek, 
 
 11 That to devour poor men do hunt and feek. 
 
 " N T o pity, fenfe, or bowels in them be, 
 
 *' Nay, have they not put off humanity ? 
 
 " Extortioners and cheaters, whom God hates* 
 
 " Have dreadful open mouths, and through thofe gate? 
 
 M Brave perfons with their heritages pafs 
 
 Ci In funeral ftate, friends crying Out alas ! 
 
 " O give me Jgur's wifli, that I may never 
 
 " Be fuch myfclf, or feel the hands of either. 
 
 *' And as for thofe that in their paws are grip'd, 
 
 u Pity and refcue, Lord, from that fad plight. 
 
 " When I behold the fqueaking lark, that's bora 
 
 " In falcon's talons, crying, bleeding, torn j 
 
 ** I pity it's fad cafe, and would relieve 
 
 " The prifoner, if I could, as well as gricv«, 
 
 " Fountain of pity, hear the piteous moans 
 
 *' Of all thy captive and oppreffcd onr. " 
 
128 A New Cotnpafs for Seamen 
 
 G H A P. XXV. 
 
 In florins tofpread much fail endangers all i 
 So carnal mirth, if God for mourning call. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 IN ftorms at Tea, the wife navigator will not fpread 
 much fail ; that is the way to lofe mafts and all ; 
 They ufe then to furl up the fails* and lie a hull, 
 when not able to bear a knot of fail ; or elfe to lie 
 a try, or feud before the wind and feas. It is no 
 time then to hoift up the top and top-gallant, and 
 (hew their bravery, 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 When the judgments ot God are abroad in the 
 earth, it is no time then to make mirth, Ezek, xxi. 
 10. " mould we (then) make mirth ? It con- 
 temneth the rod of my fon as every tree/' (/. e.) 
 As if it were a common rod, and ordinary affiiclion ; 
 whereas the rod of my Ion is not fuch as may be 
 had of every tree, but it is an iron rod to fuch as 
 defpife it, Pfal. ii. 9. O it is a provoking evil, and 
 commonly God feverely punilhes it. Of all peribns, 
 fuch fpeed worft in the common calamity, Amosvh 
 1. u Wo to them that are at eafe in Sion, that 
 are not grieved for the aifli&ions of Jofeph>* as 
 verfe 4. It may be (as one obferves upon the text ) 
 they did not laugh at him, or break jefts upon him ; 
 but thev did not condole with hint. And what 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 129 
 
 {hall be their punifriment ? See verfe 7. " There* 
 fore now. (hall they, go captive with the fir ft that go 
 captive :" God will begin with themfirft. Solomon 
 tells us, Ecclef. iii. 4. a There is a time to weep, 
 and a time to laugh ; a time to mourn, and a time 
 to dance :" Only (as Mafter Trap notes upon the 
 text) " we mud not invert the order* but weep with 
 men, that we may laugh with angels.' ' To be mer- 
 ry and froiickfome in a day of tribulation, is to dis- 
 turb the order of feafons. That is a terrible text, 
 Ifa. xxii. i2i which ihould make the hearts of (uch 
 as are guilty in this kind to tremble : " In that day- 
 did the Lord of hods call to mourning, aad to gird- 
 ing with fackcloth ; and behold, joy and gladnefs; 
 flaying oxen, killing fheep, drinking wine, &c" 
 Well, what is the iffue of this ? Surely $ this iniqui- 
 ty (hall not be purged from you, till ye die. O 
 dreadful word ! Surely (my brethren) fympathy is 
 a debt we owe to Chrift myftical., Whatever our 
 "conftitutiohi condition, or perfonal immunities be, 
 yet when God calls for mourning, we muft hear and 
 obey that call. David Was a king, an expert mu- 
 lician, a man of (anguine and ehearful conftitution ; 
 yet who more fenfible of the evil of thofe times, 
 than he ? Rivers of water ran down his eyes at the 
 confideration of them. Meldnclhon was fo affected 
 with the miferies of the church in hi$ days, that he 
 teemed to take little or no notice of the death of 
 his child; whom he entirely loved. At (uch a time 
 we may " fay of laughter, Thou art mad, and of 
 rnirth, what doth it ?" 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Blufh then, O my foul \ for thy levity and infers 
 fibility under God's angry difpenfations. How ma- 
 
 R 
 
t$o A New Compafe for Seamen 
 
 fly of the precious fons and daughters oiSien, lie in 
 tears abroad, while I have been u Nourifhing my 
 heart, as in a day of Slaughter ? The voice of God 
 hath cried to the city, and men of underftanding 
 have heard its voice," Mic. vi. 9. But I have been 
 deaf to that cry. How loth (mv God) have I been 
 to urge my fenfual heart to acts of forrow and mourn- 
 ing ! Thou haft bid me weep with them that weep, 
 but my vain heart cannot comply with fuch com- 
 mands. Ah Lord ! if I mourn not with Sion y nei- 
 ther fhall I rejoice with her. 
 
 O, were mine eyes opened, and my heart fenfiblc 
 and tender, I might fee caufe enough to melt into 
 tears ; and like that chriftian Niobe y Luke vii. 38, to 
 lie weeping at the feet of Chrift. Lord, what ftu- 
 pidity is this ? Shall I laugh when thou art angry, 
 and thy children weeping and trembling ? Then t 
 may juftiy fear, left " when they fhall fing for joy 
 of heart, I (hall howl for vexation of fpirit," Iiai. 
 Jxv. 13, 14. Surely, O my foul ! fuch laughter 
 will be turned into mourning, either here or here- 
 after. 
 
 THE POEM, 
 
 a In troublous times mirth in the finner's tat-c 
 ct Is like to a morning-cloak with filrer lace. 
 " The lion's roaring make? the beafts tb quake ; 
 " God's roaring judgments cannot make us make , 
 " What bclluine contempt is this of God, 
 " To laugh in's face, when he take* up the rod ? 
 * ' Such laaghter God in tears will furcly drown, 
 ** (Unlefs he hate thee) e'rr h<> by it dostfe 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 13 1 
 
 « Thefe tods have voices j if thou hear them well : 
 
 ■' If not another rod's preparM in hell. 
 
 " And when the arm of God /hall lay it on, 
 
 U Laugh if thou canft $ ao, then thy mirth is gone. 
 
 «« All Shn^s children will lament and cry, 
 
 « Wken all her beeuteou« ftones in duft do lie ; 
 
 " And he that for her then laments and mourns, 
 
 " Shall want no joy, when God to her returns." 
 
 C H A P. XXVI. 
 
 A little leak neglecled, dangerous proves j 
 One Jin connived at> the joul undoes. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THE fmalleft leak, if not timely difcovered and 
 ftopt, is enough to fink a fhip of the greatefl 
 burden ; therefore feamen are wont frequently to 
 try what water is in the hole ; and if they fir^d it 
 frefh, and inereafing upon them, they ply the pump, 
 and prefently fet the carpenters to fearch for it and 
 flop it -, and till it be found they cannot be quiet, 
 
 APPLICATION 
 
 What fuch a leak is to a (hip, that is the frnalierc 
 fin neglecled to the foul ; it is enough to ruin it e- 
 ternally. For as the greateft fin, difcovered, lament- 
 ed, and mourned over by a believer, cannot ruin 
 him ; fo the lead fin indulged, covered, and con- 
 nived at, will certainly prove the deftruclion of the 
 
j 3 a A Heiv Compajs for Seamm 
 
 finner. NQfin, though never fo imall, is tolerated 
 fey the pure and perfed law of God, Pfalm cxix. 96. 
 The command is exceeding broad ; not as if it gave 
 men a latitude to walk as they pleafe, but broad, 
 i. e. extending Jtfelf to all our words, thoughts, ac- 
 tions, and affections : Laying a law upon them all ; 
 conniving at no evil in any man, 1 Pet. ii. 1. 
 
 And as the word giyes no allowance for the lead 
 fin, lo it is the very nature of fincerity and upright- 
 nels, to let the heart again ft (every) way ofwicked- 
 nefs, Pfal. cxxxix. 23, 24. Job xxxi. 13. And efpe- 
 cialiy again 0: that fin which was its darling in the 
 clays ot his vanity, Pfalm xviii. 23. True hatred (as 
 the philofopher obferves) is of the 
 f EU ta gen. whole f kind : He that hates fin 
 as fin (and fo doth every upright 
 foul) hates all fins as well as fome. 
 
 Again, the foul that hath had a faving fight 0$ 
 Tefus Chrift", and a true difcovery of the evil of fin, 
 in the; glajs both of the law and gofpej, can account 
 110 fin imajl, IHEe knows the demerit o\ the fmall- 
 efl fin is God's eternal wrath, and that not the leafl 
 fin can be remitted, without the fhedding and ap- 
 plication of the blood of Chrift, Heb, ix. 22. which 
 blood is of infinite value and price, 1 Pet. i. 19. 
 
 To conclude, God's people know, that little as 
 well as great fins are dangerous, deadly and deftruc- 
 tive in their own nature i A little poifon will de- 
 ftroy a man. Adrian was choaked with a gnat ; 
 Cdfar Itabbid with bodkins. A man would think' 
 Adam's fin had been no great matter, yet what 
 dreadful work did it make ! It was not a fingle bul- 
 let to kill himielf only ; but as a chain-il> t, which 
 cut off all his poor miferablo po^lerity. Indeed, no 
 iin can be little, becaufc its object againft whom it 
 is committed is fo great, whence it receives a kind 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 133 
 
 of infinitenefs in itfelf, and becaufe the price paid 
 to redeem us from it is 10 invaluable. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 And is the fmalleft fin not only damning in its 
 pvvn nature, but will certainly prove the ruin of 
 that foul that hides and covers it ? Oh then let my 
 ipirir. accomplifh a diligent fearch. Look to it, O 
 rny foul ! that no fin be indulged by thee. Set thefe 
 considerations as fo many flaming fwords in the way 
 of thy carnal delights and lulls : Let me never fay 
 of any fin, as Lot did of Zoar, it is a little one, /pare 
 it. Shall I fpare that which cofl the blood of Je- 
 jus Chrift ? The Lord would not fpare him, when 
 he made his foul an offering for Jin ; Rom. viii. 32. 
 Neither will he fpare me, if 1 defend and hide it, 
 Deut. xxix. 20. Ah! If my heart were right, and 
 my convention found, that luft, whatever it be, 
 that is fo favoured by me, would .efpeciaily be ab- 
 hored and hated, Ifa. ii. 20. and xxx. 22. What- 
 ever my convictions and reformations have been, 
 yet if there be but one fin retained and delighted 
 in, this keeps the devil's intereft flill in my foul : 
 and though for a time he feem to depart, yet at 
 lad he will return with feven worfe fpirits, and this 
 is the fin that will open the door to him, and deliver 
 up my foul, Mat. xii. 43, 44. Lord, let me make 
 thorough work of it : let me cut it off, and pluck 
 it out, though it be as a right hand, or eye. Ah, 
 fhall I come fo near the kingdom of God, and 
 make fuch a fair offer for Chrift, and yet flick at a 
 fmall matter, and lote all for want of one thing ? 
 Lord, let me (he'd the blood of the dearefl lull, ior 
 his fake that fhed his dearefl blood for me. 
 
J 34 A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 * 
 
 t There's many a foul eternally undone 
 « For fparing fin, becaufe a little one. 
 t But we are much deceived j no fin is fmal], 
 « That wounds fo great a God, fo dear a foul. 
 
 • Yet fay it w.re, the fmallert pen-knife may 
 ( As well as fword or lance difpatch and flay. 
 
 • And {hall fo fmall a matter part and fever 
 
 « Chrifl and thy foul ? What, make you part for ever 
 ♦Or wilt thou ttand on toys with him, when he 
 « Deny'd himfelf in greateft things for thee ? 
 
 • Or will it be an eafe in hell, to think 
 « How eafily thy foul therein did fink ? 
 
 « Are Chrift and hell for trifles fold and bought ? 
 
 • Strike fouls with trembling, Lord, at fuch a thought J 
 ' By little fins, belov'd, the foul il loft, 
 
 • Unlcfs fuch- fins, do great repentance coiV" 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 Ships make much way when they a t\ 'adz-wind get M 
 
 IViihJuch a wind thejaints have ever met. 
 
 OBSERVATIO N. 
 
 HOUGH in mofl parts of the world the 
 winds are variable, and ibmc times blow from 
 
 T 
 
Or Navigation Spiri waltzed. 135 
 
 every point of the compafs, by reafon whereof, fail- 
 ing is flow, and dangerous j yet about the Equinoc- 
 tial, feamen meet with a trade-wind, blowing, for 
 the mod part, one way ; and there they fail jocund 
 before it, and fcarce need to lower a top-fail for 
 fomc hundreds of leagues. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 Although the people of God meet with many 
 feeming rubs and fet-backs in their way to heaven, 
 which -are like contrary winds to a fhip ; yet are 
 they from the day of their converfion, to the day of 
 their complete falvation, never out of a trade-wind's 
 way to heaven. Rom. viii. 21. " We know that aft 
 things work together for good, to them that love 
 God, to them that are ealled according to his pur- 
 pofe." This is a mod precious fcripture, pregnant 
 with its confolation to all believers in all conditions, 
 a pillar of comfort to all diftreffed faints : Let us 
 look a little nearer to it. 
 
 (We know) Mark the certainty and evidence of 
 the proportion, which is not built upon a guefs or 
 remote probability, but upon the knowledge of the 
 faints ; zve know it, and that partly by divine reve- 
 lation, God has told us fo -, and partly by our own 
 experience, we find it fo. 
 
 ("That all things). Not only things that lie in & 
 natural and direcS tendency to our good ; as ordhian- 
 eeSy pfomifeSy bleffings y &c. but even fuch things as 
 have no natural fitnefs and tendency to fuch an end ; 
 as affliElionSy temptations, corruptions, defer t ions y &c, 
 all thefe help onward. They 
 
 (Work together.) itfot all of them directly, and 
 of their own nature and inclination ; but by being 
 over-ruled and determined to fuch an iffus by the 
 
1 3 6 ^ iS&ze; Compa/s for Sedmefi 
 
 gracious hand of God : Nor yet do they work out 
 fuch good to the faints, fmgly, and apart, but as 
 adjuvant caufts or helps, {landing under, and work- 
 ing in fubordination to the fupreme and principal 
 caufe of their happmefs. L 
 
 Now the molt feeming oppofite tilings, yea, fin 
 m itfelf, which in its own nature is really oppofite 
 to their good, yet eventually contributes to it. Af- 
 flictions and defertions feem to work againfl us, but 
 bemg once put into the rank and order of caufes, 
 they work together with fuch bleffed inftruments, 
 as word and prayer, to an happy ifTue. And though 
 the faces of thele things, that fo agree and work to- 
 gether, ook contrary ways ; yet there are, as it were, 
 iecret chains and connexions of providence betwixt 
 them, to unite them in their hTue. There may be 
 many inftruments employed about one work, and 
 yet not communicate counfels, or hold intelligence 
 with each other. Jofepb's brethren, the Midianites, 
 Ponpbar, &c. knew not one another's mind, nor 
 aimed at one end, (much lefs the end that God 
 brought about by them) one ae>s out of revenge* 
 another for gain, a third out of policy ; yet all meet 
 together at laft, in that iflue God had deligned to 
 bring about by them, even Jofepb's advancement; 
 Even fo it is here, chriftian, there are more inftru- 
 ments at work for thine eternal good, than thou art 
 aware of. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Chear up then, O my foul* and lean upon this 
 pillar of comfort in all diftreiies. Here is a prom- 
 ife for me, if f am a called one ; that like the phi- 
 Iofopher's ftone, turns all into gold it toiicheth: 
 This promife is my fecurity ; however things go in 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 13 7 
 
 tTie world, my God " will do me no hurt," jer. xxv. 
 6. Nay, he will do me good by every difpenfation. 
 " O that I had but an heart to make all things 
 work for his glory, that thus caufcth every thing to 
 work for my good." My God, doft thou turn ev- 
 ery thing to my advantage ? O let me return all to 
 thy praife ; and if by every thing thou work my, 
 'eternal good, then let me in every thing give thanks. 
 
 But ah ! how foolifh and ignorant have I been ? 
 even as a beaft before thee. How hath my heart 
 been difquieted, and apt to repine at thy difpcnfa- 
 tions, when they have croiTed my will ? not conlid- 
 ering that my God faithfully purfues my good, everi 
 in thofe things that crofs, as well as in that which 
 pleafes rhe, 
 
 BlefTed Lord i what a blefTed condition are all 
 thy people in, who are within the line of this prom- 
 ise ? All things friendly and beneficial to them ; 
 friends helpful ; enemies helpful ; every thing con- 
 fpiringj and conducing to their happinefs. With 
 'others it is not fo ; nothing works tor their good ; 
 nay, every thing works againft it : their Very mer- 
 cies are fnaresj and their profperity deftroys them ; 
 Prov. i. 32. even the blefTed gofpel itfelf is a favour 
 of death to them ; when evil befals them, " it is an 
 only evil,'' Ezek. vii. 5; that is, not turned into 
 good to them ; and as their evils are not turned in- 
 to good, fy all their good is turned into evil. As 
 this promife hath an influence into all that concerns 
 the people of God, fo the curfe hath ah influence 
 into all the enjoyments of the wicked. O my foul, 
 blefs the Lord, who hattrcaft thy lot into iuch a 
 pleaiant pi ace, and given thee fuch a glorious her- 
 itage, as ihispromne is. 
 S 
 
138 A New Compqfs for Seaman 
 
 THE POEM, 
 
 ** When once the dog-ftar rifes, many fay, 
 
 •' Corn ripens then apace, both night and day. 
 
 «« Souls once in. Chrift, that morning-ftar lets fall 
 
 " Such influences on them, that all 
 
 •« God's difpenfations to them then, fweet or four, 
 
 " Ripen their fouls for glory ev'ry hour. 
 
 •' All their alflittions, rightly underftood, 
 
 " Are bleffmgs \ ev'ry wind will blow fome good. 
 
 •« Sure at their troubles faints would never grudge r 
 
 *f Were fenfe depofed, and faith made the judge. 
 
 " Falls make them warier, amend their pace j 
 
 H When gifts puff up their hearts, and weaken grace. 
 
 " Could Satan fee the iflue, and th' event 
 
 " Of his temptations, he would fcarcely tempt. 
 
 •« Could faints but fee what fruits their troubles bring, 
 
 " Amidit thofe troubles they would Oiout and fing, 
 
 « O facred wifdom ! who can but admire 
 
 •« To fee how thou doft fave from fire, by fire ! 
 
 « No doubt but faints in glory wond'ring ftand 
 
 « At thofe Grange methods few now underftand. 
 
 C H A P. XXVIII. 
 
 Stems make difcovry of the pilot' s /kill : 
 God's wifdom in afffiaion tuumphs fiilL ' 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 IN fair weather, when there is fea-room enough, 
 then every common perfon can guide the^ihip ; 
 
Or Navigation" Spiritualized. 139 
 
 the pilot may then lie down, and take his reft ; but 
 in great ftorms, and ftrefs of weather, or when near 
 the dangerous more, then the moft fkilful pilot is 
 put to it ; then he (hews the utmoft of his art and 
 ikill,and yet fometimes all is too little. They are (as 
 the icripture fpeaks) at their wits end, know not 
 what to do more ; but are forced to commit all to 
 the mercy of God, and the feas. 
 
 APPLICATION, 
 
 In the ftorms and tempefts of affliction and 
 trouble, there are the moft evident and full difcov- 
 eries of the wifdom and power of our God : it is 
 indeed continually active for his people in all con- 
 ditions, Iia. xxvii. 3. c< Left any hurt it, I will 
 " keep it night and day." Pfal. cxxi. 4. " He that 
 " keepeth Ifrael neither flumbereth nor {leepeth." 
 His People's dangers are without intermifiion, there^- 
 fore his prefervations are fo too. But now, when' 
 they come into the ftrait of affliction, and deadly 
 dangers, which threaten like rocks on every fide j 
 now the wiidom of their God rides triumphantly 
 and vifibly upon the waves of that ftormy fea ; and 
 this infinite wifdom is then efpecially difcovered in 
 thele particulars : 
 
 1. In leaving them ftill fomewhat in the lieu 
 and room of thofe comforts that they are deprived 
 of ; fo that they fee God doth exchange their com- 
 forts, and that for the better ; and this fupports 
 them. So John xiv. 1, 2, 3. drift's bodily pre- 
 fence is removed, but the fpirit was fent in the 
 room of it, which was better, 
 
!4° A Nezv Compafs for Seamen 
 
 2. In doubling their ftrength, as he doubles 
 their burdens. It is obfervcc) that the faints have 
 many times very Jtrong and fvveet confolation, a, 
 little before their greatdt trials ; and this is ib -or- 
 dinary, that commonly when they have had their 
 extraordinary consolations from God, they have 
 then looked for fo.me eminent trial. The Lord ap- 
 peared to Abraham, and fealed the covenant to him, 
 and then put him upon that great trial of his faith. 
 So the difciples, Luke xxiv. 49. It was command- 
 ed them that they M mould tairv in Jerufalem, till 
 "J he y were endpwed with power from on high.' '• 
 The Lord knew w'.iat a hard providence they were 
 like to have, and what great oppofitions and diffi- 
 culties they muft encounter, in publiming the ev- 
 erlafting gofpel to the world ; and therefore firft 
 prepares and and endows them with power from on 
 high, viz. with eminent meafures of the gifts and 
 graces 0} the Spirit j as faith, patience, felf-denial, 
 
 r c L Sp P ayl had ^ rft h} * revelations, then his 
 buffet! ngs. 
 
 J< In coming in f opportunely in the time 
 ot their great cliilrefs, with relief and comfort, 1 
 1 et, , iy, 14. 4 Then the Spirit of Glory and of 
 Oocl refteth on them." As that martyr cried out 
 to hs friend Auftin, at the very ftakq, fie is come, 
 bets come, 
 
 \ In appointing and ordering the feveral kinds 
 or afflictions to feveral faints ; and alloting to every, 
 one, that very affliction, and no othcr,°which is 
 moil fuitatye to his condition : which affliction?, 
 like fp many potions of phyfic, are prepared for 
 that very malignant humour that predominates 
 molt in them. Peter's tin was felf-confidence, God 
 permits him to fall by denying. Chrift ;. which doubt. 
 Ids was fancUricd to his good in that particular. 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 141 
 
 flezekiah's fin was vain-glory, therefore fpoilers are 
 fent to take away his treafures. 
 
 5. In the duration of their troubles, they fhall 
 not ly always upon them, Pfalm exxv. 3. Our God 
 is a God of judgment, Ifa. xxx. 18. Knows the 
 due time of removing it, and is therein punctual 
 to a day, Rev. ii. 10. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 If the wifdom of God do thus triumph, and 
 glorify itfelf in the diftreffes of the faints, then why 
 Jhould I fear in the day of evil ? Pfalm xlix. 4. Why 
 doth my heart faint at the fore-fight and appre- 
 henfion of approaching trouble ? Fear none of 
 thofe things that thou malt fuffer, Q my foul ; if 
 thy God will thus be with thee in the fire of water, 
 thou canft not perifh. Though I walk through 
 the valley of the fhac^ow of death, yet let me fear 
 no evil, whilft my God is thus with me, Creatures 
 cannot do what they pleafe, his wifdom linnts and 
 over-rules them all, to gracious and fweet ends. 
 If my God cad me into the furnace, to melt and 
 try me, yet I (hail not be confumed there ; for he 
 wilUit by die rurnac$ himfelf all the while 1 am in 
 it/and curiouily pry into it, obierving when it hath 
 done its work, and then will prefently withdraw 
 the fire. O my foul, blefs and adore this God of 
 wifdom \ who himfelf will fee the ordering of all 
 thine afflictions, and not truft it in the hands of 
 men or angels.. 
 
H* -A Ntw Compq/s for Seamen 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 « Though toft in greateft ftorms, 1*11 never fear, 
 
 " If Chrift will fit at th' helm to guide and fteer 
 
 " Storms are the triumph of his fkill and art J 
 
 W He cannot clofe his eyes, nor change his heart. 
 
 *' Wifdom and power ride upon the waves, 
 
 " And in the greateft danger helps and faves. 
 
 « From dangers it by dangers doth deliver, 
 
 <f And wounds the devil out of his own quiver j 
 
 * It countermines his plots, and fo doth fpoil, 
 
 " And make his engines on himfelf recoil. 
 
 ft It blunts the politician's reftlefs tool, 
 
 " And makes Ahkophel the verieft fool J 
 
 " It (hews us' how our reafon us mifled, 
 
 *« And if he had not, we had periled. 
 
 " Lord, to thy wifdom I will give the reins, 
 
 <l And not with cares perplex and vex my brains." 
 
 CHAP. XXIX 
 
 Things in the bottom are wife en : no eve 
 
 Can trace God's paths, which in the deep do lie. 
 
 OBSERFjriON. 
 
 THE ocean is fo deep, that no eye can difcov- 
 er what lies in the bottom thereof. We ufe 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. I43 
 
 to fay, proverbially, of a thing that is irrecoverably 
 loft, it is as good it were call into the fea. What 
 lies there, lies obfcure from all eyes, but the eye 
 of God. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 Thus arc the judgments of God, and the ways 
 of his providence, profound and unfearchable, Pfal. 
 xxxvi. 6. c< Thy righteouinefs is like the great 
 ff mountains, thy judgments are a great deep 1 ' 
 (i. e.) his providences are fecret, oblcure, and un- 
 fathomable ; but even then, and in thole provi- 
 dences, his righteoufnefs {lands up like the great 
 mountainsjvifible & apparent to every eye. Though 
 the faints cannot fee the one, yet they can clearly 
 difcern the other, Jer. xii. 1. Jeremiah was at a 
 ftand ; fo was Job in the like cafe, Job xii. 7. So 
 was Afaph, Pfal. lxxiii. and Habbakuk, chap. i. 3. 
 Thefe wheels of providence are dreadful for their 
 height, Ezek. i. 18. There be deep myfteries of 
 providence, as well as of faith. It may be faid of 
 fome of them, as of Paul's epiftles, That they art 
 bard to be twderftood, darknefs and clouds are round 
 about the throne of God : no man can fay what 
 will be the particular iflue and event of fome of 
 his difpenfations. Luther feemed to hear God fay 
 to him, when he was importunate to know his 
 mind in fome particular providence, Deusfum non 
 fequax : I am a God not to be traced. Some pro- 
 vidences, like Hebrew letters muft be read back- 
 ward, Pfal. xcii. 7. Some providences pofe men 
 of the greateft parts and graces. « His way is in 
 " the fea, his paths in the great waters, and his 
 
144 d New Compdfs for Seafato 
 
 " foot-fteps are not known," Pfal. Ixxvii. iii 
 
 Who can trace foot-fteps in the bottom of the fea ? 
 " The Angels^" Ezek. i. " have their hands un- 
 " der their wings." The hand is t\\htr fymbolum 
 roboris. The fymbol of ftrength ; or inftrumentatum 
 cperaticnis, The inftrument of action : where thefe 
 hands are put forth, they work effectually, yea, but 
 fecrctly, they are hid under their wings. There 
 be fome of God's works that are fuch fecre's, as 
 that they may not be enquired into ; they are to 
 be believed and adored, but not pryed into, Rom. 
 xi. 33. Others that may be enquired after, but 
 yet are fo profound, that few can underftand them, 
 Pfal. cxi. 2; " The works of the Lord are great j 
 " fought out of all thofe that have pleafufe there- 
 in." When we come to Heaven, then all thofe 
 myfteries, as well in the works as in the words of 
 God, will lie open to our view. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 O then, why is my heart difquieted, becaufe it 
 cannot fometimes difcern the way of the Loid, and 
 fee the connection and dependance of his provi- 
 dential difpenfations ? Why art thou fo perplexed, 
 O my foul, at the ccnfufions and diforders that are 
 in the world ? I know that goodnefs and wifdorH 
 fits at the ftern ; and though the veffel of the 
 church be toffed and diftrefTed in dorms of troii- 
 b]e 5 yet it fhall not perifh. Is it not enough for 
 me, that God hath condeicended fo far^ for my Sa- 
 tisfaction, as to fhew me plainly the ultimate arid 
 general iflue of thefe myfterious providences, Ep'h. 
 1. 22. - Rom. viii. 28, unlets I be able to take the 
 
Vr Navigation Spiritualized. 1 43 
 
 height of every particular, fhall I prefume to call 
 the God of heaven to account ? Muft he render a 
 reafon of his ways, and give an account of his mat- 
 ters to fuch a worm as I am ? Be filent (O my foul) 
 before thb Lord, fubfcribe to his wifdom, and fub- 
 mit to his will, whatsoever he doth. However it 
 be, yet God is good to Ifrael , the event will man- 
 ifeft it to be all over a defign of love. I know not 
 how to reconcile them to each other, or many of 
 them to the promiie 5 yet are they all harmonious 
 betwixt themfclves, and the certairi means of ac- 
 compli fhing the promifes'. O what a favour is "this, 
 that in the midft of the greateft confuiions in the 
 world, God hath given fuch abundant fecurity to 
 his people, that it fhall be well with them ? Amos 
 li. 8, Ecclef. viii, 12, 
 
 THE POEM, 
 
 '< Lord ! how ftupendouSj deep, and wonderful 
 
 «« Are all thy draughts of providence ? So full 
 
 «' OF puzzling intricacies, that they lie 
 
 ** Beyond the ken of any mortal eye. 
 
 '« Amhtel ivitbi* a toheefi the fcripture notion, 
 
 <* And all fhofe wheels tranfverfe, and crofs in motion. 
 
 " All creatures ferve it in their place j yet fo 9 
 
 *« As thcufahds oFtham know not what they do, 
 
 ct At this or that, their aim they do direct ; 
 
 «< But neither this, nor that, is the effe# : 
 
 ** But fomething di'c they do not umlerftaad-, 
 
 ** Which fets all politicians at a ftani, 
 
 T 
 
14* 4 New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 « Deep counfels, at the birth, this har* doth break, 
 « And deeper things pcrformeth by the weak. 
 " Men are, like horfes, fct at ev'ry ftage, 
 «« For providence to ride from age to age j 
 « Which, like a poft, fpurs on; and makes them run 
 " From ftage, to ftage, until their journey's done ; 
 " Then tak, a frefh : but they the bus'nefs know, 
 "No more than horfes the poft-letters do j 
 
 * Yet tho' it's work be not concealed from fight, 
 
 * 'Twill be a glorious piece, when brought to light. 
 
 CHAP, XXX. 
 
 Millions of men are funk into the main ; 
 But itfhall not thofe dead always retain. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 WHAT multitudes of men hath the Tea de- 
 voured ! thoufands have made their graves 
 tni \u What r nu ?^ erS of men have been infulfed 
 
 wh g ereh r 1 f*^ ° T ^ n ^ 0r ^"dations, 
 whereby whole towns have been fwallowed up » cer ' 
 tainly the dead which are there, are innumerable, 
 
 A ? P L I C A T 1 N. 
 
 But though the Tea has received fo many thou- 
 land bodies of men into its devouring throat, yet it 
 *s not the abfolute lord, or proprietor of them, but 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 147 
 
 rather a fteward intruded with them, till the Lord 
 require an account of them -, and then it muft de- 
 liver up all it hath received, even to a perfon. Rev. 
 xx. n, 12. "And I faw the dead, fm all and great, 
 fland before God : And the bocks were opened ; 
 and another book was opened, which is the book 
 of life \ and the dead were judged out of thole things 
 which were written in the book, according to their 
 works. And the lea gave up the dead which were 
 in it." 
 
 The doctrine of the refurrection of the body, is 
 a doctrine full of lingular confblations to believers, 
 1 Cor. xv. and mod clearly aflferted in fcripture, 
 Actsxxvi. 8. Job xix. 25. 1 Cor. xv. &c, And 
 it is well ior us this point is fo plainly revealed 5 be- 
 caufe as it is a moft comfortable truth to the peo- 
 ple of God, fo there is fcarce any truth that lies un- 
 der more prejudice, as to fenfe or reafon, and is 
 more difficult, to receive, than this is. The Epicures 
 and Stoics laughed Paul to fcorn when he preached 
 it to them, Acts xvii. 32. The Familifts and Qua- 
 kers at this day reject it as a fable. The Socinians 
 fay the fame body (hall not rife, but an serial body. 
 And, indeed, if men let up realonas the only judge 
 of fupernatural things^ it is incredible to think, that 
 a body ihould be reftored, that hath been burnt to 
 afhes, and thofe afhes fcattered in the wind ; as 
 hiftory tells us was frequently done by the bodies of 
 the faints in Bioclefian's reign ! or when drowned in 
 the fea, and there devoured by feveral fifties, and 
 thofe again devoured by others. But yet this is not 
 to be objected to the almighty power of God, that 
 gave them their firfl being : difficulties arid impof- 
 fibilities are for men, but not for him. " Why 
 fhou Id it be thought a thing incredible with you, 
 that Godfhouid raifc the dead V* Acts xxvi. 8, 
 
Z43 J New Compqjs for Seam* 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 And mud I rife again, wherever my body falls 
 at death ? Then, Lord, how am I concerned to get 
 union with Chrift while I live ? By virtue thereof 
 only, my refurrecYion can be made comfortable, and 
 bleiled to me. Ah ! let my body lie where it will, 
 in earth or fea ; let my bones be lcattered, and flefli 
 devoured by worms or fifh, I know thou canft, and 
 wilt re-unite my fcattered parts; and in this body 
 I mud: (land before thine awful tribunal, to receive 
 according'to what I have* done therein, 2 Cor. v. 10. 
 Thou that commander! me to (land forth among 
 the noble ft rank of creatures, when I had no being-; 
 and faweft my fubftance, being yet imperfect, canft 
 as eafily reduce me to that being again. 
 
 What though reafon vote it impofTible, and fenfe 
 incredible I Though all thefe difficulties and in- 
 cumbrances grow upon my faith, yet I know my 
 body is not loft for ever j' the found of thy lad and 
 dreadful trumpet, (hall awaken me: and thy migh- 
 ty power, to which 'all things are pbifible, (hall bring 
 me before thy bar, ' 
 
 O Lord, I know that I (hall ftand in that great 
 afferhbly at the lad day, when multitudes, multi- 
 tudes, even all the fons and daughters of Adam, 
 Jhall appear' together. O if I die Chriftlefs, it were 
 good for me that there were no relurreclion ; for 
 then thofe eyes that have been windows of luft, mud 
 behold Chrift the Judge, not as a Redeemer, but as 
 a Revenger. That tongue that hath vented fo much 
 of the fikhinefs of my heart, will' then be druck 
 Specchlefs before hjni ; and this flefli which I fo 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 149 
 
 pampered and provided for, condemned to everlaft- 
 fng flames. O my God, let me make fure work 
 for fuch a day ! if I now git real union with thy 
 Son, I (hall awake with finging out of the duft ; and 
 then, as thou faidft to Jacob, fo to me, when I go 
 down into the fea, or grave, Gen. xlvi. 3,4. "Fear 
 not to go down into the deep ; for \ will furely 
 bring thee up again," 
 
 THE POEM, 
 
 *-' It fhould not feem incredible to thee, 
 
 «< That God mould raife the dead in feas that be v 
 
 ** We fee in winter, fwallows, worms and flies 
 
 " Depriv'd of life, yet in the fpring they rife. 
 
 f« What tho' your bodies fey'ral fifh devour, 
 
 ?« Objecl not that to the Almighty pow'r. 
 
 *< Some chymifts in their art. are fo exact, 
 
 " That from one herb they ufually extradt 
 
 «« Four difPrent elements j what think ye then, 
 
 f* Can pofe that God, who gave this /kill to men ? 
 
 ** The gard'ner can diftinguifh thirty kinds 
 
 " Of feeds from one another, tho' he finds 
 
 " Them mix'd together in the fclf-fame dim ; 
 
 " Much more can God diftinguifh flefh from nih. 
 
 «< They feem as loft, but they again muft live j 
 
 ff The fea'sa fteward, and ftewards account muft give. 
 
 *' Look what you are, when in the ocean drown'd, 
 
 «< The very fame at judgment you'll be found. 
 
 « I would not care where my vile body lies, 
 
 <* Were I afi'ur'd it ftiou'd with comfort life," 
 
tjo A New Compajs fir Stameu 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 Thefeamaris greatefl danger's near the eoaft : 
 IVhen we are neareft heavn, the danger's moft, 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 THOUGH Teamen meet with violent ftorms, 
 yet if tney have fea room enough, they are not 
 much difmayed : but if they find themfelves near 
 the more, they look upon their condition as "Very 
 dangerous : the fight of the more is to them 
 Solomon fpeaks of the morning in another cafeY&e 
 the fhadow of death, if not able to weather it. For 
 one (hip fwallowed up in the ocean, many perifh 
 upon the coaft. • , 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 The greatefl: flraits and difficulties that many 
 faints meet with in all their lives, is when they come 
 pearefl to heaven, and have almoft finimed their 
 courfe. Heaven, indeed, is a glorious ^place, the 
 ipacious, and royal manfion of the great king; but 
 difficum quae pulcbra ; it hath a flrait and narrow 
 entrance, Luke xiii. 24. O the difficulty of arriv- 
 ing there ! how many hard tugs in duty, what ear- 
 ned contention and ftriving, even to an agony ' as 
 that word imports, Luke xiii. 24. Multitudes put 
 iorth, and by profeffion are bound for this /a/r ha- 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. f#j 
 
 va t but of the multitudes that put out, how few 
 do arrive there ? A man may fet out by a glorious 
 profeffion, with much refolution, and continue lone 
 therein ; he may offer very fair for it, and not be 
 tar from the kingdom of God, and yet not be able 
 to enter at the laft, Mat. vii. 22. 
 
 Yea, and many of thofe who are f.ncere in their 
 profeffion, and do arrive at laft, yet come to heaven 
 (as I may fay) by the gates of hell 5 and put in, as 
 a poor weather-beaten veflel comes into the har- 
 bour more hkea wreck than a fhip, neither maft 
 nor fad left. The righteous themfelves are fcaS 
 SS' C Vu J 2 Y afC faved with ver y mi *h diffi, 
 
 SJ L J f y ^ VC "S* al ? an abmdmt enir ™"> as 
 the apoftle fpeaks, 2 Pet. u 1 1. 
 
 "•Some perfons (as one we'll notes) are afar off 
 *4*g u. 23- (t. e.J touched with no care of religion! 
 
 Se> i Manh near ' bUt "A Ver Cnter ' aS ^mi-converts. 
 Se*, Match, xii. 34 . Others enter, but with great 
 dj%ulty, they are faved as by fire, , Cor. iif'f 
 
 eoTwith H 2ft r BUt , th " n - ^ are tf & 
 go lrl with full fail before the w nd, and have an a- 
 
 bundant entrance , they g0 triumphing out of the 
 
 Si H^ " We r C ° me lnt0 the narr ™ chan- 
 
 kt^n n I 61 " 7 P 7r ° f emnnCe into « fe * ^^ foul 
 is then in the moft fenoUs frame ; all th ngs look 
 with a new face ; confciertce fcans our evident moft 
 
 S for n ; a te 2,(0 H S r ^ 11S U ^ -.andmTkt 
 nis lorelt aflults, and batteries. It is the laft en- 
 
 counter , if they efcape him now, they are gon out 
 
 ^av ion aC veTfr' : *? ifhe cannot hJerthei 
 Ulvation, yet if he can but cloud their evening, anc T 
 
 otheK are tnt' Cked and J weake " ^e hand, of 
 otners that are looking towards religion. 
 
x$2> d Ntw Compa/s for Seamzii 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 If this be fo, how inevitable is mv perdition* majr 
 the carelefs fotil fay ? If they that ftrive fo much, 
 and go fo far, yet perifh at lafi. $ and if the righte- 
 pus themfelves are fcarcely faved, then where mail 
 jfuch an ungodly creature as I appear ? O Lord ! 
 if they that have made religion their bufmefs, and 
 have been many years purfuing a work of mortifi- 
 cation, have gone mourning after the Lord Jefus, 
 and walked humbly with God ; yet if fome of thefe 
 have fuch an hard tug at laft, then what will be- 
 come of fuch a vain, ienfual, carslefs, flefh-pleafing 
 wretch as I have been ? 
 
 Again-, Do faints find it fo flrait an entrance ? 
 Then, though I have w*U grounded hopes of fafe 
 arrival at laft; yet let me look to it, that I do not 
 increale the difficulty. Ah ! they are the things 
 that are now done, or omitted, that put confciencc 
 into fuch an agony then ; for then it comes to re- 
 view the life with the mod ferious eye. O let me 
 not flick my death bed full of thorns, againfl I come 
 to lie down upon it. O that I may turn to the 
 wall, in that hour, as Hezekiah did, 2 Kings xx. 2, 
 3. and fay, (< Remember now. O Lord, how I have 
 walked before thee in truth, and with a perfec> 
 heart,' ' &c. 
 
 THE POEM, 
 
 *« After a tedious parage, faints defcry 
 " The glorious (hore, fulvatton being ni£h : 
 « Deaths long boat's launched, ready to let a(norr. 
 "- Their pantir.g fouls. O how they tug at o*--. 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 153 
 
 «< Longing to be at reft ! but then they find 
 
 " The hardeft tug of all is yet behind. 
 
 ««*Juft at the harbour's mouth they fee the wreck 
 
 « Of fouls : there caft away, and driven back. 
 
 «• A world of dang'rous rocks before it lie j 
 
 « The harbour's barr'd, and now the winds blow high .; 
 
 " Thoughts now arife, fears multiply apace j 
 
 « All. things about them have another face. 
 
 «* Life blazes, juft like an expiring light, 
 
 " The foul's upon the lip prepar'd for flight. 
 
 «< Death, till the refurrection, tears and rends, 
 
 «< Out of each other's arms, two parting friends^ 
 
 " The foul and body. Ah ! buc more than fo, 
 
 " The devil falls upon them e're they go, 
 
 " With new temptations, back'd with all his pow'r, 
 
 s < And fcruples, kept on purpofe for that hour. 
 
 •* This is the laft encounter, now, or never ; 
 
 te If he fucceedeth now, they're gone for ever. 
 
 « Thus in they p.,t, with hardfhip at the laft, 
 
 «* As ihips out of a ftorm, nor fail, nor maft : 
 
 «« Yet fome go in before a wind, and have 
 
 (l Their ftreamer of aflurance flying brave. 
 
 " Lord, give me eafier entrance} if thou pleafe j 
 
 *' Or if I may not there arrive with eafe, 
 
 *< Yet I befeechthee, fet me fafe a-morej 
 
 " Tho' ftormy winds at harbour's mouth fliould roar. 
 
 CHAP, XXXII. 
 
 How glad are feamen when they make thejhore f 
 Ana faint s, no lefs, when all their danger s o'er, 
 
 OBSERVATION, 
 
 HAT joy is there among feamen, when at 
 laft, after a tedious and dangerous voyage, 
 U 
 
 w 
 
r$4 A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 they defcry land, and fee the defired haven before 
 them ? Then they turn out of their loathed 
 cabins, and come upon open deck with much joy. 
 Pfalm cvii. 30. « Then they are glad, becaufe they 
 be quiet : So he bringeth them to their defired ha- 
 ven." Now they can reflect, with comfort, upon 
 the many dangers they have pail, O/im haec memin- 
 ijejuvabit ; it is fweet to recount them. 
 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 But O what a tranfeendant joy, yea, ravifhing, 
 will over-run the hearts of faints, when, after fo 
 many conflicts, temptations, and afflidions, they 
 arrive in glory, and are harboured in heaven, where 
 they mall reft forever ! 2 Theff. i. 7. The fcrip- 
 ture faith, « They (hall fing the fong ofMofes,and 
 of the Lamb," Rev. xv. 3. The fong of Mofes 
 was a triumphant fong, compofed for the celebra- 
 tion of that glorious deliverance at the red fea. 
 The faints are now fluctuating upon a troublefome 
 and tempeftuous fea 5 their hearts fometimes ready 
 to fink, and die within them, at the apprehenfion 
 of fo many and great dangers and difficulties. Ma- 
 ny a hard florm they ride out, and many ftraits and 
 troubles they here encounter with, but at laft they 
 arrive at their defired and long expected haven, 
 and then heaven rings and refounds with their joy- 
 ful acclamations, And how can it be otherwife, 
 when as foon as ever they fet foot upon that glori- 
 ous more, Chrift himfelf meets and receives them, 
 with a " Come ye blefled of my Father/' Matth. 
 xxv. 34. O joyful voice ! O much defired word ! 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 155 
 
 iaith Paraeus, what tribulation would not a man 
 undergo for his word's fake ! ♦ 
 
 Befides, then they are perfectly freed from all e- 
 vils,whether of fin or lufTering, and perfectly tilled 
 with all defired good. Now they thai! join with 
 that great afTembly, in the high praifes of God. 
 O what a day will this be 1 if, faid a worthy di- 
 vine, Diagoras died away with an excels of joy, 
 whilft he embraced his three fons that were crown- 
 ed as victors in the Olympic games in one day : 
 and good old Simeon, when he faw Chrift but in 
 a body fubject to the infirmities of our nature, 
 cried out, " Now let thy fervant depart in peace ;■*' 
 what unfpeakable joy will it be to the faints, to be- 
 hold Chrift in his glory, and fee their godly relati- 
 ons alio (to whofe conversion, perhaps, they have 
 been inftrumental) all crowned, in one' day, with 
 everlafting diadems of blifs ! and if the ftars did, 
 as Ignatus faith, make a choir * as it were, about 
 that ftar, that appeared at Chrift' s incarnation, and 
 there is fuch joy in heaven at the converfion of a 
 finner ; no wonder, then, the morning ftars ling 
 together, and the fons of God fnout for joy, when 
 the general aflembly meet in heaven : O how will 
 the arches of heaven ring, and echo, when the 
 high praifes of God fhall be in the mouth of fuch 
 a congregation ! then mail the faints be joyful in 
 glory, and fing aloud upon their beds of everlafling 
 reft. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 And is there fuch a day approaching for the fons 
 of God, indeed ! and have I [authority'] to call my- 
 
j 56 A New Compafs for Seamen 
 
 felf one of the number ! John i. 12. O then \t% 
 me not droop at prefent difficulties, nor hang 
 down my. hands when I meet with hardfhips in the 
 way. O my foul, what a joyful day will this be ! 
 for at prefent we are tofTed upon an ocean of trou- 
 bles, fears, and temptations ; b.ut thefe will make 
 heaven the lweeter. 
 
 Chear up, then, O my foul, thy falvation is now 
 nearer than when thou rirft believedft, Rom. xiii. 
 1 1 . and it will not now be long e're I receive the 
 end ot my faith, 1 Pet. i. 9. and then it will be 
 fweet to reflect even upon thefe hardfhips in the 
 way. Yet a few days more, and then comes that 
 bleffed day thou haft io long waited and panted 
 for. Oppofe the glory of that day, O my loul, to 
 thy prefent abafures and fufFerings, as blefftd Paul 
 did, Rom. i. 18. and thou malt fee how it will 
 fhrink them all up to nothing •> oppofe the inheri- 
 tance thou fhait receive in that day, to thy lories 
 for CHrift now ; and fee how joyfully it will make 
 thee bear them, Heb. x. 34. oppofe the honor that 
 will be put upon thee in that day, to thy prefent 
 reproaches, and fee how eafy it will make them to 
 thee, 1 Cor. iv. 5. What condition can 
 I be in, wherein the believing thoughts of thisblef- 
 led day. cannot relieve me ? 
 
 Am I poor, here is that which anfwers poverty. 
 Jim. iii. 5. " Hearken, my beloted brethren, 
 "hath not God choferi t}ie. poor of this world, 
 " rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom ?'' 
 
 Am I tempted ? 'here is relief againft that, Rev. 
 Xii. 16. " Now is come falvation and ftrength ; 
 " for tire accufer of our brethren is caft down," 
 &c. 
 
 Am I deferted ? here is a remedy frr that too, 
 Rev. xxii. 5. % S And there mall be no nicht 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. 157 
 
 u there," &c. Come then, my foul, let us enter 
 Upon our inheritance by degrees, and begin the life 
 of heaven upon earth. 
 
 THE POEM. 
 
 f« When Solomon in Ifracl firft was king, 
 
 *< Heaven's arches, earth's foundation fe'm'd to ring 
 
 << With joyful exclamations ? how much more 
 
 i* Will heav'n refonnd, when faints are come afhore ! 
 
 ** How will the ravifh'd fouls tranfported be, 
 
 « At the firfl: glimpfe of Chriit ! whom they fhall fe? 
 
 " In all his glory ; and fhall live and move, 
 f* Like falamandors, in the fire of love. 
 «f A flood of tears convey'd them to the gate 
 <* Where endlcfs jo\s receiv'd them. Now the date 
 << Of all their forrowa's out ; henceforth they walk 
 t( In robes of glory, Now there's no more talk 
 fi Of fears, temptations, of that fraare, or this : 
 « No ferpent in that paradifedoth hifs. 
 <l No more defert ions, troubled thoughts, or tears : 
 '* Chart's full enjoyment fuperfedes thofe fears. 
 " Delights of princes are all but toys 
 " To thefe delights, thefe are tranfcendent joys, 
 " The joys of Chrift himfelf ; of what they are, 
 " An Angel's tongue wou'd ftammerto declare. 
 « Were our conceptions clear, did their tongue go 
 " Unto their Ela, yet the note's too low. 
 « What ! paint the fun too bright ! it cannot be ; 
 <f Sure heaven fuffers no hyperbole. 
 " My thoughts are fwallow'd «p, my mufe doth tire, 
 « And bangs her wings, conception foars no higher. 
 << Give me a place among thy children there, 
 
 V Altho' I ly with them in dungeon here, 
 
158 A Nezv Compafs for Seamen 
 
 A CONCLUDING SPEECH. 
 
 I HAVE now done, and am looking to heaven 
 for a blefllng upon thefe weak labours ; what 
 ufe you will make of them, I know not, but this I 
 know, that the day is coming, when God will reck- 
 on with you for this, and all other helps and means 
 afforded to you : and if it be not improved by ysn, 
 be fure it will be produced as a witnefs again ft you. 
 Sirs, I beg you, in the name of Chrift, before whom 
 both you and I mud ihortly appear, that you re- 
 ceive not thefe things in vain. Did 1 know what 
 other lawful means to ufe that might reach your 
 hearts, they mould not be in vain to you ; but I 
 cannot do God's part of the work, nor your's : on- 
 ly I requeft you all, both matters, common men, 
 and all others into whofe hands this (hall come, 
 that you will lay to heart what you read -, pray un- 
 to him that hath the key of the houfe of David, 
 that openeth and no man (hutteth, to open your 
 hearts to give entertainment to thefe truths. Alas 1 
 if you apply it not to yourfelves, I have laboured 
 to no purpofe ; the pen of tie icribe is in vain : 
 but God may make fuch an application of them, 
 in one florm or another, as may make your heart 
 to tremble. O firs ! when death and eternity look 
 you in the face, confcience may reflect upon thefe 
 things to your horror and amazement, and make 
 you cry out, as Prov. v. 12, 13, " How have I 
 " hated knowledge, and my heart defpiied reproof ! 
 
Or Navigation Spiritualized. j r* 
 
 * and have not obeyed the voice of my teacher* 
 " nor inclined my ears to them that inftru&ed 
 " me ?" And O what a dreadful fhrick will fuch 
 fouls give, when the Lord opens their eyes to fee 
 that mifery that they are here warned of. But if the 
 Lord lhall blefs thefe things, to your converfion, 
 then we may fay to you, as Mofes did to Zebulun, 
 the mariners tribe, Deut. xxxiii. 12, « Rejoice 
 ♦< Zebulun in thy going out." The Lord will be 
 with you, which way ioever you turn yourfelves ; 
 and being in the bofom of the covenant, you are 
 fafe in the midft of all dangers. O thou, that art 
 the Father of fpirits, thatformedft and canft eafily 
 reform the heart, open thou the blind eye, unftop 
 the deaf ear, let the world take hold upon the 
 heart. If thou wilt but fay the word, thefe weak 
 labours fhall profper, to bring home many loft 
 louls unto thee. 
 
 A M E M 
 
EDMUND M. BLUNT, 
 
 Printe? & Book-binder, 
 'at the 
 
 Newburyport Book-Store, 
 
 STATE-STREET, 
 
 (Five Doors below Mr, Davenport's Tavern,) 
 
 KEEPS CONST ANTLT FOR SALE, 
 [a large and extensive collection of 
 
 BOOKS 
 
 IK THE DIFFERENT 
 BRANCHES of LITERATURE; 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 BIBLES of all kinds and prices — Teftaments — 
 Watt's Pfalms and Hymns — Perry's, Webfter's, and Dilworth's Spel- 
 ling Books snd Primers, by the Groce, Dozen or Single — Ainfworth's and 
 Young's Latin Dictionaries— Greek Lexicons, Teftamen's and Grammars— 
 Clark'o Eutropius, Erafmus, and Introduction to making of Latin,Davidfon's 
 Virgii— -Cicero's Orations,with and without Tranfknions--Perry'sand Entick's 
 Pocket Dictionaries — Pike's Arithmetic ; Ftnning's Ditto— Moore's Practi- 
 cal Navigator — Seaman's daily afiiftant — Ship Mallei's Afliftant — Mariners 
 Compafs— With a Variety of others including all ihe Books generally ufed at 
 Colleges, academies, Schools, &c. at the lowed prices. 
 
 L I K E W I S E 9 
 
 A LARGE ASSORTMENT OF 
 
 STATIONARY, 
 
 OF EVERY KIND. 
 
 Jan. 1797. 
 
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