to such a frame, than the hvely apprehensions of eternity do; and none have greater external advantages for that, than you have. But, alas ! for the generahty, what sort of men are more ungodly, and stupidly insensible of eternal concernments? living, for the most part, as if they had made a covenant with death, and with hell were at agreement. It was an ancient saying, Qui nescit orare^ d'lscat navigare^ He that knows not how to pi'ay, let him go to sea. But we may say now, (alas ! that we may say so in times of greater light) he that would learn to be profane, to drink and swear, and dishonour God, let him go to sea. As for prayer, it is a rare thing among seamen, they count that a needless business : they see the profane and vile delivered as well as others ; and therefore what profit is there if they pray unto him ? Mai. iii. 4. As I remember, I have read of a profane soldier, who was heard swearing, though he stood in a place of great danger ; and when one that stood by him warned him, saying, ' Fellow-soldier, do not swear, the bullets fly ;"* he an- swered, ' They that swear come off as well as they that pray."* Soon after a shot hit him, and down he fell. Plato diligently admonished all men to avoid the sea ; ' For (saith he) it is the schoolmaster of * all vice and dishonesty.' Sirs ! it is a very sad consideration to me, that you who float upon the great deeps, in whose bottom so many thousand poor miserable creatures lie, whose sins have sunk them down, not onl}^ into the bottom of the sea, but of hell also, whither divine vengeance hath pursued them : That you, I say, who daily float; and hover over them, and have the roaring waves and billows that swallowed them up, gaping for you as the next prey, should be no more affected with these things. Oh what a terrible voice doth God utter in the stoi-ms ! " It breaks the cedars, shakes the wilder- " ness, makes the hinds to calve," Psal. xxix. 5. And can it not shake your hearts ? This voice of the Lord is full of majesty, but his voice in the word is more efficacious and powerful, Hcb. iv. 12. to convince and rip up the heart. This word is exalted above all his name, Psal. cxxxviii. 3. and if it cannot awaken you, it is no wonder you remain secure and dead, when the Lord utters his voice in the most dreadful storms and tempests. B^t if neither the voice of God uttered in his dreadful v/orks, or in his glorious gospel, can eff'ectually awaken and rouse, there is an Euroclydon, a fearful storm coming, which will so awaken your souls, as that they shall never sleep any more, Psal. xi. 6. " Upon the wicked he shall rain " snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest : This is the " portion of their cup." You that have been at sea in the most vio- lent storms, never felt such a storm as this, and the Lord grant that you never may ; no calm shall follow this storm. There are some among you, that, I am persuaded, do truly fear that God in whose hand their life and breath is ; men that fear an oath, and are an ho- nour to their profession ; who drive a trade for heaven, and are dili- gent to secure the happiness of their immortal souls, in the insurance-
208 THE EPISTLE JJEDICATORY.
office above; but for the generalit}', alas ! they mind none of these things. How many of you are coasting to and fro, from one country to another? But never think of that /^^at'^«/^ country above, nor how you may get the merchandize thereof, which is better than the gold of Ophir. How oft do you tremble to see the foaming waves dance about you, and wash over you ? Yet consider not how terri- ble it will be to have all the waves and billows of God's wrath to go over your souls, and that for ever. How glad are you after you have been long tossed upon the ocean, to descry land ? And how yare and eagerly do you look out for it, who yet never had your hearts warmed with the consideration of that joy which shall be among the saints, when they arrive at the heavenly strand, and set foot upon the shore of glory.
O Sirs ! I beg of you, if you have any regard to those precious, immortal souls of yours, which are also imbarked for eternity, whi- ther all winds blow them, and will quickly be at their port of hea- ven or hell, that you will seriously mind these things, and learn to steer your course to heaven, and improve all winds (I mean oppor- tunities and means) to waft you thither.
Here you venture life and liberty, run through many difficulties and dangers, and all to compass a perishing treasure ; yet how often do you retuiTi disappointed in your design ? Or if not, yet it is but a fading short-lived inheritance, which like the flowing tide, for a while, covers the shore, and then returns, and leaves it naked and dry again : and are not everlasting treasures worth venturing for ? Good souls be wise for eternitv : I here present you with the fruit of a few spare hours, redeemed for vour sakes, from my other studies and employ- ments, whicli I have put into a new dress and mode. I have endea- voured to clothe spiritual matters in your own dialect and phrases, that they might be the more intelligible to you ; and added some pious poems, wTth which the several chapters are concluded, trying by all means to assault your several affections, and as the apostle speaks, " to catch you with guile.'' I can say nothing of it ; I know it cannot be without its manifold imperfections, since I am conscious of so many in myself, only this I \s\\\ adventure to say of it, that how defective or empty soever it be in other respects, 3'et it is stuffed and filled with much true love to, and earnest desires after the salvation and prosperity of your souls. And for the other defects that attend it, I have only two things to offer, in way of excuse ; it is the first essay that I ever made in this kind, wherein I find no precedent : and it was hastened for your sakes, too soon out of my hands, that it might be ready to wait upon you, when ycfu undertake your next voyage : so that I could not revise and polish it. Nor indeed was I . solicitous about the stile ; I consider, I write not for critical and learned persons ; my design is not to please your fancies any further, than 1 might thereby get advantage to profit your souls. I will not once question your welcome reception of it : if God shall bless these
AN EPISTLE TO SEAMEX SAILING HEAVENWARD. 209