mecVitations to the conversion of any among you, you will be the o-ainers, and my heart shall rejoice, even mine. How comfortably should we shake hands with you, when you go abroad, were we per- suaded your souls were interested in Christ, and secured from pe- rishing, in the new covenant ? What life would it put into our prayers for you, when you are abroad, to consider that Jesus Christ is inter- cedino- for you in heaven, whilst we are your remembrancers here on earth ? How quiet would our hearts be, when you are abroad in storms, did we know you had a special interest in him whom winds and seas obey ? To conclude, what joy would it be to your godly relations, to see you return new creatures ? Doubtless more than if you came home laden with the riches of both Indies.
Come Sirs ! set the heavenly Jerusalem upon the point of your new compass ; make all the sail you can for it ; and the Lord give you a prosperous gale, and a safe arrival in that land of rest.
Your most affectionate friend to serve you
in soul-concernments ,
To every SEAMAN sailing Heavenward.
A HE art of Navigation, by which islands especially are enriched, and preserved in safety from foreign invasions ; and the wonderful works of God in the great deep, and foreign nations, are most delight- fully and fully beheld, &c. is an art of exquisite excellency, ingenuity, rarity, and mirability ; but the art of spiritual navigation is the art of arts. It is a gallant thing to be able to carry a ship richly laden round the world; but it is much more gallant to carry a soul (that rich loading, a pearl of more worth than all the merchandize of the world) in a body (that is as liable to leaks and bruises as any ship is) through the sea of this world (which is as unstable as water, and hath the same brinish taste and salt gust which the waters of the sea have) safe to heaven (the best haven) so as to avoid splitting upon any soul-sinking rocks, or striking upon any soul-drowning sands. The art of natural navigation is a very gpeat mystery ; but the art of spiritual navigation is by much a greater mystery. Human wisdom may teach us to carry a ship to the Indies : but the wisdom only that is from above can teach us to steer our course aright to the haven of happiness. This art is purely of divine revelation. The truth is, divinity (the doc- trine of living to God) is nothing else but the art of soul-navigation^ levealed from heaven. A mere man can carry a ship to any desired
SIO AN EPISTLE TO SEAMEN SAILING HEAVENWARD.
port in all the world, but no mere man can carry a soul to heaven. He must be a saint, he must be a divine (so all saints are) that can be a pilot to carry a soul to Xhejair-haven in Emmanuers land. The art of natural navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of Christ, before which time (if there be truth in history) the use of the loadstone was never known in the world ; and before the virtue of that was revealed unto the mariner, it is unspeakable with what un- certain wanderings ?,eaxi\Q\\ floated here and there, rather than sailed the right and direct way. Sure I am, the art of spiritual navigation is wonderfully improved since the coming of Christ ; it oweth its clearest and fullest discovery to the comincj of Christ. This art of arts IS now perfectly revealed in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament ; but the rules thereof are dispersed up and down therein. The collecting and methodizing of the same cannot but be a work very useful unto souls : though, when all is done, there is an abso- lute necessity of the teachings of the Spirit, and of the anointing that is from above, to make souls artists in sailing heaven-ward. The ingenious author of the Christians Compass., or the Mariney-^s Com- panion, makes three parts of this art (as the schoolmen do of di- vinity) viz. speculative^ practical, and affectionate. The principal things necessary to be known by a spiritual seamen, in order to the steering rightly and safely to the poi't of happiness, he reduceth to four heads, answerably to the four general points of the compass ; making God our north ; Christ our east ; holiness our so2dh ; and death our ivest points. Concerning God, we must know (1.) That he is, Heb. xi. 6. and that there is but one God, 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. (2.) That this God is that supreme good, in the enjoyment of whom all true happiness lies, Psal. iv. 6, 7. Mat. v. 8. — xviii. 20. (3.) That, life eternal lying in God, and he being incomprehensible and inconceivable in essence, as being a Spirit, our best way to eye him is in his attributes, Exod. xxxiv. 5, 6, 7. and works, Rom. i. 20. and especially in his Son, 2 Cor. iv. 6. (4.) That as God is a Spirit, so our chiefest, yea, only way of knowing, enjoying, serving, and walk- ing with him, is in the Spirit likewise, Job iv. 24. Concerning Christ, we must know, (1.) That he is the true Sun which ariseth upon the world, by which all are enlightened, John i. 9. ^lal. iii. 2. Luke i. 78, 79. (2.) That God alone is in him, reconciling the world to himself, 2 Cor. v. 19. 1 Cor. i. 30. John xiv. 6. (3.) That Jesus Christ is only made ours by the union and indwelling of himself in us through the Spirit, 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. and vi. 17. John xvi. 8, 9.
1 Cor. xii. 3, 13. (4.) That the way of the Spirit's uniting us to Christ, is by an act of power on his part, and by an act of faith on our parts, John iii. 16, 36. and v. 29. Eph. iii. 17. Concerning holiness, we must know, (1.) That whoever is in Christ is a new creature,
2 Cor. v. 17. 1 Cor. vi. 11. (2.) Holiness is the soufs highest lus- tre, Exod. XV. 11. when we come to perfection in holiness, then is c»ur sun.at the height in us. (3.) Holiness is Christ's filling the soul ;
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