2. What a leaking vessel thy body is, f in which this unspeakable, inconceivable rich treasure, thy soul, is embarked ! O the many dis- eases and distempers in the humours and passions that thy body is subject to ! It is above 2000 years ago, that there have been reck- oned up 300 names of diseases ; and there be many under one name, and many nameless, which pose the physicians not only how to cure them, but how to call them. And for the affections and passions of the mind, the distempers of them, are no less deadly to some, than the diseases of the body ; but besides these internal causes, there are many external causes of leaks in this vessel, as t poisonous maligni- ties, wrathful hostilities, and casual mishaps ; very small matters may be of great moment to the sinking of this vessel. The least gnat in the air may choak one, as it did Adrian, a pope of Rome ; a little liair in milk may strangle one, as it did a counsellor in Rome; a little stone of a raisin may stop one's breath, as was the case of the poet Ana- creon. Thus you see what a leaking vessel you sail in. Nov/ the more leaky any ship is, the more need there is of skill to steer wisely.
3. Consider what a dangerous sea the world is in which thy soul is to sail in the leaking ship of thy body. As there are not more changes in the sea, than are in the world, the world being only constant in in- constancy, " The fashion of this world passeth away," 1 Cor. vii. 31. So there are not more dangers in the sea for ships, than there are in the world for souls. In this world souls meet with rocks and sands, syrens and pirates ; worldly temptations, worldly lusts, and worldly company cause many to " drown themselves in perdition," 1 Tim. vi. 9. The very things of this world endanger your souls. By world- ly objects we soon grov/ worldly. It is hard to touch pitch, and not be defiled. The lusts of this world stain all our glory, and the men of this world pollute all they converse with. A man that keeps com- pany with the men of this world, is like him that walketh in the sun, tanned insensibly. Thus I have hinted to you the dangerousness of the sea wherein you are to sail. Now the more dangerous the sea is, the more requisite it is that the sailor bo an artist.
4. Consider, what if through want of skill in the heavenly art of
• Erasmi chiliad, p. 229.
f The smallest pore i? a feak wide enouj^h to let in death, and sink thy vessel. \ In Ethiopia there is a certain poison whereof the tenth part of one grain will kill a man, and lor one grain ttii men. Dan. Setnurt, Hypom. Ph'/s. cap. 2. p. \7.
J?14 AN EPISTLK TO SEAMEN SAILING HEAVENWARD.
spiritual navigation, thou shouldst not steer tliy course aright ! I will instance only in two consequents thereof. 1. Thou wilt never arrive at the haven of happiness. 2. Thou shalt be drowned in the ocean of God"'s wrath. As true as the word of God is true, as sure as the heavens are over thy head, and the earth under thy feet ; as sure as thou yet livest, and breathest in this air ; so true and certain it is, thou shalt never enter into heaven, but sink into the deepof the bottomless pit. Am I not herein a messenger of the saddest tidings that ever yet thy ears did hear ? Possibly now thou makest a light matter of tliese things, because thou dost not know what it is to miss of heaven, what it is for ever to lie under the wrath of God ; but hereafter thou wilt know fully what it is to have thy soul lost eternally, so lost, as that God's mercies, and all the good there is in Christ, shall never save it ; and as God hath set and ordered things, can never save it. Hereafter thou wilt be perfectly sensible of the good that thou mightest have had, and of the evil that shall be upon thee (this is God's peculiar prerogative, to make a creature as sensible of misery as he pleaseth) then thou Anlt have other thoughts of these things than thou now hast. Then the thoughts of thy mind shall be busied about thy lost condition, both as to the pain of loss, and the pain of sense *, so that thou shalt not be able to take any ease one moment ; then, that thy torments may be increased, they acknow- ledge the truth of thy apprehensions, yea, the strength of them shall be increased ; thou shalt have the true and deep apprehensions of the greatness of that good that thou shalt miss of, and of that evil which thou shalt procure unto thyself; and then thou shalt not be able to chuse, but to apply all thy loss, all thy misery to thyself, which will force thee to roar out, O my loss ! O my misery ! O my inconceivable, irrecoverable loss and misery ! yea, for the increasing of thy torments, thy affections and memory shall be enlarged. O that, to prevent that loss and misery, these things may now be known, and laid to heart ! O that a blind understanding, a stupid judgment, a bribed conscience, a hard heart, a bad memory, may no longer make heaven and hell to seem but trifles to thee ! thou wilt then easily be persuaded to make it thy main business here, to become an artist in spiritual navigation. But to shut up this preface, I shall briefly acquaint seamen^ why they should, of all others, be men of singular piety and heavenliness, and therefore more than or- dinarily study the heavenly art of spiritual navigation. O that seamen would then consider,
1. How nigh they border upon the confines of death and eternity every moment ; there is but a step, but an inch or two beween them and their graves, continually : the next gust may over-set them, the next wave may swallow them up. In one place lie lurking dangerous
* The flames of hell shall shine about the damned, to let them see how they are tormented, Infid, on the chief good, Book 2.
AN EPISTLE TO SEAMEN SAILING HEAVENWARD. 215
rocks, in another perilous sands, and every where stormy winds, ready to destroy them. * Well may the seamen cry out, Ego eras- iimivi non hahid ; I have not had a to-morrow in my hands these many years. Should not they then be extraordinary serious and hea- venly continually ! Certainly (as the reverend author of this neio compass well observes) nothing more composeth the heart to such a frame, than the lively apprehensions of eternity do ; and none have greater external advantages for that, than seamen liave.