Once more : and is the heart such g, sea, abounding with mon- strous abominations ? Then stand astonished, O my soul, at that free grace which hath dehvered thee from so sad a condition ; O fall down and kiss the feet of mercy that moved so freely and seasonably to thy rescue ? Let my heart be enlarged abundantly here. Lord, what am I, that I should be taken, and others left ? Reflect, O my soul, upon the conceptions and bursts of lusts in the days of vanity, which thou now blushest to own. O what black imaginations, hellish desires, vile affections are lodged there ! Who made me to differ .? or, how came I to be thus wonderfully separated ? Surely, it is by thy free- gmce, and nothing else, that I am what I am; and by that grace I have escaped (to mine own astonishment) the corruption that is in the world through lust. O that ever the holy God should set his eyes on such an one ; or cast a look of love towards me, in whom were legions of unclean lusts and abominations.
NAVIGATION Sl»iRITtAli:?ED. S27
J^XY souFs the sea, wherein, from day to day,
Sins like Leviathans do sport and play.
Great master-lusts, with all the lesser try.
Therein increase, and strangely multiply.
Yet strange it is not, sin so fast should breed,
Since with this nature I received the seed
And spawn of ev'ry species, which was shed
Into its caverns first, then nourished
By its own native warmth ; which like the sun
Hath quickened them, and now abroad they come :
And like the frogs of Egypt creep and crawl
Into the closest rooms within my soul.
My fancy swarms, for there they frisk and play,
In dreams by night, and foolish toys by day.
My judgment's clouded by them, and my will
Perverted, every corner, they do fill.
As locusts seize on all that's fresh and green.
Unclothe the beauteous spring, and make it seem
Like drooping autumn ; so my soul, that first
As Eden seem'd, now's like a ground that's curst.
Lord purge my streams, and kill those lusts that lie
Within them ; if they do not, I must die.
Seas purge themselves, and cast their Jilth ashore^ But graceless souls retain^ and suck in more.
©EAS are in a continual motion and agitation, they have their flux and reflux, by which they are kept from putrefaction : like a foun- tain it cleanses itself, Isa. Ivii. 20. " It cannot rest, but casts up ** mire and dirt ;" whereas lakes and ponds, whose waters are stand- ing, and dead, corrupt and stink. And it is observed by seamen, that in the southern parts of the world, where the sea is more calm and settled, it is more corrupt and unfit for use ; so is the sea of Sodom, called the dead sea.
Thus do regenerate souls purify themselves, and work out corrup, tion that defiles them, they cannot sufPer it to settle there, 1 John iii. 3. " He purifieth himself, even as he is pure." " Keepeth himself " that the wicked one toucheth him not," 1 John v. 18. scil. tanctil
928 A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN; OR,
qualitativo^ with a qualitative touch, as the loadstone toucheth iron, leaving an impression of its nature behind it. They are doves delight- ing in cleanness, Isa. xxxiii. 15. " He despiseth the gain of oppres- " sion, he shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, stoppeth his ears " from hearing blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil." See how all senses and members are guarded against sin : but it is quite contrary with the wicked ; there is no principle of holiness in them to oppose or expel corruption. It lies in their hearts as mud in a lake or well, which settles and corrupts more and more. Hence Ezek. xlvii. 11. their hearts are compared to miry or marshy places, which cannot be healed, but are given to salt : the meaning is, that the pur- est streams of the gospel, which cleanse others, make them worse than before, as abundance of rain will a miry place. The reason is, be- cause it meets with an obstacle in their souls, so that it cannot run through them and be glorified, as it doth in gracious souls. All the means and endeavours used to cleanse them are in vain ; all the grace of God they receive in vain, " they hold fast deceit, they refuse to ** let it go," Jer. viii. 5. Sin is not in them as floating weeds upon the sea, which it strives to expel and purge out, but as spots in the leopard's skin, Jer. xiii. 21. or letters fashioned and engraven in the very substance of marble or brass with a pen of iron, and point of a diamond, Jer. xvii. 1. or as ivy in an old wall, that hath gotten root in its very entrails. " Wickedness is sweet to their mouths, they roll " it under their tongues," Job xx. 12. No threats nor promises can divorce them from it.
Lord ! this is the very frame of my heart, may the graceless soul say. ]\Iy corruptions quietly settle in me, my heart labours not against them : I am a stranger to that conflict which is daily maintained in all the faculties of the regenerate soul. Glorified souls have no such con- flict, because grace in them stands alone, and is perfectly triumphant over all opposites ; and graceless souls can have no such conflict, be- cause in them corruption stands alone, and hath no other principle to make opposition to it. And this is my case, O Lord ! I am full of vain hopes indeed, but had I a living and well-grounded hope to dwell for ever with so holy a God, I could not but be daily purifying my- self. But O ! what willt he end of this be ? I have cause to tremble at that last and dreadfulest curse in the book of God, Rev. xxii. 11." Let '' him that is filthy be filthy still." Is it not as much as if God should say, Let them alone, I will spend no more rods upon them, no more means shall be used about them ; but I will reckon with them for all together in another world ? O mv soul ! what a dismal reckoning will that be ! Ponder v.ith thyself in the mean while those terrible and awakening texts, that, if possible, this fatal issue may be prevent'^ ed. See Isa, i. 5. Hos. iv. 14. Jer. vi. 29, 30. Heb. vi. 8.
NAVIGATION SPIRITUALIZED. 229
Jxl-Y heart's no fountain, but a standing lake Of putrid waters ; if therein I rake, By serious search, O ! what a noisome smell, Like exhalations rising out of hell ; The stinking waters pump'd up from the hold, Are as perfumes to seamen : but my soul Upon the same account that they are glad, (Its long continuance there) is therefore sad. The scripture saith, " No soul God's face shall see,"" Till from such filthly lusts it cleansed be. Yet though unclean, it may that way be rid. As Herculus the Augean stable did. Lord turn into my soul that cleansing blood, Which from my Saviour's side flow'd as a flood. Flow, sacred fountain, brim my banks ; and flow Till you have made my soul as white as snow.
Seamen foresee a danger^ and prepare ; Yet few of greater dangers are a'unare,