Further, It argues from this acknowledged truth, that all the de- light and pleasures in this world are but a miserable portion, and that it is the highest folly to adventure an immortal soul for them, Luke ix. 15. Alas ! what remembrance is there of them in hell.'* They are as the waters that pass away. What have they left, of all their mirth and jollity, but a tormenting sting ? It convinceth them clearly, also, that in matters of deep concernment it is an high point of wis- dom, to apprehend and improve the right seasons and opportunities of them, Prov. x. 5. " He that gathers in summer is a wise son." Eccl. viii. 5. " A wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment. " There is a season to every purpose,"" Eccl. iii. 1. viz. a nick of time, an happy juncture, when if a man strikes in, he doth his work effectually, and with much facility : such seasons conscience con- vinceth the soul of, and often whispers thus in its ear : Now, soul, strike in, close with this motion of the Spirit, and be happy for ever ; thou mayest never have such a gale for heaven any more. Now, though these be allowed maxims of reason, and conscience enforce them srongly on the soul, yet cannot it prevail ; the proud, stubborn will rebels, and will not be guided bv it. See Eph. ii. 3. Job xxxiv. 37. Isa. xlvi, 12. Ezek. ii, 4. Jer. xHv. 16.
Ah ! Lord, such an heart have I had before thee ; thus obstinate, thus rebellious, so imcontroulable by conscience. Many a time hath conscience thus whispered in mine ear, many a time hath it stood in iny way, as the angel did in Balaam's, or the cherubims that kept the way of the tree of hfe with flaming swords turning every way. Thus hath'it stood to oppose me in the way of my lusts. How often hath it calmly debated the case with me alone ? and how sweetly hath it ex- postulated with me ? How clearly hath it convinced of sin, danger, duty, with strong demonstration ? How terrible hath it menaced my soul, and set the point of the threatening at my very breast ? And yet my head-strcng affections will not be remanded by it. I have obeyed the voice of every lust and temptation. Tit. iii. 3. but conscience hath lost its authority with me. Ah Lord ! Lord I what a sad condition am I in, both in respeet of sin and misery ? My sin receives dreadful aggravations, for rebellion and presumption are hereby added to it»
NAVIGATION SPIIIITUALIZED. 233!
1 have violated the strongest bonds that ever were laid upon a crea- ture. If my conscience had not thus convinced and warned, the sin had not been so great and crimson-coloured, Jam. iv. 17- Ah ! this is to sin with an high hand. Numb. xv. 80. to come near to tlie great and unpardonable transgression, Psal. xix. 13. O how dread- ful a way of sinning is this, with opened eyes ! and as my sin is thus out of measure sinful, so my punishment will be out of measure dread- ful, If I persist in this rebellion. Lord ! thou hast said, such shall be beaten with many stripes, Luke xii. 48. yea. Lord, and if ever my con- science, which by rebellion is now grown silent, should be in judgment awakened in this life ; O ! what an hell should I have within me ! how would it thunder and roar upon me, and surround me with terror? Thy word assures me, that no length of time can wear out of its memory what I have done. Gen. xlii. 21. no violence or force can suppress it. Mat. xxvii. 4. no greatness of power can stifle it ; it will take the mightiest monarch by the throat, Exod. x. 16. Dan. v. 6. no music, pleasures, or delights, can charm it. Job xx. 2,^. O con- science ! thou art the sweetest friend, or the dreadfullest enemy in the world ; thy consolations are incomparably sweet, and thy ter- rors insupportable. Ah ! let me stand it out no longer against con- science ; the very ship in which I sail is a confutation of my madness, that rushes greedily into sin against both reason and conscience, and will not be commanded by it ; surely, O my soul, this will be bit- terness in the end.
jlIl SHIP of greatest burthen will obey The rudder ; he that sits at helm, may sway And guide its motion : If the pilot please, The ship bears up, against both wind and seas. My souPs the ship, affections are its sails. Conscience the rudder. Ah i but Lord, what ails My naughty heart, to shuffle in and out, When its convictions bid it tack about .'^ Temptations blow a counter blast, and drive The vessel where they please, tho"* conscience strive. And by its strong persuasions it would force My stubborn will to steer another course. Lord, if I run this course, thy word doth tell How quickly I must needs arrive at hell. Then rectify my conscience, change my will ; Fan in thy pleasant gales, my God, and fill All my affections, and let nothing carry My soul from its due course, or make it vary ; Then if the pilot's work tliou wouldst perform, I should bear bravely up against a storm.
234« A NEW COMPASS FOU SEABIEN ; OF,
Thro' many fears and dangers seamen riuiy Yet aWsJbr gotten xchen they do return,
. ▼ T E have an elegant and lively description of their fears and dangers, Psal. cvii. 25, 26, 27. " He commandeth and raiseth the " stormy winds, which lift up the waves thereof: they mount up " to heaven, they go down again to the depths ; their soul is " melted because of trouble ; they reel to and fro, they stagger like *' a drunken man ; they are at their wits end." Or, as it is in the Hebrew, " All wisdom is swallowed up." Suitable to which is that of the poet *.
" The pilot knows not what to chuse, or flee ; " Art stands amazed in ambjouity."
O what a strange and miraculous deliverance have many seamen had ^ How often have they yielded themselves for dead men, and verily thought the next sea would have swallowed them up ? How earnestly then do they cry for mercy.'' and, like the Cymbrians, can pray in a storm, though they regard it not at other times, Psal. cvii. 28. Jonah i. 5, 6.
These dreadful storms do at once discover to us the mighty power of God in raising them, and the abundant goodness of God in pre*. serving poor creatures in them.