The masts are crack'd, the canvas torn to rags.
The vessel works for life ; anon one cries,
The main masfs gone by tK hoard; another plies
The pump, until a third does strike them blank,
With, S'lrs^ prepare for death, we've sprung a planky
Now to their knees they go, and on this wise
They beg for mercy, with their loudest cries :
Lord, save us but this once, and thou shalt see
What persons, for the future, we will be :
Our former time's mis-spent, but, with a vow,
We will engage, if thou wilt save us now,
To mend what is amiss. The gracious Lord,
Inclin d to pity, takes them at their word ;
The winds into their treasures he doth call.
Rebukes the stormy sea, and brings them all
To theiu desired haven : once a-shore,
And then their vows are ne'er rememberM more.
Thus soul's are shipwreck'd tho' the bodies live,
Unless in time thou true repentance give.
The navigator shifts his sails to take
All Kinds, but that which for his soul doth make.
A HE mariner wants no skill and wisdom to improve several winds, and make them serviceable to his end; a bare side wind, by his skill in shifting and managing the sails, will serve his turn : He will not lose the advantage of one breath or gale, that may be useful to him. I have many times wondered to see two ships sailing in a direct coimter motion, by one and the same wind : Their skill and ^nsdom herein is admirable.
Thus prudent and skilful are men in secular and lower matters, and yet how ignorant and unskilful in the great and everlastmg af- fairs of their souls ! All their invention, judgment, wit, and memory, seem to be pressed for the service of the flesh. They can learn an art quickly, and arrive to a great deal of exactness in it ; but in soul- matters, no knowledge at all. They can understand the Equator, Meridian, and Horizon ; by the first they can tell the latitude of any
^8 A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN ; OR,
place, south or north, measuring it by the degrees in the Meridian ; by the second they can tell you the longitude of a place, east and west, from the Meridian, measuring it by the degrees of the Equator; and by the third they can discern the divers risings and settings of the stars. And so in other arts and sciences, we find men endowed with rare abilities, and singular sagacity. Some have piercing ap- prehensions, solid judgments, stupendous memories, rare invention, and excellent elocution ; but put them upon any spiritual superna- tural matter, and the weakest Christian, even a babe in Christ, shall excel them therein, and give a far better account of regeneration, the work of grace, the life of faith, than these can. 1 Cor. i. 26. " Not *' many wise men after the flesh, ^-c. But God bath chosen the " foolish things of this world," «^c.
How inexcusable, then, art thou, O my soul ! and how mute and confounded must thou needs stand before the bar of God in that great day ? Thou hadst a talent of natural parts committed to thee, but which way have they been improved ? I had an understanding indeed, but it was not sanctified ; a memory, but it was like a sieve, that let go the corn, and retained nothing but husks and chaff; wit and invention, but, alas ! none to do myself good. Ah ! how will these rise in judgment against me, and stop my mouth ? What ac- count shall I give for them in that day ?
Again, are men (otherwise prudent and skilful) such sots and fools in spiritual things; Then let the poor, weak Christian, whose natural parts are blunt and dull, admire the riches of God's free grace to him. O what an astonishing consideration is this ! that God should pass by men of the profoundest natural parts, and chuse me, even poor me, whose natural faculties and endowments, compared with theirs, are but as lead to gold ! Thus under the law he passed by the lion and. eagle, and chose the lamb and dove. O how should it make me to advance grace, as Christ doth upon the same account, Mat. xi. 25. " I thank thee. Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid *' these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes.''"' And let it ever be a humbling consideration to me ; for who made me to differ? Is not this one principal thing God aims at, in calling such as I am ; that boasting may be excluded, and himself alone exalted ?
'NE thing doth very much affect my mind, To see the seaman husband evVy wind ; With excellent art he shifts the sails, and knows How to improve the fairest wind that blows. If a direct, or fore right gale he want, A side wind serves his turn, tho' ne'er so scant.
NAVIGATJOK SPIllITUALIZED. S39
And will not this one day in judgment rise Against your souls ? Ah ! can you be so wise In smaller matters ; what, and yet not know How to improve fresh gales of grace that blow ? Fast moored in sin your wind-bound souls can lie, And let these precious gales rise, blow, and die. Sometimes on your affections you may feel Such gracious breathings : Ah, but hearts of steel, They move you not, nor cause you to relent ; Tho' able, like Elijah's wind, to rent The rocks asunder : If you do not prize Those breathings, other winds will'shortly rise, And from another quarter ; those once gone, Then next look out for an Euroclydon, A dreadful storm : how soon, no man can tell ; But when it comes, 'twill blow such souls to hell.
If seamen lose a gale, there they may lie ; The soul, when once becalmed in sin, may die,
J3E AMEN are very watchful to take their opportunity of wind and tide, and it much concerns them so to be ; the neglect of a few hours, sometimes loses them their passage, and proves a great detriment to them. They know the wind is an uncertain, variable thing; tliey must take it when they may : they are unwilling to lose one flow, or breath, that may be serviceable to them. If a prosperous gale offers, and they not read}^, it repents them to lose it, as much as it would repent us to see a vessel of good wine, or beer, tapped and run to waste.
There are also seasons, and gales of grace, for our souls, golden op- portunities of salvation afforded to men, the neglect of which proves the loss and ruin of souls. God hath given unto man a day of visita- tion, whicii he hath limited, Heb. iv. 7. and keeps an exact account of every year, month, and day that we have enjoyed it, Luke xiii. 7. Jer. XXV. S. I^uke xix. 42. The longest date of it can be but the time of this life; this is our day to work in. Job ix. 4. and upon this small wire the weight of eternity hangs. But sometimes the season of grace is ended, before the night of death comes ; the accepted time is gone, men frequently out-live it, Luke xix. 44. 2 Cor. vi. 2. Or, if the outward means of salvation be continued, yet the spirit many times withdrawn from those means, and ceases any more to strive with men:
240 A K£w Compass for seamen; or,