Wherein the Mysteries of Providence, relating to Seamed, are opened ; their Sins and Dangers discovered ; their Duties pressed, and their several Troubles and Burdens relieved.
In six practicable and suitable Sehmons.
To all Masters, Mariners, and Seamen ; especially such as belong to the Port of' Dartmouth, and the Parts adjacent.
OUR ready acceptation of my former labours for you, hath en- couraged this second and last endeavour of mine this way to serve you. I have for many years been convinced of the great use and need you have of the following discourses: But the motives that quickened me to their publication at this time, were especially these two :
First, The hand of the Lord hath gone forth with terror against you ; this winter many of your companions are gone down to the bottom. Such a doleful account of shipwrecks from every coast, and such sad lamentations as have been heard in almost every mari- time town, cannot but deeply affect every heart with sorrow and compassion, and hath engaged me in this service for the remnant that is left.
Secondly, The seasonable and prudent care his Majesty hath at this time manifested for the regulation and preservation of your Newland trade, and encouragement of your honest industry therein, hath also provoked me to hasten this design, for the regulation of your lives and manners, without which all external means will sig- nify but little to your true prosperity.
This little manual contains the sum of your duty in the several parts
THE EPrSTLK BEDlCATORt. 343
of your employments, and faithfully discovers the temptations and dangers attending you in them all. Upon which consideration it is fitly entitled, The Seamaii's Companion.
As God hath cast my lot among you, so he hath inclined my heart studiously to promote your welfare. I have been, by long observation, convinced, that one principal cause of your miscarriages, is the nc» gleet of God in your outsets. Did you pray more, you might expect to prosper better. Indeed, if that Epicurean doctrine were true, that God concerns not himself about the affairs of this lower world, but leaves all things to be swayed by the power of natural causes, your neglect of prayer might be more excusable : But, whilst successes and disappointments depend upon his pleasure, it cannot but be the most direct course you can steer to ruin all, to forget and neglect God in your enterprizes. To cure this evil, and prevent the manifold mischiefs that follow it, the first sermon is designed. And if the Lord shall bless it to your conviction and reformation, I may then comfortably apply the words of Moses to you, Deut. xxxiii. 18. " Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out."
You often hear the terrible voice of God in the storms ; and are at yourwifs end, not knowing what course to take, nor which way to turn for safety and comfort : And yet how soon are all those impressions worn off.'* and those mercies which (whilst new) were so affecting, after a few days become stale and common. I have, therefore, in the second sermon, laboured not only to direct and support you in those straits, but have also endeavoured to fix the sense of those providences upon your hearts, and instruct you how to make due improvements of them, by answering the several aims and designs of them.
It hath been much upon my heart, to what and how many temp- tations to sin you are exposed in foreign countries, where lawful re- medies are absent, alluring objects present, and temptations exceed- ingly strengthened upon you, by hopes of secresy and concealment: And, indeed, for a man whose heart is not thoroughly seasoned with religion, and awed by the fear of God, to converse in such places, and with such company, and not be polluted with their sins, is, upon the matter, as great a miracle, as for the three children to come out of the fiery furnace without an hair singed, or the smell of fire upon their garments. I have therefore prepared for you the best preservative from these temptations in the third sermon, which the Lord make an effectual antidote to your souls against the corruptions that are in the world through lust.
I have frequently observed the mischievous influence that success and prosperity have had upon some of you : How the God of your mercies hath been forgotten, and his mercies made instruments of sin against him : How apt are men to ascribe all to their own wisdom, care and industry, as if God had no hand in it ? The /(jurth sermon therefore leads up your thoughts to the fountain of all your good,
344 THE EPISTLE DEDICATOUr.
and drops many very seasonable and necessary cautions upon yoa, to keep you humble and thankful under prosperity.
And because men will not own God in their success, but sacrifice to their own net ; God often teaches them the evil of it, by sad losses and disappointments: Yea, disappointments sometimes follow the best of men, and that in the most just and honest employments. To caution the former sort, and support the latter in such a case, I re- commend the Jifth sermon to your serious consideration, not doubt- ing, if the blessing of God go forth with it, but it may prove a very seasonable and useful discourse to you in that condition.
And, lastly, because it is so common for seamen to forget the many mercies they have received in a voyage, when it is over, and God hath brought them to the havens of desire, and among their relations, I have, in the last sermon, instructed them in their duty, and laboured to work in such a sense of mercies upon their hearts, as may engage them to a due and thankful acknowledgment of God in all.
You see, by this brief account, how honest the design is in which I have engaged for you. But I am sensible, that the management is very defective, it being dispatched in haste, and when my hands were filled with other work, and my body clogged with many infirmities. But, such as it is, I heartily devote it to the special service of your souls, and remain
Yours, in all Christian service,
Dartmouth, Jan. 21, 1675.
Acts xxi. r5, 6. And we Tcneeled dozen on the shore, and prayed ; and when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship, and they returned home again.
X HIS scripture gives us an account of the manner of PauPs em- barking at Tyre, in his voyage for Jerusalem ; and therein an excel- lent pattern lor all that go down into the seas, to do business in the great waters. It is true, his business, in that voyage, was not to get an estate, but to witness to the truths of Jesus Christ with the hazard of his life. Many discouragements he met with in this voyage,
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