First, In raising these terrible tempests, and that from so small and weak a beginning as a thin vapour from the earth is ; this is the wonderful work of God, Psal. cxxxv. 7. " He cau^eth the vapours " to ascend from the ends of the earth ; he maketh lightnings for " the rain, he bringeth wind out of his treasures.''
Secondly, In limiting and bounding their force and power ; what prodigious effects else would follow : The wind is a fierce and boiste- rous creature, and would (if God did not by his providence restrain it) destroy and overturn all, both by sea and land ; or if Satan, who is stiled The prince, or poiver of the air, were left at hberty to exe- cute his malice by such an instrument, not a ship should cross the seas, nor a house be safe at land ; as is evident enough by the furious haste he made to overturn the house with an horrible tempest upon Job's children, as soon as he had received a permission from heaven to do it.
And, Thirdly, \o less visible is the power of God in calming and appeasing the stormy winds, and remanding them into his treasures. Psal. cvii. 29. " He maketh the storm a calm." Yea, he doth so in the very nick of time, when all is concluded lost. Thus you read in ]\iark iv. 39. '• When the waves beat into the ship," so that it was now full, and the disciples cried unto the Lord, " Master, carest thou " not that we perish ? He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to " the sea, Peace, be still ; and the wind ceased, and there was a " great calm." Just as one would hush a child, Peace, he still. O the sovereign power of God ! how should it be reverenced and adored by all that behold it, in these marvellous effects of it ?
2. The second lesson you are taught by this doctrine is. To admire the mercy of God. Mercy is no less discovered than power ; yea, the power of God is put forth to give his mercy a fair occasion to shine forth in your deliverance. God sometimes permits your dangers to o-row to an extremity, and delays your deliverances to the last moment, till all hopes of safety are gone, upon the like reason that Lazarus's resurrection was deferred, that the work of God in your preservation may commend itself to you under the greatest advantage.
O that vou would view these mercies in all their endearing circum-
THt SEAMAN IN A STOUM. 369
stances ! I can only hint your duty generally in this case ; you may enlarge upon it, if you have hearts fit for such a blessed work. And mark particularly the multitudes of mercies that are complicated and involved in one deliverance. Observe the season when, the manner how, the means by which your salvation was wrought. It is a thou- sand pities that so much of God's glory and your comfort, as any one, even the smallest circumstance may contain, should ever be lost.
3. Lastly^ And above all, See that ye answer GocCs ends in your deliverance : If those be lost, God may say concerning you, as David did of Nabal, 1 Sam. xxv. 21. " Surely, in vain have I kept all that " this fellow hath in the wilderness ; so that nothing was missed of " all that pertained to him ; and he hath requited me evil for good." So here, in vain I kept this fellow upon the sea, when I suffered others to sink ; in vain have I preserved his life, liberty, and estate so often by an out-stretched arm of power and mercy to him, seeing he requites me evil for good.
O let me intreat you to be careful to comply with the designs and ends of God in these your wonderful preservations ! If you enquire what God's ends or designs in your deliverance are, I answer.
First, It is to lead you to repentance. " The goodness of God " (saith the apostle) leadeth thee to repentance," Rom. ii. 4. Dost thou not know the voice of mercy ? Why, it bespeaks thy return to God. It may be thou hast spent all thy life, to this day, in the ser- vice of sin : Thou never redeemedst one of all thy precious hours to consider thine own estate, to bewail thy sin and misery, to seek after an interest in Christ. Why, now here is a providence fallen in that doth, as it were, take thee by the hand, and lead thee to this great and necessary work. The end of God in raising this storm Vv'as to deliver thee from the more dreadful tempest of his wrath, which, without repentance, must shortly overtake thy soul in the blackness of darkness for ever. Now God hath awakened thy conscience by this fright, made it charge home thy sins upon thee, terrified thee v/itli dis- mal apprehensions of death and hell . O what a fair opportunity and ad- vantage hath he now put into thy hand for repentance, reformatioUj and gaining an interest in Jesus Christ ! If this season be lost, con- science suffered again to fall into any dead sleep, and thy heart be again hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, thou may est never have such an opportunity for salvation opened to thee any more.
Secondly, If this end be answered, then a farther design God hath in thy deliverance, is to engage and encourage thy soul to a depen- dence upon God in future straits and dangers. This is food for faith ; and now you are furnished with experience of the power, mercy, and goodness of God, to enable you to rest yourselves upon liim when new exigencies befal you. If God exercise you with such extremities another time, you may say with the apostle, 2 Cor. i. 10. " Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver ; in " whom we trust, he will yet deliver us."
870 THE SEAMAK IN A STORM.
If your first deliverance were a deliverance without a promise, when you were without Christ, what encouragement have you to depend upon him, when his end is answered in your repentance and conversion ; and, being in Christ, are entitled to all the promises.
Thirdly^ and lastly, God's end in your njarvellous preservations and deliverances is to furnish you for, and to engage you to a life of praise. O how should the high praises of God be ever in your mouths ! you have seen his works and wonders in the deeps ; and this is it which the Psalmist presses upon you as a becoming return for your mercies, in the words following my text ; " O that men would " praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to " the children of men !"■'