And then, for future mercies and deliverances, you have no ground to expect any more from God, whom you have thus requited for former favours. He that gives no thanks for one mercy, hath little ground to expect another. It was a sad word which God spake upon this very provocation, Judg. x. 11, 12, 13. when a new distress befel Israel by the Ammonites, and they cried to the Lord for help, he tells them that he had many times delivered them from their ene- mies : ** Yet (saith he) have you forsaken me and served other gods. *' Wherefore I will deliver you no more ; go and cry to the gods " which ye have chosen, and let them deliver you in the time of *' your tribulation." Q. d. With what face can you come to me for new mercies and deliverances, when yourselves know how for- mer mercies have been abused ! Think ye that I am weary of my mercies to cast them away upon such unthankful wretches .'' No, ex- pect no more mercies from me, " I will deliver you no more." One of the fathers calls ingratitude, Oheoo infernalis, An hellish stop, which interrupts the course and current of all God's mercies. Mercy is not only a precious thing, too good to be cast away, but it is a very ten- der thing, and God deeply resents the abuses of it. Thus you see the grounds and reasons of your duty ; it now remains that we ap- ply it.
THE seaman's return. 41 S
Use 1. It is your unquestionable duty to return praises upon every receipt of mercies ? Then, in the first place, bear your shame and just reproof for your manifest unthankfulness. You dare not deny but you have received many signal and eminent mercies from the hands of God. If you should deny that, I need go no farther to prove you prodigiously ungrateful. But it is too manifest to be de- nied : you have found God a very present help in trouble : his mer- cy hath often rescued you out of the jaws of death. Some of you have been in dangers in the deeps ; in deaths oft : you have been put to your wit's end ; all visible hope and help failed. You might have said with the Psalmist, Psal. cxiii. 4. " I looked upon my right " hand, and there was none ; and upon the left, but refuge failed."** You have seen your companions intombed before your eyes in the seas, and concluded in your own thoughts your turn was next. You have been in danger by barbarous enemies that have chased you upon the sea to make you a prey : yea, it may be you have been a prey to them, and never thought to have seen the land of your nativity, your houses, wives, and children, any more. You have languished under dangerous diseases, and that remote from friends and necessary accommodations ; you have lost your estates, and been reduced to low ebb, and never thought to have seen a day of prosperity any more; yet hath the Lord delivered you out of all your troubles. He hath provided unexpected means of preservation, when the proud waters were ready to go over your souls. And though others went down before your eyes, you were marked out for deliverance, God spake to the raging waves, saying. Touch not this man, I will not deliver him up, though I have done so by others. When cruel enemies chased you, he delivered you, causing the darkness of the night to interpose seasonably betwixt you and them ; as the dark side of the cloud shadowed Israel from the Egyptians that pursued them, E'xod. xiv. 20. sometimes giving you a favourable gale, which blew mercy and deliverance to you : sometimes by strengthening you to resist their furious attacks, and delivering you from their rage : or if he de- livered you into their hands, yet there he preserved you, enabhng you to endure their severities, or causing the enemy to treat you well ; and finding out a way which you knew not, to bring you at last out of the house of bondage.
He pitied you under your dangerous diseases ; and though ne- cessary accommodations and means might be wanting, he was your physician, and healed you ; he recovered you immediately without means, or blessed weak and small means to your good. AVhen you were reduced by losses and captivities to a low ebb, so that you might say as the church. Lam. iii. 17. I forgat prosperity ; he hath not only recruited thy strength but thy estate also : and when both thy body and estate, like an old leaky ship, have been ready to sink, he liath stopped the leaks in both, careened, repaired, and launched thee into the world again, as whole, as sound, and as strong as ever.
414 THE seaman's return.
And now, reader, suffer me to account and expostulate a little with thy consscience ; what hath the fruit of all these mercies been to thee? And how hast thou carried it since those days, towards the God of thy mercies ? Hast thou indeed been melted by the sense of all this- kindness, into love, thankfulness, and new obedience ? Have these favours engaged thee to more strictness in thy duties, and greater watchfulness against sin ? Hast thou said, with that good man, Ezra ix. 13, 14 " And now my God, seeing thou hast punished me less " than mine iniquities deserve, and hast given me such deliverances " as these, should I again break thy commandments ?" If it be so, surely mercy and goodness shall follow thee all the days of thy life. The Lord then reckons all these mercies well bestowed, and will never repent that he hath done thee good.
But I fear this is not thy case. Sure I am, there are some among you that have quickly forgotten the God that delivered you. Some that have abused him to his face, by ascribing his mercies to good luck, chance, and fortune : not once owning him as your deliverer. And some that have made his mercies weapons of sin, to wound him with- al, wasting your estates by prodigality, which were given to refresh your families, and God's poor ; yea, abusing them to drunkenness and luxury. And is this the thanks you return him ? For which of all my good works (saith Christ to the Jews) do you stone me ? So say I, for which of all God's kindnesses to you, doyou thus dishonour, and abuse him ? O let shame cover your faces this day ! Go, reader, fold down this leaf, and get thee to thy knees, and say, I am the man to whom this reproof is sent. I have abused the God of my mercies, I have turned his grace into wantonness. Smite with Ephraim upon thy thigh, and say. What have I done ? Mourn heartily for thy un- kindness to thy best friend, " The God that hath done thee good all *' thy life long, and deserves other returns from thee than these.''
Use 2. Lastly^ It calls upon you all to be thankful for your mer- cies. Chrysostom once wished for a voice like thunder, that all men might hear him. O that I could so call you to this duty, that some of you might effectually hear God's call in this exhortation !