THis Scripture gives us an account of the manner of Pauls imbarking at Tyre, in his voyage for Jerusa­lem; and therein an ex­cellent pattern for 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, [Page 2] with the hazard of his life. Many dis­couragements he met with in this voy­age, and not the least at Tyre, where he met with certain Disciples that said to him by the Spirit, That he should not go to Jerusalem, though, in that they fol­lowed their own spirit; but he is not to be disswaded: Like that noble Roman, Necesse est ut eam, non ut vivam. Caesar. and upon a more noble account, he judged it necessary to go, but not to live. The Disciples seeing his unalterable resolution, express their af­fections to him at parting, by bringing him to the Ship, and that with their whole Families, Wives, and Children, Vers. 5. therein giving him the last mark of their dear respects.

In this farewel, their Christian Affecti­ons are mutually manifested by two sorts of actions, Viz.

• Sacred
• and Civil

in

• Prayers
• and Salutations.

1. Prayers; the best office one Chri­stian can do for another. As Prayer is the best Preface, so certainly it is the best close to any business or injoyment. In [Page 3] which Prayer we may note the place, posture, and matter or scope.

First, The place, it was upon the Shore, the parting place near to which the Ship rode, waiting for Paul: And this was no unusual thing among them in those days.Per omne lit­tus preces ad coelum mittunt. Tertul. de Je­jun. Tertullian tells us, They sent their Prayers to Hea­ven from every Shore, and elswhere he calls them O­rationes littorales. Shore-Prayers. So custo­mary it was for holy Men in those days, to be taken into the Ship or Boat from their knees, not from the Tavern or Ale-house.

Secondly, The posture, they kneeled down. As all places, so all postures have been used in Prayer. Some have used one posture, and some another; but this is the common and ordinary posture, Knees when they can (as an ingenious Author speaks) then they must be bowed.

Thirdly, The matter and scope of the Prayer, which though it be not express­ed, yet may with great probability be argued from the place and occasion, to be as Erasmus speaks, Pro fausta Naviga­tione, for a prosperous voyage, and Di­vine protection. He knew to what, and [Page 4] how many hazards of life they are hour­ly exposed, that border so near unto death, as Mariners and Passengers at Sea do; and therefore would not commit himself to the Sea, till first he had so­lemnly committed himself to God, whose voice the Winds and Seas obey. Nor was he willing to take his leave of his dear Friends, until he had poured out his heart to God with them, and for them, whose faces he might never see again in this World, and ingaged their Prayers also for him.

2. As their Affections were mutually manifested by this Sacred action, Prayer; so by Civil ones too, affectionate im­braces and Salutations. When we had taken our leave one of another. Salutations were used among the Jews, both at their meeting and parting. This latter con­sisted in words and gestures; the usual words were, The Lord bless you, Ruth 2. 4. Peace be unto thee. Grace be with you, &c. The gestures were kissing each other. These were kisses which a Cato might give, and a Vestal receive. In both these, viz. Their Prayers for, and Salutations of each other, they manifested [Page 5] their Christian Affections mutually, but especially by their Prayers at parting. Hence note.

Doctr. Those that undertake Voy­ages by Sea, had need not only to pray earnestly themselves; but also to ingage the Prayers of other Christians for them.

They that part praying, may hope to meet again rejoycing; and those designs which are not prefaced with Prayer, can­not wind up with a Blessing. There are two sorts of Prayer, stated and occasio­nal.

Stated Prayer is our conversing with God, either publickly, privately, or se­cretly, at the constant seasons allotted for it, in the returns of every week and day.

Occasional, is the Christians address to God at any time, upon extraordinary emergencies, and calls of Providence; or, when we undertake any solemn busi­siness (and what more solemn then this?) and then the chief matter and scope of Prayer is to be suited to the present oc­casion, and design in hand; of this sort [Page 6] is that I am here to speak. Now in open­ing the Point, I will shew

(1.) What those special Mercies are that Sea-man should pray for, when they are to undertake a voyage.

(2.) What influence Prayer hath up­on those Mercies, and how it must be qualified for that end.

(3.) What aid and assistance the Pray­ers of other Christians may contribute to the procurement of them.

And then make Application of all.

(1.) We will inform the Sea-man, what those special Mercies are, he should earnestly pray for, when he undertakes a voyage.

And amongst those Mercies to be earn­estly requested of God by him; the first and principal is, The pardon of sin. A Mercy which must make a part of every Prayer; and at this time to be earnestly sued for. Guilt is that Jonah in the Ship for whose sake storms, shipwracks, and ruine pursue it. It is said Psal. 148.8. That the stormy winds fulfil Gods word. If the word there spoken of, be the word of Gods threatning against sin, as some ex­pound it, then the stormy Winds, and lofty Waves, are Gods Sergeants sent out [Page 7] with commission to arrest Sinners upon the Sea, his Water-Bailiffs to execute the Threatnings of God upon them in the great Deeps. Hence those expressions of Scripture. Numb. 32.23. Be sure your sin will find you out; and Gen. 4.7. Sin lieth at the door. In both which places, the Spirit of God compares a Mans guilt to a Blood-hound, that pursues and fol­lows upon the scent where-ever a Man goes. And indeed our sins are called debts, Matth. 6.12. Not that we ow them to God, or ought to sin against him; but metonymically, because as pecuniary debts oblige him to suffer, that hath not where­with to pay, and expose him to the danger of Serjeants and Bailiffs where­ever he shall be found; so do our sins in reference to God, who hath reckoned with many thousands of Sinners upon the Sea, there arrested them by his Winds and Waves which he sent out after them, and laid their Bodies in the bot­tom of the Sea, and their Souls in the bottom of Hell. O, that is a dismal Storm that is sent after a Man, to drive Soul and Body to destruction! With what heart or courage can that Man go down into the Deeps, and expose himself [Page 8] among the raging Waves, and roaring Winds, that knows God hath a con­troversie with him; and for ought h [...] knows, the next Storm may be sent to hurry him to the Judgment Seat of th [...] great and terrible God? Certainly Friends, it is your great concern to get [...] Pardon, and be at peace with God; [...] thing so indispensable, that you canno [...] have less; and so comprehensive, tha [...] you cannot desire more. If sin be par­doned you are safe, you need fear no Storms within, whatever you find with­out: But wo to him that finds at once a raging Sea, and a roaring Conscience; trouble without, and terror within; Ship and Hope sinking together. You are privy to all the evils and wickedness of your hearts and lives. You know what treasures of guilt you have been heaping up all your days; and think you when distresses and extremities come up­on you, Conscience will be as quiet and still, as it is now? No, no, guilt will flie in your faces then, and stop your mouths. O therefore humble your selves at the feet of God for all your iniquities; apply your selves to the Blood of Sprinkling; pray, and plead with God for remission [Page 9] of sin: Without which you are in a wo­ [...]ul case to adventure your selves at Sea, [...]o those eminent perils of life.

(2.) Another Mercy you are earnestly [...]o pray for, is, That the presence of God may go with you, I mean not his general [...]resence which fills the World: That will be with you, whether you pray for it, or no: But his gracious special presence, which was that Moses so earnestly sued for in Exod. 33.15. If thy presence go not with me, carry us not hence. He and the peo­ple were now in a wast howling Wilder­ness, but bound for Canaan, that Earth­ly paradice; yet you see, he chuses rather to be in a Wilderness with God, than in a Canaan without him: And no wonder, for this gracious presence of God, as to comfort, is all that a gracious Soul hath, or desires to have in this World: And as to security and protection from dangers, it is the only Asylum Sanctuary and Re­fuge in the day of trouble. If the pre­sence of God be graciously with us, it will guard the heart against terror in the most eminent distress,Quamvis in summa mortis ipsius peri­cula incurram. Gloss. Psal. Sacr. as you see Psal. 23.4. Yea, though I walk through the Valley of [Page 10] the shadow of Death (that is, through th [...] most apparent and eminent dangers o [...] death) yet will I fear no evil, for thou a [...] with me. And indeed there is no roo [...] for fear; for with whomsoever God i [...] in a gracious and special manner present [...] these three matchless Mercies are secure [...] to that Man.

First, That Gods special providenc [...] shall watch over him in all dangers. Psa [...] 91.1 & 4. He shall abide under the shado [...] of the Almighty; he shall cover thee wit [...] his Feathers, and under his Wings shal [...] thou trust. As the Hen gathers her broo [...] under her Wings, not only to cherish [...] but to defend them from all danger. S [...] God takes his people under his Providential Wings for their security.

Secondly, He appoints for them [...] guard of Angels, whose office is to watc [...] over and minister to them in all thei [...] straits. So we read Psal. 91.11. He sha [...] give his Angels charge over thee, to keep the [...] in all thy ways. Many invisible service [...] they do for us: Luther tells us the Angel [...] have two offices, Superius canere, & inferius vigilare: To sing above, and watch below. These are as a Lifeguard to tha [...] Man, with whom the Lord is.

Thirdly, He readily hears their cries [...]n a day of distress, and is with them to [...]ave and deliver them. So Vers. 15. He [...]hall call upon me, and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him, and honor him. O, what a matchless Mercy is this! How many times, when poor Sea-men have seen death apparently before their eyes; have they cried Mercy! Mercy! how ordinary is it for their eyes (on such occasions) to add Salt-water, where alass, there was too much before! But now to have God with you in such an hour of straits, to hear, support, and deliver you; O, you cannot estimate the worth of such a Mercy. Pray there­fore, for it as a Mercy indispensably ne­cessary for you; and say to him, as Moses, Lord if thy presence may not go with us, carry us not hence.

(3.) A third Mercy you are specially concerned to beg of God, is, That you may be kept from the temptations to sin, you will meet with, when you are abroad in the World. The whole World lies in wickedness, 1 Joh. 5.19. Every place, every imployment, every company hath its snares and temptati [...]ns attend­ing it. And you know you have corrupt [Page 12] nature, as much disposed to close with temptations, as Tinder is to catch Fire: So that unless the preventing, restraining, and mortifying Grace of God be with you, they will but touch and take. If there were no Devil to tempt you exter­nally; yet such a corrupt heart meeting with a suitable temptation and occasion, is enough to overcome you. Jam. 1.14. Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lusts and inticed. Alass, you know not what hearts you have till temptations prove them; and what com­fort can you take in the success and pros­perity of your affairs, be it never so great, if you return with Consciences polluted and wounded with sin? He that brings home a pack of fine cloaths, in­fected with the plague, hath no such great bargain of it, how cheap soever he purchased them. O therefore beg ear­nestly of God, you may be kept from sin, pray that you be not led into tempta­tion.

(4.) Pray for Divine Protection in all the dangers and hazards to which you shall be exposed. You know not how soon your life and estate shall be in jeo­pardy. This night you may sleep quietly [Page 13] in your Cabbin, to morrow you may be tugging at the Pump, and the next night take up your lodging upon a cold Rock. How smartly doth the Apostle James re­prehend the security of Trading Persons. Jam. 4.13, 14. Go to now ye that say, to day or to morrow we will go to such a City, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain; whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanisheth away. How easily can God dash all your designs, and hopeful projects in one hour! You know you are every moment as near death, as you are near the Water, which is but a remove of one or two inches. How poor a defence is the strongest Ship against the lofty Seas, and lurking Rocks! How innumerable are the accidents and contingencies in a voyage, which the most skilful Navigator cannot foresee or prevent!

They are as the Psalmist speaks at their wits end, Psal. 107.26. But, O how secure and safe, amidst all dangers, is that Man whom the Lord takes into his special protection? And he will not shut out those that sincerely commit themselves to him: The Winds and Seas obey his voice; he can with a word turn the Storm into a Calm, Psal. 107.29. Or order means for your preservation, when you seem lost to the eye of Sense and Rea­son. I have read of a young Man, that being in a great Storm at Sea, was ob­served to be very chearful, when all the rest were as dead men: And being asked the reason of his chearfulness, in a case of so much danger; he replied, Truly I have no cause to fear; for the Pilot of the Ship is my Father. O, it is an unspeakable comfort when a Man hath committed himself into the hands of God, as a Father, and trusted him over all.

(5.) Pray for Counsel and Direction in all your affairs, and undertakements, and lean not to your own understandings. I know, O Lord, (saith the Prophet) that the way of man is not in himself; neither is it in him that walks to direct his own steps. Jer. 10.23. Undertake nothing [Page 15] without asking Gods leave, and counsel. How many that have stronger heads, than you, have miserably ruined themselves, and their designs, by trusting to their own prudence? A mans heart (saith So­lomon) deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps. Prov. 16.9. We must still reserve the power of Gods Providence (saith one) God would not have us too carnally confident.Manton on Jude. It is robbery to use goods with­out the Owners leave. We forget to bid our selves good-speed, when we do not ac­knowledge Gods Dominion. This is but a piece of Religious man­ners. The Lord can blast your enterprise, [...]hough managed with [...]ever so much wisdom [...]nd contrivance. You [...]re not only to look to God as the Author of [...]he Success; but as the Director and Guider of the Action: It [...]s by his Conduct and Blessing, that all [...]hings come to pass. If your designs suc­ [...]eed not, you are presently ready to [...]scribe it to ill fortune, and say, you had [...]ad luck; when indeed you ruined it [...]our selves in the first moulding of it, by [...]ndertaking of it without asking coun­ [...]l of God. In all thy ways acknowledge [...]m, Prov. 3.5.

[Page 16](6.) Pray for Success upon your law­ful imployments and designs, and own it to be from the Lord. You have an ex­cellent pattern in Abrahams Servant. Gen. 24.12. O Lord God of Abraham thy servant, send me good speed this day. He reverences the soveraignty of Providence, and acknowledges Success to be a flower of the Imperial Crown of Heaven, and the Bridle that God hath upon the rea­sonable Creature, to dispose of the Suc­cess of Humane affairs. I look on that business or design in a fair and hopefu [...] way to prosper, wherein we have ingaged God to be with us, by asking his coun­sel, and recommending the Success to hi [...] Blessing. These are the Mercies you ar [...] to pray for.

Secondly, Next I will shew you wha [...] influence Prayer hath into those Mercie [...] you are to pray for; and it hath muc [...] every way: To be short it hath a threefold influence into them.

(1.) It is a proper and effectu [...] means to obtain and procure them. Go [...] will have every thing fetched out b [...] Prayer. Ezek. 36.37. I will yet for th [...] be inquired of by the house of Israel, to [...] it for them. God gives not our Merci [...] [Page 17] for our Prayers, nor will he give them without our Prayers. This is the stated method, in which our Mercies are con­veyed to us; and therein the Wisdom and Goodness of God are eminently dis­covered. His Wisdom in making us to see the Author of every Mercy in the way of receiving it, and securing his own glory in the dispensing of every Mercy: His Goodness to us, in sweeten­ [...]ng every Mercy this way to us, and [...]aising its value in our estimation. Prayer [...]oming between our wants, and supplies [...]s a singular means to raise the price of Mercies with us, and ingage us to due [...]mprovements of them. So that it is an [...]le pretence for any to say, God knows [...]ur wants, whether we pray or no; and [...] Mercies be decreed for us, we shall [...]ave them, though we ask them not: [...]or though God knows our wants, yet [...]e will have us know them too, and sen­ [...]ly to feel the need of Mercy. And [...]ough Prayer be altogether needless to [...]s Information, yet it is very necessary [...] testifie our submission: And though it [...]rue, if God have decreed Mercy for [...] we shall have it; yet it is not true, [...]at therefore we need not pray for it: [Page 18] For Decrees exclude not the second Means, nor render the Creatures duty unnecessary. I know the thoughts, that I think, towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end; then shall you cal [...] upon me, and you shall go and pray unt [...] me, and I will hearken unto you, Jer. 29▪ 11, 12. So that it is plain, Mercies mus [...] be expected in the way of Prayer, that being Gods appointed way, and stated method in the dispensing of them.

(2.) As Prayer hath an influence into the procuring of our Mercies, so it hath a singular influence into the sweetning o [...] them: No Mercies so sweet as those tha [...] are received upon the knee. There is [...] twofold sweetness Men taste in thei [...] Earthly injoyments: One is natural, an [...] that those that never eye God in them may relish as much as others; the othe [...] is spiritual, and supernatural, resultin [...] from the consideration of the way i [...] which, and the end for which they an [...] given. And I am confident, such is th [...] refreshing sweetness of Mercies comin [...] in the way of Prayer, that they derive [...] thousand times more sweetness from t [...] Channel, through which they com [...] [Page 19] than they have in their own natures. So that it was rightly observed by him that said, A Believer tastes more sweetness in the common Bread he eats at his own Table, than another can do in the Consecrated Bread he eats at the Lords Table. And then

(3.) Prayer hath a sanctifying influ­ence upon all our injoyments; and therefore no wonder it makes them so sweet. What you obtain this way, you obtain with a Blessing, and that is the sweetest and best part of any injoyment. So you find, 1 Tim. 4.5. every Creature is sanctified by the Word of God and Pray­er. One Mercy of this kind is better, than Ten thousand promiscuously dis­pensed in the way of common Provi­dence. By these no Man knows love or hatred; but these surely come from Gods love to us, and end in the increase of our love to him. So that you see Prayer hath a manifold influence upon our Mercies. But it is not any kind of Prayer that doth thus procure, sweeten, and sanctifie our Mercies to us. Some Mens Prayers rather obstruct than farther their Mercies,Si bonum petant boni, bene, ad bonum. but if [Page 20] it be the servent Prayer of a righteous Man, directed by the Rule of the Word, to the Glory of God; we may say of such Prayer as David said of Sauls Sword, and Jonathans Bow, It never returns empty.

Thirdly, I shall shew you what aid and assistance the Prayers of others may give to the procurement of the Mercies we desire: For you see this instance in the Text, it was the united Joynt-Prayers of the Disciples with Paul, that on this occasion was judged necessary.

Now considering Prayer according to its use, and end, as a means of obtaining Mercy from the Lord; the more dispo­sed, apt, and vigorous the means are, the more surely and easily the Mercies are ob­tained which we pray for. There may be much zeal, fervency, and strength in the Prayer of a single Saint. Jacob alone may wrestle with God, and as a Prince pre­vail; but much more in the joynt united force of many Jacobs. Vis unita fortior [...] If one can do much, many can do more [...] O what may not a blessed combination o [...] holy and humble Spirits obtain from the Lord? If one Mans heart be dead and out of tune, anothers may be lively and [Page 21] full of affection. Besides, God delights in those Acts of mercy most, by which many are refreshed and comforted; and where there is a common stock of Pray­ers goings like a common Adventure in one Ship; there the return of Prayer, [...]ike the return of such a Ship, makes many glad hearts. Certainly it is of great [...]dvantage for the people of God, to in­gage as many as they can to pray for [...]hem. When Daniel was to obtain that [...]ecret from the God of Heaven, Dan. 1. [...]7, 18. he makes use of his three friends [...]o improve their acquaintance with God, [...]nd interest in God for him upon that [...]ccasion. Then Daniel went to his house, [...]nd made the thing known to Hananiah, Michael, and Azariah, his companions; [...]hat they would desire mercies of the God [...]f Heaven, concerning this secret. Some Christians have greater intimacies with [...]od than others, they are special favo­ [...]tes in the Court of Heaven; and what [...]n advantage it is to be upon their hearts, [...]hen they are with God, judge ye. I re­ [...]ember, S. Bernard having spoken of the [...]ue frames and tempers that Christians [...]ould strive to work their hearts into, [...]hen they are ingaged in this work of [Page 22] Prayer, concludes with this request, E [...] quum talis fueris, memento mei. An [...] when thy heart (saith he) is in this temper then remember me. O, it is a singular Mercy to be interested in their Prayers, that ar [...] in special favor with God. It is true, Jesu [...] Christ is the great Favorite, for whos [...] sake all Prayers are heard; and withou [...] his intercession, the intercessions of a [...] Abraham, a Moses, a Jacob, signifie no­thing; but in the virtue of his intercessi­on, the intercessions of others may b [...] singularly advantagious to us. Job [...] friends were good Men, but yet the [...] must go to Job, and get his Prayers fo [...] them, before God would be intreated fo [...] them. Job 42.8.

And indeed, upon the contrary, it is [...] sad sign, that God designs not to give u [...] that Mercy wh ch he takes off our ow [...] heart, or the hearts of others from pray­ing for. When he saith pray not for such a Man, or for such a Mercy for him; th [...] case then becomes hopeless, the Mercy is set, and there is no moving it. Jere▪ 14.11. But if once a Spirit of Prayer b [...] poured upon you, and upon others too [...] in your behalf: You may look upon th [...] Mercy as even at the door, and count i [...] [Page 23] as good as if it were in your hand. And thus you see what the Mercies are you should pray for, what influence Prayer hath upon them, and what assistance the Prayers of other Christians may contri­bute to the obtaining of them; that so [...]our hearts may be excited and incou­ [...]aged, not only to pray for your selves, out to ingage as many as you can, to seek [...]he Lord for you, as you see Paul here [...]id, when he was undertaking his dan­ [...]erous voyage. In the next place I shall [...]pply it.

Ʋse 1. And first this may serve sharply [...]o reprove the generality of our Sea-men, [...]ho mind every thing necessary to their [...]oyage, except Prayer, the principal [...]hing; who go out in voyages without [...]sking Gods leave or blessing. And here [...]hree sorts of persons fall under convicti­ [...]n, and just rebuke.

First, Such as do but mock God, and [...]elude themselves by heartless, dead, and [...]mpty Formalities. Some there be, that are not altogether flight and neglect [...]rayes, but, pro forma, they will do some­ [...]ing themselves, and it may be as a [...]mplement; or, at most, as a customary [...]ing, will desire the Prayers of others: [Page 24] But alass! There is no heartiness or sin­cerity in these things. They are no way affected with the sense of their own wants, sins, or dangers, they never un­derstood the use, nature, or end of Prayer We blame the blind Papists, and tha [...] justly, for their blind Devotions, who reckon their Prayers by number, and no [...] by weight; and truly, there is but littl [...] difference betwixt theirs and some of our Devoti­ons.Discite habere in corde, quod omnis homo habet in lingua. Aug. in Psal. 32. It is S. Augustine counsel, Do you learn t [...] have in your hearts who every one hath in his lip [...] O that you would once learn to be i [...] earnest with God, to pray as Men tha [...] understand with whom you have to do and what great things you have to trans­act with God! Ah my Friends, yo [...] may believe it, that if ever you had fel [...] the weight of sin upon your Consciences and had had such sick days and night for it, as some have had, you would no [...] ask a pardon so coldly and indifferently as you do. If you did but know the benefit of Gods presence with you in trou­bles, how sweet it is; or could but ap­prehend how terrible a thing it is to b [...] [Page 25] left of God (as Saul was) in a day of [...]istress; you would weep and make sup­ [...]lication for his Gracious presence to go [...]orth with you, and would say with Moses, If thy presence may not go with me, [...]hen carry me not hence. But alass, these [...]hings appear not to you in their reality [...]nd importance. And hence is all that wretched formality, and deadness of [...]pirit.

Secondly, It rebukes much more such [...]s wholly slight and neglect Prayer, as a [...]seless and vain thing; who undertake [...]esigns without Prayer, not at all ac­knowledging God in any of their ways. And it is justly to be suspected, these are multitudes of such practical Atheists [...]mong Sea-men, as well as other orders [...]f Men. Poor Men! My heart mourn­ [...]th over you; you are certainly a forlorn [...]ort of men, who live without God in [...]he World. It was ancient­ [...]y said,Qui nescit o [...]are, discat Navigare. He that would learn [...]o pray, let him go to Sea: But now how long may a Man be at Sea, before he hear a praying Sea-man? Let your Families, from which you part, witness what conscience [...]ou have made to seek God (as you have [Page 26] been here directed) before your out-set [...] It is said, Deut. 33.18. to the Tribe o [...] Sea-men, Rejoyce Zebulun in thy going [...] out; but in this case we may invert th [...] words, and say, Mourn, O ye Sea-men [...] for your going out. How deploreable a cas [...] is this? Let your Cabbins witness wha [...] Conscience you make of the duty o [...] Prayer: You can talk and sleep there but when did you pray there? You ther [...] hear the voice of God in the roaring Seas but when did God hear your voice i [...] Prayer? You see the wonders of God i [...] the Deeps, wonders of Creation, an [...] wonders of Preservation; but mean tim [...] you your selves are the greatest wonder that are to be seen in the Sea. Men immediately depending upon God for thei [...] lives, liberties, and estates, every moment; and not once owning or acknowledging him by Prayer.

The very Heathen [...] will rise up in judgmen [...] against you, [...], Cui respon­det Socrates, [...], Plato in Timeo. and condemn you. I remembe [...] Plato brings in Alcibiades, asking Socrates How he ought to ex­press his resolutions and purposes; t [...] [Page 27] whom he thus answereth, Before every [...]ndertakement thou must say, If God will. And we know the Eastern Nations would [...]ndertake nothing of moment, without [...]rst acknowledging God by Prayer. The Greeks [...] by the leave or blessing [...]f God is known to all. The Turks will [...]ondemn such as you are, for they fail [...]ot to pray five times a day, how urgent [...]ever their business be. The blind and [...]uperstitious Papists will condemn you, [...]ith whom it is a Proverb, Mass and [...]eat hinder no man. O, whither will you [...]rn? And, who shall comfort you, when [...]rouble comes upon you? Wonder not [...]t crosses and disappointments in your [...]usiness; how can you expect it should [...]e otherwise, as long as God is neglect­ [...]d, yea, disowned? Say not, this is the [...]ruit of ill-luck, but of your prophane [...]eglects. If the Success of all your busi­ [...]ess depends upon God, (as none but [...]theists dare deny) then certainly the [...]irectest and readiest course a man can [...]ake to destroy all, is to disingage God [...]y a sinful neglect of him. The most [...]ompendious way to ruine is to forget God, and cast of Prayer. Pour out thy [...]ury (saith the Prophet) upon the Heathen [Page 28] that know thee not, and upon the Families that call not upon thy name. Jere. 10.25. Will nothing less then extremity make you cry to God? Wonder not then, if God bring you into that extremity, which your prophaneness makes necessary for your awakening.

Thirdly and lastly, How much sadder [...] and more deplorable is the case of those that not only neglect to call upon the Name of God by Prayer, but do also wound his Name through and through by their cursed Oaths and Blasphemies▪ who instead of going on board praying as Paul here did, go on board cursing swearing, and blaspheming his great and dreadful Name; not going from their bended knees, but drunken Ale-benches to the Ship.

O the admirable patience of God! O the power of his long-suffering! That ever that Ship should swim one hour a­bove Water, that carries such loads of sin and guilt within it. It is noted in Gen. 4.26. in the days of Seth, That then men began to call upon the Name of the Lord. Some translate the word Invocation, [...] or Prayer, and some prophanation; then [Page 29] began prophaness in calling upon the Name of the Lord. In a mournful feel­ing of this dishonor done to God by it, Seth calls the son that was born to him [...]n those times, Enosh, or Sorrowful. Sure I am, however the word be here to be [...]ranslated, there is a vile generation in our days, that instead of calling upon [...]he Name of the Lord by Prayer, do call [...]pon it prophanely, rending and tearing [...]hat great and terrible Name with the [...]anguage of Hell. Poor Man! With what hope or incouragement can tho [...]e [...]ips of thine, in the day of thy extremity, [...]ry, Mercy! Mercy! that have struck [...]hrough the sacred Name of God so many times with Blasphemy? O that [...]ou would lay it to heart: O that this [...]ay God would set your sins in order be­ [...]ore you.

Is this a beginning that promises a [...]omfortable issue? Do you thus prepare [...]our selves to meet death, and danger? O my Soul, come not thou into their [...]ecrets. O let God rather strike me per­ [...]ectly dea [...] whilest I live, than afflict my Soul through my ears with these dread­ [...]ul Dialects of the damned.

Ʋse 2. In the next place this point i [...] exceeding useful by way of Exhortation to perswade all men, and particularl [...] Sea-men to be men of Prayer; to imitate that noble pattern in the Text, an [...] no longer to live in the neglect of a dut [...] so necessary, so sweet, and so beneficia [...] to them, as the duty of Prayer is. O [...] that you did but know the excellency o [...] this duty! How would you give you [...] selves unto Prayer! As David speaks Psal. 109.4. Now to perswade you to b [...] praying men, and no longer to live in the neglect of so excellent a duty, I wil [...] offer these Motives to your considera­tion.

Motive 1. God hath stiled himself a God hearing Prayer. For your incouragement to this duty, he hath assumed this title to h mself, Psal. 65.2. O thou that hearest Prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. You cry not as the Heathens do, to stocks and stones, that cannot help or hear them that seek to them, but to the living and true God; by whom never did any up­right Soul loose a Prayer. And to come home to your case more fully, he is a God that hears the Prayers of poor di­stressed men upon the Seas, when all [Page 31] hope and humane help hath utterly failed [...]hem. So you read in Psal. 107.23, 24, [...]5, 26, 27, 28. They that go down into [...]he Sea in Ships, that do business in great Waters; these see the works of the Lord, [...]nd his wonders in the Deep: For he com­mandeth, and raiseth the stormy Wind which lifteth up the Waves thereof. They mount up to Heaven, they go down again to [...]he depths; their Soul is melted, because [...]f trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger [...]ike a drunken man, and are at their wits [...]nd. Then they cry unto the Lord in their [...]rouble, and he bringeth them out of their [...]listress. So that what the Psalmist els­where speaks of the mystical depths of [...]rouble, is true here, even in a proper [...]itteral sense. Out of the depths have I [...]ryed unto thee, O Lord, hear my voice. Psal. 130.1, 2. Many a Prayer hath been heard, and miraculously answered upon [...]he Sea. There have men been convinced [...]nd fully satisfied, that it is not in vain [...]o cry to the Lord. So evident and clear [...]ave been the appearances of God at the [...]ry of poor distressed Creatures, that [...]hey have sensibly and thankfully ac­ [...]nowledged him according to his name, [...]he hope of the ends of the Earth, and the [Page 32] confidence of them that are afar off upon the Sea, Psal. 65.5. Who is there among you, that hath not either heard of, or himself been an example, and instance of the Truth? I might here insert many famous examples to confirm it, but the case is too plain to need them, and it would be too great a digression.

Motive 2. Prayer is certainly the best relief to the distressed. We may say of it, as David said of the Sword of Goliah; give me that, for there is none like it. You that are Sea-men, know what the use of the Pump is, when the Waters leak into your Ship; and of what use the Scupper-holes are to you, when Waves break and wash over your Decks: Why, of the same use is Prayer, when sorrow leaks into your hearts, and distresses are ready to overwhelm your Souls. This gives a vent to that which else would quickly sink you. Your heart shall live th [...] seek the Lord. Psal. 69.32. Prayer will buoy up your fainting spirits; it will sensibly ease an oppressed heart. No fear of fainting, while a man continues praying. Luther was wont to call Prayers the Leaches of his cares and troubles. O but if troubles come in upon a man [Page 33] every way, and he have no vent, no out­let for them; when the ordinary vents of Reason, Courage, and Resolution, are all choaked (as sometimes they are) and there is no succor or relief coming in from Heaven: What a wretched forlorn con­dition is such a poor creature in? O therefore get acquaintance with this ex­cellent duty.

Motive 3. All secondary means of de­liverance and comfort, necessarily depend upon the will and pleasure of God, and signifying nothing without him. What the Psalmist saith of an Horse, I may say of a Ship. Psal. 33.17. That it is a vain thing for safety. Alass! What a poor defence [...]s it against those giant-like Waves of the Sea? And that men (especially Sea-men) may be convinced of this, God hath many times caused those stately and strong built Ships to perish, and be dashed all to pieces, and preserved those that were not safe in them, upon a Plank or bro­ken piece of the Ship, Acts 27.44. which hath carried them more safely to the shore, than it could do. And will you not yet see that means signifie nothing without God, and that your dependence [...]pon him, is necessary in every conditi­on, [Page 34] and the acknowledgment thereof so too? I am perswaded there would not be half so many Shipwracks, and disap­pointments as there are, if your carnal confidence in the means were less, and your reliance upon the Lord more. There­fore it is, you so often receive the sen­tence of death in your selves, that you may learn not to trust in your selves, but in God. O were but your Sails filled by Prayer, how prosperous would your de­signs be?

Motive 4. What ever deliverances from dangers, or success in business, you receive out of the way of Prayer, can yield you but little comfort; for they are not sancti­fied to you. You may be delivered, though you pray not; and Success may follow those that seek not God for it; but that which you call Deliverance, is rather a reservation to future misery; and that you call Success, is but a snare to your Souls. You have the things, but not the comfort and blessing of them. God may give your desire to your ruine: Your lives may be rescued for a time from death, that you may fill up the measure of your iniquities. Your affairs may pro­sper, and that prosperity may destroy [Page 35] you. Prov. 1.32. At best it is but an effect of common Providence, and of such De­liverances you can never say as Hezekiah said of his; and every one that receives the like Mercy in the way of Prayer, may say of his. Isai. 38.17. But thou hast in love to my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. I deny not, but a Deli­verance by the Hand of common Provi­dence, is a Mercy in it self; and it may prove a very great Mercy to you in the event, if time thereby added to your life be a space of Repentance; else it is but a short reprieval of your damnation, and leaves you to perish under greater guilt, then was upon you before. But on the contrary, how sweet are those Mercies, that come in the way of Prayer, that discover Gods love to you, and inflame yours to him? One such Mercy is worth a thousand of the former.

Motive 5. Consider all you that go out without Prayer, how soon you may be out of a capacity of Prayer. Now you will not, and shortly you may not, have one opportunity to pray for ever­more: Now unbelief shuts your Mouths, and shortly death may do it. How soon may you be past Prayers, both your own [Page 36] and others; and be fixed by death in your unalterable condition? O seek the Lord therefore, whilest he may be found, call upon him whilest he is yet near. Now is your praying season; hereafter there will be no use of Prayer. For this (saith the Psalmist) shall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found: Surely in the Floods of great Waters they shall not come nigh un­to him. Psal. 32.6. (i. e.) Saith Deodate upon the place, in the time of the gene­ral destruction of sinners, as it was in the Deluge; then there is no coming nigh to God by Prayer, nor canst thou come nigh him in the day of thy particular de­struction, by the Floods of great Wa­ters. O therefore live not a day longe [...] in the prophane and sinful neglect of thi [...] great duty of Prayer.

Object. Why, but I observe those tha [...] pray not, generally escape as well as they tha [...] do.

Answ. This Objection was once mad [...] by a Soldier in the time of fight, whe [...] he was pressed by his companion to pray and God quickly stopt his Blaspheming mouth with a mortal bullet. Have a car [...] of such bold Atheistical pleas; the [...] [Page 37] greatly provoke the Lord against you: I had rather die praying, than live prayer­ [...]ess.

Object. But to what purpose is it for me to pray, if I am unregenerate? God bears not such Prayers, if I make them; [...]nd besides, the Prayers of the wicked are an [...]bomination to the Lord.

Answ. Labor therefore to get into a [...]egenerate state, and be not perswaded [...]o rest a day longer in so sad a condition. However, in the mean time, you must know, that Prayer being a part of Na­ [...]ural Worship, all Men, even the un­ [...]egenerate, are obliged to it by the Light [...]nd Law of Nature; otherwise, the [...]eglect of it could not be their sin.

Object. But many pray, and receive [...]ot: I my self have often done so.

Answ. You ask and receive not, because [...]ou ask amiss. Jam. 4.3. If we were dis­posed to receive, as God is to give: We [...]hould not be long without the answer of [...]ur Prayers.

If (1.) your persons were accepted [...]hrough Christ, your Prayers should be [...]ccepted too. Gen. 4.4. But you are in a [...]tate of Nature, destitute of the Spirit. [...]oh. 15.7. And so your voice is to God [Page 38] not the voice of a Child, but a stran­ger.

(2.) If your Prayers were regulate [...] by the Will of God, they could not mis [...] of the desired Success. 1 Joh. 5.14. [...] we ask any thing according to his Wil [...] he heareth us.

(3.) If your Prayers had more fait [...] and fervency, they would not retur [...] empty. See Jam. 1.6. & 5.16. Wel [...] then object no more against your duty but in the fear of God apply your selve to it; and dare not to go forth in an [...] design, until thou hast by Prayer recom­mended thy self, and thy affairs to God Go alone, my Friends, retire from th [...] World; and say not, you cannot spar [...] time for Prayer: Better any thing els [...] were neglected then this. Tell the Lord thou art now lanching forth into th [...] Ocean, and knowest not what this voy­age may bring forth. Possibly thou may­est never return to the Land of thy Na­tivity any more; but however it shal [...] please him to dispose the event, beseech him with all earnestness, that thou mayes [...] have the pardon of sin sealed to thee be­fore thou go. O beg him to separate guil [...] from thy person, before thou be sepa­rated [Page 39] from thy Habitation and Relations; [...]est that stroke that shall separate thy [...]oul from thy Body, should eternally se­parate both Soul and Body from God.

Desire of the Lord that his presence may go with thee where-ever thou shalt go. Tell him, it is the Fountain, both of [...]hy safety and comfort. Desire him, if [...]is presence may not go with thee, not [...]o carry thee thence. All the relief thou [...]ast against trouble, is wrapt up in that [...]romise of his, I will be with him in [...]rouble. Tell him, those will be tastless [...]omforts, and succorless troubles, in [...]hich he is not.

Intreat the Lord with all importunity, [...]o keep thee by his fear from the sins and [...]emptations that are in the World. Tell [...]im, thou art sensibly affected with the [...]anger, which thy own corrupt heart [...]ill every where expose thee to: Sins in [...]uying and Selling, into which thou [...]ayest easily be drawn by an Earthly co­ [...]etous heart: Sins in Drinking, wherein [...]hou mayest be intangled (except he keep [...]hee) by evil company, and an irregular [...]petite: Sins of Uncleanness, by which [...]ou mayest be overcome in the absence [...] lawful Remedies and presence of [Page 40] alluring objects, except his fear quench the temptation, and break the snare.

Be earnest also with the Lord for his gracious protection of thee in all thy dangers. Tell him, thou canst not be in safety any where, but under the shadow of his wings. Tell him, at what time tho [...] art afraid, thou wilt trust in him; and beseech him, that when thy heart shall be overwhelmed with fears and troubles he will lead thee to the Rock, that i [...] higher than thee. Beseech him also to give thee counsel in all thy streights and difficulties, that thou mayest not lean to thine own understanding; but that he will make thy way plain before thee.

And if it be his good pleasure, that h [...] would bless thy just and honest enter­prises with Success and Prosperity. Which if he shall do, tell him, it is thy desire, and beg the assistance of his Grace, that thou mayest improve all thy Mercies to his praise. If thus you set forth in the fear of God, you may expect a sweet Success, and happy Issue.

THis Psalm contains an excellent account of the mysterious and admirable effects of Providenee. And this Paragraph contains that Vein or Branch of Divine Providence which respects Sea-men; a sort of Men more immediately depending upon the favor of Providence than any Men in the World; though all do necessarily, and continually depend upon it.

In these Verses we have a description, both (1) of the persons, (2) of the dan­ger, (3) of the deliverance; by the won­derful working of Divine Providence for them.

First, A description of the persons about whom this wonderful Providence is exercised. They that go down to the Sea in Ships; that do business in great Waters; the Periphrasis of a Sea-man. These are said to go down to the Sea in Ships; not because the Sea is lower than the Land, but because it is lower than the Shore, which is the Rampire raised by Provi­dence against its Inundations. And their [Page 43] end or design ingoing down into the Sea, is not pleasure and recreation; but to do business, (i. e.) to Export and Im­port such Wares and Commodities as are necessary, if not to the Being, at least, to the welbeing of the several Kingdoms and Countreys of the World. These are the Men here spoken of, who see (more than any) the Works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deeps. Works and Wonders by an, [...], usual Fi­gure, is as much as his wonderful Works; namely, of Creation, in the strange and monstrous productions of the Sea, and of Preservation, with respect to them­selves, in the dreadful dangers they there [...]ncounter. Thus the Person or Subject [...]s described.

Secondly, The danger is likewise de­ [...]cribed, in which these Seafaring-men [...]re sometimes involved: And indeed the [...]salmist here gives us a very rhetorical [...]nd elegant description of their conditi­ [...]n in the Stormy Sea; and shews us how [...]eplorable their state and condition is at [...]uch a time. Where we are to note both [...]he Causes and Effects of these Tem­ [...]ests.

[Page 44]1. The Causes, and they are twofold.

First, The principal cause, the will and pleasure of God. He commandeth and raiseth the Stormy Wind. This is Gods Prerogative, none can raise Winds, but himself; and if Devils or Witches do it at any time; yet it is still by his permission, as you see in Job 1.12, 19. The Lord is said to hold the Wind in his Fists. Prov. 30.4. As a Man holds a wild fierce Beast in a Chain, or by a Col­lar: And when they blow he brings them out of his treasuries, Psal. 135.7. There is indeed a Natural Cause of Winds, o [...] which Philosophers give us this rationa [...] account. That it is a hot, and dry exhala­tion raised from the Earth, by the power of the Heavenly Bodies, which being repelled or forced back by the coldness of the middle Region, moves oblickly or slentingly, and sometimes very violently through the Air. But though this be the Natural Cause of the Wind; yet this doth not at all re­strain the absolute Soveraignty of God over them. It is he that commands an [...] raiseth them, as the Text speaks; and though it be said Joh. 3.8. The Win [...] blows where it listeth; yet that expression mak [...]s it not an arbitrary creature: Bu [...] [Page 45] the meaning is either thus, It blows where it listeth, for any opposition that Man can make to it, though it cannot [...]low where it listeth with respect to God. Or thus, Such is the great varia­ [...]leness and instability of the Winds, [...]lowing now this way, now that, that [...]t seems to move with a kind of sponta­ [...]eity, as a Bird doth in the Air; though [...]ndeed it doth but seem so, for all its [...]otions are ordered of the Lord. And [...]ou cannot say in this sense, as 1 Kings [...].11. That God it not in the Wind. Now when it pleaseth the Lord to shew his [...]ower upon the great Deeps, he sends [...]orth these Winds out of his Treasure. This is the principal Cause. Then [...]ext

2. We have the instrumental subordi­ [...]ate and next Cause of the Storm; and [...]hat is, the Winds lifting up the Waves of [...]he Ocean. There is naturally in the Sea [...] continual agitation, and rolling of its Waters hither and thither; it cannot rest, [...]s the Prophet speaks; but when a vio­ [...]ent Wind blows upon it, the Ocean is [...]ncensed and inraged; and the Winds [...]oll, moving Mountains of Water be­ [...]ore them. Then like Wild Beasts, the [Page 46] Waves seem to break loose and rage, not only to be latrantes un­das, as Virgil calls them, barking Waves; Undaemaris effera­tae. Beza. but [...], raging Waves, as Jude speaks Vers. 13.Fluctus truces. Yea, roaring Waves, as our Saviou [...] stiles them, Luk. 21.25. Thus of the Causes of the Storm Prin­cipal and Subordinate. Next we have

Secondly, The terrible Effects of the Tempests, and that upon both thei [...] Bodies and their Minds.

(1.) External upon their Bodies; i [...] tosses them up and down in a dreadfu [...] manner, which the Psalmist elegantly expresses in the Text. They mount up t [...] Heaven, they go down to the Depths, a lofty hyperbolical expression; very nea [...] unto it is that of Virgil.

They seem to mix with the very Clouds; and then, open deep Graves [Page 47] for them in the bottom Sands. Yea, it moves them not only perpendicularly, lifting them up, and casting them down, but obliquely and circularly also. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, or as some translate, agitantur in gyrum, they run round: They are in­deed moved according to the unstable motion of the Waves, on whose proud backs they are mounted. This is the Ex­ternal Effect of the Storm upon their Bodies.

(2.) The Internal Effect of it upon their Minds, which is far more terrible. For it is said here, Their Soul is melted because of trouble, and they are at their wits end. Both which expressions do im­port a greater commotion, and storm in the Passions of the Mind, than that is in the Waves of the Sea. The stoutest spirit quails and melts when it comes to this; and the wisest Artist is at his wits end. Thus you have the description of the persons, and of their danger, both in the Cause and Effects upon the Body and Mind. Next

(3.) We have their deliverance by the wonderful hand of divine providence, in Vers. 27. Then they cry unto the Lord in [Page 48] their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress. Their usual cry in such ex­traordinary exigencies is Mercy! Mercy! Now they can pray, that could not pray before. Extremity drives them to their knees, not only with cryes, but vows to the Lord. And he delivers them out of their distress: Some delivered one way, and some another, but all in a stupendi­ous way, which cannot but astonish them that are so delivered, and make them ac­knowledge the Finger of God was in it.

From all this we observe.

Doctr. That the Preservations and De­liverances of Sea-men in the dreadful Storms and Tempests at Sea, is the wonder­ful Work of Divine Providence.

The Works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. Psal. 111.2. And among his Providential Works none greater, and more admirable, than those which Sea­men daily behold in their marvellous Protections upon the Sea.

Now the Glory of Divine Providence towards Seamen, shines and displays it self in three things. Especially first, in making the Ocean navigable for them at any time. Secondly, In preserving them [Page 49] from Shipwracks in the fury and stress of Weather. Thirdly, In finding out ways, [...]nd strangely providing means of safety when their Ships are lost, and broken up­on the Sea.

1. It is a wonderful providence of God, to make the Ocean navigable for Men at any time; that such a fluid Body as Water is, which cannot support a Stone or Bullet of an ounce weight, should yet [...]y reason of its own Saltness, and the [...]nnate property of Timber, be able to [...]upport Ships of such vast burthen, which are carried daily from place to place, be­ [...]ng mounted on the backs of its proud Waves. Who can but acknowledge a most wise Providence, in gratifying the Natural wit and desire of Man, which fits him for Converse and Traffick with Foreign Nations, with instruments and materials so fit for his purpose; as Tim­ber, Iron, Hemp, Pitch, the Loadstone, and whatever else is necessary for his pur­pose? I cannot open the Wisdom of Gods Providence in this respect, to better ad­vantage than I find it done by the Learned Pen of Dr. More in his Antidote against Atheism. Pag. 58. Navigation (saith he) being of so great consequence to the delight, [Page 50] and convenience of humane life; and the [...] being both wit and courage in Man to a [...]tempt the Seas, were he but fitted wi [...] right Materials, and other advantages r [...]quisit; when we see there is so pat a pr [...]vision made for him to this purpose, i [...] large Timber for the building of his Shi [...] a thick Sea-water to bear the Ships bur [...]then; in the Magnet or Loadstone for hi [...] Compass; in the steddy and parallel Di [...]rection of the Axis of the Earth for hi [...] Cynosura: And then observing his natu [...]ral wit and courage to make use of them [...] and how that ingenite desire of knowledg [...] and converse, and of the improving of hi [...] own parts, and happiness, stir him up t [...] so notable a design. We cannot but conclud [...] from such a train of Causes, so fitly an [...] congruously complying together, that it wa [...] really the counsel of an Ʋniversal and E­ternal Mind, that hath the over-seeing an [...] guidance of it, &c.

2. But (to come home to the case be­fore us) that men should be preserved at Sea from immediate ruine in the dread­ful Tempests that befal them there, this is a mysterious, and admirable Work of God; that a poor Ship should not be swallowed up by the furious Ocean, when [Page 51] Mountains of Water come rolling to­ [...]ards it with an horrid noise, and give such dreadful stripes; when Seas roll [...]er it, and so cover it with the Waves, at for a time they know not whether [...]ey sink or swim; to see it emerge out­ [...] such fatal dangers, keep up its head, [...]d mount upon the backs of those lofty [...]eas that threaten immediately to over­ [...]helm it. O how great is the power [...]d care of Providence in such a case! [...]pecially, if you consider these follow­ [...]g particulars, among many others, [...]hich threaten ruine on every side: And [...]ould but one of these many contingen­ [...]es befal them, in the eye of Reason they [...]re lost Men.

1. Of how many parts comparted [...]gether, doth a Ship consist? These parts [...]deed are fastened together with Bolts [...]f Iron, but being in so many Planks. [...]hat a wonder is it that none Springs, [...]at no Bolt gives way, or Seams open, [...]hilest every part works with such vio­ [...]nce, and so great a stress of Weather [...]es upon it. Should such a thing fall out [...]s it is a wonder it should not) how [...]on would the Ship swim within as well [...] without?

[Page 52]2. How often are they put from their course by stress of Weather, and know not where they are; not being able for many days to take any observation? So that they must go whither Winds and Waves will drive them? For there is no dropping Anchors in the Main, nor re­sisting the course of the Seas, to which they can make no more resistance then [...] Child to a Giant. And how is it they ar [...] not dashed upon the Rocks, or Founder­ed in the Sands, seeing the Winds shap [...] their Course, and not Art? But there is God that steers your course for you, whe [...] you cannot.

3. How often are you even faln upo [...] Rocks and Shores, before you see them and are almost past hope, before you be [...]gin to fear? Sometimes almost imbayed and as much as ever you can do to We [...]ther a Rock, or Head-Land, which yo [...] discerned not till it was almost too late?

I remember Doctor Johnson, in th [...] ingenuous and wonderful Narrative [...] his voyage to the Sound, when he ha [...] survived two Shipwracks, and was im [...]barked in the third Ship. We had n [...] (saith he) been above two or three hours [...] Sea, but there was a sad distraction among [Page 53] [...]s in the Ship, and the Marriners crying Mercy! Mercy! For we had almost faln [...]oul on a Rock, which lay so cunningly in [...]he Water, that we did not espie it till we [...]ere upon it; but by the goodness of God, [...]e sailed close by it, and so escaped it: [...]he least touch of it had been our ruine.

4. How often do you ride at Anchor [...] furious Weather near Rocks and [...]hores; Your lives, under God, every [...]oment depending upon a Cable and Anchor; if the one break, or the other [...]ome home, you are lost men. And how [...]onderful is it they do not! What is a Cable in a Storm? But as the new Cords [...]ith which the Philistines bound Samp­ [...]n, and as easily would they be snapt [...]sunder like a thread of Tow, were it [...]ot for the care of Providence over you. These, and an hundred other accidents, [...]hich hourly threaten you, might and would send you down to the bottom, [...]ut that the Lord permits it not so to [...]e.

3. And yet more wonderful then all [...]his, how often doth God suffer Ships to [...]ounder and sink under you, and to be [...]ashed to pieces against the Rocks, and [...]et preserve you when the ordinary [Page 54] means of preservation are cut off an [...] gone? Who like these see the Works [...] the Lord, and his Wonders in th [...] Deep?

For first, sometimes a small Boat sha [...] save them, when a stout Ship could no [...] Thus many of them have been wonde [...]fully preserved, and thus the foremen [...]tioned Author relates the manner of hi [...] wonderful preservation? Our Ship (sait [...] he) had sprung a Leak, or rather a Plank [...] and was ready to sink: O, how the face [...] every man was changed at this afrigh [...]ment! One was at his Prayers, anothe [...] wringing his hands, a third shedding tear [...] when we had no need of more Salt-wate [...] After this fit they fell to work, and (as it i [...] usual in such extreams) we were all bus [...] in doing of nothing, and did we knew no [...] what. The Masters Mate whom we sen [...] down to search out the Leak, quickly re­turned to us with a sad countenance, trem­bling hands, and gnashing of teeth, [...] quivering tongue, and words half spoken signifying unto us, that the wound was in­curable Here was now no room for counsel [...] neither had we time to ask one another what was best to be done; but we presentl [...] cast out our Long-Boat, and shot off Eigh [...] [Page 55] [...] nine Guns, which seemed to me to be so [...]any tolls of a Passing-Bell before our Death. [...] leaped into the Boat, but leaped short; [...]e leg in the Boat, Alterum in Charontis [...]mba. Now were we left in the North [...]eas, which seldom wear a smooth Brow; [...]ut at this time contending with the Wind, [...]elled into prodigious Mountains. It blew [...]alf a storm, and we were now in a small [...]ssel: What credit could we give to our safe­ [...] in a small and open Shallop, when so stately Castle of Wood, which we but now lost, [...]uld not defend it self against the inso­ [...]ncy of the Waves? We were many [...]eagues from any Shore, having no Compass guide us, nor Provisions to sustain us, [...]d the night grew black upon us—. [...]othing but a Miracle could preserve us, [...]ing out of the reach of humane help—. [...]e fell to Prayer, and our extremity plead­ [...] for us; —for in this moment of death, [...]hen we were without the least expectation [...] deliverance, he sent a Ship to us, which [...]e must needs confess to be the Finger of [...]od, &c. Thus he— And this hath been [...]e wonderful door opened in extremity [...] multitudes more for their escape. But [...] how astonishing are these ways of the [...]ord! Well may we say, His ways are [Page 56] in the Sea, and his paths in the great Deep, and his footsteps are not known Psal. 77.19.

Secondly, Sometimes they shall b [...] cast upon a Rock in the Sea, where the [...] shall be preserved till some other way o [...] deliverance come, yea, preserved strang [...]ly, God blessing a small matter of pro [...]vision which they saved to sustain them though they said of it, as the Widow [...] Sarepta to the Prophet, 1 King. 17.1 [...] I have but an handful of Meal, and [...] little Oyl, and I am gathering two stick [...] that I may go in and dress it, for me an [...] my son, that we may eat it, and die. O [...] if they could save nothing, yet a fe [...] Muscles or Birds Eggs, with Gods Bles [...]ing, have sustained them till the time [...] Mercy came. This hath been the ca [...] of many. Think upon this, you that [...]buse the good creatures of God by drun [...]enness; how sweet would a cup of fres [...] water be to you, when reduced to su [...] extremity! O, if your hearts be n [...] harder than the Rocks you lay upo [...] How would such extraordinary Merc [...] melt you into love and thankfulness!

Thirdly, Sometimes they have be [...] wasted to the shore safely upon the wra [...] [Page 57] or by making a Raft of the broken pieces of the Ship, and torn Sails, and Ropes;Tabula post Naufragium. and upon this (God knows, a poor security a­gainst the boisterous Waves) [...]ave they ventured themselves. A sink­ [...]ng man (as we say) will catch at a Bul­ [...]ush. Paul and those that suffered Ship­wrack with him, were thus saved. The Centurion commanded, that they which [...]ould swim, should cast themselves first into [...]he Sea, and get to Land. And the rest, [...]ome on Boards, and some on broken pieces [...]f the Ship: And so it came to pass, that [...]hey escaped all safe to Land. Acts 27.43, 44.

O the miraculous Works of the Lord! To save by such contemptible and impro­ [...]able means, who can but see and ac­knowledge the Finger of God to be here? Lo these are parts of his ways; [...]ut how small a portion is heard of him? Job 26.14.

1. Ʋse of Reproof. If your Preserva­ [...]ion in Storms at Sea, be the wonderful Works of Divine Providence; then di­vers of you deserve to be sharply repro­ved from this truth. And I beseech you suffer the word of Reproof, meekly and [Page 58] penitently. I shall speak nothing to re­proach you; no, it is not to reproach, but to reform you: And if you hate Re­proof, and mock at counsel, God may shortly speak in such thundering language to your Consciences, as will be terrible for you to hear. I remember it is said o [...] S. Bernard, that whilest he was seriously reproving the prophaneness of one (and if I misremember not, it was his own Bro­ther) who was a Soldier, and observing how he slighted his holy and serious counsel, his spirit was greatly grieved a [...] it; and he told him, Brother, God, [...] fear, will shortly make way to your hear [...] with a sword, to which my words can find no access; and the event soon verified the sad prediction. I pray God none of you may be taught by Captivities and Ship­wracks, what it is to reject faithful Re­proofs and wholsome Counsel, seasonably given for your good. You that read thes [...] lines, seriously ask your own Conscien­ces these following Questions.

(1.) Have you not soon forgotten the Works and Wonders of the Lord, which your eyes have seen? It may be for th [...] present you have been sensibly affecte [...] with your danger, and the Mercy o [...] [Page 59] God in your deliverance, but hath it re­mained upon your hearts? I doubt these Mercies have been written in the Dust, which should have been ingraven, as in the Rock for ever. Thus it was with Israel, a people that saw as many wonders wrought for them by the immediate Fin­ger of God, as ever did any people in the World; and yet it is said of them, even after the Red Sea-deliverance, in which God divided the Sea for them, when the Waves thereof roared, Isai. 51.15. And with which, for the present, their hearts were greatly affected; for it is said, Psal. 106.12. That they believed his Word, and sang his Praises. But in the next Verse you read, that a little time [...]asily wiped out the sense of this Mercy, for it is said Vers. 13. They soon forgat his works, and waited not for his counsels. I doubt this was not the sin of Israel only, but is the case of many of you at this day. Well, God did not forget you in the [...]ime of your extremity, though you so [...]uickly forget him. Think not to excuse [...]our selves from this guilt, by saying, [...]ou do still remember the thing: You [...]ay do so, and yet be said to forget his Mercy. For a Deliverance may be re­membred [Page 60] by him, that received it two ways, namely, speculatively and affecting­ly. A speculative remembrance is only to call to mind the stories of such a danger, and preservation. This you may do, and yet God account himself forgotten, ex­cept you so remember it, as still to feel the powerful impressions thereof upon your hearts, melting them into thankfulness, love, and dependence upon the God of your Salvations.

(2.) Have you not walked very un­answerably to your Deliverances, yea, and to the solemn ingagements you made to God in the day of your distress? I fear some of you have walked, after God hath rescued you by a wonderful imme­diate Hand from the Jaws of Death; as if you had been delivered to commit all these abominations. As it is Jere. 7.10. It may be, the last week or moneth you were reeling to and fro upon the Stormy Sea, and staggering like drunken men; and this reeling and staggering along the streets really drunken. O horrid abo­mination! Do ye thus requite the Lord, who pitied you in your distress, and, be­ing full of compassion, saved you, when you cried to him? Is this the fruit of your [Page 61] wonderful salvation? If a man should have told you in that day, it would have been thus, you your selves could not have believed it, but would have answered, as Hazael did to the Prophet. 2 Kings 8.13. What, is thy servant a dog, that he [...]hould do such things? Yet so it was, and [...]o it is still: The Lord humble you for [...]his great wickedness. If this be all the [...]ruit of Mercy and Deliverance, it had [...]een better for you that you had gone down to the bottom then, rather than [...]o live only to treasure up more wrath [...]gainst the day of wrath, and fill up [...]our measure.

(3.) Are there not a sort of Atheisti­ [...]al Sea-men, who own not Providence [...]t all, either in the raising of these hor­ [...]id Tempests, or in their marvellous [...]reservations in them; but look on all, [...]s coming in a Natural way, and their [...]scape to be only by good Fortune, and [...]hance: How wonderful a thing is it in [...]e eyes of all considering men, that [...]rovidence should take any notice of [...]em in a way of favor, that so wicked­ [...] disown it, and so directly disoblige it? [...]ow can you possibly shut your eyes a­ [...]ainst such clear light, and stop your ears [Page 62] against such loud and plain Language, whereby the power and goodness of God proclaims it self to you in these Provi­dences! Ah, methinks you should most readily and thankfully subscribe that great truth. Psal. 68.20. He that is our God, is the God of Salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from Death. But though men see Signs and Wonders, they will not believe, yea, though them­selves become Wonders to the World by their miraculous Deliverances; yet so bruitish and stupid are they, that they will not see the hand that saves them [...] Take heed what you do: You set you [...]selves in the direct way to destruction by this, and highly provoke the Lord to a [...]bandon, and cast you out of the care o [...] his Providence; and if he once do so you are lost men.

(4.) And yet more vile (if more vileness can be in a sin) than all this. Ar [...] there not a generation of wretched me [...] among you, that fall a swearing, cursing and blaspheming God, even when he i [...] uttering his terrible voyce in the Tem [...]pest, and every moment threatning t [...] intomb them in the Deep? When yo [...] should be upon your knees bewailin [...] [Page 63] your sins, and pleading with God for Mercy (as I doubt not but some of you [...]o) to be yet more and more provoking [...]im, daring him to his face; and yet [...]ore incensing his indignation which is [...]lready kindled against you; who, that [...]ears this, can chuse but admire the riches [...]f Gods patience and forbearance to­ [...]wards such men? The very Heathen Ma­ [...]iners in a Storm, called every man upon [...]is God, Jonah 1.5. We say, extremity will cause the worst of men to pray, and [...]ompose the vainest spirit unto serious­ [...]ess; but it seems by you, it will not. Is [...]his the frame and temper you will meet [...]eath in? What, speaking the language of Devils, and damned Spirits before [...]ou come among them? Hasting on your own ruine, as if it were too slack and [...]ingering in its motion? The Lord open [...]he eyes of these miserable Creatures, and convince them, that they are not only going to Hell as others are, but that [...]hey are the forlorn of all that wretched crew that are bound thither; and pro­portionable will be their misery, except [...]hey repent.

2. Ʋse of Exhortation. This point is [...]et farther improvable for you by way [Page 64] of Exhortation; serving to press you to those proper duties which God calls you to, by his terrible providential voice in the Storms, and by your wonderful De­liverances.

1. And the first lesson you are to learn from hence, is, To adore the power of God. O what a manifestation of Divine Power is here! You are the men that see more than others, the Works of the Lord, and his Wonders in the Deep. It is one of Gods ends, in shewing you these Won­ders, To make his mighty power known, Psal. 106.8. O what a terrible voyce doth God utter upon the Seas, when the Heavens are black above you, the furious Winds and dreadful Thunders ratling about you, the Sea and Waves roaring beneath you! Is not this voice of the Lord full of Majesty? Doth it not aw your hearts and make them tremble? In three things his infinite power is dis­covered to you.

First, In raising these terrible Tem­pests, and that from so small and weak a beginning as a thin vapor from the Earth is: This is the wonderful Work of God. Psal. 135.7. He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the Earth; he [Page 65] 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 boisterous creature, and would (if God did not by his Providence re­strain) destroy, and overturn all, both by Sea and Land. Or if Satan, who is stiled The Prince of the power of the Air, were left at liberty to execute 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 Jobs Chidren, as soon as he had received a permission from Heaven to do it.

And 3. no less visible is the Power of God in calming, and appeasing the stormy winds, and remanding them in­to his treasuries, Psal. 107.29. He maketh the Storm a Calme: Yea, he doth so in the very nick of time when all is con­cluded lost. Thus you read in Mark 4.39. when the waves beat into the Ship; So that it was now full, and the Disciples cried to the Lord, Master, carest thou not that we perish? He arose and rebuked the [Page 66] 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, be still. O the Soveraign 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 danger to grow to an extremity, and delays your Deliver­ance to the last moment, till all hopes of safety are gone, upon the like reason, That Lazarus his Resurrection was de­ferred; that the Work of God in your Preservation may commend it self to you under the greatest advantage.

O that you would view these Mercies in all their indearing circumstances. I can only hint your duty generally in this case, you may inlarge upon it, if you have hearts fit for such a blessed Work. And mark particularly the multitudes of Mercies, that are complicaated and invol­ved in one Deliverance. Observe the [Page 67] season when, the manner how, the means by which your Salvation was wrought. It is a thousand pities, that so much of Gods glory, and your comfort as anyone, even the smallest circumstance may con­tain, should be lost.

3. Lastly, and above all. See that you answer Gods ends in your Deliverances. If that be lost, God may say concerning you, as David did of Nabal, 1 Sam. 25.21. 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 have 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 inquire what Gods ends in your Deliverances are. I answer,

First, It is to lead you to repentance. The goodness of God (saith the Apostle) leadeth thee to repentance. Rom. 2.4. Dost [Page 68] 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 service 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 faln in that doth, as it were, take thee by the hand, and lead thee to this great necessary Work. The end of God in raising this Storm, was 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 with dismal apprehensions of Death and Hell. O, what a fair op­portunity and advantage hath he now put into thy hand for Repentance, Re­formation, and gaining an Interest in Jesus Christ. If this season be lost, Con­science suffered to fall again into a dead sleep, and thy heart be again hardned by the deceitfulness of sin, thou maist never have such an opportunity for Salvation opened to thee anymore.

Secondly, If this end be answered, then a farther design God hath in thy Deliverance, is to ingage, and incourage thy Soul to dependance 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 inable you to roll your selves upon him, when new exigencies befal you. If God exercise you with such extremities, another time you may say with the Apostle, 2 Cor. 1.10. Who delivered us from so great a Death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust he will yet deliver us.

If your first Deliverance were a Deli­verance without a Promise, when you were without Christ; what incourage­ment have you to depend upon him, when his end is answered in your Repentance and Conversion; and being in Christ, are intituled to all the Promises?

Thirdly and lastly, Gods end in your marvellous Preservations and Deliver­ances, is, to furnish you for, and ingage 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 [Page 70] 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 Child­dren of Men.

O with what warm and inlarged af­fections, should you express your thank­fulness to the God of your Salvation! And say as David, What am I, O Lord God; and what is my Fathers house, that thou shouldst do such great things for me? Was such a life, as mine, worth the work­ing of so many wonders to save it! O Lord, thou knowest it hath been a life spent in vanity. Thy glory hath not been precious in mine eyes, but my life hath been precious in thine eyes. Many more useful, and less sinful than my self, have perished, and I am saved. O Lord, shew me the designs and gracious ends of these Deliverances. Surely there is some great thing to be done by me, or else so great a Salvation had not been wrought for me. The Lord saw in what a sad case my poor Soul was, to be summoned imme­diately before his Judgment Seat. That if I had gone down under all my guilt, I had sunk to the bottom of Hell: But [Page 71] thou in love to my Soul, hast delivered it from the Pit of Corruption, that I might yet injoy a season for Salvation; and be once more intrusted with the precious Talents of Time and Means. O that I may not abuse the Grace of God in this new intrustment, as I have done in the former! Let me not live as one delivered to commit all these abominations!

And now after all that is come upon me for my evils, seeing thou, my God, hast punished me less than mine iniqui­ties deserve; and hast given me such a Deliverance as this: Should I again break thy Commandments? Ezra 9.13, 14. O let this new Mercy, produce a new Heart and Life!

IN this Psalm the Omni­presence and Omnisci­ence of God, are the subjects of the Psalmists Meditation; and these Attributes are here pro­miscuously discoursed, not only because [Page 73] of the near affinity that is betwixt their Natures; but because the one is the de­monstration of the other: It is evident God knows all things, because he fills all places. Touching the Omniscience of God, he discovers the infinite perfection of that Attribute by the particular, and exact notice it takes of all our ways. Ver. 3. Thou compassest my paths, and art acquainted with all my ways: Of all our words, Ver. 4. There is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Yea, of all our thoughts; and that not only in the instant of their conception, but long before they were conceived. Ver. 2. Thou understandest my thoughts afar off, even from eternity. Thus he displays the Omniscience of God. And then to make demonstration of the truth, and certainty of this Doctrine of Gods Omniscience, he proves it from his Om­nipresence, q. d. He that fills all things, cannot but know all things. Now Gods presence fills Heaven, yea, and Hell too, Ver. 8. And all parts of the Earth and Sea, even the remotest, Ver. 9, 10. And therefore no Creature, nor action of any Creature, can escape his cognisance. It is not here, as among men; if a malefactor [Page 74] be condemned by the Laws of one King­dom, he may escape by flying into an­other; but it is far otherwise here, for, saith the Psalmist, (personating a guilty fugitive indeavoring to make an escape from the arrest of Gods Justice) If I take the Wings of the Morning, and flee into the uttermost parts of the Sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

In which words you have these two things mainly remarkable.

1. The greatest security and incou­ragement to a sinner supposed.

2. That supposed security and incou­ragement utterly destroyed.

1. The greatest security and incou­ragement to a sinner sup­posed.Alludit ad ce­lerimam radio­rum solis excursi­nem, qui momento ab oriente ad oc­cidentem perveni­unt. Calvin. If I take the Wings of the Morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea. Where two things seem to offer to­wards his Protection.

First, The Place; the remotest part of the Sea, by which you are to understand the most obscure nook in the Creation; farthest removed from any inspection or observation.

And secondly, His swift and speedy flight, after the commission of sin, to this supposed Refuge and Sanctuary: It is here supposed, that a sinner should flie as swift as the light of the Sun, which in a moment shines from the East to the West, and so the meaning is, Could I flee with a celerity equal to the Sun, or his Beams of Light; which breaking forth in the Morning, do in an instant inlighten the remotest part of the Hemisphere. Could I as swiftly flee to the most obscure, re­mote, solitary place in all the World. Thus the sinners security is supposed.

2. This supposed security and incou­ragement is utterly de­stroyed.Non accipitur deducere pro viam monstrare; Sed deducet me manus tua tanquam cu­stos captivum sibi commissam dedux­it. Vatab. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. The leading hand of God is not here to be under­stood, as a directing or guiding hand, to shew the fugitive sinner the the way of his escape; but contrarily, Thy hand shall lead me, as a Keeper leads his prisoner back to the place of custody, from which he indeavored an escape. And the following clause is exegetical; [Page 76] Thy right hand shall hold, or detain me. Viz. In strict custody. So that the sum of all, is this.

Doctr. That the whole World affords no place of secrecy or security for a sinner to escape the observing Eye, and righteous Hand of God.

Jonah fled from the Lord to Tarshish; but could he escape so? No, the Lord sent a Storm after him which brought back the fugitive. Jonah 1.3, 4. We read Isai. 29.15. of such as dig deep, to hide their counsels from the Lord. (i. e.) They plot contrive and study to conceal their wicked designs, to sin with greatest se­cresie and security. But, what can possi­bly be a covering from him, to whose sight all things are naked and manifest? Where can a sinner be hid from him, whose presence fils Heaven and Earth? Jere. 23.24. The Scripture gives full proof to this great Truth. It is clear from Prov. 15.3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. And again, Job 34.21, 22. For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings; there is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. Who ever [Page 77] goes about to conceal a sin in secret, at­tempts a foolish and impossible design. Psal. 44.21. Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro, through the whole Earth, 2 Chro. 16.9.

Now in the handling of this point, I purpose to shew you.

1. That men are often induced to sin, upon hopes of secresie and conceal­ment.

2. That to sin upon these Encourage­ments, strongly argues their natural A­theism: They think they are safe, if men know it not; they reckon not upon Gods discovery of them.

3. That these incouragements to sin, are vain things, it being impossible any place can hide a sinner from God; and how it appears, that the Eye of God is, and must needs be upon us, and our acti­ons, where-ever we are, and how close­ly soever we indeavor to hide them. And then apply it,

First, Men are often induced to com­mit sin upon the hopes of secresie, and concealment. Sin (especially some kinds of sin) carry so much shame and odium in them, that it restrains men from the [Page 78] open practice of them; but if Satan can perswade them, they shall never be di­vulged to their reproach, they will ven­ture upon them. See that Text, The eye of the Adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me, and disguiseth his face, Job 24.15. Reckoning himself secure, if he can carry his wickedness under a vail of darkness, not caring what wickedness he doth, so he may do it un­discerned. It is not the acting of sin, but the discovery of it that puts them into terrors. So it is added with respect, both to the Adulterer, and the Thief. Vers. 17. The morning is to them as the shadow of death, if one know them; they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. i. e. If a man, especially a man in Authority, a Magistrate meet them, it is as if the I­mage of death passed before them in a vision. So those Idolaters, Ezek. 8.12. Son of man, hast thou seen what the anti­ents of the house of Israel do in the dark; every man in the house of his imagery? For they say, the Lord seeth us not. They conclude all is well, if nothing appear. This incouragement of Secresie is the great argument, by which Satan prevails with men to commit any sin that hath [Page 79] shame or danger attending it. But his promises of concealment are usually made good, as his promises of great wealth are to Witches. This is the in­couragement.

Secondly, Next I will make it evident to you, that to sin upon this incourage­ment argues Atheism of him that com­mits it. This is plain, for did men be­lieve the Omnipresence and Omniscience of God, such an incouragement to sin as secresie could have no force with them. Thus when the Antients of Israel practi­sed their Idolatry in the dark, it is plain they thought God saw them not. Ezek. 8.12. For they say, the Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the Earth. (i. e.) They did not really believe Gods Omni­presence and Omniscience. And Job tells us Chap. 31.26, 27, 28. That if he had beheld the Sun in his brightness, (i. e.) To admire and worship it as a God: Or, his heart been secretly inticed; he should have denied the God that is above. Every one that is inticed to sin upon the incou­ragement of Secresie, doth so far deny the God that is above. If such a man did really believe there is a God that sees him, whose eyes are as flames of fire, Revel. [Page 80] 1.14. To whom the darkness and the light are both alike. Psal. 139.12. It were im­possible he should be so terrified at the discovery of a Creature, and so secure and wholly unconcerned at the discovery of God: It could not be, that the obser­vation of the great God, should not so much trouble them, as the observation of a little child.

Thus we find the inward thoughts of mens he [...]rts, concerning God, discover­ed by th [...]r bold attempts upon secret sins. Isa. 29.15. Wo to them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark; and they say, Who seeth us, and who knoweth us. They think if their works are shrowded under a vail of darkness, they are safe enough: If they can escape the Bar of an Earthly god (a Magistrate) they shall never be accountable at any other Bar. We have another sad instance of the same impiety in Psal. 73.11. And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the most high? If men did not fan [...]y to themselves, there is no God, or (which is all one) that he is like unto themselves, one that cannot see in dark­ness; they could never incourage them­selves [Page 81] as they do, to sin upon such a fool­ish pretence.

Thirdly, But my proper business in this place, is to prove, That these in­couragements to sin are vain things; that no sinner can hide himself from the Eye of God. This is plain both from Scrip­ture and Reason.

The Scriptures speak full home to this truth. Prov. 5.21. The ways of a man are before the Lord; and he pondereth all his paths. To ponder or weigh our paths, is more than simply to observe and see them. He not only sees the action, but puts it into the ballances, with every circumstance belonging to it, and tries how much every ingredient in the action weighs, and what it comes to. So that God hath not only an universal inspection upon every action; but he hath a criti­cal inspection into it also. The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 1 Sam. 2.3. So Jere. 13.25, 27. Thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in fals­hood. I have seen thy Adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredoms and abominations. q. d. Thou forgatest there is a God in the Heavens that be­held thee, and didst verily believe all was [Page 82] safe, because secret from man. In this fal­shood or cheat put upon thee, by the devil, and thine own Atheistical heart thou didst trust. But I have seen thee, and all thy secret leudness. It is a Proverb among sinners, Si non caste, tamen caute. Carry the matter, if not honestly, yet warily: If thou have a mind to sin, yet order it so, that the World may be never the wiser. But how vain a thing is this? If men do not, the Lord doth see it. I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord. Jer. 29.23. Thus the Scripture speaks roundly and fully to the point in hand.

But because the Atheism of the World is so great, and it is an hard thing to convince men of this great truth, so as to over-aw them from any secret sin by it, I will by rational arguments demon­strate the truth to every mans conscience, and give you plain and full evidence, that how secretly soever men carry their sin­ful designs, yet the Lord must needs be privy to them; and it is impossible they should escape his cognisance.

1. For first, he that formed all, cannot but know all. The Workman cannot be supposed to be ignorant of any part of his own work. Now God is the Former [Page 83] of all things; every place, and every per­son he hath made. Where then shall the workers of iniquity hide themselves? You have the folly of sinners, in think­ing to conceal themselves from the Eye of God, convinced and reproved by this very argument. Isai. 29.15, 16. Wo un­to them that seek deep to hide their coun­sels from the Lord, and their words are in the dark; and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely, your turn­ing of things upside down, shall be esteemed as the Potters clay. For shall the work say to him that made it, he made me not? Or shall the thing framed, say of him that framed it; he hath no understanding? q. d. Think ye by deep-laid designs, by the advantage of darkness, by moulding and new moulding your crafty designs in your heads, as the clay is moulded now into this, then into that shape by the Potters hands, to hide it from me? O bruitish Creatures, and without under­standing! Am not I the God that form­ed you? And can it be supposed, I should not know the most secret thoughts, plots, and designs of mine own Creatures, who cannot contrive a design, nor con­ceive a thought without me? How ab­surd [Page 84] is this? Find out a place which God made not, or a Creature which he form­ed not; and then your pretences to that Creatures concealment from God, in such a place, may have some colour. And this Argument is again urged to convince the bruitish Atheist. Psal. 94.8, 9, 10. Ʋn­derstand ye bruitish among the people, and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chasteneth the Heathen, shall he not correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. So that it is the vainest of all vanity in the World, to think of hiding your sins from the Lord.

2. He that sustains all, cannot but know, and discern all. You that seek to hide counsel from the Lord, know you not, That in him you live, move, and have your being? Acts 17.28. Do not you derive that very power from him, which you abuse, to sinning against him? And do you depend necessarily, and continu­ally upon God for all? Must he give you the power to move, and by that power can you move beyond him, and get out [Page 85] of his reach? Cannot you think a thought without him, and yet can ex­clude him from those very thoughts which you had no power to conceive, but from him? Exercise but common Reason in the case, and it will hiss at your absurd designs.

3. He that governs all, can be ignorant of nothing. There is a perpetual influ­ence of Providence, swaying and govern­ing all the Creatures, and all their acti­ons; else the very ligaments of Nature would crack, and the World break up and disband. This Providence extends it self to the least and lowest of Creatures, and their actions. Luk. 12.6. A Sparrow falls not to the ground with­out it.Deus maxi­mus in mini­mis. The great God hath something to do about the most minute and inconside­rable things, yea, the most contingent and uncertain things, as is the disposal of a Lot, Prov. 16.33. And indeed, this Omniscience of God, is that which is necessary to his Universal Go­vernment. How shall he rule that person, or in that place, which he knows not? Indeed Earthly Governors may do so: It is not necessary they have a personal [Page 86] immediate cognizance of each place and person in their dominions; it is enough that they be virtually and mediately go­verned by them; but it is not so with God. It is necessary his eye should im­mediately see all the parts of his Domini­on. He could not rule the World, if he were not an Omniscient God. Psal. 66.7. He ruleth by his power for ever, his eyes behold the Nations: Let not the rebellious exalt themselves.

4. He that hath set a spy to observe, and note what every man doth, cannot but know his actions, how secret soever they be. Now so it is here, God sends a spy with you to observe and record your most secret actions and thoughts, in eve­ry place; I mean your own Consciences, from whose observation none of your ways can possibly be exempt. The sense of this made the Heathen say, Turpe quid ausurus, te sine teste time. When thou art attempting a sinful act, fear thy self without any other witness, Con­science is privy to your most secret de­signs and thoughts. 1 Kings 2.44. Thou knowest all the wickedness which thy heart, (i. e.) thy Conscience, is privy to. And if Conscience know all, God must needs [Page 87] see and know it. So the Apostle reasons, from the lesser to the greater. 1 Joh. 3.20. If our heart condemn us (which is there put for our conscience) God is grea­ter then our hearts, and knoweth all things. If the spirit of a man knows the things of a man, much more he that formed that spirit, and indowed man with it.

5. He that knows things more secret and unsearchable, than our most secret actions can be, must needs know them, how secret soever they be. Now there are many things more close and secret, than any action of ours can possibly be, and yet God knows them. The thoughts of the heart are more secret, than any ex­ternal action, so secret, that no Creature can search them; the Devil himself hath but a conjectural guess at them. But the Lord telleth unto man what is his thought. As in Amos 4.13. So Jer. 17.10. I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins. i. e. The most obscure, inward, and deep secrets lodged in the heart: Nay, which is more, he not only knows our thoughts when they are formed, and conceived in the heart, but long before their concep­tion. Psal. 139.2. Thou knowest my thoughts afar off. Divines generally in­terpret [Page 88] it from eternity; even so long before they were actually thought, he foreknew every thought we would think; and what can be imagined more secret, and undiscernable, than a future thought?

Now if this be known to him, how much more our thoughts formed into projects and designs, and these executed by external actions? O deceive not your selves with hopes of secresie; nothing can be a secret to him that knows the counsels of all hearts.

6. He that providentially brings to light the most secret contrivances of men, and publishes them before all Israel, and before the Sun, must needs see them, and know them. How closely had Achan covered his wickedness? He never sus­pected a discovery; yet God brought i [...] to light. With how much contrivance was the sin of David covered, yet Go [...] discovered it. Thou didst this thing secret­ly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Sun. 1 Sam. 12.12. Histo­ries abound with Examples of God bringing to light murders, so secretl [...] committed, that it was impossible the [...] should ever be revealed in this World [Page 89] without a miracle of Providence; and yet so they have been brought to light. Bessus having committed such a murther, fancied the Swallows that were chatter­ing in the Chimney, had said Bessus killed a man; and thereupon confessed the fact. How secure were the contrivers of the Popish Powder-plot, that Catholick Villany, in a double sense having sworn all their accomplices to secresie, and managed the whole design so closely, that Guy Faux upon the discovery of it, said, The Devil must needs be the discoverer of it. How easie were it to expatiate upon this theam? But I will not be tiresome in instances: All ages are the witnesses of this truth. Who then can deny or questi­on that great confessed truth. Dan. 2.28. There is a God in Heaven that reveals secrets: And if he reveals them, he must needs know them.

7. He that will judge all secrets, can­not but know them. Now God will judge the secrets of men in that great day. Rom. 2.16. God shall bring every work into judg­ment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Eccle. 12. ult. The Judge of the Whole Earth, will not judge at random, his Judgment will be [Page 90] infallible, because his Omniscience is so. His eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings; for he will not lay upon man more than right, that he should enter into judgment with God. Job 34.21, 23.

So that the truth of this point, is be­yond all controversie and contradiction, That the whole World affords no place of secresie or security for a sinner, to escape the observing eye, and righteous hand of God.

The Uses follow in these Inferences.

1. Inference. If this be so, then time, place, and opportunity, how much so­ever they seem to promise secresie and concealment, should never further a temptation to sin.

Suppose all circumstances concurring, so that in the eye of Reason, you seem secured from the shameful consequences of sin; yet methinks the consideration of this truth should sufficiently deter you from a wicked purpose. Prov. 5.20. And why wilt thou, my son, he ravished with a strange woman? And imbrace the bosome of a stranger? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponder­eth all his goings. There be four things [Page 91] which strengthen temptations to sin; and particularly the sin of uncleanness upon Sea-men. First, The absence of lawful Remedies. Secondly, The pre­sence of alluring objects. Thirdly, The instigation of wicked examples. Fourth­ly, And the hopes of concealment, be­ing remote from their acquaintance: So that their sins, in probability, shall never disgrace them. This last circumstance is not the least: O how many hath it pre­vailed upon! But I hope you will never yield to this temptation, whose heart and strength is broken by this considera­tion of the Eye of God upon you. A chaste Woman being once sollicited to folly, told him that sollicited her, She could never yield to the motion, till he could find a place where God should not see.

Nay, my friends, it should do more than restrain you from the gross acts of of sin, it should powerfully curb the very thoughts and first motions of sin in your hearts. That was the use holy Job made of this truth. Job 31.1, 4. I have made a Covenant with mine eyes, why then should I think, upon a Maid? Doth he not see my ways, and count all my steps?

Suppose you should carry your wicked­ness so close, that none on Earth should know it; yet the Lord sees it, and will bring it into judgment; and your own Conscience is privy to it. I pray Sirs tell me, Is it not a great comfort to a male­factor, that he acted his crime so closely, that none but the Judge, and one au­thentick witness more (whose testimony is as good as a thousand) beheld it? Why this is the case of all secret sinners. But to press home this great and necessary truth more particularly, I beseech you to consider.

1. God doth not only behold you, but beholds you with detestation and abhor­rence in your ways of iniquity; it is a sight that grieves him to the heart. Gen. 6.5, 6. And the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the Earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, was only evil continually. Here was wickedness, great wickedness breaking out externally, and evil, only evil, and that continually working internally. So that, both heart and life were evil exten­sively, intensively, and protensively. This the Lord saw, and how it affected him, the sixth Verse tells you. And it [Page 93] repented the Lord he had made man on the Earth, and it grieved him at the heart. Ah it cuts him to the heart, to see your sinful hearts and courses. Nothing can be so contrary to the pure and holy Nature of God, as this is. This made the Pro­phet admire how his patience could in­dure such a sight. Hab. 1.13. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity; wherefore lookest thou upon, them that deal treacherously? &c. As if he should say, Lord how canst thou behold thy self affronted by vile Creatures, and hold thy hands from a­venging it? O the stupendious patience of God!

2. It doth not only grieve him to the heart, but it puts his patience to the greatest tryal and exercise in beholding it. Therefore he is said, To indure with much long-suffering. Rom. 9.22. It doth, as it were, create a conflict betwixt his patience and justice. He is so provoked by your sin, that he expresses it as a dif­ficulty to bear it. Amos 2.13. I am press­ed under you, as a Cart is pressed that is full of Sheaves. Burthened till the Axle-tree of infinite Patience, be ready to crack under the weight.

Nay thirdly, He doth not only see your evils, but he Registers and Records them, in order to a day of reckoning with you for all together, except ye re­pent. Deut. 32.34. Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my Treasures? A Metaphor taken from the Clerk of the Assize, who seals up the Bag of Inditements against the time of tryal. You think if you can bl [...]d the eyes of men, all is well, you shall hear no more of it; Ah, but it is sealed up among Gods Treasures, (i. e.) The things he Records and reserves for the day of ac­count.

4. God doth not only see you, but he will also one day make you see your selves, and your ways, and that with horror and consternation. You think you shall taste nothing but the sweet and pleasure of sin; but how are you de­ceived? The days are coming, when sin that is now pleasant, shall be turned into Wormwood and Gall. You will not see the evil of it, and, because you see it not, you think God doth not. These things (saith God) hast thou done, and I kept si­lence; and thou thoughtest that I was al­together such a one as thy self; but I will [Page 95] reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Psal. 50.21. God sees them now, and he will make you see them too, by opening your eyes in this World graciously, or in that to come judi­cially.

5. God doth not only see your ways, but he will make all the World see them too. For, there is nothing hid that shall not be revealed, nor covered, that shall not be made known, Matth. 10.26. There is a day when God will make manifest the hid­den counsels of the heart, 2 Cor. 4.5. When that which hath been spoken in dark­ness, shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in Closets, shall be proclaimed upon the house tops, Luk. 12.3. Well then, when ever the occasions and opportunities of sin are presented to you, under this incourage­ment of Secresie, I beseech you remem­ber this truth, that no place can hide you from the Eye of God. He sees all your ways, yea, he sees them with abhorrence; the sight of them is the greatest exercise of his patience: His sight of them, is not a transient glance, but he sees and re­cords your evils, they are sealed up a­mong his Treasures: He sees, and will [Page 96] make you see them too with horror, when he shall set them in order before you. He sees them, and will make Angels and Men see them in the great day. O then never let Secresie any more incou­rage you to sin.

2. Inference. What prodigious Sinners must they be, that seek no covert for their sin in darkness, but with an impudent face declare, yea, glory in their shame? Who are not ashamed to sin openly with a bare face, and a Whores forehead? These are sinners of the first magnitude. They declare their sin as Sodom, and hide it not. Isai. 3.9. It is natural to man to indeavor to hide his sin as Adam; and you see from the Text, guilty sinners fain would (if it were possible) flie to any obscure corner from the observation of God and Men; and it is a Mercy, God hath planted such an affection, as shame is, in the Soul of Man, to be a Bridle to restrain his exorbitant Lusts. But yet there is a generation of monstrous sinners, who have so far unmanned themselves, That they are not at all ashamed when they commit abominations, neither can they blush. Jer. 6.15. If there be any remains of shame left in them, they exercise it [Page 97] upon a wrong object: They are ashamed of that which would be their glory, and glory in that which is their shame; they add impudence to their sin, and blush not to proclaim that which others study to conceal.

Such a vile temper as this, shews a man even ripe for wrath; he hath even filled up his measure, and is come to the very culminating point and top of wick­edness. There be some men arrived to such a degree of holiness, that all that converse with them, judge them even ripe for Heaven: They speak the Dialect, and have the very savor of Heaven upon them. Others are come to such a prodigi­ous height of impiety, that understand­ing men cannot but conclude they are nigh unto damnation; they speak the very language, and have the very scent of Hell upon them. Such are they that openly declare their sin as Sodom, and glory in their shame.

Thus we see some Drunkards will glory in their strength, to pour down Wine and strong Drink, and can boast of the number of their Cups. Some A­dulterers can glory in their acts of wick­edness, not sufficing themselves to damn [Page 98] their own Souls, but laboring to infect and corrupt as many as they can by their filthy tongues, that they may draw them into the same misery. We can hardly tell how to screw up sin one peg higher than this. First to practise sin, then de­fend it then boast of it. Sin is first a Mans burthen, next his custom, next his delight, and then his excellency. Lord, whither is man faln! that holiness should ever be his disgrace, and sin, yea, the vilest of sins his glory! O the power of Divine Patience!

3. Inference. If the Eye of God searches every obscure corner in the World, to behold the evil that is com­mitted there; then certainly the Eye of God cannot but look into every secret place in the World, to see the good that is done there. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil, and the good. Prov. 15.3. The good as well as the evil, yea, he beholds with delight [...] the good done in secret.

As some sinners seek corners to act their wickedness in, and cannot satisfie themselves to commit sin in the light (for as our Saviour saith. Joh. 3.20. H [...] that doth evil, hateth the light) so o [...] [Page 99] the contrary, a truly godly man seeks corners to pray in, to meditate in, and to examine his own heart in, and thinks these duties of godliness can never be managed with too great a privacy; not that he is in the least ashamed of his duty, no, that is not the reason, but he is afraid of hypocrisie, when duties lie too open, and exposed to the eyes of men. A sinner takes his full liberty to vent his corrup­tions, when he can do it in secret; and a Saint takes his full liberty to vent and exercise his Graces, when no eye but the Eye of God sees him. Thou, when thou prayest (saith our Saviour) enter into thy Closet, and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father (which seeth in secret) shall re­ward thee openly. O how much better is it, both as to your present comfort, and future account, to get into a corner to pray; than to whore, or drink? To pour out your Souls to God graciously, than to pour out your lusts against God so wickedly? How contrary are the principles of Grace and corruption? The study of sinners is to hide their evils from the eyes of men, the study of a Saint is to hide his duties from the [Page 100] eyes of men: The sinner would not have the World suspect what he hath been about, nor would the Saint have all the World know what he hath been about. The way of an Adulterer is as the way of an Eagle in the Air, or as a Serpent upon a Rock. (i. e.) A secret way, where they leave no prints or tracks behind them. So is the way of an adulterous Woman, she eateth and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness. Prov. 30.19, 20. By wiping the mouth, is there meant Preventing all suspition; suffering no sign of the action to remain upon them: So contrarily, a gracious person that hath been with God in secret Prayer, or Fast­ing, when his duty is ended, he labors to avoid all ostentations. And therefore you have the caution from Christ, Matth. 6.17, 18. But thou, when thou fastest, an­oint thy head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret. The meaning is, carry thy private duties so close, that none may know what passeth between God and thee: When thou hast been entertained in secret with hidden Man­na, a Feast of fat things, wipe thy mouth in an holy sense, (i. c.) Wipe off [Page 101] suspition of hypocrisie and vanity by a prudent and humble con­cealment.Non est Reli­gio ubi omnia patent. Religion doth not lay all open, as we say; as sinners have their secret pleasures, their stoln Waters which are sweet to them: So the Saints have their secret delights in God, their hidden Manna, which no man knows but he that eateth of it. And as the Eye of God vindictively beholds the one, so it delightfully beholds the other; and so you find it. Cant. 2.14. O my Dove, (saith Christ to the Church) th [...] art in the Clefts of the Rocks, in the secret places of the Stairs: Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance comely. Let this incourage you to secret duties; let not others find more pleasure in secret Lusts, than you can do in God and secret duties.

4. Inference. Doth the Eye of God see all the evil and wickedness that is committed in all the secret corners of the World, how admirable then is the Pa­tience of God towards the World! who can imagine, how much wickedness is secretly practised in a Town, or City [Page 102] every day? Or, if all the villanies that are perpetrated in a small circumference, in one day, were known to us, we should admire, that God doth not make us like Sodom, for judgment and desolation be­fore the next day: What then are the innumerable swarms of sin, which are as the Sand upon the Sea-shore, from all the parts and corners of the Earth! A­lass, there is not the ten thousandth part of the grosser sort of wickednesses com­mitted in the World, that ever comes to our eye or ear; and if it did, we cannot estimate the evil of sin, as God doth; nor feel with that resentment, the bur­then of it, as he doth; and yet the long-suffering God forbears it with infinite patience. Surely his power was not more discovered in making the World, than it is in forbearing to destroy it again, for the wiekedness that is in it. But the World stands for the Churches sake that is in it. And were it not, that the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a small remnant, we had been as Sodom, we had been like unto Gomorrah, Isai. 1.9. There is also an elect remnant to be called and gathered by the Gospel, out of it, in their several generations; and when that number [Page 103] shall be accomplished, God will set fire to the Four quarters of it, and it shall lie in white Ashes; till then, the long-suffer­ing of God waiteth.

5. Inference. If God see all the secret wickedness that is committed in every corner of the World; how clear is it, that there is a judgment to come, and that this judgment will be exact?

That there is a judgment to come is by this manifest, that there is abundance of sin committed in the World, which never comes to light here, nor never will in this World. It is true, some mens sins are open, and the judgments of God upon them are as open, but it is not so with all. The Apostle saith, 1 Tim. 5.24. Some mens sins are open before-hand, go­ing before-hand to Judgment, and some mens, they follow after. Some mens sins are written as it were in their foreheads, every one fees them, but others follow af­ter, are not discovered till the day of the revelation of the secrets of all hearts; and then that which is now done in clo­sets shall be proclaimed as upon the house­tops: though they were never put to shame for their sins in the places where they committed them, yet God will [Page 104] shame them, before Men and Angels. This is the day to judge secrets. 1 Cor. 4.5.

And, as it is certain, there will be such a judgment, so it is certain this judgment will be exact; for the Judge of all hath seen all: Whatever he charges any Man with, hath been acted before his face. Psal. 90.8. Thou settest our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. Here can be no mistake, the Omniscient God will judge for what he hath seen; For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings, for he will not lay upon man more than right, that he should enter into judgment with God. The meaning is, he cannot mistake in his judgment, being Omniscient, and having seen all the ways of man; so that there can be no plea offered by any man for a reverse of his sentence.

O then let us be exact and careful, as well in our secret as in our open actions; for God shall bring every work into judg­ment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Eccles. 12. ult.

6. Inference. Lastly, If the Eye of God be in every place upon us, and all [Page 105] our Actions: Then let those whose con­dition of life, hath sent them out of the eyes and observations of their Parents and Masters, keep the sense of Gods Eye upon their hearts, as ever they would escape sin and ruine.

It is no small advantage to young un­principled persons, to live under the Dis­cipline of pious and careful Governors; but it often falls out, that they are early Transplanted into another Soyl, sent in­to Foreign Countreys in order to their Education or Imployment; and as often are there corrupted and debauched by the evil examples of the places where they reside, they learn another Language or drive another Trade than that their Pa­rents or Masters designed them for. But if the sense of this great Truth, might accompany them where-ever they are, O what a Soveraign Antidote would it prove against those deadly Poysons of Temptations! This alone would be a sufficient Preservative. If our Children and Servants have but the awful sense of Gods Eye upon them, we may turn them loose in the wide World without fear.

If Providence shall direct this dis­course to your hands, my Hearts desire and prayer for you is, That the Spirit of the Lord would imprint this great Truth upon your hearts. And I am the more moved to ind [...]avor your Preservation, upon the consideration of the apparent danger you are in, and the manifold dis­appointments and mischiefs that must un­avoidably follow the corrupting of your tender years. The danger you are in is great, whether you consider

First, The infecting catching nature of sin. No Plague is more infectious and insinuating than sin is. Many are the wiles, devices, stratagems, and baits, Sa­tan lays to draw you into sin, 2 Cor. 2.11. Or

Secondly, The pronity that is in your own Nature, to close with the offers and temptations that you are tried with, it is as great a wonder, if you escape, as that one that lives in a Pesthouse, should re­main healthy; or that dry Tinder should not catch, when thousands of sparks flie about it, and light upon it. Or

Thirdly, The absence of all those means by which you have formerly been preserved from sin. You are now without [Page 107] the Ordinances of God, the Family Du­ties, the Admonitions, Counsels, Exam­ples, and Observations of your Parents, Masters, and Friends: All which have been of great use to keep you from sin, and repress the vanities of youth. Or lastly,

Fourthly, The manifold furtherances to Temptations which your Age affords, Childhood and Youth are vanity. Incon­siderateness, rashness, injudiciousness, and the want of experience, do all cast you into the very snare. See how the Holy Ghost hath signified the danger of per­sons at your age, in Prov. 7.7.

All these things do greatly indanger you. And if any, or all of them together, prevail to the vitiating and corrupting of you, then what a train of sad con­sequences will follow upon it! For first,

1. The Great God will be dishonored and reproached by you, even that God whose distinguishing Mercies are now before your eyes, and should be admired by you. That caused you to spring up in a better soil, and not from Idolaters in a Land of Darkness.

[Page 108]2. Conscience will be wounded and polluted with guilt; and though at pre­sent you feel not the remorse and gnaw­ings of it, yet now you are preparing for it. The sins of youth, are complaints and sorrows of old age. Job 13.26.

3. The hearts of your Friends (if Godly) will be grieved and greatly trou­bled, to find their expectations and hopes disappointed; and all those Pray­ers for you, and Counsels bestowed on you to come to nothing. If an unequal match by Esau was such a grief of heart to Isaac and Rebecca, what will pro­phaness and uncleanness be to your Pa­rents? Gen. 26.34.

4. The serviceableness and comfort of your whole life, will in all probability be destroyed by the corruption of your youth. If Blossoms be withered, and Buds nipt, what Fruit can be expected? To conclude,

5. Your precious and immortal Souls are hazarded to all Eternity. And what shall it profit a man to gain the whole World, and lose his own soul; or, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matth. 16.26.

All this mischief may be happily pre­vented by the serious consideration of this point, you have now been reading. For if God shall fix that Truth in your Hearts by Faith, then

First, Instead of running with others into the same excess of riot, you will keep your selves pure and unspotted in an unclean defiling World. You will an­swer all temptations to sin, as Joseph, did Gen. 39.9. How can I do this great wicked­ness, and sin against God.

Secondly, Instead of joyning with others in sin, you will mourn for the sins of others. You will say with David, Psal. 120.5. Wo is me, that I sojourn in Mesheck, that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar. Your soul, like Lots, will be vexed from day to day with the filthy conversations of the wicked. 2 Pet. 1.17, 18.

Thirdly, Instead of returning to your Countrey with a wounded name and conscience, you will return full of in­ward Comfort and Peace, and to the joy of all your Friends and Relations.

Fourthly, To conclude, you will give fair incouragements to the expectations of all that know you, of becoming use­ful [Page 110] instruments for the glory of God, and benefit of the World in your Gene­ration. O therefore beg of God, that this Truth may be deeply ingraven upon your Hearts.

THis Context contains a ne­cessary and very seasonable Caution to the Israelites, who were now passing out of their Wilderness-straits into the rich and fruitful Land of Cana­an, which abounded with all Earthly Blessings and Comforts. Now when the Lord was about to give them possession [Page 112] of this good Land, he first gives them some wholesome Caveats to prevent the abuse of these Mercies. He knew how apt they were to forget him in a prosper­ous estate, and ascribe all their comfort­able fruitions to their own prudence and valor; to prevent this, he reminds them of their former estate, and warns them about their future estate. He reminds them of their former condition whilest they subsisted upon his immediate care in the Wilderness. Vers. 15, 16. Who led thee through the great and terrible Wilder­ness, wherein were fiery Serpents, and Scorpions, and Drought, where there was no Water; here were their dangers and wants. Who brought thee forth Water out of the Rock of Flint, who fed thee in the Wilderness with Manna, which thy Fa­thers knew not; here were their supplies in these straits. That he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; here was the wise and gracious design of God in all this.

But wherein did God humble them by feeding them with Manna? Were they not shrewdly humbled (saith Mr. Gurnal, Vol. 2. p. 345. an ingenious Author) to [Page 113] be fed with such a dainty dish, which had God for its Cook, and was called Angels food for its delicacy? It was not the meanness of the fare, but the manner of having it, by which God intended to humble them. The food was excellent, but they had it from hand to mouth; so that God kept the Key of their Cup­board, they stood to his immediate al­lowance. This was an humbling way. But now the dispensation of Providence was just upon the change, they were go­ing to a Land where they should eat Bread without scarceness, Ver. 9. And have their comforts in a more natural stated and sensible way; and now would be the danger. Therefore

He not only reminds them of their former estate, but in this Text, Cautions them about their future estate, Say not in thy heart, my power, or the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth, &c. In this Caution we have these two things especially to observe,

1. The false cause of their prosperity removed.

2. The true and proper cause thereof asserted.

[Page 114]1. The false cause removed: Not their power, or the might of their hand. That is said to be gotten by the hand, that is gotten by our wisdom, as well as labor: Head-work and wit-work, is hand-work in the sense of this Text. It cannot be denied, but they were a great people, prudent, industrious, and had an excellent polity among them: But yet, though they had all these natural ex­ternal means of inriching themselves in that fertile soyl, God will by no means allow them to ascribe their Success and Wealth to any of these causes; for alass, what are all these without his Bless­ing?

2. The true and proper cause asserted. It is the Lord that gives thee power to get wealth, (i. e) All thy care, labor, wis­dom, strength, signifies nothing without him; it is not your pains, but his bless­ing that makes your designs to prosper: And therefore in all your prosperity, still acknowledge him as the Author of all. Hence note.

Doctr. That the Prosperity and Success of our Affairs, is not to be ascribed to our own abilities, but to the Blessing of God up­on our lawful indeavors.

We find two Proverbs in one Chapter that seem to differ in the account they give of this matter; and indeed they do but seem so. It is said in Prov. 10.4. The hand of the diligent maketh rich. A­scribing riches and prosperity to humane diligence. And Vers. 22. The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich. But these two are not really opposed to each other, but the one subordinated to the other. The diligent hand with Gods blessing upon it, makes rich; neither of them alone,Faith must not stifle in­dustry, nor in­dustry blind Faith. but both con­joyned. A diligent hand cannot make rich without Gods blessing; and Gods blessing doth not ordina­rily make rich without a diligent han [...] And these two are put together in their proper places. 1 Chro. 22.16. Ʋp and be doing, and the Lord be with you. It is a vain pretence for any man to say, If the Lord be with me, I may sit still, and do nothing; and a wicked one to say, If I am up and doing, I shall prosper whether God be with me, or no. The Sluggard would fain prosper without diligence; and the Atheist hopes to prosper by his diligence alone: But Christians expect [Page 116] their prosperity from Gods Blessing, in the way of honest diligence.

It is a common thing for men to benum their own arms, and make them as dead and useless by leaning too much upon them: So it is in a Moral, as well as Na­tural way. All the prudence and pains in the World avail nothing without God. So saith the Psalmist, in Psal. 127.2. It is in vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

A Man would think he that rises be­time, fares hard, works hard, sits up late, cannot but be a thriving man, and probably he would be so, if Gods blessing did second his diligence and frugality. But the Psalmist intends it of diligence in a separate sense: A diligent hand work­ing alone, and then it is all in vain, and serves only to confirm the common Pro­verb, Early up, and never the nearer. La­bor without God cannot prosper; and labor against God will not only destroy it self, but the laborer to boot.

Now, that this is really so, as the Doctrine states it, I shall indeavor to make it evident.

• [Page 117]1. By a General Demonstration of the whole Matter.
• 2. By a Particular Enumeration of the ordinary Causes and Means of all Success; which are all dependent things upon the Lords Blessing.

First, That Success in Business is not in the power of our Hand; but in the Hand of Providence, to dispose it as he pleases, and to whom he pleases, appears by this. That Providence sometimes blasts and frustrates the most prudent, and well-laid designs of Men; and in the mean time, succeeds and prospers more weak and improbable ones. What is more common in the observation of all ages, than this? One Man shall toil, as in the fire, for very vanity; run to and fro, plot and study all the ways in the World to get an estate, deny back and belly, and all will not do: He shall never be able to attain what he strives after, but his designs shall be still fruitless. Another hath neither an head to contrive, nor an hand to labor as the former hath; nor doth he torture his brains about it, but manages his affairs with less judgment, and spends fewer thoughts about it, and yet Success fol­lows it. It shall be cast in upon some, [Page 118] who as they did not, so (considering the weak management of their business) had little rational incouragement to expect it; and flie from others, who industri­ously pursue it in the prudent choice and diligent use of all the proper means of attaining it. And this is not only an ob­servation grounded upon our own expe­rience, but confirmed by the wisest of Men. Eccles. 9.11. I returned, and saw under the Sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding; nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance hapneth to them all. If two men run for a prize, Reason gives the prize to the swiftest; if two Armies joyn battle, Reason gives the victory to the strongest; if two men undertake a design to get wealth, Rea­son gives the riches to the wisest; yea, but Providence sometimes disposes it quite contrary to the verdict of Reason; and the prize is given to the slowest, the v [...]ctory to the weakest, the estate to the more shallow capacity: So that these e­vents seem to fall out rather casually, than answerably to the means imployed about them: And who that observes this, can [Page 119] doubt, but it is the Hand of Gods Pro­vidence, and not our diligence that dis­poses the issues of these things. For why doth God so often step out of the ordi­nary way, and cross his hands as old Israel did, laying the right hand upon upon the younger, and the left upon the elder: I mean, Success to the weak, and disappointment to the strong, but to con­vince us of this great truth which I here bring it to confirm? And because men are so apt to sacrifice to their own Pru­dence, and disown Providence: There­fore it sometimes makes the case much plainer than so. It denies riches to the Industrious that live for no other end but to get them, and casts them in upon those that seek them not at all, and in­deed are scarcely competent for business. Aristides, one of the wisest men of his age, was yet still so poor, that Plutarch said, it brought a slur upon Justice it self, as if she were not able to maintain her followers. Socrates, one of the prime Grecian Sages was so exceeding poor, that Apuleius could not but note, That Poverty was become an Inmate with Philosophy; Paupertas est Philosophiae vernacula. when in the mean time, the [Page 120] empty, shallow, and foolish, shall come up with it, and overtake it without any pains at all, which others prosecute in the most rational course all their life, and all to no purpose. Thus it is noted of Pope Clement the Fifth,Epitom. Hist. Gal­lic. None more rich, none more foolish. And this is the ground of that Proverb. Fortuna favet fatuos; Fortune favors fools. Though the Author of that Proverb, in nicknaming Providence, shewed as little wisdom as he that is the Subject of it.

By all which, this point is in the Ge­neral made good; it is not Industry, but Providence, that directs and commands the Success of Business: It being much in the attaining of riches, as the Apostle saith it is, in the obtaining of Righteous­ness. The Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteous­ness; but Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness, hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness. Rom. 9.30, 31. So it is here for the vindication of the honor of Providence, which men would scarcely own, if it did not thus baffle them sometimes. They that follow the World, cannot attain it, and they at­tain [Page 121] it, that follow it not; that all-men may see their good is not in their own hand, and lest man who is not only a covetous Creature, and would ingross all to himself, but as proud as covetous, and so should ascribe all to himself. But this will farther appear

Secondly, By a particular enumerati­on of the ordinary Causes and Means of all success in business, which are all de­pendent things upon an higher cause.

Now, if we proceed upon a rational account, we shall find five things requi­red to the success of our affairs; and that I may speak to your capacity, I will instance in that affair of Merchandising, in which, you are imployed as the hands that execute what the heads of your Merchants contrive; and will shew you, that neither their wisdom in contriving, nor your skill and industry in managing their designs can prosper without the leave and blessing of Divine Providence. Let us therefore consider what is neces­sary to the raising of an estate in that way of imployment; and you will find that in a rational and ordinary way, Suc­cess cannot be expected, unless

[Page 122]1. The designs and projects be pru­dently laid, and moulded with much consideration and foresight. An error here is like an error in the first concocti­on, which is not to be rectified after­wards. The wisdom of the prudent (saith Solomon) is to understand his way; that is, To understand and throughly to con­sider the particular design and business in which he is to ingage. Rashness and in­considerateness here, hath been the ruine of many thousand enterprises. And if a design be never so well laid, yet

2. No success in business can be ra­tionally expected, except there be an election of proper instruments to man­age it. The best laid design in the World, may be spoiled by an ill management. If the persons imployed, be either un­capable or unfaithful, what but trouble and disappointment can be expected? He that sendeth a message (saith Solomon) by the hands of a fool, cutteth off the legs, and drinketh damage. It is as if a man should send him on his business that hath no legs to go, (i. e.) one that is incom­petent for the business he is imployed about. All that a man shall reap from such a design, is damage. And if the in­strument [Page 123] imployed be never so capable, yet if he be not also faithful to the trust committed to him, all is lost: And such is the depth of deceit in the hearts of men, that few or none can be secured against it. Solomon was the wisest of men, and yet fatally miscarried in this matter. He seeing the young man (Jeroboam) that he was a mighty man of valor, and that he was industrious, made him Ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph, 1 King. 11.28. And this was the Man that rent the Kingdom from his Son, even Ten Tribes from the House of David. And yet

3. Let designs be projected with the greatest prudence, and committed to the management of the fittest instruments; all is nothing as to Success, without the concurrence of health, strength, favora­ble Winds, security from the hands of enemies, and perils of the deeps. If any of these be wanting, the design miscar­ries, and all our projects fail. How often are hopeful and thriving undertakements frustrated by the failer of any one of these perquisits? Go to now ye that say, to day or to morrow, we will go unto such a City, and remain there a year, and buy [Page 124] and sell, and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow; for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appear­eth for a little while, and then vanisheth away. Jam. 4.13, 14. How soon are the purposes of mens hearts broken off, and their thoughts perish in one day? They think to send or go to such a place, and there inrich themselves, and return prosperous; but sometimes death, some­times captivity, and sometimes cross Winds dash all their hopes.

4. Proper Seasons must be nickt, and hit, else all success and expectation of increase is lost. There is (saith Solomon) a season for every thing, and a time to every purpose under the Sun. Eccles. 3.1. This being taken, gives facility and speedy dis­patch to a business; and therefore he gives this reason, why man miscarries so frequently, and is disappointed in his enterprises, because he knows not the time. Eccles. 9.11. He comes (as one saith) when the Bird is flown. It is a wise and weighty Proverb with the Greeks, That there is much time in a short oppor­tunity. That is, a man hitting the sea­son of a business, may do more in a day, than loosing it, he may be able to do in a [Page 125] year. This is of a special consideration in all Humane affairs, and is the very hinge upon which Success turns: So that to come before, is to pluck Apples be­fore they are ripe, and to come after it, is to seek them when they are faln and perished.

5. Lastly, In getting wealth, the Leaks in our Estates must be stopped; else we do but put it into a Bag with holes, as the Prophets phrase is in Hag. 1.6. If a man loose as much one way, as he gets an­other, there can be no increase. Hence it is, that many are kept low and poor all their days: If one design prospers, yet another miscarries; or, if all suc­ceed well abroad, yet there is a secret consumption of it at home, by prodiga­lity, riot, luxury, or a secret curse upon it, which the Scripture calls Gods blow­ing upon it. Hag. 1.9. If therefore by any of these ways, our gains moulder away, we do but disquiet our selves in vain, and labor in the fire for very vanity. Thus you see what things are requisit to the advancement of an estate, upon a pru­dential account.

Now let us particularly observe, what a dependence here is upon Providence in [Page 126] all these things; and then it will be clear, that our Good is not in our hand, nor Success at our beck, but it is the Lord that gives us power to get wealth. For,

As to the moulding and projecting of a design, we may say, both of the pru­dent Merchant and ingenious Sea-man, what the Prophet doth of the Husband­man. Isai. 28.16. It is his God that in­structeth him to discretion, and teacheth him: There is indeed a Spirit in Man, But it is the inspiration of the Almighty that giveth understanding. Job 32.8. The Faculty is Mans, but the Light of Wis­dom, whether Natural or Spiritual, is Gods: And the Natural Faculty is of it self, no more capable of directing us in our Affairs without his teaching, than the Dial is to inform us of hours with­out the Suns shining upon it. And be­cause Men are so dull in apprehending and backward in acknowledging it, but will lean to their own understandings. Thence it is, that prudent designs are so often blasted, and weaker ones succeed­ed.

And no less doth Providence manifest it self in directing to, and prospering the means and instruments imployed in [Page 127] our business. It is of the Lord, that they prove ingenious, active and faithful Servants to us; that your Factors abroad, prove not Malefactors to you; that every design is not ruined by the negligence, ignorance, or treachery of them that manage it. If God qualifie Men to be fit instruments to serve you, and then providentially direct you to them, his hand is thankfully to be owned in both. It was no small mercy to Abraham, that he had so discreet, pious, and faithful a Servant to manage even his weightiest Affairs, so prudently and prosperously for him. Laban, Pharaoh, and Jethro, never prospered, as when Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, had the charge of their busi­ness. Laban ingenuously acknowledged, That he had learned by experience, the Lord hath blessed him for Jacobs sake. Gen. 30.27. A Heathen you see is more ingenuous in owning the Mercy of God to him in this case, than many professed Christians are, who sacrifice all to their own Net, and burn Incense to their Drag, (i. e.) Idolize the means and in­struments of their Prosperity, and see nothing of God in it.

And then as to the preservation of those that go down into the Sea, to do our business in the great Waters; who can but acknowledge this to be the pe­culiar Work of God? Doth not daily experience shew how often poor Sea-men are cut off in the prosecution of our de­signs? Sometimes by sickness, sometimes by storms, and sometimes by Enemies, to whom they become a prey. If they es­cape all these, yet how often do they lie Wind-bound, or hindered by cross ac­cidents, till the proper Season be over, and the design lost; certainly, if Provi­dence shall so far favor any man, as to pre­vent all these, to command Winds fit for their purpose, restrain Enemies, preserve Life, and carry them safely and season­ably to their Ports, it deserves a thankful acknowledgment; and those that do not acknowledge Providence, do disoblige it.

Lastly, Who is it that stops the Leaks in your Estates, prevents the wasting of your Substance, and secures to you what you possess? Is it not the Lord? How many fair Estates moulder away insensi­bly, and come to nothing? Certainly, as there is a secret Blessing in some Fami­lies, [Page 129] so that themselves can scarce give any account how they are provided for; so there is a secret blast and consumption upon others, which brings poverty upon them like an armed man. And this is the true sense of that Scripture. Hag. 1.6. Ye have sown much, and bring in lit­tle: Ye eat, but ye have not enough: Ye drink, but are not filled with drink: Ye cloath you, but are not warm: And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a Bag with holes; or, as in the Hebrew, a Bag pierced, or, bored through; what goes in at one end, goes out at an­other, and so all labor, and all pains is lost; nothing stays with them to do them good. So that it is an undeniable truth, That Prosperity and Success is not to be ascribed to our Abilities, but to the Blessing of God upon our lawful Endea­vors.

1 Inference. And if so, how are they justly reprovable, that wholly depend up­on means in the neglect of Providence; that never eye God, or acknowledge him in any of their ways! This is a very great evil, and highly provoking to the Lord: It is the fruit and discovery of the Natural Atheism of the Hearts of Men. [Page 130] How confident are Men of Success and Prosperity, when second Causes lie fair for it, and smile upon them! And on the contrary, how dejected and heartless, when they seem to lie cross to their hopes! O how few consider and believe that great truth. Eccles. 9.1. That the righteous, and the wise, and their works are in the hand of God. To be in the hand of God, noteth both their sub­jection to his Power, and to his directive Providence. Whether your works be in your hand, or put out of your hand, they always are in Gods hand to pro­sper or frustrate them at his pleasure.

Foolish man decreeth Events, without the leave of Providence; as if he were absolute lord of his own Actions, and their Success. Indeed you may then speak of Success, when you have asked Gods leave. Job 22.28. Acquaint thy self with God, then shalt thou decree a thing, and it shall be established. But your confidence in the means, whilest God is neglected, will surely be followed▪ either with a disappointment or a curse. For what is this, but to labor without God? yea, to labor against God; for so do all they, that give the glory of God to the Crea­ture, [Page 131] that set the instrumental and sub­ordinate, in the place of the principal efficient cause. It is just with God to deny you your comfort, in those things, wherein you rob him of his glory.

2 Inference. How vain and unreason­able are the proud boasts of Men, in the midst of their Successes and Prosperity? If God be the sole Author of it, and it [...]s not your power, nor the might of your hand, that hath gotten you this wealth; why do you glory in it, as if it were the effect and fruit of your own [...]rudence and industry? How soon do the [...]pirits of men rise with their Estates? How haughtily do they look? How [...]roudly do they speak? What a sensible [...]hange of temper, doth a small change of [...]he condition work? It is an exceeding hard thing to keep down the heart, when Providence exalteth a Mans estate. Mag­ [...]ae foelicitatis est, a foelicitate non vinci, [...]aith Austin. It is a great felicity, not [...]o be overcome by felicity. That Man [...]s surely rich in Grace, whose Graces [...]uffer no eclipse by his riches. It is as hard to be prosperous and humble, as to [...]e afflicted and chearful. But to keep [...]own thy heart in times of Success and [Page 132] Prosperity, I will offer thee, Reader, a few humbling Considerations about this Matter.

1. And the first is this, Though Pro­vidence do succeed and prosper thy Earthly designs, yet this is no Argument at all of the love of God to thy Soul: Thou mayest be the object of his hatred and wrath for all this. No man knows either love or hatred by all that is before them. Eccles. 9.1. How weak an evi­dence for Heaven must that be, which mil­lions now in Hell, have had in a greater measure than you have. The least dram of Grace is a better pledge of happiness, than the greatest sum of Gold and Silver that ever lay in any Mans treasury. Ex­ternals distinguish not internals; you cannot so much as guess what a Mans Spiritual estate is, by the view of his Temporal. Ishmael was a great man, the head of a Princely family, but excluded from the Covenant, and all its Spiritual Blessings. Gen. 17.20, 21. He that reads the 73 Psalm, and Job 21. Will plainly see how wretched a case that Man is in, who hath no better evidence for the love of God, than this amounts to.

[Page 133]2. Be not proud of outward Prosperi­ty and Success; for Providences are very changable in these things, yea, it daily Rings the Changes all the World over. Many a greater estate than yours, and every way as well, yea, far better secured so the eye of Reason, hath he scattered in a moment. It is the saying of a Phi­losopher speaking of the Estates of Mer­chants and Sea-men. Non amo foelicita­tem e funibus pendentem. I like not that happiness that hangs upon Ropes. I need not here cite Histories to confirm this truth: There is none of you but can abundantly confirm it your selves, if you will but recollect those instances and ex­amples which have faln within your time and remembrance. It is a poor happi­ness that may leave a Man more misera­ble to morrow, than he that never ar­rived to what you have, can be.

3. Pride not your selves in your Suc­cess; for as Providences are very chang­able, so the change seems very nigh to you, when your heart is thus lifted up, especially if you be such, to whose eternal happiness God hath any special regard. To be sure, he will pull down that proud heart, and quickly order Humbling Pro­vidences [Page 134] to that end. He looketh upon every one that is proud, to abase him. Job 40.11. The heart of good Hezekiah was tickled with vain glory, and he must needs shew the King of Babylons servants all his treasures, and precious things; and at that very time came the Prophet Isaiah to him with a sad Message from the Lord, That all these Treasures in which he had gloried must be carried to Babylon, Isai. 39. If you hope comfort­ably to injoy the good of Providence provoke it not by such vain ostentations. It is an ingenious note even of an Hea­then.

Exercise Fear in Prosperity, and think with thy self, when thy heart is most af­fected with it; that whilest the boast is in thy Lips, the scene may alter, and thy happiness be turned into Sorrow. Whilest that proud boast was in the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar, the voice from Heaven told him, His Kingdom was departed from him. Dan. 4.30, 31. Pride shews that [Page 135] Prosperity which feeds it, to be at its Vertical Point.

3 Inference. If Success in Business be from the Lord, then certainly the true way to Prosperity is to commend our Affairs to God by Prayer. He takes the true way to thrive, that ingages Gods Blessing upon his indeavors. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass, Psal. 37.4. It is a vile thing for any Man to grudge that time that is spent in Prayer, as so much time lost in his business. But having pressed this point before, I shall add no more here.

4 Inference. Doth all Success and Pro­sperity depend upon and come from God? Then let it be faithfully imployed to his Glory. If it be of him, and through him, then its all the reason in the World it should be to him. Rom. 11.36. You do but give him of his own, as David speaks. All this store cometh of thine hand, and is thine own, 1 Chro. 29.16. He never intended your Estates for the gratifying of your Lusts; but to give you a larger capacity thereby of honor­ing him in the use of it. O consider, when God hath prospered your Estates [Page 136] abroad, and you return successfully home, now you have an opportunity of honor­ing God, and evidencing your sense of his goodness to you, by relieving of the poor with a liberal and chearful Chari­ty; by incouraging the Gospel; and making them partakers of your good things, who labor for your Souls, and dispense better things to you, than you can return to them. I would not here be mis-interpreted, as though I pleaded my own interest, under a pretence of pleading Gods. No, God forbid, I am well satisfied with a capacity of doing any good, how little soever I receive; nor can many of you reap the fruit of my labors. But I would not leave you ignorant, or regardless of so great and plain a duty as this is. You are bound to this retribution by a plain and positive Precept. Gal. 6.6. Let him that is taught in the Word, communicate to him that teacheth in all good things. You are ob­liged to do it, proportionably to the suc­cess God gives you in your Trade. 1 Cor. 16.2. And when you have so done, not to think it any great matter, 1 Cor. 9.11. But the discharge of a plain and necessary duty.

[Page 137]5 Inference. Let not your hearts be satisfied with all the Success and Increase in the World, except your Souls thrive as well as your Bodies, and your Eternal concerns prosper as well as your Tempo­ral. It was a pious wish of S. John for Gaius his Host, That he might prosper and be in health, even as his Soul prospered. 3 Epist. Joh. Vers. 2. But it were to be wished, that your Souls did but prosper, as your Bodies and Estates do. It is a poor comfort to have an in­creasing Estate, and a dead or declining Soul. When a considerable Present was sent to Luther, he earnestly protested, God should not put him off with those things. O Friends, I beseech you take not up in these injoyments.

6 Inference. Lastly, If God be the Author of all your Success, how prodi­gious an evil is it, to make your prosperi­ty an instrument of dishonoring him that gave it, to abuse the Estates, Providence gives you, unto rioting and drunken­ness? Do you thus requite the Lord? Is this the thanks you give him for all his care over you, and kindness to you? [Page 138] You would never be able to bear that from another, which God bears from you. If God do you good, O do not return him evil for it.

THese words are the Reply made by Peter unto Christ, who in the former Verse had commanded him to lanch out into the Deep, and let down the Nets for a Draught. Peter is discouraged as to any farther attempt at that time; having already taken so much pains to so little purpose. We have (saith he) toiled all night, and taken no­thing. [Page 140] In which Reply we note these two things.

1. The great pains he and his com­pany had taken in their honest Calling and Imployment, to get a livelihood. We have toiled all night. No calling more lawful, no diligence in an honest im­ployment could be greater; not only to spend the night, when other Laborers take their rest, in watching, but in toil­ing. The word [...] comes from a Verb that signifies wasting, [...] quando quis consumpto la­bore, fessus suc­cumbit. tiring, spending labor. Here was great diligence, even to the wearying and wasting of their spirits. They toiled, and that all the night.

2. The unsuccessfulness and fruitless­ness of their Labors, they caught nothing. Though their design was honest, and their industry great, yet it succeeded not according to their desires and expecta­tions: It proved but lost labor, and pains to no purpose. Hence the Note will be.

Doctr. That God sometimes frustrates and blasts the most diligent Labors of Men, in their just and lawful Callings.

What imployment more honest or la­borious than that of the Husbandman, who eats his Bread in the sweat of his brows, and sustains all that spending toil and labor by an expectation of Fruit in the Season? And yet sometimes it so falls out, that after all his labors and hopes, he reaps nothing but shame and disap­pointment. Joel 1.11. Be ye ashamed, O ye Husbandmen, howl O ye Vine-dressers, for the Wheat, and for the Barly, because the harvest of the Field is perished.

The imployment of the Marriner, is as lawful as it is beneficial. What he gets is gotten with eminent hazard of life and liberty, as well as Watchings and Labors; and yet it so falls out sometimes, that they labor but for the wind, and spend their strength for very vanity: God cuts off their expectations and lives together. There is a time when they return rich and prosperous; and a time, when they either return empty, or return no more. So it was with Tyre, that renowned Mart and famous Empory; the flourishing and fall of whose Trade, you have in Ezek. 27.33, 34. When thy Wares went forth out of the Seas, thou filledst many people, thou didst inrich the Kings of the Earth, [Page 142] with the multitude of thy riches, and of thy merchandise. Here was their Prospe­rity and Success; but will this day al­ways last? Shall the Sun of their prospe­rity never set? No, no, the change was at hand; for in the next Verse the scene alters. In the day when thou shalt be broken by the Seas, in the depths of the Waters, thy merchandise, and all thy com­pany in the midst of thee shall fall.

Now if we search into the Grounds and Reasons of these Disappointments, by the hand of Providence, we shall find them reducible to a threefold Cause and Reason.

1. The soveraign pleasure of God so disposes it.

2. The good of the People of God, requires it.

3. The manifold sins of Men in their Callings, provokes it.

First, The soveraign pleasure of God so disposes it. He is the Rector of the U­niverse, and as such will still assert his Dominion. It is his pleasure to establish this order in the World, to exalt some and depress others; to set some above, and others below: All must not be rich and great, but some must be poor and [Page 143] low, and to these ends Providences are suited: On some it smiles, on others it frowns. 1 Sam. 2.7. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich; he bringeth low, and lifteth up. And certainly there is much of the Divine Wisdom that shines forth in this ordination and disposition of persons, and their conditions. If Pro­vidence had alike prospered every Mans designs, and set them upon a Level, there had been no occasion to exercise the rich Mans Charity, or the poor Mans Pati­ence. Nay, without frequent Disappoint­ments, it self would scarcely be owned in Successes, nor those Successes be half so sweet to them that receive them, as now they are. The very Beauty of Provi­dence consists much in these various and contrary effects: So that with respect to the infinite Wisdom which governs the World, it is necessary some should be crossed, and others prospered in their designs.

Secondly, And if we consider the gra­cious ends and designs of God towards his own people, it appears needful, that all of them, in some things, and many of them in most things (relating to their outward condition in this World) should [Page 144] be frustrated in their expectations and contrivements. For, if all things here should succeed according to their wish, and a constant tide of Prosperity should attend them.

1. How soon would sen­suality and Earthliness in­vade their hearts and affecti­ons?Luxuriant animi rebus plerumque se­cundis. Much prosperity like the pouring in of much Wine intoxicates, and overcomes our weak heads and hearts. Earthly as well as Heavenly objects, have a transforming efficacy in them. There cannot but be much danger in those Earthly things that give or promise us much delight. Can a Christian keep his heart as loose from the smiling, as from the frowning World? We little think how deeply it insinuates into our affections in the day of Prosperity; but when Adversity comes, then we find it.

2. How soon would it estrange them from their God, and interrupt their communion with him? He is certainly a very mortified and heavenly Christian, whose walk with God, suffers no inter­ruption by the multitude of Earthly affairs, especially when they are prospe­rous. [Page 145] When Israel was setled in the midst of the riches and delights of Canaan, then say they, (even to their Benefactor, the Author of all their Prosperity) We are Lords, we will come no more to thee. Jer. 2.31. Or, if it do not wholly inter­rupt their communion, yet it secretly destroys and wastes the vigor, life, and sweetness of it. So that Divine Wisdom sets it necessary to cross and disappoint them in the World, to prevent the mischievous influences that Prosperity would have upon their duties. He had rather you should miss your desired com­forts in these things, than that he should miss that delightful fellowship with you, which he so desires.

3. How loath should we be to leave this, if constant Success and Prosperity should follow our affairs and designs here? We see that notwithstanding all the cares, fears, sorrows, crosses, wants, and disappointments we meet with from year to year, and from day to day; yet we are apt to hug the World in our Bo­soms. As bitter as it is, we court it, admire it, and zealously prosecute it. We cling to it, and are loath to leave it, though we have little rest or comfort in [Page 146] it: What would we do then, if it should answer our expectations and desires? If we grasp with pleasure, a Thorn that pierces and wounds us; what would we do, if it were a Rose that had nothing but delight and pleasure in it?

Thirdly, And as Disappointments fall out as the Effects of Soveraign pleasure, and are ordered as preventive means of much mischief, which Prosperity would occasion to the People of God; so it comes as a righteous retribution and punishment of the many evils that are committed in our trading and dealings with men. It is a hard thing to have much business pass through our hands, and no iniquity cleave to them, and de­file them. If God be provoked by our iniquities against us, wonder not, that things go cross to our desires and hopes. God may suffer some men to prosper in their wickedness, and others to miscarry in their just and righteous enterprises, but ordinarily we find, that crying sins are remarkably punished sooner or later with visible judgments. So that if others do not, yet we our selves may observe the Relation, that such a judgment bears to such a sin.

And from among many, I will here select these following evils which have destroyed the Estates and Hopes of many.

(1.) Irreligious and Atheistical neg­lect and contempt of God and his Wor­ship, especially in those that have been inlightned, and made profession of Re­ligion. This was the sin which brought that blasting judgment upon the estates and labors of the Jews, as the Prophet Haggai tells them, Chap. 1. Vers. 2, 4, 6, 9. compared. They neglected the House of God. (i. e.) Were careless and regardless of his Worship, and in the mean time were wholly intent upon their own houses and interests; as he tells them in Vers. 2, 4. And what was the issue of this? Why, ruine to all their Earthly comforts and designs; so he tells them Vers. 6, 9. Ye have sowen much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye cloath you, but there is none warm: And he that earneth wages, to put it into a bag with holes. Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why, saith the Lord of Hosts? Because of mine house [Page 148] that is waste, and ye turn every man unto his own house. Here are great and mani­fold Disappointments of their hopes, a curse, a blast upon all they took in hand; and the procuring cause of all this, was their eager prosecution of the World, in a careless disregard of God, and his Service.

(2.) Injustice and Fraud is a blasting sin. A little unjust gain mingled with a great estate, will consume it like a Moth. The Spirit of God hath used a very lively similitude to represent to us the mischie­vous effects of this sin upon all Humane diligence and industry. Jer. 17.11. As the Patridge sitteth upon Eggs and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.

Unjust gain, how long soever men sit brooding upon it, shall after all their se­dulity and expectation, turn to no other account, than a Fowls sitting upon a Nest of addle-eggs uses to do: If she sit till she have pined away her self to death, nothing is produced.

You think you consult the interest of your Families herein; but the Lord tells you, That you consult shame to your houses, [Page 149] Hab. 2.10. This is not the way to Fea­ther, but to Fire your Nest. A quiet Conscience is infinitely better than a full Purse. One Dish of wholesom, though courser food, is better than an hundred delicate, but poysoned dishes. If a Man have eaten the best food in the World, and afterward sips but a little poyson, he loseth not only the benefit, and com­fort of that which was good, but his life or health to boot. It may be you have gotten much honesty, what pitty is it all this should be destroyed for the sake of a little gotten dishonestly. This is the reason why some Men cannot pro­sper.

(3.) Oppression is a blasting sin to Mens Estates and Imployments. It is a crying sin in the ears of the Lord, and ordinarily Intails a Visible Curse upon Mens Estates. This like a Moth will sud­denly fret and consume the greatest Estate. Jam. 5.2, 4. Your riches are corrupted and your Garments Moth-eaten. (i. e.) The secret of God, wastes and destroys what you get. And what was the cause? he tells us, Vers. 4. Behold the hire of the laborers, that have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, [Page 150] cryeth; and the cryes of them which have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

The oppression of poor Laborers doth more mischief to the oppressors, than it doth to them that are op­pressed.Manton in Loc. It is noted by one upon this Scripture, that it is twice repeated in this Text, Which have reaped your fields, and then again, The cry of them which have reaped; and the reason is, because it is their life, and so an act of the greatest unmerciful­ness. And besides, they are disappointed of the solace of their Labors. Deut. 24.14, 15. He hath set his heart upon it. (i. e.) He comforts himself in the toils and labors of the day, by reckoning up­on his wa [...] at the end of the day.

I wish those that are Owners and Im­ployers of poor Sea-man may seasonably consider this evil. What a wo is de­nounced upon him, that useth his neigh­bors service without wages. Jer. 22.13. Or, that by crafty pretences defraud them of any part thereof, or by tiresome de­lays. Wear out their patience, and cast them upon manifold sufferings and in­conveniences while they wait for it. God [Page 151] hath not only threatned to be a swift wit­ness against those that oppress the hireling in his wa [...]s,Minus sol­vit, qui mi­nus tempore solvit. but hath strictly forbidden the detaining of their wages. The Jews were commanded to make payment before the Sun set. Deut. 24.14, 15. Levit. 19.30. Be just in all your dealings and contracts, or never expect the Righteous God should smile upon your undertakings.

(4.) Falshood and Lying is a Blasting sin to our Imployments: A sin which tends to destroy all converse, and disband all civil Societies. And though by fals­hood men may get some present advant­ages; yet hear what the Holy Ghost saith of riches gotten this way. The get­ing of riches by a lying tongue; is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death. Prov. 21.6. Some trade in lies, as much as in Wares; yea, they trade off their Wares with lies. And this proves a gain­ful trade (as some men count gain) for the present; but in reality, it is the most unprofitable trade that any man can drive. For it is but the tossing of a vanity to and fro: A phrase importing labor in vain, it profits nothing in the end; and [Page 152] as it profits nothing, so it hurts much. They seek profit intentionally, but death eventually (i. e.) it will bring destructi­on and ruine, not only upon our trades, but our Souls. The God of Truth will not long prosper the way of lying. One penny gotten by a laborious hand, is bet­ter than great treasures gotten by a lying tongue. Take heed you seek not death, in seeking an estate this way. It is a sin destructive to Society; for there is no trade where there is no trust, nor no trust where there is no truth; and yet this cursed trade of Lying creeps into all trades, as if there were no living (as one speaks) without lying: But sure it is bet­ter for you to be loosers than lyers. He sells a dear bargain indeed, that sells his Conscience with his commodity.

(5.) Perjury or False-swearing is a Blasting sin. That man cannot prosper that lies under the guilt thereof. It is said Mal. 3.5. That God will be a swift witness against the false swearer. (i. e.) It shall not be long before God by one remark­able stroke of Judgment, or another wit­nesseth against so great and horrid an evil. And again, Zach. 5.4. the curse, yea, the roll of curses shall enter into the [Page 153] house of the false swearer, and shall re­main in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof. This is a sin that hath laid many houses waste, even great and fair without inhabitant. The ruines of many that were once flourishing and great Men, are at this day left to be the lasting Monuments of Gods righteous Judgments, and dreadful warnings to Posterity.

And thus I have shewed you, what are those common evils in trade, which are the causes of those Blasts and Disap­pointments upon it. It now remains that we apply it.

1 Inference. Doth God sometimes disappoint the most diligent labors of Men in their lawful Callings? Then this teacheth you patience and submission under your Crosses and Disappointments; for it is the Lord that orders it to be so. Events are in his hand, and it is a sin of great aggravation to fret and murmur at them, when they fall out cross to your desires and hopes. Behold, is it not of the Lord of Hosts, that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? Hab. 2.13.

To labor in the very fire, notes in­tense Labor, such as exhausts the very spirits of Men, whilest they are swelter­ing and toiling at at; and yet all is to no purpose, they labor but for vanity: And whence is it, that such vigorous indeavors are blasted and miscarry? Is it not of the Lord? And if it be of the Lord, Why do we fret and quarrel at his disposals? Indeed many dare not openly and direct­ly charge God, but seek to cover their discontent at Providence, by a ground­less quarrel with the Instruments, who it may be, are chargable with nothing; but that after they have done all they could, in the use of proper means, they did not also secure the event. It is true, the Dominion of Providence doth not excuse the negligence of Instruments; and in many cases, these may be justly re­proved, when Providence is duly honor­ed and submitted to: But when Men groundlesly quarrel with Instruments, because they are crossed in their expecta­tions, the quarrel is commenced against God himself; and our discontents with Men, are but a covert for our discontents with God.

Now this is a sore evil, a sin of great and dreadful aggravations. To be given over (saith a grave Author) to a contradicting spirit, Master Strong of the Will of God. P. 242. to dispute against any part of the Will of God; is one of the greatest Plagues that a Man can be given up to. Who art thou that repliest against God? Rom. 11. It may be thou hast lost an estate, thy friends fail, thy hopes are faln; God hath blown upon all the pro­jects that thy heart did fancy to it self. Possibly in one day, the designs, labors, and hopes of many years are destroyed: Well, be it so, yet repine not against the Lord. Consider, he is the Soveraign and only Lord, who may do whatever he pleaseth to do, without giving thee any account of his matters. Who can say to him, What dost thou? Beside, if thou be one that God delights in, even these Disappointments are to be numbred with thy best Mercies. These things are per­mitted to perish, that thou mayest not perish for ever; and it should trouble thee no more, than when thy life is pre­served, by casting out the wares and goods of the Ship. It is better that these perish, than that thou shouldst perish: [Page 156] But if thou be one that hast mingled sin (especially such as were beforementioned) with thy trade, and so hast pulled down misery upon thine own head, by pro­voking the Lord against thee: With what face canst thou open thy mouth to complain against him? Will you lay a train to blow up all your success, and then fret against God, when you see the issue? O how unreasonable is this!

But because Disappointments fall out so frequently, and it is so hard to bring our hearts to a quiet submission to the Will of God under them. I will not dis­miss this Point, until I have offered you some proper and weighty considerations, to work your hearts into a calm, and meek submission to the Will of God; and I shall account it a great mercy, if they may prevail.

1 Consideration. And in the first place, if thou be one that fearest God, con­sider, That Disappointments in Earthly things, fix no mark of Gods hatred upon thee. He may love thee, and yet cross thee. Eccles. 9.1, 2. No man knows either love or hatred, by all the things that are before him. All things come alike to all; there is one event to the righteous, and to [Page 157] the wicked. Yea, we often find Success and Prosperity following the wicked, whilest the Rod of God is upon the Ta­bernacles of the Righteous. These are the ungodly that prosper in the World (saith the Psalmist) whilest in the mean time, he was plagued all the day long, and chast­ned every morning. Psal. 73.12, 14. Well then, if you have no other ground than this, you cannot infer the want of love, from the want of success. A man may be prospered in wrath, and crossed in mercy.

2 Consideration. And what though your projects, hopes, and expectations of inlarging your Estates, fail; yet you may live as happily and comfortably in the condition you are, (if God give you a heart suitable to it) as if you had injoyed all that success, you so fancied and de­sired.

It is not the increase of an Estate, but the blessing of God upon a competency, that makes our condition comfortable to us. As the estate inlarges, so doth the heart. The Prophet Habakkuk speaking of the Chaldean Prince, Hab. 2.6. saith, He keeps not at home, he inlarges his de­sire as Hell, and is as Death, and cannot [Page 158] be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all Nations, and heapeth unto him all people. And this is the nature of every Mans heart, to inlarge its desire under the greatest inlargements of Providence. Still the heart is projecting for some farther comfort and content, in some new ac­quisition; when indeed, a Man is as near it in a lower condition, as in the highest exaltation.

Plutarch in Pyrrho.It is storied of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, that having inlarged his Dominions by the Conquest of Macedonia; he thirsted after Italy, and demanding the advice of Cineas his great Counsellor: He asked the King, What he meant to do when he had conquered Italy? Why then said he, I mean to get Sicily, which is near, rich, and powerful. When you have gotten Sicily (said Cineas) what then? Afric, said the King, is not far off; and there be many goodly Kingdoms, which by my Fame, and the Valor of my Sol­diers I may subdu [...]. Be it so, said Cineas. When you have Afric, and all in it; what will you do then? Why then, said the King, thou and I will be merry, and make good chear. Cineas replied, Sir, [Page 159] if this be the end you aim at, what need you venture your Kingdom, Person, and Honor, to purchase what you have al­ready? Surely, Epirus and Macedonia, are sufficient to make you and me merry. And had you all the World, you could not be more merry than you may now be.

Reader, I advise thee, under all Dis­appointments of thy expectations, to bless God for any comfortable injoyment thou hast. If God give thee a smaller estate, and a contented heart; it is as well, yea, better, than if thou hadst in­ [...]oyed thy desire. The Bee makes a sweeter meal upon two or three Flowers, than [...]he Ox that hath so many Mountains to graze upon.

3 Consideration. And what if by these Disappointments, God be carrying on [...]he great design of his eternal love upon [...]hy Soul? This may be the design of [...]hese Providences; and if so, sure there [...]s no cause for thy despondencies. There [...]s a double aim of these Providences; [...]ometimes they are sent to awaken and [...]ouze the dull decayed habits of Grace, [...]hich under prosperous Providences fell [...]leep, by the intermission of acts, and [Page 160] remission of w [...]nted vigor and activity? And should the Lord permit things to run on at this rate, what a deplorable case would this grow to? Let a man live (saith one) but two or three years without affliction, Mr. Stee [...]. and he is almost good for nothing; he can­not pray, nor meditate, nor keep his heart fixed upon spiritual things: But let God smite him in his health, child, or estate; now he can find his tongue and affections again; now he awakes and falls to his duty in earnest; now God hath twice as much honor from him as he had before. Now, saith God, this amendment pleaseth me; this rod was well bestowed: I have disappointed him to his great benefit and advantage. And thus God chides himself friends with his people again.

And sometimes they prove the blessed occasions to work Grace. If they be bound in fetters, and holden in cords of affliction, then he sheweth them their works, and their transgressions that they have exceeded▪ He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity▪ Job 36.8, 9, 10.

And if this be the fruit of it, you wil [...] bless God through eternity for these [Page 161] happy Disappointments. Then these things perished, that thy Soul might not perish.

4 Consideration. Be patient under Dis­appointments; for if you meekly submit, and quietly wait upon God; he can quickly repair all that you have lost, and restore it by other Providences double to you. Have you not heard after all Jobs deprivations, and the frustrations of all his earthly hopes, and his admirable pa­tience under all: What a gracious end the Lord made with him? And why may not you hope for such a comfortable change of Providence towards you, if you carry it under Disappointments as he did? Certainly, sad Providences are near their change, when the heart is calmed in the Will of God, and corrected home to him.

5 Consideration. And why should it seem so hard, and grievous to you, for God to disappoint your hopes, and pur­poses, when you cannot but know, that you have disappointed his expectations from you so often, and that in greater and better things than these?

He hath looked for fruit (as it is Isai. 5.4.) for obedience, reformation, and [Page 162] renewed care of duty from you many times; he promised himself, and made account of a good return of his afflictions and mercies, and you promised him as much, and yet have failed his expectati­on: And is it strange that you should fail of your hopes, who have failed God so often?

O then see that you be quiet in the Will of God; fret not at the defeating of your hopes: Wreak not your discon­tent upon innocent instruments; but look to the just, holy, and good Will of God in all things. The wife is sometimes angry with the servant for what he hath done, till he tell her that it was his Ma­sters order, and then she is quiet.

Is a Ship miscarried, a Voyage lost, a Relation dead, an Estate gone, a Friend carried into captivity, whose return was expected with so much comfort? Why, if it be so, it is the Lord hath done it, and be thou silent before him. Your re­pining will not make it better; sin is no proper cure for affliction. A quiet sub­missive spirit, is pleasing to God, and profitable for you.

2 Inference. Doth God sometimes disappoint the expectations of Men in [Page 163] their imployments, then never set your hearts immoderately upon Earthly things, nor raise up to your selves too great expectations from these things. The stronger your expectations, the heavier Gods Disappointments will be.

There is a double evil in over-reckon­ing our selves, and over-acting our con­fidence about worldly things: It pro­vokes God to disappoint us, and then makes the Disappointment much more grievous when it comes.

It provokes a Disappointment, espe­cially to the Godly. The Lord is jealous of their affections, and will not indure that any thing should be a corrival or competitor with him for their hearts: Yea, it is so usual with God to dash, and remove whatever ingrosses too much of the heart, that a gracious Soul cannot but reckon that comfort in great danger [...]o be lost, which he finds to be over­ [...]oved.

If David set his heart upon Absalom, God will not only smite him, but smite David by him, and make him first the [...]nstrument of his sorrow, and then the [...]bject of it. Jonah did but take a little [...]oo much comfort in his gourd, and the [Page 164] next news we hear, was, That God pre­pared a Worm to smite it, and cause it to wither away.

And when your inordinate hopes are crost, (as it is very probable they will be) how will your sorrows be aggravated in proportion to them! Those things that seemed to promise us most comfort, are the things that give us most sorrow. Strong affections, make strong afflictions. Our sorrows usually rise from what was our hope, and our comforts from that which was least regarded.

3 Inference. If it be so, then labor to make sure things eternal, lest you be eter­nally disappointed there also. O what a sad case is that Man in, whose expecta­tions fail from both Worlds! If your hopes from this World fail; yet you may bear it comfortably, if you fail not in your better hopes: But if this fail too, you are of all men the most miserable▪ You know by experience, how sad it is to have your hopes cut off in these smaller concerns; to go forth in expectation of a profitable voyage, and to return in a worse case than you went out: It may be you thought to get an estate, but the issue is, to lose that little you had. You [Page 165] thought to go to such a place, and there meet with a good market, and possibly, your selves may be carried as slaves to be sold in the market. These Disappoint­ments are very sad and cutting things; but nothing to an Eternal Disappoint­ment in your great concern.

For a Man to hope he is in Christ, and a pardoned state, and at last find himself deceived, and that all the sins of his na­ture, heart, and practice, lie upon him. To hope for admission into Heaven, when he is turned out of this World by death, and find the door shut against him; to cry with those poor disappoint­ed wretches, Matth. 7.22. Lord, Lord open to us; and receive such an unexpect­ed return from Christ, as they did, De­part from me, I know you not. Lord, how intolerable is such a defeat of hope as this! O, who can think of it without horror!

The things about which your expecta­tions are frustrated in this World, are small things; you may be happy in the want of them: But the frustration of your hopes from the World to come, is in things of infinite weight. These Dis­appointments are but for a little while; [Page 166] but this will be for ever. O therefore be provoked, even by these things to a dili­gent and seasonable prevention of a far greater misery.

Since these things cannot be secured, labor to secure those things that may. O that you were but as full of thoughts, cares, and fears for Heaven, as you are for the World! You have spent many thousand thoughts, about these things, to no purpose. All your thoughts about them, are come to nothing; but had they been spent for your Souls, to what a comfortable account would they now have turned? Friends, I beseech you, make sure for eternity, and let these crosses, and losses in the World, be the happy occasions to awaken you to a seri­ous diligence for your everlasting inter­ests. Then you are no loosers by your losses; nay, you will have cause to call them prosperous Disappointments, and gainful losses to you.

4 Inference. Then as you would not have the works and labors of your hands blasted, beware of those sins that pro­voke God to blow upon them. Think not that injustice, oppression, deceit, and perjury, shall ever profit you. God hath [Page 167] cursed all the ways of sin, and you can­not prosper in them. Above all, beware of Atheism and Irreligion: God will not own them, that disown him, and slight his Worship. I doubt your propha­nation of the Lords day, by drunkenness, idleness, and worldly imployments, is not the least cause of those disappoint­ments and losses that have befaln you. The first day of the week, like the first fruits of the Jews Harvests, might sancti­fie the whole lump.

And let none pretend, that multipli­city of business will not allow them time and disposition for Sabbath work. If you be too busie to attend the Lords service, he can quickly give you a Writ of Ease, and make you keep more resting days from your labors, than you are willing to do. The Lord would not excuse the Israelites, no not in the busiest Seasons, the times of Earing, and Harvest, and the very building of the Tabernacle; but all must give way to the Sabbath. And I am sure, the promise of Blessing and Suc­cess, is made to the conscionable obser­vation of it. Isai. 58.13, 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure upon my holy day; and call the [Page 168] Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, and honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, not finding thine own pleasures, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord: There is a recompence to the Soul. And he shall cause thee to ride on the high places of the Earth: There is a re­ward to the Body. Godliness is profit­able to all things.

THis Scripture is part of the last words of Moses. A Man that in his life was a great Blessing to Israel; and when [...]e was to be separated from them by [...]eath, he pronounces distinct and suit­ [...]le Blessings upon all the Tribes. As [...]hrist parted from the Disciples, blessing [...]em; so doth Moses from his People. [Page 170] Only with this difference, Moses as Gods Mouth pronounced, but God alone could confer the Blessing. Moses blessed them authoritatively, but could not bless them potestatively as Christ did. Now these words contain the Blessing of the Tribe of Zebulun, which was the Tribe of Sea-men. And in them we shall consider these two parts. Viz.

• 1. Their Priviledge.
• 2. Their Duty.

First, Their Priviledge: That they should suck of the abundance of the Seas, and of the Treasures hid in the Sands. Affluentiam ma­ris sugere, est ma­rinis bonis, & mercibus abunda­re. Glos. To suck the abundance of the Sea, is a metonymica [...] expression, signifying a [...] much as to be inriche [...] and stored with the Wares and Merchan­dize imported by Sea to them. Geogra­phers attribute to the Sea, Arms and Bo­soms; and the Scripture, Brests. The Sea like an indulgent Mother imbraces thos [...] that live upon it in her Bosom, and with full flowing Brests nourisheth them, an [...] feeds them, as a Mother doth the Infan [...] that Sucks, and depends for its livelihoo [...] upon her Brests.

And these Brests do not only afford those that hang upon them the ne­cessaries of life, Bread,Referunt ad ea­quae evomere so­lent maria, scil. ad aurifodinas. Effodient e terra arenosa aurum. Pol. Synop. in Loc. Rayment, &c. but the Riches, Ornaments, and Delights of life also. The Treasures hid in the Sand; as Gold, Co­ral, Ambergriece, and such like precious and rich treasures which it yields. This was the Blessing and Priviledge of this Tribe of Zebulun, whose Cities and Vil­lages were commodiously scituated upon the Seashore, for Merchandize and Traf­fick: As you may see Jos. 19.11.

Secondly, Their Duty, to which these Mercies and Priviledges obliged them. They shall call the People to the Mountain, there they shall offer Sacrifices of Righte­ousness. By the Mountain, we are here to understand the Temple, which Moses, by the Spirit of Prophesie, foresaw to be built upon Mount Sion, and Mount Moriah; which two were as the Should­ers that supported it, Vers. 12. Here was the Worship of God; the Sacrificers were here offered up to him. And hither Zebulun, in the sense of Gods Mercies to them, should call the People, (i. e.) [Page 172] say some, their own People, their Fami­lies, and Neighbors; or as others, the Strangers that were among them for Traffick. Saying as Isai. 2.3. Come, let us go up to the House of the Lord, to the Mountain of the God of Jacob. And here they shall offer the Sacrifices of Righteous­ness. By which we are to understand their Thanks-offerings for the Mercies they had received of the Lord. The Jews had not only Expiatory Sacrifices to pro­cure the pardon of sins committed, but Eucharistical Sacrifices, or Thanks-offer­ings, to testifie the sense they had of Mercies received. These Sacrifices typi­fied Moral Duties and when these Types were abolished, the Apostle shews, that the calves of our lips, the sacrifices of praise, are in the stead of them, Heb. 13.15.

So then, the sum of all, is this, That when they returned from Sea, or had re­ceived the Blessings thereof, from the Hand of God, they should repair to the place of his Worship, and there acknow­ledge and praise the God of their Mer­cies. So that the whole Verse thus ex­plained, casts it self into this Doctrinal observation.

Doctr. That it is the special duty of Sea-men, when God returns them to their habitations in peace, thankfully to acknow­ledge and bless his Name, for all the pre­servations and mercies they have received of his hand.

These are Mercies indeed, which are obtained from God by Prayer, and re­turned to him again by praise. When we have received our Mercies, God expects his praises: After the Psalmist had open­ed the hazards and fears of Sea-men up­on the Stormy Ocean, and the goodness of God, in bringing them to their de­sired Haven, Psal. 107.30. he presently calls upon them for this duty, Vers. 31. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.

O that men would, why, how is it imaginable they should not? He hath the heart of a Beast, not of a Man, that will not. Did I say the heart of a Beast? Give me that word again. There is a kind of gratitude, even in Beasts, to their Benefactors. The Ox knoweth his owner, and the Ass his Masters Crib. Isai. 1.3.

Now the method into which I will cast the discourse, shall be

First, To open the nature of the duty, and to shew you what it is to praise God for his Mercies.

Secondly, To give you the Grounds and Reasons of the Duty, why God ex­pects it, and you ought to give it him. And then

Thirdly, To apply it in the several Uses it is improvable unto.

1. The nature of the Duty needs open­ing, for few understand what it is. Alass, it is another manner of thing than a customary, formal, cold, God be thanked. Now, if we search into the nature of this duty, we shall find that whoever under­takes this Angelical work, must

First, Be a heedful Observer of the Mercies he receives. This is fundamental to the Duty. Where no Observations of Mercies have been made, no praises for them can be returned. God was never honored by his unobserved Mercies. When David had opened the Providences of God, to the several degrees and or­ders of Men, in its various administra­tions; and called upon them distinctly, to praise God for them. He adds in the close of all, Whoso is wise, and will ob­serve these things, even they shall under­stand [Page 175] the loving kindness of the Lord. Psal. 107. ult. It is Gods charge against Israel, Hosea 2.8. She did not know that I gave her Corn, and Wine, and Oyl, and multi­plied her Silver. i. e. She did not observe and take notice of these Mercies, as com­ing from my hand; but only look at the next cause. Thus it is with many, they think not upon their own Mercies; others can observe them, but they can­not; they can quickly observe what trou­bles befal them, but take little notice of their own Mercies. Such men can never be thankful.

Secondly, The thankful man must not only observe what Mercies he hath, and from whom they come; but must parti­cularly consider them, in their natures, degrees, seasons, and manner of convey­ance. There is much of Gods glory, and our comfort lost for want of this. The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. Psal. 111.2. And indeed, there is no imploy­ment in all the World, that yields more pleasure to a gracious Soul, than the Anatomising of Providences doth. How sweet is it to observe the mutual respects, coincidencies, and introductive occasions [Page 176] of our Mercies! Every minute circum­stance hath its weight and value here. He hath little pleasure in his meat, that swal­lows it whole without chewing.

Thirdly, The thankful person must duly estimate and value his Mercies. It is impossible that man can be thankful for Mercies he little esteems. Israel could not praise God for that Angels food with which he fed them, whilest they despised it in saying, There is nothing but this Manna.

And surely it shews the great corrup­tion of our nature, That those things which should raise the value of Mercies with us, cause us the more to slight them; yet thus it falls out. The commonness, or long continuance of Mercies with us, which should indear them the more, and every day increase our obligation to God; causes them to seem but cheap and small things. And therefore doth God so often threaten them, yea, and remove them; that their worth and ex­cellency may thereby be acknowledged.

Fourthly, The thankful person must faithfully Record his Mercies, else God cannot have his due praise for them. Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and forget not all [Page 177] his benefits, Psal. 103.2. Forgotten re-M cies bear no fruit: A bad memory in this case, makes a barren heart and life.

I confess, the Mercies of God are such a multitude, that a memory of Brass can­not retain them. I will come before thee in the multitude of thy mercies, saith Da­vid, Psal. 5.7. They are called Showers of Blessings, Ezek. 34.26. And as impossible it is distinctly to recount all our Mercies, as to number the drops of rain that fall in a shower. Nevertheless, it hath been the pious care and indeavor of the Peo­ple of God, to preserve and perpetuate his Mercies, by using all the helps to me­mory they could. Therefore they have kept Registers, Exod. 17.14. Indited Psalms. To bring to remembrance, Psal. 70. Title. Denominated places from the Mer­cies received there. Thus Jacob called the place where he found so much mercy, Bethel. Hagar named the Well, where God, unexpectedly, relieved her, Beerla­hairoi. The Well of him that liveth and looketh upon me, Gen. 16.13, 14.

They have stamped the Mercies upon the days, in which they received them. Thus the Jews called those days, in which God wrought their deliverance, Purim, [Page 178] after the name Pur. Signifying the Lot Haman had cast for their lives. Esth. 9.26. Yea, they have called their Mercies upon their Children. 1 Sam. 1.20. Thus thankful Souls have striven to recognize their Mercies, that God might not lose the praise, nor themselves the comfort of them.

Fifthly, The thankful Person must be suitably affected with the Mercies he re­ceives. It is not a speculative, but an af­fectionate remembrance that becomes us: Then God hath his glory, when the sense of his Mercies melts our hearts into holy joy, love, and admiration. Thus David sits down before the Lord like a man astonished at his goodness to him. 2 Sam. 7.20. And what can David say more? For thou Lord knowest thy servant. The Mercies of God have made the Saints hearts leap for joy within them. Psal. 92.4. Thou Lord hast made me glad, through thy Works; therefore will I triumph in the Works of thy hands. Mercies are not Mercies, Deliverances are no Deliverances to us, if we that receive them, are not glad of them.

Sixthly, The thankful Person must order his conversation suitably to the in­gagements [Page 179] that his mercies have put him under. When we have said all, it is the life of the thankful, that is the very life of thankfulness. Obedience and service are the only real manifestations of grati­tude. He that offereth praise, glorifieth me, and to him that ordereth his conversation a­right, will I shew the salvation of God. Psal. 50.23. Set down this for an ever­lasting truth, That God was never prai­sed and honored by an abused Mercy. God took it ill from Hezekiah, That he rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him. 2 Chro. 32.25. He that is truly thankful, will say as David, Psal. 116.12. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits? We then glorifie God with his Mercies, when we imploy them to right ends, when we thankfully take out our own share of comfort from them, receiving them with thanksgiving, as from the hand of a Father. Mr. Swinock tels of a young man,Swinocks Christian Mans Calling, pag. 409. who lying upon his sick bed, was always calling for meat; but assoon as it was brought him, he shook and trembled dreadfully at the fight of it, and so con­tinued till it was taken away; and be­fore [Page 180] his death, acknowledged Gods Justice; for that in his health, he ordi­narily received his Meat without thanks­giving.

Use all Gods Mercies with thankful­ness, God will remember them in fury, who forget him in his favors.

And think not what God bestows up­on you, is wholly for your own use: But honor God with your Mercies, by cloath­ing the naked, and feeding the hungry, especially such as are Godly. This is a due improvement of your Estates; thus you may make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness. Ah, how little do we consider, what praise, what glory, we may occasion this way from others to the Name of God!Justin. Lib. 51. It is storied of Diony­sius, the Syracusian Tyrant; that when he saw what heaps of Gold and Silver his son hoarded up in his Closet. He asked him, what he meant to let it lie there, and not to make friends with it, to get the King­dom after his death? O Son (said he) thou hast not a spirit capable of a King­dom. Thus honor the Lord with your substance; look upon all you have as [Page 181] your Masters Talents; for which, you must give an account: And so use and im­ploy them for God, that you may give up your account with joy; and then you will shew your selves thankful indeed. Thus you see what is included in real thankfulness. O, it is another matter than we take it to be.

2. Next I promised to give you the Grounds and Reasons of this Duty. Why you are obliged after the receit of Mer­cies, to such a thankful return of praises. And among many, I will only single out these three, and briefly open them.

First, God requires and expects it. It is so special and peculiar a part of his glory, as he will never part with it. As great Landlords oblige their Tenants to an homage and service, when they make over their Estates to them, and reserve a quit Rent to themselves, which they value at an high rate; so God when he bestows Deliverances [...] Mercies upon us, still reserves an acknowledgment to himself: And this is dear to him, he will not indure to be defrauded of it; much less, that it be given to another. You find this reservation of praise ex­presly made by him in Psal. 50.15. Call [Page 182] upon me in the day of trouble, I will de­liver thee, and thou shalt glorifie me [...] Where you have the request, the grant and the reservation in the grant, q. d When I have granted thee thy desire, see thou do not defraud me of my glory There be three things in every Mercy the matter of it, the comfort of it, and the glory of it. The two first, God make [...] over freely to us, he gives the Mercie [...] themselves, he allows us to suck out al [...] the lawful pleasure, and delight that is in them; but the third he reserves to himself, and will never part with to any other. If an Hezekiah himself render not to God due acknowledgments, as well as God loves him, there shall be great wrath upon him, and Judah, for the default. 2 Chro. 32.26.

Secondly, You are under manifold in­gagements to render it to the Lord.

(1.) Common ingenuity obliges to a due acknowledgment of favors freely received, and unthankfulness on tha [...] score, is the odium of mankind. Ingra­tum si dicas, omnia dixeris. You cannot give a man a more odious character a­mong men, than to say, He is an un­grateful man.

[Page 183](2.) The examples of the very Hea­then will condemn you. They praised their gods, which yet were no gods, when they received any deliverance. Judg. 16.24. Shall Idols, Dunghil-Dei­ties, receive their sacrifices and praises, whilest the true God is forgotten?

Nay (3) many of you have formally and expresly obliged your Souls to it, by solemn vows and promises in the day of your distress: And yet will you deal per­fidiously with God? Will you not pay the vows which your lips have uttered? Certainly, you can never free your Souls from the guilt of perfidiousness against God, whilest you give him not the glory due to his name.

3. Lastly, Your ingratitude is the ready way to deprive you of the Mercies you have, and to withhold from you the Mercies you might have in your future distresses and wants. He that is ungrate­ful for Mercies received, provokes God to remove them. Thus it fell out with ungrateful Israel. Hos. 2.5, 8, 9. She did not know, (i. e.) She did not with consideration and thanks duly acknow­ [...]edge) That I gave her Corn, and Wine, and Oyl. Therefore will I return, and take [Page 184] away my Corn in the time thereof; and my Wine in the season thereof: And will re­cover my Wool, and my Flax. Thus they suffered their Mercies to lapse into the Lords hand for non-payment of their Duties. If you be weary of your Mer­cies, and willing to be rid of them, you cannot take a more effectual course, than to forget from whom you had them, and withhold his praise for them.

And then, for future Mercies and De­liverances, you have no ground to expect any more from God, whom you have thus requited for former favors. 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. 10.11, 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 enemies. 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 Merrcies and Deliverances, when [Page 185] your selves know, how former Mercies have been abused! Think ye that I am weary of my Mercies, to cast them away upon such unthankful wretches? No, no. Expect no more Mercies from me, I will deliver you no more. One of the Fathers calls ingratitude, Obex infernalis. An Hellish stop; which interrupts the course and current of all Gods Mercies. Mercy is not only a precious thing, too good to be cast away, but it is a very tender thing, and God deeply resents the abuses of it. Thus you see the Grounds and Reasons of your duty; it remains now that we apply it.

1 Ʋse. Is it your unquestionable Duty to return praises upon every receit 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 denied: You have found God a very present help in trouble; his Mercy hath often rescued you out of the very jaws of death. Some of you have been in [Page 186] dangers in the Deeps; in Deaths oft. You have been put to your wits end; all visible hope and help failed. You might have said with the Psalmist, Psal. 142.4. 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 a 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 [Page 187] 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. Exod. 14.20. Sometimes giving you a favorable gale, which blew Mercy and Deliverance to you: Sometimes by strengthning you to resist their furious at­tacks, and delivering you from their rage; or, if he delivered you into their hands, yet there he preserved you, in­abling you to indure their severities, or causing the enemy to intreat 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 necessary 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. When you were reduced by losses, and captivities to a low ebb. So that you might say as the Church, [Page 188] Lam. 3.17. 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 hath stopped the leaks in both, careened, repaired, and launched thee into the World a­gain, as whole, as sound, and strong as ever.

And now Reader, suffer me to account and expostulate a little with thy Consci­ence. 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 favors in­gaged thee to more strictness in thy du­ties, and greater watchfulness against sin? Hast thou said with that good man, Ezra 9.13, 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 l [...]fe. The Lord then reckons all [Page 189] 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 withal, wast­ing your estates by prodigality, which were given to refresh your Families, and Gods 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 Gods kindnesses to you, do you thus dishonor and abuse him? O let shame cover your faces this day. Go Reader, sold 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 [Page 190] for thy unkindness to thy best Friend, The God that hath done thee good all thy life long; and deserves other returns from thee than these.

2 Ʋse. Lastly, It calls upon you all to be thankful for your Mercies. Chry­sostome 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 Gods call in this Exhortation.

Will you own the hand that delivers you, that feeds, cloaths, and heals you? Will you resolve to live the life of praise? And render to the Lord according to the benefits you have received? Will you indeed walk humbly and thank­fully, under all your Deliverances and Successes, and glorifie God by that, wherewith he hath comforted and re­freshed you? If there be any saving knowledge of God, and spiritual sense of his love in your Souls, methinks I should prevail with you; for do but weigh these following Arguments seri­ously, and they will ingage you to it.

1 Argument. How freely have all your Mercies streamed to you, from the Fountain of Grace! There was nothing [Page 191] in you to ingage it. The very notion of Mercy includes freeness; they are all bestowed upon us, not only as we are immerentes, but male merentes, unde­serving, but ill deserving Creatures; not only without our merits, but against our merits. And what though there be [...] concurrence of your abilities, head­work, and hand-work, in the procure­ment of some of your Mercies, yet still those Mercies are the pure effects of Free-grace: For all those indeavors of yours had signified nothing to their pro­curement, without Gods Blessing; yea, and that wisdom and industry which you used, are themselves the Free-gifts of God. You know there be thousands in the World, as industrious and wise as you, and such as never provoked God by such sins as you have; who yet are denied the Mercies you injoy. O, how should this indear you to God!

2 Argument. How seasonably your Mercies have been bestowed upon you, in the very nick of extremity and danger? God hath on purpose suffered it to grow to an extremity, that thereby he might commend his Mercy to you with the greater advantage. In the Mount of the [Page 192] Lord it hath been seen. Gen. 22.14 Without this, God saw his Mercie would have been slighted and low prize [...] by you. But God hath watched the opportunity of bestowing his goodness upon you, for no other end, but to mag­nifie his Mercies in your eyes, and mak [...] the deeper and more lasting impression upon your hearts. Shall such Mercies which at first were so amazing, and over­whelming to you; at the receit whereof you were like men that dreamed, as th [...] Psalmist speaks, Psal. 126.1. So soo [...] grow stale and common? God for­bid.

3 Argument. How special and distin­guishing, have some of your Mercies been? God hath not dealt with every one, as he hath with you. Are not some that went out with you, found wanting at your return? They are among the dead, it may be among the damned, and you among the living, yet injoying the capacity and means of Salvation. God hath prospered your Voyage, and return­ed you with Success; you have sucked the abundance of the Sea, and the Trea­sures hid in the Sand, as the Text speaks; but others may say as Naomi, Ruth 1.21. [Page 193] I went out full, and am come back empty. [...] went out full of hopes, and come back with sad disappointments; and is not his a strong tie to Thanksgiving?

4 Argument. Did not your Mercies [...]ind you under great guilt? You know what your own transgressions against the Lord were; and yet such was the [...]trength of Mercy, that it brake [...]hrough all your great provocations, [...]nd made its way to you through a mul­ [...]itude of iniquities. It came triumphing over all your great unworthiness, and is not such Mercy worthy to be admired and recorded for ever! O what will affect and melt your hearts, if this will not? Surely such Mercies have a con­straining power in them, upon all sensi­ble Souls.

5 Argument. To conclude, if all the goodness of God, which hath passed before your eyes, do indeed prevail upon you, to love the Lord, and fear to of­fend him; if they really constrain you to give up your selves, and all you have, to be his: Then all these, are but the beginnings of Mercies, and you shall see yet greater things than these. God hath more Mercies yet behind, and [Page 194] those of an higher kind, and more ex­cellent nature than these Temporal Mer­cies are. You are now delivered from the dangers of the Sea, and have escaped those perils: O but what is this, to de­liverance from wrath to come? You have been preserved from, or delivered out of Turkish slavery. But what is that to a Deliverance from the curse of the Law, the bondage of your Lusts, and the power of Satan? Happy Souls, if these Deliverances prove introductive to the great Salvation.