there is a vile generation in our days, that inftead of calling upon the name of the Lord by prayer, do call upon it profanely, rending and tearing that great and terrible name with the language of hell. "Poor man! with what hope or encouragement can thofe lips of thine, in the day of thy extremity, cry, Mercy! mercy! that have ftruck through the facred name of God fo many times with blafphemy! O that you would lay it to heart! O that this day God would fet your fins in order before you.

Is this a beginning that promifes a comfortable iffue? Do you thus prepare yourselves to meet death and danger? O my foul! come not thou into their fecrets! O let God rather ftrike me perfectly dead whilft I live, than afflict my foul through my ears with these dreadful dialects of the damned.

Ufe 2. In the next place, this point is exceeding useful, by way of exhortation, to perfuade all men, and particularly feamen, to be men of prayer; to imitate that noble pattern in the text, and no longer to live in the neglect of a duty so neceffary, fo fweet, and fo beneficial to them, as the duty of prayer is. O that you did but know the excellency of this duty! how would you give yourselves unto prayer! As David fpeaks, Pfalm cix. 4. Now to perfuade you to be praying men, and no longer to live in the neglect of so excellent a duty, I will offer these motives to your confideration.

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Motive 1. God hath filed himself a God hearing prayer. For your encouragement to this duty, he hath affumed this title to himself, Pfalm lxv. 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 foul lose a prayer. And to come home to your cafe more fully, he is a God that hears the prayers of poor diftreffed men upon the feas, when all hope and human help have utterly failed them. So you read in Pfalm cvii. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28. They that go down to the fea in ships, "that do business in great waters; thefe fee the works of the Lord, "and his wonders in the deep: for he commandeth, and raiseth "the ftormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof: they mount ་་ up to heaven, they go down again to the depths; their foul is "melted, becaufe of trouble. They reel to and fro, and ftagger "like a drunken man, and are at their wits end. Then they cry "unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their "diftrefs." So that what the Pfalmift elfewhere fpeaks of the myftical depths of trouble, is true here even in a proper literal fenfe: "Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord, hear my voice," Pfal. cxxx. 1, 2. Many a prayer hath been heard, and miraculously anfwered upon the fea. There have men been convinced, and fully fatisfied, that it is not in vain to cry to the Lord. So evident and clear have been the appearances of God at the cry of the poor diVOL. V. Z z

ftreffed creatures, that they have fenfibly and thankfully acknowledged him according to his name; "The hope of the ends of the earth, "and the confidence of them that are afar off upon the fea," Pfalm Ixv. 5. Who is there among you, that has not either heard of, or himself been an example, and inftance of this truth? I might here infert many famous examples to confirm it, but the cafe is too plain to need them, and it would be too great a digreffion.

Motive 2. Prayer is certainly the beft relief to the diftreffed. We may fay of it, as David faid of the fword of Goliath, give me that, for there is none like it. You that are feamen, know what the use of the pump is, when the waters leak into your ship, and of what use the fcupper-holes are to you, when waves break and dash over your necks: why, of the fame ufe is prayer, when forrow leaks into your hearts, and diftreffes are ready to overwhelm your fouls. This gives a vent to that which elfe would quickly fink you. "Your heart fhall live that feek the Lord," Pfalm xix. 32. Prayer will buoy up your fainting fpirits; it will fenfibly eafe an oppreffed heart. No fear of fainting, while a man continues praying. Luther was wont to call prayers the leeches of his cares and troubles. O but if troubles come in upon a man every way, and he have no vent, no outlet for them when the ordinary vents of reason, courage, and refolution are all choaked (as fometimes they are) and there is no fuccour or relief coming in from heaven; what a wretched forlorn condition is fuch a poor creature in? O therefore get acquaintance with this excellent 'duty.

Motive 3. All fecondary means of deliverance and comfort necessarily depend upon the will and pleasure of God, and fignify nothing without him. What the Pfalmift faith of an horfe, I may fay of a fhip, Pfalm xxxiii. 17. That it is a vain thing for fafety. Alas! what a poor defence is it against thofe giant-like waves of the fea? And that men (efpecially feamen) may be convinced of this, God hath many times caufed thofe ftately and ftrong-built fhips to perifh, and be dafhed all to pieces, and preferved thofe that were not fafe in them upon a plank or broken piece of the fhip, Acts xxvii. 44. which has carried them more fafely to the fhore than it could do. And will you not yet see that means fignify nothing without God, and that your dependence upon him is neceffary in every condition, and the acknowledgment thereof fo too? I am perfuaded there would not be half fo many fhipwrecks and difappointments as there are, if your carnal confidence in the means were lefs, and your reliance upon the Lord more. Therefore it is that you so often receive the fentence of death in yourfelves, that you may learn not to trust in yourselves, but in God. Oh! were but your fails filled by prayer, how profperous would your defigns be?

Motive. 4. Whatever deliverances from dangers, or fuccefs in business, you receive out of the way of prayer, can yield you but little comfort; for they are pot fanctified to you. You may be delivered, though you pray not,

and fuccefs may follow those that seek not God for it; but that which you call deliverance, is rather a refervation to future mifery; and that you call fuccefs, is but a fare to your fouls. You have the things, but not the comfort and blefling of them God may you give your de fire to your ruin; your lives may be refcued for a time from death, that you may fill up the meafure of your iniquities. Your affairs may profper, and that profperity may deftroy you, Prov. i. 32. At best it is but an effect of common providence; and of fuch deliverances you can never fay as Hezekiah faid of his; and every one that receives the like mercy in the way of prayer, may fay of his, Ifa. xxxviii. 17, "But thou hast in love to my foul, delivered it from the pit of cor"ruption; for thou haft caft all my fins behind thy back." I deny not, but a deliverance by the hand of common providence is a mercy in itself; and it may prove a very great mercy to you in the event, if time thereby added to your life be a fpace of repentance; elfe it is but a fhort reprieval of your damnation, and leaves you to perish under greater guilt than was upon you before. But, on the contrary, how fweet are thofe mercies that come in the way of prayer ; that discover God's love to you, and inflame yours to him? One fuch mercy is worth a thousand of the former.

"For this

Motive 5. Confider all you that go out without prayer, how foon you may be out of a capacity of prayer. Now you will not, and fhortly you may not, have one opportunity to pray for evermore: now unbelief shuts your mouths, and fhortly death may do it. How foon may you be past your prayers, both your own and others, and be fixed by death in your unalterable condition? O feek the Lord therefore whilft he may be found, call upon him whilft he is yet near. Now is your praying feafon, hereafter there will be no ufe of prayer. "(faith the Pfalmift) fhall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in "a time when thou mayeft be found: furely in the floods of great "waters, they shall not come nigh unto him." Pfal. xxxii. 6. i. e. faith Deodate upon the place, in the time of the general deftruction of finners, as it was in the deluge; then there is no coming nigh to God by prayer, nor canft thou come nigh him in the day of thy particular deftruction, by the flood of great waters. O therefore live not a day longer in the profane and finful neglect of this great duty of prayer !

Object. Why, but I obferve thofe that pray not, generally escape as rvell as they that do.

Anfw. This objection was once made by a foldier in the time of fight, when he was preffed by his companion to pray; and God quickly ftopped his blafphemous mouth with a mortal bullet. Have a care of fuch bold atheistical pleas; they greatly provoke the Lord against you: I had rather die praying, than live prayericfs.

Objećt. But to what purpose is it for me to pray, if I am unregenerate? God hears not fuch prayers, if I make them: and, befides, the prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord.

Anfw. Labour therefore to get into a regenerate ftate, and be not perfuaded to reft a day longer in fo fad a condition. However, in the mean time you must know, that prayer being a part of natural worfhip, all men, even the unregenerate, are obliged to it by the light and law of nature; otherwife the neglect of it could not be their fin.

o.

Object. But many pray, and receive not: I myself have often done

Answ. "You ask, and receive not, because you afk amifs," Jam. iv. 3. If we were difpofed to receive as God is to give, we fhould not be long without the answer of our prayers.

(1.) If your perfons were accepted through Chrift, your prayers fhould be accepted too, Gen. iv. 4. But you are in a state of nature, deftitute of the Spirit, John xv. 7. And fo your voice is to God not the voice of a child, but a ftranger.

(2.) If your prayers were regulated by the will of God, they could not mifs of the defired fuccefs; 1 John v. 14. "If we ask any thing "according to his will, he heareth us."

(3.) If your prayers had more faith and fervency, they would not return empty; fee Jam. i. 6. and v. 16. Well then, object no more - against your duty, but in the fear of God, apply yourselves to it, and dare not to go forth in any defign, until thou haft by prayer recom mended thyfelf and thy affairs to God. Go alone, my friends, retire from the world; and fay not you cannot fpare time for prayer; bet ter any thing else were neglected than this. Tell the Lord, thou art now launching forth into the ocean, and knoweft not what this voy. age may bring forth. Poffibly thou mayeft never return to the land of thy nativity any more; but however it fhall please him to dispose the event, befeech him with all earneftnefs, that thou mayeft have the pardon of fin fealed to thee before thou go. O beg him to feparate guilt from thy perfon, before thou be feparated from thy habitation and relations; left that firoke that fhall feparate thy foul from thy body, fhould eternally separate both foul and body from God.

Defire of the Lord that his prefence may go with thee wherever thou shalt go. Tell him it is the fountain both of thy fafety and comfort. Defire him if his prefence may not go with thee, not to carry thee hence. All the relief thou haft againft trouble, is wrapped up in that promife of his, I will be with him in trouble. Tell him, those will be taftelefs comforts, and fuccourlefs troubles, in which he is not.

Intreat the Lord with all importunity, to keep thee by his fear, from the fins and temptations that are in the world. Tell him thou art fenfibly affected with the danger which thy own corrupt heart will every where expofe thee to: fins in buying and felling, into which thou mayeft eafily be drawn by an earthly covetous heart: fins in drinking, wherein thou mayeft be entangled (except he keep thee) by evil company and an irregular appetite: fins of uncleanness,

by which thou mayeft be overcome in the absence of lawful remedies, and prefence of alluring objects, except his fear quench the temptation, and break the fnare.

Be earnest also with the Lord for his gracious protection of thee in all thy dangers. Tell him, thou canst not be in fafety any where, but under the fhadow of his wings. Tell him, at what time thou art afraid, thou wilt truft in him; and befeech him, that when thy heart fhall be overwhelmed with fears and troubles, he will lead thee to the rock that is higher than thee. Befeech him alfo to give thee counfel in all thy ftraits and difficulties, that thou mayeft not lean to thine own understanding, but that he will make thy way plain before thee.

And if it be his good pleafure, that he would blefs thy just and honeft enterprizes with fuccefs and profperity: which if he thall do, tell him it is thy defire, and beg the affiftance of his grace, that thou mayeft improve all thy mercies to his praife. If thus you set forth in the fear of God, you may expect a fweet fuccefs, and happy iffue.

The Seaman in a Storm.

SERMON II.

PSAL. cvii. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.

They that go down to the fea in fhips, that do business in great waters; thefe fee the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth the formy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths; their foul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and flagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their diftrefs.

TH

THIS pfalm contains an excellent account of the mysterious and admirable effects of providence: and this paragraph contains that vein or branth of divine providence which refpects feamen; a fort of men more immediately depending upon the favour of providence than any men in the world; though all do neceffarily and continually depend upon it.

In thefe verfes we have a defcription, both (1.) of the perfons, (2.) of the danger, (3.) of the deliverance, by the wonderful working of divine providence for them.

Firft, A defcription of the perfons about whom this wonderful providence is exercised: "They that go down to the fea in ships; that "do business in great waters;" the periphrafis of a feaman. These