Thus the fiercest element is repreffed by the feebleft things: thou feeft alfo how full of wrath and fury wicked men are, how they rage like the troubled sea, and threaten to overwhelm thee, and all the Lord's inheritance: and then the floods of ungodly men make thee afraid; yet are they restrained by an invifible, gracious hand, that they cannot execute their purpose, nor perform their enterprize. How full of devils and devilized men is this lower world? Yet, in the midft of them all, haft thou hitherto been preferved. O! my foul, admire and adore that glorious power of God, by which thou art kept unto falvation. Is not the prefervation of a faint in the midst of such hofts of enemies as great a miracle, though not fo fenfible as the prefervation of those three noble Jews in the midst of the fiery furnace, or Daniel in the den of lions? For there is as ftrong a propenfion in Satan and wicked men, to destroy the faints, as in the fire to burn, or a lion to devour. O! then, let me cheerfully addrefs myself to the faithful difcharge of my duty, and ftand no longer in a flavish fear of creatures, who can have no power against me but what is given them from above, John xix. 11. And no more shall be given than fhall turn to the glory of God, Pfal. lxxvi. 10. and the advantage of my foul, Rom. viii. 28.

THE POEM.

HIS world's a foreft, where, from day to day,

TH

Bears, wolves, and lions, range and feek their prey;
Amidft them all poor harmless lambs are fed,

And by their very dens in fafety led.

They roar upon us, but are held in chains;
Our fhepherd is their keeper, he maintains

Our lot. Why then should we so trembling stand?
We meet them, true, but in their keeper's hand.
He that to raging feas fuch bounds hath put,
The mouth of rav'nous beasts can also fhut.
Sleep in the woods, poor lambs, yourselves repose
Upon his care, whofe eyes do never close.
If unbelief in you don't lose their chain,
Fear not their struggling, that's but all in vain.
If God can check the waves by smallest sand,
A twined thread may hold these in his hand.
Shun fin, keep close to Chrift; for other evils
You need not fear, tho' compafs'd round with devils.

CHAP. XVI.

To fea without a compass none dare go:
Our courfe without the word is even fo.

OBSERVATION.

how great ufe and neceffity is the compass to feamen! though they can coaft a little way by the shore, yet they dare not ven

ture far into the ocean without it: it is their guide, and directs and fhapes their courfe for thein: and if by the violence of wind and weather they are driven befide their due courfe, yet by the help of this they are reduced, and brought to rights again. It is wonderful to confider, how, by the help of this guide, they can run in a direct line many hundred leagues, and at laft fall right with the finalleft ifland; which is in the ocean comparatively, but as the head of a fmall pin upon a table.,

APPLICATION.

What the compafs and all other mathematical inftruments are to the navigator, that and much more is the word of God to us in our courfe to heaven. This is our compafs to fteer our courfe by, and it is truly touched; he that orders his converfation by it fhall fafely arrive in heaven at laft. Gal. vi. 16. " As many as walk according to this "rule, peace be on them and mercy."

This word is as neceffary to us in our way to glory, as a lamp or lanthorn is in a dark night, Pfal. cxix. 105. that is a light fhining in a dark place, till the day dawn, and the day-star arise in our hearts, 2 Pet. 19. If any that profefs to know it and own it as a rule, mifs beaven at laft, let them not blame the word for mifguiding them, but their own negligent and deceitful hearts, that shuffle in and out, and fhape not their courfe and conversation according to its prefcriptions.

What blame can you lay upon the compafs, if you fteer not exactly by it? How many are there, that neglecting this rule, will coaft it to heaven by their own reafon? No wonder fuch fall fhort, and perish in the way. This is a faithful guide, and brings all that follow it to a bleffed end; "Thou fhalt guide me with thy counsel, and after"wards receive me to glory." Pfal. Ixxiii. 24. The whole hundred and nineteenth pfalm is fpent in commendation of its tranfcendent excellency and ufefulnefs. Luther profelled that he prized it fo highly, that he would not take the whole world in exchange for one leaf of it. Lay but this rule before you, and walk accurately by it, and you cannot be out of your way to heaven, Pfalm cxix. 30. " I "have chofen the way of truth (or the true way;) thy judgment « have I laid before me." Some indeed have opened their detracting blafphemous mouths against it; as Julian, that vile apoftate, who feared not to fay, there was as good matter in Phocillides as in Solomon, in Pindarus's odes, as in David's pfalms.

And the papifts generally flight it, making it a lame, imperfect rule; yea, making their own traditions the touchftone of doctrines, and foundation of faith. Montanus tells us, that although the apostle would have fermons and fervice celebrated in a known tongue, yet the church, for very good caufe, hath otherwife ordered it. Gilford called it the mother of herefies. Bonner's chaplain judged it worthy They fet up their inventions above non obftante against Christ's institu

to be burnt as a strange doctrine. it, and frequently come in with

a

tions. And thus do they make it void, or, as the word nxupworals, fignifies, Matth. xv. 6. unlord it, and take away its authority as a rule. But those that have thus flighted it, and followed the by-paths unto which their corrupt hearts have led them, they take not hold of the paths of life, and are now in the depths of hell. All other lights to which men pretend, in the neglect of this, are but falfe fires that will lead men into the pits and bogs of deftruction at last.

REFLECTION.

And is thy word a compass, to direct my courfe to glory? O where am I then like to arrive at laft, that in all my courfe have neglected it, and steered according to the counsel of my own heart! Lord, I have not made thy word the man of my council, but confulted with flesh and blood; I have not enquired at this oracle, nor ftudied it, and made it the guide of iny way, but walked after the fight of my eyes, and the luft of my heart. Whither, Lord! can I come at laft, but to hell, after this way of reckoning? Some have flighted thy word profeffedly, and I have flighted it practically. I have a poor foul embarked for eternity, it is now floating on a dangerous ocean, rocks and fands on every fide, and I go-a-drift before every wind of temptation, and know not where I am. Ah, Lord! convince me of the danger of this condition. O convince me of my ignorance in thy word, and the fatal confequence and iffue thereof. Lord, let me now refolve to ftudy, prize, and obey it; hide it in my heart, that I may not fin against it. Open my understanding, that I may understand the fcriptures; open my heart to entertain it in love. Ó thou that haft been fo gracious to give a perfect rule, give me alfo a perfect heart to walk by that rule to glory!

THE POEM.

HIS world's a fea, wherein a num'rous fleet

Of ships are under fail. Here you fhall meet

Of ev'ry rate and fize; frigates, galleons,

The nimble ketches, and fmall pickeroons:

Some bound to this port; fome where winds and weather
Will drive them, they are bound they know not whither.
Some steer away for heaven, fome for hell;

To which fome steer, themselves can hardly tell.

The winds do fhape their course, which tho' it blow
From any point, before it they muft go.

They are directed by the wind and tide,

That have no compafs to direct and guide:

For want of this, muft run themselves a ground,
Brave fhips are caft away, poor fouls are drown'd.
Thy word our compafs is, to guide our way
To glory; it reduces fuch as ftray.
Lord, let thy word dwell richly in my heart,
And make me skilful in this heavenly art :

O let me underftand, and be fo wife,
To know upon what point my country lies:
And having fet my courfe directly thither,
Great God preferve me in the fouleft weather.
By reafon fome will coaft it; but I fear,
Such coafters never will drop anchor there.
Thy word is truly touch'd, and ftill directs
A proper courfe, which my base heart neglects.
Lord, touch my iron heart, and make it ftand
Pointing to thee, its loadftone. To that land
Of reft above, let ev'ry tempeft drive
My foul, where it would rather be than live.

TH

CHAP. XVII.

Look as the fea, by turns, doth ebb and flow,
So their eftates, that use it, come and go.

OBSERVATION.

HE fea hath its alternate courfe and motion, its ebbings and flowings; no fooner is it high water, but it begins to ebb again, and leave the shore naked and dry, which but a little before it covered and overflowed. And as its tides, fo alfo its waves are the emblem of inconftancy, still rolling and tumbling, this way and that, never fixed and quiet. Inftabilis unda: as fickle as a wave, is common, to a proverb, See Jam. i. 6. " He that wavereth is like a wave of the fea driven with the wind, and toffed." So Ifa. lvii. 20. "It cannot "reft."

APPLICATION.

Thus mutable and inconftant are all outward things, there is no depending on them: nothing of any substance, or any folid confiftence in them, I Cor. vii. 31. "The fashion of this world paffeth "away." It is an high point of folly to depend upon fuch vanities: Prov, xxiii. 5. "Why wilt thou fet (or, as it is in the Hebrew, cause) "thine eyes to fly upon that which is not? For riches certainly "make themselves wings, and fly away, as an eagle towards hea"ven." In flying to us (faith Auguftine) they have, alas vix quidem pafferinas, fcarce a sparrow's wings; but in flying from us, wings as an eagle. And thofe wings they are faid to make to themselves; i. e. the cause of its tranfitorinefs is in itfelf; the creature is fubjected to vanity by fin; they are fweet flowers, but withered presently, James i. 10. "As the flower of the grass, so fhall the rich man fade "away." The man is like the ftalk or grafs, his riches are the flower of the grafs; his glory and outward beauty, the stalk, is foon withered, but the flower much fooner. This is either withered upon, or blown off from it, while the stalk abides. Many a man outlives his

eftate and honour, and ftands in the world as a bare dry stalk in the field, whofe flower, beauty, and bravery are gone : one puff of wind blows it away, one churlish easterly blast shrivels it up, 1 Pet. iv. 24. How mad a thing is it, then, for any man to be lifted up in pride, upon fuch a vanity as this is! to build fo lofty and over-jetting a roof upon fuch a feeble, tottering foundation! We have feen meadows full of fuch curious flowers, mown down and withered; men of great eftates impoverished fuddenly; and when, like a meadow that is mown, they have begun to recover themselves again, (as the phrase is) the Lord hath fent "grafhoppers in the beginning of the fhooting up of "the latter growth," Amos vii. 2. Juft as the grafhoppers and other creatures, devour the fecond tender herbage as foon as the field begins to recover its verdure; fo men, after they have been denuded and blafted by Providence, they begin after a while to flourish again; but then comes fome new affliction and blafts all. None have more frequent experience of this than you that are merchants and feamen, whofe eftates are floating; and yet fuch as have had the highest fecurity in the eye of reafon, have, notwithstanding, experienced the vanity of these things. Henry IV. a potent prince was reduced to fuch a low ebb, that he petitioned for a prebend's place in the church of Spire. Gallimer, king of the Vandals, was brought fo low, that he fent to his friends for a fpunge, a loaf of bread, and an harp a fpunge to dry up his tears, a loaf of bread to maintain his life, and an harp to folace him in his mifery. The ftory of Bellifarius is very affecting: he was a man famous in his time, general of an army, yet having his eyes put out, and ftripped of all earthly com forts, was led about crying, Date obolum Bellifario. Give one penny to poor Bellifarius. Inftances in hiftory of this kind are infinite. Men of the greateft eftates and honours have nevertheless become the very ludibria fortune, as one speaks, the very fcorn of fortune.

Yea, and not only wicked men that have gotten their estates by rapine and oppreffion, have lived to fee them thus fcattered by Providence: but fometimes godly men have had their eftates, how juftly foever acquired, thus fcattered by providence alfo. Whoever had an eftate, better gotten, better bottomed, or better managed, than Job? yet all was overthrown and fwept away in a moment; though in mercy to him, as the iffue demonftrated.

Oh then! what a vanity is it to fet the heart, and let out the affections on them! you can never depend too much upon God, nor too little upon the creature, 1 Tim. vi. 17. "Charge them that are rich "in this world, that they be not high-minded and truft in uncertain "riches."

REFLECTION.

Are all earthly things thus tranfitory and vain? Then what a reproach and fhame is it to me, that the men of this world fhould be more industrious and eager in the profecution of fuch vanities, than VOL. V. No. 42.

LI