CHAPTER IX.

The Vigilance of Sailors in taking Advantage of Wind and Tide.

Observation.-SEAMEN are very watchful to take their opportunity of wind and tide, and it much concerns them so to be; the neglect of a few hours, sometimes loses them their passage, and proves a great detriment to them. They know the wind is an uncertain, variable thing; they must take it when they may: they are unwilling to lose one breath, that be serviceable to them. If a prosperous gale offers, and they are not ready, it repents them to lose it, as much as it would repent us to see a vessel of good wine tapped and run to waste.

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Application. There are also seasons and gales of grace for our souls, golden opportunities of salvation afforded to men, the neglect of which proves the loss and ruin of souls. God has given unto man a day of visitation, which he has limited, and keeps an exact account of every year, month, and day that we have enjoyed it. The longest date of it can be but the time of this life; this is our day to work in, and upon this small wire the weight of eternity hangs. But sometimes the season of grace is ended before the night of death comes; the accepted time is gone; men frequently out-live it, Luke xix. 44; 2 Cor. vi. 2. Or, if the outward means of salvation be continued, yet the spirit many times withdraws from those means, and ceases any more to strive with men; and then the blessing, power, and efficacy, are gone from them, and instead thereof a curse seizeth the soul, Heb. vi. 7, 8; Jer. vi. 29. .

Therefore it is a matter of high importance to our souls to apprehend these seasons. How pathetically does Christ bewail over Jerusalem upon this account! "O that thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things of thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." If a company of seamen are set ashore upon some remote uninhabited island, with this advice, to be aboard again exactly at such an hour, else they must be left behind; how does it concern them to be punctual to their time!

The lives of those men depend upon a quarter of an hour. Many a soul has perished eternally, the gospel leaving them behind in their sins, because they knew not the time of their visitation.

Reflection.-What golden seasons for salvation hast thou enjoyed, O my soul! What halcyon days of gospel-light and grace hast thou had! How have the precious gales of grace blown to no purpose upon thee! and the Spirit waited and striven with thee in vain! "The kingdom of heaven hath suffered violence." Multitudes have been pressing into it in my days, and I myself have sometimes been almost persuaded, and not far from the kingdom of God. I have gone as far as conviction for sin and misery; yea, I have been carried by the power of the gospel, to resolve and purpose to turn to God, and become a new creature; but sin has been too subtle and deceitful for me: I see, my resolutions were but as an early cloud or morning dew; and now my heart is cold and dead again, settled upon its lees. Ah! I have cause to fear and tremble, lest God should have left me under that curse, "Let him that is filthy be filthy still." I fear I am become as a miry place, that shall not be healed by the streams of the gospel, but given to salt, and cursed into perpetual barrenness. O Lord, wilt thou leave me so? and shall thy Spirit strive no more with me? Then it had been good for me that I had never been born. O if I have trifled out this season, and irrecoverably lost it, then I may take up my lamentation, and say, My harvest is past, my summer is ended, and I am not saved." Every creature knows its time, even the turtle, crane, and swallow, know the time of their coming; how brutish am I, that have not known the time of my visitation! O thou, that art the Lord of life and time, command one gracious season more for me, and make it effectual to me, before I go hence and be seen no more.

CHAPTER X.

Commerce.

Observation.-THE most wise God has so dispensed his bounty to the several nations of the world, that one standing in need of another's commodities, there might be a sociable commerce and traffic maintained amongst them all, and all combining in a common league, may, by the help of navigation, exhibit mutual succours to each other.

Application. Thus has God distributed the more rich and precious gifts and graces of his Spirit among his people; some excelling in one grace, some in another, though every grace, in some degree, is in them all. As in nature, though there are all the faculties in all, yet some faculties are in some more lively and vigorous than in others; some have a more vigorous eye, others a more ready ear, others a more voluble tongue; so it is in spirituals. Abraham excelled in faith, Job in patience, John in love. These were their peculiar excellencies. All the elect vessels are not of one quantity; yet even those that excel others in some particular grace, come short in other respects of those they otherwise excel, and may be much improved by converse with such as in some respects' are much below them. The solid, wise, and judicious Christian may want that liveliness of affection and tenderness of heart that appear in the weak; and one that excels in gifts and utterance may learn humility from the very babes in Christ. And one principal reason of this different distribution is to maintain fellowship among them all; "The head cannot say to the feet, I have no need of you." As in a family where there is much business to be done, even the little children bear a part, according to their strength; "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, the women knead the dough;" so in the family of Christ, the weakest Christian is serviceable to the strong.

There are precious treasures in these earthen vessels, for which we should trade by mutual communion. The preciousness of the treasure should draw out our desires and endeavours after it; and the consideration of the

brittleness of those vessels in which it is kept, should cause us to be the more expeditious in our trading with them, and make the quicker returns. For when those vessels, I mean the bodies of the saints, are broken by death, there is no more to be gotten out of them. That treasure of grace which made them such profitable, pleasant, and desirable companions on earth, then ascends with them into heaven, where every grace receives its perfection; and then, though they are ten thousand times more excellent and delightful than ever they were on earth, yet we can have no more communion with them till we come to glory ourselves. Now therefore it behoves us to be enriching ourselves by communication of what God has dropt into us, and improvement of it. should do by saints, as we do by some choice book lent us for a few days, we should fix in our memories or transcribe all the choice notions we meet with in it, that they may be our own when the book is called for, and we can have it no longer by us.

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Reflection.-Lord, how short do I come of my duty in communicating to others, or receiving good by them! My soul is either empty and barren, or, if there be any treasure in it, yet it is but as a treasure locked up in some chest, the key of which is lost, when it should be opened for the use of others. Ah Lord, I have sinned greatly, not only by vain words, but sinful silence. I have been of little use in the world.

How little also have I got by communion with others! Some, it may be, that are of my own age or judgment, or that I am otherwise obliged to, I delight to converse with; but O where is that largeness of heart and general delight I should have to and in all thy people? How many of my old dear acquaintance are now in heaven, whose tongues were as choice silver, while they were here! And, blessed souls! how communicative were they of what thou gavest them! O what an improvement should I have made of my talent this way, had I been diligent! Lord, pardon my neglect of those sweet and blessed advantages. O let all my delight be in thy saints, who are the excellent of the earth. Let me never go out of their company, without a heart more warmed,

quickened, and enlarged, than when I came amongst them.

CHAPTER XI.

The Stability of Rocks.

Observation.-THE rocks, though situate in the boisterous and tempestuous ocean, yet abide firm and immoveable from age to age. The impetuous waves dash against them with great violence, but cannot remove them out of their place. And although sometimes they wash over them and make them disappear, yet there they remain fixed and impregnable.

Application. This is a lively emblem of the condition of the church, amidst all the dangers and oppositions, wherewith it is encountered and assaulted in the world. These metaphorical waves roar and beat with violence against it, but with as little success as the sea against the rocks. 66 Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Nay, this rock is not only invincible in the midst of violence, but it also breaks in pieces all that dash against it. that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it," Zech. xii. 3; an allusion to one that essays to roll some great stone up a hill, which at last returns upon him, and crushes him to pieces.

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And the reason why it is thus firm and impregnable, is not from itself; for, alas! so considered, it is weak and liable to be ruined; but from the almighty power of God, which guards and preserves it day and night. "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early," when the morning appears; which denotes God's assiduous and constant help and succour, which is extended in all dangers, as constantly as the sun arises. And this assiduous succour to his people, and their great security thereby, is set forth in the Div. No. XVII.

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