If we follow him with our observations on this occasion, the first remarkable thing that offers itself is the error of Julius the centurion, who refused to take the Apostle's judgment concerning the voyage. "When much time was spent, and when sailing was "now dangerous, because the fast was already past, "Paul admonished them, and said unto them, Sirs, I "perceive that this voyage will be with much hurt “and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, "but also of our lives. Nevertheless the centurion "believed the master and the owner of the ship, more “than those things which were spoken by Paul." The Apostle argues, first from natural reasons and common experience: their progress had been so slow, that much time was lost, and they were now fallen into a season of the year always dangerous to navigation. But he goes farther; he speaks as one having authority, and descends to the particulars; that the voyage would be fatal to the ship, to the lading, and to their lives. He received his information from the God who made the waters of the sea, and raises them into a storm at his will, and can still them with his word in this character he gives his advice; but, in the opinion of the hearers, it has no weight, and the advice of a common navigator, the master and owner of the ship, is thought to be the wiser. What a misfortune it is to us, when we prefer the ill-grounded presumptions of man to the warning of an inspired Apostle; and this when the lives of so many are at stake! He that hears of this may be filled with indignation, and put the question to himself, "Had I "been in that ship, should I have rejected the advice "of St. Paul, for the saving of my own life?" Yes, you would you would have been ignorant of the Gospel, as the people were to whom he spakę; you : would have seen the great St. Paul under the disadvantages of a prisoner, going to Rome to be tried for his life; perhaps you would have heard the shipmen jesting in their way upon his want of skill, and asking how a scholar, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, should have any judgment in affairs of navigation? The pride and perverseness of men will always find some plausible reason for despising that counsel which is better than their own; and so did these here: but at last they saw their error when it was too late, and all the horrors of shipwreck were inevitable. We should often succeed much better than we do in common things, if we were to consult divine revelation, and take the advice of religious people, instead of trusting to the current policy of the world, or to the voice of an unprincipled majority, who cry out with violence upon very little ground of reason, as these did here. It seemed, the haven they were then at was not commodious to winter in; so they gave up their safety and their lives to avoid a little transient inconvenience. It may be very obvious to ask, who but sailors should give counsel in affairs of navigation? Yet we see by experience, a preacher of the Gospel knew more of the voyage than they did. And thus it happens with us on many occasions: we go to man for advice and miscarry, when we might have it from God and succeed. I think this observation might be extended very far. We live in an age when human wisdom is magnified far beyond its value; and, in the course of our education, we take its authority implicitly in many things, where the Bible would teach us better, and make us wiser as well as happier. For want of this, we too frequently make shipwreck of faith and in many instances, reason, learning, true policy and true philosophy, are shipwrecked along with it. 3. It is a common mistake among Christians to suppose, that if we are to be saved by the power of God, we are to be saved without the use of natural means; but the contrary is plain, from the judgment the Apostle has given concerning the attempt of the shipmen to flee out of the ship, and leave her in a helpless condition; in which case, the lives of the greater part must have been lost. This case is very particular : Paul had been warned by an Angel of God, that there should be no loss of any man's life; and he had declared before them all, his own assurance, that it would be as it was told him. Yet now he admits it to be possible that all the rest of the company would be lost, unless the seamen should abide in the ship, to give their help to the last extremity. How is this? Can the promise of God fail? Assuredly not: but this we are to learn, that all his promises are conditional; and that his providence works so insensibly for our deliverance that it is left at last as a question for faith to resolve, whether it be Providence, or chance, or human skill that has saved us. To suppose the end, is to suppose the means that lead to it: to hope to obtain the end, through a dependance on the divine promises, while we neglect the means which should lead to that end, is the sin of tempting God; we tempt him to transgress the rules of his own wisdom and justice by an undue exercise of his power. He promises to work with us, not without us: his help is an encouragement to labour, not an excuse for idleness. He supports and feeds us every day by his power: he openeth his hand and filleth all living things with plenteousness; yet he hath pronounced by the mouth of his Apostle, that if any man will not work, neither shall he eat: it being intended, that every man shall find his maintenance by the blessing of God upon his own endeavours. So, in the improvement of the mind, his scriptures make us wise unto salvation; but not unless we search and study them. His Holy Spirit is promised as a gift and an help to all Christians; but not unless they ask for it, and prepare themselves for its reception. We The case of these shipmen teaches us, that it is possible for those to be lost, whom God hath promised to save which doctrine entirely overthrows that false notion of absolute predestination and unconditional decrees, by which many weak minds have been disturbed and led into grievous errors. therefore conclude with St. Paul, that unless the seamen abide in the ship, and do their ordinary duty on board, and bring in their vessel so near to the shore, that the people may swim to the land, and seem to save themselves, they cannot be saved of God. This doctrine will be of great service to us in the conduct of our lives, and contribute to our success in this world, and our salvation in the next, if we make a proper use of it. The promises of God are a security to those who so trust in them, as to work under them; but none at all to those, who shew by their presumption that they are unworthy to obtain them. 4. The comfort, encouragement, and safety derived to this whole company from the presence of St. Paul, is the next thing to be considered. The support which a good man finds for himself in time of distress, extends to those who are near him. After they have been tossed upon the sea for many days in dark tempestuous weather, and expected nothing but inevitable destruction, we see this blessed Apostle infusing confidence and even cheerfulness into those, from whom hope itself was departed. The society of a godly man answers the purpose of a new light, when the sun and stars disappear. It is the reason why many sink into despair, and are lost in a troubled sea of sorrow, because they have no friend to administer properly the comforts of religion; none to raise their thoughts from the storm that beats upon them to the mercy of that God who stilleth the raging of the sea. See how the Apostle performs this office to those, who had brought him into all this danger, by neglecting his advice. Instead of being offended with their past perverseness, he considers their present distress; he talks to them as if they were his children, and tells them how they are all given to his prayers; he encourages them to eat with thankfulness for their necessary refreshment, and sets them the example in his own person. Here let me observe, for the benefit of those who may be in the like distress, that there is a source of comfort, to which all Christians may have recourse, though they are not blessed with the personal attendance of St. Paul. They have the word of God, which is a sure and faithful attendant upon us in the storms and troubles of life; we may travel with it by land or by water; there we may hear St. Paul speaking to us: there we may have the Psalms of David, accommodated to all the trials, dangers, and afflictions to which a Christian can be exposed. Thus we may sail with St. Paul in our company, and find salvation even in shipwreck. 5. Another circumstance in this voyage, from whence much instruction may be gathered, is this; that when they had taken of their provisions what was necessary to refresh them, after long abstinence, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the What will not men do for the saving of their lives? Their bread itself is cast away, when it sea. |