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 chearfully addrefs myfelf to the faithful difcharge of my duty, and stand 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 fhall be given than fhall. turn to the glory of God, Pfal. lxxvi. 10. and the advantage of my foul, Rom. viii. 28.

The POE M.

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

THIS

Bears, wolves, and lions, range and feek their prey s
Amidst 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 shepherd is their keeper, he maintains

Our lot. Why then fhould we fo trembling ftand?
We meet them, true, but in their keeper's hand.
He that to raging feas fuch bounds hath put,
The mouth of rav'uous beafts can alfo hut.
Sleep in the woods, poor lambs, yourselves repofe
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 fand,
A twined thread may hold these in his hand.
Shun fin, keep clofe to Chrift; for other evils
You need not fear, tho' compafs'd round with devils.

CHA P. XVI.

1

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

OBSERVATION.

how great ufe and neceffity is the compafs to feamen ! though they can coaft a little way by the shore, yet they dare not venture far into the ocean without it; it is their guide, and directs and fhapes their courfe for them and if by the violence of wind and weather they are driven befide their due course, 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 fmalleft ifland; which

is in the ocean, comparatively, but as the head of a small pin upon a table.

APPLICATION.

What the compass, and all other mathematical inftruments are to the navigator, that, and much more, is the word of God to us in our course to heaven. This is our compass to steer our courfe by, and it is truly touched; he that orders his converfation by it, shall safely arrive in heaven at last. 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 Jamp 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 dayftar arife in our hearts, 2 Pet. i. 19. If any that profefs to know it, and own it as a rule, mifs heaven at laft, let them not blame the word for mifguiding them, but their own negligent and deceitful hearts, that fhuffle in and out, and shape not their courfe and converfation according to its prescriptions.

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What blame can you lay upon the compafs, if you fleer 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 perifh in the way. This is a faithful guide, and brings all that follow it to a bleffed end; "Thau fhalt guide me with thy counfel, and afterwards receive me to glory," Pfal. lxxiii. 24. The whole hundred and nineteenth pfalm is fpent in commendation of its tranfcendent excellency and ufefulaefs. Luther profeffed that he prized it so 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 * judgments have I laid before me." Some indeed have open ed their detracting blafphemous mouths againit 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, ás iņ David's pfalms.

And the papifts generally flight it, making it a lame, imper fect rule; yea, making their own traditions the touchstone of doctrines, and foundation of faith. Montanus tells us, that although the apoftle would have fermons and fervice celebrated in a known tongue, yet the church, for very good cause, hath otherwife ordered it. Gilford called it the mother of herefies. Booner's chaplain judged it worthy to be burnt as a strange doctrine. They fet up their inventions above it, and frequently

come in with a non obftante against Chrift's inftitutions. And thus do they make it void, or, as the word averents, fignifies, Matth. xv. 6. unlord it, and take away its authority as a rule. But thofe 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 laft.

REFLECTION.

And is thy word a compafs, to direct my course to glory? O where am I then like to arrive at lalt, that in all my courfe have neglected it, and fteered according to the council of my own heart! Lord, I have not made thy word the man of my counsel, but confulted with flesh and blood; I have not enquired at this oracle, nor ftudied it, and made it the guide of my 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 study, 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. O 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 POE M.

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

TH

Of hips are under fail. Here you shall 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 fteer away for heaven, fome for hell;

To which fome fteer, themfelves can hardly tell.

The winds do fhape their course, which tho' it blow
From any point, before it they must go.
They are directed by the wind and tide,

That have no compafs to direct and guide:

For want of this, must run themselves a-ground,
Brave ships are caft away, poor fouls are drown'd.
Thy word our compafs is, to guide our way
To glory; it reduces fuch as stray.

Lord, let thy word dwell richly in my heart,
And make me skilful in this heavenly art:
Olet me understand, 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 coasters never will drop anchor there.
Thy word is truly touch'd, and still directs
A proper courfe, which my base heart neglects.
Lord, touch my iron heart, and make it stand
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.

CHA P. XVII.

Look as the fea, by turns, doth ebb and flow :
So their eftates, that ufe 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 fhore naked and dry, which but a lit the before it covered and overflowed. And as its tides, fo allo its waves are the emblem of inconftancy, ftill 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 66 wind, and toffed." So Ifa. lvii. 20. “ 'It cannot rest.”

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APPLICATION.

Thus mutable and inconftant are all outward things, there is no depending on them: nothing of any fubftance, 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, caufe) thine eyes to fly upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themfelves wings, and fly away, as an "cagle towards heaven." In flying to us, faith Auguftine, they have, alas vix quidem pafferinas, fcarce a fparrow's wings; but ia flying from us, wings as an eagle. And those wings they are faid to make to themselves, (i.e.) the cause of its transitoriness is

in itfelf; the creature is fuojected to vanity by fin; they are fweet flowers, but withered prefently, Jam. i. 1o. "As the flow"er of the grafs, fo 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 cafterly blast shrivels it up, 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 overjetting a roof upon fuch a feeble, tottering foundation! We have feen meadows full of fuch curious flowers, mowu 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 phrafe 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 meu, after they have been denuded and blafted by Providence, they begin, after a while, to flourish again; but then comes fome new affliction, and blasts 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 ebt, 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 friend 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 himfelf in his mifery. The story of Bellifarius is very affecting: he was a man famous in his time, general of an army, yet having his eyes put out, and stripped of all earthly comforts, was led about, crying, Date obolum Bellifario. Give one penny to poor Bellifarius. Inftances in hiftory of this kind are infinite. Men of the greatest estates and honours, have nevertheless become the very ludibria fortu nae, as one speaks, the very scorn of fortune.

Yea, and not only wicked men, that have gotten their eftates, by rapine and oppreffion, have lived to fee them thus fcattered by Providence: but fometimes godly men have had their eftates,