Heaven Upon Earth, Declaration 31
XXXI. Experiences of T. R. Mariner.
AT the Age of two and twenty being in the Streights, I was taken by the mercileſs Turks, but the power of the Lord delivered me out of captivity by a miraculous way unexpected; The Lord giving me grace to call on him, gave me a gracious anſwer. That he would never leave me, nor forſake me.
In the War with France, on the Coaſt of Guinea I was taken by a French Man of War, and was greatly afflicted, for want of food and raiment, and other hardſhips which they laid on me, to have turned to their Catholick Religion, yet the Lord ſtill promiſed me, that he would give me a deliverance out of their mercileſs hands; who made good his promiſe to me in a ſhort time, bleſſed be his holy name. After this I went a Voyage to Braſile, and our Ship being laden, we did intend for Portugal, but they detained us a whole year, ſo that our Ship was all eaten with worms, and we were fain to keep pumping for nine months, but the longer the worſe, for in our paſſage homeward we could not tell which death to chuſe, either to ſtarve, or to be drowned, for our Victuals was ſo ſmall, that for one year and more we had no bread in our Ship, but eat the roots of Trees, made into a ſubſtance like Oatmeal, and for Beef, one ounce for a man a day which ſtunk ſo that none could have eat it but men in our caſe; for Drink, we were glad of a pint of water a day during the time of our paſſage, which was ſeventeen weeks; but in this paſſage we ſaw the wonderful works of God, for he ſent us for three weeks in ſeaſonable times, fiſh called Dolphins, ſometimes two or three in a day; And as we grew within three hundred Leagues of the Coaſt of Portugal, and our Proviſion near ſpent, only three or four days left, and all our men ſick, and weak, and almoſt ſtarved, it pleaſed God of his great mercy to ſend us a Ship of Fluſhing, a Man of War, who proved to us as Joſeph, to the children of Iſrael, for they brought us Victuals which ſaved our lives, and after they had taken our Ship, they were fain to put on board forty men to keep her from ſinking, for it pleaſed God that the next day after we had a violent Storm, and a great Sea broke upon her, ſo that we thought ſhe would never have recovered her ſelf again, for our goods did ſhut all to one ſide, and ſo ſhe was ſain to go untill ſhe came to Fluſhing, but we poor creatures were in great peril and danger of our Lives, and yet the Lord comforted me by his Promiſe, That he would bring me to ſhore, and would deliver my life from death, and my eyes from tears; and he hath done graciouſly with me above my deſerts, and inabled me above my ſtrength, and delivered me above my hope, therefore will I praiſe him without meaſure, and magnifie his name without end.
Three years after this being on the Coaſt of Ireland, it pleaſed the Lord to raiſe a violent Storm, and in the morning by the dawning of the day, we were ſo near the Shore, that to mans judgment there was nothing but death approaching, for we knew no place of that Land by reaſon of the Fogg, and Rain that we had all the day, and knew not where to go, but as the Lord, who is the Pilot of Pilots did carry us, untill four a clock at Night, which in December is dark, and then we came to a great high head-land, and a little without that lay a great ſand, ſo that we could not go any other way but betwixt them; being then paſt all hopes of life, we forced her through the Sea, ſo that it brake over our heads, inſomuch that we could not tell whether we were in the Sea or the Bark, but by our feet and hands, for we could not ſee for the violence of the water, only he that was at the Helm: And yet in the ſpace of a quarter of an hour we were in a ſafe place, newly taken out of the jaws of death. So that I of all men have great cauſe to be always rendring thanks to my God, for his continual and moſt ſweet favours unto me, ſinful, wretched, and empty man, void of all ſpiritual goodneſs.
Furthermore, I being after this in a Ship of 300 Tuns lying on the Coaſt of Virginia, wind-bound the ſpace of ſeven weeks, it pleaſed God to viſit our people with the Peſtilential Feaver, and the Callenture, which is a violent Feaver, or Madneſs at firſt, and we had in our Ship two hundred thirty ſive Souls at that time, and it was the will and pleaſure of God that we had a hundred of them ſink at one time, ſo that we had but few to look to the ſick, and were in great want of Proviſions, yet we knew not whether to go; but it pleaſed God to raiſe a great Storm, ſo that a great Sea brake into our main Sail, and we had two foot water between Decks; and our poor ſick people cryed out they were drowned, but within an hour after, by the mercy of God, we had fair weather, and fair wind, and within three or four days God ſet us ſafe on Land, to our great joy and comfort, that before were almoſt paſt hopes, ſo that he cauſed us to ſay with the Prophet David, It was good for me that I was afflicted. And yet have another choice mercy to make known of what God hath done for me, for he hath now called me out of the world, but not out of the Land of the living; he hath alſo opened my eyes, and made clear my underſtanding with Mary, to chuſe the better part; and whatſoever the World, or Satan can caſt upon me, it ſhall all turn to my good; for I know that my Redeemer liveth, and him my Soul deſires to bleſs and praiſe, which I truſt I ſhall do till my change cometh, as God ſhall inable me, and the Lord ſtrengthen my faith.