Navigation Spiritualized, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
If Sea-men lose a gale, there they may lie:
The Soul, when once becalm'd, in sin may die.
OBSERVATION.
SEa-men 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 flow, or breath, that may be serviceable to them. If a prosperous Gale offer, and they not ready, it repents them to lose it, as much as it would repent us to see a Vessel of good Wine or Beer tapt and run waste.
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 ruine of Souls. God hath given unto men a day of Visitation, which he hath limited, Heb. 4. 7. and keeps an exact account of every Year, Month, and Day, that we have enjoyed it, Luke 13. 7. Ier. 25. 3. Luke 19. 42. The longest date of it can be but the time of this Life: This is our day to work in, Iob 9. 4. and upon this small wyre, 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 19. 44. 2 Cor. 6. 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 is gone from them, and instead thereof a Curse seizeth the Soul, Heb. 6. 7, 8. and Ier. 6. 29.
Therefore it is a matter of high importance to our Souls, to apprehend these seasons. How pathetically doth Christ bewail Ierusalem, upon this account? Luke 19. 42. 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 Sea-men be set a-shore upon some remote, uninhabited Island, with this advice, to be a-board again exactly at such an hour, else they must be left behind: How doth it concern them to be punctual in their time? The lives of those men depend upon a quarter of an hour. Many a Soul hath 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 (being opened in the Gospel-dispensations) hath suffered violence. Multitudes have been pressing into it in my days, and I my self have sometimes been almost perswaded, and not far from the Kingdom of God: I have gone as far as conviction of 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 hath been too subtil 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, setled upon its Lees. Ah! I have cause to fear and tremble, lest God hath left me under that Curse, Rev. 20. 11. Let him that is filthy, be filthy still. I fear I am become as that myrie place, Ezek. 47. 11▪ that shall not be healed by the streams of the Gospel, but given to salt, and cursed into perpetual barrenness. Ah 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. Ah, if I have trifled out this Season, and irrecoverably lost it, then I may take up that lamentation, Ier. 8. 20. 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, Ier. 8. 7. 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!
THE POEM.
A fresh and whisking Gale presents to day,
But now the Ship's not ready; Winds must stay,
And wait the Sea-mens leisure. Well, to morrow
They will put out; but then, unto their sorrow,
That Wind is spent, and by that means they gain
Perchance a Month's Repentance, if not twain.
At last another offers, now they're gone;
But e're they gain their Port, the Market's done.
For every work and purpose under Heaven,
A proper time and season God hath given.
The Fowls of Heaven, Swallow, Turtle, Crane,
Do apprehend it, and put us to shame.
Man hath his season too: but that mis-spent,
There's time enough his folly to repent.
Eternity's before him, but therein
No more such golden hours as these have been.
When these are past away, then you shall find
That Proverb true, Occasion's bald behind.
Delays are dangerous; see that you discern
Your proper seasons. O that you would learn
This Wisdom from those Fools that comes too late
With fruitless cries, when Christ has shut the gate.