Legacy to His Friends, Sermon
Acts 27. 18, 19, 20.
18. And being exceedingly tossed with a Tempest, the next day they lightned the Ship.
19. And the third day, we cast out with our own hands, the tackling of the Ship.
20. And when neither Sun nor Stars appeared, and no small Tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved, was then taken away.
IN this Chapter we have a full Narrative of Pauls Voyage to Rome, in all the circumstances of it; it seems Paul kept a Journal, and so Recorded this memorable Voyage for the use of succeeding Generations. 1. We have the occasion of his Voyage, (Viz.) Paul being then a Sufferer and a Prisoner, he appeals to Caesar, and so is sent to Rome, and there bears a faithful Testimony for Jesus Christ, (Vers. 1.) 2. We have the Dangers that occurred in the Voyage, and these are also carefully Commemorated (vers. 9.) Now much time was spent, and Sailing was now dangerous, because the Fast was already past:Lev. 16 29. This was the yearly Fast of the Iews, on which the attonement for all the people was made by the high Priest, in the holy of holies; which day was the 10. of the 7th Month, which partly agreed with our September and October, in which time the Sea was not Sailed in, by the Ancients, until the beginning of March, because of the shortness of the days, and the violence of the Tempests, they were prone to in those Parts, this is the sense of Interpreters upon the place. 1. Danger of the Voyage we read of, is this, the winds were contrary, vers. 4. this is spoken of the Voyage of the Disciples, The winds were contrary. 2. Danger, there arose not only a contrary wind, but a violent wind, called an Euroclydon, (vers. 14.) some read it a Whirle-wind, but it is meant of an East-wind, which raises the Sea mightily. 3. The Tempest was so great and violent upon them, that they were glad to let the Ship drive, (vers 15.)
3. We have not only the, Danger in this Voyage, but their marvelous Deliverance and Preservation; for they came off all of them with their lives, (vers. 44.) the particulars whereof you may see.
In the Text we have three things observable. 1. Their endeavors in this great distress to preserve themselves. 1. They lightned the Ship; and what was it she was laden with? it was Wheat, vers. 38. They lightned the Ship, and cast the Wheat into the Sea; thus did Ionah's Mariners cast out the Wares. Alas, what are these things, but lumber to lives? if it were Gold, it must go for Life. Skin for skin and all that a man hath will be give for his life. Then what should a man give for his Soul? what will a man give in exchange for his Soul? 2. Endeavor; they cast out the Tackling of their Ship; any thing they part with to save their lives, though never so useful to them; even that which was necessary for their Voyage, they are under a necessity to part with it, for the preservation of their lives.
2. We have their Dangers as well as Endeavors. 1. It is exprest in the violence of the Tempest; they were exceedingly tossed with a Tempest. 2. It was dark weather, neither Sun nor Stars appeared, which used to be great comforts and helps to poor men at Sea. 3. Their Danger is exprest in this, they were brought to the brink of the black pit of Despair; all Hope now was taken away. O what a sad distressed condition was this! their Hope, which is called the Anchor of the Soul, yea which is the Sheet-Anchor of the Soul, was lost; they gave all their lives over for gone and lost: And oh, what could now a company of men do that had lost their Hopes and Hearts?Ezek. 37. 11. could these that had lost their Hopes find their hands? they were now saying, as the Jews did in their Captivity, Our Hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts.
3. We have their Deliverance and Preservation, coming in at such a time and season as this was; now that they are brought to an extremity, God makes it his opportunity; and now that all hope of being saved is taken away, salvation will be most seasonable: and now the Angel appears to Paul, and tells him, all their lives are ensured, only the ship shall be lost.
Observations are these:
1. Dangers and Deliverances are to be carefully recorded and remembred; therefore Paul takes an account of both, here in this Voyage.
2. Salvations and Deliverances many times are not sent, until persons be left hopeless in themselves.
I shall speak a little to both these upon this present occasion, that what you read here, may be remarked and remembred.
1. Dangers and Deliverances are to be carefully recorded and remembred. This Observation hath two parts: 1. Dangers are to be remembred. 2. Deliverances are to be remembred.
Thus the Lords poor people used to do in all Ages: When Iacob was in danger of his Brother Esau, you see how he commemorates it, and gives us an exact narrative of it, and tells us how he feared him: Lord, I fear my Brother Esau. How often was David in danger by Saul, Psal. 34. 4.who was his sworn Enemy? and how many Psalms have we, taking occasion to remember what danger he was in, and how comfortably he was brought off: I sought the Lord, 2 Cor. 1. 9, 10.and he heard me; and delivered me out of all my fears. As Paul tells the Corinthians what danger they were in; they were prest out of measure, out of strength, in so much that they despaired of life, &c. And so at Sea as well as Land, he would have dangers remembred; how that they go up to the Heaven one while, and sink into the deeps another; their Soul melted because of trouble, and they at their wits ends,Matth. 14. 28, 29, 30. &c. Peter's danger at Sea is recorded, when he began to sink, and cried out, Master, save me, or I perish: And the Disciples, when they cried out, Carest thou not that we perish? (Mark 4. 38.) It is observed the Ship now was full, and now comes salvation and deliverance. Here was their danger recorded, the Ship was full, and Christ asleep in the hinder part of the Ship.
1. Query is, How Dangers should be remembred?
2. How Deliverances should be remembred?
1. Dangers should be remembred, considering we may come into them again. Many when dangers are not, they sing to their Souls that song, and delude themselves, The bitterness of Death is past; they think they are out of one storm, and they shall never come in such another. Just as persons do with their Sickness at Land, so many do with their Dangers at Sea, if God bring them off: O they grow hardned and secure again. But if God hath brought home one dangerous Voyage, we should think, it may be the next will be as dangerous; Have I escaped one at Sea, one at Land? if I do not improve it, if I do not walk suitable under it, O how easily can God bring me into another. You never were in such Dangers, but you may come to the like again, whether at Sea or Land.
2. Dangers should be remembred with consideration to the greatness of them; great things should be remembred, a great God, great Mercies, great Deliverances, great Sins, and great Dangers. How should we think, O what a Danger was I in at this time by such a Storm at Sea! by such a Sickness ashore not only my Life in danger, but Lord, was not my Soul in danger? was I fit to die at such a time? had I gotten an interest in Christ, if I had been cast away at such a a time? Men think dangers great for their Bodies, but they do not think them so for their Souls; they think them great for their Ships, for their Estates, but they do not think them so for their Eternal conditions; O, had not my Body, Soul, Ship, and all perished together. And was not this a great danger? thy Souls danger was the greatest danger; hadst thou been drowned at such a time, thy Soul had been shipwrackt to all eternity.
3. Dangers should be remembred with consideration to their suddenness; how many times do they come suddenly upon us? As there is sudden fear, so there is sudden danger. When the Lord sends the Winds out of his Treasury suddenly, and threatens men at Sea with sudden destruction, when desolation seems to come as a Whirl-wind, &c. we should think, What if sudden death had come upon me, what a condition was my poor Soul in? what a dreadful thing would it have been if I had been surprised on a sudden, and sent into an Eternal condition, in the twinkling of an eye? I, to be threatned to be swallowed up, only with a formal God have mercy upon thee in thy mouth; not to have time to pray, repent, reflect upon thy past life: O what a sad thing is this?
4. We should think of our Dangers with consideration to the frames of hearts; what frames of heart we were then under. 1. To the frames of our hearts when in our dangers. 2. The frames of our hearts when brought from under them. 1. The frames of heart when in and under them: were not you under great fears and hurries of Soul? it may be, not knowing how it would go with your Souls, if you had gone off the stage of this life at the present. David when he was in danger, took especial notice of the frame of his spirit; Innumerable evils have compassed me about. Psal. 40. 12, 13.He was compassed about on every side with danger; and how was it with him then?Psal. 57. 7. he calls to mind, Mine iniquities have taken bold upon me, so that I am not able to look up. And what then? O see how he prays; Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me. Remember what the frames of our hearts were in our dangers, in reference to our fears; and secondly, what in reference to our faith; so also did David, when pursued in danger by Saul. My heart is fixed, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise. We are to remember our fears under our dangers, that we may be prepared better for future tryals, we are to remember our faith under dangers past, that we may be encouraged for the time to come in after straits.
2. We are to remember our frames of spirit when God brings us out of our dangers; how then we were melted with the present sense of the mercy; as those Israelites, when God brought them out of danger, they believed God, they sang and gave praise; O what resolutions were there then upon the Soul to be given up anew to God; to walk before the Lord in the light of the living. Thus also did David, when brought out of danger; Thy vows are upon me, O God, Psal. 56. 12, 13.&c. and at another time, The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, &c. and thou helpedst me. And then what a frame of heart was upon him? Return unto thy rest, Psal. 116. 6, 7.O my Soul, &c. Then he was all for returning to God: O now there was fresh endearments betwixt the Soul and God. These we are to remember, that we may not wear totally the sense of them off our spirits.
5. We should remember our dangers,2 Cor. 11. 26. with consideration, to the frequency of them; how frequently we were in them. Paul remembred this, in Perills by Sea often, in Perils by the Heathen, &c. O how often have we been near Drowning, near Taking, near Sinking, near Dying, and yet God brought us off; these things we should call to mind often; go out upon dangerous Voyages, and often come home; the oftner and more frequent our dangers, the more should we think upon them.
2. We should Remember our Deliverances, but how? 1. We should Remember them, admiring them; Remember them, so as to admire them; thus did the people of the Iews in Ezra, Who hath given them such deliverance as this? O! they admire it, and write a Non-such upon the Head of it,2 Sam. … as David admired the goodness of God, when he had spoken of his House to come. Is this the manner of men, O God? He was in an holy Extasy of Heavenly-admiration; so should you say now; to carry out, and bring home, in such a dangerous time as this; To hide from Enemies, when sought for in such a time such a Voyage as this: Oh! who am I? and what is my Fathers house, that be should bring me hitherto? You should turn the Deliverance on every side, and admire the goodness of God, the wisdom of God, the mercy of God, the power of God, the faithfulness of God in it, and say, O Lord, what a Deliverance is this? what a Voyage is this? God loves to have his Mercies admired by us.
2. We should Remember our Deliverances, to have our Hearts raised up in gratitude, and thankfulness to God for them; Thus did David, I will pay my Vows unto the Lord, Psal. 116. 12, 13, 14.in presence of all his people: I will take the Cup of Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord. We are to remember to pay our Thank-offerings unto God, after our Deliverance from God: what, forget such a Deliverance as this? what; not be thankful for such a Preservation as this?
3. We should Remember our Deliverances, so as to endear our Hearts to God; Thus we find David, I will love thee, Psal. 18. 1.O Lord, I will love the Lord dearly, (so the Heb.) The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer, &c. O! now how should Souls after their Deliverance, boile, and burn in Love to God! How are we engaged to a Friend that is at any time but an Instrument in Gods hand to Deliver us? and shall we be endeared to the Instrument, and not to the Author? O! how was David endeared to God, when he said,Psal. 56. ult. He having Redeemed him, he would walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living.
4. We should Remember our Deliverances to improve them in a way of acting Faith, when the next danger and straits comes:Psal. 42. 6, 7. I will remember thee from the Land of Iordan, from the Hill Missar. This was to encourage him from his former Deliverances in his future straits and exigencies. What, now distrust God, who hath delivered in six troubles, and now shall we give way to unbelief in the seventh. Did not holy David thus? He hath delivered me out of the Paw of the Lyon, and out of the Paw of the Bear, and he will deliver me out of the hand of the uncircumcised Philistine. 1 Tim. 4. 17, 18.Thus Paul rerembers his Deliverance from Nero. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work.
5. We should remember our Deliverances, to be often inculcating, and imprinting them upon our own hearts alas, when we receive them, they are a little fresh it may be upon our spirits, but ô how soon do they die, because they are not written upon our hearts; they are not engraven their as a man that would Remember a thing, be it a Notion, or any Resolution, he will be often turning it over in his thoughts; alas, if we write our Deliverances, is it not in the Dust? whereas we should write them in Marble: We should write them them with a Pen of Iron, and the point of a Diamond.
1. We should Commemorate our Dangers with our Deliverances, because God gives them to that end. The Lord doth not give us our Deliverances to cast them at our heels, nor brings us out of our Dangers, that we might forget them, as though we never had been in any of them. God expects that we should faithfully Register and Record them; therefore it was a great Provocation to the Lord, that the Children of Israel so soon forgot his works: If you do but forget the kindness of a Friend, you think it is disingenious; but ô then, what is it to forget that God that hath delivered you out of six troubles, and in seven troubles? God loves and expects his kindness should be kept upon Record.
2. We should Commemorate our Dangers and Deliverances, because it was freely of his grace to bring us out of the one, and put us under the other; is it not of his meer mercy that he Rescued and pull'd us out of our dangers? might not we else been swallowed up of them, and may not we all say in this case, as the Psalmist in that?Psal. 124. 4, 5. had it not been the Lord, who was on our side then, the waters had over whelmed us, the stream had gone over our Soul, then the proud Waves had gone over our Soul: may not you sing this Song?Who have been so often delivered at Sea in eminent dangers. what, and now forget such dangers? and cast behind your backs such Deliverances. Oh! the freer any favour is, the more it should be remembred; doth God see any thing in us, or in our families, more then others, to bestow such deliverances for? One man goes to Sea, and he is taken; another goes to Sea, and he is sunk; another goes to Sea, and he dies the Term of the Voyage; and why doth the Lord preserve you? is not this free grace? not because you are more Righteous, but because he is more gracious; and should not this be Remembred?
3. Our Dangers and Deliverances should be remembred, because God hath gracious ends and designs both in the one and the other; What ends hath God to bring us into dangers? 1. He by this hath an end and design to quicken up to duty; it may be there may be some omitted duty, neglected duties often bring men into great and eminent dangers; it may be a Person is convinced of the duty of Prayer, but it may be neglected; oh then God will bring into danger to quicken to duty; oh says God, In their Afflictions they will seek me early. The very Heathen Marriners called out for Prayer in time of danger. Observe it, that Persons convinced of duties, either Personal or Domestical, and yet neglected, God usually whips them to their duties, by one danger, affliction or another. The Proverb is good, if you would teach a man to pray, send him to Sea. 2. God by bringing us into dangers, hath a design upon us to convince of sin; many Convictions hath come in to the Soul at this door; Dangers have often proved inlets to Convictions. Oh! what Convictions have many poor Souls lyen under while in Danger, when it may be the Dangers hath given them a view of Eternity; when Dangers hath presented Death to the man, and Conscience hath cried, Now thou art sinking, now there is but a step betwixt thee and Eternity, betwixt thee and another World? Oh then what Convictions hath the Soul lyen under? and yet it may be when the Danger is over, the Conviction is over too. Well, though we may forget all, yet God remembers all. 3. God hath a design upon us in our Dangers, to prepare us for our latter end. The danger thou art in, & hath escaped, calls for to prepare for thy Death, which must certainly come to pass shortly. God by Dangers would have you prepare for Death: and oh! what a cutting Consideration will this be when thou com'st to die? that thou who hast been in so many dangers by Sea and Land, should have no more learned to die, nor ready to die. Alas, you escaped the last, that you might prepare for the next. 4. God hath a design upon our Graces by bringing us into danger; Danger is to exert and draw forth Grace. Thus the Disciples Dangers at Sea were to draw forth their Faith. Faith and Patience comes most visibly upon the stage in times of most eminent danger. 5. God by bringing us into Dangers, hath a design upon our Souls; he sometimes by danger of drowning the Body, hath saved the Soul, and hath caused it to say, Periissem nisi periissem: I had perished, if I had not perished. Some have escaped shipwrack of Soul by shipwrack of Body; and shall we forget such Dangers, when God hath such gracious designs in them upon us?
2. He drives on gracious ends and designs in our Deliverances, and shall we then forget them? &c. 1. He spares us, that we may account his long-suffering Salvation; he gives, by sparing of us, space to repent; and oh! what a dreadful thing is it not to remember wherefore we are spared and delivered? He gave her space to Repent, but she repented not. The Prisoner is Reprieved that he might sue out his Pardon;Psal. 56. ult. and will he forget the end for which he is Reprieved? 2. He delivers, that we may live to him. Why was David's feet delivered from falling? it was, that he might walk before the Lord in the light of the living. He gives us our lives, that we might give them back again to God.Ier. 7. 10. Men are not delivered from dangers to live to themselves, to live to their lusts, to drink, and swear, and rant, and roar, as a great many poor wretches do. That say as they did, We are delivered to do all these abominations. Psal. 50. 15.3. God hath another end in Deliverance, that we might glorifie him, in paying our Vows to him. I will deliver thee; and what then? when out of trouble never remember it more, cast it behind thy back; O no; And thou shalt glorifie me. He aims at a revenue of glory out of your deliverances. 4. God hath another end in delivering of us; that we might enter into new Engagements, to be more the Lords; as in times of great dangers, there use to be great engagements betwixt God and the Soul; so in times of great deliverances, there are great engagements pass betwixt God and the Soul, new dedications to God; new deliverances, call for new dedications of the Soul to God; now the Soul should be set apart for God more than ever. 5. God hath another end in delivering of us, that we might break off our league with sin; thus it was with them, Shall we break his Commandments, after such great deliverance as this?