The Seamans Companion, Title page – Dedication
THE SEA-MANS COMPANION. WHEREIN The Mysteries of Providence Relating to Sea-men, are opened. Their Sins and Dangers discovered; their Duties pressed; and their several Troubles and Burdens relieved: In Six Practical and Suitable Sermons.
VIZ.
I. The Sea-mans Farewel, from Acts 21. 5, 6.
II. The Sea-man in a Storm, from Psal. 107.23, &c.
III. The Sea-mans Preservative, from Psal. 139.9.
IV. The Successful Sea-man, from Deut. 8.17, 18.
V. The Disappointed Sea-man, from Luk. 5.5.
VI. The Seamans Return, from Deut. 33.19.
By John Flavell, Preacher of the Gospel.
The Lord sitteth upon the Flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King forever, Psal. 29.10.
London; Printed for Francis Titon at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet. 1676.
IMPRIMATUR
April 20. Guil. Jane.
To all Masters, Mariners, and Sea-men, especially such as belong to the Port of Dartmouth, and the Adjacent Parts.
SIRS,
YOur ready acceptation of my former Labors for you, hath incouraged this second and last indeavor of mine this way to serve you. I have for many years been convinced of the great use and need you have of the following Discourses: But the Motives that quickned me to their Publication at this time, were especially these two.
First, The hand of the Lord hath gone forth with terror against you this Winter, many of your Companions are gone down to the bottom. Such a doleful account of Shipwracks from every Coast, and such sad lamentations as have been heard in almost every Maritine Town, cannot but deeply affect every Heart with Sorrow and Compassion, and hath ingaged me in this Service for the remnant that is left.
Secondly, The seasonable and prudent care His Majesty hath at this time manifested for the regulation and preservation of your Newland Trade, and incouragement of your honest industry therein; hath also provoked me to hasten this design, for the regulation of your lives and manners, without which, all external means will signifie but little to your true prosperity.
This little Manual contains the sum of your duty in the several parts of your imployments, and faithfully discovers the Temptations and Dangers attending you in them all. Ʋpon which consideration it is fitly, intituled, The Sea-mans Companion.
As God hath cast my lot among you, so he hath inclined my heart studiously to promote your welfare. I have been by long observation convinced, that one principal cause of your miscarriages, is the neglect of God in your outsets. Did you pray more, you might expect to prosper better. Indeed, if that Epicurean doctrine were true, That God concerns not himself about the affairs of this lower World, but leaves all things to be swayed by the power of Natural causes, your neglect of prayer might be more excusable, but whilest Successes and Disappointments depend upon his pleasure, it cannot but be the most direct course you can steer to ruine all, to forget and neglect God in your enterprises. To cure this evil, and prevent the manifold mischiefs that follow it, the First Sermon is designed. And if the Lord shall bless it to your Conviction and Reformation, I may then comfortably apply the words of Moses to you, Deut. 33.18. Rejoyce Zebulun in thy going out.
You often hear the terrible voice of God in the Storms; and are at your wits end; not knowing what course to take, nor which way to turn for safety and comfort: And yet, how soon are all those Impressions worn off? And those Mercies which (whilest new) were so affecting; after a few days become stale and common? I have therefore in the Second Sermon labored not only to direct and support you in those straights, but have also indeavored to fix the Sense of those Providences upon your Hearts, and instruct you how to make due Improvements of them, by answering the several aims and designs of them.
It hath been much upon my Heart, to what and how many Temptations to sin you are exposed in Foreign Countreys, where lawful Remedies are absent, alluring Objects present, and Temptations exceedingly strengthned upon you, by hopes of secrecy and concealment: And indeed for a Man whose Heart is not throughly seasoned with Religion, and awed by the fear of God, to converse in such places, and with such Company, and not be polluted with their sins, is upon the matter as great a Miracle, as for the three Children to come out of the Fiery Furnace without an Hair singed, or the smell of Fire upon their Garments. I have therefore prepared for you the best preservative from these Temptations in the Third Sermon, which the Lord make an effectual Antidote to your Souls, against the Corruptions that are in the World through Lust.
I have frequently observed the mischievous influence that Success and Prosperity have had upon some of you. How the God of your Mercies hath been forgotten, and his Mercies made instruments of sin against him. How apt are Men to ascribe all to their own wisdom, care, and industry; as if God had no hand in it. The Fourth Sermon therefore leads up your thoughts to the Fountain of all your good, and drops many very seasonable and necessary Cautions upon you, to keep you humble and thankful under Prosperity.
And because Men will not own God in their Success, but sacrifice to their own Net: God often teaches them the evil of it by sad Losses and Disappointments. Yea, Disappointments sometimes follow the best of Men, and that in the most just and honest imployments, to caution the former sort, and support the latter, in such a case I recommend the Fifth Sermon to your serious consideration, not doubting, if the Blessing of God go forth with it, but it may prove a very seasonable and useful discourse to you in that condition.
And lastly, Because it is so common for Sea-men to forget the many Mercies they have received in a voyage, when it is over, and God hath brought them to the Havens of Desire, and among their Relations. I have in the last Sermon instructed them in their duty, and labored to workin such a Sense of Mercies upon their Hearts, as may ingage them to a due and thankful acknowledgment of God in all.
You see by this brief account, how honest the design is in which I have ingaged for you. But I am sensible, that the management is very defective, it being dispatched in haste, and when my hands were filled with other work, and my body clogged with many infirmities. But such as it is, I heartily devote it to the special service of your Souls, and remain
Yours, in all Christian Service John Flavell. Dartmouth, Jan. 21. 1675.