THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF COMMODORE BYRON MCCANDLESS v. % THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OB, LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. DEDICATED TO THE UNITED STATES NAVY, OFFICERS AND SEAMEN OF AMEE- ICAN MERCHANTMEN, AND ALL TRUE-BLUES OF EVERY NATION UNDER HEAVEN; COURSING ON THE HIGH SEAS, LAKES AND RIVERS OF THIS PLANET, OR LAID UP IN ORD'NARY. OF THE OHIO CONFERENCE. ALFRED M. LORRAIN, HIO CONFERENCI _ (Htnrinnati: PRINTED AT THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN, FOR THE AUTHOR. R . P. THOMPSON, PRINTER. 1853. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, BY ALFRED M. LORRAIN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Ohio. PREFACE. IT gives me sincere pleasure to make a few prefa tory remarks to this publication, at the request of the author. Our acquaintance commenced in early life, and soon ripened into a strong friendship which has increased with the lapse of years, and now, being, by the blessing of God, "time-honored," 1^ doubt not will always last. The author of this volume of sermons served an apprenticeship on. the seas, and afterward sailed as an officer for some time, and may well be supposed to have a pretty thorough acquaintance with the usages of mariners. Still, it must appertain to the maritime community to pronounce on the merit of the sermons, as it respects their nautical peculiarity. No doubt many thousands will read these sermons who never had any connection with the seas; such may be assured they will find much to interest, to edify, and to comfort them. The race of man every where takes an especial interest in every thing be longing to the watery world; and it has been owing partly to this, perhaps, that these discourses have been delivered by the author in his itinerant labors, in various parts of our country, with so much eclat and success. Those of our population, who have some knowledge of the affairs of "old ocean," and 3 ' : ~ . 4 PREFACE. they are not a few, have heard them in good faith, and having been much profited, they will rejoice in their appearance in book form. Others have pro fessed to be edified, although they admitted they could not understand many of the phrases used; yet the novelty of the language seemed so to attract and fix their attention, as to prepare them to receive more readily the moral teachings found in the sermons, which are adapted to all classes, and of easy appre hension. Some of this class, however, may meet with technicalities, which might appear to them awk ward, or improperly applied. Others may object to the structure and divisions of the sermons, as not being scientifically correct. The author, in his pri vate correspondence with me, insists "that it is necessary that such readers should bear it in mind, that the work is intended particularly for sailors, whose circumstances differ widely from those on land. The military exercise itself is not the same on shipboard that it is in the tented field; even bread, the staff of life, is there reduced to a flinty temper ament; and if the luxury of milk is enjoyed at all, it must of necessity be of goats, and not of kine." The author claims "that it is not best to encumber with nice divisions and subdivisions a book, the taking up and laying down of which must be frequently determined by wind and weather the fluctuations and shiftings of the dogvane." The reader will perceive that there are ten ser mons, each having an appropriate hymn at the be ginning, and another at the close. The volume is .^^Br?~ . -i -* PREFACE. 5 designed, not only as a companion for the individual, but as a book of devotion: in some sort, to supply the place of a chaplain in the navy, and on board of merchant vessels; for by the help of it, the pray ing man may perform divine service every Sabbath, while navigating the high seas, or lakes. It might be acceptable to the reader to have some brief remarks on the subject and design of each ser mon separately. 1. WONDERS IN THE DEEP. This asserts the im partial regard of the Almighty, in respect to man, whether on the land or on the sea, as displayed in his glorious works of creation, providence, and grace; so that the sailor may not in one mood, say with desponding Jonah, "lam cast out of thy sight;" or, in another, presumptuously maintain, "because I am a poor sailor, subject to so many deprivations and disasters, without the means and appliances of the Gospel, God will mercifully save me, irrespective of moral qualifications." 2. THE ANCHOR. This exhibits the analogy of a literal voyage, and the more important voyage of human life. The anchor has ever been a favorite figure of the Christian, of that hope which maketh not ashamed, and is thus defined in the discourse. 3. ALL HANDS, AHOY! This sermon is devoted to the extent of human salvation: showing that the vilest sinner may, by repentance toward God, and faith in Christ, attain that rest which is realized by the children of God. It was while the author was delivering the substance of this discourse at Colum- *; . j 6 PREFACE. bus, Ohio, many years ago, comparing the case of a sinner to a ship about to be wrecked, a sailor sud denly sprung out into the aisle rushed forward in much confusion, then quickly returned to his seat, under manifest embarrassment. He was asked, shortly after, the cause of his excitement. "Why, sir," said he, "the minister had me out to sea again, before I knew it, and raised a thundering storm. Here she was, bearing down on a lee-shore, and ready to strike on the rocks. Every fellow on board stood gazing, with his flippers in his pockets. What could I do, but rush forward to let go the foresheet? But never a foresheet could I find; for I was still in the church." 4. A VOYAGE TO DAVT JONES'S LOCKER, ETC. This represents Jonah as a striking type of the voluntary sacrifice, and triumphant resurrection of our blessed Savior. It is also a pointed rebuke of those unrea sonable superstitions which some seamen have found ed upon the narrative, and which have sometimes influenced them into a course of conduct toward ministers, very foreign to that character of universal benevolence by which the profession is generally distinguished. 6. THE LEVANTER. This distinguishes between wholesome and useless fears; and is also a running narrative of the disastrous voyage of St. Paul, in which many important, practical truths are illus trated and enforced. 6. SEA-FiGHT.--This is descriptive of the sinner's conflict the flesh warring against the spirit, and the T ; rV' PREFACE. 7 spirit against the flesh. It is partly allegorical; but will be properly esteemed by all who serve on ships of war. 7. RELIEF AT THE HELM. This treats particularly of the sins of the tongue, and the only remedy. It is not only appropriate for a book of sea-sermons, but worthy of the attention of all persons. 8. STORM OF GALILEE. Pointing out the most re markable features, in which our Lord differs from our common human nature. Some very useful doc trines are examined in connection with this subject. 9. SOULWRECK. Warning the Christian of dan gers by the way. 10. SHORT TRIP. A view of the shortness of life, the rapid flight of time, and the certainty of death, as it appeared to Job, under the figure of a swift- sailing ship. Those who have closely observed how a sermon differs with itself when orally delivered, and when presented to the eye in the impressions of cold type, will not expect these discourses to be clothed with the same unction as when they were delivered by the energetic author to crowded congregations, with all his sailor fervor and habitudes. We, however, have good grounds to hope that they will continue to exert much moral power, and be eminently useful in this form, long after the voice of the now living minister is hushed in the silence of the grave. We hope, also, that this book will spread, not only on the seas, but through all lands, especially in our own country, and that its circulation will excite in 8 PREFACE. all Churches a just concern for the vast population of sailors who now not only traverse the seas, but have penetrated the remotest lakes and rivers of our mighty continent. 0, will not all Christians sympa thize with this important and useful class of their race, and by the distribution of this book and other means, labor for their salvation and happiness? "The Square-Rigged Cruiser" is now sent forth, to sail over the world, under the command of the great Head of the Church; and will be accompanied with many prayers that she may make a prosperous voyage, touch at many hearts, and convey to myr iads of precious souls the inestimable "treasures of wisdom and knowledge the unsearchable riches of Christ." JOHN F. WRIGHT. Cincinnati, March 31, 1851. CONTENTS. SERMON I. WONDERS IN THE DEEP. " They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in the great waters ; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep," etc., Psalm cvii, 23-30. Page 15 SERMON H. CREATION'S SHEET-ANCHOR, AND MAN'S BEST BOWEE. "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul," etc., Hebrews vi, 19, 20. 37 SERMON HI. ALL HANDS, AHOY! "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," Matthew xi, 28. 59 SERMON IV. A VOYAGE TO DAVY JONES'S LOCKER AND BACK. " So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What mean est thou, 0, sleeper?" etc., Jonah i, 6. 80 SERMON V. THE LEVANTER. "Saying, Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Csesar," etc., Actsxxvii, 24. 103 SERMON VI. SEA-FIGHT. "0, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river," Isaiah xlviii, 18. 129 9 10 CONTENTS. SERMON m BELIEF AT THE HELM. " Behold, also, the ships, which though they be so great," etc., James iii, 4, 5. Page 156 SERMON YE!. STORK OF GALILEE. "But the men marveled, saying, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the seas obey him?" Matt, viii, 27. 182 SERMON IX. SOULWEECK. "Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck," 1 Tim. i, 19. 203 SERMON X. SHOET TEIP. " They are passed away as the swift ships," Job ix, 26. 232 INTRODUCTION. THERE has been, of late years, a great ref ormation among seamen. Bethels have been established, and chaplains have been appointed in many ports, both at home and abroad ; and many cheering revivals have taken place. We believe that all this has been by the direction of a wise and holy God. When our Savior began to preach his own everlasting Gospel, he chose his principal ministers from the sea. True, it was an inland sea a lake; but, still, it was one of the principal seas of the Lord's chosen nation. And in bringing in the latter- day glory, it is not incredible that seamen should be called to bear an important part. The author of this work spent the morning of his life at sea, both afore and abaft the mast. His heart and his affections still twine around his shipmates. The most vivid and lifelike dreams, that come over him in the slumbers of the night, are dressed in marine scenery. Then he is on board, either as a missionary, or a sailor; but always under a sense of religious obligation. At such times, the motion of the 1! 12 INTRODUCTION. ship, the peculiar odor of the rigging, the saline savor of the Atlantic atmosphere, are all real ized with the most indisputable certainty ; but he awakes, and finds himself securely moored, by domestic associations, in the far west. He reads of their happy meetings of their bright conversions, and would love to mingle in their sincere and artless communion ; but his lot for bids. While he rejoices in the abundant min isterial provision which is made for seamen, while in port, he knows that their brief stay on land is a kind of parenthesis in their being a time of extraordinary excitement of meeting and greeting of connections and friends, if not a time of indulgences less innocent. Perhaps there is no time when the sailor is so accessible to the Gospel, as when he is at home on the mountain-wave. Then he is removed from many powerful temptations, and the sober re alities of life fall on him. Then he has oppor tunity, in his watches below, to read, and to meditate on religious truths. We can hardly look forward to any time, when every vessel can be supplied with a living minister. These considerations have moved the author to put out this small volume. It might serve as a pocket-companion for the sailor. It is, however, so designed as to be an auxiliary to the pious captain, in holding religious service on the INTRODUCTION. 13 Sabbath. He thought, at first, of having a prayer at the beginning and ending of each sermon; but on reflection, it seemed to him that praying to God is coming to close quarters, like throwing out our grappling-irons, when it is best for all hands to lean on their own re sources. The Lord loves the warm and sincere prayer, that comes from a contrite heart, "Though thought be broken, language lame." The author sends forth this volume, humbly imploring the God of the land and the sea, to follow it with his blessing, and to make it use ful to many, " When his poor, lisping, stammering tongue, Lies silent in the grave." ALFRED M. LoKBAEsr. Point Harmar, 0., March 4, 1851. *' THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OK, LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. SERMON I. WONDERS IN THE DEEP. THOSE who frequent the dangerous main, In quest of pleasure, health, or gain, Should deeply on their minds record, The wondrous blessings of the Lord. He oft commands the furious winds, To scourge them for repeated sins; The obedient winds his will perform, Unite, and swell the gathering storm. The shattered vessel, to the blast, Resigns her rigging, sails, and mast, And 'fore the unbridled gale is borne, With squalls and billows scathed and torn. Sometimes she caps the stormy scene; Sometimes she, hopeless, sinks between Enormous seas, which wildly spread Their foaming horrors o'er her head. And now, the deeply-chastened crew, Their guilty course with sorrow view, And fainting at the threat'ning roar, They languish for the distant shore ; While on their humbled, staggering knees, To heaven they send their noisy pleas ; And loud, from every rocking wave, They cry, "O, Lord, in mercy save!" 16 16 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, The Lord, in pity, hears them plead, And bids the frightful gale recede Sends milder breezes to escort, And waft them to their destined port. O, that the safely-landed crew, To God, would render praises due ; Still fear and serve him on the shore, And wander from their Lord no more ! " They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in the great waters ; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep," etc., PSALM era, 23-30. SOME seamen seem to think, that because they are seamen, and are exposed to extraordinary dangers and privations, in this world, they will not be judged like other men; and that the Lord will save them, merely because they are poor sailors. Our text conveys a different idea. It shows us that God ex ercises an impartial government over the children 6f men. Having formed the sea, as well as the dry land, his jurisdiction is extended over both. His works are manifest to all, and all are left without excuse. " They that go down to the sea in ships " captains, officers, seamen, passengers, and all who go to sea, whether for pleasure, health, or gain ; these see the works of the Lord. I. The works of creation. In traversing the ocean, we do not meet with ,as great a variety of scenery, as we do in traveling on the land. There are no verdant mountains and flowery vales; no frightful precipices and gloomy dells. But the prospect, at sea, is by no means a dull uniformity. It is consid erably varied and diversified, by weather, and dif- - -.. . ' . ft' LORKAIN'S !SEA-SKKMONS. 17 ferent grades of wind ; from the gentle zephyr, that slightly ruffles the surface, to the raging tempest, that dashes the foaming billows to the skies, till all seems to be tumbled into lawless, but sublime con fusion. And my mind has never been more over powered, by the grandeur of creation, than when I have been clinging, a giddy sailor-boy, at the mast head, almost identified with the driving tempest. If, on the land, we are pleased with the animated works of God, from the tall elephant that roves through the forests of Africa, to the smallest insect that creeps beneath our feet, we are no less delighted with the living wonders of the great deep. Hear the account which our Creator himself gives of the mighty king of floods: "The arrow cito not make him. flee. Sling-stones are turned, with him, into stubble. He laugheth at the shaking of a spear. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot of ointment. He maketh a path to shine after him. One would think the deep to be hoary. Upon the earth there is not his like, who is made without fear." Yes, we have ample . room for observation: from the monstrous whale, Avho spouts his pride to the heavens, down to the restless flying-fish, that is scarcely satisfied with the enjoyment of two elements. Observe the little nautilus. Although it scarcely borders on animation, yet, furnished with sail and rudder, it navigates the seas, with a precision which would beggar the calculations of a Hamilton Moore. When driven by storms from the latitude of its na tivity, it beats its passage back to its sacred home. c> 18 THE SQUARE-RIGGSD CRUISER; OR, Where is the ship, that can lie so near the wind? Where the crew, that can make and take in sail with such facility? The "wonders of God," also, are seen on the sea, as well as on the land. We have not time, here, to dwell on all the won ders of the great deep. We might give the water spout as an example. For several years we had an opportunity of observing the singular operations and freaks of this great phenomenon. But while on a voyage to New Orleans, we were brought into a very close and dangerous investigation of this wonder of the deep. Our attention was arrested by a little dark cloud to windward, by its remaining perfectly stationary, notwithstanding considerable breeze was stirring at the time. Presently, a black streak shot down from it, and, winding about in a tortuous, ser pentine manner, it fastened upon the waters; it then began to swell and enlarge, till it seemed to be about the size of our mainmast. In the mean time, the cloud spread wider, and grew blacker. Presently the spout withdrew from the sea, slowly winding up like a corkscrew. But so great was the suction, that the water rose, and followed it to a consider able hight, and presented to the eyes of the admir ing crew, the novel spectacle of a watery mound. In a few moments it returned, lean and meager, as at the beginning, and fastened with increased greed iness on the w*ter, and continued to draw and swell, till failing gradually, at its junction with the cloud, it fell into the sea. The cloud, now loosened from its anchorage, rolled swiftly and majestically over LOKRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 19 our heads, to the no small relief of all on board; for I never knew an incident at sea to excite a more intense and painful interest. For my part, I could not help exclaiming, "Surely, some angelic agent of heaven is concealed behind that cloud, executing, with a masterly hand, the orders of the upper world!" The whole operation appeared so mechanical, that it seemed to me as though we had intruded into one of those secret places of the Almighty, where he prepares the refreshing showers, to water and revive distant mountains. But the wonders of the Lord, displayed on the deep, are great and many; and well might the poet exclaim, . " Shout to the Lord, ye surging seas, In your eternal roar ; Let wave to wave resound his praise, And shore reply to shore." II. They see the work of divine Providence. The work of providence is as great as the work of crea tion. It requires as much power to uphold and sustain all things, continually, as it did to create them. There are some who acknowledge a general, but deny a particular providence. They believe that God superintends the rise and fall of nations that he has something to do with victories and de feats the destruction of fleets and armies; but they do not believe that he interferes with the private concerns of individuals. Now, what would we think of that man, who would acknowledge the existence of a ship, and at the same time deny the beams, timbers, spars, and rigging, that constitute the ship? *.. *'* 20 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, Who does not see that a general providence is made up of particulars? It is said by objectors, that it is degrading to the character of the supreme Being to suppose that he will condescend to notice small matters, while he has such an immense universe to manage. But this is rather a reflection upon his in finite perfection. It is true that a man, however great he may be, can not attend, properly, to more than one thing at a time; and this is a consequence of his imperfection his limited and finite powers. And to suppose that the Almighty can not attend to small things, because he has so many worlds to gov ern, is to make him like one of us. How much more sublime is the doctrine of the Bible, that while with one glance he takes in the universe, the smallest particle that is floating in the atmosphere does not escape his attention; the hairs of our head are all numbered, and not a sparrow can fall to the ground without his notice! An infidel once overtook a shepherd going to Church. "Well, my man," said he, "where are you going?" The good man replied, "To the church to worship God." "What, do you expect to find God in a house?" said the infidel, and added, "How big, or, rather, how little do you suppose your God to be?" The humble Christian, stretching forth one of his hands toward the skies, and laying the other on his bosom, solemnly exclaimed, "My God is so great, that the heaven of heavens can not contain him; and yet he is so small, that he condescends to dwell in my poor heart." LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 21 Again: others have contended that the devil has the command of the winds. To prove this, it has been said, that he is called, in the Scriptures, the prince of the power of the air. After all that has been said on that passage, we are not convinced that it means any thing more, than that the malign and powerful influence of the devil is diffused abroad among the children of disobedience, as the atmos pherical air pervades the creation. We admit, that when the Lord is about to execute the strange work of judgment, he sometimes employs evil spirits, and that because the work of destruction is more agree able to them, than it is to the pure and holy ones, who love to fly on errands of mercy, and to wait on those who shall be heirs of salvation. The Lord once gave the devil the command of the wind for a little while, for the purpose of afflicting Job; but even then he had his restrictions: "Thus far sh alt thou go, and no farther." But whether good or evil spirits are employed, our text shows that it is the Lord who stands at the helm it is "he who com- mandeth and raiseth the stormy winds, that lifteth up the waves thereof." And let no man rob the sailor of this comfort; for if, in the midst of the ragings of the tempest, the devil is to have his trick at the wheel, we might well exclaim, "Woe to the inhabitants of the sea!" We might know, moreover, that it is the Lprd who " commandeth," from the circumstance of the gale generally coming on in such a merciful and gradual manner, as to afford the skillful captain an 22 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, opportunity to prepare to meet its violence. He generally has premonitory symptoms of its coming. First, he reluctantly takes in his light sails. But, as the wind increases, he is under the necessity of reefing, double-reefing, and close-reefing. Now, they send down their top-gallant-yards and masts; and, perhaps, the hands have scarcely reached the decks before they are ordered up to hand the top sails. " Now it freshens! Set the hraces; Quick the top-sail sheets let go I Luff, boys, luff! don't make wry faces; Up the top-sails nimbly clew !" Sometimes they are under the necessity of send ing down the top-sail-yards, and housing the top masts. We were once in a gale, when we had to lower down our mainyard and lash it athwart the beam, while the ship scudded under bare poles. Sometimes it gets worse still, and they have to cut away the masts. But the gale becomes a perfect hurricane, and all hope of being saved is entirely taken away. This is about the situation which is described hi our text. " They are at their wits' end." They have come to the end of all their knowledge in seamanship and navigation. " They mount up to heaven; they go down again into the deep." Now "their souls are melted, because of trouble." The active sailor can scarcely keep his feet. " They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man." Every moment they expect to sink into a watery grave. The voice of cursing and blasphemy is hushed. In silent anguish they gaze LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 23 upon each other, in "sad presage." The faithful captain, still true to his charge, addresses them in language like this: " Well, my brave boys, you have done your duty like men. You have my thanks; and this is all I can give you in this moment of extremity. All has been done that man or seaman ship can do." And then, after a solemn pause, he adds, "There is one, and but one, expedient left;" and, raising his voice in all the agony of humbled nature, he exclaims, "Muster aft all hands! Douse your tarpaulins, and let us call on the great God!" My Lord! is it come to this? "Bend sinews; bow knees; help, Lord!" " Then call they upon the name of the Lord." The cries, the groans, the shrieks of the unhappy crew, rise superior to all the bowlings of the tempest; and He who rides upon the wings of the careering wind " looks down in mercy on the feeble toil of mortals lost to hope," and "delivers them out of all their distresses." Instances of such deliverance are too numerous to record. Indeed, in many cases, the Lord has arrested the sea, in all its rage of tempest, and has, emphatically, turned the storm itself into a calm; and that in the most astonishing and miraculous manner. " Then are they glad, because they be quiet." And, truly, there is no mere earthly joy superior to that which is realized by men who have been thus providentially delivered from a watery grave; and that my soul right well knows. Well might we add, " 0, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful dealings 24 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, with the children of men!" For, when brought safely to the desired haven, they too often express their joy by acts of sin, by spending their substance 'among harlots, and in riotous living, and drive on in their downward career to ruin, as if hell kicked them on end. 0, sinner, pay unto the Lord your vows, and sin against his throne no more! III. They see the work of divine grace. The work of grace has been experienced on the high seas, almost for time immemorial. In ancient times it used to be said, " Would you teach your boy to pray? send him to sea." But, for generations past, sailors have been proverbial for wickedness. They were so, when we followed the sea. But, even in that dark day, we saw, here and there, a traveler to Mount Zion. They were lights in a dark place, and were, "like angels' visits, few and far between." Lately there has been a great revival among sea men. It is not uncommon to find religious officers and religious sailors. On some vessels, they have their regular morning and evening prayers. Classes have been formed, even in the navy. May God revive his work still more, till every ship shall become a chapel, every officer a minister of Christ, and every sailor a temple of the blessed Spirit! Glory to God! the night is far spent, and the day is at hand! We know that it is the fourth watch of the night; for Jesus is walking triumphantly on the seas. But, it may be asked, how does the work of grace loom on the seas? There are different ideas concerning it there, as well as on the land. Some LORRAIN'S SEA-SEKMONS. 25 think that it is the sovereign work of God, in which the moral agency of man has no concern. Others go into the opposite extreme, and think that man possesses natural powers, by which he may prepare himself for the joys of an endless life. These two extremes are equally false equally ruinous. Scrip ture and experience show us a middle course, and here we have plain sailing. There are some things in the great work of religion which are wrought by the sovereignty of the Almighty, regardless of the will of man, and sometimes in direct opposition to his will. There are other things which are required of man, quickened, as he is, by the grace which bringeth salvation. 1. Conviction is the sovereign work of God, and, because it is his work, man is not commanded to do it. But the word of God plainly shows that the Holy Spirit will do this. He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come. 2. Eepentance and faith are fairly referred to man, the Lord having endued him with power to act. Hence, it is said, "Repent ye, and be con verted." This is a work which God, in the nature of things, can not do, and which he has never promised to do, for man. 3. Regeneration, or the entire renewal of our nature, in the image of Him who created us, is a work which nothing but almighty Power can per form. Now for an illustration. God has something to do even in navigation; so has man. Man can hoist 26 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISEK; OB, his sails, board tacks, and gather aft; but, after all this, he can not raise the wind; and, when it is raised, he can not make it veer and haul to suit his purpose. If he labors and toils with all his strength, and the Lord withholds the breeze, he can make no headway. On the other hand, if the most favor able breezes should be sent, and man should remain entirely inactive, with his hands in their brackets, still there would be no sailing. But when the indus trious seaman has done his duty, set all sail, and trimmed his yards, then he may raise his imploring eyes to heaven, and say-^ " Be gracious, Heaven ! for now laborious man Has done his part; ye fostering breezes, blow !" But let us illustrate the work of grace by our text. 1. Conviction. " The Lord commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind." Man, previous to con viction, is involved in an awful, deceitful calm; such a dead calm, that he is said to be dead in trespasses and in sins. His soul is not ruffled by temptation; for he yields to the sweeping stream. It is easy to drift with the tide. His ignorance of divine things, too, is also a fruitful source of false peace and tranquillity. " He who knows nothing, fears nothing." He is fast asleep on the bosom of carnal security. But when the light of God breaks into his mind, and discovers to him the holiness of God, the purity of his law, and the wretched, fallen con dition of the sinner, there ariseth an awful conflict within; a dreadful storm is sprung in the soul. The LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 27 sinner is torn and agitated by the tempest of Divine conviction. The Lord has his own way in "raising the stormy wind." He struck Saul to the ground, as with a flash of lightning. Peter, James, and John he called with a still, small voice, " Follow me." These calls were equally successful. It requires more power to awaken some than to awaken others. So it is in natural sleep. When we call all hands, on board, some will start, at the first alarm, and spring from their berths, in full possession of all their faculties; while others must be dragged from their nests, and shaken powerfully before they can be fully aroused. It is not, then, the manner, but the fact, which we inquire into. Have you been convinced that you are a sinner in the sight of God, exposed to the wrath of Heaven, and in danger of eternal fire? If so, it makes little difference whether this has been done by a sermon, a shipwreck, a flash, of lightning, or a still, small voice; the Lord hath done it. 2. Repentance. The sinner who yields to con viction repents. " His soul is melted within him, because of trouble." He is troubled at his situation. He finds himself tossed on the frightful billows of sin, every moment in danger of eternal shipwreck. He is troubled, because he has sinned against so good a God. And, under the influence of divine grace, the Holy Spirit giving him a good will, he begins to haul in his light sails of vanity. But still the storm increases; the tempest of condemnation bears down heavy upon him. "He has come to his 28 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, wits' end." Yea, "he staggers to and fro, like a drunken man." Sometimes, by a. flow of hope, he is lifted up to heaven. Again he sinks down into the deeps of despair. He now douses every sail of opposition; lets fly the last rag of self-righteousness; lays to, under bare poles, a poor, helpless, self-con demned, and dependent sinner. " Then calls he upon the name of the Lord." Here we would call the sinner's attention particularly to the duty of prayer. Some will say, " God is unchangeable; and how can we hope that our feeble prayers will move him from his purpose?" True, God is unchange able; that is, in his character, and in all his glorious attributes. He is unchangeably holy, merciful, just, and true; and he can not so change as to become unholy, cruel, unjust, and false. But, were we to say that he does not change, in regard to his deal ings with men, we would contradict his own decla ration: "Thus saith the Lord, At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, to pluck up, to pull down, and destroy it. If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them." An extraordinary case of this kind you will find in the people of Nineveh. The designs of God, con cerning an individual, may change as often as the individual changes his moral relation to God; and that, too, without the character of God changing. If the Lord should love a man to-day because he is righteous, and should continue to love him to-mor row, after he has become wicked, then, indeed, LORKAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 29 would the whole character of God be changed. He would love righteousness to-day and love sin to morrow. When a ship is engaged in lawful com merce, under the American flag, all the laws of our country will protect and defend her. But let that ship turn, and become a pirate, and take to herself a roving commission to sink, burn, and destroy, and in one moment all the laws of the land will be lev eled against her, and our men-of-war would pursue her from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in order to bring her to condign punishment. And would he not be a poor, simple lubber, who should say, "How have the laws of the United States changed! Yes terday they protected us. Yesterday the American frigates would have convoyed, and fought for us, to the ends of the earth; but now, behold! they are chasing and taking us as lawful prizes!" The laws have not changed. They read to-day as they did yesterday. But the ship has changed her relation to the government, and the laws have, consequently, changed in their operation on fier. So the character and attributes of the Lord change not; but they act on vacillating man, according to his moral posi tion tribulation and anguish to every soul that doeth evil; but to him who seeketh honor and immortality, eternal life. Now, it is on this immutability of God's char acter that AVC found and predicate all our hopes that he will hear and answer prayer. We argue that he is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; and, inasmuch as he, in times past, heard and answered 30 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CKUISEKJ.OK, the prayers of men, he will still hear and answer. Is the Lord's arm shortened at all, that he can not save? Is his ear heavy, that he can not hear? Then pray earnestly, believe firmly, and the Lord will deliver you out of all your troubles. In answer to prayer, his providence will save you from a watery grave. In answer to prayer, his grace will save you from the lake of fire. How appropriate the song of Bishop Heber! " When through the torn sail the -wild tempest is streaming, When o'er the dark wave the red lightning is gleaming, Nor hope lends a ray the poor seaman to cherish, We fly to our Maker, ' Save, Lord, or we perish !' 0, Jesus, once rocked on the breast of the billow, Aroused, by the shriek of despair, from thy pillow, Now seated in glory, the mariner cherish, Who cries, in his anguish, ' Save, Lord, or I perish '.' And, 0, when the whirlpool of passion is raging, And Sin in our breasts his wild warfare is waging, Then send down thy grace, thy redeemed to cherish ; Rebuke the destroyer: ' Save, Lord, or we perish!' " 3. Justification and regeneration. " He bringetk them out of all their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still." The Spirit of God moves on the dark waters of the soul, and says, "Peace, be still!" and there is a great calm. The sinner is justified freely, born of God, renewed in the spirit of his mind, and all his jarring conflicts are hushed to rest. He is filled with holy joy. New views, new motives, new feel ings spring up within the soul, and the storm of con viction is turned into a holy calm. " Then is he glad." How can he be otherwise? If sailors feel LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 31 glad when delivered from shipwreck, may not sin ners rejoice when snatched from a gaping hell? Yes, they are exceedingly glad. They often shout for joy. And even when they do not, if you could see their hearts as God sees them, you would see nothing but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. They are mistaken who suppose relig ion to be gloomy. What! gloomy, to be delivered from the wrath to come? gloomy, to have the approbation of God, and the testimony of a good conscience? O, no! this would make a devil happy, if he could have it. If he could be delivered from a guilty conscience, and could taste the pardoning love of God, he would shout the high praises of the Lord, and shed a halo of glory through the most benighted caverns of damnation. 4. Glorification. " And the Lord bringeth them to the desired haven." When I was a little sailor-boy, it seemed to me that the day on which we arrived was the happiest day of all the voyage. The change in our fare, and in our employment; the fragrant breezes, that swept over the orchards and meadows, and met us on the way; the delightful scenery; the singing of the birds on the banks of the river; the vivacity of all hands, tended to tran- quilize our minds, and fill our hearts with joy. And who can describe the meeting of friends, and the interest which even strangers took in our arrival? But what is all this in comparison with the happi ness which will attend the arrival of a tempest- beaten soul in glory! There are many in our Amer- 32 THE SQUAKK-RIGGED CRCISEK; OR, ican ports who have emigrated from England, Ire land, Germany, and other countries. Sometimes these hear that some of their dear friends are about to weigh anchor, and follow them to this land of liberty. What an excitement this news generally creates! How anxiously they watch every arrival! Presently it is reported, there is another ship in the offing. The news spreads through the city, and the inhabitants pour down to the wharf. All is anxiety while the vessel enters into port. Every eye is strained, every spy-glass leveled. How they watch the movement of every yard, the touch of every buntline, the walk, the gestures of every one on board! Now the swelling canvas bears her on. She rushes toward the silent crowd. Now they let fly their top-sail halyards; clew up their courses; the splashing anchor tumbles from the bow; soon the bounding jolly-boat makes for the wharf; and now they are bowsing her in, with a hearty " Yo-he-vo!" My soul! my soul! there is a scene which a seraph might riot in! Wives and husbands are clasped together. Parents and children rush into each other's arms. True, they weep; but they weep tears of joy. Even strangers feel the glow; while tears of sympathy flow down the cheeks of the weather-beaten sailor. Well, my hearts of oak, some of our relations and messmates have emigrated. And where to? Glory to God! to a better country than America! They have gone to heaven; to the land of rest; the saint's delight; the haven desired by all way-worn LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 33 pilgrims. It has long been a matter of dispute, in the Church, whether heaven is a state, or place. Some think that it is a state, and that our disem bodied friends are all around us. We believe that it is a place a place of habitation. But is it not probable that, when our friends die and go to heaven, they are permitted to give some informa tion of our spiritual welfare in this world, to those whom we love? If so, when some of your afflicted classmates shall shoot the solemn gulf, and arrive at home, and some of your celestial friends, and bright and happy spirits, who are looking out for you to come, shall begin to inquire of your state, they may answer, and say, "0, they will soon be here! When I left the earth, they had their signal up for sailing. The doctor had given them up. Death was about to sign their clearance. They will soon be here. Rest quietly a few moments, under the altar, till they have finished their testimony." O, what joyful news will it be to our friends on the other side of the flood! Our kindred on earth will weep around our dying bodies; but there will be joy in heaven. And 0, my brethren, will you permit my religious fancy to soar a region higher in the contemplation of this glory? For now methinks I hear the look-out angel on the hill of Zion cry out, with a voice of seven-fold thunder, " Sail ho! sail ho! There is a sail in the ofiing. It is the packet of death. I see her signal; and she is crowded with passengers!" O, my shipmates, the news will spread like lightning through the gold-paved streets of the New Jeru- 3 34 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OB, salem! Now the bright and glittering inhabitants pour down to the beach of eternity. And here she comes! Alleluiah! Not dependent on the sluggish winds of time; but, as quick as the nimble lightning shoots athwart the skies, she rushes to the strand. Ah! there is the landing-place; the sea-shore that is sanded with gold dust, and graveled with diamonds, and all manner of precious stones! And, 0, there will be shouting! shouting! shouting! on the banks of an endless life! Parents and children there will meet will meet to part no more. Wives and hus bands, captains and sailors, preachers and people, there will meet will meet to part no more. This is no fiction. For just such a harbor has God pre pared for his weather-beaten Church. In the time of Zion's deepest affliction, when wave after wave beat over her bows, the Lord addressed her with all the tender solicitude of a husband, " 0, thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy foundation with sapphires; thy gates with agate; all, all thy borders with precious stones!" The Lord convicts, and when the sinner repents and believes, he converts and sanctifies. But some may say, " This repenting, and praying, reading, fasting, and watching, is hard work, and we are discouraged from undertaking it." We would ask if heaven and eternal life are not worth the struggle? See the sailor, entering on board a ship, to perform a dangerous and difficult voyage! He knows he will toil many sleepless nights on deck; that he will have dangerous duties to perform; and, LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 35 probably, pine away for days on short allowance. Yet he has an eye to the reward; and when he arrives, and receives his wages, and has a few days' liberty on shore, he foi-gets his troubles, and is sat isfied. Shall we thus labor for the thino-s that O perish? and shall we consider heaven not worth an effort? O, how well will all be rewarded who enter into the service of Christ! He will bring them to the desired port, and pay them off; not with a few perishing shiners; but with crowns of glory, palms of victory, durable riches, and all the indescribable blessings of the world aloft. And they will have an eternity of liberty, to range the blest fields on the banks of the river; and Christ will say, " Come, ye blessed of my Father; your voyage is over; your warfare is accomplished; enter ye into the haven of your God!" "When wrapped in the shadows of night, The sinner reposes at ease, A stranger to heavenly light, His calm is not broke by a breeze. But when on the waters, so dark, The spirit of righteousness blows, The storm overwhelms his frail bark, And shatters his guilty repose. Now, sinking with anguish, he rends The lowermost hell of despair ; Now, lifted by hope, he ascends, And the heavens re-echo with prayer. For mercy, for mercy he calls Self-righteousness justly abhorred; Like a drunkard, he staggers, and falls At the feet of his crucified Lord. 36 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, The tempest is hushed to a calm, And mercy from heaven descends, While a reconciled God, through the Lamb, An unmerited pardon extends. The soul with salvation is clad, While the angels such mercy applaud ; The justified sinner is glad, And shouts, 'The salvation of God!'" LORRAIN'S SEA-SKKMONB. 37 SERMON II. CREATION'S SHEET-ANCHOR AND MAN'S BEST BOWER. JESUS, our Anchor firm, abides Within the heavenly vail ; At -which Creation safely rides ; While Time exhausts its gale. The Christian's hopeful anchor, too, Within the pier is cast, And, locked in th' eternal flue, Defies the mundane blast. Though angry devils rage and roar, With tempests loud and dark ; Yet Christ, our pilot, will secure The weather-beaten bark. And as the tide of time shall swell, Death, with his active crew, Will man the rattling windlass well, And heave us safely through. Yes, through the pearly gates we'll pass: Escape these lower gales, And, on the eternal sea of glass, Spread our immortal sails ! With the once-scattered squadron meet, That sailed in the convoy ; And join the whole refitted fleet, And swell the general joy. There, in the heaven-protected dock, We'll store our tears away: We'll bowse our sorrows all ablock, And for full due belay. 38 THE SQUARB-RIGGED CRUISER; OK, * This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the Tail, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus," HEBREWS vi, 19, 20. WHEN our Lord was in this world, preaching his own Gospel, he generally addressed his congrega tions in the language, or phraseology, to which they were accustomed. When speaking to such as were engaged in agriculture, he compared the kingdom of heaven to a man who went out to sow seed. When describing the same kingdom to fishermen, he likened it to a net cast into the sea. To persons employed in household matters, he said the kingdom of heaven is "like a little leaven which a woman hid in three measures of meal, till the whole became leavened." After the ascension of our Lord, his inspired apostles pursued the same judicious method. They sometimes represent the Christian's conflict in this life as a race. "In a race all run. Let us run with patience the race set before us." Sometimes they call it a warfare: " The weapons of our warfare are not carnal." In our text, the apostle uses the language of a sailor: "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul." In explaining this text, we will attend principally to the analogy of the subject. Indeed, there is a very striking analogy existing between a literal voy age on the high seas, and the more important voyage of human life. In the former, we have our storms and our calms. Sometimes not a solitary breath of air ruffles the smooth expanse all is lovely and LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 39 tranquil. At other times the mustering clouds begin to gather over our heads,- the lightnings flash, the thunder rolls, the foaming billows rush, like mount ains, to the skies; and the distressed mariner expects every moment to be swallowed up in the deep and dark abyss. Just so in human life. Sometimes all is placid and calm not a wave of trouble rolls across the peaceful breast, to disturb the -even tenor of the mind. At other times the dark and scowling clouds of adversity arise the chilling blasts of pov erty blow heavy squalls of temptation descend; and the poor voyager through life is ready to sit down in sorrow, and let the waves of despair over whelm him. But let us trace the voyage through. 1. When a ship is about to put out to sea, it is necessary to have what is called a good "depart ure" the true bearings, and distance of the cape, or headland, which she is about "to leave; for, if the departure is incorrect, the consequence will be that the reckoning will become more and more erro neous every day, and, in the absence of clear weath er, may involve the navigator in a series of difficul ties, from which he may not easily extricate himself. So, also, it is necessary that souls, who have to prosecute the voyage of human life, should have a good departure. By this we mean a liberal and pious education. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." We knew a man who, in his lisping child hood, was guilty of one oath, which was overheard by his father, who promptly gave him a severe chas- 40. THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, tisement; and, although he afterward traversed the seas for several years, in a ship which the crew themselves familiarly called a floating hell, and al though he fell into many wicked practices, yet he was never heard, in all his wanderings, to use pro fane language again. Those who have a religious departure, possess a signal advantage over all others who are navigating life's dangerous seas. This is particularly offered to parents, and guardians, who are in charge of young, but deathless spirits. 2. It is necessary that a ship should be furnished with a chart, to direct her in her voyage. By a chart, we mean a marine-map, on which all the cur rents, isles, rocks, shoals, and dangers, which are connected with the sea about to be navigated, are accurately laid down; so that the skillful captain can spread it out, and with his scale and dividers mark the several courses and distances which he has run, so as to have his whole voyage, in miniature, before him. And he can see, at one glance, the re lation in which he stands to every object around him. The immortal soul must, also, have a chart. The necessity of such a chart almost proves its existence. We see that all things around us are governed by law. The planets, which roll in majestic splendor over our heads, although they are continually per forming their annual and diurnal revolutions, are so governed by the attractive and repulsive laws of heaven, that they can not possibly come in contact with each other, or infringe upon the smallest parti cle of matter that is afloat in all the extensive empire LORKAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 41 of God's dominions. The brute creation is governed by the laws of instinct. And be these laws what they may, they have come from God. The ox know- eth his master, and the ass his owner's crib. The faithful dog starts at the first approach of the robber, and sounds the alarm in his master's ears. The beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, are all continually doing their duty, and answering the special purposes for which they were created. And can we suppose that the Lord would thus instruct all the meaner creation, and make man ifest, even to the most loathsome reptile, his duty, and at the same time leave man the noblest work manship of his hand he who bears the stamp and impress of the Deity on his front who walks with countenance erect, and eyes on heaven "He for whose sake all nature stands, And stars their courses move" leave him, I say, at the head of the lower creation, grasping the reins of universal government in his hands, without a compass to direct, or star to guide him, through all the dreary paths of human life? No; man has a chart a precious chart; and that chart is the Bible. This is a perfect chart. Com mon charts are hardly ever perfect. They are some times drawn wrong; and when drafted right, typo graphical errors occur in the publication. But "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." This chart is right, and a sure directory, and can be implicitly depended on. "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the testimonies of the 42 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISEK; OR, Lord are sure, making wise the simple." Moreover, the Christian's chart is a clean and pure chart. It often happens that when a literal chart is tolerably correct, it is soiled, or chafed, by use, so that it is difficult to trace, and portions of it are entirely de faced; but it is not so with the law of God man's best chart. "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening; .... the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever." 0, it is a valuable a sweet chart! "more to be desired than gold; yea, than much fine gold; sweeter, also, than honey, or the honeycomb." In this glorious chart, all the rocks, shoals, quicksands, sins, and propensities, on which it is possible for an immortal soul to founder, are carefully laid down, so that the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein. " Most wondrous book bright candle of the Lord ! Chart of eternity ! The only chart By which the bark of man can navigate The sea of life, and gain the port of bliss." 3. A chart would be of little service on board, without a compass. A compass is a circular card, on which all the points of the horizon are marked. The north point, which is distinguished by a fleur de Us, or some other ornament, is fixed in such a rela tion to the magnetic needle, that when the card is left to revolve freely, the northern point will be di rected toward the north pole. By the help of this compass, the helmsman can steer to any point in the horizon; and, although he may steer wildly, or, as the sailor would say, yaw miserably, yet he can not LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 43 do so without being admonished of his error by the faithful compass that lies before him. Now, con science is the compass of the soul. As the magnetic needle points to the pole, so a well-instructed con science one that is deeply imbued with divine grace, and regulated by the word of God, the lodestone of eternal truth will perpetually point to duty, to grace, to glory, and to God; and, although man, in the abuse of his moral agency, may steer wide of the glory of God, yet he can not do so without be ing reproved and admonished by that sleepless mon itor within; at least, he can not while the light of life glows in the binnacle. 4. The ship must have a rudder. The rudder is made of flattened pieces of timber, and is swung to the stern in a vertical position, and left to turn freely on its irons. When the vessel is forced through the water by the wind, a current presses on both sides of the rudder, and, by a proper movement of the helm, the head of the vessel can be thrown to either side, or, indeed, in any direction. This beautifully represents the human will. There has been much said about natural ability and moral ability; but, without controversy, we would simply say, that man has a will, or he has not. If he has not, he is a mere machine, drifting about on a sea of uncertainty, tossed to and fro by every wind of chance, and is not an accountable being. But if he has a will, then is he answerable to God for all the deeds done in the body. Now, as the mariner handles the helm, in accordance with the direction of his compass, and 44 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OK, keeps his course, so man, by the grace of God, can exercise his will according to the movements of a conscience divinely illuminated; and so his head is kept up for the New Jerusalem, and his wake spar kles with glory. 5. The ship has her masts, yards, sails, and rig ging. These are like the means of grace prayer, fasting, reading, and meditation. But when the vessel is thus equipped her sails bent, hoisted up, and sheeted home, and all her yards trimmed still she does not move; she lies, rolling like a lifeless log, on the bosom of the great deep. She is waiting for the favorable breezes of heaven. Here, vain is the help of man. The fainting crew sigh; and you may see them leaning over the bows, superstitiously whistling to arouse the slumbering air. Perhaps some pious soul is breathing his prayers to a higher power. But see, it comes in the far distance, darkly dancing on the surface of the great deep. Presently it kisses the top-ga'nt-sails strikes the top-sails swells the courses; every rope-yarn moves; the spars creak; the beams and timbers gather life and anima tion; the compass trembles; the tiller quivers; and away she goes, with a whistling wind, and a bone in her teeth. In like manner, Christians can do nothing of themselves; but, by the grace of God they can do all things: they can use the means watch and pray board tacks, and gather aft, trim their yards, look aloft, and, glory to God! the heav enly breezes of grace will come strike their immor tal souls, animate their drowsy powers, and away LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 45 they will go, heads up, for Mount Zion! And did we ever hear of a ship lying on the ocean till it de cayed and dropped to pieces, for want of a wind? No, never. It is true that every vessel is not visited by favorable breezes at the same time, or in the same degree, or under the same circumstances; but the breeze comes, sooner or later; so that all have an opportunity, if they will improve it, of getting into port. Thus, "the grace of God that bringeth salva tion, hath appeared unto all men." "Yes," say some, "common grace." We care not whether you call it common, or uncommon; it is the grace that bringeth salvation; and that grace is good enough for poor sinners. 6. A ship fitted up as above, can, with the favor ing winds of heaven, do much good. A ship binds together the nations of the earth, in a golden chain of commerce. She brings to our shores many of the comforts and luxuries of life. When multiplied into a navy, they bear our republic thunder to the ends of the earth, and become a mighty bulwark of human freedom. Indeed, we are indebted, under God, to the invention of ships, for the very soil on which we were born. And can we here forget the illustrious Columbus? The man, who first, with enterprising keel, Urged by determined resolution, plowed The vast unmeasured billows of the west? Of all the noble souls who ever stemm'd The wide, tempestuous ocean, greatest he ! He bade another, and a better world Arise to view. He opened to mankind A fair asylum from despotic sway. 46 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, The recompense he gained, were chains and death ; But, after death, a never-dying fame. It may be said that ships have been perverted to foul purposes, such as piracy, and the slave-trade. This is true, as exceptions; but what has been more successful, instrumentally, in suppressing these evils? See that miserable picaroon, that has been running down the coast of Africa, and robbing unhappy Guinea of her children! She is homeward-bound, freighted with human spoil. Hundreds of suffering mortals are crowded together in her poisonous hold. But the gallant frigate has spied her, and will not let her pass. She tacks and beats, and outs with her boats and sweeps, till she brings them under the sweep of her long-toms. Does she still crowd? Does she expect to escape the just judgments of almighty God? No, no; the man-of-war takes the weather-gauge. Now she lets fly a bow-chaser. Now she opens her broadsides. Bear away; bear away, boys! Out with your grappling-irons! board her! board her! Down with her bloody flag! " Wrench from their hands oppression's iron rod, And bid the cruel feel the pains they give." The captives rejoice. Their chains fall off; and un der the wide-spread wings of Mercy", they are waft- , ed away to Liberia, or some distant part of God's universe, where they once more breathe the uncon- taminated air of glorious freedom. As the ship can do much good, when properly manned, and favored with the winds of heaven, so the Christian, sustained by divine influences, may do many good works. LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 47 God requires it of him. If we are faithful, the Lord will say to us in the last day, " Come, ye blessed of my Father: I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; thirsty, and ye gave me drink; naked, and ye clothed me. Enter ye into the joys of your Lord." 7. A ship at sea can not always have fair weather; and it is a common saying among seamen, that the devil himself would be a sailor, if he could always have fair weather, and could look aloft. Sometimes, no small tempest will lay upon us: sun, moon, and stars, are not seen for many days. When this is the case, and we can no longer get a sight of the sun, we have to depend altogether on dead reckoning, as it is called work our way by calculation. Now, it is so difficult to make proper allowance for leeway, and unknown currents, especially in stormy times, that our log-book will soon become very erroneous. But the careful captain does not feel easy in this sit uation. Every day, toward noon, he will walk the decks with much anxiety, with his quadrant in hand, in hopes of catching the sun. Every now and then he raises the instrument to his eyes. Presently the clouds part; he quickly lifts his quadrant, and takes the sun. He now ascertains the true latitude, knows where he is, and can discover when and where he erred in his calculations, and can correct his log book. Nor do Christians always sail in sunshine. Sometimes they are in heaviness, and darkness, through manifold temptations. In this situation, they make calculations, and feel their way as best they may. But the child of God is not satisfied 48 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OB, with dead reckoning. A mere "hope so," will not do, when eternal life is at stake. He is constantly raising the quadrant of prayer, and straining the eye of faith. At last, bless Heaven! the clouds break, the darkness flies, and the unclouded beams of the Sun of righteousness look out, and shine upon the soul the Spirit's seal. He now knows where he is, and can look up, and read his title clear to mansions in the skies; and can say, "Abba, Father," with an unfaltering tongue. He can now see and correct some of his errors; and, if there are any which he can not straighten, he has an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the righteous. 8. A ship can not do without an anchor. We hardly need state that an anchor is a ponderous iron instrument, which is used to hold the vessel to her moorings, when she enters a bay, roadstead, or river. Now, it is not the minister who is addressing you; but the inspired author of our text, who declares that hope is the Christian's anchor. Hope, when personified, has always been represented as leaning on an anchor. This is to show the stability and imperishable character of Christian hope. The apostle says that this hope, or anchor, enters into that within the vail. Now, the question arises, What is meant by that within the vail? It means that the Christian's anchor enters into that anchor which is within the vail. Here are two anchors one expressed, and the other clearly implied. The anchor within the vail represents our Lord Jesus Christ, considered in his eternal power and Godhead. LORRAIN'S SEA-SEKMONS. 49 This is the great sheet-anchor of the universe. He upholds and supports all things by the word of his power. All things, Avhether visible or invisible thrones and dominions, principalities and powers are upheld by this anchor within the vail. The Christian's hope, the pardoned sinner's best bcnoer, is firmly locked in this immovable mooring. We might elicit some light on this subject, from customs which prevail, even in modern times, in some ports. In the river Thames, England, ponderous anchors are ranged along the bottom, at proper distances from each other. When a ship arrives, as soon as the tide slacks, a barge comes along side, which is furnished with a windlass, and all necessary pur chase. The bargemen heave up the ring of the great anchor, make fast the ship's cable to it, let it go, and they heave in the slack on board. They then moor the stern in the same way, and bowse all taut. As many as five or six vessels are thus moored to the same anchors, and made fast to each other. On both sides of the channel they are thus ranged for two or three miles, all riding at anchors, within the port. Beside this, they have docks for the better security of the ship. These can be entered only at the flood tide, or high water. Ships entering with the rising tide, make fast, and wait till full flood. Then the gates are opened; the vessels are warped in, and made fast to ring-bolts, or anchors, imbedded in the solid wharves; and, being surrounded by high walls, they are as safe as if stored away in a warehouse. The ports in ancient 50 THE SQUAKE-RIGGED CKUISER; OB, times were often artificial, and had anchors, such as they were, to fasten to, within the dock, or pier head. The Christian is here represented as not having got into heaven, but as having got so near that he resembles the vessel which has arrived near the port, but, in consequence of the state of the tide, can not get in. She sends out her hawser and kedge, and fastens to the anchor within the vail, and waits patiently the rising of the tide. 9. But here our text takes a sudden gybe; and the apostle says, " Whither our forerunner has, for us, entered, even Jesus." This forerunner, or pilot, represents our Savior as the great Mediator between God and man. The pilot is a character who, in many respects, is entirely distinct from all the crew. He belongs not to the ship's company; but generally resides in the port to which the vessel is bound. When he looks out on the stormy coast, and spies an approaching sail making for the harbor, he lays aside his long-togs, throws on his tarpaulin-jacket, steps into his boat, and fearlessly puts out into the gathering storm, boards the vessel, and conducts her safely in. So our Savior, the infallible pilot of Christians, is not a citizen of this world. If he were of this world, the world would love its own; but because he was not of this world, therefore the world hated him. He is of the kingdom of glory, the celestial city to which all saints are bound. He was robed with immortality and eternal light before the world began. But when he looked down on this tempestuous world, and saw, in prospection, millions LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 51 of immortal souls driving in lawless confusion to destruction, and ready to founder in the gulf of eternal perdition, his bosom moved with divine com passion. He laid aside his vestments of glory, put on, as it were, the jacket and trowsers of humanity, the form of a servant, and, under the wide-spread sails of mercy, he put out to our relief. Yes, ship mates; he has boarded your trembling barks; " Christ in you the hope of glory." He has raised your hope, your anchor, to the skies, and firmly grounded it in his eternal divinity. And, although you are not yet in heaven, you are waiting for a favorable swell, Avhen you will enter, shouting, in. We now feel our confidence strong, and can say, "Let devils rage, and whales spout, and hell roar; blessed be God! our anchor is within the vail, firmly locked in the eternal anchor of heaven and earth." And we are persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor any other creat ure, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. " But," says one, "I Avould to heaven the tide would rise and waft me in; for, while lingering on the shores of time, I am afraid of being driven out to sea again." You need not fear. The anchor to which you are moored is good Jesus Christ, the true God, and eternal life. The cable is, also, good. Indeed, the Christian's cable is a most extraordinary one. The more we use literal cables, the weaker they become. They are subject to decay, liable to be chafed, and are at last laid by as not sea-worthy. 52 THE SQU AKE-RIGGED CKUISER; OK, It is not so with our spiritual cable. It has three strands faith, love, and prayer. These are divine and imperishable materials, if we might so speak. The more we use this precious cord, the stronger it becomes. It is like a timber-hitch the harder you draw, the tighter it jams. You may overhaul it closely, strand by strand. What is stronger than faith? It is stronger than fleets and armies; for it has " subdued kingdoms." No shark of hell can rend its sacred texture. It has " stopped the mouths of lions." War can not destroy it. It has " escaped the edge of the sword." It is water-proof and fire proof. It has " quenched the violence of the flame." Sometimes, by constant use, wear and tear, on ship board, we make strong cables weak; but it is differ ent with faith; for " out of weakness it is made strong." The more we exercise it, the stronger is our hold on heaven. But the strand of love. It is a sufficient recom mendation, when it is said, " that it is sweeter than life, and stronger than death." Death conquers all but love, the bond of perfectness. In regard to prayer, every Christian knows that it never wears out. The more we pray, the more we love to pray. The more we use that gift, the brighter it shines. Then, while we keep faith, love and prayer in lively exercise, we can not lose oui hold; we can not drag. "Well," says one, "what do you mean? Will you run us into the harbor of unconditional perseverance?" God forbid that we should direct you to such dangerous anchorage! LOKRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 53 Although a ship may be moored too strong for the storm to drive her, yet the captain might slip her cable. And should he begin to slacken, and pay out, and, the ship begin to gather stern-way, the cable will go faster and faster, till it will fly round like lightning, set the windlass on fire, run out to the better end, and the vessel may be driven out to sea again, wrecked, and lost. It may be said that no seaman would do this. We were, however, with a captain who did this, in a heavy gale; and it was of the mercy of God that he reached his mooring again. But, if none were so foolish as to do this, it only confirms the declaration of our Lord, who says, " The children of this world are wiser in their gen eration than the children of light;" for Christians have too often slipped their cables, relaxed their faith y grown cold in love, and restrained prayer. Then they begin to gather stern- way; backslide faster and faster, till they are driven back into the world again, and they will have hard work to regain their anchorage. St. Paul tells us of two gallant men-of-war, Hymeneus and Alexander, who made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. That Christians may backslide, is admitted by all; and, without disputing whether all may beat back again, all will admit that it is wrong to let go our hold in the slightest degree. Therefore, let us watch and pray, and hold fast our confidence, trusting in the Lord. Let us hoist, for our motto, " Don't give up the ship," and nothing will be able to harm us while we are followers of that which is good. 54 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OK, 10. Who has this anchor this Christian hope? May the Lord forbid that any of us should be like the foolish Dutchman, who was boasting, while at sea, that he had a superior anchor and cable; but when he was about to be driven on a lee-shore, he recollected that he had left them at home! Perhaps if we were to ask the most wicked man on earth, if he has this hope, he would say, "Yes, I hope to get to heaven." And he would wonder at the simplicity of the question. But there are many who do not understand the import of the word. Hope is made up of desire and expectation. Where either desire or expectation is wanting, there is no hope. Where a man expects a thing to take place, but does not desire it, he can not say, consistently, that he hopes for it. A person at sea, during the raging of a tem pest, may expect to be lost; but he does not desire it. No one then would believe him if he should say, "I hope to be cast away." Again: an invalid may earnestly desire to be in a warmer climate; but if in a vessel bound for Greenland, he can not expect to reach such a climate; therefore, he has no hope in this matter. But if he desires a warmer country, and is sailing for it, at the rate of ten knots an hour, then he may hope. Now, the sinner says he desires to go to heaven. Well, admitting that he does, has he any expectation of heaven, living in sin? We know nothing about heaven, but what is taught us in the word of God; and that word says, that "the wicked shall be turned into hell;" that "they shall go away into everlasting LOERAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 65 punishment." On what, then, can he found an ex pectation? But we deny that the wicked man has even a genuine desire. He desires to go to heaven when he dies, because he does not wish to go to hell to a place of positive torment. Of two evils, he feels disposed to choose the least. He desires to live in the full enjoyment of sin in this world, and when he can enjoy the world no longer, and must die, he is willing to skulk into heaven, that he may escape the just punishment of sin. But let him have his choice of three things heaven, hell, earth and he will choose earth. Yes, he would rather have this life, with all its ills, if he could only live here forever. If he desired heaven, for its own sake, on account of its celestial exercises and enjoy ments, he would be for tasting them now "The holy to the holiest leads" he would be for tasting the sweets of redeeming grace, and would "break off his sins by righteous ness, and his iniquities by turning to the Lord," now. It is certain, then, that the wicked have neither an expectation nor desire o heaven; "with out God, and without hope in the world." 0, you, who are living without hope, how can you continue thus? How can you think of dying without hope? How can you continue to defy that God whose uri- tempered arm could strike you deeper into hell, in one moment, than a ship could sink in an age? Awake, awake! Strike your rebellious flag, and sin against the Lord no more. But does the Christian possess this anchor this 56 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR,'* .. ^ hope? Ask him, "Hare you a desire to get to heaven?" "Yes, blessed be God! if there is one de sire that rises superior to every other, in my soul, it is to reach the land of rest, the saint's delight, the heaven prepared for all the faithful. I love the as sembly of /God's saints here on earth, and the holy exercises of his house; but this is nothing to what I anticipate, in that happy meeting, when all the weather-beaten fleet of God's elect shall. come boom ing in from the north, and the south, and the east, and the west, and drop anchor in heaven's broad bay, to be weighed no more, forever and ever. It is for this I sigh, and weep, and pray." "Well, but have you an expectation?" "Yes: Jesus says, 'Where I am, there shall my servants be.' I know that I am his servant: I serve him in my closet, and in the congregation, in word and in deed. Again: he hath sent forth the Spirit of adoption in my heart, by which I cry, 'Abba, father.' Seeing, then, that I am his child and if his child, his heir, an heir of God, and joint-heir with Jesus Christ my expecta tion is strong; yea, even to a full assurance." Here, then, we* see that an evangelical desire and well-grounded and Scriptural expectation, constitute the STOCK and FLUKE of our anchor. And the Chris tian can say, " This hope I have." Happy, happy souls! I love to see you pressing on, through life's stormy seas, carrying your sail according to the gale. And when, on the swelling wave of life's last affliction, you near the sacred shore, and it may be necessary to stand on and oflf, LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 57 and back and fill,, for a season, may the Lord endue you with smiling patience, till Christ our adorable pilot will come on board! The tide will rise; the ministering angels will man the windlass well; and here you will go, hand over hand, square after square, pawl after pawl, and the redeemed soul will enter through the dock -gate into the city, and so be forever with the Lord. Then the happy spirit may sing, "Now safely moored, no storm I fear; My God, my Christ, my heaven is here; And all the joys of Paradise, In holiness and beauty rise. O, then my soul, with folded wing, In thrilling notes of joy shall sing, Glory to God." 0, the blissful hope of eternal life! and, connected with this, the resurrection of the body, and the glo rious appearing of Jesus Christ! Yes, many of our friends are gone; but "they are not dead blest thought! they are only gone before." True, they have retired, as it were, into the "watch below;" but, glory to God! the cold and dark night of death will soon roll over; and the almighty Captain of our sal vation will give the order to "pipe all hands" And 0, methinks I hear it, rattling down from heaven, scraping over all the nerves and fibers of creation, and thundering down to hell, "All hands, ahoy! Do you hear the news there? Lash and carry! lash and carry! Bundle up! bundle up!" And, now, I see the tombstones flying; the graves throw their moldy bottoms to the light; old ocean groans through all 58 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, her deepest caverns, and rolls her millions to the shore. Alleluiah! see the sacramental host man the rattlings making for the maintop climbing the ladder that Jacob saw! Yes, flying home, like doves to their windows, and leaving a burning world be hind! 0, blessed HOPE! "Fixed on this ground will I remain, Though my heart fail, and flesh decay ; This anchor shall my soul sustain, When earth's foundations melt away." The Christian sailor fears no ill, Though calms befall, or storms assail; His deathless hope is grounded still In Christ the Anchor in the vail. When seas are smooth, and skies serene, And prosperous breezes fill his sail, He trusts not the deceitful scene ; But casts his hope within the vail. And when disastrous clouds arise, And earthly prospects sink, or fail, He plants his treasure in the skies, Aid hugs the Anchor of the vail. And when the gulf-stream heaves in view, And strikes the guilty sinner pale, He boldly shoots the current through, To reach his moorings in the vail. When nature heaves her final blast, The pilgrim's courage will not fail ; He'll hold the sov'reign promise fast, Of Christ the Anchor in the vail. For well the Christian sailor knows That hell can never spring a gale, Which could, with his united foes, "Riimrvvo t.lio An/l^ftv f\f f.llA vail Vhich could, with his united foes Remove the Anchor of the vail. LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 59 SERMON III. ALL HANDS, AHOY! THE wicked labor much Beneath corruption's weight ; Yet still, at every port they touch, They swell their guilty freight. By winds and waves pursued, They groan beneath their woes ; And yet, in every latitude, The crim'nal cargo grows. As thus their sins enlarge, Conviction>wells the load, Until they gladly would discharge Their lading overboard. But, though they have the will, And labor to be blest, They lack the gracious power still To grasp the promised rest. But Jesus sees their grief, And smiles, and bids them come ; The Gospel sails to their relief, And tows the exiles home. He pities their complaints, And takes them home to rest; And makes his weather-beaten saints With him forever blest. " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," MATT, xi, 28. ALTHOUGH figures are well calculated to illustrate the mysterious truths of Christianity, yet there is a possibility of the mind being so taken up and 60 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, absorbed by the figure as to lose the moral, or truth, that is represented. A minister was once addressing a large congrega tion, in one of the principal towns of Ohio, and was representing the case of a sinner who is well-nigh gone, by a ship bearing down on a lee-shore, with all sails set. Just as he was running her on the very point of destruction, a sailor sprung out in the aisle, and rushed forward in much confusion; then suddenly shrunk back to his seat, apparently much abashed. A gentleman, meeting him in the street shortly after, inquired into the cause of his excite ment at the late meeting. " Why, sir," said he, " the minister had me out to sea again before I knew it, and raised a thundering storm. Here she was, all ready to strike on the rocks. Every fellow on board stood, gazing, with his flippers in his pockets. What could I do but rush forward, to let go the fore-sheet? But never the fore-sheet could I find; for I was still in the meeting-house." This reminded me of the dog in the fable, who, in swimming over a clear stream, with a bone in his mouth, saw the reflection of it in the water, and, making an unfortunate snatch at the shadow, lost his dinner. It is generally thought that our Savior, in this text, had an eye to a yoke of oxen, drawing an extraordinary load. It is highly probable that he had. But the figure appears to us of an amphibious character, and reminds us of the angel, which was seen by John, with one foot on the land, and one on the sea. The phrase is as cur rent on the sea as on the land. A ship is said to LOBRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 61 labor when rolling and pitching in a heavy and tem pestuous sea. Under some circumstances, this is dangerous, and always disagreeable, occasioning much wear and tear of the sails and rigging. But the case is a great deal worse, when, in addition to this hard "labor," the ship is "heavy laden." This was the case with the vessel in which Paul sailed for Rome, and which was finally cast away. They were under the necessity of throwing much of their cargo overboard. To labor and to be heavy laden is indicative of distress; but, I. Who are they to whom the text is addressed? 1. The Jews. Their religion was full of laborious and costly rites and ceremonies. When our Lord saw some dragging their unwilling victims to the slaugh ter; others bearing heavy piles of fuel to the altar; when he looked upon the toiling, groaning, sweating multitude, his bosom, doubtless, swelled with com passion, and he exclaimed, in the language of the text, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." As much as though he had said, " Although it has been neces sary, in the Divine Avisdom, for you to have observed all these ceremonies in time past, yet the true light is now about to shine. The eternal Word, the Son of God, has come, to introduce a more spiritual dispen sation a dispensation which will not oblige you to travel up to Jerusalem to seek the Lord, but will enable you to worship God, in spirit and in truth, wherever the footsteps of divine Power are im- ' pressed on the Avorks of creation. 62 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, 2. Although the Jewish religion is not now bind ing on mankind, yet, in consequence of our errone ous views concerning God, ourselves, and things ii general, we often become heavy laden. All men have an abiding thirst for happiness, composure of mind, or what our Lord very aptly calls "rest;" and the only reason why they do not all obtain it is, because they are seeking for it through wrong channels, and ways, and means, which God has never sanctioned. Look at that man who is seeking for happiness in riches! He is adding ship to ship, till it becomes a matter of little concern to him which way the wind blows; for he has vessels sailing to every point in the compass. Ask him -why he is thus "spreading his arms, like seas, to grasp in all the shore." If he is honest, he will tell you, that when he acquires a certain amount of wealth, he expects to find hap piness rest of mind. But does the history of man kind afford an instance where one has been made happy by the accumulation of property? No. As the riches of the rich man increase, the trials and vexations of this life multiply; and there have been instances of misers perishing on their heaps of wealth, and dying with starvation. And while the poor- allowanced mariner is looking up, with envy, to the merchant in whose employ he sails, if he could only see his case as God sees it if he could only roll one tedious night upon his thorny pillow he would hug his moldering biscuit to his bosom, bless God for his sweet hammock, "fall in love with LORKAIN'S SEA-SEKMONS. 63 poverty, and sinile at ruin." He "labors," and is "heavy laden." 3. Next, view the man who is all athirst for honor and fame. Ask him whither he is pressing on in his ambitious and murderous course. He will say that he expects, in some future period, when he shall have weathered the fame of every admiral who has embellished the pages of naval heroism; when he shall be driving his triumphant flag through a shattered fleet, or returning home with captured squadrons in his wake, amid the shouts and plaudits of admiring crowds, he will drink an unmixed cup of happiness he will find rest for his soul. But has happiness ever been obtained by the sword? Not while the immortal conscience has a nerve that almighty Power can touch. He "labors," and is "heavy laden." 4. Again: see the man who is seeking rest in sin ful pleasures, and the indulgence of unholy passions! While in port, he spends his time in reveling, in drunkenness, in chambering, and wantonness. He will say that, when he has indulged himself to a certain extent, he will then be happy. But is it so? See him at midnight, after his frolic is over, stag gering on board, two sheets in the wind, and the third shivering! He is angry with himself and every body else. As he tumbles into his berth, what means that heavy groan, that wretched sigh? Do they not plainly declare that the man "labors," and is "heavy laden?" 5. Those who have never heard the Gospel, and 64 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OH, are enslaved to gross idolatry, are heavy laden. We do not here intend to inquire into what will be their eternal state; but when we look at their bloody rites, laborious and obscene ceremonies, we must say that, as far as even this life is concerned, they are grievously burdened. 6. And, last of all, when man is laid under divine convictions, by the Spirit of God, he is heavy laden. We are born under the intolerable weight of human depravity; and, in consequence thereof, are continu ally adding actual sin, personal transgression, through all the voyage of life. As the enterprising whaler adds to her store of oil and swells her cargo in every latitude, so the sinner is continually storing away wrath against the day of wrath. When the gale of conviction overtakes him, and the storm is up, awakened to a sense -of his awful situation, he begins to feel, most sensibly, the enormous weight of unpardoned sin. See him groaning, reeling, staggering under a heavy press of sin; swept on %y the strong current of nature's stream; hell roar ing to leeward; the devil struggling with his guard ian angel for the helm; the law of God to windward, bearing down under a heavy cloud of sail, not mounted with common metal, but with ten eternal- pounders, which belch out, at every flash, "Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them!" He labors in a sea of sorrow, amid foaming billows of Divine wrath. But see! the everlasting Gospel heaves in sight; the hawser of salvation is coming; the silver LOBRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 65 trumpet of the Lord is heard, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" II. What is it which so universally disqualifies men for the rest which our Savior proffers? It is sin, and sin only, that makes men miserable here. The all-wise God never intended that men should be happy in their sins. All the wisdom in the world can not make them so. We might adduce Solomon as an example. He was wiser than all men in his day. He gave full latitude to his passions, and scudded far away from God. He spread all his sails, and took a wondrous cruise, and " sounded every depth and shoal of sin." But at every sound ing, at every -heave of the lead, he cried out, " Van ity of vanities; all is vanity, and vexation of spirit!" And, after all his traverse-sailing, and boxing of the compass, he arrived only at this: "To fear God and keep his commandments is the whole duty of man." Honor can not make us happy. Look at Haman! This man arrived at the highest pinnacle of honor he could obtain, without dethroning his king; but still he was unhappy. And what was the matter? He could not have rest, because poor Mordecai sat in the king's gate, and would not douse his tar paulin as he passed by. Riches can not give us rest. See the rich fool! He rolled in pleasure and grandeur; but was still uneasy. His mind was tortured in inventing new amusements. "What shall I do?" said he; "I will 5 66 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, pull down my barns, and build greater, and will say to my soul, Eat, drink, and be merry." But just as he began to anticipate some happiness in this way, the awful voice of God arrests him, saying, "Thou fool! this night shall thy soul be required of thee. Then whose shall these things be?" There is no rest to the wicked, saith my God. Their minds are like the tempest-tossed lake, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. III. The rest which our Lord proposes, exists, in its lowest sense, in justification the remission, or forgiveness of all our past sins. This is a full de liverance from the guilt and condemnation of sin, through the blood and merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sinner has nothing to recommend him to God, and nothing to plead but his own destitution and helplessness, on one hand, and the all-sufficient atonement of Christ, on the other. But while thus pleading, in all the agony of faith and prayer, the Lord hears in heaven, and answers on earth: and peace, love, and joy flow into the troubled soul, and give the mourner rest a rest from all the an guish and labor connected with guilt and condemna tion. The man feels that this is an astonishing boon of heaven. His soul within him is like the chariot of Aminadab. He feels like taking up the song of Israel, "The Lord God has triumphed most glori ously. The horse and his rider are thrown into the sea." But occasional uprisings of the carnal mind, and the stirrings of remaining roots of bitterness, often interrupt "the feast of love and flow of soul," LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 67 and admonish us that there is still a more excellent rest remaining for the children of God, even in this life. This is found in the entire sanctification of the whole man. The poet calls it "The rest where pure enjoyment reigns, And God is loved alone ; A rest where all our heart's desire Is fixed on things above ; Where sin, and guilt, and fear expire, Cast out by perfect love." Full sanctification gives us rest from all the ills and troubles of moral pollution, but does not deliver us from all the natural evils which sin has introduced into the world. Holiness does not rebuke the ragings of a fever, or mitigate the ravages of a storm. The sanctified Christian may have outward afflictions, arising from the conduct of disobedient children or profligate neighbors; but in the midst of outward storms, he has sweet peace in his own soul. Perfect rest, then, is not a growth of nature's garden; but, thank God! there is rest in heaven; and this, too, is embraced in the promise of the text, "I will give you rest" Yes, there will be no deceitful world, no conflicting flesh, no tempting devil. There the wick ed will cease to trouble. There the weary will be at rest. There the pious captain will meet his godly crew. No more storms, no more shipwrecks, no more pirates! for, glory be to God! the Bible says, "There shall be no more sea." "There all the ship's company meet, Who sailed with the Savior beneath ; And, shouting, each other they greet, And triumph o'er sin, hell, and death. 68 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, The voyage of life's at an end, The mortal affliction is past : The rest that in heaven they spend, Forever and ever shall last." But it is in the rest of sanctification that Christians realize that his yoke is easy and his burden light. But it may be asked what makes his yoke easy and his burden light? Some, we fear, misunderstand this; especially those who contend that the easiness of the yoke and the lightness of the burden consist in the abrogation of the law. They say, that, as Christ has observed the whole law, and made it hon orable, his obedience will be imputed to his people, in the great day of the Lord. And if Christ has released his people from obligation to the law, is not his yoke easy and his burden light? Yes, indeed, if this is so, both the yoke and burden are lighter than a moon -beam; for, in that case, there is no yoke no burden at all. But it is not a fact, that our Lord observed all the moral obligations of men. There are several relations, connected with human ity, in which Christ never stood. He never sus tained the relation of a father, a husband, a magis trate; and, consequently, never performed the duties of such relations. And many have sinned, in these offices, enough to sink their souls to everlasting ruin. The garment, then, of our Savior's obedience, is too scant for the sinner to wrap himself in.. But again: the moral law is the judgment of the eternal God, concerning right and wrong, as far as man is con cerned; and, as God is immutable the same to-day, T esterday, and forever it must be his judgment to .< LOERAIK'S SEA-SERMONS. 69 all eternity; therefore, it can not be abolished. The righteousness of Christ is his death, or atonement; and when the penitent and believing sinner presents this as his only trust only plea, the Lord accepts his offering, pardons his sins, and regenerates his soul. This brings the man into a pleasing conform ity with the law of God. The enmity of the carnal mind is thus destroyed. The soul being fully sanc tified and renewed in the image of God, sweetly realizes that the service of the Lord is perfect free dom his yoke is easy and his burden light. IV. But how shall the sinner come to Christ? We give the old and unchangeable answer: by faith. There are many who ridicule the doctrine of salva tion through faith, and say that it is more reasonable to preach salvation by works. And yet we are per suaded, that if a minister should preach salvation without faith, he would be still more ridiculous. If he should tell his hearers, that it is their duty to pray to God, the infidel might say, "But I do not believe there is a God." The preacher would have to answer, "Never mind that, you must pray to him. We do not require you to believe at all." But the infidel answers, "There are two things that must necessarily precede my prayer. First, I must believe that God is; then I must believe that 'he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' " This would bring us back on the old Bible ground. Who does not see that faith is necessarily the spring of all action? A common faith is necessary to all effort in our temporal and worldly concerns. Why does 70 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CBUISEB; OK, the merchant lay out his money, and go to so much labor and pains to collect his produce, and to freight his ship, and send her to distant lands? Would he do so, unless he first believed that, by so doing, he would realize a handsome profit? The sailor, in hie employment, is moved by the same impetus. He would not ship on board, with the certain prospect of enduring much hardship, and running great risk, unless he believed that he would be richly paid for all his trouble. Take away this confidence, which always precedes human acts, and the whole world is paralyzed. Then, if a common faith is necessary to the performance of all our ordinary duties, why should it be thought incredible that an extraordinary faith is necessary in order to obtain the extraordina ry blessing of eternal salvation? While it is our duty to persuade some to believe, it is equally our work to convince other very com placent souls that they do not believe. There are some who have been raised under religious influen ces, W!M> fancy that they are true believers hi Christ, although they are living in the constant commission of sin. They repeat over the creed, and say, "We believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heav en and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only -begotten Son," etc.; but in their daily walk and conversation they deny the Savior. But do you see that ship tha. is lost on the high seas yonder? The captain is without a compass, chart, or any instrument of nav igation he is indisputably lost. A ship heaves in sight, and her commander hails him, and warns him LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 71 of his danger. He tells him he is standing on a dangerous reef, and r that, if he does not alter his course, in two hours more he will be irrecoverably lost. The bewildered captain smiles, and thanks him for his information, and says he puts the most unbounded faith in his word -"All this I steadfastly believe.'' But how does he act? Does he call all hands, and put the ship about? Does he even short en sail, to prolong his time? No; but he crowds canvas; outs with his royals, sky-scrapers, moon- rakers, star-dashers, and heaven-disturbers; and away he goes, with a whistling breeze and a roaring- wake, and never begins to look serious till the dread ful breakers arrest her in her wild career, and "In loose fragments, fling her floating round." Now, can we think that this man believed in the warning that was given? In like manner, there are many souls lost on the sea of human life. The Lord passes by, and, through his Holy Spirit, and by his word and ministers, he warns them of their danger. He thunders in their ears, that there are breakers awful breakers, ahead; that they are running fast on the iron-bound coast of damnation. With all the earnestness of a crucified Savior, he exhorts them to heave in stays, to put about and beat off, and save their shattered barks, richly laden with immor tal and deathless spirits. But what is their conduct? They look up to heaven, with a provoking smile. They say that they believe the Gospel; they believe in Christ, in death, hell, and judgment; and yet they crowd all sail, and away they drive, as though 72 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CBUISEK; OK, greedy of eternal ruin, and never begin to look serious till the loud breakers of hell and the awful surges of damnation awaken them to a sense of their eternal loss. O, ye immortal spirits! whither are ye bound? Luff, men, luff! Luff up, and weather hell! Your lee-sheets are all on fire! Hard-a-lee, there! hard-a-lee! Come about! come about! And it may be that, by hard beating, by many a long leg and short one, you may, at last, escape the wide-spread ruin, and your poor, shat tered barks reach the port above. Do I hear some trembling sinner say, "I have not room to wear, and I am afraid my wretched soul will miss stays?" Then, by the grace of God, club-haul her; for it would be better to enter into life without an anchor, and without a cable, than for ship and cargo, hull and rigging, soul and body, to plunge into a gulf of liquid fire, where the wrath of God will thunder down in one eternal storm. Yes; make an unpre meditated surrender, an unconditional consecration, to God of all that you have and are. V. The invitation is to all. 1. To all, as it respects quantity. "He was a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." "He gave him self a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. Let him that heareth say, Come. Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him cerue and partake of the water of life freely." 2. All, as "it regards quality. There are none so LORBAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 73 base, none so vile, but that they may come, in the exercise of living faith, to Christ, and live. The Lord says, "Come, let us reason together, and, though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool." We often meet with striking in stances of such great salvation. Many years since, there was a certain character who had, from his boyhood, been associated with the Barratarian robbers a nest of pirates who, at that time, infested the mouths of the Mississippi river. After the band was dispersed, he opened a tippling shop in one of our large southern towns, where, in a quarrel with one of his companions, he presented a pistol, and blew out his brains. He was immediately hurried before a court, was tried, found guilty, and condemned to be hanged. Several of the religious citizens attended daily at his prison, to instruct him, and to pray for him. They found him deplorably ignorant in religious matters. He de clared that, in his youth, he had been cut off from all advantages; and that, although he had often heard the name of Christ mingled with the profanity of his shipmates, yet he had never before had any correct idea of his character, life, death, or his mis sion in this world. At first he treated the services of his religious visitors with contempt. They, how ever, persevered in their attentions, till he began to pay some little regard to their admonitions. On the morning of the day of execution, they attended the prison for the last time. The jailer advised them not to see the prisoner again. He said that, on the 74, THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISEK; OB, preceding night, he had broke loose in the most horrid blasphemy, shouting and praising God till the prisoners in the remotest dungeons were awak ened by his mockery. The friends, however, insisted on seeing him. When they opened the door of his cell, the prisoner stood before them, bathed in tears, and all the meekness of Christianity seemed stamped upon his face. He began to tell what great things God had done for him. He observed that, after they had left him on the preceding evening, all at once an awful power of darkness seemed to rest upon him. He could find no ease, either while sitting or walking. But he continued to run round his little dungeon, and tried to pray; but it seemed as if the heavens were brass. At last he fell down in a corner of his room; his mouth was opened, and he mightily called on the Lord to have mercy upon him; and "there," said he, "it seemed as if the whole world was rolled from my breast, and I was filled with great peace and joy, so that I have praised God all night, and to-day I feel prepared for the last conflict." I was once acquainted with a sailor, by the name of Johu. He followed the seas from his childhood, and served a long time on board a British man-of- war. They had, in that day, no chaplain and no Bibles on board; consequently, John was very igno rant and very wicked. He had often been exposed to the lash; but, on account of his ability as a sea man, he was promoted to captain of the foretop. It was after his conversion that I heard him say, in LORRAIN'S SEA-SEBMONS. 75 a love-feast, with tears in his eyes, that, while so desperately wicked, the ship in which he was had a hot engagement with a French frigate. When orders were given for them to board, he was among the first who stood on the enemy's deck. One of her crew fell on his knees before him, and begged him, for Christ's sake, to show him quarters; " but," said he, "alas! alas! poor John knew nothing about Christ; and while he was in the act of craving my mercy, I drove a boarding-pike into his breast." It may be asked, "How did such a wicked wretch obtain rest?" We answer, by coming to Christ. He subsequently deserted his Majesty's service, and landed in America. Apprehensive that he would be retaken, he made his way to Ohio. There he first heard of a camp meeting; and, moved by curiosity, he found his way to the ground. After wandering around the outposts for some time, viewing things which were truly strange to him, his attention was drawn by the exercises going on at the altar. He drew nigh, and, for some time, leaned against a sap ling, listening to the services; and, while a pious girl was pouring out her prayers for the mourners, a blast of Divine conviction struck poor John, and, before he had time or thought to weather his helm and scud, as too many do, he was down on his beam ends, crying for mercy. Yes; and he never ceased, till the Lord had mercy upon him. Here was a poor sinner, who had fought through many a battle, who had never shed a tear of penitence or sympathy before, made to weep over the sins of his 1& THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, misspent life. "Sometimes, when lashed to the grating," said he, " I wept with anger, and because I could not be revenged on my cruel officers; but never before had I wept over my sins." He is now, I trust, a tender-hearted Christian, and will finish his course, mourning over his errors past. Let none say that the Gospel holds out encouragement for us to continue in sin, that grace may abound. For the day of eternity only can show how much religious peace in this life, and how much glory in the life to come, will be lost by delaying the day of our return to God. It is one thing to be merely saved, and another thing to be saved with God's uttermost sal vation. We should look upon religion, not as some thing that is designed to save us from hell only, but as something that will make and keep us indescrib ably happy in this world. In the light of the Scrip tures, we can not believe that those who have dis tinguished themselves by sin, and have become con verted, will have as bright a crown as those who have turned to God in early life, and have served him through the most of their days; but it is a bound less mercy that they can be saved at all. Their souls have escaped, as a bird out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and they have escaped. And we rejoice in the glorious truth, that our Gospel can save all who come to Christ; and that it is the blessed privilege of all the ministers of Jesus to exclaim, through the silver trumpet of the Gospel, " All hands, ahoy! Do you hear the news there? the glorious news that Jesus Christ came LOBEAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 77 into the world to save sinners the chief of sinners all sinners?" When we call all hands, at sea, what do we mean? Why, we mean all; officers and men; the starboard watch and larboard watch; cook and cabin-boy; every mother's son, who can crack a biscuit; all have to bundle up. And when the Lord calls on all men to come, he does not mean a part, but he means all the king as well as the beggar. " Sent by iny Lord, on you I call; The invitation is to all. Come, all the world; come, sinner, thou; All things in Christ are ready now." But, alas! what strange infatuation possesses the minds of many! Although the history of the world does not furnish a single instance of a man who has found rest in the pursuit of riches, honor, or pleas ure, yet thousands are seeking happiness in these things, each expecting that he will be the fortunate man who shall be more successful than all his pred ecessors, from Adam down. 0, cruel delusion of the devil! But it may be asked, "Have any found rest in Christ?" Yes, blessed be God! they have found "the soul's calm sunshine, and the heart-felt joy." Hundreds of sanctified Christians are living witnesses that they have found rest from the guilt, the power, and the dominion of sin; and millions of happy souls have already entered into that glorious rest which remaineth for the children of God. "Eternity's vast ocean lies before thee; Give the mind sea-room ; keep it wide of earth, 78 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OB, That rock of souls immortal. (Sit thy cord; Weigh anchor; spread thy sails; call every wind; Eye the great Pole-Star ; make the land of rest." 0, come to Christ, and he will give you happi ness, heaven, REST! Sometimes, by tempests driven ; Sometimes by calms oppressed, We groan to reach that haven, Where weary pilgrims rest ; Where Christ our souls will lighten Of all our freight of woe ; Where seas will cease to frighten; Where storms no more will blow. A broad, celestial river Our glorious God will be, Whose streams will wind forever Through blest eternity. No gallant ship can hower Upon its sacred shores; And galleys have no power To spread their martial oars. The Lord himself would slacken Their lanyards at a blast, And loosen all their tackling About their quaking masts. Their courses he would shiver ; Their yards and booms would fail ; And, on that peaceful river, If man-of-war should sail, Jehovah, he would rake her Of rigging, tack, and sheet ; For Zion's mighty Maker Defends his royal fleet. He is our great Lawgiver, Our Captain, Priest, and King; To him we will forever Eternal praises sing. LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 79 Our souls he'll fill with laughter ; Our hulls he will transform ; And we'll shout forever after, Above the final storm. / I 80 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, SERMON IV. A VOYAGE TO DAVY JONES'S LOCKER AND BACK. DEEP in the watery world, A poor imprisoned saint, Beneath the earth's foundations hurled, Poured out his sad complaint. "Thou, Lord, hast cast my soul Beneath the briny wave ; And all thy heavy billows roll, High o'er my living grave. Earth's pond'rous pillars spread Their flinty bars around; And sea-weeds rumble o'er my head, Where plummets never sound. Yet, here, O, Lord! I will Beneath the mountains lay, And think upon thy temple still, And at thy altar pray." The Lord puts forth his hand, And shakes the foaming main ; He drags the monster to the strand, And Jonah breathes again. Just so did Christ explore The secret halls of hell, And drafted the tremendous shore Of Death's remotest cell. ..- He measured every wave; He fathomed every part; And, rising conqueror o'er the grave, He gave his Church the chart. LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 81 And we are sinking fast, Where Jesus sunk before; But Gabriel's resurrection blast, Will roll us all to shore. " So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What mean est thou, 0, sleeper? Arise, and call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not," JONAH i, 6. THE case of Jonah is a very singular one such an event that will never transpire again, while the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. We observe this, because seamen have sometimes, influ enced by a strange superstition, been led to act in a manner quite contrary to the general character which they bear, in regard to generosity and hospitality. Some are unwilling to sail in a vessel which is carry ing a minister of the Gospel, or a missionary of the cross. And all the storms and disasters befalling them, are often attributed to the circumstance of hav ing such characters on board. The following cir cumstance, recorded in the Life of Dr. Coke, a Meth odist bishop and missionary, will present a sample of this superstition: "It was during the utmost violence of a tempest, while accomplishing the perilous voyage, that Dr. Coke and his associates addressed themselves to God, in prayer, for the preservation of the ship, and the lives of all who were on board. The captain, instead of approving their piety, or joining in their devotions, became visibly agitated, and betrayed symptoms of an approaching storm within. First, he paraded the decks, muttering, in a species of audible whisper, 82 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OB, 'We have a Jonah on board! we have a Jonah on board!' It was natural for him to think that a Jonah's conduct deserved a Jonah's fate. In this condition he continued, till his fears and superstitions had roused him up to such a state of frenzy, that he entered the Doctor's cabin, and, seizing his books and papers, threw them immediately into the sea. He was about to proceed farther; but on seizing the Jonah, he satiated his vengeance by shaking him several times with angry violence, and by giving loose to his passion in expressions of horrible impre cations. He committed no further personal outrage; but, on retiring, swore that if ever the Doctor made another prayer on board, he was fully resolved to throw him into the sea, as he had thrown his papers." Mr. Newton, a celebrated English minister, was once placed in very dangerous circumstances, on ac count of being suspected of being a Jonah. Indeed, many have been barbarously treated, under the same accusation; and, we doubt not, others have been sacrificed. We think it, then, of some consequence to show that a faithful minister of Christ, who, under his high commission, goes forth to preach the Gospel to the nations, bears no kind of resemblance to the un fortunate Jonah. He was not a faithful, but disobe dient prophet, who had wandered from the path of duty, and was not sailing in the service of the Lord. He was not bound for the right port. The Lord had sent him to foretell the destruction of Nineveh; but he arose to flee from the presence of the Lord. We LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 83 do not suppose that this well-instructed servant of God thought that, in the proper sense, he could fly from the presence of the Almighty. But Jerusalem was the place where the Lord chose to reveal him self in a peculiar manner. There his glory shone forth; and he there commissioned his ministers. And, perhaps, Jonah supposed that if he would leave the sanctuary, and go into a distant land, the Lord, being justly offended, would transfer the com mission to some more faithful prophet. Accordingly, he went down to Joppa, a seaport town of Palestine, and found a ship all ready to sail for Tarshish, the very place which he wished to go to. Now, if the Lord had sent him to Tarshish, he might have looked on this as a very favorable providence; but, alas! God was not now in all his thoughts. He was bent on rebellion. He took passage, paid his fare, went on board, and tumbled into his berth. Pray, what resemblance is there between this character and the pious missionary who is going on his Master's busi ness, to preach a crucified Savior to a fallen world? I. We will show the end and design of Jonah's sufferings. If the Lord had only designed the pun ishment of Jonah, and the conversion of the ship's company, the whole affair would appear inexplicable to us; seeing that the Lord possesses such a variety of means, in the economy of his providence and grace, to have effected these purposes without such a miraculous exhibition of his power. But when we reflect, that by the ordination of God, Jonah was an illustrious type of Christ, we at once acknowledge 84 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, that the event was worthy of all the glorious mira cles connected with it. 1. Jonah was a type of Christ, in his atonement. The prophet did in no sense fly the presence of the Lord; for the Lord sent out into the sea a mighty tempest, so that the ship was overtaken, and was in danger of being cast away. Then the mariners were afraid, and began to call upon their gods. It is prob able that the crew was a mixture of men of various nations, and they had a variety of idols on board. It was also customary, in those days, for every ves sel to be placed under the patronage of some partic ular god, whose image she generally bore as a figure head. Thus we find that St. Paul sailed from Malta in the Castor and Pollux, or, as it is expressed, "in a ship, whose sign [or figure-head] was the Castor and Pollux." An English author says, on this sub ject, "We, who profess to be a Christian people, follow the same heathenish custom. We have our ships called the Jupiter, the Minerva, the Leda, with a multitude of demon gods and goddesses; so that, were ancient heathens to visit our navy, they would be led to suppose that, after the lapse of two thou sand years, their old religion is unaltered." The above observation was made in regard to the British navy. We are gratified, in looking over the list of our national vessels, to find that this example has not been followed in a single instance by our government. But we can not say the same as it respects our merchantmen. The heathen mariners, however, depended principally on their private idols, LOKRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 85 which they always carried with them on their voy ages. And may not their zeal in this matter rise up in judgment with some of our officers and sailors, who can go to sea without a Bible in their chests, or the wholesome fear of God in their hearts? We find the crew, in the extreme anguish of their souls, calling on their idols, while Jonah, who was the sole cause of the tempest, was lying down in his berth, fast asleep. The captain, having occasion to pass through the cabin, or steerage, discovers him, and addresses him in the language of the text: "What meanest thou, 0, sleeper? Arise, and call upon thy God!" It was not unusual for ancient Pagans to admit that sometimes their own gods might fail, while help might be obtained from strange deities. And the captain, doubtless, felt that they needed the help of all the gods in the universe. It was at last deter mined to cast lots, to ascertain who was the cause of this disaster. "And the lot fell upon Jonah." Then the sailors inquired of him who he was, and what he was what was his calling, his coun try, his religion, etc. And when he told them that he was a Hebrew, and a prophet of the true God, who made the heavens, and the earth, and the seas, and the fountains of water; and, particularly, when he informed them of his rebellious conduct, they were exceedingly alarmed, and said, " Why hast thou done this?" As much as if they had said, "You are acquainted with the true and living God, who has originated all things, and he has conde- 86 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, scended to send you on a high mission. O, how could you do this wicked thing, and profanely rebel against him?" What a cutting reproof was this, coming from such a source! They naturally sup posed that, as he was so well acquainted with the cause of the tempest, he would be able, also, to point them to a remedy. "And they said unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tem pestuous." Whatever had induced the prophet, in the first instance, to disobey God, or however far he had wandered from the path of duty, we find him at last returning to a sense of ministerial feeling. When he looked around on the distressed crew, and saw inevitable destruction gathering around; when he saw that he was about to drag them, in all their idolatry and unpardoned sins, down to irrecoverable ruin, his bosom once more glowed with the compassionate flame of pastoral care, and "he said, Take me up and cast me into the sea; so shall it be calm unto you." In thus benevolently offering up himself for the temporal salvation of the crew, he presented to the world a lucid shadow of the voluntary sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The world, spiritually considered, was in a worse situation than this heathen ship. The dark clouds of Divine ven geance were hovering over this guilty earth, ready to disgorge their magazines of wrath upon our sin ful race, no eye to pity, no arm to save, when a voice of sovereign mercy thrilled through the por- LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 87 tentous gloom: "Sacrifices and burnt-offerings thou wouldst not; but a body thou hast prepared for me. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy "will, O, God!" Al though our Savior was not the cause of our calami ties, as Jonah was the cause of the tempest, yet he offers to bear the blame and suffer in the room and stead of guilty sinners. He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the right eousness of God in him. He was wounded for our trangressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; and with his stripes we are healed. He has not only made a full atonement for sin, but, in so doing, has presented to the world the brightest evidence of God's love to man. "In this has God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sin ners, Christ died for us." The word of God admits that human love may constrain a man to die for his friend. There have been a few instances of such strong affection, one of which we will present on this occasion. A Portuguese expedition, which had been fitted out for the East Indies, had doubled the cape, when a ship, which had separated from the fleet, unfortu nately struck on a reef of rocks, which had not been laid down in any chart. It was a dark night, and she had on board more than twelve hundred souls. The pinnace was launched immediately, and the captain, with nineteen others, jumped in, and, with drawn swords, prevented others from following, lest they should founder. Cutting loose from the 88 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, prayers and shrieks of the despairing passengers, they put off, with very little bread and water. After enduring many afflictions, for several days, the cap tain, who had been long indisposed, died. In order to avoid anarchy and confusion, they elected another. As soon as he was inducted into office, he proposed that, inasmuch as they had but little provision, and the boat was very much crowded, and deeply laden, they should cast lots, and throw every fourth man overboard. This was agreed to the crew volun tarily excusing the captain, the carpenter, and a priest; the captain, for fear of falling into disorder; the carpenter, to repair the boat, if necessary; and the priest, to administer comfort to the dying; for it seems, on this occasion, they did not count him a Jonah. This arrangement left sixteen in number, which required the sacrifice of four persons. The first three victims sunk into the deep like lead, and quietly submitted to their doom. When they were about to lay hold on the fourth, who was a Portu guese merchant of some note, a younger brother rushed forward and clasped him in his arms, and insisted on dying in' his stead. The elder brother, on his part, obstinately refused, and, in a very tender and affectionate manner, reminded the youth that the finger of Heaven had pointed him out as the proper victim; and that, as it regarded himself, he was getting old, and, even if he should survive this calamity, he had not many days to enjoy in this world. "-But you," said he, addressing the weeping youth, "are in the morning of life, and, if LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMOKS. 89 you should reach the land, may yet see many happy days in this world." The young man argued that he stood entirely unconnected in life, while his brother had a loving wife and tender children, who would be looking out for his return. The fraternal struggle became more and more afflicting to the crew, till, in order to relieve them from their painful position, the elder brother yielded the point. The young man was thrown into the sea. It is said, "Scarcely for a righteous man will one die." This implies that such cases are scarce few and far between. And, even when they occur, there is a mighty struggle between friendship and self- interest; and so it was in this case. The youth was a very expert and practiced swimmer, and an in stinctive love of life led him to follow the boat for some distance; and when he felt his vital energy giving way, he made a desperate rush, and grasped the gunwale of the boat with his hand. A sailor immediately severed it with a cutlass. The strug gling victim made a desperate grasp with his other hand, which was severed in like manner. He then continued to tread the water, holding up his bleed ing stumps before the crew, with silent but express ive eloquence in his eyes, till the whole company was so wrought upon that they all cried out, "He is but one man; let us save him!" What is more af fecting than to see a man laying down his life for his friend! Surely it is a sight which heaven itself with pleasure surveys; for it is said in the Scriptures, that "we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 90 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, But 0, look to Calvary! See the suffering Savior, bearing his cross to the crowded hill! Is he about to die for a special friend? a brother? his disciples? or is he going to suffer to save the steel from sinking into the heart of his spotless mother? Hear it, 0, ye heavens! Be astonished, 0, earth! He dies for his enemies! O, here is love unparalleled, without a bottom, or a shore! And what greater testimony can God give, to our sinking world, of his willing ness to save? If he has given up his Son, the glory and admiration of all heaven, for us, even while we were enemies, will he not, with him, also freely give us all things? 2. Jonah was a type of Christ, in his resurrection. Well may an apostle ask, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead?" The resuscitating power of God is illustrated in many of the grand and glorious operations of nature. It is seen in the diurnal revolution of the earth. We may suppose ourselves now surrounded by all the brilliancy and gayety of noonday. The sun is rolling over our heads in all his meridian splendor, and we hear, on every hand, the busy hum of popu lation. But presently the scene is gradually changed. The sun begins to decline, and he sinks lower and lower, till at last his beamy head drops beneath the western horizon. Now, if we had never experi enced the revolution of a day before, what would be our most reasonable conclusions? Would we not suppose that his rapid, downward flight would con tinue till his glittering fires would be quenched in LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 91 the vortex of eternal chaos? But, after a few hours of extreme anxiety, light would again appear. The golden streaks of the morning would illume the east, and "Lo! be comes, the powerful king of day, Rejoicing in the east ! The lessening clouds, The trembling azure, and the mountain's brow, Betoken gladness, -while aloft he mounts, And looks in boundless majesty abroad." What a beautiful representation of the glorious morning of the resurrection! when the gloomy night of the grave shall have rolled over, and the archangel's trumpet shall split the bars and ever lasting mountains of earth asunder, and the rising martyrs and saints shall behold the Sun of right eousness coming in the clouds of heaven, in power, and in great glory! The same Divine power is disclosed in the annual revolution of the earth. It is now midsummer. The trees of the forest are clothed in their deepest green. The flowers of the garden spread their opening bosoms to the rays of the cheering sun, and all is life and loveliness. But presently the scene shifts. The bleak north-wester begins to whistle over the blasted heath. The trees scatter their ten thousand glories to the merciless winds. The rains descend; the snows drive, till the face of universal nature is clothed with the snow-white mantle of death. What would we think if we had never seen or heard of such a change before? Would we not conclude that the frost would strike deeper and deeper, and spread wider and wider, till 92 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, gradually-failing life itself would expire? But the scene changes again. The southern breezes begin to play; the snows melt; the ice dissolves; the trees resume their verdure; the flowers feel the resurrec tion shock; and all nature throws her icy fetters off: a lovely representation of the spring-time of eternity, when the awakened universe shall behold "Love, Truth, and Mercy, in triumph descending, And nature, all glowing in Eden's first bloom; On the cold cheek of Death smiles and roses are blending, And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb." But while the Lord thus manifests his quickening power, he has declared in his word that he will raise the dead; and he has also afforded, in the divine vol ume, mighty illustrations of his boundless power. The case of Jonah is a striking representation of the resurrection; indeed, God intended that it should be so. Our Savior says, "As Jonah was three days in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of man be three days in the heart of the earth." When all hope of being saved by ordinary means failed, the mariners cast Jonah into the sea. But the Lord had prepared a fish to receive him. In the New Testament, this fish is called a whale. It is generally admitted by the learned that this is not correct, if the word whale is to be understood in its modern signification. In our context, it is said, a great fish. Although the whale is, perhaps, the largest fish in the sea, yet it is not so well qualified to swallow a person, entire, as some other fish which are much inferior in point of bulk. There is a spe cies of shark which have, in more modern times, LORKAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 93 swallowed human bodies. Bodies whole, and un broken, have been found within them. And the Mediterranean abounds with this kind of shark. But while we have no difficulty in finding fish suffi cient to do this thing', we feel constrained to give it as our opinion, that the fish that swallowed Jonah was of the immediate creation of God. It was doubtless made to meet this emergency; was the only one of the kind, and, in its very organization, was designed to receive the prophet, and to supply him with air necessary to sustain life. It is said the Lord "prepared" a fish. The same expression is used in connection with the gourd and worm. Now, the gourd was evidently of God's immediate creation; for it sprung up to full maturity in one night. It is as easy for the Lord to speak an animal into exist ence, as to create a full-grown plant in one night. Indeed, we can not suppose it difficult for him to do either, after having created the world and all that is in it. What he has done, he can do again, when ever the interests of his kingdom require it. But be this as it may, when Jonah was launched overboard, he was instantly swallowed by the fish, which, doubtless, darted down with lightning speed into the bosom of the great deep. How awful, now, was the situation of the disobedient prophet! His life was still preserved miraculously preserved; and he was sensibly alive to all the horror of his condi tion. Entombed in a living monster, he realized that he was sinking down down, till all the heavy billows of the Mediterranean rolled between him 94 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, and the light of heaven. Sometimes, we may sup pose, he felt the fish was scraping along the bottom* of the mountains, the bars, and foundations of the earth; sometimes shooting into the silent caverns, or rolling on the cracking coral that carpeted the im measurable halls of the great deep, where the mari ner's lead had never sunk. Well might he say, "All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me." And now he was brought to his knees. He had not prayed in all the raging of the tempest; but now Jonah ''prayed unto the Lord his God" and said, " 0, Lord, I am cast out of thy sight; yet will 1 look toward thy temple." The Jews were accustomed, in their captivity, or under circumstances in which they could not repair to the sanctuary, to look toward it. To pray, with their faces directed toward the temple, was according to the covenant that the Lord made with Solomon at the dedication. But poor Jonah could have no correct idea of the bearings of Jeru salem, in his present situation. He was in a bad box no chart no compass no light in the binna cle. Daniel had a window that always looked to ward Jerusalem; but Jonah's dead-lights were all shipped, and hatches closed. But, blessed be God! faith can work in the dark, as well as in the light under the sea, as well as on the sea. So, with an eye of faith, in fond remembrance, he looked toward the sanctuary of the Most High. Yea, when his soul fainted within him, he remembered the Lord. He was brought to a humble confession: " They that ob serve lying vanities, forsake their own mercies." He LORRAIN'S SKA-SERMONS. 95 makes a solemn promise: "I will sacrifice to thee, with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed, [which was nothing less than a life of ministerial obedience.] Salvation is of the Lord." And "the Lord spake tmto the fish" By some violent shock of nature, or some special operation of Providence, the monster was filled with such disa greeable sensations, that he instinctively rushed to the strand, and cast Jonah on the shore. The Jews, in their computation of time, always counted a part, or fraction of a day as a day. Our Savior lay in the tomb a small portion of Friday, the whole of Saturday, or the Jewish Sabbath, and a very small part of the first day of the week the Christian Sabbath; so that it was, perhaps, a little more than thirty hours that he was under the dominion of death. This he called three days. The Jews never disputed the correctness of it; for it was perfectly in keeping with their mode of reckoning. Jonah lay in the fish for the same length of time. As Jonah descended into the depths of the sea, so did our Lord descend into the gloomy regions of death. " A laud of deepest shade, Unpierced by human thought The dreary regions of the dead, Where all things are forgot." He sounded the tremendous gloom. All the waves and billows of death passed over him. But never did Death admit before into his dark dominions, a guest so illustrious so ruinous! He fathomed the unexplored deep. He drafted the dismal coast. He 96 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, chained the powers of darkness to his chariot-wheels. He drove the affrighted waves asunder. He arose! he arose! 0, glorious resurrection! 0, thou mighty ocean! thou hast swallowed thy countless victims. Thy untraversed bottom is paved with the bones of many a saint of God. On thy deep coral-banks still rolls the skeleton of the zealous Coke, restless in death as he was active and untiring in life. Yes, a West India conference was once taken at a swallow; and many a pious sailor rests beneath thy foaming billows! But, when God spoke, thou couldst not hold a Jonah; and when a greater than Jonah shall sound his resurrection blast, thy heavy waves shall part; the eye of Jehovah-God shall sweep thy dark and sepulchral caverns; and thy deepest cells, like Jonah's fish, shall heave their millions to the shore! Alleluiah! 0, what a mighty stir in the watch below! Awake, and sing, ye illustrious sailors of Jesus Christ! for your dew shall be as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead! Thus, it seems that the sufferings of Jonah were typical of the ATONEMENT and RESURRECTION of Christ; and, as he has been crucified for our sins, and has risen again for our justification, there is no necessity for a repetition of these events. Therefore, all the superstitious notions which seamen have founded on the narrative of Jonah, ought to be buried in eternal oblivion. II. While we represent the prophet as a type of Christ, we might add that his obstinate disobedience aptly resembles the conduct of the impenitent sinner. LORRAIK'S SEA-SERMONS. 97 When the tempest was raging in all its fury, the men were despairing, and all was involved in uproar and confusion, Jonah, who was the cause of the storm, had skulked below, and was fast asleep in his berth: none more responsible, and yet none more uncon cerned. While asleep, he was not only unconcerned, but even insensible of his real condition. The seas were roaring, the sails splitting, the spars cracking, the lightnings flashing, the thunders bursting, and the vessel reeling and pitching, as in the last throes of a hopeless shipwreck; yet he slept on, nor heeded the wild uproar of warring elements. So the impenitent sinner slumbers on the verge of ruin. God is frowning, hell is roaring, the muster ing clouds of Divine justice are ready to break upon his guilty head. Yet he sleeps on, unconscious of his danger, and ignorant of his true situation. He is blind. He is dead dead in trespasses and in sins. He sees not the holiness of God, the purity of his law, the beauty of virtue, and the deformity of sin. He has no proper sense of the glory of heaven, the horrors of hell, or the imminent danger to which he. is exposed. Again: Jonah was not only ignorant of his true state, but, while asleep, he was liable to indulge in unreal joys, and to imagine his situation to be widely different from what it was. How often does the sailor, while rocked in his ham mock, or berth, dream of home! In a moment he is sitting by his own cheerful fireside, surrounded by his wife and children, and telling his voyage and his sufferings over; but all at once the pleasing 7 98 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OK, delusion is broke by the hoarse and terrific cry of "All hands, ahoy! Tumble up! tumble up 1" He awakes amid flashing lightning and rattling peals of thunder; and it is a mercy of God if he does not awake many a fathom below the stormy surface, with his death- warrant rattling in his throat. So Jonah, in the dreams and visions of the night, might have imag ined himself at home, roving over the flowery plains of Judea, or, in flowing robes, addressing large and enraptured congregations. niwoi The sinner is not only ignorant of his true relation, but, alas! he too dreams. He dreams of joys and comforts as bottomless as the midway ocean. He dreams of peace, when there is no peace. He imag ines that he is doing God service, when, like Saul of Tarsus, he is flying right in the face of his will. Sometimes he thinks he is on his way to heaven. Then, again, he dreams that there is no heaven, no God, no immortality, and no accountability. Again: in his slumber, the spirit of Universalism, like the Queen of the Fairies, drives athwart his cranium, and tickles his fancy; and then it is all heaven, all mercy, all glory, and no judgment, no hell, no devil; and v he is filled with the most exhilarating fantasies. But, as Jonah was aroused to realize his situation, and all the horrors of the fearful tempest, so is the sinner awakened by the Spirit of God from his aw ful delusion. While Jonah was asleep, he was of no use to the ship. In such a storm, the help of all on board was necessary. While the sinner is asleep in his sins, he LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 99 is of no use to the world, to the Church, or to him self. Alas, how many have been furnished by their Maker with the brightest gifts and best natural tal ents! but they are asleep, and slumbering away their time in the sides of the ship. And this is their condemnation, not that they are born into the world asleep dead in trespasses and sins, but that, when light shines into their souls, and the great Shipmaster awakens them, they will not "call upon the Lord, that they perish not." The Spirit of God touches the ear of the deaf, and says, "Be opened!" He speaks to the slumber ing soul: " Awake, thou that steepest!" He says to the blind, " Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" the "fountain open for sin and uncleanness." He thun ders over the dead, " Come forth!" None can be so deaf, so blind, so asleep, so dead, that the quick ening voice of Jehovah can not reach them. Then, let them arise and call upon God, in mighty, fervent, and ceaseless prayer, and they shall not perish, but have everlasting life. So were Jonah's shipmates saved from immediate shipwreck; and some of them, we hope, were saved from eternal ruin. Although the Lord might not have wrought such a mighty miracle, simply to con vert the ship's company because this he could have done, in the ordinary course of his providence and grace yet, while working with reference to other high and important objects, he did convert the whole crew from their idolatry. " Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord, 100 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, and made vows." Their conduct, indeed, was worthy of imitation. 1. Finding that there was a prophet of the true God on board, they inquired of him the cause of this mighty tempest, and in what way they could obtain relief. 2. When he told them that he was the cause of their afflictions, and that nothing but the sacrifice of himself could stay the hand of God, and bring relief to them, still they were unwilling to sacrifice their passenger, and toiled hard to bring the ship to land. But when all human efforts failed, and while the storm was raging almost to a perfect hurricane, they called a general prayer meeting; and, before God, they deplored the necessity they were under, and besought the Lord to clear them of all blood-guilti ness. And 3. They solemnly launched the prophet into the deep. Now, we are persuaded, if all these things are duly observed before another man is thrown over board, there will never be another Jonah sacrificed. Jonah, also, was saved by "calling upon God." His stubborn soul would not bow above board; but the Lord brought him to pray in the fish's belly. And all who hope for eternal salvation, must "call upon God." The shipmaster was truly surprised at the indiffer ence of Jonah, when he exclaimed, " What meanest thou, 0, sleeper?" And well may we ask the guilty sinner, What meanest thou? LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 101 It is a matter of sorrow, that many who are awak ened by God, and who see their deplorable state, still choose death, in the error of their way. Still, they cry out, "A little more sleep a little more slumber." What meanest thou, 0, sleeper? Dost thou mean that if thou disregardest the calls of God, and goest fast asleep again, that thou wilt be secure, because insensible of thy condition? No, sinner; thou mayest slumber on; and though thou canst not see, canst not hear, canst not feel, yet the storm is up, the seas are roaring, the sails flying, the masts going by the board, and the ship is sinking down down down; and the fiery surges of an endless hell will soon awaken thee to a painful sense of ev erlasting ruin. Awake! awake! What meanest thou? Canst thou go into everlasting burnings? Canst thou dwell in devouring flames? Awake, then, and call upon God, that he may have mercy upon you, and save you from eternal woe. When storms arise, and waves beat high, To God's beclouded throne, The staggering sailor's fervent prayer Above the gale is borne. The agile vessel scales the surge ; To heaven she wings her way; Till, reeling on the foaming verge, She sinks amid the spray. Down in the trough her scuppers lave ; Again she strives to rise, And, mounted on a loftier wave, She dances to the skies. 102 THE SQUAKE-RIGGED CEUISEK; OE, tier tattered sails, by -whirling blasts, Are scattered all abroad; At last, her taunt and heavy masts, Come thundering by the board. And, now, bereft of all her spars, Of rudder, sail, and rope, The Lord accepts the feeble prayers Of mortals, lost to hope. So when conviction's stripping gales Deprive our souls of ease, And adverse tempests rend our sails, On life's disastrous seas, Our Savior walks upon the deep, To sinners so distrest; He soothes the howling winds to sleep, And makes the billows rest. LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 103 SERMON V. THE LEVANTER. GREAT God, with wonder we survey Thy works on every hand ; They loom majestic on the sea, And glorious on the land. When, in the black, terrific gust, Thine anger is unfurled, And storms on storms, redoubled, burst, And shake our guilty world When, from the dark, electric cloud, _The ragged lightnings flash, While deaf ning peals of thunder, loud, O'er trembling sailors crash How awful do thy frowns aEppear! Thy ways mysterious seem; They turn the contrite pale with fear, And make the guilty scream ! But, as the Christian sounds thy word, His tremors disappear ; For there a milder voice is heard, Which checks his useless fear. And lo ! the mercy of our God, In answer to his prayers, Lays by the sin-avenging rod, And guilty rebels spares. "Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar; and lo ! God hath given thee all them that sail with thee," ACTS xrra, 24. SUCH is the inherent majesty of virtue, that its enemies have never openly professed to persecute 104 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CKUISEB; OB, good men because they were good. When the Jews went about to stone our Savior, he asked, "For which of my good works are .you going to kill me?" As much as if he had said, "Is it because I restored that poor, blind man to sight? Is it because I raised that distressed widow's only son?" They, doubtless, blushed very deeply when they answered, "For a good work we stone thee not; but because " Yes; because. They must first darken his character, by slander, before they can persecute; and it took a very black patch to do this even "blasphemy" They were very good men in their own conceit, and the divinely-instituted guardians of the character of God, as most persecutors are. So, also, wken they wished to destroy Paul, it was not because of his piety because he had brought contributions to the poor of Jerusalem it was not because he was wor shiping according to the law of his fathers; but it was, as they had it, for polluting the temple. Still on the side of the Church! They first gave him a bad name, and then stirred up the multitude. The apostle, knowing that there was no mercy to be expected from the furious bigotry of his country men, very wisely appealed to Caesar. He chose rather to throw himself into the hands of the uncir- cumcised, than to breast the malice of a hypocritical priesthood. When it was determined that Paul should go to Rome, he was delivered into the hands of Julius, a centurion of Augustus's band. Embarking on board a ship of Adramyttium, they intended to sail by the LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 105 coasts of Asia. The winds, however, were unfavor able, and nothing remarkable happened till they arrived at Myra. Here the centurion found a ship of Alexandria, which was bound directly for Italy. He transferred his soldiers and prisoners to this ship, and again put out to sea. In consequence of light and contrary winds, they made but little headway for several days; and, being unable to make a port to windward, they made for the island of Crete, and came to in the "Fair Havens." This was probably called the Fair Havens because it was easy of access from several points, and because it was commodious and particularly convenient in fair weather, or during the summer- months. However, it was both incon venient and unsafe in boisterous seasons. As the voyage had been considerably prolonged by calms and head-winds, Paul admonished them to lay up for the winter in their present harbor, espe cially as the fast was already passed. He had no superstitious fears in regard to the fast. This was an annual fast, which took place about the time of the autumnal equinox. Hence, it had become pro verbial that it was dangerous to sail after the fast; and it was customary for those who were then at sea to scud for the nearest port. " Paul admonished them," not as a sailor, but as a prophet. The sail ing-master and pilot insisted that their present situ ation was not convenient to winter in. The haven they wished to reach was not far distant, being a harbor of the same island. There were no particular symptoms of bad weather the south wind blowing I I 106 THE SQUAKE-RIGGED CRUISED; OB, softly. The centurion, who was commander-in- chief, unfortunately preferred the opinion of the captain to the prophetic admonition of Paul; so they weighed anchor, and put out. We see this vessel leaving Crete forever, without gaining any apparent advantage by touching at it. This is the largest island in the Mediterranean, situated be tween thirty-five and thirty-six degrees north lati tude, and between twenty -two and twenty-seven de grees east longitude. It was much resorted to by all the surrounding nations, and was a place of great commercial note. Its population was flush; and it presented a beautiful site for a Christian Church. Paul saw its advantages at a bird's-eye view, and, after his release, established a Church there, over which he appointed and ordained the youthful Titus as bishop. When the ship had put out, and was running down the island, hugging the land pretty closely, suddenly there arose a tempestuous wind, called euroclydon. In modern language it is called, along the coast of Spain, and in the Mediterranean, a " levanter" a fierce and variable gale, which sometimes shifts, in a few moments, several points of the compass. When the squall first struck them they could not keep their luff without capsizing, or carrying away their sails or masts. Well does the author remember his first introduction to the levanter. He was a youth of about sixteen, standing at the helm, while the ship was making for Cadiz, which was already in sight, when the deceitful blast struck the ship. In that moment it snatched our square LORRAIN'S SEA-SEKMONS. 107 main-sail out of its bolt-rope, like an old handker chief, and all on board were thrown into con sternation. When the storm broke on the ship of Alexandria, they clapped their helm aweather, and ran down under Clauda, an island to the leeward of Crete. There, getting into smoother water, they with much difficulty hoisted in their boat. They also struck their sails, the vessel being fore and aft rigged. As she was old and crazy, they undergirded her, which was done by passing a cable several times around her hull, and heaving all taut on board, so as to brace her beams and timbers, and to prevent her springing a leak. Thus having laid her under bare poles, and secured every thing as well as they could, they lashed her helm, and so let her drive. It was impossible, in such a gale, to beat to windward, and there was no land to leeward but the coast of Africa, which was afar off; so they embraced the opportu nity, which was offered, by the Isle of Clauda knock ing the wind, in a good degree, out of their sails, to make all as snug as possible for a scud. The storm still increasing, the next day they lightened the vessel, by throwing overboard part of the cargo, which was near at hand. On the third day the tem pest raged with excessive violence, and they threw out the "tackling of the ship." There is some dif ficulty in understanding what is meant by the "tack ling." It is certain that the word is not to be un derstood in its modern sense. We find them in pos session of their standing and running rigging, and 108 THE SQUAKE-KIGGED CKUISER; OK, their cables and anchors, to the last. We get over the difficulty by supposing that she was an Egyp tian man-of-war, and that it was her fighting tack ling that was abandoned. We judge her to have been a government vessel, from the number of men on board. There were two hundred and seventy- six men in the vessel. The centurion could not have commanded more than one hundred soldiers. It would not have been prudent to have taken charge of more than fifty prisoners the relief-guard amount ing to one soldier for every prisoner. Twelve sail ors were sufficient to work the vessel. That their number was small, is evident from the circumstance that they formed a conspiracy to put off in the boat. This calculation leaves more than a hundred men. Who could these be but the marines, or fighting men? In those days, large engines were used on board, both of an offensive and defensive character. Some were designed to throw stones to a considera ble distance, with an effect little inferior to that of a cannon-ball. Others were constructed to grapple the enemy, and capsize him, when forced to close quarters. This warlike furniture was, doubtless, very cumbersome in such an unusual storm; and, as their dread of the storm rose superior to their fear of the enemies, or pirates, that infested the seas, they committed all their martial apparatus to the deep, as a frigate, in our day, would do with her guns, in an extremity. But the storm raged with increasing violence, amounting to a perfect hurri cane. It added greatly to their distress, that neither LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 109 sun, moon, nor stars had been seen for many days. Before the invention of the compass, vessels which were driven off the coast had to depend, for their reckoning, on the sun by day, and the fixed stars by night. Being deprived of this help, the vessel was in the same situation that one would be in now, out at sea, in dark, stormy weather, without a compass. In one word, they were lost; "all hope of being saved was taken away." "But after long abstinence." This abstinence was not altogether a voluntary one. The people had just got through with their fast as the gale came on. They were then, for several days, hovering over eternity, wrapped in black despair a state that nat urally suppresses hunger. In addition to this, we may well suppose that all but the seamen were des perately seasick. Again: it was impossible for them to cook their food. We were once in a large mer chantman, where, by stress of weather, we could not kindle a fire in the caboose for several days. Al though the captain was extremely jealous of official dignity and cabin rights, yet he brought his crew into the cabin, and made them range themselves across the floor, with their feet against each other's backs. Here they passed around their fat chunks of raw pork, and ate independent of all culinary prepara tions. It is reasonable to suppose that Paul and his shipmates, under their peculiar circumstances, had taken no regular meal for fourteen days. "Paul stood up to exhort them." He reminded them wherein they had erred, in disregarding his ; 110 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OB, prediction, by leaving Crete. He did not do this by way of triumphing in their common distress, but in order to give weight to his present exhortation. He now encouraged them to eat, and to be of good cheer. He declared that an angel of God had appeared to him in the night, and had said, "Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar; and lo! God hath given thee all that sail with thee!" We will inquire what kind of fear is forbidden Paul, or the children of God. The Lord does not command his people to live entirely devoid of fear. The text is to be considered in connection with other Scriptures, and in harmony with the analogy of faith. In some sense, and under some circum stances, we are commanded to fear. It is said, "The angel of the Lord encampeth about them that fear him." And, " There is no want to them that fear the Lord." Again: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Then, let us inquire, what kind of fear is forbidden the Christian? 1. Slavish fear distressing fear. We do not say that this fear is unbecoming the unconverted, the unpardoned sinner. Indeed, it is his highest wis dom. We are aware that our depraved hearts revolt against this truth. And one might say, "If I never get religion till I am moved to it by fear, I will never get it at all. No; nothing but the impulse of love shall bring me to God." But how can the sinner be moved to God by love while the carnal mind is enmity to God? Again: what is religion but love? " God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth LOKRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. Ill in God, and God in him." He that lovcth is already born of God. In the same degree that an immortal spirit is possessed of intellect, in the same degree must he fear the Lord, while he feels that God is his enemy. Hence, the fallen angels, who are greater and mightier in power than we are, fear the Lord more than it is possible for man to do, because they understand better than we do the thunder of his power. Brave men are allowed, by the common consent of mankind, to fear even a human enemy, when he appears under circumstances of over whelming power. During the last war with Eng land, Commodore Decatur, of the frigate President, engaged the Endymion. He fought till the scuppers were strewed with the dead, and the enemy struck. Just then the whole squadron bore down upon him, when he surrendered. Yes; he looked, for a mo ment, at the hopeless conflict before him, gave one broadside, and struck. Did his countrymen breathe one whisper about cowardice? No; they knew he was brave. They now saw that he was wise and humane, and altogether too noble to sacrifice the lives of his men wantonly. But what, let us ask, was the force brought against the Commodore in comparison with that almighty Power that faces every ungodly sinner?" The face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Some delight to boast that they know not fear that they fear neither God nor man! Vain and worthless boast! Fear, like other passions, is susceptible of vast expansion, as well as dense depression. But there are times and 112 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OB, seasons when the resistless force of circumstances will slacken its restraints, and call it forth. A pious captain was once very much troubled with a noisy infidel as a passenger one who thought he was a few ratlins above the superstitious fears of the swinish multitude. By and by there came on an extraordinary storm, in which even the experienced seamen despaired of being saved. The captain, having tried to serve God for many years, and to live always in reference to death, judgment, and eternity, was but little moved. Although he ex pected death, yet his mind was staid on God, in peace. Having occasion to step down into the cabin, he found his passenger down upon his knees, and crying lustily upon the Lord for mercy. The cap tain, with dignified composure, said, " What are you praying for, man? What have you to do with God?" The infidel answered, "0, captain, my principles answered me on shore; but they will not do at sea, and in such a storm as this." Yes; and many have found that they will not do on land, es pecially in the swellings of Jordan. While it is very proper for the wicked to be moved by fear, to seek an ark for the saving of their souls, it would be highly improper for Christians to indulge in any tor menting fear. Theirs should be a tender, filial fear, founded in the love of God. The difference is easily comprehended. We knew of a most unprincipled sea-captain, whose cruelty was such, that he was under the necessity of getting others to ship his hands. LOKRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 113 Frequently, he did not come on board till the pilot^ boat came along side to take the pilot off. He had been known to sit on the hen-coop, Qn a certain oc casion, and to amuse himself in firing his pistols at the men while they were reefing the topsails in a storm. It was reported that he had killed several men; and, indeed, he was at last obliged to fly his country. This man was feared, and scrupulously obeyed. His men feared him; but they hated him. Again: we have seen captains who were feared and obeyed; and feared, because they were loved. Their men had such an attachment to them, that they feared to do any thing that might hurt their feelings. So the Christian has no distressing fear, but a whole some fear of the Lord, that is highly conducive to his enjoyment in the path of duty. Because he loves God, he has a lively fear of losing his favor by apostasy. This fear an inspired apostle inculcates. After portraying the great falling away of the Isra elites in the wilderness, he says to his brethren, " Let us also fear, lest a promise being left us of entering in, any of us should seem to come short." In his Epistle to the Romans, speaking of the same char acters, he says, "Because of unbelief, they were broken off, and ye stand by faith. Be not high- minded, but fear." We might add, that this whole some fear is, under God, the greatest preventive of backsliding. 2. While the Christian should not have a slavish fear of God, neither should he have such fear of his judgments, or the inbtruments of his judgments, 114 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, sucli as storms, pestilence, etc.; for to fear the creat ure more than the Creator, is manifestly idolatry. We will give an example of Christian duty on this head, and pass on. An irreligious lady, who was married to a very worthy and pious captain, on a certain occasion, accompanied him to sea. In a very violent storm the ship was in immediate danger of being thrown on a lee-shore. Nothing, under God, saved her but a timely and providential shift of wind. Every one on board was thrown into the utmost con sternation but the captain. He calmly and indus triously attended to all his duty. And when the last lingering hope of escape expired, he patiently waited the result. After the danger was passed, his wife asked him if they had not been in great peril. He 'answered, that he had never been so near shipwreck in his life. " So I thought," said his lady; " but how was it that you were so tranquil, and un dismayed, while all was quaking around you?" In stead of giving her a direct answer, he took down a cutlass, and flourished it over her head with a well- dissembled frown, and said, " Are you not afraid of this sword?" She answered, "Not at all." "Why are you not afraid of it?" "Because," said she, "it is in the hand of my loving husband; and I know he would not hurt a hair of my head." "Then," Said the captain, "you have my answer. The storm was in the hands of my glorious and heavenly Father. I knew it might change my mode of exist ence; but I knew it could not harm me; for God has promised, that all things shall work together for good 1 ": LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 115 to them that love the Lord; to them that are the called, according to his purpose." 3. The Christian should not have a tormenting fear of death. There is, indeed, an instinctive fear of death, that our Creator has implanted in all ani mals. It is, no doubt, designed as a preservative of life. If it were totally destroyed, the earth would soon be divested of its living inhabitants. The beasts of the field, in their frolicsome or angry moods, would leap every precipice, or plunge into every flood. Heedless man Avould no longer start from the falling tower. Hurricanes might sweep, but the jovial sailor would hold on to all his tacks and sheets, and go laughing to the bottom. There are those who call in question the Christian's faith, because he stands from under the falling spar, or takes med icine in his sickness. The Christian may love God, love heaven, and long to be in his eternal home, and yet may dread the circumstances connected with his removal. And often he sings, in the language of the poet, "The pains, the groans, the dying strife, Fright our approaching souls away, And we shrink back again to life, Fond of our prison and our clay." The Lord no where requires us to fall in love with death. It was a curse in the beginning: it is a curse now. But often, in the article of death, when the natural love of life is no longer necessary for our preservation, the Lord so fills the soul with his heav enly grace, that even the instinctive fear of death is 116 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, swallowed up. And the idea, that it is the only gate to endless life, reconciles us to the stroke. A man who has been several years in Europe, on busi ness, and who has his family, friends, and chief in terest in America, may love his friends his home, and long to be there; but if he is under the neces sity of embarking in a crazy vessel, one that is not sea-worthy, and that at a very boisterous season of the year, he can not avoid having his fears in regard to the voyage, and the circumstances which may be connected with it. Sometimes Christians are placed in circumstances which make life peculiarly desira ble, for the time being. Paul knew, that, as it re garded himself, "to live was Christ, and to die was gain." But still, as matters then stood, he might have felt peculiar anxiety about living. His charac ter had been grossly slandered at Jerusalem. There his sister, and perhaps other relations, lived, who felt the stain that was fastened on the family. Indeed, it was a charge of no small magnitude, especially in a Jewish community a charge of polluting the temple. If proved, it would not only involve him in disgrace, but mar his past success, and obstruct his future labors. He was confident, if he could have a fair hearing before Caesar, his character would be purged of every stain. Under these cir cumstances he might have had some fear of being cut off, in this unsettled state of his affairs, and could not say just then, as he did at a subsequent period, "I am now ready to be offered up." Here we see the strength of the angel's exhortation, "Fear LORKAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 117 not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar." There are Christians now, who, although they are not tormented by the fear of death, yet, under pres ent and peculiar circumstances, desire to live longer. Some religious parents have greatly desired to live, to train up their children, and to see them converted. In after life, bending over the altar of prayer, with deep concern, they have seen their last child rise, disburdened of all his guilt, and filled with joy in believing; and they have lifted their streaming eyes to heaven, and have said, "Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servants depart in peace; for our eyes have seen thy salvation!" It is true, that sudden death, in the midst of storm, uproar, and confusion, wears an aspect peculiarly gloomy; but Christian sailors should be both religiously and philosophically fortified. They should know that the physical pangs of death have been greatly exaggerated, time immemorial. Some who have been drowned, and who have afterward been resuscitated, have represented that as an easy death. We would give the testimony of Dr. Clarke, in his own words: "At first, I thought I saw the bottom clearly, and then felt neither apprehension nor pain; on the contrary, I felt as if I had been in the most delightful situation. My mind was tran quil, and uncommonly happy. I felt as if in para dise; and yet I do not recollect that I saw any per son; the impression of happiness seemed not to be derived from any thing around me, but from the state of my mind; and yet I had a general appre hension of pleasing objects; and I can not recollect 118 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, that any thing appeared defined, nor did my eye take in any object; only I had a general impression of green color, such as of fields or gardens. My happiness did not arise from these, but appeared to consist merely in the tranquil state of my mind. I take it for granted, from the circumstances, that those who die by drowning, feel no pain, and that probably it is the easiest of all deaths." True, the stings of a guilty conscience will make any death horrible, as far as the mind is concerned; but the Christian has the testimony of a good con science. We are here reminded of the remarks of a sailor, who was questioned by a landsman thus: "Where did your father die?" " On the sea." "And your grandfather?" "On the sea." "Well, are you not afraid to follow the seas, as your business, seeing that it has proved so fatal to your ancestors?" "Well," said the sailor, "and where did your father die?" "At home, in his bed." "And where did your grandfather die?" "In his bed." "Astonishing! and are you not afraid to go to bed, seeing it has proved so fatal to your forefa thers?" Let us, then, consider that the Christian is immor tal till his work is finished; in the mean time, amidst LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 119 all the disasters and tornadoes of the sea, there are ministering angels, "Perched up aloft, To keep watch on the life of poor Jack." When our work is finished, we must go, whether we are at sea, or on shore; and, through the mercy of God, the passage to heaven is as short, and as easy, by water, as by land. And, "What boots it where the high reward is given, Or whence the soul, triumphant, springs to heaven?" A thorough preparation for death, is of infinitely more consequence than the manner, or circumstances of our exit. It is wrong for Christians to indulge in unneces sary fears about the death of others, who have seemed to leave the world under cloudy circumstan ces. We should rather resign them into the hands of God, who is the righteous Governor of the uni verse, and who will do right. Mr. Benson makes some very fine remarks on this subject. After speaking of the happy dead, he goes on to observe: "And although we, their companions, are left be hind, let us take comfort in considering that it is but for a little time. The hour is fast approaching when we, too, shall make the land. While the prosperous gales of divine grace, arising, swell our sails, and waft our vessel along toward the shore, the tide of some returning affliction will flow, and convey it into the heavenly harbor. Then our friends who have gone before, shall rejoice to see us safely arrive, and crowd to bid us welcome. And we, I doubt not, 120 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, shall have the comfort of finding many escaped thither, under the direction of their invisible Cap tain and Pilot, concerning whom we had entertained fears, lest, during the storm, they had suffered ship wreck, and had been lost amid the raging billows. And, 0, what a meeting shall that be! what mutual joys and gratulations, increased and hightened by the great and threatening dangers through which the parties have passed! Let us comfort our hearts with the prospect of it amid the waves of this troub lesome world. Let us entreat our Pilot to stay with us, and to take charge of our valuable vessels, richly laden with immortal souls, but very liable to be run aground upon the sand-banks of this world, the rocks of pride, or even to be swallowed up in the whirlpools of pleasure. Let us spread the sails of our affections, to catch the gales of those heavenly influences that arise to waft us to the promised land.'" God comforted Paul with the assurance that he should not die at that time: " Thou must be brought before Ccesar." 4. Christians should not have distressing fears concerning the wicked. They should have that con servative fear that will lead them to put forth every necessary effort for their salvation. Having done this, we should calmly leave the event to God. Paul was, doubtless, much exercised about his wicked shipmates. He found himself, by the provi dence of God, placed in the spiritual charge of two hundred and seventy-six souls. The most of them LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 121 were, no doubt, desperately wicked. They were a motley mixture of sailors, soldiers, and convicts. While the apostle saw this ungodly crew, hair-hung and breeze-shaken over the awful gulf of damna tion, in all their blood, and in all their unpardoned sins, he must have felt fearful apprehensions con cerning them, and, doubtless, lost no opportunity of exhorting, reproving, and entreating them to make their peace with God. It is not unreasonable to sup pose he was swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. To calm his troubled mind, the angel was directed to add, "And lo! God hath given thee all them that sail with thee!" Paul was the light of this ship the salt of the crew; and it was a remarkable cir cumstance that, although they were shipwrecked, and the vessel went entirely to pieces, yet, out of a ship's company of two hundred and seventy-six per sons, not one was lost. But we are not sure that God did not promise Paul their souls, as well as their lives; for it was their salvation that he was most concerned about; and the promise was very strong, "Lo! God has given thee all them that sail with thee!" Paul preached much to them, and under very favorable circumstances, with death, judgment, and eternity full in view. The exact ful fillment of his predictions must have convinced them of his heavenly mission. The miracles which he afterward wrought in the island increased their con fidence. Numbers of them might have embraced religion before they parted with the singular pris oner. Others might have procrastinated for a 122 THE SQTTARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, season; but perhaps, at some future period of their ad venturous career, when their ships were making their last plunge, they might have thought on Paul, and the salvation he had offered them, and, laying hold on the hope of the Gospel, might have made their eamest and last appeals to almighty God; and, although their bodies sunk into the fluid waste, their immortal spirits might have arisen above the angry surface, with a shout, and winged their mystic flight to fairer worlds; and it should not be a matter of much surprise, if, in the coming day of the Lord, they should all be safely moored, with the apostle, hard by the eternal throne. O, sailors! have you a Paul a true Christian on board? Bless God, and take courage; and let not the Christian sailor be swallowed up with overmuch fear, on account of his wicked shipmates. Let him pray much, live holy, and set a good example, and God may give him all that sail with him. 5. Useless fear. The fears of Paul were all use less, except that tender, filial fear, which is insepa rable from Christian faith. This the event will show. On the fourteenth night, while they were driven up and down in Adria, the seamen deemed they were nearing land. This they judged from many signs the appearance of the water, the pecu liar motion of the vessel, and the disposition of the atmosphere; for sailors, after being long at sea, are very sensitive of such matters. They sounded, and found twenty fathoms. In a little while they heaved the lead again, and got fifteen fathoms. This was LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 123 . making the land fast. They became alarmed, and dropped four anchors astern. The vessel was, per haps, built like a Dutch galiot, and carried anchors both fore and aft; and, as they supposed that they had no ground to spare, they dropped their anchors astern; and they wished for the day expressive words! Those who have been exposed to the danger of shipwreck, through a long and gloomy night, can alone realize with what agony men look for the day under such circumstances. About this time the sailors and their officers formed a conspiracy to seize the boat, and make their escape. In order to do this, they pretended that it was necessary to carry anchors out from the bows. If this had been nec essary, truly they would have needed the boat. But it would have been great folly to have moored the vessel, head and stern, in such a tumultuous sea, and in a gale which was shifting so often and so suddenly from point to point. However, they thought the soldiers knew no better. It is probable that the sailing-master and his officers judged that they were blown upon the coast of Africa, and that landing would be very difficult, and they concluded to lay off and on, in the boat, till daylight, and, if they found they could not safely land where they were, to run down the coast till they could. Paul, however, understood their design, and said to the centuiion, "Except these remain on board ye can not be saved." This shows us the necessity of attending to means and observing conditions. Sal vation is conditional; and, even where conditions are 124 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, 9 not expressed, the very character and economy of God imply them. It is true that the Lord had une quivocally promised Paul that none should be lost; but the sailors were necessary to work the vessel, lash spars, make rafts, loose the rudder-band, and reef and hoist the sail. When no immediate danger was nigh, Julius believed the captain rather than Paul; but, after a more intimate acquaintance, and especially when death hove in view, and life was at stake, he believed more in the minister of Christ, and commanded his soldiers to cut the boat's painter, and send her adrift. Paul then exhorted them to take some refreshment, to strengthen and prepare them for the shock. Having taken his advice, they gathered courage, and began to throw their wheat overboard, so that they might, if necessary, run the ship as high as possible on the beach. This wheat was, doubtless, government property. When the day broke, they discovered an island; but knew not the land. But they discovered the mouth of a creek, into which they determined to drive the vessel. The storm had, perhaps, abated a little. Having unlashed the rudder and hoisted their mainsail, they made for the land. They did not hoist the main sail in the modern, technical sense of the term. This would have been both improper and impracti cable. They hoisted the sail which was now their main dependence perhaps their close-reefed fore sail, or their jib. Every heart now beat with anxi ety, and every man braced himself for the shock; but, striking on a bank that had been formed by two LOEEAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 125 contrary currents, the vessel struck, and the seas broke with great violence over the stern, and she began to break in pieces. Those who could, swam for their lives. Others, on rafts, or broken pieces of timber, made good their escape, and all got safely to land. The island on which they were cast is now called Malta. They were treated with that extraor dinary hospitality which has ever since distinguished the island. They were not called barbarians, in the modern sense of the word. They were highly civil ized. The historian calls them barbarians because they spoke in a language which was not generally understood by the ship's company. What a pity it was that the. ship fell into a place where two seas met! Brother sailor, look out! there is danger in thy spiritual voyage! Waters and seas, in the Scrip tures, often represent people multitudes. There are two seas, or two kinds of people, in the world the righteous and the wicked the Church and the world. There are different degrees in grace, and different degrees in sin. There is a polar region, where these two seas meet the Church and the world; there holiness is wrecked, and faith frozen out. Beware of that bank, by keeping in the warm latitude of Divine love. In the days of Constantine, a gallant ship of Rome, whose faith had been spoken of throughout the world, struck on that bank, and has been going to pieces ever since. We hope, how ever, that many of her crew, by hard swimming, and availing themselves of broken fragments of truth, have happily reached the shore. 126 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, By pursuing the narrative, we find that Paul had no need to fear. He finally stood before Caesar, and was cleared of all the ungenerous charges that had been brought against him. So it is often with us. How often do we suffer real distress through fear of imaginary ills to come! It is a good saying, that "we should not climb a mountain till we come to it." In the war of 1812, we were in a company of volunteers, who marched from the lower parts of Virginia for the north-western army. After a few days' march, we came in sight of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They seemed to spread up into the heavens, like a dark and unbroken wall. There was much inquietude in the camp that night, and much inquiry how we might scale that stupendous rampart next day. But, as we advanced to the foot of the mountain, we entered into a road which gradually ascended, winding along a dark ravine. Sometimes we saw, ahead, inaccessible cliffs, which seemed to frown upon us, and to say, "Thus far may you come, but no farther." But, as we advanced, the road would wind round the difficulty at one time ascending, at another descending and when we thought our troubles were just beginning, it was announced that we had made the summit, and had nothing to do but to move down into the great valley. Thus it is that we often trouble ourselves about misfortunes that never come; or, if they do come, they are so unlike what we foreboded, that we hardly recognize them. We might illustrate this by the LORKAIN'S SEA-SEKMONS. 127 case of a brother, who resided in the bounds of our pastoral charge. He was a plain farmer, and far removed from the noise and bustle of the world. He was universally esteemed as a man of exemplary piety, but remarkably still in his profession. He might have enjoyed religion much more, but for his gloomy forebodings. He was often heard to say, in his class, and elsewhere, that he enjoyed religion some, but that often, Avhen he began to feel happy, one thought of death would spoil all his enjoyment. This did not seem to arise from a consciousness of not being accepted; but his mind dwelt so much on the circumstances of death the coffin, the winding- sheet, the grave. We attended our regular appoint ment, in his neighborhood, one day. He had been employed in some business on his farm, and had accidentally fallen on a stake. Being in a perspira tion, he was unconscious of the extent of his injury, and left his work, to attend meeting. When the serv ices were ended, he made an attempt to rise, but found his whole frame paralyzed. He was taken home, and laid on his bed. In a moment his soul was filled with unutterable joy, and he shouted the praises of God. "0, brethren," said he, "par don my noise. I have always been silent in your assemblies; but now it is my time. Others have shouted; but I was dumb with silence; but now I am drawing home. 0, the music! the celestial music! Do you not hear it?" His friends asked him, "What music?" He answered, "Such as I have never heard before!" and then, as if he was 4 128 THE SQUAKE-RIGGED CRUISEK; OR, looking beyond the confines of time, he exclaimed, with a heavenly smile, "They come! they come!" He was asked, who was coming. He answered, "The angels, the angels, to carry me home!" and the dying saint fell back upon his pillow, and closed his eyes in death. Now, is it not a matter of regret that so many Christians live like this man in con stant dread of what is to come, when, in the end, it is manifest that all their fears are useless? "Fear not, brethren; joyful stand On the borders of our land ; Jesus Christ, our Father's son, Bids us undismayed go on." While o'er the Adriatic main The fierce levanter wildly raved, And sailors saw their labor vain, And lost all hope of being saved While Paul, oppressed with anxious care, Bewailed, as lost, the wretched crew, And was inclined himself to fear The ruthless gale that round him blew A lovely angel came to cheer And calm the pilgrim's drooping mind ; He bade the captive saint not fear; For God himself was in the wind. "Fear not; the Maker of the seas Will bear this wretched crew to land ; And God unchangeably decrees That thou at Caesar's bar must stand." And can a feeble prisoner's cries, Arrest the angry arm of Heaven, And draw salvation from the skies, When hope from every breast is riven? The crew with wild amazement stared, And owned Jehovah's unseen hand ; While Paul, in irons, guards his guard, And steers his pilot safe to laud. LOERAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 129 SERMON VI. SEA-FIGHT. BLEST is the man who never faints In Virtue's holy cause; Strong in the righteousness of saints, He keeps his Maker's laws. He never tires in doing well, He can not cease to love; But restless as the ocean's swell, His active virtues move. And as the midway waters roll. Their waves exceeding clear, So does the blood-besprinkled soul Before his God appear. Salt of the earth, he will retain The saving power of grace ; And like the vast salubrious main, Preserve our tainted race. His peace and righteousness abound His river, and his sea Till swallowed in the great profound Of blest eternity. " 0, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments ! Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea," ISAIAH iLvm, 18. THAT the power of volition has been graciously bestowed on our fallen race, is so fully recognized by our text, as to preclude all controversy. The Lord is represented as mourning over the Israelites, for their not doing that which they might have done. 9 130 THE So TAUK- RIGGED CRUISER; OR, And it seems that his foreknowledge did as clearly embrace what might have been, as what actually was. " 0, that thou hadst hearkened to my com mandments!" This is the language of regret. "Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." This Avas the comprehen sion of his foreknowledge. We might, however, premise that man is under obligations to keep the commandments of God. 1. Because the Lord has created him; for there is no truth more self-evident than this. The Lord has a right to do what he will with his own; espe cially when we consider that his infinite benevolence will prompt him to will only the highest happiness of his creatures. 2. God has a right to command us, in virtue of our redemption. We are doubly his: for when we had destroyed ourselves, and forfeited all hope of mercy and compassion when we were lying in the open field of ruin, weltering in our blood, and wal lowing in our sins, the Lord gave his only-begotten Son, that we might not perish, but have everlasting life. So we are not our own, but bought with a price; even the precious blood of Christ; and we are bound to glorify God with our bodies and spirits, which are his. 3. The Israelites were his also by contract, or cov enant; in which it was expressly stipulated that he would be their God, and that they would be his people. We sometimes see cause to make contracts with our fellow-men; when, for some important con- LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 131 sideration, we cede to them some of our natural rights. When a sailor enters on board a man-of- war, and signs the articles, he binds himself to obey his officers. It is true, he may be commanded by young and inexperienced officers sometimes by midshipmen not more than twelve or fifteen years of age; and the experienced seaman may be ordered to do whal; he knows is not for the welfare of the ship; yet he feels bound to do it. Tell him that it is wrong, he Avill say, " I know it; but I will obey or ders if I break owners." Now, all who have devoted themselves to a life of piety and holiness, have made, as Israel did, a covenant with the Lord. And we know that our glorious God is too wise to err through ignorance too good to err designedly; therefore, it is our highest privilege, as well as our bounden duty, to keep his commandments. We have said that the commands of men are sometimes unreasonable. The laws of God are not, and never have been grievous. We know that infidels say, that the very first com mandment supposed to be given by him, was both unreasonable and grievous. "Who will believe," say they, "that God would condemn our first par ents for merely eating an apple, or some other kind of fruit?" But here, let us observe, that the sin of man did not consist in merely eating. The Lord, in his very organization, intended that he should eat; and to meet his wants, all the trees and shrubbery, and all the meandering vines, that ran through the walks of Paradise, were clustered with the most de licious fruit, and that in the greatest variety. The 132 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, command was given to him as a test of his love and obedience. If man could have set fire to the crea tion, so as to involve the whole universe in a confla gration, and had done so, it would have been rebell ion. The eating of the forbidden fruit was not less so. He disobeyed God. The circumstance of the law being so simple, argues great mercy in the Almighty. It was no abstruse, or undefinable mystery a child might un derstand it. "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shall die." It was not grievous to bear. We do not understand that there was any peculiar at traction, or magnetism, in the fruit itself. Neither are we taught that there was any natural predilec tion in either the soul or body of man, to lure him to his fate. If the Lord had given him a command ment which he could not have kept, without doing constant violence to his nature, he might have com plained. But with all the bias of his nature heaven ward, he did, either to gratify his curiosity, and to see if the consequence would be as divine Wisdom had predicted, or to elevate himself to a higher nature, as the enemy had foretold, stretch forth his hand to the "Fruit of that forbidden tree, Whose mortal taste brought death into the world, And all our woe." The next form in which we would view the law of God, is the ten commandments given through Moses the moral law. That this is founded in wis dom and righteousness, will appear from the fact. LORBAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 133 that although the commandments are only ten in number, yet, if they were universally observed, even in the dead letter, this earth would soon become an Eden, and there would be no necessity for any hu man legislation. We have not room to analyze this law. It is sufficient to call your attention to a few particulars. The first law, which requires us to make God the supreme object of our devotions, can not be either unreasonable or grievous. When we consider that it is from him we derive life and all its blessings food and raiment, friends and health, and safe abode, and every good and perfect gift should we not give him the uppermost seat in our hearts and our aft'ec- tions? And under such circumstances, is it not gross idolatry to love the creature more than the Creator, who is " God over all, and blessed forever?" The law of the Sabbath is also highly reasonable, and ought to be delightful to every reasonable mind. If the Lord had commanded the Sabbath to be ob served, for the purpose of glorifying himself only, it ought not to be considered grievous. If a benev olent individual should give a poor man seven hun dred dollars, imposing it on him at the same time, to spend one hundred in procuring him a portrait of himself, to hang up in his house to remind himself and family of their benefactor, and the poor man should do so, pray what would he lose? Would he not be six hundred dollars richer than he was? Well, God has given us our lives every beating pulse that we tell, every breath that we draw; our moments, \. 134 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, days, \veeks, months, and years; and is it not highly reasonable that we should devote one-seventh of all to his glory? But our obligation increases, when we are told that "the Sabbath was made for man." His nature, physical, mental, and moral, requires it. It promotes his highest interests in time and eternity. It was not made for angels or devils, but for man; therefore, man should observe it. Now, as it regards the rest "Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not kill," etc. these laws are so manifestly necessary for the comfort and well-being of society, that a humane Atheist can not object to them; for our well-being in this life requires their observance. Let us now look at the commandments of God as abridged, or reduced, to their most simple essence: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." These comprise the whole decalogue the law and the prophets. We ask, Are these grievous? Some will say, "Yes; for this plain reason, no one can keep them." If it is meant that no one, in the strength of our fallen state, can keep them, we object not. But when we consider that the Gospel, which requires them, comes consigned to the sinner, richly laden with a glorious plenitude of divine grace, and says, "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened," we are constrained to say, here, also, his law is not grievous. It is true, that under these two general heads are ranged divers commands, differing as widely as the LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 135 states and conditions of men. There are commands for the vilest of sinners, as, "Let the wicked forsake his way: the unrighteous man his thoughts." There are invitations to penitents and mourners, as, " Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." To the righteous, it is said, "Let us go on to perfection." There are command ments addressed to parents, to children, to husbands, to wives, to magistrates, to people, to masters, to servants. But the first commandment given to ev ery sinner, is, "Repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." In discussing our text, we argue, I. It is only in obeying the commandments of God, that we can be righteous or religious. All men, in a state of nature, break the command ments of God. But He who is rich in mercy has not abandoned us in our lost estate. He has sacri ficed his Son to save the world. He has made him to be a sin-offering for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. To this end, the Holy Spirit has come into the world, reproving us of sin, of righteousness, and of judg ment. Those who yield to the Divine reproof, be take themselves to the means of grace, and say, " Thy face will we seek," soon feel an earnest hun gering and thirsting after righteousness burning within them. And Jesus has said, "Blessed are ye that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for ye shall be filled." These figures are an appropriate expression of the intense anxiety and mental anguish 136 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CKUISEK; OK, of that soul who is earnestly breathing after God. All men have experienced, at some time, the uneasy yearnings of hunger and thirst, in some degree. But to attain to the full strength of the figure, look at that unhappy ship's company, who have been com pelled to launch their boats, and desert their sinking home. When they first left the wreck, they pulled strong and rowed regular. They were full of hope; and the thought of home sweet home their wives and children, rushed on their nerves and called their vigor forth. But what has now come over them? They seem languid, dispirited, desponding. They have long since divided their last moldy biscuit. Their last bottle of water is expended, and they are on the point of starvation. Presently, they cast strange and mysterious looks on each other. Each, though drowsy, is afraid to close his eyes, lest he should be devoured by his messmates. At last, the open proposal is made, that lots be cast, and that one die to save the suffering crew; and the poor skeleton of a sailor hardly knows whether to put up his prayer, that he may be the victim, or that he may be spared to satiate his raging hunger and thirst with the flesh and blood of his own shipmate. Now, in this condition, parents, wives, children, friends, and sacred home, are all forgotten. All their thoughts, feelings, and words, are swallowed up in the all-ab sorbing question, "Where shall we get something to eat something to drink?" They truly hunger and thirst. Or see that crew that has been stranded on the coast of a sandy desert. They have wan- LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 137 dered for many a long and dusty mile, alike destitute of food and water. The sun pours with intolerable violence on their throbbing temples. They look ahead, and fancy they see a little hill-surrounded valley. There, they hope, lurks the cooling spring, or rippling brook. They put out all their remaining strength. Hope adds wings to their feet. But when they gain the long-sought spot, it is only a few de ceitful sand-hills, thrown together by the sportive whirlwinds of the desert. Now they fall down in despair; their tongues cleave to the roof of their mouths; and extreme hunger and thirst expel from their minds every thought, but how they may quench their thirst and allay their hunger. It is thus that the penitent soul pants for the water of life the bread of heaven. His intense anxiety for salvation crowds every thing else out of his mind. He is ready to say, "Why should I labor for the bread that perishes, while my soul my immortal spirit, is starving?" He flies to secret places; he falls on his bended knees, and he cries, "O, for a precious draught from the well of salvation! O, for one crumb of the bread of life!" His irreligious friends and relations may weep and mourn over his condi tion, and beAvail him as deranged and lost; but in the mean time, angels are rejoicing, and Jesus says, "Blessed are ye that hunger and thirst after right eousness, for ye shall be filled!" Why does our Lord pronounce such a man blessed? He does not delight in the sorrows of his creatures. He has de clared that he does not willingly afflict the children 138 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OK, of men but for their good. He pronounces him blessed, because he knows that he is not far from the kingdom of righteousness, and peace, and joy. He knows that the extremity of his thirst, under the blood of sprinkling, will bring him to the fountain his hunger will lead him to the rich storehouse of grace. Do you see that boy that is prompt at every call? He is first on deck, first in the bunt, first at the weather-earing, and has such an amazing con cern to become a perfect seaman that it drives every other concern from his mind. Will he not succeed? Well, so it is with the soul that thirsts after God. He thirsts on, prays on, reads on, fasts on, and never rests till, by faith, he Jays hold on the hope of sal vation. The Lord purifies his heart by grace, and fills him with righteousness with pure religion. This religion is represented in our text as being- like the waves of the sea. 1. As it regards its purity. The waters of the midway ocean, or beyond all soundings, are remark able for their transparency. When any bz'ight article falls overboard, it may be seen for many a fathom beneath the glossy surface of the deep; and there is nothing, in a crude state of nature, more pure and clear than the waves of the sea. This is a beautiful representation of our holy religion. It is not that abhorrent mixture of vice and virtue, of sin and ho liness, that some have represented it to be. It is our high calling to be cleansed from all unrighteousness. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." "Be ye holy, because I, the Lord thy God, LORRAIU'S SEA-SERMONS. 139 am holy." Here it is: If God is holy, his religion must be holy; for no pure fountain can send forth impure water. Well, if this religion is holy, it must require holiness of all its recipients. We must be holy, then, because God is holy. 2. The waves of the sea possess a saline or pre servative quality. If it were not so, the many ani mals which perish in the sea, together with all the filth and corruption swept into it by the mouths of a thousand rivers, would putrefy, poison the whole atmosphere, and spread a universal pestilence throughout the earth. Righteousness has, also, a preservative power. Christ said to his disciples, "Ye are the salt of the earth." It is the Church of God, under the blood of atonement, that pre serves our corrupted race. This is no fanciful play on figures. It is a doctrine of the Bible. It was clearly demonstrated in the destruction of the cities of the plain. When the Lord made known his de sign to Abraham, that pious patriarch was deeply affected, and he began to expostulate with his Maker in mighty prayer. "0, Lord God," said he, "if there be fifty righteous persons in the city, wilt thou not spare it for the sake of the fifty?" The Lord answered that he would. Then Abraham said, " Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty; wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five?" And the Lord said, " If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it." And thus Abraham went on, drawing on the infinite benevolence of God, till he got the num ber reduced down to ten. And the Lord said, "I will 140 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, not destroy it for the ten's sake." When Abraham found that there were not ten pious souls in all the plain, he considered the case hopeless. There was only one righteous family, and the Lord determined that they should not perish with the guilty. The wife of Lot was, doubtless, a child of God; but she was too worldly-minded, and her heart and affec tions were too closely wedded to the plains, and her interests there. She cast a lingering look behind, and the Lord struck her into a pillar of salt. And why a pillar of salt? That all coming ages might see that, even in the most unworthy of all Lot's family, the city lost a pillar of salt. Ten such pillars would have preserved the city till the coming of our Savior. When Paul was sailing toward Rome, as a pris oner, and a heavy tempest overtook the ship, he prayed for the preservation of the wicked crew, and about midnight the angel of the Lord stood before him, and said, "Fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar; and lo! God hath given thee all them that sail with thee!" Was not Paul the salt of that ship the preserver, under God, of all that wicked crew? 3. The waves of the sea are always active always in motion. Even in the calmest times, when the surface is as smooth as a mirror, still the long, heavy swells are seen. The ship is still in motion, and there is often more wear and tear of sails and rigging than there is in a steady gale; and the waves of the sea have never been perfectly still since the Lord measured out the waters in the hollow of his hand. LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 141 The righteousness of saints is of an active, stirring, restless nature. It is always employed in getting or doing good. As it regards devotional exercises, the Christian does not pray on the Sabbath, and neglect to pray on the week-day. He is always the same uniform character, at home and abroad, on the land and on the sea. In works of benevolence he is act ive, too. He does not murmur when solicited to help the poor, or to support the Gospel. He rejoices in every opportunity he has, to lay up treasure in heaven; and there is no bilge-water religion in his soul. He is instant, in season and out of season, in exhorting, reproving, and rebuking, with all long- suffering and-tender compassion. 4. The waves of the sea roll free for all men. The land may be divided, and is divided, by lines and fences; and avaricious man may set the bound aries of his domain; but the independent billows of the proud sea disdain all property-marks and indi vidual claims, and, rolling high over all impertinent pretensions, flow freely for all mankind as free for the fragile skiff of the untutored savage, as for the O O * splendid frigate that bears a nation's thunder round the world. So this righteousness flows free for all men; and whosoever will come, may come, and par take of the water of life freely. 5. In the hardest storms, the waves of the sea rise highest, and loom the most majestic, till, with foam ing hands, they seem to slap the saucy clouds that have aroused their wrath. In the midst of perse cution, affliction, and distress, or while the keen 342 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, tempest of poverty is sweeping over God's heritage, then the saint mounts nearest to his God, and the power of divine grace that sustains him awes a guilty world. II. It is only in obeying the commandments of God we can have peace. Man, in an unconverted state, is in rebellion against God. There is war between the sinner and his Maker. The Spirit warreth against the flesh, and the flesh fighteth against the Spirit, and these are contrary, the one to the other. Man first in trenches himself in infidelity, and denies his moral responsibility to his Creator, and wars against every principle of righteousness and true holiness. The Lord, by his word,' his Spirit, his ministry, and his economy in creation and providence, contends against the unbelief of his obstinate subject, till, not unfrequently, he is made to yield to the force and power of divine truth, so as to acknowledge the righteous claims of Heaven. But is he then re claimed? Far from it. He confesses the authority of God, the equity of his law, the beauty of holi ness, and the absolute necessity of the sinner's re generation, in order to eternal happiness; but he now takes shelter in the fortress of procrastination. He will keep the commandments of God; but not now. He would burn out the lively taper of life in the service of God's enemy, and then fling the ashes on heaven's altar; and he thinks that the Almighty will bear the insult. We do not mean that this is universally the case. There are those who have LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 143 submitted to the Lord as soon as they have been convinced of the falsehood of their views. We were greatly pleased with the experience of an old tar, which was given in one of the Bethel meetings. It seems that the morning of his life had been spent in sinful mirth. The ship in which he was sailing was so circumstanced, for the time being, that the most ex perienced had no hope of. being saved, but were ex pecting death every moment. All hands had betaken themselves to prayer but this poor sailor. The ship mates implored him to think of his soul, and to call upon God. "No, no," said he, "I must not now. I have lived in sin till now. I dare not insult my Maker by offering him the very last dregs of my miserable life. I can not do so mean. I see the folly of my life; and, if I had the -prospect of a few more years ahead, I would act otherwise; but now it is too late. I could have no confidence in my own repentance at this late hour." He would not bow his knees. The ship was providentially delivered from her perilous situation. The crew were glad. Soon the intoxicating cup passed round. Their songs and oaths again resounded through the forecastle; but he who would not insult his Maker, by offering him his last hour, was not seen in their noisy mess. Like the poor, stricken deer, he withdrew from the wicked club, and, in secret, sought the Lord, and never rested till the peace of God possessed his soul. He was the only one, of all the ship's company, that forsook his sins. But how many, who profess to be men of principle, are procrastinating till death or 144 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, old age! And when the Lord, by all the means and appliances of the Gospel, routs sinners out of their procrastination, do they then submit? Not always. They generally make their last retreat into the castle of despair. They write bitter things against them selves, and madly blaspheme their God. They now say, "The time has been when we might have sought and found salvation. We then said, ' Time enough yet; time enough yet!' But now mercy is clean gone forever; the harvest is over; the summer is ended; and we are not saved." But our gracious Lord fights against their dark despondency, and often saves them with an everlasting salvation. Or, if you wish to view the subject in a more ship shape form, let us weigh anchor, and put out into blue water. Look out on the troubled sea of life! Behold that gallant man-of-war! At her peak waves the bloody ensign of the cross, and the pennant of just retribution coils gracefully around her towering main. She is laden with grace, and plentifully supplied with the bread and water of life. She is on a cruise of mercy, commanded by the eternal Emanuel; and the crew that is with him are called, and faithful, and chosen. On her stern, in letters of light, may be seen, "THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL." She carries four beautiful sky-lights, and in them are the names of the holy Evangelists of almighty God. Omnipotence stands at the helm, and her magazine is the word of God. But do you see that miserable group of pica roons to windward? It is the squadron of human LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 145 depravity, that is bearing down to make war with the Lord and the Gospel. The first ship that heaves into action is INFIDELITY. She is as old as the Gos pel. Although her rigging, at first sight, appears, to some, weighty and imposing, yet she is of no depth, and, if possible, of less burden. She is commanded by the devil the high-admiral of the black and, in company with other mutineers, is convoying the world to hell. Her crew are remark able for their dexterity, but still more remarkable for a wrong application of their powers. While danger is at a distance, they are bold and boisterous; but, in storms and engagements, they skulk miser ably. They, are well drilled in every branch of Tom Cox's traverse, and can sling the hatchet admirably. Infidelity fights with Satanic malice. She wages the war with a design to rib and sink the everlasting Gospel, and not leave a single plank on which the Christian may escape to land. But her shot are formed of very brittle materials satire, low wit, and ridicule which can make but little impression on bulwarks founded in truth. She belches out many rockets and bombs of sacrilege and blasphemy, which fly harmless over the old ship Zion, or, if they strike at all, rebound, with fatal fury, on the heads of the assailant. The war, on the part of the Gospel, is a war of mercy; for she launched out into the world, not to destroy the world, but that the world, through her, might be saved. Hence, her guns are principally leveled at the hull and rigging of Infidelity, which 10 146 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, have long since been riddled and cut in pieces by the force and power of divine truth. It is the de sign of the great Captain of our salvation to expose the .weakness of the shelter, that those who have embarked in such a wretched expedition may be in duced to quit the wreck, and seek safety in the ark of eternal salvation. It is true that the Lord some times, by way of example, lays a notorious sinner low, that others may fear, and lay it to heart, and repent. And there have been times of special retri bution, when the scuppers have been strewed with the slain. It has been thought by some, that this old frigate of damnation would have struck long since, were it not for a little flat-bottomed tender, called "PRIDE," which is dressed up in all the colors of the rainbow. It is amusing to see this little craft maneuvering. She is frequently doAvn on her beam's end; but is very active in righting again. When any of the infidels jump overboard, and swim for their lives, to lay hold on the hope set before them, she generally follows them with a volley of small arms, hissing and laughing. And there are some who dread her popguns more than they do all the thunder of the law and Gospel. But, thank God! great numbers have deserted infidelity, and laid hold on the hawser of eternal life. Sometimes Infidelity has been so weakened by the victories of the cross, that she has been compelled to haul off, for a season, to clear the wreck, ship hands, stop leaks, repair dam ages, reeve new braces, splice backstays, paint her sides, and mask her batteries, that s-he may renew LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 147 the conflict under more imposing circumstances. Meantime, all her crew who have become crippled, or any way disaffected, are transferred on board "PROCRASTINATION," which next comes into action. This vessel is not so formidable and martial in her appearance, and not so open in her hostility. She is a remarkably dull sailer, and is manned with such as are halting between two opinions. She is com manded by Presumption, and steered by Delusion; and although slow, to a proverb, there is not a ship in all the navy of hell better calculated to convey souls to perdition. Every one who enters on board, does so with an intention of deserting at some time. Indeed, the captain favors this idea, and permits the vessel to be rigged with good desires. He thinks that while they are content to live in procrastination, and feed on golden dreams, he is as certain of them as if they were already fast anchored in the infernal lake. As soon as Procrastination comes within gun shot, she hoists a beggarly flag of truce, professes to be convinced of the divine structure of the Gospel, and of her invincible power. She hails the Prince of Peace, and declares that she will strike, and come under his lee; but but but not now. Indeed, she always has more buts than brains on board; so she continues slyly to ply her carronades. The Gospel does not abate her thunder at all, but pours it in, hot and heavy, broadside after broadside. However, "the weapons of her warfare are not car nal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds." Her shot, made of solid truth, and 148 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CKUISER; OR, molded in love, are taken from the locker of divine inspiration. Here, "every bullet has its billet." They bear various inscriptions; such as, " To-day, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts;" or, "Behold, now is the accepted time: now is the day of salvation." Sometimes the Lord sends a shaft of Divine judgment, and cuts a sinner down, that the survivors may number their days, and apply their hearts to wisdom; for even the arrows of the Almighty are dipped in compassion, and winged with mercy. The incessant firing of the Gospel often makes a good impression, and many cry out, " We will submit." But it is only the man who says, "I do submit," who has learned the happy art of escaping this fascinating hooker. The word and leap go together, and the sinner springs from the gunwale of Procrastination, throws himself on the unbounded sea of God's mercy, and is picked up by the life-boat of Zion's holy ship. But it is to be lamented that when the enemy sees a disposition in some for an immediate surrender, he binds them hand and foot, and removes them to the old prison- ship of "DESPAIR." She may be called a prison- ship, because she is so strongly guarded by the pow ers of darkness; nevertheless, there is fighting on board. She is perfectly black: waists, bends, and bottom; and always carries her dead-lights shipped. She is commanded by Despondency, and her gunner is Blasphemy. She is much disabled in her head, and fights by fits and starts. Her shot are wild and scattering; and her crew, in their frantic find disor- LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 149 dered state, often run out their guns breech foremost, and rake their own decks miserably. They write bitter things against themselves, and believe that they are the marked objects of God's displeasure. But the Lord deals tenderly with them, and throws out very encouraging signals. He hails them through his silver trumpet, and says, " Come, let us reason together; and though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as snow." " Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." At times the crew will encourage them to hope, by saying, "Once, such were some of us; but we are washed, we are justified, we are sanctified, by the Spirit of our God. Come, 0, ye despairing sinners, and trust a faithful Lord!" And, blessed be God! some do escape, even from this last sad refuge of despair, and are boused, joyfully, on board the ever lasting Gospel. Such are some of the enemies that the Gospel has to contend with, in the world at large, as well as in the bosom of every man. But we humbly trust that she is now getting the weather-gauge. A little more tacking and wearing, and beating and hauling a few more long legs and short ones, and, glory to God! we will reach the pleasant latitude of the mil lennial trade-winds; and we will have nothing to do but up helm, square her yards, run out her stud-sail- booms, hoist every sail chock block, make fast the haul-yards for a full due, cut away the down-hauls, and drive the triumphant flag of our God through the blazing fleet of the enemy, set on fire the king- 150 THE SQUAKE-RIGGED CRUISER; OK, dom of darkness, and, in the strength of our great Redeemer, capsize the throne of hell. And, thank God! there is no danger of a short allowance no fear of starvation. We have heaven for our store- ship, Jesus Christ for our Purser, the wine of the kingdom to splice the main-brace, and our bread and our water are sure. All we have to do, is, to stand every man to his station, and cook to the fore-sheet, keep a bright look-out ahead, watch the lee-lurch and the weather-roll; while our adorable Captain will cheer us with the sound, "Steady as she goes! Thus! thus! very well thus!" And let the sinner renounce his infidelity, desert procrastination, and give despair a wide berth, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and peace sweet peace, will overflow his soul. The peace, consequent on keeping the command ments of God, is as a river. Peace! 0, how lovely that word! I have sometimes thought, that if a for eigner -a stranger to our language should merely hear that word, he would at once suspect, from the melody of its tone, that it was a favorite vehicle of mental treasure. Peace! write it; how fair! sound it; how harmonious! Even political peace is sweet. When two nations have been distracted, and laid waste by war, and it is announced over the land, that "Wild war's deadly blast is blown, And gentle peace returning," both people are at once struck tremulous with joy, and earth's remotest regions smile with sympathy. In my younger days I used to be singularly affected LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 151 by a song of my shipmates. The song itself was rough and uncouth, both in regard to rhyme and measure; but its sentiment always touched some of the most tender chords of our nature. It was the simple narrative of a poor man-of-war's man, who had been pressed, and dragged away, to fight the battles of his country. And after hard fighting, the ship is represented as having returned, and anchored in full view of his native plains; and he goes on to sing, "As on the yards we lay, The topsails for to furl, I heard the pilot say, "Twas peace with all the world." In my imagination, I saw the poor man returned to his native isle; but no prospect of deliverance no restoration to his family and friends, while the war lasted. He mounts the ratlins with a heavy heart, and slowly lays out on the yard-arm to dis charge a duty, from which he never expected to be released till death. But just as he is bending over, to lay hold on the leech, he hears the pilot, who had just boarded, say to the officers on deck, " It is peace with all the world!" 0, how sweet was the sound, to the weather-beaten and war-worn sailor! a joyous prelude to his deliverance from a floating hell, and his restoration to liberty and domestic happiness! But what is this, to the thrilling ecstasy of the young convert, who can lay his hand upon his breast and say, "I have peace within, peace with my God, and peace with all the world!" Peace like a river. Rivers commonly originate in 152 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, small springs. We might trace the Mississippi, the great father of waters, up to a small, but perpetual spring in the far-off mountains. Look at it, in its origin. The little unassuming stream winds noise lessly along. But, as it flows along, other springs unite their tributary drops. At first, small obstruc tions little stones, may interrupt its course, and control its tortuous way; but, as it is reinforced by its numerous and inexhaustible allies, it gathers strength. In its first formation, it might have turned into some deep valley surrounded by inaccessible mountains; but there it swells, rises, and roars, till, " Gathering triple force, rapid and deep It boils, and wheels, and foams, and thunders through." The everlasting hills give way; and on it rushes, plowing a deeper bed, and spreading wider banks, till it pours down into the unmeasured ocean. So the peace of God progresses in the soul. The river, even, in its origin, is pure water. So the righteousness of saints is peace in the beginning; for, "being justified through faith, we have peace with God." This peace is subject to much interrup tion, in the young convert's bosom; and though it may be occasionally diverted in its progress, by un controllable circumstances, it will continually seek the level of Christian humility. As the Christian grows in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord, new streams and rills of consolation, love, and joy, flow in. The water rises; "A rill a stream a torrent flows; Yet pours the mighty flood!" LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 153 His peace becomes deeper, spreads wider, till it be comes a mighty river a broad river! Risen waters! Alleluiah! A river in which the whole sacramental host of God's elect might swim a river that will flow forever, because its fountain is eternal and in exhaustible. Those who keep the commandments of God, shall have peace as a river, and righteousness as the waves of the sea. It remains for us to ask, will you, fellow- sinners, and shipmates, keep the commandments of God? will you begin now, "by repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ?" Do not meet us with the stale objection, "We can not." When the prophet exhorted the revolted Israelites to inquire for the old paths and walk in them, they answered over and above-board, "We will not walk therein." They did not say, "We can not." They knew that they could. They knew that their fathers had walked therein. They knew that there was a time when there was no spot in Israel no defilement in Jacob. When a poor apostate prophet stood up to curse them, a divine afflatus overpowered him, and he exclaimed, "How goodly are thy tents, 0, Israel! Let me die the death of the righteous; let my last end be like his!" They knew that they could keep his commandments, but they said, " We will not." Our Savior, who knew all that was in man, in the day of his incarnation, gave the same reason why sinners would not obey him. "Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life." Then cease the effeminate cry, "We can not; we 154 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OK, can not." Nothing keeps you from obeying the commandments of God, but your own obstinate and perverse wills. The Lord has done every thing that he can, consistent with his attributes, and the moral agency of man, to save sinners. He has slain the sacrifice, prepared the feast, and sent his servants to say, "All things are now ready; come ye to the sup per." But if ye will not, ye will die in your sins, and your Maker can only lament, "O, that thou hadst hearkened unto my commandments; then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." The river, in its rapid course, By streams and fountains fed, At every mile augments its force, And plows a deeper bed. 'Tis first opposed by bars and shoals, By rocks and mountains too; But as th' increasing torrent rolls, It cuts its passage through. Then onward moves with swifter pace, And an impetuous sweep, And strains an everlasting race, To swell the mighty deep. Just so, the Christian's growing peace Enlarges as it flows, Till lost in love's unbounded seas, It quits its narrow shores. Now, scattered wide by winds and tides, This sacred peace expands, On waves of righteousness it rides, And washes distant lands. LOREAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 155 Lord, let its limpid billows roll ; 0, let the flood increase ; Till love shall reign in' every soul, And war forever cease ! 156 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OK, SERMON VII. RELIEF AT THE HELM. BEHOLD the gallant bark, So heavy, deep, and large, While gathering clouds and tempests dark Their furious winds discharge ! She darts, with rapid flight, Before the sweeping gale ; Onward she drives, and shoots, in spite Of reefed or shortened sail. While tow'ring seas o'erwhelm, She mocks their mighty force ; Yet what a little, trifling helm Directs her foaming course ! And, though she 'tempts a lurch,' Her strongest efforts fail; The rudder luffs her to the surge, And shivers every sail. Just so the snorting steed Is, by his rider's skill, In all his rage and lightning speed, Still bridled in, at will. The bit and rudder can Such potent strength control ; And so the slender tongue of man Commands the mighty soul. Who can its malice tame? Who can withstand its ire? It dips into infernal flame, And sets the world on fire. Is such its sovereign sway O'er all the human race? Then grant, 0, Lord, it ever may Be snubbed or curbed by grace! LOKKAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 157 "Behold, also, the ships, which, though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth; even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things," JAMES ni, 4, 5. THE principle of steering was discovered at a very early period. Men were, doubtless, instructed in it by the broad hints of nature. The ease and facility with which the birds of the air and the fishes of the sea directed their courses through the heavens and waters, perhaps, suggested the idea of applying a similar power to boats. The art of ship-building was but in its infancy in the days of the apostle; yet it was a matter of admiration to him, that the ships, which wei-e so large, and which were often driven by fierce winds, were so completely controlled by so small a thing as a helm. In the present day, vast improvements are making in shipping; and when we see our frigates and enormous three-deckers, sur passing in magnitude all that the ancients ever imag ined, under weigh, it is still a matter of wonder that they are governed by such small helms. It is true that the principle is simple and of easy apprehen sion; and it is a notorious fact, that the stronger the wind, in a smooth sea, the greater command the rudder has, and the quicker the ship will answer her helm, if a corresponding power can be applied to the wheel or tiller. Yet, as simple as it is, when we see such mighty hulls, bearing such a cloud of can vas, and flying before such tremendous gales, and still kept to the point by a little rudder, we can not withhold our admiration. 158 THE SQUARE- RIGGED CRUISER; OR, The apostle James did not so strictly mark the works of art merely to gratify a vain curiosity; but, like his Lord and Master, he drew, from every thing around him, moral truths, which were calculated to stimulate himself and others to a life of practical holiness. The position assumed by James is a geo metrical one: as THE RUDDER : THE SHIP : : THE TONGUE : THE MAN. I. Some of the most horrid, most heaven-daring, most God-provoking sins which are to be found on the black catalogue of human vices, flow from the tongue. 1. Lying. This is a most abhorrent crime, in the view of our holy God. Hence, he has declared that whosoever loveth or maketh a lie shall be excluded from the new and heavenly Jerusalem. Some people are rather too conscientious to make a lie; yet they will hear and read lies with a great deal of pleasure and complacency. But God so abhors falsehood that he consigns both the maker and the lover of a lie to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. And this should astonish no one, when he reflects how necessary is truth to the happiness and well- being of human society. If all men should become habitual liars, what would be the consequences? All history would soon become vitiated. The next generation could have no correct information in re gard to past ages; but universal incredulity would prevail. It would only be by dangerous or fatal experience that men could tell what is poisonous and what is nutritious. The merchant could put no LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 159 dependence on information received from foreign markets. Brother would utterly supplant brother. All the bands of society would be dissolved, and the peace of mankind destroyed. Then the man who is a common liar does all that he can do to bring about this state of things. It is only because others are more cautious than himself that we are saved from such wide-spread ruin; and he is just as guilty, in the sight of God, as he would be if all mankind were of the same stamp. But, as bad as this prac tice is, some are not ashamed to apologize for it under certain modifications. Some will say, "There is no harm in telling lies in jest; that is, white lies, which are not intended to injure any one in his char acter, person, or estate falsehood by way of amuse ment." There are, perhaps, no lies more inexcu sable. Men may be strongly tempted to lie, when, by so doing, they might secure some temporal good, or shield themselves from some threatening calamity; but to tell lies in jest is biting at the naked hook of the devil, without the stimulus of a bait; and it would be a sorry excuse to give in the great day, "Lord, we trampled on thy commandments for our own sport." And we might add, after long observa tion, we have never met with one who would lie for fun who would not lie seriously, if pushed. Others will say, " This lying in sport is a small, dirty, and sometimes perplexing business. It must be a little mind that can stoop so low; but we have sometimes thought that there are circumstances which might justify us in telling a falsehood seri- 160 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, ously. If I could rescue the unfortunate or inno cent, by departing from the truth, would not God regard my motive? Will not the end sanctify the means, so that the act may not only be justified, but highly approved by Heaven?" This is the old doc trine, "Let us do evil that good may come." The apostle gives a sufficient answer to this, when he says, "If my lie redounds to the glory of God, why am I then counted a sinner?" True; why has God condemned the liar as a sinner, if his falsehood brings glory to God? The Christian is not bound always to tell all the truth he knows, unless he is under the obligations of an oath. If his giving a direct answer to a pointed question would involve an innocent person in trouble, he has a right to evade that question. Our Lord has given us an example of this. When he overtook two of his dis ciples, after his crucifixion, and asked them what sorrowful communications they had by the way, they said, "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, that thou knowest not the things which have lately taken place?" Now, our Lord knew very well what had taken place; but, instead of giving a direct answer, he said, "What things?" and this he did merely to draw them into deeper conversation. "Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves." But, even were it otherwise, and were we obliged to tell all we know to every inquisitive fool, still we believe that no serious evil can finally result from the truth. A partial and temporary evil may seem to result from the disclosure of truth; but in the LOKRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 161 great day of eternity, and in the restitution of all things, we are persuaded that it will appear that the truth has never wrought any serious damage to our world. It was a correct observation of a certain good man, that "he would not tell a willful lie to save the world." He justly argued, that if he will fully sinned, he would destroy himself; and what would he be profited if he should save the whole world and lose his own soul? Has not this evil been too prevalent in the Church? We do not wish to stand up as an accuser of the brethren; but is there not too much violation of promise? Do not pro fessors very often give solemn promises and pledges, and yet, at the time and place, there is a complete failure? It is true that they will say that they have not willfully deceived that they seriously intended to fulfill their promises at the time they were made; but some trivial circumstance a slight headache, a little shower of rain, or the recollection of some pre vious arrangement stepped in between them and the sanctity of their word, and they carelessly dis appointed those who put all confidence in their prom ises. Now, is there not an immorality in this? In the first place, we should not promise at all, unless we have a fixed purpose of performing; and, in the second place, having promised, we should suffer nothing but uncontrollable circumstances to come in between us and the majesty of our word. The world, that knows nothing about our ifs and ands, and our mental reservations, will say, and with great appearance of truth, "They have lied." The day 11 162 THE SQUAKE-RIGGED CRUISEK; OB, of judgment only will reveal the extent of damage that has been done by such professors of religion. 2. Cursing and swearing are also to be numbered among the evil fruits of the tongue. Though men of all countries and languages are guilty of this, yet it is generally supposed that swearing is the prevail ing sin of sailors; and, notwithstanding the enor mity of this crime, there are those who will attempt an apology. When reproved, they will say, "Sir, I hope you do not think I swear or curse mali ciously. If I did call on God to blast the eyes of my shipmate, I did not mean so. Were he struck blind by a flash of lightning, no one would regret it more than myself, and I would do all I could to help him. Such language is more the fruit of habit than any fixed wickedness of heart. Indeed, I often swear without being conscious of doing so." We will admit that much of the swearing which we hear is habitual. We have seen some who were much addicted to profane language, who, never theless, seemed to be greatly shocked on hearing strange and novel oaths. We once sailed on a pas sage to America with a captain who was the most blasphemous character I ever knew. His temper was ungovernable at all times; but, in consequence of a succession of calms and head-winds, he became almost insane. He would walk the deck for hours, mouthing the heavens. Sometimes his mind would seem to be tortured in inventing new and unheard- of oaths. He made it a daily duty, at the close of every day, to shake his clinched fist at the setting LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 163 sun, and, with the most horrid imprecations, would dare him to rise again on a foul wind. Although the hands were accustomed to curse and swear in the common mode, they were shocked and astounded at his norel and strange profanity. A cloud of deep despondency rested on the crew, and they swore that they believed that the Almighty would never permit the ship to reach home with such an ungodly captain. Being but a boy, I merely ventured to say, "But do not you swear, too, and in the very act of condemning the captain?" The answer was, "We are in the habit of it a bad habit, truly; but don't you see he swears maliciously?" Nothing is more certain than that men may be so accustomed to profane language as not to realize its sinfulness. But the question is, Is this a fair apology? Will you say that you have sinned against God so much, so repeatedly, that it has become habitual quite natural and harmless? When you first began to take such liberties with the awful name of the Most High, did you do so without being conscious of the sin? 0, no; you had many a hard conflict with your conscience before you silenced its batteries and took the weather-gauge. And this is the way in regard to every sin. Continual practice will make the most revolting crimes habitual. " Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; But, seen too oft, familiar with its face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace." Some years since a man was hanged in one of our American cities for a certain murder. Under the 164 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISERJ'OK, gallows, he confessed that he had killed seventeen people, and that he had become so habituated to the work, that he had murdered one who was an entire stranger to him, and against whom he haa no mal ice; but, for the paltry consideration of five dollars, he had driven him into eternity, with all lis unpar- doned sins upon him. Yet he did not maliciously, but habitually, slay him! So is it with swearing. It is no apology to say it is habitual. It rather ag gravates the crime a thousand-fold; and a holy God will damn sinners by scores and hundreds for being practiced blasphemers. It used to be a saying among officers, that they could not command their men without swearing. Indeed, we pity that officer whose resources are so slender. But this doctrine has been going down since religion has begun to diffuse its influence more widely on the high seas. It has been discovered that those officers who "swear not at all," and who will not tolerate the practice on board, are, without exception, the ablest command ers. It is a difficult task to reform a crew in this matter, and the man who succeeds in it gives ample testimony that he is an able captain. Sucli was Sir James Saumarez, a distinguished officer, who com manded a full-manned ship-of-war, and never suf fered an oath on board, or a swearer to tarry in his sight. But, we might ask, what good does it do for sea men to swear? Some sailors think that when they are about to tell an extra yam, if they do not season it plentifully with oaths, it will not be believed. LORRAIN'S SEA-SERMONS. 165 But theivis nothing so well calculated to cast a shade of suspicion around a tale, as vain swearing. When you spy a ship at sea, with her masts fished from head to heel, and a great many preventer-stays about it, do you not at once conclude that the masts are sprung, or, that there is something rotten within? Well; just so, when we hear a story well slushed with ugly words, and find a great many round turns and half-hitches about it, we can not help thinking it is a li* of the first magnitude, and there is no soundness, in it. Hence, you hear people always call for talced truth truth without tar or tackling. And it is a common saying, that "those who are not afraid to appeal to the awful God of heaven, on ev ery trifling occasion, are not afraid to lie." "To swear, is neither brave, polite, nor wise." It is not brave; for, although some brave men have fallen into the disgusting practice, there are thousands equally brave who never swear; and, on the other hand, there are tens of thousands of the most cow ardly wretches that the sun shines on, who assume such rough and boisterous language, to throw a counterfeit bravado around them. It is not polite; for it makes the conversation of a man disagreeable to the wise and virtuous of both sexes; and, indeed, it disqualifies a person for polite and deceit company. It is not wise; because many of the senseless phrases, which are used by swearers, have no def inite meaning accorded to them in our vocabulary. Some hare acknowledged that they have slid into 166 THE SQUARE-RIGGED CRUISER; OR, the habit, on account of the poverty of their lan guage. That is, they are often at a loss for words to express themselves; and where this is the case, rather than stammer, or falter, they supply the chasms with cursing and swearing. But why at a loss for words? is it because the English language is too meager? No; words are signs of our ideas. There are words in abundance; but the swearer, who acknowledges this dilemma, betrays the fa