Chapter II: On a SAILOR'S LIFE

In the Trade to _Africa_ for Slaves, and in the Management of Ships going on these Voyages, many of our Lads and young Men have a considerable Part of their Education.

Now what pious Father beholding his Son placed in one of these Ships, to learn the Practice of a Mariner, could forbear mourning over him?

Where Youth are exampled in Means of getting Money so full of Violence, and used to exercise such Cruelties on their Fellow Creatures, the Disadvantage to them in their Education is very great.

But I feel it in my Mind to write concerning the Seafaring Life in general.

In the Trade carried on from the _West-Indies_, and from some Part of the Continent, the Produce of the Labour of Slaves is a considerable Part.

And Sailors who are frequently at Ports where Slaves abound, and converse often with People who oppress without the Appearance of Remorse, and often with Sailors employ'd in the Slave Trade, how powerfully do these evil Examples spread amongst the Seafaring Youth!

I have had many Opportunities to feel and understand the general State of the Seafaring Life amongst us, and my Mind hath often been sad on Account of so many Lads and young Men been trained up amidst so great Corruption.

Under the humbling Power of Christ I have seen, that if the Leadings of his Holy Spirit were faithfully attended to by his professed Followers in general, the Heathen Nations would be exampled in Righteousness. A less Number of People would be employed on the Seas. The Channels of Trade would be more free from Defilement. Fewer People would be employed in Vanities and Superfluities.

The Inhabitants of Cities would be less in Number.

Those who have much Lands would become Fathers to the Poor.

More People would be employed in the sweet Employment of Husbandry, and in the Path of pure Wisdom, Labour would be an agreeable, healthful Employment.

In the Opening of these Things in my Mind, I feel a living Concern that we who have felt Divine Love in our Hearts may faithfully abide in it, and like good Soldiers endure Hardness for Christ's Sake.

He, our blessed Saviour, exhorting his Followers to love one another, adds, _As I have loved you_. John xiii. 34.

He loved _Lazarus_, yet in his Sickness did not heal him, but left him to endure the Pains of Death, that in restoring him to Life, the People might be confirmed in the true Faith.

He loved his Disciples, but sent them forth on a Message attended with great Difficulty, amongst Hard-hearted People, some of whom would think that in killing them they did God Service.

So deep is Divine Love, that in stedfastly abiding in it, we are prepar'd to deny ourselves of all that Gain which is contrary to pure Wisdom, and to follow Christ, even under Contempt, and through Sufferings.

While Friends were kept truly humble, and walked according to the Purity of our Principles, the Divine Witness in many Hearts was reached; but when a Worldly Spirit got Entrance, therewith came in Luxuries and Superfluities, and spread by little and little, even among the foremost Rank in Society, and from thence others took Liberty in that Way more abundantly.

In the Continuation of these Things from Parents to Children, there were many Wants to supply, even Wants unknown to Friends while they faithfully followed Christ. And in striving to supply these Wants many have exacted on the Poor, many have enter'd on Employments, in which they often labour in upholding Pride and Vanity. Many have looked on one another, been strengthen'd in these Things, one by the Example of another, and as to the pure Divine Seeing, Dimness hath come over many, and the Channels of true Brotherly Love been obstructed.

People may have no intention to oppress, yet by entering on expensive Ways of Life, their Minds may be so entangled therein, and so engag'd to support expensive Customs, as to be estranged from the pure sympathizing Spirit.

As I have travell'd in _England_, I have had a tender Feeling of the Condition of poor People, some of whom though honest and industrious, have nothing to spare toward paying for the Schooling of their Children.

There is a Proportion between Labour and the Necessaries of Life, and in true Brotherly Love the Mind is open to feel after the Necessities of the Poor.

Amongst the Poor there are some that are weak through Age, and others of a weakly Nature, who pass through Straits in very private Life, without asking Relief from the Publick.

Such who are strong and healthy may do that Business, which to the Weakly may be oppressive; and in performing that in a Day which is esteem'd a Day's Labour, by weakly Persons in the Field and in the Shops, and by weakly Women who spin and knit in the Manufactories, they often pass through Weariness; and many Sighs I believe are uttered in secret, unheard by some who might ease their Burdens.

Labour in the right Medium is healthy, but in too much of it there is a painful Weariness; and the Hardships of the Poor are sometimes increased through Want of a more agreeable Nourishment, more plentiful Fewel for the Fire, and warmer Cloathing in the Winter than their Wages will answer.

When I have beheld Plenty in some Houses to a Degree of Luxury, the Condition of poor Children brought up without Learning, and the Condition of the Weakly and Aged, who strive to live by their Labour, have often revived in my Mind, as Cases of which some who live in Fulness need to be put in Remembrance.

There are few, if any, could behold their Fellow Creatures lie long in Distress and forbear to help them, when they could do it without any Inconvenience; but Customs requiring much Labour to support them, do often lie heavy on the Poor, while they who live in these Customs are so entangled in a Multitude of unnecessary Concerns that they think but little of the Hardships which the poor People go through.