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I. THE VOYAGE OF LIFE IS FRAUGHT WITH MANY DANGERS.

1. Our vessel is weak. Many have been shattered by striking on comparatively small rocks, and many have been wrecked by only just changing the tack from prosperity to adversity, or sometimes from scarcity to abundance. Others have been wrecked through too much joy, too weak to bear it; whilst the sorrows of this world have worked death to a vast multitude so weak that they are "crushed before the moth."

2. The sea is rough. Where are those that set out from the same port — nursed on the same hearth with us? Many have been crushed by the storms, but very few, comparatively, are still afloat.

3. Our course lies among rocks. Many have been stranded, but, obtaining timely help, have been prevented from becoming a wreck. It is but seldom we find any one who has not undergone some repairs at the hands of a physician. Some have been in dock a long time, and, being wonderfully restored, have been launched again into the deep. But others are seen being dashed to pieces by some disease or other; and it is a sad sight to see any one striking upon those rocks, and every blow carrying away part of the vessel, as it were, until at last the sides of the ship are laid bare.

4. The weather is foggy and dark. We know not on leaving our homes what will befall us before we return. And our safety so long is not to be attributed to our own care and foresight, but "having obtained help of God we continue unto this day."

II. DIVINE GRACE HAS MADE EVERY PROVISION NECESSARY TO ENABLE US TO MAKE THE VOYAGE OF LIFE IN SAFETY.

1. An abundant supply of stores. They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

2. Ballast in the ship to keep her from capsizing. Many have made shipwreck for the want of it. "In time of temptation they fall away." But if the fear of God be in the heart they will withstand every squall, as Joseph did in Egypt.

3. A chart to sail by. The Word of God is the rule which tells us where every danger lurks, and also how to avoid it.

4. A compass to steer by. Although the believer's vessel is tossed by the waves quite as much as any other vessel, her prow now in this direction, now in that, yet there is a principle of rectitude which governs him; he knows what point to sail for and what direction to take in the midst of all weathers.

5. A quadrant to take observations. "Faith is the evidence of things not seen."

6. A light fixed wherever there is moral danger.

7. Means of constant communication with the shore.

(D. Roberts, D.D.)

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KJV: They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;

WEB: Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters;