Down to the Sea: Sixteen Sea Sermons

 Originally Published in 1895

    DEAR READER,
Permit me to tell you how it has come to pass that I have preached and printed these SEA SERMONS. I have always loved the sea. Ships and sailors have had a won­derful charm for me ever since I sailed my boat on the Clapham Long Pond, and read Mr. Kingston's stories of adventure.
I may as well confess that there was a time when I cherished a secret longing for a life on the ocean wave. When, in 1877, under doctor's orders I voyaged to the Antipodes, I eagerly hailed the opportunity for actual acquaintance with the sea and its sons. A godly captain and a steady crew, agreeable passengers and a happy combination of weather-good, bad, and indifferent-pro­vided for me a most interesting and in­structive trip. I tried to keep my eyes and ears open, and to act on Captain Cuttle's advice---"When found, make a note of." I little guessed at the time to what good use nautical knowledge might be put. Not the least of my joys on board the good ship Lady Jocelyn was the preaching of the Word. In saloon and fo'csle I was privileged to tell the story of the cross. I soon got to know the seamen well, and to admire much in them. They were very good to their "sky pilot." Since then I have had an increasing interest in seafaring men.
In my ministry I have found that any allusion to the sea secures a ready hearing. A whiff of the briny is refreshing even in a sermon. Most of the discourses in this volume have been delivered in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and have appeared in Word and Work, or The Signal. I have purposely avoided any unnecessary use of un­familiar technical terms. My friends, Rev. E. W. Matthews and Captain Custard, of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, have favored me with their judgment on nautical references, so that I may hope that on the one hand nothing will unduly puzzle a lands­man, and that on the other naught will offend the mariner.
I need make no apology for introducing illustrations. I confess to a weakness for pictures. I ploughed the boxwood with my graver before I ploughed the seas in a ship. If wood-cuts seem to detract from the dignity of a volume of sermons, what matters it if they add to its usefulness? This I confidently expect them to do.
My heart's desire will be attained if any soul is helped heavenward, and especially if those who do business in great waters are led to yield themselves to the sweet control of the Heavenly Pilot. I trust, also, that all my readers will join in prayer for those who go down to the sea in ships.
 
"0 Thou Who in Thy hand dost hold
The winds and waves that wake or sleep,
Thy tender arms of mercy fold
Around our seamen on the deep!
And when their voyage of life is o'er,
May they be welcomed to the shore
Whose peaceful streets with gold are paved,
                                 And angels sing, 'They're saved! they're saved! ‘ "
              Yours, homeward bound,
                                        THOMAS SPURGEON.
METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,
       November, 1895.


Thomas Spurgeon (20 September 1856 – 17 October 1917) was a British Reformed Baptist preacher of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, one of two non-identical twin sons of the famous Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892).