The train soldier. A SERMON PREACHED Before the worthy society of the captains and Gentle men that exercise arms in the Artillery Garden. At Saint Andrew-vndershaft in London. april. 20. 1619. BY I. Leech. 1. KING. 20.11. Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast as he that putteth it off. LONDON Imprinted by J. B. for Nathanaell newberry, and are to be sold at the sign of the star under Saint Peters Church in cornhill, and in Popes-head Alley. 1619. TO THE heroic AND truly honourable, general cecil. THat in the publishing of this Sermon I haue thus aduenturingly presumed to front it with your name: others happily may question, yourself wonder. Suffice it, that I can say of my Dedication, as our prudent sovereign of his( if at lest I may dare with so unworthy and rude a hand, In his majesties preface to his meditation vpon the Lords prayer. to pluck a leaf from that royal three,& stick it in mine own garland) that yet I haue observed a decorum in the doing of it. The renowned famed of your military science and heroical valour, reported and confirmed unto the world, by the mouths of so many witnesses, sufficiently assures me that you haue an interest in this argument, and are therefore a meet person to whom I may make my dedication. For mine own particular; I do ingenuously confess, that to your noble self I am altogether an immeriting stranger. Yet seeing by the providence of God, you were an Auditor at this Sermon; and that it then pleased you to lend it your patient attention, afterward your favourable approbation; lo now for a compliment unto both, I am further bold to crave for it your gentle patronage and protection Which if I may obtain, I shall not cease to pray for you, that you may long continue an honour, and ornament to your truly noble family; nor in any Christian service refuse, to be always At your honourable command, I. Leech. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVL, And well accomplished Gentleman, master Hugh HAMMERSLEY sheriff of LONDON, and President of the Artillery Society. TO THE WORTHY, and valorous, captain BINGHAM, their understanding Leader. AND TO ALL THE REST of that famous society, Captaines, Assistants, and Gentlemen, professing and exercising arms. WORTHY GENTLEMEN, THe use of music in the warres, is partly to direct the soldier, partly to encourage him. Such I wished this Sermon when I preached it. Beside the direction of it for the fighting of spiritual battailes; That it might be as music to encourage you in your other warlike preparations, and to breath some little life into your generous spirits, though already bravely actuated with resolution and valour. It was yours from the beginning, and again I make it yours. Yours in the bud, and yours in the fruit; in the seed yours, and yours in the harvest. What you left scattered in the first reaping, you may now glean up again, and not loose an ear in a surrow, if any way serviceable for your use. Of your favourable acceptations I doubt not, coming from one that wishes a great deal of honour and happiness, to every member of your society, and to all your worthy designs. The poor painter could writ vpon his Table, when he had embellisht it with the pictures of many rich Iems, Vellem& haec. My velle is the same with his. I wish I could add real encouragements, to these verbal that I give you. But it must suffice me to do as some Grecians were said to do, in their sacrifices to Hercules. They should haue offered to him, Oxen and sheep. Wanting at that time, they were fain to offer Melons and other fruits, cutting them into the shapes of sheep and Oxen, and fixing to their bodies little sticks of wood, artificially representing legs and feet; Such were the testimonies of their devotion and zeal, and such the ieiune oblations, with which here I present you. In what ever they be defective, I shall endeavour to supply it, by my praying to God for you, as Moses prayed for the Israelites; always when they went forward in the camp, that he would rise up before them; always when they restend that he would return to them. So may he always rise and always return unto you both in your remouings& in your restings. And the Lord make you all;( Captaines& Souldiers, Leaders and Followers) such as the good Centurion was in the gospel; such as the good Cornelius was in the Acts, devout men, fearing God,& full of faith& good works. Then shall five of you be able to chase a hundred of your enemies, and a hundred of you to put ten thousand to flight. Your fellow-Souldier in the battailes of our Lord Iesus, I. LEECH. The train soldier. A SERMON PREACHED Before the worthy society of the captains and Gentlemen that exercise arms in the Artillery garden. HEB. 12.4. You haue not yet resisted unto blood. WHich text of Scripture if any think unfit for this Assembly, as if there were some hint of exprobration in it, rather then of encouragement or direction: let my ingenuous defence bee accepted. For matter of direction, I held not that so fit an argument for me to make choice of. Though there were fit matter for it in the Text, yet I were not fit for it. Who am I to give direction in matters of Military discipline? I remember what tully writes of Phormio in his book de Oratore; When he made the Oration before Hannibal. Hannibal was one of the bravest captaines of the world. He told Scipio, Plutarch in vita Hannibal. he held Alexander the best; Pyrrhus the second; himself the third: but he should haue held himself best, if he could haue overcome Scipio. Scipio was well content with what he said, because he saw that he neither contemned him, nor compared him, but left him peerless in his censure. Phormio being to pled before Hannibal, be undertook to give instructions, about the ordering of camps, the mustering of Souldiers, the marshalling of armies; and he did it very flourishingly. Hannibal was asked how he liked the Oration. He answered, multos se deliros audivisse, that he had heard many dotards in his dayes, but none that doted like Phormio: A man that had never seen the warres in his life, yet would teach him to be a warrior, Cic. lib. de Orat. 2. that had been trained up in feats of arms from his youth. To avoid that Indecorum therefore, I needed not a text of direction. For matter of exprobration; be it as far from me as from the Apostle himself. But sure in this honey, there is none of that sting. beloved, I come not to upbraid, but to encourage. If I thought any viper of envy would offer to leap vpon my hand. I should do what I could to shake him off into the fire. That which seems ad exprobrationem, is indeed ad excitationem. It is all to excite, nothing to upbraid. So the Apostle useth it, and so shall I be bold to apply it. Theophylact well observes, Theophyl. in locum. that he hath two sorts of arguments, for the encouraging of these Christians, to make them resolute Souldiers in Gods battles. The first drawn from that which themselves had suffered. The next from that which others had suffered. You haue the first in the 10. of this Epistle, verse 32. he speaks of a fight there, a fight of afflictions; a great fight of afflictions, which they themselves had endured: And he bids them call it to remembrance, vt se ipsos imitarentur, that they might be still like themselves, and go on as they had begun. The next is here in this Chapter; Here he proposeth unto them that which others had endured, shows that their sufferings were not yet like the sufferings of others,( for others had resisted unto blood; so had not they:) and this he presseth vt ne extollerentur, that they might not glory or presume vpon themselves, but in stead of presuming vpon any thing that was past, learn rather to prepare for the trials that were to come. In this then, as well as in that the Apostle coucheth a motive of excitation and encouragement: In this when he tells them what they had not resisted, as well as in that, when he tells them what they had endured. Because they had already endured something themselves, he exhorts them to bee constant as they had been. Because they had not yet resisted so much as others, he excites them to prepare for what might be. You haue not yet, &c. They be two things that the Apostle principally aims at. 1 An intimation of the mercy that God had shown: 2 And an incitation to the duty that they should learn. First, It was a mercy of God to them, that being called to the Christian profession, and living( as they did) in a time of persecution, they had not yet drunk of the bitter cup, not tasted of the bloody trial. Something they had suffered for Christs sake, Gorran. and a while they had stood it out, vsque ad rerum amissionem, as one says; peradventure to the loss of their substance; yea but not vsque ad sanguinis effusionem, not to the shedding of their blood. For that, God had been favourable to them. Their blood was not spilled, though their substance were spent. It had not cost them their lives, though they had lost their goods. Here was the Intimation of GODS mercy. But now in this Intimation, there is an Incitation also. For from this which they had not done, the Apostle incites them to prepare for what they might do. Tis true; They had not yet been called to any bloody battle. But though they had not, were they sure they should not? Whether they should or no, he would haue them to prepare; for by preparing against a danger, we do sometime prevent a danger. In teaching them this, he teacheth them three things. 1. To what manner of condition they were called. 2. In this condition, what manner of conflict was required. 3. In this conflict, what time of continuance was expected. First. To what manner of condition they were called? To a kind of Martiall or Military condition. They were called to be warriors& Souldiers. He that hears of blood, and of resisting unto blood, he will easily conceive that. Secondly, in this condition, what manner of conflict must they use? It must be a conflict of resistance; impliing, that assaults would be made vpon them, and therefore that when the enemy offered to assault, they should be in a readiness to resist. Lastly, for the vsque How long is it expected, that they must continue in the conflict? Vsque ad finem, says our saviour: Matth. 24.13. It must be to the end. Vsque ad sanguinem says the Apostle: It must be to blood, if God will haue it to be a bloody end. They be not a few resistances that can crown us, nor a few losses that must excuse vs. The resistance must be final; the loss total. We must be willing to loose all; all for Christs sake, our friends and freedoms, lands and livings, lymbes and lives. No nile vltra till then. You haue not yet resisted unto blood. You haue not, says the Apostle. But though you haue not, others haue. look what hath happened unto others, the same may happen unto you. You haue not yet, says the Apostle. But though you haue not yet, you may hereafter. hody mihi, cras tibi; It is my turn to day, it may be yours to morrow. You haue not yet resisted says the Apostle. Persisted you haue a while, you haue continued and gone on in your Christian profession. But resisting you haue not yet been put to. You haue not yet been encounterd with any strong opposition. Or you haue not yet resisted unto blood says the Apostle. Some resistances you haue made perhaps, suffered some labours, some losses. Yea but still your life hath been given you for a pray; you never came into a bloody Skirmish. Ther's the valour of a soldier to be tried. Skin for skin, job 2.4. and all that a man hath he will part withall, for the saving of his life. Perhaps it is your life that God will haue you to lay down; it is a bloody sacrifice that he looks for. As you haue been baptisde with water, he will haue you baptisde with blood. This you must expect; for this you must prepare. I haue shown you the frame of the Apostles argument, taken all the pieces of it asunder as you see. I must now set it together again, and into every joint of that fasten a piece of mine own. Mine shall answer his as face answers face. The Apostle in his argument borrows from Souldiers, and applies it to Christians. I hope I may take what he borrows, and when it hath done service unto them, bring it home unto you. The resistance and blood that he speaks of, he means it not in the literal sense, but in the spiritual. I will first handle it in the sense that he means it, and when I haue done with it in his, I will fit it to ours. It shall haue his use in the letter as well as in the Allegory. So with one labour I shall dispatch two works, with one hand spyn two threads; I shall draw the sword both for God, and for Gideon. Something I shall commend unto you that may accommodate you for the spiritual warfare; teach you to be good Souldiers, under that captain, spoken of in the beginning of the Chapter, {αβγδ}; Verse 2. Christ Iesus, the captain of our faith: And something I shall say for the exercise of this bodily, this worldly warfare, and the necessary preparations thereunto pertaining; that you may bee good Souldiers likewise for your Prince and country, if GOD will haue a trial of your service; though therein I confess rather as an Encourager, then as a Teacher. The two principal points that I began with, I hope you haue not yet forgot. Those are as the two staues put into their two rings, vpon which the ark of my discourse must be carried. First, An Intimation of GODS mercy: For that the Apostle notes when he says, they had not yet resisted unto blood. It was Gods mercy they had not. Then, an Incitation of them unto their duty. For though they had not yet, they might afterward. And what better wisdom then to provide against after-inconueniences? Of Gods mercy first. You haue not yet resisted. Sure this was a great mercy of God to these Christians, considering how it had pleased him to deal with others. look but the former Chapter, and there you shall read of others that had resisted. It is a glorious Chapter, where the Apostle brings in Faith riding in a Chariot of triumph with a crown vpon her head, and a troupe of Souldiers attending her in their ranks and orders. They come out in their two bands. The first all in white, like him vpon the White Horse; Apoc. 6. There was a Bow and a crown given him, and he went out to conquer. The next all in read, like him vpon the read horse in the fourth verse of the same Chapter. He had power given him to take peace from the Earth, and to kill with the Sword. Both of them conquered by their Faith: That is sure; both they of the White band, and they of the read. But the one Ardua operando, the other Difficilia sustinendo; the one by acting heroically, the other by suffering courageously. And therefore mark how the Apostle brings them in, at the 36 verse of that Chapter. he brings them with their colours torn, their plumes rent, their swords hacked, their arms battered, their flesh gasht, their limbs burst, their bodies wounded and scared. They haue brands and marks vpon them, of racking, torturing, hewing, stoning, scourging, imprisoning: These were warriors indeed, one might see these were come from a battle, where there had been tumbling of garments in blood. Esa. 9.5. These had stoutly resisted unto blood. look vpon these saith the Apostle; You haue not thus resisted. Nay, look but the beginning of this Chapter. There is Vnus instar omnium, one that may stand for all. No soldier of the band, but the captain of the band; the captain& Crowner of our Faith; look how he resisted. When wee look at him, wee may ask as the Prophet did, and wonder as we ask; Esa. 63.1. Who is this? This that comes up from Edom, with read garments from Bozrah? His garments are all read, and his apparel like one that had trodden the wine press: The blood is sprinkled vpon his apparel, and all his garments are stained. If ever there were bloody resistance, it was when Christ fought the battle. He resisted with a witness, resisted unto blood; and that more then once or twice. I name not the blood of his circumcision. That was in Praesepio, when he lay but in the Cradle, in the Cratch, you will think it was but weak resistance he made then: But that at his death and passion, when he was put to strong and violent resistances; first, in Horte, then in Pratorie, then in Patibulo. In horto, in the Garden; there he resisted; there his agony drew blood from him, it cast him into a sweat; be sweat till he dropped, sweat till he bled. They were Grumi sanguinis, {αβγδ}, saith the Text, thick drops of blood, that trilled from his body to the ground. Then in Praetorio, in the Iudgement Hall; there he resisted: There the thorns and the whips drew blood from him. They plaited a wreathe of thorns vpon his head, and his body they all scourged with whips. How could the blood but gush out being so mangled, so rent with whips and thorns? Finally, In Patibulo; vpon the cross, there he resisted: There the nails& the spear drew blood from him; the nails from his hands and feet, the spear from his side. It was precious blood he shed then. The loss of that, cost him the loss of his life. So here was another that resisted unto blood, and this infinitely excelling those that were before. Those before, they were but servi, though Sancti; though Saints, yet but Seruants. This the Prince of our salvation, the son of the Father, the Lord of glory, the heir of all things. In opposition unto both these, the Apostle tells the Hebrewes, that they had not thus resisted. Not they, though others; not they, though Christ himself. So intimating that God had dealt more favourably with them then with others; yea, more favourably with them, then with his own son, Rom. 8.32. whom he spared not, but gave unto the death. That immaculate and blessed son of his, that was in all things without sin; Heb. 4.15. yet not Sine flagello, though Sine peccato: though without sin, not without suffering; but he suffered, and resisted. Resistendo sustinuit, sustinendo restitit: In resisting, he suffered; in suffering, he resisted: he resisted unto blood. And why was all this? this that they suffered? this that he suffered? why but to teach these Hebrewes a lesson of patience and thankfulness? Patience to endure that which God did inflict: thankfulness, for not being put to endure that which God might inflict. Was this for the Hebrewes onely, and is it not for us also? Yes, even for us also. The dove hath long satin vpon our ark with an olive branch in her mouth. The gospel hath long flourished among us, with a great deal of happiness and freedom. Many, many yeers together, we haue stood and settled vpon our lees, and not been poured out from vessel to vessel. jer. 48.11. We haue seen Truth& Peace met together in our Church, lived in the Halcyon-dayes of the World, when no tempest hath troubled the face of the water. God hath not dealt thus with every Nation; not with our Fathers before us, not with our neighbours about vs. Can those Mariantimes bee yet forgotten, when the poor persecuted Church, like the Woman; revel. 12.14. was fain to get her the wings of an Eagle, and to fly into the wilderness, lest the Dragon should devour the children of which shee travailed? When in this very city which is now a Sanctuary for religion, there were stakes of martyrdom continually flaming, and the blood of the Saints shed in the streets of it! Such were the dayes of our Fathers; But we haue not so resisted. Can we at this instant bee insensible of what our neighbouring Nations do bear and groan under; Those in France, those in Bohemia, and in other Countries about us? Pro. 23 34. They be like men that fleepe in the top of a Mast; environed with fears, and encompassed with dangers. Though they haue the food of the gospel, yet it is like the jewish passover unto them; They are faint to eat it with the bread of trembling; and with the sweet flesh that is given them, a great many bitter herbs there bee mingled. Few yeares, few moneths, but some bloody sacrifices are offered to appease the fury of their Persecutors. Such be the trials of our brethren: But we haue not so resisted. hear then oh Israel, what it is that God requires at thy hand for this his lenity and long suffering; What patience he requires; What thankfulness he requires. Did I say what patience? Greg. in Moral. Alas, Nunquam est Patientiae virtus in prosperis. There is no use of patience, while the times are prosperous and peaceable: Till the steel strike vpon the flint, who can tell what sparks of fire will fly out; If once we be put to the trial, then let patience haue her work. Then confess, it is but little thou endurest, considering how much thou deseru'st. Si been consideratur culpa, patienter toleratur poena. If we consider well of our sin, wee will easily submit to the punishment: And the punishment we suffer then, it shall not be Poena but Poenitenti●, rather penitence for sin, then punishment of sin. aclowledge then thy suffering is but little( though much, yet but little) considering what others before thee haue suffered, especially considering what the Lord Iesus himself hath endurd. Si passto Redemptoris in memoriam reducitur, nihil tam durum est quod non aequo animo toleratur. The remembrance of Christs passion will help to mitigate any pain. And in the extremity of all pain, let this ever bee thy comfort first, That whatsoever it be thou sufferst, if thou be Christs, Christ suffers with thee. Patitur in te qui passus est pro te. He suffers with thee who suffered for thee. And again. whatsoever it be thou sufferest, if it be for him, thou shalt haue thy reward from him. As he leads thee the way, so he will give thee the wages. Bern. in Canti. Vtrumque mihi es Domine Iesu,& speculum patiendi,& praemium patienti; as most sweetly S. Bernard. Thou art both to me oh Lord Iesus, both an example of suffering, and a reward in suffering. In the mean time, thankfulness, thankfulness; That is the present grace that we haue need of. Though all blessings challenge thankfulness at our hands, yet none more then this. This I say, that as we haue Evangelium pacis, the gospel of peace among us, so Pacem Evangelij the peace of the gospel; That none needs to resist, because none offers to assault. O fortunatos bona si sua norint. happy, happy we were, if we knew our own happiness. beloved. It is not with us as with david. Psal. 120.5. We are not constrained to dwell in Meshech and Kedar. We need not wish ourselves dore-keepers in Gods house: Psal. 84.3.10. nor envy the Sparrows and the Swallows for their roosting and building within the walls of the Tabernacle. We are daily witnesses how glorious the goings of God are in his sanctuary. Psal. 68.24. Daily we do behold the beauty of his house, and visit his Temple. Psal. 27.4. Psal. 128.5. We haue seen jerusalem in prosperity all our life long, and peace vpon Israell. If ever therefore we forget this mercy of God toward us, let our right hand forget her cunning. Psal. 137.5. If we remember not to be thankful to him for this, let our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth, yea if we prefer not this to our chiefest ioy. And Lord, as above all, we desire to be thankful for this; so above all, make us still happy in this. Let the ark of thy presence always go before us; Cant. 2.12. and let this voice of the Turtle be ever heard in our land. If our sins must needs haue a scourge, yet Lord let it not bee this scourge, not the persecuting of thy gospel. Let it be plague, or famine, or fire, or any thing rather then this. Till the stars fall from heaven, let this Manna of heaven never cease to fall. Oh keep us in these pastures, led us to these waters, guide us with this staff, govern us with this rod, let this cloud go before us, let this light shine about us, and about our children that shall rise up after us, from generation to generation, even unto the end of the world; Say Amen to it thou faithful witness of heaven; and all that haue hearts to wish it, let them say, Amen. I haue done with the first point; the Intimation of Gods mercy: That which the Apostle here would haue the Hebrewes to take note of, in that it pleased him when he had prest out others into his battles, yet to spare& exempt them. Gen. 33.2. He dealt by them as jacob dealt by Rachel& joseph, when he went out to meet Esau. He put them hindmost in the company. By others, as david by uriah, 2. Sam. 11.15. when he laid siege against Rabbah, he put him into the forefront of the battle. That they were thus favourably dealt withall, they rather then others( others resisting unto blood, when they resisted not) it was a special mercy of God toward them, and the Apostle would haue them to consider it. Consider it says the Apostle. You haue not yet resisted unto blood. Now with the intimation of Gods mercy, here is also an incitation of them unto their duty. God had not yet called them into any battle of blood. True, But though he had not, were they sure he would not? Because they now dwelled in safety, could they therefore promise unto themselves any future security? If they could not, as indeed they could not( for who can boast of to morrow, Pro. 27.1. when he knows not what a day may bring forth?) notwithstanding their present imunitie; it would be safe for them to prepare against subsequent dangers. So they should show themselves provident indeed. For providence, is but Porro videns, as the Notation gives it. To prepare for them the better, they must take into consideration these three things. 1. To what manner of condition they are called. 2. In this condition what manner of conflict is required. 3. In this conflict what time of continuance is expected. For their condition, it is the condition of warriors. For their conflict, it must be a conflict of resistance. For their continuance, they must continue it unto blood. So then conditio militandi; this is the first. Conflictus resistendi; this is the second. Virtus continuandi; this is the third. Conditio militandi. To begin with that. The condition they were called to. They were called to be Souldiers and warriors. This is a point( beloved) necessary implyed, though not literally expressed. When the Apostle speaks of striving, of resisting, of resisting unto blood, to whom can this appertain, but to those of the Military profession, warriors and Souldiers. The resultance therefore must be this, That when we are called to be Christians, we are called to bee Souldiers. And this is first of all for the Souldiers honour. whosoever is a professed Christian, he is a professed soldier; or if no soldier, no Christian. You know what S. Paul says of himself; He says that he had been in the fight: 2. Tim. 4.7. and that he had fought a good fight. He had been a soldier therefore; and so he encourages Timothy to be likewise; learn to suffer hardness, says he, like a good soldier of Iesus Christ. 2. Tim. 2.3. Nay, and as every Christian is a soldier; so the whole Church of Christ, is as an army of Souldiers. The Church mililant; that is the proper attribute of it. And we find it compared to an army. Cant. 6.3. Thou art beautiful my love as Tirzah, comely as jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Nay, not the Church onely, but the Angels themselves, they are called Souldiers. A multitude of heavenly Souldiers praising God: luke. 2.13. Nay, not the Angels onely, but Christ himself; he is the Captaine-Souldier. The captain of the Lords host: josh. 5.15. Nay not christ onely, but the Lord God himself; Though Deus pacis, the God of peace; Heb. 13.20. yet vir belly; a man of war. jehovah is a man of war, jehovah is his name. Exodus 15.3. Christians are Souldiers. look therefore what belongs to the accontrement of a soldier; that to the furniture of a Christian. Secondly, there are four things that he must be provided of. He must haue arms. He must haue strength. He must haue courage. He must haue skill. First, arms are necessary. There is no going out against an enemy naked and vn-weapond. If you ask what arms; let Saint Paul tell you; Ephe. 6.11. I refer you no whither but thither. There is {αβγδ}, the whole armor of God; armor both defensive and offensive, both to guard ourselves, and to foil our enemies. Secondly, with arms, he must haue strength too. Else his arms about him will be but like Sauls about david. 1. Sam. 17.39. He will not be able to wield them. 1. Tim. 4.8. Tis not bodily strength I speak of. That avails nothing to this combat; No, not though our strength were as the strength of stones, and our flesh as brass; as it is job 6.12. It is spiritual strength that we must get us; I mean the strength of Gods spirit; therefore called the spirit of strength. Esa. 11.2. Without this, we are like samson without his locks, and our strength is but as the strength of other men. What was it that samson could not do, as long as his Nazarites fleece was vn-shorne? The spirit of God was vpon him then; says the Scripture. judge. 14.6. Then he could haue rent a lion as one would haue rent a Kyd; judge. 16.3. he could carry away the gates of Azzah vpon his back, with the posts and the bars of it, be could slay a thousand Philistimes with the Chap. 15.15 I awe bone of an ass. But when once the spirit of the Lord was departed from him, what was samson more then another man? Thus we. As long as we go on in the strength of Gods spirit, it is not satan, the roaring lion that can hurt us; They be not the gates of Azzah, the gates of Hell, that can prevail against vs. They be not a thousand Philistimes, a thousand temptations that can either discomfit, or discomfort vs. But if that assist us not, what are we more then others? We are but like Reedes shaken with the wind. If we can be therefore as S. Paul says, strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Ephe. 6.10. We may then boast as Saint Paul does, that we shall be able to do all things by the virtue of that power. I can do all things through him that strengtheners me. Phil. 4.13. Thirdly, as he must haue strength so he must haue courage. Without courage, strength is nothing. What is a Lions strength, with a Hares spirit? Resolution and Courage is the best weapon that a man can carry into the field with him. 2. Sam. 21.9. We may say of it as david of Goliahs sword: There is none to that. Now the courage of a Christian, is from the testimony of a good conscience. That is murus aheneus, It is a wall of brass about him: Nay, it is a wall of fire, to keep off all that shall come near him. Pro. 28.1. Salomon rels us, it will make one bold as a lion; bold against the accusations of men, nay bold against the accusations of satan, nay bold in the presence of God himself. If our conscience condemn us not, we haue boldness toward God: 1. joh. 3.21. To the braue-spirited soldier, there is nothing more hateful then the name of a Coward If you would not be Cowards when you come into the field, but look your enemy courageously in the face, be sure you keep a good conscience about you. Carry not letters in your bosoms that will betray you into the hands of those that hate you. Nemo tam audax quem mala conscientia non facit timidissimum. Onely he can haue a good courage that hath a good conscience: Else, as it was said to Phocas about his high building; Peccatum intus; The sin within will overthrow all. Lastly, with all these, he must haue wisdom and skill. This is also as necessary for camps as for Courts, for Souldiers as for Senators. arms are to little purpose, Strength to little purpose; Courage to little purpose, if for the skilful managing of all these there want discretion and wisdom. ●ulius Caesar knew it well: And therefore when he went out against Afranius, he said, he went in exercitum sine deuce; to an army without a captain. There was a body of strength, but there wanted a head of skill: But when against Pompey, then ad ducem sine exercitu, to a captain without an army: There was a head of skill, but there wanted a body of strength. Will you haue it from the mouth of an Oracle? haue it from Salomon himself. Eccles. 9.13. I haue seen a little city, and a great King hath besieged it. There was a poor, wise man found that delivered the city by his wisdom. Then I said wisdom is better then strength. The wisdom that a spiritual warrior must haue, he must haue it from the holy word of God. From the assistance of Gods spirit, thence he must haue strength. From the testimony of a good conscience, thence he must haue courage. From the direction of Gods word, thence he must haue wisdom. Oh therefore acquaint yourselves with the holy word of God, and get to be familiar in the rules of it. As it will make you wiser then your Elders, Psal. 119.98. wiser then your Teachers, so wiser then your enemies. The enemy himself you see, knowing of what power the word is, he does often make use of it. But as it is said of Epaminondas that he drew the Darts out of his own body, Plut. in vita Epaminon. Sic& Brasidas, hastâ è suo extracta corpore eum ipsum percutit ac necuit, à quo in ipsum fucrat missa. Apud Plut. De his qui sero a nunime puniuntur. which the Lacedemonians had thrown at him, and threw them back again to the wounding of the Lacedemonians; so the Darts which the Enemy throws at us, when he sights against us with the word, by the skilful use of it we may learn to retort them vpon him again, and so beate him out of the field with his own weapon. There is no Enemy can come against us but this will put him to the foil. It will teach our hands to war, and our fingers to fight. You see the condition of a Christian: He is a soldier. Next, see the conflict that he makes. From the word {αβγδ}, it is a conflict of resistance. And this is the second point that I considered of: Conflictus resistendi; Resistance presupposes an assault: For unless there bee assaults offered us, what need wee to resist? I demand therefore; Who be they that assault us? beloved, we are subject to a two-fold assault: An assault of Sinners, An assault of sin. The Apostle mentions both: That of sin, in the latter end of this verse; We strive against sin: That of Sinners, a little before in the precedent verse; Where he says of Christ, that he endured the contradictions of Sinners. Indeed Christ had Sinners to resist, but not sin. sin could make no assault vpon Christ: for as in life, so in nature he was pure and undefiled. We haue to resist both; both Sinners, and Sin. The way to resist Sinners, is by not resisting. The way to resist sin, is by not consenting. If malicious and wicked Sinners do at any time assault or set vpon us, either with the sword of Ismaell, a reviling tongue; or with the sword of Esau, a persecuting hand; what haue we to do? Not to desist from our innocence, nor to resist them with violence. When we do not resist, then we do resist. Submit with patience to endure their persecution, but fall not away with diffidence from the truth of thy profession. When the temptations of Sin do assault us, our resisting then is our not consenting. So long as we consent not to the suggestions of sin, so long we make resistance against them. Bare suggestions are no sins. Well, it is a difficult thing to be a good soldier; by consequent to be a good Christian. So you may gather by this. He must be in vtrumque paratus, every way provided as you see, both ad faciendum, and ad patiendum, both to do, and to suffer. In resisting against Sin, there he must be an Agent; in resisting against Sinners, there he must be a Patient. Little do Epicures& worldlings know, our wanton and delicate Professors, such as live at ease in Sion, Amos 6.1. little do they know what belongs either to the one or to the other. Yet we for our parts must know it, and not onely know it, but profess it, and not onely profess it, but practise it. Plut. in vita Hannibal. Plutarch writes of Hannibal, that being but a child, his father at a sacrifice made him swear, that when he came to mans state, he would be a mortal enemy to the romans. Let's remember we haue all taken the like oath; we in the Sacrament, as he at the Sacrifice. even while we were Children you know, and had the Sacrament of baptism administerd vpon us, we did then promise and swear unto God, that we would be mortal enemies to sin and satan, and manfully fight his battels against all that should oppose vs. I! but usquequo Domine, usquequo? How long Lord, how long must this conflict continue, must this resistance endure? I am now gotten to the last point of all, the virtus continuandi. You see I do but summa sequi fastigia rerum; I do but crop a few principal heads; cull here a berry, and there a berry, but the greatest part of the fruit I leave vngathered, because I would not haue the vintage too long. For the time of continuance therefore, it must be {αβγδ}, to the end, {αβγδ}, says the Apostle unto blood. peradventure God will haue us die in the maintenance of his quarrel, he will haue us witness it with our lives, seal it with our bloods. Be it so. It shall be with us as with Epaminondas; wee shall conquer though we die. never let the blast of such a threatening discourage us; never let it be like Gideons proclamation in the ears of his faint hearted Souldiers, judge. 7.3. to make us forsake our colours, and fly the field. If we begin to faint a little, let us look to our Leader. Consider him says the Apostle in the verse before my Text: Consider him both as our Leader, and as our Pay-master. As our Leader; for so we may bee bold to follow after him: Marching under his conduct, it is not possible for us to misse-carry. quails deuces tales milites says one. Such as the Leaders are, such are commonly the Followers. Chabrias. Plutarch. Apoph. It hath been a pretty question among curious wits, whether a Hart leading an army of lions, or a lion leading an army of Harts, whether of these would haue the victory if they should join battle together. And the answer hath been, that in all probability of conjecture, the Harts would haue the victory, because a lion is their Leader. For the courage of the Leader breaths resolution into the Followers, and makes even Cowards to be valiant. If thus, how happy are we then; sith though of ourselves we are a sort of heartles Harts, amated with every fear, affrighted with every danger, yet because we haue a lion to our Leader, the lion of the tribe of judah, Apoc. 5 5. that never came from the field but he brought home victory with him. That which david sung of Saul and jonathan, it may more truly be applied to him. 2. Sam. 1.22. His bow never turned back, his sword never came home empty. And therefore as Alexander said of Antipater, Tuto dormivi, vigilauit Antipater. Plut. Apoph. when he betook him one night to his cabin; That so long as Antipater watched, he might be bold to sleep; so may we say( Beloved) when we go after Christ into the battle; That as long as he leads the way, we need not be fearful to follow. He both leads us and fights for vs. Certantem inspectat, In Psal. 32. Deficientem subleuat says Saint Austen: He beholds us when we fight, relieues us when we faint. Considering we haue such a Leader to go before us, we need not be discouraged. Consider him not onely as our Leader, but as our Pay-master; wee shall haue a Pay from him that will bee worth our fighting for: when wee haue done our resistance, he will give us our recompense; he will honour us with a crown, when we haue ended our combat. Pugna brevis, Corona immarcescibilis: A momentany combat, but an immarcessible crown. Ah but yet it troubles us to think that we must loose our blood in the quarrel; ah but let it never trouble us to loose Ours for him, seeing it never troubled him to loose His for vs. Do you not remember what the people said of david; 2 Sam. 18.3. They said, His life was worth more then ten thousands of theirs. So may wee say of Christs blood; One drop of his, it is more precious then ten thousand Riuers of ours. Ours for him is but Ad attestationem fidei, To witness the profession of our faith: His for us, Ad ablutionem peccati, To wash away the guiltiness of our sin. As ever wee desire therefore to haue Christs blood a sacrifice for us, wee must be willing to offer ours as a sacrifice for him. Lord Iesus, if thou wilt haue it so, make us willing that it should be so. Let us willingly resolve to shed ours for thee, and bee thou graciously pleased to poure out thine vpon vs. Thy blood be vpon us, O Lord, thy blood be vpon us: Mat. 27.25. Wee wish it not as the traitorous and truculent Iewes wish it; not the guilt of it: Oh no, not the guilt of it Lord, but the merit of it. The merit of thy blood, let that be vpon the heads of us all, and vpon the heads of our children for ever. So now I haue done with the Text in the sense that the Apostle meant it, shown you( as I can) what belongs to the spiritual resistance; to the fighting of the good fight of Faith. A fight that we are all called to, in being called to be Christians, and from the service of which, there is none of us that must look to be exempted: Not the youngest, not the oldest, not the weakest. Not the youngest, for even children as soon as they be born, they haue presently their names put into the Check-rowle, and receive from their captain their press-money in their baptism. Not the oldest, for though the Romans had among them their Milites emeriti; Souldiers, who when they came to be of such an age they were discharged from the service of the warres, and lived freely vpon their pensions; yet God ( beloved) hath no such Souldiers in his warres; none that by reason of his age must look to be discharged the field, or exempted from serving under his banner: they must be his Triarij here, and till death give them a discharge, they cannot be Emeriti. Finally, not the weakest, whether made weak by sickness, or weak by sex. The man that lies sick vpon his bed, he may fight and conquer in this battle, as well as he that can carry arms into the field; yea, and they that are of the weaker sex to, weak and tender women, though so tender that they dare not set the sole of their foot vpon the ground, Deut. 28.36 yet they haue also their part to fight in this combat. God calls them all to bee his Souldiers, and he hath his band of Amazons among them. It is admirable to read with what heroical fortitude and valour a great many of them haue resisted. Their very Torturers and persecutors haue been strike with consternation and amazement to behold it. This being the condition then that wee are all called to, it is this wee must all prepare for. every one get the armor of God about him, that he may be able to resist in the evil day. Ephes. 6.13. think it not enough to loose your goods for Christs sake, but resolve to lose your bloods likewise, if he will bring you to the altar. As Lorinus writes of johannes Eleemosynarius, that when the people wondered to see how beneficient and bountiful he was, in the sustaining and succouring of poor Christians: Lorin in 1. Epist. joh. cap. 3. Oh but brethren( saith he) I haue not yet shed my blood for you as my Master hath commanded me. Learn you all the like resolution: learn to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might: fear not Tortures, fear not Tyrants; say with Saint Paul; My life is not dear unto me, Acts 20.24. so I may fulfil my course with ioy. And let it be with you as with Saint Chrysostome; when his enemies threatened him with torture and with death; what could one say that stood by? never threaten these things to him; Nihil timet Chrysostomus nisi peccatum: Chrysostom is afraid of nothing but of sin. So having quitted yourselves like men, a crown of righteousness shall bee given you; and when you haue finished your course in the Church militant, you shal bee taken up into the Church triumphant. And now I must humbly entreat of you, to lend me your patience yet one quarter of an hour more, that I may work over my Text once again, and apply it a little to our own purpose, as at first I promised it. I haue given you the kernel of it already, but now I must make meat of the shell. It is not like the husk of an acorn, good for nothing but for the hogs; but like the mace about the nutmeg, fragrant and savoury. Briefly, it is of use in the Letter, as well as in the Allegory. To speak according to the Letter therefore: look what the Apostle said to these Souldiers, the same I may say to you, as you are Souldiers in another kind, not Church-Souldiers, but Field-Souldiers; men of the military profession, as well as members of the militant Congregation. Your profession is Honourable, your designs generous, your preparations worthy and noble; but you haue not resisted unto blood. You haue not] Now blessed be God you haue not. I repeat it not by way of exprobration, but by way of congratulation. It is not any reproach to you at all, but it is the mercy of God to you; his mercy to us as well as to you. Oh how much are wee bound unto him! that wee haue so long satin under our Vines and Figtrees in peace; that we haue heard of no violence all this while, Psal. 144.15. no leading into captivity, no complaining nor crying in our streets. Blessed are the people, saith the Prophet, that be in such a case. And blessed be the Lord our God( say I) that we are in this case. happy, happy it is with us, that wee know not what the miseries of war mean. — En quo discordia cives Virgil. Aeglog. 1. Perduxit miseros. They bee sad and tragical effects that warres do bring forth. I never red them more woefully described, then by the Pen of the Prophet; Lament. 5. It is a bleeding complaint that he makes there. He complains how their Inheritances were all turned to strangers, and their houses to aliens. Children were left fatherless, Mothers were left widows. The water that they drunk, they were fain to buy it with money, and the bread that they eat, to get it with the peril of their lives. Their necks were held under persecution, and their skins were black like an oven. Seruants were set to rule over them, and there was none to deliver them out of bondage There Virgines were ravished, and their Women defiled in the very streets of their Cities. Their Princes were hanged up by the hands, and the faces of their Elders were dishonoured: Their young men were put to grinned, and their tender children broken under the burden that they carried. They had neither iudgement in their gates, nor ioy at their feasts. Worse then all this, the house of God was laid wast, and the Congregations of the Saints were dispersed. The mountain of zion was left desolate, and the Foxes ran vpon it. Such be the miseries of war: such the havoc and spoil that the Sword brings. And yet dulce bellum inexpertis: war is sweet for all this, to them that know it not. To them that know it not indeed. But it is Gods sweet mercy to us that we know it not. You play well as you play now. It was a bloody play that we read of, 2 Sam. 2. between the seruants of Ishbosheth and the seruants of david. Let the young men rise and play before us, saith Abner to joab: And what was the play they had? every one took another by the head, and thrust his sword through his side. Long may you all sit, before you be bidden rise to any such play. Let the glory of it bee what it will. I confess there is a great deal of glory achieved in the necessary service of a just war. But what said jehoash to Amasiah, 2 Kin. 14.10. Brag of glory and tarry at home. beloved, I wish the same unto you; That you may all tarry at home stil, and bee content with the glory that you haue. never may you come to that honor( which yet many a brave soldier hath counted his best honour) to show what wounds and scars you haue brought from the field with you. But go fairly on( as you do) with these same Salmacida proelia, these same friendly frays, and peaceful skirmishes that you are in, from whence at night you may come home again Sine sanguine, though perhaps not Sine sudore; sweeting perhaps, but yet not bleeding. never may it be said of you, that you haue resisted unto blood. Well, this is the mercy of God to you yet, that you haue not hitherto resisted. But are we sure it will be thus always? Shall Ianus Temple be still shut? or haue we any patent sealed us of our peace? Is there now no fear of any danger? nor no need of any preparation? Are we bidden, as it is Esay 2.4. to break our spears into plowshares, or our swords into scythes? Or as it is Michah 4.3. Hath it been said to us that wee shall not learn to fight any more? Some may object thus perhaps; Non necessarij milites, quia desunt hostes: Wee need no Souldiers, because we haue no enemies. I would we had not: but every wise man that hath his eyes in his head, will easily aclowledge, that we haue both need to fear, and cause to prepare. Wee know the Children of Edom well enough, Psal. 137.7. what they haue heretofore cried against jerusalem. Wee remember what Balak the King of Moah hath devised, Mich. 6.5. and what Balaam the son of Beor hath counseled. spain, and Rome, they haue heretofore confederated against England, like Ahab and Benhadad, against judah. If we need fear no invasions, whence come our Treasons? Come they not both out of one forge? are they not both hammered vpon one anvil? Sure they that shoot at us in a vault, they would shoot at us in a field if they durst. They would ram their powder into barrels of steel; as well as into barrels of wood. Wee need not doubt therefore but we haue enemies. Wee may rather doubt what friends wee haue, then what enemies we haue. Besides this, what shall we think of the many prodigious and portentous signs that wee haue lately seen& heard of; Vide Gallo-Belgici narrationem historicam pro anno praesenti. as if Nature were grown monstrous? Strange Comets in the air, strange concussions of the Earth, strange diseases vpon the bodies of men: Waters strangely turned into blood. A whole town with all the Inhabitants of it, most strangely swallowed up into the ground; not one soul in it left alive, nor so much as any Monument of it remaining to be seen? Shall we think these be all Mutes and Blancks? and that God speaks nothing to us in them? Think it who will, I will not. It might bee observed also, how the hand of God hath been lifted up to strike many great Princes of late. Maximilianus Archidux Austriae. A great Duke of Austria, a great Emperour and Empresse of Germany, a great queen in England; and that which I cannot yet speak of, but with trembling and ioy: the very crown of our head, it was falling, it was falling. He that is the light of our eyes, and the breath of our nostrils, under whose gracious shadow wee are all preserved; his light was almost quenched, his breath was almost taken from him. Oh what a gap had there then been made for the Enemy to haue stepped in? wee might then haue felt to our cost, what need there would haue been of preparation for resistance: But as Paul of Epaphroditus; Phil. 2.27. The Lord hath shown mercy unto him; and not to him, but to us also( magnified and blessed be his name for it) in vouchsafing him recovery. Our unthankfulness for him, had almost lost him. Let me speak freely. There are a sort of winter grasshoppers among us; a generation that is ever murmuring and repining: They consider not what store of blessings they enjoy, but still they are complaining of burdens and grievances; still objecting that the former times were better then these. There may a day come, when they shal wish to see the things they see now, and they shall not see them. In the mean time, little do they know what an invaluable loss it would haue been, if this Diamond had fallen out of our Ring. Oh thou preserver of men, hid him still as a chosen shaft in thy quiver, and bind his soul up in the bundle of life. As for the souls of his enemies, let them be cast like a ston out of the middle of a sling. 1 Sam. 25.29. I haue one thing more to name yet, that tells us what great cause we haue to fear; greater this then any of the other. Will you ask what it is? It is the invndation of sin, that so immeasurably overflows in all places of this land. Oh the crying sins, the crying sins of this land; they will never let heaven be at rest, till it haue sent them a scourge. It is an admirable piece of news that our late Gallo-Belgicus reports about the town of Pleurs, page. 4. I told you of even now; that was so strangely subverted vpon the sudden, and lies butted to this day under it's own ashes, without hope of any possible restauration. A while after the subversion of it, diuers neighbourers that repaired thither would needs attempt to dig into the ground that they might see what they could find. Among other things that they found, God directed them to a ston, which when they had taken up, they saw something written vpon it in Hebrew letters, as if( like the Tables of ston, that were given to Moses in mount Sinai) it had been graven with Gods own finger. The writing was this; Thus saith the Lord; My word is like fire, and like a hammer breaking the rocks. go out of Babylon, and every one look to the saving of his own soul. Let none wink at his sins, for the vengeance will come, and all shall be rewarded according to their wickedness. beloved, I desire not to sit like an omnious raven vpon the house-top, croaking out any fatal presages of one or other evil that may come vpon the Land that we live in: The Lord turn it from us in mercy, and rather sand it to fall vpon the heads of our enemies. But when vpon every ston in the street, we may see the sins of the Land to be written, jer. 17.1. written as with a pen of Iron, and graved as with the point of a Diamond; how can we but fear, least there be a ston falling from heaven, vpon which our Iudgement is also written, the destruction& ruin of our Land engraven with Gods own finger shortly to be accomplished. Well then beloved: Seeing there be so many things that make us to fear danger, how can any preparateons be unnecessary to prevent danger? To God ward our onely preparation must be by repentance. But against other enemies; such as you are now providing, that you may be ready for resistance. look what the Apostle here requires of his Souldiers, the very like unto it is expected from you. A resisting, and a persisting. Preparation for the one: Resolution in the other. Remember first; It is but a place of resistance that you stand in. You must onely prepare to resist, not to assault. As it is in the other combat, so in this. We are not Assaulters in the other but onely Resisters. Neither must we be here. Resist we may, if another offer us any violence: But unless violence be offered us, we haue no warrant to assault. Now resistance first of all, it must be made you know against them that be Enemies. You must therefore take heed of it among yourselves. Among yourselves, let all unity and concord bee preserved. Let not the least murmur of any resistance be heard of. Agesilaus was asked the question, why the city of Sparta was built without walls. pointing to the citizens he answered; En muros Spartae, Behold the walls of Sparta. Spartaes citizens are Spartaes walls. As long as the citizens be unanimous among themselves, they fear not the invasion of any Enemy. mary; resistance against an Enemy and so Preparation for resistance; that is both necessary and honourable: 1. It is necessary; because there can be no safety without it. In what a case was the land of Israell, when among forty thousand of the people, judge. 5.8. there was not a spear, nor a shield to be seen? The sight of a weapon( we say) scars a thief. What theiuerie there is in hand we know not: But we hear of great preparations that others make abroad. beloved, It cannot be amiss for us to haue an eye to our own safety, though we suspect not their fidelity: Though we prepare not for them, we may prepare with them. We may be in readiness to resist, if they offer any assault unto us, though for our own parts we intend not to offer any assault unto them. Be none so absurd as to object, We put our confidence in God, and we trust he will defend vs. Grant we do so, Aug. de civit. Dei. lib. 16. cap. 19. yet for all that; Si periculum quod cavere possumus, non cavemus; If wee prevent not those dangers ourselves which wee haue means to prevent, we do rather Deum tentare, then in Deo sperare; we do rather tempt God then trust God. But what is Munition without Men? Or what are weapons without warriors? As good no weopons at all, as no dexterity to use them. It is reported of Lycurgus, that he trained up the children of the Lacedemonians, Plut. in vita Lycur. when they once came to be seven yeers of age, in all kinds of martiall and warlike exercises; So that it was a wonder to behold their activity and valour. And very problable it is, that the like discipline was used among the Iewes themselves. For 1. Chro 12.38. it is wonderful to observe, what a multitude of expert warriors they had among them: Three hundred and two and twenty thousand, every one able to led an Armte. Where there is this ability to perform, there will bee the more boldness to attempt. Nemo facere metuit, qui se been didicisse confidit, none will be afraid to fight, that knows he hath skill to fight. Mary, if one haue a weapon, and no skill to use it; alas, what shall we say to him? We may say, as it was said to one that had gotten him a faire Buckler, gaily guilded and trimmed: one told him, he did well to bestow such cost vpon his Buckler. It was a sign that he trusted more to his Buckler then to his sword. So then; it is necessary you see, that there should be preparation for resistance; that there should be both arms in readiness, and men in readiness. For there can be no safety without it. 2. As it is necessary, so it is honourable. What nobler or more honourable exercises then such as these, to him that hath any masculine spirit in him, him that carries the mind of a man? Shall he live like a luskish Sidonian, or like an effeminated Sybarite, languishing in ease, and rauelring out his time in courtship and dalliance? Shall he do nothing but sit singing and sonnetting among Ladies and Gentlewomen, or perhaps stretch his arms now and then at Shittlecock or Biliards? Shall he bee like that Mindyrides that Seneca writes of, Lib. 2. de ira. cap. 25. that could not endure to see a man dig: Latus condoluit, it made his sides ache to see him: And when he lay streaking himself vpon a bed of Roses, he complained he lay vneasily, Vetuit illum, opus in conspectu suo facere. quod folijs rosae duplicatis incubuisset; because he felt a leaf double under him? Such be a sort of the feather-headded Gallants that walk the streets of our city: Women like men, as the Prophet Nahum calls them; Thy men within thee are like women. Nah. 3.13. Virorum faeminae, faeminarum viri, as one says: women among men, and onely men among women. Make Captaines and Colonels of these: They will be even such as the Prophet speaks of there: captain grasshopper, Vers. 17. and Colonell-Locust. They will not dare to try a battle with Aesops frogs, if they come against them with Bul-rushes. As much in effect is said of them, by Nahum himself. He likens them to Fig-trees when the first ripe figs are vpon them, Shake them, and they drop into the mouth of the Eater. So these: draw but a sword at them, they fall down at the foot of the Assaulter. What an honour is it therefore to you of this society, that you haue so nobly engaged yourselves in an exercise of this nature, which is indeed both for the safety and for the glory of the kingdom. Me thinks I cannot say whether you make a better show, when you are togati, or armati, in your gowns, or in your arms; whether when you are habited as Senators, or accoutred as Souldiers; whether in your Citie-liueries, or in your Captaines colours. In the one, we see the happy fruits of a well ordered peace: In this other, generous preparations for a lawful war. In the one, you maintain the honourable seats of Iustice. In this other, you advance glorious Tropheys unto Fortitude. And doubtless he is the onely absolute and complete man, in whom is the concurrence of those two virtues, Prudence and Valour, he that is both an Vlysses at home, and an Achilles abroad; he that hath both a head for counsel, and a hand for action. For Gentlemen in the Country, to haue raised such a society, and erected such an exercise, though it had been worthily done of them, yet less commendable in them, then in you. In regard of their habitation, education, condition, probability of reason says, they bee better accommodated. You haue the greater honour therfore that being of the quality you are, rather Marchant-like, then Martiall-like men, fitter for an Appij forum, then for a Campus Martius; that yet you do so willingly offer yourselves in so heroical a service, follow it with such industry, maintain it with such charge, that the world may see your hearts are not altogether set vpon your ease, and vpon your profit. There rises a better report by this means to you of London, then to them of Laish. You know how the spies of Israell found and reported them, judge. 18.10. Terrafructuosa, gens otiosa: A fruitful Land, but a lazy people; and that made them a prey to their enemy. What now remaines, but that you be animated with all possible excitations and encouragements, to go on in your strength, and to maintain what you haue begun? as you haue prepared for resisting, so to be resolute in persisting? I wish nothing may be wanting unto you, that may any way encourage you. To say truth, wee should all join together, to set forward so noble a design, some in one kind, some in another. I remember what a reverend divine said; one, who while he lived, he was the Ornament and Oracle of our Cambridge university. At a certain Commencement time, when there was a music act to bee kept, they of the Act made request that they might begin with their music. he would not suffer it, but according to the wonted laudable custom, he would haue the divinity to begin. Nay, saith he; Doct. Whitakers. Illinos audiant dicentes quia canere non possumus; Nos illos audiemus canentes quia dicere non possunt. They shall first hear us dispute, because we cannot sing; afterward we will hear them sing, because they cannot dispute. I apply it to my purpose thus. That which one is not able to do, let another help to do. There are a sort of wealthy Citizens, that are not able, or not fit perhaps, to do personal service in this action. What they cannot do by person, let them do by purse. Some that haue not gold to offer, are willing to offer themselves. Others that are willing to spare themselves, let them offer their gold. Spare from your vanities and superfluities, from the pride of your apparel, the pomp of your shows, the luxury of your feasts; spare, and cast into this treasury, where you shall but lay up a stock for your common safety. Remember, it is not your wealth that will deliver you in the day of battle: deliver you? Nay, it will rather betray you, rather bee a bait for your enemy, then a bulwark to yourselves. Thus it was with Hezekiah. 2. King. 20.13 The sight of his treasure, had almost lost him his kingdom. Plut in compar. Hannib.& Scip. And so Hannibal told Antiochus when Antiochus shewed him what an army he had provided, richly stored with gold and silver; but otherwise men of no extraordinary either courage or strength. He asked him, if he thought that army would not be sufficient for the Romans? Hannibal answered him; Yes, that it would, though the Romans were never so covetous: Intimating, there was spoil enough to enrich them, though not force enough to withstand them. You therefore that cannot be Souldiers, make Souldiers: be helpful with your purses, seeing you cannot be serviceable in your persons. Let your Mammon help to fight for you, and make you friends of it that way. We for our parts, we that are of poor levies Tribe, we will help you what we can too. Though wee cannot by our purses, nor though we cannot by our persons, yet we will help you by our prayers. We will carry the ark of God for you whensoever you go into the battle. If you do nostram causam agere gladijs, we will vestram agere precibus. If you fight for us, we will pray for you: We will hold up our hands to God for you, as Moses did for Ioshua, Exod. 17.11. when he fought against Amalek. For yourselves last of all; Continue to be yourselves still; judge. 6.12. and( as the angel to Gideon) the Lord be with you, you valiant men. It is true, there hath been yet but little proof of your valour. I wish as I wished before; that there never may be greater. If greater must be, the God that sits above, strengthen you with courage,& crown you with victory. You must look to find a difference then, between those skirmishes and these velitations. But that which was Senecaes resolution, let that bee yours. I affect not( says he) the contentions of war, yet if I cannot avoid it, Seneca in Epist. but that I must be engaged in them, & famem& frigus,& omnia quae belly necessitas adfert, generose feram; be it hunger or cold, or whatsoever the necessity of the war shall cast vpon me, I will freely and generously bear it. Carry in one word, this comfort away with you: He that dies a good soldier, dies a good Martyr. It need not trouble you though you die not in your beds, if you be sure you die not in your sins. The Lord strengthen us all, to be good Soldiers in the battels to which he shall call us, and so to fight the good fight of faith, that having courageously resisted, constantly persisted, even to the effusion of our blood, we may in the end receive a crown of righteousness from him, who by his own blood hath redeemed us unto God. So shall we sing songs of victory to him that hath got the victory for us, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thankes, and honour, and power, and might, to our Lord Iesus Christ, for ever and ever. 2. SAM. 10.12. Be strong and valiant for our people, and for the cities of our God and let the Lord do that which is good in his eyes. FINIS.