THe two great Ingredients that go into the composition of an accomplished Souldier are Courage, and good Conduct: As for the latter of these, it is the peculiar subject of your Pro­fession, and falls not under the cognizance of our spiritual Tacticks; nor was it ever well for the world when the Pulpits, which were de­signed for Oracles of the Gospel of Peace, rung with Battels, and Alarms, and that [...], that soft and still Trumpet of Meekness, and Cha­rity, and Obedience, which should sound from [Page 2] hence, was out-noised, and drowned with the thunder of Drums, and the roaring of Canons. Sure I am, in our Commission we have no In­structions to put on any Armour, but the whole Armour of God, to list any Volunteers but for Heaven, or proclaim any War but between men and their Lusts, from which all other wars and fightings do proceed. And being of so distant a Profession, we may very well be excused if we understand not the language of your Discipline, if we cannot talk in Rank and File, and Flank and Rear our Discourses with Military Allusions; in which it is as easie for us to be absurd and ri­diculous as for a fresh-water Souldier, that, be­ing to make a Speech to a company of Sailers, will needs interlard his Harangue with terms of Navigation. Wherefore, in reverence to your skill and judgment in your own Profession, I shall chuse to leave Hercules his Club in his own hands, who knows much better than I how to wield and manage it; it being, in my opinion, not altogether so decent for a Divine to read Lectures of War before Hannibal.

But as for that other Ingredient of a good Souldier, viz. Courage and Resolution (it being a Christian vertue, and as such, necessary not only (though more especially) for you, but for all others who intend to continue faithful Soul­diers under the common Captain of our Salva­tion) [Page 3] it is upon this account a very proper ar­gument both for the Speaker, and the Hearers, and as sutable to the Place, as it is to the Occasi­on, and therefore, in compliance with both, I have chosen this Text, in which you have Co­wardize and Courage resolved into their first principles, The wicked flee when no man pursues, but the righteous is bold as a Lion.

In these words you have all mankind distin­guished by their proper Characters into two sorts: The first is the Wicked, under which name all bad men, of whatsoever denomination, are comprehended, whether they be irreligious in their belief, profane in their manners, or hypo­critical in their designs and intentions, and the Character here by which they are all distingui­shed, is, that they flee when no man pursues; i. e. they are of such base and timorous spirits, that they are ready to run away from the least sha­dow of danger, though it hath nothing of sub­stance or reality in it, and being haunted with an ill-boding mind, flee before the spectres of their own fancies. Which words are not to be so understood as if every wicked man were actually a Coward, for that contradicts experi­ence, and we know there is a sort of valour which naturally springs out of the very crasis and temper of mens bodies, which is nothing else but a certain impetus, or brisk fermentation [Page 4] of the bloud and spirits; and this is common to bad men with good, accordingly as they happen into a warm and vigorous constitution. The mean­ing therefore is, that they are cowards in their cau­ses; that their wickedness naturally tends to effe­minate them, and will certainly do it, if it be not strongly counter-influenced by the vigour of their bodily temper. The second sort into which mankind is here distinguished is the Righ­teous, by which phrase the Scripture is wont to express all good men in general; and that for very good reason, because all instances of good­ness whatsoever are in strictness acts of righte­ousness, either to God, or to our selves, or to our neighbours; so that justice or righteousness is the common point whence all the lines of our duty are drawn, and wherein they all con­center.

Now of this sort of men the proper Character is, that they are as bold as a Lion; which words do not import every good man to be actually a Cordelion, to be as bold, and stout-hearted as that couragious Animal is, before whom all the beasts of the Forest do tremble; for as some bad men are valiant by nature, so are some good timorous and faint-hearted, and it is a ve­ry hard thing to cure by discipline that which is the natural defect of constitution. This ex­pression therefore must be understood in the same [Page 5] mitigated sense as the former, the righteous are bold, i. e. their righteousness tends to make them so; it hath such an animating vertue in it, as will (if it be not over-powered by an invincible ti­morousness of temper) convert a Poultroon in­to a Hero, and imbolden the meanest spirited to confront the grimmest danger, and charge it with an undaunted resolution: For thus the Scripture usually speaks of men as if they actu­ally were what they have great cause and reason to be; thus in Isa. lvii. 20. The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt, i. e. they are continually agitated with their own restless thoughts, just like the Sea with its reciprocal Tides: Not that this is always actu­ally their condition, but that they have always just reason to be so. So Prov. xvi. 3. Righteous lips are the delight of Kings, and they love him that speaketh right; which is not to be so understood as if in fact it were always so; for experience too often evinces the contrary, but the meaning is, that Kings above all men have reason to delight in men of truth, and honesty, and fidelity. And so in the Text, The wicked flee when no man pursues; that is, a wicked man hath great reason to be ti­morous, for he hath all the moral causes of base­ness and cowardize within his breast: But the Righteous is bold as a Lion, i. e. he hath reason to be so, his mind being inspired with the most [Page 6] pregnant principles of a brave and undaunted resolution.

The words being thus explained, the sense of them resolves into this Proposition, That wic­kedness naturally tends to dishearten and cowardize men; but righteousness and goodness to encourage and imbolden them. The truth of which I might easi­ly demonstrate by an induction of particulars, were it proper to draw a List of those ancient Heroes, whose names are renowned in the Me­moires of Fame, the greatest part of whom were as illustrious for their Piety and Goodness, as for their Valour and great Atchievements, and who, as the Historian observes of the ancient Romans, conquered much more by the Charms of their Vertues, than by the terrour of their Swords. But I am not at leisure to tell Stories, and therefore for the confirmation of the Argu­ment in hand, I shall endeavour, as briefly as I can, to represent to you what those things are which do naturally contribute to the making men couragious, and to shew you that they are all to be found in Righteousness, and their contraries in Wickedness; which if I can make good, I doubt not, will abundantly convince you, that the best way to be good Souldiers is to be good men; and that though you may furnish your selves with Art and Conduct in the field, yet you can never acquire true courage and bravery [Page 7] till you have been trained and exercised under the Banner of Jesus.

Now to make men truly valiant and cou­ragious these six things are necessary:

First, That they be free, and within their own command.

Secondly, That they be well hardened to en­dure difficulties and inconveniences.

Thirdly, That they be well satisfied in the na­ture of their actions and undertakings.

Fourthly, That they have a hopeful prospect of being well seconded.

Fifthly, That they have a probable security of good success.

Sixthly, That they be born up with the ex­pectation of a glorious reward; all which cau­ses of courage are to be found in righteousness, and their direct contraries in a sinful and wicked course of life.

I. One cause that very much contributes to the making men couragious, is their being free, and within their own command; for slavery naturally depresses the mind, and by accustom­ing men to a severe and rigorous treatment, habi­tuates them to fear and pusillanimity. It is no new observation, that Slaves are generally Cowards; of the truth of which we have many woful in­stances in the world, for how many Nations are there who were heretofore renowned for their [Page 8] courage and puissance, when they enjoyed their liberties and properties, under gentle and be­nign Governments, that are now utterly un­manned, and dispirited by oppression and slave­ry. But now a righteous man can never be en­slaved, because he hath gotten the victory of himself, and is his own Master; he hath trained up his passions to a severe obedience to his reason, and so has all his motions under his own com­mand, and it being in his power (at least in a good measure) not to love any thing but what he hath good reason to love, not to desire any thing but what he hath fair hope to enjoy, not to delight in any thing but what is in his power to possess and keep, it being, I say, in his power to be affected as he pleases, and to regulate his own motions according as he thinks fit and reasonable; he may chuse whether he will be a Coward or no, and should the grim­mest danger stare him in the face, yet supposing him to have such a command of himself, as not to desire what he cannot have, not to dread what he cannot prevent, not to grieve and vex at what he cannot avoid; he may throw down the Gauntlet to it, and defie it to do its worst.

Now one great office of righteousness is to do right to a mans self, to rescue him from the ty­ranny of his Passions, and reduce him under the command of his reason, and the more successful [Page 9] it is in this great undertaking, the more valiant and magnanimous it must necessarily render us; for the more a mans Passions are subdued to his Rea­son, the more presence of mind he will have in all dangers and difficulties, and the more able his Reason will be to counsel and advise him, and to fortifie his heart with brave considera­tions. So that when a man hath made any con­siderable progress in the conquest of himself, he will be so much in his own power, that no dan­ger will be able to divide him from himself, or scare him from the Post of his reason, and while Death is whizzing about his ears, and Bloud and Slaughter, Terrour and Confusion are round about him, his mind will be invironed with in­vincible thoughts, and guarded with such pu­issant considerations, that no outward force will be able to approach it. And thus freedom (you see) from the slavery of passion, which is an effect of righteousness, is an effectual cause of courage and magnanimity.

But in wickedness a great part of this slavery consists, for in this state men are intirely go­verned by Passion and Appetite; as for their Reason, that sits by as an idle Spectator of the brutish Scene of their actions, and intermeddles no farther in it than to censure and condemn it, having no other office allowed it but to cater for their Appetites, and enable them to play the [Page 10] Brutes with greater luxury and rellish; and be­ing under the command of such Masters as these, we are out of our own power, and cannot dis­pose of our selves as we please, for either our Passions and Appetites must be governed by our Reason, or by the goods and evils that are with­out us; and if these govern us, we are not our own men, but do live in subjection to a Foreign Power, and we must be what the things without us will have us, and not what our own mind and reason: Our mind must turn about ac­cording as the wind blows, and like water we must take our form from the Vessels we are pou­red into; and when the passions and appetites that over-rule us are thus over-ruled by the chances and contingencies without us, how is it possible we should be truly couragious? For now when any danger looks us in the face, we can have no present relief from our reason, ha­ving all along disused our selves to consult and advise with it, and so every alarm of danger from without will presently raise a tumult within, and put the whole soul into an uproar, in which the mind is left naked of all relief, and utterly abandoned of those wise and brave thoughts which should guard and defend it. And a mans thoughts and considerations being thus defeated and put to the rout, he must either sink under his danger, or charge headlong upon it fool­hardily [Page 11] or desperately; for now he hath no other courage to support him, but either that of a Mastiff, that fights because his bloud is in a brisk fermentation; or that of a Rat, that flees in his enemies face because he is desperate of escaping.

II. Another cause that mightily contributes to the making men couragious is their being well hardened to endure difficulties and inconve­niences, for how distant soever a state of softness and delicacy is from that of slavery, yet it con­centers with it in the effect, and by a different quality produces the same base and unmanly temper. For as Slavery cows the spirit by rigo­rous and servile usage, and suppresses and stifles all its generous emotions, so softness and delica­cy doth so melt and dissolve it, that it hath not the firmness to resist any violent impressions, but is ready to shrink at the least touch of evil, or appearance of danger, having been accustomed to nothing but pleasure, and wrapt up in ease and voluptuousness; and hence we see, that though the valour and courage of Nations be very much owing to the temper of the Climes in which they are situated, yet by the exercise of temperance and severe vertue the Inhabitants of the most effeminate Climes have sometimes improved themselves into the most Heroick and Magnanimous of all Nations, as the Romans and [Page 12] Persians for instance: As on the contrary, those who by the temperament of their native Air and Country are naturally the most hardy and couragious have many times by their dissolute manners been broken and dispirited into the most wretched coward; as the English for in­stance, who though they have been ever re­marked for a People of a daring and undaunted genius, have yet sometimes been so melted by their own luxuries, as that they became preys to every dog that hunted them.

But now Righteousness including in it those se­vere vertues of Industry, and Patience, Tempe­rance, and Mortification of our appetites, doth effectually contribute to the confirming and har­dening the tempers of men, and the taking off that softness and delicacy of spirit which renders them so tender and impressive, so that by ex­ercising our selves in these manly vertues, by inuring our selves to an active life, and to bear evils and injuries with a brave indifferency, by reducing our Appetites to the measures of Na­ture, and moderately Disciplining them with fast­ing and abstinence, we shall by degrees be so steeled against hardships and difficulties, that that which makes effeminate minds to flinch and startle will scarce be able to make any impression upon us. For as the light of the Sun, and the freshness of the Air, which are apt to offend [Page 13] those that are tender and sickly, are not only tolerable, but delightful to men of hail and vigorous Constitutions: So many of those little hardships, which do so trouble and incommode the tender and delicate, are so far from disturb­ing the patient and temperate, that they only refresh and divert them. And it is such a mind only that is fit for a Souldier, that will enable him to undergo the glorious toyls and fatigues of War, to endure a hard March in the day, and to sleep upon a harder Pillow at night, to fol­low Victory through Heat and Cold, Thirst and Famine, Sweat and Bloud, and seize and pluck it from the Arms of hazards and difficulties, wherewith it is compassed and surrounded. These are things that require a firm, a hardy mind that hath been trained up in severity, and is grown strong and hail and vigorous in the ex­ercise of a manly vertue.

But now Wickedness softens and dissolves the temper by letting loose the desires and appetites of our flesh to Sensuality and Voluptuousness, to Rioting and Drunkenness, to Chambering and Wantonness, to Pride and Vanity, to Glut­tony and Idleness, and all manner of effeminate delicacy and dissoluteness, which are such Vices as will emasculate the bravest mind, and by de­grees spoil the strain of the most valourous Na­tions; and were I to prescribe for the cowardi­zing [Page 14] of a Nation, it should be the Boul of In­temperance, the Bed of Sloth, and a Dalilahs Lap, which are Charms sufficient to effeminate a Hero, and metamorphose a Lion into a timo­rous Hare: For when men have been trained up in excess and voluptuousness, and their minds are contempered and naturalized to it, the least hardship or difficulty will be terrible to them; so that if ever they should be forced out of the Lap of Pleasure into the Lists of War, ill Quarters and a hard March will kill them without a Bat­tel, and the least sense of pain, or appearance of danger will presently strike their spirits and air, and turn all their bloud into a trembling jelly. If the business of Souldiers were only to wear a Scarf, or a Feather, or to swelter an hour or two in Buff; if they were to fight in a Field of Down, and to spill no other bloud but that of the Grape, there is no doubt but the School of Epicurus would make an incomparable Nursery for the Camp: But to march under a load of Armour all day, and then to freez to the ground at night, to sleep with Drums in their ears, and be waked with Alarms, to run on upon Spears, and charge at the Mouths of Canons whilst they are spitting fire, and roaring out destruction, these are such rude and scurvy things as will ne­ver be endured by a soft and delicate Epicure.

[Page 15] III. Another cause that mightily contributes to the making men couragious, is their being well-satisfied with themselves, and with the na­ture of their actions and undertakings; for our Understanding being our leading Faculty, the Eye that is to direct the Feet of our practice, and to guide and mannage all our voluntary mo­tions, it is impossible that whilst that doth either disapprove or doubt of our actions we should ever be able to act with steadiness and assurance; for while a man acts with a misgiving mind, and that which should be the guide of his Actions is dissatisfied with his way, he walks like a be­nighted Traveller in a dangerous Road, and is fain to feel out his steps, and tread gingerly, and cautiously, lest he should stumble into a Bog, or a Precipice, and so being accustomed to act with fear and anxiety, his courage dissolves, and his heart grows creeping and timorous.

But now the righteous man acts with the full consent and approbation of his mind, and has no by-ways from the Road of Reason and Con­science, but keeping strait forward, as he doth in the plain tracts of eternal goodness, he treads firmly and boldly, being secure of the ground he goes upon, and is neither ashamed, nor afraid of his own actions, which, being such as his best and purest Reason approves, have the chearful Euges and applauses of his Conscience continu­ally [Page 16] echoing and resounding after them; and this animates his courage, and invigorates his heart with a generous confidence and assurance; in the sense of this he can smile upon misfortune, bid defiance to danger, and bear up his head in the lowest condition. For as long as his own mind doth neither threaten nor accuse him, he can retire into himself when he is driven out of all other retreats, and there live merry and se­cure in despite of the world, and while he can house himself in the sense of his own vertue and innocence, he hath an impregnable shelter against all storms from without; well therefore might the Apostle call it, The breast-plate of righte­ousness, Eph. vi. 14. it being that which secures us against all outward violence, and renders our minds invulnerable by the smartest blows of misfortune.

But so long as a man lives wickedly, he can never be satisfied with himself, because in the whole course of his actions he contradicts his own Reason, and offers violence to those eternal Laws of righteousness and goodness which are inseparably interwoven with his Faculties: so that whenever he comes to appear before him­self, and answer for his Actions at his own Tribunal, his own mind explodes and con­demns him, and like a false Renegado, as he is from the natural Principles of his Reason, he [Page 17] is fain to run the Gantelope through the terrors and reproaches of his own Conscience, which he hath no other way to escape but by running out of himself, and taking Sanctuary in the crowd of his Lusts, or secular affairs and diversions; for as Tertullian observes, Omne malum aut timore aut pudore natura perfudit; Nature hath poured fear or shame upon the face of all wickedness; both which do naturally intimidate our minds, and for different reasons incline us to run away; Shame, that we may not be seen; and Fear, that we may not be taken. When therefore men have always these two Furies at their heels, haunt­ing and pursuing them throughout the whole course of their Actions, what wretched Cowards must they be when any outward danger or ca­lamity approaches them? When all is smooth and prosperous without, they may shelter themselves there from the persecutions of their Conscience; and when all is calm and serene within, they may shelter themselves there from the persecutions of the world: But when both are bestormed, whither can they flee? When Danger and Destruction are drawn up in battel-array against us from without, and we are alarm'd at the same time with the shame and terrour of a guilty Conscience from within, so that we are charged all at once, Front, and Rear, and can neither go on, nor retreat with­out [Page 18] cutting our way through horrour and confusi­on. This is enough to disarm the stoutest Re­solution, and sink the courage of a Lion into a panick dread and desperation.

IV. Another cause which very much contri­butes to the making men couragious, is their ha­ving a hopeful prospect of being well seconded; for when a man apprehends that he is left all alone in the midst of danger, or that he must en­counter it with unequal Forces, that he is not back'd with sufficient Auxiliaries, or that the ad­vantage of Strength and Power lies on the other side, it must needs be a mighty allay to his cou­rage. Now the greatest Power that we can ei­ther dread or depend on is Gods; and therefore according as we apprehend him to be engaged either for, or against us, our courage must neces­sarily rise or sink: For the apprehensions of God and his Providence are so natural to us, and do cleave so close to our minds, that though with our Jovial Airs we may sometimes lull them asleep, yet the least alarm of danger usually rouses and awakes them, and puts our mind up­on the enquiry whether he be for, or against us, and according to the answer we receive from that bosome Oracle, our good or bad Consci­ence, we are naturally confident or afraid.

Now Righteousness, being the Crown and Glo­ry of Gods own Nature, and that for which he [Page 19] infinitely loves and esteems himself, can never fail wheresoever it resides to engage him of its side. When therefore we are so fully assured, that the righteous Lord loves Righteousness, upon the te­stimony of our Conscience that we are sincerely righteous, we cannot but conclude him to be our Ally and Confederate, and consequently that our Interest is his, and his Power ours; and when I have his all-seeing Eye to direct, and his all-powerful Arm to assist and second me; when I have all the Attributes of his infinite Nature pitching their Tents, like Guardian Angels, about me, and my head is covered in the day of Bat­tel with the impenetrable Helmet of his Provi­dence, with what an undaunted resolution must such a persuasion inspire me? We have a late and woful instance among our selves of the cou­rage with which a false Persuasion that God was with them did animate and inspire men, when they were wont to say Grace to their bloudy Banquets, and rise from their knees with an En­thusiastick assurance, and so run on to the Battel, flusht with powerful incomes, and manifestati­ons of Victory. When the flaming Zealots fell on with Psalms in their mouths, and chased the huffing Hectors, and notwithstanding the disad­vantage of the bad Poetry, and the worse Cause, the Psalms proved too hard for the Oaths and Blasphemies. When therefore upon firm [Page 20] and rational Principles, upon turning their eyes from God to themselves, upon comparing Grace with Grace, and Feature with Feature, and surveying the fair agreement of their nature with his, they are throughly persuaded and sa­tisfied that he is their friend; this must needs mightily animate their courage, and enable them to bear up against the most threatning dangers.

But when a man is conscious to himself that he is in rebellion against God, and thereupon apprehends himself not only Cashiered from his Protection, but also exposed to his Almighty vengeance, this must needs render him timorous and faint-hearted, if he hath any consideration about him: For alas who can be couragious against God? What heart can bear up against the terrour of his Thunder-bolts? Which are al­ways shot with such an infallible aim that none can escape, and with such an invincible force that none can resist them: So that a wicked Soul­dier must necessarily forego either his Reason, or his Courage, and degenerate into a Craven, or a Brute; for with what heart can he look an Ene­my in the face when he considers that the Lord of Hosts is against him? Who can look him into no­thing, and confound him with the breath of his Nostrils when he pleases; Who can array the whole Creation against him, and whilst his [Page 21] Enemies from below are thundring Vollies of destruction at him; can play upon him from above with all the Artillery of Heaven, and cause the Stars in their courses to fight against him. What a miserable plight must the poor Wretch be in, if he hath any sober thoughts about him, when Heaven and Earth and his own Con­science are in confederacy against him, and are storming all at once about his ears. But I must hasten. Again

V. Another cause that very much contributes to the making men couragious, is, their having a a probable security of good success; for Hope is the Spur of Valour, that quickens and puts life into it, that revives it when it is drooping, and supplies it with fresh recruits of spirit and vigour when it is languishing, and ready to ex­pire; and when once Hope, which is the soul of it, is departed from it, it presently falls pro­strate, or converts into desperate Rage.

But as for the Righteous, such is their condi­tion that they can never be hopeless, because while they continue such, they live in a constant dependance upon the protection of that God who over-rules and disposes all the Events that can befall them; and being continually anima­ted with this persu [...]sion, That there is nothing can happen to them but by his Decree or Permis­sion who is infinitely wise, and knows what is [Page 22] best for them; infinitely good, and wills what he knows; so infinitely powerful, and doth what he will; they will still be expecting good Issues from the worst Events, and so their hope will shine bright upon them in the darkest con­dition. When their Enemies are threatning or designing mischief against them, they know that their Almighty Guardian and Protector holds their malice in a Chain, and that it can never bite, how fiercely soever it may bark at them, un­less he let it loose; which they are secure he will never do, but for such wise and good ends as they themselves would approve of, did they but fully comprehend them. They have duly considered what their Enemies can inflict, and do find that the worst of it is tolerable, whilst they have a God to depend upon; that though Banishment be a dreadful word, it imports but little more in it self than Travel, or a long Voyage, which is a voluntary Exile; that unless they will they can­not be banisht from God, and that so long as they secure their Innocence, their Conscience, and their hope of Heaven, they may make them­selves a Paradise in the most barren Wilderness. That if they should suffer imprisonment, and be secluded from humane conversation, it is no such dismal thing for a man to be kept within doors; to be snatched out of the croud and hurry of the world, and forced to retire within himself, and [Page 23] converse with God, and Heaven, and his own thoughts, that these are company enough to entertain a mans Solitudes, and to supply the want of the noise of the world, in which there is commonly so much folly and discord, that if they should be tormented to death with instru­struments of cruelty, which is the worst thing that can happen to them, they must have died at last, though not by such unnatural means, on­ly now they die a little sooner, and so anticipate their eternal happiness; and that if they had died a natural death, probably the torment might have been much greater; that they might have languished much longer under the Gout, or Stone, or Strangury, than under the hands of the Executioner, and endured the same degree of torment without the comfort of dying in a brave Cause, or of being assured of an immortal re­compence. And having thus considered things round about, their Hope bears up bravely against all Events, and from the blessed Rock of Salvation, where it dwells, looks down upon the Waves of their Enemies malice, and smiles at their vain at­tempts to overwhelm it, and securely expects till they have dashed themselves in pieces, and are forced to retire back again in empty passion and foam. Thus while we depend upon God, in whose hand is the disposal of all success, we shall never want reason to hope well, and whatso­ever [Page 24] dangers may threaten, or mischiefs befall us, our courage will be still supported with this brave persuasion, That nothing can come amiss that comes from a good God, who knows how to extract good out of the worst of our evils, and to render the rankest Poysons cordial.

But as for the wicked, they can expect nothing from God whilst they continue so, but dire and dismal effects; for all their actions being open de­fiances to his Authority, they have all the reason in the world to conclude, that he will deal with them as enemies, that he will throw them from his care and protection for ever, and perse­cute them with Fire and Sword to eternal de­struction: When therefore they consider that he hath the disposal of all those Events that befal them, they cannot but see great cause to be affraid of every thing, to suspect even his fa­vours, lest there should be a Snake in the grass; lest he should fume their enjoyments with poy­son, and infuse a disease into every breath of their air; lest he should make their Table a snare to them, and serve in the plentiful Provisions of it only to fatten them for the day of slaughter; lest those little successes he sometimes gives them should be only a retreat of his Providence to draw them into an Ambuscado, and involve them into sorer mischiefs; lest when he rescues from less evils, it should be with an intent to [Page 25] reserve them for greater, and when he delivers them from the Frogs, and the Lice, and the Lo­custs, he should be only preparing a more glori­ous vengeance for them, and contriving to over­whelm them in the Red Sea; in a word, lest he should heap the good things of this world upon them as the Romans did their Ear-rings and Jewels on the treacherous Vestal, only to crush and smother them, and carry them aloft, as the Ea­gle did the Tortois, with an intent to give them a more fatal downfal. For how can they be secure of any thing that comes from the hand of that God who is enflamed with such a just indignation against them? And then when any danger is marching towards them, they have nothing but the Arm of flesh to confide in; and if that prove too weak, they are desperate. But how can they be secure that this should prevail, when they know there are such numberless accidents under the command of their Almighty Enemy, that can either disarm it, or turn the point of its Wea­pon on it self? But then if any storm happen to overtake them, whither can they go? Alas, they have no harbour to put in at in all the Dominions of God; no promise of deliverance, no security of support or protection, no ground to hope for any future advantage from the present Calamity, but like miserable Wrecks they are abandoned to the mercy of the Winds and Waves, and in a [Page 26] fearful expectation how the next Billow will di­spose of them, whether it will dash them on a Rock, or drive them on a Quicksand; and in such dismal circumstances who but a mad man can be couragious?

VI. And lastly, Another cause which very much contributes to the making men couragious, is the expectation of a glorious reward: Good Pay will make brave Souldiers; for when men have a good interest in any difficult undertaking, that will buoy up their courage, and render them firm and resolute against all the dangers and diffi­culties that oppose them; whereas when they have little or nothing at stake they are common­ly indifferent whether they win or lose. Reward therefore being the Center of our Hope, and Hope the support of our Courage, we shall in all at­tempts be more or less couragious, proportiona­bly to the reward which we expect to reap from our labour.

But what reward is comparable to that of a righteous man? Who lives upon the blessed hope of being translated when he goes from hence to those immortal Regions of bliss and joy, where all the blessed Inhabitants live in a continued frui­tion of their utmost wishes, being every moment entertained with fresh and enravishing Scenes of pleasure, where all their happiness is eternal, and all their eternity nothing else but one continued [Page 27] act of love, and praise, and joy, and triumph, where there are no sighs or tears, no intermix­tures of sorrow or misery, but every heart is full of joy, and every joy is a quintessence, and eve­ry happy moment is crowned with some fresh and new enjoyment; and the being animated with such a glorious hope is enough to make the most crest-faln soul couragious; for the worst that any danger can threaten is death; and what need he be afraid of passing this cold fatal stream that sees a Heaven on the farther shore? Such a blessed prospect is enough to enable a man to out­face the fearful of fearfuls, and to charge through all his horrors with an undaunted resolution; to make a Souldier mock at fear, like the warlike Horse in Job, and to stand at the mouth of a breach while it is spewing Thunder and Light­ning; for while he is possest with this blessed hope, every danger beckons him to Heaven, and every wound is a Sally-port into a blessed eterni­ty; and being assured in his own mind that the Bullet that strikes his body to the ground must shoot up his Soul above the Stars, and that if it be his hap to fall in the Battel, he shall certainly rise from the Bed of Honour to the Crown of Glory; he laughs at the impotent threatnings of danger, and bravely defies it to do its worst.

But the quite contrary to this is the case of wicked men, for though whilst they stand at a [Page 28] distance from danger, they may make a shift to drown their sense of another world in deep draughts and loud laughter; yet we usually find, that when danger draws near them, and begins to shake its Dart at their breast, natura recurrit, the bold men begin to quake, and are seized with dismal expectations of a fearful state of things on the other side the Grave; it is Plato's obser­vation long since, [De repub. lib. 1.] [...] When a man imagins himself within danger of dying, he is usually seized with a great horrour and anxiety concern­ing those future things which before he never thought of. Now how must it needs dastardize a Souldier, if when he is going into the Battel, the near approach of his danger should awaken such thoughts as these in his mind? I am now entring upon the Confines of the world of Spirits, and if by any of those winged messengers of death that fly about me I should be dispatch'd thither, Lord what will become of me? My Conscience con­demns me, and these numerous guilts that stare me in the face, bode me a woful Fate there, so that I plainly perceive I am marching upon the brinks of a black and dismal Eternity, and that if I happen to fall I am lost and undone for ever. If with such thoughts as these about him, he dares stand his ground he is a couragious sinner indeed, [Page 29] fit for a forlorn-hope: But alas how is it possible he should keep up his heart, when his misgiving Conscience suggests such fearful thoughts as these to him, when it tells him that his Enemies Ar­tillery are charged with Hell, and if they hit will strike him down into the bottomless Abyss; that their Swords will cut through to his very soul, and wound it to eternal death; that every Bullet they shoot at him brings with it a Pasport to a woful Eternity, and that at the mouth of every wound they give him there waits a Devil to seize his Soul as it sallies forth, and carry it captive to the dark prisons of the Damned. Doubtless such dire abodings as these, which are natural to guilty Consciences, must necessarily appale the stoutest resolution.

And now having given you such an abun­dant proof of the truth of the Assertion in the Text, I shall conclude the whole with one word of advice to you of this Honoura­ble Society. You are a Body of men whose bad or good conduct of your selves is of very great Importance to the Publick, each man of you be­ing virtually a Company, having not only inte­rest enough to raise your own men, but also skill enough to form them into excellent Souldiers; you are the standing Mint, where the brave English Mettle is to be coin'd, and to receive its Martial Stamp and Impression; and being so, it [Page 30] is doubtless very much in your power either to raise or to debase it; and since it is from your Di­scipline that your Souldiers must learn their Manners as well as their Postures, it concerns you to be instructed not only with the exactest Skill, but also with the bravest Courage; and from whence you are to derive this I think hath been sufficiently demonstrated, even from Righ­teousness and universal Goodness. Wherefore let me beseech you, as you are Men, and Christians, and Souldiers, to betake your selves to the serious study and practice of this comprehensive duty, in which all Vertue and Religion is included, to purge your Consciences from dead works, and dis­charge your selves of all those pollutions of the Flesh and Spirit, which do so naturally disarm your courage, and overspread your minds with baseness and pusillanimity, and to exercise your selves in all that Piety and Devotion towards God, Loyalty and Obedience towards your Prince, Justice and Charity towards one another, Tem­perance and Sobriety towards your selves, to which Religion and right Reason, the frame of your Natures, and your Circumstances and Rela­tions oblige you; by the constant practice of which you will acquire such a noble and useful courage as will render you a Life-guard to your Prince, a Wall and Bulwork to your Country, and make your famous Artillery-ground a Sanctuary [Page 31] to your City; for the courage which springs out of Righteousness is such as verifies your own Mot­to, Arma pacis fulcra, as props up the Temple of Peace, and preserves it from being violated and prophaned by the sacrilegious rudeness of those that are given to change; for it consists not in an unruly warmth, or head-strong violence of tem­per, in an unbridled fierceness, or factious impati­ence of Government, but is calm, and well ma­naged, and easily commanded; so gentle, that it neither throws, nor runs away with its Rider, and yet so well metled too, that it never tires under him; for if you be couragious from a Principle of Righteousness, you will honour the King as well as fear God, and obey his Ordinances for Gods sake; you will never conduct a rebellious design under the sacred Banner of Religion, nor pretend Loyalty to God to colour your disloyalty to his Vicegerent; you will never press the Scri­ptures to fight against the King, nor arm his Poli­tical against his Personal capacity, nor assume his Authority to cut off his Head: Nor on the other hand will you ever allow him to be unking'd by the Sentence of a domineering Prelate, and plead that for your Warrant to depose and murder him; you will never yield that a Papal Bull hath right to countermand the twelfth of the Romans, and dispence with a Subjects Allegiance to his Prince in despite of, Let every soul be subject to the higher [Page 32] Powers; in a word, you will never confront those loyal Admonitions of S. Peter and S. Paul, with the treasonous Canons of the Councils of the ungodly; nor levy arms against your Prince upon that counterfeit Commission of his being pronounced a Heretick by a Congregation of Im­postors. No no, if you sincerely study and pra­ctise the Rules of Righteousness, you will be too wise and too honest to be choused and imposed upon by the transparent Sophistries of those Hy­pocrites, of whatsoever denomination, who would fain fetch pretences for their Treasons and Rebellions from the most loyal and peaceable Religion that ever was. And being thus anima­ted with the Courage of Righteous men, if ever your King and Country should need your assi­stance against Foreign or Domestique Enemies, which God forbid, you will be bravely qualified to be their Champions; and in being so, may pro­mise your selves Honour and Victory here, and an everlasting Triumph hereafter, which God of his infinite mercy grant; To whom be Honour, and Glory, and Power, &c.