DirtfJ, I• Dire/1. 2· Direfiiom for Souldier_s. CHAP. VII. '.Dire<fiom for Souldiers, about their duty i1z point of (onfcience. THough it is likely that few Souldicrs will read what I !hall writ~ for them, yet for the fake of thufe few that Will, I w11l do as John Baptift d1d, and g•ve them fome few neceffary Din::dions, and not omit them as fame do, as if they were a hopelefs fort of men. §·I· Dirtd I· Be careful to m.Jk,_eyo~r peace with God,and live in a continualreadineji todye. This being the great duty of every rational man, you cannot deny it to be efpecially yours, whote calling fetreto you fo frequently in the face of death. Though fame Garrifon Souldiers are fo feldorn if ever put to fight, that they live more fecurely than moH orher men, yet aSouldier as fuch being by his place engaged to fight, I mull fit my Dirtctions to the ordinary condition and ex– peCtation of men in that employment. h is a mofi Jnarional and worfe than beafily neg.li~ gcnce, for any man to live cuelclly in an unpreparednefs for death, confidering how certain it is, and how uncertain the time, and how unconceivably great is the change which it inferreth ; But for a Souldier to be unrcady to dye, who bath fuch fpeci•l reafon to expect it, and who lifieth himfelf into a fiatc which is fo near it, this is to live and fight like beafis, and to be Sould!crs before you underfiand what it is to be a Chrillian or a Man. Firfi thereforc make fure that your fouls arc regenerate and reconciled unto God by Chrifi, and that when you dye you have a part in Heaven ; and that you are nor yet. in the flate of Iin and nature: An unrenewed unfanctifi.ed foul is fure to go to Hell, by what death or in what caufe focver he dyerh. If fuch a man be a Souldicr, he mufi be a coward or a mad man ; If he will run upon death, when he kn.oweth not whither it will fend him, yea when Hdl is certainly the next ficp, he is worfc than mad: But if he know and confider the tcr– ribknefs of fuch a change, it mufi needs make him tremble when he thinks of dying. He can be no good Souldier that dare not dye: And who can expect that he !hould <\are to dye, who mufi be damned when he dytth ? Reafon may command a man to venture upon death ; but no reafon will allow him to venture upon Hell. I never knew but two forts of valiant Souldic:rs : The one was Boyes and bruiufh ignorant fors, who had no fenfe of rhe conccrnments of their fouls: and the other ( who only were truly v<~.liant) were thofe that had m&de fuch preparations for Eterniry, as at !call perfw.dtd them that it fhould go well with them when they dyed. And many a debauched Soul– dier I have known, whofe Confcience hath made them Cowards and Chift or run away when they ftot.ould venture upon death, bccaufe they knew they were unrcady to dye, and· were more afraid ofHdl than of the Enemy. He that is fit to be a A-lartyr, is the fitteO man to be a S'ouldier.: He that is regenerate, and hath laid up his treafure and his hopes in Heaven, and fo•hath ovc.rcomc the fears of death, may be bold as a Lyon, and ready for any thing, and fearlefs in the greatefi perils. For what fhould he fear, who hath cfcopcd Hdl, and God> difplcafure, and hath conquered the King of terrours? But fear is the d;uy and mofi rational temper of a guilty foul; and the more fcarle£5 fuch are, the more fooli(h. and more miferable. · 9· 2. DiJ.:ect. 2. Be JUre you bave a rparrantable Caufi and Call. In a bad caufe it is a dreadful thing to conquer or to bc.co11quered: If you conquer you are a murderer of all that you kiU; ]f you are conquered and dye in the profecution of your fin, I need not tdl you what you may expect. I know we are here upon a difficulty which muf\ be tenderly handled : If we make the fover•ign power to be the abfolute and only Judge, whether the Souldiers caufe and eaU be good; then it would follow, that it is the duty of •ll tht Chrifiian fubjects of the Turk, to fight againfi Chtiflianity as Cuch, and to d,firoy all Chrifiians when the Turk commmdeth it : And thit all the fubjects of other Lands, are bound to invade this or other fuch Chriflian Kingdoms, and dcllroy their King~, when ever their Pvp.;fh, or tnllicious Princes or States !ball command them: which being inrolk– rable confLqnetJces, prove the Antecedent to be intollcrable. And yet on the other fide, if [ubje[ir muLl buhe Judges of their.caufe and <aU, the Prince !hall not be fcrvcd nor the common good fecured, till the intereft of the Subjects will allow them to difcern the goodHtjs of the c.<ufr. Be– tween the[e two imollcrable conii.quenrs, it is hard to meet with a jufi difcovery of the me.Jn : Mofl run into one of the c:xtreams, which they take to be the lcfs, and think that thtrc: is no other avoidmg of the other. T he grand errours in this and an hundred like cafes, come from not diflinguifhing aright the cafe d<! effe, from the c(l,fe de app.Jrerr, or cognP{ccre, and not firfi determi– ning the former, as ir ought, before the latter be determined. Either the caufe which Subj 1 :ds are comrnandc:d ,to fighc in, is reaUy ldwful, totb.em, or it i1 not. ( SJy not here importunely, win jh.;U jxdj,t? Tor we an: now but upon the qutfiiondt cffe.) If'it be not lawful in it fc:lf, but be rneer robbtry or murder, then come to the cafe of Evidence; Either this evil is to the fubje& difccrn..~blt bj jujl mean1, or nor ; If it be, I am no[ able for my put to jufiifie him from the fin if he do it, no mote than to have jufiitied the three witnetres, Van. 3· if they had bowed down to the goldm c,Jf,
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