The Duty to Fight - Mark Beliles

Excerpts of colonial sermons by Rev. Samuel Davies [to mark this Memorial Day]

[Our primary focus in the coming months is on the influences and events that led to and shaped the birth of the United States as an independent nation in 1776. In the previous blog we listed a few documents in the American colonies in the first third of the 1700s, and featured Cotton Mather’s summary of New England’s history.]

Between 1734 and 1764 the British colonies in America were especially influenced by a spiritual revival often called the First Great Awakening. It began in 1734 with Rev. Jonathan Edwards. Besides the personal impact it made on many lives, the culture was also profoundly shaped by Christianity in all spheres of life. Many sermons have survived that reveal the application of faith to the emerging nation. Some key ones are below (you cannot fully understand the origins of the American Revolution without reading Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, editor Ellis Sandoz):

1734, Election Sermon, John Barnard
1738, Election Sermon, Jared Eliot
1740, The Freedom of the Will, Jonathan Edwards
1740, Nineveh’s Repentance and Deliverance, Joseph Sewall
1741, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards.
1744, The Essential Rights and Liberties of Protestants, Elisha Williams
1746, Britain’s Mercies, and Britain’s Duties, George Whitefield
1746, The Presence of Great God in the Assembly of Political Rulers, John Barnard
1747, Civil Magistrates Must be Just, Ruling in the Fear of God, Charles Chauncy
1750, Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance, Jonathan Mayhew
1755, Religion and Patriotism the Constituents of a Good Soldier, Samuel Davies
1756, The Mediatorial Kingdom and Glories of Jesus Christ, Samuel Davies
1758, The Curse of Cowardice, Samuel Davies
1760, The Presence of God with His People, Samuel Dunbar
1762, An Election Sermon, Abraham Williams

These sermons shaped politics and the Founding Fathers, not just the religious sphere. And it was not just in Puritan New England but also in the southern colonies. For the rest of this blog, we provide an excerpt from a sermon by a Presbyterian minister in Virginia – Rev. Samuel Davies. He led the awakening in Virginia, became president of the new Princeton University, but also preached sermons such as found below during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Below are his words.

Sermon: The Curse of Cowardice

Jeremiah 48:10 – Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully; and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

Nothing can be more agreeable to the God of Peace than to see universal harmony and benevolence prevail among His creatures; and He has laid them under the strongest obligations to cultivate a pacific temper toward one another, both as individuals and as nations. Follow peace with all men, is one of the principal precepts of our holy religion. And the great Prince of Peace has solemnly pronounced, Blessed are the peacemakers.

But when, in this corrupt, disordered state of things, where the lusts of men are perpetually embroiling the world with wars and fightings and throwing all into confusion; when ambition and avarice would rob us of our property, for which we have toiled and on which we subsist; when they would enslave the freeborn mind and compel us meanly to cringe to usurpation and arbitrary power; when they would tear from our eager grasp the most valuable blessing of Heaven, I mean our religion; when they invade our country, formerly the region of tranquility, ravage our frontiers, butcher our fellow subjects, or confine them in a barbarous captivity in the dens of savages; when our earthly all is ready to be seized by rapacious hands, and even our eternal all is in danger by the loss of our religion; when this is the case, what is then the will of God? Must peace then be maintained? Maintained with our perfidious and cruel invaders? Maintained at the expense of property, liberty, life, and everything dear and valuable? Maintained, when it is in our power to vindicate our right and do ourselves justice? Is the work of peace then our only business? No; in such a time even the God of Peace proclaims by His providence, “To arms!” Then the sword is, as it were, consecrated to God; and the art of war becomes a part of our religion. Then happy is he that shall reward our enemies, as they have served us. Blessed is the brave soldier; blessed is the defender of his country and the destroyer of its enemies. Blessed are they who offer themselves willingly in this service, and who faithfully discharge it. But, on the other hand, Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully; and cursed is he that keepeth back his sword from blood. . . .

Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. This denunciation, like the artillery of heaven, is leveled against the mean, sneaking coward who, when God, in the course of His providence, calls him to arms, refuses to obey and consults his own ease and safety more than his duty to God and his country.

Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully. This seems leveled against another species of cowards—sly, hypocritical cowards who undertake the work of the Lord, that is, take up arms; but they do the work of the Lord deceitfully, that is, they do not faithfully use their arms for the purposes they were taken. They commence soldiers, not that they may serve their country and do their duty to God but that they may live in ease, idleness, and pleasure, and enrich themselves at the public expense. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and serves himself under pretense of serving his country. . . .

Need I inform you what barbarities and depredations a mongrel race of Indian savages and French Papists have perpetrated upon our frontiers? How many deserted or demolished houses and plantations? How wide an extent of country abandoned? How many poor families obliged to fly in consternation and leave their all behind them? What breaches and separations between the nearest relations? What painful ruptures of heart from heart? What shocking dispersions of those once united by the strongest and most endearing ties? Some lie dead, mangled with savage wounds, consumed to ashes with outrageous flames, or torn and devoured by the beasts of the wilderness, while their bones lie whitening in the sun and serve as tragical memorials of the fatal spot where they fell. Others have been dragged away captives and made the slaves of imperious and cruel savages. Others have made their escape and live to lament their butchered or captivated friends and relations. In short, our frontiers have been drenched with the blood of our fellow subjects, through the length of a thousand miles; and new wounds are still opening. We, in these inland parts of the country, are as yet unmolested, through the unmerited mercy of Heaven. But let us glance a thought to the western extremities of our body politic; and what melancholy scenes open to our view! Now, perhaps, while I am speaking; now, while you are secure and unmolested, our fellow subjects there may be feeling the Calamities I am describing. Now, perhaps, the savage shouts and whoops of Indians, and the screams and groans of some butchered family, may be mingling their horrors and circulating their horrendous echoes through the wilderness of rocks and mountains! Now, perhaps, some tender, delicate creature may be suffering an involuntary prostitution to savage lust; and perhaps debauched and murdered by the same hand! Now, perhaps, some miserable Briton or Virginian may be passing through a tedious process of experiments in the infernal art of torture! Now, some helpless children may be torn from the arms of their murdered parents and dragged away weeping and wringing their hands, to receive their education among barbarians and to be formed upon the model of a ferocious Indian soul! And will these violences cease without a vigorous and timely resistance from us? Can Indian revenge and thirst for blood be glutted? Or can French ambition and avarice be satisfied? No, we have no method left but to repel force with force, and to give them blood to drink in their turn who have drunk ours. If we sit still and do nothing, or content ourselves, as alas! we have hitherto, with feeble, dilatory efforts, we may expect these barbarities will not only continue but that the Indians, headed by the French, those eternal enemies of peace, liberty, and Britons, will carry their inroads still farther into the country and reach even to us. By the desertion of our remote settlements, the frontiers are approaching every day nearer and nearer to us; and if we cannot stand our ground now, when we have above 100 miles of a thick-settled country between us and the enemy, much less shall we be able when our strength is weakened by so vast a loss of men, arms, and riches, and we lie exposed to their immediate incursions. Some cry, “Let the enemy come down to us, and then we will fight them.” But this is the trifling excuse of cowardice or security, and not the language of prudence and fortitude. Those who make this plea, if the enemy should take them at their word and make them so near a visit, would be as forward in flight as they are now backward to take up arms.

Such, my brethren, such, alas! is the present state of our country. It bleeds in a thousand veins; and, without a timely remedy, the wound will prove mortal. And, in such circumstances, is it not our duty, in the sight of God, is it not a work to which the Lord loudly calls us, to take up arms for the defense of our country? Certainly it is: and cursed is he who, having no ties sufficiently strong to confine him at home, keepeth his sword from blood. The man that can desert the cause of his country in such an exigency; his country, in the blessings of which he shared while in peace and prosperity; and which is therefore entitled to his sympathy and assistance in the day of its distress; that cowardly, ungrateful man sins against God and his country, and deserves the curse of both. Such a conduct in such a conjuncture, is a moral evil, a gross wickedness; and exposes the wretch to the heavy curse of God both in this and the eternal world. . . .

Our countrymen, in general, have acted as if beings of their importance and merit might certainly rest in the quiet, unmolested possession of their liberty and property without anyone daring to disturb them, and without their doing anything for their own defense; or as if neither God nor man could strip them of their enjoyments. What vain, self-confident presumption, what intolerable insolence is this, in a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, who have forfeited every blessing, even the ground they tread upon and the air they breathe in, and who live merely by the unmerited grace and bounty of God! Is not cowardice and security, or an unwillingness to engage with all our might in the defense of our country, in such a situation an enormous wickedness in the sight of God and worthy of His curse, as well as a scandalous, dastardly meanness in the sight of men, and worthy of public shame and indignation! Is it not fit that those who so contemptuously depreciate the rich and undeserved bounties of Heaven, and who swell so insolently with a vain conceit of their own importance and worth, should be punished with the loss of these blessings! . . .

. . . Ye young and hardy men, whose very faces seem to speak that God and nature formed you for soldiers, who are free from the encumbrance of families depending upon you for subsistence, and who are perhaps but of little service to society while at home, may I not speak for you and declare as your mouth, “Here we are, all ready to abandon our ease and rush into the glorious dangers of the field, in defense of our country”? Ye that love your country, enlist; for honor will follow you in life or death in such a cause. You that love your religion, enlist; for your religion is in danger. Can Protestant Christianity expect quarters from heathen savages and French Papists? Sure in such an alliance, the power of hell make a third party. Ye that love your friends and relations, enlist; lest ye see them enslaved or butchered before your eyes. Ye that would catch at money, here is a proper bait for you: ten pounds for a few months’ service, besides the usual pay of soldiers. I seriously make the proposal to you, not only as a subject of the best of kings and a friend to your country but as a servant of the most high God; for I am fully persuaded what I am recommending is His will; and disobedience to it may expose you to His curse.

This proposal is not liable to the objections that have been urged against former measure for raising men. You can no longer object “that you are dragged away like slaves against your wills, while others are without reason exempted”; for now it is left to your own honor, and you may act as free men. Nor can you object “that you are arbitrarily thrust under the command of foreign, unknown, or disagreeable officers”; for the gentleman that has the immediate command of this company and his subordinate officers are of yourselves, your neighbors’ children, and, perhaps, your old companions. And I hope, I may add, you need not object that you shall be badly used, for, Gentlemen Officers, may I not promise for you that no one man in your company shall be treated with cruelty or injustice as far as your authority or influence can prevent? May I not be your security that none but the guilty shall be punished, and they only according to the nature of the offense? Perhaps some may object that should they enter the army their morals would be in danger of infection, and their virtue would be perpetually shocked with horrid scenes of vice. This may also be a discouragement to parents to consent to their children’s engaging in so good a cause. I am glad to hear this objection, when it is sincere and not an empty excuse. And I wish I could remove it by giving you a universal assurance that the army is a school of religion and that soldiers, as they are more exposed to death than other men, are proportionably better prepared for it than others. But alas! the reverse of this is too true; and the contagion of vice and irreligion is perhaps nowhere stronger than in the army; where, one would think, the Supreme Tribunal should be always in view, and it should be their chief care to prepare for eternity, on the slippery brink of which they stand every moment. But, Gentlemen Officers, I must again appeal to you that, as for this company, you will not willingly allow any form of vice to be practiced in it with impunity, but will always endeavor to recommend and enforce religion and good morals by your example and authority and to suppress the contrary. May I not give the public the satisfaction of such an assurance concerning you, that, whatever others do, as for you and your company you will serve the Lord? Do you not own yourselves bound to this in honor and duty? Such a conduct, I can assure you, will render you popular among the wise and good; though perhaps it may expose you to the senseless contempt of fools who make a mock of sin, and who esteem it bravery to insult that God in whose hand their breath is and whose are all their ways. Such a conduct will afford you pleasure in the review, when the terrors of the bloody field are spread round you and death starts up before you in a thousand shocking forms. Such a conduct will be a source of true courage and render you nobly indifferent about life or death in a good cause. And let me honestly warn you that, if you do not maintain such a conduct, you will bitterly repent it, either in time or eternity.

. . . Here I thought to have concluded; but I must take up a few minutes more to ask this crowd—Is there nothing to be done by us who stay at home toward the defense of our country and to promote the success of the expedition now in hand? Shall we sin on still impenitent and incorrigible? Shall we live as if we and our country were self-dependent and had nothing to do with the Supreme Ruler of the universe? Can an army of saints or of heroes defend an obnoxious people, ripe for destruction, from the righteous judgment of God? The cause in which these brave men, and our army in general, are engaged is not so much their own as ours. Divine Providence considers them not so much in their private, personal character as in their public character as the representatives and guardians of their country; and, therefore, they will stand or fall, not so much according to their own personal character as according to the public character of the people whose cause they have undertaken. Be it known to you, then, their success depends upon us even more than upon themselves. Therefore let us all turn every one from his evil ways. Let the wicked forsake his way, etc. Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, which is lifted up over our guilty heads, that we may be exalted in due time. I could venture the reputation of my judgment and veracity, that it will never be well with our country till there be more of the fear and love of God in it, and till the name of Jesus be of more importance among us. . . . Ye that complain of the burden of our public taxes; ye that wish to see peace restored once more; ye that would be happy beyond the grave, and live forever, attend to my proposal: it is this, a thorough national reformation. This will do what millions of money and thousands of men, with guns and swords, and all the dreadful artillery of death, could not do; it will procure us peace again; a lasting, well established peace. . . . It is a natural inference from what has been said, that if the defense of our country, in which we can stay but a few years at most, and from which we must ere long take our flight, be so important a duty, then how much more are we obliged to seek a better country, i.e., a “heavenly”; and to carry on a vigorous war against our spiritual enemies, that would rob us of our heavenly inheritance! Therefore, in the name of Jesus, the captain of our salvation, I invite you all to enlist in the spiritual warfare. Now proclaim eternal war against all sin. . . .

[For paid subscribers another sermon by Davies is below on Religion and Patriotism: The Constituents of a Good Soldier, in 1755. A few minor passages are deleted due to length.]

TransformNation Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The content below was originally paywalled.

A sermon preached to Captain Overton’s Independent Company of Volunteers, raised in Hanover County, Virginia, August 17, 1755. / By Samuel Davies

Religion and Patriotism: The Constituents of a Good Soldier

2 Sam. x. 12. Be of good Courage, and let us play the Men, for our People, and for the Cities of our God: And the Lord do that which seemeth him good.

AN Hundred Years of Peace and Liberty in such a World as this, is a very unusual Thing; and yet our Country has been the happy Spot that has been distinguished with such a long Series of Blessings, with little or no Interruption. Our Situation in the Middle of the British Colonies, and our Separation from the French, those eternal Enemies of Liberty and Britons, on the one Side by the vast Atlantic, and on the other by a long Ridge of Mountains, and a wide, extended Wilderness, have for many Years been a Barrier to us; and while other Nations have been involved in War, we have not been alarmed with the Sound of the Trumpet, nor seen Garments rolled in Blood.

But now the Scene is changed: Now we begin to experience in our Turn the Fate of the Nations of the Earth. Our Territories are invaded by the Power and Perfidy of France; our Frontiers ravaged by merciless Savages, and our Fellow-Subjects there murdered with all the horrid Arts of Indian and Popish Torture.

….

And shall these Ravages go on unchecked? Shall Virginia incur the Guilt and the everlasting Shame, of tamely exchanging her Liberty, her Religion, and her All, for arbitrary Gallic Power, and for Popish Slavery, Tyranny and Massacre?

….

No; I am agreeably checked by the happy, encouraging Prospect now before me. Is it a pleasing Dream? Or do I really see a Number of brave Men, without the Compulsion of Authority, without the Prospect of Gain, voluntarily associated in a Company, to march over horrendous Rocks and Mountains, into an hideous Wilderness, to succour their helpless Fellow-Subjects, and guard their Country? Yes, Gentlemen, I see you here upon this Design; …. I am gratefully sensible of the unmerited Honour you have done me, in making Choice of me to address you upon so singular and important an Occasion: And I am sure I bring with me a Heart ardent to serve you and my Country, though I am afraid my Inability, and the Hurry of my Preparations, may give you Reason to repent your Choice. I cannot begin my Address to you with more proper Words than those of a great General, which I have read to you: Be of good Courage, and play the Men, for your People, and for the Cities of your God; and the Lord do what seemeth him good.

My present Design is, to illustrate and improve the sundry Parts of my Text, as They lie in order, which you will find rich in sundry important Instructions, adapted to this Occasion.

The Words were spoken just before a very threat’ning Engagement by Joab, who had long served under that pious Hero King David, as the General of his Forces, and bad shewn himself an Officer of true Courage, conducted with Prudence. The Ammonites, a neighbouring Nation, at frequent Hostilities with the Jews, had ungratefully offered Indignities to some of David’s Courtiers whom he had sent to condole their King upon the Death of his Father, and congratulate his Accession to the Crown. Our holy Religion teaches us to bear personal Injuries without private Revenge: But national Insults and Indignities ought to excite the public Resentment. Accordingly King David, when he heard that the Ammonities with their Allies, were preparing to invade his Territories, and carry their Injuries still farther, sent Joab his General, with his Army, to repel them and avenge the Affronts they had offered his Subjects. ….and he [Joab] animates him with this noble Advice: Be of good Courage, and let us play the Men for our People and the Cities of our God, which are now at Stake: And the Lord do what seemeth him Good.

Be of good Courage, and let us play the Men:

—Courage is an essential Character of a good Soldier:—Not a savage ferocious Violence:—Not a fool-hardy Insensibility of Danger, or headstrong Rashness to rush into it:—Not the Fury of enflamed Passions, broke loose from the Government of Reason: But calm, deliberate, rational Courage; a steady, judicious, thoughtful Fortitude; the Courage of a Man, and not of a Tyger: ….

There are some Men who naturally have this heroic Turn of Mind. The wise Creator has adapted the natural Genius of Mankind, with a surprizing and beautiful Variety to the State in which they are placed in this World. To some he has given a Turn for intellectual Improvement, and the liberal Arts and Sciences; to others a Genius for Trade; to others a Dexterity in Mechanics, and the ruder Arts, necessary for the Support of human Life: The Generality of Mankind may be capable of tolerable Improvements in any of these: But it is only they whom the God of Nature has formed for them, that will shine in them, every Man in his own Province. And as God well knew what a World of degenerate, ambitious, and revengeful Creatures this is; as he knew that Innocence could not be protected, Property and Liberty secured, nor the Lives of Mankind preserved from the lawless Hands of Ambition, Avarice and Tyranny, without the Use of the Sword; as he knew this would be the only Method to preserve Mankind from universal Slavery; he has formed some Men for this dreadful Work, and fired them with a martial Spirit, and a glorious Love of Danger. Such a Spirit, though most pernicious when ungoverned by the Rules of Justice, and Benevolence to Mankind, is a public Blessing, when rightly directed: Such a Spirit, under God, has often mortified the Insolence of Tyrants, checked the Incroachments of arbitrary Power, and delivered enslaved and ruined Nations: It is as necessary in its Place, for our Subsistence in such a World as this, as any of the gentler Genius’s among Mankind; and it is derived from the same divine Original. He that winged the Imagination of an Homer or a Milton, he that gave Penetration to the Mind of Newton, he that made Tubal-Cain an Instructor of Artificers in Brass and Iron, and gave Skill to Bezaleel and Aholiab in curious Works; nay, he that sent out Paul and his Brethren to conquer the Nations with the gentler Weapons of Plain Truth, Miracles, and the Love of a crucified Saviour; HE, even that same gracious Power, has formed and raised up an Alexander, a Julius Caesar, a William, and a Malborough, and inspired them with this enterprizing, intrepid Spirit, the Two first to scourge a guilty World, and the Two last to save Nations on the Brink of Ruin. There is something glorious and inviting in Danger, to such noble Minds; and their Breasts beat with a generous Ardour when it appears.

Our Continent is like to become the Seat of War; and we, for the future (till the sundry European Nations that have planted Colonies in it, have fixed their Boundaries by the Sword) have no other Way left to defend our Rights and Privileges. And has God been pleased to diffuse some Sparks of this Martial Fire through our Country? I hope he has: And though it has been almost extinguished by so long a Peace, and a Deluge of Luxury and Pleasure, now I hope it begins to kindle: And may I not produce you my Brethren, who are engaged in this Expedition, as Instances of it? Well, cherish it as a sacred Heaven-born Fire; and let the Injuries done to your Country administer Fewel to it; and kindle it in those Breasts where it has been hitherto smothered.

Though Nature be the true Origin of military Courage, and it can never be kindled to a high Degree, where there is but a feeble Spark of it innate; yet there are sundry Things that may improve it even in Minds full of natural Bravery, and animate those who are naturally of an effeminate Spirit to behave with a tolerable Degree of Resolution and Fortitude, in the Defence of their Country. —I need not tell you that it is of great Importance for this End that you should be at Peace with God and your own Conscience, and prepared for your future State. Guilt is naturally timerous, and often struck into a Panic even with imaginary Dangers; and an infidel Courage, proceeding from Want of Thought, or a stupid Carelesness about our Welfare through an immortal Duration beyond the Grave, is very unbecoming a Man and Christian. The most important Periods of our Existence, my Brethren, lie Beyond the Grave; and it is a Matter of much more Concern to us, what will be our Doom in the World to come, than what becomes of us in this. We are obliged to defend our Country; and that is a sneaking, sordid Soul indeed that can desert it at such a Time as this: But this is not all; we are also obliged to take Care of an immortal Soul; a Soul that must exist, and be happy or miserable, through the Revolutions of eternal Ages. This should be our first Care: and when this is secured, Death, in its most Shocking Forms, is but a Release from a World of Sin a Sorrows, and an Introduction into everlasting Life and Glory. But how can this be secured? not by a Course of impenitent Sinning; not by a Course of stupid Carelesness and Inaction: But by vigorous and resolute striving; by serious and affectionate Thoughtfulness about our Condition, and by a conscientious and earnest Attendance upon the Means that God has graciously appointed for our Recovery. But we are Sinners, heinous Sinners against a God of infinite Purity and inexorable Justice. Yes, we are so; and does not the Posture of Penitents then become us? Is not Repentance, deep, broken-hearted Repentance, a Duty suitable to Persons of our Character? Undoubtedly it is: And therefore, O my Countrymen, and particularly you brave Men that are the Occasion of this Meeting, REPENT: Down upon your Knees before the provoked Sovereign of Heaven and Earth, against whom you have rebelled. Dissolve and melt in penitential Sorrows at his Feet; and he will tell you Arise, be of good Chear; your Sins are forgiven you.

But will Repentance make Atonement for our Sins? Will our Tears wash away their Guilt? Will our Sorrows merit Forgiveness?

No, my Brethren, after you have done all, you are but unprofitable Servants: After all your Sorrows, and Prayers and Tears, you deserve to be punished as obnoxious Criminals: That would be a sorry Government indeed, where Repentance, perhaps extorted by the servile Fear of Punishment, would make Atonement for every Offence. But I bring you glad Tidings of great Joy, To you is born a Saviour, a Saviour of no mean Character; He is Christ the Lord. And have you never heard that he has Reconciliation for Iniquity, and brought in everlasting Righteousness; he suffered, the Just for the Unjust; that God is well pleased for Righteousness-Sake, and declares himself willing to be reconciled to all that believe in him, and chearfully accept him as their Saviour and Lord? Have you never heard these joyful Tidings, O guilty, self-condemned Sinners? Sure you have. Then away to Jesus, away to Jesus ye whose Consciences are loaden with Guilt, ye whose Hearts fail within you at the Thought of Death, Tribunal of Divine Justice; ye who are destitute of all personal Righteousness to procure your Pardon, and recommend you to the divine Favour: Fly to Jesus on the Wings of Faith, all you, of every Age and Character; for you all stand in the most absolute Need of him; and without him you must perish every Soul of you. But alas! we find ourselves utterly unable to repent and fly to Jesus: Our Hearts are hard and unbelieving, and if the Work depend upon us, it will for ever remain undone. True my Brethren, so the Case is; but do ye not know that this guilty Earth is under the Distillings of Divine Grace, that Jesus is intrusted with the Influences of the Spirit, which can work in you both to will and to do; and that he is willing to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him? If you know this, you know where to go for Strength; therefore cry mightily to God for it. This I earnestly recommend to all my Hearers, and especially to you Gentlemen, and others, that are not about generously to risque your Lives for your Country. ….

….we cannot engage with Spirit and Resolution in a trifling Scheme, from which we can expect no Consequences worth our vigorous Pursuit. This Joab might have in View in his heroic Advice to his Brother;

Be of good Courage, says he, and let us play the Men, for our People, and for the Cities of our God.

We are engaged in a righteous Cause; we are not urged on by an unbounded Lust of Power or Riches, to encroach upon the Rights and Properties of others, and disturb our quiet Neighbours: We act entirely upon the defensive, repel unjust Violence, and avenge national Injuries; we are fighting for our People, and for the Cities of our God. We are also engaged in a Cause of the utmost Importance. We fight for our People; and what Endearments are included in that significant Word! Our Liberty, our Estates, our Lives! our King, our Fellow-Subjects, our venerable Fathers, our tender Children, the Wives of our Bosom, our Friends, the Sharers of our Souls, our Posterity to the latest Ages! And who would not use his Sword with an exerted Arm, when these lie at State? But even these are not all: We fight for the Cities of our God. God has distinguished us with a Religion from Heaven; and hitherto we have enjoyed the quiet and unrestrained Exercise of it: He has condescended to become a gentilitial God to our Nation; and honor’d our Cities with his gracious Presence, and the Institutions of his Worship, the Means of making us wise, good and happy: But now these most invaluable Blessings lie at Stake; these are the Prize for which we contend; and must it not excite all our active Powers to the highest Pitch of Exertion? Shall we tamely submit to Idolatry and religious Tyranny? No, God forbid: Let us play the Men, since we take up Arms for our People, and the Cities of our God.

I need not tell you how applicable this Advice, thus paraphrased, is to the Design of the present associated Company. The Equity of our Cause is most evident. The Indian Savages have certainly no Right to murder our Fellow-subjects, living quiet and inoffensive in their Habitations; nor have the French any Power to hound them out upon us, nor to invade the Territories belonging to the British Crown, and secured to it by the Faith of Treaties. This is a clear Case. And it is equally clear, that you are engaged in a Cause of the utmost Importance. To protect your Brethren from the most bloody Barbarities—to defend the Territories of the best of Kings against the Oppression and Tyranny of arbitrary Power, to secure the inestimable Blessings of Liberty, British Liberty, from the Chains of French Slavery—to preserve your Estates, for which you have sweat and toiled, from falling a Prey to greedy Vultures, Indians, Priests, Friers, and hungry Gallic Slaves, or not-more-devouring Flames—to guard your Religion, the pure Religion of Jesus, streaming uncorrupted from the sacred Fountain of the Scriptures; the most excellent, rational and divine Religion that ever was made known to the Sons of Men; to guard such a dear precious Religion (my Heart grows warm while I mention it) against Ignorance, Superstition, Idolatry, Tyranny over Conscience, Massacre, Fire and Sword, and all the Mischiefs, beyond Expression, with which Popery is pregnant—to keep from the cruel Hands of Barbarians and Papists, your Wives, your Children, your Parents, your Friends—to secure the Liberties conveyed to you by your brave Fore-Fathers, and bought with their Blood, that you may transmit them uncurtailed to your Posterity—these are the Blessings you contend for; all these will be torn your eager Grasp, if this Colony should become a Province of France. And Virginians! Britons! Christians! Protestants! if these Names have any Import or Energy, will you not strike home in such a Cause? Yes, this View of the Matter must fire you into Men; methinks the cowardly Soul must tremble, lest the Imprecation of the Prophet fall upon him, Cursed be the Man that keepeth back his Sword from Blood. To this shocking, but necessary Work, the Lord now calls you, and cursed is he that doth the Work of the Lord deceitfully; that will not put his Hand to it, when it is in his Power, or that will not perform it with all his Might. The People of Meroz lay at home in Ease, while their Brethren were in the Fleld, delivering their Country from Slavery. And what was their Doom? Curse ye Meroz, said the Angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof, becanse they came not to the Help of the Lord, to the Help of the Lord against the Mighty. I count myself happy that I see so many of yo engaged in such a Cause; but when I view it in this Light, I cannot but be concerned that there are so few to join you. ….

The Consideration of the Justice and Importance of the Cause may also encourage You to hope, that the Lord of Hosts will espouse it, and render its Guardians successful, and return them in Safety to the Arms of their longing Friends. The Event however is in his Hands; and it is much better there, than if it were in Yours. This Thought is suggested with beautiful Simplicity, in the remaining Part of my Text.

The Lord do that which seemeth him good.

This may be looked upon in various Views, as,

1. It may be understood as the Language of Uncertainty and Modesty. q. d. Let us do all we can; but after all, the Issue is uncertain; we know not, as yet, to what Side God will incline the Victory. Such Language as this, my Brethren becomes us in all our Undertakings; it sounds Creature-like, and God approves of such self-diffident Humility. But to indulge sanguine and confident Expectations of Victory, to boast when we put on our Armour, as though we were putting it off, and to derive our high Hopes from our own Power and good Management, without any Regard to the Providence of God, this is too lordly and assuming for such feeble Mortals; such Insolence is generally mortified, and such a haughty Spirit, is the Fore-runner of a Fall. ….You are, however, in the Hands of God, and he will deal with you as it seemeth him good: And I am persuaded You would not wish it were otherwise; You would not now practically retract the Petition You have so often offered up, Thy Will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven.
2. This Language; The Lord do as seemeth him good, may be looked upon as expressive of a firm Persuasion that the Event of War entirely depends upon the Providence of God. Let us do our best; but after all, let us be sensible that the Success does not depend on us; that is entirely in the Hands of an all-ruling God. That God governs the World, is a fundamental Article of natural, as well as revealed Religion: ….And shall such a plain Principle as this, be disputed in a Christian Land? No; we all speculatively believe it; but that is not enough; let our Spirits be deeply impressed with it, and our Lives influenced by it; Let us live in the World, as in a Territory of Jehovah’s Empire. Carry this Impression upon Your Hearts into the Wilderness, whither You are going. Often let such Thoughts as these recur to your Minds, I am the feeble Creature of God; and blessed be his Name, I am not cast off his Hand as a disregarded Orphan to shift for myself. My Life is under his Care; the Success of this Expedition is at his Disposals Therefore, O thou all-ruling God, I implore thy Protection; I confide in this Care; I chearfully resign myself, and the Event of this Undertaking, to thee. Which leads me to observe,
3. That these Words, The Lord do what seemeth him good, may express a humble Submission to the Disposal of Providence, let the Event turn out as it would. We have not the Disposal of the Event, not do we know what will be: But Jehovah knows, and that is enough. We are sure he will do what is best, upon the whole; and it becomes us to acquiesce! Thus, my Friends, do You resign and submit yourselves to the Rules of the World in the present Enterprize. ….saying after the Example of Christ, Not my Will, but thine be done. You may wish, you may pray, you may strive, you may hope for a happy Issue: But Your must submit; Be still, and know that he is God, and will not be prescribed to, or suffer a Rival in the Government of the World he has made. Such a Temper will be of unspeakable Service to You, and You may hope God will honour it with a remarkable Blessing: For Submission to his Will is the readiest Way to the Accomplishment of our own.
4. These Words, in their Connection, may intimate, that let the Event be what it will, it will afford us Satisfaction to think, that we have done the best we could. We cannot command Success; but let us do all in our Power to obtain it, and we have Reason to hope that in this Way we shall not be disappointed: But if it should please God to render all our Endeavours vain, still we shall have the generous Pleasure to reflects, that we have not been accessary to the Ruin of our Country, but have done all we could for its Deliverance. So You my Brethren have generously engaged in a disinterested Scheme for Your King and Country: God does generally crown such noble Undertakings with Success, and You have Encouragement to hope for it: But the Cause You have espoused, is the Cause of a sinful impenitent Country; and if God, in righteous Displeasure, should on this Account blast your Attempt, still you will have the Pleasure of reflecting upon Your generous Views and vigorous Endeavours, and that You have done Your Part conscientiously.

Having thus made some cursory Remarks upon the sundry Parts of the Text, I shall now conclude with

an Address, first to you all in general,

….It concerns you all seriously to reflect upon your own Sins, and the Sins of your Land, which have brought all these Calamities upon us. If You believe that God governs the World, if You do not abjure him from being the Ruler of Your Country, You must acknowledge that all the Calamities of War, and the threatening Appearances of Famine, are ordered by his Providence; There is no Evil in a City or Country, but the Lord hath done it. And if You believe that he is a just and Righteous Ruler, You must also believe, that he would not thus punish a righteous or a penitent People. We and our Countrymen are Sinners, aggravated Sinners: God proclaims that we are such by his Judgments now upon us, by withering Fields and scanty Harvests, by the Sound of the Trumpet and the Alarm of War. Our Consciences must also bear witness to the same melancholy Truth. And if my Heart were properly affected, I would concur with these undoubted Witnesses: I would cry aloud, and not spare, I would lift up my Voice like a Trumpet, to shew You Your Transgressions and Your Sins. O my Country, is not thy Wickedness great, and thine Iniquities infinite? Where is there a more sinful Spot to be found upon our guilty Globe? Pass over the Land, take a Survey of the Inhabitants, inspect into their Conduct, and what do you see? what do you hear? You see gigantic Forms of Vice braving the Skies, and bidding Defiance to Heaven and Earth, while Religion and Virtue is obliged to retire, to avoid public Contempt and Insult— You see Herds of Drunkards swilling down their Cups, and drowning all the Man within them. You hear the Swearer venting his Fury against God and Man, trifling with than Name which prostrate Angels adore, and imprecating that Damnation, under which the hardiest Devil in Hell trembles and groans. You see Avarice hoarding up her useless Treasures, dishonest Craft planning her Schemes of unlawful Gain, and Oppression unmercifully grinding the Face of the Poor. You see Prodigality squandering her Stores, Luxury spreading her Table, and unmanning her Guests; Vanity laughing aloud, and dissolving in empty, unthinking Mirth, regardless of God and our Country, of Time and Eternity; Sensuality wallowing in brutal Pleasures, and aspiring with inverted Ambition, to sink as low as her four-footed Brethren of the Stall. You see Cards more in Use than the Bible, the Back-Gammon Table more frequented than the Table of the Lord, Plays and Romances more read than the History of the blessed Jesus. You see trifling and even Criminal Diversions become a serious Business; the Issue of a Horse-race, or a Cock-fight, more anxiosly attended to than the Fate of our Country. Or where these grosser Forms of Vice and Vanity do not shock your Senses, even there you often meet with the Appearances of more refined Impiety, which is equally dangerous. You hear the Conversation of reasonable Creatures, of Candidates for Eternity, engrossed by Trifles, or vainly wasted on the Affairs of Time: These are the eternal Subjects of Conversation, even at the Threshold of the House of God, and on the sacred Hours devoted to his Service. You see Swarms of Prayer-less Families all over our Land: Ignorant, vicious Children, unrestrained and untaught by those to whom God and Nature hath entrusted their Souls. You see Thousands of poor Slaves in a Christian Country, the Property of Christian Masters, and they will be called, almost as ignorant of Christianity, as when they left the Wilds of Africa. You see the best Religion in all the World, abused, neglected, disobeyed and dishonoured by its Professors: And you hear Infidelity scattering her ambiguous Hints and Suspicious, or openly attacking the Christian Cause with pretended Argument, with Insult and Ridicule. You see Crowds of professed Believers, that are practical Athiests; nominal Christians, that are real Heathens; many abandoned Slaves of Sin, that yet pretend to be the Servants of the Holy Jesus. You see the Ordinances of the Gospel neglected by some, profaned by others, and attended upon by the Generality with a trifling Irreverence, and stupid Unconcernedness Alas! who would think that those thoughtless Assemblies we often see in our Places of Worship, are met for such solemn Purposes as to implore the Pardon of their Sins from an injured God, and to prepare for an awful all-important Eternity? Alas! is that Religion for the Propagation of which the Son of God laboured, and bled, and died, for which his Apostles and Thousands of Martyrs have spent their Strength and shed their Blood, and on which our eternal Life depends, is that Religion become such a Trifle in our Days, that Men are hardly serious and in earnest when they attend upon its most solemn Institutions? What Multitudes lie in a dead Sleep in Sin all around us? You see them eager in the Pursuit of the Vanities of Time, but stupidly unconcerned about the important Realities of the eternal World just before them: Few solicitous what shall become of them when all their Connections with Earth and Flesh must be broken, and they must take their Flight into strange unknown Regions: Few lamenting their Sins: Few crying for Mercy and a new Heart: Few flying to Jesus, or justly sensible of the Importance of a Mediator in a Religion for Sinners. You may indeed see some Degree of Civility and Benevolence towards Men, and more than enough of cringing Complaisance of Worms to Worms, of Clay to Clay, of Guilt to Guilt: But Oh! how little sincere Homage, how little affectionate Veneration for the great Lord of Heaven and Earth! You may see something of Duty to Parents, of Gratitude to Benefactors, and Obedience to Superiors: But if God be a Father, where is his Honour? If he be a Master, where is his Fear? If he be our Benefactor, where is our Gratitude to him? You may see here and there some Instances of proud, self-righteous Virtue, some Appearances of Morality: But Oh! how rare is vital evangelical Religion, and true Christian Morality, animated with the Love of God, proceeding from a new Heart, and a Regard to the divine Authority, full of Jesus, full of a Regard to him as a Mediator, on whose Account alone our Duties can find Acceptance? O blessed Redeemer! what little Necessity, what little Use do the Sinners of our Country find for thee in their Religion? How many Discourses, how many Prayers, how many good Works are performed, in which there is scarce any Thing of Christ? And this Defect renders them all but shining Sins, glittering Crimes. How few pant and languish for thee, Blessed Jesus! and can never be contented with their Reformation, with their Morality, with their good Works, till they obtain an Interest in thy Righteousness, to sanctify all, to render all acceptable! —You may see Children sensible of their Dependance on their Parents for their Subsistence, you see Multitudes sensible of their Dependance on Clouds and Sun and Earth for Provision for Man and Beast: But how few sensible of their Dependance upon God, as the great Original, the Primum Mobile of natural Causes, and the various Wheels of the Universe. You see even the dull Ox knows his Owner, and the stupid Ass his Master’s Crib: You see the Workings of Gratitude even in your Dog, who welcomes you home with a Thousand fondling Motions: But how is Jehovah’s Government and Agency practically denied in his own Territories! How few receive the Blessings of Life as from his Hand, and make him proper Returns of Gratitude? You see a withering, ravaged Country around you, languishing under the Frowns of an angry God; but how few earnest Prayers, how few penitential Groans do you hear? Pass rover the Land, and bring me Intelligence, is not this the general Character of our Country? I know there are some happy Exceptions; and I hope sundry such might be produce from among you: But is not this the prevailing Character of a great Majority? Does not one Part or other of it belong to the Generality? The most generous Charity cannot hope the Contrary, if under any scriptural or rational Limitations. May it not be said of the Men of Virginia, as well as those of Sodom, They are wicked, and Sinners before the Lord exceedingly? And thus, alas! it has been for a long Time: Our Country has sinned on securely for above 150 Years, and one Age has improved upon the Vices of another. And can a Land always bear up under such a Load of accumulated Wickedness? Can God always suffer such a Race of Sinners to go on unpunished from Generation to Generation? May we not fear that our Iniquities are now just full, and that he is about to thunder out his awful Mandate to the Executioners of his Vengeance, Put ye in the Sickle; for the Harvest is ripe; come get ye down, for the Press is full, the Vats overflow; for their Wickedness is great.

And is there no Relief for a sinking Country? Or is it too late to administer it? Is our Wound incurable, that refuseth to be headed? No, blessed be God; if you now turn every one of you from your Evil Ways, if you mourn over your Sins, and turn to the Lord with your whole Hearts, then your Country will yet recover. God will appear for us, and give a prosperous Turn to our Affairs; he has assured us of this in his own Word, At what Instant, says he, I shall speak concerning a Nation, and concerning a Kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that Nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their Evil, I will repent of the Evil that I thought to do unto them, Jer. xviii. 7, 8. Therefore, my Brethren, as we have all rebelled, let us all join in unanimous Repentance, and a through Reformation. Not only your eternal Salvation requires it, but also the Preservation of your Country, that is now bleeding with the Wounds you have given it by your Sins. ….if you would preserve yourselves, your Families, you Posterity, from Poverty, from Slavery, Ignorance Idolatry, Torture and Death; if you would save yourselves and them from all the infernal Horrors of Popery, and the savage Tyranny of a mongrel Race of French and Indian Conquerors; in short, if you would avoid all that is terrible, and enjoy every Thing that is dear and valuable, REPENT, and turn to the Lord. ….

And now, My Brethren, in the last Place, I have

a few parting Words to offer to you who are more particularly concerned in this Occasion [i.e. the soldiers];

….My first and leading Advice to you is, Labour to conduct this Expedition in a Religious Manner. ….Let Prayer to the God of your Life be your daily Exercise. When Retirement is safe, pour out your Hearts to him in secret; and when it is practicable, join in Prayer together Morning and Evening in your Camp. How acceptable to Heaven must such an unusual Offering be, from that desart Wilderness! Maintain a Sense of divine Providence upon your Hearts, and resign your selves and all your Affairs into the Hands of God. You are engaged in a good Cause, the Cause of your People, and the Cities of your God; and therefore you may the more boldly commit it to him, and pray and hope for his Blessing. I would fain hope, there is no Necessity to take Precautions against Vice among such a select Company: But lest there should, I would humbly recommend to you to make this one of the Articles of your Association, before you set out, that every Form of Vice shall be severely discountenanced, and if you think proper, expose the Offender to some pecuniary or corporal Punishment. It would be shocking indeed, and I cannot bear the Tho’t, that a Com∣pany formed upon such generous Principles, should commit or tolerate open Wickedness among them; and I hope this Caution is needless to you all, as I am sure it is to sundry of you.

And now, my dear Friends, and the Friends of you neglected Country, In the Name of the Lord lift up your Banners: Be of good Courage, and play the Men for the People and the Cities of your God; and the Lord do what seemeth him good. Should I now give Vent to the Passions of my Heart, and become a Speaker for my Country, methinks I should even overwhelm you with a Torrent of good Wishes, and Prayers from the Hearts of Thousands. May the Lord of Hosts, the God of the Armies of Israel, go forth along with you! May he teach your Hands to War, and gird you with Strength to Battle! May he bless you with a safe Return, and long Life, or a glorious Death in the Bed of Honour, and a happy Immortality! May he guard and support your anxious Families and Friends at home, and return you victorious to their longing Arms! May all the Blessings your Hearts can wish attend you wherever you go! These are the Wishes and Prayers of my Heart; and Thousands concur in them: And we cannot but cheerfully hope they will be granted, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

FINIS.