Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
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A65949
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Safety in war, or, The infallible artillery of a kingdom, fleet or army in sermons unto Their Majesties forces by sea and land / by John Whittel ...
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Whittel, John.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing W2042; ESTC R38612
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29,317
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34
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we shall see him Face to Face Oh what Fleet or Army is there on Earth or in the whole World that can harm you if ye be Followers of God as dear Children and Doers of that which is good and well-pleasing in his Sight What human Force or Power can possibly be able to stand before or against you if your Hearts are but perfect towards God For the Eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose Hearts are perfect towards him and who sincerely endeavour to walk in his Laws which he set before us 2 Chron. 16. 9. Therefore let me desire of you all for to take heed now above all other Times that your Hearts be perfect towards God and his Church towards our most gracious Sovereign Lord and Lady King William and Queen Mary towards the good and welfare of our Land and Nation and in the last place towards one another that Officers may love the Soldiers under their Command and the Soldiers be obedient and faithful unto their Officers And then the Lord of Hosts will bless and prosper you whithersoever ye go and in whatsoever you do But on the other Hand if ye Backbite and Quarrel and prove Treacherous one to another ye shall be destroyed one of another For they are the Words of none other but our great Lord and Master himself That a Kingdom a House or Army or Fleet divided against it self cannot stand but must fall into Desolation And hence we find that the Children of Israel said unto Joshua their Captain and Governour That whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy Commandment and will not hearken unto thy Words in all that thou commandest him he shall be put to death Josh 1. ult Whosoever he be that proves treacherous to our blessed Governors and present Government and will not obey their Majesties order in all Punctilio's he shall be dealt with as a Rebel and Traytor and no regard had to his Commission because he hath proved disloyal to his Prince This is the Law of the most high God concerning this Matter Therfore Rebel not ye against the Lord neither fear ye the People of the c. Thirdly and Lastly That to fear the Lord of Hosts himself and not the Arm of Flesh or to be very Couragious in fighting God's Battel is a Duty required of all his People but especially of those which are called thereunto by Lawful Authority and a principal means for to keep the Lord with or among such a People or Army The truth of this Lesson we may see confirm'd to us in the case of the Israelites here in this Chapter of our Text. For we read that they by their Fear and Faint-heartedness by their Unbelief and Cowardise when God had commanded them not to fear or to be affraid at the outward Strength and Power of their Enemies the Amorites and Canaanites thereby tempted the Lord and provoked him to Wrath because he was their Strength and Defence and fought all their Battels insomuch that he forsook 'em and departed Whereupon the Prophet Moses tells them that they should not prosper For the Lord is not among you and therefore go not up against the Enemy says he lest you be smitten of them And so they were indeed when God their Helper and Defender was not with them see vers 41 42 44 45. So the Lord of Hosts the mighty God and terrible sent his Spirit upon Jahaziel and commanded him to tell Jehoshaphat saying Thus saith the Lord unto you be not affraid nor be dismayed by reason of this great Multitude for the Battel is not yours but Gods To morrow go out very Couragiously against them for the Lord will be with you 2 Chron. 20. 1â— 17. Again the Almighty tells Joshua not to fear saying Have not I commanded thee Be strong and of good Courage be not affraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest Josh 1. 9. So in the Words of our Text Rebel not ye against the Lord neither fear ye c. We might bring in a multitude a Texts to the like purpose But we shall content our selves with one or two more out of the New Testament And the first is that of our Lord and Saviour unto his Disciples then and to us even us now saying Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in â—ill Matth. 10. 28. The same Charge is given to Paul Act. 18. 9 10. Be not afraid for I am with thee c. Rev. 2. 10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer c. I suppose these Texts are a sufficient Testimony to prove That Courage and Valour in Times of War when God calls us to fight his Battle is not only commended but also required of all his People and especially of those appointed thereunto by lawful Authority and a principal means to keep the Lord of Hosts with and among such a People It now remains that we sum up all and bring it somewhat nearer unto our selves in this pusillanimous and Faithless Generation What then must we say unto very many in this Age who are afraid at the very shaking of an Aspen-leaf and hide themselves at the beat of a Drum or sound of a Trumpet Let me ask them if they think such Pusillanimity is decent in any one who is called a Man much more whether it be consentaneous to one that nameth the Name of Christ to fear and be dismayed where no fear is And at the same Time to stand in no awe of the mighty God and terrible the supreme Governour of Heaven and Earth who is glorious in Holiness fearful in Praises doing Wonders Alas Alas this cowardise or timidity of Spirit is a grand Shame for any Soldier of Christ the Captain of our Salvation to be guilty of and it commonly hinders those from the punctual Performance of their Duty who are such fearful Hearts as we may see in Nicodemus a Ruler of the Jews who for fear durst not openly confess Christ or come by Day lest he should be seen of the Jews to be taught in that heavenly Doctrin of Regeneration or the new Birth by him who had the Words of Eternal Life and spake as never Man speaketh But on the other Hand the true fear of God and Christian Courage in the Heart of a Believer maketh him in Solomon's Phrase to be as bold as a Lion and puts him upon any thing even the most perillous Attempts in Obedience to Gods Holy Will and Commandments and in Duty and Allegiance to his Prince This was it which moved little David to encounter with the Giant Goliath the Champion of the Philistines he heard his words how he defied Israel and saw they were all afraid and dismayed and therefore he resolves with himself to go and Fight him and
he came to King Saul and said Let no Mans Heart fail because of him thy Servant will go and Fight with this Philistine 1 Sam. 17. 23 32. Yea such a Man as serves the Supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth in sincerity and truth and is a Soldier of the Holy Jesus in Deed as well as Profession will not only be ready to Aid and Assist his Prince with what Mony he can possibly against an Enemy of Truth and Peace but with David he will go himself and defie that Philistine to his Face who hath defied his God and his King And so Paul himself an Apostle or rather chief of the Apostles of Jesus Christ is not only ready to be bound but also to Die at Jerusalem for the Name of his Master and the Testimony of a good Conscience So that we who are or have been in the Wars and have shewed Courage for the Gospel sake and against the Children of Babylon need not to be cast down at the sharp reflections of some who pretend to be of our Church but God knoweth their hearts for they not only are remiss themselves in stirring up the people to be Couragious in Gods Cause and be stedfast and faithful unto Their Majesties in these times of War but they take occasion to upbraid such as do their Duty in this Nature For my own part I must speak in the Gospel words He that is not with us or for us is undoubtedly against us I can easily prove this for its a palpable Truth That whosoever grows not daily in Grace is going backwards from the Region of the Blessed Go we must and go we do daily there is no standing still because our Glass is running and our Time flies away as a swift Ship or as the Eagle that hasteth to the Prey Either we must walk in the Paths of Righteousness or else we must wander in the broad way So these close sort of People must either follow God or Baal they must and do adhere more to Their Majesties or else their Enemies in their Hearts for they can never be Neuters in real Truth And therefore he who always praises the French Arms does Tacitly dispraise Their Majesties He that Justifies the Wicked and he that Condemns the Just are equally an Abomination to the Lord as Solomon tells us Prov. 17. 15. And these sort of People are to be avoided I confess there are not lacking another sort who Asperse and have Aspersed this Saint-like Valour in the Servants of the most High God calling it Ignorance Fool-hardiness Pride of Heart and Folly when as it is indeed and in truth nothing else but true Christian Courage or Fortitude a Noble stedfastness of Mind and Spirit which will by no means warp or swerve from its Allegiance to our Governors or be Terrified with any Humane Puissance or any outward Terribleness or Amazements No nor will it be discouraged at Death it self or at all the Powers of Darkness Such was that Courage of David who says Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no Evil for thou art with me thy Rod and thy Staff they Comfort me Psal 23. 4. It was an excellent Answer that a certain Eminent Servant of God made unto one of the Emperours when he was Threaten'd for his Religion I fear not Imprisonment because I can have there as much freedom with my best Friends as now when I am at liberty As for Banishment I defie it for let me be driven into what terrible Desert or Wilderness whatsoever yet there shall I find my God And I look upon this World it self to be a Banishment of us all for our first Parents Sin and Transgression Paradise being the true place of our Souls Nativity And as for Death I long for it that I may Triumph over it through Jesus Christ and what am I now but a mere Skeleton even worn away to Skin and Bones and that is the passage unto Eternal Life and Everlasting Joy Oh what can we say to all Pusillanimous Persons that are afraid to serve the King or their Country in the Wars that dare not trust the Almighty Lord with their Lives in a Camp or Fleet as well as here at home although he is the preserver as well as giver thereof For in God we live in him we move and in him we have our being Acts 17. 28. Sure I am that Fearfulness and Pusillanimity are infallible Specimens and Signals of an Evil and Unbelieving Heart and the Portion of such St. John says is in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone And it is for want of a well grounded Hope and a firm Faith in God's Mercy through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that Men are thus Fearful which Hope the Children of God have as an Anchor of their Souls both sure and stedfast Heb. 6. 18. And therefore we have a Command for to consider him that endured the Cross and despised Death and the shame thereof for our sakes And again look unto that Prince of Glory who so willingly offered up himself to Death even a Cursed Ignominious and Painful Death And if we have but Faith as a Grain of Mustard-Seed we cannot but be Couragious and Valiant in his Cause and for his Truth and Gospel-sake What then so dreadful a Face of present Confusion or fore-imagined Forms of future Trouble and Calamity are able or ought Slavishly to Deject and Terrifie that Holy Soul which with a sweet and safe Repose is most happily and everlastingly hid under the Wings of that Mighty God whom it ought to trust and who is the best and safest Defence of all his People That infinite Majesty of Heaven and Earth which for the Defence of all such as Fear him and for their Deliverance is able to work 1. By very weak means as he did in Gideon's Army sometimes which was no more but Three Hundred against their Enemies the Midianites and Amalekites and all the Children of the East which were in the Valley like Grass-hoppers for Multitude and their Camels were without Number as the Sand by the Sea-side Judg. 7. 5 6 12. 2. Without any means at all Thus did he when he destroyed Jehoshaphat's Enemies the Moabites and Ammonites for says the Text 2 Chron. 20. 23. The Children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the Inhabitants of Mount Seir utterly to slay and to destroy them And when they had made an end of the Inhabitants of Seir every one helped to destroy another 3. Contrary to means As when he made the Waters which came down from above to stand and rise up upon an heap and those that came down toward the Sea of the Plain even the Salt Sea failed and were cut off Josh 3. 13 16. So that where the everlasting Jehovah is a Defence and Salvation there Heaven and Earth and all the Hosts of both are Eternally Reconciled to such a Soul and become its Friends Yea all the Storms and