wicked malignants and wicked counsellors about him If the Lord hath stirred thee up against mee let him accept an offering but if they be the children of men cursed be they before the Lord c. He does not say the King had done it but layes it upon those that were about him and therefore tooke up Arms to defend himselfe against the malignants Davids example is our practise and certainly if the Parliament should not have a power to send for those by force of Arms which are accused before them for their just tryall they should no longer be a Parliament every Court of Justice have a power to send for by force men accused to be tryed before them now the Parliament as King James speaks is the highest Court of Justice therfore accrding to the known priviledge of Parliament they do send Serjeant at Arms for those that are acccused to be tryed before them and if they have power to send out one Serjeant at Arms then they have power also to send forth a hundred and so a thousand and so ten thousand if need require and if the accused persons gather into an Army how can the Parliament send for them but by an Army so that when you consider the Law of the Land or the Law of God or the Law of nature which is for a community to defend it selfe your way and course is very warrantable your cause is good for that must needs be good that Religion maketh so your enemies are weake for they must needs be weake that sin makes weak your victory is certain which the Scripture promiseth and first or last the victory shall be to you Put all together your cause is good your enemies weake your victory certain your service honorable safe warrantable wherefore Be of good courage and play the men for your people and the Cities of our God and the Lord do with you what seemeth him good Fiftly This exhortation looketh upon all that heareth me this day men women and children be you all of good courage in these sad times notwithstanding the evill of the times fear not neither be dismayed Did the Lord do his work by halfs when he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt notwithstanding for mens unbelief some fell in the way to Canaan yet he brought them into Canaan Beloved you are now again coming out of Egypt for the Romish superstition and that partly is called Egypt Sodome Babylon you are now coming out of Egypt marching up into the promised Land and promised Ordinances nothing can make you fall in the way but unbelief wherfore be all of good courage and pray unto the Lord Be all of good courage thereby you shall be able to set upon great things for God though never so great thereby you shall endure great afflictions though never so heavy thereby you shall be untired and unwearyed in the service of God though the opposition be never so strong thereby you shall honour the Cause thereby you shall conquer your enemies thereby you shall encourage others your courage shall beget courage your courage will have an influence upon all the Towns round about you and make them of good courage as I make no question but the courage and valour of London have had an influence upon your hearts to make you couragious so your courage will have upon others what will they say when they come into Towns and return home again I will tell you what I was at such a Town and there they were working and fortifying their Town for their Countrey and King and I saw the best mans son in the Town go to the work and the best mans daughter in the Town carry a basket and father and mother shall we sit still therefore put on let the work never die for want of money let not such a Town as we are be base be poor low want courage when on the one side ye have the Sea on the other side the River on the other side the walls on the other side I hope friends within abundance of good people and above a loving God oh therefore put on be all of good courage I do but adde some directions and so winde up all First be sure of this That you make sure of God to be with you I mean not only in the generall causes but in your particular clear up your propriety to God himselfe When David was in a great straight his enemies had broken in upon him taken away his wives and then plundred all he had his own Souldiers began to mutiny and thought of stoning him what did he do it is said he encouraged himselfe in the Lord his God therefore first make sure of this cleare up this your propriety in God himselfe The sight of a great God under interest will encourage your spirits though dangers be nere so great Secondly Never go out upon any designe without Gods promise Gods promise of assistance acceptance and successe Joshua was a valiant man and brave Commander and yet we read of him 7 Joshua when some thirty men were slain and others fled he fell down upon the earth much discouraged why the Lord had promised he would never leave him nor forsake him his enemies should not be able to stand before him but hee had lost the promise that God had given to him and therefore was discouraged but the Lord comes to him and saith what dost here and brings him to the view of the promise again and then a new spirit and new life came into him Gods promise is your encouragement keepe that alwayes in your eye Thirdly take heed of all those things that will debase your spirits these are three things especially idlenesse wordlinesse false courage As for idlenesse saith Seneca it is the burying of a living man As for wordlinesse saith Aquinas it doth effeminate and set a man below himself And false courage is a true enemy to true courage if courage be layd upon the sense of the second cause when there is an ebbe of the second cause there is an ebbe of your courage There were two sorts of spyes that went into the Land of Canaan as for the first we do not read of any hard use they met withall and yet they were much discouraged and discouraged the people saying the men of the Country are Giants the Cities are walled up to Heaven and the Inhabitants ride in Charets of iron the other spyes met with ill use and had not Rahab hid them they had been every man cut off and yet they returned with good courage and so encouraged the people saying the men shall be meat unto us c. what is the reason of this one would thinke rather that the first sort should be encouraged and the last discouraged but it was not so the reason is this the first spyes that were discouraged looked only upon the men and walls and iron Charets went out in the way of sense but as for the
A SERMON Preached unto the Voluntiers of the City of NORWICH and also to the Voluntiers of Great YARMOVTH in NORFOLKE By William Bridge Preacher of Gods Word Judges 5.9 My heart is towards the Governours of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the People Blesse yee the Lord IT is Ordered this thirtieth day of January 1642. by the Committee of the House of Commons in Parliament concerning Printing That this Booke intituled A Sermon preached unto the Volunteers of the City of NORVVICH c. be Printed JOHN WHITE London Printed by J. F. for Ben. Allen and are to be sold at his shop in Popes-head Alley 1642. A Sermon preached unto the Voluntiers of the City of Norwich and also to the Voluntiers of great Yarmouth in Norfolk 2 SAM. 10.12 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 IN these words are the Speech of that brave Commander Joab which he made at the head of his Army being surrounded with many enemies as you read vers. 9. He devides his Army into two parts the one led up by Abishai his brother the rest of the forces he brings up himself and spake thus to Abishai and to the rest of his men Be of good courage and let us play the men c. In those words you have these two parts The bravenesse of his resolution Be of good courage and let us play the men The humblenesse of his submission And the Lord do that which seemeth him good Or if you will thus An exhortation to true noble valour in the former part Be of good courage c. And secondly an humble resignation of himself and cause and successe into the hands of God And the Lord do that which seemeth him good His exhortation is strengthened with divers arguments It is for our people The Ammonities and Syrians are now about us if you do not behave your selves valiantly your people are pillaged plundered captived murthered and therefore Be of courage and let us play the men And for the Cities of our God Some think that by the City of our God is meant that City where the Tabernacle was but as Abulensis observes though in 1. C 19 13. it is read City in this place it is â—ead in the plurall number Cities and as he saith all their Cities were the Cities of God because given by God and because God in his worship and true Religion was in their Cities and therefore now Joab seeing all the people were in danger and the Cities of God the Religion and worship of God he breaks forth into this exhortation Be of good courage and let us play the men for our people and for the Cities of our God I shall not at this time reach the second part the humblenesse of his submission and gracious resignation only from his exhortaiion observe thus much In times of great danger when Religion is in hazard and the people of God are in danger good courage is very requisite It is then good for good people to have good courage when the times are evill This is that which Joab pitcheth upon and is the only matter of his exhortation Be of good courage and let us play the men So David when he was begirt and berounded with many enemies Wait on the Lord saith he and be of good courage Some there are that do wait on the Lord but are not of good courage some have good courage or courage but do not wait on the Lord Wait on the Lord be of good courage both together Psal 27.14 And he shall strengthen thine heart So Psal 31.24 Good courage then is very requisite in evill times Some think this belongs only to Souldiers but if you look into Hag. 2.4 You shall finde this commanded to all the people Yet now be strong ô Zerubabell saith the Lord that is the Magistrates and be strong ô Josuah son of Jehosadach the high Priest there is the Ministers and be strong all ye people of the Lord there is the people and that you read be strong in the Hebrew is all one with the word of my text be of good courage and if you will you may read the words so be of good courage ô Zerubabell c. So that it lyes upon all in evill times men women to be of good courage For my better prosecution of this point I shall do these three things First give the description of good courage shewing what it is Secondly confirme the point Thirdly make application of all unto our selves For the description of good courage you may take it thus Good courage is that gracious disposition of heart whereby a man being called by God unto any service doth adventure upon difficulties either in doing good or enduring evill and that without feare Here are four or five things considerable in this description first good courage is a gracious disposition There is a morall boldnesse and a naturall audacity and this is not good courage for the former is in Heathens and the latter is in bruit beasts Job describes the horse after this manner he rusheth into the Battell he laughs at the Trumpet and his neck is cloathed with thunder Job 39. This bruit beasts may have and therefore this is not the vertue I presse upon you Again There is a sinfull desperatenesse whereby men are apt and ready to rush upon all that is evill and are sinfully bold and they thinke him a foole or a child that will not drink and be drunke and whore and run into all kinde of evill this is not good courage David he was as valiant a mone of them as ever the earth bare yet notwithstanding in the matter of sin he was very timerous Surely good courage is such a flower as grows upon a good conscience a man in truth hath so much good courage as he hath a good conscience and if that a man shall desperately run upon what is eviil and sinfull his courage does degenerate into a foolish desperatenesse Waite on the Lord saith the Psalmist and be of good courage and again I say wayte on the Lord good courage is hemmed in with waiting upon the Lord Again There is a vaunting bragging boasting Cavalierisme which hath no true courage such a Cavalier was Rabshekah who sayd with us is valour and courage when he defied the Hosts and servants of the living God good courage is the health of the minde this vaunting bragging boasting is the swelling of the minde not courage Again There is a fierce angry revengefull disposition whereby men are ready to run upon cruelties this is no good courage The righteous is as bold as a Lyon the Lyon himselfe is mercifull not revengefull if a creature lyes down before him he will spare it I remember a Story one hath concerning Malcolmus a King of the Scots it seems there was one of his Nobles who underhand
Fourthly The exhortation looks upon them that have listed themselves in this great service of God and their Countrey in these dangerous times Brethren I have need for to speak to you and my commission especially is to speak to you I had need do it for have not some freely offered themselves to this work yet shamefully deserted it again I say shamefully for what greater shame Marcus Crassus amongst the Romans caused the cowards to be let bloud giving this reason that it was fit their bloud should be shed in disgrace which they would not shed in defence of their Countrey and if you look Judg. 7.3 you shall finde that when the hoast of the Midianites came against the Israelites Gideon had gotten a good and well framed Army together but when word came from the Lord that the fearfull should return how many think you did return of them surely no lesse than two parts of three the whole Army consisting of 32000 the divine story tells us That 22000 of them went back and but 10000 left 22000 not ashamed to be called cowards and fearfull so that I say that I had need to speak to you and to you is my commission and if you please you may read my Commission and your own duty together 20 Deu. 2.3 And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the Battell that the Priest shall approach and speak unto the people not the Captain but the Priest what sayes the Priest Let not your hearts faint fear not and do not tremble neither be you terrified because of them therfore you see what I am commanded to speak unto you well good sirs and beloved in the Lord Jesus be you also of good courage and I have three words of encouragement to speak unto you First your worke and service you are about it is very honourable It is observed to my hand that when Solomon built the Temple he did not employ the Israelites about the meaner works carrying of stones and drawing of water strangers were put to that worke but the Israelites were employed to be a guard about him so did the most wise man in the world Solomon count it an honourable thing to bear arms and to be a souldier anciently souldiers were called Latrones because they were a Latere Regis and now the latine word miles for a souldier signifies a Knight when the children of Israel went out to Battell some there were that went into the Field and some that did stay at home concerning those that stayed at home it is sayd that she that tarryed at home devided the spoile Psalm 68.12 as if they were only women and the weaker sort that stayed at home as if all that were worthy to be called men went into the Field In the triumphing Psalm of Deborah we read that some are condemned and some commended those that were condemned were such as came not forth that came not forth to helpe the Lord against the mighty Judges 5.23 Those that were commended were the Voluntiers that offered themselves willingly amongst the People vers. 2. and 9. The truth is that the Volunteers of England under God are the Bullwarks of England and England under God the Bulwark of the Protestant Religion Wherefore honoured Brethren be ye all of good courage for your worke and service is very honorable And as your worke is honorable so your worke is sase In times of war the safest place is the Camp and whilst that those of poor spirits that love onely to be in their beds and in their houses shall be pillaged and plundered men of brave spirits that are willing to be in the Field shall be secured A valiant and couragious minde commandeth all thing sayes Seneca he that commandeth death commandeth all things as the valiant man doth Now Beloved you see into what times we are fallen of necessity things must either go well or ill if things go ill the worst is death and what great matter is it to dye for your God a little before your time who would live when Religion is dead who would live to out-live his Religion Cicero tells us of some Indians that having many wives when the husband dyed the wifes strived to be burned with him and she that was the strongest prevailed to be burned and the rest went away very sorrowfull as having met with a great losse that they might not be burned with their husband and do you desire to live a day after the protestant Religion that you have bin married too now for many yeers together It is no great matter to live the beasts birds and fishes live this is truly great to dye well honorably freely wisely as Seneca saith It is better to dye in the Field for the cause of God then die in ones bed by the hand of a sicknesse It is storied of one Bibulus a great Roman that having obtained many victories he came to Rome to ride in triumph where a Tile falling off the house stroke him so deeply and mortally into the head as he dyed of it Thus may you dye by an unworthy Tile as you walk in the streets or by the turning of some humour in your bodies and is it not better then to dye for the truth Can you lose too much for Christ that hath lost so much for you Death is the worst And if things go well I cannot but thinke it will go with the popish Maligant party as once with the Freislanders when the Earl of Holland had overcome them they took up Arms to resist him again whereupon he ordered that the doors of their houses should be made so low as they should alwayes stoop when they went in noting their subjection so though the mercy of those that are in authority may let the houses of Malignants stand yet I make no question but the doors of their houses shall be made so low that they shall alwayes stoop as a note of their subjection whil'st you that stand for the cause and Countrey and Cities of your God shall have the doors of your houses enlarged and if a good cause have any interest in Heaven and the prayers of Gods people hath any credit there you shall undoubtedly in the end prevail wherefore be of good courage for your work is safe And as your worke is safe so it is also warrantable I know it is objected They take up Arms against their King I am perswaded there is not such a thought in the bosoms of any of you all and God forbid there should but there is much difference between taking up of Armes against the Kings Person and taking up of Arms for the defence of the Kingdom without the Kings command David though he were Gods annointed yet he was a subject unto Saul his King and he tooke up Arms to defend himselfe he tooke up Arms indeed but if you looke into 1 Sam. 26.19 you shall finde that David does impute that unnaturall warre that Saul his King made against him to those