THE ROYAL-PAY AND PAY-MASTER OR THE Indigent-Officers Comfort Delivered in a SERMON Preached Before the Honorable the MILITARY COMPANY at St. Pauls Covent-Garden July 25th BY WILLIAM SCLATER D. D. Minister of St. James Clerkenwel And now Printed at their earnest intreaty Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito London Printed by Rich. Hodgkinson and are to be sold by E. Brewster at his Shop at the Sign of the Crane in St. Pauls Church-yard 1671. To the Right Worshipful Sir ROBERT PATON PRESIDENT Mr. JOHN CANNON Mr. JOHN GARDINER Mr. RICHARD COOPER Mr. STEPHEN BURKS Mr. EDMUND BRACE Mr. ROBERT WHITE STEWARDS of the HONORABLE The Military Company And to the STEWARDS Elect Capt. GRATIAN LINCH Capt. JOHN PERRY Capt. SAM BOUGHEY Lieut. GEORGE CLARK Lieut. JOHN BADHAM Lieut. THO. CURTISE Worthy GENTLEMEN T Is not truly any ambition that I have to be known in the world who have too much cause to wish my self out of it that occasioneth the publication of this Discourse I pretty well know the fortune of those that dare appear in publike but it was your kind acceptance of this Sermon when it was preached and your earnest desire since that I would let it come abroad and here you see your Commands are obeyed and so let it take its fortune it cannot suffer much having so many valiant Champions to defend it The principal Subject that is commended to your practice is the Noble Principle of Loyalty and Fidelity that 's our duty to the great Captain of our Salvation whose Souldiers we are and have taken our Oaths in our Swadling-clothes to be true and faithful to him unto our lives end Treachery and Falshood as well as Cowardize is the highest Crime that can be laid to a Souldiers charge To betray his Trust and run from his Colours and take part with his Generals Enemies is not to be expiated but by the death of the Traytor Therefore Noble Souldiers Consider how many great things Christ your Captain and General hath committed to your charge He hath trusted you with an immortal Soul which can never die with the Reprobate nor perish with the vertuous parts of mortal men but must have a Being either in Eternal Bliss or woe Oh! do not betray this precious Jewel into the hands of her deadly enemies Abstain from those fleshly lusts that fight against her and deliver her out of the hands of those that gape for her destruction Be saithful unto her in preserving her in the Love of God and in obedience to his will that when God shall call for her you may deliver her up pure and spotless into his merciful hands And say with thy Great Captain Father into thine hands I commit my Spirit He hath entrusted you with his Word which is the best weapon in the world to defend you from your Ghostly Enemies Do not let it lie and rust by you as Swords Halberts Armor doth in Gentlemens Halls But buckle it about you and handle it lustily When you are tempted to Infidelity to Drunkenness to Whoredom or the like draw out thy weapon and fight against them it is written Rev. 21.8 That the fearful and unbelieving the abominable drunkards murtherers whoremongers lyars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Hide his Word therefore in thine heart always that thou may'st never sin against God He hath intrusted you with his truth and with a pure Religion Oh! do not betray either of them fight for Truth against Error And stand for thy Religion to the death Live as thou professest to believe Nothing will uphold dying sinking Religion like a holy and a heavenly conversation Practice is the best Syllogism and Argument we can use to prevail with others for he that lives a debauch'd wicked life is an Apostate from the truth and a Traytor to his Religion 't is not a pin matter what side a wicked man takes for he will bring a curse where e'r he comes Let your light then so shine before men that they may see your good works that the world may know that you are Loyal Subjects indeed true Noble Royallists not by your damning and sinking not by your whoring and drinking but by your temperance chastity soberness and devotion do not betray so good a Cause and so holy a Religion by your vicious lives and conversations He is the faithfullest Subject to his King and the truest friend to his Religion and the greatest lover of his Countrey that lives soberly righteously and Godly in this present world Be not Hector'd neither out of the holy Principles of the Reformed Profession some have changed sides on purpose to live more losely thinking that's the surest Haven to put into where they may sin and yet be safe Be not fool'd out of it neither for a song for delicate Musick or ravishing Voices for fine shews and pretty nacks but stick fast to the gravity and sincerity of the Catholick Church of England which is a most safe way unto salvation and where you will surely find rest unto your Souls And this Fidelity will cause the great Rewarder to look upon you and to bless you your pay shall be certain part in hand and the rest in reversion in being Faithful and keeping his Commandments there will he and is great Reward Vertue is a reward to its self and Godliness hath the promise of this life And that which remains to be received shall be surely paid you he hath promised it who is the Amen the faithful and true witness who is Yea and Amen God blessed for evermore To whose Gracious Protection I commit you and am Worthy Sirs Your Faithful Servant in Christ Jesus W. SCLATER From my House on Clerkenwel-Green Aug. 17. 1671. THE ROYAL-PAY AND PAY-MASTER OR THE Indigent-Officers Comfort Revel 2. part of the 10th verse Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of life WIth what reluctancy and unwillingness I appear to day in this place those can best bear witness who pressed me to this service not considering those heavy afflictions I now lye under which wet my cheeks too often nor yet how unfit a Man of peace who seeks it and pursues it who loves it and prayes for it and fain would live in it not considering I say how ill such a person is qualified to make a Military Oration to expert Commanders and valorous Souldiers And therefore seeing you have overborn me by your importunities I hope you will accept the will for the deed and chide your selves if you goe away disappointed of your expectation Versa est in luctum cythera mea organum meum in vocem flentium The weapons of our warfare are not now carnal but spiritual And though my self amongst others might say with the Prophet Jeremy 4.19 My bowels my bowels I am pained at my very heart my heart maketh a noise within me because O my soul thou hast heard the sound of the trumpet and the
or cunning or valiant or learned or rich but Well done good and faithful Servant enter thou into thy Masters joy And here in my Text is the same Proclamation Be faithful unto the death and I will give thee a Crown of life In the words we have but these parts to consider First here is the word of Command Be faithful Secondly Here is the stint and extent of our duty unto death Be faithful unto death Thirdly Here is a promise of Reward where we will consider 1. Our Pay-master and that is Christ I will give 2ly The Pay it self and that is a Crown with this addition a Crown of life Be faithful then c. First then I begin with the Word of Command Be faithful Fidelity is required of all Christians Faith in Christ must be seconded with faithfulness unto Christ As we must have faith in Him so we must keep faith to Him For those are onely His true Souldiers who are elect called and faithful I have received mercy of God to be faithful cries St. Paul 'T was of Gods mercy to be kept faithful to the righteous Cause of God and the King when there were so many temptations to withdraw us from our Loyalty Be faithful And the necessity of this will appear First From the terms of Relation that are betwixt Christ and us Fidelity and Loyalty is in a more especial manner required in a Subject towards his Soveraign in a Souldier towards his Commander in the Wife towards her Husband 'T is treason in a Subject to fight against his Soveraign 't is death for a Souldier to forsake his Colours 't is an unpardonable crime in a Woman to be unfaithful to her Husbands Bed But Christ is our Lord and Master You call me Lord and Master and you say well for so I am Matth. 23.8 He is the Captain of our salvation Heb. 2.10 He is our Husband and every Christian soul is His Spouse Hosea 2.19 I have espoused thee unto me in much mercy and fidelity And therefore 't is all the reason in the world that we should shew all loyalty and fidelity unto this our Prince Captain and Husband Consider-seriously with your selves these Relations and then tell me what he deserves that breaks faith with Him Secondly The Faith that must save us must be a Faith unfained What 's a Souldier good for except he will fight To take pay and quarter and plunder the Countrey and when it comes to blows whip my Gentleman 's gone Such a person is onely fit to be ram'd into the mouth of a Cannon and shot into a Field of Corn to affright the Crows So Faith severed from Fidelity is no Faith but a meer fansie Fides enim ab eo dicitur quia id fit quod dicitur Faith without faithfulness is a false glavering counterfeit Faith like Copper Coin that hath the lustre but not the worth of gold It is a faithless Faith and a Trust without truth You trust in a lie saith the Prophet Jeremy 7.8 For a man to repeat all the Articles of his Christian Faith to profess with his mouth to believe the Resurrection of his body the General Judgment and the Life everlasting and to live like a Devil and swear like a Turk and yet hope to goe to Heaven with a little of the Extream Unction and a few Ave Maria's Oh foolish people and unwise this pretended faith without practice is no better than a Musket charged only with powder which will give a great report but doe no execution at all Men trust in a Lye when they expect that God should keep Covenant with them when they have no care to keep promise with him Rabshekah's Argument against Hezekiah had been good if his words of Hezekiah had been true Esai 36.7 Little cause indeed could Hezekiah have to trust in God whose Altars he had taken down and whose places of Worship he had demolished How little Reason hath any man to hope that God should save him when he dies that hath no care to serve and please God whilst he lives Alas when we cease to keep Faith with God we free him from the performance of His Promise to us For however it be true that the Apostle says 2 Tim. 2.13 Though we prove unfaithful yet God abides faithful He cannot deny Himself Man's distrust and incredulity cannot annul God's fidelity 'T is a deplorable Position that the Romanists hold and cutteth asunder the sinews of Humane Society That Faith is not to be held with Hereticks Better said Heathen Tully Etiam infideli recte servatur fides even with the unfaithful Faith is to be kept Where Agreements between Party and Party are grounded on Conditions to be mutually performed on either side he that in such case breaketh first doth thereby absolutely free the other Party Unfaithfulness therefore it is not in God to deny to make his Promise good unto those that have no care to keep Covenant with Him Frustra sibi Fidem quis postulat ab eo servari cui fidem à se praestitam servare recusat They kept not Covenant with me and I regarded not them saith the Lord Heb. 8.9 Thirdly There is nothing among Generous Men more odious than Falshood and Treachery in Friendship To find them false to us whom we have trusted To be betray'd by those that we thought our surest friends This cuts a man to the very heart This made David complain Psal 55.12 'T was not an open enemy that didst me this dishonour for then I could have born it neither was it mine Adversary that did magnifie himself against me for then peradventure I would have hid my self from him But it was even thou my Companion my Captain and mine own familiar Friend Surely it wounded deep the heart of the Great Buckingham when he was betray'd by his Servant Bannister whom he had raised to a great Estate and it was a bitter ingredient which was put into the Cup of our late Martyr'd Sovereign to have those that eat of his bread to lift up their hands against him To see some of his own Domestick Servants whom he had fed and advanced to sit in that unjust Court to take away his Life So there is nothing that God takes more to heart or can worse endure than disloyalty and breach of Covenants by those which pretend to be in League with Him To acknowledge as we do all that in Him we live and move and have our being To take our Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacie to Him that we will serve Him faithfully and fight against the Devil the World and the Flesh and continue His faithful Souldiers unto our Lives end and yet notwithstanding break all these Obligations and never regard the performance of our Vows but basely betray our Trust and serve his enemies How can God endure this at our hands Will he not judge for these things and shall not his Soul be avenged on such perfidious wretches as we See how God complains
Covenants with Him and not to keep them Let us take heed left being drawn away by the errour of the wicked we fall from our stedfastness and faithfulness to our Lord Jesus But say with the Kingly Prophet Psal 119.106 I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments And because it is to little purpose to be informed how dangerous our unfaithfulness will be unless we be taught how to prevent the danger Give me leave to add three or four Rules of Direction which may help us to persevere in Christ and in those Religious courses which we have or yet shall enter and I will come to your Pay-Master and your Pay immediately First then Brave Souldiers would you continue faithful to Christ your Master and hold out in a Religious course unto the end Enter with Resolution A good Resolution is the most fortifying Armour that a Souldier can wear 't is no great matter for Back or Brest or Head-piece or Gauntlet Resolution is the only Armour of proof 'T is the only Marshal that can keep our wavering minds in order That which makes men Cowards is want of Resolution when I know my Cause to be good and just what should affright me from the vindication of it 'T was an ingenuous and resolved Answer which the Noble and Loyal Marquess of Worcester returned to the General of the contrary Party when he had lost Ragland and in it the richest Cargo that ever fraighted a Noble house His Petition was only for two tame Pigeons which used to sit upon his shoulder and to peck meat out of his hand that the General would give him a Protection for them for he was afraid when his back was turned his Souldiers would shoot them This was readily assented to and withal the General told the Marquess that he was glad to see his Lordship so merry I thank you saith the Marquess you have given me no other cause and before you are gone give me leave to tell you this Story Upon a time two Fellons went to Tyburn to be executed the one was very pensive and sad the other was as jocular and merry The merry Thief gave great offence to his disconsolate Companion insomuch that he check'd him and told him Ah saith he how canst thou be thus merry and frolick considering the business that we are going about Oh saith he Thou art a silly whining Fellow thou went'st a Thieving and Roguing and never thought'st what would come on 't but when I first took up the Trade I forecasted the worst so that nothing falls unexpected upon me 't was no more than I lookt for So my Lord said the Noble Marquess when I first took up Arms for the King I was resolved to endure the utmost that you could inflict upon me and that makes me so merry and chearful as I am What saith our Saviour Vnless a man in Resolution at least Forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children and his own life too he cannot be my Disciple The want of this Resolution makes many a one turn head and sail back again as soon as they see storms and oppositions begin to rise These men were never minded to go farther than they saw the way clear before them like those that go to Sea upon pleasure who no sooner find the Sea to begin to work and themselves grow sick but they presently cry out to make hast to the shore whereas the Merchant that is bound for his Port concerns not himself at all 't is no more than he expected he will not be driven back with a little foul weather or Sea-sickness but goes on through fair and foul until he hath made his Voyage and arrived at the Haven where he would be What did three or four Resolute men do but the other day for a Kingly Crown of Gold And had like to have carried it too if they had not been providentially disappointed And shall we do nothing for this Imperial Crown of life Shall they be more resolute to pilfer than we honestly to gain Oh! Lord Jesus thou hast a Crown in thy right hand and the Motto of that Crown is To him that overcomes Shall my base lusts conquer me and my vile corruptions enslave me so far that I dare venture nothing for thy sake or my Religion or the interest of my immortal Soul Shall I be valiant to do evil Resolute in mine own Revenges Peremptory to damn my self And shall I be a Coward in vertuous actions not dare to speak against vice nor to fight one stroke against thine and my mortal enemies Oh! Far be that from a Noble mind Let me Resolve to have but so much courage as poor Ruth had when her Mother-in-law beseech'd her to leave her afflicted Company Entreat me not said she to leave thee or returning from following after thee for where thou goest there will I go where thou liest there will I lie where thou diest there will I die and there will I be buried God do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me So let us be Resolved come what will come never to forsake our God or our Religion Let us Resolve though he kill us and starve us never to leave him or forsake him That 's the First Enter with Resolution Secondly Be careful to keep a good Conscience both toward God and all men Let the fear of God be fresh in thy Soul holding faith and a good Conscience Sin will make a man an errant Coward if not it will bring a curse upon his Courage God hath cursed the wayes of sin and is resolved no man shall prosper in the end that lives and wallows in it Many a good Cause hath suffered for the wickedness of them that have managed it 'T is not Damning and Sinking Whoring or Drinking that will at last win the day Hypocrisie will be better rewarded in this world than open prophaness Have a care then to keep close with God to fear his Name alwayes that it may go well with thee and that thy Soul may live There are two things wherein a Conscientious Christian excells all other men in the world And Those are in true Valour and Fidelity True Valour I say in a just Cause for in a wicked one there is none more timerous than he And indeed to shew courage in a bad matter is rather a token of desperate folly than any badge of a magnanimous mind But in a just Cause he is as bold as a Lion no thing can daunt his courage Not Infamy For in this the Christian knows he shares with his Master and while it is for his Names-sake he knows he is blessed If there be any Nectar in this life 't is in sorrows we endure for goodness And blessed be God this Cup of Nectar we drink for our draughts every morning Oh! that God we fight for is able enough to vindicate all our wrongs Not Afflictions They shall not daunt the Courage of
he will at thy entring into Heaven bring forth the best Robe and put it on thee a Ring on thy finger and a Crown on thine Head and thou shalt be array'd in Purple and fine Linen Thou shalt be brought to the Tribunal of Christ by the hands of thy late Martyr'd Sovereign for whom thou hast suffered and He in the head of all the murdered Royallists Renowned Montross and Heroick Capel Valiant Lucas and Fighting Lisle Reverend Hewet and Honest Vowel Hardy Slingsby and Thee Sweet Andrews Faithful Penrudduck and Loyal Grove these shall conduct thee to the Tribunal of the Lord Jesus and it shall there be proclaimed before all the Saints This is he that was faithful to the death that durst be good when others were base that did own the righteous Cause of God and his Anointed when others were Neuters Rebels Cowards or Apostates this is he that stood firm and unshaken when others proved false and treacherous Come put the Crown upon his Head he hath been Faithful to the death and he shall now receive a Crown of Life Which brings me Fellow Souldiers to your Pay which I 'll dispatch immediately for you shall have it all in Crown pieces A Crown of Life That 's your Pay The words are Emphatical sp'ritful lively words able to put metal into a Coward Life is the best of all Natural things And a Crown is the best of all Civill things Here is the best and the best 'T is true a good man hath his Crown here St. Paul had one but it was an Apostolical one He tells the Philippians You are my joy and my Crown Every good Christian hath a Crown here a good Conscience is a continual Feast that same is a Crown This was it that Job bound about the Temple of his head Job 27.6 My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live Oh blessed Crown poor suffering Royallist cannot you live upon this a while Nay every believer hath his Crown here his Faith and Profession is his Crown Rev. 3. Hold fast that thou hast that no body take thy Crown And here every Faithful Souldier shall have a Crown Crowns were the Rewards of Conquerors Cups Garments and Crowns were the rewards of such as won the prize at the Olympick Games But yet so poor they were that if a Horse did but run a Race and won he had a Crown or a Cup given him and therefore the Poet Theocritus could say See what poor things the world glories in the Conquerors are Crown'd and so are their Horses But this Crown is not composed of withering flowers 't is not a Crown of Ivy or Oke of Grass or Laurel of Gold or Stars but a Crown of unfading unperishing Glory a Crown of Life a Crown that never fades This is the true Noble Honour Here Honour is but a shadow fading glory like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot like the Triumphs of the Caesars splendid indeed but quickly over and forgotten But with thee O Lord there is substantial solid essential Glory a massie ponderous substantial Crown 't is an exceeding eternal weight of Glory which no rust shall corrupt and which no Thieves shall ever bereave us of A Crown of Life 'T is Honor maximus the greatest Honour there is nothing higher in the estimation or admiration of men Then a Crown it is the Appendant of Majesty Kings are Supream Excellent Majesty was added to King Nebuchadnezzar all Nations and Tongues are said to have acknowledged him their Superiour and Sovereign Lord yet all this Honour and Glory of the world is but dark and powerless in respect of the Crowns of Heaven There is no Crown but hath its Cross thorns there are cares and troubles that grieve the bearer of it But this shall never cumber or molest thee here is that which will recompence all our labours and sufferings for the righteous Cause of God and the King A Crown of Life Rouse up then Valiant Souldiers Remember you fight not for the Parliament half Crowns nor for Crowns of Gold but for a Crown of Life which will never be spent The afflictions of this present life are not worthy to be compared to the Glory that shall be revealed in us What are our expences to the receiving 'T is the expence but of a little suffering for the receiving of an immortal Crown of life How much will wiced men suffer to enjoy their lusts And shall we do nothing for this incorruptible Crown of Glory Demosthenes quickned up himself to his Studies by the example of a poor Blacksmith what a shame is it for me to lie in my bed and the Blacksmith to be at his work he that is to make but a few Horse-shooes and nayls and I that am to make an Oration to all the Wits of Greece and Asia So do you say what a shame is it for me to see men compass Sea and Land to get a little muck in the world to weary and beat their brains and expend all they have to give satisfaction to their lusts and shall I be lazie and idle slothful and negligent and do nothing for the security of my Soul and towards the attaining of everlasting happiness I am a a Christian and believe I have an immortal Soul shall wicked men do so much to fulfil the pleasures of sin and shall not I endure a little hardship for this immortal Crown of life Oh! Then Courage Brave Souldiers let us fight on and press forward towards the mark for the prize of our high Calling let us hold out courageously and valiantly against all our spiritual Enemies that we may live one day before we die to sing that Triumphant Song Oh my Soul thou hast trodden down strength Let me dismiss you with those Spiriting words of Seneca in his Chorus to Hercules Oetaeus Nunquam Stygias fertur ad umbras Inclyta virtus vivite fortes Nec Lethaeos saeva per Amnes Vos fata trahent sed cum summas Exiget horas consumpta dies Iter ad superos gloria pandet True Noble Heroick Renowned Faithful Virtue is never brought to the Stygian Lakes Live Live Oh ye valint Men neither shall the cruel Fates ever waft you through the Lethaean streams those Rivers of forgetfulness But when the consumed day shall cut off your latest hours when death shall beat a Retreat to your stiff Limbs Glory immortal Glory shall open you a way unto the Gods Be faithful then to God to your Religion to the interest of your immortal Souls Be faithful to your King to your Countrey and to one another love each other speak well of one another and promote each others interest Resist unto blood striving against sin Be faithful unto the death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Which the Almighty grant c. FINIS