Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A26448
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Advice to a souldier in two letters, written to an officer in the late English army when the war with France was expected, and one to a commander in the fleet in the last Dutch war, proper to be exposed at the present time while the peace of Christendom (if not the liberty of it) seems to be very short-lived.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing A642; ESTC R25836
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11,263
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21
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his Life grave in his deportment fixed in his principles and faithfull to his Prince one that will not be abashed when fools deride him one that will not be afraid to exhort and reprove as occasion requires One that is patient enough to endure scorn and reproach and bold enough to oppose himself against the greatest Torrent of impiety And then you ought to shew him respect as unto the Messenger of God and to see that the Marshall Laws relating to Religion and good Order be put in Execution which truly of late have been just so observed as if they had been purposely made to be broken If you begin the good example you shall hardly need to compel your Men to follow They will be ashamed to be vicious if their Commander be virtuous And shame is a more effectual way to reform Vice then pecuniary penalties or corporal pains By this means the lives of many Men will be saved who otherwise to support their vices neglect their duty commit Thefts and Robberies and Rapes and the like and bring themselves under the lash of Martiall Law great punishments and ignominious Deaths You should be as frequent and regular at your publick Prayers as time and your affairs will permit especially neglect it not before a Battle or other great undertaking For Prayer by a strange and secret influence which none can tell but they who use it brings from Heaven new Life and vigour and courage to the most weak and timerous And now I have happened to speak of courage that necessary qualification in a Souldier I will give you my opinion what it is and whence it usually arises Courage is either Active or Passive and both are as usefull for a Souldier as a Sword and a Target Active is that which does prompt and excite a Man to the undertaking and attempting great and hazzardous Enterprizes And passive is a certain even temper and frame of minde which dangerous accidents cannot discompose or divert from his intended purpose On the contrary fear amazes and distracts and disappoints the wisest Councells and most deliberate Designs hurrying Men into the danger they think to avoid or into greater as the Hart in the Fable to escape the Doggs sought shelter in the Lyons Den so it commonly happens in Battles that those Men are kill'd in flight who by keeping the Field might have won the victory and 't is frequent for a Coward who runs away from a Sword to stumble upon a halter Inconsiderate rashness is by some Men call'd courage when it produces the like effect but is intruth no better then madness and I intend only to speak of that courage which is the product of reason True courage springs from a contempt of Death or an opinon that one shall not dye Contempt of Death arises from a confidence in Gods Mercy or a consideration of Honour or both Confidence in Gods Mercy will naturally grow as the fruit and effect of a good and virtuous Life and those 〈◊〉 will be afraid of â—â—â—king who are and who believe themselves 〈…〉 under the sacred Protection of Almighty God And 〈…〉 Honour or the thirst after Publick Fame for well â—â—ing is added I think there is all which is necessary to make a man truly couragious Honour by it self I mean a great Title or publick applause is but an empty Name not valued by wise Men save only when it comes as the just reward of virtue the fruit of worthy performances and the apprehension of Death and Damnation are two weighty things when nothing but that empty Name is put in the ballance against them Now there are but a few Atheists in the World so through paced as to have totally extinguished the fears of a future being however they may boast of it when no danger seems to be near them I have seen some of those Gallants who talk nothing but Honour in the middle of a Sea-Fight look as silly as Sheep and sneak themselves behind the Main-Mast But the far greater Number of those who go to the Wars are perswaded they shall not be kill'd and that opinion is the cause of their courage which having a foundation so liable to uncertainty is easily overturn'd by a little adverse fortune For when the Battle grows hot when Death presents it self in diversity of shapes when one looses a Leg and another both his Arms and a third is shot off in the middle When Men and Horses confusedly come tumbling down together and a Mans best friends ly bleeding by his side then that confidence which was groundless vanishes of it 's own accord and quickly follows disorder and rout and down right running away No Man can promise himself before a Battle that he shall be alive afterwards and every prudent man should be provided not only for that which must but as near as one can for that which may happen I mean every prudent Man should think it may be his turn to be kill'd as soon as another and therefore should endeavour before hand to keep himself from all horrid flagicious enormous crimes such as hinder one in times of greatest danger from asking or hopeing for Gods Mercy and make a valiant Man turn Coward I have insisted the more on this particular because we have lived to see the best King having the best cause in the World ruined by his own rebellious Subjects towards which ruine I have been told of the irregularities of some of the Loyal Party did in a great measure contribute And because it is reported by some and believed by many that Piety and Devotion Virtue and Religion are only to be found amongst those who are dissenters from or Enemies to the Church of England I would perswade you my dear friend by your own practice to endeavour the contradicting that wicked assertion I would fain have you as eminent for your Piety as your Native bravery and let one add reputation to the other King David among the Jews Scipio Affrican among the Romans and King Henry the Fifth among the English were in their times the most Pious and most prosperous Generals in the World It is very convenient I think I may say necessary that your Men be possessed with the Justice of the Cause they Fight for Let them be told by your Chaplain this truth that they are doing Gods work by endeavouring to restore those to right who suffer wrong to bring an Universal Peace to Christendom and preserve it from falling into the slavery wherewith at this time it seems to be threatned to put an end to that blood and slaughter ruine and devastation which it has for several Years past suffered under You may also do well at convenient times to relate to your Officers and Men the great things their Ancestors formerly performed in France and be stirring them up to alike Emulation But I cannot by any means approve of their policy who perswade their Men to despise their Enemies Instead of that I would have you let them
describing the modern way of Military Discipline for Books are great assistances to those who every day compare their reading and practice When you have made a choice of persons with whom you intend to be intimate be carefull you are not by any of them drawn into private or particular quarrells And if any such accident happens in your presence between others endeavour what you can to compose not widen the breach If the difference grow so high that nothing less then a Duel can reconcile the feud in point of Honour make them sensible what a shame it is for Men of true merit to receive the Laws of Honour from faint Effeminates the Hectors and Huffs of the Town who possess none themselves but what they are indebted for to their Schools of Honour and Morality the Play-Houses Ask with what Justice they can expect the Kings pay or hope for his favour or his pardon while they shew such contempt of him and his Laws and hazzard their Lives in a quarrel destructive to his service Remind them that the French the great promoters of duelling in a more pusillanimous Age having now shaken off former fooleries and put on the bravery of a Warlike People look on that Man who offers to lend a Challenge as a fellow fit to be kick'd by their Foot boys and that 's the usuall way the Gentry of France think themselves oblig'd in Honour to answer him He who charges most briskly at the Head of his Troops He who first mounts the Enemys Wall and he who is for wardest in attacquing their Fortifications are the only Men among them who now obtain the Title and the esteem of Honorable But if you meet with any so fond of false Honour so false to the principles of Loyalty and true Glory that no reason can divert them even in a Foreign Country from aâ—â—â—â—ing the Enemy by diminishing our strength and making factions in our own party let them alone by themselves to destroy one another for 't is pitty they should live and 't is pitty they should dye by any worthyer hands then those of the Hang-man or their own If you would ever arrive at greater preferment then you have or deserve that which His Majesty has already bestow'd you must be beholden for it chiefly to the valour and affection of your Souldiers therefore endeavour what you can to get them their pay in due season and if that cannot be done at least let them see that it is not your fault observe and abhor the example of some others who detain the Souldiers Wages the price of their blood and throw it away on the turn of a Dye or spend it profusely on their pride and their Lusts Despise all base ways of enriching your self either by cheating the King with false Musters or defrauding or abbridging your Men any part of their due such practices have been the undoing of many a good Cause and are so far more worthy a Gallows then common Robberies by how much the loss of a Battle is more considerable then the loss of a Bag of Money and the ruine of the publick then that of a private single person Consider your Men are equal sharers in the danger though not in the profit or Honour of the War and that as you are the head they are the body containing beside the Trunk the usefullest Members Hands Arms Leggs and Feet without whose executive power all your contriving faculties will prove insignificant so that you must not think you discharge the duty of a good or prudent Commander when you only shew your self bold and bring them on bravely to Battle your care must be both before and afterwards to see that they have as wholsome food and Physick when â—â—â—eeds and as good Quarters as the place will afford And since English constitutions cannot so easily endure Famine as the People born and bred up in less plentifull Countrys You must make it a principal part of your endeavours to have them sufficiently provided and when upon any action your under Officers or other have deserved well you ought to use your interest to get them encouraged and promoted A good Commander will use his Souldiers just as a good Father uses his Children and he who governs otherwise through Covetousness Negligence Pride or Ill-nature shall never get any great Honour himself nor ever do any service considerable for his King or Country But though I would have you love your Men well because you can do nothing without them I would not have you spoil them with over much kindness It is the wise dispensing of rewards and Punishments which keeps the World in good Order They never had their business well done who through an excess of goodness reward mean services too highly or punish great miscarriages too lightly Therefore as you must take care of the Back and the Belly the Pay and Provision of your Souldiers so you ought to be very severe in your Discipline The two former will gain you the Love of your Men the later their fear and all mixt together produce compleat Obedience Or to express it better in the Marshal phrase Pay well and hang well makes a good Souldier The frequent Company of Women and the tippling strong Liquors debilitate both the minde and body of a Souldier rendring him soft and effeminate lasy and sickly unapt and unfit for Heroick exploits Restrain therefore as much as may be the debaucheries of your Men and be carefull to refrain your own and take this along with you for a General Rule That when you teach your Men to live innocent you do at the same time make them valiant To the end you may with greater facility effect so good a Design you ought to be always attended with a good Chaplain And if I were worthy to advise your General I would beg him to be as carefull in the choice of his Chaplains as his Captains Nay I would adventure to say they are as necessary and many times have done and may again as largely contribute towards the obtaining happy successes And now there is as great an occasion for able Divines in our Army and Navy as ever there was since England professed Christianity For the Fopps of this Age. under the notion of Wits endeavour to Buffoon Religion out of Countenance talk Blasphemy and Atheism in common Discourse speak Treason against the Majesty of Heaven a crime which no Prince upon Earth will endure at an easier rate then mortal punishment And so while nothing is allow'd for fashionable wit which is not Atheistical or prophane or impudently immodest the young Gentry fond of that foolish humour call'd witty are in a fair way to be debauched For what shall restrain their exorbitancies who have learned to despise the supernal Power and by their ill example a door is set wide open to let in among the vulgar all the lewdnesses and immoralities in the World Therefore you should choose for a Chaplain a man reserved in