Image Secondly There is neverthelesse some which neither out of zeal to revenge nor desire of vistory kils a man but only for remedies sake of avoyding or eschewing some ill as to suppresse Rebellion to resist invasions oppessions and the like In which cases to kill an enemie is undoubtedly lawfull And yet herein it shall much behove the killer though necessity compell him to destroy the body of his enemie to wish well unto him that falleth under his hand and together with the wounds of death which hee giveth him to pray unto God to save his soule and to grant him repentance faith and every grace that is needfull to everlasting life Againe not only in taking away the life of the enemy but also in imprisoning or enslaving his person and taking his goods appropriating them to the Conquerours themselves is much moderation and gentle clemency to be used And that for these Reasons First humanitie requires it the conquerours and conquered being both of one Nature and deriving their originals both from one Roote and that these warres as other oppositions are the consequents of mans fall wherein the Conquerours and conquered had equall share being in the loyns of Adam which should move the Conquerours to pity those who by hostile Acts whether force or feats of warre are subdued And to say of them as Ahab King of Israel said of Benhadab King of Syria subdued by his Forces and making suit for quarter Hee is my Brother and the conquerours should behold neither the mortall wounds nor the living miseries of their subdued enemies but with compassion Thus of Aneas it is said when he saw the blood and fall of Lausus his enemie slaine by his owne hand He lamented him pitifully and therefore is called The image of piety I may say of pitie And of Marâ—ollas which having conquered Sicilie which had stood out very obstinately against him and standing upon a high place that he might behold the condition of that Citie which of late was most rich and flourishing but now most miserable hee could not abstaine from weeping so as if some man had seen him and not known how the case had been he would have thought the victory to have been anothers which made one say to distressed Sicilie This may be some gratulation or mitigation of thy griese Because seeing thou mightest not stand in safety thou fallest so easily under so gentle a Conquerour Omitting other examples these shew us that The sweetnesse of humanity pierceth the brutish dispositions of Barbarians mollifieth the hard and cruell eyes of enemies and bendeth those spirits that are most proud and insolent of their victory it conquereth Anger scals hatred and mixeth the blood of an enemie with his enemies teares Againe as humanity so Christianity teacheth us to be propense and ready to clemency and mercy unto conquered enemies Seeing those warrs which are waged amongst Christians when they are of one Religion are more then civill warrs yea though they be just our Magistrates except their be just reasons that withstand it ought to carry minds so much more ready to shew mercy unto those that are conquered And not only Magistrates and Commanders but all souldiers and military men even for Christianities sake if so be they be Christians ought to be ready to shew mercy and gentlenesse to those that are subdued or brought under their power Excellent and imitable is the example of the valiant and victorious first Christian Emperour Constantine who in his warres during the battell gave charge That there should not be a slaughter of many whereby he tooke no more care for the safety of his owne then of his enemies and when victory was gotten his charge was That they should have mercy on the prisoners and seeing they more men the oblivion or forgetfulnesse of humane nature should never overtake them And if at any time he saw the minds of his Souldiers to be very fierce he would refraine them with gifts and further gave order that if any could take an enemy alive he should be rewarded by which means the wisdome of the Emperour found out an alluring way for the conservation of men so as infinite numbers even of very Barbarians escaped safe Of this rare goodnesse and mercy of the Emperour one as it were sighing thus speaks Alas for this clemency and gentlenesse that it is out of fashion in this our Age Further it would much induce the victors or conquerours to shew clemency and be kind to the conquered and subdued if they should reflect upon themselves and seriously bethink what clemencie or kindnesse they would desire if they were in the same case and therewith remember the speech of our Saviour whatsoever yee would that men should do unto you doe yee even so unto them and that with the the same measure that â—ee meete to others it shall be measured to you againe And surely such considerations may well at some time take hold of them as Iulius Caesar hearing this sentence it may befall to every one that befall to any one to any one he fell a weeping and being demanded the cause of such teares he answered I lament the fall of Pompey and am affraid of mine owâ—â— fortune And it is a very frequent that the same quarter men give to others they receive backe againe from others as in the case of Adonibezek and Agag Generall Ioaâ— and others may be seen To be short a warning peece unto all men may be that severe threat of the Lord by the prophet Isaiah we unto theo that spoylest or as we say plunderest and thou wast not spoyled and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee for when thou shalt cease to spoile thou shall be spoiled In which wordes the prophet seemes to threaten the King of Assyria or the land or Ninivelh the chiefe city of Assyria which did oppresse spoile and plunder the Nations about them that they should be spoiled afterward As if it should be said Woe unto thee that spoilest and plunderest the Nations about thee Now thou maist spoile and plunder at thy pleasure there is no strength to resist thee but there will be some one time or other that will plunder thee againe which came to passe when the Câ—aldeans did come and destroyed Niniveh so the Assyrians did plunder the Jews and the Chaldees did plunder the Assyrians wee will conclude with a sentence of an Heathen Author a little refined Thus doth the providence of God change the affaires and businesse of men Unto these Arguments we may add this one that gentle and courteous usage of those that are subdued helpeth to drew others unto a voluntary submission to lay down Armes and embrace peace and justice as Benbadab King of Syria his servants moved their Master that with sackcloth upon their loyns and Roapsâ— about their neckes they might grave pardon for him and obtaine a
men which they could not otherwayes extort out of them and at the last some part of the goods that were confiscated might accrew to the Informer for their labour and for the hire of such information Thirdly they must be content with their wages such pay as was allowed unto them by the Emperor for their labor pains taken in war for the defence of the commonwealth or with such proportion of victualls as was appointed them for in times past souldiers had not their pay in mony but in victualls and with this Iohn teacheth them to be content and not to extort mens goods from them or to grate giftes out of them or to borrow any thing or buy it of them and pay them either slowly little or nought at all Thus the words are expounded by divers Authors of great learning and famous in the Church from all which we learne how innocent souldiers ought to be and to offend or wrong no man in body name or goods Not in body They must do violenâ—e to no man not in name They must not accuse any falsely nor in goods by force or fraud for injuries may be done either by open force or cunning subtility but they must be content with their wages That I may drive this nayle as Solomon cals the words of the wise to the head give me leave to beate it home with some reasons or Argument And first because I speak unto Christians this may be learned from Christ who commands us to be innocent or harmlesse as Doves This we are taught to be the foundation of our spirituall building up in a Christian practice and upright living by an Ancient Father thus speaking Whilst thou art building thy spirituall house let the foundation be first layd not upon light sand but upon the solid Rock upon which thou maiest more easely reare up the high top of Righteousnesse for he fulfilleth the greatest part of righteousnesse that hurts no body and he which shall lay the foundation of innocencie and proceed on the high topp of Righteousnesse howsoever he shall be tossed in tumultuous warres and troubles for a short while in this life yet shall hee be sure to find rest and peace at the last if not in his life yet at least in his death as we learne from Davids words Keep innocency and take heed unto the thing that is right for that shall bring a man peace at the last or as the other Translation reades it Marke the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace or as another readeâ— the last thing that shall be given to such a man is peace A second Argument to induce souldiers to innocencie shall be the same that Abigail used to restraine David from plundring and destroying Nabal as he had resolved in revenge of a discourtesie in Nabals refusing to send him some small provision which he requested of him in his great necessity My Lord said shee fighteth the Lords battels and evill hath not been found in thee all thy dayes it is thus read by a learned Translatour If my Lord fight the Lords battels and evil should not be sound in thee And another thus Seeing thou my Lord wagest the Lords warres therefore let not iniquity bee found in thee Teaching us that those that fight the Lords battels as all those doe who fight under a just Authority in a good and just cause should be carefull to be free from violence and iniquity It is a disgrace to an honest man to have wicked persons lodge in his house and to a School-master to have Rakehells under his tuition and to a Generall to harbour villains under his command but most of all it is a dishonour to the Majesty of the Lord of hosts that wickednesse and villany should march under his colours and take up quarters in his leaguers and garrisons A third reason may be collected also from other words of Abigail in the pursuit of her businesse unto David This shall be no griefe unto thee nor offence of heart to my Lord saith shee either that thou hast shed blood causelesse or that my Lord hath avenged himselfe if her former argument will not move her latter surely will prove effectuall though a man respect not the glory of God yet surely he will even of selfe-love have respect to his owne comfort and freedom from a tormenting conscience which by innocencie is conserved and know all men assuredly that those who now lay siege to Townes and Castles shall one day either in warre or peace in bed or battel be besieged with the memory of their sinnes and then This unto him shall be a Brazen Wall His Conscience to fear no sinn at all A strong Fort I say it shall be and impregnable to all the Hellish Furies to have a Conscience void of offence before God and man when innocent and causlesse blood plundered Goods and unjust Booty shall be unto the Actors thereof as the Elephants blood unto the Dragons that sucking the blood of the Elephants do kill them and they themselves being drunk therewith oppressed not able to digest it die also So those that by violence rapine and injustice have killed and undone others shall by such deeds be utterly and eternally undone themselves A fourth reason recalling souldiers from violence may be taken from the malignant effect or consequence hereof that it makes the expedition unsuccessefull and prepares discomsiture to the whole Army and that by these particulars First hereby the accesse of their prayers unto God his acceptance of them is hindered according to the menace of the Prophet Isaiah VVhen you spread out your hands I will hide mine eyes yea when you make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood The necessity of innocent hands to be presented to God in prayer those that had onely naturall Theologie well perceived and therefore the Persians arriving at Delphos with a Navy of a thousand Ships did present in Apolloes Temple rather religious then rapicious hands And for the practice and efficacy of prayers in Armies we have the examples of Jehoshaphat assaulted by the Moabites and Ammonites and of the Christian Emperours Constantine who appointed prayers unto his souldiers and taught them to ascribe the Victories unto God and to crave his blessing and assistance for the time to come and Theodosius who counted his prayers his best and accustomed Forces Besides our own Chronicles relate the effect of prayer in the Army of King William the Conquerour who the night and morning before the Battell with Harold did give themselves to acknowledge their sins prayer and communicating the Lords Body whilest Harold and his Forces spent the whole night in drinking singing and dancing 2. The conscience wherin remains the memory of former violence injustice makes men Cowards and afraid to grapple with death which they
walked with God and served my Neighbour in love and charitie yee have bereaved mee of my libortie yee have restrained mee and in close prisons and dungeons shut mee up and all this though yee have not done to mee in the members of my naturall body yet have yee done it to these little ones the members of my misticall Bodie who are as precious to mee as mine owne life For their sakes I tooke upon mee the forme of a Servant I gave my spotlesse blood and endured the bitter paines of death and Hell for their Redemption Surely to hear this will much amaze and confound for if he were speechlesse upon the check who wanted the Wedding garment needs must he be dumb and without excuse whose garments are rolled in blood and as red as Scarlet and Crimson Dyed in the blood and sufferings of the Innocent One short Observation more would I desirously commend to your Christian piety and therewith take leave it being consolatory that I may be free as in mine own intentions so in others estimation from suspition of having spoken or written any thing which hath not proceeded from unsaigned Charity the proper fountain of all Christian Actionâ— Whereas these Souldiers who had been addicted to violence rapine and other vices and were men accounted the worst alive as afore from sundry Authors is observed now comming to Iohn confessing and sorrow full for their fins and desiring directions which they might obâ—erve in seeking salvaâ—ion are not rejected of John as men without hope but are rather received and instructed what to do and how to demean themselves for the future with an intimation of safety upon the performance of that which is prescribed We collect That great sinners repenting and reforming themselves may obtain salvation If there had not been time of repentance and hope of salvation upon repentance and amendment he would not have exhorted these souldiers to amendment S. Hierome hath a collection not unlike hereunto upon the Epistles of Jesus Christ to some of the Churches First the Church of Ephesus had left her first love the Church of Pergamus also was not free from all offence for she had in her some which did hold the doctrine of Balaam which taught to eat things offered to Idols and to commit Fornication and such as held the doctrine of the the Nicolaitans and the Church of Thyatira did suffer the false Prophetesse Jezabel which seduced men to commit Fornication and to eate things offered to Idols Yet all these the Lord exhorts to repentance and that under a threat of a punishment to come upon them except they did repent but he would not have pressed to repentance except he would grant pardon to them that repented And another ancient Author observes as much of other Churches mentioned in those Sacred Epistles In the Church of Sardis the imperfection of workes in the Laodiceans confidence in riches is reprehended And yet these he admonisheth to repent and that under threatnings except they repented But he would not threaten him that repents not except he would pardon him that doth repent This ariseth from the goodnesse of the nature of God as may be seen in the Proclamation which past before his manifestation to Moses The Lord mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and sinne And the Prophet will tell us from GOD that he hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth For this end Jesus Christ the Son of God came into the world that he might seek and save that which was lost and that hee might call the sinners to Repentance yea even such sinners as in the eye of man none could exceede even them that put him to death for whom hee prayed Father forgive them for they know not what they doe Of whom we finde some afterward hearing their sin in crucifying and murdering the Lord of life taxed by Peter pricked in conscience and crying out like the souldiers in the Text What shall wee doe c. and by Peter directed to this medicine of Repentance and Baptisme with a promise of forgivenesse of sins and receiving the Holy Ghost Of these we may say and inferre with S. Austen This people it was of whom Christ was crucified of whom he was hanged on a Tree of whom hanging there he was derided of whom he was thurst thorow with a Speare of whom was given unto him Vineger mingled with Gall to drink yet for these he prayes Father forgive them for they knowe not what they doe And what is there that is not to be forgiven to him that is converted when the blood of Christ being shed was thus forgiven The application hereof shall be comprised in two words First seeing great sinners repenting and reforming themselves may be forgiven it calls us to repentance as the prophet Ezekiel first propounding and promising pardon upon repentance and amendment calls them to reformation and casting away their transgressions and this he doth as it were by an expostulation or reasoning the matter For why will ye die O house of Israel As if hee should say If yee will not repent and 〈…〉 and are guiltie of your own destruction and that not only by 〈◊〉 committed but also by the remedie of Repentance neglected And this also is confirmed of God by â—n oath As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner but that the wicked should turne from his way and live Turne yee turne yee from your evill wayes for why will ye die O house of Israel Hereon is thus much noted Repentance therefore is life when it is perserred before death Thou therefore O sinner so seaze upon it and so imbrace it as a shipwrackt man doth some trusty piece of a plank broken out of the shipp this shall lift thee up being sunk under the waves of thy sins and draw thee into the haven of Gods mercy Secondly it comforts those that are truely penitent for their sinnes wherein they have long lived or are of great guilt and offence in the eyes of God as Murder Whordome oppression and such like upon their repentance and amendment they are pardonable if they will wash and make themselves cleane then though their sinnes were as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow if they be redde like Crimson they shall bee as Wooll Can any blood or sin whatsoever die a deeper colour then the sacred blood of the Sonn of God and yet wee see that forgiven to the Jewes repenting and embracing the faith For when they wounded in conscience they are directed to this remedie with hope of cure and safety Which may teach us That no man should dispaire of the forgivenesse of his sinne when they obtained pardon that killed Christ as saith Saint Austen wee will end with a saying of the same Father which may serve unto us both