A Christian Directory

§. 5. Direct. 5. Be sure first that your cause be better than your lives, and then resolve to venture ¹your lives for them: It is the hazarding of your Lives, which in your Calling you undertake: And therefore be not unprepared for it; but reckon upon the worst, and be ready to undergo what ever you undertake. A Soldiers life is unfit for one that dare not dye. A Coward is one of the most pernicious murderers: He verifieth Christs saying in another sense, He that saveth his life shall lose it. While men stand to it, it is usually but few that dye; because they quickly daunt the enemy, and keep him on the defensive part: But when once they rout and run away, they are slain on heaps, and fall like leaves in a windy Autumn. Every Coward that pursueth them is emboldened by their fear; and dare run them through, or shoot them behind, that durst not so near have looked them in the face, and maketh it his sport to kill a fugitive, or one that layeth down his weapons, that would fly himself from a daring presence. Your cowardly fear betrayeth the cause of your King and Country: It betrayeth the lives of your fellow Soldiers: while the running of a few affrighted dastards lets in ruin upon all the rest: And it casteth away your own lives which you think to save. If you will be Soldiers, resolve to conquer or to dye. It is not so much skill or strength that conquereth, as boldness: It is Fear that loseth the day, and fearlessness that winneth it. The Army that standeth to it, getteth the Victory, though they fight never so weakly: For if you will not run, the enemy will. And if the lives of a few be lost by courage, it usually saveth the lives of many: (Though wisdom still is needful in the Conduct:) And if the cause be not worth your lives, you should not meddle with it.

§. 5. Direct. 5. Be sure first that your cause be better than your lives, and then resolve to venture ¹your lives for them: It is the hazarding of your Lives, which in your Calling you undertake: And therefore be not unprepared for it; but reckon upon the worst, and be ready to undergo what ever you undertake. A Souldiers life is unfit for one that dare not dye. A Coward is one of the most pernicious murderers: He verifieth Christs saying in another sense, He that saveth his life shall lose it. While men stand to it, it is usually but few that dye; because they quickly daunt the enemy, and keep him on the defensive part: But when once they rowt and run away, they are slain on heaps, and fall like leaves in a windy Autumn. Every Coward that pursueth them is emboldned by their fear; and dare run them through, or shoot them behind, that durst not so near have looked them in the face, and maketh it his sport to kill a fugitive, or one that layeth down his weapons, that would flye himself from a daring presence. Your cowardly fear betrayeth the cause of your King and Countrey: It betrayeth the lives of your fellow Souldiers: while the running of a few affrighted dastards lets in ruine upon all the rest: And it casteth away your own lives which you think to save. If you will be Souldiers, resolve to conquer or to dye. It is not so much skill or strength that conquereth, as boldness: It is Fear that loseth the day, and fearlesness that winneth it. The Army that standeth to it, getteth the Victory, though they fight never so weakly: For if you will not run, the enemy will. And if the lives of a few be lost by courage, it usually saveth the lives of many: (Though wisdom still is needful in the Conduct:) And if the cause be not worth your lives, you should not meddle with it.