A50142:32
Military duties recommended to an artillery company
Military duties recommended to an artillery company; at their election of officers, in Charles-town, 13. d. 7. m. 1686. By Cotton Mather, pastor of a church in Boston.Military duties recommended to an artillery company; at their election of officers, in Charls-town, 13. d. 7. m. 1686. By Cotton Mather, pastor of a church in Boston.
printed by Richard Pierce, 1687
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Almighty GOD is to be acknowledged as the Author of these Excellences.
All that have such Excellencies are beholden to GOD for them, and ought to own their being so. Among the Romans, there were those Officers who were called Campi Doct• res, the Doctors of the Field. All true Christian Soldiers will acknowledge the Ever-living GOD for the supreme Teacher in the field unto them; they say, He hath his chair in the Heavens, who is our Teacher. Shall we speak of SKILL? Behold, the Blesse• GOD, the Father of Lights is the Bestowe• of That. The haughty Sennacherib is rebuked for saying of his military Exploits, in Isa. 10. 13. By my wisdom I have done them. We are informed concerning the Husband-man by the princely Prophet, His God doth instruct him to Discretion, and doth teach him. How fitly may that be said of the Soldier too! There is a GOD that he hath his military Discretion from. Shall we speak of STRENGTH? Lo, This also is to be ascribed unto God, the Rock of Ages. It was a check given to the Moabites in Jer. 48. 14. How say ye, we are mighty and strong men for the war? As for Strength of Body this is from God. The Psalmist does most ingenuously ⟨p. 14⟩confess, in Psal. 18, 34. It is the Lord that teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. As for STRENGTH of SPIRIT, this too is from God. When Arrows are to be made Bright, and Shields to be gathered, tis said (in Jer. 51. 11.) that The Lord raiseth the spirits of men. That which makes this further evident is, that the Almighty God takes away military Skill and Strength from men, whensoever it pleaseth Him. This the poor Canaanites had experience of: The Hundreds of Thousands of armed men in those mighty Nations, advantaged with Chariots that were plated with sweeping slaughtering Hooks of Iron, could not stand—The Lord at once tormented them with great Wasps, hideously stinging of their Bodies, and with black Fears weakening of their Spirits, they could not stand before an handful of men, to whom the Lord had promised in