A50163:82
Soldiers counselled and comforted a discourse delivered unto some part of the forces engaged…Souldiers counselled and comforted a discourse delivered unto some part of the forces engaged…
Soldiers counselled and comforted a discourse delivered unto some part of the forces engaged in the just war of New-England against the northern & eastern Indians, Sept. 1, 1689 / by Cotton Mather ...Souldiers counselled and comforted a discourse delivered unto some part of the forces engaged in the just war of New-England against the northern & eastern Indians, Sept. 1, 1689 / by Cotton Mather ...
Boston: printed by Samuel Green, 1689
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.
Thirdly, Know that your Helper is Great. You will be Too many for your Adversaries; in-as much as, you have with you, the Hosts of the Lord; the very Angels are your Companions in your present Enterprise. An Angel said once to an Apostle, I am thy Fellow-Servant; and many an Angel does now say to you, I am your Fellow-Soldier. 'Tis mentioned as the Employment of the Angels, in Cant. 3.7, 8. Behold His Bed, which is Solomons; the Valiant are about it; they all hold Swords, being Expert in War; because of Fear in the Night. It is your Employment also; thus you stand about this Bed, this Church of the Lord Jesus, and the Angels are with you in it. But wh•t cannot one Angel do? An Army of an Hundred Fourscore Five Thousand cannot stand before Him. How much more will the Innumerable Company of Angels associating with you, give you cause to say with him of old, There are more ⟨p. 34⟩with us, than against us! Yea, and you have the Lord of Hosts Himself with you too. You may like Luther, sing the Forty Sixth Psalm, when you see the Difficulties that you are put upon; and sing particularly, those Clauses in it. The Lord of Hosts is with us; He makes Wars to cease unto the ends of the Earth. Know that I am God, I will be Exalted among the Heathen. When some Soldiers were talking together the Night before a Doubtful Battle, That their Enemies were thus and so Numerous, but that Themselves had but such and such Forces to match them with; their Courageous General happening to over hear them, surprised them with that Expression, And I pray, how many do you count ME for? In like manner, when you are anxious about the proportion of your Numbers, to those that may oppose you, the Blessed God interposes, And I pray, how many do you count me for? The Confession that New-England makes to the God of Heaven, is, The Lord is my King, my Lord, my Law-giver. We may add, He will save us. And you may sing with him, Psal. 18.6, 12. The Lord is on my side, I will not fear. The Nations compassed me about like Bees, but in the Name of the Lord, I will destroy them all. Tho' you carry your Lives in your Hands, yet they are not in your own Hands; no they are in the Hands of that God, without whom not a Sparrow falls, and by whom every Bullet is directed. You may say, (as the Syriac version of my Text expresses it) My Life is continually