N00354:124
Military duties, recommended to an artillery company
Military duties, recommended to an artillery company; at their election of officers, in Charles-town [sic], 13.d. 7.m. 1686. / By Cotton Mather, Pastor of a church in Boston. ; [Three lines of quotations in Latin]Military duties, recommended to an artillery company; at their election of officers, in Charls-town [sic], 13.d. 7.m. 1686. / By Cotton Mather, Pastor of a church in Boston. ; [Three lines of quotations in Latin]
printed by Richard Pierce, 1687
MILITARY DUTIES Laid before A TRAINED BAND 13. d. 7. m. 1686. › Application 5 › Rule 2: RULE. II.
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.
A Sufficient pair of Shoes are next to be procured. It is a rough cragged thorny way that we have to go. Well, Be shod with the Pr• paration of tho Gospel of peace: The Gospel of God, which is a Gospel of Peace; Bringing the Intelligence and producing the Settlement o• ⟨p. 64⟩a Peace betwixt God and man; This exhibit unto us those Counsels and those Comforts which will be a good Preparative against the Worst that can befall us: O lay up a store of these; and so say, Tho' War should rise against me, in these will I be confident,
A Sufficient pair of Shoes are next to be procured. It is a rough cragged thorny way that we have to go. Well, Be shod with the Pr• paration of tho Gospel of peace: The Gospel of God, which is a Gospel of Peace; Bringing the Intelligence and producing the Settlement o• ⟨p. 64⟩a Peace betwixt God and man; This exhibite unto us those Counsels and those Comforts which will be a good Preparative against the Worst that can befal us: O lay up a store of these; and so say, Tho' Warr should rise against me, in these will I be confident,
But what shall we do for a Shield? Especially since the Darts to be shot at us, like those among the Scythians, dipped in the Venomous Gall of Vipers, will horribly inflame and torment the Souls which they are smitten with. Broad Shields of Raw Neats-Leather were wont to be held up against the violence of these. But here now above all take the Shield of FAITH. Let your Faith convey unto you the Substance of things hoped for ▪ the Evidence of things not seen. Especially let your Faith put you under the Conduct of the Lord Jesus Christ, and call in Him ▪ as an able and a ready Saviour, always knowing how to succour the tempted. Here will be a Shield which will stand you in stead to keep off more than as many Darts (two hundred and twenty) as were stuck in the Shield of Seva at the Siege of Dyrrachium.