The man of war. A sermon preached to the Artillery Company at Boston, on…

DOCTRINE. Christianity is no Enemy to Soldiery.

DOCTRINE. Christianity is no Enemy to Souldiery.

The Religion revealed by God to fallen man forbids it not to him, but approveth of it. Nor let it be supposed, that I use the word, Christianity, precariously; as if it were not applicable hither, or as if the people of God in former times, before Christ came in Flesh, might lawfully make War, and consequently study and practice Military Skill; but that Christ, upon his Coming, had brought in a new Law, which forbids it; and that because he thought it to be a great Christian Duty, to bear injuries, and not to revenge themselves; therefore War is now unlawful for them; and if so, to what purpose should they be Soldiers? Whereas Religion hath been the same in all the Essentials of it, ever since the Fall, and hath received no alteration but in Positives. The Gospel was Preached to our First Parents presently upon their Apostasy; there hath been but one way for the Salvation ⟨p. 12⟩of Sinners, and that is by Christ, Acts 4.22. there is Salvation in no other. The Moral Law was renewed upon Mount Sinai, and given in the hand of a Mediator, to be a Rule of Obedience to the Worlds End unchangeably: nor did Christ come to destroy it; nay, he hath assured us, that he will not suffer one jot or tittle of it to fail, Mat. 5.17, 18. If then the Moral Law doth not condemn War, but prescribe to it; and that Law be a Rule for Christians, as it certainly is, Christ did not prohibit it, though he forbade private revenge for personal injuries: which yet was no addition to the Law of Nature, or Law Moral, but only an interpretation of it, and a vindicating it from the false glosses of corrupt men.

The Religion revealed by God to fallen man forbids it not to him, but approveth of it. Nor let it be supposed, that I use the word, Christianity, precariously; as if it were not applicable hither, or as if the people of God in former times, before Christ came in Flesh, might lawfully make War, and consequently study and practice Military Skill; but that Christ, upon his Coming, had brought in a new Law, which forbids it; and that because he thought it to be a great Christian Duty, to bear injuries, and not to revenge themselves; therefore War is now unlawful for them; and if so, to what purpose should they be Souldiers? Whereas Religion hath been the same in all the Essentials of it, ever since the Fall, and hath received no alteration but in Positives. The Gospel was Preached to our First Parents presently upon their Apostasy; there hath been but one way for the Salvation