WAR is deservedly accounted a very great judgment; as such it is threat­ned in the sacred scriptures, and such es­teemed by those who have had sorrow­ful experience of its ravages. Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and gar­ments rolled in blood ^(a): Wherever it takes its rout it leaves a crimson tract behind it, oc­casions the deepest distress, and spreads des­truction round; whilst to compleat the dole­ful tragedy, famine and pestilence often times follow in its train. Persons of refined humanity cannot even contemplate it at a distance without the most painful emotions. With the compassionate prophet they are ready to cry out, my bowels, my bowels, I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me, I cannot hold my peace, be­cause [Page 4] thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war ^(b). The idea is shocking, the heart revolts at the prospect, and none but the savage and inhuman can consider its tragical effects without horror: But though this be true, yet it frequently rages, its rumours are heard in different parts of the world, and perhaps there is no time when peace is at once enjoyed by all the inhabitants of the earth. It is melan­choly to reflect, that whilst "devils with de­vils damned firm concord hold," men, who are under every possible engagement to cul­tivate peace and love, should suffer their breasts to be agitated by passions so malig­nant as to excite such obstinate disputes as cannot be decided, but by the sword, and terminate in all the horrors of war. Still more to be lamented is it, that they, who far from disturbing others, desire only to sit under their own vine and fig-tree, enjoying the sweets of industry, friendship and liber­ty, should be molested by the ambitious and tyrannical, and forced to fly to arms in sup­port of their inherent rights and privileges: But such is the depraved state of human nature, that instances like this are not un­common: Wars and fightings proceed from men's lusts, which war in their members, and are greatly prevalent since the apostacy. The love of empire, the principles of am­bition, [Page 5] avarice and revenge, being deeply radicated in the human heart, have convert­ed this earth, which otherwise would have been the peaceful retreat of innocence, into an horrid scene of offensive wars, and a field of blood: The united considerations of reason and religion have never been suf­ficiently powerful to restrain these lusts of men, and keep them from invading the persons, liberties and possessions of their neighbours. Hence it becomes necessary for the humble and quiet, the meek and in­offensive to turn their attention to the art of war; and while they breathe the pacific spirit of the gospel, to furnish themselves with the instruments of slaughter: This is requisite in order to their preserving them­selves and property, from the hands of vio­lence. In this view therefore, war though connected with blood and carnage, is legi­timated. The principles of self-preservation prove it lawful; the voice of reason pro­claims it expedient, and the law of God demands it as a duty; whilst a most tre­mendous curse is denounced against such as do this work of the Lord deceitfully, and keep back their swords from blood ^c. Were we certain of being always safe from the violent and unreasonable assaults of others, it would by no means be expedient for us to spend any part of our time for the acquisi­tion [Page 6] of military skill; for the religion of Jesus, the laws of God, do not permit us to invade the rights of others, or disturb them in the quiet enjoyment of their justly ac­quired possessions. But, inasmuch as the present corrupt temper of mankind can give us no reasonable prospect of an entire ex­emption from their violence, and as the most probable way to prevent the execution of their wicked designs, is to appeal to the sword, and be in a capacity to repress their insolence, and repel force by force; hence knowledge in the arts and policy of war, is a very desirable accomplishment: And truly happy is the condition of that people, who are so prepared for the reception of an ap­proaching enemy, as to be free from pre­vailing fears on the occasion, and have well grounded confidence of success in battle. This was the happy condition of David in my text: On what occasion he penned the Psalm is uncertain: Some think, when he was persecuted by Saul; others, when he was forced to fly from Absalom; and others again, on the occasion of his being deliver­ed from the hands of Ishbibenob, one of the sons of a Giant, who came upon him and thought to have killed him, and probably would have done so, had not Abishai stepped in to his relief ^d: But be the occasion what it would, we find it speaks the language of [Page 7] confidence, and a full assurance of victory in war, should it ever rise against him. This was not a groundless presumption, nor the effect of pride and self-conceit; it was not an enthusiastic impression, nor an evidence of a rash and fool-hardy spirit; but the result of past experience: His knowledge and dexterity in the use of arms, his own bra­very and prowess, the goodness of his cause and the favour of heaven towards him, fill­ed him with these hopes. The words then may well furnish out to us the foundation of an enquiry concerning the things that are requisite to inspire a people with cou­rage, and reasonable hopes of success in an engagement with an host that either has, or may encamp against them. You will give your candid attention then, whilst I go on to enumerate those things that are necessa­ry for this purpose.

1st. The justice of their cause is, in this view essential: They who are believers in the righteous, superintending providence of God, must needs have but very slender hopes of prevailing in battle, if they know them­selves to be engaged in the support of an unrighteous claim: If the increasing their own power and dominion, the aggrandize­ment of themselves and families, and the gratification of the passions of avarice, am­bition or revenge, be the only motives of [Page 8] their commencing hostilities, and the only objects they are pursuing in opposition to the peace and happiness, the liberty and vir­tue of those whom they invade; then, me­thinks, their own hearts must misgive them; and they can reasonably expect no favour, no countenance, no support from that up­right Governor of the world who loveth righteousness, and is particularly concerned for the happiness of his great family of mankind: Should they flatter themselves with hopes of success from their superior numbers, or greater acquaintance with mi­litary discipline, yet they cannot fail to re­flect, that God is able to arm the elements and the whole host of heaven against them, to impart wisdom to the simple, knowledge to the ignorant, strength to the weak, and courage to the faint-hearted; and thus to cause victory to declare in favour of op­pressed innocence. This, the most authen­tic history in the world teaches us he has done in time past, and this such unrighteous oppressors have reason to fear he may do again; if in a natural way, deliverance cannot be procured for those who are stand­ing up in defence of their own righteous cause: The invaders therefore of the rights of their fellow-men must necessarily have many fore bodings of ill-success, and just fears of being repulsed, even when engaged [Page 9] in contest with a people less in number and inferior in skill to themselves: Whereas on the other hand, the goodness of a people's cause not only gives hope that God will fa­vor and succeed them in it; that the Cap­tain of the Lord's host will be for them, and fight their battles, but also inspires them with great zeal and resolution in the defence of it. What confidence must that people have of protection and victory, when the interest of religion, the honor of God, the happiness of themselves, and the welfare of unborn millions, are the only object of their contention? And what an amazing unbro­ken courage, what an invincible heroism, will possess the breasts of those who fight pro aris et focis, for their religion, their wives and children, their liberty and happi­ness, in short, for every thing that is good and great, venerable and sacred. This will give spirit to the lifeless, courage to the ti­mid, invention to the dull, and ardour to the phlegmatic. In such a cause as this, per­sons of all ages and professions will chear­fully engage. The husband-man will beat his plough-share into swords, and the vine-dresser his pruning-hook into spears, and the weak, forgetting his natural embicility, will say I am strong ^(c). In fine, as the poet has finely observed:

2d. A suitable body of troops to stand up in defence of this good cause is another thing necessary. On the goodness of their cause a wise people will not alone rely, though God can deliver, and has done so, without any visible means, yet his usual me­thod is to effect his purposes by the instru­mentality of second causes: Therefore to neglect the natural means of safety, whilst we have them in our power, is not confid­ing in, but rashly tempting and boldly pre­suming on the power and goodness of God. He expects that we use all lawful methods in our own power for our security and de­fence; after which we may leave our righ­teous cause with heaven, in humble hope that he will uphold and protect it. Now to have provided a suitable body of militia to withstand the host that encampeth against us, is one of those methods which we ought to take for our security: And that this mi­litary body may be such as to give a people reasonable prospect of victory, it should be circumstanced in the following manner: It should consist of a respectable number of able-bodied, effective men: Though one some­times chases a thousand, and two puts ten thousand to flight, yet this must be [Page 11] owing to the miraculous interposition of Pro­vidence, and what happens besides the com­mon and ordinary course of things:—For a large and very numerous army I would not be understood to plead; because such an one commonly rather disserves than helps the cause; rather gives occasion to fear a defeat, than hope for victory: All past experience confirms the truth of this: It is the unvaried language both of sacred and profane history, that overgrown armies have commonly been routed, thrown into confu­sion and cut to pieces, by those of a more moderate size, who were therefore more easily governed and less unweildy. Abijah King of Judah with an army of four hun­dred thousand men entered the field with Jereboam King of Israel, with twice that number, and yet the former was victorious, slaying five hundred thousand of the latter in one btttle ^(f). Asa King of Judah, having an army of five hundred and eighty thou­sand men, entirely routed an army of a mil­lion, brought against him by Zerah King of Cush ^(g). So the immense army of Xerxes, consisting of between two and three millions was entirely defeated by forty thousand Greeks. But though these instances prove that no advantage is to be expected from an over numerous host; yet at the present day when it is not usual to carry such su­pernumerary [Page 12] troops into the field, it is best to equal, or at least not to fall much short of those against whom we appear▪ It is of still greater importance towards insuring success, that the troops should be valiant and courageous, able of body, and capable of enduring the fatigues of a campaign. And notwithstanding the advantage a stand­ing army may, on some account, have over a militia, yet these latter may, with more security be depended on than the former; because being composed of men who have had their sinews strung, their limbs invigor­ated, and bodies hardened by daily labor, they will commonly exceed the former in strength and courage; and fighting for their estates, families and religion, will have every possible inducement to exert the most strenuous efforts in their defence.

Again, this militia should be well equipt with martial weapons, with proper arms, and sufficient ammunition.—Destitute of these, no resistance can be made, nor at­chievement performed against the advancing foe. These are as necessary to the proper soldier to enable him to withstand a well furnished host, as the panoply of God is to the spiritual soldier, who without it cannot expect to stand against the wiles of the de­vil, or quench his fiery darts. David could not have uttered himself as he does in the [Page 13] text, unless he knew that he and his subjects were well provided with weapons of war: For what probability of success can there possibly be in an engagement, if to all the modern instruments of death, we have no­thing to oppose but our naked bodies, or useless arms, as incapable of annoying as they. Conscious of the disadvantage arising from the want of military weapons, the Philistines took away all the smiths, through­out the land of Israel, lest the Hebrews should make themselves swords or spears, and thus be in a posture of defence; and at another time, when there was not a sword, or spear to be found among forty thousand in Israel, they fell an easy prey into the hands of their enemies. Further, they should be possessed of military skill;—knowledge in the art of war among civilized nations has been much cultivated, and by some of them carried to perfection: To go therefore into the field, in order to face a veteran, well disciplined soldiery, rude and ignorant of this science, is the direct way to sacrifice our lives and betray the cause in which we are engaged. More has often times been done by military skill, than by the advantage of superior numbers and prowess. In battle with bar­barous forces, this is an accomplishment not so essential. But with those by whom war is studied as a science, and held as a profes­sion, [Page 14] it is in vain to engage, unless we also are well versed in the modern manoeuvres of the same. They that are but superfici­ally acquainted with history, know that the most glorious exploits have been atchieved by means of martial discipline. By this, in a great measure, the Greek and Roman sol­diers made their arms triumphant over the barbarous nations of the globe. This, par­ticularly, extended the Roman Empire to the most diffusive limits, enabled her to give law to millions, and made her the mistress of the world. This acquired to Julius Cae­sar the false glory of having slain more than twelve hundred thousand men in his wars: For had he been destitute of this skill, he could not have made such mighty ha­vock; the strength and courage, the pa­tience and valour of his troops frequently meeting an equal match from the nations with whom they contended. To un­derstand the use of the gun, the sword and the bayonet; to know how to draw up an army in the most advantageous form for battle, to be expert in the different evolutions, so as to be able to rally a broken squadron; to place a battallion in an ad­vantageous post, to detach a party to sup­ply the place of those that may have been outdone, and to reinforce such as are mani­festly too weak to stand the shock that is [Page 15] brought against them; to know how to perform these several manoeuvres readily, without mistake or blunder, will give to an army a very great advantage in a field en­gagement, and without this knowledge our confidence in them can be but small. Lastly, they should be accustomed to military subor­dination. To have able Generals, prudent and experienced commanders, and then im­plicity to obey them, is the beauty and per­fection, the life and safety of an army. Of this obedience and subordination the regu­lar troops are an excellent example. It is surprising to observe to what a pitch they have carried their ideas of order, through the influence of severe discipline, and long continued custom. The common soldiers are all obedience to those in command. And amongst the officers themselves there is a just gradation, each inferior one strictly observing the orders of those above him. Every one is fixed in his post, and yields submission to those that are in places of su­perior command. Hence the supreme offi­cer regulates the whole. He, like the soul in the natural body, puts in motion every member; and all the different parts, which otherwise would clash and interfere, depend­ing ultimately on his influence, are made one harmonious body, all tending in their respective places to one grand point, with­out [Page 16] confusion. Whereas, if there were many masters in an army, all possessed of co-ordinate power, this would obstruct each salutary plan, and breed destruction to the whole. From a consideration hereof, it has ever been esteemed an important point to maintain this subordination; and for the maintenance of it no discipline has been thought too severe. Of such moment did the ancient warlike Romans view it, that we have instances of persons being punished with death for fighting contrary to order, even though success attended their arms. This indeed was a punishment disproportion­ate to the offence: However, all must con­cede that without the preservation of go­vernment and order in an army no success is to be expected against those who religiously uphold it. I come now to observe,

3dly. That the righteousness of a people's character is another thing necessary in order to their being confident of success in war. It is evident that under the righteous go­vernment of Jehovah, those who have ap­peared in defence of a just cause, have some­times been defeated. People have been de­prived both of civil and religious liberty by the prevailing efforts of an oppressive enemy; and this has been permitted to take place by God as a punishment for their dis­obedience, ingratitude and unfruitfulness. [Page 17] As he sometimes turns a fruitful land into barreness for the wickedness of those that dwell therein; so at others, he raises up enemies to come and spy out a nation's li­berty and strip them of it, because they have abused it to purposes of licentiousness, or are otherways wholly unworthy of the same. For the abuse of the written and preached word of God, people have had their teach­ers removed into corners, and a famine of hearing the word has ensued. Thus, be­cause the Jews neglected and despised the gospel, our Saviour threatens, that the king­dom of God should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Just so it is with regard to any other important blessing: If people are not sensible of its worth; if they despise and undervalue, pervert and abuse it; are un­grateful to the donor of it, and their whole conduct discovers that they are unworthy the possession thereof; then it pleases hea­ven to take it from them that they may see its worth in its absence, and may be brought to humble themselves before God for their impieties and numerous provoca­tions. Accordingly, because the Jews had communion with the neighbouring nations with whom they partook in their idolatries, he permitted them from time to time to be conquered and made tributary to them, and [Page 18] to continue in this distressed condition, till they were brought to a sense of their sins, and repenting of them, called upon him for delive­rance; wherupon he raised them up saviors, and restored them to their wonted privileges. Now in consideration of these things, a people can have no well grounded confidence of success in war, notwithstanding the justice of their cause, and a respectable body of troops to defend it, unless their own cha­racter be righteous and good; especially if they have abused great favors, and not lived according to their advantages, nor an­swered in any measure, the righteous ex­pectations of heaven concerning them. This righteous character is necessary, not only for the people in general, but especially for those on whom they depend to protect them. If they who are immediately engaged in the war, are persons of vicious behaviour, impi­ous, profane, unjust, intemperate and de­bauched, we cannot with confidence rely on their efforts, neither can they face an ene­my with calmness and intrepidity. This character like the accursed thing in the ar­my of Israel, will trouble the camp, pro­voke God to withdraw his assistance, and bring wrath upon the whole people. No­thing great is like to be effected by a disso­lute soldiery. Guilt is always timerous; vice enervates the mind, unstrings the body, and unsits for dangerous enterprises. True [Page 19] magnanimity dwells not in the breasts of impenitent sinners; but conscious innocence makes men fearless and undaunted. The wise man observed long ago, that the wick­ed fleeth when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion ^h.

They who have, through Christ, obtained an interest in the divine favour, and made God their friend; they who have inlisted under Jesus, the Captain of their salvation, and have fought the good fight of faith, may be fearless even amidst the most shocking scenes of blood and carnage. If thousands fall around them, and ten thousands at their right hands, they may remain unmoved, and meet death with calmness in its most dread­ful forms. Whereas, on the other had, an absolute certainty of victory is by no means sufficient to make a wicked man intrepid in fight; for though the battle may be won, yet his life is in danger of being lost; the consideration of which, must needs excite prevailing fears, and consequently unsit him, in a degree, for real service.

Lastly, If people entering into war would have well grounded hopes of success, they must not trust in an arm of flesh, in their numbers, or in their skill or courage; but in the Lord, committing their cause to him, [Page 20] and depending on his power and wisdom for prosperity This has been the practice of the pious in all past ages. In the 44th Psalm we find the church thus expressing herself: Through thee will we push down our enemies; through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us: For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me, but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance. When a people have made provision to re­pel force by force, and are persuaded of the goodness of their cause and character, then they are properly prepared to confide in the Lord of hosts and God of armies, and to look to him for his blessing in so hazard­ous an undertaking, the event of which de­pends wholly on his Providence. A people should acknowledge God in all their ways, but especially it is their interest and duty thus to do, when their all lays at stake; when life, liberty and property are depend­ing. They who neglect to do this, con­fiding in their own numbers, prudence and valour, are guilty of a grand omission that may prove fatal to their cause. The lan­guage of such conduct is, either that God's Providence is not concerned in the events of war, or that they stand in no need of his in­terposition and assistance; whereas common observation teaches us that he is particular­ly [Page 21] concerned in deciding the fate of battles. Things do not always, nay, not frequently turn out according to natural probabilites. How often have armies been defeated in a very wonderful manner, contrary to all hu­man appearances or expectations. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but time and chance happens to them all. Should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, this would be most manifestly owing to the special inter­position of the Divine Being on the weak­er, or against the stronger side. And in­deed, in victories obtained in a more natu­ral way, the agency of heaven is concerned, and his superintendency to be acknowledg­ed; for he is the author of all the warlike accomplishments that soldiers possess: They have nothing but what they received from him, and to him are they indebted for their valour and military skill. Hence David ac­knowledges that God taught his hands to war and his fingers to fight. Now the way to secure the divine assistance and protection in battle, is to trust in him. They that trust in the Lord, shall be like mount Zion, which cannot be moved. There is no King saved by the multitude of an host; a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. An horse is a vain thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. But [Page 22] whoso trusteth in the Lord shall be safe. It was this favour and protection of God, which he had secured by trusting in him, that made David so confident of success in war: The Lord, says he, is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear, the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? In this way did King Asa and King Jehosaphat ob­tain signal victories over hosts much supe­rior in number to theirs: In thier distress they cried unto the Lord, and he did deli­ver them. The words of Asa are these, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whe­ther with many, or with them that have no power; help us, O Lord, for we rest on thee, and in thy name go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God, let not man pre­vail against thee. And Jehosaphat addres­ses himself to heaven in the following man­ner: Behold how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might a­gainst this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do, but our eyes are up unto thee. In consequence of their thus looking to God, and humbly de­pending on him for assistance, they both came off victorious; for none that trust in the Lord shall be ashamed, but cursed is man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.

AMEN.