The Constituents of a Good Soldier
“Be of good courage and let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our God; and the Lord do that which seemeth Him good.”
“An hundred years of peace and liberty in such a world as this is a very unusual thing, and yet our country has been the happy spot that has been distinguished with such a long series of blessings with little or no interruption. . . . While other nations have been involved in war we have not been alarmed with the sound of the trumpet [Jeremiah 4:19] nor seen garments rolled in blood [Isaiah 9:5].
But now the scene is changed; now we begin to experience in our turn the fate of the nations of the earth. Our territories are invaded by the power and perfidy of France, our frontiers ravaged by merciless savages, and our fellow subjects there murdered with all the horrid arts of Indian and Popish torture. Our General, unfortunately brave, is fallen; an army of 1300 choice men routed; our fine train of artillery taken; and all this (oh mortifying thought!) all this by 4 or 500 dastardly, insidious barbarians.
These calamities have not come upon us without warnings. We were long ago apprized of the ambitious schemes of our enemies and their motions to carry them into execution. And had we taken timely measures they might have been crushed before they could have arrived at such a formidable height.
But how have we generally behaved in such a critical time? Alas, our country has been sunk in a deep sleep; a cupid security has unmanned the inhabitants; they could not realize a danger . . . . And now, when the cloud thickens over our heads and alarms every thoughtful mind with its near approach, multitudes, I am afraid, are still dissolved in careless security or enervated with an effeminate, cowardly spirit. . . .
We have also suffered our poor fellow subjects in the frontier counties to fall a helpless prey to bloodthirsty savages without affording them proper assistance which, as members of the same body politic, they had a right to expect. . . .
The bloody barbarians have exercised on some of them the most unnatural and leisurely tortures, and others they have butchered in beds or in some unguarded hour. Can Human nature bear the horror of the sight? See yonder? The hairy scalps clotted with gore! The mangled limbs! Women ripped up! The heart and bowels still palpitating with life and smoking on the ground! See the savages swilling their blood and imbibing a more outrageous fury with the inhuman draught!
Sure these are not men; they are not beast of prey; they are something worse; they must be infernal furies in human shape. And have we tamely looked on and suffered them to exercise these hellish barbarities upon our fellow men, our fellow subjects, our brethren? Alas! With what horror must look upon ourselves as being little better than accessories to their blood?
And shall these ravages go on unchecked? . . . No, I am agreeably checked by the happy encouraging prospect now before me. Is it a pleasing dream? Or do I really see a number of brave men without the compulsion of authority, without the prospect of gain, voluntarily associated in company to march over trackless mountains . . . to succor their helpless fellow subjects and guard their country? Yes, gentlemen, I see you here upon this design. . . .” - - - - Samuel Davies. Religion and Patriotism; The Constituents of a Good Soldier. A sermon Preached to Captain Overton’s Independent Company of Volunteers, raifed in Hanover County, Virginia, August 17, 1755.
Excepted from “Celebrate Liberty! Famous Patriotic Speeches & Sermons” by David Barton of WallBuilders www.wallbuilders.com
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