Objection has been taken by Mr Ornie to tlie warlike tone of the preacher in some parts of the discourse. 'Jhere is certainly but slight reference to the evils and horrors of war. Regret might have been expressed that no course was open to the nation in the pending qtiarrel with its king, but the stern arbitration of the swoi'd. Still, the objection is hardly just. The audience of Owen consisted of men who, at the call of duty, had been liazarding their lives for the best interests of the nation, and except on the i)rincii)le that all war is unlawful, the preacher could not be expected to utter sentiments which might have sounded in their ears as a condemnation of their conduct. Moreover, while he could not but allude to military operations, he abstains from all fulsome eulogy of the skill and valour of the conqiierors, and ascribes the praise of the victory and deliverance to God ; so much so, that he has been charged with committing himself in this discourse to the erroneous principle of inferring the goodness of a cause from the success that may have attended it. Mr Ornie conclusively repels the insinuation, by quoting Owen's own explicit disclaimer of the sentiment thus imputed to him : — " A cause is good or bad before it hath success, one way or otlicr; and tliat which hath not its warrant in itself, can never obtain any iVom its success. Tlie rule of the goodness of any cause is the eternal law of reason, with the legal rights and in- terests of men." See Owen's " Reflections on a Slanderous Libel," vol. xvi.— Ed.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY,
THOMAS LORD FAIRFAX, &c.
Sir, Almighty God having made you the instrument of that deliverance and peace which in the county of Essex we do enjoy, next to his own goodness, tlie remem- brance thereof is due unto your name. " Those who honour him he will honour ; and those who despise him shall be lightly esteemed," 1 Sam. ii. 30. Part of these ensuing sermons being preached before your excellency, and now by provi- dence called forth to public view, I am emboldened to dedicate them unto your name, as a small mite of that abundant thankfulness, wherein all peace-loving men of this county stand obliged unto you.
It was the custom of former days, in the provinces of the Roman empire, to erect statues and monuments of grateful remembrance ^ to those presidents and gover- nors who, in the administration of their aiithority, behaved themselves with wis- dom, courage, and fidelity ; yea, instruments of great deliverances and blessings, through corrupted nature's folly, became the Pagans' deities.
There is scarce a county in this kingdom wherein, and not one from which, your excellency hath not deserved a more lasting monument than ever was erected of Corinthian brass. But if the Lord be pleased that your worth shall dwell only in the praises of his people, it will be your greater glory, that being the place which himself hath chosen to inhabit. Now, for a testification of this is this only intended. Beyond this towards men, God pleading for you, you need nothing but oiu* silence ; the issue of the last engagements, whereunto you were called and enforced, answer- ing, yea, outgoing; your former undertakings, giving ample testimony of the con- tinuance of God's presence with you in your army, having stopped the mouths of many gainsayers, and called to the residue in the language of the dumb-speaking Egyptian hieroglyphic, ''n yivof/.svoi xa.) a.-?royivof/.ivi>i, «so; f/,iffu avathiiavi^ — '• Men of all sorts know that God hateth impudence."
It was said of the Romans, in the raising of their empire, that they were " sa?po prselio vicli, bello nunquam." So naked hath the bow of God been made for your assistance, that you have failed neither in battle nor war.
Truly, had not our eyes beheld the rise and fall of this latter storm, we could not have been persuaded that the former achievements of the army under your con- duct could have been paralleled. But He who always enabled them to outdo not only others but themselves, hath in this carried them out to outdo whatever before himself had done by them, that they might show more kindness and faithfulness in the latter end than in the beginning. The weary ox treadeth hard ; — dying bites are often desperate ; — half-ruined Carthage did more perplex Rome than when it was entire ; — hydra's heads in the fable were increased by their loss, and every new stroke begat a new opposition. Such seemed the late tumultuating of the exasperated party in this nation.
1 Lubens meritoque. - Plut. de Iside et Osir
74 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
In the many undertakings of the enemy, — all \\'liich themselves thought secure, and others esteemed prohable, — if they had prevailed in any one, too many reasons present themselves to persuade they would have done so in all. But to none of those worthies which went out under your command to several places in the king- dom, can you say, with Augustus to Varus, upon the slaughter of his legions by Arminius in Germany, " Quintile Vare, redde legiones," God having carried them all on with success and victory.
One especially, in his northern expedition, I cannot pass over with silence, who although he will not, dare not, say of his undertakings, as Caesar of his Asian war, " Veni, vidi, vici," knowing who works all his works for him ; nor shall we say of the enemy's multitude, what Captain Gam did of the French, being sent to spy out their numbers before the battle of Agincourt, that there were of them enough to kill, and enough to take, and enough to run away ; yet of him and them Ijoth he and \\e may freely say, '■' It is nothing with the Lord to help, either \\ith many, or with them that have no power."