XLII. PATIENCE AWHILE.

THE soldiers asked of John Baptist, Luke iii. 14, &c.: And what shall we do? Every man ought (not curiously to inquire into the duty of others, but) to attend his own concernments. The Baptist returned: Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.

Good counsel to the soldiers of this age. Do violence to no man, plunder no man, accuse no man falsely.

Make no men malignants by wrongful information, and be content with your wages.

But I have heard some of the most moderate of the soldiers, not without cause, to complain: “He is a mutineer indeed who will not be content with his wages; but alas! we must be content without our wages, having so much of 282our arrears due unto us: this is a hard chapter indeed. And John Baptist himself, though feeding hardly on locusts and wild honey, could not live without any food.”

Indeed, their case is to be pitied, and yet such as are ingenuous amongst them will be persuaded to have patience but awhile, the nation being now in fermentation, and tending to a consistency. The wisdom of the Parliament is such, they will find out the most speedy and easy means to pay them; and such their justice, no intent is there to defraud them of a farthing, whatsoever ill-affected malecontents may suggest to the contrary.