In 1678, the Puritan minister Samuel Nowell preached a sermon he called «Abraham in Arms,» in which he urged his listeners to remember that «Hence it is no wayes unbecoming a Christian to learn to be a Souldier.» The title of Nowell's sermon was well chosen. Abraham of the Old Testament resonated deeply with New England men, as he embodied the ideal of the householder-patriarch, at once obedient to God and the unquestioned leader of his family and his people in war and peace. Yet enemies...
