Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1843-10-19
REVOLUTIONARY SERMON.

"Ihey that take The stcOrd shall perish 6y the sroro -
SOLDIERS AND COUNTRY MEN We have
met this evening perhaps for the last time
We have shared the toll of the march, the per-
n OF the fight, the dismay of the retreat-alike
we have endured cold and hunger, the con-
timely of the internal foe, and outrage of the
foreign oppressor. We have sat, nght after
night, beside the same camp Gre shared tho
same rough soldiers fare we have together
heard the roll of the rcveille, which called us
TO duty, or the beat of the tattoo. which rave
the signal for The hardy sleep of the soldier.
with the earth for his bed, and the knapsack
for his pillow.
And now, soldiers and brethren, we have
met in the peaceful valley, on the eve of bat
tie, while the sunlight is dying away behind
yonder heights, the sunlight that, tomorrow
morn, will gllmmer on scenes of blood We
have met, amid the whitening tents of onr
Encampment; in times of terror and of gloom,
have we gathered together-God grant it NAV
not be for the last time
Ii is solemn moment. Brethren, does
not the solemn voice of nature seem to echo
the sympatllies of the hour? The flag of
our country droops heavily from Wonder staff.
the breeze has died away along the green
plain OF ChadG's Ford-thc plain that spreads
:
the Rrandywine arise gloomy and grand be-
yond the waters of yonder stream, and all ma
ture holds pause of solemn silence, on the
eve Of the uproar Of the bloodshed and strife
of tomorrow.
"1hey that take Tie srord shall perish by the
Sm0rd'''
And have they not taken the swordo
Let the desolated plain. the blood-sodcned
valley, the burned farm house. blackening in
the sun, the sacked village, and the ravaged
town, amswer-let the whitening bones of the
butchered farmer, strewn along the fields of
his homestead, ANSWERED. the starving moth
er, with the babe c!ingng TO the withered
breast, that can afford no sustenance, let her
answer, with the death-rattle minglng with
the murmurlng tones, that mark the last strug-
gle fol-. liie-let the dying mother and her babe
answer
it was but day past and our land slept in
the quiet OF peace. War was not here
wrong was not here. Fraud, and wo. and
misery and want dwelt not among us. From
the eternal solitude Of the green woods, arose
the blue smoke of the settlers cabin, and COL
den fields OF corn looked forth from amid the
waste of the wilderness, and the glad music
of human voices awoke the silence of the
forest.
Now! God Of mercy, behold the change
Under The shadow OF a pretext, under the
sanctity of the name of God, invoking the
Redeemer to their aid. do these foreign hire
lings STAY our people, They lhrong our
towns, they darkeu our plains, and now they
encompass our posts on the lonely plain Of
Chadd's Ford.
"They that take the sword shall perish by
the swordw
Brethren, think me not unworthy Of belief,
when tell you that the doom of the British
is near Think me not vain, when tell YOU
that beyond the cloud that now enshrouds us,
see gathering, thick and fast, the darker
cloud and the blacker storm of Divine Re-
tribuon
They may conquer us on the morrow
Might and wrong may prevail, and we may be
driven from this Geld--but the hour of Gods
own vengeance will come
Aye, if III the vast solitudes Of eternal
space if in the heart Of the boundless universe,
there throbs the being of an awful God, quick
10 avenge. and sure to punish guilt, then will
the man, George Of Brunswick, called King,
feel in his brain and in his heart, the vengeance
Of The Eternal Jehovah a blight will be up