Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1844-02-23

er storm Of a Divine Indignation !
They may conquer US tomorrow. Might and
wrong may prevail, and We may be driven from
this feld-but the hour of Gods own vengence
will conn
Aye, if in the vast solitude of eternal space,
if in the heart Of the boundless universe, there
trobs the being Of an awful God, quick to avenge,
and sure to punish guilt, then will the man
George of Brunswick, called King, feel in his
brain and his heart, the vengeance of the eternal
Jehovah A blight will be upon his life-a
withered brain, and accursed intellect a blight
will be upon his children, and on his people,
Great God how dread the punishment
Acrowded p%opulace, peopling the dense towns
where the man of money thrives while the labo-
rer %starves; want a striding among the people
in all its forms of terror and ignorant and God
defying priesthood chuckling over the miseries
of millions a proud and merciless nobility ad-
ding wrong to wrong, and heaping insult upon
robbery and fraud royalty and corrupt to the
very heart and aristocracv rotten to the core ;
crime and want linked hand in hand, and tempt.
ing men to deeds of wo and dea,h--these are a
part of the doom and the retrlbution that came
upon the English throne and the English people!
Soldiers--I look around upon your familiar
faces with a strange interest !---To-morrow
morning we will all 60 forth to the battie--ior
need | tell you that your unworthy minister vii!
march with you. invoking Gods aid in the fight
1--WE will march forth to battle! Need | ex-
hort you to fight the good fight, to igh, for your
homesteads, for your wives and children!
My friends, might urge you to fight by the
calling memories of British wrong. Walton--I
might tell you Of your butchered father, in the
silence of the night on the plains of Trenton; |
might ring his death shrek into your ears
Shelmire--l might tell you of a bu,chered mo.
Their, and a sister outraged the lonely farm.
house, the night assault, the roof in flames, the
shout of the troopers as they despatched their
victims, the cries for mercy, the pleadings of in.
nocence for pity. | might paint this all again,
in vivid colors of the terrible reality if | Thought
your courage needed such wild excitement.
But ! know you are strong in the might of the
Lord. You will march forth to battle on the
morrow with light hearts and determined spir-
its, though the solemn duty--the duty of aveng-
ing the dead--may rest heavy on your souls.
And in the hour of battle, when all around is
darkness lit by the lurid cannon glare, and the
piercing musket flash, when the wounded strew
the ground, and the dead litter your path, then
remember soldiers that God is with you. Tho
eternal God fights for you--he rides on the bat.
tie cloud, he sweeps onward with the march or
the hurricane charge--God, the awful and the
infinite, fights for you, and will triumph.
They that take the sword shall perish by The sword"
You have taken The sword, but not in the spl.
t of wrong and ravagc. You have taken the
sword tor your homes, for your wives, for your
little ones. You have taxen the sword for truth,
for justice and right, and to you the promise is
--be Of good cheer, for your foes have taken the
sword in defiance of all that man holds dear, in
blasphemy of God--they shall perish by the
sword.
And now, brethren and soldiers, I bid you all
farewell. Many of US may fall in the battle of
Tomorrow. God rest the souls of the fallen
many of US may live to tell the story of The fight
tomorrow, and in the memory of all who ever
rest and linger the quiet scene of the autumnal
night.
Solemn twilight advances over the valley -
the woods on the opposite heights fling their
long shadows over the green of the meadows
h around us are the tents of the continental host,
the suppressed hustle of the camp, the hurried
I tramp of the soldiers to and fro among the tents,
!, stiffness and awe that marks the eve of battle.
S When we meet again, may the shadow Of
twilight be flung over a peaceful land. God in
d heaven grant it.
e PRAYER FOR THE REVOLUTION.
Great Father we bow before thee we in
woke thy blessing, we deprecate thy wrath we
e return thee thanks for the past, we ask thy aid
for the future. For we are in times of trouble,
y oh, Lord, and sore beset by foes, merciless and
S Implying. The sword CLEANS over our land
s and the dust of the soil is dampened with the
blood Of our neighbors and friends.
Oh! God OF mercy, we pray thy blessing on
the American arms. Make the man of our
e hearts strong in thy wisdom bless, we beseecl
thee, with renewed life and strength, our hope,
and thy instrument, even George Washington
;" Shower thy counsels on the Honorable, the
Continental Congress; visit the tents of vuI
host, comfort the solder in his wounds and af.
%fllctions, nerve him for the fight, prepare him fol
the hour of death.
4. And in the hourof defeat, God of Hosts, do
}, thou be our stay, and in the hour of triumph be
,r thou our guide.
n Teach US TO be merciful. Though the mem.
e DRY of calling wrongs be at our hearts, knock
ing for admlt'ance, that they may Gil us with
the desire of revenge, yet let us, oh, Lord, spare
| tho vlnunIshaI th,urh tI,, ,,,.. .--I ~
nthe hour of b~utchery and bloodshed. And il
Is the hour of death, do thou guide us to the abode
prepared for the blest; so shall we return
thanks unto thee through Christ our Redeemel
e God prosper the cause. Amen.
n NOTHING MADE IN VAIN.
i. The Creator has made nothing that is muse,
ful, nothing so insulated as to have no relation,