Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1846-12-24


ing We presume he did not intend il for appli-
cation to the Mexican War; but we cannot for
bear remarking, that the judgments threatened
upon the nation ,crongly engaged in war are terri
bic indeed. May our country escape such iudg-
ments
THE PREACHER OF BRANDYWINE.
Their memories are with me now those brave
men, who, with God for their panoply, shared the
terrors of Trenton, the carnage of Brandywne, the
crust and cold of Valley Forge; their memories
arc with me now, and shall be forevernore. They
were brave men, those Preacher-Heroes of the
Revolution. We will remember them in hymns,
sung on the cold winter nights, around the hearth
sides of our homes-we will not forget them in our
prayers. We will tell the story to our children !;
"Chdrenl there we're brave men in the Revolu-
tion-brave men, whose hearts painted beneath
preachers gown. There were brave men, whose
hands grasped Bible, a cross, and sword. Brave
men, whose voices we're heard amid the crash OF
legons, and beside the quiverng forms Of the dy-
ing. Honest men were they, who forsook pulpit
and church TO follow George Washingon's army,
it left its bloody footsteps in the winter SHOW
Honor to those Preachef-Heroes, who called upon
their God in the storm, and heard his answer in the
battle shout~
1t was on the eve of the battle of Brandywne.
see before me now that pleasant valley, with its
ows of twilight. The stream now dashing around
some rugged rock, now spreading in mirror-like
calmness; the hills on either side, magnificent with
forest trees the farm-houses, looking out from the
embrace of orchards, golden with the fruitago of
the fall the twilight sky bushng with the last kiss
of day-all are there now, as they were on the 10th
of September 1777.
But then, whitening over the meadow, arose the
snowy tents OF the Continental encampment. Then
arms cleaned from these hills, and war-steeds la
we'd their limbs in yonder stream. Then, at the
gentle twilight hour the brave men of the army,
sword and rifle IN hand, gathered around Preach
or, whose pulpit--a granite roek--uprose from the
green hillside, near Chadds Ford.
Look upon him as he stands there, his dark gown
floating around his tall form, his eye burning and
his brow flushing with the excitement of the hour
| He is man in the prime of manhood-wIth q bold
face, tempered down to an expression Of Christian
mcekness-yet, ever and anon, warror-soul locks
out from that dark eye, warrior-shout swells up
from that heaving bosom.
Washington Wayne, Pulaski, Sullivan, Greene
there all grouped, around the rock. The last ray
of sunset CLEANS on their uncovered brows Far
away spread the ranks of the army Through the
silence of the twilight hour, you may hear that bold
voice, speaking out words like these.
Conceive will go to church with the Heroes
Our canopy the sky, the pulpit yon granite rock
the CONGREGATION band of brave men, who witt
our Preacher a warrior-soul, locked up in a sacer
dotal robe. Conceive will worship with Wash
ngon and Wayne; we will kneel upon this sod
while the sunset CLEANS over ten thousand brows
barred to the beam and breeze.
Do you hear the Preachers voice swelling thro
the twilight air
REVOLUTIONARY SERMON,
Preached on The cue Of the Battle of Brandylcine
GSept. 10, 1777,) in presence Of Washington ame
his .4rmH al Chadd'S Ford.
"Thcy take the shall perish by the swordn
Soldiers and Counhymen We have met THU
evening perhaps for the last time We have shar
ed the toll of the march, the peris of the fight thu
dsmay of the retreat-aike we have endured tot
and hunger, the contumcly of the internal foe, thu
outrage of the foreign oppressor. We have sa
night after night beside the same camp fire. shared
the same rough soldiers fare; we have togethe
heard the roll Of the revee which called up to du
ty or the beat Of the tattoo which gave the sigma
for the hard sleep of the soldier with the earth fol
his bed the knapsnck for his pillow.
And now, soldiers and brethren, we have met il
this peaceful valley, the of battle, while the
sunlight is dying away beyond yonder heights, the
sunlight that tomorrow morn will glin,mer OF
scenes of blood. We have met, amid the whiten
ing tents of our encampnent-in times of terror
and OF gloom have gathered together-God
grant it may not be for the last time.
1t is solemn time. Brethren, does not the aw
ful voice Of nature seem to echo the sympathies oil
this hour? The flag OF our country droops heavi
ly from yonder staff-the breeze has died away a
long the plain of Chadd's Ford-tho plain thai
spreads before us glisening in sunlight-the heights
of the Brandywine arise gloomy and grand beyont
the waters Of yonder stream, and all nature holds
pause of solemn silence, on the eve of the blood
shed and strife of the morrow.
"They that take the SCord shall perish by III,
SlUord."
And have they not taken the sword?
Let the desolated plain, the blood-soddened val
ley, the burned farm house, the sacked village, anC
the ravaged town, answer-let the whitening bone.
of the butchered farmer, strewn along the fields o
his homestead, answer-let the starving mother
with the babe clngng to her withered breast, tina
can afford no sustenance, let her answer with the
death-ratte mngng with The murmurlng tone!
that mark the last struggle for lite-let the dying
mother and her babe answer
1t was but day past when our land slept in thu
light of peace. War not here-wrong wa
not here Fraud, and woe, and misery, and wan
dwelt not among u.s. From the eternal solitude o
the green woods, arose the blue smoke of the set
tiers cabin, and golden fields of peered fortl
from amid the waste of the wilderness, and the gat
music OF human voices awoke the silence of tht
forest.
Now, God of mercy behold the change Unde
the shadow of a pretext--under the sancity of tn,
name of God, invoking the Redeemer to their aid
do these foreign hfellngs STAY our people! They
throng our towns, they darken our plains, and nov
they compass our posts on the lonely plains o
Chadd's Ford.
"They that take the sword shall perish by thu
sword"
Brethren think me not unworthy OF belief whel
tell you that the doom of the British is near =
Think me not vain when | tell you that beyont
that cloud that now enshrouds us, see gathering
thick and fast the darker cloud and the blacke
storm, of a Divine Reribution
They may conquer us tomorrow Might anC
wrong may prevail, and we may be driven from Thu
fed-but the hour of Gods own vengence viii
come
Aye, if in the vast solitudes of eternal space
if in the heart of the boundless universe, there
throbs the being of an awful God, quick to avenge
and sure to punish guilt, then will the George
of Brunswick, called King, feel in his brain and il