Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1850-03-04
MISCELLANEOUS.

90 The following interesting document was
recently found among the papers of Major John
Shaeflnyer, a deceased patriot of the revolution.
1t is discourse delivered on the eve of the battle
of Brandywine by Rev. Joab Trout, to large
portion Of the American soldiers, in presence of
Gen. Washington, Gen. Wayne, and other off
GERS Of his Hollidaysbug (Pa.) Stand.
REVOLUTIONARY SERMON.
"Thcy that take the s,vord shall perish By the
sWord."
SOLDIERS AND CouafRYMEN:
We have met this evening perhaps for the last
time. We have shared the toll of the march,
the peril Of the fight, and the dismay Of the re-
treat alike; we have endured the cold and hunger,
the contumely of the eternal foe, and the courage
of the foreign oppressor. We have sat, night
after night, beside the camp fire; we have to-
gethef Heard tie FOIL Of tie resielle. which calls
to duty or the beat Of the tattoo which gave 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 battle, while
the sunlight is dying away beyond heights, the
sunlight to morrow morn will glimH!er ON scenes Of
blood. Wehaye met, amid the whitening tents
ofour encampment; in the time of terror and
gloom have gathered togetfef-God grant that it
may not be the last time.
1t is a solemn moment. Brethren, does not the
solemn voice Of nature seem to echo the sympa-
thies Of the hour2 The flag ofour country droops
heavily from yonder staf-the breeze has died
away along the green plain Of Chadd's Ford
the plain that spreads before US glittering in sum
lght-the heights Of Brandywiae arise gloomy
and grand beyond the waters ofyonder stream
all nature holds pause of solemn silence, on the
eve of uproar aud bioodshed and strife Tomorrow
"They that take the sword shall perish by the
sword"
And have they not taken the swords
Let the desulated plain, the blood sodden valley,
the burned farm house blackening in the sun, the
sacked village and the ravaged town, answer
strewn along the fields of his homestead, answer
Jet the starving mother, with the babe cling
ing to her wlthered breast that can afford no sus-
tenance let her answer with the death rattle
minglng with the murmuring tones that married
the last struggle Of her life; let the mother and
her babe answer.
1t was but day past and our land slept ia tie
quiet Of peace. War was not here; wrong was
not here. Fraud and woe, and misery dwelt
not amongst us. From the eternal solitude of the
green wood, arose the blue smoke of the settlers
cabin, and golden 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 Redeemsr to
their aid. do these foreign hirelngs STAY our peo-
pie! They throng our towns-they darken our
plains, and now they encompass our posts on the
lonely plains Of Chadd's Ford.
"They that take the sword shall perish by The
sword.
Brethren, think me not unworthy of belief
when tell YOU that the doom 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
thicker storm of Divine retribution!
They may conquer US Tomorrow. Might and
wrong may prevail, and we May be driven from
the field bat the hour of Gods own vengeance
will come!
Aye, If in the vast soli.udes of eternal space, il
in the heart OF the boundless universe there throbs
the being Of auAAwful God, quick to revenge and
sure to punish guilt, then will the man George
Brunswick, called King, feel in his brain and
heart, the revenge Of the eternal Jehovah! A
blight will be upon his life-a withered brain and
accursed intellect; blight will be upon his chill
dren and on his people. Great God how dread
A crowded populace, peopling the dense towns
where the man Of money thrves, while the la
borer starves; want striding among the people in
all its forms of terror an ignorant and God defy
ing priesthood chuckling over the miseres OF
millions a proud and merciess nobility adding
wrong to wrong. and heaping insult upon robbery
and fraud royalty corrupt to the very heart, and
aristocracy rotten TO the core; crime and want
linked hand in hand, and tempting men to deeds
of woe and death-these are part of the doom
and re,ribution that shall come upon the English
and the English people!
SoldeirseI look upon your familiar faces with
strange interest! Tomorrow morning we will
go forth to the battle-tor need say that your nm
worthy minister will march with you involving
Gods aid in the fght-we will march forth 70
the battle Need exhori you to fight the gppd
fight, to fghtf for your homesteads, for your wives
andchildrtn!
CALLING memories Of British W, wrong. WaIion~
might tell of your father butchered in the silence
Of the night on the plains Of Trenton; ! might