The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1852-05-18
From the New York Family Courier.
A Revolutionary Relic.

the eve of the battle of Brandywine. without a
thrill o. exulting pride in tho heroism of his
slres. Considering the place, the occasion and
the audience, it was one of tho finest bursts OF
Christian patriotic eloquence that can be found
in our history. Such appeals fired the soul
and strung The nerves, far better than drums
or war trumps; they aroused spirit that was
unconquerable as ctherhal truth itself; they
sent forth men into the battle, mailed with ce-
lestial armor, TO fight, like the old chieftain OF
Israel; in The very sight Of heaven. Where
will you find loftier devotion, sublimer
faith, and more dauntess valnor, and a sterner
fortitude, than took shape in The electric words
of this warrior preacher, of the dark days OF
tho revolutionl How soul answering 10 soul
those words were on the morrow sealed, the
blood-dved plains of Brandywine will tell to
men forever Let this noble relic be added 10
those other mementoes that remiud us of the
fearful price with which our liberties were
bought, and the fearful responsibilities we are
under 10 guard them "a the sacred trusts OF
Heaven. As i, the hour of defeat the God OF
Hosts was our stay so in the hour Of triumph
may He be our guide, and thus the whole
prayer of the preacher be answered.
The following interesting document was re-
Gently found among the papers of Mi. John
O"Sou ucctubcu DulilOt VI tuc
Revolution. II is discourse delivered on the
eve of the battle of Brandywine, by Rev. Joab
Trout, TO large portion of the American SOL
diors, in presence Of General Washington, Gen.
Wayne, and other officers Of the army.
" "They that take the sword shall perish by
the sword"
Soldiers and Countrymen:-
We have met this evening perhaps for the
last time. We have shared the toll of the
march, tho peril of the fight, the dsmay of the
retreat alike; we have endured the cold and
hunger, the contumely of the internal foe, and
>she courage ofthe foreign oppressor We have
Fat night after night, beside the camp-fire; we
have together heard to roll of the reveille,
which called us to duty, or the beat of the tat
too, which gave the signal for the hardy sleep
of tho soldier, with the earth for his bed and
knapsack for 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
yonder heights, the sunlight that tomorrow
morn will glimmer OH the scenes of blood -
We have met amid the whitening tents, of our
cncampment; in the time of terror and gloom
have we gathered together, God grant that it
may not be for the last time.
1t is n solemn moment. Brethren, does not
the solemn voice of nature seem TO echo SYM
pathies of the hourl The flag of our country
droops heavily from yonder staff: tho breeze
has died away along the green plain of Chadd's
Ford. the plain that spreads before us glitter
ing in sunlight; the heights of the Brandywno
arise goomily and grand beyond the waters of
yonder stream; all nature holds pause of SOL
emn silence, on the eve of uproar and blood
shed and strife of tomorrow.
H'Thov that take tho sword shall nerish hv
the sword"
And have they not taken the swordl
Let the dcsolated plain, tho bood-sodden
valley, the burned farm house blackening in
the sun, the sacked village, and the ravaged
town, answer; let the whitening bones of the
butchered farmer strewn along the fields fhis
homestead, answer; let the starving mother
with her babe clingirg to the withered breast
that can afford no sustenance, let her answer
ith the death-r rattle mingling with the mur-
muring tones that marked the last struggle Of
her life, let the dying mother and her babe an
swer.
1t was but day past and our land slept in
the quiet peace. War was not here; wrong
was not here.
Fraud and woe aud misery and want dwet
not among us. From the eternal solitude of
the green woods, arose the blue smoke of the
settlers cabin, and the golden fields of corn
looked forth from amid the waste of the wilder
ness, and glad music of human voices awoke
the silence of the forest.
Now, God Of mercies, behold the change!-
Under the shadow Of pretext, under the sane
tity Of the name of God, invoking Redeem
or 10 their aid, do these foreign hire
lings slay our people! They throng our towns
they darken our plains, and now encompass
our posts on the lonely plains of Chadd Ford.
fgThau that tai ha cunr1 shall poricb kv
Tho sword"
Brethren, think me not unworthy of belief
when tell you the doom of the British is near.
Think me not vain when tell you that beyond
the cloud that now enshrouds us, | see gath
ering thick and fast, the darker cloud and
blacker storm of Divine retrbution.
They may conquer us tomorrow. Might
and wrong prevail. and we may be driven from
this field; but the hour of Gods own vengeance
will come.
Aye, if in tho vast solitude Of eternal space,
if in tho heart of the boundless universe, there
throbs the being of an awful God, quick to a.
venge, and sure to punish guilt, then will the
man George Brunswick, called King. feel in
his brain and heart the vengeance of the eter-
nal Jehovah! A blight will be upon his life;
withered brain, and an acccursed intellect;
blight will be upon his children, and on his
people. Great God. How great is the pun
isnment!
, A crowded populucc, pcopleing the dense
towns where the man of money thrives, while
the laborer starves; want strding among tho
people in all its forms of terror; an ignorant
and God -defyipg priesthood cbucklng over the
miseries of millions; proud and merciless no.
bility adding wrong to wrong, and hcapng in
sui: upon robbery and fraud; royalty corrupt
TO the very heart, and aristocracy rotten to the
core; crimc and want linked hand in hand, and
tempting men to deeds of woe and death; these
are part of the doom and retrbution that
come upon tho English throne and the Eng
lish people.
Soldiers-I look around upon your familiar
faces with strange interest. Mo-morrow
morning we will go forth to the battle; for need
i tell you that your unworthy minister will
marc with you invoking Gods aid in The fight
.,.s.sL c....i. La..I.I NJ I