The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1852-05-01
REVOLUTIONARY RELIC.

Revolutionary Sermon. The follow
ing interesting document was recently
found among the papers of Maj. John
Jacob Schafmyer, deceased patriot OF
the Revolution. 1t is discourse de-
livered on the eve of the battle of Bran
DIVINE, by Rev. Joab Trout, to large
portion of the American soldiers, 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, the peril of the fight,
and the dismay of the retreat alike; we
have endured the cold and hunger, the
contumely OF the internal foe, and the
courage of the foreign oppressor. We
have sat, night after night, beside the
campfire; we have together heard the
roll of the revelie, which called us 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 yonder heights, the sum
light that tomorrow morn will glimmer
on scenes of blood. We have met, amid
the whitening tents of our encampment;
in the time Of terror and gloom have
we gathered together-God grant that
it may not be for the last time.
1t is a solemn moment. Brethren,
does not the solemn voice of nature
seem to echo the sympathies of the hour!
The flag Of our country droops heavily
from wonder staf-the breeze has died
away along the green plain of Chadd's
Ford-the plain that spreads before US
glitterng in sunligtlt-the heights OF
the Brandywine arise gloomlly and
grand beyond the waters OF yonder
stream-all nature holds pause of sol.
emn silence, on the eve of uproar and
bloodshed and strife of tomorrow.
"They that take the sword, shall per.
ish by the sword"
And have they not taken the sword!
| Let the desolate plain, the blood-sod-
den valley, the burned farmhouse black
ening in the sun, the sacked village, and
the ravaged town, answer-let the star
wing mother, with her babe clinging to
the withered breast that can afford no
sustenanca, let her answer with the
death-rat,e mingling with the murmur-
ing tones that marked the last struggle
of her life; let the dying mother and her
babe answer.
1t was but day past and our land
slept in the quiet of peace. War was
not here; wrong was not here. Fraud
and woe, and misery and want dwell
not among us. From the eternal soli-
tude Of the green woods, 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 pre-
text, under the sanctity of the name of
God, invoking the Redeemer to their
aid, do these foreign hirelings Stay our
people! They throng our towns-they
darken our plains, and now they encom-
pass our posts on the lonely plain OF
Chadd's Ford.
"They that take the sword, shall per-
ish by the sword"
Brethren, think me not unworthy of
belief when tell you the doom OF the
British is near. Think me not vain