Columbus Democrat. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-18??, 1852-12-11
Revolutionary Sermon.

They that take the sword shall perish BY the sword
The following interesting document was re
Gently found among the papers of Major JOIN
Shaefmyer, a deceased patriot of the revolution
1t is discourse delivered on the eve of the battlt
; of Brandywine, by Rev. Jacob Tronte, TO a larg,
portion of the American soldiers, in presence O
Gen Washington, Gen. Wayne, and Others o.
the army;
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 contume-
ly of the eternal foe and the courage of the for
egh oppressor. We have sat, at night, beside
the campfire we have together heard the roll OF
the revele 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 countrymen, we have
met in this peaceful valley on the eve of battle,
while the sunlight is dying away beyond yonder
heights, the sunlight 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 gathered togtth-
er. 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 sym
pathies Of the hour The flag Of our country
droops heavily from yonder staff the breeze has
died away along the green plain of Chadd's Ford,
the plain that spreads before us, gttering in sun
light; the heights of Brandywine arises gloomy
and grand beyond the waters of yonder stream
all nature holds pause of solemn silence on the
eve Of uproar and bloodshed and strife of to-
morrow.
They that take the sword shall perish by the
sword"
/ And have they not taken the sword
Let the desolate plain, the blood-sodden valley,
the burned farm house backenng in the sun, the
sacked village and the ravaged town answer; let
the whitened bones of the butchered farmer,
strewn along the fields of his homestead, answer !;
let the starving mother, with the babe clingng to
the withered breast that can afford no sustenance,
let her answer with the death rattle miugling with
the mumuring tones that marked the last s.rug
Gle Of her life; lot the mother and her babe
answer.
1t was but a day past, and our land slept in the
quiet of peace. War was not here. Fraud and
woe, and want dwelt not among us. From the
ete,nal solitude Of the green woods arose the blue
smoke of the settlers cabin, and golden fields Of
corn looked from amid the waste Of the wilder
ness, aud the glad music Of human voices awoke
the silence Of the forest.
Now, God Of mercy, behold the change, I'm
der the shadow Of pretcxt, under the sanctity Of
the name Of God, invoking the redeemer to their
aid, do these hirengs slay our people They
throng our towns-they darken our plains, and
now they encompass our posts on the lonely plain
of Chadds Ford.
"They that take the sword shall perish by the
sword"
Brethren think me not unworthy of belief
when | tell you that the doom of the British is
near. Think me not vain when tell you that
beyond the cloud that now enshrouds us, see
gathering thick aud fast, the darker cloud and
thicker storm Of divine retribution!
They may conquer us tomorrow. Night and
wrong may prevail, and we may be driven from
the field but the hour Of Gods own vengeance
will come!
Aye, if in the vast solitude of eternal peace,
there throbs 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 heart the vengeance of the eternal Je-
Eovah A blight will light upon bis life-a
withered brain and an accursed intellect blight
will be upon his children and on bis people,
Great God, how dread the punishment.
A crowded populace, peopng the dense towns
where the man of money thrives, while the laborer
starves want striding among the people in all
forms Of terror; an ignorant and God-defying
priesthood chuckling over the miseries of mil
lions; a proud and merciless nobility adding
wrong to wrong, and heaping insult upon robbery
and fraud royalty corrupt to the very heart, and
arstocracy rotten to the core; crime and want
linked hand in hand, and tempting men 10 woe
and death-these are part Of the doom and re-
tributon that shall come upon the English throne
and the English people.
Soldiers look upon your familiar faces with
a strange interest Tomorrow morning we 90
forth to the battle-for need tell you that your
unworthy minister will march with you, invoking
Gods aid in the fght--we will march forth to the
battle Need / exhort you to fight the good
fight. to fight for your homesteads, or your wives
and children
NV friends / might urge you to fight by the
CALLING memories of British wrong-Walton-I
might tell YOU Of your father butchered in the 81
lence of the night on the plains Of Trenton; might
wiring his death shrieks in your ears. Shelmire-l
might tell you Of butehered mother, sister out
ragged, the lonely farm house. the night assault, the
roof in flames the shouts Of the troopers as they
despatched their victims the cries Of mercy and
the pleadings Of innocence for pity. | might
paint this all again, in the vivid cOors Of the ter
rible reality if thought 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 spirits,
though the solemn duty-the duty Of avenging
the desd-nay rest heavy on your souls.
And in the hour Of battle, when all around is
darkness lit by the lurd cannon glare and the