New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-11-07
REVOLUTIONARY SERMON.
They that take the sword shall perish BY the sword

tREVoLUTI0NARY SERMON.
"They that take the shall perish by the swordn
| The following interesting document was re-
Gently found among the papers of Major John
Shaefmyer, deceas ed patriot of the Revolution
1t is discourse delivered on the eve of the bat
| tie of Brandywine, by Rev. Jacob Troute, to
large portion Of the American soldiers, in pres
ence of Gen. Washington, Gen. Wayne, and
other officers of the army.
| Soldiers and Countrymen We have met
this evening perhaps for the last time. We
| have shared the toll of the march, 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 courage of the foreign
oppressor. We have sat night after night by
the campfire, we have together heard the roll
| of the reveille 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
il this peaceful valley on the eve of battle, in
| the sunlight that to morrow 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 together
| God grant that it may not be for the last time
| 1t is 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 Chadds
| Ford; the plain that spreads before us glitters
in the sunlight; the heights of Brandywine
arise, gloomy and grand, beyond the waters OF
yonder stream; all nature holds pause Of sol
emn silence on the eve Of the uproar and blood
shed strife Of tomorrow.
"They that take the sword shall perish by the swcrdn
And have they not taken the sword
Let the desolate plain, the blood -sodden val
ley, the burned farm houses, blackening in the
sun, the sacked village and the ravaged town
answer; let the whitened bones Of the butch
cred farmer, strewn along the fields of his home
stead, answer; let the starving mother, with
the babe clinging TO the withered breast that
| can afford no sustenance, let her ansWer-with
the death rattle minging with the murmurine
tones that marked the last struggle of her life
let the mother and the babe answer.
J 1t was but 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 eternal solitude of the green woods arose the
blue smoke of the settlers cabin, and golden
4. fields of corn looked from amid the waste of til
wilderness, and 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 pretext, under the sanetity
] Of the name of God, invoking the Redeemer to
their aid, do these foreign hirelipgs slay our
people. They throng our towns; they darken
! our plains, and now they encompass our posts
on the lonely plain of Ghadds Ford.
3 They that take the sword shall perishby the sword "
:, Brethren. think me not unworthy of belle
se when tell you that the doom of the British Ii
sealed. Think me not vain when | tell yol
that, beyond the cloud that now enshrouds us
see gathering thick and fast, the darker clou,
:, and thicker storm of Divine retribution
They may conquer US to morrow. Might an
: wrong may prevail, and we may be driven froI
" the field but the hour of Gods own vengeanc
will come!
Az, if in the vast solitudes of eternal spac
/ there throbs the being of an awful God, quick
= ayeoge and sure to punish guilt, then the ma
: George Brunswick, called king, will feel in h
brain and heart the vengeance ofthe eternal Je
hoyah! blight will light upon his life
= withered brain and an accursed intellect;
in blight will be upon his children, and on his pee
= pie Great God, how dread the punishment
tie crowded popuace, peoplng the dense towr
" where the man of money thrlves while the Ia
sss borer starves; want striding among the peopl
o, oa in all forms of terror; an ignorant aud God
detying priesthood chuekling over the miserit
= Of millions; proud and merciless nobility ad
l. ding wrong to wrong, and heaping insult upo
~ robbery and fraud royalty corrupt to the yer
heart, and aristocraey rotten to the core; erin
and want linked hand in hand, and temptin
men to deeds of woe and death; these are a PAL
of the doom and retribution that shall con
upon the English throne and the English peopl
Soldiers i look around unon your familiar fac
with a strange interest! Tomorrow mornir
we go forth to the battle-for need tell yo
that your unworthy minister will march wit
you invoking Gods aid in the fight ave wi
march forth to battlel Need l exhort you
fight the good fght-to fight for your hom
steads; for your wives and ehildrens
My friends, might urge you to fight by Il
l nf D,.,t oh U,lt
might tell you of your father, butchered in d
silence of the night, on the plains of Trenton
might picture his gray hairs dabbled in bloc
/ might ring his death shrek in your ear
=. Shelmire, might tell you of q butchered moth
and sister outraged, the lonely farm house, t
night assault, the roof in flames, the shouts
the troops as they dispatched their victims, t
cries for mercy, and pleadings Of Innocence
pity. might paint this all again in the viz
colors of the terrible reality, if thought cot
age needed such wild excitement
But know you are strong in the might of |
a.. Lord You will march forth to battle on
morrow with light hearts and determined spi,
though the solemn duty--the duty of aveng
the dead-may rest heavy on your souls.
And in the hour Of battle, when all arou
,. is darkness, lit by the lurid cannon glare
'"'' the piercing musket flash, when the wonnc
ss. strew the ground, and the dead litter your pa
then remember, soldiers, that God is with y
The eternal God fights for you; he rides on
battle cloud he sweeps onward with the ma,
Get. Of the hurricane charge,
- God, the awful and infinite, fights for you,
you will triumph
They that take the sword sbal perish by the swort
pst You have taken the sword, hut not in
from spirit of wrong or rayage You have taken
sword for your homes, for your wives, for J
.st. little ones You have taken the sword for trl
1; justice, and right, and to you the promise is
shAif of good cheer, for your foes have taken
rect. sword in defiance OF all that men hold deal
and blasphemy of God-they shall perish by
sword.
rect. And now, brethren and soldiers, bid yor
farewell. Many of us will fall in the battl
rect. tomorrow, God rest the souls Of the fal