Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1859-08-26
General ielisrrllany.
A NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. REIIc.

Nv i'AA'NAhA Wv iNNtN f-fNANN''''NA'
mon, preached on the 10th September, l777,
the eve Of the battle of Brandywine, by the
Rev. Jacob Prout, % large portion Of the
American soldiers, in the presence of General
Washington and General Wayne, and others
of the Continental Army, we copy from the
Baptist Recorder Of April 10, 1874, it having
but short time previous, been discovered
among some old papers of Major John Jacob
Shoefmayer, an officer Of the Revolution. 1t
should be perused by every lover Of patriot
ism
REvoLUTIoNARY SERMON.
They that take the u0ord shall perish by
the stcord"
SOLDIERS AND CoUNrRYMEN We have
met this evening perhaps for the last time
We have shared the toll Of the march, the
peril Of the fight, the dismay Of the retreat
alike we have endured cold and hunger, the
contumely Of the internal foe, and outrage of
the foreign oppressor We have sat night
after night beside the same campfire, shared
the same rough soldiers fare, we have to-
gether heard the roll Of the revio 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, the
knapsack for his pillow.
And now, soldiers and brethren, we have
met in the peaceful valley, on the eve of bat
tie, while the sunlight is dying away beyond
yonder heights, the sunlight that tomorrow
morn will gimmcr on scenes Of blood. We
have met amid the whitening tents Of our
cncampmcnt; in times of terror and gloom
have we gathered together-God grant it may
not be for the last time.
1t is a solcm 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 yonder staff, the
breeze has died away along the green plain of
Chadd's F0rd--the plain that spreads before
us, glistening in sunlight-the heights Of the
Brandywine arise gloomy and grand beyond
the waters Of yondor stream, and all nature
holds pause Of solemn silence, on the eve of
the uproar, of the bloodshed and strife Of
tomorrow.
They that take the sword shall perish by
the sword"
And have they not taken the sword
Let the desolato plain, the blood-soddened
valley, the burned farm house blachenng in
the sun, the sacked village and the rayaged
town, answer-lct the whitening bones Of the
butchered farmer, strown along the fields Of
his homestead answer--let the starving
mother, with the babe clinging to the wither-
ed breast that can afford no sustenance. let
her answer, with the death-rattle mingling
with the murmuring tones that mark the last
struggle for life--lot the dying mother and
her babe answer
1t was but day past and our land slept
in the light Of peace. War was not here
wrong was not here Fraud, and wo, and
misery, and want, dwelt not among us. From
the eternal solitude 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 a prctext, under the
sanctity Of the name of God, invoking the
Redeemer to their aid, do these foreign hire
lings slay our people They throng our
towns, they darken our plains, and now they
encompass our posts on the lovely plain of
Chadd's Ford
"They that take the sword shall perish by
the sword"
Brethren, think me not unworthy Of belief,
b
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 the blacker storm Of Divine Ret
ribution
They may conquer us on tomorrow Might
and wrong may prevail, and we may be driven
from this fcld-but the hour of Gods own
vengeance will come
/. = a. -, &C 81
space, If in the heart of the boundess uni
verse, there throbs the being of an awful
God, quick to avenge. and sure to punish
guilt, then will the man, George Of Bruns-
wick called King, feel in his brain and in
his heart the vengeance of the eternal Je-
hovah A blight will be upon his liie--a
withcred brain, an accursed intellect a blight
will be upon his children, and on his people.
Great God how great the punishment
A crowded populace, peopling the dense
towns, where the man of money thrives,
while the laborer starvos; want striding
among the people in all the forms of terror
an ignorant and Goddefying priesthood,
chuckling over the miseries Of millions a
proud and merciless nobility, adding wrong
to wrong, and heapng insult upon robbery
and fraud royalty corrupt to the very heart;
aflstOcfacY iOtten TO lne core crime ana
want linked hand in hand, and tempting men
to deeds Of wo and death-theso are part
of the doom and retribution shat shall come
upon the English throne and the English
people
Soldiers look around upon your familiar
faces with strange interest Tomorrow
morning we will all go forth to batte--for
need | tell you that your unworthy minister
will march with you, invoking Gods aid in
the fight I've will march forth to battle
Need l exhort you to fight the good fight, to
fight for your homesteads, and for your wives
and children;
Ny friends, / might urge you TO fight by
the CALLING memories Of British wrong Wal
ton, might tell you of your father butcher
ed in the silence Of midnight on the plains Of
Trenton--I might picture his gray hairs dab
bled in blood might ring his death shrek
in your ears. Shelmire, might tell you of
mother butchered, and sister outraged
the lonely farmhouse, the night assault, the
roof in flames, the shouts of the troopers as
they dispatched their victims, the cries for
mercy, the pleading Of innocence for pity.
might paint this all again in the terrible
oolors Of the vivid reality, If thought your
courage needed such wild excitement.
Rut lnow Won arc strong in the uioht Of