Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-05-24
A Revolutionary Relic.

The following interesting document was
found among the papers of Maj. John Jacob
Schafmyer, deceased patriot of the Revolu-
ton. 1t is a discourse delivered on the eve of
the battle of Brandywine, by Rev. Joab Trout,
in presence of General Washington, Gener-
al Wayne, and other officers of the army.
REVOLUTIONARY SERMON
60 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 inter-
nal foe, and the courage of the foreign op-
pressor. We have sat, night after night, be-
side the camp fire, we have altogether 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 in the peaceful valley on the eve of bat
tie, while the sunlight is dying away beyond
yonder heights. The sunlight tomorrow
morn will glimmer on scenes of blood. We
have met, amid the whitening tents of our
encampmcnt; in the time of terror and gloom
have we 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 sympathies of the hour? The flag ofour
country droops heavily from yonder staff
the breeze has died away along the green
plain of Chadd's Ford-thc plain that spreads
before us gitterlng in sunlight---the heights
OF the Brandywne arise gloomily and grand
| beyond the waters of yonder stream-all ma
ture holds pause of solemn silence, on the
eve of uproar and bloodshcd and strife of
| to o-morrow.
"They that take the sword, shall perish
| by the sword"
| And have they not taken the swordp
Let the desoated plain, the blood -soddcn
valley, the burned farmhouse blackening in
the sun, the sacked village, and the ravaged
town, answer-let the whitening bones OF
the butchered farmer strewn along the fields
OF his homestead, answer-let the starving
mother, with her babe clinging to the with
cred breast that can afford no sustenance--
let her answer with the death-rattle ming
ling with the murmuring tones that marked
the last struggle of her life; let the dying
mother and her babe answer.
twas 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 dwct not among us. From
the eternal solitude Of the grecnwoods 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 awokc the silence of
the forest
Now, God of mercy, behold the change
Under the shadow of a pretext t,-under the
sanctity of the name of God do these hire
lings slay our people! They throng our
towns,-they darken our plains, and now
they encompass our posts on the lonely plain
Of Chadd's Ford.
"They that take the sword, shall perish
by the 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 clouds that now enshrouds
us, | see gathering thick and fast the dark
er cloud and blacker storm of Divine retri-
butionl
Aye, fin the vast solitude of eternal space,
if in the heart of the boundless universe, there
throbs the being of an awful God, quick to
avenge, and sure to punish guilt, then will
the man George Brunswick, called King, feel
in his brain and his heart, the vengeance of
the eternal jehovah A blight will be upon
his life--a withcred brain, and an accursed
ntellect--a blight will be upon his children
and on his people. Great God, how dread
the punishment!
A crowded populace, peopling the dense
towns where the man of money thrives, while
the laborer starves; want striding among the
people in all its forms Of terror; an ignorant
and God-defying priesthood chuckling over
the miseries of millions; proud and mer-
ciless nobility adding wrong, and heaping
insult upon the robbery and fraud; royalty
corrupt to the very heart, and aristocracy
rotten to the core; crime and want linked
hand in hand, and tempting men to deeds
of woe and death--thesc are a part Of the
doom and retribution that come upon the
English throne and the English people.
Soldiers look around upon your famil-
lar faces with assstrangc interest. To-mor-
row we will go forth to the battle--for need
tell you that your unworthy minister will
march with you invoking Gods aid in the
fight--wc will march forth to battle! Need
exhort you to fight the good fight, to fight
for your homesteads, for your wives and
children?
My friends, I might urge you to fight by
the calling memories of British wrongs
Walton-I might tell you Of your father
butchered in the silence of the night on the
plains of Trenton; might picture his gray
hairs dabbled in blood, might ring his death
shrek in your ears. Shelmire--I might tell
you of butchered mother, and sister out
ragged; the lonely farmhouse, the night as
saults, the roof in flames, the shouts Of the
troopers as they despatched their victims,
the cries for mercy and the pleadings Of in
nocence for pity. might paint this all
again IN the vivid colors Of the terrible real
ity, if thought your 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 dead-may rest heavy upon
your souls
And in the hour of battle, when all around
is darkness, lit by the piercing musket fash,
| when the dead litter your path-then remen-
Der, soldiers, that God is with you. The eter-
nal God fights for you--he rides on the bat
tie cloud, nc sweeps onward with the march