The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1863-05-06
A Revolutionary Relic.


Der, 1777, the eve of the battle of Bran
dywine, by the Rev. Jacob Pront, to a
large portion of the American soldiers, in
the presence of General Washington and
Gen. Wayne, and others of the Centi-
mental army, was recently discovered
among some old papers of Major John
Jacob Schoefmyer, an officer of the Rev
olution. 1t should De psrused by every
lover of patriotism
REVOLUTIONARY SERMON.
"They that take the sword shall perish by
the sword" a
Soldiers and Count ,ynaen: 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 re-
treat-alike we have endured cold and
hunger, the contumely of the internal foe,
and outrage of the foreign oppressor-
We have set night after night beside the
same camp FIRE, shared the same Tough
soldiers fare, 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 the
knapsack for his pillow
And now soldiers and brethren, we
have met in the valley, on the eve of bat
tie, while the sur'y yht is dying away be-
hind yonder heights, the sunlight that
to morrow morn, will glimmer on scenes
of blood. We have met amid the whitep-
! Ing tents of our encampmentJ in times
of terror and gloom, have we gathered
together-God grant it may not be for
the last time
It is a solemn moment Brethren,
| does not the solemn voice of nature seem
to echo the sympathiss of the hour The
flag of our country droops heavily from
yonder staff, the breeze mas died away
along the green plain of Chadd's Ford
the plain that spreads before us, glisten-
ing in sunlight, the heights of the Bran
dywine arise gloomy and grand beyond
the waters of yonder stream, and all ma
ture 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"
Aud have they not taken the sword?
Let the desolate plains the blood
stained valley, the burnt farm house
black eniDg 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
the babe cIinging to the withered breast;
that can afford no sustenance, let her an
swer, with the death-rattle mingling with
the murmuring tones, they mark the last
struggling for life-let 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
misery, and want, dwelt not among US.
From the eternal solitude of the great
woods, arose the blue smoke of the set
tiers 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 pretext under
the sanctity of the name of God, invek.
ing the Redeemer to their aid, do these
foreign hirelings 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 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 and fast the darker cloud and
the blacker storm of Divine Retribu-
tion
They may conquer US on TO- morrow
Might and wrong may prevail, and we
may be driven from this 6eld-but the
hour of Gods own vengeance will come
Aye, if in the vast solitudes of eternal
space, if in the heart of the boundless
universe, there throbs the being of an aw-
full God, quick to avenge, and sure to
punish guilt, then will the man, George
of Brunswick, called King. feel in his
brain and in bis heart, the vengeance of
the eternal Jehovah? A blight will be
upon his life--a withered brain, an ac-
cursed intellect-a blight will be upon
his children, and on his people. Great
God how dread the punishment.
A crowded populaee, peopling the dense
towns where the man of money thrlves,
while the laborer starves want striding
among the people in all the forms of ter
rcr; and ignorant and God -defying priest