The daily gazette., 1877-09-11
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD.
SERMON PREACHED ON TILE EVE OF
THE BATTLE OF isRANDYWINE.

-
THE BATTLE OF BRANpYwINE. "
On the eve of the Battle of Brandy
Wine, the Tooth anniversary of which
Is being celebrated to-day, Rev. Joab
Prout preached an eloquent sermon to
the American soleiers. The sermon is
follows: I..IJ 7I-l7-7'7
They that take the sword shall perish by
'le sword,-St. Matthew XXI, 81. i'N
SOLDIERS AND CoUNTRvMEN: We
have met this evening perhaps for the
iase time. we have shared the toll of
the ma ich The peril Of yhe fight, the dis .
may Of the retreat-alike we have en-
dnred cold aud hunger, the contumely
\ or the internal foe, and ou.iage of the
| foreign oppressor. We have sat, night
q Der night, besIde the same camp fire,
shared the same rough soldiers fare; we
have together heard tf,e roll of the re-
yeille, 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 kuapsack for
ms low. And now, soldiers and bre-
| thren, we have met in the peacefully val
v y,:on The eve of battle, while the sum
lrSht is dying away behind yonder
heighfS, the sunlight tomorrow morn
Will 81 miner on scenes of blood. We
have met, amid the whitening tents of
our encampment; in timec of terror and
OF gloom. have we gathered together
CD graut it may not be for the last time.
It, solemn moment Brethren, does
not the solss,u voice of nature seem to
echo the sympathies of the hour? The
flag of our country droops hIayily from
yonder staff, the breeze has died away
atorT the green plain of Chads' Ford
the plain tiat spreads before us, glisteu-
ing in sunlight-the Heights of the
Brandywine arise gPomy and grand be-
yond the waters of yOnder stream, and all
nature holds pause of solemn silence,
on the eve of the uproar of the blood she'd
and strife Of tomorrow.
They that take the sword shall perish by
the sword
And have they not taken the sword?
Let the desolated plain, the blood sod
dened valley, the burned farm house,
blaekeni ng Ia 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 clinging to the withered breast, that
can afford no sustenance, let her answer,
with the deathrattle ming ing Iv ith the
mufmuring tones that mark the lest
struggle for life; let the dying mother
and her babe answer! 1t WIS but a day
past and our land slept in the light of
peace War was not here-wrong was
not here. Fraud and woe, and misery.
and want, dwelt not among us. From
che eternal solitude of the green woods
arose the blue smoke of the settlers cabin,
ald 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,
Cod OF mercy, behold the change! Under
the shsdow of pretext, under the san
City of the name of God, invoking the
RedeeIner to their aid, do the. Q foreign
hirelings slay our people. They throng
our towns, they darken our plains, ana
now they encompass our posts on the
lonely plain Of ChaCs' Ford.
They that take the sword shall perish by
tie sword ..t. -
Prethren think me not unworthy OF be-
lief, when I tell you that the doom of the
Biitisher Is near Think me not vain,
when / tell you that beyond the cloud
that now epshrouds US, see gathering,
thick and fast, tire darker cloud and the
b,acKef storm of Divine Retri button 1.
They may conquer us on the morrow
Migf and wrong may prevail, and we
maybe driven from this field but the hour
of G od's own vengeance will come Aye,
f in the vast solitudes of eternal space,
if in the heart of the boundless universe,
there throbs the being of an awful God,
quick to aveTige, aud sure TO oanish guilt,
theu will the man, George o. Bruins .ick,
oalled King. feel in his brain and in his
heart the vengeance of the Eternal Jeho-
yah. A blight will be upon his life--a
witnered brain, an accuIsed intellect a
blight will be upon his children and on
his people. Great God how dread the
punishment A crowded populace, peo-
ping the dense towns where the man of
money thrives, while the laborer starves;
want striding among tue people in all its
forms of terror an Ignorant and God
defying priesthood chuckling over the
miseries OF millions /; a proud and merci-
less nobility adding wrong to wrong, and
heaping insult upon robbery and fraud
royalty corrupt to the very heart, aristo-
cracy rotten to the core; crime and want
linked hand in hand, and tempting men
to deeds of woe and death these are a
part of the doom and retribution that
shall come upon the English throne and
English people. ......-
Soldiers, look around upon your iamll-
lar faces with a. strange Interest To-mor-
row morning we w,ll all go forth TO BATH
flr need l tel yoi tht your unworthy
minister WI, march wied you, lnvoA Aing
tiod's a.d III the fight ?--we will march
forth to battle /! Need exhort You to fight
tue good figot, 60 ii snt for your home teads,
and for your wives and children I? My
friends, 1 might urge you to fight, by the
galling memories of Bri ,h wrong WoL
Ion-I migbttelEy you of your father butch-
red in tne silence OF midnight On tue plains
of Trenton 1 might pctar. hls gray haifs
dabblet in blood, 1 IN; rht ring his death |
shriek in your ears. Shelm e, l might
tell you of o mother butchered, aad sister |
outraged-Lhe l)nely farmhouse, the night |
assault, the roof in flames, the snouts OF the |
troopers, as they despatched their vic
tim, the cries for mercy, the pleadines of |
innocence for pity. | might paint this !
ali again, in the terrible colors of the |
vivid reality, if thought your coura. % |
needed such wild excitement. But L 1
know YOU are strong in the might of the |
Lord You will go forth to battle on the
morrow with light hearts and determined
spirits, though the solemn dutyAth the duty |
of avenging the dead-may rest heavy |
on your souls. And in the our of battle,
when all around is darkness, lit by the
larid cannon glare, aud the piercing mus
ket ffash,f when T. 9 wounded sire " the
ground, and the d, I'd ,BLter yodr path,
then remember, soldiers, that Got $
with YOU. The eternal God fights for
YOU he rid 3 on the battle-cloa I'D, he
Sweeps onward with the ma, eh of the
hurricane charge God, the Awful and
- T. a e,she5. for VIM and vOlI wi N L