Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-08-14

Of the British is near at hand Think
me not vain when | tell you that be-
yond the cloud that uowenshrouds us,
I see gathering thick and fast, the
darker cloud and blaeker storm OF di-
vine retribution.
They may conquer us tomorrow.
Might aud wrong may prevail and
we may be driven from this field, but
the hour Of Gods own vengeance will
come.
Aye, If in the vast solitude Of eter-
nal space. If in the heart Of the bound
less universe, throbs the being of an
awful God, quick to avenge, and sure
to punish guilt, then will the man,
George Brunswick, called king, feel
his brain and his heart, thevengeance
Of the eternal jehovah A blight will
be upon his life--a withered brain and
an accursed intellect; blight will be
u pom his children, and on his people
Great God, how dread the punish
ment!
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
Goo. defying priesthood chuckling
over the tniseries of millions; proud
and merciless nobility adding wrong
upon wrong, and heaping insult upon
robbery and fraud; royalty corrupt to
the very heart, and aristocracy to the
core; crime aud want linked hand in
hand, and tempting even to deeds Of
woe and death, these are part of the
doom and retribution that come upon
the English throne and English peo-
pie.
Soldiers look around upon your
familiar faces with strange interest.
Tomorrow morning we will go forth
to the battle, for (need tell you) your
unworthy minister will go with you
invoking Gods aid in the fght--we
will march forth to battle; need | ex-
hort 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 Brit
ish 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 hair
dabbled in blood; might ring his
death shrieks in your ears. Shelmire,
might tell you OF butchered moth
er and sister outraged; the lonely
farm house, the night assault, the
roof in flames, the shouts of the troop
ers as they despatched their victims,
the cries for mercy, and the pleadings
of innocence for pity. might paint
this all again in the vivid colors ofthe
terrible reality, if thought your cour-
age needed such wild excitement. But
/ know you are strong in the might
OF the Lord. You will march forth to
battle on the morning with light
hearts and determined spirit, though
the solemn duty-the duty of aveng-
ing the dead---may rest heavily on
your souls.
In the battle, when all around is
darkness, lit by the lurid cannon
glare, and the piercing musket flash,
when the wounded strew the ground,
and the dead litter your path--then
remember, soldiers, that God is with
you. The eternal God fights for you.
He rides in the battle cloud He
sweeps onward with the march Of the
hurricane charge. God the awful inf
mite fights for you, and you will tri-
umph.
They that take the sword shall
perish by the sword. T"
You have taken the sword, but not
in the spirit of wrong or revenge.
You have taken the sword for your
homes, for your wives, for your little
ones. You have taken the sword for
truth and justice and right, and to you
the promise is-be of good cheer, for
your foes have taken the sword in
defiance of all that men hold dear, in
blasphemy Of God-they shall perish
by the sword.
And now, brethren and soldiers, !
bid you all farewell Many ofus may
fall in the battle tomorrow. Gcd rest
the souls of the fallen. Many OF us
may live to tell the story Of the fight
tomorrow; and in the memory of all
will ever rest and linger the quiet
- "a