The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1898-03-24
EVOLUTIONARY SERMON.
Preached toSoIdiers III Years
Ago.
washington Heard it at the Battle of
Brandywine.


;.;l for the killing of ". W. Furgu-
81, handed tho Mail the following
ancient document Monday. Ii has
hsen in Mr. Patton's possession for
90 years and is one of the most clio
ouent appeals we ever read:
Preached on the eve of the battle
If Brandywine, September 10, IT'D
in the presence of Washington and
bis army, at Chadd's Ford.
4They that take the sword shall
perish by the sword.
Soldiers aud ceuntrymen: We
have met this evening perhaps for
ths last time. We have shared the
toll of the march, the peril of the
feht, the dismay of the retreat
alike We have endured toll and hun.
ger, the outrage of the foreign OPP
pressor. We have sat night after
night beside the same camp fire,
shared the same rough soldiers fare;
w have together heard the roll of
the reyeille which called us to duty,
or the beat Of the tattce 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, soldies and brothers,
We have met in the peaceful valley
on the eve of battle, while the sun
light is dying away beyond yondsr
heights, the sunlight that tomorrow
morn will glimmer on scenes of
blood We have met amidst the
whitening tents of our encampment,
in times of terror and gloom have
we gathered together-God grant it
may net be fer the last time. 1t is
solemn time. Brethren, dess not
the awful voicesof nature, seem to
echo the sympathies OF the hour'
The flag of our country droops hsav-
lily from yonder staff-the bresze has
died away along the plain Of Chadd's
Ford-the plain that spreads before
US glistening in the sunlight-the
heights of the Brandywins arise
gloomy and grand beyond tae waters
OF Wonder stream, and all nature
holds a pause of solemn silence, on
the svs of the bloodshed and strife
of the tomorrow.
They that take the sword shall
perish by the sword"
And have they not taken the
sword' Let the desolatsd plain, the
blood sodden valley, the burned
farm house, the sacked village, and
the ravaged town answer-let the
whitening bones of the butchered
farmer, strewn along the fields of
homestead answer-let the starving
mother, with the babe clinging to
her withsred breast, that can afferd
no sustenanae, lot her answer, with
the death rattle mingling with the
murmuring tones that mark the last
struggle for life-let the dying moth
er and her babe answer 1t was but
a day past, and our land slept in the
light OF peace. War was not here
wrong was not here. Fraud. and
wee, and misery, and want dwelt
not among us. From the eternal
solitude of the green woods, arose
the blue smoke of the settlers cabin
aud golden fields of corn peered
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
sancity of the name of God, Invok-
ing the Rsdssmsr to their aid, do
these foreign hirelings slay our peo-
pie They throng our tswns, they
darksn our plsins, and now they en-
compass our posts on the lonely
plain OF Chadd's Ford.
"rhey that take the sword shall
perish by the sword"
Brethren, think me not unworthy
of belief when 1 tell you that the
doom of the Britishsr is near
Think me not vain when l tell you
that hey ond that cloud that now en-
shrouds us, 1 see gathering, thick
and fsst ths darker cioud. and the