The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1916-12-02

There was recently discovered
among the papers of the late Major
John Jacob Shoefmyer, an ardent
patriot of the Revolution, the follow
ing interesting document. 1t is a dis
course delivered by the Rev. Jacob
Trout. on the evening before the bat
tie of Brandywine, i. e. on the 18th of
September, 1777. 1t was pronounced
before the main body of the American
army, in the presence of Gen. Wash
ington, Gen. Wayne. and other dis
tinguished officers of the army.
REVOLUTIONARY SERMON.
"They that take the sword shall per-
ish 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 internal foe, and
the courage Of the foreign oppressor.
We have sat, night after night, be-
side the campfire; We have together
heard the roll of the reveillie, which
called US to duty, or the beat of the
tattoo, which gave the signal for 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 battle while the sunlight is dy-
ing away beyond yonder heights, the
sunlight that tomorrow morn will
glimmer on scenes of blood. We have
met, amid the whitening tents of our
I'll, amnment; in the time of terror
and gloom have we gathered together
God grant it may not be for the last
time.
1t is a solemn moment. Brethren,
does not the solemn voice of nature
seem to echo the sympathies of the
hour? The flag of our country droops
heavily; from yonder staff-the breeze
has died away along the green plain
CT Chadd's tord-the plain that
spreads before US glittering in sun
light-the height of the Brandywine
arise gloomy and grand, beyond the
waters of yonder tsream-all nature
holds pause of solemn silence, on
the eve of uproar and bloodshed and
SllIIe 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
sodden vallies. the burned m-house
hlackening in the sun, the sacked vii
Iage. and the raVaged town, answer
It the whitening bones of the butcher
ca farmer strewn along the fields of
his homestead, answer-let the starv-
ing mother, with her babe clinging to
the withered breast that can afford no
sustenance, let her answer with the
death-rattle mingling with the MUIR
muring tones that marked the last
struggle of her life; let the dying mo-
Their and her babe answer.
1t was 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, dwelt
not among US. From the eternal soil
tude Of the green woods, arose the
hlue 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
aNoke the silence of the forest.
Now. God of mercy. behold the
change! Under the shadow of pre-
text, under the sanctity of the name Of
God, invoking the Reedemer to their
aid, do these foreign hirelings slay
ctr people, They throng our towns
they darken our plains. and now they
c@compass our posts on the lonely
plain of Chadd's Ford.