icating liquors, would have been saved to themselves, their friends and their country. It is by parleying and temporizing, that we are brought to the brink of ruin. It is because so many of our sentinels have slept at their posts, or abandoned them, in the hour of danger, that the enemy has nearly mastered the camp, and is carrying on the work of death in every part of it. The truth is, that one advantage after another has been gained, and concession has followed concession, till very little, if any thing more, remains for hard drinkers to demand. They stagger unmolested, in the face day, before the houses of our magistrates. They lie at the corners of our streets, the shame of our race and a wonder to the very beasts. The informing officer sees it, or is a fraid he shall see it, and passes by on the other side. Thus for want of vigilance and energy in the constituted authorities, do the intemperate go on with impunity, from year to year, ruining themselves, and corrupting thousands of others, by their influence and example. 5. Idleness is another legitimate parent of intemperance. An old divine has very forcibly remarked, that an "idle man's mind, is the devil's work shop." It is not pretended, that every idle man becomes a hard drinker; but every such person exposes himself peculiarly to temptation, and hard drinking is certainly one of the vices, into which the idle are extremely apt, sooner or later, to fall. 6. The countenance which has been incautiously and extensively given, in worthy and serious families, to the free use of ardent spirits, has contributed not a little to swell the tide that roars around us, and fills every thoughtful mind with the most painful apprehensions. It has been thought an essential part of common civility and respect, in many such families, to treat company with some kind of spir its. This has given birth to a vast deal of ingenuity in coloring, diluting, miking, and sweetening liquors, so as render them in the highest degree beautiful and palatable. With the kindest intentions in the world, the decanter of brandy is brought out, or the sparkling cordial is handed round the friendly circle. In order to show that their hospitality is real and hearty, the master and mistress of the house, must drink the health of their guests, and each guest, to show that he is not deficient in politeness, must return the compliment. Or if any beg to be excused, something, it is presumed, must be matter. "Why Mr. or Mrs. or Miss, I am sure you had better take the glass. Come, do drink a little at least. I know it will do you good. You look as if you needed it. Perhaps you don't like this kind of drink. Let me help you to some thing else. What will you take. We have brandy, old spirits, gin,' cherry, &c." If it is perceived, that any drink sparingly the first time round, they are most commonly urged to repeat the draught, in some such kind language, as the following. "Do take a little more. You have scarcely tasted it. Come, I made it on purpose for you. You need not be afraid of it; it is extremely weak. There is scarcely a spoonful of spirits, in the whole glass." Thus the reluctant are not unfrequently over persuaded to drink, when they would gladly decline. If children happen to be present, no matter how young, they too must receive their part of the disguised poison. I do not mean to say that this is excessive drinking; but I must think, that in almost every case, it is unnecessary, and often leads to the most unhappy consequen ces. At the same time, I wish to have it distinctly understood, that I have the highest respect for many, who have thought it necessary to treat their friends as a bove described. I know them to be conscientious people; and have the fullest confidence, that if they can be convinced it is their duty, they will at once discontinue the practice. Let them seriously look at the tendency. Let them consult the records of experience. I have paid some attention to the subject; and can. not refrain from expressing my firm and solemn belief, that by such a use of ardent spirits as has been mentioned, in tea parties, and other social and friendly circles, many persons have gradually been seduced from the path of temperance, and have finally been undone. Nor has the mischief stopped here. The example thus set in high circles, has had a baleful effect upon multitudes, in the humble walks of life. If the rich drink, in their social intercourse, the poor must drink also; and thus, the evils of drinking, are indefinitely extended and multiplied. 7. Many of our taverns, and all of our dram shops, are at once causes and effects of much intemperance. Their very exis tence proves, that the thirst for ardent spirits is already insatiable; and while they indicate, they greatly increase, the mischief. It is not meant to deny, that houses of public entertainment are necessary. A home for the stranger and the traveller should be provided in every town. BuL surely it is not necessary, or safe, to have half a dozen taverns in one small village. It cannot be safe, to make it for the interest of so many men, to encourage their neighbors in idleness and drinking. On this very subject, the prince of moral poets has empioyed his extraordinary powers, with his usual force and felicity, in the fourth book of the Task; a pretty long extract from which I shall here introduce. "Pass where we may, through city or through town, Village or hamlet of this merry land, Though lean and beggar'd, every twentieth pace a whiff Conducts the unguarded nose to such Of stale debauch, forth issuing from the styes That law has licensed, as makes tem Fell discord, arbitress of such debate, Perch'd on the sign post, holds with even hand Her undecisive scales. In this she lays A weight of ignorance; in that, of pride; And smiles delighted with the eternal poise. Dire is the frequent curse, and its twin sound The cheek-distending oath, not to As ornamental, musical, polite, Whose oath is rhet'ric, and who Behold the schools in which plebeian minds, Once simple, are initiated in arts, Which some may practice with politer grace, But none with readier skill! 'Tis here they learn The road that leads, from compe. To indigence and rapine; till at last, As for those unlicensed grog shops, that are every where to be met with, I know of no language, which will express the abhorrence, which they ought to excite in every mind. The way to them is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. They are the work shops of that great enemy who ruleth in the hearts of the children of disobedience. If every tippling house were a Bastile, it would not be a place of so much danger, nor the cause of so much suffering. Whenever I pass by one of them, I can scarcely help fancying, that I hear the cries of a multitude of half naked and half starved children issuing from its gloomy interior; and that I see it filled with the most loathsome and painful diseases; with mortgages, and constables, and auctioneers and beggars, and idiots, and maniacs, and murderers, and prison grates, and strait jackets,and gallowses and coffins!I believe, that at least three fourths of the places, in this country, where liquors are sold by the gill or half gill, are fountains of corruption, whence flow in every direction, streams not to fertilize and cheer, but to curse the land with barrenness and death. 8. Many of the evils of intemperance may be distinctly traced to the great and increasing number of distilleries, in every part of the Union. That numbers of the owners of these establishments are worthy men I have no more doubt, than that the general influence of them upon the community is unspeakably pernicious. The arguments by which distilleries are commonly defended, I shall have occasion to examine hereafter. In the mean time, I must be permitted hundreds, if not thousands, of to state my full conviction, that the bodies and souls, are annu ally destroyed, in the United States, by their means. Where almost can one of these establishments be pointed out, which has not formed around itselt a kind of intoxicating atmosphere, within the deadly influence of which drunkenness prevails and increases, in the most alarming manner? Who which issue from a still, like can deny, that the fiery streams, melted lava from the flaming crater of a volcano, too often spread ruin and desolation where they flow. Z. X. Y. For the Panoplist. ON DRINKING HEALTHs. MR. EDITOR, Not long since I happened to be present at dinner with a number of very respectable clergymen, at one of their stated associational meetings. When we had dined, and before thanks were returned, a decanter of wine was brought on, and we were informed by the hospitable minister, at whose house the meeting was held, that the wine had been furnished for the occasion by one of his parishioners. The glasses being filled, it was proposed by some one, that we should drink the health of the generous donor, which most who were present accordingly did. This led my mind into a train of queries and reflections, which I beg leave to propose through the Panoplist, to the serious consideration of your readers and correspondents. "Is this," said I to myself, "a justifiable practice? At any rate, is it expedient for Christians and Christian ministers too, to sanction it by their example? What do people mean when they drink each other's health? Is drinking in general, more likely to restore or preserve health, than eating? If not, why should we not eat healths, as well as drink them? Is, "I wish your health, sir," over the social glass, a prayer? or is it a compliment which has no meaning? "If it be a prayer, then what an awful profanation is it for the thoughtless and intemperate cir cles in taverns and dram shops, to use it as they do! And do the best of men feel, or express, that solemnity and awe of the Divine Presence, in drinking healths, which every body perceives, in their other addresses to God? I think not. Now if something different from a prayer be meant, what is that something? Is it a mere expression of friendship or good will? What kind of friendship or good will does it indicate in those, who daily drink one another drusk, till body and soul are destroyed? And may I be permitted to ask whether ministers and other pious people, might not express their good will in more unexceptionable language? "If nothing is meant by saying "I wish your health, sir;" &c. and "will you permit me to drink your health, Madam;" then it is a kind of polite trifling, which it seems to me but ill accords with the simplicity and godly sincerity which the Scriptures inculcate. I hope you, Mr. Editor, or some of your correspondents, will give your thoughts to the public on these points; for in so doing, you will at least oblige REVIEWS. XLVI. Sermons evangelical, doctrinal, and practical. By ELIMU THATER, D. D. Late Pastor of the first church in Kingston, N. H. Exeter: A QUERIST. C. Norris, & Co. 1813. pp. 366. SEVERAL of Dr. Thayer's clerical brethren, who were best acquainted with his talents, piety, reasoning, can close his eyes against all the beauties, and his heart against all the pleasures of divine truth. We mean not to intimate that the exactest rhetoric or logic will find here a great number of mistakes or inadvertencies, even of the minor sort. In reality, there is little to censure; but much to commend. And we think that Christian ministers, who set a high value upon the strictest orthodoxy, may derive peculiar advantage from the perusal of this book. Here they will find a preacher as orthodox as they, who is always careful to avoid expressions which are extravagant or needlessly offensive; who is always studious to find out acceptable words; who, from a sincere solicitude for the welfare of men, takes unwearied pains to convey his conceptions to their minds just as they lie in his own; and who would rather contribute to the edification of a single believer, or the conversion of a single unbeliever, than to gain the highest honors of genius,scholarship, or eloquence, or even be applauded as the head of a party. and manner of preaching, expressed their united opinion to him, during his last sickness, that the publication of a volume of his sermons would materially promote the interests of religion. In conformity to their opinion, he consented to such a publication, and committed to them the care of selecting, transcribing, and publishing the intended volume. With the disadvantages which usually attend a posthumous publication, this volume is, in our judgment, highly worthy of the public patronage, and will, we doubt not, answer the double purpose of furnishing many persons with a treasure of sacred truth, and of affording assistance to a numerous and dependent family. Every one who purchases this book, will have the pleasure of contributing something to comfort the widow and children of one, who sought not his own things, but the things of Christ. Indeed there are few volumes of sermons, so well adapted to be useful to all classes of readers, as this. The author is always plain and evangelical, always serious, always in earnest. His method of exhibiting the doctrines of religion is judicious and impressive. In several instances, he has illustrated truths of the first importance with singular felicity. Did we think it best to notice all the passages, where the author falls short of elegance, we might make a considerable collection. And in a few instances, we might question the exactness of particular turns of thought and argumentation. But we pity the man whose mind is so disciplined, that a few inelegancies of diction, or small irregularities of This volume contains twentytwo sermons, on the following interesting subjects; viz. on the creation; on sinful habits;-on hypocrisy;-God's regard to the righteous;-youth addressed;inconsistency of sinners;-on the love of idols;-on poverty of spirit; the Gospel received in vain; -on the birth of Christ;-conversion joyful;-God has no delight in the death of sinners; seven abominations; the danger of the ungodly;-a famine of the word, two sermons;--a new year's sermon;-the day of judg ment;-on repentance;-on hu |