AN ADDRESS, DELIVERED BEFORE THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY SUPPRESSING INTEMPERANCE, AT THEIR ANNIVERSARY MEETING june 2,1815, ON THE OBJEOTS OF THEIR INSTITUTION- 1 BY AB1EL ABBOT, A. M. PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IS BEVERLI. CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY HILLIARD AND METCALF. 1815. ADDRESS. I he object for which this asssociation was formed, as stated in its constitution, is to suppress intemperance and its kindred vices ; an object as important to individual happiness and the publick welfare as it is arduous. It im- plies the cure and the prevention of the evil; the redemp- tion of the bounden victims of this vice, and the preserva- tion of the yet uncontaminated. The task demands the most generous benevolence and the best exertion of those talents, and of that prudence, patience, and perseverance, which Ave may hope to find in this society and its auxilia- ries. I hope to be employed agreeably to your expecta- tions, while I attempt to discuss the two-fold subject, the cure and the firevention of this physical and moral evil, and suggest as they occur such hints as may apprize us of our difficulties, fortify our resolution, and encourage our ef- forts. Notwithstanding the despairing language commonly heard on the subject, I would ask—Are persons, in the fixed and acknowledged habit of intemperance to be utter- ly abandoned to their fate ? For them, is there no hope, no resource in the wisdom and humanity of their fellow men ? There is much wrong thinking on this subject. Many regard the Avretched victims of this disease with a con* 4 'rmfic, rt'hich freezes their compassion. They fix their 2ye upon the guilt of the vice ; they mark the havoc it is making in the health and property, the intellect and moral qualities of the criminal, and more especially the shame and misery it is imposing upon his innocent connections, and pronounce his crime inexpiable—declare him an out- law, a man no longer entitled to pity, showing none. It might soften this rigorous decision, if the temptations he feels were known and considered, and the gradual and in- sidious manner in which the chains were drawn over the unhappy man and riveted upon him. Were the remote causes of his ruin better understood, the predisposition in some cases derived from faulty parents,* peculiar tem- perament of body or mind, situation and employment in life, accidental association, misfortunes, the ill-judged customs of temperate people concurring to insinuate and strength- en the relish, and unsuspectedly to form the habit of the dangerous potation ; these things considered, though they can never justify the vice, nor diminish the horrour with which it ought to be regarded, might dispose us to feel less of contempt and more of pity. Others neglect the proper methods of reclaiming the intemperate through a sickly delicacy. They are reluctant to give offence—they cannot think of wounding the feel- * In a representation of the College of Physicians in London to ' the House of Commons, we find the following passage.—" We have with concern observed, for some years past, the fatal effects of '> the frequent use of several sorts of distilled spirituous liquors, upon ' great numbers of both sexes, rendering them diseased, not fit for business, poor, a burthen to themselves and neighbours, and too often the cause of -weak, feeble, and distempered children, who must be, in- stead of an advantage and strength, a charge to their country." JBp. Gibson'a tract. » ings of a neighbour; nor of proffering kindness and counsel, certain to be rejected and despised. They cannot meet the reproach of intermeddling in the affairs of others, and the retort, however undeserved, Physician, heal thyself. They shrink back, like the sensitive plant, with the first appearance of disgust taken at their interference; and, rather than wound the feelings of a distempered man, cool- ly consign him to infamy and despair. Is it thus we dare to do, when we see a fellow creature destroying himself in a different manner ? Do we ask his leave to snatch him from death ? No; we wrest from him the knife, raised to shed his blood—we dash from his hand the poisoned bowl, however much he may covet it—rudely we pluck him back from the gulf of destruction, into which we see him eager to leap. Still, however, will it be objected—" What avails our pity or our zeal ? The drunkard is morally dead—has past the bourne from which there is no return. The com- mon principles, on which we hope to operate, in him are lost. The body is become a mass of disease, bloated with unnatural corpulency, and crowded with vitiated blood and humours, and ready to fall by the slightest touch, though the shock will be called by the honest names of palsy or apoplexy, fever or dropsy.* The intellect too is in ruins ; i * " A train of complaints of the most dangerous nature, at onee , destroying the body, and depraving the mind, are the certain fol- ' lowers of habitual ebriety. Amidst all the evils of human life, no cause of disease has so wide a range, or so large a share, as the use of spiritous liquors. When we see dropsies, apoplexies, palsies, y &c. multiplying m the bills of mortality, we must look to hard- drinking as the principal agent in bringing on these maladies. More than one half of all the sudden deaths which happen are in a fit of 1» 6 so that you cannot approach him through his understand- ing. Every thing appears to him inverted ; evil is good and g: od evil; light is put for darkness, and darkness for lights bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. The poet describes him— ----" Such a dim delirium, such a dream, Involves you ; such a dastardly despair Unmans your soul, as madd'ning Pentheus felt. When, baited round Cithseron's cruel sides, He saw two suns, and double Thebes ascend." His affections are quenched; shame has lost its blush ; resolution is dead. The conscience too is seared, and the warnings of faith and the promises of hope are unheard or unheeded." Too just, my friends, I concede, is this description of the intemperate in the latter stages of their course. But —O tell me—are they lost, past redemption ?—sunk, sunk below the reach of a saving hand ? The hand of God can save them—all things are possible with God. And, as it is the plan of his providence to attain fends by means, there is something for men to do. Deplorable as are the cir- cumstances of the drunkard, he lives within the precincts of hope. And if wretchedness and helplessness have claims upon humanity, with an emphasis they concur in his case. Let him not be deserted—He wears the human form, though it has lost much of its original brightness— He is a brother, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. There is life, though almost smothered, and intellect, though almost destroyed; and perhaps too the relicks of intoxication; softened into some milder name, not to ruffle the feel- ings of relations, in laying them before the publick." Dr. Trotter. 7 virtuous principles, and occasionally a conscious honour from the sense of his situation, and a despairing sigh to re- gain the honourable standing from which he has fallen. It concerns us to cherish these fitful remains of principle, and to watch over him with fraternal solicitude, as we watch the flame of life, quivering in the socket; and, in circum- stances little short of despair, we may be blest with suc- cess, and save a man from everlasting destruction. Let it not be said that the case of the inebriate is so nearly hopeless, that we have no encouragement for exer- tion. The utmost pains are richly compensated by the recovery of one lost man in a thousand. But, blessed be God, returning prodigals are not so rare as seems to be thought. In the several circles of our acquaintance, I presume to say, instances are known to us all, some of ef- $ J'ectual cure, and some of temporary resolution and self- > denial, which seemed only to need the countenance and aid ofjudic'ous friends to become permanent. The force of resolution in a drunkard, taken up in a moment of terrour and feeling, was well known, and excited much interest in the neighbourhood of my own residence. The man was a miller; and in a paroxysm of intemperance fell into the | stream, and with difficulty was recovered. The first mo- ment of sanity he improved in pertinent reflection upon his danger and deliverance, and in a solemn oath not to taste >' of spirit for forty years. The oath was sacredly kept. It i is painful to add, that he relapsed on the day of his jubilee, r and died a sot between eighty and ninety years of age. Had , the resolution taken a more fortunate, yet scarcely a more self-denying form, had it been for life, and not for a limited period of time, he might have been saved. I perfectly well remember a venerable man in a town 8 of New Hampshire, whose head was white with the snows of fourscore winters, his countenance fresh and placid, and his whole form and appearance that of a man favoured with health and vigour, and peace beyond the lot of other men at his age. In his youth this man had been dissipated ; at thirty (I do not remember the precise age) a sot. In a lucid interval, he awoke to his misery and danger, and had the resolution to dedicate the rest of his days to th# sim- plest diet, the liquids of which were water and milk. Hence his hoary head—his crown of glory. Other instances have fallen under my observation, of men in humble walks of life, labourers, not endued with any remarkable force of mind, nor apt to reflect or antici- pate, who have been surprizing subjects of recovery from the latter stages of this dreadful vice. Some awakening dispensation of providence, sickness and recovery, the gen- tle and faithful warnings of a friend, ecclesiastical monition or censure, their own reflections in a season of abstinence from their bane—one or other of these, with the divine blessing, has saved them. Is there no encouragement, then, that something may be done for the relief even of the bondmen of intemperance ? There is encouragement. In any attempts which may be made in our private or social capacity, let the inebriates be treated with re- spectful tenderness, forbearing contemptuous reproaches and sarcastic reviling, while at the same time we are cau- tious of sinking our tenderness into that false compassion, which in sparing them from present pain exposes them to endless destruction. At prudent seasons let them be ap- prized of their dangers; persuaded from the company and occasions of special temptation ; reasoned out of their false pleas; fortified with arguments ; convinced) instead 9 of being the cure, that ardent spirits are the cause of der jection and melancholy, of debility and a fal ering consti- tution ; that instead of being a security against cold, they arm it with special dangers, giving to the body " a tem- porary glow only to render the effects of cold more speedi- ly hurtful," and, in extreme cases, more suddenly fatal. At the select moment, when it can be endured, let the mir- ror be held up to reflect the deformity of their conduct, and let them see " the incurable maladies, which flow from perseverance in a course of intemperance." While to alarm, the picture of their situation must be drawn to the life, there must be caution, since the feeling of despair is the death of exertion, not to urge it too long. The buoy- ant consolation of hope must be suggested ; the possibili- ty, the honour, the joy of recovery stated—The returning caresses of the estranged family, the recovered, the aug- mented esteem and respect of the community, the joy of angels, and, through Christ, the mercy and favour of God, must be presented and amplified to their imagination. The great point to be urged with the intemperate is, to give no quarter to their enemy—to attempt no compro- mise—no truce on any terms. If this point be carried, the day is won. But, the plea of the drunkard is, that his ar- dent potation is become necessary—that sickness, that death would ensue upon entire abstinence. " I am convinced," he will readily say, " that a reform is necessary, and by the help of God am determined upon it. But my plan is a gradual retreat—by fewer and less copious potations." It needs only a sober eye to see that this resolution contains the principle of its destruction ; and it invariably develops. itself. It is made—it is broken. With great self-compla- 10 cency and in all the magnanimity of thought he resolves, and re-resolves, and lives and dies the same. " But death would ensue upon total abstinence, rigor- ously and at once adopted. Must I die a martyr to tem- perance ?"—The moralist shall be silent; let the physician speak. Dr. Trotter, who had occupied " the first medical sta- tion in the publick service of Great Britain," and whose range of practice had been greater than that of any physic cian of his day, remarks—" With drunkards my opinion is, and confirmed by much experience, that spirits in every form ought at once to be taken from them.—Wherever I have known the drunkard effectually reformed, he has at once abandoned his potation. That dangerous degree of debility, which has been said to follow the subtraction of vinous stimulus, I have never met with, however univer- sal the cry has been in its favour; it is the war-whoop of alarmists ; the idle cant of arch theorists."* Let an intemperate man then, be persuaded that this • In another part of his interesting essay, this eminent phy- sician contends, " that such long continued stimuli (mean'n^ ar- dent spirits) as have a tendency to destroy the functions of the body, ought, ail at once, to be laid aside. Let us suppose a person for years living in a dungeon, unwholesome and unventilated, till diseases appear from these causes ; would any rational being hesitate a moment to bring forth the squalid sufferer into the light of day, that he might have the full benefit of pure atmosphere h The case is exactly in point; the confined person has been breath- ing poison, and the drunkard has been swallowing it; he has drank poisonous spirit till it has brought him to the verge of the grave, and yet it is held dangerous to take it away." Essay, p. 176. 11 is his only safe course, and, if sincere in his resolution, he will enter it. A gentleman, whose talents placed him at the head of his profession and the publick confidence in an elevated station in the national government, in the midst of his honours, became a settled inebriate. Stung at length with the disgrace and neglect into which he had fallen, he exiled himself to a private retreat, gave orders that, on no pretence whatsoever, should any thing spirit- ous be brought to it, persevered for a year in total absti- nence, and returned to society and his professional occu- pations and honours, a reformed and temperate man.* This noble resolution is perhaps too much to be gen- erally expected. From the purest motives of kindness, then, and from the solemn conviction that nothing else can save him, let the intemperate man be laid under the mer- ciful necessity of total abstinence from his bane. The law delivers his property into the hands of guardians; why shall it not deliver his person ? When all other means have failed, is it not time to regard him as a subject of ha- bitual phrenzy ? The paroxysm of drunkenness is tern- * This instance of greatness, rescued from almost hopeless ruin, is not solitary. Another very eminent professional charac- ter, lost in the view of the publick and of his friends, was saved by the resolution of total abstinence. Such, for a season, were his feelings from the suspension of the customary stimulus, that he remarked to a friend, he verily thought he should die in the experiment. He lived, however, by his example not less per- haps, than by his admirable talents, a blessing to mankind. Let the inebriate calculate upon these feelings as the necessary pain in the way of cure; and with determined fortitude submit, as other unhappy persons do to the amputation of a mortified limb, or the extermination of a cancer by the knife or caustic, to save life. 13 porary madness, and insanity and idiotism are gradually induced by the habit of intoxication. Has he too little rea- son to be trusted with property ? Then he cannot safely be trusted with himself. Can humane legislators consist- ently spare his liberty, when the only use he will make of it is to destroy his life ; to insure upon himself the guilt and the misery of a lingering, perhaps of a sudden sui- cide.* The Athenian Legislator provided the punishment of death for a drunken magistrate ; and the stern Spartan proscribed the base vice. It was odious among the Ro- mans ; and their women, if found guilty, were punished capitally. Christian legislators can never adopt their san- guinary code; it is their business not to destroy men's lives, but to save. This very object, however, demands that they so far abridge abused liberty, as is necessary to prolong life—so far disfranchize a citizen, as is necessary to redeem him from worse than Turkish bondage. I have done with this branch of the subject, the cure ut intemperance. Probably beyond your expectation, I have enlarged upon it. It has been from the apprehen- sion that the cure of intemperance is too generally given * " I have classed death among the consequences of hard- drinking. But it is not death from the immediate hand of the Deity, nor from any of the instruments of it which were created by him. It is death from suicide. Yes—thou poor, degraded creature, who art daily lifting the poisoned bowl to thy lips— cease to avoid the unhallowed ground, in which the self-mur- derer is interred, and wonder no longer that the sun should shine, and the rain fall, and the grass look green upon his grave. Thou art perpetrating gradually, by the use of ardent spirits, what he has effected suddenly by opium—or a halter." Dr. Rush. 18 up as impracticable even by the friends of this institution, and by others ridiculed as quixotic. But, considering the magnitude of the evil, involving the physical, intellectual, and moral ruin of the subject, have we the feelings of hu- manity, if we indolently or despairingly neglect those means of his rescue, which promise any degree of suc- cess ? The drunkard is gliding upon the bosom of the ra- pid stream, 'and slumbers while approaching the fatal precipice. Can we do less than cry to him from the shore with pity and terrour ? If he hears, he is saved ; if he perish, we have delivered our skirts from his blood. The remaining branch of my plan, the prevention of intemperance, is by no means a secondary object with this society. The time proper to this exercise, however, has been nearly occupied, and this topick is inexhaustible. For a discussion suited to its importance, I shall leave it to my successors. In a summary way indulge me to remark, that it is with the community, as with many individuals, it has gone into bad habits. Not that ebriety, palpable and scandalous, is become general. But thousands, who would be incensed to have it hinted that they were intemperate, are undoubt- edly hard-drinkers. For the last twenty years there has been a most unquestionable deterioration of sober habits extensively. I appeal to glaring facts in publick records, to the immense importation and distillation of ardent spir- its, to authentick reports of physicians and other enlight- ened philanthropists in different parts of the country, in a word, to the observation of every thinking man, engaged in mercantile, agricultural, or manufacturing pursuits. This fact is known in Europe, and somewhat inflamed in « 14 the representation. A distinguished writer would have it understood, that the new world has quite outstripped the old in this vice. Beyond doubt there is enough of the evil in both con- tinents ; but it is beside my purpose to say any thing with respect to the comparative temperance of the old and new wprld, or to inquire whether our native or imported citi- zens be most sober. But—if statements such as I refer to can be gravely made in Europe, and half the charge be true, it is high time to attempt alteration in our general habits. In the time of our late publick distress hope was en- tertained that through the dearness of spirits and the pen- ury of many*of the labouring class, abstinence would be- come necessary and habitual. Some moral benefit we hope has resulted from the sufferings of the country- But reform must rest on a basis, not subject to fluctuate with our publick relations—upon an enlightened view of the ne- cessity of reform—upon a general conviction that very many of the reputed sober use a dangerous and injurious quantity of ardent spirits—that in many of those forms, in j which it has been regarded as medicinal,* it is unsafe and pernicious—that many of those occasions, on which it has come to be regarded as necessary, are really occasions for carefully avoiding it—that it is an improper companion of committees on business, and a dangerous, if the usual treat in friendly visits—is indecent at funerals, and to be * " Cordials—deceive the unwary: for I am sure that many } who drink of the liqueurs would blush to taste brandy, yet they ^ are nothing more than brandy disguised. Many of these cordials are impregnated with narcotic substances, which add to the nox- ious qualities of the spirit" j)r. Trotter. admitted with jealous caution, if admitted at all, at convivi- al parties—is undignified, in candidates for office, and dis- organizing from an officer to his soldiers—and alarming and ominous of ruin, when become a stated and daily po- tation— " I would not daily taste, " Except when life declines, even sober cups." Arm. These are convictions to be produced in the mind of the community, and which will be followed by a visible diminution of the evils, which menace it with premature old age. If we can successfully combat those treacherous customs, which have crept in without exciting alarm, and which with unsuspicious simplicity have been countenanc- ed by the temperate, the moral, and even the pious, we re- move the stumbling block out of the way, and prevent the early causes of deflection from the path of sobriety ; and, in effect, crush the cockatrice in the egg. This, gentlemen, is our object, our disinterested ob- ject ; and with confidence we claim the favour and the aid ©f the enlightened and the liberal men of the community. Countenanced and in part organized by the highest civil and professional characters in the Commonwealth, by men of talent, worth, and zeal; in correspondence with auxilia- ries, annually increasing in numbers and activity in all parts of the State, we stand on high ground, and have fa- cilities for exciting and directing attention to the object of our philanthropic institution, which we cannot too highly prize, nor too faithfully improve. By zeal enlightened and benevolent, by circulars, reports, and tracts, by personal example in our domestick economy, the regulation of our servants and children in diet and manners, by caution t© the young and innocent, the earliest warning to the incau- 16 tious, the most pathetic expostulation with the lost, and a humane and legal violence to save them, when other means are ineffectual, we shall be employed agreeably to our pro- fessions, and, I firmly believe, in a way to insinuate a re- form, gradual, but sure. I felicitate you, gentlemen, on the interest, at so early a moment, extensively excited in the Commonwealth and neighbouring States, and the degree of salutary influence already confessedly felt from your operations ; and exhort you not to be weary in well doing, for in due time you shall reap, if you faint not. The hand of death has removed from us an early and constant and invaluable friend in one of our Vice Presi- dents, the humane and illustrious Warren. One of the last acts of his life, beyond the limits of his sick chamber, 7as to preside in the last meeting of your Board of Coun- cil. The wide range of his medical practice in the me- tropolis and surrounding country, and his acuteness in tracing diseases to their causes, gave to him a very affect- ing view of the evils we aim to correct; and he felt a deep interest in the measures of the society to arrest them. We will cherish his memory—it is blest—.and in imitating his benignant zeal, we will remember the sacred monition— Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might— The night cometh, in which no man can work. May the Eternal Father, who sent his Son to seek and save the lost, animate your benevolence and prosper your exertions, and cause the blessing of many ready to perish to come u/ion you. THIRD ANNUAL REPORT Of the Massachusetts Society for suppressing Intemper- ance. The Board of Council of the Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance, present the following as their annual Report to the Society, for 1815. It has been hitherto a leading object with the Board, to excite and engage attention extensively to the excessive and alarming use of spirituous liquors, to the deplorable consequences flowing from this source, and to the impor- tance of uniting the sober, virtuous, and influential part of the community, in mild and prudent, but firm and perse- vering measures, for checking and suppressing the abound- ing evil. For this purpose an address, drawn up by a committee of the Board, was published the year before the last, and extensively circulated ; and for the same purpose the excellent sermon preached before the society on their second anniversary, together with the annual report of the board, was published and distributed during the last year. The success has been highly encouraging. Ten auxiliary societies, formed in different parts of the commonwealth, were reported at the last annual meeting; we have now :he batisfaction to report the formation of twenty three more- Something of the views, the spirit, and the pros- pects of these societies will appear in the following recitals fuid extracts. 18 In the last report of the Concord Auxiliary Soci- ety, it is stated, that il the Board have great satisfac- tion in being able to report real success and happy ef- fects to the benevolent efforts of the society. They have the pleasure of seeing the numbers of the society consid- erably increased. They consider it of no small importance that the custom of giving and receiving ardent spirits and wine at funerals is discontinued through the town. The practice of treating at the election of civil officers is also nearly laid aside,' and generally deemed very improper. And they perceive grounds for believing that at a period not far distant, the giving of spirituous liquors in any way that can operate as a personal injury, or as a burdensome tax upon individuals, or as a bribe to influence the conduct of any class of people, will be wholly out of use and cred- it." They represent, moreover, that not only " the need- less expense and use of ardent spirits have been considera- bly diminished in that town, and intemperance lessened, but also that idleness, profaneness, and sabbath breaking are on the decline, and that gaming is very seldom practis- ed. They are happy," they add, " in discovering substan- tial evidence of some real improvement in virtue and cor- rect principles, in things praise worthy and useful in soci- ety. And considering this amendment in disposition and manners, as, at least in part, the first fruits of their associa- tion and united efforts, they feel encouraged, and earnestly recommend to the society mild, firm, and persevering ex- ertions to carry into full effect the benevolent design of the disinterested institution." The Portland Society have had their attention more especially turned to the license law ; and have suggested for consideration, the presenting of a petition or petitions 19 to the Legislature, that something may be done respecting this subject, similar to what was done the last year in re- gard to the sabbath, as particularly enjoining selectmen to be more careful and cautious as to the moral character of those whom they approbate—restraining retailers from selling in small quantities, &c. It is also stated by the President of that society, that a reformation is in successful progress ii> that quarter, in regard to the sabbath. At the first annual meeting of the Dedham Auxiliary Society, it is stated, '• that an appropriate, spirited, and well received address was delivered by the President, and a re- port was made by the Board of Council, proposing some alterations and additions to their constitution, and recom- mending certain measures to be pursued towards the ac- complishment of the objects of the society, all which were adopted with great unanimity and apparent interest." The articles newly introduced into their constitution are these: " That we will exert our influence to effect a change in the fashion of entertaining friends and visitors ; and for ar- dent spirits will emulate each other in presenting mild and safe substitutes, where any tiling is requisite."—" That we will use our influence to discourage the practice of giving ardent spirits, or even wine at funerals, as not only being attended with unnecessary expense, which many are unable to bear, but as tending to interrupt the solemnity which should prevail on such occasions, and throwing out a temp- tation to the hurtful and excessive use of spirituous liquors." « That we consider the practice of distributing spirituous liquors at publick vendues as leading to intemperate drink- ing and other evil consequences; we therefore agree that we will avoid and discountenance that practice, as far as we are concerned or have opportunity/' A principal raeas- 20 ure recommended to the society and adopted by them, and which in the opinion of this Board is a very important one, and worthy of extensive imitation, is expressed in the fol- lowing terms : " As it is to be feared that loose and incor- rect ideas and practices have very generally prevailed res- pecting the regulation of licensed houses and shops, al- though there may be some instances of conformity to the law; and as the society should avoid every appearance of partiality in all their proceedings, and as it is in the power of these licensed persons, who are well disposed, very much to aid the society in their views, it is recommended that a large and respectable committee be appointed to hold a friendly conference with all the taverners and re- tailers in the town, and invite them to concur with us in our ■■Uttimpts to check the progress of intemperance and its kindred vices. If any should be found not thus disposed, and there is reason to conclude they arc not attentive to the provisions of the law relating to them, let the committee expostulate with them on the importance of the due regu- lation of their houses and shops, representing to them the vast evils individuals and the community suffer for the want of such regulations, and the little benefit the violation can be to themselves in any point of view, &c. Should the committee find any instances of obstinate perseverance in errour, after notice and warning, let them make represen- tations thereof to the selectmen, and use their exertions to prevent such persons being recommended to the court for a renewal of their licenses. These measures, it is hoped and expected, would be effectual; if not let the committee report their proceedings to the society, and take further instructions." The Bradford society, at their first annual meeting 81 in August, voted to become auxiliary to this society;. They.have also expressed a wish to receive from us any communications, which may conduce to the furtherance of our common design. In April, 1814, a" Society for the suppression of vice" was formed in Gorham, (which contains members also from Windham.) " The object of this society, (says the constitution,) shall be, to prevent intemperate drinking, profaneness, sabbath-breaking, gaming, and the vending of liquors contrary to law.—The means to be used, shall be example, advice, persuasion, reproof, and, (when necessa- ry,) executing the laws of the Commonwealth." It is add- ed, " all things, if possible, shall be conducted in such a manner, as to evince to the world, that in these exertions, we are influenced by a disinterested desire to promote the public good." The Secretary, in his letter of February last, after communicating much valuable information in answer to the queries of our Circular, says, " It has been an exceed- ingly important question with us' What can be done to give the laws greater efficiency ?' And a primary object to in- duce retailers to conform to them. We are happy to state that all the traders (four or five) in Windham, have been induced, through our influence, to cease vending liquors to be drunken in their stores. Two in this town have ceased, and become members of the society." Soon after our last annual meeting a number of very respectable gentlemen convened at Rehoboth, and associ- ated themselves " in aid" of the parent institution, of whose " objects and measures" they expressed the highest appro- bation. Ail About the same time,« the Berkshire association of ministers, anxious to promote the best interests of the^com- munity, and deeply concerned for the welfare of that part of Zion which is more particularly under their care— earnestly recommended, united and general efforts for the reformation of manners. For the accomplishment of this object," they nominated a committee of eleven persons, high in the estimation of the literary and religious public, " to investigate the subject, and to mature some plan" of operation. By the appointment also of this association a meeting was held at Lenox, on the third Tuesday of Au- gust ; when an appropriate sermon was delivered by the Rev. President Fitch, to a large and respectable assembly, convened from the several towns in the county. At the conclusion of the service, the committee before appointed made report, that in their opinion " the encroachments of irreligion and vice upon the fair inheritance bequeathed to us by our fathers had been already too long regarded with supineness," and that the call for united, systematic, and strenuous efforts to save what remained, and regain, if pos- sible, what was lost of this precious legacy, should be im- mediately heard and complied with. Upwards of a hun- dred persons then formed themselves into a " society for promoting good morals." At the same time, a very luminous and impressive " address to"the friends of order, morality, and religion, in the county of Berkshire, was read, and ordered to be print- ed, with the proceedings of the meeting." The principal design of this address was to induce characters of the above description," to unite in their respective towns in organized societies, for promoting good morals and increasing a rev- erence for the venerable institutions of religion." This 33 design, we are happy to state, has been already in a good measWe answered. By a communication from the Secre- tary, of the 13th of March, it appears, that seventeen branch societies had then been formed in the county. The proposal of an auxiliary society having been made in New Bedford to '* a number of respectable and in- fluential gentlemen, such was the zeal manifested on the 1 occasion, that a society was immediately organized, con- sisting of about 100 members." The great objects of this society, and the methods pro- posed for attaining them, are similar to those of the other associations, which have already been noticed. From the very judicious, spirited, and eloquent address which ac- ', companies the constitution, it would be gratifying to our [feelings, and we doubt not subservient to the common cause, to make copious extracts. But our limits forbid.— ' And as we could not do justice to the document without, j we will only express a hope, that it may be extensively I circulated and read. ■ A society consisting of nearly 200 members has re- J cently been formed in Ipswich, " denominated the Ipswich ! Evangelical Tract Society." Though the primary design of this society, as expressed in the constitution, is," to promote vital and practical religion, by the circulation of ^ such tracts, as are calculated to receive the approbation of serious christians of all denominations ;"—yet " the mem- bers mutually agree to use their influence to discounte- nance prevaiE^g vices, and to endeavour by all gentle and persuasive means as well, as by the tracts they circulate, to promote those virtues, which conduce to the respecta- bility and happiness of man." The cause, therefore, in which we are embarked, is one, and we are happy to find 24 by a communication from the Secretary that it is the wish of that association," to confer with other moral ay well as tract societies on its general object." From a review of the whole therefore, the Board feel warranted in the very pleasing and animating con- clusion, that much good has already resulted to indi- viduals, and to the community, from the incipient ex- ertions which have been made ; that a very considerable change has already been wrought in the publick mind fa- vourable to the momentous object of our institution ; that measures are in train upon an extended and continually extending scale for still greater effects; and that there is every encouragement to proceed with perseverance and increasing activity in this great and good work, A I Sit* IIIS" cl *:&^<&ff!l :-ay £*&? W