jurors, and other informing officers. Under the vigilant eye of such men, the noisy rabble of tipplers would shrink into darkness, and study concealment. A few presentments would go far towards clearing the most thronged grog-shops, and many young men who are beginning to fall, would be saved from utter ruin. As for abuses of licenses, now so common, they might, in my apprehension, be effectually prevented, if the authority of each town, would make it an invariable rule not to renew the license of a man, who has once been convicted of abusing his privilege. 4. A kind of moral test act, declaring every drunkard unfit to hold any office and disqualified to vote in any public meeting, would, it is presumed, give a salutary check to excessive drinking. The lovers of rum, and brandy, and whisky, may very probably start at this suggestion, and deny the right of the general government or any state government, to enact such a law. But if intemperance strikes at the foundations of public, as well as domestic happiness; if an intoxicated man, is alike unfit to legislate, to judge, to execute laws, and to have a voice, in making appointments to office, then it is proper, that the door should be shut against him, even when he is sober. For who can tell, whether he will be capable of acting at all when his services are most needed? and who would be willing to confide his dearest rights to the decision of a drunkard? That men may rightfully be disfranchised, for making brutes of themselves and ruining their families, as well as for perjury, or any other crime, I take to be a sound proposition. And if the thing could be done, in this country, I have not a single doubt, that it would save thou sands from all the debasement, and woes, and crimes, of intem. perance. 5. Much might be done to discountenance hard drinking, by the electors, in every state and town, in the exercise of their elective franchise. All the good and virtuous might easily agree, never to vote for a man, (of whatsoever politics) who is known to make too free use of the bottle, or to buy votes with liquor. Let such agreements, in larger and smaller circles be made published, and adhered to, and it would have a prodigious influence, in diminishing the consumption of ardent spirits. 6. Much might be done, by totally excluding the intemperate from all reputable company. The melancholy truth is, that though it is considered disgraceful upon the whole, for a person to be seen intoxicated, what is called a high scrape, if it occurs but seldom, is passed over, as a kind of venial indiscretion, which by no means disqualifies a person for genteel and virtuous society. This injudicious toleration, has, I believe done more than almost any thing else, to diffuse the poison among the middling and higher ranks of the community. The lovers of ardent spirits have found, that they can habitually drink hard, and occasionally proceed downright drunkenness, without intirely losing their standing in society; and hence have taken encouragement to go on treasuring up wrath unto the day of wrath, and the revelation of the right eous judgment of God. These things out not so to be. It is stated, and I believe on good authority, that for a man of any standing to be seen intoxicated in France, is fatal to his rep utation. He is discarded at once, as a sort of monster in human shape, wholly unworthy of confidence, and unfit to appear afterwards in any decent company. This, to be sure, is carrying the matter to a great length, but I think none too far. It is, in effect, presenting a stamp of infamy to every man's forehead, to remind him, what must be the consequences of his swallowing the inebriating draught: and it has unquestionably contributed much to that sparing and cautious use of ardent spirits, for which the French people have been highly and justly commended. Let the experiment be fairly tried in this country. Let the drunkard be discarded as a common nuisance. Let a mark of infamy be set upon him, which nothing but tears of genuine penitence, followed by a thorough reformation, can ever efface. If he is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; but shun him, as you would a person yellow with the pestilence. Instead of stooping to lift him out of the mire, where he insists upon wallowing, and placing him among decent people, avoid him, pass not by him, turn from him, and pass away. What though not one in a hundred of the present race of drunkards should be reclaimed by this pointed neglect, we have every reason to believe, that hundreds, if not thousands, VOL, IX. would be deterred from entering into their path, and then would an incalculable amount of shame, suffering, and guilt, be prevent ed. 7. Much might be done to discountenance vice in general, and intemperance in particular, by the formation of moral societies, within convenient limits, and comprising the most virtuous and influential members of the community. They might enter into articles of agreement to discontinue the use of spirits in their own families; to recommend the same abstinence to their friends and dependants; to restrain their children and servants from mingling with the idle and dissolute; and to countenance and aid informing officers and magistrates, in the execution of the laws. It is a matter of thankfulness, that a considerable number of such societies have lately been formed, in various parts of New England, under favorable auspices. It is hoped, and confidently believed, that many more will be formed, and that, by their influence and exertions, thousands may be prevented from plunging into the gulf of intemperance. I am well aware, that societies of the above description cannot be established and go into operation, without bringing upon themselves the bad wishes, if nothing worse, of corrupt and dissolute men. But no one who loves his children, his country, his Bible, and his God, should be deterred a moment, by the sneers and threats of such men. It is an honor to be opposed by the devil and all his adherents. Let none who wish, and labor, and pray, 40 Let us for the promotion of good morals from the field and the shop. And this would be no inconsiderable part of that general reformation, as it respects the use of spirits, which is so loudly called for. evii practice, is religion. It is 8. Our churches, by a faithful attention to discipline might do 10. After all, the most certain vastly more, than is done, to dis- remedy for intemperate drinkcourage and prevent intempering, as well as for every other ance. No body denics, I believe, that hard drinking is a disciplinable offence; and yet, alas! how frequently is it tolerated for years, in the household of faith! How many churches wink at the disorderly conduct of their members, in this particular! Thus, not only is Christ wounded in the house of his friends, but many, without, are emboldened, by the example of immoral professors, to run with them to the same excess of riot. If church members were universally faithful to exhort one another daily; if the smallest deviations from the path of temperance were followed by tender admonitions, and if the incorrigible were cut off, with all reasonable despatch, from church communion, how happily, and how extensively, would these measures operate, in preventing the use of intoxicating liquors. 9. If farmers and mechanics would agree not to drink spirits themselves, and not to provide them for their workmen; if, instead of furnishing liquor, they would give an additional compensation to laborers, furnishing them at the same time, with a generous supply of nutritious and palatable drink, such as C.der, bee, molasses and water, milk and water, and the like, a very large advance would be made towards banishing the fiery product of our distilleries BARON TRENCK'S VERACITY. Extract of a Letter from Dr. Franklin to his sister in Boston, dated Phila. Dec. 17th, 1789. Taken from the original by the Rev. Dr. Morse, Oct. 1813. "You tell me you are desired by an acquaintance to ask my opinion, whether the general circumstances mentioned in the History of Baron Trenck are founded in fact; to which I can only answer that of the greatest part of these circumstances, the scene being laid in Germany, I must consequently be very ig norant; but of what he says, as having passed in France between the ministers of that AN ADDRESS TO THE CHRISTIAN PUBLIC ON THE SUBJECT OF MISSIONS TO THE HEATHEN AND TRANSLATIONS OF THE SCRIRTURES. IN behalf of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the subscribers, a committee for the purpose, beg leave to solicit the attention of the Christian public to the cause in which the Board is engaged, and for the promotion of which it was originally instituted, and has been since incorporated. We are not backward to state, at the commencement of this address, that we shall lay before the reader, with great satisfaction, some of the facts and reasons, on which our attachment to this cause is founded, and which, we are sure, will not fail to commend themselves to every enlightened conscience, and to make an impression on every pious heart. The cause itself is transcendently glorious, and deserving of the warmest approbation of all men, however imperfectly, or fecbly, we may state its claims. To doubt, or hesitate, in regard to the urgency of these claims, and the duty of keeping them habitually in view, would be equally repugnant to our feelings, and dishonorable to our profession as Christians. Can it be a matter of doubt, or of indifference, to any man, who has the Scriptures in his hands, and has profited by perusing them, whether Christianity is to become, at some future day, the religion of all mankind?-whether its transforming power is universally to influence the hearts and the lives of men? whether the word of God is to be read, understood, and obeyed, by the nations now sunk in idolatry and ignorance?whether this grand consummation is to be effected by the means which men are voluntarily to supply?-or whether there is an imperious necessity that Christians should zealously co-operate in this great work of the Lord? The object of the Board is one the promulgation of Christianity among the heathen. The means, by which this object is designed to be effected, are of two kinds;-the publication and distribution of the Scriptures in the different languages of the nations; and the support of faithful missionaries to explain, exemplify, and impress. on the mind, the great truths which the Scriptures contain. In regard to the distribution of the Scriptures, the Board is in fact, though not in name, a FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY; and, under this aspect, we earnestly request that its advantages may be considered by all, who would joyfully place the Bible in the hands of pagans. Confined in its operations to no part of the globe in exclusion of other parts, the Board can extend the sovereign balm wherever there are spiritual maladies to be healed; enjoying the benefit of established plans of correspondence and co-operation, the result of its proceedings can be more prompt, than could otherwise be expect ed; and having its attention long fixed on the most promising fields of exertion, its agents will acquire a facility of action, which can never be applied to single, insulated, and sudden efforts. Through the instrumentality of the Board, every charitable person, however retired or obscure, has it in his power to send the Bible to those very heathens than whom none of the human race can need it more, and on whom there are peculiar encouragements to bestow it. A known, regular, uninterrupted channel will be kept open, (with the blessing of Providence,) through which the streams of American beneficence may flow into the centre of the pagan world, and contribute to fertilize regions which have long been dreary and barren of all moral good. And shall not these streams increase, till they form a mighty river, flowing with a steady and resistless current, and bearing on its bosom the immortal hopes of restored Jews, and the imperishable riches of converted Gentiles? Will not many of our countrymen esteem it a high privilege, that their contributions, at whatever season bestowed, may, in a few months and without care or trouble to themselves, be so applied, even in the remote eastern hemisphere, as to commence a series of good effects, which shall never end, and the number and magnitude of which no human powers can calculate? A single Bible given to a Hindoo, ora Ceylonese, may be the means of enlightening a family, of arousing the attention of a neighborhood, of withdrawing a multitude from idolatry, leading them to procure the Scriptures for themselves, and turning them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to the living God. It is a fact highly gratifying to the Board, that the liberality of Christians has devolved on them the duty of remitting, in the course the year past, bills of exchange to the amount of about eight hundred and sixty pounds sterling, to aid in the translation and distribution of the Scriptures in Asia; a sum which will produce as much in India, according to the present rates of exchange from London to Calcutta, as would be produced by remitting four thousand dol lars in specie, after deducting from that sum the peace rates of freight and insurance. Though it is a pleasing reflection, that some part of this money may even now have been expended, and contributed to supply the spiritual wants of numbers, yet we are not to forget, that a few thousand Bibles cannot suffice for many millions of inhabitants; that the demand for the word of God wil |