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his seat, when he returned to Andover, and was immediately sent as a delegate to the Legis lature. In the spring of 1785, the Congress of the U. S. appointed him first Commissioner of the Treasury. In this office he continued till Sept. 1789, when the department sustained a new arrangement under the new constitution.

After the adoption of the constitution, General Washington offered him the department of Post Master General, the duties of which office he discharged for about two years. After having resigned the trust of Post Master General, Mr. Osgood remained in private life till the year 1800, when the city of New York chose him a member of the House of Representatives of that state. The house appointed him their Speaker.

In the year 1801, he was appointed to the office of Supervisorship of the State of New York; and, soon after the abolition of that office, was appointed Naval Officer for the port of New York; an office which he held the remainder of his life.

Mr. Osgood enjoyed the high privilege of being the child of believing parents. He was very early the subject of serious impressions; and has himself expressed the hope, that he was brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light, at the age of fifteen.

To those, who were intimately acquainted with Mr. Osgood, it is unnecessary to say, that with all his natural affability and cheerfulness, he was often pensive, and sometimes gloomy.

He was far from being backward in conversing on the state of his own soul. He has more than once been heard to say, "that a history of his past life for forty years

would contain but a gloomy account of omissions of duty and commissions of sin. Doubts and darkness, sensible withdrawings of God's Holy Spirit, lifelessness and inactivity in the cause of his Redeemer caused him keen remorse of conscience, and painful emotions of heart. Still, he cherished the hope, that he was a Christian. We trust he was. Не seemed to be convinced of his ill-desert and helplessness as a sinner; and to take suprenie delight in casting himself upon the Lord Jesus, as Jehovah his Righteousness. The divinity of Christ was to him a precious doctrine. It was precious on his dying pillow.

"Bound" said he "as I am to eternity, I can rest on nothing short of a Savior, that is truly God." We trust the everlasting arms sustained him. His light appeared to be like that of the just. The three last years of his life were evidently a season of retirement and tranquillity, and we hope of devotion. No man was more engaged than he was to promote the interests of the church of which he was an elder. For us he labored, with us and for us he prayed. But he has gone to his rest. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. After a long and tedious illness, borne with unusual resignation and cheerfulness, he fell asleep on the 12th of August, 1813. New York, Sept.

MISCELLANEOUS.

For the Panoplist.

ON INTEMPERATE DRINKING.
No. VII

So much has been said and written on the subject of intemperance, within the last two or three years; so many facts have been collected from all parts of the United States;-so many affecting representations have been made of the waste and woes of hard drinking;-and so much has been done to lay these facts and representations before the public, by clergymen and laymen; by printing, vending, and gratuitously distributing sermons, essays, addresses, and tracts, that a spirit of anxious inquiry,and a good degree of needful alarm, have been gradually and extensively excited. But unhappily, the effect of all this has been in many cases to dishearten, rather than to stimulate, the friends of reform. Not a few have imagined themselves to be in the condition of a thinly populated district, when invaded by a powerful and victorious enemy, to whose standard many eagerly flock, instead of uniting with the friends of their country, to oppose his further progress. They have felt themselves driven to the hard necessity of at least remaining quiet, if not of aiding and assisting the conqueror.

No such real necessity, however, has at any time, or any where, existed; except in the imaginations of the timid. Intemperance, though an enemy of terrible aspect; an enemy that

has cast down many strong men wounded,and slain many mighty, has never yet, blessed be God, been permitted to gain an ascendency so complete, that its desolating career could not be arrested. And our grateful acknowledgments are due to the Author of all good, that the number of the despairing has been, for some time past, rapidly on the decline. Many good people, who once felt as if nothing effectual could be done, have found to their surprise, upon facing the enemy, that it is not a regular force which they have to meet, but a reeling disorder ly rabble; and that, if the army of intemperance is numerically great, it is by no means so formidable, as they had supposed. A little thought has, moreover, convinced them, that even if this army cannot now be met and vanquished, in the field, it must soon waste away, and be entirely disbanded, unless kept alive by a succession of new recruits.

Still, however, the voice of despondency is heard from various quarters, expressing itself in such terms as the following. "Would to God, that the alarm had been sounded sooner. Time was, when something effectual might have been done; but that time is past. The foe should have been met upon the frontiers, instead of which, he has been suffered to penetrate into the heart of the country, and make such a disposition of his forces, that resistance can have no other cffect, than to exasperate him, to hasten the work of ruin and

death, in which he has been so long, and so successfully engaged. Our wound, alas! is incurable. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. The fire burns so fiercely, that it cannot be quenched. The poison is so diffused through all the veins and arteries, and so mixed with the whole mass of the blood, that no remedy can avail."

That those, who express themselves in these and similar despairing lamentations, are sincere, I shall not permit myself to doubt. But through what powerful magnifying-glass do they look? What new race of giants have they discovered? Can nothing be done to save children from bondage, shame, and premature death? Why not? Cast away this mischievous magnifier, I beseech you. Look out of your own eyes. Be calm and collected. Fears and phantoms are bad counsellors. Dis

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miss them. You are not left alone. There are more than seven thousand, or ten times seven thousand, who have not bowed the knce to Baal. I cannot pretend to state the numbers of professing Christians in this country, at the present time; but it must be very large. Probably between two and three hundred thousand. Most of these, surely, may be counted upon, in this holy war, against intemperance. Nor must we look to these alone. More than twice or thrice two hundred thousand, who are not professors, can, no doubt, be induced to marshal themselves under the same standard.

And can nothing be done by sush a host? Nothing to main tain the ground which is not yet

lost nothing to force the enemy from the open field-nothing to reduce his strong holds, to drive in his out-posts, or to cut off his supplies? Can all the pious and sober people in the land do nothing to check the progress of this evil? Nothing by their example; nothing by their influence with friends and dependents; nothing in their own families? Or it is to be believed, that the great body of the wise and good,will, in this case, refuse to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Let them be distinctly called upon; let them be convinced of the danger; and they will come forward and enrol themselves.

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Nor let it be forgotten, that there is a mighty difference between coming up to the help of the Lord, and entering the lists against him. With infinite ease He can cause one to chase a thousand, aud two to put thousand to flight. So that, if drunkards, their auxiliaries and abettors, were ten times more numerous than they are, and if at the same time, the pious and virtuous were proportionably diminished, it would be highly criminal in the latter to sit down in despair. Let the fearful and unbelieving consider this. Let them remember, that those ancient rebels, who would not obey the command of God, nor confide in his promises, but refused to take possession of Canaan, were destroyed of the destroyer.

Further; let, such, as are tempted to resign themselves up to despondency, be told for their encouragement, that much has actually been done,within two years past, to stay the plague.

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much more, than even the most sanguine had ventured to anticipate. The writer can assure them from his own observation, and from statements on which implicit reliance can be placed, that in the part of New England where he resides, a glorious reformation is begun,and under circumstances affording good reason to hope that it will proceed. Magistrates and ministers, church members, merchants, farmers, mechanics, have, to an extent not only unprecedented; but unexpected, entered heart and hand upon the good work. Ardent spirits of every kind are excluded, by unanimous resolves, from the associational and other meetings of the clergy. The side-boards of the wealthy are swept of bottles and glasses. The sling and the cordial are banished from tea parties. Putting the cup to the lips of friends and visitants, is ceasing to be deemed a necessary part of hospitality. Many farmers now get through the season of heat and hard labor, with less than one fourth of the quantity of distilled liquors, which they used to provide; and some without providing any.

The pleasing result of a report, lately made in my hearing, by intelligent gentlemen from all parts of a large associational district, was, that several drunkards have been hopefully reform ed within the past year; that preaching against the use of strong drink, though very pointed, has been highly popular; that frequenting dram shops and taverns is growing more and more disreputable; that, in some towns, the consumption of spirits has been diminished by more

than one half the usual quantity, and that every where, the diminution is very apparent.

Now, if these and similar tokens for good were not known to exist, except in a few towns, we should have abundant reason to thank God and take courage; but how much more, when it is considered, that the above statement is only a specimen of that happy reformation, which has progressed as far, perhaps farther, in other sections of the state, and in different and distant parts of New England. Let, then, the hands that still hang down, be lifted up. Let the feeble knees be strengthened. Let God be praised for the good that has already been done. Let his con tinued smiles be earnestly im plored. Let every inch of ground, that has been gained, be held.

Let the strong places from which the enemy has been driven be levelled with the ground. Let every advantage be vigorously followed up, and, by God's help, our victory will be certain and complete.

But it may here be asked, are there no discouraging facts to counterbalance the favorable ones which have been stated; no dark clouds rising in our herizon; no forward and threatening movements of the enemy? Yes, there are. I hear the poor crying for bread at this early season, and with astonishment demand the cause. Partial failures in some of the crops I have indeed heard of. But I know, that in general, the crops have been unusually abundant, and that, in some places, the earth has brought forth by handfuls. I know, also, that however great the demand may be abroad for

the productions of our soil, that demand cannot, in the present state of things, have produced a scarcity, so few and precarious are our outlets. Still I know, it is with extreme difficulty, that the poor around me can obtain their daily bread; and how is this to be accounted for?

I cast my eye upon the newspapers; I watch the movements of speculators; I look at the fires that are kindling and the mystery vanishes. Stills are advertised, by scores and hundreds. Old establishments in the distilling business are enlarged, and new ones are rising in every part of the country. Distillers, by their advertisements and their innumerable agencies, agencies, have already got a very large part of the grain into their hands; and are securing the remainder, as fast as possible. Then is it carried from the granary the distillery, there to be torture ed by fire, till it will yield a liquid poison, which is to be sent forth to destroy health, property, and reason; to convert men into demons, and to plunge thousands of souls into the bottomless pit. Can we wonder, that the wrath of God is not turned away from us, but that his hand is stretched out still? What are we to expect, if we thus cast the staff of life into the fire, with our own hands, but that an angry God will add to the calamities of war all the miseries of famine?

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But those, who are engaged in this business, will undoubtedly attempt to justify themselves; and it is but right that they should be heard. They may plead, then, in the first place, that very large quantities of ardent spirits are necessary to VOL. IX.

supply our markets; that supplies from abroad are almost entirely cut off by the war; that the demand can by no means be satisfied by the distillation of cider; and that, therefore, it is proper to supply the deficiency by extracting the spirit from breadstuffs.

This plea, permit me to reply, rests entirely on the presumption, that every demand for ardent spirits must, or at least may, be complied with. I say, it rests on the presumption; because the point is not proved, nor can it be. Suppose the keeper of a grogshop to have ascertained, by a long course of experience, that his customers will want three gallons of spirits every evening. Is he bound, or is it right for him to provide that quantity, when he knows that it will injure every man who calls for it? But if this would be sinful, then he may not supply his own little market, I mean to the extent of the demand; and if he may not, then the distiller may not, in every case, supply a larger market. The reason is obvious. It is from the larger markets that grog shops draw their supplies. So that he, who sells liquor by the hogshead, may be accessory, to a vastly greater sum of guilt and misery, than any single individual, who retails by the sin gle glass.

But, replies the distiller, nothing was made in vain. Liquor is certainly good in its place. I do not compel men to drink intemperately. I warn them against it. If they will, notwith standing, make brutes of themselves, they must answer for it, not I.

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And are you certain, I ask,

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