directed, so as to be the means of enriching and adorning our country, were described some what in detail. It was also state ed, that this saving would involve in it other savings scarcely less important. To these I would now direct the attention of your readers.

It is manifest, that very great precision cannot be expected on such a subject: if, however, any person who is well acquainted with the state of things in our country towns, will take the trouble to examine the following statements, I apprehend he will not find the conclusions essentially erroneous,

From a population of 2,000 persons, it may be assumed, as not far from the truth, that there are 400 laboring men, in a place where nearly all healthy adult persons are employed in daily labor. The wages of an active man are, 150 dollars a year, besides his board. The loss of such a man's.labor, while he continues to be fed, must be the amount of his wages added to the expense of his board; say 200 dollars. But as the average estimate of the annual value of a man's labor may be somewhat less than this, let it be placed at 150 dollars, With these things premised, I observe,

1. By the unnecessary use of spirituous liquors much time, which would otherwise have been employed in labor, is directly lost. Not less than three persons out of the 400, are employed unnecessarily and perniciously in the business of keeping taverns, and grog-shops. Many days, and parts of days, are lost, by those who are habituated to drinking, which would not have

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been otherwise lost. Such persons readily associate together; they almost involuntarily resort to the haunts where their appetite can be gratified; their habits become inveterate and irresistible; and in this way much of their time is inevitably wasted. will not be thought extravagant to say, that the aggregate of the time thus squandered, in a town like the one I am describing, would be equal to the whole time of seven individuals. This is, indeed, a very moderate estimate; but, moderate as it is, the loss which it indicates, added to that of the three tapsters,amounts to 1,500 dollars, annually. Much more time, however, is wasted indirectly, as will be seen in the two following particulars.

2. Those who indulge freely in the use of spirituous liquors do not perform so much labor within a given time, (even while they are busily employed,) as they would otherwise perform. They have not so much strength as they otherwise would have. Their constitutions are impaired. The transient animation excited by strong drink is beyond comparison infe, rior to the robust native vigor of a temperate man. The laborer who swallows his pint of rum a day, is fast losing his ability to work. But where such vast quantities of ardent spirits are consumed, it is principally done by laboring men, on whom the prosperity of the community depends. Of the remaining 390 laborers one half may be supposed to be very materially injured, by the cause under consideration. They are not drunkards, to be sure; nor are they generally sensible of the injury; but they are, nevertheless, very.

seriously injured, by taking bit ters, drams, &c. at regular pe riods, which occur several times every day. The unanimous voice of men who employ laborers, is, SO far as I have heard, that those who demand a constant supply of strong drink, are much less vigorous and efficient, than those do who not require it at all. So decided is this voice, and so numerous and uniform are the facts which support it, (though they cannot be stated here,) that there is little hazard in saying, that the labor of five persons, who are addicted to the kind of intemperance here intended, is not worth more than the labor of four persons, who have never indulged in the same kind of intemperance. Supposing, then, that half the laborers are injured in the manner above described, and that the annual value of their labor is thus diminished one fifth, it is plain, that the use of strong drink deprives the community of the labor of 39 men, which is a loss of 5,850 dollars, annually.

3. A habit of indulging in the unnecessary use of spirituous liquors shortens the life of man; and still more does it shorten the years of his active and vigorous labor. This fact is proved by daily observation. The regular drinking of ardent spirits destroys the best constitution. It infallibly brings on premature decay; and, in a yast proportion of instances, may be assigned as the probable cause of depriving its victims of many years of industry and usefulness. Medical men, who are best acquainted with this subject, express themselves in strong terms on the encroachment thus made on human life, and on the inter

ests of society. If my previous statements are allowed, it will be easily admitted, that one half of the 400 laborers are losers in this way also. Their lives are shortened, or their old age rendered unnecessarily feeble and helpless. It is difficult to compute this loss. Some lose half, some one third, and some a much smaller part, of the vigorous portion of their lives. On an average, it may be supposed, that a tenth part of what would have otherwise been years of activity and industry, is entirely lost by this class of intemperate persons. In other words, the labor of 20 individuals is thus lost. Of these, suppose 10 to be prematurely inactive; and the loss by them is 1,500 dollars. The other ten are prematurely dead; and the loss by them is, at the least, 1,000 dollars.

Thus it appears, from these three items, that the unnecessary use of strong drink costs the inhabitants of this small town nearly 10,000 dollars a year, beside the expense of the liquors.

In addition to all this, there are a great number of indirect losses, which, though they cannot be computed, are still far from being inconsiderable. Of this description are the following:

1. The number of dependents on public charity is increased. Not only intemperate persons themselves are reduced to poverty; but they train up their families in the same way, and fit them to become public burdens. It is surprising to find how great a proportion of our paupers are brought to their dependent state by intemperance.

2. Hard drinking occasions much sickness, with all its attendant expenses.

3. The same cause operates to bring up the rising generation in a state of habitual idleness. Scarcely any thing has such a disheartening effect on children, as to see their father's labor and their own squandered in purchasing the means of their own and their father's dishonor.

4. All the impoverishing consequences of habitual drunkenness are to be set down to this account. Among these are a great waste of property by negligence, the expenses of lawsuits, and the loss of time and character taken up in managing them. I say loss of character; for this is frequently a loss of money.

It will be remembered, that I have conducted this examination with a sole view to the pecuniary disadvantages incurred by the

unnecessary consumption of ardent spirits. It is impossible, however, not to ask, If these disadvantages are so great, what must be the extent of the moral evils by which they are attended? How great must be the anxiety, the shame and mortification brought upon the innocent members of suffering families? What must be the progress in profaneness, lightmindedness, and disregard of religion? Let those who are acquainted with the cause and its usual operation answer these questions.

The uses to be made of this discussion will be stated, God willing, at some future time. If the facts and conclusions here exhibited are important, let me request the reader to bear them in mind, till that time shall arrive. BENEVOLUS.

'WHEN I peruse the writings of my younger years I find the footsteps of an unfurnished mind, of emptiness, and insufficiency; yet, of those points which I then thor oughly studied, my judgment is the same now as then, and therefore in the substance of my religion, and in such controversies as I then searched into with some extraordinary diligence, I find not my mind disposed to change. But in divers points that I studied slightly, and in many things which I took upon trust from others, I have since found my apprehensions either erroneous

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very defective: and those things which I was orthodox in, I had either insufficient reasons for, or a mixture of some sound and some insufficient ones; or else an insufficient apprehension of those reasons; so that I scarcely knew what I seemed to know: and one common infirmity I perceive in my writings, namely, that I put forth matters with some kind of confidence, as if I had done something new or more than ordinary in them, when, upon my mature review, I find that I said not one half which the subject required: and the reason

was, that I had not read any of the fuller sort of books that are written on the points I treated of, nor conversed with those who knew more than myself; and so all those things were either new or great to me, which were common, and perhaps small, to others: and, because they all came in by my own study of the naked matter, and not from books, they were apt to affect my mind the more, and to seem greater than they were. And another token of weakness is discernible in my early works, namely, that I was very apt to start controversies in my practical writings, and also more desirous to acquaint the world with all I took to be truth, and to assault those books by name which I thought unsound: and the reason of all this was, that I was then in the vigor of my youthful apprehensions, and the new appearance of any sacred truth was more apt to affect me, and to be more valued, than afterwards, when commonness had dulled my delight; and I did not then sufficiently discern how much of controversy, is verbal, and upon mutual mistakes. And withal I knew not how impatient divines were of being contradicted; and how it would stir up all their power to defend what they had once said, and rise against the truth which is thus thrust upon them, as the mortal enemy of their honor: and I have perceived that nothing so much hindereth the reception of the truth, as urging it on men with too harsh importunity, and falling too heavily upon their errors; for hereby you engage their credit in the business, and they defend their errors as themselves. In controversies, it is

opposition which kindles a resisting zeal; whereas, if they be neglected, and their opinions lie awhile neglected, they usually cool and come again to themselves: though this holds not when a sectary is animated by the greediness and increase of his followers. Men are so loth to be drenched with the truth, that I am more for going that way to work; and, to confess the truth, am lately much prone to the contrary extreme, so as to be too indifferent what men hold, and to keep my judgment to myself; and I find this effect is mixed according to its causes, which are some good and some bad; the bad ones, are, 1. An impatience of men's weakness and mistaking frowardness and self-conceit: 2. An abatement of my sensible esteem of truth, through the long abode of it on my mind.

The better causes are, 1. That I am more sensible than ever of the necessity of living upon the principles of religion which we are all agreed in, and uniting these; and how much mischief men that overvalue their own opinions have done the Church; how some have destroyed charity, and others caused schism, and most have hindered serious godliness in themselves and others, and used controversy to divert men from seriously following a holy life. 2. And I find that it is much more for most men's good, to converse with them only in that way of godliness where all are agreed, and not touching upon differences to stir up their corruptions; and to tell them of little more of your knowledge than you find them willing to receive from you as mere learn

ers; and therefore to stay till they crave information of you; as Musculus did with the Anabaptists, when he visited them in prison, conversing kindly with them, and shewing them all the love he could, and never talking about their opinions, till at last, they, who used to call him a deceiver, entreated him to teach them, and received his instruction. We mistake men's diseases when we think there needs nothing to cure their errors, but only to bring them the evidence of truth. Alas! there are many distempers of mind to be removed, before men are able to receive that evidence. In a learning way men are ready to receive truth, but in a disputing way they come armed against it with prejudice and animosity. In my youth I was quickly past my fundamentals, and greatly delighted with metaphysics (though my preaching was still on the necessary points;) but the older I grew, the smaller stress I laid upon matters of controversy, as finding far greater uncertainties in them than I at first saw; and now it is the plain doctrines of the Catechism which I most value, and daily think of, and find most useful to myself and others. The Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, do find me now the most plentiful and acceptable matter for all my meditations: they are to me as my daily bread; and as I can speak and write of them over and over again, so I had rather hear or read of them, than of any of the school niceties, which once so much pleased me. And thus I observed it was with old Bishop Usher, and with many others; and I conjecture that VOL. IV. New Series.

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this effect also is mixed of good and bad according to its causes. The bad cause may perhaps be some natural infirmity. As trees in the spring shoot vigor ously, but in autumn the life retires to the root; so possibly, my nature, conscious of its infirmity, may find itself insufficient for great things, and so my mind may descend to the root of Christian principles: and also I have often been afraid lest illrooting at first, and many temp tations afterwards, have made it more necessary for me than many others to secure my funda mentals. But upon much ob servation, I am afraid lest most others are in no better a case, and that at first they take it for granted that Christ is the Sav ior of the world, that the soul is immortal, and that there is a heaven and a hell, &c. while they are studying abundance of scholastic superstructures, and at last will find cause to study more soundly their religion itself, as well as I have done. The better causes are these: 1. I value all these according to their use and end; and I find by my daily experience, that the knowledge of God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and of a holy life, is of more use than all speculation. 2. I know that every man must grow (as trees) downwards and upwards at once; and that the roots increase as the trunk and branches do. 3. Being the nearer eternity, I the more regard those things which my everlasting life or death depends on. 4. Having most to do with ignorant, miserable people, I am commanded, by my charity and reason, to treat with them of that which their salvation lieth

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