OF THE

ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,

FOR

1841.

VOLUME III.-NUMBER II.

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SOCIETY.

JANUARY, 1842.

SALEM:

PRINTED AT THE SALEM GAZETTE OFFICE.

1842.

630.6 ES

1841

ADDRESS.

BY ALONZO GRAY, A.M.

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Society.

The statute of the Hebrew Commonwealth which required all the people to assemble triennially at Jerusalem, and present themselves before the Lord, was not more a dictate of piety than of sound, practical wisdom. It led them to cherish a friendly regard for each other, and it kept alive a spirit of obedience to their divine lawgiver. It furnished the best opportunities to pay their tithes; to present the best of their flocks and fatlings, the first fruits of the field and of the vine, the honey and the oil, with the sacred garments and ornaments for the divine service.

The feast of the harvest, especially, must have presented an imposing spectacle. The immense multitude of people, the numerous flocks and caravans which blocked up the ways and covered the hills around the sacred city. The display of their merchandise, their offerings for the service of the temple, towards which all eyes were directed and at the sight of which all Israel bowed to the earth, in silent adoration of Him who made it the place of his peculiar presence. The pillar of smoke which ascended to heaven from the altar of burnt sacrifice completed the picture; and then it was at Jerusalem, the city of the great King, the place where he unveiled his awful majesty, while all around was calculated to inspire the pious sentiment of the Psalmist, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof," the

"fruits of the earth are his," "and the cattle upon a thousand hills."

The herdsmen of Dan, we may naturally suppose, would emulate those of Beersheba; the shepherds of the mountains, those of the plains. The clusters of Eschol, would be compared with those of Libanus; the wild honey of the rock, with that from the desert; the oil from the hills and the spices of Jordan.

The Tyrian purple and tapestry, the fine linen and embroidered-work, with all manner of needle-work and carved-work and utensils of husbandry, according to the skill and productions of each portion of the land, would furnish an opportunity for inspection and profitable comparison. All this was not merely for display, it had its appropriate effect. Every Jew would carry home a higher sense of his duty to his country and his God. He would also gain some new knowledge, or at least be stimulated to greater exertions to increase the productions of his fields and of his flocks. It was, doubtless, one of the most important means in that age of securing his attachment to the cultivation of the soil, as well as of perfecting and perpetuating those modes by which each one might reap the highest reward of his labors.

You have come up to this annual festival to-day, bringing with you the choicest fruits of your industry, to commune with each other, to be excited to new zeal and to higher efforts in the profession which you have chosen; to gather new encouragement and consolation; to lighten the toils of the field, and it is hoped, to present to that Great Being who has crowned your labors with success, the tribute of grateful hearts, and the consecration of the substance with which he has blessed you. You wish, I doubt not, to return to your homes with the conviction that you have made some advances in the art which you cultivate. With the hope that I might contribute something, however small, to this end, I have consented to address you.

Under any circumstances I could not hope to do justice to this occasion. Under the present, I fear I shall wholly disappoint you, as my heath and professional