The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-09-25
YfloraI anb Religious.
Some New Hampshire Heretics.

The Boston Herald recently pub
lished a letter giving an interesting ac-
count of the few survivors of sect of
" Osgoodites +" that arose in New Eng
land. These persons resided in Can
terbury, N. H., which was the home of
several adherents of peculiar sects in
the early part of this century. The Os-
goodies were founded by Jacob Os-
good, who was born in South Hampton,
n. H., in 1777. The sisters Sally and
Lydia Grover are said to be the last of
the sect. The Osgoodites believed in
the second coming of Christ; were par
ticularly opposed to what they called
" hireling Minister'S; would go into
the churches and interrupt the pastors;
used great deal of coarse, not to say
vulgar, language; and wrote many
poems, which they would sing. They
were in the habit of praying in very
peculiar way. On lions hill, in Can
terbury, there are many queer epitaphs
showing their hatred of ministers.
There is one on Hannah Haines:
"She was woman full of truth,
And feared God from early youth.
And priests and elders did her fight,
Because she was an Osgoodite"
Another of whom it is said:
Gle kept the faith unto the end,
And left the world in peace
He did not for a doctor send,
Nor for hreling priest"
They had one hymn, called the "FoX
Hymn" in twenty-one stanzas, and
each stanza is supposed to describe
some weakness of human nature. They
were opposed to going to law, and one
of the stanzas OF the Fox Hymn says:
" If you the law do ever take,
Then Jacobs God you will forsake;
With dogs and sorcerers you will join,
This little fox will spoil the vine"
They hated tobacco, and with more
truth than poetry said:
Tobacco is an Indian weed
And from the devil it does proceeds
1t IS gone with puff, and mans life is such;
| Think of this when you smoke tobacco"
They were particularly opposed to a
theological seminary that was estab-
lished in the state, attacked it, and
raised against it the following psalm:
In Dog street they have a mill
For making universal priests.
Soon as their priests they do get through,
Then off a-peddling they will go.
This institution, though quite SMALL
Young men 90 in who're very tall
On DEVILS doctrines there they feed,
And then come out their notes to read"
Fanatical sects can be relied upon to
antagonize each other. Though the
Osgoodites and the Millerites agreed in
expecting our Lord very soon, they
were bitterly opposed as to the date.
The Millerites set day, disposed of
their property, and put on ascension
robes. The Osgoodites appointed a
general time, and not particular date !;
and when the day fixed by the Miller
ties went by without any result, they
produced hymn:
1.-THE Millers they began to fly
One year ago, then very high;
But now their wings begin to fail,
They have got clipped and cannot sail.
The days they have set have passed and gone,
Which shows they don't to Christ belong;
For he did never set day,
But told his saints to watch and pray"
The last two lines show that the Osgood-
ties had great deal more sense than
the Millerites. But Sally and Lydia
Grover still expect to be bodily trans
lated. The late Rev. William d. Cass
of New Hampshire informed the writer
of the way in which these people inter-
rupted him in his early ministry. We
have given this summary because this
sect is not to be found in any cyclope-
dia, though it created good deal of ex-
element in its time, and is an illustra-
ton of the mingled sense and folly
which characterizes ignorant and vul-
gar fanaticism. -NelC York AdrOcute.