that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath. And I commanded the Levites, that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.'

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Not one of the men of Judah, or the men of Tyre, had the least right to bring into Jerusalem, any one article of their merchandize on the Sabbath. But they had as good a natural and moral right to do so, as Col. Gibbens or any other dealer in ardent spirits, have to furnish the public with it for a drink or beverage. Nehemiah did not assume the least power that did not rightfully belong to him, in giving the prohibition, the law to the men of Judah and Tyre, even so it is the case with the legislature of this commonwealth in passing the license law. And I hope and trust that the people of Massachusetts, will be as good and loyal subjects to the government of our choice, as the men of Judah and the men of Tyre were to Nehemiah. Peter says, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the law's sake: whether it be unto kings, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well."

Col. Gibbens says, "The ostensible and professed object of the authors and advocates of the license law, we cordially approve; but we object that this is not the proper instrument or means by which to accomplish it.

We would not do evil that good may come. We do not subscribe to the doctrine that the end sanctifies the means. We profess to be sincere friends to temperance, and trust that we as highly appreciate its importance as the most zealous advocates of the law."

"We repeat that we have no difference with the advocates of the law in relation to the object to be accomplished. We only differ in relation to the means, by which to effect it. We offer them our congratulations."

The ostensible and professed object of the authors and advocates of the license law, is the real, and not merely the covert object of a deep laid plan of undermining the natural and constitutional rights and liberties of the people of this commonwealth. Nor have they done this in the least degree, as Col. Gibbens has endeavored with all his powers, to make the public believe that they had done. The authors and advocates of the license law did not mean to deceive the people, as Col. Gibbens has in his Report against the license law. Nor have they deceived the people, or deprived any man of his natural rights, any more than Nehemiah did. They did not say one thing and mean another, as Col. Gibbens and other dealers in ardent spirits have. There was no hypocrisy in the advocates of the "Act to regulate the sale of spirituous liquors in Massachusetts."

Former legislatures had unwisely cast stumbling-blocks in the way of the people, and in the way of the temperance cause. The last general court by their act, have endeavored to remove in some good measure, some of those stumbling-blocks out of the way. The command is, "Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-blocks out of the way of my people.' And this command is alike binding on the dealers in ardent spirits as on the last legislature. As much binding on the people of this State, as it was on the children of Israel in the days of Isaiah.

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The authors and advocates of the license law have obeyed this command, and in obeying they have done

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well. They have not deprived any man of his natural or constitutional rights and liberties. And all the people of this State, are bound by the strongest moral obligations, to be subject to the powers that be, for they are ordained of God, for His own glory, and the best good of man. But Col. Gibbens and other dealers in spirituous liquors, refuse to obey the divine law, to prepare the way, and take up the stumbling-blocks out of the way" of the people of this State. Therefore they do evil to the public that good may come to themselves; and in so doing, they have rebelled against the command of the Lord. And in so doing, Col. Gibbens and others "subscribe to the doctrine that the end sanctifies (rather justifies) the means." For they have made and are making their greatest possible effort to effect by the next legislature, the repeal of the license law, that is calculated to take up the stumbling-blocks out of the way of the people, so that the cause of temperance, which is the cause of Christianity, may run and be glorified. The license law cannot be repealed by the next legislature, by fair and honorable means. And such means Col. Gibbens and other dealers in ardent spirits have not yet adopted.

Col. Gibbens is as "sincere a friend to temperance, as was Saul of Tarsus to Christianity, when he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem." Saul had not the least right to say one word against the disciples of the Lord, or to do the least thing against them or the cause in which they were engaged. But Saul had as good a right to do all that he did against the disciples of the Lord, as Col. Gibbens and other dealers in ardent spirits have to oppose the license law. For strict temperance

in eating and drinking is commanded from on high. Saul of Tarsus was as "sincere a friend" to the cause of Christianity, as Col. Gibbens is to the cause of " temperance." Not that he is an intemperate man, but that he is instrumental of making others so. He has no doubt been instrumental of making vast many drunkards, and thereby has destroyed an infinite quantity of good, and produced an infinite quantity of evil in the land; and can he be a "sincere friend to temperance?" No; it is impossible in the very nature of things. And as Saul of Tarsus found that he was greatly mistaken, even so will Col. Gibbens. But Col. Gibbens and Demetrius once more. The former and others with him, claim the right to traffic in ardent spirit from its being of "immemorial origin." The making, and serving, and worshipping of graven images was an ancient in the days of Demetrius, as the traffic in ardent spirits now is. For Aaron made a molten calf, and the people of Israel worshipped it. Jeroboam made two calves of gold, " And one he set in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan ;" and the children of Israel worshipped them. "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was three score cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits; he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon." And he commanded all the people throughout his vast dominions, to fall down and worship the golden image that he had set up, at one and the same time; so that idolatry is as of great antiquity, to say the least, as the traffic in ardent spirit. Demetrius might have used similar language to Paul in favor of worshipping the great goddess Diana, to that which Col. Gibbens has used in his Report against the license law, and in favor of dealing in spirituous liquors..

But neither Aaron, Jeroboam, or Nebuchadnezzar, had the least natural right to favor in any degree, the cause of idolatry. But they had as good a right to do it, as Col. Gibbens, or any other man, has to favor the cause of intemperance, by selling intoxicating liquors for

drink. Isaiah says, "Who hath formed a god, a molten or graven image, that is profitable for nothing. Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen they are of men; let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them; they shall go to confusion together, that are makers of idols."

Demetrius might have said to Paul, "The subject is important, not only on account of the immediate prejudicial effect' of the gospel that you preach unto us, • upon the interest of men that are concerned in making silver shrines for the great goddess Diana,' 'who have hitherto conscientiously believed that they were engaged in a business which if honestly conducted, was a reputable, and honorable, and a necessary business, sanctioned by immemorial precedents and example.'And this business of making silver shrines for Diana, I am determined to pursue as long as I see fit; for it is my natural, essential and unalienable right." Such language and such an argument would have been as proper and as pertinent then for Demetrius, as it now is for Col. Gibbens and others. If Demetrius had said any such things as the above to Paul, he would most probably have answered him, and said something like the following: "Demetrius you have hitherto sincerely and fully believed, that the business of making silver shrines for the goddess Diana, has been, and now is, 'a reputable, an honorable, and necessary business.' But in this you are greatly mistaken. For you never had the least natural or moral right to have any thing to do with the goddess Diana, directly or indirectly. And in the time of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men, every where to repent.'

Paul might also have said to Demetrius, "You have a noble example before you in the case of those that used curious arts.' For they brought their books together and burned them before all men: and they counted the