price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. These men proved by their works that they were the sincere friends of Paul and the doctrine that he preached unto them. Paul might have said unto Demetrius, "Go thou and do likewise."

These men were under the strongest moral obligation to God, to the community in which they lived, to all Asia, and to the whole world, to burn their books on the "curious arts before all men," whatsoever might have been the price of them. But they were under no stronger moral obligation to burn their books, than Col. Gibbens and other dealers in spirituous liquors, now are to give up their traffic. The command to them now is, "Go

thou and do likewise."

The young man in the gospel that came to Christ, was under the strongest moral obligation, to go and sell all that he had and give to the poor, because it was the command of his divine Master. He had no natural or moral right to disobey his command. Notwithstanding that he came by all his property fairly and honorably, yet he had no right to hold it any longer after the command was given unto him.

"And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father, and thy mother: and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, all these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had much possessions."

Here was a command from the "Good Master," and he had no natural or moral right to disobey it. Here also was a promise of eternal life if he would obey, and he had no natural or moral right to slight it. But he had as good a natural or moral right to do both, as Col. Gibbens or any other man in the community, has to furnish an individual or the public with spirituous liquor, as a drink or beverage.

The prophet Habakkuk says, "Wo unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth the bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!" Isaiah says, "Wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Wo unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink; Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel."

A certain member of the House of Representatives, who opposed the enactment of the license law with all his powers of mind, told me, in the month of June last, that "These petty grog shops are the very devil." Very true Mr. P. Amen to this. The command is "Resist the devil and he shall flee from you." Christ came into the world to destroy the works of the devil. "For this purpose the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." And if the legislature by passing the license law, has co-operated with Christ in the great work of "destroying the works of the devil," then we ought to co-operate with the authors and advocates of the license law, and the government that enacted it. The license law has a direct tendency to bruise the old "serpent's head." He stirred He stirred up his children, to make an "uproar" at Ephesus, and that

was not the first nor the last time by an infinite number, that he has done as he did at Ephesus.

But perhaps Col. Gibbens and others that traffic in ardent spirits, will say that they do not give their neighbors drink, but they sell it for money. That they do not put the bottle to their neighbor's mouth, and turn the intoxicating liquors down their throats, but they only set the bottle before their neighbor and tell him to help himself, or turn it from the bottle or decanter into the tumbler for him, and then ask him if he "will have some sweet."

It is most certainly as criminal in the sight of God and man, for an individual to sell his neighbor ardent spirits for money, as it would be to give it to him. And it is as criminal for a man to set the bottle or decanter before his neighbor and tell him to help himself, or help him, as it would be if he put the bottle to his mouth, saying, drink ye what you please, only give me my price. So that the Wo or curse of God rests upon those that are instrumental of making men drunken, and on those that get drunken, at the present day, as well as in former days.

No man has any more right to be intemperate in eating than he has in drinking, to be a glutton than to be a drunkard. Both are an abomination in the sight of the Lord. And there is a great deal of this abomination "in high places" as well as low places. If a man is rich, he has no natural and moral right to consume his wealth upon his lusts. Every man rich and poor is a steward and all alike must give an account unto God of their stewardship. And this is according to the eternal principle of justice and righteousness. There are many things that are highly esteemed among the rich, as well as among the poor, that are an abomination in the sight of the Holy One of Israel. "Ahasueras in the third year of his reign, made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Medea, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: When

he shewed the riches of his glorious majesty many days, even a hundred and four-score days. And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace. And they gave them drink in vessels of gold (the vessels being divers one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all his officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure." This is just what would suit Col. Gibbens and others.

Ahasueras had not the least natural or moral right to make and hold such a feast either unto his princes or the people of his kingdom. This great feast was an abomination in the sight of the king of kings, and Lord of lords, as well as in the sight of Vashti the queen. Ahasueras acted more like "foolish king," than a wise man, that must give an account of his stewardship unto God. This no doubt was a gluttenous and a drunken feast. I do not in the least blame Vashti the queen for refusing to obey the king's command, and appear before him and his princes. She had much better suffer wrong than do wrong. The king was altogether in the wrong and not the queen.

"Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood,

and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonished."

The king, and "The wise men of Babylon," found, to their astonishment, that they had become fools. Belshazzar had not the least natural or moral right, either to be an idolater, or have such a feast, and defile "the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was in Jerusalem." But he as

sumed this right, and found to his, and his wise men's astonishment, that he and they were most dreadfully mistaken. And Col. Gibbens and other dealers in ardent spirits, will find themselves as greatly mistaken, as Belshazzar and the wise men of Babylon did. And as the "astrologers and the soothsayers," or the "wise men of Babylon," could not read the hand-writing on the wall, neither give to "the king the interpretation thereof," even so Col. Gibbens nor any other man, can show us that the legislature of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, by enacting the license law, has deprived in the least degree, any man of his natural, moral or constitutional rights and liberties. But Col. Gibbens in his Report says, "The principle of the license law, the