thousands of homes; and even justice in its lofty seat; lend them support. "He that is not with me is against me," said Jesus; and, taking this proverb as a rule, a good many people may be surprised to find that, in one way and another, they are _Allies_ of the Tempter. The allies of the Tempter, I propose to speak of now--not the forms of Temptation, which I have already illustrated. Nor do I intend to dwell upon those _direct_ conditions of moral evil, out of which vice and crime grow as spontaneously as weeds out of a damp and neglected soil--those wide seed fields of _ignorance_ and abject _poverty_ which lie around us. But the more remote and indirect causes it may be profitable for us to consider; and to these I now proceed. I observe, then, in the first place, that the Tempter has one Ally in _Public Sanction_. There are sources of vice and crime that are permitted and encouraged by _Law_. I hardly need specify the prominent instance to which I allude. But I am not aware of a more enormous public inconsistency than what is termed "the License System"--the system of permitting the sale of intoxicating drinks in a degree, and of restricting them in a degree. For, by this method, either a moral wrong is committed, or else a civil one. If these drinks are an individual and public injury; if they distribute the seeds of disease, crime, death, and every form of social misery; then what right have we in any respect to set upon them the solemn sanction of a Law? If, on the other hand, they are a benefit to mankind; a good gift of Providence, as some seem to think; why should we hamper their circulation? Why should we allow one man the privilege of distributing such a blessing, and forbid another who, no doubt, is equally zealous for the public good?