Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-02-23
AGAINST LICENSING CRIME.
Sermon Delivered Last Evening by Rev.
H. II. Rice at Westminster Church.


, haste. Judgment also will lay 10 the line, an,
righteousness TO the plummet, and the hal
shall sweep away the refuge OF lies, and IN
waters shall overflow the hiding place. Ant
your covenant with death shall be disannulled
and your agreement with hell shall not stand
when the overlooking scourge shall pas
through, then shall We be trodden down by it.
Jerusalem was the City of God the city which
He had chosen out OF all the tribes of Israel tt
put His name there, ana to this day il is called
by the Arab tribes of Syria, FL Khuds-the Hol!
City. The name Jerusalem means literally
possession of peace" Both of these names vii
comport with the hopes of the citizens
and with the promises of God. pro
viding the Divine laws were kept in
violate, for as the prophet Isaiah declared
I" The work of righteousness shall be peace, and
the effect of righteousness, quietness and assur
ance forever lisa. xxxii., II. But the sworr
people of God forsook His way, and established
iniquity by law. They called evil good, an6
good evil; they put darkness for light and light
Tor darkness; they put bitter for sweet and sweet
for bitter" Qsa V, 20.) Instead of holy city
it became a wicked city, and instead of pos
session of peace, it became habitation OF wars
and rebellions. The rulers of the city made d
covenant with death and agreement with
hell by legaliZing that which their own divine
and human law declared to be crime, namely
the horrid worship of idols, with the accom-
panying rites of nameleSS cruelties and wicked
ness They yieldedto that system which threat
ened death TO their nation and would plunge
their souls into hell. They pretended to be act
ing for the good of the city. Tor they said idol
airy could not be suppressed, whereas whenever
they sincerely tried to suppress ii they always
succeeded. Jehosaphat Hesekiah and Josiah
Kings of Judah, accomplished mighty reforms
by being in earnest. SO when the rulers set up
idolatry by law they made lies their refuge and
falSehood their hiding-place, and imagined that
the overiiowing floods OF Judgment would not
oVerwhelm them.
So the Lord spoke to these scornful men the
words of our text. He declared that he would
lay foundation ana compare il with theirs
Behold, lay in Zion for foundation stone,
a tired stone, precious corner stone, Il sure
foundation; he that believeth shall not make
haste" l. e., Ale that trusts me will be willing to
wait for the fultillment of this promise. God
pointed the people to the Messiah who was &c
come, and upon whom they must build as
the Rock of Ages. God furthermore declared
that their covenant with death should be disan.
nulled and their agreement with hell should
not stand that the hail should sweep away
their refuge of lies, and the waters should over
flow their hidiug-place of falsehood By these
words they were pointed to the terrible judg
mentS which aiterward, like an Overlooking
scourge. destroyed Jerusalem for the iniquity OF
its people and the sins of its rulers.
Now, the principles underlying Gods dealing
with Jerusalem are eternal. In every city and
country the work Of righteousness shall be
peace, and the effect of righteousness quietnes:
and assurance forever" In every city and
country, and in every age it is wrong to license
crime and establish iniquity by law and the re
suit will always be disaster and ruin. God ha:
said: Woe TO him that buildeth town with
blood, and stablisheth u city by iniquity.'
Hab H., u.
Crime is defined in Webster's Dictionary to be
ANY violation oflaw, either divine or human
The laws OF God and man are made for the vel
fare of humanity, and the violatOrs OF law are
therefore. the enemies of humanity Death. il
the result of broken law, and hell is the abode
of devils and the final prson-house for unre
pentant criminals. To legalize crime is, there
fore, to aid and abet the criminals and it is max
ing covenant with death and an agreement
with hell.
Now, come here tonight to say that all OF
the words of our text are applicable to the city
of Sacramento as well as to the city of Jerusalem
Sacramento city was named from the Sacra
mento river, and that was given by the early
Roman Catholic missionaries because, although
in superficial way, they wished this region to be
sacred to the Lord Il holy sacrament, a cOnse-
Grated Offering The founder of this city adopted
the name and | have always thought it very
beautiful name. Our citizens generally profess
to be believers in God and III the Bible, and
acknowledge themselves in an external way Ia
he Christians. At least they all profess to desire
a moral and, may add, religious state OF
society.
Now, in this city of Socramento-this that was
called by its founders the holy city there
has been for years in the public mind an indif-
ference 10 crime and immortality which Is APP
palling. The city authorities have generally
been selected by ring OF the most corrupt poll
tcians, and the people have walked up to the
polls and voted rs their masters wished. The
city officers, thus elected. have, with honorable
exceptions, generally been on quite friendly
terms with the vicious elements in society, and
have accordingly neglected to execute the laws
against vice and immortality, and the majority
of voters have sustained them III this course.
Hotbeds of crime have been legaliZed and al
lowed to multiply without restraint. and trees
of death have grown III this garden Of the Lord,
which. in dreadful contrast to the tree of life in
the heavenly Paradise. nave on their part borne
twelve or more manner OF fruits and yielded
their fruit every month. Vice and crime have
been made easy. and the vicious and criminal
classes have been encouraged when they ought
to have been restrained, and protected when
they ought to nave been punished. As Il wise
man once said of Jerusalem, so | say now of
Sacramento, saw under the sun the place of
judgment that wickedncss was there: and the
place of ;;ghteousness that iniquity was there"
(Eccl. Ill, 49,
few years ago a criminal conspiracy was
formed to break down Il State law that some
what restrained the greatest evil OF the present
day. The conspiracy succeeded. Tile law was
first openly trampled upon in the halls OF jus
classes of society the law was repealed by the
Legislature This prepared the way for the
plunge TO the bottom OF the quagnire in which
our public authorities have been laundering
so long A year ago last summer another class
of criminals demanded protection against an
other State law, confessedly right and good. Our
City Trustees thereupon formally licensed them
to commit the crimes which were forbidden by
State law, for and i'll consideration of certain
sum of money to be paid by them into the City
Treasury. Thus the lowest depth was reached
the very principles of government were deied,
and this city is in Il rebellion against the State
of California.
Vice is monster of such frightful mien,
As to be hated, needs but to be seen:
But seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace
The scornful men that rule this people in Sac
ramento like those who ruled i'll Jerusalem
have said in actions If not in words We have
made Il covenant with death, and with hell are
we at agreement; when the overlooking scourge
shall pass through. it shall not come unto us, for
we have made lies our refuge, and under false
hood have we hid ourselves
Now, | am here tonight to lift up my voice
against these evils in Sacramento, as Isaiah pro-
tested against them in Jerusalem. AID in the
name of God warn the people of this city, and
the rulers OF il also, that day of retribution is
coming.
But let me be more definite in my statements,
and let me say that my protest is not hasty, but
is based upon ten years of careful observation
of public affairs in this city.
Our city authorities have for MANY years had
Il covenant with death and an agreement with
liquor saloons. In this they only follow the
example set by the State and the nation No
wonder Congress dallies about passing the bill
of inquiry into the evils of intemperance, when
our Government is hired to protect the death
dealing traffic at the rate of nearly $780, 10000
per year The President of the United States
and all national officers, are paid their salaries
largely by money which should buy bread and
clothing for suffering families but instead is
paid into beer and whisky saloons, while wives
and children are left to starYe and die Now the
liquor traffic, which kills 60QO0 American cti-
zens every year has for many years controlled
absolutely the city government of Sacramento.
Our city officials have been nominated largely
by the whisky saloons, and we have walked up
and voted for them at polls located in the
whisky saloons. Excellent men have indeed
often been selected. That was policy. But it
has for years been tacitly understood in Sacra-
mento that no executive officer OF this city
should interfere with the liquor saloons which
are confessediy the chief sources of vice and
crime. Every state law to restrain the evils of
intemperance has in this city been sys-
tematically broken by these saloons and
our city authorities have Systematically ignored
the facts in the case, because they have made a
law was criminally conspired against by the
League of Freedom better called the League of
Flendom), simply because il demanded that
saloons should be closed on Sunday. That
League, both here and in San Francisco, arrested
Fl large number of violatOrs of the Sunday law
i'll order to glut the Courts and make prosecu-
tons expensive. Here the League hired an
attorney who is now n Superior Judge of this
county, and he told the jury in my hearing that
they were not bound by the decision of the SUI
preme Court sustaining the Sunday law; that
in fact we had no binding law on the subject,
and for this he was afterwards rebuked by
Judge of the Supreme Court. The people in
those Sunday law cases were represented
by the City Attorney. He was offered addi-
tional counsel, but he refused, and you