St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-09
A GOOD CITIZEN.
Rev. Thomas McCIary Eniarges
on the Duties of citizenship.

Rev. Thomas McClary Enlarges
on the Duties of Citizenship.
, "The Good Citizen" was the subject
of Rev. Thomas McClary's sermon last
evening in the Bates Avenue M. K.
church. The sermon is very pertinent,
and synopsis reads: We may not
take politics into religion. but we should
take religion into politics, for by so do
ing we purify and strengthen the state.
The principles taught in the Bible are
as applicable to the character of govern
ment as to the character of man.
The great comprehensive truths
written in letters of living lig Int on
every page of our history are these:
Human happiness has no perfect Sc
.curity but freedom. freedom none but
virtue, virtue none but knowledge, aud
neither freedom nor virtue has any
vigor or Immortality, but in the prlncI-
pies of the Christian faith and in the
sanctions OF the Christian religion"
tits the duty of the good citizen to
pay his taxes honOrably. He has no
more right to defraud the government
than the person. Jesus instructed Peter
to pay for him the expected tribute.
1t is also duty to use his influence to
get men into office who will enact and
enforce such laws as are helpful to the
city. Principles go into power through
persons. A good citizen will obey the
laws enacted, if they are not i'll conflict.
with morality, and SO injurious. He
will also sustain those institutions
which are helpful to the community,
such as hospitals. schools, charitable
institutions, churches; to these he will
ui thntuht and inttnQnPp
He will do what he can to prevent the
existence of such institutions as demon
aliZe the people; if they are out he will
try to keep them out, and if i'll he will
Try to Cripple
and remove them. The saloon. the
gambling den, the bawdy house. the low
theater have no sanction from him. He
will pray as he is eXhorted 10 do for
those in authority that we may lead
quiet aud peaceable life in all godtineSS-
honesty. and so try to sustain men who
are exalted to positions.
The object of civil government is to
advance the interest of the people. ma
terial. intellectual. social, moral, and
properly administered. 1t becomes a
power for that end. Men are needed to
manage cur cities who will feel that
there is something more 10 do than
enact ordinances, police the streets,
license saloons, fine scarlet women and
shut the door of gamblers. Something
more is to he done than to be good-col-
lect taxes and let contracts. They must
be reformers,, philanthropists, states
men who will take the city as great
machine for work in the interests of the
people, and the necessity of this is being
deeply felt all over the Christian world.
The greater London has county coun-
ell of 1l3 who are trying to make life
brighter there. New York is agitating
something of the kind. John Burns,
the Socialist in the London council, said
recently: II will work and vote for
any plan that will enable London to
reduce its poverty, brighten the lives
and increase the comfort of its people"
There is move to have the cities own
docks. tramwayS, water works, lighting
plants, and turn the profits OF these to
the cities accounts, and so reduce the
burdens of taxation. There is move to
have the cities build houses for artizanS
and others, getting nominal rent, and
so afford the people chance to live
more comfortably. In New York 1850
00O souls live i'll tenant houses; 90 per
cent of the people pay tribute to the
other 10 per cent Tor shelter.
We should aim to make the city a
helpful place. ep-