The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-07
DIR. RIcE's SERMON.
Large Congregation Heard Eloquent A ldraaa a+ No1rrk Street. Church.

Large Congregation Heard Eloquent
 Address at Court Street Church.
 Rev. J. A. Rice, D. D., pastor of the Court Street Methodist Church. preached on Civic Righteousness to a large con- gregation at the morning service. Ills sermon was pronounced perhaps the most able sermon since he assumed his Mont gomery pastorate. He spoke as follows:
 Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars" Mar. xii:17:
 What is the State? The city? Is 1t the little patch of ground put down on the map. That is only the place where 1t stood Many think of the State as a great monster that stays in the Capitol or court house and pops his lash over his servants, takes their money away in the form of taxes, requires free service. or in some other way, expresses them. This Is far from the truth. The State Is roughly the united consciousness and con- science of all the individuals composing 1t, organized for the mutual protection and development of all alike. The indi- vidual is, therefore, a block, so to speak. cut out of the social life, only he is a living part of the whole. Wherever there is an Alabamian loyal to our past, true to our present and devoted to our future-there is Alabama. What does he owe the State. Without undertaking to be phiIosophically exact, he should render this whole of which he is a part
 A clean, moral life. This means, first of all, life that can at every stage. pro nounce the universal negative-I never knew sin in any of it's grosser forms. A debauched life is a rotten element In the body politic, tending to bring all to it's degraded level-nor is absolute honesty in all business relations less a requisite to morality. And a transparent truthful ness, speaking only the absolute truth. as far as he speaks at all, is another important phase of morality. Added to this, there should be trustworthiness such as will enable any committing their cause to our hands to go to sleep, knowing their interests will not suffer.
 The State has a right also to expect us to cultivate our intellectual powers and capacities to their highest efficiency. There are civic problems every day that we should be able to think through. Only thus can we be above party strife. politi- cal passion, and demagoguery. Let every man stand in his place as man, with full selfhood, independent with his own opinions well thought out, in the con- sciousness of his own integrity. and the State is safe.
 The true citizen discharges faithfully all those obligations growing out of per- sonal relations. He that does not sup port his family has denied the faith, and is worse than an infldel. Any able bod jed man who will let his wife keep board ing house or sew or work in a factory or do anything else. to support him, while he loafs and drinks, should be driven from our midst as unworthy of a place among self-respecting people. And all of us have those about us who depend upon us for support. It is only the mean est man who will either fail to meet these obligations or plead them as an ex= cuse for not contributing to other right eous causes in the community life. So are their duties to other social and com mercial groups.
 Support of the government is likewise a debt we all owe. This means that we are loyal to our traditions. as a people. There are things in our breasts that we cling to and he who despises them should be driven from among us as unworthy. Taxes are to be paid upon a fair return of the value of property under a forced sale. To return less than this Is to swear to a lie and rob the State They are only our share of the expense of protection to the privileges of life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. There are also certain public services demanded of all men, such as serving on the jury. This should be done faithfully, without fear, prejudice or favor to any. It Is pitiful fact that we often cannot get a verdict, though the plain facts be un- questioned It is a sure sign of rotten ness in the public morals, if jury does not find according to evidence. It means that the jurymen are sworn liars and be- heath the respect of decent men, It is a woeful state of affairs when 1t is boasted publicly that We cannot get verdict on any subject, be it never so trifing or re- pugnant to any community. This begets lawlessness. Over in my native State a prominent man tacitly urged the juries not to find verdict in blind tiger cases because he was against the dispensary. It Is the irony of fate that the hand that penned that sentiment now moulders in the dust, having fallen by an assassin at whose trial the usual verdict in such cases was found-"not guiltyr' It is al- ways so. Nor is 1t less important to leave the verdict of the courts to be suf- fered by those found guilty, no matter what their political power might be. It IS useless to say that the very least sup port we can give the State is to obey the laws. They may not be according to our liking but no matter how oppressive. Christianity has always urged obedi- ence; The man who goes into barroom