The record-union. [volume], October 23, 1899, Page 7, Image 7

About The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903

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FIFTY YEARS IN
GOD'S SERVICE.
(Continued from Third Page.)
Ing of a good minister. Aside from this
consideration, however, tiie establisn
ment of a church in any place adds to
its respectability and propriety. Real
estate invariably advances in the vicin
ity of the meeting-house, and its neigh
bor hood is always eought after for
quiet residences. We again say that
the interests and well-being of our citi
zens are clearly connected with this
enterprise." That editor's head was
level. He knew what some business
men of this city do not aeem to know,
namely, that the investment of money
and energy in maintaining churches in
the city contributes to the material as
well as moral welfare of the city. If
we spent more money in the spread of
religion we would need less for the sup
pi ession of crime. If Sacramento had
better churches and fewer saloons, real
estate would be worth more.
Many of the anniversary sermons
that Rev. Dr. Benton preached in this
city were printed in the daily press.
From these sermons I have gathered
many facts connected with the organ
ization and growth of the church. 1
find in one sermon this statement: "On
the evening of September 10, 1849, ac
cording to notice given at the public
service on Sunday, such persons, mem
bers of the Presbyterian and Congre
gational Churches as were desirous of
aiding the cause of religion by enter
ing upon some form of organization and
standing in church relations, met to
consider the propriety of establishing
permanently the institutions of relig
ion. There were eleven persons pres
ent." At this meeting Dr. Benton pre
sided, and a Rev. S. V. Blakeslee. who
had just got in from the overland jour
ney took part. After a of the
whole ground of church polity and
church forms it was unanimously re
solved that "We who are present do
band ourselves together and do con
stitute a Christian church to be known
as the First Church of Christ in Sacra
mento." A committtN* was appointed to
prepare and present a full set of arti
cles of faith and covenant. An ad
journed meeting was held on the foi
lowing Sunday evening, when the or
ganization was completed. Some new
persons were present at the adjourned
meeting and were enrolled as members.
A. C. Sweetser, who was that day
enrolled as a charter member, contin
ues in his membership with us to this
day, rounding out fifty years of hon
orable service in one church. We trust
he may continue with us many years
more. «L. L. Lombard, who joined
a little later on and was prominent in
building the first church, is living in
New York, at the ripe age of 90, and
sends a letter of greeting which will
be read at the meeting to-morrow.
Some at the organization of the
church were Presbyterians and would
have preferred to make the new church
of that order. But as the majority
were Congregational it was decldea
unanimously to adopt that policy,
though the name was not used. Nearly
all the Presbyterians in the city unit
ed with the church and 'continued in '
Its fellowship until 1850 when they 1
withdrew to organize a church of their !
Own faith and order.
It was late in October, '49, says Dr.
"Fenton, before we could rally our peo- I
ple-or ourselves to such a pitch of cour- I
age as to think we could do much in
the way of church building. Lumber
at this time cost $000 a thousand. Then
the floods came in the winter and drove
some from the city and entirely sus- \
pended all religious meetings. The
young pastor was taken seriously ill
and was compelled to go to Monterey
to recruit his health, where he enjoyed
the hospitality of Rev. Willey. Early
in the following spring he returned to
his work here. He found enough of
the men of '49 left to preserve the or
ganization, and more ready to join it.
Measures for progress were at onc>>
put into execution. The Sunday-school
and prayer meeting were resumed. A
building on the corner of J and S'xth
streets was secured as a place of wor
ship. The pastor tells us that his pul
pit was an empty barrel, on the top
of which was laid a box that held a
dozen or so of bottles of a rather
strong liquor, as one might learn from
the brand on the box, which was care
fully turned toward the preacher, ex
cept in one instance." Think of a
liquor advertisement greeting the eyes
of the worshippers as they turned the'r
gaze on the holy man in the pulpit.
One is inclined to speculate as to what
the hearers most craved, the water cf
life dispensed by the preacher, or a
bottle of that brand of liquor adver
tised on the barrel pulpit. It has be-n
a fight between those two forces, in
this city from that day to this, and
one can hardly say which has gained
the day. There are several "First
Things" that I would like here to spec
ify. The first newspaper was launch
ed on the treacherous waves of jour
nalism April 29, '49, and was chris
tened "The Placer Times." The first
preaching services were begun in May :
•49, by W. Grove Deal. D. D. The first
Methodist Church was dedicated No
vember 4, '49. The first Baptist ser
mon was preached the second Sunday
In August by Rev. Mr. Cook. About
the middle of August Rev. Flavel S.
Mines, D. D., of San Francisco, held
services in a blacksmith shop, which
Bervice led to the organization of the
Protestant Episcopal Church. The flrst
Sunday-school, our own, was organ
ized August 19th by Professor Shep
herd, a good name for a Sunday-schooi
Superintendent. The "First Church of
Christ," our own, was organized Sep
tember 23, '49. The corner-stone of
our first church edifice was laid Sep
tember 4, '50. and our first church ded
ication October oth of the same year.
This church was burned July 13, '54.
On July 20th a meeting resolved to re
build. On September 22. '54. the corner
stone of the present edifice was laid.
This Is said to be the first ceremony
of the kind connected with a Protestant
church in the State. The 3tone was
furnished by Judge Catlin who Is with
us to-day. It was "A handsome gran
ite block from Mormon Island" and ccst
$150. The present church was ded
icated the last Sunday of 1851. Rev.
Benton preaching in the morning. Rev.
Wadsworth of Marysville in the after
noon, and Rev. T. D. Hunt of San
Francisco in the evening. The first
ordination service in our church. r>nd
said to be the first Protestant ordina
tion in the State, was the ordination of
Rev. Benton in May, '51. The Rev.
„S. H. Willey was Moderator, and Rev.
f J. H. Warren was the preacher on that
occasion. Both these honored breth
ren are with us in this service. The
first Ecclesiastical Society of the
church was organized May, '49, when
papers of incorporation were taken out.
The first prayer meeting was organ
ised September 0, '49. The first meet
ing called to consider the purchase of
a lot for a new church was November
4, '49. The first Ladies' Aid Society
was organized July 13, '53. The Lord's
Supper was celebrated for the first time
April 0, '51. There were fifty commu
nicants at that first communion service.
Two women united with the church
that day. Up to that day there was
only one female member. The first
lodge of Sons of Temperance was Or
ganized here May 10, '50, and in the
same year a Fourth of July temper
ance celebration was held. The first
priest of the Catholic Church, Father
Anderson, died during the plague Octo
ber, '50. The first Thanksgiving ser
vice was held in the church Novem
ber 30, '50, where Rev. Benton preach
ed the sermon. His theme was "Cal
ifornia as She Was, as She Is and as
She is to Be." He made the prophecy
in that sermon that "a million people
cannot fail to thrive by cultivating this
virgin soil, and in fifty years they W'.U
be here to make the demonstration.
California is to be the Queen of the
seas. The iron horse that has drunk
the waters of the Mississippi will fly
over mountain and plain, breathe defi
ance to yonder bettling cliffs and tow
ering peaks of snow, as he dashes for
ward through the tunnelled depths be
neath and comes thundering through
our streets to slake his thirst at the
Sacramento. The world's center witf
change, this will be the land of pil
grimage and no man will be thought
to have seen the world till he has vis
ited California." The fifty yeais have
passed and the preacher's prophecy has
become fact and history. The story
of the birth and struggles of this
church in those early days is full of les
sons for us who in the providence of
God are called to carry on what they
so well begun. No man ever labored
with purer motives, loftier aims and
more steadfast purpose than the found
er and first pastor of this church. In
his anniversary sermon, printed in the
"Daily Union" of July, '54, I find this
reference to his efforts to establish a I
church here: "Fast as men lived in
those days, and excited as the multi
tude was about a thousand things of a
social, business and governmental port,
it came to pass in the little city, that
within two months after he reached
here, the speaker saw a day school,
Sabbath-school, prayer meeting and
public worship established, a church or
ganized, which was the first in the
order of time in the great valley. The
men who were most zealous in the mat
ter have gone, some to their graves and
some to other parts of the land, but
the church remains to honor and bless
them. They could not well foresee
whereunto their labors would grow, nor
could they tell what would be the fate
of the little band of Christians, but
they hoped it might prove a light S3t
on a candlestick to be seen, '«nd an
enginery of influence that should in due
time work changes in the fabric of so
ciety and become too powerful co be
wholly resisted." The church perhaps
has not accomplished all the good its
founders hoped it would, but it has
continued unto this day a light in a
dark place. Men of high Christian
culture and character have stood in '<
this pulpit these fifty years giving no
uncertain sound on the central doc
trines and divine ethics ot the gospel.
! Men and women of blameless life and
honorable character have sat in th-.3e
pews, adorning the doctrine of God,
their Saviour, by holy life and humane j
service. There have been In all 9*s6
persons enrolled in its membership. The !
majority of these I suppose are tc-day
in the church, triumphant above. "Part
of the host have crossed the flood and j
part are crossing now." When you j
begin to estimate what a church has !
been in a community, you must not fail
|to take into account those quiet, beau
tiful lives who have lived "the imita
; tion of Christ" and through grace have
entered into the rest that remaineth for
i the people of God.
We cannot give too great honor to j
, those who laid the foundations of the |
church of God in this city and State !
in the formative days of its life and
history*. It was wise statesmanship as 1
well as devout reverence for these men
to establish, and other men to support
the church in our midst. What would
this city have been to-day without the
moral teaching and influence of the j
: churches? Who would care to live in j
; a city where no church spire pointed I
; its people to a higher life and a di
viner destiny? Who would bring his!
I family into a city or community wnere i
jno instruction is given in the Com- j
I mandments of God, where no appeal is
j made to the Sermon on the Mount,
j where no Cross is ever reared to remind
, man of the Saviour that died to redeem
jhim, and of the Father in Heaven who
j yearns to save him; where men die
without the consolations of God's sal
ivation, and are buried without the glad
! hopes of a glorious resurrection. Who
i for a moment would select for his home
; and the home of his family a city de
; pleted of all those moral elements that
jare contributed to it through the
! agency and ministry of the church? If
then the church Is such a blessing to
. the community, if it is so necessary to
.the corporate life of a people, if it re
presses vice and encourages virtue; if
jit fosters good morals and holds up high
ideals of rectitude; if it wakens in man
all that is divinest in his nature and
helps to bring the kingdom of heaven
,here on earth, then surely every man
who loves his kind, every man who is
j ambitious for the highest welfare of his
community will affiliate himself with the
< church and become a partner in its
1 beneficent service.
Henry Drummond said, "Were it
| mine to build a city, the first stone i
| should lay would be the foundation
stone of a church. The church is a di
jvine instituion because it is so human
,an institution. As a channel of nour
ishment, as a stimulus to holy deeds,
,as a link with all holy lives, let all men
cherish it, and to the utmost of their
opportunity."
The moral purpose of the church, its
ministry to the larger and higher life
of the city and nation, were ever in
the mind of the founder and first pas
tor of this church. He could say truly
!as he did that "a real Christian element
jwas preached and lived and wrought
jinto the foundation of civilization and
j society and government here." While
|he held up a high standard of charac
ter, yet he judged his fellow men kindly
and was ever ready to note and nourish
whatever of good was in them. Speak
j ing of those who came here In pioneer
. days, and for a while drifted Into in
: iquitous ways, he said in one of his ser
; mons, "We have lived to little purpose
if we have not learned to pardon much
jto the spirit of freedom, and to distin
. guish between irreligious people and
those whose circumstances cloud their
religion, and those whose sun has
strangely gone into partial eclipse.
They were not and did not intend to be
irreligious men, only they for the time
yielded to the temptation of the hour
and neglected God and the house of
worship." To me this judgment of men
is as true as it is kind. If I am speak
ing to any such to-day, to any who may
have drifted away from God and duty,
let me affectionately call you back to
THE SACRAMEXTO, MQKDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1899.
the sweet and pleasant paths of relig
ion, back to the worship of God and the
service of man. The days for service
are short for some of you, for the sun
is hastening to the West, and the night
cometh. But use the time that remains
and help the cause of righteousness in
your city by helping the church of
Christ The cause needs you. I, the
last pastor of this church, repeat to you
the appeal made by its first pastor, "O,
ye men of thought and action, men of
far reaching plans and high enterprises;
men who fear God and love your kind,
to you this land lifts up its cry, to you
heaven makes its appeal. A nobler work
none could ask. A finer field was never
offered. Greater destinies were never
entrusted to mortal hands. Nowhere
can success be more glorious than here,
nowhere failure more disastrous. Thank
God you may help to make this world
border a world center, that you may
aid the rising up here of a people
whose wisdom and understanding it
shall be, in the sight of nations, to keep
the statutes of the Lord." On another
aniversary occasion he lifted his voice
and said: "I entreat those among you
who were my fellow laborers, still to
cherish and toil and sustain the church
for which we often struggled so hard
and sacrificed so much. We could not
have toiled for a better, nor sacificed
for a worthier." He who put the best
years of his young manhood in this
church, is our benefactor and we should
heed his appeal, for it is the appeal of
God who spoke through him.
My prayer to-day is that this appeal
from one "who being dead yet speak
j eth," may find a glad response from
many a heart and life here present. Let
lus resolve that the work these pioneers
began for God and humanity shall not
fail or slack in our keeping. Let us
take up the work they entrust us with
and carry it on to splendid triumph.
We must not permit the work to go
back and be less. Onward must be our
motto. As said Dr. Dwinell from this
pulpit years ago, so I say to-day,
"There is no looking back, no stand
ing still. Onward is the watchword;
onward against the strongholds of sin,
onward against the powers of darkness;
onward till gospel light penetrates ev
ery cellar in our cities, every camp and
cabin on our mountains, and threads
! every highway across our plains. On
; ward against the great mountain of in
temperance till it becomes a plain; on
jward till purity wins office, and ca
pacity and honesty hold it; onward till
frauds cease, and public virtue equals
public intelligence; onward till men
honor God, and are as eager to obey his
laws as to know how to use them."
What a blessing to a city that for fifty
years such high ideals of rectitude and
! service should be held up for its emula
tion and practice. Surely these appeals
shall not be in vain in the Lord.
It was my privilege to know person
ally every pastor of this church except
! theoneimmediatelypreceding me. With
iout exception they were men of devout
spirit and honest purpose, of cultured
mind and blameless life. The Rev. I.
E. Dwinell, D. D., for over twenty years
preached faithfully the gospel of Christ,
| and lived the truth his lips proclaimed,
jHe was an able minister and a model
| citizen. "The memory of the just is
! blessed." The other pastors, W. C.
Merrill, J. B. Koehne, H. N. Hoyt, D.
;D., are still living and filling important
. positions elsewhere.
Phillips Brooks said that the only
j use of a past was to get a good future
I out of it. I have dwelt on the past of
j this church this morning in order that
jwe might get inspiration and aspira
! tion to make a better future for it. The
most fitting way to honor the pioneers
jof this church is to resolve that, on the
I foundations they so well have laid, we
j will build up a nobler structure to the
glory of God and the service of man
; This church is their legacy to us. What
■ shall our bequest be to the coming gen
j eration?
Let me, in closing this sermon, af
fectionately appeal to the men and wo
men before me, who from various rea
sons have not been actively identified
with the work of the church in thi3
city. Speaking for those who have
given time and service and money to
the work, I say to you, my brothers,
come and help us. The work we are
trying to do is your work as well as
ours. We have not succeeded often
because we have not had your wise
counsel and sympathetic help. Have
we not a right to ask for it?
The church, we know, is not perfect.
It is often weak where it should be
strong. It is often tamely silent where
it should be fiercely eloquent. It is
often worldly and frivolous where it
should be spiritual and serious. It has
smiled upon practices it should have
denounced, and tolerated evils it should
have eradicated. Too often it bends
down to the low motives and fashion
able follies of the world around it. Too
often It has merited the rebuke of its
Master: "I have somewhat against
thee, because thou hast left thy first
love." But when all this is admitted, it
must also be admitted that the church
is the best institution we have for
promoting personal religion and social
righteousness. The church is the crea
tion of Jesus Himself. He loved it,
and gave Himself for it and to it. It
was a little church of twelve men that
Jesus committed His truth and grace
The charter members of that first
church of Christ were not men of
wealth or genius. But they were faith
ful, and their numbers grew until there
were 120, then 3,000, and thus they have
spread until to-day the church reaches
out with its Bible and gospel to the
uttermost parts of the earth. It is
to-day as never before endeavoring to
fulfill its Master's command: "Go ye
into all the world and preach the gos
pel to every creature." This is its uni
versal and humane mission. To this
high task have been consecrated a
great host of heroic souls. In this
world-girdling church of Christ have
been enrolled a great company ot
earth's wisest and noblest. When the
roll-call is read there rises up to re
spond John and Peter and Paul and
Dorcas, Chry&ostom, and Athanasius,
Augustine and Monica, Thomas a
Kempis and Savonarola, Luther and
St. Francis of Assisi, Wycliff and
Cromwell, Bunyan and Milton, Calvin
and Wesley and Livingstone and
Shaftesbury, Catherine Booth and
Frances Willard, Spurgeon and Chan
nlng and Whittier and Moody and
Brainerd, Leo XIII. and Gladstone, and
multitudes more who in the church
and through the church have served
j God by ministering to man. Think of
the millions who have taught and are
teaching the young in her Sunday
schools, and are carrying the gospel
of love into darkest lanes and distant
continents. Think of the literature the
church has given to the world, the
hymns she has inspired, the heroisms
she has begotten, the colleges she has
endowed, the civilization she has cre
ated. Think, O think, men of the vast,
world-wide and beneficent enterprises
of the church of God, and instead of
standing aloof from it, unite yourselves
with it, and be sharers in its divine an£
heavenly service.
For your own sake, for your family's
sake, for your nation's sake, give your
selves to God, your Savior, and enter
on His service. We who are in the
work are men and women of like pas
sions with yourselves. We are trying
to save the souls of men and lift the
old world sunward. We are trying to
roll back the tides of sin that sweep
so many of our brothers to ruin and
shame, and we need your help in the
work. Partakers of the grace of God,
it is our desire and prayer that all the
world might taste and see the riches
of His grace. The arms of Love that
were nailed on the Cross for the world's
redemption reach out imploringly to
you to-day. "The year of jubilee has
come, return ye ransomed sinners
home." You belong to God as well as
do we. For you that Cross was reared
as well as for us. For you the Father's
house of many mansions has been pre
pared as well as for us. For you the
gates of heaven open, and to you comes
the call of Jesus: "Take thou thy cross
and follow Me." May the Holy Spirit
lead you to answer that call to-day
and now, and may you be enrolled now
and forever in the church of the first
born, who are written in heaven.
'"MEN IN THE PEWS IN '49."
Dr. Warren took for his topic "The
Men in the Pews in '49," and said in
part: We concede that without a
preacher there would be no pews, but
it is also true that without men or
people to preach to there would be no
preacher. That there have been preach
ers, it goes without saying that there
must have been men in these pews
from the year 1849 to the present.
Who and what were the men that
sat in these pews in the early days of
this church? One of them came from
Palmyra, N. V., who brought his relig
ion with him. Landing in Sacramento
he found no church, no minister, no
worship. He went to the printing
office, got show bills struck off, posted
them in trees, buildings and tents, an
nouncing, "Open Air Services Next
Sunday." He found Rev. Mr. Benton
and secured his services. With Pro
fessor Shepherd of Yale he helped to
get a few children and started the first
Sunday-school, and soon succeeded the
Professor as Superintendent. It was
James Gallup. The next year Mr.
Gallup opened a store in Nevada City
and hauled his goods from this city
every week, but never .was on the road
on Sundays. Instead of that he was
one of the pioneer workers in church
matters in that busy, crowded mining
camp, and for more than a year was
Superintendent of the first Sunday
school in the mines and mountains of
California. He hauled free of charge
the church bell that was heard in the
mountains of California, which rang
from the tower of the Congregational
Church in Nevada City. W r hen he left
the State he had succeeded in winning
a competence, and his Christian char
acter unclouded and confirmed.
In the pews before me I seem to see
' Judge Cross, as I see Mr. Sweetser,
j also Deacon Burnett, Deacon Marvin
! Strowbridge, Ames, Norman, Jonah
| Williams, Captain Water, Seth Babson.
W. E. Chamberlain, Deacon Roberts,
jP. H. Russell, James Perkins, S. Smith,
j Miss Hermance (now Mrs. Goddard)
; Thomas Gardner, and a host like them,
i whose pew doors opened wide for tne
\ stranger —for every stranger was a
j friend —whose homes gave instant hos
pitality not only to angels unawares,
but to every one who had a word for
' the Master, a heart and hand for the
religous welfare of men.
They bore large burdens easly, be
; cause willingly. Their presence in the
' pew gave nerve and inspiration to the
pulpit when such grand men as Dr.
; Benton and Dr. Dwinell filled it. Not
1 only did those who belong to the church
;as communicants stand shoulder to
; shoulder with the minister, but those
that belonged to the society came up,
I almost as one man, to the help of the
church.
My time limit will not allow me to
dwell on the characteristic and indi
vidual services of each, but listen as I
read the list that I easily recall, and
you will agree that I am reading good
history, although I give a brief and
Imperfect list: General Redington, B. B.
Redding, D. O. Mills, Henry Miller,
Judge Swift, Edgar Mills, Dr. H. W.
Harkness, Dr. G. L. Simmons, Captain
Herron, Colonel Zabriskie, Mark Hop
kins, C P. Huntington, Charles Crock
er, Judge E. B. Crocker, W. P. Mc-
Creary, Judge A. P. Catlin, M. M.
Estee, Judge Heacock, R. H. McDonald,
C. H. Cummings, Lewellyn Williams,
Ben Cutter, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Stewart,
Mr. Lorenz, Mr. Hurd, Mr. Ross, Mr.
Lord, Mr. and Mrs* Marriner, Charles
Holbrook, Samuel Jelley, A. K. P. Grim,
Dr. Stillman, R. B. Hall, John McKee,
G. W. Mowe, E. D. Kennedy, F. W.
Page, Judge Weeks, Mr. Lindlay, Judge
R. C. Clark, Judge Hastings, Governor
Booth, Governor Stanford, Mr. Upson,
Mr. Morrill, Judge English, Mr. Bassett,
Mr. Jones, General Judah, John McNeil,
Mrs. John McNeil, Miss Addie Mills
Easton.
I seem to see them now before me—a
wonderful syndicate of kingly men. I
knew where many of them sat. There
sat C. P. Huntington—he is coming in
now. Before he takes his seat let me
say to him: "Mr. Huntington, only two
or three months ago I heard that the
widow of your old and first California
pastor, after she had been confined to
the house by ten years of sickness—sev
en years of widowhood—believed that
short trips into the country, a run to
Pan Jose, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, giv
ing her fresh air and exercise, would
give her health, perhaps healing. So
she sat down and almost timidly wrote
you if you could see your way to give
her passes to these points. I heard, Mr.
Huntington, that in a short time you
sent that widow of your old minister a
pass over any and all roads for herself
and attendant, without limit, and in
side of that letter a check for $1,000,
to her order. Did you know, Mr. Hunt
ington, that almost $300 of that check
paid the sick widow's doctor's bill?
That $200 went to the two nurses that
cared for her? That you provided for
her funeral expenses, for she died in
less than three weeks after your letter
reached her? What was more the
words of remembrance and old love for
the pastor of your early California days
that went with the check? Doesn't
the Scripture say something about a
pure religion that helps the widow?
You thought perhaps nobody would find
it out."
And the Crocker sons, who were
brought up in this Sunday-school, so
long as Mrs. Benton was a widow re
mitted a monthly allowance as a token
of their deep and lasting love for the
minister they first knew.
Time fails me to tell what the men
who sat in those pews did to make this
State better and better. One day the
Superintendent of the Home Missionary
Society went to the railroad office with
a paper which had the names of Dr.
Benton and Dr. Dwinell and others,
asking the directors to grant the Sup
erintendent an annual pass for the
prosecution of his work In building
churches, establishing Sabbath schools,
eta They said the Legislature had
made a law forbidding the giving of
passes, but instead of the pass Gov
ernor Stanford, Charles Crocker and
Mr. Towne put a check in the Superin
tendent's hands for $1,100 and he might
travel on any and all roads at their ex
pense, and build up all the churches
he could in the State.
These men were old pew holders
here. W r ere they as some newspapers
have represented them?
Oh, my friends, my heart warms as
I think of not only one but scores of
the old-time worshipers in this church,
and I thank God I even knew them.
It is hard to find anywhere, either in
California or any other State, a strong
er group of pew holders in one church
than the names on this list. To read
a list like that is to read the history
of a commonwealth, and emphatically
the story of Sacramento.
Go where you will in this State and
you will see monuments of their energy,
wealth and brains. You see it in banks,
lin railroads, great universities, hos
pitals, asylums, old people's homes, art
galleries, churches, public improve
ments.
They had faith in Sacramento; they
had faith in Rev. J. A. Benton; they
had faith in Dr. Dwinell; they had faith
in the church.
EVENING EXERCISES.
More Interesting Addresses, Choice
Music, Etc.
There was a very large congregation
In the evening, and the services were
intensely interesting. They consisted of
addresses by C. P. Massey, Rev. S. H.
Willey, Dr. Charles Van Norden, and
Rev. B. Fay Mills of Boston. The
choir, which was doubled for the oc
casion, rendered the following music:
"Te Deum," "We Will Give Thanks,"
of Thanksgiving," "Jubilate,"
"Fear Not, O, Lord," "Be Thou Ex
alted," "When Thou Cometh."
Rev. S. H. Willey's address was his
torleal and interesting. He said it was
a great pleasure for him to be at the
reunion, for the very building seemed
to make him feel that he was in the
presence of the heroic and beloved Rev.
J. A. Benton, the first pastor of the
church. He dwelt on the life and work
of Dr. Benton, who came to California
around the Horn in pioneer times.
Though he had every opportunity a
young man could have wanted in New
England, starting in life with a Yale
education, he cast his lot in California
and was a sterling man.
"I met him first in a tent on the river
shore, wrapped in a college gown, shak
ing with ague. He was often sick, but
he kept at his work and remained here
until 1863."
The speaker spoke of the illustrious
successors of Benton, and of the great
good the church has done in the years
since it was .founded.
ADDRESS BY MR. MASSEY.
After singing by the choir C. P. Mas
sey delivered an address, choosing for
his subject, "The Church in the Past —
A Tribute to Its Founders and Minis
ters." Mr. Massey said:
Whatever significance my appoint
ment to a place upon the program of
your golden festival may be understood
to possess, connects itself with the fact
that for just one-half of the fifty years
now numbered into the life of your
church, I have sustained with you re
lations of a more or less intimate char
acter. And may I ask of you in ad
vance to pardon the personal note in
a portion of what I may wish to say,
for I cannot see how that note is to be
entirely eliminated from an address
which has its only warrant in associa
tions which have brought me in con
tact with all the men who have ever
stood in this pulpit as your recognized
ministers.
My own arrival in your city was not
until 1874, just twenty-five years ago,
I but something like eight or ten years
! previous to that date I met Dr. Ben
| ton at times in the family of one of his
parishioners in San Francisco, and fre
quently in company with some of the
ladies of that household, attended upon j
his preaching in the Second Congrega- !
tional Church, then situated on Taylor
Street. The ample scholarship and
sterling integrity of the man were im
mediately recognized, and a few years
later, when the young lady who was
to unite her fortunes with mine in the
building of a home, was journeying
from a New England village to this
western land, and I received an inti
mation that my own minister, Dr. Steb
bins, as a representative of the liberal
school of Christian thought, might not
be entirely persona grata to herself and
friends, I selected Dr. Benton to per
form the ceremony. Your first minis
ter is thus associated with one of the
marked occasions of my life, and re
lationships were established which were
destined to grow closer with succeed
ing years.
I am not sure that at that time I was
aware of Dr. Benton's early connection
with this people, but I was soon after
ward informed, for I had hardly arriv
ed in your city when announcement
was made that the twenty-fifth anni
versary of the founding of this church
would be celebrated, and that Dr. Ben
ton, the first minister, would preach
the sermon. I have made no endeavor
to recover the discourse from the print
ed files, but I remember his description
of the topography of the landscape in
those early days, when the foundations
of this church were laid, and how the
indigenous growth of sycamore and Cot
tonwood, and poplar and oak made a
forest where the homes of the people
stand to-day, and belted a river whose
deep, pellucid stream floated the ocean
leviathan to your wharves.
I was a homesick and heartsick young 1
man at this time, for my change of res
idence had deprived me of the minis
trations of one whom I regarded then,
and whom I still regard, even in the
late afternoon of his life, as one of the
commanding intellects of this country
and time, but I soon found myself a
regular attendant upon the Sunday ser
vices of Dr. Dwinell, whose liberal
learning attracted my mind, and whose
generous and sympathetic nature won
my heart.
But Dr. Dwinell, unable or unwilling:
to recognize my limitations, wanted
more of me than I could give. He was
not satisfied with companionship, he
claimed co-operation, he appreciated
the respectful attitude of an attentive
listener, but he wanted the exhibition
of enthusiasm in the work to which he
had dedicated his life. At last, at his
earnest solicitation I handed him a let
ter from a Christian church with which
in my boyhood I had been connected,
the act giving me the status of mem
bership here, and afterward with his
counsel and advice. I undertook a
course of reading and study in the Di
vinity School in Oakland, in the found
ing of which institution he had taken
a prominent part, and in which he oc
cupied a professor's chair after hl»
resignation of the pastorate here. Re
lations of the most delightful character
were thus renewed with Dr. Benton,
who was President of the seminary,
and Instructor in several branches of
study, and my observation of him dur
ing all the years of the course confirm
ed my regard for him as a Christian
and a gentleman.
As I had fully explained to Dr. Dwi
nell, my work in the seminary was
undertaken more for an avocation than
for a vocation, and to reconcile, if pos
sible, the intellectual difficulties which
beset me in the apprehension of sys
tematic Christian religious truth.. Soon
afterward I felt that for the prosecu
tion of such work as I might wish to
do, I must ask for the grant of absolute
freedom at your hands. This you very
reluctantly accorded, but I still remain
with you in friendly association, and
count myself privileged in the large and
generous fellowship which has been
ever given to me and mine, for my
wife died a member of your communion,
and the tender ministrations of friends
in this congregation during her declin
ing years endeared you most wonder
fully to her, as I am proud to think
that some qualities of mind and heart
which she herself possessed may have
approved her graciously to you.
Your third minister, Mr. Men-ill, I
had known socially during the early
years of my residence here, but as a
fellow student in the Oakland Seminary
I was brought into daily contact with
a man who, outside the nours devoted
to instruction, furnished the only addi
tional intellectual stimulus connected
with those study years. A graduate ot
Fhillips-Exeter Academy and of Am
herst College, he brought to the divin
ity school a breadth of scholarship
which exerted its refining influence up
on every appreciative mind. His call to
this pulpit came to him in the conclud
ing years of his course, and I remem
ber how the large responsibility he was
soon to assume burdened his imagina
tion, giving to him sleepless nights and
somewhat embarrassing his mind for
the technical work which yet remained
to be accomplished. Absolutely with
out experience for the task to which he
had been called, with no known quali
flcatious excepting those of his scholar
ship and the generous qualities of his
nature, and with no formulated work
of any description upon which in an
emergency to be privileged to draw, he |
came as the immediate successor of,
the magnificent men I have describe!,
and for six years maintained a place
in your regard, doing earnest and schol- :
arly work, until entirely on his own vo
lition he in his turn made way for a
successor, himself accepting a call to
another field of labor.
With the three gentlemen who in turn
after Mr. Merrill succeeded to the pas
torate of this church, my relations have 1
been of varying degrees of friendly ac- :
quaintance, characterized, I trust, by
mutual respect, and although I am
pleased to pay the tribute of an inter- !
ested and instructed auditor to the 1
magnificent ability of the gentleman
who Is the worthy successor to this
royal line, I cannot speak from the !
standpoint of intimate and familiar'
confideince, and the accent of personal- ;
ity may now be dismissed.
But the question now arises as we
thus take retrospect of the life of this
church during the half century gone,
what does the inventory' of your post
sessions disclose of moral significance !
and accomplishment? To answer this 1
question in a word, we can say that for
all the varying degrees of intelligence!
cr differing apprehensions of religions !
truth among those who have worshiped j
here, this church has always stood for j
a moral Ideal. It Is pleasant then to
contemplate the action of those found- ;
crs fifty long years ago, at a time when !
men were released from the restraints !
cf the orderly life of the olJ?r and far
distant communities from which they
had come, and when the only recog
nized civil and social obligations found
warrant in the law of the individual
mmd itsc.f, it is pleasant to contem
plate them, stopping for a moment in
the exciting rivalry in the pursuit of
CITY OFFICIAL ADVERTISING.
CITY TAXES, 1899.
The city taxes on all personal property
and one-half of the taxes on all real prop
j erty will be due and payable at the office
iof the City Collector on the first Mon
! day in October, 1899, and will be delin
! quent on the last Monday in November
■ next thereafter, at 6 o'clock p. m., and
! unless paid prior thereto 15 per cent, will
;be added to the amount thereof, and if
, said one-half be not paid before the last
Monday in April next thereafter, at 6
I o'clock p. tt*r an additional 5 per cent.
' will be added thereto. The remaining
one-half of the taxes on all real prop
erty will be payable on or after the first
Monday in January, 1900, and will be de
linquent on the last Monday in April next
•: thereafter at 6 o'clock p. m., and unless
| paid prior thereto, 5 per cent. Will be
added to the amount thereof.
All taxes may be paid at the time the'
first installment is due and payable.
C. C. ROBERTSON, City Collector.
Room 8. southwest corner of Fourth
and J streets.
SEALED PROPOSALS.
Bids will be received at the office of
the undersigned until 5 o'clock p. m. on
Monday, October 30, 1899, for furnishing
electric current to 75 horse power motor in
sewer pumping plant for a term of one
year from date of contract. Specifications
on file in office of City Clerk. A certified
check, made payable to City Clerk, for an
amount not less than 10 per cent, of ag
gregate of proposal must accompany each
bid. The Board of Trustees reserves the
riant to reject any and all bids.
8 M. J. D£«MursD, City UlerK.
SEALED" PROPOSALS.
Bids will be received at the office of
the undersigned until 5 o'clock p. m.. on
MONDAY. October 23. 1899, for furnishing
City Water Works with coal for a period
of one year from date of contract. Speci
fications on file in office of City Clerk. A
certified check, in sum of $1,000. made
payable to City Clerk, must accompany
each bid. The Board of Trustees reserves
the right to reject any and all bids.
* M. j'JPESMOND, City Clerk. _
ORDINANCE NO. 482.
An Ordinance to Regulate, Control and
Direct the Movements in the Streets,
Alleys and Lanes of the City of Sacra
mento, of Vehicles of Certain Descrip
tions and of Certain Animals, and
Amending Ordinance No. 17.
The Board of Trustees of the City of
Sacramento ordain as follows:
Section 1. Section Two ot Chapter Ten
of Ordinance No. 17, entitled "An Ordi
nance Consolidating, Revising and Codi
fying the Ordinances of the City of Sac
ramento," passed June 27, 1872, is hereby
amended so as to read as follows:
Section 2. It shall not be lawful for any
person to race or run, or drive, any ani
mal or animals in or on any of the streets,
lanes or alleys of the city, at a rate ex
ceeding five miles an hour, when said ani
mal or animals are loose, or unattached
to a vehicle, or are not ridden by a hu
man being. It shall be unlawful for any
owner, driver or occupant of any hack,
buggy, carriage, cart, wagon, or other
wheeled vehicle, drawn by an animal or
animals, to drive or propel, or cause to
be driven or propelled, througn the streets,
lanes or alleys of the city, such vehicle, or
for any person to ride any animal through
the streets, lanes or alleys of the city, at
a rate of speed in excels of eight miles
an hour, within the following boundar
ies to-wit: Between the west line of
Twelfth street and the west line of Front
street, and the north boundary line of G
street and the south boundary line of P
street. It shall be unlawful too for any
vehicle drawn or propelled by an animal
or animals, to be driven or propelled, or
for any animal to be ridden in the streets,
lanes or alleys of the city, without the
bounds above and hereinbefore specified,
at a rate of speed in excess of ten miles
an hour; provided, that the provisions of
this section shall not apply to the officers,
members and vehicles of the Fire De
partment of the city, or of the Police De
partment, or to the City Physician or his
assistants, when in the immediate pursuit
of duty. It shall be unlawful for any ve
hicle drawn by an animal or animals to be
diiven. or any animal to be ridden, beyond
the center line of any street, alley or
lane of the city, to the left of the driver
or occupant of such vehicle, or rider of
such animal, except In crossing such high
way for the purpose of stopping upon the
other or left side thereof, within a rea
sonable distance from the point of cross
ing such center line. It shall be unlaw
ful to propel or drive any vehicle drawn
by animals or an animal, or to ride any
animal out of a street, lane or alley of
wealth, to lay the substantial founda
tions of that which should stand to
them as the material symbol of the
life.
And it seems to me that simply as
this symbol of this higher life and
thought, and measurably free from the
narrowing influences of fixed confessions
of belief, this church has pre-eminently
stood. It has been the people's church,
the shrine to which men of character
and worth could come, men of the
world, but who confessing to the limit
ations which seemed to contract their
spiritual life, would fain be men of
God also. The liberal endowments, and
broad catholic spirit of the first two
of your ministers especially, were large
ly instrumental in early placing this
generous stamp upon your fellowship,
and many of the men whose names are
prominently associated with the history
of this city, in its material and moral
development, although never making
any formal profession of religious be
lief have enjoyed the chartered freedom
of your house.
For many of you older than myself
and with a still longer and more Inti
mate connection with your fellowship
than T can claim, memory must be
rich in precious association, and I vivid
ly recall that pictured dramatic scene,
when Dr. Dwinell in his farewell sermon
here, called a long roll of the departed
dead over whom he had breathed 1h«?
words of Christian trust, and spok.? of
them as in number sufficient to nil one
row of seats, and another row of seat?,
and another row of seats, until w©
seemed in imagination to be sitting
with a ghostly company palpably pres
ent with U9 in our worship.
But it is not only of those who have
gone, but of those who remain, of
whom we are privileged to take account
to-night, of the lives dedicated here by
parent love to duty and to faith, and
which have blossomed out into an ex
ceeding beauty and grace, of loving
unions over which the bent diction of the
highest has been reverently invoked,
and of homes In which the Christian
virtues in daily expression bring to us
something of the realization of the
kingdom of God.
I confess I am often dissatisfied at
the accent of humiliation and defeat
which is sometimes sounded here, when
triumph would seem to be the more
fitting note. To emulate a John Knox,
or a Savonarola may be well, but it is
not well to underestimate a quiet influ
ence for good that every true and gen
erous life must exert, and the minister
who can assuredly know that because
of his life and teaching, there some
where are homes within whose pre
cincts affection dwells, and children are
nurtured to lives of usefulness and
moral power, that somewhere in the
market place an exacting justice
reigns, and for all the enticements to
sin that ever assail our youth, some
where there are those who are proof
against all unworthy solicitation, h j
should take counsel not of fear but of
hope.
All through the half century of its
existence this church has stood for
that which has given purer motive to
action, and touched with moral beauty
the common life of men. Your minister
may not close the brothel and the sa
loon, but the brothel and the saloon will
remain unvisited by many a young man
over whom the church shall spread
its sheltering wing, the boisterous, vul
gar life of a portion of the community
will continue to surge around us, but
young men and young women will walk
in safety the streets of your city, be-
(Continued on Eighth Page.)
the city into an intersecting hlghwav, so
as to make a turn into the latter nearer
than six feet from the nearest curb cor
ner, except for the purpose of stopping
immediately beyond such corner. It shall
be unlawful to drive or propel, or cause
to be driven or propelled, any vehicle
drawn by an animal or animals, or to
nde any animal from one street, alley or
Jane, into an intersecting street, alley or
lane, so that turning in the new direction
will bring said vehicle or driver, animal
and rider, upon tho left hand side of the
newly entered street, alley or lane, except
for the purpose of immediately stopping
upon such left hand side. In all other
cases the change of direction must bo
made by driving or riding as nearly as
may be done under prevailing conditions,
to or beyond the junction of the center
lints of such intersecting ways, so that
the change of direction will bring the ve
hicle and driver or animal and rider upon
the right hand of the street, alley or lane
newly entered, and along the line of di
rection. It Is hereby ordered that the
custom or usage known as "The Law of
the Road" relative to driving and pass
ing on public highways, and as obtaining
generally among the American people,
shall obtain and be a rule of action and
observed as the law In the city of Sacra
mento. It shall be unlawful to drive any
vehicle drawn by an animal or animals,
or by electricity, steam or vapor power,
or to ride any animal upon any sidewalk
in the city of Sacramento, or on any foot
path in any public park in the city of
Sacramento.
Passed, February 21, 1898.
D. MCJVAI,
President of Board of Trustees.
Approved February 23, 189 S.
WM. LAND, Mayor.
ORDINANCE NO. 494™
Amending Section Two of Ordi
nance Number One Hundred and
Sixty-Nine (169), Entitled, "To
Prevent Minors Under Sixteen
Years of Age Being on the Streets
After Certain Hours at Night,"
Passed March 28, 1881.
The Board of Trustees of the City
of Sacramento ordain as follows:
Section 1. Section Two of said
Ordinance Number One Hundred
and Sixty-nine (169), passed March
Twenty-eighth, Eighteen Hundred
and Eighty-one, is hereby amended
so as to read as follows:
"See. 2. All minors under sixteen
years of age, found upon the publio
streets at night, in violation of this
Ordinance, shall be subject to ar
rest and imprisonment as for a
misdemeanor."
Sec. 3. This ordinance shall take
effect from and after its passage.
Passed, May 9, 1898.
D. McKAY,
President Board of Trustees.
Approved, this 16th day of May,
1898. WM LAND, Mayor.
NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS.
Please call for rebate on city
personal property taxes at the City
Auditor's office, room 4, Fourth
and J streets.
NOTICE TO VOTERS.
Registration is now being taken,
in office of County Clerk. The sup
plement to the City Register will
positively close on October 23,
1899. M. J. DESMOND,
City Clerk.
NOTICE.
The City Art Gallery is open to
visitors daily from 10 o'clock a.
i m. until 4 o'clock p. m,
7