Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-10-14
BATHROOMS OPEN SUNDAY
ty Do Business on the Lords Day

Tho Pew r Hawthorne preached a
sermon Sunday upon conoltlohS III r>iei'
rnond in which he spared none he was
listened to attentively by one OF the
largest congregations ever collected III
Grove-Avenue church.
The work of the grand jury was laudeo,
but the fact deplored that they did noS
sit longer. complete their work, and show
rp the guilty persons. The corruption IN
the City Council and the 'rottenness' OF
some of its members was a subject when
the people of Richmond should inquire
into and adopt some measures to cor
rect.
The startling statement was made that
there are no less than seventy bar roomf
open here on Sundays. Six days IN the
week the law allows them to be open,
but this condition continues on SUNDAY
in the face of God and the law. He spoke
of the work of Officer Wyatt, arguing that
it was possible to close all places of i'll
repute if the people demanded it, and he
scorned the excuse given by the police
when questioned on the subject.
! Back of the whole trouble was the City
Council, which. he said, is made up of men
who run and are in partnership with all
the dens of crime and debauchery found
in the city. He ended with an appeal for
all to come forth and work in the inter
est of reform.
Rev. w. B. Beauchamp preached a ser
mon Sunday on the saloon, taking for
his subject 1.-THE Church and the Saloon.
He said it was a question of either elm
mating the saloon or having the saloon
eliminate the church. The church worked
| for the making of earth heaven while the
saloon brought hell upon earth.
He commended the Crenshaw high-ll-
cense proposition. and made the statement
that if the city would abolish saloons
the Christian people would make up the
amount of revenue derived from them
and pay it to the city, not asking any
consideration in return. He ended by say
ing he hoped the people would stand by
the Crenshaw license.
Rev, George Ffnsford spoke Sunday
night at the Trinity Methodist church on
the subject, Labor, Capital and Religion
He mentioned the present conflict between
capital and labor, and showed that it had
been going on in all ages, and recalled
the parable in the Bible of the master
and the laborers in the vineyard, and
their discomfort as to the payment re-
ceived. All remllies, he said, had been
tried without success, and the only one
remaining was "the religion Of the Lo.d
Jesus Christ" He spoke on the sale of
liquor in the United States amounting to
s70O, 0O0, 900. which was the cause Of the
trouble, for, with temperance, would come
better work and lighter wages.
The refusal of DR.. Kerr, at the Minis
teria1 Union yesterday morning, to an
nounce the mass meeting to be held next
! Monday night from his pulpit Sunday
morning, has given rise to no little dis
cussion on the subject, and many uphold
DR.. Kerr in the stand he took.
DR.. j. B. HAWTHORNE after a talk on
conditions in Richmond, asked all the
ministers present. numbering about fifty,
to announce the mass meeting to be held
to adopt some method of reform. DR..
Kerr declined to do SO, stating that he was
opposed to bringing politics in his pulpit.
though he heartily endorsed the mass
meeting. He was backed by Rev. r. A.
Goodwin, of ST. Johns. A lively discus
sion was about to be entered into when the
Rev. H. a. Bagby moved that it was out
of order, and the chairman so ruled.
The event of the day was a paper read
by DR.. G. B. Stricken, of Union Theologi-
cal Seminary, on 1.-THE Present Tendency
of Theological Thought" The paper was
a learned one. and evoked the hearty APP
plause Of those present. DR.. Stricken
scored the evolution theory and declared
among other things that there is to-day
more unrebuked heresy in the churches
than ever before. The paper next month
will be read by DR.. Kerr.