The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-11
Rev j. w. Cantty Johnson
 Practical and Vigorous
CONCEALED WEAPON HABIT
MT. Johnson Uses Familiar ScripturaI Text and Urges Application of Christian Religion-Deals
 With Local Conditions

The Rev. J. W. Cantey Johnson, rector of St Mary s-on-the- Highlands, preached a strong sermon yesterday morning on lawlessness. His text was:
 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind This Is the first and great commandment And the second is like unto it-Thou shalt love thy neghbor as myself. ''-St. Mark 22:S7-SS-S9.
 After making some general observations on the text by way of introduction, MT. Johnson said in part:
 Now, my brethren. there is at our doors the application of this When we speak of lawlessness, even as applied to one section, the mind turns to many things
 l. An unusual proportion of arrests for various offenses.
 g. The fact of mob law.
 B The fact of frequent homicide
 4. The presence of concealed weapons.
 5. The frequent failure of criminal courts.
 No Distinction.
 There is no distinction morally or re- iigiously between those classes of wrong doing unless it be that the petty offenses of many of the large numbers of arrests are to be traced to pitiful ignorance and a widespread imbecility. These four other classes of lawlessness-Q) mob law, CD frequent hofnicides (3) concealed weap- ons, (D the failure of the law-have little to separate them in their persistent breach of the law of love to God and 10 man. These are the offenses of.white men; some will say of ignorant white men, II so, only so because intelligent white-insn have disowned their heaven-born position of leadership of wholesome influence among their fellows. None can deny, and the proof is quite unnecessary, that crimes are horribly frequent when the best citi- zenship of a community is quickened out of indifference with indignation, out Of the spirit of mercy into that of judgment, there Is no need to ask for proof
 Mob law Is not so much the distrust of justice as the consent of the individual to express his vengeance, not personally, but in the crowd, where the individual excuses his better judgment in the fran tic madness of the crowd.
 Concealed Weapons.
 Carrying concealed weapons Is not so much self defense as preparation for vim dictiveness, so that there shall not De anything to restrain the satisfaction or that sort of temper when it has occasion to develop A mans motives may be purely for self defense when he begins carrying a weapon that must be concealed but it is not many months before that man falls in to the attitude of one who carries a chip on his shoulder prepared to interpret any offense as demanding the use of his weapon. Of homicides, the killing of man by man, the law makes the distinction of inexcusable and ex- cusable, but when a people living in peace are confronted by figures such as do confront this section, on the face of it inexcusabe homicide is rampant
 Astounding AcquittaIs.
 Of the failure of our criminal courts to fix guilt and astounding acquittals. the best evidence is, not in the specific case, so much in the fact that the courts tell us with rarest exceptions that homicide, by white man Is justifiable. No group of men can recall years record in this community without pausing to count the number of those guilty of murder, or manslaughter. Think of your sister states and instantly the mind turns to this and that case It is not time fore statistics. It is a condition. and one that is ap- pallng.
 This conditionof our land might well make us who are representatives of our Christianity ask why has not Christianity so entered our life that this frequent taxing of human life should be an irn- possibility.
 Take the south especially, and follow the South Atlantic and Gulf states around, the churches have no lack of hamlet, and at every crossroads. We are distinctly a religious people. So much so that it is logical sequence that the churches should be held responsible, as well as the courts, for crimes and for crime unpunished What is the character of our Christianity?
 The declaration of our Lord of our
 
 His summary of the ten commandments. And may we not inquire if these have been duly ingrained into the lives of our people Church and home have too much, fear, ignored the emphasis that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ placed on our moral law
 Can be Corrected.
 have confidence in the integrity of our judges, but our courts are permit ting the practice of lawyers who are un- worthy of the profession. Our jurors are incompetent and bad, and when we criticise them we judge ourselves. But In the hands of able and right mineded citizens these things can be corrected, and with more wisdom than those un- trained in such matters can suggest However our need is that our best citizen- ship be aroused from it's pitiful apathy. If those in authority would call 1t day of confession, of fasting and prayer, might quicken latent forces.
 
 Don't neglect catarrh. for 1t leads to