The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-08-21
stir UP EPIDEMIC Of
FANCY PRtvAR|cATlOA
Which Have Recently Bloom
ed Here.
EXCUSE TO VIOLATE Law
South Richmond Pnstor Tells Con-
gregation That People In Richmond
Need Clearer Vision OF Truth.


Having for his theme IAN Epidemic
of Plain and Fancy Prevarication in
Richmond" DR.. J. H. Light spoke to
large congregation last night in Cen
trail Methodist Church. South Rich
mond. He said in part:
THE Bible Is a plain-spoken old
book. In the passages ] have read
IT uses the plain and ugly word. I
shall use the more polite or euphe-
mistic term, 'prevaricate.'
The term is suggestive. 1t means
literally to walk crookedly or to strad-
dle-to walk with the feet wide apart.
Ffguratively. it means to walk or act
crookedly. to deviate from the truth.
! to shuttle. bubble.
"A reading of couple of Scripture
passages will suggest both the origin
and the destiny of the liar--or pre-
varicators. as I shall prefer to call
him.
I'm John, s.44. our Lord minces no
words. He speaks plainly of the ge-
nests or parentage of the species. He
Is talking straight to his Jewish hear
ers. They are the spiritual progeny
Of the father of lies. They boasted
of their direct descent from Abraham.
! Our Lord, insisted that no matter
what their physical ancestry. in heart
and practice they were born of the
wicked one.
Abraham was a man Of love They
! were men OF hate-murderers in spirit
and Intention. Abraham was man
of truth. They were of untruth The
prevaricator is always born of the
devil. There is devil who puts his
spirit In his children as there Is a God
who puts His spirit In His children.
Now note the other passage. from
Revelation. 22f5. giving the destiny
of all liars Note their association.
They belong to certain circles in Ha-
dean society. just as aocks belong to
certain circles in human society. You
speak of certain circles such az labor
circles. church circles. the four hum
dred-meanng by that the highest
circles of human society that you
know Of.
Now. there IL a heavenly society.
II Is composed OF those who do His
| commandments They have the en-
tree into the city through the gates
The Hadean Society
Then there Is the Hadean society
the withouts. Notice the circle. 1t
Is comprehensive. 1t suggests fine in
timacy and association. They love
each others society. They are like
one another-in dress and manners
They are the dogs tcanines), 'pois-
oners-men who concoct deadly
draughts secretly to destroy life. the
fornicators'-men who deal for gain
, and pleasure in social vice-like that
dreadful thing we read about the
! other day who had induced thousands
of young girls to drift into the life OF
shame. and murderers and idolaters
and whoever loves and makes a lie
This Is the high circle in which the
prevaricator lives moves and has his
being. He belongs to the four hun
dred of Hades
But am to speak to you of an
epidemic of prevarication in Rich
mond.
Every once in q while som ething
happens to bring to life and activity
certain latent germs. and you have an
| epidemic. You have in New York an
epidemic Of infantile paralysis-some-
! thing that had lain dormant or quiet
for a number of years. We were
| few days ago threatened with an cpl
demic of typhoid fever in Richmond
| Energetic action on the part of our
health officers has. happily. averted
/ the threatened evil.
| Some weeks ago something hap
| pened to stir up an epidemic of plain
and fancy prevarication in Richmond.
1t was a renewed interest in the SUM-
! day laws. There were no new lava,
! but renewed interest In the old ones.
! Certain interests had been allowed to
go on in violation of the laws, until
they came to think that they were
superior TO all laws. They had car
ried on their trade until they came
| to think themselves immune and their
business a necessity. Then came the
revival. Then the epidemic of prevari-
cation.
Il was standing one Sunday evening
after preaching over in town. waiting
my car home. large ice-cream par
| Tor nearby was in full blast. / over
heard a gentleman saying to a police
man; 'How's thisr OH they serve
sandwiches; got out restaurant license
on purpose
| II went into a drug store to get a
| bit of ice-cream. I sat down and
| picked up a little folder gotten up
in fancy style. 1t was fancy menu
| for luncheonette Various dishes
were advertised. / saw no sign of a
restaurant or preparations for serv-
| ing meals. saw the counter for soft
drinks and ice-cream. but no sign OF
a restaurant. There was the drug
stora. There were the ice-cream and
soda water and other soft-drink ap-
purtenances. But I saw no sign of a
restaurant except the fancy menu.
/ tuaL thCto arc a kTSdt
number OF these fake restaurants sud
denly blooming out In our city, where
desiccated sandwich or two do duty
for n whole dining room full OF choice
edibles. and q so-called Iuncheonette'
serves as an excuse to violate the law.
! In those days of plain and fancy
! lying in Richmond dash OF aromatic
spirits of ammonia in a glass OF pop
will change . pleasure drink into a
dose OF medicine in the one-eyed eye
of the law. and the druggist can sell
all he has call for on Sunday.
| "A week or two ago some were lined
4 up in the local Police Court. They
| were brought in for running their
shows at the park on Sunday. They
pleaded charity as the excuse. The
court refused to heed their plea. Last
week they were brought up again
They pleaded sudden and profound
conversion to the faith of tho Seventh