The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-10-06
Strong PLEA FOR
BIBLE IN HOMES
Dr.. williamson Deplores De-
generacy of Modern Society :
and Lack of Morals.

Preaching the third in a series Of SER
mons upon the present-day unrest, its
causes and methods Of correction, Or.
Z. Il. Williamson. pastor of the First
presbyterian church, gave torceful ap-
peal TO his congregation Sunday morn
ing Tor the return of the Bible to the
nome and the saving of what he
| termed the small vestige that remains
To-Day OF the oidAfashloned home Of the
| forefathers
| The announced subject Of the sermon
was The Fool and His Home" the
minister likening the present day home
70 the one In the parable huilded upon
| sand by the fool.
Dr. Williamson, at the outset, declared
that the present unrest in the world az
Wen as the degeneration OF the church
was due In a large measure to the fact
that the Bible no longer controlled the
! life OF the home today. He asserted
that one Of the greatest causes OF the
decadence Of the church was the de-
cadence Of the home.
Never have we lived in a more law
less element than today" he asserted.
In the past week men Of black skins
and men Of white skins in a nearby
town have fought and a score have
been killed Scratch any one Of US
very deep and you'll find the barbarian,
The old-fashioned home is so nearly
gone scarcely Vestige remains We
have paganized the home--it is an ir-
religious home. The home today to tho
average man and woman is simply a
place to so for physical needs, a place
to eat and sleep. The present-day do
| nestle immortality is appalling.
There are some things that are
hard to say but l mean to say them,
God said long ago: Thou shalt not
Kill. The man or woman who murders
| n iFafn ~ L. S,,gH
| those men who last week shot down
each other yet murder of unborn in
tants is the most common crime today,
have three of these disgusting cases
on my hands today.
1T is awful to have your physician
tell you that so per cent OF the young
men walking the streets today" he de-
riage, yet this is true"
Turning tc the oft-repeated charges
that the immortality of dance halls to-
day is responsible for the running Of so
serted:
The immoral dances today were not
born in the red light district but orig
| mated in dissolute social circles
He then traced the liability OF the
example set by the present so-called
| higher social set for such conditions and
also spoke OF the close affiliation OF
immortality with liquor,
II have been in homes of members
Of my own congregation at marriage
functions where intoxicating liquor was
served" he declared and where peo'
pie became intoxicated l venture that
II a search we're conducted today a.
much or more liquor would be found In
| the cellars OF church communicates at
| in the cellars OF the others"
| Discussing again the degeneracy OIL
the marriage relation today In many
| homes. Mr. Williamson declared that the
trend of present life had been to de-
| stroy mans reverence for womanhood
What man can care for a woman,
he asked, whose lips have been fouleC
| with liquor, whose mouth has beer
| polluted with tobacco or who exhibits
too great an area OF her physical body
do not look into the dance halls fol-
the root Of the evil today" he admon.
lshed, but rather into our own homes
for the examples we set, | have haC
to be thrust into more scenes Of domes
tic difficulty in the almost 10 years o
my work in Memphis than in all tn,
balance Of my life, This does not NEAR
this city is worse than others, but 1
simply shows the increasing fault of tbs
times.
I'VE are talking today of 'housint
problems Because Of the refusal o
the duties Of parentage We have become
modern cliff-dwellers. When are w
going to turn the tide and put hom'
back where 1t belongs? Only when VI
awake. vi -
What shall we do first OF all?
plead with you to put the Bible bacl
into your homes. put prayer back int
your homes. And II you haven't
child in your home, adopt one, thinl
the most blasphemous thing know o
today is that young women should ente
matrimony and that the first thing tina
maternity"