, 1875-03-07


not suffer from craving appetite for strong
drink, but the chances arc ten to ono that this
abnormal desire for stimulus will be transmitted
ana, 1t does not appear in tho first succeeding
Gsneratlop it may in the second third, or fourth.
The same is true OF hereditary inaanity Ply
sclans IN charge of insane hospitals will tell you
that in the vast majority Of cases, tie malady
can be traced directly to tainted ancestry
Ar Ana an;ss thus; al q, through . long nss Of
that s'the fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set On odge."
What is true in this matter in respect to indiyid-
uals and families is also true Of nations Our
own country furnishes Al illustration. The
eEievous error, and most grievously have their
successors suffered Tor it, It ia quite a common
thing for superficial observers to say that North
ern Abolitioniats and Southern tire-eaters cansed
our late civil War, but the truth is, they only
precpitated what was su1e to come. The
fathers, in laying the foundation of our Govern
ment, placed antagonistic elements, in the hope
that, by the occasional daubing With untempered
mortar n tho form Of compromises aud mutual
concessions, they could perpetuate IN ediice
resting upon two principles Which were diamet-
rlcally opposed to each other. The seeds Of the
irresistible conflict" wero planted, and had
taken root, long before the DAYS Of Garrison,
1ef1ah Green, GerKit Smith, John Brown, Or
Horace Greeley on one side, OF JET Davis, Rob
ct Toomba: ". L. Yancey, and others, on tho
memory Of the fathers Of our Republic. We cannot
close our eyes to the fact that our four yeara'
civil war, with ita terrible cost OF blood and
treasure, and which draped in mourning nearly
every household North and South, Was tbs re-
suit OF wel-maant intention Of our fathers to
accomplish what was in the nature of things an
lmpos6iblity. Bad precedents, like cures and
young chickens. are sure to come homo to roost.
No natural low was ever violated and the penalty
escaped. The 1aw is irrcvocable and irreva14i-
AnH M r.
cape, but the dent holds good against our chill
dren, and will ultimately be collected With inter
est.
The object Of all sermonizera should be to in
culcate wholesome lessons.
Ihe lesson which wlah to impress upou my
hearers this morning ia this That We al owe
solemn duty to posterity, and thai it we by
vicious habits and indulgances, irupair cur moral
at1d physical stamina, our ainB will be visited
upon our children to the third aud fourth gener-
alton.
The ambition Of most parents (snd it il
laudable one) is to provide competency for
their children; but, my friends, they havo high
OF and boiler claim upon US. The Hghtfu1 in
heritance Of every child is a sound and vigorous
constitution, unimpalred BY the vlces aud OK
broken down by disease, inherited, or contracted
through thoir own sin, has right to entail the
curse upon posterlty. I sm aware that IN saying
this may be accused Of fayorinE the doctrine Of
that doctrine, from Woodruff to Beecher, have
donbtlesa seen and comprehended the great
evils Of transmitted mental, moral, and physical
disease, and hare adopted TINT yagary I'd pos
sible remedy.
We have all seen an appalling statement
which has been going the rounds OF the papers,
of d woman imnecile and diseased Who some
seventy years ago lived in cue OF the 1ivsr
counties Of New York, and who had several
illegitimate children, and that her descendants
have numbered about 100, all Of them paupers,
criminals, or idiots. Certainly tha common
wealth has right (by law il necessary to pro
tect itself against the propagation Of such
vicious elements.
Lot us close BY q peEsonal application Of the
truth-and each one for himself and herself de-
termine that in so far as it is posalblo VIC will
leave as legacy to our children sound phyBic-
al constitution aud an example Of true living
and moral probity, 80 that future generations
shall not curBe our memory as having been the
cause Of their suffering and disgrace.