St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-04-03
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
eleventh Discourse of the Series
On the Marriage Ring"


That Run i'm Families-The RESPONSE
bility of notwithstanding
Moral Tendency.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
eleventh sermon of the marriage Ring''
series at Fayette, Mo-, before an audience
that packed every available portion of the
building inYhich it was delivered. The
subject was "Heredity," MIR. Talmage tax
ing for his text:
Whose son art thou, thou young mani.
Samuel, xviii, So.
Never was there more unequal fight
chat that between David and Goliath.
David five feet high; Goliath ten. David
shepherd boy, brought up amid rural
scenes; Goliath a warrior by profession.
Goliath a mountain of braggadocio; David
n marvel of humility. Goliath armed with
an iron spear; David armed with sling,
with smooth stones from the brook. But
you are not to despise these latter weap-
ons. There was regiment Of singers in
the Assyrian army and a regiment of
singers in the Egyptian army, and they
soade terrible execution, and they could
cast a stone with as much precision and
force as now can be hurled shot or shell.
The Greeks in their army had singers who
would throw leaden plummets inscribed
with the irritating words, stake this!"
SO it was mighty weapon David en-
ployed in that famous combat.
A Jewish rabbi saws that the probability
is that Goliath was in such contempt for
David that in a paroxysm Of laughter he
threw his head back, and his helmet fell
OF. and David saw the uncovered forehead,
aud his opportunity had come. and taking
this sling and swinging it around his head
swo or three times. and aiming at that un-
covered forehead he crushed itiike an egg
shell. The battle over, behold a tableau:
King Saul sitting, little David standing,
his fingers clutched into the hair Of the
decapitated Goliath. As Saul sees David
standing there holding in his hand the
CHASTITY, reeking, staring trophy, evidence
of the complete victory over Gods enc
mics, the King wonders what parentage
was honored by such heroism, and in my
text he asks David his pedigree:
whose son art thou, thou young manp
The king saw what you and I see, that
this question of heredity is mighty ques-
tion. The longer live the more believe
in blood-good blood, bad blood, proud
blood. humble blood, honest blood, THEW
ing blood, heroic blood, cowardly blood.
The tendency may skip generation
or two, but it is sure to come out,
as in q little child you sometimes
see similarity to q great-grandfather
whose picture hangs ON the wall. That the
physical and mental and moral qualities
are Unbeatable is patent to any one who
keeps his eyes open. The similarity is SO
striking sometimes as to be amusing.
Great families, legal or literary, are apt to
have the characteristics all down through
the generations, and what ia more per-
ceptible in such families may be seen on
q smaller scale in all families. A thou
sand years have no power to obliterats the
difference.
The large linspf the house Of Austria is
seen in all the sgenerations, and is called
the Hapsburg lip. The House OF Stuart
always means in all generations cruelty
and bigotry and sensuality. Witness
Queen of Scots. Witness Charles I. and
Charles II. Witness James /. and James
III. and all the other scoundrels of that i'm
sistence, English blood means reverence
for the ancient. Welsh blood means
religiosity, Danish blood means fondness
Of the sea, Indian blood means Sroaming |
deposition, Celtic blood means fsrvidity, |
Roman blood means conquest. al i
This law of heredity asserts itself with
ont reference to social or political con-.
dition, for you sometimes find the ignoble
in high place. A descendant Of Edward |
a toll gatherer. A descendant of Ed |
ward III. a doorkeeper.. A descendant of |
the Duke OF Northumberland q trunk
maker. Some Of the mightiest families OF
England are extinct, while some Of those
most honored in the peerage go back to an
ancestry of hard knuckles and rough ex-
terror. This law of heredity is entirely in |
dependent Of social and political condition.
Then You find avarice, and jealousy, and
and fraud having fun swing
in some families. The violent temper of
Frederick William is the inheritance of |
Frederick the Great. 1t is not q theory TO
be set forth by worldly philosophy only,
but by divine authority. Do you not re-
member how the Bible speaks of So chosen
generation" of "the generation of the
of "the generation of vipers,"
of an 'untoward generation,n Of 50 stub
born generation" Of "iniquity Of the past
visited upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation2" So that the text
comes to-day with the force of projectile
hurled from the mightiest catapult
Whose son art thou, thou Young mann
swell" says some one, s'that theory dis
charges me from all responsibility, Born