Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-03-22
HEREDlTY.
Eleventh of the Marrige Ring
Series Delivered in Missouri.
WHOSE SON ART THOU YOUNG MAN
An Eloquent Exposition of the Good and
Evil of Heredity BY Dr.
Talmage.
SpeeiaI 10 the Re9iSter.


here 10 preach on his way to Kansas CIT!
and other places. He arrived yesterday
Saturday afternoon, and will leave OF
Monday. His audience here was no ex
ception 10 the rule that no church tor th'
last twenty years has been large enough t'
hold the audience when DR.. Talmsge ii
announced to preach. The preacher
subject was "Heredity," and his text
Samuel xvii, So: Whose son art thou
thou young manY' Following ia the ser
mon in full, which is the eleventh in the
series on "The Marriage Ring"
Never was there q more unequal light
Than that between
DAVID AND GOLIATH.
David five feet high; Goliath ten. David
a sherpherd boy, brought up amid rural
scenes; Goliath warrior by profession.
Goliath a mountain of brsggadocis; David
O 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 weapons.
There was a regiment of singers IN the
Assyrian army and regiment OF singers
in the Egyptian army and they made ter
rible execution, and they could cast q
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 lesden plupmets inscribed
With the irritating words, Take this so
it was q mighty weapon David employed
in that iamou combat
A Jewish rabbi says that the probability
is that Goliath was in such contempt TOR
! David, that in psroXysm of laughter he
threw his head back and his helmet fell
of, and David saw the uncovered fore.
head, and his opportunity had come, and
taking this sling and swinging it around his
head two or three times, and aiming It at
that uncovered forehead, he crushed it in
like an egg shell. The battle over behold
a tableau: King Saul sitting, little David
standing, his fingers clutehed into the hair
of decapitated Goliath. AS Saul sees David
standing there holding in his hand the
ghastly, reeking, staring trophy, evidence
of the complete victory over Gods enc
mics, the king wonders what parentsge
was honored BY such heroism, and in my
text ne asks David his pedigree: Whose
son art thou, young mann
The king saw whet you aud | see, that
this question of heredity is
| ,,,,urxy ,rrpurION
The longer live the more l believe in
blood-good blood, bad blood, proud blood,
humble blood, honest blood. thieying
blocd, heroic blood, cowardly blood. The
tendency may skip a generation or two,
/ but it is cure to come out, Gs IN o little
child you sometimes sec q similarity to e
great grandfather whose picture hangs on
the wall. That the physical and mental
and moral qualities are iLheritabls is
patent TO any one who keeps his eyes cPsn.
The similarity is so striking somelIm's as
10 De amusing. Great families, Legal or
literary, are apt to have the characteristics
sll down through the generations, and
/ what 10 more perceptib!e in such fNmilits 8
may be seen on q smaller scale in all lam
lies. A thousand years have no power to
obliterate the difference.
The large lip Of the House Of Austria is
seen in all the generations, and is called
the Hapsburg lip. The House of S:aart
always means in all generations cruelty
and bigotry and sensuality Witness Queen
of Scots. Witness Charles |. and Charles
ii. Witness Janss ]. and James u. and
ell the other scoundrels of that imperial
line. Scottish blood means persistence;
! Euglish blood means reverence for the an
cient; Welsh blood means religiosity
Danish blood means tondness for the sea
Indian blood means roaming disposition
Celtic blood mrSns fervidity; Roman blood
means conquest.
The Jewish facility for accumulation you
may trace clear back to Abraham, Of whom
the Bible says "he was rich in silver and
col, and cattle, and to Isaac and Jacob
who had the same ehsIscteris;ics Some
families are characterized by longevity
and they have tenscity Of life positively
Methuselish. Others are characterized By
Golisthian stature, and you can seeit tor one
generation, two generations, five genera
tons, in all the generations. Vigorous
theology runs on in the line OF the Alex
andeSs. Tragedy rugs on "a the families
OF the Kepbles. Literature runs on in the
line Of the Trollopes Philanthropy runs
on in the line Of the Wilberforces. States
mauship runs on in the liue of the
Adamses. Henry aud Catharine of Ma
vsrre religious, all their families religious
The celebrated family Of the Cssinl, al
msthematicians. The celebrated family
of the Neutrality-suspicious., con and Ca
thsrine all remarkable for keen intellect
The celebrated family Of Gustavus Adol
phus ell warriors
FHIs LAS o. EEREDITy
asserts itself without reference to social OF
political condition, for you sometimes fud
the ignobls in high place and the honor
able in obscure place. A descendant o.
Edward I q toll ga,hsrer. A descendant
ofEdwsrd LII dQorkeeper. / descendGn'
Of the Duke OF SorthuR berlsnd trunk
maker. Some Of the mightiest families o
Euglsud are extinct, while some of those
most honored in the pserage go back tC
an ancestry Of hard knuckles and rough
exteyioI. This Law Of hereSity entirely
independent OF social OF political condition
Then you 6nd sysrsics aud jealousy spC
sensusity aud fraud having fell sYing il
some families The violent temper o
Frederick William is the inheritance o
Frederick the Great. It Is not theor!
10 be set forth BY vcFldly philosophy only
but by divine authority. DO you not re
member how the Biole speaks Of "s chosar
generation" Of the generation Of tn
righteols,@ oi tie generation Of vipers,
Of 90 "upteEsFi gepsss'isu," Of "a stu1
|. born genera.ios," Of the iniquity of the
past visited upon the children unite th'
, third and fourth generation" So that th
, text comes to-day with the force OF
proiecsile hurled from nighriest catspult
Whose son art thou, thou young man
"Well," says some one, that theory dis
charges me from all responsibility. BorI
of Ssnc,iGed parents We ere boupd to b
good and we cannot help ourselves. BorI
, Of uurighteous parentsge We are bound t
be evil and We cannot help ourselves"
,,~,-p1prT.y va cESTRIpucAI