Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-28
SUNDAY THOUGHTS
on
MORALS MANNERS
BY A CLERGYMAN.


| WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.1
| ONE of the most marked and one of the most
| hopeful signs of the times is the drawing to-
gether of the different denominations OF Chris
! tians And this without any loss of denomina-
tional power or interest. The young men and
women who are banded together in the Chris
tian associations and societies of Christian En-
deavor which cobweb the continent, like their
elders who are connected with bodies like the
Evangelical Alliance are devoted Methodists,
Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists,
Lutherans, Episcopalians-as much attached
as ever they were. Yet now they have been
broadened. They have become cosmopolitan.
Christian is recognized as being more than any,
than all, other designations. And Christians
are recognized in folds outside our own special
one. This is an enormous gain.
In England most Of the land is held by great
proprietors: and yet there are not lacking what
are called common plats of ground which are
open to all So the soil of Christianity Is par
celed out among the great denominational
propr1etors; but a common-ground is not lack
ing whereupon we may all set our feet and clasp
hands in brotherhood and sisterhoed.
Denominationalism Is all right, provided 1t be
Kept within the limits of charity. A generous
rivalry does no harm-the rivalry of faith and
good works. Moreover. each denomination
sets forth In q distinctive way some feature Of
the spherical truth. No one has IL all, but each
typihes some more or less essential phrase of 1t.
And 1t Is only by correlating and devastating
tnese representative denominations tnat we get
the round truth-the whole truth. Truth is a
wheel, of which the respective denominations
are the spokes. One spoke does not make a
wheel; it takes all. The various spokes are apt
to forget their mutual dependence. and to set
up as being each one the entire wheel. Let us
be thankful for any tendency the other way.
The Force of Heredity.
In the International Sunday School lesson for
to-day we hear the Israelites clamorlng for a
King. Samuel, one of the most upright of
men, is rejected as judge, and the faults Of
his children are flung in his face: Thy sons
walk not in thy ways" Here, as some one has
said, is both q compliment and a sta5-the
magistrate is praised at the expense of the
father,
As genius is not hereditary, SO neither is
piety. Some of the best of fathers have had
some OF the worst Of sons; witness Eli and
Samuel and David, not to 60 outside of Biblical
Probably these good men were too much
occupied with the administration Of public
affairs to give what time and attention were
needful to the training their children. But can
this be justified? Has any one a right to neg
lect his own in order to attend to another's-to
overlook near for a more remote duty?
OF course, there are exceptions. But as
rule, boys and girls turn out as might be ex-
pected. Training and environments are halt
lasting form before reaching the age of 10
years-al that comes after is conhrmatory!
What an inducement is here to early faithful
ness in the house and in the school.
1t Is more than probable that the wayward-
ness Of his family counteracted the godly ef-
forts OF Samuel, and precipitated the change
from theocracy to monarchy. Thus the bad
sons of good fathers pull down what their pa
rents would build up. They illustrate the pa
rental precepts and example, as the Hebrew is