Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-08-01
WHOSE son ARE YOU Z?
THE REV. DR.. 1ALMAGe'S ELOQUENT
THOUGHTS ON HEREDITY.
The Pedigree OF Davld-The Law of He
r1dIty Christian Ancestry, Its Power
and It's Responsibility-King and Queens
OF God and Heirs of Immortality.


redIty Christian Ancestry, Its Power
and It's Reaponsibility-Kings and Queens
OF God and Heirs of Immortality.
WASHINGTON, July 26.-This sermon
by Rev. Dr. Talmage Oh hercdity will
bring all the family records into requi-
sition and lead people to study their
own proclivity toward good Or evil.
The text chosen was Samuel xvii, 90:
Whose son art thou, thou young MANI"
Never was there more unequal fight
than that between David and Goliath;
David five feet high, Goliath ten; David
Il shepherd boy brought up amid rural
scenes Goliath u warrior by profession;
Goliath a mountain of braggadocio,
David q 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 rcgl-
ment of singers i'll the Assyrian army
and regiment Of singers III the Egyp'
tian army, and they made terrible exc
cution, and they could cast stone with
as much accuracy and force as now can
be sent shot or shell. The Greeks in
their army had singers who would
throw leadcn plummets inscribed with
the irritating words, Take this!'
So it was mighty weapon David
employed i'll that famous combat. A
Jewish rabbi says that the probability
is that Goliath was i'll such contempt
for David that i'll paroxysm OF laugh
ter he threw his head back and his
helmet fell off, and David saw the un-
covered forehead, and his opportunity
had come, and taking this sling and
swinging it around his head two or
three times, and aiming 1T at that uh-
covered forehead, crashed it i'll like al
eggshell. The battle over, behold the
tableau: King Saul sitting, little David
standing, his fingers clutched into the
hair of decapitated Goliath. AS Saul
sees David standing there holding i'll his
hand the CHASTITY, reeking. staring
trophy, evidence Of the complete victory
over Gods enemies. tho king wonders
what parentage was honored by such
heroism, and in my text he asks David
his pedigree, Whose son art thou, thou
young MANI" The king suw what you
and see, that this question Of heredity
is mighty question.
Blood VIII Tell.
The longer live the more l believe
in blood-good blood, bad blood, proud
blood, humble blood. honest blood,
thicviug blood, heroic blood, cowardly
blood. The tendency may skipa genera
ton or two, but it is sure to come out,
as in little child you sometimes see
similarity to 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, regal or literary, are
apt II hsye the characteristics all down
through the generations, and what IS
more perceptible in such families may
be seen Old a smaller scale III all faml-
lies. a thousand years have no power
to obliterate the difference.
The large lip of the house OF Austria
is seen III ali the generations and is
called the Hapsburg lip The house OF
Stuart always means in all generations
cruelty and bigotry and sensuality Wit
ness Cncen of Scots. Witness Charles l
and Charles II. Witness james l and
James II and all the other scoundrels
of that line Scottish blood means per-
sistencc, English blood means reverence
for the ancient, Welsh blood means re-
liciosity, Danish blood means fondness
for the sea, Indian blood means roaming
disposition, Celtic blood means fervidlty,
Koran blood means conquest. The
Jewish facility for accumulation you
NAV trace clear back to Abraham, OF
whom the Bible says che was rich III
silver ind gold and cattle, y and to Isaac
and Jacob, who had the same character
istics. Some families are characterized
by longevity, and they have tenaclty
of life positively Methuselish. Others
arc characterized by Goliathian stature,
and you can sec it fer one generation,
two generations, five generations, III all
the generations. Vigorous theology runs
down in the line of the Alexanders.
Tragedy runs on III the family OF the
Kembles. Literature runs on IN the line
of the Trollopes Philanthropy runs on
in tho lines of the Wilberforces. States
mansbip runs on in the line of the
Adamses You sec these peculiarities i'll
all generations. Henry and Catherine
of Navarro religious, all their families
religious The celebrated family OF
Casini, all mathematicians. The cele-
brated family of the Medici GRANDPA
Their, son and Catherine, all remarkable
for keen intellect. The celebrated family
of Gnstavus Adolphus, all warriors.
This law of heredity asserts itself
without reference to social or political
condition, for you sometimes find tho
ignoble in high place and the honorable
in obscure place. A descendant OF Ed.
ward toll gatherer. a descendant OF
Edward III doorkeeper A descendant
of the Duke of Northumberland trunk
maker. Some of the mightiest families
of England are extinct, while some OF
those most honored in the peerage 90
back to an ancestry of hard knuckles
and rough exterior This law Of heredlty
is entirely independent of social or polltl-
cal conditions. Then you find avarlce
and jealousy and sensuality and fraud
having full swing in some families
The violent temper Df Frederick Will
liam is the inheritance of Frederick the
Great. 1t is not u theory founded by
worldly philosophy, but by divine au~
thority. Do you not remember how the
Bible speaks of chosen generation, OF
the generation of the righteous, OF the
generation of vipers of an untoward
generation, Of stubborn generation, OF
the iniquity Of the fathers visited upon
the children unto the third and fourth
generation? So that the text comes to-