The Yale expositor., 1896-07-31


Goliath armed with an iron spear; Da-
vid armed with sling with smooth
stones from the brook. But you are
not to despise these latter weapons.
There was regiment of singers in
the Assyrian army and a regiment of
singers in the Egyptian army, and
they made terrible execution, and they
could cast a stone with as much ac-
curacy and force as now can be sent
with shot or shell. The Greeks in their
army had singers who would throw
leaden plummets inscribed with the ir-
ritating words: Take this! So 1t was
a mighty weapon David employed in
that famous combat. A Jewish rabbi
says that the probability is that Go
Hath was in such contempt for David
that in a paroxysm Of laughter he
threw his head back and his helmet
fell off, and David saw the uncovered
forehead, and his opportunity had
come, and taking this sling and swing
ing it around his head two or three
times, and aiming it at that uncovered
forehead, crashed it in like an egg
shell. The battle over, behold the tab
leau: 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, star
ing trophy, evidence Of the complete
victory over Gods enemies, 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 man." The king
saw what you and l see, that this ques-
ton of heredity is a mighty question.
The longer l live the more believe in
blood-good blood, bad blood, proud
blood humble blood, honest blood,
thieving blood, heroic blood, cowardly
blood. The tendency may skip gen.
Grafton or two, but it is sure to come
out, as in little child you sometimes
see similarity to great-grandfathe
whose picture hangs on the wall. That
the physical mental and moral quail
ties are inherited is patent to any one
who keeps his eyes open. The SINH
larity is so striking sometimes as to be
amusing. Great families, regal or lit
erary, are apt to have the characters
tics all down through the generations,
and what is more perceptible in such
families may be seen en- a smaller scale
in all families. 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 Stuart always means in all gener-
ations cruelty and bigotry and sensu-
| ality: Witness Queen of Scots. Wit
ness Charles /. and Charles III. Wit
ness James /. and James H., and all
the other scoundrels of that line. Scot
tish blood means persistence English
blood means reverence for the ancient,
| Welsh blood means religiosity, Danish
blood means fondness for the sea, In
dian blood means roaming disposition,
Celtic blood means fervidity, Roman
blood means conquest. The Jewish fa-
cility for accumulation you may trace
clear back to Abraham, of whom the
| Bible says "he was rich in silver and
gold and cattle" and to Isaac and ia
cob, who had the same characteristics.
Some families are characterized by Ion
| gevity, and they have tenacity of life
positively Methuselish. Others are
| characterized by Goliathian stature,
and you can see it for one generation,
two generations, five generations, in all
the generations Vigorous theology
runs down in the line of the Alexan-
ders. Tragedy runs on In the family OF
the Kembles. Literature runs on in the
line Of the Trollopes. Philanthropy
runs en- in the line of the Wilberforces
Statesmanship runs on in the line OF
the Adamses. You see these peculiari-
ties in all generations. Henry and
Catharine of Navarro religious, all their
families religious. The celebrated
family of the Cassini, all mathemati.
cians The celebrated family Of the Me-
dici, grandfather, son and Catharine
all remarkable for keen intellect. The
celebrated family of Gustave Adolphus
all warriors. This law Of heredity
asserts itself without reference to So
cial or political condition, for yor
sometimes find the ignoble in higf
place and the honorable in obscure
place. A descendant of Edward !. 6
toll-gatherer. A descendant of Edward
III. door-keeper. A descendant of tht
Duke of Northumberland, a trunk
maker. Some of the mightiest familie!
Of England are extinct, while some
of those most honored in the peeragt
go back to an ancestry of hard knuckle'
and rough exterior. This law of here
dity is entirely independent Of socia
or political conditions. Then you fine
avarice and jealousy and sensualitJ
and fraud having full swing in some
families. The violent temper of Fred
erick William Is the inheritance o.
Frederick the Great. It is not theory
founded by worldly philosophy, but by
divine authority. Do you not remember
how the Bible speaks Of chosen gen
GRAFTON, of the generation OF the right
eous, Of the generation of vipers, of ar