The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-10-17
WHOSE SON ART THOU?
A Discourse Upon the Power and
Influence of Heredity.
David. the Small Shepherd Boy, Stays Co
Hath, the Philistinc Giant, and Won
derinS King Saul Asks
Question.

Question.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage preached a
sermon Sunday about heredity to lead
people to study their own proclivity to-
ward good or evil. The text chosen
was l Samuel 17:5S, 'Whose son art
thou. thou young man?"
Never was there a more unequal fight
than that between David and Goliath.
David, five feet high; Goliath, ten.
David, shepherd boy, brought up
amid rural scenes; Goliath, n warrior
by profession. Goliath, a mountain of
braggadocio; David, n marvel of hu-
mility. Goliath, armed with an iron
spear; David, armed with sling with
smooth stones from the brook. But
you are not to dcspise these latter
weapons. There was a regiment of
singers in the Assyrian army, and a
regiment of singers in the Egyptian
army, and they made terrible eXecu-
ton, and they could cast stone with
as much accuracy and force as now can
be sent shot or she'll The Greeks in
their army had singers who would
throw lcaden plummets inscribed with
the irritating words: Take thisr' So it
was mighty weapon David employed
in that famous combat. A Jewish
rabbi says that the probability is
that Goliath was in such contempt for
David that in n 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
tableau: King Saul sitting, little David
standing, his fingers clutched into the
hair of decapitated Goliath. AS Saul
sees David standing there holding in
his hand the CHASTITY, reeking, staring
trophy, evidence of the complete vic
tory over Gods enemies, the king Won
ders 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 / see,
that this question of heredity is
mighty question. The longer 1 live
the more 1 believe in blood-good
blood, bad blood, proud blood, humble
blood, honest blood, thieving blood,
heroic blood, cowardly blood. The
tendency may skip a generation or
two, but it is sure to come out, as in a
little child you sometimes see a similar
ity to "A great-grandfather whose pic
ture hangs on the wall. That the
physical and mental and moral quail
ties are inheritable is patent to any one
who keeps his eyes open. The similar
ity is so striking sometimes as to be
G,.aof fa or
literary, are apt to have the character
istics all down through the genera
tions, and what is more perceptible in
such families may be seen on "A smaller
scale in all families. A thousand years
have no power to obliterate the differ
ence. The large lip of the house of Aus
tria is seen in all the generations, and is
called the Hapsburg lip. The house of
Stuart always means in all generations
cruelty and bigotry and sensuality:
Charles l. and Charles II. Witness
James l. and James H., and all
other scoundrels of that line. Scottish
blood means persistence, English blood
means reverence for the ancient, Welsh
blood means religiosity, Danish blood
means fondness for the sea. Indian
blood means fervidity, Roman blood
means conquest. The Jewish faculty
for accumulation you may trace clear
back to Abraham, of whom the Bible
saws she was rich in silver and gold
and CATTLE" and to Isaac and Jacob,
who had the same characteristics.
Some families are characterized by
and they have tendency of
life positively Methuselish. Others
are characterized by Goliathian stat
ure, and you can see it for one gener-
alton, two generations, five genera
tions, in all the generations. Vigorous
runs down in the line of the
Alexanders. Tragedy runs in the
family of the Kembles. Literature
runs on in the line of the Trollopes.
Philanthropy runs on in the line of the
Wilberforces. craftsmanship runs on
in the line of the Adamses.
Well, says some one, that theory
me from all responsibility.
Born of sanctified parents, we are bound
to be good and we cannot help our
selves. Born of unrighteous parent
age, we are bound to be evil, and we
cannot help ourselves" Two inaccu-
racies As much as if you should say:
i a
to bring everything to the
center. The centrifugal force in ma
ture has a tendency to throw every
thing to the periphery, and therefore
everything will go out to the periph-
cry" You know as well as l know
that you can make the centripetal
force overcome the centrifugal, and
YOU can make the centrifugal over
come the centripetal. AS when there
is a mighty tide of good in family
that may be overcome by determine
ton to evil, as in the case of Aaron
Burr, the libcrtine, who had for father
President Burr, the consecrated; as
in the case of Pierrepont Edwards,
the scourge of New York society
80 wears ago, who had n Chris
tian ancestry, while, on the 9th
er hand, some of the best men and
WON en- of this day are those who have
come of an ancestry which it would
not be courteous to speak in their pres
cnce The practical and useful object
of this sermon is to show you that If
Won have come of a Christian ancestry,
then You are solemnly bound to pre-
serve and develop the glorious inheri'
tance; or, if you have come of de-
praved ancestry, then it your duty to
brace yourself against the evil ten
dency by all prayer and Christian de-
termination, and you are to lind out
the family frailties, and in arming the