Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-04-01
DIVINE SENTIMENT.
REV. Or. TALMAeE breaches A SER
McN OF MERCY.

Conduct In Unfairly Critlcised-The Cold
en- Rule.
copyright. 1895. by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, March 27.-If the spirit
of this sermon of DR.. Talmage were
carried out, the world would be better
place to live in and the fallen would
find it easier to recover themselves;
text, Matthew vii, 2, "With what meas
ure you mete it shall be measured to
you again.
In the greatest sermon ever preached
"A sermon about 10 minutes long ac-
cording to the ordinary rate of speech
a sermon on the Mount Of Olives, the
preacher sitting while he spoke, ac-
cording to the ancient mode Of oratory,
the people were given to understand that
the same yardstick that they employed
upon others would be employed upon
themselves. Measure others by harsh
rule, and you will be measured by
harsh rule. Measure others by a charita-
bic rule and you will be measured by
charitable rule. Give no mercy to 9TH
ers, and no mercy will be given to you.
with what measure ye mete 1t shall
be measured to you again.
There is a great deal Of unfairness IN
criticism in human conduct. 1t was to
smite that unfairness that Christ utter
ed the words of the text, and my ser
mon will be a re-echo of the divine SEN
timent. In estimating the misbehayior
Of others we must take into considera.
ton the pressure Of circumstances. 1t Is
never right to do wrong, but there are
degrees of culpability. When men mis-
behave or commit some atrocious wick
edness, we are disposed indisoriminate-
" to tumble them all over the bank OF
condemnation. Suffer they ought and
suffer they must. but in a difference OF
degree.
Hereditary Tendencies.
In the first place, in estimating the
misdoing Of others we must take into
calculation the hereditary tendency
There is such thing as good blood and
there Is such q thing as bad blood. There
are families that have had moral twist
in them for hundred years back. They
have not been careful to keep the family
record in that regard. There have been
escapades and maraudings and scoun-
drelisms and moral deficits all the way
back, whether you call it kleptomania
or pyromania or dipsomania or whether
il be in a milder form and amount TO no
mania at all. The strong probability Is
that the present criminal started life
with nerve, muscle and bone contaml-
mated. AS some start life with a natu-
raj tendency to nobility and generosity
and kindness and truthfulness, there
are others who start life with Just the
opposite tendency, and they are born
liars or born malcOntents or born out
laws or born swindlers.
There is in England school that Is
called the Princess Mary school, All the
children in that school are the children
of convicts The school is under high
patronaqe. had the pleasure Of being
present at one Of their anniversaries
presided over by the Earl Of kintore.
By wise law in England, after parents
have committed a certain number OF
crimes and thereby shown themselves
ipcompetent rightly to bring up their
children, the little ones are taken from
under pernicious influences and put IN
reformatory schools, where all gracious
and kindly influences shall be brought
upon them. Of course the experiment is
Young and it has got to be demonstrated
how large a percentage Of the children
of convicts may be brought up to re-
spectability and usefulness. But we all
know that it is more difficult for chill
dren of bad parentage to do right than
for children of good parentage.
In this country we are taught by the
Declaration of American independence
that all people are born equal. There
never was a greater misrepresentation
mt in one sentence than in that SEN
tence which implies that we are all
born equal. You may as well say that
flowers are born equal, or trees are
born equal, or animals are born equal
Whv does one horse cost 500 and an
other horse cost So, 900? Why does one
sheen cost $40 and another sheep cost
$500? Difference in blood We are wise
enough to recognize it in horses, IN cat
tie, in sheep, but we are not wise enough
10 make allowance for the difference IN
the human blood. Now, | demand by
the law of eternal fairness that you DO
more lenient in your criticism OF those
who were born wrong, in whose ances-
tral line there was hangman S KNOT,
or who came from a tree the fruit OF
which fol- centuries has been gnarleo
and worm eaten.
Pity the Weak.
Dr. Harris, q reformer, gave some
marvellous statistics in his story OF a
woman he called Margaret, the moth
or Of criminals" Ninety years ago she
lived in a village in upper New lorh
state. She was not only poor, but she
was vicious. She was not well provided
Cor There were no almshouses there.
The publio, however, somewhat looked
after her. but chiefly scoffed at her and
derided her and pushed her further down
in her crime. That was 80 years ago
There have been 62S persons in that an
cestral line. 200 of them criminals. III
one branch of that family there were
90. and nine Of them have been in state
prisou, and nearly all of the others have
turned out badly. 1t is estimated thai
that family cost the county and state
500 900, to say nothing of the proper
ty they destroyed. Are you not VIII
ing. as sensible, fair people, to ao
knowledge that it is fearful disaster
10 be born in such an ancestral line
Does Il not make q great dinerenc'
whether one descends from Margaret
the mother Of criminals, or from som'
mother in Israel, whether you are tn'
son Of Ahab or the son Of Joshuaf
1t isa very different thing to SWIM
with .he current from what it is t'
swim against the current, as some o.
You have no doubt found in your sum
, mer recreation. II a man find himsel
In an ancestral current, where there /
: good blood flowing smoothly from gen