The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1898-04-16

great credit to him II he turns out good,
and honest, and pure, and noble. He
could hardly help it. But suppose
he is born in an ancestral line, in an
hereditary line, where the influences
have been bad, and there has been a
coming down over moral declevity,
if the man surrender to the influences
he will go down under the overmaster-
ing gravitation unless some supernat-
ural aid be afforded him. Now, such
person deserves not your excoriatlon,
but your pity. Do not sit with the lip
curled in scorn, and with an assumed
air of angelic innocence looking down
upon such moral precipitation. You
had better get down on your knees
and first pray Almighty God for their
rescue, and next thank the Lord that
you have not been thrown under the
wheels of that iuggernaut.
In Great Britain and in the United
States, in every generation, there are
tens Of thousands of persons who are
fully developed criminals and incar-
cerated | say IN every generation.
Then suppose there are tens of thou
sands of persons not found out in their
criminality. In addition to these there
are tens of thousands of persons who,
not positively becoming criminals, new
ertheless have a criminal tendency.
Any one of all thoses Thousands by the
grace of God may become Christian,
and resist the ancestral influence, and
open new chapter of behavior;
but the vast majority of them will
not, and it becomes all men, profess
| sional, unprofessional, ministers of re-
| ligion, judges of courts, philanthro-
pists, and Christian workers, to recog-
nize the fact that there are these At
! lantic and Pacific surges of hereditary
evil rolling on through the centuries.
| say of course, man can resist this
tendency, just as in the ancestral line
mentioned in the first chapter of Mat
thew. You see in the same line in
and desperate Manassas, there after
ward came a pious Josiah and glori-
GUS Christ. But, my friends, you must
recognize the fact that these influ-
ences go on from generation to genera
ton. am glad to know, however,
that river which has produced moth
ing but miasma for 100 miles, may,
after awhile, turn the wheels of fac
tories and help support Industrious
and virtuous populations; and there are
family lines which were poisoned that
are a benediction now. At the last
day it will be found out that there are
men who have gone clear over into all
forms of iaiquity and plunged into
utter abandonment, who, before they
yielded to the first temptation. resisted
more evil than many man who has
been moral and upright all his life.
But, supposing now, that in this age
when there are so many good people
that come down into this audience
and select the very best man in it. | dc
not mean the man who would style
himself the best, for probably he is {
hypocrite; but mean the man who be
fore God is really the best. l viii
take you out from all your Christian
surroundings. | will take you bach
to boyhood. l will put you in ;
depraved home. | will put you il
cradle of iniquity. Who il
bending over that cradle? An in
toxicated mother. Who is tina
) swearing in the next room? You
father. The neighbors come in anc
talk, and their jokes are unclean
There is not in the house Bible or
moral treatise, but only a few scrap
of an old pictorial.
: After awhile you are old enough t.
get out of the cradle, and you ar
struck across the head for naughtiness
but never in any kindly manner repri
manded. After awhile you are OLE
enough to go abroad, and you are sem
out with basket to steal. If yor
come home without any spoil you arr
whipped until the blood comes. At L
years of age you go out to fight you
own battles in this world, which seem
2 to care no more for you than tn
: dog that has died of fit under tn
. fence You are kicked an
4 cuffed and bufeted. Some day, rally
: ing your courage, you resent som
l wrong. A man says: "Who are you
t l know who you are. Your father ha
e free lodgings at Sing Sing. You
: mother, she was up for drunkenness a
/ the criminal court. Get out of IN
e way, you low-lived wretch!" My brotf
It er, suppose that had been the histor
g of your advent, and the history of you
}, earlier surroundings would you hay
e been the Christian man you are to-da,
t seated in this Christian assembly?
l tell you nay. You would have been
s vagabond, an outlaw, a murderer O
/ the scatfold atoning for your Grim
:, All these considerations ought to max
a us merciful in our dealings with til
a wandering and the lost.
IS Again, have to remark, that in OIL
estimation of the misdoing of Peep
lie who have fallen from high respects
a bility and usefulness we must tai
II into consideration the conjun
lie ton of circumstances. In nil
k cases out of ten man who go
e astray does not intend any positi'
J. wrong. He has trust funds. He risl
IS part of these funds in investmen
e. He says: "Now, if I should lose tn
ly investment have of my own proper
ID five times as much, and if this inves
e. ment should go wrong, l could east
re make it up; could five times make
at up" With that wrong reasoning
m goes on and makes the investment, az
u it does not turn out quite as well as
m expected, and he makes another |
ly vestment, and, strange to say, at tt
d. same time all his other affairs get e