The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-05-05
A CHARITABLE RULE.
A Divine Precept Discoursed Upon
by Rev. DR.. Talmage.
Unfairness in the Criticism of Human
Conduct Deprecated We Should
Weigh Circumstances Before
Passing to judgment.

III Jne 1OllOW1np discourse heV. L.
Dewitt Talmage inveighs against the
prevailing proneness to measure the
misconduct of others by the harsh rule
of our own shortsightedness. The text
is:
With what measure We mete it shall be
measured to you again.-Matthew vii, 2.
In the greatest sermon ever preached
"a sermon about Is 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 We're given to understand
that the same yardstick that they en-
ployed upon others would be employed
upon themselves. Measure others by a
harsh rule, and you will be measured
by harsh rule Measure others by a
charitable rule, and you will be meas
ured by a charitable rule. Give no
mercy to others, and no mercy will be
given to you. with what measures
ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again
There is great deal of unfairness
in criticism in human conduct. 1t was
to smite that unfairness that Christ
uttered the words of the text. and my
sermon will be a re-echo of the Divine
sentiment In estimating the misbe-
havior of others, we must take into
consideration the pressure of circum
stances. 1t is never right to do wrong,
but there are degrees of culpability.
When men misbehave or commit some
atrocious wickedness we are disposed
indiscriminately to tumble them all
over the bank of condemnation. Suf-
fer they ought and suffer they must,
but in a difference of degree.
In the first place, in estimating the
misdoings of others, we must take into
calculation the hereditary tendency.
There is such a thing as good blood,
and there is such thing as bad blood.
There are families that have moral
twist in them for a hundred years
back. They have not been careful to
keep the family record in that regard
There have been escapades, and ma
raudings, and scoundrelism, and moral
deficits all the way back, whether you
call it kleptomania, or pyromania, or
dipsomania, or whether it be in q mild
er form, and amount to no mania at all.
The strong probability is that the pres
ent criminal started life with nerve,
muscle and bone contaminated As
some start life with natural tendency
to nobility and generosity and kind
ness and truthfulness, there are others
who start life with just the opposite
tendency, and they are born liars, or
BON malcontents, or born outlaws, or
born swindlers.
There is in England a school that is
called the Princess Mary school. All
the children in that school are the
children of convicts. The school is un-
der high patronage. l had the pleas
ure of being present at one of their an
niversaries, presided over by the earl
of kintore. BY a wise law in England,
after parents have committed a certain
number of crimes, and thereby shown
themselves incompetent rightly to
bring up their children, the little ones
are taken from under pernicious intlu-
ences and put in reformatory schools.
where all gracious and kindly infiu-
ences shall be brought upon them. Of
course, the experiment is young, and
it has got to be demonstrated how
large percentage of the children of
convicts may be brought up to respect
ability 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 greater misrepresentation
put 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.
Why does one horse cost SlOo and an
other horse cost $1,000? Why does one
sheep cost $40 and another sheep cost
$500? Difference in blood. We are
wise enough to recognize it in horses,
in cattle, in sheep, but we are not wise
enough to make allowance for the diff
lSIChSC III IhC ulOOu. NOW
demand by the law OF eternal fairness
that you be more lenient in your crit-
cism of those who were born wrong,
in whose ancestral line there was
hangman's knot, or who came from
tree the fruit of which for centuries
has been gnarled and worm-eaten.
DR.. Harris, a reformer, gave some
marvellous statistics in his story of a
woman he called Margaret, the Mother
of Criminals. Ninety years ago she
lived in a village in upper New York
state. She was not only poor, but she
was vicious. She was not well pro-
vided for. There were no almshouses
there. The public, however, some
what looked after her. but chiefly
scoffed at her and derided her, and
pushed her farther down in her crime.
That was 90 years ago. There
have been 623 persons in that
line, 200 of them
criminals. In one branch of that fam
lily there were 20. and nine of them
have been in state prison, and nearly
all Of the others have turned out bad