Connecticut western news., 1898-03-31
DIVINE SENTIMENT.
REV. DR. TAlMAGE BREACHES A SER
 MON OF MERCY.

MON OF MERCY.
 Condemn Not Your Neighbor Tor His
 Faults--You Havo Weaknesses Human
 Conduct Is Unfairly Criticised-The Gold Copyright. 1S9S by American Press Asso-
 ciationJ
 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; 1; text, Matthew vii, 3. With what meas ure you mete 1t shall be measured to you again.
 In tine greatest sermon ever preached "a sermon about 15 minutes long &C., 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 a harsh rule. Measure others by charita- ble rule, and you will be measured by a charitable rule. Give no mercy to oth- CTS, and no mercy will be given to you. "With what measure ye mete 1t shall be measured to you again. :"
 There is great deal of unfairness i'll criticism in human conduct. It was to smite that unfairness that Christ utter ed the words of the text, and my ser mon will be re-echo of the divine sen- timent. In estimating the misbehavior of others we must take into considera- ton the pressure of circumstances. It 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 indiscriminate- ly to tumble them all over the bank of condemnation. Suffer they ought and suffer they must. but in 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 a 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 1t be in milder form and amount to no mania at all. The strong probability Is that the present criminal started life with nerve, muscle and bone contami- mated. AS some start life with a natu- ral 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 convicrs. The school is under high patronage. 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 certain number of crimes and thereby shown themselves incompetent rightly to bring up their children, the little ones are taken from under pernicious influences and put in reforInatory 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 k1. kla~ tor of a al of convicts may be brought up to re- speota bility and usefulness. But we all know that it is more difficult for chil- 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 put in ono sentence than in that sen- tence which implies that we are all born equal. You may as we'll say that flowers are born equal, or trees are born equal, Of animals are born equal. Why does one horse cost $I00 and an- other horse cost $5, 900? Why does one sheep cost $10 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 to make allowance for the difference in the human blood. Now, demand by the law of eternal fairness that you be 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 tree the fruit of which for centuries has been gnarled and worm eaten.
 Pity the Weak.
 Dr. Harris, reformer, gave some marvellous statistics in his story of woman he called Margaret, the moth CT 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 provided for. There were no almshouses there. The public, however, somewhat looked after her, but chiefly scoffed at her and derided her and pushed her further down in her crime. That was 90 years ago. There have been 623 persons in that an cestral line, 200 of them criminals. In one branch of that family there were 20, and nine of them have been ill state prison, and nearly all of the others have turned out badly. It is estimated that that family cost the county and state $100, 1000, to say nothing of the proper ty they destroyed. Are you pot will ing, as sensible, fair people. to ac- knowledge that it is fearful disaster to be born in such an ancestral line? Does it not make great difference whether one descends from Margaret, the mother of criminals, or from some mother in Israel, whether you are the son of Ahab or the son of Joshua?
 It is a very different thing to swim with the current from what it is to swim against the current, az some of you have no doubt found in your sum- mer recreation. If a man find himself in an ancestral current where there is blood Aaxpinv