The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-10-03
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
INSANE FROM SIN"
fhe Rev. Dr. J.wnbur chspma Presents
in q Vivid Way the Effect of Wrong
Doing Upon the Mind-self-Indulgsne
RUNE Men, Self De NAL lakes Them.


Ruins Men, Self niai Makes Them.
NEW YORK CITY-The Rev. DIR J. vii
bur Chapman, the most popular OF our
pulpit orators, has never preached more
dramatic and powerful sermon than the
following one entitled Insane From SIN
IL Is founded on the text, I'm the tombs,
crying and cutting himself with stones
Marx s: 5.
You ase doubtless familiar with this
New Testament chapter IN which our
Lord is represented az having power over
devils. disease and death. Over devils
when He cast out the evil spirits from the
man IN the tombs, finding enough IN him
20 FIJI herd OF swine. and enough swine
10 FIJI the sea, as an old preacher used 10
say; over disease when He healed the
woman who had faith enough 70 touch
His garments hem, and power over death
when He stands az the home OF JaIrus and
commands his little daughter 10 awake
and restores hs 10 her weeping parents.
IL Is a comforting chapter IN the light OF
the fact that He Is the same yesterday, to-
day and forever.
In speaking Of "the sinfulness Of sin" !
desire 10 present il al this time in ITS ef-
feet upon the mind Insanity has been de-
scrlbed as a chronic disease OF the brain
inducing chronic disorder OF the mental
condition, yet there is a sense in which the
fevered patient IN his delrlum and the
drunkard IN his excitement or stupor Is
insane. There arc two kinds OF insanity,
first, congenltal, or that which y inherited
where brain development Is arrested. Sec
ond, acquired. or that IN which the brain
is born healthy, but has suffered from
morbid processes affecting IL primarily.
diseased states of the general system am
plcatlng II secondarily. In our treatment
OF this theme | have 10 do with both OF
these, for IN the first we see how the sins
of the fathers are visited upon the children
unto the third and fourth generations,
while in the second we behold an eNhibi-
tlon OF that insanity OF sin which Is due
10 individual excuses or the breaking of
Gods laws The Bible is full OF illustra.
tions
1t Is not necessary that should 60 10
an institution 10 find men who are insane.
! turn TO the pages OF this old book and
read the story of Nebuchadnezzar. the
king Now you see him on his hands and
knees eating grass, and ms mails are like
birds claws and his hair like eagles feath-
ers. Yet as we read we find he lifted his
ewes 10 heaven and God set him free.
There Is not less for a man IN this City of
New Nork-no matter what his bondage
i he viii but lift his eyes up he may be
free
Then we turn 10 l. Samuel. second chap.
ter, and we see the man who wrote the
Twenty-third Psalm, David playing the
fool before the man OF whom he was
afraid, crouching upon the sides OF the
door posts and becoming disgusting.
In the tenth chapter of Exodus we read
the story Of the man who was the king
whose face | had the privilege Of seeing as
mummy in Egypt.-the man who said.
Il viii let the people 90 now If YOU will
take away the swarm Of hies-if you will
take away the frogs" And the frogs
were taken away, and the flies and he
did not let them 20, for God hardened hs
hcart-an insane man, but not more in
sane than the man who has promised ever
since he was a child that he would be
Christian and give up sin, and is still its
slave
Turn 10 the New Testament. and here
we hnd the picture Of the prodgal When
he came 10 himself-when he was not him.
self he was satisfied with swine so long
as he had forgotten his father and his
mother whom tradition says he killed.
he was satisfied. but when he came to
himself he was not. All. the young man,
Win the memory OF sweet mother back
in ONO who has stepped into the evil OF
sin IN New York and turned his face
away from Christ, he is insane. II is the
hope OF the minister and the prayer of at
least one hundred people in this church
that during this series Of meetings some
of these young men may come to them
J.
| have been going through the institu-
tions. where ! have had the privilege OF
looking upon the insane people confined
there, and i have found out the following.
First, many people are insane because
OF the sins OF their parents. Results OF
crime on future generations.
AT the recent meeting of the Congress
OF Criminal ,AnthropoloW at Geneva,
Switzerland, DR. LeVrain, physiCianin-
chief of the asylum Of Nille.Evrard gave
the results of his investigation, which ex-
tended over a period OF years and showed
how SIN, like disease -. transmitted from
drunken father to appetite enslayed son
how in such soil the seeds of crime and
madness develop and ripen in the last gen
Grafton into sterile ldlocy and the eXtlnc-
tlOn Of the race.
First Generation.
He traced the course of four generations
OF drinkers In 2l5 families. One hundred
| and siXty-eight families showed unmistak.
able symptoms OF degeneracy; sixty-three
cases OF mild insanity; eIghty-eight were
mentally unsound; forty-hve at times dan
gerously insane; many OF the children
were weaklngs and died at an early age
six ont Of eight IN one case ten out OF six
teen IN another. These six latter who re-
NAMED were all feeble minded and had
epleptIc fits and a prey TO evil instincts
Ihrty-nIne families found convulsions;
epilepsy IN hfty-two: hysteria in sixteen:
meningitis in five; los families out Of the
2l5 counted one out OF every two indIvid-
uals victims Of periodical alcoholic deli
rum; lO6 families Of the 2l5 insanity had
developed
Second Generation.
Ninety-eight observations gave the fol-
lowing. Fiity-four families had one or
more members who were imbeciles or
idiots; twenty-three families there were
those who were morally irresponsible, un.
| timely births, extraordinary mortality
and hereditary diseases caused the children
20 DE in appalling numbers At this stage
fathers and mothers had become common
drunkards with but eight exceptions In
forty-two families he found chronic cases
OF convulsons, and epilepsy in forty. IN
twenty-three families insanity exists.
Third Generation
Seven observations. or families. gave
HIM 4 total OF seventeen children, an
were mentally unsound and physically
stunted. two were insane, four subject %
conyusi0ns. two epilepsy. two hystcrIa,
one meningitis, three scrofula
Stunning up the sli cases found in the
2l5 families he found 322 per cent were
alcoholics, coz per cent. are degenerate
1919 PET cent. morally irresponsible. 227
per cent. have convulsions. nineteen Der
cent. are Incuraby insane; Ia disap-
peared from this world before or almost be.
fore having drawn their first breath; nine
ty-thr-e cases Of tuberculosis which bring
the total Of those who died from heTcdit.
ary alcoholism up 20 one.third.
There Is no fifth generation. for the last
lne "a mIcrocephalous idiot Thus
j.