Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-10-14
Calnage
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Tslmare, ID. ID.

Los Angeles. Cal. Oct 0.-In this
sermon the preacher unsparingly ex-
poses the folly and wickedness of pride.
whether 1t be founded on ancestry. pos.
sessions, social position and influence
or upon personal vanity. The text is
Proverbs xxx, %, "a mans pride shall
bring him low"
The Paphlagonian pigeons were said
90 have had two hearts. Psychologists
have good reason 10 doubt that state
ment. but etymologists know that there
are some words that seem to have two
hearts. Uttered in one sense their
meaning is good and pure. but uttered
In another sense their meaning is evil
and corrupt. Like the chameleon, they
are able to change their outer colorings
TO suit their environments. In bad
sense these words have the craven au-
ricles of a culprit or n bad intentioned
man. Their skins are as black as the
blackness of the eternal night that
they inhabit. In good sense their
hearts beat steady and true They are
the pumps which drive only good and
pure blood through their different mr.
terieS as the purest of water tumbles
over the miller's wheel because that
water comes from the clearest of
mountain streams.
The word pride" in this age may
sometimes be used in q good sense. In
Bible times it always had a debased
meaning. Searching through n con-
cordance L cannot find one place where
that word pride" was not used as the
symbol of 'sin" and condemned as the
cause of sin. God denounces it all
through the Old Testament. God hurls
at 1t his execrations all through the
New. Arrogance and pride compose
the Quicksands which have destroyed
many an immortal soul in the past.
They are the insidious means whereby
Satan is tripping up aud manacling his
helpless victims at the present time.
Therefore this sinful pride. which is
found nesting in many hearts as IA
tai cancer. must be cut out or some OF
us will be forever lost
Pride of Lineage.
First. consider the silliest OF all kinds
OF pride. that OF aristocratic lineage.
The spoiled infant in its canopied bed.
screaming for the attention OF its
nurse. is not more OF nuisance than
are these people who strut through the
world claiming the homage of their
fellows because of their having been
born I'm an aristocratic home. 1t cries.
Bow low to me, not because have
brain or have accomplished anything.
not because am of any earthly use TO
anybody, but because my father or
grandfather or great-grandfather has
accomplished something 10 make his
name famous or because my great
grandmother had in her veins the
blood OF the European aristocracy."
Listen TO the babblings of one who
would continually shake before our
eyes single branch of his ancestral
tree which happened TO bear few
fragrant blossoms, while on that same
genealogical tree are hundreds OF 9TH
or branches which have borne nothing
out worm eaten fruit, and which
branches have been cnarled and twist
ed for generations and for centuries.
Have you ever stopped to consider
now many different ancestors you have
had! My parents were two in number
had one father and ooe mother. But
stepping bnck another generation. /
IND had four grandparents and eight
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and sixteen great
great-arandparcnts and thirty-two
neutrality-suspicious. And so
back and back they go, doubling with
each generation. \ few hundred wears
back find my ancestors were not
counted by the tens, but by the thou
sands. Now, my friends, what right
mas man with family pride to follow
up one branch Of Il genealogical tree
that lands him in kings throne room
or in an earl's palace and ignore the
hundreds Of other ancestral lines, any
one OF which would land him in n
PEASANTS hut or perhaps even at the
emu or hangman's moose? For, though
some OF us may not have had ancestors
who were hanged, all OF us have had
plenty of them who ought to have been
hanged IL they had been treated as
they deserved. Thus, when we esti-
mate how many different ancestors we
ali have had, both good and bad.
there Is great deal OF broad common
sense In the answer which Theodore
Roosevelt gave TO one OF his boys who
hso boosted In school about his family.
The president said: There are only
TWO classes OF boys IN this world, my
son. Big boys and small boys alike are
either good boys or bad boys. 1t does
not make very much difference from
what family you spring. II you are a
good boy the world will respect you
and II bad boy the world will punish
you and despise you"
Hts Coat of Arms
Then there is another fact that AL
ways amuses me in reference to the
false assumptions OF family pride. AL
most without exception the great fam.
HES or the earth are proud OF their
descent from some ono man who in
his youth was nobody, the son OF IA
hodcarrier, stonemason or a labor
er In the ditch. Where did the proud
Astor family come from? From a pal
acef Oh, no. II sprang into promi-
nence from q poor German emigrant
who had TO cross the Atlantic prac-
tioally in the steerage Where did the
famous Vanderbilt family come from
-Four generations back Cornelius Van
deroiit was barefoot boy running
about the Staten Island halls. He made
his crst morsy as common ferryman,
rowing passengers over the waters be- |
tween his island home and New York's
great metropolis. When an English |
aristocrat was dining in the palatial
home or the founder OF the great Thaw |
FAMILY OF the western part of Pennsyl- |
wanna he began TO boast of his great |
family connections. Then he turned |
to the richest and most honored man |
or Pittsburg and said, From what arts.
tocratic head did your family spring.
Mr.. Thaw" With that William Thaw |
answered: "My ancestors. for the most |
part. We're plain. honest folks. My
own coat OF arms, however, is shoe
makers last, for my father was the /
best cobbler OF his time In all this re-
giOn."
Where did the great Adams family.
OF the Beechers. or the Van Cortlands,
or the Van Rensselaers. or the HamiI-