Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1913-05-08
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Which is Common Sense with |;
out Educational Furbelows. /;
BY L. T. HovERMALR. :
Lies Best Gift.

delved into the experience Of the
present in the effort to solve the
riddle of what is life's best gift.
And strange to say they have
not agreed. In fact, the indi-
vidual can not decide this for
himself. The decision must be
made in advance of his advent
into the sphere of life's activi-
ties. 1t must be decided by his
progenitors, both immediate and
remote. And the more remote
the decision for good the better
for the individual who is to re-
cieve the gift.
- u
To be we'll born is life's best
gift. And to be we'll born does
not mean to be born to wealth
and luxury; neither does it mean
to be born of illustrious lineage.
1t means that he who inherits,
through many generations back,
health, character and intelligence
has been given the best that can
be given to man. 1t being OBJ
vious that to be we'll born is to
receive life's best gift, let us go
deeper into the matter and study
it, not to get the gift ourselves
we can not control that-but to
give to future generations this
priceless gift.
To fully grasp the significance
of this we must look to the basic
truths that control. Man is not
what he would, but what he
must be. The most pernicious
doctrine that was ever stuffed
into the minds of the people is
that man controls his own desti-
ny and decides his own status in
life. What you and | are, and
will be, was decided for US gen.
erations before we were born.
Not consciously and by purpose
full plans of our ancestors, but
by their cumulative acts, acts
: done without thought as to their
effect upon posterity. The Bap.
lists and the Presbyterians have
only the exoteric of the theory
of predestination. The esoteric
of it lies in the immutable laws OF
nature. 1t is fixed and unchang.
able. Mans destiny--his life,
his career, his chances to succeed
lis predestined; is decided ir
advance for him-not by decree
of Omniscience in. the beginning,
but by the mental, moral anC
physical condition and acts of hi
ancestors. | am not seeking tt
provoke a theological discussion
/ am merely stating facts.
y =
Man is a creature of heredity
His life may be, to some extent
modified by environment, but tn,
mental and moral tendencies h,
inherits predominant. Heredit!
Includes the extraneous charac
teristics woven into the life from
prenatal influences.
Physical likeness, mental pow
er or lack of mental power, an,
moral characteristics are trans
mitted from parent to child by a
fixed a law as that which control
the reproduction of the plants
Figs do not grow on thistles
Each race transmits its racia
characteristics on down through
posterity generation after gen
Grafton just as families TRANSMIT
family resemblance and famil
traits from parent to child. TIL
crossing of races and the blend
ing of families modify this in
measure, but the law that Xix
produces like holds good in bot
the animal and the vegetabl
kingdoms. The Jews are tn
worlds great object lesson as
the effect of the maintenance c
racial purity. Centuries of OF
preston and being scattered
countryless, the earth over ha
been powerless to overcome tn
racial characteristics becaus
they have preserved their racis
purity and refused to intermarr
with other races. Thus has tn
character of Abraham been hanc
ed down to the Jew of to-da,
and there exists nowhere, in r
r country, taking them as a who'll