The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-06-04
VA. MEDICAL COLLEGE
COMMENCEMENT OPENS
Rev. Fred X. Chenault breaches
Baccalaurcate Sermon In Broad,~
Street Methodist Church.
TALKS ON MAKING OF MAN.
Subject Handled In Comprehensive
and Mastery. Fashion. the sPastor
Pointing Out Things the Graduates
Should Bear In Mind.

The baccf&&ureate sermon TO the
graduating class of the Medical Col
lege of Virginia was delivered last
night by Rev. Ffed r. Chenault, at
the Broad-Street Methodist church.
His subject. THE Making of a Man"
was handled In SO comprehensive and
mastery fashion as to prove an in
spiration} to the group of young men
about to engage in the grim battle of
life. Mr.. Chenault said that first of
the four things which enter into the
making of every man was heredity.
although he showed the fallacy of
the theory which has caused certain
of our scientific men to advocate the
mating OF humans with a too great
regard for the physical, as in the
breeding of animals, and no recogni-
ton of the spiritual element existent
In man.
The second thing said Mr.. Chen
auit. is environment, an undoubted
force. but one which can he overcome
by the Individual will. the third e1e
ment in the making of man. Last
and first. and always greatest. was the
fourth element. God. "Heredty, en-
vironment will and God make LIS
what we are. but the greatest of these
! is Cod he declared.
Mr. Chenault said in part:
! by heredity~ We mean that sacred
law Of God which holds good in every
seed that is planted. in every plant
| that grows and in every tree that
| buds Do men gather grapes from
| thorns or figs from thistles? Bur
| bank. blythe magic Of his genius, may
| change the thing itself and enlarge It,
| but it is never altered into new
! life. He may make spineless cactus.
but ne doesn't make cacti out OF
gra pes. He may take a wild rose with
! one corola and by properly cultivat-
ing il change il into beautiful ca b.
bage rose. but 1t is still a rose He
can easily Improve upon a specTe-
af potatoes and produce an earlier
and better potato. but he does not
change squash into potatoes. dwarf
or scrub oak may he changed INTO
the finest specimen of that tree, hut
II can never he changed into an APP
pie tree There is science today that
is called 'eugenics that has gained
great favor among some people, the
meaning Of which. of course is good
breeding The masters OF this science
tell US that nothing can be in pos
teritv that. was not in the ancestry
That all powers OF whatever kind re-
leased in the children of any genera
tion had either been potential or
DYNAMIC in the ancestors. Nothing
new il created. only the latent is ex-
pressed and the dormant becomes
operative.
Solomon was the wisest of men. but
he had David with his poetic genius
and intellectual greatness. as his an
cestor Who will doubt that Solomon
drew the red blood Of his greatness
from hts father Moses was one OF the
greatest Of men. but we must not for
get that the aueenliest woman Egypt
ever produced was his mother. Samuel
was the frst' of the prophets and one
of Gods mightIest men. but Samuel
could not have been so great had he
not had such q noble and devout
mother Charles Wesley has writ
ten some OF the grea test hymns IN
1.-The hvmnal Vet one hundred years
after he was dead they found in an
old library in England manuscript
copy Of wonderful poem written by
y E-ha rles Ues1ev's father Mo- doaof
that The spleudid strains that ran in
the ffves of John and Charles Wesley's
ancestry contributed very largely to
make them what they were. -Four
generations Of Darwins made a study
Of animals and insects and birds and
seeds before t'haries Darwin va
born There were hundred and
twenty musicians in the Bach family.
There were seven generations OF min
listers who preceded Ralph Waldo
Emerson that made him the great
preacher and philosopher that he was
And Yet this law does not always
work. heard some time ago of the
sister of one OF the professors of so"
+rtofrgy in one ef our large universities
wha~married purely on the principle
OF eugenics Love was subordinate
to good breeding. The body was ex-
allied. the soui was submerged. She
forgot that physical union without
spiritual unity IL a sin against pos
terity She forgot that men are more
than animals and must act from
higher motives. She forgot that mar
riase without companionship is :
farce She forgot the creative power
of the subtly unseen and yielded tt
the impulse of the physical, Was il
any wonder that this ideal physical
union soon became q spiritual impos
sibility.
! Mountains Often Made Law. .
| Very often the aristocracy of on'
generation becomes the peaAantry o
I the next. The mountains are OTTER
made low and the valleys are offer
exalted. Someone has suggested tina
ii takes only three generations Il
make the circle. From shirt sleeves
TO lirhousines. from limousines to shir
sleeves Heredity is dead weigh
about a mans neck unless he is abl'
to clothe himself in the responsible,
of the individual. l was entertained
| a few years ago in an old home o
antebelfum days where the peop',
lived together in the past and dranl
at the fountain of their ancestors
| fountain that is fast running dry
When they started to pave the streets
tof Williamsburg, one lady said sh'
thought II was dissertation. And wher
4 they started to repair Broughtol
/ chapel, another lady said she hoped
abe would not live to see such sacri
legious work completed. know
man in Virginia who may we'll hoas
of having In his veins the proud BLOOD
OF even the days OF chivalry, but h,
has been dethroned from his grea
estate and is hired now on anothe
mans farm.
] The law of heredity seems to b,
rigid but there is another law beyond
that ought to encourage the >humhies
to stand up and the faintest to lool
forward Who would have dreamed
that when that thriftless, lazy carpen
ter married Nancy Hanks that Abra
ham Lincoln would have been thei
Offspring@ Who would have though