The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-05-17
"NOW DON'T GET me- WRONG FOLKS" SAYS
BILLY, I'm NOT JUSTIFYING SIN, 1T Is
never RIGHT To DO WRONG OR EVIL DEED"

have been escapades, murderings,
thefts and scoundrelism all the way
back, whether you call it kleptomania
or pyromania or dissomania.
Sympathy For
Criminals
The probability is that the present
criminal started life handicapped, with
nerve, muscle, bone and blood con-
with a natural tendency to nobility,
generosity, purity, thruthfulness and
sobriety. We are wise enough to rec
ognize the difference in the blood of
cattle, horses and hogs. By the law
of eternal fairness we, ought to make
allowance for the same difference in
human beings.
We ought to be more charitable to
those in whose ancestral line is the
hangman's knot and the blood of a
thief. We must as sensible people
admit that it pays to be well born.
1t is a different thing to swim with
the current and to swim against it. If
man finds himself in an ancestral
current where for generations the
blood has flowed toward purity and
honesty and religion he should not take
special credit to himself if he turns
out noble and pure. But if he finds
himself in a current where for gen
erations the tendency has been toward
lying, thief and impurity he does not
deserve your damnation, but your pity
Don't sit with your lips curled in
scorn, with an assumed air of angelic
| innocence, looking down upon this
! piece of human driftwood You should
fall on your knees and pray God for
their rescue and thank God that you
never have been thrown under the
wheels of such juggernaut.
! Can Overcome
| Heredity
! In every generation there are tens
! of thousands of persons who are fully
! developed criminals and incarcerated
! and l suppose there are tens of thou
! sands who never have been found out
! in their criminality Any one of all
these thousands may become Chris
tians and successfully resist their an
! cestral influence. It behooves all men,
| professional and unprofessional,
| judges, philanthropists, governors and
ministers to recognize the fact that
/ there are these surges of heredity roll
! ing through centuries through office,
shop, store, college and mine. But
! through the power of Christ these
/ tendencies may be resisted and man,
| instead of being liability to the COM
munity may become a blessing.
! We are glad to know that a river
which has produced nothing but mi
asma may after while turn the
wheels of factory and furnish light
| for city and by the process of puri-
i fication Stake the thirst of the inhab-
! itants.
| Power of
Temptation
| At the last great day it will be
! found out that there are men gone
clear over into all forms of iniquity,
plunged into utter abandonment, who
! before they yielded to the first tenn
ptation resisted more evil than the
man who had been normal.
Surprising l select from this audi
ence the man whom God knows to be
the best man here.
Suppose l take you back to your
fboyhood and place you into your
cradle again. Instead of surrounding
you by Christian influence and god
ly mother, suppose you have drunk
en- mother bending over you. Wher
the neighbors come in they talk il
4 vile fashion, lewd jokes. Never q
Bible in the house and never a pray
err When you are old enough to ge
out of the cradle, you are kicked
/, around on the floor and are knocked
down for some trifle.
4, After while you are sent out t.
steal and if you return without any
thing you are beaten and whipped I'm
til the blood comes. When you are /;
you go out and fight the battles O
, the world alone and no one cares an!
. more for you than they do for deaC
dog. Suppose that had been the his
tory of your earlier surroundings
Would you have been the Christian
that you are now?
) Must Consider
: Circumstances.
In forming our estimates of the mis-
doings of others who have fallen from
virtue and responsibility, we shoult
look at the combination of circum
t stances that surround them. If W,
have been delivered where some on
| else has stumbled and fallen, it is be
/ cause the strong arm of the Lort
saved and protected US; not becaus
we are better than others. II God hal
: treated us as society treats us w
4 would all have been in hell long age
John Wesley, upon seeing a man il
the gutter, once said:
But for the grace of God there la,
l." Let us wait to hear alternating Gil
cumstances. perhaps he was the dup
of others. Before you let the dogs on
of the kennel to worry and bite an
/. tear, find out if he was not trained i
a commercial establishment with
!, wrong system of ethics.
You smile at the provocation tina
L makes another swear. You have n
patience with the temper that make
another strike. You say with you
supercilious manner, | have NOR
L sense than that man. | have NOR
q equipoise of temper; ] never coul
: stoop to make such an exhibition. Yo
. do not realize that that man was Dor
with a keen nervous make. For 4
: years he has been under a depletin
process, sickness and trouble are dis
Il ging away at what was once mour
. tain of strength.
n All Want to
n Be Good
e In the study of society | have com
r to the conclusion that most of the PEI
2 pie want to be good, but don't Away
IF know exactly how to make out. The
e make enough good resolutions to lii