THE PROBLEM OF SIN AND THE RACE iqq 



No man is entirely a new creation. Each 

 comes into the world marked by the peculiari- 

 ties of his time, his condition, and his parents. 

 Each man is the product of his ancestry, modi- 

 fied or intensified by his surroundings. The 

 time and circumstances of his birth, and all his 

 natural faculties, are determined before he was 

 born. Each individual has the tools given to 

 him with which he must do his work. He 

 cannot choose for himself what shall be the 

 size of his brain, what shall be his temperament, 

 what things he shall like or dislike, whether he 

 shall be quick-tempered or phlegmatic, whether 

 he shall be artistic or prosaic. 



Each has to take what is given, — his vital 

 heritage, whatever its shortcomings, whatever 

 its bias, — and do the best he can with it. In- 

 heritance reaches far back and to many people ; 

 and by it come tendencies to certain sins. As 

 tendencies to rheumatism and epilepsy run in 

 families, so also in clearly defined lines do ten- 

 dencies to intemperance, pauperism, and various 

 crimes. It has been proved that most of those 

 whom we ostracize as tramps are physically dis- 

 eased, not enough to destroy responsibility, but 

 enough to make exertion more burdensome to 

 them than to others. 



