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258
Hereditary Genius
deductions. If an exceptional providence protects the families of
godly men, it is a fact that we must take into account Natural gifts
would then have to be conceived as due, in a. high and probably
measurable degree, to ancestral piety, and, in a much lower degree
than I might otherwise have been inclined to suppose, to ancestral
natural peculiarities.
All of us are familiar with another and an exactly opposite opinion.
It is popularly said that the children of religious parents frequently
turn out badly, and numerous instances are quoted to support this
assertion. If a wider induction and a careful analysis should prove the
correctness of this view, it might appear to strongly oppose the theory
of heredity.
On both these accounts, it is absolutely necessary, to the just
treatment of my subject, to inquire into the history of religious people,
and learn the extent of their hereditary peculiarities, and whether or
no their lives are attended by an exceptionally good fortune.
I have taken considerable pains to procure a suitable selection of
Divines for my inquiries. The Roman Catholic Church is rich in
ecclesiastical biography, but it affords no data for my statistics, for
the obvious reason that its holy personages, of both sexes, are
celibates, and therefore incapable of founding families. A collection
of the Bishops of our Church would also be unsuitable; because,
during many generations, they were principally remarkable as
administrators, scholars, polemical writers, or courtiers; whence it
would not be right to conclude, from the fact of their having been
elevated to the Bench, that they were men of extraordinary piety. I
thought of many other selections of Divines, which further
consideration compelled me to abandon. At length I was fortunately
directed to one that proved perfectly appropriate to my wants.
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