RACIAL SUICIDE.

NZ Truth, Issue 168, 5 September 1908, Page 3

RACIAL SUICIDE.

Society Wotaen Who Look Upon Children as B6res. Father Vau|lian's Strictures. 1 'Marriage, ' ' declared Father Vaugjhan , . m the second of -.. his remarkable series 'of sermons at Fa T rm-Street Church, f'waS never intended by God td. be a state of life m which 7 passion 'is ;fco run riot ' 'and self-gratification is to; toe the order of v the. 'day.;' , "■; .. " , ;-;' ; -; : ' '"' . •'; "■' •: •

On the contrtfryj continued the famous preicher, God brought roan and woman : together that toy \ mutual understanding ana interchange of love they might supply, each other's deficiencies, might hear . m patience the difficulties of their, state, might" grow into noble character's, and so. . .become moral instirtfmfints w,orthy 'toco- 1 operate with him ih. thaii great act— tbe act of creation. '*To' be fruitful and multiply was the end God had m view for those whose vacation iit was to enter the marriage state. By becoming a woman's husband, man did hot cease to be God's servant. "Give an account of thy stewardship" ' would be demanded on' the' reckoning day of the married as of the single, servant-man.", ' ' '■'' ' ' ". There was no greater plague on the face of the' earth to-day .than .that which' was being caused- and ' prbpagated by married , persons who wanted to ftn'jdy life while shirking its responsibilities. ■ With them marriage would seem to . . ■ , HA.YE LOST ITS MISSION and its meaning, while the state m which . they lived, instead 5 of ennobling, not infrequently • debased them rthat life ended either m divorce or insanity ' or Tself-des- ; triiction itself. When wives refused the ' privilege of motherhood because it inter- ' fered with the hunting season, or the London season, or. because ' they could not be bored with a nursery, or because there \?as no room m their flat, or beoause. . they themselves- werd hot strong enough to -bear what they did not like, he thought it was about time to read the Riot Act. What a profanation it was of the laws of God ! 'But were not husbands even more to blame ? Sbine tried to persuade themselves they had a right; to regulate their state, because pf their small income, and because science itself had come to their assistance m the matter. DECLINING BIRTH-RATE'S TERRIBLE SIGNIFICANCE. He was afraid there were not a few m their midst whose deeds must be called by the name of racial suicide. The decline m the birth-rate was becoming day by day ' more and more terribly significant. Where would it end ? Not long ago, , , when denouncing the vice to which he now referred> ah educated man exclaimed, "And what have we our freedom for! except to exercise it?" To which the' preacher replied : "And what, pray, have we our police, for, except to stop us from exercising it 1" Liberty did not spell license. Liberty was given toman that his action miglit he. meritorious/that he might co-operate with ~

GOD IN DOING GOQD and checking evil. jLiberty implied lay, and law the law-giver. The founder of Christian Society, had set matrimony on an imperishable basis; and thereby laid the foundation through family life of modern Society, and all social evolution. They who sought to weaken the bonds ot matrimony or to restrict m any way, "Rut by legitimate self-control, the family were seeking to undermine the very foutK dation uttoa -which the social order rested* ■'*■♦-;••"■'■■■ .'-■•- • ■