Smyrna times., 1867-07-17
NJ l S G Ell L A ECU
Her0d in the Family.

presume half the good sermons ever vet
preached might have had for their text, " The !
fool has said IN his heart there Is no God" In |
that foolish, blind presumption turks the i'm
pulse to every wrong, every transgressiOn.-
Men generally admit, in a listlesS, souUeSS way,
that the universe, this world, and all who live |
i'll it, are the subjects of omniScient moral
sway; but scarcely one in dozen /" in his
heart" believes it. If all did believe it, how |
could there be hypOcrites in the church, liber- |
tines by the family y-hearth, or Williams any, |
where? How could there be robbers in the |
mOuntainpass, wreckers on the perilous coast,
or slayers on the stormy main, if men really
and heartily believed in the existence and rule
OF an all seeing, Omnlpotent God?
Every age, every nation develops some vast
wickedness. lntemperance, lewdness, gam
| bling, and a hundred other manifestations of
men proneness to evil, appear and disappear
like physical epidcmics hardly is one eruption
! of evil crushed when another appears and be-
| gins to run its measured round. If were call
ed to say what crime is to-day most tearfully
among U.s. | should indicate the destruction of
unborn children.
| speak not here of the murder of innocents,
the children of lust and sin, and whose destroy
ers have the wretched excuse of seeking to
preclude disgrace and shame. Guilty as these
unquestionably are, they are not so criminal in
the sight of heaven as are the married pair
who consplre to blast the germs of offspring in
the mothers womb, and thwart the benefcent
command to increase and multiply given to the
prOgenltOrS OF our race. Ii there be crime
more dastardly and unnatural than all others,
surely it is this.
OF course, excuses or apologies have been in
vented for this, as for other varieties OF muir
der. The parents are too poor to rear more
children on their scanty means; the mother S
constitution is too feeble to endure the trials OF
child bearing and nursing, etc, etc. The first
class of these, if valid at all, will justify the
killing of the child born last March as we'll as
that of the child to be born next November
the second is direct Impeachment of the Dl
;. vine economy, and proclamation OF disbelief
y in the Divine assurance, -" AS thy day so shal
thy strength be-" In short, there is no pallia
!. ton for any sort of child murder which is no
W essentially Athestic- repetition of what ''thC
fool hath said in his heart"
1t has for years been noted that our old New
nd England element is less prolific than formerl.
It. that families OF six to eight children are a
tn infrequent as those of ten to twelve were tw
's or three generations back. 1t is further note,
0i that our immigrant population do not share il
this sterllity-that our Irish-born neighbor
have more children to the family than thei
'ef Yankee neighbors. | learn that the Roma
md Catholic priests are, to considerable extent
ses to be credited with this dsparity-that, hav
'rd ing had their attention called to the diminu
on. ton of births among us, they have discusse
,sv its reasons, and Systematically applied then
o.. selves to guarding their focks from the conta
J. glon. believe it is generally through th
- confessional and otherwise, enjoined on marie
Catholics that they, under no circumstance
and on no pretext whatever, conspire again
. the lives of their unborn children.
Shall not Protestant pastors be inspired b
fac this exampe2 Their opportunities may |
less direct and palpable, yet they are suffcien
Why should not every settled clergyman preaC
pomtedly against the crime in question:
n of any in doubt as to its existence? Let hi
are confer with two or three popular physician
and he will doubt no longer Nay he will
astounded by their testimony as to the exter
the magnitude of this offence against God al
-, humanity, country and family.
NE, What eminent physician will prepare ira
of l6, "a or 80 large, fair pages, setting for
lred in convincing array the moral, physiOlogiC
ON. and religious considerations which should
So cure a general avoidance and adherence
of this species of infanticide ?-HorGce Greeley