Goodness relocated in new generations.
It has been very suggestively said "that God is, from the first, looking for a godly seed; or, what is nowise different, inserting such laws of population that piety itself shall finally over-populate the world. There are two principal modes by which the kingdom of God among men may be, and is to be, extended. One is by the process of conversion, and the other by that of family propagation; one by gaining over to the side of faith and piety, the other by the populating force of faith and piety themselves," Bushnell coins words in which to express this, and calls it "the out-populating of the Christian stock." The modern doctrine of heredity is usually seen in its application to bad things: men deal with the laws which preside over the propagation of physical diseases and moral dispositions and bodily characteristics; but Christians are interested in the working of the laws in relation to good things. They equally—perhaps in even a more effective way—preside over the propagation of physical health and vigor, of moral virtues, and of bodily beauty. It may even yet be shown that there is a propagation into new generations of the new and Divine life in Christ; a deeper fullness of meaning than has yet been discovered in the expression, "Instead of the fathers shall come up the children." Bible language even suggests that heredity works more strongly on behalf of the good than on behalf of the evil, for while judgment on sin continues for three or four generations, reward of virtue keeps on its benedictions unto thousands of generations.
I. PARENTAL GOODNESS GIVES CHILDREN A CHANCE. Think how many children are born into the world over-weighted with disabilities. For extreme cases, take the vicious and criminal classes. But the fact is for us more effectively illustrated by cases of self-indulgence in youth, which involve weakened health and lowered moral tone. Good parents give their children a fair chance in the struggle of life. The children are not burdened with low vitality, self-indulgent appetite, or inability to find pleasure in pure things. Sometimes good people's children fail, but reasons for the exceptional cases can usually be found.
II. PARENTAL GOODNESS IS RECOGNIZED BY BLESSINGS ON THEIR CHILDREN. And this is the form of reward that parents best appreciate. They live over again in honorable, successful, and pious children. Therefore Easterns desired families. No nobler ambition possesses humanity than the passion to make the coming generation wiser, stronger, and better than the passing one.
III. PARENTAL GOODNESS IS THE ONE GROUND OF HOPE FOR THE RACE. Napoleon was asked what one thing France supremely needed. His reply was almost an inspiration. He said, "Better mothers."—R.T.