[Footnote 107: _The Times_, January 13, 1885.] [Footnote 108: _British Medical Journal_, November 19, 1921, p. 872.] [Footnote 109: _British Medical Journal_, November 26, 1921, p. 924] [Footnote 110: _British Medical Journal_, December 10, 1921, p. 1016.] [Footnote 111: _Common Sense on the Population Question_, p. 4] [Footnote 112: Dr. C.K. Millard, in _The Modern Churchman_, May 1919.] [Footnote 113: Reproduced in _The Declining Birth-rate_, 1916, p. 386.] [Footnote 114: _Outspoken Essays_, 1919, p. 75.] [Footnote 115: _Report_, p. 44.] [Footnote 116: Ibid., p. 112.] [Footnote 117: _Evening Standard_, October 12, 1921.] [Footnote 118: October 15, 1921.] [Footnote 119: _Man and Superman_, Act III, p. 125.] [Footnote 120: _Sunday Express_, October 16, 1921.] [Footnote 121: On becoming a Theosophist, Mrs. Besant retracted her approval of Neo-Malthusianism.] CHAPTER IX THE TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON BIRTH CONTROL Section 1. A FALSE VIEW OF HER DOCTRINE One of the marks of the Catholic Church, whereby she may be distinguished from all other Churches, is that her teaching is always clear and above all logical. Yet this fact has not saved her teaching from misrepresentation in the hands of Malthusians. For example, Dr. C. Killick Millard writes as follows: "The Churches have taught that it was the divine wish that human beings should multiply and population increase--the more rapidly the better; the traditional authority for this being the instruction given to Noah and his family, after the Deluge, to 'be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.' The Churches have continued to teach that the duty of man was _to obey the divine command_ and still _to increase and multiply_, and until recently any attempt by married couples to restrict or regulate the birth-rate was denounced as sinful. "This is still the orthodox attitude, I believe, of the Roman Catholic Church, with its celibate priesthood; but, as it is clearly useless to reason with those who claim infallibility, it is unnecessary to discuss the question further so far as Roman Catholicism is concerned." [122] Now, although it may be unnecessary for Dr. Millard to discuss the question further, he will, I am sure, regret having inadvertently misstated the truth. The Catholic Church has never denounced as sinful "_any_ attempt by married couples to restrict or regulate the birth-rate." On the contrary, the Catholic Church has taught, by her greatest doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, "that the essence of marriage is not primarily in the begetting of offspring, but in the indissoluble union between husband and wife." [123] Section 2. THE ESSENCE AND PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE