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PRENATAL CULTURE. 



The Supreme 

 Moment* 



A Strange 

 Inconsistency* 



The Formation 

 of a New Life. 



control the life, but that the new life here steps 

 into the procession of nature and thereby becomes 

 fixed in the march of time. For centuries the 

 ministry has taught the importance of regener- 

 ation; "Ye must be born again." Not that the 

 new birth is all that is requisite for the develop- 

 ment of the Christian character, but that since 

 life must precede growth man must be spiritually 

 born before he can develop the spiritual life. Let 

 us study the importance of the initial moment of 

 life and learn something of its possibilities and 

 responsibilities. Not that this is the all-determin- 

 ing factor in heredity, but that since it is the 

 creative moment, while all other influences are 

 subsequent and therefore dependent upon this, 

 it may well be called the supreme moment. 



It is strange that the wise sages of the past 

 and the spiritual teachers of the present should 

 attach so jnuch importance to the moment of birth 

 and regeneration, and so little to the supreme 

 moment upon which all else depends. Stranger 

 still that birth and regeneration are considered 

 Divinely sacred and are contemplated with rever- 

 ence, while the creation of the new life is con- 

 sidered almost unmentionable, and is too often 

 approached with no thought of parental respons- 

 ibility, no feeling of sacred trust, no sense of 

 holy consecration and no reverence for God's 

 creative laws. If birth and regeneration are so 

 important to the natural growth, mundane exist- 

 ence and eternal welfare of a soul, how much 

 more so must be the moment of its beginning! 

 How sacred should be this hour to prospective 

 parents! What a sense of reverence, tenderness 



