Fertility Among the Blessings

     "Moses numbers fertility among the blessings.  'There will not be a barren woman among you,' he says (Ex. 23:26).  We do not regard this so highly today.  Although we like and desire it in cattle, yet in the human race there are few who regard a woman's fertility as a blessing.  Indeed there are many who have an aversion for it and regard sterility as a special blessing.  Surely this is also contrary to nature.  Much less is it pious and saintly.  For this affection has been implanted by God in man's nature, so that it desires its increasing and multiplication.  Accordingly, it is inhuman and godless to have a loathing for offspring."