New-York tribune., 1897-12-20
THE UNITARIAN STORY OF JESUS.

DIR. sAVAGEs CHRISTMAS SERMON AT IHE
CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH.
The Rev DR.. Minot J. Savage preached in the
Church OF the Messiah, Park-ave and Tnirty-
fourth-st., yesterday morning on The Unitarian
Story OF Jesus. a Christmas Sermon" taking as
MS text Timothy. ii, ): THE man Christ Jesus.
He said In part:
Everything that He and said and did alienaied
and angered the Conservatives those that repre- s,
they believed to he the fixed and final revelation ion
Of 9 5e Is 1t ANY any wOndST hat m ney p 4 1o Death
themselves, and SO they stirred the suspicious Oh
We owe the conquest OF Christianity, in my judg-
ment. to two things. First, 10 Paul Christianiity
sect II 1t had not been for Paul And the other
thing is-what? The conquest over death 1t was
S was alive their leader Stl though in the invisible,
which made them laugh in the face OF DEATH when IN
made them fearless in the presence OF the lions IN
the arena. which made them seek for the honor ana
glory OF martyrdom and which gaye tn them scen csn
come only to those who believe that this HE is
merely a training school, that death Is nothing
but doorway and that it leads out into the eternal
glories and grandeurs beyond UT, ,,., ~
something higher. timer. sweeter. nobler than ordl-
nary motherhood is a slur on all the natural moth
children have been as Immediately conceived as
purely born as was the Nazarene Why not? Out
of this doctrine, and that which Is akin TO II, nave
sprung all the monasteres and the nunneries Of
the wOrli which have disgraced and distorted ana
demoralized manhood and woman hood for thou-
sand years. place beside the false, monklsh, un-
natural claim OF the Immaculate Conception my
mother who was as holy in her motherhood as was
Another suggestion This thought Of Jesus as
the second person or an incomprehenslpie trinity,
a being neither OF heaven nor earth. but between
the two: a being having two natures ana one VIII
a being who was ignorant as man, and VINO SUI, /,
fered as man. while He knew everything as oloa m
OF scheme OF the universe which represents hu-
manIty as ruined and lost and hopeless, Goo as
unjust and man as looking only to a fearful Judg-
mcnt in the ages that are TO he. beneVe that
thousands Of people have lived since the time OF
Jesus as good. as tender. as loving as true as as
faithful. as He There Is no more mystery In tne
one case than in the other. for il is all mystery;
old Father Taylor the famous Methodist Bethel
preacher in Boston. was Periecilonlsi ana WneI
he was asked If he thought anybody had since llVed
who good as Jesus. he said; Yes; miiiiohS
OF them" This is Methodist authority
What made Jesus the power lie was OF His time?
In the first place. there was an ineXphcaoe ohafm
| about His personality which drew AL the common
IT, and loved Him. Then there was His intcllectual
power OF speech, Most Of the savings or Jesus are a.,
| tered any similar truth before. Confucias SIX SIX
! thousand years before Jesus. gave utterance
to the Golden Rule. And tnen there vas tne
| And then lie had trust in Coda trust IN
! the simple Fatherhood Of God. that never could
| done H. the humanness Of God and the diyinenesi
| OF man so that. standing there eighteen hundrel,
years ago He has naturally and nfaillDly attracts
the eyes the thought the love, the reverence OF 'e
When it is dark in the morning. and before the
| sunset there are high peaks toward ;he east that
catch the far-o rays and begin TO glow, while the
rest Of the world still lies In shadow 80 there AT,
mountainous men, not supernatural pul as mature ~ ~
| as the mountains and the sun-mountainous men
| who catch the light before our common eyes on
! tho plains and in the valleys can see II. VINO see
| and proclaim from their loity helghts Idr-ol,
visions OF truth and beauty that we as yet cannot
| discern