Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-12-29
PASTOR SHOCKSEASI
REV. SAVAGE DISPUTES THE
DIVINITY OF JESUS AND CALLS
VIRGIN BIRTH PAGAN.
Declares With Or. Abbott in New York
Sermon That God Put Himself Into
Every Living Being = Views Arouse
Storm Of Protest,

New York, Dec, q. = Theologians
and other Christians of New York
are suffering from a severe shock as a
result of the sermon preached by the
Rev. Minot j. Savage in the Church
of the Messiah, Park Avenue and Thir-
ty-Fourth street.
The speaker astonished the congre-
! cation that crowded the church by an
nouncing views that upheld in many
particulars the presentment made by
the Rev. DR.. Lyman Abbott in his adj
dress to the students of Harvard uni
versity. He particularly emphasized
DR.. Abbott's contention that God is
everywhere in and through and of ev-
erything.
| But Mr.. Savage went a step further
than DR.. Abbott.
He declared that the idea of the
Virgin birth, the incarnation, was
taken from paganism. He said. too,
that every mother was Madonna and
every man possessed divine elements.
In brief he contended that God put
| Himself into living creature and that
each one contained as much of God as
was possible for each to hold. He
added:
For good many hundred years the
25th day of December has been set
apart to celebrate the supposed fact
that the Virgins birth of the child and
the further supposed fact that through
that birth God Himself came into hui
manity-came into the world. This
was not the original idea of his cele-
| hrotior, This &c much older than
| Christianity, and is born out of inter-
ests and emotions that are human.
ut was many years after the birth
of Jesus before anybody thought Of
His being other than ordinary man.
born in the ordinary way. The whole
Idea Of the Virgin birth and the incar-
nation is pagan in its origin and 1T
was centuries before the church united
upon any special day, even for cele-
brating of the coming of Jesus into
the world.
81 propose this morning to turn
away from the ordinary conception OF
Christmas and speak of something
which / believe to be deeper, higher,
wider and more divine. Every birth is
a Madonna. If you think of it mo
ment you will notice that the deepest
highest, most universal fact in the
universe is. that Of sex and as life
\ evolves and grows to it's higher forms
and expressions this fact is empha
sized more and more.
"If, then, there Is anything in life
that we have a right to suppose ex
pressed the thought, the life, the feel
ing of God, it must be this it seems tt
me, therefore, have said it before and
. II have been criticised in certain quar-
tiers for saying it. but wish to say it
again and to ask you to think of il
most seriously. To say that Virgin
; birth is holier than that which God has
. universally ordained seems to me tt
be a reflection on every mother no
: only, but a reflection on God himself
The views Of DR.. Savage have
aroused storm Of protest Ministers
of this city declare his utterances are
destructive of the whole Christian fab
: ric and menace to the faith Of thou
. sands.
! Take away the truth Of the immacu
late conception, they say, and the re
surrection loses its significance as {
/. divinely appointed function-the yer.
basis of the Christian religion.
To liken the mother of murderers o
physical and moral degenerates to tn
I Madonna, since every birth is iii
: vine birtn" declare the clergy is dis
! concerning and appalling in a minister
: of the gospel.