The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-31
Rector Of St. Andrews Epis- copal Church Analyses Sub- ject That Has Recently Caused Much Discussion


 Nicaea was debating whether to speak of Jesus Christ In the Nicene Creed as "homoousian"- that is, "of the same substance" or as "homoio usian." of like substance." with God the Father, the controversy spread to the people on the streets, who fell to maintaining, some the homoousian and some the homoiousian formula, without any notion of the theological distinction involved.
 It seems to me that people today have, fallen to debating aoout the virgin birth In much the same way, some crying "tis" and some "t'ain't" without having gone to the trouble to discover just what the controversy is about
 It has occurred to me, therefore, to state in simple words what it is about. Do not expect anything sen sational. Do not expect me to say 1T believe this" or T deny that" h. stead, I shall attempt merely to state the question at issue, confident that so far at least as the Episcopal church is concerned it is very differ ent indeed from what you imagine, and hopeful that you will find little reason for differing about it.
 Let me begin by reminding you of the evidence which bears upon the subject:
 St. Matthew. i:1S-25, states plain that Jesus was born miraculously of the Virgin Mary without a human father. In St. Lukes gospel there are three passages which are gener- ally understood to refer to the virgin birth To the Announciation Angel Mary exclaims, How can this be, seeing l know not a man." Mary, coming up to Bethlehem with Joseph to the taxing, is spoken of as "his espoused wife, being great with child' And Jesus is stated to be "the son Gas was supposed) of Jo- seph.
 Bibles Truth.
 If "every word in the Bible is true" as the fundamentalists in some churches assert, these passages set tie the whole matter-Jesus was born niraculously without human father of the Virgin Mary. But happily every. one in the Episcopal church whose opinion is of the slightest value, whether fundamentalist or modernist, agrees that the Bible, all though an exceedingly precious and holy book, containing the word or God is not free from error. So that, if this miraculous birth were assert ed of any one except Jesus. say of some prophet or apostle, everyone would probably agree it was le- gendary and poetic way of express ing the S1gnlflCance ana the SIedl- ness of the man so born.
 But the virgin birth is asserted ot no one less than Jesus Christ himself He, all of us who are Christians agree, was the supreme personality of all history. Only Confuscious, Socrates and Gautama Buddha can even be compared with Him. The more you study their greatness the more careless it seems to rate them as pretty much the same" as Jesus. Even they, great as they were, are seen to fall immeasurably short of Him. All history seems like the black velvet stage curtain lowered in order that His single personality may stand out in unrivalled glory
 Why is it that some few men should be great geniuses? Are parentage, environment. education sufficient to account for them? Els pecially can such things account for so supreme genius as Jesus? Is it not reasonable to suppose that in especial act of will on the part of God in bringing such one as Jesus into the world? And that so unique a personality may well have been born in a unique way, of virgin? :? Because of what Jesus was. we be- lieve of Him what we could believe of on one else. that He was miracu- 
 But also we have our doubts. A birth of a virgin mother without a human father is so unheard of, that we must all of us, now and again, wonder whether it really could have been. And if we are of a scientific turn of mind. and have observed that God seems always to have acted uni formly. or, as we say, according to law" it becomes harder to believe in the virgin birth. And because most of us today are of scientific turn of mind, and all of us know sope- thing of the reign of law, it is harder for us to believe in the virgin birth than in more credulous ages when miracles were looked upon almost as matters of course.
 O O O
 Historic Legends.
 From the study of history we learn that legends are told of miracles ac- companying the birth of other great men. Such legends were the tributes which credulous ages paid to great ness. It is at least possible that the virgin birth arose in some such fashion. And this again makes it harder for us to believe it.
 Those of us who have become ac- quainted with the conclusions of able Bible scholars are convinced that the oldest of the four gospels is St. hdIh s. Dul IL COHtdiHS IOl d WOIu about the virgin birth. It suggests that as Jesus went on in His minis try, Mary was one of those who thought He was beside himself. It is hard to see, however, why she should if she knew that Jesus was born miraculously. In St. Luke's gospel. Mary tells the child Jesus. thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing." In the same gospel the phrase, "as was supposed" in the statement that Jesus was "the son Gas was supposed) of Joseph" looks -suspiciously like parenthesis in- serted later. And scholars tell us that neither "how can this be, see- ing Illnow not a man" nor the refer ence to Mary as Joseph's espoused wife necessarily imply a virgin birth. Finally there are scholars who insist that the account of the virgin birth in St. Matthew's gospel was probabl added in the second century. And all this undoubtedly makes the virgin birth "harder to believe"
 No one denies the virgin birth. It would be a rash man who would say of a personality so unique as Jesus that He could not have been born miraculously. On the other hand, no one can be certain that Jesus was virgin born. One may, of course, inn so vigorously shut out from his mind any doubt, that he may persuade himself that the virgin birth is a certain fact. But as soon as he looks