The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-04
BELIEF IN VIRGIN
 BIRTH DEFENDED
Bishop Manning Stresses Inn
 portance Of Apostles And
 Nicene Creeds -


 NEW YORK. Feb. 3.-Bishop Will liam T. Manning of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of New York, one of the foremast among the 'fundamental- ists," called upon the clergy and peo- y pie of the church Sunday to accept : the articles of the Apostles and the Nicene creeds, permitting all lawful liberty of interpretation mad explana- tion."
 Bishop Manning's expression, which came in the form of Message to the . Diocese" was given at the Sunday morning service at the Cathedral of St. John the divine. It was an out growth of popular demand for an ex- pression of his attitude on the modern : ist-fundamentalist controversy. '.
 Permitting all lawful liberty of in- ! depreciation and explanation in the case of every article" said Bishop Manning, this church calls upon all her clergy and people to believe the ! fact our Lord went into the place of departed spirits; the part that He is now at the right hand of God, the fact that He will one day come again in judgment, the. fact He who for our sakes came down from heaven was born of the Virgin Mary, the fact of His bodily resurrection from the tomb and the fact of his return to the place which he had, before the worlds were, at the right hand of the Father"
 Belief In Virgin Birth Important
 Bishop Manning declared that, be. yond all question, the Apostles and Nieene creeds contain the doctrine of ' the Episcopal church as to Our Lord Jesus Christ" These two great creeds, he said, are the statement of the Chris t1an faith as it has been held and taught by the whole Christian church \, throughout the world from the begin ming.
 In stressing the importance of belief in the Virgin birth, Bishop Manning said:
 We are told today belief in the Virgin birth is unimportant. But the not 50 teach. Brief as the summary of her essential faith is, the church has included in it the affirmation Born of the Virgin Mary Throughout her worship she emphasizes this great truth"
 Duty To Teach Faith Of Church
 Bishop Manning referred to the public discussions affecting the faith and life of the church" and spoke of them as matters of life or death to the Christian religion"
 If we believe in Jesus Christ as this church believes in Him, there is no word in the creed which need cause us doubt or difficulty.
 The issue," he pointed out, lis whether those of us who, of our own free choice, have accepted office as ministers of this church are under ob- legations to teach the faith which this church holds. It is our duty, clergy and laity alike, to study and think out cleanly, the sure. grounds of our faith So that, as St. Peter expressed it, we may be ready ton give to every man is in us.
 Charges Not Nseded
 Tt is not changes in the creed that we need today, but deeper and more personal faith in Jesus Christ, we must receive Him in the spirit of humility, not of self assertion and intellectual pride"
 The bishop gave out a warning as to the effect of doctrinal controversy on the youth of the land.
 Let us beware how we give the impression" he warned, "the wholly wrong and false impression, to your young people that these great facts and truths of the creed are, unimportapt, or that they are unworthy of belief"
 Referring to interpreta ton of the doctrines of the creeds, Bishop Man ming defined ito interpret as "to ex- pound, to show the, nearing of, to elueidate." kee-ee
 That surely cannot be called inter- pretation which is in reality denial, or a rejection of the fact which the words of the creed are evidently in tended to declare. Wea9 are not at liberty to interpret plain and clear af- firmations to mean their exact. op- posites" ,,
 Bishop Manning declared that there was nothing ,',niodernsssi ssin the present "modernist' movement The difficult ties presented, he said, are most of them as old as Christianity itself.
 ''The serious feature of the present situa tion,' he declared, lis the propog- ation of these doubts by some of those who hold high office in the ministry Hs the church" | & .f