man? And the
angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God." (_Luke 1:26-33._)

And so, this then is the commonly accepted, orthodox teachings of
Christian theology. It is embodied in the two best-known creeds of the
church and is made an essential article of belief by the majority of
the orthodox churches.

In the Apostle's Creed, which has been traced back to about the year
A.D. 500, and which is claimed to have been based on an older creed,
the doctrine is stated thusly: "... and in Jesus Christ, his only Son,
our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin
Mary," etc. In the Nicene Creed, which dates from A.D. 325, the
doctrine is stated thusly: "... and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only
begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father ... and was incarnate by
the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary," etc.

And so, the doctrine is plainly stated and firmly insisted upon by the
orthodox churches of today, although such was not always the case for
the matter was one which gave rise to much conflict and difference of
opinion in the early centuries of the Church, the present view,
however, overcoming those who opposed it, and finally becoming
accepted as beyond doubt or question by the orthodox, believing
Christian.

But the present time finds many leading minds in the churches, who
refuse to accept the doctrine as usually taught, and the voice of the
Higher Criticism is heard in the land in increasing volume and many
doctrines unquestioningly held by the pews are being abandoned by the
pulpits, usually in the way of "discreet silence" being maintained.
But here and there courageous voices are heard stating plainly that
which their reason and conscience impels. We shall now consider these
dissenting opinions.

We have to say here, at this point, that we have no sympathy for the
so-called "infidel" opinion, which holds that the whole tale of the
Virgin Birth was invented to conceal the illegitimate birth of Jesus.
Such a view is based neither on intelligent investigation or
criticism, or upon the occult teachings. It was merely "invented"
itself, by those who were unable to accept current theology and who,
when driven from the churches, built up a crude system of
reconstructed Biblical History of their own. And so we shall