Daily national Democrat., 1858-12-25
Christmas has Come.

Man-God, Jesus Christ, has awaked tn
Christian world to thanksgiving, praise, an,
rejoicing. For centuries has its arrival beer
celebrated, and for centuries viii it continu
to be. Indeed, it is not likely that there vii
ever come q time, when the birth of tn
Savior of Mankind will cease to be considere
an event which shines out amid the surround
ing lights of history as a sun in the heaven,
On this day, las the better authorities agree,
was born that wonderful being, who came t.
regenerate and redeem the world-from tn
date of whose coming, new religion wa
established, before which all the older reli
gions ''paled their Intellectual fires" and th'
false gods of paganism fled into the mists anC
| gloom of oblivion Humble was his birth
so far as external surroundings were concern
ed, and unostentatious his life; yet divinity
dwelt in every movement of that form which
history tells us was of more than mortaI
beauty, and in every word that fell from
those lips which were touched with an elo-
quence surprising, in its unaffected direct.
ness and simplicity, all the rhetoric Of the
schools. Few and humble were his first fol
lowers. and his hold upon the masses of the
people among whom he appeared never SC
strong as to save him from the revenge and
malice of his numerous aud embittered enc
mics. "a man of sorrows aud acquainted
with grief" he died with crown of thorn:
upon his brow, and an agony SO great that
the sympathizing earth shook with his
groans, and the sun refused to shine upon the
sight. Yet, crucified though he was, and per
secuted were his followers, even unto death
the truth which he taught shed far and wide
its benignant beams, penetrated into every
quarter of the known world, dispeled the
long nights of superstition that hung over
pagan climes and nations, and established
itself beyond the power of earth and he'll
combined to remove it from its rooted
strength or dim one ray of its all peryading
glory. 1t is now the prevailing religion of
nearly the whole Of the civilized earth, and
even among the yet uneonquered pagan ma
tions, its light is shining with steadily in
creasing lustre, and with power that is
destined to triumph over all creeds and doc
trnes in the future as it has invariably done
in the past.
Well might tie birth of such being be
celebrated with song and praise, were he but
human, for certainly no mere man upon earth
has ever equaled him in the extent of the
achievements which followed his efforts while
living. But, when we look upon him as a
God, taking upon himself the form and ma
ture of a man that he might suffer and die
for the race, we cease to wonder at the tri
umphs of the religion which he established,
while yet we are overpowered at the sublim
ity of the event, and lost in the mystery of
the sacrifice. Why should man be saved in
this way? we ask. As well might we in
quire, why the sunshine and the rain and
the vivifying dews of night should bring the
tender shrub from the ground and top its
leafy stem with bloom? We cannot pene
trate the mystery-we can but bow at the
outer door of the Holy of HOLES wherein the
hidden God may be heard but not seen.
With the festivities and reioicings of this
day, therefore, should be mingled somewhat
of reverential feeling We should rejoice
not as the infdels of the blasphemous age of
France, in what we may falsely consider a
license for unbounded revelry and for cast
ing off all the restraints of decency and
sobriety, and for mocking at everything
sacred, but as remembering the great occasion
of these festal scenes and enioyments, and in
spirit of thankfulness for the untold bless
ings which are the result of that religion
which has ever been intertwined with the
largest rational liberty of mankind.