Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1869-12-25

| 10 tne Startleu SnepneTus on lne plalnS Ol Ju-
dea as they listened TO the angel song How
came the sweet solo:
"Fear rot for behold bring you glad tidngs Of great
joy, which shall be all people For unto you is born
this day, in the city OF Bethlehem, SdUjor which is
Christ the Lord. And this shall be sign unto you Ye
shall find the babe wrapped in pwaddling lying
in a mangerr'
Then how the night turned into day land
the daybreak came to the darkness of mans
despair), as the host of heaven came in one
grand choir-a celestial jubilee-to swell the
chorus:
"Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace,
GOOD uM toward menl 7"
With the first salutation coming from heay-
en-, why not repetition of It on every ami.
versaryp 1t is gladness-a redemption of
mems hopes-verifed.
1t comes with joyful shouts for the children
IL is the birthday of Him who said, "SulIer
little children, and forbid them not, TO come
unto me-" 1t is the birth day of the Friend,
who has opened hope, even to the feeblest, that
life may be good, even though It is humble
See how John shows the heaven-sde view of
his coming-(Rey. .; $40:
"onc Of tie edors saith unto me- Weep not behold,
tie Lion Of tie tribe Qr Judah.
And behcld, and 10 in the midst Of the throng
stood a Lamb.
"And they sung new song for thou vast slain
and hast redeemed to God by thy blood, and
hast made unto God kings and priests; and we
shall roign on the earth.n
The Lf0R in hearen is q Ldn,b.-The humble
is exalted. The slain is the great victor.
! Mppi,nncc nan tI.
Lion and the Lamb become one, and little
child leads them. How it shows the tender
heart-thc boundless loye-the ineffable kind
ness
So the little child bursts into the fathers and
mothers room with an echo of the glad call
OF that first Christmas morn; and we seem to
catch The glad echo of the joyful salutation,
and it comes from the clouds-it is the voice
of every creature which is in heaven and on
the earth, and under the EARTH and such as are
in the sea, and all that are in Them" saying
blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto
Him that sttch upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb
forever and evcr!"
What cold voice shall be raised in question
of day that brings such thoughts of Jubilee |?
What though authorities are divided in regard
to the 25th of December? Who cares whether
it be or be not tie day, so we have day for
these sweet thoughts? Who stops to study
back of the Emperor Commodus, in the second
century, or to tell of the uu hority of decretal
epistles which ascribe The day to the order of
Ielesphorus, in the reign of Antonnus PiusY
| what if the custom of making presents on
Christmas Is derived from the heather usage
Mt the feast of SOL on the 25th of DeccmberY
Is it not sacred to us outside of that? Wasn't
1t sacred to us before we knew any thing at all
about the Goths? Who cares If "Yule" is a
heathen word, meaning "wheel," in allusion
to the suns rcvolutionY Has 1t any more to
do with us than the iuie of the old Saxon; or
the Armonic g0aa, n feast or the Welsh gasyl,
holiday Does not our Yulclog of Christ
mas hold history of its own that is as purely
Christian as the day is, and that is independent
OF any pagan antecedentsp
What if Augustine does say that Christmas
has nothing to do with apostolic usage, or if
Ballet tells us that there can be no reasonable
doubt That 1t had its rise after the Council of
Nice" What though Clemens Alexandrinus
has this passage (StrOm. T., p. $40, aL 240l ::
not only the year but also the day of our ST.
vior's nativity, which they say was in the 2slh
year OF Augustus, on the (25th of Pachon) Goth
of May. And the followers of Basides OIL
serve also the day of his baptism as a festival,
spending the whole previous night in reading;
and they say twas in the 18th year of Tiberius
Caesar, on the l5th of TybD 10th of January;
but some say 1t was on the Q1th) 9th of tn,
month. Among those who nicely calculate the
time of His passion, some say 1t was in the 18th
year OF Tiberius Cesar, the (25th of Phame-
noth) 22d OF March; Others say the (25th of
PharmuthD 2ist of April; and others, that it
was on the (l0th of PharmuthD 10Th of April
that the Savior suffered Nay, some of them
say that he 'cas born in (PAarmutAA 1pri1. The
(2im or s5tO 2om or 21a day"-Mosh. Eco
HIST, y l., p. 270 Q2).
what IT the Eastern Christian did celebrate
the 9th OF January twelnh day. rs the day of
birth and baptism, and annuneiation, and
which they called EpipAdRyj or what If the
Western Christians did differ from them and
cei2brate December 20 Does not John, Arch.
bishop Of Nice, tell us that Julian !, Bishop of
Rome, In a. y. 337, found out the 25th of De.
cember to be the right dayY Who can care to
get nearer than that 10 the fact, since we want
a day, anyhow, for Il? and don't we compro-
mise enough In celebrating all the way from
December 20, the Western Christians Christ
mas, up to (twelnh night tho Epiphany of the
Eastern Chris,ansY
some people Catholics and Protestants, are
OF opinion that the e5th of December was
chosen because 1t was the day on which the
Romans celebrated the aatalis solss iapicti-the
winter solstlee-Mosheim says, "a fit emblem
of the approach of the Son of Righteousne,s
to morials'-and so 1t is; and that several days
christmas to twelfth nIghO are set apart that
they might take the place of the Saturnalia.
and other pagan festivals ..., ..
| AT any gate wa cnu son y,u1 to-, = -.