Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-12-30
ItOMMUNICATED.


CHRISTMAS DAY-Thc subject of climatic
changes is so little understood even by those
who have & wen years Of study to it, that it
would be folly in me TO attempt its discussion.
Those who read my first article will remember
that | simply suggested that there ntiyM have
been L change; | au, therefore under no obi
Cation to prove that there has been one. The
mean temperature of Palestine, however. is
about 10 L. or l4o warmer than ours, and
comparing the weather of the present year with
that OF tic Christmas Of 1871, it will require
no great stretch of imagination to sec that
though, cold and rain may now require the
housing Of sheep on the night Of the oath of
December, and may have done so ordinarily,
nlrctccn hundred Years ago, yet there might have
nc"n then or might be uow, such a season as
~",lid adult If their being watched III the fields
at night. Tie doctor, therefore fails to prove
il3 negative. Had he read my article more
ca ciully, lie would have seen that | did not
contend that the general agreement on the
subject afforded conclusive evidence that Christ
w,,s born on Christmas day, but merely that
il gave such a probability TO the assertion ao
to require demonstration Of the contrary TO
rc!u;r it. However, as the point Is one which
| IcpeLd, tur It's settlement On the examination
oi' historical evidences, and that evidence was
| III GEc possession OF the Romans, aud wds
used ~ thcm 10 lIing over the Greeks to their
opDrr It's have already shown, it seems to
me !hat have proved more than attempted
70 do.
Between question depending for its answer
upon historical research and one in astronomy,
| .E,, Il,
crcr; what would be cvileuce u the one case
vet | am Tree to say that did | believe tit"
lis Iyturd!ty unless better arguments were pre-
sentcd than the doctor has gwen Us in the
| present controversy.
! Owing To the prosecutions which ragged dur
ing the first three centuries, and the few
| Christian writer's OF thnse ages whose wo' ks
have come down TO US, it is very difficult to
establish any points relative to church obser-
vaDccs during that period, but the decretas
declare that Pope relesphorus, who died in
Us, established the festival; St. Augustine
who was born in 354, tells US (Epist. IS that
the custom Of keeping it on a fixed day was in
| his time. received aud ancient; and ST. Chrys.
rstom, who was ten years Older than St. Au-
gu>ti e. says User. 33) that the Romans, fran,
an lncieut huition, were accustomed to cele
bratc it on the 18th of December.
KS to the argument derived FROM the Gus
tom Of celebrating the deaths Of good men,
rather than their bit, it has no force as regards
the birthday of Christ, for the reason for that
| custom was, and is, that Christians regard the
death Of holy men as their true birth i. e. iuto
life eternal.
The doctor has entirely forgotten to explain
why it is that the people Of Palestine, who
surely ought to be acquainted with their own
climate, have failed for so many years, to sec
the absurdity of their conduct in celebrating
the birth of Christ at time at which it, could
not, possibly, have taken place. They are in
tcuscly devoted to religious observances, aud
are divided into mauy Earring sects, among
whom the adam theoiogic,tn, is far deeper aud
more bitter than we eau conceive, and yet they
all agree in one point, which, according to the
doctor, is the very one on which their common
sense. if they have any, should cause them TO
differ
As to the proprety of observing set days for
the commemUratlOD OF great events, | do not
propose TO discuss the subject We search the
New Testament in vain for command to keep
even the Sunday holy, but so general has been
the agreement of meu, 10 all ages and nations
that certain days ought to be set apart that l
cannot but believe that Goa has implanted in
the human breast feeling that such c,mmem-
orations are both necessary aud proper.
FIDELls.