The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-12-25
CHRISTMAS.

Eighteen hundred and seventy five years
ago oday the Star of Bethlehem appeared.
Since that time year after year has glded
by into the eternity of the past Genera
ton upon generation has lived, and flour
ished, and died. Princes, and potentates,
and powers have had their short breathing
spell of authority and been numbered with
the forgotten. Dynasties have crumbled.
Earthly grandeur, supported by all the attri-
butes Of power and bolstered up by all the
ingenuities of man, has been unable to with
stand the wearing force of ages. Monu-
ments to mans glory have reared their pre-
sumptuous heads to heaven, and have moul-
dered into dust. Time has written Change"
upon all things human. But amid the tot
tering thrones and the evanescent great
ness the Star shone on, shines on. No change
in tt, save that it shines more brightly, save
that its rays diifuse more widely. Jesus of
Nazareth was God in man, proved by the
memorable logic of history. Nothing more
than the logic of events, nothing more than
the continuing power, so to speak, of His
name, nothing more than the universal and
all pervading influence Of His character, is
needed to establish the divineness of His
origin, the omnipotence of His sway, and
the eternity of His existence; and on this
holy morning the ten thousand tougued
bells of Christendom will sound the glad
acclam-joy for the day of humanity's
Christ.
This day is, therefore, day of rejoicing.
A day to lay aside the cares of life, and
as 1.-THE mystic chords of memory" are
touched, to enjoy the in-flowing music of
recollection: day to revisit old scenes, to
call up anew the life that is gone and to
forget its bitter and remember its sweet.
The family circle will be reunited, the al
sent one will reoccupy his place, and the
stern and exacting man of business, soft
ened by the gentle influences of the day,
will be made the better by the laughter and
the glee which will surround him. Asperi-
ties will be lessened, the bitterness of per-
sonal aud party strife pacified, and as the
finer feelings of mankind exhibit them
selves the desirableness of this festal occa-
sion will be made manifest. Human ma
ture is not all sin, and these seasons Of
religious worship and domestic enjoyment
serve to establish the fact. They serve to
show the mutually Of that feeling one
touch of which makes the whole world
kin, and we trust that during these Christ
mas holidays "the better angels of our
nature " will awaken all to a proper reali-
cation of the brotherhood of man, and will
impel each one to some act of kindness that
will tend to alleviate the suffering which
encompasses us. Let US not fail to remem-
Der the outcast and the wanderer upon the
face of the earth. The poor we have al
ways with us, and the time is appropriate
for the assistance of the humane heart and
the charitable hand Surrounded by the
comforts of home life as many of us are
let us not forget there are others about us
who are actually in need of the common
necessities of life. Amidst the merriment
and the joy let us remember that there are
those who hug their suffering in silence,
and to whose ears the merry laughter of
the children sounds like mockery of their |
misery. If we shall follow the natural die
tates of the heart in these cases the salts. |
faction that will come will be far above that
which the sordid desires and the struggles |!
for gain can ever produce.