The daily gazette., 1879-12-23
HOtU the Baptist Brethren Dis
cussed TIE Right amd WrOnD
of Christmas.

Philadelphia Times.
Our Baptist brethren have been dis
cussing the question, Cough Christmas
and Easter to be recognized by Baptist
Churches ?" Considering the universal
ity with which all goad people have OF
late years observed Christu as, some of
the reported sayings of the brethren
have an unusual look. The Rev. Mr..
Coulston said that "Cnrstmas and
Easter, while they may be good enough
Tor secular ends, are in no respect quail
fled to be religious institutions. They
have no warrant for such, either in Scrip
ture or the necessities of Our churches.
II is evident that we do not know the
precise year in which our Lord was
born. Nor have we any more definite
knowledge of the month or the year, OF
even the season Of his nativity and as
to the particular day we are absolutely
in the dark. 1t can, therefore, never be
more than sham-day that is observed
as his birthday. And we are not willing
admit that any institution of our re-
igion can be built, in any conceivable
sense, on shams. The genius of true
religion is sham hating genius. 1t was
old that anything was ever heard of such
a day as Christmas.
And then we find Clemens of Alexan.
dria scout ng the idea of its obs, rvance.
None of the churches of the early church
ages observed the Christmas festival.
When, however, they did begin to OBJ
serve it there was no uniformity among
them as to time. The Eastern or G eek
Church kept it on the 9th of January
while the Western or Latin Church OBJ
served it on the 10Th of December. And
it was not generally observed by the lat
ter until just before the time of the
Council of Ephesus, 431 A. ID. There
tannot, therefore, be even as much as
| apo stolical tradition to base its obselv-
ances upon. The Lord never intended
that Christmas should be kept by his
churches or he would have instructed
them to that end. We have in his biog-
| raphy an account of his concept birth,
presentation, alteration and flight into
Egypt, but from all these important de-
tails the precise day of his advent is
omitted. This omission could not have
! been accidental; it must have been ill.,
tended. We must, therefore, conclude
( that the churches, as such, have no all
.hority to declare the 25th of December,
or any other day of the year, religious
| Christmas day.
| As to Easter, there is no such word
| in the New Testament Greek" Mr.
Coulstou might have added that tn,
| New Testament Greek has no such wore
As Christmas, and furthermore, that 1t i'
deficient in any such word as Sunday.
Concerning Eater brother showed
his profound ignorance by speaking OF l
a. If it came on week day. He said h'
"had never preached on Easter, bu
would have no objection to preach OF
the Sunday nearest Easter, on the Res
direction. He had preached on the Ad
vent upon the Sunday preceding Christ
mas with much enjoyment. Let maj
observe it or no, as he pleases. 1t is no
| sin not to observe, nor is 1t duty.
One of the most sensible things SAT-
was by the Rev. Mr.. Levy, who, befor
his conversion to the doctrines OF tn
Baptists, was a Jewish Rabbi. He sal
he "would love to observe this day o.
which his friend was born why not ,h
birth and the resurrection of our Lord
From the great variety of Christina
cards and other seasonable elegancies
the windows of the store of the Bapt's
Publication Society, we gather the lde
that Baptists do not generally hold tn
views of Brother Coulston.