The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-12-25

for the earliest records show that the Saturna-
liza or festival of Saturn was celebrated at the
Winter solstice, when the sun, which had
been going farther and farther south, bearing
away the blessed heat and light, once more
set his face northward, bringing back the glo-
rious sunshine, gentle Spring and golden Sum-
mer, with bounteous harvests for the husband
man. How much the improvident Egyptians
who lived as now, from hand to mouth, de-
pended on the coming haryests may be seen
from the famine that befell so quickly after
seven bounteous years. All early nations
seem to have been nsun-worshippers, and we may
be sure that this observance, therefore, reaches
farther back than human research ever will
The Swedish seer tells us that sun-worship
came to all nations corrupted from an ancient
church of the golden age and that this church
worshipped the true God and regarded the sun
as an earthly symbol. lust as the evangelist
| tells us that the glory Of God is the light Of
the New Jerusalem, the Holy City.
The fact that infdcl philosophers have ar
gued that the whole story Of Christ and his
life was myth founded upon the sun-mystery,
| justifes Christians in regarding the birth Of
Christ at this re-birth Of the year, as signif-
=
cant, and it is not surprising that the church
should have begun to celebrate it in the first
century. an, DlAfsph. s3i 'e, II -
The Puritans did away with Old Christmas
as our early ancestors knew it; they banished
the Yule log, which had been inherited from
theDruids, and with it the n,istletoe and holly,
their sacred shrubs; the Lord Of Misrule was
| deposed from the throne where he had ruled
| since the time when early Christians learned
the trick from the votaries of Saturn, and with
him departed the revels which delighted the
| hearts Of Merry England, when sg9elq r;5s't ~
| M as. Power laid his rod aside gisiaiDalilgi
/ rEifte = And Ceremony dofied his pride.''Y s3
| To them the wassel and the boar's head
Crowned with gay garland and with rosemary
was an abomination, and the blazing plum
pudding borneain amid its own spectral
| light had something Satanic about it; so all
were banished, and in our day have come In
the simpler German customs. St. Nicholas,
beloved of the hedescerdants Of dwellers in New
| Amsterdam holds sway over Christmas Eve,
scours the snowy roofs with his reindeer steeds,
and fills the children's stockings despite the
| impeliment Of new-fangled hues and close
freplaces, and the Christ Child with the Christ
| mas Tree, make the day glorious to the infant
| world and all who love to ininge in it, We
cannot regret the change, for the mumming,
where +,s 9s9hg ,silid alil aogei ooH ji-
J. sA.'white shirts supplied the masquerade,
na 10, And smutted sheets the visors made .
| was frequently coarse, and sometimes rough,
| and modern minds would find it distasteful,
| while if1dT n .Sg11 T.ol n. n stssg.te-.
/ ~ ga Christmas gambol oft could cheer 5
~ The poor mans heart through half a year,.
| SO will the Christmas tree where he sees his
children made happy by gifts from kindly souls
who wish to make their Lord seem more near
by giving to these little ones. The Christian
spirit is Just as warm as then, and Christian
hearts are kindlier, for while then the bounty
| was bestowed upon dependents, now it goes
| out into the highways and seeks the poor and
| the broken-hearted. pe .fe83 zen sa. 81
| Never has the Christmas sun risen upon a
/ greater number Of earnest Christian believers
/ than it will shine upon to-day, notwithstand.
ing Infdelitys triumphant stride in France,
| and the advance of materialism among the
Saxon races; certainly not in the early centu-
ries when Christianity was struggling with pa.
| gaaism, 4 s8i .dAAIlll "a
4 oluh1 When the Berserks evermore
'ai Made the sign of the Hammer of Thor:
not in the, Middle Ages, fanatically devou
though they were, for the chronicles tell o
dreadful orgies in convent and monastery, ant
| Of fearful deeds in castle walls, while brutality
ignorance and crime reigned in the howell; mo-
in the glorious days of Crecy and Poiters, fol
! then Piers the Ploughman sang the immorali
ties Of the priesthood, wycliffe ana the Lol
lards, denounced them, and even the genia
Chaucer painted them as no better than they
should be: not in the days of the Reformation
or the Revolution, when Christians fought
| and tortured each other for opinion sake: moi
| in Hanoverian times, for Montesquieu on his
| visit to England said, "Every one laughs il
one talks Of religion, - and Green says "Of the
| prominent statesmen of the time the greater
part were unbelievers in any form of Christi
anity:" not in any time have the Lords people
triumphed more gloriously, or The Gross shone
wider over land and sea, since aosiiA yd B.
l ag io fe'In that stable lay, new born,
l ~ The peaceful prince Of earth and heaven,
9Gi In the solemn midnight, ir -tiliiil4f
Il9nlA 3dt sa Centuries ago" t
Doubtless in all ages the skeptic has believed
| that the time was nigh when religious super
stition should be banished by reason, but
! doubtless then, as now, the faithful believed
that the Christmas bells would -f-
| y baG.Ring in the valiant man and free, = ..d
.sqmo9 The larger heart. the kindlier hand; rs,f
"a sgiiis Ring out the darkness of the land n
H. W. Ring in the Christ that Is to be-" stI ~ q
a7 The farther we get from Darwin's primitive
man tine nearer we get to one who loves his
fellow men land literature is weaving new
charm about the day, and bringing Christian
hearts ever nearer together. The Christmas
gathering has new meaning, that of Charity
to all, and reconciliation towards God and with
each other. Never, as now, did the Spirit Of
Christmas brood over all lands from the far
thest North to the remotest South, penetrating
to every corner. of the mighty empire over
which Imperial Rome lsore sway in that peace
ful night 3Dsiu
sWherein the priucc of light o2 vBwI
His reign Of peace upon the earth began, 70 y+
visiting every island of the sea and spreading
into tho oriental empires where Buddha and
Brahma so long have reigned supreme, and out
into the ne W continents of the far Pacific, SO
that the Christmas bells ring in one unbroken
chime around the globe, chanting in sweetest
tones the song of the heavenly host, "Glory to
God in the highest and on earth, peace, good
will towards man. ',i,,.AI'.s ,i.f',r.,-s
Let u.s. therefore, keep the day with charity
and with devotion, abroad and in church; with
joy and nnirth at home by the freside where
children and friends come to greet us, remem-
bering the poor aud sending ont our kindes,
thoughts towards our friends who wander afal
on the wide ocean or in distant lands; and
when we gather at the festive board, and the
| toast goes round, let it be that of Tiny Tim,--
~ "God bless us every one"
PROFESSOR John Bascom complains Of thu
spread of infidelity in the colleges. He ueee
have no fears. Infdelity is a foolish fash
ion with college students that they soor
grow wise enough to discard. M 1dI
The prevailing idea that the Ponca griev
ance is Boston notion does not swell thu