The Portland daily press., 1882-12-23
SUPPLEMENT-.
SATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBER SO.
Christmas a Heather Festival.
The Opinions of Second Adventists in Re-
gard to Keeping It.
From the Worlds Crisisl

lrTOu Iue worries CrislS.
Did the celebration of Christmas originate
in good or evil? with God, man, or the Dey-
il? All connected with this feast, excepting
its present name, existed ages before Christ
came into the world, or the gospel was insti-
tuted, therefore it was not Christian in it's
origin. There is not sentence of sacred or
profane history showing that Abraham
Moses, or any inspired author of heavenly
truth or ritual, received any instruction
from God to institute or observe it as a di-
vinely authorized religious festival. We are
convicted from these facts that it did not
originate with God. We shall attempt to
show that it originated with man, under TIE
inspiration of evil, or the author of evil-the
Devil.
History states that about 1900 years before
Christ there stood at the head of the Assy-
rian government a queen by the name of
"Astarte," or "Athor" She claimed god
ship, and claimed religious alteration, and
was worshiped by nearly all the nations
then existing, directly or indirectly. As an
object of worship she received various relig-
ious titles in different countries, such as
"Aphrodite, Cybele, Semiramis, Isis and
Ashtaroth, by which last name she is fire.
oueutly mentioned in the scriptures" She
had a temple of wonderful magnifceEce a.
Zidon, in which she was worshiped with
great pomp, and was served in this temple
by 300 priests, who shared her fame and
riches.
This queen had one son by the name As
sayac, who was next to his mother on the
throne and in the temple. He was com
mander-in-chief of all the armies, and was
worshiped as deity in the temple He re-
ceived the following names by the different
nations who worshiped him: Adonis, Horus.
Apollo, and TammuZ. Ezekiel refers to him
by the last name. See chapter viii: IA. One
writer saws of this: 1.-THE ostensible objects
of worship in this new system of religion
were the Supreme Father, the incarnate fe-
male or queen of heaven and the false Mes
siah, or deliverer, her son."
This abominable religious system was so
universally ipculcated by all the nations,
and was so calculated to hatter the unholy
aspirations of the higher castles of society.
that its leading features and principles have
been Incorporated into the creeds and rituals
of all the worldly, anti-C Christian worshipers
down to the present day.
Among the great religious festivals estab-
lished by that queen and her son, was the
festival of the sons birthday Everything
calculated to produce mirth and pleasure,
and the qualification of the human passions.
was Incorporated into it, so that it might be-
come very popular, and be literally supported
by all classes, especially by the rising gener-
atoms. To make it attractive to ALL it was
celebrated by the most charming music
public buildings, especially the temples, were
ornamented with flowers and evergreens,
bontires were kindled, the yule tree was
burned and the apple-trees bore upon their
branches shot cakes and bowls of CIDER"
The ancents illustrated the dominion of
kings and queens by trees, with their strong
roots and shadowing branches See Daniel
iv; 1924. According to this custom the
birthday of the queens son was celebrated
with great exhibition of trees, upon the
branches of which were hung rich presents
for the slaves and the poor. 1t is a startling
fact that this festal day was universally OBJ
served at the same season of the year, and
with but a few differences of service, by all
the nations Of the heather world during the
earlier historic periods, excepting the He
brew nation. The Romans called this feast
"The Saturnalia," and it was said that it
"was wholly given up to merry-making.
When the floods of reproach and persecu-
ton of the Christian church at Rome were
turned into fame and wealth, and she was
secularized, and entered state temples, and
commenced to worship as Astarte's subjects
had done, under the controlling influence of
kingcraft and aristocracy, the divine princi-
pies and ordinances of the gospel were ex-
changed for those of heathenism. Christ
ian teachers, having become proud and am
bilious, adopted means and measures to draw
the multitudes of pleasure-lovers into the
Christian temples, who had for ages found
Their religious enjoyments in the festivities
of heather temples. When these teachers
found that the preaching of pure gospel
ar id following the divine ritual, VIII ch exclu-
de worldly parades and the blasphemous
fei stivities of the benighted heather, would
ne 1t draw the masses, and especially the
pl easure-seeking young, to accomplish their
sinful objects, they concluded to adopt the
heather methods of capturing the worldly
multitudes by religious festivals and gra ID
state parades as the idolaters had done, only
they attempted to separate their festivals
from the pagans' by christening them with
heartless prayers and Christian titles.
They argued that if they attempted to es-
tablish entirely new festivals, on different
days and by new modes and means, the peo-
pie had become so welded and accustomed
to the old, that they could not succeed in
gaining the majorities or the controlling
classes. 1t was therefore resolved by the
Christian ministry at Rome, after long and.
heated discussions, to adopt the pagan fes-
rivals with the unimportant change we have
named, by which means to uproot paganism
and make triumphant Christianity. The
Christmas festival was not located at the 18th
of December because the men who located
it there believed, or attempted to prove, that
Christ was born ON that day, but because
the Romans had forages celebrated the Sat
urnalia" on that day.
Let it be understood, therefore, by all
Christian people that, when they celebrate
the 18th of December, they do not celebrate
the birthday of Christ for there is not SEN
tence of authenticated history in the world
to prove that he was born on that day, but
that thew are celebrating the birthday of a