The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-12-23
CHRISTMAS IN HISTORY.

The observance of Christmas, appro.
| pirate as it is, and now so worldwide,
does not rest upon either a divine com
mand or an apostolic precedent. There
| is no allusiOn in the New Testament to
any annual church festivals, and the
early history of the church does not
mention the celebration of any day in
cOmmemOratiOn of Christ's birth until
about 180 A. D. There was for long
time no uniformity in the date of the
festival, which was held VariOusly from
| January to May. 1t Is remarkable that
| one OF the earliest references to this day
at which all the world now rejOices,
should be sad story of the age Of per-
| seeuti0n. When DiOcletian was en-
| perOr of the Roman world, between 284
and 3O0 A. D., on one occasion, while
holding court at NicOmedia, he learned
that the Christians of the neighbOrhOod
with their children, had assembled in
their church to celebrate the birth of
Christ. He ordered the doors to be
closed and the church to be set on Are.
His soldiers stood around to keep the
sufferers within the burning building,
until church and Christians fell in the
flames together.
Perhaps the reasons why Christmas
day was not observed earlier in the his
tory of the church were, among others,
that the Gospels do not assign any day
in the year for the birth of Christ; that
the death and resurrection of Jesus
were fixed by the calendar, were more
important in the plan of redemption
than his birth, and hence more general
ly observed by the early church, and
that there was no Jewish feast at the
time of Christmas to be transferred into
a Christian festival.
Rnt fhn oh e l.. l..
of Christ's birth grew more and more
general in the church, and about $50 A.
D., in the times of TheOdOsius the Great,
the twenty-fifth of December was final
ly ttxedlupOn in the European churches,
and was accepted by those in the east.
Why that particular date was taken
cannot be known with certainty. There
is the best of evidence that the birth of
Jesus took place, not in winter, but at
time in the year when shepherds and
their tlocks may be found together in
the fields at night in Judea.
The festival of Christmas grew up at
Rome, where 1t took the place of the o
Saturnalia, or winter holidays of the
heather city. Indeed many of the
Christmas customs, and some of those
the most beautiful, are said to have a,
heather origin, and were simply trans
ferred from the false worship to the
true. Thus, hanging the houses with
green was heathen rite in Northern
Europe from the earliest ages, and the
lighting of tapeTs, and giving of pres
ents, which seem to US to recall the mid
night manger and the gifts of the magi,
are yet as old as Rome itself. The holly
berries and the mistletoe take us back
to the Druid worship of the ancient
BritOns, and the yule-lOg, rolled in state
into many barOnial hall, is a reminis-
cence of the German yule-feast in COM
memOratiOn of the suns return at the
winter sOlstice. Thus, as the Water-iars
at the marriage feast were laden with
wine at the SaviOr's look, so the harm
less elements Of the primeVal faiths
took on a new meaning and beauty
when touched by the Gospel of Christ
Rev. j. L. HuTlbut.