McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1883-12-27

empty stomach-except, indeed, the
thin ecstasy of the starving saints in
old pictures, and they were already de-
humaniZed. This is Christian truth
which asceticism has forgotten. To
identity squalor, emaciation, and denial
| of all human delights with especial
| sanctity was to degrade the rich and
generous 'eligious spirit which taught
that all the world is for mans benefit
| and pleasure. IL was George Herbert
of whom Richard Baxter said that he
sang as one whose business in this world
was most with God, and whose beauti-
| full lines,
"Sweet day, SO cool, SO calm, so bright,
| The bridal of the earth and sky, y
are as fresh rs when they were written !;
who also said,
''FOr us the winds do blow,
| The earth doth rest, heavens move, and
! fountains flow: rH
| Nothing we need but means eur good,
| AS our delight or as our treasure;
The whole is either our cupboard of food,
! Or cabinet of pleasure.
Christianity does not decline any
wholesome use or beauty of the world,
and it would be a sorry preacher IN the
church embOwered and scented with
Christmas greens who did not hold that
Christmas good cheer contemplatcs
body as well as soul.
THE KNICKERBOCKER CHRISTMAL.- -
While their neighbOrs upon Massachu-
sets Bay We're banning Christmas, the
Dutch ut New Amsterdam GLADLY wei
| coined and hOnored him, and nowhere
has he been So truly at home upon the
continent as in the Dutch city. The
character of the inhabitants naturally
determined that of the day. 1t was
less an ecclesiastical festival than So
cial and domestic holiday. The git
terin@ tree OF gifts was its lighted and
decorated altar, and hearty good eat
inc and drinking were its genial cere-
mOnial rites Hereditary Dutch pride
sometimes looks askance and even an
grily at DIedrich knickbocker's story.
But it is plain that the gay exaggera-
ton of the old chronicler only empha-
sized the truth, and that his humorous
imagin tive touch produced likeness
as accurate as that of Bradford of the
Pilgrims, or that of Winthrop and
Sewall of the Puritans. The tranquil,
contented burghers whom he drew
were snre TO make the most of Christ
mas-tide, and their neighbors who
cursed it must have seemed TO them the
most whimsical of lunatics.
1t was natural that the genius which
described those burghers with so sub
tie u sympathy. should seem to be
kindred with them. Indeed, there was
so much of the true Knickerbocker
spirit in Irving that he is usually
supposed, by those who do
not reflect, to be of Dutch
descent. 1t is this quality, perhaps,
this ready sympathy with cheerful and
simple domestic enjoyment, which
made the author of Knickbocker's His
tory the laureate of English Christ
mas. The holiday that he describes
affects him as it affected the citizen OF
New Amsterdam, as day of pleasure
consecrated by religious association
And the enduring popularity OF his
charming essay show that this is the
Christmas of the English-speaking
race. Even the New England air,
which was so black with sermons that
it suffocated Christmas, now murmurs
softly with Christmas bells. The chill
dren of the resolute God-fearing men
who did not rest from labor on that
. first Christmas morning now rest and
rejoice in the happy day whose dawn
is benedictiOn. -l
: But it is no longer q superstition OF
any scarlet woman, no longer a festival
whose observance implies perilOus adj
herence to papal or ,prelatical errors.
I "
known as Puritanism, has purged the
theological and ecclesiastical dross
, away, and has left the pure gold of re.
ligious faith and human sympathy
When the neophyte asked his confessoI
: what was the central truth of Chris
tianity, the old man answered, "Char-
; ity." Then he explained that charity
! meant love, and that love meant the
spirit of universal fraternity. The
| almsgiving which is the technical inter.
) probation of the word is but symbol OF
that giving of the heart and soul and
J life to help others of which the supreme
J sacrifice of Christ is the accepted type
The day that commentaries His birth
is the festival of humanity, as the in
: spring sentiment OF actual life. The
lovely legends of the day, the stories,
and the songs, and the half fairy-lore
that gathers around it, the ancient ira
ditions of dusky woods and mystic
rites; the magnifcence or simplicity OF
Christian observance, from the Pope in
his triple tiara, borne upon his porta-
, tive throne in gorgeous state to cele-
brate pontiticals high mass at the great
altar Of St. Peters, to George Herbert
humbly kneeling in his rustic church al
J Bemerton, or to the bare service in
some missionary chapelupon the Ameri
can frontier; the lighting of Christmas