Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-12-28
4 CHRTSTWAS SERMON

east proClaims the time for labor the even
ing star tells Of the hour Of rest the first
flowers Of spring tell US NOW is the time for
bright anticipations, the perfect days of au.
tumn bring soberer thoughts as we count
them over like the beads Of rosary. The
great world itself beats the time to which we
march. There is harmony between our
heart throbs and the movements Of the ele.
mental forces.
"For the world was built In order
And the atoms march In tune;
Rhyme the pipe, and time the warder,
Cannot forget the sun and MOON
And so among all nations there are days sa
cred to the emotions which the different
manifestations Of nature awaken.
l remember, upon one autumn evening,
visiting with friend an encampment OF In-
dads upon barren mountain side in our
great western desert. Little notion had the
hundreds of scantily-clad savages Of the
Thanksgiving day Of the race which has sup
planted them. But at this season. when the
scant supply of nuts had been gathered for
the winter, their ancestors from time imme.
mortal had celebrated their religious rites
And so the scattered tribe had gathered to-.
gether. All around we're the little camp.fres
over which the women we're preparing the
one feast Of the year. Here and there were
little group of friends talking together,
while around the central FIRE the men were
dancing to a strange monotonous chant.
As we left them and from the canon below
looked up and saw the lights still cleaning
and the dark figures still moving among
them, there came 10 me q sense of human
brotherhood which no words could have
brought. There on the gray mountains, I'm
der the clear sky, these brother men we're
having their Thanksgiving. And could one
look down from above and see the world as
it is sailing through stars with all its histo-
ry" would he not see that the emotion of the
Christian and tho pagan was, at heart, the
same
1t was not a Puritan governor or presi.
dent of these United States whe ordained a
Thanksgiving in the autumn. The autumn
itself made the proclamation. The ingath-
cred harvest the frosty air with its prophecy
of coming winter the sunlight shining
through the hazy air like a dream of the
summer that had gone, proclaimed that the
time for reverent praise for merces past
and reverent prayer for merces to come was
here.
And so with Christmas time In the fourth
century, after ell knowledge OF the exact
time of the birth of Jesus had been lost,
the Roman bishop fixed the date OF our
Christmas celebration as we now have it, And
he was wise and his work has remained unto
this day. He knew as little AS we do as to
the day on which the Christ was born. But
mankind had already learned the time which
loving hearts could make "the gladdest OF the
year"
Ages before men had watched the struggle
which each year goes on between the powers
of light and darkness. As the summer waned
the sun seemed to be wsging losing battle
Each day he seemed driven back little and
his reign seemed shorter At last, in mid
winter, the tide turned the days began to
grow longer Hope revived, and so the win.
ter sostice was set apart as a time Of rejoic-
ing over the victory Of the sun, and men ac
knowledged the great gifts of light and life
| by giving gifts one to another.
When Jesus lay in his mothers arms the
Roman children were all excitement over the
midwnter holidays. Now all distinctions OF
rank were laid aside All were equal. Gifts
we're given, good cheer regned supreme
And away up in the little hamlets Of Ger
many and Scandinavia old aud young gather
/ ed around the glowing yule log, and there
was great feasting and loud laughter. And
the children shouted over the gifts OF the
good gods and laughed as they heard the sto
ries of the defeat Of the powers of cold and
darkness. For at yule-tide when the hun
CRY wolves howled loudest in the woods the
fire within was brightest Aud in the for
ests of Britain the druds were tvinins
wreaths Of mistletoe and holly. For on these
the poor little wood sprites, who love greer
things, might alight and dwell well content
in the land till the spring time should come
again.
Milton, in his noble poem on the Nativity
makes all the old heather divinites trooE
away into the darkness on the night wheI
the Christ child was born. Milton was q Pu.
ritan, and the Puritans did not believe il
| Christmas day, and this thought is just the
opposite of the Christmas thought. Tn,
old Roman bishop in appointing the celebrA
ton Of the Nativity for the time already sa
cred to feasis Of charity rather said, LET
the old yule log still burn, and the mistletoe
still hang on the trees and the old gifts still
be given. Only as you gather together in
your good old fashion tell new and sweeteI
story about the child born in Bethlehem ovei
whom the angels sang"
And let the old gods come back for THU
one time in the year to their old haunts Lei
the hslf-frozen little gods of the woods come
in and warm themselves by our generous
fires and let the old divinities, transformed
into kindly sprites come in through the win.
dows and down the chimneys aud hold then
revels with the children. Let there be ne
bounds TO the hospitality OF Christmas day
And so it comes to pass that the Christmas
customs and Christmas tales are in their ori
gin half Christian, half pagan, but wholly
human. 1t is more than All Saints day. L
is the day OF all good spirits.
Good will and good cheer is the thought Of
Christmas Whose has this in his heart be
he pagan or Christian, man OF elf, is righ
heartily welcome. Let all the austere divini
ties all sour -vissged saints, all the knights o.
the dolorous countenAnce stand without
They have their times-alss there is not on,
but many times to mourn-but not now. Blu
let all the merry elves and fairies, the saint
who loved little children, the homely whole
some folk everywhere who warm and bright
en- the world, come in. But though what il
kindliest in the old world festivals remains anC
the ghosts of the old faiths still find vel
come, our Christmas time has a new element
1t is something more than Roman saturna.
liza, something more than a Morse feast day
something more than the oriental festival OF
the sun.
In the gospel story we are told how the dis
ciples walked together along the road TO Em
maus. 1t was toward nightfall when stran
ger met them and walked with them. AnG
as they drew near the village he would hav,
gone farther but they constrained him &c
tarry with them, and as they sat at supper be
broke the bread for them and blessed it, anC
there was a graciousness in that blessing
their hearts burn within them, and thei
Lord was revealed to them in the breaking o
bread. And at our Christmas feasts, amiC
all the laughter and good cheer where all tn
joyous figures Of the past and present troop
around u.s. another figure enters unbidden
He casts no shadow on the feast, but only
brings to US a sense of sacredness which i
had not before He takes his place anon
his brethren. But the room seems large
and the air more genial because of his pres
ence. Again the merriment goes on aud q
each one tells of the gifts he has given Il
others, He only says, II gave myself to you.
And we ponder the meaning of his life AM
ask ourselves, Is not such a gift the best gif
which we may give? May we so live tina
our lives may be gifts of love to our friend
and TO the world. In the giving OF gifts a
as in the breaking of bread the Christ lie re
yealed.
Nearby Massachusetts Notes.
BAD FIRE AT ATHoL-LEE's sHoE-sHoP GONE
C. NJ. Lees large shoeshop at Athol, I