Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-12-24
HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS.
why December 25 Was Fixed Upon
for tine w orld's Christmas MI oltday.

]
for tine Worlds Christmas Nj Holiday.
By DR.. John Van Dyke, Jr, in Harpers Maya
zine.
Thare were some men in advance of
their age who had learned to think of
the whole lifeof Christ in its unity as
a life for and with man crowned by
his vicarious death and resurrection.
Ireu@us, ia particular, is worthy of
special mention and enduring honor
as the first of the fathers to bring out
the unfolding of all the stages in hui
man life IN Jesus Christ; and even
though he had never written another
word than this, he deserves to he I'M
mortal in the memory of the church
for having said: 1.-The Son of God
became child among the children in
order that childhood might be made
holy" This sentence holds the heart
of Christmas. But it was not until
long after it was uttered, it was not
until the latter half of the fourth cen
fury, that the church at large began
to feel and TO unfold its meaning.
Then 1t was that she emerged from
the storm Of persecution INTO the sun
shine of imperial favor.
Then she saw she had q work to do
here on earth in the cleansing and
adjoining of human life with the beauty
of holiness. Then she realized that
patient suffering and faithful death
were not the only duties of the Chris
tian, but that, following God in love,
it was possible to begin in this world
1 tho ,o,irifu arI MANA Of baara,, Tha,,
she began to feel the wonderous sig
nidcaDce of the living entrance of the
Son of God into the life of man, and
his perfect holiness in every human
relation. Then she passed from the
lower conception of church saved
out of the world, to the higher con-
ception of a world to be saved through
the ministry of the church, natural
y ,ar 10 be transformed by reverent
devotion and wholesome piety into
the Christian year, a redecmng life
as an aIoning death of Christ, to be
preserved IN living remem brance by
the perpetual commemoratlon of its
chief events. Then it was that, open
ing her heart TO the humanity of re
ligion, she began TO drs y near to the
humanity of Jesus, aGd to seek with
eager interest for the day Of his birth,
that she might make 1t holy.
But what clew was there to direct
the search2 What reason could be
given for choosing one day rather
than another for the Christmas festi-
val2 The gospels, always meager IN
dates were quite silent here. They
gave no hint of the day or month of
the Nativity. Oral tradition, we may
be sure, was equally reticient or indif-
ferent. There were, indeed, few
scattered suggestions of the date of
Chris's birth floating here and there
among the writings of the fathers, but
these were all of late origin, mani
testify unhistorical, and above all
quite contradictory. Clement of Alex
apdria said the many Christians re-
garded the Both of May as the day of
the Nativity, Others preferred the goth
of April, but he favored the 10Th of
November. In the Eastern church the
5 h or 9Th of January was celebrated
as the date of Chrst's baptism, and
Nativity was Joined with this on no
better ground than forced interpre-
tation of Ez .kiel, i. 10, as a prophecy
of the incarn ation. Others again
( liked the 2lst of March as the day of
Chrst's birth. Between such varying
and slightly pported assumptions
there was little 10 choose. A histor-
ical date was clearly out of question.
Nothing was left for the church to do
/ but to select some day on grounds Of
convenience and symbolic signifi-
canoe, and celebrate it by common
consent as Christmas Day.
1t would take too long for me to
! trace the many reasons which led to
the choice Of the 25th of December.
1t was doubtless connected by pro
cess of deduction with the day which
has already been generally accepted
as the common date Of the Annuncia-
ton and OF the creation OF the world
Assuming that the world was made in
the Sprng, because it was commanded
to bring forth grass and herbs, and
that it was made when light and dark
ness were equally divided because
".he evening and the morning were
the first day, it was natural, though
somewhat native. to fix upon the YER
nal equinox (accoreing to the Julian
calendar, March 25) as the exact date
of the creation. He who could cues
ton the value of such straightfor
ward ard scriptural argument as this
must have had more logic and less
piety than belonged 10 the early
Christians. Aud once having been
discovered by this easy method the
very cav on which the world came
into being and the glorious light
sprasg out of darkness, what more
simple than to assume that
it was the same day on which the
power of the Almighty overshadowed
Mary. and the day-spring from on
high began his entrance into the
worlds NothiHg could be palmer.
Even the lesst ina einative Of chrome
graphsrs could reckon forward from