Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-30


To the Editor OF The Evening Star:
In THE STAR of December "a was an article,
the author Of which deserves credit for his in
ventive genius. Had 1 possessed the same
power to invent history would not have de-
layed my reply SO long, but it takes time to
look up facts and authorities Julius Cesar. it
is said was assassinate on the "Ides of March, -
This date has never been called IN question
simply because no one had any object for dis
putting it,
There are probably few dates in ancient his
tory that are 80 well attested as that of the ma
tivity of our Savior, and this date would never
have been called in question but for the opposi-
ton to the Roman Catholic Church. Still the
same people who antagonize this date receive
and practice other things that rest entirely
upon the 'ipse dixit'' of that church.
Christ was born during the taxing under
Augustus and it IL beyond dispute that the 25ih
of December was observed by all the western
churches long before the records of that and
other events were destroyed by Alaric the Hun.
No student of church history will dispute but
what. as your correspondent says. the eastern
church Kept January as the festival of the ma
tivity, and that they changed to December rs
in the fourth century, but this is not as he
says, the first mention made Of the festival
Indeed, this change itself makes it evident
that the two dates were both observed before.
Schaff and Herzog, in Their. Encyclopedia of
Religious knowledge, say that the nativity is
FIRST spoken of BY Clement of Alexandria az
kept in the east on January and in the west
on December 25 Clement Of Alexandria WAS
eclectic philosopher. who became a
Christian convert. The dates of his
birth and death have not been pre-
served. but the Encyclopedia Britannia saws
that his writings we're between 1893 and 2ll A.
d.. Schaf and Herzog. i'll the same work. refer
to the famous sermon preafAed BY Chrysostom.
bishop OF ConstantinOplc. Oh December %. 1856.
in which he says: The 25th of December is no
doubt the correct date. for our brethren at
Rome have often had the opportunity to ex-
anime the records of the taxing" After
enumerating some of the objections that have
been urged against this date these authors say:
Nevertheless. the fact remains that the whole
western church universally agreed upon that
date. and the eastern church adopted it with
out much contradiction
1t has been said that the shepherds could not
have been watching their i'ocks in the open
field at this season. Bethlehem of Judea is
about 81 degrees north latitude or about the
same as southern Georgia in the United States,
and the isothermal line from Bethlehem strikes
the United States coast in north Florida. The
temperature could not, therefore. have been
too low. Again they have thought that they
found an objection in the "rainy season Of
Palestine" The rainy season begins abont the
LIST of November, stops about the middle of
December aud begins again about the middle
of February. thus constituting what the Bible
calls the Former and Later Rains"
Rather than set aside the strong historic evil
dence Of this date. would presume that the
year OF our Savi0rs Dir. was an abnormally
favorable year, but it would require an alb
normally unfav orable season TO drive the shep-
herds in DOORS
Bishop Lightfoot raises an objection to this
dete that, at first, seems plausible lie says
that Christ was probably born in autumn, for,
hs ,it,Ea h.. xL..s ID =.
preserved In Easter and Pentecost in Whitsun-
day, and that the other great festival Of the
Jews, viz, the Feast of Tabernacles, 10 not per-
petuated. This objection, | think, will soon
vanish when held up to the light. The Pass
over was observed in memory OF the deiverance
from Egyptian bondage, and also pointed for
ward to the death Of Christ; Pentecost CON-
memorated the giving Of the Ten Command
ments on Mount Sinai These two festivals
would remain the same wherever the Jews or
Christians might be. Not so, however with the
Feast of Tabernacles, which was kept as a
Thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth THIS
must necessarily change with the climate where
their lot was cast. This festival has, however,
been preserved in Europe, in the Harvest
Home, and in the United States in Thanksgiving
day.
Christ came to establish Q Catholic Church
instead Of the National Jewish Church. What.
therefore, is more probable than that He would
come just as the whole gentle world had fin
ished celebrating the return of their principal
deity, the Sun. He was the Sun OF righteous.
ness. JOHN A. 0RAyrs
December 80, 1892