The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-12-22
STORIES OF THE NATIVITY.
BY REV. MARY j. DELONG.

mas is the one dearest to the Chris
tian hearts, because it commentaries
the birth of the Saviour. Whether
the birth actually occurred on that
day or not, it occurred some day, SO it
is fitting that some day be set apart
in which to celebrate it. 1t may be
only the Christian use of pagan
custom, having its roots in the Ma
ture worship of primitive people; it
may first have only signified the re-
turn of the sun from the far South.
But now, to Christian people, it
means the coming of the Sun of
Righteousness, the dawn of the day
of peace and good will among men.
Or it may have been instituted from
desire to supplant the old Italian
SaturnaIia, rural festival commemo-
rative of the ingathering of the har-
vest; but to us it means the ingather-
ing of all souls in Him who is the
head of every man. 1t is eminently
fit that it should be nobly commemo-
rated.
IT'S no wonder, then, that it should
have been the theme of poet and ar
tist from the earliest Christian times.
Legend and story and art have gath
cred about and impressed it upon the
imagination as the most beautiful
and interesting, as it certainly is the
most momentous event in human his
tory. The apocryphal Gospel of tue
Infancy of Jesus Christ" relates that
"the sun was very near going down,
but Joseph hastened away that he
might fetch Mary a midwife; and
when he saw an old Hebrew woman,
who was of Jerusalem, he said to her,
Pray come hither, good woman, and
go into that cave, and you will there
see a woman just ready to bring
forth They both went into the cave
and behold it was all filled with
lights, greater than the light of
lamps and candles, and greater than
the light of the sun itself. The in
FAINT was then wrapped up in swad-
ding clothes, and lying on the breast
of his mother"
A very ancient legend tells that
about the time that Caesar Au-
gustus decreed that all the
world should be taxed, he was warned
by sibyl of the birth of Jesus. He
consulted the sibyl to know if it were
right for him to accept divine honors
as decreed him by the Senate. I'll
burtina took the emperor alone and
showed him an altar. Above this al
tar the heavens opened and he saw
beautiful woman bearing an infant in
her arms; as he gazed he heard
voice saying, "This is the altar of the
Son of the living God" Then Caesar
erected on the Capitoline hill an altar
and inscribed it, cara primogeniti
Del" The church called the Ara
Coeli stands on the spot on which the
altar was built, and in it is bas re-
lief representing this legend to which
great antiquity is attached by the
church. "The nativity when treated
as historical event is represented in
stable, at midnight, in winter. The
earlier pictures give Mary an appear
ance of suffering, but from the four
teenth century it is not So" The na
tivity was celebrated in the early
church at the same time with the
Epiphany, January 6. Naturally the
time given in paintings would con-
form to the uniform practice of cele-
brating the Nativity in the winter
time, though there were, from time
to time, attempts made to show that
it actually occurred in October
The best known of the p ctures of
the Nativity is Correggio's "Holy
Night" Ga Notte). The newborn
babe is lying in his mothers lap as
she sits in the straw in the manger
The supernatural light,which accord
ing to the legend illuminated the
place, when Joseph returned with the
Hebrew midwife, streams from the
body of the child into his mothers
face bending over him. A shepherd
ess, who is bringing pair of turtle
doves, is dazzled by the light; poor
old shepherd shrouds his face in his