Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-26
MASONIC SERVICES.
Local Communicates knights Temp,
lar Hold n Union Public
Christmas Celebration.

Christmas Celebration.
Christmas was observed by Kansas City
| commandery No. 10 and Oriental command
cry No IS. knights Templar, by union
service held at Masonic hall, Sl2 Walnut
street. yesterday morning. The hall had
been beautifully decorated with everereens,
| holly and mistletoe for the occasion. Both
| communicates were well represented. The
| choir OF Oriental commandery furnished
| the music, The regular Masonic Christmas
| services consisting OF ritualtstic and re-
| sponsive reading. was conducted by Rev.
DR.. Quayle. probate OF the Kansas CITY
| cummandery.
The sermon was delivered by Rev. DR..
| W. =. George, u member OF Oriental COM
mandery No. 80. and also member or the
Blue lodge AT Seattle. Wash.
I'VE keep Christmas" said DIR. George, in
| the course of his sermon, I'm midwinter'
four days after the shortest day, wheh
there is the first percepttble return OF the
| sun to the Northern hemisphere and the
| days are commencing, however impercept-
| IDLY, to lengthen. 1t Is lifting that the ris-
| ing of the Son of Righteousness, the hght
| of the world, the day-star from on nigh,
should occur at the time that the natural
sun returns on his zodiacal journey. 1t Is
true that the heathens kept festival at
| this season, but the question is not as TO
similarities in the times of festivals, but
was our Lord Jesus Christ really born on
| the 25th of December?
| Against this suppositon, some modern
| Puritans have objected th.I the shepherds
would not have been watching their nocks
| in mdwinter. But If the affirmative can be
proven from other sources, 1t may be cas-
| lily supposed that this particular season
was a mild and open winter. That the date
was correctly fixed is shown from the an
| tiquity of the observance and the general
20 IfG Rnr
| rectneSS.
'The fathers, st. Augustine, St. Cyprian
and jerome are unanimous in their testt-
| mony. So also are the modern Bishop
| Pearson, DR.. Jarvis. DR.. Ten Brock and
others who have made 1t special study.
| The most remarkable testimony, however
comes from Chrysostom in his sermon
preached in Antioch in A. D. 3S6, ten years
after the voluntary acceptance of the date
| by the Eastern churches. Chrysostom
claims that these Eastern churches VINO
| had previously observed January 6 as the
| day were convinced by documentary evil
dence produced from the Roman archives
which had convinced the most skeptical.
| These documents related to the first en-
rollment under Suirinius and to the high
| priesthood of Zacharias, the father Oh John
| the Baptist.
THAT the evidence was accepted as con-
| elusive in the earlier light OF the fourth
century and that the Oriental churches
were at the time abundantly sausned
| Herewith so that they voluntarily changed
| their day because of that evidence Is
surely proof sufficient for the nineteenth
century to accept the truth indorsed by
| John Milton and other Puritans that Jeuus
| Christ our Savior was born on Christmas
| day.
'The date being fixed, We then discover
| how the Lord spent his birthday. The feast
| of dedication mentioned in the text was the
q oF %1NA Ia EIy
| Judas Maccabeus in B. C. 164 after the
abominable swine sacrifice of Antiochus
! Epiphanes. This feast commenced on the
| 25th of Chisleu, which is equivalent to our
| December 25. 1t was joyful feast when
| every house was Illuminated, and it was
| sometimes, therefore, called the Feast OF
Lights.
'Moimonides, an early Jewish writer,
says: Every home should light one light,
but he who honors the injunction should
light one for each inmate, man, woman or
child. And he who respecteth it still more
should light a light for each inmate every
night of the eight days feast So, reckon
ing ten inmates for each home, there would
be eighty lamps kindled during the festival.
This surely was proper festival to be
observed on the birthday of Him who is
the true light of the world. No fast CT
mourning was allowed to commence during
this festival and it was one of the glad
dest feasts of the Jewish year. In our
Lords observance of this feast we see His
| sympathy with the joyous merrymakers of
life and can deduce therefrom His sympa-
| thy with US moderns in our Christmas fes-
| tivities.
christianity is a religion of joy and not
of gloom and Christ came to make this sad
world gladder and brighter, as well as bet
ter and holier.
TT was during this festival that the Lord
Jesus asserted his own proper divinity. The
| Jews asked him pointedly and directly this
question: How long dost thou make US TO
doubt? If thou be the Christ tell us plain
ly? The answer contained in the succeed
ing verses shows that he claimed perfect
equality and unity with the Father. 1 and
. my Father are one. Say ye OF Him whom
the Father hath sanctified and sent into
the world thou blasphemest because | said
l am the Son of God. The Father Is
in Me and 1 in Him..
, Here then, we have the Lord Jesus on
his own birthday making his divine claims
, and asserting his entire equality with the
eternal Father.
"At another time when on the Good Fri
day morning after the night in Gethsemane
he was brought before the sanhedrin. the
highest ecclesiastical authority of the coun-
try, then and there while standing in the
shadow of impending death, with the
; knowledge of its full consequences and i'm
, port, he made another solemn assertion
under oath. In Matthew xxvi:63, we read
that the high priest said: I adjure thee
by the living God that thou tell us whether
THE Lord Jesus was thus put under oath
and answered solemnly: Thou hast said
and hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man
, sitting on the right hand of power and
coming in the clouds of heaven
What shall be said to-day to these sol
l emn and sworn assertions? We are re-
duced to the dilemma that Jesus Christ was
Either greatest of all imposters. falsest OF
all false swearers, a prince of perjurers a
: liar and hypocrite or else. Thou art the
King of Glory, oh Christ, Thou art the
: everlasting Son of the Father