New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1899-12-23
THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE.

Nineteen centuries have passed
since the shepherds at Bethlehem
first beheld the yearly miracle of
Christmas. How wonderful that
miracle is we may realize when we
consider through what changes this
old world of ours has passed since
then, how civilizations have risen,
fourished and died, how nations
have passed away, how human ma
ture itself has been transformed,
and still how Christmas remains
the dearest, happiest, most cherish
ed day of the year.
When men first began to keep
Christmas as festival the ancient
civilization was still alive. The
dry light of Greek philosophy still
shone. Roman law and Roman
order enveloped the world. A few
centuries later Western Europe was
in the black darkness of ignorance
and superstition. The people STUN
bled blindly, not knowing their
own names or where they were go
ing. Through the thick gloom
nations could be seen vaguely tax
ing shape. Here and there strong
figure-a Charlemagne or an AL
fred-rose clearly in the murk, but
mostly there were only shadows,
like the dim form in the depths of
a Dore picture.
And yet in that chaotic age the
Yule log burned and feudal anarchy
was still once year, while the
priests spoke of peace on earth and
good will to men.
And then there was an age of
faith and romance, of cruel Oppres
sion, tender sympathy and unset
fish devotion. Knights rode abroad
to rescue fair maidens, loot their
neighbors' castles or waylay the
base merchants whose caravans
wound along the forest road. Pill
grims in haircloth and Crusaders in
shirts of mail swarmed toward the
Holy Places. Richard Coeur de
Lion swung his mighty battleaxe
and Saladin divided silk handker-
chiefs with the razor edge of his
Damascus scimitar. The New Rome
on the Bosporus still stood as the
bulwark of Christendom against
the Moslem hordes in the East,
and the expanding vigor of Spanish
youth forced them back in the
West. Popes and Emperors strug-
gled for the supremacy of the
Christian world.
And through it all castle and
hovel made festival on the day of
Chrlst's nativity, and all the con-
tradictions of the time were melted
into single harmony.
Centuries later the face of Eu-
rope had changed again. A new
civilization had come, bridging the
Dark Ages to draw upon the
pagan culture of the old. Nations
had formed, with ordered societies
and luxurious courts. Another
world had been discovered beyond
the sea. The old ideas of the uni
verse had been turned inside out
1t had been discovered that this
earth was not the centre of created
things, but an insignificant speck
of dust whirling through space.
The human mind expanded and
rioted in its new sense of freedom.
Men felt as if they were seeing the
fulfllment of the prediction of the
serpent in Eden: "Your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil"
But still the old Christmas pre-
vailed, and every year the children
gathered about the tree and in their
innocent happiness taught wisdom
to the worldly wise.
And now "comes the wheel full
circle" After nineteen centuries
we are back in the scrptical, soph-
isticated civilization in which
Christianity began. Like the Ro-
mans Of the age of Augustus, we
believe nothing but what we see.
We measure emotions in psycholo-
gical laboratories, count the blood
corpuscles that feed heroic reso-
luton and compute the number of
brain waves in a mothers love.
We stretch our yardsticks to the
stars, and boldly answer the ques-
ton whether the universe has linn
its. Our higher criticism puts the
Bible under the microscope, exam
ines it word by word and letter by
letter, and pronounces its judgment
with the infallible assurance of a
handwriting expert in court. We
print the Scriptures in colors,
showing where this scribe has add
ed a patch to the original tradition
and that editor has interpolated q
verse in the work Of the scribe.
But after all we come back to
the ancient festival that commemo-