The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-12-24
A SERMON ON CHRISTMAS
DE, MO LANE TRACES ITS ORI-
 GIN AND MEANING.

day is ApprOpriating Faith to Make
 All Jesus Brought to the World Our
 o"n.
 The Rev. Dr. Wm. w. McLane. the pastor of Plymouth church, preached to the parlshioners yesterday morning on "Christmas-a Form-a Memory an Experience" He took as his text C1lossian- i, 27:
 He said We cannot say that men are naturally Christians, but we can say that they are naturally religious The splendor and sublimity of sea and sun, of sky and stars impress men with the thought of the power of the Creator; the steady sweep of the plan cts in their orbits and the swell of the seas whose tides roll regularly to the shore. and the recurrence of the sea- sons with their varying beauty and their gifts to men impress them with the thought of presiding intelli- gence and controlling will So great is this impression of a powerful, intelli- went and governing creator that men of all ages and in every land worship and adore. They express the religious feeling by various acts, by prayer and pilgrimage, by fast and festival, by sacrifice and song. Christianity has proved no exception to other religions in respect of forms of expression Jesus commanded no ritual to be ob- served by his disciples. Nevertheless, days and seasons, and ceremonies in less or greater number and with less or more elaborate fitness serve to ex- press the faith and feeling, the fervor and hope of the Christian church.
 At the head of the church year stands Christmas with its elaborate | celebration in the church and with it's close connection with popular family i life. But, if we lo5k at the form of Christmas-at the garments with which the day is clothed, we may we'll ask what connection do these have with Christ? Read the story of his birth and what are the scenes which that story suggest to the mind? These are the pictures: The rugged hills of Palestine, weary pair of pilgrims-a man leading a patient donkey and a | tired woman riding thereon, the plain south of Jerusalem in which lies the little village of Bethlehem with it's | low, flat-roofed houses, a stone enclos- ure: a caravansarv. within which the 1 camels and the cattle of travellers may rest and feed, with a house in which ! the travellers may spread their own meals and where they may sleep; a stable built of stone or perchance a cave in the limestone rock within which oxen feed and in whose empty spaces travellers who cannot be accom- modated in the inn may lie and rest; a stall within this cave and a new born infant whose young mother looks with wonder and great hope and holy awe on the face of the child in which she sees the fulfllment of many pro- < phetic promise; an unusual light breaking through the sky without and flooding all the plain. an unwonted sound filling the air which awakened shepherds interpret as a heavenly song promising glory to God and peace to men; such is the Christmas of history
 And what connection with rocky roads and weary travellers and stone inn, and stable stall, and starlit plain, and dreaming shepherds and heavenly song have evergreens and the pale mistletoe and wreathes of shining holly with it's bright red berries and fir trees trimmed with lighted candles and covered with fruits, and Santa Claus with garments of fur and frost covered beard and sleigh drawn by reindeer, and the festal board with I the dance? These are not of Asia but of Europe, not of the south but of 1 the north not of Semitic but of Scan dinavian and Teutonic people. From these people, our ancestors along the rugged banks of the Rhine, the low lands bordering the North sea- the forests cf Britain and the tiords and fr-clad mountains of Norway and Sweden-has come to us the form of Christmas.
 Long before these great grandfa- thers of our heard of Christ they wor- l shiped Woden and Thor and ether ] dieties whose names are preserved for us in the names of the days of the week. Among these days is Sunday, the day dedicated to the worship of of the sun. which to those men was the | source of the life of nature and per- haps also the symbol of the great Giv- CT of life himself. As the year rolled on it's course those men saw the sun | receding further and fourther south and felt it's warmth withdrawing. They saw the flowers fade, the grass w.ther and grow brown, the leaves fall and life apparently die in vegetation until none was left save in mistlet2e and holly and the fir and evergreen. It looked as though death would reign. But when the shortest day of the year was reached, and when the slightest lengthening appeared on December %, their faith revived and they celebrated the return of the sun. This was yule- a wheel-because the great orb of the sun began to roll slowly narthward or because in his course he began to re- ] volve in the part of the circle which led to the north. Then, to celebrate this event they laid the yule-log, or great log, in the vast fireplace in kitchen and hall and heaped high the lighter wood and built the glowing fire t. win the warmth of the sun by fire-worship. Then they gathered the i evergreen in which was still the life of ! vegetation and hung in their homes festoons of running pine and trim ] mings of mistletoe and wreathes of