Christmas-Dog.

HERE is nothing to fix the exact date at which the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ settled into an institution of the Church. By some

it has been said that the observance of this feast began as early as about the year 68; and it would seem that Telesphorus, who flourished a century after this date, ordered divine service to be performed, with the singing of an angelic hymn, on the eve of the Nativity. The Emperor Diocletian, who publicly abdicated in the year 304, amongst the incidents of his inveterate persecution of the Christians, on one occasion caused a church to be fired in which a congregation had met in honour of the Nativity, and consumed them, together with the sacred building in which they were assembled.

Commemorations of the Nativity, if desultory ones, are thus shown to have taken place before the time of Constantine. But it was only about the period of his reign, and probably owing to his encouragement, that the natural tendency to the observation of this festival developed into a fixed celebration that promised to become at once Catholic and perpetual. The comparatively late date at which the honour of general recognition was paid to Christmas, was owing in part to the fact, that the early Church directed. its attention to the public ministry of our Lord, rather than to the incidents of His birth, childhood, or even His man

hood, so long as that was spent in retirement and preparation merely. Thus, St. Chrysostom observes, that "not the day of our Saviour's birth, but the day of His baptism, is to be regarded as His manifestation."

66

The institution of the festival of the Nativity in the fourth century has been variously, and, sometimes, rather capriciously accounted for. It has been derived by some persons from the Jewish feast of the Dedication, which Judas Maccabæus ordained after he had cleansed the sanctuary from the pollutions of the discomfited heathen, and had set up a new and purer altar for the service of the Lord. Now, on the five-and-twentieth day of the ninth month (which is called the month Casleu), in the hundred forty and eighth year, they (Judas and his friends) rose up betimes in the morning, and offered sacrifice, according to the law, upon the new altar of burnt offerings, which they had made. Look at what time and what day the heathen had profaned it, even in that was it dedicated with songs, and citherns, and harps, and cymbals. Then all the people fell upon their faces, worshipping and praising the God of heaven who had given them good success. And so they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and offered burnt-offerings with gladness, and sacrificed the sacrifice of deliverance and praise. They decked, also, the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold, and with shields; and the gates and the chambers they renewed, and hanged doors upon them. Thus was there very great gladness among the people, for that the reproach of the heathen was put away. Moreover, Judas and his brethren, with the whole congregation of Israel, ordained that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year, by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, with mirth and gladness" (1 Maccabees iv. 52-59). This narrative is substantially repeated in 2 Maccabees x. 1-8; and the Evangelist St. John has an allusion to this feast:-" And it was

ORIGIN OF THE FESTIVAL.

15

at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter” (St. John x. 22). We have italicised the last few words, because it will be inferred from what is almost immediately "to be mentioned as to the uncertainty of the day or the month in which the birth of Christ really took place, that a very colourable argument is found in them for identifying the feast of Christmas with that of the Dedication.

But there are other hypotheses. One of these is that the festival of the Nativity is a Christianized perpetuation of the heathen Saturnalia, during which an attempt was made to recall in practice the peaceful glory of the age of gold. Presents were interchanged amongst friends; feuds were forgotten; criminals were reprieved; war was postponed, and business suspended; and pleasure and license reigned supreme. The Saturnalia were celebrated on the sixteenth, the seventeenth, or the eighteenth of December; and it does not exclude the supposition of the Jewish origin of the observance of the Nativity, to imagine that some heathen practices were engrafted upon its celebration. Neither, if we may trust the reasoning of Hooker and of Bishop Andrewes,* would such a twofold derivation attaint the lustre of its sanctity. Mr. Riddle, who mentions the above amongst other more purely conjectural derivations of Christmas celebration, remarks that, after all, “the institution may, perhaps, be sufficiently explained by the circumstances, that it was the taste of that age (the fourth century) to multiply festivals, and that the analogy of the events in our Saviour's history, which had already been marked by a distinct celebration, may naturally have pointed out the propriety of marking His nativity with the same honourable distinction. It was celebrated with all the marks of respect usually bestowed upon high festivals; and distinguished also by the custom, derived, probably, from

* A Learned Discourse of Ceremonies retained and used in Christian Churches.

hood, so long as that was spent in retirement and preparation merely. Thus, St. Chrysostom observes, that "not the day of our Saviour's birth, but the day of His baptism, is to be regarded as His manifestation."

The institution of the festival of the Nativity in the fourth century has been variously, and, sometimes, rather capriciously accounted for. It has been derived by some persons from the Jewish feast of the Dedication, which Judas Maccabæus ordained after he had cleansed the sanctuary from the pollutions of the discomfited heathen, and had set up a new and purer altar for the service of the Lord. 66 Now, on the five-and-twentieth day of the ninth month (which is called the month Casleu), in the hundred forty and eighth year, they (Judas and his friends) rose up betimes in the morning, and offered sacrifice, according to the law, upon the new altar of burnt offerings, which they had made. Look at what time and what day the heathen had profaned it, even in that was it dedicated with songs, and citherns, and harps, and cymbals. Then all the people fell upon their faces, worshipping and praising the God of heaven who had given them good success. And so they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and offered burnt-offerings with gladness, and sacrificed the sacrifice of deliverance and praise. They decked, also, the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold, and with shields; and the gates and the chambers they renewed, and hanged doors upon them. Thus was there very great gladness among the people, for that the reproach of the heathen was put away. Moreover, Judas and his brethren, with the whole congregation of Israel, ordained that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year, by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, with mirth and glad(1 Maccabees iv. 52-59). This narrative is substantially repeated in 2 Maccabees x. 1-8; and the Evangelist St. John has an allusion to this feast:-" And it was

ness

ORIGIN OF THE FESTIVAL.

15

at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter" (St. John x. 22). We have italicised the last few words, because it will be inferred from what is almost immediately *to be mentioned as to the uncertainty of the day or the month in which the birth of Christ really took place, that a very colourable argument is found in them for identifying the feast of Christmas with that of the Dedication.

But there are other hypotheses. One of these is that the festival of the Nativity is a Christianized perpetuation of the heathen Saturnalia, during which an attempt was made to recall in practice the peaceful glory of the age of gold. Presents were interchanged amongst friends; feuds were forgotten; criminals were reprieved; war was postponed, and business suspended; and pleasure and license reigned supreme. The Saturnalia were celebrated on the sixteenth, the seventeenth, or the eighteenth of December; and it does not exclude the supposition of the Jewish origin of the observance of the Nativity, to imagine that some heathen practices were engrafted upon its celebration. Neither, if we may trust the reasoning of Hooker and of Bishop Andrewes,* would such a twofold derivation attaint the lustre of its sanctity. Mr. Riddle, who mentions the above amongst other more purely conjectural derivations of Christmas celebration, remarks that, after all," the institution may, perhaps, be sufficiently explained by the circumstances, that it was the taste of that age (the fourth century) to multiply festivals, and that the analogy of the events in our Saviour's history, which had already been marked by a distinct celebration, may naturally have pointed out the propriety of marking His nativity with the same honourable distinction. It was celebrated with all the marks of respect usually bestowed upon high festivals; and distinguished also by the custom, derived, probably, from

* A Learned Discourse of Ceremonies retained and used in Christian Churches.