The Dominion. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1909.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 698, 24 December 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1909.

THOUGHTS ABOUT CHRISTMAS. Some of our great social and: religious observances have been preserved through all the changes and chances of the history of humanity. They may have altered from time to time -, in order to. adapt themselves to tho different circumstances of different ages and peoples ;• but their continuity has nover been entirely broken, and they exist to-day as venerable connecting links between the present and the past. Christmas is one of these great traditions which remind us of tho solidar- 1 ity of the racc in all ages. Even as a Christian festival it goes back, to the days of Imperial Rome; but its customs were not then invented for tlic first timo, The Church gave Christian[ significance to celebrations connected with tho great pagan mid-winter 'festival, and added new observances in keeping with the new faith. Those' old pagan customs, pwbably grow out of others older still, which in their turn had a previous history, and so we are carried back to the very childhood' oi tho race. This policy of blending the old and the now is' wise as well as expedient, for thcro is so much that tends to [separate man. from man that, no one who can see beneath the surface : of things will despise the unifying jnfluence _ of i noble traditions. "Tradition," writes I Mr. Chestehton, "is the democracy-; of. the dead. It refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy _. of thoso ,whb merely hajjpen to bo walking about. All democrats object to men_ being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by tho accident of death." 'So at 1 Christmas "wo have the dead at our councilß.", It is tho great festival-of home and social life, and of the brotherhood of men—living and dead;.past,' present, and future. Some people seem to think tnat othorwiso harmless customs are deserving of roprobation by the mijrc' fact _ that they _ are connecting links;with ancient paganism; but tho study of th 6 scienco of compara-' tivo religion.; is broadening and humanising our outlook'in this matter. Two wellknown Oxford scholars have ■ recently ox-pi-cßsed the opinion that Christianity and heathenism should not be regarded as two great watertight compartments, with nothing of : weakness or error in the one, and nothing of : Tightness or goodness'in the other: They, point out that the ideas of sin, of sacrifice, of atonement, of communion aro found in heathen rcligions—r in crude and grotesque forms no doubt, 'but still they there; and these are tho same ideas which in a more olevated and spiritual form arc of the' essence of Christianity. It'_ woiild,. liowover, be a great mistake to jump hastily to-tho conclusion that tho comparative study of religion justifies- 'the 'contention that all religious beliefs are .equally good or equally bad. Such is-not the teaching of this new .science. . Its business is : to-as-. certain- aid -'classify tho available.-facte, and to establish thenv in their historic sequoiico. It has nothing to do with tho validity of religious beliefs. ' -• It : is claimed for . Chnstianity that it'" has .' done, and .' is doing, a special and pre-eminent work for the betterment of humanity. Lecky, the historian,. >rbo certainly, cannot be ; accused of undue bias towards,.tho Christian faith, has supported this claim by placing on record .that •It was reserved for. .Christianity.to present to the world, an ideal character, which' through all the, changes of eighteen centuries has inBpired the .men with an-impassioned love; has shown-itself capable of-noting on all ages,. nations,:' temperaments, and conditions: has .been not' oxily .the: highest pattern of virtue ; hut- the strongest inoentivo to its prac-, tice; and -has exercised so' deop 'an/ influence. that it. may be truly said that tho . simple record of three short years of active lite has dono more to'regenerate and to, soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and all the exhortations lof -moralists.. . . A. minute, and scrupulous care, for' human life and human virtue ju tho humblest forms,'in tha' sluve, the gladiator, the savage, or the. infant, was indeed .wholly foreign to tho genius of paganism. It/was produced by the-Chris-tian iloch'ine of tho inostinlablo value of each immortal soul.- It is the distinguishing - and transccndont characteristic of overy society into which tjio .spirit, of Christianity, has- passed. , One of -the strangest ; developments , of modern times is tho hostility of a large section of the working classes to Chns ; tianity. ' Somo of the most bitter; attacks on religion come from people who'regard themselves as 'advanced democrats, and yet the way for modern: democracy was prepared by the great fund of altruistic scntiiiioilt - lot loose, upon, European civil--, isation 'by Christianity, and- which has', gradually undermined , the jiokition . of the privileged classes. This idea is l ably' worked out by Mu. „ Kidd in his Social Evolution, ; and the. . fact.is admitted by the great German philosopher \N ietzschb, a most uncompromising foe of both, Christianity and democracy. - His great indictment against . Christianity; is that it enabled slaves to enlist sympathy,. to obtain votes, and to gain predominance over those whom he regards : as . - ithcii destined', superiors.. rHe: longs for -the time when the/"God idea'' shall bo expallod from men's brain's, so .'that tho power-holding classes may:"become hard." In ' direct .opposition: to- this- the Christmas message of sympathy and brotherhood. . •

Tho work that awaits Christianity in the; future,'is' at least as great as 'that which it has done .in. the past', and one of its noblest' tasks is to secure a fuller, and deeper realisation of the Christmas promiso of .peace ion., .earth. De. Harnack; whose fame as a scholar is as great in Britain as in Germany, recently declared that every scientist, "if ho is anything more than a mere carter," working-for the. world's benefit and not merely, for, national ends.'He, (Dnl Harnaok) looks to the active intercourse and co-oporation qf the intellectual leaders' of: liritaiu and Germany to bring thoso two peoples noaror and nearer together. Ho goes on to sayNo .intelligent mnn believes in, a universal world-state—a- I'latonopolis; : but the promise of "poaco on earth among men of goodwill", has already becomo the watchword of leaders wid'men of insight.' Germany and England —each nation should nialte itself' strong, and in the fullness of its peaceful strength be indispensable to the other. Both should silence the materialistic philosophers of history—those onemies, of their respective, countries who maintain tho ultimato necessity. of. n 'warlike conflict, because; in their'prosumption they overlook commercial possibilities - and disbelieve in the power of . ideals. In ono. respect England has an easier' task than, Germany. Keligion plays a moro ;prominont. part in the public life of the English nation tliah it does amongst us, and for sevoral docadcs it has promoted endeavours after .peaco and! brotlicrliness. ■ ~-v '

This docs not mean that we should abandon all military precautions, turn our warships into coal hullcs, and throw our armaments on to the scrap-hcap; but .it docs mean that we shoulddiscourage that trueulcnt spirit which is ever seeking nn oxcuse for quarrel, that wars of aggression should bo made impossible

among Christian peoples, and tliat a sorious endeavour should bo made to cultivate a feeling of friendship and goodwill in our relations with other nations. All will admit that the profound religious ideas which underlie and._ give moaning to the festivities 'of Christmas have played a great part in human history; put tho: question is boing anxiously' asked whother they can retain their vitality and adjust themselves to the new environment of the coming ago. Some people who have not been closely watching i the main currents of modern thought seem to think that religious, questions have lost their interest for the leading minds of thu present day. This is a great ( mistake. Notwithstanding tho rival claims of scientific studies and the competing attractions of economic and social questions, many of the keenest and most brilliant intellects in the three most progressive nations—Britain, America, and Germanyare devoting themselves to the study of Biblical criticism and religion in all its varied forms, and the new science' of psychology _is carefully analysing the, tacts of religious experience which were formerly not considered worthy of scientific investigation. It is true that religious beliefs are passing, through a critical poriod. "No century of Christian, history is exactly like its predecessors," writes Dr. Sanday; "the traditions' handed down from this past must in each case filter through the beds of new ideas deposited by the present, so that they cannot come out exactly as they went in;' There are those who'fear that the whole spiritual world is about to collapse,'but one who has vory carefully .watchcq the trend .pf modern ideas has placed pn record hiii firm conviction .that "what seems to many the eclipse of religion is in fact the dull light which is preparing a new dawn."....