Show incidents of t the h e nativity a y feasts ol 01 natalis natall S and Evi epiphania phania F epoch inoch oje ol 01 th the ep christian hristian bra brat probable error rr ol 01 4 ye years r in dionysius Dionys i in lus s peair of the 0 on decem r 2 23 traced from blessed virgin ith through roue bt st J john h n P polycarp Y ireneus and nd st patrich patrick to present time climatic conditions in palestine e who the shepherds sh pher dit were gy by REV F P DUFFY M D secretary of the american n church BI bible le 1 institute 11 thousands this christmastide will ae be glad to read cometh ng about him so humble as to be born of a lowly V maiden and 5 et so mighty as to be the pivot on whom the universe resolves and the lord of all cradled in a finanger and wrapped in swaddling clothes he ile was yet worshiped by sages and adored by angels sleeping in the crevice of the limestone rock he ile was vet bathed with the light of heaven through the cleft in the mid night sky sly emptying himself of in cable effable glory he veiled his ills deity in flesh that he ile might make poor human ity to be partaker of his divine image in his name I 1 send cordial christmas A 44 A 4 i k K 41 to judah a maid an 1 angel came prepare lepare dear heart prepare i when the angel can e to the little maid and she heard his vo ce she was sore afraid i at the sorrowful beautiful words that he sald wd 0 mary maid prepare greeting to all my readers and invite their attention to the wondrous story of the incarnation and its accompany ing events not until the sixth century did the church undertake to set forth author the year in which jesus was torn in bethlehem then the work was undertaken by dionysius exiguous means little but dionysi is was little only in stature in mental ity he was a giant he v as a ly by birth one of a race classed by it sell self in st paul s terminology greek jew barbarian an bond free col ill 11 it may be interesting to note thai the the old name for the irish alotis scot is derived from scythia between wh cb ch and ireland there was regular communication early in A D no doubt the irish would be quite willing to claim such A noted scholar as a I 1 ainsman he would be a fit compatriot with the celebrated duns scopus from whom by the way dunce Is derived on the law of contrarieties the most learned man of bis his day and a true born irishman diona sius who was a monk was an expert mathematician and versed in astronomical knowledge the data on which he based his cal cu lations led him to fix on the year of rome as that in which christ was born this year he counted as A D I 1 the first year of the chris tian era this reckoning came grad bally to be accepted and Is still retained in use the star in the east or as it Is hem that guided the wise men or magi to jerusalem afforded another bem hem that guided the vise nise men or basis for calculation the celebrated astronomer kepler who flourished in the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventh century found there ilas as a conjunction of the three planets mars jupiter and saturn in the sign pisces which is the sign of judea in A V U C this conjunction he as fumed to be the star of bethlehem and accordingly fixed the year of christ s birth at the date et of the con junction 0 or calculations on the tame lame basis followed loll toll owed by such astron mers imers as ideler pritchard ditc itc arrived at the date V U C or D C 4 but if there are slight differences ind cud consequent doubt in the exact rear in which the savior of mankind vas was born there appears to be no it I 1 abt as to the day of the month on which the miraculous event occurred viz dec 25 that the day was observed from the very first is beyond question not universally observed however but the exceptions do not in the least invalidate the date of dec 25 it Is true that the local churches of pales tine egypt cyprus anti ch etc ob served on jan 6 a festival called theo chania god manifest a name equal ly applicable to the nativity and epiphany as gregory Nazi eizen enzen point ed out this custom prevailed only tor a comparatively short time even in the countries mentioned but these exceptional celebrations in reality strengthen the observance of the na on dec 21 the eastern estern church celebrated for a time their epiphania on jan 6 but the epiphania bpi phania was not the natalis the festival Is still held on jan 6 as the epiphany or manifestation of maid mary waits at 2 the stable door I 1 prepare dear lord prepare A little bed for thy ma d to rest for she stands without by fhy thy strange behest begs but a place to lay thy guest i 0 or r mary lord prepare christ to the gentiles in the person of the magi or wise men through the interposition of a star the fact that there was A as a hesitancy on the part of ome come in accepting dec 25 and a con troverse tro versy among others and then the final adherence of the whole eastern church show conclusively that the date anas not blindly accepted the intelligent adherence of the whole church proves that tl e observance Nance was based upon reliable data sum dent to satisfy the inquiry of independent minds to sum up the reception of dec 95 5 from the very first k 01 t 01 f e I 1 in aa 1 X JIM R vol 7 1 A mother maid lies 3 white within gods god s circle round her hair dumb kneeling brutes the wonder see A star attests the mystery while sage and shepherd reverently pring praise and incense rare by the western church the early sub sequent adherence of the eastern church and the unanimous acceptance of the whole and undivided church make us as certain as anything can short pt of mathematical demonstration of the correctness of dec 25 as the true date of the nativity but I 1 presume the most convincing of all arguments will be allowed to be this on the cross our lord corn com bitted the care of I 1 his its blessed mother to his beloved disciple st john she pent the closing years of her life at st johns john S home the nativity was celebrated many times during her lifetime it is absolutely inconceivable that the birth of her son could be cele berated with her knowledge and con sent on a wrong date it if never before she must have spoken to st john after the ascension of the night and incidents of the birth of him they both loved so well it Is able that st john could have cele berated the nativity on any other than the day of birth st john had a dis ciple well known in history polycarp bishop of smyrna he ile celebrated the nativity and it Is inconceivable that he whose boast it was that what he delivered he received from st john could observe the nativity on any other than the correct date now polycarp had a disc disciple itle named ireneus and ireneus claims that he delivered the doctrines and customs as he re calved them from pt st Poly polycarp earp and atherh this ireneus was made bishop of lions and delivered to the chris hans there the customs he had re from st john johns s disciple he was martyred belonging to the same local church the galilean was st martin born and made bishop of tours in he of coerce re ceicel the customs as ireneus delta ered them his 9 ster was the mother of st patrick apostle of ireland the irish church converted northwestern europe the day observed by all these as the natal day of christ Is dec 25 who were the shepherds to whom the angel of the lord appeared they were not ordinary shepherds you remember two lambs were offered daily in the continual burnt offering on the altar in the temple in addition there were special offerings these sacrifices required large arge flocks shepherds were needed to tend these lambs types of the lamb of god now born the pas pasturage burage where these lambs iambs were fed was the field of bethlehem the shepherd rdo 0 were a quasi sacred order inferior to the levites their mccu pation v was as similar to abels abel s it was to these shepherds lowly but god if fearing ear ing men that the angel appeared and the glory of the lord shone round about they were engaged in dis charging their duty and to all doing their duty to god and man will come the glory of the lord and the message of peace good will to men ahe I 1 he events of christ christs s sinless life have not been recorded in the annals of earthly history nor emblazoned on the rolls of earthly fame nor heralded in pomp and state by earthly trum pets for he ile loved oved to manifest his pot less life among the nameless ones of the toiling and busy throng yet there Is a record kept of that stainless life in the pages of the book of space with a precision passing earth ly effort and an exactitude which the spheres alone could give A virgin mother queen 4 s in state her ermine robe her hair the stable dim a palace Is its moss rimmed troughs are chalices chall ces there lips whereon no malice Is drink to the ruth mcenery stuart in harper harver a magazine 1 A |