The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DEC. 23, 1905. CHRISTMASTIDE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1634, 23 December 1905, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DEC. 23, 1905. CHRISTMASTIDE.

The annual festival of Christendom is again with us, still characterised, as it ever has been, and we presume, ever will be, with widespread merry-mak-ings, holiday relaxations and enjoyments, gladsome family reunions, the warmly affectionate interchange of ardent greetings and sincere good wishes speeding to and fro over land and sea, the one season of each revolving year when the austerities of life are set aside and men meet and greet each other with that genuine goodwill that has been the special Christmas watchword ever since the Bethlehem birth of “ the greatest and sublimest Personage that ever crossed the stage of Time.” Whatever diversities of opinion may obtain as to the mission and claims of “ the gentle Nazarene,” it must bo conceded that no other personage has so indelibly imprinted his name on the world’s history, and no other mission, of whatever kind, has so profoundly and beneficially affected the world’s life. Ignoring, for the time being, all polemical discussions concerning Jesus Christ from a purely religious standpoint, all classes of all genuinely civilised nations are constrained to admit'the marvellous and enduring effects produced by the brief but ardent lifework of this lowly-born Nazareth carpenter, effects that largely influence the destinies of nations, that control the formulation and administration of civic and international law, that largely regulate social and conventional usages and to which all that i 3 noblest and best in our rapidly progressive civilisation, is to be either directly or indirectly attributed. The most intelligent and advanced civilisations of to-day are those who, without any admixture of semi-Pagan rites and superstitions, adhere to the simple but sublime tenets of the peerless Judean teacher, and so profound was the impression produced by His personal influence and example, so deep and widespread were the effects of this benignantly revolu

tionising mission, that, by common consent, the world’s history has been re-dated to commemorate His Bethlehem advent, and the simple but beautiful story of that advent has become a sacred idyl enshrined in the hearts of millions in every age, and specially emphasised in the “peace and goodwill,” that, under normal conditions of civilised life, form the watchwords and permeate the spirit of every commemorative Christmastido. Buddha, Mencius, Confucius, Zoroaster, Mahom.med, and others who sought to found religious systems and philosophic schools, are dwarfed into absolute insignificance by the Carpenter of reth, whose Gospel of Life, both in its moral and spiritual unfoldings, stands far in advance of all differentiating

systems, and is rapidly superseding them even within their own territories. All this, and much more that could be added, maintains the charm and specific intereot of every successive Chrismastide, ,-thus distinguished as the chief landmark of the world’s progressive ages, and we, in these modern days, can share in its elevating and gladdenng inspirations, its refining amenities, and sympathetic fellowships with ag much of pleasurable zest as did our fathers before us. Our Ohmtnjaatido, f

unliko that of tho old country, comos to us radiant with summor smile:’, garlaudod with summor llbwors, adorned and enriched with summer

fruits, poaco is within our borders, plenty fills our granaries, and prosperity is loading us by tho band through freshly unfolding, beneficial ontor- | prisos. That is how tho present Christmastido lias found us, and though shadows may rest on tho lives of somo hero and there, yot, in the general sense, wo are living iu tho sunshine of all that makes life a ploasuro and a blessing, aud with the3o advantages to gladden us ns a pooplo, we cordially wish our roadors aud all else A MERRY CHRISTMAS 1