The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, DEC. 25, 1888.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2568, 25 December 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, DEC. 25, 1888.

Equal and cxact pistico to all men, Ot whatsoever state, or persuasion, religious or polilH.nl.

Oxen more we come round to the period in which the people of Christian countries hold high festival in memory of the nativity of the Divine Feunder of the New Dispensation, established nearly nineteen hundred years ago. The exact date of the birth was lost, or unknown, at the dawn of the Christian Churches, but the early Fathers, after careful research and investigation, agreed that the momentous event had taken place near to the twenty-fifth of December. It is probable that by tracing back the old astronomical records of the east that the appearance of the Star, which heralded the entry of Christ into the world, was found to accord with that date of the year. The primitive Church observed the Epiphany and Christinas as one feast, but in 325 A.D., the Council of Nice made two festivals of them. The Armenian Church, on the other hand long continued to celebrate them as one. However, we need not dwell on these points of polemic disputations. The time honoured season is again here, and in common with our brethren throughout the broad Empire, and under all climes and suns, we enter upon the customary rejoicings. We Antipodeans are in the habit of comparing the manner in which we spend Christmas to that with which all our traditions and old associations have surrounded it in the dear Old Land ; the burning sun, dust, verdant landscape and airy summer costumes of Australasia with the cold, snow clad earth, roaring fi res and warm wrappings of northern latitudes. Nature, however, seemed inclined lately to play a freak npon mankind by turning the globe in inverse order. It seemed, till within a few days of Christmas, that the cold, : ice, frosts and chilling winds were to be the portion of our lands and sultry heat that of Old England. The yule-log would have had to be transported to new surroundings, and the holly and mystletoe would have decked the halls, and excited the merriments of the youth, of another Britain. It has not, however, so far effected so remarkable a revolution ; though should tho variations of temperature continue and increase, year by year, as they have been doing, we will not venture to guarantee the future aspect of the month of December, north or south. The celebration of the season of the Nativity has undergone a great change from the old or inechreval ens-

toms. W'e have the family jollifications oil a more polished scale, the outdoor sports and theatrical pantomimes, the religious services and tho decorations in the Churches; all without that abandonment to outrageous revellry our forefathers delighted in. It is still,and we trust always will be without change, the period recognised above all others of +he year, when the good-will and generous instincts of humanity expand to all its kith and kin, and when the scattered members of domestic circles are, for a while, gathered together and reunited. Fears and anxieties are set aside, and the mind takes a much-needed rest. And amidst all, the heart should lift itself up in thankfulness and praise to the Almighty Ruler of the universe, the beneficient Giv.-ir of life. This is the one road trod by the whole Christian world ; the same feelings are animating all our fellow-beings and co-religionists throughout the world. There is but one universal greeting to make ; and to our friends and readers whose eyes peruse these columns wherever this journal circulates, we offer that heartful greeting A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.