Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1917 — LETTERS FROM OUR READERS [ARTICLE]

LETTERS FROM OUR READERS

Editor Democrat: — When one observes the great preparation being made for the observance of Christmas as the time of the Savior’s birth, may we not inquire how many know, or care to know, that the precious time ofour Savior's birth, for some wise purpose, seems to have been lost sight of by chronologists. But it may be set down as having most probably occurred a few 'Months before the death of Herod the Great, four years before the common Christian era in the year of Rome 750 and in .the year of the world

4000. Learned men have, investigated this point hut with all their researches have not been able to fix precisely either the year or the day of his birth. The early Christians were divided on the subject, and, of course, it must be a matter of uncertainty to all succeeding generations. In view of this uncertainty not even the exact year, much less the exact month being known, how puerile appears the custom of the Romish and English, as well as other communions in holding the twenty-fifth day of December (new style) as the day olf Christ’s nativity and adorning their houses of worship with flowers and evergreens as a part of their religious devotion on that day. W. R- NO WEDS.