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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Objection * against the Observance of Christmas Day . 5 Sf
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Bant in ray blood , this dp as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me ;" -and •¦ the apostle , who declares , that he received this account from Jesus himself , express - ly signifies to the -Corinthian churchy ¦ that * a& often as they ate this bread and xlTank of this cup , they shewed forth the Lord's death , until he should come / ' It may then justly be asked , why did he pot institute a service , which should serve to remind them vof the day of his birth , if it were so i mportan 1 and necessary as his professed followers haye presumed , that such a day should be observed i IE the benefits to be derived from such an institution be real , and be not counterbalanced by evilsy which greatly diminish the propriety of such an ^ ordinance , ' they must have been present to the mind of Jesus , and it cannot possibly be imagined , wliy he
should have neglected to furnish his disciples -with such a means of strengthening their attachment to him ,, and of perpetuating the con * , tinued . remembrance of a day so
important and joyful : yet it is allowed J > y those , who are the most stren uous advocates for the religious observance of the day , that # o such comjmod can be traced
to our beloved master ; ; nor is there any record of such an insti - tjution , nor any allnsion to it in the whole history of the gospel ? , though written long after the SaviourV death , mid that of John in particular , mapy years after the formation of Christian churches *
2 . It ; may -foe argued , in the second i place * that the observance of any , particular day to celebrate * tlie birth ofjfcsus , was not enjoined : nori practiced t byu the apostles ^^ d > early Christians , It mq . y per-
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haps be imagined > that with the , humility which marked his character ^ the master , who washed his disciples' feet , who was meek and lowly of heart / ' forbore to inculcate upon his followers a practice , which might indicate some degree of pride and vanity in its institution ,. ' which might betray some inclination and readiness to
attach to himself greater dignity than that which his heavenly father had conferred , and something of that very disposition , which he so much censured in the scribes and pharisees , " who sought honour one of another . ' * But such
Could not be the feelings of the apostles . If there be any ground of propriety in observing the day of their master ' s birth , it must have been as obvious to them as it has been to those ^ cc who believed on him through their word /*
Their attachment to him could not be less than ours , nor their zeal to promote the honour of his name , the knowledge of his character , and a sense of the important benefits connected with his
birth be inferior to ours : yet is there no passage in the history of their preaching and ministry , yet is there not a single line in their
numerous epistles , which furnishes the slightest hint , that they enjoined thfe observance of such a day , or that the early Christians themselves observed or celebrated
it- And who will say , that his affection is greater < than was that of the beloved disciple ? Who will contend that his zeal is more ardenfc thaa was that of Peter ?
Who will presume , that his wisdom is superior to that of Paul i 5 Yet had not John recorded , ^ nor Cephas enjoined , not the apostle of the Gentiles mcukaicd thebbaerv-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1810, page 537, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2410/page/13/
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