Another “Deplorable Fact.”—
Says a Christian Endeavor exchange: “It is a deplorable fact that all reverence for holidays, which should be sacred to a Christian people, has been buried beneath the world of amusement.” There is no question as regards the world of amusement; it buries nearly everything good and useful, sacred and common; but it is a “deplorable fact” that the church is elevating as sacred, days the appointment of which is wholly of man. Who has required us to observe as sacred Thanksgiving Day, Decoration Day, or Christmas? Of course it is good to give thanks; and the Christian ought to do it every day; and no law can compel the unthankful to be thankful any day. Decoration Day has its memories sacred to many mourning homes, but it is not a sacred day religiously. “Christmas” brings us legitimately the fun, the mirth, the amusements, the feasting, gluttony, drunkenness, from the old pagan Roman Saturnalia. The deplorable thing is that all that should be named Christian, connected with which is not a fact to support it. These man-made institutions generally succeed in blinding men’s minds to vital truths which God has clearly revealed.