HOLIDAY OFFERINGS by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 25, 1893

HOLIDAY OFFERINGS.

By Editor

THE days of the old Roman Saturnalia are upon us, observed with the same madness and excesses which characterized the old heathen festival—days of drinking and feasting and carousing and wantonness, of giving and receiving gifts. For it was from the old Roman Saturnalia that our Christmastide comes. The very term "Christmas"—Christ's-mass—is idolatrous, as the "sacrifice of the mass" is idolatrous. Christ, it is evident from the best authority, was not born December 25.

Yet there are many who will remember on that day, in the true spirit of Christian thanksgiving, that Christ the Saviour was born nearly nineteen hundred years ago, and that he lives a present Saviour. Many will use the day in the special remembrance of earthly friends. Many will give gifts to "pay back" gifts which they have received. In the majority of cases selfishness of some sort will be the basis of the giving. From the worldly standpoint we expect this; and in consequence of this those who are the least needy will receive the costliest gift. It is heralded all over the United States that a leading Chicago firm has given to the poor of that city 500 loaves of bread and 3,000 cups of coffee, at a maximum cost of probably $50, while each member of the firm, if at all following the fashions of the day, would on Christmas make presents aggregating much more than that to friends who need nothing. This is the way of the world, and the world follows its own way, responsible to God.

But Christians should be moved by a higher law, by better motives, by a truly grateful spirit. There are two or three ways in which Christians will give this coming Christmas:—

1. Do they feel that they must remember their own friends?—Let it be in simple, costless gifts of kindly remembrance to cheer some heart, or gifts which are needed, or which will serve to lift the soul nearer God.

2. Ye have the poor with you always, says our Lord, and when ye will, ye may do them good. This is emphatically true this winter. Many are homeless, houseless, shelterless, and many more without sufficient food, sufficient clothing, sufficient fuel. Some of the most needy do not publish their needs. Begging to them is almost worse than death, and they cling to their last hope before they publicly apply for relief. Kind, sympathetic hearts are needed to seek them out, and large charity is needed to supply actual needs during the coming winter. Forego some of the contemplated costly presents and sumptuous feasting, and give to the poor.

3. There are the millions of poor souls starving for the bread of eternal life. Eternal interests are at stake here, and God has committed the work of saving souls to his people. Let every Seventh-day Adventist, aye, every Christian, remember this as he contemplates what the birth of Christ means to him. And if it means to him what God designed it to mean, he will realize that he is a debtor to every man, without respect to race, color, or condition, because Christ was born for all and died for all. Then in this holiday season, when the great world is feasting, drinking, pleasure seeking in the indulgences of the flesh, let Christians find higher, purer pleasures in liberal giving for the cause of suffering souls in darkness.

Many of our readers will meet at their respective churches for the week of prayer, December 23-31. Those of our readers who desire to make a Christmas offering for the cause of God, for foreign missions, but who are not connected with any of our churches, may send it to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal., and it will be appropriated for that purpose. We hope that every Sabbath-keeper will either have or hear the reading for that occasion.