be discarded. "A better explanation," Duchesne says, "is that based on the [pagan] festival of the Natalis Invicti. . . . The Invictus is the Sun, whose birth coincides with the winter solstice, that is, with the 25th of December, according to the Roman Calendar." 1

And if this be the true date (as there is great probability), it is very significant that it is the third day after the true winter solstice (December 22d) when the sun, after reaching the lowest point on the horizon, begins to ascend and to bring back light and life to a darkened and dying world. So also Christ, "the Light of the World," "the Sun of Righteousness, arises with healing in His wings."2 There is surely in this nothing incredible, but rather the contrary, when we remember that the Child who was born in Bethlehem of the Blessed Virgin Mary, "in the winter wild," was He by whom this visible earth and sun and moon and stars were made, and "without whom was not anything made that was made."3 All that we call "Nature" is His. It was "His star in the East," and under His guidance, that led the Wise Men to His cradle; it was His moon, "the faithful witness in heaven," that pointed to the day of His great sacrifice; and it was His sun that "hid as it were its face from Him," 6 in sympathy with His dying agonies on the cross. Even in these ways "the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork." 7

1 Duchesne, p. 261. 'S. John i. 3.

'S. John viii. 12; Mal. iv. 2. 5 Psalm lxxxix. 36.

4 S. Matt. ii. 2. Is, liii, 3.

7 Ps, xix, I,

CHAPTER XI

OTHER IMMOVABLE FEASTS OF OUR LORD

"This little index of thy life,
Thou, all thy life, shalt find
So teaching thee to tell thy days,
That wisdom thou mayst mind.
Oh live thou by the Calendar,

And when each morn you kneel,
Note how the numbered days go by,
Like spokes in Time's swift wheel."

Bishop Coxe, Christian Ballads.

OTHER Immovable Feasts of our Lord depending on Christmas as their centre are: the Circumcision, on January 1st; the Epiphany, on January 6th; the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called the Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin, on February 2d; and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on March 25th. The Transfiguration of Christ on August 6th, though a feast of our Lord, can scarcely be said to depend on the date of Christ's birth. Its selection is somewhat, if not wholly, arbitrary.

The Circumcision is observed by all Christendom one week after the Nativity (January 1st), except by the Armenian Church, which of course places it on January 13th, January 6th being their Christmas. Originally the day was observed only as the octave of the Nativity, and we learn from the sermons of S. Augustine 1 that in his time the Church kept it as a solemn fast, in protest against the "diabolical feast" of the pagans on that first 1 Ser. 197, 198.

day of the year with its licentious revelry. When these heathen practices gradually ceased, its festal character as the octave of Christmas was restored to the day, and the admission of the Holy Child when eight days old to the privileges of membership in the Church of Israel became the central feature of its celebration.1 Keble in the opening verse of his poem for the festival notes this combined tone of sadness and joy:

"The year begins with Thee,

And Thou beginn'st with woe,
To let the world of sinners see

That blood for sin must flow."

-The Christian Year.

It should also be remembered concerning this feast that it is the day on which the Holy Child received the Name declared by the angel,2 the "Name which is above every name," and to which "every knee should bow." 3 A "black-letter" day to commemorate this event occurs in the present English Calendar, called Name of Jesus, but in Saxon times it was observed on the Feast of the Circumcision, and later, on the Second Sunday after Epiphany.

In days when this holy Name is often treated so lightly and irreverently it should not be forgotten that, since the time of the Arian heresy in the fourth century, when our Lord's true nature as perfect God as well as perfect Man was so fiercely assailed, it has been a custom in the Church to show outward reverence for this Name by bowing at its utterance in the Creed and elsewhere. It is simply in recognition of this ancient custom that the Church of England ordains in her canons: "When in time of Divine Service the Lord Jesus shall be men1 S. Luke ii. 21.

2 S. Matt. i. 21.

Phil. ii. 9, 10.

tioned, due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it hath been accustomed." In this connection also S. Paul's custom is surely one to be followed. He never uses the Name casually. It is worthy of remembrance that out of 591 times that S. Paul refers to our Lord in his epistles (including Hebrews) "Jesus Christ" occurs 61 times; "Christ Jesus," 46 times; "The Lord Jesus," 18 times; "Jesus our Lord,” 9 times; "Jesus Christ our Lord," 8 times; "Lord Jesus Christ," 68 times; "The Lord," 133 times; "Christ," 227 times, and only in 21 instances does he use the word "Jesus" alone, always with some special reason, as in Phil. ii. 10. In every other instance he adds or employs some word of honor as "Lord" or "Christ" either as prefix or affix.

Another name for the Epiphany (Jan. 6th) in the East is the Theophany. Epiphany is the Greek word for "Manifestation "; Theophany signifies the "Manifestation of God." This idea was chiefly connected with the first three occasions when "Jesus manifested forth His glory "; to the Gentiles when the Wise Men were led by "His star" to His cradle, and "worshipped Him "; to the Jews when He was baptized in Jordan, and the Voice came from heaven saying, "Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"; to His own family and disciples when He wrought His first miracle in Cana of Galilee.1 The feast was universally observed in the fourth century, the East making the manifestation of Our Lord's Godhead at His Baptism the dominant thought, and the West laying the chief stress on the visit and adoration of the Magi, so that here the day was commonly designated the Feast of the Three Kings. In the East it is still known as the Feast of Lights on account 1S. Matt. ii. 1-13; S. Mark i. 11; S. John ii. 1-12.

of its connection with the Baptism of our Lord, baptism being called by the Greeks "the Illumination."

"Did not the Gentile Church find grace,
Our mother dear, this favored day?
With gold and myrrh she sought Thy face,
Nor didst Thou turn Thy face away."

-Keble, Christian Year.

The number of Sundays after the Epiphany depends on the date of Easter. When Easter falls on one of the earliest days, March 22d, 23d, or 24th, there is only one Sunday after the Epiphany; when it falls on one of its latest days, April 22d, 23d, 24th, 25th, there are six Sundays.

"The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called the Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin" (Feb. 2d) was first known, both in the West and in the East, by the Greek name, "Hypapante" or "The Meeting," that is, the meeting of Simeon and Anna with Mary and her Child in the Temple.1 This event, like that of the Circumcision, is another instance of the devout obedience of Mary and Joseph in fulfilling every ordinance of God in His Church.2 The presentation was to be made when the Child was six weeks old, which fixes the day of the festival on February 2d. Though known better by its popular name of "The Purification," the day is rather a feast of our Lord than of the Blessed Virgin. The Church of Rome, according to Duchesne, appears to have observed no festival of the Virgin, in fact, until the seventh century. Candlemas, the other popular English name for the day, had its origin in the early custom of carrying candles in procession as part of the ritual of the feast. This is supposed to have its 1S. Luke ii. 22-39. 2 Lev. xii.