THE CHRISTMAS TREE.
THE LESSONS WHICH IT TEACHES.
BOYS and girls often think that big people have set apart Christmas as a day for gathering around the Christmas tree, as a time for Santa Claus, for the giving of presents and for having a good time generally. This is not the case. I will tell you why we celebrate Christmas, and particularly the significance and meaning of the Christmas tree. Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came into this world to redeem us from sin and everlasting death; and the Christmas tree, laden with its many gifts and suggestive of so much joy and blessing, is a symbol of the Saviour. In order that you may best understand the full meaning of the Christmas tree, I must call your attention to the season of the year when Christmas came. You will remember that last summer, when the sun rose at half-past four in the morning and did not set until half-past seven in the evening, the days were very long, and you could see to go about in the evening until about eight o'clock and after. At Christmas time the sun goes down at half-past four in the afternoon, and does not rise until half-past seven in the morning. So you see that the days are about six hours shorter in December than they are in the latter part of the month of June. Christmas occurs at that season when the days are shorter and the nights are longer than at any other period of the year. In the Bible darkness represents sin and unbelief and wickedness; and the daytime or light represents truth and righteousness and godly living. So you will see that the long nights at the Christmas period of the year, and the short days, fitly represent the condition of the world at the time when Jesus, the Son of God, was born in Bethlehem. At no other time in the world's history was there so much of moral darkness and sin and wickedness and corruption in the world. Cruelty and crime and wickedness abounded everywhere. If I were to stop and tell you of the condition of society, of the wrong and the iniquity, which abounded everywhere, you would be greatly horrified. It was at such a time as this in the world's history, when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this world, that sin might be banished and righteousness might abound. So you see that Christmas occurs at that period of the year when the night and the darkness are the longest of any of the entire year, and it very fittingly represents the condition which existed in the world when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as the Saviour of the world. He came to banish the moral darkness which covered the whole earth.
Not only the time of the year, but also the character of the Christmas tree suggests something. With the long nights comes also the cold winter. The earth is wrapped in snow. The trees, which a few months ago were green and beautiful and in the fall all laden with fruit, are now all naked and bare, and if you were to go out into the orchard or forest you could not tell the difference between a dead tree, and all the others which seem to be dead. Among all the trees you would only find such as the pine, the hemlock, the fir and other varieties, such as are known as evergreen trees, that would be green and give evidence of life. So you will see again how the Christmas tree fittingly represents Christ, because these evergreens, in the field and in the forest, seem to be the only things that have greenness and life, while all else around them seems to be dead and laid in a shroud of white snow.
Copyrighted 1911 by Sylvanus Stall
The Christmas Tree
The custom of setting up a tree at Christmas time and loading it with fruit and gifts seems to have originated in Germany, and the thought of these people in introducing this custom centuries ago, was that they might teach their children this very lesson to which I have referred.
Now, I desire to call your attention also to the fruit which is so often hung on the Christmas tree. The Bible tells us that a tree is known by its fruit. If you go into the orchard you could tell the apple tree from the pear tree, and you could tell the plum tree from the peach tree. If you did not know them by their leaves, you would at least know them by their fruit. But when you come to look at this tree you find oranges upon it. Now, this is not an orange tree. You find dolls upon it, but it is not a doll tree. Here are a pair of skates, but it is not a skate tree. Here are some candies, but it is not a candy tree. Neither can it be known by the name of any one of these various things which hang upon the tree. But it is a Christmas tree. And all these various kinds of things are properly hung upon the Christmas tree to represent the fulfillment of that promise that, with His Son Jesus Christ, God would also give us all things richly to enjoy.