fect equality and freedom reigned among mankind, and there existed neither master nor slave: a delightful dream, the idea of which was well worth a seven days feast! From the infancy of the church, the birth of Christ was regarded as the beginning of a new golden age, of which the poetical passages of the Hebrew poets, were considered as prophecies. Jesus Christ was expected to have restored this state of innocence in Paradise; (which really, some few modifications excepted, is at the bottom one and the same with the golden saturnal age of the Greeks and Romans, and at best an enchanting poetical dream;) and as it could not be proved, that through christianity personal slavery was abolished, (not withstanding-though curious enough!-many modern historians assert, that the abolition of slavery is one of the ef fects of christianity, without recollecting, that there are Christian nations, who in America and the West-Indies use their slaves with greater barbarity and cruelty than the Romans and Greeks did theirs)-they assisted themselves with the idea of a religious slavery: for the allegorizing mystics trans ferred all the connexions and situations of civil life into relį▲ gion, and in fact, the idea of a religious slavery may be more easily understood than that of spiritual conception, spiritual marriages, spiritual births and new births, spiritual deaths, and so forth. At last, as it was perceived, that this new golden age would not yet quite succeed, they dreamt of a future second appearance of Christ, and a kingdom of a thousand years, where the golden age, or the state of inhocence, should again flourish in all its purity and beauty. Whether, when the farce of the Saturnalia was over, the Roman slaves comforted themselves in like manner with a future golden age, I know not; but I really could wish the present negro slaves just such a delightful dream, to comfort them under the cruelty of their christian oppressors. The mystical similarity of these festivals, first gave rise to the celebration of Christmas at the time of the Saturnalia ; though I suspect, that in order to prevent these two feasts from being considered as one and the same, they made their Christmas to begin just on the day when the Saturnalia ended. The common idea that the 25th of December was the true birth-day of Christ is perfectly ridiculous: for it is a wellknown fact, that the real birth-day of the divine founder of our religion is entirely uncertain*; many centuries, at least * Clemens Alexandr. an historian of the second century, Strom. I. p. m. 340, gives an account of the very contradictory opinions which prevailed on this subfert, even in his time. the the two first, passed over without this feast being kept, and it appears to have been first instituted in the third century. The eastern church, in whose vicinity no Saturnalia were kept, celebrated their Christmas on the 6th of January*, and until the time of St. Chrysostom, who lived at the end of the fourth century, only the western church kept it on the 25th of December, at which period the eastern church also conformed to that day. Should any one deem it unaccountable that the primitive christians should reconcile the adoption of a heathen feast with the mere alteration of a name, he must be ignorant how much the majority of mankind are attached to old customs. It appears even from the New Testament, how difficult it was to the converted Jews, and even to the apostles themselves, entirely tolay aside their Jewish ceremonies and rituals; could it then be less difficult for those heathens who embraced christianity, to deprive themselves of all their old religious customs? this we often witness in our own days, in the newly established Christian communities in Asia and America, instituted by missionaries, whether from among the jesuits, or from the pupils of the orphan-house at Halle. These converts retain their old ideas and customs, or at least one half of them, and unite them with the new faith they adopt as well as they can. Just so the old Christians. The bishops too even then understood as well, as did the jesuits in modern times, the great art, to be all and every thing, and even advantageously to turn to their own pious views the prejudices and abuses of their heathen contemporaries; they therefore gladly overlooked the attachment of their converts to their old customs and prejudices, and were often satisfied, merely to substitute a new name for an old one. Even Constantine, by the flattering priests falsely stiled the great, who (as even appears from his fawning flatterer Eusebius,) was as intolerant against the followers of the heathen religion, or even more so, than many of his predecessors had been against the Christians, yet, according to Eusebius himself, adopted it as a maxim, to make the Christian religion palatable to the heathens by transferring all the pomp and shew of the latter to the former, and hence it was that the whole ritual of the Roman-heathen religion passed over to the Roman-christian, in which there still exist many improper customs. And thus even we protestants conform to many *S. Bingham Origines ecclesiast. vol. 9. p. 67, seq. Chrysost. Homil. 31 de natali Christi. In the year 1780, Sir William Hamilton saw at Isagna in Abruzzo waxen priapi offered to St. Cosmus, under the modest name of great toes. s. Götting Taschenbuch, 1784. S. 47. f. church church customs, innocent in themselves, after the example of the old Roman and Greek religions*. It is also not merely a bold and uncertain supposition, that the Christians in the first century, before the introduction of the proper festival of Christmas, kept the Roman Saturnalia, but a fact established by the testimony of the fathers, and especially Tertullian. And though at the same time Tertullian (in his book on idolatry) exclaims with energetical eagerness, against the attachments of the new Christians to their old feasts and customs, and principally to the Saturnalia; yet his zeal seems to have been as fruitless as was in the middle ages the zeal of so many sensible clergyman against the fool's feast and asses' feast, with other customs, scarcely less shameful than absurd. Should any one infer from what has been here said, that I consider the feast of Christmas as needless and superfluous, he will do me a very great injustice. Mankind owe too many obligations to the amiable founder of the christian religion, not to be bound to eternalize the remembrance of this bene ficent and philanthropic ambassador of Providence; and though his birthday is so entirely uncertain, that even the greatest of chronologers, Scaligert himself confesses, God alone could know it, yet the birthday acknowledged and established by so many ancient traditions and customs, must to every believer of our holy religion certainly appear far more sacred than was the birthday of Socrates and Plato to the scholars and followers of those Athenian philosophers, many centuries after their death ||, thus much, however, is certain, and must ever remain so, that never was the memory of a great man, since the earliest times, disgraced with so much folly, absurdity, and in some measure shameful abuses, as the birth of Christ; and whoever is not sufficiently convinced of it, need but peruse a few of the hymns in the old Porster, or any other similar hymn-books, to perceive with astonish Only to mention one example,-Why in our churches are our altars always placed towards the east? For no other reason, but because this was a sacred custom among the Romans. s. Vitrav. E. v. c. 5. + Tertull. de Idolatr. c. 13. Hoc loco retractari oportet de festis diebus et aliis extraordinariis solennitatibus, quas interdum lasciviæ, interdum timiditati nostræ subscribimus, adversus fidei disciplinam communicantes nationibus in idolicis rebus: and c 14. Nobis Saturnalia et Januariæ et Brumæ et Matronales frequententur? Munera commeant? strenæ consonant? lusus, convivia constrepunt? O melior fides nationum in suam sectum, quæ nullam solennitatem Christianorum sibi vindicat! non dominicum diem, non Pentecosten, etiam si nossent, nobiscum communicassent; timerent enim ne Christiani viderentur, nos ne ethnici pronuntiemur non veremur. By the bye, I would observe, that, had the real feast of Christmas been kept so early as the time of Tertullian, he would certainly have mentioned it Lere. De emendat. temp. p. 545. Plut. Symp. 8. 1. Porphyr. in vita Plot. VOL. II. с ment, ment and indignation, to what humiliating misrepresentations of the deity, and of sound reason, this feast has given rise, and that, to obtain due reverence from every Christian, it requires not the aid of mystical nonsense. M. G. * I appeal to the free and sound reason of mankind, if it is not real blasphemy to sing," Little boy, great God," (Kleiner Knabe, grosser Gott.) s. Porst, Gesangb. Nr. 41. v. 1. (or Nr. 37. v. 2.) Almighty God became quite a little child," (der allerhöchste Gott, wird gar ein kleines kind)--Great God! how is it possible, that even clergymen should not only suffer such blasphemies-but consider them as honouring the Deity, and maintain and defend them with pious zeal and religious calumny against those who think otherwise!!! VOSS TO JOHN ANDRE, 1773, And an English Poem of the latter, with a German Translation. Fern, aus deines gefeßordnenden Albions Die der Angel dem Britten gab. 4. Kehr' izt, André, zurück, Edeter deines Volks, Wo: Wilkommen! dir tönt muthiger Jünglings-Schwarm, Wo: Willkommen! dir sanft lächelt ein schüchterner Rosenknofriger Mädchenkreis. Ist die Wonne verrauscht cueres Wiedersehus; Daß nach beitigem Recht unserer Greise Rath - Daß in Hütt' und Palast biedere Treu und Zucht Daß in jeglicher Kunst, welche zu Menschenwürd' Daß mit Meißel und Farb, und in gestimmtem Klang, Dann mit teiserem Laut fage, wie herzlich hier Bok. *If one of our readers would favour us with an English translation of this energetic and beautiful Ode, for insertion in one of our future numbers, it would be Lighly gratifying to our feelings. Major André was passionately enamoured of Miss Honoria Sneyd, afterwards Mrs. Edgeworth. Her parents forced her to marry agreeably to their wishes, and an early death was the consequence of her obedience. André, disappointed, declined the mercantile line, for which he was intended, entered into the army, and went to America. This was the unfortunate young man who was taken at the west point of North America, and executed as a spy, by order of the inflexible Washington. In vain was the interposition of the British Government, and of all good men who knew him, employed for his release. The ode which the German poet composed on him, proves the excellency of his character. How well he could express his own feelings, the following poem, which he wrote at Hanau, and presented to Voss at parting, will shew. PARTING, |