As Christmas-tide approaches we are reminded of the tenacity of the human mind in clinging to the traditions and customs of the past. It is clear that mankind seldom if ever lets go of anything until ready to have it replaced by something better. The Christmas festival recalls the days when our Druid ancestors offered human sacrifices on their altars, and also the succeeding centuries when barbarous superstitions entwined themselves about the dawning idea of Christianity, hindering for the time its beneficent influence and growth.
The question which most concerns us at this late day is, to what extend have we outgrown conditions confessedly unworthy of man's nobler nature? how clearly do we apprehend the things which fittingly represent the true man? None can deny that we are no longer in ignorance of what man should really be, for nearly two thousand years ago the type was revealed; and though the Evangelist said, "He came unto his own, and received him not," the world to-day acknowledges that Jesus of Nazareth lived the ideal life, spoke the words of truth, was physician, teacher, philosopher, and, above all, was so truly man that it mattered not how far others had strayed from the divine ideal, when his God-like character came within the range of their vision their false sense dropped away, and they were impelled to leave all and follow him. There are multitudes who would gladly follow him now, did they but know the way, for the Christ ideal appeals to all,—it grows larger and larger in the world's consciousness, till we find ourselves measuring all men by this perfect standard. This truth is voiced by the poet Lanier:—
But Thee, but Thee, O Sovereign Seer of time,
But Thee, O poet's Poet, Wisdom's Tongue,
But Thee, O man's best Man, O love's best Love,
O perfect life in perfect labor writ,
O all men's Comrade, Servant, King, or Priest,
