THE CHRISTMAS TREE.

DURING the week before Christmas it is quite common in the towns of Northern Germany, to see carts going about the streets loaded with young fir trees, which are bought and prepared for the anxiously expected evening. The tree is set upright in a stock of wood; on the branches are placed small wax tapers; to them are also hung bon-bons, cakes, gilded nuts, apples, ribbons, all made as gay as possible, varying in splendor with the means of the family. Round the tree are placed the presents of toys, &c, which are to be distributed among the children. The hopes and fears, the little triumphs, and the unbounded merriment may easily be imagined.

In the description of Christmas Eve by Richter and by Coleridge, the Christmas tree is, by one, said to be birch, by the other, yew. Possibly this may be the case in some parts of Germany, or may be, in one case, a mistake of the translator, in the other case of the author; the tree is generally, if not always of fir. The poor in their small villages must often find it difficult to set up their tree and their gifts without the knowledge of the children. That was probably the reason why, formerly, it was exhibited to the children on Christmas morning, before daylight, having been set up after they had been in bed. We are told that it is more common now for the poor to bring out their tree in the evening-the children being sent out of the way during the period occupied in setting it up. It is quite affeeting to see the little simple things which the poor people will buy as Christmas gifts for their children. Little dolls of a few kreutzers in value, some even the mere cost of an English penny. As you pass the cottages in the evening, for a fortnight afterwards, you may see, by the lights within, the little tree with a few apples and figures hung upon it, standing upon a table, and the children around admiring it; if there be a baby, some of them holding it up to see the precious sights. But not only the poor in their cottages have their Christmas tree, in schools and either institutions it is set up. A prettier or more interesting sight we have seldom seen than the celebra

tion of Christmas Day in the Infant-school at Heidelberg. Besides Christmas trees, there were various excellent engravings-one an excellent one of "Christ blessing little children;" a kind of erection of straw-work, on one of which was a dancing bear; on another a tournament, with Knights riding; and with candles burning all over it. These figures revolved by means of a purpendicular spindle, having attached to its top a sort of fan, like the ventilator of a window, which was moved by the warm air ascending from the candles. To the right sat the spectators, many ladies and gentlemen of the place; to the left the parents of the children. The master lit up the tapers on the trees, and a row of them at his feet, and a cry of delight arose from the children. The Master read from his desk an address prepared for the occasion, and after the little children had sung a hymn, prepared for the occasion, they were dismissed one by one with pinafores full of toys. But even inmates of the asylums in Germany are treated to their Christmas tree. Christmas Eve is the great festival in Germany, and is much more regarded than Sunday.

Christmas is held in great honor in England among all classes. While the rich are enjoying the happy flow of family and social feeling, the poor are not forgotten by them in their joy. The good old English gentleman of the ballad is a type of all gentlemen, English or Irish, at the period of Christmas

For while he feasteth all the rich,
He ne'er forgets the poor.

The Palace and the Hall rejoice, and the workhouse shares the universal feasting of the occasion. Paupers, for once at least, in the melancholy round of the year, are made partakers, not of the good feelings which, we trust, they always share, but of the good cheer that is in fashion for one day out of the three hundred and sixty-five. We may not see those things, but we know that such things are. We know that parents and children, friends and lovers, are associated for the purposes of intercommunion and hospitality; and that love under some form or other of its manifestations-of parents for children, children for parents, the young for each other, and of neighbor for neighbor-is the presiding spirit of those homely and homeful festivals

With joy unfeigned brothers and sisters meet;
The social hours, swift-winged, unnoticed fleet,
The parents' partial eye shews hopeful years.

We know that under thousands and tens of thousands of mistletoe boughs kind words are said, and sweet vows registered, often without the aid of lips and eyes and pressure of the palm. We know, too, that acquaintanceship becomes warmer, friendship more cemented, and love more loving, under the influence of this day! Christmas is a great day in America. From Maine to Florida, (particularly at the South) it is a day of general and great rejoicing for all ages and sexes. Oh, how the hearts of the dear children do swell, almost to bursting, under the high pressure of the near approach of Christmas, with its toys, bonons, books, dolls, sights, and we know not what all. Ah, Christmas is, deed, a great day, and Christmas times are the greatest times ever en in this world.

REVOLUTIONARY PIETY.

BY THE EDITOR.

It is always pleasant to remember that many of the men tried and true, who were leaders in our revolutionary struggle were men of piety, and openly acknowledged themselves as such. The fact of their piety is not only a matter of record in their several biographies, but it is also embodied in the published documents and Journals of the nation as the following extract shows :

Among the decidedly religious members of Congress in 1777, Richard Henry Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, from Virginia, is named. On the capture of Burgoyne, a proclamation for a general thanksgiving was ordered; and R. H. Lee, Fr. Witherspoon, and Samuel Adams-the two latter known as orthodox Christians-were appointed to prepare it. Their draft is extant in the Journal, as follows: November 1st, 1777. Done in Congress.

Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligations to him for benefits received, and to implore such further blessing as they stand in need; and it having pleased him, in his abundant mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable mercies of his common providence, but also to smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the independence and establishment of our inalienable rights and liberties, particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a measure, to prosper the means used for the support of our arms, and to crown them with the most signal success; it is therefore recommended to the legislative and executive power of these States to set apart Thursday, the 18th day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the people may express the feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor; and, together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they have forfeited every favor, and their humble and earnest supplication, that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may please him graciously to afford his blessing on the government of these States respectively, and to prosper the public council of the whole; to inspire our commanders both by sea and land, and all under them, with that wisdom and fortitude which may render them fit instruments, under the providence of the Almighty God, to secure for these United States the greatest of all blessings, independence and peace; and it may please him to prosper the trade and manufactures of the people and the labors of the husbandman, that our land may yield its increase; to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for the cultivation of the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety, under his nurturing hand; and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargment

of that kingdom which consisteth "in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

Our object, however, in presenting the above fact, at present, is to call attention to a peculiarity in this Proclamation for a day of general thanksgiving, which is not found in those of our modern Governors: It is the public acknowledgment of the Christian religion. Our modern Proclamations, it is true, acknowledge religion; but it is religion in general, and not distinctively and clearly the Christian religion. They refer to God, as the "Great and Mighty Ruler"-as "the God of nations"— as "the God of Providence"-as "the Disposer of Human events" and so on; phrases in which Deists, Jews, Turks, and even Pagans, can join equally with Christians. We do not remember a single instance in which any terms have been used acknowledging the christian religion, or that made distinct reference to the Christian's God.

How different is the above Proclamation! Here the people are solemnly called upon to make "their humble and earnest supplication, that it may please God, through the merils of Jesus Christ, mercifully to blot them out of remembrance." And they beautifully conclude by a distinct reference to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, "which consisteth in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."

Here is, not religion in general, but the Christian religion in particular" done in Congress." We have often been pained at this omission in our modern proclamations. Why is this vital point omitted? It is not because we have not decidedly christian Governors; for a number of our States have been, and are now, so honored. Is it that the people have become less generally christian, so as not to sustain such a public acknowledgment? This thought it would be sad to entertain. Whereever the cause may lie, the existence of the fact is to be regreted. Ought not our christian men in public life, especially christian Governors, to return firmly to the old and better ways of our fathers? Ought not our religious papers, and generally the christian Editors of the land, to enter their respectful but decided public protest against a custom, by which we as a people, who owe all to the mercy and mediation of Christ, are made virtually to ignore His grace and Kingdom? If the Churches are to be found obedient to a State proclamation, in assembling for public national thanksgiving and praise, they have certainly a right to demand that such proclamations be respectful to the central truth which they confess, and on which rest, not only their most precious hopes, but their very existence as a Christian communion.

NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE TRAINING: Children who have only the negative part of education, consisting exclusively of checks and the curtailment of freedom, are very likely to grow up crooked and prove nuisances to society. As we look upon them in their mature years, and observe their moral distortions, we cannot forbear the conclusion, that in their germinal state they were trodden upon by somebody-by a parent, or by an elder brother or sister, or by a school teacher. They were not trained up in the way they should go, but simply restrained from the way in which they should not go.

THE HOLY CHILD JESUS.

A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION.

BY THE EDITOR.

"SHE gave with joy her virgin breast;
She hid it not, she bared the breast,
Which suckled that divinest babe;
Blessed, blessed were the breasts
Which the Saviour infant kiss'd:
And blessed, blessed was the mother
Who wrapp'd his limbs in swaddling clothes,
Singing, placed him on her lap,
Hung o'er him with her looks of love,
And soothed him with a lulling motion.
Blessed! for she shelter'd him
From the damp and chilling air;-
Blessed, blessed! for she lay

With such a bade in one blest bed,
Close as babes and mothers lie!
Blessed, blessed evermore,
With her virgin lips she kiss'd,
With her arms, and to her breast,
She embraced the babe divine,
Her babe divine the virgin mother!
There lives not on this ring of earth
A mortal that can sing her praise!
Mighty mother, virgin pure,

In the darkness and the night
For us she bore the heavenly Lord."

JUDAISM expected the Messiah to appear as a babe. He was promised as the seed of the woman. As Eve exclaimed, at the birth of her first born: "I have gotten a man the Lord;" so the prophet, as the organ of the Jewish heart, ages afterward, responded in the spirit of the same hope: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and power there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever." Is. 9: 6, 7.

This hope continued to be familiarly cherished by the pious to the time of our Saviour's birth. There is no unnatural surprise at the appearance of the "babe divine." No incongruity is seen or felt in the prophetic picture of a babe with its heel upon the head of a fearful serpent. The angels, the shepherds, the devout Simeons and Annas, and the Magi, were all prepared for the manifestation of an "Infant God !" They did not expect him to appear, after the manner of fabled chimera in paganism, who sprang from the head of Jupiter in full panoply, and power, and perfection.

How natural is this mystery. How true is this incarnation. Its being so true to nature, is the only sign: "Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger."

There lies a deep meaning, and a mysterious power in our Saviour's infancy. Every stage and fact of His life has a vital and necessary connection with the salvation of the world. In endeavoring to concieve of the true meaning and power of our Saviour's infancy, we say much-though perhaps not all, nor yet the best-when we declare that He was the MODEL BABE.

As the ideal infant, as it was expected to appear in Jewish families, wonderfully elevated and sanctified parental affections: so the real in