From time to time in good conservative Christian circles there are Bah-Humbug-Christmas-Killjoys who rise up to crush your Christmas joy, saying, "Charles Spurgeon didn't celebrate Christmas!" Let not your heart be troubled.
Like many faithful men in his day, Charles Spurgeon had reservations about the celebration of Christmas. They lived closer to the Reformation by date and proximity than we do today and the Roman Catholic Church held much sway in England and in the origin and celebration of Christmas. Spurgeon's sermons regarding Christmas reflect his genuine concern for the Gospel and the purity of the Church. Nevertheless, in his December 24, 1854, sermon titled "The Birth of Christ," he ended his sermon saying:
Now a happy Christmas to you all; and it will be a happy Christmas if you have God with you. I shall say nothing today against festivities on this great birthday of Christ. We will to-morrow think of Christ's birthday; we shall be obliged to do it, I am sure, however sturdily we may hold to our rough Puritanism...Feast, Christians, feast; you have a right to feast. Go to the house of feasting to-morrow, celebrate your Savior's birth; do not be ashamed to be glad; you have a right to be happy...Religion never was designed to make your pleasures less…Recollect that your Master ate butter and honey. Go your way, rejoice tomorrow, but in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem; let him have a place in your hearts, give him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived him, but think most of all of the Man born, the Child given. I finish by again saying — A HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL! |
