Spurgeon on Christmas
"We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly, we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because [it's] not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour's birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred..."
Spurgeon, C.H. "Joy Born At Bethlehem," A sermon: delivered on a Lord's Day Morning, December 24th, 1871. Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, pp. 697-698.
When he said, "We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons," he spoke the language of the believers of his time. Since then the number of the "superstitious" and sentimental in the churches has greatly increased.
When he said, "Certainly, we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas," he spoke a truth that in the following generations has been so forgotten and hidden that many think it is the most normal and right thing in the world to celebrate Christmas. What they do not realize is that 150 years ago it was not a Christian practice. How quickly worldly traditions become almost laws in the churches. One family breaks away and celebrates Christmas, and it becomes a "memory" and "tradition" for their children and grandchildren. With the passing of time no one remembers a time when Christmas was not celebrated, but this is a mere ignorance from lack of historical perspective. Yet once sentimentalism and family tradition take hold on the heart, the celebration is extremely difficult to eradicate, because many people do not reason Biblically but emotionally.
