December 25.—Christmas day—the nativity of our Lord and Savior; the day he left his throne on high, and came in his humility to dwell on earth, and on which was sung in heaven
“Gloria in excelsis! peace! to man
Good will!—thus, on night’s stillness, roll’d the song,
And through the high celestial portals ran,
Startling the rustic throng;
While soft the herald angel’s work of love
Breath’d hope to fallen souls, and a rich chain
Of lengthening mercy from the realms above
Bound earth to heaven again.”
“Good will to man!” Many of our enemies profess to believe these precious words, and yet how little of it they manifest for us.
What visions of cheer does not the sound of “Merry Christmas” bring in review— happiness, plenty, and a forgetting for a few short hours the cares of this weary world! This one has been any thing but merry to us; a gloom has hung over all, that, do what we will, we can not dispel. Our thoughts, whether we will or no, wander to where our armies are struggling to maintain our rights against fearful odds. Alas! when will this strife and bloodshed cease? When will we have peace? “Sweet peace is in her grave!”
The weather is very inclement; too much so for us to attend the services of the sanctuary. Last evening I visited St. John’s Church. It was very beautifully dressed with evergreens, I thought more so than I had ever seen it before. I am told that all the Episcopal Churches in the city are decorated the same.
