Puritan sermon against Christmas

[Jonas Leandro Rodrigues]

Hello Brothers,

Thanks for accepting to me!

The brothers have any Puritan sermon against Christmas?

I want to translate to Portuguese.

God Bless..

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Here is an historical treatment.
James Gilfillan, Holidays | Naphtali Press
Here is David Calderwood's polemic against holy days in general; I cannot recall a Puritan sermon on xmas in particular.
David Calderwood, Reasons Against Festival Days | Naphtali Press
The texts are my edition of both; You have my permission to translate either or both.

 

[jandrusk]

Interesting. Just sent the two articles to my Kindle. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jonas Leandro Rodrigues]

Hello Brothers!

Thanks for the reply and links! We have available only Calvin comments against Christmas.

Christ be with you guys!

 

[Jackie Kaulitz]

Hello Brothers!

Thanks for the reply and links! We have available only Calvin comments against Christmas.

Christ be with you guys!

Was Calvin for or against Christmas? I've heard claims from both sides and quotes to support both sides of the argument. If someone has real comments from Calvin on the matter, please share.

I found this on a website. Is it true or false?

The war on Christmas was joined in 1537, when, under the influence of John Calvin, Christmas passed without celebration. Unfortunately, Geneva’s allies, the Bernese insisted on celebrating Christmas, Circumcision, Annunciation and a few other holidays and demanded the Genevans do the same. Calvin, refusing to give into Bernese demands, was exiled from Geneva and the celebration of Christmas reinstated. When Calvin came back to Geneva in 1541 after a period of exile, he began militating for the abolition of the non-Biblical holidays. In 1545, he achieved limited success in seeing the feasts of the Circumcision and Annunciation suppressed, but the war on Christmas was a tougher fight. Finally, in 1550, Calvin managed to get the Genevan authorities to outlaw Christmas and to mandate that communion would be celebrated only on Sundays, and not on “superstitious” pagan dates like December 25. Indeed, on Devember 25, 1550, the city council sat for business as usual, the courts were in session and businesses were all open under penalty of fine. Calvin, as usual, gave his weekday sermon on a book of the Old Testament and noticed something that upset him: there were more people in church than on a typical weekday. A committed soldier in the war on Christmas, Calvin boomed from the pulpit: "I see more people than usual at sermon today. And why? It’ s Christmas day. And who told you? It seems so [to be a holy day] to poor beasts. There’ s the fitting label for all who came to sermon today in honor of the feast… But if you think that Jesus Christ was born today, you are beasts, indeed, rabid beasts."

 

[NaphtaliPress]

The sermon cited in that quote seems to be the one from the book of Micah which Slabbert cited on the other thread. While Calvin was more willing to tolerate putting up with some trifles as he might call them, he was no fan of pretended holy days. George Gillespie in his polemic against holy days in his Dispute Against the English Popish Ceremonies (new edition forthcoming 2013) concludes after citing several of the Reformer's letters:

If holy days, in Calvin’s judgment, be fooleries; if he gave advice not to approve them; if he thought them occasions of superstition; if he held it superstition to distinguish one day from another, or to esteem one above another; if he calls them Judaical, though kept to the honor of God, judge then what allowance they had from him. EPC, pt 1, chp 9 §5.
​

 

[OPC'n]

Was Calvin against xmas as being a holy (i.e. teaching on xmas about the birth of Christ bc it was a "holy" day) day or was he against xmas all together (celebrating it with friends and family as a time to enjoy each other's company)?

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Calvin was writing against the observance of his day which was far less separated from the religious and superstitious if at all; so I can't say how he'd exactly address the observances in our day where things have changed to the extent we have an engrained civil secular holiday wrapped up in a superstitious holy day, with all the attending familial and emotional bonds formed as an annual time folks get to be with family. I suspect he'd put up with some things, and in others call us "poor beasts."

 

[OPC'n]

Calvin was writing against the observance of his day which was far less separated from the religious and superstitious if at all; so I can't say how he'd exactly address the observances in our day where things have changed to the extent we have an engrained civil secular holiday wrapped up in a superstitious holy day, with all the attending familial and emotional bonds formed as an annual time folks get to be with family. I suspect he'd put up with some things, and in others call us "poor beasts."

Yeah, I suspect that he wouldn't be against us visiting our families in order to spend quality time with them. I'm blessed that most of my family lives near me and I can see them anytime, but for some ppl xmas is a time when they have off from work and is a great opportunity to travel to see their family that they don't see very often. I make it my goal to work TH, xmas, and NY bc those days don't hold any special sentiment for me. I and my family celebrate those holidays on different days bc it's not really the day that we love but the time we enjoy being together.