The Spirit of Christmas Paperback - 1984

Name: The Spirit of Christmas (Christmas Classic)
Price: 7.43 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Van Dyke, Henry
ISBN: 9780897830331

by Henry Van Dyke

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Summary

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness - are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

From the publisher

[S]urely that need not and ought not to be the whole of Christmas-only a single day or generosity, ransomed from the dull servitude of a selfish year, -only a single night of merry-making, celebrated in the slave-quarters of a selfish race! If every gift is the token of a personal thought, a friendly feeling, an unselfish interest in the joy of others, then the thought, the feeling, the interest, may remain after the gift is made. -from Christmas-Giving and Christmas-Living A popular pastor and poet at the turn of the 20th century, Henry Van Dyke sings the praises of acts of kindness and generosity, of good will and good cheer, and of the spirit of Christmas. First published in 1905 this charming volume includes: Xa dream-story: The Christmas Angel Xa little essay: Christmas-Giving and Christmas-Living Xa short Christmas sermon: Keeping Christmas Xtwo Christmas prayers: For the Home and For Lonely Folks Also available from Cosimo Classics: Van Dyke's The Spirit of America OF INTEREST TO: lovers of Christmas American author and clergyman HENRY VAN DYKE (1852-1933) was pastor of Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1883 to 1899 and professor of English literature at Princeton University from 1899 to 1923. He wrote numerous books of poetry and devotion, including Little Rivers (1895), The Other Wise Man (1896), and Fisherman's Luck (1899).