CHRISTINA-CHRISTMAS. crown of Poland, but was unnoticed by the Poles. The remainder of her life was spent in Rome in artistic and scientific pursuits. Besides founding an academy, she collected valuable MSS., medals, and paintings. Much of her conduct indicates that at times she was scarcely sane. CHRISTINA: Queen of Spain: see MARIA CHRISTINA. CHRISTISON, kris'ti-son, Sir ROBERT, D.C.L.: physician: 1797, July 18-1882, Jan. 27; b. Edinburgh; son of Alexander Christison, prof. of humanity in the Univ. of Edinburgh. He was educated at the high school, and 1811, became a student at the univ. After graduating 1819, he went to London and Paris; and, in the French capital, studied toxicology under the celebrated Orfila, a department of medical science in which in Britain his name has become eminent. Commencing the practice of medicine at Edinburgh, he was, 1822, appointed prof. of medical jurisprudence in the univ. of that city, and, 1832, was promoted to the chair of materia medica. Besides contributing papers on various subjects to medical journals, C. is author of a Treatise on Poisons, published 1829, a standard work; Biographical Sketch of Edward Turner, M.D. (1837), being an address delivered before the Harveian Soc. of Edinburgh; a treatise On Granular Degeneration of the Kidneys (1839); and The Dispensatory, a Commentary on the Pharmacoparias of Great Britain (1842). Twice pres. of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and ordinary physician to the queen in Scotland, in 1871 he was created a baronet. In 1877, Sir Robert retired from professorial and other public work. CHRISTMAS, kris'mus [Christ, and mass: OE. Cristemasse]: the day on which the nativity of the Savior is observed-assigned to Dec. 25. The institution of this festival is attributed by the spurious Decretals to Telesphorus, in the reign of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161), but the first certain traces of it are found about the time of the Emperor Commodus (180-192). In the reign of Diocletian (284-305), while that ruler was keeping court at Nicomedia, he learned that a multitude of Christians were assembled in the city to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, and having ordered the church-doors to be closed, he set fire to the building, and all the worshippers perished in the flames. It does not appear, however, that there was any uniformity in the period of observing the nativity among the early churches; some held the festival in May or Apr., others in Jan. There is no reason to suppose that Dec. 25 was the day of Christ's nativity; indeed, it is not evident that it could have been; for it is then the height of the rainy season in Judea, when shepherds could hardly have been watching their flocks by night in the plains. C. not only became the parent of many later festivals, such as those of the Virgin, but, especially from the 5th to the 8th c., gathered round it several other festivals, partly old and partly new, so that what may be termed a Christmas Cycle sprang up, which surpassed all other groups of Christian holidays in the manifold richness of its festal CHRISTMAS. usages, and furthered, more than any other, the comple tion of the orderly and systematic distribution of church festivals over the whole year. Not casually or arbitrarily was the festival of the nativity celebrated on Dec. 25. Among the causes that co-operated in fixing this period as the proper one, perhaps the most powerful was, that almost all the heathen nations regarded the winter-solstice, which occurs at about this time, as a most important point of the year, as the beginning of the renewed life and activity of the powers of nature, and of the gods, who were originally merely the symbolical personifications of these powers. In more northerly countries, this fact must have made itself peculiarly palpable-hence the Celts and Germans, from the oldest times, celebrated the season with the greatest festivities At the winter-solstice, the Germans held their great Yule feast (see YULE), in commemoration of the return of the fiery sun-wheel; and believed that during the 12 nights from Dec. 25 to Jan. 6, they could trace t13 personal movements and interferences on earth of their great deities, Odin, Berchta, etc. Many of the beliefs and usages of the old Germans, and of the Romans, relating to this matter, passed over from heathenism into Christianity, and have partly survived to the present day. But the church also sought to combat and banish-and it was to a large extent successful-the deep-rooted heathen feeling, by aiding-for the purification of the heathen customs and feasts which it retained-its grandly devised liturgy, be sides dramatic representations of the birth of Christ and the first events of his life. Hence sprang the so called 'Manger-songs,' and a multitude of C. carols, as well as C. dramas, which, at certain times and places, degenerated into farces or Fools' Feasts (q.v.). Hence also originated, at a later period, the Christ-trees, or C.-trees, adorned with lights and gifts, the custom of reciprocal presents, and of specia! C. meats and dishes, such as C. cakes, dumplings, In recent years, it has become usual for friends to forward to one another, by post, gayly-illuminated Christmascards, bearing Christmas greetings, though this custom seems now on the wane. etc. In the Rom. Cath. Church, three masses are performed at C.-one at midnight, one at daybreak, and one in the morning. The day is celebrated also by the Anglo-Cath. Church and the Prot. Episc. Church in the United Statesspecial psalms are sung, a special preface is made in the communion service, and (in the English Church) the Athanasian creed is said or sung. The Lutheran Church, on the European continent, and in America, likewise observes C.; but the Presbyterian Churches in Scotland, and large portions of the English dissenters, reject it, in its religious aspect, as a 'human invention,' and as 'savoring of papistical will-worship;' although, in England, dissenters as well as churchmen use it as a social holiday, on which there is cessation from all business. Its religious observance, however, is manifestly growing in favor in recent years among all non-prelatical denominations, both in England and in the United States. Its suggestions of the CHRISTMAS BOX-CHRISTMAS CAROLS Son of God as a little child are so sweet and tender, that it has commended itself as a children's day, and therefore & family day, and thence as a day within the cognizance of the church for spiritual uses. But within the last hundred years, the festivities often degenerating into wild revel, once customary at what is known as the C. season, (Dec. 25-Jan. 6), have much fallen off. These at one time lasted with more or less brilliancy till Candlemas, and with great spirit till Twelfth-day; but now a meeting in the evening, composed, when possible, of the various branches and members of a family, is the chief social and festal distinction of the day. CHRISTMAS-BOX: box holding a small money-gift to persons in an inferior condition, presented on the day after Christmas, which is hence popularly called boxing-day. The term, and also the custom, are essentially English, though the making of presents at this season and at the new year is of great antiquity. Interesting particulars concerning the C. B. are given in Brand's Popular Antiquities. Within the memory of middle-aged persons, the practice of giving Christmas boxes, or petty presents, to apprentices, domestic servants, and tradesmen, had become a serious social nuisance, particularly in London, where every ola custom seems to linger and is most difficult to be set aside. Householders felt under an obligation to give money to the apprentices in the shops where they dealt; also to various inferior parish officers, including scavengers and lamplighters; while shopkeepers, on the other hand, were equally impelled to make presents to the male and female servants of their customers. Thus, as referred to in Christmas, a poem: Gladly, the boy, with Christmas-box in hand, With joy.' At length the C.-B. system became such an intolerable grievance, that tradesmen stuck up notices in their windows that no Christmas-boxes would be given; and at the same time the public authorities issued remonstrances to the same effect. At Christmas 1836, the secretary of state for foreign affairs issued a circular to the different embassies requesting a discontinuance of the customary gifts to the messengers of the foreign department, and other government servants, and the practice has since greatly decreased. CHRISTMAS CAROLS: quaint, grotesque, popular ditties, or more dignitied songs of Christian joy customarily sung at Christmas time. The word carol [It. carola, and Fr. carole, a round dance-probably from Lat. corolla; Welsh, coroli, to reel, to dance; the name is thence applied to the music or song accompanying such a darce: curillon is probably allied] signifies a song of joy. The practice of singing carols, or, at all events, sacred music, in celebration of the nativity of Christ as early as the second c., is con CHPISTMAS ROSE-CHRISTOLOGY sidered as proved by the fact that a large sarcophagus belong ing to that period has sculptured upon it a representation of a Christian family joining in choral praise for this purpose. A century or two after this, however, the C. C. seem to have sadly degenerated, and to have become so indecent, that the clergy found it necessary to forbid them. Under the Anglo-Saxon kings, merriment and piety were pleasantly combined in English life, a peculiarity that affected the C. C. of that period not a little; but by the 13th c. the jocoseness had unhappily lapsed into what would now be profaneness. The oldest printed collection of English C. C. bears date 1521. The majority of these, though written by men of learning-priests and teachers-exhibit a lamentable ignorance of the character of the two most prominent persons in the carols-Mary and Jesus. In 1525 was kept the still Christmas,' on account of the illnes of King Henry; but with this exception, the sacred season appears to have been regularly celebrated with joyous music and songs during the Tudor period. In 1562, C. C. of a more solema nature were introduced. By the Puritan parliament, Christmas was abolished altogether, as a remnant of popery, and politically as a rallying point for sedition against the government, and holly and ivy were made seditious badges; and in 1630 the psalms, arranged as carols, were advertised. After the restoration the C. C. again exhibited a hearty, cheerful, and even a jovial character. Those carols with which the dawn of Christmas is now announced in England are generally religious, though not universally so. In France the carols at this season used to be much less sacred than gay. Often, indeed, they were grossly bachanalian. In the United States Christmas carols form a tasteful and well-ordered part of many church-services at this season, especially those in which children have a prominent part. See an interesting paper in the Athenaum, 1856, Dec. 20; also Sandy's Christmas Carols, 8vo, 1833; Sylvester's Christmas Carols and Ballads. CHRISTMAS ROSE: see HELLEBORE. CHRISTOLOGY: doctrine of the person of Christ. The word itself is found rarely in the divines of the 17th c. (see Dean Trench on the Study of Words), but the department on scientific theology which it now represents is almost entirely the growth of modern, particularly of German, inquiry. The word C. has but lately become accredited in Great Britain; but it indicates an important and increasing discussion throughout Christendom in this department of theological science. There are only three methods of apprehending the doctrine of the person of Christ: see CHRIST, THE. First, there is the rationalistic method. This consists in representing the development of the Messianic idea in Jewish history as purely natural, conditioned by purely human and historical influences-in short, as a subjective or self-originated notion, to which there was no correspondent divine reality. Second, there is what, for want of a better word, may be called the spiritualistic method (that of theologians like Neander Rothe, etc.). CHRISTOPHE, This consists in representing the development of the Mes sianic idea in Jewish history as both natural and supernatural; that is to say, it asserts the existence of a divine objective reality (the eternal Son of God') as the basis of the subjective idea in the minds of the Jews, and regards the growth of that idea, and the influence of historical circumstances, as the result of a supernatural providence, which culminated in the revelation of the mystery of godliness-even He who was manifested in the flesh.' Third, there is the dogmatic method, which is the one accepted by the common order of theologians. This consists in representing the doctrine of the person of Christ as symbolically known to the spiritually-minded among God's people from the earliest ages. 'Abraham saw his (Christ's) day afar off.' This is interpreted to signify that, by the grace of prophetic illumination, the righteous men of old were enabled to foresee in a mysterious and inexplicable manner the atonement of Christ, as it eventuated in later history. Admitting with the spiritualistic theologians, that the Messianic idea among the Jews underwent, in some sense, a historical development, the dogmatic Christologists differ, in general, from the former by attributing to the higher minds such a knowledge of the work of Christ, as logically involves a knowledge of his person and character. The entire absence, however, in the Old Testament, not indeed of any personal traits of the Christ but of any develop. ment of these into a fully-organized character, such as might be expected of those who had prophetically seen him in his historic personality, even with the eye of faith, has induced many orthodox' theologians to shrink from making any statement in regard to what may have been the doctrine of the person of Christ among the ancient Jews CHRISTOPHE, krēs-tof, HENRI, King of Hayti· 1767, Oct. 6-1820, Oct. 8: at one period a slave and tavern-cook in Cape Town, San Domingo, and afterward overseer of a plantation. In 1790, he joined the black insurgents against the French, and, from his gigantic stature, energy, and courage, soon became a leader among them. By Toussaint L'Ouverture, he was appointed brig. gen., and employed to suppress an insurrection headed by Moyse, or Moses, his nephew. C. captured the latter, and, on his execution, succeeded him as gov. of the northern province of French San Domingo. In 1802, he gallantly defended Cape Town when Gen. Leclerc arrived there with a French army intended for the reduction of the blacks, and effected his retreat with 3,000 men, after having burned the greater part of the town. The perfidious seizure of Toussaint, he amply revenged, and during the short lived government of Dessalines, who was slain by a military conspiracy 1806, Oct., C. was gen.in-chief of the Haytian army. In 1807, Feb., he was appointed pres. of Hayti for life. A republic being, about the same time, organized at Port-an-Prince, with Petion at its head, civil war commenced between them. 1811, Mar 28, C. was proclaimed king of Havti. by the name of Henri I., |