Epoch of Christ's Birth uncertain. 3 approached Ecclesiastical History, have stopped LECT. I. on the very threshold, and have occupied themselves solely with setting forth the life of Christ, partly because of the accumulation, and partly because of the intricacy of the subject-matter. III. Still, I do not think it can be clearly gathered from Holy Scripture in what year that day of Pentecost fell, neither has there been left any other trace which can with certainty mark it. We know that the birth of Christ took place under the reign of Herod; it is not known how old Herod then was; and we know moreover that He was born at a time when a census in Luke ii. 2. Judæa was being taken by Cyrenius'; but there are no annals to shew what was the year. Therefore from the true birth-day of our Saviour no certain and indubitable epoch can be derived. It is certain that John began the office of Baptist in the fifteenth year of Tiberius; but how long he had exercised it before Christ was baptized by him, how soon after His baptism Christ preached the Gospel, how many passovers were celebrated between His baptism and His death, I cannot clearly discover. The Rabbinic2 1 More probably S. Luke means to say that the taxing which followed on this census was made under Cyrenius. See Wetstein on the passage. 2 Referring to the Sepher Cabbala of Abraham ben Dior, Part 3, (History of the Affairs of the kings of Israel under the second temple,) a work of the 12th century, that was Jos. Ant. 4 Confusion in the Chronology of our Saviour's Life. LECT. I. Jews have wretchedly confused this matter, and, as I conceive, on purpose. Josephus, although he mentions John and Christ, is no guide to the Chronology of their lives; and the earliest Fathers1 & 3. 3. printed at Mantua in 1509, with the Seder Olam Rabba, an historical tract of great authority with the Jews, I find that the reign of Tiberius is thus described: 'And Tiberius Cæsar reigned instead of him (Augustus); and Antipas too did evil and lived abominably above all that were before him, and he took away the wife of Philip his brother from him when she had already borne a child: and R. John, a high priest, reproved him for this abomination, but Antipas smote him and caused him to be put to death; and Tiberius, king of Rome, summoned Antipas, who went to him, and he put him in fetters and removed him to Sepharad (Spain), where he died, (compare Joseph. Jew. War, II. 9, 6); Archelaus, who had been in captivity, died in the time of Tiberius; and Tiberius made Agrippa, son of his brother Aristobulus, whom Herod had put to death, king instead of him (Antipas), and Antipas reigned eleven years over Israel; and in the days of king Agrippa Tiberius Cæsar died, and Caius reigned in his stead.' It will `be observed that all allusion to Christ is carefully avoided. In the first Part (p. 4) of the same work will be found the confusion about our Saviour, which Pearson seems to have more especially in view; it is asserted that Jesus was a disciple of Jehoshuah ben Perechiah, and fled with him to Egypt in the days of Alexander Jannæus. (See Notes in Pearson on the Creed, Fol. Ed. p. 197; and Prideaux' Connexion, Ann. 202). Also it has been suggested to me that Pearson might have intended to censure the Rabbins, who, with the view apparently of disturbing the received opinion that our Lord died, an antitype to the Paschal Lamb, on a Friday, alleged a that forbad the lamb's being (לעלם לא בדו פסח) canon slain on the second, fourth, and sixth, days of the week. (This question is fully discussed in Deyling's Observ. Sac. LII. § 13.) 1 See Benson on the Chronology of our Saviour's Life. will be found to have handed nothing down LECT. I. concerning the years of Christ's ministry; with them the opinion that he preached but one year, which is manifestly incorrect, too soon sprung up and for a long while prevailed. 44. IV. It is plain that Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and further, upon the testimony of Cornelius Tacitus, while Tiberius was emperor of Rome; for he writes of those who were commonly called Christians, The Tac. Ann.xv. author of that name was Christ, who, when Tiberius was emperor, was executed by the procurator Pontius Pilate:' but Josephus briefly describes the affairs of Judæa under the administration of Pilate, and makes no distinction with regard to time. V. The era of Christ (whether originating with Dionysius or our countryman Bede) commonly prevails, according to which they reckon the year now present as 1672. The first year of this era was the year 4714 of the Julian period1, 4 of Roman Indiction, 2 of the cycle of the Moon, 10 of the cycle of the Sun: but it may be held for certain that it is not the true era as regards the Nativity of Christ, since it would 1 The epoch of the Julian period is so taken that each of the other cycles is complete in it. Hence, if we divide the year in the Julian period by 15, 19, or 28, the remainder indicates the year of the cycle of Indiction, of the Moon, or of the Sun, accordingly. LECT. I. not reach to the reign of Herod, under whom, beyond controversy, Christ was born, or to thirty years before the 15th year of Tiberius1. But however that may be, since it would certainly fall before the Passion of Christ, it is sufficient for the exactness of ecclesiastical history if some year in this era be fixed upon in which that day of Pentecost, wherein the Church begun, may be said to have fallen; for from thence to our own time a true series of subsequent events may be traced; moreover, this will be shewn more satisfactorily if the years of the Roman emperors, under whom the affairs in the primitive Church were carried on, and the consuls of the year are at the same time indicated; for both Eusebius, as well in his History as in his Chronological Canons, has noted the years of the emperors, and the Annals of the Consuls have in general been observed by Roman writers: the earliest councils also have distinguished their sessions by reference to the Consuls of the year. A'ex. Chron. Rader's Ed. 524. VI. I lay it down, then, with the Alex1615. pp. 516, andrine Chronicle, as most agreeable to truth, that Christ suffered in the 19th year of Tiberius, the 33d of the common Christian era, 4746 of the Julian period, while Pontius Pilate was procurator in Judæa, and the consuls were Servius Sulpicius Galba and Lucius Corne 1 Luke iii. 1, 23, lius Sylla. Upper Church of the Apostles. 7 Tib. 19. In this year, therefore, on May 24, LECT. I. according to Romish chronologists', 120 men A.D. XXXIII. collected at Jerusalem awaited the speedy fulfilment of Christ's promise. And when the day Acts ii. 1. of Pentecost was fully come, when the fiftieth day from the resurrection of Christ dawned, they were all (i. e. 120, as most interpret it, or, certainly, all the Apostles, as is read in some MSS.) with one accord in one place: and it may be believed that the place was an upper room,' that' upper room' which S. Luke mentions, Acts i. 13. XVI. 4. S. Cyril of Jerusalem writes that there Cyr. Catech. existed in his time the upper church of the Apostles,' which, according to Bede', was founded Bede on Holy Places. c. 2. de Pond. by the Apostles, inasmuch as there they had received the Holy Ghost:' and, in truth, a most ancient church seems to have been built on that spot, though not one founded by the Apostles themselves; for, as Epiphanius relates, when the Epiphanius Emperor Hadrian came to Jerusalem he found c. 14. the whole city entirely overthrown, and the temple of God destroyed 'except a few houses, and the Church of God, which was small;' this, he asserts, was placed on the spot at which the disciples, on their return after the Saviour had ascended from Mount Olivet, went up into the 1 Usher also makes this Pentecost to have taken place on May 24. Works, Vol. x. p. 573. Ed. 1847. 2 Bede here calls it 'a large church.' |