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Introduction readers it accessary t 0 place our Lord ' s birth before the » u < Lielate , not mine own , nor as mv own , but the opinion of the most learned ch ronologers ; the sum and conclusion whereof is , that the birth of our Saviour was in September , at the time of the
feast ofTabernacles , and not in December , as the memory thereof is now celebrated . And then he gives at some length , and botter and more strongly stated than I recollect to have seen it elsewhere , the reason upon which these chrouologers ground their coiiclusion .
Calvisius ( Chronol . p . 424 , col . 2 , edit . Fraucof . 1685 , fol . ) places the birth " circa initium mensis Octobris , flnito Festo Tabernaculomni ; " Mr . Arthur Bedford , at the feast of Tabernacles , Sunday , October 7 th , and Whiston on the 25 th of the same month . The latter has a
curious note to shew that if the ancient Christians intended to point out the 25 th of December as the exact day of the nativity , they were certainly mistaken therein : but he rather relies upon " an uncommon observation which he had from
a very great man , " [ qu . if Dr . Clarke or Sir Isaac Newton ?] that the Christian holidays were not meant to declare that the particular event occurred on that particular day ; but that whenever any day was polluted by the licentious and idolatrous rites of the Heathens , the Christians endeavoured to sanctify that
day by affix ing some solemnity of their own to it . Thus they fixed on the 25 th of December for the birth of Jesus , without knowing on what day it happened , merely because the Heathens celebrated their Saturnalia at that time . ( See his
Harmony , pp . 1 G 1 —163 . ) Probably the leader will think this remark more ingenious than just , at least , such a practice , * f it ever prevailed , would be as likely to corrupt Christianity as to purify Paganism .
Archbishop Newcome , taking the mean between the two extremes of the middle ° f August and the middle of November aid down by lordlier , ( Vol . I . p 353 of Ui * Works , edit . 1788 , 8 vo . or p . 799 ,
V <> 1- II . Part I . edit . 1741 , 8 vo ., ) places I ' * - ' birth of Jesus on the 1 st of October ; « l » d supposes that he was baptized in the sa » ie month . ( See his Harmony , p . 2 , () mid p . 5 bottom , Notes , 1778 , fol . ) ai ?
•^ > o says , " Probably John began to preach when he was 30 years of age . ^ Numb . iv . 3 , 47 , that is , about six mon ths before Jesus ' s baptism . " ( Ibid . P- •> , middle . ) ' ' <¦ - Clerc seems to think tlie month of ° ai lord ' s birth quite uuceitain . " No-
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dle- < oc 754 / Necessary * For wks& $ No reason is aaeigijefl , np authority quoted , no probability mentioned for so placing it , or for supposing it to have happened so early in the year . The necessity for placing it thus early seems to be no other than this , thai , unless it be so placed , the chronoi < ogical difficulty cannot be got rid of , so as to reconcile the fictitious Luke with
the true . But if this be a sufficient necessity , it will authorize us to get rid of the chronological difficulty in the Introduction to Matthew ' s Gospel , in the same way . We have only to
suppose that Jesus at his baptism in 782 was not yet 35 years of age , aad we must then place his birth in 747 ( in which year , Dec . 25 , Bp . Pearce places it ); and if we say that Matthew ' s Introduction renders it
necescessary to place it before the last six days of that year , we shall reconcile at once the pseudo-Matthew ( ii . 16 ) with the genuine Luke < iii . 1 and 23 );
the chronological difficulty will vanish , and all will go smoothly on without disturbing the day established for the nativity . The wise men might arrive at Jerusalem in 749 , in proper time for Herod to be " troubled and all
Jerusalem with hirp ; " he might call a council of " all the chief priesis and scribes of the people ; " iqight privily inquire of the star-gazers diligently , " or exactly , " what time the . star appeared ; " they might follow their leader , the eastern luminary , to Bethlehem , " till it came and stood
over where the young child was , " saved them the necessity of " searching for it diligently ; " might offer their precious treasures and their still more precious worship ; might be " warned in a dreaui" ( the star it seems , a mere outward-bound convoy , had nothing more to do with them ) " not to return to Herod , " who , when he saw that he
was " mocked , might be exceedmg wroth , " and might issue the mandate for his " belluina crudditas" in time Jim negare , " says he , " aut aifirma * e na ~
turn esso Christum hoc aut lllo me « sc armi Juliani 4 1 : quia res mimme constat . Hoc unum constare posse mihi videtur , natum eum esse hoc anno , quanquam ignotus est mensis . " Dtesert . the first , annexed to his Harmony of tl * e Gospels , p . 5 O 8 , col . 1 , etlk . Am « iH . 169 J , fol .
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theisr Gkfwwfogy iACGiuittent tftiek Truth and with keelf . 261
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1822, page 261, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2512/page/5/
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