Part I, Chapter 11, 1

Of the Times of the Birth and Passion of Christ.

The times of the Birth and Passion of Christ, with such like niceties, being not material to religion, were little regarded by the Christians of the first age. Those who first began to celebrate them placed them in the cardinal periods of the year; as the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, on the 25th of March, which when Julius Cæsar corrected the Calendar was the vernal Equinox; the feast of John Baptist on the 24th of June, which was the summer Solstice; the feast of St. Michael on Sept. 29, which was the autumnal Equinox; and the birth of Christ on the winter Solstice, Decemb. 25, with the feasts of St. Stephen, St. John and the Innocents, as near it as they could place them. And because the Solstice in time removed from the 25th of December to the 24th, the 23d, the 22d, and so on backwards, hence some in the following centuries placed the birth of Christ on Decemb. 23, and at length on Decemb. 20: and for the same reason they seem to have set the feast of St. Thomas on Decemb. 21, and that of St. Matthew on Sept. 21. So also at the entrance of the Sun into all the signs in the Julian Calendar they placed the days of other Saints; as the conversion of Paul on Jan. 25, when the Sun entered [Aquarius]; St. Matthias on Feb. 25, when it entered [Pisces]; St. Mark on Apr. 25, when it entered [Taurus]; Corpus Christi on May 26, when it entered [Gemini]; St. James on July 25, when it entered [Cancer]; St. Bartholomew on Aug. 24, when it entered [Virgo]; Simon and Jude on Octob. 28, when it entered [Scorpio]: and if there were any other remarkable days in the Julian Calendar, they placed the Saints upon them, as St. Barnabas on June 11, where Ovid seems to place the feast of Vesta and Fortuna, and the goddess Matuta; and St. Philip and James on the first of May, a day dedicated both to the Bona Dea, or Magna Mater, and to the goddess Flora, and still celebrated with her rites. All which shows that these days were fixed in the first Christian Calendars by Mathematicians at pleasure, without any ground in tradition; and that the Christians afterwards took up with what they found in the Calendars.

Neither was there any certain tradition about the years of Christ. For the Christians who first began to inquire into these things, as Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Tertullian, Julius Africanus, Lactantius, Jerome, St. Austin, Sulpicius Severus, Prosper, and as many as place the death of Christ in the 15th or 16th year of Tiberius, make Christ to have preached only one year, or two at most. At length Eusebius discovered four successive Passovers in the Gospel of John, and thereupon set on foot an opinion that he preached three years and a half; and so died in the 19th year of Tiberius. Others afterwards, finding the opinion that he died in the Equinox Mar. 25, more consonant to the times of the Jewish Passover, in the 17th and 20th years, have placed his death in one of those two years. Neither is there any greater certainty in the opinions about the time of his birth. The first Christians placed his baptism near the beginning of the 15th year of Tiberius; and thence reckoning thirty years backwards, placed his birth in the 43d year of the Julian era, the 42d of Augustus and 28th of the Actian victory. This was the opinion which obtained in the first ages, till Dionysius Exiguus, placing the baptism of Christ in the 16th year of Tiberius, and misinterpreting the text of Luke, iii. 23, as if Jesus was only beginning to be 30 years old when he was baptized, invented the common account, in which his birth is placed two years later than before. As therefore relating to these things there is no tradition worth considering, let us lay them all aside and examine what conclusions can be drawn from records of good account.

The fifteenth year of Tiberius began Aug. 28, An. J.P. 4727. So soon as the winter was over, and the weather became warm enough, we may reckon that John began to baptize; and that before next winter his fame went abroad, and all the people came to his baptism, and Jesus among the rest. From this, the first Passover after his baptism, mentioned John ii. 13, was in the 16th year of Tiberius. After this feast Jesus came into the land of Judea, and stayed there baptizing, while John was baptizing in Ænon, John iii. 22, 23. But when he heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee, Mat. iii. 12, being afraid, because the Pharisees had heard that he baptized more disciples than John, John iv. 1; and in his journey he passed through Samaria four months before the harvest, John iv. 35, that is, about the time of the winter Solstice. For their harvest was between Easter and Whitsunday, and began about a month after the vernal Equinox. "Do you not say," he says, "that there are still four months, and then comes harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are already white for harvest"; meaning that the people in the fields were ready for the Gospel, as his next words show¹. John therefore was imprisoned about November, in the 17th year of Tiberius; and Christ thereupon went from Judea to Cana of Galilee in December, and was received there by the Galileans, who had seen all he did at Jerusalem at the Passover; and when a Nobleman of Capernaum heard that he was returned into Galilee, and went to him and asked him to come and cure his son, he did not go there yet, but only said, "Go on your way, your son lives"; and the Nobleman returned and found it so, and believed, he and his house, John iv. This is the beginning of his miracles in Galilee; and thus far John is full and distinct in relating the actions of his first year, omitted by the other Evangelists. The rest of his history is from this time related more fully by the other Evangelists than by John; for what they relate he omits.

From this time therefore Jesus taught in the Synagogues of Galilee on the sabbath-days, being praised by all: and coming to his own city Nazareth, and preaching in their Synagogue, they were offended, and thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built to cast him headlong; but he passing through the midst of them, went his way, and came and dwelt at Capernaum, Luke iv. And by this time we may reckon the second Passover was either past or at hand.

All this time Matthew passes over in few words, and here begins to relate the preaching and miracles of Christ. "When Jesus," he says, "had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt at Capernaum, and from that time began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, Matth. iv. 12." Afterwards he called his disciples Peter, Andrew, James and John; and then went about all Galilee, teaching in the Synagogues—and healing all manner of sickness—and his fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to him all sick people—and there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan, Matth. iv. 18, 25. All this was done before the sermon on the mount: and therefore we may certainly reckon that the second Passover was past before the preaching of that sermon. The multitudes that followed him from Jerusalem and Judea show that he had lately been there at the feast. The sermon on the mount was made when great multitudes came to him from all places, and followed him in the open fields; which is an argument of the summer-season: and in this sermon he pointed at the lilies of the field then in the flower before the eyes of his auditors. "Consider," he says, "the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not toil, and they do not spin; yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. So if God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, etc." Matth. vi. 28. So the grass of the field was now in flower, and by consequence the month of March with the Passover was past.

Let us see therefore how the rest of the feasts follow in order in Matthew's Gospel: for he was an eyewitness of what he relates, and so tells all things in due order of time, which Mark and Luke do not.

Some time after the sermon on the mount, when the time came that he should be received, that is, when the time of a feast came that he should be received by the Jews, he set his face to go to Jerusalem: and as he went with his disciples in the way, the Samaritans in his passage through Samaria having denied him lodging, a certain Scribe said to him, "Master, I will follow you wherever you go"; Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head," Matth. viii. 19. Luke ix. 51, 57. The Scribe told Christ he would bear him company in his journey, and Christ replied that he had no lodging. Now this feast I take to be the feast of Tabernacles, because soon after I find Christ and his Apostles on the sea of Tiberias in a storm so great, that the ship was covered with water and in danger of sinking, till Christ rebuked the winds and the sea, Matth. viii. 23. For this storm shows that winter was now come on.

After this Christ did many miracles, and went about all the cities and villages of Galilee, teaching in their Synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness, and every disease among the people, Matth. ix; he then sent forth the twelve to do the like, Matth. x; and at length when he had received a message from John, and answered it, he said to the multitudes, "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence"; and he upbraided the cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, in which most of his mighty works were done, because they did not repent, Matth. xi. Which several passages show that from the imprisonment of John till now there had been a considerable length of time: the winter was now past, and the next Passover was at hand; for immediately after this, Matthew, in chap. xii, subjoins, that Jesus went on the sabbath-day through the corn, and his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat—rubbing them, Luke says, in their hands: the corn therefore was not only in the ear, but ripe; and consequently the Passover, in which the first-fruits were always offered before the harvest, was now come or past. Luke calls this sabbath [Greek: deuteroprôton], the second prime sabbath, that is, the second of the two great feasts of the Passover. As we call Easter day high Easter, and its octave low Easter or Lowsunday: so Luke calls the feast on the seventh day of the unleavened bread, the second of the two prime sabbaths.

Of the Times of the Birth and Passion of Christ.

The times of the birth and passion of Christ, and such fine points, do not bear on religion, so the Christians of the first age paid them little attention. Those who first celebrated them placed them at the cardinal points of the year: the annunciation of the Virgin Mary on the 25th of March, which was the vernal equinox when Julius Cæsar corrected the calendar; the feast of John Baptist on the 24th of June, the summer solstice; the feast of St. Michael on Sept. 29, the autumnal equinox; and the birth of Christ on the winter solstice, Decemb. 25, with the feasts of St. Stephen, St. John and the Innocents placed as near to it as they could. And because the solstice in time moved from the 25th of December to the 24th, then the 23d, then the 22d, and so further back, some in the following centuries placed the birth of Christ on Decemb. 23, and at last on Decemb. 20; and for the same reason they seem to have set the feast of St. Thomas on Decemb. 21 and that of St. Matthew on Sept. 21. In the same way they set the days of other saints at the entrance of the Sun into each sign in the Julian calendar: the conversion of Paul on Jan. 25, when the Sun entered [Aquarius]; St. Matthias on Feb. 25, when it entered [Pisces]; St. Mark on Apr. 25, when it entered [Taurus]; Corpus Christi on May 26, when it entered [Gemini]; St. James on July 25, when it entered [Cancer]; St. Bartholomew on Aug. 24, when it entered [Virgo]; Simon and Jude on Octob. 28, when it entered [Scorpio]. And if the Julian calendar held any other notable day, they placed a saint on it, as St. Barnabas on June 11, where Ovid seems to place the feast of Vesta and Fortuna and the goddess Matuta; and St. Philip and James on the first of May, a day dedicated both to the Bona Dea, or Magna Mater, and to the goddess Flora, and still celebrated with her rites. All of this shows that these days were fixed in the first Christian calendars by mathematicians at pleasure, with no ground in tradition, and that Christians later accepted what they found in the calendars.

Nor was there any certain tradition about the years of Christ. The Christians who first began to look into these questions, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Tertullian, Julius Africanus, Lactantius, Jerome, St. Austin, Sulpicius Severus, Prosper, and all who place the death of Christ in the 15th or 16th year of Tiberius, hold that Christ preached only one year, or two at most. At last Eusebius found four Passovers in succession in the Gospel of John, and on that basis started the view that he preached three years and a half, and so died in the 19th year of Tiberius. Others later, finding that the view that he died at the equinox on Mar. 25 fit better with the times of the Jewish Passover in the 17th and 20th years, have placed his death in one of those two years. Nor is there any more certainty in the views about the time of his birth. The first Christians placed his baptism near the beginning of the 15th year of Tiberius, and counting thirty years back from that, placed his birth in the 43d Julian year, the 42d of Augustus and 28th of the Actiac victory. This was the view that held in the first ages, until Dionysius Exiguus, placing the baptism of Christ in the 16th year of Tiberius and misreading the text of Luke, iii. 23, as if Jesus was only beginning to be 30 years old when he was baptized, created the usual account, in which his birth falls two years later than before. Since, then, there is no tradition worth considering on these matters, let us lay all of it aside and examine what preliminary conclusions can be drawn from records of good standing.

The fifteenth year of Tiberius began on Aug. 28, An. J.P. 4727. As soon as the winter was over and the weather grew warm enough, we may suppose that John began to baptize, and that before the next winter his fame went abroad and all the people came to his baptism, Jesus among them. So the first Passover after his baptism, mentioned in John ii. 13, fell in the 16th year of Tiberius. After this feast Jesus came into the land of Judea and stayed there baptizing, while John was baptizing in Ænon, John iii. 22, 23. But when he heard that John was thrown into prison, he left for Galilee, Mat. iii. 12, afraid, because the Pharisees had heard that he baptized more disciples than John, John iv. 1. On his journey he passed through Samaria four months before the harvest, John iv. 35, that is, about the time of the winter solstice, for their harvest lay between Easter and Whitsunday and began about a month after the vernal equinox. Do you say, he told them, that there are still four months and then comes the harvest? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white and ready for harvest. He meant that the people in the fields were ready for the gospel, as his next words show¹. John was therefore imprisoned about November, in the 17th year of Tiberius, and Christ then went from Judea to Cana of Galilee in December, and the Galileans received him there, because they had seen all he did at Jerusalem at the Passover. When a nobleman of Capernaum heard that he had come back to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come and cure his son. Jesus did not go there, but only said, Go on your way, your son lives; and the nobleman went back and found it so, and he and his whole household believed, John iv. This is the start of his miracles in Galilee, and up to this point John gives a full and exact account of the actions of his first year, which the other Evangelists leave out. From here the other Evangelists tell the rest of his history more fully than John does, for he omits what they relate.

From this time Jesus taught in the synagogues of Galilee on the sabbath days, and was praised by all. He came to his own city Nazareth and preached in their synagogue, but they were offended and pushed him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built to throw him headlong; but he passed through the middle of them, went on his way, and came and lived at Capernaum, Luke iv. By this time we may suppose the second Passover had either passed or was close at hand.

Matthew passes over all this time in a few words, and here begins to tell of the preaching and miracles of Christ. When Jesus, he says, had heard that John was thrown into prison, he left for Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and lived at Capernaum, and from that time began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, Matth. iv. 12. Afterwards he called his disciples Peter, Andrew, James and John, and then went about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and healing every kind of sickness, and his fame went throughout all Syria; they brought to him all the sick people, and great crowds followed him from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan, Matth. iv. 18, 25. All of this happened before the sermon on the mount, so we can be sure the second Passover had passed before that sermon was preached. The crowds that followed him from Jerusalem and Judea show that he had lately been there at the feast. The sermon on the mount was given when great crowds came to him from every place and followed him out in the open fields, which points to the summer season; and in that sermon he pointed at the lilies of the field then in flower before the eyes of his listeners. Look, he said, at the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not work, and they do not spin; yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. And if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, etc. Matth. vi. 28. So the grass of the field was in flower at that time, and therefore the month of March and the Passover had passed.

Let us then see how the rest of the feasts follow in order in Matthew's gospel, for he was an eyewitness of what he relates and so tells everything in its due order of time, which Mark and Luke do not.

Some time after the sermon on the mount, when the time came that he should be received, that is, when a feast came at which the Jews were to receive him, he set out for Jerusalem. As he went along with his disciples, the Samaritans had refused him lodging as he passed through Samaria, and a certain Scribe said to him, Master, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head, Matth. viii. 19. Luke ix. 51, 57. The Scribe told Christ that he would keep him company on the journey, and Christ replied that he had no place to stay. I take this feast to be the feast of Tabernacles, because soon afterward I find Christ and his apostles on the sea of Tiberias in a storm so strong that the ship was covered with water and in danger of sinking, until Christ rebuked the winds and the sea, Matth. viii. 23. This storm shows that winter had now come on.

After this Christ did many miracles and went about all the cities and villages of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people, Matth. ix. He then sent out the twelve to do the same, Matth. x. And at last, when he had received a message from John and answered it, he said to the crowds, From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven endures violence; and he reproached the cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, where most of his mighty works were done, because they did not repent, Matth. xi. These passages show that a considerable length of time had passed from the imprisonment of John until now: winter was now past, and the next Passover was at hand. For right after this, Matthew, in chap. xii., adds that Jesus went through the grain field on the sabbath day, and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck the ears of grain and eat them, rubbing them in their hands, says Luke; the grain therefore was not only in the ear but ripe, and so the Passover, in which the first-fruits were always offered before the harvest, had now come or passed. Luke calls this sabbath [Greek: deuteroprôton], the second prime sabbath, that is, the second of the two great feasts of the Passover. As we call Easter day high Easter and its octave low Easter or Lowsunday, so Luke calls the feast on the seventh day of the unleavened bread the second of the two prime sabbaths.