Part 102 (2/2)

Had the Luke narrator known anything about Jewish history, he never would have made so gross a blunder as to place the taxing of Cyrenius in the days of Herod, and would have saved the immense amount of labor that it has taken in endeavoring to explain away the effects of his ignorance. One explanation of this mistake is, that there were _two_ a.s.sessments, one about the time Jesus was born, and the other ten years after; but this has entirely failed. Dr. Hooykaas, speaking of this, says:

”The Evangelist (Luke) falls into the most extraordinary mistakes throughout. In the first place, history is silent as to a census of the whole (Roman) world ever having been made at all. In the next place, though Quirinius certainly did make such a register in Judea and Samaria, it did not extend to Galilee; so that Joseph's household was not affected by it.

Besides, _it did not take place until ten years after the death of Herod_, when his son Archelaus was deposed by the emperor, and the districts of Judea and Samaria were thrown into a Roman province. Under the reign of Herod, nothing of the kind took place, nor was there any occasion for it.

Finally, at the time of the birth of Jesus, the Governor of Syria was not Quirinius, but Quintus Sentius Saturninus.”[362:2]

The inst.i.tution of the festival of the Nativity of Christ Jesus being held on the 25th of December, among the Christians, is attributed to Telesphorus, who flourished during the reign of Antonius Pius (A. D.

138-161), but the first _certain_ traces of it are found about the time of the Emperor Commodus (A. D. 180-192).[362:3]

For a long time the Christians had been trying to discover upon what particular day Jesus had possibly or probably come into the world; and conjectures and traditions that rested upon absolutely no foundation, led one to the 20th of May, another to the 19th or 20th of April, and a third to the 5th of January. At last the opinion of the _community at Rome_ gained the upper hand, and the 25th of December was fixed upon.[362:4] It was not until the _fifth_ century, however, that this day had been _generally_ agreed upon.[362:5] _How it happened_ that this day finally became fixed as the birthday of Christ Jesus, may be inferred from what we shall now see.

On the first moment after midnight of the 24th of December (_i. e._, on the morning of the 25th), nearly all the nations of the earth, as if by common consent, celebrated the accouchement of the ”_Queen of Heaven_,”

of the ”_Celestial Virgin_” of the sphere, and the birth of the G.o.d _Sol_.

In _India_ this is a period of rejoicing everywhere.[363:1] It is a great religious festival, and the people _decorate their houses with garlands_, and _make presents to friends and relatives_. This custom is of very great antiquity.[363:2]

In _China_, religious solemnities are celebrated at the time of the _winter solstice_, the last week in _December_, when all shops are shut up, and the courts are closed.[363:3]

_Buddha_, the son of the Virgin Maya, on whom, according to Chinese tradition, ”the Holy Ghost” had descended, was said to have been born on Christmas day, December 25th.[363:4]

Among the ancient _Persians_ their most splendid ceremonials were in honor of their Lord and Saviour _Mithras_; they kept his birthday, with many rejoicings, on the 25th of December.

The author of the ”_Celtic Druids_” says:

”It was the custom of the heathen, long before the birth of Christ, to celebrate the birth-day of their G.o.ds,” and that, ”the 25th of December was a great festival with the _Persians_, who, in very early times, celebrated the birth of their G.o.d _Mithras_.”[363:5]

The Rev. Joseph B. Gross, in his ”_Heathen Religion_,” also tells us that:

”The ancient Persians celebrated a festival in honor of _Mithras_ on the first day succeeding the _Winter Solstice_, the object of which was to _commemorate the Birth of Mithras_.”[363:6]

Among the ancient _Egyptians_, for centuries before the time of Christ Jesus, the 25th of December was set aside as the birthday of their G.o.ds.

M. Le Clerk De Septchenes speaks of it as follows:

”The ancient Egyptians fixed the pregnancy of _Isis_ (the _Queen of Heaven_, and the _Virgin Mother_ of the Saviour Horus), on the last days of March, and towards the end of _December_ they placed the commemoration of her delivery.”[363:7]

Mr. Bonwick, in speaking of _Horus_, says:

”He is the great G.o.d-loved of Heaven. His birth was one of the greatest mysteries of the Egyptian religion. Pictures representing it appeared on the walls of temples. One pa.s.sed through the holy _Adytum_[364:1] to the still more sacred quarter of the temple known as the birth-place of Horus. He was presumably the child of Deity. _At Christmas time_, or that answering to our festival, his image was brought out of that sanctuary with peculiar ceremonies, as the image of the infant _Bambino_[364:2] is still brought out and exhibited in Rome.”[364:3]

Rigord observes that the Egyptians not only wors.h.i.+ped a _Virgin Mother_ ”prior to the birth of our Saviour, but exhibited the effigy of her son lying in the manger, in the manner the infant Jesus was afterwards laid in the cave at Bethlehem.”[364:4]

The ”Chronicles of Alexandria,” an ancient Christian work, says:

”Watch how Egypt has constructed the childbirth of a Virgin, and the birth of her son, _who was exposed in a crib to the adoration of the people_.”[364:5]

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