then about thirty years of Age. And a little after, Which Paffion, fays he, was compleated under Tiberius Cæfar, within the time of the feventy weeks in which the Meffiah was to be cut off, Rubellius Geminus and Fufius Geminus being at that time Confuls. Before he faid, Videmus autem quoniam quadragefimo & primo anno Imperii Augufti, quo poft mortem Cleopatra imperavit, nafcitur Chriftus: i. e. But we fee that Chrift was born in the forty first year of Auguftus's Reign after the Death of Cleopatra. I know that Jerom has qui poft initead of quo poft: who after, &c. But it feems to be an Emendation of the words; for those words, qui poft, who after, &c. are abfurdly inferted in this place, if Tertullian knew that this year was counted from the Death of Julius Cafar. But from hence we understand that Tertullian errs in the fame manner as Clemens does, when he will have it that Chrift began to execute his Office, and died in the fame year; and befides that he did not fufficiently know in what year of Auguftus Chrift was born, feeing that he intermixed, the Altium years with thofe of the Empire. But what he fpeaks of the Death of Chrift in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, when the two Gemini's were Confuls, he had from the Antients, tho he knew not how to reconcile it with St. Luke's account, as neither what he fays of the year of Chrift's Birth. He adds afterwards, In the month of March at the time of the Paffover, in the 25th of March. Which I mention, by reafon of the following Teftimony of Lactantius.

For I will put him next to Tertullian, with whom he agrees about the Year, but diffents from him concerning the Day; from which we may perceive that he did not copy after Tertullian. Lactantius then speaking of the Jews, fays thus, Lib. 4. c. 10. of his Divine Inftitutions: And they had Tetrarchs until Herod, who was under the Empire of Tiberius Cæfar, in whofe fifteenth year, that is, when the two Gemini's were Confuls, before the feventh day (in fome Books the tenth, in others the Seventeenth) of the Calends of April, (i.e. 24th of March) the Jews crucified Chrift. But in his Book of the Deaths of the Perfecutors, Cap. 2. In the latter times of Tiberius Cafar, as it is recorded, our Lord Jefus Chrift was crucified by the Jews after the 10th Cal. April..

The laft Witnefs I fhall produce fhall be Sulpicius Severus, who, in Lib. 2. of his Ecclef. Hift. fays, Our Lord was crucified when Fufius Geminus, and Rubellius Geminus were Confuls. Not to mention others who derive what they have from thefe or fuch like Authorities. From which it is fufficiently apparent (if I am not mistaken) that there was a current Tradition in the fecond and third Ages after Chrift, from which they were perfuaded that he was born about the 41ft of Auguftus, and that he died when the two Gemini's were Confuls, or in the fifteenth year of Tiberius; altho the times of Chrift were not for the most part well digefted. Neither do I fee any reafon to doubt of this matter; and it perfectly agrees with what I before gathered out of the Gofpels concerning the Age of Chrift: For if you place Chrift's Death in the 33d year of his age, which happened upon the Confulfhip of the two Gemini's,or 782 Ú.C.. and go backward to the former times, you will light upon the year 749 V.C. in which were Confuls Cafar 12. and L. Cornelius Sulla, or the 40th of Auguftus, beginning from the Death of Julius Cafar, in which year Chrift was born, as I have before fhewn. But 'tis to be own'd that we cannot find out the month in which he was born, for reafons before alledged.

I think now nothing confiderable can be objected (which I have not already anfwered) befides this one thing, That it can be demonftrated by the motions of the Moon, that in the 29th year of the Vulgar Ara, the 15th day of the Moon after the new Moon, which immediately followed the Vernal Equinox, did not fall upon Thursday, nor on the month to which I have affigned it in my Hiftory of the Goffel: For in the 29th year of the Vulgar Ara, the Vernal new Moon according to the Prutenick Tables, was April 2. being the 7th day of the week, in the 11th hour, and fome minutes after midnight; but the full Moon was April the 17th, the first day of the week, about the fixth hour. Now we fay that the Paffover fell upon the 8th day of the Calends of April, or the 25th of March,. the: fifth day of the week. But a few words may ferve to answer this Objection, viz. After hav ing weighed all, I confefs I am of the o-

pinion of the moft famous and accurate Chronologer Dionyfius Petavius, concerning the time when the Paffover was kept amongst the Jews. But he in his Animadverfions upon the Herefy of the Alogi, which is in Epiphanius 51. and alfo Lib. 12. de dot. Temp. fhews that many things were falfe, which Learned men received as undoubted Truths.

The firft is, that the first day of unleavened Bread was celebrated by a perpetual Law, at the 15th day of the Moon; whereas Mofes no where commanded the 15th Moon, or the Full Moon to be obferved, but only the 14th day of the first Month. This one thing was only neceffary to be minded, that the first month was appointed about the Vernal Aquinox, that the first Fruits might be offered the day after the Paffover, according to the Law, Levit. 23. 10. for at that time only Early is ripe in Judea. The fecond is (which is rafhly ftated) that the first month begun from the New Moon, which was next after the Vernal Equinox. But, as Petavius has obferved, p. 169. in his Animadv. upon Epiphanius, the most antient Jewish Mafters tell us, that formerly the 19th of Nifan fell upon the very day of the Equinox, particularly the two Agathabolus's, and Ariftobulus their Scholar, who was one of the 72 Interpreters, which Eufebius has, Lib. 7. c. 32. of his Ecclef. Hift. Therefore the Agathobuli, in their Expofitions upon Exodus, laid, a τα διαβατήρια θύειν επίσης ἅπαντας μετά ίση μερίαν ἐαρινίω, μεσαντο το πρώτο μηνός: 1. e. The Paffover ought to be flain alike by all, in the middle of the first Month after the Vernal Equinox. Which is more plain from the following words of Ariftobulus: sein tavaf κας της διαβατηρίων ἑορτῇ μὴ μόνον – ἥλιον τὸ ἰσημερινὸν διαπορεύεται τμήμα, και τίω σε Avlu dé. It was requifite that at the Feast of the Paffover, not only the Sun, but also the Moon fhould have paffed the Equinoctial Segment. And fo Philo in the Life of Mofes: των αρχών σ εαρινῆς ἰσημερίας πρῶτον αναregos una Mavons: Mofes ftates the first Month at the beginning of the Vernal Equinox, And Jofephus affents to it, Lib, 3. cap. 10. of his fewish Antiq. fpeaking of the Paffover: Τα 5 μηνὶ τῷ Ξανθικῷ, ὃς Νικον παρ ἡμῶν mancîrai, nỳ tô étos esir degi, Tersafeonaide

Texas Dueir evonice: He commanded 'em to facrifice every Year in the month Xanthicus, which we call Nifan, and is the beginning of the Year, in the fourteenth day of the Moon, and when the Sun was in Aries.

That Learned Man afterwards fhews us that the Jews did not at all obferve the Regreffions of the Equinox, and that they did not make ufe (as Epiphanius tells us) of accurate Aftronomical Tables, but of a faulty Cycle, fuch one as did not in the leaft agree with the Motions of the heavenly Bodies: And he alfo produces fuch a Cycle, partly made by Joh. Kepler, partly by himself, according to the mind of Epiphanius. For fatisfaction in which points, and feveral others to the fame purpose, I refer you to him, fince they cannot be clearly explained in a few words.

After I had thoroughly weighed thefe things, and caft my eyes upon the Cycle of 89 years, I took from thence the defignation of the days of the Paffover during the four years of Chrift's Miniftry; and I found that the new Moon in Nifan of that year in which I faid Chrift died, fell upon the 11th of March, and the 5th day of the week; from whence it followed that the 15th Moon was on the 25th day of the fame month, and the 15th day of the week, on which the Paflover was celebrated by Christ. In which there are three things worthy of obfervation: The frftis, that Petavius could by no means think of thus conftituting that erroneous Cycle, that in this year the Full Moon of Nifan fhould fall upon the 25th of March, and the sth day of the week, because he did not believe that this was the year of Chrift's Crucifixion. Therefore by chance he has afforded me a confiderable argument to perfwade me that that Cycle was truly made according to the mind of the Jews, fince it affords us the true day of the week on which the laft Paffover of Chrift fell. The fecond is, if the Jews of that age thought that it was incumbent on 'em to celebrate the Taffover immediately after the Equinox, that they did not err in chufing the Eve of the 25th day of March; fince, according to Sofigenes's opinion, from the time of fulius Cefar that day was attributed to the Vernal Equinox. Third

ly,

Country in order, not skipping from place to place. But had Luke been filent, 'tis now manifeft in it felf that the reft of the Evangelifts may be most commodioufly reduc'd to his method; which was the judgment heretofore of the Learned Dr. Richardson Bishop of Ardagh in Ireland, whofe Harmony I have follow'd in the main, as 'cis left us in Bilhop Usher's Annals of the New Teftament. And his method in digefting the Difcourfes and Actions of Chrift, tho I often depart from it in many cafes, feems however the beft, as being leaft conjectural: for the three Evangelifs, Mark, Luke, and John, proceed in their own order with little Alteration, unlefs here and there a Relation, as fhall be fhewn afterwards. Matthew alone feems to have neglected the true order of time, and this only in his first 13 Chapters, and the beginning of his 14th; which is more probable than that the other Evangelifts fhould have accounted him fuperfluous. Some indeed object that Matthew was arons, an Eye-witness, and confequently the more accurate in his order. Not to fhew them that their confequence is invalid, John alfo both faw and heard what he reports: Luke teftifies of himself in the Preface to his Gofpel, that he had received his Materials from those that had been Wit nefes of them from the beginning, and Minifters of the Word: and undoubtedly Mark had as good Authority. And 'tis not unlikely but Mark and Luke, with the things themselves, might have the order given them in which they were acted, or otherwife made enquiry into it.

But there are manifeft tokens, not only in Mark, but in Luke and John, from which a man may infer that they were more obfervant of the true Order of Time than Matthew. To inftance first in Luke: He fettles the time of Chrift's Nativity beyond difpute, to thofe efpecially that liv'd when he wrote, when he tells us, chap. 2. in the first and following Verfes, that Chrift was born at Bethlehem at the time of the first taxing of the Jews by Auguftus his Decree: for there were none at that time never fo little acquainted with the Jewish Hiftory, but muft needs know when that taxing happened. There is, you'll fay perhaps, an ambiguity in the expreffion #87n murevorl☺

Kugnvis. But altho it might be obfcure to Pofterity, it was clear enough in that Age, when it was well known, that after the Death of Archelaus, and confequently after the Birth of Chrift, P. Sulpicius Quirinus was made Governour of Syria. So that, without any manner of hefitation, they muft needs interpret πρώτη ἡγεμονεύον Κυρηνία - Συρίας, the firft before Cyrenius was made Governour of Syria; for that Luke was to be fo underflood, was plain from matter of fact: There could not therefore poffibly be a clearer ftating of the time, than from the taxing of Quirinus, fo celebrated for the reducing of Judas into a perpetual Province under the Romans, altho they rebel'd afterwards, Judas Gaulonites heading them, as may be feen in Jofephus his Antiquities of the Jews, about the beginning of the 18th Book. If therefore this way of fpeaking be reckoned ambiguous, 'tis owing to the Ignorance of Tranflators, who should have refolv'd it from matter of fact, and might have been abundantly fatisfied from Jofephus. But many were fo unhappy as not to perceive fo much as the ambiguity of that Expreffion.

There is another Defignation of Time, from which one may perceive how much Luke took care to obferve a juft Order in his 3d Chapter, verfes 1, 2. This I have toucht on in the preceding Differtation; and this well understood, gives no fmall light to the whole Chronology of our Saviour's Life, as I have made evident. From hence likewife appears in what fenfe the 23d Verfe of the fame Chapter is to be taken, where Jefus is faid to be about 30 years of age, when he entred upon his Ministry. By knowing of which, we may with more certainty compute in what year of his Age he was crucified, than can be gathered from the beft Aftronomical Calculations. Which feveral Statings of the time are entirely owing to Luke: fo that I am not to be wondred at for faying he is the most accurate observer of Time.

'Tis true, we are particularly indebted to John for regiftring the 3 Paffovers in the courfe of Chrift's Miniftry, the other Evangelifts having only taken notice of the laft. And befides, in the 3d year of Chrift's Miniftry he not only mentions the Paffover, but the Feaft of the Tabernacles, and of the Dedication, Ffff

by.