NEWT 



4188 NEW TESTAMENT CHRONOLOGY 



Related Subject*. The following influential 

 journalists are discussed in separate articles in 

 these volumes: 



Bennett, James Gordon 

 Brisbane, Arthur 

 Brown, George 

 Bryan, William 



Jennings 

 Carter-Cotton, Francis 



L. 



Dana. Charles A. 

 Garrison, William 



Lloyd 

 Greeley. 1 1. 

 Hearst. William R. 

 Hincks, Sir Francis 



Howe, Joseph 

 Howell, Clark 

 Mar.lnnalil. James A. 



. n/io. William L. 

 Northcliffe, Lord 

 Pulitzer, Joseph 

 Robertson, John R. 

 Rochefort, Victor H. 

 Stead, William T. 

 Watterson, Henry 

 Weed, Thurlow 

 White. William Allen 

 Willison, Sir John 



NEWT, nutc, a small animal with an elon- 

 gated lizardlike body and four weak legs, re- 

 lated to the frog, toad and salamander, and 

 with them classed among the amphibians (which 

 see). Unlike frogs and toads, the adult newt 

 has a tail. Amphibia is from a Greek word 

 which means capable of living in both air and 

 water, and a study of the life history of the 

 newt shows why it belongs to this class. These 

 little creatures hatch from eggs as tadpoles, and 

 in this immature stage breathe by means of 

 gills and live in the water. In the course of 

 time they develop lungs and take to the land, 

 though there are some species that remain in 

 the water all their lives, never losing their gills. 

 All newts are fond of moist, cool places. They 

 cast their skins at various times, and are said to 

 possess the power of reproducing lost limbs. 



The best-known North American newt, found 

 most numerously in the East, is the red-spotted, 

 which prows to be four inches long. Its name 

 refers to a row of vermilion spots on each side 

 of its greenish-brown coat; below it is orange 

 colored with black dots. Ditches and quiet 

 waters are preferred by this newt, and it feeds 

 greedily on all kinds of small water animals. 

 The eggs are laid in the spring, on the leaves 

 of submerged plants, and about two weeks after 

 they are deposited the tadpoles, dull green in 

 color, appear. In the course of their develop- 

 ment their coat changes to a rich red, and they 

 become dwellers of the woodlands, but by the 

 spring of the fourth season they reach full 

 maturity, don their original coat of green and 

 return to the water to breed. In this stage they 

 breathe through the skin, as then their lungs 

 cease to function. 



NEW TESTAMENT CHRONOLOGY. When 

 the manuscript of the New Testament was pre- 

 pared most of the various writers made no spe- 

 cial attempt to assign dates to the events re- 

 corded. It has therefore been a more or less 



difficult problem for modern commentators to 

 (IrU'imine the time of such events as the begin- 

 ning of Christ's ministry, the crucifixion, Paul's 

 conversion, and so on. Some of the more inter- 

 esting theories on the subject are given in the 

 following paragraphs. 



EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. Although 

 the Christian Era is supposed to date from 

 Christ's birth, through an early error in calcula- 

 tions that event and the era do not coincide. 

 We know from the second chapter of Matthew 

 that Christ was born in the reign of Herod the 

 Great, who died 4 B. c. Christ's birth probably 

 occurred two or three years before that date, 

 in 6 or 7 B. c. The story of the Wise Men who 

 followed the star has given rise to various 

 speculations concerning unusual heavenly signs 

 of that period. Kepler is authority for the 

 statement that a conjunction of the planets 

 Saturn and Jupiter could be seen in Palestine 

 in the year 7 B. c. This statement strengthens 

 the conclusion stated above. 



The gospel according to Lu.ke also confirms 

 the theory that Christ was born about 7 B. c. 

 In Luke II, 1-3, we read that the Emperor 

 Augustus made a decree that all of his subjects 

 should return to their legal homes to be en- 

 rolled for a census. From recently discovered 

 papyri documents it is known that about the 

 year 8 B. c. Augustus ordered a general census 

 taken. It was therefore at this time that Jos- 

 eph and Mary went to Bethlehem, where Christ 

 was subsequently born. The selection of the 

 twenty-fifth of December as the birthday of 

 Jesus was, however, purely arbitrary. There is 

 nothing upon which to base a supposition as to 

 the exact day and month of the nativity. 



At the beginning of Christ's ministry He had 

 passed his thirtieth birthday, according to a 

 statement in the third chapter of Luke. The 

 Bible gives no other clue than this as to Christ's 

 age when He began to preach. 



The length of His ministry is judged only by 

 inference, and is usually estimated to be about 

 three years. In the gospel according to John 

 three Passovers are mentioned, one spent at 

 Jerusalem (II, 13), the second observed in Gali- 

 lee (VI, 4), and the third occurring near the 

 close of Christ's life (XII, 1). 



The most definite statement as to the exact 

 date of the beginning of Christ's ministry oc- 

 curs in Luke. Ill, 1-3, in which it is recorded 

 that in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar 

 John the Baptist was called to preach repent- 

 ance. Jesus was subsequently baptized by 

 John, when the latter was at the height of his 





