SYLVA CRITIC A CANADENSIUM. 87 



calculations of time by Josephus, he counts from the Jewish month, 

 Nisan to Nisan, and that he reckons the portion of a year, either at 

 the beginning or at the end, as one complete year. Hence it follows 

 that the birth of Christ preceded the date of 754 A.XJ.C, which is the 

 Vulgar Christian Era, by at least four years, for the death of Herod 

 should be placed in 750 A.XJ.C. But we can ascertain not mei-ely 

 the year but the month of Herod's death, for it was between an 

 eclipse of the Moon (March 13th), and (Josephus, Antiq. xvii. 6, 4,) 

 shortly before the feast of the Passover, so that it was in the month 

 of March. The year of our Lord's birth must then have preceded 

 March, B.C. 4. But from St. Matthew ii. 16, it appears that the 

 year of the birth of our Lord should be placed about two years or 

 under before the death of Herod, or, if we accept the inclusive method 

 of countiiag years, between one year and five or six months before 

 that event. This will give us B.C. 5 or 6. But there are other 

 data from which calculations of the year of the Nativity have been 

 made, viz. : [b) the appearance of the star ; (c) the census by 

 Augustus ; (tZ) the age at the baptism ; (e) the date of the first 

 Passover after the baptism ; {/) the succession of the courses of the 

 priests. Of these it is sufficient here to observe that there is not one 

 of them that yields a certain result. 



As I have now proved that the date of the Nativity, commonly 

 received since the time of Dionysius Exiguus, is inaccurate, I shall 

 subjoin a precis, from "Hales' Chronology," of the diiferent dates 

 that have been accepted : 



EPOCHS OF THE NATIVITY. v.C. B.C. 



Tillemont, Maun, Priestly 747 7 



Kepler, Capellus, Dodwell, Pagi 748 6 



Chrysostom, Petavius, Prideaux, Playfair, Hales 749 5 



Sulpitius Severus, Usher 750 4 



Irenseus, TertiiUian, Clemens Alex., Eusebius, Syncellus, Baronius, ) r,^-, q 



Calvisius, Vossius ) 



Epiplianius, Jerom, Orosius, . Bede, Salian, Sigonius, Scaliger 752 2 



Chronicon Alexand. , Dionysius, Luther, Labbseus 753 1 



A.D. 



Herwart 754 1 



Paul of Middleburgh , 755 2 



Lydiat , 756 3 



[Clinton adopts 5 B. C. as the year of the Nativity. ] 



At present, in the West, December 25th is regarded as the day set 

 apart for the commemoration of the birth of Christ, but for the first 



