OF THE NATIVITY WAS 8 B.C. 



211 



He could state from his own experience that the tableland of 

 Bethlehem was exceedingly cold. When the party with which he 

 was connected was coming back from an exploration of Palestine 

 and Mount Sinai, they were at Jerusalem in the early days of 

 January, and snow covered the whole country to a depth of two 

 feet. They noted these things and wondered why Christmas, the 

 commemoration of the birth of Christ, was placed at mid-winter. 

 It was an anomaly that should be cleared up and the whole calendar 

 should be revised. 



Mr. J. TowNSEXD Trench observed that in the paper which had 

 just been read to the members of the Victoria Institute, in support 

 of the year 8 B.C. being the year of the Nativity of our Lord, 

 reference had been made to the dates of two other important events, 

 which are inevitably involved in judging the date of the Nativity, 

 namely, the date of the commencement of our Lord's Ministry, and 

 the date of the Crucifixion. 



The dates propounded in the paper referred to are as follows : — 



(1) ''The Nativity'' (of Christ) "was in the autumn of 8 B.C." 



(page 202) — probably "20th September, in 8 B.C." (page 

 201) — and again " it is not claimed that this method above 

 establishes exactly the day, 20th September, 8 B.C., for 

 the Nativity, but it includes that day within narrow 

 limits " (page 205). 



(2) "Christ must have been 32 years of age when He 



began His Ministry^ on the assumption now generally 

 accepted, that the Crucifixion took place at the Passover, 

 A.D. 29, and also that His Ministry lasted three years and 

 a half" (page 207). 

 " The historical data available for determining the date of the 

 Nativity are thus seen to be no means scanty." 



(3) "If this date (for the Nativity) is received as true, the 

 reader of the Scriptures may perhaps find a practically 

 fresh system of Bible study opening before him, because it 

 will establish the trustworthiness of other methods by 

 which the dates 8 B.C. for the Nativity, and A.D. 29 for 

 the Crucifixion, were found without the aid of historical 

 data other than those of a most general kind to which all 

 agree " (page 209), and further, " these new methods both 



