Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/306

292 the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth that is to be ruler in Israel." Not only was it Bethlehem, but Bethlehem of Judah, to distinguish it from Bethlehem of Galilee. So precisely was indicated the place which was to be of such interest to all who should believe in Him unto the end of the world.

As to the time of the Saviour's birth, it is reckoned by scholars to have been at least four years before the date commonly fixed for the beginning of the Christian era. This earlier date is easily determined by reference to other events fixed in profane history. It was in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, at the time of a general enrollment of the inhabitants which had been ordered from Rome. But as to the season of the year, Biblical chronologists do not agree, and probably never will. Each season has had its advocates. Indeed there is hardly a month which has not been adopted by some commentator for reasons convincing to himself. The general consent of the Church since the fourth century has accepted the 25th of December. But some reason that it could hardly have been so near midwinter, when travelling would be difficult among the hills of Judea, that the Roman Emperor would send forth a decree that all should go to their own cities to be enrolled. This is partly answered by the fact that in Palestine there is an interval of about two months between the early and the latter rains, from the middle of December to the middle of February, which would furnish the opportunity required. Others argue from the fitness of things, that it might have been expected that the Saviour would be born in the Spring, when nature itself was in harmony with the new life that was coming on the world.

Such were our thoughts as we came out of the door of the tent, and looked down once more into the vale of Bethlehem. It was almost the last day of March — the