Page:The Evidences of Christianity.djvu/295

288 of Herod in his kingdom precluded the taxing of his subjects by the Roman government.

The word employed by Luke denotes an enrolment or census. The Roman census included: 1. A report given by individuals of their family and possessions; and, 2. An estimate by the censor of the value of these possessions. The term used by Luke denotes an entry, and does not determine whether it was of property or persons. A passage in Josephus probably refers to this census, describing it as an oath of fidelity taken by the people, in which 6000 of the Pharisees did not unite. Herod, in the latter part of his reign, fell under the displeasure of Augustus, and the decree of a census was an indignity to which he quietly submitted. The six thousand Pharisees were fined; and, by explanations made to the emperor as to the cause of his displeasure, he was appeased. Hence it is probable that the taxation, if intended, was not carried into effect. The oath of fidelity mentioned by Josephus required an entry or record of the names, since the number that declined is specified. The entry implied in Josephus's account, even if it had no respect to taxation, states all that Luke's words express. III. Cyrenius was not the president of Syria until after the banishment of Archelaus. He was then sent to make a census, but the time was ten or twelve years after the birth of Christ; and hence infidels allege that Luke's statement is incorrect.

It is unquestionable that an enrolment was made by Cyrenius after the banishment of Archelaus. This enrolment is referred to by Gamaliel, Acts v. 37, and Josephus gives an account of it in exact agreement with that of Gamaliel. As Luke has recorded Gamaliel's speech, he must be supposed to have known the facts concerning the taxing and the opposition made to it by Judas and his party, all which are cited by Gamaliel as facts well known. The enrolment which Luke mentions in his Gospel, he distinguishes as the "first;" and it is manifest from the context that it was made during the reign of Herod; yet it seems to have been con-