Earlier text: The S. D. A. Year-Book *for* 1908This is the term used by one of our exchanges in characterizing the homes of the people who live in the crowded sections of the large cities. It is expressive. Certain it is that the dog kennels of some of the wealthy are more inviting and more hygienic places of abode than are the crowded, fetid, disease-breeding dens of infamy inhabited by some human beings. A few sentences from the article will show that the problem of the crowded cities and the remedy for the situation are being seriously considered, and that the cry now is “out of the cities.” We quote:— Anarchy has again struck its poisonous fangs into our social fabric. The assassination of a priest at the altar in Denver forces once more upon the minds of the people of this country the dangers that lurk in the foul social miasma breathed by those who dwell in the slums and tenements of the cities and large manufacturing centers. The only remedy is to let the sunshine of Opportunity in the right kind of rural or suburban homes into the lives of the millions of wage-workers who now swelter and degenerate in the ghettos and human kennels where they are to-day living in every city and large manufacturing center of population.
The right remedy is suggested, but it will not be adopted. There is a fascination for a certain class in the city. There is an excitement which is demanded. The cheap playhouse, the ill-famed resorts, and the political opportunities appeal to many. As it was in old Rome in the days of the decline of the republic, so it is now in many countries. But those who understand the times, and know what to look for in the near future, will not cling to the cities.
Higher Ground
By John M. Hopkins
“Take your stand on higher ground.”—Mrs. E. G. White. HIGHER, higher, ever higher,
Let this word your motto be;
Greater knowledge, greater wisdom,
More of Christ and purity. Difficulties may assail you,
Trials in your path abound,
But make every seeming hindrance
Stepping-stones to higher ground. Higher, higher, ever higher,
Nothing less should satisfy.
To exalted heights aspire;
Ever on your God rely. Do not weakly faint or falter;
Grasp the next ascending round
In the ladder reaching upward
Unto higher ground. Let not earthly, vain allurements
E’er entice your soul away;
These can charm but to deceive you,
They are fleeting as the day. But in wisdom, truth, and virtue,
Purest, lasting joys are found;
These will be your crown of glory,
“Take your stand on higher ground.” In this holy, grand endeavor,
Heaven will help you, God will bless;
He can make severest trials
Means of blessing and success. Then arise, gird on the armor,
Ever in the right be found;
Let this motto be your watchword:
“Take your stand on higher ground.” Thus your life will prove a blessing,
As you daily pass along,
By the love of God expressing
In your service, in your song; And when ends your earthly mission,
With your banner victory-crowned,
You may still with Christ in glory
“Take your stand on higher ground.” So Have I Sent Them
By Ellen G. White
God has given me a message for his people. Those who claim to be Bible Christians, if they are daily under the converting power of the Holy Spirit, will cherish a spirit of brotherly kindness. Their words and actions will testify that they are followers of the lowly Jesus; their lives will be marked by a spirit of service. There are among church-members those whose habits and practises reveal that they have not come out fully from under the banner of rebellion. Brethren and sisters, this ought not so to be. The Lord wants us to appreciate the privilege we have of being good and of doing good. He wants us to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. It is our privilege to sit at the feet of him in whom is no sin, then to go forth to labor with him for the uplifting of our fellow men. The blood-bought souls of Jesus Christ are to recognize the right of every man to be a sharer in the blessings of the gospel. Our fellow men have personal and social rights; they have claims upon our sympathy and love. The Lord makes a demand upon our services to help the needy and oppressed to the utmost of our ability. We are to learn to value souls as Christ values them, aside from all difference of circumstance and rank. Brethren, let us carry a burden for the weak and poor. Let us give them proof of our sympathy. And let us not withhold our encouragement from those who are laboring in hard portions of the Master’s vineyard. Every true Christian will be a missionary; for he will look upon himself as the servant of Christ. In that wonderful prayer of Christ recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, the Saviour prayed, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” As Christ was a missionary from a higher world to this, so his followers are to be missionaries, teaching the truth of the gospel by precept and example, showing men and women how to live righteous and godly lives in this present evil world. “For this cause came I into the world,” Christ declared to Pilate, “that I should bear witness unto the truth.” No true disciple of Christ can be silent in regard to the message of truth. As missionaries of the cross, they will lift up Christ as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth,” the Saviour prayed. “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” When the light that God sends to his people is appreciated, they will not walk in darkness. For them the true Light shines, and not for them alone, but for those also with whom they are brought into association. “A city that is set on a hill,” Christ said, “can not be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Brethren, does your light shine to all that are in the house? Or do you seek to hide your light when you are in the presence of worldlings? Remember that light is given you that through you others may receive its blessings. You are to let it shine in the words you speak, in the spirit you manifest, in the deeds you do. The light of truth received by you should make you Christ’s representative, wherever you are. The knowledge of the truth for this time brings with it a wonderful responsibility. It calls for the revelation of the grace of obedience, and a rising up from our former selfishness to a life of service for Christ. It appeals to us to be wholly on the Lord’s side, to take our position for truth and righteousness. We all need to engage in the work of self-examination if we would be ready to meet the Lord when he comes. We need to learn to be Christians in the home, in every walk of life, to take up the cross, and bear it after Christ. In our endeavors to form characters after the divine similitude, we shall meet with trial. There will be crosses to be borne, but in these experiences we may have the sympathies and help of heavenly angels. They are sent forth to minister unto them that shall be heirs of salvation. My brethren and sisters, lift the cross of self-denial and self-sacrifice. Cling closely to the precious Saviour. Let your daily life bring honor to God. By your words and your works reveal that you have one great object in view. Christ is soon coming, and souls are perishing in ignorance and sin. Let it be yours to give these souls the message of salvation. When the purifying, refining influence of the truth is felt in our own lives as it should be, we shall reveal in our works the fruits of righteousness. Probationary time will soon close. We have but little longer in which to make known the truth for this time. That which we do must be done quickly, or it will be forever too late. Souls are perishing all around us without a knowledge of God and his last message of mercy to men. Now is our time to leave no opportunity unimproved to seek and to save the lost, no word unspoken that will shed light and knowledge on our fellow men. Brethren, labor on, while the day lasts. The night cometh when no man can work. If we refuse to do the work to which our knowledge of present truth calls us, who will do it? The Sacredness of the Gospel Ministry
By W. J. FITZGERALD
We are living in a time of false standards and improper measurements. Everything, even human life, is estimated commercially, and a money value is placed upon it. All religious barriers and restraints are ruthlessly swept aside by the ever-increasing tide of worldliness that is submerging the professed church of God. Those things formerly regarded as sacred have come to be treated as secular. A secular stamp prominently marks everything that presents itself to9 modern inspection. The ministry of the gospel has come to be regarded by many ministers themselves as a mere profession, coping with other professions. The fact that ministers generally do not hold their service as any higher than an ordinary profession leads the laity to regard the ministry lightly. This fact not only places the ministry at a great disadvantage, but means an incalculable loss to the laity. As a people we should consider the ministry in the light of divine arrangement and elevate it to its proper plane. We should come to entertain an altogether higher ideal for the highest gospel calling. The gospel ministry is properly regarded the highest and holiest service to which mortal men are called. We must enter upon the consideration of so sacred a calling with serious feelings and a spirit of deep solemnity. We should remember that our High Priest—the chief minister of the service—is the Son of God in the heavenly sanctuary. This chief minister imparts to the calling the holiness of his own person. He sanctifies it in the fountain of his own blood, the shedding of which makes possible the ministry of the gospel. Every gospel minister should partake of the baptism of the blood and sufferings of the chief Shepherd. May that holy blood purge our hearts and minds as we contemplate this high calling. As the Holy Spirit has said, through Paul, “Seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. . . . For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.” In this passage the apostle suggests, first, that one called to this ministry, and appreciating the sacred character of the calling, would faint or be overwhelmed, if it were not for sustaining grace imparted to him. It is the assumption of a tremendous responsibility to become a minister of God. The highest and gravest responsibilities borne by those occupying chief places in statecraft or in the commercial world drop into insignificance when compared to the sacred and all-important responsibilities borne by the faithful gospel minister. He ministers not with reference to things temporal and common; but his ministry deals with things eternal and unseen. He must hear with other than physical ears, and see with the eyes of the divine Spirit. His hands must grasp spiritual and heavenly things, and pass them on to “the poor in spirit,” whose hands are ever outstretched in expectancy. His feet must tread the avenues of a sacred plane unknown to, and infinitely above, that occupied by the self-seeking and worldly-ambitious man. It is his to explore the hidden fastnesses of the spiritual realm, and bring forth ever fresh and vitalizing richness of spiritual experience. He must seek to fathom the boundless sea of infinite love, and bring to the surface precious treasure to enrich the lives of those to whom he ministers. He is either the minister of “life unto life” or of “death unto death.” What man, called to such a ministry, can refrain from saying, “Who is sufficient for these things?” Thanks be unto God, our sufficiency is not of ourselves; but is drawn by us from the “minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle.” The endowment we may receive from him is inexhaustible. No man should enter such sacred service unless under the influence of the Spirit he can truly say, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.” He should be the possessor of such an overwhelming sense of his personal inability to bear the burdens of his calling, that he will constantly be in a prayerful and receptive attitude. But, while fully appreciating his own utter inability to accomplish the great things belonging to the ministry, he should be fully assured that he can do all things through Christ, who strengthens him. There should be such a simple, frank, straightforwardness in his handling of the Word and in his whole conduct as to command always the fullest confidence of those to whom he ministers. The preacher, first having made a practical application of the truth to his own life in personal experience, should have a mighty and constant faith in the word which he preaches. He should believe that every word of his message is absolutely essential to the salvation and spiritual development of his hearers. He should have unswerving confidence that the Word of God is the incorruptible seed of eternal life, and is able to sanctify all who receive it. It is a manifestation of the greatest irreverence for a faithless pretender to proclaim the Word of God. The heavenly hosts must stand aghast when a mere man will prostitute the sacred gospel ministry to a faithless and empty display of human wisdom. The sacred mission of the gospel ministry is to proclaim the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to a lost world. It makes no provision for the display of self. The true and faithful minister preaches Christ Jesus, not himself; he makes the Saviour the sum and substance of all his ministrations. This brings us to the thought that the minister of the gospel should be wholly absorbed in his calling. The apostle Paul, writing to young Timothy concerning the things which belong to the ministry, admonished him to give himself “wholly to them.” To perform the duties of a minister successfully will require the entire time and the best efforts of any man, no matter how talented he may be naturally. For a minister to engage in any private business enterprise “on the side” will greatly hinder his efficiency, if it does not entirely ruin his career. Especially is there danger in this direction at the present time. We are in an age when everything, even the professed ministry of the gospel, bears a deeply impressed brand of commercialism. It is well-nigh impossible not to be submerged in the commercial deluge which is flooding the land. The only safety for a minister of the gospel is to keep himself wholly aloof from ordinary business affairs. To venture at all in private business, as a line aside from the work of the ministry, is to invite failure as a minister, and may be the loss of acceptance with the Lord. The Word of God calls the minister an ambassador. An ambassador is the representative of one nation, or government, to another nation, or government. There is vested in the ambassador the entire authority of the government he represents. When he speaks or acts, it is regarded as the speech or action of his government. It is highly essential, therefore, that an ambassador be thoroughly conversant with all the affairs and with the spirit of the government he has the honor to represent. It is also most important that he possess a deep love for his native land, and a profound respect for the administration of its laws. So, as the ambassadors of the government of heaven, ministers of the gospel should be thoroughly acquainted with the laws, customs, and spirit of the heavenly kingdom. They should possess an unspeakable and unswerving love for the King; and an unquestionable loyalty to the King’s government. They should hold the reputation of the heavenly government more precious than their own lives. To be ordained as a gospel minister,—to receive credentials as an ambassador of the government of heaven,—is clearly the greatest honor that can possibly be conferred upon any man. The preparation of the heart and mind for such an honor should be most earnestly desired and assiduously sought. “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop [elder, or minister], he desireth a good work.” These words and those which follow, though doubtless referring to the local elder of a church, apply in a special sense to the minister of the gospel; for the minister is the church elder in a broader sense. What kind of man should he be? The apostle replies: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” How could words more specifically and amply define the qualifications of the man to be ordained to have a part in this sacred service? How exalted is the10 standard of this holy service which we have espoused! When the Word of God lays down such requirements, in such vigorous terms, can we lightly regard the office and work of the ministry? Should we not rather pray God most fervently and devotedly to teach us more clearly and fully the sacredness of this blessed calling; and earnestly seek a more suitable preparation for the performance of its high offices? “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” and rightly and acceptably exemplify the sacredness of the gospel ministry. Most people know what the word “gambling” means. Webster thus defines the word: “Gamble; to play or game for money or other stake.” It is taking chances in a game, or play, and in modern times is also applied to taking chances in speculations in stocks, grains, mining interests, and other industries, with the hope of receiving large returns. Gambling is a stimulant almost as exciting as intoxicating drinks. The interested parties, who have made the stakes, seem to forget the lapse of time, and often are lured on step by step to the very precipice of financial ruin. Gambling may be indulged in for the mere pleasurable excitement of gaining or losing. I have seen brokers and their agents on the stock exchange in Wall Street, flip twenty-dollar gold pieces as boys flip pennies, passing them back and forth without apparent regret. But this is not the rule. Generally, the venture is staked with the strong hope of actual gain. There are few who are indifferent to whether they gain or lose. Often those who have lost in their speculations commit suicide, or are driven to insanity. Strange as it may seem, both men and women are addicted to the vice of gambling. Nor is it confined to the wealthy, or even to those in moderate circumstances; often the very poor stake their all on the results of a game or a race. A few weeks ago on the streets of Colon, I saw many men and women selling lottery tickets. These tickets cost ten cents each. It was a “chance” for the winner to obtain a large reward for a small investment. I watched to see who were the buyers of these lottery tickets. All classes seemed to be equally interested. From the bare-footed, bare-headed servant girl, who, on her return from the market with a heavy basket of vegetables on her head, invested a dime for a ticket, to the well-dressed, intelligent citizen, there were purchasers of these lottery tickets in abundance. Of course, the investment was purely a game of “chance,” and where one might gain, ninety-nine must lose. A few years ago I was in the city of Mexico on Guadalupe day, the great national church festival of that country. Tens of thousands of peons and citizens from all parts of the republic of Mexico had come to pay their tribute of respect to the patron saint, Guadalupe. In front of the cathedral, there were many booths erected, in which all manner of gambling devices were in full swing. There were hundreds upon hundreds of people of all classes gathered around these gambling devices. Peons and peasants were staking their last centavos on the turn of the wheel. Stacks of money several feet high were piled on tables at which sat well-clad men and women, betting, gaining or losing, as the case might be. One poor old peon woman, barefooted and rudely clad, who had lost her last centavo, gave vent to her feelings in bitter tears, wringing her hands in her despair. Does the professed church ever stop to think how very near the gambling line it often leads its devotees? Does it ever think how many seeds of games of chance it has sown in the hearts of its young people, and how it has enticed them year by year to invest their money in “grab-bag” socials, church “lotteries,” church “fairs,” and the like, where every cent gathered for the church is won from the purchaser by selling him simply a “chance”? And if the professed church of Christ itself indulges in this kind of gambling, can it be wondered at that young men and women move on from the simpler lines of gambling to those which have larger stakes, with more questionable conditions attached to them? But there are other ways of gambling in these modern times than simply betting on horse-races, on games of cards, or on the turn of the wheel. There has developed in our day a system of financial speculation, where the chances of gain or loss are as great, and almost as sure, as the games at a regular gambling table. This speculation is not confined to any one commodity, nor any one line of business. It is almost universal, covering nearly every phase of agricultural and manufactured products. Stocks paying large dividends are thrown upon the market. People who are getting but four or five per cent for their money, when they read of these large dividends become restless and dissatisfied with their meager returns, and buy these stocks and bonds. Almost invariably they are led deeply to regret their unwise move. Many who are anxious for greater gains than they are receiving, invest their money on misrepresentations made by promoters. People of small means and limited business experience should keep themselves aloof from schemes so much advertised in newspapers, and in financial magazines. Many of these articles and advertisements are paid for at a high rate by these promoters, simply to entice and ensnare those who seek riches without labor. Mining stock is often offered poor people, purporting to be stock in a mine “in the West,” “in Alaska,” or “in Mexico,” with great promises of large dividends in the near future. Scarcely one person in a hundred who puts money in these mines, ever receives back so much as the principal from the investment. Poor people, especially Seventh-day Adventists, should keep out of the stock market. Let promoters and speculators carry their own bonds and dispose of their own products. Cement companies, food companies, land companies, railroad corporations, trolley lines, mining companies, and promoters of other schemes should be given a wide berth, so far as we are concerned. Those who have a little money saved on which they expect to live during their natural life should be very careful to husband their resources, and invest their means in securities wherein they will not suffer loss. God’s cause is not a speculation. An investment in it will bring to the investor better returns than gold bonds, or stocks in worldly schemes. Generally, real estate, on proper terms, is safe security for money loans; but those who look for the Lord’s return must be sure their funds are not tied up in speculative stock companies, whose value depends on shrewd manipulators. The time has come when the financial investments of God’s people should be in the cause of God, and in such things as we know will not cause us to lose the little means God has committed to our keeping. Historical quotations and extracts from various writers which may assist the thoughtful student of the Scriptures. Historical Evidence Concerning the Commencement and the Close of the Seventy Weeks
AGAIN: we obtain a limit to the period of our Lord’s birth, in the opposite direction, by the statement of St. Luke, that in the fifteenth of Tiberius our Lord was baptized by John the Baptist, and then “began to be about thirty years of age.” Luke 3: 1–23. What, then, was the date of the fifteenth of Tiberius? The inquiry is not to be answered immediately, because, as is well known, there were different modes of reckoning the years of the reigns of some of the Roman emperors. If we were to suppose that St. Luke reckoned his reign from the time of his becoming sole emperor on the death of Augustus, the fifteenth year was from August, A. D. 28, to August, A. D. 29. If, therefore, our Lord was thirty in the fifteenth of Tiberius, according to this calculation he must have been born either in B. C. 3 or B. C. 2. But, from the date of Herod’s death, it is clear that our Lord must have been born earlier than this, and that his birth11 could not have been later than the very beginning of B. C. 4, and in all probability not later than the close of B. C. 5. It is evident, therefore, that St. Luke, who must have known our Lord’s age, adopted some other mode of reckoning the years of the reign of Tiberius. And it is a well-known fact that there was much discrepancy in the mode of reckoning the years of the reign of some of the Roman emperors, particularly in the case of Augustus. (See Clinton, Fasti Hellen. 3: 276; and Fasti Rom. 2: 236, 7; Hales 1: 86.) “The two numbers in St. Luke,” says Mr. Clinton, “the fifteenth year of Tiberius, and thirty years of age for Jesus at the baptism, are irreconcilable with each other. But as it was impossible that St. Luke could have been ignorant of the age of Jesus, we are compelled to conclude that he computed the years of Tiberius in a peculiar manner.”—Clinton, Fasti Rom. 2: 237. But the solution of the difficulty seems obvious, because history informs us that Tiberius was made by Augustus his colleague in the administration of the affairs of the empire, about two years before his death. And this solution is adopted by Norisius, Pagi, Usher, Lardner, Hales, Gresswell, and others. And it certainly does not lie open to the imputation cast upon it by Clinton, that “they have no other reason for selecting that particular year (i. e., two years before the death of Augustus) as the epoch, than because it is adapted to their own dates for the ministry of the Baptist.”—Clinton, Fasti Rom. 2: 237. For the historical testimony fixing that particular time is clear enough, as I will now endeavor to show. Augustus died Aug. 19, A. D. 14. But Tiberius, his son-in-law, had been adopted by him as his son, and made, some time before this, his colleague in the empire, as Velleius Paterculus, Suetonius, and Tacitus all testify. “Filius, collega imperii, consors tribuniciae potestatis adsumitur.”—Tacit. Annal. 1: 3. From the words of Velleius Paterculus it would appear that this partnership in the empire was conferred upon him about the time of his triumph on his return from Germany, A. U. C. 765, A. D. 12 (for the date, see Clinton, Fasti Hell. 3: 272); for he says, “Cum res Galliarum maximae molis, accensaeque plebis Viennensium dissensiones, coercitione magis quam poena mollisset, et Senatus Populusque Romanus, postulante Patre ejus ut aequum ei jus in omnibus provinciis exercitibusque esset, quam erat ipsi, decreto complexus esset, ... in urbem reversus, jampridem debitum sed continuatione bellorum dilatum ex Pannoniis Dalmatisque egit triumphum.”—Vell. Paterc. lib. 2. c. 121. And as Velleius had served with him in Germany, and was present, according to his own testimony in the context of the above passage, at the triumph, his witness is the best we can have on the subject. Suetonius says: “A Germania in urbem post biennium regressus triumphum quem distulerat egit ... ac non multo post, lege per coss. lata, ut provincias cum Augusto communiter administraret, simulque censum ageret, condito lustro in Illyricum profectus est.”—Sueton. in Tiber. cc. 20, 21.* These words would seem to imply that Tiberius was made the colleague of Augustus shortly after his triumph. Putting the two accounts together, we may conclude that the real time must have been close upon the period of his triumph, whether it was a little before or a little after, and therefore about A. D. 12, two years before the death of Augustus. In the lustration that took place three or four months before the death of Augustus, it appears that he called upon Tiberius, as his colleague, to undertake the usual vows. (Vota quae in proximum lustrum suscipi mos est, collegam suum Tiberium nuncupare jussit. Sueton. in Octav. c. 97.) It is, therefore, quite in accordance with the facts of the case, that Luke should call the thirteenth year of the sole imperatorial power of Tiberius the fifteenth year of the rule of Tiberius (tas hegemonias Tiberiou), according to a common mode of reckoning with the ancients in such cases. And, in fact, as the date of our Lord’s birth was certainly some little time previous to Herod’s death, when St. Luke intimates that our Lord was baptized in the fifteenth of Tiberius, and when he was about thirty years of age, we have merely to choose whether we will suppose that St. Luke thus reckoned the years of Tiberius, or whether he made a mistake as to our Lord’s age. The latter certainly is not likely. And, in fact, Jewish customs render it probable that our Lord would begin his public ministry when he was about thirty. According to this calculation, then, the fifteenth of Tiberius would be from the summer of A. D. 26 to the summer of A. D. 27. And thirty years backward from this period would take us to the latter half of B. C. 5, or the former half of B. C. 4. Putting together, then, the two calculations, we find that our Lord’s birth must have taken place between the summer of B. C. 5 and the beginning of B. C. 4. And as from the narrative given by the evangelists of his parents’ presenting him in the temple, when the forty days of his mother’s purification were fulfilled, and then returning with him to Nazareth (Luke 2: 22–39), and afterward going down with him into Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod, and remaining with him there till Herod’s death (Matt. 2: 13–15 and 19–23), the birth could hardly have taken place nearer the period of Herod’s death than the latter end of B. C. 5, and therefore we may reasonably accept the tradition that it took place in December, and consider the precise period to be Dec. 25, B. C. 5. In fact, we are limited to some day between the early part of September and the end of December. We are able, therefore, at once to assign the date of our Lord’s baptism. For as it was when he was beginning to be about thirty years old (Luke 3: 23), and our Lord was thirty on or about Dec. 25, A. D. 26, his baptism must have taken place about January, A. D. 27; which, as we have seen, was in the fifteenth of Tiberius, according to St. Luke’s reckoning. Hengstenberg, in his elaborate commentary on this prophecy of Daniel (Christology, Vol. 2), while he maintains that the years of Tiberius are to be reckoned from the death of Augustus, has entirely forgotten to meet the difficulty arising from the statement of St. Luke, as to our Lord’s age. And when he remarks (ib. 2: 396, American transl.) that what he supposes to be an “error” in the common estimate of the duration of the reign of Xerxes “was committed as soon as only an iá in an ancient authority was confounded with a há,” he has not observed that this will not account for the statement in the Canon of Ptolemy, because in that canon not only is the number of years of each reign mentioned, but the number of the years of the Nabonassarean era at the end of each reign. That the baptism took place in the beginning of the year, is to be inferred from the fact that it occurred not long before the first passover, which our Lord attended after it. The author of the Paschal Chronicle, Pagi, and Norisius assign January 6 for the baptism. Gresswell supposed it to have been January 24. Several of the early Fathers say that the baptism took place in January. We are thus enabled to fix, by historical testimony and proofs entirely independent of each other, both the dates of the issue of the decree of Artaxerxes, and the date of the baptism of our Lord; and we find that the former was promulgated about January, 457 B. C., and that the latter took place about January, A. D. 27. There were, therefore, 457 plus 26 complete years, or exactly 483 years, as Daniel predicted, between the two. For the few days of the year A. D. 27 are wanted to complete those deficient in the year B. C. 457. That is, supposing the decree issued Jan. 6, B. C. 457, and the baptism to have taken place Jan. 6, A. D. 27, the six days of A. D. 27 must supply the six days deficient in B. C. 457, to make up the 483 full years. Be it remembered, however, that I do not pretend to fix either the date of the decree or that of the baptism as necessarily occurring in January. Either event might have occurred a month or two before, or a little after January. The decree might have been issued any time between the commencement of the seventy-seventh year of Artaxerxes, and a short period before the first of Nisan following. And the baptism of our Lord, as St. Luke only says that he then “began to be about thirty,” might have taken place a month or so before December, or in February instead of January after. But the accomplishment of the prophecy is clearly not affected by our necessary ignorance of the precise day of these events.—“Fulfilled Prophecy,” by W. Goode, D. D., F. S. A., London, James Nisbet & Co., 1891, pages 216–220.