Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-06-09
BEHIND TIME.
Strange Developments Which Show that
the Present Year is 1888 Instead of
1888 as on the Calendar.


There have been for centuries
doubts as to the correctness of the
accepted calculation of the Christian
Era. Some learned historians car
not agree whether Christ was borr
in the year TAT, 749 or 754, counting
from the foundation of Rome. Re
Gently Prof. Sattler, Of Munich, has
published an essay in which he tries
to reconcile the testimony of the
evangelists with the other historical
data ON this point. He has exam
ined four copper coins. newly discov-
cred, which were struck in the region
of Herod Antipas, one OF the sons o.
Herod the Great, -and he comes to
the conclusion that Christ was born
not in 754, but 749 years after the
foundation of Rome, and therefore
that the present year is 1888 instead
of 1883. This opinion the Professor
tries to corroborate by the testimony
of the evangelists.
According to st. Matthew, Jesus
was born toward the end of the reign
of Herod the Great, and when the
King died Jesus was yet little child.
According to st. Luke, Jesus was
born in the year in which, by virtue
of a decree of Augustus Caesar, Cy-
renius, Governor of Syria. made the
first census of Judea. Again, st.
Luke says that st. John began to
baptize in the fifteenth year of the
reign of Tiberius Caesar. and in that
year baptized Jesus, who was then 30
years Of age. AS to the first testi-
mony there can be no misunder-
standing. Christ, being born in 749,
was, of course, yet a babe in $50, when
Herod died. But the other testi-
mony needs some explanation. From
the brevarium imperil census of the
the empire), which was added to the
will of Augustus Caesar, it is evident
that thorough census of the coun-
tries that composed the Roman EN-
pire must have been made. In fact
Augustus had three censuses of his
empire made, namely, in 726, TAG
and 766. AS st. Luke says that in
Judea the first census was made
during the reign of Herod, the census
must have been ordered in TAG.
Probably the census was begun in
Judea in TAT, and Prof. Sattler thinks
it was not made in Jerusalem earlier
than 749 He finds that the four coins
enable him to make clear the testi-
mony of the evangelist as to the fif-
teenth year Of the reign of Tiberius.
Though Augustus died on August 10,
767, yet the beginning of the reign of
Tiberius must be counted year and
a half earlier February, 1861, when
he was appointed co-regent There
fore the fifteenth year or the reign of
Tiberius falls in 7S0, when st. John
baptized Jesus, who was then about
80 years of age. An evangelist says
that Christ began to preach forty-six
years after the temple at Jerusalem
was built by Herod. Now, it is
known that the building of the temple
was begun eighteen years after Herod
was appointed by the Rome Senate
as Regent of Judea, or in the year
734 from the foundation of Rome.
Adding it to that year, it gives 7SO
as the year in which Christ began to
preach.
If all these calculations of Prof.
Sattler are correct, then the Christ
ian Era began five years earlier than
is usually supposed, making the cur
rent year 1883 instead of 1883.