The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-01-19
THE ROMAN CENSUS.

Certain schools of skeptics, for in
stance the Tubingen school, hold
that the Gospels were not written
till the second century, long after the
alleged authors and all eye-witnesses
of the events they narrate, were dead.
Consequently they are not to be re-
garded as history, but as mere tradi-
tions, or myths. One of their argu-
ments is founded upon the statement
in the second chapter of Luke, that at
the time of the birth of Christ, Angus
tus Caesar had ordered general taxa
tion; that "this taxing was first made
when Cyrenius was governor of Syria;
and all went to be taxed, every ope
into his own city" Joseph, being of
the lineage of David, went in the
winter with his wife, who was also of
the same lineage, from his home in
Nazareth to Bethlehem, the old home
of David, eighty miles to the south,
to be enrolled. This was according
to Jewish custom. The Roman meth
cd was to enroll every man in the
place of his residence. But the Jews.
who carefully kept their genealogical
records, considered their home to be
where their fathers had lived, in the
territory assigned to their tribe by
Joshua fifteen centuries before. The
city where Jesse and David had lived
was therefore the home of all their
descendants.
1t is probable that the governor,
Publius Sulpicius Quirinus, (Cyre-
nius,) granted this concession, this
departure from Roman custom, to
make it easier for Herod to execute
the hated order. 1t would cause less
dissatisfaction. IL the English rulers
of India had been little more con-
siderate of Hindoo prejudices, and not
required the soldiers to bite off the
cartridges which had been creased
with tallow, which was a sacrilege
and an abomination in their view, the
great Sepoy rebellion might have
been avoided. But the principal OBJ
lection to the accounts the allegation
that Quirinus was not governor of
Syria till ten years later.
We know that he was governor of
that province, which included Pales-
tine, from the year of Rome 760 to 765,
or A. D. to IL, and that P. @. Varus
was governor from B. G. 6 to 4. But
neither Josephus nor Dio Cassius,
nor even Tacitus, tells us that Quir-
mus was governor from B. G. A to L.,
which he must have been if Luke was
right. And yet Zumpt has proved al
most or quite to demonstration, from
Roman history, that he was governor
at this very time. His argument is
too long to quote, but his conclusion
seems to us absolutely irresistible.
1t follows that this seemingly plausi-
BILE objection to the genuineness of
Luke's Gospel, is one of the strongest
proofs of it. If he wrote from the
testimony of eye-witnesses, as he
claims to have done, there could have
been no mistake about the name of
the Roman governor. But if the
account was written in the second
century, one hundred or hundred
and fifty years afterward, it is next to
impossible that the writer should
have known fact that none of the
historians mention, and which we can
learn only from an intimate acquaint-
ance with their writings, and then
only by necessary inferences from
other statements which they make.
Such latent proofs of this are. much
more conclusive evidence of the gen.
uineness of theGospels than any that
is direct and obvious. And especially
when what seems to be the strongest
objection to their veracity, is seen to
be among the strongest proof of their
truth, we need not trouble ourselves
much about what skeptics may say
against them. J.B.s.
FIR SCOTT, KAN.