The sun., 1899-12-31
THE MYSTERY OF BEING.
BEJIRyERS ~ THE UNSEEN, AND
ShEpTICS UHO BELIEpE ONLY
TIfE bEEA.
y,.u. Of Other corre.pond.nn Considered.

lInRworth Wrltc7' IL may De cleiNu' o' W vs.
THE sUS In which II Is stated that CHRIST was
crucinsl A. ID. 30 lie ia doGmatica'y certain
that Christ died A u, 50. tn" subject has par
ticulnr interest Just now. Some very respect
able authorities say lie was crucined A. d. -
under tho consulate OF tho Gcmini. Agrcat
many maintain He WIS horn four or iVe years
before the Vulgar era. which b"I'ns. theV say
nb ammo Wbis cOnditG I53. and this would nuke
the year 7Ip the year OF Ills birth. lrehnnS'
Tertullian and Cass!odurus hold that lie was
born IN tho forty.nrst year OF tho rolgn oi
Augustus, which would no D2 Iutepus'
Tpiphnnius. clement "f Alexandria nnd Oro-
sius say His birth took place In the iorty-
second year OF tho rciGn OF Augustus. ana
from this Dehys the Little concludes that
Christ woa born 753 and that the Christian era
begins 75i. This opinion has rev advocates
to-day. Kepler favois IiS. Sepp 74T No do
Wicgl Sulzhach. ralma. Sanclementc. Ideler.
IIus,hke. Patrizzi. Humpt and Delsignore.
Niesler is n strong advocate OF $50
Now. rs Christ began His public ministry
when He was thirty and continued 1t In all
probability for thrce years He was thirty
three when crucNed Wieslcr. Chw amos.
Lichtenstein. Schcgg. Grimm. Casrarl. Roter-
mund. Noesgen. Frledlut and Scherer argue
that Ho died A. d. 30. PatrIzz schulze. sepp.
Zoekler and Cornely maintain that lie died
A. ID. 20. Anger. Beyschag, Meyer and
JjurrberR say 1t was A. d 81. Volkmar favors
~ A. D.. Keim and Hausrath 80 A. d. Some
few say with Ireneus that Christ lived TO be
near fity years Of age. and. accordingly. must
have been born twenty years before our era
They found their opinion on tho words OF the
Jows to Him: Thou art not yet lfty years
old" From careful pcrusnl Of the writings Of
specialists on the subject think wo may safely
say that Christ was born A. L. c. 7+b. and the
Vulgar era began 754. Hence 1t Ia not 40 cer-
tain a. Mr.. Cuingworth thinks when Christ
was born or died.
n Christ was born 10. we are some time In
tho twentieth century. II the Christian era
began the year after His birth. we shall enter
tho twentieth century December. 1900. on the
assum pton that lie was born in the latter part
Of December. II lie was not born till the first
year OF our era. the twentieth century will not
begin till December. 1901. or course. II wo
follow custom. which. TO my mind. Is an mex
orable tyrnnt. we must admit the twentieth
century begins Jan. |. 1901. But here We are
mot with another difficulty. Did not Gregory
XII rob the good people OF 1882 Of ten days1
] believe I should prefer TO settle the financial
difficulties Of the Democratic party more
quickly than the twentieth century question"
so learnedy treated in THE Sun. Cog" sug-
gests difficulty relative to the necessity OF
Christ dying Absolutely speaking. II was not
necessary for Christ to become man. But on
the hypothesis that God demanded perfect
satisfaction for tho ain OF Adam. the incarna-
tlon became necessity: for finite being cam
not satisfy for an offence against an Infinite
being.
Alr. Woods argues thnt the Church must have
Supreme Court whose decisions are flnal. be-
cause the State has such n court. The argu-
ment is Illogical. II Christ wished TO make the
Bible the supreme arbIter in matters Of faith
He could have done so. Could he not illumine
the soul OF each reader OF the Bible so as to pre-
vent him from falling into error3 But did God
give to each one the right to interpret the law
and follow his own judgment IN dec ding tho
meaning OF a book called :hc Bible The reason
OF the want o! faith think. may bo attributed
20 two facts. viz. the study o. tho physical
sciences and the want o, religious training In
the youth OF the country. wo are often told
that reason leads us 10 n belief In God and fu-
ture life. The fact is. reason considered. actu-
ally and historicallv, reason as II acts I'm fact,
and concretely in man. leads men away from
the First Cause, God. One OF the first thinkers
OF the age nverred that he shoul be ar atheist
or q panthelst when h. looked into the word
He did not deny the force OF tho arguments
drawn from human society TO prove the exist
ence OF God. but they did not warm or en-
lichtcn him they did not take away the winter
OF his desolaton, nor were sufficient to make
the buds unfold and the leaves grow within
him md his moral be ing rejoice. No truth. he
continues. however sacred. can stand against
II: ami hence when Christ came the last trnces
Of the religious knowledge OF former times
were all but disappearing from those por-
tons OF the world ia which the intellect had
been active and had had a career. The m ost
eminent empirical philosophers OF heathen
Greece were atheists and IL was atheIsm that
made them eminent.
Tho natural philosophers OF Democritus
and others" says Bacon. who allow no God or
mind in tho frame OF things. but attribute the
structure OF the universe to infinite essays and
trials Of nature. and assigned the causes Of
particular things to the necessity OF matter.
without any intermiXture Of final cauaes seem
much moro solid. and to have gone deeper into
nature. with regard to physical causes, than tho
PHILOSOPHERS OF Aristotle or Plato: and this
only because they never mrddled with ma
tingushed wr.cr commenting on the words
oI Bacon, are ever inauiring whence things
are, not why; referring them to nature. not to