aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

. "THE
338 AROUND THE WORLD.
moon in the year A. D. 31. As the vernal equinox of the year fell on
March 25, and the Jews ate their Easter lamb, and celebrated their Frib
Passoh, or feast of the passover, on the following new moon, it is clear
April 6 was identified with Nisan 14 of the Jewish calendar, which
moreover was on Friday, the Paraskevee, Or day of preparation for the
sabbath; and this agrees with the Hebrew' Talmud. Thus by the
united testimony of astronomy, archaeology, traditional and biblical history,
there can be but little doubt that the date of the crucifixion was
April 6, A. D. 31."
Jesus, the Syrian seer, a radical reformer and divine
teacher, died a martyr to the sublime principles he taught, —
died with a prayer of forgiveness trembling upon his quivering
lips. May we not say with the Revelator, " Worthy
the Lamb"?
STAR OF BETHLEHEM."
" The star in the east took its place in the choir
While the seraphs sang alto, the angels sang air;
They sang, and the cadence is lingering still, —
*
Be our peace evermore to the men of good " will.'
As melody marries the words of a song, so truth marries
the Qycling ages. The priest officiating at the altar is history,—
the issue, wisdom. But was this Bethlehem star a
new star ? Was it a comet ? Was it a transient meteor ?
Was the brilliancy caused by planets in conjunction ? Was
it an atmospheric luminosity ? Was it an angel assuming an
astral appearance ? Or was it a sudden stellar eruption similar
to that witnessed by Tycho Brahe in 1572, when a star
appeared suddenly, and increased to such an astonishing
magnitude that it was visible at noon, maintaining much of
its splendor for seventeen months ? The French Academician,
Alphonse De Lamartine, said that—
" Chinese astronomers, whose observations are noted for their accuracy,
and extend back thousands of years, record that a bright comet did
appear in the year 4 B.C., and remain visible seventy days during the
vernal equinox. This is a curious fact, and it corroborates the assertion
made by most chronologers, that the nativity occurred four yeai'S before
the time usually assigned to it ; so that we should now be in A. D. 1878,
instead of 1874."