CYRENIUS (Kuρývios) is a Greek form of the Roman name QUIRINUS, whose full name is Publius Sulpicius Quirinus. He was consul B.C. 12, and made governor of Syria after the banishment of Archelaus in A.D. 7 (Joseph. Ant. xvii. 13, § 5). He was sent to make an enrolment of property in Syria, and made accordingly, both there and in Judæa, a census or anоyрapń (Joseph l. c., and xviii. 1, § 1). But this census seems in Luke (ii. 2) to be identified with one which took place at the time of the birth of Christ, when Sentius Saturninus is said to have been governor of Syria. Hence has risen a considerable difficulty, which has been variously solved, either by supposing some corruption in the text of St. Luke (a supposition which is not countenanced by any external critical evidence), or by giving some unusual sense to his words, αὕτη ἡ ἀπογραφὴ πρώτη ἐγένετο Яyεμovevovтos tñs Evpias Kvpnviov. But Prof. A.W. Zumpt, of Berlin, has assigned good reasons for believing that Quirinus was twice governor of Syria, and that the first census was made in his first governorship, which dates from B.C. 4 to B.c. 1, when he was succeeded by M. Lollius. (D.) BETHLEHEM. BETH-LEHEM (i. e. house of bread), is one of the oldest towns in Palestine. Its earliest name was ЕPHRATH OF EPHRATAH (see Gen. xxxv. 16, xlviii. 7; Josh. xv. 59, LXX.), and it is not till long after the occupation of the country by the Israelites that we meet with it under The its new name of Bethlehem. ancient name still lingered as a familiar word in the mouths of the inhabitants of the place (Ruth i. 2, iv. 11; 1 Sam. xvii. 12), and in the poetry of the Psalmists and Prophets (Ps. cxxxii. 6; Mic. v. 2) to a late period. After the conquest, Bethlehem appears under its own name Bethlehem-judah (Judg. xvii. 7; 1 Sam. xvii. 12; Ruth i. 1, 2), possibly to distinguish it from the small and remote place of the same name in Zebulun. Bethlehem, although the birthplace of David and our Lord, remained in obscurity throughout the whole of the Sacred history. After its mention in the N. T. we hear nothing more of Bethlehem till near the middle of the 2d century, when Justin Martyr speaks of our Lord's birth as having taken place "in a certain cave very close to the village," which cave he goes on to say had been specially pointed out by Isaiah as a sign." The passage from Isaiah to which he refers is xxxiii. 13-19, in the LXX. version of which occurs the following--"He shall dwell on high: His place of defense shall be in a lofty cave of the strong rock (Justin, Dial. c. Tryph. §§ 78, 70). While it is not possible to say with certainty that the tradition is true, there is no reason for discrediting it. There is nothing in itself improbable in the supposition that the place in which Joseph and Mary took shelter, and where was the " manger" or "stall" (whatever the párvn may have been), was a cave in the limestone rock of which the eminence of Bethlehem is composed. But the step from the belief that the nativity may have taken place in a cavern, to the belief that the present subterraneous vault or crypt is that cavern, is a very wide one. The present church was built by Constantine about A.D. 330. 66 The modern town of Beit-lahm lies to the E. of the main road from Jerusalem to Hebron, 6 miles from the former. It covers the E. and N.E. parts of the ridge of a "long gray hill" of Jura limestone, which is about a mile in length. (E.) NAZARETH. Church history, which represent the place as having occupied an invariable position. The The origin of the disrepute in which Nazareth stood (John i. 47) is not certainly known. All the inhabitants of Galilee were looked upon with contempt by the people of Judæa because they spoke a ruder dialect, were less cultivated, and were more NAZARETH is not mentioned in the exposed by their position to contact Old Testament or in Josephus, but with the heathen. But Nazareth occurs first in Matt. ii. 23, though a labored under a special opprobrium, town could hardly fail to have ex- for it was a Galilean and not a southisted on so eligible a spot from much ern Jew who asked the reproachful earlier times. It is situated among question, whether "any good thing" the hills which constitute the south could come from that source. ridges of Lebanon, just before they term "good” (ảyaðóv), having more sink down into the Plain of Esdrae- commonly an ethical sense, it has lon. Among those hills is a valley been suggested that the inhabitants which runs in a waving line nearly of Nazareth may have had a bad east and west, about a mile long and, name among their neighbors for irreon the average, a quarter of a mile ligion or some laxity of morals. The broad, but which at a certain point supposition receives support from the enlarges itself considerably so as to disposition which they manifested form a sort of basin. In this basin toward the person and ministry of or enclosure, along the lower edge of our Lord. They attempted to kill the hill-side, lies the quiet secluded him; they expelled him twice (if village in which the Saviour of men | Luke iv. 16-29, and Matt. xiii. 54-58, spent the greater part of his earthly relate probably to different occurexistence. Being so sheltered by rences) from their borders; they were hills, Nazareth enjoys a mild atmos- so willful and unbelieving that he phere and climate. Hence all the performed not many miracles among fruits of the country-as pomegran- them (Matt. xiii. 58); and, finally, ates, oranges, figs, olives-ripen early they compelled him to turn his back and attain a rare perfection. Of the upon them and reside at Capernaum identification of the ancient site there (Matt. iv. 13). can be no doubt. The name of the present village is en-Nâzirah, the same, therefore, as of old; it is formed on a hill or mountain (Luke iv. 29); it is within the limits of the province of Galilee (Mark i. 9); it is near Cana (whether we assume Kana on the east or Kana on the north-east as the scene of the first miracle), according to the implication in John ii. 1, 2, 11; a precipice exists in the neighborhood (Luke iv. 29); and, finally, a series of testimonies reach back to Eusebius, the father of Among the "holy places" which the legends have sought to connect with events in the life of Christ, two localities are of special interest. One of these is the "Fountain of the Virgin," situated at the north-eastern extremity of the town, where, according to one tradition, the mother of Jesus received the angel's salutation (Luke i. 28). Though we may attach no importance to this latter belief, we must, on other accounts, regard the spring with a feeling akin to that of religious. venera tion. It derives its name from the fact that Mary, during her life at Nazareth, no doubt accompanied often by "the child Jesus," must have been accustomed to repair to this fountain for water, as is the practice of the women of that village at the present day. It presents a busy scene, from the number of those, hurrying to and fro, engaged in the labor of water-carrying. The other place is that of the attempted Precipitation. We are directed to the true scene of this occurrence, not so much by any tradi tion as by internal indications in the Gospel history itself. A prevalent opinion of the country has transferred the event to a hill about two miles south-east of the town. Above the town are several rocky ledges over which a person could not be thrown without almost certain destruction. But there is one very remarkable precipice, almost perpendicular and forty or fifty feet high, near the Maronite church, which may well be supposed to be the identical one over which his infuriated townsmen attempted to hurl Jesus. OUR SAVIOUR'S EARLY MINISTRY, FROM THE PREACHING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST TO CHRIST'S FIRST PASSOVER. A.D. 26-27. § 1. State of Judæa at the appearance of JOHN THE BAPTIST. § 2. His preaching of repentance, and his Baptism. His addresses to different classes. The Pharisees reject, the common people and Publicans believe him. § 3. The Baptism of Jesus; its significance. The descent of the Holy Ghost. Jesus proclaimed the Son of God. § 4. The temptation of Jesus: its meaning, scene, and incidents: parallel to Moses and Elijah in the desert. The ministry of angels. § 5. John disclaims the Messiahship for himself, and proclaims Jesus as the Lamb of God. § 6. Two of John's disciples follow Christ-Andrew, and probably John. Andrew brings his brother Simon. Beginning of the Christian Church. Call of Philip and Nathanael, or Bartholomew. Their successive confessions of the Christ. § 7. Goes with his disciples into Galilee. The Marriage Feast at Cana. Jesus and Mary. Our Lord's First Miracle. Essential character of miracles. Already familiar to the Jews. Tests laid down by the Rabbis: satisfied in the miracle at Cana. Its effect on the disciples. Social aspect of the miracle. Sanction of the ordinance of marriage, though himself unmarried. § 8. Christ's short abode at Capernaum. Conclusion of the more private opening of his ministry. Approach of the Passover. § 1. THE preceding narrative has left both Jesus and his appointed forerunner awaiting "the time of their showing to Israel," the former in the circle of his family, the latter leading a wild, ascetic life in the wilderness about Engedi. Meanwhile, the state of the Holy Land was enough to show that "the fullness of time was come" for the appearance of the preacher of repentance as the herald of the kingdom of heaven. "The sceptre had departed from Judah" at the deposition of Archelaus, the son of Herod (A.D. 7); and Judæa was governed by a Roman procurator under the prefect of Syria. The degradation of seeing a heathen power on the ruins of the throne of David was embittered by the oppression of the publicans (portitores), generally Jews-collectors who exacted far more than they had to pay over to the farmers of the revenue. The people were ripe for rebellion; and a sect arose, under Judas, the Gaulonite, denying the lawfulness of paying tribute to Cæsar. Such was the state of things in Judæa when JOHN THE BAPTIST appeared in public, at the epoch which St. Luke carefully marks by a concurrence of chronological data. It was in the 15th year of Tiberius, A.D. 26 (reckoning from his association with Augustus in the empire in A.D. 12), when Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judæa, Herod Antipas tetrarch of Galilee, Philip tetrarch of Ituræa and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas are both named as high-priests; in fact, Annas was deposed by Valerius Gratus in A.D. 14, and was succeeded after a time by his son-in-law, Caiaphas or Joseph. In the subsequent narrative we find both acting together, with a sort of joint authority, as heads of the Jewish people. The frequent changes in the high-priesthood at this time formed an irritating feature of the Roman policy. § 2. At this time of general commotion and expectation, the prophetic word of God came to John in the wilderness of Judæa, and he came forward as a preacher. Though he laid. no claim to miraculous powers, there was every thing about him to excite attention. A rare, and probably solitary specimen of the ancient Nazarites, like Samson and Samuel, commanding admiration by his life of ascetic retirement, he had assumed also the prophet's mantle of camel's hair, fastened to the body by a girdle, a dress which of itself recalled the person of Elijah. Being, in fact, the greatest, as he was the last |