ton in his
"Chronology," that the flight into Egypt took place before the
presentation in the temple. I have never yet met with any antagonist of
that hypothesis who was able to give a satisfactory explanation of the
text on which it rests. Some other dates assigned for the birth of
Christ are quite inadmissible. In Judea shepherds could not have been
found "abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night"
(Luke ii. 8) in November, December, January, or, perhaps, February; but
in March, and especially in a mild season, such a thing appears to have
been quite common. (See Greswell's "Dissertations," vol. i. p. 391, and
Robinson's "Biblical Researches," vol ii. p. 97, 98.) Hippolytus, one of
the earliest Christian writers who touches on the subject, indicates
that our Lord was born about the time of the passover. (See Greswell, i.
461, 462.)

CHAPTER III.

THE TWELVE AND THE SEVENTY.

It has often been remarked that the personal preaching of our Lord was
comparatively barren. There can be no doubt that the effects produced
did not at all correspond to what might have been expected from so
wonderful a ministry; but it had been predicted that the Messiah would
be "despised and _rejected_ of men," [36:1] and the unbelief of the Jews
was one of the humiliating trials He was ordained to suffer during His
abode on earth. "The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus
was not yet glorified." [36:2] We have, certainly, no evidence that any
of His discourses made such an impression as that which accompanied the
address of Peter on the day of Pentecost. Immediately after the
outpouring of the Spirit at that period an abundant blessing followed
the proclamation of the gospel. But though Jesus often mourned over the
obduracy of His countrymen, and though the truth, preached by His
disciples, was often more effective than when uttered by Himself, it
cannot with propriety be said that His own evangelical labours were
unfruitful. The one hundred and twenty, who met in an upper room during
the interval between His Ascension and the day of Pentecost [36:3] were
but a portion of His followers. The fierce and watchful opposition of
the Sanhedrim had kept Him generally at a distance from Jerusalem; it
was there specially dangerous to profess an attachment to His cause; and
we may thus, perhaps, partially account for the paucity of His adherents
in the Jewish metropolis. His converts were more numerous in Gal