HISTORY OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 40, 31 January 1874, Page 13

HISTORY OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

By the Abbe J. E. Darius. (Translated from the French for the New Zealand Tablkt.) 5. — Invenientis infantem positpm in pe^: 3 epio. The evangelical Prhnogenitum it, then, in itself alone, a demonstration. It supposes an entire order of doctrines and facts, which could only be familiar to a contemporary author ; it implies a social state, constitution, laws, customs, an acquaintance with which might possibly have been acquired subsequently, — since by retrospective s'Udies we know them to-day, — but which n foreign writer v/ould never have thought of recalling, in a circumstance where the use of this word — Prifoogenitus — might seem not only superfluous, but further, evidently dangerous, by the improper interpretation that might be given to if. The Evangelists were not moved by any preoccupation of this sort; they registered a fnct, precisely in the manner, and under the existing conditions in which it had been brought about. Nothing more, nothing less ; and a very little reflection on this subject will convince one that thii method of proceeding gives to their word a character of authenticity truly incontes:a' l", The continuation of the nurativeof St. Luke furnishes a new proof of the same kind. Havin» given birth to her first-born son, " Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inu." Transport the scene to any centre other than Judea, and the East in general ; these indications, so precisely noted, lose their meaning, and will appear incoherent. Our expression, " inn," — the nearest term to t-hat used by the Evangelist— is yet fur from conveying an exact translation of the ward-; and the idea it presents to the mind is completely foreign to the historical reality. There was' no such thing as an "inn" according to our sense of tke word, either at Bethlehem or in any other part of Palestine. Even iv our day, the scant establishments of this kind, to be met with, ore European importations ; and the natives do not frequent them. Hospitality, aruon<i the Jews, continued to be held sicred in each family. The houses of the rich had an apartment destined "for the reception of guests ; the poor man's roof, or the tent of the shepherd, was alike generously eh ired with the stranger who presented himself. As in the time of Abraham, the custom still prevailed of washing the feetof the -traveller. But at the entrance of each. 6mnll village, a shed was erectert for the men and merchandise of those caravans wkich were eitbtJr not abiding there, or else were too numerous to have recourse to private hospitality. This is precisely what St. Luke mea s by the Greek term, Kataluma, (place where burdens are unloaded.) There, each traveller had to provide, as ho thought proper, for his own wants. Beside the caravansary— for this oriental terra suits better with the customs of the East — the animals had the " Praesepium," where they rested, and took the f,od distributed by their masters. These preliminary notes will enable us to understand perfectly the ensemble and each detail of the Gospel narrative. Joseph and llary arriv™ late in the evening, at 'heir journey 'd end. Beth Ilehem is filled with the crowd who resort thither to bo enrolled ; 6O true i= it that the family of David — one of the moit numerous and moft important of Judea — was not extinct ! ATI t lie houses in the town are filled, and in proof of this, the caravansary itself is encumbered. The illustrious rratellers retire to the " Praesepium," a temponry shelter, which they share in very truth, with the auinu I.*.1 .*. There, Jesus Christ, the Son of God — 'he Word made Flesh— is born into the world ; and the Angel, the first Evangelist of these goodtidings, says to the Shepherds: — "Behold the si^n by which you shall know the Sjviour, the Christ, who this day is born to you : you shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger." This Mgn, according to our modern notions would be hopelessly vague. Where find, in the middle of the uigh*-, in one of our villages, tho house which contained the blessed manner? But the shepherds know well what the "Praesepium" ©f Bethlehem moans. They kuow it by experience, it is thero liiey go tnemselvc, m caao of need, to shelter their flocks. So they do n>t hesitate for a m mient ; they hasten to the spot ; they find " Llary, Joseph, and the Infant, lying in the ciib." The sign indicated by the Angel is for them as precise a token, as it would be vague in one of our modern towns. The shelter ninth exceptional circumstances had forced on the Holy family, was, we say, temporary. In ellect, whoa the migi come to adore the Sou of God, they will no longer find him in the "Praesepium" which Joseph and Mary had quitted to take up their abode in a house of Bethlehem. "And entering into tho house," e-iys tke Gospel, "they found the child with Mary his mother." "Here," adds St. Epiphanius, "there ii no longer question of the "JPraesepium," nov of the cave, but of the hospitab'e dwelling, which had sujceeded the temporary shelter." 1. (1.) St: Epiphane, Adverb, haeres. LI. Patrol gr.\ze, torn. XLI.