gle threads and weave them into a connected narrative; to learn, if possible, the course of his earthly life, the order of his ministry, the gradual unfolding of his divine purposes, and the secret causes which so operated on the public mind as to lead the people to offer him a crown in Galilee and award him the cross at Jerusalem. This task has been less simple than it might seem. Among the so-called harmonists there is no harmony. In such a work the uncertain guidance of surmise has been of necessity sometimes accepted, where there were no clear indications in the original accounts to determine the chronological order.

Neither have the evangelists illustrated the events they recount by any detailed explanation of the manners and customs of their age. For the most part they have assumed that their readers possess the knowledge so familiar not only to them, but to their contemporaries. This life of the past, which has faded from sight before the brighter light of Christian civilization, I have endeavored, in these pages, to restore by borrowing the pen of history to transport the reader into the atmosphere of the first century. I have thus sought to give to the life and teachings of Christ that significance which is afforded by a knowledge of his times and circumstances; to present the Life of Christ in its appropriate setting.

Many systems of so-called Christianity have appeared in the world, differing greatly from each other, and from that which is to be deduced from the words and doings of Jesus. It is well sometimes to go back to the Fountain-head, to trace this affluent stream of Christian civilization to its Source, to study, in the life and teachings of Jesus, the Christianity of Christ.

With the prosecution of this general purpose no considerations have been permitted to interfere.

Believing the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, it has been enough for my purpose to assume that the Gospels are authentic narratives. The reader will therefore find in these pages no discussion concerning the authority of the Scriptures, or the authenticity of particular passages. This belongs to the critic, not to the historian.

Believing that God is immanent in nature and in life, I hold that Christian faith in the Christian miracles is the truest rationalism. But it is the province of the philosopher, not of the historian, to discuss this question. To the philosopher, therefore, I have remitted it, writing this record of Christ's life in the same faith in a present helpful God in which the inspired records were written which constitute my authorities.

Believing Jesus to be the Incarnate Son of God, I have not written to advocate that article of the Christian's faith. This is not a theological treatise under guise of an historical monograph. It contains no discussions of even fundamental doctrines. To the skepticism which still inquires incredulously, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" there is no better answer than that of Philip, "Come and see."

The language of imagination has been sometimes employed, but only in the narration of well-authenticated facts. The minutest reference to dress, manners, customs, and scenery are founded upon a careful and conscientious study of reliable authorities. It would not probably add to the real value of the book to encumber its pages with references to them, but the reader will find in an Appendix a list of the more important English works consulted. If he is desirous to examine any doubtful point, he has thus, at least, a clew to his investigations. The foot-notes are confined mainly to Scripture references. These are not al

ways cited as authorities. They are often only referred to as illustrations of the statements in the text.

In a few cases notes are added referring to critical investigations, the results of which only are indicated in the body of the work.

Finally, I have not interwoven in this narrative of Christ's life any eulogy of his teachings or his character. It is but a poor device, that of ancient art, which puts a halo round His head that it may designate HIM. Reverencing Jesus as the only-begotten Son of God, accepting him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in whom alone is the remission of sins, and loving him with dailyincreasing love as my Savior and my Lord, I have sought simply to tell the story of his life, believing that his character is its own best evidence of his divinity, his life its own highest eulogy. The pen which I took up with enthusiasm I lay down with regret. Whatever reception the Christian public may accord to this fruit of my studies, I shall be ever grateful for the impulse which led me to them, for in those studies themselves I have found my highest and best reward.

New England Church,

New York City, January 1, 1869.)

LYMAN ABBOTT.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTE.

In the dates which are placed at the head of these pages I have assumed that Jesus was born A.D. 1. The year of his birth is, however, uncertain, though modern scholars think it probable that he was really born four years before this date. (See Andrews's Life of Our Lord, p. 1; Smith's New Testament History, p. 194, 358.) I have thought it, however, better to adopt the popular chronology than to confuse the reader by apparent incongruities between the statements of Jesus's age as afforded by the text and by the Gospels and the chronological headings, which, if they followed later scholarship, would require constant explanation. The reader will understand, therefore, that A.D. in the page headings refers him back, not to the beginning of the present era, but to the real date of Jesus's birth, whatever that may be, and thus that these dates indicate his age rather than that of the Christian era. I have usually, though not uniformly, followed the chronology of Andrews, whose careful and painstaking studies in this department leave very little to be added or altered.