r point of view.
Luke, on the contrary (chap. iv. 16), writing more carefully, has
employed, in order to be consistent, a more softened expression. As to
John, he knows nothing of the journey to Bethlehem; for him, Jesus is
merely "of Nazareth" or "Galilean," in two circumstances in which it
would have been of the highest importance to recall his birth at
Bethlehem (chap. i. 45, 46, vi. 41, 42).]

[Footnote 7: It is known that the calculation which serves as basis of
the common era was made in the sixth century by _Dionysius the Less_.
This calculation implies certain purely hypothetical data.]

The name of _Jesus_, which was given him, is an alteration from
_Joshua_. It was a very common name; but afterward mysteries, and an
allusion to his character of Saviour, were naturally sought for in
it.[1] Perhaps he, like all mystics, exalted himself in this respect.
It is thus that more than one great vocation in history has been
caused by a name given to a child without premeditation. Ardent
natures never bring themselves to see aught of chance in what concerns
them. God has regulated everything for them, and they see a sign of
the supreme will in the most insignificant circumstances.

[Footnote 1: Matt. i. 21; Luke i. 31.]

The population of Galilee was very mixed, as the very name of the
country[1] indicated. This province counted amongst its inhabitants,
in the time of Jesus, many who were not Jews (Phoenicians, Syrians,
Arabs, and even Greeks).[2] The conversions to Judaism were not rare
in these mixed countries. It is therefore impossible to raise here any
question of race, and to seek to ascertain what blood flowed in the
veins of him who has contributed most to efface the distinction of
blood in humanity.

[Footnote 1: _Gelil haggoyim_, "Circle of the Gentiles."]

[Footnote 2: Strabo, XVI. ii. 35; Jos., _Vita_, 12.]

He proceeded from the ranks of the people.[1] His father, Joseph, and
his mother, Mary, were people in humble circumstances, artisans living
by their labor,[2] in the state so common in the East, which is
neither ease nor poverty. The extreme simplicity of life in such
countries, by dispensing with the need of comfort, renders the
privileges of wealth almost useless, and makes every one voluntarily
poor. On the other hand, the total want of taste for art, and for that
which contributes to the elegance of material life, gives a naked
aspect to the house of him who otherwise wants for nothing. Apart