h _Vitellius_ was at before, namely, the stirring up a
sedition in _Parthia_, the quieting that sedition, the making a league
after that with the _Parthians_, the sending news of that league to _Rome_,
the receiving new orders from thence to go against the _Arabians_, and the
putting those orders in execution; required much more time than the fifty
days between the Passover and Pentecost of the same year: and therefore the
Passover which _Vitellius_ first went up to, was in the year before.
Therefore _Pilate_ was deposed before the Passover A.C. 36, and by
consequence the passion of _Christ_ was before that Passover: for he
suffered not under _Vitellius_, nor under _Vitellius_ and _Pilate_
together, but under _Pilate_ alone.

Now it is observable that the high Priesthood was at this time become an
annual office, and the Passover was the time of making a new high Priest.
For _Gratus_ the predecessor of _Pilate_, saith _Josephus_, made _Ismael_
high Priest after _Ananus_; and a while after, suppose a year, deposed him,
and substituted _Eleazar_, and a year after _Simon_, and after another year
_Caiaphas_; and then gave way to _Pilate_. So _Vitellius_ at one Passover
made _Jonathas_ successor to _Caiaphas_, and at the next _Theophilus_ to
_Jonathas_. Hence _Luke_ tells us, that in the 15th year of _Tiberius_,
_Annas_ and _Caiaphas_ were high Priests, that is, _Annas_ till the
Passover, and _Caiaphas_ afterwards. Accordingly _John_ speaks of the high
Priesthood as an annual office: for he tells us again and again, in the
last year of _Christ_'s preaching, that _Caiaphas_ was high Priest for that
year, _John_ xi. 49, 51. xviii. 13. And the next year _Luke_ tells you,
that _Annas_ was high Priest, _Acts_ iv. 6. _Theophilus_ was therefore made
high Priest in the first year of _Caius_, _Jonathas_ in the 22d year of
_Tiberius_, and _Caiaphas_ in the 21st year of the same Emperor: and
therefore, allotting a year to each, the Passion, when _Annas_ succeeded
_Caiaphas_, could not be later than the 20th year of _Tiberius_, A.C. 34.

Thus there remain only the years 33 and 34 to be considered; and the year
33 I exclude by this argument. In the Passover two years before the
Passion, when _Christ_ went thro' the corn, and his disciples pluckt the
ears, and rubbed them with their hands to eat; this ripeness of the corn
shews that the Passover then fell late: and so did the Passover A.C. 32,
_April 14_, but the Passover A.C. 31, _March 28