e_,
so their eyes could not bear it. But the light gradually
decreased, until the infant appeared and sucked the breast of
his mother."[155:1]

Tertullian (A. D. 200), Jerome (A. D. 375) and other Fathers of the
Church, also state that Jesus was born in a _cave_, and that the
_heathen_ celebrated, in their day, the birth and _Mysteries_ of their
Lord and Saviour Adonis in this very cave near Bethlehem.[155:2]

Canon Farrar says:

"That the actual place of Christ's birth was a _cave_, is a
very ancient tradition, and this cave used to be shown as the
scene of the event even so early as the time of Justin Martyr
(A. D. 150)."[155:3]

Mr. King says:

"The place _yet_ shown as the scene of their (the Magi's)
adoration at Bethlehem is a _cave_."[155:4]

The Christian ceremonies in the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem are
celebrated to this day in a _cave_,[155:5] and are undoubtedly nearly
the same as were celebrated, _in the same place_, in honor of _Adonis_,
in the time of Tertullian and Jerome; and as are yet celebrated in Rome
every Christmas-day, _very early in the morning_.

We see, then, that there are _three_ different accounts concerning the
_place_ in which Jesus was born. The first, and evidently true one, was
that which is recorded by the _Matthew_ narrator, namely, that he was
born in a _house_. The stories about his being born in a _stable_ or in
a _cave_[155:6] were later inventions, caused from the desire to place
him in as _humble_ a position as possible in his infancy, and from the
fact that the virgin-born Saviours who had _preceded_ him had almost
all been born in a position the most humiliating--such as a cave, a
cow-shed, a sheep-fold, &c.--or had been placed there after birth. This
was a part of the _universal mythos_. As illustrations we may mention
the following:

_Crishna_, the Hindoo virgin-born Saviour, was born in a _cave_,[156:1]
fostered by an honest _herdsman_,[156:2] and, it is said, placed in a
_sheep-fold_ shortly after his birth.

_How-Tseih_, the Chinese "Son of Heaven," when an infant, was left
unprotected by his mother, but the _sheep_ and _oxen_ protected him with
loving care.[156:3]

_Abraham_, the Father of Patriarchs, is said to have been _born in a
cave_.[156:4]

_Bacchus_, who was the son of God by the virgin Semele, is said to have
been _born in a cave_, or placed in one shortly after his birth.[156:5]
Philostratus,