governor of Syria, Luke ii, 1, 2. Great difficulties have been raised on the history of the taxing under Cyrenius, for the different solutions of which we must refer to the commentators. It may be observed on the passage in Luke ii, 1, 2, That the word οἰκȣμένη, rendered _all the world_, sometimes signifies the whole of a country, region, or district, as perhaps Acts xi, 28, and certainly Luke xxi, 26. The expression, “all the country,” is peculiarly proper in this place, because Galilee, as well as Judea, was included, and perhaps all other parts in which were Jews. The word ἀπογραφὴ, which is rendered _taxing_, should have been translated _enrolment_; as a taxation did not always really follow such enrolment, though such enrolment generally preceded a taxation. The difficulty of the passage is in the word ϖρώτη, _first_, because, ten or eleven years after, there was actually a taxation, which, as a decisive mark of subjection to the Roman power, was very mortifying to the Jewish nation. To this taxation Gamaliel alludes, “Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the taxing,” Acts v, 37, when mobs and riots were frequent, under pretence of liberty. The narrative of St. Luke may be combined in the following order, which is probably not far from its true import: “In those days Cæsar Augustus,” who was displeased with the conduct of Herod, and wished him to feel his dependence on the Roman empire, “issued a decree that the whole land” of Judea “should be enrolled,” as well persons as possessions, that the true state of the inhabitants, their families, and their property, might be known and recorded. Accordingly, “all were enrolled,” but the taxation did not immediately follow this enrolment, because Augustus was reconciled ...