146 LECTURE ON THE 



the next day received the name of the fourth in the series, to wit, 

 the moon; and this also gave name to the day, so that it wa-s called 

 Moonday or Monda3^ Thus the several days of the week were named. 

 The French names of the daj^s of the week still bear marks of this 

 process. In the English names of the days the names of the old 

 Saxon deities are introduced in place of those of the gods of ancient 

 heathenism. Thus we have Sun's-day, Moon's-day Tuisco's-day, 

 Woden' s-day, Thor's-day, Friga's-day, and Seterne's-day. 



With regard to the months, January is named from Janus; Febru- 

 ary from Februa; March from Mars; April from the Latin Aprilis, 

 called from aperio, to open, being a spring month of the year ; May 

 from Mains; June from Juno; July from Julius Caesar; August from 

 Augustus CcBsar, and the remaining months from their order in the 

 Roman calendar, September being the 7th, October the 8th, Novem- 

 ber the 9th, and December the 10th. Our present irregular arrange- 

 ment is said to have arisen in part from the pride of Augustus Caesar, 

 who insisted on having as many days in the month named after him 

 as that named after Julius; in consequence of this but twenty-eight 

 days were left for February. 



In the next place we come to epochs ; an epoch is the period from 

 which any number of years is reckoned. The birth of the Savior is 

 an epoch, and the years reckoned from it constitute a Christian era. 

 According to the Christian era, then, we have arrived at the year 

 1860. The question whether 1850 ends the first half of the century, 

 or whether it begins the second, is not a question for speculation. 

 It is a mere question as to what is the fact. It is somewhat analo- 

 gous to the question whether a railroad company had directed the first 

 milestone to be placed at the beginning or end of the first mile, and 

 so onward. At the outset it might be a speculative question as to 

 which position would be the better ; but after the arrangement had 

 been made the question would be merely what had been done. Now 

 it is a fact that those who had the arrangement of our chronology 

 so settled the matter that the year one should indicate the first year 

 of Christ ; so that the year one did not end until the first year was 

 completed. Hence, the first 100 years did not come to an end until 

 the year 100 was completed. The first 1800 years did not come to 

 an end until the year 1800 was completed ; and 1850 years of the 

 Christian era will not have come to an end until the year 1850 shall 

 have been completed. The succession of 100 years constitutes a 

 century, the longest period yet employed in the measure of time, 

 because (observes La Place) " the interval that separates us from the 

 most ancient of known events has as yet required no other." Dura- 

 tion, however, is inexhaustible, and we next proceed to consider the 

 infinites both of space and duration. 



Now, whether we regard space forward, backward, sidewise, up- 

 ward, downward, or obliquely — it matters not in what direction — it 

 is absolutely without limit. Not merely is the limit so remote that 

 you cannot ascertain it, but space is really boundless in all directions, 

 absolutely infinite ; so, too, antecedent to all tilings we still behold, 

 self-sustained upon the throne of His adorable perfections, the great 

 First Cause, He who, being the origin of the first beginning, Himself 



