NOTES. 291 



NOTE B.— (From page 228.) 

 "The Dat of Pextecost.'' — Ac!s ii. 1. 



"WniLE I consider it altogether unimportant to the present 

 diseussion to inquire into the day of the week upon which the 

 celebrated Pentecost happened to occur, I think that as a 

 collateral qiiestion of Biblical illiistration^ it has sufficient in- 

 terest to justifj a very brief examination. 



'^The day of Pentecost," says J. X. B. (p. 185), "it is well 

 known, was ahvai/s on the first day of thevreek! — Levit. xxiii. 

 15 — 21.'' So palpable an inaccuracy in one who has studied 

 the Bible for " tliirty yeari^ (j). 71), is really surprising.* 

 The " sabbath" mentioned in Levit. xxiii. 15 has no relation 

 whatever to the seventh-day rest, as my friend has erroneously 

 understood the text. By eomparing this verse with the Tth 

 and llth of the same chapter, he will see that it designates 

 "the first of unleavened bread," whatever day of the week 

 that mightbe. The day of Pentecost^ "it is well known," was 

 always the fiftieth day after the first of unleavened bread ; which 

 was determined by the day of the month (the 15th), and 

 never by the day of the week. It was not — (like its ofispring 

 " Easfer'') — a " movable festival." 



I will now attempt to compute for my friend the probable 

 day of Acts ii. 1. It is related by ]Matthew (xxvi. 17 — 21; 

 see, also, 3Iark xiv. 12 — 17) that, on the day preceding the 

 Crucifixion, or Thursday, the disciples prepared the "passover" 

 or paschal offering, and that on the evening (by Jewish com- 

 putation, the eve of Friday) the passover was eaten. (Matt. 

 xxvi. 20; Mark xiv. 17.) This Thursday was therefore "the 

 fourteenth day of the first month," Abib or Ålsan {Levit. xxiii, 



* Even Bible read Bunyax makes the same blunder ; aud I suspect 

 has been the one to lead my friend "into the ditch.'' — "Greatmen 

 are not always wise." 



