340 



CALENDAR. 



find that the days, as measured by the meridian, 

 are sometimes about a quarter of an hour longer, 

 >ometimts us much less than twenty-four hours. 



Now if we measure time by the meridian, it 

 \\v take it to be twelve when it is noon according 

 to the sun, it is evident th;it we must alter our 

 rlocks every day. This will not do; and the 

 course which men have adopted, is the old-fashioned 

 way of splitting the difference between the longer 

 and shorter days, and going by a clock which mea- 

 sures equal days throughout the year. The clock 

 gives the average length of the hours, mean time, 

 as it is generally railed. Four times in the year 

 it will be twelve by the clock and by the meridian, 

 at the same instant: but on every other day, the 

 clock will differ from the sun. 



Of the week there is not much to be said. It 

 was doubtless suggested by the time which it takes 

 the moon to pass through one of her quarterly 

 changes, though not exactly. In the Scripture, 

 the word applies not merely to days but to years, 

 thus Laban says to Jacob, " fulfil her week," 

 meaning the seven years' term of service by which 

 Jacob was to earn the hand of his daughter. So 

 Daniel, in the celebrated prophecy of the seventy 

 weeks, meant weeks of years, and was easily un- 

 derstood by the Jews. 



This division of time has been in use from very 

 early ages ; and it is a little singular that the days 

 of the week have been named from the heavenly 

 bodies by the ancient Chinese, Hindoos and Egyp- 

 tians, as they were named by the moderns, as we 

 name them now. Sunday, as is well known, is 

 named from the sun, as Saturday is from Saturn, 

 it being Saturn's day. Monday is so called from 

 the moon ; the others retain the names to this day, 

 which were given them by our Saxon fathers. 

 Tuesday is so called from the Saxon name of the 

 planet Mars ; Wednesday, from the Saxon name of 

 Mercury ; Thursday, from the Saxon Jupiter, and 

 Friday from the Saxon Venus. This shows how 

 generally the heavenly bodies are regarded as pre- 

 siding over the measures of time. 



There is one singular form of expression in scrip- 

 ture which requires more attention than it has re- 

 ceived ; we will show what we mean by an exam- 

 ple. It is said the disciples met after eight days, 

 meaning a week after our Saviour's resurrection ; 

 we should say after seven days ; but if the time 

 mentioned took in the least portion of a day, they 

 considered it as taking in the whole. Thus our 

 Saviour is said to have been in the grave three 

 days and three nights: according to our calculation, 

 it was not so ; for he died late on Friday after- 

 noon, and rose early on Sunday morning : but ac- 

 cording to the Jewish calculation, the statement 

 was exact ; for though he was not forty-eight hours 

 in the grave, he was still in it a part of three days, 

 that is, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The law 

 required that infants should be circumcised when 

 they were eight days old, and still it was done 

 on the eighth day, when, according to our calcula- 

 tion they were but seven days old. By them, the 

 day of the birth, however little of it remained, was 

 called the first day, and the day of circumcision, 

 however little of it was spent, was reckoned the 

 eighth day. This must be understood in the ex- 

 planation of Herod's massacre. It is said that he 



slew them from two years old and under, and it 



is often asked, why he should have made such a 

 needless slaughter, to include a child but lately 

 born, and why do not historians mention such a 



wide work of blood. But look at the peculiar cul 

 dilation of the Jews. Suppose that our Saviour 

 wa- born on the twenty-fifth of December, he 

 would have been called one year old when that 

 year closed, and on the first of January he would 

 have been called two years old, because he had 

 already seen a part of two years. This is a fact, 

 however strangely it sounds. So that those born 

 a very little time before Herod's murder, supposing 

 a new year to have begun since they were born, 

 would have been described as two years old ; and 

 those born on or after the new years's day, would 

 have been included in the phrase "and under," 

 i " under," according to the time which he inquired 

 of the wise men. Vile as he was, he did not pro- 

 bably wish to murder more than were necessary to 

 secure the death of the lineal heir to the Jewish 

 throne. 



The greatest importance of this division of time 

 into weeks, arises from its furnishing us with the 

 Christian Sabbath ; the Jewish Sabbath was on 

 the seventh day of the week, as the earliest Chris- 

 tians were Jews, they of course observed the day 

 set apart by the Hebrew faith, and also another 

 day, the first of the week, in remembrance of the 

 resurrection of their Master. Jesus Christ taught 

 his disciples, to respect the institutions of their 

 former religion ; they did not therefore take the 

 seventh day for their celebration, possibly, because 

 it was already sanctified to a different sacred pur- 

 pose; but there was no such objection to the first, 

 which was also recommended to them by its being 

 the day when the Saviour left the dead. How im- 

 portant this celebration is to religion, has been 

 sometimes acknowledged by its enemies. The 

 French revolutionists, when they wished to abolish 

 Christianity, saw that it could not be done while 

 the Sabbath was regarded. They therefore under- 

 took to alter the calendar, dividing the year into 

 twelvemonths of thirty days each, and every month 

 into three decades, or weeks of ten days each. 

 This was made the civil reckoning by law, so that 

 the Sabbath was no longer observed. But twelve 

 years could not make the people forget the Sab- 

 bath, nor was the new computation of time accep- 

 table, and when Napoleon came to the head of 

 affairs, he abolished the new practice, and enacted 

 that the week should be reckoned as in other civi- 

 lized lands. And the reason why they could not 

 make men forget the Sabbath, was, that the Sab- 

 bath was made for man; the nature of man requires 

 a day of rest, and God has ordained what propor- 

 tion of time is needed for the purpose. One sev- 

 enth portion of time is the amount set apart for 

 the purpose, and the experience of man has abun- 

 dantly shown that the estimate is just. There is 

 no doubt on the mind of any one, who is capable 

 of judging, that men are better in every respect 

 with it, than they could be without it, both as re- 

 spects this world and the other. As respects this 

 world, there is more work done, and far better 

 done, there is more prudence, thrift and prosperity 

 of every kind than there could be, if the Sabbath 

 were like any other day ; and as for morality, and 

 religious feeling, without the Sabbath, they would 

 soon be lost. One thing is evident; it is that 

 none need the Sabbath, so much as those who vio- 

 late it, and those who would make it like any other 

 day. 



The division of the year into months, is suggest- 

 ed by the changes of the moon. For the moon to 

 pass through her regular circle of changes, crescent, 



