AND HISTORICAL RESEARCH UPON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 179 



the first day of each lunar month began on that evening when the 

 new moon was first visible to the naked eye (this rule was doubtless 

 subject to modification on cloudy evenings). Interesting and very 

 full discussions of this subject have lately taken place in the pages of 

 the Journal of the British Astronomical Association,''' and of the 

 Churchman,j which give authentic instances of the earliest recorded 

 new moons seen in recent years, and also the dates of some of the 

 astronomical new moons in the first century. The result is the 

 opinion expressed by Mr. Walter Maunder, of the Royal Observatory, 

 Greenwich, that it is quite possible that the new moon of March 4th, 

 A.D. 29, could have been seen at Jerusalem ; from which it follows 

 that the 14th Nisan, the day of the Crucifixion, was a Friday 

 (March 18th according to our calendar). Thus A.D. 29 fulfils the 

 calendar and astronomical conditions. 



It therefore appears that the time has at last come when the most 

 important dates in our Lord's Ministry can be accepted as historically 

 settled. 



Recently certain extreme writers both in Germany and also in 

 England have attempted to demonstrate that the life of our blessed 

 Lord on earth was quite mythical. We must, therefore, welcome all 

 testimony to the historicity of the Scriptures, although the spiritual 

 truths which they contain are of intensely greater importance. Our 

 author pertinently asks — " finding them (the Scriptures) thoroughly 

 reliable in the one case (the historical), shall we doubt their reliability 

 in the other (the spiritual) " 



Mr. T. B. Bishop suggested that as the recent papyri discoveries 

 show the prevalence of writing in the times of our Lord even 

 amongst the humbler classes, it was natural to suppose that the first 

 converts wrote down details of our Lord's life and sayings for their 

 own use and for their friends ; that the converts at Pentecost would 

 take away such writings to their distant homes, and that they would 

 be treasured in the new churches thus springing up ; and that before 

 leaving Jerusalem they would endeavour to get such writings con- 

 firmed by an Apostle. He also suggested that when the Apostles in 



* "On the Smallest Visible Phase of the Mood," May, 1911, pp. 343, 

 355 ff., E. Walter Maunder, F.R.A.S., followed by a discussion. 



t See articles and discussions on "The Date of the Crucifixion," by 

 various writers, April, J an e, July, 1911, and April, July, September, and 

 November, 1912. 



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