THE DETERMINATION OF EASTER DAY. 



177 



The second condition is th t at the Paschal Full Moon should again be 

 in the week preceding April 4, and after five years the date of the 

 Paschal Full Moon is, in general, shifted only by four or five days, so 

 that being in the week preceding April 4, in the one year, it is very 

 likely to be so five years later. Similar reasoning applies to the 

 six years interval, but the chance of a recurrence of date after this 

 interval is less likely, because the date of the Paschal Full Moon is, in 

 general, six days earlier than it was six years previously. On the 

 other hand, an eleven-year interval is very frequent, because, in the 

 first place, after an eleven-year period which includes three leap 

 years, the dates of the calendar recur on the same days of the week, 

 and secondly, as may be seen from one of the Tables in the Prayer 

 Book, an addition of eleven to the golden number in general causes 

 the Paschal Full Moon to be ante-dated by only one day, so that the 

 chance of a recurrence of Easter on any date after eleven years is 

 large. Remembering how often a period of nineteen years occurs in 

 lunar matters, it might be surmised that there should be sometimes 

 an interval of this length between occurrences of the same date for 

 Easter, but obviously this cannot be so, for neither 3, 4 nor 5 

 added to 19, because of leap years, gives a total divisible by 7, so 

 that dates do not recur on the same days of the week after a nineteen- 

 year period. On the other hand 57 years is a rather frequent 

 interval, the number being a multiple of 19. This may happen, as in 

 the present case (1858-1915), because the non-occurrence of leap year 

 at centennial years, as in 1900, leaves only 13 leap years in the 

 period, and hence dates fall on the same days of the week in 

 both terminal years. 



Mr. Hollis added that this point of view might be trivial and 

 unimportant, but it was not without interest to those vho dabbled 

 in figures. 



Mr. M. L. Rouse said : — The Lord distinctly foretold that he 

 would be " three days and three nights in the heart of the 

 earth," even as Jonah had spent " three days and three nights " 

 miraculously beneath the sea ; and I cannot see how this could have 

 been fulfilled unless he was put to death on a Thursday. Now John 

 records that the Lord Jesus arrived at Bethany " six days before the 

 Passover " (John xii, 1), which means six before the 15th of Nisan 

 when the passover lamb was eaten, not six before the 14th, when it 

 was killed, which was called " the preparation of the passover " 



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