(diáßolos), who tempted our first parents, was a liar and a murderer from the beginning-before the sons of God intermarried with the daughters of men, and this may open up interesting subjects of contemplation in regard to the nature and personality of Satan.

M.

OUR LORD CRUCIFIED ON THURSDAY, NOT ON FRIDAY.

Ir may seem presumptuous to call in question an opinion so long and so universally entertained, as that which fixes Friday as the day of the crucifixion; and yet it will be found, on examination, to be one that is not only directly contradicted, both by Scripture prophecy and Scripture history, but, when that one passage which has been referred to in the text, has been explained, there remains not even the shadow of a reason why it should be entertained any longer. The reasons why the crucifixion could not have been on Friday, are—

1. Because Pilate would not have commenced a crucifixion within nine hours of the Sabbath, more especially as that Sabbath was a high-day. Crucifixion is a lingering death; and criminals often lived for days after being nailed. When Joseph applied for the body that same evening, Pilate wondered that he should be dead so soon. If he expected him to live much longer, he would not have crucified him so near the Sabbath.

2. It is impossible that all the events which took place between our Lord's death, and the beginning of the Sabbath, could have taken place in three hours. Our Lord was alive at three o'clock (the ninth hour), the Sabbath began on

Friday afternoon, at six: let us examine what took place in the interval::

(1.) The Jews besought Pilate to have the bodies buried before Sabbath. When Pilate assented, the soldiers broke the legs of the malefactors, and pierced the side of Jesus.

(2.) Joseph went into Jerusalem, and begged the body of Jesus. Pilate sent to Calvary for the centurion. On receiving his report, he granted Joseph's request.

(3.) On receiving permission, Joseph, in concert with Nicodemus, made preparations for the burial-and purchased fine linen. Nicodemus also bought a hundred pounds weight of a mixture of myrrh and aloes. They then brought them to Calvary.

(4.) They then took down the body from the cross, and wound it in linen clothes, with the spices, and laid it in the tomb. After all was completed, they rolled a great stone against the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

(5.) The women who had been sitting over against the sepulchre, beholding how and where He was buried, returned to Jerusalem, after all was completed.

(6.) On their return to Jerusalem, they bought sweet spices, and prepared them and the ointment for anointing Him.

(7.) When all this was completed, they rested on the Sabbath-day, according to the Scripture.

It is evident, that as Joseph did not leave the cross, to go into Jerusalem, until the even was come, it would be very late before the work of burial was completed. When the women returned to Jerusalem, it must have been still later, so that they could not purchase the spices till next morning. The purchase and preparation of the spices, &c., would occupy the whole of Friday, until evening, when the Sabbath overtook them, and

then they had to wait till the Sabbath was past. The sealing of the sepulchre, and the setting of the watch, must also have taken place after Joseph and Nicodemus had returned to Jerusalem.

3. If Jesus was crucified on Friday, his resurrection would not correspond with the prediction in Matthew xii. 40: "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." And also in John ii. 19, 20: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?" If our Lord was crucified on Friday, and rose very early on Sunday morning, then he was scarcely two days and two nights among the dead. Supposing him to die immediately after three o'clock on the day of his crucifixion, and to rise before six on Sunday morning, he was only two nights, and only three hours more than one day. This might be said to be two days and two nights, but it could not be called three days and three nights.

Granting that when the third day is spoken of, it might mean three days, either inclusive or exclusive of the day on which he suffered, in making our choice of the two, we must not choose the interpretation which cannot be reconciled with the others; we ought rather to choose the interpretation which, being more natural in itself, is, at the same time, in harmony with all beside.

The disciples going to Emmaus said to Jesus, “This is the third day since these things were done." If they had taken place on Saturday, it would have been only one day since these things were done. If they had taken place on Friday, then it would have been two days since

these things were done; but if it was on Thursday, it would have been, as it really was, three days since they were done.

:

It is difficult to understand how such a mistake could have arisen from the one verse in Mark, which we have quoted, since it, more plainly than any other, fixes the day to be Thursday. There is only one other that might mislead a very hasty thinker. It is in John xix. 14: "And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!" The preparation of the passover might be confounded with the preparation of the Sabbath. It is very evident, however, that the preparation of the passover must be the day before the passover, when they prepared the passover, just as the preparation of the Sabbath is the day before the Sabbath. Had we, from other passages, ascertained that the morning and not the evening of the crucifixion was the preparation of the Sabbath, we might conclude, that the preparation of the passover and the preparation of the Sabbath were the same; but when, from other passages, we ascertain that it was the evening of the crucifixion that was the preparation of the Sabbath, and the morning of the crucifixion the preparation of the passover, there is no reason whatever for supposing them to be the same.

The preparation of the passover was the time when they slew the lamb: they did not sit down to eat it till the evening was come, which was a new day, the day of the passover. Christ our passover was slain, therefore, on the preparation of the passover, not on the preparation of the Sabbath.

N.

ILLUSTRATION OF THE IDENTITY OF THE RESURRECTION

BODY.

A VERY beautiful illustration of the identity of the resurrection body is to be found in the sculptor's studio. The soft clay model, after it has received the last touch from the sculptor's hand, is ready to be cast; it cannot continue in its present state, for if the clay be allowed to dry, it will shrink, and crack, and fall to pieces, and, therefore, a more enduring material is required. To obtain this, it is covered with an envelope of plaster, which receives an exact impression of its form, and, when that has been obtained, the clay is of no further use; it is, therefore, carefully picked out from the mould in which it is enveloped, until not a particle of it remains, and now the clay lies on the floor in fragments, ready to be modelled into some other form. The mould which has been thus obtained by the destruction of the original, may be kept for years without being used, but it is capable of reproducing the original as soon as plaster is poured into it. When that has been done, and the mould has been broken off from around it, the figure is restored, and every touch which had been applied in modelling the clay is now reproduced in a more enduring material. No one ever thinks of questioning the identity of the figure in such circumstances; why then should we question the identity of the resurrection body?