that time in custody? What name had he besides Barabbas ? ["Notes."] What question did Pilate ask the people? Whom did Pilate release?

Show

Ver. 24. What did Pilate do to show his innocence? in what respect Pilate was guilty of the blood of Christ? What message did Pilate's wife send to her husband? ["Notes."] How does her message mark the time of Christ's death? ["Notes."]

Ver. 26, 27, 28, 29. Name the various indignities to which Christ was subjected. In what way did the crown of thorns increase His bodily sufferings? What did the people do to Jesus after they had mocked and insulted Him? [Ver. 31.]

Ver. 32. Upon whom was the cross laid? Did Jesus carry it? When is it supposed that Simon was made to bear the cross? Who were Simon's sons? ["Notes."] In what terms does St. Paul allude to Simon's wife? ["Notes."]

Ver. 33. To what place was Jesus led to be crucified? What is the Latin name of Golgotha? Was Calvary within or without the walls of Jerusalem? How is it situated at the present time? How is it that Calvary is now inside the walls?

Ver. 34. What drink was given to Christ? Did He taste it? Did He drink it? Why did He not drink it? ["Notes."]

Ver. 35, 37, 38. What method did the soldiers adopt in order to divide among themselves Christ's garments? What prophecy did they fulfil by that act? [Ps. xxii. 18.] What accusation was put over the cross? In what three languages was it written? Why in Greek? Why in Hebrew? Why in Latin?

Ver. 45. What remarkable event took place between the sixth and ninth hours? Was it an ordinary darkness? How do you prove that it was miraculous? ["Notes."] What remark was made by Dionysius in reference to it? ["Notes."]

Ver. 50. What did Jesus do immediately before He gave up the ghost? ["Cried with a loud voice."] How did that act differ from the circumstances attending the death of ordinary malefactors? ["Notes."]

Ver. 51. What remarkable circumstance occurred about the time of Christ's death? At what particular time did the saints come out of their graves? What do you mean by saints?

Ver. 54. What did the centurion say when he beheld the events which had occurred? Was this centurion a Jew? What was he?

Application.-In whose image was man created? [Gen. i. 27.] What is meant by saying that man was created in God's image? [He was perfectly holy, and had not the slightest inclination towards sin.] Was his will left free? [Yes.] How did he fall from his sinless state? What sentence was passed upon him? [Temporal, spiritual, and liability to eternal death.] What are the wages of sin? [Rom. vi. 23.] Did God leave man in the hopeless state into which sin had brought him? How did He deliver him from it? Then who has died in our stead? Whose property were we before Christ died for us? [Satan's.] What is Jesus called because He has bought us back from Satan? [Our Redeemer.] What price did He pay? [His own blood.] Are all men sure to be saved because that price has been paid? [No.] Why not? [(1.) Because some do not believe that He has died for them; (2) some who profess to believe it as a matter of fact, nevertheless wilfully commit the very sins from which He died to save them.] What feelings should Christ's crucifixion create in your heart? [Love and gratitude.] And how ought you to prove your love and gratitude? [By obeying everything Jesus has commanded.] Has the Sacrament of Baptism anything to do with the Crucifixion? [It admits me into the covenant purchased and sealed by the Crucifixion.] Has the Lord's Supper anything to do with it? [In that Supper the benefits of Christ's death, namely, pardon, grace, and sanctification, are extended to the faithful.] Then if you love Christ on account of His death, and intend to lead a good life, what ought you to do as soon as you have been confirmed? [Receive the Lord's Supper.]

EASTER-DAY.

St. John xx. 1-10.

1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not

where they have laid him.

3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

6 Then cometh Simon Peter follow- | ciple, which came first to the seing him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lying,

7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

8 Then went in also that other dis

pulchre, and he saw, and believed.
9 For as yet they knew not the
Scripture, that he must rise again
from the dead.

10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

Parallel Passages.-St. Matt. xxviii. 1-9; St. Mark xvi. 1-11; St. Luke xxiv. 1-13.

Notes.-Easter is the yearly feast, as each Sunday is the weekly feast, which commemorates Christ's resurrection. By the early Christians Easter was kept during fifty days, namely, until Whit-Sunday. In time, however, it was shortened, and is now observed by the Church of England for an octave, that is, a period of eight days; the Church having appointed a proper preface in the Communion Office, which preface is to be used upon "EasterDay and seven days after."

The name Easter is said to be derived from "Eostre," the title of a heathen Anglo-Saxon goddess, whose festival was held about this time of the year. Easter was termed by the early Fathers the "Queen of Feasts." On the morning of Easter-Day it was customary among Christians to use the salutation "Christ is risen," and those who were thus saluted generally answered, "Christ is risen indeed," or, "And hath appeared unto Simon" (Luke xxiv. 34). These forms are said to be still used in the Greek Church in Russia, and throughout the East.

In Germany and France (especially in Brittany), and other parts of the Continent, Easter-Day, like Christmas in England, is ushered in by hymns and anthems, which are sung in the streets by persons corresponding to our Christmas "waits."

Easter happens about the time of the Jewish Passover. This may explain the fact that the original words in Acts xii. 4, which mean "after the Passover," have been translated in our Bibles "after Easter."

The scattered notices given by the Evangelists of

Christ's appearance after He rose from the grave are with difficulty arranged in order, but they may be thus harmonised. Two companies of women started from Jerusalem to visit the sepulchre, carrying spices with which to anoint Christ's body. St. John mentions Mary Magdalene only, but she was in one of the companies, and perhaps left her companions and came first to the sepulchre. Finding that the stone was rolled away, she ran back to inform St. Peter and St. John of that fact (St. John xx. 1, 2). In the mean time the other women arrived at the tomb, were told by angels that Christ had risen, and that they were to go to make known that circumstance to His disciples. They did so; but they do not appear to have met Mary Magdalene, St. Peter, and St. John, who were then on their way to the sepulchre. When St. Peter and St. John found not Christ's body, they left the garden; but Mary continued to stand in the same place, weeping. While thus engaged, the angels, and afterwards Christ Himself, appeared to her. This was Christ's first appearance after His resurrection. His second was to the women who were going "to tell His disciples" (St. Matt. xxviii. 9). His third appearance was to St. Peter, who seems to have returned to Jerusalem with St. John, but to have come back alone to visit the sepulchre a second time (St. Luke xxiv. 12, 34; 1 Cor. xv. 5).* His fourth was to two disciples (one of whom was Cleophas) while on their way to Emmaus (St. Luke xxiv. 13, 18, 31; St. Mark xvi. 12, 13). His fifth was to ten of the apostles (St. Thomas being absent), on the evening of this same first day of the week on which He rose (St. John xx. 19). His sixth was to the eleven (St. Thomas being present), on the first day of the following week; that is, eight days after (St. John xx. 26). His seventh was to seven of the apostles, who were fishing in the Sea of Tiberias (St. John xxi. 1, 2). His eighth was to St. James the Greater (1 Cor. xv. 7). This appearance is not recorded in the Gospels. His ninth was to "all the apostles," at a mountain in Galilee. The number probably present on this occasion was "above five hundred" (St. Matt. xxviii. 16; 1 Cor. xv. 6). His tenth appearance

* St. Paul refers in this passage to St. Peter by the name Cephas.

was to the apostles, whom He led to Bethany to see His Ascension (St. Luke xxiv. 50).

Doubtless there were other appearances of Christ previous to His Ascension which are not stated in Holy Scripture, because St. Luke says in Acts i. 3, that He was seen of the apostles "forty days," and that He spake to them "of the things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven." Christ appeared to persons after His Ascension: for example, to St. Stephen, Acts vii. 56; to St. Paul, Acts xxvi. 16, 1 Cor. xv. 8; and to St. John, Rev. i. 13.

Ver. 1. The first day of the week. This was the day after the Jewish Sabbath. To retain the memory of Christ's resurrection, the apostles very early began to honour the first day, and the Christian Church has since observed it in preference to the seventh day, or Jewish Sabbath. Christ appeared to the apostles on two several first days of the week (St. John xx. 19, 24, 26). St. Paul and the brethren at Troas "came together to break bread" on the first day of the week: and most likely St. John refers to the first day of the week under the name of "the Lord's Day" (Rev. i. 10). On what authority, it may be asked, has the Church ceased to keep the seventh day, and observed the first? The answer is, on the authority of the apostles. But it may perhaps be said that God set apart the seventh day, and that only, as the one which men were to honour (see Ex. xx. 10; Deut. v. 15). Without doubt the Jews were commanded to observe the seventh day, but it may be shown that it would be impossible for all nations to do so. The difference of longitude, causing as it does a difference of time, would of itself be sufficient to prevent the exact day set apart by God from being kept in all countries. It seems, indeed, that the expression "the seventh day" may be considered to mean one day in seven, and that the Church obeys the spirit of God's law when it sets apart to His service a seventh part of each week, or one day in seven.

Cometh Mary Magdalene. She was most likely called Magdalene from Magdala, a town in Galilee. She is first mentioned by St. Luke (viii. 2), who says that out of her