of hiring early in the morning, and at the third, sixth, ninth, and
eleventh hours; and since those hired latest worked for but one hour, it
is evident that there were twelve hours in the daylight. Our Lord
alludes to this expressly in the Gospel according to St. John, where he
says--

"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the
day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this
world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because
there is no light in him."

FOOTNOTES:

[277:1] _The Man of Lawe's Prologue_, lines 4421-4434.

[279:1] Josephus, _Wars_, VI. ix. 3.

[282:1] See the diagram on p. 363.

CHAPTER II

THE SABBATH AND THE WEEK

The present chapter has little, if anything, to do with astronomy, for
the week, as such, is not an astronomical period. But the sabbath and
the week of seven days are so intimately connected with the laws and
customs of Israel that it is impossible to leave them out of
consideration in dealing with the "times and seasons" referred to in the
Bible.

The day, the month and the year are each defined by some specific
revolution of one of the great cosmical bodies; there is in each case a
return of the earth, or of the earth and moon together, to the same
position, relative to the sun, as that held at the beginning of the
period.

The week stands in a different category. It is not defined by any
astronomical revolution; it is defined by the return of the sabbath, the
consecrated day.

A need for the division of time into short periods, less than a month,
has been generally felt amongst civilized men. Business of state,
commercial arrangements, social intercourse, are all more easily carried
out, when some such period is universally recognized. And so, what we
may loosely term a "week," has been employed in many ancient nations.
The Aztecs, using a short month of 20 days, divided it into four
quarters of 5 days each. The Egyptians, using a conventional month of 30
days, divided it into 3 decades; and decades were also used by the
Athenians, whose months were alternately of 29 and of 30 days.

Hesiod tells us that the days regarded as sacred in his day were the
fourth, fourteenth and twenty-fourth of each month.

"The fourth and twenty-fourth, no grief should prey
Within thy breast, for holy either day.

* * * * *

Pierce on the fourth thy cask; the fourteenth