LENT.

Lent is the forty days (excluding Sundays) beginning with "Ash Wednesday" and ending with Easter. The name is derived from a German word meaning "Spring." It has no Biblical authority, but is employed by iu creasing numbers of Christians and churches as a period profitable for meditation, self-denial and prayer. Origi. nally the fast was forty hours-"the time between the Crucifixion and the rising." But gradually these forty hours became forty days, "from the cases of Moses, Elijah and our Lord." These fasts had no connection with the resurrection. Gregory the Great gives six weeks to "Lent," or thirty-six days, as the Sundays were not fast days. When the four days were added is not known. Layard alleges that a Lent of forty days "in the spring of the year" is kept by the Yezidis or pagan Devil worshipers of Koordistan-inherited from the Babylonians. Humboldt says that pagan Mexicans began, after the vernal equinox, "a solemn fast for forty days in honor of the sun.". It is probable that other nations have similar customs.

THE EIGHT DAYS AFTER.

Eight days means of course the eighth day, that is a week. It was the Jewish usage, which is seen again in the statement that Jesus rose from the dead "after three days." The disciples were clearly assembled together on the Sunday after the Easter Sunday. Perhaps this is the first faint beginning of the Christian Lord's Day, to be kept forever by Christendom.

THE STIGMATA.

It is perhaps the emphasis upon the wounds of Jesus in the narration of the doubt of Thomas that caused the church of the later years to speak so much of them. The extraordinary, and apparently well authenticated, experience of St. Francis of Assisi must have come from a prolonged dwelling upon the thought. He saw the crucified Saviour in a vision, and when he woke from the trance he found himself marked on hands and feet with the marks (stigmata) of crucifixion. Several women in later times have experienced what may be called a stigmata neuropathy.

FISHING ON THE SEA OF GALILEE.

Fishing

It was

The waters of this beautiful lake abound in excellent fish of many varieties. In New Testament times there was no monopoly, as there is now under the Turkish rule, and a large population was engaged in fishing. The numerous prosperous towns about the lake and in the surrounding country made the trade a profitable one. Its importance is indicated by the name of the city Bethsaida, "House of Fish." as a sport is quite unknown in ancient Galilee. pursued as a business. Small nets and hooks were used, and sometimes spearing was the method of the catch. But generally the seine was employed. The two methods of seining are indicated in Luke (5:4-9) and in Matthew (13:48). It is evidently the former that was used by Peter and his companions. The net would be let down into the deep water and after encircling a considerable space would be hauled into the boat with the fish. The fishermen generally worked at night and wore only the cloth about the waist, which is the meaning of the term "naked."

THE FISH AS A SYMBOL.

The fish was one of the earliest of mystic Christian emblems. Whether as an esoteric reference to baptism, or because the first disciples were fishermen, it soon suggested itself to the persecuted people as a sign by which they could make themselves known to each other. The ancients were far more attentive than we to acrostic readings and mystic signs. Many scholars believe that the fish in early Christian usage either was originally, or in time became, an epitomized confession of faith, its five letters, IXer standing for the words, "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour," thus:

Ιησούς
Χριστὸς
Θεοῦ

Υιός
Σωτήρ

HARMONY AND CHRONOLOGY OF HIS LAST WEEK.

For the convenience of teachers and students who desire to compare the accounts in the Four Gospels, the following tables are compiled, giving all passages relating the events in the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord, with the generally accepted dates in terms of modern chronology. The departure from Galilee (Matt. 19:1; Mark 10:1; Luke 9:1) is supposed to have occurred in the autumn of A. D. 29. The Peræan Ministry (Luke 10-19, John 7-11) is supposed to have occupied the time from October, A. D. 29, to April 1, A. D. 30. The passover, celebrated on the Thursday of the full moon of the vernal equinox, occurred in the year 30 on the 14th day of the month Nisan, or April 6.

His Last Year

WITH ITINERARY OF HIS JOURNEYS AND THE SEVEN LESSONS OF THE CROSS.

MATT.

1.

JOURNEY INTO NORTHERN GALILEE, SPRING OF 29.
REGION OF TYRE AND SIDON...

15:21-28

RETURN THROUGH DECAPOLIS, EAST SIDE OF LAKE.
FEEDING OF FIVE THOUSAND..

THE LAKE CROSSED-DEMAND FOR A SIGN

BETHSAIDA, BLIND MAN

THE DEMONIAC BOY.

11: 1-46

12.

TO EPHRAIM

11:47-54

22: 1-14

22:23-33

12:18-27

20:27-40

22:34-40

12:28-34