23. That at mid-day in His passion there should be darkness.

In Amos: “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, the sun shall set at noonday, and the day of light shall be darkened; and I will turn your feast-days into grief, and all your songs into lamentation.”^40864086    Amos viii. 9, 10. [Lardner, Credib., vol. vii. pp. 107–124.] Also in Jeremiah:  “She is frightened that hath borne children, and her soul hath grown weary. Her sun hath gone down while as yet it was mid-day; she hath been confounded and accursed: I will give the rest of them to the sword in the sight of their enemies.”^40874087    Jer. xv. 9. [I admire Lardner’s caution: possibly he carries it too far.] Also in the Gospel: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth even to the ninth hour.”^40884088    Matt. xxvii. 45. [See vol. iii. p. 58.]