We call that day good on which Christ died, because by His death He
showed His great love for man, and purchased for him every blessing.

*81 Q. Where did Christ die?
A. Christ died on Mount Calvary.

"Mount Calvary," a little hill just outside the city of Jerusalem. For
every city they have a special prison or place where all their criminals
are executed. Now, as the great Temple of God was in Jerusalem, the city
itself was called the City of God, because in the Temple God spoke to
the priests in the Holy of Holies. The Temple was divided into two
parts: one part, something like the body of our churches, called the
Holy, and the other part, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, called
the Holy of Holies. It had about the same relation to the Temple as our
altar and sanctuary have to our churches. The Ark of the Covenant was a
box about four feet long, two and a half feet high, and two and a half
feet wide, made of the finest wood, and ornamented with gold in the most
beautiful manner. In it were the tables of stone, on which were written
the Commandments of God; also the rod that Aaron--Moses'
brother--changed into a serpent before King Pharaoh; also some of the
manna with which the people were miraculously fed during their forty
years' journey in the desert when they fled out of Egypt. All these
things were figures of the true religion. The Ark itself was a figure of
the tabernacle, and the manna of the Holy Eucharist. The Holy of Holies
was hidden from the people by a veil. Only the Chief Priest was allowed
into that sacred place, and but once a year. The veil--called the veil
of the Temple--hiding that Holy of Holies, though the things mentioned
above were no longer in it, was torn asunder when Our Lord died on the
Cross (Matt. 27:51); because after His death there was no need any
longer of figures; for after His death we have the tabernacle itself and
the real manna, the real bread from Heaven, viz., the body of Our Lord.
The veil was rent to show also that God would not remain any longer in
the Temple, but would be for the future only in the Christian Church. On
account of all these things, therefore, Jerusalem was called the Holy
City, and no criminals were put to death in it, but were conducted to
Calvary--which means the place of skulls--and were there put to death. I
now call your attention to one thing. If the Jews showed such great
respect and reverence for the Ark containing only figures of the Blessed
S