YARN, spun flax or wool ready for
weaving into cloth, 1 Kings 10:28.
YE, you, Gen. 3:5; 1 Cor. 6:11.
YEA, yes, Matt. 5:37; Acts 5:8:
indeed, Gen. 3:1. "Yea and amen"
means certain and infallible, 2 Cor. 1:20.
YEAR, the period of the four seasons,
Deut. 14:22; 2 Sam. 21:1, during the
revolution of the earth round the sun,
Gen. 1:14; 8:13, 22. Moses was com-
manded to compute the year from the
month Abib, at the spring equinox, com-
memorating the redemption of the Isra-
elites from Egypt, Exod. 12:2: hence
the sacred year in distinction from the
civil, the latter having commenced at
the autumnal equinox, in memory of the creation. See MONTH. The year pro-
perly is the solar year, containing 365
days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 51 seconds,
6 decimals, and is called the astrono-
mical year. However accurately Moses
might understand astronomy, the Jews
were not perfectly correct in their com-
putation of time: they reckoned twelve
moons in a year, which included 354
days; and every third year added a
month, which they called Ve-Adar, or
the second Adar. Various modes of
computing the year were observed by
the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians,
Greeks, and Romans. Numa Pompilius
reformed the Roman calendar, adopting
the names of the months, rendered into
English from the Latin; and Julius
Caesar, by the aid of his astronomers,
fixed the solar years as 365 days, 6 hours;
and every fourth year to consist of 366
days, that year being called Bissextile.
This, however, was about eleven minutes
too much; and the error having been
discovered, Pope Gregory, on the re-
commendation of the astronomer Lilio,
ordained that the 15th of October in
1582 should be counted instead of the
5th for the future; and that the year
beginning a century should not be Bis-
sextile, to perfect the scheme. Some
nations, not acknowledging the Pope's
authority, long resisted this order of
Rome; and England did not adopt the
Gregorian, or New Style, until the year
1752; when it was settled by act of par-
liament that the corrections should be
admitted, and the year to be reckoned
from the first of January, instead of the
twenty-fifth of March. The New Style
is now used by most of the nations pro-
fessing Christianity, except by the Rus-
sians. Dates of the years were commonly
made by most nations from the founda-
tion of a chief city, as was the practice
of the Romans; or from the reigns of
their kings, as we see by the Scriptures,
1 Kings 15:1; Neh. 2:1. The reign of
the sovereign was the customary mode
in England until the time of Cromwell,
when the present was adopted, A.D. or
Year of our Lord.
YESTERDAY, the day before this day,
Exod. 5:14: a short time, Job 8:9:
formerly, in ancient times, or from eter-
nity, as Christ is unchangeably, by the
everlasting covenant, our Mediator
with God, Heb. 13:8.
YESTERNIGHT, on the last night, Gen.
19:34; 31:29.
YET, notwithstanding, Gen. 40:23;
John 11:25: at present, Heb. 2:8; Rom.
17:10.
