Of the Julian Year, the Time of the Jewish Passover, and the Decrees of the Christian Church for finding of EASTER.
WHEN J. Caesar had Conquered Egypt, (where all sorts of Learning, and especially Astronomy, had long Flourish'd) he brought with him thence, a more Exact Account of a Solary Year, than any that had been before used among the Romans; and, though this New Calendar was drawn up by Sosigenes, and other great Astronomers; yet being Publish'd by Julius Caesar's Authority, was call'd the Julian Year. But, the Romish Priests having been long used to another sort of Year, mistook the Rules, and, instead of every Fourth, they reckon'd Inclusively, and Intercalated a Day every Third Year; which, being observed by Augustus, and Restor'd to what Julius had at first Establish'd, was still call'd the Julian Year, and made Authentick in all the Roman Empire.
THE Julian Year consisted of 365 Dayes and 6 Hours; but because of the Inconvenience of Inserting [Page 2] of Six Hours, at the end of every Year, they were order'd to be reserv'd to the end of 4 Years, when they came to a Whole Day, and then to be Inserted at the 24th Day of February. For the Old Roman Year ended at Feb. 23, on which was observed the Feast of Terminus, and the Old Intercalary Month was always inserted at that time. And because the Intercalary-dayes (according to the Method of the Egyptians) were never accounted any part of Month, or Year, but only an Appendix to them, and Cato in Tit. Dig. ss. 98. expresly saith of the Practice of the Romans, Mensem intercalarem additicium esse, omnesque ejus dies pro momento temporis observandos, i. e. That the Intercalary Month was no part of the Year, and though it consisted of 28 days, was esteemed but one moment of Time; Therefore the Romans, in the Julian Year, accounted the 24th day of February, that is, the 6th of the Calends of March, two days together; which is the reason that in our Calendar, Leap-year is call'd Bissextile, or the Year, in which the 6th of the Calends of March came twice over, or was continued for Two days together: We in England, having been very antiently Subjects of the Roman Empire, received the Julian Account; and, pursuant to the Method of the Romans, our Parliament, in the 21st Year of Henry the 3d, pass'd an Act, That in every Leapyear, those dayes at the 24th of February, should be accounted but for one. Now, because in the Western Church, the Feast of Matthias hath been very Antiently kept on the 24th day of February, and there might a doubt arise, about the true Day of this Feast in [Page 3] Leap-Year; the Rule that had been observed in that Matter, was, to keep it on the Second of those Two Days in Leap-Year, according to the Old Verse▪
Posteriore die Festum Celebrato Mathiae.
AND on the Second Day we also kept it in England, till a few years since it was altered by an Injunction of a Late Arch-Bishop, who thought it not so Agreeable to the last Act of Ʋniformity.
JƲLIƲS CAESAR, in his Calendar, placed the Vernal Equinox on the 25th day of March; and presuming, that his measure of a Solary Year was exactly true, he had no foresight of the Precession of the Equinoxes in the Julian Months, and gave no other Direction, but that the said Equinox should be continued on the 25th Day of March for ever.
THE Jewish Passover was, by the Law of Moses, to be kept on the 14th Day of the First Month, Exod. 12th. and Levit. 23, &c. And on the 16th day of the same Month, they were to offer up the First-Fruits of their Corn, upon which account this First Month was call'd Abib, that is, a Ripe Ear of Corn; and so their Passover was alwayes in that Month in which their Corn began to be Ripe. And because their Corn in Canaan usually began to be Ripe about the Vernal Equinox, as appears from Philo, Josephus, and others; therefore, the Jewish Passover was at that time of the Year, and usually answer'd to our March or April.
THAT the Jews Antiently used Lunary Months, appears beyond Exception in this Law of the Passover, which being on the 14th day of the Month, was always at the Full-Moon; and therefore the Jews, to make their Lunary Months Conformable to a Solary Year, were forced, in every Two, or Three Years, to Intercalate a Month, and have 13 Months in their Year. And when that was to be done, they seem antiently to have had no other Rule, but when their Corn was Ripe; and though that might not be so certain a Guide, for the True Measure of a particular Year, yet, in Ten thousand Years, would never err much, but was as fixed and certain as their Seasons and Harvests.
BUT, after the Jews had been Conquei'd by the Babylonians, Persians and Greeks, and carry'd Captives into all Nations, they saw the different Seasons of Harvests in the several Climates, and so in order to an Uniformity, were forced to establish their Year upon▪ Astronomical Rules, and Reduce it into Tables, that so the Jews, in their Disperson all the World over, might be Ʋnited in their Feasts, and keep their Passover (as they now do) at the same time.
ONE Principal thing agreed on, was, the Dependance of their First Month upon the Vernal Equinox, or the Suns entrance into Aries, and particularly, that the 15th Day of that Month should be always after it; and When that was, the Jews, in the Time [Page 5] of Our Saviour, seem to have taken from J. Caesar's Calendar. For that Emperour, and his Successor, Augustus, were very kind to the Jews, indulged them the use of their own▪ Law; excused them from Tribute every Seventh Year▪ and sent Sacrifices to Jerusalem for the Daily Oblation: For which Reasons, the Jews were extreamly Fond of them; and (as even Suetonius Relates) Lamented many Days and Nights together at the Funeral of the former. This was it that made them so readily comply with the New Calendar of Julius Caesar, as far as their Law would give leave, and at least take the time of the Vernal Equinox, and Suns entrance into Aries from thence; the first of which was there fix'd at March the 25th, the other at the 18th Day of the same Month. And whatever Rules of this nature were once agreed on by the Sanhedrim, or Chief Council at Jerusalem, they took care to Communicate to the Jews all the World over.
NOW its evident from the Gospels, that Our Saviour was Crucified on Friday, at the Jewish Passover, and Rose again from the Dead on the Sunday following, being, at that time, call'd, The first day of the Week, Mat. 28. 1. Mark 16. 1, 2, &c. And when the Christians thought it necessary to keep up the Memory of so great a Deliverance, by a Solemn Festival, they call'd theirs also the Passover, and had no other Rules for the finding of it, but what the Jews had for theirs, and left the Calculation of it to them: For most of the First Christians were [Page 6] Converts from Judaism, and Zealous for the Rites of the Law of Moses (Acts 21. 20.) and one Philip, giving an Account of a Paschal Synod, in the Second Century, begins his Epistle with this Observation, That the Apostles being wholly taken up with Preaching of the Gospel to the several Nations of the World, did not establish any Rules among Christians for the exact time of Easter. And, Epiphanius farther relates, That there was an old Apostolick Constitution, by which the Christians were forbidden to trouble themselves with scrupulous Calculations; but keep it at the same time as the Christians of Jerusalem, who being Converts from the Jews, understood the Methods and Rules that were used by them for the discovery of the Passover. Now all the Bishops of Jerusalem, till Adrian destroy'd it, were originally Jews, as is observed by Eusebius; and so long the Christian World received the time of Easter thence: but after Jerusalem had been quite Ruin'd by the Emperour, and there were no more Bishops there of the Circumcision, every Church began to have Rules of their own, and the Christian World was divided about their Feast of Love; and though many SYNODS were Assembled to determine this Matter by Pope Victor at Rome, Theophilus at Cesarea, and other Bishops in other Churches, yet still the Dissension continued, and Disputes increased, till at last, A. D. 325, they were happily ended by Constantine the Great, in the First General Council at Nice, Rules establish'd, and Tables drawn up for the exact discovery of the Time of EASTER for ever.
THAT the Christians, even from the Beginning, did observe this Feast, is evident from St. Paul, 1 Cor. 5. 7, 8. Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old Leven, neither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness, but with the Ʋnleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth. And Origen, an early Christian Writer, in his Comments on St. John's Gospel, Explains those words; Now the Passover, a Feast of the Jews, was at hand; to have been used by the Evangelist, to distinguish that from the Christian Passover, which was then observed.
THE greatest part of the Christian World, since the First Council of Nice, have conform'd themselves to the Paschal Rules that were there establish'd; and the whole Western Church, at the time of our Reformation from the Church of Rome, knew of no other. As in other things, so in this also, it was the Method of our Reformation, to depart no farther from the Church of Rome, than she had from the Truth, (see▪ Can. 30. publish'd A. D. 1603.) and, in keeping of Easter, conform'd her self to the same time that was then observed in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and most other Churches of the Christian World, and all this in Obedience and Conformity to the Decrees of the First General Council. And, to prevent all difference upon this Subject, our Church hath, in her very Liturgy, Establish'd by Act of Parliament, not only from that Council at Nice, inserted this General Rule, That Easter-Day is allways the First Sunday [Page 8] after the First Full Moon, which happens next after the 21st day of March; and, if the Full Moon happen upon a Sunday, Easter-Day is the Sunday after: But also, lest any difference should arise about the New-Moons, hath, in the First Column of the Calendar, put down all the New-Moons for a Complete Cycle of 19 Years, with Direction to take the Paschal New-Moons from that TABLE for ever; and all this according to the Decrees of the First Council at Nice, and Practise of the Ʋniversal Church.
AND though the Vernal Equinox, since the time of that Council, be gotten from the 21st to the 10th of March; and this TABLE of New-Moons is now above Four Dayes false; yet, in things undetermin'd by God's Law, we have alwayes Preferr'd Peace and Unity, and the Communion of Saints, before a Needless Separation and Division.
IT was once the Objection of Mr. Baxter and his Party, That our Church did not keep Easter, according to our own Rules; and that some Years our Easter was not the First Sunday after the First Full Moon that was after the 21th Day of March. But had that Scrupulous Person understood the Cycle of New Moons inserted in the First Column of our Calendar, and that the Paschal Moon is to be taken thence; he would have seen his Mistake, and been ashamed of the Objection.
NOW because the Nicene Council, in Composing these TABLES, hath made use of the Julian year, this also is usually call'd the Julian Account: the Julian year hath been vulgarly used from before the Birth of our Saviour, and the way of finding Easter for above 1300 years.
Of the Gregorian ACCOUNT, and New-Style.
FROM the time of the First Nicene Council, till the year of our Lord 1582, the Julian year, and Nicene Rules were made use of in most Countreys in the World for finding of Easter, till in that Year Pope Gregory the 13th, by his sole Authority, Cancell'd all this Old Account, Introduc'd a New Calendar, Composed chiefly by Aloysius Lily and his Brother, and New TABLES for the finding of Easter: Because the Vernal Equinox was then from the 21st gotten to the 11th of March, he ordered Ten Days to be left out of the Month of October, so that the 15th Day was that Year next after the 4th, from whence arose the Difference betwixt the New and Old Style, our Fifth of October, thereby becoming their 15th.
AND, that my Reader may have a clear Apprehension of this matter, I have here Inserted the Month of October, Transcribed from one of the Original Calendars, that were Printed and Published by the Command and Authority of the said Pope Gregory the XIIIth, for the very Year 1582.
| Dies Mensis. | Cai desunt 10 Dies pro correctione Anni Solaris. |
| 1 | Remigii Episc. & Confess. |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 4 | Francisci confessoris. Duplex. |
| 15 | Dionysii, Rustici, & Eleutherii Mart. Semi dupl. cum commemo. S. Marci Papae & Confessor. & S. S. Sergii, Bacchi, Marcelli & Apulei Martyrum. |
| 16 | Calisti Papae & Martyr. Semidupl. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Lucae Evangelistae. Duplex. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Hilarionis Abbatis, & commemoratio S. S. Ʋrsulae et Sociarum virginum & Martyrum |
| 22 | |
| 23 | |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Chrysantae & Dariae Martyr. |
| 26 | Euaristi Papae & Martyr. |
| 27 | Vigilia. |
| 28 | Simonis & Judae Apostolorum. Dupl. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Vigilia. |
I need not Insert a Translation of this Month, it being obvious to every common Reader, what a Skip here is, from the Fourth to the Fifteenth Day; and how the Commemoration of all those Saints, that were usually on those Ten dayes, were that year added to the Fifteenth Day. Now, by this Regulation of Pope Gregory, the 15th Day of October was that which was call'd the 5th, the 16th what was formerly the 6th, and so on; by which means there arose Ten Days difference betwixt the Julian or Old Style, and the Gregorian or New. A thing scarcely to be parallell'd, except with that Humorsome Edict of Alexander the Great, who, when he found his Souldiers superstitiously averse from Fighting, because it was the Month Desius, Publish'd a Decree, that for the future, that Month should not be accounted the Month Desius, but Artemisius; and immediately engaged and beat the Enemy: Or else, with that more absurd Decree of the Men of Athens, who, when Demetrius, in the Month of March, had a great desire to be initiated into their greater and lesser Ceremonies, one of which was constantly in the Month of November, the other in August, they ordered that that March should be forthwith called November; and when those lesser Rites were over, they Decreed again, that that same Month should be called August, and it was so; of which the Poet Philippides thus Jested upon Demetrius,
Much such was the power of the Papal Bull in contracting the 31 Dayes of October into One and twenty, and making the 15th Day immediately succeed the 4th. And because the same Pope foresaw, that in Tract of Time, that Correction also would be false, and the Equinox again Anticipate in the Julian Months, he farther Decreed, that after the Year 1600, Three even Centuries should pass without any Intercalations, though they were otherwise Bissextile Years, viz. A. D. 1700, 1800, 1900; and then, that the 4th even Century, or A. D. 2000. should be Bissextile again; and that same Method of making only every 4th even Century, Bissextile, should continue for ever. By which means it comes to pass, that though the Gregorian Account hath hitherto differ'd but 10 Days from the Julian; yet, after the 24th Day of February next, when in the Julian Year, a Bissextile Day is to be Intercalated; there will be 11 difference betwixt them: And a Letter Dated on the First of March, A. D. 1700, N. S. will be 11 Days before one dated the same day, according to the Julian, or Old Style: And at the end of the next Century, the Difference will be 12 Days, and so on.
TO discover the New Moons for ever, instead of the Golden Number, and Tables of New Moons fitted to them, the same Pope Gregory appointed Tables of Epacts, and others of Equation of Epacts, to continue for ever. And because the taking of Ten Days out of the Month October, perverted the order of the Dominical Letter, the same Pope was forced to Cancel the Old, and establish a New Cycle of the Dominical Letter, quite different from the former.
That the Reformed Churches should not lay aside the Julian, or Old-Style, to Establish the Gregorian, or New-Style.
HAVING thus far given a True, tho' Short Account of the Julian, or Old, and the Gregorian, or New Style; the next thing that I shall here briefly inquire into, is, Whether it be Expedient for the Reformed Churches to continue the Julian Account, and Old Paschal Tables, which have been all along continued in the Christian Churches from the Primitive Times, or, if we leave that, should follow the New-Style of Pope Gregory. And tho', at first view, it might seem reasonable for us, in an indifferent thing, and where they are nearer the Truth, to comply with the Church of Rome; yet, in my Opinion, in the Matter before us, 'tis by no means adviseable.
First, BECAUSE in matters relating to Religion, 'tis best not to make any Alterations, except upon great and pressing occasions, and where our Church may get some considerable advantage by the Change; or unless the matter in Dispute be determin'd by the Word of God, and 'tis evident from thence, that our [Page 16] Church is in an Errour. But, as I shall shew presently, such alteration as this is not likely to produce good, but mischief to our Church, and occasion new differences, as it hath already done in the Palatinate Churches; and the matter before us, is, in its own nature, purely indifferent, and never determin'd one way or other, neither by Moses and the Prophets in the Old Testament, nor by Christ and his Apostles in the New.
Secondly. IN things thus left indifferent, we ought principally to be govern'd by the Determination of General Councils; and when they also are silent, by the Decrees and Canons of National Synods. And, to apply this Rule to our present purpose, if we look back to the Primitive Church, its evident what heats and feuds were then amongst Christians, occasion'd by the different Rules they had for finding of Easter. And so long as this matter stood undetermin'd by a General Council▪ every National Church follow'd its own way, and all the Threats of Rome, by Victor, and other Bishops of that See, signified very little towards ending of the Controversie, till it was, at length, happily determin'd by the First General Council at Nice, to whose Authority all the Churches of the World quietly submitted, and Peace and Uniformity were establish'd, till at length, above a Thousand years after, Pope Gregory revived the difference, and set up the Authority of that one See above the Decree of a General Council. And this the Bigots of that Religion pretend to justify. How did the Church of Rome at the beginning of the Reformation Triumph over the Protestants, that the [Page 17] Fathers and Councils were all on their side; but after they had been sufficiently baffled by Bishop Jewel and other Learned Protestants, and it hath been sufficiently proved that the Fathers and Councils are on our side, they are run into the quite contrary Extream, and in a needless controversy, left the Protestants in full possession of a General Council on their side, whilst they themselves ran schismatically into a manifest contempt of it, and publickly own'd the laying of it▪ aside. Had the Reformed Churches done this, the whole World would have been fill'd with Clamours against them, and a great Outcry made of their Schism.
Thirdly. WERE the Church of Rome in the right, and the Gregorian Style far better than the Julian, yet we should be backward in complying with them, both upon the account of the Romanists, who will construe this to be a Compliance with the Decree of Pope Gregory, whose Language in this matter is very absolute and imperious. Nulli ergo hominum liceat hanc paginam voluntatis nostrae infringere, vel ei ausu temerario contraire, si quis autem hoc attentare praesumpserit, indignationem Omnipotentis Dei, ac beatorum Petri & Pauli Apostolorum ejus, se noverit incursurum—and again, qui secus secerit Excommunicationem incurrat, i. e. Let no one dare to contradict this our Decree (about the New Style) and if any one shall presume to attempt it, let him know that he incurs the indignation of Almighty God, and of his holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul—and shall forthwith be excomnnicated out of the Church. Hitherto we in England have layn under this horrible Curse, and what will our present Compliance be construed, but a fear of the Papal Thunder, and at least a tacit Submission [Page 18] to that Chair; Hoc Ithacus velit▪ Much less should we comply upon the account of the Protestant Dissenters, who have been always jealous of our inclining too much towards Rome, and in this matter should we do it, will most certainly censure and upbraid us for the Compliance, and observing the Decrees of a Pope of Rome made since the Reformation; and let us before-hand consider how we shall be able to answer them. However it was the Wisdom of our first Reformers to comply as far as possible, with the Rites and Customs of the Church of Rome, and thereby bring over many of them to our Communion; yet since now there is little of that nature to be hoped for, our wisest Bishops have laid aside all thoughts of working upon them any further by compliance, and much rather take care to Convince the Dissenting Protestants, who are far the more numerous Party, that we are not Popishly inclined. When there was lately a Controversy in England about the Feast-day of Matthias, our late Arch-Bishop, to prevent a seeming compliance with the Rules of the Romish Church, order'd it to be kept on the 24th day of February, even in Leap-Year, notwithstanding the Church had been then long in possession of a different practice, and was in some measure countenanc'd in it, by an Act of Parliament, that order'd the 24th and 25th of February in Leap-Year, to be esteem'd as the same day. If we look back into former Ages, we may learn from our own Bede, what Struglings and long Contentions our Bishops had with the Church of Rome, rather than they would alter their old way of keeping of EASTER. One thing in that Controversy is very remarkable to our present purpose, viz. That the [Page 19] Bishops of Rome did then urge against our Bishops, the Decrees of the Ʋniversal Church in the Council of Nice, (Bedae Eccl. H. l▪ 2. c. 19.) and that their way of finding Easter was practised in Africa, Asia, Egypt, Greece, and almost all the World. (ib. l. 3 c. 25.) Now it seems very unreasonable, after we have been perswaded to comply with them upon those Reasons, that the same Persons should now endeavour to perswade us to leave that very way which they have taught us, and that too, not with (as formerly) but against the Authority of the first general Council, and the consent of the Asian, African and Greek Churches, which are now on our side. So far will our compliance be from promoting the peace of the Church, that in our joining with the Romanists, we shall manifestly fall off from the Grecian, Asian and other Eastern Churches, who to this day critically observe the Rules of the first Nicene Council. There is one considerable reason why we should be govern'd by the Rules of that Council, and that is, because we were at that time Subjects of Constantine the Emperor▪ who summon'd that Council, and confirm'd their Sanctions, and did then submit to their Decrees about keeping of Easter, as appears from that Emperors Letter preserv'd by Eusebius in his Life of Constantine. One of our late Acts of Parliament (Stat. 1. Eliz. ch. 1.) declares the Authority of that Council, as next to that of the Holy Scriptures, and our present Act of Ʋniformity, hath not only Authoritatively settled the Nicene Creed, but the Nicene Rules also for finding of Easter; so that this matter cannot be alter'd without an Act of Parliament and change of our Liturgy, which since we have been so averse to, for the sake [Page 20] of our own Protestant Dissenters, it will seem very unreasonable to do it in compliance with the Romanists.
That which will be a matter of the greatest moment for us to consider is, whether this alteration by Pope Gregory be correct and true, or whether, if we should now comply with them, some new Pope may not correct these Alterations, and think some other way more exact, as was famously done in the correct Edition of the Bible by Pope Clement VIII. who in 2000 places chang'd the Infallible Edition of the Bible, publish'd but two years before by Pope Sixtus V. and then we shall be again importun'd to dance after them, and leave the Gregorian, as they would now have us leave the Julian Account. I shall therefore in the next place examine the Errors and Mistakes of Pope Gregory in correcting the Year: and that
First, IF we would have corrected the Paschal Tables, we ought not to have reduc'd them to the Order of the Heavenly Bodies, at the time of the Nicene Council, 325 Years after Christ, which is all that is pretended to by Pope Gregory, but to the time of our Saviour and the first Christian Passover; to the end that Equinox should not have been brought back to March the 21th, but to March the 25th where it was at the time of our Saviours Crucifixion. And whereas the Romanists now commemorate our Saviour's Resurrection on the first Sunday, after the first Full-Moon, that is after the 21st of March, our Saviour did not rise from the Dead, till the first Sunday after the first Full-Moon, that was after the 25th of March, if the Equinox in that Age was their Guide for the Passover. This was certainly a great oversight of the Infallible Chair, and may be a sufficient reason why we should not join with them.
Secondly. THERE is great reason for us to suspect, that the Jews in the time of our Saviour did not mind the Equinox, but the Sun's entrance into Aries, which according to the prevailing opinion of that Age was Eight days before it. Thus Josephus (Antiq. l. 2. c. 10.) saith, That the Jewish Passover was the 14th Day of the first Month, the Sun being in Aries, and Anatolius from several old Jewish Authors relates, That that was the first Month among the Jews, in which the Sun entred the first Sign of the Zodicak; and perhaps the Jews might think, that their Paschal Lamb, which was always to be a Male, might have some relation to the Sign of Aries in the Heavens. Now its certain, that about the time of our Saviour, Learned Men distinguish'd betwixt the time of the Equinox, and of the Suns entrance into Aries, and made this last Eight Days before the other, as appears from Varro, Ovid, Manilius, Columella, Pliny, and the very Calendar of J. Caesar, in which the Sun's entrance into Aries is March the 18th, and the Vernal Equinox March the 25th. When Anatolius plac'd the Equinox March the 22d, he expresly said, that the Sun was then got Four Degrees in Aries, and therefore entred Aries March the 18th, and in Bede the Sun's entrance into that Sign is the 15th of the Calends of April, or March the 18th. Nor was this the opinion of the Greeks and Romans only, but of the Egyptians also, as appears from Manetho's Apotelesmata, who (l. 2. v. 73, 74, 75.) expresly saith, that the Summer Solstice was, when the Sun was in the 8th Degree of Cancer. And this Entrance of the Sun into Aries, was what both Jews and Christians chiefly looked after in discovering the time of the Passover. Hippolitus was the first Christian Writer that [Page 22] publish'd Paschal Tables, and in them imitated the Jews; these Tables are now extant, and in every 16 Years Easter twice fell upon March the 18th, long before the Equinox, but not before the Sun's entrance into Aries. St. Cyprian in his Book de Paschate gives the Rules for discovering of Easter both among the Jews and Christians, and its evident that he begins the Paschal Month at March the 4th, so that the 14th day of the Paschal Month may be March the 17th, and the 15th day on March the 18th. For so the Jews agree that the 15th day of Nisan, may be upon that day that the Sun enters Aries (Maimon. de Consecr. Cal.) Victorius particularly explains the Paschal Terms according to the Christians both in Egypt and Rome, and, with small difference from the Jews, makes the Paschal Term begin at March the 5th, and so the 14th day of the first Month might be March the 18th. The Christians at length about A. D. 260 began to understand that the Sun entred Aries at the Vernal Equinox, and Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria inform'd the Christian World, that they ought not to keep Easter before the Vernal Equinox. After this was compiled that Canon that forbad the Christians to keep Easter, as the Jews did before the Equinox, for which the Jews were blamed also by the Emperor Constantine, they still keeping their old way of the Sun's Entrance into Aries 8 days before the Equinox. I shall only add, that the Acts of Pilate (a very Old Book, quoted by Justin the Martyr, and other early Fathers) had our Saviours Crucifixion on the 18th of March, as appears from Epiphanius, which would have been very absurd, if the Jewish Passover could never have been so early. If therefore its evident that the Jews [Page 23] in the time of our Saviour, and the Christians of the 1st and 2d Century, did not mind the Equinox in computing of Easter, but the Sun's entrance into Aries 8 days before it, then this will be a convincing Argument against the Truth of the Gregorian Account, that makes Easter depend upon and succeed the Equinox. Nor is it to any purpose for the Romanists to reply that the Jews err'd in keeping the Passover at that time, since all that the Christians can do, is to keep their Easter at that time when our Saviour was Crucified and rose again, which was at the Jewish Passover, whether they observed the right time or not.
Thirdly. THE Gregorian Rule for finding of the Equinox, makes the Precession come to three days in 400 Years, that is, one day in 133 ⅓ Years. Now I think it may be prov'd that the Precession is much greater, and comes to one whole Day in 120 Years. For the Demonstration of this, I shall refer my Reader to that excellent Book of Lidyat's de Anni Solaris Mensura, and may my self hereafter confirm what he there layeth down, with other convincing Arguments, which that Learned Man never thought of. For these Reasons I take the Gregorian Account to be very injudicious and false, and therefore not to be follow'd by Protestants. Not to mention that if we would have reduc'd our Easter to what it was at the Nicene Council, there had been an easier method and free from the inconveniences of the Gregorian. There need have nothing else been done, but declaring the 11th of March to be the Paschal Equinox, and that in every 120 Years, it should have advanc'd one day farther, for its not material what day of our Solary Month we call the Equinox, so that we be agreed of [Page 24] the time. And then, instead of introducing perplex'd and difficult Tables of Epacts, the New-Moons might be discover'd for ever by the Old Tables, only going backward one Day in 312 Years, from the time of the Nicene Council, at this time 4 Days, according to that known Rule in Caelis est hic. This had really answer'd the whole design of the Church of Rome, in restoring of Easter to the measures of the Nicene Council, and yet had neither disturb'd the Julian Account, nor perverted the Old Order of the Dominical Letter, nor destroyed the use of those Old Tables of New-Moons, and the Golden Number. To conclude therefore this short Dissertation; Its very observable, that when God Almighty order'd the Jews to keep the Passover, and thereby bare in memory the day of their deliverance out of Egypt, and at that Feast teach their Children the reason of their keeping of it; God did not give the Jews any exact Rules for finding of the Day in a Solary Year, but only bade them keep the 14th Day of their First Month, or that Month in which their Corn began to be ripe, be it according to the different Seasons, sooner or later; and in that Feast, notwithstanding such difference, the Jews were to say in their Hymns and Prayers, and teach their Children, that on that Day God had deliver'd them out of Egypt; and so in the common and civil use of Words, the same Day of the same Month is reckon'd the same time, tho' the Month fell earlier or later in the Solary Year. At the time of our Saviour, the Jews err'd in the time of their Passover, (if our Rules that make it depend upon the Equinox are true) and made it depend upon a time 8 Days sooner; and yet when this was the Day that the Sanhedrim [Page 25] had agreed on, and they that sate in Moses Chair had solemnly appointed; our Saviour and his Apostles never scrupl'd the time, but Christ expresly said of it, Luk. 22. 7. That that was the day in which the Passover ought to be kill'd. And so the Jews assert, that it was always in the power of their Chief Court to apoint their Passovers, and tho they err'd, yet were to be obey'd. Talmud Sanhed. p. 13. &c. Cozri p. 213, 214. Maimon, Cons. Cal. p. 349. and the Jews quote for that opinion. the words of the Law. Deut. 17. 9, 10.
THE chief thing aim'd at by God in all these Festivals, was the Heart and the Devotions; the Prayers and the Thanksgivings, and when they were duly perform'd, his People might be the less solicitous for the circumstance of time. The best Rule about the time, and what our Saviour himself practic'd, is to follow the Commands of our Guides and Rulers, and though they should Err in some minute Circumstances of time, yet so long as the End of the Feast is obtain'd, and Peace and Ʋnity preserv'd, we are sure to be blameless. And this hath been the method of the Church of England and other Reformed Churches; who constantly kept Easter according to the Decrees of the Fathers of the first General Council; who happily made Peace and Ʋ nion in the Christian World, and according to the practice of all the Christians in the World, except the late Schismaticks of the Church of Rome, who have in the last Century, broken the Decrees of those very Councils that they themselves magnify, and forsaken the practice of all the Christians in the World. One of the Principal things that God oblig'd the Jews to, was to keep the Passover in the first Month of the Year, and [Page 26] yet the Romanists, after all the Corrections of Pope Gregory, do very often keep Easter in the last Month of the Year instead of the first, for the Roman Year begins at the 25th day of March, and yet their Easter may be on the 22d, 23d, or 24th day of March, and so in the last and not in the first Month of the Year. I do not mention this as a matter of such great moment, as to deserve our altering our Old Rules; for, so long as we be within the compass of that which the Jews call'd the first Month of the Year, its not very material by what Name we call it, but only to shew the many Errors and Mistakes of the bungling Corrections of the Church of Rome, and that there is no reason at all for us to follow them, but either to keep to our Old Rules and Ʋnion with the Christian World, or else, if we must be changing, to do it more correctly than they have done. I shall end this short Dissertation, with that Excellent Advice of the wisest of Kings, and wisest of Men, twice mention'd in the short Book of Proverbs.