From the vernal Equinoctial Full Moon, Anne 1704, as follow.

And here it is to be observed, That our Computation is the Hours and Minutes from the Noon of the Day incerted; wherefore, from these Examples it is apparent, that there cannot be conftantly a 14th Moon, but it muft be frequently reduc'd; fo that it is evident Eafter-Day must be the Sunday after the next firft Full Moon, next after the vernal Equinox ; wherefore the Great Council of Nice in Bythinia, called by the Emperor Conftantine, about Anno Chrifti 326, confifting of 318 Bishops and others, debated the Contentions and Controverfies, about the Celebration of Eafter-Day, and all agreed together to celebrate the folemn Feaft of Eafter the Sunday next after the Firft Full Moon, next after the vernal Equinox, or next after the 21ft Day of March, because the vernal Equinox then fell nearly upon that Day, which'

Tradition

Tradition we to this Day feem to retain: But the vernal Equinox, by our Calendar now falls on the 9th Day of March, which occafions Eafter-Day, with all the moveable Feafts that reft and depend on it, to be celebrated frequently 5 Weeks from their true Times and Seafons, contrary to the Defign and Inftitution of the faid General Council of Nice; and this Ratification did nor continue above 7 Years but there arose many Differences between the Greeks and Romans about it, which Controverfy continued near 200 Years, and could admit of no Reconciliation, until the Time of the Emperor Juftinian, about Anno 527, when one Dionyfius Abbas,

Noble Roman, began to frame Tables of Eafter according to the Mind of the Council of Nice, which he compleated Anno 532; after which, by the General Council of Chalecdon, it was enacted, That whoever held any other Eafter than that which the Statutes of Rome appointed to be obferved, should be reputed as Hereticks, which continued fo until Pope Gregory the XIIIth corrected their Calendar Anno 1582.

Wherefore because the SolarYear confifts of 365 Days, 5 Hours and 49 Minutes, and the JulianYear containing 365 Days, and 6 Hours, it is plain that the Julian Year exceeds the Solar Year 11 Minutes, thereby caufing an apparent Anticipation of the Equinoctial and Solftice Points, infomuch that the vernal Equinox, whofe Place, at the Council of Nice, was on the 20th Day of March, is now on our 9th, 131 Times, 11 Minutes, is equal to one Day of 24 Hours and one Minute; and from 1736 take 326, and it leaves 1410 Years, which divided by 131, gives nearly 11 Days, which by the odd 11 Minutes we gain in our Calendar, has brought the vernal Equinox 11 Days back to the 9th Day of March; which Error was amended by Pope Gregory, by fubftracting 10 Days from the 4th Day of October, unto the 15th Day of the fame Month exclufive, Anno Chrifti 1582; that thereby he might make the vernal Eqninox, on which the moveable Feafts depend, agree to the 21 Day of March, as it was by the Nicene Council establish'd; by Means whereof, and omiting the odd Day in February, every 131 Years, the vernal Equinox will for future Times remain invariable, as was done in the Year 1700, whereby their Months begin now 11 Days before ours, and confequently their Eafter this prefent Year, 1736, on our 21 Day of March, in its true Place, and ours erroneously on the 25 Day of April, Five Weeks after.

SECTION

SECTION IV.

Propofition for Correcting our Calendar, and removing our fixed and moveable Festivals to their true Times and Seafons, according to God's Command and Inftitution, without having any Regard to the Gregorian Correction; and to retain our Dominical Letters, Cycle of the Sun, and Cycle of the Moon, called the Golden Number, Days of the Months, and Week-Days, without Alteration, and yet render that excellent Julian Period invariable, whence all Confufion or Difficulty that may otherwife attend the Dates of our Civil Records, Deeds, Bonds, Bills, and Payment of Rents, may be evaded.

T is evident that no Year hath any certain natural Beginning, but from the vernal Equinox, from whence it had its firft Original, Gen. 1. 14, 16, 19. And God said let there be Lights in the Firmament of the Heavens, to devide the Day from the Night, and let them be for Signs and for Seasons, and for Days, and for Years; and God made two great Lights, the greater Light to Rule the Day, and the leffer Light to rule the Night, and the Evening and the Morning were the Fourth Day; which confequently fhould be the Fourth Day of the First Month, in the Year which is now the 9th Day of our March; and at the Creation on the 23 Day of our April, according to the Julian Period. Wherefore to 3966 Years add 1736, the Sum is 5702 from the Creation, which is nearly 44 Times 131, the Defect of the Julian Period; whence from April the 23 take 44 Days, and the vernal Equinox will be March the 10th at the Creation, which therefore God himself hath commanded, inftituted, and appointed to be fo kept and obferved, which I think is our Duty, and the best Tradition we can obferve, Exod. 12. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. And the Lord Speak unto Mofes and Aaron in the Land of Egypt, faying, This Month fhall be unto you the Begin ning of Months; it fhall be the First Month of the Year to you; Speak ye unto all the Congregation of Ifrael, faying, in the Tenth Day of this Month they shall take to them every Man a Lamb, your Lamb fhall be without blemish, a Male of the First Year, and ye

Shall

fhall keep it up until the Fourteenth Day of the fame Month, and fhall kill it in the Evening. Chap. 13.4. This Day came ye out in the Month Abib; which, as fome fay, is March with us, or Part of March and Part of April, Exod. 23.15.Thou shalt keep the Feast of unlevened Bread as I commanded thee in theTime appointed of the Month Abib. Hence it is evident that the Inftitution and Celebration of the Paffover, and the Pafchal Lamb to be flain, pointed out the Lamb of God, our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift, flain before the Foundation of the World, for the Remiffion of Sins, and a direct Type of his most precious Paffion, Death, and Refurrection, for the Re-, demption and Salvation of Mankind, from the Bondage of Sin and Death, of which the Diliverance of the Ifraelites from the Bondage of Egypt, and the Inftitution of the Pafchal Lamb, was a Figure on which our Eafter truly depends.

For it was Anno Mundi 2452 when the Pafchal Lamb was commanded and celebrated in Egypt, and the vernal Equinox was then, by the Julian Period, on the 3d Day of April, about Midnight, the Cycle of the Sun 7, Dominical Letter F, and the 3d Day of April Wednesday, as it was at the Creation; and it was Full Moon the 7th Day 4 Days after; and that our Sunday, the Day of Chrift's Refurrection. Then from 5702 take 2452 Years, and there will remain 3250, which is nearly 25 Times 131, which take from April the 2d, and the vernal Equinox will be Mar. the 9th, at the Mofaical Pafchal Lamb.

Whence it is evident that the vernal Equinox was then the 9th or 10th Day of the Month Abib, and that our March and the Pafcha, or Paffover, the 14th Day, 4 Days after, at the Full Moon next after the vernal Equinox, which now happens with us on the 9th Day of March nearly as it did then ; wherefore, in this Respect, our Calendar wants no Correction as to the vernal Equinox.

Now the Paffion of Chrift was Anno Chrifti 34, the vernal Equinox the 22d Day of March, by the Julian Period; and his Paffion the 25, according to the Calend. and Account of thofe Times; and it was Full Moon the 23d Day; therefore confequently the First Day of the Feaft of unlevened Bread could not be after the 24th Day when Chrift celebrated the Jews Paffover, and his own, called the Lord's Supper, and that Night Judas betrayed him, and the next Day the Paffion; and the Day after being the 26th, the Feaft of the fews Paflover 4 Days after the veneral Equinox, as the Pafchal Lamb was inflituted and celebrated in Egypt, Matt. 26. 17. John 13. 1. Then from 1736 take 34 Years and it will leave 1702, which is 13 Times 131. Wherefore from March the 22d take 13 Days, the Defect of the Julian Period, and the yernal Equinox will be March the 9th at the Paflion of Chrift.

Where

Wherefore from the different Inequality of the Earth's Motion and Equation of the annual Orb, and the Day that interfer'd in the Cafe of Abaz, we may admit the vernal Equinox to be directly the 10th Day of the Month Abib. Then at the Creation, the Full Moon will be the 12, and the First 7th Day Sabbath the 13; at the Inftitution and Celebration of the Pafchal Lamb the Full Moon will be the 14th, and the Ifraelites Deliverence from the Bondage of Egypt the 15th, and at the Paffion of Chrift the Full Moon the 11th, the Paffion the 13th, the Jews Paffover Feaft the 14th, and the Refurrection of Chrift the 16th; and that our Sunday, whence as the vernal Equinox happens now on our 9th Day of March, our Eafter-Day will be by the Revolution of the vernal Equinox on the 15th Day of our March, or the next Sunday after, unless the Full Moon, Eafter, take Place. And confequently from the 25th Day of Decemb. take 13 Days, and the Day of Chrift's Birth will be the 12 of December, and fo it truly was at that Time, had their Calend. and Period of Time been in its true Place, according to the Inftitution of the Pafchal Lamb.

Wherefore, as Providence hath apparently at this Time, directed our Calendar nearly into its proper Denomination, Time, and Seafon, according to God's Command and Appointment, why fhould not we keep and obferve it as he hath commanded? It is only removing the fixed Feafts in our Calendar to their proper Seasons, and Eafter, with the moveable Feafts, to their true Places, and retain the former Quarter Days, and Days of Account as they now are obferved, tho' improperly fo; what if we call the 12th Day of December Christmas-Day, in its proper Seafon, when it originally was, or fhould have been fo, and would it not be much more commodious to remove our Quarter Days to the Sun's Solftices and retain our Calendar, Dominical Letters, Months, Days, Cycles of the Sun and Moon, and that excellent Julian Period, without Alterations, or erroneously excluding any Days, as the Gregorians did, and now do, puting the Julian Period, and Cycles of the Sun and Moon, with the Dominical Letters, out of their Places, whereby we shall evade being corrected by other Countries, but correct them to the Honour of our English Nation? What if the Solitices become antecedent, even until the veneral Equinox happen to be on the 4th Day of March, then our First Day of March will begin with the First Day of the Creation, which will be 640 Years performing, it is only removing our fixed Feafts one Day in 130 Years, to follow the Solítices, and all Things elfe will remain as they were; or otherwile, what if we retain the Saints Days as they now are, and celebrate them as ufual, they feem to be, all precarious to us, as to the true Time of Celebration ; and if

we