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. Vrsulae 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That contracted a whole Year into one Month Plutarch in the Life of 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 't is by no means adviseable First BECAUSE in matters relating to Religion 't is 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 't is evident from thence that our 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 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 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 Bishops of Rome did then urge against our Bishops the Decrees of the Vniversal 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 Vniformity 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 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
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 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 Vnity 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 Vnion 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 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 it s 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 Vnion 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 Remove not the Antient Land-mark FINIS Books Printed for R. Sare An Appeal to all the True Member of the Church of England in behalf of the King's Supremacy as by Law Establish'd by our Convocations Approv'd and our Eminent Bishops and Clergy-men Stated and Defended against both the Popish and Fanatical Opposers of it Octavo A Practical Discourse concerning Prophane Swearing especially in the Two great Points of Perjury and Common Swearing Octavo The Principles of the Christian Religion Explain'd in a brief Commentary upon the Ch. Catechism Oct. These Five by Dr. Wake Epictetus's Morals with Simplicius's Comment made English from the Greek with the Addition of his Life from the French of Monsieur Boileau by G. Stanhope D. D. In Octavo An Answer to all the Excuses and Pretences which Men ordinarily make for their not coming to the Holy Communion Fitted for the Meanest Capacities and very proper to be given away by such as are Charitably Inclined Price three Pence By a Divine of the Church of England The Fourth Edition Corrected Parsons his Christian Directory being a Treatise of Holy Resolution In two Parts Put into Modern English And now made Publick for the Instruction of the Ignorant the Conviction of the Unbelieving the Awakning and Reclaiming the Vicious and for Confirming the Religions in their Good Purposes FINIS Books Printed for Richard Sare at Grays-Inn Gate in Holborne FAbles of Aesop and other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflections Folio The Third Edition Fables and Stories Moralized being a Second part of the Fables of Aesop and other Eminent Mythologists c. Folio The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas Kt. of the Order of St. James The Eighth Edition Octavo Twenty Two Select Coloquies out of Erasmus Roterodamus pleasantly Representing several Superstitious Levities that were crept into the Church of Rome in his Days The Third Edition Octavo These Four by Sir Roger L'Estrange The Genuine Epistles of the Apostolical Fathers St. Barnabas St Ignatius St. Clement St. Polycarp the Shepherd of Hermas and the Martyrdoms of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp Translated and Publish'd with a large Preliminary Discourse relating to the several Discourses here put together Octavo The Authority of Christian Princes over their Ecclesiastical Synods Asserted with Particular Respect to the Convocations of the Clergy of the Realm and Church of England Occasioned by a late Pamphlet Intituled A Letter to a Convocation Man Octavo