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
THE Julian and Gregorian YEAR Or the Difference Betwixt the Old and New-Stile SHEWING That the Reformed Churches should not Alter their Old-Stile but That the Romanists should Return to It. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. Nic. Can. 6. LONDON Printed for RICHARD SARE at Grays-Inn Gate Holborne 1700. TO THE READER THÉ Old and New-Stile having been of late the Subject of many Debates occasion'd chiefly by the near approach of next February when instead of Ten there will be Eleven Days difference betwixt them and thereby the Julian and Gregorian Accounts set at greater odds than ever and finding this Controversy not generally understood I thought I could not at present do a more acceptable piece of Service to the Publick than put this matter into as clear a Light as I could and shew with as much brevity as possible not only the Vnreasonableness of the Romanists pressing of the Reformed Churches to comply with them in the Gregorian Account but also endeavour to perswade them to put an End to the Difference by returning to the Obedience of the first General Council at Nice and an Union with the Universal Church The Church of Rome for above One Thousand Years were in this matter conformable to the rest of the Christian World and the Popes at their Inauguration were sworn to continue it Viz. Se quatuor prima Concilia servaturos usque ad unum Apicem i. e. That they would critically observe the first four General Councils to the least tittle Can. Sanct. Dist 16. and how the late Pope Gregory XIII dispensed with himself in this matter I know not but I am sure that his famous Predecessor of that Name Pope Gregory the Great declared his esteem of the Four first General Councils to be equall to that he had of the Four Gospels So that Popes are divided in their Judgments as well as other Christians and whereas but an Age or two past the Romanists press'd the Protestants with the Authority of Councils which they pretended to be on their side they have now publickly rejected the Determination of the most famous Christian Council in the World since that of the Apostles and the design of this Paper is to press them to the Obedience of it and to return to the Communion of Saints and no longer continue in a Schism and Separation from all the Christian Churches in the World ERRATA PAge 2. l. 27. add two p. 4. l. 27. add on or p. 13. l. 1. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 20. l. 22. the and that transpros'd 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 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 Leap-year 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 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 Vniformity JVLIVS 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
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