Remarks upon the solar and the lunar years, the cycle of 19 years, commonly called the golden number, the epact, and a method of finding the time of Easter, as it is now observed in most parts of Europe

by Earl of George Parker Macclesfield

A Method of finding the Time of Easter, as it is observed in most Parts of Europe.

From what has been already said, a Method may be obtained, for fixing, with sufficient Exactness, the Time of the Celebration of the Feast of Easter, which is governed by the Vernal Equinox, and by the Age of the Moon nearest to it. The former whereof, when once rightly adjusted, may (by the Corrections mentioned in that Part of this Paper which relates to the Solar Year) be made to continue to fall at very near the same time with, or at most not to differ a whole Day from the true Equinox: and the same Rules and Directions, which, as was before shewn, would, without any great Error, point out the Times of the first Day of the Moon, would with equal Certainty point out the fourteenth, fifteenth, or any other: And thus the Times of the Oppositions or the Full Moons might be as well marked out thereby, as those of the Conjunctions or the New Moons.

I shall not at present take notice of the Canon of the Council of Nice, in the Year of our Lord 325, which directs the Time of celebrating the Feast of Easter, or of the Reasons upon which that Canon was founded. Nor shall I endeavour to explain the Rule now in Use in the Church of England for finding Easter: For, besides that such an Explanation would extend this Paper to an improper Length, those Points have already been treated of by several much abler Hands, and particularly by our Countryman the learned Dr. Prideaux. Nor is it my Intention to enter far into the Methods used by the Gregorians, or those of the Church of Rome, or by any other Nations or Countries, for finding the Time of that Feast. As to our own, I shall only observe, that the Method now used in England, for finding the fourteenth Day of the Moon, or the Ecclesiastical Full Moon, on which Easter dependeth, is, by Process of Time, become considerably erroneous: as the Golden Numbers, which were placed in the Calendar, to point out the Days on which the New Moons fall in those Years of which they are respectively the Golden Numbers, do now stand several Days later in the same than those New Moons do really happen. Which Error, as was before observed, arises from the Anticipation of the Moons since the Time of the Council of Nice: And as the Vernal Equinox has also anticipated eleven Days since that time; neither that Equinox, nor the New Moons, do now happen on those Days upon which the Church of England supposes them so to happen.

When Pope Gregory XIII. reformed the Julian Solar Year, he likewise made a Correction as to the Time of celebrating the Feast of Easter, by placing the Epacts (which he directed to be made use of for the future instead of the Golden Numbers) much nearer to the true Times of the New Moons than the Golden Numbers then stood in the old Calendar: I say, much nearer to the true Times; because in fact the Epacts, as placed by him, were not prefixed to the exact Days upon which the New Moons then truly fell. And this was done with Design, and for a Reason which it is not material to the Purpose of this Paper to mention.

But the Church of England, and that of Rome or the Gregorians, do still agree in this; that both of them mark (the former by the Golden Numbers, and the latter by the Epacts corresponding to them) the Days on which their Ecclesiastical New Moons are supposed to happen: And that fourteenth Day of the Moon inclusive, or that Full Moon, which falls upon, or next after, the 21st Day of March, is the Paschal Limit or Full Moon to both: And the Sunday next following that Limit or Full Moon, is by both Churches celebrated as Easter Day. But the 21st of March being reckoned, according to the Gregorian Account or the New Style, eleven Days sooner than by the Julian Account or the Old Style, which is still in Use amongst us; and their Ecclesiastical New Moons being three Days earlier than those of the Church of England; it happens that although the Church of England and that of Rome often do, yet more frequently they do not, celebrate the Feast of Easter upon the same natural Day.

It might however be easier for both, and could occasion no Inconvenience, now that Almanacks, which tell the exact Times of the New Moons, are in most Peoples Hands; if all the Golden Numbers and Epacts now prefixed to those Days of the Calendar, in our Book of Common Prayer, and in the Roman Breviary, on which the respective Ecclesiastical New Moons happen, were omitted in the Places where they now stand; and were set only against those fourteenth Days of the Moon, or those Full Moons, which happen betwixt the 21st Day of March and the 18th of April, both inclusive. Since no fourteenth Day or Full Moon, which happens before the 21st of March, or after the 18th Day of April, can have any Share in fixing the Time of Easter. By which means the Trouble of counting to the fourteenth Day, and the Mistakes which sometimes arise therefrom, would be avoided.

We do as yet in England follow the Julian Account or the Old Style in the Civil Year; as also the Old Method of finding those Moons upon which Easter depends: Both of which have been shewn to be very erroneous.

If therefore this Nation should ever judge it proper to correct the Civil Year, and to make it conformable to that of the Gregorians, it would surely be adviseable to correct the Time of the Celebration of the Feast of Easter likewise, and to bring it to the same Day upon which it is kept and solemnized by the Inhabitants of the greatest Part of Europe, that is, by those who follow the Gregorian Account. For tho' I am aware, that their Method of finding the Time of Easter is not quite exact, but is liable to some Errors; yet I apprehend, that all other practicable Methods of doing it would be so too: And if they were more free from Error, they would probably be more intricate, and harder to be understood by Numbers of People, than the Method of determining that Feast either by a Cycle of Epacts, as is practiced by the Gregorians, or by that of 19 Years or the Golden Numbers, in the manner proposed in the following Part of this Paper: And it is of no small Importance, that a Matter of so general a Concern, as the Method of finding Easter is, should be within the Reach of the Generality of Mankind, at least as far as the Nature of the thing will admit.

For which Reason, in case the Legislature of this Country should before the Year 1900, think fit to make our Civil Year correspond with that of the Gregorians, and also to celebrate all the future Feasts of Easter upon the same Days upon which they celebrate them; this last Particular might be easily effected, without altering the Rule of the Church of England for the finding of that Feast: And this only by advancing the Golden Numbers, prefixed to certain Days in the Calendar, 8 Days forwarder for the New Moons, or 21 Days forwarder for the fourteenth Days or Full Moons, than they now stand in our Calendar.

In order to explain this, it must be observed, that the Gregorian Account or the New Style is eleven Days forwarder than the Julian Account or the Old Style, which we still make use of; that is, the last Day of any of our Months is the eleventh Day of their next succeeding Month. If therefore their Ecclesiastical New Moons fell on the same Days with those of the Church of England, the Golden Number 14, which now stands against the last Day of February in our that is the Julian Calendar, should, when we should have adopted the Gregorian Calendar, be prefixed to the 11th Day of March. But since their Ecclesiastical New Moons happen 3 Days earlier than our Ecclesiastical New Moons at present do; so much should be deducted from those 11 Days, by which the Golden Numbers ought otherwise to be advanced; and the Golden Number 14 should not be placed against the 11th, but the 8th Day of March: Which being reckoned the first Day of the Moon, if we count on to the fourteenth Day of the same inclusive, that would be found to fall on the a 21st Day of March; on which Day the Gregorian Paschal Limit or Full Moon will happen when the Golden Number is 14. And the like Course should be taken with the rest of the 19 Golden Numbers; which ought to be placed 8 Days forwarder than they now stand, if they are to point out the New Moon; or 21 Days forwarder than they are at present, if they are to mark the fourteenth Day of the Moon or the Full Moon: The latter of which, as has been shewn, would be more eligible, than to prefix those Numbers to the Days on which the New Moons happen.