we celebrate any one Day in Commemoration thereof, it seems to me as well. So that then our fix'd Terms, and two Quarter Days, will retain the fame Names, but this I entirely fubmit to the Difcretion of thofe in Authority.

The Obfervation of New or Full Moon Sabbaths, or Sollemn Feasts, directed by them, erroneous Conceptions and Mifapplications of the Texts in Scripture, the Paffover; and all Jewish Ceremonies abfolutely abolifbed.

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TOW it is evident that the veneral Equinox was on the Tenth Day of the Month Abib, when the Pascal Lamb was inftituted and celebrated in Egypt, which was on our Wednesday; and as the Ifraelites began their Day at Sun fet, confequently Wednes day Evening began their 11, Thursday their 12, Friday their 13, and Saturday their 14th Day, and their Departure out of Egypt on that Day, being our Sabbath; whence admit the Tenth Day of the Month Abib, to be the Place of the veneral Equinox at the Paffion of Chrift, which was then our Monday, then confequently the 11 began according to that Tradition on Monday Evening, the 12 on Tuesday Evening, the 13 on Wednesday Evening, at which Time Chrift celebrated the Paffover, and afterwards his own, called the Lord's Supper, before the Jews celebrated theirs, and then instituted it in Rememberance of himself, wherein was abolish. ed the old Jewish Paffover, Luke 22, 19, 20. This do in Remem brance of me; this is the New Testament in my Blood which is fhed for you, Jer. 31. 31, 32. Behold, the Days come, faith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the Houfe of Ifrael, and with the Houfe of Judah, not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the Day that I took them by the Hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt. And Dan. 9, 26, 27. And after Threefcore and Two Weeks fhall Meffiah be cut off, but not for bimfelf. And he ball confirm the Covenant with many for one Week. And in the Midst of the Week he shall cause the Sacrifice and the Oblation to cease, and for the Overspreading of the Abominations he fball make it defolate, even until the Confummation; whence it is evident that by our Saviour's Inftitution of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which was performed on Wednesday, the Midst of

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the Week, the Sacrifice and Oblation of the Jewish Paffover did entirely cease; and as the Pafchal Lamb was to be killed in the Evening, then began their 14 Day of the Month Abib, for the Evening and the Morning was the 14 Day; and so it was when Chrift gave up the Ghoft on Thursday Evening, which began the 14 Day of the Month Abib, whereby we were forthwith delivered from the Bondage of Sin and Death, as the Ifraelites were from the Bondage of Egypt; and as the Ifraelites Departure was compleated on our Sabbath, fo was our Redemption at Chrift's Refurrection onours, which was Three Days compleat, including the Paffion-Day from Sun-rifing, John 2. 19, 21, 22. Jefus answered, and faid unto them, deftroy this Temple, and in Three Days I will raife it up. But he spake of the Temple of his Body; when therefore he was rifen from the Dead, his Difciples remembered that he had faid this unto them, and they believed the Scripture and the Word which Jefus had faid. How then can this be, if the Paffion was Friday, which then was not two Days?

Whence it is evident, That by Chrift the Jewish Paffover was abolished, and all other ceremonial Traditions of the Law, Ifa. 10, 22, 27. For though thy People Ifrael be as the Sand of the Sea, yet a Remnant of them fhall return; the Confumption decreed fhall overflow with Righteonfnefs, and it fhall come to pass in that Day that his Burden fhall be taken away from off thy Shoulder, and his Yoke from off thy Neck, and the Yoke fhall be deftroyed becaufe of the Anointing, Matt. 11. 30. For my Yoke is eafy and my Burden is light, Gal. 5. 1. Stand faft therefore, in the Liberty wherewith Chrift bath made us free, and be not entangled again with the Yoke of Bondage. Wherefore what have we now to do with New or Full Moons to direct our folemn Feafts from their proper Times and Seafons? Chrift hath given us a New Paffover in rememberance of his moft precious Paffion, Death, and Refurrection; neither Chrift, or his Apoftles, ordained or inftituted the Obfervation of either New or Full Moons, and from whence that came I find not, but by Tradition the Ifraelites were commanded to obferve ftrictly the very Day according to the Season of the Year, and the fame for the Celebration of the Paffover, as for the Pafchal Lamb, Exod. 13. 3, 4, 10. And Mofes faid unto the People, remember this Day in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the House of Bondage. This Day came ye out in the Month Abib. Thou shalt therefore keep this Ordinance in his Season, from Year to Year; and Lev. 23. 5. On the Fourteenth Day of the First Month is the Lord's Paffover. And again, Numb. 6. 28, 16. Deut. 6. Job. 5, 10, And Ezek. 45. 21. In the First Month, in the

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14 Day of the Month ye shall have the Passover.So that wherever we find the Paffover commanded in Scripture, there is not any Notice taken of either New or Full Moons; nor do we read any Thing about them until David's Time, 1 Sam. 20. 5. And David said unto Jonathan behold to Morrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to fit with the King at Meat, but let me go that I may bide my Self in the Field, unto the Third Day at Even. But the most to the Purpofe is, 2 Chr. 31. 3. And the burnt Offerings for the Sabbath, and for the New Moons, and for the fet Feafts, as it is written in the Law of the Lord. But where we find any New Moons there, I know not, but by Tradition ;and Chap. 2. 4.This is an Ordinance for ever to Ifrael. But this feems to me to be a Mistake; and if so, which is doubtful, it is none to us, altho' its like, from this Tradition we have it, Pfal. 104. 19. He appointed the Moon for Seafons. This we can admit, for fo it is in many Refpects, if not to direct our Feftivals, for as we have it, Dan. 9. 27. He shall caufe the Sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the Overspreading of Abominations, he shall make it defolate. Ifa. 1. 10, 13, 14. Hear the Word of the Lord, ye Rulers; give Ear unto the Law of our God; bring no more vain Oblations, Incenfe is an Abomination unto me; the New Moons and Sabbaths, the Calling of Affemblies, I cannot away with, it is Iniquity; even your folemn Meetings, your New Moons, and your appointed Feafts my Soul bateth; they are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them, Verse 16, 17. Wash ye, make you clean, put away the Evil of your Doings from before mine Eyes; ceafe to do Evil, learn to do well, feek fudgment, relieve the Oppreffed, judge the Fatherlefs, plead for the Widow. Whence it is evident, that neither New or Full Moons have any Force in Designing the Commemoration, or Celebration of folemn Feafts, Sabbaths, or Sacraments, John 4. 21, 22, 23, Jefus faith, ye Worship ye know not what, but the Hour cometh, and now is when the true Worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth, for the Father feeketh fuch to worship him.

Now let us put thefe Things together, and confult Nature and Reason, that I may illuftrate thefe Things with the best Light and Demonftration I can, wherefore it is apparent that the Natural Year is determined by the Revolution of the Sun, and in particular from its Return to the Equinoctial Points, from which all other Times and Seasons of the Year alfo keep their Places. That the natural Day is measur'd by the Rotation of the Earth upon its Axis, or the Return of the Sun to the fame Meridian, or Azimuth in any Horizon, and the Lunations of the Moon or Syzygias with the Sun nearly a Month, containing in a mean 29 Days, 12 Hours,

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and 44 Minutes; wherefore, because Lunar Months, nor any other equal Months can meafure the Year truly, Months are only Phyfical, and ordained at our own Discretion, for Conveniency and the Deftinction of Times; wherefore the Year is most naturally divided into 12 Months, according to the Sun's Ingrefs into the 12 Signs of the Zodiack, and the Quarters of the Year, by the Sun's Ingrefs into the Four Cardinal Points; and this is our present Conftitution, and the most Natural and Rational.

Now the Egyptians had regard to the Sun, and made their Year to confift of 365 Days exactly, having 12 Months in the Year, every one containing 30 Days, and at the End added 5 intercular Days, and fuch Years the antient Hebrews obferved, yet fo as they interculated one whole Month of 30 Days in every 120 Years, whereby theirs was partly Solar, running back in fome Sort to Equinoxes, and partly Lunar; according to which, with Uncertainty, their Feftivals were directed fo, that its like they might begin their Year with that Lunar Month in which the vernal Equinox fell fo; that confequently the 14 Day must be nearly at the Full Moon, which erroneous Tradition is too much obferved to this Day, and carries Eafter, with other moveable Feasts, from their proper and natural Times and Seafons. Wherefore, in Fact, with our Eafter, we keep Lunar Years, which are therefore that Space of Time in which the Moon, after her Conjunction with the Sun near the vernal Equinox, meets and unites with the Sun again the nearest to the fame Point; which Year is therefore twofold, viz. at one Time common, containing 12 Synodical Lunations, which is perform'd in 354 Days, 8 Hours, and 48 Minutes; and the other Time Embolifmal, containing 13 Lunations, or Lunar Months, which is 383 Days, 21 Hours, and 32 Minutes, according to the mean Motions and Syzygias of the two Luminaries; whence it is evident that there must frequently happen two Eafters in one natural Year.

Wherefore it is now to be confidered, whether the Lunar Month fhould have the Preference, or the vernal Equinox itself; it may be admitted that the Moon doth rule with the Sun, and hath very great Influence in a Physical Manner, as is evident in the Ebbing and Flowing of the Tides, and inany other Things; but this all proceeds from the Moon's Lunations with the Sun; neither do we know that the Moon is invested with either Light or Virtue, but that the receives from the Sun and Stars, and by God's Providence conveys to us, and therefore fubordinate to the Sun:

At the vernal Equinox the World was created, and Man upon the Earth, and at the fame Time Adam difobeyed the Commandment of God, and brought upon his Pofterity Sin, Sorrow, and Death; from which, at the vernal Equinox, Christ suffered Death

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to redeem us from the Bondage of Sin and Death, and rofe again the Third Day for our Salvation and Juftification; at the vernal Equinox the Pafchal Lamb was inftituted and celebrated in Egypt, and the Ifraelites delivered from Bondage; at the vernal Equinox the Earth begins to bring forth the Grafs and the Herb, and the Fruit, Tree buds forth its Bud, and all Things, as it were, becomes New; whence it is evident that our March is the Begining and First Month in the Year as God hath inftituted and commanded.

Wherefore, as the Sun is as it were the fubordinate Caufe of the natural Life of all Vitility, and all Times and Seafons of the Year, it is evident that the Obfervation and Celebration of all folemn Festivals fhould be kept according to the Sun's Revolutions, and not the Moon's: For then the Earth returns with us nearly to the fame Place in its Orb, and directly to the fame Solstice, and is nearly in the fame Pofition with the Heavens, and all Things as it were take a different Turn, as Nature is then difpofed, and to Man accordingly at the Return of the Sun to the fame Place, it was at his Birth, and the Seafons of the Year to their accustomed Conftitution and Inftitution.

When as the Moon at all Seafons of the Year fhews us the fame Faces, and we know not any Difference of its Influence, Mat. 24. 32. Now learn a Parable of the Fig Tree when his Branch is yet tender and puteth forth Leaves, ye know that Summer is nigh, And Pfal. 19. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The Heavens declare the Glory of God, and the Firmament fheweth his Handy-Work; Day unto Day uttereth Speech, and Night unto Night fheweth Knowledge; there is no Speech, nor Language, where their Voice is not beard; their Line is gone out through all the Earth, and their Words to the End of the World. In them bath he fet a Tabernacle for the Sun, which is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber, and rejoyceth as a Strong Man to run a Race. His Going forth is from the End of Heaven, and his Circuit unto the Ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the Heat thereof. Wherefore, as our Saviour's Paffion, Death, and Refurrection, was fo ordained by God to happen nearly at the fame Distance from the vernal Equinox, Time and Season of the Year as the Pafchal Lamb was commanded and celebrated, it is evident that the one was a true Type and Figure of the other, and to be obferved and celebrated with the fame Solemnity, and at its true Seafon of the Year, according to the Gospel of Jefus Chrift. This do in remembrance of me. although God fo ordained it that it fhould be Full Moon at the Pafchal Feaft, to facilitate the Departure and Journey of the Ifrael

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