Of the Solar and Lunar Moneths.

1. THough it be certain that the circuits and variations of times, may be as well com­puted by the motions and errors of the other Planets, as by those of the Sun and Moon; yet because the most of men neither know those li­mits nor are able to observe their periods (some of them extending unto two, some of them to twelve, and some to thirty years) it is therefore according to the circulation of these two Pla­nets only, that the distinction of moneths and years is generally measured and accounted.

2. The Solar moneth (to begin with that) is the time wherein the Sun moveth from one signe unto another, as from the first degree of Aries, to the first degree of Taurus, or the like. But of these moneths we find not any Nation that ever did, or yet doth retain a true account: For neither do we in Europe (who from Julius Caesars time have been the most ex­act in this particular of all the world, much less do other Nations) begin our moneths at the ve­ry time that the Sun makes his entrance into these Signes; neither do we alot to every mo­neth that just extent wherein he continueth in a Signe, but many times exceed, and somtimes are under the proportion.

3. Next unto the Solar are the Lunar mo­neths, by which indeed the general mensuration [Page 2] of times hath been alwaies made (especially un­til Caesar's time) in all Nations of the world, (except the Persians and Egyptians, of whose moneths we shall speak hereafter) as being more obvious to vulgar apprehensions then the others are.

4. Of these Lunar moneths, we find in Galen a fourfold division or partition, of which it was the first only that was taken into the ordinary or common dimension of the year, which he therefore calls [...], and [...], the exact monthly time because how ever th'other have the name of months, yet not so properly as this, which is as it were by nature squared and fisted to that end. And this is it which our late Writers call the moneth of Con­secution or Conjunction, comprehending the time wherein the Moon overtaketh the Sun af­ter his departure from him, or the interim that is from one change unto another, which is 29 days and 12 hours, In consideration of which 12 hours, the ancient Grecians at the end of every other moneth, took in a whole day, which they called [...]. Varro dere rustica, lib. 1. cap. 37. calls it extremam & primam. Others have called it veterem & nova [...]am, because it was the end of the old Moon, and the begin­ning of the New. Solon, as Diogenes Laertius mentions in his life, was the first that caused it to be called [...], the 30 day, and from his time downwards to the odd moneths, viz to [Page 3] the 1. 3. 5. and the like, they always assigned 30 days and to the even ones that is to the 2. 4. 6. and others of that kind, they only assigned 29. from whence it also proceeded, that they called the one [...], full and entire moneths, and the other [...], or months that were maimed and defective, because they wanted a day of that was allotted to the other.

5. The second Lunar moneth (that I may al­so say somthing to the rest, though they have little to do with our account of times) is that which Galen calls [...]. The time of the Moons proper circuit, by later Astrologers it is called the moneth of Peragra­tion comprehending the time wherein the Moon passeth through the Zodiacque (not re­garding whether she have overtaken, or be in conjunction with the Sun or not) which is ab­solv'd in 27. days and 8. hours (saith Galen) or if you examine the matter more exactly, in 27 days, 7. hours, and 20. minutes: So that this moneth cometh short of the former, well near the space of a whole Sign, that is two days, 4. hours, and about 40. minutes: Yet doth not the Moon as she passeth through the Zodiacque move at all times with an equal quickness; for when she is in apogaeo, or in the higher part of his Orb▪ she moveth slowly, by reason that that part of his epicycle is carried against, or contrary to the succession of the Signs, from the East un­to the West, and then in 24. hours she moveth [Page 4] but through 11. degrees 37. minutes, and 10. seconds, and continueth in a Signe about 64. hours, but when she is in perigaeo, or the lowest part of her Orb she moveth swiftly, by reason that that part of her epicycle is carried along, or together with the succession of the Signs, from the West unto the East, and then in 24. hours she moveth through 15. degrees, 19. minutes, and 50. seconds, and continueth little more then 47. hours in a Sign. In her mean motion, that is when she participates of neither of these ex­treams, she moveth in 24. hours through 13. degr. 10 min. and 36. sec., and continueth in a Signe almost 55. hours, and by this motion (not heeding either of the extreams which ballance one another) we may calculate her progress, and determine very near, what Sign she is in every day of the year for ever, allowing her at the time of her change to be not above 15 degr. at the most, nor less then 6 degr. at the least distant from the Sun, whether she precede or follow him: For this is to be noted, that the Moon is not alwaies in the same Sign with the Sun when she is in conjunction with him, but somtimes in the Sign before him, and somtimes in the Sign behind him, but still within the distances before mentioned: And here (because we are treating of this subject) it will not be amiss to subjoyn what Plin. l. 1. c. 17. and with him Macrobius l. 1. Somnii have observed upon it. viz. that som­time during the whole time that the Sun is in [Page 5] Sagittarius, the Moon hath no conjunction at all with him; and somtimes again before he go out of Gemini, she changeth twice, or hath two conjunctions with him; which things are pecu­liar unto these Signs, and happen not when the Sun is in any of the other. Unto this proper circuit of the Moon it is, that Galen refers those particular and proper changes which happen unto every singular and individual person, as preferments, honours, and the like, together with those diseases which proceed from the particular, either natural, or self-acquired in­disposition of every mans body; and upon the successive weeks of this moneth, every one of which consisteth of 9 days 19 hours, and about 50 minutes, would he have a critical or decreto­ry judgement to be made upon them, unto life or death, either good or evil.

6. The third Lunar moneth is [...], the moneth of Illumination, or Apparition; comprehending the time wherein the Moon de­miseth his beams upon the earth, and is conspi­cuous unto men; and that saith Galen (de dieb. decret. l. 3. c. 9.) is 26 days and 12 hours; so that this moneth is 3 days shorter then the moneth of Consecution: Which though it be not alwaies true, for somtimes the Moon reco­vereth the light within 1 or 3 days, and som­times again not until 4 days after her conjun­ction be compseated: yet 3 days is the middle betwixt both the extreams, and falleth out more [Page 6] frequently to be the time of the Moons recove­ring his light, then either of the other. Now the causes say Astrologers why the Moon recover­eth her light somtimes earlier, and somtimes la­ter, after her conjunction with the Sun are these three 1. The swiftness of her motion, when she is in the lower part of her epicycle. 2. Her septentrional latitude, when her conjunction is in the head of the Dragon, as it is from the be­ginning of Capricorn, to the beginning of Can­cer. 3. Her conjunction in Signs, by reason of her greater elevation from the Horizon directly occidental; that is, when the degrees of the Circle of the Moons elevation above the Hori­zon be more then the degrees of the Zodiaque which she hath passed. Now as often (say they) as all these causes do concur, which can only be (as Pliny and Macrobius in the before-mentioned places do affirm) when the Sun is in Aries, and at no time else; then the same day may we see both the old Moon and the new; but this happens exceeding rarely. When two of these causes meet together, then she is seen the second day after her conjunction: when but one of these causes onely is existent, then she appeareth the third day after her coition; but when there is none of these causes at all in be­ing, then it is the fourth day after her conjun­ction, before she become perspicuous. This third Lunar moneth is called by Galen [...], the common circuit of the Moon; be­cause [Page 7] indeed as it hath nothing proper of its own, but is compacted, and results out of the common stock of both the other; so also it hath a common and universal efficacy upon all men, and in that respect is elsewhere termed by him, [...], the circuit wherein she putteth out her efficacy upon us: for as Galen conceiveth, those days wherein the Moon is deprived of her light, she is also depri­ved of this common efficacy; but as she reco­vereth her light, so she recovereth her virtue, which together with her light she imprints up­on the Elements, the Ayr, the Water, and the Earth, whereof because all men do partake, therefore this efficacy takes hold of all men, and doth as he saith, [...], equal­ly conduce unto us all: So that if there be a Pestilence, a Famine, Inundations, Storms, Hail, or any disease which runneth almost over all a Country, proceeding from the extraordinary immutation or putrefaction of the Ayr, or other elements, it is from this efficacy of the Moon that they arise, and by the critical weeks of this moneth (which consist of 6. days, and 15 hours) that the events and issues of them must be judged.

7. Out of a mixture of these 2 last moneths, joyning first the sum of both their circuits into one, and then retaining the half of the result, Galen raiseth a fourth moneth, which he calls [...], the middle circuit consisting of [Page 8] 26 days, and 22 hours, and this he conceiveth to be more valid in the judgement of diseases then either of the other out of which it is com­pacted, because the Moon in this hath a double influence; both that which she deriveth from the Signs, and that which she receiveth and draw­eth from the Sun. By later Writers this moneth is called mensis medicinalis, the medicinal month, and mensis Galeni, Galen's moneth, because it is a moneth of his invention: Johannes Picus Mi­randula, and Johannes Franciscus his Nephew, Agerus Ferrus, Fernelius, and many others cavil at it, and call it a fictitious imaginary moneth, a moneth that hath none of Natures stamp and impress on it: But whether they blame him justly for it, I leave it to others to determine.

Of the Solar and Lunar years.

1. THe Solar year is that space of time where­in the Sun by his own proper motion run­neth through all his Sphaere (for that other mo­tion whereby he is every day carried about the Earth from one point of the heavens to the same point again, is effected by the rapture or turning round of the Primum mobile, and is not his own) and this proper circuit of his (saith Alphonsus, to whom all the late Astrologers do agree) is absolved in 365 days, 5 hours, 49 min. and 15 seconds. Ptolomy in the beginning, l. 3. [Page 9] Almagest, makes it to be 365 days, 5 hours, 55 min. and 12 sec. Julius Caesar (as Suetonius delivers l. 2. c. 2.) accounts it to be full 6 hours more then 365 days; although Ovid in his 3. book de Fastis, speaking of the same Caesar, saith, that he added to the 365 days, 5 hours only: he calls them e pleno tempora quinta die. The Astrologers which were before Hipparchus extend the circuit of the year yet more then this account of Caesars; some besides the 6 hours add 7 min. and 9 sec Thebit adds 9 min. and 12 sec. and Galen l. 3. progn. cap. 4. sticks not to affirm, that it contains 365 days, 6 hours, and about the hundreth part of a day besides, which amounts to 14 min. and 26 sec.; so that accor­ding to this computation, Galens account of the year exceedeth that of Alphonsus, 25 m. 11 sec.

But we rather in this case chuse to desert the authority of the Ancients, how famous soever in their times they were, then to disavow the experience of all, both the present and modern Astrologers in the world.

2. The Lunar year (not to speak of those curtal computations which Macrobius mentions l. 1. Saturn. c. 8. viz. that of the Arcadians, who terminated their year at three moneths end, or that of the Acarnanians, who allowed but six [Page 10] moneths unto theirs, is generally received to be that space of time wherein the Moon after her conjunction with the Sun in any of the Signs, compleateth 12 moneths of consecution, and at the end thereof meeteth with the Sun again in the same Signe, or near unto it, in which at the beginning of the said moneths she closed with him, which annual circuit of hers she absolveth in the space of 354 days, that is 11 days sooner then the Sun absolveth his.

3. Now though the true reason of the discre­pancy of the annual circuits of the Sun and Moon be the difference of their Monethly mo­tions, the moon in every moneth of her conse­cution coming short of the Sun 22 hours, and a­bout 30 min. which in 12 months time amounts to the 11 days before specified, and some odd hours, which the Grecians also (as I shall show hereafter) made an allowance for; yet it is an ingenious observation, and worth our noting, which Severianus a Greek Author makes upon that question, as you may find it Centur. 1. c 94. of Angelus Politianus his Miscellanies. It is not to be doubted (saith he) but God having made the Sun to rule the day, and the Moon to rule the night, did also place them in the first mo­ment of their Creation, in such stations of the heavens as were most convenient for the functi­ons unto which they were designed, that is, the Sun in the East, and the Moon in the West, di­ametrically opposite unto one another. Neither [Page 11] indeed was it fitting (as he conceiveth) that the Moon at her entrance into the world should be imperfect in her light, as she is in both her quarters, and a little before and after her con­junction, but rather shining with a full and am­ple Orb; for those changes and various faces of hers, those waxings and waynings which we since have seen, were to be the distinctions of ensuing times, and were no ways congruous to her first position She was therefore at her Creation at the Full in all her luster, and when the Sun had dispatched his first diurnal race, and was now setting in the West, she had also in the interim run through her: Hemisphere, and was come about unto the East. But saith he, the Moon could not be opposite to the Sun, and at his full unless you allow her to be 15 days old, that is 11 days elder then the world, for it was upon the fourth day of the world that the Sun and the Moon were made: So that to bring the Moon into that position in which in all proba­bility she was set at her Creation, we must bor­row for her 11 days more then she could any other ways pretend unto; for the utmost that in reason could be granted to her without this borrowing, was to bear the figure of the fourth day, which was the day of her Creation; but upon the fourth day she could not have filled up the light of all her Orb, nor be in the Eastern limits of the heavens, when the Sun was in the West: to remove therefore these impediments, [Page 12] and fit her the better to discharge her office, she took up as we may say 11 days upon lone or interest, appearing to the world as 15 days old, when indeed she had not right to any more then 4. which 11 days as she had borrowed at the first, and by this means gotten the start of the Sun for such a time; so it was meet she should pay them back again, and come so much short of the Sun at the end of his annual course, as she was before him at the beginning of it: which hath been, and still is every year 11 days from the Creation to this present.

Of the Hebrew Moneths and Years.

1. THe Names and Order of the Hebrew moneths as they are gathered partly out of the Scriptures, and where they are silent, from Josephus, are

• 1. Nisan. Xanthicus. 2 Macch. 11. Esth. 3. 7.
• 2. Zif. 1 King. 6. 1.
• 3. Sivan. Esth. 8. 9.
• 4. Rothem.
• 5. Ab.
• 6. Elul.
• 7. Thisri. [...]thanim 1 King. 8. 2.
• 8. B [...]l. 1 King. 6. 38.
• 9. Gisl [...]u. Zechar. 7. 1.
• 10. Tebeth Esth. 2. 16.
• 11. Sebat. Zech. 1. 7.
• 12. Adar. Esth. 3. 7.

[Page 13] 2. From the Creation to Moses the moneth Thisri, or Ethanim was the first moneth of their year, but at their coming out of Aegypt, the beginning of their year was altered, at least-wise as to Religious businesses, and the moneth Nisan in which their deliverance was effected, appointed to be the first month, thereof. Chald. Paraphr. in cap. 8. lib. 3. Reg. Josephus Antiqu. Jud. l. 1. c. 3.

3. That these moneths of the Hebrews were not Solar, but Lunar moneths, that is, moneths of consecution, every 2 whereof consist of 59 days, appeareth Numb. 28 11. where the Feasts of the New Moons are called the begin­ning of the Moneths: But if they had used So­lar moneths, the new Moons would not have hapned alwaies at the beginning of their moneths, but somtimes in the middle, somtimes at the latter end thereof, as they do with us, who use the Solar moneths in other places.

4. It appeareth also by the observation of their Passeover, which according to the pre­script of the Law, was to be the 14 day of the first moneth at Even, Lev. 23. 5. but it is ac­knowledged on all hands, that then the Moon was alwaies at the Full; which could not be, if the New Moon had not been the beginning of the Moneth: And hence it is, that that eclipse of the Sun at the Passion of our Lord, being then the Jewish Passeover, was looked upon by the Heathen themselves as so portentous, that [Page 14] upon sight thereof one of the wisest of them cryed out, Aut Deus Naturae patitur, aut mundi machina dissolvetur: for the Moon being then at the Full in opposition to the Sun, no natural reason could be found for such an Eclipse, which had she been in conjunction with him, had been but ordinary and familiar.

5. From the observation of the Passeover we may also gather the beginning of the He­brew year, for that, as hath been proved, was the 14 day of the first moneth; but this 14 day of the first moneth (saith Nicephorus Cal [...]stus, Historiae Ecclesiasticae lib. 12. cap. 32. was al­ways so ordered by the Jews, that it was the first Full Moon after the Vernal aequinoctial, the Sun being entred into Aries, or at leastwise it was upon the aequinoctial day it self, if the full moon hapned to fall upon it; and hence it is that the Synod of Nice, that they might come as near unto the Jews as might be, decreed that all Christians should keep their Easter the first Sunday after the Full moon next ensuing after the vernal aequinoctial.

6. Yet before this can be clear▪ it will be needful also to speak somthing of the aequino­ctials, which have varied much since Moses his time, and will yet vary according to our Julian account from time to time, while the world continues, and that for the reason here­after specified.

7. We have said before that according to [Page 15] our Julian computation there are annually 10 min. and 45 sec. superaccounted (more then should be) to the year) which 10 min. and 45 sec. in the space of 134 years, amounts unto a whole day.

8. This superaddition from the Creation to this time being 5688 years (if we measure all times past by that Julian account which we now observe) hath caused the aequinoctials and sol­stices to anticipate already 42 days, and to ad­vance themselves 60 years unto another, which 74 years hence will be compleat.

9. By this Account then the vernal aequino­ctial at the Creation was April the 21. but at the Israelites coming out of Egypt being after the Creation 2514 years, it had advanced 18 days, and 102 years towards another, being then the third of April; at the Nativity of Christ being from the former deliverance 1517 years, and from the Creation 4031 years, it had advanced 11 days more, and 43 years towards the 12. which put together, makes 30 days, and 11 years advance unto another, being at that time the 22 day of March, from Christ to this present being 1657, y. it hath further advanced 12 days, and 49 years toward another, in all as aforesaid 42 days, and 60 years towards the 43. being now the 10 day of March, and so to continue 74 years more, that is, till the year 1731, at which time it will be the 9 of March.

[Page 16] 10. To make this more perspicuous, take a Table of the aequinoctials according to our Ju­lian account from the Creation to this present.

11. To know therefore when the Jews be­gan their year, any year of the world from Moses to this present, you must first seek out the day of the aequinoctial in the preceding Ta­ble, which done, by the Rules hereafter speci­fied, find out the full Moon next adjoyning to the aequinoctial; and then consider whether it fell before the aequinoctial, or after it, or just upon it; if it fell on or after the aequinoctial, then the Jews began their year with the new Moon that went next before the aequinoctial; but if the full Moon hapned before the aequino­ctial, then the Jews began not their year till the next new Moon after the aequinoctial.

12. For example, if you would know when the Jews began their year at the building of [Page 18] Solomons Temple, which was in the year of the world 2994. Look first into the preceding Ta­ble, and there you shall find the aequinoctial to be the 30 day of March, which done, enquire for the full moon next adjoyning to the 30 day of March, and that you shall find (the golden Number for the said year being 9 and the Epact for the Julian account being also 9, which two are the stars that must guide you in the finding of the changes of the Moon to be upon the 4. day of April, that is 5 days after the aequino­ctial, by which you may conclude, that the He­brews began their year upon the 20 day of March, being the new Moon went before the aequinoctial. The like course you may take for any other year, and at your pleasure, by the help of the following Calendar, reduce the Juli­an account to the Gregorian.

13. Only this you must observe, that the Jews following of this course before mentioned in the beginning of their year: and having a regard that their Passeover according to the Law might be celebrated either on or after the vernal aequinoctial, were often forced to make an intercalation of a whole moneth, betwixt the end of one year, and the beginning of an­other; and this they did not by any certain rule, but somtimes every second, and somtimes every third year, as they found themselves ne­cessitated by the falling of their Passeover; but when they made no intercalation, then the en­suing [Page 19] year began where the former ended, and anticipated yearly 11 days, according to the manner of the ordinary Lunar years.

14. This will be evident, if you observe the following Ephemeris for the Hebrew year (be­ginning at the year of the world above-menti­oned, and continuing for 11 years, that is) from the year 2994, to the year 3004. in which you may see how the following years somtimes an­ticipated one another 11 days, and how som­times again a whole moneth was interserted betwixt the conclusion of one year, and the beginning of another; and all that the Passe­over as hath been said, might be kept either on or after the vernal aequinoctial; by which pre­sident you may make any other Ephemeris for what number of years you do desire, from the Israelites coming out of Egypt to this present.

[Page 20] 15. As for the Hebrew years before Moses, it is believed that they took their beginning with the full Moon next adjoyning to the Au­tumnal aequinoctial, whether it did precede or follow it, the moneth Thisri or Ethanim being the first moneth of the year, and the other months succeeding in their order, till you come to Nisan, and end in Elul.

16. Now to find the Autumnal aequinoctial, you have no more to do, but to seek out the vernal aequinoctial in the former table, and ha­ving found it, to add thereunto 186 days, which is the time the Sun spends betwixt the one aequi­noctial and the other; and that will bring you to the Autumnal: So that if at the Creation the vernal aequinoctial were upon the 21 day of April, the Autumnal must be upon the 24 of October.

17. The intercalations must be as they were in the Mosaical years, viz of a whole moneth every second or third year, according as you are necessitated to begin you year with the full Moon either preceding or following the aequi­noctial: Take a view thereof in the first te [...] first yeare after the Creation, allowing according to Julius Scaligers computation (of which more hereafter) the golden number for the first year to be 17, and the Epact to be 7. and s [...] every year after in proportion, and then you will have the anticipations and intercalations o [...] the said years, as followeth.

Of the Aegyptian Moneths and Years.

1. NExt unto the Hebrews, we may justly place the Egyptians, amongst whom saith Macrobius lib. 1. Saturn. cap. 8. there hath alwaies been a certain measure and equa­bility of the Year.

2. The names of their moneths are.

• 1. Thoth.
• 2. Phaothy.
• 3. Athyr.
• 4. Choiac.
• 5. Tybi.
• 6. Mecheir.
• 7. Phalmenoth.
• 8. Pharmouti.
• 9. Pacon.
• 10. Paini.
• 11. [...]p [...]phi.
• 12. Mesori.

[Page 22] 3. To every one of these moneths they as­signed thirty days, so that they were neither ab­solutely Lunar nor Solar moneths, but of a mixed nature, betwixt both; And to the end of Mesori, or their last moneth, they superad­ded five days more, making their whole year 365 days.

4. The odd hours or quadrant of a day wherein the year exceedeth 365 days, they made no reckoning of, until the time of Dio­clesian the Emperour, and then they were com­pelled to take in a Bissextile, and to conform their Calendar to the Romans.

5. From the deficiency of this Bissextile eve­ry fourth year, their first moneth Thoth did anticipate a day; so that their year which in Pliny's time began the 18 of July, in the time of Lactantius Firmianus (de fals. Relig. lib. 1. cap. 6.) took its beginning in September.

6. Lalamantius (in his commentary upon Galen de diebus decretoriis) contends that Anno 1540. 41, 42, and 43. their moneth Thoth be­gan the third day of August, according to which computation the last year 1656, this present year 1657, and the two following years, viz. 58 and 59; must begin the 5. day of July.

7. And thus if we should allow this Egyptian account to have continued from the Creation to this present, their moneth Thoth in this in­terval of time would have shifted well neer four times through the Calendar, falling out som­times [Page 23] in the Spring, somtimes in the Summer, somtimes in Autumn, and somtimes in Win­ter; varying in every 120 years, a moneth, or thereabouts.

Of the Babylonian and Persian moneths and years.

1. THe Babylonians and Persians in all things agreed with the Egyptians, both in the quantity of their year, the beginning of it, and the partition of their moneths. Diador. Sicul. lib. 2. cap. 1. Strab. lib. Geograph. 17.

2. The names of the Persian moneths are,

• 1. Formidech.
• 2. Ardaimech.
• 3. Cardaimech.
• 4. Zirmech.
• 5. Mardan.
• 6. Sarenbemech.
• 7. Machiramech
• 8. Ebemnich.
• 9. Ydramech.
• 10. Dim [...]ch.
• 11. Bechmem [...]ch.
• 12. Azsirda [...]ith.

Of the Grecian or Attick Moneths and Years.

1. THe Attick moneths (like the Hebrews) were moneths of consecution, every two whereof contained 59 days, that is the odd mo­neths 30 days, and the even but 29.

2. The names of their moneths were

• 1. Ἑκατομβαίων
• 2. Μεταγειτνίων
• 3. Βοηδρομίων
• 4. Μαιμακτηριων
• 5. Πυανεψίων
• 6. Ἀνθεστηρίων
• 7. Ποσειδέων
• 8. Γαμηλίων
• 9. Ἐλαφηβολίων
• 10. Μουνηχίων
• 11. Θαργηλίων
• 12. Σκιρῥοφορίων

3. These moneths they divided into 3 decads, the first whereof was [...], of the moneth beginning: the second decad was [...], of the middle of the moneth: and the last was [...], of the moneth ex­piring: The two former of these Decads they numbred in a regular forward order calling the first day of the moneth [...], the first day of the moneth beginning: the second [...]- [Page 25] [...], the second day of the moneth beginning, and so unto the tenth. In like man­ner they called the 11 day [...], the first after the tenth of the middle of the moneth: the 12 [...], the second of the tenth of the middle of the moneth, and so unto the 20, which was called [...], or [...]: But in the last Decad they used a retrograde or backward order, calling the 21 of the odd moneths [...], the tenth day before the ending of the moneth: the 22 [...], the ninth day before the ending; and so unto the last, which (saith Suidas) was promiscuously called [...], or [...], because it was the end of one moneth, and the beginning of another, standing as it were in the middle betwixt them both, and borrowing half a day from either. But in the even moneths the 21 day was not called [...], but [...], the ninth of the moneth expiring: for unto these moneths there was no tenth at all assigned, but was as it were cut off, and lopped from them; and this was the reason why they were called [...], that is, moneths that had but nine days in this last part or section, whereas the other (called [...]) had 10 allotted to them. Neither was the 29 day of these moneths called [...] (for they had already as hath been said, passed over their odd 12 hours unto the former moneths, and had no common tie with those that followed) [Page 26] but simply [...], or [...], the last day of the moneth, or first before the end thereof.

4. And as the moneths of the Atticks were Lunar moneths, so were their years also Lunar years, consisting only of 354 days, that is be­ing 11 days and some odd hours shorter then the Solar; to make up which deficiency at the first (as Plutarch mentions in the life of Numa) they took in every second year a moneth of 22 days, and afterwards (as Herodotus and Libani­us, in his argument upon Demosthenes his Ora­tion against Andro [...]ion, do affirm) they made an intercalation every third year of 33 days, but finding still that they came not up unto the So­lar year, because the odd quadrant of a day was every year omitted; the year before the first Olympiad, they moulded up their years into an octennial chain or circuit, at the end where­of they inserted three moneths (which they cal­led [...], containing 30. days apiece, or 90 days in all, that is 88 days for the [...], or several elevens, and 2 days for the Bissextiles, or quadrants of a day, which in that interim of time they had lost from the So­lar reckoning. Mac. l. 1. Saturn cap. 15.

5. The beginning of this octennial circuit or chain of years, they alwaies made at the first new Moon after the Summer Solstice, beginning their day at Noon (which was also common to the Babylonians, Persians, and Egyptians) as [Page 27] the Romans did theirs at midnight, and the He­brews theirs according to the Law at Even. But after the first year, all the other years of the octennium anticipated one another 11 days, un­til the end of the 8▪ or Embolim year, when the intercalar moneths came in, and then they re­turned to the same point where they began be­fore.

6. Hence we collect (numbring the year from the first Olympiad to this present, according to the Chronology hereafter following) that from the first institution of this octennial chain, to this instant year 1657. there have intervened 304 embolims or intercalar years, and that this present year is the first of a new circuit or revo­lution, and consequently that their moneth Hecatombaeon beginneth this year June 30 being the first New Moon after the Summer solstice.

Of the Arabian moneths and Years.

1. THe Arabians in the ordination of their year, followed partly the Attick, and part­ly the Egyptian customs.

2. With the Egyptians they agreed in this, that they made no allowance for the quadrant, or excurrent particulars of a day (as Strabo calls them) wherein the year exceeds 365 days: and hence it is that the beginning of their year is fleeting and uncertain, and every fourth year (as the Egyptians did) anticipates a day, being [Page 28] somtimes in Winter, somtimes in Summer, som­times in the Spring, and somtimes in Autumn, running from one solstice, and one aequinoctial to another.

3. With the Atticks they agreed in this, that their year consisted of 12 Lunations or months of consecution, every one of which began with the [...] or conjunction of the Luminaries, and that at every three years end (though the Athenians upon better grounds reformed that practise) they made an intercalation of 33 days, for the so many elevens wherein annually the Lunar year is exceeded by the Solar.

4. The Names of the Arabian moneths are

• 1. Almuharaz.
• 2. Saphar.
• 3. Rabe. 1
• 4. Rabe 2
• 5. Gemedy 1
• 6. Gemedy 2
• 7 Rage.
• 8. Sahaben.
• 9 Ramaden
• 10 S [...]nel
• 11 Dulc [...]ida
• 12 Dulcheya.

5. If you would make an Ephemeris for this account, set but the first day of Almularaz in the same place with the Egyptian Thoth▪ and at the end of every three yeers, you shall find both the Calendars exactly agreeing with one an other.

Of the Latine Moneths and Years,

1. BEfore Romulus, what moneths and years were received amongst the Latines, is somthing doubtful; yet Ovid in l. 3. de Fastis, makes it more then probable that they were Lunar moneths they used.

2. By Romulus the year was altered, and 10 moneths only taken into the account thereof, unto 4 of which he assigned 31 days, and to the rest but 30, making it in the whole to consist of 304 days. Macrob. lib. 1. Saturn. cap. 13. & 14.

3. The names and order of his moneths you have in these four verses of Ovid.

Which are the same which we yet retain, save only that in honour of the Caesars, July and August were afterwards inserted, instead of Quintilis and Sextilis.

4. Numa Pompilius added January and Fe­bruary, and brought his year to the course of the Moon, which yet because he found that it came short of the Solstitial year, by interpo­sing intercalar moneths, be so ordered it, that every 24 year he made it equal with the Solar, Liv. lib. 1 primae decadis. ab Ʋrb condit.

[Page 30] 5. Macrobius in the before mentioned place lib. 1. Saturn. cap. 15. affirms, that Numa Pom­pilius in his intercalations conformed himself unto the manner of the Graecians, which if he did, it seemeth strange why it was every 24th year only, (as Livy saith) that his year agreed with the Solar, whereas the Graecian years agreed with the Solar every 8th year, immedi­ately upon the interposition of their Embolim or intercalar moneths. Lalamanti [...]s in answer hereunto affirms, that Numa Pompilius being led by a Pythagorical superstition, rather then any Astrological reason, in honour of the odd numbers, added every year a day unto January, by means whereof, notwithstanding his interca­lation of 90 days, at the end of his first and second octennium (after the Graecian manner) he found still that his years exceeded the Graeci­an years so many days as there were years elap­sed, to salve which incongruity, at the end of his third octennium or 24th year, he took away 24 dayes out of the 3 embolim or intercalar moneths, which were then to follow in lieu of so many days wherein in that interim his Janua­ry had made his years exceed the Graecian years, and inserted only 66 days, that is 22 in every intercalar moneth; and by this means, at the end of the said 24 years, a perfect agreement was made up betwixt his years and the Graecian, and betwixt both of them (as Livy will have it) with the Solar.

Of the Julian and Gregorian Years.

1. JƲlius Caesar finding the intercalations of Numa Pompilius to be full of trouble, and accompanied withal with much confusion (the aestival months within the circuit of 8 years becoming vernal, and the vernal hiemal) re­duced the year unto the Solar course, dividing the moneths as we now have them, and assign­ing to the year 365 days, and 6 hours, and ac­cordingly for the odd six hours, he appointed every 4th year a day more to be inserted into February; which day, hecause it was immedi­ately placed after the 6th of their Calends, which is our 24th day, and they (that they might not vary their usual forms) for 2 days to­gether wrote sexto calendarum Martii, The Leap year therefore, or the year wherein that Writing was so repeated, was called Annus Bissextilis.

2. But Augustus Caesar who succeeded Juli­us (as Macrobius witnesseth, lib. 1. Saturn cap. 17.) finding the intercalations of Julius to be greater then they ought (as indeed they were) commanded that the Bissextile should be taken in every 5th year only, and not every 4th, as Julius had appointed; but succeeding times perceiving the account of Julius (though not so exact as might be wished) yet to be neerer un­to Truth then that of Augustus was, laid aside [Page 32] his computation, as the more erroneous, and kept themselves firmly to the former.

3. And in this manner things continued, espe­cially in Europe, and those other parts of the world that professed Christ for 1600 years to­gether, though with some confusion in the computations of the Church, for by reason of those few minutes wherein the Julian account exceedeth the true circuit of the Sun, the Festi­vals of the Church had anticipated already a­bout 12 days, and were still certain to anticipate more and more, from time to time, if no remedy were provided to the contrary.

4. For proof of this, there is a place alledged out of St Augustine, wherein he affirms, that Christmass day, or the 25 of December, at such time as Christ was born, was the shortest day of the year, and John the Baptists day, or the 24 of June, was at that time the longest day in the year (as they were both indeed within the two Solstitia's, no manifest increase or diminution of the days being as yet to be discerned in either of the seasons) and this was not without a my­stery, saith the Father, for Christ was to increase, but John was to decrease, John 3. 20. which was intimated (saith he) in the very times of their Nativity, the one being born when the days were at the shortest, but began to receive an augmentation; the other when the days were at the longest, but began to suffer a diminution. But with us that adhere unto the Julian account, [Page 33] neither of these Festivals answer unto this Posi­tion, the Sun being entred into Capricorn 14 days before our Christmass day, and the like time into Cancer, before the Feast of John the Baptist

5. At last about 90 years ago, the Councel of Trent took into their consideration this dif­ference of time, which was hapned in the keep­ing of our Christian Festivals, by reason of the few minutes before mentioned, and that they might come a little nearer to the primitive ob­servation of these Feasts, they brought the year ten days backward, causing that to be called the 25 day of the month, which before was but the 15th, which was not so much indeed as they ought to have done (for the Solstices had anti­cipated 12 days already, as hath been said, from the time of Julius) but it sufficed them as they thought, to bring things into that condition which they were in at the Councel of Nice, which was much about the State whereunto they now reduced them, for they had the Acts and Decrees of that Councel in so much vene­ration, that they believed they could not with­out great impiety make any addition or alterati­on in them. And from Gregory the 13. who then sate in the Papal chair when the year was thus brought back, this computation hath since been called the Gregorian computation, and it is received at this day in all Countries that profess a subjection to the See of Rome, but we in [Page 34] England, who a little before had cast off our o­bedience to that See, made no alteration in our Calendar, but still followed the Julian account, though so erroneous as was said before, that if the world should last so long, our Christmass day that should be in the Solstice, would in time fall into the aequinoctial; nay Christ and John would shift their Tropicks, and when the Sun comes into Cancer, we should keep the Feast of Christs Nativity; and when he enters into Ca­pricorn, we should keep the Nativity of the Ba­ptist.

6. This Gregorian account (which is ten days before our English, their 11th day being the first of ours, and our last day of every moneth the 10th of theirs) will continue in the same state that now it is, without any alteration, till the year 1700. at which time being Leap year, letting fall only the intercalar day, which should have been inserted into February, in recom­pence of the 10 min. and 45 see. which for 134 years. together, since the reduction of their year have been advanced, their year will afterwards run on again as it did before, till the year 1834, and then, or at least the next Leap year after that, they must again cast away another day out of the considerations aforesaid, and the like 134 years for ever.

7. The names of the days of the Roman mo­neths as they were in Julius his time, and not­withstanding the Gregorian alteration, are still [Page 35] familiarly used in all Latine writings, both in the one computation and the other: take in these verses following.

Things necessary to be observ'd for the clear­ing of the former Adjustment.

1. THe last year of the former Kings, are of­tentimes the first of the succeeding, and many times again the years of the precedent Kings are compleat, before those of their Suc­cessors do begin; in which difference of ac­count, we either follow the express words of the Text, or necessary consequence deducted from it.

2. Whereas the Scriptures place the first year of Asa in the 20th year of Jeroboam, and we have set it in his 21. yet we depart not from the truth herein, nor offer any blemish to the Text; for nothing is so certain as that it was concurrent with them both; but we are forced to parallel it with the latter, because o­therwise we could not make the Reigne of Na­dab so perspicuous,

3. The like course we are compelled to take with the first year of Jehosaphat, placing it in the 5th year of Ahab, whereas the Scripture adjoyns it to his fourth, because otherwise it would have appeared to the Reader, that Jeho­ram King of Israel (betwixt whom and Ahab there interceded Ahazia) had begun his reigne before the death of Ahab, which is not likely.

4. But as concerning the time which the Text assigns to Ahazia King of Israel, we can­not [Page 39] make things clear any other way, but only by affirming that he spent his two years for the most part joyntly, with his Father; and though the sum of affairs had been perhaps for some time committed to his hands, yet he reigned not many weeks, or at least not many moneths af­ter him alone: for the latter part of Jehosaphats 18th year being concurrent with Ahabs 22th (which it is clear enough it was, his first year being concurrent with Ahabs 4th and 5th) and Jehoram succeeding before Jehosaphats 18 was expired, it is sufficiently apparent that Ahazia could not reigne many moneths after Ahab was deceased.

5. It is to be noted of Jehoram King of Ju­dah, that he was made King twice in the life time of his Father, first in the 17th year of his Fathers reigne, for Jehoram the son of Ahab is said to have succeeded his brother Ahazia in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehosa­phat, 2 King. 1. 17. but his entring into his king­dom was in the 18th year of Jehosaphat, 2 King. 3. 1. 2. He seems after this to have been a pri­vate man again for divers years, and at length to have been admitted a new into the Kingdom about the 22 of his Father, and then to have begun those 8 years which the Scripture assigns unto his reigne, four whereof he reigned only by himself, and the other joyntly with his Fa­ther, 2 Kings 8. 16.

The account from Nabonasser to Christ Proved.

2. The distances above mentioned are made appear by Mathematical calculations and Eclip­ses, then which no account in the world can be more certain, viz.

5. Now that Daniels weeks cannot com­mence neither with the Decree of Cyrus, nor yet with the Decree of Darius, which was 46 years after, sufficiently appears from hence, that the birth of Christ is by S. Luke expresly affirm­ed to have been in the reigne of Augustus Cae­sar, Luke 2. 1. but this could not have been so, if Daniels weeks had taken their beginning at either of the Decrees before mentioned: for from Narbonassen unto Cyrus his Decree, are but 211 years, to which if you add Daniels 457 years, it will want 50 years of the time that by undeniable demonstrations Ptolomy proves to have interceded betwixt Nabonasser and Augustus. Again, from Nabonasser to the sixth year of Darius, are but 257 years, to [Page 42] which when you have added Daniels weeks, you will yet be 4 years short of the beginning of Augustus: But if you begin Daniels weeks at the Decree of Artaxerxes, Ezra 7. 7. & 13. which was 87. years after the Decree of Cyrus, it will not only bring you to Augustus his reign but to that numerical year of his reigne, that Christ shall be 30 years old at the 15th of Ti­berius Caesar, which is agreeable to the Scri­ptures.

That Salmanasser and Nabonasser are the same, and that Nabonasser took Sa­maria in the eighth year of his Reign.

IN all this Chronologie above-mentioned, there is not a particular left unproved, but only this, that Salmanasser and Nabonasser are the same, and that Nabonasser took Samaria in the 8th year of his Reigne, which may be evin­ced by these arguments.

1. From the 1st of Nab [...]nasser to the 1st of Nabopolass [...]r, according to Ptolomy, are 122 years, and the same difference the Scriptures make betwixt Salmanasser and Nebuchadnez­zar, for it is clear in Scripture, that the diffe­rence between the destruction of Samaria, and the destruction of Jerusalem, was 133 years, but the former was taken in the 8th year of Salmanasser, and the other in the 18th or 19th [Page 43] of Nebuchadnezzar, which comes to the same account. Concerning the beginning of Nebu­chadnezzars reigne, and consequently the time that he took Jerusalem, the Scripture is plain enough, Jor. 25. 1. & 32. 1. although he may seem to have reigned one year before that to­gether with his Father, Dan. 1. 1. And con­cerning Salmanasser we have light enough to believe, that he began his reigne in the second year of Hoshea, and about the 13th or 14th year of Ahaz, and consequently, that the destruction of Samaria, which was in the 9th and last year of Hoshea, was in the 8th of his: for besides that plain connexion which is in the Text, 2 Kings 17. 1. & 3. Hoshea began to reigne in the 12th year of Ahaz, &c. and a­gainst him came up Salmanasser, that is, Sal­manasser came up against him in Ahaz his time, and not long after Hoshea's admittance to his Kingdom (for so much the connexion doth im­port) besides this connexion, I say, it is consi­derable, that Hoshea had been subdued by Sal­manasser, had made his peace again, and brought him presents year by year; was again revolted, and fallen off; had entred into conspiracy with So King of Egypt; and that Samaria there­upon had been besieged, and all this before the 4th year of Hezekia, which was the 7th of Hoshea was expired; which could not have been if Salmanasser had not begun his reign present­ly after Hoshea in the 13th or 14th year of A­haz. [Page 44] To which we may add what Raleigh ob­serves out of 2 Chron 28. 16. that it is proba­ble that those Kings of Assyria to whom Ahaz sent in his necessity, were Tiglath Peleser, and Salmanasser his Son; for whereas the Geneva Notes would have it to be Tiglath and the Kings that were his Vassals; it is neither likely that Ahaz would address himself to those who themselves were Vassals to another: Neither do we find that Tiglath at that time had made any such conquests as to give him a Lordship o­ver other Kings. More verisimilous it is, that as Ahaz had formerly in his need applyed him­self to Tigl [...]th the Father, 2 Kings 16. 7. so Tiglath being now deceased, he put himself under the protection of Salmanasser his Son, and so the Text may seem to speak of a succes­sive sending of Ahaz unto several Kings of Assyria, and not of his sending at the same time to one King of Assyria, who was the So­veraign and supreme, and unto others who un­der him were but subservient: Unless you will imagine that Tiglath at this time, being yet a­live, had invested Salmanasser his Son with all his power (as Ahaz not long after this did He­zekia, and Nabulasser in after times did Nabo­pol [...]sser) and so Ahaz. that he might cast a dis­respect on neither, sent unto them both. But if this were so, it is all one with that which we affirm, for still Salmanasser was King, and the date of his reigne (as Hezekia's did) ran on, [Page 45] from the time of his association in the Em­pire.

2. The three first Eclipses calculated by Pto­lomy in the first and second year of Mardocem­padus, or Merodach Baladan (which I lately mentioned) were in the 27th and 28th of Na­bonasser, Ptol. lib. 4. cap. 8. But allowing the first and second year of Merodach to be con­curring with the 25th and 26th of Hezekia (as I shall show they were) the account will fall right with the time that the Scriptures assign to Salmanasser. Now concerning Merodach Baladan, though it be true that he was King of Babylon in the 15th year of Hezekia, and up­on the miracle, at his recovery sent Ambassa­dours to congratulate with him, Isa. 39. 1. yet in regard he was then possessed of a little porti­on of the Assyrian Monarchy, the years of his Empire are not reckoned till after the death of Asar-haddon, when he was invested with it all, which was in the 25th year of Hezechia: For a further confirmation whereof. it is not amiss to take notice, that the 20th of Merodach, is paralleld by Chronologers with the last year of Sethon; the 32 of Merodach, with the 10th of the 12 Princes; and the 5th of Nabulass [...]r the son of Ben-Merodach, with the 23th of Psammiticus. But certain it is, that all these Princes in Egypt were contemporary with Ma­nasses the son of Hezekias, and that the last year of Sethon, was Ma [...]asses his 15th year; [Page 46] the 10th of the 12 Princes, his 27th, and the 23th of Psammiticus, the 40th of his reigne. Which being granted, the first year of Mero­dach's Empire (which Ptolomy referreth to in his Ecliples) falls right with the 25th of Heze­kia, and consequently the first of Nabonasser (whose 27th as hath been said, answers to the first of Merodach's) falls right with the 2d year of Hoshea King of Israel.

Only before I leave this argument, because it will conduce to the understanding of what hath been before premised, I think it not amiss to subjoyn somthing of the Kings of Egypt. From Cham to Chencres who was drowned in the Red Sea, and from him to Thuoris, we have a long Catalogue of Kings, and of the Dyna­styes in which they reigned, but the Authors are so dubious from whom we have them that we have but little certainty whereon to build: After that we read of Solomons father in Law (Vaphre's Eusebius call him) and of Sisac in the time of Rehoboam; but how long either of them reigned, or who succeeded them, we are yet to seek. In Salmanasser or Nabonassers time indeed we find a bottom; there we meet with Sabacus (so the Scripture calls him) King of Egypt, next unto him was Sechon, the last year of whose reigne was concurrent with the 15th of Manasses, after Sechon there was a Vacancy, or Inter regnum 2 years, then the 12 Princes held the Kingdom 15 years, which [Page 47] expired, it was invested in Psammiticus: Con­cernign which Psammiticus also Chronologers do not well agree. Herodotus accounts his reigne to be 54 years: Eusebius gives him but 44. Mercator to reconcile these; gives 44 to his single reigne, and 10 years to his Ruling joyntly with the 12 Princes, in the 5th year of whose Aristocracy he was taken in. Now it is according to this last computation, that you must understand what was said before of Ma­nasses his 40th year, being concurrent with Psammiticus his 23d, that is, it was the 23th year from the time that Psammiticus had to do with the Government of Egypt, 10 years of which 23, he spent in a joynt rule with the other Princes, and 13 only he had ruled solely by himself.

And thus much might suffice for the proving of the age of the world before the Birth of Christ, as far as we could, from Scripture, and where that speaks not, from the undeniable ac­count of other Authors. But because amongst the Ancients there were other Aeras in request besides that of Nabonasser, the knowledge whereof will give a great light to the under­standing of their Writings, I will speak a little of them, and so proceed.

Olympiads.

1. AN Olympiad containeth the Revoluti­on of 4 years, the aera thereof was begun by Iphitus, at the Summer Solstice, the 51 year of Ʋzzias, after the destruction of Troy 407 years, and before the aera of Nabo­nasser 29 years.

2. That the first Olympiad began the 51th of Ʋzzias, appeareth thus; Cyrus as King began his Reign in the first year of the 54th Olympiad, 30 years before he was Monarch, Tull, de Divin lib. 1. Justin. lib. 1. which al­lowing 70 years for the captivity, and the reigns of the intervening Kings of Judah, brings us back to the 51th of Ʋzzias.

3. That the first Olympiad was 407 years after the destruction of Troy, is gathered thus by Eratosthenes.

4. That the first Olympiad was 29 years be­fore the first of Nab [...]nasser, appeareth thus; The distance betwixt the first Olympiad and [Page 49] the death of Alexander, is reckoned by Era­t [...]sthenes to be 453 years, which he gathereth thus,

But the death of Alexander (as hath been said) is by Ptolomy placed in the 424th year of Nabonasser, which proves the difference betwixt the two accounts to be 29 years.

5. The same difference betwixt the first Olympiad, and the first of Nabonasser, may be also proved by the Eclipse of Xerxes, which by Ptolomy is placed (as before) in the 267th year of Nabonasser; but by all Greek Writers is rec­koned to be the last year of the 74th Olympi­ad, which comes to the same account.

The Aera of Rome ab Urbe condita.

1. Cicero, Eutropius, Orosius, place it in the third year of the 6th Olympiad.

2. Halicarnassaeus, Solinus, Antiochenus, Cle­mens [Page 50] Alexandrinus, and Eusebius, place it in the first year of the 7th Olympiad.

3. With the latter agrees Bucholzer, placing it in the 8th year of Ahaz, though Codoman would have it in the 11th.

4. According to Bucholzers account, to whom Raleigh with the best Chronologers do adhere, the aera of Rome is after the first Olym­piad 24 years, and 5 years before the first of Nabonasser.

The Building of Carthage.

1. Carthage was built by Dido in the 7th year of Pigmalion King of Tyre, which from the 12th of Hiram (at which time Solomons Temple was built) was 144 years current, Joseph. cont. App. lib. 1.

2 The 144th year of Solomon's Temple be­ing the 11th year of Joas, was but 143 years before the birth of Rome, and was after the de­struction of Troy 289 years, and therefore long after the death of Aeneas, which proves Vir­gils story to be a Fable.

Seleucus his Aera.

1. Seleucus his aera took its beginning the 438th year current after Nabonasser, which is proved thus,

[Page 51] 2. The 519th year of Nabonasser was the 82 of Seleucus, Ptol. alm. l. 11. c. 7. & 8. Gauric. in loc. citat.

3. Bunting in his observations finds the Sa­turn recorded by Ptolomy to agree (as it ought) with this account, being placed in the Sign of Virgo, as the Chaldaeans had observed it in the same year, which was from Nabonasser 519. From Seleucus 82, and the last year of the 137 Olympiad.

The Cycles.

1. THere be two Cardinal Cycles or Revo­lutions of years, upon the knowledge whereof all the operations both in the Julian and Gregorian Calender do depend.

2. The first is the Cycle of the Sun, or the revolution of 28 years, in which time the Do­minical or Sunday letters are carried round, so that all the Positions of the Sun, and all the fixed solemnities of the Church, are upon the same days of the week that they were on 28 years before.

3. The other is the Cycle of the Moon, or the space of 19 years, in which the Moon re­turns to the self same day of the Sun that she was in 19 years before: It is called also the Golden Number, because it was wont to be written in the Calendar in letters of Gold, right at that day whereon the Moon changed.

[Page 52] 4. The number of these two Cycles is every year the same, both in the Julian and Gregori­an computations, and is changed upon the first day of January.

5. To find it, your best way is, (though there be also other ways) to have recourse unto the Julian aera.

6. The Julian aera is so called, not because it is fitted rather to the Julian computation then to the Gregorian for it is equally subservient to them both, but from Julius Scaliger, to whom we owe the invention of it; and it is of more use then any other aera whatsoever, as being more ready, and with less trouble apply­able to all the operations of the Calendar which you have need of, then any other.

7. The total of the Julian aera is 7980, which results from the multiplication of the numbers of the two Cycles, and 15. which are the years of an Indiction by one another.

8. The present Number for the Julian aera (any year that you desire) is gathered by ad­ding 682 unto the age of the world, for so much the Julian aera is supposed to precede the Creation; according to which account the Ju­lian aera for this year current is 6370.

9. When you have found the number of the Julian aera for the year that you desire, divide it by any of the Cycles before named, that is, by 28, 19, or 15. and the Fraction that remains is the number of the Cycle that you divide it [Page 53] by for that year present; but if there be no Fraction, then the Di­visor it self is the number that you look for.

10. The Annual series of the Dominical Letters, both in the Ju­lian and Gregorian computation have dependance upon the Cycle of the Sun, but yet differ from one another, as in the following Table.

Easter, with the moveable Feasts.

1. HAving found the Dominical Letter and Golden Number for any year that you desire (which account so ever it be for, whether Julian or Gregorian) apply your self to the sub­sequent Tables, which for their usefulness you may call Claves anni, and under the Dominical letter, right against your Golden Number, you shall see it specified what day of what moneth Easter will be on that year.

2: When you have found Easter, by reckon­ing backwards seven Sundays, you shall have quinquagesimo▪ and from thence reckoning still backward, you may number the Sundays until Christmass, which maketh the intervallum mi­nus. Again, from Easter reckon five Sundays forward, and you have Rogation Sunday; the next Thursday following is Ascension day, the second Sunday after that is Whitsunday, and the next Sunday Trinity Sunday, from whence rec­kon the Sundays until Advent, and you have intervallum majus.

3. Advent Sunday is known by the Dominical letters, and falleth either in November or December, as in the Scheme following.

New Moons in February.

1. BEcause many in the compu­tation of their Easter, have an eye only to the change of the Moon in February, and care not for making use of any other rules; for their satisfaction I have adjoyned this following Table, by which, ob­serving only the Golden Number, they may know when the Moon changeth in February for ever, in both accounts, both Julian and Gregorian.

2. Yet it is to be noted in this Table, that we reckon the day ac­cording to the custom of Astrono­mers, to begin at Noon, and there­fore we conclude, that when the Golden Number is 8. then there is nothing of the Moon in the Julian February, which accounting the days otherwise, doth not hold: for whensoever the Golden Number is 8. and the Dominical Letter B as it was in the year 1603. and will be again in the year 1698. then the Moon changeth the first of Februa­ry in the forenoon, which changes notwithstanding we repute to be in

[Page 58] January; and therefore quinquagesima or Shrove-sunday in both those years, and all others of the same kind falls not until the 6th day of March following which is five weeks after. The like may be observed in the Grego­rian February, when the Golden Number is 9. for then beginning the day astronomically, there is no change, which beginning it other­wise would somtimes happen.

The Epact.

1. AS the annual circuit of the Moon every year cometh short of the Sun 11 days (as hath been said before) so by adding these elevens yearly unto one another, and casting away 30 which is the limits of a moneth, as often as the Sun exceeds that period, we make an estimate of the proportion that the Moon keepeth in her course for ever.

2. These elevens that are yearly added unto one another, or unto the remaining surplusage after the rejection of the aforesaid thirthys, are called the Epact; and this addition or change of the Epact is made every year upon the first day of March.

3. Every 19 years, which is the Cycle of the Moon, the Moon in that interim, (as hath been said) returning to the same point of the Sun, the Epact also is the same that it was before, and hath alwaies a necessary dependance upon the Golden Number.

[Page 59] 4. When the Cycle of the Moon or Golden Number is 1, the Epact in the Gregorian year is also 1, but in the Julian year it is 11.

5. All other Epacts, whether Julian or Gre­gorian, are formed by the additions and sub­stractions before mentioned; that is, by adding 11. and substracting 30. as often as occasion doth require.

6. In the following Table you may see all the Epacts both Julian and Gregorian, with their dependancies upon the Golden Number every year, from the beginning of the Cycle, to the end thereof.

7. To know the age of the Moon by the E­pact, or the proportion that she keepeth in her course every moneth, you must do as follow­eth.

1. Take the number of the moneths to that time that you desire, reckoning March to be the first, April the second, and so in order, till you come to February, which is the 13th.

2. Take also the number of the days of the mo­neth, how many of it are past to that instant day that you enquire for.

3. Unto both these numbers add the number of the Epact (which account soever you desire it for) for that year present; and if the to­tal [Page 60]

sum be under thirty, it shews you the age of the Moon for that present time, but if it exceed thirty, the o­verplus only is her age.

4. But in such moneths as have under one and thirty days, you must cast away only nine and twenty from the Sum, and account the residue for the age of the Moon.

Between the two Quarters, the Moon Southeth in the night; before and after them she Southeth in the day.

The hour of the Night.

1. OBserve her shaddow on a Sun-dyal, and if it be past the 12th hour line, add there [Page 61] unto the Moons southing, and the aggregate is the hour of the night; but what hours and minutes the shadow wants of the said 12th hour-line, substract it from the Moons south­ing. and the remainder is the hour of the night.

2. Yet you must remember that so many half hours as the shadow is past the hour of 12. you must substract so many minutes; but for so many half hours as the shadow wants of the hour of 12. you must add so many mi­nutes.

The time of the Tides.

1. AT Quinborough, South-hampton, Portsmouth, and Wellins, it is full Sea the same hour and minute that the Moon cometh to the South.

2. In all other Havens or Ports where the hours and quarters stand before the same, there it is high water so many hours and quarters be­fore the Moons coming to the South; but where the hours and quarters stand after the same, there it is high water so long after the Moons southing, as in the following Table.

Of the Eclipses which will happen this present Year 1657.

1. THere will be this year two Eclipses of the Sun, the former upon the tenth day of June, the other upon the 25th of November, but neither of them conspicuous to us at Lon­don, and therefore not material to our present Treatise.

2. Of the Moon there will be also two E­clipses, the first of which will happen upon the 15th day of June, the beginning thereof will not be seen at London, the Sun being then a­bove, and the Moon below the Horizon, but the middle and the end will be conspicuous; it begins about 40 minutes after 6 of the Clock at night, and ends about 11 minutes after 10. The time of the greatest obscuration is 8 of the clock, and 26 min. The whole continuance 3 h. 30 min. and 18 seconds.

3. The other Eclipse of the Moon will hap­pen upon the 10th day of December, and will be visible at London from the beginning to the end thereof; the beginning will be at 5 hours 41 min. 11 sec. the end at 7 h. 57. m. 3. sec. the total duration will be 2 h. 15 min. 52 sec. The greatest obscuration at 6 of the clock, 49 min. and 7 seconds.

Astrological Observations collected out of Galen, and the Aegyptian Genethli­acks.
1. Of the Influence of the Planets upon the life of Man.

1. VVHilst he is in the womb, they assign the praefection and government of a moneth to every planet, in this order, the first moneth to Saturn, the second to Jupiter, the third to Mars, the fourth to Sol, the fifth to Venus, the sixth to Mercury, the seventh to Luna, the eighth again to Saturn, and the ninth, which is the time of his birth, to Jupi­ter; and from every one of these in their seve­ral Regiments, they affirm that the Infant (they call it [...], and [...], according to the time of the gestation) receiveth monethly a noxious or benigne impression, according to the divers influences and effects of every Pla­net.

2. But being delivered from the womb, they assign unto every planet a whole years govern­ment over the life of man, but in a contrary order from what they held before; for now they give the first years government unto Luna the second to Mercury, the third to Venus, the fourth to Sol, the fifth to Mars, the sixth to [Page 79] Jupiter, and the seventh to Saturn, and so back again in the same ring from seven years unto se­ven, till our lives be finished; which in this in­terim, every year participate of the nature of the Planet who is the Lord thereof.

3. And from this extraordinary and sudden fall or rise which happens unto man, betwixt the influence of Saturn, who is in the highest degree of all the scale; and the influence of the Moon, who is the lowest, they affirm, that all those great and dangerous mutations of our lives and fortunes do proceed. For whilst we are in the womb, being after the end of the se­venth moneth, when we were under Lunas go­vernment, immediately mounted into Saturns, if upon that juncture of time (that is in the eight moneth) we happen to be brought into the world, it generally proves mortal to us all, though it be not so to those that are born in the seventh moneth, or in the moneth before: and after our birth, during the whole series of our lives, those climacterical changes that befal us, are nothing else but the fruits of those fearful falcus or downfals which we suffer from the in­fluence of Saturn unto Luna.

Of the Influence of the Moon.

1. BEsides this common influence which the Moon hath in order with the other Pla­nets, she hath so a particular influence, saith [Page 80] Galen, which she putteth forth upon the actions, fortunes, and lives of men, in her diametral and tetragonal schematismes or stations in the Zodi­ack.

2. By the diametral station of the Moon, he understands her being in a Signe, in the conti­nuance or progress of a work diametrically op­posite to the Signe wherein she was at the be­ginning or entrance of it: as for example, if she were in Aries at the beginning of any work, she is then said to be in a diametral station thereunto, when she entreth into Libra: and here faith he, she raiseth a vehement tumult and commotion ( [...] Galen calls it) by reason that her beams and the opposite Signs do now fully and totally oppugne, and fight, as it were, against one another, and disagree (ge­nerally) besides in passive qualities.

3. By her tetragonal position, he understands her being in a Signe which looks upon the for­mer with a quadrite aspect, as when she is in Cancer, or in Capricorn; and here also she cau­seth (saith he) great perturbations and commo­tions; because the Signs, though they oppose not one another so fully as the former, yet they disagree either in both, or at least in active qua­lities.

4. Yet this influence of the Moon in her di­ametral or tetragonal stations is much changed, to the detriment or advantage of the work or person, according to her conjunction with the [Page 81] other Planets; concerning which, it is not a­miss to let you know, that Galen divides them into [...], or [...], (bonas fortunas, the vulgar Astrologians call them) which are Jupiter and Venus, and [...], or [...] (they call them malas fortunas) which are Mars and Saturn; betwixt which he placeth Sol and Mercury in the middle, neither ranking them with the one, nor with the other. Now put the case (saith Galen) that a man at the time of his birth have the Moon in Aries, conjoyned with temperate and propitious planets; but that when she entreth into Taurus, she hath malign and noxious Planets conjoyned with her; then certainly (saith he) whensoever during the whole series of that mans life the Moon cometh into Aries, or is in a diametral or tetragonal station to it, as in Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn, it will be well and prosperous with that man: but when she cometh into Taurus, or into any Signe diametrically or tetragonally posited thereunto, as Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius, it will be troublesome and grievous with him; and all Diseases that take their beginnings in the one, shall be passed safely without danger, but those that arise or happen in the other, shall be very dangerous, if not mortal. And the like he af­firms of all other businesses and affairs, which if they be attempted or begun (saith he) under good aspects, they produce good changes and alterations at the diametral and retragonal po­sitions [Page 82] of the Moon; but if they be begun un­der evil aspects, the changes and alterations which will be produced at those positions, will be also evil.

Predictions of Weather by the Moon.

THe presagements of weather that are to be gathered by the Moon (such as are more cer­tain, and wherein you may confide) take in these verses of Virgil, lib. Georg. 1. with whom Ara­tus, quoted by Galen and Pliny also, lib. 18. cap. 35. do agree.