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Tact , that our Saviour Was crucified at the passovcr at the time of full moon , the great point particularly attended to hy the congress was , that the Easter-day or festival of the resurrection should not take place
till after the fit II moon ; and in consequence a regulation was made , that if the first fiili moon after the vernal equinox happened on a Sunday , Easter-day should be the Sunday after .
Now it is remarkable , that in the discussions that have taken place this year on the Easter-day , there seems to have prevailed a total ignorance respecting the reason of the law in the rub rick of the Common Prayer Book , at least as far as the writer has had an opportunity of making * any inquiries on this subject . He
has asked the question of various persons in different ranks of life and religious persuasions , and yet not one of them could give an answer to this question : Why did the congress at Nice , and the framers of the Common Prayer Book make it particularly binding , that if the first full moon after the vernal equinox should be on a Sunday , Easter day should be
on the Sunday following ? All the answers were very wide of the mark , but in general they concurred in this , that it was a matter of no conseq nence when Easter-day was kept : and they supposed that the Almanack makers knew what they were about . One person , remarkably attached to the Prayer Book , and who would have been very indignant , if her clergyman bad swerved from the rubrick in the lessons or
collect for the day , being hampered by the positive declaration of the rubrick in this case , and the knowledge that full moon was on the 22 nd of March , got over the whole difficulty by supposing , that there must have been some good reason for altering the rubrick , and she was
perfectly satisfied with whatever might be done by the rulers of her church . It was scarcely worth while to observe to her , that the rulers of the church probably knew nothing of the matter , and took Easter day as was settled by the Almanack makers .
Be all this as it may , E>er-day has this year been celebrated on the day on which it was intended , and for very good reasons , that it should never take place ; and consequently all the services of the Sundays in the Prayer Book for the remainder of the year are out of place . This is nothing to us . But it is something to find , that the attachment to times and
seasons is so much worn out , that the rubrick may be construed into a dead letter , and that an Attorney-General , who was so indign ant at a ftuppoied jest only on the Attiana * ian creed , should past unnoticed the violation of the rub rick . This is a
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good omen , and we shall hope that it will lead in time to an examination of Ihe Prayer Book itself . As the men of this day feel no longer the veneration that was paid by their ancestors to certain times and seasons , they will examine and ' compare with Scripture , what their ancestors drew up , upwards of two hundred years ago , for the regulation of their faith and religious worship .
It cannot be said , that there is a want of zeal for religious institutions at this time . For , notwithstanding the cry on the distressed state of our finances , a bill is in parliament for appropriating a million of money to the building of churches 5 and besides , there has been a meeting- of the chief members of the sect established hy
law , to raise a subscription in aid of the same purpose . This building of rieVr churches , at the time when the old ones present such vacuities at the time of divine service , may be considered as a singular phenomenon : for we may observe without fear of contradiction , that the present churches in England will hold on any day
far more than ha ? e an inclination to go into them . It is true , that in some places , from a very increased population , there is a defect in this respect : hut in general it might not be a bad thing to follow the plan adopted in some parts of Switzerland .
where Catholics and Protestants , at different times of the day , make use of the same church , to let the Methodists , or other Dissenters , have the parish church at those hours when it is not wanted by the Establishment , They will then be filled , and become more serviceable to the com ~
tnunity at large ; and , when vie consider that this million is to be raised upon the whole community , such an arrangement is what with propriety might be granted by the ruling party , to that , which , if not in wealth and power , yet in numbers , is equal or perhaps superior .
If we may judge of the churches in the country by those in London , this measure will be chiefly advantageous to the evangelical party 5 for , except in very few instances , it is by tliem only that the churches are filled . The now ones are to be built in
populous districts , and in those districts the evangelicals will always have the preference . The reason for this is obvious . Without attending to the grounds of difference between the two parties , they take more pains , and endeavour to impress upon their hearers the material objects of their common
faith . Vet , perhaps , it lias not occurred to the legislature , nor to these parties , nor , it may he said , sufficiently to those of our own persuasion , who are also , employed in building p laces of worship , why , after # 0 great an expenditure ufMmaach 6 bjects , so little hwm realljrbeen gained on thai idte of
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State of Public Affairs . 221
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1818, page 221, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2474/page/69/
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