_To find the time of Full Moon in_ October, _the year before Christ
4030_.
The years 1771 added to 4029 make 5800, or 58 Centuries.
+-----------------------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+
| | | Sun’s Anom. | Moon’s Ano. |
| | D. H. M. +-------------+-------------+
| | | s ° ʹ | s ° ʹ |
| +-----------+-------------+-------------+
| Tab. III. From the mean Full Moon | | | |
| in _March 1771_ | 19 7 11 | 8 29 6 | 7 22 30 |
| +-----------+-------------+-------------+
| Tab. V. Subtr. the numbers for | | | |
| 5800 years { 5000 | 10 7 56 | 10 23 56 | 0 17 36 |
| { 800 | 5 4 43 | 11 27 43 | 7 7 7 |
| | --------- | ---------- | ---------- |
| Which collected make | 15 12 39 | 10 21 39 | 7 24 43 |
| | --------- | ---------- | ---------- |
| Rem. the mean Full Moon _&c._ | | | |
| _March_ before Chr. 4030 | 3 18 32 | 10 7 27 | 11 27 47 |
| To which add eight Lunations to | | | |
| carry it to _October_ | 236 5 52 | 7 22 50 | 6 26 32 |
| | --------- | ---------- | ---------- |
| And the several sums will be | 240 0 24 | 6 0 17 | 6 24 19 |
| +-----------+-------------+-------------+
| Which, for Full Moon day, | | |
| Tab. VII, is _October 26_ | 26 0 24 | h. m. |
| Moon’s ellipt. Equation subtr. | | |
| there being none besides | 3 28 | Moon’s Ann. Eq. 0 0 add |
| | --------- | Moon’s ellipt. |
| Rem. the true time of Full Moon, | | Eq. 3 28 sub. |
| _October_ | 25 20 56 | Sun’s Equation 0 0 add |
| +-----------+ --------- |
| Which is the 26th day, at 8 hours | Total 3 28 sub. |
| 26 minutes in the forenoon[79]. | |
+-----------------------------------------------+---------------------------+
[Sidenote: Age of the world uncertain.]
By the method prescribed § 248 it will be found, that the Autumnal
Equinox in the year before CHRIST 4030, fell on the 26th of _October_;
as this Example shews the Full Moon to have been on the same day: and by
working as hereafter taught, it will appear that the Dominical Letter
was then _G_, which shews the 26th of _that October_ to have been on a
_Friday_; namely our sixth day of the week, but the _Ante-Mosaic_ fifth
day. And as, according to _Genesis_, chap. i. ver. 14. the Sun and Moon
were created on the fourth day of the week, those who are of opinion
that the world was made at the time of the Autumnal Equinox, and that
the Moon at her first appearance was in full lustre, opposite to the
Sun, or nearly so, may perhaps look upon this as a Criterion for
ascertaining the year of the creation; since it shews the Moon to have
been Full the next day after she was made: and this is only 9 years
sooner than _Rheinholt_ makes it, and 11 years later than according to
_Lange_. Whereas, they who maintain that the world was created in the
4007th year before CHRIST, with the Sun on the Autumnal Equinoctial
Point, _October 26_, and the Moon then Full; will find, if they compute
by the best Tables extant, that the Moon was New, instead of being Full,
on that day.
If it could be proved from the writings of _Moses_ that the Sun was
created on the point of the Autumnal Equinox, and the Moon in
opposition; as well as it can be proved that these Luminaries were made
(or according to some, did not shine out till) on the fourth day of the
creation-week, there would be _Data_ enough for ascertaining the age of
the world: for supposing the Moon to have been Full on an Equinoctial
Day, which was the fourth day of the week, it would require many
thousands of years to bring these three characters together again. For,
the soonest in which the Moon returns to be New or Full on the same days
of the Months as before, is 19 years wanting an hour and half, but then
the days of the week return not to the same days of the months in less
than 28 years, in which time the Moon has gone through one Course of
Lunations, and 9 years over; therefore a co-incidence of the Full Moon
and day of the Week and Month cannot happen in that time, and if we
multiply 19 by 28, which is the nearest co-incidence of these three
characters, namely 532 years; the Moon’s falling back an hour and half
every 19 years will amount to 42 hours in so many years; and the Equinox
will have anticipated five days. From all which we may venture to say,
that 200000 years would not be sufficient to bring all these
circumstances together again.