ACT and Bull, or Fixed Anniversaries

Both Old Style and New Style were in use on the shores of the Delaware long before Penn's arrival. Proof is to be found in the pages of Hazard's Annals. Holland had adopted the New Style in 1582; Sweden still adhered to the Old. The date in question, November 8th, 1682, is an Old Style date, derived from certain old records, or entries, or letters; and'it may be assumed as typical of other similar dates.

There does not appear to be any legislation in Pennsylvania decisive of the question, or furnishing analogies to help us to a solution. The Act of Assembly of March 11, 1752, while recognizing the Act of Parliament which adopted the New Style (and was passed in the preceding year), so far as relates to the change of the beginning of the year, and to the dates of writings, merely affirms the legality of the Friends' man ner of dating by naming the months First month, Second month, &c., instead of January, February, Ste. There had been previous acts relating to names of the months, and of the days of the week, one of which this law repealed. Another was repealed in Council.

The Yearly Meeting of Friends for Pennsylvania and New Jersey adopted, on September 18 (o. 1751, a minute con curring with a minute of the London Yearly Meeting, to the effect that Friends should thereafter reckon January the first month of the year, and should style it First month, &e., and that they should omit the eleven days next after September 2 (o. 1752, in conformity with the Act of Parliament. And the next Yearly Meeting was appointed to be held on Novem ber 24 (new Style), 1753. Mr. Bonsall gives the minute in full at page 400 of vol. 2 of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.