defend the Catholick Faith that they might break in pieces your Arguments Hitherto S. Augustin l. 1. 2. contra Iulianum I thought fit to adjoyn this Reflexion of S. Austen though superabundant to the force of my Argument it being sufficient for my purpose to prove that Lent-Fast was generally practised in the 4th and 5th Century both by the Eastern and Western Churches and so much evidently follows from the Authorities above cited For though some may be so self-conceited as to confess that S. Hierom S. Ambrose S. Basil S. Crysostom and the rest of the Holy Fathers Greek and Latin deemed the observation of Lent to be a pious Christian practice but they with humble submission judged it to be Superstition Will-worship and the Doctrin of Devils Yet few I think but have so much regard for these Primitive Doctors as to allow them so much judgment as to know what was the practice of their several Churches in their days and so much fidelity as to write the Truth as to that particular which is sufficient for the purport of my discourse unless you can think that these Holy Fathers were of one Faith their Flocks which Reverence them as Sts. of another For the 4th and 5th Age practising Fasting in Lent not as a piece of Piety begun by themselves but commended to them by Tradition from the Apostles it not only follows that it could not be first begun by their immediate Progenitos which had it been they could not possibly have been ignorant of it but also that it must necessarily have been first taught the world by the Apostles For if the first Converts of the Apostles all over the World had not only been taught no such observation but also had been positively instructed to look upon Abstinence from certain kind of Meats as Superstition and the Doctrin of Devils and with all had been charged not to receive any other Doctrin though Preached to them by an Angel sent from Heaven and they in like manner teaching their Children the same they had learnt as none can doubt but they did How is it possible that the Christians in the 4th Century should most tenaciously adhere to this principle of admitting no new Doctrin or Practice but to hold fast to what was delivered them by their Ancestors from the Apostles and yet should themselves Superstitiously Abstain from Meats and not pretend Scripture for it neither but Apostolical Tradition But had the Pastors of the 4th Century Abstained from certain Meats on pretext of Scripture in such a manner understood by them or upon account of some Decree of a General Council or Law of some Emperor made in the second or third Century or pretending to follow some person or persons raised up by God in the third Age to teach the Christian world a more strict observance it might well be conceiv'd how the 4th Age might abstain from Meats upon a Religious account though no such thing had been taught the world by the Apostles but the quite contrary And from what has been said all well put together I think it is efficaciously concluded against all Opposers of Lent-Fast that it was taught the world by the Apostles But it is not a Tippet or a Surplice I am Arguing for but a practice which if rightly observed is sufficient to make all the world Saints and therefore for the more abundant satisfaction of my Reader I shall now adjoyn positive Evidences out of the Writers of the first 300. years that the Holy Fast of Lent was practised in those most pure and Primitive Times S. Denys B. of Alexandria who lived in the middle of the third Age in his Epistle to Basilides the Bishop Records the Fast before Easter as Universal as the joy and Feast of Easter It will be confessed saies he of all agreeably that we ought to begin the Feast viz. of Easter and Ioy until that time humbling our souls in Fastings they truly which make too much hast and before well toward mid-night break their Fast we blame as regardless and not Masters of their Appetite giving over the Race a little before the Goal Such indeed as are much worn by the Fasts and toward the end as it were faint we easily pardon if they eat sooner And in the same Epistle he mentions in special manner the six days of Fasts to wit those of the last week not alike observ'd of all Origen in the beginning of the same Age. Hom. 10. In Leviticum Habemus Quadragesimae dies c. We have the days of Lent Consecrated to Fasting we have the fourth and sixth day of the week on which we solemnly Fast. And certainly a Christian has liberty to Fast at all times but not out of a Superstitious Observation but by the Vertue of Continency The first General Council of Nice held a little after the year 300. did not first ordain the keeping of Lent but in the sixth Canon makes mention of it as a time known to all the Christian world for in that Canon the Fathers ordain that two Provincial-Councils should be celebrated by the Bishops of every Province every year one of them ante dies Quadragesimae c. before the days of Lent to the end that all Contests if any such be being made up a pure and solemn gift may be offered to God Now how should Lent be observed all over the Christian world so early before any General Council What other Universal cause could there be of so Universal an Observation but the first teaching of the Apostles Or if such a practice had been Superstitious and the Doctrin of Devils how came so Venerable and holy a Councel not to take notice of it As if they could be ignorant of such Scriptures as falsly understood are alledged against it by Non-Conformists In the second Age Tertullian in his Book de Iejunio c. 1 2. tells us that it was not the Sentiment of some one particular Man but of all Catholick Christians who are by him contumeliously called Psychici that the Pascal Fast was Constituted by God and observed by the Apostles His words are Nam quod c. For as to what appertains to Fasts they oppose that there are certain days Constituted by God They surely think that in the Gospel those days are determined for Fasts in which the Bridegroom was taken away and those days only are now the legitimate days of Christian Fasts c. And that thus the Apostles observed the rule of Fasting imposing no other Yoke of certain or Set-Fasts to be kept of all in common And c. 13. Ye prescribe against us that the solemn times for this matter are to be believed already constituted in the Scriptures or in the Tradition of our Elders and that no further observance is to be superadded for the unlawfulness of Innovation Maintain this your ground if you can for lo I convince you even your selves Fasting besides the Paschal Fast those days in which the Bridegroom was taken away
of the Sacred Christian Pen-men written a Book on purpose to declare the whole manner of Christian worship like Moyses his Exodus or Leviticus we might reasonably have expected an account what days Christians were to set apart for Fasting or Religious Feasting what Garments they were to use in time of Divine Worship c. Buâ— they only as is manifest writing Books for other intents and purposes by way of History for example or moral Exhortations and making mention only by the by of some of our Christian Rites as they occurred nothing can be more unreasonable then to expect in their said Writings an express clear mention of every Christian Ceremonial Observance The four Gospels are a History of our Blessed Saviours Life and Death who lived as to the external Rites of Religion according to the Jewish Law and so we cannot reasonably in any of them expect what Fasting or Festival days we Christians are to observe Indeed had the Act of the Apostles been intended as an exact Narration how the Apostles lived as to the whole course of their Life what days they kept Holy and what they Fasted c. We might reasonably have expected some mention there of Lent and Easter But that holy Book making mention only of some few particular passages of two or three of the Apostles lives the Apostles might well keep Lent and Easter too and teach them also to their first Converts and yet there be a profound silence of them in the Book of their Acts As for S. Iohn's Prophetical Book it were no ways proper in it to speak of Easter or Lent The rest of the New Testament are certain Epistles or Letters of Spiritual Counsels written by S. Paul or some other Apostle to particular persons or whole Cityes already instructed in the Christian way of worship But why they should needs make mention therein of Lent I understand not unless perchance the persons they wrote unto had been deficient in observing of it But does not S. Paul expresly decry the keeping of Lent in one of his Epistles and tell the Christians he wrote to he was afraid he had laboured in vain amongst them by reason of their superstitious Observations of Days and Times Gal. 4. v. 9 10. How are ye Converted again to weak and beggarly Elements which you will serve again Ye observe Days and Months and Times and Years I am afraid of you lest I should have laboured amongst you in vain Was then the Holy Apostle afraid lest the Galatians should leave Christianity and return to Judaism or Pagaism because of their observing Lent in memory of our Blessed Saviours Fasting 40. days or Easter in memory of his Resurrection Is this a likely Story Or is it not evident from the Context of their returning again to weak and poor Elements that because of their returning to the Observation of Iewish days commanded by Moses or Pagan days in honour of Iupiter Mars c. he was afraid they would relinquish the Gospel by them received and become Jews again or Pagans But does not the same Apostle 1 Tim. 4. tell us expresly that Abstinence from certain M 〈…〉 the Doctrin of Devils and that nothing which God has made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be rejected by us but eaten with thankfulness Now the Spi 〈…〉 eth expresly that in the later times some shall depart from the 〈…〉 heed to Seducing Spirits and Doctrins of Devils speaking 〈…〉 Hypocrisie having their Consciences scared with a hot Iron fo◠〈◊〉 to Marry and commanding to abstain from Meats which God 〈…〉 to be received with Thanksgiving of them which believe and know the Truth For every Creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving That we may rightly understand these words of S. Paul we must reflect that upon a double account we may abstain from certain Meats or Drinks First we may abstain from certain Meats as thinking them out of Error and Superstition naturally unclean and unholy And to teach Abstinence from certain Creatures upon such an account is deservedly called the Doctrin of Devils And with this Heresie the Manicheans are charged by S. Austin and other Fathers And that the Apostle meant such like Abstainers from certain Creatures is manifest by the reason he gives why Christians should not Abstain upon such an account to wit because every Creature of God is good and consequently we ought not to reject any as in themselves evil and unclean Secondly we may abstain from certain Meats or Drinks as less suitable to a time of Humiliation or appeasing of Almighty God for our sins by Penitential works of Fasting Weeping and Mourning or for some other Spiritual end And such an Abstinence as this is so far from being prohibited by S. Paul or any other of the Apostles that it is commended not only by the light of Nature but also by the Holy Scriptures and the examples of the Holiest Men that ever lived upon Earth Thus S. Tymothy Abstained from Wine continually for Mortification so that S. Paul thought fit to exhort him not always to drink water but to make use of a little Wine for his Stomack-sake and frequent infirmities Whereas had it been Superstition to abâ—â—ain from certain Creatures of God upon a Religious account he ought to have disswaded him from his Abstinence by telling him such an Abstinence from the good Creatures of God was the Doctrin of Devils Wil-worship c. Eating Flesh and drinking Wine are very Lawful and Laudable when done in their due and proper season but are no ways suitable to days or times when I am called upon by my lawful Superiors to appease God Almightys Anger for my own and others sins by Fasting Weeping and Mourning Hear not me but the Holy Prophet Isa. ch 22. v. 12 13 14. And in that way did the Lord God of Hosts call to Weeping and to mourning and to Baldness and to Girding with Sack-cloath And behold Ioy and Gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall dye And it was revealed in mine Ears by the Lord of Hoasts surely this Iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye dye saith the Lord God of Hosts Now they seem not so much to be a-sleep as dead who hear not God Almighty crying out unto them and calling them to Fasting Weeping and Mourning this Holy and Penitential time of Lent after all the Authorities above-cited for its Apostolical Institution To say nothing of the abounding of all sorts of wickedness amongst us and the heavy Spiritual Plagues of blindness of mind and insensibility of Divine things which has seized upon us and no doubt call aloud for Penitential Humiliations But if Abstinence from certain Meats upon a Religious account be true Christian Piety what shall we say to S. Paul Rom. 14. v. 2. One believeth that he may eat all things another who is weak eateth Herbs and v. 6. He that eateth
manifestly impede our designed end least we pull down with one hand what we go about to build up with the other and make our Spirits as vain and light by frothy Conversations and other Divertisements as we make them grave and sober by Fasting and Abstinence Hear the 4th Council of Toledo c. 5. In omnibus c. In all the foresaid days of Lent we ought to insist on Fasting and Mourning to cover the body with Hair-cloath and Ashes to humble our mind with Mournings to change our Ioy into Heaviness until the time of the Resurrection of Christ when we are with joy to sing Allelujah and turn our heaviness into gladness For this the consent of the Vniversal Church in all parts of the Earth hath confirmed Fiftly Spend more time in Prayer Meditation of Divine things and Spiritual reading and hearing of Sermons for one great end of Fasting is the better to dispose us for these Spiritual exercises Venter non habet aures The pampered paunch is to nothing deafer than to Divine Inspirations Impletus venter non vult studere libenter The full belly has no great mind to study but much less to speak to God-Almighty by devout Prayer or to hear him speak to it by spiritual reading and hearing of Sermons Thus the Antient people of God the Iews spent the fourth part of their days of publick Fasting and Atonement in reading and hearing the Law of Almighty God and another fourth part in worshipping the same God with devout prayers Nehem. 9. v. 1 2 3. Now in the twenty and fourth day of this moneth the Children of Israel were Assembled with Fasting and with Sack-cloathes and Earth upon them And the Seed of Israel separated themselves from all Strangers and stood and confessed their Sins and the Iniquities of their Fathers And they stood up in their place and read in the Book of the Law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day and another fourth part they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God And the Church of Christ has ever in Lent to Prayers and Fastings annexed more frequent hearing and Preaching God's Word and many of S. Crysostoms Golden Homilies as likewise of others of the Antient Fathers were Sermons Preached day by day in Lent to the people Hear S. Crysostom upon those words of our Blessed Saviour This kind goes not out but by Prayer and Fasting Qui orat c. He that prays with Fasting hath two Wings and those lighter than the Winds themselves for such an one doth not stretch himself or yawn or is drowsie in his Prayer He that fasteth is light and winged and prays with Vigilancy and extinguishes his own evil Lusts and renders God propitious to himself and humbles his own soul that was lift up For this cause also the Apostles in a manner continually Fasted Fasting with Faith brings into the soul a great force and much Philosophy and makes of a man an Angel and helps him to fight with incorporeal powers Sixthly What we defraud our own Appetite of by Fasting let our Lord Jesus eat by the mouth of his Poor And this indeed is another end and fruit of Fasting to make us more able and more willing to relieve those in necessity To feel some hunger our selves sometimes makes us more tenderly compassionate of those who in a manner are continually hungry and its manifest the less we expend on our selves the more we have to bestow on the Needy and Indigents and daily experience teaches us that none are more liberally Chariâ—â—â—ble to others then those who are most Christianly severe to themselves And no wonder their frequent Abstinences demonstratively convincing them that the best use of wealth is to spend as little as they can upon themselves and as much as they can upon their necessitous Neighbors And hence also follows another admirable fruit of Religious Fasting to wit an absolute indifferency to worldly riches and abundance For who will break his Sleep or weary his Limbs to get that which he believes when he has gotten the best use he can make of it is to give it away to others Hear the Antient and Learned Origen Hom. 10. in Levit. 16. Habemus c. We have the days of Lent Consecrated to Fastings we have the 4th and 6th days of the week whereon we solemnly Fast There is also yet another Religious way of Fasting whose praise is set forth in writing from certain of the Apostles for we find in a certain Book that it was said by the Apostles Blessed is he who fasts also for that end that he may relieve the Poor This Mans Fast is much accepted with God Hear S. Chrysolog Serm. 8. de Jejun Eleemosynae c Alms and Prayers are the wings of Fasting by which 't is carryed up to Heaven without which it lyes dead and spiritless upon the Earth Let us therefore O my Brethren when we Fast deposit our Dinner in the hand of the Poor that their hand may preserve for us what our belly would have lost us The hand of the Poor is the Treasury of Christ He that Fasts not to the Poor doth but feign a Fast to God Fasting without works of mercy is but an empty Image of Hunger Without pitty to others 't is but an occasion taken of Covetousness Because by such sparing what is taken down in the flesh swells in the bag In fine hear God-Almighty himself Isa. 58. Is not this the Fast that I have chosen Is it not to deal thy Bread to the Hungry and that thou bring the Poor that are cast out into thy house When thou seest the Naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh And now would all Pretenders to fast in Lent and upon other Set-days Fast in some tolerable manner according to what right reason Holy Scriptures and Antient Fathers direct us as has been showen the Devil himself would be ashamed to call such Fasting the Doctrin of Daemons Will-worship or Superstition But to Fast truly and Christianly is troublesome to flesh and blood It cannot be denyed And this is indeed the true cause we have so 〈…〉 s of Lent-Fast amongst us The want of express Scripâ—â—◠〈…〉 of Superstition is pretended but the true reason in 〈…〉 om Fast is the difficulty flesh and blood finds in Fasting But as to this we must help our selvas sometimes by calling to mind the bitter eternal torments we have deserved for our sins and this will make us ashamed to complain of the gentle Pennance of the most rigorous Lent-Fast Had God-Almighty upon the account of our manifold sins and wickednesses required of us some great matter for example To have Fasted our whole Lives with Bread and Water ought we not gladly to have done it How much rather then ought we to comply most willingly with his most equitable and gentle command of Fasting moderately sometimes How gladly would a Damned Soul accept of a Methusalem's Age of rigorous
Fasting and whatsoever most severe Mortifications in exchange for its intolerable eternal torments And no less gladly and willingly ought we to do or suffer any thing never so troublesome to flesh and blood to prevent our falling into the same state of immutable unsufferable misery Often and seriously to think of this to wit that except we Repent with Fasting Weeping and Mourning we must Perish and that eternally would make the most rigorous severity seem gentle and easie Otherwhiles let us call to mind the eternal joyful Easter a Religious devout Lent-Fast will end in And this will make us cry out with the great S. Paul The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us Whatsoever we can suffer by Fasting or whatsoever other Christian severity in this our time upon this Earth is light easie if compared with the immense weight of eternal glory which expects us in the other Life Courage therefore O my soul. Sigh Pray and Fast Heaven will make amends for all Si credis omnia patere si non pateris non credis c. O Christian Man says the Divine S. Crysostom If thou believest be willing to suffer all things if thou art not willing to suffer thou doest not believe for such and so great things are promised us that rather than fall short of them we ought to suffer a thousand deaths undoubtedly a few Lent-Fasts Immortality Glory a Kingdom an eternal Kingdom is proposed unto us To which Kingdom He who to teach us the way to it Fasted 40. days and 40. nights bring all devout Imitators of his Quadragesimal Fast. Amen FINIS A Postscript IF any one be offended at the proving of Lent to be an Apostolical Institution by the unanimous Tradition of all Christian Countrys they are desired to Reflect First how they would Tryumph had they a like Tradition but even of one Country for a Non observance of Set-Fasts And Secondly how that all Christian Churches agree that a Sacred Reverence is to be given to whatsoever Doctrins or Practâ—ces can be proved to be Apostolical by a truly universal unanimous Tradition But the dispute betwixt the Church of Rome and Church of England is whether certain Doctrins or Practices were indeed always every where by all or in a manner by all Christian Doctors acknowledged as Apostolical I say by all or in a manner by all for as Bishop Gunning well observes p. 132. he would in a dangerous degree disserve our common Christianity who would reject some Book of H. Scripture the Epistles for example of S. James and S. Jude or something for being a Tradition Apostolical for the positive possible Rejection of some one Socrates or other Ecclesiastical Writer or some one or a few Fathers against the known generality and consent of the rest of Antient Writers and immemorial witness or practice of whole Christian Countrys And the reason is manifest especially in our present particular matter of Practice Had the H. Apostles for example in the several Countrys they Converted to Christianity taught no such thing as Abstinence from certain Meats on Fasting-days nor no Set-Fasts on Friday or Lent but had positively taught that to observe Solemn Set-Fasts was Legal as the Heretick Aerius and that Abstinence from certain Meats was vain and unprofitable as the Heretick Jovinian according to S. Aug. l. de Ser. n. 35. 82. That some one or a few pretenders to Christianity should either be ignorant what was taught them by the Apostles or would wilfully teach otherwise than they had been taught is no wonder but that all the several Christian Countrys in the World should make a distinction of days and meats and this ever since they were Christians they positively unanimously attesting as much and all their most antient Records partly positively witnessing the same partly being silent as to any Innovation and yet no such thing should be taught them but rather the quite contrary by the first Planters of the Christian Faith amongst them this is impossible And whoever goes about to weaken the force of Vniversal Tradition rightly understood invalidates as much as in him lyes all revealed Religion It being impossible to know assuredly any Books as to all that 's contained in them to be Divine Revelations but by such a Tradition Concerning this see Bishop Gunning above Christo Jejunanti Gloria