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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56705	A sermon preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, April VIII, MDCXCII being the fast-day appointed by Her Majesty, to implore God's blessing on Their Majesties persons, and the prosperity of their arms both at land and sea / by ... Symon, Lord Bishop of Ely.	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1692 (1692)	Wing P853; ESTC R22928	20,377	38

and speaking of vanity mentioned by the Prophet v. 9. which seems to denote that there were Scoffers and open Mockers among them whose insolent boldness when it proceeds to derision of Religion jearing at holy things and playing even with the Word of God it self it is the heighth of impiety the filling up of a Peoples iniquity There is no Prophet now among us who can confidently charge these Crimes upon this Nation or tell us how far it is guilty of them But if they abound every where they will certainly render our Sacrifices unacceptable unto God And therefore let every one descend into his own Breast and make a strict Inquisition there into the state of his own Soul and when he is acquainted with it IV. The next thing in a Fast to the LORD is in genuously to confess and sorrowfully bewail in the bitterness of our Souls those sins of which we find our selves guilty An example of which you meet withall in the days of Samuel who in a great destress gathered all Israel to Mizpeh where they drew water and powred it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there We have sinned against the LORD But I cannot stand to open that place and many more in the books of Ezra Nehemiah and Daniel which relate to this matter because there is something further and more considerable which requires my care to explain and press upon your hearts V. And that is a sincere purpose of forsaking our Sins and reforming our Lives according to God's holy Word Which must accompany all the foregoing acts of Religion to make them effectual For to what end do we examine our selves unless it be to correct and amend whatsoever we find to be amiss It is an unprofitable labour to confess and bewail what is past unless it move us to do better for the time to come Nay to pray to God for mercy while we continue to provoke him to anger by our transgressions is a perfect contradiction and accounted by him no better than a piece of gross hypocrisie Which the Psalmist calls flattering him with our mouth pretending that fear and reverence of him which is not truly setled in our heart Therefore see what he replies to this people when they cryed to him saying Thou O LORD art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not XIV Jerem 9. Thus saith the LORD unto this people thus have they loved to wander they have not refrained their feet therefore the LORD doth not accept them he will now remember their iniquities and visit their sins Then said the LORD unto me Pray not for this people for their good when they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer burnt offerings and an oblation I will not accept them c. v. 10. 11 12. When there was no true repentance and resolution to turn from their evil ways you see the Prayers of the Prophet himself were of as little avail for their safety as their own Prayers and Sacrifices which they offered to him And more than this he expected their holy purposes should be performed and that they should not content themselves with good resolutions which many times are as soon broken as they are made When the people therefore in their distress lamented after the Lord the good man tells them 1 Sam. VII 2 3. if you do return to the LORD with all your heart then put away the strange Gods and prepare your hearts unto the Lord to serve him only and he will deliver you That is Let us see the proof of your unseigned sorrow for what you have done amiss let your fair promises and good purposes bring forth fruit meet for repentance And accordingly you read v. 4. Then the children of Israel put away Baalim and Ashtaroth and served the LORD only i. e. they did according to their resolutions But one place may serve instead of a great many XXXIII Ezek. 3. 6. where the Watchman is commanded to blow the trumpet and warn the people when he saw the sword coming What was this but to call them to Fasting and Humiliation to Repentace and forsaking their Sins So you find it explained v. 7. 8. as you may read at your leisure and observe how the Prophet is directed to treat with them in these terms v. 11. Say unto them as I live saith the LORD God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel This conversion from their evil ways was the only means to save them to which therefore the Prophet most earnestly importunes them And thus Maimonides a most learned Writer among the Jews describes one of their fasting-days in his Treatise upon this Subject * In Taani●oth cap. 4. An Elder saith he is appointed who stands and calls upon the people to turn unto the Lord speaking to this purpose O my Brethren it is neither your fasting nor your Sackcloth nor your Ashes which will be able to turn away the anger of God from you but your Repentance and good works must ensue to do the business Do you not find it so in the case of Nineveh How do you read in their story Look into the Book of Jonah and observe how they proclaimed a Fast and put on Sackcloth from the greatest to the least III. 5. And the King caused it to be proclaimed throughout the City saying Let neither man nor beast taste any food let them be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God yea let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands v. 7 8. And what the effect was you may find v. 10. God saw their works and that they returned from their evil ways and God repented of the evil c. Observe Brethren he doth not say that he saw their Sackcloth and took notice of their Fasting but that he saw their works and that they returned from their evil ways And so God speaks by the Prophet Joel Turn ye unto me with all your heart and with fasting weeping and mourning Rend your hearts and not your garments and turn unto the LORD your God for he is gracious who knows if he will return and leave a blessing behind him This saith Maimonides the Elder was required to speak with all his might that he might humble their hearts and turn them with a perfect Repentance And after they had thus spent the Day in Prayer hearing the word of God and other Duties which I shall mention in the next particular all the People he says were wont to go into the Burying place and there they wept and prayed again And one spake to them in this manner Behold ye shall all die and perish like those whose Graves here lie before you unless you be converted from your evil ways Which is

to excite them to rejoyce in his praise and giving him thanks Of their sounding for a Fast you read II. Joel 15. Blow the Trumpet in Sion sanctific a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people c. And in the like terms the Psalmist proclaims a Festival LXXXI Ps 3. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon in the time appointed on our solemn feast day For this was a statute for Israel c. The like you read XCVIII Ps 6. And thus my Text and the following words are to be understood if we will follow the interpretation of the best of the Hebrews who vouch it to be the sense of the Eldest times For if blowing the trumpets here were not for a Religions purpose how could the effect of it be God's remembring them so as to save them from their Eemies Could the bare sounding with them procure such a blessing Without doubt there was something more in it to which God makes such a gracious promise And therefore though Moses speaks here of blowing an alarm because it concern'd the Souldiery yet the Hebrews understand thereby the calling all together unto a Fast that they might humble themselves before God and seek his face i. e. his favour when they were forced to betake themselves to their Arms and appeal to Heaven for the deciding by this means the controversie between them and their Enemies And then in the beginning of the next verse when he adds in the day of your gladness ye shall blow with the Trumpets some of them understand that Clause of their thanksgiving to God for Victory over their Enemies Which was as reasonable as their sounding upon their other solemn days and in the beginning of their months and over their burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of their peace-offerings which are there likewise mentioned As they were to blow with the trumpets proclaim a Fast that is when they went to War So they were to blow with them again when the War was happily ended that is proclaim their thankfulness to God for giving them such success as they desired This exposition I shall follow which makes these words you see an injunction to the Israelites for solemn fasting before they took in hand so weighty an Affair as making War upon their Enemies For which end we are now here assembled and I pray God we may perform this duty according to the full intent and meaning of this Injunction For then we may hope God will remember us in the day of Battle and Crown our Arms with such success against our injurious Neighbours as he promised to the Israelites against their Enemies Now by solemn fasting you all know is meant the setting some day a part for this purpose which was always of two sorts One private which pious people enjoyned themselves of their own accord with respect either 2 ●am 12. 16. IX Dan. 3. to their own particular or to the common concerns of both which we have examples in Scripture The other was Publick enjoyned by the supreme Authority and those either stated and ordinary at certain times of the year of which we find only one enjoyned by God in XVI Lev. but four more enjoyned by the Elders during their Captivity in Babylon VIII Zech. 19. or extraordinary and unfixed in time of some imminent danger or great distress of which we have many examples Tertul. de Jesui● not only in Scripture but also in Ecclesiastical Story XX. Judg. 26. 2 Chron. XX. 3. VIII Ezra Of such a Publick Fast and of this latter sort my Text speaks For the blowing with the trumpets signified the calling all the people together as appears by the place before named in the Prophet Joel V. 16. Gather the people sanctifie the congregation assemble the elders gather the children and those that suck the breasts c. All were to appear before God to Implore his Compassion by their Cryes and Tears I say before God because they were to be gathered together at the Tabernacle while it was standing and afterwards at the Temple Which is the reason of that expression XXXVI Jerem. 9. Proclaim a fast before the Lord to all the people of Jerusalem That is at the Temple where his Majesty dwelt and where they came together for Religious Worship And accordingly he bids Baruch v. 6. to go and read the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the Lords house upon the fasting day After which example we are all here now assembled before the Lord in the place of his Worship and Service And that we may understand what our business is I shall as briefly as I can shew you First what the Scripture means by fasting before the Lord and consequently what will obtain his Blessing upon our Forces Secondly how fit and necessary it is at such a time as this to imploy our selves in this holy duty I. Now the word Fasting in its ordinary signification imports no more than abstinence from all sorts of Food for such a time as was appointed to that purpose But being designed for a religious end they used it no doubt as a Token and a sort of Confession that they were not worthy of the common supports and comforts of life not so much as of a bit of Bread and consequently not worthy to live They intended also thereby to afflict their Soul as the Scripture speaks to put themselves if not to trouble and pain yet into a state of Sadness and Mourning as a just chastisement for their sinful pleasures For which reason the Jews understand by solemn fasting a great deal more than it literally expresses viz. not only abstinence from all manner of refreshment by so much as washing their Faces or any thing of that Nature but putting on sackcloath next their Skin on some great occasions especially lying in Ashes rending their Garments and such like acts of Humiliation But we shall be very much mistaken if we think this was the whole business of a fasting day to deny themselves the comforts and refreshments of Nature There was something more and more excellent in it and that which was properly the worship of God which were abstinence from food is not And therefore II. The intention of such a day was to make solemn addresses to the Almighty by Prayer and Supplication which is frequently joyned with fasting and when any blessing was obtained never separated from it I could direct you to a multitude of places both in the Old Testament and the New and the Apocryphal Books * XII Tobit 4. IV. Judith 9. 10. c. VI. Judith 21. also to this purpose but a few may suffice In the Chapter now read for the first Lesson 2 Chron. XX. 3. you find that when news was brought to Jehosephat of an invasion by a great multitude of several Nations He feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah This was so much the business of such a day that