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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07200	Christian humiliation, or, A treatise of fasting declaring the nature, kindes, ends, vses, and properties of a religious fast: together with a briefe discourse concerning the fast of Lent. By Henry Mason, pastor of Saint Andrews-Vndershaft London.	Mason, Henry, 1573?-1647.	1625 (1625)	STC 17602; ESTC S120999	101,549	174

was a part of those sufferings which hee did vndergoe for our sakes Where by the way we may reflect vpon our selues and tell our owne soules that if our Lord did doe all these things for our sakes wee should not thinke much to doe a little for his sake but more especially seeing hee fasted so many dayes and nights for vs wee should not grudge to fast a little now and then for him But how for him For I suppose all men will be ready to say that if they knew they should fast for Christs sake as hee fasted for ours that then they would doe it with a good-will or else it were pitty of their liues To such men if any shall make such demand my answer is Wee may truly be said to fast for Christs sake many wayes As first if we fast that we may with more reuerence and better attention and greater feruour performe holy dueties vnto him In which kinde they fast for Christ who when they come to Church to heare and pray and prayse God and to partake of the blessed Sacrament of Christs body doe forbeare their meate that they may bee more fresh to attend to those holy dueties and because they doe preferre Gods seruice before their owne necessity and doe loue the Word and the Sacrament more than their necessary food Secondly wee may be said to fast for Christ if wee fast that wee may subdue those sinnes that nayled Christ to his Crosse and which if wee commit them doe (a) Heb. 6.6 crucifie againe the Sonne of God and make a mocke of him And in this kinde they fast for Christ who forbeare their meat that they may sorrow for their sinnes and may arme themselues against temptations and bring vnder their body that their flesh doe not wax wanton against Christ Thirdly wee may fast for Christs sake if wee forbeare to feed our selues that wee may haue wherewith to relieue others who beeing the poore members of Christ haue neede of our supply For what is done to any one of those little ones is esteemed as done to Christ himselfe And sure if Christ did fast so long that hee might supply vs it were both sinne and shame not to forbeare a meale if need require that wee may cherish Christ in his members In this manner and by these meanes wee may be said to fast for Christ Let vs make vse of them in our practice and wee shall hereby shew our loue to our Sauiour as hee by fasting forty dayes for vs shewed his great loue vnto vs. II. A second cause why our Lord fasted at this time may be that hee might by this meanes prouoke Sathan to begin his assault The declaration and proofe of this assertion dependeth vpon two things first that his fasting was a fit occasion that might prouoke the Deuill to the on-set secondly that Christ was willing to giue him such an occasion And first that this was a fit occasion appeareth by 2. things 1. Because when men are in distresse then is the Deuils opportunity to tempt them eyther to distrust God because hee leaueth them without reliefe or to vse vnlawfull meanes that they may relieue themselues 2. Because the euent sheweth that Christs hunger caused by his fasting was the occasion that Sathan tooke to assault him For when he saw him fainting for want of bread then hee thought it a fit time to say If thou be the Sonne of God command that this stone bee made bread And what the euent did make manifest afterward that our Lord knew very well before-hand Secondly That our Lord was willing to giue the Deuill such an occasion to prouoke him to the combat may appeare by two things also 1. Because it was Gods will to haue it so as is euident by this that the Spirit of God led him into the wildernesse to be tempted of the Deuill and Christs will was euer agreeable to the will of his Father 2. Because Christ did so thirst after our saluation that hee refused no paynes nor no danger to procure it Hee left heauen that he might become man for vs hee tooke our base nature that hee might beare our infirmities and he went vp to Ierusalem that hee might be crucified and hee came into the world that hee might saue the world by his sufferings And so seeing the temptations of Sathan by which hee assaulted our Sauiour might be profitable for vs and auaileable for our saluation for so Sathan might be ouercome at his owne weapon and wee armed against his assaults afterward wee neede not doubt but as the Spirit led Christ into the wildernesse to be tempted of the Deuill so our Lord himselfe would fast and hunger that the Deuill might assault him And heere againe by the way a Christian may haue a good meditatiō from his Masters practice that seeing Christ was ready to fight against the Deuill for our sakes wee should not feare to stand out against men for his sake But if Religion be a cause that wee are questioned by Enemies or disgraced by worldlings or kept from preferment by great Ones wee must beare oppositions of men for loue to Christ as hee bore these temptations of the Deuill for loue vnto vs. III. A third cause may be that by this exercise of fasting hee might prepare and fit himselfe for the great worke that hee was about For hee was now to enter vpon his Propheticall Office and to begin the publique function of his Ministery And in this and such like cases as this Gods seruants haue vsed to make preparation by fasting and prayers as may bee seene in the example of (a) Act. 13.3 Paul and Barnabas and (b) Act. 14.23 other Presbyters of diuers Churches And therefore seeing our Lord here fasted for a long space and that at such a time as he was to enter vpon the ministery of the Gospell we may well thinke that this is one reason of his fasting that hee might prepare himselfe for this great seruice Onely the doubt may be But what needed our Lord any such preparation For 1. hee was not defectiue in any grace For God (a) Ioh. 3.34 gaue not the spirit to him by measure but he was (b) Ioha 14. full of grace and truth 2. Our Lord was an innocent (c) 1 Pet. 1.19 Lambe without blemish and without spot And what needed hee such preparatiue helps that had all grace and no sinne I answere there be three reasons hereof First that he might stirre vp and inflame and as yee would say actuate the grace which he had already To this purpose it is that when hee was to pray he (d) Mat. 14.23 went into a mountaine or some other priuate place alone ardentioris orationis causâ that he might pray the more feruently say the Learned And so againe when he was to raise vp La Zarus (e) Ioh. 11.33 he groaned and was troubled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he troubled himselfe that is he stirred vp his

feasts of the Lord which yee shall proclaime to be holy Conuocations Euen these are my Feasts And after the enumeration of them it is said (a) Vers 37. These are the Feasts of the Lord which hee shall proclaime to be holy Conuocations to offer an offering made by fire vnto the Lord c. And in the end of the Chapter after all it is added And Moses declared vnto the children of Israel the Feasts of the Lord. And from hence it may be gathered that this day of expiation which is placed among these holy-dayes is intended as a festiual day rather than as a fasting day And therfore the fast or humiliation heere commanded is an appurtenance of the feast and a seruice required on that holy day this day was appointed to be kept for an holy day not because it was a fasting day Secondly wee may note in the description of this day that the chiefe thing for which this day was intended was for expiation and atonement Thirdly that the meanes by which this might be wrought and the things which God requireth for the celebration of this day were an holy rest a publique meeting an affliction of the soule and an offering made by fire And hence we may gather that an holy day and a fasting day are here ioyned as two things both of which respect one end And therefore it followeth not The people are here commanded to keepe an holy rest vpon this fasting day and therefore it is necessary that euery fasting day should be kept holy no more than this argument would follow from the same place Here the people are commanded to keepe this holy day with fasting and humiliation and therfore euery holy day must be a fasting day Fourthly We may note that the reason why God appoynted this day to be kept holy is said in the Text to bee this because it is a day of atonement for them before the Lord but it is not said that it was to be kept holy because it was a fasting day And hence I may conclude that the Text doth giue no warrant that euery fasting day must bee kept holy day Now let the Reader lay these notes and collections from the Text together and compare them with the reason brought to proue the contrary and hee will easily see how weake the argument is For the onely reason that euer I read or heard of from this Text for proofe of this conclusion is this God heere commanded this fasting day to be kept holy and therefore euery fasting day must be so kept Which being nothing but an inference of an vniuersall from a singular doth hereby appeare to bee weake and friuolous besides the reasons now alledged from the Text to the contrary And now after all seeing that this is the onely place on which this former conclusion is grounded and it hath so little reason in it as hath beene shewed it remayneth that to say euery fasting day of necessitie must bee an holy day is an errour without all ground of probability The thing then that I meane when I say that it is required that on the day of our fast the soule should practise such duties as a Fasting-day by the outward behauiour doth include is that as by fasting wee professe our sorrow for sinne with a purpose to serue God better and doe abstaine from fleshly comforts that wee may more freely enioy the comforts of the Spirit so a Christian should vse serious meditation and consideration of things requisite for this purpose As for example hee should examine his conscience search out the state of his soule settle in himselfe a purpose of amendment confesse his sinnes that make him vnworthy to taste any of Gods creatures and pray for grace to liue better And that these and such like holy thoughts and desires are requisite vpon our fasting dayes I am induced to thinke partly because in publique Fasts (a) Iudg. 20.26 2 Chron. 20.3 4. Ezrah 8.23 Ier. 36.6 9 10. Dan. 9.3 Ioel 1.14 v. Kemnit Exam. part 4. de causa finali ieiun nu 47. pag. 94. Serar in Iudith 8. q. 7. pag. 320. the Church hath beene accustomed to spend part of the day in publique meetings and in religious exercises and partly because that outward abstinence cannot of it selfe worke those gracious effects whereof I haue spoke before vnlesse the soule by consideration holy thoughts doe apply make vse of his outward humiliation to this purpose For fasting is not like physicke which worketh while a man sleepeth but then only affecteth the soule and pleaseth God when the heart maketh vse of it A plaine proofe whereof may be this Fasting hath this speciall vse among others that as the chastisements which GOD doth inflict vpon vs doe serue to humble vs and bring vs home by repentance so these chastisements voluntarily imposed vpon our selues may serue for like purpose as hath beene fully declared already But no outward chastisement whether of Gods inflicting or our owne can worke this effect vnlesse the man doe lay them to his heart and apply them to himselfe Hence it is that the Prophet complayneth of the people of Israel in this manner (a) Hos 7.9 Strangers haue deuoured his strength and hee knoweth it not yea gray haires are here and there vpon him yet he knoweth not In which words we may note two things first the corrections that were layd vpon them and they were that the Enemies had wasted and consumed them and these and other miseries had brought gray haires vpon them and made them old before the time Secondly the want of feeling in the people They know it not and againe Yet they know not saith the Text. But what Consumed by the Enemy and not know that they were strucken pined and become old with sorrow and not feele their misery No that is not the meaning they felt their misery no doubt But the Prophet meaneth that they did not take notice nor thinke and consider that it was Gods hand that inflicted this iudgement and their own sinnes that deserued it and therefore they were neuer the better for all this chastisement And therefore another Prophet complayning to like purpose saith (b) Isal 42.25 God powred vpon Israel the fury of his anger and the strength of battell and it hath set him on fire round about yet hee knew not and it burned him yet hee laid it not to heart Which words imply that no plagues moue men to repentance if they doe not lay them to heart and consider of the causes and the conditions and euents of such things And as Gods chastisements for want of laying them to heart are without their fruit for which they are intended so wee may not expect that our owne chastisements should proue better No for we see that (a) Gen. 25. Esau fasted and his hunger made him sell away his birth-right and (b) Matt. 6. the Pharises fasted and their fasts made them swell with pride

But if it were decay of zeale in those former Christians that they ceased their Fasts before night then it must needs be an extinction of zeale in the Romane Church who breaketh her Fast at the vsuall time of eating or rather doth not keepe any Fast so long And now out of all this we haue in the generall this cleare and manifest conclusion That though no precise time for continuance is prescribed in Gods Word yet the continuance of a Fast without eating or drinking till euening which by common estimation is held to be about sixe of the clocke is approued of in Scriptures and was practised by the ancient Christians and commended of all and that the shortening of this time was from decay of deuotion And therefore if wee would take a safe way and that which is best approued of all we must continue our abstinence on our fasting dayes till night without eating or drinking till about euening vnlesse infirmity or some other necessary cause doe require refreshing sooner But more particularly we may from the former discourse gather and obserue these things following 1. Wee may see that the Fast of Protestants which is continued in perfect abstinence from all meate and drinke till the euening is more agreeable to the custome of Gods people in former ages and is in it selfe a better and more perfect Fast then the Fast of Papists is euen our Enemies being Iudges For they praise it for a better Fast which hath the longer abstinence and we fast till night whereas they doe not so much as forbeare eating till mid-day 2. We may see with how little God is contented at our hands in respect of that which Christ performed for our sakes For abstinence for the space of one day is accepted of God for a good dutie of humiliation but Christ our Lord fasted forty dayes and forty nights for the furthering of our saluation And yet whereas Christ performed all this for our sakes we think it too much to doe this little for his sake Nay as the Iewes were wearie of the Sabbath day and times of Gods seruice and said (a) Amos 8.5 When will the new-moone be gone and the Sabbath that we may set foorth wheat And againe (b) Mal. 1.13 Behold what a wearinesse is it say they And ye haue snuffed at it saith the Lord of Hosts So we may finde men that when they come to heare a Sermon are weary of hearing and wish that the Sermon were ended before the time and when they come to Church-Seruice are weary of praying and wish that the Seruice were ended before the time but especially if they vndertake an holy Fast are sooner wearie of the Abstinence and wish that the fasting day were ended before the time But a good Christian for discouering of his owne corruption should take notice of this inequality between Christs sufferings for our sakes and our suffering for his sake And if the flesh grow weary of hearing or reading or praying or fasting for a conuenient requisite time he should check himselfe with the example of his Sauiour and say to himselfe But my Lord and Master preached all day and prayed all night and fasted many dayes and nights together for my sake and shall I grudge to spend one houre or one day in his seruice for his Names sake The religious soule that shall thus now and then checke his owne dulnesse will by the meditation heereof gaine more feruour in Gods seruice CHAP. X. What we are to thinke of the Fast of Lent THe Church from the beginning hath been accustomed to keepe an annuall Fast euery yeere commonly called Ieiunium Quadragesimale the fortie dayes Fast because it was continued about that number of dayes and was occasioned by this forty dayes Fast of our Sauiour Concerning which Quadragesimal or forty dayes Fast known among vs by the name of Lent or Lent Fast haue bin diuers opinions of late yeeres as there were diuers customes in keeping of it in former times For some haue magnified it too superstitiously placing Religion in outward things onely wherein the power of godlinesse could not consist and others haue scrupulously condemned all vse of it thinking that it could neuer be well vsed which they had seene so much abused In respect of which difference of opinions as also and especially because it is so proper to the argument in hand and hath such reference to the words of the Euangelist which I tooke for my ground I thought it not vnfit in the last place to enquire into the nature condiof this Lent Fast that amidst different opinions we might know what to thinke For which purpose I haue proposed to my selfe these 5 things to bee more particularly considered of 1. Who was the Author of it and from whence the institution of it came 2. How and in what sort it was kept in the ancient Church 3. What good vses it then had or now may haue among vs. 4. Why choyce was made of this season of the yeere for this Fast 5. What relation and what dependance this forty dayes Fast of Lent hath on Christs Fast of forty dayes in the Wildernesse I. The first thing is Who was the Author of it c. Answ I finde three speciall opinions concerning this point 1. The first opinion is that the Fast of Lent is of Diuine institution either appointed immediately by Christ himselfe or else ordained by the Apostles with authority and by the commandement of their Lord and Master a Dominus noster sanctis suis Apost olis per Spiritū S. id etiam inspirauit vt disertis verbis huius abstinentiae praeceptum populo Christiano proponerēt Pisan de Absti cap. 9. pa. 138. v. Filesa de Quadrag ca. 1. Ant. Liturg. tom 2. Sabb. post Cineres pag. 117. c. Azor. p. 1. lib. 7. cap. 12. q. 1. Of this opinion are many Popish Writers and to this purpose some of the Fathers speeches are alledged but their meaning is not that which at first sight it may seeme to bee 2. The second opinion is that it is of Apostolicall but not Diuine institution They meane that the Apostles did ordaine Lent-Fast as beeing in their iudgements a wholesome and most conuenient order but not as being any commandement receiued from God or from Iesus Christ And of b Non fuit datū subsequentibus tēporibus sed ab ipsis Apostolis initio nascentis Ecclesiae c. Val. Reginal Prax. fori poenit l. 4. ca. 12. nu 129. p. 148. v. et Vas to 3. in 3. Disp 213. nu 4. pag. 444.2 Ioh. Medina Cod. de Ieiun quaest 2. pa. 328. Less de Iustit Iure l. 4. c. 2. Dubitat 5. num 29. seqq pa. 722.2 Filliuc Tract 27. part 2. ca. 5. nu 77 78. nu 95. Bell. de bo oper in partle l. 2. cap. 14. Stapl. prompt Cathol Domin 1. Quadrag p. 84 85. Tost Mat. 4. q. 18. Barrad to a. l. 2. c.