way but contented our selves with Prayers and some kind of Repentance without such Humiliations and chastening of our selves as our sins and our condition required CHAP. XIII Of Fasting-days particularly Wednesdays and Fridays THE Church of God therefore hath always set some time a part for Fasting as well as Prayer And thought it a duty of such continual use that it is not safe it should be long intermitted For mankind being subject frequently to run into sin it is but reason they should be frequently put in mind of calling themselves to an account and returning to him with sorrowful Humiliations for their faults And therefore it is a most ancient and no less wholsom Ordinance of the Church that we should from week to week assemble our selves for this end To search and try our ways and with Fasting and Prayer to turn unto the Lord that thereby we may turn away his wrath from us which otherways either in general or particular may fall upon us To except against this because there is no Divine commandment upon Record for it is very unreasonable For in the ancient Religion of the Jews there was no Precept given by their Law-giver for more Fasts than one throughout the whole Year which was that I named before on the great day of expiation and yet notwithstanding they held themselves obliged to observe many other Fasts upon set days in several months some of which are remembred in Scripture and approved by God though not prescribed by his particular Commandment Read vii Zach. 3 5. viii 19. where you will find that four Fasts in several months having been upon good reason ordained they durst not alter them though the reason seemed to be altered without a Divine direction which their Elders by whose authority they were first appointed desired to receive from the Prophet But it is most to my purpose to observe that there were also weekly as well as those monthly Fasts among that people which our Saviour found in use when he came and did not reprove no more than Prayer and paying of Tithes which the Pharisee mentions together therewith in xviii Luke 11 12. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself God I thank thee that I am not as other men c. I Fast twice in the week I give Tithes of all that I possess Which were all commendable things if his vanity had not made him glory in them and despise other people And therefore the Pharisees frequent Fasting is mentioned I observed before in other places of the Gospel together with that of John's Disciples who also Fasted oft without the least reflection upon them for it as if they were superstitious or did more than needed No our blessed Saviour rather approves of their strictness in this For he saith his Disciples should not be behind with them in Fasting hereafter though for the present there was a special reason why they did not practise it Of which speech of our Saviour I shall make considerable use presently when I have noted that the two days on which they Fasted every week were the second and the fifth that is our Munday and Thursday Which days no doubt were chosen because they had been of old days of Prayer which the devouter sort observed with Fasting also for such reasons as I have already named If we may give credit to Maimonides these days were appointed by Moses himself for solemn Assemblies which he knew could not with safety be long discontinued And therefore saith he Our Master Moses appointed Israel to read the Law at Morning Prayer upon the Sabbath day and upon the Second and the Fifth that they might not rest three days from hearing the Law Upon which days even they that dwelt in the Villages as Mr. Thorndike * Relig. Assemblies chap. viii further observes out of him were bound to assemble in the Synagogues though on the rest of the days in the week they did not tye them to it no more than they did to Fasting on those days with which the stricter and devouter sort of people observed them as not only the Gospel but their own Writers inform us Now these two days having been thus set apart from ancient time for Prayer and Fasting those pious Jews who became Christians could not think of being less Religious and devout under the Gospel than they had been under the Law and therefore still continued to observe two such days every week though not the very same For as instead of the Seventh which was the Jewish Sabbath they now kept the First day of the week as the principal time for their Assemblies so instead of the Second and the Fifth they chose the Fourth and the Sixth which are our Wednesdays and Fridays for the two other days on which they weekly held solemn Assemblies And for the very same reason it is likely for which Moses or the Elders chose the other because they were at the same convenient distance from the Lords day as Munday and Thursday were from the Jewish Sabbath and hereby it was provided that as Maimon speaks no three days passed without the more solemn sort of Assemblies Certain it is that there was no Church in Epiphanius his time which did not look upon these two days as the stated days for Fasting and Prayer Which he avows so confidently against the Aerians that he fears not to ask this question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. * Haeres lxxv n 6. Who is there that consents not in this throughout all the Climates of the world that the Fourth day and the day before the Sabbath i. e. the Sixth day are Fasts determined or appointed in the Church No body he knew durst contradict this challenge and undertake to shew the contrary which is the more remarkable because he represents them as set days by a setled Decree or Ordinance and that of the Apostles For so it follows that it was ordained by an Apostolical constitution all should Fast on those two days Which doth not seem to me so unlikely as it doth to some when I reflect upon those words of our Lord in answer to those that askt Why the Disciples of John and of the Pharisees Fasted oft but his did not Wherein as he no way condemns what either the one or the other did for that which was a vertue in John's Disciples could not be a crime in the Pharisees so he doth not go about to excuse his Disciples from the like obligation But plainly saith that though it was not fit for the present yet when he was gone from them they also should Fast in those days And I see no cause why we should not think that he means they should Fast as oft about which the question was as the other did Which being twice every week of which it is very reasonable to understand the often Fasting both of John's Disciples and of the Pharisees I cannot but conclude the Apostles also when our Saviour had left the World
authority which some slighted yea what revenge in inflicting punishments suitable to the offence By which word Revenge it is true and I will not in the least prevaricate in this Argument the best Interpreters and I believe rightly understand the punishment lately inflicted by the sentence of Excommunication pronounced against the Incestuous person according to the Apostles order Yet it is manifest I think that this Revenge was taken by the Church because the man did not take it on himself If he had been sadly afflicted if he had humbled himself by Fasting and Weeping and Mourning by confessing his Sin by confusion of face and all other signs of a true Penitent the Church had not proceeded to such a degree of severity against him as to deliver him up to Satan And such a Revenge whether injoyned by the Church or inflicted by a mans self the Apostle makes the fruit of a pious Sorrow That sharp Grief wherewith the Heart is wounded when it reflects upon its disobedience to a most Gracious Father those Stings which a mind conscious of such foul ingratitude feels in it self that shame that self-displicency and loathing which arises out of a serious sense of a mans offences work in him such a detestation of his former course of life that it will incline him by afflicting and punishing himself after such a manner as I have described to prevent the like again CHAP. VI. The Abuse of these Exercises ought not to hinder the Vse wherein a further account is given of them AND this course ought not to be laid aside because some have turned this just Revenge by inflicting punishments upon themselves for such ends as I have named into a proper satisfaction of the justice of God Which is the fault of the Church of Rome who by abusing many profitable things have made others throw them quite away To fansie any such satisfaction as they speak of which is variously explained by them and by some very injuriously unto our Lord Christ is to stretch the vertue of these things too far But if we therefore shall wholly reject them that will be to start aside as much the other way The Church of God in the purest times before the birth of those Errors which are comprehended under the Name of Popery most earnestly recommended and enjoyned such Afflictions of the Body without any design of satisfying the Divine Justice for their Sins yet with an intention to punish themselves for them in hope that God would graciously spare them and accept of their unfeigned Repentance of which these were the signs and tokens and also the beginnings of a new Life and the means to bring it to greater perfection The very Fast of Lent was anciently prolonged to that number of days of which it now consists for the benefit of the publick Penitents that were in the Church Who by such Humiliations as I have mentioned gave satisfaction to the Church which was another end of their Afflicting themselves and humbly begging their pardon promised hereafter to be better Christians and so prepared themselves to be reconciled and admitted to the Holy Communion at Easter It would be endless to recite all the passages we meet with in Ecclesiastical Writers concerning this matter that Penitents should by such Bodily Afflictions as have been often named take Revenge upon themselves for their former wickedness and undo what they had done before by doing just the contrary S. Chrysostom mentioning those words of John Baptist Bring forth therefore fruits meet for Repentance puts this question How may we thus fructifie And resolves it in this manner If we do directly contrary to our former Sins Hast thou stoln another mans Goods begin now to give away thine own Hast thou been a Fornicator abstain even from thy lawful Bed Hast thou wronged any one in words as well as deeds bless hereafter even those that curse thee do good to those who reproachfully use thee Such Revenge as this is very necessary for a wounded man as he adds must not only pull the Dart out of his Body but apply also suitable remedies to his Wound Hast thou therefore flowed in Luxury and in Drunkenness make a compensation for it by Fasting and Abstinence Hast thou cast impure Eyes upon anothers Beauty cover thy Eyes and hang down thy head being touched with a greater caution by the harm thou hast received And thus Tertullian long before him gives L. de Poenit. C. xi this brief admonition If thy Neighbour ask thee why thou defraudest thy self of thy Food and art so Afflicted c. tell him Deliqui in Deum c. I have offended God I am in danger to perish Eternally And therefore now I hang down my head for shame I macerate and excruciate my self that God whom I have injured by my sins may be reconciled to me c. Gregory the Great though much later than either of them hath left this excellent Gloss upon the words before-mentioned You must observe that the Friend of the Bridegroom he means John Baptist calls not only for fruits of Repentance but for fruits meet or worthy and becoming Repentance It being one thing to bring forth fruit another to bring forth meet or worthy fruit For you must know that he who hath not committed unlawful things may justly use those which are lawful But he that hath done unlawful things for instance hath faln into the guilt of Fornication or which is worse of Adultery he ought to deny himself even those that are lawful in proportion to the unlawful which he remembers he hath given himself the liberty to enjoy For there ought not to be equal fruits of Repentance from those who have offended little and from those who have offended much from those who since they have been devoted to God have led a regular life and from those who have been very extravagant but every one according as he hath broken his vow to God less or more with more or less expressions of Grief and Sorrow he ought to address himself to God for Mercy I will add only the words of S. Ambrose to a corrupted Virgin According to the weight of the guilt must be the greatness of the Repentance And therefore thou must not Repent in word only but in deeds Which may be thus done If thou settest before thine Eyes from what a great dignity thou art faln from what a Book of Life thy name is blotted out And so believest thy self to be just next door to utter darkness where there is endless weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth When thou hast represented this to thy self by Faith then since the Soul that sins is liable to be cast into Hell fire and there is no remedy after Baptism but only the comfort of Repentance be content to endure any Affliction any Labour any sordid usage of thy self if thou mayest but be delivered from Eternal pains And if thou wilt be guided by me be thou thy self the more cruel
the intemperance of our former life Which by this means we also begin to amend It being an act of self-denial and of no small consideration for therein we deprive our selves of those satisfactions which we naturally much desire and which we might also most lawfully enjoy Whereby likewise it is manifest we inure our selves to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ and are in a preparation to suffer for his Names sake which was another notion the Ancients had of it It helps also to keep under or beat down our Body and to bring it into subjection as S. Paul speaks 1 Corinth ix 27. Where in these terms he relates the discipline he exercised upon himself which Peter Martyr allows to be meant of his Fasting Whereby the flesh being subdued to the Spirit as it is in the Collect for the first Sunday in Lent which excellently explains the words of S. Paul we are disposed ever to obey his godly motions in righteousness and true holiness To which a pampered Body will not let us listen for it kicks against them and resists them And therefore its food is to be sometimes with-drawn as Provender is from a wanton Beast that being tamed it may become more pliable to our minds and they may with less opposition be brought to submit Body and Soul unto the holy instructions of the Word of God Which by the way S. Paul thought so necessary a piece of Christian discipline that he was afraid of being lost and rejected by God if it were neglected For that was the reason why he treated his Body severely lest when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast-away And therefore they are strangely confident people who fancy there is no need of such mortifications no danger from a Body full fed for which it is their only care to provide the best they can but never to beat down They in effect make themselves more spiritual than S. Paul for whom if they had a due reverence they would not be high-minded but fear and after his example use such abstinence that their Body grow not unruly and thereby indanger their Salvation Unto which Fasting if rightly used contributes so much that it serves to ends quite contrary to those of Humiliation Abasement and Affliction For by bringing the Body into subjection it helps to raise our minds to Heavenly thoughts for which all men find themselves most fit not when they are full but when they are fasting And that it was anciently lookt upon as a help to Prayer this is a convincing argument that the Jews were wont upon their Sabbaths to Eat and Drink nothing till the Divine Service was over in the morning By which S. Peter satisfies them that he and the rest of the Apostles could not be thought Drunk on the day of Pentecost as some mockers said they were when they heard them speak various Languages since it was but the third hour of the day that is nine a clock in the Morning ii Acts 15. As much as to say Divine Service was not yet begun and therefore they must suppose them Fasting unless contrary to their known behaviour they would judge them to have no sense of Religion Upon which score Christians have been wont to Fast especially before the Holy Communion partly out of reverence to God who they thought ought to be served before themselves and partly to fit them for Meditation and Prayer wherein they were more easily lifted up above when their Bodies were empty and their Minds full For they thought that Prayers were fed as Tertullian's phrase is and nourished by Fasting which offers unto God as he also loves to speak the fattest Sacrifice And as it is an help to Prayer so a means also to make it effectual when Fasting is an act of true Humiliation and Repentance Which is the cause that we seldom read of Fasting but as a concomitant of Prayer Among other places read viii Ezra 21 23. iii. Jonah 5. 8. and v. Luke 33. which seems to be our Saviours meaning when he tells his Disciples that some Devils could not be cast out but by Prayer and Fasting xvii Matth. 20 21. That is it was a work which required great intention of Mind in Prayer to God and a strong Faith in him in which they were defective unto which Fasting helps to raise the Mind by withdrawing it from care of the Body unto which while we deny all manner of support we are made more sensible of our intire dependance on God alone To whom it is most unseemly to sue for mercy if we our selves show no mercy unto others Unto which Fasting both disposes and inables us For it makes us sensible of the miseries of poor hungry wretches and furnishes us with as much to give them as we spare from our selves Which was one use that good people heretofore made of Fasting as we may gather from those places where Alms are joyned together with it and with Prayer The story of Cornelius is well known x. Acts 30 31. where he relates how an Angel appeared to him on a Fasting-day testifying how acceptable the Prayers and the Alms were which he then offered unto God With which agrees the History of Tobias who when he sent away his Son into Media with many good instructions inlarges most of all upon Alms-giving iv Tob. 7 8 9 10 11. Which the Angel at his return teaches them both is to be joyned with the two forenamed duties xii 7 8. Prayer is good with Fasting and Alms and Righteousness that is other works of mercy a little with Righteousness is better than much with Vnrighteousness It is better to give Alms than to lay up Gold For Alms doth deliver from Death and shall purge away all Sin c. Nor were the Heathens utterly unacquainted with this practice of forbearing food themselves that they might be able to help their Neighbours For when the City of Tarentum was Aelian Var. Hist L. v. cap. 20. in great distress and in danger to perish or to be taken by Famine they of Rheginum made a Decree that they would Fast every Tenth day and send that Victuals to the relief of the Tarentines who being hereby preserved gratefully commemorated their deliverance by instituting a Festival called FASTING And now who sees not in conclusion that Fasting is every way a means to obtain favour with God for the averting of his anger from our selves or from the Nation where we live For if Humiliation if Repentance and amendment of Life if earnest Prayer if acts of Mercy to others be the way to prevail with God for mercy to our selves then Fasting which contributes to all these must needs be of great efficacy for this purpose And this perhaps may be the reason why we have not found relief when we or others were afflicted nor have prevailed for the turning away those evils which at any time threatned us because we did not seek what we desired in this
observed weekly two such solemn days And so by their practice and example at least set apart and determined the times forementioned for Fasting and Prayer For why should we think of any other two days than those which the Church in future times observed every where with such uniformity that they could find no other Original of it but the Apostolical Ordinance Thus Socrates writes in particular of the Church of Alexandria what Epiphanius saith of the Church in general that L. v. Hist Eccles c. 22. it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ancient Custom or a custom from the beginning of our Religion there to meet on the Fourth and Sixth days of the week for to hear the Scriptures read and expounded by the Doctors and to do all other things belonging to an Assembly excepting the celebration of the Eucharist which it seems was omitted there though not in other places on those days as unsuitable to a Fast and that Origen taught upon those two days a great part of what he left written in that Church Clemens of Alexandria also mentions these days long before him and I do not see of what other days Caecilius can be understood when he objects in Minutius Foelix to the Christians their solennia jejunia as dangerous tokens of a conspiracy among them For it is plain by those words that they held solemn Assemblies on certain days for Fasting as well as Prayer and that they returned often and great numbers met together or else they could not have been held dangerous to the Government These were the famous station days so much spoken of by the ancient Christians on which they continued longer in the Church than ordinary the Divine Offices being prolonged beyond the ordinary time and thence they had the name of Stations To be short if this be allowed which seems to be a probable truth that the Apostles afterward though not while our Saviour lived Fasted as oft as John's Disciples and the Pharisees had done before which was no less than twice every week There can be no other days reasonably thought of for this purpose than those which the Church in following Ages observed And there is the greater reason to judge this a probable truth because the Apostles observed other pious customs of the Jews of not Eating for instance before Morning Prayer was over as I before observed Which may well incline a considering man to think they likewise conformed themselves to this of Fasting as often in a week as John's Disciples and other strict persons had done which was no less commendable than the usage of Fasting till the end of Divine Service on the Sabbath days in the morning And then I can see no incongruity in it but it rather accords with the practice of Religious people heretofore if we think these to have been the times on which the Apostle advises Husbands and Wives to forbear one anothers company that they might give themselves to Fasting and Prayer 1 Cor. vii 5. Which Peter Martyr is of opinion * In Cap. xx Judic p. 172. the Apostle meant concerning publick Fasting and publick Prayer And as the Widow Anna is said to have served God many years with Fasting and Prayers night and day ii Luke 37. which I think ought to be understood of the weekly Fasts which Religious people then observed So the same Peter Martyr thinks it reasonable thus to understand the Apostle 1 Tim. v. 5. where he speaks of a Widow indeed whose description is that she continueth in supplications with Fastings saith he and Prayers night and day Upon those days as I take it which were then observed in the Christian Church answerable to those in the Jewish And why should we not think it was upon one of these days that the Church met together as we read xiii Acts 2 3. and ministred to the Lord and Fasted and Prayed For the very distresses in which the Church was required then as frequent Fasting as ever There is little doubt but the Fast here spoken of was upon a solemn day of Divine Service which is sufficiently implied in those words as they ministred to the Lord and in those that follow when they had Prayed Now on the Sabbath it was utterly unlawful to Fast and they abhorred from it as the Christians afterward did from Fasting on the Lord's day And therefore I conclude it was upon one of the weekly solemn Prayer-days then in use in the Christian Church as formerly in the Jewish For what reason is there to question that when any extraordinary case called for a special Fast as now the separating Barnabas and Saul for a great work did and as in pressing dangers the Bishops of the Church appointed extraordinary Fasts that Fast was still held upon those very days which then they commanded to be observed with more than usual strictness For thus all Fasts appointed among the Jews upon special occasions were in order to fall as Mr. Thorndike observes in the Chapter before named upon the usual days of Fasting which were every week observed in a lower degree but upon those extraordinary occasions were observed with greater severity and therefore it is reasonable to think the Christian Fasts of the like kind were kept on the usual days either Wednesday or Friday or rather both only with the greater solemnity However that place and another in the next Chapter xiv Acts 23. are plain evidences of their Fasting before Ordinations or setting persons a part for a special Ministry And upon them is justly founded the Fasts of the four Seasons called Ember-weeks before Orders are given in our Church all solemn and great things being always undertaken by such preparations Insomuch that S. Hierom in his Prologus to S. Matthew's Gospel saith that S. John being desired by the Churches to write his Gospel against Ebion and Cerinthus who denied Christ's Divine Nature told them he would do it si Ecclesia tota publicè antea jejunasset if the whole Church would first keep a publick Fast before he went about it Which is affirmed also by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History To conclude this Chapter all Christians have so generally observed some set times of Fasting which was wholly rejected only by the Gnosticks who condemned Epist Haeres xxvi n. 5. demned all Fasting nay cursed it as disagreeable to their Beastly life that those odd people who loving to be singular and cross to the customs of the Church would not observe the two usual Fasts on Wednesdays and Fridays yet Fasted on other days as Marcion and his Disciples on Saturdays and the Aerians on the Lord's day who also Fasted on Wednesday but of their own accord not in obedience to the Churches Constitutions So Epiphanius informs us out of whom I have all this * Haeres xlii n. 3. Haeres lxxv n. 3. And now that I mention the Saturday Fast it will be fit to take notice that the Church of Rome now hath and anciently
had a custom of Fasting on that day But as Epiphanius condemns this as one of Marcion's Errors that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he Fasted on the Sabbath that is Saturday So Petavius ingenuously acknowledges what his great Learning could not but know that this was contrary to the Custom of the Eastern Church in which that day was a long time honoured as a Festival And he should have added that this custom of Fasting on Saturday was so far from being universal in the Western Church that it did not of a long time prevail in all the Churches of Italy For it is commonly known that in S. Ambrose's days they did not Fast at Milan upon that day which the Mother of S. Austin wondering at when she came thither had this Answer returned to the enquiry her Son made of the reason of it from S. Ambrose When I am at Rome I Fast on Saturdays because they do so there but when I return to Milan I do not Fast on that day because they do not so here An admirable resolution of doubts of this nature importing that we should conform to the customs of the Church where we live without condemning the customs of other Churches For all were founded at first it is likely upon some great reason peculiar to that Church wherein it differs from others and if S. Austin's information be right there was a weighty cause for what they did at Rome For he saith in his Epistle to Cassulanus the Original of the Saturday Fast there was that when S. Peter entered the Lists with Simon Magus upon a Lord's day at Rome the Church appointed a Fast the day before which was observed there ever after But when one Vrbicus contended vehemently for the necessity of this Saturdays Fast as if there were a Divine Law for it S. Austin most resolutely opposed him and denied any such obligation as may be seen in his LXXXVI Epistle But my intention is not to engage in any controversies but plainly to instruct our People in their Christian duty which is to observe the Ordinances of the Church whereof they are members Which make Wednesdays and Fridays days of solemn Supplication as anciently they were and all the Fridays in the Year except Christmas-day to be also one of the days of Fasting or Abstinence CHAP. XIV Satisfaction to some Exceptions IT is now a shame or should be so to mention the stale Objections of Mr. Cartwright and others against this Doctrine which have been often baffled That God in the fourth Commandment gave men liberty to work six days which none can restrain and that the Apostle condemns the Churches of Galatia for observing Days and Months and Times and Years iv Gal. 10. But since some are still so weak as to insist upon such trivial exceptions I shall in a few words tell the Reader what he is to answer when he meets with them To the first it may be replied That the Jews to whom that Precept was given did not understand it to give them such an unbounded liberty that none could appoint any of the six days to be imployed otherwise than in labour For then Esther did very ill in commanding a three days Fast when the exigence of their affairs required it Nay they who make this Exception have no such sense of that Commandment and therefore they do very ill to mention it for they themselves set apart any day as they please for Prayer and Humiliation or Thanksgiving And when they had power required others so to do Which is utterly unlawful if the fourth Commandment have any such meaning as they imagine which must lead them at last to affirm that labour is commanded on all days but one directly against their own frequent practice As for the other there is nothing more certain and more universally acknowledged by all Christians than that it belongs wholly to the keeping of the Jewish solemnities to which Christians were so far from having any obligation that they who thought they had from an opinion that the Mosaical Law was still in force did in that overthrow Christianity and go back to Judaism This is apparent from the scope of the Apostles discourse as well as from the account which the ancient Writers of Christianity * Vid. Socratis Histor L. v. c. 22. have given us of their sense about it such S. Hierom and S. Austin The former of which in his Comments on this place mentions the Fasts and Assemblies on certain days among Christians as wisely appointed for those who spend more time in the World than with God and either cannot or will not Assemble with the Church every day That on those solemn days at least they might sequester themselves a while from secular imployments and bestow some time on the Service of God Their Exceptions are far more considerable who say they cannot Fast without great prejudice to their health or without indisposing them for God's Service But they may be easily and briefly answered For as to those who say their health is hereby prejudiced if they be certain of it the Church never intended to oblige them by its Laws about Fasting which are designed as all its Ordinances are for the good not for the hurt of all its Children But in this let them use an upright judgment and they need trouble themselves no further Only let them consider it will not prejudice their health to come to the Prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays and therefore I hope they will make a Conscience of that and to use some Abstinence also on those days will in all likelihood contribute much unto their health As for the other they may be soon satisfied also that if Fasting do not promote the Religious ends for which it was ordained it must be let alone And one great end is Prayer as hath been said for which if it make men unfit by raising Vapours and Clouds they must take some moderate refreshment But this supposes still that they will frequent the Prayers of which let them be careful and beg of God to accept of such Humiliations as they are able to make before him Some pretend that other Reformed Churches have no set days of Fasting but only Fast as occasion requires nay some of their Divines have spoken against such days To which it may be replied That Luther the very first Reformer acknowledges two kinds of Fasts to be laudable in a Sermon of his on the Sunday next to christmas-Christmas-day one a Civil Fast appointed by the Magistrate at certain times which is a profitable and necessary Ordinance that all things be not consumed by Luxury and Riot The other Spiritual to be observed by all Christians And it would be very well Si aliquot diebus ante Festum Paschatis Pentecostis Nativitatis Domini communiter servaremus c. If we did all keep some such days before the Feast of Easter and Whitsuntide and the Nativity of our Lord with this caution only that we
do not think we merit any thing of God by our Fastings Melancthon's sence is so commonly known that I shall not set down his words which may be found in Mr. Thorndike * Relig. Assem p. 286. for not only Cassander but Pererius also in his Comment upon xiv of the Romans acknowledge his opinion to be That Fasting and the observation of things indifferent may be profitable and conduce to Gods worship not immediately indeed but mediately for by Fasting a man is made more fit to pour out Prayers in which consists the Worship of God Peter Martyr also resolves the question whether men be bound to obey when Princes or the Church appoint Fasts in these peremptory words * In Lib. Judic c. xx p. 173. Astringuntur sanè lege fidei atque obedientia They are bound certainly both by the law of Faith and by Obedience For when Fasts are propounded consonant to Gods Word how can he who believes in God decline them He cannot Only it is to be understood that they are bound who are able For if any body be disabled by his Age by Sickness or by Labours in these cases that which the Holy Scriptures say must take place I WILL HAVE MERCY NOT SACRIFICE Which is an excellent resolution for those scruples I mentioned before to govern themselves by who being really infirm are no more under this Law while they continue so than little Children Women with Child and Aged persons who need frequent refreshment And thus whole Churches have resolved as Cassander acknowledges out of the Confession of Saxony in which they declared their willingness to observe the set Fasts and other such like Traditions provided no opinion of merit were placed in such observances c. And the Bohemian Confession expresly consents That such Rites and Ceremonies ought to be retained which do advantage Faith the worship of God Peace and Order whosoever they had for their Author whether Synod Pope Bishop or any other And if any particular Doctor hath decried such things it hath been in opposition to the superstitious observance of them the opinion of merit satisfaction and such like conceits with which too many minds were infected And so the Divines of the Roman Church have not been sparing of such kind of Censures Pererius in particular a Learned Jesuit in his Comments on the first of Daniel takes notice of a sort of Fasting in these days which many affect upon a perverse account as his words are They either thinking the summ of Christian perfection to consist in the service of Abstinence alone or thereby hunting after the praise of men c. or having so little prudence that they extend their Fastings beyond measure to the great hindrance that is and damage of far better and more profitable things I will end this Part of my Discourse with the Declaration which Zanchy makes in his own and his Brethrens Name to satisfie those who objected to them the laying aside of the Fast of Lent They cannot justly accuse us saith he that we condemn the Quadragesima i. e. the Fast of Lent which is so ancient in the Church and by the Holy Fathers received and approved We do not condemn that Lent Fast which the ancient Fathers observed without Superstition but and so he goes on to show it is only Novel Superstitious and dangerous conceits of Satisfaction and Merit and the worship of God unto which it was abused that they rejected Thus he concludes his Discourse which he intitles De peculiari quadragesimalis Tome iv p. 694. in quartum praeceptum temporis sanctificatione Which in the beginning also he states after this manner that Preachers might rightly instruct their People Our judgment is that a difference ought to be made between the first Institution of this Season and that which followed after PART III. OF THE LENT FAST CHAP. XV. Of the Antiquity of the Lent or Spring Fast IT is the Confession of that Learned Divine now mentioned That there is no man unless he be altogether unskilful in Histories and never saw the ancient Fathers who doth not acknowledge the observation of this time of Lent to be most Ancient For Telesphorus who was the Seventh Bishop of the Roman Church and Martyr about the Year of our Lord 139. makes mention of it as observed in the Church before his time And indeed it is so ancient that there is no beginning to be found of it which hath moved many to run it up to the very Apostolical times nay to the Apostles themselves For which there is more reason perhaps than now is commonly acknowledged For if we consider that the first Converts to Christianity were from among the pious Jews by whom it was propagated to the rest of the World which is so clear in the Holy Story that it cannot be denied and that those devout people had been accustomed by the discipline of John Baptist who came to prepare men for Christ to Fast often that is twice a week it is most likely upon the days of their more solemn Assemblies according to the ancient practice of the stricter sort of that Nation we may very well suppose as hath been already said that when they became Christians they did not become less devout but still continued only upon other days to keep such solemn times of Prayer with Fasting every Week And why we should exempt the Apostles when they were in any setled place out of the number of those whose practice this was I cannot imagine but rather think they were exemplary to others herein being in Fastings often as I noted above and by this approving themselves the Ministers of God who did not pamper their Bodies but bring them under that their minds might be more fit for Meditation and Prayer and the illuminations of the Holy Ghost Which being as likely as any thing that is not expresly Recorded it is no less likely that when those usual days of Fasting came in the course of the Year to be the very days on which our Lord was betrayed and suffered the Apostles themselves observed them together with the day on which he lay in his Grave if not all that week before the memory of his Resurrection from the Dead with a more than ordinary solemnity both for Fasting and Prayer And this might be the meaning of those who at first said That the Lent Fast meaning the solemn Fast before Easter was of Apostolical Institution because founded upon their practice and example Among whom I have reason to reckon S. Austin who expresly Epist 86. ad Cassulanum saith in his Disputation against Vrbicus before mentioned that though he found Precepts for Fasting yet on what days men should not Fast and on what they ought he did not find determined by any Precept of Christ or his Apostles And therefore where he saith this Fast was ordained by them he can mean by their example only Which Bellarmin himself saw to be so apparent that he
acknowledges when L. 2. de bonis oper c. 14. not only he but S. Ambrose and S. Hierom say the Lenten Fast was ordained by our Lord they mean not by his Precept but by his Example Now this example of the Apostles was so prevalent that there needed not so much as an Ecclesiastical Constitution for this Fast from whence others derive it but all for a long time easily followed such great patterns of devotion I say all for no Church can be found wherein a solemn Fast before Easter was not observed which is a strong argument to prove it derived it self from such a beginning as I have mentioned for otherwise it cannot be conceived how it should prevail universally in all Countries where the Name of Christ was preached As it is plain it did by the eldest Records we have of the Church which I shall not here set down at large because it is besides my purpose and as many as are sufficient I shall have occasion to mention in what follows CHAP. XVI Of the Variety in its Observation THE Reader may take notice that I have hitherto mentioned only a solemn Fast before Easter which S. Clement calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Paschal Fast not yet determining the length of it but affirming that it was observed more or less from the very beginning I say more or less because it cannot be denied that there was great variety in the length of it For Irenaeus as it is commonly known writing to Victor Bishop of Rome about the difference there was in the time of observing Easter saith there was also a difference in the observation of the Fast before it Some supposing they ought to Fast one day some two others more for some he saith extended it to forty and Euseb L. v. c. 24. reckoned their day by the hours of day and night that is Fasted from Evening to Evening Which words some contend relate only to the Fast in the week before Easter as the first part of them do but the whole cannot unless we understand forty not of days but only of hours Which is against the foregoing words in which he speaks of days and against the ancient reading which Ruffinus followed who Translates the words to the same sence that I have done And his Translation is from more ancient Greek Copies than any of those which some are pleased now to follow and is confirmed by Jo. Christophorson and Sir Henry Savil who read and distinguish the words in the same manner Which things I have briefly touched to show that whatsoever variety there was it is still a confession of a Fast before Easter distinct from all other In that there was no variety but all observed the Fast as much as they did Easter that is the memory of our Lord's Resurrection And Irenaeus saith that this variety did no begin in his Age but as his words are long before us with our Ancestors So it is evident from thence that the Fast was not a new thing but come down to them from times long before them that is from the Apostles This if fairly considered might help to settle all the controversies which are about this Fast of Lent Which many have taken a great deal of pains to prove is not an Apostolical Constitution nor so ancient as their days But none of their arguments prove any more than this that the Fast of forty days length doth not derive it self from their Ordinance or Example For they are of no force at all to prove that the Paschal Fast that is a Solemn time for Fasting and Prayer and such holy duties before Easter of more or fewer days as the devotion of Christians inclined them doth not proceed from Apostolical Example And if this were agreed it would help to give us a right understanding in all the rest For when the Fast came to be generally extended to the length of forty days and so received and observed in the Church which the forenamed Zanchy saith it appeared to him was non it a multò post Apostolorum tempora not very long after the Apostles times that may be truly thought to be only by an Ecclesiastical Constitution And so S. Austin expresly resolves that those forty days before Easter should be observed Ecclesiae consensio roboravit the consent of the Church hath established Which being thus setled and confirmed so long ago I cannot understand why any body should now go about to overthrow it but rather imploy their pains and learning in showing how it was and how it ought now to be observed In which I cannot but commend the Wisdom and Piety of the forenamed Zanchius who looks upon these forty days before Easter as Tempus ex pia veteris Ecclesiae Ordinatione continuatum Ib. in quartum praecept p. 696. c. a time continued and extended to this length by the pious Ordinance of the ancient Church in which the faithful are more diligently than at any other time excited to Repentance both by Fastings and by Prayers and by hearing Gods Word and by other pious exercises I suppose he means giving Alms more liberally admonishing one another and such like whereby they are prepared the more worthily to partake of the Holy Communion at Easter And if any one saith he thus define the forty days Fast who is there that can justly dislike it None but those certainly who love to live licentiously without any bridle or those whom prejudice makes inconsiderate and will not let them understand the meaning and intention of the Church in this Institution Which was not to tye every one to Fast the whole forty days but to imploy themselves all that time in some or other of the forenamed holy Exercises with more than ordinary strictness and as many of those days as they could bear in Fasting For as there was variety before so there was after the Fast was determined to forty days in which some Fasted more some fewer days as may be clearly proved For if Dionysius of Alexandria * Biblioth Patrum Tom. 1. p. 308. say true about the year 255. of the six days before Easter which were the severest part of the Fast and S. Basil in his time calls the five days of Fasting desiring his Auditors to keep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a five days truce with their mouth * Orat. 1. de jejunio that all did not Fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equally and alike But some continued to Fast all the six days others only fasted two days others three others four and some none at all Then we may well suppose the rest of the forty days before-going were not kept by all with the like strictness but some fasted more days some fewer and some were not able to bear any Fast at all But besides this inference which may be drawn from his words we have express testimony that they were observed variously as men could bear For S. Chrysostom I observe Hom. xvi ad
nothing but Bread and Water and Salt which was called dry diet and was proper to those six days as we read in Epiphanius * Haeres lxxv n. 6. In two of which days just before Easter some Eat nothing at all In the rest of the Lent some would Eat only Fish others allowed themselves also Birds because of the same Nature they thought with Fish being made out of the Water as Moses testifies But others forbore all Fish likewise as well as Flesh which was the custom of the Greeks Yet the famous Monks of Mount Athos would Eat Oisters because they had no bloud in them Some contented themselves with Eggs and Fruit others forbore both and lived upon Bread and Herbs and Roots And S. Hierom saith there were some who would not so much as Eat a bit of Bread which Socrates also testifies But in this variety they all agreed in one thing which was to Eat nothing at all until the Evening and then such Food only as was least delicate not confining themselves to any particular thing but as their Bodies would bear No man pretended to Fast if he Eat a Dinner though it were of Fish only or any other less nourishing thing And though on other Fasts they broke them at Three a Clock in the Afternoon they did not take that liberty in the Lent Fasts but continued them as I said till night At which time also they did not indulge themselves the best fare of any sort whatsoever but contented themselves with the meanest which they used also with much moderation Socrates indeed saith that some fasted only till the Ninth hour which is our Three of the Clock but they were very few if we will believe all other ancient Writers In short they fasted all day and used Abstinence at night Out of all the Records of the Church which speak of this I shall select only a passage out of S. Austin which most lively describes the true sort of Abstinence and reproves the false It is in his Books about the Manners of the Catholick Church compared with L. 2. cap. 13. those of the Manichees Where speaking of the great Abstinence to which the Manichees pretended he puts this Query to them If there be a man to be found as there may who is so moderate that he doth not Eat twice in one day and at Supper with a little Bacon hath only a dish of Herbs ointed and seasoned with the same Lard served up to him sufficient to suppress his hunger quenching his thirst also for his health sake with two or three draughts of diluted Wine and this is his daily diet On the other side there is one who tastes no Flesh nor drinks a drop of Wine but hath exquisite and far-fetcht foreign Fruits of the Earth with Mushrooms and such like things set before him in variety of dishes and sprinkled with good store of Spice at Three of the Clock in the Afternoon and Eats also a good Supper of the same things at the beginning of Night drinking therewith Mede and Cyder and other good Liquors like enough to Wine and excelling it in sweetness and that not merely to quench thirst but as much as he list for his pleasure Which of these two as to Eating and Drinking do you judge to be most Abstemious I do not think you so very blind but you see that the latter is a Glutton in comparison with the former And what can be more mad than to say that he who fills his Belly even to belching with all manner of pleasant things save only Flesh-meat and Wine hath kept the rule of Sanctity but that the other who Eats only so much of the vilest food seasoned with a little smoaky Lard as will suffice for the refection of his Body with three cups of Wine merely for the support of health is prepared for certain punishment Thus that great man whose words I have endeavoured to contract a little represents as I take it the practice of the Catholicks in their Fastings By which we may make a just judgment of our own in these days and not deceive our selves with a dangerous opinion that we have performed this duty when we have only changed our diet not forborn our Dinners or if we have crambed our selves with delightful Suppers This is not only against all ancient practice and the repeated admonitions of the Holy Fathers but is still condemned by good men in all Churches Particularly by Lindanus an Panopliae L. 3. C. xi excellent Writer in the Roman Church in the last Age whose words I shall not translate at large but only observe in short that he sadly bewails the state of the Catholick Church in which the shadow only of Fasting is left As for those that cannot possibly Fast so long it never was the intention of the Church to oblige them but they were anciently exhorted as appears by S. Chrysostom whose discourse on this Subject I shall produce anon to take some refreshment But then it was only to support their Spirits from fainting and they all humbled themselves before God with Supplications and Prayers especially upon the most solemn days of Prayer and bewailed those sinners which now did open Penance and beseeched God to give them true Repentance and endeavoured to perfect their own and gave Alms to the Poor and spent more time than ordinary in reading and hearing God's Holy Word in which and such like holy Exercises both one and other passed this time of Lent satisfying themselves with these Spiritual pleasures while they denied their appetites in bodily delights That is they that could not Fast took care notwithstanding to perform all those Christian duties which it is the very design and end of Fasting to help and promote CHAP. XVIII The great Vsefulness thereof AND now who sees not the reasonableness of this Observance and the great benefit we may receive thereby If instead of contending about it for which thus understood I can see no ground we would all set our selves to make the best use we can of what the Church hath piously ordained and for many Ages profitably practised I do not know how it appears to others but it seems very strange to me that what the Church had strengthened and confirmed by an unanimous consent in S. Austin's time should find any dissenters from it in these days And yet I fear there are some I wish they be not many who scarce observe Good-Friday that is the day of our Saviour's Passion with any of that strictness which I have mentioned but Eat and Drink and do all other things as upon the rest of the days of the year A thing never heard of in the Church of Christ till these later days which among other scandals affords matter for the lamentations of the best Men and Women among us during the Lenten season especially upon that Great and Solemn day when by common consent Christians anciently made a Conscience of fasting strictly And they who