seeing S. Paul willed the Corinthians to giue no offence neither to the Jewes nor to the Grecians nor to the Church of God I can not chuse but beléeue and say that it is a sinne wilfully and without cause to breake and despise set dayes and times of Abstinence and fasting cōmanded by Authorite and this shall bee proued vnto you by 6. speciall arguments 1. By the fift Commandement 2. By the testimony of S. Paul Rom. 13. 1. 3. By the definition of Sinne. 4. By Examples 5. By the Ancient Fathers 6. By generall Councels This is proued by the fift Commandement In the 5. Commandement which is the first Commandement of the second Table we are commanded to honour our Parents where by honour is meant loue feare and obedience and by our Parents not onely our naturall Parents but all Kings Princes Gouernours and Superiours which doe rule vs. Well then if we wilfully breake and despise set dayes and times of Abstinence and fasting commaunded by Authoritie we doe not honour our Superiors If wee doe not honour our Superiors we breake this Commaundement If wee breake this Commandement I hope none will deny but we sinne This is proued by the testimony of S. Paul Rom. 13. 1. where the Apostle saith Let euery soule be subiect to the higher power Why because there is no power but of God We must not saith he resist the power for if we resist the power we resist the ordinance of God They that resist what shall they receiue They shall receiue to themselues iudgement Heerehence I frame this argument Whosoeuer doeth resist the power doth resist the ordinance of God But they that wilfullie breake and despise set daies and times of abstinence and fasting commanded by Authoritie doe resist the power Therefore they doe resist the ordinance of God If therein they doe resist the ordinance of God who can deny but that they sinne This is proued by the definition of sinne To sinne as S. Austen saith is facere quod non licet to do that which is not lawfull to doe Héerehence I drawe this argument Whosoeuer doe that which is not lawfull doe sinne but they which wilfully breake and despise set daies and times of Abstinence and fasting commanded by Authoritie doe that which is not lawfull therefore they doe sinne This is proued by Examples Adam in Paradise was commanded Gen. 2. 17. of the Lord not to eate of the tree of knowledge of good and euill If hee did hee should die the death Aarons sonnes were commanded Leuit. 10. 9 of the Lord not to drinke wine nor strong drinke in their ministerie which commandement because they brake they were slaine The man of God that came out 1. Reg. 13. of Iuda was slaine by a Lion because being seduced by the false Prophet hee did eate bread and dranke water in his house contrary to the Lords Commandement Saul would haue put his sonne 1 Sam 14. Ionathan to death because ignorantly he tooke a little honny contrary to his commandement If Adam Aarons sonnes and the Prophet of God were punished of the Lord for their not abstinence and if Ionathan was in so great danger for breaking his fathers commandement in eating a little honny Is it not a sinne before God for vs wilfully to breake and to despise set daies and times of Abstinence and fasting commanded by Authoritie seeing wee are commanded of the Lord to submit our selues to our Princes ordinances and bound in conscience truely and vnfeinedly to obey them Let vs yet goe further The noble kings Ezekias Iehosaphat and Iosias made lawes for the exercise and the recalling of Gods seruice That Christian and religious Emperor Constantine made lawes also in things pertaining to holinesse towards God and towards his Church Theodosius his successour tooke the same course King Alured or Alfred appointed and commanded set daies and times of Abstinence and fasting And so did king Edgar Anno Dom. 958. Had it beene a sinne for people in those daies to haue broken these their Princes lawes and ordinances wilfully wantonly and without cause and shall we thinke that it is not a sinne for vs in these daies to doe the like This is proued by the testimony of the ancient fathers Most certaine and assured it is that Austen Ambrose and other of the ancient fathers were of this mind and thought it a sinne wilfully to break and to despise set daies and times of Abstinence and fasting commanded by Authoritie S. Austen de temp Ser. 62. calleth them new teachers that shut out the merite of fasting and asketh what saluation we can obtaine if we blot not out our sinnes by fasting séeing saith hee the Scripture saith that fasting and almesdeeds doeth deliuer from sinne Alijs diebus ieiunare saith he remedium est aut praemium c. To fast on other daies is a remedie or reward but not to fast in Lent is a sinne S. Ambr. in ser 25. de Quadrag saith thus among many other things Non leue est peccatum Jt is no small sinne to breake a fast that is commanded Although these two ancient fathers had their errors and in some sort thought corruptly of fasting yet I will say of them and of their opinion concerning fasting as reuerend master Hooker saith lib. 5. Eccle. pol. lib. 5. pag. 208. Ecclesiast Poliicie Concerning euery mans duety herein saith he that which Austen and Ambrose are alleadged to haue done is such that all men fauouring equitie must needs allow and follow it also if they affect peace Well then if according to master Hookers iudgement al men must néeds allow this opiniō of these two Fathers if they fauour equitie and affect peace then I hope I may say that it is a sinne wilfully and without cause to breake and to despise set daies and times of Abstinence and fasting commanded by Authoritie This is prooued by generall Councels and specially by that of Chalcedon held in the yeere of our Lord 454. to confound the errour of Eutiches who held that in Christ God and Man make but one Nature The Councell of Mentz vnder Canon 35. Charles the great made this decrêe Si quis indictum ieiunium super biendo contempserit c. If any one shall with pride contemne fasting commanded and will not obserue it with other Christians let him be accursed The like was established by the Councell of Carthage in their 63. Canon By the Councell of Laodicen in their 50. Canon and by the Councell of Toletan in their 7. Canon If those Councels thought them fit to bee accursed and excommunicate that would not obserue fasting commanded by Authoritie shall not wee thinke that they thought it a sinne in them that did wilfully breake and despise the same I might stand longer and much longer vpon this question but I will conclude it with the saying of the Apostle S. Peter say vnto you euen as the Apostle Peter said to the Jewes 1. Epist 2. 13
the words of the booke of the Law Hee wept with care with compunction and with contrition of heart for his sinnes and offences committed against the Lord euen as hee did in Psalm 6. 6. where he saith Euerie night wash I my bed and water my couch with my teares I wept saith Dauid being a Prophet a Prince and the seruant of the Lord. A thing not vnfitting nor vnseemely for a Prophet a Prince the seruant of the Lord in such a case Because such kind of waeping is a signe of true and heartie repentance It is the fruit of passion a token of a broken heart and as S. Basill saith the food of the soule And therefore the Lord himselfe saith by his Prophet Ioel 2. 12. Turne vnto me saith hee with all your heart and with Fasting and with weeping and with mourning And our Sauiour Christ himselfe saith Luke 6. 21. Blessed are yee that now weepe for ye shall laugh And the Apostle S. Iames saith to the wicked rich men Chap. 5. 1. Goe to now ye rich men weepe and howle for your miseries that shall come vpon you And chastened my selfe with fasting Insome translations I wept my soule fasted as it is in Psal 35. 13. Leuit. 23. 27. And as Apollinarius vpon this Psalme saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue broken or subdued my soule with the labours or sweates of fasting The Propher Dauid not onely wept and shewed his passion but chastened himselfe with fasting shewed his Mortification So did the Apostle S. Paul as he himselfe writeth 1. Cor. 9. 27. But I doe chasten and beate downe this my bodie and bring it into subiection why Lest when I haue Preached to others I my selfe should be reproued So did the Prophet Daniel as wee may read Cha. 10. 3. where he saith I was in heauinesse for three weeks of daies I ate no pleasant bread neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth So did that blessed Hilarion as S. Hierom writeth in his life who would say vnto his bodie thus as S. Hierom there relateth Ego Asine faciam te vt non calcitres O thou Asse said Hilarion to his bodie I will make thee that thou kicke not I will feed thee not with barlie but with chaff J will tyre thee with hunger J will load thee with great thrist I will bring thee ouer heats coldes that thou shalt rather thinke vpon thy meate than wantonnesse Wherewith did the Prophet Dauid chasten himself with fasting I wept and chastened my selfe with fasting So he did in Psalme 109. 23. where he saith My knees are weake through fasting my flesh is dried vp for lacke of fatnesse So did the children of Israel in the house of the Lord. Judg. 20. 26. So did Anna the daughter of Phanuel in the Temple of the Lord. Luke 2. 37. So Dauid and his men wept and fasted till euen for Saul and for Ionathan his sonne for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel because they were slaine with the sword 2. Sam. 1. 12. And so Dauid himselfe fasted praied and lay all night vpon the earth for the childs life 2. Samuel 12. 16. Some thinke that abstinence and fasting are one and the same because they are both imployed about the same matter and manie times the one is taken for the other And some thinke that to fast is nothing else but to liue soberly and conueniently to nature Abstinence euen as temperance doth bind euery man to keepe and obserue it For as it is not sit for any man at any time to liue intemperately so it is not meet for any mā to admit that which is against true abstinence because we ought to eate and drinke no more than reason willeth or necessitie of nature requireth Fasting doeth not bind all nor alwayes but some onely in their time and place For most certaine it is that our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles with many others both before and after them liued soberlie and conueniently to nature and yet they not alwayes fasted For if they had alwayes fasted our Sauiour Christ would neuer haue said The bridegroome Luke 3. 25. shall bee taken away from them and then shall they fast in those dayes And that was turned to my reproofe Here is the Construction Dauid was reproued for his wéeping and for chastening himselfe with fasting By whom By his enemies who would destroy him guiltlesse and were mightie Psal 69. 4. By his enemies who spake against him tested vpon him and being drunke made songs vpon him It hath not alwayes bene a fault but a fashion for wicked men to reprooue and reprehend vertue veritie in good men And therefore Iudas grudged at Mary Magdalen for breaking of the bore of ointment and for powring it on Jesus head Mark 14. 4. The Pharisees reproued Christs Disciples to his face for plucking the eares of Corne vpon the Sabbaoth day Matth. 12 1. And our Sauiour Christ himselfe was mocked scoffed at scorned scandalized reproched reproued and reuiled by the Jewes by the Scribes and others and told that he was a friend to Publicanes and sinners and that hee had in him Belzebub the prince of the Deuils Marke 3. 22. In the time of the heathen the Cynicke Diogenes despised all things the Philosopher Democritus laughed at all things the Philosopher Heraclitus wept at all things the Philosopher Aristotle thought hee knew all things and the carping god Momus blamed and reprooued all things Enuie and reproofe doe alwaies waite at vertues elbow For Isboseth shall neuer want a man in his owne campe Elah a seruant in his owne house and Dauid a sonne from his owne loines besides Achitophels Doegs and Shimees not onely to reproue him reprehend him but to worke treason and treacherie against him And therfore the Orator saith well in his first Paradoxe Ista omnia talia videmus We see all such things that also wicked men haue wealth and do hurt the good And the Prophet Dauid saith truly Psalm 11. 2. The vngodly bend their bowe and make readie their arrowes within their quiuer that they may priuily shoote at them which are true of heart Thus much of the Phrase The Matter as I said before is an Actiō of Dauid consisting of his Passiō and his Mortification a Cōstruction of that Action by others In the Actiō I haue thoght good to obserue these fiue particulars 1. What Fasting is 2. How manie sorts of Fasting there are 3. The effects of Fasting 4. The causes of fasting 5. The antiquitie dignitie and necessitie of Fasting In the Construction of the Action I haue thought good to obserue three Particulars and two Questions The 1. Particular what Lent is 2. By whom it was first ordained 3. To what end and purpose it was ordained The 1. Question Whether set daies and times of abstinence and fasting ought to bee commaunded by authoritie The other Question Whether it bee a sinne wilfully to breake and to despise
and 14. Submit your selues to all manner of ordinance of man c. But some peraduenture may say you haue spoken nothing of Imber Fasts and Fasts on Saints Eues What can you say of them are not they altogether idle superstitious and to bee abolished I pray you giue mee leaue and I wil speake somewhat of them also And 1. I will shew you why they were so called 2. By whom they were first ordained And 3. the occasion why they were ordained They were called Imber-daies vpon no other reason and occasiō but of eating bread baked vnder Imbers or ashes Whosoeuer doth say otherwise saies it either of malice or ignorance For the people vpon those dayes vsed to fast and to eate nothing but bread baked vnder Imbers Which they did for two causes First to pay vnto God at such times the tithes of their soules bodies in thanksgiuing for the fruites of the earth and the fruites of his grace Secondly that the holy Ghost might the more plenteously bee powred downe vpon them which receiue holy orders For the Sunday after these Imber-fasts and at no time els alwaies hath beene and yet still is the ordering of ministers by the Bishops Some refer the first institution of these Imber-fasts to Pope Vrbanus Some to Calixtus the 2. And some say that they were first confirmed in the Coūcel of Mentz held vnder Charles the great of which I spake but now for this intent that people vpon those daies should come to the Church should fast to the 9. houre and abstaine from flesh and all things els But most certaine it is that these Imber-fasts are most ancient haue béene most common and in all the Christian world most religiously obserued foure times of the yeere and therefore they are called Ieiunia quatuor temporū the fasts of the foure times because of the foure speciall turnings of the sun the first about the Spring Equinoctiall the second about the Summer Solstice the third about the Equinoctiall in Autumne and the 4. about the winter Solstice And vpon these three daies of the wêeke the Wensdaies the Fridaies and the Saterdaies because our Sauiour Christ was solde vpon a Wensday crucified vpon a Friday died vpon a Saterday and rested in his sepulcher These reasons haue beene alleadged heeretofore for the institution and obseruation of these Jmber-fasts The eues of Saints-daies are called in Latine Vigiliae which is watchings because in the time of the Apostles and alōg time after watchings prayers and almes-déeds were accustomed to be ioyned to fastings These fasts on saints eues were not at first idely inuented and haue not in times past beene fondly nor foolishly obserued And they haue beene set as master Hooker writeth as vshers Eccle. Pollib 5. pag. 214. of festiuall daies for preuention of disorders as much as might be which may bee kept not without great good to the kéepers and singular vse and benefite to the whole Common-weale Concerning which as the Apostle S. Paul said to the Corinthes so say I vnto you Let all things bee done honestly and according to order Great is the dignitie of order and therefore the Apostle saith Let all things Great is the necessity of order and therefore the Apostle saith Let all things be done Great is the eminency and the excellency of order and therefore the Apostle concludeth his Chapter with the same Will you haue common dutie kept which Nature requireth then let all things be done honestly and according to order Will you haue common law regarded which Pollicie willeth then let all things bee done honestly and according to order Will you kéepe your goods your houses and all things that you haue in peace quietnesse and prosperitie then let all things bee done honestly and according to order Will you be faithfull and firme louing and loyall subiects to our gracious Soueraigne then let all things bee done honestly and according to order And will you haue all things to go well with you and to prosper well with you in this world then let all things be done honestly and according to order Without this order there is no duety no deuotion no charitie no concord no law no loue no peace plentie nor prosperitie no grace goodnesse nor any godlinesse although we heare neuer so much know neuer so much talke debate and dispute of diuinitie neuer so much Thus much of the 2. Tim. 3. 16 matter Now of the application and the vses Because all Scripture is giuen by inspiration is profitable as the Apostle Paul telleth vs to teach to improue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse we ought heere to follow the example of Dauid and to chasten our selues with fasting as he did although by some it bee turned to our reproofe Of which his fasting Humiliation was the cause euen as diuine speculation was the cause of Moses so long fasting in the Mount For in the holy Scriptures wee reade how not only Kings fasted as Dauid and Iehosaphat but Prophets fasted as Moses Elias Daniel women fasted as Anna Hester Iudith and Sara Raguels daughter the children of Israel fasted the inhabitants of Gabish Gilead fasted the Apostles fasted Saints Fathers and Confessors fasted yea the very heathen as wee reade fasted as Iupiters priests in Create with the greatest Philosophers Antisthenes Pythagoras and Socrates But in these our daies it is strange to see the scorne and the scandall the contempt and the disdaine which many make of fasting in so much that if a man or a woman doeth but for ciuill and politike respects obserue and kéepe set daies and times of Abstinence and fasting commanded by Authoritie he shall be of some reproched and reproued for it he shall be of some thought to bee popish and superstitious We are all now growen to excesse and to extreamities to lust libertie and licentiousnesse We are all for the most part giuen to gluttonie and gourmandice to securitie sensualitie and surfetting We are all now growen to bee Epicures to be Sibarites and to loue the two daughters of the horse-leach although they sucke out all the blood of our bodies The best feastmaker is thought with some to be the best Christian and the least faster is thought with some not to bee the least professour Wee care not for the preseruation of the breed of Cattell the maintenance of the Kings Maiesties Nauie or the Calling of the Fisherman Wee care not for any good Lawes or Statutes whatsoeuer that enioine vs to Abstmence and fasting but like Heliogabalus we will be our own heires and make an end of all things our selues like the children of Israel when they were without Kings we will doe that which is good in our owne eies and like the two sonnes of Aaron Nadab and Abihu we will offer strange fire although we be burned in the flames thereof Worshipfull and beloued in the Lord Men brethren and fathers I pray you giue me leaue to say thus much vnto you The wisest and