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
uncorrupted rule of life For though there were at the first some Tares scattered by the Enemy which grew up among the good Corn yet it cannot be denied that there was never greater Sanctity nor more perfect Innocence than was among the generality of the Faithful who as far as we can find always observed some such solemn Fast as I have treated of before the Memory of Christ's Resurrection And therefore let not us now in these days refuse much less reject the service of that which they found very helpful to them for the preserving and perfecting of the Church in Purity and Holiness and which good men in later times have been so far from thinking superfluous that they have rather inclined to like the custom of the Greek Church who beside the great Lent have other three Lents of shorter continuance and less strict observance at other solemn times of the Year Let us not lay aside the use of Fasting the example of which flowed from the Prophets John Baptist our Lord Christ and his Apostles Nor of this great Fast which is commended to us by most ancient Custom if not by greater Authority by the Doctrine of the Fathers of the Church in the best Ages and by the practice of all the Faithful and which is of very great moment to dispose the mind for the Reading and Hearing of God's holy Word for Prayer for Hymns and all other Christian duties whereby we may also draw upon our selves and our Families nay and upon the Church and Kingdom whereof we are members all manner of Blessings both by appeasing his Divine displeasure and averting publick Judgments and on the contrary procuring great prosperity What if one part of Lent be now neglected that is the publick discipline of the Church against notorious Offenders is not in these later Ages exercised shall all the rest therefore be laid aside with it A serious Believer who hath any love to himself and the publick safety would rather conclude that there is so much the greater reason to be more diligent in that part of it from the practice of which nothing but our own Wills can hinder us since notorious Offenders it seems are grown so numerous that it is impossible to bring them to do open Penance for their scandalous sins and wickedness That is every man who hath as yet a sense of God and Goodness remaining in him ought to look upon the ensuing Lent as a time set apart for the calling himself to a strict and severe account And accordingly if any man find that he hath been a Fornicator though never so close and secret a Drunkard or constant Tipler an Extortioner an hard-hearted Worldling a Calumniator or Backbiter a Blasphemer of God an hinderer or slanderer of his Holy Word or any other great Sinner he ought to apply himself conscientiously to Fasting and Prayer and giving Alms and all other duties which have been ever accounted proper for this Season And let him not spare himself but spend this time as much as he can in all manner of Humiliations which have been often mentioned in this Treatise retiring himself from company and from business to the utmost of his power that he may lament his sins and acknowledge his wretchedness and most earnestly sue to be reconciled to God whom he hath offended Lamentations indeed and wailings and such like things are not the whole business of Repentance yet I have demonstrated they are a part of it And let me now add they are such a part though but small in comparison that they alone may obtain great Blessings from God upon us If well disposed people would in every Parish of this Nation leave off their business upon the first day of Lent that they might go to Church in a mournful habit with Fasting and Tears and dejection of face and prostrations and all other such acknowledgments of their wretchedness imploring the Divine Mercy it might prolong our tranquillity and prevail for an adjournment at least of those Judgments which if we consider our sinful life we cannot but think we have justly deserved and had reason long ago to expect should have been inflicted on us Especially if we continued all the Lent long to frequent the holy Assemblies as often as necessary business would permit to beseech God in the most mournful manner to take pity upon us For then this outward part of Penitence with Sorrow and Grief and affliction of Spirit though no great Reformation should follow we might be confident would obtain from God those Temporal benefits which we call the outward parts of his favour For so it did in the case of Ahab concerning whom God saith to the Prophet Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me Because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days c. The vengeance though already denounced was put off till a further day because he took that revenge upon himself which is mentioned in the foregoing Verse He rent his Cloaths and put Sackcloth upon his Flesh and Fasted and lay in Sackcloth and went softly 1 Kings xxi 27 28 29. And therefore what may we not expect from this means when it is but the outward part of Repentance and the best part is not wanting But we truly humble our selves in the sight of God so as to submit our selves unto him to do whatsoever he would have us faithfully resolving to become new men and endeavouring so to be Or as our Church excellently exhorts us on the first day of Lent If we would remembring the dreadful Judgments hanging over our heads and alway ready to fall upon us return unto our Lord God with all contrition and meekness of heart bewailing and lamenting our sinful life acknowledging and confessing our offences and seeking to bring forth worthy fruits of Penance Then our afflicting our selves our mourning our weeping our heaviness and all the bodily Exercises before named would profit not a little but be so acceptable unto God that he would give us the greatest Blessings even perfect remission and forgiveness as we pray in the Collect for this Season When these bodily Exercises are the effects of true Contrition of Spirit and when they are earnests of a new life and a means we use to accustom our selves to Sobriety to Self-denial to Retirement to shake off bad Company to Devotion to Self-examination to Meditation to Pity and Commiseration of the wants of others to Charity and works of Mercy then will the Lord have mercy upon us as the Prophet speaks and he will multiply to pardon lv Isa 7. But let all those especially who truly fear God among us apply themselves with all seriousness to this much neglected duty For others I doubt unless they be forced to it will not regard these Admonitions Let it not content them that they do not follow the bad in their ungodly practices but let them also lament the scandal which they give and bewail the deplorable estate of
and afflicted whether he respect God or himself that he hath as the Scripture speaks walked contrary to Him and thereby made himself liable to his heavy displeasure And therefore condemning what he hath done which he cannot look upon without shame and confusion of face as well as with grief and sorrow he resolves to do so no more But to betake himself hereafter unto a new life conformable to Gods holy will and pleasure in all things In the former of which that which we call Repentance begins and in the latter it ends An unfeigned sorrow and grief that we have offended God is the beginning of it And a serious purpose of amendment of life compleats it All this is agreed by those that write upon this Subject And therefore my business is only to show that the first part of Repentance doth not consist merely in that inward Compunction and grief and shame and heaviness of heart which are the necessary effects of a true sense of what a sinner hath done and of what he deserves to suffer But likewise in such outward expressions of this inward sense as are suitable to the dismal condition into which he hath thrown himself and naturally flows from a heart deeply affected with its guilt and duly afflicted and grieved for it CHAP. II. Of Sorrow for Sin in Particular THAT we ought to be inwardly troubled in our mind and exceedingly grieved afflicted and pained at the very heart to think we have offended so good and gracious a Father as hath called us into the state of Salvation by Christ Jesus and thereby lost his grace and favour is a thing as I have said already confessed without any the least dispute about it And it is as much acknowledged I hope that it ought not to end till it hath wrought in us a sincere resolution to do so no more It is senseless to think of recovering his favour unless we be thus piously disposed But I shall prove as plainly that it becomes true Penitents to make such outward expressions of those inward affections as may not only show to all the world that they are heartily sorry and ashamed of their folly their falseness their ingratitude and all the disorders they have committed to the dishonour of God and the disturbance of the peace and good estate of the World but also satisfie themselves that their affliction is more than a transient passion and be a security likewise to them from relapsing into that wickedness which if they be sincere Penitents they resolve to forsake The Soul and the Body are so near Neighbours or rather Friends that one of them cannot be concerned in any thing but the other must bear its part therein also And therefore as they accompany one another in all other actions so it 's fit and just and necessary that they should do in Repentance They have done evil together and therefore it is but reasonable that they joyn in their humiliations and sorrow for it and in their abhorrence of it When the heart is heavy and sad the body also should put on the habit of a mourner Who laments the greatest mischief that could befal him In treating of which I shall First show what these outward expressions of sorrow and grief are and whence they arise And then 2. Briefly demonstrate that they have been the practice of Christian people Who ever thought the condition of a great sinner so doleful that it called for the bitterest lamentations And 3. Lay before you as briefly the uses for which they serve and the profit we may receive by them 4. And lastly give some cautions to prevent the abuse of them that we may not receive damage by those things which are intended for our advantage CHAP. III. Concerning outward Acts of Sorrow WHAT the outward Acts of Sorrow are which the sense of their guilt extorts from true Penitents we may learn from the Prophet Joel if we read seriously the 12. and 13. Verses of the second Chapter Where God calls upon them to turn unto him with all their heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning c. The main thing here required was to turn from their evil ways sincerely and without any reserve But an observant Reader cannot but take notice that this was also to be performed with fasting and with weeping and with mourning Their hearts were to be rent in the first place and not their garments as it there follows for otherways there was no hope they would turn unto the Lord But their garments were to be rent also it being a part of mourning as the effect and the declaration of the renting of the heart and as a token they meant not to continue any longer in their sins but to part with them and be intirely separated from them But to prevent all fancies which may possibly start up in any mans mind that the duty I am about to recommend to them is proper only to the Old Testament Spirit and times as some have been taught to speak I shall desire the Reader only to study two other Verses in the Epistle of S. James Which comprehend I think all that belongs to this matter They are ver 9 10. of the iv Chapter Be afflicted and mourn and weep Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up He had exhorted them in the foregoing words Ver. 8. to draw nigh to God in a deep sense that they were great sinners to acknowledge their guilt to deprecate his displeasure and to resolve to be better men both by cleansing their hands and by purifying their hearts And that with all sincerity and singleness of Spirit being no longer double-minded sometimes resolving to do well and then revolting to their beloved sins again but thoroughly and intirely returning to him in New Obedience And then just as the Prophet Joel required the Israelites to turn unto the Lord with all their heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning So the Apostle requires the Christians to whom he writes to draw nigh to God after the same manner with upright hearts and with no less but rather greater tokens of their inward trouble that they had offended him For he bids them not only be afflicted and mourn and weep But to refrain from all mirth and joy and to be in heaviness Without which humiliations it was not fit for great sinners to present themselves before an offended Majesty or to hope for mercy from Him Which words if we examine by the phrases of the Old Testament which are our best guides for the interpreting of the New we shall find there is not one of them but signifies some outward expression of great grief and sorrow Which was used by devout people in token of hearty Repentance When they kept their great Fast injoyned by the Law on the day of Expiation it was called a day of afflicting
many publick judgments of God fall upon us in these days because the Church is negligent in calling offenders to an account And they will not judge that is Afflict themselves for their Offences There are great numbers I doubt not who condemn their Sins in their own Consciences and condemn themselves also for them to deserve punishment from God And this they imagine to be sufficient to make them capable of his Mercy and Forgiveness Whereas they ought to humble themselves with Fasting and Weeping and Mourning with neglect of their Bodies confession of their Guilt confusion of Face lamentable deprecations of Gods displeasure Prayers and Supplications with works of Mery which ought always to accompany Fasting and Prayer as most becoming those who ask mercy of God and as a Revenge upon themselves for their Covetousness and too great love of this present World And because grievous sinners do not thus Afflict themselves with an unfeigned resolution of amendment God himself is pleased to afflict them by sending his Plagues upon them in one sort or other to punish them CHAP. VII Some Cautions to prevent misunderstanding in this matter THUS having proved what I undertook that we ought not to content our selves with inward Sorrow alone without all outward Humiliations and shown the use they have in Religion I proceed now according to the method laid down in the beginning to give some Cautions to prevent the misunderstanding or abuse of this Doctrine 1. And first of all I would not be understood as if I thought they were of such an indispensable necessity that it is impossible for any sinner to obtain Remission and Absolution without them No the very History of the Gospel shows the contrary In which we find our Saviour who came to call sinners to Repentance forgave several persons who did not like that woman in the vii of S. Luke Kiss his very feet wash them with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head All which were acts of great Humiliation especially the last wherein she imployed that to the meanest use which had been before her principal Ornament and her pride My meaning therefore is that these things are very useful as hath been shown and in some cases necessary when Penitents have been very licentious livers and it is not likely they will otherwise be sufficiently sensible of what they have done and of what they have deserved nor be so humbled as to be reclaimed and brought off from their evil courses 2. They therefore who have constantly led a regular life and are guilty only of the smaller sort of Offences must not take these things as spoken to them unless it be on some occasions which shall be presently mentioned which are intended for gross and scandalous Sinners Such as that woman now named who was a known Harlot unto whom our Lord forgave a great deal when little was forgiven unto Simon who did none of these things vii Luke 46 47. 3. Yet it may be very necessary even for those to take this course who are not such heinous Offenders in case of frequent relapses into the same sin which must be cured by using themselves something severely For though seldom slips of the Tongue suppose may be easily corrected yet frequent returns to folly and that after solemn resolutions to the contrary will require more pains and great Humiliations as a means not only to give a stop to them but to extirpate such roots of bitterness 4. The best also ought to Afflict themselves in times of publick calamity and upon days of solemn Humiliation when men are naturally disposed to that which may signifie their seriousness sobriety sorrow and unworthiness of the Blessings they come to beg of the Father of Mercies 5. By which every one may understand that these Humiliations are not always in season as inward grief and sorrow is But upon such occasions as I have mentioned and also at certain appointed times which the Church hath fixed either Weekly or Yearly for Humiliation in general for our own and other mens Sins or for the bewailing those in particular who have deserved the Censures of the Church when they are executed on them Of which more hereafter 6. At all which times care must be taken that these Humiliations be true significations of our inward grief and proceed from thence And not merely external shews used for fashions sake and to comply with the season For without inward grief and resolutions to be better they are so far from procuring any favour from God that we may justly fear they further incense him as being but a kind of mockery of him Which made the Prophet Joel in the place above named bid the Israelites rend their hearts and not their Garments Not intending hereby to forbid the rending their Garments which he had in effect called for in the preceding words but requiring them not to content themselves with that alone Because that was but a signification and token and a sign where there was nothing really signified thereby could be nothing worth But rather an abomination in the sight of God Who counts it a vile piece of Hypocrisie when we present him with significations which in truth signifie nothing there being nothing within like to that which appears without 7. And further this caution must be used that by these Exercises we neither destroy the health of our Bodies nor suffer any ill affection to be bred in our Minds We ought not to make our selves sick with Fasting nor so weaken our selves by hard usage as to become unfit for our imployments And greater care ought to be taken that we do not grow morose and sowre peevish and untoward unto others while we are severe unto our selves And that the keeping our selves under a strict discipline do not beget a secret pride in us which makes us to think very highly of our selves and to contemn and despise others Just as the conceited Pharisee did the poor Publican in the xviii S. Luke 11 12. But above all we must be watchful that such pride to not creep herewith into our hearts as tempts men to fansie they have by this discipline highly merited at the hands of God whom they had grievously offended Let such Rocks as these be avoided and then these bodily Exercises in their season and due measure may prove very profitable being designed for such other ends and uses as I have named particularly as a means to prevent our relapsing into such sins as have cost us much affliction and trouble 8. But lastly I desire it may be noted that I do not pretend any obligation or fitness either for the use of all and every the very same tokens of inward grief and of the sense we have of our vileness whereby it was expressed in ancient days But we are rather to declare the same things by other signs which are more suitable to our own times For the reason I have shown why they sat down in Sackcloth and
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
such wretched Souls and deprecate the Divine displeasure beseeching him to turn his anger from us and to spare us for the sake of those pious Souls that with Fasting Mourning and Weeping humbly supplicate his Mercy If the Church did now exercise that ancient Discipline so much spoken of it would be the duty of the very best among us to be present at the Censures passed upon notorious Offenders and I showed out of S. Paul to bewail them and lament over them in the most doleful manner And why should we not do that voluntarily in our private retirements on Fasting-days which the Church doth not call for to be done in publick Nay we should the rather do it as I have often said and bewail this among other things that men are impatient of such discipline or any thing like it that they will not submit to the government of their Spiritual Pastors which is so great a sin that it is next to Rebellion against their Sovereign and that Offenders are so multiplied as beyond all measure to exceed the number of the Good who are not able to curb and restrain them This is a lamentable state of things and ought to affect the hearts of those who fear God with Grief and Sorrow especially when they consider the obstinate hardness of mens hearts in these evil courses their great insensibleness either of their sin or danger and the cause of all this their gross Infidelity Which it should be part of every good mans business to bewail in secret beseeching God all the Lent long to put a stop to the floods of ungodliness that they may not like a deluge overwhelm us It is not the custom of these parts of the World to mourn in Sackcloth and Ashes and therefore I have not pressed the very same significations of Sorrow Grief and Humiliation which were anciently used in the Eastern Countries but something like them and equivalent to them if we be not willing to use it is because we think it a slight matter to offend the Divine Majesty and are not afraid of his Almighty displeasure For let us but awaken in our Souls a sense of the hainous nature of those sins which we and others have committed against God and of the danger we have incurred by our undutifulness to him and we shall not think it unreasonable to submit to some such discipline as this which is here proposed instead of that which was practised of old in other Nations Let every one of us lay aside all this Lent our fine Cloaths and the usual attire of our Bodies for that is still the custom of Mourners in all places and let us retire our selves as much as is possible for so Mourners also do making no visits nor willingly receiving any if nothing but civility oblige us to it Let the time be spent in this retirement in Reading and Prayer in examining our Consciences and bewailing our Offences in taking a view of the miserable estate of mankind and imploring the Divine Mercy towards them in laying to heart the sufferings of any of our Christian Brethren and such like Spiritual Exercises which we are too apt to neglect in a croud of business and of company Let the consideration of it move us to afflict our selves with Fasting or if that cannot be with a spare Diet Let the rich especially and those that live deliciously deny their appetites keep a slender Table and punish their excesses with harder fare Drink no Wine nor strong Liquors without necessity make no Feasts nor accept of invitations to them Give Alms liberally and frequent the publick Prayers and there let us humble our selves before God and blush to lift up our Eyes unto Heaven Yea let us Pray with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit as the Apostle enjoyns vi Ephes 18. that is address our selves to him in all sorts of holy thoughts and devout affections and that with great fervour and ardent desires with Tears and knocking our Breasts and bended knees as Theophylact expounds the words beseeching him by the Mystery of his holy Incarnation by his holy Nativity and Circumcision by his Baptism Fasting and Temptation by his Agony and Bloudy Sweat by his Cross and Passion c. graciously to deliver us Tremble to think that you have so oft prayed in the Litany that God would PITIFVLLY BEHOLD THE SORROWS OF YOVR HEARTS when perhaps you had no SORROW at all there and now if you have any let it be testified in all the sorrowful actions that I have named And forbear Musick and Dancing and all such like pleasures Let those that have been slothful content themselves with less sleep that they may have more time for Prayer and Heavenly thoughts They that have been too Voluptuous will do well also to lye hard though not upon the ground Finally let there be a general Abstinence from all manner of Recreations unless the preservation of Health make them necessary and then use them privately Leave the Play-houses quite empty and make the Churches full Go to no publick shows nor meetings but spend the time when you come from Church in setting all things right at home For S. Chrysostom I remember having heard that some of his Auditors since his last Sermon had been at an Horse-race bewails it in his next as the loss of all the pains he had bestowed upon them from the beginning of Lent And among other things tells them it gave great scandal to Jews and to Gentiles who seeing those that were at Church daily mingle themselves at those meetings with such as came not thither think saith he that all we do is a delusion and that we are all alike no better than themselves A great deal more he saith on this subject in his Sixth and Seventh Sermon upon Genesis and begins his Forty first Sermon with the very same matter In like manner S. Basil * Hom. viii in Hexaem p. 110. chides those who as soon as Sermon was done went and plaid at Dice and Tables It being to no purpose to afflict the Body with Fasting if the Mind continue vain and full of vicious Affections And therefore S. Chrysostom frequently beseeches his hearers that when they came home they would spend their time in ruminating upon what they had been taught and conferring one with another about it and thereby free themselves from all bad desires and flee the snares of the Devil For when the Devil saith he sees our Minds solicitous about these Divine matters and perpetually conversant in them he dares not approach us but flees away before the face of a more powerful Spirit working in us Now all this that hath been said doth not come up to the Primitive strictness but it approaches something near unto it and is a great mortification of sensual Nature which delights in company and merry meetings in Feasts and Jollity in Sport and Plays in Laughter and all manner of Mirth and Pleasure Which we ought to lay aside and deny our selves at this Season that we may fulfil the Apostolical Precept iv Jam. 9. 10. Be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to heaviness Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up Let the Reader cast his Eyes back to the latter end of the Seventh Chapter of this Book and when he hath perused it again consider with himself what he hath to do Especially in the Great Week of Lent as they anciently called the Week just before Easter which had that Name given it saith the great Man before mentioned because S. Chrysost Hom. xxx in Genes in it certain great and unspeakable benefits were bestowed upon us There was an end put in this Week to the long continued War Death was extinguished the Curse was taken away the tyranny of the Devil dissolved and he himself disarmed God reconciled to mankind Heaven made enterable Men associated with Angels things distant conjoyned the Partition-wall taken down the inclosure laid open the God of Peace pacified all things both in Heaven and in Earth And therefore we call it the Great Week because the Lord graciously conferred on us such a multitude of Gifts therein For which reason many both inlarge their Easting and are remarkable for Watchings and holy Pernoctations and Alms Showing by their deeds the honour they have for this Week For if our Lord freely bestowed such great benefits upon us therein how can we think it decent in us not then to make a show of all possible reverence and honour For even Kings themselves declare in what admiration they have those venerable Days by commanding a vacation to all those who manage Civil affairs by shutting up the doors of the Courts of Judgment and requiring a cessation of all strife and contention that men may have nothing to do but to apply themselves to the right performance of Spiritual offices with the greatest quietness and tranquillity And more than this they honour these Days with another liberality loosing the bonds of Prisoners and letting them go free that as far as Humane power reaches they may imitate their Lord. For as he set us at liberty when we were fast tied and bound with the Chains of our Sins and gave us the injoyment also of innumerable good things so we in like manner ought the best we can to be imitators of this loving kindness of the Lord. You see how every one of us should show in all things the reverence and the honour which is becoming those Days which were the procurers of so many and such good things And therefore now if ever let me intreat you to expel all Worldly thoughts and to keep the Eye of your Mind clear and vigilant Now is the time to Fast more strictly to make more earnest Prayers to be more exact and large in confession of Sins to be diligent in all the actions of Piety to give Alms more liberally to exercise the strictest Patience Forbearance Meekness and all other Vertue That coming with these accomplishments unto Easter-day we may partake of the bounty of the Lord. THE END