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
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
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
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
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