bee the more encreased by the beholding one of another 21 Fourthly we are to abstaine from all carnall delights whereby any one of our sences might bee pleased For the sence of pleasure would abate our mourning diminish the sence of our want and hinder our vnfained humiliation before God Wherefore Ierome saith that fasting is to abstaine not onely from meats but also from all pleasures or allurements And Augustine The Scripture saith he teacheth a general fast not from the concupiscence of meates onely but also from all pleasures of temporal delights Thus are we not only to abridge our tast of meats but also to containe our eies from beholding vanities and pleasures our eares from hearing mirth or musick which in time of mourning is vnseasonable our nostrils from pleasant odours and effeminate smels Our sence of feeling from the vse of the marriage bed which as all married persons are to forbeare vpon consent for such a time of humiliation that they may giue themselues to fasting and prayer so are the Bridegroome and Bride admonished to come forth of their marriage chamber in the time of the fast And all these are to be done partly as meanes of our humiliation in remouing the impediments thereof partly as signes of our humiliation whereby we acknowledge our selues vnworthy of these delights and partly as tokens of our repentance in that by way of godly revenge because all our sences haue sinned we depriue thē all of their seuerall delights And as wee are to make all our sences thus to fast so must wee also weyne our minds from sports and recreations which would not onely hinder our humiliation and godly sorrow but also distract our minds from better meditations in sanctifying the fast And thus haue I shewed that in our fast we are to abstaine from food and some other helps and commodities of this life and also from all outward delights and pleasures 22 Now it remaineth that I should speake of rest from bodily labours and worldly businesse For the time of the fast hath the nature of a Sabboth And by the Prophet Ioel it is called dies interdicti a solemnity or day of prohibition wherein men are forbidden to do any worke as ths Lord expoūdeth that word Leui. 23. It is a day of prohibition or a solemne day You shall do no seruile worke therein And Deut. 16. Six dayes thou shalt eat vnleauened bread and in the seuenth day which shall be a solemnity or day of prohibition to the Lord thy God thou shalt doe no worke So Num. 29.35 For there is the same reason of the extraordinary Sabbath of humiliation and of the ordinary But the ordinary was a Sabbath or rest in which no worke was to bee done yea the Lord threatneth to destroy that person from among his people that shall doe any worke that day And as I said before the law of the weekly Sabbath is to be extended to other extraordinary Sabbaths But on the weekly Sabbath wee may do no worke therefore not in this 23 But let vs consider also why and in what respects rest is required in the day of our fast and bodily labours and worldly businesse forbidden The Lord forbiddeth labour and worldly businesse and commaundeth rest on euery Sabbath not because simply he either liketh of rest or misliketh labour but because bodily labors worldly businesse are a meanes to distract vs from the worship of God and rest from them is a remedy against distraction For euery Sabbath is to be sanctified and set apart from our businesse and affaires and is to bee consecrated to the worship of God And further on the Sabbath of humiliation we take vpon vs after a more speciall maner to worship God and therefore that wee may seriously and entirely intend the seruice of God we are to abandō all other busines and cares For that is better done which is done alone as the Philosopher hath truly said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it is the counsell of the Wiseman that what wee doe wee should do with all our might For by doing many things our minds are distracted This therefore doth teach vs that with free and entire minds sequestred from all worldly cares we are to be conuersant in the worship of God chiefely when after a more speciall manner we indeuour to humble our selues before him For if bodily labours and worldly businesse bee therefore forbidden because they are meanes to distract vs then may we be sure that distraction it self in the worship of God is much more forbidden For distraction breeds hypocrisie in Gods worship and causeth vs when wee draw nigh to the Lord with our lips to remooue our hearts farre from him 24. Againe the Lord commaundeth vs in all his Sabbaths to rest from labours that this outward rest might be an admonition vnto vs to rest from sinne For why may euery one of vs thinke doth the Lord forbid me on the day of rest the lawfull workes of may calling Or why doe I cease from mine honest affaires Must I forbeare that which in it selfe is lawfull and may I doe that which is vnlawfull Must I therefore for this time sequester my selfe from my honest businesse that I may attend vanities or sinnes Or doth the Lord enjoyne me rest because hee is delighted with idlenesse and would haue me to doe nothing No verily If he forbid me that which is lawfull much more doth he forbid that which is vnlawfull And if he commaund me to rest from honest affaires it is not because he would haue me idle for idlenesse is the mother of much iniquitie but because hee would haue me attend better matters In a word he forbiddeth me to doe mine owne workes and businesse that I may doe his worke and attend his religion and seruice Lastly there may an outward cause be rendered why on the day of the fast wee are to cease from bodily labours For our fraile nature cannot well beare abstinence and bodily labour together for labour setting the bodie in a heat wasteth the moisture and spirits which are to bee supplied by nourishment otherwise we spend vpon the stocke of our naturall moisture which is as it were the oyle in the lampe of our life 25. We see then wherein the outward exercise doth consist and the particulars from which we are to abstain Now wee are briefely to consider for how long this abstinence is to be obserued The vsuall time of a fast is the space of a naturall day viz. from euen to euen or from supper to supper For as that was the time appointed for the ordinarie Sabboth of humiliation so also of the extraordinarie From euen to euen shall you celebrate your Sabboth And accordingly it is noted of the Israelits fast Iud. 20. of Dauid and his followers 2. Sam. 1. of Iosuah and the elders Ios. 7. that it was vntill the euening And more particularly of
Such were their putting on of sackcloth renting their garments sitting in the ashes putting earth or ashes on their head not washing or annointing but deforming their faces looking sorrowfully hanging downe their heads going softly and such like outward signes and tokens of humiliation which were obserued both of the godly and of the hypocrites among them but with this difference that the hypocrites rested in these outward shewes without any true humiliation of their soules whereas in the godly these signes proceeded from the sorrow of the heart as vnfained testimonies thereof 8. But although that circumstance of the time was proper to that people and those ceremonies peculier to those times yet the substance of the fast which is the humbling of our soules by abstinence is a morall dutie belonging commonly to all nations in all ages for as the morall or chast fast is enjoyned in the seuenth commaundement as a meanes of chastitie to those that need that helpe so the religious fast is enjoyned in the second commandement and in the fourth In the second as it is a meanes to further vs in the worship of God and in the dutie of prayer vpon extraordinary occasion In the fourth as the time of the fast is a Sabbath of humiliation wherein we are to professe our humiliation and testifie our repentance before God for when the Lord commandeth vs to sanctifie the Sabbath he meaneth all Sabbaths not onely the ordinarie and weekly Sabbath but also the extraordinarie whether they be Sabbaths of joy and festiuitie wherein by feasting and thanksgiuing we signifie our joy and thankfulnesse for some great blessing receiued such as was that feast Nehem. 8 and the feast of Purim Esth. 9 or whether they be Sabbaths of humiliation wherein by fasting and prayer we signifie the sorrow desire of our soules in respect either of some blessing wanting or of some euill either feared or felt present or imminent such as was the fast proclaimed by Iosaphat 2. Chron. 20 or by Ezra cha 6. c. For such a fast by the commandement of God is to be sanctified and obserued holy as a Sabbath euen in such maner as the ordinarie Sabbath of humiliation was to be sanctified Neither is it to be omitted that Esay 58 the day of the fast seemeth to be called an acceptable day to the Lord yea his Sabbath and his holyday which euen as the ordinarie Sabbath is to be consecrated as glorious to the Lord. 9. But if to these places of the old Testament we shall add some testimonies out of the new we shall make it more than euident that the dutie of fasting belongeth vnto vs. Where first consider the doctrine of our Sauiour Christ concerning a fast Math. 6 for when he prescribeth the maner how we are to fast he presupposeth the dutie that we are to fast Neither doth hee alone require this dutie at our hands but also maketh a gracious promise of happie reward to those that shall fast aright And in the same Gospell Chapter 9 as also Luke 5 and Mar. 2 when as the Disciples of Iohn and the Phariseys tooke exception against our Sauiour Christ because they fasted but his disciples did eat and drinke he maketh answer That although during his abode with them which was a time of joy and not of mourning his disciples which were the children of the mariage chamber were not to fast and mourne whiles himselfe who was the bridegroome was among them yet the time should come when the bridegroome being taken from them as they should haue occasion of mourning so also they should fast in those dayes Againe Math. 17 our Sauiour Christ seemeth to ascribe great efficacy to the prayer of the faithful holpen by fasting affirming that that kind of vncleane spirit which by no other meanes can be cast out goeth forth by prayer and fasting In the second of Luke the holy Ghost giueth this testimonie of Anna the Prophetesse That she being in the Temple night and day worshipped God with fastings and prayers Not that fasting in it selfe is a worship of God as prayer is but onely is a meanes and helpe to further vs in the worship of God to make our prayers more feruent effectuall to which purpose Anna ioyned fasting with her prayers And hereunto let vs add the practise of the primitiue Church in the time of the Apostles In the 13. Chapter of the Acts the Prophets and teachers which were in the Church of Antioch before they sent forth Barnabas and Paul to the worke of the ministerie whereunto the holy Ghost had called them they fasted and prayed and layed their hands on them And in the fourteenth Chapter it is sayd that Paul and Barnabas when they had ordained to the faithfull elders by electioniâ—n euery Church hauing prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord in whom they beleeued And to conclude the Apostle Paul testifieth of himselfe 2. Cor. 11 That as he was oft in hunger and thirst by a forced obedience so he was often also in fastings wherby this voluntarie abstinence is meant Hereby therefore it appeareth that the Christian exercise of fasting is not a will-worship nor an action which is meerely arbitrary or left to our free choise whether we will vse it or not but a dutie enjoyned and imposed vpon vs by the Lord. Wherefore in the definition I doubted not to call the religious fast An exercise of religion 10. But here it will be objected That if fasting be an exercise of religion a morall dutie not onely commanded in the morall law of God which bindeth all men but also commended vnto vs in the Gospell both by the doctrine of the holy Ghost and also by the practise of the faithfull in the primitiue Church then it may seeme that so oft as we do not fast we sinne c. I answer that affirmatiue commandements though they bind vs alwayes yet do they not bind vs to performe them alwayes and at all times but as just occasion is offered together with a concurrencie of all needfull circumstances as for example we are alwayes bound to pray namely as we haue just occasion to begge any thing at the hands of God and may do it in some measure as it ought to be done but we are not bound to pray alwayes and to do nothing else And although we are alwayes in this life bound to fast yet are we not bound to fast either alwayes or so oft as we are bound to pray for we are to pray ordinarily euerie day and also extraordinarily as occasion is offered but we are not to fast ordinarily and euerie day but vpon speciall and extraordinary occasion And that we are not bound to joyne fasting with the ordinarie exercise of prayer it is manifest by the doctrine of the Apostle 1. Cor 7 where he would haue the husband and the wife who are ordinarily to pray
euerie day to performe mutuall beneuolence and not defraud one another vnlesse it be by consent for a time that they might giue themselues to fasting and prayer and again come together that Sathan tempt them not through their incontinencie And therefore we are not bound to joyne fasting with our ordinarie and daily prayers but when we haue just and speciall occasion to humble our selues in prayer after an extraordinary maner And our Sauiour Christ noteth that those which do fast do mourne and that the time of fasting is the time of mourning and that in the time of joy it is vnseasonable Now ordinarily the faithfull are to be joyfull and therefore they are not bound ordinarily to fast and in fasting to mourne but when they haue some extraordinarie cause of mourning for as a peece of new cloth put to an old garment maketh the rent worse so fasting vnseasonably imposed vpon men maketh them not better but worse Againe the time of the fast hath the nature of a Sabbath wherein we are to lay aside all worldly businesse and the works of our callings which ordinarily we are to follow Neither is it an ordinarie Sabbath but the extraordinarie Sabbath of humiliation wherein we are after a speciall maner to humble our soules and to giue our selues to prayer abstaining not onely from bodily labour and worldly affaires but also from our food and other delights of this life And to the sanctifying of this Sabbath we are bound when the Lord calleth vs to fasting and mourning by some special causes of mourning and humbling our selues which afterwards I shall touch whether they be priuat or publicke But especially we are then bound to obserue this fast when not onely the Lord by some publicke judgement or calamitie either threatned or inflicted doth call vs vnto fasting and mourning but also publicke authoritie hath blowne the trumpet and proclaimed a fast for to such a Sabbath of humiliation the equity of that law concerning the yearly Sabbath of humiliation is to be extended Leuit. 23 Euery person that humbleth not himselfe that day shall euen be cut off from his people 11. And this also I signified in the definition when I sayd that fasting is a solemne exercise of religion to be vndertaken of vs when we are to be humble suters vnto the Lord vpon some speciall and extraordinarie occasion for when I cal it a solemne exercise I do not meane that it is a common vsuall or ordinary exercise nor yet to be performed after a common or ordinarie maner but that as it is vndertaken vpon some speciall vrgent occasion so we ought to stir vp our selues in the obseruation thereof to an extraordinarie measure of humiliation to an extraordinarie feruencie in prayer to a solemne and extraordinarie testification and profession of our repentance And when as it is said in the definition that this exercise is to be vndertaken of vs when we are humble suters to the Lord vpon some speciall or extraordinarie occasion it is plainly signified that this exercise is not at set and ordinarie times to be performed but when it pleaseth God to giue just and necessarie occasion either by our wants or by his judgements of a more speciall and extraordinarie humbling of our selues in the exercise of prayer and profession of our repentance 12. The causes therefore and occasions whereupon this exercise is to bee vsed are these First when we are humble suters vnto the Lord for the obtaining of some speciall benefits especially when some matter of great importance is to be enterprisâ—ed For at such a time an extraordinarie feruency in prayer is required which may be holpen forward by fasting Nehemiah intending to moue Artasbaste for the repairing of Ierusalem first humbleth himselfe before God by fasting and prayer for good successe in that waightie businesse And so did Ezra in his voyage towards Ierusalem proclaime a fast Queene Esther before she durst presume contrarie to the law of the Persians to enter into the kings presence being not called to make sute vnto him for the preseruation of the Iewes against the wicked conspiracie of Haman she with her maids humbled themselues by fasting and prayer for three dayes and required the like fast to be obserued of Mordecay and the rest of the Iewes who were at Susban In like sort the ministerie of the word being a matter of great importance for it is the power of God to our saluation and though it be esteemed folly in the world yet by the foolishnesse of preaching God is pleased to saue those that beleeue therefore the Church of God hath thought it expedient before they haue ordained ministers or sent them forth to the worke of the ministerie to humble themselues before God by fasting and prayer as we may read in the Acts of the Apostles It is reported of Iohn the Euangelist that being intreated by the Churches to write the Gospell of our Sauiour whereby the heresies of Ebion and Cerinthus who denied the diuinitie of Christ might be refuted he made aunswere That hee would do it if first the whole Church would in his behalfe humble themselues before God in fasting and prayer 13. But as fasting is sometimes to be joyned with precation or prayer for some speciall good so more commonly it is joyned with deprecation of euill whether it be the euill of sinne or the euill of affliction For when as men do apprehend thewrath of God for sinne whether it be in the act of their conuersion or otherwise finding themselues or their countrey guiltie of some more grieuous sin it is necessarie that they should humble themselues before God after a more speciall maner And for the better humbling of themselues in prayer and testifying of their repentance to entertaine this Christian exercise of fasting Paul in the first act of his conuersion fasted and prayed three dayes together when as the people of Israell returned to the Lord their God from idolatrie and lamented their former sinnes they being assembled at the commaundement of Samuell do testifie their humiliation and repentance by a solemne fast wherein they drew as it were buckets of water from the fountaine of their hearts poured the same before the Lord saying We haue sinned against the Lord. Ezra when he vnderstood how the people of Israell had joyned in mariage with the heathen people contrarie to the law of God he prayed and fasted greatly mourning for the trasgression of the people And afterwards the people themselues were assembled with fasting with sackcloth and earth vpon them and hauing separated themselues from the strange wiues with whom they had beene mingled they confessed their sinnes and the iniquities of their fathers 14. But when as our sinne hath not only deserued the anger of God but also hath prouoked him either to threaten his judgements and as it were to lift vp his hand to
proud And as the blessed virgin saith He filleth the hungrie with good things but the rich he sendeth emptie away 41. Another notable meanes to confirme our faith in the assurance of obtaining our sute is to forsake our sins which make a separation betweene God and vs and to promise amendment for the time to come which also is testified by our fast For it is not sufficient to confesse our sinnes if we would find mercie with God but also we must forsake them And if we desire to be deliuered from the euill which doth afflict vs and to obtaine the contrarie blessing which doth affect vs then it behooueth vs to forsake our sinne which is the cause of the affliction and also an obstacle and as it were a partition wall betwixt God and vs to keepe his blessings from vs. Wouldest thou then haue thine affliction remooued remooue the cause which is thy sinne And if thou wouldest haue God to repent him of the euill of affliction which he hath either threatned or inflicted then must thou also repent of the euill of sinne which hath merited the affliction Now if we shall truly repent of our sinnes and vnsainedly purpose amendment of life for the time to come then may we persuade our selues that our preseruation and deliuerance shall be joyned with Gods glorie consequently may be emboldned with better assurāce of faith to desire the Lord to preserue deliuer vs euen for his own glory for his names sake But here as we desire any sound cōfort so must we deale soundly with the Lord and not as the common practise of the most in the time of affliction to promise greatmatters vnto the Lord which they haue no true purpose to performe for this is to flie vnto God and to go about to deceiue him with our lippes 42. And hereby appeareth the great necessitie of joyning the practise of repentance with the exercise of prayer in our fast And therefore fasting as it was ordained to be an helpe vnto our prayer so also to bee both a testimonie furtherance of our repentance as I haue shewed Now our repentance standeth in two things in the eschewing of euill and doing of good As touching the former abstinence from euill and ceassing from sin is signified in our fast by abstinence form food and delights and by cessing from our labors For therefore the Lord doth the rather require in our fasts the abstaining and ceassing from things in themselues lawfull that thereby we might be admonished much more to abstaine from that which is vnlawful In which respect Basil calleth fasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a medicine to take away sinne And Augustine this is sayth he the profit of fasting that whiles we fast from lawfull things wee are admonished more and more to forbeare vnlawfull things If therefore wee auoid things which sometimes are lawfull let vs chiefely auoid sinnes which are neuer lawfull if we fast from meats much more let vs fast from sinnes Quid prodest vacuare corpus ab escis animam replere peccatis What auaileth it to keepe the body emptie from meats and to fill the soule with sinne For abstinence from things lawfull if it be not joyned with abstinence from things vnlawfull that is to say if our fasting from food and other delights be not joyned with fasting from sinne it is odious and abhominable in the sight of God A day of rest and not resting from sinne the Lord cannot endure together It is not the emptinesse of the bellie or cleannesse of the teeth but the puritie of the foule and cleanenesse of the heart nor the outward rest from labour but the spirituall rest from sinne that is acceptable vnto God without which the outward fast as it causeth vs to smell worse to men according to the prouerbiall phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so maketh it vs to stinke before God 43. It is well said of the heathen man that we ought to fast from sinne For as Basill truly sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true fasting is abandoning of euill And to the like purpose others of the fathers Chrysostome True fasting sayth he is abstinence from euill and againe the commendation of a fast is not abstaining from meat but auoiding of sinne Augustine The fasts of Christians are rather spiritually to be obserued than carnally Wherfore let vs principally fast from sinne For what a thing is this that any deceiuer should abstaine from meats which God hath created and should grow fat with sinne principally therefore let our mind fast from euill for seeing fasting is the humbling of the soule what a thing is that to be humbled and abated in food and increased in sinne And likewise Cyrill Wilt thou haue mee shew thee what manner of fast thou must obserue fast from all sinne take no food of mallice receiue no dainties of pleasure inflame not thy selfe with the wine of lust fast from bad practises abstaine from euill speeches containe thy selfe from wicked thoughts such a fast pleaseth God But these testimonies of men were of little weight if the Lord himselfe did not auouch the same truth See therefore Esay 58. and Zach. 7. where the Lord rejecteth the fasts of the Iewes because whiles they fasted and forbare their food they did not forbeare their sinnes We must therefore remember when we obserue a fast and consecrate a Sabbath of humiliation vnto the Lord that we turne away our foot that is our affections from doing our owne will therein neither must we follow our owne waies nor seeke our owne delights nor speake a vaine word 44. And as we are to abstaine from all sinne in generall so especially from those wherein we haue chiefly offended and haue thereby prouoked the Lord either to shake his rod at vs or else to correct vs therewith For they being the cause of the judgement must be remoued away if we would haue the judgement it selfe remoued And therefore the Niniuits when they proclaimed a fast gaue in charge that euery one should turne from his euill way and from that violence for that was the crying sinne of the Niniuits which was in their hand And when God saw their workes that they turned from their euill waies he also repented of the euill that he had said that he would doe vnto them that is to say he did it not And we must so abstaine from our sinnes as that we may not seeme to haue laid them aside for a day or two but to haue cast them off for euer For that is not the fast which the Lord hath chosen that a man should afflict his soule for a day and hang downe his head like a bullrush For as the sonne of Syrach sayth He that washeth himselfe because of a dead bodie and toucheth it againe what auaileth his washing so it is with a man
others as wiues children and seruants may not take vpon them to obserue a fast on a working day without the leaue and liking of their gouernours 49. The publicke fast is that which being vpon publicke cause by publicke authoritie proclaimed before the Lord is both publickly and priuatly to be sanctified of all as a Sabbath of humiliation vnto the Lord. In which definition there are foure things to bee obserued first who are to appoint the publicke fast secondly vpon what cause thirdly who are to obserue it fourthly how As touching the first The appointment of publicke fasts appertaineth to those who haue publicke authoritie to call the people together to the publicke worship of God and to cause them to cease from their bodily labors and worldly affairs as appeareth in the examples of publicke fasts recorded in the word of God as 2. Chron. 20.3 Ion. 3.7 1. Sam. 7.5 Ezr. 8.21 Ioel 1.14 And this they are to doe by proclaiming of the fast that is both by giuing publicke notice of it and also by charging all men to assemble themselues at the time appointed to obserue it according to the direction of the holy ghost by the Prophet Ioel Blow the trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast that is by your proclamation which is meant by sounding the trumpet appoint a fast to be sanctified proclaime a day of rest or Sabbath of humiliation assemble the people c. And here we are to obserue that which is further added out of Ierem. 36. that this fast is to be proclaimed before the Lord that both they which haue authoritie doe proclaime it not in any wicked or worldly respect but in vprightnesse of heart as before the Lord and also that those who are to obserue it assemble themselues as before the Lord to sanctifie a fast vnto him 50. The next thing to be considered is the cause whereupon the fast is to be proclaimed that when there is just cause those which are in authority may take knowledge of their dutie in this behalfe And that is as I haue generally noted before when we haue some important and vrgent occasion to become humble and earnest suters vnto the Lord either for the obtaining of some speciall and publicke blessing or for the remoouing of some publicke euill and this either for our selues or for other churches of Christ. As for example when some publike matter of great importance is to be attempted then as we haue extraordinarie occasion to craue the blessing of God vpon vs so also we haue just cause to fast Consider to this purpose the examples of Ezra chap. 8. and of the faithfull in the primitiue Church Act. 13. and 14. both which being to craue the blessing of God the former vpon their voyage towards Ierusalem after their captiuitie the latter vpon the ministerie of his seruants whom they either ordained or sent forth to the worke of their ministerie commended their sute vnto the Lord by publicke fasting and prayer Which examples may be a sufficient direction for appointing publicke fasts vpon occasions of no lesse importance In the hystorie of the Kings it appeareth to haue beene the custome of the Israelits though that practise was monstrously abused by Iezabell that publicke matters of importance should bee enterprised with a fast 91. As touching publicke euils they be either publicke sinnes or publicke judgements of God for sinne For if the people of God haue committed some common or publicke sinne and thereby haue prouoked the Lord to wrath and indignation as indeed when we sinne he is angry then it behoueth them to judge themselues if they would not bee judged of the Lord and by humbling themselues before the Lord in fasting and prayer to appease his anger and to preuent his judgements The people of Israel when many of them had sinned by idolatrie and by reason of their sinne stood in feare of the Philistims the Prophet Samuell assembleth them together to Mizpeh where they solemnized a fast and pouring forth water before the Lord acknowledged and bewayled their sinne Likewise when many of the Iewes who were returned from captiuitie had mingled themselues in mariage with the heathen people of the land contrary to the commaundement of God they humbled themselues before the Lord in a publicke and solemne fast If wee therefore would auoid the judgements of God as they did wee must follow the example of their repentance when we haue not beene behind them in sinne But if it please the Lord to manifest his wrath either by threatening his judgements or by inflicting them then doth the Lord as it were call vs to this exercise Now the Lord threateneth his judgements first by his Prophets and ministers as by Ionas against the Niniuits whereupon they fasted secondly by some manifest tokens of his wrath as by earthquakes and other prodigious signes whereby the auncient Romans being also Gentiles haue beene mooued to proclaime publicke fasts thirdly by giuing vs notice of some imminent danger as when we heare of an open inuasion intended by forraine enemies which consideration mooued Iosaphat to proclaime a fast or vnderstand of some more secret plot or conspiracie against the Church the prince or state such as was the conspiracie of Haman against the people of the Iewes for the disappointing whereof the Iewes did fast If therfore the Lord do in like sort threaten vs as it were shake his rod ouer vs we must prepare our selues to meet our God and to turne vnto him by repentance with fasting and prayer 52. And if judgements threatened should mooue vs to fast how much more are wee bound to humble our selues vnder the mightie hand of God when it is vpon vs scourging and afflicting vs for our sinnes As for example when the Lord sendeth any of the publicke messengers of his wrath as the sword famine pestilence captiuitie The ten tribes after two discomfitures receiued at the hands of the Benjamits wherein fortie thousand of them were slaine humbled themselues before the Lord by fasting and prayer The Prophet Ioel when the Lord sent a grieuous famine vpon the land earnestly exhorted the Iewes in the name of the Lord to turne vnto him with all their heart with fasting with weeping and mourning c. Likewise for the time of pestilence as well as of famine Salomon giueth direction that men should humble themselues before the Lord. Which course his father Dauid had taken when the Lord sent the pestilence amōg the people of Israel which judgement was occasioned by his numbering of them but caused by their owne sins Moses also when the plague was begun among the people of Israel for their murmuring he commaundeth Aaron to take his Censer and putting therein incense to go among the people and to make an attonement for them which Aaron hauing done and standing betwixt the dead and them that were aliue the
pastimes for if that be vnlawfull on the ordinarie Sabbath much more is it vnseasonable on the Sabbath of humiliation Lastly to sinne for if the workes of our lawfull callings be forbidden on the Sabbath much more the workes of darknes whereunto whosoeuer addicteth himselfe on the day of the fast he celebrateth a Sabbath to Sathan and not vnto the Lord. Againe whereas I said it is to be obserued as a Sabbath of humiliation we learne that we are therein to abstaine not onely from labours as on the ordinarie Sabbath but also from food from exercise of sleepe from brauerie in apparell and from all worldly delights c. 57. Thirdly whereas I add that it is to bee sanctified both publickly and priuatly as a Sabbath of humiliation I signifie that not onely rest is required but also an holy rest and not onely the outward fast but much more the spiritual exercise of prayer and repentance And that this sanctificatioÌ„ of the day of the fast which standeth in vsing the meanes of sanctification is partly publicke and partly priuat The publick is in the assembly for this as euerie other Sabbath is a day of an holy assembly Leuit. 23.27 Ioel. 2.15.16 Here therefore we are to consider the office of the ministers who are the chiefe actors in the publicke sanctification of this and euerie Sabbath and the dutie of the people The office of the minister is noted in generall termes Acts 13.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they performed the publicke function of their ministerie vnto the Lord and fasted more specially Neb. 9 where they are noted to haue read and preached the word of God as before chap. 8. and that foure times and so oft also to haue called vpon the name of the Lord-Likewise Ierem. 36 when Ieremie being shut vp could not go into the house of the Lord he sendeth Barach with a booke written from his mouth wherein were specified the judgements of God threatned against the Iewes that he reading it in the audience of the people vpon the day of the fast they might be brought to a serious humbling of themselues in prayer and to vnfained repentance The dutie therefore of the ministers is to stirre vp themselues in a more than ordinarie measure of zeale to discharge their ministerie both in preaching the word of God and also in prayer In preaching that it may bee through the blessing of God a powerfull meanes to worke in the people those things which in this spirituall exercise are required viz. humiliation prayer with feruencie and faith and repentance In praying that it may be an effectuall meanes in and through the mediation of Christ our Sauiour and auaileable with the Lord for the remouing of those euils and for the bestowing of those good things for which this exercise is vndertaken 58. The dutie of the people is first to bee present at publick assembly for if we will sanctifie a Sabbath vnto the Lord we must reuerence his sanctuarie where as the Lord hath promised his presence so he requireth ours And for this cause as I sayd before this and euerie other Sabbath is appointed of the Lord to be an holy conuocation We must therefore take heed that we absent not our selues without very just and necessarie occasion lest we may seeme either secretly to neglect or prophanely to contemne the presence of Christ the gathering together of the Saints the publicke worship and seruice of God the call of the holy Ghost the meanes of our saluation the publicke occasion of the fast as though neither the publicke judgement nor the common good did concerne vs. But it is to little purpose to be present in the publicke assembly vnlesse we joyne together with the assembly in the sincere worship of God That being assembled together in the name of Christ we may as it were with one consent call vpon God and heare his word praying with humilitie in respect of our own vnworthinesse with reuerence of Gods majestie in sence of our wants with sorrow for our sins with earnest desire to haue our wants supplied our sins remitted and the judgemeÌ„ts of God remoued with faith assurance to find help to obtaine mercie in coÌ„uenient time with promise purpose to amend our liues that in sinceritie and truth we may subscribe to the prayer of the Church and say Amen Hearing also the word with reuerence with attention with faith with desire to profit with purpose to practise with submission to euery part thereof In a word so hearing the word of God as in this our present sute we desire to be heard Vnto these duties of religion and meanes of sanctification we are to joyne a publicke dutie of charitie as a worke of sanctification for it is and hath bene a laudable custome of the Church of God that in publicke fasts there should be publicke collection made for the releefe of the poore 59. But we are not onely publickly to sanctifie the day of the fast but also priuatly both by vsing meanes of sanctification and also by doing workes of sanctification The meanes are especially meditation prayer which are to be vsed both with reference to the publicke sanctification and that not onely before to prepare and fit our selues for the profitable and sauing vse of the meanes which Daniel calleth the setting of his face and the setling of his mind to seeke the Lord but also after to fit and apply the meanes to our vse and besides as priuat meanes by themselues without reference to the publicke The workes of sanctification are the duties of repentance whereof I spake before but especially the workes of mercie and charitie for with such sacrifices God is pleased 60. Wherefore the day of the fast is to bee obserâ—ed and sanctified as a Sabbath of humiliation not onely by outward abstinence rest but also by vsing the meanes and doing the workes of sanctification both publickly priuatly spending the whole day besides the publicke sanctification and the time which is to bee spent in our preparation before and in our meditation afterwards in the priuat means of sanctification as reading meditation prayer in the priuat works of sanctification as the duties of repentance towards God and the workes of mercy and charitie towards our brethren Which course whosoeuer shal take in sanctifying a fast vnto the Lord he shal be sure to obtaine at the haÌ„ds of God either that particular request for which he is an humble sutor vnto the Lord or that which is better the Lord alwayes hearing his children thus suing vnto him and granting their requests as shall be most for his glory and their singuler good 61. HAuing thus set downe the doctrine of fasts according to the rule of Gods word and practise of ours and other reformed churches we are now to take a briefe view of the Popish fast that it may euidently appeare how
wee must therefore craue the assistance of Gods holy spirit the spirit of grace and supplication that he may helpe our infirmities and teach vs to pray according to God 3. The third thing to be considered is the person to whom our prayer is to be directed Call vpon me sayth the Lord our God the mightie God described vers 1. Hee sendeth vs not to any other either as deliuerers or as intercessours but commaundeth vs to come directly vnto himselfe For of them which in their necessitie flie vnto others may that complaint of the Lord bee verified My people haue committed two euils they haue forsaken me the fountaine of liuing waters to dig them pits euen broken pits that can hold no water Now we are to call vpon God first because it is he that afflicteth vs For when we are iudged that is afflicted we are chastised of the Lord. It is hee that maketh peace and prosperitie and it is he that createth euill and affliction And shall there be euill namely of affliction in a citie and the Lord hath not done it Seeing therefore it is the Lord that afflicteth vs it behooueth vs acknowledging the authour of our affliction to turne vnto him that smiteth vs as the Prophet Esay speaketh But here some man will say If God were the authour of mine affliction there were great reason that I should both patiently beare it and also flie vnto the Lord for deliuerance but this affliction which I sustaine it is to be imputed to the vnfaithfulnesse of such a pretended friend or to the mallice and injurie of such an enemie c. and therefore I see not why I may not wreake my selfe vpon them But I answere whatsoeuer is the seâ—ondarie cause of thine affliction be it the deuill himselfe it is the instrument of God who is the authour and principall cause thereof When it was told Iob that the Sabeans and Chaldeans had carried away his oxen and cammels he acknowledged the hand of God and said The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. When Shemei reuiled Dauid although his tongue were set on fire from hell as Iames speaketh of such cursed tongues notwithstanding Dauid acknowledged the cursed tongue of rayling Shemei to haue beene Gods rod to correct him And Ioseph likewise though hee knew that his brethren for mallice and enuie had sold him into Aegypt yet he acknowledgeth them to be the instruments of God who by their meanes did in great mercie send him before them to prouide for them in the time of famine Which must teach vs when we are wronged not with the dog to snarle at the staffe wherewith he is beaten but to turne to him that smiteth vs and to pray vnto him that it would please him to remooue his hand from vs. Secondly as the Lord afflicteth vs so it is he alone that can and will deliuer vs. For who is able without his leaue to remooue his hand from vs He is our refuge and deliuerer he is our hope and strength and a most present helpe in trouble Come therefore and let vs returne to the Lord for he hath spoiled and he will heale vs he hath wounded vs and he will bind vs vp Thirdly he onely that commaunded vs to call vpon him he onely hath promised to helpe vs he onely is able to heare our prayers and to graunt our requests Therefore thou which hearest the prayer vnto thee shall all flesh come Fourthly when as we flie vnto the Lord in time of trouble we glorifie him acknowledging him to be infinitely good and therefore willing omnipotent and all-sufficient and therefore able to helpe and deliuer those which call vpon him And for this cause the Lord in this place preferreth the sacrifice of prayer before all the sacrifices of the law Wherefore grieuously do they offend who when the hand of God is vpon them doe not call vpon him for they are not onely injurious to themselues but to the Lord also whom they rob of that honour which is due vnto him And this commeth to passe either because they doe not acknowledge the hand of God but thinke it to be some misfortune or rest altogether in the secondarie causes after the manner of carnall and heathenish men or because they distrust Gods helpe and therefore either flie to witches and wizards that is to say to the instruments of the deuill that by his helpe the hand of God may be remooued from them or else to some other vnlawfull meanes whereby they make shift to saue their bodily life for a time with the wofull losse both of bodie and soule for euer or else because they beleeue not the promises of God made to our prayers and therefore are discouraged from praying and become desperat as though it would nothing auaile them to call vpon God 4. The fourth and last thing to be considered is the time when we are to pray vnto God We are to pray alwayes and without ceasing but especially as here we are directed in the day of trouble and that for these reasons First because our prayers then are most necessarie for then we feele and feeling doe confesse that Gods helpe is so necessarie for vs as that we vtterly are vndone vnlesse the Lord doe helpe and succour vs. Vnto thee O Lord sayth Dauid doe I crie ô my strength be not deafe towards me least if thou answere me not I be like to them that goe downe into the pit Secondly because our prayers then especially proceeding from the inward sence of our want are most feruent and effectuall For euen as water whiles it runneth at large hath a still motion but being gathered into straits runneth with violence so it fareth with many men who being at large in ease and prosperitie either pray not all or very coldly but being brought into straits they poure forth their soules before the Lord like to a streame of water as the Prophet Ieremie speaketh To which purpose Esay sayth Lord in trouble haue they visited thee they poured out an humble and effectuall prayer when thy chastening was vpon them Thirdly because the Lord doth therefore afflict vs that we should flie vnto him therefore doth he bereaue vs of other helpes and meanes that wee might the more firmely relie vpon him For if wee were not afflicted it may be we should not seeke to him or if wee had other meanes we would relie vpon them This is testified by the Lord himselfe in the prophesie of Hosea For I will be sayth he vnto Ephraim as a Lion and as a Lions whelpe to the house of Iudah I euen I will spoile and goe away I will take away and none shall reseue it I will goe and returne to my place that is I will withdraw my comfortable presence from them for a time till they acknowledge their fault and seeke me In their affliction they will
as indigested meat c. The other thing that as we vse fasting sometimes so must wee vse temperance and sobrietie alwayes auoiding euermore excesse especially of such things as are apt to prouoke lust For what are we better for fasting at any time if we recompence our fasting with fulnesse at other time for then our minds by much repletion will wax heauie irrigata corporis nostri terraspinas libidinum germinabit And the earth as it were of our bodies being well watered will bring forth the thornes of lust And therefore as Ierome well sayth A spare diet and a stomacke alwayes hungry is preferred before fasts continued three dayes together and it is much better euery day to take but a little then sometimes though seldome to take too much But as excesse of all meats and drinkes is to auoided so especially of wine and strong drinkes It was truly said of the Poet Sine Cerere Libero friget venus and of another vina parant animos veneri The same is testified by Salomon Prou. 23. that if we delight in wine our eyes will looke vpon strange women and our hearts will speake leaud things And this the daughters of Lot knew too well for that incestuous copulation which they could not expect from him whiles hee was sober they obtained by giuing him wine to drinke For as one sayth Proximus a Libero patre intemperantiae gradus ad inconcessam venerem esse consucuit 5. The next enemie to chastitie is slouthfulnesse which containeth two nurses of lust idlenesse and drowsinesse For the matter which gluttonie and drunkennes prepareth for lust that doth idlenesse preserue And therefore not vnworthily are fulnesse of bread slouthfulnesse reckoned among the sinnes of Sodome wherby they were incensed to vnnaturall lust For idlenesse is both the mother and nurse of lust Haec otia ut ames faciunt haec quae fecere tuentur Haec sunt iucundi causa cibusque mali A Philosopher being asked what lust or impure loue is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee said The passion of an idle mind For as water which is not stirred putrifieth and yron that is not exercised rusteth so the mind by idlenesse is corrupted For as the Grecians rightly say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idlenesse or doing nothing is the beginning of doing ill And as Basill sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euery occasion of idlenesse is occasion of sinne Such is the disposition of our minds that if they be not exercised about lawfull things they will goe a whoring about things vnlawfull In desiderijs est omnis anima otiosi sayth Ierome Euery idle mans mind is ouertaken with lust And that the example of Dauid himselfe doth shew who on a time giuing himselfe to idlenes was ouertaken in this kind And therefore such as haue out of their owne experience prescribed remedies against lust haue warned men especially to beware of idlenesse Likewise much sleeping and long lying in bed are the workes of darkenesse the companions of wantonnesse the nurses of lust For that matter which by large diet is prepared for generation and by idlenesse and ease preserued by long lying and much sleeping is concocted and perfited 6. Whosoeuer therefore hath a true and serious purpose by fasting to chastise his body let him with his extraordinarie fasting and praying ioyne ordinarie temperance and sobrietie diligence in his calling and vigilancie And if hauing vsed these meanes of chastitie in single life which is the gift of continencie to a perpetuitie whereof very few attaine who are fit for procreation then let him know that God doth call him to mariage which he hath prouided as a lawfull remedie against lust That those who cannot liue chastly in single life may liue chastly in mariage for as there is chastitie in single life so also in wedlocke And whosoeuer hauing not the gift of continencie refuseth this ordinance of God vnder pretence of chastitie he liueth in vncleannesse or if he striue ouermuch as it were against the streame by fasting and abstinence to subdue his body in an erronious desire of keeping the seuenth commaundement which of the most may better be kept in mariage than in single life he breaketh the sixt in shortning his dayes and making himselfe vnapt for the duties of his calling and vnfit for the seruice of the Church or common-wealth Neither may any man alledge that in respect of his outward estate it is inconuenient for him to marrie for no outward inconuenience can be so great as to liue in sinne And thus much may suffice to haue spoken of the former sort of spirituall fasts may chiefe desire and purpose being to intreat of the religious fast 7. The religious fast is a solemne exercise of religion wherein we being humble suters vnto the Lord vpon some speciall or extraordinarie occasion do abstaine not onely from food and some other commodities and delights of this life but also from bodily labours and worldly businesse during the time of the fast which is a Sabbath of humiliation that by this outward abstinence our humiliation may be furthered and our repentance testified to the increase of our feruencie and confirmation of our faith in prayer for the obtaining of our request at the hands of God For further explication whereof we are to cōsider that where I call it an exercise of religion that is presupposed which before I touched that this religious fast is an ordinance of God for nothing may be offered vnto the Lord by way of religion or worship which is not appointed and ordained of the Lord for whatsoeuer is obtruded vnto him for worship being not ordained by him is will-worship and superstition Now that the Lord hath appointed and ordained that we should humble our selues before him by fasting and prayer for the obtaining of some speciall blessing from him it may appeare first by euident testimonies of Scripture in the old testament Whereunto if it shall be objected that the places of the old Testament which require fasting may seeme to enjoyne it among other ceremonies of the Iewish religion vnto which Christians are not bound I answer that in the Iewish fasts some things were ceremoniall and so peculier to them other things were morall and so common to vs. The things which were peculier to them were first the circumstance of the time in their set and ordinary fasts whether that which was appointed by the Lord on the tenth day of the seuenth moneth or those which the Iewes voluntarily vndertooke during the time of the seuenty yeares captiuity in the fourth moneth in the fift in the seuenth and in the tenth And secondly there were certaine habits and iestures vsed among them when they mourned and fasted which were part of the pedagogie of the old testament which as they are abrogated by Christ in the new Testament so were they not greatly required in the old
Dauids fast for Abner that hee refused to eat any meat while it was yet day but swore saying So doe God to me and more also if I tast bread or ought else till the Sunne be downe In like sort not onely the Iews but also the auncient Christians vsed to fast vntill the Sunne were set Howbeit in processe of time they began especially in the Church of Rome to dissolue their fasts at the ninth houre which is three a clocke afternoone which now they haue brought to the sixt houre and for the most part on their fasting dayes goe to supper before noone But the shortest time that is mentioned in the Scripture of a fast is vntill the euening to which custome their practise is most conformable who fast all day vntill the ordinarie time of supper This as I said is the vsuall time But the children of God when they haue beene pressed with more vrgent occasion haue sometimes continued this exercise for more dayes together As Esther and the Iewes for three dayes Esth. 4 and likewise Paule Act. 9. The men of Iabesh Gilead when they mourned for the death of Saule and his sonnes fasted seuen dayes 1. Sam. 31. Daniell one and twentie dayes 26. As for the fortie dayes fast which Moses Elias and our Sauiour Christ did fast it was miraculous and therefore not to be imitated Neither did they fast fortie dayes together either to subdue their flesh or to humble their soules But Moses being the publisher of the law Elias the restorer of religion our Sauiour Christ the author of the Gospell the Lord would by this miraculous fast so countenance their doctrine as that in respect therof they might seeme not men arising from the earth or authorised by men but the two former as Angels the third as the sonne of God sent from heauen for their abstinence for the time was angelicall And we might as well take vpon vs to imitate the Angels not taking of food which they doe not need as the fast of Christ and of the other two who were by the power of God aboue the strength of nature so sustained as that during their fortie dayes they no more needed food than angels doe Neither did our Sauiour Christ or either of the other fast fortie dayes euery yeare but once onely in all his life Wherefore vnlesse we haue the like cause of fasting and the like power to support vs as indeed none haue it is but a vaine thing to goe about to imitat their fast Now when the fast is continued for more dayes together it is not vnmeet that as in the meane time we are to take but one meale euery day in the euening so also that we should at those times content our selues with a spare diet in respect of the quantitie and meane in respect of the qualitie whether it bee fish or flesh or neither according to the example of Daniel But when our fast is once dissolued whether it bee at the end of one day or of more we may freely vse our ordinary diet obseruing alwayes the rules of temperance and sobriety And it fitteth best the faith of Gods children when they haue humbled themselues before God and poured forth their suit into his bosome to cheere vp themselues in this persuasion That they hauing cōmended and committed their cause to God he will dispose of it and them as shall be most for his glory and their good To this purpose consider the examples of Anna 1. Sam. 1 who after she had fasted and poured forth her soule before the Lord she went her way and did eat and looked no more sad Of Dauid euen then when the Lord did seeme to haue denied his perticuler request 2. Sam. 2. He arose from the earth and washed and annointed himselfe and chaunged his apparell and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped and afterward came to his owne house and bad that they should set bread before him and he did eat And thus much may suffice to haue spoken of the outward fast 27 Now for as much as the kingdome of God standeth not in meat and drinke nor in the abstinence therefrom and seeing bodily exercise profiteth little but piety which consisteth in duties of religion sincerely performed hath the promises both of this life and of that which is to come therefore all this outward abstinence is nothing worth vnlesse it be ioyned with the inward fast and spirituall exercise of religion and bee referred thereunto as to the end thereof For if men rest in the outward fast as though that in it selfe were acceptable vnto God they fast no better than the beasts of Niniuie fasted They fast not vnto God for God is a spirit and they that will worship him must worship him in spirit and truth Wherefore as Zacharie sayth to the Iewes who resting in the outward fast imagined that they pleased God therby When you fasted and mourned in the fift and seuenth moneth these seuentie yeares did you in fasting fast to me to me sayth the Lord Likewise Esay 58 when as the Lord respected not the fast of the Iewes whereby they looked to win his fauour as appeareth by their question vers 3. Wherefore haue we fasted and thou respectest it not we haue afflicted our soules and thou regardest it not He rendreth this reason Because neglecting the inward exercise they rested in the outward Is it such a fast that I haue chosen that a man should for a day afflict his soule namely by outward fasting and hang downe his head like a bull-rush and lie downe in sackeloth and ashes wilt thou call this a fasting or an acceptable day to the Lord But if men shall not onely rest in the outward fast as if that in it selfe were an acceptable worship of God but shall also obserue it with an opinion of satisfaction and merit persuading themselues that by their fast they satisfie for their sinnes and merit euerlasting life then is it much more abhominable in the sight of God as being derogatorie to the onely both satisfactorie sufferings and meritorious obedience of Christ our Sauiour And such seemeth to haue beene the fast of the Pharisie who for all his fasting twice a weeke and his other merits which hee alledgeth went home vnjustified And such is the fast of the Papists at this day who not onely rest in their outward fast which notwithstanding in many respects is but a mockefast but also ascribe satisfaction and merit thereunto 28. What then is the spirituall exercise and the inward fast whereunto the outward abstinence must be referred It is an humbling of our soules in a solemne exercise of prayer joyned with repentance for the obtaining of our speciall suit holpen forward and testified by the outward fast as Ezra speaketh chap. 8. I proclaimed a fast that we might humble our selues before our God and seeke of him a right way
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayth Basill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fasting sendeth vp prayer vnto heauen being as it were a wing vnto it to helpe it in the ascent And to the like purpose Chrysostome He that prayeth with fasting hath two wings saith he namely to lift him vp from the earth And forasmuch as this is one maine end whereunto fasting is referred hence it is that so often we do read in the Scriptures of fasting ioyned with prayer See Ios. 7.7 1. Sam. 1.10 and 7.5.6 2. Sam. 12.16 2. Chron. 20.6 Ezr. 8.23 Neh. 1.4 9.1.6 c. Psal. 35.13 Dan. 9.3 Ioel. 1.14 2.15.17 Ionas 3.5.8 Math. 17.21 Luk. 2.37 Act. 9.9.11 10.30 13.3 14.23 1. Cor. 7.5 For as Bernard saith Ieiuâ—ium orationem roborat oratio sanctificat ieiunium Fasting fortifieth prayer prayer sanctifieth fasting 38. The second thing required in prayer is Faith for as we are in our prayers to call vpon God in the name of Christ so are we to beleeue that for Christ his sake the Lord will heare vs and so farre forth graunt our requests as shall be most for his glorie and our good for howsoeuer when we fast we are to bee humbled in our selues mourning for our sinnes and bewailing our wants yet we must not so cast downe our selues that we cast away hope but contrariwise we are to cast our selues vpon the mercies of God in Christ yea therefore doth God touch vs with a sence of our want that feeling our miserie we might flie vnto him for mercie And therefore are we to humble our selues before God that being cast downe in our selues we may bee exalted in Christ. Wherefore in our fast we are so to deplore our miserie that withall we implore the mercie of God being well assured though in our selues we are vnworthy to appeare in his presence or to lift vp our eyes to heauen yet comming vnto him in the name of Christ we and our prayers shall be accepted of him in his sonne This faith is to be grounded also on the gracious promises of God made vnto vs in Christ As namely that whatsoeuer we shall aske the father in his name he will giue it vnto vs Call vpon me in the day of trouble I will deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie me And more specially the Lord promiseth by his Prophet Ioel to the people of the Iewes being afflicted with a grieuous famine That if they humbled their soules before him in fasting and prayer he would graunt their desire 39. And the same may be confirmed by the experience of those who hauing vsed this exercise haue obtained their requests at the hands of God Call to mind the examples in the places before alledged of Annab 1. Sa. 1. of the Israelits 1. Sam. 7 of Iosaphat 2. Chr. 20. of Neb. cha 1. of Daniel chap. 9. of Ezra who professeth his experience in this behalfe We fasted saith he and besought our God for this and he was intreated of vs. Of Esther Mordochay and the Iewes who ordained the fast of Purim to be celebrated yearely on the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the moneth Adar as dayes of feasting and joy and as perpetuall monuments of that great deliuerance which they had obtained by fasting and prayer In which sence they are called Verba seu document a ieiuniorum clamoris sui Esth. 9.31 And for the better confirmation of our faith let vs to this experience of Gods dealing with the faithfull add the examples euen of Rehoboam of Achab and of the Niniuits For if when the Lord had threatned destruction to Rehoboam by Shemaiah to Achab by Elias and to the Niniuits by Ionas notwithstanding by fasting and humbling themselues Rehoboam who with his people had forsaken the Lord Achab who had sold himselfe to commit wickednesse and the Niniuits who being not onely aliants from God but also the posteritie of cursed Cham had filled heauen and earth with their transgressions escaped that judgement which was threatned against them how much more is this exercise to be vndertaken of all those that truly repent and beleeue in Christ with assurance of good successe Feare not my little flocke saith our Sauiour Christ to all the faithfull for it is your fathers pleasure to giue you the kingdome and therefore he will not denie you small requests if they may bee for your good And if the Lord hath so loued vs as that he hath not spared his sonne but hath giuen him for vs all how shall he not with him giue vs all things also that may be expedient for vs He doth not thinke any thing too good or too deare for vs who hath giuen his sonne to vs in pretium for a ransome and reserueth himselfe in pramium for a reward 40. But you will say If our faith must bee grounded vpon the promises of God what helpe then doth fasting affoord vnto it I answer first That fasting being commaunded and ordained of God it is to be vndertaken with expectation of a blessing vpon his owne ordinance And secondly although our faith may not relie vpon the merit of our fasting which indeed is none but only on the promise of God in Christ yet being rightly performed it affoordeth a good testimonie to our conscience that the promise belongeth to vs for although we beleeue in generall the promises of God to be true yet we shall haue small comfort by them vnlesse we can be persuaded that they belong vnto vs. And how can we persuade our selues that they belong vnto vs if we haue not the condition implied in the promise As for example The Lord hath promised to haue respect to the humble to be neare vnto them when they call vpon him to giue grace vnto them and to exalt them Likewise to them that hunger after righteousnesse and thirst for his grace he hath promised that they shall be satisfied If therefore thou wouldest apply these promises to thy selfe thou must humble thy selfe before God and not be lifted vp with pride thou must hunger and thirst after the grace of God and righteousnesse of Christ and not be full with a conceit of thine owne righteousnesse But by fasting our humiliation as I haue shewed may be furthered and our spirituall hunger increased and so our selues better qualified according to the condition included in the promise which condition if we find in our selues then may we from the promise as it were the proposition applied to our selues by the testimonie of our conscience as it were the assumption gather to our selues a comfortable conclusion Of which comfort they bereaue themselues who performe this exercise in an opinion of meriting thereby for when fasting is joyned with a conceit of merit it doth not so much humble the bodie as puffe vp the soule and so make it vncapable of the grace of God for the Lord giueth grace to the humble and he resisteth the
plague ceased Which doth teach vs that the meanes to pacifie the wrath of God and to remooue the plague is to offer vp our heartie prayers vnto the Lord signified by incense in the name and mediation of Christ our high priest who standing before the altar with his golden Censer perfumeth the prayers of the faithfull with the odours of his owne sacrifice and maketh them acceptable vnto God And for the better humbling of our selues in prayer and testifying of our repentance it is very needfull that as in all other publick calamities so in this of the pestilence we vndertake this exercise of fasting Onely this we are to be admonished of That in places of infection the vtter abstinence from food is not so precisely to be vrged but that the people may yea ought to take something before they come abroad as a preseruatiue against infection 53. Lastly for the time of captiuitie we haue the example of the Iewes who during their captiuitie in Babylon obserued foure fasts in the yeare the first in the tenth moneth because on the tenth day of that moneth Nabuchadnezar with his armies began to besiege Ierusalem the second in the fourth moneth because on the ninth day of that moneth king Zedekiah and the men of warre flying out of the citie of Ierusalem were taken by the Chaldeans the third in the fift moneth because on the tenth day of that moneth the temple was ouerthrown and the citie sacked the fourth in the seuenth moneth because therein Gedaliah together with the Iewes and Chaldeans who were at Mispeh were slaine whereupon the rest of the Iewes who were left flying into Aegypt for feare of the Chaldees there was an vtter desolation in the land These fasts they took vpon them to obserue during their captiuitie that therein they calling to mind the former judgements of God as it were in foure degrees for their sinnes they might the better be humbled to implore the mercie of God for the time to come But when as these fasts by long custome grew ordinarie and many of the Iewes obserued them for custome rather than conscience insomuch that they thought this custome was to be obserued after their deliuerance frō captiuitie the cause of their mourning and consequently of their fasting being taken away and accordingly mooued that question Zach. 7 the Lord as he reprooueth their former hypocrisie in resting in the outward fast without repentance so he promiseth them for the time to come that if they would truly repent and walke in the obedience of his wayes their daies of fasting and mourning should be turned into daies of feasting and joy 54. From whence we are to obserue that if we according to the examples of the faithfull in the scriptures shall in the time of our distresse turne vnto the Lord with all our hearts and with fasting and prayer humble our selues before him the Lord will take away the cause of our mourning and turne our fasts into feasts The which I speake not as though this exercise had been altogether neglected among vs For to Gods glorie and to the stopping of our aduersaries mouths the Papists who know not what the true exercise of fasting meaneth it is to be acknowledged that howsoeuer we haue not beene so frequent in this exercise as were to be wished yet notwithstanding vpon diuerse publick occasions there haue beene publick fasts obserued and solemnized among vs with good and happie successe As for example in the time of the great plague Anno 1563 after the great earthquake Anno 1579 after intelligence had of the Spanish inuasion Anno 1588 in the time of the famine Anno 1596 and 1597 and now of late in this time of the pestilence Anno 1603. Besides the priuat and secret fasting of the faithfull as it hath pleased God to mooue them either by priuat or publicke occasions 55. The third thing to be obserued are the persons who when a publicke fast is proclaimed are to obserue it The Prophet Ioel besides those of yeares appointeth that the children euen those that sucke the breasts should be assembled to the fast And the Niniuits proclamation for obseruing the fast was extended not onely to all men women and children but also to their cattell The reason whereof was twofold first that the pitifull sight and lamentable crie of the children and cattell might encrease their sorrow and secondly that they might be brought to a deeper sight and more serious acknowledgement of the heinousnesse of their sinne which had pulled vpon them such an vniuersall judgement of God as should not onely afflict themselues but also extend to the very infants yea and to the bruit beasts But this practise is to bee reckoned among the ceremonies which in those times were vsed to augment their sorrow and increase the sence of their sinne and is no more to be imitated of vs than their sitting in the ashes the renting of their cloths their girding of themselues with sackcloth their putting of earth vpon their heads and such like among vs the Lord requireth no more to obserue the outward fast than such as by reason of their vnderstanding and discretion may the better be fitted thereby to humble themselues before him in this solemne exercise of prayer and repentance For the outward fast obserued as it is ordinarily among the Papists without any exercise of religion concurring therewith is nothing worth But to all those that are come to yeares of discretion and are exempted by some present necessitie is the equitie of that law to be extended Leui. 23. Euerie person that humbleth not himselfe on the Sabbath of humiliation shall euen be cut off from his people 56. There remaineth the fourth and last thing viz. how the publicke fast is to be obserued And this also I signified in the definition when I sayd it is to be sanctified both publickly and priuatly as a Sabbath of humiliation Where three things are to bee noted for first when as I say it is to be obserued as a Sabbath which before hath bene proued we are to vnderstand that therein a double rest is required the one outward from bodily labours and worldly businesse the other inward from sinne And contrariwise that the profanation of this Sabbath is condemned whether it be by neglecting the outward rest and imploying the time in bodily labours and worldly affaires or else by abusing our rest either to idlenesse or to vanitie or to sinne To idlenesse when men resting in the outward rest imagining that nothing else is required at their hands do nothing and by doing nothing they do euill as appeareth by the disjunction included in that question of our Sauiour Christ Luke 6 Is it lawfull on the Sabbath dayes to do good or to do euill Whereby our Sauiour plainly signifieth that if we do not good on the Sabbath day we do euill To vanitie when as men giue themselues to sports and
do eat at the sixt houre that is at noone therfore custome doth wholly excuse all others 64. Againe their fasts are statarie and obserued at set times Wherefore as they are seldome or neuer vnderdertaken vpon any speciall occasion so are they for the most part vnseasonable and consequently hurtfull euen as new wine in old vessels and yet imposed vpon all vnder the penaltie and guilt of mortall sinne If any man object that the same times are obserued among vs I answer that it is not a fast which is obserued among vs at those set times but an abstinence only from flesh in a ciuile respect viz. that fish and other meats might bee vsed and spent as well as flesh and that flesh being spared and forborne at such times might be the more plentifull and consequently the more cheape And further they are also superstitious standing in the prohibition of meat for religion sake which is a doctrine of diuels And so far are they gone in this superstition as that in their times of fasting they seeme to place the top of holinesse in abstinence from meats forbidden and the height of iniquitie in eating flesh for to eat one morâ—ell of flesh in Lent is a greater sinne and more sharply punished among them than not onely drunkennesse or gluttonie in other meats but also than whordome or idolatrie to say no more Lastly whereas their fast being a more externall fast and yet but a mock-fast in respect of a true outward fast is notwithstanding by them obtruded vpon the Lord not onely as his solemne worship but also as a worke satisfactorie for their sinnes and meritorious of eternall life it it is sacrilegious blasphemous abhominable and in a word Antichristian And so I leaue them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE SECOND TREATISE OF HOLIE INVOCATION ON GODS NAME Psalme 50.15 And call vpon me in the day of trouble I will deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie me THIS Psalme as some of the learned judge was written by Dauid at what time the Angell of God after the three yeares famine and three dayes pestilence mentioned 1. Chron. 21. 22. had shewed vnto him the place which the Lord did chuse for his worship and seruice For after that place was once knowne and prepared for Gods worship the lawes concerning sacrifices and the whole worship of God were more accuratly and fully to be obserued and kept as appeareth Deut. 12. But forasmuch as the greatest part of the Israelits did rest in the performance of the externall and ceremoniall worship as though that in it selfe were acceptable to God the Lord therefore reasoneth with his people concerning his worship from the 7. verse to the 16 teaching and enforming them That howsoeuer he had ordained lawes concerning sacrifices which now were more precisely to be kept yet that he neither required nor esteemed the externall sacrifices in or for themselues but that there are certaine other sacrifices which he farre preferreth before those sacrifices of the law and those are the sacrifice of praise verse fourteene and the sacrifice of a broken and contrit heart poured forth before the Lord in hartie and earnest prayer verse fifteene For we may not thinke that the Lord did wholly condemne sacrifices which himselfe had commanded but so farre forth as men rested in them as though they in themselues did please him For if they were rightly and duly offered namely to testifie the parties humiliation for his sinne and the acknowledgement of his guilt which was signified by laying his hand on the head of his sacrifice secondly to signifie his faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ figured by that legall sacrifice and thirdly to be an obligation for the sacrificing of himselfe vnto God in all thankfull obedience they were so acceptable vnto God that they are called the sacrifices of righteousnesse Neither doth he simply and absolutly reject outward sacrifices but in comparison of those other sacrifices of praise and prayer in respect whereof hee would haue his temple wherein alone the sacrifices were offered to be called the house of prayer and thus these places of Scripture are to be vnderstood Ierem. 7.22.23 Psal. 51.16.17 Hos. 6.6 to wit comparatiuely according to that of Samuel 1. Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as when the voyce of the Lord is obeyed behold to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken is better then the fat of rammes Out of this context therefore and coherence of these words with the former we may for our encouragement and stirring vp our selues to the performance of these duties of inuocatioÌ„ obserue That the calues of our lips as Hosea calleth the sacrifices of praise are preferred before the sacrifices of Buls and the sacrifice of an afflicted soule poured forth before the Lord in prayer before the sacrifices of the law But now let vs come to the words themselues which may be diuided into two parts a precept and a promise The precept enioyneth the faithfull to call vpon God in the time of trouble wherein foure things are to bee considered 1 The first is the person to whom this precept is directed namely the faithfull man as appeareth not onely by the 5. and 7. verses but especially by the words which immediatly follow this text vers 16. But vnto the wicked saith God c. Which plainely shew the words of this text not to bee directed to the wicked but onely to the godly Whereas therefore the Lord commaundeth the faithfull to call vpon him in the time of trouble we gather that the godly haue their times of trouble and that it is the lot of the faithfull to be vnder the crosse and to bee exercised with affliction as the Scriptures elsewhere doe testifie Ioh. 16.20 You shall mourne saith our Sauiour Christ to the faithfull and the world shall reioyce you shall sorrow but your sorrow shall be turned into ioy Act. 14.22 Through manifold afflictions we must enter into the kingdome of God 2. Tim. 3.12 All that will liue godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution This therefore our Sauiour Christ said to all that none should think himselfe exempted if any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and take vp his crosse day by day and follow me For whom the Lord loueth he chasteneth and he scourgeth euery sonne that hee receiueth Here therefore first the godly are taught patiently and chearfully to beare their crosse because no strange thing happeneth to them but that which is common to all the faithfull Yea the sufferings of the godly are the sufferings of the body of Christ yea of Christ himselfe For such is the communion of Saintes that when the godly are afflicted with them both Christ himselfe and the church also which is his body doth suffer Secondly those which are not afflicted are taught not to be hasty as many are in censuring
the Lord hath commaunded vs in this place Now if it bee our dutie in affliction to flie vnto the Lord by prayer it may not be denied but that we are to pray in a sence of our want and consequently that wee are to be humbled vnder the mightie hand of God and that we are to mourne vnder the crosse because by our sinnes wee haue offended God our gracious and louing father and prouoked him to lay his rod of correction vpon vs. It becommeth not Christians when they are afflicted to be like Stoicks or stockes without sence and feeling for it is a signe of an hard heart not to mourn when God afflicteth Ier. 5. Lord thou hast stricken them but they haue not sorrowed thou hast consumed them but they haue refused to receiue correction Neither is there patience where this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or want of feeling is neither is it possible that any man should profit by affliction who taketh it not to heart neither hath any sence thereof Iob though the most notable patterne of patience yet was he notably humbled vnder the hand of God For when the tidings were brought him of those manifold calamities which had befallen him it is said that he arose and rent his garment and shaued or polled his head and fell downe vpon the ground and worshipped And Dauid who was both a valiant man and a man according to Gods owne heart professeth of himselfe Psal. 6. That he fainted in his mourning that he caused his bed to swim euery night and that he watered his couch with teares And Psal. 38. that he went mourning all the way that he roared for the very griefe of his heart c. Wherefore the hardnesse of their hearts is greatly to be lamented who are touched with no sence of this common judgement neither take to heart this fearefull plague for of such may the Lord most justly take vp that complaint Ier. 2. I haue smitten your children in vaine they receiued no correction And yet more fearefull is their estate of whom that complaint of the Prophet Esay is verified chap. 22. In that day the day of publicke trouble and common calamitie did the Lord God of hosts call vnto weeping and mourning and to baldnesse and girding with sackeloth and behold ioy and gladnesse slaying oxen and killing sheepe eating flesh and drinking wine eating and drinking for to morrow we shall die But what followeth And it was declared in the eares of the Lord of hosts Surely this iniquitie shall not be purged from you till you die sayth the Lord God of hosts But to conclude this point let vs follow the aduice of the Lord by his Prophet Ioel Therefore also now the Lord sayth Turne you vnto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning rent your hearts and not your garments and turne to the Lord your God c. And thus it appeareth that if we are to call vpon God in the day of trouble then are wee to humble our selues before God in the sence of our miserie Againe if we are to pray in affliction we must pray with feruencie and with faith for the sence of our want must not dismay vs or discourage vs from calling vpon God but must serue as a spurre to pricke vs forward and to stirre vs vp to pray with feruencie of spirit and with sighes that cannot be expressed And that wee may pray with the more earnestnesse it is very expedient that with our prayer we should joyne fasting onely let vs take heed that our fasting bee not externall onely but that it be an extraordinarie exercise of prayer and repentance least wee seeme to fast no better than the beasts of Niniuie And as wee are to pray with feruencie so also with faith being assured that the Lord doth not onely accept of vs and our prayers in the name mediation of Christ but also that our request shall be graunted to vs so farre forth as is expedient for Gods glorie and our good For as Iames sayth If any man want wisdome namely how to demeane himselfe in affliction let him aske of God who giueth to all men liberally and reprocheth no man and it shall be giuen him But let him aske in faith and wauer not c. For it is the prayer of faith that saueth the sicke and helpeth in affliction And this faith as it must relie vpon the intercession and mediation of Christ our Sauiour who presenteth our prayers vnto God and perfumeth them with the odours of his owne sacrifice that they may be acceptable vnto him so also vpon the gracious promises of God made vnto vs in Christ and namely and especially vpon this promise Call vpon me in the day of trouble and I will deliuer thee Which promises of God if we cannot find in our hearts to beleeue to what purpose should we pray Wee are therefore to pray in faith and thereby to comfort our selues in the Lord our God and to rest quietly in his good will and pleasure assuring our selues That God will cause all things to worke together for the good of those that doe loue him Lastly we must pray with perseuerance and without fainting as our Sauiour teacheth vs by the parable of the widdow and the judge Luke 18. And therefore wee must not thinke that euery delay is a finall repulse but by the delay of the benefit which we aske our desire of obtaining it should be encreased And hereunto belong the exhortations of the Apostle Rom. 12. Col. 4. to perseuere in prayer and to watch in the same with thankes-giuing And to apply this exhortation to the present occasion If God in this common visitation doth not seeme to heare vs at the first and according to our desire remooue his plague from vs wee must neither faint in prayer as though he did altogether reject vs neither must we circumscribe or limit him as that if he deliuer vs not by such a time wee will call vpon him no more but wee are with faith and perseuerance to craue and with hope and patience to expect his grace and mercie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to helpe in due and conuenient time As therefore it is our dutie to call vpon God in the time of trouble so must we be carefull if wee would bee heard to pray according to God or as Iohn more plainly speaketh according to the will of God and namely and especially that wee pray with sence and feeling of our want with feruencie of desire to haue our wants supplied and our requests graunted with assurance of faith grounded on the mediation of Christ and on the promises of God and lastly with perseuerance and patience without fainting or circumscribing of God to wait vpon him for his mercie to be exhibited vnto vs in due time And forasmuch as we know not what to pray as we ought