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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44239	The Holy fast of Lent defended against all its prophaners, or, A Discourse shewing that Lent-fast was first taught the world by the apostles, as Dr. Gunning, now Bishop of Ely learnedly proved in a sermon printed by him in the year 1662 by His Majesties special command together with a practical direction how to fast.	Gunning, Peter, 1614-1684.	1677 (1677)	Wing H2525; ESTC R40999	45,046	54

of the Sacred Christian Pen-men written a Book on purpose to declare the whole manner of Christian worship like Moyses his Exodus or Leviticus we might reasonably have expected an account what days Christians were to set apart for Fasting or Religious Feasting what Garments they were to use in time of Divine Worship c. Bu● they only as is manifest writing Books for other intents and purposes by way of History for example or moral Exhortations and making mention only by the by of some of our Christian Rites as they occurred nothing can be more unreasonable then to expect in their said Writings an express clear mention of every Christian Ceremonial Observance The four Gospels are a History of our Blessed Saviours Life and Death who lived as to the external Rites of Religion according to the Jewish Law and so we cannot reasonably in any of them expect what Fasting or Festival days we Christians are to observe Indeed had the Act of the Apostles been intended as an exact Narration how the Apostles lived as to the whole course of their Life what days they kept Holy and what they Fasted c. We might reasonably have expected some mention there of Lent and Easter But that holy Book making mention only of some few particular passages of two or three of the Apostles lives the Apostles might well keep Lent and Easter too and teach them also to their first Converts and yet there be a profound silence of them in the Book of their Acts As for S. Iohn's Prophetical Book it were no ways proper in it to speak of Easter or Lent The rest of the New Testament are certain Epistles or Letters of Spiritual Counsels written by S. Paul or some other Apostle to particular persons or whole Cityes already instructed in the Christian way of worship But why they should needs make mention therein of Lent I understand not unless perchance the persons they wrote unto had been deficient in observing of it But does not S. Paul expresly decry the keeping of Lent in one of his Epistles and tell the Christians he wrote to he was afraid he had laboured in vain amongst them by reason of their superstitious Observations of Days and Times Gal. 4. v. 9 10. How are ye Converted again to weak and beggarly Elements which you will serve again Ye observe Days and Months and Times and Years I am afraid of you lest I should have laboured amongst you in vain Was then the Holy Apostle afraid lest the Galatians should leave Christianity and return to Judaism or Pagaism because of their observing Lent in memory of our Blessed Saviours Fasting 40. days or Easter in memory of his Resurrection Is this a likely Story Or is it not evident from the Context of their returning again to weak and poor Elements that because of their returning to the Observation of Iewish days commanded by Moses or Pagan days in honour of Iupiter Mars c. he was afraid they would relinquish the Gospel by them received and become Jews again or Pagans But does not the same Apostle 1 Tim. 4. tell us expresly that Abstinence from certain M 〈…〉 the Doctrin of Devils and that nothing which God has made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be rejected by us but eaten with thankfulness Now the Spi 〈…〉 eth expresly that in the later times some shall depart from the 〈…〉 heed to Seducing Spirits and Doctrins of Devils speaking 〈…〉 Hypocrisie having their Consciences scared with a hot Iron fo● 〈◊〉 to Marry and commanding to abstain from Meats which God 〈…〉 to be received with Thanksgiving of them which believe and know the Truth For every Creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving That we may rightly understand these words of S. Paul we must reflect that upon a double account we may abstain from certain Meats or Drinks First we may abstain from certain Meats as thinking them out of Error and Superstition naturally unclean and unholy And to teach Abstinence from certain Creatures upon such an account is deservedly called the Doctrin of Devils And with this Heresie the Manicheans are charged by S. Austin and other Fathers And that the Apostle meant such like Abstainers from certain Creatures is manifest by the reason he gives why Christians should not Abstain upon such an account to wit because every Creature of God is good and consequently we ought not to reject any as in themselves evil and unclean Secondly we may abstain from certain Meats or Drinks as less suitable to a time of Humiliation or appeasing of Almighty God for our sins by Penitential works of Fasting Weeping and Mourning or for some other Spiritual end And such an Abstinence as this is so far from being prohibited by S. Paul or any other of the Apostles that it is commended not only by the light of Nature but also by the Holy Scriptures and the examples of the Holiest Men that ever lived upon Earth Thus S. Tymothy Abstained from Wine continually for Mortification so that S. Paul thought fit to exhort him not always to drink water but to make use of a little Wine for his Stomack-sake and frequent infirmities Whereas had it been Superstition to ab●●ain from certain Creatures of God upon a Religious account he ought to have disswaded him from his Abstinence by telling him such an Abstinence from the good Creatures of God was the Doctrin of Devils Wil-worship c. Eating Flesh and drinking Wine are very Lawful and Laudable when done in their due and proper season but are no ways suitable to days or times when I am called upon by my lawful Superiors to appease God Almightys Anger for my own and others sins by Fasting Weeping and Mourning Hear not me but the Holy Prophet Isa. ch 22. v. 12 13 14. And in that way did the Lord God of Hosts call to Weeping and to mourning and to Baldness and to Girding with Sack-cloath And behold Ioy and Gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall dye And it was revealed in mine Ears by the Lord of Hoasts surely this Iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye dye saith the Lord God of Hosts Now they seem not so much to be a-sleep as dead who hear not God Almighty crying out unto them and calling them to Fasting Weeping and Mourning this Holy and Penitential time of Lent after all the Authorities above-cited for its Apostolical Institution To say nothing of the abounding of all sorts of wickedness amongst us and the heavy Spiritual Plagues of blindness of mind and insensibility of Divine things which has seized upon us and no doubt call aloud for Penitential Humiliations But if Abstinence from certain Meats upon a Religious account be true Christian Piety what shall we say to S. Paul Rom. 14. v. 2. One believeth that he may eat all things another who is weak eateth Herbs and v. 6. He that eateth

strength to humble themselves by more and more rigorous Abstinence they have sought by all means possible to cheat those Penitential days Hear not me but S. Basil above concerning those who because a five-days Fast was at hand would make themselves drunk the day before Si cras venias vinum obolens c. If thou comest to morrow smelling of Wine and its putrid and corrupted Crudities how shall I impute to thee thy drunken Surfet for a Fast. In which order shall I place th●e Amongst Drunkards or amongst Fasters But in what order think you would the Holy Father have placed those who not barely smell of Wine drunk to excess the day before but upon the very Fasting-day it self drink their skins full of Wine Had we a deep sense how much the health of the soul is to be preferr'd before the pleasure of the body and a strong Faith how exceedingly Fasting conduces to the souls health all the World would be in love with Fasting and though our Constitutions would not permit us to abstain from flesh this Love would wake us so ingenious to Mortifie our selves in a temperate use of flesh that we should no less reap the fruit of Fasting than those who lived upon Fish or Herbs Let us by no means says S. Basil receive the days that are approaching with a sad heart but as becomes Saints with a chearful affection Be not sad when thou art Cured It would be very absurd if we should grieve for the substraction of our Victuals and not rather rejoyce for the health of our soul and so seem to value more the pleasure of our belly than the cure of our mind For fulness causes delight unto the belly but fasting is gainful to the soul. Rejoyce for that is given thee an efficacious Medicine to abolish sin For as Worms which breed in the bowels of Children are expell'd by certain sharp and bitter Medicines so Sin that abides in the inmost recesses of the soul is instantly kill'd and extinguish'd by fasting which purges the bowels of the mind Do not imitate the disobedience of Eve do not again make the Serpent thy Counsellor who under pretext of sustaining thy body perswades thee to eat Do not excuse thy self for thy infirm Constitution do not say thou art not able to endure fasting For thou doest not make those excuses to me but according to the Proverb thou speakest to one who knows the Truth to wit to God who is ignorant of nothing Go to then tell m● canst thou not Fast and canst thou fill thy self with variety of Meats canst thou surcharge thy body with the weight of Victuals But we know Physitians are wont to prescribe to such as are infirm not abundance of Food but a spare Dyet and Abstinence How comes it to pass then that you can feast But pretend you can not fast Whether is it more easie to the belly to pass over the Night with a slender Refection or to lye opprest with abundance of Meats Yea indeed not to lye but stretching and groaning continually to turn now to this side and now to that But what mod●ration in eating and drinking should we do well to use upon Fasting-days Consult God and your own Conscience and such as understand the right exercise and great benefit of true Fasting In three words Be contented with one temperate Meal taken as late as your health and other circumstances will permit Drink no strong drink or very sparingly and this only at your Meal and though you should take some small matter at night Even such an abstinence would not want its singular Spiritual advantages so you exercised it not merely in a Customary manner but for good Christian ends with sincerity as in the sight of God according to the measure of your health and strength Thirdly Be sure to joyn with the exterior Mortification of your body the interior Humiliation of your soul by a hearty sorrow and contrition for your sins Though you give your whole Estate to the Poor if you want Charity it will avail you nothing And though you make your body a mere Skeleton by rigorous Fasting and Abstinence if your heart be not truly Penitent and sorry for your sins all 's to no purpose A broken and an humble heart is a Sacrifice which God-Almighty will by no means despise But if contrition of heart be wanting all exterior Mortifications will be rejected And it is want of this which makes Fasting and other voluntary Austerities and Involuntary Crosses seem hard and intolerable unto us A soul deeply humbled with an intimate sense of its deserts for its manifold sins and wickednesses thinks all Meats all Cloaths all Lodging and whatsoever Accommodations too good for it But as exterior acts of Charity beget and encrease true Charity in our hearts so exterior Penitential works are apt to beget and encrease interior Penitential sorrow in our souls And though the interior of Charity Repentance and other Vertues be the chief and main thing we are to aim at yet all interior pretences to any Vertue which show not themselves in exterior acts are to be suspected as Counterfeit What St. Austin says of Charity is no less true of Repentance or any other Vertue Amor si est c. Love if it be in us it will be working if it do not work it is not in us if it be great it will work great things Repentance if it be in us it will be working by Fasting and other Penitential works if it works not it is not in us if it be great it will work great things Christian Vertues with their exterior acts are not unfitly compared to some rich Wine in a Cask or Vessel A rich Wine without a Cask or Vessel to contain it cannot be presented a bare Cask presented without the rich Liquor in it would not be accepted Ioel 2. 12. Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning Fourthly Take heed of corrupting the Mortification of your Fasting by excess in other joyances Holy Daniel in his three weeks Fast abstained not only from pleasant Food but also from Anoynting of himself Ch. 10. v. 3. I ate no pleasant Bread neither came Flesh nor Wine in my mouth neither did I Anoynt my self at all till three weeks were fulfilled Vtamur ergo parcius Verbis cibis potibus Somnio jocis arctius Perstemus in Custodia Let us be more sparing not only in our Meat and Drink but also in our Words Sleep and Recreations and keep a more Vigilant Watch over our selves that in nothing we exceed And the reason is manifest for one great end of Fasting being by that exterior Mortification to beget or encrease interior Contrition and Sorrow of heart for sin it manifestly follows if we seriously design the end of Fasting we ought carefully to moderate all other Joyances however in themselves Lawful and at another time laudable which

defend the Catholick Faith that they might break in pieces your Arguments Hitherto S. Augustin l. 1. 2. contra Iulianum I thought fit to adjoyn this Reflexion of S. Austen though superabundant to the force of my Argument it being sufficient for my purpose to prove that Lent-Fast was generally practised in the 4th and 5th Century both by the Eastern and Western Churches and so much evidently follows from the Authorities above cited For though some may be so self-conceited as to confess that S. Hierom S. Ambrose S. Basil S. Crysostom and the rest of the Holy Fathers Greek and Latin deemed the observation of Lent to be a pious Christian practice but they with humble submission judged it to be Superstition Will-worship and the Doctrin of Devils Yet few I think but have so much regard for these Primitive Doctors as to allow them so much judgment as to know what was the practice of their several Churches in their days and so much fidelity as to write the Truth as to that particular which is sufficient for the purport of my discourse unless you can think that these Holy Fathers were of one Faith their Flocks which Reverence them as Sts. of another For the 4th and 5th Age practising Fasting in Lent not as a piece of Piety begun by themselves but commended to them by Tradition from the Apostles it not only follows that it could not be first begun by their immediate Progenitos which had it been they could not possibly have been ignorant of it but also that it must necessarily have been first taught the world by the Apostles For if the first Converts of the Apostles all over the World had not only been taught no such observation but also had been positively instructed to look upon Abstinence from certain kind of Meats as Superstition and the Doctrin of Devils and with all had been charged not to receive any other Doctrin though Preached to them by an Angel sent from Heaven and they in like manner teaching their Children the same they had learnt as none can doubt but they did How is it possible that the Christians in the 4th Century should most tenaciously adhere to this principle of admitting no new Doctrin or Practice but to hold fast to what was delivered them by their Ancestors from the Apostles and yet should themselves Superstitiously Abstain from Meats and not pretend Scripture for it neither but Apostolical Tradition But had the Pastors of the 4th Century Abstained from certain Meats on pretext of Scripture in such a manner understood by them or upon account of some Decree of a General Council or Law of some Emperor made in the second or third Century or pretending to follow some person or persons raised up by God in the third Age to teach the Christian world a more strict observance it might well be conceiv'd how the 4th Age might abstain from Meats upon a Religious account though no such thing had been taught the world by the Apostles but the quite contrary And from what has been said all well put together I think it is efficaciously concluded against all Opposers of Lent-Fast that it was taught the world by the Apostles But it is not a Tippet or a Surplice I am Arguing for but a practice which if rightly observed is sufficient to make all the world Saints and therefore for the more abundant satisfaction of my Reader I shall now adjoyn positive Evidences out of the Writers of the first 300. years that the Holy Fast of Lent was practised in those most pure and Primitive Times S. Denys B. of Alexandria who lived in the middle of the third Age in his Epistle to Basilides the Bishop Records the Fast before Easter as Universal as the joy and Feast of Easter It will be confessed saies he of all agreeably that we ought to begin the Feast viz. of Easter and Ioy until that time humbling our souls in Fastings they truly which make too much hast and before well toward mid-night break their Fast we blame as regardless and not Masters of their Appetite giving over the Race a little before the Goal Such indeed as are much worn by the Fasts and toward the end as it were faint we easily pardon if they eat sooner And in the same Epistle he mentions in special manner the six days of Fasts to wit those of the last week not alike observ'd of all Origen in the beginning of the same Age. Hom. 10. In Leviticum Habemus Quadragesimae dies c. We have the days of Lent Consecrated to Fasting we have the fourth and sixth day of the week on which we solemnly Fast. And certainly a Christian has liberty to Fast at all times but not out of a Superstitious Observation but by the Vertue of Continency The first General Council of Nice held a little after the year 300. did not first ordain the keeping of Lent but in the sixth Canon makes mention of it as a time known to all the Christian world for in that Canon the Fathers ordain that two Provincial-Councils should be celebrated by the Bishops of every Province every year one of them ante dies Quadragesimae c. before the days of Lent to the end that all Contests if any such be being made up a pure and solemn gift may be offered to God Now how should Lent be observed all over the Christian world so early before any General Council What other Universal cause could there be of so Universal an Observation but the first teaching of the Apostles Or if such a practice had been Superstitious and the Doctrin of Devils how came so Venerable and holy a Councel not to take notice of it As if they could be ignorant of such Scriptures as falsly understood are alledged against it by Non-Conformists In the second Age Tertullian in his Book de Iejunio c. 1 2. tells us that it was not the Sentiment of some one particular Man but of all Catholick Christians who are by him contumeliously called Psychici that the Pascal Fast was Constituted by God and observed by the Apostles His words are Nam quod c. For as to what appertains to Fasts they oppose that there are certain days Constituted by God They surely think that in the Gospel those days are determined for Fasts in which the Bridegroom was taken away and those days only are now the legitimate days of Christian Fasts c. And that thus the Apostles observed the rule of Fasting imposing no other Yoke of certain or Set-Fasts to be kept of all in common And c. 13. Ye prescribe against us that the solemn times for this matter are to be believed already constituted in the Scriptures or in the Tradition of our Elders and that no further observance is to be superadded for the unlawfulness of Innovation Maintain this your ground if you can for lo I convince you even your selves Fasting besides the Paschal Fast those days in which the Bridegroom was taken away