'l be favourable to us Thus Let us present our selves before the Eternal King of Heaven on our Fast with His Only Begotten His Dearly Beloved Son in the Arms of our Faith and plead Oh! for the Sake of this thy Son do Good unto us But then Secondly There is the External Humiliation of our Fast when we Humble our selves in a Fast we are to Abstain from all our Secular Pleasures and Affayrs that we may the better go thorough our Duties Like Silly Children we know not when to Feed and when to Forbear Feeding But our Good God in His Word has taught us We are Taught that we must sometimes have a Day for Fasting which must be a Day of Restraint upon us and this Restraint must Extend unto the Dimensions of a Sabbath Of a Fast it is prescribed in Lev. 23.32 It shall be unto you a Sabbath of Rest and ye shall Afflict your Souls from Evening unto Evening shall ye Celebrate your Sabbath The Design of the Abstinence thus to be used on a Fast is not only that we may be more free for the several Spiritual Employments which are then incumbent on us our Lord like a wife Falconer will by keeping of us a little Sharp fit us for the Highest Flights in our Prayers but also to Show and Speak the Humiliation of our Souls in those Employments T is a Ceremony of Gods Appointment a Symbolical Ceremony which God Himself hath appointed and a part of Worship whereby we are to Signify That we 〈◊〉 our selves utterly unworthy of all those Blessings which we now Deny unto our selves and therefore of all other Blessings whatsoeever And the First Sin of man which Lay in Eating is to be considered as very particularly herein referred unto Now First A Fast is to be kept with an Abstinence from the Pleasures of this Life Our usual Diet must on a Fast be Abstained from It was therefore said in Esth 4.16 Fast and neither Eat nor Drink The very Term of a Fast implies thus much and it hath been of old said They that will not so Fast with the Children of God must Eat and Drink of the Furious Wrath of God with the Wicked There are indeed Cases of Necessity wherein our merciful God call for Mercy rather than Sacrifice and in those Cases doubtless the Abstinence may be somewhat Abated and Relaxed Some cannot Encounter a severe and a total Abstinence it would utterly Disable them for the Service of the Day the Severity may then be mitigated Yet our Abstinence must be such as to produce our Affliction Of a Fast it is said in Isa 58.5 It is a Day for a man to Afflict his Soul and it is said in Lev. 23.29 Whatsoever Soul it be that shall not be Afflicted in that same Day he shall be cut off from among his people We may not Eat or Drink so much nor may we Eat or Drink so well on such a Day as at another Time In the Fast of a Daniel we have this Abstinence observed ch 10.3 late no pleasant Bread neither came Flesh nor Wine into my mouth neither did I anoint my self at all And in Tertullians Time they had their Xerophagiae a Dry sort of Repast for such as found that a Rigid Fast was too hard for them But by consequence all other Delights of the Senses are then also to be avoided If you read Joel 2.16 and 〈◊〉 Cor. 7.5 You 'l find a particular prohibition of this Importance Hence likewise our Sleep is then to be Retrenched If we are inclinable to Sleep so long on a Fast as we do on another Day we are to Awakeâ— our selves with such a Call from God as that What meanest thou O Sleeper Arise and Caâ—l upon thy God! And it is not improper here to be noted That our Alms are to be one Concomitant of our Fasts It was said in Isa 58 7. Is 〈◊〉 this the Fast that I have Chosen Is it 〈◊〉 to deal thy Bread to the Hungry When we come to seek Mercy of God we should in Thankfulness for our Hope to find what we seek show Mercy to men In our Fasting we Deny to our selves our usual Nourishments and we should then Bestow on others at least as much as we Deny to our serves in Token of our Sense That we are more Undeserving of the Divine Bounty than any that we know in our Neighbourhood Our Alms are to go up with our Prayers as a Memorial we Remember who 's did so before God But there is yet one thing more to be added Fine Cloathes must in a Fast be Abstained from If there were no Scripture for this why might not meer Nature teach it unto us as well as unto the Ninivites But we have Scripture for it in Exod 33.4 The people mourned and no man did put on him his Ornaments I have seeâ— a Fault in this place and My Neighbours 'T is utterly a Fault among you That on a Fast many people will come to the Worship of God in as Gay Cloaths as if they were going to a Feast Methinks I hear the Holy Angels of God thus uttering their Indignation against such Offenders What will those vain people never have any sign of an Abased and an Afflicted Soul upâ—n them Truly to be arrayed in Gorgeous Apparrel on a Fast is very offensive unto God Rags are fitter than Robes for the Children of men therein to appear as Malefactors before God the Judge of all They that come to the Assembly in a splendid and flanting Attire on such a Day do but Affront the God whom they profess to Humble themselves before Would you Speed in a Fast Then be able to say if not with him in Psal 35.13 My Cloathing was Sackcloth when I Humbled my Soul with Fasting yet My Cloathing is Sober Modest Proper and very Humble And Secondly A Fast is to be kept with an Abstinence from the Affayrs of this Life The Works of our particular Vocations are to be laid aside when a Fast is Indicted and All Servile Labour on the said Day is Inhibited A Fast is to be kept with the strictness of a Sabbath It is Enjoined in Lev. 23.28 30 32. Ye shall do no work in that same Day for it is a Day of Atonement Whatsoever Soul it be that doth any work in that same Day the same Soul will I destroy from among his people It shall be unto you a Sabbath of Rest from Evening to Evening shall ye Celebrate it When the Services of the Congregation are over we are not presently at Liberty to do what we will Those persons do but help to Debauch the Land who take such a Liberty The Edicts of Heaven run so in Joel 2 14. Sanctify a Fast The whole Day of the Fast is to be Sanctified or set apart for Communion with God When we keep a Day we must keep it unto the Lord. The Expectation of our God is intimated unto us in Isa 58.13 Turn away thy Foot from
Innumerable and almost Irremediable Woes to break in upon us XII Let us Humbly Confess That Mâ—gistrates Ministers and others that have served the Publick have been but great Sufferers by their Services and met with Unrighteous Discouragements XIII Let us Humbly Confess That the Pyracies which 't is to be feared some who belong to these have perpetrated in other parts of the World are Scandals that call for much Lamentation XIV Let us Humbly Confess That we have in former years used Unjustifiable Hardships upon some that have Conscientiously Dissented from our perswasions in Religion XV. Let us Humbly Confess That we have treated one another very Ill in the Various Temptations Cententions and Revâ—lutiâ—ns which have been upon us XVI Let us Humbly Confess That the Sins of the most Filthy Uncleanness have horribly Defiled the Land XVII Let us Humbly Confess That the Joy of Harvest hath been filled with Folly and Lewdness and Forgotten the Glad Service of God whom we should have Served in the Abunâ—lance of all things XVIII Let us Humbly Confess That much Fraud hath been used in the Dealings of many and the Spirit of Oppression hath made a Cry XIX Let us Humbly Confess That Falsehood and Slander hath been commonly carrying of Darts through the Land and the Wounded have been many XX. And Let us Humbly Confess That the Successive and Amazing Judgments of God upon us for our thus Trespassing have not Reclamed us but we have prodigiously Gone on still in our Trespasses In our Humiliations Let these things be Reflected on and with our most Humble Reflections Let us do like them in 1 Sam. 7.6 Gather together and Draw water and pour it out in a Showre of Tears before the Lord and Fast on that Day and say we have Sinned against the Lord. But that this our Confession of our Provocations may be Penitent we must Secondly Incorporate thereinto a Confession of what we have Deserved by these Provoking Evils Particularly We have seen many Troubles but on our Day of Humiliation concerning all our Troubles Let us Humbly make that Confession in Ezra 9.13 Thou our God best punished us less than our Iniquities Deserve Have we lost many Thousands of Pounds by the Disasters of the Sea Let us Humbly Confess our Sins have Deserved that instead of making one Good Voyage we should have been stript of all the Little that is left unto us Hath one bad harvest after another diminished our Ordinary Food Let us Humbly Confess our Sins have Deserved that the Earth which hath been thereby Defiled should have yielded us nâ—thing at all Have Bloody Popish and Pagan Enemies made very dreadful Impressions upon us and Captived and Butchered multitudes of our Beloved Neighbours Let us Humbly Confess our Sins have Deserved that we should be all of us altogether given up unto the will of our Enemies to Serve our Enemies in the want of all things and have our Lives continually hanging in Doubt under their turious Tyrannies Have we been Broken sore in the place of Dragons and Covered with the Shadow of Death Say Humbly before the Lord with them in Lam. 3.39 Why should a man Complain for the punishment of his Sin And yet we have had Comforts to mitigate and moderate our Troubles In the midst of wrath God ha's Remembred Mercy Now concerning all our Comforts on our Day of Humiliation Let us Humbly make that Confession in Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not Consumed Have we not the Tidings of Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Preac'd unto us to sweeten the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Afflâ—ction which the Lord hath given us Let us Humbly Confess 'T is of the Lords Mercies that this Countrey ha's the Bread of Life and the Waters of Life yet continued unto it and that it is not become a Region of the Valley of the Shadow of Death Are our Poor though greatly Increased and Afflicted yet more Comfortably provided for than in many other parts of the World Let us Humbly Confess 'T is of the Lords Mercies that we are not all Seattered and famiâ—hed and periâ—hed in our Poverty Do we see less of the Distress of Nations and Perplexity with the Sea and the waves thereof Roaring than they do in a great part of Europe 8. Let us Humbly Confess 'T is of the Lords Mercies that all the Things which the fainting Hearts of men any where do fear coming on the Earth are not come upon our selves Why do not our Adversaries use the Advantages which they have to Confound us but are themselves in such Confusion that we Endure not an Hundredth part of the Disturbance from them which they might give unto us Humbly say before the Lord with him in Gen. 32.10 We are not worthy of the least of all these Mercies This This would be the Language of a True Humiliatiâ—n But a Second Admoniâ—ion must be added unto This. What Signities Confession without Reformation T is all but Hypocrisy all but Impiety We are told in Prov. 28.13 T is he that Confesseth Forsaleth who shall have Mercy The Ancients would well call the Confession of Sin The Vemit of the Soul But now if we return and proceed unto the Commission of the Sins which we have by our Confession as it were Vomited up what are we but the Dogs that Return unto their Vomit When Sins are Sincerely Confessed the Repenting Sinners will say as in Hos 14.8 What have we any more to do with them Come then We have now and then that which we call A Day of Humiliation But Sirs A Day of Reformation Oh! when shall we see such a Day When shall it once be Behold an Essential Piece of work to be attended when A Day of Humiliation arrives unto us Let every one of us Earnestly Enquire with our selves What is there that I am now to Reform in my own Heart and Life and in the Family which I belong unto and importunately implore the Help of the Spirit of Grace to pursue such a Reformation But then lâ—et all that Sustain any Publick Office whether Civil or Sacred further carry on the Enquiâ—y What shall we do to Reform any spreading Evils in the Publick Lei the Pastors of the Churches in their severat Charges Labour Watchfully to prevent all growth of Sin in their Vicinities and the Churches joyn with their Pastors in Sharpening their Discipline against Offences that may arise and in preserving the Liberty and Purity which they have heretofore been clothed withal And Let Justices Grand Jury men Constables Tythingmen have their mutual Consultations to procure the Executions of Good Laws and Remember the Oath of God upon them Were such an Humiliation once obtained Then would our God say I see they have Humbled themselves I will not utterly Destroy them The Land of Canaan is as much as to say in English The Land of the Humbled Oh! if we were universally thus Humbled our Land would soon
be a Canaan for the Rest the Peace the Plenty which would be therein vouchsafed unto us II. The Exercises of a Sacred Fast have a particular and peculiar Character of Humiliation in them and we are to Humble our selves with Fasting before the Lord. Thus the Psalmist of old manifested his Humiliation in Psal 35.13 I Humbled my Soul with Fasting There is that Call Now and Often perhaps not often enough heard thro' the Province in Joel 1.14 Sanctify a Fast Call a Solemn Assembly Gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land into the House of your God and Cry unto the Lord. And I perswade my self that we generally concur in the General Principle hitherto Espoused by the Church of God in every Generation That a Religions Fast is a Needful Duty pro Temporibus et Causis as Tertullian long since well stated it on Just and Great Occasions for it That Merry Sect who Explode Fasting as a thing not Agreeable to our Gospel Times appear not among us We know that Fasting hath in all Agâ—s been esteem'd a Duty incumbent on the People of God We find such Fasting used in Elder Times Judg. 20.26 and 1 Sam. 7.6 Both more publickly 2 Chron. 20.30 and Ezr. 8 21. And more privately 2 Sam. 12.16 Neb. 1.4 What tho' these things were in the Dayes of the Old-Testament I hope the Old Testament is not become Apocâ—ypha with any of us But in the New-Testament also we have a Praediction of our Fasting Math. 9.15 Yea and a Praescription for it Mâ—th 6.16 For dâ—ing it more pubâ—ickly we have 〈◊〉 Wâ—â—rant Act. 14.23 and more privately too 1 Cor. 7.5 Yea we are told that there are certain Blessings which cannot now be obtained but in such a way Mar. 9.29 And I am sure of one thing more when the Apostles and the Believers in the Primitive Times were most Filled with the Holy Spirit of Christ then it was that they were most in Fasting before the Lord Now if our Fast be such a Fast as the Lord hath chosen we shall therein Humble our selves most acceptably most profitably most efficaciously And because the Right Performance of this Duty is a thing of great Consequence in Christianity 't is what is frequently required and much Weal or Wo will follow upon the management of it I will set before you the Rules of that Sacred Fast wherein we are to Humble our Souls Having first Praepared our selves for our Fast as one would for an Extraordinary Sabbath we have these things to do First There is the Internal Humiliation of our Fast The Duties of Praying Repenting and Believing are the Soul of that Fast wherein we are to Humble our Souls and we are to Labour in those Duties The Duties of a Fast are those in 2 Chron. 7.14 My People shall then Humble themselves and Pray and Seek my Face and Turn from their wicked wayes For men to think that they Serve God by a Fast wherein they do nothing but Fast from Corporal Sustenance and they draw not near to God in Devotions all the Day long 't is a plece of Ignorance yea more than one Commandment of God is broken by this piece of Ignorance When we Celebrate a Fast we are in more than ordinary Prayers to Acknowledge our own Sinfulness and the Greatness and Justice of God in Chastising our Sinfulness and we are to Supplicate those Favours of Heaven which our Sins our Wants and our Fears make Necessary for us The Thing which we have to do on a Fast is what the Praying Daniel did in Dan. 9.3 I set my Face unto the Lord God to seek by Prayer and Supplications with Fasting And haing thus Quoted the Ninth Chapter of Daniel I may Remark That there are Three Nâ—nths which admirably well describe the Task of a Fast unto us the Ninth Chapter of Ezra the Ninth Chapter of Nehemiah and the Ninth Chapter of Daniel When the Fast comes Remember Christians to consult those Three Chapters with Lively Meditations thereupon A Day of Fast is to be a Day of Prayer As in Act. 13.3 so elsewhere Fasting and Praying are what God has joyned and here Man may not separate them Would you hear what you have to Do when a Fast is to be kept The words of an Order for a Fast once ran so in Jon. 3.8 Cry mightily unto God Prayer 't is That whereof the Jewes in one of their Ancient Adagies tell us Nulla est pulchrior virtus hac ipsa There is no vertue like it It is beyond all Oblations But Repenting and Believing as well as Praying must signalize our Fast Reconciliation with God is the End of a Fast without Repenting and Believing this Reconciliation is not applied unto us A Fast is but a Form an Hungry and Empty Form if we do not therein heartily Repent of our Miscarriages Thus we are advised in Isa 58.6 7 8. Is not this the Fast that I have chosen To Loose the Bonds of Wickedness On a Fast Let us be those Ephraimites who shail bemoan themselves Thou hast Chastised me O Lord and I was Chastised Turn thou me and I shall be Turned On a Fast Let us take those Directions in the midst of our Lamentations Let us Search and Try our ways and Turn again unto the Lord. A Fasting Day must be a Soul grieving Day and a Sin killing Day or 't is nothing Our Fast are to Slay our Lusts those are the Beasts which are then to be slaughtered Indeed when ever a Fast recurrs we should go the whole Work of Conversion over again Our Fast will notably be Ciâ—us virtutis if we do so Again The Satisfaction and Intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ must on a Fast â—e Repaired unto and we must Beâ—â—eve in it for our Atonement It was the â—ite appointed for a Fast in Lev. 16.27 â—0 The Blood of the Sin Offering must be â—rought in to make Atonement On that Day all the Priest make Atonement for you to â—eanse you that you may be clean from all â—ur Sins before the Lord. Our Lord Jesus â—hrist is our Priest What He hath done â—r our Atonement must be this Day â—ith a strong Faith Laid hold upon A Fast is a Day of Expiation but we know it is only the Lord Jesus Christ that hath by His Unknown Sufferings as the Greek Church at this Day expressâ—s it made Expiation for our Sins Hence on a Fast we must Renew the Dependance of our Souls on the Obedience which our Lord Jesus Christ our Surety hath yielded unto God for us Our Sin has procured the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ In a Fast our Faith is to Feed upon it A Fasting Day is with Faith a Feeding Day In our Fasts we are to Imitate the Action of the Molossians who seeking the Kings Good will unto them took the Son of the King into their Arms and presenting themselves thus before him said Syr For the sake of this your Son we hope you