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27 - Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse VII - Sermons on Several Occasions · Sacred Texts Archive

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Upon our Lord's Sermon on the Mount Discourse seven. Moreover, when ye fast,
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be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, For they disfigure their
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faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily, I say
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unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest,
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anoint thine head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to
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fast, but unto Thy Father, which is in secret. And thy Father,
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which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Matthew six sixteen eighteen.
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It has been the endeavor of Satan from the beginning of the world to
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put asunder what God hath join'd together, to separate inward from outward religion,
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to set one of these at variance with the other. And herein he has
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met with no small success among those who are ignorant of his devices. Many
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in all ages, having a zeal for God but not according to knowledge,
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have been strictly attached to the righteousness of the law, the performance of outward
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duties. But in the meantime wholly regardless of inward righteousness, the righteousness which
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is of God by faith, and many have run into the opposite extreme,
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disregarding all outward duties, perhaps even speaking evil of the law, and judging
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the law so far as it enjoins the performance of them. It is by
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this very device of Satan that faith and works have been so often set at
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variance with each other, and many who had a real zeal for God have
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for a time fallen into the snare. On either hand, some have magnified
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faith to the utter exclusion of good works, not only from being the cause
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of our justification, for we know that man is justified freely by the redemption
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which is in Jesus, but from being the necessary fruit, yea, from
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having any place in the religion of Jesus Christ. Others, eager to avoid
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this dangerous mistake, have run as much too far the contrary where and either
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maintained that good works were the cause at least the previous condition of justification,
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or spoken of them as if they were all in all the whole religion of
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Jesus Christ. In the same manner, have the end and the means of
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religion been set at variance with each other. Some well meaning men have seemed
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to place all religion in attending the prayers of the church, in receiving the
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Lord's supper, in hearing sermons and reading books of piety, neglecting meantime the
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end of all these, the love of God and their neighbor. And this
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very thing has confirmed others in the neglect, if not contempt, of the
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ordinances of God, so wretchedly abused to undermine and overthrow the very end they
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were designed to establish. But of all all the means of grace, there
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is scarce any concerning which men have run into greater extremes than that of which
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our Lord speaks in the above mentioned words, I mean religious fasting. How
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have some exalted this beyond all scripture and reason, and others utterly disregarded it
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as it were, revenging themselves by undervaluing as much as the former had overvalued
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it. Those have spoken of it as if it were all in all,
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if not the end itself, yet infallibly connected with it, these as if
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it were just nothing, as if it were a fruitless labor which had no
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relation at all. There too, whereas it is certain the truth lies between
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them both. It is not all, nor yet is it nothing. It
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is not the end, but it is a precious means. Thereto a means
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which God himself has ordained, and in which therefore, when it is duly
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used, he will surely give us his blessing. In order to set this
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in the clearest light, I shall endeavor to show, first what is the
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nature of fasting, and what the several sorts and degrees thereof. Second,
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what are the reasons, grounds, and ends of it? Thirdly, how
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we may answer the most plausible objections against it? And fourthly, in what
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manner it should be performed. I shall endeavor to show first what is the
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nature of fasting, and what the several sorts and degrees thereof. As to
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the nature of it, all the inspired writers, both in the Old Testament
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and the New, take the word to fast in one single sense, for
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not to eat, to abstain from food. This is so clear that it
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would be labor lost to quote the words of David, Neemiah, Isiah,
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and the prophets which followed, or of our Lord and his apostles, all
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agreeing in this that to fast is not to eat for a time prescribed to
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this other circumstances we usually joined by them of old which had no necessary connection
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with it. Such were the neglect of their apparel, the laying aside those
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ornaments which they were accustomed to wear, the putting on mourning, the stirring
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ashes upon their head, or wearing sackcloth next their skin. But we find
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little mention made in the New Testament of any of these indifferent circumstances, nor
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does it appear that any stress was laid upon them by the Christians of the
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Purer ages. However, some penitents might voluntarily use them as outward signs of
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inward humiliation. Much less did the apostles or the Christians contemporary with them beat
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or tear their own flesh. Such discipline as this was not unbecoming the priests
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or worshipers of Baal. The gods of the Heathens were but devils, and
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it was doubtless acceptable to their devil God when his priests in one Kings eighteen
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twenty eight cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner, till the blood gushed
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out upon them. But it cannot be pleasing to him, nor behume his
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followers, who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
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As to the degrees or measures of fasting, we have instances of some who
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have fasted several days together. So Moses, Elijah, and our blessed Lord,
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being endued with supernatural strength for that purpose, are recorded to have fasted
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without intermission forty days and forty nights. But the time of fasting, more
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frequently mentioned its scripture is one day from morning till evening. Ness was the
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fast commonly observed among the ancient Christians. But beside these they had also their
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half fasts semija junior, as to Tullian styles, them on the fourth and
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sixth days of the week, Wednesday and Friday throughout the year, on which
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they took no sustenance till three in the afternoon, the time when they returned
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from the public service. Nearly related to this is what our church seems peculiarly
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to mean by the term abstinence, which may be used when we cannot fast
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entirely by reason of sickness or bodily weakness. This is the easing, little,
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the abstaining, and part the taking a smaller quantity of food than usual.
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I do not remember any scriptural instance of this, but neither can I
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condemn it, for the scripture does not. It may have its use and
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receive a blessing from God. The lowest kind of fasting, if it can
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be called by that name, is the abstaining from pleasant food. Of this
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we have several instances in scripture besides that of Daniel and his brethren, who,
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from a peculiar consideration, namely that they might not defile themselves with the
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portion of the King's meat, nor with the wine which he drank a daily
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provision of which the King had appointed for them, requested and obtained of the
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Prince of the Eunuch's pulse to eat and water to drink. Daniel one ate,
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perhaps from a mistaken imitation of this, might spring the very ancient custom
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of abstaining from flesh and wine during such times as were set apart for fasting
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and abstinence, if it did not rather arise from a supposition that these were
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the most pleasant food, and a belief that it was proper to use what
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was least pleasing at those times of solemn approach to God. In the Jewish
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Church, there were some stated fasts, such was the fast of the seventh
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Month, appointed by God himself to be observed by all Israel under the severest
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penalty. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying on the tenth day of this
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month, there shall be a day of atonement, and ye shall afflict your
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souls to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever
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soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall
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be cut off from among his people Leviticus twenty three, twenty six. After
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ages, several other stated fasts were added to these. So mention is made
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by the Prophet Zachariah of the fast not only of the seventh, but also
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of the fourth, of the fifth, and of the tenth month Zachariah eight
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nineteen. In the ancient Christian Church, there were likewise stated fasts, and
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those both annual and weekly. Of the former sort was that before Easter,
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observed by some for eight and forty hours, by others for an entire week,
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by many for two weeks, taking no sustenance till the evening of each
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day of the latter those of the fourth and sixth days of the week observed
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as Epiphanius rites, remarking it as an undeniable fact in hole te ulcoimunoi,
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in a whole habitable earth, at least in every place where any Christians made
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their abode. The annual fasts in our Church are the forty days of Lent,
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the Ember days at the four seasons, the rogation days, and the
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vigils or eves of several solemn festivals, the weekly all fridays in the year
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except Christmas Day. But beside those which were fixed in every nation fearing God,
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there have always been occasional fasts appointed from time to time as the particular
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circumstances and occasions of each required. So when the children of Moab and the
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children of Ammon came against Jehoshaphat to battle, Jehoshaphat set himself to seek the
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Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah Second Chronicles twenty verses one to three.
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And so in the fifth year of Jehoikim, the son of Josiah,
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in the ninth month, when they were afraid of the King of Babylon,
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the princes of Judah proclaimed fast before the Lord to all the people of Jerusalem
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Jeremiah thirty six. And in like manner, particular persons who take heed unto
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their ways and desire to walk humbly and closely with God will find frequent occasion
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for private sessions of thus afflicting their souls before their father, which is in
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secret. And it is to this kind of fasting that the directions here given
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do chiefly and primarily refer. I proceed to show, in the second place,
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what are the grounds, the reasons and ends of fasting. And first,
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men who are under strong emotions of mind, who are affected with any
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vehement passion, such as sorrow or fear, are often swallowed up therein,
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and even forget to eat their bread. At such seasons. They have little
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regard for food, not even what is needful to sustain nature, much less
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for any delicacy or variety, being taken up with quite different thoughts. Thus,
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when Paul said, I am sore to stress test, for the Philistines
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make war against me, and God is departed from me, it is recorded
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he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night on Samuel
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twenty eighth, fifteen twenty. Thus, those who were in the ship with
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sent Paul, when no small tempest lay upon them, and all hope that
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they should be saved was taken away, continued fasting, having taken nothing no
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regular meal, for fourteen days together Acts twenty seven thirty three. And thus
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David and all the men that were with him, when they heard that the
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people were fled from the battle, and that many of the people were fallen
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and dead, and Saul and Jonathan, his son, were dead, also
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mourned and wept and fasted until even for Saul and Jonathan, and for the
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house of Israel two Samuel one twelve. Nay. Many times, they whose
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minds are deeply engaged are impatient of any interruption, and even loathe their needful
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food, as diverting their thoughts from what they desire should engross their whole attention.
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Even a soul, when on the occasion mentioned before, he had fallen
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all along upon the earth, and there was no strength in him, yet
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said I will not eat till his servants, together with the woman, compelled
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him. Here, then is the natural ground of fasting. One who is
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under deep affliction, overwhelmed with sorrow for sin, and a strong apprehension of
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the wrath of God, would, without any rule, without knowing or considering
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whether it were a command of God or not, forget to eat his bread,
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abstain not only from pleasant but even from needful food, Like Saint Paul,
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who, after he was led into Damascus, was three days without sight
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and did neither eat nor drink Acts nine nine YEA. When the storm rose
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high, when a horrible dread overwhelmed one who had been without God in the
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world, his soul would loathe all manner of meat. It would be unpleasing
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and irksome to him. He would be impatient of anything that should interrupt his
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ceaseless cry, Lord, save or I perish. How strongly is this expressed
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by our Church in the first part of the Homily on Fasting. When men
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feel in themselves the heavy burden of sin, see damnation to be the reward
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of it, and behold with the eye of their heart the horror of hell,
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they tremble, they quake, and are inwardly touched with sorrowfulness of heart,
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and cannot but accuse themselves and open their grief unto Almighty God and call
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unto Him for mercy, this being done seriously. Their mind is so occupied,
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taken up partly with sorrow and heaviness, partly with an earnest desire to
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be delivered from this danger of hell and damnation, that all desire of meat
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and drink is laid apart, and loathsomeness or loathing of all worldly things,
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and pleasure cometh in place, so that nothing then liketh the more than to
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weep, to lament, to mourn, and both with words and behavior of
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body, to show themselves weary of life. Another reason or ground of fasting
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is this, many of those who now fear God are deeply sensible. How
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often they have sinned against Him by the abuse of these lawful things. They
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know how much they have sinned by excess of food, how long they have
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transgressed the Holy law of God with regard to temperance, if not sobriety too,
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How they have indulged their sensual appetites, perhaps to the impairing even their
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bodily health, certainly to the no small hurt of their soul. For hereby
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they continually fed and increased that sprightly follow that aeriness of mind, that levity
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of temper, that gay in attention to things of the deepest concern, that
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giddiness and carelessness of spirit, which were no other than drunkenness of soul,
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which stupefied all their noblest faculties, no less than excess of wine or strong
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drink. To remove therefore the effect they remove the cause. They keep at
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a distance from all excess. They abstain as far as possible from what had
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well nigh plunged them in everlasting perdition. They often wholly refrain, always take
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care to be sparing and temperate in all things. They likewise well remember how
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fullness of bread increased not only carelessness and levity of spirit, but also foolish
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and unholy desires. Yea unclean and vile affections. And this experience puts beyond
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all day out even a genteel regular sensuality is continually sensualizing the soul and sinking
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it into a level with the beasts that perish. It cannot be expressed what
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an effect variety and delicacy of food have on the mind as well as the
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body, making it just ripe for every pleasure of sense, as soon as
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opportunities shall invite. Therefore, on this ground also every wise man will refrain
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his soul and keep it low. Will wean it more and more from all
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those indulgences of the inferior appetites, which naturally tend to chain it down to
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earth and to pollute as well as debase it. Here is another perpetual reason
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for fasting, To remove the food of lust and sensuality, to withdraw the
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incentives of foolish and hurtful desires, of vain and vile affections. Perhaps we
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need not all together omit, although I know not if we should do well
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to lay any great stress upon it. Another reason for fasting, which some
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good men have largely insisted on, namely the punishing themselves for having abused the
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good gifts of God by sometimes wholly refraining from them, thus exercising a kind
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of wholly revenge upon themselves for their past folly and ingratitude, in turning the
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things which should have been for their health into an occasion for failing. Thus
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suppose David to have an eye to this when he said I wept and chastened,
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or punished my soul with fasting and sent poor, when he mentions what
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revenge godly sorrow occasioned in the Corinthians. A fifth and more weighty reason for
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fasting is that it is an help to prayer, particularly when we set apart
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larger portions of time for private prayer. Then especially it is that God is
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often pleased to lift up the souls of his servants above all the things of
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earth, and sometimes to wrap them up as it were into the third heavens.
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And it is chiefly as it is, and help to prayer, that
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it has so frequently been found a means in the hand of God of confirming
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and increasing not one virtue, not chastity only, as some have idly imagined,
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without any ground either from scripture, reason or experience, but also seriousness
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of spirit, earnestness, sensibility, and tenderness of conscience, deadness to the
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world, and consequently the love of God and every holy and heavenly affection.
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Not that there is any natural or necessary connection between fasting and the blessings God
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conveys thereby. But He will have mercy. As he will have mercy,
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He will convey whatsoever seemeth him good, by whatsoever means he is pleased to
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appoint, And He hath in all ages appointed this to be a means of
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averting His wrath and obtaining whatever blessings we, from time to time stand in
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need of. How powerful a means this is to avert the wrath of God,
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we may learn from the remarkable instance of Ahab there was none like him
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who did sell himself wholly, give himself up like a slave bought with money.
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To work wickedness. Yet when he rent his clothes and put sacloth upon
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his flesh, and fasted, and went softly, the words of the Lord
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came to Elijah, saying, seest thou, how ahab humbleth himself before me.
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Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in
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his days. It was for this end to avert the wrath of God that
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Daniel sought God with fasting and sacloth and ashes. This appears from the whole
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tenor of his prayer, particularly from the solemn conclusion of it. O Lord,
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according to all thy righteousness or mercies, let thy anger be turn'd away
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from thy holy mountain. Hear the prayer of thy servant, and cause thy
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face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate. O Lord, here,
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O Lord, forgive, O Lord, hearken and do for thine own sake
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Daniel nine three and sixteen. But it is not only from the people of
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God that we learn when his anger is moved to seek him by fasting and
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prayer, but even from the Heathens, when Jonah had declared yet forty days
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and Nineveh shall be overthrown. The people of Ninemah proclaim'd are fast and put
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on sacloth, from the greatest of them unto the least. For the King
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of Nineveh arose from his throne and laid his robe from him, and covered
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him with sacloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be
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proclaim'd and publish'd through Nineveh, that neither man nor beast heard, nor flock
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taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, Not that the beast
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had sinned or could repent, but that by their example man might be admonished,
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considering that for his sin the anger of God was hanging over all creatures.
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Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his
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fierce anger, that we perish not. And their labor was not in vain.
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The fierce anger of God was turned away from them. God saw their
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works, the fruits of that repentance and faith which he had wrought in them
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by his prophet. And God repented of the evil that he had said he
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would do unto them, and he did it not. John three, verse
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four. And it is a means not only of turning away the wrath of
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God, but also of attaining whatever blessings we stand in need of So when
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the other tribes were smitten before the benjaminights, all the children of Israel went
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up into the House of God and wept and fasted that day until even and
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then the Lord said, go up again, for tomorrow I will deliver them
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into thine hand. Judges twenty, verse twenty six. So Samuel gathered all
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Israel together when they were in bondage to the Philistines, and they fasted on
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that day before the Lord. And when the Philistines drew near to battle against
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Israel, the Lord thundered upon them with a great thunder and discomfited them,
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and they were smitten before Israel one Samuel seven, verse six. So Ezra
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I proclaimed a fast at the river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before
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our God, to seek of him a right way for us and for our
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little ones. And he was entreated of us Ezra eight, verse twenty one.
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So near Maiah I fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven, and
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said, prosper, I pray thee thy servant this day, and grant him
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mercy in the sight of this man. And God granted him mercy in the
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sight of the king. Near Mayah one verses four to eleven. In like
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manner, the apostles always joined fasting with prayer when they desired the blessing of
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God on any important undertaking. Thus we read in Acts thirteen, they were
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in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers, as they
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ministered to the Lord and fasted, doubtless for direction in this very affair,
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the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I
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have called them. And when they had a second time fasted and prayed and
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laid their hands on them, they sent them away Acts thirteen, verse thirteen.
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Thus also Paul and Barnabas themselves, as we read in the following chapter,
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when they returned again to Lystra, Aconium and Antioch, conforming the souls
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of the disciples, and when they had ordained them elders in their every church
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and had prayed with fasting, commended them to the Lord. Acts fourteen,
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verse twenty three. YEA, that blessings are to be obtained in the use
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of this means, which are no otherwise attainable. Our Lord expressly declares in
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his answer to his disciples, asking why could not we cast him out,
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Jesus said unto them, because of your own belief. For verily I say
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unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye
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shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall
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remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind of devil
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goeth out not by prayer and fasting matt seventeen, verse nineteen, these being
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the appointed means of attaining that faith, whereby the very devils a subject unto
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you, these were the appointed means. For it was not merely by the
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light of reason or of natural conscience, as it is called, that the
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people of God have been in all ages directed to use fasting as a means
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to these ends. But they have been from time to time taught it by
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God himself, by clear and open revelations of his will. Such is that
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remarkable one by the prophet jol. Therefore, saith the Lord, turn you
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to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping and
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with mourning. Who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave the blessing
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behind him. Blow the trumpet in Zion sanct a fire fast call, a
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solemn assembly then will the Lord be jealous over his land and will pity his
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people. Yea, I will send you corn and wine and oil. I
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will no more make you a reproach among the heathen Jol two verse twelve.
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Nor are they only temporal blessings which God directs his people to expect in the
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use of these means. For at the same time that he promised to those
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who should seek him with fasting and weeping and mourning, I will rest store
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you the years which locust hath eaten, the canker worm, and the caterpillar
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and the palmer worm. My great army he subjoins. So shall ye eat
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and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God. Ye
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shall also know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I
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am the Lord your God. And then immediately follows the great Gospel promise,
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I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your
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daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men
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shall see visions. And also upon the sermons and upon the handmaids. In
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those days, I will pour out my spirit Joel two verses twenty eight to
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twenty nine. Now, whatsoever reasons there were to quicken those of old in
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the zealous and constant discharge of this duty, they are of equal force still
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to quicken us. But above all these have a peculiar reason for being in
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fastings, often, namely the command of Him by whose name we are called.
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He does not, indeed, in this place expressly enjoin either fasting,
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giving of arms, or prayer. But his directions how to fast, to
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give arms, and to pray are of the same force with such injunctions.
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For the commanding us to do anything thus is an unquestionable command to do that
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thing, seeing it is impossible to perform it thus if it be not performed
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at all. Consequently, the saying give arms, pray, fast in such
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a manner is a clear command to perform all those duties, as well as
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to perform them in that manner, which shall in no wise lose its reward.
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And this is still far the motive and encouragement to the performance of this
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duty, even the promise which our Lord has graciously annexed to the due discharge
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of it, Thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
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Such are the plain grounds reasons and ends are fasting. Such our encouragement
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to persevere therein, notwithstanding abundance of egibjections which men wiser than their Lord have
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been continually raising against it. The most plausible of these I come now to
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consider. And first, it has been frequently said that a Christian fast from
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sin and not from food. This is what God requires at his hands.
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Now so he does, but he requires the other also. Therefore this ought
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to be done, and that not left undone. Few your argument in its
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full dimensions, and you will easily judge the strength of it. If a
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Christian ought to abstain from sin, then he ought not to abstain from food.
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But a Christian ought to abstain from sin, therefore he ought not to
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abstain from food. That a Christian ought to abstain from sin is most true.
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But now does it follow from hence that he ought not to abstain from
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food. Let him do both the one and the other. Let him,
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by the grace of God, always abstain from sin, and let him often
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abstain from food for such reasons and ends, as experience and scripture plainly show
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to be answered thereby. But it is not better, as it has secondly,
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been objected to abstain from pride and vanity, from foolish and hurtful desires,
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from peevishness and anger and discontent, than from food. Well, our
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question it is. But here again we need to remind you of our Lord's
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words. These things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the
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other undone. And indeed the latter is only in order to the former.
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It is a means to that great end. We abstain from food with this
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view that, by the grace of God conveyed into our souls, through this
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outward means, in conjunction with all the other channels of His grace which He
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hath appointed, we may be enabled to abstain from every passion and temper which
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is not pleasing in His sight. We refrain from the one, that,
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being endued with power from on high, we may be able to refrain from
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the other. So that your argument proves just the contrary to what you designed.
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It proves that we ought to fast, For if we ought to abstain
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from evil tempers and desires, then we ought thus to abstain from food.
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Since these little instances of self denial. Other ways God hath chose wherein to
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bestow that great salvation, But we do not find it. So, in
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fact, this is a third objection. We have fasted much and often,
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by what did it avail? We were not a whit better. We found
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no blessing therein. Nay, we have founded a hindrance rather than a help.
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Instead of preventing anger, for instance, or fretfulness, it has been
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a means of increasing them to such a height that we could neither bear ourselves
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nor others. Now this may very possibly be the case. It is possible
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either to fast or pray in such a manner as to make you much worse
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than before, more unhappy, and more unholy. Yet the fault does not
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lie in the means itself, but in the manner of using it. Use
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it still, but use it in a different manner. Do what God commands
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as he commands it, and then doubtless his promise shall not fail. His
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blessings shall be withheld no longer. But when thou fastest in secret, he
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that seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But it is not mere superstition.
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So it has been fourthly objected to imagine that God regards such little things
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as these. If you say it is you condemn all the generations of God's
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children. But will you say these were all weak, superstitious men. Can
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you be so hearty as to affirm this? Both that Moses and Joshua of
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Samuel, and David of Jehosaphat, Ezra, Nehemiah, and all the prophets
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yea of a greater than all, the son of God himself. It is
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certain, both our Master and all all these his servants did imagine that fasting
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is not a little thing, and that he who is higher than the highest
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doth regard it of the same judgment is his plane. Were all his apostles
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after they were filled with the Holy Ghost and with wisdom, when they had
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the unction of the Holy One teaching them all things, they still approved themselves
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the ministers of God by fastings, as well as by the armor of righteousness
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on the right hand and on the left. After the bridegroom was taken from
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them, then did they fast in those days, Nor would they attempt anything
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as we have seen above, wherein the glory of God was nearly concerned,
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such as the sending forth laborers into the harvest without solemn fasting, as well
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as prayer, But if fasting be indeed of so great importance, and attended
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with such a blessing, is it not best, say some fifthly, to
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fast always, not to do it now and then, but to keep it
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continual. Fast, to use as much abstinence at all times as our bodily
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strength will bear. Let none be discouraged from doing this by all means.
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Use as little and plain food, exercise as much self denial herein at all
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times as your bodily strength will bear. And this may conduce, by the
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blessing of God, to several of the great ends above mentioned. It may
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be a considerable help, not only to chastity, but also to heavenly mindedness,
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to the weaning your affections from things below and setting them on things above.
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But this is not fasting scriptural fasting. It is never termed so in
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all the Bible. It in some measure answers some of the ends thereof.
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But still it is another thing. Practice it by all means, but not
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so as thereby to set aside a command of God and an instituted means of
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averting His judgments and obtaining the blessings of His children. Use continually, then
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as much abstinence as you please, which taken thus is no other than Christian
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temperance. But this need not at all interfere with your observing solemn times of
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fasting and prayer. For instance, your habitual abstinence or temperance would not prevent
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your fasting in secret. If you were suddenly overwhelmed with huge sorrow and remorse,
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and with horrible fear and dismay, such a situation of mind would almost
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constrain you to fast. You would loathe your daily food. You would scarce
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endure even to take such supplies as were needful for the body, till God
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lifted you up out of the horrible pit and set your feet upon a rock,
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and ordered your goings. The same would be the case if you were
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in agony of desire, vehemently wrestling with God for his blessing, You would
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need none to instruct you not to eat bread till you had obtained the request
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of your lips. Again, had you been at Nineveh when it was proclaimed
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the city, let neither man, nor beast, herd, nor flock taste
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anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let them cry mightily
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unto God. Would your continual fast have been any reason for not bearing part
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in that general humiliation, Doubtless it would not. You would have been as
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much concerned as any other not to taste food on that day. No more
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would abstinence or the observing of a continual fast have excused any of the children
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of Israel from fasting on the tenth day of the seventh month. That shall
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not be afflicted, shall not fast in that day, he shall be cut
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off from among his people. Lastly, had you been with the Brethren in
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Antioch at the time when they fasted and prayed before the sending forth of Barnabus
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and Soul, can you possibly imagine that your temperance or abstinence would have been
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a sufficient cause for not joining Wherein, without doubt, if you had not,
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you would soon have been cut off from the Christian community. You would
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have deservedly been cast out from among them, as bringing confusion into the Church
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of God. I am in the last place to show in what manner we
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are to fast, that it may be an acceptable service unto the Lord.
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And first, let it be done unto God, with our eye singuly fixed
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on him. Let our intention herein be this and this alone, to glorify
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our Father, which is in Heaven, to express our sorrow and shame for
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our manifold transgressions of His Holy law, To wait for an increase of purifying
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grace, drawing our affections to things above, to add seriousness and earnestness to
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our prayers, to avert the wrath of God, and to obtain all the
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great and precious promises which He hath made to us in Jesus Christ. Let
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us beware of mocking God, of turning our fast as well as our prayers,
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into an abomba nation unto the Lord, by the mixture of any temporal
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view, particularly by seeking the praise of men. Against this, Our blessed
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Lord more peculiarly guards us, in the words of the text. Moreover,
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when ye fast, be ye not as the hypocrites, such were too many
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who were called the people of God of a sad countenance, sour affectedly sad,
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putting their looks into a peculiar form. For they disfigure their faces not
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only by unnatural distortions, but also by covering them with dust and ashes,
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that they may appear unto men. To fast. This is their chief,
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if not only design. Verily, I say, unto you they have their
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reward, even the admiration and praise of men. But thou, when thou
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fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face, do as thou art accustomed
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to do it any other times that thou appear not unto men to fast.
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Let this be no part of thy intention. If they know it without any
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desire of thine, it matters not thou art neither the better nor the worse.
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But unto Thy Father, which is in secret, and thy Father,
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which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. But if we desire this
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reward, let us beware secondly, of fancying we merit anything of God by
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our fasting. We cannot be too much warned of this, inasmuch as a
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desire to establish our own righteousness, to procure salvation of debt and not of
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grace, is so deeply rooted in all our hearts. Fasting is only a
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way which God hath ordained, wherein we wait for His unmerited mercy, and
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wherein, without any desert of ours, he hath promised freely to give us
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his blessing. Not that we are to imagine the performing the bar outward act
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will receive any blessing from God. Is it such a face that I have
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chosen, saith the Lord? A day for a man to afflict his soul?
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Is it to bet down his head as a bulrush? And to spread
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sackcloth and ashes under him? Are these outward acts, however, strictly performed,
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all that is meant by a man's afflicting his soul? Wilt thou call
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this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? No? Surely,
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if it be a mere external service, it is all but lost labour.
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Such a performance may possibly affect the body, but as to the soul,
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it profiteth nothing. Yea, the body may sometimes be afflicted too much so
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as to be unfit for the works of our calling. This also we are
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diligently to guard against, for we ought to preserve our health as a good
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gift of God. Therefore, care is to be taken whenever we fast,
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to proportion the fast to our strength. For we may not offer god murder
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for sacrifice, or destroy our bodies to help our souls. But as these
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solemn seasons, we may, in great weakness of body, avoid that other
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extreme for which God condemns those who have old expostulated with Him. For not
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accepting their fasts. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest
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not behold in the day of your fast, ye find pleasure, saith the
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Lord. If we cannot wholly abstain from food, we may at least abstain
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from pleasant food, and then we shall not seek His face in vain.
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But let us take care to afflict our souls as well as our bodies,
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that every season, either of public or private fasting, be a season of
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exercising all those holy affections which are implied in a broken and contrite heart.
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Let it be a season of devout mourning of godly sorrow for sin, such
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a sorrow as that of the Corinthians, concerning which the Apostle saith. I
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rejoice not that ye were made sorry, but they ye sorrowed to repentance,
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for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage
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by us in nothing for godly sorrow. Hekata theion lipe the sorrow which is
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according to God, which is a precious gift of His spirit, lifting the
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soul to God from whom it flows, worketh repentance to salvation, not to
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be repented of yea and let our sorrowing, after a godly sort work in
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us the same inward and outward repentance, the same entire change of heart renewed
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after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness, and the same change
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of life, till we are holy as He is holy in all manner of
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conversation. Let it work in us the same carefulness to be found in Him
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without spot and blameless, the same clearing of ourselves by our lives rather than
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words, by our staining from all appearance of evil, the same indignation,
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vehement abhorrence of every sin, the same fear of our own deceitful hearts,
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the same desire to be in all things conformed to the wholly insectible will of
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God, the same zeal for whatever may be a means of His glory and
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of our growth in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the same
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revenge against Satan and all his works, against all filthiness, both of flesh
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and spirit two Corinthians seven, verse nine. And with fasting, let us
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always join fervent prayer, pouring out our whole souls before God, confessing our
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sins with all their aggravations, humbling ourselves under his mighty hand, laying open
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before him all our wants, all our guiltiness and helplessness. This is a
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season for enlarging our prayers, both in behalf of ourselves and our brethren.
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Our bewail the sins of our people, and cry aloud for the city of
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our God, that the Lord may build up Zion and cause his face to
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shine on her desolations. Thus we may observe the men of God in ancient
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times always joined prayer and fasting together. Thus the apostles in all the instances
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sighted above, and thus our Lord joins them in the discoss before us.
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It remains only in order to our observing such a fast as is acceptable to
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the Lord, that we had alms thereto works of mercy after our power,
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both to the bodies and souls of men with such sacrifice, as also God
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is well pleased. Thus the Angel declares to Cornelius, fasting and praying in
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his house, thy prayers and thine arms. I come up from a memorial
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before God acts ten verse four. And this God himself expressly and largely declares,
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is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of
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wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free,
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and that ye break every yoke. Is it not to deal thy bread to
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the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
45:15
house. When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that
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thou hide not thyself from thy own own flesh, then shall thy light break
45:25
forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy
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righteousness shall go before thee. Though glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.
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Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry,
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and he shall say, here I am. If when thou fastest thou
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draw art thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall
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thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day.
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And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and
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make fat thy bones. And thou shalt be like a watered garden, and
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like a spring of water whose waters fail not Isaiah fifty eight, verse six,
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end of section twenty seven