God. If a man eats not, he is nothing the better; and if he eats, he is no whit the worse. Bodily exercise profiteth nothing of itself. As "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink," so neither is it abstinence from meats and drinks, especially such abstinence as this that is not voluntary, but upon necessity.

2. Civil. When there is a fasting upon a civil account, with respect to some civil end. As when the magistrate doth impose abstinence from meats for a while for some civil good: as Saul imposed it upon the people in his pursuit of the Philistines, that his victory might not be hindered. (1 Sam. xiv. 24.) And such fasting sometimes may be imposed for the increase of provision, and for the public health.

3. Religious.-When fasting is attended with duties of religion, and is to some religious end. For the end doth in such things as these specify and denominate the action. And, to give a particular account of it, take

it thus :

A religious fast is the devotion of the whole man to a solemn, extraordinary attendance upon God, in a particular time separated for that end, for the deprecating [of] his displeasure, and for the supplicating of his favour, joined with an abstinence from bodily food, and other bodily delights, and from secular affairs. So that he that fasteth doth for that time separate himself to God, and doth voluntarily dedicate a part of time to his more solemn service; and doth put himself, as it were, under a religious vow, to abide solemnly with God in the duties of the fast he is engaged in.

Now this religious fast is either public or private :—

1. Public.—As when a whole city fasts, as in the case of Nineveh ; or a whole nation, as in Jehoshaphat's case, who "proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah." (2 Chron. xx. 3.) And the prophet Joel calls to such a fast: "Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord," &c. (Joel i. 14.) When the occasion is public, so ought the fast to be.

2. Private.—Which is, (1.) Either of a particular person; of which Christ speaks, Matt. vi. 17, 18: "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." And of this private fast, Anna is an instance, of whom it is said, that "she served God in the temple with fastings and prayers night and day." (Luke ii. 37.) And Daniel another, who tells us, in three whole weeks he "was mourning, ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth." (Dan. x. 2, 3.) And Cornelius is another. (Acts x. 30.) And the occasion for private fasting is more peculiarly some private concerns, unless the person that fasts be a public person, and then a private personal fasting may be upon a public account, as Daniel's was. (2.) Or of a particular family; which the apostle seems to speak of, 1 Cor. vii. 5; where husband and wife, being of the same family, are advised by the apostle not to defraud one another, but "by consent for a time to give themselves to fasting and prayer." And when the prophet Zachary speaks of families mourning apart, (Zech. xii. 12-14,) it may probably be meant of fasting joined with mourning: and though the word "family" may be understood patronymically, and

extend further than to a particular house, yet it may by analogy be applied to particular houses and the inhabitants therein.

Again: a religious fast is either stated or occasional :—

1. Stated. As the fast of the seventh month and the tenth day of the month was a stated fast to Israel every year; and the fasts the Jews observed in Babylon of the fourth, fifth, seventh, tenth month, mentioned, Zech. viii. 19, were stated "fasts; and the Pharisee in the gospel boasted of his stated fasting: I fast twice in the week." (Luke xviii. 12.) Against which stated fasts I have nothing to speak, or to censure any men's practice herein, if the occasion still continues, and it do not degenerate into formality.

2. Occasional. Of which we have frequent instances; as the fast observed by Esther and her maidens, and the Jews in Shushan, was occasional. And so that which I mentioned of Jehoshaphat was оссаsional. And the fast in Nehemiah's time, mentioned, Neh. ix. 1, was occasional. These fasts did not pass into any stated course of observation.

Having premised these distinctions, I shall discourse of this religious fast,

I. In the sanction of it.

II. The manner of observation.

III. The occasion that requires and calls for it.

IV. The concern that abstinence from food hath in the right observation of it.

V. The abuse of the ordinance in the wrong managing of it.
I. First. For the sanction of it.

1. It seems partly to be dictated by the light of nature.-For the Heathen observed it, especially when any sore calamity was either felt or feared by them. As in the case of Nineveh, when Jonah denounced destruction to the city, they presently betook themselves to fasting, both king, nobles, and people; yea, the very beasts must be concerned in it. (Jonah iii. 7, 8.) So, when they would make their prayers more prevalent, in such cases they would join fasting with their prayers. As Baal's priests, when they cried to their God Baal to hear them, the text saith, "They cried" all day "until the evening sacrifice." (1 Kings xviii. 18, 19.) So that they did not only pray, but fast also. As they used lustrations, sacrifices, festivals, in their religious rites and worship of their gods; so sometimes they had their jejunia and religious "fasts;" (as we have some account of this in Tertullian, in his book adversus Psychicos ;) by which they thought to make some satisfaction for their sin, and to reconcile to themselves the deity they had offended, or to obtain some special favour they had need of.

2. It is a duty by institution, and that both in the Old and New Testament. The fast of the seventh month was by direct institution in the Old Testament. And at other times God called them to it: "Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly," said the prophet Joel. (Joel i. 14.) And God is said to "choose" it: " 'Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" (Isai. lviii. 6.) And God's declaring there in that chapter the right way of observing it, doth prove the duty itself to be of his own appointment. And the New Testament requires it also; for the duty is

of a moral nature, and therefore the obligation of it remains, only with this difference :

:

(1.) We are not to use those rites and outward expressions of sorrow that were practised in those times.-Which belonged to the rigour of that legal ministration. As rending the garment, (Joel ii. 13,) puttingon of sackcloth, (Neh. ix. 1,) covering with ashes, (Dan. ix. 3,) bowing down the head, (Isai. lviii. 5,) putting earth upon their head, (Neh. ix. 1,) and sometimes putting-off their sandals or shoes, and plucking-off the hair, (Ezra ix. 3,) and making themselves bald. (Isai. xxii. 12.) the Pharisees used disfiguring of their faces. But, saith Christ to his disciples, "When thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face;" (Matt. vi. 16;) which in their fasting the Jews should forbear, though used at other times; as appears by Daniel's fasting: "I ate no pleasant bread, neither did I anoint myself at all." (Dan. x. 3.) But," saith Christ, "do not ye do so; but anoint thy head, and wash thy face, &c., and so use not such visible signs of sorrow, that thou mayest not appear to men to fast."

(2.) We ought not to fast with that legal frame of spirit which was upon the Jews in those days. For every duty in the days of the New Testament is to be managed with a spirit suiting the gospel ministration.

3. As to its sanction, there may be also the addition of human authority in the appointing of fasts.-Especially public fasts, when the public state of affairs may require it; the duty in general being of God's institution, and the voice of providence calling people to it, the magistrate in this case may determine the time, if it be general to a nation; or the pastors and guides of the church, with respect to the several churches over which they preside. For where a duty is required of God, and the circumstance of time not determined, there Christian prudence in magistrates or churches is to be the rule for determination; as the particular times for baptism and the Lord's supper are left to Christian prudence to determine.

II. The manner how a religious fast is to be observed. And that both with respect to the outward and inward man.

1. With respect to the outward man.

(1.) Abstinence from food is requisite and necessary so far as may consist with mercy to the body. For the very name of a fast implies this abstinence; and not only the Jews, but the very Heathen, in their fasts did enjoin this abstinence upon themselves and others, as appears by that of Nineveh. (Jonah iii. 7.) And if some cannot bear a total abstinence, some coarser food may be used; as in Tertullian's time they had their xerophagia, so called from a "dry kind of food" used by them.*

(2.) As also meaner apparel than what may be used at other times; though not to put on sackcloth, yet to lay aside ornaments and richer dresses upon such a day. When the Israelites would express their sorrow for the sad tidings of God's refusing to go before them, it is said, they laid aside their ornaments. (Exod. xxxiii. 4.) Though they had a command for it, yet nature itself did teach it them; as it did the king of Nineveh, who laid aside his robe when he fasted and mourned. (Jonali

* TERTULLIANUS De Jejuniis adversus Psychicos.

iii. 6.) Purple and scarlet and shining apparel are not suitable to such a duty, nature itself being judge.

Non est conveniens luctibus ille color.-OVIDII Tristium lib. i. eleg. i. 6. And verily those gay and gaudy dresses which multitudes garb themselves with at this day, are no whit suitable to the sad times upon which God hath cast us.

(3.) Yea, and humble gestures also, which may best express a solemn, serious mind. Though no particular gesture is absolutely commanded, yet nothing ought to be discovered either in the countenance or any actions and gestures of the body that may be unsuitable to the nature of the day and the solemn duties thereof; wherein partly the light of nature and the custom of the place may direct and regulate us. The Jews had three sorts of gestures that were used in worship :(i.) The one was bowing the head, called, 777

(ii.) The other was bending the knee, called, y
(iii.) The third was prostration of the body, called,

:

But where there is no particular gesture determined, there Christians are left to their liberty; only it is to be guided by a due respect to the greatest advantage of the duty, and with caution against any just offence.

(4.) Abstinence from secular affairs is requisite; for a fast is a solemn devoting a certain part of time to God, and to an extraordinary attendance upon him. And if meats and drinks are to be forborne for to give advantage to the duties of the day, so also bodily labours and secular business upon the same account. The Jewish fasts were reckoned among their sabbaths, and so they were days of rest from bodily labours. And there was a severe punishment to be inflicted upon the men that did any work upon their solemn fasts of the tenth day of the seventh month; as we read, Lev. xxiii. 30: "The same soul will I destroy from among his people." Though the rigour of that legal ministration is abated under the gospel, yet it holds still in the moral and equitable part of it,—that whatever may hinder the managing of any duty in that manner that is suitable and necessary thereunto ought to be laid aside. But,

(5.) To these I shall here add the external duties of religion, and sacred ordinances, to be used in the discharge of the work of the day. The first is confession of sin.-A fast day is for atonement, and therefore confession of sin is necessary. As we read of Ezra, when he heard of the sin of the Jews in their making affinity with the people of the land, he "rent his garment, and sat astonied until the evening sacrifice," and made confession of their sin. (Ezra ix. 3-6.) So in Neh. ix. 1, 2, we read, "The children of Israel were assembled with fasting. And they stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers." And so Daniel, in his solemn fast, which he set himself to in the behalf of the captivity now almost expired, he makes an ample confession of sin, as we read, Dan. ix. 4-11. And as a fast is an extraordinary duty, so confession of sin ought to be more than ordinary in such a day;

and what may suffice at another time, may not be sufficient then. It ought to be more extensive with respect to the several kinds and acts of sin, with respect to the aggravations of sin, and with respect to the persons that are under guilt, and with respect to the inward principles of sin in the heart, out of which all actual sins do spring: as Daniel's confession of sin extended to the kinds of it, the several aggravations of it, and to the persons that were concerned in it, as their kings, princes, fathers, people of the land, those that were near," and those "that were afar off," as we find in that chapter. And this confession of sin is requisite to the deeper humiliation of the soul, to the condemnation of ourselves, and to the justifying of God, whereby he may have the greater glory.

The second is supplication.-Which is the imploring mercy from God, either with respect to the pardon of sin committed, or the preventing those judgments that are impending, or the removing such as are inflicted. As we find, Daniel in the time of his fasting, after his confession, made earnest supplications for "forgivenesses" of sin, for the turning away God's anger and fury, for the shining of his face upon his sanctuary, for the repairing the desolations of their city called by his name, and for the people in general. (Dan. ix. 9, 16-18.) And therefore "fasting and prayer" are frequently mentioned together in scripture. (Luke ii. 37; Acts x. 30; xiv. 23; 1 Cor. vii. 5.) Though prayer in general comprehends confession and thanksgiving in it, as well as supplication; yet, in a stricter acceptation, "petition for mercy" doth most properly express the import of the word, and the main matter of the duty. And this the king of Nineveh enjoined in the fast appointed by him: "Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God." (Jonah iii. 8.) So that supplication and crying to God is another great part of the duty of the day.

The third is hearing the word.-For the word is necessary both for the discovery of sin for our present humiliation, and for the discovery of our duty with respect to future reformation; both which are necessary to an acceptable fast. And the word of the gospel sets before men a door of hope, that their sin may be pardoned, and judgment removed. It presents God not only as reconcilable, but delighting in mercy; it sets before men many instances of God's hearing prayer, and the prevalency of repentance and humiliation with him, and particularly what acceptance solemn fasting hath found with him in several ages. And all this mightily tends to the furthering the great duties of the day. And it is observed of the fast kept by the children of Israel, that "they read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one-fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God." (Neh. ix. 3.) If repentance, spiritual mourning, and soulhumiliation, be necessary to the day, as I shall show presently, then the hearing the word may be of great use thereunto. As when Josiah heard the words of the law, he rent his clothes, and humbled himself; (2 Chron. xxxiv. 27 ;) and Ahab, upon the like occasion, humbled himself, though not in the like manner; and we read how God appointed Jeremiah, and Jeremiah Baruch, to read the roll that was written from the mouth of God, "in the ears of the people upon the fasting-day."