and Religious End. To Faft out of a Principle either of Mortification and Selfdenial, or of Indignation and Revenge upon our former Excefs and Luxury. To Fast by way of Humiliation for Sin, or to qualifie our Souls the better for the Duty of Prayer. To Faft, that we may be able to do Works of Mercy, by dealing that Bread to the Hungry, which we deny to ourselves; or laftly, to correc the Defires and Luxuriances of the Flesh, and to render them obedient to the. Di&tates of Reason. To Faft, I fay, upon all or any of these Accounts, is to Sanctify a Falt, or to render it through Christ, an holy and acceptable Service to the Lord, And fo I am at Liberty to proceed to my First Head. 1. Then. 'Tis the Duty of the Servants of God fometimes to Sanctify a Faft. This, if we hearken to our Prophet, or rather to God himself speaking by his Mouth, is advanc'd beyond the Confines of Difpute and Controversy. Sanctify a Fast, fays he in my Text: And again in the 12th Verfe, Therefore now, faith the Lord, turn ye even unto me with all your Heart, and with Fafting. Nay our great Lawgiver himself affures us, us, that this in very Deed is the Voice of God, and not of the Man: a Pre-T cept, that extends its Obligation beyond the Disciples of Mofes to the Children: of the New Covenant; that should defcend from the Synagogue into the Chris ftian Church, and be practis'd by his Followers alway, even unto the End of the World. For tho' he does not pro duce it in its Prophetical Drefs, or repeat it by way of exprefs Commandment, but only fuppofeth the Exercife of it and then graciously delivers his Directi ons about it; yet that this Suppofition does by no means enervare the Pofitive Precept, but rather establish and confirm its Force and Obligation, I am convinc ingly affur'd from these following Con fiderations. 1. That our Lord (pake it to a People, who were already convinc'd of the Obligation of this Duty, and therefore ftood in no need of a New Commandment to re-inforce it, but only of Dire ctions how to perform it as they ought. 2. That he delivered it in his Sermon upon the Mount, which is the great Inftitution and Sanction of the Evangelical (x) Ductor Doctrine, and confequently (as the Learn- lib. 2. cap. ed Bishop (x) Taylor obferves) left it 3. Reg. 8. recom-p1g. 418. M Dubitum recommended and bound upon us by a new Ligature, even by an Adoption into the Everlafting Covenant. 3. That he order'd and difpos'd, reform'd and purg'd it from its Abuses. For certainly that Exercise, which Christ order'd and difpos'd, reform'd and purg'd, is dress'd for the Temple and for the Service of God. 4. That to the Practice of it (if not blafted by Vain-glory) he has promis'd () Matt. 6. a Reward. Thy Father (r) (fays he) which feeth thy Fafting in Secret, shall reward thee openly. 18. 5. That though his Prefence did indeed fupercede for that Time the Neceffity of Fafting in his Difciples, yet he says by way of Prediction at least, if not of Command, that after his Departure from them they should Practise it as well as others. Can the Children of the BrideChamber Faft (o) (fays he) while the (0) Mar. 2. Bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the Bridegroom with them they cannot Faft. But the Days will come. when the Bridegroom fhall be taken away from them and then shall they Faft in thofe Days. 19, 20.5 6. That tho' there be no explicite Command for Fafting in the New Teftament, yet from the Nature and Confti. tution of the Gospel it may be Collected, that there are in fome Cafes fome tacite and implicite ones: As when Alms giving and Prayer are Commanded; the Glorification of God, the Melioration of our own State, and the Edification of our Brethren. When all Degrees of Uncleannefs, all fatisfying the Defires of the Flefh, unless in lawful Wedlock, are forbidden. For where the End is commanded, there the Means must be enjoyn'd too. If therefore Fafting at any Time becomes a neceffary Means for the Performance of all or any of thefe Duties, tho' there be no particular explicite Command to inforce it, we may fafely conclude, that 'tis imply'd in the general one, and incumbent upon us. Thefe Confiderations (I fay) oblige me to believe, that the Suppofition of our Lord is fo far from diminishing the Pofitive Precept, that 'tis altogether equivalent to a new Commandment. And if the Practice of his Difciples doth any ways. interpret the Sence of his Doctrine, we are fure it is. For tho' Fafting was of good Repute under the Law, yet its Commendation is no where more advanced, than under the Gospel. The Judges, Kings, and Prophets of Ifrael did not M 3 content (1) Josh. 9.6. 20. 26. 7.6. (4) 2 Sam. 3.35 (5) Jer. 36.9. (6) Dan. 10. 3. 5. (8) 2 Cor. content themselves with the Annual Ob. fervation of their great Day of Expiation, but did frequently proclaim and inftitute other Fafts: As (1) Joshua at Ai, (2) The Judges at Gibeah, (3) Samuel at Miz(2) Jud. peb, (4) David at Hebron, (5) Jeremy be(3) 1 Sam. fore, (6) Daniel under, and (7) Zachary after the Captivity; and 'tis the Chara&teristick Note of the Ministers of the Gol pel, that they approv'd themselves to be the Servants of God in much Patience, in Afflictions, in Watchings, in Faftings. St. (7) Zich.7. Paul (8) was in Faftings often,nay he e fteems this Duty fo Sacred, that he per mits Married Perfons to appoint vacant times from their Endearments, that they may give themselves to it. And for the fucceeding Ages and Generations, we muft either cancel all theRecords of Antiquity, or acknowledge its conftant Ufe and Ob fervation in the Church of Chrift. So that Fafting (you fee) hath the Wings of both Cherubims to cover it; both Teftaments the Old and the New to command and enjoyn it; and the Examples of all the Saints to recommend and inforce it. Nay, the Heathens have feen its Obligation by the Light of Nature. No fooner did the (x) Jon. 3. Prophet (x)Jonah declare the fierce An ger of the Lord in the Streets of Nineveh, but |
