SERMON IX.

FAST SERMON.

EZRA viii, 21.

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way, for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

Nor far from eighty years after the proclamation of Cyrus, releasing the Jews from captivity, and directing them to build the house of God at Jerusalem, a larger number than at first undertook it, set out to accomplish the business. At some inconsiderable river called Ahava, Ezra the head of the company, feeling his dependance to be upon God, for guidance, protection, and every blessing that was needed, proclaimed a fast, requiring the people religiously to observe it. The expediency of the measure was abundantly proved by the consequences.

A fast is peculiarly proper, and imperiously called for, in circumstances of difficulty, and danger; but in any circumstances, to fast, is both a duty, and a privilege, for prosperity is very precarious, and when good things are abused there is reason to fear that they will be taken away. The Jews had their annual, and occasional, fasts, and so have we; and the benefit of such solemnities has always been in proportion to the sincerity, and faithfulness, with which they have been observed.

The manner in which Ezra intended to have his fast kept we learn from his own words and also the object aimed at in keeping it.

The people were to keep the fast by afflicting themselves. When God appointed the day of atonement for the people of Israel he made use of similar language. As Ezra says he proclaimed a fast in order that he and those who were with him might afflict themselves we may be sure that to abstain from food was part of the duty of the day. To many persons perhaps, abstinence from food appears to be of no more consequence than those popish penances which are dictated by superstition, and which can answer no other end than to bring damage upon those who subject themselves to them.

If men reputed wise, have in some instances entertained such an opinion, men actually wise have in a far greater number of instances thought otherwise. Moses to a good understanding added all the learning of Egypt, but he fasted forty days; and he appears to have kept a fast of this length at three different times; before he received the first tables of the law; when he was informed of the golden calf which Aaron made; and when he received the last tables. Elijah was a distinguished prophet, and he fasted forty days. Daniel's wisdom was seen and acknowledged for a long time at the court of Babylon; yet he was not too wise to fast. These are names of the first respectability; and it is well known, that we might lengthen the list to say nothing of public bodies, by the mention of David, Nehemiah, Joshua, Samuel, Jehoshaphat, and others, concerning whose fasting we have an account.

The body needs sustenance, and must be frequently fed; and when in health, such is our appetite for food, that to abstain from it requires much self denial. The mind acts upon the body, and the body upon the mind, so intimate is their connexion; and we can hardly afflict one without afflicting both. If we could not see why a day of humiliation might not be as well observed when the animal part is allowed its customary meals as when it is denied them, still the command of God, and the practice of his people to which we may add the example of Christ, ought to be considered as a sufficient warrant for us, and should silence all our objections.

To afflict ourselves is still further to suspend all our ordinary secular business, and thus to relinquish whatever profit might arise from it. What constitutes the sabbath holy time is the divine appointment of the day, to be spent

in religious services; and all work is as much forbidden in the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus where we have the precept given to Israel respecting their annual fast, or day of atonement, as it is in that commandment of the moral law, the object of which is to regulate the observance of the sabbath.

Since with us a fast is appointed by our rulers it seems to be thought by some, that it is left to the choice of the people whether they will work or worship, though there is nothing relating to it of human designation but the time, the fast itself, in whatever month, or in whatever day, it may come, being now as much as ever it was, a holy convocation. Notwithstanding religious services are not required too frequently of those who are religiously disposed, yet as it comports with our natural inclinations to feed the body, so does it also to spend our time to some worldly advantage; and to deny ourselves this advantage is like denying ourselves the usual allowance of food; and in both cases we may be said to afflict ourselves.

To afflict ourselves however, something more is requisite than merely to abstain from food, and to suspend our labor; we must take a retrospect of life, considering what God has done for us, and how we have requited him. If we are not wholly callous, nothing can afflict us so much as the recollection of our own sins, taken in connexion with the circumstances in which they have been committed. Though God has nourished and brought us up as children we have rebelled against him; and while the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, our reason, if left to its own exercise, has operated to less purpose than animal instinct; for, by it, we have not known, nor considered, from whose store-house all our wants have been supplied.

Creatures of every rank, are altogether dependant upon their Creator, and they should continually acknowledge their dependance, and exhibit that humility which would betoken their consciousness of it. What a monster would he be thought who should treat an earthly parent as we treat God. But whatever obligations we are under to parents, or other friends in this world, they are obligations to them, only in a secondary sense, for God is the author, and giver of all our mercies, whoever may be the instrument by which they are conferred.

If any of us have entertained an incorrect opinion with regard to a fast, it is likely that our conduct has been as incorrect as our opinion, and this is a favorable time for an examination of ourselves.

The object which Ezra proposed by the observance of this fast was, that he and all the people might seek a right way; and that for themselves and their little ones; and their substance. Disregarding those circumstances in which the case of that people differed from our own, we ought to make their practice our example. Three things here deserve a distinct consideration.

Let us first inquire what it is for us to seek a right way for ourselves; or what way would be right. The way to which our natural hearts incline us is undoubtedly a wrong one; for all those who pursue it reverse the order of reason and religion, and instead of seeking first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, they seek first; principally, and altogether, the things of this world. What we should do is so plainly made known that nothing could be plainer, as well as what we should not do; and the considerations exhibited, to bring us to a compliance with our duty, are such as there is no difficulty in understanding.

If

Our connexion with the things of this world must be so short, at the longest, that this life when eternity is brought into view, is wholly lost, as the rivers are lost, and cease to be rivers when they roll their waters into the ocean. earthly things were of the same character with those of heaven, to give them the preference or to allow them to come into competition, would be to act very unwisely, and very inconsistently. Who would not value more an estate secured to him, and to his heirs, forever, than one which he might possess as a tenant, and from which he might be removed any day, by the irresistible will of the owner? Seventy years are but a short term to look back upon; and yet from that term we must make great deductions, to ascertain that portion of human life which is suited to much enjoyment. When such an allowance is made for childhood, and for old age, as ought to be made; the middle part, the only one to which any considerable importance is attached dwindles to a point. But how small is the number of those, whose age as recorded upon the monuments erected to point out the place of their interment, amounts to seventy years? The graves of infants, and children, and youth, are abundant, but those of the aged are very few.

Now would not every thing that we can see put on a different aspect, and assume an additional importance, if we could promise ourselves so long a life as that which was allotted to some individuals in the early age of the world, and ought we not to buy as though we possessed not; since whatever we hold as our own at present, was held by others before us, and will be held by others after us, a very short period of time intervening.

When we look however, from the things that are temporal, to those which are eternal, we exchange a narrow prospect for a wide one; and instead of being in such circumstances, that we may reach, any moment, that bound which we must soon arrive at; we can neither see, nor imagine, any end to our connexion with things of so near a nature.

But great as the difference is, in respect to the duration, of earthly things and heavenly, this is by no means the only difference to be considered. Earthly things, of every kind, appear less substantial when possessed than when pursued; while heavenly things brighten, and increase in value, the nearer we approach them; and instead of disappointing, always exceed our expectations. What we have, if it is what we can see, is not what we want; we crave something more of the same kind; or something different; and expect contentment, from a change of circumstances. The child aspires to be a youth; the youth a man; and the man looks forward to that state of independence which he can never realize. On the contrary he who sets his heart upon those unseen objects which deserve supreme regard, enjoys the present, and wishes for no change but in himself; sensible that as he becomes more humble, and more holy, he shall of course become more happy. The grand object of every day should be to lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come; and we should especially prize, and improve, those days which God has appointed for