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"thor of it: that his malicious fubtlety may not "be fuffered to draw us into wickedness nor "his malicious power be allowed to hurt us "here, or to triumph in our damnation and "mifery hereafter. All this we beg, moft graci❝ous Lord, as acknowledging that thine is the "kingdom; thou only haft right to the ado"ration and fervice of all thy creatures; thine "is the power thou over-ruleft all things both "in heaven and earth, and can't do abundantly "above whatever we can afk or think; and "thine is the glory, the praife of all good things "we have enjoy'd already, or do now enjoy: "The glory of thy grace in our redemption, and " in the conduct of thy faithful fervants hither"to by thy word and fpirit, is exceeding great; "the glory of thy providence is magnified in all " events from the beginning of time, and may "the glory of both be given thee in the moft "thankful praises and hallelujahs to all eternity.

"Amen.

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CHAP. XVIII.

Of FASTING.

MATTH. vi. 16, 17, 18.

Moreover, when ye faft, be not as the hypocrites, of a fad countenance: for they dif figure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I fay unto you, they have their reward.

But thou, when thou fasteth, anoint thine head, and wash thy face:

That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in fecret: and thy Father which feeth in fecret, fhall reward thee openly.

T

HE laft of the three great religious duties, in the performance of which our Lord cautions us against oftentation, or a defire of applaufe, is that of fafting, and the caution is delivered in words to this effect.

"Likewife, when by religious fafts and mortifi❝cations, ye pretend to improve devotion, or dif"cipline your felves to virtue, beware that these "excellent purposes be not corrupted by a mixture

"of

"of vain-glory, which will turn the whole into a "fcene of grofs hypocrify. Shew not your felves "abroad, at fuch a time, with any affected gloomi"nefs or dejection in your looks, or any formal " fingularities in your air, or gate, or drefs, to "draw the neighbourhood into an opinion of your "extraordinary fanctity, and fevere and mortified "lives. For if ye thus affect the praise of men, "thofe empty praises are all the reward ye are "like to meet with. God fees through, and de"fpifes, and abhors thefe little arts of oftentation, "however men may be deceived by them, and will ❝condemn you at the laft as hypocrites. Let your "fafting therefore be, as it ought to be, a pure " and fimple act of religion; and as such, make it “ as private in the performance as ye can; appear "outwardly as at other times, with the fame cafi"ness and freedom in your mein and countenance, "the fame decency and neatness in your dress; that “ men may not be able to diftinguish when ye faft, "and when ye do not. 'Tis enough, that God "obferves you: Humble your felves in fecret be"fore him only, and he will publickly reward you for it, before men and angels, at the great day "of recompence.

Now voluntary fafting, tho' not directly commanded in this place, yet from what our Saviour here fays about it, may be fuppofed to be a chriftian duty. I thall therefore confider,

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I. THE duty of fafting in general, as a duty required under the chriftian difpenfation.

II. THE ends and usefulness of fasting.
III. THE proper measures of this duty.

I. LET us confider the duty of fafting, as a chriftian duty. It may be faid, that however our Lord was pleafed to excufe his Difciples from faft

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ing,

ing, whilft he was with them upon earth, yet he affures thofe of *John the Baptift, and that in the hearing of his own Difciples, that there fhould come a time when they should faft, and that not only for want of neceffary fupplies to fatisfy their hunger and thirst, which was their cafe very often; and which fome interpreters would have to be the meaning of our Saviour's anfwer there, but by voluntary and religious fafting, which certainly is the more proper fenfe of the words: For doubtless the queftion was propofed concerning fuch fafting as the difciples of John and the Pharifees obferved, either voluntarily of themselves, or by direction and inftitution of their feveral fects; but they knew very well, that the Difciples of Chrift did not obferve fafts, fo that if he thought fit to anfwer their question appofitely, when he faid, that they fhould faft, he muft mean, religious fafting, and fo, no doubt, his Difciples understood him: For after his afcenfion into heaven, when the Apostles to whom he had committed the care and government of the Church, began to enter upon that holy miniftry, they thought themselves obliged to observe this duty of fafting, as soon as there was a proper occafion for it. It does not appear to be required of them by any exprefs command, nor was there any need for it, the Jews being well accustomed to fafting upon all proper occafions. Thus David fafted, when he befought the Lord for the child that was born to him, by the wife of Uriah. And St. Luke relates of Annah, a devout woman, that notwithstanding her very great age, fhe departed not from the temple, but ferved God with faftings and prayers night and day: And many other inftances might be given, by which it would appear, that the Jews were eafily difpofed to

* Matth ix. 14, 15.

this duty; it being a common notion amongst them, that in the time of affliction and fuffering, or for the obtaining of fome great bleffing, they ought to humble themselves, and to pray, which was very properly accompany'd with fafting. Nor was it the notion of the Jews only, but of all the Eaftern nations. How readily did the King of Nineveh appoint a faft, upon the threatning of Jonah, although a ftranger Prophet, and a Mcflenger from a God whom they did not worship; and how folemn, how strict, how univerfal was that faft? If it be objected, that this was probably done by the Prophet's direction, and in obedience to him only,. for that fafting being an hardship upon human nature, feems not to have been the dictate of mere natural religion: Let us enquire into the practice of other nations, fuch as India and China, in the remoteft parts of the Eaft, who could have no communication with the Jews, nor have any thing of divine revelation to guide them; and we fhall find, that their philofophers and fects of devout perfons, not only taught them many ufeful maxims of government, and rules of life: but exercifed, and do ftill practice fuch inftances of mortification, and particularly fafting, as might appear incredible, if they were not attefted by eye-witnesses of good authority; and by this it is evident, that however thefe aufterities feem a violence upon nature, yet they have been practifed, as the dictates of natural religion, and not by imitation only of the Jewish difcipline. Religious fafting being therefore a practice of all nations, and in all ages, as well before, as in our Saviour's time; no wonder, that he fhould adopt it into his religion, as a duty to be obferved by all his followers. And accordingly, St. Paul fays of himself, in his fecond epiftle to the Corinthians, that he was in faftings often. By

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