indifferent, external, inefficacious; that it savours of formality, false confidence, and dark views of our justification; and that it is all but expressly condemned in holy Scripture. It is asked, Who fasted more than the Pharisees, and what were they? What can be plainer than St. Paul's words : "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." "Meat commendeth us not to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse.'

992

Now, rather than answer these objections in detail, it will be better to establish one or two plain truths, on the proof of which these objections must fall to the ground. And in so doing, it may be well not to quote the examples of saints, as Moses, David, Daniel, Anna, St. Peter, St. Paul, and of the early Church; though this, it might be thought, would be enough for any faithful or reverent mind; nor to bring direct texts, such as "When ye fast, be not as the hypocrites ;" or, "Can the children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? . . . The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days;" because such modes of proof (suf

1 Rom. xiv. 17.

3 St. Matt. vi. 18.

2

1 Cor. viii. 8.

4 St. Mark ii. 19, 20.

ficient as they are) generally end in a question how far examples are binding, or precepts still in force, and the like.

It will be better simply to take the objector on his own ground, and to shew, first, that fasting without a pure, or at least a penitent, heart, is useless, or even worse; next, that fasting is a means to attain both penitence and purity; and, lastly, that, without fasting there is seldom to be found any high measure of either.

1. And first let it be said: That fasting without a pure, or at least a penitent, heart, is simply useless, and may be even worse.

This, I suppose, it is hardly necessary to prove. The objector cannot overstate it. There are no words of energy and denunciation which are not used in holy Scripture to condemn the hypocrisy of such abominable fasts. The prophets are full of them. “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as

a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor, that are cast out, to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ?" Again: "Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their

cry."

And again: "Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves ?"3 "When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."4 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."5 "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth 3 Zech. vii. 5, 6.

1 Is. lviii. 3-7.

4 St. Matt. vi. 16.

2 Jer. xiv. 11, 12.

5 St. Matt. xxiii. 26.

a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth,

proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man."

There were Pharisees then in the Church of God, and there are Pharisees now; men of an ascetic outside, full of darkness and impurity within. A rigid system of formal religion often covers a thoroughly licentious state of heart. Moreover, they that fast with scrupulous rigour are sometimes proud, uncharitable, self-complacent, or indevout, irreverent, and secular. All this is most true and fearful; but I suppose that no one ever thought that acts of fasting could cancel a habit of mental sin. Nay, they become both sins and dangers in themselves. Therefore let the very worst be said of fastings without repentance, mortification, and charity. They are mere unsanctified hunger and thirst, with self-deception. Outward humiliation without a corresponding inward humility, external severities without internal abstinence from sins of the world and of the flesh, are simple hypocrisy. They are not only useless, but fearful provocations of God.

On this let so much suffice.

2. And further: what is fasting but one of

the means of attaining to penitence and purity?

1 St. Matt. xv. 11, 19, 20.

A

It is not an end. In itself it is nothing. There is no fasting in heaven, no abstinence among the spirits of the just. It is only we, fallen and sullied, that need this discipline of humiliation. Fasting is a part of repentance. It not only expresses indignation at ourselves, as unworthy of God's pure creatures, but it helps to perfect our abasement. It is a part of our humiliation a means of realising our own weakness, and of mortifying the strength and lusts of the flesh. Now all this will be plain, if we consider what holy Scripture tells us of the flesh in which we are born, and of its power against and over the spirit which dwells in us.

Throughout holy Scripture we are taught that the flesh which we bear is the occasion of disobedience. I say the occasion, because it was not originally the source. The temptations of sin passed through the flesh as their avenue of approach; and sin, when committed, deposited its evil in our mortal body. Therefore the flesh in holy Scripture is spoken of as the principle of disobedience and the source of temptation. St. Paul says, "They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against