A. We ought to avoid all Vanity and valuing Mat. vi. 18. ourselves upon such Performances: and therefore in our private Fasts, not to proclaim them to others by any external Affectations, that we may not appear to Men to fast. Not to despise or judge our Neighbour, who does not, and, it may be, has not the same Reason to tie himself up to such Methods. Not to destroy the Health of our Bodies, and thereby make them unfit Instruments for the Operations of our Minds, or the Discharge of our worldly Employments. Particular Care ought to be taken, that we do not grow thereby morose and sour, peevish and fretful towards others, which Severity to ourselves may be apt to incline us to; for that it is so far from expressing our Repentance, that it makes fresh Work for it by increasing our Guilt. THE PRAYERS. I. O LORD, who for our Sakes didst fast forty For Fast- II. Favour TURN thou me, O good Lord, and so shall I be For the turned; be favourable, O Lord, be favourable unto divine me, who turn to thee in weeping, fasting, and upon our praying; for thou art a God full of Compassion, Long-suffering, and of great Pity; thou sparest when I deserve Punishment, and in thy Wrath upon Mercy. Spare me, good Lord, spare me, and let me not be brought to Confusion; hear me, O Lord, for thy Mercy is great; and after thinkest ance. the Multitude of thy Mercies look upon me, through the Merits and Mediation of thy blessed Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. III. Profession I ACKNOWLEDGE, O God, my own Vileness of Repent- by Reason of my Sins, and am heartily grieved for the Loss of thy Favour. What Humiliation, O Lord, can sufficiently express the Greatness of such a Loss! But I will weep and mourn, because I have offended thee; and I will repent as it were in Dust and Ashes. I will mortify those inordinate Appetites, which have so sadly betrayed me; I will contradict all those Inclinations which have made me stray from the Ways of thy Commandments. And do thou, O Lord, wean my Soul from the Pleasures of the Body, which so often corrupt it, and render it incapable of relishing spiritual Enjoyments. Let it not contract too great a Familiarity with the Delights and Satisfactions of Sense, since it was created for more exalted Pleasures, and must shortly quit those here below; that so, when I come to leave this World, I may be qualified for the blessed Conversation of Spirits in thy heavenly Kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. CHAP. I. THE FORTY DAYS OF LENT. Q. WHAT do you mean by Lent? A. Lent, in the old Saron Language, is known to signify the Spring, and thence it hath been taken in common Speech, for the Spring Fast; or the Time of Humiliation generally observed by Christians before Easter, the great Festival of our Saviour's Resurrection. And a Man must know little of Ecclesiastical History, or have but a small Acquaintance with the Primitive Fathers of the Church, who doth not acknowledge the Observation of Lent to be most ancient. Q. How may we judge of the Antiquity of this Fast? A. From the Dispute that was very early in the Church concerning the Observation of Easter, one Point whereof was, concerning the ending of the Ante-paschal Fast, which both Sides determined upon the Day they kept the Festival; which is sufficient to let us know that there was then such a Fast kept by both Sides, and had been, in all Probability, as anciently kept as the Feast of the Euseb. Resurrection. And Irenæus, who lived but ninety list. lib. Years from the Death of St. John, and conversed familiarly with St. Polycarp, as Polycarp had with St. John and other Apostles, has happened to let us know, though incidentally, that, as it was observed in his Time, so it was in that of his Predecessors, but with great Variety as to the Length of it. And there being no Church to be found anciently, wherein there was not a solemn Fast observed before Easter, is a sufficient Argument to derive it from the Practice of the first Christians; for otherwise it cannot be conceived how it should so universally prevail in all Countries where Christianity was planted. Q. Why was the solemn Season of Humiliation limitted to Forty Days? xiv. 34. A. The Church had, I suppose, a Respect to forty Days, as what was esteemed a proper Penitential Season, which seems very anciently to have been appropriated to Humiliation. For, not to reckon up the forty Days in which God drowned the Gen. vii. 4. World; or the forty Years in which the Children Numb of Israel did Penance in the Wilderness; or the forty Stripes by which Malefactors were to be cor-Deut. xxv. rected; whoever considers that Moses did not once ix. 9, 18, 25. only fast this Number of Days; that Elias also 1 Kings fasted in the Wilderness the same Space of Time; that the Ninevites had precisely as many Days*. 3. xix. 8. Mat. iv. 2. allowed for their Repentance; and that our blessed Saviour himself, when he was pleased to Fast, observed the same Length of Time; whoever considers these Facts, cannot, but think that this Number of Days was used by them all as the common solemn Number belonging to extraordinary Humiliation; and that those were accustomed to afflict themselves forty Days, who would deprecate any great and heavy Judgment. lib. v. c. Q. What was the End and Design of the Fast of Lent? A. That it should be set apart as a proper Season for Mortification, and the Exercise of Self-denial. To humble and afflict ourselves for our Sins, by frequent Fastings; and to punish our too often Abuses of God's Creatures, by Abstinence, and by forbearing the lawful Enjoyment of them. Το form and settle firm Purposes of holy Obedience. To pray frequently to God, both in private and public, for Pardon, and his holy Spirit. To put us in Mind of that sore Trial and Temptation, which Christ then endured for our Sakes; particularly to perpetuate the Memory of our Saviour's Sufferings, and to make as it were a public Confession of our Belief, that he died for our Salvation. And consequently for fitting ourselves to receive the Tokens and Pledges of his Love with greater Joy and Gladness; because with fuller Assurance that God is reconciled to us through the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ. Q. Is it the Design of the Church to oblige her Members to fast the whole Forty Days? A. I think not; because in the ancient Church this Season was observed with great Variety; which Socrates. arose from the various Customs of different Churches, Hist. Eccl. as well as from the Devotion of several People, who all united in the solemn and religious Exercises of this Season, though they differed in the Manner of their Fasting. And none but the licentious, who love no restraint, or those whom Prejudice hath 22. made inconsiderate, can think fit to blame an Institution so well framed to promote Piety and Devotion; especially when it is enjoined with so much Moderation. Q. After what Manner did the Primitive Christians observe their Fasts in Lent? A. There was Variety in their Manner of Fasting, as well as in the Number of their Days. In the Holy Week, they that were strict would eat nothing but Bread and Water, and Salt, or Nuts and Almonds, or such like Fruits, which was called the dry Diet. In the Rest of Lent, some abstained from Flesh and Wine; and others forbore all Fish likewise as well as Flesh, which was the Custom of the Grecks. Some contented themselves with Eggs and Fruits, others forbore both, and lived upon Bread, Herbs, and Roots; and in this Variety they agreed in one Thing, which was, not to eat till the Evening, and then such Food as was least delicate. Q. How did the Primitive Church treat notorious Offenders in this holy Season? A. Such Persons as stood convicted of notorious Sozom. Sins were put to open Penance and punished in lib. vii. c this World, that their Souls might be saved in the 19. Day of the Lord; and that others, admonished by their Example, might be the more afraid of offending; the whole Church supplicated God in their Behalf, that he would be pleased to grant them Repentance and perfect Remission and Forgiveness of their Sins. Q. But, since the Life of a Christian ought always to be governed by the Rules of our holy Religion, is it not superstitious to set apart any such particular time as Lent for this Purpose? A. It is certain it ought to be the constant Endeavour of a Christian, at all Times, and in all Places, to have his Duty in his Eye, and to have always a great Regard to what God requires from him. But, considering the great Corruption of the World, and the Frailty of our Natures, and how |