Tract No. 21 (Ad Populum)
Mortification of the Flesh
a Scripture Duty
{1} IF we take the example of the Holy men of
Scripture as our guide, certainly bodily privation and chastisement are
a very essential duty of all who wish to serve GOD, and prepare themselves for His presence.
1. First, we have the example of Moses. His
recorded Fasts were miraculous; still they were Fasts, and the ordinance
was recommended to the notice of all believers afterwards, by the honour
put upon it. "I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights; I
neither did eat bread nor drink water." Again; "I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither
eat bread nor drink water, because of all your sins." Deut. ix. 9, 18.
Fasting is in the former instance subservient to divine contemplation,
in the latter to humiliation and intercession for sinners.
Elijah. "He said unto him, What manner of man was
he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? And they
answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather
about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite." 2 Kings i. 7,
8. It is indeed needless to show the ascetic character of him who was in
fact the chief and type of those who "wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins," "in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the
earth." He too fasted by the power of GOD
for forty days and nights; "He arose and did eat and drink, and went in
the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb the
mount of GOD" 1 Kings xix. 8.
Daniel. "I set my face unto the LORD GOD, to seek by prayer and supplications, with
fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes; and I prayed unto the LORD
my GOD,
and made my confession." Dan. ix. 3, 4. It must be observed, that Daniel
was not bound by any vow, as Samson and Samuel. Moreover it would appear
the gift of prophecy was given him in reward for his self-chastisements,
as the following passage shows. "In those days I Daniel was mourning
three full weeks; I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine
in my mouth; neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks
were fulfilled … And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved,
understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto
thee am I now sent … Fear not, Daniel ; for from the first day
that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself
before thy {2} GOD, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words." Dan. x.
2, 3, 11, 12. Vide also Luke ii. 37. Acts x. 30.
2. Now here it will be objected, perhaps, that
these instances are taken from the Old Testament, and belong to the Law
of Moses, which is not binding on Christians.
I answer:
(1.) That in the above passages Fasting is
connected with moral acts, humiliation, prayer, meditation, which are
equally binding on us as on the Jews. Man is now what he was then; and
if affliction of the flesh was good then, it is now.
(2.) In matter of fact, private Fasting,
such as instanced in the passages above quoted, was no special duty of
the Mosaic Law. Public Fasting, indeed, was on one occasion enjoined by
Moses himself, and on others by subsequent rulers; but this was in part
a ceremonial act, not a moral discipline, and was doubtless abolished
with the other rites of the Law.
"Of Fasts," says Lewis, "there was no more than one
appointed by the Law of Moses, called the Fast of Expiation … The
great day of Expiation was a most severe Fast, kept every year upon the
tenth day of the month Tizri, which answers to our September … This
solemnity was observed with fasting and abstinence, not only from all
meat and drink, but from all other pleasure whatsoever; insomuch that
they did not wash their faces, much less anoint their heads, nor wear
their shoes … nor, (if their Doctors say true,) read any portion of
the law which would give them delight. They refrained likewise not only
from pleasure, but from labour, nothing being to be done upon this day,
but confessing of sins and repentance." [Note
1]
Nay, it may rather be said, that the Jewish Law, as
such, was rather opposed than otherwise to austerities. The Nazarites
and Rechabites, being exceptions to the rule, are evidence of it. Vide,
on the other hand, Deut. xii. Eccles. v. 18 [Note
2].
Such then being the character of the Law in its
formal letter, it tells just the contrary way to that which superficial
reasoners might expect. For it is most remarkable, first, that the
greatest prophets under it, such as Elijah and Daniel, were without
express command singularly austere and self-afflicting men, in the midst
of a people, who from the first went lusting after "the fish which they
eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and
the onions, and the garlick, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?"
Next there is something of a very startling and admonitory nature in the
miraculous fasts of Moses and Elijah, under this same imperfect
dispensation. The miracle evidently was for some purpose; yet it did not
sanction, in any direct way, any injunction of the Law. Was it not an
admonition to the Israelites, that there was a more excellent way of
obedience {3} than that which ALMIGHTY GOD
as yet thought fit to promulgate by solemn enactment? Is it not an
intimation serviceable for Christian practice, as much as Moses'
announcement of the destined "Prophet like unto him" is intended for the
comfort of Christian faith?
Surely the duty of bodily discipline might be
rested on the answer to this plain question, Why did Daniel use
austerities not enjoined by the Law?
3. Now turn to the New Testament, and observe what
clear light is therein thrown upon the duty already recommended to us by
the Old Testament Saints.
First, there is the instance of St. John the
Baptist. "John came neither eating nor drinking," Matt. xi. 18: and his
disciples fasted, Matt. ix. 14.
Our SAVIOUR
did not statedly fast; but here also the exception proves the
rule. He who did not fast statedly was the only one born of woman who
was untainted by sinful flesh; which seems to imply, that all who are
natural descendants of guilty Adam ought to fast.
He bade His disciples to fast. Consider his implied
precept, which is an express command to those who obey the Law of
Liberty. "When thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face, that
thou appear not unto men to fast." Matt. vi. 17, 18.
Consider, moreover, the general austere
character of Christian obedience, as enjoined by our LORD;—a circumstance much to be insisted on
in an age like this, when what is really self-indulgence is thought to
be a mere moderate and innocent use of this world's goods. I will but
refer to a few, out of many texts, which I am persuaded are now
forgotten by numbers of educated and amiable men who are fond of
extolling what they call the mild, tolerant, enlightened spirit of the
Gospel. Matt. v. 29, 30. vii. 13, 14. x. 37-39. Mark ix. 43-50. x. 25.
Luke xiv. 12, 26-33.
And reflect, too, whether the spirit of texts such
as the following will not move every true member of the Church Militant.
"The ark, and Israel, and Judah abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and
the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then
go into mine house, to eat and to drink? … as thou liveth, and as thy
soul liveth, I will not do this thing." 2 Sam. xi. 11.
Now take the example of the Apostles. St. Peter was
fasting, when he had the vision which sent him to Cornelius: Acts x. 10.
The prophets and teachers at Antioch were fasting, when the HOLY GHOST revealed to them His purpose about Saul
and Barnabas: Acts iii. 2, 3. Vide also Acts xiv. 23. 2 Cor. vi. 5. xi.
27.
Weigh well the following text, which I am persuaded
many men would deny to be St. Paul's writing, had not a gracious
Providence preserved to us the epistle containing it. "I keep under my
body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, {4} when I
have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away." 1 Cor. ix. 27.
4. Lastly, Consider the practice of the Primitive
Christians.
The following account of the early Christian Fasts,
is from Bingham, Antiq. lib. xxi.
THE
QUADRAGESIMAL
OR LENT
FAST.—"The
Quadragesimal Fast before Easter," says Sozomen, "some observe six
weeks, as the Illyrian and Western Churches, and all Libya, Egypt, and
Palestine; others make it seven weeks, as the Constantinopolitans and
neighbouring nations as far as Phœnicia; others fast three only of
those six or seven weeks, by intervals; others the three weeks next
immediately before Easter."
The manner of observing Lent among those that were
piously disposed to observe it, was to abstain from all food till
evening. For anciently a change of diet was not reckoned a fast: but it
consisted in perfect abstinence from all sustenance for the whole day
till evening.
THE
FASTS OF
THE FOUR
SEASONS.—The
next Anniversary fasting days were those which were called Jejunia
quatuor temporum, the Fasts of the Four Seasons of the Year …
These were at first designed … to beg a blessing of God upon the
several seasons of the year, or to return thanks for the benefits
received in each of them, or to exercise and purify both body and soul
in a more particular manner, at the return of these certain terms of
stricter discipline and more extraordinary devotion. [These afterwards
became the Ember Fasts.]
MONTHLY
FASTS.—In
some places they had also Monthly Fasts throughout the year excepting in
the two months of July and August … because of the sickness of the
season.
WEEKLY
FASTS.—Besides
these they had their weekly Fasts or, Wednesday and Friday, called the
Stationary Days, and Half-Fasts or Fasts of the Fourth and Sixth Days of
the Week … These Fasts being of continual use every week throughout
the Year, except in the Fifty Days between Easter and Pentecost, were
not kept with that rigour and strictness which was observed in the time
of Lent … [but] ordinarily held no longer than 9 o'clock, i.e. 3 in
the afternoon.
OXFORD,
The Feast of the Circumcision.
1834.
[SIXTH EDITION.]
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Notes
1. Lewis, Hebrew Republic, iv. 15
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2.
Vide Spencer de Regg. Hebræor. lib. 3. diss. 1. ii. 3. diss. 4. i. 5,
&c.
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