Heaven. I fhall feel the Wind blowing upon the Garden of my Heart, and the Spices flowing forth; I shall feel the Spirit fanning that Spark of hely Life till it be kindled into a Flame; and I fhall feel myself transported, and afcending up above this vain World, and all the Allurements of it. O grant me therefore, O my God, thy holy Spirit, that I may pray with Underflanding and Fervency; that my Prayer may not be the facrifice of Fools, and turn'd into Sin, but an acceptable Sacrifice to thee, an Inftrument of Holiness, and a Guard against Sin, exalting me to fight the good Fight of Faith, that I may receive an everlafting Crown: And all for the fake of Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

FAST

I

FASTING.

F Fafting be confider'd in itself, without Relation to fpiritual Ends, 'tis a Duty no where injoin'd or

advis'd; but Chriftianity has to do with it, as it may be an Inftrument of the Spirit, by fubduing the Lufts of the Flesh, or removing any Hindrance of Religion And it has been practis'd by all Ages of the Church, and advis'd in order to Prayer, Mortification of Bodily Lufts, and Repentance. The Rules for the right practifing this Duty are as follow: Fafting, in order to Prayer, is to be meafur'd by the Proportion of the Times of Prayer; that is, it ought to be a total Faft from all things during the Solemnity, unless an unavoidable Ne. ceffity intervene. Thus the Jews eat nothing upon the Sabbath Day till their great Offices were perform'd, which was about the Sixth Hour; and St. Peter us'd it as an Argument, that the Apostles in Pentecoft were not drunk, because it was but the Third Hour of the Day, of fuch a Day in which it was not lawful to eat or drink till the Sixth Hour. The Jews were offended at his Difciples, for plucking the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath Day, early in the Morning, because it was before the time in which by their Cuftoms they esteem'd it lawful to break their Faft. In Imitation of this Custom, and in Profecution of the Reafon of it, the Chriftian Church has religiously observ'd Fafting before the Holy Communion; and the more devout Perfons, tho' without any Obliga. tion at all, refus'd to eat or drink till they had finish'd

their Morning Devotions: And farther yet, upon Days of Publick Humiliation, which are defign'd to be spent wholly in Devotion, and for the averting God's Judgments, if they were imminent, Fafting is commanded by the Church, together with Prayer; to this End, that the Spirit might be clearer and more angelical, when it is quitted in fome Proportion from the Load of Flesh.

Fafting, when it is in order to Prayer, must be a total Abftinence from all Meat, or else an Abatement of the Quantity. For the Help which Fafting yields to Prayer, cannot be procured by changing Flesh into Fish, or Milk Meats into dry Diet, but by turning much into little, or little into none at all, during the Time of solemn and extraordinary Prayer.

As Fafting is inftrumental to Prayer, it must be attended with other Aids of the like Virtue and Efficacy, fuch as are removing for the Time all wordly Cares and fecular Bufineffes; and therefore our bleffed Saviour includes these together in the Caution, Take heed left your Hearts be overcharg'd with Surfeiting and Drunkenness, and the Cares of this World, and that Day overtake To which add Alms, for upon the Wings of Fafting and Alms holy Prayer infallibly mounts up to Heaven.

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When Fafting is intended to ferve the Duty of Repentance, 'tis then best chofen when 'tis fhort, fharp, and effective; that is, either a total Abftinence from all Nourishment, according as we fhall appoint or be appointed, during fuch a time as is separated for the Solemnity and Attendance upon the Employment: Or we may extend our Severity beyond the folemn Days, and keep our Anger against our Sin, as we keep our Sorrow, always in readiness; we should often refufe a pleasant Morfel, and abstain from the Bread of our Defires, and only take wholfom and lefs-pleafing Nourishment; we should vex our Appetite by refufing a lawful Satisfaction, fince in its Petulancy and Luxury it prey'd upon unlawful Delights.

Fafting,

Fafting, when defign'd in order to Repentance, must be ever join'd with an extreme Care that we faft from Sin; for there is no greater Folly or Indecency in the World, than to commit that for which I am now judg ing and condemning myself. This is the best Faft, and the other may serve to promote the Interest of this, by increafing our diflike of Sin, and multiplying Arguments against it.

He that fafts for Repentance, muft, during that Solemnity, abstain from all bodily Delights, and deny even the Innocent cravings of his Appetites; for 'tis a ridiculous Inconfiftency for a Man to be at once mourning and merry, at once chaftning and delighting himself, to have a Silence in his Kitchen and Mufick in his Chamber, to judge the Stomach and feast the other Senfes.

I deny not but a Man may, in a fingle Inftance, punish a particular Sin with a proper Inftrument. If a Man has offended in his Palate, he may choose to faft only: if he has finn'd in softness and his touch, he may choose to lie hard or work hard, and use sharp Inflictions. But tho' this Difcipline be proper and particular, yet because the Sorrow is of the whole Man, no Sense must rejoice, or be with any Study or Purpose feafted and entertained foftly. This Rule is intended to relate to the folemn Days appointed for Repentance, publickly or privately; besides which, in the whole Courfe of our Lives, even in the midst of our most festival and freer Joys, we may fprinkle fome fingle Inftances, and Acts of Self-condemning or Punishing, as to refufe a pleasant Morfel, or a delicious Draught, with a tacit Remembrance of the Sin that then returns to displease our Souls. And tho' these Actions be fingle, there is no Indecency in them, because a Man may abate of his ordinary Liberty and old Freedom with great Prudence, fo he does it without Singularity in himself, or Trouble to others; but he may not abate of his folemn Sorrow that may be Caution, but this would be Softness, Effeminacy, and Indecency.

Fafting

Fafting being intended as an Act of Mortification, te fubdue a bodily Luft, as the Spirit of Fornication, or the Fondness of strong and impatient Appetites, it muft not be a fudden fharp and violent Faft, but a State, a Course of Fafting, a daily leffening our Portion of Meat and Drink, and a choosing such a coarse Diet as may make the leaft Preparation for the Lufts of the Body. He who fafts three Days without Food, will weaken other Parts more than the Minifters of Fornication, and when the Meats return as ufually, they alfo will be ferv'd as foon as any: In the mean time they will be fupply'd and made active by the accidental Heat that comes with fuch violent Faftings, for this is a kind of aerial Devil. The Prince that rules in the Air is the Devil of Fornication, and he will be as tempting with the Windiness of a violent Faft, as with the Flesh of our ordinary Meal. But a daily Subtraction of the Nourishment will introduce a lefs bufy Habit of Body, and that will prove the more effectual Remedy.

This Devil is not to be cur'd by Fafting only, tho' it helps much towards it; it must not therefore be neglected, but affifted by all the proper Inftruments of Remedy against this unclean Spirit, and what it is unable to do alone, it may effect in Company with other Inftruments, and God's Bleffing upon them.

All Fafting, for whatever End it be undertaken, muft be perform'd without any Opinion of the Neceffity of the thing itself, without cenfuring others; with all Humility, in order to the proper End, and just as a Man takes Phyfick, of which no body has reason to be proud, and no body thinks it neceflary, but because he is in Sickness, or in Danger and Difpofition to it.

All Fafts, ordain'd by publick Authority, are to be obferved in order to the fame Purposes to which they are injoin'd, and to be accompany'd with Actions of the fame Nature, just as it is in private Fafts; for there is no other Difference, but that in publick our Superiors choose for us what in private we choose for ourselves.

Fafts,