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come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them; in those days they shall fast (Matt. ix. 15; Luke v. 35). By this it is manifest, that it is no time of fasting while the marriage lasteth, and the bridegroom is there present. But when the marriage is ended, and the bridegroom gone, then is it a meet time to fast. Now to make plain unto you what is the sense and meaning of these words, We are at the marriage, and again, The bridegroom is taken from us; ye shall note, that so long as God revealeth his mercy unto us, and giveth us of his benefits, either spiritual or corporal, we are said to be with the bridegroom at the marriage. So was that good old father Jacob at the marriage, when he understood that his son Joseph was alive, and ruled all Egypt under king Pharaoh. So was David in the marriage with the bridegroom, when he had gotten the victory of great Goliath, and had smitten off his head. Judith, and all the people of Bethulia, were the children of the wedding, and had the bridegroom with them, when God had by the hand of a woman slain Holofernes, the grand captain of the Assyrians' host, and discomfited all their enemies. Thus were the apostles the children of the marriage, while Christ was corporally present with them, and defended them from all dangers, both spiritual and corporal. But the marriage is said then to be ended, and the bridegroom to be gone, when Almighty God smiteth us with affliction, and seemeth to leave us in the midst of a number of adversities. So God sometime striketh private men privately with sundry adversities, as trouble of mind, loss of friends, loss of goods, long and dangerous sicknesses, &c. Then is it a fit time for that man to humble himself to Almighty God by fasting, and to mourn and bewail his sins with a sorrowful heart, and to pray unfeignedly, saying with the prophet David, Turn away thy face, O Lord, from my sins, and blot out of thy remembrance all mine offences (Psal. li. 9). Again, when God shall afflict a whole region or country with wars, with famine, with pestilence, with strange diseases and unknown sicknesses, and other such like calamities; then is it time for all states and sorts of people, high and low, men, women, and children, to humble themselves by fasting, and bewail their sinful living before God, and pray with one common voice, saying thus, or some other such like prayer, Be favourable, O Lord, be favourable unto

thy people, which turneth unto thee, in weeping, fasting, and praying; spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood, and suffer not thine inheritance to be destroyed, and brought to confusion" [Commination Service].

Fasting thus used with prayer is of great efficacy, and weigheth much with God. So the angel Raphael told Tobias (Tobit xii.). It also appeareth by that which our Saviour Christ answered to his disciples, demanding of him why they could not cast forth the evil spirit out of him that was brought unto them. This kind (saith he) is not cast out but by fasting and prayer [Matt. xvii. 21]. How available fasting is, how much it weigheth with God, and what it is able to obtain at his hand, cannot better be set forth, than by opening unto you, and laying before you some of those notable things that have been brought to pass by it. Fasting was one of the means, whereby Almighty God was occasioned to alter the thing which he had purposed concerning Ahab, for murdering the innocent man Naboth, to possess his vineyard. God spake unto Elijah, saying, Go thy way, and say unto Ahab, Hast thou killed, and also gotten possession? Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs even lick thy blood also. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity: yea, the dogs shall eat him of Ahab's stock that dieth in the city, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. This punishment had Almighty God determined for Ahab in this world, and to destroy all the male-kind that was begotten of Ahab's body, besides that punishment which should have happened unto him in the world to come. When Ahab heard this, he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon him, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went barefooted. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, Seest thou how Ahab is humbled before me? Because he submitteth himself before me, I will not bring that evil in his days; but in his son's days will I bring it upon his house (1 Kings xxi. 17-29). Although Ahab, through the wicked counsel of Jezebel his wife, had committed shameful murder, and against all right disinherited and dispossessed for ever Naboth's stock of that vineyard; yet upon his humble submission in heart unto God, which he declared outwardly by putting on sackcloth and fast

ing, God changed his sentence, so that the punishment which he had determined, fell not upon Ahab's house in his time, but was deferred unto the days of Joram his son. Here we may see of what force our outward fast is, when it is accompanied with the inward fast of the mind, which is (as is said) a sorrowfulness of heart, detesting and bewailing our sinful doings. The like is to be seen in the Ninevites: for when God had determined to destroy the whole city of Nineveh, and the time which he had appointed was even now at hand, he sent the prophet Jonah to say unto them, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. The people by and by believed God, and gave themselves to fusting; yea, the king, by the advice of his council, caused to be proclaimed, saying, Let . neither man nor beast, bullock nor sheep, taste any thing, neither feed nor drink water: but let man and beast put on sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; yea, let every man turn from his evil way, and from the wickedness that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce wrath, that we perish not? And upon this their hearty repentance, thus declared outwardly with fasting, renting of their clothes, putting on sackcloth, and sprinkling themselves with dust and ashes, the Scripture saith, God saw their works, that they turned from their evil ways; and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not (Jonah iii. 4-10).

Now, beloved, ye have heard first what fasting is, as well that which is outward in the body, as that which is inward in the heart. Ye have heard also that there are three ends or purposes, whereunto if our outward fast be directed, it is a good work that God is pleased with. Thirdly hath been declared, what time is most meet for to fast, either privately or publicly. Last of all, what things fasting hath obtained of God, by the examples of Ahab and the Ninevites. Let us therefore, dearly beloved, seeing there are many more causes of fasting and mourning in these our days, than hath been of many years heretofore in any one age, endeavour ourselves both inwardly in our hearts, and also outwardly with our bodies, diligently to exercise this godly exercise of fasting, in such sort and manner, as the holy prophets, the apostles, and divers other devout persons for their time used the same. God

is now the same God that he was then; God that loveth righteousness, and that hateth iniquity; God which willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live; God that hath promised to turn to us, if we refuse not to turn to him: yea, if we turn our evil works from before his eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek to do right, relieve the oppressed, be a right judge to the fatherless, defend the widow, break our bread to the hungry, bring the poor that wander into our house, clothe the naked, and despise not our brother which is our own flesh; then shalt thou call (saith the prophet), and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am [Psal. xlv. 7; Ezek. xviii. 23; Isaiah i. 16, 17; lviii. 7, 9]. Yea God, which heard Ahab and the Ninevites, and spared them, will also hear our prayers, and spare us, so that we, after their example, will unfeignedly turn unto him: yea, he will bless us with his heavenly benedictions, the time that we have to tarry in this world, and, after the race of this mortal life, he will bring us to his heavenly, kingdom, where we shall reign in everlasting blessedness with our Saviour Christ; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

[A suitable Prayer after reading the foregoing Homily.

O LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.-Collect for First Sunday in Lent.

We may not therefore say that good works are unprofitable or done in vain and without cause, for that we obtain not justification by them.-Nowell's Catechism, p. 83.

No minister or ministers shall, without the license and direction of the bishop of the diocese first obtained and had under his hand and seal, appoint or keep any solemn fasts, either publicly or in any private houses, other than such as by law are, or by public authority shall be appointed.-Canon lxxii.]

AN HOMILY AGAINST GLUTTONY AND DRUNKENNESS.

YE have heard in the former sermon, well-beloved, the description and the virtue of fasting, with the true use of the same. Now ye shall hear how foul a thing gluttony and drunkenness is before God, the rather to move you to use fasting the more diligently. Understand ye therefore, that Almighty God (to the end that we might keep ourselves undefiled, and serve him in holiness and righteousness, according to his word) hath charged in his Scriptures so many as look for the glorious appearing of our Saviour Christ, to lead their lives in all sobriety, modesty, and temperance (Titus ii. 12, 13). Whereby we may learn how necessary it is for every Christian, that will not be found unready at the coming of our Saviour Christ, to live soberminded in this present world, forasmuch as otherwise being unready, he cannot enter with Christ into glory: and being unarmed in this behalf, he must needs be in continual danger of that cruel adversary, the roaring lion, against whom the apostle Peter warneth us to prepare ourselves in continual sobriety, that we may resist, being stedfast in faith (1 Pet. v. 8, 9). To the intent therefore that this soberness may be used in all our behaviour, it shall be expedient for us to declare unto you, how much all kind of excess offendeth the Majesty of Almighty God, and how grievously he punisheth the immoderate abuse of those his creatures, which he ordaineth to the maintenance of this our needy life, as meats, drinks, and apparel. And again, to shew the noisome diseases and great mischiefs, that commonly do follow them, that inordinately give up themselves to be carried headlong with such pleasures as are joined either with dainty and over-large fare, or else with costly and sumptuous apparel.

And first, that ye may perceive how detestable and hateful all excess in eating and drinking is before the face of Almighty God, ye shall call to mind what is written by St. Paul to the Galatians, where he numbereth gluttony and drunkenness among those horrible crimes, with the

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