REASONS Why all GOOD CHRISTIANS Should observe the Holy Fast of Lent. Extracted out of my Lord of ELY's Paschal Fast.  
THE Sacred Penitential Time of Lent is at hand, what shall I do? Shall I take notice of it, or no? If I take no notice of it, Mr. Hickeringill will stigmatize me as a Black Non Conformist; and if I do take notice of it, Mr. Care will calum●nate me as a Papist in Masquerade. O Times! O Manners! Unhappy Age in which we live! Dissipavit Deus ossa eorum qui hominibus placent: God h●● broken the bones of those who please Men. If I seek to please Men, or fear to offend them, I am no longer an honourable Servant of Jesus Christ, but a base Slave of the vile World. If I christianly observe this Sacred Time, my own Conscience, I am sure, will applaud me, whatsoever my Neighbours may say or think of me: And a good Conscience, even when it dictates Fasting and Abstinence, is a continual Feast. But will not the Holy Gospel say, I am superstitious? God forbid. I know they are the words of our Blessed Lord himself, Matth. 15.11. Not that which goes into the mouth, defiles a Man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a Man. And truly had our great Master spoken those words, when it was objected to him by the Disciples of St. John, that they and the Pharisees fasted often, but his Disciples fasted not, the Objection would not so easily have been answered: But consulting the Sacred Text, I find he is so far from disparaging the holy Exercise of Fasting, by saying, Not that which goes into the mo●th defiles, a● he t●citly commends it, as a Duty too sublime, for such Novices in Religion as his Apostles as yet were, but the time would come when they should fast, to wit, after he shall have been taken away from them, and shall have strengthened them for so hard and necessary a Duty, by a plentiful effusion of the Holy-Ghost upon them. The new Wine of rigorous Abstinenc● and Fasti●g was ●oo strong for the frail B●●tle● of our Lord's disciples, ●●for● their C●nfirm●●ion from the Holy-Ghost u●on the day of Pentecos●. But ●an then that which goes into my mouth de●●●e me? Yes, when I eat or drink in contempt of the equitable and just command of my lawful superior, Ecclesiastical or Civil. Though strictly speaking, it is not the Meat then which defiles me, but my disobedience to my superior.  
Not to engage in long Disputes: For these Reasons methinks every good Christian ou●ht Religiously to observe the Holy Fast of Len●.  
1. B●caus● Fasting in itself has ever been looked upon by all Christians as a Christian Duty, and is not only highly commended by all the ancient Fathers of the most Primitive times, but also by the Holy Scripture itself; as having a singular Power to drive out the Devil: This Devil goes not out but by Prayer and Fastin●. To ●btain the Holy G●ost for ●●r selves or others: The Hol● apostles ●●●●ed and prayed, that the Holy Ghost might descend upon those on whom they conferred H●ly Orders. To avert God's anger from a particular Person, City, or Country. Thus Ahab and the Ni●●●it●s appeased the wrath of the Almighty: To s●pp●s● Concupiscence; to dispose the Mind for Prayer; to increase all virtues in us in this Life, and our Crown of Glory in the other. If we fast in a due manner, we have our Blessed Saviour's words for it, that we shall have a Reward in Heaven. If I fast, to afflict and humble myself before God Alm●ghty for my Sins, my Fasting is an Act of Repentance. If I eat less myself that I may have more to give to those that are in necessity, my Fasting is an act of Charity. If I fast, the better to dispose myself for Prayer, 'tis an act of Religious Devotion. If I fast, judging myself not worthy of any Delicacies, nor of my fill of even the coursest Fare, 'tis an act of Humility, and disposes my Soul moreover as little to affect fine Clothes or commodious Lodgings, as I do good Victuals, and consequently moderates my desires of Money and Riches; which are not desirable by corrupt Nature, but for these or such-like uses. If I fast, that I may be better able to pay my Debts, or provide my Children's Portions, 'tis an act of Justice, and Christian Paternal Piety. If to moderate my inordinate Appetite of Meat and Drink, 'tis an act of Temperance; and strangely disposes to Temperance in the whole course of my life, when by experience I find myself as cheerful and contented, or rather more, upon a fasting day, than when I indulge to excess in eating and drinking. In fine, 'tis hard to name a virtue which fasting does not st●angely help to procure, maintain, and increase. As for the four Cardinal virtues, 'tis the formal exercise of the highest degree of Temperance; nor is Fortitude less seen in abstaining from what pleases us, than in sustaining what afflicts us. It makes Justice easy, and is the Mother of wife and sober Thoughts. It moderates our Passion●, def●cates ●u● Understandings, and makes us more fit for Contemplatio● of Natural or Supernatural Verities. O Angelical Abstinence!  
Methinks I could be intemperate in thy Praise,  
And feast thee with sugared Words, and Roundelays. B. O.  
2. Fasting then being of so singular use in a Christian life, and Experience telling us, That those who fast only, when they please, are pleased to fast very seldom, o● not at all; our Spiritual Prelates, who watch for our Souls good, can do no less than oblige us by a Law to fast some times, nor we do no less than Religiously observe their equitable Commands.  
3. I have all reason to think, the Holy Fast of Lent was first appointed by the Holy Apostles themselves, and consequently ought to be Religiously observed by all good Christians. Now that the Holy Fast of Lent was appointed by the Apostles, methinks may be proved thus: Two hundred years ago England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and all the Eastern Churches, universally fasted Lent, as 'tis evident by the Records and Annals of our own, and those other Christian Countries. therefore the Apostles taught Lent to their first Converts, both in the Eastern and Western World where they preached: For it cannot be imagined, that so many several Countries, Kings and Subjects, Priests and People, could by chance fall upon the yearly practise of abstaining from Flesh 40 days before Easter: Therefore they must either all at first be taught so by their first Masters of Christianity, which is the Conclusion intended to be proved; or some universal Supreme Authority, Ecclesiastical or Civil, must so have commanded them to do; or some Preachers first in one Country, and then in another, must so have persuaded them to do in some Age since. B●t no Annals of our own, or other Christian Countries, make any mention of any such Preachers, or any such Ordination made by any General Council, Pope, Prince, or Emperour: Nor yet have we, or any other Christian Countries, wanted Ecclesiastical Historiographers, who in their Memorials have taken notice of far lesser matters than such an Innovation as this must needs have been, had the Apostles taught the World no such observance. And the truth is, 'tis pure Ignorance, in Ecclesiastical History, and the Works of the Primitive Fathers, that makes so many waver in the Belief of the Apostolical Institution of Lent; in which, if they were well conversant, they could not possibly doubt of it.  
Further: Not only two hundred years ago, but twelve hundred years ago, Lent was universally observed in the whole Christian World, both in the Eastern and Western Church, as is manifest out of the pious Works of the prime Pillars and Pastors of Christ's Church, in the fourth and fifth Gentury of Christianity. Nor do the opposers of Lent deny so much, and therefore appeal to the first 300 years after our Saviour; for which time, and which only, they pretend the Christian Worship was untainted, and not infected with the superstitious Observation of Lent. Let us suppose then, that for the first 300 years of Christianity, the Church of Christ in England, Ita●y, Greece, and other Countries, observed no such thing as Lent-East; and consider by what means possible, the fourth Age could not only bring it in all over the Christian World, but bring it in so secretly or covertly, that the crime Doctors of the fifth Age should not be able to discern, that this new Burden was superadded to Christianity by their immediate Progenitors, but should be verily persuaded, that such an Observation had immemorially from Generation to Generation descended to them from the first planters of Christianity, the Apostles: And yet itis evident, that the fifth Age did not only keep Lent, but also kept it as an Apostolical Institution; and the prime Christian Doctors of that Age have left it upon Record, in their deservedly admired Works, that they kept this Holy Fast as an observance taught them by Tradition from the Apostles. Hear their own words; S. Hierom, in his Epistle to Marcella: We fast one Lent( Quadrages●ma●n) within the compass of a whole year, according to the Traditions of the Apostles, in a Season fit for us. The Montanists keep three Lents in the year, as if three Saviours had suffered. Now if for the first 300 years there had been no such observance by Christians at Rome, but if in the fourth Century some Bishop of Rome, or some Provincial or General Council, or Christian Emperour, had first introduced it, could a Learned Priest of Rome of the fifth Age, and one well versed in all Ecclesiastical matters, as S. Hierom was, err so grossly, as to mistake so new an Institution for an Apostolical Tradition, that is, for an observance taught the City of Rome, from Father to Son, from the Apostles. For the Greek Church, hear the Testimony of Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria,( to the patriarches of which See, it was entrusted by the first General Council, That they should yearly signify before-hand, to the rest of the Churches, as well as their own, the true time of Easter). In his first Paschal Epistle, he writes thus: Let us cure the divers wounds of Vices, &c. And so may we enter the Fasts at hand, beginning Lent the 30th day of the month Mechir,( as it were our February, the Egyptians reckoning 30 days in every month.) The week of the Salutary Pasch on the fifth day of the month Pharmuth( or April), and ending the Fasts according to the Evangelical Traditions on the evening of the Saturday, being the tenth of Pharmuth; and on the next Lords day, the 11th of the same month, let us celebrate the Feasts. The like he says in his second Paschal Epistle; and again he says according to the Evangelical Traditions. I add the Testimony of S. Cyril, Patriarch of the same Alexandria, in the next Age, in his 20th Homily, De Festis Paschalibus: So let us keep a pure Fast, beginning the Holy Lent from such a day, ending also the Fasts on the 7th day of Pharmuth, late in the Evening, according to the Traditions Apostolical. The same S. Cyril, in nineteen other of his Homilies, cited by B. Gunning, in his Lent-Fast proved to be Apostolical, De Festis Paschalibus,( preached in so many several years) refers the same Fasts of Lent to Tradition, Appointment, or Instruction Evangelical. The Law of abstaining in Lent, was always in the Church, says the above-cited Theophilus Alexandrinus. Now our it be imagined, that these two Learned patriarches( to whom by the whole Christian Church was committed the care of signifying the due time of Lent and Easter) had the Holy Fast of Lent been so sa●ely brought in by s●me Universal, Ecclesiastical or Civil Authority; could be ignorant of it, and think and tell all the World also, that they had been so taught to end Lent from Generation to Generation from the Apostles? Note also, wheresoever Lent is observed, the Observers of it profess from Generation to Generation to have observed it, from the first planting of Christianity amongst them; nor does any of their Annals, Ecclesiastical or Civil, make any mention of a later instit●tion of it, and reflect, if the Holy Apostles had appointed Lent by Oral Preaching, what other Arguments could we have had for its Apostolical Institution?  
But if a yearly Religious Observation of the Holy Fast of Lent be of such singul●r benefit and Spiritual advantage to all Christians, and if also the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ did recommend such an Observation to the several Countries by them converted to the Christian Faith, how comes it to pass that none of all their Writings which have come to our hands, makes express mention of it? Hear Bishop Gunning, p. 138. Ritual Observances being visible, and as it were legible in the universal Churches constant practic●, needed not to be set down in her written Rule: Or those which are therein set down, not necessary so evidently, but that they might need the interpretation of such the Churches practise. And indeed, whoever will impartially consider the nature of the Books of the New Testament, will be so fat from wondering, that all the Rituals of Christianity are not expressly declared in them, that he will rather wonder there is so much in them of the exterior Rites of Christian Religion as there is. Had any of the Sacred Christian Pen-men written a Book, on purpose to declare the whole manner of Christian Worship, like Moses his Exodus or Leviticus, we might reasonably have expected an account, what days Christians were to set apart for Fasting or Religious Feasting, what Garments they were to use in time of Divine Worship, &c. But they only, as is manifest, writing Books for other intents and purposes, by way of History, for example, or moral Exhortations, and making mention only by the by of some of our Christian Rites, as they occurred; nothing can be more unreasonable than to expect in their said Writings an express clear mention of every Christian Ceremonial Observance. And why St. Paul, or other of the Apostles, should make mention of Lent in the Epistle, they wrote to persons already instructed in the Christian Faith, I understand not, unless perchance the persons they wrote unto, had been deficient in observing it.  
Further: What though the Holy Apostles did not first institute the Lent Fast, but it grew by little and little from the pious observation of some particular Christians into an universal practise, ought not the universal practise of the whole Christian Church, both Eastern and Western, of above twelve hundred years continuance, to have more poised with us, than the Non conformity of a few Mushrom-Christians, sprung up in the night of this last Age? Besides, we are commanded by our Civil and Ecclesiastical superiors assembled in Parliament, to fast Lent upon a Religious account, by an Act never yet repealed; witness the Statute, 2 & 3. of Ed. 6. c. 19. For as much as divers the Kings Subjects have of late time, more than in times past, broken and contemned such Abstinence, which has been used in this Realm upon the Friday and Saturday, the Emb'ring days, and other days, commonly called Vigils, and in the time commonly called Lent, and other accustomend Times, the King's Majesty considering that due and godly Abstinence is a means to virtue, and to subdue men's Bodies to their Soul and Spirit; and considering also that Fishers, &c. doth Ordain and Enact, with the assent of the Lords Temporal and Spiritual, &c. That no person or persons, of what Estate, Degree, or Condition he or they be, shall at any time after the First day of May, 1549. willingly or unwillingly eat any manner of Flesh upon any Friday or Saturday, or the Ember days, or on any day in the time commonly called Lent.  
Moreover if Lent be not to be observed upon a Religious account, In the name of God what does it in the Liturgy-Calender, more than Fairs and Markets? Reflect also with B. Gunning upon the Prayer for the first Sunday in Lent. O Lord, who for our sakes 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, &c. How unworthy it would be to make that Holy Prayer to bear such a sense as this; O Lord, who for our sakes didst fast forty Days and forty nights, give us Grace to use such Abstinence, that our Sea-faring Men, and Mariners, and young cattle, and the like may be maintained.  
To conclude, we offend the same all holy and all just God, by the same sins our fore-fathers Offended him, why should we not seek to appease his anger by the same Humiliations of Fasting and Abstinence as they did? we have Bodies no less subject to concupiscence than theirs, why not keep them in subjection by the same chastisements as they have done? We need the same Holy-Ghost our fore-Elders did, why should we expect to draw him down upon us but by fasting and prayer, as they did? Nor can our living in a Northerly Country excuse us, our Ancestors who lived under the same climate fasted often and rigorously. If we expect to go to the same Heaven with them, we must expect to go by the same wrought path of Christian Temperance as they went. Besides the abounding of all iniquity amongst us, Covetousness, Drunkenness, gluttony, Lasciviousness, Pride, Malice, Shedding of Innocent blood, profaneness, Perjury, Blasphemy, Infidelity, Atheism, cry aloud to Gods Vengeance against us, and call every devout Christian to Fasting, Weeping and Mourning, to prevent those temporal Judgments we may justly fear, and remove those spiritual plagues of Divisions, Ignorance and Error, which we too sensibly feel. In that day, says the Holy Prophet Esay, Chap. 22, V. 12, 13, 14. Did the Lord God of Hosts call to Weeping and to Mourning, and to Baldness; and to girding with sackcloth: and behold joy and gladness, slaying Oxen and killing Sheep, eating Flesh and drinking Wine: let us eat and drink for to morrow no shall dy. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts, surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dy, saith the Lord God of Hosts. The eating of Flesh and drinking Wine, when God Almighty calls to fasting, weeping, and mourning, is an iniquity, says the Holy Prophet, which shall never be forgiven. And when does Almighty God call to fasting, weeping and mourning, if h● do not call then, when our own and others sins require it, when the practise of the whole Christian World in all Ages invites to it, and ●hen our lawful Superiors, who watch for our souls good, positively command it?  
Whom all that has been said cannot persuade to a Religious observation of the Penitential time of Lent, I have one reasonable request to them, that they would but for one year fast, as many days out of Private Devotion, as they do who fast at set times and days commanded by an extrinsical Authority; and I persuade myself, they would find so great spiritual benefit thereby, that they would clearly see, fasting being good in itself, its being commanded by our Superiors can never make it Superstition. I deny not but the change of the Primitive Christian way of fasting into a mere Abstinence from flesh, by Set-Fasters, fasting from one sort of meat and feasting upon others, making up what they wanted in Meat by Wine and strong drink, at meals and betwixt meals, gave but too great occasion to many simplo well meaning people, to look upon all fasting as a mere superstition: It being hard to conceive that ever the Apostles could appoint such a manner of fasting, as is too too commonly practised by Professors to follow Apostolical Institutions in their Set-fasts. For what say Non-Conformists, if we must upon the Authority of the Primitive Fathers fast Lent, why then ought we not to follow the manner of fasting, prescribed by the same Fathers? Have the Holy Fathers a sacred Authority when they reprehend the No●-fasting of Non-C●nformists, but none at all when they reprehend the mock manner of fasting of those of the Church of England, or the Church of Rome? As for answer to this objection, we all aclowledge our fault, and are resolved seriously to endeavour amendment, and according to our corporal and spiritual strength, Piously to emulate the Primitive Christians fasting: And would you join with us in so holy an exercise, we hope what our own simplo knowledge is not able to prevail with our sensual Nature to do, your good example would shane us into the effectual performance of, at least in some good measure. And now I hope your objection is answered: and a happy solution this indeed; God grant it. Let us lay aside, this sacred Penitential time, all other disputes, and let this be our great controversy, who shall spend most of our time in devout prayers and diligent reading or hearing Gods word; and most of our worldly wealth in charitable Alms upon our indigent neighbour, and least upon ourselves in meat and drink: Let none revile or injure his brother, but let our great quarrel be against ourselves, Judging and Punishing ourselves for our sins by fasting and Abstinence in this world, that we may not be judged and punished for them by Almighty God by hellfire in the other. By such disputes as these we shall sooner come to an amicable union amongst ourselves, and to the happy favour of our common Lord and God, than by all our uncharitable unchristian Brawls and Contests.  
Quod universa tenet Ecclesia, ne● Conciliis institutum, said semper ret●●tu● est, non nisi Apostolica aut●●●late traditum rectissime credimut ▪ S. August, de Baptismo contra, Donati●●a●. C. 23. That which the universal Church observeth, and was not instituitā by councils, but hath been ever retained, we most rightly believe to have been no other than a Tradition from Apostolical Authority.   

LONDON, Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh, at the Black Bull in Cornhill, 1681.