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LECTURE XIX.

FASTING.

"And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes."-Daniel ix. 3.

THE whole chapter from which I have selected my text is rich with Christian petitions. I know not that there is in the Bible a sublimer litany than that which is contained in this chapter, or clauses more appropriate as channels of a Christian's prayers, than such earnest, beautiful, and yet simple ones as these:-"O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name." The whole chapter as we pass along will suggest precious thoughts as well as seasonable prescriptions for prayer. In this lecture I will introduce my reflections in the words which I have now read. "I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes." The whole chapter-as indeed is indicated here is a specimen of the inner life of the prophet Daniel. He who was made illustrious for his prophetic wisdom, as is proved in previous chapters, was not the less remarkable for his earnest, his spiritual and devoted prayers: and perhaps he was so wise as a prophet, because he was so devoted as a suppliant. If he had prayed less fervently, he had perhaps been favoured with much less remarkable and interesting prophecy. It was by prayer he drew down the light which he needed for the present, and which made the future so luminous to his eyes. It was by prayer that he drew down the omnipresence of God to shelter him in the den of lions, and to protect him in the hour of peril from the machinations of his bitter and relentless enemies. And if we are not called upon to prophesy as Daniel prophesied, because the age of prophecy has passed away, we are certainly called upon, not only

here, but throughout the whole Bible, to pray as Daniel prayed, for the age of prayer still lasts. Our wants are deep, our necessities as many as his, and, blessed be the name of Him with whom we have to do, he is as ready to forgive the sins and hear the prayers of the nineteenth century as those of the six hundredth year before the birth of our Lord; for his mercy is now what it was then, unchangeable by circumstance, inexhaustible by time: "The Lord merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." As far as relates to prophecy, the sacred canon is now closed, and therefore we may not expect that we shall be gifted with the spirit of prophecy. There is a time mentioned in the Bible for every thing-a time for prophecy, which ceased with Malachi, under the Old Testament, and with John in the New. There is a time to pray which shall only cease when there shall be no more wants to be supplied, and there shall only be praise for the full and perfect rest of every affection and desire. The present age is not the age of uttering prophecy, but the age of the fulfilment of prophecy. It is to me one of the most interesting studies to trace the outlines of the future as sketched in the Bible, and to watch the filling up line upon line of that outline which is taking place in the present. What is modern history? The translation of ancient prophecy; and the longer modern history records its facts, and rolls along its stream, the more clear and remarkable is the light that is cast upon ancient prophecy, reminding us that once holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; and proving in the second place, that God reigns in Providence as surely as he ruled in the affairs of ancient Babylon. Every day strengthens the conviction that God has taken care that the minutest jot and tittle of all that he has predicted shall be adequately and certainly performed. But while the age of prophecy, as far as it was inspired, has thus passed away, the age and need of prayer still lasts. It is an instinct of the human, an inspiration of the divine, a privilege Christians enjoy, a duty all men should bow to. I will take an opportunity in a subsequent discourse of enlarging upon the nature and characteristics of prayer. This evening I am anxious to call your attention to a subject on which various opinions have

been, and are now entertained, and on the obligation of which various controversies have been held; namely, that which is here stated to have accompanied Daniel's prayer, "fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." There is a constant allusion throughout the whole of the Old Testament to "fasting, sackcloth, and ashes," as accompaniments of prayer. There are also frequent allusions to fasting scattered throughout the New Testament; and some are strongly convinced, that even as an evangelical duty, they are bound to practise it, and believe that those who cannot see that it is obligatory upon them in this dispensation, are guilty of violating a clear and unequivocal commandment of our blessed Lord. I will glance very briefly at this interesting, and, in some degree, very practical inquiry.

In all the works that Christ, that great example, performed, I do not find that, except in one special instance, so clearly supernatural as to be placed beyond the range of any approximate imitation on our part, our blessed Lord ever fasted. The only occasion on which he is said to have fasted, was, when he was in the wilderness, during a period of forty days, led up by the Spirit to be tempted, not for the purpose of fasting, for fasting was an incident, not an end. That he felt no hunger during that fast, is abundantly plain from the observations contained in Matt. iv. 2, which records, that when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he "was afterward an hungred;" as if he were not hungry during the forty days that he fasted, but only after the forty days had expired; words which imply, I think, without straining the passage, that the fasting of our Lord was not the mere abstinence from food, but a complete withdrawal from the more public duties of his sublime ministry-a season of solitary, sequestered, and isolated, or rather insulated, communion with God.

But it has been argued, from Matt. vi. 16, that our Lord expressly enjoins fasting. He says, for instance, in that passage"Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast." Reading this passage, a person may naturally infer that our Lord here prescribes fasting as a positive duty; but I do not think that such an inference can be legitimately deduced from it; because we find him alluding to various practices that

prevailed among the Jews in his day, which are not believed by any to be obligatory on us. He merely regulated the existing practices which we know were then lawful, but have now passed away.

We have an instance of this in Matt. v. 23, where he says, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way." There was an altar in the temple; but this temple and that altar have ceased to exist. We know that, by the very nature of the gospel, there is but one altar, namely Jesus, who was at once the altar, the sacrifice, and the priest. Hence those prescriptions of bringing the gift to the altar, and leaving it there, and then going to be reconciled to a brother, are not to be considered as a reason for the permanent existence of an altar in every church, but the temporary correction of a fault committed under that economy which had not then wholly passed away.

It seems to me clear, that when our Lord alluded to fasting, he was not enjoining a duty permanently obligatory, but regulating and correcting the abuse of an existing practice which he found perverted among the people to whom he preached. We have another instance of the same thing in Matt. xxiii. 18: "Whosoever sweareth by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty." And again-Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law." He alludes to practices that then prevailed. He does not prescribe tithes as permanent obligations; but he regulates the conduct of the Jews in the then existing duties, and no more.

Our Lord's remarks on fasting are to be considered in the light of the passages I have quoted, not as the inculcation of a permanent precept obligatory upon us, but simply as a direction intended to regulate a practice which he found grossly and grievously abused. There is not any passage, throughout the whole Old Testament Scriptures (and this will startle you if you have not noticed it before) that positively and directly enforces fasting, however venerated in the feelings or prevalent in the practice of the Jews. The only passage that seems capable of this construction is Leviticus xvi. 29, where it is said, "This shall be a statute

for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all." But it is not the word "fast" that is used, but the words "afflict your souls," which would seem to mean humbling the soul, drawing near to God, in the exercise of penitence, supplication, and prayer. But though it is not a divine prescription, it is yet unquestionable, that in almost every instance of fervent piety, and especially of public prayer, fasting was observed. In the case of Ahab, he humbled himself, and fasted, and prayed, in sackcloth and ashes. So in the case of Daniel before us: he fasted in sackcloth, and in weeping and with ashes. So the people of Nineveh fasted with weeping, and in sackcloth and ashes. So Jonah speaks of fasting. But it is worthy of notice, that those who quote the passages I have read, only take out of each text so much as suits them. If those texts are to be literally observed, and are obligatory at all, then there must be, first, prayer; secondly, fasting; and thirdly, sackcloth and ashes. The advocates of the permanent obligation of literal fasting as the accompaniment of prayer, understanding by fasting, abstinence from food, take this one practice; but they leave out the other two, viz. the wearing of sackcloth, putting ashes on the head, or the lying on the ground.

If you insist that fasting is clearly and literally enjoined in this passage, you must allow me to insist that the wearing of sackcloth, and putting ashes on the head, are as clearly and as literally enjoined. At the same time, I hold that fasting is unquestionably referred to in Scripture, and in some respect, I believe, in its spirit, and true import, and right use, it is obligatory upon every true Christian. It does not always mean, as it has been generally considered to mean, pure abstinence from food, as I think such a passage, for instance, as Joel i. 14 clearly shows: "Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn. assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord." This cannot mean abstinence from food-this is inadmissible, because the judgment under which the people was actually suffering was famine; for it is said, "The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all