from them on that occasion, should be made to cry for hunger and thirst, even to cry unto God, namely, interpretatively, as the "young ravens cry unto him."-Job xxxviii. 41. At which rate, the cries of the beasts, being mixed with the cries of men, would make the solemnity of that extraordinary mourning very great; and the hearts of men being, every now and then during that solemnity, pierced with the cries of the harmless brutes, would be stirred up to a more earnest, fervent, and importunate pleading with God for mercy. Thus far of personal, and family fasting and humiliation in the general.

CHAPTER II.

OF PERSONAL FASTING AND HUMILIATION IN PARTICULAR.

FROM what is said, it appears, that a PERSONAL fast is a religious exercise, wherein a particular person, having set apart some time from his ordinary business in the world, spends it in some secret place by himself, in acts of devotion tending to his humiliation and reformation, and particularly in prayer, with fasting. Concerning the which we shall consider, 1st, The divine warrant for it. 2d, The call to it; and, 3d, Offer advice how to manage it.

SECTION 1.-OF THE DIVINE WARRANT FOR PERSONAL FASTING AND HUMILIATION.

FORASMUCH as will-worship is condemned by the Word, and that can never be obedience to God, whereof his revealed will is not the reason and rule, it concerneth all who would perform this duty in faith, so as to have accepted it of him, to know who hath required it at their hands. And to set that matter in a light sufficient to satisfy and bind it upon the conscience, as a duty owing unto God, let these few things following be duly weighed :

1. God requires it in his Word, and that both directly and indirectly.

It is directly required; James iv. 9, "Be afflicted and mourn, and weep." It is plain enough from the context, these things are proposed as agreeing to particular persons in their personal capacity. See ver. 8, 10. And what it is that is required of them in these words, could not miss to be as plain to those unto whom they were originally directed; to wit, that it is fasting and humiliation that was intended by them. For this epistle was written to those who were Jews by nation, "the twelve tribes scattered abroad," chap. i. 1. And this is the very language of the Old Testament in that case, the same manner of expression, in which their prophets called them to it. Lev. xxiii. 27.-"On the tenth day of this sventh month,

there shall be a day of atonement, and ye shall afflict your souls," to wit, "with fasting." Isa. lviii. 5, "Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul?" Or, more agreeable to the original, "Shall a fast I will choose, a day of men's afflicting their soul, be like this?" Joel ii. 12.-" Turn ye even to me,with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning." And the mourning required in these texts, differs from the weeping, as the habit and gestures of mourners differ from their tears; Gen. xxxvii. 34; Eccl. iii. 4, directly pointing unto the duty of fasting and humiliation.

It is also required indirectly in the word, which supposeth it to be a duty the saints will practise, inasmuch as divine directions are given anent it. Now, it is inconsistent with the holiness of God, to give directions for regulating of will-worship, which he doth simply condemn, Matth. xv. 9; Col. ii. 23; Jer. vii. 31. But our Saviour gives directions about personal fasting; Matth. vi. 16, "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. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward." Ver. 17, "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face:" Ver. 18, "That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." And it is evident, that these directions do concern secret and personal fasting; for, besides that the text speaks expressly of that which is done in secret, and, therefore, is to be kept secret, contrary to the practice of the hypocritical Pharisees, who made it their business to publish their secret devotions, the outward signs of fasting are commended in the case of public fasts, Exod. xxxiii. 4; Jonah iii. 8; Joel ii. 15-17. In like manner the apostle Paul gives a direction abont this duty. 1 Cor. vii. 5, "Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer;" where the consent mentioned as necessary, determines the fasting to be personal; forasmuch as, in the case of public fasts, that matter is predetermined by a superior authority; and in the case of family fasts, it follows of course, on the appointment of such a fast.

2. It is promised that the saints shall perform this duty; Zech. xii. 10, "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications." Ver. 12, "And the land shall mourn, every family apart,-and their wives apart." Thus, in virtue of the grace of the covenant, this duty is made the matter of a promise, even as other duties of holy obedience are. Accordingly our Lord promised it, in the case of his disciples

in particular, Matth. ix. 15, "The days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast ;" to wit, personally; for it was not the neglect of the public fast appointed and stated in the law, Lev. xxiii. 27-32, that they were taxed for, but the neglect of personal fasting, used by the disciples of John, upon the occasion of their Master, the friend of the Bridegroom, his being taken from them; and also by the Pharisees, out of their superstitious and vain-glorious disposition, Matth. ix. 14, with Luke xviii. 12.

3. It is recommended unto us by the practice of the saints mentioned in Scripture. It was, as we have already seen, practised by David, a man “according to God's own heart." 2 Sam. xii. 16; Psalm xxxv. 13. By Daniel, a man greatly beloved. Dan. ix. 3. and x. 2, 3; and by the devout centurion, Acts x. 30. It was a frequent exercise of Paul, the laborious apostle of the Gentiles, 2 Cor. xi. 27. These all had the seal of God's good pleasure with their work set upon it, in the communion with God allowed them therein. And it is our duty to go forth by the footsteps of the flock, following their approved example.

4. Lastly, That occasional religious fasting and humiliation is a duty required in the word of God, and to be performed by societies in a public capacity, will not, I presume, be questioned. Now, upon that ground, the duty of personal fasting and humiliation may be thus evinced.

1st, There is nothing in the nature of religious fasting and humiliation, that of itself is public, or necessarily requiring a plurality of persons to join therein. The preaching of the word, and celebration of the sacraments, do, in their own nature, require society, and therefore are not to be used by a single person alone in his closet. But it is not so in this case. One may keep a fast alone, as well as he may pray, read the scriptures, and sing psalms, alone. Now, whatever ordinances God hath appointed, and hath not tied to societies or assemblies, nor to any certain set of men, they are the duty of every one in particular, who is capable to perform them.

2dly, The ground upon which the duty of fasting and humiliation is bound on societies, in a public capacity, takes place in the case of particular persons, namely, that extraordinary duties are called for on extraordinary emergents and occasions. If then a church or congregation is called to fasting and humiliation, on such occasions in their case; is not a particular person called to the same, on such occasions in his case? If abounding sin, or judgments threatened or inflicted on a land, require solemn public fasting and humiliation; do not the same things, in the case of a particular person, call for per

sonal fasting and humiliation? Surely every one ought to keep his own vineyard with the same diligence the public vineyard is to be kept; if one does not so, it will be bitterness in the end, Cant. i. 6

3dly, Extraordinary duties to be performed by a whole nation, church, or congregation, cannot be soon overtaken, because all great bodies are slow in their motions, and sometimes the season may be over, ere they can move thereto in a public capacity; yea, and ofttimes God is calling aloud, by his providence, for national and congregational fasting and humiliation, when the call is not heeded by them, on whom it is incumbent to appoint them. Now, what should particular persons, discerning the call of providence, do in such cases? Must they sit still, and not answer the call as they may, because they cannot answer it as they would? Should they not rather keep personal and family fasts, for those causes for which others either cannot or will not keep public fasts? as in the case of God's pleading with the land of Egypt, "He that feared the word of the Lord amongst the servants of Pharaoh, made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses," Exod. ix. 20. When the Jews are dispersed, some of them in one country, some in another, how shall the land mourn? Must they wait until they be gathered together? No; but the land shall mourn, families apart, and particular persons apart; even as when our neighbour's house is on fire, we do not tarry until the whole town or neighbourhood be gathered; but immediately fall to work ourselves, to do what lies in our power for quenching the flames.

And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the "divine warrant" for this extraordinary duty.

SECTION II.-OF A PROVIDENTIAL CALL TO PERSONAL FASTING AND HUMILIATION.

THE case of the church, the case of a neighbour, and one's own private case, may each of them separately, and much more all of them conjunctly, found a providential call to personal fasting and humiliation. The prophet Danial kept a personal fast on the church's account, Dan. ix. 2, 3. David on his neighbour's account, Psalm xxxv. 13, and on his own, 2 Sam. xii. 16.

Zion's children should reckon her interest theirs; and as secret personal fasting for public causes, argues a truly public spirit; so it is highly commendable, and being rightly managed, is very acceptable in the sight of God, Dan. ix. 20, 21.

The communion of saints is an article of our creed, and a most beneficial thing in the practice thereof. Considered only in these two parts of it, namely, a communion of burdens, Gal. vi. 2, and a communion of prayers, James v. 16, it is one of the best cordials the

travellers towards Zion have by the way. For one to love his neighbour as himself, whereof secret fasting on his account is a good evidence, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices, Mark xii. 33. And whether it do good to his neighbour or not, it will not fail, if rightly managed, to return with a plentiful reward into his own bosom, according to the Psalmist's experience, Psalm xxxv. 13.

Howbeit, it is hardly to be expected that one will be brought to the practice of this duty on the account of others, till once he has been engaged therein upon his own account. But surely, if professors of religion were more exercised about their own spiritual case, this duty of personal fasting and humiliation would not be so rare as it is. Paul, who had much of this kind of exercise, Acts xxiv. 16, was "in fastings often," 2 Cor. xi. 27; "kept under his body, and brought it into subjection," 1 Cor. ix. 27.

Now, any or all of these cases call for this extraordinary duty, in three kinds of events, other circumstances agreeing, and pointing thereto in the conduct of providence.

Either, 1, When there is any special evil actually lying upon us, the church, or our neighbour in whom we have a special concern ; whether it be a sinful or a penal evil. There are some sins that leave such guilt on the conscience, and such a defilement on the heart and life, as call aloud for fasting and humiliation, in order to a recovery from the dismal effects thereof, Jam. iv. 8, " Cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purify your hearts ye double-minded." Ver. 9," Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep." Accordingly the Israelites gathered to Mispeh, being sensible of the abominable idolatries they had fallen into, "fasted that day, and said, We have sinned against the Lord," 1 Sam. vii. 6.

In like manner, when the tokens of God's high displeasure are gone out in afflicting providences, it is time for us to roll ourselves in the dust; and so to accommodate our spirit and way to the dispensation, humbling ourselves before him with fasting. Thus Nehemiah found himself called to fasting, upon information received of the continued ruins of Jerusalem, and the affliction that the returned captives were in, Neh. i. 3, 4; David, and those with him, upon the news of the defeat of Israel, and the death of Saul and Jonathan, 2 Sam. i. 12; and the people, upon the consideration of the slaughter which the Benjamites had made among them, Judges xx. 26.

Or, 2, When there is any special stroke threatened and impending. Thus the inhabitants of Jerusalem, being in imminent danger from their enemies, were providentially called to weeping and mourning, though they heeded it not, Isa. xxii. 12, 13. But the Niuevites took such an alarm, and complied with the call of provi