A Fruitful Treatise, Chapter 8
The .viii. Chapter.
NOwe as touchinge that fast which springeth of a minde,The Faste that commeth of a mynde geuē …o godlynes. geuen to godlynes, it canne not be disalowed of God. For hee that seeketh to please God, and to auaunce hys glory by any godly meanes, and that h… may hauehave the grace soto doo, fasteth, prayeth, studieth, laboureth, his fastīg his prayinge, his studyinge, hys labouringe canne not but please God, and hauehave good and fortunate successe. On thys maner fasted Daniell,Daniel. ix that he myghte be the more apt to receiue the knowledge of goddes misteries, which were afterwarde declared vntounto hym of the aungel. So lykewise dyd Esdras.iiii. Esd. v Of thys godlie mā ner of fastynge spake Christe,Math. ix. whē the Disciples of Ihon came vntounto hym. and demaunded, whye hys Disciples fasted not, as they and the Pharises dyd. To whome Christe aunswered and sayde. Canne the brydegromes chyldren mourne so longe as the brydegrome is wyth theym? But the dayes wyll come, when the brydegrome shall be taken from them, and then shall they faste. Accordynge to thys Prophecye, when Christ, whych is the bridegrome was taken from them, I speake concernynge hys corporal presence (for by hys spirite he is wyth the faithful vntounto the end of the worlde) they mourned, fasted and praied for the gift of the holy Ghost,Mat. xxviii whych was promised to be sent vntounto thē for to be theyr Comfortour and teacher,Actes. i. and to lede thē into al truth,Iho. x…ii…. xv. xvi. & the holye ghoste was geuē vntounto thē accordīg to y• promise of Christ & their expectaciō. They fasted also and prayed after they had receyued the holy Ghost, that they myghte worthelye fulfyl that offyce whiche was commited vntounto theym, that by theyr preachynge manye thousandes myght be conuetted and saued,Act. ii. iii. and it so came to pas. The holy and deuoute wyddow Anna fasted and prayed continaallyeLuk. ii. in the temple for the commyng of the promised Messias, & she sawe him before her death. Cor…elius that godly mā beyng troubled in his mynde,Actes. x. as it may be thoughte wyth the multitude of religions, whych at that tyme reygned in the world, as the religion of the Gentyles, of the Iewes, of the Pharise is, of the Saduces, of the Essees, and the late sprong vp religion of the Christians humbled hym selfe in the syghte of God, mourned, fasted, gaue almesse and prayed, that it woulde please God to declare vntounto hym, whych amonge theym al was the true relygyon that he myght obserue the same, frame hys life according vntounto that, and so please God. And to obtayne thys thing of God, he continued long fastyng and praying. God therfore accepted hys fast, heard hys prayer, and graunted hym hys request. The Prophets and Preachers at Antioche,Actes. xiii. fasted & prayed, that bothe they them selues might preach wyth frut, and that other also myght be sente of God, and appoynted vntounto that offyce, that the glorye of God myght be set forth, that his word myght be receaued, and that all nacions of the earth myghte beleue in hym, and in hys Sonne Iesu Christ. Theyr fastyng and praying wer alowed before god, and theyr desyres were fatisfied. For the holye ghoste sayde vntounto them, separat me Barnabas and Saule for the woorke, whereunto I hauehave called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and layed their handes on them thei lette them go. Paule and Barnabas also fasted when they praied for the congregacions of Listra,Actes. iii…. Iconium, Antioche and Pisydya, and when they ordayned them elders in eueryevery congregacion to teache and instructe them in their absence, and to confirme them in the faythe and doctryne, whiche they had all readye receiued. And God gaue good succes to theyr doctryne and ministracion. Al these fasted of a minde feruentlye geuen vntounto godlinesse.
Hitherto hauehave we learned oute of the holye scryptures, what the true and Christen faste is. Nowe let vsus se in fewe woordes, whether the Popyshe manner of fastinge, whiche we hauehave so manye yeares vnfruitefullye obserued, be lyke vntounto that trade of fasting which we hauehave so many yeres vnfruitfully obserued, be lyke vntounto that trade of fastinge, whiche the word of God hathe painted and setforthe vntounto vsus.