A Fruitful Treatise, Chapter 9 – Chapter 10
The .ix. Chapter
THe true and Christen fast is done frely and willingli,Of the popish manner of fastynge. and commeth frō the feruent mocion of the spirit. The popish and supersticious faste serueth the custome onli, and is done at the commaundemēt of man with a grudgynge and vnwillinge mynde, which beinge lothe to faste if the custome & mans ordinaunce wer not, wisheth both the fast and the commaunder of the fast at the deuil. And if any in so great a multitude do willinglye fast, yet is it done partly to satisfy the custome partly because they wil be coūted good deuout & catholike mē, partly to honour some sainct, partli to deserue remiscion of theyr sins, & to win euerlasting life. Can thys kinde of fasting plese god?Math. xv. They worship me in vain, saith Christ, teachinge doctrines that are the cōmaundements of men.Rom. xiiii Sainct Paule also saith, Whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne.
The true & christen fast, during y• time of fasting is to abstain frō al kinde of meates & drinkes (except very necessiti requireth y• cō trary) & frō al those things, wher in the flesh deliteth. For yt was y• maner of fasting amōg ye fathers of the old law, as we herd afore…, Hierome confirminge the same:Lib. ii. … tra Iouin… anum. The Iewes, saithe he, on those daies yt they fast, toke nomeat, til they se ye euening star vp. And a certain coūcel called Concilium Calcedonense, ordained, ye suche shuld not be counted to faste, that dyd eate before euensonge was done, whiche at the time was not celebrated, as it is nowe at .ii. or iii. at the clocke after dinner, but at nighte aboute the .viii. or .ix. houre, when the day was al past.
The popish and supersticious fasters perswade them selues to fast wel, and to do a meritorious dede, if they onli abstain frō flesh though in ye morninge so sone as they rise out of their beds,O worthy Fast. they enfarse & stuffe their belies with as manyfine cakes & tostes of whit bread as they be able to eat, and wt asmuch good aleful of spices or els burnt Maulmesy, as theyr paūches can hold. And when dinner come, if thei abstain frō a smoky peace of Bacon or hard salted and poudred biefe or suche lyke,The Papists drinkyng in y• mornyng. though they eate the most delicious fishes that can be goten, and enfarse their beastly bodies with al the swete meates that cā be inuented & sought out, yea & that so vnmeasurably, yt after they hauehave once dined, they are prouoked either to the pleasure of the bodye,The Papists manner of dynyng. or els like beasts of the b…lly fall straightwais vntounto slepe, so yt thei ar not hable to serue god, nor thē selfs, nor ani other, yet thinck thei yt they fast wel and do god a great plesure.A story of a Monke wych was a great faster. This maner of fasting amōg many other vsed a certayne monke in my coūtry, which not wt standing was coūted the greatest & deuotest faster in al those quaters. His maner was for the most part to make but one mele a dai, as they vse to say, yet such a mele as the meat of yt one mele might hauehave semed sufficient to any reasonable creature to hauehave serued vi. godli fasters at a mele. Whē he came vntounto Dynner and was set down at the table, his vse was euer to vnbuckle and let slacke his girdle a great quantitie, whiche before was streight girded to his bodi. He fel to his meat, as the hongry wolf to his pray, and neuer leafte of deuouringe the best meates that wer set before hym, till he had so stuffed hys relygyous paunche, that his girdle being afore lose, was so hard to hys body, that he could not put his little finger betwene the girdle, & his clothes. He sate so swelling & sweting at the table thorow ye tomuch deuouringe of pleasaunte meats & whot wines, y• if Apelles had bene present with his pensil▪ he might hauehave had a ioly paturn …o paint a right Epicure. And not withstādyng both he & such lyke wer counted good, holy, deuout, religious & catholik… fasters. To consume at one dīner so much as wold serue thre, was no breaking of a fast. To deuoure vnmesurably al kinde of pleasaunt fishes, or whatsoeuer deinties besydes could be deuised, was fast good inough in y• popes kingdō, but to eate a peace of flesh although neuer so grosse, was twise a deadly sin, & punished wt fire. The eater of ye flesh was called a Lollore, & adiudged to be brēt wt fire for his I know not how great offēce, as though god abhorred more the eating of flesh then of fishe, or as though fish wer cleane in ye sight of god, & flesh vile & abhominable.Mat. xxiii O belied hipocrites whiche strain out a gnat & swalow doun O spirits of errour and teachers of Diuelishe doctrynes,…. Tim. iiii. whiche speake false thorow hipocrisie, & hauehave their consciēce marked with an hote yron, forbiddinge to marie and commaunding to abstain from meates, whiche God hathe created to be receiued with thankes geuinge of thē, which beleue and know the truth. For al y• creatures of god are good, and nothing to be refused, if it be receyued with thanckes geuing. For it is sanctified by the word of god & praier.…ilus. i. Unto ye pure al thgīs ar pure but vntounto thē yt are defiled & vnbeleuing is nothing pure, but euen the minde and conscience of thē is defiled. Why do not those blind guides remember this saying of our sauiour Christ,Math. xv. & cease to condemne the innocent? That which goeth into the mouth, def… leth not yt man, but y• which commeth out of the mouth, defileth y• man. For what so euer entreth in at the mouth, goeth into the belli and is cast out into ye draught, but those thinges which procede out of the mouthe, come from the hart, & they defile y• man. For out of the hart procede euil thoughts murders, breaking of wedlocke, whordomes, thef…es fals witnes, blasphemies, These are the thinges whiche defile a man.
¶The .x. Chapter.
AGaine at night albeit the popish fasters eat no meat,The Papysts drinkyng at nyght. yet make thei such a drinkīg, as might iustli seme a costious kind of bāketting. Besides their white bread & fine cakes, thei hauehave their figges, reasons, almonds, aples, peares, nuts, carowis, biskits, su… cat, marmilado, cherise condite, quinches condite, & I know not what. And besides their nappi ale and heady beere, they hauehave sundry wines, some spiced, & som brewed wt a cup of Ipocras at y• latter end to make vp their mouthe withal and to finishe theyr holye and religious fast. Is it not to be thought, yt these men take great paines in their fastīg? do not such fastes please god greatly thinke you? O abhominable mockers of christen abstinence. Theese are those Epicurcs, whych as ye Poet saith, Curios simulant et bacchanalia uiuunt. Mat. xxiiiThese are those hipocrites, which bind heaui burdens & greuous to be born,Luke. xi. & lay thē on mēs shoulders, but they thē selfs wyl not heaue at thē with one of their figers. And as y• welthi worldlīgs & rich Epicures thinck thē selues to faste wel, if they make but one mele on y• day, though otherwise they enfarse their bellies with neuer so mani deinties, euen so iudg the baser kinde of people, yt they fast wel, if thei eat no meat, though they stuffe their paūches with neuer so much bread & drinke. Notable is this sentence of .s. Hierō against al such belli gods. What auaileth it, saith he, to eat no oil, & to seke about for such meates as are most deinty & hardest to come bi,Ad Nepot as dry figs, pepper, nuts, dates sine cakes, hony,Pistaciū, is a kynde of Nutte… & pistacies? All the deinties that gardens canne bring forthe are soughte, that we shuld not eat ye vsual bread. And while we seke deliciously to lyue, we ar plucked back from the kingdom of heauē. Moreouer I hear say, that ther be some which contrarye to the rule and nature of men,Nyse and fyne Fasters in S. Hieromes tyme. drynke no water, nor eate bread, but soupe not out of a cup but out of a shel deynty brothes, and herbes brayde, and the iuce of Beetes. Fye for shame, are we not ashamed of such fōdnes, nor wearye of the supersticion? Yea we liuing in al deliciousnes, seke to be praysed for our abstinence. The myghtiest fastis water and bread, but because it hath no glorye nor notable fame, & because we al liue with bread & water, it is not coūted as the publyque & cōmon fast. Wold God yt al they that fast, yea & so many as profes Christ wold remēber & cōtinually set before their eyes thys saying of s. Austē.Erser. lvi Detempote. It nothing profyteth, sayeth he, to hauehave passed an whole day in lōg fasting, if afterward the soul be oppressed wyth dylyciousnes or superfluitye of meates, for so is the minde much filled, soone dulled, and the erth of our body so watered, wil bring forth thornes of wicked lusts. Let therfore our meate be temperate & no more then is sufficient, & let our belly neuer be to ful. And let vsus alwayes hauehave more mynd of the meate for the hearte, then of meate for the body, because with in the inward man we be made after the image of God, but in the flesh we are fashioned of the slime of the earth.