ïirts,l; 294 Chap.S. O f faffin. Cam. 4. Eft-a 9.4. king wives of the Gentiles, though there was yet no vifitation upon them, yet Efra, and thofe that feared God, affembled and humbled themfelves by failing ; and fe la- bels pretence fora fart was fair, if it had been true, viz. that God and the King had been blafphemed by Naboth. 2. As it is a duty necelfary to the averting of evil , fo is it for the procuring or 113.13.3. fome good. For which purpo e we fine feveral faitskept in the Apoltles times ; r4.23. one at the fending forth of twoof the Apoftles Paul and Barnabas, and the other at the Ordination ofElders, to deliire of God to make fuch as were ordained painful and fruitful labourers in the work, towhich theywere called. Now in this duty of falling, if we look at the punidhments and vifitation of God only, which are varioufly fent, it is hard to make rejunium ffatum, to obferve any fet and fixed time of fatting, but as the occafion is fpeciai and extraordinary, fo mutt the fait be : but if we look at the fins we daily fall into, and our own backwardncfs toany thing that is good , and confider that failing is a great help in the daily pro- grefs of mortification and fan tification. As under the Law, they had their fet days of expiation U'11iiJ r1', wherein they did offlidt their fouls 6 expiere plecara flea jejunio, and expiate theirfins with fatting; fo no quedion but that now (we having the like daily occalons of fading) fet times of failing may be appointed by the Church, and that it is very expedient it fhould be fo , and that every true member of the Church ought to obferve the fame. And as upon thefe publick caufes and calamities the whole people ought to make a folemn day of falling, wherein everyone is to bear a part : fo when the fame caufes concern anyprivate perfon, he ought to keep a private fait and humiliation ; which brings in the fecond part of a fail, namely, the private. Privatefaits. 2. The caufes of a private fail are the fame with thofe of the publick: T. Either for ma/um palm, the evil of punifhment : or, a. Malurs, culpa, the evil of fin. And 2 Sam.12.16. the firft in refped`t of our felves, when we are either under Gods heavyhand alrea- 1 Ä12g 2 r. 27. dy, as'Davidwhen his,Child'was .lick, fatted : or when the evil is not yet upon us, but hanged over, and threatneth us : as when 'Eiijaiodenounced Gods judgments againft Ahab, he fafîed : which fail though it wereonlyor chiefly for fear of punifh ment, yetwent it not unrewarded. job 33.19,20, It is not thanks worthy in ficknefs and aE idion to refrain our meat, it is but na Pf 1so7. 7,18 tural fo to do : Elihu in yob tellsus, that when a man is chaflnedwith pain, his life 2 Kia 2t.4 abhorreth. bread, and-his foul dainty meat. And the Pfalmit tells us, that when Luke 7.38 Már.ro 0. fools*ale afilifled, their foul abhorreth ail manner of meat. And we read that when t Cor1t.3r. .Ahab was in grief , he would eat no bread But to do this without aftíillion, Hoc optimum i- 'aceeptaóile jejunum, This is the excellent and acceptable fait. To come with MaryMagdalen , and betake our felves to weeping, and to far before the Crofs come, to take up our own Crofs, and to judge our felves, this is an ae'l wor- thyatrue Chriftian. Again, when the afflieelionlieth not upon our felves, but upon others, it may be Pfal 35 13 -- lawfully úfed. David relateth of himfelf, that when others were fiele, he put on fackcloth and humbled his foul with fatting for them. 2 Cor. 7.5. 2. To prevent the evil of fin, either projeter languorem boni, when we grow faint, or languifh in performance of holyduties as when our prayersare not fo fervent as they ought to be, orprojeter tentationcm mali, upon Some tentation, that cannot be M2t.17,21. avoided without fatting, for Chrift faith, there are fome evil fpirits that cannot be calf out but by'prayer and failing,, Lafily, as the publick fats , fo alfo the private , is not only for the averting of evil, but for procuring of good; and that either in general, as Cornelius the Cen- Aa. 1o.3o. turions failing proved a preparative to his calling to become a Chrittian or in par- Mar,4,a. ticular,.asour Saviour Chrift fatted at his inauguration, or publick entrance into his .Office of Mediatorfhip, according to the opinion both of the Fathers and modern Divines; Now as of the other Sabbath , fo alfo of this, there are two parts. Firít, Fistternal,,Wh-ich is Abftinence. Secondly, Internal furrow, mourning,. cr Hturaì- kafion. a. In
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