[Feb. 4th, 1355.]
I. Its nature. II. Its obligations. III. Its benefits.
I. Fasting in a religious sense is a voluntary abstinence from food for a religious purpose. It is a natural expression of sorrow, because sorrow destroys the desire for food and the power to digest it. In all ages, therefore, fasting has been connected with religious services in times of humiliation and distress. It was prescribed on certain occasions under the law, voluntarily practiced by good men, and recognized in the New Testament. This abstinence is either total or partial, either for a day or for protracted periods.
II. Its obligations.
- It is nowhere enjoined in Scripture, and therefore cannot be made obligatory. When recommended by civil or ecclesiastical authority, it should be observed, unless for due reasons to the contrary. Stated fasts are not desirable, because they are apt to be regarded as binding.
III. Benefits of fasting.
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The fact that fasting was enjoined under the Old Testament, and that it has entered so largely into the religious observances of men, render it probable that there is a real ground for it.
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The psychological, or physiological ground for it is the relation between the soul and the body, which as far as this matter is concerned, shows, (a.) That fasting is a natural effect of sorrow. (b.) That the mind is indisposed to act when the body is replete with food. (c.) That as the body sympathizes with the soul, so the soul does with the body.
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The moral or religious ground. (a.) All acts of self-denial, the refusal to gratify the lusts of the flesh, even when natural and proper, is an assertion of the supremacy of the soul over the body, and tends to strengthen its authority. (b.) It is a general law of our nature that the outward should correspond with the inward. No man can maintain any desired state of mind while his bodily condition and acts are not in accordance. He cannot be sorrowful in the midst of laughter. This is the ground for reverential postures, and for decorum in dress and manner in public worship. This is a widely operating principle. There is, therefore, a scriptural, a psychological, and a moral and religious ground for fasting.
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There is also the further ground of experience and the example of God’s people. All eminently pious persons have been more or less addicted to this mode of spiritual culture. (1.) It must, however, be sincere. The hypocritical fasting of the Pharisees and Papists is at once hateful and destructive. (2.) It must be regarded as simply a means and not an end. (3.) It must be left free.
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