1

2 Mac.

xiii. 12.

their cloaths.

Again; They befought the merciful LORD, with weeping, and fafting, and lying flat upon the ground, three days long.

As to private Fafting, we have fome mention of it, in the fame Place where the Vows of Daughters and married Women are qualified; of the Wife, it is faid; Numb. Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict XXX. 13. the foul, her husband may establish it, and her The valiant husband may make it void. Men, which burnt the Bodies of Saul and of his Sons, fafted feven days. And after, 2 Sam. i. they (David and the men of Israel) mourn'd and wept and fafted until even, for Saul and for Jonathan his fon.

I Sam.

xxxi. 13.

2.

2 Sam.

So, when the LORD ftruck the child xii. 16. that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very fick; David befought God for the child, and fafted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. And, a little after, he fays, while the child was yet alive I fasted and wept. And when Abab King of Ifrael heard the Judgment of God denounc'd a1 Kings gainst him by the Prophet Elijah, he rent xxi. 27. his cloaths, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fafted, and lay in fackcloth, and went joftly.

V. 20.

viii. 6.

In the Apocrypha, it is faid, I fafted fe- 2 Efdras ven days, mourning and weeping; where we alfo read, that Judith, after fhe was a Widow, put on Jackcloth upon her loyns, and Judith fafted all the days of her widowhood, fave the eves of the fabbaths, and the fabbaths, and the eves of the new moons, and the new moons, and the feafts, and folemn days of the bouse of Ifrael.

SECT. XXVI.

True FASTING.

One

These being their Practices in their pri vate Faftings, no wonder we find thofe Hypocrites, the Pharifees, in the Gospel, endeavouring to raise Merit among the People, that Way, They wore a fad coun- Mat. vi. tenance, and disfigured their faces, that 16, &c. they might appear unto men to fast. of them is introduc'd, enumerating his own Virtues to the allfeeing God; and among the reft, reckoning this for one, I fast twice in the week. And they and Luke their Difciples wonder'd at Chrift and his xviii. 12. Disciples for not fafting, (in a distinguish'd

remarkable manner.)

But, our LORD condemns fuch a Behaviour, and recommends that which is quite contrary; to anoint the head, and wash the face; fo as not to appear unto men to faft, but unto the father, which feeth in fecret. Which Direction, as well as his Practice in the Wilderness, fhews that he did not difapprove of Fafting, though he did not like the Oftentation of it. For, as Juftice and Charity were always more acceptable to the LORD than Sacrifice, fo was the inward Sorrow and Contrition of the Heart what he truly refpected, and not the outward Affliction and maltreating the Body. The Precept in the Lev. xvi. Law is, Ye shall afflict your fouls.

29.

Ifaiah

&c.

And the Prophet Ifaiah introduces these Hypocrites pleading for themfelves to the LORD; Wherefore have we fafted, fay they, Iviii. 3, and thou jeeft not? Wherefore have we afflicted our foul, and thou takest no knowledge? To which the Anfwer is; Behold, in the day of your faft, you find pleasure, and exact all your labours: Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to fmite with the fift of wickedness; ye shall not faft, as ye do this day, to make your voice to be beard on high.

Is it fuch a faft that I have chofen? a day for a man to afflict his foul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush; and to spread fackcloth and afhes under him? wilt thou call this a faft, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the faft that I have chofen; to loose the bands of wickedness; to undo the heavy burdens; and to let the oppressed go free; and that ye break every yoke? Is it not, to deal thy bread to the hungry; and that thou bring the poor, that are caft out, to thy house? When thou feeft the naked, that thou cover him and that thou kide not thy felf from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, &c. This, as much as to say, is the true substantial Fafting; of which, the other is only the Shadow, and false Repre- Joel. ii. fentative. In which fenfe, likewife, the 13. Prophet Joel fays, Rent your heart, and not your garments.

;

So much for the facred Rites of the

Ifraelites.

Q4

CHAP.

STUTURORAS

СНА Р. VII.

HOLY PERSON S.

TH

HE Fourth and laft Particular, in their Religion, which we have to treat of, is, the Perfons who were ordained to officiate and adminifter about holy Things, in the Places, at the Times, and with the facred Rites above mention'd. Of these there were feveral Orders; The High-Prieft; The Priefts; The Levites; The Singers; The Door-Keepers, or Porters; and the Nethinims. These were all, except the last, of the Tribe of Levi; and had no other Inheritance or Income than what arose from the Fees of their Office, the Sacrifices and facred Donations which accrued to them, in Proportion to the Dignity of the Station in which they ferv'd.

HO

SECT.