always, not on particular days only. On this subject Christ says. Take heed to j'oursclves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (Luke xxi, 34). Again, The devils are not cast out but by- fasting and prayer (Matt, xvii, 21). And Paul says, I keep under my body, and bring it into sulijection (1 Cor. ix, 27). By which he wishes to intimate that this bodily discipline is not designed to merit grace, but to keep the body in a suitable condition for the several duties of our calling. We do not, therefore, object to fasting itself, but to the fact that it is repre- sented as a necessary dut}^, and that specific daj-s have been fixed for its performance."
3. Calvin. — The views of Calvin on fasting have been very general^ adopted in the Iteformed churches : "Therefore let us saj' something of fasting, because many, for want of knowing its usefulness, undervalue its necessity, and some reject it as almost superfluous ; while, on the other hand, where the use of it is not well understood, it easily degenerates into supersti- tion. Holy and legitimate fasting is directed to three ends, for we practise it either as a restraint on the flesh, to preserve it from licentiousness, or as a prepa- ration for prayers or pious meditations, or as a testi- mony of our humiliation in the presence of tJod, when we are desirous of confessing our guilt before him. The first is not often contemplated in public fasting, because all men have not the same constitution or health of body ; therefore it is rather more applicable to private fasting. The second end is common to both, such preparation for prayer being necessary to the whole Church, as well as to every one of the faithful in particular. The same may be said of the third, for it will sometimes happen that God will afflict a whole na- tion with war, pestilence, or some other calamit}' ; un- der such a common scourge, it behooves all the people to make a confession of their guilt. When the hand of the Lord chastises an individual, he ought to make a similar confession, either alone or with his family. It is true that this acknowledgment lies principally in the disposition of the heart; but when the heart, is af- fected as it ought to be, it can scarcely avoid breaking out into the external expression, and most especially when it promotes the general edification, in order that all, by a public confession of their sin, may unitedlj' acknowledge the justice of God, and may mutually animate each other by the influence of example. Wherefore fasting, as it is a sign of humiliation, is of more frequent use in public than among individuals in private, though it is common to both, as we have alread}' observed. With regard to the discipline, there- fore, of which we are now treating, whenever suppli- cations arc to be presented to God on any important occasion, it would be right to enjoin the union of fast- ing with prayer. Thus, when the faithful at Antioch ' laid their hands on Paul and Barnabas,' the better to recommend their very important ministrj' to God, they 'fasted' as well as ' prayed.' So, also, when Paul and Barnabas afterwards ' ordained elders in every church,' they used to 'pray with fasting.' In this kind of fasting their only object was that they might be more lively and unembarrassed in prayer. And we find by experience that after a full meal the mind does not aspire towards God so as to be able to en- ter on prayer, and to continue in it with seriousness and ardor of affection. So we are to understand what Luke says of Anna, that ' she served God with fast- ings and prayers.' For he does not place the worship of God in fasting, but signifies that by such means that holy woman habituated herself to a constancy in prayer. Such was the fasting of Nehemiah, when he [iraved to God witJi more than common fervor for the deliverance of his people. For this cause Paul do- clares it to be expedient for the faithful to practise a temporary abstinence from lawful enjoyments, iLf<t they may lie more at liberty to 'give thcmseives ro fasting and prayer;' for by connecting fasting with
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