certaine time for the Fast of holy Orders when they either ordained or instituted Ministers Statiua Ieiunia are Fasts appointed at a certaine Such were those foure Fasts kept euery yeere all the time of the seuentie yeeres Captiuitie in Babylon mentioned Zachar. 7.5 8.19 Such are at this day all Church-fasts whether they be Catholicke and Vniuersall commanded and frequented by all Churches as is the Fast before the Communion This fortie dayes Fast of Lent howsoeuer in diuers circumstances very variable The Fasts of holy Orders termed also Ieiunia Quae â—or Temporum of the Spring Summer Autumne Winter quarters The Fasts in Vigilijs praecipuarum Festiuitaturo that is to say vpon the chiefe Saints dayes Euens and the weekely Fasts of Wednesdaies and Fridayes appointed first as Epiphanius and Austin tell vs to put vs in continuall remembrance of my Text and of the causes of our Bridegroomes first taking away from vs. Or whether they be Locall and particular Fasts Such as is the Fast of Saturday which in Saint Ambrose time was kept euery weeke at Rome and in all Africa beyond the Sea but was not kept at Millaine where Saint Ambrose himselfe was Bishop nor in any of the Easterne Churches Such as is also our new Ember-weeke Fast in Rogation weeke which is kept within the fiftie dayes after Easter within which dayes as Cyrill Austin Epiphanius doe all ioyntly witnesse no Church in their time did Fast at all Thus haue we the diuision of the frequent or often Fasting commanded and commended vnto vs by Christ himselfe in this Consultatorie Precept Then shall they Fast often and thus haue the Gouernours of the Church of Christ from age to age continued their obedience vnto the Commaund of their Bridegroome by commanding straightly and practising seuerely all these Legitima Ieiunia as Leo an ancient Father termeth them besides their Voluntaria Ieiunia as he also speaketh their Voluntarie priuate Fasts which after the example of Cornelius in the 10. of the Acts and of Saint Paul 1. Cor. 7.5 and 1. Cor. 9.27 they daylie imposed vpon themselues in their priuate houses Amongst these Church-law-Fasts as Leo calleth them the Catholicke Fasts not onely by reason of their Vniuersallitie and Antiquitie vltramemoriall for euen in regard of their antiquitie many of the Fathers haue dared to call them Apostolicall but also by reason of the weighty causes and speciall holy ends for the which they were first ordained haue beene held in highest account and kept with greatest Seueritie But amongst these Catholicke and Vniuersall Fasts the Fast before the Communion hath beene of greatest Religiousnesse next vnto it the Fasts of Holy Orders and of these the most religious hath been the Fast of the seuenth Moneth in which Moneth onely amongst all the Moneths of the yeere God commanded his people of Israel by speciall absolute Precept to keepe their feast of Reconciliation with Fasting from Euentide to Euentide because as Leo and some other Fathers not improbably haue imagined vpon that very same tenth day of September Adam and Eue did first transgresse in Paradise by eating the forbidden fruit Next vnto these in account haue beene the Fasts of Lent especially of Caput Quadragesima which wee call Ashwednesday and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we cal Good-friday Fast For vpon these dayes not onely the Competentes or Catechameni and the publicke or priuate extraordinary Penitents but euen euery deuout Christian in the time of the Fathers if not openly as the Extraordinary Penitents and Competentes had yet priuily as before I noted concerning Iehoram had sacke-cloth or haire cloth sewed about their loynes Lastly the next vnto these of principall account were the Fasts in Vigilijs praecipuarum festiuitatum the Fasts held vpon the chiefe Saints daies Eeuens as it is plaine out of Leo his Sermons De Ieiunio Decimi Mensis and out of the Homilies and Sermons of Ambrose Austin Bernard and others For to the end they might humbly and reuerently prepare themselues vnto the blessed and ioyfull keeping of Christmas and other high Festiuall Daies they did solemnely and publickely bestow the whole nights in Prayer and in singing of Psalmes and in hearing the word of God preached or read vnto them Surely to the iust condemnation of our fleshly and more dissolute times I speake it Those ancient Fathers and their people in whom there was that Primitiue vigour of the spiritous new wine of the Gospel did keepe these and other their Ordinary and Voluntary Fasts with farre greater humiliation of their soules and bodies before God then wee at this Day or rather dead night of all Christian godlinesse doe keepe our most piacular Extraordinary Fasts when the Sword Famine Pestilence or other more grieuous causes and curses haue smitten vs downe to the place of Dragons And yet they neuer fainted or were any thing at all wearie with the weekely if not daily obseruance of them neither did they intermit or loose any time but rather gayned time for the following of the necessary workes of their outward callings So truely so wisely so zealously obedient were they in the most seuere practise of this Commandement Then shall they mourne fast pray and make Supplications Often The hypocriticall foolish filthy wanton breach or ignorance of which Commaundement amongst vs Christians at this day in all the Churches of the world is as the Poet speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vnhappy mother of all disobedience Atheisme Barbarisme which now doe grow so fast vpon this delicious last Age of this second vngodly world the gluttonous and fleshly humorousnesse whereof must very shortly bee dried licked vp with the fire of Gods last vengeance Sect. V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Math. 9.15 THere now remaineth but one thing more to be added for the full and faithfull Explanation of this Text and of this whole Doctrine concerning Euangelicall Fasts that is Their Holinesse intimated in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mourne defined in the next parable to bee farre aboue the Holinesse of Legall Propheticall or More then Propheticall Fasts For our Sauiour Christs Gospell Fasts commaunded heere and commended in the next parable must be as newe cloth fit to mend a decay in the best and strongest deuotioned mindes and as newe wine to bee contained onely in the best seasoned and holiest and purest Vessels or bottels of his Spirit In a word They must not therefore bee defined and esteemed to be truely Religious and holy because both fasting and abstinence are phisicionall and very wholsome for mans body for then Aurelian the heathen Emperour who hauing a strong body is chronicled to haue cured all the ordinarie diseases of his body by much Fasting might haue beene canonized for a Saint nor because they are very praiseable amongst men and very commodious to common-wealths For then the Philosophers and the niggards fastings might be accompted Religious nor because God hates
houshold in fasting and pâ—â—iâ—r are Demostratiue precedents to the Supreme Magistrate the whole comminaltie of the 〈◊〉 Tribes of Israel together with their Elders and Phinees the High-Priest in the 20. chapter of the Iudges and the euiled Iewes ioyned in one as one man in the tenth of Ezra are authenticall proofes to authorise whole Councels and Synods But yet there is one kinde of Church-Fasts which now a dayes we call Iâ—â—â—nia quatuer temporum called in times past 〈◊〉 sacrorum Ordinum the Fasts of holy Orders the commaund whereof doth most properly and principally lie vpon the charge of our Bishops and Clergie whensoeuer they either ordaine or institute Ministers For it is plaine out of the storie of the Apostles Actes that these children of the Bride-chamber did neuer lay their hands vpon any Minister of the word and Sacraments either at his ordination or Institution afore they had first appointed solemne fasting an prayer And surely although such fasting bee not of the Esse yet it is of the Bene esse and melius fieri of holy Institutions and Orders It pertaineth also most principally to Saint Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abstemious temperate Bishop that hee call vpon the supreme Magistrate and vpon the whole people of Christ and bee a liuely precedent vnto them for the execution of this consultatorie commaund Then shall they Fast From whom did S. Austin and his mother Monica priuate persons take their right paterne of fasting when they liued in Millaine but from Saint Ambrose the Bishop of Millaine whom doth S Austin counsell his friend Casulan to follow in the order of Church fasts but chiefely his Prouinciall or Diocesan Bishop Episcopo tuo in hacre noli resistere Quod ipse facit sine vllo scrupulo aut disceptatione sectare Crosse not thy Bishop in this matter of a Saterday Fast but in this and the like what thou seest thy Bishop doe that do thou without any scruple or controuersie Secondly if it be demaunded whether as it is in the consultation of the Church to repeale intermit or change these publike Fasts of ordinarie Repentance so it is in their consultatorie power altogether to omit and disannull them and whether Catholicke Fasts may be intermitted or repealed by Particular gouernours of Particular Churches or by Nationall counsels I answere first to the former part of the demaunde that there are in the Scripture two kinds of indifferent things not commaunded by absolute precept left vnto Christian mens free consultation as the Spirit of God in his children shall iudge them to be expedient or vnexpedient to be done Of the first kind are such indifferent matters and duties as are made lawfull vnto vs only by Warrant and not also by any so much as consultatorie commaund or counsell And these againe are of two sorts For either they are both warranted and commended as are the Voluntarie vowes of perpetuall Virginity and widowhead of Pouertie of paying all or part of our goods to poore Christ whether they be proper voluntarie vowes or solemne publicke voluntary vowes or they are permitted onely and tolerated in the booke of God as lawfull but no where commended also as laudable as is that best kind of Vsurie where a man doth no otherwise deale with his brother theÌ„ he himself in the like case would be very willing to be dealt withal It is in the consultatorie power of the publicke gouernours of Christs Church either altogether to disannull and abrogate or at their discretion to restraine and correct the abuse of this latter either by ciuill punishment in their ciuill gouernement or by Excommunication or suspension in their Cleargie gouernement But as touching the former which are both warranted and commended in the Scripture it is not in the consultatorie power of Christs Church gouernours either publikely to commande them or publikely to disannull and altogether forbid them whether they be priuate and proper voluntarie vowes or solemne and publicke voluntarie vowes of perpetuall continencie pouertie or such like When thou absteinest from such proper or solemne vowes saith the only lawgiuer able to saue and destroy Deuter. 23.22 it shall be no sinne vnto thee who then can binde me in foro conscientiae either to vow single life though a thing warranted and commended or forbid me to vow it publickly I say either to commaunde these commended holy Voluntarie vowes or to disannull and altogether forbid them is not in the power of any publicke gouernours whatsoeuer Onely it is in their power to restraine and correct the abuses of them if either the Votarie doe vow that rashly which is not likely to be in his power and abilitie to performe or doe vowe that wickedly or to a wicked vngodly superstitious end which he ought not to performe Certaine young Widdowes made a solemne vow of perpetuall widow head in Saint Paules time But Saint Paule seeing by experience of them their great vnablenesse to performe such vowes discommends them greatly in the fift chapter of his former Epistle to Timothy and chargeth Bishop Timothy to restraine the solemne vowes of such Votaries vntill they came to the age of threescore yeares Certaine also of the lewd Hypocrits amongst the Israelites in the time of Moses law as it is plaine in the 18. ver of the 23. of Deuteronomie had wantonly brought the hire of their Whores and the prices of their Dogges for holy solemne Voluntarie vowes into the house of God as many superstitious wanton Votaries haue done and doe still vnder the reigne of Popish superstition and as idolatrous people doe and haue done who haue solemnely dedicated and bequeathed their money lands goods vnto Masse Priests to sing Dirdges for their soules or to say Prayers for the deliuerance of their soules out of Purgatorie or to the maintenance of the Supremacie and Hierarchie of the Iudaicall and Donatisticall Pseudocatholicke Church of Rome God would haue these solemne Voluntarie vowes both restrained and corrected For so saith the Law Deut. 23.18 Thou shall neither bring the hire of an whore nor the price of a Dogge into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow For euen both these are an abomination vnto the Lord thy God Thus haue I shewed how things of indifferent nature warranted onely but not at all commaunded in Gods word are to be held or not to be held to be vnder the consultatorie power of the publicke gouernours of Christs Church Another kind of duties and things indifferent not commaunded by absolute precept but left to Christian mens free consultation is of those which are not onely warranted in Gods word but are also commaunded by that kind of commande and precept which I haue tearmed Consultatorie These againe are of two sorts For either they are by such Consultatorie commaundement commaunded onely vnto priuate men or they are also commaunded both to priuate men and to publicke officers Of the former sort
against the authority of the Church in giuing out such constitutions yet no such indifferent matters of Catholick constitution and command are to be held to be perpetual constant invariable or vnalterable for euer For that Prerogatiue Saint Austin in the sixt chapter of the same Epistle to Ianuarius attributeth onely to those customes which either Christ himselfe by speciall commaund or his Apostles from Christ haue immediatly in some part of the new Testament ordained and constituted Quod nulla morâ—m diuersitate variari poterunt That they are not nor may not bee varied or altered by any diuersitie of times or maners Which Prerogatiue I say that the Church of God vniuersall hath not ascribed nor assumed vnto her selfe or to her vniuersall customes it is plaine by comparing that which Epiphanius writeth of the Catholicke customes of his time with the particular practise of the Church of Rome and of our VVesterne Churches in later times Hee testifieth constantly and plainely in the conclusion of the eighty heresie that Communiones siue synaxes fieri ordinatae sunt ab Apostolis Quarta feria Prosabbato Dominica Quarta vero Prosabbato ieiunium institutum est vsque ad horam nonam Et per totum annum quidem ieiunium hoc seruatur in eadem sancta Catholica Ecclesia Quarta inquam feria Prosabbato vsque ad horam nonam excepta sola Pentecoste per totos quinquaginta dies in quibus neque genua flectuntur neque ieiunium imperatum est exceptis diebus Epiphaniorum quando Christus natus est Communions were ordained by the Apostles to bee receiued vpon the Wednesday Friday and the Lords day And vpon the Wednesday and Friday no meate was ordained to be taken vntill three a clocke in the afternoone Which Fast vntill three a cloke in the afternoone vpon Wednesdayes and Fridayes is kept in the same holy Catholicke Vniuersall Church throughout the whole yeere excepting onely the Pentecost with her fiftie dayes after Easter in which dayes no knees are bowed in the Church neither is there any Fast commaunded and excepting the twelve dayes of Christmas In these words of Epiphanius we haue these Catholicke Customes set downe First Communions receiued throughout the yeere thrise euery weeke 2. Communions receiued fasting at three a clock in the afternoone 3. Fastings not obserued within the fiftie dayes after Easter nor within the twelue Christmas dayes 4. Knees not bowed publikely in any Church within fiftie dayes after Easter These customes were some of them saith he set downe by the Apostles themselues But for all this that the Church of God hath not accounted so of these customes as of Apostolicke customes ordained from Christ by absolute vnvariable commaund as S. Austin doth well admonish vs to distinguish it is plaine by the practise of these future Ages wherein wee neither first keepe our Communions thrice or only thrice in the weeke nor secondly obserue the determining and ending of our Fasts vpon Wednesdayes and Fridayes at three a clock in the afternoone nor thirdly abstaine froÌ„ al fasting and fourthly kneeling in the Church within the fiftie dayes after Easter Thus much to the two first and principall Questions and to the inferiour demaunds or doubts which doe necessarily arise from vnder them Sect. III. COncerning the Nature and Authoritie of this Commaund Then shall they Fast To the third Question Who are to be commaunded the keeping of these publicke Fasts of ordinary Repentance I answere easily and readily out of this next Parable that our Sauiour Christ would haue both the shred and the garment both the wine and the bottle that is both the Fast and the Fasters to be Adaequatae to be both measurably proportioned together to the end they may both be preserued together The Gouernors therefore of the Church as it is plaine out of Ierome and Austin their Epistles haue neuer imposed harder tasks of ordinary Fasting vpon the vessels of their inferiour brethen then they themselues were either able in their sickenesse or other impotencies or willing in their best health to vndergo Sint moderata â—eiunia ne debilitent stomachum saith Ierome to Rusticus Let thy ordinary Fasts bee with moderation and not to the weakening of thy stomacke And in his Epistle to Laeta hee setteth downe another cautionarie Rule Ante annos robustae aetatis periculosa est teneris grauis abstinentia Fasting is very dangerous and hurtfull to them that are not come to their full growth This growth Thomas of Aquin in the 4. Article De ieiunto according to the order of the Church in his time defineth to be Finis tertij septennij The full age of 21. yeeres The same Aquin putteth vs in minde of a third Rule of Exemption to be added according to the Analogie of the word to the two former Rules of Saint Ierom Non est intentio Ecclesiae statuentis ieiunia impedire alias pias magis necessarias causas It is not the mind or intention of the Church by appointing Fasts to disallow or hinder any other more godly and weightie matters or necessarie causes For the confirmation of which Rule wee may remember that which Saint Austin summarily setteth downe as the common sentence and resolution of Gods Spirit in the Church of God and euen in those most deuout and most seuere Fasters of his time Ita pietatem sedulo exercent Corporis vero exercitationem vt ait Apostolus ad exiguum tempus pertinere nouerunt The summe of their discreete managing of their Fasts is this saith Austin They doe exercise godlinesse which is of absolute Precept hauing the promise of this life and of that which is to come without which godlinesse also all Fasting is but irreligious as hereafter I shall fully declare when I come to speake of the right holy ends of true Fasting They doe exercise godlinesse attentiuely studiously carefully diligently But bodily exercise as the Apostle saith Saint Austin hath speciall reference to ordinary Fasting then practised they know how it of it selfe or in comparison of more worthy parts and exercises of the minde in godlinesse is profitable but for a small time These then are the termes of iust Exemption from Church fasts and these two kind of persons are to be exempted from them vpon the appearance and cleare manifestation of the iustnesse of their cause to the Gouernors of the Church 1. Laborers and men employed in high weightie and necessarie businesse 2. All impotent persons whether impotent in goods fasting ieiunium ieiunij as our Diuinitie schoole speaketh fasting for want of meat as common Beggars and they who are knowne to want foode wherewith to breake their fast when the Church-Fast is ended or Impotent in body as young folkes wanting growth olde folkes decaying in growth sicke folkes wanting health and hauing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often infirmities and many bad fits as Bishop Timothy himselfe had Sect. IIII. COncerning the Nature and
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then shall they fast much doth require my orthodoxall and sound answere vnto these three necessary Questions How long the shortest Fast is to bee continued How the howres of such Fasts are to bee bestowed with what moderation and with what kind of meates they are to be broken when they are ended To the first Question I answere that the Shortest and weakest Church-Fast is to continue 24 houres Looke ouer all the examples of Religious Fasting either in the booke of God or in the stories of the Church and you shall finde this plaine that if any man from Supper time to Supper time or from Dinner time to Dinner time tooke any thing Ad Nutritionem For the nourishment of his body vnlesse it were a little Anniseed or a moderate draught of ordinary drinke Ad Digestionem depellendam Vertiginem onely for the remoouing of raw humours from his cold weake and queazie stomcke or for the expelling of winde causing giddinesse in the head he was censured to loose the Religion of his Fast for that day Our mourning for sinne which alwayes accompanies religious Fasting is very weake if it breake vs not both of our meales and also of our sleepe for one day The godly Monasteries in Saint Austins time when the Church of God was indeed the right House of mourning and kept as it were her continuall funerals of sinne sowing in teares that they might reape with ioy had in each of them seuerally three thousand godly persons at the least and those euen Lay men also who after the example of Saint Austin himselfe and of all the deuout Cleargie men of those times kept this shortest Fast of twenty foure houres and eate but one Meale a day throughout the whole yeere keeping besides if occasion were giuen their Extraordinary Fasts after the example of Esther and Saint Paul Esther 4.16 Act. 9.9 three daies and three nights together that is seuentie two houres without either meat or drinke or any kind of bodily sustenance Sect. II. TO the second Question I answere that first Prayers and especially those mournefull Prayers which we call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Supplications are alwayes to be ioyned solemnely with Church-Fasts of Ordinary Repentance and priuately with our priuate Fasts of Ordinary Repentance otherwise it is no Religious Fast but onely a prophane Fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Christ in this Anticipation Then shall they Fast and make Supplications Luk. 5.33.35 Secondly vnto our Prayers Supplications wee are alwayes to ioyne Almes Beatus est qui ieiunat vt alat pauperem Blessed is he from Christ who fasteth not nor putteth lesse into his owne bellie that he may put lesse also into the pot and more into his chest but doth Fast with a mind to â—east the poore and to bee able to put more into the poore mans bellie and purse Is the speech of one of the Apostles deliuered by Tradition and reported vnto vs by Saint Cyrill Thirdly vpon that day whereon we Fast we ought after the example of the Iewes in those their foure Church-Fasts held all the time of their seuentie yeeres captiuitie in Babylon to separate our selues precisely from al bodily pleasures and fleshly delights of Gaming Dicing Carding Horse-racing from all light exercises of Bowling Hawking Hunting Foot ball-play and such like and as Saint Paul 1. Cor. 7.5 hath counselled vs from our wiues and as the better Churches of Christ did for the space of the first thousand yeers in their chiefest solemne Fasts euen from our naturall sleepe For they watched often in Prayer either at the beginning or ending of their Fasts or at the crowing of the second Cocke which they vsually called S. Peters Cocke did rise out of their Beds to weepe with Saint Peter for their sinnes alwaies keeping their soules waken out of the dead deepe of sinning to death through fleshly presumption alwayes listening to heare the soft stealing and comming of the feet of the Thiefe of the night the Day of Iudgement vpon them alwayes hathening and zealously desiring to heare the first sound of the last Trumpet of God the first descending of our Lord from heauen with a showt the first word of the voice of the Archangell crying Surgite Mortui venite ad Iudicium Arise yee Dead and come vnto Iudgement As for our worldly businesse and ordinary labours in our Christian callings we are not when we fast these ordinary Fasts so absolutely and totally to abstaine and separate our selues from them as wee are from all worldly pleasures and fleshly delightes Those religious Monasteries consisting of three thousand Lay-men in S. Austins time haue taught vs by their example how farre to relinquish our worldly businesse in these Fasts For they fasting and eating but one Meale a day through the yeere rather Gayned then lost time from their necessarie labours They had indeed euery day throughout the yeere a learned and godly Sermon made vnto them about three a clocke in the afternoone before they broke their Fast which was their Supper by the learned and godly Father of their Monastery But all the other howres from Sun-rise they had first bestowed in those their seuerall labours which their Decani their Deanes appointed as Taske-masters ouer euery tenne of them had inioyned them and whereof the Deanes gaue vp their iust account euery night after Breake-fast vnto the Father of the Monastery And surely it is reported by Saint Austin that God so blessed their industriousnesse in their daily labours that they did not onely not liue vpon the sweat of other mens browes as our Popish secular Moncks and irregular Regulars haue done these many ages but they also yeerely maintained the poore Saints of Christ in other places and as he saith sent ouer whole ships euery yeere laden and fraught with linnen money cloth and other commodities which they freely gaue away to the reliefe of those whom they heard of to be impouerished banished or imprisoned for the Gospel Sect. III. TO the third question I answere according to old Saint Martin that godly famous Bishop who liued in godly Iustinian that famous Emperors time his Disciplinarie rule of Deuotion That as our ordinary religious fasts so also their Breake fasts ought indeede to bee Seuera but yet not Saua They ought to be Seuere but they may not be Sauage neither Sauage by too hastie and gluttonous rauening vpon the creaâ—ures of God which are first offered to the pray of our hungrie appetites as the greedie people did at the end of Sauâ—s Fasts who being sharpe sete at the flesh with the blood contrarie to Moses law and and fasting two meales made their third meale a glutton nor yet Sauage by Aquins superstitious abstinence ab onis lactioâ—â—ijs from egges and all white meates which abstinencie was but a temporarie constitution of one particular Church the Church of Rome and ought not therefore by a
as the Caricke Figs so much commonded by Iulian the Apostata the costliest Pepper Almonds Dates the finest Flowre bread called Simnels Hony and the most daintie Bladder nuts vsed by wantons to prouoke lust what a Madnesse is this we doe not onely trouble and vexe our selues our Caterers Cooks and other seruants but we do trouble and vexe Nature by forcing her in our Orchards and Gardens to bring forth some kinde of feed or fruit which we may eat in stead of our ordinary bread from the which in our fasts wee are commanded by the Church to abstaine and from which Daniel and the holy ones of God haue abstained in their ordinary Fasts Lastly of their hating superstitious and foolish abstinence with a perfect hatred Saint Austins learned and large discourses against the Manichaeans Delicata Abstinentia as Erasmus doth fitly terme it are a plentifull witnesse For the mad Mannichaeans did as our fond superstitious Papists doe at this day absteine altogether from flesh yea and from wine too which the Papists doe not but yet euen in their deuoutest Fasts they glutted them selues with the costliest banketting dishes and with other the strongest drinkes that their Parasiticall Caterers Apothecaries Brewers could possibly deuise to prouide for them in the whole Country where they liued So that as Cato in Plutarch complaineth of the Bellie-gods of Rome in his time the same might truely haue beene spoken of the Epicurisme of the Mannichaeans and may be truely verified at this day of the Romish Cleargie making their bellie their god and their glory their shame More is giuen for some daintie strang Fish then for a sed Oxe To shut vp therfore my answer to this third question Touching the seuerity of Church-fasts namely with what moderation they are to be broken and what abstinence is fittest to be vsed when we break them the practise of the Saints of God wherewith I haue now confirmed my Answere that the breaking of them ought to bee Seuere but not Sauadge is sufficient to resolue and settle him who hath any wit in his head and is not fondly contentious And surely heerein I cannot but by the way greatly commend the good wisedome and happinesse of the Gouernours of our English Church euer since the puritie of Gods truth and the ancient maners of the best ancient Churches and Counsells haue beene restored and reformed in it For who seeth not how wisely and happily they haue with those ancient Fathers seene and shewed vnto the world Quid intersit to vse still Saint Austin◠words inter portum religionis sirenas superstitionis What necessary difference there is betwixt the hauen of true religion and betwixt the Syrens or the Syrenian Rockes of Popish superstition The Papists had so nuzled vs vp in the admiration of their church authoritie as that the people of this land thought their decrees to bee the very vnuariable Oracles decrees and customes of the Sonne of God and that to disobey them was as mortall a sinne as to breake the absolute commandements of the morall law Whereas therefore at this day we are commanded to fast vpon the Wednesdayes and Fridayes c our Church gouernours doe teach vs that this commaund is to bee obeyed as an exercise of Religion commanded conditionally by Christ as pertaining to the well being of that Mortification which is absolutely commaunded by him But in that we are commaunded when wee breake our Fasts at night for our gouernours would haue vs to follow the example of better times and not to eate any thing adnutritionē for the space of twentie foure houres in that I say we are commanded when wee breake our fasts at night to absteine from flesh and to eate fish our Church gouernours doe set downe this distinct kinde of abstinence and this positiue commaunde what in speciall we shall eate not as an exercise of Religion but as an exercise of our Ciuill obebience to the Ciuill Magistrate whom for conscience sake also that euen to the shedding of our dearest heart blood much more in the restraint of shedding the blood of Sheepe Calues Bullockes and in the killing seething and broyling of a few seelie fishes we are to obey as the vndoubted Deputie of Christ So that Turbae imperitorum quae vel in ipsa vera religione superstiosae sunt as Saint Austin saith of them The vnlearned Frie of multitudes who are still prone to superstition especially in this old doting age of the decrepit dimsighted world euen in those Churches of Christ where the truth of Religion is taught most reformedly and sincerely cannot nowe in England Fast superstitiously though they would nor any longer in a stubburne minde to shewe their good will towards the Church of Rome and their traiterous hearts against the Church of England vpon out Fasting dayes absteine from Egges white meates as it is an abstinence inioyned superstitiously in the Church of Rome a particular Church and not the Catholicke Church of our Creed no wayes at all binding their consciences who are not visible members of the same particular Church Sect. IIII. TO the fourth Question Touching the seuere obeying of this commaunde of Disciplinarie Ordinarie Fasts as it is further determined by Saint Lukes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then shall they mourne pray Fast often I answere that although many religious men euen to the number of three thousand together in each Monasterie haue fasted all the yeare through and although in regard of the great necessitie of our common and ordinarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee taken by vs of our inordinate appetite whereby Adam and Eue did first transgresse brought this miserable estate of sin the wrath of God vpon vs their posterity it were to be wished as not onely Diogenes an heathen man but also Saint Hierom one of Christs Saints sometimes wished that we could alwaies Fast and liue without meate yet the Church of God considering the frailtie and weaknesse of man haue thought their obedience to bee acceptable vnto Christ and answerable inough vnto this his consultatorie commaunde if they appointed Fasts at some times onely and not at all times of the yeare These Fasts briefely are either Conceptiua ieiunia to borrowe tearmes Docendi causa from Macrobius or they are Statiua Stata ieiunia Conceptiua ieiunia are Fasts appointed at an vncertaine Such were those Primitiue Fasts Sacrorum ordinum appointed and kept first at an vncertaine by these children of the Bride-chamber these neere Attendants of Christ these blessed Apostles For it is plaine out of the 13. and 14. of the Acts that because the Church of God was then as Noahs Arke floating vpon the waters of affliction and was as the Doue of Noahs Arke carrying the Oliue branch of spirituall Peace and rest in her mouth but finding no bodily peace or rest for the rest and abode of the sole of her foot therefore they could set no
the flesh or fatte of our bodies for then Baals fanaticall Priests and the mad Mannichaeans might haue beene in the number of holy Fasters nor yet ex opere operato because they are Fasts or because they are Seuere Fasts for then Catilin that famous traytor as Salust witnesseth of him and Asses and Mules as Saint Austin sheweth might carrie away the prize and praise of holy Fasting from vs nor because they are commaunded by God without all specifying of their holy end without the which they being things indifferent and not simply or actually good of themselues cannot bee saide to haue any constitutiue forme of holinesse for then the abstinence from swines flesh c. and the old vnprofitable shreds or the old fugient low running sowre wine of Phansaicall Fasting might now haue beene worth the applying to new garments and the putting into new bottels and might still haue beene in good request with Christ for the children of his Bride-chamber nor because wee absteine from egges and all white meates therein Canonically obey the false Catholicke Church of Rome for that were with the Donatists to bring in Iudaisme againe and to make the Church of Rome which is but one particular Church and at the best but one part only of the whole body of the Catholicke Church in our Creed to be the only Catholicke Church nor because our Gospell Fasts are perfit vertues or bona opera primi meriti properly meritorious either Ex congruo or ex condigno as the blind Owles of the vncleane eage of Poperie haue not beene ashamed to teach in their Supererogatorie Schoole Diuinitie for then these very children of the Bride-chamber might worthilie haue fasted whilst the Bridgroome stayed in person with them For none of these seauen profane ends I say must or ought the Gospell Fasts of Christ to be esteemed Religious But then then and onely then they become indeede the Fasts which Christ hath chosen as his new shreds and new wine fit for the new vessels of his spirit when they haue all these sixe holy ends or some of the chiefest of them propounded vnto them The First formall end sanctifying our Gospell Fast is hartie mourning and humbling of the soule before God both in the Sensitiue soule and also more especially in the two parts of the will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The desire and Motion which are the proper seates of Concupiscence the Foster mother of all sinne In this regard Fasting hath beene counted by the Fathers one of our christian nailes of mortification whereby our flesh is nailed to Christs crosse and Saint Ambrose cals Fasting Venenum vitiorum the poison of vices For as he saith that the naturall Serpent is found by experience to bee kild oftentimes by licking vp the spittle of one that is Fasting so we that are of yeares doe find by experience that the spirituall Serpent the Deuils suggestions and these common vices of Drunkennesse Gluttonie Basenesse Timerousnesse Venereousnesse Wantonnesse against Christ Lightnesse Inconstancie Pride Talkatiuenesse Blasphemies Forgetfulnesse of God his wrath against sinne Ignorance of our selues and our betters For as it is Pro. 30.21 A seruant when he reigneth and a foole when his bellie is full who is able to beare we I say that are of yeares doe find by Experience that all these vices are soone ouercommed and killed in vs by the through decoction of the superfluous abounding humours of Melancholie Choler Rheume Sanguineousnes in our discreet and Religious Fastings The Second end is the fatting of the soule with the chiefest Christian vertues Etsi ieiumium perfecta Virtus non sit est tamen fundamentum Virtutum omnium Although Fasting be no perfit Vertue saith Saint Hierom yet it is a foundation vnto all Vertues Semper Virtuti cibus est saith Leo in his second Sermon De ieiunio decimi mensis It is alwayes as foison and nourishment to Vertue And in his first Sermon De Quadragesima Parum est si carnis substantia tenuatur animae fortitudo non alitur It is to small purpose if the flesh be abated by Fasting and yet the Vertue and constancie of the minde be nothing better fed Temperance Patience Humilitie Tolerance Hardinesse to indure Famin in time of persesecution when with Master Bradford wee shall bee brought to an Egge a day and to eate Mice as our banished Saints did at Strasborough in the dayes of Queene Marie especially our right Christian fellow-feeling both what Christ himselfe suffered for our sinnes when he hungred in the wildernesse and dieted himselfe with barly bread and water in Villages and Townes with his Disciples and also what our poore brethren our fellow-members in Christ doe indure when in a most vncharitable Age they are driuen to runne to the water kit for their drinke and to the beane-stacke for their bread These and many other vertues and graces of Gods Spirit are bred and fed in vs by Fasting For this outward Fasting in the body is the cause of that which our Church-Homily calleth the Inward or Spirituall Fasting and the Saints of God in those ancient Prime-dayes of godlinesse did more especially vse Fasting as an helpe of their deuotions these three wayes First as Saint Cyrill testifieth they vsed it to make them the better able to keepe their vowes of Chastitie Secondly which was their most common vse of Fasting they vsed it as Saint Chrysostome did to the Eleuation of their vnderstanstandings and to raise vp their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their earthly drooping thoughts vnto the meditation of the highest heauenly misteries and happinesse Thirdly they vsed it commonly for the more holy and happie preparing of their soules and bodies not onely to the worthy receiuing of the holy Communion but also vnto all other great and weightie employments wherein Gods glory and the good of many was principally procured Ezra when he led seuenteene hundred of the Iewes his brethren out of Babylon to Ierusalem he first proclaimed a Fast caused them all to Fast with him to the ende that God might defend and prosper them in their iourney towards Ierusalem Nehemias when hee attempted that great hazard in desiring Arlaxerxes fauour to repaire the walles and the houses of Ierusalem he first Fasted and Prayed Saint Iohn the Euangelist when hee began to write his Gospell he first Fasted and Prayed and caused as some report the whole Church of Ephesus to Fast and pray with him Saint Paul that chosen vessell when hee was now to preach that Gospell which afore hee had persecured to the death first Fasted and Prayed three dayes and three nights together The Apostles these children of the Bride-chamber when they first ordained or instituted Ministers they first Fasted and Prayed Lastly our glorious Sauiour the holy one of God when hee first began his publicke Ministerie and Worke of our Redemption Fasted his fortie dayes and fortie nights Fast in the wildernesse and as it is
The fift worthy end of our Fasting is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the adorning of the Doctrine of the Gospell by it when wee remember what the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 10.31 Whether yee eate or drinke or Whatsoeuer yee doe else doe all to the glorie of God and what Zacharie complaineth against the hypocrisie of the Iewes in Babylon for omitting this end of Fasting in their Fasts These 70. yeares in your foure deuout Fasts yee haue not Fasted vnto me saith the Lord Zachar. 7.5 We bring honour to the truth of the Gospell which we professe either priuatiuely by stopping the slanderous mouths of the aduersaries thereof as Christ doth heere in my Text by adding this Anticipation Then shall they Fast or Positiuely by confirming to the consciences of all men that our Hypocrisie in words is that which the Fathers tearme Sanctam Hypocrisin the odde kind of holy Hypocrisie when we speake indeed much of mortification of the flesh by Fasting but practise more in Fasting then we speake First wee stop the blasphemous mouths of Gentill Philosophers who brag so much of their Pythagoras his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his eating but about a pinte of meale in a day and of Iulian that famous Apostata who in one of his extant Greeke Epistles saith that the Christian life in his daies was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was but a swinish life in comparison of his owne austere life and of the austere liues of Iamblichus Plotine Maximus and other his fellow Sophisters These Cerberean mouths of hell are presently stopped when they heare vs tell them of Moses Elias Christ their fortie dayes and fortie nights Fasting or of the abstinence and austerenesse of Dauid Ionadab Daniel Iohn Baptist Anna the Prophetesse Saint Paul or but of the Ordinarie and Extraordinarie Fasting of common Christians S. Chrysostom Ambrose Hierom Austin or but euen of their followers either in monasteries or in secular states who besides their contenting themselues with the stint of their one Gomera day that is with one spare homely meale a day throughout the yeare did oftentimes Fast extraordinarilie for the remouing of Gods iudgements from themselues and their neighbours three dayes and three nights together Saint Ambrose witnesseth of his people Lib. 1. De paenitent Chap. 16. That they did Sulcare continuis fletibus genas ieiuno ore semper pallido mortis speciem spiranti in corpore praeferentes That they did make deepe furrowes in their Lenten-cheekes through the continuall dropping and falling of teares from their eyes and hearts for their sinnes and the miseries of this life carrying alwayes about with them a very gastly picture of death in their weake breathing bodies and in their pale Lenton faces The remembrance and true euidence of these Fasters putteth to silence the outward Aduersary the Gentile the Apostata the Atheist The like remembrance and true euidence of Christian Fasting in the Orthodoxall Protestant at this day charmeth the lawlesse tongue of the Inward Aduersary the schismaticall Brownist or haereticall Papist Caluin Latimer Bradford Iewell Whitgift Whitakers Fox who haue in their Extraordinary and Ordinary Fasts and in the perpetuall moderation of a temperate appetite farre excelled the superstitious fraudulent hypocriticall Mannichaean Fast of the Church of Rome are worthy and true Euidences hereof What should I speake of these principall worthies of our Dauid Christ Iesus or of any of their Compieres the kindliest childreÌ„ of the ancient Fathers and the rightest successors of these children of the Bride-chamber Surely I am perswaded that euen wee who keepe but our Ordinarie Church-fasts throughout the yeere and doe especially all these fortie dayes of Lent I meane the weeke dayes take vnto vs only a morsel of browne bread and a draught of ordinary drinke after our daily Morning prayer and at night againe take our meales meat as we call it moderately and sparingly making it to consist of the homeliest dishes and smallest drinke are able to beat the deuoutest Papist at this his best spirituall weapon religious Fasting For mine owne part giue me leaue to speake somewhat fondly of that which my selfe haue often experienced truely I could neuer yet for the space of these ten yeeres meet with any Popish fauorite or proselyte since I first began to know what Fasting meant either in the Vniuersitie or in the Countrie who hath beene either willing or able to hold out with me in this which I take to be our right Canonicall English Church-Fast Namely in this vnfraudulent eating but one course meale a day whilst Lent lasteth How much more then will stricter Abstinence and Fasting of stronger deuotioned Protestants amongst vs confound them and al their great Brags of I know not what their Great Fasting But not onely Priuatiuely doe wee honour Christs Trueth by keeping that calumnious Retortion of Iobs speech spoken of Behemoth vnderstood of the Diuel and of all fleshly Epicures Vires eorum in Lumbis eorum virtus eorum in vmbilico ventris sui Their strength is in their lasciuious venereous Loines and their vertue consists in a bene curata cute in their bellie timber and in their soft pubble skins Not onely I say when we fast Christs Fasts doe we keepe this diuellish calumny and reproach from beeing retorted vpon Christs Church and Christs Trueth amongst vs but Positiuely also we confirme vnto Gods Saints and vnto our selues all these principall Conclusions of our Christian Religion namely That we are here as in the house of mourning absented from the bodily presence of our soules Bridegroome That we here as Pilgrimes trusse vp our loines and spend no more vpon our bellies and backs then strangers doe who are farre from their natiue home making onely a hard shift for a time vntill wee come into our heauenly Iâ—haâ—a the Paradise of Christ That we liue not by bread onely but by euery word of power and promise that proceedeth out of the mouth of God That Christ is our Manna and heauenly Bread That for the demonstration whereof Moses Elias Christ did principally Fast the Law the Prophecies the Gospel are altogether spirituall and not carnall And lastly That as Saint Ieromes speech is in an Epistle to Rusticus by liuing in carne sine carne in the flesh as it were without the flesh we may begin already to haue our conuersation in heauen beeing already translated from death vnto life conforming our vile bodies what we can to Christs glorified body making our earthly fleshly bodies a certaine type in themselues vnto themselues of their vndoubted and certaine future being hereafter heauenly spirituall bodies according to Gods promise in which dwelleth righteousnesse The sixt and last safe intention and lawfull end of our Religious Fasting in the time of the Gospel is the assured Purchase of that great vndefiled Reward which by a kinde of Metalepsis is out of Gods promises Imputatiuely due vnto our Fasting but properly is due onely vnto the onely true and proper
desire of the forbidden fruite as many Deuines doe very probably coniecture And no doubt euen in king Salomons time Iudah Israel fastâ—d vpon this day Jgnat ad Ph 〈…〉 lip 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad â—agnenses in eandem sentenâ—am seribit Extraordinary penitentiall Fasts whether priuate or publike are of absolute commaund 2. Sam. 12. For the Thiefe vpoÌ„ the Crosse had not time to exercise this kinde of humiliation But Fasts of conditionall or consultatorie command not of the Being but onely of the wel being of Mortification Epist 11 â— Hom. in 1. Cor. cap. 11. The second Question Who and how straitly they are commanded to command them 1. Church-Gouernors At the Riuer by Ahana â— Ezra proclaimed a Fast 2. High Magistrates 3. Whole Councels Ver. 23. 2â— Vers 7.8 The Quart 〈…〉 Fa 〈…〉 Act. 13. 14. 1. Tim. 3. Church gouernors must play the most carefull part in seeing to the execut on and obedience of this commaund The second Article of this second Question whether Omissible fasts may be altogether omitted Indifferent actions warranted only and not commanded Indifferent actions warranted and commended but not commanded Things warranted and onely permitted or tolerated are in the Church gouernors power To restraine the abuse of indifferent actions warranted and commanded is in the power of the Church gouernours To command them is not at all in the Church gouernours power Indifferent things warranted commended and also by cousultatorie precept commanded if they be publickly commanded are wholly in the Church gouernours power and if the Church gouernours doe altogether omit them they disobey God and his Christ because they are neuer altogether vnexpedient 15. Ver. Then shall they fast or Then shall they mourne No fasting no mourning 3. Articles whether Catholicke Fasts may be repealed or changed by particular Churches The Catholick Constitutions are to be obeyed so long as they are commanded But none of them were euen commanded as perpetuall and altogether vnvariable g Also the couÌ„cell of Elibert in Spain Can 23. which Councell was more ancient then Epiphanius forbiddeth and restraineth all Church-fasts in the Moneths of July and August k Apostolicke customes specially commanded from Christ are vnvariable Apostolicke customes not specially but onely generally commanded from Christ are variable o â—oure Catholicke customes altered and omitted in particular Churches â—ro morum â—emporum diuersitate The thirde Question Who are to be commanded these Fastings out of this next parable C 〈…〉 l Elâ—bertinum Can. 23. setunta per singulos mâ—nsâ—s plaruâ—t celebrari exceptis diebus â—uorum mensium Iulâ—i Augusta ob eorundem â—xfirmitatem ab aestâ— orituram De morib Ecclesiae Catholicae cap. 33. 1. Tim. 4.8 1. Tim. 5.23 The fourth Question with what rigour these Fasts are to be exacted vpon them who are liable vnto them either in regard of their obseruance or of their penalties The differences of Extraordinarie Fasts from these in al the answeres to these foure questions 1. 〈◊〉 12.23 Iere. 13.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioel. 1 and 2. Ionas 3. Zach. 7.3.5 6. This was called in ancient times Inclusio a shutting vp as appeareth by many Canons of the ancient Councels Surely had not the Superstitious Church of Rome abused sackcloth ashes dust c all these circumstances had still beene fittest humiliations euen at this day All must fast the extraordinary publicke Fast Priuate extraordinary Penance doth little good when the calamitie and sin is publicke 2. King 6.7 1. Kingâ— 4.20 The ancient law of the counsells censuring by Deposition Excommunication is to be vnderstood to haue proceeded against contumacie In the conclusion of his last booke Dehaeresibus 1. Sam. 14. Soter Austin Aquin and only either priuate men or particular Churches haue beene the authors of this absolute necessitie of Fasting before the Communion It is Synonymall with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Touching the Seueritie coÌ„manded in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much 1. How long the shortest and weakest Fast of Ordinary Repentance is to be continued See our Church Homilie touching the time how long to fast The Papists Fish-feast with wine and the finest manchet is neither Christian Fast nor Christian Abstinence as our Church Homily worthily censureth them and all other hypocrites like vnto them in fraudulent Fasts 2. How the houres of Ordinary penitentiall Fasts are to be bestowed â—ib â—0 in Louitiâ—um Zach. 7 3. A Separation from worldly and fleshly pleasures Ambros â—exaÌ„ Lib. 1 Cap. 24.25 1. Thes 4.16 No intermission of worldly busines which is necessary in thee ordinary Fasts Epiph. in haer 80. August de morib Ecclesia Cathol cap. 33. 3. Of the quantitie and qualitie of meate to be vsed at the end of our Fasts when we breake and end them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contine Abstine Dan. 1.12 Apoc. 19. This I speake as a probable coniecture 1. Charitie p De morib Ecclesiae Cath. cap. 33. contra Faustum Manichaeum lib. 30. 2. Liberallity 3. Infraudulenciâ— Epist ad Serapionem 4. Faith De moriâ— Manichaearum contra Fatustum Manichaeum De morib Ecclesia Cath. cap. 34. Looke the Church homilies of Fasting Proletaria plebe A. Gelliâ— Touching the Seueritie commanded in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often Reuenge 2. Cor. 7.11 1. Conceptiue Fasts Pacalis Oliua 2. Set Fasts Either Catholicke and Vniuersall Euseb 5.23 Epiph. haer 8 3. Socr. Sch. 5.21 Apud Leoâ—em serm 8. de Ie. iunio Decâ—uni mensis Epiph. â—0 haer August ad Caesul Or Locall and particular Fasts August ad Casul ad Ianuar The Fast of the seuenth Moneth a Fast of high account with all the people of God in all Ages Thereupon it came that the Saturday Fasts and Vigils were so thâ—ckly and often frequented by the Church of Rome when she was in a good name and by the Churches of Africa in Saint Austin and Leo his time that people might be the more holily prepared vnto the obseruation of the Christian Sabboth The formall holinesse of these Euangelicall Fasts Seuen Profane ends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Surely this were to reedifie the partition wall which Christ brake downe and to set vp a new Ierusalem at Rome Sixe holy ends In Hexaneâ— Ad Rusticum Master Caluin doth in this regard call Fasting Adminiculum precum the vnder prop of our heauie hearts to make them more fit for prayer which being vnhumbled and fed with sensualitie doe sildom pray deuoutly or zealously Ezra 8. Nehem. 1.4 Among these wee may number Tobaccho which is more sauadgely abused then any other creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 1. These are the honest Semnologies of these two honest Authors commonly known to the learned Luc. 16.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Venter Saturionis nullas residet esuriales ferias Such a glutton his beliâ—e hath no Holy-dates nor Sabboths of rest Plaut 4. 2. Cor. 7.11 The Fast of the seuenth month Calu. inst lib. 3 cap. 3 sect 15. 2. Cor. 7. For he that washeth himselfe because of a dead body and toucheth it againe what auaileth his washing 〈◊〉 So is it with a man that fasteth for his sinnes and committeth them againe who will heare his prayer or what doth his fasting helpe him Eccl 34. Tit. 2.10 Sancta hypocrisis in the Fathers of the Church dialect is when a man doth practise more then he teacheth 1608. Annus est hic aetatir nostrae 38. Ordinibus sacris initiatus eram Anno aetatis 28. Dem. 1598. Iob 40.11 The great necessitie of faisting all the weeke-dayes of Lent Catechumeni are they who being baptized amongst vs when they were children doe now in Lent first prepare themselues to the receiuing of the Communion at Easter Competentes I call those who in former time haue desired baptisme at Easter Zach. 7. 8. Deut. 9 9. 18 25. Al these things are truely gathered out of the Fathers writings The great necessitie of Fasting the last weeke of Lent which is Christ and his members their Passion weeke called by the Fathers Hebdomada paâ—osa The Deuils passion-weeke That is euery day in passion-weeke taking but one spare and homely meale within 24. houres