Fasting

FASTING. Fasting has in all Ages and among all Nations been an exercise much in use in times of mourning, sorrow and affliction. The sense of it is in some sort inspired by nature, which in these circumstances denies itself nourishment, and takes off the edge of hunger. We see no example of Fasting, properly so called, before Moses; whether this Legislator had observed nothing of it in the old Patriarchs, which yet is hard to believe, since we see that there were very great mournings among them, and those too very particularly described, such as that of Abraham for Sarah, and that of Jacob for his son Joseph; or whether he did not think it necessary to speak of it in any express manner. But it appears by the Law, that even devotional Fasts for the expiation of their sins, were common among the Israelites. Moses ordains, that if a married woman ingages herself by vow to keep any Fast in the way of supererogation, unless her husband contradicts it, she shall be Numb. xxx. 14.obliged to perform her vow. I say nothing of the forty days which Moses passed without eating any thing on Mount Horeb, because this Fast is out of the common rules of Nature.

Since the time of Moses, examples of Fasting have been very common among the Jews. But as to the Fasts which we read of in their Calendar, they are later than the Law. Moses injoins no particular Fast in his books, excepting that upon the so-lemn day of Expiation, which was gene-rally and strictly observed¹. Joshua and the Elders of Israel remained prostrate be-fore the Ark from morning until evening, without eating, after the Israelites were defeated by Josh. vii. 6.the men of Ai. The eleven Tribes which had taken arms against that of Benjamin, Judg. xx. 26.seeing they could not hold out against the inhabitants of Gibeah, fell down before the Ark upon their faces, and so continued till the evening without eat-ing. The Jews 1 Kings vii. 6.perceiving themselves to be pressed by the Philistines, assembled before the Lord at Mizpah, and fasted in his presence till the evening. David fasted while the first child he had by Bath-sheba, the wife of Uriah, 2 Sam. xii. 16.was sick. The Prophets, Jesus Christ, St. John Baptist, and the Apostles, upon many occasions fasted.

The very Heathens themselves sometimes fasted; and the King of Niniveh, terrified by Jonah’s preaching, made an order, Jonah iii. 5, 6.that not only men, but beasts also, should continue without eating or drinking; that both men and beasts should be covered with sack-cloth, and each after their man-ner should cry unto the Lord. The Jews, in times of publick calamity, appointed extraordinary Fasts, and made even the children at the breast fast, as we see in Joel. Some of Joel ii. 16.the Fathers² have affirmed, that in the fast observed by the Nini-vites, the children at the breast were made to fast. Virgil introduces a shepherd say-ing, that his very cattle Virg. Eclog. 5.fasted at the death of Cæsar. It is said that in the Canaries and Peru, when there is too great a drought, the inhabitants shut up their goats, and make them fast till they cry with hun-ger. This is what instinct has inspired Pagan nations with.

The Jews in their common Fasts, begin the observance of them in the evening after Sun-set, and remain without eating till the same hour the next day, that is to say, till the rising of the Stars: in all this time they Vide Hieron. l. 2. adversus Jovinian.neither eat nor drink. Upon the great day of Expiation, when they are more strictly obliged to fast, they continue doing so for eight and twenty hours. Men are obliged to fast from the age of full thirteen, and women from the age of full eleven years. Children from the age of seven years, are compelled, in proportion to their strength, to exercise themselves in Fasting. Du-ring this Fast, they not only abstain from all sorts of food, but from bathing likewise, from perfumes, odours, and anointing. They go barefoot, are continent, and make no use of marriage. And this is the Idea which the Eastern people have generally of Fasting: It is an abstinence from every sensual way of touching, and every kind of eating and drinking. Upon the great day of Expiation it is the custom among the Samaritans, to make infants fast as soon as they are weaned, or, as some say, while they are even at the breast; and this during the twenty-four hours Fast which is observed upon this day; whereas the Jews do not require children to fast till they are seven years old.

The principal days on which the Jews are obliged to fast are these. In the month Tizri, which is the first of the civil, and the seventh of the ecclesiastical year, they fast upon the third day in memory of the murder committed upon the person of Ge-daliah. See 2 Kings xxv. 25. Jerem. xli. 2. Zechary speaks of this Fast, calling it the Fast of the seventh month. Zech. vii. 5.

Upon the seventh day of the same month, they celebrate a Fast upon the score of the golden Calf.

The tenth is the solemn Fast of Expiation. Lev. xxiii. 19.

The sixth day of the second month called Marchesvan, they fast upon the oc-casion of Zedekiah, King of Judah’s ha-ving his eyes put out by Nebuchadnez-zar’s order.

The seventh day of the third month is a Fast in memory of Jehoiakim King of Judah, and his piercing the prophecies of Jeremiah with a pen-knife, and burning them.

On the eighth day of the fourth month the Jews fast out of hatred to the translation of the Bible from the Hebrew into Greek, performed by the order of Ptole-my Philadelphus.

On the ninth day of the same month they observe a Fast, for which the Rabbins assign no reason.

On the tenth day of the same month, they fast in memory of the siege of Jerusalem, undertaken by Nebuchadnezzar.

On the eighth day of the fifth month, they fast in memory of the righteous, who lived under Joshua.

On the twenty-third day of the same month, they celebrate a Fast upon the occasion of the war, made by the eleven Tribes against that of Benjamin, in order to punish the injury offered to the Levite’s wife.

The seventh day of the sixth month, is a Fast because of Moses’s death.

The ninth is a Fast, by reason of the division between the schools of Shammai and Hillel.

Upon the first day of the seventh month of the civil year, which is the first month of the ecclesiastical year, they fast because of the death of Aaron’s children consumed by the sacred fire.

On the tenth day of the same month they fast, by reason of the death of Miriam, Moses’s sister.

On the twenty-sixth, for the death of Joshua.

On the tenth of the eighth month, they fast for the death of the High Priest Eli, and the taking of the Ark.

On the twenty-eighth, for the death of Samuel.

On the twenty-third of the ninth month they fast, because Jeroboam King of the ten Tribes, forbad his subjects to carry the first fruits to Jerusalem. 1 Kings xii. 27.

On the twenty-fifth of the same month they fast for the death of the several Rabbins, Simeon the son of Gamaliel, Ishmael the son of Elisha, and Ananias the High Priest’s Vicar.

The twenty-seventh of the same month was a Fast, in memory of Rabbi Hanina’s being burnt with the book of the Law.

The seventeenth of the tenth month was a Fast, because Moses broke the Tables of the Law. Exod. xxxii. 19. On the same day they remember the cessation of the Sacrifices, and the Idol placed by Antiochus Epiphanes in the Temple.

The ninth of the eleventh month is a Fast, because God told Moses, that none of the Israelites who were murmurers, should enter into the promised Land; and because upon that day the Temple of Jerusalem was burnt, first of all by the Chaldæans, and a long time after by the Romans. This is the Fast taken notice of in Zechary, as kept in the fifth month of the Sacred Year. Zech. vii. 5.

On the eighteenth day of the same month they fast, because in the time of Ahaz, the lamp which was kindled every evening in the Holy, was extinguished.

The seventeenth day of the twelfth month in the civil year is a Fast, in memory of their death, who being sent to view the promised Land, made a disadvantageous report of it to the people, and induced them to murmur. See Numb. xiv. 22, 23.

Besides these Fasts, which are common to all the Jews, tho’ not with the same obligation, they have others, which are devotional, practised by the most zealous and pious part of them³: For example, the Luk. xviii. 12. Matth. ix. 14.Pharisee, mentioned in the Gospel, says, that he fasts twice a week, that is to say, every Monday and Thursday;⁴ upon Thursday, in memory of Moses’s going up Mount Sinai upon that day; and on Monday, in memory of his coming down from thence. The Pharisees and Disciples of St. John Baptist said to our Saviour, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not. And Jesus Christ, speaking of St. John’s Fasting, says in an aggravating Ib. xi. 18. Justin. l. 36. histor.manner, John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he hath a Devil. What the manner was of St. John’s living, is very well known. It is said, that there were Pharisees who fasted four days in the week. Some of the Antients were of opinion, that the Jews fasted every Sabbath-day. Justin says, that Moses and the Israelites, having been for seven days wandering in the desarts of Arabia, without finding any sustenance, they consecrated the Sabbath-day, which is the seventh day, and appointed it to be a Sueton. in August. Juvenal. Satyr. 6.perpetual Fast. Augustus in his letter to Tiberius tells him, that no Jew ever kept the Fast upon the Sabbath-day, as he did the day on which he wrote to him. Juvenal says, that the very Kings of the Jews fast upon the Sabbath-day, and go barefooted:

Exercent ubi Festa mero pede Sabbata Reges. Martial. l. 4. Epigr. 4.And Martial attributes the stink peculiar to the Jews, to their Fasting on the Sabbath. But these Authors were not well informed. The Jews not only do not fast upon the Sabbath-day, but all Fasting upon this day is very expressly forbidden them by the rules of their Doctors.

Tract. Taanith, n. 8. p. 368.We read in the Mishna, the determination of the Sages, declaring, not only that it was not lawful to fast on days set apart for Festivals, and others on which it was not allowable to use this abstinence; but that the same was likewise prohibited the day before, and according to some Doctors, the day after too. Maimonides and Barthenora observe upon this text, that the old book which contained the Calendar of the Jewish Feasts, was lost in their time, and that they had no regard to the custom of not fasting the evening before, or the day after any festival, nor even upon the old Feast-days themselves, which were then no longer observed. In the Greek of Judith we read, that this pious woman fasted every day of her life, excepting the eves of the sabbaths, and the sabbaths; and the eves of the new-moons, and the new-moons; and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel. Here is an instance of the practice which we have been remarking in the Mishna. This custom was observed out of respect to the Festival, that the joy of it might not be interrupted by the preceding or subsequent Fast.

Isa. lv. 6. Leon de Modene, ceremonies des Juifs, partie 3. c. 8.On Fast-days in the morning there are confessions added to the prayers, and the recital of some melancholy accidents which happened on such a day, and gave occasion for the Fast then celebrated: the volume of the Law is opened, and the following words are read out of the 32d chapter of Exodus, ver. 11. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt, &c. And in the afternoon, in the prayer of Mincha or the Offering, the same is read again with the addition of these words out of Isaiah, Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near, &c.

Isa. xl. 1, 2, &c.There are some Jews who abstain from eating meat and drinking wine from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Ab, which makes three weeks. But this they do voluntarily, and because all these days have been unfortunate to Israel On the 9th of Ab, which answers to the moon of July and August, in memory of the Temple burnt by Nebuchadnezzar, and afterwards by Titus, the Jews continue Fasting without either eating or drinking, barefoot, and without shoes, and without the liberty of washing themselves, from about an hour before sun-set till the next day, when the stars begin to appear. In the evening of the vigil, after the common-prayer is ended in the synagogue, they sit upon the ground, and read the lamentations of Jeremiah. They repeat the same thing the next day, adding many other lamentations to them, continuing sorrowful all the day, without being permitted to study in the books of the Law, but only to read Job, Jeremiah, and other sad and melancholy subjects. The Sabbath which follows this Fast is called Nacama, that is to say, Consolation, because they then read these words of Isaiah; Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, &c. and comfort themselves with the hope of the re-establishment of Jerusalem and the Temple.

Besides the general Fasts enjoined the whole nation, there are others peculiar to every nation; for example, to the Germans, who after the Feasts of the Passover and Tabernacles, have a custom to fast three days: namely, on the two following Mondays and the Thursday between them. And this is founded on an apprehension, that as the preceding Feasts were of eight days continuance, they might have offended God during this time. For the same reason they Buxtorf. Synag. Jud.fast on the last day of the year, and some on the eve of the first day in every month. If in the way of penance, or out of any particular devotion, some chuse to fast beyond the time above mentioned, they are used to pronounce these words before sunset: I undertake to fast to-morrow. After which they remain without eating or drinking from that evening to the same hour the next day, and add a prayer, wherein they beg of God, that their Fast may supply for them the room of sacrifice. On this day they lie upon a harder bed than usual, lessen the number of their pillows, change their fine sheets, and take coarse ones.

Idem. part. 1. c. 4.If any one dreams of something bad, or unfortunate; for example, that he sees the book of the Law burning; that he sees the day of forgiveness at the hour of evening prayer; that he sees the beams of his house, or his teeth falling; and this dream gives him uneasiness, he fasts that day in the most rigid manner, without either eating or drinking from one evening to another. This kind of Fast seems to be of such consequence to them, that they may observe it even upon the sabbath-day, or any other festival; which is allowed upon no other occasion.

Ecclef. ix. 7.In the evening when this Fast concludes, he who dreamt, sends for three of his friends before he goes to rest, and says seven times to them, May my dream be happy! to which they answer every time, May it be happy, and may God make it so! Then they add some passages out of the Prophets, and that he may presage well of the forgiveness of his sins, they repeat these words to him out of Ecclesiastes, Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works. After which, he who had fasted may eat.

Basnage Hist. des Juifs, t. 5. l. 7. c. 18. art. 4.They have a great deal of confidence, that Fasting will either procure a happy interpretation of their dream, or divert the ill effects of it; they hold, that Fasting is with respect to dreams, what fire is to the tow which it sets on fire and burns. If any one falls sick, sets out upon a dangerous journey, or is taken prisoner, they fast in order to obtain his health or deliverance. A child who has loved his father tenderly, fasts every year upon the day of his death. The very Magicians fast, in order to conjure up the souls of the dead, and the devils in hell: with much more reason then, say the Sages, should good men fast, that they may engage the Spirit of God to rest upon them.

The Rabbins maintain, that it is not allowable to fast in the month of March, because in this month the Israelites departed out of Egypt, and it should be intirely consecrated to joy and gratitude.

Some however do fast upon the day of Miriam’s death, Moses’s sister, because at that time the people wanting water in their camp at Kadesh-barnea, murmured Numb. xx. 1, 2, &c.against God.

The common way of Fasting among the Jews is to take no food, nor any drink from the foregoing evening till after sun-set the day following. Nevertheless there are some Jews who believe, that it is lawful to eat till the morning of that day on which they are to fast; and that it is sufficient to continue the whole day from break of day till the rising of the stars, without taking any nourishment. Upon Fast-days meat being forbidden, they content themselves with some particular herbs, for all are not permitted; butter is prohibited, but not eggs. They celebrate no Weddings on Fast-days, and they are not allowed to be shaved or powdered, or to bathe themselves; they sometimes throw ashes upon their heads, and go bare-foot. But these last ceremonies are not indispensably obliging. They esteem Fasts and Abstinence as a supplement to the old Sacrifices, and place great merit in them.

The Mussulmen⁵, in imitation of the Christians, fast during the whole month of Ramadan, which is the ninth of the Arabian year. This month is lunar, and perpetually changing place, shifting successively through all the seasons of the year, because these people receive no intercalation. This Fast is said to have been instituted in memory of the Alcoran, which Mahomet declares was sent to him in this month. Their Fast consists in neither eating nor drinking, nor smoking for the whole day, from morning to the rising of the stars. After which, they eat and drink as much as they please, all night; only wine is more strictly forbidden upon these occasions than at any other times: some have been obliged to swallow melted lead, for having violated this rule.

No one is excused fasting, neither women, soldiers, travellers, labourers, nor artificers, neither poor nor rich; the Sultan fasts as well as others. The sick, who are unable to keep the fast of Ramadan, are obliged to fast some other month after their recovery. Thirst is in particular very troublesome to travellers and labourers; but they must endure it: or if they break their fast, they must resolve to fast as many days some other time. The generality continue all day long in great inaction, avoiding more especially those exercises which might cause drought.

As to the Fasts observed by Christians, without taking notice of that of forty days, which our Saviour passed in the wilderness without eating, and is above the ordinary strength of man, it is not to be at all doubted, but that as he was very much addicted to the legal observances, he both kept himself, and required his Disciples to keep all the Fasts, which the Jews were under any obligation to observe. But it does not appear by his own practice, or any commands which he gave to his Disciples, that he instituted any particular Fasts, or injoined any to be kept out of pure devotion. The poor, laborious, and almost always wandering life which he led for the three last years of his continuance in the world, did not allow him to undertake such practices. But when the Pharisees in the way of reproach told him, that his Disciples did not fast so often as theirs, or John the Baptist’s, he Luke v. 34, 35.replied, Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bride-groom is with them? but the days will come, when the bride-groom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. Accordingly the life of the Apostles and first Believers was a life of self-denial, of sufferings, austerities, and fasting: whereof we may judge by the life of St. Paul, with which we are better acquainted than with that of the other Apostles. He 2 Cor. vi. 5. & xi. 27.says, that he had been, and still every day was exposed to a thousand wants and frequent fastings, In hunger and thirst, in fastings often. He exhorts the faithful to imitate him in his patience, in his afflictions, in his labours, in his watchings, in his fastings. In laboribus, in jejuniis, in vigiliis. Ordinations and acts of consequence in the Church were attended with fasting and prayers. The fasts of Wednesday Acts xiii. 2, 3.and Friday, called Stations,⁶ and that of Lent, particularly of all the Holy Week, are thought to be of apostolical institution.

One cannot be sufficiently astonished at the extreme remissness which is become general among Christians in the point of Fasting, particularly in the Latin Church: and what surprizes more than all the rest, is, that some Casuists and Prelates, who ought to be better acquainted with the spirit of the Church, and more zealous in supporting the interests of Truth, and the rules of ancient Discipline, both write and teach, that the drinking even of wine, liquors, tea, coffee, and chocolate, breaks no one’s fast, because say they, liquids only moisten, and do not nourish: as wine, for example, which is the extract of a very juicy fruit, some sorts whereof, Galen says, are as nourishing as hog’s flesh, which, as any one can tell, is a kind of food the fullest of gravy that we know of; Chocolate, they say, tea, and coffee, which are comcompound liquors, and other liquors wherein there is a mixture of Aqua vitæ, do not nourish: yet even pure water nourishes, refreshes, and delights. It has been always the notion of all people, both Greeks and Barbarians, that in Fasting they were to mortify the senses, not only by hunger, but by thirst too: the Jews, Mussulmen, and primitive Christians, nay the very Pagans themselves, as may be seen by the example of the Ninivites, did not think otherwise.

It is a manifest mistake to say, that water and things liquid do not nourish; do they not turn to chyle in the Stomach? do they not enter into the heart and blood? And are not the most solid fruits reduced to liquid juices, that they may be able to nourish and support us? For in short, every thing we eat must be changed into chyle, lympha, and so into blood, in order to contribute to our sustenance. It is true, a man who was to drink nothing but water, without eating, could not live long; but they who drink water, wine, or any thing else, while they are Fasting, have eaten before, and will eat again after they have drunk, and perhaps plentifully; so that drinking is not only a new nourishment to them, but is farther a dissolver, and helps the digestion of what they have taken before. Lastly, though liquids were only to refresh and please, people should not allow themselves the use of them in times of Fasting, they being contrary to the spirit of this holy exercise, and condemned by the example of Jews, Mussulmen, and Pagans, and, what should be of much greater force with us, by that of the primitive Christians.

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