Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Ver. 16. Moreover, when ye fast] Fast then they must, yea, even after the Lord's ascension, when God's grace and Spirit was poured upon them in all abundance, Luke 5:33. This exercise hath still the warrant and weight of a duty, as well from precepts as examples of both Testaments. Joel 2:12 ; Isaiah 22:12 ; Mat 9:14-15 Acts 13:3 ; 1Co 7:5 And he that blamed the Pharisees here for fasting amiss, will much more blame those that fast not at all. The Israelites (besides other occasional) had their annual fast appointed them by God, Leviticus 23:27. It was called a day of expiations or atonements, in the plural; because of their many and various sins they were then to bewail and get pardon for. God had appointed them various sacrifices for several sins. But forasmuch as it might not be safe to confess some sins to the priest (as those that might bring them, by the law, in danger of death), of his grace he vouchsafed them this yearly fast, for expiation of their secret sins, and making their peace with their Maker, by a general humiliation. Now, albeit the circumstance of time be abolished, the equity of the duty abideth, and tieth us no less (if not more) than it did the Jews. Heathen Nineveh practised it: so did, in their superstitious way, the Egyptian priests, the Persian magi, Indian wizards, Priam in Homer, &c. The Turks at this day have their solemn fasts (as before the fatal assault of Constantinople), wherein they will not so much as taste a cup of water or wash their mouths with water all the day long, before the stars appear in the sky: which maketh their fasts (especially in the summer, when the days be long and hot) to be unto them very tedious. In the year of grace 1030 there arose a sect of rasters, that affirmed that to fast on Saturdays with bread and water (as they called it) would suffice to the remission of all sins; so that men bound themselves to it by oath. a And many French bishops voted with them. But Gerardus Episcopus Cameracensis withstood and abandoned them. So great ignorance was there, even then, of the merits of Christ among the governors of the Church. The Papists slander us, that we count fasting no duty, but only a moral temperance, a fasting from sin, a matter of mere policy: and outrival us, as much as the Pharisees did the disciples with their often fasting. But, as we cannot but find fault with their fasts, in that, first, they set and appoint certain fasting days however, to be observed upon pain of damnation, be the times clear or cloudy, &c. Secondly, they fast from certain meats only, not all; which is a mere mock fast, and a doctrine of devils, 1 Timothy 4:3. Thirdly, they make it a service of God, yet consecrate it to the saints. Fourthly, they make shameful sale of it. Fifthly, they ascribe (as those older heretics) merit unto it, even to the mere outward abstinence, as these Pharisees did, and these hypocrites in Isaiah. Isa 58:3 b Now since we cannot but condemn their superstition, so neither is our forlorn indolence and dulness to this duty to be excused. God hath given us, of late especially, many gracious opportunities of public humiliations, more, I think, than ever before, since the Reformation. But, alas, how do many fast, at such times, for fashion, fear of law, or of mere form; so that they had need to send, as the prophet speaketh, for mourning women, that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn, Jeremiah 9:17. And for private fasting, whether domestic with a man's family, Zechariah 12:12; 1 Corinthians 7:5; Acts 10:30; or personal by himself, as here, Matthew 6:17; we may seem to have dealt with it, as the Romans with the Tarquins; they banished all of that name for Superbus' sake. And as the Nicopolites are said so to have hated the braying of an ass, that for that cause they would not endure the sound of a trumpet: so many are departed so far from Popish fasts, that they fast not at all; and so open the mouths of the adversaries. But acquaint thyself with this duty, thou that wouldst be acquainted with God. It is a foretaste of eternal life, when in holy practices we taste the sweetness of that heavenly manna, this angels' food, those soul-fattening provisions, that makes us for a time to forbear our appointed food. It is a help to the understanding of heavenly mysteries, as Daniel found it. Dan 9:20 It fits us for conversion, Joel 2:12, and furthers it, Acts 9:9. Hence it is called a day of humiliation, or of humbling the soul, Leviticus 16:31; because God usually by that ordinance gives a humble heart, to the which he hath promised both grace, 1 Peter 5:5, and glory, Proverbs 15:33. It ferrets out corruption, and is to the soul as washing to a room, which is more than sweeping; or as scouring to the vessel, which is more than ordinary washing. It subdues rebel flesh, which with fulness of bread will wax wanton, as Sodom, Jeshurun, Ephraim. c It testifies true repentance, by this holy revenge, 2 Corinthians 7:11, while we thus amerce and punish ourselves, by a voluntary foregoing of the comforts and commodities of life, as altogether unworthy, Psalms 35:13. What shall I say more? Hereby we are daily drawn to more obedience and love to God, faith in him, and communion with him; a more holy frame of soul and habit of heavenly mindedness. Whence our Saviour, after this direction for fasting, immediately adds that of laying up for ourselves treasure in heaven, Matthew 6:19,20. And, lastly, our prayers shall be hereby edged, winged, and made to soar aloft, which before flagged, fainted, and, as it were, grovelled on the ground. Therefore our Saviour, here, next after matter of prayer, adds this of fasting, which is a necessary adjunct of prayer (that which is extraordinary especially), as that which very much fits the heart for prayer and the severe practice of repentance. d Hence it is that elsewhere these two, fasting and prayer, go coupled, for the most part, as Luke 2:37; Mat 17:21; 1 Corinthians 7:5, &c. A full belly neither studies nor prays willingly. Fasting inflames prayer, and prayer sanctifies fasting; especially when we fast and weep, Joel 2:13, fast and watch, watch and pray, and take heed to both, Mark 13:33 .
Be not as the hypocrites] For they fast not to God, Zechariah 7:5; Zechariah 7:11,12, but to themselves; they pine the body, but pamper the flesh; they hang down their heads, Isaiah 58:5, but their hearts stand bolt upright within them. e Their fasting is either superstitious or secure; while they rest in the work done, or with the opinion of merit; whereas the kingdom of heaven is not in meat and drink, Romans 14:17; and whether we eat or eat not, we are neither the more nor the less accepted of God, 1 Corinthians 8:8 : they fast for strife and debate, and to make their voices to be heard on high, Isaiah 58:4; whereas secrecy in this duty is the best argument of sincerity. They "loose not the bands of wickedness," nor break off their sins by repentance; therefore God regards not (which they repine at), but rejects their confidence, and answers them according to the idols of their hearts. "When they fast," saith he, "I will not hear their cry," Jeremiah 14:12, they are not a button the better for all they can do. Displeasing service proves a double dishonour (simulata sanctitas duplex iniquitas); their outsideness is an utter abomination: they present the great King with an empty cask, with a heartless sacrifice, with a bare carcase of religion, as the poets feign of Prometheus.
Of a sad countenance] Make not a sour face, look not grim and ghastly, as the word signifieth; f so that one would be afraid to look on them, they do so disfigure their faces, so waste and wither their countenances, so deform and (as St Jerome rendereth it) demolish their natural complexions; pining themselves to make their faces pale and meagre, that they may be noted and noticed for great fasters. g Such a one was that none-such Ahab, and those spungy bulrushes, Isaiah 58:5, those hollow hypocrites, Jeremiah 14:12, that proud patriarch of Constantinople, that first affected the style of universal bishop, and is therefore pointed at by Gregory the Great, as the forerunner of Antichrist: yet by his frequent fasting, this proud man merited to be surnamed Johannes Nesteutes, John the faster. Such pains men will put themselves to for a name, so far they will trouble themselves to go to hell with credit. The Jesuits had set forth a psalter, a little before the gunpowder plot should have been acted, for the good success of a wicked counter parliament. And to increase the iniquity, with wicked Jezebel, they would colour it with a fast: yea, with blasphemous Rabshakeh, they would by their hypocritical practices bear the world in hand, that they came not up against us without the Lord.
That they may appear unto men to fast] There is a great deal of seemingness, and much counterfeit grace abroad. The sorcerers seemed to do as much as Moses, the Pharisees to do more, this way, than the disciples. But bodily exercise profiteth little. Somewhat it may get at God's hands, as Ahab, for a temporary repentance, had a temporal deliverance; such is God's munificence, he is rich in mercy to all that do him any duty. But if the leaves of this exercise be so medicinable, what is the fruit? If the shadow thereof be so sovereign, what the substance? If the shell so profitable, what the kernel? Oh, let us rather seek to be good than seem to be so: h lest the Lord say of our outward shows, as Jacob said of Joseph's coat, "The coat is the coat of my son, some evil beast hath devoured him," Genesis 37:33. So the outward form of their fasting, praying, practising, is the form of my sons and daughters, but some evil spirit hath devoured them, that use it in hypocrisy. Lest men also say unto such, as John Capocius did to Pope Innocent III, preaching peace and sowing discord; "You speak like a God, but do like a devil." i You are fair professors, but foul sinners. And when the filthy sinner goes damned to hell, what shall become of the seeming saint? As the clown said to the Bishop of Cullen praying in the church like a bishop, but as he was duke, going guarded like a tyrant, "Whither thinkest thou the bishop shall go, when the duke shall be damned?"
They have their reward] All they looked after, and all they are to look for. The eagle, though she fly high, yet hath an eye to the prey below all the while. So hath the hypocrite to profit, credit, or some other base respects, and let him take it, saith our Saviour. Non equidem invideo, miror magis: Breath they have for breath; much good do them with it.
a Ex illa Synodica conclusione, feria sexta ieiunare constituerat, secta ille ieiunantium originem suam habuisse videatur. Func.
b Cave, ne si ieiunare coeperis, te putes esse sanctum: haec enim virtutis adiumentum est, non perfectio sanctitatis, &c. Jerome ad Celant.
c 1 Corinthians 9:27; Ezekiel 16:15; Deuteronomy 32:15; Isaiah 28:1,2. Saturitas parit ferociam.
d Ieiunium orationem roborat: oratio ieiunium sanctificat. Bern. in Quadrages., ser. 4.
e Quid prodest tenuari abstinentia corpus, si animus intumescat superbia? Jerome.
f σκυθρωποι. Demissis oculis, et subductis superciliis tetrici. Chemuit.
g αφανιζουσι. Christus alludit ad larvas, quibus Mimi veluti in theatrum prodibant, ut cum alias essent tutus festine ridiculi, repraesentarent vultum maestum. Chemnit.
h Ne appetat quisquam ultra videri quam est, ut possit ultra esse quam videtur. Greg.
i Verba tua Dei plane sunt, facta veto diaboli videntur.