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these failures, carefully observed, when we have once begun the practice of fasting, will shew its real uses, more, perhaps, than the direct benefits of the practice itself. 4. Accompany the fast not only with increased prayer and meditation, but with other little outward acts of self-denial, for thus the whole day will be more in keeping, and the mind taken off from dwelling too much on the one act of fasting. Thus the brunt of our enemy's attack will not rest upon this one point, (as is likely to be the case if the fasting stand alone,) but, by being divided, will be weakened. "A man," says Bishop Taylor, "when he mourns in his fast, must not be merry in his sport; weep at dinner, and laugh all day after; have a silence in his kitchen, and music in his chamber; judge the stomach, and feast the other senses." So again Bishop Taylor instances "hard lodging, uneasy garments, laborious postures of prayer, journeys on foot, sufferance of cold, paring away the use of ordinary solaces, denying every pleasant appetite, rejecting the most pleasant morsels, as in the rank of bodily exercises,' which, though, as St. Paul says, of themselves they profit little,' yet they accustom us to acts of self-denial in inferior instances, and are not useless to the designs of mortifying carnal and sensual lusts." A person would never have selected these instances without having tried them himself, and found their use; and, on the other hand, most persons, probably, who have systematically tried fasting, have experienced the benefits of some of these accessories. Some of these also may be irksome at first, as others would be to many no self-denial at all; but every one knows what, however trifling, would be self-denial to him, and the frequent repetition of these acts is a constant, though gentle, self-discipline. It seems to me part of the foolish wisdom of the day, and its ignorance of our nature, to despise these small things,' and to disguise its impatience of restraint under some such general maxim as, that "God has no pleasure in self-torture, or mortification,"" God wills to see his creatures happy," and the like; undoubtedly God wills not our death, but our life; not our misery, but our peace; but God restores often our bodily health by bitter herbs, the knife or cautery, and why not our spiritual? Our forefathers knew better, and by disciplining themselves in these little things, attained to greater; they knew that religion is concerned about little things, as well as great; that if we look to great occasions or great instances only, we shall form no habit, and therefore they shrunk not from mentioning all the little instances, if they were only (the case of an aged and pious relative of my own) abstinence from snuff during Lent, or abridging self-indulgence as to morning sleep, which they had found useful to them. 5. Take especial care to practise self-denial as to food at other times also, lest the fast degenerate into a mere opus operatum, a thing good in and for itself, even if followed by acts of an opposite kind. In Bishop Taylor's words, "Let not intemperance (or self-indulgence) be the prologue or the epilogue to your fast. When the fast is done, eat temperately according to the proportion of other meals, lest gluttony keep either of the gates to abstinence." The importance of this caution will probably be felt by those who have tried to fast; or it may be seen in the corruptions of the Romish church. 6. Let young VOL. VII.-May, 1835.

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ministers, or those who hope to be ordained to the ministry, beware lest they be led, by the novelty of this duty, to over-value it, or to under-value those who have lived in times when it was not systema. tically practised. Obedience to a parent is a higher duty than fasting: "God will have mercy, and not sacrifice." If, therefore, a parent object to any particular mode of fasting, let it be laid aside for the time, and let an individual exercise himself in self-denial in relinquishing also what a parent objects to, and look out for himself other modes to which his parent would not object. 7. Omit trying no act of self-denial in little things, which, without your own thought, suggests itself to you, on the ground that they are little; such suggestions are generally proved by the result not to have come from ourselves, and, if followed, they lead onward. 8. If one mode of fasting do not suit your health, then, after a time, try another; some persons who could not bear early abstinence, (the loss of a breakfast,) might well endure subsequent privation, such as eating a sparing meal early, as the last in the day, or they might at least decidedly abridge their principal meal, or, again, they might be able to strike off all luxury in their food. 9. Supposing all these attempts to fail, after having been fairly tried, yet a person might keep up the spirit of fasting, by such accessories as those instanced, (No. 4,) and might multiply these in proportion as he is obliged to abandon the other, that so he may be ready to avail himself of his ability to fast, whenever God shall restore it to him. A person of weak health is constantly tempted to self-indulgence in matters which do not concern his health, e.g. indolent postures, taking food at the first moment of craving, &c. &c.; and thus he may exercise real self-discipline, even if physicians pronounce him incapable of fasting without impairing his ability to do his duty where God has placed him. Let any one consider what is the boast of an Englishman-his comforts; and he will see what a tendency these have to make him forget his heavenly country, and that he is but a pilgrim, -to make him think it "good for him to be here." How much may he abridge, and yet, by his self-denial, only not be more disadvantageously situated than others. Or, to take another view, does not this shew him how many occasions of self-discipline we are furnished with more than our neighbours, from our very national character and circumstances, and that a person need be at no loss for instances of selfgovernment if he but look for them? 10. If a person acquire the habit, let him recollect how slowly he arrived at the conviction of its necessity, and not be surprised that others are as slow, or appear yet more so; perhaps, without fasting, they are more self-denying than one's self with it. "Let it be done," says Bishop Taylor, "just as a man takes physic, of which no man hath reason to be proud, and no man thinks it necessary but because he is in sickness, or in danger and disposition to it." 11. Especially let any one recollect how much,

In like manner, let him not bind himself so to a particular rule as to preclude any real act of charity or kindness to others; but rather let him chuse some time for his own ends of retirement, &c., which may be less convenient to himself, i.e. let his rule be a restraint to himself, not a hindrance to benevolence or an occasion of churlishness.

which is humiliating in his youth, (even if God saved him from open sin,) might have been prevented by the habit of fasting, if he had then practised it; let him bear this in mind, when he fasts, and make his fast an act of humiliation for his own particular sins as well as a discipline, so can he never be proud of his fasting.

I will only add, that fasting has by no means so many difficulties as Satan would persuade men, for fear they should try it. Even among the poorer, some act of seif-denial as to the pleasures of sense might easily be practised, (1 Cor. vii. 5, might be hinted at ;) and to instance one case only:-A poor woman mentioned, with much respect, her father's practice never to taste food before receiving the sacrament; (adhering unconsciously to the practice of the universal church in its better days, and indeed of our own in Bishop Taylor's time;) she added, “I never heard that his bodily health suffered from it." With regard to the rich, who are obviously called upon to fast in greater degrees, I have the authority of an eminent physician, whom I well know not to be wedded to any particular theory of medicine, that, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the degree of fasting recommended in my tract would not only not be injurious, but be beneficial. He added, "Fasting is like the Sabbath-healthy to the body as well as to the soul."

VII. Is there any difference between abstinence and fasting? Not, I imagine, in our church, although she retained the terms which were used to denote different degrees of abstinence in the Romish; and this I infer from her nowhere saying which are days of fasting, and which of abstinence, whereas the Romish church does distinguish them; further, as Wheatley remarks, they are called in the second title (where they are enumerated), " days of fasting or abstinence." As in other cases, our church seems to have used both terms, in order to shew that she therein comprehended, without distinction, all to which these several names had been given,

VIII. I have in vain endeavoured to ascertain at what hour vigils begin, which yet is of importance with regard to the public notice which ministers are, by the rubric, required to give of the fasts to be observed in each week. Another may perhaps easily supply this. In the Greek church, we find the regulation--" When the vigil or pernoctation is performed, that service begins after sunset, and there is no service in the morning following till the communion." (King's Ceremonies of the Greek Church, p. 82.) Retirement at these times is obviously beneficial; in the question of fasting, the habits of the times must be taken into account by each individual, since the principal meal of the day might be cut off, when only moderation was intended to be prescribed; only the Christian also might do well to remember (blessed are they who know it not) that corpus onustum-animum quoque prægravat una, atque affigit humi divinæ particulam auræ.

IX. "Clericus" asks, in connexion with this subject, what is to be done as to the prayers appointed for the Ember-week to be used every day where there is no daily service? I own, the more I hear or think of this subject, or those connected with it, I am the more convinced that the clergy are wrong in withholding daily prayers,

that they underrate the willingness or the wish of their people to go to church, if invited. To mention two or three facts only:-In a small country village of about 500, where a clergyman was assured that he would have a congregation on Saints'-days, there assembled in winter, (when there was not much work) to prayers only, above fifty persons. In another, where there was service on the Wednesday and Friday in the Ember-week, with a sermon, the congregation was like that of a Sunday, and the people deeply interested. In a manufacturing town, on the eves of Saints'-days, with a sermon, it averaged 1000. A poor person here told a friend of my own incidentally, that her father, when he had no work, went round to see where there was any service. Surely we are neglecting to supply the cravings which either already exist, or readily awaken, when man has no earthly friend. And might not our poor, when destitute of employment, be led to the church instead of to the ale-house? Consider, again, how different would the state of things be, if every church in our country had but its ten, or eighteen, or fifty worshippers. Would not the holy angels rejoice at such a sight? and might not the evils we dread, perchance, by God's mercy, be avoided? Again, how would such simple prayer undermine the world's present maxim, which would make human agency, and so preaching, every thing! How would it, too, build up those who are real Christians, and so raise the standard of Christianity among us! or how would it support, and comfort, and purify, and initiate into the happiness of their coming life, many who are about to part from this! To return to the Ember-days, besides the direct, incalculable blessing which would result from their observation, do not they furnish an opportunity of inculcating, what in these days is much needed, the claims, the importance, the sanctity of the office of the Christian ministry and of the church, without the appearance of extolling one's self or one's office because it is one's own? In wishing to speak briefly, I trust that I have not appeared to speak dictatorially, or to take too much the tone of advice to "Clericus," from whom I am sure I might learn much myself. I remain, ever yours most truly, E. B. P.

Oxford, Passion-week.

P.S. Since writing the above, I observe in Bingham that the 51st Canon of the Council of Laodicea forbad the celebration of the birthdays of martyrs, i.e. the days of their martyrdom (and so saints'-days) during Lent: they were to be transferred to the Saturday or Sunday. This, however, has not been adopted by our church.

THE WYCLIFFE MANUSCRIPTS IN TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.

SIR,-In my last communication I promised you an account of a volume of Wycliffe's tracts, which is preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.

The volume I allude to is a square quarto of 219 leaves of parchment, written (as the character indicates) early in the 15th century.

It was once the property of Sir Robert Cotton, who appears to have given it to Archbishop Ussher, and it now forms a part of the collection of MSS. belonging to that prelate, which was presented to the University. of Dublin by Charles II. The first page contains a notice, written on the upper margin, which has misled many of Wycliffe's biographers; and the error appears to have originated with the compiler of the Catalogue in the Oxford "Catalogus librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ," where the volume before us is thus noticed:"814.674. Jo. Wickliffe's Works to the Duke of Lancaster, an. 1368. 4to. Parchment. H. 17.”

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This has evidently been the foundation of the statement which Lewis makes in the following passage, and for which he quotes no thority:

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"However, by this," [his disputation with a monk against the pope's claims,} "he seems to have been made known to the court, and particularly to the Duke of Lancaster, the king's brother, who was at this time [A.D. 1368] in great favour, and to whom Mr. Wycliffe, two years after, addressed some of his works which he published." +

That the volume of which we are treating contains the works published at that period, (if any such there were,) is an error that could not have been committed by any one who had seen and examined its contents; it is corrected in the present catalogue of the MS. library, drawn up by Dr. Lyon; and Mr. Vaughan, who visited Dublin for the purpose of examining the Wycliffe MSS., has adopted the correction, without, however, making any acknowledgment which would lead us to suppose that he was aware that it was due to Dr. Lyon; but he has himself been led into another error, which, though of minor importance, will require some notice before we proceed to a more particu ar account of the contents of this curious volume. Referring to the passage above, quoted from Mr. Lewis, he says

"This statement is made, I presume, on the authority of a notice, prefixed to a volume of the reformer's manuscripts preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and which I find is attributed to Archbishop Usher."

"By what means so excellent a scholar as Archbishop Usher was misled I know not; but this mistake, with some others, is copied into a printed catalogue of the manuscript library of Trinity College, which lies on the table of the Bodleian, and received without hesitation by Mr. Lewis. It has been adopted by writers without number." §

How this mistake came to be attributed to Archbishop Ussher we learn from the following note, added in the second edition of Mr. Vaughan's book:

"In examining the volume, I consulted the judgment of Dr. Sadleir, the esteemed librarian of Trinity College, who expressed himself satisfied that the writing was that of the archbishop, but slightly altered from his usual hand by an effort to write well."

This authority was of course deemed sufficient by Mr. Vaughan ;

• The error was copied from the old Catalogue of MSS. in the library of Trinity College.

† Lewis, p. 20, Oxford Edit. 1820.

Vol. i., p. 304, 2d Edit.

§ Page 305.

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