Ques.:Why do we not now fast, as for instance in the early days of the church; also in I Cor. 7:5?

Ans.:Because we have decreased in piety (or practical godliness, Ed.). But perhaps, in a quiet
unnoticed way, more continue the practice than appears to men, and thereby win victories in their
Christian life which are recorded on high. We are creatures of extremes:many, in ignorance of
God’s way of salvation, have fasted and starved themselves to obtain it_all in vain, of course, for
it is "not of works, lest any man should boast." But when they have discovered this, they are liable
to despise those ways of piety which they used in a wrong way. God did not despise Cornelius’
pious ways, as we see in the account of Acts 10. There was no virtue in them to procure salvation,
but they expressed a mind in dead earnest, and God loves such a mind, not only when salvation
is the matter of interest, but anything which is for the glory of God and the good of His people.
A man, or a company of people, having some divine object in view, and so earnest about it that
they fast and pray over it, are not likely to be disappointed. Refusing food, in a hearty way,
proves we have an object of more value to us than our comfort, and by it we are enabled to
humble ourselves more deeply before God.

Self-righteousness may plume itself with it as having done something very meritorious, and which
puts God in our debt, but shall we deprive ourselves of its benefits because it has been wrongly
used?

The mind of the day is against it. To be happy, to sing, to throw off all sorrow, to make life a
joyful ride through a lovely scene, seems the prevailing mind of the times. But this was not our
Saviour’s course, and if we say we abide in Him, we also ought "to walk even as He walked." (I
John 2:6). We need scarcely say that we have little else than disgust to express concerning the
pretended fasting of the "Lenten season"_a fasting which longs for the end of it that sinful
pleasure may be indulged in again.

Real fasting_such as God takes notice of_is from a heart anxious over some important matter,
and desirous to give itself to prayer and supplication about it. It helps us, if done in sincerity, to
present ourselves before God in brokenness of spirit, an attitude ever becoming to us in the
presence of God.