HYMN. Hark! heard ye not the ancient seer, Hark! hear ye not the Angel bring His answering message from the sky? "Hail, Virgin blest, from whom shall spring A Son, the Son of God most High!" O Thou, who didst not scorn below, Thou, for our sake incarnate made, Or in a servant's form array'd, Or partner of Thy Father's throne. O, Jesus, glory be to Thee, Return'd to Thy celestial rest, Thron'd with Thy Father's majesty, In union with the Spirit blest. Bp. Mant. THE Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. COLLECT FOR THE DAY, MARCH 25. We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. DAILY SERVICE. Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ. Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. Te Deum. My soul doth magnify the Lord; and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his hand-maiden: for behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him, throughout all generations. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel; as he and lest enter into temptation;" and His ye pray, own practice helps us to understand His words; for, when He was to be " He himself "fasted tempted of the Devil," as well as prayed. When St. "Be sober and watch unto prayer," Peter also says, he cannot mean only the "continuing in prayer," because St. Paul tells us in another place, both to likewise. do that, and to "watch in the same And was not fasting a main-stay of their own watchfulness? mourn," Again, wherever Christians are bid to " this is implied, for no one ever mourned then without it; and our Lord Himself uses both words to express the same thing according to St. Matthew-Now, He says, they cannot "mourn," but then shall they "fast." Also when St. James bids us "be afflicted, and mourn, and weep," he does but repeat the warning of the prophet Joel, to "turn unto the Lord, with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: for, as Bp. Patrick observes, (on Repentance, ch. iii.) "When the Jews kept their great Fast enjoined by the law on the day of expiation, it was called 'a day of afflicting their souls,' (Lev. xvi. Is. lviii.) which explains the first word in St. James, and shows it to be the very same with that in Joel, ' turn unto Him with fasting.'" But if we wish to prove that the practice of fasting is proper for Christians in these days, what do we want more than the express declaration of There was but one hindrance, the Lord Himself? He said, just for a time; namely, that He was still abiding with His disciples: but when He should be no longer amongst them, then " they should fast in those days." And are "those days" already ended? Has the Church ceased to mourn her Lord's absence? Nay, but she has fresh cause of sorrow in the withdrawal of His Spirit; for, instead of "being one," she is rent by many schisms, and not only are the different Churches at enmity, but they are severally full of party-strife. This then is a time of mourning, and in these days the Lord has said that His disciples "shall fast: and since 66 this Scripture must needs be fulfilled,” let us mind how we leave to the members of other Churches, the Christian part of making good our Master's word. WHEREIN FASTING CONSISTS. 'Fasting, even by Christ's assent, (Luke v.) is a withholding of meat, drink, and all natural food from the body, for the determined time of fasting. And that it was used in the primitive Church, appeareth most evidently by the Chalcedon council, one of the four first general councils. The 630 fathers assembled there, to reform the great abuses crept into the Church at those days, and to restore this so good and godly a work to the true use thereof, decreed that every person, as well in his private as public fast, should continue all day without meat and drink, till after the evening prayer. "We do not however urge that that order, which was used among the Jews, and practised by Christ's apostles after his ascension, is of such force and necessity, that that only ought to be used among Christians, and none other; for that were to bind God's people unto the yoke and burden of Moses' policy. But to this end it serveth, to show how far the order of fasting, now used in the Church at this day, differeth from that which was then used." Homily of Fasting. The Church of Rome has changed the primitive rule for another, by which she makes fasting to consist in the scrupulous observance of a certain diet, forbidding meat, but allowing fish, wine, &c. The Church of England discourages these nice distinctions: she would have her members neither take nor give trouble in the choice of their food; and she rather explains what true fasting is, by stating what it is not; namely, that no one really fasts, who either chuses pleasant food, or eats so much of it as to feel no hunger. The manner and length of our fasts must needs depend much, both on our particular constitution, and on the climate in which we live: so, if we cannot fast long without hurt, we may abridge our food instead; or, if neither suit us, we may yet abstain from such victuals as give us pleasure. By this means, though our health do not allow us to fast literally, we may at least, if we have the will, enjoy one of its chief benefits in the discipline of self-denial. FASTING A MEANS OF GRACE. "Much hurt hath grown to the Church of God, through a false imagination, that fasting standeth men in no stead for any spiritual respect, but only to take down the frankness of nature, and to tame the wildness of flesh. Whereupon the world, being bold to surfeit, doth now blush to fast, supposing that men, when they fast, do rather bewray |