therefore say no more, but that I wish this pious treatise may come into many hands before that solemn time of mortification, which is approaching; and that it may be a means, by promoting true Christian sobriety, to counterbalance that sensuality amongst us, which needs such a real and exemplary reprehension. OF THE Vigils, fasts, and Days of Abstinence, To be observed in the Year. THE EVENS OR VIGILS BEFORE The Nativity of our Lord The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Easter-Day. Ascension-Day. Pentecost. Saint Matthias. Saint John Baptist. Saint Peter. Saint James. Saint Bartholomew. Saint Matthew. Saint Simon and Saint Jude. Saint Andrew. Saint Thomas. All Saints. Note, That if any of these Feast-Days fall upon a Monday, then the Vigil or Fast-Day shall be kept upon the Saturday, and not upon the Sunday next before it. Bays of Fasting, or Abstinence. I. The forty Days of Lent. II. The Ember-Days at the Four Seasons, being the The First Sunday in Lent. The Feast of Pentecost. September 14. December 13. III. The three Rogation-Days. being the Monday, IV. All the Fridays in the Year, except Christmas- THE nature of Repentance may be understood, by the use of the word "repent," the very first time we meet with it in the book of God, where it is said, "It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at the heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, for it repenteth me that I have made them." 1 Gen. vi. 6, 7. A |