DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER.
The day of prayer and fasting appointed by the General Conference Committee was a profitable day for the church in Oakland. It is scarcely to be expected that such a season should be well improved by every one in any church having quite a large membership; but to most of our members here it was a day of blessings. As we learned of some who felt no burden of the occasion, or whose views of the duty were so vague as to preclude the possibility of their being benefitted by the exercise, we take the opportunity to make some remarks about fasting, even though the day is past. And we do this more readily as we hope this may be followed by other appointments of this kind. There are two scriptures where hypocritical fasting is denounced. In Isa. 58 the hypocrisy of the people is plainly shown, and the Lord refused to accept them in afflicting their souls while they neglected important duties or indulged in great wrongs. This expression, “afflicting the soul,” we find in Leviticus. On the day of atonement every one was required to afflict his soul. Lev. 16:29, 31. Again in ch. 23:27–32, the order is given again with the additional statement that whosoever shall not afflict his soul on the day of atonement shall be cut off from among his people. Isa. 58:5 shows us that the soul was afflicted by fasting; also Ps. 35:13 (literally): “I afflicted my soul with fasting.” The Scriptures are silent as to any means of afflicting the soul but by fasting. We profess to believe that we are in the antitype of the day of atonement. We have the very clearest evidence that we are in the closing years of this dispensation. Whether we strongly believe so as to realize this truth, is another thing. Our High Priest, who is passed into the most holy place in the Sanctuary in Heaven (see Heb. 9:23, 24; Rev. 11:19), must very soon finish his work of intercession; the day of atonement will then be past. Now its privileges and duties rest upon us. And the prophets have spoken distinctly upon these duties, showing that the requirement to afflict our souls by fasting comes over into this, the true day of atonement. With good reason we always quote Joel 2:1, to prove that a message of warning will be given to the world before this dispensation closes. “The day of the Lord” is a period of time which immediately succeeds “the day of salvation.” This is a day of joy and hope to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the intercessions of “the Saviour of all men”; that will be a day of darkness and gloominess to all the inhabitants of the earth “who know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But the indignation of the Almighty will not fall upon men without a warning being given. The order of the Lord is: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land [earth] tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” That day is ushered in by the seven last plagues and the coming of Christ to overthrow his enemies. See 1 Thess. 4:16–18; 5:1–3; 2 Peter 3:3–10. Of the time when this warning is given, when the day of the Lord is near, the Lord further speaks by the prophet Joel, thus: “Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord. Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” Joel 1:14, 15. And again: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” Thus it is seen that fasting and prayer are most urgently enjoined upon God’s people in the closing days of this dispensation. And how appropriate the duty. If the typical day of atonement was of such solemn importance that he who did not afflict his soul in that day should be cut off, much more is this, the antitype, a solemn time, when a preparation is to be made that we may “stand in the battle in the day of the Lord” (Eze. 13:5); when the period of human probation is so soon to expire. The other passage wherein hypocritical fasting is denounced is in the “sermon on the mount,” Matt. 6:16–18. But this does not set aside the duty of fasting; it confirms it. When self-righteous prayers are condemned, the Lord directs how we should pray, and gives assurance of a blessing from our Heavenly Father. And when he spoke against the fastings of the hypocrites, he directed how his disciples should fast, and added: “And thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” And thus the Saviour has left on record a gracious promise for fasting. There is efficacy in prayer. But it must be “fervent” to be “effectual.” James 5:16. Fasting has a subduing, humbling influence. It quickens the sensibilities and intensifies the feeling. Let any individual approach the “hour of prayer” immediately after a full meal, and again after fasting, especially where a specific object is in view, and he will realize the difference in his feelings and in the fervency of his prayers. The Lord says, “He knoweth our frame.” He knows what we need to strengthen our faith and zeal, and to aid us in our devotions. Fasting has ever been accepted of God, and is now acceptable to him. When the utter extermination of the house of Ahab was threatened because of his wickedness, we read that when Ahab heard those words, “he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.” And the Lord said: “Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days.” Every one is familiar with the case of Nineveh. When Jonah declared that in forty days Nineveh should be overthrown, “the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast.” And the proclamation was unusually strict in its terms: “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water.” And God was entreated of them, and spared the city. He who hears the young ravens when they cry, and notices the fall of the sparrow, has a regard for the lowliest of his creatures. When the people turned from their evil ways, and the Lord turned from bringing upon them the threatened evil, he distinctly noticed his regard for the many persons in the city who could not “discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle.” Joel 4:11. Even the afflictions of the cattle, deprived of food and water, moved him to pity. And his pity is still moved when we afflict our souls. In the prophecy of Joel, ch. 2:15–17, quoted above, where the people, old and young, are called to a fast, and to crying unto God, it is added, “Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people.” When the disciples of Christ failed to relieve a child who was afflicted with a demon, they asked him the reason why they could not cast him out. The Lord gave them the strongest assurance that nothing was impossible to faith, but added: “Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” This confirms our statement that fasting strengthens faith, and by it may be accomplished that which cannot be accomplished without it. The lesson was not forgotten by the apostles, for we find instances recorded in their history, brief as it is, of their having prayed with fasting on special occasions. We are constrained to believe that if any are indifferent to appointments of this kind, it is because they have no burden of the time in which we live and the work in which we are engaged. But such are no more than lukewarm believers of the truth, and have great need to arouse and cast aside cool formality, and “be zealous and repent.” Perils are increasing, and must increase. Our devotion and our consecration must likewise increase. Our faith and our zeal must be increased to meet the coming troubles. And every means of grace must be improved in the great work of preparation for our own salvation, and of successfully imparting a knowledge of the truth to others.