“Concerning Prayer, we do not read that ever Christ or his apostles did seek by force to compel any to fast or pray with them. But Christ taught them how they should pray, and be distinct from the hypocrites. His words are as follows:—‘When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men,’ &c. ‘But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them; for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him,’ &c. As the apostles and saints did, so do we; we pray in secret, and we pray in public, as the Spirit gives us utterance, which helps our infirmities, as it did the apostles and true Christians; after this manner we pray for ourselves, and for all men both high and low. “Concerning Fasting, Christ saith, ‘Moreover when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. But when thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.’ “You may see in Isaiah the lviiith., what the true fast is which the Lord requires; where it is said to the prophet, ‘Cry aloud, and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins; yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God; they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness, ye shall not fast, as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen, saith the Lord; to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burthens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?’ So this fast that the Lord requires, is not to lay yokes, to oppress, and lay heavy burthens, and to make fast the bands of wickedness; but to loose and to break such things.