Let us beware of mocking God, of turning our fast as well as our prayer into an abomination unto the Lord, by the mixture of any temporal view, particularly, by seeking the praise of men. Against this our blessed Lord more peculiarly guards us, in the words of the text. _Moreover, when ye fast, be ye not as the hypocrites_ (such were too many who were called the people of God) _of a sad countenance_; sour, affectedly sad, putting their looks into a peculiar form. _For they disfigure their faces_, not only by unnatural distortions, but also by covering them with dust and ashes――_That they may appear unto men to fast_. This is their chief, if not only design. _Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward_; even the admiration and praise of men. _But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face._ Do as thou art accustomed to do at other times――_That thou appear not unto men to fast_, (let this be no part of thy intention: if they know it without any desire of thine, it matters not, thou art neither the better nor the worse) _but unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly_. 2. But if we desire this reward, let us beware, secondly, of fancying we _merit_ any thing of God by our fasting. We cannot be too often warned of this; in as much as a desire to _establish our own righteousness_, to procure salvation of _debt_, and not of _grace_, is so deeply rooted in all our hearts:――Fasting is only a way which God hath ordained, wherein we wait for his _unmerited_ mercy; and wherein, without any desert of ours, he hath promised, _freely_ to give us his blessing. 3. Not that we are to imagine, the performing the bare outward act, will receive any blessing from God. _Is it such a fast that I have chosen, saith the_ Lord: _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?_ Are these outward acts, however strictly performed, all that is meant by a man’s _afflicting his soul? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the_ Lord? No surely. If it be a mere external service, it is all but lost labour. Such a performance may possibly afflict the body. But as to the soul it profiteth nothing. 4. Yea, the body may sometimes be afflicted too much, so as to be unfit for the works of our calling. This also we are diligently to guard against: for we ought to preserve our health, as a good gift of God. Therefore care is to be taken, whenever we fast, to proportion the fast to our strength. For we may not offer God murder for sacrifice, or destroy our bodies to help our souls.