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The Fast of Nineveh, and the Fasts of Connecticut.

SERMON,
JPreacljeb on irioaj), april 2Qo, 1859,

BY

C. A. G. BRIGHAM,

PASTOR OF THE NORTH CONG. CHURCH, ENFIELD, CONN.

HARgFORD.
CALHOUN PRINTING COMPANY.
1859.

The Fast of Nineveh, and the Fasts of Connecticut.

A

SERMON

flreacljeb on iribai), april 22b, 1859,

BY

C. A. G. BRIGHAM,

PASTOR OF THE NORTH CONG. CHURCH, ENFIELD^ CONN.

HARTFORD.
CALHOUN PRINTING COMPANY.
1859.

SERMON.

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgement with this gen
eration, AND SHALL CONDEMN IT ; BECAUSE THET REPENTED
AT THE PREACHING OF JONAS ; AND, BEHOLD, A GREATER THAN
Jonas is here. — Matt, xn : 41.
The State Fast, so far back as my memory reaches,
has always come by appointment on "Good Friday," as an
Espiscopalian or Roman Catholic would call it. We can
hardly suppose that it has merely happened so, for the
repetition seems to wear the appearance of a rule. And,
pray, what is Good Friday ? Webster says : " It is a fast
of the Christian Church, in memory of our Saviour's
sufferings." A catechism, published for the use of the
Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Boston, says :
"Good Friday is the most sacred and memorable day, on
which the great and glorious work of our redenption was
consummated by our Saviour Jesus Christ on his bloody
cross, between two thieves, at Jerusalem." It seems, there
fore, to be a convenient day for, at least, two nominally
Christian bodies among us, the Episcopalian and Roman
Oatholic, as they would make a Church fast of it, without
his Excellency's proclamation ; and it is not likely that
the latter would appear to take any notice of it, if it did
not come, by appointment, on Good Friday. If it had
sometimes fallen on this day, it would have been no occa
sion of remark. It would have appeared to be a coinci-

dence. As the proclamation always designates this day,
there is reason to suppose that we are obnoxious to the
charge brought against the Galatians: "Ye observe days,
and months, and times, and years."
God requires that days of fasting and prayer should be
appointed and observed ; but neither inspired direction, or
apostolic usage particularizes any special days in the week,
month or year, as those on which, under the new dispen
sation, these appointments shall fall. v
The Jews were commanded to keep various days. In
addition to the Sabbath, they were to keep holy the new
moons, the passover, the feast of tabernacles, and the year
of Jubilee. False and Judaizing teachers taught the Gala-
tian Christians that it was necessary, in order to be right
eous, that they should observe these times and seasons.
And they became so far corrupted by their erroneous and
dangerous doctrines as to observe them. Not that they
said, in so many words, that justification comes by obser
vation ; but they inculcated the observance of the law
as of essential importance in respect to justification. Paul,
however, taught them that by observing these days, they
were countenancing another doctrine than what he had
preached unto them. He taught that, since Christ had
fulfilled the law, the yoke of bondage, under which Israel's
service was rendered, had been taken from their necks.
A return to Judaism,therefore, was a renunciation of Christ.
It is no wonder that Paul, zealous as he was for his Master,
should take notice of this observance of days,* and de
nounce the practice as Judaizing and dangerous. Hear
his question which contains a most cutting reproof of
what, through the influence of false guides, they were be
ginning to regard as a most religious duty, to wit : this ob
servance of stated days and seasons other than the Sab
bath, which, against all popish and prelatical instruction,
is the only sacred day under the new dispensation. He

asks : " But now, after that ye have known God, or rather
are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and
beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage 1"
But I know not why it is not as safe to be under the
Jewish as the Romish yoke. Why not have our fast
on the tenth day of the seventh month, which is the only
stated fast of which we have any mention in scripture ?
Why not sometimes have it as wisely according to the
Jewish custom, as well as always on Good Friday, accord
ing to the Romish ? Is there any scriptural authority or
sufficient reason why the State should give this gentle nod
of assent to Papal Rome ? The long established usage,
which was inaugurated by the Puritan, as it would seem,
has greatly increased its age, by putting on the habit of
Romish folly ; and, in so doing, has become anti-Puritanic.
If usage is the reason of fasting, we may suppose that, ere
long, it will be considered sacrilege to depart from the ob
servance of the Friday which, in Romish tradition, is called
"a most sacred and memorable day." The time may yet
come when nominal Protestants will see reason to
sanctify Candlemas day, Ash Wednesday and Holy Satur
day. Perhaps it will come to this, that some of the Sab.
baths will be thought to have a superior sanctity and
solemnity above others, as the Passion, Palm or Easter
Sunday. And should Rome put her anti-christian hand
too heavily upon Protestants, it might be thought that
even weeks of traditional service are cooler and more re
freshing than the fires of persecution, and so they might
observe Rogation week and Ember weeks.
Some will say that such things will never take place in
this land of free institutions and general suffrage. They
may enter, however, at the very doors which, we flatter
ourselves, are bolted against them. This is, you know, a
free country. Pernicious doctrines and practices have as
free course here as truth and righteousness. This is as

good soil for the devil to till as any that he ever turned.
Our free institutions and the ballot-box will answer his
purpose, when he is permitted to use them, as well as any
other instruments. As a nation, we have made a god of
our Republicanism. We have regarded it as a sufficient
security against the seedy evils of trans-Atlantic nations.
We have deemed it a vain thing to look above the ballot-
box for help. The form of our government being what it
is, we have apprehended no danger from the importation
and introduction of the Papal element. We have taken
it for granted that, because the first emigrants were Pu
ritan, all their descendants would be, and that all who come
to us would only need to learn our manners to adopt our
principles. All this boast of our puritanical paternity is
ridiculously tumid. Who that is acquainted with father
and son, would notice the least resemblance ? We may
pride ourselves in the idea that we have Abraham to our
father, but it will not save us from destruction any more
than it did Jerusalem.
It is, I dare affirm, the popular feeling that there is no
evil judgment in store for this nation. Why this is Re
publican America ! Here is where God will put to shame
the wisdom of kings and display the wisdom of a self-gov
erning people. It seems to be thought that no danger
need be apprehended from the introduction of any element.
We are such a great and good nation that it will take
more than they can send us to endanger our safety, or put
back for one moment the rising glory of our Republican
ism. Scarcely a Protestant fears that any one or more of
these States will ever become Papal. What they will be
come it is impossible to foretell. But any discerning ob
server may readily see that a process of transition is going
on among those nominally Protestant. Very few are es
tablished any where. Most are easily turned by every
wind of false doctrine. Children are growing up without

a knowledge of the truths of the Bible. Our youth* for
the most part, are ignorant of the principles of the Refor
mation. Family government and religion are neglected,
and the Sabbath is profaned. All these things are as likely
to result in the ultimate increase of the Romish Church as
any other consequence. Would it be a greater change
than many now living have observed, should the Papal
power gain the ascendency here, and the Protestant inter
est be in subjection to it ? Papal doctrine and usage are
gaining ground and strength. The rising generation of
papists will have a position and influence which their
fathers have not. Now it is plain to be seen, from some
things which are attempted, what is intended, and what
toleration may be expected when intended results are
reached. I know not what judgments God has in store
for this nation ; but, to my mind, the indications of Prov
idence are, that Rome is as likely to be the instrument by
which we, as a nation, shall be punished for our sins as any
other. There is no force so well organized, so consolida
ted, so ready to move in one direction and at the command
of a single voice. The nominally Protestant Church is
divided, sub-divided and to an alarming extent departed
from the faith. This has all transpired notwithstanding
our educational system and our free institutions ; and when
these which are so much praised as barriers against evil,
have not kept out this evil, shall we conclude that they
will prevent the bad from waxing worse ? Now if bad
comes to worse, and the principles of the -Protestant faith,
now so little known, should become entirely unknown ;
while this organized, well-trained, anti- Christian force ex
erts its power of aggression upon this divided and faithless
mass ; who shall say that, by persuasion or persecution, an
acquisition may not be effected, and the descendants of the
Pilgrims become the adopted children of Rome ?
There is something before us, some judgment, I fear.

What it is, and by whose hand it will be sent ; God only
knows. We need not flatter ourselves that a nation's sins
are unnoticed, or that they will go unpunished. Look
back but a few years, and what a change has come over
the moral sense of the community. Acts, which once
would not have been attempted without apology, are now
done fearlessly ; and nobody asks the reason. This is es
pecially true of violations of the Sabbath. Time was, when
a man would be compelled to give a reason for his seem
ing profanation of the Lord's day. The law against un
necessary labor and travel was enforced; but now, the bold
est breaches of propriety and decency are perpetrated, and
the law takes no notice of them. With us, law is for the
most part a dead letter. We estimate those laws to be of
the highest importance which relate to banks, money and
real estate, which facilitate the acquisition of wealth, pro
vide for the protection of life and the promotion of health.
They are very important, very useful. But what a low
regard there is in the community for those laws which
contemplate the elevation of public morals. " Let us re
member," says the proclamation, " that our individual sins,
such as intemperance, profanity and Sabbath-breaking, our
undue desire for gain, honor and power, our disregard for
just human laws ; our sympathy with the criminal to an
extent that hazards the rights, and safety of the obedient
citizens, have become the sins of the State and nation." —
These are facts which have become notorious. They stand
out to the view of every observer. And there is another
thing quite as noticeable, to wit : that there is not suffi
cient moral sense of these evils, in the community, to cor
rect them. The church is large in the number of her
membership, but her moral influence against such things
is a mere cipher. She winks at these vices rather than
rebukes them. Her converts are daily multiplying, but
her moral power is declining. The immorality which, it

has been said would follow the preaching of Calvanistic doc
trine is manifestly upon us ; and I am sure that Calvinistic
doctrine cannot be made responsible for it. I would espouse
the cause of the defendant by putting in the plea of an alibi.
The high tone of public morals which prevailed, when the
pulpit was bold, out-spoken and Calvanistic, does not exist;
and the new doctrines, which promised to impart such a
purity of life, have gone to seed in the vices which deface
the appearance of society.
No doubt, our sins and desert of punishment constitute
a sufficient reason for a day of fastrtag, humiliation and
prayer ; but it is to* be feared that the appointment of our
stated, yearly fasts, does not spring from a sense of sin
and the justice of divine judgment. The appointment,
. as it seems, is repeated according to custom, and because
it is customary. If this is the fact, then our fasting is
not an act which meets the approval of God, but a sin
added to all our other sins, on account of which we might
most appropriately put on sackcloth. Is it true that the
people of this state, every spring time and no other time,
so feel the burden of sin, so fear the judgments of
Heaven, and so long to appear before God with fasting,
humiliation and prayer that the observance of this day is
no mockery? Is it not to be feared that if God was to
speak to us from heaven, he would ask as of old : " Is it
such a fast that I have chosen ?"
Now it is in respect to- this ve,ry thing that I have quoted,
at the outset, these words : " The men of Nineveh shall
rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn
it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonas."
There was a fast proclaimed and observed in heathen
Nineveh in view of the judgment which Jonah was sent
to announce agamst it. The history of its proclamation and
observance are in these words: "And Jonah began to
enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said,

iu
Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the
people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast
and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to
the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nin
eveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe
from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through
Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything ;
let them not feed nor drink water. But let man and beast
be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God :
yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from
the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God
will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger,
that we perish not ? And God saw their works, that they
turned from their evil way ; and God repented of the evil
that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did
it not." We do not claim that there was an universal, spiritual
regard of God in this transaction; but there seems to
have been a general, outward humiliation of the city. It
was what we do not see among us, on the occasion of our
stated fasts. The words of our text seem appropriately
applied to ourselves ; " The men of Nineveh shall rise in
judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it ;
because they repented at the preaching of Jonas."
God may, and he does avert judgments from nations
that visibly humble themselves before him ; when he does
n'ot accept the persons and services of all the individuals
of such nations, with respect to eternal life. He deals
with nations as nations. Nations as such will not appear
in the final judgment. In such, national or state fasts,
though much sackcloth may be worn, by such as do not
fast in spirit ; yet the true spiritual children of God will
not simply appear unto men to fast, but unto God who

11
looketh on the heart. They will understand as the quaint
South has said : " It is a separation from sin that God
requires, and the soul must intend ; it is thy heart and not
thy stomach that God would have empty. It is not thy
outward mourning or complaining, not the presence of thy
body in the church, not thy abstaining from bodily food,
that makes a fast ; for what does it avail thee to forbear
thy meats, if thou dost feed upon thy sins ? What does
the sackcloth and ashes, if thou art not clothed with
righteousness ? God overlooks and rejects all these ser
vices as a piece of provoking mockery, if they are not
attended with a sincere renouncing of sins. Thou mayest
have a thin, pining body, and yet a luxurious soul : thou
mayest hang thy head like a bulrush, and yet aspire in
thy mind like a Lucifer. He that only forbears his meats
and not his sin, the beasts of Nineveh kept as good a fast
as he."
1. Now we have reason to think that the men of Nin
eveh will rise in judgment with this our generation, and
condemn it; for the reason that they seem to Have had a
deeper sense of their exposure to the fierce anger of God
than we manifest.
When Jonah proclaimed their destruction, they halted.
Nineveh was a wicked city. The words of the Lord in
Jonah's commission are, " their wickedness is come up be
fore me." They believed the word of God sent by Jonah,
and they proclaimed a fast. When they saw the evil
approaching, they would hide themselves. Here, an out
ward respect, at least, was given to the divine threatning.
But how is it with us as a community ? There is little
or no apprehension of the dangerous consequences of sin.
Scarcely anybody is looking for judgment at the end of
forty days, or forty years, or forty centuries. It is thought
to be safe to violate the sabbath, and to disregard law.
It is not considered dangerous to lay aside the doctrines

12
of grace and to follow human tradition. All this, our
wickedness comes up before God ; and think you that He
will not visit for these sins ? But who feels there is any
reason to fear that God will administer judgment ? The
feeling rather is, that this is not heathen Nineveh ; this is
the land of the Pilgrim Fathers ; their graves are honored
as our palladium. We garnish their sepulchres and con
clude that a nation which reverences such an ancestry,
need not fear destruction. But the men of heathen Nin
eveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall
condemn this stupid indifference to the righteous judg
ments of God.
This is our State fast day. Have you seen any evidence
that the people of this State have felt any special need
of appointing it, except that it is customary ? Has there
been any such alarm sounded throughout our borders as
was heard in Nineveh ? " Forty days and Nineveh shall
be overthrown." Are our sins less, or have we any better
reason to suppose that we shall not be destroyed ulti
mately, if not immediately than they had ? If we have,
then, why fast at all ? There -is no denying it ; Nineveh
gave a better example of dutifulness than we, as a state
are giving to-day. They condemn our indifference to the
authority of God.
2. The men of Nineveh condemn us, in that they
showed that they understood better than we do, why a
fast should be proclaimed and observed.
Circumstances in divine providence, must make the
occasion for a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer.
The proper appointment will always make such days spec
ial rather than stated. When some general calamity
arises, then is there an occasion why the state or nation
should humble itself before God. When the calamity is
upon the church, it is an occasion for a church fast ; when
upon a family, it is an occasion for a family fast ; or when

13
upon a person, it is an occasion for an individual fast.
These occasions may occur oftener than once a year.
They may occur in the Summer as often as in the Spring.
We cannot expect that they will always come at a leisure
and convenient time. They may come in haying or har
vest time. I do not know what time in the year Jonah
arrived in Nineveh ; but if they had been in the habit of
observing regularly a stated, annual fast day, it is more
than likely that they would have rested their preservation
from destruction upon their observance of the last, or
have waited for the proclamation of the next. Now if
you will take notice of the practice, in respect to this
matter, as appears from scripture history, you will learn
that, with a single exception, fast days have not been ap
pointed at stated times ; but rather as circumstances arose
in providence which gave occasion for them.
The custom of appointing a yearly fast on Good Fridav,
has had a tendency to make the day anything but a day
of fasting and prayer. No doubt there has been sin
enough among, us at any time to be an occasion of
humiliation : but a sense of it has not had any very deep
hold of the hearts of the people ; and hence they have
almost entirely neglected the day, or have used it for their
own pleasure. There was however, a special reason for
proclaiming a fast in Nineveh, and it was generally de
manded. And how was it observed ? They regarded it,
both man and beast. It is not so with us on our stated
days of fasting. There is no general and special calamity
or sin which is noticed as the reason why it should be ap
pointed. It is considered a day when ministers are allow
ed to preach on some theme which may accord with their
individual fancy. There is no one subject before all that
calls for a common consideration; because the appoint
ment is stated, regular, and therefore there can be no
special reason for the day. Sin, in general, is not a reason

14
for the proclamation of a fast ; if it was, every day might
be a fast day. There must be some special manifestation
of sin or some calamity, for the averting of which it be
comes us, in a special manner, to humble ourselves before
God. This was the case in Nineveh ; and they observed
the day as one man.
We have enough within our borders, that is an occasion
of a fast ; and I would it was generally felt that we ought
to observe one ; not because it is the stated and customary
time for it, but because God demands our humiliation.
When we feel this we shall break away from custom, and
come before God because we have a special errand. We
may look to heathen Nineveh for a better, more sponta
neous and hearty example of fasting than Connecticut
presents to-day.
3. Nineveh condemns us in another respect. They
repented at the preaching of Jonas. God saw their works
that they turned from their evil ways. What has been
our practice? What difference has. there been in our
practices after, from what they were before our fasts?
Seperation from sin is the proper end of such days. Has
this been the consequence ? Have not our sins accumula
ted as the number of the days observed has increased ?
Does not the repentence of Nineveh reprove our impeni-
tency ? JSear the inspired penman's description of what
a fast should be, and notice what effects follow it. " Is not
this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the op
pressed go free, and that ye break every yoke ? Is it not
to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the
poor that are cast out, to thy house ? When thou seest
the naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thy
self from their own flesh ? Then shall thy light break forth
as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily;
and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; the glory of

15
the Lord shall be thy rearward. Then shall thou call and
the Lord shall answer, thou shalt cry, and He shall say,
Here am I."
Would that we were so sensible of our obligation and
our sins, as to appoint and observe such a fast as the
prophet here describes. What a scene would be presen
ted, should we see the State humbled under a consciousness
of its guilt ; if men in authority, and men in subjection
stood in fear of Him whom they they have offended.
We have occasion of humiliation, because this is not the
appearance of our fasting. We are not a humble people.
We are proud of our country, its institutions and its sup
posed destiny, though we know not whither it is tending;
proud of our property and our penury ; proud of our
virtues and our vices. As a nation we look upon every
thing American as eternal. We tolerate every thing
except the prophet who should express the belief that
we are ripening for some manifest and severe stroke of
divine judgment. Thus we blind our eyes to all danger
of our destruction; and we open them upon the broad
and pleasing field of fancy, and vainly suppose that this
is the real destiny before us. But it should be remembered
that this whole edifice is not, as a matter of course, puritan,
because it had a puritan foundation. We have used un
suitable and decayed material ; we have cheated the nation
of the character she once possessed, by our follies. Among
these, not the least, is our neglect of family government ;
an example of which government has been set before us
and which we ought to have imitated. This evil of un-
governed youth is corrected nowhere. It runs through the
whole system. Like a stream, which at its source scarcely
moistens the soil, but yonder opens for itself a channel,
and farther on plows so deep as to leave on either side
high banks ; so if you follow back this prevalent disregard
of law, you will find that its first manifestation is to be

16
found in the family ; then it appears in the school, after
wards in the state, until it covers the land and gives char
acter to our nation.
Let men judge otherwise, if they will ; but it is certain
that we have not yet found that form of human govern
ment which will secure a high tone of public morals.
And if there were a thousand undiscovered continents,
aud the world was to stand for the settlement and pop
ulation of all of them ; and if every one settled, in respect
to government, should be an improvement upon the one
before it, and the last a thousand times better
than the Republicanism of these states ; it would still ap
pear that the nature of man has not been tamed or sub
dued by law ; for it is a fact, settled in heaven if it is not
generally admitted on earth, that there is no cause that
can change the human heart save the Holy Ghost. It
must be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. This pure,
inspired, Protestant doctrine of salvation by grace, so
much despised, is the instrument for purifying the heart
and effecting its meetness for the service of God here, and
for glory hereafter.