Page:The Faith as Unfolded by Many Prophets.djvu/166

 other means, that one month is more sacred than another; and as for fasting, — does my friend speak of abstaining from food only, or of other kinds of self-restraint?

Havilah answered, The wise among us say that there are three kinds of fasting: — the mortifying the appetites of the body; the restraining the eyes and the ears and every other member from sin; and the refraining the thoughts from worldly desires and devoting them to God.

These things, replied Eber, do I desire to fulfill, not at holy seasons only, but every day. I pass no day without food, because by so doing my body would be weakened without the spirit being purified; but at all times would I be temperate, and able to deny myself: and as for the last two kinds of fasting, which the wise among you declare, — may I practise them more and more continually!

What said Christ to his followers concerning abstaining from food? asked Havilah, and what was their practice?

The Scriptures tell, replied Eber, that the disciples of John the Baptist fasted, while those of Christ fasted not; and that when Jesus