29 



FAST. 



FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 



30 



Fonts et Chausse'es/ for 1833 ; or the reader may refer to Belidor's 

 ' Architecture Hydraulique,' or to Sganzin's ' Cours de Construction, 

 edite" par Reibell.' Sometimes civil engineers of the Continent employ 

 large fascines, which form, in fact, baskets filled with gravel, and are 

 known by the local name of saurissona ; or they use large square or 

 triangular prisms to form the hearting of their banks. It is on the 

 shores of the Lower Rhine especially that the fascines are formed into 

 gigantic rafts, as above mentioned, of from 3000 to 4000 yards super- 

 ficial, which are subsequently floated over their intended position, and 

 sunk by the addition of gravel, or stone pitching. The Dutch engineers 

 frequently use bundles of reeds for the same purposes as the fascines, at 

 least in the protection of exposed surfaces of their dykes ; whilst 

 they also occasionally line the surface gf a slope, intended subsequently 

 to be pitched, with bundles of straw, when the price of fascines is so 

 great as to render their use impracticable. 



FAST, abstinence from food, more particularly used for such 

 abstinence as a religious observance ; from the Anglo-Saxon f&stan. 



Religious fasting has been practised in almost all ages and all 

 countries. Moses appointed that of the Day of Expiation for the 

 Israelites. Herodotus (ii. 40) and Porphyry, give us details of the 

 Egyptian fasts. Among the fasts of the primitive Christians, the 

 greatest was that of Quadragesima, or Lent : but they likewise observed 

 the Jejitnia qitatuor temporum, or fasts of the four seasons. 



The fixed days appointed by the church of England for fasting are, 

 first, the Forty days in Lent : second, the Ember days at the four 

 seasons, being the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, after the first 

 Sunday in Lent, the Feast of Pentecost, September 14th, and December 

 13th ; third, the three Rogation days, being the. Monday, Tuesday, and 

 Wednesday before Holy Thursday ; fourth, all the Fridays in the year 

 except Christmas-day. Other days of fasting are occasionally appointed 

 by royal proclamation. The Long Parliament appointed a fast on the 

 last Wednesday of every month. 



The Roman Catholics, the Greek Church, the Jews, the Moham- 

 medans, the Buddhists, all keep certain fasts, as a religious observance ; 

 that of the Mohammedans being very severe. 



FASTI were marble tables at Rome, on which were inscribed the 

 names of the consuls, dictators, censors, and other principal magistrates 

 of the republic. Fragments of these tables have been collected, and 

 are ranged along the walls of one of the halls in the palace of the 

 Conservator! on the Capitol. The deficiencies in the series of the 

 consuls have been supplied by means of the historians, and by con- 

 sulting monumental inscriptions. Several learned men in modern 

 times have compiled fasti, or chronological tables of the Roman 

 consuls. Among the most learned and accurate of these compilers is 

 Sigonio of Modena, who published his ' Fasti Consulares ac triumphi 

 acti a Romulo rege ad Titum Caesarem,' fol., 1559 ; with a dissertation 

 ' de nominibus Romanorum,' a work of great erudition and exact 

 criticism. Pighius published ' Annales Magistratuum et Provinciarum 

 S. P. Q. R. ab Urbe condita,' fol., 15&9. Labbe, in his ' Bibliotheca 

 i ' Fasti Consulares ' out of a MS. of the college of 

 Clcrmont. Other editions of the Fasti have been made from various 

 sources. Between these lists occasional discrepancies occur as to the 

 names of some of the consuls, and the particular years of their consul- 

 ships; for, notwithstanding the labours of critics and antiquaries, 

 there is still some uncertainty about Roman clironology. The word 

 Fasti is often used as synonymous with tlie annals, or chronicles of a 

 nation. The 'Fasti Hellenic!,' and ' Fasti Romani,' by H. F. Clinton, 

 are valuable works of this description. [CLINTON, H. F., in BIOG. Di v.] 



The Romans had another kind of fasti, which they called ' Fasti 

 minores,' a kind of almanacs, in which were registered the periodical 

 festivals, games, official days for business, Ac. Ovid wrote a poem 

 explanatory of these fasti, which he dedicated to Oermanicus, and in 

 which he described the origin of the festivals, and the recollections, 

 either happy or calamitous, connected with the various days of each 

 month. The poem, as we have it, is in six books, one for each of 

 the first six months in the year ; the rest is unfortunately lost. 



KA STINT;. [ABSTI.NK.SVK.] 



FATA MORGANA. [REFLEXION AND REFRACTION, EXTRAORDI- 

 NARY ATMOSPHERIC.] 



FATALISM. This term is used to express an article of philosophical 

 religion, and usually signifies that the successive actions of mankind, 

 anil fven the successive operations of the powers of nature, are under 

 the guidance of some superior almighty power, so that these flfMOTfau 

 Mid the actions themselves are entirely independent of each other. 

 This doctrine has been embodied in all religious systems, though very 

 different names have been given to the governing power. The Greeks 

 called it mnira or ananke, and the Romans called it fate; their mytho- 

 logy also mentions a Demiurgus, who had formed the gods. All the 

 r. religions of Asia recognise a similar fate, something mightier 

 than the gods, to whom it dictates laws ; such, for example, as the 

 alternating governments of Ormuzd and Ahrimanes in the Persian 

 mythology, Ac. Among the Hebrews the Pharisees were fatalists, the 

 Sadducees materialists, and the Essenes deists. The old Germanic 

 religion of Odin modified this fate, and brought it nearer to the idea of 

 the government of the world by a deity, identifying it with their 

 highest god, whose name was not to be pronounced. From this point 

 late changes to what is called predestination (in opposition to chance), 

 which idea in only a mitigated fate, distinguished, however, from 



genuine fatalism in proceeding directly from God, and not from fate. 

 This belief in predestination was taught by Mohammed, and his 

 followers have retained it. Roman Catholicism has no trace of this 

 doctrine, but it is held by the Calvinists, and to a certain extent at 

 least by the church of England. 



The doctrine of fatalism, as is well known, has been frequently and 

 effectively used both by ancient and modern poets. 



Intimately related to fatalism is the doctrine of the immediate and 

 direct intervention of Providence in the government of the world. 

 According to this doctrine the consequences of the actions of mankind 

 depend wholly upon the actions themselves ; God, however, is able so 

 to conduct these consequences, that collectively they shall result in 

 good, and conformably to his purpose. To comprehend this working 

 precisely is impossible for man, since his mental powers are not suffi- 

 ciently extensive, and this dogma must therefore be a matter of faith. 

 This doctrine is held by many Christian sects, and in the Bible there 

 are passages strongly in favour of such special intervention ; for 

 example, Matthew x. 29, " Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? 

 and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." 



The third or deistical interpretation of this doctrine teaches the 

 complete non-intervention of the Deity in the affairs of the world or of 

 mankind : we may also call this doctrine the doctrine of theological 

 chance, which may still be consistent with that of physical necessity, 

 according to Kant. The doctrine of physical necessity was advocated 

 by Hobbes, and served for the foundation of the charges against him 

 of deism and atheism. 



If we consider these doctrines in a philosophical point of view we 

 may come to the following results : The theological theories of fatal- 

 ism, predestination, the immediate government of God, and his non- 

 intervention, evidently bear an analogical relation to the political 

 systems of despotism, constitutional monarchy, and republicanism. 

 Accordingly as every one may have grounds for being an adherent of 

 one of the^e political systems, so may he also have grounds for being 

 a follower of one of these theological views. According to the ideas 

 and investigations of the author of this article, God may have positively 

 fixed, before any creation of the world, the eternal ideas, or the 

 relations of things to each other within 1 the circle of which nature and 

 human intelligence have to move. These ideas are (I) for nature, 

 self-preservation, or continuance, of which the product is attraction, 

 &e. ; regularity, producing crystallisation, &c ; and adaptation to 

 purposes, producing organisation, &c. ; (2) for human intelligence, 

 self-love, beauty, and virtue. In so far as nature and humanity with 

 all their efforts cannot move out of thia sphere of ideas, so far fatalism 

 and predestination exist. The efforts of nature to adapt means to 

 ends, and the endeavours of the wise after virtue (or human happiness) 

 appear to produce an ever-increasing progression, and in this sense 

 they constitute an intervention of Providence since nature being 

 wholly bound, and God absolutely uncontrolled, man stands between 

 both ; so that though he is not absolutely free, yet he is free to work 

 his ultimate ends out of himself ; he is free whenever he acts morally, 

 and he is not free whenever he acts immorally (or rather physically), 

 and he may thus arrive at the consciousness that his state in another 

 world entirely depends on himself. With this conviction every species 

 of intervention would appear less harsh towards him, and without 

 these grounds he may be doubtful whether any direct intervention 

 exists with respect to worldly affairs. 



An intervention of any other kind than that of God would lead to 

 the doctrine of demons and spirit*. 



FATHER. [PARENT AND CHILD.] 



FATHERS OF THE CHURCH is the name given to the early 

 teachers and expounders of Christianity, who lived between the second 

 and the sixth centuries of our sera, and whose writings are looked 

 upon as possessing considerable authority in matters of faith. The 

 earlier, or " primitive fathers," as they are sometimes styled, to distin- 

 guish them from the fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries, and 

 who followed close upon the apostolical age, or the age in which 

 the Apostles lived and died, are generally reckoned as follows. 1st, 

 Clemens Romanus, or CLEMENT I., bishop of Rome, who died about 

 A.D. 100. 2nd, IGNATIUS, bishop of Antioch. 3rd, POLYCAKPUS, 

 bishop of Smyrna. 4th, JUSTINUS, or JUSTIN MAHTYR. 5th, 

 Theophilus, made bishop of Antioch about 169, died about the be- 

 ginning of the reign of Commodus : there is extant by him a work 

 in three books, addressed to Autolycus, a heathen friend of Theophilus, 

 whom he endeavoured to convert to the Christian faith. 6th, IREN.HITS, 

 bishop of Lyou. 7th, CLEMENS, TITUS FLAVIUS ALEXANDRINUS. 8th, 

 CYFMUAN, bishop of Carthage. 9th, ORIOEN of Alexandria. 10th, 

 GRKOORIUS, called Thaumaturgus. llth, Dionysius, bishop of Alex- 

 andria, also a disciple of Origen : was banished under Valerian to the 

 deserts of Libya, but was restored to his see under Gallienus, was 

 engaged in controversy with Sabellius, Nepos, and Paul of Samosata, 

 and died A.D. 265 : of his numerous writings only fragments remain. 

 12th, Tertullianus of Carthage. 



We now come to those Fathers of the Church who flourished in the 

 fourth century, after Christianity had become the religion of the 

 Empire, an a^e which may be styled the Augustan age of ecclesiastical 

 literature, for the number and the merits of the writers whom it pro- 

 duced. The fathers of this period are generally ranged in two 

 classes Fathers of the Greek or Eastern Church, and Fathers of the 



