gormandize

"Papist" fasts "contain nothing but superstition, being tied to this or that day, or to fixed seasons, as if during the rest of the time they [the faithful] were at liberty to gormandize." Calvin reproached those hypocrites, who fasted "in order to atone" for their sins or "boasted of their fasting" during "Lent and other stated times." Fasting "is not a meritorious work," but when done with "purity of heart" is helpful "as an auxiliary to prayer" and "useful for subduing the flesh, or testifying our humiliation." Again, the discipline of the physical body to further religious devotion is unambiguous.