| sig: [A1] | |
| ¶Here beginneth a lytel treatyse that sheweth how euery man and woman ought to faste and absteyne them from flesshe on the wednesday. | |
| sig: [A1v] | |
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¶Sequuntur hic decem fructus et vertilitates. Ieiunij: et abstinencie. quibus omnibus et singulis merita. ac premia. adquiruntur eterna. prout hic consequenter exarat quidam merita. merita] merista 1500
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| IEiunare quidem. castigat corpora pridem | |
| Per quod calcatur. mundus deus et peramatur | |
| Cor quoque carnale. faciet cito spirituale | |
| Hoc opus vranicum. menti dat flaminis actum | |
| 5 | Et veniam vere. peccata que vult abolere |
| Pandere misteria. poterunt ieiunia dia | |
| Sternunt et fastum. faciunt hominem fore castum | |
| Et portas celi. reserant cuicumque fideli. | |
| ¶The wednesdayes / astynence and holy fast astynence: =abstinence. | |
| Haloweth mennes soules / and maketh theym chast | |
| In the mynde wherof / clerely shall appere | |
| This lytell brefe treatyse / wryten in this manere | |
| 5 | ¶In the worshyp of Ihesu / baptyst and katheryn baptyst: =John the B. |
| Crystofre and margarete / I make this doctryne | |
| Why thou shalte fast. or flesshe leue | |
| The wednesdayes / as I shall by examples preue. | |
| Thyrty and one / yf thou wylte take hede | |
| 10 | And this lytell booke / other here or rede |
| The fyrst cause is / in the begynnynge of lent | |
| Out of the chyrche / is put the sory penytent | |
| In token of Adam / that lost paradyse | |
| For etynge of an apple / of grete pryce | |
| sig: [A2] | |
| 15 | A thousande .CC. yeres / after noes floode |
| Was no wyne dronke. ne flesshe ete to mannes fode | |
| and for caynes synne / god cursed the londe and not the see | |
| Leue thou flesshe the wednesday and with fysshe fede the / | |
| Kynge edgar / for loue of saynt katheryne | |
| 20 | Made feestes the wednesday / with flesshe and wyne |
| In a nyght to hym / a voyce was sende | |
| Thou fedest not me / but rather the fende | |
| The duke of Northfolke / with his meney | |
| Rowed out on a tyme / and drowned were they | |
| 25 | All saue the lorde / and one man in faye |
| That left flesshe-metes / vpon the wednesdaye | |
| Mercury is lorde / of marchauntes as I rede | |
| Wherfore the wednesday / they fast for good spede | |
| And as they do penaunce / for the worldes wele | |
| 30 | I counceyll do thou the same / for thy soule-hele |
| Israhell thrughe fastynge / the reed_see hath paste | |
| And Iosue the conquerour / whan that he fast | |
| All one daye the sonne abode / or Gabaon were slay | |
| Than fede the not with flesshe / vpon the wednesdaye | |
| 35 | The bysshop of halomes_harper / all this he spake |
| That dyed longe afore / he that wyll forsake | |
| Flesshe on the wednesday / shall haue rest and Ioy | |
| And for frydayes souper / shall synge wele-away | |
| sig: [A2v] | |
| Moyses fast to take the lawe / and so dyde Helys | |
| 40 | That in a fyry chare / was lyft to paradyse |
| Than leue thou flesshe the wednesdaye / and on it thynke | |
| Though thou haue but lytel more / than brede and drynke | |
| Kynge Dauyd fast for mercy / nynyue dyde the same | |
| And had forgyft of synne / that vengeaunce hym by name | |
| 45 | Than absteyne the ofte / thus sayth saynte Austyn |
| He that serueth glotony / is prompte to euery synne | |
| Danyell fasted / and sawe the preuytees of heuen | |
| And thrugh the myght of god / ouercame lyons .vii. | |
| Than fast thou whyle thou mayst / to be clene fro synne | |
| 50 | For thou ne wotest day ne houre / whan thou shalt go hyne |
| Besyde yorke a wyfe / this fastynge toke | |
| To breed and water / and ones it broke | |
| A fayre chylde her mette / reprouynge her sore | |
| Chargynge her beware / and do so no more | |
| 55 | As blyssed Bede / telleth in his boke |
| Saynt nectan on a wednesday. for etynge of a doke | |
| Was beten in his dreme / full sore of a chylde | |
| That a moneth in his skynne the strokes he felt wylde | |
| A nother cause I fynde / that on a wednesdaye | |
| 60 | Iudas ymagyned / our lorde to bytraye |
| And hym to deth do / as a seruaunt moost yll | |
| Therfore on the wednesday / somwhat leue thy wyll | |
| sig: [A3] | |
| xl. dayes Cryste fasted / euerlastynge preest and kynge | |
| Wherby his shepe sperpled / to folde he gan brynge sperpled: 'scattered' see OED s.v. sparple v | |
| 65 | And ouercame the deuyll / that dampned is foreuer |
| Than of fastynge take hede / and lustes loue thou neuer | |
| Ferthermore to the decre / I praye that thou go | |
| And rede de esu carnium: in capitulo. | |
| Where he sayth the wednesdaye / the frydaye also. | |
| 70 | Sholde be truely fasted to kepe men fro wo |
| In vitas patrum eke / who-so wyll take hede | |
| The frydaye to fast / the wednesdaye to absteyne | |
| From flesshe and fatte metes / i[t] was decreed it] is 1500 | |
| To obserue and kepe / vpon a certayne payne | |
| 75 | Saynt Nycholas a chylde / bothe holy and meke |
| The wednesdaye and frydaye / but ones he seke | |
| His moders brestes / but than he wolde them spare | |
| The holy goost hym taught / than leue thy lustes fare | |
| In Irelonde I rede / of a full grete wonder | |
| 80 | A quarrey was fall / and a man laye there-vnder. |
| And was there fyue dayes / and at last was shryue | |
| For he dyd on wednesday: forbere flessh al his lyue | |
| Ther was a ship of dartmouth: saylyng to saynt_iame | |
| They cast out a deed man / than came agayn the same | |
| 85 | and founde the body vpon the stronde / that ouer-borde was cast |
| That spake and had his rightes / for wednesday fast | |
| sig: [A3v] | |
| There was a shyp of .lxxx. called the george_of_lynne | |
| In whome there was truly / more then .C.xl. men | |
| And all were drowned / and spylled saue twaye | |
| 90 | That ete no flesshe / on the wednesdaye |
| Our lorde at his feest / blyssed brede and fysshe | |
| V.M. men he fedde / and there was no flesshe | |
| Than whan thou soupest / fysshe loke thou vse | |
| And whyte-mete at thy borde / thou shalt not refuse | |
| 95 | The wednesday in the olde lawe / was fasted truely |
| For the better helthe / bodely and goostly | |
| Than vse thou no fat meetes / that daye in thy dysshe | |
| Though thou make .ij. meles / ete white-mete or fysshe | |
| Vnder a castell wall / there was founde a man | |
| 100 | C. yere. and .l. in the duchy of Vyan |
| Thyse wordes he spake / for the wednesday | |
| Vntyll I haue a preest / I shall neuer deye | |
| In a wednesdaye forsothe / as I tell it you | |
| He began his fastynge / our lorde Ihesu | |
| 105 | Than do thou the same / I counceyll the and praye |
| All maner fatte metes / leue thou the wednesdaye | |
| Besyde brystowe I fynde / that there was a man | |
| Whiche for faute of riches / banned hym to sathan | |
| He tumbled ouer a clyffe / his body all to_brake | |
| 110 | yet he had his ryghtes / for wednesdayes sake |
| sig: [A4] | |
| The wednesday I rede / cryst heled a man | |
| Of the fallynge-euyll / and he sayd than | |
| That prayer and fastynge / take this in mynde | |
| Sholde hele that sykenesse. and a_voyde the fende | |
| 115 | At the batayll of durham / I rede there was a hede |
| Fyfty yere vnder erthe / that laye so longe deed | |
| A squyer herde a voyce / that rode the water by | |
| For wednesdayes fast / after a preest I crye | |
| For helthe of the soule / all this is spoke | |
| 120 | Now for the body / a medycyne thou loke |
| As Galyen the leche / sayth chaunge thy mele | |
| And truely thy stomake / shall haue the better hele | |
| There was in dorzet / a grete meruayll to here | |
| On a wednesday / was layde a capon to the fyre | |
| 125 | Thre houres and more / and euer he was rawe |
| Than leue thou flesshe that daye / for reasons that I shewe | |
| There was a man of lawe / besyde wodestoke | |
| That fell from his horse / his necke was to_broke | |
| For he fasted the wednesdaye / euer spake the heed | |
| 130 | Vnto I haue a preest / shall I neuer be deed |
| In the worshyp of god / and saynt katheryn | |
| Margarete and crystofre / yf thou the abstayne | |
| For flesshe on the wednesday / and for Iohan_baptyst | |
| Thou shalt not lacke: at thyn ende to haue a preest | |
| sig: [A4v] | |
| 135 | The wednesday the clargye and our faders afore |
| Forsoke flesshe / and some dyde moche more | |
| Fasted to one mele / theyr soules to saue | |
| And the kyngdome of heuen / the rather to haue | |
| The whiche he vs graunte / that hanged on the rode | |
| 140 | Cryste that vs bought / with his precyous blode |
| AMEN |