HOW GOOD DOUGHTERS OUGHT TO FAST THEY BE MARYED.
ALSO, my dere doughters, ye ought to faste tyll that ye be maryed thre or foure dayes in the weke, for the better to adaunte your flesshe, that it meue not ouermoche, for to kepe yow more clene and holyly in the seruyce of god, whiche shal kepe and guerdome yow double. And yf ye may not faste the thre dayes, yet at the lest fast frydaye in thonoure of the precious blood and of the passion of jhesu crist that suffred deth for vs. And yf ye faste it not to brede & water, atte lest take no thyng that suffreth deth, for it is a moche good thyng: as I haue herd telle of a knyght, a moche noble man that was in a batayle of Crysten men ageynst the sarasyns. It happed that a Crysten man had his heede smyten of with a swerde, and spack after tyll that the preest cam and confessid hym. And he demaunded of hym for what meryte it was that he myzt speke withoute the body. And the hede answerd hym, that no goode dede was done to god, but that it gate grace, and that he had kepte the wednesdaye fro etyng of flesshe, in thonoure of the sone of god that was thenne sold, and the frydaye he ete no thyng that suffred deth; and for this seruyce god wold not that he shold be dampned, ne that he shold deye in dedely synne whereof he was not confessid. This is a moche fayre example, and ought to be remembryd, that such thynge as suffreth deth ought not be eten on the fryday. And also, my faire doughters, it is moche good to faste the saterday in thonoure of oure lady and of her hooly vyrgynyte, to thende that she gete grace for yow for to kepe clene youre vyrgynyte and youre chastyte in the grace of god, and in the loue of youre frendes, that none euyll temptacions ouer maystrye yow not, and hit is a grete vyctory ageynst the flesshe and a moche hooly thyng. And I say to yow for trouthe, that it shalle be to yow a lyght thyng yf26
