A fruitful treatise of fasting

The second cause why we ought to use fasting is,¹ that we abstaining from meats, may have to give unto the pore and hungry the more liberally. For this kind of fasting pleaseth God greatly, when he seeth that we have so put on the bowels of tender mercy & are led with such and so hearty compassion toward our pore neighbour, that we can not find in our heart he should want, yea rather then he should lack, we will spare it out of our own belli & give it him, god right well accepteth this fast, and blesseth the faster with plenty and abundance, as the wise man saith ⟨image 58⟩He that hath pity on the poor,² maketh the Lord his debtor, and look what he layeth out, it shall be payed him again. Unto this manner of fasting doth God exhort us by the Prophet,³ where he sayeth, break thy bread to the hungry, and lead the needy and wayfaring men into thine house. When thou seest a naked man, cover him, and despise not thy flesh. What it is to break thy bread to the hungry, we heard afore in the .xiii. chapter.⁴ The angel of God told Thobye▪ that when fasting prayer and alms deeds go together, that is good and accepted in the Lords sight It is written in a certain •oke called Pastor (the author whereof⁵ they say Hermas. S. Pauls disciple was) on this manner: On that day that thou shalt fast, ⟨image 59⟩thou shalt taste nothing at all but bread and water, & when thou hast counted the quantity of the meat that thou wast wont to eat on the other days, the cost y• thou shouldest make on that day that thou fastest lay it up,⁶ & give it to the widow, to the fatherless children, or to the poor man, and so shalt thou fast a good fast, that he which hath received it of thee, may fill his soul, and that his prayer may go unto the lord for thee. If thou fulfillest thy fast on this manner, as I command thee, thy sacrifice shall be acceptable to the Lord, and thy fast shall be written in the book of life.