A fruitful treatise of fasting

O with what, reverence and great honour ought we then to receive, read or hear the letters of this everlasting king and immortal god sent for our glory and for our salvation, seeing that by them not man, b•t God speaketh unto us as our saviour Christ testifieth, he that heareth you (he speaketh of the preachers of God's word) heareth me,¹ & he that despiseth you, despiseth me, & he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me. Now y• we may come reverently & humbly to the hearing of gods word, it shall not be unsitting to use our fast unto this end also, that we may come unto it with fasting & empty stomachs, that our mind and inward man may have the purer senses to understand, the clear sight to ⟨image 68⟩behold, the more open ears to hear, and the greedier stomachs to digest the holy mysteries of god For likewise as he is no mete man to pray unto God, that cometh out of the Tavern sweating and set on fire with drinking of hot wine & eating of delicious meats, so in like manner is he no fit man either to read or to hear y• word of god, that hath a full gorge and stuffed belly. The more the body is filled, the more is the mind dulled, & made unapt to receive any message from god.² But albe it y• outward man decay & be made feeble for a time, yet the inward man is renewed day by day, and made strong. And this meant the holy fathers & godly bishops of Christs church in times paste, when they appointed fasting on the evens of solemn feasts, that ⟨image 68⟩the people by their fasting might be made the more apt the day following, when they came to the ten ple, to hear the blessed word of their salvation.

O wyth what, reuerence and greate honoure oughte we then to receiue, reade or heare the letters of thys euerlastinge king and immortal god sente for oure glorye and for our saluation, seing that by them not man, b•t God speaketh vnto vs as oure sauioure Christe testifieth, he that heareth you (he speaketh of the preachers of goddes word) heareth me,