Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/273

 and  with  cruel  deeds  anger  our  Lord;

but they  shall  have  their  reward  for  this  in  the  eternal  punishments.

God giveth  to  us  men  manifold  fruits,

which we  are  to  enjoy  as  far  as  may  be  safe  for  us,

that the  body  may  have  shelter  and  food,

that we  may  not  be  ensnared  by  the  pleasant  lusts

which come  from  superfluity  to  all  those

who spend  their  worldly  life  unwarily.

Let us  turn  our  will  to  God,

and in  all  things  honour  our  Creator

Who ever  ruleth  in  Eternity. Amen.

This discourse  belongeth  to  the  seventh  night  before  Lent.

In this  week  on  "Wednesday,  even  as  ye  yourselves  know,

is caput jejunii,  that  is  in  English,  Head  of  the  Lenten  Fast.

"We eat  on  the  Sundays  at  the  third  hour  and  in  the  evening,

because the  Sunday  is  so  holy

that the  man  is  liable,  if  he  will  fast  on  that  day,

to be  excommunicated,  if  he  does  so  through  self-will;

neither may  any  one  kneel  on  Sundays.

Nevertheless, we  must  both  on  Sundays

and on  other  days  shun  drunkenness  and  surfeiting,

according to  what  books  teach  us,  and  most  especially  in  Lent.

Now there  will  not  be  forty  days