Quare in hoc numero quadragenario ieiunium obseruamus, triplex racio assignatur.
Now wol I telle wherfore and whi
fourty dayes fasten we,
th[r]e causes here apertelye
I finde be good autorite.
the furst cause says saint Austyn
whi fourte dayes fasten we
ny no mo ny ther-withynne,
But euen fourty, ȝe schun se.
Matheu in his euangely
from Abraham til Crist comen was
Generacions euen fourty
He settes, as book, mynd maas,
And fro Crist light in-to mon-kynde
in fourty generacioun
vs of bale to vnbynde
And to blis make vs boun,
Right as he that tyme doun light
vs to deliuer in-to lee
out of pyne [we] wer in pyght
Thurgh dethe opon the rode tre,
So that tyme we shul us dyght
thurght good life wit him to be,
and aȝayn oure foo to fight,
that maad us bonde that furst wer fre.
