"There dwelt once in Flanders a band of young men who indulged in
every kind of folly and wickedness. They practised drinking, dicing,
swearing, harping and dancing day and night, and in this unhallowed
way of life they never thought how they racked anew the poor tortured
limbs of our dear Lord Jesus. Brethren, there are many great and
grievous sins, but among the most deadly are drunkenness and
gluttony, for the glutton makes his belly his God and bows down to
that, enslaving the whole world to his appetite. Doth not the
scripture say, 'There walk many enemies of Christ's cross, whose end
is death, because they have made their appetite as their God'? How
foul and loathsome a sight is a drunkard! He who is mastered by this
horrible habit of drink loses both reason and sense, and all that
distinguishes a man from a brute. My dear brethren, keep you from
wine, from red wine and white. Remember the teaching of Holy Church;
remember how in the days of the Old Testament all great victories
were won by men who abstained from strong wines. Remember what
history tells of the sad end of those who, overcome by drink, have
been foully done to death. Read, mark and learn, my brethren, hear
and abstain.

"Beware of gambling and dice and false swearing. How many good men
have been undone by these! Doth not the scripture say, 'Swear not at
all'? Yet alas! how many befoul their mouths with blasphemy and
besmirch their souls with false oaths. Do you not so, good people.
Keep your mouths free from such pollution, look to your lips that
they speak no guile.

"And now to my story.

"These three revellers I told you of were one morning early sitting