workes / to clense theyr soules with all: as the Pope sanctifieth vs with holy oyle / holy bred / holy salt / holy candels / holy dome ceremonies ād holy dome blessynges / and with what soever holynesse thou wilt saue with the holynes of Gods worde which only speaketh vn to the herte and sheweth the soule hir filthynesse and vnclennesse of synne / and leadeth   hir by y^e waye of repentaunce vn to y^e fountayne of Christes bloude to washe it awaye thorow faith. By the reason of which false rightwesnesse they were dysobedient vn to the rightwesnesse of God / which is the forgeuenesse of synne in Christes bloude and coude not beleue it. And so thorow fleshly interpretynge the law ād false imagined rightwesnesse / their hertes were hardened ād made as stony as clay in an hote furnace of fire / that they coude receaue nether repentaunce ner faith or any moyster of grace at all.

¶ But the hethen Niniuites / though they were blynded with lustes a good / yet were in thofe .ii. poyntes vncorrupte and vnhardened / & therfore with the only preachinge of Ionas came vn to the knowlege of their synnes and confessed them & repented truly & turned euery man from his euell dedes & declared theyr sorow of hert & true repentaunce / with theyr dedes which they dyd out of faith & hope of forgeuenesse / chastysinge their bodies with prayer & fastinge & with takinge all pleasures from the flesh:   trustynge / as god was angre for their wekedness / even so shuld he forgeue them of hys mercye / yf they repēted & forsoke their mysse lyuinge.

¶ And in the last ende of all / thou hast yet a goodly ensample of lernynge / to se how erthye Ionas is styll for all hys tryenge in the whales bely. He was so sore displeased because the Niniuites perished not / that he was wery of hys lyfe and wished after the deeth for very sorow & payne / that he had loost the glorie of his prophesienge / in that his prophesie come not to passe. But god rebuked him with a likenesse sayenge: it greueth thyne hert for the losse of a vile shrobbe or spraye / wheron thou bestoweddest no loboure or cost / nether was it thyne handwerke. How moch moare then shuld greue myne herte / the losse of so greate a multitude of innocētes as are in Niniue / which are all myne handes werke. Nay Ionas / I am God ouer all / and father as well vn to the hethen as vn to the Iewes ād mercifull to all and warne yer I smyte: nether threte I so cruelly by any prophete / but that I wyll     forgeue yf they repent ād ax mercie: nether on the other syde / what soeuer I promyse / wyll I fulfyll it / saue for theyr sakes only whych trust in me and submitte them selues to kepe my lawes of very loue / as naturall chyldern.

On thys maner to read y^e scripture is y^e right vse therof & why y^e holy gost caused it to be writtē. That is y^t thou first seke out y^e law / what god will haue the to doo / interpretinge it spiritually with out glose or coueringe the brightnesse of Moses face / so y^t thou fele in thyne hert / how that it is damnable synne before god / not to loue they neyboure that is thyne enimie / as puerly as Christ loued the / and y^t not to loue thy neyboure in thyne herte / is to haue cōmitted all ready all synne agenst him. And therfore vn tyll that loue become / thou must knowlege vnfaynedly that there is synne in the best dede thou doest. And it must ernestly greue thyne hert and thou must washe all thy good dedes in christes bloude / yer they can be pure and an acceptable sacrifice vn to God / and must desire   god y^e father for his sake / to take thi dedes aworth & to pardō y^e imperfectenesse of them / & to geue the power to doo thē better and with moare feruent loue.

¶ And on the other syde thou must serch diligently for the promises of mercie which God hath promised the agayne. Which .ii. poyntes / that is to wete / y^e lawe spiritually interpreted / how that all is dānable synne that is not vnfayned loue out of the grownde and botom of the herte after the ensample of Christes loue to vs / because we be all equally created ād formed of one god oure father / and indifferently bought & redemed with one bloud of oure sauioure Iesus Christe: ād that the promises be geuen vn to a repentynge soule that thursteth and longeth after them / of the pure and fatherly mercie of god thorow oure faith onely with oute al deseruinge of oure dedes or merites of oure werkes / but for Christes sake alone and for the merites ād deseruinges of his werkes / deth and passions that he sofered all to gether for vs & not for him selfe: whych .ii. poyntes I saye / if they be     written in thine herte / are the keyes which so open all the scripture vn to the / that no creature can locke the out / and with which thou shalt goo in and out / and finde pasture and fode euery where. And yf these lesons be not writtten in thyne herte / then is all the scripture shutt vpp / as a cornell in the shale / so that thou mayst read it and comen of it and reherse all the stories of it and dispute sotilly and be a profounde sophister / and yet vnderstond not one Iot therof.

¶ And thridly that thou take the stories & liues which are cōteyned in the bible / for sure ād vndowted ensamples / y^t God so will deale with vs vn to the worldes ende.

¶ Here with Reader farewell and be commended vn to God / and vn to the grace of hys spryte. And first se that thou stoppe not thyne eares vn to the callynge of god / and that thou harden not thine herte begyled with fleshly interpretinge of the law & false imagined and ypocritish rightwesnesse / and so the Niniuites ryse with the at y^e day of iudgement & condemne the.

  ¶ And secōdarily if thou finde ought amisse / when thou seyst thy selfe in the glasse of Gods worde / thynke it cōpendious wisdome / to amende y^e same betymes / moneshed & warned by the ensample of other men / rather thē to tary vntill thou be beten also.

¶ And thridly if it shall so chaunce / that y^e wild lustes of thy flesh shall blynd the and carie the cleane awaye with them for a tyme: yet at the later ende / when y^e god of all mercie shall haue compased the in on euery syde with tēptaciōs / tribulacions / aduersities & cōbraunce / to bringe y^e home agayne vn to thyne awne herte / & to set thy sinnes wich thou woldest so fayne couer & put out of mynd with delectaciō of voluptuous pastymes / before y^e eyes of thy cōscience: then call y^e faithfull ensample of Ionas & all lyke stories vn to thy remēbraunce / ād with Ionas turne vn to thi father that smote y^e: not to cast y^e awaye / but to laye a corosie ād a freatīge playster vn to