title="23">  he prayed / as he maketh menciō in the texte sayēge: Ionas prayed vn to the lord his god out of the bely of the fishe. But the wordes of that prayer are not here sett. The prayer y^t here stondeth in the texte / is the prayer of prayse & thākesgeuēge which he prayed and wrote when he was escaped and past all ieopardie.

¶ In the end of which prayer he sayth / I will sacrifice with the voyce of thankesgeuenge and paye that I haue vowed / that sauinge cometh of the lorde. For verely to cōfesse out of the herte / that all benefites come of God / euen out of the goodnesse of his mercie and not deseruinge of oure dedes / is the only sacrifice that pleaseth God. And to beleue that god only is the sauer / is the thynge that all the Iewes vowed in theyr circumcision / as we in oure baptim. Which vowe Ionas now tawght with experiēce / promiseth to paye. For those outwarde sacrifices of bestes / vn to which Ionas had haply asscribed to moch before / were but feble & childish thinges & not ordeyned / that the workes of thē selues shuld be a seruice     vn to god / but vn to the people / to put thē in remembraunce of this inwarde sacrifice of thankes & of faith to trust and beleue in God the only sauer. Which significacion when was awaye / they were abhominable and deuellysh ydolatrye and imageseruice: as oure ceremonies and sacramentes are become now to all that trust & beleue in the werke of them and ar not taught the significacions / to edifye theyr soules with knowlege and the doctrine of God.

¶ When Ionas was cast vppō lond agayne / then his will was fre ād had power to goo whother God sent him & to doo what God bade / his awne imaginacions layed a parte. For he had bene at a new scole / ye ād in a fornace where he was purged of moch refuse & droshe of fleshly wisdome / which resisted y^e wisdome of god & led Ionases wil cōtrary vn to y^e will of god. For as ferre as we be blynd in Adam / we can not but seke & will oure awne profitt / pleasure & glorie. And as ferre as we be taughte in the sprite / we can not but seke & wyll the pleasure and glorie of God only.

  ¶ And as for the .iij. dayes iourney of Niniue / whether it were in length or to goo rounde aboute it or thorow all the stretes / I cōmitte vn to the discreciō of other men. But I thinke that it was then the greatest citie of the world.

¶ And that Ionas wēt a dayes iourney in the citie / I suppose he did it not in one daye: but wēt fayre & easyly preachīge here a sermon & there a nother & rebuked the synne of the people for which they must perishe.

¶ And when thou art come vn to the repētaunce of the Niniuites / there hast thou sure ernest / that how soeuer angre god be / yet he remembreth mercie vn to all that truly repent and beleue in mercie. Which ensample oure sauioure Christ also casteth in the teeth of the indurat Iewes sayenge: the Niniuites shall rise in iudgemēt with this nation and condemne them / for they repented at the preachynge of Ionas / and beholde a greater thē Ionas here / meanynge of hym selfe. At whose preachinge yet / though it were neuer so mightie to perce the herte / & for all his miracles therto / the hard herted   Iewes coude not repent: when the heathen Niniuites repented at the bare preachynge of Ionas rebukinge theyr synnes with out any miracle at all.

¶ Why? for y^e Iewes had leuēded the spirituall law of God and with theyr gloses had made it all to gether erthie ād fleshly / and so had sett a vayle or coueringe on Moses face / to shodowe and darken y^e glorious brightnesse of his contenaunce. It was synne to stele: but to robbe wedowes howses vnder a coloure of longe prayēge / & to polle in the name of offeringes / and to snare y^e people with intollerable cōstitucions agēst all loue / to ketch theyr money out of theyr purses / was no synne at all.

¶ To smyte father ād mother was synn: But to withdraw helpe frō them at theyr nede / for blynde zele of offeringe / vn to the profytt of the holy phareses / was then as meritorious as it is now to let all thy kynne chose wheter they will synke or sweme / while thou byldest and makest goodly fundatiōs for holy people which thou hast chosen to be thy christe / for to sowple thy soule   with the oyle of theyr swete blessynges / & to be thy Iesus for to saue thy soule from y^e purgatory of the bloud that only purgeth synne / with theyr watchīge / fastīge / wolward goinge & rysynge at mydnyght etc. where wyth yet they purge not them selues from theyr couetousnesse / pryde / lechury or any vyce that thou seyst amonge the laye people.

¶ It was greate synne for Christ to heale the people on the sabboth daye vn to the glorie of God hys father / but none at all for them to helpe theyr catell vnto theyr awne profett.

¶ It was synne to eate wyth vnwashen handes or on an vnwashen table / or out of an vnwashen dish: but to eate out of that purifyed dysh that which came of brybery / theft & extorsion / was no synne at all.

¶ It was exceadynge meritorious to make many dyscyples: But to teach them to feare God in hys ordynaunces / had they no care at all.

¶ The hye prelates so defended the ryght of holy church ād so feared the people with   the curse of God & terreble paynes of hell / that no man durst leaue the vilest herke in hys gardeyne vntythed. And the offerynge and thynges dedycat vn to God for the profitt of hys holy vycars where in soch estymacion and reuerēce / that it was moch greater synne to sweare truly by them / thē to forswere thy selfe by God: what vengeaunce then of God / and how terreble and cruell damnacion thynke ye preached they to fall on thē that had stolen soch holy thīges? And yet sayth Christ / that ryghtwesnesse ād faith in kepynge promise / mercie and indyfferent iudgement were vtturly troden vnder fote and cleane dispysed of those blessed fathers / whych so mightely mayntened Arons patrimony ād had mad it so prosperous ād enuironed it and walled it aboute on euery syde with y^e feare of god / that noman durst twech it.

¶ It was greate holynesse to garnysh y^e sepulchres of y^e prophetes & to cōdemne their awne fathers for sleynge of them: and yet were they thē selues for blinde zele of their awne cōstituciōs / as ready as their fathers   to sle whosoeuer testified vn to them / the same trueth which the prophetes testified vn to theyr fathers. So that Christ cōpareth all the rightwesnesse of those holy patriarkes vn to the outwarde bewtye of a paynted sepulchre full of stench and all vn clennesse wythyn.

¶ And finally to begyld a mans neyboure in sotle bargeninge and to wrappe and cōpase him in with cauteles of the law / was then as it is now in the kingdome of y^e Pope. By the reason where of they excluded the law of loue out of theyr hertes / ād cōsequētly all true repentaunce: for how coude they repēt of y^t they coude not se to be sinne?

¶ And on the other syde they had sett vpp a rightwesnesse of holy