¶ Not withstõdinge yet I submytte this boke and all other that I haue other made or trãslated/ or shall in tyme to come (if it be goddes will that I shall further laboure in his hervest) vnto all them that submytte thẽ selves vnto the worde of god/ to be corrected of thẽ/ yee and moreover to be disalewed & also burnte/ if it seme worthy when they have examyned it wyth the hebrue/ so that they first put forth of their awne translatinge a nother that is more correcte. ¶ A prologe shewinge the vse of the scripture Though a man had a precious iuell and a rich/ yet if he wiste not the value therof nor wherfore it served/ he were nother the better nor rycher of a straw. Eyen so though we read the scripture & bable of it never so moch/ yet if we know not the vse of it/ and wherfore it was geven/ and what is theim to be sought/ it profiteth vs nothinge at all. It is not ynough therfore to read and talke of it only/ but we must also desyre god daye and night instantly to open oure eyes/ ãd to make vs vnderstond and feale wherfore the scripture was geuen/ that we maye applye the medicyne of the scripture/ every mã to his awne sores/ inlesse then we entend to be ydle disputers/ and braulers aboute vayne wordes/ ever gnawenge vppon the bitter barcke with out and newer attayninge vnto the swete pith with in/ and persequutinge one an other for defendinge of lewde imaginacions and phantasyes of oure awne invencyon ¶ Paule in y^e thyrde of y^e secõde epistle to Tymothe sayth/ y^t the scripture is good to teache (for y^t ought mẽ to teach & not dreames of their awne makĩge/ as y^e pope doth) & also to improve/ for y^e scripture is y^e twichstone y^t tryeth all doctrynes/ & by y^t we know the false from y^e true. And in the .vi. to the ephesians he calleth it the swerd of the spirite/ by cause it killeth hyppocrites and vttereth ãd improveth their false inventyons. And in the .xv. to the Romayns he sayth all that are wryten/ are wryten for oure learninge/ that we thorow pacyence and cõsorte of the scripture myght have hope. That is/ the ensamples that are in the scripture comforte vs in all oure tribulacyons/ and make vs to put oure truste in god/ and pacyently to abyde his leysure. And in the .x. of the firste to the Corinthyans he bringeth in examples of the scripture to feare vs and to bridle the fleshe/ that we caste not the yoke of the lawe of god from of oure neckes/ and fall to lustynge and doinge of evill.