¶ 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 [the] scripture is [the] right vse therof & why [the] holy gost caused it to be writtē. That is [that] thou first seke out [the] law/ what god will haue the to doo/ interpretinge it spiritually with out glose or coueringe the brightnesse of Moses face/ so [that] 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 [that] 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 [the] father for his sake/ to take thi dedes aworth & to pardō [the] imperfectenesse of them/ & to geue the power to doo thē better and with moare feruent loue.