¶ And in lyke maner sens the world beganne / where soeuer repentaunce was offered and not receaued / there God toke cruell vengeaunce immediatly: as ye se in ye floud of Noe / in the ouerthrowēge of Sodō & Gomor & all the contre aboute: & as ye se of Egipte / of the Amorites / Cananites & afterwarde of the very Israelites / & then at the last of the Iewes to / ād of the Assyriens and Babyloniens and so thorout all the imperes of the world.
¶ Gyldas preached repētaunce vn to ye olde Britaynes that inhabited englōd: they repented not / & therfore God sent in theyr enimies vppō thē on euery side & destroyed thē vpp & gaue the lōd vn to other naciōs. And greate vengeaunce hath bene takē in that lande for synne sens that tyme.
¶ Wicleffe preached repētaunce vn to oure fathers not longe sens: they repēted not for their hertes were indurat & theyr eyes blinded with their awne Pope holy rightwesnesse wherwith they had made theyr soules gaye agenst the receauinge agayne of ye weked spirite that bringeth .vii. worse then hym selfe with him & maketh ye later ende worse then the beginninge: for in open sinnes there is hope of repentaunce / but in holy ypocrisie none at all. But what folowed? they slew their true & right kinge ād sett vpp .iii. wrōge kīges arow / vnder which all the noble bloud was slayne vpp ād halfe the comēs therto / what in fraunce & what with their awne swerde / in fightīge amonge thē selues for ye crowne / & ye cities and townes decayed and the land brought halfe in to a wyldernesse in respecte of that it was before.
¶ And now Christ to preach repētaunce / is resen yet ōce agayne out of his sepulchre in which the pope had buried him and kepte him downe with his pilars and polaxes and all disgysinges of ypocrisie / with gyle / wiles and falshed / ād with the swerd of al princes which he had blynded with his false marchaundice. And as I dowte not of ye ensamples that are past / so am I sure that greate wrath will folow / excepte repētaunce turne it backe agayne and cease it.
¶ When Ionas had bene in [te] fishes bely a space & the rage of his conscience was somewhat quieted ād swaged and he come to him selfe agayne and had receaued a lytle hope / the qualmes & panges of desperaciō which went ouer hys hert / halfe ouercome / 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 yt 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 ye wisdome of god & led Ionases wil cōtrary vn to ye 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.