The Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, Title page – Preface
A briefe reherſal of the death reſurrectiō, & aſcention of Chriſt, gathered together oute of ye foure Euangeliſtes and Actes of the Apoſtles by the moſt godly and great learned man Huldriche Zuinglius, written firſt in Latin, and now trāſlated into Engliſhe, that ſuch as vnderſtande not the Latin tongue ſhould not wante the vſe of ſo worthy and profitable a treatiſe.
¶Peruſed and allowed according to the order appointed in the Quenes maieſties Iniunctions.
❧The preface and introduction into the hiſtory of the Paſsion and death of Chriſt.
AMong all the hiſtories (gentle reader) that any time hauehave bene written frō the beginning of the world vntounto this preſent was there neuer any to be compared to the hiſtorie of the Paſſion, reſurrection, and aſcenſion of Chriſt, written moſt exactly by ye foure Euangeliſts, albeit diſperſed and in ſondry places, and aptely not without great trauell and payne gathered in due order by ye moſt godly & wel learned man Zuinglius, with certaine briefe annotatiōs and many wholeſom & godly inſtructions and declarations of the harder places adioyned vntounto it by the ſame man for the eaſier vnderſtanding to ye reader, which hiſtory as it is moſt certaine and true, for that no percel therof was written but by the holy ghoſte (although he vſed men as inſtrumēts therunto) which onelyonly is truth, & frō whom proceadeth nothing but truth. So by it is ſette forthe vntounto vsus the ſpringe and ground of our ſaluation, namely the paſſiō and death of Chriſt the price of our redemption, the onelyonly pacifieng of the wrath of god towarde vsus, & way to eternal ioy which Paule affirmeth to be great and wonderful & ſuch as neither eye hath ſene, neither eare hath heard, nor heart can imagin but what ſhal I nede now to make any lōg or further declaratiō either of ye certaintie therof, wherof no chriſtiā man hauing ye feare of god before his eies hath euer douted: or of the cōmoditie comming vntounto vsus by the ſame, whiche is ſo amply and manifeſtly ſet forth in the treatiſe it ſelfe. But for as much as it is writtē in a ſtrāge tonge namely in latin which ye multitude of our countrey vnderſtand not, and alſo (which is much to be lamented) manie of theſe which are in place of teachers, ſuch is the infelicitie of this our time, leſt theſe I ſay ſhuld vtterly wāt the vſe of ſo fruitefull a worke, I was moued and thought good both for the aduaūcement of the glory of god, and alſo for our brethrens farther encreaſe of knowledge, to beſtow ſome labour at ſuch conueniēt leaſure as I coulde well ſpare, to turne it into our Engliſh tongue plainly and truly without all arte or eloquence, as one tendyng nothing els but the endes aforeſaide, which if I obtein, I ſhal accompt my labours right wel beſtowed, minding alſo farther to trauail in the ſame kind of labor, if I ſhall ſe by this that my labour hath bene profitable.