Certain Precepts of the Instruction of Youth, Title page – Dedication 2
❧Certeyne Preceptes / gathered by Hulrichus Zuinglius / declaring howe the Ingenious youth ought to be inſtructed and brought vntounto Chriſt.
¶Tranſlated oute of latin into Inglyſh by Maſter Richarde Argentyne Doctour in Phyſyck.
IMPRINTED at Ippeſwich by Anthony Scoloker. Dwellyng in. S. Nycholas Parryſhe. Anno. 1548.
¶Cum Priuilegio ad imprimendum ſolum.
VntoUnto the ryght worſhypfull Maſter Edwarde Grymeſtō / Richarde Argentyne / wyſſheth peace and health in Ieſu Chriſte.
FOr as moch as Ieſu chriſt vntounto whome the children were offred / Math. xix. to thintent he ſhulde laye hys handes vppon them and praye / with a fauourable countenaū ce receauing the ſame / declared that he came to be a ſauiour alſo of ſoche / becauſe the very infauntes (as well as other of greater age) through the ſinne of Adam / had nede of the grace of God / and the ſame being receaued of Chriſt / are made the Cytezens of the kingdome of heauen. theſe of iuſte cauſe / are mooſt worthye prayſe / that ſhewe the very nere and next waye / howe ſuche maye be trayned vntounto Chriſte / that as yet hauehave not the parfect vſe of reaſon / wherby fayth maye the more ſurely be graffed in them / withoute the whych it is impoſſyble to pleaſe God. For like as the ſhipmā that apointeth his iorney into forraine coūtreis / though his ſhyp be neuer ſo well tackled / or neuer ſo good of ſayle / being without his compaſſe / wherby (in tēpeſtuous and darke ſtormes / and in the longe and obſcure nyghtes / he maye knowe vppon what coaſte to decline) thinketh him ſelf naked / euē ſo the yonge ād tender age / albeit it be neuer ſo well natured and indued with godly graces / yet of it ſelfe it is but naked / being without a guide declaring the right waie / and of nature more prone to vice than to vertue. Where therfore God hath geuen vntounto you a Childe of great towardnes / furniſſhed alſo with the giftes of nature as moche as maie be. VntoUnto whome (for your ſake) I am bounde to owe my ſeruice in all that I am able to do. I hauehave trāſlated this litle boke / amōgeſt other for the ſame moſt neceſſary. That by him / the reſt of the youth that cuſtomably is very groſly brought vp / maye the better be brought to the knowledge of god / ād his holy worde / ād be trayned in vertue / to the comforte of their parētes / ād to their owne great commodite. Fare you well. From Ippeſwich this xxviij of Ianuary. An. 1548.
VntoUnto Gerolde Meier a very good youngman / Huldrichus Zuinglius wiſſheth grace and peace from God and our lord Ieſus Chryſte.
WHEN of late as thou diddeſt returne from the baynes / e…ery man receaued the with glad harte / (my mooſt dere yonge frende Gerolde) and dyuers willed to honoure the with giftes. I thought I ſhulde be vtterly voide of al ciuilite if I ſhuld not preſent the wyth ſome manner of gifte ſpecially ſeyng this cuſtume to vſe to honour thoſe that baine thēſelues is comonely vſed amongeſt frendes / amōgeſt whome / for two cauſes I accounte the. The one is / becauſe thou doeſt fortunately employ thy dyligence to learning / and the other / becauſe thou art in wages vnd the ſtandard of my frende Glareane. And when I ſought longe with my ſelfe / what thīg might be mooſte acceptable vntounto the / at length / I found that it muſt be / eyther holy or learned / or both / that ſhulde ſerue vntounto thy pleaſure. For lyke as of nature thou appereſt to be borne vntounto godlines and vertue / ſo euen nowe of thyne owne accorde thou doeſt ſhewe forth the frutes of …rbanite and elegantie the which truly are ſomewhat ripe before tyme / and therfore are they the more pleſaunt. Wherfore albeit that ſearching ouer with dylygē ce all my learned ſtuffe / when by no waye I coulde parforme the thinge / it remayned / that I ſhuld buy your fauoure / with certeyne Godly thinges / apparteining as well to the health of the body as of the ſoule / ād cōducing vntounto vertue. Where therfore in times paſt / I had / vppon counſell taken with my ſelfe / begonne to make a booke howe the ingenious youth ought to be inſtructed / ād diuers diſturbaūt lettes had delaied my purpoſe (as the caſe ād ſtate is of thinges preſent nowe a dayes) yet as I thought of the forenamed gifte / laying watche carefully to choſe a thinge conuenient / the memory of my olde taken coūſell came into my minde. Ande albeit that I ſee the mooſt parte of men to be carefull / howe they maye dedicate their labour being finiſſhed / vntounto ſome worthie patrone / to me it fortuned contrarie / for he is preſent ād redie / vntounto whome the thī ge ought to be dedicate. But I lacke leaſure and thoſe ix yeres vntill the which time this worke ought to be ſuppreſſed. Wherfore betwixt theſe two incomodities / that vtterly ſome thinge muſt be ſent vntounto the / and that my buſynes doth not permitte the ſame to be done worthelie / I hauehave foū de howe preſently / it maie be ſatiſfied vntounto vsus both / I my ſelfe hauehave ſtolen ſo moch tyme / that without great aduyſement I hauehave gathered to gether a fewe preceptes. And truly / generally they ought to be fewe / but well beſtowed / leaſt …o moch copie ſhuld make lothſomenes. For ſo almooſt it commeth to paſſe / that thinges that are with a ſparing hand drawen forth are taken in with the more gredy ſtomake. The which thynges thou ſhalt not eſteme after the place from whence they hauehave their fyrſt originall / but according vntounto the meaning and intent of him from whence they procede. For Godly thinges / we maye without diſſimulation promis / if in oure ſelues we are not voide of grace / But to promiſe learned thinges / it is a ſhame / although thou thy ſelfe be neuer ſo well learned. The fyrſt preceptes conteyne in them / howe the tender and yonge minde of an Ingenious ſtrippling is to be adorned / in thoſe thinges that apparteyne vntounto God. The ſeconde / howe in thoſe thynges that apparteine vntounto hym ſelfe. The thirde / howe in thoſe thinges that apparteine vntounto other. And here / it is not oure purpoſe to beginne from the ſwadlingbanddes / nor yet from the firſt rudimentes / but from that age the whiche beginneth to hauehave the vſe of diſcretion and witte / and beginneth to ſwimme (as the prouerbe ſaith) without a barke / in the which age euen nowe thou thy ſelfe arte. Theſe (as I truſt) thou wilt reade diligently / and wilt tranſforme thy ſelfe into them / that vntounto other alſo / thou maieſt exhibyt a liuely example and token of the ſame. The which Chriſt the mightie lorde graunt vntounto the. So be it. At Straeſburch the Calendes of Auguſte 15. 32.