The preface and introduction into the history of the Passion and death of Christ.

AMong all the histories
gentle reader that any
time haue bene written
fro~ the beginning of the
world vnto 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 annotatio~s
and many wholesom & godly instructions
and declarations of the harder
places adioyned vnto 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

A.ii.

although he vsed men as instrume~ts
therunto which onely is truth, & fro~
whom proceadeth nothing but truth.
So by it is sette forthe vnto vs the
springe and ground of our saluation,
namely the passio~ and death of Christ
the price of our redemption, the onely
pacifieng of the wrath of god towarde
vs, & 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
lo~g or further declaratio~ either of
ye certaintie therof, wherof no christia~
man hauing ye feare of god before his
eies hath euer douted: or of the co~moditie
comming vnto vs by the same,
whiche is so amply and manifestly set
forth in the treatise it selfe. But for as
much as it is writte~ in a stra~ge 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 wa~t
the vse of so fruitefull a worke, I was
moued and thought good both for the
aduau~cement of the glory of god, and
also for our brethrens farther encrease
of knowledge, to bestow some labour
at such conuenie~t 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.