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The Actes of the Apostles.
The .i. Chapter.
[ The texte.] In the former treatise (deare Theophilus) we haue spoken of all that Iesus began to do, and teache, vntyll the daye in which he was taken vp, after that he, through the holy ghost, had geuen commaundementes vnto the Apostles, whom he had chosen: to whome also he shewed himself aliue after his passion, and that by many tokens (appering vnto them fourty dayes, & speakyng vnto them of the kyngdome of God) and gathered them together and commaunded them, that they should not departe from Hierusalem: but to wayte for ye promise of the father wherof (saieth he) ye haue heard of me. For Iohn tru∣ly baptised wt water, but ye shalbe baptised with the holy ghost after these fewe daies.
NOwe haue I accomplished thone halfe of my promyse, deare frēde Theophilus, forasmuche as I cōprised in my former treatise, ye life of Iesus Christ, more groundly re∣hersyng the history, then other yt write therof, yt is to we••e euen frō the time that Iohn Baptist, which was the fore∣messagier of the Lorde, was conceaued, because ye in this same rehearsal, certaine prophecies were also disclosed, af∣firmīg by expressed wordes of promise, yt Messias should sone after come. This done, sum thinges haue I rehearsed more at large which of the other wryters were lefte vntouched, as of Christes conception, of hys byrthe, of his circumcision, and of the purificacyon of Marye, somwhat also I touched of his godly towardnes wherof he shewed a proufe & tokē being but xii. yeres olde. These thinges thought I for that cause worthy to be recited, ye by many tokens it myght bee euident, that this was he, whome the prophecies had notablye spoken of, and that euen the tender youthe of Iesus lacked not wytnesse of good menne, and of those whiche were inspired with the holy gost. And thoughe it be not to be doubted but ye Iesus whole trade of lyfe, was an excellent example of perfecte holynesse, yet those thynges omitted whiche were doone in the meane space, we passed ouer vntyll that tyme, that Iohn by his preachyng and baptisyng, began to shew hymselfe the foremessagier of Christ, forasmuche as oure lorde Iesus began from that tyme forwarde, chieflye to be occupied aboute the healthe of mannes soule, accordyngly as it was con∣teyned in the figures and darke sayinges of Moyses lawe, and in the foreshe∣winges of the prophetes. All whiche his busye endeuour, resteth in these two poyntes: in dedes, that is as muche to saye, as in workynge of myracles, suffe∣ryng paines of the crosse, and in resurrection, wher••in he lefte none of al those thynges vndoen, that either by shadowes of the lawe wer signifyed, or spoken of before by the prophetes: and in wordes, by meane whereof he taught a newe kynde of philosophie, and a ioyfull, so that we might bothe learne of him, and take example to liue a godly lyfe. All these thynges haue I treated of in ordre, euen vnto that daye, that he was receiued into heauen from whence he came, after he had arisen from death to lyfe, and commaunded his .xii. Apostles, and other his disciples to the numbre of threscore & .x. whōe he had specially chosen, to thende that they, whan thei had receiued the holy ghost (whom he euen than breathyng in the very face of them endued them with, and afterward sente the same from heauen more aboundauntlye,) shoulde go throughe all the worlde, and preache this ghospell, not to the Iewes onely, but vnto all maner nacions