enſuing Relation being ſent out of the VVeſt Indies where it was firſt printed to a friend of mine in Spaine, & from thence by him to me, after I had read & peruſed the ſame, it ſeemed vnto me, & others alſo whoſe iudgmentes I farre preferre before mine owne, to be worthy the publike view. Whereupon I reſolued (though my neceſſary occaſions would ſcarce affoard me leaſure) to ſteale ſo much time from them as was neceſſary for the tranſlating it out of Spanish into our English tongue. More paynes and labour it coſt me then at the firſt I thought it would haue done: and I found therein that true by experience which I had often heard of others, to wit, that it is not ſo eaſy to tranſlate out of one language into another, as is commonly imagined.
Hauing at length finished the ſame, I knew not to whome I might better direct it, then to You the poore afflicted Catholikes of this our Countrey, for whoſe comfort and encouragement I did indeed principally from the beginning intend it. For although I do preſume it wilbe gratefull to all Chriſtians of what nation or nature ſoeuer they be, to vnderſtand of the propagation, increaſe, and augmentation of Chriſtian Religion in thoſe Countries where before there was neuer any notice therof, and of the conſtant perſeuerance of thoſe therein that haue ſo lately receiued and imbraced it: yet am I certainly perſwaded, that it wilbe to you much more welcome, then to any other; not only becauſe theſe moſt worthy Chriſtiãs of Iaponia wherof this relatiõ doth entreate be of the ſame Chriſtian and Catholike Fayth and Religon that you be, and not of any other priuate or particular ſect or faction, of which God knoweth there is to great a multitude in the Chriſtian world in theſe miſerable dayes of ours: but alſo by reaſon of the great likeneſſe and ſimilitude betwixt their caſe and yours.
If it be an axiome in Philoſophy, that Omne ſimile gaudet ſibi ſimili, Euery thinge doth take a particuler delight in ſuch thinges as be like vnto it ſelfe; well may it be ſuppoſed that it wilbe at leaſt ſome kind of contentment vnto you (amongſt ſo many occaſions of diſcomfort as are dayly offered) to vnderſtand of the eſtate of thoſe that in many thinges do more ſymbolize with you, then any other perſons in the world. For (omitting that they be Inhabitants of an Iland as we be, and of the greateſt Iland in thoſe partes of the world as we in theſe, of the like Climate alſo that we be, all thinges conſidered, they in a manner Antipodes to vs, and we to them) firſt of all they be but lately conuerted to the true fayth of Chriſt from Infidelity, and ſo be moſt of you from Schiſme or Hereſy, which is a kind of infidelity: to them it is graũted according to the ſaying of S. Paul, to ſuffer for theyr faith, and ſo it is to you: they be falſly ſlaundered and calumniated in many thinges by the Diuels miniſters, and ſo be you: they be perſecuted for theyr Religion, many of them to death & more to loſſe of goods by the enemies of Chriſt and his holy Church, and ſo be you, very many amongſt you hauing loſt theyr liues, and more theyr goods & liuinges for no other cauſe but only the conſtant confeſſion of the Catholike Religion. Finally they for theyr valour and conſtancy in Gods cauſe be famous in all thoſe partes of the world, yea, and in Europe alſo; and you for yours be no leſſe glorious, both in all Europe, and in the reſt of the Chriſtian world: ſo that I may well ſay both of you and them, that which the Apoſtle ſayd to the Romanes (whoſe religion both they and you imbrace) fides veſtra annuntiatur in vniuerſo mundo, your conſtancy in fayth is published and famous throughout the whole world.