EXHORTATORY PRELUDE

AN ENCOURAGING INTRODUCTION,

In which the Author clearly teaches that this little work contains nothing foreign that does not

with the authority of Holy Scripture and the Holy Doctors of the Church, as well as the unassailable experiments of observation,

As I prepare to set forth this Ecstatic Journey Itinerarium exstaticum: a spiritual and intellectual voyage through the cosmos, framed as a vision or dream, I have decided to first reveal my mind to the curious Reader regarding several matters that are absolutely necessary to know. In this way, the Reader may traverse the path through the heavenly regions—which we are about to open—with the hoped-for benefit, and walk through the hidden paths of higher nature with an unhindered foot. I confess that many things occur within it which might not undeservedly seem entirely new, paradoxical, and unheard of until now to someone inexperienced in the study of nature. However, far from being so, there is nothing so unusual or wonderful in this entire line of reasoning that does not, for the most part, [align] with the sacred fonts of the heavenly Oracle original: "sacris cœlestis Oraculi fontibus" — a poetic reference to the Bible or divine revelation, the doctrine of the Holy Fathers Patrum doctrina: the teachings of the early Christian theologians and authorities, and the nearly unanimous opinion of the astronomical philosophers Astronomici Philosophi: a term used for astronomers in the 17th century, reflecting the era's view of science as "natural philosophy" of our time.