Preface.

The author argues that man is unique among creatures because of his physical composition. made above all other creatures, because of the matter. For man was not made out of nothing, like heaven and earth, but was made out of a matter—that is, out of the great world—for which reason he is also called the Microcosm original: "Microcosmus"; meaning "little world," the idea that man contains the entire universe within himself. For everything that exists substantially in heaven and earth is also in man spiritually; that is, the starry body and the elemental corporeality original: "Corporalitet" shall dwell within the image of God—that is, in man—with their powers original: "virtutibus" and essences original: "essentijs". But so that the nature of man may be better understood, Theophrastus Referring to Theophrastus von Hohenheim, known as Paracelsus (1493–1541) recounts the order of creation as it was described by Moses in the Bible.

First, when there was nothing, God created through His Word a Body original: "Corpus" which was the great mystery original: "mysterium magnum"; in Paracelsian thought, the primordial chaos or first matter from which all things were separated and a beginning of all things. For this Body, He also created its living spirit, which accomplished its effects out of and through the Body, just as God ordained within that same Body. Out of this Body, God created the elements and everything that comes from them. He also gave them a spirit as a ruler, which drove out of them everything that is within them: such as all kinds of fruit from the earth; to the water, that it gives fish; to the air, its fruit; to the fire, that it burns; and from the heavens, the course of the sun, moon, and all stars.

After all this, God concluded in His divine counsel on the sixth day, after He had created all kinds of animals, that He also wished to make a human being in His image, so that he might learn to recognize his Creator from all creatures original: "Creaturen" and serve Him. Therefore, He did not take a simple clay original: "Laimen", but rather a corporeal mass original: "corporale massam" and an extract of the fifth essence original: "fünfften wesens" or Quintessence; the purest part of matter of the four elements and of the entire firmament, and made two bodies out of it: one visible and material from the visible world, to be a house for the soul, so that he might eat, drink, and multiply into the na-