Preface.

Thus the soul is a breath from the mouth of God / and is the center within man / for her seat is in the heart / and she is the heart in the midst of man / and all other spirits, good and evil, dwell within her.

So there are now three operations German: "wirckungen"; refers to the distinct ways the different parts of a human function or act upon the world in man / the first is of the visible body / from the elements / such as eating / drinking / and other necessities / all of which, if it falls into excess, should not be attributed to Heaven / which creates no vice / but to the flesh and blood / which through vice drives the good spirit away from itself / and sets Satan in its place. The second operation is of the invisible body / which is received from Heaven / and is in man the human reason / earthly wisdom and art / in which body the natural light alone operates / for the sidereal spirit The "sidereal spirit" refers to the astral or starry influence that Paracelsian philosophy believed governed the mind and intellect teaches man everything that the natural light is capable of / so that he may recognize / and reveal all natural mysteries original: "Mysteria" of the elements and of the firmament / for which purpose man was created / so that nothing remains hidden. The third operation is of the soul and of the Spirit of God / which alone teaches us Divine virtue / and teaches us to recognize God and His Kingdom / and to understand the prophets / and the entire Bible / and without this Spirit we understand nothing heavenly or spiritual / everything is earthly / and everything that we do toward God / and God toward us / happens through the soul of man / which is invisible / but the works that follow from her make her visible.

Although man is created from the best matter / there are nevertheless many species of men / such as sheep-men / wolf-men / fox-men / viper-men / swine-men / etc. as Chri-