Preface.

Our life here on Earth / and health / it is
also the medicine against all sickness. For this
power is God’s word / and the blessing / If God
withdraws this blessing / and takes His word away
from the creature / then the fields wither / the people
perish / the rich become beggars / and neither
gathering nor laboring helps / as is seen daily /
and Holy Scripture German: "H. Geschrifft," abbreviation for "Heilige Schrift" testifies. Thus also the medicine
from the elements The four fundamental substances—earth, water, air, and fire—which early modern thinkers believed made up all physical matter does not help / the physician’s
advice is in vain / but when God the Lord gives
His Word to it / then a little bread nourishes / and
even a minor medicine helps / which otherwise
abundance / and even the best in all pharmacies original: "Apotecken"; referring to the apothecaries of the time
could not do. For just as God lets many a rich man
perish / and suffer hunger / but on the other hand
miraculously feeds the poor and hungry / so
He also helps in the most severe illnesses / against
everyone’s expectations / but where He does not
will it / man must carry the illness to the grave /
even if all physicians gathered together. But so
that man may better understand his dignity / he
should also consider why he was created / and
what his office should be / since God has set him
above everything / that He has created. Thus it is
now to be known / that man was created for this
purpose / that in flesh and blood he should be a
skillful instrument of the natural light original: "natürliches Licht"; a central Paracelsian concept referring to the innate wisdom and capacity for reason given by God to understand the physical world /
through which God reveals all the mysteries original: "Heimligkeiten"; referring to the hidden mechanisms or "secrets" of the universe of the
stars / the elements / and all of nature in all
kinds of arts / and wisdom / so that the invisible
might become visible / which would not have
happened without man. Therefore God wills
that man should not rest or be idle / but that
he remain in daily practice / to explore the
mysteries in all the gifts of God-