Analogy of Physical and Spiritual Birth

IV Preface

IV Preface

But out of the love I owe the author, and which is so beneficial to my heart, I feel obligated to say something to the reader of these pages—something that the friend of truth The term "Friend of Truth" (Wahrheitsfreund) was a common self-designation in the 18th century for those who prioritized inner spiritual honesty over rigid church dogma who wrote them could not mention himself, and which seemed necessary to me given the current state of those who might still read such writings.

I have often come upon my friend while he was working on this piece of writing. Without ever asking him what he was writing, I could easily discern from his devotion—which gladdened my heart—and his often very noticeable emotional state Gemüthsbewegung: a term describing a deep, visible stirring of the soul or feelings, often associated in this period with a genuine religious experience, “that he was working before God, invoking His holy name, from a true fullness of heart, for his own edification Erbauung: the process of being "built up" or strengthened in one's faith and moral life, and with the honest desire to also be useful to others who seek the truth.” — A remark that one [seldom finds] in the otherwise laudable diligence of the selfish wri-