Select Library of Mystics

THE AUTHOR’S PREFACE

...might be brought forth, and all that I have taken from there, I have added to them in many places, as well as other new material. Indeed, all of this can be sought and found here at the end of the Letter on Mystical Authors original: "Epistolæ de Auctoribus Mysticis" itself, under the title, The Author’s Annotations and Additions to the Preceding Letter. The Catalog of Mystical Authors which follows these Annotations is also considerably fuller than the previous ones.

It is only fair to repeat here, in his own words, what the aim of the Latin Translator and Editor was in translating and publishing these works; he writes as follows:

For a long time, the reflections not only of the Learned and the Statesmen original: "Politicorum", but also of the common people, and indeed of the Theologians themselves—whose very interests are at stake—have noticed that Christian Theology is everywhere afflicted by a double hardship. The first is that of quarrels, contentions, and discord, not only among Christians of different factions, but even among those who are devoted to the same side. The other, indeed, is ste- The text cuts off here; likely "sterility" (sterilitas), referring to a lack of practical piety.