An ornate horizontal woodcut headpiece featuring a central grotesque or human-like mask with a beard, flanked by symmetrical floral scrolls, leaves, and fruit.

RATIONAL THOUGHTS

ON

GOD, THE SOUL, AND SIN.

I N T R O D U C T I O N.

1. The dignity and difficulty of the primary subject to be treated. 2. Diverse means. 3. Of which the latter belong to this place. 4. Things to be admitted. 5. Things to be excluded. 6. Division of the work into four Books.

I. If it was well and wisely warned by the Wise King A reference to King Solomon, the traditional author of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes. The specific reference is to Ecclesiastes 5:2: "Be not rash with your mouth... for God is in heaven and you are on earth." that we should not be hasty with our words when we intend to speak before God, there is no doubt that when we must speak not only before Him, but also about Him, our thoughts and words must be most seriously weighed and cautiously uttered. To err in these matters is certainly no light thing. For what else could it be to attribute imperfections to the Supreme and Most Perfect Being original: "Enti Summo, Perfectissimoque"—which is no different from erring in these matters—than to deny His Nature, or to transform Him into an idol and cover Him with dishonor? To present God as deformed to oneself or to others is more serious and absurd for a person than if they were to present themselves poorly formed before God; which latter act, at the very least, is held as a fault of rashness.

II. There is no doubt that those who have followed God with due honor have also acknowledged Him as is fitting, and have strived to make Him known more and more to themselves and to others. But among the means by which they promoted this, they carefully distinguished those which consist of internal work and affection from those which are accomplished by reasoning reasoning: "ratiocinio," the systematic logical process of reaching a conclusion. and discourse, and they placed the former above the latter. Having embraced God in their own minds, they presented Him to others through similar labor to be accepted,