Preface

...the greedy are never satisfied until the earth covers them, according to the proverb: They shall be content with a sarcophagus original Latin: Sarcophago contenti erunt; they do not stop until someone closes their eyes for them;

Much is said about the Jews—that they are immeasurably greedy for money, usurious and exploitative, lying and deceitful. Let no one wonder at this, for they are a heathen people The author uses "heathen" here in a derogatory sense common to the 17th century to denote those outside the Christian faith who no longer know what they believe; and the fraud carried out by them is not their fault, but that of the authorities who tolerate them. Among us Christians, however, there is a race or kind of people called smoke-selling chemists original Latin: fumivendulos Chymicos; "selling smoke" was a common idiom for selling worthless illusions or non-existent secrets, or Chemical Sophists practitioners who use clever but fallacious arguments to deceive people into believing they possess the secret of gold-making, Alchemical Gold-Beetles a derogatory term for those who scurry after gold but produce nothing of value, and deceitful Smoke-Sellers. These act even worse, and are not at all like the Jews, but must be regarded as something else—indeed, as much "higher" in their craft. These can handle their business much more artfully and, in the eyes of many, more sincerely than all others. They have learned their craft so exceedingly well that one does not realize they have been cheated and led astray until the deceivers have become invisible, and no one knows where they have gone. These promise people that they will teach them...