Preface.

devotion Original: Andacht. In this context, it refers to the focused state of worship or the internal spirit of the person praying. sometimes likes to stop and start praying more than once; it is also not accustomed to binding itself strictly to words, nor can it always first study an elaborate Original: künstliche. In early modern German, this implies something "artfully" or "skillfully" constructed, often referring to a logical or rhetorical structure that might feel forced during emotional distress. order of its thoughts. I also knew very well that, on God's side, His hearing of our prayers is not bound by any of these things. Especially since the gift of prayer that we possess is never of such a measure that we could be certain that our prayer would not still lack something in perfection, order, or eloquence. And for this reason, we must not look at the importance or skill of our prayer at all, but instead always only at the merit of the Lord in whose name we pray. For all these reasons, I have in no way desired to reject or find fault with the previously mentioned prayer books, as I have described them.

Gleichwohl aber / so wuste ich doch