PREFACE

feeling stone tablets, but on the living
tablets of the heart; And this they were,
not so much through the preaching
of the Gospel or through the words
that they spoke, as through their works
and deeds, which preached even
better and more loudly.

Some imagine that Christianity has
never flourished more than it does now;
and yet it is clear that it was
never more decayed. They wish to
claim that in former times it was
only in its infancy, and that it
has now reached its manly
maturity. But let us rather say
that it has approached its
final old age, and has lost its
first greenness The author uses "greenness" to describe the vitality and freshness of the early Church. so much that it is
very near to withered dryness
and total corruption.

Certainly, there seems to be nothing
remaining but the final death and
burial. If only it were so fortunate
that, like Lazarus, it remained in
the grave for only three days, and
at the voice of Christ original: "Christi" rose
again! At least the Old and
the New Testament promise
a great renewal, and a kind of
perfection, which in the last of