PREFACE.

edification found therein, and considering it necessary to make others partakers of the same through printing: So after some consideration, I consentedThe author uses the Dutch "geconzenteert," a loanword from Latin, which was common in formal or scholarly writing of this period. to it, in the hope that it might serve someone for the best. However, since we are in a very perilous timeThis likely refers to the religious or political volatility of the 17th-century Netherlands, where authors had to be cautious about how their spiritual interpretations might be received by authorities., and that which one seeks with a good intention according to the measure of their gifts can easily be misinterpreted by another: Thus it seemed good to us to add a small explanation as a Preface.

Firstly, regarding the first subject matter, which is here divided into six chapters: This deals entirely with matters concerning the soulThe Dutch "gemoed" refers to the inner world, including the mind, heart, and spirit., consistently demonstrating the great good that is hidden therein, since man is the chief creatureThe original "Hooftschepfel" identifies humanity as the pinnacle or masterpiece of all creation. of all