Preface.

[and indeed] have sought to quench the Spirit of Prophecy; whose flimsy arguments original: "Stroh-Gründe," literally "straw-reasons," meaning weak or unsubstantial arguments., however, find little favor in the heart of God. Such opposition from the worldly-wise surprises me all the less, as I see more clearly how the extraordinary instruments extraordinary instruments: In this context, "Werck-Zeuge" refers to people God uses as tools to achieve His will outside of traditional church structures. of God have always met with such a fate in the world, as Dr. Luther himself confesses; for no one has resisted them more stubbornly than the ordinary servants of the Law and the ordained priests.

Among such special and wondrous instruments of God, one must today especially count the highly enlightened Jacob Böhme, who in his younger years was a herdsman like Amos, and tended his father's cattle at Alt Seidenberg, and later learned the shoemaker’s trade, becoming a citizen of Görlitz, where he also gently and blessedly fell asleep A common 17th-century euphemism for a peaceful Christian death. in the Lord. How he came to his high revelation can best be read in the description of his own life’s course.

But just as that honest man of God, during his lifetime, had particularly one Amaziah of Bethel original: "Amasias zu Bethel," a biblical reference to the priest who opposed the prophet Amos, used here as a derogatory comparison for Böhme's critic.—namely the head pastor of Görlitz, Gregorius Richter—so much so against him that even the city council there was persuaded to take legal action against him; even though in Dresden and other places, highly learned, brave, and distinguished, and especially godly men, also highly esteemed and loved him.

Thus it has come to pass now, after some individuals from the ecclesiastical and political hierarchy original: "Hierarchia Ecclesiastica und Politica" have set their pens against him here and there for some years, that it has finally manifested so far that entire ministerial bodies have already undertaken collectively collegialiter: Acting as a formal, unified body or council rather than as individuals. to brand him a heretic, and have spread such judgments far and wide, and some...