Preface.

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[the council's] servants, under threat of losing their positions, were forced to condemn him. Thus, one can well presume that in Görlitz, following such formal and condemnatory judgments, the attacks thundered against him have been even more severe over the past few months, aimed at the few good souls who still stood by him there. I will not go so far as to claim that—according to the reports from Dresden and Leipzig—it was for these very reasons that the beautiful city of Görlitz, with its magnificent church that took 74 years to build, was so miserably laid to ashes by a terrifying fire starting in Hell-Alley original: "Höllen-Gassen." A specific street in Görlitz where the Great Fire of 1717 began; the author implies this disaster was divine retribution for the city's persecution of Böhme., along with 300 valuable buildings. Yet, is there any disaster in a city that the LORD has not caused? A reference to the biblical book of Amos 3:6: "If a calamity visits a city, has not the Lord caused it?"

However, it is unexpected that Mr. Holzhausen, a preacher in Frankfurt, has also set himself up as a condemning judge of this Divine Instrument Divine Instrument: "Göttlichen Werck-Zeuges," a term used by Böhme's followers to describe him as a vessel or tool through which God revealed hidden truths.. He dares to so blacken the name of this simple and innocent man—who lived a godly life within our Evangelical Church and, after receiving Holy Communion on his deathbed, passed away in his Savior JESUS with such an uncommonly Christian, sensible, and gentle end, saying these beautiful words: "Now I journey into Paradise." To label the enlightened grace of the Holy Spirit as "horrifying charges" and "devilish inspiration" gives sincere souls reason to suspect that this preacher, too, has abandoned his "first love" A reference to Revelation 2:4, implying the preacher has lost his initial spiritual purity and charity.. He has turned from a friend into an enemy of the Bride of Christ In this context, the "Bride" refers to the true, spiritual church which Böhme's followers believed was being persecuted by the established, "corrupt" church authorities., who is distressed in this world and has fled from the dragon into the wilderness. For this reason, my humble self was approached by a particular lover of the