Preface.

I say to you, Sophist, do not find fault with the books of this man,

for he has duly completed them by the impulse of the sacred Divine.

original Latin: "Culpes ne libros hujus, tibi dico, Sophista, Numinis instinctu sacri nam rite peregit."

The secretary at that time in the Electoral Saxon High Consistory in Dresden, Joannes Seuffius The High Consistory was the administrative council governing church affairs in Saxony; Seuffius was a high-ranking official who clearly admired Khunrath's mystical work., praised him with the following verses, as they are still to be found at the beginning of the Amphitheatre original: "Amphitheatro," referring to Khunrath's masterpiece, Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom).:

Let him rather cast off the world’s impurity,

and cast off his own self;

let him flee the obscuring mists

and enter the stage of your Theatre, Conrad,

guided by the favorable spark of the heavens.

These things you reveal in your open Theatre while envy seethes,

Conrad, offspring of a noble spirit.

original Latin: "Immundum potius mundum exuat, exuat & se, Impeditrices & fugiat nebulas, Orchestramque tui subeat, Conrade, Theatri, Aetheris igniculo progrediente bono. Quas patulo inuidia pandis stomachante Theatro, Conrade, ingenui progenies genii."

The author of the well-known missive original: "Sendschreiben" concerning the Mystery of the Incarnation original: "Menschwerdung," a central theological concept regarding Christ becoming human. (whom until now one [has called the...]