Preface.

believed to be the late Johann Arndt;
but since recently Dr. Diecmann,
Royal Swedish General Superintendent
in the district of Bremen, in his concise preface written last year
concerning Arndt’s Four Books on
True Christianity, has asserted
otherwise, he cites the present confession right at the beginning and praises the man, saying that he explained the mysteries gloriously. And almost in the middle of his text, he writes:

From Dr. Conrad’s original: "D. Conrads," referring to Conrad Khunrath, though the text often uses the name interchangeably with Heinrich in certain contexts, or refers specifically to the author's work. book, called Theater of Eternal Wisdom, I have learned to recognize God and true wisdom from the scripture of the great and small worlds. The "great and small worlds" refers to the Macrocosm (the universe) and the Microcosm (the human being), a central concept in Hermetic philosophy where the two reflect one another.

Johann Valentin Andreae, the excellent Wuerttemberg theologian and Abbot of Adelberg Andreae (1586–1654) was a prominent theologian often associated with the Rosicrucian manifestos; his endorsement would have carried significant weight., counts him among those men who possessed singular wisdom, even if they were not always understood; in Christian Mythology, Bundle III, no. 23, p. 137. original: "mytholog. Christian. Manip. III." He also introduces him as one who was despised by the ignorant because of his unknown wisdom; in Menippus, no. 85, p. 208. A reference to Andreae's satirical work Menippus, which uses dialogue to critique the state of learning and religion. Just as, moreover, the zealous Lutheran theologian