E R N E S T

Frederica Sophia Wilhelmina,

Born Crown Princess of Prussia; Margravine of Brandenburg; Princess of Orange, Neuchâtel and Valangin; Duchess in Guelders, of Magdeburg, Cleves, Julich, Berg, Stettin, Pomerania, of the Cassubians and Wends, of Mecklenburg, also in Silesia of Crossen; Burgravine of Nuremberg; Princess of Halberstadt, Minden, Camin, Wenden, Schwerin, Ratzeburg, East Friesland and Moers; Countess of Hohenzollern, Ruppin, the Mark, Ravensberg, Hohenstein, Tecklenburg, Lingen, Schwerin, Bühren and Leerdam; Marquise of Veere and Flushing; Lady of Ravenstein, of the Lands of Rostock, Stargard, Lauenburg, Bütow, Arley and Breda etc. etc.

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Your High Princely Serenity and Your Royal Highness are hereby presented, in deepest submission, a book whose author has long since entered into that rest which the righteous souls enjoy in eternity. And all that I can attribute to myself in this is a minor zeal to serve my fellow citizens through the distribution of Arndt's writings, and to ease for myself and others the path that leads to the true fear of the Most High. Even if I cannot appeal to any of the causes with which the custom of the learned fills those pages called dedications, the extraordinary grace of Your High Princely Serenity and Your Royal Highness nevertheless assures me that my request, which pleads for a gracious eye upon these books, will not be in vain. This grace moves every one of your servants to the most humble love and most perfect reverence. Many circumstances encourage me in this, which are as advantageous for me as they are rarely found together. The writing and the author, the printing and the content, the time and place, and many other things awaken in me a certain boldness that finds its place within the deepest humility.

Books that contain divine truths and have the growth of a living faith as their purpose are worthy enough to please even an eye that watches over the welfare of the lands. The path of repentance and faith must be trodden by all who journey to heaven: and in this matter, the King of Saints has made those who are born to rule exactly equal to those who obey their laws.