Sechs Bücher vom wahren Christenthum. Paradies-Gärtlein

does not agree with the title of a Biblical Guide original: "Informatorii biblici", because it contains nothing less than an instruction on how one should read the Holy Scriptures with profit, which the title seems to promise. Indeed, some have even claimed that suspicious ways of speaking appear within it, beneath which errors lie hidden, which Arndt might not have sufficiently recognized. However, Pastor Johann Melchior Krafft defended the Biblical Guide Informatorium biblicum against this accusation in 1708. Certainly, one finds many precious truths summarized there in brief, and in particular, one can read the content of the divine Covenant of Grace within it with great edification.

§ 27. Now, just as the blessings of the Lord, like the waters of Ezekiel, always rise higher, so must the blessing of this edition of True Christianity and the Little Garden of Paradise surpass many previous ones. The living God, who used the pen of the late Arndt as the brush of a skilled painter to bring two masterpieces before our eyes—namely, the hideous form of our sinful corruption and the glorious form of Jesus Christ and His believers—may He allow the knowledge of these two main parts of true Christianity to be brought more and more to perfection in many hearts. May He let every reader consider that it does not yet make him a true Christian if he loves and praises Arndt and reads his True Christianity diligently. Rather, he must come to Christ Himself through faith in the order of a righteous repentance, and reach a living experience

of the truths testified from experience in this book. To promote this use of the book, the late Dr. Maius, in the small preface to the Giessen edition published in 1701, proposes these three means: 1) That every reader bring a heart eager for teaching, with the will not only to recognize God's will but also to do it. John 7, 17. 2) That he constantly practice godliness, because true knowledge lets no one be lazy or unfruitful. 2 Peter 1, 8. 3) That he fervently call upon the Father of Light, that He might give enlightened eyes of understanding through His Spirit and power to become strong in the inner man, etc. Ephesians 3, 16. and following. May the Lord then convince all those readers who have hitherto deceived themselves with a dead and unfruitful faith of their miserable and dangerous state and awaken them to repentance, so that the lovely light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ may rise in them, and the Kingdom of God be established within them. However, for those who are already awakened and have reached a realization not only of their inner corruption but also of the great external decay of the church, may He graciously preserve them from the dangerous paths of separation from the external use of the means of grace This refers to Pietist "separatists" who left organized church life. Arndt, though a reformer, remained within the church structure. (for which they have Arndt as no predecessor, who indeed saw the corruption of the church deeply but did not separate himself from it), as well as from other deviations from the teaching of the apostles and from the power of godliness, and let them walk blamelessly in the ways of true Christianity.

Brief Account of the Arrival, Life, and Blessed Passing of Mr. Johann Arndt.

Content.

1. Arndt is born, raised, and kept in school.
2. Goes to universities and prepares for the preaching office:
3. Which he administers in various places amidst much suffering, especially in Braunschweig;
4. Subsequently administered laudably in Eisleben and Celle, and turned down various vocations calls to ministry.

5. In doing so, he teaches his congregations orally with great faithfulness, and others through writings:
6. And leads an exemplary life.
7. Finally, he becomes ill, testifies to his faith, and feels a foretaste of eternal life.
8. He dies and is buried gloriously.
9. Meanwhile, his spirit lives with God and his memory in our hearts.

A small decorative initial letter 'D' is adorned with floral and foliate motifs.
Regarding the arrival of this spiritual and famous man, he was born in the year 1555, on the 27th of December, on the day of John the Evangelist, in Ballenstedt in the Principality of Anhalt. His father was the venerable and well-learned Mr. Jacobus Arndt, who was called to the preaching office in 1553 and became the court preacher at the said place for the illustrious and high-born Prince Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt (who out of love for the Word of God often preached himself): (*) His mother was Mrs. Anna Schötings. By these Christian parents, he was soon brought to holy baptism, subsequently raised as a Christian, and especially, because a fine ingenium natural talent was found in him, he was diligently kept in schools. However, his father passed away early, namely in 1563, so he was forced to go to other places. Nevertheless, even there

he felt God's gracious care wonderfully, in that good people were awakened by His divine omnipotence who took him in fatherly care. Through their promotion, he stayed for a time in private schools in Aschersleben, Halberstadt, and Magdeburg, and practiced diligently in his studies. Initially, he grew fond of Studium Medicum medical studies; but when he fell into a fatal illness, he made a vow to God that if God would make him healthy and spare his life, he would then apply himself to Studio Theologico theological studies and the Holy Scriptures. This promise he later honorably fulfilled with blessed progress.

2. In 1576, he was further sent to high schools universities, and from that time on visited four of them in succession with extraordinary benefit and fame: Helmstedt, Wittenberg, Basel, and Strasbourg. He stayed at the latter two for a considerable time and also read philosophical

(*) Yet see here above Mr. Dr. Rambach's Preface, § 4.