TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS

AND EXCELLENT PRIN-

ce and Lord, Lord William of Cleves, Jü-
lich and Berg, Duke; Count of Mark and
Ravensberg, Lord of Ravenstein, etc.
To his most merciful Lord,

prays for everlasting happiness in Jesus Christ.

Decorative drop cap 'I' featuring a floral or scrollwork design.
Amid such a ruinous variety of fanati-
cal and pestilential opinions with
which Satan miserably shakes the
Christian world in this age, I feel, most
illustrious Prince, that this one is of no
small importance: which that same enemy has sown in
the minds of men like a most destructive nursery,
under the name of incantations. For although
Controversies over religionin the controversies of our religion, spirits may be
distracted in many ways—either because of diverse
ceremonial rites or misunderstood passages of
Scripture—and opinions may vary while the ancient
serpent A biblical reference to Satan supplies the torches of discord;
nevertheless, no calamity follows from those things
so deplorable as that which arises from the persuasion,
once imbibed at his instigation, regarding that kind
of evil which certain demented old women, whom
they call witches Lamiae or sagae; Latin terms for "hags" or "soothsayers," here used to describe those accused of witchcraft, are believed to inflict upon
humans and beasts without the administration or
application of any poison. For although from the
former matters various disputes arise here and
there, either according to human emotion or
according as it satisfies each person’s...