Decorative horizontal headpiece consists of four repeating circular ornaments, each containing stylized floral or foliate motifs.

TO EVERLASTING WISDOM,

soul of the world, salvation of lives, searcher of souls and kidneys, and the highest judge of judges, be praise, honor, and glory for

eternity.

a Wis. 7. b 1 John 5. c Col. 3. d Col. 2. e Heb. 1. f Ps. 3. 5. g Ps. 28. 7. h Ps. 7. 12. i Ps. 18. 34. l Ps. 9. 5. m Ps. 7. 15. n Ps. 72. 7. Gen 1. Ps. 22. 4. Ps. 68. 34. Col. 3. Ps. 13. 1.

O Everlasting Wisdom, you are the brightness of eternal light, the unspotted mirror of the majesty of God, and the image of his goodness; who, being one, can do all things, and remaining in yourself, you make all things new, and through all generations you transfer yourself into holy souls, making them friends of God and prophets. O only and unique truth (I say), O Christ, fountain of life, who are all in all, in whom are hidden all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge, indeed you who sustain all things by the word of your power. You (I say) who are a shield and glory around the righteous, lifting up his head. O my strength, O my shield and my God, who, being a righteous and strong judge, are indeed the just examiner of souls and kidneys a biblical reference to the seat of emotions and deepest intent. Behold, I, a man most unworthy of all, humbly implore you that you might deem it worthy to enter into this cause of mine and take it up, as you are a just judge, a rock, a crag, a fortress, a shield, and the horn of salvation for those who betake themselves to you and trust in you. Consider this cause of mine, O just judge, who sit on the highest tribunal, and free me from the perverse and unjust judgments of the glorious men of this world and those puffed up with vanity, for it is their lot to travail with injustice, conceive sorrow, and bring forth iniquity. Let this cause of mine (I say) be conducted before you, who are accustomed to repay each according to his merits. For you shall judge the poor of the people, and you shall save the son of the poor, and you shall humble the slanderer, who attempts to impose upon him the crime of atheism, or at least to pretend he is a supporter of it, and to defile his name with the stain of heresy, and even to sully him before the world with the poison of impious magic. How far the sharpness of my mind has always been from the crime of atheism, and how remote even from the suspicion of it among my own countrymen, you alone, whom the imaginations of men can least escape, are the faithful witness; for from you it cannot be hidden how great my zeal toward you, my God, has always been, and with what devotion I have celebrated most worthy praises to you, according to that talent of genius which you have granted me by your grace, in my labors and nocturnal studies, insofar as in them I have acknowledged, proclaimed, and published to the world you alone as God and Jehovah, who made heaven and earth, you as the sacrosanct God remaining and the perfect praise of Israel, you as the God of gods, sitting above the heaven of heavens, animating and vivifying all virtues, and indeed acknowledging you as all in all, and have proclaimed it everywhere against the unhealthy assertion of the slanderer. You therefore be my witness, whether I have ever said with the fool in my heart, "there is no God." Furthermore, even if I should be regarded not as a Catholic but as a Heretic, because I am not Roman, it is primarily yours (O most holy spirit of discipline) to discuss and dispute: it is yours (I say) to judge, since this alone pertains to you, as you are that Catholic spirit of God filling all things, inhabiting that universal temple, or the Catholic church, and not only the Roman one, insofar as it is not assigned to or contracted in any specific place. But as for the disposition toward magic in me, you, whose role it is to search the hearts and kidneys of men, you (I say) alone (O righteous God) be my witness and judge, if I have not always held in horror and hatred any member of evil magic or any commerce with the most wicked and malignant demons. But indeed, if because your testimonies are my meditation, and your commandments...