TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE UNIVERSAL WORLD

An ornamental woodcut drop cap 'P' features a stylized floral and vine pattern within a square frame.
Through the kindness of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the pure favor granted to me, a most unhappy sinner, I completed the books On the Concord of the World original: "De orbis concordia" for the praise of God the Father and the most holy Trinity. I dedicated them, therefore, under the guidance of the Spirit, to the fellowship of the holy Church, since it is truly the one to whom all those mysteries have been entrusted, revealed, and committed in faith. I dedicated the books of the Sacred Proofs original: "sacrarum apodixeon" to the leaders of the Church for the reason that it is only through their work that the sacraments and mysteries of Jesus Christ, the God-man, are transferred to the other orders and people. But because our gratification and calling, which first concerns all people (for the Spirit and the finger of God precede in every divine operation), occurs through the benefit of the Holy Spirit, and because that Spirit—by whose guidance and authorship the holy Church has refuted false opinions and confirmed only true ones—has been attacked by the whole world, namely by heretics, the impious, idolaters, and Jews, I wished to dedicate this work to the whole world. In it, I show that all things which the Church has handed down to this day in the refutation of heretics are derived from nature and according to nature. Thus, it may be seen with a constant consistency of reason that the Old and New Testaments, and the statutes of the holy Church, even if they rely on simple authority