Sacred Demonstrations, or the Christian Euclid, Book II

If I have done anything of value in this, it is a gift of God; otherwise, it is my own rashness. Thus, after writing four books on the concord of the world, I was driven by a certain impulse of the spirit into these arguments, so that (God is my witness) I had never thought of them before I wrote them. The consciousness of a formerly most foul life discourages the possibility of wisdom entering a malevolent soul; nevertheless, the force of the arguments will teach that these have proceeded from a sublime reason. To speak frankly, I am ignorant of myself in this matter. The brevity of the work will allow it to be easily translated into foreign languages according to my intention; therefore, as I am about to depart at the Lord's calling, I wish to commend this to you, the leaders of the Christian religion, as co-workers. And since this, being outside the approval of the church, is as it were dead and ineffective for moving the spirit, I beseech you, in the name of Him for whose honor I have written, that if it is worthy of the bosom of the church, you might deign to cherish and receive it, and to pray well for the wretched author; for by your support I do not doubt that the grace of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus may deign to impart to us, will cooperate with it. Farewell, and pray to the Lord of the harvest that He may send laborers into His vineyard. The harvest is indeed great, and the harvesters are many, but the laborers are few. Paris, 1543, Calends of November.