Versuch einer unpartheiischen und gründlichen Ketzergeschichte

A rectangular woodcut headpiece features symmetrical acanthus leaf scrolls and floral patterns. These are centered around a small shield containing a plant or flower.

An ornamental drop cap 'D' is set within a decorative square border of foliage and scrolls.The history of heretics Ketzer heretics, that is, of those who have separated themselves from the greatest mass of Christians through their particular doctrines and opinions and thereby brought persecution and opposition upon themselves, is one of the most distinguished and respectable parts of the history of Christianity. No kingdom of this world counts so many and so various rebellions, divisions, and internal wars as the church or the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And none among these wars is so small that it does not deserve to be honestly illuminated and thoroughly investigated. Men fight over something that Christians are bound to value higher than everything else: the correct way to life and to salvation Seligkeit bliss or eternal salvation. The authors of these disturbances pretend that the ruling church misleads the flock of the Redeemer. They claim that the providence of the Highest has awakened them to bring the wandering sheep back to the right path. Conversely, the ruling church accuses them of wanting to disturb the peace of the community of the Lord out of a desire for honor and profit. The church claims they wish to seduce the people of God into apostasy from the pure truth. The zeal and heat with which the struggle is conducted by both sides usually matches the greatness of the matter for which they fight. This makes the spectators, who already doubt where