upon my Words for know that what I have only hinted is far more than what I have discovered And what I have declared to thy first apprehension most openly hath yet its lurking Serpent under the Green Grass I mean some hidden thing which thou oughtest to understand which thou being Cock-sure at first blush will neglect but yet it will bite thee by the Heel when thou approachest to practice and make thee begin again and it may be at last throw away all as a Man desperate For know that this is an Art very Pag. 370. Cabalistical and we do study Expressions such as we know will almost suit with every Man's Fancy in one place or other But be sure to take this Maxim from one who knows best the Sence of what he has written Where we speak most plainly there be most circumspect for we do not go about to betray the Secrets of Nature especially then in those places which seem to give Receipts so plain as you would desire suspect either a Metaphor or else be sure that something or other is supprest which thou wilt hardly without Inspiration ever find of thy self which in tryal will make all thy confident Knowledge vanish yet to a Son of Art we have Written that which never heretofore was by any revealed ☞ And to conclude all take these further Words of my Master Aeyrenaeus Now for a close of this most Secret Gate Rip Rev. pag. 371. Whereat few enter none but they who are By God's Grace favour'd it s not luck ne fate That in disclosing this can claim a share It is a Portion which is very rare Bestow'd on those whom the most High shall chuse To such the Truth I freely shall declare Nor ought through Envy to them shall refuse Nor with unwonted Riddles shall their hopes abuse Of uncouth Subjects now shall be my Song My mind intends high wonders to reveal Which have lain hidden heretofore full long Each Artist striving them how to conceal Lest wretched Caitiffs should their Treasures steal Nor Villains should their Villanies maintain By this rare Art which danger they to heal In horrid Metaphors veild an Art most plain Lest each Fool knowing it should it when known disdain Remember Man how he produced was Pag. 372. How formed from a lump of abject Clay From whence created he each thing doth pass Which next to Angels ever saw the day For God infus'd in him so bright a Ray Of his own Image which the Body joyn d To it ennobled so that both pourtray Their Maker as though Heaven with Earth combin'd A little System of the Universe to find But yet though he of Soul and Body both Was made and of the two the nobler part The Soul by far which for the most part doth The Subject nominate yet that same Art That made so rare a piece doth from the part Less noble name the whole Adam or Dust Wherein a Mystery was couch'd whose Heart Of life the Centre to Earth's bowels must Return the Earth it self for Man's sake being curst Right so our Stone containeth Natures two 373. One hidden subtle Soul Heavens progeny The other gross compact terrene also Earth's product must to Earth by destiny Which when resolv'd is made a feculency To sight but the Coelestial part is still Though over-clouded most pure inwardly And shall at last most Pearly drops distill Which shall the barren Earth with Fruit in plenty fill Thus all our Secrets from the Earth do flow Our Base 'T is Earth which for our Base at first we take Our Water also unto Earth must go And both together must a Limus make Which we with respite by our Art must bake Till all become a Spirit glorify'd Whose firmness wasting time shall never shake By perfect union th' are so surely ty'd Each Element the other three within it self doth hide Take then that thing which Gold we please to call 374. But 't is not Gold yet Gold it is in truth Metalline 't is yet from a Mineral It flows which Art by Natures help renew'th And to a Fool an uggly Face it sheweth Yet to a Son of Art it lovely seems T is stellar White and tender in his Youth And vile appears in many Mens esteems Yea the most part of Men it for a trifle deems From it is made a Subject of great price Shew it the Goldsmith and he 'l swear 't is Gold But look you sell it not if you be wise The Basis 't is of Secrets manifold The Secret This for their Secret main the Sages hold The like is in Gold digged from the Mine But to procure it is scarce to be told That you may understand tho' every line Were plainly wrote yet might your practice oft decline For 't is a Labour hardly to be borne So many tricks and turnings in it be 375. And he that tryeth it is surely for lorne Unless a crafty Master credit me For I have tryed both yet could not see How any in this way can be secure I therefore who have vowed Secrecy Have writ this way which we can scarce endure Authors Vow For knowledge sake to try its ease will none allure Our kingly Road I also hinted have The hint Our way in which a Fool can hardly err Our secret way which much sad toyl will save Which is so easie that I may aver If thou shouldst see it thou would'st it prefer To any earthly Pleasure yet beware That you mistake not for I do aver A mingled Doctrine these lines do declare For both ways in this Book of mine doclaim a share Learn to distinguish every Sentence well And know to what Work it doth appertain 376. This is great Skill which few as I can tell By all their reading yet could ere attain And yet of Theory this is the main Also to know accordingly to give Due Heat which in one way thou must be fain T' increase tenfold thou may'st me well believe For what doth one decoct t'other away will drive Also their Operations different Appear the one thou must sublime and boyl O tedious way in which much time is spent And many errours which the Work will spoyl The other silently doth make no toyl Like the still voice which to Eliah came About which work thou needest not broyl Nor want'st thou fiery Vulcans parching flame A far more gentle heat begins and ends this Game But if thou canst each work perform a part 377. And knowst them afterward to reconcile Then art thou Master of a princely Art The very Success will thy hopes beguile Thou hast all Natures Works rankt on a File And all her Treasures at command dost keep On thee the Fates shall never dare but smile No Mystery is now for thee too deep Th' art Natures Darling whether thou dost wake or sleep Pardon my plainness if the Art thou knowst 'T was the fruit of my untame desire To profit many and without a
the true Key of our Work without which the Fire of the Lamp could not be by any art Kindled It is the Minera of Gold a Spirit very pure beyond others It is an Infernal Fire Secret in its kind very Volatile the wonder of the World a System of the Superior Vertues in the Page 6. Inferiors and therefore the Omnipotent hath mark'd it with that notable Sign whose Nativity is declared in the East Cujus Nativitas per Orientem in Horizonte Hemisphiaerij sui Philosophicum annuntiatur pag. 7. Cursum dirigat per aspectum Astri Septentrionalis quod Aspect Astri faciet tibi apparere magnes noster pag. 21. Quare activum Sulphur ulterius quaerentes c. Wherefore seeking further for an active Sulphur the Magi sought most throughly and at length found it hidden in the House of Aries This Sulphur Aries is most greedily received by the Of-spring of Saturn which Metallick matter is most pure most tender and most near to the first Metallick ens void of all actual Sulphur but yet in a power to receive a Sulphur wherefore it doth draw this to it self like a Magnet and swallows it up and hides it in its own Belly and the Omnipotent that he might highly adorn this Work hath Imprinted his Royal Seal thereon Sendivog pag. 36. Recipe ergo marum vivum c. Take therefore a Living Male and a Living Female joyn these together that betwixt them there may be Conceived a Sperm for the bringing forth of Fruit after its kind Pag. 44. Propterea unum datur Metallum c. Moreover there is granted to us one Metal which hath a Power to consume the rest for it is almost as their Water and Mother yet there is one thing and that alone the radical Moisture viz. Of the Sun and Moon that withstands it and is bettered by it but that I may discover it to you it is called Chalybs Pag. 45. Est alius Chalybs c. There is also another Chalybs which is like to this created by it self of Nature Qui scit ex radiis solis c. Which knows how by a wonderful Power and Vertue to draw forth from the Beams of the Sun that which so many Men have sought after and is the beginning of our Work Here he singly names them The begining of our Work both Chalybs yet sometimes both joyned together are called Calybs as before Pag. 47. Naturalis ejusmodi est c. The natural Dissolution is this That the Pores of the body be open'd in our Water whereby the Seed that is digested may be sent sorth and put into it's Matrix but our Water is Heavenly Water not wetting the Hands not vulgar but almost Rain Water 48. The Body is Gold which yeilds Seed It is our Luna not common Silver which receives the Seed of the Gold c. This also alludes to the Great Work Pag. 55. Faâ—â—igitur c. Cause therefore that there be such an operation in our Earth that the central heat may change the Water into Air that it may go forth into the Plains of the World and may scatter the residue as I said thro' the pores of the Earth and then on the contrary the Air will be turn'd into Water far more subtil than the Water was and this is done thus If thou wil'st give our old Man Gold and Silver to swallow that he may consume pag 56. them and that he at length dying may be Burnt Let his Ashes be scattered into Water Boyl it until it be enough and thou shalt have a Medicine to cure the Leprosy Pa. 63. Res est vilis pretiosissima c. It is a thing of little account yet most pretious which being divers times described I do now again repeat Take X. parts of Air of Living Gold or Living Air. Silver I. part put all these into thy Vessel boyl this Air first until it be Water and then no Water If thou art Ignorant of this and know'st not how to Boyl Air without all doubt thou shalt Err seeing this is the matter of the ancient Philosophers for thou must take that The Water of our dew which is and is not seen until it be the Artificers pleasure It is the Water of our Due out of which is Extracted the Salt-peter of the Philosophers by which Sal petrae Philoso all things Grow and are Nourished Matrix ejus est centrum solis vel Lunae The Matrix of it is the center of the Sun or Moon as well Celestial as Terestial and that I may tell more plainly it is our Magnet which before I Our Magnet or Chalybs said was Chalybs The Air generates the Magnet and the Magnet generates or causes our Air to appear Sanctè tibi veritatem hic manifestavi c. This is the Sal Akali which the Philosophers have Sal Akali named Salt Armoniack and Vegetable hid in the Belly of Magnesia Operatio ejus Magnesia talis est The operation of it is this That thou Dissolve the Congealed Air in which thou shalt Dissolve the tenth part of Gold Seale this up and work with our Fire until the Air be turn'd into Powders and there appear the Salt of the World being had divers colours c. And a little after pag. 64. Propterea satis mihi fuit c. It therefore sufficed me to treat only of the first and second matter which is done clearly c. In his Eleventh Chapter concerning the Practice pag. 48. he say Take of our Earth through xi degrees xi grains of our Gold and not of the vulgar i. grain of our Luna and not of the vulgar ii grains but be thou well advised that thou take not common Gold and Silver for these are dead take ours which are Living then put them into our Fire and let there be made of them a dry Liquor first the Earth will be resolved into Water which is called the Mercury of Philosophers and that Water shall resolve those Bodies of Gold and Silver and shall consume them so that there shall remain but Radical moisture the tenth part with one part and this shall be the Metallick radical moisture c. And pag. 65. Perpende diligenter weigh diligently what I have said before viz. How the four Elements distil into into the center of the Earth a radical Moisture and how the central Sun of the Earth by its motion bringeth it forth and Sublimes it to the Superficies of the Earth c. The same Author in his Philosophical Riddle tells you That Neptune shew'd him two Mines the one of Gold the other of Chalybs Page 77. That Saturn drew the Water and put into it of the Tree of the Sun wherein it resolved like Ice in warm Water and this Water is Aqua Vitae That that Water is the best which is drawn by vertue of our Chalybs which is found in the Belly of Aries c. In the
English Book of Hermetick Secrets called Arcanum Or The Grand Secret Numb 11. you have these words As for that clear Water saught for by many found out by few yet obvious and profitable unto all which is the Base of the Philosophers Work A Noble Polonian not more Famous for his Learning than Subtilty of Wit not named whose name notwithstanding a double Anagram hath betrayed In his Novum lumen Chymicum parabola Aenigma as also in his tract of Sulphur hath spoken freely and largely enough Yea he hath exprest all things of it so plainly that nothing can be satisfactory to him that desireth more Numb 19. He says that most Philophers have affirm'd that their Kingly work is wholly composed of the Sun and Moon Others have thought good to add Mercury to the Sun Some have Divers sayings of the Philosophers chosen Sulphur and Mercury others have attributed no small part in so great a work to Salt mingled with the other two The very same Men have professed That this clear Stone is made of one thing only sometimes of two other whiles of three at othertimes of four and of five and thus tho' Writing so variously upon the same Subject doe nevertheless aḡree in sense and meaning c. He also adds Numb 20. That he holds that this intire work is perfected by two Bodies only to witt the Sun and the Moon rightly prepared Numb 46. The Philosophers Mercury hath divers names sometimes it is called Earth sometimes Water in a divers respect because it naturally ariseth from them both the Earth is subtle white Sulphureous in which the Elements are fix'd and the Philosophical Gold is sown the Water is water of Life Burning Permanent most clear called the Water of Gold and Silver c. Last of all the most precious substance is Venus the Ancients Hermaphrodite glorious in Venus Hermaphradite each Sex Numb 47. Seperate therefore the clean from the unclean the Substance from the Accidents and make that which is hid Manifest by the course of Nature otherwise make no further progress for this is the Foundation of the whole Work and Nature Numb 48. That dry and most precious Radical moisture Liquor doth constitute the Radical Moisture of Metalls wherefore of some of the Ancients it is called Glasse for Glasse is extracted out of the Radical Moisture closely lurken in Ashes which In Ashes will not give place unless it be to the Hottest Flame notwithstanding our inmost or central Mercury discovers it self by the most gentle and kindly though a little more tedious Fire of Nature But to come to our own English Authors Ripley in the Preface to his Medulla tells the Arch-Bishop of York that if he would Of Phoebus vertue have knowledging Then Saturns Child must Issue bring Theat Chem. Brit. Pag. 391. Numb 14. Bloomfeild in his Blossoms Numb 32. adviseth thus Old Ancient Writers believe which are ture Theat Chem. Britt pag. 312. And they shall thee learn to pass it to bring Beware therefore of too many and hold thee to one thing This one thing is nothing else but the Numb 33. Lyon Greene Which some Fools imagine to be Vitriol Romane It is not of that thing which Philosophers meane For nothing to us any corrosive doth pertaine Understand therefore or else thy hand refraine From this hard Scyence least thou do worke amiss For I will tell thee truly now marke what it is Green of colour our Lyon is not truly But Vernant and Green ever-more enduring 34. In most bitterness of Death he is Lively In the Fire burning he is evermore Springing Therefore the Salamander by the Fire living Some men do him call and some na other name The Mettaline Menstrual it is ever the same Some call it also a Substance Exuberate Some call it Mercury of Metalline Essence 35. Some Limus deserti from his Body Evacuate Some the Eagle flying from the North with Violence Some call it a Toad for his great Vehemence But few or none at all do name it in its kind It is a privy Quintesscence keep it well in mind This is not in sight but resteth invisible 36. Till it be forced out of Chaos darke Where he remaineth ever Indivisible And yet in him is the foundation of our warke In our Lead it is so that thou it mark Drive it out of him so out of all other I can tell the no better if thou we'rt my Brother Then Imediately after in his second Book he begins Saturne in all to this Art hath most respect pag. 313. Numb 1 Of whom we draw a Quintessence most Excellent c. Mars that is Martial in City and Towne 3 Feirce in Battail full of debate and strife A Noble Warriour and famous of Renowne With Fire and Sword defendeth his own Life He staineth with Blood and slayeth with a Knife All Spirits and Bodies his Arts be so bold The hearts of all others he wyns to him with Gold In the Hermet's Tale. The Cyclops having offended Mars are represented to say Let 's find the Angry God and pardon crave Lett 's give him Venus our poor selves to save Theat Chem. Brit. pag. 415. They sought in Heaven Mars knew his Fact so bad Pag. 416. He came out there then one began to tell Saturne turn'd from his Throne a place had Not far from thence hard by this Chrystall Well Thither they wen and found two Gods alone Sitting within a darke but glittering Throne Downe fell Old Vulcan on his crooked knee And said forgive O mighty God of Warr. My servants and my self once God as ye Then use thy will with Venus my fair Starr Saturne quoth Mars and I must not yet part Though Shee for whom tha' rt pard'ned hath my Heart In the Hunting of the Green Lyon Theat Chem. Britt Pag. 279. But our Lyon wanting Maturity Is called green for unripeness trust me And yet full quickly can he run And soon can overtake the Sun And suddain'ly can him devoure If they be both shutt in one Towre And him Eclipse that was so Bright And make this redde to turne to whyte By vertue of hys crudytie And unripe humors whych in hym be And yet within he hath such heate That whan he hath the Sun upeate He bringeth him to more perfection Than ever he had by Natures direction c. In the Verses belonging to Sir George Ripleys Scrowl Theat Chem. Britt Pag. 377. Take thou Phaebus that is so Bright That sitteth so high in Majesty c. Maynteyner of Life to Crop and roote And causeth Nature for to spring With his wife being soote And Omogeny is my Name And Magnesia is my Dame c. Devide thou Phaebus in many a part c. This Phaebus hath full many a Name Which that it is full hard for to know And but that thou take the very same The Philosophers Stone thou shalt not know c. Pearce the Black Monke upon the
the Secre of the Secres Parde Also there was a Disciple of Plato That on a tyme sayd his Master to As his Book Senior wool bere Wytnesse And this was his demaunde in Sothfastnesse Tellme the name of the privy Stone And Plato answered unto him anone Take the Stone that Tytanos Men name Of Titan Magnafia take the cler light The red Gumme that ys so bright c. Theat Chem. Britt pag. 275. Which is that quod he Magnatia is the same Said Plato ye Sir and is it thus This is ignotum per ignotius What is Magnatia good Sir I you pray It is a Water that is made I say Of Elements four quod Plato Tell me the Rock good Sir quod he tho Of that Water if it be your will Nay nay quod Plato certayne that I nyll The Philosophers were y Sworne eâ—hone That they shulde discover it unto none Ne in no Boke it write in no maneâ—e For unto Christ it is so lefe and dere That he wol not that it discovered be But where it liketh to his Deite Man to enspyre and eke for to desende Whan that him lyketh to this is his ende Thus you see how the ancient Philophers were Sworn not to discover their Rock of clear Water and that this Work is the highest piece of Philosophy in Nature This Water is made of the four Elements said Plato so is the joyning of the two first Principles said to be the mixing of the four Elements the one being Hot and Dry the other Cold and Moist This Water is also called Aqua Divina Aqua Benedicta Aqua Coelestis c. with many other Names One Author that shall be nameless speaking of the Conjunction of these two Principles saith it is a Magistery and calleth the first the Divine Instrument and the second he calls Mercury and saith that the Addition of the Instrument that is Quintessence goeth through the Mercury and remaineth with it and seeing that Quintessence belongeth to Life it changeth the Mercury so that now Mercury is nothing else but Life also and this Operation is done very quickly without any elemental Working for as every Workman adorneth his Work and giveth it his Mark by the which the Master-piece is known so also God Marketh this his Creation and giveth it the noblest Sign that is in Heaven c. So now you have his Words you may easily find out the Man He also calls this Matter being purged Luna so soon saith he as Mercury perceiveth the power of God Sol it is no longer Mercury but Luna that this Mercury is wholly changed and turn'd about so that was inward is drawn outward but no part separated from another c. But what needeth many Words you have the thing before so sufficiently described that I may say he that cannot thereby easily name it savoureth nothing at all of Ingenuity This Soul saith my Master as it is drawn from the Saturnia sollid and dry is called our Air or rather the Chamelion which is an Airy Body but indeed it hath a hundred other Names This says he is true Sulphur which is imbibed by the Mercuriality of Saturnia and Notes it with the Regal Signet and being united and revived into a Mineral Water by the mediation of Dianas Doves it is the sharp Spirit which in the Water moves the Body to putrefie c Thus is made a Medicine of the first Order by Calcination Next we will proceed to the third Principle of Earth after we have observed a few of the Names of these two Principles First as they are apart and afterwards as they are joyned besides such as you have heard before First of the Air Female or Water of dissolving Mercury Aeyrenaes in his Opus Tripartitum or Vera Confectio Lapidis Philosophici in the Division De principali proprietate Mercurii dissolventis pag. 21. amongst others sets down these Acetum Aqua aqua prima aqua artis aqua simplex balneum Coelum humiditas Ignis humidus ignis contra naturam liquor vegetabilis Crudus Luna Mater Materia Lunaria mercurius crudus mercurius dissolvens Ministerium primum Quinta Essentia Spiritus crudus Spiritus cocti Sepulchurum Sperma Mercurii Stomachus Struthionis vas Philosophorum Visitatio occultorum argentum vivum crudum à minera simpliciter extractum Pag. 48. after some alteration of it Aqua divina aqua mundi aqua venenosa aqua auri aquila Caput Corvi fimus equinus flos aeris fumus igneus humidum igneum igneum venenum ignis innaturalis Leo viridis Lutum Magisterii Magnesia nigra Nigrum nigrius nigro nummus Oleum Saturni Plumbum nigrum pulvis niger putrefactio res vilis Ros coelestis sigillum hermetis Spiritus foetens sputum Lunae terr a nigra Vapor c. In the Book called Palladium Spagyricum are hundreds of Names yet I approve not his Cunning. Secondly As to the Male or Fire Pag. 57. Adam Anima Aries anrum vivum Corpus rubeum ferrum forma frater gumma rubea Ignis Naturae Lapis rubeus Lytargyrium rubeum Lux Mane Mars Magnesia rubea Oleum Martis oleum incombustibile pater pars una Rex Rubedo Sal rubeum Sericon Sol sulphur rubeum sulphur vivum terra rubea vitriolum rubeum De predictorum duorum conjunctione pag. 22. Aqua secunda arcanum argentum Aqua nostra vivum Chaos corpus confusum Cuprum Aes nostrum Aes philosophorum fumus aquosus ignis alienus Lapis mineralis Lapis unus Lapis in Capitulis notus Laton Materia una massa consusa minera nostra Menstruum secundam Ovum philosophorum Radix una Res una res vilis c. Pag. 38. Aes album argentum vivum animatum Arsenicum Aurum aurum album corpus album Eva Fundamentum Artis Gumma alba Hermophroditus Lac virginis Lapis unus Luna plena Magnesia Materia una metallorum Mercurius occidens Plumbum album Radix artis Sal Alchali sapo sapientum soror sperma metallorum stannum sulphur album Terra fructuosa Vitrum Urina puerorum Vultur with many others and which are sometimes indifferently applied to either Of the Addition of the third Principle or Earth You observed before that it is said the former Matter being united and revived Dianas Doves into a Mineral Water by the mediation of Dianas Doves is the sharp Spirit that in the Water moves the Body to putrefie This is the same with what Aeyrenaeus writes in his Introitus Apertus in several parts thereof Pag. 5. Disce igitur c. Learn therefore who are the Companions of Cadmus and what is that Serpent who devoured them what is that hollow Oak to which Cadmus fastned the Serpent Learn what the Doves of Diana Pag. 9. are which overcome the Lion by asswaging him I say the Green Lion which indeed is the Babylonian Dragon killing all things with his Poyson At length learn to know the Caducean Rod of Mercury with which he worketh
et 2. Corporis Magnetici partes duas praeparavi simul per ignem torridum et quinta praeparatione factae sunt Arsenici veri circiter unc viii Arcanum praeparandi Mercurium cum suo arsenico ad faeces amittendas 3. Recipiebam Arsenici optimi partem unam feci cum Dianae Virginis partibus duabus connubium incorpore uno minutim trivi et cum hoc praeparavi Mercurium meum elaborando simul omnia in calido usque dum optime incorporarentur c. Aeyren. Now I find you take Receipts according to the Letter not considering you said before that the Fire and Air joyned is called Diana or Arsnick c. and yet you make your third Principle two parts of the Virgin Diana to one of Arsnick This is idem per idem besides How do you know this is my Receipt Hort. O Sir Expede Herculem and if you are pleased to word it so I cannot help it I am sure the meaning is otherwise and I can easily perceive you have more Sols more Lunas more Dianas and more Mercuries than one Aeyren. Have you any other Authorities Hort. Yes Sir that one that 's Nameless he also directs me to take more of the Earth than of the Fire and Air and more of Water than of the other three Aeyren. And hath he told you how this second Work appears and the Temperature of it Hort Yes Sir he saith it appears a Mass Metalline of the Colour of Lead and that it is easily beat to Powder which I have also experimentally found to be true Aeyren. Have you observed any such words from me Hort. Yes Sir in the Breviary of Alchymy Rip Rev. Pag. 10. Position the third you say Three Substances make only two Natures Earth and Water Earth and Water equally proportioned that is best Here it is Evident say you That three Substances make up but two Natures of Earth and Water The Man and Wife are both Bodies or Earths the one Fixed and Ripe the other Volatile and Unripe and by mixture make a brittle Black Hermaphroditical Body or Earth called the Philosophers Lead c. So Sir I observed you have more Leads than one for you call the Green Lion your Lead and in its Preparation you speak of two Substances and here you speak of three also you have your Read-Lead elsewhere named Aeyren. Well this looks something like it indeed but you know it is spoken as to another purpose Now proceed to your Element of Water and le ts hear what you will make of them at the last The joyning of the fourth Element Hors. I shall Sir and first from your Vera confectio Lapidis Philosophici pag. 155. Medicina tertii Ordinis est illa praepaâ—atio Medicina tertii Ordinis Lapidis quae a Philosophis Maximo in pretio habetur et vocatur Iteratio sive Multiplicatio Unde Philosophus Totius operis summum arcanum est dissolutio physica in Mercurium et in primam materiam reductio 156. Deinde in aceto nostro coelestino solve et certe solvetur in aquam clarissimam et quasi fontanam Pag. 157. Item notabis quod in omni dissolutione physica debes mittere tres res Rem quae humectat quae dividit et quae lavet c. 160. Tamen soluta non bene operatur nisi prius figatur in suo fermento 161. Ut hanc Tertii Ordinis Medicinam tibi clariùs explicem sic accipe Oportet omnino quòd de corpore fiat Mercurius hoc est quòd fixum fiat volatile cum volatili hoc est cum Mercurio Mundo c. Brevis Manuduc Pag. 69. Postea vera in aquam dissolvendo conciliautur c. Next I will shew you what Mr. Norton says of the Water or Liquor and therein he doth clearly hint the third Principle also In Theat Chem. Britt Consider also the nature of the meane Pag. 81. When it is in the third Degree made cleane The purer that your meanes be The more Perfection thereof ye shall see The meanes reteyne a great part Of the Vertues of this Art For the Principle may not give influence To the final End neither the refluence Unto his principal without Succour and Aid Of meanes conteyning the extremities aforesaid c. Liquor is a thing moveable Pag. 78. Of fleeting Substance and Unstable All such things follow the Moon More then standing kindes doone And that appeareth to a Clerke In working of the white Werke Liquors washen and maken cleane Both Extremities and the Meane c. And pag. 76 77 78. Speaking of their several sorts of Liquors or Waters as Aquam ab Aere Stilla roris madidi Water of Litharge and Water of Azot to make Lac Virginis Aqua vitae Quintessence Aqua Vivificans c. Of another Liquor wise Men tell Which is fresher than Water of the Well Ibid. Fresher Liquor there is none in taste Yet it will never consume ne waste Though it be occupied ever more It will never be less in Store Which Democrit named for his intent Lux umbra carens Water most Orient Hermes said no Liquor so necessarye As was Water of Crude Mercury Water of crude Mercury For he shall stand said that noble Clerke For the Water within our Werke Now lerne ye which for this Science have sought By all these Liquors our Stone must be wrought Hermetick Secrets saith That Mercuries Leprosie infesting the Body is not of its Root and Substance but Accidental and therefore seperable from it Fons Chemicae Philoso pag. 104. Mercurius enim Vulgi est Aqua sed deest ei Spiritus et vis ignea ad urendum Supple si potes quod deest summo cum Artisicio tum non amplius erit Mercurius Vulgi sed similis nostro sed si hoc facere non possis dimitte istum Mercurium quia nihil ab ipso praeter damnum expectare possis Ecce jam deus est testis rem totam narravi quam si prudens fueris ignorare non possis c. Introit Apert pag. 19 Quare agnoverunt tandem c. Wherefore the wise Men did at length know that the watery Crudities and the earthly Faeces did hinder it from being digested which being fixed in the Roots thereof cannot otherwise than by Inversion of the whole Compound be rooted out they knew I say that Mercury if it could but put off those things it would presently become fixed c. In our Conjunction four Elements be aggregat Theat Chem. Brit. pag. 146. In dew proportion fyrst whych asonder were separat Ripley Rev. draws a Conclusion in these words Our Art therefore is to compound two Principles one in which the Salt and another in which the Sulphur of Nature doth abound which are not yet perfect nor totally imperfect and by consequence may therefore by our Art be exchanged or exalted which that which is totally perfect cannot be and then by Common Mercury common Mercury to extract not the
Pondus but the Coelestial Vertue out of the Compound which Vertue being Fermental begets in the common Mercury an Off-spring more Noble than it self which is our true Hermaphrodite which will congeal it self and dissolve the Bodies c. Of this Coelestial Vertue he also speaks thus But beyond the Example or Similitude given of a Grain of Corn it may be observed that the hidden and spiritual Vertue of this our Body doth purge and putrefie its Matrix of Water Purged in which it is sown that is it makes it cast forth a great quantity of filthy Earth and a great deal of hydropical saline Moisture c. For says he this Operation of ours is made between Male and Female within By a Fermental Vertue their own kind between which there is a Ferment which affecteth that which no other thing in the World could do For fermental Vertue is the wonder of the World and it is by it that Water becomes Herbs c. Then Sir you close all in these words viz. We conclude then That all Operations for our Mercury and our Body according to our Art are erroneous and will never produce our Mystery although they be otherwise Mercuries never so wonderfully made c. Aeyren. What Conjunction do you call this Hort. I call this Conjunction Tetraptive yet I perceive that at the first Addition it rather goes under the Denomination of Triptative or Conjunction of three Substances by virtue of a Medium because the Medium remains not intirely with the other and that the Terrapâ—ive Conjunction is not properly consummate till perfect Digestion This therefore may be properly called the making of a Quadrangle and that of perfect Digestion a reducing the Quadrangle to a Circle as you have it in the Exposition upon Sir G. Ripley's fourth Gate pag 292. tho' I also perceive you allude to the same Conjunctions and other Operations in the great Work You also Sir further teach that by virtue of the Medium or Doves of Diana all these four Principles or Elements will joyn and purge together which then must be purified into a bright clear Water by several Sublimations or Eagles which may be done several ways as your Writings sufficiently direct Also that these several Sublimations are but so many Cohobations of the subliming Mercury upon the Body of the Composition yet that there requires a due knowledge of the true Number which may also be clearly learnt from your Directions and therefore for brevities sake I shall not hear repeat them This is that hidden Moisture or Humidity wherein Gold will dissolve as Ice doth melt in warm Water and is a Mother unto Gold as saith Sendivog Eng. pag. 49. I am also in the next place further to shew that this purified Mercury or Water is not unlike to common The property of Mercury Phils Mercury yet more splendid and clear but not diaphanous or limped as many have supposed And that upon this prepared Mercury alone is founded the grand Secret of the Philosophers Stone alias Gold-making Powder alias transmuting Elixir which with your leave I will prove as follows First that it is not diaphanous or limpid Tract de Metal Metamor pag. 46. Quidam Diaphanum hoc nâ—enstruum volunt limpidumque c. et frustra Ripley Revived pag. 238. The main matter is our Water which Water as saith Artephius is the Vinegar of the Mountains and it is the only Instrument for our Work This I say that it must first be Cohobated in a very wonderful way for Cohobation it is such a Cohobation that hath not its like in the World and for several times to a determinate Number and after it may and ought to be Distilled Distillation per se with out addition again and again that thou mayst have the Water clear from any exotical Mixture Pag. 34. Because some Atoms of the Body may be in it which were insensibly left in the Preparation Pag. 241. For this saith the Philosopher is thy first Work to make clean thy Mercury and then into clean Mercury to put clean Bodies for who can expect a pure Generation from that which is uncle an The next Property of thy VVater is that it must be thin even as thin as Thinness any other Mercury for if the external Proportion be Corrupted it is an evident Sign that the inward Nature is Confused It must also be of a very bright Colour Brightness even like to fine burnished Silver as saith Artephius Hence saith a certain Philosopher To sight it is like to a Coelestial Body Our VVater must not be reduced into Not limpid or diaphanous any limpid diaphanous Liquor as some fondly imagine and as I my self in my time of Errors did conceit but it must keep its Mercurial from pure and incorrupted It is also very ponderous so ponderous that it is somewhat more weighty than any other Mercury in the VVorld By way of Digression give me leave ☜ to tell you It is no small matter to be firmly grounded in your Principles I have met with a Book published by Dr. Bolnest 1665. who contends much for this common Mercury prepared pag. 104 105 c. and thinks himself no small Master therein But pag. 104. he thinks that mentioned by Count Trevisan was only a particular and that the said Doctor drives at another Method though to the same purpose I have says he already declared my Thoughts that the common Mercury prepared and afterwards dissolved into a clear milky crystalline and silvery Liquor or VVater is the true Menstrual or Metalline dissolving Mercury of Philosophers And pag. 116. he adds that we may undoubtedly conclude that that most famous and necessary Menstrual or Metalline dissolving Mercury of Philosophers for says he I mean not their congealing Mercury is to be prepared out of the common Mercury or Quicksilver And in pag. 122. he says R. Lully directs to another more excellent and philosophical Menstruum c. without which the common or vulgar is not easily to be prepared and made philosophick But soon afterwards he runs into the old Error that there are several Mercuries besides the universal as Mineral Vegetable and Animal Mercury sometimes both joyned in one I mean says he the Mineral and Vegetable which produced that potent Dissolvent or G. Vegetable of Raymund Lully which few yet have well understood or perceived c. But of these last Mercuries says he or Menstruums I intend not at present to inlarge they being the Gate into the greatest of Chymical Secrets And at this Fountain he leaves the ingenous to draw and refresh himself with the healing and physical Waters c. Now I should think this Doctor an envious Adeptist but that he afterwards requests us not to interpret him to speak of the Great Elixir And pag. 126. he would not have any to imagine him to know more than he hath delivered and so attempt in vain by subtilty of Discourse a farther discovery
the 1st 2d 3d. 4th 5th and 6th c. Aeyrenaeus sufficiently confirms the same in his Treatise De metallorum Transmutatione pag. 12 c. Inter quae non levis momenti hoc est quod semen sit cujusque rei semen habentis perfectio et quod semen non habet est de toto imperfectum Pag. 27. Materia proinde unum est omnium metallorum nempe Mercurius qui proprie tend it ad Solem lunamve procreandum c. quòd superfluitates non sunt metallicae quòd faeces sunt per accidens pag. 28 29 quod faeces sunt seperabiles suarum seperatio ante coagulationem est metalli perfectio Verum si non tamen adhuc sunt seperabiles quamvis non per naturam absque alterius adminiculo c. Hinc Alchemiae fundamentum nempe Agens triumphans quod impurius metallum in se possideat idem purum ex quo aurum c. quod impuram seperari valet per agens triumphans id es agens digirens Tale agens est arcanum nostrum divinum id est aurum in supremum digestum et fixum Pag. 31. Arcanum nostrum per minima The Adeptists pretend not to create Gold or Silver intrat c. Quare non quod indigni quidam obtractatores objiciunt aurum Argentumve creare profitemur at agens reperire atque efficere quod supra imperfecta metalla projectum per minima possit intrare propter suam homogeneitatem ac spiritualitatem c. Pag. 54. Nos enim non quod fals◠non nulli criminatores objiciunt aurum sive Argentum creare profitemur veru◠ex iis solummodo in quibus haec insunt a Naturâ arte nostrâ ducimus ex metallis minirum quae sunt ejusdem cum Auro et Argento materiae inaequalis vero digestionis et propter hoc imperfecta manent quae projectione Arcani nostri super illa But to digest the crudity of imperfect Metals by their Medicine digerimus et hoc modo perficimus cum ad ea perficienda nihil aliud praeter simplicem hanc cruditatis eorum decoctionem requiratur quod abunde praestare potest Medicina nostra In his fourth Chapter he tells us to this effect That Seed is the Perfection of every thing and that it is not to be doubted but there is a metalline Seed that all things were either created in the first six Days or otherwise daily increasing grew together That Reason and Experience denies the first that if the latter be granted then there is a metalline Seed which the Metal doth not lose in the Coagulation but the Seed is thereby rather enobled That all Metals have one and the same Seed with Gold which in some is nearer in others more remote and tending to Perfection By the Seed he does not mean the Mercury that is in Metals but that Vertue in which and by which they are multiplied c. That as the least part of Gold is Gold therefore its Seed lies in every Particle and cannot be discerned from its Body the Body remaining whole c. That all the Gold in respect of the The heavenly form or Vertue Stone is matter when the profundity is manifested it is all Sperm and by Circulation it becomes all form or a Heavenly Vertue c. That the place in which the Seed next resides is Water for properly and exactly speaking the least part of the Metal is Seed and that Invisible and because this invisible is Universally disfused thro' all the Water of its own kind and inhabits it and exerts its vertue in it nor any thing else appears to sight than water in so much that it cannot be separated from it except by reason only altho' reason perswades that there is in it an internal Agent which properly Internal Agent is Seed therefore they call the whole water promiscuously Seed like as the whole Grain is called Seed when as the Germinating Life is only a little part thereof tho' in metals it is inseparably commixt per minimum corporis continentis That this Golden water or the Seed by the Ancient Philosophers is called their occultum fermentum venenum Occultum Fermentum ignis item invisibilis secretò agens That common Mercury is the true matter but the form or the fiery Vertue of the Philosophical Mercury is wanting and must therefore be supplied that it receives its Vertues from the form and not the matter That the form is a certain unspeakable particle of ligiht a Heavenly Vertue which is presently at hand illuminating the whole dwelling if so all things are rightly disposed from without Vid. ib. pag. 25. and 48. and is the true Author of all Transmutation This form is that which the Book The form a Heavenly Vertue called Sal lumen Spiritus mundi Philosophici or the first and Universal Spirit of the World also aims at written originaly in French and now in English to which I refer you only I shall set down one passage he cites out of Doctor Bacon pag. 184. Wise men begin their works from the root and not from the branches chusing as Doctor Bacon saith to congeal the thing that Nature begun her first operation about by proportionate mixion and union of a pure living Mercury with a like quantity of Sulphur into one Mass Oh Holy words Wherein this good Anglican or rather Angel clearly depinged that one and true matter whereof all Philosophers have writ Volumes under divers Figures and Enigmaical Fables not because they would Maliciously hide it but keep the Priviledge of this Kingdom for Learned and Pious men who by continual Study and Laborious Experience find and adorn it Eugenius Philalethes in his Anima Further difinition of the form magica abscondita Writing also against the Peripateticks whose Philosophy he does not like because he says it is built on general empty Maxims that may be applied to any thing but conduce to nothing for that Aristotle tells him Nature est Forma and by Consequence Forma est Natura which is idem per idem but he allows they call it Vis formatrix which he says is only an Express of the Office and effect of Forms but nothing at all to their Substance or Essence The same he saith of their description of the Soul shewing the Operations and Faculties which the Soul exerciseth in the Body but discover not her Nature or Original at all In pag. 8. he says That there is in Nature a certain Spirit which applies himself to the Matter and actuates in every Generation That there is also a passive Intrinsecal where he is more immediately resident than in the rest and by mediation of which he communicates with the more gross material Parts for there is he says in Nature a certain Chain or subordinate propinquity of Complexions between Visibles and Invisibles c. Pag. 9. That every Body in the World is subject to a certain species of Motion
as Animals the Heavens the Air the Sea and finally the Earth with her Minerals and all other Creatures are subject to alteration that is to Generation and Corruption Now the Matter of it self being meerly passive The Matter passive and furnished with no motive Faculty at all we must says he of necessity Pag. 10. conclude that there is some other inward Principle which acts and regulates it in every several species of motion This Principle or Form he says is Anima Mundi or the univeral Spirit of Nature which is retained in the Matter by certain other proportionate Natures and missing a vent doth Organizare molem and put her Prison into some good Order That in every Frame there are three leading Principles 1. The First Is Anima Mundi 2. The Second Spiritus Mundi and that this Spirit is a Medium per quod anima infunditur et movet suum corpus 3. That the Third is a certain Oleous aetherial Water that is Menstruum et Matrix Mundi for in it all things are Framed and Preserved 1. Pag. 11. The Anima he says is a Compound ex aura tenuissima et luce simplici 2. The passive Spirit is a thin real Substance the only immediate Vestment wherein the Anima wraps her self when she descends and applies to Generation 3. The Radical vital Liquor is a pure Coelestial Nature answering in Proportion and Complexion to the superiour interstaller Waters Then he shews you how they attract one another And pag. 12. Here he says lies the Magicians Denarius his most Secret and Miraculous Pyramid whose first Unity or Cone is always in Horizonte Eternitatis but his Basis or Quadrate is here below in Horizonte Temporis Then he proceeds to shew you the Chain of Descent and Ascent with the means and secrets of Nature as he understands them Pag. 13. The Anima he says is an instrumental Agent a seed or glance of Light simple and without any mixture descending from the first Father of Lights Pag. 14. Says Natures Game here below is such she cannot play it without this Tutor instances the Spiders Mathematical Weaving her Webb and forcasting to catch the Flies and says if she did not know there were Flies for her Sustenance she would not watch for them Also instances the Counter-march of the Hare when she doubles her Trace to confound the Scent c. Pag. 15. Says the Agent which determinates and figures the Matter is a discerning Spirit and hath the Matter before him as Potters hath the Clay or the Limner his Colours c. Pag. 21. He tells us of another Triplicity of Principles which are the Keys of all Magick 1. The First he says Is a pure White Virgin and next to that which is most pure and simple and is one in one c. 2. The Second was the First but by ad haesion to the Matter it contracted an Impurity c. and is called Binarius 3. The Third by separation from the Second called Trenarius a product of Art c. a Compound consisting of inferior and superior Powers Pag. 22. This says he is the Magicians Fire this is Mercurius Philosophorum celeberrimus ille Microcosmus Adam this is the Labyrinth and wild of Magick where a World of Students have lost themselves c. 4. That this Ternarius being reduced per quarternarium ascends to the Magical Decad which is Monas Unitissima in which state quicunque vult potest for it is united then per aspectum to the first eternal spiritual Unity But of these three says he hear the Oracle of Magick the great and solemn Agrippa Quatuor itaque quae diximus sunt Elementa sine quorum notitia perfecta nullum in Magia producere possumus effectum c. Then he tells us pag. 27. That there is a twofold Binarius Lucis et Confusionis In pag. 28. He alludes to Moses concerning the Creation of the Heaven and Earth that is says he Virgin Mercury and Virgin Sulphur And then shews that the feminine Principle is the Wife of the Sun c. To this Chapter of Moses also alludes the Author of Hermetical Secrets and Aeyrenaeus in his Introitus Pag. 30. Trust not says he those Impostures then that tell you of a Sulphur tingens and I know not what Fables who pin also that new and narrow Name of Chemia on a Science both ancient and infinite It is the Light only The Light only truly multiplied that can be truly multiplied for this ascends to and descends from the first Fountain of Multiplication and Generation and that this Light applied to any Body whatsoever exalts and perfects it in suo genere In pag. 44. he says Some Philosophers who by the special Mercy of God attained to the Ternarius could never notwithstanding obtain the perfect Medicine neither did they understand it And much more he says very mystically in his way relating to the Philosophers Stone which I was willing to insist upon that so you may understand that the true Elements or Principles being known and relied on no Book is so mystical concerning it which you may not in a tollerable measure be able to explain The same Author in his Lumen de Lumine or a New Magical Light speaks much of the Principles though obscurely In pag. 95. he says The Philosophers did not use common Gold to make their Stone as some Scriblers have written they used it only to qualifie the intensive Power of it when it is made that they might more easily find what quantity of base Metal they should Project upon And pag. 97. he concludes Amen in Mercurio qui pedibus licet carens decurrit Aqua et metallice universaliter operatur But to return to Aeyrenaeus Philalethes pag. 42. in his Exposition on Sir G. Rip Preface he says Were it not that this Tincture which in the Mercury is Sol and Luna were as a Soul The Tincture as a Soul or spiritual Thing that is a spiritual Thing it were impossible that the Tinctures should be multiplied in a manner infinitely It is therefore the very Dos saecunditatis which is in Minerals which doth appear in their solar and lunary Tinctures which was put and planted on and in them in the first Benediction of Crescite et Multiplicamini which increasing is in some things juxta quantitatem but this is in quality Pag. 43. So then the Matter of Minerals is a dead passive thing in which there is included a Light which is cloathed vitali aeura aetheria as I may speak This Form of Light is it which doth actuate and specificate or determine the matter and this Splendor or The Form determins the matter Light is in all Metals Sol or Luna which are conspicious more eminently in those two perfect Bodies Gold or Silver but are in other mineral Bodies more Clouded and Eclipsed with an earthly faeculent In erposition between the Fulgor and the Superfliuties which is the Imperfection of such Bodies and is