Eagle Sulphur W. C. Regeneration Redemption Glorification No Man's happy before his Death MerCVry's BIrth 's best after 's Death MerCVrI's LIfe VVas pVrg'D by strIfe All 's in Mercury that the wise men seek If thou dissolv'st the Fixt and mak'st it fly And mak'st the flying fixt live safe thereby Dissolve Congeal and Fix which being fixt will fix And so being fusibly Ting'd will Tinge and Mix. If Wind be made of Gold 'T is worth a hundred fold The Wiâ—d blow th where it list th Receiv't they that can Laurum Amice Eligis Rus. Signaculum Mundi Pythagoricum IEHOVA FECIT OMNIA EX NIHILO 〈…〉 SECVLA SECVLORVM AMEN AMEN Bonum Infinitum I MVNDVS ARCHETYPVS DEVS IEHOVA Bonum Finitum II ANGELICVS III ETHEREVS IIII ELEMENTARIS HOMO COELVM 1 Mercurius 4 Stellae 6 Angeli AQVA 2 Sal 5 Metalla 4 Pisces TERRA 3 Sulphur 5 Lapides 6 Bestia AER 6 Meteores 4 Aues 5 Plantae Malum V IGNIS INFERNALIS SATAN Ignis Procellae Inane Tenebrae Abijss CHAOS CHAP. I. A plain and full explanation of the aforesaid Epitaph Scutcheons and Motto's of W. C. As well for the Philosophers Stone as his own Tomb-stone THis Epitaph is literally the work of Philosophers and yet may revive the old useful Adigy and Motto upon this Authors Tomb-stone to remember thy end For as this flourishing signifies this Author W C. being a Mercurialist tired of all worldly Inquinaments So it illustrates all the â—lanets and their Mercury and the universal Spirit and Mercury of the World and the specificks of Nature and no less the true Mercury of Philosophers for this work free from all filthy corruptions well fitted and put naked without Garb or any strange thing into its Glass and private Philosophical Nest or Vessel as into a Grave and Coffin with constant vapourous heat for Putrifaction and its true preparation rectification and perfection orderly through its progression of Colours till it come to the true Sulphur of Philosophers which in the interim makes good that Philosophick saying â—st iter ad Coelum sed me gravis impedit Aer Et me perfudit qui me cito deserit humor Huic mihi sunt Lachrymae sed non est causa doloris c. Englished thus It tends to Heaven but the gross Air hinders And moisture falne quickly turns to Cinders Hence comes these Tears though there 's no cause of grief For they but nourish th' Earth gave them relief And though Worms feed upon my Carkass here My Soul 's in Heaven with my Saviour Dear Thus it may appear double you see or one in two Male and Female Superiour and inferiour Gross and Subtil Coelestial and Terrestrial Sulphur and Mercury Water and Earth Corruptible and Incorruptible or Spiritual And so the parts also are three Body Soul and Spirit Sal Sulphur and Mercury ☉ ☽ ☿ Calx Ferment and Tincture and the very Mercury may be termed threefold preparing prepared and essential and according to Ripley and Raimund calcining reviving and essential So likewise it may be termed four for the Water and Earth which are two visible Elements comprehend Fire and Air which are the four Elements which are turned inside outward whereby they shew their effects and properties Thus Terra Stat. unda Lavat pyr Purgat Spiritus intrat The Earth fastens Moist washeth Fire purgeth and Spirit enters In and for which also there are four Fires used Natural against Nature Innatural and Elemental all which at the last will make a fifth Essence and so by a perfect Ternary Quadrate and Quintessential Process from one two three four and five It returns again into one most perfect spiritual sub â—ance and so is Reunited and raised to a perfect Circular Centre a fixt fusible and incorruptible Medicine to make the true Elixir of Philosophers opening and shutting â—t pleasure giving the â—eys of happiness to all that shall enjoy it to enter to a Kingdom of Health Wealth and Honour and shutting out all ignorant dark Bodies and Spirits Thus then at last this Medicine may obtain the name and number intimated by W. C. which as it is this Authors name who is but one in Person and in Figures twice five hundred so is the Medicine but one in substance and in virtue twice five hundred or a thousand For this cause the Jews thought Christ to be John Baptist risen from the Dead and therefore did such mighty works And this we know saith St. Paul that such as he is such like shall we be at the Resurrection if we have his Spirit and follow him in pious Obedience Patience and Humility So that in this Epitaph as well as by the said Scutcheons and Motto's is plainly set forth the divine and natural Stone of the Wise-men with their Sulphur and Mercury though to be understood with a grâ—in of Salt and likewise the Moral Natural and mortal fate of Man The whole Art therefore of this Philosophy is to begin where Nature ends and to take what you find most ready and perfect in Nature and that which is nearest of kin and intirely separate the Heterogeneal gross parts and congregate the Homogeneal make them Essential and separate the Elements kill the Quick and quicken the Dead and Circulate Fix and Ferment all to the highest degree of Exalâ—ation and Philosophical Sublimation and Perfection As Ripley saith Kill the Quick and to the Dead give Life Make Trinity one without any Strife Thus opening and shutting by Ixions Wheel in heavenly mansion both in a natural and artificial vessel till it come to the greatest perfection and number if not Infinite And now note though most Philosophers in their Writings have concealed their true privy Mercury Fire Vessel Time and Bath Yet here thou maist easily find all the Secret If God have ordained thee to be helpful towards the Redemption of his poor Creatures groaning under their burdens of Oppressions and Mortality Now as this Epitaph doth thus set forth the true Elixir of Philosophers and mans Mortality so likewise these Scutcheons or Hyeroglifical Figures you see do the same in the honourable Pedegree of the Philosophick true Medicine or Golden fleece as well for the Life and Health of mans Body as Metalls both in the Elements and Principles of the said Elixir and in its Coelestial and Terrestrial parts proceeding from their Saline Chaos or first mercurial matter and their glorified Sulphur to their Coelestial Sphears of Multiplication Fermentation and Projection and so they and their Motto's agree sincerely with all the Philosophick sayings and intentions namely thus Some Philosophers would have it one thing and affirm that the Salt of Metals is the Philosophers Stone Others say all 's in Mercury that the Wise-men seek and again others do teach that the whole Art depends in and upon the true preparation of their Sulphur as being the most perfect of the three principles whose Orbs must be thrice turned about as in my three Figures and Coelestial Wheels
and some would have it one thing comprising the nature of two as a Hermophradite or Embrio moreover some would have it absolutely two things as Male and Female Fire and Water or Water and Earth Sulphur and Mercury or Heaven and Earth Some likewise would have it consist of three Salt Sulphur and Mercu y ☉ ☽ ☿ Body Soul and Spirit Others would have it the four Elements and say the Conversion of them is the whole work And some again would have it a fifth Essence and Quintessential Spiritual Body and say their Mastery and Mistery consists in these five numbers 1 2 3 4 5. as in my said Epitaph and Circular Scutcheons appear thus comprehended in and by the Chaos and Products The Chaos in th' Excentrick Centre still Hath death's Heads Ternary Crows or owly Bill Whose square Face under Times confused Glass Of Fire and Water six days Angles pass Within the Spiny Bush Expansion till A Sabatean Rest makes all stand still After each Colour fram'd to th' owners praise Then all things multiply to the end of days The two in number are but one in kind And four in Nature three in one do bind And then the Quintessence wheels thrice in'ts Sphear To conquer all the Mortals every where Which Waters thus takes name from Icarus the lofty Eaglâ—s Son and Dedalus Philosophers true Sulphur and Mercury their uâ—ctuous Tincture and their water Dry. The Owl appears in darkness Yellowish Red And white are seen upon the Gooses Head The Bird of Paradise and Phoenix fly Which Starry brightness in th' Adeptists Skye Through Milkie Paths up to the Moon and Sun To multiply till the Adept have done Then each that 's worthy come and Feast you here With Apollo Hermes and â—inervah s Chear For here is Nectar and Ambrosia still Vnder these Hyerogliphicks take your fill All which nevertheles I acknowledge is really but one onely thing or Essence in the Root viz. the Philosophers ☿ although out of two or three particulars or more in kind and one operation of several parts as in my said Epitaph and Circular Figures comprised Nay indeed may be but one onely particular thing and one continued simple and single operation when duely prepared and superfluities removed But if one onely thing be taken then it is divided into several parts or if several things be taken they are brought to one and so may it be said of the Operation which all being but one the Philosophers nevertheless are pleased to distinguish it by its several Progressions Colours and Properties intimated by and within the said three figured Circles and their Titles all agreeing with this old Aenygma of Vitriol which being in many of the Metallick kind is and hath but one thing or substance and although but one yet may be opened divided and have several parts and being done be brought to one again in one single and simple operation of Nature Thus V. I. T. R. I. O. L. V. M. Visitabis Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem Veram Medicinam Visit the interiours of Earth Rectifying And you shall find the hid Stone and true Medicine And like it agreeing with this work of Palyugenius which hath two Hunc Juvinem Arcadium Insidum nimiúmque fugacem Prendite immersum stygiis occidite Lymphis Post Hiales Gremio impositum Deus excipiat Quem â—emnia Terra colit sublatumque in Cruce figat Tunc sepelite utero in calido dissolvite putrem Cujus stillantes Artus de corpore nostro Spiritus egrediens penetrabit ordine miro Paulatim extinctum nigâ—is revocabit ab umbris Aurata indutum Clamydâ—n Argentoque nitentem Projicite hunc demum in prunas Renovabiter alter Vt Phoenix quae tangit perfecta relinquit Corpora Naturae leges faedera vincens Mutabit species paupertatemque fugabit Englished thus Take this Arcadian slippery â—ad who 's apt to fly And in the Glittering Stygian Lake drown'd let him dye When Hiâ—ls juices in his breast God saves him from loss Whom Lemnian Earth doth nourish lift up fix t' a Cross Then in a warm Cave buried dissolve what 's Rotten From whose Synews drops of this our Body 's gotten Spirits will Piâ—rce and orderly from shades bring out This Offspring cloth'd with Gold and Silver round about At length project this on live Coals and you 'l soon see Another Phoenix like thereby renew d to be Which with its onely touch perfects all Bodies here Past the strict bond and laws of Natures Sphear And will change the Species to a higher degree Whereby all Grief may cease and Poverty shall flee And yet understand me rightly concerning the said work and matter of Philosophers that Gold for certain is the principle of Gold-making powder be it in what subject or appearance it will even as Fire is the principle of Firing For nothing can give what it hath not In Auro semina sunt Auri. As Augurellus and others testifie In Gold is the seed of Gold And even the same may be said of Lune when 't is a Masculine And their Mercury is the ground of both and contains all three and is the Earth in which it is sown and from whence it takes its original and is of their own Nature But this must be living Gold or Silver and not the common Gold or Silver which are Dead or the common fowl Quick silver And indeed these are more universal cheap common and easie to be had then most men even some Philosophers do think which caused Ingenious and Learned Taulodanus to write against the Subject of that worthy old Philosopher Bracescus though both true Philosophers and their several Subjects true and this made Claveus in his Chrysopeia and Argyropeia to doubt of some of Lullie's Processes For these Principles are to be found in one subject and in divers having a Golden Nature as Dunstan Arnold Guido Ripley Raimund Glauber and others do testiâ—e and more ways are to the Wood then one For out of every or any particular Metallick or Mineral Species may by due Philosophick preparation be extracted the subject for the Philosophers Stone and every Chymical work called particular may by purification good preparation sutable fixation volatisation and exaltation be made a universal work for Multiplication Nay out of every Element and Principle of and in Nature and almost every abject thing whatsoever may be extracted a Sulphurous Sol Lune or Mercury enlivened for the Philosophers work And St. Devogius affirms that the said first matter of Philosophers is easier to be touched with the hand then discerned or found by subtilty of Wit or Sophistick imaginations and saith he told it the Process literally to some who nevertheless had not confidence therein for the meanness of the same and therefore left it without trial And certainly the Antecedent and Primordial Ens Auri is in every Element and Principle the which are never so simple but out of each the other may
Souls and Life out of Nature and that from Heaven through the Wind and Air from which all that hath breath doth live und feed as through the forth-going breath of the VVord contained in the second Principle for the word of God feeds every Spirit Life and Body with its breath or blowing upon because Life is in the word which beareth all things by his power even as it hath Created all things Now as all things consist of Body Soul and Spirit so they have three sorts of food to their ilfe substance the bodily food to the body out of the Elements as from that which cometh out of the waters and out of the Earth whence also the body doth come is taken and is made The soulish food to the Soul Life in every thing out of Nature through both the Elements of VVind and Air from whence also the Life and Soul doth bome The Spiritual food to the Spirit and that from God at from whom the Spirit is namely each Spirit according to its measure and to the Spirit in every way this food cometh from Heaven through the Spirit and Light as from the three Spiritual Elements from whence also the Spirit did come Nature doth assemble it self in her Spirits Life and body to the wind Air and water The Angelical world in its body is no earth as the Elementary is but it is the right body of the water out of which it subsisteth and that body is here beneath with us ICE but above it is an Angelical earth like unto a Christal And in a word it is a most noble Salt of Life fertile or constant or firm over all and is the Paradise in it self It is an Angelical Air which doth not fetch breath there as the living Soul for the Life of Nature is Eternal in regard of the end but it liveth and moveth in the Virtue of Gods word Eternally sine respiratione or without breathing Therefore death cannot Reign in the Angelical world over the Nature and over the Tree of Life but is rather overcome by it how much more by God for the Tree of Life stands unmoveable Therefore by the breaking of the fruit of this Tree at the glorious coming of Christ all shall come from death to life and shall be freed and redeemed from death Devil and Curse Lastly in its Spirit also it is of an Angelical Spirit by the power of the word and Testimony of God Thus namely that the Dragon hath no power over it but is conquered by the Spirit of the same is cast out and quite extruded and cast away How much more thâ—n by God Therefore seeing the Nature in her Spirit is the wind of the Almighty and a going forth of the Light in which God dwelleth and cannot come to that evil one or may not fall into an evil neither may it be blasted or poisoned by the breath of the old Serpent The Divine world in its being is compared to the most noble body of the water and earth as it were to a Heavenly body which is and are an Essential Spiritual Salt as the most noble and pure Gems precious stones and glistering Gold In its Life it is the breath of the Almighty a Soul and Life proceeding out of the mouth of God in and to an Eternal Life and in its Spirit the Spirit of the Lord it self who is God praised for ever God is the Spirit the Nature is the Soul or the Life and the Elements are the Body But be it known that each world hath its proper Nature and Element and that the one world is never changed into the other neither can it be altered nor one Principle general into another Now each Principle hath its proper Spirit Life and Body CHAP. V. Of the third general Principle namely of the Element GOd himself is all in all out of him are all things according to the Spirit by him are all things according to the word and to him are all things according to the Providence or Confidence Rom. 11. 36. Wisd 1. 7. Chap. 12. 1. Gen. 1. John 1. Psal 104. 27 28. 136. 25. 145. 15 16. The nature is all but not in all because she is not in God who hath his own Nature and the Elements also are not all but something only which is a Salt This something is from God after the Spirit from Nature after the Life and Soul and from the Spiritual water after the body And again the water out of the Salt each world is and doth flow out of the other The Nature stands to the Angelical world and is a flowing out of the divine world and the Elementary world is an overflowing of the Nature and Angelical world Lastly Man cometh forth out of the three worlds and is the concentred or conjoyned Centrum of all the worlds There are seven Elements or Powers of the world as Spirit Wind Air and Water Light Heaven and Earth and are such by which in and through which this world consists and subsists and without which it cannot subsist These seven Elements are Created out of such a one which in the Elementary world are all in all and are incorruptible namely Salt which is an excretion of Nature Execrementum quasi sobriè sumptum whereby in this world all things bodily subsist and are preserved Now there is a threefold Salt namely a Spiritual soulish and a Bodily and Palpable The Bodily is fixt and permanent both in Water and Fire Whence we know out of what wherein and whereby all things stand firm and constant both in the Water and the Fire that they may not be drowned and wherewith they are closed up The Soulish Salt is flying because life and Soul is in it and the growth of all whereby all things receive both body and life but when it cometh down again and turneth to the fixed Salt again then they receive Life But the Spiritual Salt is a right true essence and in this world the most noble Being of all Being Spiritus universi the Spirits of the Elements and their Light and Heaven in its Essence The Spiritual Salt dwelleth in the Spirit Light and Heaven and giveth to the body of the Resurrection as Spiritual from the Spirit Light and Heaven The Volans or flying Salt dwelleth in the Wind Air Rain and Dew this giveth out of wind and air to the body after death The fixed Corporeal Salt dwelleth in water and earth out of which this our body doth subsist But Salt is the right fixed Salt and the right water of Life which is a dry water and together water and Earth in which the air and wind is secretly hid and also the Heavens Light and Spirit in its depths which are then the seven Powers of the Element and world and all seven may easily undeniably and manifestly to the eye be demonstrated if the same be Anatomized This only Element of all Elements is a Power of all Powers in this World The Salt is an Excrement
of Nature by the Word of God and is bodily a seed of the water and all Elements from whence the water did spring or proceed or flow by the breathing of the Spirit of the Lord for a seed to all the world and abundantly increased by the moving of the Spirit of the Lord so that the whole Earth is formed out of it The fixed Salt is threefold as in the Earth in the Water and in Heaven The flying Salt also as in Rain Water and Dew Air and Wind. The Essential also is threefold as in the light Spirit and upper water The waters supplie three places or degrees for out of them them the world did subsist which is remarkeable always the one is hid in the other The flying Salt is the Key and openeth with it descending in the Spring that every thing raiseth from the dead greeneth and groweth and with its ascending in the Harvest shutteth them again The Elements are threefold namely Spiritual Soulish and Bodily There are three of the Spiritual Elements as bodily the Heaven Soulish the light and Spiritual the Spirit The Soulish are twofold as Wind and Air. The bodily also as Water and Earth Always the one is hid in the other and the one always comprehends the other six in it and always the one of them is bodily manifest visible and knowing or palpable but the other six are hid in it Each Element also in it self is threefold as spiritual soulish and bodily The spiritual earth is and are the Precious stones or Jewels and that is the body of the Spirit The soulish earth is the gold the spiritual water bodily are the Pearls the soulish is the Amber afterwards the Corals bodily In all these dwell many Powers especially if out of water and spirit by means of the Fire they are made new and spiritual All Elements are in the one with all their Powers which is a spiritual Rock out of which the water of Life doth spring to all Creatures and ebbeth and floweth in the whole world and filleth up Elementarily all in all And when in the end of the world this one is taken away from them then all the Elements are consumed in and by the fire CHAP. VI. Of the three special Principles Spirit Wind and Water THe three special Principles as far as they are Principles come according to their Original as the spirit from God the wind from the Nature and the water from the Rocks and Wells of the Element Every body in the Elementary world is out of the water even also Heaven and Earth All living soul and breath is from the wind in all bodies and all spirits are from the spirit The spirit hath by it the light and Heaven the wind the air the water the earth Now as every thing hath its original so it is of the same fed nourished and thither it returneth again Now the water is a gathered concentred and bodily palpable air The air is a soft sensible bodily gathered wind And the wind is a living gathered spirit But the spirit is such an out-spoken word which Createth and maketh some living thing so that it stands there essentially where it was before Psal 104. 29 30. In the beginning of the Creation the spirit moved on the water by which moving is understood the wind by which the spirit hath breathed on the waters and made them fertile for the Creation of the world All things that are move and have a Being have their original from the one infini eternal Father EHEVE JEHOVAH and JESSE which is the essential self-subsisting living word which is and was in the beginning and remaineth everlastingly to which word all other things are just nothing Through it all things are Created are preserved nourished and fed in their spirit and life as through the breath of the Almighty 4 Esd 16. 13. Heb. 1. 3. Mat. 4. 4. Now by the three special Principles as spirit wind and water which are Elements also all Creation is finished not only because they are the means by which the general Principles do work but also because they contain in them the right seed of all things and the same in the only true Element of which we made mention afore For these three bear in their body all Salt and feed fixed and flying and essential as also Heaven and Earth with all that is therein and bring forth into the world each to its proper self-subsisting or substance Now as all is produced out of the special Principles according to the Creation and Nativity But the sin with the curse and corruption hath made all evil so must all that is born anew return to water wind spirit and out of the spirit and spiritual water must by the wind be born anew to the Image of the Coelestials yet so that in their glory they be no other then Angelical and divine and bear the Image of the Coelestials This new birth goeth out of the upper waters and out of a Coelestial earth to speak Elementarily and are nothing else but salt There is another birth also that goeth out of the fire and is done in pain and torment The new birth out of the water and through the water is done in drowning by water to death That out and in the earth is done through death and Corruption The birth out of the fire as a contrary element is done in and through the fire in Hell Every new birth and regeneration is done through the spirit as also every Creation and alteration The new birth out of the water is done when water is to be poured upon that which shall be new born which the bad contrary elementary doth drown kill and reduceth to nothing And on the contrary stirreth up the good draweth it out and maketh it glorious and distinguisheth the good from the bad rejecteth the bad and chooseth the good and keeps it The new birth out of earth is done when a thing is reduced to its proper earth dyeth and putrifieth therein then afterward cometh forth again and riseth out of the earth with a new and spiritual body and parteth with the naughty and corrupted The new birth in the fire is done when all is cast into the fire and that which doth not hold fire is consumed by degrees and only that which is spiritual remaineth and is saved and then afterward the new birth with a spiritual body cometh forth 1 Cor. 3 13 14 15. 1 Pet. 4 6. Although we speak here Physically and Elementarily yet understanding men will judge Theologically and the Wise may search Physically how every thing hath its true Earth Water and Fire and so mark and observe this mystery Now is the Spirit Wind and Water by which all things in the world are effected These the word sendeth forth to all Creations Births and Alterations These are never quiet for they are by and with the Word the Perpetuum Mobile as above was mentioned and co-operate continually into the Light Heaven Air and
Earth which four Elements stand still unmoveable into which the three special Principles do overflow with their body soul and spirit as to the Water Wind and Spirit and work out all and finish the same The water is as it were the Element the Wind is like as Angelical and the Nature and the Spirit is Divine CHAP. VII Of the particular principles Body Soul and Spirit Wâ—th those are the Principles inclosed and consists in a threefold Trinity and always one produceth another and stand always orderly in their subordinates and agree together that they make up a true and whole Harmony and are enclosed at last in the Light Life and Love The body of all them is and consists out of the water also the Earth the Water out of the Wind the Wind out of the Spirit and the Spirit oâ—t of God There is a threefold body namely a sensible or palpable out of Water and Earth a Soulish out of Wind and Air and a spiritual out of Heaven Light and Spirit So is an Elementary hody an Angelical and a Divine very well to be distinguished on man Further the Soul is corporeal out of the Air from whence it is fed also and soulish out of the Wind and Spiritual out of the Light The Spirit is Corporeal out 〈◊〉 from the Heaven Soulish out of the Light and spiritual out of the spirit of the Elements out of the Nature and of God according as the Creature is Out of these three general Principles Man hath also a threefold spirit according to his measure and is the perfectest creature Always one body dwelleth in the other and as soon as one body is dissolved and broken in the same moment another and more noble body is manifest and that in all things If now the body becometh nobler needs must the Spirit be more noble high and glorious But this is the body after which the wise do seek Namely the Salt which containeth all in it self This body they drown in a Water which floweth out of the Centrum of the Vegetables and draw out all vertues which afterward come together in a celestial spiritual body and afford that precious jewel All things that are killd and dye naturally are drownd in a cold Saturnine Water for all natural death is done by coldness but what is kill'd in the Fire without a Saturnine Water is not fit to Nature for a better state Only the Salt we seek in the fire and then through the Water and afterwards cleanse and purifie it with the Baptism of Fire and of Water We should therefore six our thoughts on the water and use the fire very carefully because it is a contrary Element before which nothing can subsist but only the Salt This is the true body of all Elements and of all things in the whole world if that be taken away thâ—â— all perisheth quickly and the Gold it self also in the Fire This is the right Heaven wherein dwell all powers and is in all things in the whole world their Heaven and is compared to the Tree of Life in Paradise Now the soul according to the highest degree is out of the nature According to the second degree from the Light and according to the third degree out of the Wind. These are the Principles of the living soul soul and spirit are distinct as God and Nature Spirit and Wind as Angel and living soul yea as spirit and breath The middle Principle among the three Principles is always instead of the Mother as the Nature Wind and Soul The body is the Child which the spirit â—s a Father begets through the soul Out of the spirit cometh the soul he lets it out as his breath and from both these the body The firm soul and spirit as the true life and spirit which is like unto the Angelical world is always in the right body of all things that is in the Salt when it is opened then they come forth in a great clearness as in an Angelical glory At last the spirit of all things is out of the three general Principles in each according to their portion and measure Now the spirit affords the right inward essence the forma essentialis differentia specifica abstractum essentiae and nothing else From the same the body and soul also receive their essence whereby the one from the other essentially and properly are distinguished as man from beasts a beast foul fish vermin c from others and so one thing from another All Creatures are distinguished chiefly into three as into Animalia all living souls into vegetabilia all that grow and spring out of the earth and into Mineralia things that grow under the earth and are digged out and so in the water also These are distinct as the three Principles and in our wisdom always a fair harmony doth represent it self All living souls consist out of Water and bloud in their seeds through a moist warmth and a warm moistness each in its mother All growing things consist in their seed out of a slimy water through the Salt which is fixed in the root flying in the herb leaf and grass and essential in the flower and all three concentre at last in the seed All Minerals Metals and what belongeth to it grow out of a fat earth which the Salt of the earth doth hatch and do coagulate through a cold fire which is a Saturnine Water that is a fiery water and a waterish fire that doth not burn Even as upon earth all things grow by rain and dew as also in the earth it raineth thaweth and is misty thereby grow the Minerals Metals and the like and all this from the salt fixed flying and essential The flying Salt begets Sulphur the essential begets Mercury Among the Vermin the chiefest is the Viper with her brood and kind and is Mercurial Among the Vegetables is the Vine a channel out of which come three sorts of water and also a noble Mineral and is the Centre of the Vegetables Among the Mineral is the Gold yea the Salt Of all these three the Concentred Center is man above all that is created CHAP. VIII Of the Elements and contrary Elements in the Creation THe seven Elements or Powers of the world do rest only upon one which is a right well of all Elements in our thoughts because it containeth all An Element is such a thing out of which and in which the world and all doth consist without which nothing can subsist Again a contrary Element is such whereby the world and Elements are altered and corrupt and at last must quite perish thereby Now all things are Created out of three Principles Materialiter namely out of the word as out of a spiritual out of nature as a soulish and out of the Elements and contrary Elements as an incorporeal-corporeal and Corporeal-incorporeal that is out of the Elements after something and out of the contrary Elements according to nothing The word is the all the Elements are the
afterwards turned into a living death which never dyeth and a deadly eternal life made manifest as a soul to Satan At last through Lucifers pride a strange wind was gotten in Lucifer as a body unto him and Satan hath quite lost the Angelical Principle and self-subsistance and became a strange Bird and a wild Fly Lucifer did try whether he could not be a God or like unto God which yet he was in his portion and measure therefore he is called a Tempter and Satan and he was become such an one namely both a God and a Creator and a Creature of his own and lost all all Gods Testimony wholly as also the Testimony of good Angels He is a Knave or Lyer from the beginning through sin which hath begotten him and he hath begotten sin he is sins father and sin is his mother that hath begotten him and he her through covetousness in the leering eye of self-love and imagination Now as sin is that evil and found out in its Principle by Lucifer so it hath turn'd him into an evil one and one is the Principle of the other and so he can be excused by no means So Lucifer hath murdered himself and hath lost the Angelical Printiple and is and remaineth a forlorn Child and son of Perdition the right Antichrist for ever Thus is sin gotten through coveting and coveting through looking upon and looking upon through imagination and that through self-love and that through an arrogant liberty this through security and that through wantonness where there is no fear for as fear is the beginning of wisdom so is wantonness the beginning of folly and sin He that is fearful will not easily hazard upon sinning Lucifer was Created of God a good Angel and that so that he might easily have been kept from sining So also might Man if he would himself but self-will brought him to that sin yea his own wantonness but now he could not be so perfect Created that he could not fall into sin at all The reason is because his weight measure and number could not endure it because he was not born of God but had his Principles besides God although through God but what is born of God and of his seed that cannot sin because it is born of God to whom it is impossible to commit sin Thus is made clear and manifest the mighty abundant difference in the Creation which was very good at the Renovation which was done in and on the old Creature by means and help of the spirit of God and among the new births from above of God which is it alone to make Children and Heirs of God and Co-heirs of Christ unknown to the world and their wise Children Now the Angels consisting out of Wind Fire and Light and the fall of Lucifer standing before them as a warning therefore they cover their feet and faces before God with fear and trembling and are rather ashamed of themselves that they may find grace before the Lord God Now they are a fiery flame for a protection of the godly and a perdition and death to the wicked God also is a consuming fire in his Angels not on or in himself and will come also with his Angels and his Power and with fiery flames to judgment CUAP X. Of the difference of the light and darkness as also of the light and fire HItherto the light was not reckoned under the Elements by the wise of the world though it be the first of them in the Creation for in all Creatures the Bloud and Eyes are first and not the Heart Now the light is a going forth of Gods glory and it never goeth down or decayeth in its spirit anâ— is a dwelling of the seven spirits of God as the darkness is an habitation of Evil spirits In the light dwelleth the spirit of the Lord the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of Counsel and of strength the spirit of Knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. All wisdom understanding and knowledge all judgment and examination and every truth and righteousness cometh from and out of the light and through the same And as the light doth illuminate the whole world and maketh day and is the day it self So it illuminates also every spirit in all living souls and as there is no day without light neither can be so no wisdom nor knowledge nor understanding can be without light But the light in its body in our opinion is a pure essential spiritual Salt from which all Gemms and precious stones get their Colour as also all Flowers and Beauties their fairness All which the spirit of light doth work and adorneth all things with beauties for in the light all Colours are hid and are gotten by the same the soul of the light is nothing else but a joyful Life out of Nature as an Angelical Life and his spirit and eternal love proceeding from the spirit of the Lord. Out of this light God hath made the lights of Heaven which are coagulated living and comprehensible lights and are nothing else in their essence but a spiritual essential and exceeding pure Christalline salt so high tempered as ever any thing may be without any quality or property of heat coldness warmth moistness drought and have their proper motion in and on themselves especially the Sun â—unneth always with the light and day but the Moon with the darkness and night and the other stars in and on their places and order Those lights of Heaven do shew always and every where clearly the power of the Elements and contrary Elements what their operations be through which powers all things in the whole world are finished and wrought upon but through the lights of Heaven no less then a Looking Glass sheweth such and such you see Now the powers of the Elements and contrary Elements change and revolve daily weekly monthly and yearly Now because out of the light cometh knowledge which searcheth out all the depths in every spirit soul and body and presents them in the lights of Heaven prophesie tell and give to understand to the beholders who are the Children of the light The spirit of light searcheth all in all things and sheweth by the lights of Heaven every ascendent or spirit in all things and also in Man namely what spirit soul and body he hath received at his nativity out and according to the Elements and opposite Elements as also what spirits do incentre in him All which if bad or evil Man may decline or resist by the holy and good spirit as a beast can shake off the dust or flyes Now the Lights of Heaven rule the whole world namely acording to their time and shew things present past and future Now because every Element hath its spirits as the Earth the Water and the Air and their eyes are more spiritual then our bodily they can therefore spy something in the lights of Heaven and reveal it to Man But the Children of light do not use the
also what Scha Ma Jm is of which is written in the book of the Creation that God Elohim in the beginning have Created Scha Ma Jm which the Interpreters have rendred Heaven and Earth which runnneth contrary to the Text and against the order of the Creation Who can tell us what Scha Ma Jm properly is True we cannot speak with Tongues for we are more taken up with Prophesying according to the grace bestowed upon us Therefore we will give the interpretation of it to others to let them search to learn what Scha Ma Jm meaneth So much is known that out of Scha Ma Jm all other things are come as also the water out of which Heaven and Earth in the beginning of the Creation were Created for it is not enough that we know how that the world was Created out of the water but we ask also from whence came that water then out of which the world was made For the wise go after wisdom even to her depths and give not over till they find the bottom and all Principles The book of wisdom saith Chap. 11. v. 23. The whole world is before thee God as a moment of the little Tongue in the Weights and Scales and as a drop of the Dew that falleth in the mornings upon the Earth It is manifest that all Water and Dew before it is a bodily Water is first a Vapour But how and out of what and from whence and whereby that Vapour ariseth must be searched into And in our opinion it is nothing else but such a bodily spirit who in himself incloseth all in all and yieldeth and giveth all to all and at last gathereth all to himself Out of which now the world is Created that same is also in all things and without it there is nothing no where and when that is taken away from it again then it can be no more of a being That we may set out the depths of the Creation out of which it was produced these are threefold First the Word of God in which is Light through which all things were made and that which is in all things is instead of the spirit according to the highest degree in the Creation of the world and this is the true spiritual Seed of all things without which nothing is neither can be Afterwards is the Soul of all the world and is distinguished from God as the breath from the spirit and is the breath of the speaking Word of God and instead of the soul is the true life of all things according to the highest degree and is the soulish seed of all things in the world Lastly the salt is the body and bodily seed of all things and of the whole world in which dwelleth and resteth the Word and the Spirit of God These three hatch from themselves a water which is a Scha Ma Jm out of which the whole world hath its original according to the middle degree but the lower degrees are the elements These three give and set down the three general Principles for the Creation as God the Nature and the Elements And again these three the Spirit Wind and Water and at last in these three every Creature and all is inclosed totally in the Light Life and Love The word is God and God is the word the Spirit is the Nature and an out-breathed breath of God and the Nature is the Spirit and Soul of the World The Salt is an element of all elements and the elements in their glory are nothing else but a Salt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Out of these three consists Scha Ma Jm and the whole Creation of the world in each and all their true Principles In all Creations the word is the beginning the spirit the middle and the salt is the end In the beginning of the Creation Scha Ma Jm was unfashioned and unframed there were also darknesses over the face of the depths and there was a Chaos or confused being But the spirit of the Lord moved upon the water thereby it became seedy and the first thing that was Created in it was Light but was comprehended of the darknesses so long till God said Lehior come forth thou light and come before the day and make a day that it may be Light And presently light parte◠from the darkness and is according to its body and being an essential most refined spiritual salt which not otherwise but by the eye may be brought to the sense The darkness containeth in it Fire and the light was parted from darkness and the fire lay secretly hid therein which afterward by reason of sin broke forth to be visible and is called not Or Light but Vr Fire After the the Light was Created the Heaven a Firmament out of the water as Ice and Chrystal In which the flying soulish salt of life became fixed an firm and Heaven it self is such a salt in which dwe◠all the powers of life and of the soul and from thenc◠from above are poured forth into the nether world through the Spirit Wind and Air whose body i◠the water into which the flying salt is carryed After the Heaven was Created the Earth the bodily Centre of the world a gross body which containeth in it self the fixed salt into which earth all the elements do incenter The light is compared to the divine world the Heaven to the English and the earth to the elementary Above the Heaven and the Firmament are the spiritual above the waters into which nature doth pour forth it self which above the upper waters have their world and the true Paradise where there is meer light and no darkness Which world in these last times is made manifest in which the Nuptial of the Lamb and his Bride and the great true Supper will be kept Those that in the first Resurrection and Change at the coming of Jesus Christ have part shall meet the Lord and taken up into the Air to go with him into Paradise and shall thus be with the Lord always The whole Sphere of the world of earth and water are carryed and held up by the air even as a body is kept and held up by the spirit and breath that it may not fall CHAP. XIV Of the particular Creation THe Creation in its order is threefold First General in the Scha Ma Jm which was the first Materia and is yet out of which corporally all things are Created into which all Principles come together and are concentred Afterward Special on and in the Element as Lights Heaven Earth and Water Spirit Wind and Air are contained in Scha Ma Jm. Lastly Particular as in all these things which out on in and by the Elements were Created produced and made The first that was made in the particular Creation were the Vegitables all growing things on earth as Grass Herbs Trees amongst which the Vine Tree is the chiefest Now every thing hath its proper seed in it self Therefore here ceaseth Creation and Conception
and birth begins out in and by his own seed but at first all things were brought forth out of the earth on Grass Trees and Herbs through the Word Spirit and Salt The Salt hath given to the Grass Herbs and Trees their bodies which they all have in them The Spirit hath given them Power and Virtue especially for Physick but the Word giveth the blessing to it The true Physick Virtue and Blessing may be sought and gathered out of the salt of the earth and of every Herb and be made Corporeal and at the time when it doth greeny that the essence may be extracted and reduced to a Spiritual and Coelestial body which cometh forth green and yieldeth power to Physick Christ saith unto his Disciples Mat. 5 13. Ye are the Salt of the Earth The Reason because thereby the whole world was seasoned and made fertile that it did grow up to everlasting life and happiness But now all Salt is become unsavoury the Reason because there is no Spiret nor Word of Life in it Therefore it is cast upon the Dunghill and trampled upon And behold the Lord will Create a new one Amen Halelujah The particular Creatiâ—n hath begun from and on the lower and went upwards As now the earth is adorned with Grass Herbs and Trees So had God on the fourth day adorned the Heaven and Firmament with Lights Sun Moon and Stars which came forth and grew out of fixed flying and flying-fixed Salt of the Heaven and are even as the precious stones of the earth They are fixed in their Heavenly body and at the highest temper but they are flying in their course although some of them do stand still The chief Lights of Heaven are the seven Planets Saturn is the highest and belongeth to the earth and standeth to the earth who knoweth whether he were the highest at the beginning or whether he came to be the highest after the fall and that Mercury was to give place to him Many things are to us hid and much of mystical secrecy is in them For Saturn eateth all and is Death and domineers over all But Mercury maketh alive and growing Of all much were to be said but Sapienti satis Therefore we must take good heed to the contrary elements which over the fall ruled over all But we must be careful and witty to rule over them that death may be drowned and swallowed up in victory On the fifth day God Created out of the Waters all things that live therein and also the Birds out of the flying salt in the water Hence it is that they are so flying and these have their particular consideration by reason of the flying salt and in their Feathers they are Physical in flying Mercurial diseases as in the Falling sickness Madness Giddiness for these diseases have their original from the Spirits through Gods permission and must be cured with a flying Salt which is reduced to the highest degree Be it known also that there is great Virtue in Precious stones as in Pearls Amber Coral namely when they are first baptized with a Coelestial water which be altogether Spirit The Load-stone also hath its mystery And who can tell all We may well say Great are the works of the Lord He that observeth them taketh delight therein and to them they are propounded On the sixth day God Created all the beast of the earth and the Worms and at last man with him he closed up the Creation Among the â—ermius or Beasts the Serpent is the Center in the beginning she did not creep upon her belly and did not feed upon earth but that was laid on her as a Curse from God Whether she had Wings we will not deny There is great subtilty in her and a Mystery hidden therein At the beginning she was not venomous and among all the Beasts she was the next by and about Man as she will also be the next about him in the new world when that enmity is at an end Isa 11. 8. No Creature is so bodily fair and subtil as the Serpent Now because she was at first always about Man therefore the Devil did perswade her to perswade Man that he should break of the Tree of Knowledge and eat of the fruit thereof Because the Serpent is Mercurial and flying and is the Center of all Beasts therefore needs must there be a great mystery in her for Physick if rightly prepared for the Mercurial diseases especially being full of bones Therefore God hath finished the work of Creation on the sixth day with and on men of whose Creation hereafter and on the seventh day the Lord did rest and blessed that same day The six days bear a Curse by Reason of sin but the seventh day that now truly cometh that bringeth blessing and rest Joy Honour and Glory which joyful day of our Redemption we through the spirit of Prophesying do annunciate to all Creatures under Heaven in an everlasting Gospel and a very joyous Message which to annunciate is given to us from the spirit of prophesying CHAP. XV. Of the Mystery of the Word II is known out of the Holy Scriptures that all things are made and Created by the word and that yet all things are made by the word and are preserved through the word But here we will not speak Theologically but only naturally according to the Creation Neither do we speak Theosophically of the depths of God both which we save till another time and place The word of Creation is the general power of God out of which in which and by which all things are subsist and will be This general power of Almighty God every Creature makes use of for its best good But only Man abuseth it as also do the Devils and Spirits by Gods permission Hence it cometh that men must give an account of every idle word because they have abused the breath of the Almighty and use it to sin Oh that I could lay a Lock to my mouth that I might not transgress with my Tongue Because now all Mysteries are hid in the word therefore the same also performs all things in the world Therefore we will say that hence ariseth a three fold Magick through faith that is a power to know something to bring it to an effect First there is a Natural Magick which cometh out of Natural Faith wherein there is such a Magnet or Load stone that it can draw all things to it This faith is gotten in Man either of nature in his Spirit which is the true and right ascendent namely the spirit of man and by no means this or that Astre or Constellation as the ignorant do imagine which is only in signam ascendentis c Or this faith through the art and instruction of the natural Magick is wrought in man so that his spirit receiveth the ascendent and rejoyceth in the same As the ascendents in an may very well be transmuted transplanted and altered by the spirits Of his natural Magick without
of the changing at the coming of Christ and according to the Jewel of the Heavenly calling all these that are partakers of it receive an An elical body life and spirit therewith they enter into Paradise and the Angelical world and will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to the Angels Mat. 22. 30. Mark 12. 25. Luke 20. 36. Each body of man also the soul and spirit are nourished and preserved from that from which they come and are taken as the Elementary body out of Water and Earth the soul out of Wind and Air and the spirit out of Heaven and go again into the same when they are dissolved According to the Elementariness there is a threefold body in man whilst he liveth out of Water and Earth when he is dead out of wind earth till the Resurrection when he riseth out of Spirit Light and Heaven and know that every Element hath its proper body life and spirit Further Gods Holy ones rest after they depart in the Elementary part in the Earth Grave or where they are deceased So Samuel was heard out of that place of his Grave where he deceased to pronounce a ruine to the rejected King Saul According to the Angelical part they rest in Abrahams bosom which are the Chambers of the Just in the high Heaven But according to the divine part they are in Paradise of all three the Scripture testifieth clearly Lastly Infidels come to Hell and Prison with all except the dead body But those that have sinned against the Holy Ghost and have no pardon for it neither in this nor in the other world are buried in the Death because they have committed a deadly sin All the dead rise incorruptible that is in a Spiritual and Coelestial body But what glory or shame every body shall receive shall be known after the general judgment is past CHAP. XVIII Of the Image of God after which Man is Created THat man is Created after Gods Image is manifest out of Scripture Gen. 1. 26 27. Jam. 3. 9. But only this is the question what this Image is after which Man is Created Every Creature or Beast are made after their own Kind and Image but Man only after Gods Image This Image is Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 essentially bodily the Image of the invisible God Col. 5. 15 For God is a Spirit and and may not be felt nor seen unless it be in his essential substance and substantial essence Even as Man in his true Manhood after which he is distinguished from all other living Souls a Spirit or Spiritual in and on his Spiritual Soul and Mans Spirit cannot be seen felt or known otherwise then in his body in which he dwelleth with all his fulness So the invisible God who is a Spirit cannot be seen or known but in Christ and his substantial body as in which God the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost together with the whole fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily John 14 9. 1 John 1. Col. 2. 9. And this is the Spiritual Adam a quickening Spirit the Heavenly Man the Lord out of Heaven 1 Cor. 15. 45 47. The Image of God is threefold Namely 1. the Image of the Essence essentially after man is his own Image in his own proper Essence and Body So Christ also is the essential and bodily Image in God even as Mans body in Man and so is God in Christ as Man is in his body his own essential self-subsisting bodily and personal Image 2. The Image of that form on the outward appearance of that form Face and Members 3. The Image of the living properties Power or what name soever it may be called Here is manifest the Mystery of the Image of God and that God in Christ and Christ in God was much sooner a Man then we for we are in all things fashioned after him and so his counterfeit Christ the Image of God and Man who is out of Gods Image and honour are thus distinguished Namely 1. As the Image and Essence 2. As Essence and Essence 3. As Spiritual Heavenly and Divine and as Soulish Terrestrial and from beneath that is as Adam and Adam Man and Man and as above and beneath The Soulish Adam is not an Image of God after the Essence as Christ Reason because his Essence is Terrestrial and from beneath but in and on that Terrestrial body only that Image in that manner as a counterfeit and that in a Terrestrial soulish Essence from beneath out of the Earth So is the Soulish Adam and Terrestrial Man an Image of the Spiritual Adam and Heavenly man as a stony wooden or Image of Wax of a living mans Image is not in humane Essence on the Flesh and Bloud but in another being Now as Essence and Essence are one distinct from another so is frame and frame 1 The inward form of God is the most holy Godhead which with all fulness dwelleth bodily in Christ Of this form man hath received the Breath of the Almighty in a Heavenly Soul to his inward essential form and true Manhood 2. The bodily visible palpabl and personal form of God essentially in which God personally appeared and personally was made manifest is the flesh of the word the body of Christ After this man hath a body of flesh bloud and bones but not Divine Spiritual and Heavenly but Soulish Terrestrial and from beneath 3. The manifest face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and looks and presence on the head body and all Members and their Powers and strength After this also is Man framed and thus to be looked on in which consideration many Mysteries may be observed although the spirit of Errour saith as if God had no Head Eyes Ears Face Nose Mouth no Hands nor Feet because he is a Spirit which rather befalls those Spirits of Errour he hath Eyes and seeth not neither acknowledgeth the Image of God in Christ and in Man hath Ears and heareth not and a Heart and understandeth nothing Further Man is made after Gods similitude and is like unto God Namely 1. on the Heavenly Soul Eternal and Immortal and thence he is of God 2. Like in Power that he can do much namely after his part measure and weight 3. Like in Glory as a God over all other Creatures a Lord and Ruler Good Reader here you must know and observe that this great Mystery doth manifest here and Bringeth along the right Jehior let it be light the day of the Revelation of the Son of Man of which Christ saith expresly Luke 17. 22. c. On which the the Son of man is revealed and that this is the Revelation and appearance of Jesus Christ of whom the Holy Apostles have prophesied 1 Pet. 1. 7. 5. 1 Tim. 6. 14. 16. ◠Joh. 2. 28. Tit. 2. 13. 2 Tim 4. 8. 2 Thes 2. 8. Thus The Revelation or appearance of the coming is clearly distinguished Mal. 3. Mat. 24. 30. And chiefly Rev. 12. He that hath Eyes let
he that desires to know God must learn to know him in his image and that perfectly which perfect knowledge is this That God is man and that he is true man who is of God and God is in him This is the wisdom that is mystical hitherto and yet is manifest but only to the wise and is called Theosophia because God doth no where so clearly manifest himself as in man who is his image or honour or glory 1 Cor. 11. 7. Therefore man needs not to go far but only into himself to learn the true knowledge of God and to seek after God in himself and himself in God If he do not thus all is vain and no where else any wisdom to be found Acts 17. 27. Luke 17. 21. Seeing the three other books proceed only from the one Book as the world of God therefore all three do testifie unanimously of this book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely each in its letter wisdom and testimony but none so clearly as man doth This is that great whole and perfect Library of wisemen wherewith in justice and equity they may be contented All wisdom and knowledg with their mysteries in these books we may not learn any where else but only through the same Spirit who himself hath penned these books made and testified He therefore who is desirous to study these books must from the bottom of his heart acknowledge and confess his own blindness folly and ignorance and must pray unto the Father of Lights for illumination wisdom and understanding that he would send his holy spirit which may lead us into all truth and take us away from all foolishness and falshood and may bring us to the Light of Gods glory Which may not be done by any other means then through a love to God and to mans own salvation and through a holy life without all Hypocrisie and through the Light that commeth from above and not from beneath from man and his wisdom which all those must learn to deny that desire to learn the wisdom of the holy ones We will speak thus That hitherto all these books were sealed up but are now opened in the end of the World according to the Prophecy 4 Esd 6. 20. Dan 12. 9. Zach. 14. 7. And if wise worldly men are offended at this they betray themselves that the wisdom of the holy one is not in them The books of wisdom testifie unanimously of the word by which all things are created and in which only all wisdom doth rest and which is the beginning of all beginnings in which is all and without which nothing is which is all in all God blessed for ever Amen CHAP. II. Of those principles and beginnings of all things as also of God himself and of all whatsoever it be THe Principle of all Principles and beginning of all beginnings as also of God himself is only the word according to the testimony of the divine truth and word it self John 1. Now the word may not be defined otherwise then that it is a Spirit breath or voice of God yea God himself in such a subsistence essence and being as namely How the image of God doth represent us according to the similitude which is man as that he is a quicâ—ning spirit a spiritual Adam and heavenly man which is God the Lord glorined and magnified for ever Amen Now we hold altogether that this is the proper definition of God and no other which the holy writ clearly signifieth 1 Cor. 15. 45 47 48. who according to his Image and Similitude hath created a spiritual Adam and Terrestrial man when God said Let us make Adam or Man after our image after our Similitude Gen. 1. 26 27. Now the word being the Beginning of all Beginnings there is contained in the same the Light Life and Love The Light affords the Revelation of God for God is Light and dwelleth in Light and is the Father of Lights Life is the virtue and power of God and a quickning Spirit who hath createth and preserveth all Love is a Testimony of God in which is the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost in one word which is called Jesus Christ the spiritual Adam and heavenly Man Messias who is Essential Alpha and Omega All in All the Beginning and the End the First and the Last Blessed and Praised for ever Amen Rev. 1. 22. Now the word being the true Principle in God himself then consequently all proceedeth from the word out of which do chiefly manifest themselves three general Principles in which Principles with and through which all things are contained and are these namely God Nature Element Now these three general Principles afford also a threefold world namely a divine uncreated from Godflowing world from Eternity then an Angelical world which proceedeth or lighteth forth or shineth forth out of the Light in which God dwelleth and lastly an Elementary world whose Original came out of the water After these three general Principles proceed also three special Principles namely Ghost Wind and Water Now every world hath its proper Ghost Wind and Water in their Kind and Nature All things Created out of the divine world from above are Created out of Water and Spirit from above through the wind and breath of the Omnipotent God for to the Divine world is properly competent the Spirit to the Angelical is properly competent the wind and to the Elementary world is water proper After these special Principles follow lastly particular Principles each of which hath its proper Being out of which in which and from which it consists But these three Principles proceed from the former and are Spirit Soul and Life and Body All bodies are out of the Water All Life and Soul out of the Wind And all Spirit out of the Spirit But concerning the Angels their Body is out of the Wind of the Angelical World their Soul and Life a Fire-flame and their Soul a â—ight of which elsewhere These are our Principles in the Wisdom out of which all things have their Original Whether other Principles may be shewed unto us we do much doubt The Primum mobile first mover of all things is the Word for in it is the Life The Secundum mobile Second mover of all things is the Spirit through which all things are Created The Tertium mobile Third mover is the Wind and these three moving Principles are the Perpetnum mobile everlasting mover of all things by which all things move live and have their Being But these three do rest upon the Water bodily out of which the World is and all things are And in the Air according to the Life wherein all things are And in Heaven from which all things come from above after the Spirit but the Spirit from God from which he cometh and returneth thither John 1. 4. Psal 104. 30. Acts 17. 28. Eccles 12. 7. But all these come together on and in the Earth as in the heart of the world Wisd 1. 7. In these
cannot come to its glory unless it be gone in the Crusible through the consuming fire seven times that afterward it may be Baptized with Water and Spirit to a new birth and become a new Gold and become out of the same Spirit and Water increased into many thousands and as a Heavenly Gold Spirit and Metal whereby other inferiour metals may be turned into the substance of the best Gold So it fareth with man that shall get Wisdom first he must be baptized with Fire then with Water and then with the Spirit and all this is done in the Crusible of the Terrestrial man But all wisdom is sufficient through the Spirit and in Truth through Principia subordinata Concordantia which do concenter afterward in a Harmony The Principia contain the true beginning of every thing from whence it came thither it doth return also and from thence it is preserv'd also The Subordinata contain the Order straitness and perfection of every thing as they do hang one in another stand and subsist one by another even as a Ladder or Stairs there must not be one step amiss or wanting else the subordinata are not true Commonly there are seven subordinata and follow one upon another orderly and things that follow one after another are subordinata and thus it is perfect Lastly this is a Concordance that all things may agree one with another and a Contrariety be no where found seen or heard Even as in sweet Musick all things are Harmonious let the Voices be as many as they will and change one in another going out of one into another and an everlasting Ternarius remaineth therein and so the Principles and Concordance consist in Ternarius and Vnity where one floweth out of another till to the number of seven of the Subordinata which reach after the greater number till to Twelve At last the Harmony concentreth and encloseth all which taketh altogether in One Three and Seven and presents one as the other namely the upper as the lower and the lower as the upper so that none be against the other although they be so far distinct as God and Creature Spirit and Soul Heaven and Earth yet one is in the other the one is known by the other and the one is justified by the other and that in Spirit and Truth Search now and see try and learn hear observe and judge what Wisdom this is and what Truth and Spirit is presented in this Book The fool knoweth nothing of the Wisdom and doth not understand her way Lyers do not understand the Truth nor do they know her Principles and the soulish bruitish and profane know nothing of the Spirit although they hear his wind blow yet they know not from whence it cometh nor whither it goeth Therefore do not look upon men do not inquire after men that is nothing and do not stare upon the image to the intent to adore it as all those do that dwell on Earth Rev. 13. But only inquire after the Spirit and fear him for he will direct all in the Word of Truth and Righteousness Him you are to Honour and against him do not think speak or do that you may not be condemned out of your own mouth Now all Spirit Truth and Wisdom reveal themselve in these three and are thereby known and justified namely in a Divine Light in a Divine Life and in a Divine Love where these three are in on and about man there is really Spirit Truth and Wisdom The Divine Light containeth all wisdom understanding and knowledge The Divine Life containeth all Truth Holiness and Righteousness And the Divine Love containeth the whole Spirit and poureth him out into our hearts and thereby we know that God hath loved us because he hath given us of his Spirit which cryeth in us Abba and giveth Testimony to our Spirit that we are the Children of God He poureth forth our Tears and Prayers before God that we might find grace before the Lord and teacheth us to pray aright before the Lord about things that are above maketh intercession for us with unspeakable sighs Thereby we know in the Spirit and in Truth where the right Wisdom the Divine Truth and the Holy Ghost is for these three Light Life and Love proceed from God and God himself is Light and there is neither Darkness nor Fire in or about him God is Eternal Life there is neither Death nor Perdition out of him in or about him God is Love it self and there is neither VVrath nor Pain Hell nor â—amnation out or of him He that stayeth by in and on these three namely by the Divine Light in a Divine Life and in a Divine Love he stayeth and abideth in God and God in him in the Spirit and Truth according to the wisdom and true knowledge of God and knoweth what is Truth Spirit and Wisdom and tells their true Principles Subordinates and Concordances in a Divine Harmony proved to the Elect Angels and Men in Spirit and in Truth CHAP. XXI Of the Mystery of Time to understand it aright NOthing so secret at night but the day may reveal it when the Light cometh to its Day and the day to its light and the clear Sun doth shine over all that is under Heaven The Night is past and behold the day breaks on with its fair morning light which is a light fire and a fire-light who can now subsist for the Lord cometh yea the Lord cometh coming Amen Halelujah He is like unto the fire of a Founder and like unto the sharp Lee of Sope boylers he will melt prove try c. He will wash purifie and cleanse And who can stand before him Mal 3. This he doth therefore that all filth may be done away before the Sun riseth and may not put the whole Earth and world to banishment or destruction Chap. 4. Now that day being come with its light in this time then the Mystery of the time of the whole world will be revealed But always is included and closed in and with the number of Seven For in the seventh day God finished the Creation and so in Seven always included But the number 7 standeth thus 7 49. 70. The number Seven after our time standeth chiefly upon the Seventh Trumpet in and with it the Mystery of God is finished yea revealed Rev. 10 11 12. Chap. As also with the seventh Vial of Gods wrath But as much as we know in part we are and live betwixt the fifth and sixth Vial. The number 49. sheweth expresly that fair Mystery of the time of the refreshing and restitution of all that is lost Levit. 25. And the number 49 is the end of the little seventh day and a beginning of the great seventh day and Sabbath of God Lastly the number 70 seeth upon the 70 weeks in the Prophet Daniel as also upon the expiration of the 1335 days Chap. 9. 24. 12. 12. When these are about then the transgression will be reconciled every
and worth I confess Honourable Sir This my Dedication as a stranger is especially grounded on the Fame of your Goodness and Communicative Charity the Truest and Noblest Badges of Honour which if so will now pardon me But I stop here taking off the imputation of base self ends or flattery by my concealment with Diogenes his recess of Privacy But remain Your Honours well wishing and humble Servant W. C. Or twice five Hundred April 1. 1671. L'aurum Amice eligis Rus. TO HIS Worthy and much Honoured Friend ELIAS ASHMOLE Esq One of the Kings Majesties Heraulds at Arms and Comptroller of the Excises through all England Honoured Sir HAving but barely though faithfully Translated this Helvetius treating of the most rare and experimental Transmutation of Metals I thought it not fit to make any Dedication but seeing I have adjoyned my own Epitaph with several Scutcheons Mottos and Explanations with Pythagoras his General Figure Blazoning Philosophical Herauldry and also the Alchahest Samech ' with other Elixirs c. I consulted it was very proper to present the same to your Judicious view whose abilities might challenge the same especially since I received some civilities from you of a little like Nature in the small intermission of my Long troubles 1662. Likewise being an Englishman whose Patronage in general you seem to avouch by those Worthy Collections of English Philosophick Chymical Authors formerly published by you I know you have another Coat of Arms for my Paternal Family in your Heraulds Office which would suit with the said Epitaph if it were only as it is also intended for a plain Sculpture to be upon my Grave Stone Yet such Scutcheons had not been so proper for this place these being chiefly here intended for the Philosophers Stone agreeing with my said Epitaph in the Elements Principles and whole perfection thereof excellently manifested by our late English Phaenix or Elias Artisto Anonymon in his Book of The open entrance to the shut Pallace of the King Now some perchance may think it incongruous for any man to publish his own Epitaph or annex any such Novel Scutcheons Yet since they and their Explanations are Philosophick and the Philosophers Patrons are Truth and Reason which should govern all sorts of men I was the more confident of allowance and approbation And indeed Sir I may affirm they were made in a Living Grave 1652. From whence I never thought to come forth no more then probably Jonas might in the Whales Belly Daniel in the Lyons Den or the three Children in the Fiery Furnace Being grievously oppressed and clowded in my long Troubles and since as little regarded Wherefore I hope these may be better excused especially if it may tend to Gods Glory as I hope it will by a continual warning or Memento Mori to the Reader for his souls health though he want the Philosophick spectacles to understand the sense more perfectly However Sir give me leave to tender you these small Reliques of my obsequious obsequy as Burnt Offerings Reviving and describing Aarons Calf ground to dust by Moses with Helvetius his Golden Calf burnt to a stone or Pouder by the Teutonic Elias Artista and I wish you might prove another Elias as your name imports in this Fiery Chariot or Transfiguration for the benefit of this our English nation and of the whole world to glorifie him who is the giver of all good things And although as if dead I should remain unknown in the Whales Belly on Jobs Dunghil or Diogenes his Tub Yet entertain these as your own worth deserves and requires with a Noble mind not regarding the weakness or misfortunes of the giver which will the more illustrate your virtues and oblige Worthy Sir Your faithful Friend and humble Servant W. C. Or twice five Hundred July 16. 1668. Laurum Amice Eligis Rus. THE PHILOSOPHICAL Epitaph of VV. C. Esquire FOR A MEMENTO MORI ON THE Philosophers Tomb Stone With three Hierogliphical Scutcheons displaying Minervas and Hermes Birds and Apollos Birds of Paradice in Philosophical Mottoes and Sentences with their Explication With a Perfect Discovery of the Immortal Liquor Alchahest or Macchabean Fire and of the Volatized Salt of Tartar or Samech and of other Elixirs with their differences and properties LONDON Printed by T. R. and N. T. for Will Cooper at the Pellican in Little Britain EPITAPHIUM factum per W. C. MInante perICuLo GranDe Scutisque affixis patefaciens Avem Minervae Hermetis Apollinis Avem Paradici In hIs HyerogLyphyCIs nVMeranDI FIgVrIs Bubo Minervae inter ramos Haederae Creatio Chaos Corrupti◠♈ Mercurius Sal Anser Hâ—rmogenis sive Pullus in sole assatus Generatio Mortificatio Vivificatio Mundo lassatus tandem iveni Hunc nidum ad me in terra reficienduâ— Nudus sum nâ—c tamen sentio srigus Alo hoc pridem quod me nutrivit Quieteque hoc fruor locâ— Cum Amicis meis Consanguineis Ne Plores igituâ— Fugalo Timorem Aut Pulvis lachrymas hic ficce tuâ—s Est Anima in Caelis in requie cum Sanctis Ubi laudes Angeli sine fine cantant Olida sed mortalitatis haec Parum hic Fermentant dum perfecte Putrescant netideque purgentur tan dem Cum Spiritu Anima Rediviva Resurgant Clangore Buccinae quoe juncta lucebunt Eruntque Divina Spiritualia Fixa Uti Châ—istus Sempâ—rque manebunt unum Quae Tâ—ia sic facta unum Bis V. C. Restat Apollinis Avis Paradisi Phaeniâ— Icarus vel â—quila excelsa Sulphur W. C. Regeneratio Redemptio Glorificatio Nemo ante Obitum faelix Est in Mercurio quicquid quaerunt Sapientes Si â—ixum solvas faciasque volare solutum Et volucrem figas facient te vivere tutum Solve Coagula Fige Dum Fixum Figit Tinctum fusibile Tingit Si pariat ventum valet Auri pondera Centum Ventus ubi vult spirat Capiat qui capere potest L'Aurum amice eligis Rus. An EPITAPH made by W. C. CLowDeD by threatnIng DIsasters With Scutcheons annexed displaying Minerva's and Hermes Birds And Apollo's Bird of Paradice In HIerogLIphICk NVMbers anD In FIgVres Minerva's Owl in an Ivie Bush Creation Chaos Corruption ♈ Mercury Salt Hâ—rmogâ—nâ—s Goose or Pullet roasted in the Sun Generation Mortifications Vivificaâ—ion Tyr'd of the World at last found This Nest to rest me in the Ground I 'm naked yet I feel no cold Feed that that had fed me of old And quietly enjoy this Place With Friends about of my own race Weep not then here but banish fears Or let this dust dry up your tears My Soul 's in Heaven with Saints in peace Where Angels sing and never cease These grounds of Mans Mortality Rests here a while till perfectly Putrify'd purg'd cleans'd and at last Reviv'd with Soul and Spirit by blâ—ft Of Trumpet wâ—ich being join'd shall And be spiritual fixt Divine Like Christ and One for ever â—e shine V. C. Which being thus is double you see Apollo's Bird of Paradice Phoenix Icarus or lofty
that only by a harmonious Sympathy between it and the vital Spirits Wherefore the Adept do call it the Myster of Nature defence of old Age and against all Sicknesses yea of the very Plague and Pestilence For this being a kind of Salamander communicates its virtue and as a Salamander makes a man live till his last appointed time against all the Fiery Epidemical Darts of the angry Heavens or their Malevolent Influences Physitian Sir I understand by your discourse That this Medicine doth nothing to the correcting of depraved or corrupt humours but only by strengthning the Vital Spirits and our Balsamick Nature but other practical Chymists teach how to seperate he impure from the pure and ripen the unripe o make the bitter become a little sower or Acid and the sower sweet and so to turn sharp into mild mild into sharp sower into sweet and sweet into sower Also I understand you say this universal medicine cannot prolong life beyond its prefixed time but only preserves it from all venome and deadly sickness which agrees with the vulgar belief That the Life depends only upon the will of God But passing by these things my question is still whether a mans former nature may be converted into another new nature So that a slothful man may be changed into a diligent nimble man and a Melancholy man by nature be made a merry man or the like Elias Not at all Sir for no Medicine hath power to transform the nature of man in such a manner no more then wine drunk by divers men changeth the persons nature but only provokes or deduceth what is in man potentially into Act For the universal Medicine works by recreating the vital spirits and so restoreth that health which was suppressed for a time In the same manner the heat of the Sun never transmutes the Hearbs and Flowers but stirs up their potential powers to become active For a man of melancholly temper is again raised up to his natural melancholy disposition and a merry man to become merry And so in all desperate diseases it is a present and most excellent preservative Nay if there could be any prolonging of Life Then Hermes Paracelsus Trevisan and many others having had the said Medicine would never have undergone the Tyranny of death but have prolonged their lives perhaps to this very day It were therefore the part of a mad Lunatick to believe that any Medicine in the world could prolong life longer then God limits Physitian Worthy Sir I agree now cheerfully to all you have said touching the Universal Medicine being no less regular then fundamental Yet till I can prepare the same my self it profits me not Indeed some Illustrious men have written of it so cautiously in dark Aenygma s that very few can understand their progress to the end and if one could purchase all these Authors this short life might be therein consumed and not attain the thing It remains therefore only to pray and labour Ora labora Deus dat omni horae Work and Pray God gives every day Elias Seldom indeed can this Art of Arts be pickt out of Books without demonstration from some true Adeptist But waving this let us come to Transmutation of Metals by the most noble Tincture of which many have written but 't is true few Disciples attain this Arcanum Physitian Your convincing Arguments and my fore going Experiments I believe all you say for Dr. Kuffler with the Tincture of one ounce of gold projected on two ounces of Silver transmuted as is said an ounce and half into the purest gold and a third of the remainder into white gold and the rest was still the purest Silver imaginable And Van Helmonts experiment proves the same But especially Alexander Scotus and Count Russes Experiment well known at Prague and as here you may see the inscriptiors done before the Roman Emperour Caesar Ferdinando the Third Where with one grain of Tincture were transmuted three pound of Mercury into the noblest pure gold Yet I confess I never saw a true Adeptist or projection made and therefore cannot so absolutely conclude these things to be true Elias My Friend The art will remain true whether F. 1. Pag. 34. LIKE AS RARE MEN HAVE THIS ART SOE COMETH IT VERY RARELY TO LIGHT PRAISE BE TO GOD FOR EVER WHO DOETH COMMVNICATE A PART OF HIS INFINITE POWER TO VS HIS MOST ABIECT CREATVRES THE DIVINE METAMORPHOSIS EX HIBITED AT PRAGVE XV IAN A c MDCXLVIII IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS SACRED CAESAREAN M ty FERDINAND THE THIRD The Thickness of that piece of gould â—ount Rusz uppermost Hill master in Steyer â—nd Carinthiae two Prouinces of high Germany â—ath with one only graine of Tincture transmuted â—â—ree pounds of Quicksiluer into pure gold fixt â—all assayes proofes out of which was cast â—his piece of Gould F. 2. Pag. 35. 1 Amen Holy holy holy is the Lord our God and all things are full of his hononr Leo. Libra 2 The maruelous wisdome of the wonderfull Iehovah in the vniuersall Booke of nature I am made the 26th of August 1666 3 ☉ ☿ ☽ The wonderfull God Nature and the spagyricall Art make nothing in vain 4 To the Honour of the Euerlasting Inuisible trivne only wise most high Omnipotent God of Gods holy holy holy Gouernor and praiseworthy Preferuer of all 5 Holy art thou O holy spirit Halleluiah ffye vpon the Diuell and neuer speake of God without light Amen you believe or not For Example In the singular exalted sulphurous virtue in the Loadstone by its only touch derives a sympathetick vertue into the sulphurous Iron to become another Magnet or Loadstone by its touch So doth it happen in the Philosophers Stone in the which is all that the wisemen seek Now in regard their writings are so numerous and dark it is to be wished one Laconick short Epitomy were extracted out of all for the said Art to be clearly manifested in a short time with little labour and expence and so a most easie Transite made to the best Authors But look here I will now shew you the true matter of Philosophers to confirm your belief Phisitian Is this glassy yellow Masse it indeed I fear you do but jest or dally with me Elias Yea truly thou hast now in thy hands the most pretious thing in the world the true Philosophers stone none ever more real or can be better neither shall any have another and I my self have wrought it from the very beginning to the very end Then stepping into a more private Room he shewed me these five pieces of pure gold made out of Lead by the Philosophical Tincture which saith he I wear in memory of my Master Now by thy great reading canst thou judge of what matter or substance it is made and composed Physitian Sir I cannot judge but it seems you learnt it not of your self but had a master instructed you to make it Now I beseech you Sir bestow a little crum of the
something and the contrary Elements are the nothing The nothing is become something by the word of God and the something will become nothing again when at last the word is taken away Although the contrary Elements were once nothing yet in the Creation they are a Principle along because they were made which were not afore and are of God counted not evil but good because God did look upon them and hath covered and hid their Principle which was nothing yet concentred and fastened together Corporeal in and on the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil which must have stood there as a witness namely that the world was Created out of nothing yet this should be undiscovered and not ashamed that is it should not be broken namely that the shame of the whole world might not not stand ashamed before the face of all the world and for a confusion be quite dead and perish Now as long as the contrary Elements remained unknown and in their concentrated Center were not broken they are very good But so soon as they are known in their depths they are such a thing as puts the world to a shame and at last altogether doth consume it and reduceth it to nothing These contrary Elements are three Darkness as Corporeal Fire as Soulish and corruption as Spiritual yet Corruption before the fall was no Corruption but only an alteration not unto evil but unto good and a change and exchange of all Created things The Fire before the fall was not consuming but in its knowledge was good and useful In like manner darkness was very good and for a rest and refreshing to all Creatures but now it is an habitation to ill Spirits and as far as darkness in the air reacheth and goeth so far and high also in the air hath Satan his Dominion and Reign Ephes 22. Chap. 6 12. And so are the contrary Elements become hereditary to Satan through sin who is the Prince of darkness and Potentate of the fire and the fire over him and a principle and beginner of perdition Out of darkness Hell is harched which is threefold 1. Corporeal according to its place under the earth in the nethermost places Ephes 4. 9. Luke 16. 28. 1 Pet. 3. 19. 2. Soulish in the Reign of the Devil and Prince of darkness in high places 3 Spiritual in the Devil himself and his Children This Hell will be cast at last into the fiery Lake Out of the fire is produced an unquenchable ever burning Sulphur and such a consuming fiery flame which killeth life and yet always maketh death alive The Hellish fire is three fold in the Hell in the Devil and his Children and in the fiery Pool Out of this alteration or rather perdition is at last Death gotten which in its bodyliness is a cold fire and a fiery coldness According to the Soulishness a gnawing worm that continueth devoureth and never eateth yet always consumeth and still begetteth again According to the Spirit Death is the Devil himself essentially who hath begotten sin and sin hath begotten him the Devil Now darkness was good before the fall for light was hid therein which God commanded to come forth out of the darkness The fire also was good before the fall for life rested therein because no flame was burning in the fire nor was manifest The change and alteration was good also before the fall because love did shew it self therein by the increase of the Creatures Now since Light Life and Love include all therefore they were comprehended also in the contrary Elements but they were separated from the same and thrust out and parted through sin and so that which was very good became exceeding bad and turned good and evil to a contrary and adverse thing After the fall Hell and Death were begotten and the fire was made manifest Visible and Corporeal So that it went up into the height by Reason of sin so that by Gods permission and command it may fall down from Heaven upon the wicked world especially it doth lye in and on the fiery Cherub before the door of Paradise and guardeth the way to the Tree of Life but in the glorious and joyful coming of the great God Jesus Christ this fiery Cherub must be gone and come down and all contrary Elements must reduce to nothing that is they must no more Reign and also the Devil himself must from above be cast down taken Captive and in Prison must be bound a thousand years to the glorious liberty and Redemtion of the Creature from the Vanity Curse and Death where all things as they were Created will be renewed CHAP. IX Of the Principle or Original of that evil one and of the Angels BEfore this Elementary world was Created of God the Angels and the Angelical world and Paradise which were above the upper waters were first and that so certain as the nature was first before the Elements and God before all things Therefore always out of the upper things things beneath were gotten and the upper is always before that which is below even as the Spirit is first before the Soul and Body Now the Angels God hath called through his word out of the same light wherein God dwelleth after their spirit for that end that they should serve him and hath presented them in the fiery flame after the Soul and as a wind after their body Now the Angels being out of the light wherein God dwelleth therefore they can know on in and out of the same what Gods command is and this light is the face of God in Heaven a spiritual food of the Angels which light the Angel of the Children may behold whereas on the contrary the Angels of sinful men may not behold it until the sinner doth true repentance then his Angel may appear again before that light and before the face of the Lord of which there is great joy among the other Angels But as long as the sinner doth not repent so long appeareth the Devil before God and accuseth the sinner day and night before him Now amongst God ' Angels â—ucifer was the chief for he carryed the 〈…〉 clear morning Star which was and is the son of 〈◊〉 but he was not content with that great Honour and Dignity but would fain have been Lord and God himself and no more a servant This coveting was in Lucifer gotten by an ill look and eye toward God inflamed within himself in the same fiery flame out of which the Angels after their Soul are and that so much and heavy that the light did depart in his Spirit from Lucifer and instead thereof an unspeakable great darkness came out of the fire which Lucifer himself had kindled and so instead of Heaven a Hell it self So the fiery flame unknown to Lucifer undiscovered and hid was blown up by himself out of envy and grudgings so that it turned to an essential anger yea to a consuming fire wherein at first did rest the life but was
Communion of such spirits at all neither should it be because it is the next degree to Witch-craft The Natural Magick can do much of which the wise Men of the East made use profitably who clime to Christ But the Angelical may do more yet and much more the divine But we must strive always after the best and Man hath within him a threefold Magnet or 〈◊〉 whereby he can draw to him all spirits in the world and can do wonders But what saith the Lord to it Mat. 7. 22 Luke 10 20. For by the natural Magick Devils may be cast out and great wonders done by it The Prince of darkness can turn to the shape of of an Angel of light and will have every where his hand in the work Now is a very dangerous time because all spirits are stirring because their end is so nigh that it is hardly believed The Air is fuit of spirits and the he Earth also is full of them and every man hath his proper Angel and his bad Angel also By the good Angels all good things man doth are set down truly and the bad Angels observe all evil that man doth and when once the books are to be opened men will be judged according to their works and words Well be it with him who hath blotted out his black Register with repenting tears The spirit we cannot see unless our eyes be opened Lastly between light and darkness light and fire is such a great difference as between life and death blessedness and perdition yea as between God and the Devil The light is and will be an Eternal dwelling of God But darkness and fire is an everlasting habitation of Devils and the damned CHAP XI Of the Principle of the fire and its Mystery THere is a threefold fire namely the fire of the contrary Element the fire of the Angels and the fire of the Devils The fire of the contrary element is threefold First before the fall a still resting and unmanifested fire without a burning flame Secondly after the fall a kindled manifested burning flaming fire Thirdly a cold waterish fire which doth not burn yet smoketh worketh into the earth upon Minerals and Metals With this cold waterish fire all things are forced and the Metals also for it doth calcinate them and turneth them as it were into ashes destroyeth and openeth them This fire is chiefly threefold as 1. Vegitable which is as it were tempered and is a well rectified Vineger which is extreamly useful Of which not many words Sat sapienti dictum Secondly it is a mineral fire which chiefly is the true spirit of Nitre a spiritual water out of Salt-peter which hath both heat and cold and is Infernal and Coelestial Thirdly Mercurial or Saturnine a strong Salt that hath not its fellow Without this no Metal is engendred nor broken or groweth in which is a great mystery hid more then can be Imagined But the true spirit of Nitre must not be prepared without a cold fire for the raging horrible and furious Hell which is in Saltpeter must in its devouring and consuming fire be over whelmed drowned and devoured and be reduced to a blessed Heaven Now when a Heavenly Water is at hand then a new birth from above out of water and spirit can follow Here lyeth hid a great Medicine in time of the raging Plague Head-aches Leavers Stone Gout and many more diseases to be used And truly the time is come when all things must be made manifest and although we have not yet with our hands prepared it yet the spirit of wisdom can teach us all what is secret and mystical who searcheth into all deepnesses and can shew testifie and make known to us that which no eye hath seen no◠Ear hath heard and which hath never entred into mans heart Thirdly There is also a Metalline cold fire which reduceth all Metals yea Gold it self to nothing only that noble grain in the Gold hidden stayeth and remaineth which cannot be forced and that fire is Lead Saturn which devoureth all Metals and consumeth also it self in the fire at last Even as the common fire doth consume and devour all wood and at last it self is consumed and goeth out But in the Cinders that remain there lyeth the treasure hidden which must be drawn out of it with hot water The Metals have two sorts of waters a Cold and a Hot and both are fire The Cold is Saturn Lead the Hot is Mercury Now as the one is an extream Hellish Cold so is the other extream hot of a Hellish Heat so that by reason of heat it stands in a continual flowing although it feels outwardly Cold. Now in this fire water the Metals especially Gold after their death are born anew namely in the Metalline world and Reign and yet are anew Clarified Christalline Spiritual Heavenly body which is so glorious that it can make inferiour and less precious yet to his nature not unlike Metals to his own substance So much is it worth to know the nature of fire and its mystery without which no good or profitable use of it may be had for our good for all must be killed first in the cold fire even as it were through its Winter according to the proceeding of nature must dye and putrifie if it shall be produced again in a new body Now the fire according to its principle is begotten out of darkness from thence it is produced and returneth into it again But darkness was begotten out of the Nothing and that Nothing stood there in the beginning of the Creation to the Something as a Testimony of that which was Created For all that is made and Created that was before nothing and before it be fashioned then it was not fashioned without a frame and was as it were a dark Ens or Being out of which afterward is born the Light that is a fashionable Being that is out of the invisible a visible thing is made Therefore the darkness and fire in a good sense and before the fall are an excrement of the Light yet are good and useful even as that which a Workmaster heweth or cutteth away from that matter which he intends to make some fashionable thing Even as Chips from wood are of the same substance with that which is framed out of it yet an excrement of it and when these Chips are flung into the fire they return to nothing So the contrary Elements when they are known they are no more good but an opposition adverse and stark nought Further be it known that in the divine world are no contrary Elements nay there can be none in it although their power hath pressed into it yea in the depths of God in which it grew dark when the Lord of glory dyed on the Cross and the fire of the raging wrath of God consumed the same and death and perdition killed him Who can speak it out or who knows what this saying doth mean Also in the Angelical world