The which Arnoldus observing saith in his Rosary that the greatest difficulty is to find out the matter of this stone for they have called it Vegetable Mineral and animal not according to the litteral sence as is well known to such wise men as have tried the divine secrets and miracles of the same stone For example sake Raymund Lullies Lunaria may be produced which gives flowers of admirable virtues familiar to the Philosophers themselves But yet this was not the intention of those Philosophers that you should think they meant thereby any projection upon mettals or that any such preparation should thence be made but the abstruse mind of the Philosophers hath another intent In like manner they called their matter by the name Martagon to which they applyed an occult Alchymical operation when as notwithstanding that name denotes nothing eâ—se but a certain most occult similitude Besides 't is no small error that is risen in the Liquors of Vetegables with which very many have endeavoured to coagulate Mercury and afterwards to convert it with fixatory waters into Luna supposing that he who by this way could coagulate it without the help of mettals should attain to be the greatest Master And although that the Liquors of some Vegetables do effect this it comes to pass meerly from the Resinousness fat and earthly Sulphur with which they abound This now draws the Mercuries humidity and life unto it self whereby it mixeth it self with the substance thereof by coagulation but without any profit For I well know that no thick and external Sulphur in Vegetables is fit for a perfect projection in Alchymy which some have to their great cost experienced Albeit that some have coagulated Mercury with the white and milky juice of Tithymal by reason of the acute and intense heat existing therein and have called that Liquor Lac Virginis but yet this is a false foundation The like may be supposed of the juice of Celandine albeit it coloureth as if it were of a Golden endowment From hence they conceived a vain phantasie and at a certain and determinate time they pluckt up this Vegetable out of which they hunted for a soul or Quintessence whereby they might make a coagulating and transmuting tincture but verily from hence arose nothing butt a foolish Error CHAP. VII Of the Errours of those who seek the Stone from Vegetables as above SOme of the Alchymists have expressed a juice out of Celandine and boyled it to a thickness or consistency and put it open to the Sun that so it might be Coagulated per se into a hard Mass the which being afterwards beaten into a most small powder of a black or spadicious colour should turn Mercury in projection into Sol the which they found to be also vain Others have admixed Sal Ammoniack to this powder others the Celcothar of Vitriol supposing that thereby they should arrive to their wished for end They brought it by their Solutions into a yellow water that the Sal Ammoniack gave an ingress of the tincture into the substance of the Mercury yet nothing was thereby done Some there are that instead of the aforesaid things do take the juices of Arsmart Bufonaria Dracunculus the leaves of Sallow Tithymal Cataputia Flammula and such like and shut them up in Glasses with Mercury for some dayes keeping them in ashes now thence it comes to pass that the Mercury is turned into ashes but rashly and without any fruit For they were deceived with the vain rumours of the Vulgar who boast that he who is able to coagulate Mercury without mettals hath the entire Magistry as we have afore mentioned Many of them extracted Salts Oiles aud Sulphurs out of the Vegetables by art but all in vain For out of snch like Salts Oiles and Sulphurs no coagulation of Mercury or perfect projection or Tincture can be made But whereas the Philosophers do compare their matter to a certain Golden Tree of seven boughs they mean that it viz. the matter doth conclude the seven mettals in its sperm and that therein they lye hidden on this account they called their matter Vegetable as also because as the natural trees do in their time bring forth sundry flowers so the matter of the stone doth discover most fair colours in the production of its Flowers Likewise on this acount the comparison is suitable because there ariseth a certain matter out of the Philosophical earth as a company of sprouts and twigs like to the spunge of the earth therefore they say that the fruit of their Tree hath its tendency to the Heaven Therefore they have disclosed and deciphered the whole knack of the thing in the Vegetables as to the nature but not in Vegetables as to the matter and also because their stone doth contain in it self a soul body and spirit as the Vegetables do CHAP. VIII Of those who have sought the Stone in Animals THey have also by a certain kind of similitude called this matter Lac Virginis the blessed blood of a Rosie colour the which notwithstanding is agreeing to or enjoyed only by the Prophets and Sons of God From thence the Sophisters gathered that this Philosophical matter was in the blood of Animals or of man hereon taking occasion also because they are nourished by Vegetables Others have sought it in hairs in Salt of Urine in Rebis Others in Hen-eggs and in milk and in the Calx of Egg-shels with all which they thought to have fixed Mercury Some have extracted a Salt out of stinking piss supposing that to have been the matter of the stone There wants not some persons also that have judged the little stones fouud in Rebis to be the matter Others have macerated the Membranes of Eggs in a most sharp Lixivium wherewith they have also mixed calcined Egg-shells most white like Snow to these they have attributed the Arcanum of fixation for the transmuting of ☿ Others comparing the white of the Egg to silver and the yoke to gold have chosen it for their matter and have therewith admixed Common Salt Sal Armoniack and burnt Tartar these they have shut up together in a Glass and putrified it in a B. M. and that so long until the white colour became as red as blood This they have destilled into a most stinking liquor wholly useless for that work for which t was sought after Others have putrified the white and yelk of Eggs from whence hath been generated a Basilick the which they have burnt into a most red Powder and have thought to tinge therewithall the author whereof was the Cardinal Gilbert in his Treatise Many also have macerated the Galls of Oxen and of other Creatures mixt with common Salt and distilled it into a Liquor with which they having moistned the Cementatory powders supposed that by this Magistery they should tinge their mettals which they call by the name of a part with a part and thence came just nothing Others have attempted to transmute Tutia by the addition of Sanguis
Draconis and other things also Copper and Electrum into Gold others according to the Venetians art as they call it take twenty Lysard-like-creatures or more or less and shut them in a pot and make them even mad with hunger that so they may devour one the other so long till but one of them survives which then is fed with the filings of Copper or Electrum supposing that this Animal will by the digestion only of his stomack effect the wish'd for transmutation Last of all they burn this Animal into a Red powder which they thought must be Gold but they were deceived Others also having burned the fishes called Tratas have by melting found sometimes some Gold in them but there 's no other reason of it but only this viz. those fishes in Rivers and Brooks do sometimes meet with small scalings and sparkles of Gold and eat them yet t is but seldom such Cheaters are to be found chiefly in the Courts of Princes Verily the matter of the Philosophers is not to be sought after in Animals and this I do admonish all but yet t is known that the Philosophers have called their stone Animal because in its or their last operations the virtue of this most noble fiery mystery causeth an obscure Liquor to sweat forth out of thaâ— matter in their Vessel drop by drop From thence they presaged and foretold that in the last times there should comeâ— most pure man upon the earth by whom the redemption of the world should be accomplished and that this same man should emit or send forth bloody dropâ— of a Rosie or red colour by which meaâ— he should redeem the world from sinâ— After the like manner also the blood oâ— their stone yet in its own kind diâ— free the Leprous mettalls from their infirmities and Contagion On this account therefore they supposed that they deservedly said their stone was animal Concerning this Mysterie thus speaks Mercurius to King Calid This Mysterie is permitted only to the Prophets of God to know whence it comes to pass that this stone is called Animal For in the blood of this stone doth its soul lie hid T is likewise composed of body spirit and soul. On the same account they have also called it their microcosm because it hath the likeness of all the things in the world and thence they again called it Animal as Plato called the great world an Animal CHAP. IX Of such as have sought after the Stone in Minerals HEre we may add the many Ignorant men that suppose the stone to be threefold and to be hidden in a threefold stock or kind viz. Vegetable Animal and Mineral Hence t is that they have sought for it in Minerals Now this Opinion is far wide of the Opinion of the Philosophers For they affirm that their stone is Uniformly Vegetable Animal and Mineral Now here you are to note that Nature hath distributed its Mineral sperm into various kinds or subjects viz. into Sulphurs Salts Borax'es Nitres Armoniacks Allums Arsenicks Atramenta or Vitriols Tutiae's Trematites Orpments Realgars Magnesias Cinnaber Antimony Talch Cachymia Marcasites c. In all these nature hath not as yet attained to our matter albeit that in some of the said species it layes it self open in a wonderfull aspect for the transmutation of imperfect mettals that are to be brought to perfection for verily a long experience and fiery exercise do shew many various permutations in the matter of Minerals not only from some colours into other Colours but also out of one essence into another and from their imperfection to perfection And although that nature hath by the means of Minerals prepared attained some perfection prosecuted it yet the Philosophers will not that the matter of the Philosophick stone should proceed forth out of any of the Minerals although they say their stone is Mineral Hence then the Sophisters taking occasion do persecute Mercury himself with various torments Some with Sublimations Coagulations precipitations Mercurial waters and Aq. fort c. All which erroneous wayes are to be shun'd with the other sophistical preparations of Minerals the purgations and fixations of Spirits and Mettals Wherefore all the preparations of the stone as of Geber Albertus Magnus and the like are Sophisticall their Purgations Cemenations Sublimations Distillations Rectifications Circulations Putrefactions Conjunctions Solutions Ascentions Coagulations Calcinations and Incerations are wholly unprofitable both in the tripode in the Athanor in the reverberaâ—ory furnace in the melting furnace the accidia or slow Henry the dung ashes sand or such like and also in the Cucurbit the Pelican Retort Viol fixatory c. The like is to be thought of the sublimation of Mercury by Mineral spirits for the white and the red as by Vitriol Salt-peter Allum Crocus ♂ c. Of all which things that Sophister Johannes de Rupescissa doth prate in his Treatise of the white and red Philosophick stone The which put them altogether are all of them meer lying dreams You must also shun the particular Sophistry of Geber as his sevenfold Sublimations or Mortifications and also revisitation of Mercury with his preparations by Salt of Rine or Salts made by a Sepulchre al which things are false Some others have endeavoured to fix Mercury by the Sulphurs of Minerals and Mettals but have been highly deceived Truly I have seen Mercury in this art to have been brought into a Mettalick body by such like fixations and resembling and counterfeiting good silver in all likely-hood and respect but when it hath been brought to the Test then it hath appeared as t is viz. false CHAP. X. Of those who have sought after the stone and also particulars in Minerals SOme Sophisters have tryed to squeez out a fix Oil from Mercury seven times sublimed and so often dissolved and that by the means of Aq. fort Strong waters whereby they would bring imperfect mettals unto perfection but they have been constrained to relinquish this vain operation Some have purged Vitriol seven times by Calcination Solution and Coagulation and with an addition of two parts of 🜹 and by sublimation that so it might be resolved into a white water whereto they have added a third part of Quick ☿ that it might be Coagulated by that water then afterwards they have so often sublimed the Mercury from the said Vitriol and 🜹 that it went into or became a stone This stone they affirmed being conceived of the Vitriol to be the red Sulphur of the Philosophers with which they have by Solutions and Coagulations made progress to attain the stone but in projection it all hath come to nothing Others have Coagulated Mercury by a water of Allum into an hard Mass like to Allum the which they have unprofitably fixed with fixatory waters The Sophisters do propose to themselves very many wayes of fixing Mercury but in Vain for in him is nothing perfect or constant to be had Hence it is that t is a vanity to add Minerals unto him by Sophistical processes for
for the accomplishment of which the consideration of principles is very necessary as also by what way and medium nature doth at first go from imperfection to the end of perfection For the consideration whereof t is chiefly requisite most certainly to know that all things created by nature do consist of three principles viz. of natural Sulphur Mercury and Salt mixt into one so that in some things they are Volatile in other things fixt As often as a corporal Salt is throughly mixt with a spiritual Mercury and Animated Sulphur into one body then doth nature begin to work in subterranean places which serves for its vessels by a separating fire by which the gross and impure Sulphur is separated from the pure and the Earth from the Salt and the cloudiness from the Mercury those purer parts being reserved the which parts nature doth again decoct together into a pure Geogamick body The which Operation is accounted of by the Magi as a Mixtion and conjunction by the Union of the three viz. body soul and spirit This Union being compleated from thence doth result a pure Mercury the which if it flows through the subterrean passages and Veins thereof and mess with a Caheick Sulphur the Mercury is Coagulated by this Sulphur according to the condition of the Sulphur But notwithstanding t is as yet volatile and scarce decocted into a mettall for the space of an hundred years Thence arose this so much common an opinion that Mercury and Sulphur are the matter of mettals the which is also evident by the Relation of the Miners Yet common Mercury and common Sulphur are not the matter of mettals but the Mercury and Sulphur of the Philosophers are incorporated and innate in perfect mettals and in the forms of them that they never fly from the fire nor are depraved by the force of the corruption of the Elements Verily by the dissolution of that same natural mixtion our Mercury is tamed or subjected as all the Philosophers speak Under or from this form of words comes Mercury to be extracted out of perfect bodies and out of the virtues and puissance of the earthly planets The which Hermes affirms in these words The ☉ and ☽ saith he are the roots of this art The Son of Hamuel saith that the stone of the Philosophers is a Coagulated water viz. in Sol and Lune from whence t is evidently cleer that the matter of the stone is nothing else but ☉ ☽ this is also hereby confirmed in that every like thing generates and brings forth its like And we know that there are no more but two stones white and red there are alfo two matters of the stone Sol and Lune coupled together in a proper Matrimony both natural and artificial And as we see that either man or woman cannot generate without the seed of both in like manner our Man ☉ and his Woman ☽ cannot conceive or frame onght for generation without both their Seeds and Spermes Thence have the Philosophers gathered that a third thing is necessary viz. the Animated seed of both of man and woman without the which they have judged all their whole work to be vain and foolish Now such a Sperm is their Mercury the which by a natural conjunction of both bodies of ☉ and ☽ receives their nature into it self in Union and then at length and not before is the work fitted for congress ingress and Generation by the manly and feminine virtue and power On this account the Philosophers took occasion to say that Mercury is composed of body soul and spirit and that it hath assumed the nature property of all the Elements Therefore from a most powerfull ingenuity and discretion or understanding they have affirmed their stone to be animal the which also they have called their Adam who carryes his invâ—sible Eve hidden in his own body from that moment of time wherein they were united by the power of the most high God the framer of all the creatures for which cause it may deservedly be said that the Mercury of the Philosophers is nothing else but their most abstruse compounded Mercury and not that common ☿ Therefore have they discretly told the wise that there is in Mercury whatsoever the wise men seek Almadir the Philosopher saith we do extract our Mercury out of one perfect body and two perfect natural conditions incorporated together the which ☿ indeed doth thrust forth its perfection outwardly whereby t is able to resist the fire and that its intrinsecal imperfection may be defended by the extrinsecal perfections By this place of the most witty Philosopher is the Adamical matter understood the Limbus of the Microcosm the homogeneal Only matter of all the Philosophers whose sayings also which we have afore mentioned are meerly golden and to be had in most high esteem because they contain nothing superfluous or invalid Briefly therefore the matter of the Philosophers stone is nothing else but a fiery and perfect Mercury extracted by Nature and Art that is the artificially prepared and true Hermaphrodite Adam and Microcosm That most wise Mercurius the wisest of the Philosophers affirming the same hath called the stone an Orphan Therefore our Mercury is that very same that contains in it self the perfections forces and virtues of the Sun and which runs through the Streets and houses of all the Planets and in its regeneration hath acquired or gotten the virtue of things above and beneath to the marriage also of which things viz. above and below it is compared as is evident from the whiteness and redness wound or heaped up together therein CHAP. XVII Of the Preparation of the matter of the Philosophers stone THis is that which nature doth most chiefly require viz. that its own Philosophick man be brought into a Mercurial substance that it may spring forth into the Philosophick stone Moreover you are to note that those common preparations of Geber Albertus Magnus Th. Aquinas Rupescisca Polidorus and such like are nothing else but some particular Solutions Sublimations and Calcinations not at all pertaining to our Universal work which work doth want only the most secret fire of the Philosophers Therefore the fire and Azoth may suffice thee And whereas the Philosophers do make mention of some preparations as of putrefaction destillation sublimation calcination coagulation dealbation rubification ceration fixation c. you are to understand that in their Universal work Nature it self doth accomplish all the operations in the said matter and not the workman and that only in a Philosophical Vessel and with a such like fire not a common fire The white and the red do proceed out of one root without any medium T is dissolved by it self coupled by it self albifyes and rubifyes is made saffrony and black by it self marries itself and conceives in it self T is therefore to be decocted to be baked to be fused it ascends and descends All which Operations are indeed but one Operation made by the fire alone But yet
be esteemed by thee as a thing of no price But contrariwise he that endeavours by riches to aspire unto that Art and labours to convert it to the pride and vanity of this world let such a one never perswade himself that he shall ever attain his wished end And therefore let thy mind and consquently all thy cogitations be estranged from all earthly things and be as it were created anew and given up to God alone For you must note this well that these three viz. the body soul and spirit are to be suitable and alike and t is necessary that they operate together for if the heart and mind of man be not so regulated after the like manner as the whole work is to be wrought thou O man wilt also wholly err from the Art So therefore maist thou in all things conform all thy actions suitable thereunto for the Artist hath nothing else here to do but to Sow Plant and Water or Moisten but God alone gives the encrease Therefore if God be against any one to him also nature is an enemy and contrarily if God be a friend then the heavens the earth and also all the elements are even constrained to come to thy help If therefore thou exactly considerest of this and hast ready to thy hands the knowledge of the true first matter which we shall hereafter speak of then mayst thou commodiously set about the manual operation and make a beginning of thy labour wherein likewise t is fitting that thou implore the grace and guidance of the Almighty in all thy purposes and actions And then thy affairs will not only succeed prosperously but will also obtain a true happy fortunate and desired end The 11. of Ecclesiast 18. He that abideth in the fear of the Lord and cleaveth to his word waiting upon his duty nor black nor white moves him He easily shall make silver and gold out of copper and tin And shall by Gods help do many more things But especially if Jehovah favours him he may then well make Gold of Clay and dirt THE Second Part The 28. of Isaiah v. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold I lay in Sion a foundation stone a tryed stone a precious Corner-stone that is well founded He that hath it shall not be confounded THE Philosophers in their writings could never sufficiently praise this so-often spoken of and most noble Art both afore and after its perfection nor could they by any the highest and most excellent titles worthily enough extoll it Therefore they have generally called it the Stone of the Philosophers the most antient occult unknown natural and incomprehensible Stone yea they have called it the celestial blessed holy and triune universal Stone of the wise men But now the cause why they termed it a stone and why they compared it to a stone is amongst other reasons chiefly this when the matter thereof doth at the beginning come like a mineral out of the earth it is truly a stone and then again because this matter is hard and dry because also t is beaten and ground to dust like a stone but especially the reason is this if it be divided into the three parts which nature her self hath conjoyned then is it necessary that it itself be again digested in all the same parts and made of the nature of a constant wax-like flowing stone But as to the great concernment and necessity of such mens knowing the first otherwise or rather the second matter of this secret Philosophical Stone that endeavour the attainment thereof they viz. the aforementioned Philosophers could not sufficiently inculcate or too too much press them to understand a reason thereof nor enough exhort them thereunto the which matter is notwithstanding one only thing out of which only and alone this stone is necessarily to be prepared without any peregrine addition albeit it be called by a thousand names the quality species and property whereof they have wonderfully described and have happily described it after a compendious way and manner as followeth viz. That at the beginning t is conjoyned of three and yet notwithstanding is but only one likewise it is procreated and made of one two three four and five and is also to be found in one and two and is everywhere They also call it the Catholick or universal Magnesia or Sperm of the world out of which all natural things have their original Likewise that it is of a wonderful and singular birth and species or shape and that it hath an unknown and an unsearchable nature and that therefore t is neither hot nor dry like the earth but is a certain perfect preparation of all the elements that it is also of a certain incorruptible body which cannot be touched by any element and which may as to all its properties and in all respects be compared to the heaven which is above the four elements and the four qualities and as a Q.E. and what cannot be destroyed Likewise they have said that it is as to its external corporality figure form and shape a stone and yet notwithstanding is no stone because it may be compared with the white Gum they also call it the water of the Ocean Aqua vitae yea a most pure and most blessed water but yet notwithstanding it is not the water of the clouds or of any common fountain but a thick permanent saline or saltish water and according to the divers considerations of some a dry water that moistens not the hands or a certain pituitous or phlegmy water which ariseth out of the saltish fatness of the earth likewise they call it a twofold ☿ and Azoth whch is sustained by the supremest or highest and lowest vastness or of the celestia◠and terrestrial Globe the which also i◠not consumed in any fire for it hath in it self the universal and sparkling fire o◠the Light of nature and withall a certai◠celestial Spirit that penetrates all thing with which qualities it was animate by God at the beginning and according to the saying of the antient Philosophers blessed with and is by Avicen called the soul of the world who said viz. Even as the soul is to be found in all the members of mans body and doth there move it self so also is that spirit found to be and to move it self in all elementary creatures the which spirit is likewise the indissoluble conjunction of the body and soul and consequently a most pure and most noble essence wherein even all mysteries lie hidden t is also fully replenished with wonderful efficacy and vertue Moreover they ascribe thereunto an infinite power and divine efficacy and vertue for they say that it is that Spirit of the Lord that filled the earth and swim'd at the top of the waters They call it also the Spirit of truth which is hidden from the world and such as cannot be comprehended or obtained without the inspiration of the holy Spirit or the information of such as know it and yet
notwithstanding is in every thing and in every place to be found but as to its potency t is in this only alone and altogether or wholly perfect Briefly they say that it is such a spiritual substance as is neither celestial nor infernal but an aereal pure and excellent body which is posited as a medium betwixt the highest and lowest t is likewise the most choice and most precious thing under the whole heaven Contrariwise it is esteemed by such as understand not the thing or are new beginners to learn it for a most vile thing and most abject or base as 't were yet notwithstanding though many a wise man seek after it there are but a few that find it it is to be considered of or be beheld afar of and is to be taken near at hand and besides it is to be seen of all yet is known but by a few as is to be seen in this here-following verse viz This precious good is divided into three and yet is but one T is what the world cares not for but disesteems it It hath it in its sight carries it in its hands yet is ignorant thereof for it passeth away with a sudden pace without being known Yet these treasures are the chiefest and he that knows the Art the Expressions and hath the medium will be richer then any other A Philosophical Enigma IN which the first material subject of the Art of the wise men otherwise called the Phenix of the Philosophers being wholly divided is to be triplicitly or threefold wise found The Enigma Philosophical IF I tell thee of the three parts of every thing thou hast no cause to complain for I tell thee the truth Thou needest the three-leaved grass sue to Jehovah by thy prayers Seek for one in three and thou shalt have one out of three T is called by a thousand names t is a body soul and spirit Is beautified with Salt Sulphur and an heavy Mercurie Trust me if thou understandest the three-leaved grass and knowest the Voice and Song then art thou a wise Artist Another Enigma much more plain THere is one thing in this world is everywhere to be found and that as it were accidentally or casually without care of a grayish and greenish colour and of a wonderfull power In this thing is both a white and red colour It flows hither like a swift stream and runs away like a river It wets not and is made of an heavy weight light I could give it a thousand names but thousands know it not T is common to be seen but the Art of it is difficult He that dissolves it by a medium and finisheth it the third time is a wise man and rightly hath this noble subject Another Enigma THE place of the birth of this stone is everywhere its conception is in the deep its birth in the earth it finds life in the heavens it dies in time and then at length obtains everlasting blessedness If therefore any one hath ready at hand this thus-mentioned matter that is so vertuously endowed the which is partly celestial and partly terrestrial and is at the beginning a right confusion or commixtion or a certain mixt essence worthily so called whose colour is not to be named or which hath no proper colour to be named by and doth know it rightly and well the which knowledge hath been accounted at all times by the Philosophers for a principal member of this work then must all such things as are requisite thereunto and which are required in the preparation thereof be with the greatest study and diligence performed But yet notwithstanding afore that the singular manual labour therewithall be undertook t is very necessary that every pious Artist do again recall to his mind with much diligence the doctrine aforesaid and that withall he be faithfully admonished not to infold as 't were himself with that secret work and that unsearchable Spirit that lies hidden thereunder except he shall first have diligently searched it in its profound qualities and proportion and according to the requisite conformity to nature even as some of the Philosophers do admonish us concerning that thing and say See thou hast no commerce with this Spirit except thou first hast an exact knowledge and understanding thereof For God is wonderful in his works and his wisdom is without number and as is aforesaid he will not suffer himself to be mocked Verily here might be some examples produced viz. of many that have too too slightly infolded themselves as t were or intermedled with this Art and having adventured thereon their successes have been very bad insomuch that some have been found dead in the work it self or else most grievously wounded by some other unfortuate mischance for t is not a thing of such a small concernment as many dream and imagine because the Philosophers compare it to boies play and womens work and that they are able to do the same The Philosophers intention was otherwise then so for they meant the following and successive labour of this work which is in it self easie enough and utterly as t were void of any great moment and they accounted it as simple and easie to such only as were ordained by God thereunto and were endowed with the knowledge thereof Beware therefore beware I say and take heed to thy self that thou dost not over-rashly involve thy self in danger but much more rather begin thy purposed work with prayers poured out to God for divine help as we have at the beginning faithfully admonished thee and then shalt thou fear nothing at all nor haply shalt thou be subject to any danger If therefore now thou hast employed thy self with much diligence in thy Oratory and hast the known matter at hand then mayst thou commodiously apply thy self to a studious diligence in thy Laboratory and apply thereto a convenient Manual Labour and so make a beginning First of all therefore it is necessary that above all things you dissolve that so oft spoken of first matter or first Ens which the Philosophers likewise have called the highest good of nature then is it to be purified from aquosity or its waterishness and its terrestreity for it doth at first appear to such as behold it an earthy grave heavy gross pituitous and as it were a kinde of cloudy and aqueous body and its darkish and gross cloudy shadow wherewith it is shadowed must be removed by thee that so by this means its heart and inward soul that lies hidden therein may likewise and next that precedent purifying be by a more ample sublimation divided thereout of and be reduced into a sweet and pleasant Essence But now all this may be done by the great and excellent Catholick or Universal water the which by its most swift and as 't were flying course and passing to and fro doth moisten and make fruitfull the whole circuit of the earth and is indeed done so sweetly fairly clearly brightly and splendidly that the splendor thereof
XII Of the Arcanum of Vitriol and the Red Tincture to be thence extracted VItriol is a very Noble Mineral amongst the rest was alwayes of very much admiration with the Philosophers because the most high God hath adorned it with wonderfull endowments They have vailed over its Arcanum with aenigmaticall figures as thus viz. Thou shalt vifit the inward parts of the earth and shalt find by rectification the occult stone a true medicine By the earth they understood the Vitriol it self and by the Inward part of the Earth its sweetness and redness because in the occult part of the Vitriol a subtile noble and most fragrant juice and pure oil lyes hid The manner of drawing it forth is not at all to be attempted by Calcination or distillation for it must not at all be deprived of its greeness for assoon as ever t is rob'd thereof the Arcanum of it also is gone and so necessarily it must want its vertues Verily t is to observed here in this place that not only the Minerals but also the Vegetables themselves and such like that outwardly shew a viridity or greeness contain an Oil within them as red as blood the which is their Arcanum Thence t is evident that their ridiculous distillations of the Apothecaries are vain and foolish and of no moment because they do not at all know how to bring forth the bloodlike redness of the Vegetables Nature it self being wise turns the waters of all Vegetables into a Citrine Colour and from thence afterwards into a most red Oil like blood Now the cause of its coming to pass so slowly on is the too much headlongness of the ignorant distilling operators whereby the Viridity is absumed They have not learned to corroborate Nature in its virtues whereby the noble virour or greeness ought to be rectified into a redness per se For example sake White wine digests it self into a Citrine colour and in success of time the Green colour of the Grapes themselves is turnned per se into a red lying hid under the Sky Colour The greeness therefore of the Vegetables and Minerals being lost by the sluggishness of the Operators the essence of them and the spirit of the Oil and most noble balsome of Arcana's is also lost CHAP. XIII Of the Process of Vitriol for or to the red Tincture VItriol contains in it self many dirty and viscous or slimy imperfections therefore its greeness must be often extracted with water and rectified until it hath put off all the Impurities of the earth All which rectifications being finished there must be much care taken that the matter lie not open to the Sun because it will turn the greeness thereof into a paleness and together therewith swallow up the Arcanum Let it be kept covered over in a stove that no defilement come thereto then afterwards let it be digested in a glass shut for the space of some moneths or so long untill there appears various colours and the highest redness But yet you must not think that by that process the redness is sufficiently fixed but must be farther purged from the Interiour accidental defilements of the earth and that on this wise T is to be rectified with Acetum untill the earthly defilment be wholly removed and the feces separated This now is the true and best rectification of its Tincture of which the blessed Oil is to be extracted From it then being diligently shut in a glass and an Alembick speedily set thereon and the joints done with bitumen or luted that the spirits exhale not in the distillation of its Oil the spirit is to be drawn forth with a sweet and gentle fire This Oil is much more delectable and sweet then any dispensatory Aromatical balsome whatsoever and is void of all other acrediny or sharpness Now in the bottom of the Cucurbite there will reside a certain most white earth bright aud shining like Snow the which keep charily from all dust and filth That same earth is wholly separated from its redness From thence now follows the greatest Arcanum viz. a Super-celestial marriage of the soul most highly purified and washed by the blood of the Lamb with its own bright lustrous and purified body This is the true super-celestial matrimony whereby the life is prolonged even to its last appointed time after this manner therefore the soul and spirit of Vitriol which are its blood are coupled with their own purified body that they may be eternally inseparable Take therefore this our foliated earth in a glass phial pour thereto its Oil by little little the body will in a moment receive and embrace its soul for as much as the body is most earnestly affected with the desire after its soul and the soul doth most perfectly delight in the Embracements of the body This conjunction therefore of them being put into a furnace of secrets continue it there for fourty dayes which being over thou shalt have a most absolute oil of a wonderfull perfection wherewith Mercury and all the other imperfect mettals are turned into Gold Now wee 'l speak a word or two of the multiplication thereof viz. Take corporal Mercury the proportion of two parts the which wet over with three parts of the like weight of the said Oil and let them remain together for forty dayes By this proportion of weight and by this order the multiplication may be made to Infinity CHAP. XIV Of the Secrets and Arcana's of Antimony as to the red Tincture for transmutation ANtimony is a true Bathe for Gold But the Philosophers have called it their Examinator and Stilanx or The Poets say that in that bath Vulcan wash't Phoebus and purged him from all filth and imperfection T is born of a most pure and most Noble Mercury aud Sulphur under a Vitrioline stock or kind in a mettalline form and splendour Some of the Philosophers have called it the white lead of the wise men or simply Lead Take therefore Antimony and that the very best as much as thou wilt this ♀ being dissolved into its own Aq. fort let be cast out into Cold water adding a very little Crocus ♂ that it may fall into a sediment at the bottome of the Vessell for otherwise it will not put off its feces Now then after t is thus dissolved it will acquire a most high fairness Put it into a Glass fenced all about with a most compact Lute or into a stone Bocia or bolt-head and let be admixed thereto of calcined Tutia sublimed to the perfect degree of the fire and diligently beware of Liquefaction because it breaks the glasses by the overmuch heat from one pound of this Antimony is a perfect sublimation to be had in the space of two dayes This sublimate being put in a phial that a third part may touch the water and the Vessell Luted that the spirits fly not away let it be hang'd over a Tripode of secrets and let the work be urged at first with a gentle fire like to the
some of the Philosophers have by a most high-graduated essence of Wine dissolved the body of Sol have made it Volatile so as to ascend by an Alembick subposing that this is the Volatile true Philosophick matter whereas it is not And although it be no contemptible Arcanum to bring this perfect mettalline body into a Volatile and spiritual Substance yet notwithstanding they err in the Separation of the Elements the which process of those Monks viz. Lully Richard the Englishman Rupescisea and others is erroneous By which process they supposed to separate gold by this way into a subtile spiritual and elementary power each one a part and afterwards by circulation and rectification to couple them again into one but in vain for verily although one Element may after a sort be separated from another yet nevertheless every element after this manner separated may again be sepatated into another element the which parts cannot at all afterwards either by pellicanick circulation or destillation return into one again but they always remain a Certain Volatile matter and Aurum Potabile as they call it The cause why they could never arrive to their intention is this because nature is not in the least willing to be thus distracted or separated by humane disjunctions as by terrene things glasses and instruments She her self alone knows her own operations and the weights of the Elements the separations rectifications and copulations of which she accomplisheth without the help of any Operator or Manual artifice Only the matter is to be contained in the secret fire and in its occult Vessel The Separation therefore of the Elements is impossible to be done by man which separation should it have some appearance yet notwithstanding is not true whatsoever is spoken thereof by Raimund Lully and his English golden noble Work which he is falsly supposed to have framed For Nature it self hath in her self her proper Separater which doth again conjoyn what it separates without the help of man and doth best know all her Trade and the proportion of every element and not man whatever such erroneous Scriblers do in their frivolous and false receipts boast of this their volatile Gold This then is the opinion or mind of the Philosophers that when they have put their matter into the more secret fire it be all about cherished with its own moderate Philosophical heat that so beginning to pass through corruption it may grow black This operation they call putrefaction and the blackness they name the head of the Crow They call the ascension and descension thereof distillation ascension and descension they call the exsiccation coagulation and the dealbation calcination And because it is fluid and soft in the heat they have made mention of Ceration when it hath ceased to ascend and remain liquid in the bottom then they say fixation is present After this manner therefore the Appellations and terms of the Philosophical operations are to be understood and no otherwise CHAP. XVIII Of the Instruments and Philosophical Vessel THE Putatitious Philosophers have rashly understood and imagined the Occult and Secret Philosophical Vessel and Aristotle the Alchymist not that Grecian Academical Philosopher hath conceited it worser in that he saith the matter is to be decocted in a threefold Vessel but he hath worst of all understood it that says viz. that the matter in its first separation and first degree requires a Mettalline Vessel in the second degree of Coagulation and dealbation of its own earth a glass Vessel and in the third degree for fixation an earthen Vessel Nevertheless the Philosophers do understand by this Vessel one Vessel only in all operations even to the perfection of the Red Stone seeing therefore that our matter is our root for the white and the red t is necessary that our Vessel ought to be on this wise that the matter therein may be governed by the Celestial Bodies for the invisible Celestial Influences and impressions of the Stars are exceeding necessary to the Work otherwise 't will be impossible for the invincible Oriental Persian Chaldean and Egyptian Stone to be accomplished by which Stone Anaxagoras knew the vertues of the whole Firmament and foretold of the great Stone that should descend down upon the earth out of Heaven the which also happened after his death Verily our Vessel is most chiefly known to the Cabalists because it ought to be framed according to a truly Geometrical proportion and measure and of or by a Certain and assured Quadrature of a Circle or thus that thee Spirit and soul of our matter may in this Vessel elevate with themselves answerable to the altitude of the heaven the things separated from their own body If the Vessel be narrower or wider higher or lower then is fit and then the ruling and operating Spirit and Soul desires the heat of our Philosophical Secret Fire which is indeed most acute would stir up the matter too violently and urge it to overmuch operation that the Vessel would leap into a thousand pieces to the hazard and danger of the body and life of the Operator whereas contrariwise if it be more wide or capacious then for the heat to operate upon the matter according to proportion the work will also be frustrate and vain And therefore our Philosophical Vessel is to be framed with the greatest diligence But as for the matter of this our Vessel they alone do understand it that in the first Solution of our fixt and perfect matter have adduced or brought this matter into its first Essence and so much for this The Operator must likewise most accurately note what it is that the matter in the first Solution le ts fall and casts out from it self The manner of describing the form of the Vessel is difficult it must be such as nature it self requires t is to be sought for and searcht after out of one and the other that so it may from the altitude of the Philosophick Heaven elevated from the Philosophick Earth be able to operate upon the fruit of its own earthly body Verily it ought to have this Form that a separation and purification of the Elements when the Fire drives the One from the other may be made and that each Element may possess its own place in which it sticks and the Sun and the other Planets may exercise their operations round about the Elemental Earth and the course of them may not be hindred in their circuit or be stir'd up with too swift a motion Now according to all these things here spoken of it must have a just proportion of Roundness and Height But the Instruments for the first mundification of Mineral Bodies are melting Vessels Bellows Tongs Capels Cupels Tests Cementatory Vessels Cineritiums Cucurbits Bocia's for Aq. fort and Aq. regia and also some things as are necessary for projection in the last Work CHAP. XIX Of the secret Fire of the Philosophers THis is the renowned Judgement and Opinion of the Philosophers viz. the Fire
there sublimes nothing up nor ascends aloft any more or until the congelation and fixation doth rightly and perfectly shew it self in the said work according to what is afore mentioned As for its following fermentation and multiplication we shall speak more thereof in the third part where we treat of the utility and profit thereof Besides as to the time thereto requisite as to the time of dispatching each Act or Scene here should be somewhat spoken a little more largely but yet as to this there can be no certain bounds prescribed or set time mentioned for those aforesaid Philosophers are of different opinions as may evidently be seen in their writings for alwaies some have obtained their end afore other some But we have formerly admonished and told you that nature is to be well observed in all things even as it represents it self in all things The which if any one doth do and diligently observe that I have said and doth likewise in every thing observe a right medium he may the sooner be able with such a work or proceeding to arrive to the perfection But I do exhort and withall inform thee as to this thing that as to the entrance upon or beginning the former or latter labour thou doest not exceed or outstrip as 't were in thy calculation this character X its middle or point but divide it justly and then moreover with the half part of this character that is V must you go backwards or retrograde in the composition of this work The which being done then afterwards if thou joyntly recollectest or unitest it again and rightly numberest up XX being the part or product thereof in that number or time if no farther obstacle intercede mayst thou attain to the end of thy work Be therefore content with such a time or calculation for if thou covetest the finding out a somewhat nearer end t is rashly done of thee and presently succeeds an errour for verily one onely hour may drive thee back an whole moneth whereas about such a time as I have hinted thy progress may lead thee to hit the mark But note well that thou dost not too too closely or niggardly as 't were contract this calculation Or as I informed thee but now at all exceed it for shouldst thou do so thou wouldst have an abortive For verily many by their as 't were abreviating hastiness and unskilfulness do instead of their hoped for Elixir obtain and get a certain Nixir And whereas in this thing much of concernment is placed as to this Magicall Science I was the rather willing thus briefly to describe it to the sons of wisdom that they may consider and judge thereof more deeply An Enigma THere are seven Cities and seven mettals so counted There are seven daies and a seventh number Seven Letters and seven Words in order There are seven seasons and so many places Seven Hearbs seven Arts and seven little stones Divide seven with three with much wariness Let be no coveting to precipitate the half or rashly to shorten the time Briefly all things do quietly rest and prevail in this number The process of the whole work is here briefly declared The first or former Labour DIssolve the matter and also Putrifie it Afterwards let it be distilled and then Coagulate it The second or Latter Labour COnjoyn two things Putrifie them then blacken them Digest them till it become whitened by thy Art Then at length rubifie it to the highest Coagulation is a thing Profitable to this Art This done fix it and thou shalt be a great man And if thou shalt after all these things ferment this thou hast luckily finished the whole work of the Art Circularly Then hast thou solemnly atchieved such a noble portion as will suddainly multiply for thee a thousand-fold riches Or thus more briefly SEek three in one and again seek one in three Dissolve and conclude or congeal and thou shalt be sure of the Art An Enigma wherein also the Process is described THe Spirit it self is given to the body for a time or in time and that refreshing or cheering Spirit washeth the soul by Art That Spirit suddenly draws or marries the soul to it self and then nothing can dis-joyn or separate it from it self Then do they consist of three and yet abide in one seat until the body be dissolved which is a noble work and doth putrifie and die and sepraate from them But then after some time the spirit and the soul do come together in the extream or utmost and last heat and each possesseth its proper seat with constancy Then an intire sound state and perfection is at hand And the work is made renowned and attended on with great joy Proverbs 23. My Son give me thy heart and let my waies be delightful to thine eyes THE Third Part Eccles. 43. v. 31 32 33. Who can magnifie him as he is and tell us how high he is We see but the least of his works and much greater things are hid from us for the Lord made all that is and makes them known to such as fear the Lord. AS to this so oft-spoken of highest Art or profoundly comprehensible Philosophers-stone provided it be brought to the desired end The Philosophers could never sufficiently write enough nor worthily enough proclaim and celebrace its praise vertue efficacy and unspeakable benefit for first of all they esteemed it as the highest and greatest felicity in this earth without the which none can arrive to perfection in this world for Morien saith he that hath this stone hath every thing nor needeth any other help for there is in it all temporal felicity bodily health and all fortune or wealth and riches Moreover they have so commended that same stone unto us because the spirit and efficacy thereof which lies therein hidden is the spirit of the Q. Ess. which spirit is under the circle of the Lunar brightness yea they have called it the supporter of the heaven and the mover of the Sea and besides have said that it is a chosen or choice spirit above all the other spirits that it is a most subtile a most noble and a most pure spirit the which all the other Spirits are obedient unto as to their King and which likewise confers upon mâ—n all health and prosperity heals all diseases bestows upon the pious temporal honour and long life but as for the evil ones who misuse it it subjects them to eternal Punishment Now in all those aforesaid things t is found to be proved or experienced perfect and infallible Upon which account Hermes and Aristotle call it viz. true without lies certain yea of all the most certain the secret of all secrets of a divine efficacy concealed and hid from fools Briefly they bave termed it the very utmost and chiefest thing that can be seen under heaven and the wonderful epilogue and conclusion of all Philosophical operations Therefore some pious Philosophers are wholly of the opinion that it was revealed from
the most antient who was before the foundations of the world were laid yea even from eternity Isaiah 45. Daniel 7. Esay 43. Psalm 90. He is the right the hidden and unknown God supernatural incomprehensible celestial blessed and most praise-worthy Mark 16. the alone Saviour and consequently the God of all Gods Deut. 10. He is certain and true and cannot lye Numb 23. Rom. 3. yea the most certain of all and doth even what pleaseth him and is the alone Potentate Genes 17. Ephes. 3. He is the most secret or unknown and eternal in whom all the treasures and mysteries of wisdom lie hidden Rom. 16. Col. 2. The alone divine vertue and omnipotency which is hid from and unknown unto fools or the wise ones of this world He is the right the alone and perfect agreement of all the elements from whom and by whom all things proceed and in whom all things are Rom. 11. James 1 viz. of an incorruptible essence which no element can dissolve or separate Psalm 16. Acts 2. 13. Likewise he is the Q. Es. yea the essence of all essences and yet notwithstanding is properly no essence he is the true and right duplicate Mercurie or the Gyant and Champion of a twofold substance Matth. 26. Even as t is sung of him in the Hymn or Song viz. By nature a God a man a worthy c. who hath in himself a Celestial Spirit who also vivifies all things yea is the life it self Wisd. 7. Esai 42. Joh. 14. He is the alone only perfect Saviour of all the imperfect bodies and men the true heavenly Physitian of the soul the eternal Light that enlightens all men Isa. 60. John 1. the highest medicine for all diseases the right Spiritual Panacaea Wisd. 16. The noble Phoenix that doth again refresh and quicken with his own blood his own chickens as are wounded and slain by that old Serpent the Devil Yea he is the choicest treasure or highest good in heaven and earth Psalm 83. Wisdom 7. The triune universal essence which is called JEHOVAH Deut. 6. and is of One viz. the divine essence then of two God and man then moreover of three viz. Persons also of four viz. three Persons and one divine essence So likewise of five viz. three Persons and two essences viz. divine and withall humane Besides God is the right Catholick Magnesia or universal Sperm of the world John 1. of whom and by whom and in whom all both celestial and terrestrial creatures have their essence motion and original Gen. 1. Iohn 1. Acts 17. Rom. 11. Heb. 1. and briefly he is the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord who is who was who is to come the Almighty Rev. 1. But now even as in the afore-mentioned Philosophical work it is not sufficient to know the matter only and to receive or acknowledge it for a triune essence and to learn the Quality and Property thereof But t is moreover necessary that you know how to obtain it and how to be made a partaker of the benefit thereof the which cannot be done by any other means then as we have said above viz. those three things are to be first dissolved and putrified whereby its darkish shadow and hairy rough essence wherewith it was at first shadowed over and was consequently beheld and visible in a deformed and inhumane or ungentle shape may be again taken off then also even as by a further sublimation its heart and internal soul that lies hid therein is to be again drawn out of it by the universal pleasant and fire-like-shining Sea-water and reduced into a certain corporal essentiality Even so and indeed much less able are we to know that triune divine essence which is called JEHOVAH unless it be first of all in relation to us even as it were dissolved and putrified and the veil of Moses and the wrathful visage or shape the which shape is naturally to us all an impediment or hinderance and a terrour be took away therefrom and that the heart and inward soul which lies hid therein that is his Son who is the Lord Christ be by the help and assistance of the holy Spirit the which doth likewise purifie our hearts like to clear pure water Ezek. 36. Esai 44. yea doth also like to the divine fire enlighten us Jerem. 23. Mat. 3. and doth fill us with a sweet and pleasant comfort Iohn 16. Ephes. 4. produced thereout of and learned and be furthermore converted or turned into an humane God or God-man But now even as in the Philosophick work the matter being dissolved into its three parts or principles must be congealed with its own proper salt and reduced into one only essence the which is afterwards called the Salt of wisdom So likewise is it with God and his heart that is the Son must be united to the Father by their proper Salt the which Salt is in like manner essentially implanted in God and must necessarily be believed and acknowledged for one God and not be accounted as two or three Gods and Essences If therefore thou hast by this means known God by his Son and as it were separated them and hast again notwithstanding coupled and conjoyned them by the Spirit of divine wisdom and the bond of charity or agreement Then behold the invisible and unknown God Isa. 45. is made visible knowable and intelligible who doth no more appear then as afore so wrathful and so displeased but appears after a most courteous gentle and most friendly way and manner and doth then suffer himself to be felt beheld and seen by thee whereas formerly God afore that his Son Christ was formed and fashioned in us Gal. 4. was much rather a terrible God Deut. 7. 18. yea a consuming fire and is so called But yet notwithstanding the knowledge of that divine triune essence is not as yet sufficiently and fortunately or blessedly enough used or conceived of except thou makest a further progress in the knowledge of him especially of his heart and so growest more and more on for even as the abovesaid and hitherto prepared subject in the Philosophical work is without further preparation rather hurtful then profitable to thee in medicine for the body even so also is Christ 1 John 4. whom unless thou knowest better and more perfect he is but very little as yet conduceable or availeable for a spiritual medicine for thy soul but will much rather turn to thy condemnation and therefore also if thou wouldst be made a partaker of him and of those celestial gifts and treasures and enjoy them prosperously then is it necessary that thou proceedest on farther in the personal knowledge of him and not set him before thee and conceive of him as pure-meer-God but well to observe that fulness of time appointed by God Gal. 4. wherein he received his additional that is God and man together yea he was made the Son of man For even as in the Philosophick work it is again said
it and at last dyed on the Cross and many other afflictions and tribulations did he necessarily undergo in his life and at his death of which you may read more at large in the holy Evangelists And even as the Philosophers write viz. that that boiling and putrefaction in the afore-mentioned terrene work is usually made and perfected within fourtie daies So are there described and laid down to us in the holy Scripture a description of many and divers miracles that God hath done by that afore-mentioned number as for instance that of the people of Israel's when they aboad in the desart for fourty whole years and had the tryal of a very hard exile Psal. 59. Deut. 8. Likewise Moses his being in Mount Sinai Exod. 34. Also Elias in his flight because of Ahab 1 Kings 19. So Christ in the desart fasted forty daies and as many nights Likewise also he preached on the earth for fourty moneths and performed miracles He lay forty hours in the Sepulchre and fourtie daies between his resurrection from the dead and his ascention into heaven did he walk about and visit his Disciples and shewed himself alive unto them Acts 1. Likewise the City of Hierusalem was destroyed by the Romans and razed to the ground the fortieth year after the ascention of our Lord. But you must here principally note that the Philosophers call that putrefaction because of its black colour Cantic 1. I am black the head of the Crow Even so Christ himself Isa. 53. He had no form nor c. was wholly deformed as to his form and beauty the most vile of all full of griefs and sorrows and also was despised in so much that we even hid our faces because of him and esteemed him as a thing of nought Moreover himself doth likewise in Psalm 22. complain of that thing viz. he was a worm and no man the mocking stock of men and contempt of the People In like manner also this may not unfitly be compared with Christ. viz. As that Putrified body of Sol doth lie for a season like to ashes in the bottom of the glass and dead without any efficacy until by the addition of a stronger heat its soul doth again let down it self drop by drop and by little and little and doth again imbibe the sick and as it were dead body doth moisten it give it to drink and preserve it from a total destruction even so happened it to Christ when he was in the Mount of Olives and upon the Cross and was roasted as it were by the fire of the divine wrath Mat. 26. 27. he complained that he was wholly forsaken by his heavenly Father and yet nevertheless was he alwaies refreshed and strengthened Mark 4. Luke 22. and imbued as 't were and moistened and imbibed with the divine Nectar even as 't is wont to be in the terrene body by a daily airing for and refreshment yea also when in his most holy passion and mediating death his power and strength together with his Spirit was wholly withdrawn from him and he plainly or truly arrived or came to the lower and deepest parts of the earth Acts 1. Ephes. 1. 1 Peter 3. he was notwithstanding even yet conserved refreshed and again lifted or raised up by the vertue and power of the eternal Deity and thereby vivified and glorified Rom. 14. and here 't was that his soul and spirit did first of all procure or bring to pass a perfect true and indissolvable union with his dead body in the Sepulchre and by a most joyful and victorious resurrection and ascention to the heavens was it exalted through our Lord Jesus Christ to the right hand of his Father Mat. 28. Mark 16. with the which body he doth now by the efficacy and vertue of the holy Spirit as being a true God and Man in equal power and glory rule and bear command over all things Psal. 8. and by his most efficacious Word preserves and sustains all things Heb. 1. yea he vivifies all things Acts 17. The which wonderful union and also that divine exaltation cannot be well seen and much less considered of by Angels and men in heaven and on earth yea and under the earth Phil. 2. 1 Pet. 1. without fear and trembling Whose efficacy power and rosey-coloured tincture is able to transmute us imperfect men and sinners even now in body and soul to tinge and more then perfectly to cure and heal us concerning which we shall speak more anon Having now therefore briefly and plainly disclosed to you how viz. the Celestial Fundamental Corner-stone Jesus Christ may be compared with the terrene Philosophical stone of the wise men the matter and preparation whereof is as we have heard a notable type and lively counterpoise as 't were and resemblance of the divine assumption of humane flesh in Christ We therefore likewise judge it necessary that we also behold and learn his efficacy virtue and Tincture as also his fermentation and multiplication in us men who are destitute of efficacy and virtue and are as it were Imperfect mettals And albeit that God created man at the beginning above all his other Creatures and made him a most noble and most perfect Creature yea he made him after his own Image and breathed into him a living Spirit and an Immortal Soul Yet nevertheless after his fall was he transmuted into a deformed contrary and pernicions or mortal shape and form But now to restore again such a most noble Creature to his former brightness or lustre and perfection the Omnipotent God did out of his meer mercy ordain such a medium as his viz. mans restitution might be brought to pass by after the manner following viz. as we have afore said that the more then perfect stone or Tincture after this its perfection is to be in the first place yet further fermented augmented or multiplyed if at leastwise you would obtain its manifold profit and have its efficacy and operation beneficial Even so also Christ that heavenly blessed stone must according to his God-man perfection be yet moreover also further fermented and multiplyed as 't were with us as with his members that is we must be purifyed and united with him by his own saving ticture of a Rosey colour and be prepared and conformed to a pure unfermented and celestial body for as Paul testifies in Rom. 8. he is the first begotten among many brethren yea the first begotten before all other Creatures whatsoever Coloss. 1. by whom all things in Heaven and Earth are created and reconciled with God for if we who are naturally impure mortal and imperfect would be again made pure new-born or regenerate immortal and perfect then verily that cannot be done by any other medium Hebr. 13. then by that celestial fundamental corner stone only Jesus Christ who is alone holy yea the most holy Dan. 9. the new-born raised up and glorifyed heavenly King who both is and eternally remains God and man in one person Likewise even as the
and sottishly speak thereof a meer empty sound but is Spirit and Life and the saving Power of God John 6. to all such as believe therein Concerning which hearing the Kingly Prophet David doth thus speak Psal. 64. I will hear what the Lord will speak in me Out of the which internal and divine hearing the Word of God as out of a certain spring or fountain a true vivifying faith which is efficacious by or through charity Gal. 5. doth take its original for as Paul saith Rom. 10. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God 2 Pet. 2. So therefore now if the Word of God be pure and clear then may the hearing be also pure and clear Luke 21. and so consequently that faith which as 't were flows out of that hearing will be pure and uncorrupted and is effectual by charity and shews it self as towards God in an humble obedience to his holy Precepts and Will and also in praying in praising and in giving of thanks and as towards ones neighbour in a well-minded loving exhibition or doing of divers good Works insomuch that Charity is not the least but as Paul saith the highest vertue of all others So likewise Christ himself in his long fare-well Sermon at his departure Ioh. 13. doth with much dilgence exhort unto that exercise of Charity and left behind at that time this lesson as a fare-well saying This is my Commaudement that ye love one another even as I also loved you for so shall all men know that ye are my Disciples Likewise in 1 Iohn 2. He that saith he knows God and yet doth not keep his Commandements is a lyar and there is no truth in him But he that keepeth his word in him verily the Charity or Love of God is perfect And besides in 1 Iohn 4. God is Charity or Love he that abides therein abides in God and God abides in him Col. 1. By all this 't is evident how that Charity is the true bond of Perfection by which we are incorporated into Christ himself So that he is in us and we in him 2 Iohn 3. he in his Father and his Father in him and this is his will The which Christ himself doth also testifie in that place aforementioned where he saith If any one keepeth my saying he it is that loves me and I will love him and 〈◊〉 will come unto him and make our abode with him Iohn 5. he saith If ye shall keep my Commandements ye abide in my love concerning the which Charity and how it relates to our neighbour 't is elegantly described in 1 Iohn 4. If any one saith Iohn doth say that he loveth God and yet hateth his Brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how shall he love God whom he hath not seen And this command have we from him that he who loveth God do love his brother also But as to the property of that Love what it is Saint Paul expresseth it in the following words 1 Cor. 13. Love saith he is long-suffering and kind envieth not vaunteth not it self neither is it puffed up nor is it weary of doing good to its neighbour T is therefore easie to be seen and understood that viz. there can be no true and right Love or Charity which doth not serve its neighbour with good and charitable works Col. 3. and yet indeed there are many of such as call themselves Christians that do rashly boast thereof Moreover t is evident that good works as are pleasing unto God do not precede faith but is as it is with fruits which follow or succeed the stock and tree the which if it be good doth also bring forth good fruits and for this cause works do not make faith but faith makes works good grateful and acceptable Ierem. 5. Upon this account therefore the which is the chiefest thing here we are justified by faith alone and obtain life eternal thereby If therefore now the regenerate man doth so Christianly and piously behave himself after the aforesaid manner in his life and in all his actions then also will he not in the least want his fruits Such a man now is like unto the composition in the terrene work he is placed by God in the fornace of tribulation and is so long pressed with straights of all kinds and with various calamities and troubles until he becomes dead to the old Adam and flesh Eph. 4. and be like a truly new man which according to God is created in a right and true justice and holiness and is again risen up as Saint Paul in Rom. 6. doth testifie where he saith We together with Christ are buried in death by baptism for even as Christ is risen from the dead so let us also walk in newnesse of life If this now be done and that a man doth daily cease to sin that so by this means sin may bear no more rule over him then doth the solution of the adjoyned body of gold as in the terrene work take its original in him and as we have afore said the putrefaction so that he becomes as 't were wholly dissolved ground destroyed and putrified after a spiritual manner the which solution and putrefaction notwithstanding is wont to be sooner done with one then another but however t is fit that it be done even in this temporal life That is such a man is so well digested boiled and mollified in the fire of tribulation 1 Pet. 4. that he even despairs of all his own power and strength and seeks for his comfort in the alone grace and mercy of God 2 Cor. 4. in the which fornace of the Cross and continual fire the man like the terrene body of the gold obtains the right black head of the Crow that is he is made altogether deformed and as to the world Wisdom 5 Iob 30. is only derided and mocked by it and that not only forty daies and nights or years but oftentimes also for his whole life time insomuch that he necessarily undergoes many a time more grief of heart then comfort and gladness and more sadness then joy in this life-time And here then by this his spiritual death his soul is wholly taken out and is as 't were carried up on high that is he is as yet with his body on the earth but with his Spirit and soul which lives no more now to the world but unto God nor takes delight in earthly things but placeth his highest comfort in spiritual things 2 Cor. 4. he tends upwards to an eternal Life and Countrey and doth so institute and order all his actions that they are not earthly but as far forth as may be done in this time or place are heavenly and now he lives no more according to the flesh but after the Spirit not in the unfruitful works of darkness but as in the day-light in the works that abide the tryal all being done in God The which separation of the
body and soul of man is done as is said afore in spiritual dying to sin and not in the corporal dying of the sinfulâ— flesh For even as it is with the solution of the body and soul in the Philosophicalâ— or terrene work where indeed the body and soul are separated as it were the one from the other yet nevertheless have a most streight or close coherency in the glass and abide conjoynedly or together and moreover the soul doth daily refresh the body and preserve it from final destruction and do even to the time appointed by God 2 Cor. 5. remain as yet inseparable Even so also the wither'd and as it were dead body in man 1 Peter 3. is not it this its School of or exercise with the Cross even wholly forsaken by the soul but is daily if the fervency of the tribulation exceeds measure moistened by the Spirit from above with the heavenly dew and divine Nectar is imbibed comforted and preserved thereby thâ— which is a celestial refreshment and recreation of the deadened terrene body in men For our temporal death which is the wages of our sins Rom. 6. is not a right death but a natural solution of body and soul and is much rather a kind of a gentle sleep yea now 't is truly an indissoluble conjunction understand in the godly of the Spirit of God and of the soul and so remains Besides 't is very fitly compared with that wonderful ascending and descending in the terrene work as to its number which happly is wont to be done seven times for there are to be found six thousand years troubles and tribulations viz. as long as the world shall endure In which such men as are void of all comfort are at all times in their crosses calamities and diversities of troubles plentifully erected comforted and strengthened again by the Spirit of God And this praise and glory be to God for it is even yet daily so done and likewise will be so long done until the great universal Sabbath and day of rest of the seven thousandth year shall take its beginning and there then that spiritual refreshing or cooling shall in that change or time only cease and shall obtain its so long-wished for end and in the room thereof when God shall be all in all 2 Tim. 4. shall that eternally abiding joy and rejoycing be begun But during that digestion and coction of the spiritual dead body in man there will also after such a like manner as is to be seen in the terrene work many divers colours and signs that is miseries and troubles and tribulations of all kinds the chiefest of which is that afore mentioned temptation which is done and caused by the devil the world and our flesh shew and represent themselves all which do notwithstanding betoken a good beginning viz. that such a well vexed or digested man will in the end obtain an happy blessed and wisht-for issue whereof the Scripture likewise is a witness in which in 2 Tim. 3. and Acts 4. 't is written viz. that all those as will live happy in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution and that we must necessarily enter into the Kingdom of heaven through many tribulations and streights To which end also Saint Anstine saies thus Do not wonder my Brother if when thou shalt be made a Christian a thousand troubles do beset thee round on every side for Christ is the head of our faith and we are his members and therefore we must not only follow him but also imitate his life Now the life of Christ was encompassed with all kinds of tribulations and extream want be was derided by the Scribes and Pharisees and was finally delivered up to a most shameful death for us miserable sinners Hence maist thou easily conclude that if God vouchsafe thee such a life and chastise thee with such a like persecution he intends to bring thee into the number of his Elect for we cannot possibly come unto God without those persecutions and tribulations For such as endeavour to enter into Paradise must necessarily walk through the fire and water though it be Peter to whom the keyes of heaven are delivered Or Paul a chosen Vessel and Armour of God Or John to whom all the secrets of God are revealed For all must necessarily confess that by various tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God Thus much Saint Austin saith Moreover this likewise is to be well heeded viz. that the Chymical Philosophers have stamped or signed Antimony with this same Character or Mark by or through which â™ as we have said in the Chymical preparation the following fermentation must be done or pass and that afore it be put to the obtained elixar or chymical King or must undergo the sudatory or stoving bath with the old white or grey-headed Saturn The which may verily be accounted of as a kind of miracle and mysterie and is to be so lookt upon for even that form or figure is to be found also amongst us Christians and is made use of and set down almost in a like concealment or secret hiding for there was a mast or piece of straight wood with a cross piece at the top delivered into the hands of our chiefest Captain and Emperour of the whole Christianity and by it is hinted unto us that he afore he could arrive to a peaceable and quiet Possession must necessarily be well tryed by the Cross miseries and other calamities of this world and be as 't were tossed therewith and be by them exercised and proved the typical prefiguration and signification of which those said Philosophers as lived in those antient times did not perhaps rashly and casually only signifie by such a sign or character and that even in the Chymical work which requires also such a Process All which things may not unfitly be referred to the aforementioned School or Lesson of the Cross and the tribulations and persecutions of Christians viz that they also afore they can enter into that everlasting rejoycing and rest must be constrained to lead and run their race through the burdensom and difficult course of the world or to undergo the School of conflicts or striving and the sweating-Bath with the old inimicitious Saturn that is with the old Adam and Satan Job 26. Now according to those afore mentioned tribulations and calamities there are many and divers signs and miracles and also great changes here and there in the world that are well to be observed and diligently considered of and weighed for there 's mention made of wars and rumours of wars various sects the plague and scarcity of corn all which things are true fore-runners and messengers as it were of our redemption and its being very near at hand Briefly when the universal resurrection of the dead shall be at hand then at first those men that have overcome by the blood of the Lamb for the former new regeneration made in baptism is the beginning only of this second right
and now first of all perfect and new regeneration in life eternal shall quicken and rise up to that new and never fading life their soul and spirit being again so united with the body and again reduced into an indissoluble or inseparable eternally abiding copulation or conjunction So that we shall be made by the vertue and efficacy of the Omnipotent heavenly King Christ with whom we shall be by faith really truly and efficaciously coupled above the reason of all men glorified with a pure spiritual and wonderful vertue strength agility and glory and excellency yea shall be made transparent excellent and more then perfectly happy Isaiah 26. The which wonderful unition of the body soul and spirit and likewise its divine glorification and this exaltation of the elect may as 't is in the terrene work be considered of by us in this life but not without amazement and trembling much less be seen without much terrour And therefore for this cause even the very Angels themselves are as 't were ravished into admiration and desire to peep into all these things Where we shall then raign with Christ our eternal Prince of heaven and with all the Angels and ministring Spirits in eternal joy and glorious majesty and bear rule over all things for evermore Gal. 6. And that we may at last conclude even as in the Chymical work Philosophical we added after the beginning a short but yet necessary correcting of or way to amend the neglected or corrupted composition viz. how it may be commodiously holpen in time where we likewise have orderly shewed the whole Process together with the suitable means thereto appertaining even so likewise must be here considered in the Theological work and that very diligently the correction or amending and the restitution of a miserable spiritual sinner as for instance if haply either one or two or the first and second defects do shew themselves in any man that he falls into sin by the permission of God and by the impulsion of the abominable Satan of the wicked world and of his own flesh and should slip either through pride and arrogancy the which are innate in us all and may be compared with the dangerous sublimation or redness which we have termed the first and second defect in the terrene Kingdom Or else should because of his enormious grievous and corporal sins that he hath committed at length despair of the mercy of God or should by reason of the overmuth heat of tribulations rise up against God his Creator and impatiently undergo the Cross which said two defects have a resemblance with the third and fourth errours Then must such a miserable and infected man be like as t is to be done with the terrene composition that you put in and spoiled be again dissolved in the first place that is after the acknowledgement of his excess he is to be again absolved and purified by the solutory or dissolving key of holy solution as oft as he shall need it from his sins and daily defections Then moreover must he be necessarily fed his thirst quenched be refreshed and comforted in the holy Supper of the Lord with the pure and heavenly milk 1 Cor. 3. and with the true sweat of the celestial Lamb 1 Joh. 5. as if 't were with blood and water yea with water and the fountain of life and even as it were with the fat feast of pure wine and marrow Isaiah 25. Apocal. 19. and that publick proffer of the fountain of grace Zach. 13. the which like to the Mercurial water in the Chymical work is to the unworthy and wicked ones the highest poyson until at last as 't is with the terrene body or work he arrives to a final congelation and plenary fixation that is to a perfect and abiding perfection of eternal happiness The which two most wholsom mediums for the curing and healing of a poor miserable sinner viz. The holy absolution and the holy Supper the Faithfull and Omnipotent God hath appointed for the benefit of man and hath delivered and committed them to his most beloved Church to be administred and communicated in a time of necessity For we are there by the now spoken of absolution or as 't is called the office of the keyes a true repentance going afore pronounced free and absolved or else if we remain impenitent and boldly persevere in our sins then are we by the Christian key of cursing and excommunication which doth likewise appertain to that office tyed in our sins and delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord 1 Cor. 5. The Epilogue or Conclusion THus hast thou my friend and curteous Reader a brief and simple demonstration and declaration and withall an infallible counterpoise and allegorical comparison of the terrene Chymical and the true Celestial stone Jesus Christ by whom thou maist attain to a certain happiness and perfection not only here in this earthly life but also in the life eternal Now although this comparing might have been more accurately perhaps and more copiously handled in the afore mentioned Theological work yet you are to know that I am no Professor or Teacher of the Scripture or any Aristotelian Thelogist or Divine according as the custome of the World is now a dayes but that I am a citizen and a private person for as for that knowledge vouchsafed me by God I obtained it not by study in any of their famous Academies or Universities but in the Universal School of nature Job 12. and out of the great book of Miracles in which all the God-learned did for many ages past exercise themselves did I likewise learn And therefore I have directed that description of mine not according to the decked and as 't were foot and half or lofty letter and expression but as I said afore according to simplicity and plainness Besides 't is not my office or function to set down here any more plentiful and larger treatise or Commentary about Theological things but that which I have done I did it as much as concerns me for such as have not as yet made such a large progress to them was I willing to prescribe some short delineation whereby they may make an higher search thereinto For it seems to be the duty of every lover of the truth by no means slightly to pass over the wonders of God nor to wrap them up in a perpetual silence but to celebrate amplify and magnify them Moreover I could willingly make a publick confession of my faith viz. what I think or believe of the Articles of the Christian Religion But alas alas the case stands thus at present that many pious Christians Psal. 116. are proclaimed for hereticks by the rash judgments of most slanderous lying back-biters unless they sing their song and are prosecuted with a bitter hatred and are suspected of heresy The which wicked blasphemies of the world and their rash judgments do not in the
and Azoth may suffice for the fire alone is the whole work and the Entire art Moreover as many as do build up their fire with coals do err containing the Vessel in that heat some have in vain attempted with the heat of horse-dung they have with the fire of Coals without a medium sublimed the matter but not dissolved it Others have caused an heat with their Lamps affirming that to be the secret fire of the Philosophers for the making of their Stone some have placed it in a Ball but first in an heap of Ants Eggs others in Juniper Ashes some have sought the fire in Calxvine in Tartar Vitriol Nitre c. Others in Aq. ardens as Thomas Aquinas falsely speaking of this fire saith that God and the Angels cannot want this fire but do use it daily What a blasphemy is this Is it not a most manifest Lye that God cannot be without the Elemental Fire of Aq. ardens All those heats with those mediums spoken of that are excited by the fire are altogether unprofitable for our work Take heed thou beest not seduced by Arnoldus de villa nova who wrote of this fire of Coals for verily he will deceive thee herein Almadir saith that the invisible rays alone of our fire are sufficient another brings in as an example that the Celestial heat doth by its reflections make for the Coagulation and perfection of Mercury as also for the Mettallick generation by its continued motion again the same saith make a vaporous Fire digesting and cocting or ripening continual yet not flying or boyling shut close compassed about with ayr not burning but altering and penetrating Now I have truly told you all the manner of the fire and of the heat to be stirred up if thou art a true Philosopher thou wilt well understand thus much he Salmanazar saith Our fire is a corrosive fire which spreds as 't were ayr-like a cloud over our Vessel in which cloud the rays of this fire are hidden Now if this dew of the Chaos and moisture of the cloud fail an error is committed Again Almadir saith unless the fire doth heat our Sun with its moisture by the dung of the mountain in or with a temperate ascending we shall not be partakers either of the white or the red Stone All these things do openly demonstrate unto us the Occult Fire of the Wise men Briefly this is the matter of our Fire viz. that it be kindled by the quiet Spirit of the sensible Fire the which drives upwards even as the heated Chaos directly opposite or under and above our Philosophick matter which heat glowing above or below our Vessel doth after the manner of a perfect generation constantly urge or press onwards temperatly and without intermission Thus I. CHAP. XX. Of the ferment and Weights of the Philosophers THE Philosophers have very much laboured in the Art of Ferments and Fermentations the which art seems to be the chiefest of all others concerning which also some have made a Vow to GOD and to the Philosophers that they will never manifest the Arcanum of that thing either by similitudes or parables Whereas notwithstanding Hermes the Father of all the Philosophers in the Book of his 7. Treatises doth most clearly lay open the Ferments saying that it consists of nothing else but its own paste and more largely saith that the Ferment whitens the Confection and hinders adustion and doth wholly keep back and retard the Flux of the Tincture doth comfort bodies and encrease union Also he saith that this is the Key and the end of the Work concluding that the Ferment is nothing else but the paste as the Ferment of Sol is nothing else but Sol and of ☽ 't is nothing else but Lune others affirm that the Ferment is the Soul the which if it be not rightly prepared according to the Magistery it will effect nothing Some Zealots or zealous men of this Art do seek the Art in common Sulphur Arsenick Tutia Orpment Vitriol c. but in vain because the substance which is sought after is the same with that from which it must be drawn forth T is therefore to be noted that the Fermentations thereof and of that kind do not succeed as these Zealots would have it but as appears by the thing spoken of above only in natural successes or progress But now at last to come to the weight 't is to be observed in a twofold manner the first is natural but the other is artificial The natural obtains its effect in the earth by nature and concordancy Of the which Arnoldus speaks If there be more of less earth added then nature endures or can bear then the soul is choaked and no fruit perceived thence-from nor fixation The same thing is to be considered of as to the water viz. If more or less thereof be taken then 't will bring as inconvenient a loss for the superfluity thereof will render the matter beyond measure moist and the defect thereof will render it dryer and harder then is just If there be too much ayr then is there an impress of too much tincture if too little then the body becomes pallid Likewise if the fire be too vehement the matter is burnt up if too remiss it hath not the power of drying up nor of dissolving nor of heating the other Elements in these things doth the Elemental weight consist But the Artificial weight is most occult for it is shut up in the Magical Art of Ponderation or weights Now the Philosophers say that between the Spirit Soul and Body the weight consists of Sulphur as the Guider of the work for the soul doth greatly desire Sulphur and doth necessarily observe it by reason of or in relation unto the weight Understand it thus our matter is united to a red fixt Sulphur to which Sulphur a third part of the Regiment or Governance is committed even unto the ultimate degree that it may perfect even to infinity the operation of the stone and may therewith persist or abide together with its fire and may consist of a weight equal with the matter it self in all and through all without the variation of any degree of permutation or change Therefore after that the matter is fitted and mixed in its proportionable weight 't is to be excellently well shut with its Seal in the Philosophers Vessel and be committed to the secret Fire in the which the Philosophical Sun will arise and spring up and will enlighten all things which expect its Light and do with exceeding much hope desire it Thus in these few words we will conclude the Arcanum of the Stone which is not maimed or lame in any one point nor defective for the which we give God immortal praises and thanks Now wee 'l unlock to you our Treasure which all the riches of the whole world is not able to buy The Treasure of Treasures by Theophrastus Paracelsus NAture hath produced in the bowels of the earth one kind of Mineral the
appears much fairer then Gold or Silver or the brightness of the Carbuncle or Diamond and is admirable to behold the which blessed water doth hold or cover over that said matter conjoyned with and also inclosed therein It viz. the water extracts the heart soul and spirit then moreover it is to be distilled with its own proper Salt the which Salt is implanted therein by the aforesaid means and also in a peculiar way and is as to its internal colour red or blood-like but at its preparation white clear bright and transparent or resplendent and is therefore called by the Philosophers the Salt of wisdom and be congealed that it may be again reduced into one only thing And thus by this thy process thus far exercised and used which is called the former Work thou hast now first of all separated the pure from the impure or thick and gross and from the rough or austere part the which is not any more so rough or austere so grievous so discourteous as 't were and inhumane as it was at the beginning but is most brightsom and of a most savoury odour and of an aereal kind or nature in so much that were it but freed from its Eni its evident and apparent that it would of it self seeing thar notwithstanding it is in it self just or right and perfect betake it self to the wing and flie and vanish away For which reason the Wise men do also call it a Mercurial water or the ☿ of ☉ and also their own ☿ Now if you would use that subject in the aforementioned Species or Form for Medicine without any further preparation of the same thou wilt reap but little help therefrom but it would much rather contrariwise become a poyson unto thee And therefore if thou wouldst enjoy that as a most plenteous rich gift and blessed profitableness and utility then must thou make a further progress and by other singular mediums attempt something else But yet notwithstanding t is necessary that thou beest admonished to be very studious and diligent as to thy operation in heedfully observing the way of nature viz. how she in success or length of time shews her self in her operation that by this means thou mayst direct all this thy labour according to her way So then if thou knowest that thing then take of the aforesaid prepared aqueous or watery matter twelve parts and then again afterwards Make three diverse or distinct parts of them the two former parts of which thou must preserve and keep very heedfully Then again add in the first place to the former third part a certain other material matter the which is the body of Gold being also a most elegant highly gifted Creature by the pleasure of God the which said body is neerest of kin to the first matter and also is most gratefull and acceptable thereunto this I say shalt thou place and appoint for the first Fermentation computing one part to a twelfth and shalt conjoyn it therewith for both the parts being as 't were the forme of the Spiritual prepared watery matter they I say and this earthly body of Sol must be conjoyned and reduced into one bodie But yet you are to note that common Gold serves not for this affair or business but is to be adjudged as unfitting and as it were dead and although it be so dignified by the Omnipotent God as that it is the most elegant and most precious of all the other Mettals yet nevertheless whilest it lay in the Mines it was even there impeaded or hindred in its growing on in or to its perfection Besides its inward vertues that is its Sulphur and Soul are much weakened by the daily using thereof and then 't is daily also mixed with unlawfull and unlike things such as have not a suitability or harmony therewith is united with and defiled by them and is thereby daily rendred more and more unfit for this Work Therefore make it thy chiefest study and care to provide thee of pure Gold such as hath in it self a living Spirit and such as is not debilicated in its Sulphur as we said afore nor falsifyed with any deceit but is found to be wholly pure such as hath passed through ☿ or through the heaven sphear of ♄ hath thereby purified it self from all its defilements for otherwise the other matter cannot with its spirituality vertue and efficacy enter thereinto For this Work doth in all things require a pure body nor can it ever endure or brook ought of impurity with at or about it self If therefore now these unequal or unlike parts viz. of the water and of the Gold for they are of very great unlikeness both as to Quantity as well as Quality for the first of them when 't is prepared is light thin subtle and soft but the other is very heavy firm and hard when these therefore are conjoyned in the Solutory Vessel or Dish and are reduced as it were into a dry Liquor or Amalgama then leave them at first for six or seven days in a luke warm heat that it may only have a kinde of small warmth Then again take out one Part of the three former aforesaid parts of the water and put it in a round Glass Vessel like to a Phial or Egg as was never used put the temperate liquor into the midst thereof and then again leave it so for six or seven days and the body of ☉ is dissolved by the water by little and little This being done here begins the Conjunction of these two and there is such a sweet and dainty entrance of the one into th' other and such a mixtion as is like to Ice in warm water And therefore the Philosophers have diversly described it and have compared it to a Bridegroom and his Bride as Solomon in his Canticles hath done NOW when this is done then add likewise the first reserved third part unto the others but yet do not put it in all at one time or in one day but at seven divers turns for else the body that you have put in will be rendred over moist and being at length drowned would be wholly corrupted or destroyed For even as no seed when 't is at first cast into the earth can if it hath over much water rain or moisture thrive and bring forth fruits but as for instance the Husband mans Corn is drowned and choaked even so may the Comparison hold with this same thing But now having in like sort done this then Seal up your Glass or little Glass Vessel most diligently or else Conglutinate or Lute it up lest haply the Composition you put therein be rob'd of its odour and lest it flie away Then moreover put on your Alembick or over and sub-minister or put thereunder a Fire of one or the first degree let it be gentle continual aereal and vaporous the heat whereof is to be compared with or to imitate the heat of an Hen sitting upon her Eggs. Note THE Philosophers have
delivered various Writings concerning the vaporous Fire the which they call the Fire of Wisdom and withall amongst other sayings do affirm that it is not an Elemental and Material Fire but an Essential or preternatural Fire the which is also properly called a Divine Fire that is the water of ☿ which is to be incited and stirred up with the Common-fires help and by Art at the beginning you must gently digest and concoct it and must be most especially careful and diligent that nothing thereof sublime up or to use the Parabolical Philosophick expressions that the Wife doth not rule over the Man nor the man abuse his Authority over his Rib or Wife c. and then it doth of its own self perfect its process in a continual order without any other labour thereto belonging save only the care and administration of the fire viz. that first of all the terrene body of the ☉ here added is to be wholly dissolved ground destroyed and putrified and so consequently be spoiled or devested of all the vertues and power that it hath for verily at first it brings forth a darkish colour and then afterwards a perfectly black dark colour and is therefore by the Philosophers called the head of the Crow and is usually done in fourty days time and so furthermore in them the soul thereof is likewise put off or loosned from it and is carryed up aloft and is wholly and altogether separated where for some space of time it sticks without any vertues and the body is just like to dead ashes in the bottom of the glass But the true time and space being over if your Fire be encreased one degree more and it be digested without wearisomness or ceasing it doth then again let down it self by little and little and drop by drop and imbibes moistens gives to drink and doth so conserve the body that it be not at all combust nor pine or wither away Then again it lifts up it self upwards and aloft then again presently it lets it self down and thus it will do perhaps the seventh time and then again the fire is to be made one degree stronger but yet not for this intent to have thee make haste with thy Work for verily the mediocrity and Regiment of the Fire is to be most carefully and diligently administred for in it is placed very exceeding much But now in the interim there will appear various signs and colours in the Glass or Vessel the which colours are to be especially observed and well noted for according to them is your direction to be taken and framed So then having seen an orderly succession of them 't is a good testimony that a most happy event will follow First of all there shew themselves granes like the eyes of Fishes then appears a Circle about that matter the which is as it were red then shortly after whitish then moreover it becomes green and yellow like the Peacocks tail then afterwards most white and then red and shining then after a certain time when a greater Fire is administred and the extream or last heat given thereto the Soul and the Spirit is again perfectly united with its own body lying in the bottom into a certain dissoluble and indissoluble Essence the which Union and Conjunction then because of the unspeakable admiration thereof cannot be seen and considered of without fear and trembling and then is seen and beheld the new raised up body living perfect and glorified the which hath in it self a most elegant redness of a purple colour and like a Crimson or Scarlet dye the tincture of which doth also transmute tinge and heal all the imperfect bodies of which we shall speak more hereafter The Work therefore being happily brought to an end by the help and assistance of the most great and blessed God and the Phoenix of the Wise men being beheld then upon thy bended knees and with a devout heart give thanks to the Omnipotent GOD who hath been the chief Guider of all this whole Work for those his especial benefits that he hath vouchsafed thee so graciously And then further see that thou managest it well to his praise and glory and for the benefit of the needy Members and do not abuse it See therefore thou hast in these words the true information of the whole Process whereby this noble Art high Work and Philosophers Stone like as the Philosophical Egg may be opened prepared and finished For a Conclusion for t is no ways expedient slightly to slip this over observe that if haply any mischance or errour or any misapprehension which may easily happen and so vehemently impede the perfection should be committed or intervene then must a seasonable remedy be sought after and the evil or errour must be remedied If therefore you perceive in the first place that before dissolution and liquefaction any thing sublimes it self up and ascends or if there swim at top of the matter a red oil as 't were which is a very evil testimony And Secondly If it begins to become red either together with or before the white or if after the whiteness it be red afore its time Or Thirdly If it will not in the end give it self forth as 't were or not suffer it self to be rightly Coagulated Or Fourthly if the matter be so changed and inverted by the greatness of the heat that it will not when 't is taken out presently melt upon a red hot Iron like to Wax and tinge and paint or colour the Iron and if afterwards it be found not abiding the firie tryal All these things I say are remarkable signs by the which it may be gathered That this work is not rightly ordained and instituted but that it hath been neglected through want of diligence and care All which defects notwithstanding and all these erroneous waies if not too too strong and powerful and if in time lookt unto may be easily met withal and may be well corrected and restored But the highest diligence of dealing here with them is requisite and consequently artificial manual apprehensions or operations and ordinary or orderly mediums which are necessarily to be known to a skilfull and experienced Artist But yet notwithstanding for the sake of the Tyroes or young beginners that are Lovers of this Art and disciples thereof for their sake I say I will orderly recite those mediums very briefly as for example if it chance to happen that one or more of those aforesaid errours should come to pass then must you again take out of the glass the whole composition that you did put in and again dissolve it and imbibe it with the aforesaid water of ☿ which the Philosophers also call Lac Virginis or the first matter also the milk the blood and the sweat thereof also an indestructible fountain or Aqua vitae the which notwithstanding contains in it self the greatest venom and moisten it and so render it efficacious and then again digest and boyl it so long until
that if you would bring your work to its effectual power and make your tincture to perfect the other simple mettals then 't is expedient that you put to your first matter and unite therewith a certain other metallick highly dignified body of near affinity to the aforesaid Prima materia and such as is most acceptable and grateful thereunto and you must reduce them into one body Even so is it here in the Theological work of the divine nature of the Son of God if we should well enjoy it and be made partakers thereof 't was behoovful that as it were another mettalline body that is flesh and blood the humanity or the humane nature which also is amongst all the highest dignified creatures of God in the earth the one that is nearest akin is also the most acceptable and the most grateful and besides is created after his nature adjoyned and united it self therewith and consequently 't was fitting that both were reduced and united into a certain undissolvable body But even as t is chiefly to be noted and observed in the aforementioned Philosophical work as we then informed you that even as this common or vulgar body of gold is not in the least agreeable or convenient for that work but because of its imperfection and many other various defects that it is subject unto is unprofitable and is to be accounted of as a dead thing and that likewise for that same reason there must be produced such a body as is clear and pure and without mixture and such as was never falsified by any deceit but is free from all impurity and without defect and what was never as yet debilitated in its eternal Sulphur Even so much less can there be or ought there to be any universal humane nature such as is conceived in sin polluted with original transgression and is daily falsified and defiled with real sins and preternatural infirmities under which all men do generally lie accepted of imputed to and incorporated with the divine essence of the Son of God but only the unmixed pure and perfect humanity void of all sin for if the earthly Adam who was but a creature only was afore the fall without sin and was an holy and perfect man how much more then is that celestial Adam which the only begotten Son of God hath in himself And therefore the celestial eternal fundamental and Corner-stone Jesus Christ according to the description of the Philosophick is and ever will be according to both his natures of a most highly admirable birth and rise and consequently of an unsearchable nature and property According or in relation to his divinity he was from eternity of the alone divine essence of his celestial and eternal Father true God yea the Son of God whose out-going as the Scripture testifies thereof was from the beginning and eternal Mich. 5. Psal. 2. Mat. 16. Col. 1. But as in reference to his humanity he was born in the fulness of time without sin and fault Isa. 53. John 8. according as the Scripture testifies a true and a perfect man with a body and also a soul Mat. 26. so that now he is of an indissolvable personal and God-man essence that is a true God and true man in one only person indissoluble to all eternity and must and ought to be so acknowledged and worshipped as God Omnipotent But yet notwithstanding it could be wished that the eyes of the greater part of the imaginary learned men were better opend and their dark spectacles and their sophistical vizards that hang before them were removed and that at length they might yet once recover their lost sight Luke 10. But especially all the Aristotelians and the sophisticate blind-sighted purblind as 't were in divine works amongst whom there have been so many various and divers disputations even to this very day in divine things too too unchristianlike nor is there any end at all of the manifold distinctions divisions and permixtions concerning the highly venerable Article of the union of natures and community as 't were of Idioms in Christ so well founded in the holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3. But now if they will not believe God or his divine Word they may yet notwithstanding by the conjunction made of the said Chymicall work as afore-mentioned and by the unition of the two waters viz. of ☿ and ☉ know the essence and be able to feel him as it were with their fingers But alas the highest Scholastick art of their Ethnick or heathenish philosophy so little or meanly founded in the holy Scripture or in Christian Theologie and their fundamentals and Aristotelian precepts of no value or moment about substance and accidents and many other more devices do not at all lead them to the attainment thereof little considering that Tertullian that old man hath not in vain written That these Philosophers are the Patriarchs or chief Fathers of the Hereticks But we conceive it no waies worth our while to discourse more largely of this thing And moreover even as in the Philosophick work that said composition the two essences being conjoyned now together must be placed over the fire and be putrified ground or broken and be well boiled in which putrefaction and boyling there do until it be rendred more then perfect in the mean while manifold and various acts or scenes fall in between and divers colours do shew themselves about which you may find more written in the description of the terrene work Even so this God-man and man-God person Jesus Christ so appointed by God his heavenly Father in this world was cast into the firie furnace of tribulation and was therein well boyled as 't were that is he was encompassed with various troubles reproaches the Cross and tribulation and was changed and transmuted as 't were into various shapes that is he suffered hunger Mat. 4. then presently upon his receiving of baptism and after his devoting himself to the ministry of the preaching the holy divine Word he was by the impulse of the holy Spirit in the desart and there tempted by Satan and must there necessarily undergo with him a triple combate for a testimony and witness to all bought and purchased Christians as having entred upon Christianity and professing the faith of Christ are tempted by the Devil and are by various temptations again sollicited and enticed to a falling off from Christ. Likewise he was wearie in John 4. also he cryed and wept lamentably Luke 19. 41. also he trembled and was sore amazed Mark 14. he combated with death and sweated a sweat of blood was likewise taken and was bound Mat. 26. was smitten on the face by the high Priests servant was mocked derided spit on whipt crowned with thorns condemned to death and then fastned to the Cross which himself carried Joh. 19. betwixt two thieves had Gall and Vinegar given him to drink Psalm 69. and cryed out with a loud voice and commended his Spirit into the hands of God his Father expired