will force them stand before 'um And bring them up in Cavea stultorum But princely Nature from his boundless store Provides a Salve for every dang'rous sore And thus hath made our Authors happy Pen The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of good to unlearn'd men Go on good Friend to other things for we By this thy Book are able to foresee Great Paracelsus Learning Hermes Skill Shall English speak by thy ingenious Quill John Gadbury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paracelsus Paracelsus OF The TRANSMUTATION OF METALS CHAP. I. Of the Scale of Transmutation TRansmutation is an alteration or changing of the forms of natural things into other forms as of Metals or Wood into Stones or Glass the changing of Stones into Coles c. It hath been found out That Metals that have been first coyned into Money have been by Nature changed under the Ground into a stony substance and yet have retained the impression of the Image that hath been stamped upon them and That the Roots of Oaks being smitten with Thunder or some other influence of the Stars have been turned into true Stones There do also arise Springs of Rivers in many places that by a certain natural poperty do transform all things whatsoever are cast into them into hard Stones These and such-like works of Nature wise men have contemplated and have thereby learned likewise to do the fame things by Art by observing the same Order which Nature teacheth by her Instruments This we see frequently done in many Mountains That Coles are generated of Stones naturally by a certain Aetnean fire of which Carpenters have frequent use So that this last kinde of Transmutation is done by Fire in the Earth the other before spoken of by Water and Air These are the Instruments of Nature and they are for the Matter the Motion for the Form What therefore if a natural Composition may be made Earth by Fire and that made Water by Air and this made Fire by Fire and that again descending may be made Air by Air and then this be made Water by Water and at last that may be reduced into Earth by Fire what Transmutation I pray do thou think will come thereof if you were expert you would know it The vulgar and ignorant see not these things and that for no other cause but because they do not consider the secrets of Nature Whosoever therefore together with them is ignorant of or denieth these things which Nature hath set before the Eyes of all how learned or wise soever he would seem to be he is not worthy of the Name of a Philosopher nor Physitian Whence hath Physick her first Foundation out of the appearance onely or manifest superficies of natural things Nothing less but out of the most occult and hidden secrets of Nature compared to the most manifest effects Wherefore as Nature her self is undiscernable by every sence no otherwise are all her Operations Who ever saw a Tree to grow or the Sun or Stars move No body But that the Trees have grown and the Sun and Stars have been moved by a space of time who knoweth not Therefore Operations in Physick do more chiefly consist in the Understanding rather then in the Eyes or the other Sences although they in their courses are the Directors unto us that we may make further progress otherwise between the Philosopher and the Clown there would be no further difference But to return to the purpose The Scale or Ladder of Transmutation hath seven Steps or principal Degrees which are Cascination Sublimation Solution Putrefaction Distillation Coagulation and Tincture Under Calcination are contained these his Members Reverberation Cimentation and Incineration wherewith in all Operations all things are turned into Chalk or into Ashes Therefore in the first Degree of Transmutation the elementative natural bodies are converted into Earth with a middle Fire as the Instrument And here first of all is to be noted the difference between material Elements and instrumental of which by the way we shall speak for these are external but the other are internal as when the first Operation is compleated whether it be by Calcination or Reverberation Cimentation or Incineration Sublimation succeedeth out of the order of Preparations which Earth now being calcined is converted either into Water or into Air according to the Nature and property of the thing so to be converted for if it be of dry things then chiefly is to be used the elevation of the Volatile parts from the fixed Wherefore Sublimation is convenient for things of that Nature But if there ought to be made a separation of moist things as of Vegetables or Animals then it is convenient to use Sublimation thereof in the fifth Degree to wit Distillation But because in this place it is chiefly intended to treat of dry things as Metals and Minerals the order congruent to their Natures is likewise to be observed Therefore the Volatile part is to be sublimed as in moist things by Cohobations that is by re-conjoyning of the parts separated and by iterating or separating them over again until they become fixed and remain within with the parts fixed and ascend no more but remain consisting in the substance and form of Oyl of or a Stone for with Solution by the Air they are turned into Oyl and with Coagulation by Fire into a Stone Let Sal Armoniak be an example for every Metal for that in Sublimation successively becomes Stone By this Operation of Sublimations many corrosives are dulcified and mollified and on the contrary with the addition of another substance Also many sharp things are sweetned and many sweet things on the contrary are sharpened somtimes by themselves or with other things prepared after this manner Afterwards happens the third Degree to wit Solution and that is twofold the one of cold the other of heat Salts Corrosives and whatsoever things are calcined are coagulated by Fire and then by the coldness of the Air are resolved into Liquor Water or Oyl in a moist place as a Cellar or in the Air being placed upon a Marble-stone or Glass But fat and sulphureous things are dissolved by the heat of the Fire and that which the Fire dissolveth by heat the same is coagulated by the coldness of the Air On the contrary that which is dissolved by the coldness of the Air is coagulated by the heat of the Fire Note here the Reason wherefore we call the Air cold which seems to oppose and contradict the Opinion of some Philosophers for they will have it to be hot and moist but they consider not whereof the Air consists doth it not consist of Fire and Water for what else is the Air but Water dissolved by Fire Wherefore from one part thereof to wit the Fire it borroweth heat and driness and from the other part the Water coldness and moisture for they are the two chief qualities thereof and the other two are her Ministers for there is nothing hot by Nature which is not also
necessary and naturally dry neither is there any thing cold which by the same reason is not moist Whatsoever is besides contingent hereunto is not by Nature but by accident It is no otherwise amongst the Elements the Fire and Water have the chief place and the Earth borrows her coldness from her Companion the Water and her driness from the Fire for her self she is never hot moist nor cold nor dry but serveth her two other Princes as the Wax submits to every Seal In like manner we are to judge of the Air for so the Air receiveth heat and driness from his Father the Fire and cold and moisture from his Mother the Water therefore they are generated as from their Parents the Fire and Water the Air Masculine or rather a Hermaphrodite and the Earth a Female And thus far of the natural Instruments and the Matter The fourth Degree is Putrefaction This for its excellency might deserve the first place if it were not repugnant to the true order and a secret in this place hidden to many and manifested to few It ought therefore to remain placed in its due Series even as the links in a Chain wherein if one be wanting the Captive detained therewith escapes and flies away The property therefore of Putrefaction is that consuming the old Nature of things it introduceth a new Nature and sometimes produceth Fruit of another Generation for all living things die with corruption and being dead they putrefie and again acquire life by the Transmutation of their Generation into them And by it corrosive Spirits are dulcified and mollified and all Colours are thereby turned into others and thereby the pure is separated from the unclean Now the Members of Putrefaction are Digestion and Circulation The fifth Degree is Distillation which is nothing else but a Separation of the moist from the dry and the thin from the thick The Members hereof are Ascension Lotion Imbibition Cohobation and Fixation Cohobation which concludeth all the rest is an often effusion or pouring of the distilled Liquor to its feses and often distilling it over As Vitriol with Cohobations is fixed by its own proper Water and then it is called Allumen Saccarinum which being dissolved into Liquor and then putrefied by the space of a Month and distilled yields a most sweet and pleasant Water after the manner of Sugar which is a most excellent Medicinal secret far above others to extinguish the Microcosmical Fire which happeneth to the Diggers of Metals which is largely spoken of in the Book De Morbis Fossorum Mineralium Of the Diseases of the Diggers in Mynes After the same manner also may any other Minerals and Waters as Sal Nitrum be fixed by Cohobations The sixth Degree is Coagulation which also is twofold answering contrary to Solution consisting of heat and driness that is of Air and Fire Again Coagulation is twofold as having two parts cold and as many of hear The first of cold is made of common Air without Fire and the last of the superior Firmament by the Hyâ—â—al Stone which congealeth all Waters into Snow and Ice But the first Coagulation of heat is made by industry in Art observing the gradations of the Fire and is fixed but the other Degrees of cold in Alchymy are not fixed The later Coagulation of heat is made by an Aetnean Fire and Mineral under the Earth and under the Mountains and is gradated by a natural Arch of the Earth Not unlike to this is the Fire which being gradated by the Art of Alchymy is excited and brought to Coagulation Whatsoever is coagulated by this Aetnean Fire remains fixed as is manifest by Metals and Minerals all which consist from the beginning of certain Muscilaginons matter coagulated by the Aetnean Fire and the natural Arch and Artifice of the Earth under the Mountains into Stones Metals Pearls Salts c. The seventh and last Degree of the Scale or Ladder of Transmutation is Tincture the most noble Medicine above all others that are procured by the Chymical Art whereby all Metallick and humane bodies are dipp'd into a far more noble better and excellent substance then before they were naturally of and are thereby reduced to the highest Degree of soundness colour and perfection and to a more strong and excellent Nature Various are the kindes and species of these Tinctures in this place least of all intended to he treated of The Metallick bodies ought first to be removed by Fire from their Coagulation and to be liquefied otherwise they will not receive any active Tincture unless they be opened Also all the Tinctures of Metals ought to be fixed substances easily fusible and of an incombustible Nature that being poured upon a fiery Lamen they may flow forthwith like Wax and soon penetrate the Metal without smoke as Oyl doth Paper or as Water enters into a Sponge so they dye that into a white and red colour remaining in the Fire and enduring every trial Therefore in the first Degree of Calcination to come to these Tinctures the Metals being brought into Alcol they acquire an easie liquefaction in the second Degree to wit of Solution and then by Putrefaction and Distillation their Tinctures may be fixed and made incombustible and the colours unvariable But to restore recover conserve or renew the Health of humane bodies they ought to be drawn from Gold Pearl Antimony Sulphur Vitriol or the like Various also are the Subjects of the Fire and they have several and divers Operations in Chymistry as one Fire made of the flame of Wood and this they call living Fire wherewith is calcined and reverberated the bodies of all Metals and other things another is a continual heat of a Candle or Lamp wherewith they fix Volatiles there is another Fire of Coles wherewith bodies are cemented coloured and purged from their Excrements also Gold and Silver are thereby brought to a higher Degree Venus is refined and all other Metals are renewed the fiery Lamens of Irons have another Operation for thereupon is made the trial of Tinctures Another heat is raised by Fire by the filings of Iron another in Ashes another in Salt another in Balneo Mariae wherewith are made many Distillations Sublimations and coagulations There is also another Operation made by Balneum Roris which sometimes I have elsewhere called Balneum Vaporosum wherewith many Solutions of corporal things are made Then the Venter Equinus hath another Operation in which are made the chief Putrefactions and Digestions also the invisible Fire hath an Operation far beyond all these that is of the Beams of the Sun which plainly appeareth by his Operations as by a Speculum or Chrystal And of this the Ancients have not made mention By this Fire the three Principles of every thing may be separated upon a Table of Wood without any fear of flagration or adustion and all Metals liquefied without any visible Fire and all combustibles consumed into Coals and Ashes But the Transmutation of Metals to bring
needed not so to have done and then they cry out and blame this Science which is their own fault Lastly there be many men that work daily upon receits that they gather here and there without seeing or making that which they do work whether it be agreeing with the Nature of the Science or from whence the receits do come or spring or who have written them whereby they also consume their substance which is their own fault and not the Science And also God will not have the Science wrought by some men and yet they will work it and thus they lose their goods And therefore gentle Reader if you will keep your self from damage or loss so read this Treatise over not once but many times so shalt thou finde the sweet Kernel or Marrow of the Philosophers and right Science of Transmutation of Metals that be base into most pure Metals of Gold and Silver And therefore think not the reading and studying of this Science or Treatise to be tedious unto thee considering the great profit thou shalt reap by it The Lord grant that thou maist finde it and use it to the honour of God and profit of Christ and his poor afflicted Church Raymund Lully The Contents of the first Part. Chap. 1. TO prepare the Salt for the red and white Elixir Chap. 2. To make the Elixir to the white work Chap. 3. Of the Key of Sciences and Properties of Salt Chap. 4. The Composition of the red Elixir Chap. 5. The projection with the red Elixir Chap. 6. The Composition of the Cement for Gold Chap. 7. To make Silver heavy as Gold Chap. 8. The difference between the Elixirs and Philosophers Stone Chap. 9. The living and dead Sol and Luna The Contents of the second Part. Chap. 1. THe Composition of the Philosophers Stone Chap. 2. The Elixir of Life Chap. 3. To sublime Mercury to the red Elixir Chap. 4. To sublime Mercury to the white Elixir Chap. 5. To prepare the white Stone upon all Bodies Chap. 6. To make the Lutement to all works Chap. 7. To understand moral and natural Philosophy To draw Spirits out of a ponderous Body or Earth by Distillation Tract ult Upon Saturn the Tincture of Gold the Quintessence and Aurum Potabile and the matter of the Universal Medicine Philosophical and Chymical EXPERIMENTS OF The Famous Philosopher RAYMVND LVLLY CHAP. I. Teacheth how to prepare the Salt for the white and red Elixir TAke in the Name of God great Bay-Salt as it is made out of the Sea take a good quantity and stamp very small into a stone-Morter then take Cucurbites of Glass and pour your Salt therein then take fair Well-water and let your Salt resolve into cleer water being all dissolved then distil it by Filter that is to say hang a jag Felt or Woolen-cloath in the Cucurbite and let the other and hang in another Glass beside it set as it were under it that the Water may drop into it that the Felt or Cloath will draw out and that shall be cleer as Silver and when that all the water is dopped over look to it if that it be very cleer if it be not filter it again into another Glass till it be cleer or Christalline and when it is so put it into a Glasen Pan set it upon a Sand-Oven and let the Water vapour away till that it do come above like unto white-Salt then take stone-piss-Pots or Pots made of cullen-Cullen-Earth such as the drinking Pots be made of and put the Water and the Salt that remains therein and set upon the said Oven and let it vapour away and while that it doth dry stir it with a stick till that it be very dry otherwayes it will come into a lump or mass and this being well dried beat it in a stone-Morter very fine as you did before and then put it into a melting Cruce and set them into a glowing Oven or Say-Oven which is an Oven that the Gold-smiths do enamel their Rings in the Oven being very hot take the Cruses that be filled with Salt and set them into the Oven and let them stand until they be glowing hot and see that they be no hotter behinde then before if they be then turn them round with a pair of Gold-smiths Tongs put but one Pot in the Oven at a time that you may do them the better and when that Pot is red glowing hot take it out and put in another to be calcined And then when cold put it again into your Morter and break it as small as you can the third time and then set it in the Fire of the Oven to glow as aforesaid Two or three times glowing and breaking of it every time in a stone-Morter until seven times and then put it into Well-water to dissolve till it be all dissolved into cleer water Then distil it by Filter until it be as cleer as Christal then set it again upon your Oven to dry and the Water to vapour until that it be Salt and stir it with a stick as before-said And when that it is dry set it to calcine again as beforesaid in the Sand-Oven and when that all the Pots that have the Salt be all glowing hot then take them out and beat them to Powder as before and again dissolve into Water Then distil it again by Filter as before this shalt thou do so many times to say dissolve into Water and then distil by Filter and then congeal it into dry Salt glowing it by Fire this do without resting until it come to be fat and that it will melt upon a hot glowing Plate of Luna and if it will not melt like Wax you must dissolve distil congeal until that it will come to that point or perfection and you must be careful lest that it should melt in the Calcination for then all your labour is lost Keep this for a great secret and such a preparation doth appertain to the Salt that which is the Riches of this world For otherwise thou shalt never come to the perfect end of any Elixir without such Salt prepared as aforesaid to say to the white Elixir nor yet to the red Therefore my beloved Son he that doth know the Secrets of this Salt to say his Solution his Congealation Distillation and Calcination and can well understand knoweth the whole Secrets of Natural Philosophy and wise men also that is to say how and in what manner he ought to dissolve distil congeal and calcine Therefore let not the labour in preparing of this Salt be grievous unto thee for without great cost you may learn herein to distil by Filter dissolve congeal and calcine and to form all the works that be needful unto thee in this Science So that you come to the principal work you shall not be to seek or to learn Therefore be patient and leave not off to work until thou hast brought thy Salt to that pass as I have taught thee before until it melt upon a
the imperfect to perfection cannot be very well done without the Stone or Tincture of which we will hereafter treat in their due places And we will also say something of the Transmutation of imperfects into imperfects bringing them only for the probation of Transmutations But we shall first treat of the Fire whereupon hangs the hinges of all the Art and teach some process of the Stone of Paracelsus CHAP. II. Of the simple Chymical Fire HAving now sufficiently spoken to the wise and ingenious of the Art of Transmutations by the Scale and Degrees thereof that the order before spoken of may be kept it will be necessary in the first initiation to propose and lay down the manner of the Instruments before the matter it self lest that the rude and unskilful should first use the foot in stead of the hand Let them not therefore approach hither whose understanding hath no eyes and whose hands cannot serve them for the feet and the fleshly eye without a sound and uncorrupted understanding is altogether ignorant The chiefest Instrument which ought most diligently to be sought after is the Fire which being living of its own proper Nature is not vivified by any other Fire From hence also it comes to pass that it hath power and vertue to vivifie whatsoever else lies hidden in other things As the Sun in the World is created by God to vivifie stir up and quicken the Fire resting in all other things as of the ☽ ☿ ♀ ♂ ♃ and ♄ and that he might heat the Spheres of all the other Stars by his Fire which otherwise have no heat of their own neither can they give forth any of themselves for they are dead of themselves but being kindled by the Solar heat they live and give forth their Operations according to their several proprieties For the Sun doth not receive the Light Life and Fire which he hath from any other Star but onely from God that created and ruleth him so that he alwayes giveth Heat and Life in himself illuminating every other natural Light Even so is the Fire of the Philosophers secret Furnace to be accounted in the Spagyrick Art which heateth the Furnace and Sphere of the Vessel and the Fire of the matter even as the Sun is seen to operate in the universal World without which nothing can be generated therein In like manner nothing can be effected or brought to pass in this Art without this simple Fire it being the chief part and Operation of the whole Art comprehending all the other parts thereof in it self and is comprehended of nothing for it consisteth of it self not wanting any of the other but all other Operations whatsoever are made stand in need of this simple Fire from which they receive Life together with the matter it self Paracelsus speaking elsewhere of the simple Fire saith thus This saith he is the Opinion of the most excellent Philosophers The Fire and Azor are sufficient for the Fire alone is the whole Work and the compleat Art Some do build their Fire simply of Coals they erre containing the Vessels therein or thereupon others in vain attempt it with a Fire of Horse-dung with the Fire of Coals they sublime the matter without any medium and dissolve it not others have stirred up Heat with Lamps asserting this to be the secret Fire of the Philosophers to make their Stone others have placed it in Balneo and set this in an Emmet's Nest some have placed it in Ashes of Juniper and others have sought this Fire in Calce viva in Tartar Vitriol Nitre and the like others have thought it to be in hot burning Water as Thomas Aquinas falsly speaks of this Fire saying That God and his Angels cannot want it What blasphemy is this is it not a manifest lye cannot God want or be without the elementary Fire of hot VVater and be without all the other Creatures when he pleaseth doth he stand in need of any of them All those Heats that are stirred up by the means and Fires now spoken of are altogether unuseful for this purpose See also that you be not seduced by Arnold de villa nova who writes of the Fire of Coals for in this thing he deceives you Almadis saith That the invisible Sun-beams are sufficient for our Fire He produceth another example That the celestial Heat by his reflexion and continual motion doth chiefly make the perfection and coagulation of Mercury And again he saith Make a vaporous continual digesting separating Fire but not flying or boyling up but altering and penetrating Now I have told and that truly the whole way of stirring up the Heat of this Fire if thou art a true Philosopher thou well understandest this is it Salmanazer saith Our Fire is a corrosive Fire which bringeth an Airy Cloud over our Vessel in which Cloud the Beams of this Fire are hid This due Cahos and humidity of the Cloud being wanting there is error committed Again Almadir saith Unless the Fire heat our Sun by his humour by the excrement of the mountain with a temporate Ascension we shall not be partakers neither of the white nor red Stone All these things do sufficiently demonstrate unto us the occult Fire of the wise men In brief this is the matter of our Fire to wit That it be kindled by the quiet Spirit of a sensible Fire which again expelleth the hot Cahos as from its opposite above our Philosophical matter which Heat waxing above our Vessel temperately urgeth it forwards to the motion of perfect Generation constantly without intermission Thus faith Paracelsus of the simple Fire of the Philosophers CHAP. III. Of the multiplicity of the Philosophers FIRE HAving spoken of the simple Fire we hold it convenient to treat also of the multiplicity of Fire and that more copious and cleerly then of the other before for by this later we may attain to a perfect sight as through a Casement Fire therefore is manifold as well because of the diversity of the Subject in which it floweth as that afterwards it is excited in divers other Subjects it is varied and changed as the Fire of Ashes Sand Balnei Limatures c. have a mediate Heat flowing from an immediate into the Subject-matter of the Instrument and from hence into the matter subjacent to the Art In this manifold Fire there is a difference of place and this is the Reason Because in all things there is nothing in the Nature of things that can be seen in all things and by all things like one to another although they are both of the same Species and their members of the same individuals as one Metal produceth Gold from that which generateth Silver another Saturn Venus Mars and every one of them is varied according to the difference of the place from whence they spring and are created neither are two men or two members of one body nor two Leaves of one and the same Tree found alike to one another and so of other things The
because the intellect doth so far excel the sense this is a work of a second intention and the beginning upon the vertue of Elements that is a pure bright and cleer Water of Putrefaction for the perfection of every Art properly so called requires a new birth as that which is sowed is not quickned except it die but here death is taken for mutation and not for rotting under the clods Now therefore we must take the Key of Art and consider the secret of every thing is the Life thereof Life is a Vapor and in Vapor is placed the wonder of Art whatsoever hath heat agitating and moving in it self by the internal Transmutation is said to live this Life the Artist seeks to destroy and restore an eternal Life with Glory and Beauty This Vapor is called The vegetable Spirit because it is of degree of heat with the hottest Vegetable and being decocted till it shine like brightest Steel you shall see great and marvelous secrets not by the separation of Elements by themselves but by predomination and victory of that pure Fire which like the Celestial Sun enters not materially but by help of Elemental Fire sends forth his influence and impression of form Here we must observe difference of perfections for although ye have now the Fountain of compleat white yet you are not neer your chief delight which is the Fountain of Life and Centre of the Heart the universal Spirit which lives in the radical humidity and doth naturally vivificate and is the masculine Seed of the Celestial Sun here is that Rule made good Except ye sow in Gold ye do nothing Therefore we must take heed what we understand by Gold whereof there are three sorts Vulgar Chymical and Divine which is therefore so called because it is a special Gift of God The Theosophists are perswaded by exact diet and by certain form of prayers at certain times to obtain the Angel of the Sun to be their Guide and Director The Philosophers advise to take the like matter above Earth that Nature hath made under the Earth Others to search the most precious treasure from a vile thing all which is easily agreed if rightly understood for in the lines following the same Author saith The vile thing is from the Sperm of Gold cast in the matrix of Mercury by a prime conjunction Others affirm Azoch and Ignis to be sufficient for this high perfection the which Azoch among the Germans is Silver with the Macedonians Iron with the Greeks Mercury with the Hebrews Tin with the Tartars Brass with the Arabians Saturn and with the Indians Gold All which being diverse in Nature are potential in one composition and by the duel of Spirits the Celestial Gold obtaineth victory over all the rest and is made though not with hands a body shining like the Sun in glory which is called Ens omnis privationis expers or Thummim This is the Key that made the pure cleer Fountain and of it was made himself the fair Woman so loving the red Man she became one with him and yielded him all glory who by his Regal power and soveraign Quality raigneth over the fourfold Nature eternally but if any shall understand either common or Chymical Gold to be the substance of this sacred body he is much mistaken for a glorious Spirit will not appear save in a body of his own kinde Although pure Manchet be made of the finest Meal yet Wheat is not excluded and so Bread is said to be of the second and neerer causes rather then the remote notwithstanding that which is made by the effect in a successive course is as certain as that which is made with hands After we fell from unity we groan under the burden of division but three makes up the union first temporary and afterwards eternally fixed He that knoweth a thing fully must know what it was is and shall be so to know the several parts of a successive course is not a small thing neither the honor little in the right use of the Creature Air turned into Water by his proper mixture becomes Wood and the same Wood by Water is turned into a Stone A Spring in Italy called Clytinus makes Oxen white that drink it And the River in Hungary turns Iron into Copper VVhat excellency things may attain by habitual vertue or what power when Nature and Art make one perfection who is able to express If you desire by Art to have a thing of admirable sweetness and odor you will take a substance of like quality to exalt into such excellency the proper quality of Fire and Air is sweetness it is but appropriate in Earth and Water what bodies shall we finde where these are most abundant to be wrought upon As the Celestial Bodies give no Tincture yet they are most abundant in Tincture Air is cause of Life Mercury is coacted Air Ethereal and truly Homogeneal which doth after a sort congeal and fix it is called a crude Gold and Gold affixed and mature Mercury And although the crude Quality be cold and dry some hold for the excellency of its temperature That it is all Fire or like to it whereby it is dissolved however it is at large proved those bodies are most abundant in pure Fire and Air whose proper Quality is sweetness Therefore those are the fittest subjects to make the most precious perfume in the world and considering cleerness and brightness is the centre of each thing and those bodies have both centre and superficies cleer and bright whensoever they are purified by Art and the bodies made spiritual and those Spirits corporated again they must necessarily be Bodies of greatest or cleerest Light and Perfection as one compareth a glorified Body to a cleer Lanthorn with a Taper in it saying The more a man excels in vertue the greater or lesser was the Taper But the work cannot be manifest without the destruction of the exterior form and the restitution of a better which is the glorious substances of Urim and Thummim which in their being and Physical use preserves the Temple of Man's Body incorruptible Some observe not just difference between Liquification and Solution but all Corrosives or violent Operations Nature hates because there can be no Generation but of like Natures neither can you have the precious Sperms without Father and Mothers And although one Vessel is sufficient to perfect the Infant in the Wombe yet Nature hath provided several breasts to nourish it and different means to exalt it to the strength of a man How Gold should be burnt which the Fire cannot consume is questionable but every exaltation of this soveraign Spirit adds a tenfold vertue and power then take one part of this Spirit which is become as insensible as dust and upon molten Gold it turns all into powder which being drunk in White-wine openeth the Understanding encreaseth Wisdom and strengtheneth the Memory for here is the Vein of Understanding Fountain of Wisdom and River of Knowledge
kindes of serpentine Mumy but especially of that which he accurately delivers in the first and second Chapter of his Book of the origine of Sciences The way then to get this spiritual Mumy of the Serpent and according to this former Treatise to transplant it into some Fruits or Grains and with them to confer it to some man or the like is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one and the same with the forementioned wayes take then the sperm that is the Eggs of the Serpent which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Elements and Principles both of their corporal and spiritual Mumy mix them with fat Earth and sow some Seed or plant some Herb fittest for your purpose in that Earth But for greater efficacies sake in conferring knowledge transplant them into some Fruit appropriated to the Brain Plant therefore a Cherry-Tree in this Earth for so it will magnetically attract the Mumial Spirit of the Serpent into its Nutriment whose Vertue and Quality will appear in the Cherries out of which by Vulcan's Hammer that is Fire you may elicite the Spirits and therewith roborate and acuate the Brain and no little advance Knowledge This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or seminal part of the Serpent may with like success be transplanted into a Vine out of whose Grapes you may afterwards extract their Spirits and after the same manner the Theriack and all its Faculties may by way of Transplantation be inserted into the same Fruit which will be thereby made Theriacal There is yet another way of tranplanting serpentine Mumy into an Herb thus Take Serpents and include them in some Glass-Vessel till they be suffocated and putrefied into some viscid matter which either transplant into some Tree or unite with some Earth fit for the reception of Herbs for your purpose You may also by like procession extract Mumy from Serpents and Snakes indued not onely with other admirable Vertues but with that also that is proper to the Universal Medicine which they depose with their gliscent Skins I mean that incomparable Remedy for the Morphew Leprosie c. whose Cure can scarce be hoped for from any other Antidote scarce I say because I verily think the Essence of sulphureous Vitriol will conduce no little hereunto Take Serpents then and detracting their Sweat and Collunies from them cut off their Heads and Tails which are else of much use to other effects as well as the other parts and cast those away but put their flesh under the stock amongst the Roots of a Juniper-Tree and occlude the hole with a knot of a wilde Plum-Tree for thus in Winter-time the Flesh will by the natural heat of the Juniper which is temperate be redacted to its first entity and in the Spring the vegetable Spirit of the Juniper will attract the Balsam thereof to its Nutriment insomuch that its Fruits or Berries will be indued with most eximious Faculties and enrich their Possessor with a most admirable and excellent remedy against the Leprosie for which end Take the Berries of the aforesaid Juniper pour warm Water with a convenient quantity of Leaven upon them and thus let them macerate for eight dayes till they be reduced into one mixed Mass for which purpose agitate them once or twice a day then distil the Mass through a Vesica at first with a slower but gradually with a hotter Fire till all the Spirit be distilled And now because this Spirit is mixed with Phlegme it must be rectified in B. M. through a Cucurbite and then again through a Phiola and so you shall have the true Spirit of Juniper Then calcinate the dead Head into Lees and make Salt thereof by Evaporation whereof take one pound and resolving it in the former Phlegme mix it with a sufficient quantity of good and well-dried Argil till you may make it into Pastils which take and distil in a close Furnace through a well-beaked Retorta putting a handful or two of the Berries into the Reptacle Let your Fire be first slow for the Phlegme afterwards hotter and at last so hot that the Retorta may be made red therewith for so you may extract all the Spirits Make Salt again of the dead Head which mix with Argil and the fore-extracted Spirit and then distil it again into Spirit then so draw this Spirit through a Glass Retorta in a dry Bath that the Phlegme may be collected apart and then the great secret may proceed in flave drops which you must shut up in a Glass with the Seal of Hermes and then insolate and repose it And thus you have that altogether praise-worthy Remedy for the Berries of Juniper being of themselves so conducible to the Cure of the Leprosie that they will not onely preserve from it but also in its initiation profligate it they are now by this mystical Art and the participation of the serpentine Faculty so much advanced that they will easily overcome it in its height and strength But thus much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the way now to our purpose As therefore the Knowledge of Good and Evil was by the mediation of the Mumy-spiritual of the Serpent transplanted into the forbidden Tree so also by the presidy of some other spiritual Mumy eternal sanity or immortality was from God granted to the Tree of Life That he that tasted thereof should live for ever for which we have God's Testimony Gen. 3. who therefore cast the Protoplast out of Paradise lest he should put forth his hand and taste of the Tree of Life and live for ever And now we cannot expect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a written Testimony to prove that this Tree received its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 its power to give immortality from some spiritual Mumy for it is observable that Scripture in things natural gives rather a hint then a description for what community hath Athens with Hierusalem yet Philosophers those Merchants in Natures Commonwealth after much tossing to and fro on these rugged Seas arrived at a twofold Port of Verity For say they this Tree of Life either received this vivifical faculty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immediately from Gods fiat or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the mediation of something natural And further seeking into Natures Store-house they conclude with Trismegistus That it is Gold by whose Vertue Life was implanted into this Tree and this is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impossible for unless the Almighty ordain the contrary Gold is of vertue sufficient to give immortality to man or at least to prohibit infirmity till the predestinated term of his Life be come and the use of this Tree for this purpose was in no wise prohibited And it is moreover probable That the first entity or Sperm of Gold may as other Mumies be transplanted into some Vegetable and its Fruit by whose Energy they may attain the vertue and efficacy of the Tree of Life which consideration is founded in Nature for we see Metals by the mediation of some Vegetables suffer
hot glowing Plate of Silver as Wax in the fire for without this Salt thy labor is in vain for it is the Key of this Science CHAP. II. Teacheth with this prepared Salt to make the Elixir to the white work TAke of Salt-Peter two parts and one part of Allome and distil thereof a strong Water Then take of your prepared Salt so much as you will set to work and take as much fine Capel Luna as you have of your Salt Beat your Luna into thin Plates and dissolve into the strong Water a part in a Glass by it self Likewise your Salt you must dissolve in the said strong Water by it self And when your Luna and Salt is dissolved in both Glasses put the two cleer Waters together and note that you put no more Water to the dissolution of these two matters then will dissolve them and you shall see your Luna fall to the bottom of the Glass white like Milk take the Glass properly and shake it in your hand and let it stand and you shall see your Luna as a green Water to rise above the which you shall pour properly off into another Viol of Glass then pour upon it more strong Water that hath not occupied and do as aforesaid putting the green Water off in the first green Water shaking it as aforesaid This do until all your Luna be dissolved into green Water that no Feces remains otherwise your work will not be perfected and when you have all into cleer Water without Feces put the same into a Cucurbite of Glass with a Helm and a Recipient and Lute it strongly and when your Lutement is dry then set your Cucurbite in Balneo and make fast to the bottom of your Glass a round Certel of Lead like a Fol and as your Lutement doth dry so increase your fire a little to distil of the flame that there shall remain no more strength in it then common water and to know this put a clout in the mouth of the Alimbeck and when the clout doth begin to look yellow pull all the fire out of the Oven for then the Spirits of the strong Water do begin to come Therefore look well to your work lest your fire be too hot that no Spirits come out of your Water otherwise you shall fail in your work Then let your Glass and Oven stand and cool two hours long then take off the Helm of your Cucurbite and have a Cover of Glass that may pass just in the mouth of your Cucurbite wherein your Medicine is in fast luted to with Lutement or with white Wax then set it in your Sand-Oven or warm Ashes not very hot Then take fair Capel Luna beaten very thin into Plates and cut into small pieces and put in a little at a time till it be dissolved and when that is dissolved put in more till it be dissolved also And thus let your Glass stand in warm Ashes and look that no Air go out of your Glass nor Cement This nourishing shall continue until it will dissolve no more but lie in the Glass undissolved two or three days long and then is your Medicine nourished like a Child in the Mothers Womb. Then may you let your Glass wax cold and you shall understand without this nourishing the Medicine cannot ingender and therefore it is needful that it be nourished that it may get strength of Generation and when your Glass is cold lute your Glass well with good Lutement that may indure against Water the which I will learn thee in a Chapter apart and let the Lutement dry by it self then set the Glass in Balneo Mariae to putrefie fourty days long to hold it in such a heat as the Sun in Summer for great fire may destroy your Medicine Therefore let your fire be alwayes of one heat for in that there doth remain a great secret of the Medicine And within the forty dayes your Medicine shall be dissolved and if it be not dissolved in forty dayes let it stand longer until it be dissolved for this is the primest of all the work for the dissolution is done by heat and moisture and congealed by heat and drowth This Point being obtained you have the Key of the Chamber and he is blessed of God that hath this point For this is a token of goodness for in every Dissolution and Congealation you do augment your Medicine and Degree for the first time it will do projection one ounce upon seven and dissolve and congeal again one ounce will project upon fourteen ounces and the third time upon twenty eight ounces And so it goeth forth double in projection every Dissolution and Congealation But you shall understand that the Congealation that cometh of warmth is no perfect Congealation but it ought to congeal in the Glass or in the Ampule with heat to say standing in warm Ashes and therefore whenas your Medicine is dissolved in your Glass let it cool then take it out of your Balneo and dry your Glass And look well to your Lutements that they be close without any clefts to let out the Spirits then set it in your Sand-Oven in Ashes then put fire in your Oven and let your fire be no greater then that you may hold your finger in the Ashes and so let it stand twenty four hours to congeal if not congealed in that time you may let it stand longer and when you see that it is congealed give God thanks and rejoyce for it is ready to do projection in this manner Take to project on Fair red Copper the best that you can get and take from him his redness which serveth not in the work the which you shall do after this manner Beat your Venus into thin Plates and cut it in small pieces and anoint them with this paste or pap Take white Arsnick and grinde it on a Marble-stone with Oyl of Tartar that it be thick like Pap and with this matter anoint your Copper Venus pieces then take great Bay-salt and put some part of it into a melting-Pot bottom and lay your Copper Venus pieces upon that and then Salt upon them and Copper Venus pieces upon that Stratum super Stratum till all your Pot is full and uppermost in your Pot let there be a good quantity of Salt take a tile-stone and make a round Covet for the Pot and lute it well too and when the Lutement is dry set it in an Oven in fire of Calcination for twenty four hours long Then let it cool and then break your Pot open and cast the matter that is in your Pot in warm Water and stir them with your Hand until the pieces be clean and that the Water comes fresh from them Then dry them and beat them in an Iron Morter so small as you can Then put your Venus so beaten into a Canvas Bag that is sowed close up and round like a Ball. Then take fat Clay that is mixed with hair and therewithal streak over your Bag thinly
no otherwise Thus having declared the Instruments Matter and Ferment we proceed in order to the Weights without observation whereof our Work is in vain CHAP. VIII Of the Proportion of the Matter and Form of the Spagyrick Stone THe Formal part of our birth is the Mercury of the Philosophers and the Spirit or Tincture of Sol but the living part is another material Therefore the Composition of this sacred Adamick Stone is made after the Adamick Mercury of the wise men with their Female Eve by the Matrimony and union of the one and the other Mercury on the third part Therefore the onely matter of the Philosophers consisteth of spiritual corporal and animal Mercury The corporal Mercury is the subject of Tinctures The spiritual and animal Mercuries exhibit the means of conjoyning them but in their conjunction a due proportion is to be observed For if there be taken more of one then of the other it will be suffocated as Seed sown in the Field so that it cannot live so long until it be united by the Mercury of the Philosophers and perfected in the Fire or on the contrary if it be too little there can be no Solution nor no Fruit. Wherefore see that you take as much of the one as of the other lest by your ignorance in the proportion the work be destroyed Let there be taken therefore one part of the Seed to two parts of Earth or three to four and there will be no error but the work will be brought to its desired end in this behalf so as the rest be moderated accordingly There is a double Reason why the Weight should be observed the one natural the other artificial The natural followeth the effect in the Earth by Nature and Concordancy of which Arnaldus speaks If there shall be added more or less Earth then Nature will suffer it will suffocate the Soul and no fruit nor fixation is perceived The like is to be judged of the Water if there be taken too much or little thereof it brings an inconvenient loss for the superfluity thereof makes the matter too humid and the defect or want thereof renders it too dry and too hard If the Vessel be too little the Tincture is too much pressed if too large a pale body evades if the Fire be made too vehement the matter is burnt if too remiss it hath not power of exsiccating solving and calefying the other Elements In these consists the elemental Weight but the artificial is most occult when as the Ponderations are included in the Magick Art Between the Spirit Soul and Body say the Philosophers consisteth the Weight with Sulphur as it were the Rector of the work for the Soul desireth the Sulphur and necessarily observeth it by Reason of the Weight Which understand after this manner Our matter is united with red mixed Sulphur to which is committed the third part of the Regiment until the last Degree that it maketh on the infinite Operation of the Stone and persisteth therewith together with his Fire and consisteth of an equal Weight with the matter it self in all things and by all things without any variation of any Degree of Transmutation After therefore the matter is prepared and fitted and mixed with its proportionate Weight it ought to be very well concluded and sealed up in the Philosophers Vessel and committed to their secret Fire in which the Philosophical Sun will spring up and arise and illuminate all things which expect his Light or hope can desire But because this cannot rightly be understood without a perfect knowledge in the Metals of perfect Tinctures we proceed now to speak of them CHAP. IX Of the Tinctures and Spirits of Metals and first of the Tincture of the Sun THe Tincture of the Sun obtains the supreme and principal place which is derived of subtil pure and most perfect fire Wherefore this spirit flieth not from the fire but remains therein fixed triumphing and rejoycing it is not consumed nor burnt thereby as others but rather thereby gains more lustre and splendor it is subject to no Corruption neither heat nor cold nor any other quality can bring any detriment thereunto Whereby it comes to pass that the body which it once putteth on it defends and preserves from all accidents Corruption and diseases that it may also endure the fire with him without lesion His body hath not these virtues from himself but from his spirit alone the efficient cause thereof It is certaine that the body of Sol is Mercury which can in no wise indure the fire but immediately flyes therefrom Since therefore being in gold Mercury persists constantly in the fire and flyes not there is no doubt but the fixing thereof by the spirit will impresse the same virtue in its self What gift and office therefore hath it in Mercury but that when it is freed from its own body and taken into a humane body it should work and operate its effects thereupon who will deny but that also it may preserve and keepe it safe from all Corruption diseases and accidents whatsoever and preserve the body to a long and sound life as our first parents of old The virtues and propertyes of all other Metals are not otherwise to be known but by certain and true experience and not by any other reason of a Subtile intellect for this wisdom which is conceived by opinion only is meere foolishness before God and the truth wherefore they that hope and believe therein do erre and are deceived Thus farre of the spirit and Tincture of Sol now let us see what Tincture the Moon hath The spirit of Luna lyeth in this white Tincture as the Red in Sol And it is also borne of a subtil spirit but not so perfect as that of Sol. Nevertheless in purity and constancy it farre excelleth the Tinctures of all the other subsequent Metals For burnt lead consumes it self and all other Metals with it in the fire except Sol and Luna to which it brings no detriment Seeing therefore the spirit of the Moon is of power to preserve the body which it once putteth on to wit Mercury from injury of the fire and all other accidents and render the same fixed and constant it is easily gathered from hence if it effect this in so instable and volatile a body as Mercury how much more efficacious and powerful will it operate being free from its own body and projected into a humane body will not that be also defended from many diseases and Corruptions certainly whatsoever it operates in Mercury the same it will do in a humane body and preserve the same to a long and sound life expelling all diseases which are comprehended under the power thereof according to the degree thereunto prefixed by nature Certainly by how much the more sublime subtile and perfect every Medicine is by so much the more perfectly it cureth in its kinde Wherefore ignorant are those Physitians who found their Art chiefly upon corrupt Medicines as Vegetables
easily understand the first from whence they all deduct their original The first example we shall bring from Medicine whereby a disease is to be known from the issue and not from the beginning in which there is no Science introduced by blindeness but must be blinde likewise but the end is visible from the issue to which it is perceived to tend as to its end proposed to it Furthermore nothing can be better known then by a perfect knowledge of the end for which God created it otherwise it may come to pass that the true use of the Creatures of God may be turned into abuse for every thing which God hath created he would have us enjoy and possess it according to the right use thereof Therefore learn the last and first matter of things from the fire for this is the key that unlocketh the Ark of secrets and maketh every occult thing manifest For example If a Metal be dissolved in the Fire it presently shews the first beginning thereof to be a Mercurial water and not Sulpher because the resolution thereof flameth not like Rozin It is demonstrated not to be Salt because the first beginning of its Resolution is not Friation besides Liquation and Flagration as of some terrene stones is seen to be Nevertheless every Metal hath Sulphur and Sal in him but Mercury hath the chiefest place therein But it seemed good to God the Creator to create a watry Element and from thence to produce every Metal for the use of man that it should be the Mother thereof in which as in her wombe the Mineral Fire Sal and Mercury should be decocted into Metals Stones and every Mineral substance although the birth be not of the same existence with the Mother So that the water is unlike its Metallick issue neither is the Son like the Mother even as the Earth is not Wood nor the VVood Earth although it spring and hath its original from the Earth So likewise are VVood and Iron created by the VVater yet they are not of the same existence as VVater Earth also is made of that which it is not in it self and so likewise is Man So God is one in every thing and the first and last matter of all things so great an Artisex in every thing as hath none before him neither shall have any after CHAP. II. Of the first and last matter of Minerals THe first beginning with God was the last matter which he made the first as the fruit which should bring forth other fruit that hath in it self the seed and this seed is in the first matter Likewise in the ultimate matter of Minerals is made the first matter that is it is made into sperm or seed which seed is the Element of Water which is resolved so that it is made Water Therefore Nature taketh that which is in water under her power and separation and what belongs to Metal she segregates into Metal every one by himself severally according to his own nature with their several genus and species congruent thereunto Therefore where Nature ceases there the Art of man begins for the ultimate matter of Nature is the first nature of man again the corruption of Nature by Art is the ultimate matter of man So wonderfully hath God created Water the first matter of Nature which though it be so tender and feeble a substance yet from thence is created the most solid and durable fruit as Metals and Stones c. as the most hardest and durable from the most soft and feeble and that Fire should be producted from Water is beyond the reach of humane capacity yet not beyond or above the work of Nature Thus having in the first place handled the Regeneration and Chymical and Natural Operation of Metals we esteemed it most necessary to add these few words of the natural Generation of Minerals whereby the Operation thereof may be the easier known This is the Opinion of all Philosophers and Students in this Art that he that would be an Artist in this Profession ought most exactly to imitate Nature in all her Operations And whosoever understands not this shall never attain to the accomplishment of his desires in this thing Therefore let him that searcheth a thing so secret and difficult be a Scholar not only of Art but of Nature and it shall be done FINIS Vrim and Thummim shewed to be made by Art and are the same with the Universal Spirit corporate and fixed THe Truth seems buried because it brings forth little Fruit but it is great and prevaileth to make all things manifest so far as is possible for men for in common sense and reason all agree in mysteries never so that we may not speak of Science without Knowledge which breaks the Gates of Brass and cuts asunder the Bars of Iron before the eyes of Understanding that the treasures of darkness may be opened and the bright and fiery Sword discovered which turns every way to keep Transgressors out of Paradise For if we consider wherein the Celestial and Terrestrial Bodies agree we shall finde something objective in the inferiour Bodies whereby they communicate their Celestial Vertue and Influence which president Art doth imitate to produce a glorious substance of connexed Forms and of Cleerness Vertue and Beauty beyond expression The Mathematicians say The Celestial Influences do hold and govern every natural Body and by many unities collect a quantity subsisting without shadow for the real Vertues affect to be specificate and as living Fire gives life to other things which central substance of Celestial Vertues or Form of Metals is the Subject of this short Discourse That Urim and Thummim which were given in the Mount cannot be proved that they are the potential from the Creation may appear for they were substances whose Name and Essences did predicate each other being convertible terms the Name and Essence one the words signifie Light and Perfection Knowledge and Holiness also Manifestation and Truth even as Science and Essence make one Perfection It is likely they were before the Law given for the Almighty God commanded Noah to make a cleer Light in the Ark which some take for a Window others for the arching and bowing of the upper Deck a Cubit but sith the Text saith Day and night shall no more cease It seems it did then cease and whether this were one or more Windows is uncertain but when the Windows of Heaven were opened and the Air darkned by pouring out Rain the Sun not giving his Light but prohibited the generative Spirit of the Creatures in the Ark what exterior cleerness could be expected Therefore some of the Rabbins say The Hebrew word Zohar which the Chaldee translate Neher is not found in the Scripture but in this place so that like the word it seemed to be a rare Light and that which is generally doubted to be The Creator commanded Noah to make by Art Other Hebrew Doctors say It was a precious Stone hanged in the
and use Nature is even jealous of her supremacy and abhorreth to see the sensible before the intellectual Treasures preferred This shews the beginning and end of Art Lux sata est justo cum rectis animo laetitia Mark what ye sow for such is your harvest Light is sown on pure Earth and some Grain begins to put forth Ears at three joynts some at four but the Ear never buds until the joynts be grown And what vertue this knotting or fixing gives consider for by meditation you may see by seeing you may know by knowing ye delight by delighting ye adhere by adhering ye possess by possessing ye enjoy the Truth that is the incorrupted use made visible Therefore take heed how ye value for Part of these things thy minde may prompt thee to And part thy better part may teach thee how to do The making of Urim and Thummim and the perfection of the Elixir is aptly compared to the fourfold Creation of Mankinde Adam from Earth Eve from Adam Abel from both and Jesus Christ from a Virgin so man called a living stone produceth that eternally stony and fiery conquering Spirit called the Elixir from their proper Earth only their Adam from their Eve from both their Virgo from her only the soveraign and universal Spirit which doth vivifie and preserve all living Creatures and raiseth the Artist from the dust to sit among Princes Life without sin is wisdom manifest in the flesh a Body without shadow is the universal Spirit corporate Urim and Thummim were holy Signs within the brest-plate to enquire of God in the Temple Natural Urim and Thummim is a visible quality in a cleer Body which preserveth the Temple of Man's Body incorruptible Is it not prophetical that all men shall wisely consider the works of God to the end they may know how to value them rightly and to make just difference between corporal and spiritual things Psal 64.9 Psal 111.8 and corporate Spirits for although Spirits possess no place yet they fail not to fill every part by contact of their vertue and in the use alters both quality and quantity the perfect and distinct knowledge whereof doth necessarily manifest the things sought after by the proper and appropriate qualities and from th causes to the effect openeth the internal Beauty of a true and natural Essence as plainly as by seeing that ye see and also sheweth the terminate privative and perfect end of every particular act which is the richest of intellectual Treasures because Science and Essence are one and where the several works and successive are apparent the time need not be limited like the men of Bethulia for onely at Elisha his Prayer his Servants eyes were opened to see invisible things which all that rise to glory shall do It was held of old Nothing deserves the love of an honest man save the internal Beauty Therefore they held Love or natural Affection to be the first cause or motion like as the heat and vertue of the Sun and of the whole Heavens hath power in all things created under Heaven and by their Influence and Radiation all things encrease grow live and are conserved and by their recess they mourn and wither fall and droop yet they do not necessitate any all their force being most in imperfect things for a body of equal temper receives little alteration from the Constellations because the Earth received vertue before the Heavens were adorned with Sun Moon and Stars Therefore that is to be distinguished in Reason so is distant in place and different things in being and in being and use for change of quality brought confusion and a better change Renovation Historians affirm The River Nilus vaporeth not by reason of the long decoction under the Sun yet is the Water most wholesom and Medicinable and the Neighbor earth begins to encrease in weight the seventeenth of June and not before even then when the River begins to rise which sympathy of the distant Water and Earth by the power of Heaven is not against Nature although beyond ordinary reach Therefore for a leading cast let us observe the concord of Metallical Bodies which like the first Male and Female have not several beginnings but are all from a Sulphurous vapor which by help of Influence Instrument Digestion and Masculine and Feminine vertue connexing proper and appropriate qualities they obtain their perfection by the power of God 's Ordinance yet as every Earth yields not like Metal so every Metal yields not like central vertue Therefore according to that creating command every thing should encrease in its proper kinde not in diverse and time makes the number infinite The Ancients reading the great Volume of the Book of Nature finde no abridgement to assimilate the Majesty of Nature save Man and the Stone both which are called Living Stones whose original Mortification Purification and difficult Exaltation are of infinite vertue Then observe also a Celestial and Terrestrial Sun which they parallel with Man which because they onely are capable of true temper which is certainly possible although seldom enjoyed But to gain this precious Treasure of Life and Health we must make sufficient provision like men that do deal with great persons for Gold is Lord of Stones and noblest of Metals and by his proper Regiment doth multiply himself infinitely Therefore Geber in his Book of Deundation saith In Gold are ten parts heat ten parts humidity ten parts siccity which triple perfection makes an absolute unity Body Soul and Spirit being eternally vivified because unity is a generical quality of all that is one and is an effect of the Form which doth produce it for of all kinde of Governments ten is the most perfect and for the natural substance no composition is like to Gold for it is a most perfect temper and equal mixion the miracle of Nature a Celestial Star a Terrestrial Sun the Fountain of Life the Centre of the Heart the secret vertue of all Celestial and Terrestrial Bodies the Masculine and Universal Seed first and most powerful of the Sulphurous Nature the great Secret of the Almighty Creator It hath most Form and Entity so most Vertue and Operation in it the Elements are elementized It is called Sulphur and Sulphur-Fire yea it is said to be all Fire or like to that in which it is dissolved And as Light is the Centre of Heaven and Soul of the World so Brightness is the Centre and Celestial Vertue the Form of Gold whose admired mixion nothing meerly natural can dissolve nor any thing artificial except it agree with it in matter and form and do remain with it in the recongealation This vertual Influence enters potentially and dwells in the radical humidity and no other thing whether from Heaven or Earth doth nourish the Heart yet it is not visible before vertue be matched for there is best concord where it is most abundant but whither shall we mount to match this miracle of Nature The Historians
at all The Earth thus prepared must of necessity be returned into a Calx giving not a dissolving but a digesting heat of the fire When this Truth is calcined you shall put it in a fit Vessel of Glass which must be set it temperate heat of the fire the first degree and in it unto the Earth must be poured one ounce of the animated Spirit As for example To one ounce of the Earth you must put one of the Spirit which animated Spirit I taught you heretofore to draw out of the Earth it self by Distillation Then shut the Vessel with a blind Head and suffer it to be digested three dayes or so long till the Earth hath drawn up his Spirit then taking away the blind Head and putting on a Limbeck by Distillation draw out the Phlegmatick and unsavory moisture how little soever be in it Then again the second time give to the same Earth of its own Spirit the seventh part and putting the blind Head upon it set the Vessel on the first degree of heat to be digested three dayes space then taking a way the blue Head and putting on the Alimbeck distil all the insipid moisture Thirdly Add to the same Earth the fixth part of its own animated Water and putting on the blue Head set in digestion for three days and after that time removing of the blind Head and putting on the Alimbeck distil the superfluous humidities Fourthly Add again the fifth part of the animated Spirit to his own Earth digest it and by Distillation evacuate the humidity Fifthly Render the fourth part of the Soul of the Body and digest it and draw out the moisture as I have shewn before and so with the fourth part of it upon the same Earth prosecute the operation by Unvivistives Digestion and Distillations till the Earth have drunk up all his animated Spirit and both be reduced to an Homogeneal Body then take the Earth which is withheld and white and put it in a Vessel of Glass divided into three parts which being luted and carefully shut must be put in a Furnace to the fire of the third degree the space or a natural day and so the pure part of it will be separated from the impure and will be lifted up on high and the impure part of the Body be left in the bottom as unprofitable to be cast away and the pure to be gathered and this is called by Raymund and other Philosophers Mercury sublimate vegetable Sal Armoniack and set of Lunary vegetable wherein are so many and so great vertues that the humane tongue of man cannot express them Furthermore All things being severally prepared to wit the Spirit and the Earth it remaineth here to shew the way to copulate the Spirit of Lunary with the Earth of the same prepared that is with the Salt or Sulphur of Nature vegetable but out of the conjunction of these two one organical Body to wit the vegetable menstruum may be made up and the way to make it is this Take one pound of the Salt or vegetable Sulphur new prepared bray it very small and put it in a Cucurbite of Glass which is strong and thick and upon it of the foresaid Spirit of Philosophical Lunary then shutting the Glass most carefully with a blue Head so that it hath no Air at all put it in the Balneo and let it purifie for the space two dayes then taking off the blind Head and putting on a Limbeck and joyning a great Recipient to it After you have stopped well all the Joynts you shall distil it in the Ashes with a gentle heat and all will go out by the Limbeck Nevertheless if any of the Salt should remain in the bottom you shall again pour of Spirit newly distilled upon it and distil it again from hence And this shall you do so oft till the whole Earth as a cleer Water be brought over the Limbeck being done take yet one pound of Salt put it into the Cucurbite and pour upon it the same Spirit lastly distilled cover the Vessel with a blind Head and set it to purifie and being purified till all the Sulphur pass over the Limbeck with the Spirit and that being distilled take again as before of new Salt vegetable one pound and adding the same Spirit purifie and then distil all Fourthly Take likewise fresh Salt one pound and pour upon it the Spirit lately distilled till all pass by the Limbeck and nothing remain in the Cucurbite and so the vegetable menstruum shall be made and perfectly ended having power to dissolve both the lights and all other Metals with the conservation of the vegetable form but now it is resting to shew how the menstruum must be converted unto a celestial Nature or Quintessence and the way is thus Take the simple menstruum and pour it into a great and strong Glass-Vessel that the fifth part of it onely be full or at the most the fourth and the rest be void then shut the Vessel with a blind Head shutting diligently all the Joynts lest the power of the menstruum vanish being shut put it in the Physical Bath or in the Horse-Belly and let it circulate a whole Month which time expired put on your menstruum into another clean Vessel and do this warily lest the setling in the bottom by the Circulation be poured out together with the menstruum but it must be left in the Circulation so shall you have the menstruum purified circulated and celestial which the Philosophers call The Heaven The Crown of Heaven and The Quintessence whose brightness and transparencie doth exceed the brightness of all Lunary things and the sweet smell of it exceedeth all other sweet savours prepared by Nature This Quintessence is the ground-work of all Spagyrical and Physical Preparation for by the vertue of it all solid Bodies are corrupted from their own Natures and are brought to Liquors Oyls Spirits Elixirs Magisteries Stones and Tinctures Whence it cometh That the Spagyrick can give to the Phisitians the best Medicines Of the manner of dissolving Gold and of separating the Tincture of it from the Body or the form from the matter and also of exuberating or multiplying the same THe manner of composing the vegetable being delivered and also of making it celestial it remaineth that you should be shewed how the matter of the Universal Medicine to wit Gold should be prepared with the heavenly menstrual that it may exercise its vertue upon the Body of Man the manner to prepare it is this Let Gold be cemented with Antimony that every Heterogeneal thing be separated from it then being well purged reduce it to very small Leaves then of the foliated or Leaf-Gold take an ounce and put it into a little Cucurbite of Glass and pour upon it two ounces of the heavenly menstruum or of the vegetable Quintessence This being done put the Cucurbite closed Hermetically into a Fire of the first degree and then of the second so shall the Gold be dissolved