the parts of nature in a firm invincible union This is Cribrum Naturae as one wittily calls it a thing appointed for most secret and mysterious offices but we shall speake further of it when we come to handle the Elements particularly Nothing now remained but the Two inferior principles as we commonly cal them Earth and water The Earth was an impure Sulphureous subsidence or Caput mortuum of the Creation The water also was Phlegmatick crude and raco not so vitall as the former Extractions But the Divine Spirit to make his work perfect moving also upon These imparted to them Life and Heate and made them fit for future Productions The Earth was so overcast and Mantl'd with the Water that no part thereof was to be seen But that it might be the more immediatly exposed to the Coelestiall Influences which are the Cause of Vegetation the Spirit orders a Retreat of the Waters breaks up for them his decreed place and sets them Bars and Doors The Light as yet was not confined but reteining his vast Flux and primitive liberty equally possest the whole Creature On the Fourth Day it was collected to a Sun and taught to know his Fountain The darknesse whence proceed the Corruptions and consequently the death of the Creature was imprisoned in the Centre but breaks out still when the Day gives it Leave and like a baffl'd Gyant thrusts his head out of doors in the Absence of his Adversary Thus Nature is a Lady whose face is beauteous but not without a Black-bag Howsoever when it shall please God more perfectly to refine his Creatures this Tincture shall be expelled quite beyond them and then it will be an Outward darknesse from which Good Lord deliver us Thus have I given you a Cursorie and short Expresse of the Creation in generall I shall now descend to a more particular Examination of Nature and especially her Inferior Elementall parts through which Man passeth daily and from which he cannot be separated I was about to desist in this place to prevent all future Acclamations for when a Peripatetick findes here but Three nay but two genuine Elements Earth and Water for the Air is something more will he not cry out I have committed Sacrilege against Nature and stole the fire from her Altar This is Noise indeed but till They take Coach in a Cloud and discover that Idol they prefer next to the Moon I am resolved to continue in my Heresie I am not onely of Opinion but I am sure there is no such principle in Nature The Fire which she useth is Horizon Corporeorum Incorporeorum Nexus utrinsque Mundi Sigillum Spiritus sancti It is no Chymaera Commentitious Quirck like that of the School-men I shall therefore Request my Friends the Peripateticks to return their fourth Element to Aristole that he may present it to Alexander the Great as the first part of a new world for there is no such Thing in the Old To proceed then The Earth as you were told before being the Subsidence or Remaines of that Primitive Masse which God formed out of Darknesse must needs be a faeculent impure Body for the Extractions which the Divine Spirit made were pure oleous aethereall substances but the Crude phlegmatick indigested humors settled like Lees towards the Centre The Earth is spungie porous and magneticall of Composition loose the better to take in the severall Influences of Heat Rains and Dewes for the Nurture and Conservation of her Products In her is the Principall Residence of that Matrix which attracts and receives the sperm from the Masculine part of the world she is Natures AEtna here Vulcan doth exercise himself not that limping Poeticall one which halted after his Fall but a pure Coelestiall plastick Fire we have Astonomy here under our feet the stars are resident with us and abundance of Jewels and Pantauras she is the Nurse and Receptacle of all Things for the Superior Natures ingulph themselves into her what she receives this Age she discovers to the next and like a faithfull Treasurer conceales no part of her Accounts Her proper Congeneall Quality is Cold I am now to speak of the Water This is the first Element we read of in Scripture the most Ancient of Principles and the Mother of all Things amongst visibles without the meditation of this the Earth can receive no blessing at all for Moysture is the proper Causâ— of Mixture and Fusion The water hath severall Complexions according to the severall parts of the Creature Here below and in the Circumference of all things it is volatil crude and raco For this very Cause Nature makes it no part of her provision but she rectifies it first exhaling it up with her Heat and then condensing it to Rains and Dews in which State she makes use of it for Nourishment Some where it is Interior vitall and Coelestiall exposed to the Breath of the first Agent and stirred with Spirituall aeternaell Windes In this Condition it is Natures Wanton Foemina Satacissima as One calls it This is that Psyche of Apuleius and the Fire of Nature is her Cupid He that hath seen Them both in the same Bed will confesse that love rules All But to speak something of our Common Elemental water It is not altogether Contemptible there are hidden Treasures in it but so inchanted we can not see them for all the Chest is transparent Spiritus Aquae Invisibilis congelatus melior est quam Terra Universa saith the noble and learned Sendivow I doe not advice the Reader to take this Phlegm to task as if he could Extract a Venus from the Sea but I wish him to study water that he may know the Fire I have now handled the Two Elements and more I cannot finde I know the Peripateticks pretend to four and with the help of their Masters Quintessence to a fift Principle I shall at leysure diminish their stock but the thing to be now spoken of is Air This is no Element but a Certain miraculous Hermaphrodit the Caement of two worlds and a Medley of Extremes It is natures Common Place her Index where you may finde all that ever she did or intends to do This is the worlds Panegrick The Excursions of both Globes meet here and I may call it the Rendezvouz In this are innumerable Magicall Forms of Men and Beasts Fish and Fowle Trees Herbs and all Creeping Things This is Mare Rerum invisibilium for all the Conceptions in sinu superioris Naturae wrap themselves in this Tiffany before they imbark in the shell It retaines the species of all Things whatsoever and is the Immediate Receptacle of Spirits after Dissolution whence they passe to a Superior Limbus I should amaze the Reader if I did relate the severall offices of this Body but it is the Magicians Backdoor and none but Friends come in at it I shall speak nothing more onely This I would have you know The Air is Corpus vitae spiritus
of his Building composeth all Disorders and continues his Creature in his first primitive Harmony The Invisible Centrall Moon is Iela illa rivosa Multifontana at whose top sit Iove and Iuno In a Throne of Gold Juno is an incombustible Eriternall Oyl and therefore a fit Receptacle of Fire This Fire is her Jove the little Sun we spoke of formerly These are the true Principles of the stone these are the Philosophers Sol Luna not Gold and Silver as some Mountebanks and Carbonadoes would have it But in respect I have proceeded thus far I will give you a true Receipt of the Medicine Rc. Lâ—ni Coelestis partes decem Separetur Masculus a Faeminâ vterque porro à Terrá suâ physicae tamen citra omnem violentiam Separata proportione debitâ harmonicâ vitali conjungs statimque Anima descendens a sphaerâ pyroplastica mortuum suum relictum Corpus amplexis mirisico restaur abit Conjuncta foreantur Igne naturali imperfectum matrimonium spiritus Corporis Procedas Artisicio vulcanico-Magico quousque exaltentur in Quintam Rotam Metaphysicam Haec est Illa de Quâ tot scribillarunt tam Pauci noverunt Medicina It is a strange thing to consider That there are in Nature incorruptible immortall principles Our ordinary Kitchin Fire which in some measure is an Enemy to all compositions notwithstanding doth not so much destroy as purifie some parts This is clear out of the Ashes of Vegetables for although their weaker exterior Elements expire by violence of the fire yet their Earth cannot be destroyed but Vitrified The Fusion and Transparency of this substance is occasioned by the Radicall moysture or Seminall water of the Compound This water resists the fury of the Fire and cannot possibly be vanquished In huo Aquâ sayth the learned Severino Rosa latet in Hiemo These two principles are never separated for Nature proceedes not so far in her Dissolutions When Death hath done her worst there is an Vnion between these two and out of them shall God rise us at the last day and restore us to a spirituall constitution Besides there remaines in them that primitive universall Tincture of the Fire this is still busie after Death brings nature again into Play produceth wormes and other inferiour Generations I do not conceive there shall be a Resurrection of every Species but rather their Terrestiall parts together with the Element of Water for there shall be no more Sea shall be united in one mixture with the Earth and fix'd to a pure Diaphanous substance This is Saint Johns Chrystallgold a Fundamentall of the new Jerusalem so called not in respect of Colour but constitution Their Spirits I suppose shall be reduced to their first Limbus a sphaene of pure ethereall fire like rich Eternall Tapestry spread under the Throne of God Thus Reader have I made a plenary but short Inquisition into the Mysteries of Nature It is more then hitherto hath been discovered and therefore I expect the more Opposition I know my Reward is Calumnie but he that hath already condemn'd the Vanity of Opinion is not like to respect that of Censure I shal now put the Creatures to their just use and from this shallow Contemplation ascend to Mine and their Author Lord God! This was a stone as hard as any One Thy Laws in Nature fram'd 'T is now a springing Well and many Drops can tell Since it by Art was tam'd My God! my Heart is so 't is all of Flint and no Extract of Teares will yeeld Dissolve it with thy Fire that something may aspire And grow up in my Field Bare Teares I le not intreat but let thy Spirits seat Upon those Waters bee Then I new form'd with Light shall move without all Night Or Excentricity It is requisite now if we follow that Method which God himself is Author of to examine the Nature and Composition of Man having already describ'd those Elements or principles whereof he was made and consists Man if we look on his materiall parts was taken out of the great world as woman was taken out of Man I shall therefore to avoyd repetitions refer the Reader to the former part of this Discourse where if things be rightly understood he cannot be ignorant in his materiall Frame or Composure We read in Genesis that God made him out of the Earth This is a great Mystery For it was not the common Pot-clay but an other thing and that of a far better nature He that knowes this knowes the subject of the Philosophicall medicine and by consequence what destroyes or preserves the Temperament of Man In this are Principles homogeneall with his life such as can restore his Decayes and reduce his Disorders to a Harmony They that are ignorant in this point are not competent Judges of Life and Death but Quacks and Piss-pot Doctors The learned Arias Montanus calls this matter Multiplicis Terrae particula singularis If these words be well examined you may possibly find it out and so much for his Body His Soule is an Essence not to be found in the Texture of the great world therfore meerly Divine Supernaturall Montanus calls it divini spiritus aura vitae Divinae Halitus He seemes also to make the Creation of Man a little Incarnation as if God in this worke had multiplyed himselfe Adam saith he received his Soule exadmiranda singularique Dei Inspiratione ut sic loqui sit fas Fructificatione S. Luke also tells us the same thing For he makes Adam the son of God not in respect of the exterior Act of Creation but by way of Descent and this S. Paul confirmes in the words of Aratus For we also are his Generation The Soul of man consists cheifly of two Portions Ruach and Nephes inferior and superior the superior is Masculine and Eternall the inferior Foeminine and Mortall In these two consists our spirituall generation Vt autem in Coeteris animantibus atque etiam in ipso homine Maris ac Foeminae conjunctio Fructum propagationemq spectabat naturae singulorum dignam ita in homine ipso illa Maris ac Foeminae interior arcanaque societas hoc est animi atque animae Copulatio ad fructum vitae Divinae idoneum producendum comparabatur Atque huc illa Arcana benedictio faecunditas concessa huc illa declarata Facultas monitio spectat Crescite multiplicamini replete Terram subjicite illam Dominamini Out of this and some former passages the understanding Reader may learn That Marriage is a Comment on Life a meer Hieroglyphick or outward representation of our inward vitall Composition For Life is nothing els but an Vnion of Male and Foemale Principles and he that perfectly knowes this secret knowes the Mysteries of Marriage both Spirituall and Naturall and how he ought to use a Wife Matrimony is no ordinary triviall busines but in a moderate
Spirit by Separation of the Principles wherein the Life is Imprisoned may see the Impresse of it Experimentally in the outward naturall vestiments But lest you should think this my Invention and no Practicall Trueth I will give you another Mans testimony Quid quaeso dicerent biâ—tanti Philosophi saith one is Plantam quasi Momentonasci in vitreo vase viderent cum suis ad Viuum Coloribus rursum interixe renasci idque quoties quando luheret Credo Daemonium Arte Magica inclusum dicerent illudere sensibus humanis They are the words of Doctor Marci in his Defensio Idearum Operatricium But you are to be admonished there is a twofold Idea Divine and Naturall The Naturall is a fiery invisible created Spirit and properly a meer Inclosure or vestiment of the true One Hence the Platonicks called it Nimbus Numinis Descendentis Zoroaster and some other Philosophers think it is Anima Mundi but by their leave they are mistaken there is a wide difference betwixt Anima and Spiritus But the Idea I speak of here is the true primitive exemplar one and a pure Influence of the Almighty This Idea before the Coagulation of the seminall principles to a grosse outward Fabrick which is the End of Generation impresseth in the Vitall Ethereall Principles a Modell or Pattern after which the Body is to be framed and this is the first inward production or Draught of the Creature This is it which the Divine Spirit intimates to us in that Scripture where he saith That God Created every plant of the field before it was in the ground and every herb of the field before it grew But notwithstanding this presence of the Idea in the Matter yet the Creation was not performed Extramittendo aliquid de Essentiâ Ideae for it is God that Comprehends his Creature and not the Creature God Thus farre have I handl'd this primitive supernaturall part of the Creation I must confesse it is but short in respect of that which may be spoken but I am confident it is more then formerly hath been discovered Some Authors having not searched so deeply into the Centre of Nature others not willing to publish such Spiritual mysteries I am now come to the gross work or mechanicks of the Spirit namely the separation of severall substances from the same Masse but in the first place I shal examine that Lymbus or Huddle of Matter wherein all things were so strangely contained It is the opinion of some men and those learned That this sluggish empty Rudement of the Creature was noe created thing I must confesse the Point is obscure as the thing it selfe and to state it with Sobriety except a man were illuminated with the same Light that this Chaos was at first is altogether impossible For how can wee judge of a Nature differrent from our owne whose Species also was so remote from any thing now existent that it is impossible for Fancy to apprehend much more for Reason to define it If it be created I conceive it the Effect of the Divine imagination acting beyond it selfe in Contemplation of that which was to come and producing this Passive darkenesse for a Subject to worke upon in the Circumference Trismegistus having first exprest his Vision of Light describes the Matter in its primitive state thus Et paulo post saith he Tenebrae deor sum ferebantur partim trepidandae ac tristes effectae tortuosae terminatae ut maginarer me vidisse commutatas Tenebras in humidam quandam Naturam ultra quam dici potest agitatam velut ab igne fumum evomere ac sonum aliquem edere inenunciabilem lugubrem Certainly these Tenebrae he speakes of or Fuliginous spawne of Nature were the first created Matter for that Water we read of in Genesis was a Product or secondary Substance Here also he seemes to agree further with the Mosaicall Tradition For this Fumus which ascended after the Transmutation can be nothing else but that Darknesse which was upon the Face of the Deepe But to expresse the particular Mode or way of the Creation you are to understand that in the Matter there was a horrible confused Qualme or stupifying spirit of Moysture Cold and Darknesse In the opposite Principle of Light there was Heate and the Effect of it Siccitie For these two are noe Elementall qualities as the Galenists and my Peripateticks suppose But they are if I may say so the Hands of the divine Spirit by which He did worke upon the Matter applying every Agent to his proper Patient These two are Active and Masculine Those of Moysture and Cold are Passive and Faeminine Now assoone as the holy Ghost and the Word for it was not the one nor the other but both Mens opifex una cum Verbo as Trismegistus hath it I omit that Speech Let us make man which effectually prooves their Union in the Worke had applyed themselves to the Matter there was extracted from the Bosome of it a thinne Spiritualt Caelestiall substance which receiving a Tincture of Heat and Light proceeding from the Divine Treasuries became a pure sincere innoxious Fire Of this the Bodyes of Angells consist as also the Empyraeall Heaven where Intellectuall Essences have their Residence This was primum Matrimonium Dei Naturae the First and best of Compositions This Extract being thus soiled above and separated from the Masse retaind in it a vast portion of Light and made the first Day without a Sun But the Splendour of the Word expelling the Darkenes downwards it became more setl'd and compact towards the Centre and made a Horrible thick Night Thus God as the Hebrew hath it was betweene the Light and the Darknesse for the Spirit remained still on the Face of the Inferior portion to extract more from it In the second separation was educed Aer agilis as Trismegistus calls it a Spirit not so refined as the former but vitall and in the next degree to it This was extracted in such abundance that it fill'd all the space from the Masse to the Empyraeall heaven under which it was condens'd to a water but of a different constitution from the Elementall and this is the Body of the Inter-stellar skie But my Peripatericks following the Principles of Aristotle and Ptolomie have imagin'd so many wheeles there with their smal diminutive Epicycles that they have turn'd that regular Fabrick to a rumbling Confused Labyrinth The Inferior portion of this second Extract from the Moon to the Earth remained Air still partly to divide the inferior and superior waters but chiefly for the Respiration and Nourishment of the Creatures This is that which is properly called the Firmament as it is plain out of Esdras On the Second Day thou diddst create the Spirit of the Firmament for it is Ligamentum totius Naturae and in the outward Geometricall Composure it answers to Natura media for it is spread through all Things hinders Vacuity and keeps all
nostri sensitivi our Animal Oyl the Fuell of the Vital Sensual fire without which we cannot subsist a Minute I am now come to the Fourth and last substance the Highest in Scalâ Naturae There is no Fift principle no Quintessence as Aristotle dream'd but God Almighty This Fourth Essence is a moyest silent Fire This Fire passeth thorough all things in the world and it is Natures Chariot in this she rides when she moves this moves and when she stands this stands like the wheeles in Ezekiel whose Motion depended on that of the spirit This is the Mask and skreen of the Almighty wheresoever he is this Traine of Fire attends Him Thus he appears to Moses in the Bush but it was in Fire The Prophet sees him break out at the North but like a Fire catching it self At Horeb he is attended with a mighty strong winde rending the Rocks to pieces but after this comes the Fire and with it a still small voice Esdras also defines Him a God whose Service is Conversant in Winde and Fire This Fire is the vestiment of the Divine Majesty his Back-parts which he shewed to Moses but his naked Royall Essence none can see and Live The Glory of his presence would swallow up the Naturall man and make him altogether spirituall Thus Moses his Face after conference with him shines and from this small Tincture we may guesse at our Future Estate in the Regeneration But I have touch'd the Veyle and must returne to the outer Court of the Sanctuary I have now in some measure performed that which at first I promised an Exposition of the world and the parts therof But in respect of my affectiō to Truth and the dominion I wish Her I shallbe somwhat more particular in the Examination of Nature and proceed to a further Discovery of her Riches I advise the Reader to be diligent and curious in this subsequent part of the Discourse That having once attained to the Fundamentalls of Science he may the better understand her superstructures Know then that every Element is threefold this Triplicity being the expresse Image of their Author and a Seale he hath laid upon his Creature There is nothing on Earth though never so simple so vile and abject in the sight of man but it beares witnesse of God even to that abstruse Mystery his Vnity and Trinity Every Compound whatsoever is Three in One and One in Three The basest Reptill even in his outward Symmetrie testifies of his Author his severall proportions answering to their aeternall superior Prototype Now Man hath the use of all these Creatures God having furnished him with a living Library wherein to imploy himselfe But he neglecting the works of his Creator prosecutes the Inventions of the Creature Laps up the Vomits of Aristotle and other illiterate Ethnicks Men as concerning the Faith Reprobate and in the Law of Nature alltogether unskillful Scribling Blasphemous Atheists Quorum Animas as Agrippa hath it distraht torqueri audiunt videntque Inferi He is much troubled at those Mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation one Denies another Grants them But if they did once see the Light of Nature they might find those Mysteries by Reason which are now above their Faith When I speake of a Naturall Triplicity I speake not of Kitchen-stuffe those three Pot Principles Water Oyle and Earth But I speake of Caelestiall hidden Natures knowne only to absolute Magicians whose eyes are in the Center not in the Circumference and in this sence every Element is Threefold For example there is a threefold Earth first there is terra Elementaris then there is terra C aelestis and lastly terra spiritualis The Influences of the spirituall Earth by mediation of the caelestiall are united to the terrestiall and are the true Cause of Life and Vegetation These Three are the Fundamentalls of Art and Nature The First is a visible Tangible substance pure fixed and Incorruptible of Quality Cold but by Application of a Superior Agent Drie and by Consequence a fit Receptacle of Moysture This is Aleph Creatum the true Terra Adama the Basis of every Building in Heaven and Earth It answers to God the Father being the Naturall Foundation of the Creature as He is the Supernaturall without this Nothing can be perfected in Magick The Second Principle is the infallible Magnet the Mystery of Union By this all Things may be attracted whether Physicall or Metaphysicall be the distance never so great This is Jacobs Ladder without this there is no Ascent or Descent either Influentiall or Personall The Absence of This I conceive to be that Gulph between Abraham and Dives This answers to God the Son for it is That which mediates between Extremes and makes Inferiors and Superiors communicate But there is not One in ten thousand knows either the Substance or the use of this Nature The third Principle is properly no Principle It is not Ex Quo but per Quod omnia This can do all in all and the Faculties thereof are not to be exprest It answers to the Holy Ghost for amongst Naturalls it is the onely Agent and Artificer Now He that knows these three perfectly with their severall Graduations or annexed Links which differ not in Substance but Complexion He that can reduce their impurities to one sincere Consistence and their Multiplicities to a Spirituall Essentiall simplicity he is an absolute compleat Magician and in full possibility to all strange miraculous Performances In the second place you are to learn that Every Element is two fold This Duplicity or Confusion is that Binarius whereof Agrippa in Scalis Numerorum as also both himself and Trithemius in their Epistles Other Authors who dealt in this Science were Pragmaticall Scriblers and understood not this Secretum Tenebrarum This is it in which the Creature praevaricates and falls from his first Harmonicall Vnity You must therefore subtrahere Binarium and then the Magicians Ternarius may be reduced per Quaternarium in Monaden Simplicissimam and by Consequence in Metaphysicam cum supremâ Monade vnionem The Sun and Moon are two Magicall principles the One active the other passive this Masculine that Foeminine As they move so move the wheeles of Corruption and Generaion They mutually dissolve and compound but properly the moon is Organum Transmutationis inferioris materiae These Two Luminaries are multiplied and fructifie in every one particular Generation There is not a Compound in all Nature but hath in it a little Sun and a little Moon The little Sun is Filius solis Coelestis The little Moon is Filia Lunae Coelestis What offices soever the two great Luminaries perform for the Conservation of the great world in Generall These two little Luminaries perform the like for the Conservation of their small Cask or Microcosm in particular They are Mimulae Majoris Animalis Heaven and Earth in a lesser Character God like a wise Architect sits in the Center of All repaires the Ruines
reprieve Him that is Dead Tell me my God I live 'T is true I live But I so sleep withall I cannot move scarce hear when thou doest cal Sins Lullabtes charm me when I would come But draw me after thee and I will run Thou know'st I 'm sick let me not feasted be But keep a Diet and prescrib'd by Thee Should I carve for my self I would exceed To Surfets soon and by self-murder bleed I ask for stones and scorpions but still crost And all for Love should'st Thou grant I were lost Dear Lord deny me still And never signe My will but when that will agrees with Thine And when this Conflict 's past and I appear To answer what a Patient I was here How I did weep when Thou did'st woe repine At thy best sweets and in a Childish whyne Refuse thy proffer'd Love yet cry and call For Rattles of my own to play withall Look on thy Crosse and let thy Bloud come in When mine shall blush as guilty of my Sin Then shall I live being rescu'd in my Fall A Text of Mercy to thy Creatures all Who having seen the worst of sias in me Must needes confesse the best of Loves in Thee I have now done Reader but how much to my own prejudice I cannot tell I am confident this shall not passe without Noise but I may do well inough if thou grant'st me but one Request I would not have Thee look here for the Paint and Trim of Rhetorick and the rather because English is a Language the Author was not born to Besides this Piece was compos'd in Haste and in my Dayes of Mourning on the sad Occurence of a Brother's Death Et Quis didicit scribere in luctâ Lacrymarum Atramenti To Conclude If I have err'd in any Thing and yet I follow'd the Rules of Creation I expose it not to the Mercy of Man but of God who as he is most able so also is he most willing to forgive us in the Day of our Accounts FINIS AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER IF the old Itch of Scribling a Disease very proper to Galenists surprise any of their Tribe I shall expect from them these following performances First a plain Positive Exposition of all the passages in this Book without any Injury to the sense of their Author For if they interpret Them otherwise then they ought they but Create Errours of their own and then overthrow them Secondly to prove their Familiarity and knowledge in this Art let them give the Reader a punctuall Discovery of all the secrets thereof If this be more then They can do it is Argument enough they know not what they oppose And if they do not know how can they judge or if they judge where is their Evidence to condemne Thirdly let Them not mangle and discompose my Book with a scatter of Observations but proceed Methodically to the Censure of each part expounding what is obscure and discovering the very practise that the Reader may finde my Positions to be false not onely in their Theorie but if he will assay it by his own particular Experience I have two Admonitions more to the Ingenuous and well-disposed Reader First That he would not slight my Indeavours because of my yeers which are but few It is the Custom of most men to measure knowledge by the Beard but look Thou rather on the Soul an Essence of that Nature quae ad perfectionem suam Curricula Temporis non desiderat Secondly that He would not conclude any thing rashly concerning the subject of this art for it is a Principle not easily apprehended It is neither Earth nor water air nor Fire It is not Gold Silver Saturn Antimonie or Vitriol nor any kind of Minerall whatsoever It is not Bloud nor the Seed of any Individual as some unnaturall Obscene Authors have imagin'd In a word it is no Mineral no Vegetable no Animal but a system as it were of all Three In plain Terms it is Sperma Majoris Animalis The seed of Heaven and Earth our most secret miraculous Hermaphrodite If you know this and with it the Hydro-pyro-magical Art you may with some security attempt the work if not practice is the way to Poverty Assay nothing without Science but confine your selves to those Bounds which Nature hath prescrib'd you Hebr. L. Verulam in his N. H. Arist. Rher C. Agrip. de vanit Scient. Esdr. Exod. Gen. Gen. Gen. Auth. Philos. Rest it Job C.Ag. Revel. Act Arias Mont. Gen. Gen. Job Procl. de Ani. Cor. Agr. Sepher Tetz Gen. In Crisi Sua ad Causam desperatam Sisber ti Voetii Gen. Cap. 4. ver. 6. Ioh◠Procl.