for the accomplishment of which the consideration of principles is very necessary as also by what way and medium nature doth at first go from imperfection to the end of perfection For the consideration whereof t is chiefly requisite most certainly to know that all things created by nature do consist of three principles viz. of natural Sulphur Mercury and Salt mixt into one so that in some things they are Volatile in other things fixt As often as a corporal Salt is throughly mixt with a spiritual Mercury and Animated Sulphur into one body then doth nature begin to work in subterranean places which serves for its vessels by a separating fire by which the gross and impure Sulphur is separated from the pure and the Earth from the Salt and the cloudiness from the Mercury those purer parts being reserved the which parts nature doth again decoct together into a pure Geogamick body The which Operation is accounted of by the Magi as a Mixtion and conjunction by the Union of the three viz. body soul and spirit This Union being compleated from thence doth result a pure Mercury the which if it flows through the subterrean passages and Veins thereof and mess with a Caheick Sulphur the Mercury is Coagulated by this Sulphur according to the condition of the Sulphur But notwithstanding t is as yet volatile and scarce decocted into a mettall for the space of an hundred years Thence arose this so much common an opinion that Mercury and Sulphur are the matter of mettals the which is also evident by the Relation of the Miners Yet common Mercury and common Sulphur are not the matter of mettals but the Mercury and Sulphur of the Philosophers are incorporated and innate in perfect mettals and in the forms of them that they never fly from the fire nor are depraved by the force of the corruption of the Elements Verily by the dissolution of that same natural mixtion our Mercury is tamed or subjected as all the Philosophers speak Under or from this form of words comes Mercury to be extracted out of perfect bodies and out of the virtues and puissance of the earthly planets The which Hermes affirms in these words The ☉ and ☽ saith he are the roots of this art The Son of Hamuel saith that the stone of the Philosophers is a Coagulated water viz. in Sol and Lune from whence t is evidently cleer that the matter of the stone is nothing else but ☉ ☽ this is also hereby confirmed in that every like thing generates and brings forth its like And we know that there are no more but two stones white and red there are alfo two matters of the stone Sol and Lune coupled together in a proper Matrimony both natural and artificial And as we see that either man or woman cannot generate without the seed of both in like manner our Man ☉ and his Woman ☽ cannot conceive or frame onght for generation without both their Seeds and Spermes Thence have the Philosophers gathered that a third thing is necessary viz. the Animated seed of both of man and woman without the which they have judged all their whole work to be vain and foolish Now such a Sperm is their Mercury the which by a natural conjunction of both bodies of ☉ and ☽ receives their nature into it self in Union and then at length and not before is the work fitted for congress ingress and Generation by the manly and feminine virtue and power On this account the Philosophers took occasion to say that Mercury is composed of body soul and spirit and that it hath assumed the nature property of all the Elements Therefore from a most powerfull ingenuity and discretion or understanding they have affirmed their stone to be animal the which also they have called their Adam who carryes his invâ—sible Eve hidden in his own body from that moment of time wherein they were united by the power of the most high God the framer of all the creatures for which cause it may deservedly be said that the Mercury of the Philosophers is nothing else but their most abstruse compounded Mercury and not that common ☿ Therefore have they discretly told the wise that there is in Mercury whatsoever the wise men seek Almadir the Philosopher saith we do extract our Mercury out of one perfect body and two perfect natural conditions incorporated together the which ☿ indeed doth thrust forth its perfection outwardly whereby t is able to resist the fire and that its intrinsecal imperfection may be defended by the extrinsecal perfections By this place of the most witty Philosopher is the Adamical matter understood the Limbus of the Microcosm the homogeneal Only matter of all the Philosophers whose sayings also which we have afore mentioned are meerly golden and to be had in most high esteem because they contain nothing superfluous or invalid Briefly therefore the matter of the Philosophers stone is nothing else but a fiery and perfect Mercury extracted by Nature and Art that is the artificially prepared and true Hermaphrodite Adam and Microcosm That most wise Mercurius the wisest of the Philosophers affirming the same hath called the stone an Orphan Therefore our Mercury is that very same that contains in it self the perfections forces and virtues of the Sun and which runs through the Streets and houses of all the Planets and in its regeneration hath acquired or gotten the virtue of things above and beneath to the marriage also of which things viz. above and below it is compared as is evident from the whiteness and redness wound or heaped up together therein CHAP. XVII Of the Preparation of the matter of the Philosophers stone THis is that which nature doth most chiefly require viz. that its own Philosophick man be brought into a Mercurial substance that it may spring forth into the Philosophick stone Moreover you are to note that those common preparations of Geber Albertus Magnus Th. Aquinas Rupescisca Polidorus and such like are nothing else but some particular Solutions Sublimations and Calcinations not at all pertaining to our Universal work which work doth want only the most secret fire of the Philosophers Therefore the fire and Azoth may suffice thee And whereas the Philosophers do make mention of some preparations as of putrefaction destillation sublimation calcination coagulation dealbation rubification ceration fixation c. you are to understand that in their Universal work Nature it self doth accomplish all the operations in the said matter and not the workman and that only in a Philosophical Vessel and with a such like fire not a common fire The white and the red do proceed out of one root without any medium T is dissolved by it self coupled by it self albifyes and rubifyes is made saffrony and black by it self marries itself and conceives in it self T is therefore to be decocted to be baked to be fused it ascends and descends All which Operations are indeed but one Operation made by the fire alone But yet
The which Arnoldus observing saith in his Rosary that the greatest difficulty is to find out the matter of this stone for they have called it Vegetable Mineral and animal not according to the litteral sence as is well known to such wise men as have tried the divine secrets and miracles of the same stone For example sake Raymund Lullies Lunaria may be produced which gives flowers of admirable virtues familiar to the Philosophers themselves But yet this was not the intention of those Philosophers that you should think they meant thereby any projection upon mettals or that any such preparation should thence be made but the abstruse mind of the Philosophers hath another intent In like manner they called their matter by the name Martagon to which they applyed an occult Alchymical operation when as notwithstanding that name denotes nothing eâ—se but a certain most occult similitude Besides 't is no small error that is risen in the Liquors of Vetegables with which very many have endeavoured to coagulate Mercury and afterwards to convert it with fixatory waters into Luna supposing that he who by this way could coagulate it without the help of mettals should attain to be the greatest Master And although that the Liquors of some Vegetables do effect this it comes to pass meerly from the Resinousness fat and earthly Sulphur with which they abound This now draws the Mercuries humidity and life unto it self whereby it mixeth it self with the substance thereof by coagulation but without any profit For I well know that no thick and external Sulphur in Vegetables is fit for a perfect projection in Alchymy which some have to their great cost experienced Albeit that some have coagulated Mercury with the white and milky juice of Tithymal by reason of the acute and intense heat existing therein and have called that Liquor Lac Virginis but yet this is a false foundation The like may be supposed of the juice of Celandine albeit it coloureth as if it were of a Golden endowment From hence they conceived a vain phantasie and at a certain and determinate time they pluckt up this Vegetable out of which they hunted for a soul or Quintessence whereby they might make a coagulating and transmuting tincture but verily from hence arose nothing butt a foolish Error CHAP. VII Of the Errours of those who seek the Stone from Vegetables as above SOme of the Alchymists have expressed a juice out of Celandine and boyled it to a thickness or consistency and put it open to the Sun that so it might be Coagulated per se into a hard Mass the which being afterwards beaten into a most small powder of a black or spadicious colour should turn Mercury in projection into Sol the which they found to be also vain Others have admixed Sal Ammoniack to this powder others the Celcothar of Vitriol supposing that thereby they should arrive to their wished for end They brought it by their Solutions into a yellow water that the Sal Ammoniack gave an ingress of the tincture into the substance of the Mercury yet nothing was thereby done Some there are that instead of the aforesaid things do take the juices of Arsmart Bufonaria Dracunculus the leaves of Sallow Tithymal Cataputia Flammula and such like and shut them up in Glasses with Mercury for some dayes keeping them in ashes now thence it comes to pass that the Mercury is turned into ashes but rashly and without any fruit For they were deceived with the vain rumours of the Vulgar who boast that he who is able to coagulate Mercury without mettals hath the entire Magistry as we have afore mentioned Many of them extracted Salts Oiles aud Sulphurs out of the Vegetables by art but all in vain For out of snch like Salts Oiles and Sulphurs no coagulation of Mercury or perfect projection or Tincture can be made But whereas the Philosophers do compare their matter to a certain Golden Tree of seven boughs they mean that it viz. the matter doth conclude the seven mettals in its sperm and that therein they lye hidden on this account they called their matter Vegetable as also because as the natural trees do in their time bring forth sundry flowers so the matter of the stone doth discover most fair colours in the production of its Flowers Likewise on this acount the comparison is suitable because there ariseth a certain matter out of the Philosophical earth as a company of sprouts and twigs like to the spunge of the earth therefore they say that the fruit of their Tree hath its tendency to the Heaven Therefore they have disclosed and deciphered the whole knack of the thing in the Vegetables as to the nature but not in Vegetables as to the matter and also because their stone doth contain in it self a soul body and spirit as the Vegetables do CHAP. VIII Of those who have sought the Stone in Animals THey have also by a certain kind of similitude called this matter Lac Virginis the blessed blood of a Rosie colour the which notwithstanding is agreeing to or enjoyed only by the Prophets and Sons of God From thence the Sophisters gathered that this Philosophical matter was in the blood of Animals or of man hereon taking occasion also because they are nourished by Vegetables Others have sought it in hairs in Salt of Urine in Rebis Others in Hen-eggs and in milk and in the Calx of Egg-shels with all which they thought to have fixed Mercury Some have extracted a Salt out of stinking piss supposing that to have been the matter of the stone There wants not some persons also that have judged the little stones fouud in Rebis to be the matter Others have macerated the Membranes of Eggs in a most sharp Lixivium wherewith they have also mixed calcined Egg-shells most white like Snow to these they have attributed the Arcanum of fixation for the transmuting of ☿ Others comparing the white of the Egg to silver and the yoke to gold have chosen it for their matter and have therewith admixed Common Salt Sal Armoniack and burnt Tartar these they have shut up together in a Glass and putrified it in a B. M. and that so long until the white colour became as red as blood This they have destilled into a most stinking liquor wholly useless for that work for which t was sought after Others have putrified the white and yelk of Eggs from whence hath been generated a Basilick the which they have burnt into a most red Powder and have thought to tinge therewithall the author whereof was the Cardinal Gilbert in his Treatise Many also have macerated the Galls of Oxen and of other Creatures mixt with common Salt and distilled it into a Liquor with which they having moistned the Cementatory powders supposed that by this Magistery they should tinge their mettals which they call by the name of a part with a part and thence came just nothing Others have attempted to transmute Tutia by the addition of Sanguis
and Azoth may suffice for the fire alone is the whole work and the Entire art Moreover as many as do build up their fire with coals do err containing the Vessel in that heat some have in vain attempted with the heat of horse-dung they have with the fire of Coals without a medium sublimed the matter but not dissolved it Others have caused an heat with their Lamps affirming that to be the secret fire of the Philosophers for the making of their Stone some have placed it in a Ball but first in an heap of Ants Eggs others in Juniper Ashes some have sought the fire in Calxvine in Tartar Vitriol Nitre c. Others in Aq. ardens as Thomas Aquinas falsely speaking of this fire saith that God and the Angels cannot want this fire but do use it daily What a blasphemy is this Is it not a most manifest Lye that God cannot be without the Elemental Fire of Aq. ardens All those heats with those mediums spoken of that are excited by the fire are altogether unprofitable for our work Take heed thou beest not seduced by Arnoldus de villa nova who wrote of this fire of Coals for verily he will deceive thee herein Almadir saith that the invisible rays alone of our fire are sufficient another brings in as an example that the Celestial heat doth by its reflections make for the Coagulation and perfection of Mercury as also for the Mettallick generation by its continued motion again the same saith make a vaporous Fire digesting and cocting or ripening continual yet not flying or boyling shut close compassed about with ayr not burning but altering and penetrating Now I have truly told you all the manner of the fire and of the heat to be stirred up if thou art a true Philosopher thou wilt well understand thus much he Salmanazar saith Our fire is a corrosive fire which spreds as 't were ayr-like a cloud over our Vessel in which cloud the rays of this fire are hidden Now if this dew of the Chaos and moisture of the cloud fail an error is committed Again Almadir saith unless the fire doth heat our Sun with its moisture by the dung of the mountain in or with a temperate ascending we shall not be partakers either of the white or the red Stone All these things do openly demonstrate unto us the Occult Fire of the Wise men Briefly this is the matter of our Fire viz. that it be kindled by the quiet Spirit of the sensible Fire the which drives upwards even as the heated Chaos directly opposite or under and above our Philosophick matter which heat glowing above or below our Vessel doth after the manner of a perfect generation constantly urge or press onwards temperatly and without intermission Thus I. CHAP. XX. Of the ferment and Weights of the Philosophers THE Philosophers have very much laboured in the Art of Ferments and Fermentations the which art seems to be the chiefest of all others concerning which also some have made a Vow to GOD and to the Philosophers that they will never manifest the Arcanum of that thing either by similitudes or parables Whereas notwithstanding Hermes the Father of all the Philosophers in the Book of his 7. Treatises doth most clearly lay open the Ferments saying that it consists of nothing else but its own paste and more largely saith that the Ferment whitens the Confection and hinders adustion and doth wholly keep back and retard the Flux of the Tincture doth comfort bodies and encrease union Also he saith that this is the Key and the end of the Work concluding that the Ferment is nothing else but the paste as the Ferment of Sol is nothing else but Sol and of ☽ 't is nothing else but Lune others affirm that the Ferment is the Soul the which if it be not rightly prepared according to the Magistery it will effect nothing Some Zealots or zealous men of this Art do seek the Art in common Sulphur Arsenick Tutia Orpment Vitriol c. but in vain because the substance which is sought after is the same with that from which it must be drawn forth T is therefore to be noted that the Fermentations thereof and of that kind do not succeed as these Zealots would have it but as appears by the thing spoken of above only in natural successes or progress But now at last to come to the weight 't is to be observed in a twofold manner the first is natural but the other is artificial The natural obtains its effect in the earth by nature and concordancy Of the which Arnoldus speaks If there be more of less earth added then nature endures or can bear then the soul is choaked and no fruit perceived thence-from nor fixation The same thing is to be considered of as to the water viz. If more or less thereof be taken then 't will bring as inconvenient a loss for the superfluity thereof will render the matter beyond measure moist and the defect thereof will render it dryer and harder then is just If there be too much ayr then is there an impress of too much tincture if too little then the body becomes pallid Likewise if the fire be too vehement the matter is burnt up if too remiss it hath not the power of drying up nor of dissolving nor of heating the other Elements in these things doth the Elemental weight consist But the Artificial weight is most occult for it is shut up in the Magical Art of Ponderation or weights Now the Philosophers say that between the Spirit Soul and Body the weight consists of Sulphur as the Guider of the work for the soul doth greatly desire Sulphur and doth necessarily observe it by reason of or in relation unto the weight Understand it thus our matter is united to a red fixt Sulphur to which Sulphur a third part of the Regiment or Governance is committed even unto the ultimate degree that it may perfect even to infinity the operation of the stone and may therewith persist or abide together with its fire and may consist of a weight equal with the matter it self in all and through all without the variation of any degree of permutation or change Therefore after that the matter is fitted and mixed in its proportionable weight 't is to be excellently well shut with its Seal in the Philosophers Vessel and be committed to the secret Fire in the which the Philosophical Sun will arise and spring up and will enlighten all things which expect its Light and do with exceeding much hope desire it Thus in these few words we will conclude the Arcanum of the Stone which is not maimed or lame in any one point nor defective for the which we give God immortal praises and thanks Now wee 'l unlock to you our Treasure which all the riches of the whole world is not able to buy The Treasure of Treasures by Theophrastus Paracelsus NAture hath produced in the bowels of the earth one kind of Mineral the
be esteemed by thee as a thing of no price But contrariwise he that endeavours by riches to aspire unto that Art and labours to convert it to the pride and vanity of this world let such a one never perswade himself that he shall ever attain his wished end And therefore let thy mind and consquently all thy cogitations be estranged from all earthly things and be as it were created anew and given up to God alone For you must note this well that these three viz. the body soul and spirit are to be suitable and alike and t is necessary that they operate together for if the heart and mind of man be not so regulated after the like manner as the whole work is to be wrought thou O man wilt also wholly err from the Art So therefore maist thou in all things conform all thy actions suitable thereunto for the Artist hath nothing else here to do but to Sow Plant and Water or Moisten but God alone gives the encrease Therefore if God be against any one to him also nature is an enemy and contrarily if God be a friend then the heavens the earth and also all the elements are even constrained to come to thy help If therefore thou exactly considerest of this and hast ready to thy hands the knowledge of the true first matter which we shall hereafter speak of then mayst thou commodiously set about the manual operation and make a beginning of thy labour wherein likewise t is fitting that thou implore the grace and guidance of the Almighty in all thy purposes and actions And then thy affairs will not only succeed prosperously but will also obtain a true happy fortunate and desired end The 11. of Ecclesiast 18. He that abideth in the fear of the Lord and cleaveth to his word waiting upon his duty nor black nor white moves him He easily shall make silver and gold out of copper and tin And shall by Gods help do many more things But especially if Jehovah favours him he may then well make Gold of Clay and dirt THE Second Part The 28. of Isaiah v. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold I lay in Sion a foundation stone a tryed stone a precious Corner-stone that is well founded He that hath it shall not be confounded THE Philosophers in their writings could never sufficiently praise this so-often spoken of and most noble Art both afore and after its perfection nor could they by any the highest and most excellent titles worthily enough extoll it Therefore they have generally called it the Stone of the Philosophers the most antient occult unknown natural and incomprehensible Stone yea they have called it the celestial blessed holy and triune universal Stone of the wise men But now the cause why they termed it a stone and why they compared it to a stone is amongst other reasons chiefly this when the matter thereof doth at the beginning come like a mineral out of the earth it is truly a stone and then again because this matter is hard and dry because also t is beaten and ground to dust like a stone but especially the reason is this if it be divided into the three parts which nature her self hath conjoyned then is it necessary that it itself be again digested in all the same parts and made of the nature of a constant wax-like flowing stone But as to the great concernment and necessity of such mens knowing the first otherwise or rather the second matter of this secret Philosophical Stone that endeavour the attainment thereof they viz. the aforementioned Philosophers could not sufficiently inculcate or too too much press them to understand a reason thereof nor enough exhort them thereunto the which matter is notwithstanding one only thing out of which only and alone this stone is necessarily to be prepared without any peregrine addition albeit it be called by a thousand names the quality species and property whereof they have wonderfully described and have happily described it after a compendious way and manner as followeth viz. That at the beginning t is conjoyned of three and yet notwithstanding is but only one likewise it is procreated and made of one two three four and five and is also to be found in one and two and is everywhere They also call it the Catholick or universal Magnesia or Sperm of the world out of which all natural things have their original Likewise that it is of a wonderful and singular birth and species or shape and that it hath an unknown and an unsearchable nature and that therefore t is neither hot nor dry like the earth but is a certain perfect preparation of all the elements that it is also of a certain incorruptible body which cannot be touched by any element and which may as to all its properties and in all respects be compared to the heaven which is above the four elements and the four qualities and as a Q.E. and what cannot be destroyed Likewise they have said that it is as to its external corporality figure form and shape a stone and yet notwithstanding is no stone because it may be compared with the white Gum they also call it the water of the Ocean Aqua vitae yea a most pure and most blessed water but yet notwithstanding it is not the water of the clouds or of any common fountain but a thick permanent saline or saltish water and according to the divers considerations of some a dry water that moistens not the hands or a certain pituitous or phlegmy water which ariseth out of the saltish fatness of the earth likewise they call it a twofold ☿ and Azoth whch is sustained by the supremest or highest and lowest vastness or of the celestia◠and terrestrial Globe the which also i◠not consumed in any fire for it hath in it self the universal and sparkling fire o◠the Light of nature and withall a certai◠celestial Spirit that penetrates all thing with which qualities it was animate by God at the beginning and according to the saying of the antient Philosophers blessed with and is by Avicen called the soul of the world who said viz. Even as the soul is to be found in all the members of mans body and doth there move it self so also is that spirit found to be and to move it self in all elementary creatures the which spirit is likewise the indissoluble conjunction of the body and soul and consequently a most pure and most noble essence wherein even all mysteries lie hidden t is also fully replenished with wonderful efficacy and vertue Moreover they ascribe thereunto an infinite power and divine efficacy and vertue for they say that it is that Spirit of the Lord that filled the earth and swim'd at the top of the waters They call it also the Spirit of truth which is hidden from the world and such as cannot be comprehended or obtained without the inspiration of the holy Spirit or the information of such as know it and yet
that if you would bring your work to its effectual power and make your tincture to perfect the other simple mettals then 't is expedient that you put to your first matter and unite therewith a certain other metallick highly dignified body of near affinity to the aforesaid Prima materia and such as is most acceptable and grateful thereunto and you must reduce them into one body Even so is it here in the Theological work of the divine nature of the Son of God if we should well enjoy it and be made partakers thereof 't was behoovful that as it were another mettalline body that is flesh and blood the humanity or the humane nature which also is amongst all the highest dignified creatures of God in the earth the one that is nearest akin is also the most acceptable and the most grateful and besides is created after his nature adjoyned and united it self therewith and consequently 't was fitting that both were reduced and united into a certain undissolvable body But even as t is chiefly to be noted and observed in the aforementioned Philosophical work as we then informed you that even as this common or vulgar body of gold is not in the least agreeable or convenient for that work but because of its imperfection and many other various defects that it is subject unto is unprofitable and is to be accounted of as a dead thing and that likewise for that same reason there must be produced such a body as is clear and pure and without mixture and such as was never falsified by any deceit but is free from all impurity and without defect and what was never as yet debilitated in its eternal Sulphur Even so much less can there be or ought there to be any universal humane nature such as is conceived in sin polluted with original transgression and is daily falsified and defiled with real sins and preternatural infirmities under which all men do generally lie accepted of imputed to and incorporated with the divine essence of the Son of God but only the unmixed pure and perfect humanity void of all sin for if the earthly Adam who was but a creature only was afore the fall without sin and was an holy and perfect man how much more then is that celestial Adam which the only begotten Son of God hath in himself And therefore the celestial eternal fundamental and Corner-stone Jesus Christ according to the description of the Philosophick is and ever will be according to both his natures of a most highly admirable birth and rise and consequently of an unsearchable nature and property According or in relation to his divinity he was from eternity of the alone divine essence of his celestial and eternal Father true God yea the Son of God whose out-going as the Scripture testifies thereof was from the beginning and eternal Mich. 5. Psal. 2. Mat. 16. Col. 1. But as in reference to his humanity he was born in the fulness of time without sin and fault Isa. 53. John 8. according as the Scripture testifies a true and a perfect man with a body and also a soul Mat. 26. so that now he is of an indissolvable personal and God-man essence that is a true God and true man in one only person indissoluble to all eternity and must and ought to be so acknowledged and worshipped as God Omnipotent But yet notwithstanding it could be wished that the eyes of the greater part of the imaginary learned men were better opend and their dark spectacles and their sophistical vizards that hang before them were removed and that at length they might yet once recover their lost sight Luke 10. But especially all the Aristotelians and the sophisticate blind-sighted purblind as 't were in divine works amongst whom there have been so many various and divers disputations even to this very day in divine things too too unchristianlike nor is there any end at all of the manifold distinctions divisions and permixtions concerning the highly venerable Article of the union of natures and community as 't were of Idioms in Christ so well founded in the holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3. But now if they will not believe God or his divine Word they may yet notwithstanding by the conjunction made of the said Chymicall work as afore-mentioned and by the unition of the two waters viz. of ☿ and ☉ know the essence and be able to feel him as it were with their fingers But alas the highest Scholastick art of their Ethnick or heathenish philosophy so little or meanly founded in the holy Scripture or in Christian Theologie and their fundamentals and Aristotelian precepts of no value or moment about substance and accidents and many other more devices do not at all lead them to the attainment thereof little considering that Tertullian that old man hath not in vain written That these Philosophers are the Patriarchs or chief Fathers of the Hereticks But we conceive it no waies worth our while to discourse more largely of this thing And moreover even as in the Philosophick work that said composition the two essences being conjoyned now together must be placed over the fire and be putrified ground or broken and be well boiled in which putrefaction and boyling there do until it be rendred more then perfect in the mean while manifold and various acts or scenes fall in between and divers colours do shew themselves about which you may find more written in the description of the terrene work Even so this God-man and man-God person Jesus Christ so appointed by God his heavenly Father in this world was cast into the firie furnace of tribulation and was therein well boyled as 't were that is he was encompassed with various troubles reproaches the Cross and tribulation and was changed and transmuted as 't were into various shapes that is he suffered hunger Mat. 4. then presently upon his receiving of baptism and after his devoting himself to the ministry of the preaching the holy divine Word he was by the impulse of the holy Spirit in the desart and there tempted by Satan and must there necessarily undergo with him a triple combate for a testimony and witness to all bought and purchased Christians as having entred upon Christianity and professing the faith of Christ are tempted by the Devil and are by various temptations again sollicited and enticed to a falling off from Christ. Likewise he was wearie in John 4. also he cryed and wept lamentably Luke 19. 41. also he trembled and was sore amazed Mark 14. he combated with death and sweated a sweat of blood was likewise taken and was bound Mat. 26. was smitten on the face by the high Priests servant was mocked derided spit on whipt crowned with thorns condemned to death and then fastned to the Cross which himself carried Joh. 19. betwixt two thieves had Gall and Vinegar given him to drink Psalm 69. and cryed out with a loud voice and commended his Spirit into the hands of God his Father expired
PARACELSUS HIS Aurora Treasure OF THE PHILOSOPHERS As also The WATER-STONE OF The Wise Men Describing the matter of and manner how to attain the universal Tincture Faithfully Englished And Published by J. H. Oxon. LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert and are to be sold at the Black Spred Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1659. Reader THese three Pieces of Mysterious Learning need not any Apology nor ought of those flattering titles that many worthless Books are ushered in withal T is sufficient that two of them were written by the experienced Paracelsus and that the other viz. The Water-stone hath the testimony of that inlightned man Jacob Behmen in his 23. Epistle It is in truth a discourse so sober its title so modest and the plain-hartedness of the Author so evident that it will be but lost labour to commend that which is so really excellent And whereas the Genius of many an English-man tends after these noble employments and is destitute of those helps that many Authors extant in the Latine tongue might haply afford them I do therefore intend to publish these ensuing viz. The Rosary of the Philosophers The Mineral work of Isaac Holland Bernard Trevisan of Alchimy The last Testament The Experiments and several other Tracts of Raymund Lully Glaubers second and third part of the Mineral work Paracelsus his Archidoxis and Book of degrees All which except the two last-mentioned and they may shortly be ready are compleatly finished Some haply will be displeased with othersome will deride whatsoever they meet with of this subject such may please themselves and wallow in their frothy fancies but the ingenuous man will consider that to attain to the useful understanding of things of this nature there is required the labour of the body integrity of the mind and a patient perseverance in both these are the usual keyes that give admission to this despised Science Farewell Thy Friend I. H. The most material Errata's are to be corrected as followeth PAge 3. line 9. read with p. 21. l. 16. r. Trutae or Trouts p. 23. l. 18. r. Haematites p. 25. l. 17. r. revification l. 18. r. urine p. 34. l. 23. for their r. the p. 37. l. 26. set a full-point at time p. 42. l. 15. r. mysterie p. 47. l. 26. r. meets ib. r. Cahoick p. 55. l. 27. r. and it p. 57. l. 17. blot out or thus p. 60. l. 9. r. Balny l. 11. r. vive p. 62. l. 3. for below r. all over p. 69. l. 9. r. Cinnabre l. 15. r. cohobation p. 72. l. 17. r. all p. 75. l. 14. r. ounces p. 94. l. 14. r. 47. p. 107. l. 27. r. Aes p. 112. l. 18. r. cover p. 116. l. 24. r. so p. 174. l. 23. r. caring p. 184. l. 25. r. aāa p. 187. l. 9. blot out unto it self p. 195. l. 10. r. ears p. 210. l. 20. blot out be The Aurora of the Philosophers by Paracelsus CHAP. I. Of the Original of the Philosophick Stone ADAM was the first Inventor of Arts because he had the knowledge of all things as well after the fall as before the fall from thence he presaged the worlds destruction by water Hence also it came to pass that his Successors erected two tables of stone in the which they ingraved all Natural Arts and that in Hieroglyphical Characters that so their Successors might also know this presage that it might be heeded and provision or care made in time of danger Afterwards Noah found one of the tables in Armenia under the Mount Araroth when the deluge was over In which Table were described the courses of the superiour Firmament and of the inferiour Globe and also of the Planets then at length this Universal Notion of Knowledge was drawn into several particulars and lessened in its Vigor and Power in so much that by means of that separation One became an Astronomer another a Magus another a Cabalist and a fourth an Alchymist Abraham that most great Astrologer and Arithmetitian conveyed it out of the Countrey of Canaan into Aegypt whereupon the Egyptians arose to so great a head and dignity that the wisdom or science of the same thing was derived from them to other Nations and Countreys And for as much as the Patriarch Jacob painted as t were the sheep with various colours it was done by a part or member of Magick for in the Theology of the Chaldeans Hebrews Persians and Egyptians they proposed these arts as the highest Philosophy to be learned by their chiefest Nobles and Priests So it was in Moses his time wherein both the Priests and even the Physitians were chosen amongst the Magi they indeed viz. the Priests for the Examination or Judging of what related to soundness or health especially in the knowledge of the Leprosie Moses likewise was instructed in the Egyptian Schools at the Costs and Care of Pharaohs daughter so that he excelled in all their Wisdom or Learning So was it which Daniel he in his young dayes suckt in the Learning of the Chaldeans so that he became a Cabalist Witness his Divine foretellings and exponnding of those words Mene Mene Tekel Phares These words are to be understood by the Prophetick and Cabalistick Art The Tradition of this Cabalistical Art was very familiar with Moses and the Prophets and most of all in use The Prophet Elias foretold many things by his Cabalistical Numbers Even so the Antient wise men by this Natural and Mystical Art learned to know God rightly and abode and walked in his Laws and statutes very firmly It likewise is evident in the Book of Samuel that the Berelists did not follow the Devils part but became by Divine permission partakers of Visions and true Apparitions the which we shall treat more largely of in the book of Snpercelestials The gift thereof is granted by the Lord God to the Priests who walk in the divine precepts It was a custom amongst the Persians never to admit any one as King unless a Sophist or Wise man exalted both in reality and name and this is clear by the usual name of their Kings for they were called Sophists Such were those Wise men and Persian Magi that came from the East to seek out Christ Jesus and are called natural Priests Likewise the Egyptians having obtained this Magick and Philosophy from the Chaldeans and Persians would that their Priests should also learn the same wisdom wherein they became so fruitfull and succesfull that all the neighbouring Countreyes admired them This was the cause why Hermes was truly stiled Trismegistus because he was both a King a Priest and a Prophet a Magitian and a Sophist of Natural things such another also was Zoroastes CHAP. II. Wherein is declared that the Grecians drew a good part of this Learning from the Egyptians and how it came from them to us AFter that a Son of Noah possessed the third part of the world after the Flood this Art brake in violently as it were into Chalde and Persia and
from thence into Egypt The which Art being a little smelt out by the superstitious and idolatrous Grecians some of them that were more wise and sage betook themselves to the Chaldeans and Egyptians that so they might draw in out of their Schools the same wisdom But now whereas the Theological or Bible-study of the Law of Moses did not so well please them they confided in their own proper Genius and fell away from the right foundation of those natural secrets and arts This is evident by their fabulous Conceptions and stumblings about the doctrine of Moses T was the Egyptians custom to propose those Traditions of that so excellent wisdom meerly in Enigmatical figures and abstruse Histories and Terms The which was afterwards shadowed by Homer by an admirable poetical artifice Herewith was Pythagoras also acquainted who mixed with his writings very many things out of the Law of Moses and the Old Testament In like manner Hippocrates Thales Milesius Anaxagoras Democritus and others did not forbear to apply their conceptions hereunto Although none of them were skilfull of the true Astrology Geometry Arithmetick or Medicine for their pride so hindered that it would not admit of Disciples of other Nations And when they had got some sight as t were from the Chaldeans and Egyptians they became by this accident far more proud then they were afore naturally and without any fear did acuate or set out the thing or substance it self with subtiler figments and lyes and then attempted to describe a certain kind of Philosophy which came and descended from them to the Latines They being now seasoned and instructed herewithal adorned it with their dictates also from all which this Philosophy was sowed abroad all Europe and then many Academies were made for the propagation of their Decrees and Rules that so youth might be instructed and this doth now flourish with the Germans and other Nations even nuto this very day CHAP. III. What was taught in the Schools of the Egyptians THE Chaldeans Persians and Egyptians had all of them the same knowledge of the secrets of nature and the same Religion the names only being changed The Chaldeans Persians called their doctrine Sophia and Magick and the Egyptians because of the sacrifice called their wisdom the Priest-hood The Magick of the Persians and Theology of the Egyptians were both of them heretofore taught in the Schools Albeit there were many Schools and Learned men in Arabia Africa Greece as Albumazar Abenzagel Geber Rasis and Avicen amongst the Arabians Machaon Podalirius Pythagoras Anaxagoras Democritus Plato Aristotle and Rodianus amongst the Grecians but yet there were various opinions amongst themselves as to the Egyptian wisdom wherein they differed and disagreed from it For this cause Pythagoras would not be called Sophist because the Egyptian Priesthood and Wisdom was not at all perfectly taught as was fitting although he received thence many Mysteries and Arcanums and Anaxagoras had received most or exceeding many This appears by the disputations which he made of Sol the stone thereof which he left after his death yet he was in many things contrary to the Egyptians Wherefore even they would not be called Sophists nor Magi but imitating Pythagoras in that thing they assumed the name of Philosophy but yet they reaped no more then a few Glances like shadows from the Magick of the Persians and Egyptians But Moses Abraham Solomon Adam Elias and the Magi that came from the East to Christ were true Magi and Divine Sophists and Cabalists which Art and Wisdom the Grecians knew very little of or none at all and therefore we shall leave that Philosophical Wisdom of the Greacians as a Speculation widely and largely distant and separated from other true arts and sciences CHAP. IV. What Magi the Chaldeans Persians and Egygtians were MAny have attempted both to search out and bring to use the most secret Magick of those wise men but yet it hath not hitherto been done Many even in this our age do exalt Trithemius others Bacon and Agrippa for Magick and the Cabal which two things seem not in the least to agree not knowing why they do so Magick indeed is an art and faculty by which the Elementary bodies and their fruits their proprieties virtues and obstruse operations are attained unto But the Cabal by a subtile understanding of the Scriptures seems to trace out the way for men to God how to act with him and prophecy from him for the Cabal is full of Divine Mysteries even as the Magick is full of natural secrets for it teacheth presages and foretellings of or from the nature of things to come and things present for its opparation consisteth in the knowing of the intrinsecality of all Creatures as well Celestial as Terrestial bodies viz. what is hidden in them what ry and Ternary ascend to the denary then is made their regress or reduction unto Unity Therein is concluded all the occult wisdom of things the which wisdom God hath made openly manifest to men both by his word and the Creatures of his hands that so they might have a true knowledge of them the which shall be declared more at large in another place CHAP. V. Of the chiefest and most supream essence of things THE Magi by their wisdom affirmed that all creatures might be brought to an united substance which substance they affirmed might by their mundations and purgations ascend unto so high a subtilty divine nature and occult propriety so as to work and effect things admirable For they considered that by the returning into the earth and by a supream Magical Separation a certain perfect substance would come forth the which at length is by exceeding many industrious and very prolix preparations exalted and lifted up out of Vegetable substances into Mineral and out of Mineral into Metalline and out of Mettalline perfect substances into a perpetual and divine Quint-essence concluding in it self the essence of all Celestial and Terrestial Creatures The Arabians and Grecians by the occult Characters and Hieroglyphical descriptions of the Persians and Egyptians attained to secret and abstruse Mysteries the which being gotten and in part understood and partly not they ocularly saw by trying and experiencing many admirable and strange things But because the Supercelestial Operations lay more profoundly hid then their capacity could reach unto they called not this a supercelestial Arcanum according to the intention and mind of the Magi but the Arcanum of the Philosophers and according to the advice and judgement of Pythagoras their stone Such now as ever obtained this stone did shadow it over with various Enigmatical figures and deceptory similitudes comparisons and fictitious sayings that so the matter thereof might be occult and hidden very little or no knowledge whereof can be had from them CHAP. VI. Of various Errors as to the matter its finding out and knowledge The Philosophers have prefixed sundry most occult names to this matter of the stone grounded on sundry similitudes
some of the Philosophers have by a most high-graduated essence of Wine dissolved the body of Sol have made it Volatile so as to ascend by an Alembick subposing that this is the Volatile true Philosophick matter whereas it is not And although it be no contemptible Arcanum to bring this perfect mettalline body into a Volatile and spiritual Substance yet notwithstanding they err in the Separation of the Elements the which process of those Monks viz. Lully Richard the Englishman Rupescisea and others is erroneous By which process they supposed to separate gold by this way into a subtile spiritual and elementary power each one a part and afterwards by circulation and rectification to couple them again into one but in vain for verily although one Element may after a sort be separated from another yet nevertheless every element after this manner separated may again be sepatated into another element the which parts cannot at all afterwards either by pellicanick circulation or destillation return into one again but they always remain a Certain Volatile matter and Aurum Potabile as they call it The cause why they could never arrive to their intention is this because nature is not in the least willing to be thus distracted or separated by humane disjunctions as by terrene things glasses and instruments She her self alone knows her own operations and the weights of the Elements the separations rectifications and copulations of which she accomplisheth without the help of any Operator or Manual artifice Only the matter is to be contained in the secret fire and in its occult Vessel The Separation therefore of the Elements is impossible to be done by man which separation should it have some appearance yet notwithstanding is not true whatsoever is spoken thereof by Raimund Lully and his English golden noble Work which he is falsly supposed to have framed For Nature it self hath in her self her proper Separater which doth again conjoyn what it separates without the help of man and doth best know all her Trade and the proportion of every element and not man whatever such erroneous Scriblers do in their frivolous and false receipts boast of this their volatile Gold This then is the opinion or mind of the Philosophers that when they have put their matter into the more secret fire it be all about cherished with its own moderate Philosophical heat that so beginning to pass through corruption it may grow black This operation they call putrefaction and the blackness they name the head of the Crow They call the ascension and descension thereof distillation ascension and descension they call the exsiccation coagulation and the dealbation calcination And because it is fluid and soft in the heat they have made mention of Ceration when it hath ceased to ascend and remain liquid in the bottom then they say fixation is present After this manner therefore the Appellations and terms of the Philosophical operations are to be understood and no otherwise CHAP. XVIII Of the Instruments and Philosophical Vessel THE Putatitious Philosophers have rashly understood and imagined the Occult and Secret Philosophical Vessel and Aristotle the Alchymist not that Grecian Academical Philosopher hath conceited it worser in that he saith the matter is to be decocted in a threefold Vessel but he hath worst of all understood it that says viz. that the matter in its first separation and first degree requires a Mettalline Vessel in the second degree of Coagulation and dealbation of its own earth a glass Vessel and in the third degree for fixation an earthen Vessel Nevertheless the Philosophers do understand by this Vessel one Vessel only in all operations even to the perfection of the Red Stone seeing therefore that our matter is our root for the white and the red t is necessary that our Vessel ought to be on this wise that the matter therein may be governed by the Celestial Bodies for the invisible Celestial Influences and impressions of the Stars are exceeding necessary to the Work otherwise 't will be impossible for the invincible Oriental Persian Chaldean and Egyptian Stone to be accomplished by which Stone Anaxagoras knew the vertues of the whole Firmament and foretold of the great Stone that should descend down upon the earth out of Heaven the which also happened after his death Verily our Vessel is most chiefly known to the Cabalists because it ought to be framed according to a truly Geometrical proportion and measure and of or by a Certain and assured Quadrature of a Circle or thus that thee Spirit and soul of our matter may in this Vessel elevate with themselves answerable to the altitude of the heaven the things separated from their own body If the Vessel be narrower or wider higher or lower then is fit and then the ruling and operating Spirit and Soul desires the heat of our Philosophical Secret Fire which is indeed most acute would stir up the matter too violently and urge it to overmuch operation that the Vessel would leap into a thousand pieces to the hazard and danger of the body and life of the Operator whereas contrariwise if it be more wide or capacious then for the heat to operate upon the matter according to proportion the work will also be frustrate and vain And therefore our Philosophical Vessel is to be framed with the greatest diligence But as for the matter of this our Vessel they alone do understand it that in the first Solution of our fixt and perfect matter have adduced or brought this matter into its first Essence and so much for this The Operator must likewise most accurately note what it is that the matter in the first Solution le ts fall and casts out from it self The manner of describing the form of the Vessel is difficult it must be such as nature it self requires t is to be sought for and searcht after out of one and the other that so it may from the altitude of the Philosophick Heaven elevated from the Philosophick Earth be able to operate upon the fruit of its own earthly body Verily it ought to have this Form that a separation and purification of the Elements when the Fire drives the One from the other may be made and that each Element may possess its own place in which it sticks and the Sun and the other Planets may exercise their operations round about the Elemental Earth and the course of them may not be hindred in their circuit or be stir'd up with too swift a motion Now according to all these things here spoken of it must have a just proportion of Roundness and Height But the Instruments for the first mundification of Mineral Bodies are melting Vessels Bellows Tongs Capels Cupels Tests Cementatory Vessels Cineritiums Cucurbits Bocia's for Aq. fort and Aq. regia and also some things as are necessary for projection in the last Work CHAP. XIX Of the secret Fire of the Philosophers THis is the renowned Judgement and Opinion of the Philosophers viz. the Fire
sufficiently rude or rustical to treat or write of so great a mysterie Yet nevertheless seeing that by the Grace of the most glorious great God I have made such a progress that I may so speak without vain-glory as but few yea many innumerable thousands of men have not at all arrived unto and besides that that talent which is most mercifully bestowed by the omnipotent God upon me an unworthy Tenant may not lie wholly buried with me I will therefore shew as far forth as lawfully I may from a faithful heart a short Compendium and Declaration of all that whole Art to all the Lovers of the same and also by what means that art is to be attained unto and I will discover to thee the sure infallible yea the most certain and most right way that so haply the eyes of some may by divine grace be opened and that they may be drawn from their afore-conceived false opinion and be led into the right Path and also that this divine miracle may be thereby so much the better revealed But for the better and easier understanding and remembring thereof I will divide this Treatise into four Parts In the first Part I 'le shew the beginning and the way of the entrance of that art and how a man must prepare himself thereunto In the second shall be shewed according to a Philosophical description and instruction how the matter of this Art is to be gotten and known and moreover the manner of the whole preparation and the institution of the regiment thereof shall be demonstrated In the third we shall speak of the most plentiful profit and benefit of that Art of the high and unspeakable efficacy and vertue thereto given and attributed In the fourth Part shall follow the Spiritual Allegory the which may in all things be compared with this magistery it being a true painted Idea of the true celestial everlasting blessed most high Corner-stone wherein shall be described briefly and plainly for I do not much mind many curious and beauteous circumstances the true and right golden Leadings as 't were by the hand thereunto appertaining THE First Part Psalm 25. v. 12. Who is he that feareth the Lord him shall he direct in the best way FIrst of all Every Godly Chymist that truly fears God and is a Philosopher of that Art must above all things consider that this Art and Arcanum is to be accounted as not only the highest and greatest but likewise as an holy Art for the highest good and stamp of the most holy celestial Omnipotent God is imprinted therein and painted thereon if therefore any one thinks to attain to that high and unspeakable mysterie let him know that such an Art is not in the power of man but consists in the most gracious will and pleasure of God and that it is not the Will or Desire but the meer Mercy of the Almighty that helps man thereunto T is very expedient therefore that above all things thou beest Pious and that thy heart be lifted up to him alone and that thou askest that gift of him alone by a true most ardent and undoubtful praying for from him alone it is to be obtained and by him alone is given If therefore the Omnipotent God who is the most certain Searcher of all hearts perceives and finds that thou hast in thee a right and faithful mind void of deceit and that thy endeavours in the search and learning thereof are for no other end but the praise and glory of God then without all doubt he will also according to his promise hear thee and will so guide thee by his holy Spirit that thou mayst commodiously arrive by mediums to some beginning of which verily thou never hadst a thought and shalt moreover thy self perceive in thine own heart how the most merciful God hath most graciously heard thy prayer and will even as 't were forthwith exhibit thee a revelation and shew thee an happy entrance Then after this prostrate thy self upon thy knees and with an humble and a contrite heart give unto him due thanks praise glory and honour for the hearing of thy prayers and withall beg and entreate him again and again that he would vouchsafe also to propagate by his holy Spirit that grace he hath begun to shew thee and which thou hast perceived in thine heart and that he would so guide thee as rightly to use so high a mysterie if it be now perfectly revealed unto thee and that thou mayst so mannage it that it may be wholly directed to the only glory and honour of his most holy blessed name and to the benefit and succour of thy needy neighbour Besides thou must consider and then duly advise with thy self that thou never revealest that mysterie to the wicked and unworthy one much less communicate it or make him a partaker thereof for fear of the loss of thine eternal health and happiness Briefly do not at any rate abuse it but convert it as we said but now to the glory of God only and not to thine own proper praise Furthermore thou must likewise consider and believe that except thou doest thus thou maist haply run much hazard in the running of thy race and God will not leave thee unpunisht and then it would have been a thousand times better for thee never to have known any thing thereof These things being well weighed and having as 't were devoted thy self to God therein who will not be mocked having prefixt to thy self on this account a good scope and aim then at length first of all begin to learn how the Triune God did from the beginning ordain an universal nature then learn what that is what it can do and how it operates even to this very day after a certain manner in all things invisibly and consists in the alone will and pleasure of God and hath its aboad there For without the true knowledge of nature thou canst hardly begin that work without rashness and danger But the quality and property of nature is viz. that it be one only true simple in its own perefect essence and moreover that a certain occult Spirit be shut up and hid therein If therefore now thou wouldst know her then its behovefull that thou beest even as Nature her self is viz. true simple constant patient yea pious and no waies hurtful unto thy neighbour but briefly such an one must be a new and regenerated man If therefore thou knowest thy self to be thus qualified then nature will presently suit it self to nature and there will necessarily follow to thee an evident unspeakable benefit both of body and soul. For the diligent Search and Speculation of that Art will be so very exceedingly profitable and assistant unto thee that provided thou rightly knowest the principles therein they will as it were violently draw and lead thee to the knowledge of divine wonders in so much that in comparison of it every temporal thing and what is most highly valued by the world will
notwithstanding is in every thing and in every place to be found but as to its potency t is in this only alone and altogether or wholly perfect Briefly they say that it is such a spiritual substance as is neither celestial nor infernal but an aereal pure and excellent body which is posited as a medium betwixt the highest and lowest t is likewise the most choice and most precious thing under the whole heaven Contrariwise it is esteemed by such as understand not the thing or are new beginners to learn it for a most vile thing and most abject or base as 't were yet notwithstanding though many a wise man seek after it there are but a few that find it it is to be considered of or be beheld afar of and is to be taken near at hand and besides it is to be seen of all yet is known but by a few as is to be seen in this here-following verse viz This precious good is divided into three and yet is but one T is what the world cares not for but disesteems it It hath it in its sight carries it in its hands yet is ignorant thereof for it passeth away with a sudden pace without being known Yet these treasures are the chiefest and he that knows the Art the Expressions and hath the medium will be richer then any other A Philosophical Enigma IN which the first material subject of the Art of the wise men otherwise called the Phenix of the Philosophers being wholly divided is to be triplicitly or threefold wise found The Enigma Philosophical IF I tell thee of the three parts of every thing thou hast no cause to complain for I tell thee the truth Thou needest the three-leaved grass sue to Jehovah by thy prayers Seek for one in three and thou shalt have one out of three T is called by a thousand names t is a body soul and spirit Is beautified with Salt Sulphur and an heavy Mercurie Trust me if thou understandest the three-leaved grass and knowest the Voice and Song then art thou a wise Artist Another Enigma much more plain THere is one thing in this world is everywhere to be found and that as it were accidentally or casually without care of a grayish and greenish colour and of a wonderfull power In this thing is both a white and red colour It flows hither like a swift stream and runs away like a river It wets not and is made of an heavy weight light I could give it a thousand names but thousands know it not T is common to be seen but the Art of it is difficult He that dissolves it by a medium and finisheth it the third time is a wise man and rightly hath this noble subject Another Enigma THE place of the birth of this stone is everywhere its conception is in the deep its birth in the earth it finds life in the heavens it dies in time and then at length obtains everlasting blessedness If therefore any one hath ready at hand this thus-mentioned matter that is so vertuously endowed the which is partly celestial and partly terrestrial and is at the beginning a right confusion or commixtion or a certain mixt essence worthily so called whose colour is not to be named or which hath no proper colour to be named by and doth know it rightly and well the which knowledge hath been accounted at all times by the Philosophers for a principal member of this work then must all such things as are requisite thereunto and which are required in the preparation thereof be with the greatest study and diligence performed But yet notwithstanding afore that the singular manual labour therewithall be undertook t is very necessary that every pious Artist do again recall to his mind with much diligence the doctrine aforesaid and that withall he be faithfully admonished not to infold as 't were himself with that secret work and that unsearchable Spirit that lies hidden thereunder except he shall first have diligently searched it in its profound qualities and proportion and according to the requisite conformity to nature even as some of the Philosophers do admonish us concerning that thing and say See thou hast no commerce with this Spirit except thou first hast an exact knowledge and understanding thereof For God is wonderful in his works and his wisdom is without number and as is aforesaid he will not suffer himself to be mocked Verily here might be some examples produced viz. of many that have too too slightly infolded themselves as t were or intermedled with this Art and having adventured thereon their successes have been very bad insomuch that some have been found dead in the work it self or else most grievously wounded by some other unfortuate mischance for t is not a thing of such a small concernment as many dream and imagine because the Philosophers compare it to boies play and womens work and that they are able to do the same The Philosophers intention was otherwise then so for they meant the following and successive labour of this work which is in it self easie enough and utterly as t were void of any great moment and they accounted it as simple and easie to such only as were ordained by God thereunto and were endowed with the knowledge thereof Beware therefore beware I say and take heed to thy self that thou dost not over-rashly involve thy self in danger but much more rather begin thy purposed work with prayers poured out to God for divine help as we have at the beginning faithfully admonished thee and then shalt thou fear nothing at all nor haply shalt thou be subject to any danger If therefore now thou hast employed thy self with much diligence in thy Oratory and hast the known matter at hand then mayst thou commodiously apply thy self to a studious diligence in thy Laboratory and apply thereto a convenient Manual Labour and so make a beginning First of all therefore it is necessary that above all things you dissolve that so oft spoken of first matter or first Ens which the Philosophers likewise have called the highest good of nature then is it to be purified from aquosity or its waterishness and its terrestreity for it doth at first appear to such as behold it an earthy grave heavy gross pituitous and as it were a kinde of cloudy and aqueous body and its darkish and gross cloudy shadow wherewith it is shadowed must be removed by thee that so by this means its heart and inward soul that lies hidden therein may likewise and next that precedent purifying be by a more ample sublimation divided thereout of and be reduced into a sweet and pleasant Essence But now all this may be done by the great and excellent Catholick or Universal water the which by its most swift and as 't were flying course and passing to and fro doth moisten and make fruitfull the whole circuit of the earth and is indeed done so sweetly fairly clearly brightly and splendidly that the splendor thereof
the most antient who was before the foundations of the world were laid yea even from eternity Isaiah 45. Daniel 7. Esay 43. Psalm 90. He is the right the hidden and unknown God supernatural incomprehensible celestial blessed and most praise-worthy Mark 16. the alone Saviour and consequently the God of all Gods Deut. 10. He is certain and true and cannot lye Numb 23. Rom. 3. yea the most certain of all and doth even what pleaseth him and is the alone Potentate Genes 17. Ephes. 3. He is the most secret or unknown and eternal in whom all the treasures and mysteries of wisdom lie hidden Rom. 16. Col. 2. The alone divine vertue and omnipotency which is hid from and unknown unto fools or the wise ones of this world He is the right the alone and perfect agreement of all the elements from whom and by whom all things proceed and in whom all things are Rom. 11. James 1 viz. of an incorruptible essence which no element can dissolve or separate Psalm 16. Acts 2. 13. Likewise he is the Q. Es. yea the essence of all essences and yet notwithstanding is properly no essence he is the true and right duplicate Mercurie or the Gyant and Champion of a twofold substance Matth. 26. Even as t is sung of him in the Hymn or Song viz. By nature a God a man a worthy c. who hath in himself a Celestial Spirit who also vivifies all things yea is the life it self Wisd. 7. Esai 42. Joh. 14. He is the alone only perfect Saviour of all the imperfect bodies and men the true heavenly Physitian of the soul the eternal Light that enlightens all men Isa. 60. John 1. the highest medicine for all diseases the right Spiritual Panacaea Wisd. 16. The noble Phoenix that doth again refresh and quicken with his own blood his own chickens as are wounded and slain by that old Serpent the Devil Yea he is the choicest treasure or highest good in heaven and earth Psalm 83. Wisdom 7. The triune universal essence which is called JEHOVAH Deut. 6. and is of One viz. the divine essence then of two God and man then moreover of three viz. Persons also of four viz. three Persons and one divine essence So likewise of five viz. three Persons and two essences viz. divine and withall humane Besides God is the right Catholick Magnesia or universal Sperm of the world John 1. of whom and by whom and in whom all both celestial and terrestrial creatures have their essence motion and original Gen. 1. Iohn 1. Acts 17. Rom. 11. Heb. 1. and briefly he is the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord who is who was who is to come the Almighty Rev. 1. But now even as in the afore-mentioned Philosophical work it is not sufficient to know the matter only and to receive or acknowledge it for a triune essence and to learn the Quality and Property thereof But t is moreover necessary that you know how to obtain it and how to be made a partaker of the benefit thereof the which cannot be done by any other means then as we have said above viz. those three things are to be first dissolved and putrified whereby its darkish shadow and hairy rough essence wherewith it was at first shadowed over and was consequently beheld and visible in a deformed and inhumane or ungentle shape may be again taken off then also even as by a further sublimation its heart and internal soul that lies hid therein is to be again drawn out of it by the universal pleasant and fire-like-shining Sea-water and reduced into a certain corporal essentiality Even so and indeed much less able are we to know that triune divine essence which is called JEHOVAH unless it be first of all in relation to us even as it were dissolved and putrified and the veil of Moses and the wrathful visage or shape the which shape is naturally to us all an impediment or hinderance and a terrour be took away therefrom and that the heart and inward soul which lies hid therein that is his Son who is the Lord Christ be by the help and assistance of the holy Spirit the which doth likewise purifie our hearts like to clear pure water Ezek. 36. Esai 44. yea doth also like to the divine fire enlighten us Jerem. 23. Mat. 3. and doth fill us with a sweet and pleasant comfort Iohn 16. Ephes. 4. produced thereout of and learned and be furthermore converted or turned into an humane God or God-man But now even as in the Philosophick work the matter being dissolved into its three parts or principles must be congealed with its own proper salt and reduced into one only essence the which is afterwards called the Salt of wisdom So likewise is it with God and his heart that is the Son must be united to the Father by their proper Salt the which Salt is in like manner essentially implanted in God and must necessarily be believed and acknowledged for one God and not be accounted as two or three Gods and Essences If therefore thou hast by this means known God by his Son and as it were separated them and hast again notwithstanding coupled and conjoyned them by the Spirit of divine wisdom and the bond of charity or agreement Then behold the invisible and unknown God Isa. 45. is made visible knowable and intelligible who doth no more appear then as afore so wrathful and so displeased but appears after a most courteous gentle and most friendly way and manner and doth then suffer himself to be felt beheld and seen by thee whereas formerly God afore that his Son Christ was formed and fashioned in us Gal. 4. was much rather a terrible God Deut. 7. 18. yea a consuming fire and is so called But yet notwithstanding the knowledge of that divine triune essence is not as yet sufficiently and fortunately or blessedly enough used or conceived of except thou makest a further progress in the knowledge of him especially of his heart and so growest more and more on for even as the abovesaid and hitherto prepared subject in the Philosophical work is without further preparation rather hurtful then profitable to thee in medicine for the body even so also is Christ 1 John 4. whom unless thou knowest better and more perfect he is but very little as yet conduceable or availeable for a spiritual medicine for thy soul but will much rather turn to thy condemnation and therefore also if thou wouldst be made a partaker of him and of those celestial gifts and treasures and enjoy them prosperously then is it necessary that thou proceedest on farther in the personal knowledge of him and not set him before thee and conceive of him as pure-meer-God but well to observe that fulness of time appointed by God Gal. 4. wherein he received his additional that is God and man together yea he was made the Son of man For even as in the Philosophick work it is again said
stone of the Philosophers and Chymical King doth by its tincture bestow this benefit and doth also comprehend in it self by its perfected process this efficacy and virtue as to be capable of transmuting and tinging the other imperfect simple and disesteemed mettals into pure gold So also yea and much more rather doth that heavenly King that fundamental corner stone Jesus Christ only and alone purify us by his blessed tincture that is by his blood of a Rosey colour and cleanse us sinners and imperfect men from our innate adamical defilements and dregs yea he doth more then perfectly cure and heal us 1 John 1. and as the Scripture speaking thereof doth testify that there is no other salvation nor medium either in the Heaven or the Earth whereby we may obtain everlasting blessedness and perfection but only the name of Jesus Acts 4. For albeit that the blind and mad world hath by the cozenage and deceit of Satan sought after many and various mediums and wayes of obtaining everlasting happiness and perfection and have earnestly busied themselves thereabout yet notwithstanding Christ Jesus is the only and alone Saviour and Mediatour in whom and by whom we are justifyed and blessed before God and are again purified from the Spiritual Leprosy of sin even like unto the one only terrene Saviour and Chymical King by whom all the imperfect mettals do purchase and obtain their perfection and moreover by it are cured all diseases but especially the incureable and corporal Leprosy So therefore all the other mediums and those arts that are studyed and contrived by men themselves viz. such as the Jews Turks Heathens and other hereticks have published and are as yet defended and maintained as necessary mediums are to speak properly thereof much rather void of Spirit are false and Sophisticate Alchimy Col. 2. Beware least any one c. by which we men are not purifyed but are hindred are not vivifyed or enlivened but weakned yea are at length wholy mortifyed like to the falsely so called Alchimy which hath found out many and diverse tinctures and colours by which men are not only deceived but likewise as too toomuch misery it is daily experience doth more then enough testify they are oftentimes cast into the peril and danger of their goods and corporal life But now if we men would be again purifyed from our impure filths and feces viz. from that Adamical Original sin wherewith the whole nature of man was at the beginning corrupted as if it were with some destructive poyson inspired or breathed into our first parents by the devil and in which we are all conceived and born Psal. 51. Job 15. and would be again made perfect and happy John 3. then it must be done by a new regeneration of the holy Spirit yea by water and the spirit even like as the Chymical King also is regenerated by water and the spirit and doth thereby obtain its perfection in which new and spiritual regeneration 1 Pet. 3. the which is accomplished from above in the holy Baptisme by the water and the spirit must we be washed and purifyed by the blood of Christ and so be made one body with him and cloath our selves with him as 't were with a garment as Paul saith in Col. 3. and Ephes. 5. for even as the Philosophers stone doth aftetwards unite it self by its Tincture with the other Mettals and is together with them reduced into a perfect and indissoluble body so also Christ as being the head of us all 1 Cor. 4. doth even unite himself with his members by his rosey coloured tincture and reduceth and perfects it into a perfect body and building Rom. 12. 1 Cor. 12. Ephes. 5. which is created according to God in Joh. 3. right and true Justice and holiness Eph. 4. And verily that regeneration of man which is performed by the holy Spirit in holy Baptism is properly no other thing than a certain inward spiritual renewing of fallen man with God and Christ 1 Cor. 12. In so much that whereas afore we were carnal in relation to the birth made by our father and mother and were by nature enemies to God and sons of wrath Rom. 2. Eph. 2. we are now by means of the second and spiritual birth in holy Baptism made friends and sons yea heirs of God and coheirs with Christ Heb. 3. For for this reason Christ also dyed and rose and revived Rom. 14. that by this his process that is by his Passion Death Resurrection and Ascension we might have an entrance into an holy place or house not made with hands and that he might prepare for us the way to an everlasting Country And therefore also is it necessary that we likewise as his brethren and sisters Math. 12. Ephes. 5. and Psal. 22. do follow him in sufferings Math. 8. and grow up and increase in an acceptable humility Luke 12. and in other virtues and moreover that we be altother conformable and suitable to or for his body that so at last even we also who have followed him here in the regeneration and are dead and mortifyed in him may likewise live with him and enter into his glory The which spiritual exhortation and Christian imitation of our celestial King his life and deeds comes not from our worth merit or proper and peculiar pleasure for the natural man is together with all his faculties blind deaf and dead in spiritual things but meerly and only 1 Jo. 5. by the efficacy and operation of the holy Spirit which is effectual and powerful in us by the blessed washing or bath of regeneration and baptism after the same sort is it with minerals and Mettals which being in themselves dead Hebr. 10. and rusty as it were and cannot possibly purify or amend themselves are even by the help of the spagyrical spirit purified renewed dissolved and perfected If therefore now we are again as we have heard regenerated by the water and the spirit 2 Cor. 5. that is by the blessed baptism and by the red fountain or stream tincted by Christ and incorporated with the Lord Christ our heavenly King 1 Cor. 3. and are washed with his blood from our hereditary sins and are purified and are made partakers of the first fruits of his holy Spirit Then is it expedient that we be fed and that we drink at the beginning a little and a little according to the saying of St. Peter with pure and wholsome milk like new born babes yea like infants in Christ until at length we becoming like living Apoc. 1. and ripe stones are built up to a spiritual house and high Priest-hood and made fitting to offer up spiritual Sacrifices such as are well pleasing and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for verily a Christian man regenerated by the water and the spirit doth not comprehend all at once nor is able to apprehend all but 't is needful that he grow up and increase day by day and by little and little in the
the which doth especially teach viz. how the evil and impure is to be known and distinguished from the good and pure by which Prov. 2. the inbecillity and corruption of nature may be succoured and a right promotion or forwarding may be administred the which then in the augmentation and encrease of Mettals may be compared after such a like manner as the endeavours of them are that would afford help to the ripening of any fruit that by some accident or other hath been impeded from arriving to a just maturity or that obtain of one little grain or seed a manifold encrease and it may be done and perfected with a very mean price As for the other sophisticate and false-chymick Art I do not at all mean that nor understand it neither do I desire to learn it Eccles. 3. For albeit those kind of masters do therein prate of many a crooked way and do vainly promise meer golden Mountains which notwithstanding are haply far enough off from them yet that false Chymick art bestows nothing at all constant but is only wont to spend much charges and costs and procure rash labours and doth finally oftentimes waste away the body and life it self And therefore if there be some one or other of those kind of Chymists that thou maist meet withall who brag of the true Chymical Art and of such an Art as is agreeable to nature and would willingly teach it thee or any other body for the sake of money and pretend that themselves are not able to disburse the costs and charges that belong thereunto then be faithfully admonished that thou dost not trust such men too much for most times there lies a Snake in the grass Mich. 2. If I should be of an erring spirit c. Besides I can truly affirm that all the cost which haply is to be expended about the whole universal work setting aside the daily food and nourishing or sustaining of the fire doth not exceed the price of 3. Florins for the matter as we have heard above is partly vile or abject and by reason of that its vileness partly contemptible as it were and is every-where to be found more then enough for the supply of your necessity and that without much trouble So also the labour is easie and not very laborious or painful Briefly the whole Art is most simply and most easily comprehended by the pious and by such as are chosen by God thereunto Psal. 112. But 't is most difficult to the impious and wicked and in a manner impossible Prov. 3. And now that I may at length finish my Epilogue therefore I shall as for a farewel communicate this likewise unto thee viz. that if the omnipotent God shall bestow upon thee his grace in revealing to thee that pious and holy Art then must thou rightly use it and be a silent man and for the sake of that thing put a strong bolt before thy mouth Eccl. 23. O that I could keep c. v. 7. c. and shut it fast lest haply thy arrogancy and pride throw thee headlong as well by God as men into danger and loss and into temporal and eternal destruction And therefore have an especial care thereunto Whoever seeketh riches by this holy Art Let him be pious and simple silent and upright He that doth not thus shall on the contrary Be made poor beggerly bare and miserable All these things my beloved friend as well for admonitions as valedictions sake I would not have concealed from thee being fraught with an undoubted hope that thou hast sufficiently understood me in all points unless God hath barred up thine eyes and ears for verily I could not disclose it more faithfully and expresly nor describe it more manifestly with the keeping of a good conscience then I have done So therefore if thou art not able to understand or learn it from hence then verily I fear me that thou wilt most hardly comprehend it by any other institution The Appendix KNow likewise that if by reason of that gift vouchsafed thee by God thou hap to wax proud or to be covetous under the cover or excuse of a provident care of thy family and sparingness and dost hereby tempt thy self to a turning away from God by little and little then know for I speak the truth that that Art will vanish from under thy hands insomuch that thou shalt not know how thou didst it The which thing verily hath befallen more then one beyond their expectation In the Summary c. 't is written IF thou followest this my doctrine and beest pious And takest the matter that I have related unto thee If likewise thou preparest it after the accustomed manner Thou shalt have the treasures of the whole World But now if thy intention be good and that thou beest careful of good things the Omnipotent God may most graciously bestow upon thee his favour and divine blessing The which thing I pray God from the very root of my heart to bestow upon thee A Prayer O Omnipotent eternal God the Heavenly Father of Light from whom even every good and perfect thing proceeds We beseech thee of thy Infinite mercy to vouchsafe us rightly to know thine eternal wisedome which is continually about thy Throne and by which all things were created and made and are governed and preserved even to this very day send it us from thy holy Heaven and from the Throne of thy glory that it may be together with us and may assist us in our labour because it is the mistress of all Celestial and hidden Arts yea it also knows and understands all things Grant that it may in some measure accompany us in all works that so by the Spirit thereof we may certainly and without any errour learn the true understanding and infallible process of this most noble Art that is the miraculous Stone of the Wise men which thou hast hidden from the World and art wont to reveal to thine elect only and may then first begin rightly and truly that highest and chiefest work that we can here accomplish and may constantly proceed in that same labour and also at length happily finish it and may eternally enjoy it with rejoycing through that Celestial and from eternity founded miraculous Corner-stone Jesus Christ who together with thee O God the Father and with the Holy Spirit true God in one divine indissoluble essence ruleth and reigneth a tri-une God most worthy of praise for ever and evermore Amen Joshua 21. v. 43 45. And the Lord gave unto Israel all the Land which he promised to give unto their Fathers There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel all things came to pass Deut. 32. v. 3. Ascribe glory to our God only Amen FINIS Books Printed and are to be sold by Giles Calvert at the black-spred Eagle at the West-end of Pauls THe History of Diodorus Siculus containing all that which is most memorable and of greatest Antiquity in the first ages of the World until the war of Troy in folio Renodaeus his Dispensatory containing the whole body of Physick discovering the natures and Properties and vertues of Vegetals Minerals and Animals in folio Gadburies Doctrine of Nativities Doctor Pordages Innocency appearing through the Dark Mists of pretended guilt in folio Cornelius Agrippa his occult Philosophy in 3 Books in quarto Henry Laurence Lord President his book Entituled Our Communion and War with Angels in quarto Christopher Goad his Sermons Entituled Refreshing Drops and Scorching Vials in quarto Samuel Gorton his Exposition on the fifth Chapter of James in quarto Samuel Hartlib of Bees and Silkworms in quarto Williams his Book called the Bloody Tenet of Persecution for cause of conscience in quarto Doctor Gells Sermon Entituled Noahs Flood returning in quarto Several Pieces of Christopher Blackwood now publick Teacher in Ireland in quarto Jacob Behem his Signatura Rerum or Signature of all things in quarto His Epistles explaining many things written in his other Books in quarto Of Election and Predestination in quarto His Book Entituled Aurora or the day-spring lately printed in quarto Several Pieces of Isaac Penington Junior in quarto The Spiritual journey of a yongman a piece translated out of Dutch Biggs of the vanity of the Craft of Physick or a new Dispensatory in quarto Collier his Pulpit-guard routed in quarto His Font-guard routed in quarto Simon Hendon his key of Scripture Prophesies in quarto Mr. Parker his Answer to the Assembly in large octavo Several pieces of Thomas Collier in large octavo Tillom on the eleventh Chapter of the Revelations in large octavo Henry Laurence Lord President his Book of Baptism in large octavo Reeves Sermons Entituled the Strait-Gate in large octavo Several pieces of H. N. in octavo namely Prophecy of the Spirit of Love Revelatio Dei or the Revelation of God Introduction to the Glass of Righteousness Evangelium Regni a joyful message of the Kingdome Spiritual Tabernacle The first Exhortation The Apology for the service of Love all in octavo Samuel Hartlibs Chymical addresses in octavo Thomas Butler his little Bible of the Man or the book of God opened in Man in octavo Crooked Paths made strait or the wayes of God made known in lost sinners by A. Yeomans in octavo Laurences Gospel separation separated from abuses Simmons Saints like Christ in octavo William Sedgwick his eleven Sermons Intituled Some Flashes of Lightnings of the Son of Man in octavo A Word of Peace from the Prince of Peace by J. Hatch in octavo Mysteries unvailed wherein the Doctrine of Redemption by Christ is handled by Robert Gardner in octavo Parnel his good tidings for Sinners great joy for Saints in octavo Bâ—scos Glorious Mysteries in octavo The confession and Fame of the Rosie Cross by English Philolethes in octavo Peytons History of the Râ—se Raign and Ruine of the House of Stuarts in octavo Larkhams Sermons in octavo Bacons Catechâ—sm in twelves Corporations vindicated in their fundamental Liberties by Charles Hotham in twelves John Saltmarsh his book of Free Grace in twelves And his book Intituled Sparkles of Glory or some beams of the morning Star in twelves Dawnings of Light in twelves