hedged with infinite briars and we have made a Vow unto God and Equity that we would never in naked words declare each Regimen for I can assure you upon my credit that I have in other things discovered the truth plainly Take then that ☿ which I have described and unite with Sol to which 't is most friendly and in seven moneths in our true Regimen of heat thou shalt for certain see all which thou desirest or in nine moneths or ten at the most but our ☽ in its full thou shalt see in five moneths And these are the true periods of this 🜠out of which by reiterate decoction thou shalt have our Stone and permanent Tinctures through the grace of God to whom be all glory and honour for ever CHAP. 20. Of the appearing of Blackness in the Work of Sol and Luna IF thou shalt work in Sol or ☽ to our 🜠in them consider if you see this matter like to paste and to boyl like unto water or rather like to melted pitch for our Sol and ☿ have an emblematical Type in Sol vulgar joyned with and decocted in our ☿ When thou hast kindled thy Furnace wait for the space of 20 dayes and nights in which time thou shalt observe divers colours and about the end of the fourth week if the fire be continual thou shalt see a most amiable greenness which will be seen for about ten dayes less or more then rejoyce for without doubt in a short time thou shalt see it like unto a coal in blackness and all the members of thy Compound shall be turned into Atomes for the Operation is no other than a Resolution of the fixt in that which is not fixt that afterwards both being joyned together may make one matter partly spiritual and partly corporal Therefore saith the Philosopher Take Corascene Dog and Bitch of Armenia joyn them together and they shall beget thee a Son of the colour of the heaven for these Natures in a short decoction shall be turned into a broth like unto the foam of the Sea or like a thick cloud which shall be tinctured with a livid colour and once more I may assure thee that I have not hidden any thing save only the Regimen and this if thou art wise thou shalt easily collect from my Lines Supposing then that thou wilt learn the Regimen Take the Stone which I have told you of before and govern it as you know how and there shall follow these notable things first as soon as our Stone shall feel the fire it shall flow its 🜠and its ☿ together upon the fire like to wax and the 🜠shall be burned and the colour shall change day by day but the ☿ is incombustible only it shall be affected with the colours of the 🜠for a time but it cannot be radically affected therefore it will wash Letton clean from all its filth reiterate the heaven upon the earth so long and so often until the earth receive a spiritual and heavenly nature O blessed Nature which doth that which is impossible for Man to do Therefore when in thy glass thou shalt see thy Natures to be mingled like unto a coagulated and burnt blood know that then the Female is embraced by the Male Therefore after the first stirring up of the Matter expect that in 17 dayes thy two Natures shall be turned into a bloody or fatted Broth which shall be turned round together like unto a thick Cloud or the scum of the Sea as is before said and the colour of it will be exceeding obscure then be sure that the Kingly Child is Conceived and from that time thou shalt see vapours green blew black and yellow in the Air or Fire and at the sides of the Vessel These are those Winds which in the forming of our Embryon are very frequent which are to be kept warily lest they fly out and the Work be destroyed beware also of the Odour lest it happen to exhale at any chink for the vertue of the Stone would thereby get a most notable detriment therefore the Philosopher commands to keep the Vessel close sealed and beware that you do not break off abruptly from the Work neither open nor move the Vessel nor yet intermit the Operation not an hour but continue the Decoction till you see the moisture begin to fail which will be in about thirty dayes then rejoice and rest assured that thou art in the right way Attend the Work vigilantly for in about two weeks from the time thou shalt see the whole earth dry and notably black then is the death of thy Compound at hand the Winds are ceased and all are rest and quietness This is the fatal Ecclipse of the Sun and of the Moon when no light shall shine upon the Earth and the Sea shall vanish then is made our Chaos out of which at the command of God shall proceed all the Miracles of the World in their orders CHAP. 21. Of the Burning of the Flowers and how to prevent it THe burning of the Flowers is an errour of fatal consequence yet soon committed before the Natures which are tender and extracted from their profundity they are oftentimes burnt this errour is chiefly to be heeded after the three weeks for in the beginning there is so much moisture that if the Work be governed by a stronger fire than is convenient it being brittle will not bear the abundance of winds but will suddenly fly in pieces unless the glass be too large and then sure the vapours will be so out of measure dispersed that they will hardly return again to their body at least not so much as is necessary for the refreshment of the Stone But so soon as the earth shall begin to retain part of its water then the vapours decreasing the fire may be strengthened without danger of the Vessel but the Work will nevertheless be destroyed and will have a colour of a wild Poppie and the whole Compound will at length become a dry and unprofitable powder of a half red colour Thou shalt conclude from this sign that thy fire hath been too strong so strong to wit as to hinder true conjunction for know that our Work doth require a true change of Natures which cannot be until an entire union of both Principles be made but they cannot be united but in the form of water for bodies may be confounded or blended together but cannot be united nor yet can any body with a spirit be united per minima but spirits with spirits may well be united therefore our Operations must become Homogeneal Metallick Water the way to which Solution is our foregoing true Calcination which therefore is not an exsiccation properly but a kind grind of water as earth in Atomes which when they become more subtle than the exigencies of the earth requires earth is then actually transmuted into and doth receive the form of Ferment of water but if the fire be too vehement this spiritual Nature being struck
Chymical Phantasticks dream for although the ☉ joyn with our ☿ yet a year after you shall separate each from the other in its own nature unless you decoct them together in a convenient degree of fire otherwise they will not be altered he who will affirm the contrary is no Philosopher They who wander in Errours Path do dream that it is a matter of very light concernment to dissolve the perfect bodies in our ☿ in so much that according to their imaginations Gold in this will be devoured in the twinkling of an eye not well understanding the place of Bernard Trevisan in his Parable concerning his Golden Book irrecoverably drowned in his Fountain But how hard a Work it is to dissolve Bodies they can witness who have taken pains in this dissolution I my self who have been oft taught this Lesson by ocular testimony can be a witness that it is a most ingenious thing to govern the fire even after the matter is prepared such a fire as may dissolve the Bodies as they ought to be dissolved without burning their tinctures Attend then to my Doctrin Take the Body which I have shewed you and put it into the water of our Sea and decoct it continually with a due heat of fire that both Dews and Clouds may ascend and drops may descend both night and day without intermission and know that in this Circulation the ☿ doth arise in its former nature and leaves the body beneath its former nature so long until after a long time the body begin to retain part of its soul so by degrees both begin to partake each of other but because the whole water doth not ascend by sublimation part of it remains below in the bottom of the vessel therefore is the body boyled in the water that remains beneath and by its means it is sifted and the drops which are continually running down do perforate the masse marvelously and by continual Circulation the water is made more subtle and doth sweetly extract the soul of the Sun so by the mediation of the soul the spirit is reconciled with the body and an union of both is made at the utmost within fifty dayes and this Operation is called the Regimen of ☿ because the ☿ is circulated above and in it the body of the Sun is boyled beneath and the body is in his work passive until the colours shall appear which will be a little about the twentieth day in a good and continual ebullition which colours are afterwards increased multiplyed and varied until all be at last completed in black of the blackest most black which the fiftieth day will give thee If Fates thee call CHAP. 25. Of the second Regimen of the Work which is of Saturn HAving run through the Regimen of ☿ which is to strip the King of his golden Robes to assault the Lion with divers conflicts to weary him and at length to kill him the next Regimen that apears is that of ♄ for it is the will of God that the Work when once it 's begun should be carried on even unto the end and the law of those Operations is that the ending of one is the entrance of another the period of one the beginning of another Nor doth the Regimen of ☿ sooner pass away but his succesor ♄ comes in who is the next higher in succession the Lion dying the Crow is ingendred This Regimen lineal in respect of the colour for there is but one only colour and that is the blackest black but neither fumes nor winds nor any symbole of Life only the Compound will at some seasons appear dry otherwhiles boyling like to melted Pitch O sad sight the Image of eternal Death But withal a most pleasant Messenger to the Artist for the blackness is not ordinary intense so that it shines again for blackness and when thou seest thy Matter swelling beneath like unto a Paste rejoyce for know that within this there is shut a quickening spirit which in its appointed time will restore Life from the Almighty and these Carkases Be thou only careful of the fire which thou must be sure to govern with a sound judgement and I swear unto thee upon the Faith of an honest Man that if thou urge thy Fire so as to make ought to sublime in the dayes of this Regimen thou wilt destroy the Work irrecoverably be content then with good Trevisan to be detained in prison forty dayes and nights and suffer the tender Nature to remain below in the bottom which is the Nest of their Conception knowing for certain then that when the period of time is expired which the Almighty hath appointed the spirit will arise glorious and glorifie its body it will ascend I say and be circulated sweetly and without violence and from the Centre it shall ascend unto the Heavens and again from the Heavens it shall descend to the Centre and it shall receive the vertue of that which is above and that which is beneath CHAP. 26. Of the Regimen of Jupiter AFter black ♄ ♃ succeeds who is of divers colours for after the putrefaction and corruption which is made in the bottom of the vessel through the command of God thou shalt again see change the colours and a circulating sublimation This Regimen is not durable for it continues not more than three weeks space in which time all colours imaginable in the World will be to be seen of which no certain account can possibly be rendred In these dayes the showres shall be multiplyed continually and at the last after all these things most beautiful to behold there shall shew it self a whiteness at the sides of the vessel like unto rays or hairs then rejoyce for now thou art hapily run through the Regimen of ♃ The greatest caution in this Regimen is lest when the Chickens of the Crow have left their Nest they return to it again also lest you draw out the water too immoderately so the earth beneath want it and be left dry and unprofitable in the bottom lastly lest thou waterest thy earth so intemperately as to suffocate it which errour thou shalt help by the good Regimen of external Fire CHAP. 27. Of the Regimen of Luna AFter the finishing of Jupiter's Regimen about the closing of the fourth moneth the sign of the Moon Crescent shall appear unto thee and know that the whole Regimen of ♃ is imployed about the washing of Letton the washing Spirit is very white in its nature but the body which is to be washed is very black in the passage whereof to white all the middle colours shall be seen after which all will become white not in a day but gradually it shall arise from white to the whitest of all and know that in this Operation there shall be a season in which all shall appear like to liquid Argent Vive and this is called The sealing of the Mother in the belly of her own Infant which she brought forth and in this Regimen there shall
of the old or of the following Ages Oh! how far are the Rivers Merrha and Siloam from one another How much disparity is between these and other Writings which hitherto endevoured to hinder the blindfolded World from her precipice and ruine Yet I would it had pleased this most worth Author to have committed to the publique Press his noble and polisht writings himself for I hear he hath also written a Dialogue concerning the watry Fire or Liquor Alkahest then I could not doubt but we should have all more correct and perfect Now although I have been most diligent and careful yet as it often falls out in such matters or cases because I was to use a Manuscript not so very exact I dare not affirm that all things strictly agree with the words of the Author for oftentimes where the sense was manifestly difficult it was made plain by the alteration or change of a small letter nevertheless we have been studiously wary that wheresoever any firm sense might be gathered there we would not rashly alter it We hartily wish and humbly pray if the Divine Author be yet living That either he himself would commit his Writings corrected and prepared according to his mind to be printed Or if he design to make use of our service That he will please to convey to our hands the true Manuscript after any manner he think fit and we shall esteem or repute it for a great Honour to have our things well corrected for our love to the Publick Good having no other aim at all Kind Reader do thou interpret all this to the best construction considering that if these like some Patrimonial Treasures had travailed longer under the communication of private Copies perhaps in a little time either many more Faults and Enormities by blanks or blind Letters or wearing had slipt in or else the true sense it self had by little and little been utterly spoyled which to how many Treatises of singular Note it hath hapned unto is not needful here to enlarge I will say no more for I do not here attempt to write a Commentary These things I have touched for my own sake only least either the Author himself might suspect I would also undertake the same against his Book which of old the true Sun so called presumed against Sendivogius or else any others perchance might censure me as the whole World is now full of Busie-bodies However it be in this I would do a kindness to the Lovers of Chymistry and satisfie the desires of many If I shall see this hath been acceptable perhaps more may follow But if otherwise yet I avoid to presage God bless the Benevolent Reader and farewell Hamburgh December 9. in the year 1660. The Authors Preface I Being an Adept Anonymon and Lover of Learning and a Philosopher I decreed to write this little Treatise of Medicinal Chymical and Physical Arcana's in the year of the Redemption of the World 1645. but in the three and twentieth year of my Age that I might pay my duty to the Sons of Art and might lend my hand to bring them out of the labyrinth of Errours wherein they are intangled and that it might appear to the Adeptists that I am a brother and equal to them and that those seduced by the deceits of Sophisters might safely return see and embrace the true Light I do also further presage That not a few will be enlightened by these my Labours they are no Fables but real Experiments which I have seen made and do know which an Adeptist will easily gather by these Lines Wherefore as I write these things for the good of my neighbour let it be enough that I profess there is none that ever writ in this Art so clearly and that many a time in writing I â—aid aside my pen because I was rather willing to have concealed the Truth under the Mask of Envy â—ut God compelled me to write whom I could not resist who alone knows the heart to whom only be Glory for ever Hence I undoubtedly gather many will become Blessed in this last Age of the World with this Arcanum by reason I have written faithfully nor have I willingly left any thing doubtful for a young Beginner which is not perfectly satisfied Also I know many who with me do enjoy this Arcanum and am perswaded there are many more whose new familiarity shortly as I may say I shall be daily acquainted with Let the holy Will of God do what it pleaseth I confess my self unworthy by whom such things should be effected yet in these matters I adore the holy Will of God to whom all created things are bound to be subjected for which cause only he did create them and being created preserves them READER THe true Manuscript Copy which John Langius in his Preface doth so much thirst after is here Published for thy benefit in which thou wilt find considerable enlargements and explanations wherein the Latin Translation is deficient as witnesseth Chap. 15. c. SECRETS Reveal'd OR An OPEN ENTRANCE TO THE SHUTT PALACE of the KING CHAP. 1. Of the necessity of the Sophick ☿ for the Work of the Elixir WHosoever desires to enjoy the secret Golden-Fleece let him know That our Gold-making POWDER which we call our Stone is only Gold digested unto the highest degree of purity and subtile fixity whereto it may be brought by Nature and a discreet Artist which Gold thus essensificated is called Our Gold and no more vulgar and is the period of the perfection of Nature and Art I could cite all the Philosophers that write of this Thing but I need no witnesses because my self being an Adeptist do write more clearly than any heretofore Let any one believe me that will and disprove it that can carp he that will this is the reward it shall certainly receive to be an high Ignorance I confess the subtile Wits do fancy many whimsies but he that is diligent shall find the truth in the simple way of Nature Let Gold therefore be the One True sole Principle of Gold-making but our Gold is twofold which we require to our work viz. Mature and Fix the yellow Latten whose Heart or Centre is a pure Fire and therefore it defends the body in the Fire in which it receives depuration but nothing of it gives way to its tyranny or suffers by it This doth in our Work supply the place of the Male therefore it is joyned to our white and more crude Gold as Feminine Sperme into which it sends forth its Sperme and at length both do couple with an insoluble band so it becomes our Hermaphrodite being mighty in both Sexes Therefore corporal Gold is dead before it be conjoined with his Bride with whom the coagulating 🜠which in ☉ is outwards is turned inwards so the altitude is hid and the profundity is manifested so the Fix is in time made volatile that it may afterwards possess by way of Inheritance a most noble State in which it may
time which after large showers became clear again Thus came out an Hermaphroditical ☿ him therefore they put in the fire and they coagulated him in time yet not very long time and in his coagulation they found most pure ☉ and ☽ Then returning to themselves they considered that this depurated ☿ not as yet coagulated was not as yet a Metal but volatile enough and they saw that in its distillation it left nothing remaining in the bottom therefore they termed it their unripe ☉ and their living ☽ they also considered that being that out of which the true first Ens of Gold was and being as yet volatil what should it be but the ground wherein ☉ being sown would be encreased in his virtue therefore they put ☉ in the same and to their admiration the fire became therein volatile the hard soft the coagulated dissolved Nature her self being amazed thereat Therefore they Married these two together and shut them in a glass and placed them at the fire and governed the Work a long time as Nature required so the vivified became dead and the dead living the body putrified and rose a glorious Spirit and the soul is at last resolved into a Quintessence the highest Medicine for Animals Metals and Vegetals CHAP. 12. Of the manner of making the perfect Magistery in general VVE ought to give immortal thanks to God because he hath shewed these Secrets of Nature to us which he hath hidden from the eyes of most men Those things therefore which are freely given to us by that great Giver we will lay open freely and faithfully to other studious men Know therefore That the greatest secret of our Operation is no other thing than a cohobation of the Natures of one thing above the other until the most digested virtue be extracted out of the digested body by the Crude one But there is hereto requisite first an exact preparation and fitness of the things that enter into the Work secondly a good disposing of external things thirdly things being thus prepared there is required a good Regimen fourthly a fore-knowledge of the appearances in the Work is required that your procedure therein be not blindfold fifthly Patience that the Work be not hastened or head-longly governed Of all which we will speak in order as much as one Brother to another CHAP. 13. Of the Vse of a ripe 🜠in the Work of the Elixir VVE have spoken of the necessity of the ☿ and have delivered many secrets of ☿ which before me were barren enough to the World because almost all Chymical Books do abound either with obscure Aenigmas or sophistical Operations or with a heap of rough and uncouth words I have not done so resigning my will in this thing to the Divine Pleasure who in this last period of the World seems to me to be about the opening of these Treasures Therefore I do no more fear that the Art will be disesteemed far be it from me this cannot be for true Wisdom will defend it self in external Honour I could wish That Gold and Silver would at last be of as mean in esteem as Dirt which hath been hitherto the great Idol adored by the whole World then we who know these things should not need so studiously to hide our selves For we judge our selves to have received as it were the Curse it self of Cain for which we weep and sigh that is to say We are driven as 't were from the Face of the Lord and from the pleasant Society which we heretofore had with our Friends without fear But now we are tossed up and down and as it were beset with Furies nor can we suppose our selves safe in any one place long We oftentimes take up Complaints and the Lamentations of Cain unto the Lord Behold whosoever shall find me shall kill me We Travel through many Nations just like Vagabonds and dare not take upon us the Care of a Family neither do we possess any certain Habitation And although we possess all things yet can we use but a few What therefore are we happy in excepting speculation only wherein we meet with great satisfaction of the Mind Many do believe that are strangers to the Art that if they should enjoy it they would do such and such things so also even we did formerly believe but being grown more wary by the hazard we have run we have chosen a more secret Method For whosoever hath once escaped the eminent perils of his Life he will believe me become more wise for the time to come 'T is a Proverb Batchelors Wives and Maids Children are well cloathed or nourished I have found the World placed in a most wicked posture so that there is scarce a Man found whatsoever Face he bears of Honesty and howsoever he seems to heed publick things That doth not propound unto himself some private base and unworthy end Nor is any mortal Man able to effect any thing alone no not in the works of Mercy except he would run the hazard of his Head which my self have of late experienced in some strange or forreign places where I have administred the Medicine to some ready to dye distressed and afflicted with the miseries of the Body and they having recovered miraculously there hath presently been a rumour spread of the Elixir of the Wisemen insomuch that once I have been forced to flie by night with exceeding great troubles having changed my garments shaved my head put on other hair and altered my name else I had fallen into the hands of wicked Men that lay in wait for me meerly for suspition only accompanied with the most greedy thirst after Gold I could reckon up many such like things which will seem ridiculous to some for they 'll say Did I but know these and these things I would do otherwise than so But yet let them know that it is a tedious thing for ingenious Men to have converse with blockish Men. And as for those that are ingenious they are subtile crafty quick-sighted and some of them have as many eyes as Argus some are curious some are Machiavilians that search into the life manners and actions of Men most throughly from whom to hide our self is very difficult especially if there is any familiar knowledge or converse If any one doth think thus of himself viz. That he would do so and so were he a Possessor of the Stone I would willingly say unto him thus viz. Thou art perchance a familiar acquaintance of an Adeptist he would presently consider with himself and say This is impossible for 't is great chance but I should once see it and by my familiar converse with him it could not be but that I should smell it out Thou that imaginest these things of thy self Thinkest thou that others do not abound with as much quick-sightedness as thy self who would be able to discern thee For 't is expedient to have converse with some else thou shalt seem to be another quick Diogenes But if thou
through every Age is reducible in our water only and is then living and ours Even as Wheat sown in the ground doth change its name and is called the Husbandman's Seed-corn either for Bread or other uses as well as for Seed even so it is with Gold as long as it is in the form of a Ring a Vessel or Mony 't is the vulgar Gold but as concerning its being cast into our water 't is Philosophical In the former respect it is called Dead because it would remain unchanged even to the Worlds end in the latter respect it is said to be living because it is so potentially which power is capable of being brought into Art in a few daies but then Gold will be no longer Gold but the Chaos of the Sophi therefore well may Philosophers say That their philosophical Gold differeth from the vulgar Gold Which difference consisteth in the Composition For even as that Man is said to be dead which hath already received the sentence of Death so is Gold said to be alive when it is mixed in such a Composition and put upon such a fire in which it will necessarily receive a germinative life in a short time yea 't will demonstrate the actions of a life beginning and that within a few daies Therefore the same Sophi that say their Gold is living do bid thee the Searcher of Art to revive the dead the which if thou knowest to do and to prepare the Agent and rightly to mix the Gold it will soon become living in which vivification thy living Menstruum will dye Therefore the Magi command thee to revive the dead and to kill the living They do at the first entrance call their water living and say that the death of one principle with the death of another hath one and the same period Thence 't is evident That their Gold is to be taken dead and their water living and by compounding these together the seed-Gold will by a short decoction vivifie or quicken and the live ☿ will be killed that is the spirit will be coagulated with the dissolved bodie and both of them putrifie together in the form of dirt or mud until all the members of the Composition are rent or dispersed into Atoms Here therefore is the naturality of our Magistery The Mistery which we so much hide is to prepare the ☿ truly so called the which cannot be found upon the earth ready prepared to our hands and that for singular reasons known to the Adeptists In the ☿ we neatly amalgamate pure Gold purged to the highest degree of purity and filed or beaten and being shut in the glass we daily boyl it the Gold is dissolved by the vertue of our Water and returneth to its nearest matter in which the included life of the Gold becomes free and takes the life of the dissolving ☿ which in respect of the Gold is the same as good earth in respect of the Grain of Wheat In this ☿ therefore the Gold being dissolved doth putrifie and must be necessarily so by the necessity of Nature therefore after the putrefaction of death there riseth the new Body of the same Essence with the former Body and of a more noble substance 〈◊〉 takes on it the degrees of virtuality proportionable to the difference between the four qualities of the Elements This is the reason of our Work this is our whole Philosophy We have said therefore That there is nothing in our Work secret but ☿ only the Magistery of which is rightly to prepare it and extract the hidden ☉ it contains and to Marry it in a just proportion with Gold and to govern it with the fire as the ☿ requireth because Gold doth not of it self fear the fire and as far forth as 't is united with the ☿ so far doth it render it able to abide the fire Therefore this is the Labour and Work to accommodate the regiment of the heat to the capacity of ☿ his abiding it but he that hath not rightly prepared his ☿ and should joyn Gold therewith his Gold is yet the Gold of the Vulgar because 't is joyned with such a foolish Agent in which it remaineth as much unchanged as if it had been kept in the Chest nor will it lay off its own bodily nature by any Regiment of the Fire whatsoever where an Agent is not alive within Our is then a living and quickning soul and therefore our Gold is Spermatical as Wheat sown is Seed-corn when as the same Wheat would in the Barn remain Bread-corn only and dead and though it were buried in a pot under the earth as the West-Indians are wont to hide their Fruit or Corn in pits in the earth fenced against the access of water yet unless it be met withal by the moist vapour of the earth 't is dead and abides without fruit and is plainly remote from Vegetation I know there are many which will carp at this Doctrine and say That he affirms it Gold of the Vulgar and running ☿ is the material Subject of the Stone But we know the contrary Go to therefore ye Philosophers examine your Purses although you know such things have ye the Stone Verily as for my self I do not possess it by theft but by the gift of my God I have it I have made it and daily have it in my power have often form'd it with my own hands and I write the things I know But I write not to you Therefore deal with your Rain-waters May-waters your Salts tattle of your Sperme that it is more potent than the Devil himself slander and revile me Believe ye that this your evil speaking will sadden me I say that Gold only and ☿ are our Materials and I know what I write and the searcher of all hearts knoweth that I write the truth nor is there any cause to accuse me of envy because I write with an unterrified Quill in an unheard-of style to the honour of God to the profitable use of my Neighbours and contempt of the World and its Riches because Helias the Artist is already born and now glorious things are declared of the City of God I dare affirm that I do possess more Riches than the whole known World is worth but cannot make use thereof because of snares of Knaves I disdain I loath and deservedly detest this Idolizing of Gold and Silver by the price whereof the pomp and vanities of the World are celebrated Ah filthy Evil Ah vain Nothingness Believe ye that I conceal these things out of envy No verily for I protest to thee I grieve from the very bottom of my Soul that we are driven as it were like Vagabonds from the Face of the Lord throughout the earth But what need many words That thing that we have seen taught and wrought which we have which we possess and know these do we declare being moved with meer compassion toward the studious and with Indignation of Gold and Silver and of pretious Stones not as
be first infolded in the inviolable arms of Venus Pray the high God to reveal this Mystery to thee which my former Chapters have disclosed to a word and where that Secret is couched there is not a word or stop superstuous or desectuous But farther It also requires an accidental Purgation or Mundification to wash off the external defilements that are cast out of the Centre but this is not so absolutely necessary but yet this Labour hastens the Work and therefore is convenient Take therefore thy ☿ which thou hast prepared by a convenient number of Eagles and sublime it thrice from common Salt and the Scoria of Mars grinding them together with Vinegar and a little Sal Armoniac until the ☿ disappear then dry it and distill it by a glass-Retort by a fire gradually encreased even until the whole ☿ ascend Repeat this three times or oftner afterwards boyl the ☿ in the Spirit of Vinegar an hour long in a Cucurbit or a glass with a broad bottom and a narrow neck sometimes strongly shaking it then decant or pour off the Vinegar and wash off the sowrishness with Fountain-water poured on again and again then dry up the ☿ and thou wilt wonder at its brightness Thou mayest wash it with Urine or Vinegar and Salt and so spare the sublimation but then distill it at least four times without addition after thou hast perfected all the Eagles or washings washing the Chalybeate or Steel Retort every time with ashes and water then boyl it in distilled Vineagar for half a day stirring it strongly sometimes and pour off the blackish Vineagar and pour on new then wash it with warm water thou mayest free the Spirit of the Vineagar from blackness by redistilling it and 't will be as vertuous as before all this is for the removing the external uncleanness which doth not adhere to the Centre and yet 't is little more obstinate in the superficies than you are aware of which you shall thus perceive Take this ☿ prepared with his Eagles viz. seven or nine and amalgamate it with most purified Gold let the Amalgama be made in a most clear paper and thou shalt see that the Amalgama will defile the paper with a duskish blackness but yet this Faeces or defilement thou mayest prevent by the foresaid distillation boyling and agitation or stirring it which Preparation doth very much promote or hasten the Work CHAP. 16. Of the Amalgamation of the ☿ and Gold and of the due weight of both THese being rightly prepared Take of purged and luminated Gold or Gold subtily filed one part of ☿ two parts put it in an heated Marble Mortar that is to say heated with boyling water out of which being taken it dryes presently and holds the heat a long time grind it with an Ivory Pestle or Glass Stone or Iron but this last is not so good or Box but the Stone or Glass pestle is best I am wont to use a white Coralline pestle grind it I say strongly until it be made impalpable grind it with as much diligence as Painters are wont to grind their Colours then see the consistence or temperature of it if it be plyable like butter then it is not too hot nor yet cold but yet so that the Amalgama being declined or bowed of one side doth not permit the ☿ to run like an hydropical intercutal water the consistence thereof is good but if not add as much of the water as is sufficient to make it of this consistency This is the Rule for Mixture that it be most readily plyable and most soft and yet can be made up like round pellots like as Butter may which though it yields to the easiest touch of the finger yet may be made up into balls by a Washing-woman Observe the alledged Example as being the most exact Example because as Butter though it be turned of one side yet it doth not pour out or let go any thing from it self that is more liquid than the whole Mass is In like manner is our mixture because of the intrinsical nature of ☿ Will this sign be given either in a double or in a treble proportion of the ☿ to the Body or also in the threefold of the Body to to the fourfold of the Spirit or in a double to treble and according to the nature of the ☿ or difference the Amalgama will be softer or harder yet be alwaies mindful that it come together inpellots and those pellots too being laid by do so concreate or hold together that the ☿ doth not appear more lively in the bottom than in the top For Note that if it be permitted to rest quiet the Amalgama hardens of its own accord The consistency thereof is to be judged in the agitation or stirring it and if then it be plyable like Butter and suffereth it self to be made up into balls and these pellots being put in clean paper are of an equal liquidity the proportion is good This being done Take the Spirit of Vinegar and dissolve in it a third part of its own weight of Sal Armoniac and put thereon ☉ and ☿ formerly amalgamated put it in a glass with a long neck and let it boyl for a quarter of an hour with a strong Ebullition then take the mixture out of the glass separate the liquor heat the Mortar and grind it strongly as above and very diligently then wash off all the blackness with warm water put it in again in the former liquor and boyl it again in the same glass then again grind it strongly and wash it Repeat this Labour until thou canst not get off any more colour of blackness from the Amalgama by any Labour then the Amalgama will be white like the purest Silver and most polite garnish'd with a wonderful brightness Observe even yet the teperature of it and beware it be exquisitely right according to the Rules above-given if it be not make it so and proceed as above This is a tedious Labour yet shalt thou see by the signs appearing in the Work thy Labour recompensed then boyl it in a pure water pouring it off and repeating it until all the saltness and Acrimony be vanished then pour out the water and dry the Amalgama which will soon be done But that thou mayest be more secure because too much water will destroy the Work and break the vessel how big soever it be stir it or work it upon a clean paper with the top of a knife from place to place untill it be dryed exceeding well then proceed as I shall teach thee CHAP. 17. Of the Preparation Form Matter and Closing the Vessel THou shalt have an oval or round glass so big as to hold at the most in its sphere or belly an Ounce of distilled water and not less than this if possibly thou canst but get it as near the measure as possibly thou canst let the glass have a neck of the height of one palm or hand-breadth or span let it be