of a most shining marble and of a naked flaming sword will put on all the colours that thou canst possibly imagine often will it melt and often coagulate it selfe and amidst these diuers and contrary operations which the vegetable soule which is in it makes it performe at one and the same time it will grow Citrine greene red but not of a true red it will become yellow blew and orange colour vntill that being wholly ouercome by drynesse and heate all these infinite colours will end in this admirable Citrine whitenesse of the colour of Saint Pauls garments which in a short time will become like the colour of the naked sword afterwards by the meanes of a more strong and long decoction it will take in the end a red Citrine colour and afterward the perfect redde of the vermillion where it will repose it selfe for euer I will not forget by the way to aduertise thee that the milke of the Moone is not as the Virgins milke of the Sunne thinke then that the inbibitions of whitenesse require a more white milke than those of a golden rednesse for in this passage I had thought I should haue missed and so I had done indeed had it not beene for Abraham the Iew for this reason I haue made to bee painted for thee the Figure which taketh the naked sword in the colour which is necessary for thee for it is the Figure of that which whiteneth CHAP. VI. Vpon a greene field three resuscitants or which rise againe two men and one woman altogether white Two Angels beneath and ouer the Angels the figure of our Sauiour comming to iudge the world clothed with a robe which is perfectly Citrine white I Haue so made to bee painted for thee a field vert because that in this decoction the confections become greene and keepe this colour longer than any other after the blacke This greenenesse shewes particularly that our Stone hath a vegetable soule and that by the Industrie of Arte it is turned into a true and pure tree to bud abundantly and afterwards to bring foorth infinite little sprigs and branches O happy greene saith the Rosary which doest produce all things without thee nothing can increase vegetate nor multiply The three folke rising againe clothed in sparkling white represent the Body Soule and Spirit of our white Stone The Philosophers doe ordinarily vse these termes of Art to hide the secret from euill men They call the Body that blacke earth obscure and darke which wee make white They call the Soule the other halfe diuided from the Body which by the will of God and power of nature giues to the body by his inbibitions and fermentations a vegetable soule that is to say power and vertue to bud encrease multiply and to become white as a naked shining sword They call the Spirit the tincture drynesse which as a Spirit hath power to pierce all Mettallick things I should be too tedious if I should shew thee how good reason they had to say alwayes and in all places Our Stone hath semblably to a man a Body Soule and Spirit I would onely that thou note well that as a man indued with a Body Soule and Spirit is notwithstanding but one so likewise thou hast now but one onely white confection in the which neuerthelesse there are a Body a Soule and a Spirit which are inseparably vnited I could easily giue very cleare comparisons and expositions of this Body Soule and Spirit but to explicate them I must of necessitie speake things which God reserues to reueale vnto them that feare and loue him and consequently ought not to bee written I haue then made to bee painted heere a Body a Soule and a Spirit all white as if they were rising againe to shew thee that the Sun and Moone and Mercurie are raised againe in this operation that is to say are made Elements of ayre and whitened for wee haue heretofore called the Blacknesse Death and so continuing the Metaphor wee may call Whitenesse Life which commeth not but with and by a Resurrection The Body to shew this more plainely I haue made to be painted lifting vp the stone of his tombe wherein it was inclosed The Soule because it cannot bee put into the earth it comes not out of a tombe but onely I haue made it bee painted amōgst the Tombs seeking its body in forme of a woman hauing her haire discheuelled The Spirit which likewise cannot bee put in a graue I haue made to bee painted in fashion of a man comming out of the earth not from a Tombe They are all white so the blacknesse that is death is vanquished and they being whitened are from henceforward incorruptible Now lift vp thine eyes on high and see our King comming crowned and raised againe which hath ouercome Death the darkenesses and moistures behold him in the forme wherein our Sauiour shall come who shall eternally vnite vnto him all pure and cleane soules and will driue away all impurity and vncleannesse as being vnworthy to bee vnited to his diuine Body So by comparison but first asking leaue of the Catholicke Apostolicke and Romane Church to speake in this manner and praying euery debonaire soule to permit me to vse this similitude see heere our white Elixir which from henceforward will inseparably vnite vnto himselfe euery pure Mettallicke nature changing it into his owne most sine siluery nature reiecting all that is impure strange and Heterogeneall or of another kind Blessed be God which of his goodnesse giues vs grace to bee able to consider this sparckling white more perfect and shining than any compound nature and more noble next after the immortall soule than any substance hauing life or not hauing life for it is a quintessence a most pure siluer that hath passed the Coppell and is seuen times refined saith the royall Prophet Dauid It is not needfull to interprete what the two Angels signifie that play on Instruments ouer the heads of them which are raised againe These are rather diuine spirits singing the meruailes of God in this miraculous operation than Angels that call to iudgement To make an expresse difference betweene these and them I haue giuen the one of them a Lute the other a haultboy but none of them trumpets which yet are wont to be giuen to them that are to call vs to Iudgement The like may be said of the three Angels which are ouer the head of our Sauiour whereof the one crowneth him and the other two assisting say in their Rowles O PATER OMNIPOTENS O IESV BONE that is O Almighty Father O good Iesu in rendring vnto him eternall thanks CHAP. VII Vpon a field violet and blew two Angels of an Orange colour and their Rowles THis violet and blew field sheweth that being to passe from the white Stone to the red thou must inbibe it with a little virgins milke of the Sun and that these colours come out of the Mercuriall moysture which thou hast dried vpon the
water and is the drosse and the damned earth which is nothing worth nor can euer doe any good as doth the pure cleare white and cleane matter which wee ought onely to take And against this Capharaean rocke the ship and knowledge of the Schollers and students in Philosophy is often as it happened also vnto mee sometimes most improuidently dashed and beaten because the Phylosophers doe very often affirme the contrary namely that nothing must be remooued or taken away but the moysture that is the Blacknesse which notwithstanding they say and write onely to deceiue the vnwise grosse and ignorant which of themselues without a Maister vnwearied reading or Prayer vnto God Almighty would like conquerours carry away this golden fleece Note therefore that this separation diuision and sublimation is without doubt the key of the whole worke After the putrifaction then and dissolution of these Bodies our Bodies doe lift themselues vp to the surface of the dissoluing water in the colour of whitenesse and this whitenesse is life for in this whitenesse the Antimoniall and Mercuriall soule is by the appointment of nature infused with the Spirits of the Sunne Moone which separateth the subtile from the thicke and the pure from the impure lifting vp by little and little the subtile part of the Body from the dregs vntill all the pure be separated and lifted vp And in this is our Philosophicall and naturall sublimation fulfilled And in this whitenesse is the soule infused into the Body that is the mineral vertue which is more subtile than fire being indeed the true quintessence and life which desireth to bee borne and to put off the grosse earthly foeces which it hath taken from the Menstruous and corrupt place of his Originall And in this is our Philosophicall sublimation not in the naughty common Mercury which hath no qualities like vnto them wherewith our Mercury drawne from his vitriolate cauernes is adorned But let vs returne to our sublimation It is therefore most certaine in this Art that this soule drawne from the Bodies cannot be lifted vp but by the putting to of a volatile thing which is of his owne kinde by the which the Bodies are made volatile and spirituall lifting vp subtiliating and subliming themselues against their owne proper nature which is bodily heauy and ponderous and by this meanes they are made no Bodies but incorporeall and a fifth essence of the nature of the Spirit which is called Hermes his Bird and Mercury drawne from the red seruant and so the earthy parts remaine below or rather the grosser parts of the Bodies which cannot by any wit or deuice of man be perfectly dissolued And this white fume this white gold that is this quintessence is also called the compound Magnesia which as a man containes or like a man is compounded of a Body a Soule and a Spirit For the Body is the fixed earth of the Sunne which is more than most fine ponderously lifted vp by the force of our diuine water The soule is the tincture of the Sunne and of the Moone proceeding from the coniunction or communication of these two But the spirit is the minerall vertue of the two Bodies and of the water which carries the soule or the white tincture vpon the Bodies and out of the Bodies as the tincture of Diers is carried by water vpon the cloth And that Mercuriall spirit is the Bond or tyall of the soule of the Sun And the Body of the Sunne is the Body of fiction containing with the Moone the spirit and soule The spirit therefore pierceth the body fixeth the soule coupleth coloureth and whiteneth Of these three vnited together is our Stone made that is of the Sunne and Moone and Mercury Then with our gilded or golden water is extracted a nature surpassing all nature and therefore except the bodies bee by this our water dissolued imbibed ground softened and sparingly and diligently gouerned vntill they leaue their grossenesse and thicknesse and be turned into a thinne and impalpable spirit our labour will alwayes be in vaine for vnlesse the bodies bee changed into no bodies that is into the Philosophers Mercury the rule of Art is not yet found and the reason is because it is impossible to draw out of the bodies that most thinne or subtile soule which hath in it all tincture if the bodies be not first dissolued in our water Dissolue therefore the bodies in the golden water and boyle them vntill by the water all the tincture come out into a white colour or a white oyle and when thou shalt see this whitenesse vpon the water then know that the bodies are dissolued or melted and continue the decoction vntill they bring foorth the cloude which they haue conceiued darke blacke and white Put therefore the perfect bodies in our water in a vessell Hermetically sealed vpon a soft fire and boyle them continually vntill they bee perfectly resolued into a most precious oyle Boyle them saith Adfar with a gentle fire as it were for the hatching of chickens vntill the bodies bee dissolued and their tincture most neerely conioyned marke well be wholly drawne out for it is not drawne out all at once but it commeth forth by little and little euery day and euery houre vntill after a long time this dissolution be complete that which is dissolued do alwaies arise vppermost vpon the water And in this dissolution let the fire bee soft and continuall vntill the bodies bee loosed into a viscous impalpable water and that the whole tincture come forth first in the colour of blackenesse which is a signe of true solution Then continue the decoction vntill it become a white permanent water for gouerning it in its bath it will afterward be cleare and in the end become like common argent viue climing thorow the ayre vpon the first water And therefore when thou seest the bodies dissolued into a viscous water then know that they are turned into a vapour and that thou hast the soules separated from the dead bodies and by sublimation brought into the order and estate of spirits whereupon both of them with a part of our water are made spirits flying and clyming into the ayre and that there the body compounded of the male and female of the Sunne and Moone and of that most subtile nature clensed by sublimation taketh life is inspired by his moysture that is by his water as a man by the Ayre and therefore from hencefoorth it will multiply and increase in his kinde like all other things And therefore in such an eleuation and Philosophical sublimation they are all ioyned one with another and the new body inspired by the Ayre liueth vegetably which is a wonder Wherefore vnlesse the Bodies bee subtilized and made thinne by fire and water vntill they doe arise like spirits and bee made like water and fume or like Mercury there is nothing done in this Arte. But when they ascend they are borne in the ayre and changed in the ayre
vulture therefore flying in the ayre and the Toade going vpon the Earth is our Maistery And therefore when thou shalt gently and with great discretion separate the Earth from the water that is from the fire and the subtile from the thicke then that which is pure will ascend from Earrh into Heauen and that which is impure will goe downe to the Earth and the more subtile part will in the vpper place take the nature of a spirit and in the lower place the nature of an Earthly Body wherefore let the while nature with the more subtile part of the Body be by this operation lifted vp leauing the foeces which is done in a short time for the soule is aided by her associate and fellow and perfected by it My Mother saith the Body hath begotten mee and by me shee her selfe is begotten and after shee hath taken her slight or I haue taken from her her flying shee after the best manner shee can becomes a pious Mother nourishing and cherishing the sonne whom shee hath begotten vntill he come to perfect state Heare this secret Keepe the Body in this our Mercuriall water vntill it ascend on high with the white soule and the Earthly descend to the bottome which is called the Earth that remaines then shalt thou see the water coagulate it selfe with its body and shalt bee assured that the Science is true because the Body coagulateth his moisture into drinesse as the rennet of a Lambe coagulateth milke into Cheese In the same fashion the spirit will pierce the body and there will be a perfect mixture made by the least parts and the Body will draw vnto himself his moisture that is to say his white soule euen as the Load-stone draweth the Iron because of the likenesse and neerenesse of his nature and his greedinesse and then the one will hold the other and this is our sublimation and coagulation which retaineth euery thing volatile and maketh that it can flye no more Therefore this compositiō is not a manuall operation but as I said a changing of natures and a wonderfull connexion of their cold with hot and their moist with dry for the hot is mixed with cold and the dry with moist and so by this meanes is made the mixture and coniunction of the body with the spirit which is called the changing of contrary natures because that in such a solution and sublimation the spirit is turned into a body and the body into a spirit so that the natures being mingled together and reduced into one doe change one another in as much as the body makes the spirit a body and the spirit turnes the body into a teyned and white spirit And therefore this is the last time that I will tell thee boyle it in our white water that is in Mercury vntill it bee dissolued into blacknesse and then by continuall decoction it will bee depriued of his blackenesse and the body so dissolued wil at length arise with the white soule and then one will bee mingled with the other and they will embrace one another so that they shall no more be diuided asunder and then the spirit is vnited to the body with a reall accord and are made one permanent thing and this is the solution of the body and the Coagulation of the spirit which haue one and the selfe same operation Hee therefore that knoweth how to mary to make with childe to mortifie to putrifie to engender to quicken the species to bring in the white light and to clense the vulture from his blacknesse and darknesse vntill he be purged by fire coloured and purified from all his spots shall bee the owner of so great dignity that Kings shall reuerence him and doe him honour Wherefore let our body abide in the water vntill such time as it be loosed into a new powder in the bottome of the vessell and of the water which is called the blacke ashes and this is the corruption of the body which is by wise men called Saturne Leton or Brasse the Phylosophers Lead and the discontinued powder And in this putrifaction and resolution of the Body there appeare three signes to wit the blacke colour the discontinuity of the parts and a stinking smell which is likened to the smel of sepulchres or graues This ashes then is that of which the Phylosophers haue said so much which remained in the lower part of the vessell which wee ought not to despise for in it is the Diademe of our King and the Argent viue blacke and vncleane from whence the blacknesse must be purged by continuall decoction in our water vntill it be lifted vp in a white colour which is called the Goose and the Poulet of Hermogenes He therefore that maketh the red Earth blacke and then white hath the Maistery as also hee that killeth the liuing and quickeneth the dead therefore make the blacke white and the white red that thou mayest make the worke perfect and when thou seest the true whitenesse appeare which shineth like a naked Sword know that in that whitenesse is rednesse hidden and then thou must not take out of the vessell that whitenesse but onely boyle it to the end that with drinesse and heate there may come vpon it a Citrine colour and in the end a most shining and sparkling red which when thou seest with great feare and trembling praise the most good and most great God which giueth wisedome and by consequence riches vnto whom he pleaseth and according to the iniquity of the Persons taketh them away againe and depriueth them of them for euer plunging them in the seruitude and slauery of their enemies To him be praise and glory for euer and euer Amen FINIS THE EPISTLE Of IOHN PONTANVS mentioned in the Preface to the Reader of ARTEPHIVS his secret Booke wherein he beareth witnesse of the BOOKE Translated out of the Latine Copy Extant in the third Volume of Theatrum Chymicum at the 775. Page I Iohn Pontanus haue traueiled thorow many Countries that I might know some certainty of the Philosophers Stone and going thorow as it were all the world I found many false deceiuers but no true Philosophers yet continually studying and making many doubts at the length I found the trueth But when I knew the matter in generall I yet erred two hundred times before I could attaine to the true matter with the operation and practise thereof First I begunne to worke with the matter by putrefaction nine moneths together and I found nothing Then I put it into Balneum Mariae for a certaine time and therein I likewise erred Afterwards I put it in the fire of calcination for three moneths space and I wrought amisse I tryed all kinds of distillations and sublimations as the Philosophers Giber Archelaus and all the rest either say or seeme to say and I found nothing In summe I assayed to perfect the Subiect of the whole Art of Alchimy by all meanes possible to be deuised as by Dung Bathes Ashes
by the dew or moisture The Earth therefore buddeth not without watring and moisture It is the water of May-dew that clenseth the Bodies that pierceth them like raine water whiteneth them and maketh one new Body of two Bodies This water of life being rightly ordered with his Body whiteneth it turneth it into his white colour for the water is a white fume and therefore the Body is whitened by it whiten the Body then and burne thy Bookes And between these two that is betweene the Body and the water there is friendship desire and lust as betweene the male and the foemale because of the neerenesse of their like natures for our second liuing water is called Azot washing the Leton that is the Body compounded of the Sunne and Moon by our first water This second water is also called the soule of our dissolued Bodies of which Bodies wee haue already tyed the soules together to the end that they may serue the wise Phylosophers O how perfect and magnificent is this water for without it the worke could neuer bee brought to passe It is also called the vessell of Nature the belly the wombe the receptacle of the tincture the Earth and the Nurse It is the Fountaine in which the King and Queene wash themselues and the Mother which must be put and sealed in the belly of her Infant that is the Sun which proceeded from her and which shee brought forth and therefore they loue one another as a Mother and a Sonne and are easily ioyned together because they came from one the same roote and are of the same substance and nature And because this water is the water of the vegetable life therefore it giueth life and maketh the dead body to vegetate encrease spring forth and to rise from death to life by solution and sublimation and in so doing the Body is turned into a spirit and the spirit into a body and then is made amity peace concord and vnion between the contraries that is betweene the Body and the spirit which reciprocally change their natures which they receiue and communicate to one another by the least parts so that the hot is mixed with the cold the dry with the moist and the hard with the soft and thus is there a mixture made of contrary natures that is of cold with hot and of moist with dry an admirable connexion coniunction of enemies Then our dissolution of bodies which is made in this first water is no other thing then a killing of the moist with the dry because the moist is coagulated with the dry for the moisture is contained terminated and coagulated into a Body or into Earth onely by drinesse Let therefore the hard and dry bodies be put in our first water in a vessell well shut where they may abide vntill they be dissolued and ascend on high and then they may bee called a new Body the white gold of Alchimy the white stone the white Sulphur not burning and the stone of Paradice that is the stone which conuerts imperfect Mettals into fine white siluer Hauing this we haue also the Body Soule and Spirit all together of the which spirit and soule it is said that they cannot be drawn from the perfect Bodies but by the coniunction of our dissoluing water because it is certaine that the thing fixed cannot belifted vp but by the coniunction of the thing volatile The spirit then by the mediation of water and the soule is drawne from the Bodies and the Body is made no Body because at the same instant the spirit with the soule of the Bodies mounteth on high into the vpper part which is the perfection of the stone and is called sublimation This sublimation saith Florentius Catalanus is done by things sharpe spirituall and volatile which are of a sulphurous and viscous nature which dissolue the Bodies and make them to be lifted vp into the Ayre in the spirit And in this sublimation a certaine part and portion of our said first water ascendeth with the Bodies ioyning it selfe to them ascending and subliming into a middle substance which holdeth of the nature of the two that is of the Bodies and of the water and therefore it is called the Corporall spirituall compound Corsufle Cambdr Ethelia Zandarach the good Duenech but properly it is onely called the water permanent because it flyeth not in the fire alwayes adhering to the commixed Bodies that is to the Sunne and Moone and communicating vnto them a liuing tincture incombustible and most firme more noble and precious then the former which these bodies had because from hence-forward this tincture can run as oyle vpon the bodies perforating and piercing with a wonderfull fixion because this Tincture is the spirit and the spirit is the soule and the soule is the body because in this operation the body is made a spirit of a most subtile nature and likewise the spirit is incorporated and is made of the nature of a body with bodies and so our stone contains a body a soule and a spirit O Nature how thou changest the body into a spirit which thou couldst not doe if the spirit were not incorporated with the bodies and the bodies with the spirits made volatile or flying and afterward permanent or abiding Therefore they haue passed into one another and are turned the one into the other by wisdome O wisdome how thou makest Gold to be volatile and fugitiue although by nature it be most fixed It behoueth therefore to dissolue and melt these Bodies by our water and to make them a permanent water a golden water sublimed leauing in the bottom the grosse earthly and superfluous dry And in this sublimation the fire ought to be soft and gentle for if in this sublimation the Bodies bee not purified in a lent or slow fire and the grosser earthly parts note well separated from the vncleannesse of the dead thou shalt be hindred from euer making thy worke perfect for thou needest onely this subtile and light nature of the dissolued Bodies which our water will easily giue thee if thou proceed with a slow fire for it will separate the Heterogeneall or that which is of another kinde from the Homogeneall or that which is all of one kinde Our compound therefore receiueth mundification or clensing by our moist fire that is to say dissoluing and subliming that which is pure and white and casting aside the foeces like a voluntary vomit saith Azinaban For in such a dissolution and naturall sublimation there is made a loosing or an vntying of the Elements a clensing and a separation of the pure from the impure so that the pure and white ascendeth vpward and the impure and earthly fixed remaines in the bottome of the water or the vessell which must be taken a way and remooued because it is of no value taking onely the middle white substance flowing and melting and leauing the foeculent earth which remained below in the bottome which came principally from the
it is that most gentle heate which proceeding from the temperate vapour of the lampe goeth equally round about the vessell This fire is not violent if it be not too much stirred vp it is digesting a tering it is taken from another Body then the matter it is but one or alone it is moist and innaturall c. The third is the naturall fire of our water which for this cause is also called fire against nature because it is water and yet neuerthelesse it makes a meere spirit of Gold which common fire cannot doe this fire is minerall equall and partakes of Sulphur it breakes congeales dissolues and calcines all this is piercing subtile not burning and it is the Fountaine of liuing water wherein the King and Queen bathe themselues whereof wee haue neede in the whole worke in the beginning middle and ending but the other two abouesaid wee doe not alwayes need but onely sometimes Ioyne therefore in the reading the Bookes of Phylosophers these three sorts of fire and without doubt thou shalt vnderstand all their cauillations concerning their fires As touching the Colours hee that doth not make blacke cannot make white because blacknesse is the beginning of whitenesse and a signe of putrifaction and alteration and that the Body is now pierced and mortified Therefore in the putrifaction in this water there first appeares blackenesse like vnto the broth wherein bloud or some bloudy thing is boyled Secondly the blacke Earth by continuall decoction is whitened because the soule of the two bodies swimmes aloft vpon the water like white creame and in this onely whitenesse all the spirits are so vnited that they can neuer fly from one another And therefore the Leton must be whitened and teare the Bookes least our hearts be broken for this intire whitenesse is the true stone to the white and the body ennobled by the necessity of his end and the tincture of whitenesse of a most exuberant reflexion and shining brightnesse which being mixed with a Body neuer â—â—parteth from it Here then note that the spirits are not fixed but in the white colour which by consequent is more noble then the other colours and ought more earnestly to be desired considering it is as it were the complement perfection of the whole worke For our Earth is first putrified in blacknesse then it is clensed in the eleuation or lifting vp afterwards being dryed the blacknesse departeth and then it is whitened and the darke moist dominion of the woman perisheth and then the white fume pierceth into the new Body and the spirits are shut vp or bound together in drinesse and that which is corrupting deformed and blacke with moisture vanisheth and then the new Body riseth againe cleere white and immortall getting the victory oueral his enemies And as heate working vpon that which is moist causeth or engendreth blackenesse which is the first colour so by decoction euer more and more heate working vpon that which is dry begetteth whitenesse which is the second colour and afterward working vpon that which is purely perfectly dry it causeth citrinity and rednesse and so much concerning the Colours We must therefore vnderstand that the thing which hath the head red and white the feete white and afterwards red and yet before that the eyes blacke this onely thing is our maistery dissolue then the Sun and the Moone in our dissoluing water which is familiar friendly and of the next nature vnto them which is likewise to them sweete and pleasant and as it were a wombe a mother an Originall the beginning and the end of life and that is the reason why they are amended in this water because Nature reioyceth in Nature and Nature containes Nature and in true Mariage they are ioyned together and made one nature one new body raised vp and immortall And thus we must ioyne consanguinity with Consanguinity and then these natures will meete and follow one another putrifie themselues engender themselues and make one another reioyce because Nature is gouerned by Nature which is neerest and most friendly to it Our water then saith Danthin is the most pleasant faire and cleere Fountaine prepared onely for the King Queene whom it knoweth very well and they know it for it drawes them to it selfe and they abide therein to wash themselues two or three dayes that is two or three moneths and it maketh them young againe faire And because the Sunne and Moone haue their Originall from this water their Mother therefore it behoueth that they enter againe into their Mothers wombe that they may be borne againe and be made more strong more noble and more valiant And therefore if these doe not die and be not turned into water they remain alone and without fruite but if they die and be resolued in our water they bring fruit an hundreth fold and from that very place where it seemed they had lost what they were from thence shall they appeare that which they were not before Let therefore the spirit of our liuing water be with great wit and subtilty fixed with the Sunne and the Moone because they being turned into the nature of water doe dye seeme like vnto the dead yet afterward being inspired from thence they liue encrease and multiply like all other vegetable things It is enough then to dispose the matter sufficiently from without for from within it selfe doth work sufficiently to its owne perfection For it hath in it selfe a certaine and inhaerent motion according to the true way better then any order that can be imagined by man And therefore doe thou onely prepare and Nature will perfect for if shee bee not hindered by the contrary shee wil not passe her owne certaine motion as well to conceiue as to bring forth Wherefore after the preparation of the matter take heede onely least by too much fire thou make the bath too hot Secondly take heed least the spirit doe exhale because it would hurt him that worketh that is to say it would destroy the worke and cause many infirmities that is much sadnesse and anger From this that hath beene spoken is drawne this Axiome to wit that by the course of nature he doth not know the making of Mettals that knoweth not the destruction of them It behoueth then to ioyne together them that are of kindred for Natures doe finde their like natures and being putrified are mixed together and mortifie themselues It is necessary therefore to know this corruption and generation and how the Natures doe imbrace one another and are pacified in a slow fire how Nature reioyceth in Nature and nature retaines nature and turnes it into a white nature After this if thou wilt make it red thou must boyle this white in a dry continuall fire vntill it bee as red as blood which will bee nothing else but fire and a true tincture And so by a continuall dry fire the whitenesse is changed amended perfected made Citrine and acquireth rednesse a true fixed colour And
NICHOLAS FLAMMEL His Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures which he caused to bee painted vpon an Arch in St. Innocents Church-yard in PARIS Together with The secret Booke of ARTEPHIVS And The Epistle of Iohn Pontanus Concerning both the Theoricke and the Practicke of the PHILOSOPHERS STONE Faithfully and as the Maiesty of the thing requireth religiously done into English out of the French and Latine Copies BY EIRENaeVS ORANDVS qui est Vera veris enodans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imprinted at London by T. S. for Thomas Walkley and are to bee solde at his Shop at the Eagle and Childe in Britans Bursse 1624. TO THE MOST excellently accomplisht LADY the C. D. of E. MADAME BEcause there are not many worthy such Epithets therfore amongst so few and those so dispersed it is not hard for any man to know you as well by your iust titles as by your Name Pardon my boldnesse who owing my best seruice vnto your vertues though not knowing your person nor knowne unto you vnlesse peraduenture the report of my disasters haue come vnto your ares doe humbly offer vnto you what I am assured when you vnderstand if euer God incline your heart to the search and open your eyes to the sight thereof you wil esteeme as the greatest and most vnualuable secret which amongst all vnder-Moone things was euer imparted and communicated to man Your Piety and Almes deedes proceeding from that boundlesse fountaine of burning Charity which disperseth it selfe in all formes according to the necessities of the poore haue inforced mee to tell the world that for you and such as you are I haue caused these little Bookes to bee published in our vulgar English custome excusing the most of your sexe from the knowledge of the learned Tongues in which Cabinets these secrets are ordinarily locked vp though there want not examples of many women who by the impartiall grace of God haue attained to the thing it selfe But it is not my purpose to flatter any body with the hope of that which I well know how rare and reserued a blessing of the Almighty it is Onely if you will bee but pleased by this occasion to cast your eyes vpon that triumphant Chariot wherein Nature rideth through her Minerall and vnder-earth kingdome you will easily see what difference there is between the plenteous vertues of heauen there thrust and crowded vp together as lines though farre distant in their first setting foorth from the Circumference yet touching one another when they come neere the Center and the loose and weake composition of Vegetables which being of another imposition of Nature are not able either to receiue or to hold such plentie of those heauenly Spirits which are the life of euery Elementary body no where idle and there most abounding where it seemes most to bee hidden For the rest if any of my busie vnletter'd Countreymen who are in great numbers as bold pretenders to this blessed Science as they are blinde practitioners therein shall by the reading of these Treatises bee perswaded as I wish they may to forbeare the losse of their time and the expence of their monyes vntill they be taught by the one of them the true matter to worke on and by the other the true manner of proceeding therewith let them in their hearts blesse God for you to whose noble deserts that chalenge a due acknowledgement from all good men I haue paid this small tribute of my labours For mine owne part the helpe and comfort which I haue so plenteously reaped from these studies in the middest of many pressures which without the extra-ordinary assistance of God had beene insupportable hath already made light and easie in my resolution whatsoeuer I shall either doe or suffer for God or goodmen or the trueth The father of the fatherlesse the Iudge of the widdowes and the hope of the helpe lesse bee to you and yours ALL THINGS So prayeth Your humble seruant Eirenaeus Orandus ET sit splendor Domini Dei nostri super nos opera manuum nostrarum dirige super nos opus manuum nostrarum dirige Psal 90. 19. And let the bright beauty of the Lord our God be vpon vs and guide thou the workes of our hands vpon vs and the work of our hands guide thou it Psal. 90. 19. QVis enim despexit dies paruos laetabuntur videbunt lapidem stanneum in manu Zorobabel Septemisti Oculi sunt Domini qui discurrunt in vniuersam terram Zech. 4. 10. For who hath despised the day of little things for they shall reioyce and shall see the stone of Tinne in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seuen they are the Eyes of the Lord which run too fro through the whole earth Zech. 4. 10. READER 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec partim ipse tuo perpendes pectore tecum Partem Diuum aliquis tibi suggeret Part of these things thy mind shal prompt thee to And part some God shall teach thee how to doe Againe Si te fata vocant aliter non viribus vllis Vincere nec duro poteris conuellere ferro If Fates thee call else with no violence Nor hardest Iron canst thou dig them thence Once againe and so farewell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fortuna vices lubrica versat Varias docilis sumâ—re formas Inopina Dei plurima peragunt Non succedunt quae fore speras Quae fore nemo posse putaret Saepe expediunt numina Qualem Haec sortita est res mihi finem Many shapes of Fate there bee Much done beyond our hope we see What we thinke sure God often stayes And findes for things vndream't of wayes For so did this succeed to mee And so I wish it may to thee Eirenaeus Orandus Place this Arch 〈…〉 NICOLAS FLAMEL ET PERCOMMENT LES INNOCENS FVRENELLE SA FEMME RENT OCCIS PAR LE COMMANDEMENT DV ROY HERODES THE BOOKE of the HIEROGLYPHICALL Figures of Nicholas Flammel ETernally praised be the Lord my God which lifteth the humble from the base dust and maketh the hearts of such as hope in him to reioyce which of his grace openeth to them that beleeue the Springs of his bountie and putteth vnder their feet the worldly Sphaeres or circles of all earthly happinesses In him bee alwayes our trust in his feare our felicitie in his mercy the glory of the reparation of our nature and in our prayers our vnshaken assurance And thou ô God Almighty as thy benignity hath vouchsafed to open vpon earth before me thy vnworthy seruant all the treasures of the riches of the world so may it please thy great Clemencie then when I shall be no more in the number of the liuing to open vnto me the treasures of heauen and to let me behold thy Diuine face the Maiestie whereof is a delight vnspeakeable and the rauishing ioy whereof neuer ascended
to that wee were in our youth as hee hath likewise done in other places as ouer the doore of the Chappell of Saint Iames in the Bouchery neere to my house although that for this last there is a particular cause as also ouer the doore of Saincte Geneuiefue de's Ardans where thou maist see me I maâ—e then to bee painted heere two bodies one of a Male and another of a Female to teach thee that in this second operation thou hast truely but yet not perfectly two natures conioyned and married together the Masculine and the Foeminine or rather the foure Elements and that the foure naturall enemies the hote and cold dry and moist begin to approach amiably one towards another and by meanes of the Mediators and Peace-makers lay downe by little and little the ancient enmity of the old Chaos Thou knowest well enough who these Mediators and Peace-makers are betweene the hote and the cold there is moisture for he is kinsman and allyed to them both to hote by his heate and to cold by his moisture And this is the reason why to begin to make this peace thou hast already in the precedent operation conuerted all the confections into water by dissolution And afterward thou hast made to coagulate the water which is turned into this Earth blacke of the blacke most blacke wholly to accomplish this peace for the Earth which is cold and dry finding himself of kindred and allyance with the dry and moist which are enemies will wholly appease and acâ—ord them Doest thou not then consider a most perfect mixture of all the foure Elements hauing first turned them into water and now into Earth I will also teach thee heereafter the other conuersions into ayer when it shall be all white and into fire when it shall bee of a most perfect purple Then thou hast heere two natures marriâ—d together whereof the one hath conceiued by the other and by this conception it is turned into the body of the Male and the Male into that of the Female that is to say they are made one onely body which is the Androgyne or Hermaphrodite of the Ancients which they haue also called otherwise the head of the Crow or natures conuerted In this fashion I paint them heere because thou hast two natures reconciled which if they be guâ—ded and gouerned wisely can forme an Embrion in the wombe of the Vessell and afterwards bring foorth a most puissant King inuincible and incorruptible because it will bee an admirable quintessence Thus thou seest the principall and most necessary reason of this representation The second cause which is also well to bee noted was because I must of necessitie paint two bodies because in this operation it behooueth that thou diuide that which hath beene coagulated to giue afterwards nourishment which is milke of life to the little Infant when it is borne which is endued by the liuing God with a vegetable soule This is a secret most admirable and secret which for want of vnderstanding it hath made fooles of all those that haue sought it without finding it and hath made euery man wise that beholds it with the eyes of his body or of his spirit Thou must then make two parts and portions of this Coagulated body the one of which shall serue for Azoth to wash and clense the other which is called Leton which must be whitened He which is washed is the Serpent Python which hauing taken his being from the corruption of the slime of the Earth gathered together by the waters of the deluge when all the confections were water must be killed and ouercome by the arrowes of the God Apollo by the yellow Sunne that is to say by our fire equall to that of the Sunne He which washeth or rather the washings which must be continued with the other moity these are the teeth of that Serpent which the sage workeman the valiant Theseus wil sow in the same Earth from whence there shall spring vp armed Souldiers which shal in the end discomsit themselues suffering themselues by opposition to resolue into the same nature of the Earth and the workman to beare away his deserued conquests It is of this that the Phylosophers haue written so often and so often repeated it It dissolues it selfe it congeales it selfe it makes it selfe blacke it makes it selfe white it kils it selfe and it quickens it selfe I haue made their field be painted azure and blew to shew that I doe but now beginne to get out from the most blacke blacknesse for the azure and blew is one of the first colours that the darke woman lets vs see that is to say moisture giuing place a little to heate and drinesse The man and woman are almost all orange-coloured to shew that our Bodies or our body which the wise men here call Rebis hath not as yet digestion enough and that the moisture from whence comes the blacke blew and azure is but halfe vanquished by the drinesse For when drinesse beares rule all will be white and when it fighteth with or is equall to the moisture all will be in part according to these present colours The enuious haue also called these confections in this operation Nummus Ethelia Arena Boritis Coâ—sufle Cambar Albar aeris Duenech Randeric Kukul Thabricis Ebisemech Ixir c. which they haue commanded to make white The woman hath a white circle in forme of a rowle round about her body to shew thee that Rebis will beginne to become white in that very fashion beginning first at the extremities round about this white circle Scala PhylosophoruÌ„ that is the Booke entituled The Phylosophers Ladder saith thus The signe of the first perfect whitenesse is the manifestation of a certaine little circle of haire that is passing ouer the head which will appeare on the sides of the vessels round about the matter in a kind of a cierine or yellowish colour There is written in their Rowles Homo veniet ad iudicium Dei that is Man shall come to the Iudgement of God Verè saith the woman illa dies terribilis erit that is Truly that will be a terrible day These are not passages of holy Scripture but onely sayings which speake according to the Theological sence of the Iudgement to come I haue put them there to serue my selfe of them towards him that beholds onely the grosse outward and most naturall Artifice taking the interpretation thâ—reof to concerne onely the Resurrection and also it may serue for them that gathering together the Parables of the Science take to them the eyes of Lynceus to pierce deeper then the visible obiects There is then Man shall come to the iudgement of God Certainly that day shall be terrible That is as if I should haue said It behoues that this come to the colour of perfection to be iudged clensed from all his blacknesse and filth and to be spiritualized and whitened Surely that day will be terrible yet certainly as you shall find in the Allegory
the Mettalls whitening the Sunne because it containes a white Argent viue And from hence thou mayest draw a great secret to wit that the water of Saturnine Antimony ought to be Mercuriall and white to the end that it may whiten the Gold not burning it but dissoluing and afterwards congealing it to the forme of white Creame Therefore saith the Philosopher that this water maketh the Body to bee volatile because after it hath beene dissolued in this water and cooled againe it mounts aloft vpon the surface of the water Take saith he gold crude foliated laminated or calcined with Mercury and put it into our Vinegre Antimoniall Saturnine Mercuriall and drawne from Sal Ammoniack as is said in a broad vessell of glasse foure fingers high or more and leaue it there in a temperate heate and in short time thou wilt see lifted vp as it were a liquor of oyle swimming aloft in manner of a thinne skinne That gather with a spoone or with a feather dipping it in and so doing many times in a day vntill there doe nothing more arise afterward make the water vapour away by the fire that is to say the superfluous humor of the vinegre and there will remain vnto thee a fifth essence of Gold in forme of a white oyle incombustible wherein the Phylosophers haue placed their greatest secrets and this oyle is exceeding sweete and is of great power to mitigate the pain and griefe of wounds All the secret then of this secret Antimoniall is that by vertue thereof we know how to extract draw out of the body of the Magnesia Argent viue not burning and this is Antimony and Mercuriall sublimate that is we must draw a water liuing incombustible and then congeale it with the perfect Body of the Sunne which is dissolued therein into a nature and substance white congealed as if it were creame which maketh it all to become white Neuerthelesse first of all this Sunne in his putrifaction and resolution in this water in the beginning will loose his light be darkened become black and afterward will lift himselfe vpon the water and there will swimme vpon it by little and little a white colour i◠a white substance And this is called to whiten the red Leton to sublime it Phylosophically and to reduce it into his first matter that is to say into white Sulphur incombustible and into Argent viue fixed and so the terminated moisture that is to say Gold our Body by the reiteration of liquefaction in this our dissoluing water is turned and reduced into Sulphur and Argent viue fixed And so the perfect Body of the Sunne taketh life in this water is reuiued inspired encreased and multiplied in his kind as all other things are for in this water it commeth to passe that the Body compounded of two bodies of the Sunne and of the Moone puffeth vp swelleth putrisieth as a graine of Corne becommeth great with young is lifted vp and encreaseth taking the substance nature liuing and vegetable Also our water or our foresaid vinegre is the vinegre of Mountaines that is to say of the Sunne and Moone and therefore it is mixed with the Sunne and Moon and cleaueth to them perpetually to wit the Body taketh from this water the tincture of whitenesse and with it the water shineth with inestimable brightnesse Hee therefore that knowes how to turne the Body into white siluer medicinall hee may afterward by this white gold easily turne all imperfect mettals into very good and fine siluer And this white gold is by the Phylosophers called their white Moone the white Argent viue fixed the Gold of Alchimy and the white smoake Therefore without that our Antimoniall vinegre the white gold of Alchimy cānot be made And because in our vinegre there is a double substance of Argent viue one of Antimony and another of Mercury sublimed it doth therefore giue a double weight substance of Argent viue fixed and also augments therein in the gold the naturall colour weight substance and tincture thereof Therefore our dissoluing water carries a great tincture and great fusion because that when it feeles the common fire if there be in it the perfect Body of the Sunne or of the Moone it suddenly maketh it to bee melted and to be turned into his substance white as it is addes colour weight and tincture to the Body It hath also power to dissolue all things that may be melted and it is a ponderous body viscous precious and honourable resoluing all crude bodies into their first matter that is into Earth a viscous powder that is to say into Sulphur and Argent viue If therefore thou put into this water any mettall filed or attenuated and leauest it for a time in a gentle heate it will bee all dissolued and changed into a viscous water or a white oyle as is said And so it molifies the Body and prepares it to fusion liquefaction nay it makes all things fusible that is stones and mettals and afterwards giues them spirit and life Therefore it dissolues all things with a wonderful solution turning the perfect Body into a fusible medicine melting penetrating and more fixed encreasing the weight and colour Worke therefore with it and thou shalt obtaine from it that which thou desirest for it is the spirit and the soule of the Sunne and the Moone it is the oyle the dissoluing water the fountaine the Balneum Mariae the fire against Nature the moist fire the secret hidden and inuisible fire and the most sharpe vinegre of which a certaine ancient Phylosopher said I besought the Lord and hee shewed me a certain cleane water which I knew to be the pure vinegre altering piercing and digesting The vinegre I say penetratiue and the instrument mouing the gold or the siluer to putrifie resolue and to be reduced into his first matter and it is the onely Agent in the whole World for this Art that can resolue and reincrudate or make raw againe the Mettallicke Bodies with the conseruation of their species It is therefore the onely fit and natural mean by which we ought to resolue the perfect Bodies of the Sunne and Moone by an admirable and solemne dissolution vnder the conseruation of their species and without any destruction vnlesse it be to a new more noble and better forme or generation that is to say into the perfect Stone of the Phylosophers which is their wonderfull and hidden secret Now this water is a certain middle substance cleere as pure siluer which ought to receiue the tinctures of the Sunne and Moone to the end that it may be congealed and conuerted into white and liuing Earth for this water hath need of the perfect bodies that with them after dissolution it may bee congealed fixed and coagulated into white Earth and their solution is also their congelation for they haue one and the same operation for the one is not dissolued but that the other is congealed neither is
there any other water which can dissolue the Bodies but that which abideth with them in matter and forme nay it cannot be permanent except it bee of the nature of the other body that they may be made one together Therefore when thou seest the water coagulate it selfe with the Bodies that bee dissolued therein rest assured that thy Science Methode and operations are true and Phylosophicall and that thou proceedest aright in the Art Nature then is amended in its like nature that is Gold and Siluer are amended in our water as our water also with the Bodies which water is called the meane of the Soule without the which wee can doe nothing in this Art and it is the vegetable animall and minerall fire preseruing the fixed spirits of the Sunne and Moone the destroyer and the Conquerour of Bodies because it destroyes dissolues and changeth Bodies and mettallick formes and makes them to bee no Bodies but a fixed spirit and turneth them into a moist soft and fluid substance which hath ingression and power to enter into other imperfect Bodies and to be mixed with them by the smallest parts and to colour them and make them perfect which they could not doe when they were Mettallicke bodies dry hard which haue no entrance nor power to colour and make perfect imperfect Bodies And therefore to good purpose doe wee turne the bodies into a fluid substance because euery tincture will colour a thousand times more when it is in a soft and liquid substance then when it is in a dry one as appeares by Saffron and consequently the transmutation of imperfect Bodies is impossible to be done by perfect Bodies while they are dry except they bee first brought backe into their first matter soft and fluid from hence wee conclude that we must make the Moisture returne and so reueale that which is hidden which is called the reincrudation or the making raw againe of the Bodies that is the boyling and the softening them vntill they bee depriued of their hard and dry corporality or bodilynesse because that which is dry doth not enter nor colour any more then it selfe Therefore the dry Earthly Body doth not teine except it be teined because as is aboue-said that which is thicke and Earthy entreth not nor coloureth and because it entreth not therefore it alters not wherefore Gold coloureth not vntill the hidden spirit be drawne from the belly thereof by our white water and that it be made altogether a spirituall and white fume the white spirit and the wonderfull soule Wherefore wee ought by our water to attenuate alter and soften the perfect Bodies that they may afterward be mixed with the other imperfect Bodies And therefore if wee had no other profit by that Antimoniall water then this that it makes the Bodies subtile soft and fluid according to his owne nature yet it were sufficient for vs for it brings backe the Bodies to their first originall of Sulphur and Mercury that of these we may afterwards in a short time in lesse then one houre of the day doe that aboue ground which Nature wrought vnder ground in the mines of the Earth in a thousand yeeres which is as it were miraculous And therefore our finall secret is by our water to make the Bodies volatile spirituall and a teining water which hath ingression or entrance into the other Bodies for it makes the Bodies to be a very spirit because it doth incerate that is bring to the temper and consistence of waxe the hard and dry Bodies and prepares them to fusion that is turnes them into a permanent or abiding water It makes then of the Bodies a most precious blessed Oyle which is the true tincture and the white permanent water of nature hot moist temperate subtile and fusible as waxe which pierceth reacheth to the bottome coloureth maketh perfect Therefore our water doth incontinently dissolue gold and siluer and maketh them an incombustible Oyle which may then be mixed with other imperfect Bodies for our water turnes the Bodies into the nature of a fusible salt which is by the Phylosophers called Sal Albroe which is the best and the noblest of all salts being in the regiment thereof fixed and not flying the fire and it is indeed an oyle of a nature hot subtile penetrating reaching to the depth and entring called the compleat Elixir and it is the hidden secret of the wise Alchimists Hee therefore that knoweth this salt of the Sunne and Moone and the generation or preparation thereof and afterwards how to mixe it and make it friendly to the other imperfect bodies hee in truth knoweth one of the greatest secrets of Nature and one way of perfection These Bodies thus dissolued by our water are called Argent viue which is not without Sulphur nor Sulphur without the nature of the Luminaries or lights because that the Lights the Sunne and Moone are the principall meanes or middle things in the forme by which Nature passeth in the perfecting and accomplishing the generation thereof And this Quick-siluer is called the Salt honoured and animated and pregnant or great with Childe and fire seeing that it is nothing but fire nor fire but Sulphur nor Sulphur but quicke-siluer drawne from the Sunne and Moon by our water and reduced to a stone of great price that is to say it is the matter of the Lights altered from basenesse vnto noblenesse Note that this white Sulphur is the Father of Mettals and their Mother together it is our Mercury and the Minera of Gold and the Soule and the ferment and the minerall vertue and the liuing Body and the perfect Medicine our Sulphur and our Quick-siluer that is Sulphur of Sulphur and Quick-siluer of Quick-siluer and Mercury of Mercury The property therefore of our water is that it melteth gold and siluer and augments in them their natiue colour for it turnes the Bodies from Corporality into Spirituality and this water it is which sends into the Body a white fume which is the white soule subtile hot and of much fierinesse This water is also called the bloudy stone and it is the vertue of the spirituall bloud without which nothing is done the subiect of all liquable things and of liquefaction which agrees very well and cleaueth to the Sunne and the Moone neither is it euer separated from them for it is of kinne to the Sunne and to the Moone but more to the Sun then to the Moone Note this well It is also called the mean of conioyning the tinctures of the Sunne and Moone with imperfect Mettals for it turnes the Bodies into a true tincture to teine the other imperfect Mettals and it is the water which whiteneth as it is white which quickeneth as it is a soule and therefore as the Phylosopher saith soone entreth into its body For it is a liuing water which commeth to moisten its earth that it may budde and bring forth fruit in his time as all things springing from the Earth are engendred
consequently by how much more this red is boyled so much the more is it coloured and made a tincture of perfect rednesse Wherefore thou must with a dry fire and a dry calcination without any moysture boyle this compound vntill it bee clothed with a most red colour and then it will be a perfect Elixir If afterwards thou wilt multiply it thou must againe resolue that red in a new dissoluing water and after by decoction whiten and rubifie it by the degrees of fire reiterating the first regiment Dissolue congeale reiterate shutting opening and multiplying in quantitie and qualitie at thine owne pleasure for by a new corruption and generation there is againe brought in a new motion and so we could neuer find an end if we would alwayes worke by reiteration of solution and coagulation by the meanes of our dissoluing water that is to say dissoluing and congealing as is said in the first regiment And so the vertue thereof is increased and multiplied in quantitie and qualitie so that if in the first worke one part of thy Stone will teyne an hundred in the second it will teyne a thousand in the third ten thousand and so by pursuing thy worke thy proiection will come into infinitie teyning truly and perfectly and fixedly euery quantitie how great soeuer it bee and so by a thing of an easie price is added colour and vertue weight Therefore our fire and Azoth are sufficient for thee boyle boyle reiterate dissolue congeale and so continue according to thy will multiplying it as much as thou wilt and vntill thy Medicine bee made fusible as waxe and that it haue the quantitie and vertue which thou desirest Therefore all the accomplishment of the worke or of our second Stone note it well consisteth in this that thou take the perfect Body which thou must put in our water in a house of glasse wel shut and stopped with Cement lest the ayre get in or the moysture inclosed get out and there hold it in the digestion of a gentle heate as if it were of a bathe or the most temperate heate of dung vpon the which with the fire thou shalt continue the perfection of decoction vntill it bee putrified and resolued into blacke and afterwards be lifted vp and sublimed by the water that it may thereby bee cleansed from all blacknesse and darknesse and that it may bee whitened and made subtile vntill it come to the vtmost purity of sublimation and at the last be made volatile and white within and without for the vulture flying in the Ayre without wings cryeth that it might get vpon the Mountaine that is vpon the water vpon the which the white Spirit is carried Then continue a conuenient fire and that Spirit that is the subtile substance of the Body and of Mercury will ascend vpon the water which quintessence is whiter than the snow continue still and in the end strengthen thy fire vntill all which is spirituall mount on high for know well that all that is cleare pure and spirituall ascends on high in the ayre in the forme of a white fume which the Philosophers call the Virgins milke It behooueth therefore that as Sibill said the Sonne of the Virgin bee exalted from the Earth and that the white quintessence after his resurrection bee lifted vp towards the heauens and that the grosse and thicke remaine in the bottome of the vessell and of the water for afterwards when the vessell is colde thou shalt finde in the bottome thereof the foeces blacke burnt and combust separate from the spirit and white quintessence which dregs thou must cast away In these times the Argent viue raineth from our ayre vpon our new earth which is called Argent viue sublimed from the ayre whereof is made a water viscous cleane and white which is the true tincture separated from all blacke foeces and so our brasse or Leton is with our water gouerned purified and adorned with a white colour which white colour is not gotten but by decoction and coagulation of the water Boyle it then continually wash away the blacknesse from the Leton not with thy hand but with the Stone or the fire or our second Mercuriall water which is the true tincture For this separation of the pure from the impure is not done with hands but nature her selfe alone by working it circularly to perfection bringeth it to passe It appeareth then that this composition is not a manuall worke but onely a change of the natures because nature dissolues and conioynes it selfe it sublimes and lifts vp it selfe and hauing separated the foeces it groweth white and in such a sublimation the parts are alwayes ioyned together more subtile more pure and essentiall because that when the fiery nature lifteth vp the subtile parts it lifteth vp alwayes the more pure and by consequent leaueth the grosser in the bottome And therefore it behooueth by an indifferent fire to sublime in a continuall vapour that the Stone may bee inspired in the ayre and liue For the nature of all things takes life of the inspiration of ayre and so also all our Maistery consists in vapour and in the sublimation of water And therefore our brasse or Leton must by degrees of fire bee lifted vp and freely without violence of himselfe ascend on high wherefore vnlesse the Body bee by fire and water dissolued attenuated and subtilized vntill it ascend as a spirit or climbe like Argent viue or as the white soule separated from the Body and carried in the sublimation of the Spirits there is nothing at all done in this Arte But when it ascends on high it is borne in the ayre and changed in the ayre and is made life with life being altogether spirituall and incorruptible And so in such a regiment the Body is made a spirit of a subtile nature and the spirit is incorporated with the Body and is made one with it and in such a sublimation coniunction and eleuation all things are made white And therefore this Phylosophicall and natural sublimation is necessary for that it maketh peace betweene the body and the spirit which is vnpossible otherwise to be done otherwise then by this separation of the parts wherefore it behoueth to sublime them both to the end that in the troubles of this stormy Sea the pure may ascend and the impure and earthly may descend And for this cause it must be boyled continually that it may be brought to a subtile nature and that the body may assume and draw to it selfe the white Mercuriall soule which it naturally retaines and suffereth it not to be separated from it because it is like vnto it in the neerenesse of the first pure and simple nature From hence it appeares that this separation must be made by decoction vntill there remaine no more of the fat of the soule which is not lifted vp and exalted into the vpper part for so they shall be both reduced vnto a simple equality and vnto a simple whitenesse The