first place know that the Author of it is far from the humour of pressing his Sentiments upon any one And again that herein we have chosen rather to follow the free Order of Nature and the manner in which it came from the Author in Discourse than to follow School-inventions And in the last place the Reader may be pleased to consider that in case this Work should have been set down fully and at large the few leaves of this Book would not have been able to contain it but would have made a great yea rather many great Volumes Nature her self being so great a Book as she is But yet if in one or the other â—â—ace of this Treatise some further Information may seem to be wanting the same may be met with in other parts of it where upon occasion the same thing is again mentioned for to avoid all superfluity of words forasmuch as in this Discourse the End conformably to Nature is contained in the Beginning and the Beginning in the End And therefore neither can any due or right Judgment be passed concerning it from any one particular passage therein nor indeed without a considerative and oft-repeated reading over of the whole Book Nor that I would go about to deny but that some faults may be here found properly to be attributed to my self as well for want of skill and capacity with reference to the Language I not being a German born as especially by reason of the weightiness of the things themselves which therefore I doubt not but will be easily pardoned me Not to mention now the haste in which I did it by reason of my unexpected departure out of the Land after I had undertaken it Moreover seeing that for want of another this Treatise hath been now Translated into English by a Hollander it is not improbable but upon this account also some failures may have slipt in which the Reader as he meets with them is desired favourably to pass by And because we had a great desire that he would be pleased to comply with our desire of having his Picture engraven in Copper printed in the front of this Book to the end that a stop might be put to the cheats of many who make use of his Name to deceive people and their fraud detected Forasmuch as the same was done to my knowledge by a certain person at Paris about five years since who pretended to great and extraordinary Cares and at first by this means got great sums of money but afterwards was fain to slip away in secret whereas it is notorious that Van Helmont never received either money or monies worth for the like or any other testifications of his Friendship In like manner we have heard of another here in London a Lieutenant-Colonel who pretended to have married his Sister and that by this means he had obtained many rare and excellent Medicines but when Prince Rupert in presence of the said Van Helmont did send for this Lieutenant-Colonel to come to him and speak with his Brother-in-Law he excused himself and withal declared that what was reported of him was a mistake and that it was not his Sister but a Servant of the House whom he had married Wherefore we supposed that his Effigies placed before the Book might prevent such an abuse for the future but we found he was not resolved to gratifie this our request at present but upon our importunate instance he at last consented to another Request of ours viz. to the end that many ignorant persons who are very liable to mistake might be rowsed out of their dream that for a testimony of his outward manner of Life the Patent of Honour freely given and granted unto him by the Emperour and the Roman Empire should be printed at the end of this Book And forasmuch as all this is now published with the will and consent of the Author he expects that the generous and truth-loving Reader will be pleased well to consider what is here set down according to the circumstances before-mentioned and so pass an impartial Judgment upon all in the same manner as the said Author promiseth that whensoever any in kind love shall better inform him to take and receive the same with a like affection to the end that Truth which for so long a time hath been strange and unknown to the greatest part of Europe may at length be manifested and the Publick Good promoted Dat. Lond. Octob. 5 1684. J. B. A Low-Dutch HYMN of ADAM BOREEL presented by him to the Author of this BOOK who had it translated into English I. O Heavenly Light my Spirit to Thee draw With powerful touch my Sences smite Thine Arrows of Love into me thraw With flaming dart Deep wound my Heart And wounded seize for ever as thy Right II. O sweetest sweet descend into my Soul And sink into its lowest Abyss That all false Sweets Thou may'st controul Or rather kill So that Thy Will Alone may be my Pleasure and my Bliss III. Do thou my Faculties all captivate Vnto thy self with strongest tye My Will entirely regulate Make me Thy Slave Nought else I crave For this I know is perfect Liberty IV. Thou art a Life the sweetest of all Lives Nought sweeter can thy Creature taste 'T is this alone the Soul revives Be thou not here All other cheer Will turn to dull satiety at last V. O limpid Fountain of all virtuous Lear O Well-spring of true Joy and Mirth The root of all Contentments dear O endless Good Break like a floud Into my Soul and water my dry Earth VI. That by this Mighty Power I being rest Of every thing that is not ONE To Thee alone I may be left By a firm Will Fixt to thee still And inwardly united into one VII And so let all my Essence I Thee pray Be wholly filled with Thy dear Son That thou thy splendour mayst display With blissful Rays In these hid ways Wherein Gods Nature by frail Man is won VIII For joyned thus to Thee by the sole aid And working whilst all silent stands In mine own Soul nor ought's assay'd From self-desire I 'm made entire An Instrument fit for thy glorious Hands IX And thus henceforwards shall all Workings cease Vnless't be those Thou dost excite To perfect that Sabbatick Peace Which doth arise When self-will dies And the new Creature is restored quite X. And so shall I with all thy Children dear While nought debars Thy Workings free Be closely joyned in union near Nay with thy Son Shall I be one And with thine own adored Deity XI So that at last I being quite releas'd From this strait-lac'd Egoity My Soul will vastly be increas'd Into that ALL Which ONE we call And One in 't self alone doth all imply XII Here 's Rest here 's Peace her 's Joy and holy Love The Heaven 's here of true Content For those that hither sincerely move Here 's the true Light Of Wisdom bright And Prudence pure with no self-seeking
in great quantity in the Oare of the perfectly united Metals is by mortification transmutation or calciâ—â—ation changed into an acid Salt it ceaseth to be Sulphur Now forasmuch as all of the said Sulphur can be changed into a Salt so as that it cannot be re-changed into Brimstone back again because the Salt serveth onely as a mean to dissolve the two perfect Sulphurs in order to unite them and whereas the white incombustible Sulphur can never be changed into Salt how can we then make out three parts or principles which concur to the composition of Metals For two Fathers to one Mother would be monstrous and superfluous forasmuch as both of them are but one and the same Likewise also there cannot be two Mothers to one Father in order to the bringing forth of one Birth for so there would be two Births out of each Mother one For it cannot be denyed that for to generate a Child whether Boy or Girl of which the one hath more of the Fathers nature and property the other more of the Mothers there needs onely a union of Man and Wife and it is impossible that a third thing should be superadded essentially 12 Q. Thou hast now shewed that to thâ— birth and production of Metals Male and Female viz. a white and red Sulphur are required Nowâ— we see that in the most perfect Metals as Gold there is but little of this red Male Sulphur as its yellow colour doth witness which red Sulphur doth essentially joyn and is united with the Femaleâ— white Sulphur and so brings it into such a compact body What is the reason then that so great a quantity of combustible Sulphur is found in the Mines where Metals are which Sulphur may be changed into Vitriol in which several Metals in the Mines have been found dissolved R. Thou mayst find an answer to this in the answer to the next fore-going question and in this question itself also viz. that this Vitriol which proceeds or is prepared from the said Sulphur may be serviceable and helpful to dissolve Metals but not to make them 13 Q. We have been in part informed concerning the red Male Sulphur but may not likewise an instruction be given us concerning the white Female unwoven or unwrought Sulphur which is not yet united to the red Sulphur or come to be a Metal and is found by it self alone as also together with the Metals how may we find and distinctly understand the same R. Concerning the white Female Sulphur which in the German Tongue is called hutteâ— rauch and by Artists Ars Senum or Arsenicum and is found by itself and likewise with the perfect as well as imperfect Metals in great quantity it is unnecessary for us to treat of it at large here because the Books of Metallurgist's do give us sufficient information where the said Sulphur is to be 〈◊〉 with in great quantity This Arsenicum is by the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 probably from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Man and in the Hebrew the word that signifies a Man is Geber from whence we may infer that Geber the famed Author hath writ with understanding and like a man concerning this subject This Arsenick may also be compared to the Serpent of which mention is made Gen. 3. not onely because of the poisonous property common to them both but also because the Serpent was to eat the dust of the Earth even as the Serpent Arsenick must eat Ophir or dust of the Earth also according to what elsewhere hath been hinted viz. that Ophir signifies Dust Gold or Sand. 14 Q. Is it not necessary to have some information also concerning the Natural and Mechanical Weavings of both these Sulphurs R. When these Sulphurs are each of them alone or by themselves they continue brittle as Stones so that they cannot be wrought with the Hammer and when they are added to Metals by fusion they spoil them and make them impure As for instance When we take Arsenick and melt it down with Silver or Copper it robes and spoils the Silver and makes it impure and Copper it makes white hard and brittle Also when we take Arsenick which is somewhat more fixt by reason of a little red Sulphur which is in part nraurally interwoven with it as white Zink called Spelter which partakes of Lead and is in the Silver-oare at Goslar found in a Lead-mine that contains Silver and which sublimes and sticks fast to the sides of the Furnace partly in the form of a Glassie crust or rind the other part of it being fusible like to Regulus of Antimony when I say we cast a fourth part of this in to molten Copper it mechanically or externally interweaves itself with the said Copper so as the Copper by means of it gets a golden colour higher than any common Brass which is made of Copper by the addition of Lapis Calaminaris For when this stony glassie crust which sticks to the sides of the Furnace is taken thence and put to Copper it will not melt with it in order to make Brass of it But when this glassie matter hath been buried several years in the Earth the Salt of the Glass dissolves therein and becomes nitrous and by this means becomes a good fluxing powder and being ground to powder it is added to Copper instead of Lapis Calaminaris and produceth a gold coloured Brass as was mentioned insomuch that at Goslar some Goldsmiths make Rings and Chains of the same which to the eye may pass for Gold but is not so in weight But when any one goes about to hammer this Metal whilest it is hot as they do Gold Silver Copper and Iron it breaks all to pieces under the hammer For the white volatile Sulphurous Zink which as a strange guest is unnaturally through heat forced into the Copper as soon as it grows hot and that the Copper is swelled up sublimes away gradualâ—y through the Copper which is the cause why 〈◊〉 must of necessity break when struck with a hammer But when it is grown cold we shall find upon the Anvil in the place where it was laid to cool a white vapour the same as the Lapis Calaminaris doth in Brass evaporated sublimed and sticking to the Anvil and then it will let itself be wrought with a Hammer as Copper and other Metals are By which instances we may partly understand the natural and partly also the mechanical texture in Metals To what hath been already said this further may be added that when we take the common Arsenick by itself which is very volatile and poisonous and mix it with Copper it makes the Copper white and hard indeed but cannot by reason of its volatility abide in the fire so long as Spelter doth forasmuch as it doth not partake of the red Sulphur and consequently is not so fixt and constant For the volatility in Arsenick and Mercury is the cause that when the fire enters into the same
him cover the Mare so that she conceives by him we shall find that the Mare will have a Fole whose colour shall resemble the artificial painting of the Stone-horse And must it not be concluded from hence that all Creatures continually without ceasing take in a true substance and give it out from them again And that the Species visibiles which we may well call Virtutes virtues or powers have a true living Being or Essence which they receive from the Sun as their Father and that they do not return to nothing but where they are not received they do by revolution return again to their original but when they are received become essential and corporeal And did not Jacob think we very well understand this viz. that such a living Essence continually flows forth from all Creatures when by means of the effect and out-working of his peeled Rods he procured so great an increase of Ring-streaked Speckled and Spotted Lambs from Laban's Sheep II. Concerning the Ears and Hearing 14 Q. As it happens in Sight or Seeing that the out-flowing Idea as the living Being or Essence out of all Creatures comes into Man and abides dwelling with him so that it cannot be separated from him because without keeping the Idea with him he could never know or remember the Original and all this by means of the influence of the Sun Moon and Stars so we may in part understand the essentiality of all Idea's in that Spirits and Ghosts whenever they appear in a distinct form do not onely take upon them the Image of the Man in whose form they appear but likewise the Image of his Cloaths from whence we may understand that an essential efflux must have proceeded from the Cloathes and entred the Spirit of Man And doth not the very same happen in Hearing likewise and is it not performed by means of a real Essence And do not the Idea's of things we take in by the Ears stay in the common Sense so called by means of which we can distinguish and know such things another time And is not this evident from hence in that by our Hearing we can distinguish between the voices and sounds of all Creatures so as to know which comes from each of them which could not be if the same had no Being or Essence Doth not likewise the Angel confirm this when he saith to Esdras Shew me the image of a voice 4 Esdr. 5. 37. And here by the way it is worth our enquiry whether the said fourth Book of Esdras was not called the Wisdom of God by Christ himself Luke 11. 49. especially seeing that what Christ there alledgeth is nowhere to be found in Holy Writ save onely in the fore-mentioned fourth Book of Esdras ch 1. v. 32 15 Q. Forasmuch as the Central Life-spirit of Man which hath its habitation in the Bones hath formed the Organ of the Ear of a Gristle which is the extreme or outward part of the Bones and by reason of its softness is fit and adapted for the Spirit to have its out and in-working through the same From which Gristles likewise proceeds that balsamick bitter matter called Ear-wax which is of use in many Diseases and is especially good for the Hearing Accordingly we find also in the Ears a striral Cavity which ends at the Tympanum or Drum as is notorious from Anatomy which Drum contains a vital Air that makes its revolution with the heavenly Air of the Great World together with the Sun Moon and Stars And is not this another great instance of the harmony and agreement which is betwixt the greater and lesser World Seeing that even as the Central Spirit of Life in Man as the Little World hath its continual out-workings and revolutions in the several Nerves Sinews Veins and Arteries so likewise in the Great World the spiritual operative essence in the Air is always at work in a continual and never-ceasing Revolution causing many changeable courses of the Clouds and Winds 16 Q. Forasmuch as we see that Nature hath wisely ordered two Ears for Man is it not to this end that both these Ears as Man and Wife or as the two Scales of a Balance should balance and weigh what must be again given out through the voice corresponding with what is received from the sound of another voice to the end it may be wrought out in an harmonious sound in which whole Nature stands that so a perfect Revolution may be brought to pass So that the left Ear as the Wife must receive and the right as the Man work it out or judge of it that so according to the universal sound which hath its seat in the inward man it may be wrought and formed as a spiritual Son by his Father 17 Q. What may be the reason think we why the Jews in the Hebrew Tongue express Deaf and Dumb with one and the same word May it not be upon this account that seeing the Speech of man must be sowed in him by Hearing that so â—he Seed of the Word may be formed and wrought â—ut in him especially since we find that those that â—e born deaf are dumb likewise and cannot speak â—orasmuch as Speech cannot be planted in them â—ut by the sense of Hearing We may likewise daily observe how the tongues of little Children â—re moved as by the Seed of their Mothers voice by which Tongue the Speech is formed And is â—ot this likewise the reason that we read of Zachaâ—ias the Father of John the Baptist Luke 1. 20. â—1 that he was struck not onely deaf but dumb when he did not believe the Angel Gabriel who â—eclared unto him the birth of his Son John for â—hat seeing he did not lend a right believing Ear to â—he voice of the Angel he was also disabled from â—ttering what he had heard as we find that he â—ould not speak till after the birth of John and that withal he was so deaf that they were fain to make signes to him for to know how he would have his Son named III. Concerning the Nose and Sense of Smelling in Man 18 Q. When we see that the Nose which is in the midst of the Face and whose substance is for the most part gristly as the Ears like a spunge receives through both the Nostrils as male and female the air of Life for to smell as also continually to feed and maintain the Life of man And that the said air which enters the Nose is by the inward director who in this work makes use of the Belly for a bellows through the Lungs as through a spunge in which the air is concocted and digested as the meat is in the stomach drawn into the Belly which is the common receiver or place in which the attracted air is treasured up from which afterwards the said air by a due and fit circulation or revolution is communicated to all other parts and members of the Body which is afterwards given out again to supply which new air
Scripture as may be seen Prov. 1. 6. and Chap. 25. 2. Eccles. Syr. 39. 1. Math. 13. 34. 35. 1 Cor. 13. 12. Even because the outward man hath onely an outward understanding and therefore can onely understand the outward and not the inward 1 Cor. 2. 14. 15. And therefore the Scripture was written in this Parabolical way that we from thence might take occasion to pass from the outward into the inward from the Body and Letter into the Spirit and by this means become Spiritual I have many years since communicated and discoursed the Contents of this Appendix to persons of several perswasions to try whether the same would be received and put in practice amongst any of them but they all with one accord told me that the same was impracticable and impossible forasmuch as none would be able to return an answer to all the questions which in case this way were introduced would be propounded and therefore must needs be the cause of numberless contests and disputes By which answer of theirs they tacitly acknowledge that they keep the Door fast lock'd which leads to the Steps of Wisdom Without any further considering whether it be likely that our Saviour or his Disciples could leave us any Commands but what were possible to be obeyed and put in practice c. Wherefore notwithstanding these discouragements and in hope that what hath not been done hitherto may be done and put in practice hereafter I have here briefly set down the same together with a short Introduction concerning the Education and Instruction of Children As also added Christ's Hundred Commandments of which by the constant use the Children may have them as it were engrafted in them by the careful and loving Mothers direction to read and write them over daily instead of their Horn and Coppy Books that so they may serve them all their Lives time for their true guides Which practice the Lord grant may tend to his most Holy Names Praise Honour and Glory CHRIST's Hundred Commandments c. 1. JEsus said unto him it is written again Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Mat. 4. 7. And Jesus answering said unto him it is said Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Luke 4. 12. 2. Then saith Jesus unto him get thee hence Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Mat. 4. 10. And Jesus answered and said unto him get thee behind me Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Luke 4. 8. 3. And said unto them that sold Doves Take these things hence make not my Fathers House a House of merchandize John 2. 16. 4. Marvel not that I said unto thee Thou must be born again John 3. 7. 5. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him John 4. 23. 6. And saying the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel Mark 1. 15. 7. Afterwards Jesus findeth him in the Temple and said unto him Behold thou art made whole Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee John 5. 14. 8. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me John 5. 39. 9. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Mat. 5. 16. 10. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgement and whosoever shall say unto his brother Racha shall be in danger of the Council but whosoever shall say Thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell fire Mat. 5. 22. 11. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery already with her in his heart And if they right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not thy whole body should be cast into Hell And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not thy whole body should be cast into Hell Mat. 5. 28 c. 12. But I say unto you That whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth Adultery Mat. 5. 32. 13. But I say unto you Swear not at all neither by Heaven for it is God's Throne nor by the Earth for it is his Footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the great King Neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair black or white But let your communcation be Yea yea and Nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of Evil Mat. 5. 34 c. 14. But I say unto you That ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also And if any man sue thee at the Law and take away thy cloak let him have thy coat also And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain Mat. 5. 39. Luke 6. 27 29. 15. Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away Mat. 5. 42. Luke 6. 30. 16. But I say unto you Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you Mat. 5. 44 c. Luke 6. 27 35. 17. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Mat. 5. 48. Luke 6. 35. 18. Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them otherwise ye have on reward of your Father which is in Heaven Therefore when thou dost thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men Verily I say unto you they have their reward But when thou dost alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does Mat. 6. 1 c. 19. And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men Verily I say unto you they have their reward But thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut the door Pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Mat. 6. 5 6. 20. But when ye pray use not vain repetitions as the Heathen do for they think they shall be heard for