Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	nature_n	spirit_n	1,729	5	5.0066	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68054	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 Artephius, 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 Eirenæus Orandus, qui est, vera veris enodans; Figures hierogliphiques. English	Flamel, Nicolas, d. 1418.; Artephius. Liber secretus artis occultae.; Pontanus, Joannes, d. 1572. Epistola de lapide philosophorum.; Orandus, Eirenaeus.	1624 (1624)	STC 11027; ESTC S102276	53,157	276

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 ●●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

this secret science And thus you see that which was in the first fiue leaues I will not represent vnto you that which was written in good and intelligible Latine in all the other written leaues for God would punish me because I should commit a greater wickednesse then he who as it is said wished that all the men of the World had but one head that hee might cut it off at one blow Hauing with me therefore this faire Booke I did nothing else day nor night but study vpon it vnderstanding very well all the operations that it shewed but not knowing with what matter I should beginne which made me very heauy and sollitary and caused me to fetch many a sigh My wife Perrenelle whom I loued as my selfe and had lately married was much astonished at this comforting mee and earnestly demanding if shee could by any meanes deliuer mee from this trouble I could not possibly hold my tongue but told her all and shewed her this faire Booke whereof at the same instant that shee saw it shee became as much enamored as my selfe taking extreame pleasure to behold the faire couer grauings images and portraicts whereof notwithstanding shee vnderstood as little as I yet it was a great comfort to mee to talke with her and to entertaine my selfe what wee should doe to haue the interpretation of them In the end I caused to bee painted within my Lodging as naturally as I could all the figures and portraicts of the fourth and fifth leafe which I shewed to the greatest Clerkes in Paris who vnderstood thereof no more then my selfe I told them they were found in a Booke that taught the Phylosophers stone but the greatest part of them made a mocke both of me and of that blessed Stone excepting one called Master Anselme which was a Licentiate in Physick and studied hard in this Science He had a great desire to haue seene my Book and there was nothing in the world which he would not haue done for a sight of it but I alwayes told him that I had it not onely I made him a large description of the Method He told mee that the first portraict represented Time which deuoured all and that according to the number of the sixe written leaues there was required the space of sixe yeeres to perfect the stone and then he said wee must turne the glasse and seeth it no more And when I told him that this was not painted but onely to shew and teach the first Agent as was said in the Booke hee answered me that this decoction for sixe yeeres space was as it were a second Agent and that certainely the first Agent was there painted which was the white and heauy water which without doubt was Argent viue which they could not fixe nor cut off his feete that is to say take away his volatility saue by that long decoction in the purest bloud of young Infants for in that this Argent viue being ioined with gold and siluer was first turned with them into an herb like that which was there painted and afterwards by corruption into Serpents which Serpents being then wholly dried and decocted by fire were reduced into powder of gold which should be the stone This was the cause that during the space of one and twenty yeeres I tryed a thousand broulleryes yet neuer with bloud for that was wicked and villanous for I found in my Booke that the Phylosophers called Bloud the minerall spirit which is in the Mettals principally in the Sunne Moone and Mercury to the assembling whereof I alwayes tended yet these interpretations for the most part were more subtile then true Not seeing therefore in my workes the signes at the time written in my Booke I was alwayes to beginne againe In the end hauing lost all hope of euer vnderstanding those figures for my last refuge I made a vow to God and S t Iames of Gallicia to demand the interpretation of them at some Iewish Priest in some Synagogue of Spaine whereupon with the consent of Perrenelle carrying with me the Extract of the Pictures hauing taken the Pilgrims habit and staffe in the same fashion as you may see me without this same Arch in the Church-yard in the which I put these hyeroglyphicall figures where I haue also set against the wall on the one and the other side a Procession in which are represented by order all the colours of the stone so as they come goe with this writing in French Moult plaist a Dieu procession S' elle est faicte en deuotion that is Much pleaseth God procession If 't be done in deuotion which is as it wete the beginning of King Hercules his Book which entreateth of the colours of the stone entituled Iris or the Rainebow in these termes Operis processio multùm naturae placet that is The procession of the worke is very pleasant vnto Nature the which I haue put there expresly for the great Clerkes who shall vnderstand the Allusion In this same fashion I say I put my selfe vpon my way and so much I did that I arriued at Montioy and afterwards at Saint Iames where with great deuotion I accomplished my vow This done in Leon at my returne I met with a Merchant of Boloyn which made me knowne to a Physician a Iew by Nation and as then a Christian dwelling in Leon aforesaid who was very skilfull in sublime Sciences called Master Canches Assoone as I had showen him the figures of my Extraict hee being rauished with great astonishment and ioy demanded of me incontinently if I could tell him any newes of the Booke from whence they were drawne I answered him in Latine wherein hee asked me the question that I hoped to haue some good newes of the Book if any body could decipher vnto me the Enigmaes All at that instant transported with great Ardor and ioy hee began to decipher vnto mee the bening But to be short hee wel content to learn newes where this Book should be and I to heare him speake and certainly he had heard much discourse of the Booke but as he said as of a thing which was beleeued to be vtterly lost we resolued of our voyage and from Leon wee passed to Ouiedo and from thence to Sanson where wee put our selues to Sea to come into France Our voyage had beene fortunate enough all ready since we were entred into this Kingdome he had most truly interpreted vnto mee the greatest part of my figures where euen vnto the very points and prickes he found great misteries which seemed vnto mee wonderfull when arriuing at Orleans this learned man fell extreamely sicke being afflicted with excessiue vomitings which remained still with him of those he had suffered at Sea and he was in such a continuall feare of my forsaking him that hee could imagine nothing like vnto it And although I was alwayes by his side yet would he incessantly call for mee but in summe hee dyed at the end of the seuenth day of

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