according to the Jerusalem Thargum In wisdome God made the water and the earth And the earth was without forme and void and there was Darknesse upon the Face of the Deep and the spirit of God moved upon the Face of the waters Here you should observe that God created two principles Earth and Water and of these two he compounded a third namely the Sperm or Chaos Upon the water or moyst part of this Sperm the spirit of God did move and saith the Scripture there was Darknesse upon the face of the Deep This is a very great secret neither is it lawfull to publish it expresly and as the Nature of the thing requires but in the Magicall work it is to be seen and I have been an eye witnesse of it my selfe To conclude Remember that our subject is no common water but a thick slimie fat earth This earth must be dissolved into water and that water must be coagulated again into earth This is done by a certaine Naturall Agent which the Philosophers call their secret fire for if you work with common fire it will drie your Sperm and bring it to an unprofitable red Dust of the Colour of wild poppie Their fire then is the Key of the Art for it is a Naturall Agent but acts not Naturally without the Sun I must confesse it is a knottie Mysterie but we shall make it plaine if you be not very Dim and Dull It requires indeed a quick clear Apprehension and therefore Readers Snuffe your Candles The Philosophicall Fire FIre notwithstanding the Diversities of it in this Sublunarie Kitchin of the Elements is but one Thing from one Root The Effects of it are various according to the Distance and Nature of the subject wherein it resides for that makes it Vital or Violent It sleeps in most things as in Flints where it is silent and Invisible It is a kind of perdue lys close like a Spider in the Cabinet of his Web to surprise all that comes within his lines He never appears without his prey in his Foot where he finds ought that 's Combustible there he discovers himself for if wee speak properly he is not generated but manifested Some Men are of Opinion that hee breeds nothing but devoures all things and is therefore call'd Ignis quasi Ingignens This is a Grammticall Whim for there is nothing in the world generated without Fire What a fine Philosopher then was Aristotle who tels us this Agent breeds nothing but his Pyrausta a certain Fly which he found in his Candle but could never be seen afterwards Indeed too much Heat burns and destroyes and if we descend to other Natures too much water drowns too much earth buries and choaks the seed that it cannot come up And verily at this Rate there is nothing in the world that generats What an Owle was he then that could not distinguish with all his Logic between Excesse and Measure between Violent and Vital Degrees of Heat but concluded the Fire did Breed nothing because it consumed something But let the Mule passe for so Plato call'd him and let us prosecute our secret fire This fire is at the Root and about the Root I mean about the Center of all things both Visible and Invisible It is in water earth and ayr It is in Minerals Herbs and Beasts It is in Men Stars and Angels but Originally it is in God himself for he is the Fountain of Heat and fire and from Him it is derived to the rest of the Creatures in a certaine streame or Sun-shine Now the Magicians affoord us but two Notions whereby we may know their fire it is as they describe it Moyst and Invisible Hence have they call'd it Venter Equi and Fimus Equinus but this only by way of Analogie for there is in Horse-dung a moyst Heat but no fire that is visible Now then let us compare the common Vulcan with this Philosophicall Vesta that we may see wherein they are different First of all then the Philosopher's fire is moyst and truly so is that of the Kitchin too We see that flames contract and extend themselves now they are short now they are long which cannot be without moysture to maintaine the flux and Continuitie of their parts I know Aristotle makes the fire to be simply dry perhaps because the effects of it are so he did not indeed consider that in all Complexions there are other Qualities besides the praedominant one Sure then this drie stuffe is that element of his wherein he found his Pyrausta but if our naturall fire were simply drie the flames of it could not flow and diffuse themselves as they doe they would rather fall to Dust or turne like their fuell to ashes But that I may returne to my former Discourse I say the Common fire is excessively hot but moyst in a far inferior degree and therefore destructive for it preyes on the moysture of other things On the contrary the warmth and moysture of the Magicall Agent are equall the one temperates and satisfies the other it is a humid tepid fire or as we commonly expresse our selves Bloud-warme This is their first and greaeest Difference in Relation to our desired effect we will now consider their second The Kitchin fire as we all know is visible but the Philosophers fire is Invisible and therefore no Kitchin fire This Almadir expresly tels us in these words Solos radios Invisibiles ignis nostri sufficere Our work saith he can be performed by nothing but by the Invisible Beams of our fire And againe Ignis noster Corrosivus est Ignis qui supra nostrum vas Nubem obducit in quâ nube radii hujus ignis occulti sunt Our Fire is a Corrosive fire which brings a cloud about our glasse or vessell in which Cloud the Beams of our fire are hidden To be short the Philosophers call this Agent their Bath because it is moyst as Baths are but in very truth it is no kind of Bath neither Maris nor Roris but a most subtil fire and purely Naturall but the Excitation of it is Artificiall This Excitation or preparation as I have told thee in my Coelum Terrae is a very triviall slight ridiculous thing neverthelesse all the secrets of Corruption and Generation are therein contained Lastly I think it just to informe thee that many Authors have falfly described this fire and that of purpose to seduce their Readers For my ownpart I have neither added nor diminished thou hast here the true intire secret and in which all the Eastern sages agree Alfid Almadir Belen Gieberim Hali Salmanazar and Zadich with the three famous Jews Abraham Artefius and Kalid If thou doest not by this time apprehend it thou are past my Cure for I may tell thee no more of it I may only reach thee how to use it Take our two Serpents which are to bee found every where on the Face of the Earth They are a living Male and a living Female Tye them
like plush for it was very soft and purl'd all the way with Daysies and Primrose When we came out of our Arboret and Court of Bayes I could perceive a strange Clearnesse in the Ayr not like that of Day neither can I affirme it was night The stars indeed perched over us and stood glimmering as it were on the Tops of high Hills for we were in a most deep Bottome and the Earth overlook'd us so that I conceived we were neer the Center We had not walk'd very far when I discovered cerraine thick white Clouds for such they seemed to me which fill'd all that part of the Valley that was before us This indeed was an Error of mine but it continued not long for comming neerer I found them to be firm solid Rocks but shining and sparkling like Diamonds This rare and goodly sight did not a litttle incourage me and great desire I had to heare my Mistris speake for so I judged her now that if possible I might receive some Information How to bring this about I did not well know for she seem'd averse from Discourse but having resolv'd with my self to disturb her I â—sk'd her if she would favour me with her Name To this she replied very familiarly â—s if she had kown me long before Eugeâ—ius said she I have many Names but my best and dearest is Thalia for I am alwaies green and I shall never wither Thou doest â—here behold the mountains of the Moone and I will shew thee the Originall of Nilus for she springs from these Invisible Rocks Looke up and peruse the very Tops of these pillars and Clifts of Salt for they are the true Philosophicall Lunar Mountains Didst thou ever see such a Miraculous incredible thing This speech made me quickly look up to those glittering Turrets of Salt where I could see a stupendous Cataract or Waterfall The streame was more large than any River in her full Chanell but notwithstanding the Height and Violence of its Fall it descended without any Noyse The Waters were dash'd and their Current distracted by those Saltish Rocks but for all this they came down with a dead silence like the still soft Ayr Some of this Liquor for it ran by me I took up to see what strange wollen substance it was that did thus steale down like Snow When I had â—it in my hands it was no Common water but a certaine kind of Oile of a Waterie Complex on A viscous fat mineral nature it was bright like Pearls and transparent like Chrystall When I had viewd and search'd it well it appear'd somewhat spermatic and in very Truth it was obscene to the sight but much more to the Touch Hereupon Thalia told me it was the first Matter and the very Naturall true Sperm of the great World It is said she invisible and therefore few are they that find it but many believe it is not to be found They believe indeed that the world is a dead Figure like a Body which hath been sometimes made and fashion'd by that spirit which dwelt in it but retaines that very shape and fashion for some short time after that the Spirit hath forsaken it They should rather consider that every Frame when the Soule hath left it doth discompose and can no longer retaine its former figure for the Agent that held and kept the parts together is gone Most excellent then is that speech which I heard sometimes from one of my own Pupils Mundus hic ex tam diversis contrariisque partibus in unam formam minimè convenâ—sset nisi unus esset qui tam Diversa conjungeret Conjuncta vero Naturarum ipsa Diversitas invicem discors dissociaret atque divelleret nisi unus esset qui quod nexuit contineret Non tam vero certus naturae ordo procederet nec tam dispositosmotus Locis temporibus efficientiâ Qualitatibus explicaret nisi unus esset qui has Mutationum varietates manens ipse disponeret Hoc quicquid est quo Condita manent atque gubernantur usitato cunctis Vocabulo Deum nomino This world saith he of such divers and contrarie parts had never been made one thing Had not there been one who did joyn together such contrary things But being joyn'd together the very Diversitie of the Natures joyned fighting one with another had Discompos'd and separated them unlesse there had been one to hold and keep those parts together which he at first did joyn Verily the order of Nature could not proceed with such certaintie neither could she move so regularly in severall places times effects and qualities unlesse there were some one who dispos'd and order'd these Varieties of Motions This whatsoever it is by which the world is preserved and govern'd I call by that usuall name God Thou most therefore Eugenius said she understand that all Compositionsare made by an active intelligent life for what was done in the Composure of the great world in generall the same is perform'd in the Generation of every creature and its sperm in particular I suppose thou doest know that water cannot be contained but in some Vessell The naturall Vessell which God hath appointed for it is Earth In Earth water may be thickned and brought to a figure but of it self and without Earth it hath an indefinit flux and is subject to no certaine figure whatsoever Ayre also is a fleeting indeterminat substance but water is his Vessell for water being figured by means of Earth the Ayr also is thickned and figur'd in the Water To ascend higher the Ayr coagulats the liquid fire and fire incorporated involves and confines the thin Light These are the Means by which God unites and compounds the Elements into a Sperm for the Earth alters the Complexion of the water and makes it viscous and slimie Such a water must they look who would produce any Magicall extraordinary Effects for this Spermatic water coagulats with the least heat so that nature concocts and hardens it into metals Thou seest the whites of Egs will thicken assoon as they feel the fire for their moysture is temper'd with a pure subtill Earth and this subtill animated Earth is that which binds their water Take water then my Eugenius from the Mountains of the Moon which is water and no water Boyl it in the fire of Nature to a two fold Earth white and red then feed those Earths with Ayr of Fire and Fire of Ayr and thou hast the two Magicall Luminaries But because thou hast been a servant of mine for a long time and that thy patience hath manifested the Truth of thy Love I will bring thee to my Schoole and there will I shew thee what the world is not capable of This was no sooner spoken but she past by those Diamond-like rockie salts and brought me to a Rock of Adamant figur'd to a just intire Cube It was the Basis to a firie Pyramid a Trigon of pure Pyrope whose imprison'd flames did stretch and strive for Heaven
Both in a Love-knot and shut them up in the Arabian CARAHA This is thy first labour but thy next is more difficult Thou must incamp against them with the fire of Nature and be sure thou doest bring thy Line round about Circle them in and stop all Avenues that they find no Reliefe Continue this siege patiently and they will turne to an ugly flabbie venemous black Toad which will be transform'd to a horrible devowring Dragon creeping and weltring in the Bottome of her Cave without wings Touch her not by any means not so much as with thy Hands for there is not upon earth such a violent transcendent poyson As hast begun so proceed and this Dragon will turne to a Swan but more white than the hovering Virgin Snow when it is not yet sullied with the Earth Henceforth I will allow thee to fortifie thy fire till the Phaenix appears It is a red Bird of a most deep Colour with a shining Fiery Hue Feed this Bird with the Fire of his Father and the AEther of his Mother for the first is meat the second is Drink and without this last he attains not to his full Glory Be sure to understand this secret for fire feeds not well unlesse it bee first fed It is of it self drie and Choleric but a proper moysture tempers it gives it a heavenly Complexion and brings it to the Desired Exaltation Feed thy Bird then as I have told thee and he will move in his Nest and rise like a star of the Firmament Doe this and thou hast placed Nature in Horizonte AEternitatis Thou hast performed that Command of the Cabalist Fige finem in Principio sicut Flammam prunae Conjunctam quia Dominus SUPERLATIVE unus non tenet secundum Unite the End to the Beginning like a Flame to a Coale for God saith hee is superlatively one and hee hath no second Consider then what you seek you seek an Indissoluble miraculous transmuting uniting union but such a tye cannot be without the first unitie Creare enim saith one atque intrinsecùs transmutare absque violentiâ Munus est proprium duntaxat Primae Potentiae Primae sapientiae Primi amoris To Create and Transmute essentially and naturally or without any violence is the only proper office of the first power the first Wisdome and the first love Without this love the Elements will never be maried they will never inwardly and essentially unite which is the end and perfection of Magic Study then to understand this and when thou hast perform'd I will allow thee that Test of the Mekkubalim Intellexisti in sapientiâ sapuisti in Intelligentia statuisti Rem super Puritates suas Creatorem in Throno suo collocasti For a Close to this Section I say it is impossible to generat in the patient without a vitall generating Agent This Agent is the Philosophical fire a certain moyst heavenly invisible Heat but let us heare Raymund Lullie describe it Quando dicimus saith hee quod lapis per ignem generatur non vident alium ignem nec alium ignem credunt nisi ignem communem nec aliud Sulphur nec aliud argentum vivum nisi sit vulgare Ideo manent decepti per corum caecas estimationes inferentes quod causa sumus suae Deceptionis quod dedimus illis intelligere rem unam pro aliâ Sed non est verum salvâ eorum pace sicut probabimus per illa quae Philosophi posuerunt in scriptis Solem enim appellamus ignem vicarium suum vocamus Calorem naturalem Nam illud quod agit Calor Solis in Mineris Metallorunt per mille annos â—pse Calor naturalis facit in unâ horâ supra Terram Nos vero multi alii vocamus â—â—um Filium solis nam primo per solis influentiam fuit generatus per naturam sine adjuâ—orio Scientiae velartis When wee say the stone ìs generated by fire Men neither see neither doe they believe there is any other fire but the common fire nor any other Sulphurâ—or â—â—Mercury but the common Sulphur and â—â—Mercury Thus are they deceived by their own opinions saying that we are the Cause of their Error having made them to mistake â—nc thing for another But by their leave it is not so as we shall prove by the Doctrine of the Philosophers For wee call the Sun a fire and the natural Heat we call his Substitute â—or Deputy for that which the heat of the Sun performes in a thousand years in the Mines the Heat of Nature performes it above the earth in one houre But wee and many other Philosophers have call'd this Heat the Child of the Sun for at first it was generated naturally by the influence of the Sun without the Help of our Art or Knowledge Thus Luilie But one thing I must tell thee and bee sure Reader thou doest remember it This very naturall Heat must bee applied in the just Degree and not too much fortified for the Sun it self doth not generat but burne and scorch where it is too hot Si cum igne magno operatus fueris saith the same Lullie proprietas nostri spiritus quae inter vitam mortem participiat separabit se Anima recedet in Regionem sphaerae suae If thou shalt work with too strong a fire the proprietie of our spirit which is indifferent as yet to life or death will separate it self from the Body and the Soule will depart to the Region of her own sphere Take therefore along with thee this short but wholesome advise of the same Author Facias ergo Fili quod in loco Generationis aut Conversionis sit talis potentia Caelestis quae possio transformare Humidum ex natura terrestris in formam speciem transparentem finissimam My Son saith hee let the Heavenly power or Agent be such in the place of Generation or Mutation that it may alter the spermatic Humiditie from its Earthly Complexion to a most fine transparent forme or species See here now the solution of the slimie fat Earth to a transparent glorious Mercury This Mercury Gentlemen is the water which we look after but not any common water whatsoever There is nothing now behind but that which the Philosophers call secretum Artis a thing that was never published and without which you will never performe though you know both Fire and Matter An Instance hereof wee have in Flammel who knew the Matter well enough and had both fire and Furnace painted to him by Abraham the Jew but notwithstanding he err'd for three years because hee knew not the third secret Henry Madathan a most noble Philosopher practic'd upon the subject for five years together but knew not the right method and therefore found nothing at last saith hee Post sextum annum Clavis Potentiae per arcanam Revelationem ab omnipotente Deo mihi concreditaest After the sixth year I was intrusted with the Key of
power by secret Revelation from the Almighty God This Key of power or third secret was never put to paper by any Philosopher whatsoever Paracelsus indeed hath touch'd upon it but so obscurely it is no more to the purpose then if he had said nothing And now I suppose I have done enough for the Discovery and Regiment of the fire if you think it too little I must tell you it is much more then any one Author hath performed Search it than for he that finds this fire will attaine to the true temper ament he will make a noble deserving Philosopher and to speake in the phrase of our Spaniard Dignus erit poni ad Mensam Duodecim parium The River of Pearl IT is a Decompounded Substance extreme heavy and moyst but wets not the Hand It shines after Night like a star and will inlighten any Darke roome It is full of small eyes sparkling like Pearls or Aglets It is the whole Demogorgon but now actually animated by manifestation of his own Inward Light The Father of it is a certaine inviolable Masse for the parts of it are so firmly united you can neither pound them into Dust nor separat them by violence of Fire This is the stone of the Philosophers Qui ab omni parte saith one circumdatus est Tenebris Nebulis Caligine Habitat in mediis Terrae visceribus Qui ubi natus fuerit vestitur quodam viride Pallio humiditate quadam aspersus non prognatus ab aliquo sed aeternus parens omnium Rerum It is compassed about saith he with Darknesse Clouds and Blacknesse It dwels in the inmost Bowels of the Earth but when he is borne hee is cloathed with a certaine Green Mantle and sprinckl'd over with a certaine Moysture He is not properly generated by any Naturall thing but he is eternall and the Father of all things This Description is very true and apposit but AEnigmaticall howsoever forget not the Green Mantle This is that substance which Gieberim Eben-Haen or as the Rable writes him Geber cals Lapis in Capitulis notus a very subtil Expression but if well examin'd it is the Key to his whole Booke and to the writings of the old Philosophers in Generall But let us returne to our River of Pearl and for our further information let us heare it describ'd by a most excellent Adeptus and that in the very {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} before the full moon appears Hoo opus est saith he quod mihi aliquando ob oculos posuit unicus Exechedistes magnas quippe fornaces atque vitro easdem Varico redimitas ostendens Vasa erant singula in suis sedilibus habentia sedimenta atque interiùs dispari dicatum sacrumque Munus Quid vero Rem tam Divinam celeni diutius Erat intus circumacta Moles quaedam Mundi prae seferens imaginem ipsissimi Quippe ibi Terra videbatur in medio omnium consistens aquisque circumfusa Limpidissimis in varios colles salebrosasuque rupes assnrgebat fructum ferens multiplicem tanquam humentis Aeris imbribus irrigua Vini etiam videbatur olei lactis atque pretiosorum omne genus lapidum Metallorum esse apprime ferax Tum Aquae ipsae instar AEquoris sale quodam pellucido albo interdum interdum quoque rubeo fulvo rubro multisque praeterea variegato coloribus inlitae inque superficiem ipsam aestuabant Igne autem haec omnia suo sed impercepto quidem atque aethereo movebantur Id vero unum prae caeteris incredibibilem me rapiebat in admirationem Rem haec tam multa unicam tam diversa tamque in suo genere integra singula parvo etiam imbecillique adminiculo pro ducere quo facto paulatim robustiore redirent tandem atque coalescerent in unum omnia confidenter aesseverabat Hic equidem observavi fusilis illam salis fpeciem nihil ab Aphrolitho degenerantem atque argentum illud vivum cui Mercurii nomen ab hujusce Disciplinae priscis authoribus inditum est illam ipsam referens Lullianam Lunariam adversa scandens aqua noctuque relucens atque interdiu glutinandi praeditum facultate Here wee have pourtray'd unto us the whole Philosophicall Laboratorie Furnace fire and Matter with the Mysterious Germinations thereof But because the Termes are difficult and not to bee understood by any but such as have seen the thing it self I will for the Readers Benefit I cannot say satisfaction put them into English This is the worke saith hee which I have sometimes seen with a singular and a most deare friend who shewed to me certaine large Furnaces and those crown'd with Cornues of Glasse The Vessels were severall having besides their Triptods their sediments or Caskets and within them was a Holy Oblation or present dedicated to the Ternarie But why should I any longer conceale so divine a thing within this Fabric was a certaine Masse moving Circularly or driven round about and representing the very Figure of the great world For here the Earth was to be seen standing of it self in the middest of all compassed about with most clear waters rising up to severall Hillocks and craggie Rocks and bearing many sorts of Fruit as if it had been watr'd with showers from the moyst Aire It seem'd also to bee very fruitfull for wine oile and milk with all kind of precious stones and Metals The waters themselves like those of the Sea were full of a certaine transparent Salt now white now Red then Yellow and purpl'd and as it were chamletted with various Colours which did swell up to the face of the waters All these things were actuated or stirr'd with their own appropriat fire but in very truth imperceptible and ethereall But one thing above the rest forc'd me to an incredible admiration Namely that so many things such divers and in their kind such perfect particular should proceed from one only thing and that with very small assistance which being further'd and strengthned by degrees the Artist faithfully affirmed to me that all those Diversities would settle at last to one Body Here I observed that fusilkind of Salt to bee nothing different from a pumice-stone and that Quick-silver which the ancient Authors of this Art call'd Mercury to be the same with Lullies Lunaria whose water gets up against the fire of Nature and shines by night but by day hath a glutinous viscous faculty◠This is the sense of our learned Adeptus and for his Analogie of the Philosophic Salt and a pumice-stone it cannot be well conceiv'd without the Light of Experience It is then a porous hollow froth-like spongious Salt◠The Consistency of it is pumice-like but neither hard nor opacous It is a thin slippery oily substance in appearance like Mouth glew but much more clear Sometimes it looks like Rosials and Rubies Sometimes it is violet Blew sometimes white as Lilies and againe more green than Grasse but with a Smaragdine
transparencie and sometimes it looks like burnisht Gold and Silver The River of Pearle hath her Name from it for there it stands like the Sperm of Frogs in common waters Sometimes it will move and swim to the face of his Bath in thin leaves like wafers but with a thousand miraculous Colours This is enough and too much for I hold it not my Duty to insist upon secrets which are so far from the Readers Inquiry that I dare say they are beyond his Expectation The AEther or the Aire of Paradise HItherto I have discours'd of the first Matter and the fire of Nature Termes indeed commonly known but the things signified are seldome understood I shall now descend to more abstruse particular principles Things of that secrecie and subtiltie they are not so much as thought of much lesse inquir'd after The common Chimist dreams of Gold and Transmutations most noble and Heavenly Effects but the Means whereby hee would compasse them are worme-eaten dustie mustie papers His Study and his Noddle are stuff'd with old Receits he can tell us a hundred Stories of Brimstone and Quick-silver with many miraculous Legends of Arsenic and Antimonie Sal gemmae Sal prunae Sal Petrae and other stupendious Alkalies as he loves to call them with such strange Notions and Charms doth he amaze and silence his Auditors as Bats are kill'd with Thunder at the Eare Indeed if this Noyse will carry it let him alone he can want no Artillery But if you bring him to the field and force him to his Polemics if you demand his Reason and reject his Recipe you have laid him as flat as a Flounder A rationall methodicall Dispute will undoe him for he studies not the whole Body of Philosophie a Receit he would find in an old Box or an old Book as if the knowledge of God and Nature were a thing of Chance not of Reason This idle Humor hath not only surpris'd the common illiterat Broyler where in truth there is some Necessity for it but even great Doctor and Physicians Bate me the impostume of their Titles and their Learning is not Considerable Hence it comes to passe that so many men are undone in the prosecution of this Art They are so wedded to old scriblings they will not submit them to their judgement but presently bring them to the fire Certainly they believe such ridiculous Impossibilities that even brute Beasts if they could speake would reprove them Sometimes they mistake their owne Excrements for that Matter out of which Heaven and Earth were made Hence they drudge and labour in Urine and such filthie dirty stuffe which is not fit to be nam'd But when all comes to all and their Custard fails them they quit their filthinesse but not their error They think of something that 's more Tractable and dreame perhaps that God made the world of Egge-shels or Flint-stones Truly these Opinions proceed not only from simple people but from Doctors forsooth and Philosophers It is therefore my Designe to discover some Excellencies of this Art and make it appeare to the Student that what is Glorious is withall Difficult This I suppose may remove that Blind sluggish Credulity which prevents all Ingenious Disquisitions and cause men perhaps to exercise that Reason which God hath given them for Discoveries I shall not dwell long on any one particular I am drawing off the stage in all Haste and returning to my first solitudes My Discourse shall be very short and like the Echo's last Syllables Imperfect I intend it only for Hint and suggestion to the Reader it is no full Light but a Glance and he must improve it to his better satisfaction We are now to speake of the AEther of the little world which is the very same in Nature and substance with the outward AEther of the great world That you may the better understand what it is we will examine the Notion before we state the thing Aristotle in his Book de Mundo derives this word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} à semper currendo because the Heavens are in perpetuall Motion This is a generall irregular whymzie for the stars also aswell as the AEther move perpetually The Sea is subject to a continuall Flux and Reflux and the Bloud of all Animals to a restlesse unwearied Pulse The more ancient Philosophers whose Books this Enemy burnt derived it from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} ardeo but especially Anaxagoras who was better acquainted with Heaven than Aristotle as it appears by his miraculous praediction and the opinion he had of that place namely that it was his Country and that he was to return thither after death Indeed this last Etymologie comes neer the nature of the thing for it is a Heating cheerishing spirit but in its genuine Complexion it burns not I cannot then approve of this latter Derivation no more than of the former I rather believe that AEther is a Compound of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} this substance being called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} from its effect and office {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} à semper Calefaciendo Supposing this to be the true Interpretation let us now see whether it relates more strictly and properly to this principle than to any other Nature whatsoever The AEther is a most thin liquid substance and the Region of it is above the stars in the Circumference of the Divine Light This is the true and famous {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which receives the Influent Heat of God and conveys it to the visible Heaven and all the Inferior Creatures It is a pure Essence a thing not tainted with any Materiall Contagion in which sense it is styl'd of Pythagoras {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the free AEther Quoniam saith Reuclin à materiae potentià segregatus praeservatus in Libertate calescit Dâ—i Ardore ac insensibili motu Inferiora calefacit Because it is freed from the prison of the Matter and being preserv'd in its liberty it is warme with the fire of God and by an insensible motion heats all the Inferior Natures In a word because of it's puritie it is placed next to that Divine Fire which the Jews call Lumen Vestimenti and it is the very first Receptacle of the Influences and Derivations of the Supernaturall World which sufficiently confirms our Etymologie In the Beginning it was generated by Reflexion of the first unity upon the Caelestial Cube for the Bright Emanations of God did flow like a streame into the Passive {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and in this Analogie the Samian styles Him {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Fontem perpetuae Naturae You shall understand that the AEther is not one but manifold and the Reasons of it wee shall give you hereafter By this I mind not a variety of Substances but a Chaine of
he goes on and tels you where you shall find him He is not far saith he from every one of us for in Him we live and move and have our Being For the better understanding of this place I wish you to read Paracelsus his Philosophia ad Athenienses a glorious Incomparable Discourse but you will shortly find it in English Againe He that enters the Center shall know why all Influx of fire descends against the Nature of fire and comes from Heaven downwards Hee shall know also why the same fire having found a Body ascends againe towards Heaven and gows upwards To conclude I say the grand Supreame Mysterie of Magic is to multiplie the Prester and place him in the moyst serene AEther which God hath purposely created to qualifie the fire For I would have thee know that this spirit may be so chaf'd and that in the most temperat Bodies as to undoe thee upon a suddain This thou mayst guesse thy selfe by the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or thundering Gold as the Chymist cals it Place him then as God hath plac'd the stars in the condens'd AEther of his Chaos for there he will shine not burne he will be vital and Calm not furious and Choleric This secret I confesse transcends the Common processe and I dare tell thee no more of it It must remaine then as a Light in a Dark place but how it may be discovered doe thou Consider The Green salt IT is a Tincture of the Saphiric Mine and to define'it substantially it is the Aire of our little Invisible Fire-world It produceth two noble effects youth and Hope wheresoever it appears it is an infallible sign of life as you see in the spring-time when all things are Green The sight of it is cheerfull and refreshing beyond all imagination It comes out of the Heavenly Earth for the Saphir doth spermatize injects her Tinctures into the AEther where they are carried and manifested to the Eye This Saphir is equall of her self to the whole Compound for she is threefold or hath in her three severall essences I have seen them all not in Ayrie imaginarie suppositions but really with my bodily eyes And here we have Apollodorous his Mathematical Problem resolved namely that Pythagoras should sacrifice a hundred Oxen when hee found out {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} That the Subtendent of a right angl'd Triangle was equivalent to those parts which contain'd it c. The Diapasm or Magicall Perfume IT is compounded of the Saphiric Earth and the AEther If it be brought to its full Exaltation it will shine like the Day-star in her fresh Easterne Glories It hath a fascinating attractive facultie for if you expose it to the open Ayre it will draw to it Birds and Beasts c. The Regeneration Ascent and Glorification I Have now sufficiently and fully discovered the principles of our Chaos In the next place I will shew you how you are to use them You must unite them to a new life and they will be regenerated by Water and the Spirit These two are in all things they are placed there by God himself according to that speech of Trismegistus Vnumquodque habet in seâ—semen suâ— Regenerationis Proceed then patiently but not manually The work is performed by an invisible Artist for there is a secret Incubation of the Spirit of God upon Nature you must only see that the outward Heat failes not but with the subject it self you have no more to doe than the Mother hath with the Child that is in her womb The two former principles performe all the Spirit makes use of the Water to purge and wash his Body and hee will bring it at last to a Celestiall immortall Constitution Doe not you think this Impossible Remember that in the Incarnation of Christ Jesus the Quaternarius or four Elements as men call them were united to their eternall Unitie and Ternarius Three and Foure make Seven This Sâ—ptenarie is the true Sâ—bâ—â—th the Rest of God into which the Creature shall enter This is the best and greatest Manâ—duction that I can give you In a word Salvation it self is nothing else but transmutation Behold saith the Apostle â—â— shew you a MYSTERIE we shall not all die but we shall be all CHANGED in a Moment in the twinckling of an Eye at the sound of the last Trumpt God of his great Mercy prepare us for itâ— That from hard stubborn Flints of this world we may prove â—â—â—soliths and Jaspers in the new eternall foundation That we may ascend from this present distressed Church which is in Captivity with her Children to the free Jerusalem from above which is the Mother of us all The Descent and Metempsychosis THere is in the world a scribling ill-disposed Generation they write only to gaine an Opinion of Knowledge and this by amazing their Readers with whimzies and Fansies of their own These commonly call themselves Chimists and abuse the great Mysterie of Nature with the Name and Non-sense of Lapis Chemicus I find not one of them but hath mistaken this Descent for the Ascent or Fermentation I think it Necessary therefore to informe the Reader there is a two fold Fermentation a spirituall and a Bodily one The spirituall Fermentation is performed by multiplying the Tinctures which is not done with common Gold and Silver for they are not Tinctures but grose compacted Bodies The Gold and Silver of the Philosophers are a soule and spirit they are living Ferments and principles of Bodies but the two common Metals whether you take them in their grose Composition or after a Philosophicall preparation are no way pertinent to our purpose The Bodily Fermentation is that which I properly call the Descent and now we will speak of it When thou hast made the stone or Magicall Medicine it is a liquid fierie spirituall substance shining like the Sun In this Complexion if you would project you could hardly find the just proportion the vertue of the Medicine is so intensive and powerfull The Philosophers therefore took one part of their stone and did cast it upon ten parts of pure molten gold This single small graine did bring all to the gold a bloudie powder and on the contrary the grosse Body of the gold did abate the spirituall strength of the projected graine This Descent or Incorporation some wise Authors have call'd a Bodily Fermentation but the Philosophers did not use common Gold to make their stone as some scriblers have written they us'd it only to qualifie the intensive power of it when it is made that they might the more easily find what Quantitie of base Metall they should project upon By this means they reduc'd their Medicine to a dust and this dust is the Arabian-Elixir This Elixir the Philosophers could carry about them but the Medicine it self not so for it is such a subtill moyst Fire there is nothing but glasse that will hold it Now for their Metempsychosis it