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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	body_n	earth_n	element_n	4,634	5	9.8975	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26733	Of natural & supernatural things also of the first tincture, root, and spirit of metals and minerals, how the same are conceived, generated, brought forth, changed, and augmented / [by] Basilius Valentinus ; translated out of high Dutch by Daniel Cable ; whereunto is added Frier Roger Bacon, Of the medicine or tincture of antimony; Mr. John Isaac Holland, his Work of Saturn; and Alex. Van Suchten, Of the secrets of antimony.	Basilius Valentinus.; Cable, Daniel.; Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294.; Hollandus, Johan Isaäc, 15th cent.; Suchten, Alexander von, ca. 1520-ca. 1590.	1671 (1671)	Wing B1020; ESTC R29247	60,576	242

one as those of old had before us usual among the Egyptians and Arabian before Writing was found they noted observed and reserved by Signs Characters and Hieroglyphicks Such Blessings may be used which Christ the Son of God used as the Scripture saith He took little Children laid his hands upon them and blessed them But whatsoever is contrary to God and his Word ought justly to be rejected and not to be tollerated because they are not Godly but Diabolical But those Supernatural things which oppose not God and his Holy Word belong unto Magick and do the Soul no prejudice As concerning Visions which Holy Men of God have often seen it is reason they should be reckoned among those things which are not Natural for whatsoever man speculates and comprehends by the Mind is Supernatural on the contrary whatsoever he can take see and hold is Natural Let us consider the third part of Natural Supernatural things in Physick the Virtues and Powers of each this Medicine of every thing must first be driven out of a visible tangible natural Body and be brought into a spiritual meliorated supernatural operation that the Spirit which at the first was infused and given to the Body to live might be released that it should operate and penetrate as a Spiritual Essence and Fire having its Vent-holes left that it might burn and have no opposition which might suffocate suppress or hinder the burning Life whereas otherwise if the separation of the Soul and Spirit from the Body should not first be done there could not succeed any operation either effectual profitable or necessary for whatsoever is visible to be felt and inseparably in a Body that is Natural and Corporal but so soon as there is a separation the living departs from the dead gaining its perfect operation and the natural Body being separated the spiritual Essence is free to penetrate becoming a spiritual and supernatural Medicine In brief all things none excepted which we can touch and handle are natural but they must be made supernatural if you would prepare them for Physick for the supernatural only hath a living power in it to operate the natural hath only a dead tangible Form For when Adam was made he was dead having no life of any virtue but so soon as the operative quickning Spirit came to him then he manifested his living virtue and power by supernatural admiration so that in every thing there is the natural and supernatural united in one and bound together in their habitation that every thing might be perfect for all created things in the world are some supernatural only what concerns the Soul and spiritual matters and some are natural and supernatural with what concerns the Elements and Firmament as likewise the Minerals Vegetables and Animals which is known and found when they are separated one from the other that the Soul departs out of the Body and the Spirit forsakes its Soul leaving the Body an empty habitation Moreover you must understand and consider that the great and little World are made and formed of one first Matter by an unsearchable Almighty Essence at that time in the beginning when the Spirit of God moved upon the Water who was from Eternity without beginning The great World as Heaven and Earth was first then was Man the Little World taken out of the greater the Water was separated from the Earth the Water was the Matter whereon the everlasting Spirit of God moved the Little World was formed of the noblest Earth as its Quintessence by the Aquosity which yet was in the Earth and all was only Natural but after the breathing in of the Divine heating Breath immediately the Supernatural was added so then the Natural and Supernatural were knit and united The great World is perishable yet there will be a New Earth or World the Little World is Eternal the Great Created Dissoluble world will again be brought to nothing but the little world will be clarified by the Spirit of God because he possesses it making a Celestial clarified water out of the aforesaid Earthly water then it will follow that the first matter will be turned into the last and the last matter will become the first Now the reason why the great world is perishable is this that the Spirit of God hath not his dwelling or habitation in the great world but in the little world for Man is the Temple of the Holy Ghost if he do not wilfully defile himself adhering to the Hellish Fire which makes a breach and difference For he remaines in the little world which he formed after his own similitude and made him a consecrated Temple otherwise there is every thing in the little world which is to be found in the great as Heaven and Earth with the Elements and what depends thereon or appertains thereunto We find also that in the first Creation which was performed of nothing three things arose to wit a Soulish Spiritual Invisible Essence which represented a Mercurial Water a Sulphurous Vapour and a Terrene Salt these three gave a compleat and perfect a tangible and formal Body to all things wherein especially all the four Elements are contained as I have already mentioned in my Writing where I treat of the Microcosme But that I may yet give a little more information of Natural and Supernatural things as well spiritual as corporal We find that the Canaanitish Woman was cured of her Flux of Blood which held her twelve years only by a bare touch when she touched the Garment of the Son of God her Disease being natural but the Medicine or Cure was Supernatural because by her Faith she gained help from the Lord Christ. Likewise we have an excellent high and supernatural Miracle in the three Children Shadrach Meshach and Abednego who were cast into the fiery Furnace by the Command of King Nebuchadnezzar yet by God wonderfully delivered and not consumed Dan. 3. So also the Confusion of Tongues and Infusion of divers Speeches at the foolish structure of the Tower of Babel which should have reached up to Heaven is esteemed for a Supernatural Miracle And so was that a Supernatural Sign when the Children of Israel did lap water as Dogs do when a small Number at Gods Command fought against the Midianites Judg. 7. 6. So the sending of the Dove by Noah out of the Ark when she brought an Olive Branch in her Bill a Sign of Mercy and a Divine Supernatural Message When the Holy man of God Moses struck the Rock with his Rod that the hard Rock yielded Water is beyond humane Reason so was the turning of the salt water into sweet and drinkable supernatural As also the dry passage of the Children of Israel through the Red Sea and the Budding of Aarons Rod are all supernatural In brief the Resurrection of Christ the Eternal Son of God out of the grave for all the Tomb-stone his appearing to the two men going to Emas his revealing himself to his Disciples when

and of all the three Principles is one only thing and is founded and extracted out of one only thing which can make all Metals into one it is the true Spirit of Mercury and Soul of Sulphur together with the spiritual Salt united together inclosed under one Heaven and dwelling in one Body it is the Dragon and the Eagle the King and the Lion the Spirit and the Body which must tinge the Body of Gold ●o a Medtcine that it may gain power plentifully to tinge his other Companions O thou blessed Medicine given by God thy Creator O thou Celestial Magnet of great attractive Love O thou valid substance of Metals how great is thy power how uninventive is thy virtue how durable is thy constancy happy is that man on Earth who knows thy Light in truth which all the world takes no notice of he shall not see poverty no Disease shall touch him nor no sickness hurt him till the appointed time of death and till the last hour predestinated for him by his Heavenly King It is impossible for all the tongues of Men to utter the Wisdom which is laid in this Treasure of the Fountain all Orators must be silent and ashamed at it yea terrified and not able to speak a word when they shall behold and discern this supernatural Glory and I my self am afraid when I consider that I have discovered too much But I hope to prevail with God by Prayer that he will not charge it on me as a deadly Sin because I began the Work in his Fear obtained it by his Grace and revealed it for his Glory O thou holy everlasting Trinity I praise honour and magnifie thee with Heart and Mouth that thou hast revealed unto me the great wisdom of this earthly World next unto thy Divine Word whereby I have known thy Almighty Power and supernatural Wonders which Man will not discern I heartily beseech thee to give me more understanding and wisdom that I may bestow the use and profit thereof with a continual Sacrifice of Praise before thee unto the Christian-like Love of my Neighbour and to my own welfare both spiritual and corporal in power and virtue that thy Name may be made glorious honoured and praised for all thy Works in Heaven and Earth and that my Enemies may know that thou art the Lord full of eternal Wonders that they may repent and be converted and not be drowned in the falshood of Darkness God the Father Son and Holy Ghost help me and all of us from his heavenly Throne exalted above all Glory Might and Majesty whose Wisdom hath neither beginning nor end and before whom all Celestial Earthly and Hellish Creatures must tremble with fear to him be Glory forever Amen O Seraphin O Cherubin how great are thy Wonders and Actions look graciously upon thy servant and be entreated to be pacified that he hath manifested this The Reader must moreover know concerning the Generation of Copper and observe that it is generated of much Sulphur but its Mercury and Salt are in an equality for there is found to be no more or less of the one than of the other seeing then that the Sulphur in quantity excels the Mercury and the Salt thence arises a great coloured redness which possesses the Metal that the Mercury cannot perform its fixation that a fixt Body should be generated thereof Observe and understand it so of Copper that the form of Venus Body is so stated as that of a Tree which abounds in Rosen as the Larch Tree the Firr the Pine Deal Tree and other forts of Trees more the Rosen of the Tree is its Sulphur which it evacuates at sometimes by reason of its superfluity for it cannot bear it all such a Tree which is tinged with abundance of fatness by the digestion of Nature and the Elements burns quickly and freely and is not ponderous nor so durable as is the Oak or other hard wood which is close and compact whose Pores are not so open as those sorts of light wood and wherein the Sulphur doth not so predominate but the Oak hath therefore the more Mercury and a better Salt than the Pine Firr and Deal trees have and such wood doth not float so well above the water as the Deal being bound closed up compactly so that the Air is easily prevented in bearing it up So is it to be observed of Metals and especially of Gold which by reason of its abundant fixt digested and ripe Mercury hath a very close fast and compact fixt and invincible Body which neither Fire nor Water Air nor any Corruption of the Earth can prejudice that the consuming power of the Elements can do them no harm this fixedness close compacted Conjunction gives evidence of its natural ponderosity which cannot be evidenced in other Metals which is to be observed not only by weighing it in the scales but likewise you will find it thus if you lay but a scruple of pure Gold upon a hundred weight of Quicksilver it immediately sinks to the bottom whereas all other Metals being laid upon Quicksilver in like manner float on the top of it and sink not to the bottom because they are more open that the Air or Wind can penetrate them and bear them up Now what further concerns the Spirit of Venus or Copper in Physick you must last of all take notice and observe that it is throughout in its virtue and power discerned to be very wholsom and beneficial not only that Spirit which lies in the first Ens but also that very Spirit which is found in the last Matter its virtue power and operation is that it is preferred before all other Medicines in the Rising of the Matrix It's like is not yet found particularly against the Falling Sickness This Spirit hath also received an especial gift to dry the Dropsie up it preserves the Bloud from put refaction digests all which is adverse to the Stomach breaks the Stone of what kind soever it be Externally in Wounds this Spirit lays a ground to heal Noli me tangere and all other Sores cannot defend themselves nor their ill Qualities but this Spirit doth assault them and prepares a good ground for their Cure externally it mundifies and searches out that whereby the Medicine may operate fasten and make a beginning of the Cure Internally this Spirit penetrates through through searching out all that is evil in the Body even as doth the noblest Vulnerary potion No Imposthume can withstand this Spirit but is reformed by it I say briefly observe the Spirit of Venus very well it will manifest it self to admiration both internally and externally that many will esteem it to be incredible supernatural Last of all you must understand that this Spirit of Copper is a fiery Spirit penetrating searching and consuming all evil Humours and superfluous Flegme in Man and Metals and may in reason be accounted the Crown of Medicines it is very fiery and sharp incombustible but

bring signs and marks with them into the world which may all be natural but manifest themselves supernaturally by the imagination which caused them These supernatural forms and customs the Mother of the Child caused by intervening thoughts which unexpectedly happened to her as it were by accident Even as we often see and find that many Men naturally are born with some gestures which he can never leave though he endevour with all his might to do it The natural gestures of these Men are natural but the conception in the Womb which caused the imagination of these things is supernatural and subject to what the Heaven imprints To conclude I say that none can defend the supernatural not to be true by good grounds and reasons except he have learn'd to know the natural which hath its original and gained its shape from the supernatural after he hath learned this he may evidence it by sure proofs that he will be conquerour over those who will not believe what is supernatural and he will convince the opinions of those who dispute of natural things and yet know not the grounds saving only a bare pretence much talk tedious and unprofitable Debates CHAP. II. Of the first Tincture and Roots of Metals BUt now to come to my intent and by Gods permission to accomplish the same I undertake to certifie of the first Tincture Root and Generation of Metals and Minerals Know that the first Tincture and Root of all Metals is likewise a supernatural flying fiery Spirit which preserves it self in the Air seeking its habitation naturally in the Earth and Water wherein it can rest and operate This Spirit is found in all Metals more abundant in other Metals than in Gold because Gold by reason of its well digested ripened and fixt body is tight close and compact and therefore no more can enter into its body than is just requisite but the other Metals have not such fixt bodies for their pores are open and far extenuated therefore the Tincture Spirit can the more abundantly pass thorough and possess them But because the bodies of the other Metals are inconstant the Tincture cannot remain with those inconstant bodies but must depart And whereas the Tincture of Gold is found in none more plentiful than in Mars and Venus as Man and Wife their bodies therefore are destroyed and the tinging Spirit taken out of them which makes Gold sanguin being first opened and prepared and by their food and drink it becomes volatile wherefore this volatile Gold being satisfied with its food and drink assumes its own bloud to it self dries it up by its own internal heat by the help and assistance of the vaporous fire and there is a Conquest again which is quite fix'd makes the highest Constancy that the Gold becomes an over-fix'd Medicine by reason of abundance of Bloud it yields no Body except another superfluous Body be again put to it wherein the abounding fix'd bloud may disperse it self this additional Metallick Body by reason of the great heat of the fix'd Lions bloud is penetrated as by fire and purged from all impurity and forthwith throughly digested to a perfect ripeness and fixedness That first of all the Servant brings the Master unto Riches because the Master before could not spare any of his Cloaths to give away seeing that Nature had lent and endowed him with one Noble Suit only on the other side the King when he hath received his Aides and Contributions from his Subjects can then distribute possessions and permanent Liveries that the Lord and Servant may remain both together and do not think it strange that the King needs to borrow of his Subjects because their Bodies are unfix'd and inconstant for they receive much and yet can keep but little Credit But if the King can participate thereof he will the better overcome heat and Frost than the Leprous Metals can and henceforth by this Receipt he becomes particularly a Dominator and Conquerour of all other with a great Victory and triumph of Riches and of Health to long Life I hope you have from the beginning sufficiently understood concerning this Natural and Supernatural Advice and the first tinging Root of Metals and Minerals whereon the Corner-stone is placed and where the true Rock is grounded in its kind wherein Nature hath placed and buried her secret deeply concealed Gifts to wit in the fiery tinged Spirits which Colours they gained out of the starry Heaven by the operation of the Elements and they can moreover tinge and fix that which before was not tinged and unfix'd seeing that Luna wants the Robe of the Golden Crown together with the fixedness as likewise Saturn Jupiter and Mercury do and although Mars and Venu's need not this Rayment but can communicate it to the other five yet I say that they can perform nothing to attain any thing with wealth without the Lion because they are not sufficiently accomodated with a fixedness of their Mercury and a gentleness of their Salt except it be that the Lion overcome them that they have triumphed on both parts and gained a remarkable Melioration altogether this Melioration lies concealed in their Signate star or Magnet out of which all Metals have themselves received their Gifts Now I will proceed and particularly step to the Birth and Generation how the Archaeus manifests its power pouring it forth and daily reveales it whereby all Metallick and Mineral Forms are visibly proposed and made formal tangible and corporal by the Mineral intangible flying fiery Spirits Understand therefore further and observe with diligence and care that by forgetfulness you let not that which is weighty pass away nor yet neglect or overlook that which is most profitable and on the contrary observe the bare words at length passing over the Truth for what I write herein is undoubtedly held and esteemed that the highest is undoubtedly by many esteemed for the lowest and the lowest for the highest Mystery and is so to be reputed Now you must first know that all Metals and Minerals of the Earth have one only Matter and Mother whereby in general they all received Conception gaining a compleat and corporal Birth This Matter which comes out of the Center first of all divides it self into three parts to procure one corporal or certain form of each Metal These three parts are only fed in the Earth by the Elements out of their Bodies and nourish'd till they be perfect But the Matter which comes out of the Center is imagined by the Stars operated by the Elements and formed by the Earth It is a Matter to be known and the true Mother of Metals and Minerals It is such a Matter and Mother whereof Man himself is conceived born nourish'd and made corporal It may be compared to the middle World for what is in the great World is in the little World and what is in the little World is also in the greater and what is jointly in the great and little World is

likewise found in the middle World which unites and conjoins the great and little world it is a Soul which unites and copulates the Spirit with the Body This Soul is compared unto water and it is a right true water but not so that it wets as other water doth but it is a Celestial water dry found in a Metallick Liquorish substance it is a Soulish water which loves all Spirits and unites them with their Bodies conducting them to a compleat Life therefore it is reasonably found out and evidently proved that Water is the Mother of all Metals which are heated by the warm aerial Fire or Spirit of Sulphur which by its digestion makes the Earthly Body lively wherein the Salt is evidently found which preserves from putrefaction so that nothing might be consumed by Corruption At the beginning and birth Quick-silver is first operated which stands yet open with a subtile coagulation because little Salt is imparted to it whereby he manifests a more spiritual than corporal Body but all the other Metals which follow out of its Essence and have more Salt whereby they become corporal do all follow this so that I now begin first with the Spirit of Mercury CHAP. III. Of the Spirit of Mercury THough I have a peculiar Stile in writing which will seem strange unto many causing strange Thoughts and Fancies in their Brains yet there is reason enough for my so doing I say enough that I may remain by my own experience not esteeming much of others prating because it is concealed in my knowledge Seeing having alwaies the preheminence before Hearing and Reason hath the praise before Folly Wherefore I now say that all visible tangible things are made of the Spirit of Mercury which excels all earthly things of the whole world all things being made out of it having their Off-spring only from it for all is found therein which can perform all whatsoever the Artist desires to find It is the beginning to operate Metals when it is become a spiritual Essence which is meer Air flying to and fro without wings it is a moving wind which after it is expelled its dwelling by Vulcan it is driven into its Chaos where it again enters and resolves it self into the Elements where it is elevated and attracted by the Sydereal Stars after a Magnetical manner unto themselves out of love whence he proceeded before and was operated because it affects its like again and attracts it to it But if this Spirit of Mercury can be caught and made corporal it resolves into a Body and becomes a pure clear transparent water which is the true spiritual water and the first Mercurial Root of the Minerals and Metals spiritual intangible incombustible without any mixture of earthly aquosity it is that Celestial water whereof very much hath been written for by this Spirit of Mercury all Metals may if need require be broken opened and resolved into their first Matter without Corrosive it renews the age of Man or Beast even as the Eagles it consumes all evil and conducts a long Age to long Life This Spirit of Mercury is the Master-Key of my Second Key whereof I wrote in the beginning wherefore I will call Come ye Blessed of the Lord be anointed and refreshed with water and embalm your Bodies that they may not putrefie or stink for this Celestial Water is the beginning the Oyl and the means seeing it burns not because it is made of a spiritual Sulphur the Salt Balsam is corporal which is united with the Water by the Oyl whereof I will afterwards treat more at large when I shall write of them and mention them And that I may further declare what is the Essence Matter and Form of the Spirit of Mercury I say that its Essence is blessed its Matter spiritual and its form earthly which yet must be understood by an incomprehensible way these are indeed harsh Expressions many will think thy Proposals are all vain strange Effusions raising wonderful Imaginations and true it is that they are strange and require strange people to understand these Sayings it is not written for Peasants how they should grease Cart-wheels nor is it written unto those who have no knowledge of the Art though they be never so learned or think themselves so for I only account them Learned who next unto Gods Word learn to know Earthly things which must be pondered and judged by the Understanding founded upon a true Knwledge to distinguish Light from Darkness who chuse that which is good and reject the evil It is needless for you to know what the beginning of this Spirit of Mercury requires because it can in no wise help nor advantage you only take notice of this that its beginning is supernatural out of the Celestial Sydereal and Elementary bestowed on it from the beginning of the first Creation that it may enter further into an Earthly Substance But because this is necessary which hath been declared to you leave the Celestial to the Soul apprehend it by Faith and let the Sydereal likewise alone because these Sydereal Impressions are invisible and intangible the Elements have already brought forth the Spirit perfect into the world by the Nutriment therefore let that alone likewise for man cannot make the Elements but only the Creator and remain by thy made Spirit which is already formal and unformal tangible and intangible and yet is presented visibly So have you enough of the first Matter out of which all Metals and Minerals grow and is one only thing and such a matter which unites it self with the Sulphur in the following Chapter and enters into a Coagulation with the Salt of the fifth Chapter that it may be one Body and a perfect Medicine of all Metals not only to bring forth in the Earth at the beginning as in the great World but also by help of the vaporous Body to transmute and change together with the augmentation in the lesser World Let not this seem strange to you seeing the Most High hath permitted and Nature undertaken it Many will not believe this esteeming it impossible despise and vilifie these Mysteries which they understand not in the least they may remain Fools and Idiots till an illumination follows which cannot be without Gods Will but remains till the time predestinate But wise and discreet men who have truly shed the sweat of their Brows will be my sufficient witnesses and confirm the Truth and indeed believe and hold for a truth all that which I write in this case as true as Heaven and Hell are preordained and proposed as Rewards of good and evil to the Elect and Reprobate Now I write not only with my hands but my Mind Will and heart constrain me to it Those who are highly conceited illuminated and world-wise hate envy scandalize defame and persecute this Mystery to the utmost Rind or innermost Kernel which hath its beginning out of the Center but I know assuredly there will come a time when my Marrow

Star of Venus is very difficult and not well to be calculated as all Mathematicians and Astronomers will bear me witness for its course is found to be otherwise than that of the other six Planets and therefore its Birth is otherwise for the Birth of Venus possesses the First Table after Mercury as for what concerns the Generation of Metals Mercury makes active but Venus provokes giving Lust and Desire together with the Beauty which gave occasionth ereunto though I am accounted no Astronomer nor do I give my self out for one who knows to calculate the Course of the Heavens for I should spend my time in my Cell in Prayer but that the spare hours after my Devotion is ended may not be spent in vain I have ordered and proposed it as my aim and intent to exercise my self and to spend those hours in the knowledge of Natural things So likewise it is not well to be reckoned what arises grows or proceeds from Venus or whence she arose grew or proceeded for she is superfluously cloathed more than she needs and yet must want that which she needs most of all in her Constancy But you must be advertised that Venus is cloathed with a Celestial Sulphur which far surpasses the brightness of the Sun for there is more and more abundant Sulphur in her than in Gold but it requires a knowledge what the Matter of that Gold Sulphur may be which is and rules so plentifully in Copper and whereof I make so great a Cry know then that it is likewise a flying very hot Spirit which can pass through and penetrate as also ripen and digest all things as the imperfect Metals into perfect which the inexpert will not believe And here a Question presents it self at hand How the Spirit of Copper can make other imperfect Metals perfect and make them ripe whereas in its own Body it is imperfect and inconstant For Answer I say as I have often said that this Spirit cannot possess or inhabit a permanent Body in Copper for when the habitation is burnt by Fire the Spirit goes away with it and must with impatience leave its Lodging for it dwells therein as a Sojourner but it hath protection in the permanent fix'd Body of Gold whence no man can expel it without the Warrant of an especial Judge for it is put into the inheritance as an Heir and taken Root by her permanent Body that she cannot easily be expelled The Tincture which Venus hath obtained is in like manner found in Mars more powerful high and Noble for Mars is the Man and Venus the Woman which I speak more of seeing I write of them This Tincture is delivered in Verdigreece and likewise it is found in Vitriol as in a Mineral whereof a peculiar Book might be wrote In all these things a combustible Sulphur is found and yet a Sulphur which is incombustible this is a strange thing one is a white Sulphur the other is red in the operative generation but the true Sulphur is incombustible for it is a pure true Spirit whereof an incombustible Oil is prepared and it is the same Sulphur which is made out of one Root from the Gold-Sulphur I open many Mysteries which ought not to be but what should I do to conceal all is not answerable but a measure is good in all things as you may observe in my last Advice of protestation forget not my desire therein This Sulphur may well be called the Sulphur of the Wise for all Wisdom is found therein unto the Mercurial Spirit which excels it which together with the Salt of Mars must be put together by a spiritual Conjunction that three may come into one understanding and be advanced to equal operations This spiritual Sulphur proceeds in the same manner and form out of the upper Region as doth the Spirit of Mercury but in another manner and kind whereby the Stars manifest a separation in fix'd and unfix'd in colour'd and uncolour'd things The Tincture consists only in the Spirit of Copper and most of all in that of his Bed-fellow it is a meer Vapour stinking and ill-sented in its beginning this Mist must be dissolved in the manner of a Liquor that the stinking incombustible Oil may be prepared thereof but yet it must have and take its beginning out of Mars this Oil unites freely with the Spirit of Mercury assuming all Metallick Bodies speedily unto them if they be first prepared in all points as I have advised in my Keys I observe not the Order of the Planets and not without just grounds for I observe the order of their Birth by which I am directed for because Venus hath much Sulphur she is sooner digested and ripened together with Mars before other Metals but because unconstant Mercury shewed them both too little assistance therefore no room is left him to work harder by reason of the superfluous Sulphur so that they could obtain no melioration of their unfixt Bodies Now I will reveal a Secret unto thee that Gold Copper and Iron have one Sulphur one Tincture and one Matter of their Colour this Matter of the Tincture is a Spirit a Mist and Fume as aforesaid which can penetrate and pass through all Bodies if you can take it and acuate it by the Spirit which is in the Salt of Mars and then conjoin the Spirit of Mercury therewith in a just weight purging them from all impurity that they be pleasant and well sented without all Corrosives you have then such a Medicine whereunto none in the world may compare being fermented with the bright shining Sun you have made an entrance penetrating to work and to transmute all Metals O Eternal Wisdom from the beginning how shall we thank thee for such great Mysteries which the Children of Men do no wayes regard but are despised by the greater number to know what thou hast concealed in Nature which they see before their Eyes and know it not they have it in their Hands and comprehend it not they deal with it and know not what they have nor what they do because the Internal is concealed I will yet reveal this unto thee in truth and by the Love of God that the root of the Philosophical Sulphur which is a Celestial Spirit is found with the root of the spiritual supernatural Mercury as also the beginning of the spiritual Salt are in one and found in one Matter out of which the Stone is made which was before me and not in many things though all Philosphers speak as if the Mercury Sulphur and Salt were each one a part by themselves and distinct that the Mercury is found in one the Sulphur in another and the Salt in a third yet I tell you this is only to be understood of their superfiuity which is found to abound most in each and may be used and prepared divers ways particularly with profit both for Physick and transmutation of Metals but the Universal which is the supreamest Treasure of Earthly Wisdom

so hath its Children of the lower Region succeeded it in Kind and Nature hath permitted that Vulcan should conduct them to their like if Saturn be content for the upper light gives occasion thereunto having generated an unfixt Body of Saturn penetrated with open pores that the Air can pass through this Saturnine Body that the Air can keep it aloft but the fire can quickly assault it because the body is not compact by reason of its unfixedness so that it must decay which must be in all points observed by him that will attain to the search of it for there is a great difference between the fix'd and unfix'd bodies and of the causes of their Constancy and Inconstancy And though Saturn hath an especial ponderosity above other Metals yet observe when they are poured forth together after their union in the Flux the other Metals alwaies settle at the bottom even as it likewise comes to pass in the pouring of Antimony through with other Metals whereby it is evident that the other Metals fall through equally and are more compact than Saturn for it must give place and preheminence to the other Metals leaving the victory with them for it must vanish and be quite consumed with the unfixt inconstant Metals in it all the three properties of the three principles are most course and because its Salt is very fluxible above that of other Metals and Planets so is its Body more fluxible inconstant unfixt and volatile than any other Metallick Body As Saturn steps to its regeneration so know that in like manner as common Water is forced by the natural coldness by the change of the Heavens whereby it becomes a coagulated Ice in like manner is it to be made evident that by reason of the great coldness which is found to be in the Salt of SAturn above other Salts Saturn is also coagulated and made corporal Ice dissolves into water by heat so likewise the coagulated Saturn is made fluxable by Fire it hath most of Mercury in it but it is inconstant and volatile it hath least of Sulphur and therefore according to its small quantity its cold body cannot be made warm it hath little Salt but fluxible otherwise Iron would be more fluxible and malleable than Lead if the Salt alone could cause a malleableness and fluxibleness because Iron contains more Salt than any other Metal Seeing then there is a difference to be found in this point you must therefore observe and remember the difference and how to distinguish between Metals All Philosophers have wrote as well as I that the Salt gives the Coagulation and Body to every Metal and it is true but to prove it by an example how and after what manner this Relation is to be understood Plume Allom is esteemed to be only a meer Salt and is approved to be such which in this particular may be compared to Iron that the Salt of the Plume Allom is found to be a thing unfluxible as Iron is On the other side Vitriol likewise is a Salt manifesting it self in a small quantity but fluxible and open therefore its Salt cannot yield such a hard congelation unto its appropriated Metal as the other can although all the Salts of Metals grew out of one certain Root and out of one Seed yet nevertheless you must observe a difference in their three Principles as also you must observe remember that a difference is found in one Herb from the other and likewise how man differs from other Creatures and Animals in Qualities Original and the three Principles for one Herb is indued with more of this another with more of that kind which in like manner is to be understood concerning Man and other Animals The Soul of Lead consists in a sweet quality as also doth the Soul of Tin and sweeter yet that nothing almost may be compared to it being first of all purified to the highest by separation that the pure be well separated from the impure that a perfect accomplishment may succeed in the Operation Otherwise the Spirit of Lead is by nature cold and dry wherefore I advise that it be not much used by Men and Women because it over cools Nature so that the Seed of both cannot perform their Natural Function nor doth it much good to the Spleen and Bladder but in other cases it attracts flegmatick Humours unto it which raise up much Melancholy in Men for Saturn is a Ruler and such a Melancholicus whereby a Man is confirm'd in his Melancholy wherefore its Spirit is used for one Melancholy Spirit attracts another unto it whereby Mans Body is freed and delivered from its infused Melancholy Externally the Soul of Saturn is so healing in all Sores old or new Cuts Thrusts or Accidents by Means or Nature so that no Metal can do the like it is cooling in all hot tumified Members but Noble Venus hath the pre eminence to mundifie and cauterize all putrid Sores and to lay a ground for their Cure which have their access from within for in her essence she is hot to dry up but Saturn on the contrary is found to be cold in his Essence The Celestial Light of the Sun is much hotter than the Light of the Moon for the Moon is much lesser than the Sun and according to its dimension and division it contains an eighth part of the greatness in its Circle if then the Moon in this her Magnitude of the eighth part could excel the Sun as the Sun excels the Moon all Fruits and Productions of the Earth must perish and there would be a perpetual Winter no Summer to be found at any time But the Eternal Creator hath in this case well ordained a certain Order and Law for his Creatures that the Sun should give light by day and the Moon by night and so all Creatures should be served Those Children which are subject to the influence of Saturn are melancholy churlish continually murmuring as old covetous people who do no good to their own Bodies and yet never have enough they put their Bodies to much labour torment themselves with thoughts and whimsies seldom recreate themselves or are merry with other people nor do they greatly regard the natural love of fair Women In brief I tell thee that Saturn is generated of little Sulphur little Salt and much unripe gross Mercury which Mercury is to be esteemed as a Froth that floates upon the Water in comparison of that Mercury which is found in Sol and is much more hot in its degree and therefore the Mercury of Saturn by reason of its great coldness hath not so quick a running Life as that which is made of Gold wherein more heat is to be found whence that running Life hath its original Therefore in the inferiour world we must take notice of little Vulcan in the augmentation and transmutation of Metals as I have described those three Principles of Saturn as concering their descent nature and complection And every one must know

it its water of Airiness that it may be a subtle Dust and take two parts of our blessed Oil poure the Oil very slowly upon the Dust of the Mercury of Gold till all be in it set it in a Vial well sealed in the heat of the first degree of the secret Furnace therein let it stand ten dayes and nights your Powder and Oil will be quite dry of a black gray colour After ten days give it the heat of the second degree the gray and black colour will by little and little become white till at last it will be of a heavenly white and at the end of the ten days it will begin to be of a pure red but let not this trouble you for all these Colours proceed only from the Mercury of Gold which swallowed up our blessed Oil and now conceals in the inner most part of its Body but our Oil will conquer this Mercury of Gold by the power of the fire and cast it forth from within and the Oil will predominate over it with its hot red Colour and be continually outwards And therefore it will be time after the expiration of twenty days that you open the window of the third degree wherein the external white Colour and Power will by little and little enter in into the inward part and the internal red Colour will turn outward by the force of the fire Keep this degree of heat ten days without diminution or augmentation of it you will see a Powder which before was white to be now very red but let not redness trouble you for 't is yet unfix'd and volatile And after these ten days are ended thirty days being in all expired then open the last window of the last degree of fire keep it ten days in this degree this high red pouder will then begin to flux let it stand so in flux the ten days then take it out you will find at the bottom a very high red transparent stone of a Ruby Colour flux'd according to the form of the Glass as is taught in the Treatise of Vitriol wherewith you may make projection Praise God for such his high Revelation and thank him for ever Amen It s Multiplication The Ancient Wise having found the Stone and prepared it to a perfect power and mutation of the imperfect Metals into Gold have a long time enquired whether a thing were not to be found to augment the power of the Stone and they found two kinds of Augmentation one of the power of it so that the Stone may be brought much higher of this multiplication you will find direction in the Treatise of Gold The other Augmentation is an augmentation of the quantity of the Stone in its former power so that it receives no more nor loses any thing of its power though it increase in weight and augment more and more that out of one Ounce many Ounces arise and increase The Augmentation or Multiplication is done as followeth Take your Stone in Gods Name grind it to a subtile powder add to it as much of the Mercury of Gold as is taught before put them together into a fine round Vial seal it hermetically set it into the fiery Furnace proceeding as you have been instructed before only this time is shorter for whereas before you had ten thirty days now you need no more than four ten days otherwise the work is one and the same Praise and give thanks to Almighty God for his high Revelation continue in Prayer for his Grace and Divine Blessing in this Art and Operation as likewise for continuance of Health and Prosperity withal let the poor be recommended to your Help and Charity Glory be to Almighty God A Work of Saturn of Mr. John Isaac Holland The PREFACE Courteous Reader THE PHILOSOPHERS have written much of their Lead which is prepared out of Antimony as Basilius hath taught and I am of the opinion that this Saturnine Work of the most excellent Philosopher M. John Isaac Holland is not to be understood of common Lead if the Matter of the Stone be not much more thereby intended but of the Philosophers Lead But whether the Vulgar Saturn be the Matter of the Philosophers Stone thereof you will receive sufficient satisfaction from the subsequent 17 Considerations or Documents This is published for the benefit of all the Lovers of this Art because it expounds and declares the Stone of Fire Vale. A Work of Saturn In the Name of the Lord Amen MY Child shall know that the Stone called the Philasophers Stone comes out of Saturn And therefore when it is perfected it makes projection as well in mans Body from all Diseases which may assault them either within or without be they what they will or called by what name soever as also in the imperfect Metals And know my Child for a Truth that in the whole vegetable work there is no higher nor greater Secret than in Saturn for we do not find that perfection in Gold which is in Saturn for internally it is good Gold herein all Philosophers agree and it wants nothing else but that first you remove what is superfluous in it that is its impurity and make it clean and then that you turn its inside outwards which is its redness then will it be good Gold for Gold cannot be made so easily as you can of Saturn for Saturn is easily dissolved and congealed and its Mercury may be easily extracted and this Mercury which is extracted from Saturn being purified and sublimed as Mercury is usually sublimed I tell thee my Child that the same Mercury is as good as the Mercury which is extracted out of Gold in all operations for if Saturn be Gold internally as in truth it is then must its Mercury be as good as the Mercury of Gold therefore I tell you that Saturn is better in our work than Gold for if you should extract the Mercury out of Gold it would require a years space to open the body of Gold before you can extract the Mercury out of the Gold and you may extract the Mercury out of Saturn in 14 days both being alike good Would you make a work out of Gold alone you must labour two whole years upon it if it shall be well done and you may finish a work of Saturn in 30 or 32 weeks at the most And being both well made they are both alike good Saturn costs nothing or very little it requires a short time and small labour this I tell you in truth My Child lock this up in thy heart and understanding this ♄ is the Stone which the Philosophers will not name whose name is concealed unto this day for if its name were known then many would operate and the Art would be common because this work is short and without charge a small and mean work Therefore doth the name remain concealed for the evils sake which might thence proceed All the strange Parables which the Philosophers have spoken mystically of a Stone

externally for the Spirit of the Air lies in the inward part of all things for God created nothing in this world but it hath its peculiar Taste or Air the Air and the Taste are one Spirit the Taste goes out of the Air as Smoke from the Fire But how comes it to pass that a thing which hath a sweet Air is bitter in Taste The cause is because the Faeces of that thing are putrid and stinking in the Elements that is the Choler or Heat for whatsoever is unnaturally hot hath a bitter Taste the Air and the Taste are both one Spirit and as the Spirit of the Air presses outwards through hot thing so doth the Air ●race the Taste about and ●ends the subtile Taste that it should not be burnt by the vehement burning Choler as in the Herbal is at large express'd But the cause why Saturn is sweet in Taste is that it is almost pure and clean having scarce any unnatural heat in it which can burn the subtile Tast therefore it hath the Taste externally and the Taste hath the Spirit of the Air lock'd up in it My Child know what I said before that a thing wherein is much burning heat the Air locks up the Taste therein because the Taste shall not be corrupted by the unnatural heat So the Taste includes the Air in it when it issues forth from a thing which is externally cold for the subtil Spirits of the Air or Sent of a thing can endure no Cold as we see daily in Herbs and Flowers that they yield no Sent in the Winter as they do in the Summer but they hide themselves in the Winter and the Spirit hath the Sent inclosed in it and the Spirit of Sent of Air. Behold a man that hath taken Cold immediately he loses his Sent and his Tasting is diminished Even so it is here with Saturn it is quite-cold so that the Taste manifests it self with the Spirit of Sent for the Spirit of the Taste hath the Smell in it Look upon Sugar which is well clarified from its Faeces how sweet it is in Taste yet it yields no Sent yet there is an extraordinary sweetness in Sugar What is the reason of this Sugar is very cold externally therefore is it white as Snow and of a sweet Taste yet Sugar internally is hot and moist of the temper of Gold and of such great virtue that it is called the Philosophers Stone as it is approved and very prevalent to cure all the Distempers of mans Body as appears by its operation The reason why I say this my Child is that you should altogether understand its internal external and the Spirits which are in these things whereof we discourse that thereby you should know Gods wonderful works and what wonders he works in these inferiour things which are all made for our use What hath God in us for whose sake he hath created all these wonders and all these things Wherefore my Child believe in God love him and follow him for he loves you as he makes it appear and manifests himself in all things as well in their Internals as in their Externals O how wonderful is our Lord and God from whom all Wonders proceed Now my child why is Saturn fluxible as Wax By reason of its abounding Sulphur which is therein for I find no fluxibleness or fusibleness in any thing saving in Sulphur Mercury and Arsenick and all these three are in Saturn so that Saturn is quickly fluxible but all these three are cleansed with it from their uncleanness And do you not know that the Philosophers call their Sone Arsenick and a white thing and they say their Sulphur is incombustible they call it likewise a red thing all this is Saturn in it is Arsenick for Luna is principally generated of a white Sulphur as is plainly taught in the Book of Sulphurs and all Arsenick is internally red as Bloud if its inward part be brought outwards as is demonstrated in the Book of Colours c. Saturn stands almost in the degree of fix'd Luna So that in it there is a red Sulphur as you see when its internal is placed outwards it will be red as a Ruby there are no Colours but in the Spirits so that there is in it a red and a yellow Sulphur In it is Mercury as may be seen for Mercury is extracted out of Saturn in a short time and with little labour So that all three are in Saturn but they are not fix'd therein but they are clean pure incombustible fluxible as Wax in it are all things which the Philosophers have mentioned They say our Stone is made of a stinking menstruous thing What think you is not Saturn digg'd out of a stinking Earth for divers are killed with the ill Sents and Vapours where Saturn is digg'd or they live not long who labour in that stinking black Mine whence Saturn is digg'd And the Philosophers say our Stone is of little value being unprepared they say the poor have it as well as the rich and they say true for there are not poorer or more miserable people to be found than those which dig and work Saturn in the Mine and they say it is to be found in all Towns and places wheresoever you come Saturn is there They say it is a black thing What think you is it not black They say it is a dry water if Gold or Luna be to be refined upon the test must it not be done with Saturn must be wash'd and tried with it as a foul garment is made clean with Sope. They say in our Stone are the four Elements and they say true for the four Elements may be separated out of Saturn They say our Stone consists of Soul Spirit and Body and these three become one They say true when it is made fix'd for the white Mercury and Sulphur with its Earth then these three are one Whereby is to be observed that the Philosophers have said true they concealed its Name for the ignorants sake who are not their Children to keep them still in their Ignorance Thus my Child the Ancients took care to conceal the name of the Stone now let us return to our purpose You have now Saturn wash'd and cleansed from all its impurity and made as white as Snow fusible as Wax but it is not fix'd yet we will make it fix the Mercury and Sulphur with its Earth Take a Glass-Vial put half of your purified Saturn into it reserve the other half till you have occasion to use it lay a polish'd Glass upon the mouth of the Glass set it in a Cuple with sifted Ashes upon a Furnace or set it on the Tripos of Secrets or in the Furnace wherein you calcine Spirits give it Fire so hot is the heat of the Sun at Midsummer and no hotter either a very little hotter or a very little cooler as you can best hit it But if you give it a greater heat such as you may keep