of the fallen and rejected Angels created Men in the very same place from which Lucifer was thrusted forth or ejected and how that Lucifer envying this happinesse unto man seduced and perswaded him to fall from God and cunningly beguiled him all which the infinite mercy of God knowing from eternity resolved already from Eternity with himself to look in mercy upon this poor by the subtlety and fraud of Sathan fallen Man and to come to his assistance with his holy substance of the inexhaustible Loves-Source it self to unite the same with the fallen humane Nature and so with a strong might and Divine power to destroy the design of Sathan through the fallen humane Nature and so eternally to possesse his former Seat or Throne and how all this properly came to pass that the eternal infinite God united himself indivisibly with humane Nature and by such an union opened again the Gate unto the Kingdom of Heaven unto all Mankind And how Man must be born again the second time through this and so united again with the substance and body of God and become a true child of God borne out of him and in this manner may eternally be and remain with him All this and very many other Mysteries of the like nature as also of the exterior Nature of Metals and their heavenly Vertues of Hearbs Beasts Sun Moon and Stars and of the generation of the whole Nature and all exteriour visible things yea of the great stone of the Wise also are in his books so profoundly and knowingly handled and described that every hungry and truth desirous mind cannot sufficiently rejoyce and delight himself in such a high light and exposition of such hitherto unheard of and altogether hidden wonders and I am of opinion that the bottomlesse mercy of God hath set up this Jacob Bohme whom the learned after his death by reason of his great wisdome called the Teutonick Philosopher and also this our Philosopher Helmont as two bright-shining torches for this present age which is the dregs and sinck of all ungodliness unbelief wickednesse and perverse damnable life to try whither this Modern Lip-Christendom which is quite dead as to God and totally alienated from the Life of God will open their eyes and see by this double Light of his mercy set up and so acknowledge or own God their most blessed Creator walk in his light and bring forth the due fruit of Holinesse and Obedience before the terrible Wrath of God rush in upon them consuming devouring and destroying all such unfruitful Trees which Vengeance is already begun Therefore Happy and Blessed is he that acknowledgeth the same and followeth this Light which God by these two Men of wonders mercifully granted unto us and entereth into the way of true child-like obedience of faith for to be a true Labourer in his Vine-yard as a good husbandman over the work of the Lord such a one may confidently hope for the fruit which God by these Instruments promised unto us and not only receive them yet in this World but also enjoy them eternally Therefore be admonished O you Physitians such as have yet a spark of the Child-like fear of God in your hearts by what the tuba of this Age our Philosopher in praefatione super Ignotum hospitem morbum saith § 9. 10. Moneo hortorque sapientes hujus mundi quod errores inscitiae Medentum non se mihi paulatim aperuerint ac sensim intrârint in animam meam ita quod unum post aliud conceperim aut meditatus sim nimirum quòd primum considerarem scholas deceptas circa mistionum Elementarium congressum temperiem complexiones morbosasque distemperaturas inde verò provolutus essem circa errores Catharrorum ac deinceps demum quaesiissem radices causas quidditatem morborum ac remediorum Nil sanè horum Nam si unum post aliud mihi innotuisset existimassem omnem hujusmodi progressum esse rationis ac Phantasiae inductiones erroribus atque fallaciis opportunas Sed postquam totum simùl nempe Medentum inscitiae tà m in cognitione causarum morborum quam remediorum applicationum unicâ lucis fulguratione conceptum intellectualem obumbrasset indubiè cognovi hoc talentum ad proximorum utilitates datum ideoque propinandum Cathedris à quibus correctio expetitur expectaturque iisque sub indictione gravioris paenae seriò proferendum CAP. X. That the Sulphur Philosophorum is also to be had from other Metallick bodies besides the Copper THere will be not a few which after they have read the by me cleared Doctrine of our Philosopher concerning the Sulphur Philosophorum may chance to be of opinion that only the Tincture of Copper is that highly commended Sulphur of the Wise and that we must remain only with this Subject and only thence look for this Noble treasure of health But no such matter for the Anima Cupri is called Sulphur Philosophorum not in regard of any singular prerogative and precedency it hath before other Metallick bodies but only therefore because it is conducible for a long and healthfull Life and therefore as a great secret is only sought for by Wise and Understanding Men who aimed not at mony riches honour pride and Lust of the flesh nor would they spend their precious time upon such fading muck but on the contrary they employed all their understanding and knowledge vouchsafed unto them by God upon their hearty prayers hereupon only viz. how to preserve a sound mind within a sound body and to make this use of the Virtues which God endowed Nature withall that they might remain in health and enjoy a long Life thereby to have the fruition of the great wonders and guifts of God for many years and so to be able in health to bear much fruit unto their gracious Lord God as faithfull Labourers in his Vineyard as our Philosopher witnesseth in Butler pag. 473. in these words Nihil aeque victoriosè in humidum radicale agit atque primum ens Cupri vel ad vitam longam Sulphure Vitrioli esse benignius utpote quod idcirco Sulphur Philosophorum indigetat and in Duumviratu saith he Sulphur Cupri inter arcana ad vitam longam catervam aliquot morborum fugandam commendabile and de Lithiasi cap. 8. § 8. he saith Cum Sulphur istud externum quale è Cupro trahitur non sit necessarium metallo perfecto Cupro autem istud Sulphur sit à Deo inditum ergo necesse est istud Sulphur Veneris habere suos fines ad necessitates ingrati hominis conducentes pro infirmitatibus scilicet humanis supra omnem metallicae perfectionis dignitatem In regard therefore that the Tincture of copper is called Sulphur Philosophorum only for this reason because it is advantageous for a long and healthy Life but now such an universal Medicine also may be made of other Metallick Bodies it must needs follow that in other Metallick Subjects also such a Sulphur Philosophorum
and satiated Spirit or rather a Spiritual Salt and beeing of such a double nature it hath the precedency before all common and known Spirits and Corrosives and so openeth Metals and Minerals as no other Salt can do the like whereof I will give you a clear Demonstration at the end of this Chapter viz. of its great power to manifest that which is occult and therefore Basilius Valentinus saith well of the same The Salt-Armoniack is not the meanest key to unlock Metals and therefore is compared by the Antients unto a flying Fowl it is able with its swift Feathers to carry on high the Tincture and colour of Minerals and some of Metals and you will finde it of force sufficient to prepare and fit Metals for Transmutation for without preparation no Metal can be transmuted c. Note this Doctrine of Basilius for I have set it down not without cause Now although by this my demonstration you will be convinced that the name of a double and satiated Spirit is not undeservedly given unto the Salt-Armoniack and that this term is not newly invented by me but according to its real being hath been in the Salt-Armoniack although the name was not usuall hitherto yet you may further object if Salt-Armoniack be such a double and satiated Spirit why is it not sufficient of it self to reduce the Copper into a Volatile Spirit but there must be made another double Spirit of the Salt-Armoniack and the Alcali For answer know that the Spirit or rather Salt of Urine whereof the Salt-Armoniack consisteth is the only cause of it for it alwayes retains the nature of Salt and cannot be reduced into a true Spirit hence it raiseth the Spirit of Salt Vitriol and other Corrosives which are true Spirits not in the Form of a Spirit but according to its own nature like a Salt yea by its Saltie nature turneth them also into Salt or into the shape of Salt so long as it is united with them But now our Philosopher as also Paracelsus and others before him require that the Copper shall come over not like a Volatile green Salt but like a very Volatile green Spirit as our Philosopher saith de Lithiasi Cap. 8. § 21. that it must be Cupri liquamen Volatile and in his Duumviratus he saith that the Spiritus Viridis ought to be insigniter volatilis to the end that the body of the Copper may be rightly prepared and fitted that it may yield its tincture afterwards and therefore it must be so forcibly torne assunder and reduced into the smallest atomes viz. into a subtle spirit for without this proceeding its anima cannot be got as he saith expresly loco jam citato d◠Lithiasi § 5. Non potest autem haberi ignis Veneris nisi cum plenaria NB Cupri destructione corporisque mercurialis ipsius Veneris Volatilisatione but the Salt Armoniack though it be a double and satiated spiritual salt cannot performe this although the vulgar Vitriolum Veneris or Cuprum limatum or ustum be never so often and so many times elevated therewith because it is but a dry salt but not a penetrating and attenuating spirit which is far more subtle and efficacious to unlock penetrate and spiritualize than salt though it be never so volatile Now although the Salt Armoniack be not such a double spiritual substance as to have power to do the Philosophers work and to reduce Copper into a subtle penetrating Volatile Spirit yet the nature and substance of the Salt Armoniack as being really a double spiritual salt hath given occasion unto the Philosophers though after another manner yet from the same ground whereof the Salt Armoniack consisteth to find out and to prepare another sort of satiated and double substance which alwaies is and remaineth a very Volatile and flying Spirit For they considered throughly the parts whereof the Salt Armoniack as being a double substance doth consist and they found that as I demonstrated above at large it consisteth of a fiery and of a corrosive substance but seeing that the fiery substance in its nature is no true spirit and consequently not serving their turne viz. to reduce Copper into a volatil Spirit therefore instead thereof they chose such a fiery salt as being distill'd is a true spirit and never ascendeth in the forme of Salt much lesse changeth the adjoyned corrosive into the forme of a dry salt as the salt of Urine doth To find out the same they considered the property and efficacy of the salt of Urine viz. that its nature is to mortify or satiate all corrosives by which vertue it doth precipitate metals dissolved in a corrosive eagerly falling upon the corrosive satiating it self therewith and so freeing the corroded metal from it and because they found that the same power yea more effectual resideth in the fiery fixed Alcalies they judged them fit for the purpose that as in the preparation of Salt Armoniack the fieriness of the Salt of urine doth satiate the corrosive so as to their purpose the Alcalies lay hold of the corrosive and that of them both there should arise a tertium duplicatum satiatum sal and consequently by distillation such a double spirit they also first distilled the Alcalia by a very strong fire according to art and found that they ascended not like a volatile Salt but like a true very subtle and penetrating spirit of mighty great power and vertue in Physick and therefore they mixt the Salt Armoniack with the Alcalies and the corrosive having more inclination to them than to the fiery salt of Urine presently associated it self with the Alcali leaving the salt of Urine and so making a new double satiated salt tasting neither of the Alcali nor of the corrosive but as a mixture of both as experience doth testify to this day Now because both the corrosive and the Alcali being forced over by fire turne into a true spirit it must of necessity follow that of this double salt no other but a true satiated and double spirit must come and experience it self confirmeth it that a very volatile spirit cometh thence having such a property as no other corrosive hath which fall upon the Metallick bodies with great fury and ebullition corroding them and adheering outwardly unto them seek to get their habitation therein but in regard that this double spirit is already satiated in himself and is of a double and mighty force therefore it openeth the metallick bodies in a clean other way than the common corrosives do for by vertue of its double and volatile nature it pierceth and penetrateth to the very inmost center of every atome of the Metals and turneth outwards all power colour tincture and vertue yea quickneth them and maketh them active which before lay hidden and dead as it were Now upon this elucidation you may say since in the Salt Armoniack there is no other corrosive but the Spirit of Salt whether it be not all one to make first the spirit of Salt and
it very small and then poure upon it highly rectifyed Spirit of wine and set it to extract in a warme place that in this manner the extracted Tincture of the Copper should come into the Spirit of Wine and by means thereof and from the same obtain an Essential moysture and be changed into a penetrating oyl No you are out the Spirit of Wine is farr too weak being nothing but common Water for the most part for a whole pound of the strongest Spirit of Wine will not yield much above half an ounce of Essential Salt how then should such a far dispersed vertue be able radically to mollify this concentred substance of the Copper there is no parity at all betwixt them both but there is required a concentred spiritual penetrating fire for this purpose such as is all power Spirit and Life what should such a watry Vapour be able to prevail as the Spiritus vini is for the most part And although the Spiritus vini standing upon such a tinged Alcali in digestion is changed in colour and turneth very red yet it doth not follow therefore that this Tincture is from the Copper but is barely and only from the Alcali whereof it attracts some subtle atomes by which it is coloured which you may be assured of by this experiment viz. pouring spirit of Wine upon such a bare fiery Alcali which hath not been used for extraction of the Sulphur of Copper and setting it in digestion for then it will be as fairly coloured upon this as upon the other containing the few atomes Sulphuris Cupri Therefore it is very necessary and unavoidable necessity requireth it that if you mean to obtain this uoble Tincture of the Gold-like soul of the Copper the fiery material Alcali be first made Spiritual Volatil penetrating and active which is not to be done as most Readers do conjecture that the Alcali being a salt is to be distilled and forced over as they do other salts mixing them for to keep them from melting with Earth Lome or the like and so forcing them over by the strong power of fire into a vapour and spirit No such a sort of volatilisation doth not serve our turne for although the Alcali in this manner may be forced over into a Volatil spirit and the same also be of very great vertue in Physick yea far exceedeth all other Medicamenta Diaphoretica Incidentia Resolventia Deopilantia Maturantia Corroborantia which are to be found in any Apothecaries Shop as every one that will prepare and use it upon this my recommendation will find with admiration and great profit to the sick yet this serveth not for the extraction and Essential resolution of the Tincture of Copper because it hath been too much weakned in the distillation having left the most part of its natural fieriness with the Earth or Clay wherewith it is mixed for to fit it for distillation its fieriness having acted and consumed it self thereupon and so lost its former fiery power in so much that by such a distillation there cometh over a very effectual spirit for Medicine but very mild in tast and far too weak for our purpose But here the Alcali must be raised so as that it retain its fiery mollifying Vertue yea that it may become much more powerful and penetrating which is to be brought to passe by its like viz. by an other like fiery Alcali but that this is to be Volatil for if this were not Volatil it could not volatilize the other for none can give more then he hath himself or beyond what is in his power Such a Volatil Alcali must first be got by art from the same source from which the fixed Alcali is risen viz. from an Oylie Substance for a true Alcali can come from no other but from the Oyly Principium and therefore you must hold to the oyly ground and endeavour to turne the same into an Alcali Volatil Now if you would do it by force of fire you would get no Volatil but a fixed Alcali again and therefore it must not be done by such a violent way but by a friendly one such as is according to nature which way and unchangeable Law is this as I mentioned before as much as serves for our purpose that like delighteth in its like attracteth the same and uniteth the same with it self and changeth it into its own Nature Now if you will turne and change your Oyly substance according to this immutable rule of Nature into an Alcali you must mix or unite the same with nothing else but an Alcali and keep them together for a sufficient time in a gentle heat and the fieryness of the Alcali will powerfully act into the subtle attenuated Oylie substance which you joyned thereunto and transmute the same and because it is of the like Nature property and substance in regard that the Alcali also rose from an Oyle therefore it changeth the same also by its strong fiery force into its nature and turneth the same from a subtle spiritual thin Oylie substance into a fiery salty Alcali and being done gently there is no violence offered to the Oylie principium as it happeneth when the fire per force turneth the Oyl into an Alcali therefore it remaineth in its former Volatlity insomuch that you have obtained an Alcali volatil But because these two are very intimately united and tyed to each other therefore if you begin to force your Alcali volatil by the strength of fire the fixed Alcali must also rise with it because of the similitude of Substance whereby they cleave to each other and are inclined to abide with each other for as before by reason of the uniformity of substance the oyly spiritual substance was changed by the Alcali into its salty Alcalical nature from such a ground as is according to Nature So now on the other side the fixed Alcali because of the great affinity betwixt them accompanieth the Alcali volatil and turnes together with it into a Volatile penetrating concentred spirit which is altogether power Fire Light and Life and in this manner you obtain that which is necessary for this our purpose viz. for the essential solution of metallick Sulphurs whereof to speak any more would be unnecessary and Superfluous in regard that our faithful well deserving Philosopher hath described the same clearly and expresly in divers places in his Relict Writings and the like hath been done also by the sharp-sighted and deeply Learned Raymund Lully where the Reader will find it with all circumstances and therefore remain but with these two Authors and do not seek for it further from any other and you will truly find so much iustruction in them as you shall need unless that by the just judgement of God the eyes of your understanding be blinded because of your pride covetousness and worldly pleasures for then you will truly not apprehend any thing of it but they would be sealed books and meere riddles to you Now this spiritual fire