perceive that Water is the first Matter of all things which are born or generated in the World for certainly 't is manifest unto thee that nothing grows or receiveth increase without the four Elements therefore whatsoever is Elementated by the virtue of the four Elements it must of necessity be that the original of all things that are born or grow should be of Water Yet ought you not to understand this before spoken of Water but of that Water which is the Matter of all things out of which all Natural things are produced in their kind Know therefore that first of all Air is engendred of Water of Air Fire of Fire Earth Now will I more familiarly and friendly discourse with thee I 'le further manifest this Mystery unto thee by degrees lâ—â—t by too much hast it happen to us according to the Proverb That he that makes too much hast oftentimes comes home too late Now therefore that I may satisfie thy desire I will discourse of the first Matter which Philosophers call the fifth Essence and many other Names they have for it by which they may the more obscure it In it for certain are four Elements pure in their Exaltation Know therefore that if you would have the fifth Essence Man you must first have Man and you must have nothing else of that Matter and see that you observe this well This I say that if you desire to have the Philosophers Stone you must of necessity first have the fifth Essence of that same Stone whether it be Mineral or Vegetative joyn therefore species with species and Gems with Gems and not the one without the other nor any thing contrary which may be other than the species or proper Gems beware therefore of all that is not Essential For of Boneâ— Stones cannot be made neither do Cranes beget Geâ—se which if you will consider you 'l find the profit of it by the help of Divine Grace by the assistance whereof let us fâ—rther proceed to speak of this blessed Water which is called the Water of the Sun and Moon hidden in the concavity of our Earth Concerning which Earth know that all that is generated must of necessity have Male and Female from which action and passion arise without which Generation never is But you will certainly never receive profit from things differing in kinds Notwithstanding if you have this Water of the Sun and Moon it will draw other Bodies and Humours to its own kind by the help of the virtue and heat of the Sun and Moon and will make them perfect As an Infant in the womb of its Mother decoction of temperate heat helping it turneth the Flowers into its nature and kind that is into Flesh Bloud Bones and Life with the other properties of a living Body of which 't is needless to say any more And hence you may understand that our Water changeth it self into a perfect kind with things of its own kind For first it will congeal it self into a substance like Oyl then it will change that Oyl by the means of temperate heat into Gum and lastly by the help of the perfect heat of the Sun into a Stone Now therefore know that out of one thing you have three that is Oyl Gum and a Stone Know also that when the Water is turned into Oyl then you have a perfect Spirit when the Oyl is turned into hard Gum then you have a perfect Spirit and Soul and when the Spirit and Soul are turned into a Stone then you have a perfect Body Soul and Spirit together which as it is called the Philosophers Stone and Elixir and a perfect Medicine of mans Body so also that which is leavened with its genus and the fifth Essencâ— Know Son that fifth Essences are divers one whereof is to Humane Bodies another to Elixir and to the imperfect Bodies of Metals For you must consider that the generation and growth of Metals is not as the growth of mans Body for a genus agrees with its genus and a species with its species Moreover know that the first Matter of man which begetteth the Flesh Bloud Bones and Life is a Spermatick Humour which causeth generation through a vital Spirit included therein And when the Matter is generated and congealed into a Body extract thence the fifth Essence of that Body wherewith you may nourish the Body Yet Son will I tell thee moreover that Water or Matter or Seed whereof Man is begot is not the augmenter of the Body Know Son that if the Body be fed with its natural food then its first Matter will be increased and also the Body viz. the first Matter in quality and the Body in quantity the first Matter is that which is called the fifth Essence Yet know Son that the fifth Essence is one thing and the Matter of augmentation is another and as I said before the increase of Metals is not like the increase of mans Body Although the fifth Essence which causeth the augmentation of Metals may be a fit Medicine for Humane Bodies as also the fifth Essence which causeth the augmentation of mans Body may be a fit Medicine for the Bodies of Metals and therefore as before is said the fifth Essence is one thing and augmentation another You see therefore for what reason our Water is called the first Matter and Seed of Metals viz. because of it all Metals are generated Therefore you will have need of it in the beginning middle and end for as much as it is the cause of all generation because by its Congelation it is turned into all sorts of Metals to wit into the first Matter of the sorts Thence it is called the Seed of Metals and the Metallick Water of Life because it affords Life and Bloud to sick and dead Metals joyneth in Matrimony the Red man with the White woman that is the Sun and the Moon It is called also Virgins Milk for as long as it is not joyned with the Sun and the Moon nor with any thing else except only those which are of its own â—ind so long it may be called a Virgin But when it is joyned with a Male and Female and marrieth with them then is it no longer a Virgin because it adhereth to them and becomes one with them to whom it is joyned that is with the Sun and Moon whom it joyns and is joyned with to generation But as long as it remains a Virgin it is called Virgins Milk the Blessed Water and the Water of Life and by many other Names And now my Son that I may say something of the Philosophers Mercury know that when thou hast put thy Water of Life to the Red man who is our Magnesia and to the White woman whose name is Albifica and they shall all have been gathered together into one then you have the true Philosophers Mercury For after that in this manner all is joyned with a Male and Female then it is called the Philosophers Mercury
the Philosophers Water of Life the Bloud of Man his red Flesh his Body and Bones Know therefore that there are many sorts of Milk viz. Virgins Milk Womans Milk and also Mans Milk For when first they are joyned in one and she is big having conceived then the Infant must be nourished with Milk But then you may know that this Milk is not Virgins Milk but rather the man and the womans Milk wherewith it is always to be nourished till it is growâ— to that strength that it may be brought up with stronger and fuller food That food which I mean is the leavening of it which gives it form that it may perform Virile work For until the Infant that is this our Stone be formed and leavened with its like the Bloud of the green Dragon and the red Bloud of the red Dragon whether it be the white Stone or the red it will never do a perfect work Know therefore Son that the first Water is that Water Rebar which God made of Nature and it is the cause of Generation as I said before but when after the conjunction which ariseth from the Marriage it begets the Water of Life and the Philosophers Milk with one of which or both you must augment and feed your Stone perpetually Much more could I say to thee Son concerning this first Matter but let this suffice that setting aside impertinencies of words we may now Divine Grace favouring of us proceed to the practice it self of the Philosophick Stone See therefore my Son that thou diligently puttest all these Matters which though they are three things yet are they but one only in a Glass Vessel and lettest them quietly putrefie then put an Alembick upon your Vessel and by distillation draw out all the Water which may be thence distilled Try this first in Maries Bath Then place the Vessel in Ashes and make a gentle Fire for 12 hours then take the Matter out of the Vessel grind it well by it self without the foresaid Water then â—ut it again into the Vessel with Water and stop the Vessel close Put it in the Bath for three days and then distill the Water as before in the Bath and the Matter will be more black than before Do thus three times over and then grind it no more but afterwardâ— as often as you distill it so oft pour Water on the top but between each distillation give it so much Fire for six hours or more till it become indifferent dry then pour Water on the top again and dissolve it again in the Bath under a blind Alembick Also in every distillation separate the Flegm by casting away six or seven drops of Water in the beginning of each distillation And observing this order cause it to drink its proper Water till it hath drank of it seven times its weight which it had at the first But then it will be of a white colour and so much the whiter by how much the more of its own Water it hath drank This is white Elixir Moreover this our Water is called Homogeneal and by many other names Besides know that this Water and Matter generate as well the Red Stone as the White Know also when this first Matter is brought to its compleat whiteness then the end of one is the beginning of the other that is of the Red Stone which is our Red Magnesia and Virgins Brass as we said at first Son see thou well understand these words Our Virgins Brass is our Gold yet I do not say that all Brass is Gold also our Brass is our live Brimstone but all live Brimstone is not our live Brimstone also Quicksilver is Mercury but I do not say that common Quicksilver is our Silver as I said before that Water of Life which is our Seed and first Matter is our Mercury and our Spirit of Life which is extracted out of the blessed Land of Aethiopia which is called Magnesia and by many other names Besides my Son know that there is no perfect generation without corruption for corruption causeth cleanliness and cleanliness corruption Consider therefore Son our dying poison which dyeth and is dyed perpetually and this is our Body our Soul and our Spirit when they are joyned together in one and become one thing which with its parts ariseth also out of one thing besides which there is not any other neither ever shall be Wherefore my Son great folly it is for any one to believe that any other Medicine can be turned into Gold or Silver which Medicine will little profit thee of it self except it be mingled with a Body for then shall it perfect its work according to its form to which it is born For it is never born that it may of it self become a Body Moreover know that there is as much difference between the first Matter which is called the Seed of Metals and the Medicine as is between the Medicine and Gold For the Seed will never be the Medicine without a Body neither will the Medicine ever be a Metal without a Body Much difference also there is between Elixir and the Medicine as between Masculine and Feminine Seed and also an Infant which is generated of those in the Matrice Now you may see that the Seed is one thing and the Infant another though they be one and the same in kind one thing one operation the Vessel finally one though it be called by divers names For of a Man and Woman is an Infant born when as yet the Man is one thing and the Woman another though they be one and the same in kind which you ought to understand in our Stone But what I said before that corruption is the cause of generation and of cleanliness is true For you must know that every thing in its first Master is corrupt and bitter which corruption and bitterness is called dying poison which is the cause of Life in all things as will be sufficiently manifest if you with right reason do weigh the Natures of things Consider well O Son that when Lucifer the Angel of Pride first rebelled against God and prevaricated the Command of the most High be assured that this was made corrupt bitter and harsh to him No less was the fall and prevarication of our first Parents Adam and Eve whom death and condemnation followed made to them corruption and bitterness and likewise to us in whom the same corruption is propagated Many more like examples I could recite if need were But setting aside these to come to what is proper to our discourse consider well that of all precious Fruits which grow out of the Earth their First Matter is bitter and harsh as still retaining some footstep of the former corruption and putrefaction which bitterness by the means of continual action of natural heat is with great virtue turned into sweetness Now therefore Son if thou wiâ—â— be ingenious this little will suffice whereby to find out much more and to perceive my meaning Consider therefore
similitude of God and to tell the plain truth which when thou hast tryed what is here set down thou wilt know it to be so was of the same Substance and Matter that the Angels were made of I mean the blessed Angels The Soul of man is an Angel and so was called the Son of God but for his Body and Spirit whence that came and what they are I will set down by and by that which concerneth that Man was the Son of the great World or Macrocosm and participateth of all the influences and virtues of the superiour and inferiour Worlds yea of all Creatures good and bad and that for this cause because he was made of that very Matter and Chaos whereof all the World was made and all the Creatures in it which is a most high Mystery to understand and must nay is altogether necessary to be known of him that expecteth good from this Art being the ground of the wisdom thereof Foolish men nay they that the World holds for great Doctors say and tell it for truth that God made Man of a piece of Mud or Clay or Dust of the Earth which is false it was no such Matter but a Quintessential Matter which is called Earth but is no Earth The Fall of Man depraved all things yea all the Creatures suffer'd in it and himself most of all for as soon as he had sinned himself and his Wife his Wife first both of them turned into Monsters in respect of what they were in their Innocency Adam had another Body before his Fall than what he had after and so far different that if we should behold Adam as he was in his Innocency we should admire the glory of him and tremble at the sight of him as at the sight of an Angel I say nothing of the Body of our blessed Saviour save only this such a Body as he brought from Heaven with him such a Body shall we arise with and with such Bodies shall our Souls be endowed with flesh and bloud otherwise men should not differ from Angels for this flesh and bloud is put upon us by the Holy Ghost that is by Regeneration nor doth this cross Sacred Writ if it were rightly understood I speak nothing likewise of our blessed Lady what Body she had but when thou shalt have examined what I shall set down then wilt thou find what I say is true and understand them in a plain manner but I forbear to speak of those Mysteries known to so few he that liveth according to the written Word of God shall be saved but he that liveth to be blessed with this Art shall glorifie his Creator and know him more than any man can do but before the end of the World all will be known But to my former purpose Man the Microcosm or little World from the Astres or Stars received Spirit from the great World his Body and from God immediately his Soul so here is an illucidation of the blessed Trinity of these three Man consisteth of these he is compounded thus he had his production from the World For what concerns his Body or Humane part let us now as fully as we may say something of the production of the great World out of nothing when there was neither time nor place did God create a certain Chaos invisible intangible which the Philosophers called Hyle or the most remote Matter out of this he made an Extract or second Matter or Chaos which the Philosophers know not by speculation but by sense that Matter was and is visible and tangible in which were and are all the Seeds and Forms of all the Creatures superiour and inferiour that ever were made from this God divided the four Elements in a word did make all things celestial and terrestrial the Angels Sun Moon and Stars The knowledge and practice of the Philosophers upon this Chaos brought them to the knowledge of all wisdom and from hence next God seek thou and find all wisdom This is not a fancy or conceit that I tell thee but what I know and have proved it is such a thing and substance as with the bare knowledge of it makes thee know the generation and preservation of all things and yet this Chaos is since the Fall likewise corrupted Thus briefly have I discoursed of such things as perhaps thou dost not believe or never heardst of before but if thou be'st ordained to know this Science I have trod the path for thee but I fear thou understandest me not yet have I said more than wisdom would I should but I know it shall be to his good only to whom God appoints it My intent is for certain reasons that I have not to prate too much of the Matter which yet is but only one thing already too plainly described nor of the Preparation by what means it is to be done which is the second and greatest Secret But I have constituted these lines for the good of him that shall make the Stone if it fall into the hands of such a one for to him it shall shew and set down in plain terms as plain as possibly my Pen can write to the very letter such Magical and Natural uses of it as many that have had it never knew nor heard of and such as when I beheld them made my knees to tremble and my heart to shake and I to stand amazed at the sight of them I do therefore charge thee whosoever thou be that shalt be blessed with the enjoyment of this Treatise that as thou wilt answer the contrary at the great day thou let no man see it but him that hath the Stone perfect for if thou shalt meet with such a one which is hard to do and that he hath brought it to the full perfection thou by imparting such Magical and Physical things and other rare Secrets which are here set down and by the Stone to be done he shall not only give thee Gold sufficient but also shall shew thee the true and right way and the Matter with all things belonging to it to make it full and perfect for let me assure thee I have known many that have had it that never knew more than the bare transmutation of Metals and by the Books of the Philosophers it appears that some of them nay more than that many of them have kill'd themselves by taking it for the want of the knowledge of the use of it Never doubt therefore but thou shalt obtain what thou wilt of him that hath iâ— by demonstrating the truth of what I here write therefore again and again I charge thee not to part with it nor to tell any man of it although none can make use of it but he that hath the Stone in the highest degree of perfection And I will now shew thee the several uses of it The first for Health and the manner how to use it the second is for Multiplication which cannot be done without a Master Thirdly the making of all manner
Vulgar well washed and when the Amalgama is made then let it be put into a little Boults-head with a neck one foot and a half long Afterwards â„ž three groste of our Argent vive formerly extracted and reserved from the Lunary Body and let it be put upon the Amalgama made of the Body and Argenâ— vive Vulgar let the Vessel be luted very well with the best lute and let it be dried when this is done stirring the Vessel exceeding well that the Amalgama may be well mingled and thus the Argent vive may be well mixed with the Body Afterwards put the Vessel in which the Matter is in a little Furnace to a little Fire of Coals and let its heat not exceed the heat of the Sun when Sol is in the Sign of Leo for another heat exceeding that would destroy the Matter and the one would fly from the other and let such a Fiâ—â— be continued until the Matter become black as Coals and thick as Pultis and let the Fire continue in this degree until the Matter be changed into a gray brown colour and when the gray appeareth increase the Fire in one point or degree and let this second degree continue until the Matter begin to become white to the most purest whiteness afterwards augment the Fire to the third degree continuing it until the Matter become whiter than Snow and be converted into pure Powder whiter than Ashes and then you have Calx vive or the quick Slime of the Philosophers and its Sulphury Mine which the Philosophers have so much hidden CHAP. IV. The Property of the said Calx or Slime THe said Calx converteth Mercury Vulgar into most white Powder infinitely which can be reduced into true Silver with some of the Bodies of Luna CHAP. V. Multiplication of the Calx â„ž THe Vessel with the Matter wherein put two ounces of Argent vive Vulgar well washed and dried afterwards lute the Vessel well and put it where it was before governing and administring to it the Fire of the first second and third degrees as before until the Matter be reduced into a most white Powder and so you may multiply to infinity CHAP. VI. The Reduction of this Calx viva into Luna WHen thou thus hast gotten a great quantity of our Calx viva or of our Mine take a Crucible not covered in which put one ounce of pure Lune and when it iâ— melted put thereupon four ounces of thy Powder in small Pills let thy Pills be the weight of the fourth part of an ounce let them be put upon the middle Luna by degrees always continuing the Fire strong until all the Pills be projected and melted together with the Lune and in the end make a strong Fire until it be incorporated afterward project it in an Ingot and thou shalt have five ounces of Silver more pure than the Natural and thus thou mayst multiply thy Philosophical Mine as thou pleasest CHAP. VII Of our great Work to the White and to the Red. REduce the Calx viva as is said before of Luna into Argent vive which is our Secret Take therefore four ounces of our Calx and reduce them into Argent vive as thou didst with Luna of which Argent vive thou mayst have at least three ounces put this in a little Boult-head with a long neck as thou didst before afterwards make Amalgama with one ounce of true Sol with three ounces of Argent vive Vulgar and put upon it Argent vive of Lune moving it strongly with thy hands that all may be mingled together afterward put the Vessel well luted as before in the Furnace making the Fire of the first second and third degree in the first degree thy Matter will become black like to a Coal which then is called the Eclipsis of Luna and Sol and there will be a true commixtion whereby is begotten the Sun and Sulphur which is full of temperate bloud after the appearing of his colour continue the Fire of the second degree until the Matter become gray then continue the third degree until the Matter appear most white afterwards augment the Fire to the fourth degree continuing so that the Matter may appear red as Cinnabar and the Ashes become red this Calx you may reduce into the finest Sol as is said before of Lune FINIS SECRETS DISCLOS'D One Friend to another as Bloomfield suppose The Philosophers Stone the Secrets doth disclose I Shall tell it to you openly Our Medicine is a Stone that is no Stone and it is one thing in kind and not divers things of whom all Metals be made and so it is no Salts nor Waters nor Oyl combustible nor mans Hair nor maâ—â— Bloud nor Iron nor Goats horns nor Herbs nor none such things that discord from Metals as many Fools devise But he is two things for he is Water and Earth not Water of Clouds nor of Corrosives nor Water of Salts but Water of the Sun and the Moon that burns our Earth more than any Fire And it is three things that is Body Spirit and Soul and it is four things Earth and Water and Air and Fire and therefore he is found in every place and in every time And he is also unstable in colour as a shame-fac'd Woman that changeth her colour for dread of her Love that reproveth her of untruth for now she is pale now green now red so our Stone is turned to all colours for he is black and white and pale and blew and green and red of this Matter our Medicine is made that we call Ixir and Elixir that is the Philosophers Stone Take this Stone and put him in a well-closed clear Vessel that thou mayst see his working and when thou hast Water of Air and Air of Fire and Fire of Earth then it is done for the Spirit is departed from the Body and leaveth the Body dead and black But if the Sepulchre be well closed he will come in again to the Body and make him rise again to life and then the Body and the Soul shall ever be together And therefore take a Red man and a White woman and wâ—â— them together and let them go to Chamber both and look that the door and the windows be fast sparr'd for else the Woman will be gone away from her Husband And if she lye with him right warm on Bed then beware that she go no where out for if she do he shall never overtake her if he were as swift as a Faulcon for if she may no where out she will come to him again and lye with him on Bed and then she shall conceive and bear a Son that shall worship all his Kin and then will she never after go away from her Husband For this Man and this Woman getteth our Stone But the Man must be fell and quaint to make her to abide with him with meekness and not with sturdiness for if he be boisterous to her in the beginning she will flee
adequate activity and passion for some of the Elements are therein either in an active or passive power and the rest are therein actually But in the Philosophers Stone which is Gold being it is an uniform Work of Nature all the four Elements active and passive are actually therein and permanent in an equal proportion For the Essence or Nature of Gold is nothing else but the four Elements equally mixed not that their form and matter may be said to be therein equal but their passive and active power that is they are each alike and equal not in quantity but in quality because that the active doth not exceed the passive in its acting nor on the other side the passive doth not exceed the active by suffering more because there is an equal proportion as to measure in our Gold or in our Medicine double hot double moist double cold double dry and all these are actually therein by actual action and passion that is Fire Air Water and Earth as we have said before And all these are said to be alike and equal in quality not quantity because they are equal in actives and passives and they are therefore durably permanent in Gold because the passive in it consists permanently in its active and on the other part the passive rises not up against the active And they ought not to be alike in quantity that is there ought not be so much matter of Fire as there is matter of Earth because then the Fire by reason of its quality would be everywhere of an unequal activity with its passive Earth and of a far greater Wherefore there is in Gold as to its matter but not as to its quality much more of the heavier and more passive Element than of the lighter and more active that â—s more in quantity there is in â—t a greater quantity of Earth than Water a greater quantity of Water than Air a greater of Air than Fire wherefore it is the heaviest of all Metals But in this â—nequal proportion of quantity there is an equal and like proportion of quality of hot dry moist and cold because each of these is in Gold as hath been said The cause of which weight is the permanency of the solidity of the Earth and Water and the solution of an homogeneous Water with the Earth because Water dissolves an homogeneous Earth Also their intrinsical thorow mixture in their very least particles is the cause of the weight because the Water as well in Gold as Quick-silver suffers not the Earth to have any â—res in it which is otherwise in other Metals in which pores are insensibly made in their congelation because of the dross mingled in those Metals all over rejected by the Mercurial nature and heterogeneous whereupon their lightness results which is nothing else but want of matter and porousness of the same as weight is nothing else but a solid addition of matter Wherefore if there were in an equal commensurative quantity so much of the solid matter of Fire as there is of the matter of Earth Fire would be as weighty as Earth But the cause of the weight of Saturn is its immature congelation because it dâ—â—â— not yet reject the dross of its parts whence pores are made in it but the pure and impure abide through mixt together in it everywhere as in the first crude Quick-silver in which the inspissation and coagulation is weak for that cause Saturn or Lead retains the weight of its Quick-silver not because of the purity of its solid matter but because of its immature coagulation or coction Wherefore if in this Work you would not destroy the Fire and Air you must preserve in a distinct and like proportion the heat of the Compound But if you would not destroy the Air and the Water then in the same Compound you must cherish the humid so in the same manner you may preserve the Water and Earth or the Earth and the Fire in the said Work by preserving rightly and by the artifice of the Philosophick skill both the cold and dry because if you destroy any one of them the proportionabâ—â— form and kind of Gold is lost For this cause the Philosophers say our Gold is made of every thing that is of every Element every Element being intrinsically preserved in it and actually compounding it wherefore all the Elements are intrinsically in act or power the principles of all compounded alterable things and for that cause are said to be all things Furthermore my Reverend Doctor for your credits sake you must understand the sayings of the Philosophers according to the possibility of Nature and not according to the sound of Words For they have handled this holy and hidden Art and its Secrets under Similitudes Fables Riddles and obscure words and have hid it purposely that it might not be exposed to the unlearned impious and unworthy Furthermore that I may go on to other Heads of your Epistle I understand the artifice of your Stone to be a composure from Gold but from your writing I cannot apprehend it because you set not down the first original of that Composition Therefore I shall not need to handle it more at large till you instruct me fully and more plainly in its Composition and Operation For I cannot neither believe that the Elixir or Philosophers Stone can consist of the signs appearing in it and of the properties of the nutritive vegetation of the flaming Fire which you attribute to it as I have openly shewed in what I have said already But when I received your Work and the gift of so great a Secret sent unto me I at once understood your unfeigned love and free confidence in me Wherefore for your Friendship sake I reserve your Stone with me and keep it as a most acceptable gift and shall write unto you more concerning it when you shall declare it to me more manifestly But whereas you say that in your Stone there are three a Body Spirit and Soul which is manifest to you by your experience and work the Philosophers when they said those three natural things were in their artificial Stone understood it by way of resemblance and experiment For they called the Earth its Body and Bones because it is an astringent Compound and restrains the fluid Elements from their raw flexibility having the Fire also with it symbolically by its driness But they called the Water and Air its Spirit because they are the Elements that moisten and dissolve the Earth But they called the Air and Fire the Soul because they ripen and digest the whole Compound And they named them thus with resemblance unto Humane nature because in a well-constituted Flesh there ought to be Bones to sustain the Body and likewise there ought to be in the Flesh a vivacity of vegetable Accidents which are called its Spirits contrary to the errors of the Pagan Philosophers who thought the vital Spirits to be something distinct from the Body compounded and parts compounding
it so also there must be in Humane Flesh an informing Soul digesting in man the brutal acts and to work in him the intellectual work But we must understand it otherwise in our Stone in which the Earth hath the name of the Body Air and Water obtain the name of Spirit neither is in it a Soul but because it contains the Air and Fire which I perceive well you do perfectly understand But the Philosophers divided them in this manner By a crude Spirit they extracted a digested Spirit out of the dissolved Body and they had remaining a fixed mass of Ashes to be farther dissolved in which they found an incombustible and stony oyliness and gumminess which they called the Soul which enlivens unites incerates and produces united Natures and in the Spirit they disjoyned the Natures so in the Oyl they re-conjoyned them For our Stoâ—â— hath not an informing nature as a Vegetative or a Sensitive but it hath only a formed form which form is the very Elements themselves because it is homogeneous But mans Body and that of other Sensitives is heterogeneous For Bones Flesh Bloud Marrow Hair and Nails are distinguished differently in it which is otherwise in Gold in which whatsoever there is is found to be of one kind Wherefore my Reverend Doctor the Philosophers speak this by way of similitude by reason of the administration of Art and operation of Nature not because there is a Soul in the Stone but metaphorically as you well know nor Spirit nor Body as an informing form as it is found in Man and other Sensitives Verily I tell you that Oyl which naturally incerates and unites Natures and naturally induces the Medicine into other Bodies that are to be tinged is not compounded of any other extraneous thing but out of the bowels of the Body that is to be dissolved which Oyl retains the colour of its Spirit always until it be rethickned and then first of all it puts on the Royal Ensigns that is a citrineness and Metalline form which it manifests to all in Gold a Golden in Silver a Silver colour and form which Oyl if it be Sol being dissolved is perceived to be red inwardly though outwardly it appear white under the form of liquid Quick-silver Now some think to compound an Oyl as generous and powerful as this Oyl is namely out of Mercury throughly dryed or out of the substance of Tin or Body of the Sun commixed with ingredients of divers kinds but for what concerns our Work their Experiment is fallacious They can indeed reduce the species of Metals into a kind of Oyl but they cannot at any hand reduce them into a Metallick kind observing and keeping the proportion of the things to be mixed sound and entire But that Oyl may be profitable for Medicine to sensitive Creatures because the nature of Gold is dissolved therein but yet impertinently and unprofitably as to our Philosophick Work Besides my Honoured Doctor that I may lightly touch on the remaining Heads of your Epistle you must diligently and wisely observe that Fire and Azor wash Laton But Azor is not raw Quick-silver simply extracted out of the Mine but it is that which is extracted by Quick-silver it self out of the dissolved Bodies which is found to be more ripe upon tryal Wherefore if Laton be an unclean Body it is depurated by such an Azor which you write that you have had formerly and by this Laton purified by Azor we make our Medicine for curing every sick person Indeed this Azor is made of the Elixir because Elixir is nothing else but a Body resolved into a Mercurial Water after whiâ—â— resolution Azor is extracted out of it that is an animated Spirit And it is called Elixir from E which is out of and Lixis which is Water because all things are made out of this Water and Elixir is the second part in the Philosophick Work as Rebis is the first in the same Work But the Tincture constitutes the third Work for as the matter of this Composition produces divers effects so it obtainâ— different names one after another Thence it manifestly appears that Azor is not requisite to the Elixir because in this Work the Elixir goes before Azor and not the contrary like as Water procedes the Oyl and the Spirit the Soul For Azor is drawn and extracted out of the Elixir as Oyl out of Water and not contrariwise as mention is made elsewhere For example sake as in the Art of Physick pure simple Fountain-water by boyling in the first concoction is joyned with theâ—â— Flesh of a Chicken and thence in the first degree of concoction we obtain a Broth a good and perfect decoction the humid watry and airy parts of the Chicken being actually dissolved in the aforesaid Water though there be other Elements therein also actually But that it may be made a much more perfect Medicine and more generous for restoring man's sick Body unto health the decocted Body of the Chick is beaten into a mash with the said Water already altered into a boyled Broth or with part of it and is distilled by a stronger decoction whence a Broth and decoction will be made much more noble and generous partaking of the whole nature of the Chicken Because by this second decoction not only the moist parts but the hot parts that is its aërial and fiery parts being melted into the Broth or decoction are throughly mingled and dissolved and therefore the whole virtue of the Chick is in such a decoction extrâ—cted into the aforesaid Liquor So it falls out in the Philosophick Work because the crude Mineral Spirit like Water is joyned with its Body to dissolve it in its first decoction whence it is called Rebis because it is compounded of two or a double thing to wit of the Masculine and Feminine Seed that is of the thing to be dissolved though it be one thing and matter whence the Verses Rebis is two things joyn'd yet it 's but one Dissolv'd to their first Seeds the Sun or Moon Now out of these two things dissolved together the Elixir is compounded that is a tinged Water whence the Verses Pure Bodies are of Lixis made by Art Hence Greeks Elixir term its second-part Out of this Elixir my Venerable Doctor as out of the first Broth or Bâ—llion of a simple decoction Azor is extracted to wit by a stronger and iterated distillation which Azor resembles and participates the nature of its Body from which it was extracted which is hot and retains its virtue in it self namely an Oylie nature which is hot and moist because it is actual Fire and Air though all the Elements are in it in Essence and by Composition Medicines therefore to cure the Bodies of Sensitives may be composed out of the said Metals by several artifices but they are not pertinent to the Philosophick Work as the Elixir is to Azor that is the vital Spirit and fugitive Soul are not diaphanous nor transparent as the
to be had and taken is a subject common and poor in outward appearance and therefore it is called a little thing and it is in every Mine yet is nearer in some things than in others and in a word in the Mineral Kingdom you must have it in the most excellent work of the Mineral Hierarchy therefore not Animals or Vegetals Know ye then although I deny not Raymonds Canons to be true that the lively Nature being constrained with the strength of Gold in the most subtle heat the Tincture may be made well easily and in a short time which will convert all Metals into perfect Gold but the way of the Philosophers in the Universal Work was out of the Mineral Kingdom leaving therefore Animals and Vegetals I will acquaint you with the Universal Subject Know that all Philosophers affirm that the Matter is but one thing and a vile thing which costeth nothing cast in High-ways and trodden upon which is the hope of Metals or a thing containing all things needful for the Work within it self and albeit curious Wits hold all these to be Aenigma's yet are they true according to the letter Briefly to manifest the truth you shall know that in all Mines whatsoever there doth lye certain Beds of a lutinous or clayish substance under the Earth which in some places is harder than in others the deeper the Mine is the more unctuous is the Clay and this Clay is the Mother of the Metals the feeder of the Mines for in it lies hid the Spirits or the three Principles of Metals viz Salt the Body Sulphur the Soul and Mercury the Spirit not common nor running but a white Vapour which resolves it self into a white Water I say invisibly in this confused lump of Clay lies hid the aforesaid Principles And this is the true Matter or Subject of the Philosophers and mark how that it agreeth with that I said before First that it is one thing which yet containeth three Secondly that it is a vile thing and yet is not so for it is a lump of Clay Thirdly that it is so vile and common that Workmen throw it out of their Mines and tread on it as a thing of no value I have seen High-ways paved with it in Hungary and it is no other in other Countries And is not this a Chaos or confused Matter is not this the hope of Metals be you judge I took my Matter in Hungary out of the Mines of Sol anâ— so I was taught because more decocted and riper or hotter Spiritâ— are there than in any other Mines Paracelsus out of it wrought his Elixir but the Philosophers generally took their Matter which is the same in shew and substance but not so ripe out of the Mines of Saturn and that is their Saturn so often mentioned in their Books not Ore of Saturn nor Mercury of Saturn but the Sperm where the Vegetable Spirits are not specificated to Lead but lye hid in the lutinous lump of Clay Now the difference between that which is taken out of the Mine of Sol and that which is had out of the Mine of Saturn is this in Sol the Matter is so prepared you shall have need but of one Putrefaction but in that taken out of the Mine of Saturn you must have three Putrefactions which indeed is the great and universal Work And thus I have fully and plainly revealed the Matter the Work is easie viz. The Practice TAke this lutinous Clay out of Sol or Saturn for the working in either the Preparation is alike I say take that which is â—rost clammy or unctuous and when you gather it keep it from the Air as close as you can in a Glass or Earthen Vessel for it will which I have admired in an instant indurate and hardenâ— But put it in a Glass Vessel and in that digest it being well stopped in B. M. or in a Blind Head which is better but let three parts of the Vessel be empty and let the heat of your Balneum be such as you may easily hold your hand in it Some Philosophers digested this a Philosophical month which is six weeks but then their Matter was not fresh for if it be fresh then sixteen or twenty days is sufficient After Digestion alter the head and distill and you shall have the Philosophers Oyl which being come your it on the Matter again and this till you have so much Vinegar as will swim four fingers over the Matter then let it stand twenty four hours and it will be tinged yellow pour that gently off and distill away your Vinegar till it come to a gummy substance then pour this Vinegar on the Matter again and it will be tinged yellow distill and reiterate this until your Vinegar be no more tinged yellow then hath it sucked out all the Spirits out of the Clay then from the yellow Liquor distill away all the Vinegar and you shall have a gummy substance like Saccarum Suturni digest this two days then distill away all the Flegm in Balneo then let it cool and put it in a Retort with a great Receiver well luted to it as can be put it into an Ash Furnace and distill it again and by degrees you shall have all your Receiver become as white as Milk which is crude Mercury of Philosophers or the Virgin Milk continue Distillation â—nd a bloud red Oyl shall ascend which is Sulphur of Philosophers incombustible and unctuous continue till no more will come over with so violent a heat for twelve hours that you do almost melt the Glass then let it cool and take off that Receiver and stop it up very close break the Retort and the Feces will be as black as Pitch and hard which grind small on a Marble then Reverberate it in an Earthen Calcining-pan close covered for three days but make not the Matter red-hot and lay it two fingers thick in the Pan then take it out and either with your Vinegar rectified from its Feces or with Rain-water distilled I have tried and found it being well Reverberated that it will take up the Salt but I held the Vinegar the best and most proper digest it therefore with Vinegar twenty hours then philter and distill it in B. M. till it be dry dissolve it again in that Vinegar but first rectifie it let it settle philter and distill and reiterate until the Salt be Crystalline and white then put it in a white glass Body pour thereon this red Oyl which is the Sulphur and also the white Water which is incorporated therewith lute on close and well a Blind Head and digest in Balneo three days and it will be all one thing or pap but then distill away all the humidity that will arise and then put it in an Egg-glass with a short neck nip it up without heating the Matter let the Egg be but a fourth part full This is the gross Conjunction and Preparation without adding any more than Natures proportion put the
three Elements And these last colours abide hiddenly and intrinsically and appear under the shew of a white Spirit in liquid Mercury until it be recondensed in the Powder which is in the Bodies because the Soul lies hid in the Spirit as in the condensation the Spirit and the Soul lie hid in the Powder or Body For there is a corruption in the things to be altered but no dissipation of parts unless some superfluous parts be to be rejected as unprofitable for generation whereupon the Artificer purifies his Work that digestion may succeed better This is manifest by example in Grain for of two grains of Wheat if the one be cast into good ground there it putrifies dies and loses its external form but nothing thereof is dissipated yea in its time it encreases into a multiplicity of Fruit and there is indeed made a corruption only of the form and not any dissipation of the matter But if the other grain be cast into the Fire then both matter and form are corrupted and the whole is dissipated and that corruption is unprofitable for generation Wherefore Water dissolves not Bodies but those only of its own kind and by which it may be condensed nor can Bodies be at all nourished to generation but by their like which can preserve the species destroyed by that transmuting Body through the artifice of the Work though Vegetables are nourished by things of different kinds yet before they nourish them they are assimilated the dissolution of them being first made according to the proportion of the things which suck and draw them to them It must be noted therefore that the Solution of Metals may be made by different ways one which Fools know as is abovesaid with Foreign things which abide not with the dissolved Metals which is rather to be called a corrosive destruction and defilement of the Compound The second Solution is made by the power and force of Fire which is no true Solution but a melting rather of the colligated Elementary parts for the outward heat of the Fire in dissolving the Compound finds out its intrinsical natural or native Fire within which internal and proportional Fire dwells in the Air therefore it dissolves the Air it self But that dissolved Air resides and dwells in the Water and the Water in the Earth and the Water it self dissolves the Earth so that it melts both the active and passive but this melting is no true Solution yea it is a dissipation because the Elements there being homogeneous to one another and proportionably fixed by digestion are mixt and one of them educed out of the power of another generally And therefore this falls out even in pure Bodies in which the Elemental natures are fixed Wherefore in them the flame of Fire causeth melting and dissolves that whole Body to fluidity and not to a separation because Fire cannot flow unless the Air consubstantial to it flow neither doth the Aâ— flow unless the Water be dissolved nor doth the Water flow unless the Earth flow and contrariwise as the Earth is dissolved by the Water so on the contrary side the Water retaineth the Air and congealeth it and in the same manner ascending upwards the Air retaineth the Fire in Congelation because the more fixt and fixing Elements cause fixation by acting together on one another as Earth and Water and in a contrary manner Fire and Air act together each on other unto Solution But this Solution is called a melting of the Compound and not properly a Solution of it because the parts separable from one another in the generation of the Compound are not dissolved as is done in the third and truly Philosophick Solution when the Compound is dissolved in the manner aforesaid and yet the parts abide unseparated though separable so that the virtue of the most digested Elements may be extracted from things to be dissolved by the dissolver that is Quick-silver and the grosser parts in such a dissolution acquire some latitude of subtilty because the Body is turned into Spirit and contrariwise the Spirit into Body fixed things are turned into volatiles and volatiles to fixed For this Solution is possible and natural that is by Art of Nature subserving thereto and this is sole and necessary Solution in the Work of the Philosophers which can be done by no other thing than Quick-silver only with a prudent proportion so as a good Artificer knowing from within the natures and proportions ought to make the proportion from his first entrance upon the Work For these two Sir are sufficient for this Work and nothing else enters it nor generates and multiplies as we have said Besides you say that Gold as most think is nothing else than Quick-silver coagulated naturally by the force of Sulphur yet so that nothing oâ— the Sulphur which generated the Gold doth remain in the substance of the Gold as in an humane Embryo when it is conceived in the Womb there remains nothing of the Father's Seed according to Aristotle's opinion but the Seed of the Man doth only coagulate the menstrual blood of the Woman in the same manner you say that after Quick-silver is so coagulated the form of Gold is perfected in it by virtue of the Heavenly Bodies and especially of the Sun But by your good leave and with respect I must tell you we must not think so For being we are Philosophically perswaded that Gold is nothing but Mercury anatized that is equally digested in the bowels of a Mineral Earth and the Philosophers have signified that this very thing is done by the contact of Sulphur coagulating the Mercury and by reason of its operation that is from Mercury being digested and thickned by a proportionate heat Wherefore we must know that Gold is Sulphur and Mercury together that is the coagulant and the coagulated in one and nothing added from without thereto but only a pure digestion or maturation which multiplies qualities and excites one Element from another out of their pure possibility into act no other thing whatsoever being superadded But this digestion or matutarion is produced actively from the superiour Elements that is the Fire and Air which are not actually but potentially in Mercury which yet being excited and assisted by an external heat and by the proper and natural digesting heat the passive Elements in Mercury are by them subtilized being not only potentially existent but actually towards Water it self and the Water is subtilized towards Air and Air follows to Fire and in this proportionable action of Nature and digestion of Mercury the Male and Femalâ— abide together in closed Natures the Female truly as it were Earth and Water the Male as Air and Fire which Earth and Water the Philosophers do mingle in Gold but called the Air and Fire a Sulphur as it were therein neither is there any other Foreign addition in the bowels of the Earth And therefore in Art above ground neither is there found and Foreign addition to digest or
clear tear from the Eye nor every dissolving Spirit though they be each of higher Natures than another according to their degrees as the Soul is higher than the crude Spirit being they are not of one form For as the Soul lies hid under the species of a dissolved Spirit before its re-inspissation for the Soul being extracted out of the Body always appeareth like Quick-silver so after its inspislation the Soul and Body lie hid under the species of a Body Your Worship hath seen an Experiment thereof in the Powder sometime sent to that King whose Physician you are in which Experiment Quick-silver was found in the species of Quick-silver but if that which remained in the bottom had been coagulated it would certainly have assumed the same form of Powder But that Powder must be called a Tincture nominally only not that it is a Medicine for Metals for it is not yet perfectly fixt yet as a Medicine for Men it is of very good force But the fixt Medicine without all doubt exceeds this humane Medicine in all virtues both as to Metals and to Men which cannot come to pass in a clear diaphanous and transparent Liquor Because if the aforesaid Elixir and Azor that is Spirit and Soul did appear in and had a transparency now the Earth as to its proportion had left the Water and had been separated from it which had thickned and coagulated its parts causing an opacity in the Elixir and Azor and making a congealable Metallick form to consist For in the condensing of fixed Metallick species the condenser must act upon the condensable and the coagulating upon the coagulable which cannot be in the aforesaid diaphanous and clear Water But it happens otherwise in Vegetables in which a simple and diaphanous Water is thickned by decoction into the Vegetables themselves which yet by the Test of the Fire doth at length vanish and evaporate because it is not permanent and fixed in its composition because it had not with it an Earth naturally homogeneal to it in its composition as Quick-silver hath which Earth indeed is the cause of permanent fixation in homogeneous things wherefore simple Water cannot by coagulation be so fixed with Vegetables as Mercury with Metals If therefore Mercury should be reduced to a transparency in the Work of the Philosophers it would by good reason remain of an uncoagulable substance nor would it be congealed upon Laton to a Metallick form species and proportion which carries not with nor in it self its own congelation namely Water the Earth which Earth as was said is Mercurial and the first cause of Inspissation Coagulation and Fixation If then this Water abide destitute of Metallick proportion how should it be possible that such like species should be produced from this Composition They also erre who think to extract a limpid transparent Water out of Mercury and out of it to work many wonderful things For be it so that they can perfect such a Water that Work would conduce nothing either to Nature or proportion nor could it restore or build up any perfect kind of Metal For so soon as Mercury is throughly changed from his first Nature so soon he is forbidden entrance into our Philosophick Work because he hath lost his Spermatick and Metallick Nature From these things it is manifest what truth there is in your opinion and in what it is contrary and improper when you say there must be had as I think to perfect the highest Elixir a Gum in which are all things necessary thereunto and containing the four Elements and it is a most clear Water as a tear from the Eye made Spiritual c. which make Gold to be a mere Spirit For a Body penetrates not a Body but a subtle congealed Spiritual substance which penetrates and colours a Body Let it be so as you say my Venerable Doctor that Natures are not joyned but in a Gum or Oylie substance and equal proportioned having a Spiritual Nature the Elements being yet fixedly shut up in it unâ—o which Gumminess the whole Philosophers Stone is at last reduced by Inceration under a gentle flux after the manner of an Inceration resembling all the Elements standing like Copper and in the nature of Copper existing also in a subtle Spiritual Nature penetrating and colouring Metallick Bodies For this Stone in the sublimation of the first crude Body hath not lost its kind namely of the same Spirit neither yet in the perfect and great Gum doth it lose its first Nature Therefore Gum and Oyl belong not otherwise unto this Work but as Elements equally proportioned shut up together resolvable united in the Oylie viscosity of the Earth retained buried inseparably mixt For this Gum or Oyl first is extracted out of the Body drawn into an incinerated Spirit till the superfluous humidity of the Water be turned into Air and one Element be excited from another Element by digestion and what was of an Aqueous form become of an Oylie nature and so the whole Stone at last assumes the name of Gum and Sulphur For Geber teacheth this when he saith as you have written in your Epistle If any person know to joyn and friendly unite our Sulphur unto Bodies he hath found one of the greatest Secrets and one way of perfection as if he should say If any man can reduce a Body to this that it may be made a Gum which may be throughly mingled with other imperfect Bodies he hath found the greatest Secret of Nature c. because this perfect Stone is a Gum and a Sulphur as is known by what we have already said But you must know that Geber with highest prudence and wonderful artifice hides the truth under a Veil intermingling with it many obscurities and falsities which those who are ignorant at first appearance imagine to be truth yet he speaking like a Philosopher secretly under this craft doth openly learnedly and Philosophically describe the truth wherefore the unexperienced and Sophisters not understanding his mind and wit nor the nature of the thing do perversly turn aside to the vulgar exposition and sound of the words For he saith If thou knowest that we have said something to thee but if thou knowest not we have said nothing to thee Wherefore in reading Philosophick Books consider especially the possibility of Nature notwithstanding some Writers of this Art have also sometimes erred and have happened sometimes to have handled it as to the natural truth either ill or ambiguously As it may be observed that Arnoldus de Villa Nova hath said in a Book which he called his Rosary that raw Mercury that is Quick-silver which in its own nature is cold and moist by Sublimation may be made hot and dry afterwards being revived it becomes hot and moist like the complexion of Man You will say then what wonder is it if it be joyned with the Sun that it likewise becomes of the nature of the Sun For Mercury is of a convertible nature as the Heavenly
fundamentalis Medicus esse non potest In his Kingdom is a Glass in which all the World is seen out of this those that know the virtue of Herbs and all things make the best Physiciaâ—s and indeed if the Doctor be not such as to understand perfectly why this Herb is such and such why in this and this degree cold or hot moist or dry he is no Doctor Not out of the Libraries of Galen or Avicenna but out of the fountain of Nature the fundamental Physician is to be established As for this Hydropyrographum Herâ—meticum which I have stript of the German and put into an Englisâ— dress I know that some will finâ— fault with it for finding no Prâ—â—cess in it others will be offendeâ— at the simpleness and homelineâ— of its garb others because â— speaketh not quite out and dotâ— not betray the Mystery to everâ— capacity But let them weigh a that hath been said in this Addreâ— to the Reader and I am confideâ—â— all these fumes will vanish to noâ—thing So Farewell Hydropyrographum Hermeticum DEar Son to point out unto thee succinctly a Memorandum as it were concerning the understanding of the true and genuine Stone of the Philosophers and the manner of proceeding in its preparation I give thee this information that the said Stone is compounded and engendred of two things viz. Body and Spirit or of Masculine and Feminine Seed that is of the Water of Mercury and of the Body of Sol whereof we find sufficient proofs and attestations in all true Writings of the Philosophers and therefore I count it needless to enlarge my self by quoting of them The upshot of all therefore is that first of all Mercury be dissolved and reduced into a spiritual Water which is termed by the Philosophers the first Matter of Metals the juice of Lune Aqua Vitae Quintessence a fiery ardent Water or Brandy by which Water or prime Matter Metals are unlock'd or untyed and freed from their hard and stiff bonds and reduced into their first and uniform nature such as the Water of Mercury it self is Upon this account the Philosophers presented unto us in their Books the example of Ice or frozen Water which by heat is reduced into Water because before its coagulation it hath been Water Also telling us that by the very same principles from which each thing hath its rise it may be reduced oâ— brought back to what it was in the beginning And thence they inferr that it is impossible to transmute Metals into Gold or Silver without reducing them first into their prima materia Concerning therefore the bringing about this Regeneration of Metals thou must diligently heed and observe my beloved Son that the same is to be performed only by the means of the prime Matter of Metals that is the Water of Mercury and by nothing besides in the whole World For this Water is next of Kin unto the Metallick nature in so much that after their mutual and uniform commixture they can never be any more parted asunder This the Philosophers in the Turba and other Books signifie unto us saying Nature rejoyceth in its Nature Nature sustaineth Nature â—t amendeth Nature it reduceth Nature Nature overcometh Nature Consequently it is necessary to know this blessed Water and its preparation which Water is a hot fiery piercing Spirit the Philosophical Water and the hidden Key of this Art For without this all the labour and work of Alchymy is fruitless and frustraneous Observe therefore my Son and mark that all the ground-work of the Philosophers Stone consisteth in this that by means of the prima materia metallorum that is with thâ— Water of Mercury we reduce and bring back the perfect body of Sâ— to a new birth that it be borâ— again by Water and Spirit according to our Saviour's Doctrine Except a man be born again of Wâ—â—ter and of the Spirit he cannot sâ— the Kingdom of God So likewise iâ— this Art I tell thee my Son uâ—â—less the Body of Sol be sowed in iâ— proper soyl your labour is in vaâ— and it produceth no fruit as Christ our Saviour saith Unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and dye and rot it bringeth no fruit So when the Body of Sol is regenerated by Water and Spirit there groweth and cometh forth a clarified astral eternal immortal Body bringing forth much fruit and able to multiply it self like unto Vegetables And to this purpose the Philosopher Roger Bacon speaketh I do assure you that if the Astrum do cast and impress its inclination into such a clarified Body of Gold that it will not lose its power and virtue to the very last assay or judgment For the Body is perfect and agreeing to all Elements But if it be not regenerated no new nor greater nor purer nor higher nor better thing can come of it He that doth not know nor understand this Regeneration of Metals wrought in nature by the Water and Spirit of the prima materia ought not to meddle at all with this Art For in truth without this all is but falsities lyes unprofitable and to no purpose yea it is impossible to effect it otherways Hence is that excellent saying of the Philosophers That every thing bringeth forth its like and what a man soweth the same he shall also reap and no other And to the same purpose the Philosopher Richardus Anglicus saith Sow Gold and Silver that by the means of Nature they may bring Fruit. Consequently my Son thou oughtest to choose no other Body for thy Work but Gold because that all other Bodies are rank and imperfect And therefore also the Philosophers made choice of Gold before all other Bodies because it is of all things in the World the most perfect illuminating all other Bodies and infusing life into them anâ— because it is of a fixated incombustible nature of a constant or abiding root and Fire proof also because as Roger Bacon saith the corporal Gold as to its nobility and perfection cannot be changed and is the utmost bound and term of all Natural generation and there is no perfecter thing in the whole World The like teacheth also the Philosopher Isaacus Hollandus saying Our Stone cannot be extracted from any other but a perfect Body yea the most perfect in the World And if it were not a perfect Body what Stone could be extracted thence in regard that it must have power to quicken all dead Bodies to purifie the unclean to mollifie those that are hard and harden those that are soft And in truth it would be impossible to extract so powerful a Stone out of an imperfect and crasie Body for a good perfect thing is not to be got from that which is imperfect and unclean and although many do fancy that such an extraction may be brought to pass yet they erre grosly and are very unwise Therefore my Son observe that the
red Philosophical Sulphur is in the Gold as Richardus testifieth and King Calid saith Our Sulphur is no common Sulphur but is of a Mercurial nature fixated and not flying from the Fire The same all other Philosophers also do witness that their red Sulphur is Gold It is true my Son that the Philosophers do say in their Books that the common Gold or Silver is none oâ— their Gold or Silver iâ— regard that their Gold and Silver is quick oâ— living but the commoâ— are dead and thereforâ— not capable to brinâ— imperfect Bodies to perfection noâ— to communicate unto them thâ— least of their perfection For iâ— they should bestow some of their perfection upon others they themselves would be then imperfect in regard they have no more perfection than what is needful for themselves These words of the Philosophers my Son are true and spoken upon very good ground for it is impossible for common Gold and Silver to perfect other Bodies that are imperfect unless as before taught that the Body of Sol and Lune be born anew or regenerated by the Water and Spirit of the prima materia and thereby a glorious spiritual clarified eternal fixated subtle penetrant Body do grow forth which afterwards hath power to perfect other Bodies which are imperfect And therefore the Philosophers also said presently after that those labours are to this end undertaken about their Stone that its tincture may be advanced and exalted for it is requisite that the Stone be digested and carried on to a far greater degree of subtlety and excellency than the common Gold and Silver possesseth To this purpose the Philosopher Bernhard speaketh in his Book in the words following Though we take this Body just as Nature hath produced it for all that it is necessary that by Art which in this point must imitate Nature the same be highly exalted in its perfection to the end that by the means of that superlative accomplishment and its superabundant rayes it may be able to perfect and compleat the imperfect Bodies as to weight colour substance yea as to their Mineral root and principles But if it should have remained in that degree wherein Nature left it viz. in its simple perfection and not rendred more perfect or exalted what should the time of nine months and a half we spend about it serve for Arnoldus in his Epistle speaketh home saying Gold and Silver is in our Stone potentially and virtually after a powerful invisible and natural way for if it were not so no Gold nor Silver could come of it but the Gold and Silver existing in our Stone is better than the common because it is living but the common is dead And for this very reason the Philosophers called it their Gold and their Silver because it is powerful in their Stone active in its essence but not visible common Gold and Silver which is also confirmed by Euclides in the great Rosary saying Nothing cometh of a perfect thing in regard it is already perfect and compleat being so made by Nature Whereof we have an example in Bread which being fermented and baked is perfect in its degree or being having attained to its intended end so that it can be brought to no further fermentation to make other Bread of it The case is the same with the Gold which through length of time hath been deduced by Nature to a fixated and perfect condition and so consequently it is impossible by the means of the simple Gold to perfect other Bodies unless the perfect Body be first dissolved and reduced to its first Matter which done it is introverted by our labour and Art and reduced into a true ferment and tincture Moreover the Philosophers do say that there is no coming to a good end until Gold and Silver be joyned together in one Body Here my Son thou must understand Lune metaphorically and not according to the letter because the Philosophers say in their Writings that Lune is of a cold and moist nature which description they attribute also unto Mercury and therefore by Lune is understood Mercury or the prime Matter which is the Philosophers Lune or juice of Lune as is made plain by that excellent and deeply-fathoming piece the Clangor buccinae And thus my Son thou art instructed briefly that no profit is to be got by this Art unless the perfect Bodies by means of the Philosophers Fire or Water of Mercury be reduced into their primum Ens which is a Sulphureous Water and not Mercury vive as the Sophisters suppose For the first matter of Metals is not Mercury vive but a clammy Sulphureous Vapour and a viscous Water wherein the three principles viz. Salt Sulphur and Mercury are coexistent Consequently it is necessary to know the true blessed Water of Mercury or the Heavenly supernatural Fire whereby the Bodies are dissolved and melted like Ice For the knowledge of this is the greatest secret of all and is wholly and only in the power of God and is not to be obtained otherways but by fâ—rvent prayer unto him Concerning this the Philosopher Rogerius saith God hath created Man and placed him over Nature and all Creatures though himself be natural and nothing else but Nature except the Breath which God breathed into him The very same is to be thâ— judge of the Works and their nature This divine Spirit representeth unto the senses and thoughts in a true Vision as it were the first principles of Nature especially since the natural inbred Spirit discovereth some such grounds whereupon he may surely relye and in this Work and earnestness of the Spirit which is of the natural Creation the divine Adam representeth in us the dissolution of the whole World And St. Peter by the kindled and burning fiery Spirit of the inbreathed Breath of God declareth the same very clearly saying That the Elementâ— shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the Works that are therein shall be burnt up and that there will be a new World very glorious excellent and good as in Apocalypsi is described And hereupon the Philosopher concludeth according to what hath been alledged out of St. Peter that there shall happen a destruction of the Elementary World by Fire Observe in this Art that the Fire must perform the like in its type in Nature Therefore my Son set thy thoughts upon this Water wherewith the Body of Sol which as Rogerius witnesseth is a perfect created World is burnt up and destroyed and dissolved that it is not a common Fire in regard the common is not able to burn or destroy the Gold but it is a supernatural incombustible Fire the strongest of all Fires yea a Hellish Fire which only hath power to burn the Gold and to set the same free from its stiff and hard bonds This supernatural Fire which hà th such a power over the Gold and other Metallick Bodies is nothing else but
the spiritual sulphureous fiery Water of Mercury wherein the Body of Sol is dissolved and burnt up and of this dissolved and destroyed Body a new World likewise is created and born and the Heavenly Jerusalem that is an eternal clarified subtle penetrant fixated Body which is able to penetrate and perfect all other Bodies Hence Rogerius saith As that is to be a supernatural Fire which is to break and melt into one another the Elements of the whole World and as out of the broken corruptible Work of the dissolved Elements a new Work will be born which will be an everlasting Work even so the Holy Trinity hath shewed and signified unto us likewise a supernatural Fire in the Heavenly Stone This supernatural Fire my Son the Philosophers have hidden in their Books in parabolical expressions naming the same by innumerable names and especially they term it Balneum Mariae a moist Horse-dung Menstruum Urine Milk Bloud Aqua vitae and the like Of this Fire saith Bernhardus make a vaporous Fire continual digesting not violent subtle airy clear close incombustible penetrant and vital and thereupon he speaketh further Truly I have told thee all the manner and circumstances of the Fire which only performeth all and therefore he bids the Reader to consider well and often the words he said concerning the Fire Consequently he that is wise will easily perceive thence that those words are not to be understood of a common but of a supernatural Fire which also Mary the Prophetess doth hint saying that the Element of Water doth dissolve the Bodies and make them white And concerning this Fire which he calleth Menstruum and its preparation Raymund Lullie speaketh in his Testamentum novissimum in Codice in Animâ Metallorum Luce Mercuriorum Librâ— Mercuriorum de secretis Naturae de Quintâ Essentiâ in Elucidario Testamenti c. 4. saying that it is not Humane but Angelical to reveal this Celestial Fire and that it is the greatest secret of all how to attain to the knowledge of it And moreover he saith in figurative expressions that this Fire is composed of Horse-dung and Calx vive But what is prefigured by Calx vive I will expound in another place And what is signified by Horse-dung I mentioned before viz. that by Horse-dung is meant the Water of the prima materia for it is warm and moist like Horse-dung but it is no common Horse-dung as many ignorant persons do suppose and understand Hence saith the Philosopher Alanus the Philosophers called the moist Fire Horse-dung in which moisture is kept the occult heat because it is the property of the Fire existing in the Horse belly not to destroy Gold but by reason of its moisture to increase it To the like purpose speaketh Alchidonius Our Medicine must be hidden in moist Horse-dung which is the Philosophers Fire And Alanus Dear Son be careful in the work of Putrefaction or Destruction which is to be performed in a gentle heat that is in moist Horse-dung Arnoldus de Villâ novâ in the 9th chap. saith that the heat of Horse-dung is their Fire So likewise Alphidius it is digested and buried in the heat of Horse-dung And Aristotle the Earth or Body will enjoy no virtue unless it be sublimed by the means of Horse-dung And therefore saith Hermes roast and cook it in the heat of Horse-dung And Morienus if thou do not find in Horse-dung what thou lookest for thou hadst best to save thy charges With these agreeth Arnoldus saying Let none seek for any other Fire besides this for it is the Fire of the Wise the melting Furnace of the Wise and their Furnace for calcining subliming reverberating dissolving and performing of Coagulation and Fixation for this Water dissolveth all Metals and calcineth them and melteth it self together with them both into red and white In like manner also the Turba and Senior speaketh Our Water is a Fire and our Water is stronger than any Fire for it reduceth the Body of Gold into a meer Spirit which the natural Fire is not able to do though the natural Fire must likewise be had For then our Water enters into the natural Bodies and changeth it self into the primigenial Water and afterwards into Earth or Powder which doth more forcibly burn the Gold than the natural Fire and accordingly Calid saith â—t is truly a Fire which burneth and grindeth all things But the manner of preparing this Philosophick Water or Fire that is the Aqua Mercurii the Philosophers have concealed however Raymund Lullie of all hath written best of it though in dark expressions Accordingly first of all it will be requisite to purge Mercury from its extraneous humidity and terrene terrestriety yet so as not by means of corruptible things for by such its noble fruitful viridescent and generating Nature would be marred Avicen Arnoldus Geber Raymundus in Codicillo and other Philosophers besides say that Mercury is best cleansed by subliming it from common Salt which done the sublimate to be thrown into warm Water which will dissolve and sever the Spirit of Salt from it afterwards the sublimate being dryed and mixed with Salt of Tartar and forced through a Retort it will revive again and this to be done divers times and by this proceeding Mercury will be freed somewhat from its extraneous moisture and feculency and Bernhardus towards the end of his Epistle saith that this purgation doth not hurt Mercury in regard that the hot Water and Salt do not penetrate into its substance But it is to be noted here my Son that in regard that Mercury is of an uniform indivisible substance it cannot be truly and perfectly cleansed by such an extraneous means especially because its terrestrial impurity lies hid in its inmost center which by no Sublimation is to be sâ—vered thence as many ignorant men though in vain attempt And therefore other means must be used to free Mercury vive from those bonds wherewith Nature hath tyed him uniformly in the bowels of the Earth and to reduce him into its primum Ens which is a Sulphureous spiritual Water which must be done without addition of any heterogeneous thing as Rogerius Bacon under the title of Mercury testifieth and Raymundus in the Theoricâ of his Testament saith that if it be not putrefied and opened after the foresaid manner the Menstruum will not be worth a Fig. But when the quick Mercury without any extraneous thing is set free from its bonds and dissolved into the primogeneal Water then and but then we are capable to cleanse his inside and by distillation to sever the Spirit from the Water and terrene terrestriety concerning which Separation the Philosophers have writ in an occult stile such as no conceited person will easily apprehend but especially they described it figuratively in the distillation of Wine For in the distillation of Wine appeareth evidently that the Spirit of
Wine is mixed with a great deal of Water and terrene terrestriety but by means of an artificial distillation the dry Spirit of Wine may be severed from all the phlegmatick humidity and terrene terrestriety in so much that all the Spirit is severed from the Water existent in Wine and the Water from the Earth and then remain the Lees out of which a white Salt is extracted and joyned again with the Spirit and then the Spirit is distilled and cohobated divers times until all the Salt be gone over with it whereby the Spirit is hugely fortified and acuated And in truth this is a notable typical description represented unto us by the Philosophers which in the preparation of the Water of Mercury we ought to imitate for after its dissolution we ought in like manner as hath been taught of the Wine by Sublimation sever the Water or Phlegm from the Spirit and the Spirit from the Earth and to rectifie the Earth and joyn and distill it together with the Spirit untill all together come over the Helm Of which preparation of this Water none of all the Philosophers hath written more clearly nor better than Raymund Lullie viz. in Testamento novissimo as also in the first Testament in libro Mercuriorum libro Q. Essentiae c. where he doth plainly enough declare that after the Putrefaction Separation Distillation of the Philosophical Spirit of Wine the Spiritual Water is to be mixed again and distilled with its own Earth that it come over with it he declareth also how this Philosophical Wine or Menstruum is fortified and acuated with its own Salt And further it is to be noted that this Water Menstruum or Philosophical Spirit of Wine being thus prepared doth dissolve or open its own Body or Mercury vive into the primum Ens or primogenial Water whereby it is multiplied without end by means of Putrefaction and Distillation But what is said of the Extraction of this Water is confirmed by Arnoldus de Villâ novâ saying It is a substance full of Vapours which containeth in it self a fat humidity whereof the Artist severeth the Philosophers humidity such as is fit for the Work and is as clear as the tears of eyes wherein dwelleth the Quintessence in a Metallick Nature very proper for the Metals and therein is the Tincture to bring forth an intire Metal for it containeth the nature both of Argent vive and also of Sulphur Rosarius Philosophorum saith concerning the distillation of this Menstruum or Water that great industry and care must be had and that the Vessels to be used for the cleansing of this Spirit must be of Glass and exactly closed to the end that the Spirit may find no vent nor place to fly through it being very forward to make its way through any hole it findeth And if the red Spirit should be gone the Artist will lose his labour the Philosophers call the red Spirit Bloud and Menstruum therefore be very careful to have good Vessels and to have the joynts well luted that you may get the dry Spirit with its Bloud into the Receiver by it self without evaporation of its Virtue and keep it until thou have occasion to work with it But concerning this distillation the ocular inspection goeth beyond writing and none can be a Master before he have been a Scholar or Apprentice Be provident therefore and discreet in thy Work lay on a Receiver and first distill by a gentle Fire the Element of Water which being over put it aside and lay on another Receiver and close the joynts exactly that the Spirit may not vapour away increase the Fire a little and there will rise in the Helm a dry yellow Spirit Continue the same degree of Fire so long as the Spirit cometh yellow But when the Alembick beginneth to be red then increase the Fire very gently and keep it going on thus until the red Spirit and Bloud be quite come over which in its ascending and going through the Helm will appear in the form of Clouds in the Air And so soon as the red Spirit is distilled over the Helm will be white and then cease quickly and thus you have in the Receiver the two Elements of Air and Fire having extracted the true dry Spirit and severed the pure from the impure Loe now you have the prima materia Metallorum wherein the Bodies are reduced For all the Metals have their rise from Water which is a â—oot of all Metals And therefore they are reduced into Water like as the frozen Ice by heat is reduced into Water because it hath been Water before Do not marvel at it for all things upon Earth have their root and rise from Water O how many there are that work and never think upon the root which is the Key to the whole Work it dissolveth the Bodies readily it is Father and Mother it openeth and shutteth and reduceth Metals into what they have been in the beginning It dissolveth the Bodies and coagulateth it self together with them the Spirit is carried upon the Water that is the Power of the Spirit is seen there operating which is done when the Body is put into the Water Whereupon the Philosopher saith Look upon that despicable thing whereby our Secret is opened For it is a thing which all know well and he that knoweth it not will hardly or never find it the wise man keepeth it and the fool throws it away and the reduction is easie to him that knows it But my Son it is the greatest secret to free this Stone or Mercury vive from its natural bonds wherewith he is tyed by Nature that is to dissolve and reduce it into its primigenial Water for without this be done all will prove but labour lost for else we should not be able to sever and extract the true Spirit or Watry substance which dissolveth the Bodies And this Solution hath been concealed by all the Philosophers who left it unto God Almighty's disposing anathematizing that man that should openly reveal it And therefore they spake very subtilly and concisely concerning the solution of this crude Body to the end that it may remain occult unto the unwise But my Son thou art to take notice that the solution of Mercury vive will hardly be performed without a means but none such are to be used as are Sophistical as many rude unwise and ignorant fools use to do who by strange extravagant ways reduce Mercury into Water supposing that to be the right Water They sublime Mercury with Corrosives with all sorts of Salts and Vitriols from which the sublimed Mercury attracteth the Salty Spirits and then afterwards they dissolve the sublimate into Water in Balneo or in the Cellar or divers other ways Item they reduce it into Water by Salt-Armoniack by Herbs Sope Aquafort by means of strange kinds of Vessels and many the like Sophistical proceedings all which are but
of precious Stones artificially better than the Natural Fourthly to turn all Metals into running Quick-silver Fifthly several Magical Operations of several kinds which are past belief till thou seest them and which indeed are above all the rest And here I promise that I will in such plain words set down what I have intended that thou canst not in doing err or do amiss provided thou have the Stone both red and white although there be more works out of it than I dare set down and indeed Angelical wisdom is attained by it But I proceed For Health the use of it thuâ— IN the use of this Medicine many great Philosophers themselves after they had obtained this wonderful blessing desiring to have perfect Health have been so bold as to take a certain quantity of it some no more than a quarter of a grain some less some more but all that did so with it instead of Health took Death it self for there is no small skill to use it for Medicine though every fool think if he had it he could cure all diseases and himself too and set the Elements at unity which few men have known neither is there but one way to it with safety if this be not known more hurt than good may be received by it For the method of Health it is thus Take the quantity of four grains I do not mean the grains of Wheat or Barley grains or corns but four grains of Gold weight and dissolve them in a pint of White or Rhenish Wine but in no hot Wine as Sack c put it into a great clean Glass and instantly it will colour all the Wine almost as red as it self was which is the highest red in the World let it stand so close covered from dust four days for in respect it is an Oylie substance it will not presently dissolve in Wine then add to this a pint more by degrees until it be not so red stirring it with a clean stick of Wood not of Metal nor Glass and so continue the pouring on of fresh Wine until it be just of the colour of Gold which is a shining yellow Beware there be no redness in it for so long as there is any redness in it it is not sufficiently dilated but will fire the Body and exhaust the Spirits neither is it sufficiently brought to yellow until the Wine have round about the sides a ring like Hair of a whitish film which will shew it self plain when well dissolved if it stand but four hours quiet As soon as you see that whitish film then let it run through a clean linen Cloth or Paper so the white film will stay behind and look like a Pearl on the Paper and all the rest will be yellow like Gold This is the token of truth that you cannot wrong your self by this Liquor and without this token it will be either too weak or so strong that it will fire the Body Know this to be a rare Secret Of this Golden Water let the party of what disease soever he be sick of take each morning a good large spoonful and it shall expel the disease whatsoever it be by a gentle sweat for it purgeth not nor vomiteth nor sweateth so much as to make faint but to corroborate I say it strengthens the party and if the disease be of many years continuance or a Chronical disease it will then be perhaps twelve days otherwise but twenty four hours or two or three days at most Thus it must be used for all diseases internal But for all external diseases as Ulcers Scabs Botches Sores Fistula's Noli me tâ—ngere's c. the place must be anointed with the Oyl of the Stone it self not dilated in Wine and after this manner it must be done nine or ten days and be it whatsoever it will it will cure all outward and inward diseases And more than this whosoever carries this Stone about him no evil Spirit can or will stay in the place nay bringing or giving it to a party possessed it drives away and expels the evil Spirits for it is a Quintessence and there is no corruptible thing in it and where the Elements are not corrupt no Devil can stay or abide for he is the corruption of the Elements This Mediciâ—e taken nine days as aforesaid and the Temples of the Head anointed with the Oyl of the Stone each day in the morning it will make a man as light as if he could flie and his Body so aireal it is not to be credited but by him that hath experienced it These most admirable qualities it hath perfect health it giveth till God calls for the Soul and perfeâ—â— knowledge it giveth if the use be known but even this part hath been known but to a few that have made it for it is a Divine and as it were an Angelical Medicine The white is not to be used for any disease but Madness in the same proportion and way or preparation that the red Stone was And so I proceed to the second which is Multiplication The way to Multiply MAny have made the Stone both white and red that never knew how to multiply it for the white Stone will be red by continuing it in the external natural Fire but never make projection higher than one upon ten neither white nor the red few have known this for if they be not armed rightly it will kill them but do thus and thou shalt multiply it infinitely that it shall not congeal to Powder any more When thou hast made the Mercury of the Philosophers which in 40 days is to be done a Water it is and no Water clear as the Heavens then as thou didst make it reduce it back again into Putrefaction E. F. which it will quickly do in a Body with a blind Head and never put into it above twelve ounces and lute it with such lutâ— as I will direct here-under for in a Glass nipt up it will not work When it is like Pitch take out thy Glass and remove it to a common fire of Ashes in a Furnace and when thy Glass hath stood cold 24 hours arm thy self thus Make thee a Case for thy head and face with Hog-skin lined with Cotton and before thy face have Spectacles of Glass and from thy mouth let go a large Tunnel of Glass covered with Leather and let it be tyed under thy Girdle and touch thy Ancles let the bore of the Glass be as big as a Walnut and tye the Hyde of Hog-skin fast about thy Neck under thy Chin but so as thou be sure no Air come in there to which purpose lap it over with more Hog-skin basted with Laten and thus art thou well armed for otherwise it would kill thee Thus armed take off thy blind Head and put on a distilling Head and a Receiver long and large lute the Receiver and joynts of the Head with this lute viz. to one ounce of Powder of Egg-shels calcined 24 hours and ground like
Meal take two ounces of Enamel such as the Goldsmiths use grind that with the Egg-shels and add the white of an Egg to make it into paste but the white must be well beaten first then smear this upon Bladders made supple and herewith anoint the joynts of the Receiver three times double let it dry 24 hours Put thy Glass in Ashes but six fingers above the Matter thus putrified and let the head of the Glass be very cold and with a gentle heat you shall see a white fume arise and make all the head of the Receiver like Milk increase easily that Fire till no more will come then let all cool and these white fumes settle to a white Water thickish this is that white Mercury to multiply the white Stone then put a new Receiver luted as before put in as many Coals as the Furnace will hold or bear till the Pot be red hot then shall you see the yellowish fume arise and instantly will it increase redder and redder Continue the Fire until an Oyl come redder than Bloud into the Receiver and it will be also thickish this is the red Mercury wherewith the red Stone must be multiplied each of these must be new rectified in a new Body and Head till they let no Faeces which will be in seven times and then stop them close with the same lute till you use them and when they are cold they are white and red Oyl flowing in the bottom which will melt with an easie Fire and being cold be as a Salt these are the three principles of Salt Sulphur and Mercury a plain Elucidation of the blessed Trinity Now when the white Stone is made it will not melt but is like white Sand but impalpable and will tinge no Body but Venus into Luna To three parts of the white Stone take one part of white Mercury rectified but first dissolve in that white Mercury one third part of white Salt then imbibe the white Stone which will presently take it and be like Pap then close your Egg for so is your Glass Multiplier with the aforesaid â—ute and set it in your first Fire H. E. I. E. F. and it will in 40 days putrifie and pass all the colours and be white fixed and project one part upon an hundred repeat that with more white Mercury as before keeping the same proportion and the same Fire and it will multiply each time ten at the third time it will be a thousand then ten thousand then a hundred thousand so you may bring it to a white Oyl like the Moon pale in the dark then it will multiply no more neither will any Glass hold it If you make projection with the white Stone then melt fine Silver a tenth part then cast in the Stone keep it 24 hours melting and this is Fermentation The first time the white goeth only upon Venus the second time upon all Bodies the third time upon common Mercury and then it is Elixir of Spirits As you did with the white so do with he red exactly but take the red Mercury and white Salt and so that goeth one upon ten on Luna the first time the second upon an hundred and so to an infinity and so it will be a red Oyl like a Carbuncle and will shine in the darkest night with admirable splendor and from it will flie all evil Spirits And this they must have before they cure all diseases and give that exaltation to man to make such Magical works as I shall set down To make Stones HAving made Mercury of the Philosophers and out of it the two Mercuries white and red if thou wilt of small Pearls make great and Oriental ones do thus Take white Seed Pearls and dissolve them in the white Water which will instantly of it self dissolve them when it is like Pap that thou mayst work them with thy hand make it into Pearls and have a round mould of pure Silver put thy Pap into the mould but first anoint thy mould with the white Stone which is an Oyl when they have layn three or four days open it and lay the Pearls in the Sun but not too hot and they will grow hard and more Orient than any Natural ones To make Diamonds TAke the whitest Flint Stone you can get beat off the outâ—ide and dissolve the rest as much as thou wilt in the white Water when it is dissolved to clear Water not to Pap put it into a little Vial stop it close and set it in warm Ashes and in twelve days it will congeal to a hard gray Stone then increase the Fire that the Glass may be red hot then let it cool take it out and it will be like a Flint but polish it and thou never sawst such a sparkling Diamond nor so hard but it will be better if thou dissolve little Diamonds All Stones that you dissolve in the white Water the same colour they were of the same will they be of but for Rubies and Carbuncles and all red Stones they are made of the red Mercury and of Crystal and for a Carbuncle you must add to ten parts of Crystal dissolved in the white Mercury one part of the red Stone brought to the highest and so as before congeal it with Fire and being polished it shineth in the dark beyond all whatever To turn Metals into Quick-silver DO thus in the operation of the Stone white and red when the white Stone first is made never after thou shalt perceive lye under the glistering Powder but thou canst not perceive it till thou tak'st out the Glass a grayish light subtle Powder and the proportion is about of the Matter put in Put any Metal what thou wilt into a Silver Bason except Gold or Silver and make a Plate as thick as you will and in the middle a hole like a Barley corn and in that hole put the Powder to each pound of the Metal six grains of the Powder and no more and as soon as it is hot the Powder will eat into the Metal and turn it all into Quick-silver then pour it into Water and the scurst-will remain behind For Gold and Silver hold them so used over the Fire till they turn to Quick-silver then hold them over a wooden dish this Powder is the Terra damnata of the Stone Now I will shew thee that which is above all certain Magical operations with the Stone such as thou wilt wonder at and bless thy Creator when thou shalt see them Wonders above wonders nor wilt thou believe till thou hast done it The Creation TAke Ordinary Rain-water a good quantity ten gallons it the least stop it up close in Glasses fourty days at least and it will stink and set a Faeces at the bottom pour off the clear and set it in a Vessel of Wood made round like a Ball cut off in the midst and fill the Vessel one third part full of it and set it in the Sun at Noon-day in a private place that
being unconstant in it but if these two Sperms separated from themselves be united again by triumphing Nature in the Book of Mercury which is the Fire Metalline then united it is called of Philosophers the flying Dragon because the Dragon kindled by his Fire while he flieth by little and little spreadeth his Fire and poisonous Vapours into the Air the same thing doth Mercury which placed upon an exteriour Fire being in his place in a Vessel setteth on fire his inside which is hidden in his profundity and then may any one see how the external Fire doth inflame the natural of Mercury and shall see a poisonous Vapour to break out into the Air which shall be of such a stinking and pernicious poison which is nothing else but the Head of the Dragon which speedily went out of Babylon But other Philosophers having compared this Mercury with the flying Lyon because a Lyon devoureth many Creatures and recreates himself with his voracity these things excepted that resist his violent fury so also doth Mercury which hath in himself such an operation that it spoileth a Metal of his form and devoureth it Mercury too much inflamed devoureth and hideth Metals in his belly but which of them soever it be it 's certain it is not consumed in his belly for in their Nature they are perfect and more than he indurate but Mercury hath in him a substance of perfecting Sol and Lune and all imperfect Metals come from Mercury therefore the Ancients called it the Mother of Metals thence it followeth where he is formed to any thing he hath in him a double Metallick substance And first the substance of the interiour then of the Sun which is not like the other Metals of these two substances Mercury is formed which in his Body is spiritually nourished so soon therefore as Nature hath formed Mercury of the two mentioned Spirits then it laboureth to make them perfect and corporeal but when the Spirits are of growth and the two Sperms awakned then they desire to assume their own Bodies which done Mercury the Mother must dye which being thus naturally mortified cannot quicken itself again as before Some arrogant Chymists endeavour in obscure words to affirm that we ought to transmute perfect and imperfect Bodies into running Mercury but a Serpent lieth in the Herbs its true that Mercury may transmute an imperfect Body as Lead or Tin and may without labour multiply in a quantity but thereby it loseth its own perfection and may no more for this reason be Mercury but if by Art it might be mortified that it might no more vivifie it self then it would be changed into any thing as in Cinabar or Sublimate is done for when it is by Art coagulated whether sooner or later it be done then his two Bodies assume not a fixed Body neither are like to conserve it as we may see in the pores of the Earth But lest any one should err there are in the Veins of Lead some fixed grains of Sol or Lune in substance or nourishment the first coagulation of Mercury is the Mine of Lead and most fit and commodious it is to bring him unto perfection and fixation for the Mine of Lead is not without a fixed grain of Gold and which grain Nature did impart so in it self it may be multiplied whereby it may come to perfection and plenary virtue as I have tried and may affirm Also so long as it is not separated from his Mine that is his Mercury but well kept for every Metal that is in his Mine the same is a Mercury then may it multiply it self so it may have substance from his Mercury then will it be like some green immature Fruit on a Tree which the Blossom being past is made into Fruit and then the Apple but if any should crop away the immature Fruit then his first forming would be corrupted because man knows not how to give substance or maturity as internal Nature while the Fruit yet hangs on the Tree and may have substance and nourishment from Nature for so long as maturity is expected so long the Fruit draws sap or liquor and that by augmentation and nourishment till it comes to perfect maturity So is it with Sol for if by Nature a grain be made and it is reduced to his Mercury then also by the same it is daily after an 〈◊〉 manner sustained and reduced into his place Mercury as he is in himself and then must you expect till he shall obtain some substance from his Mercury as it happens in Fruits of Trees for as the Mercury of both perfect and imperfect Bodies is a Tree so they can have no more nourishment otherwise than from their own Mercury If therefore thou wouldst gather from Mercury Fruit which is shining Sol and Lune if it be that they be not far disjoyned so that it be without long delay then think not you as Nature did in the beginning you will again conjoyn and multiply and may without change augment them For if Metals be separated from their Mine then they like the Fruit of Trees too soon gathered never come to their perfection as Nature and Experience makes it appear that if a Pear or Apple be once plucked from the Tree it would then be a great folly if any should again fasten it to the Trâ—â— and thence expect maturity for Experience witnesseth the more it is handled the more it withereth And so it is with Metals for if any would take Vulgar Sol and Lune and endeavour to reduce them into Mercury he would altogether play the Fool for no subtle Art is there to be found whereby he might not deceive him although many Waters and Coments or infinite things of that kind he should use he would daily err and that would happen to him that doth them who would tye unripe Fruits to their Trees Although some Philosophers have said well and truly if Sol and Lune by a right Mercury be rightly conjoyned that then they will make all imperfect Metals perfect yet in this most men have failed who having these three Vegetables Animals and Minerals which in one thing are conjoyned for they regard not that Philosophers speak not of Vulgar Sol Lune and Mercury which are all dead and receive no more substance from Nature but remain in their own Essence and can help none other into perfection they are Fruits plucked off from their Trees before their time and are therefore of no account they having nothing more than what they want Therefore seek the Fruit in the Tree that leadeth you straight unto them whose Fruit is daily made greater with increase so long as the Tree holdeth it forth and this work seen is great joy by this means any may transplant this Tree without gathering his Fruit and then transport him into moister better and more fruitful places which in one day may give more nourishment to the Fruit than it received otherwise in an hundred years In this therefore it
reduced into their first Matter which is true viz. that unless you reduce them into Argent vive not Vulgar that is not volatile but fixt for the Vulgar is volatile and full of flegmatick coldness and therefore it needeth to be reduced by Argent vive fixed more hot and dry in qualities contrary to Argent vive Vulgar Therefore I counsel you O my Friends that you do not work but about Sol and Luna reducing them into the first Matter our Sulphur and Argent vive therefore Son you are to use this venerable Matter and I swear unto you and promise that unless you take the Argent vive of these two you go on to the Practick as blind men without eyes and sence therefore Sons I beseech you walk in the light with open eyes and fall not into the ditch of Perdition as blind men CHAP. I. Of the difference between Argent vive Vulgar and Argent vive Natural WE say that Argent vive Vulgar cannot be the Argent vive of the Philosophers whatever Art it be prepared with for the Vulgar cannot be detained in the Fire but by another Argent vive corporeal which is hot and dry and more digested there I say that our Nature is of a more fixt and hotter Nature than the Vulgar and that therefore because our Argent vive corporeal is turned into Argent vive current not teyning the fingers and when it is mixed with the Vulgar they are joyned and embrace one another with the bond of Love so that they never part from one another as Water mixt with Water for THUS is pleaseth Nature But our Argent vive doth enter and mix it self actually with the other Vulgar drying up its flegmatick humidity and taking away the coldness from the Body making it black as a Coal which afterward it turneth into Powder Note therefore that Argent vive cannot shew forth such Operations as our Physical or Natural which in all its qualities hath the heat of Nature and of true temperature and therefore it turneth the Vulgar into its temperate Nature nay it doth moreover somewhat else for after its transmutation it turneth it into pure Metal that is into Sol or Lune according as it is extended or from Sol and Lune as is shewed in the second Chapter or Part of our Practick Besides this it hath somewhat greater for it changeth and converteth Vulgar Mercury into Medicine which Medicine can transmute the imperfect Metals into perfect besides it turneth the Vulgar into true Sol and Lune better than those of the Mine Mark again that one ounce of our Vulgar Natural Mercury can make an hundred Marks and so until infinity with Argent vive so that the Mine shall never fail Besides this I will have you know another thing that Vulgar Mercury is not rightly nor perfectly mixed with the Bodies for the Spirit cannot be mixed with the Bodies perfectly unless they be reduced into the kind of Nature And therefore when thou wilt mingle Lune and Sol in Mercury Vulgar then these Bodies must be reduced into the kind of Nature which is called Argent vive Vulgar through the bond of natural Love and then the Male is joyned with the Female for our Argent vive is hot and dry actually Argent vive Vulgar is cold and moist passively as a Female which is kept in her houses with temperate heat until the Eclipsis and then are made black as Coals which is the Secret of our true Dissolution after they are at last truly knit together one with another so that they never part from one another and they become a most white Powder â—hich are the Males and Females engendred by true bond of Love but the Children will multiply their kinds to infinity for of one ounce of this Powder thou shalt make infinite Sol and reduce to Lune better than any Metal of the Mine CHAP. II. The extraction of Mercury out of the Perfect Body â„ž TAke one ounce of Calx of Luna let it be calcined in that manner as is said in the end of the Work of our Mastery which Calx or Slime must be ground into subtile Powder upon a Porphyr which Powder ye shall imbibe twice thrice or four times in a day with the best Oyl of Tartâ—r made in that manner as shall be said in the end of our Mastery drying it in the Sun until the said Calx shall drink up of the said Oyl four or five parts more than the Calx it self was grinding it always upon the Porphyrie as is said And in the end let the Calx be dried up well that it may well be reduced into Powder and when it is well pulverized let it be put into a Boults-head with a long neck put of our stinking Menstrual made of two parts of Red Vitriol and one part of Salt-peter and let the said Menstruum first be distilled seven times and let it be well rectified by separating the Earthly Faeces in so much that the said Menstrual be altogether Essential Afterwards let the Boults-head be well luted and put to the Fire of Ashes with a little Fire of Coals until you see the said Matter boyl and be dissolved afterwards distill it upon Ashes until it loseth the Menstruum and the Matter be altogether cold and when it is cold let the Vessel be opened and the Matter which is cold be put into another Vessel that is very clean with its Cap or Head on well luted to a Furnace upon Ashes and when the lute is well dried let the Fire be made by degrees in the beginning until you get all its Waters afterwards augment the Fire until the Matter be dried and the stinking Spirits exalted to the Cap or Head and in the Receiver and when you shall see such a sign let the Vessel be cooled by diminishing the Fire And after the Vessel is cooled let the Matter be taken out and made into subtil Powder upon the Porphyrie so that the Powder may be impalpable which must be set in an Earthen Vessel well luted and well glazed afterward put upon thiâ— said Powder common Water boyling stirring always the Matter with a clean Stick until the Matter become thick as Mustard and stir the said Saltish Matters with a Stick until you see appear grains of Mercury from the Body and that a great quantity of the said quick Mercury appear according as you have put in of the perfect Body that is of Luna and until you shall have a great quantity pour upon it boyling Water and at length stirring it until all the Matter be resolved into a Matter like unto Argent vive Vulgar let the terrestriety be taken away with cold Water and dried up by a cloth afterwards let it give through a Leather and you shall see wonders CHAP. III. Of the Multiplication of our Argent vive In the Name of God Amen â„ž OF pure Silver three grostes made into thin Plaâ—â— and make Amalgama with four grostes of Argent vive
is quickly joyned to another Water with an identative and uniting mixture Now in Gold there is nothing but Mercury therefore being there is in it little dross which is not of a Mercurial nature as we have shewed there is therein no great resistance but that a pure Mercury may more easily adhere to Gold and Silver than to other Metals in which many superfluities and dross do forbid and hinder other Metals or their congealed Mercury any contact or through mingling with crude Mercury For those superfluities as we have already said are not of the first composition of Mercury nor of the same natural or proportional homogeneity and if happily they be of its composition yet they are not of its proportion for whatever is of any things proportion is not superfluous Wherefore they cannot be inseparably throughly mingled neither with Mercury to be coagulated by Art nor with Mercury coagulated which in the nature of its Mineralness is joyned with them in the same kind of Metal being such dross is combustible by Fire and therefore separable What wonder is it then if in those Metals to which they are accidentally superadded they hinder their natural commixtion and permanent union with coagulated Mercury or other crude Mercury For this very cause Gold it self though never so pure can far more difficultly abide with be joyned and adhere to an unclean and drossie Mercury coagulated or not coagulated than with a pure and clean one Because a simple Nature doth rejoyce in the society of and is perfected by a simple Nature that is like to it and same with it in its first homogeneity and Elemental proportion but Gold as hath been said is nothing else but Mercury thickned by its proper digestion and Elemental action therefore albeit in the Earth there be a difference betwixt Gold and Mercury in ripeness because Gold is more ripe than Mercury yet there is no diversity in their Matter Therefore whatsoever Gold hath acquired by the digestion it hath unto maturity Mercury may acquire the same without any extraneous thing But Art to breviate and contract the Work joyns Gold with Mercury as is said and out of two Sperms it makes and generates artificially that same thing which Nature doth create in the Mines of one actual Seed the identity of the Matter being always everywhere observed but not the same active power And therefore as nothing extraneous to its Nature doth enter this Work in its first composition so neither doth any thing multiply it which is not of the first temperament thereof Wherefore some men think falsly that the Philosophers Stone may be composed of divers things or of all things and be nourished by them instead of the aforesaid Sperms notwithstanding divers names have been imposed on them Neither doth his Philosophick Work eat any thing or convert it into its own Nature which is extraneous because it doth not vegetate Wherefore though there be in the said Philosophick Stone a Body and a Soul or a Spirit it is not therefore vegetably animated as Trees and Plants For this Stone as all Minerals is of the aforesaid first and not of the second or any superiour intention or imposition But Trees and Plants are of the second imposition as Vegetables are of the third fourth fifth or last imposition for mixt things in those four last impositions do vegetate For in them the Elements by many transmutations and by being oftner alterated are more subtle wherefore they are more active and perfect though they are not more durable and permanent in â—heir permixtion because the Elements in them are not of a fixt but dissolvable composition wherefore they take in their nourishment vegetably But our Stone as also all the Minerals is of the first imposition because it vegetates not nor is vegetably nourished but nourishment befalls it rather by apposition of a nourishment of a like nature to it and not by vegetation For example sake because as is manifest by experience out of a Feminine Seed to wit out of Mercury put to it unitively insensibly and by way of composition this Philosophers Stone is nourished but by means of a digestive heat For it takes and assimilates its like unto it self to be multiplied by way of apposition and not vegetably wherefore it becomes weightier in quantity and more active and perfect in quality neither doth Fire or heat multiply this our Stone as its due nourishment because it is not of its first composition but heats it by an extrinsical accident For how can Flame or Fire multiply the Stone it self or make it of it self more weighty when it cannot be fixedly and permanently mingled with it nor is not of its first composition or form Nothing therefore nourishes and multiplies the said Stone to the generation of the same form except the Feminine Seed which nourisheth it by means of heat and nourishes it not vegetably but by way of apposition and commixtion He therefore who thus multiplies and nourisheth it shall not erre because this multiplier and nourisher is turned into the same kind A man may indeed increase the Stone and its weight by extraneous things but this must be done out of its natural kind not convertible into it For that weight would be made besides Nature that is not into the same species nor into the unity of one species yea it would be an aggregation of divers kinds and an accidental composition which might be separated by the Test. But when the Philosophers said that the Stone might be made of every thing truly they understood it not as some perversly interpret them that the Stone might be made of divers things unlike unto it both in kind and nature or which is more absurd that it might be multiplied by a Flame ministred to it from without for this reason especially because Fire and its Flame may by a certain production arise out of every thing Now the refutation of this opinion is manifest from what hath been said before But when the Philosophers say that the Stone is made of every thing they mean that it is made of the four Elements proportionally equalized to one another by a due and natural digestion out of which four Elements every thing that is generable and corruptible is made Therefore by this similitude the Philosophers say our Stone is â—â—de out of every thing that is out of every Element because if any one of them were mortified or destroyed the whole proportion of the Golden Nature would perish and its kind and every thing in whatsoever latitude and sort of alterables is generated out of the four Elements either actually or potentially mixt yet it cannot be properly said of every producible thing but of our Golden Stone and other things equally mixt that they are made out of every thing for this reason especially because in those things which are not produced by an equal but by an adequate proportion of the Elements all the Elements are not actually existent but in their