it and at last dyed on the Cross and many other afflictions and tribulations did he necessarily undergo in his life and at his death of which you may read more at large in the holy Evangelists And even as the Philosophers write viz. that that boiling and putrefaction in the afore-mentioned terrene work is usually made and perfected within fourtie daies So are there described and laid down to us in the holy Scripture a description of many and divers miracles that God hath done by that afore-mentioned number as for instance that of the people of Israel's when they aboad in the desart for fourty whole years and had the tryal of a very hard exile Psal. 59. Deut. 8. Likewise Moses his being in Mount Sinai Exod. 34. Also Elias in his flight because of Ahab 1 Kings 19. So Christ in the desart fasted forty daies and as many nights Likewise also he preached on the earth for fourty moneths and performed miracles He lay forty hours in the Sepulchre and fourtie daies between his resurrection from the dead and his ascention into heaven did he walk about and visit his Disciples and shewed himself alive unto them Acts 1. Likewise the City of Hierusalem was destroyed by the Romans and razed to the ground the fortieth year after the ascention of our Lord. But you must here principally note that the Philosophers call that putrefaction because of its black colour Cantic 1. I am black the head of the Crow Even so Christ himself Isa. 53. He had no form nor c. was wholly deformed as to his form and beauty the most vile of all full of griefs and sorrows and also was despised in so much that we even hid our faces because of him and esteemed him as a thing of nought Moreover himself doth likewise in Psalm 22. complain of that thing viz. he was a worm and no man the mocking stock of men and contempt of the People In like manner also this may not unfitly be compared with Christ. viz. As that Putrified body of Sol doth lie for a season like to ashes in the bottom of the glass and dead without any efficacy until by the addition of a stronger heat its soul doth again let down it self drop by drop and by little and little and doth again imbibe the sick and as it were dead body doth moisten it give it to drink and preserve it from a total destruction even so happened it to Christ when he was in the Mount of Olives and upon the Cross and was roasted as it were by the fire of the divine wrath Mat. 26. 27. he complained that he was wholly forsaken by his heavenly Father and yet nevertheless was he alwaies refreshed and strengthened Mark 4. Luke 22. and imbued as 't were and moistened and imbibed with the divine Nectar even as 't is wont to be in the terrene body by a daily airing for and refreshment yea also when in his most holy passion and mediating death his power and strength together with his Spirit was wholly withdrawn from him and he plainly or truly arrived or came to the lower and deepest parts of the earth Acts 1. Ephes. 1. 1 Peter 3. he was notwithstanding even yet conserved refreshed and again lifted or raised up by the vertue and power of the eternal Deity and thereby vivified and glorified Rom. 14. and here 't was that his soul and spirit did first of all procure or bring to pass a perfect true and indissolvable union with his dead body in the Sepulchre and by a most joyful and victorious resurrection and ascention to the heavens was it exalted through our Lord Jesus Christ to the right hand of his Father Mat. 28. Mark 16. with the which body he doth now by the efficacy and vertue of the holy Spirit as being a true God and Man in equal power and glory rule and bear command over all things Psal. 8. and by his most efficacious Word preserves and sustains all things Heb. 1. yea he vivifies all things Acts 17. The which wonderful union and also that divine exaltation cannot be well seen and much less considered of by Angels and men in heaven and on earth yea and under the earth Phil. 2. 1 Pet. 1. without fear and trembling Whose efficacy power and rosey-coloured tincture is able to transmute us imperfect men and sinners even now in body and soul to tinge and more then perfectly to cure and heal us concerning which we shall speak more anon Having now therefore briefly and plainly disclosed to you how viz. the Celestial Fundamental Corner-stone Jesus Christ may be compared with the terrene Philosophical stone of the wise men the matter and preparation whereof is as we have heard a notable type and lively counterpoise as 't were and resemblance of the divine assumption of humane flesh in Christ We therefore likewise judge it necessary that we also behold and learn his efficacy virtue and Tincture as also his fermentation and multiplication in us men who are destitute of efficacy and virtue and are as it were Imperfect mettals And albeit that God created man at the beginning above all his other Creatures and made him a most noble and most perfect Creature yea he made him after his own Image and breathed into him a living Spirit and an Immortal Soul Yet nevertheless after his fall was he transmuted into a deformed contrary and pernicions or mortal shape and form But now to restore again such a most noble Creature to his former brightness or lustre and perfection the Omnipotent God did out of his meer mercy ordain such a medium as his viz. mans restitution might be brought to pass by after the manner following viz. as we have afore said that the more then perfect stone or Tincture after this its perfection is to be in the first place yet further fermented augmented or multiplyed if at leastwise you would obtain its manifold profit and have its efficacy and operation beneficial Even so also Christ that heavenly blessed stone must according to his God-man perfection be yet moreover also further fermented and multiplyed as 't were with us as with his members that is we must be purifyed and united with him by his own saving ticture of a Rosey colour and be prepared and conformed to a pure unfermented and celestial body for as Paul testifies in Rom. 8. he is the first begotten among many brethren yea the first begotten before all other Creatures whatsoever Coloss. 1. by whom all things in Heaven and Earth are created and reconciled with God for if we who are naturally impure mortal and imperfect would be again made pure new-born or regenerate immortal and perfect then verily that cannot be done by any other medium Hebr. 13. then by that celestial fundamental corner stone only Jesus Christ who is alone holy yea the most holy Dan. 9. the new-born raised up and glorifyed heavenly King who both is and eternally remains God and man in one person Likewise even as the
notwithstanding is in every thing and in every place to be found but as to its potency t is in this only alone and altogether or wholly perfect Briefly they say that it is such a spiritual substance as is neither celestial nor infernal but an aereal pure and excellent body which is posited as a medium betwixt the highest and lowest t is likewise the most choice and most precious thing under the whole heaven Contrariwise it is esteemed by such as understand not the thing or are new beginners to learn it for a most vile thing and most abject or base as 't were yet notwithstanding though many a wise man seek after it there are but a few that find it it is to be considered of or be beheld afar of and is to be taken near at hand and besides it is to be seen of all yet is known but by a few as is to be seen in this here-following verse viz This precious good is divided into three and yet is but one T is what the world cares not for but disesteems it It hath it in its sight carries it in its hands yet is ignorant thereof for it passeth away with a sudden pace without being known Yet these treasures are the chiefest and he that knows the Art the Expressions and hath the medium will be richer then any other A Philosophical Enigma IN which the first material subject of the Art of the wise men otherwise called the Phenix of the Philosophers being wholly divided is to be triplicitly or threefold wise found The Enigma Philosophical IF I tell thee of the three parts of every thing thou hast no cause to complain for I tell thee the truth Thou needest the three-leaved grass sue to Jehovah by thy prayers Seek for one in three and thou shalt have one out of three T is called by a thousand names t is a body soul and spirit Is beautified with Salt Sulphur and an heavy Mercurie Trust me if thou understandest the three-leaved grass and knowest the Voice and Song then art thou a wise Artist Another Enigma much more plain THere is one thing in this world is everywhere to be found and that as it were accidentally or casually without care of a grayish and greenish colour and of a wonderfull power In this thing is both a white and red colour It flows hither like a swift stream and runs away like a river It wets not and is made of an heavy weight light I could give it a thousand names but thousands know it not T is common to be seen but the Art of it is difficult He that dissolves it by a medium and finisheth it the third time is a wise man and rightly hath this noble subject Another Enigma THE place of the birth of this stone is everywhere its conception is in the deep its birth in the earth it finds life in the heavens it dies in time and then at length obtains everlasting blessedness If therefore any one hath ready at hand this thus-mentioned matter that is so vertuously endowed the which is partly celestial and partly terrestrial and is at the beginning a right confusion or commixtion or a certain mixt essence worthily so called whose colour is not to be named or which hath no proper colour to be named by and doth know it rightly and well the which knowledge hath been accounted at all times by the Philosophers for a principal member of this work then must all such things as are requisite thereunto and which are required in the preparation thereof be with the greatest study and diligence performed But yet notwithstanding afore that the singular manual labour therewithall be undertook t is very necessary that every pious Artist do again recall to his mind with much diligence the doctrine aforesaid and that withall he be faithfully admonished not to infold as 't were himself with that secret work and that unsearchable Spirit that lies hidden thereunder except he shall first have diligently searched it in its profound qualities and proportion and according to the requisite conformity to nature even as some of the Philosophers do admonish us concerning that thing and say See thou hast no commerce with this Spirit except thou first hast an exact knowledge and understanding thereof For God is wonderful in his works and his wisdom is without number and as is aforesaid he will not suffer himself to be mocked Verily here might be some examples produced viz. of many that have too too slightly infolded themselves as t were or intermedled with this Art and having adventured thereon their successes have been very bad insomuch that some have been found dead in the work it self or else most grievously wounded by some other unfortuate mischance for t is not a thing of such a small concernment as many dream and imagine because the Philosophers compare it to boies play and womens work and that they are able to do the same The Philosophers intention was otherwise then so for they meant the following and successive labour of this work which is in it self easie enough and utterly as t were void of any great moment and they accounted it as simple and easie to such only as were ordained by God thereunto and were endowed with the knowledge thereof Beware therefore beware I say and take heed to thy self that thou dost not over-rashly involve thy self in danger but much more rather begin thy purposed work with prayers poured out to God for divine help as we have at the beginning faithfully admonished thee and then shalt thou fear nothing at all nor haply shalt thou be subject to any danger If therefore now thou hast employed thy self with much diligence in thy Oratory and hast the known matter at hand then mayst thou commodiously apply thy self to a studious diligence in thy Laboratory and apply thereto a convenient Manual Labour and so make a beginning First of all therefore it is necessary that above all things you dissolve that so oft spoken of first matter or first Ens which the Philosophers likewise have called the highest good of nature then is it to be purified from aquosity or its waterishness and its terrestreity for it doth at first appear to such as behold it an earthy grave heavy gross pituitous and as it were a kinde of cloudy and aqueous body and its darkish and gross cloudy shadow wherewith it is shadowed must be removed by thee that so by this means its heart and inward soul that lies hidden therein may likewise and next that precedent purifying be by a more ample sublimation divided thereout of and be reduced into a sweet and pleasant Essence But now all this may be done by the great and excellent Catholick or Universal water the which by its most swift and as 't were flying course and passing to and fro doth moisten and make fruitfull the whole circuit of the earth and is indeed done so sweetly fairly clearly brightly and splendidly that the splendor thereof
delivered various Writings concerning the vaporous Fire the which they call the Fire of Wisdom and withall amongst other sayings do affirm that it is not an Elemental and Material Fire but an Essential or preternatural Fire the which is also properly called a Divine Fire that is the water of ☿ which is to be incited and stirred up with the Common-fires help and by Art at the beginning you must gently digest and concoct it and must be most especially careful and diligent that nothing thereof sublime up or to use the Parabolical Philosophick expressions that the Wife doth not rule over the Man nor the man abuse his Authority over his Rib or Wife c. and then it doth of its own self perfect its process in a continual order without any other labour thereto belonging save only the care and administration of the fire viz. that first of all the terrene body of the ☉ here added is to be wholly dissolved ground destroyed and putrified and so consequently be spoiled or devested of all the vertues and power that it hath for verily at first it brings forth a darkish colour and then afterwards a perfectly black dark colour and is therefore by the Philosophers called the head of the Crow and is usually done in fourty days time and so furthermore in them the soul thereof is likewise put off or loosned from it and is carryed up aloft and is wholly and altogether separated where for some space of time it sticks without any vertues and the body is just like to dead ashes in the bottom of the glass But the true time and space being over if your Fire be encreased one degree more and it be digested without wearisomness or ceasing it doth then again let down it self by little and little and drop by drop and imbibes moistens gives to drink and doth so conserve the body that it be not at all combust nor pine or wither away Then again it lifts up it self upwards and aloft then again presently it lets it self down and thus it will do perhaps the seventh time and then again the fire is to be made one degree stronger but yet not for this intent to have thee make haste with thy Work for verily the mediocrity and Regiment of the Fire is to be most carefully and diligently administred for in it is placed very exceeding much But now in the interim there will appear various signs and colours in the Glass or Vessel the which colours are to be especially observed and well noted for according to them is your direction to be taken and framed So then having seen an orderly succession of them 't is a good testimony that a most happy event will follow First of all there shew themselves granes like the eyes of Fishes then appears a Circle about that matter the which is as it were red then shortly after whitish then moreover it becomes green and yellow like the Peacocks tail then afterwards most white and then red and shining then after a certain time when a greater Fire is administred and the extream or last heat given thereto the Soul and the Spirit is again perfectly united with its own body lying in the bottom into a certain dissoluble and indissoluble Essence the which Union and Conjunction then because of the unspeakable admiration thereof cannot be seen and considered of without fear and trembling and then is seen and beheld the new raised up body living perfect and glorified the which hath in it self a most elegant redness of a purple colour and like a Crimson or Scarlet dye the tincture of which doth also transmute tinge and heal all the imperfect bodies of which we shall speak more hereafter The Work therefore being happily brought to an end by the help and assistance of the most great and blessed God and the Phoenix of the Wise men being beheld then upon thy bended knees and with a devout heart give thanks to the Omnipotent GOD who hath been the chief Guider of all this whole Work for those his especial benefits that he hath vouchsafed thee so graciously And then further see that thou managest it well to his praise and glory and for the benefit of the needy Members and do not abuse it See therefore thou hast in these words the true information of the whole Process whereby this noble Art high Work and Philosophers Stone like as the Philosophical Egg may be opened prepared and finished For a Conclusion for t is no ways expedient slightly to slip this over observe that if haply any mischance or errour or any misapprehension which may easily happen and so vehemently impede the perfection should be committed or intervene then must a seasonable remedy be sought after and the evil or errour must be remedied If therefore you perceive in the first place that before dissolution and liquefaction any thing sublimes it self up and ascends or if there swim at top of the matter a red oil as 't were which is a very evil testimony And Secondly If it begins to become red either together with or before the white or if after the whiteness it be red afore its time Or Thirdly If it will not in the end give it self forth as 't were or not suffer it self to be rightly Coagulated Or Fourthly if the matter be so changed and inverted by the greatness of the heat that it will not when 't is taken out presently melt upon a red hot Iron like to Wax and tinge and paint or colour the Iron and if afterwards it be found not abiding the firie tryal All these things I say are remarkable signs by the which it may be gathered That this work is not rightly ordained and instituted but that it hath been neglected through want of diligence and care All which defects notwithstanding and all these erroneous waies if not too too strong and powerful and if in time lookt unto may be easily met withal and may be well corrected and restored But the highest diligence of dealing here with them is requisite and consequently artificial manual apprehensions or operations and ordinary or orderly mediums which are necessarily to be known to a skilfull and experienced Artist But yet notwithstanding for the sake of the Tyroes or young beginners that are Lovers of this Art and disciples thereof for their sake I say I will orderly recite those mediums very briefly as for example if it chance to happen that one or more of those aforesaid errours should come to pass then must you again take out of the glass the whole composition that you did put in and again dissolve it and imbibe it with the aforesaid water of ☿ which the Philosophers also call Lac Virginis or the first matter also the milk the blood and the sweat thereof also an indestructible fountain or Aqua vitae the which notwithstanding contains in it self the greatest venom and moisten it and so render it efficacious and then again digest and boyl it so long until
of mustard-seed leaven c. as in Luke 18. Mat. 13. 23. Luke 19. Mat. 20. Moreover when he prefigurates to us the Kingdom of heaven he proposeth to us the parable of the great Supper and the wedding of the King Even as also he compares the whole Christian-Church and the state thereof with a Vineyard and a King requiring an account from his Servants Likewise also he useth a similitude of a noble Lord who committed his goods to his servants and of a lost sheep and Ox and of a lost Son and other such like Parables See Mat. 18. Luke 16. Mat. 25. Luke 18. Mark 12. Luke 10. Seeing therefore that such like examples and similitudes were solely and alone given for this end that that which is Celestial and consequently difficult to comprehend by reason of humane frailty might be the easier understood and better conceived of by us How much rather therefore seemeth it expedient that the eternal God should propose unto us by some corporal figure the highest good viz. His Son and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who by his obedience and merit freed all mankind from eternal death and restored the Kingdom of heaven again unto them For verily that most high mysterie of God Almighty is most difficultly comprehended by mankind Ephes. 3. Colos. 1. Esay 45. verse 8. Let the heavens send down dew and the clouds rain on the just Let the earth open it self and wax green and bring forth a Saviour And although that this hath been signified unto us in the Old Testament and elswhere in other types as in the sacrifice of Isaac in Jacobs Ladder and in the selling and wonderful state of Joseph and in the brazen Serpent in Sampson David and Jonas c. Yet nevertheless the Omnipotent God hath shewed or taught and clearly discovered to us men in the great Book of Nature this high and Celestial good by another certain wonderful and secret thing and that very abundantly that so we may be able to have likewise by this means or on this account even a certain corporeal visible and apprehensible idea of those Celestial goods and benefits The which terrestrial and corporeal thing he himself hath so proposed or published in his Word where he speaks thus by his Prophet Isaiah in Ch. 28. viz. Behold I lay in Sion a Corner stone a tryed and well-founded stone he that believes makes not haste Likewise also the Kingly Prophet David speaks thus by the Spirit of God in the 118. Psalm viz. The stone which the builders refused is become the Corner-stone This is the Lords doing and is wonderful in our eyes This prefiguration or representation also the now-spoken-of Corner-stone Christ himself doth in Mat. 21. derive or convert unto himself saying Did you never read in the Scriptures The stone which the builders refused is become the Corner-stone this is the Lords doing and is wonderful in our eyes he that falls against it shall be broken but he upon whom it shall fall shall be ground to powder This likewise Saint Peter in Acts 4. and in his Epistle So also Paul in Rom. 9. doth repeat and describe this in almost the self-same words Now all the chief Fathers and holy Patriarcks as also all their successors illuminated by God did ever since the beginning of the world expect with great desire that proved blessed and Celestial Stone Jesus Christ Luke 10. v. 23 24. and earnestly endeavoured by their utmost and chiefest prayers that it would please God to communicate unto them according to his promises the beholding of Christ even in a bodily and visible shape Rom. 10. v. 12 13. and therefore having rightly known and obtained him in the Spirit they were then delighted with him all their life time and consequently did in all dangers even to the end of their lives trust upon that invisible prop and support But although that that heavenly and blessed stone was given by God to all mankind without exceptions of rich or poor and that without any merit viz. freely as Mat. 11. v. 6. yet nevertheless there have been but a very few in this world even from the beginning to this very day that could find it and apprehend or comprehend it but rather hath it been at all times hidden from the greatest part of men and hath alwaies been a grievous offence and scandal or stumbling to them as Isaiah in the eighth Chapter prophesied thereof saying It shall be a stone of offence and a rock of stumbling Also a pit and a gin where many shall stumble fall and be broken and took and ensnared The which heavenly stone old Father Simeon saw in the Spirit in Luke 2. v. 34. where he saith to Mary the Mother of that Celestial Corner-stone viz. Behold behold this stone is set for the falling and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against The like doth S. Paul also testifie in Rom. 9. v. 32. saying They stumbled at the stumbling stone and at thâ— rock of offence but he who believeth in him shall not be confounded So likewise Sainâ— Peter in his first Epistle Chap. 2. v. 7 8. c. This stone is precious to those thaâ— believe but to the unbelieving a stone oâ— offence and of stumbling and a rock oâ— scandal even to them which stumblâ— at the Word and believe not on him iâ— or by whom they are placed oâ— built up Eccles. 43. So therefore shall now shew here fundamentally how the now mentioned precious blessed anâ— heavenly stone doth artificially or harmoniously agree with this so-oft-mentioned terrestrial Corporeal Philosophical stone I will shew both their descriptions and the comparison of the one with the other Whereby it shall be known and seen even invincibly viz. how the terrestrial Philosophical stone may be accounted as a true type of the true spiritual and heavenly stone Jesus Christ and how he is herein set before us and discovered as 't were in a visible shape by God even in a Corporeal manner First of all therefore Even as in the true knowledge of the first matter 1 Cor. ch 2. v. 7. but we speak of hidden things c. of the aforesaid terrene Philosophical stone for this is to be accounted of as a principal member or part and of highest concealment or secrecy t is very much behovefull for those who would prepare it Rom. 11. v. 33. Oh how profound c. and that endeavour thereby to obtain all that happiness as is provided by God for us to eternity and that are withall busied or seriously bent on the knowledge of the eternal heavenly stone that is of the true right and living God and Creator of heaven and earth his indissoluble triune essence tis I say needful that they do know further and more things and therefore also as I have shewed above in the first part the way of the entring upon it and the universal nature together with all its properties without which that work
and now first of all perfect and new regeneration in life eternal shall quicken and rise up to that new and never fading life their soul and spirit being again so united with the body and again reduced into an indissoluble or inseparable eternally abiding copulation or conjunction So that we shall be made by the vertue and efficacy of the Omnipotent heavenly King Christ with whom we shall be by faith really truly and efficaciously coupled above the reason of all men glorified with a pure spiritual and wonderful vertue strength agility and glory and excellency yea shall be made transparent excellent and more then perfectly happy Isaiah 26. The which wonderful unition of the body soul and spirit and likewise its divine glorification and this exaltation of the elect may as 't is in the terrene work be considered of by us in this life but not without amazement and trembling much less be seen without much terrour And therefore for this cause even the very Angels themselves are as 't were ravished into admiration and desire to peep into all these things Where we shall then raign with Christ our eternal Prince of heaven and with all the Angels and ministring Spirits in eternal joy and glorious majesty and bear rule over all things for evermore Gal. 6. And that we may at last conclude even as in the Chymical work Philosophical we added after the beginning a short but yet necessary correcting of or way to amend the neglected or corrupted composition viz. how it may be commodiously holpen in time where we likewise have orderly shewed the whole Process together with the suitable means thereto appertaining even so likewise must be here considered in the Theological work and that very diligently the correction or amending and the restitution of a miserable spiritual sinner as for instance if haply either one or two or the first and second defects do shew themselves in any man that he falls into sin by the permission of God and by the impulsion of the abominable Satan of the wicked world and of his own flesh and should slip either through pride and arrogancy the which are innate in us all and may be compared with the dangerous sublimation or redness which we have termed the first and second defect in the terrene Kingdom Or else should because of his enormious grievous and corporal sins that he hath committed at length despair of the mercy of God or should by reason of the overmuth heat of tribulations rise up against God his Creator and impatiently undergo the Cross which said two defects have a resemblance with the third and fourth errours Then must such a miserable and infected man be like as t is to be done with the terrene composition that you put in and spoiled be again dissolved in the first place that is after the acknowledgement of his excess he is to be again absolved and purified by the solutory or dissolving key of holy solution as oft as he shall need it from his sins and daily defections Then moreover must he be necessarily fed his thirst quenched be refreshed and comforted in the holy Supper of the Lord with the pure and heavenly milk 1 Cor. 3. and with the true sweat of the celestial Lamb 1 Joh. 5. as if 't were with blood and water yea with water and the fountain of life and even as it were with the fat feast of pure wine and marrow Isaiah 25. Apocal. 19. and that publick proffer of the fountain of grace Zach. 13. the which like to the Mercurial water in the Chymical work is to the unworthy and wicked ones the highest poyson until at last as 't is with the terrene body or work he arrives to a final congelation and plenary fixation that is to a perfect and abiding perfection of eternal happiness The which two most wholsom mediums for the curing and healing of a poor miserable sinner viz. The holy absolution and the holy Supper the Faithfull and Omnipotent God hath appointed for the benefit of man and hath delivered and committed them to his most beloved Church to be administred and communicated in a time of necessity For we are there by the now spoken of absolution or as 't is called the office of the keyes a true repentance going afore pronounced free and absolved or else if we remain impenitent and boldly persevere in our sins then are we by the Christian key of cursing and excommunication which doth likewise appertain to that office tyed in our sins and delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord 1 Cor. 5. The Epilogue or Conclusion THus hast thou my friend and curteous Reader a brief and simple demonstration and declaration and withall an infallible counterpoise and allegorical comparison of the terrene Chymical and the true Celestial stone Jesus Christ by whom thou maist attain to a certain happiness and perfection not only here in this earthly life but also in the life eternal Now although this comparing might have been more accurately perhaps and more copiously handled in the afore mentioned Theological work yet you are to know that I am no Professor or Teacher of the Scripture or any Aristotelian Thelogist or Divine according as the custome of the World is now a dayes but that I am a citizen and a private person for as for that knowledge vouchsafed me by God I obtained it not by study in any of their famous Academies or Universities but in the Universal School of nature Job 12. and out of the great book of Miracles in which all the God-learned did for many ages past exercise themselves did I likewise learn And therefore I have directed that description of mine not according to the decked and as 't were foot and half or lofty letter and expression but as I said afore according to simplicity and plainness Besides 't is not my office or function to set down here any more plentiful and larger treatise or Commentary about Theological things but that which I have done I did it as much as concerns me for such as have not as yet made such a large progress to them was I willing to prescribe some short delineation whereby they may make an higher search thereinto For it seems to be the duty of every lover of the truth by no means slightly to pass over the wonders of God nor to wrap them up in a perpetual silence but to celebrate amplify and magnify them Moreover I could willingly make a publick confession of my faith viz. what I think or believe of the Articles of the Christian Religion But alas alas the case stands thus at present that many pious Christians Psal. 116. are proclaimed for hereticks by the rash judgments of most slanderous lying back-biters unless they sing their song and are prosecuted with a bitter hatred and are suspected of heresy The which wicked blasphemies of the world and their rash judgments do not in the
the which doth especially teach viz. how the evil and impure is to be known and distinguished from the good and pure by which Prov. 2. the inbecillity and corruption of nature may be succoured and a right promotion or forwarding may be administred the which then in the augmentation and encrease of Mettals may be compared after such a like manner as the endeavours of them are that would afford help to the ripening of any fruit that by some accident or other hath been impeded from arriving to a just maturity or that obtain of one little grain or seed a manifold encrease and it may be done and perfected with a very mean price As for the other sophisticate and false-chymick Art I do not at all mean that nor understand it neither do I desire to learn it Eccles. 3. For albeit those kind of masters do therein prate of many a crooked way and do vainly promise meer golden Mountains which notwithstanding are haply far enough off from them yet that false Chymick art bestows nothing at all constant but is only wont to spend much charges and costs and procure rash labours and doth finally oftentimes waste away the body and life it self And therefore if there be some one or other of those kind of Chymists that thou maist meet withall who brag of the true Chymical Art and of such an Art as is agreeable to nature and would willingly teach it thee or any other body for the sake of money and pretend that themselves are not able to disburse the costs and charges that belong thereunto then be faithfully admonished that thou dost not trust such men too much for most times there lies a Snake in the grass Mich. 2. If I should be of an erring spirit c. Besides I can truly affirm that all the cost which haply is to be expended about the whole universal work setting aside the daily food and nourishing or sustaining of the fire doth not exceed the price of 3. Florins for the matter as we have heard above is partly vile or abject and by reason of that its vileness partly contemptible as it were and is every-where to be found more then enough for the supply of your necessity and that without much trouble So also the labour is easie and not very laborious or painful Briefly the whole Art is most simply and most easily comprehended by the pious and by such as are chosen by God thereunto Psal. 112. But 't is most difficult to the impious and wicked and in a manner impossible Prov. 3. And now that I may at length finish my Epilogue therefore I shall as for a farewel communicate this likewise unto thee viz. that if the omnipotent God shall bestow upon thee his grace in revealing to thee that pious and holy Art then must thou rightly use it and be a silent man and for the sake of that thing put a strong bolt before thy mouth Eccl. 23. O that I could keep c. v. 7. c. and shut it fast lest haply thy arrogancy and pride throw thee headlong as well by God as men into danger and loss and into temporal and eternal destruction And therefore have an especial care thereunto Whoever seeketh riches by this holy Art Let him be pious and simple silent and upright He that doth not thus shall on the contrary Be made poor beggerly bare and miserable All these things my beloved friend as well for admonitions as valedictions sake I would not have concealed from thee being fraught with an undoubted hope that thou hast sufficiently understood me in all points unless God hath barred up thine eyes and ears for verily I could not disclose it more faithfully and expresly nor describe it more manifestly with the keeping of a good conscience then I have done So therefore if thou art not able to understand or learn it from hence then verily I fear me that thou wilt most hardly comprehend it by any other institution The Appendix KNow likewise that if by reason of that gift vouchsafed thee by God thou hap to wax proud or to be covetous under the cover or excuse of a provident care of thy family and sparingness and dost hereby tempt thy self to a turning away from God by little and little then know for I speak the truth that that Art will vanish from under thy hands insomuch that thou shalt not know how thou didst it The which thing verily hath befallen more then one beyond their expectation In the Summary c. 't is written IF thou followest this my doctrine and beest pious And takest the matter that I have related unto thee If likewise thou preparest it after the accustomed manner Thou shalt have the treasures of the whole World But now if thy intention be good and that thou beest careful of good things the Omnipotent God may most graciously bestow upon thee his favour and divine blessing The which thing I pray God from the very root of my heart to bestow upon thee A Prayer O Omnipotent eternal God the Heavenly Father of Light from whom even every good and perfect thing proceeds We beseech thee of thy Infinite mercy to vouchsafe us rightly to know thine eternal wisedome which is continually about thy Throne and by which all things were created and made and are governed and preserved even to this very day send it us from thy holy Heaven and from the Throne of thy glory that it may be together with us and may assist us in our labour because it is the mistress of all Celestial and hidden Arts yea it also knows and understands all things Grant that it may in some measure accompany us in all works that so by the Spirit thereof we may certainly and without any errour learn the true understanding and infallible process of this most noble Art that is the miraculous Stone of the Wise men which thou hast hidden from the World and art wont to reveal to thine elect only and may then first begin rightly and truly that highest and chiefest work that we can here accomplish and may constantly proceed in that same labour and also at length happily finish it and may eternally enjoy it with rejoycing through that Celestial and from eternity founded miraculous Corner-stone Jesus Christ who together with thee O God the Father and with the Holy Spirit true God in one divine indissoluble essence ruleth and reigneth a tri-une God most worthy of praise for ever and evermore Amen Joshua 21. v. 43 45. And the Lord gave unto Israel all the Land which he promised to give unto their Fathers There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel all things came to pass Deut. 32. v. 3. Ascribe glory to our God only Amen FINIS Books Printed and are to be sold by Giles Calvert at the black-spred Eagle at the West-end of Pauls THe History of Diodorus Siculus containing all that which is most memorable and of greatest Antiquity in the first ages of the World until the war of Troy in folio Renodaeus his Dispensatory containing the whole body of Physick discovering the natures and Properties and vertues of Vegetals Minerals and Animals in folio Gadburies Doctrine of Nativities Doctor Pordages Innocency appearing through the Dark Mists of pretended guilt in folio Cornelius Agrippa his occult Philosophy in 3 Books in quarto Henry Laurence Lord President his book Entituled Our Communion and War with Angels in quarto Christopher Goad his Sermons Entituled Refreshing Drops and Scorching Vials in quarto Samuel Gorton his Exposition on the fifth Chapter of James in quarto Samuel Hartlib of Bees and Silkworms in quarto Williams his Book called the Bloody Tenet of Persecution for cause of conscience in quarto Doctor Gells Sermon Entituled Noahs Flood returning in quarto Several Pieces of Christopher Blackwood now publick Teacher in Ireland in quarto Jacob Behem his Signatura Rerum or Signature of all things in quarto His Epistles explaining many things written in his other Books in quarto Of Election and Predestination in quarto His Book Entituled Aurora or the day-spring lately printed in quarto Several Pieces of Isaac Penington Junior in quarto The Spiritual journey of a yongman a piece translated out of Dutch Biggs of the vanity of the Craft of Physick or a new Dispensatory in quarto Collier his Pulpit-guard routed in quarto His Font-guard routed in quarto Simon Hendon his key of Scripture Prophesies in quarto Mr. Parker his Answer to the Assembly in large octavo Several pieces of Thomas Collier in large octavo Tillom on the eleventh Chapter of the Revelations in large octavo Henry Laurence Lord President his Book of Baptism in large octavo Reeves Sermons Entituled the Strait-Gate in large octavo Several pieces of H. N. in octavo namely Prophecy of the Spirit of Love Revelatio Dei or the Revelation of God Introduction to the Glass of Righteousness Evangelium Regni a joyful message of the Kingdome Spiritual Tabernacle The first Exhortation The Apology for the service of Love all in octavo Samuel Hartlibs Chymical addresses in octavo Thomas Butler his little Bible of the Man or the book of God opened in Man in octavo Crooked Paths made strait or the wayes of God made known in lost sinners by A. Yeomans in octavo Laurences Gospel separation separated from abuses Simmons Saints like Christ in octavo William Sedgwick his eleven Sermons Intituled Some Flashes of Lightnings of the Son of Man in octavo A Word of Peace from the Prince of Peace by J. Hatch in octavo Mysteries unvailed wherein the Doctrine of Redemption by Christ is handled by Robert Gardner in octavo Parnel his good tidings for Sinners great joy for Saints in octavo Bâ—scos Glorious Mysteries in octavo The confession and Fame of the Rosie Cross by English Philolethes in octavo Peytons History of the Râ—se Raign and Ruine of the House of Stuarts in octavo Larkhams Sermons in octavo Bacons Catechâ—sm in twelves Corporations vindicated in their fundamental Liberties by Charles Hotham in twelves John Saltmarsh his book of Free Grace in twelves And his book Intituled Sparkles of Glory or some beams of the morning Star in twelves Dawnings of Light in twelves
stone of the Philosophers and Chymical King doth by its tincture bestow this benefit and doth also comprehend in it self by its perfected process this efficacy and virtue as to be capable of transmuting and tinging the other imperfect simple and disesteemed mettals into pure gold So also yea and much more rather doth that heavenly King that fundamental corner stone Jesus Christ only and alone purify us by his blessed tincture that is by his blood of a Rosey colour and cleanse us sinners and imperfect men from our innate adamical defilements and dregs yea he doth more then perfectly cure and heal us 1 John 1. and as the Scripture speaking thereof doth testify that there is no other salvation nor medium either in the Heaven or the Earth whereby we may obtain everlasting blessedness and perfection but only the name of Jesus Acts 4. For albeit that the blind and mad world hath by the cozenage and deceit of Satan sought after many and various mediums and wayes of obtaining everlasting happiness and perfection and have earnestly busied themselves thereabout yet notwithstanding Christ Jesus is the only and alone Saviour and Mediatour in whom and by whom we are justifyed and blessed before God and are again purified from the Spiritual Leprosy of sin even like unto the one only terrene Saviour and Chymical King by whom all the imperfect mettals do purchase and obtain their perfection and moreover by it are cured all diseases but especially the incureable and corporal Leprosy So therefore all the other mediums and those arts that are studyed and contrived by men themselves viz. such as the Jews Turks Heathens and other hereticks have published and are as yet defended and maintained as necessary mediums are to speak properly thereof much rather void of Spirit are false and Sophisticate Alchimy Col. 2. Beware least any one c. by which we men are not purifyed but are hindred are not vivifyed or enlivened but weakned yea are at length wholy mortifyed like to the falsely so called Alchimy which hath found out many and diverse tinctures and colours by which men are not only deceived but likewise as too toomuch misery it is daily experience doth more then enough testify they are oftentimes cast into the peril and danger of their goods and corporal life But now if we men would be again purifyed from our impure filths and feces viz. from that Adamical Original sin wherewith the whole nature of man was at the beginning corrupted as if it were with some destructive poyson inspired or breathed into our first parents by the devil and in which we are all conceived and born Psal. 51. Job 15. and would be again made perfect and happy John 3. then it must be done by a new regeneration of the holy Spirit yea by water and the spirit even like as the Chymical King also is regenerated by water and the spirit and doth thereby obtain its perfection in which new and spiritual regeneration 1 Pet. 3. the which is accomplished from above in the holy Baptisme by the water and the spirit must we be washed and purifyed by the blood of Christ and so be made one body with him and cloath our selves with him as 't were with a garment as Paul saith in Col. 3. and Ephes. 5. for even as the Philosophers stone doth aftetwards unite it self by its Tincture with the other Mettals and is together with them reduced into a perfect and indissoluble body so also Christ as being the head of us all 1 Cor. 4. doth even unite himself with his members by his rosey coloured tincture and reduceth and perfects it into a perfect body and building Rom. 12. 1 Cor. 12. Ephes. 5. which is created according to God in Joh. 3. right and true Justice and holiness Eph. 4. And verily that regeneration of man which is performed by the holy Spirit in holy Baptism is properly no other thing than a certain inward spiritual renewing of fallen man with God and Christ 1 Cor. 12. In so much that whereas afore we were carnal in relation to the birth made by our father and mother and were by nature enemies to God and sons of wrath Rom. 2. Eph. 2. we are now by means of the second and spiritual birth in holy Baptism made friends and sons yea heirs of God and coheirs with Christ Heb. 3. For for this reason Christ also dyed and rose and revived Rom. 14. that by this his process that is by his Passion Death Resurrection and Ascension we might have an entrance into an holy place or house not made with hands and that he might prepare for us the way to an everlasting Country And therefore also is it necessary that we likewise as his brethren and sisters Math. 12. Ephes. 5. and Psal. 22. do follow him in sufferings Math. 8. and grow up and increase in an acceptable humility Luke 12. and in other virtues and moreover that we be altother conformable and suitable to or for his body that so at last even we also who have followed him here in the regeneration and are dead and mortifyed in him may likewise live with him and enter into his glory The which spiritual exhortation and Christian imitation of our celestial King his life and deeds comes not from our worth merit or proper and peculiar pleasure for the natural man is together with all his faculties blind deaf and dead in spiritual things but meerly and only 1 Jo. 5. by the efficacy and operation of the holy Spirit which is effectual and powerful in us by the blessed washing or bath of regeneration and baptism after the same sort is it with minerals and Mettals which being in themselves dead Hebr. 10. and rusty as it were and cannot possibly purify or amend themselves are even by the help of the spagyrical spirit purified renewed dissolved and perfected If therefore now we are again as we have heard regenerated by the water and the spirit 2 Cor. 5. that is by the blessed baptism and by the red fountain or stream tincted by Christ and incorporated with the Lord Christ our heavenly King 1 Cor. 3. and are washed with his blood from our hereditary sins and are purified and are made partakers of the first fruits of his holy Spirit Then is it expedient that we be fed and that we drink at the beginning a little and a little according to the saying of St. Peter with pure and wholsome milk like new born babes yea like infants in Christ until at length we becoming like living Apoc. 1. and ripe stones are built up to a spiritual house and high Priest-hood and made fitting to offer up spiritual Sacrifices such as are well pleasing and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for verily a Christian man regenerated by the water and the spirit doth not comprehend all at once nor is able to apprehend all but 't is needful that he grow up and increase day by day and by little and little in the
knowledg of God and Christ. For even as in the Philosophers work 't is to be seen how that at the conjunction of the two matters of the Wise men Cant. 3. It was but a little that I passed from them c. viz. of the terrene gold and of the watery matter prepared as it were after a celestial manner when at the beginning they are put in a certain dissolving dish or vessel and reduced into as it were a dry liquour and ana All is not put to the composition together and at one time but one part is added after another and that by little and little and at certain diverse times Even so yea and much more rather ought this to be done in the Theological work for assoon as the conjunction and spiritual union is made of Man with Christ in Baptism and that we are so reduced as we said afore into one body with him so soon also or then must such a man learn the Christian faith by little and little and comprehend one Article after another until at length he be altogether confirmed in them and attain to a perfect knowledge Therefore also the Christian faith Phil. 3. is like as is done with the terrene watery prepared matter of which we have made mention in its proper place divided in twelve Particles or short Articles according to the number of the 12. Apostles and further is then again distributed into 3. principal Articles as 1. Concerning our Creation 2. Our Redemption 3. Our Sanctification the which 't is expedient that a man propose to himself to learn one after the other But yet it must be done by little and little and at divers distinct times and seasons least he should be burdened more then is fit and be as it were wholy overwhelmed with his learning of them by which he mought haply be a loather thereof and be plainly alienated from the faith To prevent which even the third Article concerning our Sanctification may be divided into 7. diverse members or particles see in the Communication of the book of the infallible Epilogue or conclusion Amen and may be prest upon men to learn at seven distinct times according to the information given in the terrene work the which being done and the faith being thus fully comprehended from part to part then the chiefest and most necessary thing is that a man doth most diligently preserve in himself that knowledge of the faith that he hath so comprehended by the grace of God and most cautiously beware that he neither falsify it or lose it And even as as we have before told you in the said Philosophical work you are to take for that fermentation and multiplication of the only terrene King or meer and pure tincture three singular parts or Particles of the best pure yea the most purified Gold purged by â™ not because of any defect in the stone or imperfection of its Tincture but because of the impotency and weakness of the Mettals themselves And that you may the better understand my intention know that although the tincture or stone be perfectly prepared in it self yet nevertheless the gross and imperfect Mettals cannot by reason of their natural infirmity and weakness draw to themselves and apprehend that as I may so say Angelical perfection and subtility of the stone or Tincture unto it self except a commodious and requisite medium be also taken by the which they will be transmuted the more easily Even as therefore it is and ought to be so done I say in the Chymical work even so in like manner must there be had a very special care here in our Theological work Phil. 2. of the spiritual renovation and Celestial regeneration of man for although that our Celestial King Jesus Christ hath perfectly freed us from all impurities by that plenary obedience of his which he performed to his heavenly Father in our stead and hath made us sons and heirs of God yet nevertheless we cannot in all things and wholy comprehend and receive that saving and plainly divine tincture of himself neither his other treasures and great benefits because of our innate infirmity and weakness 2 Cor. 4. nor can we firmly apply it to our selves unless we do thus viz. we must if we would rightly pertake of him come yet a little neerer and must have added those three saving singular parts reckoned up and mentioned by God himself which parts are thereto requisite and they are chiefly termed Eph. 2. 1 His holy Word the which is pure yea purer then Gold and Silver that hath been seven times tryed in a fornace of earth Psal. 12. and 18. Yea it is to be loved more then thousands of golden wedges 2 A saving faith the which is a singular gift of God Joh. 6. 2 Thess. 3. and ariseth by the Word of God Rom. 10. and doth also unite the hearts of men Acts 5. and is tryed in the fire of tribulation Gal. 3. 3 A plain-hearted love to God and ones neighbour the which likewise is the gift of God and the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13. yea 't is God himself and so is it called 1 Joh. 4. chap. by which singular and principal parts viz. the word faith and charity Eph. 5. if they be exercised and made use of after an orderly way and manner then first of all the Lord Christ can rightly operate in us simple and imperfect mettals or men and make a perfect projection and have a saving ingress with his divine tincture and heavenly Unction for without this aforesaid medium 't will be most difficult for us to lay hold on him or to be made rightly partakers of his tincture For presently that terrible and lying false Chymist Sathan doth there shew himself and doth daily lay snares and gins for the new and regenerated Men and Sons of God especially if they accomplish their covenant made with Christ in the holy Baptism and do as St. Paul bids to be done viz. to fight a good valiant fight to keep the faith and a good conscience and endeavour by his faithful or trusty helpers 1 Pet. 5. â— such as are our flesh subject to sins James 3. and the wicked seducing world to draw and headlongly to thrust them into his dangerous net and also which grief be it spoken he doth most oftentimes by Gods permission for in Prov. 24. even the just man falleth seven times a day bring many a one to a headlong fall Even so he attempted vehemently to insnare and intrap the Lord Christ our head and Captain and earnestly tempted him presently upon his Baptism and at his entrance upon his holy ministry and as he did then so likewise after the like manneâ— doth he evidently shew and discover aâ— all times and seasons his secret fly tricks subtilties and deceits against the Christian Church even to this very day Now first he busied himself to tempt Christ by telling him of the great penury or want tribulations and various streights he was in and