saw the light might be the God and Lord of all elementary and created things only God alone should be his Lord. Thus God placed Man in the middle between that which is superiour and that which is inferiour and did inspire into him by the word Ruach Elohim noted in the Hebrew Book through the two nostrils the breath of a twofold life one whereof was the breath of the eternal word of God or of the eternal life the other was the elementary and astral airy breath or spirit and word of time Both these infused powers of life in Man divided themselves so that each formed and possessed its own Center to it self which was the continual will and desire of each of them after its first original or primordial nature Both of them desired its Mother from whence they proceeded and each desired for her self to be nourish'd by her essence So the Will as the Father did generate in the Lifes Center for himself the Appetite or Desire as his Son and Offspring from both which the Will and Desire did proceed the Spirit as the power of living by the attracting and breathing nature from God and the Airy world But the Body of the Element did also produce out of their properties the Center the Will the Desire and Power of attracting out of its Mother the Earth and Water and out of it desired to quench its thirst and suck her Breasts he eat therefore and fill d himself with her containing in himself a tripl triunity in one body of Man and living in this manner that Man might be an Image of God after his likeness But yet the Center of the Body Spirit and Soul were not compelled by any necessity to sill and satiate themselves from the Water Air and Earth but the highest liberty of Will was left unto them after the likeness of the Free-will of God It was free to the good lucid pleasant sweet will which took its beginning from the pleasant meekness to contract it self and diffuse it self in and through all circumferences over which as their Center and Ruler she held her Empire Yea it was lawfull and free to him to divide himself more or less as it pleased him He could also without any thing opposing him by a too ardent strong and vehement motion of his Seed and out-going powers from himself produce in himself another sharp pestilent appetite and malignant desire after a sharp austere and venemous food He could also shut his mouth and appetite by not attracting that aliment which was necessary for him But it would be too long and large here to tell what was the nature and condition of that food and how at that time Adam and Eve by a power and hurtfull pleasure did eat together and dyed that death which in heavenly natures happeneth in a heavenly and spiritual manner It is also not our business here to relate how they fell in their Will and kept as it were imprisoned the Appetite and Power of the good which they receiv'd from the highest good and made it unfruitful and how they closed obdurated the mouth of their soul and choaked the very good exerting it self in them because the lamentable condition of them both O! alas maketh it sufficiently known But not only the Soul in Adam and Eve did undergo the deplored condition of death but seeing all were knit together in one Body the burning fire of the Soul kindled also the Spirit and Body the Spirit and Body did infect the Air Water and Earth and compell'd them to consent and precipitated them into that miserable condition with themselves because the Body and Spirit were the Center and Universal Heart and held the potency of their Imagination in their Mother the Air Water and Earth it was of necessity it should so come to pass Like as in this time when the Heart in the Body is sick the whole Body is sick and suffers pain When self-desires go forth from the Heart according to the word of God all things pertaining to that Man contract thence some impurity Yea sometimes for the Offences of the Heart all the other Members shall be afflicted although they have done nothing but a forced duty and by a necessary obedience After the same manner the Earth ought and yet must bear for Adam's sake the horrour of the curse But let us not expatiate too much in the Field of Theology We must return to Natural Philosophy I have affirmed that Man is the Center and Compendium of all created things to him before the Fall all things in this World were obedient through the force and power of his Imagination which he exercised from the Center into all his Circumferences But as the Devil through the malignant force of his Imagination lost the right and power of the good Imagination in his first Kingdom this our World so Adam who was constituted by God in the place of the lapsed Angel which then assumed a grosser substance through the fall of Lucifer who rendred that place of a grosser substance by the like false and malign Imagination destroyed and lost the first or ancient power of the good and the right of the Divine Nature His imagination in this time and station is odious to nature and abominable neither hath it any ingress so nothing is left remaining to Man but a miserable Body which with its Spirit is heavily or with grief sustained by nature He has but a weak and slender power even to this day given to him through his judgment reason and labour of the body to bring some things in nature from worse into better and from better into worse and by this means to make some particular and gross mutations The Natural man therefore doth draw the Vital Spirit from the Air Water and Earth in a twosold manner from beneath and from above From above by the attraction of the Air or his respiration he enjoyeth the spirit power and breath of the out-flowing and out-going word to wit the gale or out-flowing spirit of the Air and turneth it into his nourishment but from beneath he partakes of the Flesh and Blood of the World The Flesh of the World Animals Vegetables and Minerals afford the Blood the Water affordeth the quintessence and spirit or most subtle breath and highest outgoing power of this Flesh and Blood Man enjoyeth That Spirit with its spiritual Salt doth not only refresh and nourish the Spirits of Men but from it also the Alchahistical dissolving power of the ferment in the Stomach derives its original the other parts of the Body do also take their ferment from thence so the Flesh and Blood of all the Macrocosm receiving a kind dissolution in the Humane Body by separating and preparing do afford and yield his Salt to the preparation of the Flesh and Blood of the Microcosm so that the thirsty and hungry particles of the Microcosm do eagerly desire and imbibe it but the excrementitious outsides do find their egress through the emunctories
to dispute I seek no ones testimony no ones refutation It suffices me as a possessor of the Art to need neither the living nor the dead Experience it self hath made me a Master and hath made a certain thing more certain than was needfull for a Master to have brought to light the truth of Nature Verily I should rejoyce if they had obtain'd their end by another matter for so I should believe the divine grace through my Prayers and Industry of seeking had opened to me a new and heretosore unknown Miracle of Nature For my Salt of Nature by artifice regenerated out of my matter hath perform'd the same things which the Arcanum of the Ancients is believed at any time to have performed Therefore he that will follow me must beware of Costs and great Labour If he find the tenth opening and the matter Nature it self without manual operation will help him and make him possessor of the wonderfull earth only let him follow Nature and consider its operations all things are little easie and of no Cost But how to go forward after the possession of the true Philosophick Mercury in the knowledge of which many are deceived thinking the Mercury of the Philosophers to be the Salt of Nature regenerated is not my work now to write because I write to Philosophers not lovers of Gold Therefore in the first place learn the wisedom of the Soul which if you find all will succeed prosperously and according to your wish and your hope will not be frustrated From her cometh every good thing and infinite riches are in her hand If thou findest the true Centre of Man other things of their own accord will slow in Whosoever thou art take in good part this my admonition and follow my experience unless thou wilt be a fool with the common multitude follow others if thou wilt and read their obscure style and veiled speeches Not one of them all hath used that fidelity towards their Neighbour as I have Never any in such perspicuous words hath made the derfull matter to be drawn out of Man so manifest They may compare their Writings with their Books whoever will may bend their words to his own meaning But yet whosoever will write better and clearer things I will be thankfull to him I have received the truth freely from God In communicating of it I fear not the curses of the Philosophers for I have learned nothing out of their Writings I commit this little Book more clear than the Sun to the Divine most wise Providence For he onely gives wisedom to the wise and understanding to the prudent Things occult and deeply hidden he reveals He searches the profound abyss of darkness by his Spirit in us from which light alone all is derived I give thee thanks O God my Father who hast bestowed on me wisedom and hast revealed that thing to me for which I prayed to thee Illuminate the eyes of all men who love thee with a pure heart that they may glorifie thy Name To the Tri-une God the great mercifull Father the Son and Spirit from whom alone floweth all truth light and wisedom be honour and praise for ever and ever Help O Lord thy Servant by Jesus Christ Amen Let things transitory give place to eternal Here we see in a glass and know through a cloud but then we shall see him as he is O how vain are things which affect the Senses compared with those which make the Soul happy that he may live for ever with his Saviour FINIS Books Printed for J. Harris at the Harrow in Little Britain MEdicina Practica or Practical Physick Shewing the Method of Curing the most usual Diseases happening to Humane Bodies With the Preparation of the Praecipiolum or Vniversal Medicine of Paracelsus To which are added the Philosophical Works of Hermes Trismegistus Kalid Persicus Geber Arabs Artefius Longaevus Nicholas Flammel Roger Bachon and Geo. Ripley Together with a singular Comment upon the First Book of Hermes the most ancient of Philosophers The whole Compleated in Three Books By William Salmon M. D. Price 5 s. The Treasury of Drugs unlockt or a full and true Description of all sorts of Drugs and Chymical Preparations sold by Druggists Whereby you may know the place of their Growth and how to distinguish the Good from the Bad. The whole Alphabetically digested By Jo. Jacob Berlu of London Merchant in Drugs Price 1 s. Mathematical Divinity or a plain Demonstration from the Holy Scriptures that the Times of this World were fore-appointed by the Covenant made with Abraham and determined to be according to the Measure of the Age and Fulness of Christ Kept secret since the World began but is now made plain upon XII Tables in a Solar Calendar as familiar to the Vnderstanding as any common Almanack With full Proof that this is the last Generation which shall not pass away till all things be fulfilled and the Gates of Righteousness be opened Being the Result of many years study By Elias Palmer A Pleasant and Compendious History of the first Inventers and Instituters of the most Famous Arts Mysteries Laws Customs and Manners in the whole World Together with many other Rarities and Remarkable things rarely known and never before made publick To which is added several Curious Inventions peculiarly attributed to England and Englishmen The whole Work Alphabetically digested and very helpfull to the Readers of History Price bound 1 s. A necessary Family-Book both for the City and Country in two Parts Containing Exact Plain and Short Directions for Taking and Killing all manner of Vermin on Land and in Water As Part I. by Land the Fox Polcat Buzzard Kite Weasle Adden Snake Caterpillar Frog Mole Pismire Fly Bug Rats and Mice Fleas and Lice Part II. by Water the Hern Dob-Chick Coot or Moor-Hen Cormorant Sea-Pye Kings-Fisher Otter Water-Rat and Ospray all great destroyers of Fish Price 6 d. The Rational Sceptick By a Person of Honour Price 3 d. The End
true and essential humility to will to be without desire without will without the knowledge of any thing and to cast away himself as an unprofitable piece of wood in the presence of the Lord that he may make of it an Ark or Chest wherein he may work wherein he may not find resistance from Ihood from a strange fire in strange motions which may hinder the purity of the divine motions This is necessary For blessed at length are those dead who cease from their own works and so in God lose their own life and part with all their own delights Thou who stirrest up thy self to begin this work art thou certain this spirit that moves thee is pure certainly if there be the least impetuosity it is not the spirit of God that moves thee for he is far off from any impetuous desire And truly this is the best Examen that such a spirit that compells with force is far off from the spirit of divine truth because we know that God inhabits not in the fire nor in the earthquake but in the still small voice Plainly another in this way ought to be a guide and author to thee That will not presently succeed according to thy desire which thy phantasie suggests unto thee If thou art called to this work he that is to shew thee the way without which it is impossible to attain the end will make himself known to thee by word of mouth and will lay such strict bands upon thee that presently in that very moment thou shalt cease to be Master of thy self or of thy work for why does wretched Man attempt without the spirit of God to intermeddle with this work or does he think he shall effect any thing in this matter without an internal word speaking inwardly or an expert Master Verily he deserves to be counted a Fool who thinks divine treasures are not kept in stronger holds But if any one thinks he will with feigned words deceive God and with an impetuous desire is instigated and will conceive hope where there is none and as the Poet saith flectere si nequeo superos Acharonta movebo let him look well to himself and hearken to this admonition lest he invites such guests from which it is very difficult yea impossible to be free again For God is a pure spirit far distant from all terrestreity Let the tincture be as wholly as may be yet the curse and anger of God is in all terrestreity and corporeity which is a truth we certainly affirm In that accursed part the Devil finds an open entrance through the impetuous desire of Man and in various ways deludes those whom he finds in his Kingdom of which thing it would be very irksome to bring examples But God is a Spirit and will be worshipp'd in spirit and truth and whosoever is one spirit with him will see that his spirit has the rule and dominion in and over all things yea in and over Hell and the Devil and will admire and yet he will not touch the forbidden tree Therefore where there is any covetous desire it were better for them to leave the work For seeing terrene things belong to the Devil the Prince of this World and this work is partly coelestial and partly terrestrial let every one know that is covetous of this Art that the Devil has an entrance in his covetousness for it is his own proper habitation For the corrupt nature of Man and the malignant spirits by Man do easily mix together and what they are not capable to doe of themselves they are made capable of by Man and they teach him the Science to use their power and mingle their malignity together with it But he that is ruled by the Spirit of God will always behave himself in a passive manner and if Heaven were opened to him he would not enter in unless he were sweetly introduced by a divine power holy pure quiet friendly lucid and serene beyond his own will and expectation Nothing can remain in the divine fire which Jesus Christ has not wrought in the Soul in the light of his Conscience by which every one may be saved without an historical faith whether he be Christian Turk Jew or Gentile He that is faithfull to that light in the smallest things shall receive a greater light in greater things The word which was with God from eternity shineth in the darkness as John writeth enkindleth this light in its beginning and more and more enkindles it as man is faithfull as in its own propriety in eternity and what is there wrought is a new birth plainly another thing from the Natural man and it worketh all those things which the Natural man cannot work as the Imitation of Christ in meekness and patience and self-denial and it seeketh and with ardor desireth to perform those things which are written from the Lord Matth. 3. 4 5 6. He that hath built his house on this foundation that in all fights against natural motions he first seeks the renewing of his heart his structure will not easily be overturned by the storms but will stand against the swelling waves of the Sea it will swim above them as in an Ark by the power of a well exercised spirit He will know the Devil and the Dragon sitting on the waters and will overcome him But he that as Solomon by a large effusion of gifts without essential regeneration founded on death and desertion of the spirit of grace thinks he can stand will be much deceived and in the end will see the slippery firmness of his foundation Whoever had greater knowledge than Lucifer who greater riches than he was he not the greatest of all the Angels could all those gifts help him who had not yet sufficiently learned to bridle his own motions therefore there is need of the opposer and slayer of this diabolical poison sown in us What is without us can help us nothing but it must be born wax strong and exercise its power over us our Esauitish birth must be opposed and overcome by the Jacobean birth Jesus Christ in the womb of this principle by the power of love and patience All knowledge and riches cannot save us from the judgments of the Father nothing is admitted to his purity but what is from the spiritual seed of his Son He therefore that in all things acknowledgeth justice and in justice mercy and well understands that where sin is it is his own fault and of those good things which he hath received and doth daily receive judgeth himself unworthy yea unsufficient for any thing who after that he has been according to the flesh and spirit judged he will in humility of heart remain safe from all flatteries and poisoned darts of the enemy But they who like thieves come and arrogate that to themselves which belongs to God and attribute that to God which is their own shall one day hear that voice Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a
a sweet tranquillity and pleasant whispering which will not permit thee any more to precipitate into that acute and sinfull fire from the holy and pleasing light It will forbid and drive thee from pride self-love and desire of Gold and will command thee always to be content in humility After this change thou wilt be plainly another Man and nothing will grieve thee more than the time thou hast spent in ambition covetousness of Gold and voluptuousness Then the wonderfull works of God and the creatures always before thine Eyes will be admired and thou wilt say O Lord I rejoyce in the works of thy hands in thee I very well see Omnipotence and Divine Wisdome neither is there any need to the understanding of these incomprehensible things to desire to know and search out the great mystery of the Philosophers Mind what I now propound to you Which is most difficult to apprehend either this that of the base Metals Lead Tin Copper Iron Argent Vive may be made a Metal more excellent than Gold or this that of one Grass or Herb or Fruit may be made Milk Blood Flesh Bones Hides Skin Hair Bristles Salt Oyl Sour Sweet Resin Dung Wine Sand and Gravel Bladder and Reins with so many Juices and Moistures I say whether this is not a more excellent miracle of Nature that of this Herb and Grass may be made an Animal Seed out of which a Man or other Brute without addition of any other thing at length proceedeth than that of the base Metals Gold is generated That I say much more deserves admiration than this Because the transmutation of the base Metals into better abideth and hath its procession in one and the same scale of Nature in the same Metalline Kingdom But Bread and Grass on which the Animal Creatures feed is by the Salt of Nature transmuted into very many and various sorts of materials in them Here is a great and hidden mystery of Nature which whosoever understandeth does penetrate into the most intimate centre of Nature without impediment and may by the divine assistance have and enjoy it But because the growth of Animals increase of weight and transmutation of Grass and Bread into an Animal is a vulgar rustick Science and perspicuous to all men the more learned mind it not but seek novelties though of less value and unworthy of their consideration If thou canst my Friend make that spirit familiar to thee which by its energy in the Animal Creatures maketh all things that enter into them to live an animal life what and how great an effect dost thou think that spirit will produce if thou joyn it for the Agent to a metalline nature There have been many industrious searchers of Nature who have attempted this but have not found the end they longed for Therefore my Friends first learn those things that are obvious to your eyes before you set your mind to find the causes of things remote immerst in profound darkness and hid in the depth of the earth It is sufficient for you to know God and your selves seek with joy true sincere and holy love It is enough if by this means you have gained for your selves treasures in Heaven which neither moth nor rust can consume and in which there is no fear of thieves Leave off from vain chymical labours and bridle your excessive desire after the Philosophers Stone your labour and cost will daily increase your hopes will decrease of a thousand seekers there will be hardly one Adept Thou Reader whether thou wilt be one of these a possessor of so great a good wilt very much doubt if right reason bear any great sway in thee The most wise and subtle in this way have failed and with all their wisedom have not obtained their end Therefore spend thy time after the eternal blessed life because thou art not certain whether this day thy soul shall not be taken from thee Look whether thou canst give a good account of thy life here Consider whether thy soul has acted well in the house of thy body whether it has not too often provoked it by inordinate motion whether it does not yet burn and is inflamed in the fire void of peace wherein is trembling fear and horror darkness cold and misery stirred up by the fierce inordinate motions of the mind whether the Salt of thy Soul has not lost its savour be not made acid and corrosive by such an impetuous heat what kind of savour will those exhalations and bitter exits of thy heart yield to the blessed and sweet palate of God Almighty will not the Holy God spue such a soul out of his mouth O my Friends you have not one moment of your life secure from death labour ye and find your selves and transmute your own souls which have attracted the hardness coldness and impurity of Lead the austerity bitterness and ardent nature of Copper and inconstancy of Argent Vive and by the Divine Spirit render them peacefull and better Because this Spirit like the Spirit of the Air before your mouth is always hovering before your souls and continually moving it self which with a gentle and pleasant whispering greatly desires to be attracted by your will O Man draw in this Spirit for this will warm thee yea even melt thee by its holy motions and as in an open melting fire will tinge thy soul with love and wisedom to make it perfect and more excellent than any Gold that the corrosive Devil can no more corrode disturb or bring any change into it But if these my friendly exhortations which God forbid find no place in you I will set before you honour that is good a good Name your own Repute and Money for the sake of which in a thing uncertain there is so great waste of treasure such sottish dilapidations If thou desirest to be a Politician wise and prudent thou very well knowest that a little in the purse is better and more certain than that which by a vain and uncertain hope may be expected You have known that those who with great labour seek the Art of making Gold are the common talk of all men and when they have found nothing are mock'd and ridicul'd of every body every one calls them fools and that not without reason because they suffer themselves to be deluded by those who put to sale lying processes and proclaim through the world their Arcana's For by these they give their money for smoke and when they have been sufficiently disquieted and vexed by them and have lost their time and health and the Gold they sought for being ignorant also what Gold is whence it is and what kind of matter at length they come to a too late inglorious yea infamous repentance Therefore I exhort those that would avoid this precipice to remain in the beaten and common road which is plain and leads not astray But I do not dehort those from any further search into the wonders of God who have
been called by a divine spirit to a divine light who being drawn by true humility search into the wonders of nature and desire to communicate and make them known to their Neighbour who being filled with unfeigned and sincere love in the poverty of their knowledge and that little of the gifts of God granted to them are found faithfull in the least things but rather I exhort them to it and stir them up to go forward servently and in simplicity of heart follow that light which in this darksome way Ikindle in this little Book But they ought throughly to examine themselves without any flattery or self-love whether they are ordained for this Art Whether above all things he love God and his Neighbour as himself and whether he will freely help the poor because a drop of water and one mite seasonably given in ones poverty and from a true love to our Neighbour is as great in the sight of God and will have as great a reward as a large quantity of wine and money given by the rich If their life agrees with this rule they may go on to the full knowledge of nature and obtain their desired end They lose their labour and cost who with great carefulness rise early and sit up late and eat their bread in anxiety For the Lord bestows it on them that love him while they sleep who seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness that is he who patiently endures divine judgments and in all judgments though he be judged and his soul is grieved and even against nature is forced to endure yet always he acknowledges and understands that God is just good and mercifull and does acquiesce in his justice and desires not to enter into the Kingdom but by the fiery trial purification and obedience to the word his reason being made silent the passions of his mind tamed and subdued by a power supernatural to him all other things shall be added But I shall here speak no more of the holy silence nor use many words of the nature of this Mystery but will set upon the thing it self with the help of God And because I am certain that the wise will observe their duty but the foolish shall get nothing I will begin after the finishing of this Prayer O God our Father thou Lord of every good thing thou who wouldst make all things by thy word who hast formed Man by thy wisedom that he should rule over every Creature which thou hast made give me wisedom which is always round about thy throne neither drive us back from thy face for we are thy Servants and the Sons of thine Handmaid weak and infirm and of few days full of errour and unconstant neither are we fit or able without thy help to render unto thee in this our office that talent which of thy bounty thou hast committed to us with that increase we ought All perfection is from thee and thy wisedom but there is no capacity or worth in us send unto us and enlighten us with thy wisedom which cometh from above send her with a ray from thy holy Heaven from the Throne of thy Glory send her that she may be with and labour with us that we may know thy will grant that she may lead us by her glory that the works of our hands may be accepted with thee for nothing can be accepted by thee that is not wrought by her in us and so it will come to pass that we shall see thy truth in thy creatures to be admired O Lord our Cogitations are full of error and doubts and darkness environs our judgment Send thy holy spirit from on high and enlighten us that we may always go in the right way that we may perform thy will to the honour of thy holy Name and prosit of our Neighbour through Jesus Christ Amen WHen that matter wherein Lucifer held his Reign and Center had with him and his Angels or out-going Powers put on the nature of burning and corroding fire by a too great and inordinate motion whereby he desited to exalt his light and render it equal with the Deity and from the nature of light was turned into obscure darkness There was progenerated from the light in the first place Air then from the Air a Mist and last of all from the Mist a Viscous Water And here doubtless this Water through the bitter vehement and stinging cold the light being taken from it and further and further would have departed had suffer'd the force and power of an horrible Coagulation unless God had a-new sent in a ray of his divine light for a new Center and conveyed it through the whole matter for the Devil shall no more be the Center of this World the agonizing matter perceiving the splendor and sweetness of this light began to awake The bitterness of the corrosive greedy and austere power moving thus strongly decreased and the stupified matter as it were in a fright began to conside in the form of a glutinous Water God would not that the whole Heaven Mansion and Kingdom or Matter wherein Lucifer reigned should be utterly destroyed which before the Fall had its word light and motion from him as from the Center For this Matter was not made such by its own will but by constraint in the ardent imagination of the overruling spirit or intelligence For this spirit did with force exercise his rule and magical power in the Matter From thence the sweetness of the light departing to its original left the corrosive darkness to the burning desire of the spirit and the most kind motion of the heat was changed by the horrible attraction and vehement compaction of the Cold. The serene face of Heaven did put on the sorrowfull countenance of the terrestrial Water and Waterish Earth But God willing to bring the Idea of the world which from eternity he had a knowledge of in his mind into figures began to make something new in which he could set forth the manifestation of himself and have complacency in it Therefore he began a new Creation and by his spirit with his word expanded the Matter and divided it into three which working together in one harmony an effluvium from one to one by one thing should be the beginning of all things yet so that one of those three cannot consist without the other two so there is made out of this one Chaos or viscous Water a fixed fluid and volatile Body Spirit and Soul Earth Water and Air. The fluid spirit is too unconstant the volatil soul too subtile the fixed body too gross to receive that infused power of the light to its motion But when from this threefold union a fourth generation ariseth there is the seed of love and the center of vertues and powers a center that cannot properly be named Water for it is a viscous Earth in which is the Water of Nature and yet it is not Earth because it floweth and maketh moist neither is it