Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	air_n	body_n	element_n	5,315	5	9.9100	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95834	Aula lucis, or, The house of light : a discourse written in the year 1651. / By S.N. a modern speculator.	Vaughan, Thomas, 1622-1666.	1652 (1652)	Wing V144; Thomason E1367_5; ESTC R210754	16,840	61

all was to no purpose hee had the Cabinet but not the Key At last hee found himself to bee what many Doctors are a confident Quack a Broyler and nothing more as it appears by his subsequent confession Eleganter sayth hee dixerunt Philosophi quod opus magnum non est nisi solutio Congelatio sed ista fiunt per viam Circulorum quorum ignorantiâ plures Magnates in literatura decepti fuerunt in magisterio credentes notabiliter cum confidentiâ se intelligere formam modum Circulandi ex quibus nos fuisse unum lethaliter vulner atum celare non intendimus Cum sola enim presumptione temeritate scientiae hujus naturam firmiter nos intelligere credebamus sed nullo modo intelleximus donec tempus adfuit in quo spiritus nos docuit non immediatè sed mediate per Magistrum Arnoldum de Villa nova qui largitate suà immensà reficienter in nos inspiravit Thus he and now I shall advise the Chymist to set a watch at his lips because of some invisible Gentlemen that overheare I my selfe have known some men to affirme they had seen and done such things which God and Nature cannot doe according to the present Laws of Creation but had my young friend Eugenius Philalethes been present hee had langh'd without mercie Take heed then what you say least you make sport for the Wise for they are something like the immortals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many men there are who think it Ordinarie to be instructed in these secrets but in this they are confidently mistaken Hee must bee a knowne tryed Friend a friend of years not of dayes not a complement all thing whose Action is all Hypocrit not a severe dissembler who gives thee fair words but if once tryed his heart is so sarr from his Promises that like a Fly in a Box it is scarce a part of his Body Raymund Lullie hath in a certain place deliver'd himself handsomly in relation to the practise and this for his friends sake but how rigid then was hee in scriptis His Disciple if hee could understand him was to bee accomptable to him in the use of the mysterie and therefore he tels him plainly that hee did it mutuo tantum sub restitutione coram judice generali wee must not expect then to be instructed because wee are acquainted and verily acquaintance with such persons is a thing not common In ordinarie favours it is suppos'd that men should deserve them before they receive them but in this thing which is a Benefit incomparable it sals out otherwise wee looke for present discoveries wee believe the Philosophers will teach us and in plaine termes tell us all their Art but wee know not wherefore they should bee so kind unto us Such impudent Hopes have no more reason in them then if I should spend a complement on a rich Gentleman and then expect hee should make mee his Heire in lieu of my phrase and so passe his Estate upon mee This is very absurd but nothing more common though I know there is another sort of well-wishers but they are most miserable for they cast about to foole those men whom they know to bee wiser then themselves But in this point the Philosophers need no Instructions they can act many parts and hee that plots to over-reach them takes a course to breake before hee sets up It remains then that we bestow our Attempts on their Books and here wee must consider the two Vniversal Natures Light and Matter Matter as I have formerly intimamated is the House of Light here hee dwels and builds for himself and to speake Truth hee takes up his lodging in sight of all the World When he first enters it it is a glorious transparent Roome a Chrystall-Castle and hee lives like a Familiar in Diamonds Hee hath then the Libertie to look out at the Windows his love is all in his sight I meane that liquid Venus which lures him in but this continues not very long Hee is busie as all Lovers are labours for a more close Vnion insinuates and conveyes himself into the very substance of his Love so that his Heat and action stirre up her moyst Essences by whose meanes he becomes an absolute Prisoner For at last the Earth growes over him out of the water so that he is quite shut up in darknesse and this is the secret of the AEternall God which he hath been pleas'd to reveale to some of his Seruants though mortall Man was never worthy of it I wish it were lawfull for mee to enlarge my selfe in this point for Religion's sake but it is not safe nor convenient that all Eares should heare even the mysteries of Religion This leprous Earth for such it is if it bee not pur'gd is the Toad that eates up the Eagle or Spirit of which there is frequent mention in the Philosopher's Bookes In this Earth also have many of the wisemen seated that tincture which wee commonly call darknesse Truly they may as well bestow it on the water or the Aire for it appears not in any one element but either in all Foure or else in two and this last was that which deceiv'd them Now the water hath no blacknesse at all but a majestic large Claritie The Earth likewise in her owne nature is a glorious Chrystallized body bright as the Heavens The Aire also excels both these in complexion for hee hath in him amost strange inexpressible whitenesse and serenitie As for the Fire it is outwardly red and shining like a Jacinth but inwardly in the spirit white as Milke Now if wee put all these substances together though purged and celified yet when they stirre and worke for Generation the blacke colour over-spreads them all and such a blacke so deepe and horrid that no common darkenesse can be compared unto it I desire to know then whence this Tincture ariseth for the Roote of every other Colour is known It is to be observed that in the separation of the Elements this blackenesse appeares not any where but in that Element which is under the Fire and this onely whiles you are drawing out the Fire for the Fire being separated the Body is white It is plaine then that Darkenesse belongs to the Fire for in truth Fire is the Manal of it and this is one of the greatest Mysteries both in Divinity and Philosophie but those that would rightly understand it should first learne the difference betweene Fire and Light Trismegistus in his Vision of the Creation did first see a pleasing gladsome Light but interminated Afterwards appeared a horrible sad Darkenesse and this moved downe-wards descending from the Eye of the Light as if a Cloud should come from the Sunne This darkenesse saith he was condens'd into a certaine water but not without a mournfull inexprossible Voyce or Sound as the Vapours of the Elements are resolved by Thunder After this saith that great Philosopher the holy word came out of the Light

conceale them Had their doctrine been such as the Vniversities profess now their silence indeed had been a vertue but their positions were not meer noyse and Notion they were most deep experimental secrets and those of infinite use and Benefit Such a tradition then as theirs was may wear that style of the noble Verulam and is most justly called traditio Lampadis But I observe that in their deliverie of mysteries they have as in all things else imitated nature who dispenseth nor her light without her shadows they have provided a Veile for their Art not so much for obscuritie as ornament and yet I cannot deny but some of them have rather buried the truth then drest it for my own part I shall observe a meane way neither too obscure nor too open but such as may serve posteritie and add some splendor to the Science it selfe And now whosoever thou art that in times to come shalt cast thine eyes on this book if thou art corrupted with the common Philosophie doe not presently rage and take up the pen in defiance of what is here written It may be thou hast studied thy three questions pro forma and a quick disputant thou art but hast thou concocted the whole body of Philosophie hast thou made nature the onely business of thy life and bast thou arrived at last to an infallible experimental knowledge If none of these things upon what foundation dost thou build It is meer quacking to oppose the dead and such perhaps as thy betters durst not attempt in time of life but as one said that advantage breeds basenes so some may insult because their Adversarie is out of the way and tell mee with that friendly Stoick Audisnê hoc Amphiarae sub terram abdite If any such Tares spring above ground when I am under it I have alreadie looked upon them as an idle contemptible bundle I have prepar'd them a convenient Destinie and by my present Scorn annihilated their future malice It is a better and more serious Generation I would bee serviceable unto Generation that seek nature in the simplicitie thereof and follow her not only with the Tong but with the hand If thou art such then as this Character speakes let me advise thee not to despaire give me leave also to affirm unto thee and that on my soule that the consequences and treasures of this Art are such and so great that thy best and highest wishes are farre short of them reade then with diligence what I shall write and to thy diligence add patience to thy patience hope for I tell thee neither fables nor follies Tibi res Antiquae laudis Artis Aggredior Sanctos ausus recludere fontes I tell thee a Truth as ancient as the fundamentals of the world and now lest my Preface should exceed in Relation to the discourse it selfe which must bee but short I will quit this kind out-work that I may bring thee within doores and here will I shew thee the Throne of Light and the Chrystalline Court thereof Light originally had no other birth then manifestation for it was not made but discovered it is properly the life of every thing and it is that which Acts in all particulars but the communion thereof with the first matter was celebrated by a generall contract before any particulars were made the matter of it self was a passive thin Substance but apt to retaine Light as Smoke is to retaine flame After impregnation it was condens'd to a Chrystalline moisture unctuons and fiery of nature Hermaphroditical and this in a double sense in relation to a double Center Celestial and Terrestrial From the Terrestrial Center proceeded the earthly Venus which is Fierie and Masculine and the earthly Mercury which is Waterie and Faeminine and these two are one against the other From the Celestiall Center proceeded two living Images namely a White and a Red light and the white light setled in the Water but the Red went into the Earth Hence you may gather some infallible signes whereby you may direct your selves in the knowledge of the Matter and in the Operation it selfe when the Matter is knowne For if you have the true Sperm and know withall how to prepare it which cannot bee without our secret fire you shall find that the Matter no soonerseels the Philosophicall heat but the white light will lift himself above the water and there will hee swim in his glorious blew vestiment like the Heavens But that I may speak somthing more concerning the Chaos it self I must tell you it is not rain-water nor dew but it is a subtile mineral moisture a water so extreamly thin and spiritual with such a transcendent incredible brightness there is not in all nature any liquor like it but it self In plain terms it is the middle substance of the wisemen's Mercurie a water that is coagulable and may bee bardned by a proper heat into stones and metals Hence it was that the Philosophers cald it their stone or if it be lawful for mee to reveal that which the Devil out of envie would not discover to Illardus I say they cal'd it a stone to the end that no man might know what it was they cal'd so for there is nothing in the world so remote from the complexion of a stone for it is water and no stone Now what water it is I have told you already and for your better instruction I shal tell you more it is a water made by nature not extracted by the hands of Man nor is it meere water but a spermatic viscous composition of Water Earth Air and Fire all these foure nature unites in one Chrystalline coagulable Mass in the form or appearance of water and therefore I told you it was a water made by nature But if you ask mee how nature may be said to make any such water I shall instruct you by an example that 's obvious Earth and water are the onely materials whereupon nature works for these two being passive are compassed about with the active superior bodies namely with the Aire Heaven Sun and Stars Thus doe they stand in the very fire at least under the Beams and ejaculations thereof so that the Earth is subject to a continual torrefaction and the water to a continuall coction Hence it comes to pass that wee are perpetually overcast with Clouds and this by a Physicall Extraction or sublimation of water which nature herself distils and rains downe upon the earth Now this water though of a different complexion from the Philosopher's Mineral water yet hath it many circumstances that well deserve our observation I shall not insist long upon any I will onely give you one or two instances and then returne to my subject First of all then you are to consider that nature distils not beyond the body as the Chymist doth in the Recipient she drawes the water up from the Earth and to the same earth doth she returne it and hence it is that shee generates