is the Heaven wherein the great Lights together with the Stars are rowled about and it sendeth down its virtues through the Air unto inferior things but in the Beginning all being confounded together made a Chaos Behold I have holily opened to them the truth for our Chaos is as 't were a Mineral Earth in respect of its own coagulation and yet notwithstanding it is indeed volatile Air whithin which the Heaven of the Philosophers is in its Centre which Centre is truly Astral shining upon the Earth with its Beams even to the very superficies And what great one is this that is so wise as to gather from these things that a new King is born more powerful than all the rest a Redeemer of his Brethren from original Defilements for 't was expedient that he died to be exalted aloft that he might give his Flesh and Blood for the Life of the World Good God! How wonderful are these thy Works 'T is thy doing and it seems miraculous in our eyes Father I thank thee that thou hast hidden these things from the Wise and revealed them to Babes CHAP. 6. The Air of the Sophists THe wide Circuit or Firmament called in the Holy Writ Air is likewise called our Chaos and yet not without a great Secret because as the Firmamental Air is the separator of the Waters even so is our Air. Our Work is therefore verily a System of the greater World because as the Waters under the Firmament are to be seen and do appear to us who live upon the Earth but the superior Waters do flie our sight because they are so far distant from us even so is it in our Microcosm the Waters are the Minerals without the Centre these appear but those that are inclosed within do shun our sight and yet really and truly are These are those Waters that the Author of the New Light speaks of viz. Which are and do not appear untill the Artist pleaseth Therefore even as the Air distinguisheth between the Waters so doth our Air prohibit all manner of ingress of the extracentrical waters unto the waters that are in the Centre for should they but enter in and be mixed then would they presently close together with an indissoluble union therefore I say that the external vapours and burning 🜠doth stiffly adhere to our Chaos whose tyranny it being not able to resist the pure flies away from the Fire in the form of a dry powder If thou knewest how to water this dry earth with a water of its own kind thou wilt loosen the pores of the earth and this outward Thief with the workers of Malice will be cast out of doors and the water will be purged by the addition of a true Sulphur from Leprous Defilements and from superfluous Hydropical Moisture and thou shalt have in thy power the Fountain of Count Trevisan whose waters are properly dedicated to Diana the Virgin This Thief is evil armed with arsenical Malignitie whom the winged Youngster doth abhor and flie from and although the central water be his Bride yet the Youngster dares not utter his most ardent Love towards her because of the snares of the Thief whose tricks are almost inavoidable In this let Diana be propitious unto thee who knows how to tame the wild Beasts whose two Doves shall temperate the malignity of the Air with their feathers then the Youth enters easily in through the pores presently shaking the waters above and stirrs up a rude and rubish Cloud do thou bring in the water over him even to the brightness of the Moon and so the darkness which was upon the face of the Abyss will be discussed by the Spirit which moves it self in the waters thus by the Command of God Light shall appear separate the Light from the Darkness the seventh time and then this Sophick Creating of thy ☿ shall be complete and the seventh day shall be to thee a Sabbath of Rest from which time even to a Years Revolution must you expect the Generation of the Son of the supernatural Sun who will come into the World at the end of the Ages that he may free his Brethren from al Defilements CHAP. 7. Of the first Operation of the Preparation of the Sophick Mercury by the Flying Eagles BRother You are to know that our exact knowledge of the Eagles of the Philosophers is conceived and judged to be the first degree of perfection for to know it there is required a quick ingenuity For do not believe that this Science comes to any of us by chance or a casual imagination as the common ignorant people do stupidly believe but we have sweated much and a long time we have passed many nights without sleep we have undergone much labour and sweat that we might obtain the truth and therefore O studious Beginner Know of certainty without labour and sweat thou wilt accomplish nothing viz. in the first Work although in the second Nature alone performs the Work without any imposition of hands only using a moderate external Fire Understand therefore Brother the sayings of the Sophi when they write That their Eagles are to be brought to devour the Lion the which Eagles how much the sparinger the number is so much the greater wrestling and a slow victory but the work is most excellently perfected in the seventh or ninth number The ☿ Sophical namely is the Bird of Hermes which is sometimes called a Goose sometimes a Pheasant one while this thing another while that but wherever the Magi speak of their Eagles they speak in the plural number and they assign their number from three to ten yet they are not to be understood thus as if they would have so many weights or parts of the water to one of the earth but you must interpret their sayings to be meant of the intrinsecal weight that is to say you must take the water so oftentimes acuated or sharpened as they number Eagles which acuation is made by sublimation and therefore every sublimation of the ☿ of Philosophers let be one Eagle and the seventh will so exalt the ☿ that it will become a most convenient Bath for thy King Therefore that thou mayest have this knot well unfolded attend diligently Let there be taken of our Fiery Dragon which hides the Magical Chalybs in his own belly four parts of our Magnet nine parts mix them together with a torrid Vulcan or great Fire in the form of a Mineral water upon which there will swim a scum which is to be cast away remove the shell and take the kernel purge it the third time with Fire and Salt which will easily be done if Saturn shall have beheld himself in the Looking-glass of Mars thence is made the Chamaeleon or our Chaos in which all Arcana's lies hid virtually but not actually This is the Hermaphroditical Infant which even from his very first Infancy hath been infected by the biting of the Corascene Mad Dog whereby he is besotted and distracted by a
through every Age is reducible in our water only and is then living and ours Even as Wheat sown in the ground doth change its name and is called the Husbandman's Seed-corn either for Bread or other uses as well as for Seed even so it is with Gold as long as it is in the form of a Ring a Vessel or Mony 't is the vulgar Gold but as concerning its being cast into our water 't is Philosophical In the former respect it is called Dead because it would remain unchanged even to the Worlds end in the latter respect it is said to be living because it is so potentially which power is capable of being brought into Art in a few daies but then Gold will be no longer Gold but the Chaos of the Sophi therefore well may Philosophers say That their philosophical Gold differeth from the vulgar Gold Which difference consisteth in the Composition For even as that Man is said to be dead which hath already received the sentence of Death so is Gold said to be alive when it is mixed in such a Composition and put upon such a fire in which it will necessarily receive a germinative life in a short time yea 't will demonstrate the actions of a life beginning and that within a few daies Therefore the same Sophi that say their Gold is living do bid thee the Searcher of Art to revive the dead the which if thou knowest to do and to prepare the Agent and rightly to mix the Gold it will soon become living in which vivification thy living Menstruum will dye Therefore the Magi command thee to revive the dead and to kill the living They do at the first entrance call their water living and say that the death of one principle with the death of another hath one and the same period Thence 't is evident That their Gold is to be taken dead and their water living and by compounding these together the seed-Gold will by a short decoction vivifie or quicken and the live ☿ will be killed that is the spirit will be coagulated with the dissolved bodie and both of them putrifie together in the form of dirt or mud until all the members of the Composition are rent or dispersed into Atoms Here therefore is the naturality of our Magistery The Mistery which we so much hide is to prepare the ☿ truly so called the which cannot be found upon the earth ready prepared to our hands and that for singular reasons known to the Adeptists In the ☿ we neatly amalgamate pure Gold purged to the highest degree of purity and filed or beaten and being shut in the glass we daily boyl it the Gold is dissolved by the vertue of our Water and returneth to its nearest matter in which the included life of the Gold becomes free and takes the life of the dissolving ☿ which in respect of the Gold is the same as good earth in respect of the Grain of Wheat In this ☿ therefore the Gold being dissolved doth putrifie and must be necessarily so by the necessity of Nature therefore after the putrefaction of death there riseth the new Body of the same Essence with the former Body and of a more noble substance 〈◊〉 takes on it the degrees of virtuality proportionable to the difference between the four qualities of the Elements This is the reason of our Work this is our whole Philosophy We have said therefore That there is nothing in our Work secret but ☿ only the Magistery of which is rightly to prepare it and extract the hidden ☉ it contains and to Marry it in a just proportion with Gold and to govern it with the fire as the ☿ requireth because Gold doth not of it self fear the fire and as far forth as 't is united with the ☿ so far doth it render it able to abide the fire Therefore this is the Labour and Work to accommodate the regiment of the heat to the capacity of ☿ his abiding it but he that hath not rightly prepared his ☿ and should joyn Gold therewith his Gold is yet the Gold of the Vulgar because 't is joyned with such a foolish Agent in which it remaineth as much unchanged as if it had been kept in the Chest nor will it lay off its own bodily nature by any Regiment of the Fire whatsoever where an Agent is not alive within Our is then a living and quickning soul and therefore our Gold is Spermatical as Wheat sown is Seed-corn when as the same Wheat would in the Barn remain Bread-corn only and dead and though it were buried in a pot under the earth as the West-Indians are wont to hide their Fruit or Corn in pits in the earth fenced against the access of water yet unless it be met withal by the moist vapour of the earth 't is dead and abides without fruit and is plainly remote from Vegetation I know there are many which will carp at this Doctrine and say That he affirms it Gold of the Vulgar and running ☿ is the material Subject of the Stone But we know the contrary Go to therefore ye Philosophers examine your Purses although you know such things have ye the Stone Verily as for my self I do not possess it by theft but by the gift of my God I have it I have made it and daily have it in my power have often form'd it with my own hands and I write the things I know But I write not to you Therefore deal with your Rain-waters May-waters your Salts tattle of your Sperme that it is more potent than the Devil himself slander and revile me Believe ye that this your evil speaking will sadden me I say that Gold only and ☿ are our Materials and I know what I write and the searcher of all hearts knoweth that I write the truth nor is there any cause to accuse me of envy because I write with an unterrified Quill in an unheard-of style to the honour of God to the profitable use of my Neighbours and contempt of the World and its Riches because Helias the Artist is already born and now glorious things are declared of the City of God I dare affirm that I do possess more Riches than the whole known World is worth but cannot make use thereof because of snares of Knaves I disdain I loath and deservedly detest this Idolizing of Gold and Silver by the price whereof the pomp and vanities of the World are celebrated Ah filthy Evil Ah vain Nothingness Believe ye that I conceal these things out of envy No verily for I protest to thee I grieve from the very bottom of my Soul that we are driven as it were like Vagabonds from the Face of the Lord throughout the earth But what need many words That thing that we have seen taught and wrought which we have which we possess and know these do we declare being moved with meer compassion toward the studious and with Indignation of Gold and Silver and of pretious Stones not as
associate thy self with the Vulgar this is unworthy but if thou shalt contract familiarity with Wisemen it behoves thee to be most highly wary least some of them discern thee with the same facility as thou believest thy self capable of finding out as 't were another Adeptist thou being ignorant of the known Secret If only thou wert able to have a familiar consortship with him thou wilt not so readily discern That an opinion being but a conceited one is without great inconvenience even a slight conjecture shall be sufficient to procure a lying in wait for thee for the Iniquity of Men is so great that we have often known some Men to have been strangled with a Halter yet notwithstanding were strangers to the Art 'T was sufficient that some desperate Men had heard a report of such an Art the knowledge of which such once bore the name to have It would be too tedious to reckon up all things which we our selves have made tryal of we have seen and heard concerning this thing Moreover as concerning this present Age of the World rather more than in any former one Who is it that pretends not to Alchymy Insomuch that thou shalt hardly dare to stir thy foot except thou desirest to be betraid If thou dost but do any thing secretly this wariness of thine will stir in some a zeal of throughly searching thee out even to the bottom They 'l tattle of counterfeiting Money and what not But then if thou art a little open and some unwonted things done by thee whether in Medicine or Alchymy If thou shouldst have a great weight of Gold or Silver and wouldst sell it any one would admire readily from whence so great a quantity of the finest Gold and purest Silver should be brought whereas such Gold is scarcely brought from any place save only Guiny or Barbary and that in the fashion of most small sand but now thine being more noble than that and in a massie form will not want a most notable rumour For Buyers are not so stupid although they should like Children play with thee and say Our eyes are shut come we will not see but if thou dost come they will even see even but out of one corner of thy eye so much as is sufficient to bring upon thee the greatest Misery For Silver is by our Art produced so fine that no such is brought from any place That which is brought out of Spain is the best it doth somewhat excel in goodness even English sterling and that in form of plain Money which is transported by Theft the Lawes of the Nations prohibiting it If therefore thou shalt sell a quantity of pure Silver thou hast even already betrayed thy self But if thou adulteratest it being not a Goldsmith thou runnest the hazard of thy Head according to the Laws of England Holland and almost of all Nations by which 't is provided That every Deterioration or allaying of Gold and Silver though according to the Goldsmiths Balance yet if it be not done by a professed and licenced Metallourgist it will be accounted a Capital Crime We have known the time that when we would have sold so much pure Silver as was of six hundred Pound value in a forreign Country being cloathed like Merchants for we durst not adulterate it because almost all Countries hath its standing Balance of the goodness of Silver and Gold which the Goldsmiths do easily know in the Mass that should we pretend it was brought from hence or thence they would presently distinguish by their Probe or Tryal and apprehend the seller they presently said unto us that brought it This Silver is made by Art We demanded the reason of their saying so They replied only thus The Silver that comes out of England Spain c. we are not now to learn how to know it but this is not any of these kinds which when we heard we privily withdrew and loft both the Silver and the price of it never more demandable Moreover if thou shouldst fain a great quantity of Gold brought from elsewhere but especially of Silver this thing cannot be so private but a rumour will be spread thereof the Ship-Master will say Such a quantity of Silver was never brought by me nor can it come into the Ship and every body be thereof ignorant and when others shall hear thereof that were wont to buy it they 'l laugh and say What Is it a likely thing that this Man can get such a Mass of Gold and Silver and put it into his Ship there being such strickt Lawes that forbid it and so strickt a charge to prevent it Thus presently 't will be blazed abroad not in one Region only but in the bordering Countries We being taught by these dangers have determined to lye hid and will communicate the Art to thee who dreamest of such things that so we may see what publick good thou wilt enterprise when thou shalt have obtained it We therefore say as heretofore I taught that ☿ was necessary in the Work and have delivered such things concerning ☿ which no former Age ever delivered so also I now on the other hand lay open the Sulphur which will be desired without which ☿ will never receive a profitable congelation for the supernatural Work Sulphur doth in this Work supply the place of the Male and whosoever undertakes the Transmutation Art without it all his attempts will be in vain for all the Wisemen affirm That there can be no Tincture made without its Latten which Latten is Gold without any double speaking Hence the noble Sendiuogius saith The Fool believe me will not find our Stone no not in Gold but the Wiseman will find it in the Dung That is to say In Gold which is the ☉ of the Sophi the tincture of Goldness lies hid This though it be a most digested body yet is it incrudated and made raw in one only thing viz. Our Mercury and receiveth from ☿ the multiplication of its own Seed not so much in weight as in vertue And although very many of the Sophists do seem sophistically to deny this thing yet verily so it is as I have said that is to say They tell us that common Gold is dead but that theirs is alive so in like manner a grain of Wheat is dead that is the germinating activity therein lies supprest and would eternally remain so should it be kept in a dry ambient Air but let it be but cast into earth and it presently receives a fermental life it swells up is mollified and buddeth Even so is the case with our Gold it is dead that is its vivifying vertue is sealed under abodily shell as 't is with the Grain although differently according to the great difference betwixt a Vegetable Grain and Metallick Gold But even as a Grain remains perpetually unchanged in a dry Air is destroyed in the fire and vivified in the water only even so Gold that is uncorruptible in every Element durable even