Metalls and several Minerals have Mercury for their next matter to which for the most part nay indeed always there adheres and is Con-coagulated an external Sulphur which is not Metalline but distinguishable from the internal Kernel of the Mercury This Sulphur is not wanting even in common Argent Vive by the Mediation of which it may be precipitated into the form of a drie Powder Yea and by a Liquor well known to us though nothing helping the Art of Transmutation it may be so fixed that it may endure all Fires the Test and Coppel and this without the addition of any thing to it but the Liquor by virtue whereof it is fixed coming away intire both in its Pondus and Virtue This Sulphur in Gold and Silver is pure in the other Metalls less pure Therefore in Gold and Silver it is fixed in others it is fugitive in all the Metalls it is coagulated in Mercury or Argent Vive it is coagulable in Gold Silver and Mercury this Sulphur is so strongly united that the Antients did ever judge Sulphur and Mercury to be all one but we by the help of a Liquor the Invention of which in these parts of the world we owe to Paracelsus though among the Moors and Arabians it hath been and is at this day commonly known to the acuter sort of Chymists By this I say we know that the Sulphur which is in Mercury coagulable and in the Metals coagulated is external to the Internal nature of Mercury and may may be separated in the form of a tincted Metallick Oyl the remaining Mercury being then void of all Sulphur save that which may be called its Inward or Central Sulphur and is now incoagulable of it self though by our Elixir it is to be coagulated but of it self it can neither be fixt nor precipitated nor sublimed but remains un-altered in all corrosive waters and in all digestions of heat One way then of Mercury Azating all Metals and Minerals is by the Liquor Alchahest which out of all such Bodies as have Mercury in their Constitution can separate a running Argent Vive from which Argent vive all its Sulphur is then separated save that only which is Internal and Central to the Mercury which Internal Sulphur of Mercury no corrosive can touch Next to this way of universal Reduction there are also some other particular ways by which Saturn Jupiter Antimony yea even Venus and Mars may be reduced into a running Quick-silver by the help of Salts which because being corporeal they pierce not so radically as the fore-named Liquor doth they therefore do not spoil the Mercury of its Sulphur but that as much Sulphur as there in is Common Mercury so much also there in is this Mercury of the Bodies only this Mercury hath specificated qualities according to the nature of the Metal or Mineral from which it was extracted and for that reason as to our work which is to dissolve perfect Species of Metals it hath no more virtue then common Argent Vive There is than but one only humidity which is applicable unto our Work which certainly is neither of Saturn nor Venus nor is drawn from any thing which nature hath formed but from a substance compounded by the Art of the Philosopher So then if a Mercury drawn from the Bodies have not only the same deficiency of heat and superfluity of faeces as Common Mercury hath but also a distinct specificated form it must by reason of this its form be so much the farther remote from our Mercury then common Argent Vive is Our Art therefore is to compound two Principles one in which the Salt and another in which the Sulphur of Nature doth abound which are not yet perfect nor yet totally imperfect and by consequence may therefore by our Art be changed or exalted which that which is totally perfect cannot be and then by Common Mercury to extract not the Pondus but the Coelestial virtue out of the compound which virtue being Fermental begets in the common Mercury an Off-spring more noble then it self which is our true Hermaphrodite which will congeal it self and dissolve the Bodies Observe but a grain of Corn in which scarce a discernable part is Sprout and this Sprout if it were out of the Grain would die in a moment the whole grain is sown yet the Sprout only produceth the Herb So is it in our Body the Fermental Spirit that is in it is scarce a third part of the whole the rest is of no value yet all is joyned in the composition and the faeculent corporeous parts of the Body comes away with the dregs of the Mercury But beyond the example or similitude given of a grain of Corn it may be observed that the hidden and spiritual virtue of this our Body doth purge and purifie its Matrix of water in which it is sown that is it makes it cast forth a great quantity of filthy earth and a great deal of Hydropical Saline moisture For instance make thy washings for a tryal with pure and clean Fountain water weigh first a Pint of the same water and take the exact weight of it then wash thy compound 8 or 10 Eagles or times save all the faeces weigh thy Body and Mercury exactly weigh thy faeces being very dry then Distil or Sublime all that will Sublime a very little quick Mercury will ascend then put the residue of the faeces in a Crucible set them on the Coals and all the faeculency of the Mercury will burn like a Coal yet without fume when that is all consumed weigh the remaining faeces and thou shalt find them to be two thirds of thy Body the other third being in the Mercury weigh the Mercury which thou Sublimest and the Mercury prepared by it self and the weight of both will not recompence thy Mercuries weight by far So then boyl up thy water to a skin in which thou madest thy Lotions for that is a thick water and in a cool place thou shalt have Crystals which is the Salt of Mercury Crude and no way fit for Medicines Yet it is a content for the Artists to see how the Heterogeneities of Mercury are discovered which no Art save the Liquor of Alchahest can do and that in a destructive not a generative way as this is for this operation of ours is made between Male and Female within their own kind between which there is a Ferment which effecteth that which no other thing in the world could do In all truth I tell you that if you should take our imperfect compound Body per se and Mercury per se and Ferment them alone though you might bring out of the one a most pure Sulphur and out of the other Mercury of Mercury which is the Nut of Mercury yet with these thou couldest effect nothing for Fermental virtue is the wonder of the world and it is by it that water becomes Herbs Trees and Plants Fruits Flesh Blood Stones Minerals and every thing
seek then for it only and rejoyce in it as in a deservedly invaluable treasure Now know that Fermentation works or ferments not out of kind neither do Salts Ferment Metals Wilt thou then know whence it is that some fixt Alcalies do extract a Mercury out of Minerals and out of the more imperfect Metals Consider then that in all these Bodies the Sulphur is not so radically mixt and united as it is in Silver and Gold. Now Sulphur is of kin to divers Alcalies that are extraordinarily dissolved or melted with it and by this means the Mercurial parts are disjoyned and the Argent vive is by fire separated The Mercury thus separated is spoiled of its Sulphur when as indeed there needs or is required only a depuration of the Sulphur by separating the impure from the pure but these Salts having separated the Sulphur do leave the Mercury worse that is more estranged from a Metallick nature than it was before for in its Composition that Sulphur of Saturn will not burn for though it be Sublimed Calcined made Sugar or Vitrified yet by Fire and Fluxes it still returns to the same it was in before but its Sulphur being as is aforesaid separated will take fire if joyned with Salt-peter even as common Sulphur doth so that the Salts act on the Sulphur of which they rob the Mercury but on the Mercury they act not for want of Ferment which is not to be found but only amongst Homogeneal things Therefore the Ferment of Bread Leavens not a Stone nor doth the Ferment of any Animal or Vegetable Ferment a Metal or Mineral So then though out of Gold thou mightest obtain a Mercury by the help of the Liquor of the first Ens of Salt yet that Mercury would never accomplish our work whereas on the other side Mercury made out of Gold by our Mercury though there be three parts of our Mercury to one of Gold This Mercury I say will by continual digestion accomplish the whole work marvel not then that our Mercury is more powerful which is prepared by Mercury For certainly the Ferment which cometh between the compound Body and the water causeth a death and a regeneration it doth that which nothing in the world can do Besides it severs from Mercury a terrestreity which burns like a coal and an Hydropical humour melting in common water but the residue is acuated by a Spirit of Life which is our true embryonated Sulphur of our water not visible yet working visibly We conclude then that all operations for our Mercury but by common Mercury and our Body according to our Art are erroneous and will never produce our Mysterie although they be otherwise Mercuries never so wonderfully made For as the Author of the New light saith No Water in any Island of the Philosophers was wholsom but that which was drawn out of the reigns of Sol and Luna Wilt thou know what that means Mercury in its pondus and incombustibility is Gold fugitive our Body in its purity is called the Philosophers Luna being far more pure than the imperfect Metals and its Sulphur also as pure as the Sulphur of Sol not that it is indeed Luna for it abides not in the fire Now in the composition of these three First our common Mercury and the two Principles of our compound there intercedes the Ferment of Luna out of which though it be a Body proceeds yet a specificated odour yea and oft the Pondus of it is diminished If the Compound be much washt after it is sufficiently clean So then the Ferment of Sol and Luna intercedes in our composition which Ferment begets an off-spring more noble then it self a thousand fold whereas shouldst thou work on our compound body by a violent way of Salts thou shouldst have the Mercury by far less noble then the Body the Sulphur of the Body being separated and not exalted by such a progress STAVE XI In the said Book the Philosopher speaketh also Therein if it please Your Highness for to read Of divers Sulphurs and especially of two And of two Mercuries joyned to them indeed Whereby he doth true understanders lead To the knowledge of the Principles which be only true Both Red Moist Pure and White as I have espied Which be nevertheless found but of very few WE now come to the Third Conclusion which is that among all Metalline and Mineral Sulphurs there are only Two that belong to our Work which Two have their Mercuries essentially united with them This is the truth of our secrets though we to seduce the unwary do seem to aver the contrary for do not think that because we do insinuate two ways therefore we really mean as we say for verily as witnesseth Ripley There is no true Principle but one nor have we but one matter nor but one way of working upon that matter nor but one regimen of heat and one linear way of proceeding These two Sulphurs as they are Principles of our Work they ought to be Homogeneal for it is only Gold Spiritual that we seek First White then Red which Gold is no other then that which the vulgar see but they know not the hidden Spirit that is in it This Principle wants nothing but composition and this composition must be made with our other crude white Sulphur which is nothing but Mercury vulgar by frequent cohobation of it upon our Hermaphroditical body so long till it become a fiery water Know therefore that Mercury hath in it self a Sulphur which being un-active our Art is to multiply in it a living active Sulphur which comes out of the loins of our Hermaphroditical body whose Father is a Metal and his Mother a Mineral Take then the most beloved Daughter of Saturn whose Arms are a Circle Argent and on it a Sable Cross on a Black Field which is the signal note of the great world espouse her to the most warlike God who dwells in the house of Aries and thou shalt find the Salt of Nature with this Salt acuate thy water as thou best knowest and thou shalt have the Lunary bath in which the Sun will be amended And in all truth I assure thee that although thou hadst our Body Mercurialized without the addition of Mercury or of the Mercury of any of the Metals made per se that is without the addition of Mercury it would not be in the least profitable unto thee for it is our Mercury only which hath a Celestial form and power which it receives not only nor so much from the Compound Body or Principles as from the Fermental virtue which proceeds from the composition of both the Body and the Mercury by which is produced a wonderful Creature So then let all thy care be to marry Sulphur with Sulphur that is our Mercury which is impregnated which Sulphur must be espoused with our Sol then hast thou two Sulphurs married and two Mercuries of one off-spring whose Father is the Sun and Moon the Mother The
Fourth Conclusion makes all perfectly plain which hath been said before namely that these two Sulphurs are the one most pure Red Sulphur of Gold and the other of most pure clean White Mercury These are our two Sulphurs the one appears a coagulated Body yet carries its Mercury in its belly the other is in all its proportions true Mercury yet very clean and carries its Sulphur within its self though hidden under the form and fluxibility of Mercury Sophisters are here in a Labyrinth for because they are not acquainted with Metalline love they work in things altogether heterogeneal or if they work upon Metalline Bodies they yet either joyn Males with Males or else Females with Females or else they work on each alone or else they take Males which are charged with natural inabilities and Females whose Matrix is vitiated Thus by their own inconsideration they frustrate their own hopes and then cast the blame upon the Art when as indeed it is only to be imputed to their own folly in not understanding the Philosophers I know many pitiful Sophisters do dote on many Stones Vegetable Animal and Mineral and some to those add the fiery Angelical Paradaical Stone which they call a Wonder-working Essence and because the mark they aim at is so great the ways also by which they would attain their scope they make also agreeable that is a double way One way they call Via Humida the other they call Via Sicca to use their languages The latter way is the Labyrinthian path which is fit only for the great ones of the earth to tread in the other the Daedalean Path an easie way of small cost for the poor of the world to enterprize But this I know and can testifie that there is but one way and but only one Regimen no more colours than ours and what we say or write otherwise is but to deceive the unwary For if every thing in the world ought to have its proper causes there cannot be any one end which is produced from two wayes of working on distinct Principles Therefore we protest and must again admonish the Reader that in our former writings we have concealed much by reason of the two ways we have insinuated which we will briefly touch There is one Work of ours which is the Play of Children and the Work of Women and that is Decoction by the Fire and we protest that the lowest degree of this our work is that the matter be stirred up and may hourly circulate without fear of breaking of the Vessel which for this reason ought to be very strong but our lineal Decoction is an Internal Work which advances every day hour and is distinct from that of outward heat and therefore is both invisible and insensible In this our work our Diana is our body when it is mixed with the water for then all is called the Moon for Laton is whitened and the Woman bears rule our Diana hath a wood for in the first days of the Stone our Body after it is whitened grows vegetably In this wood are at the last found two Doves for about the end of three weeks the Soul of the Mercury ascends with the Soul of the dissolved Gold these are infolded in the everlasting Arms of Venus for in this season the confections are all tincted with a pure green colour These Doves are circulated seaven times for in seaven is perfection and they are left dead for they then rise and move no more our Body is then black like to a Crows Bill for in this operation all is turned to Powder blacker than the blackest Such passages as these we do oftentimes use when we speak of the Preparation of our Mercury and this we do to deceive the simple and it is also for no other end that we confound our operations speaking of one when we ought to speak of another For if this Art were but plainly set down our operations would be contemptible even to the foolish Therefore believe me in this that because our works are truly natural we therefore do take the liberty to confound the Philosophers work with that which is purely Natures work that so we might keep the simple in ignorance concerning our true Vinegre which being unknown their labour is wholly lost Let me then for a close say only thus much Take our Body which is Gold and our Mercury which is seven times acuated by the marriage of it with our Hermaphroditical body which is a Chaos and it is the splendor of the Soul of the God Mars in the Earth and water of Saturn mix these two in such a Pondus as Nature doth require in this mixture you have our invisible Fires for in the Water or in the Mercury is an active Sulphur or Mineral Fire and in the Gold a dead passive but yet actual Sulphur Now when that Sulphur of the Gold is stirred up and quickned there is made between the Fire of Nature which is in the Gold and the Fire against Nature which is in the Mercury a Fire partly of the one and partly of the other for it partakes of both and by these two Fires thus united into one is caused both Corruption which is Humiliation and Generation which is Glorification and Perfection Now know that God only governs this way of the Internal Fire Man being ignorant of the progress thereof only by his Reason beholding its operations he is able to discern that it is hot that is that it doth perform the actions of heat which is Decoction In this Fire there is no Sublimation for Sublimation is an Exaltation But this Fire is such an Exaltation that it is Perfection it self and that beyond it is no progress All our Work then is only to multiply this Fire that is to circulate the Body so long until the Virtue of the Sulphur be augmented Again this Fire is an invisible Spirit and therefore not having Dimensions as neither above nor below but every where in the Sphere of the activity of our Matter in the Vessel So that though the material visible substance do sublime and ascend by the action of the Elemental heat yet this Spiritual Virtue is always as well in that which subsides in the bottom as in that which is in the upper part of the Vessel For it is as the Soul in the Body of Man which is every where at the same time and yet bounded or terminated in none This is the Ground of one Sophism of ours viz. when we say that in this true Philosophical Fire there is no Sublimation for the Fire is the Life and the Life is a Soul which is not at all subject to the dimensions of Bodies Hence also it is that the opening of the Glass or cooling of the same during the time of Working kills the Life or Fire that is in this secret Sulphur and yet not one Grain of the matter is lost The Elemental Fire then is that which any Child knows how to
kindle and govern but it is the Philosopher only that is able to discern the true inward Fire for it is a wonderful thing which acts in the Body yet is no part of the Body Therefore the Fire is a Coelestial Virtue it is uniformed that is it is always the same until the period of its Operation is come and then being come to perfection it acts no more for every Agent when the end of its action is come then rests Remember then that when we speak of our Fire which sublimes not that thou do not mistake and think that the moisture of the Compound which is within the Glass ought not to Sublime for that it must do uncessantly but the Fire that sublimes not is the Metalline love which is above and below and in all places alike Now then for a close to all that hath been said learn and be well advised what matter you take in hand for an evil Crow lays an evil Egg as the Proverb hath it Let thy Seed be pure and thy Matrix also pure then shalt thou see a Noble Off-spring Let the Fire without be such as in which our Confections may play to and fro uncessantly and this in a few days will produce that which thou most longest for the Crows Bill Continue then thy Decoction and in an hundred and thirty days thou shalt see the White Dove and in ninety days more the Sparkling Cherubim STAVE XII And these Two things be best he addeth anon For him that worketh the Alchymy to take Our Gold and our Silver therewith to make all one Wherefore I say who will our Pearl and Ruby make The said Principles look that he not forsake For at the beginning if the Principles be true And if so be by craft he can them also take In th' end truly his work he shall not rue THus come we to the last Conclusion which is that if a Mans Operations be Regular and his Principles true his end will be certain viz. the Mastery O Fools and Blind that do not consider how each thing in the world hath his proper Cause and Progress in Operation Think you if a Seaman should with a gallant Coach intend to Sail to any place beyond Sea he would not find his attempt to be foolish Or if with a Ship gallantly furnished he should Row at Random he may not sooner stumble on an infortunate Rock then arrive at the golden Coast Such fools are they who seek our secret in trivial matters and yet hope to find the Gold of Ophir For the more exact Guiding of your Practice take notice of these Twenty Rules following Rule I. Whatever any Sophister may suggest unto you or you may read in any Sophistical Author yet let none take you from this ground viz. That as the end you look for is Gold so let Gold be the subject on which you work and none other Rule II. Let none deceive you with telling you that our Gold is not common but Philosophical for common Gold is dead which is true But as we order it there is made a quickening of it as a grain of Corn in the Earth is quickened So then in our work after six Weeks Gold that was dead becomes quick living and spermatical and in our composition it may be called Our Gold because it is joyn'd with an Agent that will certainly quicken it So a Condemned Man is called a Dead Man though at present living Rule III. Besides Gold which is the Body or Male you must have another Sperm which is the Spirit and Soul or Female and this is Mercury in Flux and Form like to common Argent Vive yet more clean and pure There are many who instead of Mercury will have strange Waters or Liquors which they stile by the name of Philosophical Mercury Be not deceived by them for what a Man sows that he must look to reap If thou shalt sow thy Body in any Earth but that which is Metalline and Homogeneal to it thou shalt instead of a Metalline Elixir reap an unprofitable Calx which will be of no value Rule IV. Our Mercury is in substance one with common Argent Vive but far different in Form For it hath a Form Coelestial Fiery and of excellent Virtue and this is the Nature which it receives by our Artificial Preparation Rule V. The whole Secret of our Preparation is that thou take that Mineral which is next of kin to Gold and to Mercury Impregnate this with Volatile Gold which is found in the reins of Mars with this purifie your Mercury until seaven times are past then it is fitted for the Kings Bath Rule VI. Yet know that from seaven times to ten the Mercury is made better and better and is more active being by each Preparation acuated by our true Sulphur which if it exceed in number of Preparations becomes too fiery which instead of dissolving the Body will Coagulate it self Rule VII This Mercury thus acuated is after to be distilled in a Glass retort twice or thrice and that for this reason because some Atoms of the Body may be in it which were insensibly left in the Preparation of the Mercury afterwards it is to be cleansed well with Vinegar and Sal-armoniack then is it fit for the work Rule VIII Chuse your Gold for this work pure and clean from any mixture if it be not so when you buy it make it so by Purgation then let it be made fine either by Filing Malleating Calcining with Corrosives or any other way by which it may be made most subtile Rule IX Now come to your mixture in which take of the aforesaid Body so chosen and prepared one Ounce of Mercury as is above taught animated two Ounces or three at the most mix them in a Marble which may be warmed so hot as water will heat it grind both together till they be well incorporated then wash the mixture with Vinegar and Salt till it be very pure And lastly Dulcifie it with warm water and dry it carefully Rule X. Know now that whatever we say out of Envy our way is done other and we protest and will protest that neither We nor any of the Antients knew any other way for it is impossible that our secret can be wrought by any other Principles or any other disposition then this Our Sophism lies only in the two kinds of Fire in our work the Internal secret Fire which is Gods Instrument hath no qualities perceptible to man of that Fire we speak often and seem yet to speak of the External heat and hence arise among the unwary many Errours This is our Fire which is graduated for the External heat is almost linear all the work to the white work it is one without alteration save that in the seaven first days we keep the heat a little slack for certainty and security sake which an experienced Philosopher need not do But the Internal governing heat is insensibly graduated hourly and by how much that is