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opod Dona another. First, our Matter si Ouid be care sully puri se l. then dissolve i, desti ob ed, decomposed, and reduced todust and ashes. Thereia pota prepare from it a volatile spirit hichis Q hi te as snoxv, and another volatile Spirit, whicli is rod as blood. These two spiritS Contain a third, and are 3 et but One spirit. Noru these are the three spirits whicli preserve and multis ly lis . Theres ore unite them, give them the meat and di in k that Nature requires, and keep them in a warm Chamber untii the persect birilitat es place. Thon 3 Ou will see and e X perience the virtve of thegist besto ed ut on 3 ou by God and Nature. Know, alSO, tha hi therio my lips have not revealed this secret to any ono, and that God has endo ed natural substances with greater po et Sthan most men a re ready to bellove. Upora my mouth God hasset a seat, that there might be scope for Othors aster me to write abolit the wonderi ut things os Nature, which by the stolisti arctooked upon as uia naturat. Eor they do not undet stand that allthings are ultimate ly traCoable to supernatural CauseS, but ne Ver-thel ess are, in this present state of the wOrid, subject to naturalcondition S.
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Is, then. you would attain the longed-sor goal. observe justmeas ure in mi Xing the liquid substance of the Sages, test that whicli is too much overpower that whicli is too litile, and thegeneration be hin derecl. For toO much rain spolis the fruit, and too much drought Stunis iis growth. There fore, when Neptune has prepared his balli, meaSure Out Cares ut ly the eXaCt quantityos permanent water needed, and let there be net ther too litile
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into a bo lily sorin. and that our number shali prevati throughthe four scasons in the fourth pari os the st y after the Seven planeis have eXerci Sed po ver), and that iis Course Will be persected by the test os fire in the lowest chamber of Our PalaCe, when the two shali Overpo ver and consume the third. For this pari os our Magistery skill is needed, in order todivide anil compotand the substances aright, so that tho artmay result in riches, and the balance may not be falsified by unequat weights. The st y we speak of is the shy of Our Art, and there must be justly proportioned paris of Our air and earth,
Natural heat preserves the li se of man. Is his hody lose iis natural heat his life has come to an end. A moderate degree of natural heat proiecis against theco id , an excess of it destroys lis . It is not necessary that thesubstance of the Stin Should toti ch the earth. The Suia canheat the earth by Shedding thereon iis rays, whicli are intensi fied
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by reflection. This intermediate agen cy is qui te sum cient to dothe work of the Sun. and to mature everything by coction. Therays of the Stin are temuered with the air by passing through itso as to operate by the medium Of the air, as the air operates through the medium of the sire. Earth without water can produce nothing, nor Can water qui chen anything into growth without earth ; and as Oarth and water are mutuatly in dispensabie in the production os fruit, sos re cannot operate without air, Or air without fire. For fire hasno life without air : and without fire air possesses nei ther heat
When iis fruit is about to be matured, the vine stancis in greater need of the Suis warnith than in the spring : and is the Sun Ahine brightly in the autumia, the grapes will be better thanis they had not scit his autumnal warmth. In the winter the multitude suppose everything to be dead, because the earth is bound in the Chains Os Dost, so that nothing
the Cold is vanquished by the power of the Sun, everything is restored to lis , the troes and herbs piat sortii bud S, leaves, and blossonas, the hibernating animais creep sortii from their hid ing
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Nei ther human nor animal hodies Can be multiplied or propagated without decomposition ; the grain and ali vegetableseed, when Cast in to the ground, must decay be re it cara si ring
plantS are generaled Simply through putrefaction. This laci isnot noti Ced by the farmer, simply b cause it is a thing that he
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includeS air, water, and earth. since otheriuise it could generate nothing. Hater contains fire, air, and earth ; for is it did not, there Could be no growth. At the fame time, cach element is distin Ct, though each contains the others. All this is found by distillation in the separation of the elementS. In Order to rationalty prove this to yoia, Who are inveStigat-ing the Separation of Nature. and purpose to understand the division of the elemenis, test you fhould thin k my words in Ven
From these Considerations we Conclude that no element CaneXist without the others, and that in the generation os ali thingsthere is a mingling of the Mur elementS. He who states the Contrary in no wi Se underStand A the secrets of Nature, nor haShe investigated the properties of the elements. For is anythingis to be generaled by putrefaction, the proceSS muSt bo RS sol lows : The eurili is fit si decomposed by the moisture whi Ch
cleCay; thereia pon the decomposed substance is kindled and qui chened by the natural heat of fire : sor without natural heatno generation Can talae place. Again, is that whicli has received the spark of li , is to be stirred up to motion and growth, it must be acted iapon by air. For without air, the qui Chenedsubstance would be chol ed and si isted in the germ. Heiace it manifeStly appears that no one element Can work effectuallywithout the aid of the others, and that ali must contribute
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to vardes the generation Os anything. Thus their qui chening cooperation talaeS the sorm Os putrefaction, without whicli there Caia be net ther generation, li se, nor growth. That there can be
the four elements, yOu may See DOm the faci that when Adam had been formed by the Creator Out os earth, there ivas no lis in him, untii God breathed into him a living spirit. Theia theearth was qui Chened into motion. In the earth was the Sali that is, the Body ; the air that was breathod into it Nas mercu , or the Spirit, and this air imparted to him a genuine and temperate heat, Iulii Ch was Sulphur, Or fire. Then Adam moved, and by his power of motion, shewed that there had been infused into him a lis e-giving spirit. For as there is no fire without air,
so nei ther is there any air without fire. Water Was incorporaledwith the earth. Thus living man is an harmoni Ous mixture Ofthe Mur elements ; and Adam Was generaled Out of earlli, water,air, and fire, out of SOul, Spirit, and bOdy, O ut os mei Cuta, Sulphur, and sali.
TO return again to putrefaction, O seel er of the Magistery and devotee of philosophy, know that, in like manner, no metalli CSeed Caia develop, Or multiply, uni ess the Sa id Seed, by iis eis alone, and without the introduction of any foreigia substance, bereduced to a per Ct putrefaction. The putrefaction of metallic seed must, like that os animaland Vegetable Seed, talae place through the co-operation Of the Mur elements. I have at ready eXplained that the elements them SelVOS are not the Seed. But it ought by this time to beclear to You that the metallic seed which was produced by the combined Operation of heavenly, sidereat, and elementa OSSOn Ces, and reduced into bodily- formi mu St, in due CourSe, becorrupted and putrefied by means of the elementS. Observe that this seed contains a living volatile spirit. Forwhen it is distilleo, there issiles Dom it first a spirit, and thenthat whicli is tess volatile. But when by continued gentie heat, it is reduced to an acid, the spirit is not so volatile AS it was bes ore. For in the distillation of the acid the water isSues first,
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and then the spirit. And though the substance rem alias the fame, iis properti CS have become very disserent. It is no longerwine, but has been transmuted by the putres action os gentie heatinio an acid. That whicli is extracted with wine or iis spirit, has widely different properties and powers fro in that whicli is eXtracted with an acid. Eor is the crystal os antimony beextracted with wine or the spirit of wine, it causes vomiting and di arrhina, beCauSe it is a pol Son, and iis polsonous quali ty is notclestroyed by the wine. But is it be eXtracted with a good distilled acid, it furnishes a beauti fui extraci os a ricli colour. Is the acid be removed by means of the St. Mary's Bath, and theresiduum of yello POwder WaShed away, yOu obtain a S Cetpowder whicli Cau Ses no diarrhaea, but is justly regarded as amarvellous ly beneficiat medicine. This excellent powder is dissolved in a moist place into aliquid whicli is profitably emplOyed as a patia leSS agent in Sur Cry. Let me sum up in se in WOrds what i have to say. The Substance is of heavenly birili, iis life is preserved by the stars, and nourished by the four elementS thera it must peristi, and beputrefied ; again, by the influence of the starS, which works through the elemenis, it is restored to lis , and beComeS Once
more a heavenly thing that has iis habitation in the hi hestregion of the firmament. Then you will find that the heaven lyhaS aSsu med an earthly body, and that the earthly body has been
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Saturn, who is called the greateSt of the planeis, is the leastusesul in our Magistery. Nevortheless, it is the chi ef Key os thewhole Art, howbeii set in the loweSi and meanest place. Although by iis swift flight it has risen to the los ti est height, farabove ali other luminaries, iis Dathers must be Clipped, anditself brought clown to the lowest place, from whence it may oncem ore be rat Sed by putrefaction, and the qui chening caused by putrefaction, by whicli the black is Changed to white, and the white to redi untii the glorious colour of the triumphant Kinglias been attained. Theres oro, I say that though Saturn may seem the vilest thing in the worid, 3 et it has Such po ver an demcacy that is iis preci ous essen Ce, whicli is eXCeesively COld, be