D. Zacharii, adept, chimico miraculo, Svo.

La meme la vrai philos. des metaux. 8vo. Zadith, antiquissinii philos. 8vo. J. Zelator, alchemistici, 8vo.
1620 1595 1690 1622
Colon
Lond
Franc
Ferrari as. 1688
Basilee. - —
Lug. Bat. 1693
Lond. —
Lond. 1671
Lond. 1659
Lyons. 1643
Lond. 1685
Basil. 1610
Lond. 1699
•Franc. 1706
Basil. 1583
Francof. 1625
Norimb. 1683
Lond. 1660
Lugd. 16S1
Lond. 1616
Norimberg. 1675
Yenet. 161 1
Basil. 1583
A nvers. 1567
Argent. 1566
Basil. 1606
INTRODUCTION
TO THE
ALCHEMIC TREATISES.
~=o€Hg>3
If the alchemist believes the science true, against the opinion of the most accurate, learned, and laborious chemists, of the present day. If he thinks it an ancient art, notwithstanding the silence of the poets, and historians of antiquity. If he intends to do more good than the adepts have done ; and does not per- ceive by their " Lives," that any industrious profession would enable him to serve his neighbour and himself better than by alchemy. If he imagines that great general good, may be done by the promulgation of the elixir of health among all mankind ; it may be useful to consider, what are the obstacles, and how far it is possible to remove them ; before he devotes his life to a search, which the most credulous allow, is not successful to one in a thousand.
Of Property.
Property is land, and the productions of land, because man U maintained by the earth. The indispensable support of the human race, is food, raiment, lodging ; and these are only to be permanently derived from land. The sea, arid its produce, is property, only with reference to the land adjoining, or that to which the most powerful ships, and navigators belong. In the infancy of society, land became property by the act of occupy- ing that, which was not possessed by another : the accumulation of the permanent produce of land, in houses, fences, forests, and the amelioration of the soil by art, in the progress of social order, made it necessary for men to invent various tenures : some are for ever with or without rent as fee simple or real estate ; lives renewable for ever, lives not renewable, and leases for years. A lease of land to expire at a determinate time, is but a loan of the use of it ; it is only a sale of the produce of the land. The uncertain termination of lives, which Jias. a favourable dis-
] 14 Introduction.
tinction, called freehold, is of the same nature; it is only « #w of land and a sale of the use of it for a period measured by a life. Thus all the distinctions of tenure may be resolved into these two species of property, viz. land, and the produce of land. The property of cattle, is like that of birds and fish ; it is derivable from the possession, of land, which is the support of all.
O/igin of Money.
Mankind on entering into- the social state, and living together in towns, must have round it convenient to haA-e artizans, set apart, for supplying each particular want: before this, the head of each family had supplied his household from the land about him; he was butcher, shepherd, and huntsman ; the cotton tree, flax plant,, sheep, goat, and silkworm, supplied clothing, which was manufactured in his family, until it was found, that to arrive at perfection, each branch of business should be professed by those who will do nothing else for their support, and hence arose barter and the necessity of removing the difficulties of barter by money. When villages swelled to cities, and- arts were thus divided, the invention of money required a substance of dura- bility and scarcity, which might become a standard value for the purchase of property. In all civilized nations, gold and silver have, by universal consent, obtained this honorable pre- eminence, and in various coins, devised by Governments, are
REPKESEXTATIVES OF PROPERTY.
Before gold and silver could become a safe representative of property, statesmen saw, that they must provide against the Jluctuations of its relative value to properly. The first measure to this end, was to make the mines of gold and silver a royal property ; and by the exclusive prerogative of a royal mint, the legal money representation of property was placed in the con- troul of the Crown, which in this country is guided by the de- liberations of the Legislature. In this mode there is a judicial power, for encreasing or diminishing the quantity of the floating representation of property, as circumstances require, for the good of the commonwealth.
If the kingdom does not contain mines of gold and silver, in sufficient quantity, Government can only purchase bullion, in case there is a balance of general trade in favor of the country^ by which the merchants import gold;, for instance, if mer- chandize is exported by Great Britain to several nations, viz. to A 5, B 3, C 2, D 4, E 3, F 2, G 2, H 5, I 1, K 16, L 20, M 6, N 2, O 3, P 5, and the merchandize imported by Great Britain is from A 6, B 1, C 1, D 5, E 2, F 1, G 1, H 6, I 1, K 20, L 23, M 7, N 1, 0 1, Pi, the total export is 79, and
Origin of Money. 115
import 77, a year's balance of trade by which two million of gold .and silver is brought into Great Britain.
The extension of trade and commerce, has produced various representatives of money, to avoid the carriage and risk of a ponderous metal, in huge masses. The first and most substantial .of the paper securities, is the bond of a land-holder, under a tenure of life or perpetuity, as the -land becomes the debtor. Other securities depend on public confidence, and the evanescent produce of land, which is called chattel .property. Promissory Notes of individuals were a precedent for Bankers Notes, and the foreign transactions of merchants were the origin #f Bills of Exchange, These and all other securities are engagements for •the payment of legal money, and are to be considered not as the representatives of jpogeytiu but as the representatives of money. These principles are the foundations of finance, 1st, that pro- perty island and its produce ; 2. that money is the represen- tative of property ; 3. that the floating paper currency is in the present system, not property, nor money, btrt is a representative of money.
Banks originated in the favorable balance of trade, which deposited a surplus of gold and silver in the country ; the cur- rency of Bankers Notes depends on their convenience ,• and public confidence in the wisdom and integrity of the Bankers. These two causes have superseded the necessity of keeping metal in the Bank cellars equal to the paper circulation. Private Bankers' Notes are representatives of the National Bank Notes ; they promise to pay National Bank Notes for their own Notes, and by the public confidence, supply a portion of the floating- paper currency.
A comparative view of the range taken by all these represen- tatives would appear, if a scale of proportional extent wa^i drawn for each sort of paper. Gold and silver may be allowed a circle as large as the civilized world ; National Bank Notes will have a circle of the kingdom where they are guaranteed by the Govern- ment ; private Bank Notes a little circle of the city, town, or village from whence they emanate, through the Bankers con- nexions, to distant provinces ; Merclumts bills collect in the focus iof an Exchange or Hall, where they bring together distinct transactions into the simplicity of primeval barter by their inter- changes, and finally determine the general balance of a nation's trade into the export or import of gold and silver.
The most prominent disadvantage of the present system of a metallic representation of property, and a paper representation of the metal money, is the present instance in this country, of the necessity for restricting the National Bank from issuing gold, and making the Notes a legal payment for property. The National Bank Notes> which were formerly current as represen- tatives of metal money, only, until the will of the holder pre-
116 Introduction.
sented them for payment, arc now representatives of the same until the Legislature shall take off the restriction. The possibility of an interruption to the appearance of the thing represented, is an imperfection in the system of the metallic representation of real property.
To apprehend the danger arising from an abuse of that ju- dicial power which regulates the quantity of the current rcpre-. sentatives of property, and to evince that the true principle is to keep the floating curri ncy so proportionate to the wants of the people, as not to suffer much fluctuation to arise in the price of property from the excess or the want of a certain quantity of these representatives of land and its produce, it will be necessary to suppose an extreme case, from which all the medium circum- stances may be adduced.
Suppose an improvident King, possessed of a rich and in- exhaustible gold mine, and that he sends to his mint an immense quantity of the metal which he issues in coin for various purposes, we shall soon perceive, that the good of relieving his subjects from taxes, or the evil of falling upon his neighbour Kings in war, will be of small consideration, in the final consequences, of using such a power to the utmost extent. For in extreme use, this power destroys itself. If gold is common as lead, it will become nearly as cheap, and cease to be a portable re- presentative of properly ; then the landholders and artisans only can live, and they resort to the primitive system of barter, aided by the convenience of paper securities, founded on the possession of land and its produce.
The evil is' not so great if an improvident King neglects to supply a sullicient quantity of metal money for the currency of his people. The want of it will only exercise their ingenuity in barter, and forming paper representatives of property. The prices of articles of life cannot retrograde to become cheaper, in the same manner as they can proceed in becoming deare? ; but in both cases, all those who arc not landholders, or artisans useful to landholders, will suffer in various degrees, from the first slight privations, to the last stage of poverty; and the obligation of earning a support, by labour, or services to the landholders. The circuit of gold and silver through all civiliz.ed nations, at first retards destruction at home, but finally extends it to all the other countries. To estimate the quantity of floating currency ne- cessary, suppose a pair of scales, containing in one scale all the land and produce of land by art, which is at market; in the other scale, all the representatives of this land, &c. which representatives men have devised in metal coins, and the repre- sentatives of metal coins in paper bills and notes, taking the average of what is afloat, allowing for the fluctuation by can- celling notes, melting and exporting coin, &c. If the contents of one scale is 10, we are to call tho contents of the other, at the
Finance. 117
present moment, 10 also ; as every thing finds its own level, we shall suppose the present quantity of the currency, the level of necessity ; it follows, that any artificial alteration of this level, will raise the value of what is in one scale or in the other. If metal coin or paper notes are added, making the representative 20, the holders of the property in the other scale, will get twice as much for their sales as before. If metal or paper is taken out, that is, withdrawn from the currency, so as to reduce the 10 to 5, the holders of the property in the other scale, will only get one half as much for their sales as before. The ruinous calamity in these cases, to numerous classes of society, is not because there is any certain quantity of money that should be ascertained and kept afloat ; for it is no matter what the mass of the represen- tation is, provided it is kept nearly in that level. The mischief springs from the rapid progress of a rise, or a fall, in the neces- saries of life: for this reason, that the receipts and payments of all classes of the community cannot advance or recede simultaneously. The multitude of the upper and middle classes of life, who have retired from the occupation of land, business, or work ; depend- ing for ease and affluence on certain receipts of money, would find at length that this sort of money was of no value, except for ornaments or utensil*. The legitimate cause for encreasing the floating currency, is the encrease of the produce of land in the works of art, and embellishments of life. But the most rigid restriction of an excessive representation of property on this account, is the prolongation of political health in a nation. A temporary and partial fluctuation in the price of the necessa- ries of life, will unavoidably arise from the variations in the harvest, general balance of trade, taxes on import and export ; peace, war, mortal it)', ike. A judicial interference, by adding to or taking from the floating currency on these accounts, may have an injurious effect. To keep prices from fluctuating, by a fluctuation in the mass of floating currency ; the channels through which the representatives of property disappear, and the inlets through which they may increase, are to be watched. The ma?s encreases by coinage, founded on a favourable balance of trade, which deposits gold and silver in the country: or by the arts of Bankers, in disseminating their Notes in all the receptacles of public confidence ; the mass decreases, by an unfavourable ba- lance of trade, which throws the duty of Government upon the Banker, and obliges the Legislature to shield the Banker from the performance of his promise, until the balance of trade Tec- tums ; a circumstance which has been noticed as a most capital infirmity in the system of metal money, as founded at present on commerce, and the working of mines.
The progress of commerce, and the convenience or necessities of nations, have made paper supersede in nine parts out of ten, the use of gold money. Taper is the representative of gold coin ;
!1S Introduction.
the thing represented is not equivalent in sum to that which re- presents it. Paper is founded on gold coin ; the superstructure is too great for the foundation, and the grand desideratum, is to discover a better foundation for that paper, which is now identified with the habits of mankind in Bankers Notes and Bills of Exchange. The abolition of the present system of gold coin, would be no loss to the Royal Treasury, as the spe- cific price of it as bullion, is nearly equal to the current value as coin ; and cannot be otherwise, as they will always find one level throughout the civilized world. The attempt to coin money at a nominal value, would only for a time reduce coin to the level of Bank Notes, current only in the kingdom where Htvy are legal. In seeking another foundation, one is naturally led to wish that paper, which is only a representative of metal money, could become a representative of real ■property. Those who are best acquainted with the subject, are interested against the transfer of so powerful a momentum, from the commercial to the landed interest. The most striking consequence of such an alteration, would be the encreased difficulty of foreign wars and invasions, as all foreign money transactions will depend on ISiils of Exchange arising from commercial transactions.
It is the necessity of Nations that may force 'a new system. If a private Bank can obtain a certain mass of National Bank Notes on the landed seem ity of its firm, this is nearly a model for a new and good foundation in the National Bank. That which the National Bank in its wisdom may think necessary to be financier who would devise improvements in the relations of the National Bank to the public and to . Government ; but it is indispensably necessary, in avoiding the fate of assignats, to have the Bank Stock of land placed in the same circumstances, as the original Bank property was in gold coin, that is, ready to be delivered to the holders of the Notes; that this is not impossible, we may suppose a room, hung with maps of the Bank lands, leased like Church lands, for a short term ; a cer- tain large sum of Bank Notes, suppose not less than £'2000 being presented by an individual, or company, for payment in land, choice is made by the Note holders among the maps, and a con- veyance is made to them of a fee simple equivalent to their money, at the valuation of a jury, as is common at present in other cases. It may be objected, that landholders will not risk the sale of their land : but when the profits of the Banking bu- siness by the mass of Notes in circulation is considered, the risk is less unpleasant than the possibility that Bankers endured of being called on for more gold in payment of their Notes than they possessed ; the holder of a Guinea Note might demand gold, but the holders only of large sums should be entitled to demand land. There may not be land in the market to ena-
Medicine. 119
Me the present Bankers to alter their system, and the chain of tenures from the feeholder to the landholder in most lands, may cause some difficulty, but interest will remove it ; and the landed proprietors will readily become bankers.
The objection that paper is easily melted or otherwise de- stroyed, may be removed by a partial use of metal notes, or tokens, which is practised at present. Promissory notes for large sums may be inscribed on plates of gold by inventions to avoid forgery as easily as those on paper. If there are insur- mountable difficulties to the abolition of the present system of Royal coin, the alchemist may rest satisfied, that if he was so fortunate as to attain his object, he cannot attempt performing any extensive work of mercy in metal or medicine at a less risk, if discovered, than imprisonment for life . it would be the duty of the Legislature to enact a law for that purpose.
To indulge a proper alchemical dream, we must suppose the Royal coin of the present system abolished. Paper Bank Notes, and gold, silver, or copper Bank Tokens, the direct representa- tives of real estate, which is ready to be conveyed to the holder of a certain large sum on demand. The Nation that takes the lead in this regulation, repeals the penal necessity that proscribes the adept. A profusion of gold will only supply materials to the goldsmiths proportionate to the wants of their trade, and trans- mutation will stop at the point where other metals are more useful. All other nations must follow the example of the first, as the circulation of gold will reduce them to the same level : the embellishments and utensils of life will be improved, and the Banking svstem secured from an over issue of floating currency, by an infallible principle of reaction. But the greatest advan- tage to mankind, is the reformation of medicine ; health will be& established in those who are moral, while the immoral will be cut off by the intemperate use of the medicine, conflicting with the reiterated physical consequences of sin. The elixir may be diluted in matter till it pervades the preparations of meat and drink, and the Medical Faculty, empowered by the ©pen exposition of alchemistical philosophy, may then devote their lives to the exaltation of the human race.
In this land of liberty, an extensive company of great landed proprietors may erect such a Bank, as was described, and by the wisdom of their arrangements, their Notes and Tokens may take place of all other currency.
DIONISIUS ANDREAS FREHER,
Of the Analogy in the Process of the Philosophic yVffRjLf to the Redemption of Man, through Jesus Christ, according to the Writings of Jacob Behmen.
If man does not understand his oyO corrupt nature, and the curse under which he consequently lies, he cannot understand the nature and curse of the earth, or presume to restore a matter from that curse, and be instrumental in its deliverance, "u hich is the true artist's only business.
While Adam stood in pure paradisical innocency, the Eternal word and power of life was his leader, and had dominion in him ; his life, which was a clear flame, burned in, and was nourished, by that pure spirit of the divine substantiality, which, together with the water of eternal life, generated in the angelical world, gave forth a glorious and bright shining light.
Immediately after the fall of man, God said to the serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; her seed shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Herein the philosopher's stone, or tincture lieth. For though this concerneth man, in the first place, yet secondly, it concerneth the whole creation. The bruising of the serpent's head, is done spiritually and corporally, both in nature and in the soul, and though in different degrees, yet in a parallel process in each.
The serpent's sting, is the wrath fire, and the woman's seed, the light and love fire: these two are in every thing ; the former predominated in outward nature, by the fall, and therefore the latter must be raised up, and by its shining through the wrath, must subdue aud keep it under ; taking away from it, its pre- dominant power, so that it may exercise its true natural office, as a servant to the light : that these two may no more stand in opposition to each other, but be one thing re-harmonized by light and love, and re-introduced to paradise ; when the dark poisoned mercury is thus tinctured, his anguishing death is turned into triumphing life, and his former dark desire, into a
p
122 Alchemical Treatises.
light love desire, which is able to make a pure love and light substantially, viz. a heavenly body out of an earthly.
The tv/iole work consists summarily herein, that two natures be reduced to one, as they were at the beginning. A heavenly and an earthly matter are to be mutually united, and brought to a heavenly quality : Earth must be turned in, and heaven out. The mercury which is therein doth all this itself; the artist is not to attempt it — he cannot do it ; he is to prepare the matter as is requisite, and leave the work to be done by the workman which is in it already ; nevertheless understanding and faith are required in him. His design is no less than to redeem a matter from the curse, and to raise it from the dead, which never can be done by one who is dead himself in his understanding, and internal lifr.
When these two requisites are found in the artist, first, an experimental understanding from the process in his own re- generation ; and secondly, a divine call for this undertaking, two qualities will further be required in him, when he is to make a beginning of his work ; and these are represented by Behmen, from that parable of our Lord, concerning a man that went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was robbed and wounded by highwaymen, saying, the artist must truly stand in the figure of the merciful Samaritan, and have his will, that he may desire nothing else but to heal that which is wounded ; and his eyes, that he may see and discern the wounded body that he is to heal, which is not easy or by every one to be done, because of its great comiption.
He shall have the greatest need of such eyes in the very be- ginning, when he is to chuse the proper matter for this philo- sophic work — this is called by Behmen, and described para- bolically, that evil child, which is run out from its mother's house, and desired to be in self, or to stand by itself on its own foundation ; this must be sought for in Saturn, which Saturn, therefore, the artist must have sharp and piercing eyes to look into, both as to eternal and temporal nature ; for the wrath of God, by its strong astringent impression, hath shut it up in the chamber of death ; not that it turned it into Saturn, but it keeps it imprisoned or shut up in the Saturnine death ; in the first, cold, harsh, dark, astringent property ; which is called the great still standing death, because as yet there is no mobility of life therein.
When this proper matter is found in Saturn, the artist may go to work, if he considers and follows that process, which God observed in the Redemption, and restoration of mankind, through Jesus Christ, from his conception and nativity to his resurrection and ascension ; in so doing he may find the joyful feast of Pentecost, viz. that desirable tincture in Outward nature, which is answerable to that holy and spiritual tincture, whereby St.
Frehers Analogy. 123
Peter, in his first public sermon, tinctured three thousand differ- ent souls at once. When the human mercury, the outspoken word of human life, was infected and poisoned by the serpent, and was left in its falsehood without the light ; God did not reject the humanity so as to annihilate it, and make another strange or foreign Adam : he restored that which was spoiled. — This he effected not by strange things, which the humanity had not in it before, but by that same holy, divine spirit, which at first was breathed into Adam, to make him an image and likeness of God. This he re-introduced to the poisoned humanity, and made thereby a good, sure, and solid disposition to the new regene- ration thereof; and this was done in the immaculate conception of Jesus Christ : for therein a conjunction was made, between the eternal speaking; and human outspoken word, the mercury, or human life, which was poisoned in fallen man, and was full of self or own-will.
This must be the first consideration of an artist, which he is to observe and ponder, that he may act accordingly, and bring not his subject matter to the fire, without such previous conjunction, unless he will work in vain, and make himself ridiculous. The artist is to know, that he is not to bring the tendency to perfection, into his matter from without; but that it lieth therein already. He must be capable of the divine will, and then with his renewed or tinctured will, which is his holy faith, must handle his subject matter, that so the will towards perfection, which lieth in the matter still and immovable, may be stirred up, and brought into conjunction with his will, and with the divine will; and further, that this divine will may press forward to meet and bless that outward will, which presseth inward from the corruption into God's love and mercy.
This point is recommended to the artist's highest consideration, to make it his continual study and practice ; because the philo- sophical baptism consisteth herein, and this is the very first be- ginning of it. This can enable him to baptize truly and rightly ; he is to baptize his matter not only with the water of the outward, but also with that of the inward world.
The wilderness wherein the temptation is offered, is, in the philosophical work, the outward, earthly, dry, desolate, and barren body, wherein the mercury or young man is not able to stand against the Devil, except he lay hold on the virgin, and be by her supported. He is therefore to unite with her, to cast his will and desire into her love, and to eat of her bread, not of his own natural quality, like as Christ our Lord, all the forty days of his temptation, did eat only of the eternal speaking word, and would not eat of that bread which he could have made out of the stones. All which is nothing else, but that the mercury must admit and receive into his own poisonous qua- lity, the heavenly tincture, and suffer the serpent's head, the
124 Alchemical Treatises.
fiery wrathful property, to be bruised thereby in himself, which if he cloth not, the devil will prevail, and detain him captive in that state, wherein he is when separated from his frirgitf. The artist should take care, not to suffer the tempting devil to be too furious, or wrathful, but proportionable ; and on the other hand, that he be not too Weak or impotent : for otherwise the mercury would not be assaulted by h-im sufficiently, and might, as- a hungry wolf, swallow up his baptism, return to hi* own wrathful property, and continue still that same poisonous thing, which it was before.
At the end of forty days, when the devil had ended all the temptation, he must depart from the Lord Christ, and the angels come and minister to him. This the artist is espe- cially to observe; for he stood in the trial himself, and may now perceive infallibly, whether or not he is fit for, and accounted worthy of this work ; if at the end of forty days, according to the process of Christ, the angels do not appear, he may con- elude he is not successful : and that his fiery masculine mercury does not yet stand in a due internal union with the watery fe- minine mercury, bnt that it is still the same in its wrathful quality, that it was before, and therefore the tempting devii has prevailed. But if he sees the sign of the angels-, he may rejoice, and be assured that the bridegroom is united to his bride, and she to him, and that his work prospers.
Immediately after the temptation, and overcoming of the devil, the Lord Christ began his public office, not only by preaching, reproving, and instructing the people, but also by working many great, miraculous, and amazing things, through all the properties of nature ,• for instance in Saturn, he raised up the dead ; in Luna, he transmuted water into wine ; and fed with five loaves of bread, five thousand men ; in Jupiter, he made out of the simple and ignorant fishermen, the most wise and understanding apostles; in Mercury, he made the deaf, hearing ; the dumb, speaking, and healed the lepers : in Mars, he expelled devils from the possessed ; in Venus, he loved his brethren arid sisters as to the humanity, and gave freely his life for them into death.
The seventh property, which is Sol, standing in the midst, and uniting three and three, is here not mentioned, because this belongeth to the full perfection, which then only was at- tained unto, when he was risen from the dead, ascended up to heaven, and had poured out the holy-tincturing-spirit, on the day of Pentecost.
The artist shall distinctly see, that there is a true and exact accordance to this in the philosophical work ; for when the forty days temptation is happily ended, he shall see, in Saturn, that the mercury raiseth up from death, that same dead sub- *>iauec, wherein he was shut up before ; in Luna, that he fecdetli
Fr.eher*s Analogy. \2~>
and rrourisheth that substance, when there is nothing outwardly wrought, which it could be fed and nourished frith ; and again, that the deadly water is exalted and turned into wine, by having as wine an union of a fiery and watery tirtue ; in Jupiter, he shall see the four elements each by itself, and their colours, and a similitude of the rainbow upon which Christ sitteth for judg- ment in the outspoken mercury : so that he shall be amazed at it, and perceive that the wisdom of God playeth and delighteth therein, as in a joyful play: for the friendly Jupiter sheweth forth his property, after such a manner as God will in its time change this world, and transmute it into Paradise : in M rcury, he shall see that heaven separates itself from the earth, and that it sinks down again into the earth, ami changeth the same into its own colour, and that mercury purifieth the matter : in Mars, ,he shall see, that Jupiter in the mercury, casts out from the matter upwards, a black fire-smoke, which will be coagulated as soot in the chimney ; and this is the poisonous hunger in the mercury, rightly to be compared to the devil, because it hath according to its own kind, the devil's qualities. As soon as this black devil is expelled from the matter, the artist shall see Venus in her virginity with great beauty and glory, which, is a fine type or emblem of the great love of Christ.
Now when this appears, the artist is rejoiced, and thinks his work is finished, and that he hath the treasure of the world ; but he shall find himself extremely disappointed; for if he tries it, he shall find it is but Venus, still a female, and not a pure masculine virgin, with both tinctures united into one : as in Christ, the eternal-speaking-word, who wrought out, through his humanity, wondrous deeds, and yet full perfection could not be manifest therein : his human body could not be glorified, and much less could he pour out the Holy Ghost, before he passed through the great anger of God, or death and hell. {So also in this philosophical work, though all these glorious things appeared in the properties of nature, yet the universal tincture is not fixed and manifest ; all that was seen hitherto was only transient, and the greatest part of the work still re- mains to be done for its fixation or manifestation.
All the seven properties must be made totally pure and chrystalline, before they can be paradisical ; each of these pro- perties hath its own peculiar process ; and if they are to pass from the wrathful into the paradisical life, wherein they must all seven have but one will, viz. that of love ; all their for- mer own will, wherein each was for itself, in opposition to the others, must be utterly swallowed up, and then only they are fixed, and able to abide the fire.
In the philosophic work, as soon as Venus appears in her beauty, with her own natural character, in order to perfection ; there ia a great alarm, opposition, afld insurrection against her
126 Alchemical Treatises.
manifest in Saturn, Mercury, and Mars ; the first of which is a true figure of the civil government, the second, of the eccle- siastical state, and the third-, of the devil ; and as these three jointly were the same chief agents that brought the Lord of Life and Glory unto death, so in this philosophical work, the three inferior wrathful properties, Saturn, Mercury, and Mars, are rightly called by Behmen, the three murderers of Venus.
There is no other ground for this great opposition, but that Venus is from above, and these three are from beneath, united in one wrathful sphere, and unwilling to be deprived of their natural power and pre-dominion. Heaven stands now in hell, upon earth, and will transmute them all into paradise ; and hell perceiveth its ruin is inevitable, if it receives into it this child from heaven ; and therefore it swelleth up against it, and op- poseth all it can ; but by this opposition, it must and doth promote its own destruction, as it was also, in the process of Christ.
i Here it might be objected, how can this be consistent with what was declared above, that the matter was purified, the devil expelled, and the sign of the angels appeared. If so, whence can such a wrathful-hellish opposition arise ? But it is easily answered. Behmen says, when the mercury is awakened from the death of Saturn's strong impression, by the manna, or heavenly food of light and love substantiality, which is his own true virgin, or water of life ; the philosophical baptism is received into the poisonous property, and a joyful fire ariseth ; it is as if a light were kindled in the darkness, and a paradisical joy and love springeth up in the midst of the wrath. When Mercury gets a twinkling glimpse thereof in Mars, the wrathfulness is terrified at the love, and lalleth back or sinketh down. This is not yet a transmutation, but is like one; yet transient, not constant or fixed ; if therefore a fixed and radical transmutation shall be made, the same process that was like a transmutation must be repeated again, but in a far higher, or rather deeper degree ; this can be repeated again, because the harsh, bitter, and wrathful-hellish properties, were sup- pressed only in part, and not fully rooted out, and radically turned into one only will ; they are now raised afresh, by this appearance of Venus, much more than before, they stand up in opposition against her, to maintain their own natural right.
So it was also in the process with the Lord Christ, when he was going into the strong severity of the wrath and anger of God, in order to the full consummation of his great work, he said expressly of himself; I am not alone, the father is with me; he had with him from above, the father, and this unalterably, as to his divinity, though alterable as to the sensibility of his
Frcher's Analogy. 127
outward human person ; which may appear, by his crying out on the cross, " my God ! my God ! why hast thou for- saken me ?" From beneath, he had with him the common people, who received and accompanied him with great joy and acclamations when he came riding upon an ass into Jerusalem. So also in the philosophic work, Venus is not alone, but as it were, from above, jupiter is with her, and from beneath luna, which is a true figure of the vulgar and simple class of people ; lona cleaves to venus as the disciples did with Christ, so long as it goes well with her, or at least tolerably, that is, so long as saturn, mercury, and mars, do not actually and manifestly exert their malice against her; but when these three murderers arise, and will forcibly put her to death, or swallow her up into their wrathful pit ; then luna also changes her colour and inclination, as the vulgar people changed their will, and instead of their former hosanna, cry out, crucify him, crucify him. So also in this philosophical work, when it cometh to the great earnest struggle, the artist shall plainly perceive a teiTor and trembling in the work ; he shall see, that mercury which is the principal agent against venus, trembleth at the appearance of venus; and venus, also, not only trembleth at the opposition of the wrathful murdering property, but it is as if a sweat did break out from her body, and nevertheless she is not stirring, but quiet and patient, resigned and ready to suffer all they can inflict upon her, to be wholly swallowed up by them into their wrathfulness.
In the process of Christ, the devil said or thought with him- self: I am alone the great monarch in the fire, saturn is mv might, and mercury my life, and I am in them a prince and god of this world ; and will therefore not suffer that such another as calls himself a prince of love, should rule therein ; but I willdevour him in my wrath, together with his love, this he intended indeed, but he could not effect it by himself, without the concurrence of the two chief principalities of this outward world ; he stirred up mercury and saturn, the ecclesiastical and the civil government ; and then all three went together, sent their emissaries, apprehended the Lord, bound and car- ried him from the one unrighteous judge to another.
Thus also in the philosophical work, the artist shall plainly see that venus, which is all passive, wholly resigned, and ready to enter into the dragon's jaws, is surrounded on every side by saturn, mars, and mercury, and as it were is apprehended, or captivated, by these three in conjunction ; and that they lay hold and bind her, by darting their several poisonous rays upon her ; and then carry her from the one property of wrathfulness to another, as if to be by them tried, examined, and judged.
In the first place, mars bringeth venus to mercury, as the
I2S Alchemical Treatises.
devil's instruments in the wrath of God, brought, the Lord Christ first to the high priest ; but as he was prepossessed with hatred, he did not truly or duly try him, nor could he look into his internal will, and work of love ; but looked upon him only from without, examined him superficially, and concluded, that since he stood not with them in the same will, way, mid form, he was not to be toieratcd among the living : But seeing that he could not execute his design to kill, he sent him to Pilate, with the character of an evil-doer, that had deserved death.
So in the philosophical work, this is the true internal signa- ture of mercury, against venus. He was already possessed with his own hateful quality, and stood in opposition agaizist her, and he is therefore not able to try, much less to approve, of the loving property of venus, but hath a will to murder her ; but seeing there is in venus, another living mercury from above, he cannot destroy her, by his own power, but must confederate himself with saturn ; to whom he delivered} venus to be killed ; as Christ was delivered unto Pontius Pilate to be crucified.
Pilate, a governor, or lord, in the dark saturnine property, did not enquire after, or concern himself with the spiritual doctrine, light, love, and truth of Christ ; but only respecting the government ; and upon this pretence of Christ's being against Caesar, and his own coveting to be accounted Csesar's friend, lie sentenced him to death.
So here in the philosophical work, saturn, the dark astringent property, doas not concern itself with the internal loving qua- litv of venus ; being unable to receive any thing of it into its ovvn osence. The great contest js for the pre-dominion : tatum will not lose the friendship of mars and mercury, as both are with him in the same sphere, and jointly make up their own settled government, which must yield, if venus should arise, and shine therein with her light and love; and therefore he puts in execution that which is well pleasing to them, and which they think preserves their wrathful government.
In the philosophic work, a breaking forth of the solar power, in a golden lustre, from the fire's centre, to tincture the white lunar appearance of venus, is expected in vain ; because the pure union, and universal tincture cannot be made manifest, except first, all the dark wrath and poison of saturn, mercury, and mars, be wholly drowned, and swallowed up in blood and death.
Venus is delivered to saturn, and he with his strong dark uupression, lays hold on her, strips her of her fair robe, and put on her a scarlet or purple colour, wherein the wrath of mars is lodged- This colour, which will be adorned as with a "lance or splendour in a flash, is from saturn's and mercury's
Freher's Analogy. 129
property, mixed with the fiery mars, as the artist shall dis- tinctly *ee. When venus in this royal colour appears to mer- cury, saturn, mars, and luna, the latter being changed in her will, joins herself with the three chief murdering properties, and they altogether with one consent reject her ; they dart forth their malignant, poisonous, fiery rays upon her, by the sharp impression of saturn ; so that the artist shall distinctly see that the meekness is scourged, and full of stripes ; he shall see exactly the crown of thorns, with its sharp stinging prickles ; the -whole process, in the suffering and death of Christ, is a circumstantial representation contrariwise of the process of the first Adam in his transgression ; this is distinctly shewn by Behmen : and as the condition of man in the fall, is the same with the earth's condition in the curse, only different from it in degree, as he asserts, and demonstrates ; so also the manner and process of their restoration cannot but be alike. And as the Lord Christ, in all his sufferings, was most profoundly humble and passive, opening not his mouth, but enduring all things most patiently, in a full submission to the pleasure of his Father. So also in this philosophical work, the artist shall see, that the heavenly part is wholly passive, standing quiet, and immovable. Now as the mother of Jesus was blessed among wo- men, so the artist obtains a blessing in this miserable world, that he may tincture his corrupted earthly body, and preserve it in health, unto the termination or end of his highest constella- tion, which is under saturn. "When saturn therefore is at his end and limit, and leaveth that life of which he hath been a leader, no universal tincture can prolong that life any longer.
Venus thirsteth after the manifestation and pre-dominion of the fire of love ; but mercury, in the sulphur of mars and saturn, presseth itself into her, with his killing dissolvent, which is the greatest poison of the dark wrathful source; but venus instead of drinking the same down, yieldeth up herself wholly thereinto, as if she actually died. And from hence the great darkness in the philosophical work ariseth, so that the whole matter be- cometh black as a raven.
When the inward sun of the eternal light's principle, in the humanity, had given up itself into the dark wrath and anger of God; the outward sun in this third principle could not shine, because it taketh all its glance and lustre from the inward, as a representative figure or mirror thereof. In the philosophic work, the artist shall see what God hath done, in the humanity, when he was to redeem, and bring it again into Paradise ; he shall see a great supernatural darkness when venus yieldeth up her life, on which all her lustre depends; all her beauty must disappear, and darkness cometh up instead thereof. Nay he •sh:;H also see. that not only venus in the three wrathful pro-
o
130 Alchemical Treatises.
perties, but ah>o that these three themselves, in venas, do lose their life altogether ; and that all is now black and dark as a coal : for here life and death lie still and quiet together in the will of God, resigned to his disposition. The end is now re- duced to the beginning, and standeth in that order, wherein it stood before the Creation. Nature's origin is now attained* and all is fallen home to the power of the first fiat.
The artist hath hitherto seen many wonderful things, and very glorious appearances, which made him have great hope and expectation; yet now his expectation is apparently frus- trated. For the whole nature dieth in his work, and he sees, that it is changed into a dark night; all the properties, pow- ers, and virtues now cease to be what they were before, and fall into the end of nature. All yields up its former life and activity ; there is no stirring, moving, or operating : all the properties are scattered, and entered into the first mystery, in that state wherein they were before the Creation ; the meaning is not that the outward materiality is made invisible, or quite annihilated ; but only, that all the powers therein, which the outspoken properties had from the Eternal speaking word, and which were raised up against each other in con- trariety, each of them according to its own nature, are now at an end of their activity in self-will, and earthly inclination, and are fallen home again into the power of the Eternal speaking word, having no other way, nor gate, but this death, through which they could enter from the curse into their primitive blessing. But when thus they are in death to them- selves, and in the hand of the Eternal word, this cannot but raise them up again into glory, as by a new creation, in an- swerableness to the resurrection of Christ.
The Lord Christ died indeed, as So the humanity from this world ; but he took the same human body again in his resurrection, and lost nothing of it, but the government of the four elements, wherein the wrath, curse, and mortality lieth. So in this philosophical work, the first matter is not annihilated, the curse only is destroyed, in the four elements, and the first life in the one eternal element, is raised up again, and therefore it is now fixed and can abide the fire ; a glorious new body is made of the black darkness, in a fair white color; it hath a hidden glance in it, so that the colour cannot be exactly discerned, until it resolveth itself, and the new love-desire cometh up ; and then in satum's centre, but in jupiter and venus's property, the sun ariseth. This is in the fiat like a new creation, and when it is done, all the properties cast forth unanimously their desire into sol; and then the colours are turned into a mixture of white and red, from fire and light in union, that is, into yellow, which is the colour of majesty.
The appearance of love, to the wrathful properties of dark-
Frehej^s An alogy. ] 3 1
ncr>, causes a great terror. The wrathiulness is mightily ex- asperated by this appearauco of love, and presseth vehemently to swallow it up in death ; which actually it doth ; but seeing that no death can be therein, the love sinketh only down, yicklcth up herself into these murdering properties, .and dis- playeth among them her own loving essentiality, which they must keep in them, and cannot get rid thereof. This is a poison to death, and a pestilence to hell ; for the wrathful properties are mightily terrified, at this entering of love into them, which is so strange and contrary to their own qua- lities, which makes fhem all weak and impotent, so that they must lose their own will] strength, and pre-dominion. So it was in the death of Christ, and after such a manner, largely and excellently declared by Behmen ; death and the curse in the humanity, was killed and destroyed ifl and by the death of Christ ; who, after his resurrection, had no more the form of a male in his human body, but that of a paradisical virgin, as Adam had before his falL And so it is in this philoso- phical work, this terror and mutual killing, though there is properly no -death, but only a transmutation and union of two into one, when venus yieldeth up her life to the wrathful proper- ties ; and when these having lost their pre-dominion, are raised up again to a new life, the life of the anger, and the Hfe of the love, are no more two, but only one ; no more a male and female property, but a whole male virgin, with both tinctures united in one. When the artist seeth the red blood of the male rise from death, ami come forth out of the black darkness, together in union with the white colour of the virgin, he may then know that he hath the great arcanum of the world, and such a treasure as is inestimable. Several things more could be brought forth from Behmen, which would afford many excellent considera- tions; but these may be sufficient to shew that harmonious analogy, which is between the restoration of fallen man, through Jesus Christ, and the restoration of fallen nature in the philosophic work.
C-5* This Treatise is now first printed ; the Author was a native of Norimberg, and died in London, 1728, 'aged 79. His MSS. are deposited in the British Museum, in Tiventy- one Treatises, with Figures, xdiich would make in print a large quarto volume.
TUB
SECRET BOOK OF ARTEPHIUS.
Written in the Twelfth Century.
1. Axtimony is n mineral participating of saturnine parts, and has in all respects the nature thereof. This saturnine anti- mony agrees with sol, and contains in itself argent vive, in which no metal is swallowed up, except Gold ; and gold is truty swal- lowed up by this antimoni.il argent vive. Without this argent vive no metal whatsoever can be whitened ; it whitens laton, i. e, gold ; reduceth a perfect body into its inima materia, or first matter, viz. into sulphur and argent vive, of a white colour, and outshining a looking-glass. It dissolves, I say, the perfect bod}', which is so in its own nature ; for this water is friendly and agreeable with the metals, whitening sol, because it contains in, itself white, or pure argent vive.
2, And from both these jrou may draw a great arcanum, viz. a water of saturnine antimony, mercurial and white ; to the end, that it may whiten sol, not burning but dis-> solving, and afterwards congealing to the consistence or like- ness of white cream. Therefore, saith the philosopher, this water makes the body to be volatile; because alter it has been dissolved in it, and infrigidated, it ascends above, and swims upon the surface of the water. Take, saith he, crude leaf-gold, or calcined with mercury, and put it into our vinegar, made of saturnine antimony, mercurial, and sal armoniac, as it is said, in a broad glass vessel, and four inches high, or more ; put it into a gentle iieat, and in a short time you will see elevated a liquor, as it were oil, swimming a top, much like a scum. — ■ Gather this with a spoon, or a feather, dipping it in; and so doing often times a day, till nothing more arise: evaporate away the water with a gentle heat, i. e, the superfluous humidity of the vinegar, and there will remain the quintessence, potestates, or powers of gold, in form of a white oil incombustible. In this oil the philosophers have placed their greatest secrets ; it is ex- ceeding sweet, and of great virtue tor easing the pains of wounds.
3. The whole, then, of this antimonial secret is, that we know how by it to extract or draw forth argent vive, out of the body of magnesia, not burning, and this is antimony, and a mercurial
Secret Bool- of Jrkphins. \33
sublimate. That is, you must extract a living and incombustible water, and then congeal, or coagulate it with the perfect body of sol, /. c. fine gold, without alloy : which is done by dissolving- it into a nature and white substance, of the consistency of cream, and made thoroughly white. But first this sol by putrefaction and resolution in this water, leseth all its light or brightness, and will grow dark and black; afterwards it will ascend above the water, and by little and little will swim upon it, in a substance of a white colour. And this is the whitening of red laton, to sublimate it philosophically, and to reduce it into its first matter, viz. into a white incombustible sulphur, and into a fixed argent vive. And so the fixed moisture, to wit, gold our body, by the reiterating of the liquiiaction or dissolution in this our dissolving water, is changed and reduced into fixed sulphur, and fixed argent vive. Thus the perfect body of sol, resumed) life in this water ; it is revived, inspired, grows, and is multiplied in its kind, as all other things are. For in this water, it so happens, that the body compounded of two bodies, viz. — Sol and Luna, is puffed up, swells, putrefies, is raised up, and does increase by receiving from the vegetable and animated nature and sub- stance.
4. Our water also, or vinegar aforesaid, is the vinegar of the mountains, i. e. of sol and luna ; ar-d therefore it is mixed with gold and silver, and. sticks close to them perpetually; and the body receiveth from this water a white tincture, and shines with an inestimable brightness. Who so therefore knows how to convert, or change the body into a medicinal white gold, may easily by the same white gold, change all imperfect metals into the best and finest silver. And this white gold is called by the philosophers luna alba philosophorum, argenlum virion album
Jimkii aiirum alchymice, and Junius alius : and therefore without this our antimonial vinegar, the aurum album of the philosophers cannot be made. And because in our vim gar, there is a double substance of argentum vivum, the one irom antimony, the other from mercury sublimated; it does give a double weight and substance of fixed argent vive, and also augments therein the native colour, weight, substance, and tincture thereof.
5. Our dissolving water therefore carries with it a great tincture, and a great melting or dissolving; because that when it feels the vulgar fire, if there be in it the piffle or fine bodies of sol or luna. it immediately melts them, and converts them into its white sub- stance, such as itself is, and gives to the body colour, weight, and tincture. In it also is a powder of liquifying or melting all things that can be melted or dissolved ; it is a water ponderous, viscous, precious, and worthy to be esteemed, resolving all crude bodies into their prima materia, or first matter, viz. into earth and a viscous powder ; that is, into sulphur, and argen- tum vivum. If therefore you put into this water, leaves, filings, •r calx of any metal, and set it in a gentle heat for a time, the
13i Alchemical Treatises.
whole will be dissolved, and converted into a viscous water, or white oil, as aforesaid. Tims it mollifies the bod}-, and prepares it for fusion and liquefaction ; yea, it makes all things fusible, viz. — Stones and metals, and afterwards gives -them spirit and lile. And it dissolves all things with an admirable solution, transmuting the perfect body into a fusible medicine, melting, or liquifying, moreover fixing, and augmenting the weight and colour.
6. Work therefore with it, and you shall obtain from it what you desire, for it is the spirit and soul of sol and luna; it is the oil, the dissolving water, the fountain, the Balneum mariae, the preternatural fire, the moist fire, the secret, hidden and invisible fire. It is also the most acrid vinegar, concerning which an ancient philosopher saiih, I besought the Lord, and he shewed me a pure clear water, which I knew to be the pure vinegar, altering, pene- trating and digesting. I say a penetrating vinegar, and the moving instrument tor petrifying, resolving and reducing gold or silver into their prima materia w first mattw. And it is the only agent in the universe, which in this art is able to rein- crudate metallic bodies with the conservation of their species. — It is therefore the only apt and natural medium, by which we ought to resolve the perfect bodies of sol and luna, by a wonder- ful and solemn dissolution, \: ith the conservation of the species, and without any destruction, unless it be to a new, more noble, and better form or generation, viz. into the perfect philosophers stone, which is their wonderful secret and arcanum.
7. Now this water is a certain middle substance, clear as fine silver, which ought to receive the tinctures of sol and luna, so as thev may be congealed and changed into a white and living earth, r or tins water needs the perfect bodies, that with them after the dissolution, it may be congealed, fixed, and coagulated into a white earth. But if this solution, is also their coagulation, for they have one and the same operation, because one is not dissolved, but the other is congealed : nor is there any other water which can dissolve the bodies, but that which abideth with them in the matter and the form. It cannot be permanent unless it be of the nature of the other bodies, that they may be made one. When therefore you see the water coagulate itself with the bodies that be dissolved therein ; be assured that thy know- ledge, way of working, and the work itself are true and philo- sophic, and that you have done rightly according to art.
S. Thus you see that nature is to be amended by its own like nature ; that is, gold and silver are to be exalted in our water, as our water also with those bodies; which water is called the medium of the soul, without which nothing is to be done in this art. It is a vegetable, mineral, and animal fire, which conserves the fixed spirits of sol and luna, but destroys and conquers their bodies : for it destroys, overturns, and changes bodies and metal- lic forms, making them to be no bodies but a fixed .spirit. And
Secret Book of Arlcphius. 135t
it turns them into a humid substance, soft and fluid, which hath ingression and power to enter into other imperfect bodies, and to mix with them in their smallest parts, and to tinge them and make them perfect. But this the}' could not do while they re- mained in their metallic forms or bodies, which were dry and hard, whereby they could have no entrance into other things, so to tinge and make perfect, what was before imperfect.
9. It is necessary therefore to convert the bodies of metals into a auid substance ; for that every tincture will tinge a thousand times more in a soft and liquid substance, than when it is in a dry one, as is plainly apparent in saffron. Therefore the trans- mutation of imperfect metals, is impossible to be done by perfect bodies, while they are dry and hard: for which cause sake, thev must be brought back into their first matter, which is soft and fluid. It appears therefore^ that the moisture must be reverted, that the hidden treasure may be revealed. Ami this is called the reincrudation of bodies, which is the decocting, and softening them, till they lose their hard and dry substance or form ; be- cause that which is dry does not enter into, nor tinge any thing besides itself. Therefore the dry terrene body doth not enter into, nor tinge, except its own body, nor can it tinge except it be tinged ; because, as I said before, a thick dry earthy matter does not penetrate nor tinge, and therefore, because it cannot enter or penetrate it can make no alteration in the matter to. be altered. For this reason it is, that gold coloureth not, until its internal or hidden spirit be drawn forth out of its bowels by this, our white water, and that it be made altogether a spiritual substance, a white vapour, a white spirit, and a wonderful soul.
10. It behoves us therefore by this our water to attenuate, alter, and soften the perfect bodies, to wit sol and lima, that so they may be mixed with other imperfect bodies. From whence, if we had no other benefit by this our antimonial water, than that it rendered bodies more subtile, soft, and fluid, according to its own nature, it would be sufficient But more than that, it brings back bodies to their first original of sulphur and mercury, that of them we may afterwards in a little time, in less titan an hour's time do that above ground, which nature was a thousand years doing under ground, in the mines of the earth, which is a work almost miraculous.
11. And therefore our ultimate, or highest secret is, by this our water, to make bodies volatile, spiritual, and a tincture, or tinging water, which may have ingress or entrance into bodies. For it makes bodies to be merely spirit, because it reduces hard and dry bodies, and prepares them for fusion, melting, or dis- solving ; that is, it converts them into a permanent or fixed water. And so it makes of bodies a most precious and desirable oil, which is the true tincture, and the permanent or fixed white water, by nature hot and moist, or rather temperate, subtile, fusible as wax, which does penetrate, sink, tinge, and make per-
136 Alchemical 7'rcatiscs.
feet the work. And this- our water immediately dissolves bodies (as sol and lima) and makes them into an incombustible oil, which then may bo mixed with other imperfect bodies. It also converts other bodies into the nature of a fusible salt, which the philosophers call sal alcbrot philosaphiofutri, better and more noble than any other salt, being in its own nature fixed, and not subject to vanish iu fire. It is an oil indeed by nature hot, sub- tile, penetrating, sinking through and entering into other bodies : it is called the perfect or great elixir, and the hidden secret of the wise searchers of nature. He, therefore that knows this salt of sol and hum, and its generation and preparation, and afterwards- how to commix it, and make it homogenc with other imperfect bodies ; he in truth knows one of the greatest secrets of nature, and the only way that leads to perfection.
12. These bodies thus dissolved by our water are called argent vive, which is not without its sulphur, nor the sulphur without the fixedness of sol and lima : because gold and silver are the particular means, or medium in the form through which nature passes in the perfecting and completing thereof. And this argent vive is called our esteemed and valuable salt, being animated and pregnant, and our fire, for that it is nothing but fire: yet not tire, but sulphur ; and not sulphur only, but also quick-silver drawn from sol and luna by our water, and reduced to a stone of great price. That is to say, it is the matter or substance of sol and luna, or silver and gold, altered from vilcness to nobility. — Now you must note that tins white sulphur is the father and mother of the metals ; it is our mercury, and the mineral of gold; also the afoul, and the ferment; yea, the mineral virtue, and the living body ; our sulphur, and our quicksilver ; that is, sulphur of sulphur; quicksilver of quicksilver, and mercury of mercury.
13. The property therefore of cur water is, that it melts or dissolves gold and silver, and encreases their native tincture or colour. For it changes their bodies from being corporeal, into a spirituality; and it is this water which turns the bodies, or cor- poreal substance into a white vapour, which is a soul that i% whiteness itself, subtile, hot, and full of fire. This water is also called the tinging or blood-colonr-making stone, being the virtue of the spiritual tincture, without which nothing can be done; and it is the subject of all things that may be melted, and of Hquefaetion itself, which agrees perfectly, and unites closely with sol and luna, from which it can never be separated For it is joined in affinity to the gold and silver, but more immediately to the gold than to the silver : which you arc to take special notice of. It is also called the medium of conjoining the tinc- tures of sol and luna with the inferior or imperfect metals; for it turns the bodies into the true tincture, to tinge the said other imoerfect meruk: u!?t> it- is the water which whitcneth, ns it is
Secret Bool- of Artepliins. 137
whiteness itself, which quickcneth, as it is a soul ; and therefore, as the philosopher saith, quickly enterethinto its body.
14. For it is a living water which comes to moisten the earth, t1 -at it may spring out, and in its due season bring forth much fruit; for all things springing from the earth, are educed through dew or moisture. The eartjb therefore springeth not forth without watering and moisture: It is tin? water proceeding from May dew, that cleanseth the body; and like rain it penetrates them, and makes one body of two bodies. This aqua vita.1, or water of life, being rightly ordered and disposed with the body, it whitens it, and converts or changes it into its white colour. For this water is a white vapour, and therefore the body is whitened with it. It behoves you therefore to whiten the body, and open its infoldings : for between these two, that is, between the body •and the water, there Is a desire and friendship, like as between the male and female, because of the propinquity and likeness of their natures.
15. Now this our second and living water is called azoth, the water washing the laton, viz. the body compounded of sol and luna by our first water : it is also called the soul of the dissolved bodies, which souls we have even now tied together, for the use of the wise philosopher. How precious then, and how great a thing is this water ! For without it the work could never be done or perfected : it is also called the vas ?iatunc, the belly, the womb, the receptacle of the tincture, the earth, the nurse. It- is the royal fountain in which the king and queen bathe them- selves: and the mother must be put into and sealed up within the the bell}- of her infant ; and that is sol himself, who proceeded from her, and whom she brought forth ; and therefore they have loved one another as mother and soil, and are conjoined toge- ther, because they come from one and the same root, and are of the same substance and nature. And because this water is the water of the vegetable life, it causes the dead body to vegetate, increase, and spring forth, and to rise from death to life, by being dissolved first, and then sublimed. And in doing thjs, the body is converted into a spirit, and the spirit, afterwards, into a body ; and then is made the amity, the peace, the concord, and the union of the contraries, to wit, between the body and the spirit, which reciprocally, or mutually change their natures which they receive^ and communicate one to another through their most minute parts. So that that which is hot, is mixed with that which is cold, the dry with the moist, and the hard with the soft; by which means there is a. mixture made of con- trary natures, viz. of cold with hot, and moist with dry, even a most admirable unity between enemies.
16. Our dissolution then of bodies, which is made such in this first water, is nothing else, but a destroying or overcoming of the moist with the dry, for the moist is coagulated with the
138 Alchemical Treatises.
dry. For the moisture is contained under, terminated with, and coagulated in the dry body, to wit, in that which is earthy. Lei therefore the hard and the dry bodies be put into our first water in a vessel, which close well, and there let fhem abide till they be dissolved, and ascend to the top ; then may they be called a new body, the white gold made by art, the white stone, the white sulphur, not inflammable, the paradisical stone, viz. the stone transmuting imperfect metals, into white silver. Then have we also the body, soul, and spirit altogether; of which spirit and soul it is said, that they cannot be extracted from the perfect bodies, but by the help or conjunction of our dissolving water. Because it is certain, that the things fixed cannot be lifted up, or made to ascend, but by the conjunction or help of that which is volatile.
17. The spirit, therefore, by the help of the water and the soul, is drawn forth from the bodies themselves, and the body thereby is made spiritual ; for that at the same instant of time, the spirit, with the soul of the bodies, ascend en high to the superior part, which :s the perfection of the stone, and is called sublimation. This sublimation', said Florentius Cathalanus, is made by things acid, spiritual, volatile, and which are in their own nature sulphureous and viscous, which dissolve bodies, and make them to ascend, and be changed into air and spirit. And in this sublimation a certain part of our said first water ascends with the bodies, joining itself with them, ascending and subliming into one neutral or complex substance, which contains the nature of the two, viz. the nature of the two bodies, and of the wafer. And therefore it is called the corporeal and spiritual compo- situm, corjufle, cambar, ethelia, zandarith, duencch, the good; but properly it is called the permanent or fixed water only, because it flies not in the fire. But it perpetually adheres to the commixed or compound bodies, that is, the sol and Luna, and communicates to them the living tincture, incombustible and most fixed, much more noble and precious than the former which those bodies had. Because from henceforth this tincture runs like oil, running through, and penetrating the bodies, and giving to them its wonderful fixity ; and this tincture is the spirit, and the spirit is the soul, and the soul is the body. For in this operation the body is- made a spirit, of a most subtile nature ; and again, the spirit is corporified and changed into the nature of the body, with the bodies, whereby our stone consists of a body, a soul, and a spirit.
1 8. O God, how through n ■ ' ure dost thou change a body into a spirit ! which could not be done, if the spirit were not incorpo- rated with the bodies, and the bodies made volatile with the spirit aibd afterwards permanent or fixed. For this cause sake, they have passed over into one another, and by the influence of wisdom are converted the one into the other. O wisdom ! how thou
Sennet Book of Artephius. 139
makest tlie most fixed gpld to bo volatile and fugitive, yea, though by nature it is the mosl fixed of all things in the world ! It is necessary therefore to dissolve and liquify these bodies by our water, and to make them a permanent or fixed water, a pure, golden water, leaving in the bottom the gross, earthy, superflu- ous and dry matter. And in this subliming, making thin and pure, the fire ought to be gentle ; but if in this sublimation with a soft fire, the bodies be not purified, and the gross or earthy parts thereof, (note this well,) be not separated from the impu- rities of the dead, you shall not be able to perfect the work. For thou necdest nothing but that thin and subtile part of the dissolved bodies, which our water will give thee, if thou proceedest with a slow or gentle fire, by separating the things heterogene, from the things homogene.