Book I.

Therefore, to be an adept, as we have before hinted, is te> know thyfelf, fear God, and love thy neighbour as thyfelf ; and by this thou fhalt come to the fulfilment of thy defires, O, man ; but by no other means under the fcope of Heaven.
When thy foul fliall be made drunk by the divine ambrofial ne6Iar, then (hall thy underftanding be more clear than the noontide fun ; — then, by thy Itrong and fpiritualized intellectual eye, lhalt thou fee into the great treafury of Nature, and thou fhalt praiie God with thy whole heart ; — then wilt thou fee the folly of the world and thou fhalt unerringly accomplifh thy defire, and fhalt poffefs the true Philofophers’ ftone, to the profit of thy neighbour. 1 fay, thou fhalt vifibly and fenfibly, according to thy corporal faculties ; not imaginary, not delufively, but real.
Helmont, an author of no mean repute, avouches that he had actually feen the flone which converts bafe metals into gold ; that he had feen it with his eyes, and handled it with his fingers : taken from his own relation of the fa£t ; notwithflanding Kircher’s declamation againfl the poflibility of obtaining it, noting them all who profelTed alchymy to be a fet of impoflors and jugglers, giv ing no better an expofition of their procefs of tranfmutation than this — “ An Alchymift,” fays Kircher, “ procures or defires a crucible to be brought, wherein is put lead or any other bafe metal, which, while in fufion, he (the Alchymift) flirs about with an iron rod, and then,” he fays, “ he drops in, from between his fingers, a bit of gold ; and after flirring up for fome time, and effay being made, gold is found.” This is, indeed, a very lame method of exploding alchymy •, but, however, to leave Kircher as much in the dark as he was, we fliall give you Van Helmont’s declaration, a philofopher of much greater note than thi? pfeudo-chemift Kircher. Van Ilelmont fays — “ I have divers times handled that flone with my hands, and have feen a real tranfmutation of fale- able quickfilver with mine eyes, which, in proportion, did exceed the powder which made the gold in fome thoufand degrees.
“ It was of the colour that is in faffron, being weighty in its powder, and fhining like bruifecl glafs, when it fhould be the lefs exactly beaten. But there was once given unto me the fourth part of one grain, (I call, alfo, a
grain
ALGBYMY.