Book I. B spiritual

10
ORATION TO GOD.
spiritual enemies, by the blood and righteousness of our blessed Redeemer, thy Son, Jesus Christ; and through him, and in his name, we beseech thee to illuminate the faculties of our souls, so that we may clearly and comprehensively hear with our ears, and understand with our hearts ; and remove far from us all hypocrisy, deceitful dealing, profaneness, inconstancy, and levity ; so that we may, in word and act, become thy faithful servants, and stand firm and unshaken against all the attacks of our bodily enemies, and likewise be proof against all illusions of evil spirits, with whom we desire no communication or interest ; but that we may be instructed in the knowledge of things, natural and celestial : and as it pleased thee to bestow on Solomon all wisdom, both human and divine ; in the desire of which knowledge he did so please thy divine majesty, that in a dream, of one night, thou didst inspire him with all wisdom and knowledge, which he did wisely prefer before the riches of this life ; so may our desire and prayer be graciously accepted by thee ; so that, by a firm dependence on thy word, we may not be led away by the vain and ridiculous pursuits of worldly pleasures and delights, they not being durable, nor of any account to our immortal happiness. Grant us, Lord, power and strength of intellect to carry on this work, for the honour and glory of thy holy name, and to the comfort of our neighbour ; and without design of hurt or detriment to any, we may proceed in our labours, through J esus Christ, our Redeemer : Amen.
OF NATURAL MAGIC IN GENERAL.
Before we proceed to particulars, it will not be amiss to speak of generals ; therefore, as an elucidation, we shall briefly show what sciences we comprehend under the title of Natural Magic ; and to hasten to the point, we shall regularly proceed from theory to practice ; therefore, Natural Magic undoubtedly comprehends a knowledge of all Nature, which we by no means can arrive at but by searching deeply into her treasury,
which
OF NATURAL MAGIC IN GENERAL.
11
which is inexhaustible ; we therefore by long study, labour, and practice, have found out many valuable secrets and experiments, which are either unknown, or are buried in the ignorant knowledge of the present age. The wise ancients knew that in Nature the greatest secrets lay hid, and wonderful active powers were dormant, unless excited by the vigorous faculty of the mind of man ; but as, in these latter days, men give themselves almost wholly up to vice and luxury, so their understandings have become more and more depraved ; ’till, being swallowed up in the gross senses, they become totally unfit for divine contemplations and deep speculations in Nature; their intel- lectual faculty being drowned in obscurity and dulness, by reason of their sloth, intemperance, or sensual appetites. The followers of Pythagoras enjoined silence, and forbade the eating of the flesh of animals ; the first, because they were cautious, and aware of the vanity of vain babbling and fruitless cavilla- tions : they studied the power of numbers to the highest extent ; they forbade the eating of flesh not so much on the score of transmigration, as to keep the body in a healthful and temperate state, free from gross humours ; by these means they qualified themselves for spiritual matters, and attained unto great and excellent mysteries, and continued in the exercise of charitable arts, and the practice of all moral virtues : yet, seeing they were heathens, they attained not unto the high and inspired lights of wisdom and knowledge that were bestowed on the Apostles, and others, after the coming of Christ; but they mortified their lusts, lived temperately, chaste, honest, and virtuous ; which government is so contrary to the practice of modern Christians, that they live as if the blessed word had come upon the earth to grant them privilege to sin. However, we will leave Pythagoras and his followers, to hasten to our own work; whereof we will first explain the foundation of Natural Magic, in as clear and intelligible a manner as the same can be done.
B 2
THE
THE
FIRST PRINCIPLES
NATURAL MAGIC
BOOK THE FIRST.
CHAP. I.
NATURAL MAGIC DEFINED OF MAN HIS CREATION DIVINE IMAGE AND OF THE
SPIRITUAL AND MAGICAL VIRTUE OF THE SOUL.
Natural magic is, as we have said, a comprehen- sive knowledge of all Nature, by which we search out her secret and occult operations throughout her vast and spacious elaboratory ; whereby we come to a knowledge of the component parts, qualities, virtues, and secrets of metals, stones, plants, and animals ; but seeing, in the regular order of the creation, man was the work of the sixth day, every thing being prepared for his vicegerency here on earth, and that it pleased the omnipotent God, after he had formed the great world, or macrocosm, and pronounced it good, so he created man the express image of himself ; and in man, likewise, an exact model of the great world. We shall describe the wonderful properties of man, in which we may trace in miniature the exact resemblance or copy of the universe ; by which means we shall come to the more easy understanding of whatever we may have to declare concerning the knowledge of the inferior nature, such as animals, plants, metals, and stones ; for, by our first declaring the occult qualities and properties that are hid in the little world, it will serve as a key to the opening of all the treasures and secrets of the macrocosm, or
great
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NATURAL MAGIC.