BASILIUS VALENTIN a Benedictin monk, and, by his country, of the higher Alsatia, who, in the memory of our neerer ancestors, excell'd in Magick and Chymistry, in his Triumphal Cha­riot of Antimony, pag. 242. where he treats of the Stone of Fire made of the Mercury of Antimony, writes directly to this Sense: But the Stone of Fire (sayes he) does not Tinge Universally, as the Philosophers Stone does, which is prepared out of the Essence of Gold: No assuredly. For it has not alloited to It such an Efficacy by Its Virtue: but It Tinges particular­ly, to wit, Luna into Sol besides Saturn and Jupiter, omitting Mars and Venus, save only, [Page 2] that a little Gold, after projection upon Them, may be had from them too by way of Separation: Item; This Tincture (sayes he) by one part of it, cannot Transmute above five, that remain fixt in Saturn, Antimony, quartation, and Ad­urents: when on the other side, The True, anci­ent, and Great Stone of the Philosophers, trans­mutes to a kinde of Immensity. In like manner, The Stone of Fire in Augmentation of Itselfe, cannot further be Exalted: But the Gold is pure and fixt. So a little after, pag. 244, The reader (he addes) is to be advertis'd, That there are Stones to be found of more than One kind, that Tinge particularly. For All the fixt powders That Tinge, I call Stones; but One gives Tincture more Efficaciously and deeply than Another: as the Philosophers Stone first, That has its right of precedence to All. This, The Tincture of Sol & Luna, to Red and White, follows in Order: next to That, the Tincture of the Vitriol of Venus and Mars, both of which have in their own depth, the Tincture of Sol, if they be brought to a permanent fixity. The E­lixir of Jupiter and Saturn, for the Coagula­tion of Common Mercury to Gold, follows That Tincture next. Last, comes the Tincture of Mer­cury It self. And This is the Difference (sayes he) and Multiplicity of Stones, and Tinctures. All these Tinctures, (he further adds) proceed from One and The same Seed, from One and The [Page 3] same Initial mother, from whence the True U­niversal springs. Out of the Compass of These (he addes) there is no other Metallic Tincture to be found in any Thing, whatsoever name it's call'd by. The other Nobler and Ignobler Stones, I mind not now; and will have nothing to doe with them here, because they are of no force but only to Medicin. In like manaer of Animal, Vegetal, and Min [...] one, I make no mention, as they stand and are ordain'd only to Med'cinal Use, and have not the least ability to the least Metallic work; the power of All which, is to be found in an Excesse under One Complex of the Philosophers Great Stone. None of the Salts have any Tingent power: They are only keyes to the preparation of Stones, otherwise of them­selves they can do nothing; but as for the Salts of mettals and minerals (now I say something to thee, if thou canst perceive aright what Diffe­rence of mineral Salts I think upon) They are not to be omitted or rejected from thy works as to Astral Tincture and this because we cannot want Them in our Compositions. For in These is to be found that excellent Treasure, whence all sixation with perseverance, takes its origi­nal, and has its True and Genuine Base. Thus far Basilius Valentin.

This Sublime and Incomparable Philoso­pher before the Time of Paracelsus, layes here the Foundation of the whole Universal [Page 4] Most Universal, and of all the Stones and Tinctures in the mineral Kingdome; out of which, metallic Tinctures (in other Things, by Themselves) ought not to be sought, as he attests in many places. But in This, he most evidently shows, besides the Original, Great Universal of the Seed and Initial mo­ther, out of which the other Tinctures pro­ceed (although he names Them not expres­ly), that there are Six distinct differing Stones and Tinctures, of which one Tinges still more powerfully then Another can. And in the beginning of his Triumphal Cha­riot of Antimony, he describes fairly to us The Stone of Fire, or Tincture of Antimony, whose Mercury he teaches to precipitate with Oyle of Vitriol out of Mars, and in his own proper Sweet, red Oile, that is ex­tracted from the Sulphur and Salt of Anti­mony by the mean of the Spirit of Wine, and driven by the Retort, to dissolve and af­terwards to fixe it into a Tingent, fluent Stone. This indeed is a particular Tincture of Antimony, and yet it is certain Paracelsus did so Exalt it, and by subtile preparations, then by reverberations, afterwards by Subli­mations, Digestions, Separations and Distil­lations; at last, by various reductions and re­solutions, (as himselfe affirms in the fourth of his Archidoxes) brought it to such a point [Page 5] of high Temper, that all the admirable virtue of it was not to be found by the Wit of man; That by which it past through even all metals without diminution of its force, and made them perfect, and yet to it self was still sufficient to Tinge more and more yet; nor That, by which it was apparently able to propagate humane bodyes Sound and Strong to the Tenth Generation.

To Antimony, Sulphur is not unlike. The mineral (for both of Them are to be referr'd to the vitriolates) of which, Theo hrastus sayes thus: That, That is not In It, we may attain by the help of the Other; by, It, mea­ning the magnetick Spirit of the World, which is the Philosophers True Magnesia. And That (sayes he) will follow the Cap­tain of Art (that is, Helias the Artist) close. But after what manner the Stone of Fire out of the Three Intrinsics of Antimony, by in­tervention of Oyle of the vitriol of Mars and Venus, ought to be prepared, Basilius tea­ches, not only in his Triumphal Chariot here and there, but more collectedly, and in an open method, he seemes to have treated of it in the manuscript of his Manual prac­tice.

After the Stone of Fire, next he mentions the Philosophers Stone, and gives it the high­est place, to wit, in respect of the other Tin­ctures [Page 6] Universal, but not of the Universal Most Universal, as I shall show and prove a­non. But he affirms the Stone is made out of the Essence of Gold, and Truly indeed; but not as we shall heare, without the Addition of the Salt of Nature both Simple and Com­pound: whence Alchymia, the name of the Art, is pointed out; Halchymia, that is, a fu­sion of Salt, by the Ingenious Chrysippus Fannian.

The third is the Tincture of the Sun, or of Gold The most Philosophical, and follows immediately The Philosophers Stone. This consists of Gold Alone or chiefly, and That Philosophical described by me, for which Cause it differs from the Stone Itselfe, al­though there are various preparations of it. For indeed, the Great Stone is made out of the Essence, and the very astral Tincture of Gold: But this Tincture of the Sun, instead of the fusile Salt of Nature, is content with his own Salt, and comes out of the three principles of Gold Philosophical resolved, depurated, and conjoyn'd, as we shal tell you towards the End.

The fourth Tincture according to the Sentence of our Basil, is the Tincture of Mars and Venus Conflate, that is, of the white, and red Spirit of their vitriol, which is the Mercury and Sulphur of both, together [Page 7] with their fixt Salt, out of which this Tin­cture is had: although without the vulgar Sol, wherewith it is to be Incorporated, it cannot be perfected; because with It, it is first to be fixt, as Basil witnesses, in his book of Naturals, and Supernaturals, Ch. 2. pag. 28. in these very words, Because (sayes he) he Tin­cture of the Sun is no where more abundantly found, then in Mars and Venus, as in male and female, Their bodyes are destroyed, and their Tingent Spirit is driven forth, to Satiate o­pen'd prepared Gold with Its own blood, and by its proper meat and drink to make it fugitive and volatil. Then anon, This vo­latil Gold thus Satiate with Its own meat and its own drinke, resumes its own blood, and Dryes it up by Its own Internal Heat, by the help of a vaporous fire, whence ensues another victory, which makes it fully fixt, and highly perseverant, so that now the Gold is med'cin more then fixt. To the same Sense, the same Author, some pages after adds; Although the Mars and Venus (of this Art) doe not stand in need of any vesture, but are able to give it to the other five; yet I dare constantly affirme and assert it, that without Our Lyon, (that is, without Gold reserate and prepar'd as aforesaid) they can do just nothing at all, because we doe not see, and provide against the peremptory fixity of [Page 8] their Mercury, and the malleability of their Salt, to have gain from them: unlesse the Ly­on conquer them again in a great Scuffle, and both be brought not onely to perfect Solution, but final fixation, as he taught a­fore.

But here we meet with a Great and notable Objection, that bids us stand to answer it. For Basil, in the twenty ninth page of this Chapter, does not only say plainly, That the Tincture of Venus and Mars without Gold resolved (as was said a little before) can doe nothing: but he also affirmes of the vulgar Gold, whose Tincture is to be joyn'd with the Tincture of Mars and Venus; That the Lord of all the planets (namely Gold) is not able to impart to his Subjects any thing of his own vesture: because nature has given to it but only One rich Suit; unlesse the Ser­vant first do further enrich his Lord. And a little after, he adds: The King cannot com­municate with his Servants any of his here­ditary honour, nor give them a lasting Court-gallantry of habit, unlesse that first he do re­ceive, pensions and Tributes from his Sub­jects. And now, since This is so, It may be askt, and that indeed not without an emi­nent cause, How it should be, That the Tin­cture of Sol, according to its Essential Dif­ference can stand off from the Tincture of [Page 9] Venus and Mars, or any other of the Tin­ctures; namely if the vulgar Gold be not a­ble to Tinge, unlesse Itselfe be first Ting'd by the Spirit of Its Subjects? Some to untie this knot have betaken Themselves to the minera of Gold as yet Green, as also to the Marcasits; and I deny not but They may doe very much, because they are not destitute of Spirits. And thence, as they contend, the Tincture of Sol, and not from fused Gold, is to be prepared and had. Others look for the Tincture of Sol, not out of Gold simply re­solved, but such as is first brought into his principles distinct, and after certain Depu­rations, made up againe, by a handsome natu­ral coalition. For the Artists (such as they are) that do not add to the Mercury of Gold, the Sulphur of Sol, but Sol it selfe, doe not properly belong to us here, and therefore without contemning them, we answer thus; That the Silver and Gold that Nature has put into our hands upon her own Simple provision, is not so much required to the Tinging of Sol, as is Another more Sublime, and much better, Our Gold, the Philo­sophers Gold, in which there is the Tingent Spirit; of which I shall presently discourse, when first I have run over all the Tinctures of Basil.

The fifth Tincture Basil proposes in Jupi­ter [Page 10] and Saturn, and that as extending to the Coagulation onely of Common mercury to Silver namely, and to Gold, to wit, by their red and sweet Oyle by Art prolected from their Centers, as he, in more then one place intimates to those that can read. And to this place also belongs the Doctrine that Para­celsus delivers in his book of Vexations, con­cerning the composition of Saturn, Luna, and Mercury. But here, I cannot hold from telling you plainly, that Basil speakes of the vulgar Saturn, and vulgar Jupiter; both of which, while they still remain in their own minera, are of a higher consideration, virtue, and force: and to That purpose, in his Tri­umphal Chariot of Antimony, where he speaks of the fixation of vulgar mercury, he has these words, page. 87. Mercury can be brought to no Coagulation, unlesse there be an addition to it of the other metallic Spirits, and that Coagulation is most efficaciously, and most powerfully of all effused in the mother of Saturn, without which it cannot be done, unlesse thou hast the Philosophers Stone itselfe. And so again of Saturn, in his book of Natural, and Supernatural Things, cap. 9. pag. 121. Every man is to know, and think upon it, That no Transmutation of metal can be had out of Saturn, because of his most excessive Cold, except onely the [Page 11] Coagulation of the common mercury: be­cause the Cold Sulphur of Lead, can stop and tame the current, vagrant, hot spirit of Mercury, and take it away, if the processe be rightly instituted. And to these a little after he subjoynes: Wherefore see thou do not reject Saturn, or look scornfully upon it to fling it behind thee: for indeed his nature and virtue is yet known but to a few; and it is from this Saturn that the True and great Stone takes the Initials of its Celestial, fla­grant colour; it is from this metal, and this alone; and by the Influence of this Planet is given to It a key of perseverance through putrefaction: because of Citrine no redde can be made, unlesse, from the beginning, out of Black, a White be raised. These Things he—.Which as they are of a higher search and consideration, so they seem to belong to a Secreter Saturn, namely, the Philosophical, which does arise out of the putrefaction of Sol, and the Salt of nature, although a certain excellent Doctor of Law labours to evince in his Ruricola, That in the very minera of Lead of a certain sort, whose flowers are double, there is a very great force: the same also appeares to be proved by the Tincture called the Aromatic of the Philosophers out of the mercury of Lead; to say no more of particular Tinctures. Hence Paracelsus, in his [Page 12] book of Vexations, are rather of fixations, cannot sufficiently extol that Interior Spirit of Saturn, which is able to kill and slay the o­ther Spirits, or mercuries of the metals: as I my self have sometimes seen bars of per­fect proved Gold out of the mercury of common Lead, as they were shown to me five yeares agoe by a very learned, wise man.

In the sixth and last place, Basil makes mention of the Tincture of mercury It self. But That Tincture is prepared either by the mediation of the Calx of Egge-shels, as Pa­racelsus has it in the fifth book of Ulcers pa­tent; or is elevated by the vitriol of Mars and Venus, resolved, distilled, and coagulated, as you may see in the same Author, concern­ing the Death and Metamorphosis of Things and more to That in Rupecissa, to whom I restore that little book of the Tincture of mercury in the Second part of Gratarolus: or else Its Sublimate, by help of the malagma of Jupiter, is resolved and distill'd, in which the mercury is calcin'd, and coagulated with metals, the very way that Basil himselfe seems to have taken, in his book of the Two­fold Mercury of Sol, pag. 108. in that part of the Repetition of the Great Stone. For, the way of proceeding with mercury is very va­rious and multiform: and yet it is easily re­duced [Page 13] into a liquor by fire with the help of the powder of beaten coale; which liquor af­terwards by a certain Artifice, is able to Extract the Soul of Sol. It is also preci­pitated by it self, and fixt with the Tinctures of Venus, Mars, and Sol: but chiefly it is nou­risht with its own milk, to which perchance thou mayst Interpret that of Sybilla Enime­ria, when She sayes: Sitting upon a plain and well-disposed Seat, thou givest It of its own broth, that is, milk sent down from heaven; which yet again may be applyed to the Uni­versal, great stone, &c. in the Sybillin fragments of Philip de Lignamine the Sicilian Knight. Of This too, take that speech of Geber the Arab. when he sayes: If of mercury alone, (mineral he means, though taken from another place) thou canst tell how to make the Stone, thou hast lookt for and found a most excellent na­ture, and pretious skill. Hence Basil, in his Triumphal Chariot, pag. 88. For mercury (sayes he) is a pure meer fire and no­thing else. And thence it is that It is burnt by no fire, and that no kind of fire can captivate it to its final Destructi­on. It either flyes away suddainly, resol­ving it selfe spiritually into an Oyle Incom­bustible; or remains after its fixation so con­stant, that it is not possible for any man to take any thing from it: insomuch that what­soever [Page 14] can be made out of Gold, the same may be made out of It by Art. For after the right Coagulation of It, it is in all things like to Gold: because it comes from the same root, the same Stock, and that same Unity that Gold does. With these agree those other pretious Sayings of his that he has scatter'd up and down when he speaks of the Star of Sol, and the starre of Mercury, which Two being joyn'd together in their radious pow­er, opens to us at a certain time the Clossets of the most secret Wisdome. See his Tri­umphal Chariot, pag. 71, and 72. 91, and 92. I should not need to take much pains in explaining the words of Basil, if That Tractate which he writ upon the Astrum of Sol and Mercury, were not so enviously sup­prest by some. Nor are we ignorant that those by some are applyed to the minera of Sol, the processe whereof by the wet way and the mediation of Nitre and Sal-gemme is in­stituted so, that first Three Principles are se­questred, and then depurated by Spirit of Wine: and first of all ascends the Astrum of Mercury White, his Sulphur and Salt remaining downwards, whereof the Salt is extracted from the Sulphur by distill'd rain­water, and when it is purged of all its Ter­restrial faeculence, it congeales into a vitriol under a triangular and quadrangular forme. [Page 15] Out of these Three Depurates, is againe ex­tracted a new intire minera of Sol, and the Extract for some Times cohobated by affu­sion of a New Aqua Regis, untill the mouth of the Lyon (as it is call'd) be well opend, which in Digestion is circulated; and after­wards, the water being drawn away, ascends the bright Mercurial Spirit. In This the Vi­triol prepared afore is first Dissolved, and Di­gested, till it deposes all its feculence. And this oleaginous, clear water, dissolves the Sulphur above named and in a double pro­portion of it. To these Three parts are added four of the Mercurial Astrum, and so Dige­sted into a Balny for forty dayes, till all pass into a Green, viscous Liquor, and afterwards in a Physic furnace be coagulate to a fixt med'cin. Others following the dry way separate a minera from Gold, and this Gold Impregnant by its own Spirit they distill gently by Retort, and so, that of a pound they have scant a dram of its sweet Spirit. An ounce of this for the purpose prepared, they shut up in a small Glasse, decocting it care­fully six months by degrees of fire, till it turn to a fixt rednesse, which passes through the Argent vive mineral collected without fire, and makes it fit and able to turn the bo­dy of Gold into Tincture. Now whether These, or the other look better for the Astrum [Page 16] of Basil's Sol and Mercury, I leave for others to Judge, because I have not yet seen That Tractate of Basil de Astro Solis.

But that I may speak yet more cleerly of that Mercury that is known among the vul­gar, we must compare those things that The­ophrastus gives us about Congealing the Spirit of mercury into a Saphir Stone by the Oyle of Vitriol, in his book of mine­rals, with Those that his Scholar Phaedro the Great, relates of the Soul of the Hermaphro­dite, and thence it will easily appear to them of the Chymical monarchy, from whence exists, and how is had, That Sapphiric Flower of the Hermaphrodite, which is the admirable mystery of the Greater world; Of which (saies he) even one dram after its projection upon three thousand drams of melted Gold and those cast upon a thousand of Brasse, turns all into most perfect pure Gold. Thus sayes Phaedro Rodochaeus: whose processe in this Secret is not yet known to all of Us.

To These deservedly we may add, what the most experienced man, and the profoundest searcher of Nature, John Isaac the Flandrian (for from him all others after him, learnt as from another Hermes) has in his Tractate of the Oyle of vitriol; And also of the Oyles of Mercury, and of Antimony brought to Tincture perfectly fixt. Nor can I involve [Page 17] This in silence, That of many mettals and minerals put together, the same Author Teaches a Tincture does arise; and such a Tincture as is able to fall upon a Thousand parts of Silver, to transmute and Tinge it to Gold. And not Inferior to This, is that Mer­curial and Solar Tincture of the most Illu­strious Duke of Bavaria, Lord George The Rich, to whom, as our Ancestors have left to us, immense riches did accrue from this Art. But besides, That old saying; Make mer­cury by mercury, by water mercurial (to wit, out of Gold) presents to us in Truth The same Things. And does not Palingenius in his Capricorn-book, the tenth, allude neer to the same sense? when he sayes,

But of This enough already. For I do not certainly know, whether that of the Helve­tian [Page 18] Doctor, in his book of the Treasure of Treasures, writing of minerals, may be re­ferred hither, or not: Nature (sayes he) begets a mineral in the bowels of the Earth, of which there are Two kinds, which are found in many places and Lands of Europe. But the best, in the figure of the Greater world, is in the rising of the Astrum of the Sphear of the Sun. The Other, in a meridional Astrum, which is in its first flower, produced by the Astre of the Viscus terrae, the Glew of the Earth; and in its first Coagulation is found redd, in which all the mineral flow­ers and colours lye concluded. Which words literally understood seem to be spoken of the minera of Mercury and Gold, because Theophrastus (as also his Schollar Phaedro Magnus) attributes all the Colours of mine­rals, in his book of the Generation and Me­tamorphosis of Things, to Argent vive as the mother of metals. Although there are some, that pertinaciously fit This to the Redd Translucid minera of Silver, call'd Rotgul­digertz by the Germans. But I, instead of Gold, should think it rather to agree to A­nother certain minera, which is feracious of Gold, and fertil to It, and yet not Gold It self. To this is not unlike, what Basil in his books of Supernatural and Naturall Things, Chap. 3. pag. 45. sayes of the Spirit [Page 19] of mercury in these words: Here the questi­on might very well be put to me, How this Spirit of Mercury, is to be got, and had by Us? Upon This Great question (he addes) One might very well with a strong desire expect the Answer; which yet I will not con­ceal from any one, but lay it open faithfully, so far as by the wil of God, it is lawfull to do it, in manner following: Take (sayes he) In the name of God, The Redd minera of Mer­cury, that looks like Cinnabar (factitious.) Take, besides, The best Minera of Gold that thou canst get: bruise and powder Them both together in an Equal pondus, before They have come at any fire, &c—.in the same place.

It is very well known, That of a certain minera fertil to Sol, and the liquor of Mer­cury, by a monthly Apposition of It, there grew up to a German Lady, a perpetual har­vest, or Crop of Gold. The Gold rising first in its Colour Green as Grasse: afterwards by little and little the Spires passing into Gold, ready to be reapt by Cizars. There is, besides, Another particular Tincture that terminates in the Deep-red Crystals of Sol; when it is sublimed, and has before grown out into sprayes, and is almost consentaneous to the Other.

But we are to take notice, That Basil does [Page 20] not speak of the Spirit of Mercury and Sul­phur after One way, but diversly; sometimes of the Stone, sometimes of the Tincture of Venus and Mars; sometimes again of the most Universal: whence not much after, Chap. 4 ^th of the Spirit of vitriol out of Venus and Mars: The Genuine and True Sulphur (says he) is Incombustible. For It is a True and a meer Spirit, out of which Incombustible Oyle is prepared and had: and It is That very Sulphur, out of which the Sulphur of Gold from the same root proceeds and is made. By which words it is not hard to be conjectu­red, what he would have us secretly to Un­derstand by his best Minera of Gold, as he speaks of It in other and other places, accor­ding to the variety of the Subject, of which he treats: Therefore he adds; For this Sul­phur is rightly to be called and baptized, The Sulphur of All the Philosophers (as Paracel­sus points It out too in his book of minerals, Chap. 8 ^th. of vitriol; and Basil likewise in the Chapter of vitriol, pag. 133.) because in It is all wisdome found even to the Spirit of mercury, which antecedes it—. But what That Spirit of Mercury is, of which he writes there, whether That exprest in the Tincture in the Manuscript, to wit, the white Spirit of the vitriol of Venus from Mars, or of the Universal Most Universal, I leave it [Page 21] to the judgment of the learned. For he sayes, That the Astrum both of Sol and Mercury, and the Mercury and Sulphur of the Philo­sophers, proceed from One root, at first in­deed a white Spirit, and That he plainly calls the Philosophers Mercury: for afterwards there follows (sayes he) a red Spirit, that is, the Sulphur of the Philosophers and their oyle Incombustible, from both the Tinctures of Venus and Mars meeting together in one womb. To this purpose in his Chapter of Vitriol see more pag. 132. and how pro­foundly he playes the Philosopher the A­nalogically de Spiritu Albo ad Album, & ad Rubeum de Rubeo—Of the white Spirit to the white, and to the Red of the Red.

It appeares therefore, That the red minera of Paracelsus his Cinnabar, and the red mine­ra of Basilius his Mercury, agree very neer; and that the best minera of Gold, with both, may be understood not only of the common Mines which nature gives us, but of others, to wit of Antimony, the minera of Mars, and chiefly of the vitriol of Venus out of Mars. But of these, as the Greeks speake, [...], by the way, to help us to understand Basilius speaking so variously of the Spirit of Mercury; which is the manner of those Chymists that have tryed many Things, and draw on one shoo upon many. [Page 22] For there are Many wayes that aime particu­larly at One End, not only by One, but by many, and indeed diverse, Things: Against which Doctrin many have their Opinati­ons.

Therefore since our Basil reckons up to Us distinctly these Six Explicit Tinctures, which we have discours'd so freely afore: and yet in the 244 page of his Triumphal Chariot, professes also openly, That All the Six Stones of metallic Tinctures arise from One Seed, and are All by One Initial mo­ther in their first Generation; So prosemina­ted and bred, that from The same mother the True Universal has its lineal profluence; it is cleer as noon-day, that besides and a­bove the Solific Essence both of the vulgar, and Our Philosophical Gold, there is yet Another sort of Gold, and That more Secret and hid, from which the Universal Most Uni­versal issues forth, as the Seaventh and most perfect of All, rising from its own proper root, that is, its own Earth and Water, and in That much exceeds the very Philosophers stone Itselfe; because out of It alone, both That Stone, and the Other particular Tin­gents, are form'd and flow primordially: and more then that, because from It all the other Things of all the world, not onely in the Mineral, but also in the Vegetal, and A­nimal [Page 23] Kingdome derive their life, hold it still, and by the Crearor are so ordain'd to their Increment and multiplication. But now what manner of thing this is, and in what thing placed, although it may in some sort be conjectured by what was said afore, (The Green Line casting it self every where, and encompassing all); yet we shall speak more of it below in its place.

All the question now, after we have reckon'd up all the Tinctures, with their Multiplicity and diversity in the Minerall Kingdome, is to be transferred by us, Ad Aurum Philosophorum Nostrum, to Our Philosophers Gold. What it should be, viz. out of which, the Tincture of Sol is chiefly to be prepared, besides the Universal Most Universal, and the other Tinctures named above. We say therefore; That this Gold of the Philosophers, (for of the others, as of the Universal Most Universal, we speak not now), is Gold, that is produced by the Philosophers out of the Metalls Inferior, and of lesser value; and not by separation alone, but by the benefit of nature working by Art in an Actuall transmutation. There­fore it is not vulgar Gold, which by nature in her degree is onely simply perfect, and therefore now lyes under rather an Expira­tion, or declination of its Seed; than that it [Page 24] should be vegetous and fruitfull to a proge­neration of other Gold. Concerning this thing the most Expecienced Minerallist and Metall-man Andreas Solea, published by the famous Montanus, is to be heard, who in his Book of Minerals Metallic, Chap. the 9th. Of expiring Metall, Septurie the se­cond, writes thus: When Nature with the body of Metall is come as high as Gold, then it descends again, or moves down ward for want of Aliment by its hunger. Again, in the end of the Seventh Chapter, Septurie the first, Of the Ascent and Descent of Metalls; after he has recounted, how finely nature ascending Calcines the whole body of Luna, which Calx is nothing else but the body of Sol, he adds thus: As for Descention, thou mayst easily perceive and understand it by Ascension. For this is the difference, that in the Ascent it first acquires Tincture, be­fore a body: but in the Descent, sooner looses that Tincture. And therefore Me­talls that are Descendent are much more imperfect then those that are Ascendent. Thus he. Therefore showing where the Seed and Tincture is fruitfull or not fruitfull in the Metalls, The Ascension (sayes he) and Descension of Metalls, could not be made, but that they all agree in their seed and are of a Consanguinity. Item; In their Ascent [Page 25] Silver and Gold have the same seed, which in the Ascent transmutes Silver to Gold: but in the Descent, transferrs it into Cop­per. Then concluding, he sayes most openly: The Seed must passe out of its owne body in­to another, or else it cannot be fruitfull, or fertill. Thus farre Solea. And whosoever will not give Credit to his various experi­ence, will believe no body at all. The cause therefore appears, why Tinctures are not made out of Common Gold, unlesse that (as Basil sayes) be first exalted by the Spirit of Its Subjects. For we must look for a more noble, and more perfect Gold, that is in its Ascent, in which the Tingent, Green, Vege­tant spirit and fruitfull Seed is; which by Solea's intimation and pointing out, is Gold produced from Inferior Metalls. Why else (sayes Count Trevisan) should we take nine Months time to serve our turn (to spend it, he means, upon the Exaltation of Common Gold by the Tincture of Venus, as Basil teaches)? For we might take that body, as na­ture has made it, and laid it ready for our use. Here you see that Gold simply given us by nature, cannot of it self produce Tinctures: but another sort of Gold. Therefore he adds: Our Gold is not the Gold of the Vulgar, as all Philosophers say, because the common Gold is dead: but ours is impreg­nate [Page 26] with Spirit and is a hueing Gold. Hence John Clopinel de Mehun in his answer to the Lamentation of Nature; Gold (sayes he) is known to be the Treasure of all the Mines: and yet it has neither matter, nor form of so great power, as to exceed its owne perfection. For it has no greater pow­er then to perfect it self, let the Artist strive, and do what he can. To destroy it, and to re­duce It, would be a foolish work, since out of it no more virtue, nor power can be had, than what it has from its proper nature to compleat it selfe.

No Reduction can be made of those things, that Nature perfects into a species or Indivi­duall, unlesse first they be corrupted. And after Corruption no Generation is made like to the species, unlesse perchance there be a Regresse to the Genus. Wherefore the De­struction of Gold makes nothing to the Con­struction, or making of it, because by its de­struction nothing can be made. For it be­ing once dead, its Substance dyes too, and So that out of It no other Argent vive, or Metal, can be had any more, &c.

That therefore we may expressely and so­lidly confirm our Sentence and Conclusion concerning the Philosophers Gold from the lower Metalls, we will give you evident Testimonies from many eminent Philoso­phers. [Page 27] And first, Basilius in his manuscript, Declaration of his manual practice, writing thus of the Tincture of Sol: Thou oughtest to know (sayes he) that Our Stone is made of Its own proper Essence, and that it trans­mutes Other metals into Gold. Which Gold (he adds) must again be Destroyed, and Turn'd into a better Stone. Here very e­vidently (as I think) he shows, That This Gold is first to be made, before it can again be destroyed, or Turn'd into a better Stone: whence likewise in his German poetry, neer the beginning, he delivers the same Sense:

In which he shows that Luna is required to the propagation of Sol, as in the follow­ing lines, when expresly he adds;

So in his following Verses upon Venus, he witnesses further, saying thus: Ejus filium (nempe Antimonium,) &c—. That her Son (to wit, Antimony) does warme and heat the body of Luna, that she may be made pregnant, and leave behind her a progenie of mighty virtue and vast Encrease: meaning our Gold Philosophical. But from Basilius [Page 29] more below: Now let us come to that most Excellent Author of Twelve Tractates up­on the Stone, whose Anagram is, Qui Divi Lesch Genus Amo, that is, Michael Sendivo­gius, That Polander, whom Oswald Crollius in the preface of his Basilica, calls Heliocantha­rus Borealis, The Northern Beetle, in whose hands he saw with great admiration and a­mazement, the wonderfull Virtue and Ope­ration of that Tincture commonly call'd the Philosophers Stone. Thus therefore Sendi­vow in the proaem to his Tractates. Although there are to be found some Idle fellows which either out of Envy or malice, or fear of the detection of their Impostures, cry it abroad, That the Soul of Gold may be ex­tracted from Gold, and so return'd to Ano­ther body with vain and pompous Osten­tation, not without the losse of Time, La­bour, and Cost: Let the Sons of Hermes for certain know, that their Extraction of Souls (as they call it) whether from Gold or Silver, by any vulgar Alchymistical way, is nothing but a meer persuasion: which yet is not be­leeved by many, till at length by Experience, the only Sole mistrisse of Truth, its verified to Them to their Losse. On the otherside, (he goes on) he that in the Philosophers way can Tinge the least piece of metal, with gain, or without gain, really to the Colour of Sol, [Page 30] or Luna, permanent in all the probates re­quisit: he, I dare very well affirm, has Nature's Doors set open to him, to search out further and higher Secrets, and by the blessing of God, to be an Adeptus, and attain them. These words doe not so much referre to the artifice of Extracting a Tingent Anima, by which a way should be laid open to higher Secrets: as to the very, right Philosophical Gold produced out of the Inferior metals; by the Use of which Gold (as I shall show out of the Author) a way is made to us of higher Things. But what he discourses of the Anima of Gold vulgarly Extracted, we must know that Anima cannot trans­mute, although It may induce Colour, as Paracelsus does witnesse abundantly to us in his book of Minerals, Chap. the seventh, to these words; This is altogether True, If the Sulphur of Gold be projected upon Silver, it colours it indeed, but does not fix it. And Basil glances at the same in his Repe­tition of the Great Stone, pag. 113. Right­ly therefore Sendivogius in his ninth Tractate of the Commixture of Metals. The Chymists (sayes he) know very well how to transmute Iron to Copper, or Venus, without Sol: But if they could tell (he further addes) how to administer the Nature of Sol to these muta­tions, they should find the most pretious [Page 31] Treasure of all, a Thing more pretious then any is. And what Other Thing I beseech you is This, than, not the Common Gold, but Our Gold Philosophical; of which the Tin­cture of Sol, the most pretious Treasure may afterwards be prepared? wherefore (sayes he) we are not to be Ignorant, what metals are to be put together and conjoyn'd, and what nature corresponds to what. Then conclu­ding; There is (sayes he) One metal (metal he sayes) that has the power of Consuming others (videlicer, by Corroding): And why? For it is almost (sayes he) as Their water, and almost Their mother. Only One Thing, videlicet the Radical humidity of Sol and Luna, holds out and resists, and is meliorated by It. Here he might seem by the letter to speak altogether of the vulgar Saturn. But Gold and Silver are not properly made In­trinsically better by vulgar Saturn, although they be forinsically purged. Therefore thou must take it of another Saturn, with which if Gold close eleven times, it is brought down to Death, and afterwards put into its own matrix (namely Mercury) it conceives and generates the most excellent fruits. But since no other Saturn but the vulgar, or That which is made by Transmutation out of the Regulus of Antimony per Coementum, as also out of the vulgar Mercury resolved in an [Page 32] Aqua fort, is actually metal; the words be­fore, may not unfitly be referred, to the Tincture of the Vitriol of Venus and Mars (for this is almost as their water, and almost their mother, by which the Radical moysture of Sol is indeed meliorated:) for our reserate prepared Gold, is saturated by It, and promo­ted to fixt Tincture, as Basil himselfe wit­nesses: because Gold cannot Tinge of Itselfe, unlesse Itselfe be first Tinged. Therefore Sendivogius adds: Sed ut detegam, &c. But that I may discover it (says he) It is call'd Chalybs, or our Steel; And Truly Chalybs, yet not vul­gar, but Such as is Transmuted into Venus, to which the Nature of Sol is to be intimately mingled, videlicet by the Vitriol of Both, not common Vitriol. And to This sense That rwordr Apotelesma belongs: Visitans In eriora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occul­tum Lapidem Veram Medicinam; By its Initi­als making the word VITRIOLUM. But That Send vogius adds: Si undecies coit Au­ram cum eo, If Gold close eleven times with It (for it does not come over the helme un­lesse it be often joyn'd with Gold) The Gold emits its Seed and is debilitated almost to death, as we may see in the manuscript practice of Basil's Tincture; it is to be thus taken, that by putrefaction after the distil­lation of Both, it is at length mortified, that [Page 33] thence it may be raised again into a New Life: Then (sayes he) The Chalybs conceives and breeds a Son more noble than the father (vulgar Gold), that is, It generates for us a Sol, or magical Gold, from whence after­wards the Tincture of Sol, from Sol Philoso­phical exists. Hence he adds: postea cum Semen jam Nati: Afterwards when the Seed of that which is now born (that is, the Sulphur of Gold Philosophical) is put into its own ma­trix (that is, it be admixt to his own Salt and Mercury) it purges the matrix, and makes it a thousand times fitter to bring forth the most excellent fruit, that is, it brings forth for us a Tincture from Gold Philosophical, which after Its fermentation tinges thou­sands, as Basil affirms. But Sendivogius tells us more, and that we ought intensely to mind; There is besides Another Chalybs, which is like to this, made ready to our hand by Nature, such as is able by its admi­rable virtue, out of the rayes of Sol to Eli­cite that, that somany men have sought, and is the Beginning of our Work: understand­ing not so much the minera of Mars, or Cha­lybs native, as a certain kind of mineral Op­posed to Mars, of which in his last Tractate he sayes: Our Salt is mercury: and then adds Our Sol and Luna (whence this Stone of the Philosophers exists) is Obducted, or covered [Page 34] over with the Sphear of Saturn: which min­eral indeed receives into Itself the beams of Sol (that is, its quintessence), and by a very wonderfull power promotes it to a tingent Stone. Nihil nis magis Opertum, nihil magis etiam Apertum: si modó habeamas apertos ocu­los ad ixtelligendum rad ces minerarum & Simplices & Compositas.

Nothing more hid, nothing more open then these things; If we but have our Eyes open to see and understand the roots of mines both Simple and Compound. To this sense the same Author, tract, the 10th. Gold (sayes he) can give its fruit and Seed; in which It multiplyes itself by the Care and Wit of an Artist, that knows how to promote Nature. But, both in the practice of the eleventh Tractare, and in the Theorie of the third, he strictly caution's that we take not vulgar Gold by Itselfe simply to make the tincture of the Sun: And in his practice thus he does it. But be thou admonisht by me in this, that thou take not Gold and Silver vulgar: for those are dead. Take ours (sayes he) for those are living. Then in his Theorie: But take along this Caution with thee, that thou seek not that point of na­ture, in vulgar metals, in which It is not: for those metals, and especially vulgar Gold, are Dead; but Ours are Living, and have Spi­rit, [Page 35] and they by all means are to be taken. Thus Senaivogius: In which (I confesse) he does not onely discourse of this our Philo­sophical Gold, but also of the Great Univer­sal. However it is, he does altogether Ex­clude the vulgar Gold Simple, unlesse it be first driven from the minera's, and Exalted by Art.

But let us consult Theophrastus Paracel­sus, and see what he sayes, or rather demon­strates in his Praxis, of this our Gold Phi­losophical. He teaches in his book of mi­nerals, Chapter the seventh, to make the Epa­tica of mineral Sulphur, from whence after­wards the red Oyle is distilled, where to these words. Here we must observe (sayes he) that any Silver that is put into this Oyle, and there remaines its due time, remaines black, and casts its Solar Calx to the bot­tome. But before its due time, it leaves a Calx not fixt, but somewhat Volatil and Immature, (note the word Immature for that that follows) but if it attain its terme (he adds) and come to its just petiod, then It Fffects All Things that are to be done: It is not good to say more of this thing. Out of this one place alone, it more then e­vidently appears, what this Gold springing from Silver can doe, of which (he sayes) it would not conduce to speak more: and yet [Page 36] he confesses it does doe all things that are to be done, videlicet, whatever the Artist desires, or wants. This is a most Conspicu­ous place, and by no means to be infirmed, or eluded, that it may not be the palmary of Confirmation to our Sentence, concerning the living magical Gold, and so much (I say) the more certain One, by how much Para­celsus is Greater then All. But this Oyle of Sulphur is nothing else, but the first Ens of Vitriol, which by its Acidity is sufficiently argued; as also from this, that if you put to This oyle, of the common Sulphur, and twice as much of fountain-water, and after­wards boyle in it Lamels of Steel till a Third remain, presently as soon as it is cold, a most Green Vitriol is generated there. And This a certain late Writer, taking it from a Disquisition of mine, and mistaking me, in­serted to his Tyrociny, and brag'd, It was the Sal of Mars. But let us return to Paracel­sus. He writes in his Manual, where he treats of the preparation of the Tincture of Sol, as appeares by the End of that discourse (for there he speaks in plain Termes of Potable Gold, and the liquor of Sol) in these words to our purpose, Sume Electri Mineralis Im­maturi, &c. Take of the Mineral Elect um Immature (that is, such as is between mature and immature). And what is this Electrum [Page 37] I pray you? Electrum, with Paracelsus, is no other Thing but a metal which is made by Art out of another metal; So that the white Venus out the Red, is called an Electrum by him, although to Colour only, and not to Things, they stand Distant from one Ano­ther. Hence in the book of Minerals thus defining; Electrum (sayes he) is a metal from another metal (namely by the benefit of Na­ture, & help of Art). Whence also, in another place, The Crama of all the metals joyn'd together in Mercury, as a certain thing eli­cit from Seaven, he calls Electrum. It is therefore consequent that he here, by the name Electrum, does not speak of vulgar metals by nature's hand simply given, or as they are constituted in their mines, or fused above; but of those that out of other metals are produced by Art, as when Venus is made of Mars, which indeed is much better, and of greater power (as Experience teaches) than Common Venus. And so likewise, the Gold produced out of Luna by the oyle of the Epatica of Sulphur (as he taught above) is much better then the vulgar, because it effects even All things (as Paracelsus sayes) that are to be Effected: and may indeed be so Exalted that it would drive any man to admiration. But why does he cal it Mineral, and Immature? Because it is from the Mi­neral, [Page 38] and That Immature. For it is made by minerals, as by the Oyle of Sulphur from Luna which is imperfect, but yet in a very neer way to be brought up to maturity. Therefore before it compleats its terme, it is immature, having still Extraneous Super­fluities: wherefore he teaches us to wash and purge the Electrum from all Superfluity the Chymical way by Stybium, till it attain the Exquisit Degrees of Gold. And what doe you say, that Gold Itself (although produced from Luna) in comparison of the Stone and Solar Tincture, is a thing yet Imperfect, and so in a manner Immature? as Paracelsus himselfe in the same place a little after de­clares: Nature (sayes he) has left it imper­fect in its place, because she did not intend to make the Stone, but the Matter of It, which indeed without preparation is but a dimidiate, lame Thing. This place is accu­rately to be perpended, that we may under­stand, what he here calls the work of nature respectively (as is the natural Transmutation of Our Argent into Gold by the Oyle of the Epatica of Sulphur) and what the work of Art, videlicet, in preparing the Tincture Philosophical, because where Nature Ends in making our Gold, there Art begins in the preparation of the Tincture of magical Gold: although on both hands the Artist comes as [Page 39] minister of Nature, bestowing indeed more labour in the work of Art, lesse in the work of ready Nature. To Theophrastus in astipu­lation Bartholomeus Korndorferus is succen­turiat, by whom the Grosse, and not yet Cla­rified Gold, is commonly called Corpus, and Corpus Iners, a Body, and an Inert Body. And now to produce him here as a fit wit­nesse in so great a cause, in his Tractate of Luna and its Defects, not unlike to that of Truh [...]ius, thus he writes: There is a short way by which Silver may be brought to Such a poynt, that it may be made the best Gold, and best of all to be esteemed, because to Our Tinctures no better can be used. What more expresse then these words, what I pray you more evident, and with Theophrastus more consentient? But he adds somewhat more, by which he wonderfully illustrates Theophrastus about the Solution of the Im­mature Electrum. Whosoever (sayes he) can maturate Immature Gold (so he calls Our Argent) and turne It into a right liquor, so that it is seperate from its Earth, has got the fountain of Sanity. Hence he extols that Saying of Paracelsus when in his book of Vexations he affirmes: That true Alchymie onely by one Art teaches us to make Silver and Gold of the five Imperfect metals: And to use no other Receipts but onely these, [Page 40] Tantum de metallis, ex metallis, per metalla, & cum metallis, fieri perfecta metalla. And then explicating that Oracle, and showing how it is to be understood: Magna Arcana in me­tallis abscondita, &c. Many Arcana's are hid (sayes he) in metals, and are to be drawn out by an easier way then any one would beleeve, or think to do any good by it. I now say no­thing (he further adds) how wonders above wonders, are Effected by it, if, in the Philoso­phical way, they be awakened and raised up into their Primitive mercury, not into the Current, that which vagrant Impostors talk so loud about, serd in Sementem viscidam, but into a viscid, limous Sement, or Seedplot, out of which a living Germen, Leo Suavissi­mus the mercury of the Magicians, shows it self. Hence it appeares what manner of Mercury it is, and into what principles the metals are to be resolved, unlesse we would have Tinctures to passe into a uselesse dust, or powder, that has no Ingression into me­tals fused, but swims upon them to no pur­pose. From metals, indeed are made Tin­ctures, when out of their Substance primor­dials are drawn, which move themselves on (if They be right handled) into a viscous Se­ment. But Out of metals, when perfect me­tals are compounded with their primordi­als in a form or appearance oleaginous ma­teriallys: [Page 41] By metals again Tincture are made, in the projection of Tinctures upon perfect metals namely, that by Them as the meane, They may acquire their due Consistence. And then lastly with metals fused, are per­fect metals made, namely by Transmutation of Those that are Imperfect to perfect by help of med'cins already perfect. In These we see Parace sus hast most Signally and briefly comprehended the Summe of the whole Art. See those Things which not only Guido de monte delivers to us concerning this kind of preparation (for he is somewhat tedious in his prolix Circulations) but also what the most Experienced Isaac Hollandus proposes in a Tractate peculiar de Salibus & Oleis me­tallorum, of the Salts and Oils of metals (al­though they require That furnus clausus Re­verberii, with its little mount within, known but to few, and used by Paracelsus otherwise they cannot so well be prepared) the other Things are of themselves open e­nough, especially if they be joyn'd, and com­pared with what he sayes in his Tractate of the Oyle of Vitriol, and in That of Antimo­ny, and That of Mercury.

Yet in this place I cannot forbear, but I must add to Those Two Testimonies of Bar­tholomeus Korndorferus, and the most Excel­lent Paracelsus, Another too of that most [Page 42] monstrous Franciscan monk, who in the year 1419. writt a book in the German Tongue in Open words, to Burgrave Frederic Mar­quis of Brandeburg: but the book for many causes was never brought abroad by the Presse. In It, many Tinctures of metals, gemmes, & pearles, are contain'd; with many other choise Arcana's. He therefore in that place, where he comes to the Tincture of Venus and Sol, by the help of which he teaches how to convert Luna into Sol, This Sol (sayes he in open words) does more than another Sol: and shows the way that we must proceed. Leonhardus Turniserus complains very much that he lost a Compendium of It in the Tower of Kussenberg some years agoe: but there is yet extant in Schobinger's Library an older Copy. To these there is a neer correspon­dence of those five particular Tinctures that goe about inscribed in little books of bark, rising almost from the same foundation with the former, only in them the pure is not Separate from the Impure Terrestrial Sul­phur: otherwise then with the Monk, who shows how to cast away the leprous Earth: by which it comes about that his particu­lar Tinctures are so much the better, and tinge deeper, by how much they ex­ceed the other in Subtilty and Penetra­tion.

But let us now return to Count Bernhard Trevisan, who in the second part of his book writes expresly in these words: Curr, damno tan tem expertus sum, quòd in metallis, &c. To my losse, I found at length by Experience; That it must needs be hid in metals, &c. Where he alleadges that saying of Geber, No thing that is Extraneous, and that is not com­pounded of metals, or born of them, is able to perfect them, or cause their regeneration, or Transmutation. But the same Bernhard again sayes: Corpora perfecta, &c. Perfect Bo­dyes, which by nature are simply perfect are only perfect in their Simple degree, and un­lesse by Art they can be made (plusquam per­fecta) more then perfect, they cannot con­tribute to Imperfect bodyes: but if (sayes he) they be handled by Art, and according to Art be perfected in the Philosophers manner (mark the words) then the way lyes open, and it is easily deprehended what they are a­ble to effect. For Our Gold is not vulgar Gold, nor our Silver the Silver of the vulgar: because they, so long as they remain in their own Substance, are no better then dead; nor have they any Efficient power, as we may see in the Codex of truth, that is, the Turba Philosophorum. Hence alleadging that Golden Saying from Geber the Arab: Quicunque ignorat Radices Minerarum, &. [Page 44] Simplices & Compositas, &c. Whosoever knows not the Roots of Mines both Simple and Compound, he knows not the principles of Nature, and therefore not of Art: and by Consequence is a Sophister, not a Chymist. By Simple roots, understand, those that are in the Universal most Universal: by com­pounded, those that are made up out of Mercury resolved together with a certain mineral homogeneous Earth, into a Viscous Liquor; in all which the germinant and Tin­gent force of the Universal most Universal abides spiritually, and flowes in the fire like to wax without noise after a due Rectifica­tion; by which also (namely such compound roots) Gold attenuated melts like butter, and grows into the Philosophers stone. therefore Bernhard having intensely searcht into Nature affirms, that he had alwayes be­fore him that Saying of old Osthanes, ( [...], &c.) Natura naturam con­tinet: Natura naturam separat: natura obvi­ans naturae suae laetatur, & in alienas transmu­tatur naturas, Nature contains nature, nature separates nature, nature meeting with its own nature rejoyces in it, and is transmu­ted into other Natures. Whereof the two first, teach that the metals as they are in themselves are not to be taken, but that those things are to be Extracted from them [Page 45] that are Contain'd in them (for he confesses that he learnt by his losse, that the thing he sought for should be hid in metals). And the two last show the friendly, Conjunction of Gold with the roots of the Mines, and comprehend the Tincture consequent from thence: which things it is sufficient to have pointed at, and shown distinctly so far. And now, since I have proved as much as can be desired, that our Philosophical Gold, pro­duced out of the Inferior metals by Nature & Art, does yield us a Tincture of Gold Phi­losophical Distinct from the Stone; I shall conclude the whole matter out of Basil. Valentin therefore in his Occult Philosophy towards the End, writes of a Stagge, whose hornes were of pure Gold, and had got ma­ny thousands of antlets, or branches budding from them, which Stagge ran into a Green wood, and many huntsmen to this day range for him, and pursue him. The meaning of this riddle is not hard to be conjectured from what is said above: besides that of Basil him­selfe in the end of his Triumphal Chariot it is sufficiently declared, namely how this Stagg so much sought for, may be taken by lively and Industrious hunting. For he teaches to pursue him by the multiplyed Stone of Fire, of which one part falls upon five of Luna, and the other things that follow in the same [Page 46] place. By which it more then abundantly appears what sort of metal our Philosophi­cal Gold is, and whence it is produced, of Luna namely Tinged into Sol, whence the Golden Stagge exists: which Gold indeed (as Basil is witnesse) must again be bruised, o­pen'd, and further subtiliated, before it passe into a better Stone, that is, the Tincture of the Sun: Paracelsus likewise glancing at the same Thing in his book of minerals writes thus: If the Alchymists could find that Sulphur of Gold, as very well it may be found (sayes he) In Arbore Auri & Ejus Radice, in the Tree of Gold and the Root of It, (for this is their great Scruple: Non alte­rum illud, not That other Gold) they might indeed rejoyce at it, &c. Thus far then of our Magical Gold unknown to most men, and hitherto unobserved, & undistinguisht. Now towards the end of our Manuduction for a Close and a Crown, we shall, out of Ba­sil, annex a short way of the preparation of the Tincture of Sol, and of the chief stone of the Philosophers, when in a few words I have premised This, That even in common Salt, and in a certaine Other almost Conge­nerous to it, there are very hidden powers and secret forces, which are able to doe ma­ny wondrous things for us compounded with Gold, and with the Oiles of Vitriol [Page 47] and Antimonie rightly prepared. Most sure it is, that common Salt gives us an excellent Potable Gold by the Spirit of wine, if after its due Calcination it be Crystalliz'd, and distill'd by it selfe into a sweet Oile. Which processe, plainly conforme to that of Basil, we owe to a Noble person, and a dear com­panion of mine, who had it from him; to say nothing of other Arcana's out of Salt, For indeed it is Paracelsus his circulatum minus, his lesser Circulat, which he calls by its peculiar right, the Matrix of all Metalls, e­specially the Sea-salt, with which the Majus Circulatum, his great Circulat from Mercury Sublimate agrees: What should I say of the sweet Oyle of Antimony, so industriously sought by Crollius, and mist, not so faithfully communicated to me by the same freind as other things?

Now as for the Tincture of Sol Philo­sophical; if it be truly prepared, it must be a done by a just and cue Anatomie of Gold: so that first his purest Sulphur, and most highly graduat must be extracted with­out any Corrosive, and Separate from all its extremities and dregs. Afterwards, the Salt of our Philosophicall Gold, which will appeare white as milk, must not only be extracted, but must also bee brought to a Transparent Serenity, by which afterwards, it may more [Page 48] easily melt like butter in the extract of the sulphur of Gold, and together with it come over the helm. And when these two are thus exalted, then superfused to the residue of their mercury, presently after the Solution made, they will precipitate it to the bottom of the vessell. Hence all the Three viscous principles must be putrified in the philoso­phers glasse, and going on, from thence be raised again to a new life by their owne pro­per body and Salt, till they passe into a Re­generat astral fixt and perseverant Essence, which by the Initial Crasis of its three prin­ciples may be multiplyed and augmented in the space of a month, both in its virtue and quantity. Thus much briefly, of the Tincture of Sol.

But as for the Philosophers Stone, another way is to be taken, for it admitts (against the common opinion) of a duplicity of pre­preparation, namely, either by Composition of its mineral root Simple with Gold Re­solved, the way of Basil in his Twelve keyes, or by Conjunction of Gold with the Com­pounded rootes of the mines, from which line the Stone of fire prepared out of the Mercury of Antimony, and the vitriol of Venus and Mars by their own Sulphur re­ced es little, or nothing at all. But of the nature of this, I have sayd enough before, [Page 49] from which likewise differs not that parabo­licall Description de nobili Solis flore, not long agoe brought out of the Archivis of some eminent Citty of the Empire, which delivers the whole processe very freely, al­though it dazle the Eyes of many pretending Sophisters. But out of this compound, vari­ous particular Tinctures may be had, of which I forbear to speak more now. But fol­lowing the mineral root Simple of the Uni­versall Most Universal, we say with Basil in the end of his Memorial Table, that here there is no need, as we taught in the tinc­ture of Sol, that Gold should be somuch de­stroyed that it may be Justified in its Ele­ments, and so the first essence of its root be sought and brought forth to the light. Nor is it a necessity, that That in the compounds should be done: for there are some who by an Essence Mercuriall, extract the soul of Gold, the Gold Itself remaining almost in­tire, by which they exalt their work to such an excellence, that a knife being perpendicular­ly let down into that Tincture of their Stone, and taken up so again, then only wiped with a little papyr, and that papyr cast upon mol­ten Gold although nothing at all seemed to adhere to the knife yet only by the odor of the Tincture, they have converted a [Page 50] whole ounce of Lead into perfect Gold in all probates, as those have told me that saw it done, whose mindes when as before they were much averse from this study, became afterwards eager pursuers of the Art.—But (sayes Basil), It is every mans part that adheres to this Science, and will be in love with so pretious a thing, to search diligently after the Golden Magnet, (viz. of the Uni­versal most Universal) to know it very well, which he shall find in unicâ re unicè, in one thing alone and none but that; and its root in one only matter, (wherewith Subti­liated Gold by help of a kindly liquor is to be resolved and with continual fire, and in a furnace Philosophical, to be excited, cherisht, & so long decocted, till it passe into a transpa­rent Stone like a Ruby) of which, says Basil, our potable Gold is made more perfect, than it can of Gold Itselfe, which ought first to be made Spiritual, before potable Gold can be prepared out of it, as he has it Chap. the sixt of things Supernatural, & Chap. the seventh pag 93. For this Caerule, or Azurine Spirit, which is both in the Saphir and in Luna, is the Sulphur and the soul (sayes he) from whence both Gold and Silver enjoy and ex­cercise their vegetall life. Hence Basilius in the Repetition of the Great stone pag. 114 [Page 51] Lunae spiritum spiritui Solis perinde appropriari ait, atque viro faeminam &c, sayes, The spirit of Luna is appropriated to the spirit of Sol, as a woman to a man, both in the Earth (where metalls are first generated) and then upon it where the metalls are made by Art. Then again, the white Tincture (sayes he) is pla­ced in the Magnetic Form of that one onely thing, in which likewise is found the first ens of Gold. And with words to the same sense, after the rectification of the Lunar Tincture described, together with the preparation of it, he shuts up that Chapter: But if thou doest know (sayes he) the primum Mobile of the mall (there needs not somuch of the circu­lations of compositions) quandoquidem opus ex uno perficere potes, because thou mayst doe thy worke by one. But what this one is, we must seeke in the nature of the Mineral king­dom. But yet, that he might not leave it alto­gether untoucht upon, and so desert his rea­der in the mid'st of his course, he everywhere intimates that it is not far from every one of us. For so, in his book of Naturalls chap. the 4th, pag. the 56, he complains that the sons of men doe not observe, but rather con­temne that which God has layd before us in nature, in which there is a great secret. To the same sentence, in the end of his Memorial [Page 52] Table: The true root (sayes he) is vile, and even visibly exposed to the eyes of the vul­gar, and yet unknown; and, if not by a various proofe premonstrated, it still lyes hid to a man in the Dark. For all the world (as Bernhard likewise bears witnesse) looks upon it, sees it, and does not know it. So of the great mystery of the lesser world, towards the endpag. 220. The Materia prima, The first matter (sayes he) is manifest before the eyes of the whole world, and yet known to very few, and in all places to be found, to wit, Mercurius, Sulphur, & Sal, and Mineral wa­ter, or Metallic liquor, tanquam-centrum as a center, â Formâ suâ separata, seperated from its from (the prima materia or mineral water understand separated) and made up of these three Incipients. But chiefly, in the end of his last chapter de rebus naturalibus, Omnia (inquit) quae post Antimonium, Vitriolum, Sul­phur, Magnetem, praecipuè dotata sunt praealiis, et affinia its, ex quibus Aurum et Argentum prin­cipium, medium, et finem suum sortiuntar &c. All those things (sayes he) which after Anti­mony, Vitriol, Sulphur, and the Magnet, are in an eminent manner above others endowed with, and nearer a kin to those principles, from which Gold and Silver derive their beginning, middle, and end, together with [Page 53] true transmutation and alteration particu­larly; received their virtue, force, and power ex unare, from one thing, in which all these are Secretly and Invisibly layd up-till their birth, together with all the metalls: To which he adds: Quae materia manifesta est coram oculis omnium: Which matter is manifest before the eyes of all men. But because the virtue, force, and power of It, is buryed very deep, and so unknown to most, it comes about that this Materia is accounted as nothing, and by Ig­norance thought and reputed utterly insigni­ficant and unfit, to the purpose of Art.

The name of it (sayes he) is Hermes, who carries for his ensigne a Serpent volant, and has to his wife, her who is called Aphrodita; that knowes the hearts of all mortalls: and yet all these are but one thing, Unica Res Unicè et Essentia, One single only Thing or Essence, which (sayes he) is common in all coasts, known in all places, every one takes it in his hand, and uses it to vile things; the vile he accounts pretious, and rejects the pretious. In sum, sayes he. It is nothing else but Water & Fire, whence Earth with the addi­tament of Ayr is born, and still preserved. In these he fully setts before the eyes of all men the matter of the Interior Root.

Therefore here, as at the Goal of the Uni­versal [Page 54] most Universal, we too must stop and make our stand in the mineral kingdom, af­ter the Recount of Universals, and almost all particular Tinctures, of which we have hi­therto had any notice. Only one thing I thought good to add for their sakes, who think, There it nothing at all true, or profi­table, extra Universale Universalissimum, without, or besides the Universal most Uni­versal; and therefore deny that particular Tinctures are to be sought and had, without the compasse of That. To Those indeed I can easily grant, that, the Universal matter had, and rightly known, posse ex ea certiffima pa­rari particularia, most certain particulars may be made out of it. But it is not therefore consequent, that in this and the other bough and branch, growing out of the universal Materia, although in the species differing from it, there should be no power of trans­mutation, which both experience bears witnesse to, and the learned acknowledge, as Chrysippus Fannian in his Metamorphosis, & Aqinas himself de Corporibus Supercelasti­bus et Inferioribus cap. 4 et deinceps. Nor does it follow, Count Trevisan in all his life found no particular of any moment, there­fore nobody els can find one, or, that it is fals­ly affirmed by others. For to say nothing how [Page 55] Count Bernhard sought for the Universal (which certainly is to be found in no Parti­cular extra Universale) both what not only Basilius had said of the Stone of fire, and of the distinct Tinctures of metalls, and what Others, sufficiently refutes him: but also what Paracelsus of the Epatica of Sulphur, and Luna converted into Sol by the oile of ir; and That which Korndorferus relates de Lapide Schisto, of the Stone Schistus, for an ability to the fixing of Luna, although both in the vulgar Sulphur, and in Korndorfer's Schistus, which is a certain very eager sharp salt, even Basil himselfe by a mistake denyes any power of transmutation. So on the other side there are some, who, having got some either universal, or particular Tincture, forthwith insolently cry it out, That there is no other Universal, but that of theirs; Adeò plaerique nobis Suffaeni sumus omnes, So apt are we all to hugge ourselves in our own con­ceits, and ours. But to have pointed at this by the way, is enough for us. May the great and good God grant by his eternall Spirit, in his only begotten Son, consubstantial to him, our Emanuel, that we fix not our hearts on these Terrestrial goods the Mammon of this world, neglecting the celestiall, but that we may seriously look after a better treasure [Page 56] laid up in heaven, and, apprehending it by Faith, expecting it in certain hope, in a course of unwearied piety joyn'd with love, we may aspire to it, and attain it, through and for Jesus Christ: who with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, is the One only Jehovah, blessed for ever. To whom be the Prayse and Glory to all eternity, Amen.

I John Pontan have travel'd over many Regions, That I might learn something that was cer­tain concerning the Philoso­phers stone; and, compassing almost the whole World, met with none but Impostors, false Deceivers, and no Philosophers: But studying alwayes, doubting much, and casting every way, at length I found the Truth: But when I knew the matter, I erred two hundred Times be­fore I found the True Matter, which the o­peration, and practice upon it. First, I fell to putrefie the matter nine months toge­ther, and found nothing: I put it in St. Ma­ries Bath for a certain Time, and erred in That, as before. Then for Three months I [Page 93] put it to a fire of Calcination, and wrought amisse: all manner of Distillations, and Sub­limations, such as the Philosophers, as Geber, Archelaus, and almost all the rest, say, or seem to say, should be used, I practised; and found nothing still. Then again I tryed to perfect the subject of the whole Alchymical Art, all the wayes that can be imagined; by baths, by dungs, by Ashes, and a multiplicity of o­ther fires, which yet are found in the Philo­sophers books; and yet for all that I found no good. Wherefore, for Three years conti­nued, I studied in the Philosophers books, but chiefly the books of Hermes alone, whose shorter words comprehend the whole Stone; although he speaks obscurely of the Superior, and Inferior, of the Heaven, and of the Earth. The first Instrument therefore that brings the matter to its Esse in the First, Second, and Third work, is not the Fire of the Bath, nor of Dung, nor Ashes, nor of the other heats which the Philoso­phers have in their books. What there­fore is That Fire that perfects the whole worke from the Beginning to the End? Certainly the Philosophers have alwais con­ceal'd it; but I being moved with piety, and kindnesse to men, will declare it to you, to­gether with the complement of the whole work. It is then the Philosophers Stone, but is called by various names, and thou shalt find [Page 94] it hard to know: For it is Watry, Aery, Fiery and Earthy; Phegmatic Choleric, and Melan­cholic; it is Sulphureous, and is likewise Ar­gent vive: and has many superfluities in it: all which, by the Living God, are turned into a True Essence, Our Fire mediating: And he that seperates any thing from the Sub­ject thinking that necessary, knowes, nothing in Philosophy; because what ever is superflu­ous, unclean, foul or faeculent, finally the whole Substance of the Subject; is perfected to a Spiritual body fixt, by mediation of Our fire. And this the Philosophers never re­vealed, and therefore few come at the Art, thinking there is, Some such superfluous Nature to be removed. And now we are to draw out the properties of Our Fire, and try, whether according to the manner that I have said, It be so fitted to our matter, that it may be Transmuted by it, since That Fire burns not the matter, separates nothing from it, parts not the pure from the Impure (as all philo­sophers say) but turnes the whole subject to purity: It does not sublime as Geber make his Sublimations & as Arnaldus, and other speaking of Subbli-mation and and Distilla­tions, Such as are perfected in a short time.

It is Mineral, it is Equal, It is Continual, it vapours not away unless it be stirr'd up too much; it also partakes of Sulphur, and is taken from some where else than from the matter; it puls down all, dissolves and con­geales, [Page 95] congeales and Calcines: the Inven­tion of It is Artifical: it is a Compendium without Cost, or with very little; and That Fire is of a moderate Ignition, because with a remiss Fire the whole work is perfected, and all the right sublimations made. Whosoever should read Geber, and all the rest, if they should live an hundred thousand yeares, would not be able to comprehend it, because that Fire is found only by profound Imagi­nation; and then it may be comprehended in the books, and not before. The Error there­fore of this Art, is, not to find the Fire, which turnes the whole matter into the true Stone of the Philosophers. Take it then for thy stu­dy; for if I had found this Fire at first, I had not erred two hundred Times in my practice up­on the matter: wherefore I wonder not, that so many, and great Wits, have not come at the work. They erre, have erred, and will erre still, because the Philosophers have not set downe the proper Agent; one only ex­cepted, Artephius by name, but he speaks for himselfe; and if I had not read Artephius and heard him what he said, I had never at­tain'd the perfect work. But this is the prac­tice. Take it, bruise it, and bring it down diligently by Naturall Contrition, and put it to the Fire, and know the proportion of your Fire, namely that it is to be no stronger then only to Excite the matter, and in a short [Page 96] time even that Fire without any apposition of hands, will certainly compleat the whole work; for it will putrefy, Corrupt, Generate, and perfect, and make to appear in their times the three Principal Colours, Black, White, and Red. And by mediation of our Fire, the Med'cin will be multiplyed if it be joyn'd with Crude matter, not only in quantity, but also in virtue. Therefore with all thy power look after thy Fire, and thou mayst prosper in thy Work, because it does the whole Worke, and is the key of the Philosophers which they never discover'd. But thou shalt come to know it by a right, profound thinking upon the properties of the Fire set down before, and no otherwayes. This I writt out of piety, and that I may satisfy thee fi­nally; The Fire is not Transmuted with the matter, because It is not of the Matter, as I told you before. Thus much I had a mind to say, and admonish the prudent, that they spend not their money to no purpose, but that they should know what they are to look for, and so they may attaine to the Truth and no Other way.