I never before believ’d you unfaithful, but alwaies thought you candid, and have communicated so great things to no man as to your self. I believe you will not deny your coming twice from Lochgovia to me at Kitzinga, and entreating me to communicate some Secret to you, whereby you might get a livelihood. Have you not been forced twice, being repulsed, to return home with this Excuse, That I wanted time to instruct you? And when you came the third time, I suffered my self to be perswaded, and did communicate some Secrets to you gratis, on this consideration, That you should impart those things wherewith I trusted you, to no man without my leave; which you promised by an Obligation, (viz. That you wou’d keep all things secret) under the penalty of Disgrace, and the forfeiture of all your Goods. Why hast thou falsified thy Word, and contrary to thy Promises, so wickedly ridicul’d me among all men, when with thy whole Family thou didst promise to be faithful to me? Not only Obligations, but also thine own Letters are Witnesses: Neither do I question, that if I had lost or wanted them to convince thee, thou wouldst have denied, and that with an Oath, that thou wast ever beholden to me for any thing, as thou hast already begun, and as thou in thy spightful Writings despisest all my Secrets, and proclaimest thine (which yet are mine) with praise. You doubt whether or no the reading this will make me repent that I ever trusted you with so many things, which I had never done, had not you obliged your self to labour diligently with me in my Laboratory, to produce those things for the profit of us both. But what can I do with them? They are perished and gone which yet might sufficiently have sustain’d both you and me, had not you made ’em publick.
I pray, What gain can you hope for from them, now they are every where known? Wherefore when I see those things taken from me, and by you imparted to all men, in spight of me, for your own advantage, I think fit (for I cannot hope for any farther profit from them privately) to make ’em known to the World; and by the Grace of GOD, I may live without them: But if I also should buy all thy goods which thou unjustly possessest and sellest to every man, of thee, and distribute them about the world, thou wilt see thou canst not easily recover them, or others in their room. I indeed will give you nothing for the future, neither can my unfaithful Servant, whom you have made as good as your self, give you any thing, for whatever he hath learn’d of me these two years, he has given you, which you also have laid up among your own wares and exposed to sale. Who will hereafter trust you, you have so wickedly deceiv’d me? Every man will abominate you, and shun your Partnership and Company, neither undeservedly, for the Laws of your own Obligation make this your Fate: So the merit of the Crime shall return upon the Author, and you can be more sure of nothing, than that Divine Vengeance will pursue you. I confess indeed some others, as well as you, have injur’d me, but none by so wicked an act; whom nevertheless GOD (to whom I refer’d my Cause) hath so severely punished, that each of them, by one cause or other, has brought upon himself his deserved Reward of Punishment. But I had yet farther tolerated you to exercise your Trade at your pleasure; neither had I followed you to Lochgovia, to urge your Obligation to you, but had committed Vengeance to GOD; only for that you were not content to sell those things publickly for your filthy lucre, which you had of me, and which you obliged your self to keep secret, and to take that profit to your self which was due to me, but also you have rendered me, and the things you had from me, odious; which has been so much to my disadvantage, that I can no longer bear, but am now resolved to the utmost to refute those impious and lying Calumnies, which you by your Letters have sent into the world concerning me, and to defend my self and my Works, against which you have so wickedly inveighed, that all the world may see how great your perfidiousness has been towards me, and that your Heart acted by Hellish wickedness, has raged against me with horrid Lyes, Taunts and Reproaches, contrary to all manner of Equity: You must needs know, that nothing can be more troublesome to me, than to spend that time in reproving your Lyes, which I could otherways employ to greater profit; wherefore I shall answer your trifling stories as briefly as is possible. Every wise man will easily see how frivolous your Excuse is. Do you think that any honest man will believe you, if you say you don’t owe the greatest of your Knowledge to me? No surely, for no man is ignorant of it: About two years since, you did not know how to bring a Crucible to the Fire, much less to make a trial of Brass; which you did not learn of me, but my unfaithful Servant taught it you, whom you for that cause esteem; yet seeing you know so much, how lawfully may I complain of him, what a Rascal he has been to me, and that you for that very reason have taken him to your self, that you may fish from him whatever he had learned in those two years he served me; although he did not shun you, because he was unwilling to communicate those things he had learn’d of me to any man else.
And so you make your self Master of my Secrets, and Covenant with him to undo me and mine: Is this the part of a good man? You do not only expose those things you had of me, but those also which my perfidious Servant has since given you, to be sold at a price, when you have no right to sell another mans goods, to which you have no title. We’ll come to the point and expose all your wickedness, as well your impious speeches, as perfidious actions, to the view of the world: But first of all, I will lay before you the obligations you gave me, as most sure pledges of your truth, that by the review of them, you may judge your self how honest you have been, and how faithfully you have kept your promises; and every man shall thence see, (especially those among whom you have so wickedly ridicul’d me) with what base ingratitude you have recompensed all my Favours.
The first Obligation which FARNNER gave me, runs thus;
Forasmuch as the most excellent and learned Mr. John Rudolph Glauber, moved by a singular affection towards me, has communicated, shewen and demonstrated to me undernamed, some of those secrets whereof he is Master, and hath enjoined me to silence; I therefore bind my self, and promise upon my Credit and Reputation, and call God and my christian profession to witness, that I will divulge none of those things to any man living: but if it be so (which God forbid) that I do at any time communicate any of those things to any man, then I shall most willingly renounce all my right in those Goods, movables or immovables, which I shall possess, and give him absolute power to take them to himself, and convert them to his own use and advantage: and not that only, but I give him farther power to proclaim me perfidious and wicked, to defame me and make me abominable to all men, for which reason, the laws of Silence shall be observed by me most strictly. Nay farther, in consideration of the many benefits he has bestowed on me, I give up my self, my beloved wife, and my children to serve him in all things lawful and honest, to go when and where he pleases, and to ease his labours; and if he dye first, (which God avert) to be alike serviceable to his whole Family, which care he also has promis’d to me and mine: I promise then, (if my Fates grant me life) that I will be to my utmost, serviceable to him so long as he lives: In witness whereof, I have hereto set my hand and seal. Given at Kitzinga, the 15th day of June, 1652.
Testis, Spirensis Canonicatus Quæstor, Lochgoviæ & Horrhemi. Christopherus Farnnerus.
The second Obligation.
I Christopher Farnner, for the time being Canonicate Quæstor of Spire, Lochgovia and Horrheme, in the Dukedom of Wirtemberg, to all by whom these presents shall be read, make known, that the most excellent and learned Mr. John Rudolph Glauber for little or no reward, has communicated some of his secrets to me, and with me made a covenant after this manner, That I must oblige my self for what he hath already done, or hereafter shall do for me, to be all my life thankful, not only to him, but to his Children also. But for as much as ’tis most certain, this life will have an end, but we know not the time when, the first Obligation is not full and clear enough, and for that cause I bind my self and promise, (so help me God) and swear by the King of Heaven who always bears witness to the Truth; and farther, upon my Credit and Reputation, for the preservation whereof every Christian man should be induc’d to keep his promise, if (which that God would in mercy avert, I shall not cease to put up my daily Prayers) the above named Mr. Glauber and his beloved wife shall die, and leave their Children unmarried, I do oblige my self by this most solemn Oath, to observe faithfully, and as a Christian man ought, these following things: viz. I will forthwith take his Children to an inheritance with mine, and to my utmost skill, instruct them in the secrets of their dead Father, and shew them all things requisite and necessary, as fully as to my own Children; and that after this manner, That what ever of their Parents heritage belongs to them, they shall wholly possess, and they shall lawfully demand it as their proper due; and if any thing goes from him, I will redeem it, so that my Children shall lay no claim to it: on the contrary, (for those secrets communicated to me, which hereafter may redound to my profit) I make the aforesaid Mr. Glauber’s Children Heirs with mine, that they may be admitted equally to my Estate, and alike enjoy the Goods of me living: But if I Farnner, contrary to my expectation, shall depart this World before Mr. Glauber, he is bound to instruct my Children in his Art, according as they are qualifyed, only so far, as that thereby they may get their living, and that they may not be burdensome to him. He may at his pleasure instruct him that he shall esteem most fit in some secret, with which he shall afterwards teach his Brethren to get themselves maintenance. And for the same cause, I call my little Son Alexander, and surrender him to Mr. Glauber and his service, so that he may keep him as long as he shall be willing, and it shall not be in my power to take him from him according to the agreement we have both made with him: all which things are restrain’d to this on either side, That if the Parents of either part die before their Children are provided for, which God forbid, and our Children shall be free by the early death of their Parents, then each shall to his utmost, provide for his own Children.