Verily every body is not fit or worthy to be a master of the same. For should it be granted every one, this so exquisite an Art, and of so great a concernment, would become as common as the baking of Bread, and brewing of Ale, but this is contrary to the command of God, who wills not, that the Goat should have so long a Tail as the Cow, for so in Pride she may smite out her own Eyes. God well knows when, and where to give, and who it is that merits such great favours. But however this is an undoubted truth that the proud shall never obtain any good thing at the hands of God.
Whosoever therefore has a desire after great things, let him throughly search his heart, and see if it be upright and sincere towards God, or no, and it is necessarily expedient for him well to examine himself, (before he sets about the Labours of so great an Arcanum) for this reason, lest it should happen to him, as it did to that ambitious and proud Guest, who (as Christ teacheth) sate himself down in the chiefest place of the Feast, which he was not worthy of, and was afterwards constrained (to his great shame and reproach) to yield the same to a worthier and honester Man than himself.
Question 16.
How must such a Man be qualified, that desires to obtain from God by his Prayers, so great a secret, and by his Labours to bring it to a final end?
Answer.
First of all an Arcanum of so great an importance requires a free Man, and such an one as is not bound to any other, nor intangled with any other humane affairs, that so being in a quiet and silent possiture, he may by his daily Prayers sue unto God for his Blessing, and may be at leisure continually to read good Authours, and to let no time slip wherein his Labours are required. Then farther, such a Man must likewise be pious and liberal, and forward in helping of the Poor: he must also be no Tatler, he must have a good and sound mind, and be given to temperance and sobriety. He must not do as the roving Mountebank doth, insinuating himself one while into this Man’s Acquaintance, another while into that Mans: He must not be over credulous, presently to believe every ones pretension: He must not mind his sole benefit nor be prone to covetousness, and aim at grasping all unto himself. He must not be of an unconstant mind, but expect and wait for (with a patient and constant Resolution) the end of that which his desire inclines him to, and therefore he must not be presently enraged, or be affected with a wearisomness if it should so happen unto him as not to have every thing presently answering his expectation. He does not propose unto himself the getting of great honours in the World, and of having in his hands power and authority, but rather aims at the honour of God, and the helping and succouring the poor sick and distressed ones. Farther yet, he must be furnished with necessary means, lest he be constrained through the want of Coals, Materials, and other necessaries, to leave off the Work he has begun. But he must especially have God always before his Eyes, and expect the happy event from him alone, and attribute nothing at all to his own peculiar Wisedom, and be daily at his Prayers, and labour without ceasing, and with a patient mind wait on the Lord for a successfull end.
Briefly he that is studious after such a secret, must so lead his life, as to walk unblamably both before God and Man.
Question 17.
Which of these two ways is most safe and most easie for the attainment of this divine gift, that which makes use of the common Gold and Silver, or that which useth the unknown, and as yet volatile Gold of the Philosophers?
Answer.