Some of them, when things succeed not, say: We are wise men, wee hear that the grasse grows, if the Art were true wee should have had it before other men: And so having brazen faces, lest wee should bee accounted undeserving men (as indeed they are, and also perverse) contemne, and undervalue the Art. This Science hates such men, and alwaies shews them the beginning in the end. Now we grant unto the unworthy, that this Art is nothing, but to the Lovers of vertue, and the true Searchers, and Sons of Wisdome, wee doe most highly commend it, and doe affirme it not only to be true, but altogether the truest: which, sometimes wee have really made good before men worthy of such a fight, I say before men of high, and low condition: (yet this Medicine was not made by us, but received from a friend, and yet most true) for the searching out of which wee have sufficiently instructed the Searchers thereof; whom if our Writings doe not please, let them read those of other Authors, which are easier, but with this Caution, That whatsoever they shall read, they shall alwaies compare it with the possibility of Nature, lest they assay any thing contrary to Nature. Neither let them beleeve, although it were written in the bookes of Philosophers, that Fire burns not, because this is contrary to Nature: but if it bee writ, that Fire hath a drying, and heating faculty, this is to bee beleeved, because it is according to Nature: For Nature doth alwaies agree with a sound judgment, and in Nature there is nothing difficult, all truth is plain. Then also let them learne, what things in Nature are of affinity with each other, which wee conceive may be easier done by our Writings, then any other, seeing wee think wee have wrote sufficiently, untill some other shall come, who shall set downe the whole Receipt so plaine, as to make cheese of Milke, which is not lawfull for us to doe.
But that I may not direct all things I say to the new beginner only, wee shall say something to you also who now have passed over these painfull labours. Have you seen that Countrey, where a man marryed a wife, whose nuptialls were celebrated in the house of Nature? Have you understood how the vulgar with you have seen this Sulphur? If therefore you will that old women should practise your Philosophy, shew the dealbation of your Sulphurs; say unto the vulgar, Come and see, for now the water is divided, and Sulphur is come out; hee will return white, and congeale the Waters. Burn therefore Sulphur from incombustible Sulphur, then wash it, make it white, and red, untill Sulphur become Mercury, and Mercury bee made Sulphur, which afterwards you shall beautifie with the soule of Gold: For if you doe not sublime Sulphur, from Sulphur, and Mercury from Mercury, you have not yet found out the Water, which out of Sulphur, and Mercury is created by way of distillation; hee doth not ascend, that doth not descend. Whatsoever in this Art is remarkable, by many is lost in the preparation, for our Mercury is quickened with Sulphur, else it would bee of no use. A Prince without a people is unhappy; so is an Alchymist without Sulphur, and Mercury. If thou hast understood mee, I have said enough.
THE
CONCLVSION.
very searcher of this Art must in the first place with a mature judgement examine the creation, operation, and vertues of the four Elements together with their actings: for if hee be ignorant of the originall, and Nature of these, hee shall not come to the knowledge of the Principles, neither shall hee know the true matter of the Stone, much lesse attain to any good conclusion; because every end is terminated upon its beginning. Hee that well knowes what hee begins, shall well know what shall bee the end. For the originall of the Elements is the Chaos, out of which God the Maker of all things created, and separated the Elements, which belongs to God alone: but out of the Elements Nature produceth the Principles of things, and this is Natures worke, through the will of God alone: Out of the Principles Nature afterwards produceth Mineralls, and all things: out of which the Artist also by imitating Nature can doe many wonderfull things. Because Nature out of these Principles, which are Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, doth produce Mineralls, and Metalls, and all kinds of things; and it doth not simply produce Metalls out of the Elements, but by Principles, which are the medium betwixt the Elements, and Metalls: Therefore if Nature doth not make those things, much lesse shall Art. And not only in this example, but also in every naturall processe a middle disposition is to bee observed. Wherefore here in this Treatise wee have sufficiently described the Elements, their actings, and operations, as also the originall of the Principles (because hitherto no Philosopher hath discovered things more cleerly) that the well minded searcher might the more easily consider in what degree the Stone differs from Metalls, and Metalls from Elements. For there is a difference betwixt Gold, and Water, but lesse betwixt Water, and Mercury; and least of all betwixt Mercury, and Gold. For the house of Gold is Mercury, and the house of Mercury is Water: but Sulphur is that which coagulates Mercury; which Sulphur indeed is most difficultly prepared, but more difficultly found out. For in the Sulphur of Philosophers this secret consists, which also is contained in the inward rooms of Mercury, of whose preparation, without which it is unprofitable, wee shall discourse hereafter in the third Principle of Salt, seeing here wee treat of the vertue, and originall, not Praxis, of Sulphur.