AN EXPOSITION UPON Sir GEORGE RIPLEY's PREFACE.  
Written by Aeyrenaeus Philalethes, ANGLUS, COSMOPOLITA.  
LONDON, Printed for William Cooper at the Pelican in Little Britain, MDCLXXVII.   

An Exposition UPON THE PREFACE OF Sr GEORGE RIPLEY, Canon of Bridlington.  
TO pass over his Prologue which is Adhortatory to the desirously studious of this Art, and the beginning of the Preface, which is his Address to God, who is the only Giver of Wisdom, to bestow upon him true Understanding, that he might lead his sinful Life to the glory of him, being over-swayed from what he was naturally, by him who is the Fountain of all Goodness; I shall take up his Pattern for a Precedent rather of Imitation, than a Subject of Exposition.  
And first, as touching those who shall bend themselves to this Science; Let them resolve that they undertake a most admirable piece of Work, in which (though far be it that I should think that God bestows upon any of us what we enjoy for our own Merits, but of his free Grace, yet withal) let me exhort any one who shall set his Studies this way, to address himself to the Author and Fountain of Goodness for his help, that he may have grace to honour God in the use of so great a Talon: For I persuade myself, that whomever God shall appoint to be Heir of such a Talon, that he will give him a heart to improve it aright; or else he will add to his Judgement for the abuse of so great a Blessing.  
For whoever shall be wanton and dissolute, and live without the fear of God, what may he not do with such an Art? unless God restrain him, as certainly he will, hiding this Secret from him, or making it to him a snare and trap to betray his Life into the hands of covetous men of the World, as many have found it by sad experience. Therefore the Lord give both me and thee that grace, that he may be continually before our Eyes, The Alpha and Omega of our Thoughts, Words and Actions: Even so Amen.  

In the Beginning, when thou madest all of nought, a globous matter, and dark, under confusion, by him the beginning, etc.  
FIrst then cast thine Eyes upon the Works of God, and behold that work of his hands: Consider how the glorious work of Creation was begun by him, even by Christ, for whose sake this very Science is communicated unto the Sons of Men, as Bernardus Trevisan witnesseth, who in his Epistle to Thomas of Bononia, saith of this work, That it is done (Christi Gratia) for Christ's sake.  
Consider how out of one Mass the Lord God by his powerful Command made all things to appear that are in Heaven or in Earth; the heavenly Bodies with their Influences above, and the earthly Matter below; which by the Rotation of the Heavens produce all sublunary products, through the word of his Mouth.  
Above all which and in all which God is, he is the Maker and the Lord of all, above all, blessed for ever, who hath purchased to himself a People, and redeemed them, and they shall reign with him for ever and ever.   

For as of one Mass was made all things, right so in our practice must it be.  
APply all this to the work of this Mastery Analogically and Allegorically: for as the Lord made all the works which we see, so he did lay them all under his powerful word of Command, by which they continue to be what they are, and are carried with an uniform motion to that first Pattern or Draught of things.   

All our Secrets of one Image must spring.  
AS then out of one mixed confused Mass all things had an actual existence according to their several kinds, so out of one Image all these Secrets must flow: Truth doth not consist in Heterogeneity, but in Unity; for God is one, and his works uniform; and the more Noble any thing is, the nearer to Simplicity.   

As in Philosopher's Books, whoso list to see.  
TO this the Sentences of the Philosophers concur, as many as have truly understood the Secret, as Morien often and plentifully witnesseth, Geber, Trevisan, and many others: The thing is but one in kind, though two in number; and though more things are used, yet till they be all brought to an oneness of Nature, they are not fit to enter into this work.   

Our Stone is called the Lesser World.  
ANd therefore our Stone is resembled to Man, who although he have a Wife different from him in Sex, yet one with him in kind; in which sense it is called the Microcosm, or Less World: for indeed, next to Man, who is the Image of God, it is the true little System of the Great World: I shall not particularise here how, for in its place it will fall in seasonably.   

One and Three.  
THis Stone is also called Trine or Trinity in Unity, from the Homogeneity of the Matter, as Trevisan saith: Our Stone is made of one Root, that is, of two Mercurial Substances, etc. This Trinity is discerned in the Components; for first there is the Body, which is Sol, and the Water of Mercury, in which besides its Mercuriality, there is a spiritual seed of Sulphur, which is the secret Fire. This is the Trinity, these are called the Body, the Soul, and the Spirit; the Body is the dead Earth, which increaseth not without the celestial Virtue; the Spirit is the Soul of our Air or Chameleon, which is also of a twofold composure, yet made one inseparably; the Soul is the Bond of Mercury, without which our Fire never appears, nor can appear, for it is naked, it inhabits the Fiery-Dragon, and it yields his Soul to the true Saturnia, and is embraced by it, and both become one together, bearing the stamp of the most High, even the Oriental Lucifer, the Son of the Morning: This Soul is Chalyb's Magical Volatile, and very tender, the true Minera of Sol, out of which Sol naturally proceeds, which I myself know to be true, and have spoken of it in my little Latin Treatise, called Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis palatium: This is true Sulphur, which is imbibed by the Mercuriality of Saturnia, and notes it with the Regal Signet, and being united and revived into a Mineral Water by the Mediation of Diana's Doves, it is the sharp Spirit which in the Water moves the Body to putrefy. Thus is the Trinity proportionable, to wit, three Natures in the first Mixture, the Work is carried an end to perfect Compliment distinctly, according to the Virtue of a Body, Soul, and Spirit: for the Body would be never penetrative, were it not for the Spirit, nor would the Spirit be permanent in its super-perfect Tincture, were it not for the Body; nor could these two act one upon another without the Soul, for the Spirit is an invisible thing, nor doth it ever appear without another Garment, which Garment is the Soul. In this it exerciseth its virtue: this Soul, as it is drawn from the Saturnia, solid and dry, is named our Air, or rather the Chameleon, which is an airy Body, changing its hue according to every Object it beholds, so our Air is of an astonishing Nature, out of which I know all Metals may be drawn, yea even Sol and Luna, without the Transmuting Elixir, of which in my little Latin Treatise (which was the Congest of mine own experience) I spoke fully.  
This Air being dissolved into Water Mineral, hath in it two of our Trinity united so really that in a short digestion the spiritual inhabiting invisible Sulphur will without addition congeal the Mercury in which it is, and make a visible congelated substance of Luna and then Sol.  
Thus this Trinity is indeed Unity, one being Gold mature, fixed, and digested in act, the other Gold volatile, white, and crude, yet (in posse) to be made most fixed and solid by naked digestion. It is not then a delusion that Philosophers speak and write, for trust me (Viderunt nudam fine veste Dianam; sciens loquor) I know I speak true, which the Sons of Art do know, and can testify with me.   

Magnesia also.  
THis Stone is by the Philosophers called their Magnesia, their Adrop, etc. with many more names, and is indeed their Stone in the first true mixture of the true matter; for it is the true seed, and will produce, with the co-operation of external Fire, in a patiented expectation of the time of Nature, which is not long to him that understands it.   

Of Sulphur and Mercury.  
FOr that which is done by Nature in many years and ages, in the bowels of the Earth, decocting Mercury alone, without addition; Art, to make the work short, first impregnates Mercury with a spiritual seed of Sulphur, by which it becomes powerful in the dissolution of Metals, and then adds to it mature Sulphur, by which the work is shortened; and out of these two Parents of one Root is brought forth a Noble Son of a Regal Offspring, that is not simply Gold, but our Elixir, ten thousand times more precious.   

Proportionate by Nature most perfectly.  
YEt all this Work of the Artist is only to help Nature; we can do no more, yea we have professed and will profess, that we do only administer unto Nature herein: for all the Works of God are entire, we can but behold them and admire them; and therefore we seek our Principals where Nature is, and amend Nature in its own Nature. Nor do we make the simple believe, which is the Trade of Sophisters, that we by our Extractions and Manual Operations upon Vegetables, Minerals, Urines, Hair, or the like, intent to make our so highly prized Elixir; but out of such things in which Nature hath put it, we by Art do make it appear by revealing what was hidden, and hiding what was manifest.   

But many one marvelleth, and marvel may, and museth on such a marvellous thing.  
WHereas those who work upon other matters than the true, do betray their ignorance herein most foully, that they do not consider the possibility of Nature, but work after their Fancy; as though out of combustible substances filthy in their nature, and made up of Heterogeneities, might be produced a pure perfect Metallick Substance, by reason of its unseverable Unity invincible, and by virtue of its transcendent Excellency cleansing and fixing all leprous and fugitive bodies in the Mineral Kingdom, and reducing them to the Anatical proportion of perfectly digested Sol or Luna, according to the quality of the Medicine. When therefore their Principles are not sound, their Conclusion is always deceitful, and then they not knowing Nature in her Operation, but interpreting the words of the crafty and envious Philosophers, according to the Letter, do stand admiring at the Unconformity of their Work to the Promises of the Philosophers, at least as they understand their Books; they admire what this Stone is, if it be a Truth, or a Conceit; and why they (as well as any) do not attain it if possible: Such meditations usually fill the minds of unsuccessful Alchemists, who though they be (as they esteem themselves) very Judicious, yet cannot stumble upon this unhappy Stone.   

What is our Stone, etc.  
THey marvel at the uncouth difficulty of the thing, nor can they almost tell what to judge of what they read; forasmuch as all Philosophers say it is a very easy thing.   

For Fowls and Fishes to us do it bring, every Man it hath: And it is in every place, in thee, in me, etc.  
ANd in very deed the Ancient Wise Men have so written, and do still write the same; as to wit, That it is found in a Dunghill, according to Morien; and for the easiness of the charge, they all writ plentifully; so that in respect of time and cost, Artophius and Flammel say it is but the play of Children and work of Women; and therefore one Excellent Philosopher, writing of this Mastery, titles his Treatise, Ludus Puerorum; that is, children's Play.   

To this I answer, That Mercury it is I wis.  
YEt trust me, though the wise men thus write, and it be true, there is notwithstanding something to be added to their Sentence, according as the Author of Novum Lumen well observed, as namely, That this Art is easy to him that understands it, as Artephius plainly expresseth; but to him that is ignorant of it, there is nothing can appear so hard; The Wise Man, saith Sendivogius, finds it in a Dunghill, but the Fool cannot believe that it is in Gold. I for my part (through the great mercy of God to me an unworthy and unthankful Creature) I know the Art to be true, and not that only, but also very easy; and I wonder that men of so great parts have studied for it so long in vain; only this I am confident of, it is the gift of God; nor is it in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in God that giveth mercy: In which respect I am bold, to the glory of God, to confess that I have the Art, and have Nature's Operations in these so hidden Secrets, before mine eyes at this present writing, which I see hourly with admiration of the infinite Glory, in the beholding of such a great Glory in the Creatures, which, trust me, will ravish the Beholder, to see such a despised Infant as our Mercury is, to grow into so strong a Hero, which the World cannot purchase.   

But not the Common, called Quicksilver by name.  
YEt the difficulty is not over when once it is known that the whole Secret consisteth in Mercury; for what more frequent among the Sophisters than to cry, Our Mercury, etc. and yet in the Work of Nature they are as blind as Moles? The cause is, for that Nature hath produced a Mineral Juice in the bowels of the Earth, which doth answer to most of the Philosophical Descriptions of their Water; as namely, that it is mineral, quick, current, without humectation, ponderous, and the like; which when the vulgar Alchemists read, they apply it to this naughty Mercury, which for inward Qualities hath nothing in it like ours.  
Some there are, who trusting to the Sentence of most of the Wise Men who have written concerning this Art, do reject Mercury vulgar in word, when as indeed they dote as much upon it as others, whenas by their mock-purgations they handle Mercury's divers ways by Sublimation, Precipitation, Calcination Manual, even to a black substance, like to Soot or Lamp-black, by distillation from sundry Faeces, after grinding with Vinegar, by Calcination with Waters-fort, by Lotions innumerable, changing Mercury into sundry forms, and after quickening him: By all which Operations they imagine themselves secure of the Secret of our Mercury, whenas all such ways indeed are but Sophisms; and yet Mercury so abused is one and the same vulgar Mercury.  
So that upon this Rock more have stumbled than upon any other, & yet will stumble, till they know how to distinguish our Mercury from Common, and our preparations from that of the vulgar Sophisters, which have no likeness one to another.   

But Mercury, without which nothing being is.  
FOr our Mercury is Essential and Radical to our Body, and partakes of the nature of it entirely, and therefore it is said to be that Mercury without which nothing is; for all things are distinguished by Philosophers by three Principles, (although some Simples have not three, but only by Analogy) among which the most essential is Mercury, for the humidity of all things concrete is called their Mercury, which is most entire to all things, forasmuch as all things own their beginning unto Water.  
So then as the proper specific Mercury of all things is so Essential unto them that nothing is without it, so our Mercury is so consubstantial with our Body, that it is one in kind with that Mercury of which it was by coagulation concrete, which vulgar Mercury is not; and therefore the Body is incrudate by this Mercury, and sends forth its Seed by mixture with it, through the co-operation of requisite temperate external heat.   

All Philosophers record and truly said the same.  
TRuly this I could confirm by infinite Testimonies of Philosophers, since there never wrote any who was indeed a true Artist, but he hath affirmed the same: Geber, Artephius, Haly, Rozinus, Flammel, Sendivogius, the Author of the Rosary, Trevisan, with many others, which would be very tedious to name.  
So that indeed this Work of mine I wrote not because enough hath not been written before, for I do but echo to the Voice of all Philosophers, who have left upon record such clear Testimonies of the co-operation of Art and Nature herein, that if Wit were capable of this attainment, the Art would have been common ere now; and I do verily admiringly adore the Wisdom of God herein, that an Art so true, so natural, so easy, so much desired and sought after, should yet be so rarely found, that the generality of Men, Learned and Unlearned, do laugh at it as a Fable: it is therefore most certainly the Gift of God, who is and ever will be the Dispenser of it, according to his good pleasure.   

But simple Searchers putteth them in blame, saying they hide it.  
MOst injurious are they therefore to the well-deserving Philosophers, who because they cannot understand their Writings, and through the misunderstanding of the possibility of Nature, do commit foul mistakes in their operations, and therefore reap a ridiculous Harvest, they then blame the falsity of Authors, or at least accuse their difficult writing, not considering that Philosophers own them nothing, and whatever they writ for the information of the studious, it is not of debt, nor yet of Covetousness, for they possess the greatest Treasure in the World; nor lastly of Ambition, for many suppress their names: it is of Love therefore, and of desire to be helpful to the Studious; which Love to requite with reproaches, is a token of great ingratitude.  
Moreover, it is to be understood that the most wise GOD hath a ruling hand herein, and all Sons of Art have their Commission as it were given them; they writ and teach according to that permission which the Creator of all things hath given them. I may speak it experimentally, that when myself have had one intent, I have been so over-swayed with unpremeditated thoughts in the very writing, that I have taken notice of the immediate hand of God therein, by which I have been carried beyond what I intended.  
And truly it is not our intent to make the Art common to all kind of men, we writ to the deserving only; intending our Books to be but as Way-marks to such as shall travel in these paths of Nature, and we do what we may to shut out the unworthy: Yet so plainly we writ, that as many as God hath appointed to this Mastery shall certainly understand us, and have cause to be thankful unto us for our faithfulness herein. This we shall receive from the Sons of this Science, whatever we have from others: therefore our Books are intended for the former, we do not write a word to the latter.   

But they be blame-worthy which be no Clerks, and meddle with Philosophy.  
MOreover, we writ not our Books for the information of the illiterate, as though any vulgar mechanic Distiller, Alchemist, or Sophister, should readily carry away the Golden Fleece; or as though any covetous man, who makes Gain his utmost end, should readily gather the Apples of the Hesperides; nor yet that any, though Learned, should by once or twice overly and slight reading (as the Dogs lap the Water of Nilus) straightway be made a Philosopher: Nay verily, the majesty of this Science forbids so great impiety; it is the gift of God, and not of Men: Our Books are for those who have been or intent to be conversant about the search of Nature; we hint the way; prayer to God and patiented persisting in the use of means, must open these Doors. Let therefore profound Meditation, accompanied with the Blessing of God, Furnaces, Coals, Glasses, and indefatigable pains, be thy Interpreters, and let them serve for Commentaries upon our Writings. So I did, so I advise thee; and the Blessing of God attend all studious virtuous Searchers in this way.   

But though it Mercury be.  
YEt is not the knot untied, nor difficulties overcome, when once a man hath learned to sing this threadbare Song in Philosophy, Est in Mercurio quicquid quaerunt sapientes: for what Sophister who cannot make so great a clatter in these general terms as a son of Art? the greatest difficulty is to know what this Mercury is, that is so desirable and effectual.   

Yet wisely understand wherein it is, and where thou shalt it seek.  
THerefore let me advise every studious Searcher of this hid Science, to consider warily with himself what he seeks and would find; nor that only, but in what he would find it: for trust me it is not in this Science as some do imagine, that our Arcanum may be made out of any thing, nor yet out of any base thing: But in the knowing of the true Principle, consists the first true step to Perfection, according to the Poet, Dimidium facti qui bene coepit habet.   

Else I counsel thee take not this work in hand.  
BUt he who knows not this our Ocean in which our Water hath its flux and reflux, and our Fountain out of which he may draw this Water for his use, let him forbear this, as a most dangerous Science, for he may only expect loss in it, but no profit.   

For Philosophers flatter Fools with fair speech.  
NOr let any expect comfortable Direction in our Books, who know not the true Matter, nor the true Keys by which our Matter is brought forth from darkness into the light; for verily though we writ for the enlightening of a son of Art, yet also for the fatal blinding of all such Owls and Bats who cannot behold the light of the Sun, nor can endure the splendour of our Moon. To such we propound rare tricks, suiting to their sordid fancy: to the covetous, an easy way without expense, in an inconsiderable time; to the lazy Bookmen, a play, without tedious toil; to the unstable, rash, hasty multiplicity of Distillations.   

But listen to me, for truly I will thee teach.  
BUt to thee, supposing thy qualifications to be Honesty, Secrecy, Studiousness and Indefatigableness, we will show the Truth; yet so, that it may be hid from the Vulgar, yet plain enough to an industrious attentive Reader.   

Which is this Mercury most profitable.  
Philosopher's have hidden much under the Homonymium of Mercury, so that it is no hard matter for those that peruse their Books to mistake them; yea as many as God will have excluded from this Art, shall certainly mistake.  
For many things are by them named by the name of Mercury, which are altogether useless in this Mastery; and many Processes have they deciphered which themselves never did. I for my part shall not tread in their metaphorical steps, but shall herein candidly follow the path of profound Ripley, whose Text I annex to my Discourse as I go, because it is an elaborate Piece, in excellent Method; on whom I do not so much comment, for I writ mine own experimental Knowledge, but rather intent this Treatise for a Light to that excellent Light in Alchemy; these Labours of mine being entire of themselves: Only to help thee to my utmost, I have confined my Discourse to his Method, which I might (as other Philosophers have done) have scattered here and there confusedly.   

Being to thee nothing deceivable.  
AS than I have chosen Ripley's Method to follow, so will I imitate his Ingenuity, and do solemnly profess not to be deceivable to thee in any thing, though I shall not so unfold the Mysteries, that bare reading shall suffice to show the unveiled Diana.  
Know therefore assuredly, that when the Philosophers say, That their Matter is every where, etc. This they speak only for the blinding of all such who taking the Philosopher's meaning according to the bare sound of their words, do reap Trifles instead of Treasures. I shall therefore let you understand that this subject of the Philosophers is considered either in reference to its Matter, or formal Virtue; in reference to the former, it is a concrete of Water, as all other Compounds are; in respect of the latter, it participates of a Celestial Virtue, and that in a high degree in both respects. It is said to be in every place: for the original matter, which is Water, passeth equally through the whole Family of Concretes: and for the celestial Influence, it is so universal that nothing is hidden from the heat of it: so that indeed in this sense it is said to be every where. Moreover, the Stone being the System of the great World, doth in some way or other represent every thing which is or can be perceived by man; I mean in reference to some or other operation, colour or quality, and therefore the Wise have described it almost by all things imaginable, for to every thing in some or other circumstance it hath resemblance.   

It is more near in some things than in some.  
YEt to speak properly for information, and not to conceal the Secret, we profess that there is but one kind in which our Stone is found, and in number two: understand me not as the Philosopher finds things in his first laborious Preparation, for so one of the two subjects which being of one kind enter the supernatural work of Generation of our fiery Stone, I say our crude Sperm flows from a Trinity of Substances in one Essence, of which two are extracted out of the Earth of their Nativity by the third, and then become a pure milky Virginlike Nature, drawn from the Menstruum of our sordid Whore.   

Take heed therefore what I to thee write.  
ANd now I call God to witness that I will show you a great Mystery: our Stone is in one part of a perfect nature, which we would exalt into a more than most perfect, and for this end we stand in need of our true Fountain, which I have elsewhere described, and shall not now repeat: This Fountain hath three Springs, and these are three Witnesses which testify to the Artist of the truth of his proceed; these are the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one; the Water is a Mercurial Bond, which the Sophisters can behold so far as the outward shell reacheth, but the wise man can behold his hidden secret Centre: the Blood is of our Green Lion, which is indeed the greenest or rawest of the three: for it hath no manner of Metalline Sulphur, no not a grain, and therefore is Totally Volatile, and it is more raw than the common Water, and yet it is called the Blood, for a most secret reason, because it is the seat of the Life, which is the Spirit, as Blood in man is the seat of his Life; yea the Spirit by this Soul of our Green Lion, is made manifest, and is united to it, so that though it be very green or unripe, yet that inhabits it, which is both pure and ripe, and can and will digest it with the Water, and make both become life with life: Now the Spirit is nothing else but a Chaos, the Wonder of the Wonders of God, which every man almost hath, and knows it not, because as it appears to the World it is compact in a vile despised form; yet is it so useful, that in humane Affairs none can want it: to the Philosopher it appears united to the Blood, that is, of our Green Lion, which truly is not a Lion till the spirit be joined with it, and then it is made able to devour all Creatures of its kind.  
And these three agree in one, they are not absolutely one, mark that; our Fire is not of the matter, and yet it is united with the matter, as if it were of one form with it; and there is an agreement in one, though not a radical union; for the spirit (which is the Fire) is separable from the Water and the Blood; and then is our Lion actually Green, but ceaseth then to be our Lion, but is the true matter to multiply Emeralds more glorious than natural.   


For if to thee Knowledge never come,  
Therefore yet shalt thou me not twit.   
ANd now indeed if any be ignorant, let him be ignorant; I know not what more to say, and not transgress the silence of Pythagoras. I have told you that our matter is twofold, crude and fixed; the fixed is by Nature perfected to our hands, and we need only to have it made more than most perfect, which Nature alone could never perform; nor is there any thing that can thus exalt Tinctures, but our dissolving Water, which I told you floweth from three Springs; the one is a common Well at which all draw, and of which Water many use; this Well hath in it a Saturnine drossiness, which make the Waters unuseful; these frigid superfluities are purged by two other Springs, through which the Water of this Well is artificially caused to run: these Springs make but one Well, whose Waters appear dry, the humidity being sealed; the Well itself is surrounded with an Arsenical Wall, the slimy bottom abounds with the First Ens of Mineral Salt and Sulphur, which acuate the Water of the first Well, whose primary quality is Coldness; being thus acuated, it becomes so powerful a Menstruum, and so pleasant to the Metals, that for its peculiar Virtue it is chosen for to be the Bath of the Sun and Moon.   

For I will truly now thee excite to understand well Mercury's three.  
BUt because one Book never is sufficient in this Mastery, to discover all that is to be known, and other Authors writ variously of Mercury: Attend further what I have to say to thee concerning this point.  
We have in our work properly three Mercuries, of which one is to be by the Philosopher prepared, of which I have spoken; and this being joined with the perfect Body, and set to digest, the Glass is shut, and then in this first Composition is the Matter called Rebis, that is, (two things) to wit in Number, for you may yet separate each from other in its entire nature.  
These two being joined, do operate so within the Vessel till the Compound become a black Powder, which is then called the Ashes of the Platter.  
This Powder relenteth into a black Broth, which is called Elixir, or Water extracted by Elixation, which is reiterate Liquefaction.  
This Elixir is divided into a more subtle part, which is called Azoth, and the grosser part is called Leton, which is by Azoth washed and whitened.  
In Rebis the Matters are confused, in Elixir they are divided, and in Azoth they are conjoined with an inseparable union.   

The Keys which of this Science be.  
THese Menstruums or Mercuries are the very Keys of this Science: The first is the Philosopher's Key, the other two are Nature's Keys.   

Reymund his Menstrues doth them call.  
THey are called by the wise men Menstrues, in three respects: first for the secrecy of them; as those Lunary Tributes of Women are hid from common view, so these Mercuries from vulgar Searchers. Secondly for the Prognostics of them; as those in Women betoken maturity to conceive, so these are called Menstrues because they are fit for procreation. Thirdly in regard of the office of them; as those in Women are accounted nutritive for the Embryo, so our Child is nourished by these to perfect age and strength.  
Let me add a fourth reason, and that is, in respect of the time; the Philosophical Preparation will hardly give thee thy first Menstruum fit for thy use in less than a month. And after conjunction thy first Menstruum will begin to hold of the nature of the Body in another month, and then thou shalt see a show of the second Menstruum; but wait till another month, and thou shalt see thy second Menstruum complete; then yet wait a third month, and thou shalt see a show of the third Menstruum, which in the fourth month will perfectly exuberate, and then with it thou shalt soon see perfected Sulphur of Nature, for it is Fire of Nature; and in this first Exaltation is the white Stone perfected.   

Without them truly no Truth is done.  
HE then that knoweth not the Secret of our Menstruals, let him forbear the practice of the Work, for verily he may expect nothing but a sophistical Delusion instead of the true Work of Nature: He is like a man that would enter an inaccessible Castle without a Key, or shoot in a Bow without a string.   

But two of them be superficial.  
NOw that you may know our Secrets exactly, we shall faithfully discover unto you our Experience, as cordially as a Brother may declare to a Brother; and shall reveal what I never found yet revealed in any Author.  
There are in our Mercury three Mercurial Substances, which may well be called Menstrues, the one the more gross part, (which though it be a Water, yet it being the most palpable part, and visible, may be termed the Body of the Water: the last is a Fiery Form, which is the Blood of Cadmus; this is a real invisible form, which is essentially and formally Sol Volatile: the second is the mean Soul, which Philosophers without Equivocation call Saturn's Child; the middle substance of these three, are made into one wonderful Mercury, which hath not its like in the world.  
Now for the superficiality of the two first Menstrues or Mercuries, and the essentiality of the third, know and understand, for our speech will be very mysterious: Know I say, what it is to be superficial, and what essential: Essence you know is invisible, and more formal than material, which doth actuate the matter, and ripens it; but that which is superficial is visible, and may be seen, and is more material and passive: Now those two first which are superficial, are the Water and the Blood, the essential Menstrue is the Spirit, which all are in one; yet distinguished in number, though not in kind.   

The third Essential to Sun and Moon.  
SO then two are material passive substances, which are united in our sophical Mercury; the third is an active essence which is hid in our Mercury, which is essential to Sun and Moon, because it is a Fire, which is Sol volatile; and as the Artist may govern this Mercury, it will digest the passive Principles either into Sol or Luna, at the Philosopher's pleasure.   

Their Properties I will declare right soon.  
I Shall by and by in its place describe to you all the Properties of these three Menstrues, when I come to it; in the mean time take notice that by this Mercury in which are three Mercuries, or Menstrues, the perfect Bodies will be calcined, and then dissolved into Mercury, which is not then so properly called a Menstrue, for it is the Fruit itself, called Azoth, or Virgin's Milk; which is a digestion beyond the Menstrues.   


And Mercury of Metals essential,  
Is the Principle of our Stone material.   
THe Bodies when they are dissolved do transmute the foresaid Mercuries by their own ferment, into their own nature, for the Fire of Nature assimilates all that nourisheth it to its own likeness; and then our Mercury or Menstrue vanisheth, that is, it is swallowed up in the Solary Nature, and all together make but one universal Mercury, by intimate union, and this Mercury is the material Principle of the Stone; for before our Mercury (as it was compounded of three Mercuries) had in it two which were superficial, and the third essential to Sol and Luna only, not to the Stone: for Nature would produce these two out of it, by artificial decoction: but when the perfect Bodies are dissolved, they transmute the Mercury (that dissolved it) and then there is no more repugnancy in it, then is there no longer a distinction between superficial and essential, but all is become essential: And this is that one matter of the Stone, hat one thing which is the subject of all Wonders.   

In Sol and Luna our Menstrues are not seen.  
WHen thou art come to this, then shalt thou no more discern a distinction between the Dissolver and the Dissolved; for the Water shall neither ascend nor descend, go out nor in alone, but the Fire of Nature shall accompany it, and the colour of the mature Sulphur, which is unseparably joined, shall tincture thy Water.   

It appeareth not but by effect to sight.  
SO that thou shalt never see them severed one from the other, but shalt discern them by the effect, and by the eye of thy mind more than of thy body Therefore saith the Philosopher, Azoth and Fire are sufficient for thee in the middle and end, but not in the beginning, for than they are not our Mercury, that is our universally united Mercury. But in the first days of the Stone, there appear four Elements, of which three are in the Mercury sublimed, and one in Sol, which is counted all for Earth till it be dissolved, and then it fermenteth the Mercury, and makes the three qualities of it, which it hath, drawn from three substances to unite into one Mercury which hath all in it one essential property, and that is Solary, which first will show the Moon in the full, and is the true one matter of all our Secrets, our one Image out of which springs white and red, not bare Sol and Luna, as will spring out of our Mercury, which we prepare with our hands, but the white and red Elixirs, which show that this Mercury which Nature hath made in the Glass, without our help, is far beyond that Mercury which we prepared with a laborious toil.   


This is the Stone of which we mean,  
Who so our Writings conceiveth aright.   
ANd verily he that hath well studied our Books shall understand that this general one Mercury which we call Azoth, is indeed our Stone, which wanteth only digestion, for it is inseparably united, not in a Dyptative Conjunction, which is barely a mixture of the Sun with our Mercury; or Triptative, which is a mixture and union of the Body, Soul, and Spirit, which is before Putrefaction; but Tetraptive, which is the Anatization of qualities, which is the first degree of the white Stone, which will then grow higher and higher, till the Moon come up to the full.   

It is a Soul and Substance bright.  
THis Stone or Virtue multiplicative is not in relation to the matter, but the form, which doth make the matter to receive and after impress Tinctures: for who could believe that Sol, in which the virtue is but unary, I mean only sufficient for itself, should by the addition of our Mercury, which in reference to its material parts, is below the degree of Sol, and needs digestion, and that only to maturate it to the height of Sol, I say that by the mixture of those two Venerial Tinctures, should be multiplied in a manner infinitely.   

Of Sol and Luna a subtle Influence.  
WEre it not that this Tincture which in the Mercury is Sol and Luna, were as a Soul, that is, a spiritual thing, it were impossible; it is therefore the very Does faecunditatis which is in Minerals (which doth appear in their Lunary and Solary Tinctures) which was put and planted on and in them, in the first Benediction of (Crescite & Multiplicamini) which increasing is in some things juxta quantitatem: This is in quality.   

Whereby the Earth receiveth resplendence.  
SO than the matter of Minerals is a dead passive thing, in which there is included a Light which is clothed (vitali Aura aetheria) as I may speak; this form of Light is it which doth actuate and specificate or determine the matter; and this splendour or Light is in all Metals, Sol or Luna, which are conspicuous more eminently in those two perfect Bodies Gold and Silver, but are in other Mineral Bodies more Clouded and Eclipsed with an earthly feculent interposition between the fulgor and the superfluities, which is the Imperfection of such Bodies; and is accompanied with a rawness and inconstancy in the Fire, the Impure carrying away the Pure.   


For what is Sol and Luna, saith Avicen,  
But Earth which is pure White & Red?   
SO than Sol and Luna is more formal than material; for the matter is a gross Terrene Substance, but the form of Light purifying the Substance, is a most subtle spiritual thing which doth ennoble the grossness of the matter by a Fire-abiding Tincture.   


Take from it the said Clearness, and then  
That Earth will stand but in little stead.   
BUt if this Tincture could be separated from the pondus of the matter, the remainder would be an unprofitable Terrestriety: Our work therefore is for to advance this Light by exaltation in the matter; which as it in its simplicity is but in unity, so it may be brought to a Virtue millenary, and gradually so exalted, that the matter would seem to be quite swallowed up of the form; and yet in this exaltation it is not the moles or pondus that is the Solary or Lunary Virtue, but a Light whose multiplication is not in the increase of pondus, but in the circulation of Natures, till the Heavenly illuminate the Earthly with an immediate Beam, all interposition being removed out of the way.   

The whole Compound is called our Lead.  
FOr to attain this admirable multiplication Philosophers have found out a most subtle yet very natural Composition, which hath been not a little sought for by many: this the wise Ancients, both to describe the Fountain of these Mysteries, as also to hid the Secret from the unworthy, have mystically called their Lead.   

The quality of Clearness from Sol and Luna doth come.  
THis Lead, so called from the appearing baseness of its original, is notwithstanding of an admirable power, for it contains the Bath for Sol and Luna; that is, the Sun and Moon enter into it, and send out their Tinctures into it, which it receiveth, and like to a fertile Soil ennobleth it an hundred and an hundred fold.   

These are our Menstrues, both all and some.  
THus have I in general given you a description of our Menstrues, which are three, Acetum, Elixir, and Azoth; which I shall now particularly describe.   

Bodies with the first we Calcine naturally, perfect.  
THe first Menstrue we call our sharp Vinegar, with infinite other names, which it will be tedious for to recite; and with this is made our Magical Solution of Sol; this, saith Sendivogius, is (Menstruum mundi in sphaera Lunae toties rectificatum ut possit calcinare Solem.) In this, saith the noble Author of the Hermetical Arcanum, is made Eclipse Solis & Lunae in Cauda Draconis: this is, as Artephius saith, the only Instrument in the World for our Art: for it causeth the Sun to putrefy; that is, it loseth its hard compaction, and makes it to be an impalpable Powder, as saith the truth-telling Flammel. In this Calcination, as all Authors testify, and our own Experience hath taught us, Natures are united, Colours are mingled, and one holds of the other, and this is the period of the first Menstruum, which ends in this Circulation.   

But none which been unclean.  
THis Blackness many erroneously conceive to be uncleanness, but it is not so, for it is only the Sepulchre of our King; in which, though he seem to have lost what he was, yet from hence he shall arise what he never was before.   

Except one.  
ANd verily there is nothing of an unclean nature that entereth our Composition except one thing, which is the Instrument moving the Gold to putrify; and in regard that it doth naturally incline the Body to putrify, and is as it were the very grave of it, it is called by some Philosophers Aqua foetida, and by some Mortis Immundities; yet indeed it is not in its own nature unclean, but made pure, as pure as the Art of the Artist can make it with the help of Nature, joining Consanguinty with Consanguinity.   


Which is usually  
Named by Philosophers their Lion Green.   
THis hidden Body, or rather Chaos, the Philosophers have highly extolled and deeply concealed, but they usually call it their Green Lion, which many mistaking apply to Venus, and some to Vitriol, which is all one in a manner, Vitriol being only Copper corroded by an embryonated Salt; but Fools, saith Ripley (in his Errors) call it the Green Lyon. I shall discover this Subject to you, so far as I dare, in this following Song.  

The Learned SOPHY'S FEAST.  
WHoso would lasting and eternal Fame  
Deserve; Learn thou the Lion Green to tame.  
Put this before you can by Art attain,  
To study him to know thou must be fain;  
Nor is it, trust me, for a stupid Fool,  
Nor yet for one brought up in vulgar School,  
I shall him therefore lively out portray,  
Lest from this Banquet you go lean away.  
This Song I style the Learned Sophy's Feast,  
Prepare yourself to come a worthy Guest:  
With Mind attentive to my words give heed,  
Lest you, instead of Meat, on Fancies feed.  
This horrid Beast, which we our Lion call,  
Hath many other Names, that no man shall  
The truth perceive, unless that God direct,  
And on his darkened Mind a Light reflect.  
'tis not because this Subject doth consist  
Of Animal Components (he that list  
May well conceiv●) that we do therefore use  
The name of Beasts; nor is it to abuse  
The Readers; he whoever so doth think,  
With stupid Sots himself doth hereby link.  
But it's because of the transcendent force  
It hath, and for the rawness of its source,  
Of which the like is not where to be seen,  
That it of them is named the Lion Green.  
Now listen, and I shall to you disclose  
The Secret, which times past hath like a Rose  
Been hedged so on every side with Briars,  
That few could pluck it at their hearts desires  
There is a substance of Metalline Race,  
If you the matter view, whose louring face  
A Sophister would at first sight so scare,  
That he it to approach would never dare;  
The form that s visible is very vile,  
And doth Metalline Bodies so defile,  
That none to see it could be brought to think  
That thence should spring bright Phoebus' Pearly Drink:  
And yet, O strange! a wonder to relate,  
At this same Spring naked Diana sat.  
Who horned Actaeon for his venturous peeping,  
This Spring two dreadful Beasts have in their keeping;  
Which drive away rash Searchers to their woe,  
Them to inchant, the Art who do not know.  
Yet further for to answer your desire,  
I say this subject never felt the fire  
Of Sulphur Metalline, but is more crude  
Than any Mineral, which doth delude  
Th' unwary, and in Fire fugitive  
'Tis found th'impure away the pure doth drive;  
And its Components are, A Mercury  
Most pure, though tender, with a Sulphur dry  
Incarcerate, which doth the flux restrain,  
And as in shackles doth the same detain.  
This Sulphur with malignant qualities  
Doth so the Mercury infect which with it lies  
That though they have no fundamental union,  
Yet hereby is debarred the sweet communion  
Which otherwise would surely intercede  
Between this Virgin-Nymph, which we call Lead  
And her dear Sister which in Silver streams  
Runs down abundantly, then should the beams  
Of bright Apollo cause the Dews which fall  
From these commixed Waters, from the tall  
Aspiring Mountains, gliding through the Vales,  
Fire to conceive of Nature, which avails  
To warm the Bath for Sol, in which he may  
Descend and wash, and with fair Phebe play,  
Till flesh and youth renewing, they be able  
To shine with glory, aye multiplicable.  
Know then this Subject, which the sure Base  
Of all our Secrets is, and it uncase;  
And choose what thou shalt find of greatest price,  
Leave Sophisters, and follow my advice:  
Be not deluded, for the Truth is one,  
'Tis not in many things, this is our Stone.  
At first appearing in a Garb defiled,  
And to deal plainly, it is Saturn's Child:  
His price is mean, his venom very great,  
His constitution cold, devoid of heat.  
Although 'tis mixed with a Sulphur, yet  
This Sulphur is combustible, to get  
Another Sulphur Metalline and pure,  
And mix with the Mercurial part be sure.  
This Sulphur in the House of Aries seek,  
There shall you find it, and this is the Greek  
Alcides, which with Jason Journey took  
To Colchos, this is it which never Book  
As yet revealed, and yet I will proceed,  
And greater Mysteries unfold with speed.  
Our Subject it is no ways malleable,  
It is Metalline, and its colour sable,  
With intermixed Argent, which in veins  
The sable Field with glittering Branches stains.  
The pure parts from the impure, thou shalt never  
With Fire or Water for this work dissever  
Nor with the hardest Iron dig it thence,  
For Steel against this affordeth no defence.  
So easily as any little Boy  
A Giant can suppress, this can destroy  
Alcides' Breastplate, with his Target stout,  
And put opposing Armies to the rout  
Of Swords and Spears, O wondrous force, and yet  
The Sages this have seen, when they did sit  
In Council, how this Fury they might tame,  
Which (as unparallelled) they then did name  
Their Lion Green, they suffered him to prey  
On Cadmus' Sociates, and when the fray  
Was over, they with Diana's Charms him tied  
And made him under Waters to abide,  
And washed him clean, and after gave him Wings  
To fly, much like a Dragon, whose sharp Springs  
Of fiery Water th' only way was found  
To cause Apollo his Harpstrings to sound.  
This is the true Nymphs Bath, which we did try,  
And proved to be the Wise men's Mercury.   
IN this Song you have the Lion Green so described, that more I dare not, more I cannot, unless I should pen you down the Receipt verbatim, which God and Reason forbids.   


He is the mean the Sun and Moon between,  
Of joining Tinctures with perfectness.   
LEarn then to know this Green Lion and its preparation, which is all in all in the Art, it is the only knot, untie it, and you are as good as a Master; for whatever then remains is but to know the outward Regimen of Fire, for to help on Nature's internal Work.   

As Geber thereunto beareth witness.  
MOreover be not various, seeking that in many things which is verily but in one thing; for in all the world there is not any one subject but this: Ripley, after the Rehearsal of all his Errors, tells you, That he never saw true Work but one: And Geber, Exact (inquit) singula sumus experti, idque probatis rationibus & nihil invenimus praeter solam unctuosam humiditatem penetrantem & tingentem, etc. And Artephius saith, There is no other subject in the World for this Art, naming it, although in a Philosophic manner, wondrous subtly. I counsel thee, with Ripley, to learn to know this one thing which I have faithfully declared, and I know what I have declared experimentally to be true: He that understands me will have cause to thank God and me for what Light I have given to Ripley: He that with me understands Ripley will easily discern.   


With the second which is an humidity  
Vegetable reviving what erst was dead.   
OUr second Water, or Menstruum, or Fire, is our Elixir, which is an Elixation of our Matters, or drawing forth the Tincture out of our dissolved Bodies; which doth cause our dead Body to rise, and to spring forth in Sprigs and Branches, like to the tender Grass in the Spring out of the Field; and this so long until an entire Triptative Union be made of Body, Soul and Spirit. In this operation our Body of the Sun hath its dead moles turned into a living quick active Spirit, and our Compound after death gins to sprout, and to show its true Vegetative nature, it is endowed with a green Colour, which is the sign of the growth of all things.   

Both Principles Materials must loosed be.  
HEre your Natures are changed, and hold one of another, and become one inseparably; that is, the Solary Nature is not to be divided from the Mercury, nor the Fire from the Water, but with one the other is always moved; and so though there yet be a superius and an inferius, an ascendens and subsidens, yet now quod est superius est sicut id quod est inferius.   

And Formals, else they stand in little stead.  
NOw between the two Extremes of Mercury and Sulphur, you have a marvellous medium engendered: now the form of Gold is taken quite away, and it hath at present an accidental imperfect form, which is the mean through which it passeth to its transcendent perfection.   

These Menstrues therefore know, I thee reed.  
LAbour with all thy might to attain the skill of these two first Menstruums Theoretically and Practically; the first is to be by thee prepared and proportioned in the beginning, before thou attempt any thing. When thou hast the true Nymphs Bath, then join this Spouse with her beloved Husband, and see if she will make his Body fall to sunder in impalpable Atoms: Then let Saturn be thy Chamberlain, and let him gather together these dissevered members, and of them make one broth, in which is blackness complete, after which followeth greenness; and then shalt thou know that thy Compound is by the living God endowed with a vegetable Soul.   


Without the which neither true Calcination  
Done may be, nor true Dissolution.   
HE who knoweth not the Mystery of these two Menstrues, can never attain either to Calcination or Dissolution of the Philosophers: The Mystery of the first consists in the acuating of thy Vinegar with the Blood of our Green Lion, and the Soul of the Fiery Dragon, which is by seven Eagles, which are seven Cohobations and Depurations of thy feminine Sperm, till it conceive a spiritual seed, or true natural heat, to animate thy young King.  
The Mystery of the second Menstrue consists in the true proportion of thy first Water, with its own Body, and the administration of true heat external, by which the combat between the Eagles and the Lion may be stirred up; thus shall the Duel be ended, the Lion rend in pieces, and the Carrion of its Carcase shall kill the Eagles; and out of these Atoms shall the second Water be made apparent by Dissolution.   

With the third Humidity most permanent.  
THe third Menstrue is by Artephius called the second Water, for our second he doth join together with the first; although where he doth particularise the three Fires, he doth then distinguish three Menstruums.  
The like course many Philosophers have used in the description of their Operations, some omitting the first, or at least confounding it with the second, for the greater obscuring of the Art.  
But we have (beyond what any have hitherto performed) particularly insisted upon the three in order, and have taken more pains in the discovery of the first, because the wise Ancients have taken such pains to conceal that most; and after that we have made an orderly proceeding to the second, which we have in like sort handled, and this being performed, we do now address ourselves to the third.  
This is called by Ripley a most permanent Humidity: and note by the way, that the first Water is called by Authors a permanent Water likewise; but take notice that there is a different reason for each denomination; for first of all, all Mercury is Water permanent, that is, the parts have no Heterogeneity, they will not leave one another in the examen of the Fire, but either all flies and is unconstant, or else all abides and is constant in the trial of Vulcan: and so is our first Menstruum. And in this our Mercury and Common Mercury agree, besides the identity of matter, for it is the form only that distinguisheth them. But in the next place, our Water is permanent with the Body, which Common Mercury is not; that is, it by digestion doth unite, not only adhere to it, so that both together do make one Individuum, which is done by our secret Conjunction. But lastly, when the Body is thus by our Water reduced, at last it comes that the four Elements are united in this Water. After Putrefaction and Purification, which is the last most laudable Tetraptive Conjunction, and now the Tincture is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Soul, and the Soul is the Body, and all these are one.   

Incombustible and unctuous in his Nature.  
THis is our true Incombustible Mercury, for it is totally purged from all its burning feculency; Gold though it be a pure Metal, in respect of others which are imperfect, yet compared with our Stone it hath also its faeces; but this when it is taken away by Putrefaction and Ablution, then becomes a total separation of what is precious from what is vile, and as the Philosopher well saith, In the troubles of this our stormy Sea, all that is pure will ascend, and all that is impure descend, and will abide in the bottom of the Vessel in the form of a combust Earth; then is made the new Heaven and the new Earth, pray to God then that thou mayst see when there shall be no more Sea. Yet I say before thou hast this final Inceration, thou hast this most incombustible Menstruum, and most permanent, in which Nature and Art have conspired and made a Purification, beyond what Nature alone could ever have brought to pass.  
Therefore this Mercury, though it be liquid and in the form of Mercury, it is notwithstanding Unctuous, that is, great with Child, which Child is Sulphur, which Sulphur it will in the end bring forth, and shall then be sealed up in the belly of this Infant, which is when all is fixed, and Mercury is then hidden under the fixity of Sulphur.   

Hermes Tree unto Ashes is burnt.  
IT doth therefore naturally incline itself unto Inceration, for Earth is the Nurse of our Stone, and in it is its virtue attained, and its perfection entire, according to noble Hermes in his Smaragdine Table; Vis (saith he) ejus est integra fi versa fuerit in terram. By virtue of this third permanent pure incombustible Water, thou shalt at last attain a total Inceration; for this Water though it be wholly Mercurial to sight, yet hath it in its own Bowels its own Sulphur, nay it is all Sulphur, and that all incombustible. This work is called the burning of Hermes Tree to Ashes, which is done thrice; first, into a black unctuous Calx, as impalpable as Atoms, which are only to be discerned in the Sunbeams: secondly, into a fine white Calx, in which is the Moon in the full: the third, a red Calx, in which the Sun is Orient. Now know that the first Calcination is from the virtue of the Sun, in which the Sun seeks to rise, but by reason of the equal opposition it finds from the water, it is beclouded, and after through the interposition of the Earth, totally Eclipsed.  
This Fire therefore, because of the mixture of it with the natural Fire of Sol, which is in it dissolved, is called unnatural; the first Fire of our Water is called Fire against nature, and the Fire of the Sulphur of the perfect Body is called Fire of nature. In this operation, through the power and will of the Almighty, the Body which hath been so long dead, is by this Water quickened, and actually sprouts like to a Vegetable; for when the pores of it are opened by the moistening of our Water, it strait gins to follow the Spirit upon the Fire, the Spirit than doth mount aloft; which the Body thus made tender cannot follow, but as the Poet saith, non passibus aequis, as a Son that is little followeth his Father. It therefore in a token of its friendship with the Water, doth bud forth like to the tender Frost upon the surface of the Earth, and retains a quantity of the Water with itself, occupying a middle room between the bottom and the top; in which respects the Philosophers have called it their Soul, which to show its union to the Body, riseth no higher than it can have a root or Basis below; and to manifest its love to the Spirit, it doth as it were climb after it higher and higher for its season, until at length it return from whence it came: And verily this Soul is the Magnetical Medium between the Spirit and the Body, which doth desire the Spirit as its true drink; and therefore as it grows dry, it doth attract the greater drops of sweat, which falling to the Earth, arise in a pleasant fume, and do moisten the growing virtue with a pleasant dew, by reason of which it grows every day more and more.  
This Tree of ours some have compared to one thing, and some to another; some to a Cypress or Firtree, which indeed may seem to resemble it; others to Haw-Thorn Trees, as Ripley in his Gate of Cibation; others to Shrubs and Bushes, others to thick Woods, and in these Woods, saith Lambsprint, there is a Beast all over black. I confess there is a similitude between our Germination, and all these; others, because of the Humidity of the Compound, which is ever and anon returning by drops, have likened it to a moorish low Bog, in which Rushes grow, and Toads keep; others have called it their Coral, which is indeed the fittest comparison, for in our Tree there are Shoots and Sprigs, without any thing that may be properly likened to Leaves: as then Coral is an union of a Vegetable and a Stony nature, so is it in our Tree, (for Stones and Minerals are of one Composition) our Tree is Metalline, and yet through the power of God it seems to Vegetate. 2ly. Coral grows under the water, where one would think no Vegetable could grow; ours also grows in a heat in which no Vegetable but itself can grow. 3ly. Coral hath many Sprigs and Branches without Leaves; so is our Tree. 4ly. Coral as it is under water hath a most exquisite biting taste, which in the Air it quickly loseth; so our Stone, or Tree Metaline, in its place is of a pontic Fiery nature, but taken out, it in a short space loseth the same irrecoverably. 5ly. There are five sorts of Coral, the common Grace, the Milk White, the Green, the Blood Red, and the Black; so our Tree is at his periods of all these colours, and in this form, which Tree by the heat of the Fire is dried to a Calx, which is called the Ashes of Hermes Tree. Lastly, Coral is more heavy than any other Vegetable; and so is our Tree beyond all Vegetables, yea and Coral itself, in ponderosity. It was not therefore a fortuitous comparison that Philosophers named their Mastery the Tree of the Hesperides, nor is it in vain that they bring in Jason pouring Broth at the Root of it to attain the Mastery; for verily the wise Philosopher (noted by Jason) so governing his Fire, that the Lunary or Water of the Moon may return to the Earth in which these Trees grow, the Earth will at length be so dried by the heat of the Sun, that it shall afford the Tree no more moisture; then shall the Tree itself be calcined by the prevailing heat, into a Powder impalpable, first black, then white, then red. Therefore is our little Glass by Flammel in his Summary named the Philosopher's Garden, in which the Sun riseth and setteth, and the Philosopher's Tree is moistened with the dew of Heaven day and night without intermission.   

It is our natural Fire most sure.  
THis Mercury drawn out of the Sun is the true natural heat, in the acuating and stirring up of which is the whole secret of the Mastery; this is the honoured Salt, when this is made to appear thy operations will be so admirable, that they will take up thy whole worldly content, and with their variety the time will seem so short, that thou wilt not take notice of any tediousness in the passing of it.   

Our Mercury, our Sulphur, our Tincture pure.  
THis is our Mercury which cannot be attained with money, which is nothing but Sulphur, and Sulphur which is nothing but Tincture, in which all Elements are proportioned perfectly.   


Our Soul, our Stone born up with wind,  
In the Earth engendered. Bear this in mind.   
THis is our Body, which is now become all Soul and all Spirit, all the pure parts are separated now totally from the uncleanness of the dead; it is our Stone, though it be as yet volatile, yet it hath all in it essential to our Stone, and therefore though it fly and sublime for the space of seven times, yet his Nurse is the Earth, and therefore to it as to its Nest it returns, and in seven sublimations what was before all Heaven, will now become all Earth. And this is the period of all the Rotations, and Nature's consummation.   


This Stone also tell thee I dare,  
Is the vapour of Metals potential.   
ANd now if any should demand of us what our Stone is, we shall answer him, that it is Gold digested to its height of purity and perfection, through the cooperation of Art and Nature; but the means to get this, is to learn to turn thy Body into a vapour, that is, into Mercury, which then ascends in form of a vapour.   


How thou shalt get it thou must beware,  
For Invisible truly is this Menstrual.  
Howbeit with the second Water Philosophical,  
By separation of Elements it may appear  
To sight in form of Water clear.   
BUt the means to attain this is not a light work, it requires a profound meditation, for this is the Seed of Gold, (which as the Poet sang, reclusa resedit longius) it is involved in many links, and held Prisoner as it were in a deep Dungeon; so that as the noble Sandivow hath it, it is the work of a very wise Philosopher to let lose Sulphur; he that knows not our two first Menstruals, is altogether shut out from attaining to the sight of this third and last Menstrue; yet he who knows how to prepare the first Water, and to join it to the Body in a just pondus, to shut it up in its Vessel Philosophically, until the Infant be form, and what is the greatest of all, to govern his Fire dexterously, so as to cherish Internal heat with External, and can wait with patience till he see his signs, he shall see the first Water will work on the Body till it hath opened the pores, and extracted partly the Tincture of Sol, which as it comes out gradually, so it contests with the first Fire against Nature, so long till they be reconciled in an imperfect medium; in which they, like to weary wounded Combatants, lie gasping and panting for breath, and at length die; and then appears the second Water of the wise, which doth ascend and descend so long till it ruin the dead Carcase, and then a Soul comes into it, and it vegetates and circulates, and changeth colours so long, till Blackness vanishing there be made a perfect union and universal temperament of Elemental qualities, never more to contend together: then the whole Compound for a time appears like to a new glorious Water, glittering like Oriental Pearls, and Fish-eyes.   


Of this Menstrue by labour exuberate,  
With it may be made Sulphur of Nature.   
THis is it which Raymund calls his Mercury exuberate, as much as to say, Mercury with Child; Artephius calleth it, the Salt pregnant, for it hath Sulphur actually hidden under the Mercurial quickness; therefore it by digestion is easily turned into our Stone, which is Sulphur, or Fire of Nature.   


If it be well and kindly acuate,  
And circulate into a Spirit pure,  
Then to dissolve thou must be sure  
Thy base with it in divers wise,  
As thou shalt know by thy practice,  
That point, etc.   
THis Mercury thus renovate or new born, may by the Philosopher be diversely handled; for he may take his work from the Fire, and circulate and cohobate this Mercury by a peculiar operation, which is partly Mechanical, till he have a most admirable pure subtle Spirit, in which he may dissolve Pearls and all Gems, and multiply them or his Red Stone, before it be united with a Metal in projection for the making of Aurum Potabile. And in this Mercury thus circulated, is doubtless the Mystery of the never-fading Light, which I have actually seen, but yet not practically made. In a word, every one who hath this exuberate Mercury, hath indeed at command the subject of wonders, which he may employ himself many ways in both admirably and pleasantly. And certainly he that hath this, needs no information from another; himself now standing in the Centre, he may easily view the Circumference, and then operation will be, next to the Spirit of God, his best Guide. Know then, that if thou be a Son of Art, when thou art once arrived hither, thou art so far from being at the end of thy search, (unless thou make Gold to be thy final object, and so thou shalt never come hither) that thou art but now come into the Mystical School of the hidden wonders of God, in which thou mayst every day see new Miracles, if thou be studious and desirous of knowledge, which all Adepti be; they prise skill before any earthly thing, and therefore refuse Honour and Pomp, and retire only to the beholding of God and his Works, in this admirable Looking-glass of the most hidden Mysteries of Nature.   


For so together they may be circulate,  
That is, the base oil and vegetable Menstrual,  
So that it be by labour exuberate,  
And made by craft a Stone celestial.   
YEt doth not wisdom come naked, but with her she brings riches and length of days; for this exuberate Mercury is an Hermaphrodite, and may without taking out of the Glass be circulated into a fifth Essence.  
Now the union between the two Principles, is the very true cause of this circulation; for though in this last Menstruum there is an inseparable oneness, yet the Components do give each their most noble quality to exalt the transcendency of our Medicine. The extreme Components of this third Menstruum, are the Sulphur and Mercuriality of the second; as the first Menstrue, and Sol our Body, were the extremes of the second. The base oil, our Sulphur is called, for he is the unctuous Dragon, or Earth which lies at bottom without wings, and is the Basis as it were of the Work. The Mercury is called Vegetable, for that it flies and returns, and makes the Earth to sprout and bud with tender branches. These two (the base oil or Sulphur, and the vegetable Menstrue) at last make one entire indivisible substance, which is of an Hermaphroditical quality, the Man is the Woman, and the Woman the Man; the Sulphur the Mercury, and the Mercury is the Sulphur; in this respect the Earth flieth as if it were Heaven, and at length the Heaven will precipitate in the form of Earth, and then is our work at an end, there is the Harvest in the South, when the glorified Soul is become a spiritual Body, which is called our Stone of Paradise.   


Of nature so Fiery that we it call,  
Our Basilisk, or our Cockatrice,  
Our great Elixir most of price.  
For as the sight of the Basilisk his object  
Killeth, so slayeth it crude Mercury,  
When thereupon he is project,  
In twinkling of an eye most suddenly.  
That Mercury then teyneth permanently  
All Metals to Gold and Silver perfect.  
Thus guide thy base both red and white.   
THis Heavenly Earth is true Mineral Fire, which is then resembled to the Sun in its Summer Solstice; it is called Venom, because it penetrates Metals so wonderfully; it is called our Basilisk, our Cockatrice, our Tyrian Poison, though indeed it be an excellent Medicine, in which respect it is called our incomparable inestimable Elixir. But the denomination of Basilisk it retains from its sudden operation upon Mercury; for it penetrates it in projection, as warm Oil runs into sinking Paper, even to the profundity of it. Let thy Mercury therefore be taken as it is crude bought at the Apothecaries, and thou shalt set it in a Crucible to the Fire, in such a heat as the Mercury may not fume; and when it is so hot that it is ready to fly, which you shall discern by a spurtling noise, throw upon it of your Medicine as much as will teyne it, and you shall see that in a moment it will enter it, and straightway the Mercury loseth its flux, and stands congealed. Then it is to be melted by a Fire of fusion, and you shall find pure Gold or Silver, according to the quality of your Medicine. But if you cast your high Elixir in too great a quantity on Mercury, you shall find in the Crucible after projection, a brittle mass of the quality and colour of the first Medicine, only of a lower virtue, which then you may project upon any inferior Metal, and it will transmute it into most perfect. This operation is not apparent or to sight, as is the work of Sophisters, but it is both inward and outward, for it transmuteth into a perfect species, and not only to show. This is the way of projection both of thy white and thy red Quintessences, first to cast them upon Sol or Luna, according as thy Medicine is, and after that to make projection on Mercury again and again, till you find the true extent of the virtue of your Stone.   


Aurum Potabile thus is made,  
Of Gold not commonly calcinate.   
ANd now I come to the second reward that Wisdom doth bring with her, and that is length of days; and here I have transposed some few Verses of Ripleys concerning Aurum Potabile, that what he saith in this point may be represented in view together, Method inviting me to it. Some propound the Medicine of Aurum Potabile to be Extracted out of Sol pure, by corroding with Aqua Regia, and afterwards levigating it by reiterate Calcinations in the Fire, and manual Contritions. This Calx so subtilised, some attempt to resolve by Menstrues, (as they call them) but in vain, there being only one Menstruum that hath the power to resolve both Gold, and all sublunary Bodies, to their first matter. Paracelsus the first Author of this, did name this dissolving Water his Alkahest, his Ignis Gehennae, his Corrosivum specificum, with many other names. This Medicine thus made of Gold by the Alkahest, as it is Philosophical and real, so it is very excellent, and known only to the Adepti.  
Yet this is not our great Medicine, for this being but a resolution of Gold in its unary simplicity, doth afford to us only the most exquisite Medicine that is in Gold, as it is made and left by Nature, which partly for its simple virtue, and partly for its Metallick determination, doth not enter our Constitutive Principles, and consequently cannot touch or reach long life.   


But of our Tincture which will not fade,  
Out of our base drawn by our Menstrue circulate.   
BUt when as we have by our Art exalted Gold from an unary to a millenary perfection, and advanced it from its gross corpulency to a Spiritual Tincture, which is unfading, and of all Sublunary things the most durable, then out of this so glorious and triumphant in an universal virtue, we do make an Oil so called by us, (though it be permiscible by mixture in any Liquor) which Oil is the very Tree of Life, which prevails and triumphs over all the Miseries in the world. For it is not Metallum, but transcending all Metalline things: This Tincture is extracted out of Gold, not as Tinctures are drawn by the Sal Circulatum of Paracelsus, but by an universal changing of the Sickness of the Metalline offspring, into a true posture of Health; by which means it is able to heal all Metalline Bodies from their Leprosy, and being resolved by its own Vegetable Humidity, which is our first Menstrue, circulated till the Water have a ferment from the Bodies, and the Bodies from the Water, it will give a Spiritual Tincture, sparkling like the flame, to taste most sweet, to smell most pleasant, the most incomparable Treasure of the whole World.   


And for thy first ground principal,  
Understand thy Waters Menstrual.   
NOw I return to that which went before concerning this Medicine, which I passed over in that place, that I might here bring it in together; and indeed he who will know this Mystery, he must in the first place learn to know his Menstrual Waters, for without this knowledge he can never come to this Mastery; for with the third Menstruum, (counting three according to Ripley) or the second Water, (making the first and second into one, with Artephius) is this fragrant Balsam made: And verily the whole is but Cohobation, the first Water being cohobated so long upon the Bodies, till it receive from them a quality of natural heat; yet so as that the quality of its own Fire, which is corruptive, and so against Nature, be mingled in way of action and passion with the natural Fire. This makes a Fire innatural, and is the second Water, in which colours rise and set frequently, and then by cohobating it till Fire of Nature have wholly subdued his Adversary, and made a perfect peace and union with it. Then all is Fire of Nature, than the Clouds are scattered and the Light appears; and this is our third Water, the subject of wonders, which being one alone, doth from that time all operations within itself, congealing, relenting, calcining, exalting, subliming and fixing all Elements, being linked here inviolably to the making up of that great Mysterium magnum, which Paracelsus described, but knew it not; we both know it, and have seen it, and what we do know and have seen, we do faithfully relate.   


And when thou hast made Calcination,  
Increasing not wasting moisture radical,  
Until thy base by oft subtilation,  
Will lightly flow as Wax on a Metal.  
Then lose it with thy Vegetable Menstrual,  
Till thou have Oil thereof in colour bright.   
THerefore labour thou to bring thy Gold to a Calcination, not by Corrosives, but by Mercury, not into a Powder red and dry, but into a Calx black and unctuous, and multiply moisture by our true Virgin's Milk; then circulate these Natures together, till they will flow like unto Wax upon a Plate of Metal, which is the sign of the true Tincture of Luna. Continue thy Fire till the fixed again relent of its own accord, till the dry become moist again, and till a Soul return; then shall thy Tincture proceed forward to a new Germination, and shall be endowed with a Vegetative Soul. Govern thy Bath sweetly, until thou have a Tincture of Citrine, which is a sign that thy Water is now impregnated with the Oil immarcessible.   

Then is that Menstruum visible to sight.  
THen shalt thou discover what before was hidden, and see what before was invisible, and shalt say with the Philosopher, O Nature, how thou makest Gold volatile that was most fixed! Therefore have they passed one into another.   

An Oil is drawn out in the colour of Gold.  
THis is our Virgin's Milk of the Sun, which is yellow; with this and our perfect Tincture, we make our Blessed Oil, which hath not its Peer among all the works of God, next to the Immortal Soul of man, the Glass of Triunity, the Sabbath of perfection. O happy they that attain to it!   

Or like thereto out of fine red Lead.  
YEt a succedaneum of this noble Medicine is found in the loins of Saturn, in the bowels of our despised Infant, which some true and loyal Sons of Nature, through the great mercy of God, have attained without knowing our great Arcanum, which a man would think marvellous.  
This is our red Lead, our Mercury essencificate and coagulated into a chaos of Spiritual Gold, and after dissolved into a quintessence as red as Blood; which because it is made out of the very Essential Mercury of our Stone, which is our first Water, I shall leave it undiscovered, which otherwise (if it might be explained without danger of prostituting the other Secret to unworthy people) I would for the good of Mankind proclaim it with Trumpets.   


Which Raymund said when he was old,  
Much more than Gold would stand in stead.   
THis Oil or Quintessence, this Balsam of Health, we do therefore prise for its wonderful virtue, not so much for that by means of it Poverty, that great snare, may be avoided, but for its wonderful prevailing excellency against all Diseases both of body and mind, as witnesseth Lul, Trevisan, Artephius, with that excellent Book entitled Aurea Hora, or Consurgens Aurora.   


For when he was for Age near dead,  
He made thereof Aurum Potabile,  
Which him revived as men might see.   
BY virtue of this Quintessence Artephius testifieth, that he lived above a thousand years: Flammel also recordeth of it, that it triumpheth over all the Miseries of the World. Johannes de Laznioro is more bold, and saith, that if in the Agony of death a man should taste but a Grain of it, all the mortal Pestilence would departed from him.  
Since then this Knowledge is so wonderfully profitable, being the very Looking-glass of Nature, the Antidote against Poverty and Sickness, and consequently the Cutthroat of Covetousness, Pride, Ambition, and such like sordid Affections, who would not bestow a little time in the Inquiry of it? In which let me assure thee in the very words of Trevisan, the Art is so plain, that if it were nakedly described it would be contemptible. And yet in vulgar Mechanics, how frequent is it for men to serve seven, eight, yea ten years Apprenticeship to attain them? And in some that are a little more ingenious, how frequently are considerable sums of Money bestowed to boot? Yet in this noble Art, so far excelling all Humane Sciences as the Sun doth a Candle, who will employ himself with diligence? unless it be some Money-minded Sots, who seek only for Riches; and yet how soon are even they weary? So that few or none persist in their Inquiry, save a few Roguish Sophisters who live by Cozening; by reason of such the Art is scandalised, and ill spoken of: Yet trust me, for I speak knowingly, the Art is both true and easy; yea so easy, that if you did see the Experiment, you could not believe it. I made not five wrong Experiments in it, before I found the truth, although in some particular turn of the Encheiresis, I erred oft; yet so, as I in my error knew myself a Master, and in less than full two years and a half, of a vulgar Ignoramus, I became a true Adept, and have the Secret through the goodness of God. And that this is true, there are those alive that can bear witness to this my writing, which I penned for the sake of the Ingenious, that they may have Ariadne's thread stretched out to guide them; so with the blessing of God they shall by their own Experience see and know, that I wrote nothing but what the Light of Experience (far beyond all imaginary conjectures) hath taught me to be true.  

ANd now my Muse, let it not irksome seem  
To thee of Nature's Mysteries to sing,  
Those hidden Mysteries which many deem  
Nought but delusions with them for to bring.  
This is th' opinion of the Vulgar rude,  
To whom there's hardly any selcouth thing,  
But seems a Juggling trick, that would delude  
Their fancies with an empty wondering;  
Therefore against it they with thundering words do ring.   

There is a fiery Stone of Paradise,  
So called because of its Celestial hue,  
Named of Ancient years by Sages wise  
Elixir, made of Earth and Heaven new,  
Anatically mixed; strange to relate,  
Sought for by many, but found out by few;  
Above vicissitudes of Nature, and by fate  
Immortal, like a Body fixed to show,  
Whose penetrative virtue proves a Spirit true.   

His property is as the Sages told,  
Metals imperfect (which before would burn)  
Six to transmute into most perfect Gold,  
And five into the finest Silver turn,  
Not equalled by Metals of the Mine;  
Which while some seek, they madly seem to spurn  
The pricks, which proves in th' end a bad design,  
And gives them cause sadly at length to mourn,  
And to bewail their destiny like men forlorn.   

For why, they do not well premeditate  
The nature of the thing they would attain;  
The only thirst of Gain doth animate  
These Gold-adoring wretches, who maintain  
Their mad expense with many a cursed lie,  
Nor from false perjury will they refrain:  
Thus they allure fools by flattery,  
To trust their dotage for the hope of gain,  
This last so long, till in the suds they both remain.   

Then Covetousness wrangles with Deceit,  
And curses him for all his lewd expense:  
The other being conscious of his cheat,  
With subtle words doth make a sly defence.  
But what is past can never be recalled,  
This grieves the Churl, who vows for that offence  
He'll have the Jugglers future pranks forestalled,  
Lays him in Gaol, O monstrous change! from thence  
The great Stone-maker through a Grate doth beg for pence.   

But he who will a studious Searcher be  
Of Truth, let him such Sophisters eschew,  
And if he will but be advised by me,  
Of false ways I'll him warn, and show him true.  
Beg humbly of thy God to be thy guide,  
For thou must pass through hidden ways, by few  
Traced; and that thy suit be not denied,  
Entreat of him thy heart for to renew,  
Thus qualified thou mayst thy Journey never rue.   

Next learn to know the different Kingdoms three,  
In which all sublunary things are wrought,  
Vnveil the hidden Bodies, whose degree  
Is noble, though their place full low be sought;  
In which respect they bear the Planets names,  
And they to such a Virtue may be brought,  
Which answer may the painful Chymist's aims,  
And it perform, which will surpass the thought  
Of the rude Vulgar, who by only sense are taught.   

The Wise men's Books with diligence peruse,  
From which, if diligent, thou mayst discern  
What substance 'tis they for their Matter choose,  
Also their hidden Agent thou mayst learn.  
They tell thee eke what things thou shouldst refuse,  
And of erroneous Works they will thee warn;  
Their counsel take, so shalt thou never lose  
Thy cost ne labour; also thou mayst earn  
Riches and Health, the one to other subaltern.   

Yet pains and labour see thou do not grudge,  
Nor cost, although a little will suffice;  
Yet Truth at first to find thou may not judge,  
'Tis well if faults at length will make thee wise:  
Nor be thou overheady to believe  
The Shell of words, which them who are not nice  
To sever Truth from Falsehood, do deceive,  
That they to win a shadow lose a prize:  
To sever Corn from Straw I therefore you advise.   

And if you please to take me for your Guide,  
I'll you unto a goodly Castle lead,  
A Castle which to hold all proof is tried,  
So that there's none within its Walls may tread  
But he who favoured is with special Grace,  
No other title any one may plead:  
And she who is Queen-Regent of the place,  
Is Nature called, she in Jehovah's stead  
Doth sit and rule, for she next under God is Head.   

This Castle round by force Inexpugnable,  
Whose Composition's Homogeneal,  
Immortal ever stands, that none is able  
To conquer it by force, though fraud withal  
Concur; its standing is so firmly stable,  
No way to storm it, though we could recall  
Great Hercules, 'tis so inviolable:  
And yet withal its Beauty is so amiable.   

Twelve Gates it hath, and yet they are but one,  
And these twelve Gates have but one only Lock,  
So that you either open all or none;  
Nor can you force it open with a knock,  
For violence cannot it break in sunder,  
Those who attempt it the event doth mock;  
Nay though you could call down the dreadful Thunder,  
It would nothing avail; who so his stock  
Shall thus employ, may walk at length in threadbare Cloak.  
There is one only Key, this learn to know  
And make, than I will you a Master name.  
This Key the entrance of the Lock will show,  
And being entered will unlock the same:  
Which being done, to you shall open fly  
The twelve Gates of this Castle, great in fame,  
Little in bulk, which once I did espy;  
Also within it a most noble Game  
Fought 'twixt an Eagle volant, and a Lion tame.    
FINIS.