As the Vine is the most noble of all vegetables, so man also is
esteemed by all that are indowed with judgment to be the most noble of
all Animals, or living Creatures; the truth whereof the thing it self
affirmeth by a plentifull Testimony.
Therefore we pass by all other Animals in silence, and do here shew (by
the following manner) the preparation of that fire onely that lies hid
in Man.
The Ancient Philosophers have called the great World, _Macrocosmus_,
and man as it were the lesser World, _Microcosmus_, and a comparison
being made, they have determined that what things are found in the
great World, the same are to be found in the lesser World, that is in
Man.
From whence also they unanimously believed, and also committed to
memory, that as well the life of the greater, as of the lesser World,
doth consist in a saline and saltish spirit, and that this spirit doth
bear rule in one place more, in another less. Neither is there any one
also who will or can deny, that the whole earth is filled with Salt as
it were its Balsam; and that minerals are alike equally bred thereby in
the very bowels of the earth, as vegetables are in the Superficies.
Yet notwithstanding the Salt of the great World is no where more
plentifully found than in water, or in the Seas; the which as it is
a thing most known, it needs no confirmation. The same thing is to
be understood concerning the little World, _viz._ Man, and although
the whole body in all its parts abound with their true Balsam, yet a
greater plenty of this Salt and Balsamick spirit, is found in his flesh
than in his bones, a greater plenty likewise in his bloud than in his
flesh, but the greatest plenty in his Bladder, or in the Salt Sea of
the lesser World, the which is hidden to none, but it is the custom not
to seek necessary things in remote places, but in places nigh where
they are most easie to be found.
Hence because a more plentifull Salt is no where found in man than
in his Urine, we of right lay hold on an occasion of seeking and
con-centrating the fire in the same, and we make use of the following
preparation.