_Of the Harmony and Agreeableness between the Superior Elementary,
and Inferiour Earthly Sun, with Wine and Man._
’Tis well known even to the blind Bayards and Barbars, that the Sun in
the heavenly Firmament, is the most noble and most eminent Creature God
made. For it is that onely light which makes all the Stars partakers of
its Splendour, Light and Brightness. ’Tis also the onely Fountain and
as it were Father of all the Creatures, because if they are deprived
of it, they are in the dark and die: Nay even man himself cannot live
without the help of the Sun, and all things would perish, should the
Sun be but one moment withdrawn from them. For all things that are do
receive their Life and Augmentation from the Sun; and he was (according
to _Moses_ his Doctrine) the first and chiefest that did proceed forth
by God’s creating, and will doubtless be the last when all things shall
be dissolved, and pass into a better State at the final Destruction
of this worldly Fabrick. The Sun supplies the place of a heart in the
wonderfull Structure of the Macrocosm: And in like manner the heart it
self in man’s Body is aptly compared to the Sun, as being the first
liver, and last dier in the humane Fabrick; and this is known to every
body. And therefore amongst all the Creatures indued with life and
motion, man doth in nobility and magnificence excel them all, as having
gotten his body from the earth, his Spirit and Life from the Sun, and
his Soul from God.
But as to the insensible Creatures the highest Degree of Nobleness
is attributed unto Gold, the which is likewise generated by the
Sun. These three admirable Creatures, _viz._ the Sun, Man, and Gold
are coupled with a bond of wonderfull Necessity and Friendship, and
are conjoined by the instinct of Nature her self. Men do desire the
Light of the Sun, as also its heat in a dark and cold Season, for
thencefrom proceeds all life, and all the encrease of life, because
the Suns beams do perform the office of the universal Spirit, and
Life in the Conservation of the Life of Man. But now as touching
Gold, men do partake of that in a particular way onely, and one man
is usually stored with a bigger Portion, another with a lesser, not
by the instinct of nature, for she bestoweth it on us onely for our
use, but by reason of the abusive malice, avarice and the unsatiable
Covetousness of men; but yet this way is not the right manner of loving
Gold, nor genuine, but false and oft times very hazardous. We should
rather love it because of its wonderfull Vertues which it possesseth,
hidden in its body, and may afford a most notable Comfort to man’s
sickness and infirmities. Verily the Ancient Philosophers were not
ignorant of the incredible Vertues, which the Gold hides in it self, it
being truely no other thing than a body consisting and compacted of the
coagulated and fixed Beams of the Sun, and this was well known to those
men who were most skilfull in the nature of all things. Seeing then
that the Sun’s beams being as yet unfixed can bestow on all things life
and encrease, why may not the same be accomplished by them when fixed,
and made constant, if so be they be rendred spiritual, and thereby
be capable of displaying their Vertues in a visible and palpable
efficacy, which thing they could not do if they retain their corporal
Coagulation, nor can display their occult Vertues.
Many men have industriously attempted with great Labour, artificially
to open Gold, and to reduce it to a spiritual Nature, and to render
it living and efficacious, but few there have been that have been
Masters of their desires, but such as at length had thereto attained,
did perform things wonderfull in the sicknesses of mankind, and this
is witnessed by many most true Histories, as for instance, by the
_Turba_ of the Philosophers, and by the _Theatrum Chymicum_. The which
Books do indeed describe such a notable secret, but so obscurely and
intricately, as that no body can therefrom learn its preparation,
unless God reveals it to them, or it be manifested by some good friend
or other that knows the Art. ’Tis no wonder that amongst many thousands
of Searchers, so very few do arrive to the knowledge of the same. For
God hath barred up this so great a secret with such firm bolts, that
all wicked and malicious men are easily excluded from the knowledge of
finding it out. Verily I must needs say (but I boast not of it) that I
see by what means those bonds are to be loosed, and that precious Pearl
may by removal of those bolts be taken forth. But yet I profess not my
self to be a perfect and absolute Master, and such an one as perfectly
knows its preparation, and would make it publick by describing it. No!
the Crumbs serves my turn, and the Fragments of the Bread, with which
hunger may be allayed as well as with the Bread it self.
I have I confess tasted somewhat of the Crumbs of what pertains to
so worthy a Medicament, and with what great Vertues they abound. And
such things as my experience have administred unto me I have here
purposed to reveal them, for the comfort and sake of my Neighbour, as
far as the time and occasion will permit; but yet with this _Salvo_,
that I cast not Pearl before Swine, and so incur the Philosophers
Curse. To whomsoever the things that I speak shall be more obscure,
let him wrestle earnestly by his Prayers to God for light, and refrain
from troubling me with multiplicity of entreaties, for I have firmly
resolved with my self not to reveal for the time to come more than what
I have opened in the present description.