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Lastly, I now come to the general consent of all the philosophers and repeat what is found in their writings in the book De Aurora Consurgens and in Clangor Buccinae. It is to be noted that the ancient philosophers have found four principal effects or virtues in the glorious repository of their treasure:

(1) First it is said to cure man's body of all infirmities.
(2) To cure imperfect metals.
(3) Thirdly to transmute base stones into precious gems.
(4) To make glass malleable.

6. Of the first. All philosophers have consented that when the Elixir is perfectly rubified, it doth not only work miracles in solid bodies, but also in man's body, of which there is no doubt; for being taken inwardly it cureth all infirmities. It cureth outwardly by unction. The philosophers also say if it be given to any in water or wine first warmed, it cureth them of the Phrensy, Dropsy and Leprosy and all kinds of fevers are cured by the Tincture, and taketh away whatsoever is in a weak stomach; in bindeth and consumeth the flux of peccant humours being taken fasting; it driveth away the melancholy and sadness of the mind; it cureth the infirmities of the eyes and dryeth up their moisture and blearedness; it helpeth the purblind, red or bloodshot eyes and all other incident diseases are easily cured by the philosophical Medicine of the Rosie Crucians.

It comforteth the heart and spiritual parts by taking it inwardly; it mitigateth the pain of the head by anointing the temples therewith; maketh the deaf to hear and succoureth all pains of the ears; it rectifieth the contracted nerves by unction; it restoreth rotten teeth by washing; also all kinds of imposthumes are cured by it, by ointments or emplaisters or injecting the dry powder therein.

It cureth ulcers, wounds, cancers, fistulas, noli me tangere and such like diseases, and generateth new flesh. If it be mixed with corrupt and sour lime it restores it; it expelleth poison, being taken inwardly; it also killeth worms if it be given in powder; it taketh away wrinkles and spots in the face by anointing therewith and maketh the face seem young; it helpeth women in travail being taken inwardly, and bringeth out the dead child by emplaister. It provokes urine and helpeth generation. It preventeth drunkenness, helpeth memory and augmenteth the radical moisture; it strengtheneth nature and also administereth many other good things to the body.

2. Of the second it is written that it transmuteth all imperfect metals in colour, substance, lasting, weight, ductibility, melting, hardness and softness.

3. Of the third, that is to say of transmuting base and ignoble stones into precious.

4. Of the fourth it is writ that it maketh glass malleable by mixture (that is to say, of the powder of the white corporeal Elixir) when the glass is melted.

Thus far Aurora Consurgens and Clangor Buccinae.

Now if you desire to make pure and malleable glass, beware of what glass you make your metal; for you must not take glass of flint, wherewith glass of windows are made, but such as your Venice glass is made of, and that is to be chosen out of the first metal of the glass which hath stood molten in the fire in the glass-maker's furnace the space of a night, and then it will be spots and pure. Therefore take as much of the said glass out of the furnace with your iron rod as you have a desire to convert, and when it is cold weigh it and melt it by itself in a pot; and when it is molten, project your white corporeal Elixir upon it and it will be converted into malleable metal and fit and apt glass for all goldsmith's operations. And thus is glass made malleable and prepared for any use; but if this were done with the red Elixir it would be much more during, for there is nothing more precious.

To perfect the Great Work which all philosophers have concealed, observe my direction which by experience I have found true. To calcine, dissolve and separate the elements. After join them together, putrefy them or reduce them into Sulphur; ferment, project, augment in virtue and quantity. This is the work of the philosophers.

This subject I call Limus Coelestis and the Middle Nature. The philosophers call it the venerable nature, but amongst all pretenders I have not yet found one that could tell me why. This chaos hath in it the four elements, which of themselves are contrary natures, but the wisdom of God hath so placed them with their very order reconciles them.

For example air and earth are adverseries, for one is hot and moist, the other cold and dry. Now to reconcile these two God placed the water between them, which is a middle nature, or of a mean complexion between both extremes. For she is cold and moist, and as she is cold she partakes of the nature of the earth, which is cold and dry; but as she is moist she partakes of the nature of air which is hot and moist. Hence it is that the air and earth, which are contraries in themselves, agree and embrace one another in water, as in a middle nature, which is proportionate to them both and tempers their extremities.

But verily this salvo makes not up the breach; for though the water reconcileth the two elements. like a friendly third, yet she herself fights with a fourth, namely with the fire. For the fire is hot and dry, but the water is cold and moist, which are contraries.

To prevent distemper of the two, God placed the air between them, which is a substance hot and moist; and as it is hot it agrees with the fire, which is hot and dry; but as it is moist it agrees with the water which is cold and moist, so that by mediation of the air the other two extremes, namely fire and water, are made friends and reconciled. Thus you see, as I told you at first, that contrary elements are united by that order and texture wherein the wise God hath placed them. Now I tell you that this agreement of friendship is but partial, a very weak love, cold and skittish; for whereas those principles agree in one quality, they differ in two as you may easily compute. Much need, therefore, have they of a more strong and powerful mediator to confirm and preserve their weak unity; for upon it depends the very eternity and incorruption of the creature. This blessed cement and balsam is the Spirit of the Living God, which some ignorant scribblers have called Quintessence, for this very Spirit is in the Chaos, and, to speak plainly, the fire is His Throne, for in the fire is He seated. This was the reason why the Magi called the First Matter their Venerable Nature and their Blessed Stone. This Blessed Spirit fortifies and perfects that weak disposition which the elements already have to union and pace (for God works with Nature and not against her) and brings them at last to a beauteous, specifical fabric. Now if you will ask me, where is the Soul, or as the schoolmen abuse her, the form, all this while? What doth she do? To this I answer that she is all instrumentals ought to be, subject and obedient to the will of God, expecting the perfection of the body. For it is God that united her to the body and the body to her.

Soul and body are the works of God, the one as well as the other. The Soul is not the artificer of the house, for that which can make a body can also repair it, and hinder death; but the Soul cannot do this, it is the power and wisdom of God. In a word, to say that the Soul formed the body, because she is in the body is to say that the jewel made the cabinet or that the Sun made the world and cherisheth every part thereof. Learn, therefore, to distinguish between Agents and their instruments, for if you attribute that to the creature which belongs to the Creator, you bring yourselves in danger of hell fire, for God is a jealous God and will not give the glory to another.

If thou dost know the First Matter, know also for certain thou hast discovered the Sanctuary of Nature. There is nothing between thee and her treasures but the door; that indeed must be opened. If thy desire lead thee on to the practice, consider well with thyself what manner of man thou art, and what it is that thou wouldst do; for it is no small matter. Thou hast resolved with thyself to be a co-operator with the Spirit of the Living God and to minister to Him in His work of generation. Have a care, therefore, that thou dost not hinder His work; for if thy heat exceeds the natural proportion, thou hast stirred the wrath of the moist natures and they will stand up against the central fire and the central fire against them and there will be a terrible division in the Chaos; but the sweet Spirit of Peace, the true eternal Quintessence, will depart from the elements leaving both them and thee to confusion; neither will He apply Himself to the Matter as long as it is in thy violent, destroying hands.

I will now lay down plain instructions concerning:

1. The Elixir of Saturn. 2. Putrefaction into Sulphur. 3. The Oil, of the Sulphur. 4. Of the Conjunction. 5. Of the Salt. 6. Of Oil of the Spirit. 7. Of Salt of Saturn, which containeth the Oil or Soul of the Menstruum. 8. Of White Mercury. 9. Of Red Water of Paradise. 10. Resolution. 11. Solution. 12. Distillation. 13. Hyle. 14. Purgation. 15. Resolution. 16. Of Sericon. 17. Of the Gum. 18. Of Sericon. 19. Of the Solution. 20. Of Minium Ore. 21. Adrop. 22. Of Calcination. 23. Of Minium. 24. Adrop. 25. Of Red Lead. 26. Of Calcination of Lead. 27. Of Aqua Fortis.

Now see which way the philosophers move. They commend their secret water and I admire the tears of Beata Pulchra. I will tell you truly what she is; she is not any known water whatsoever, but a secret spermatic moisture, or rather the Venus, that yields that moisture. Therefore do not you imagine that she is any crude, phlegmatic, thin water, for she is a fat, thick, slimy humidity. But lest ye should think I am grown jealous and would not trust you with my mistress, Arnoldus de Villa Nova shall speak for me. Hear him. Amplius tibi dico, quod nullo modo invenire potuimus, nec similiter invenire potuerunt philosophi, aliquam rem perseverantem videmus de facili evaporare, arida remanet, et ideo separantur, quia non sunt naturales. Si autem eas humiditates consideremus, quae difficulter separantur ab his quae sunt naturales, non invenimus aliquas nisi unctuosas et vi scosas. I tell thee further (saith he) that we could not possibly find, neither could the philosophers find before us, anything that would persist in the fire, but only the unctuous humidity. A watery humidity, we see, will easily vapour away, and the earth remain behind, and the parts are, therefore, separated, because their composition is not natural. But if we consider those humidities which are hardly separated from those parts which are natural to them, we find not any such but the unctuous, viscous humidities.

This viscous humidity is Water of Silver, which some have called Water of the Moon; but it is Mercury of the Sun and partly of Saturn, for it is extracted from these three metals and without them it can never be made.

Very many have written of Saturn or Lead, but none that I know of have written fully thereof in any particular treatise. Therefore I do not only here set down what I have gathered from them most briefly and truly, but also those things which I have found and proved by my own experience, which I have annexed to them that the work may be absolute and complete.

Of which, as they say, Mary the prophetess, the sister of Moses, in her Books of the Work of Saturn is said to write: Make your water running like the water of the two Zaibeth and fix it upon the Heart of Saturn. And in another place: Marry the Gum with the true Matrimonial Gum and you shall make it like running water; of which process of Mary, George Ripley hath these verses:

Maria mira sonat
Quae nobis talia donat
Gummis cum binis
Fugitivem fugit in imis
Horis in trinis
Tria vinclet fortia finis
Filia plutonis
Confortia jungit Amoris.

The Heart of Saturn, you shall find why is his body white and clear; the work is briefly thus described. That a water be made out of the body of Saturn like the water Zaibeth, and that water fixed upon the Heart of Saturn. The direction for drawing out the water of Zaibeth and the way of making the Heart of Saturn is hereafter at large declared, with reduction of the body of Saturn into his Heart or Salt.

Note the power of Saturn and his Angel upon earth, Cambiel, Hanael, Cancer, Tristitia, and Lead thus prepared for Medicines and Telesmas. You see here the wonderful power of God, how he rules heaven and earth by ten names, ten Sephiroth, ten orders of blessed Souls, ten Angels in their ten Spheres, seven Angels that carry their power to seven planets and the earth; and here we teach you knowledge of the seven metals and the miraculous Medicines of the Rosie Crucians.

Having thus described the work, I now come to the explanation and say that the calcination of the body is two-fold, for the calcination thereof in the shorter work for extracting the Heart of Saturn is done on any wise by Aqua Fortis.

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