Debilidades

(Four Orbs govern this work of fire.)

E

XVII.

Naturæ qui imitaris opus, tibi quattuor orbes Quærendi, interius quos leuis ignis agat. Imus Vulcanum referat, bene monstret at alter

Mercurium, Lunam tertius orbis habet: Quartus, Apollo, tuus, naturæ auditur & ignis,

D

XVII.

The Philoſophers in many places make mention of four ſorts of fire neceſſary to the Naturall work, namely Lully, the Author of the Scala, Ripley, and many others. The Scala ſays that Raymund ſpeaks thus of fires: It is to be remarked that here lye contrary operations, becauſe as the fire contrary to Nature doth diſſolve the ſpirit of a fixed body into the water of a Cloud, and binds the body of a volatile Spirit into a congealed Earth, ſo contrarywiſe the fire of Nature congeals the diſſolved ſpirit of a fixed body into a Globular Earth, and reſolves the body of the volatile Spirit fixed by the fire contrary to Nature, not into the water of a Cloud, but into Philoſophickal water.

Ripley ſpeaks more clearly of theſe fires. Gate 3, Stanza 15:

Foure Fyers there be whych you muſt underſtond, Naturall, Innaturall, againſt Nature, alſoe

Elementall whych doth bren the brond. Theſe foure Fyers uſe we and no mo:

Fyre againſt Nature muſt doe thy bodyes wo; That ys our Dragon as I thee tell,

Ferſely brennyng as Fyre of Hell.

16. Fyre of Nature ys the thyrd Menſtruall, That Fyre ys naturally in every thyng; But Fyre occaſionat we call Innaturall,

And hete of Aſkys and balnys for putrefying: Wythout theſe Fyres thou may not bryng To Putrefaccyon for to be ſeperat,

Thy matters togeather proportyonat. 17. Therefore make Fyre thy Glaſſe wythin, Whych brennyth the Bodyes more then Fyre Elementall; yf thou wylt wyn

Our Secret accordyng to thy deſyre

Then ſhall thy ſeeds both roote and ſpyre, By help of Fyre Occaſionat,

That kyndly after they may ſeparat.

They are called Fires becauſe they have a Fiery Virtue; the Naturall in coagulating, the Unnatural in Diſſolving, The Fire againſt Nature in corrupting and the

ſecond and third even into the fourth, and joins one to the other by mutuall operations, and cauſes them to cohere together till internall action be effected amongſt the uppermoſt. The firſt is Elementary Fire both in Name and ſubſtance, the ſecond is æriall or volatile, the third is watery or of the Nature of Luna, the fourth is Earthy. There is no need of ſpeaking of the firſt becauſe it is preſent to every man's ſight and feeling. The other three are the Dragons, Menſtruums, Waters, Sulphurs or Mercuryes. Dragons becauſe partaking of venom they devour Serpents of their own race and alter whatever bodyes are mixed with them, that is, diſſolve and coagulate them. They are called Menſtruums becauſe the Philoſophers’ Infant is produced and nouriſhed from them till the time of his Birth. Lully in his book of Quinta Eſſentia, verſe 3, has a double menſtruum, a Vegetable and a Minerall. Ripley in the preface to his Gates has three which agree and are but one in reality. For the generation of the Infant is made from them all, and white water precedes its birth which is not of the ſubſtance but of the ſuperfluity of the Infant, and therefore is to be ſeparated.

They are waters becauſe in Fire they ſhow a watery Nature, that is they flow and are liquid which are propertyes of water. It is certain that the propertyes of Water are diverſe and wonderfull, ſome whereof do petrifye, being coagulated into hard ſtones ſuitable for building. Not unlike theſe are the minerall waters of the Philoſophers, which grow harder and turn into a ſtony reſiſtance.

They are likewiſe called Sulphur from the Sulphurous virtue which they have in them. For the Sulphur of Nature is mixed and made one with the other Sulphur, and the two Sulphurs are diſſolved by one, and one is ſeparated by two and the Sulphurs are contained by the Sulphurs, as Yximidius ſays in the Turba. Now what Sulphurs are Dardaris in the ſame place declares in theſe words: Sulphurs are ſouls hidden in the four Elements, which being extracted by Art do naturally contain one another and are joined together. But if you can by water govern and well purifye that which is hidden in the Belly of the Sulphur, that hidden thinge meeting with its own Nature rejoineth it, even as water with its like. Moſius alſo ſayeth: I will now tell you what it is. One indeed is Argent Vive and that Fiery, the ſecond is a Body compounded in it, the third is the water of Sulphur by which it is firſt waſhed, corroded and governed till the whole work is perfected. What has been ſaid of Sulphurs, the ſame muſt be underſtood of ſo many Mercuryes, for ſo ſays the ſame Moſius: Argent Vive, Cambar, is Magneſia, but Argent Vive or Orpiment is Sulphur, which aſcends from a mixed compound. But I ſhall produce no more Teſtimonyes becauſe they are infinite. Theſe four Fires are included in four Orbs or Spheres; that is, each has its particular Centre from which and to which their motions tend. But nevertheleſſe they are kept ſo bound together, partly by Nature and partly by Art, that the one can operate little or nothing without the other, ſo that the Action of the one is the Paſſion of the other, and ſo the contrary.