Page:Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus Vol I (IA cu31924092287121).djvu/266

 lated, and there is produced from every such tree just what should be produced in proper kind and quantity. When its fruit has been completely shed, that tree withers and dies within itself. It perishes like all other things, and itself passes on to the consummation where all things find their end; while, lastly, according to its nature, a new growth emerges thence.

From this you may learn that the primal matters of all minerals are put together in water, and that this primal matter is neither more nor less than Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, which are now made the soul, spirit, and true essence of the element. These three substances contain within them all metals, salts, gems, and the like. And when, at the predestined period, it is about to beget those fruits which it cannot help producing, then each genus and species gives birth to that which is like itself. Thus, if any person had different seeds, as many as ever the world produces, mixed together in a bag, and if he were to cast these forth, or to sow them in a garden, Nature, being equal to the occasion, would by-and-by allot to each its own fruit, bringing every separate seed to its own vigour and perfection without injury to the others. Exactly the same is it with the element of water, as though this were the bag filled with seeds of all kinds to be sown. Here, too, every genus and species is brought to its own nature and perfection. God, according to His marvellous plan, has gifted the four elements with these miracles of creation. These are the elements from which issue forth fruits destined for the service of man. Every different kind has been created by God. By such investigations as these the mighty works of God are explored and understood.

Surely, therefore, that philosophy is worthy of all praise which puts forward only the works of God for our consideration. Every man is bound to learn all he can about these, so that he may know what, and how much, his Creator has done for his sake.

True, the enemy has intruded and sown his tares in this philosophy. Such as this are Aristotle, Albertus, and Avicenna, with their accomplices, who are mere tares of the field. That enemy bursting in has devastated everything and begotten other noxious philosophers whose system is destitute of all knowledge of Nature, and is without any foundation at all. Lacking all light of experience, such philosophy violates in the most disgraceful way the light of Nature. Its professors are the busy-bodies who, mixing themselves up with all good things, exhibit themselves to the devil as sons of perdition.

So far, you have heard that the primal matter is conjoined in the matrix as in a bag, being compounded of three parts. As many as are the fruits, so many are the different kinds of Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury. There is one kind of Sulphur in gold, another in silver, another in iron, another in lead, tin, and so on. So, there is one kind in the sapphire, another in the emerald, another in the ruby, crysolite, amethyst, magnet, etc. Furthermore, there is a different kind in stones, flint, salts, fountains, and the rest. And there are not only so many Sulphurs, but so many Salts. There is one Salt in metals, another in gems, another in stones, another in salts, another in vitriol, another