So this science must ever secret be, The cause whereof is this, as ye may see: If one evil man

had hereof his will, All Christian peace he might easily spill; And with his pride he might pul down Rightful Kings and Princes of renown. Wherefore the sentence of peril and jeopardy Upon the teacher reseth dreadfully. See Lullii Testam.; Aquinas Thasau. Alchim.; Norton;s Ordinal, cap. 1; R. Bacon, Speculum. (16) The philosophic matte has indeed received many perplexing appellations, some more, some less significative of its real origin and essence; but in the concrete form, and for reasons before given in part, it has been properly called the Stone. In this same universal matter of the Stone also Hermes includes all its multinominal ingredients. In its flowing, humid state it is called the sea of the wise, passive to all impression and influences of the light. By the fire and heavenly bird are dignified, says the scholiast, the external and internal agents in the Hermetic work, by either of which it is conserved and nourished to the end. (17) In friendship, gratitude, and reciprocity of benefaction, say the adepts, consists the chief art of operating with their matter; and no man, for reasons hereafter explicable, can operate the Hermetic artifice alone. So saith Arnolde of the New Towne, As his Rosary maketh mencione; He sayeth right thus withouten any lye There may noe man Mercury mortify, But it be with his brothers knowledging. Lo, now he which first declared this thing Of philosophers father was, Hermes the King. See Chaucers Tale of the Chanons Yeoman; Theat. Chem. Brit., p. 254; Arnoldi Rosarium, circa finem. (18) The consummate union of the purified spirit with its course is thus covertly indicated by Hermes as the true cornerstone of his philosophy; and that tincture of many dyes which, being dissolved renews itself, and dying survives itself, until its final cause is fully manifest and accomplished. This is the elixir of Light from the central essence, so set free, that it is said to prolong life, and cure disease and moral indulgence and physical defects, mingling with the common breath of nature the efficacy of an exalted life and love. (19) Further suggestions are now given concerning the true subject and operation of the Hermetic work. Having previously shown that the way to the attainment of the magistery is by communion with the ruling Spirit of nature; entering yet deeper as the work progresses toward the Causal discovery, Hermes admonishes the student earnestly to fear and obey its Law; lest, being transgressed in any part, man should work evil instead of good through its means. --- The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding; --- and this, in the most profound sense, is said to be proved in Alchemy, and that they only who have become conversant by experience in the Fontal Nature have truly and properly understood what it is, and why God is to be feared. Ingrafted in that root, writes our scholiast, the true understanding will grow up in thee, and fill thee, even as the body is filled, with life. Thou must enter with thy whole spirit into the center of nature, and there behold how all things are begun, continued, and perfected. But thou must first enter into that Spirit which is the Framer of all things, which pierces through and dwells in that central root; and by entering into that, it will, as a vehicle, carry thee into the same root where all things are hidden, and