De Lapide Philosophorum (Philosophers Stone)

Preface.

[...preventing the spirit of darkness from] completely suppressing and extinguishing nature; [God] steered and prevented this, so that the Great Works of God, which lay hidden and resting in the arcanaoriginal: "archanis." Secret, powerful medicinal virtues believed to be hidden within substances., essencesoriginal: "Essentijs." The fundamental, purified spirit of a material., magisteriesoriginal: "Magisterijs." Alchemical preparations where the substance is purified but its parts are not separated., and elixirs, would not remain unrecognized. And for that reason, He has ordained and provided through various means that these secrets and mysteries would subsequently be further impressed upon mankind through good spirits, to be fully explored; just as some men have taken on

angelic natures from the Heaven that knows the angels. Such men—as those who have a perfect understanding of nature and contemplate its daily course more deeply than other men—can afterwards hold the pure against the impure, separate or divide them, and change them to such an extent that it seems impossible to some. For as natural philosophersoriginal: "naturkündiger." Those who possess a deep, practical knowledge of the laws and secrets of the natural world., they can come to the aid of nature through proper means, bringing it to perfection through the [alchemical] arts.