Chemical Experiments on the Radical Dissolution of Bodies

...to find. It also seems to me that it is written for good reason: Seek first the kingdom of God, and the rest will be given to you as well. This is a reference to the Gospel of Matthew 6:33. The author uses this biblical promise to justify his alchemical philosophy: spiritual purity must precede physical success.

This truth entails another: if you do not seek the kingdom of God first, then nothing of the rest will be given to you within the divine order.

But what is the kingdom of God? — It is the perfect possession of Jesus Christ in our hearts, who reigns within them as if in his temple with wisdom and love, and who illuminates our reason from the inside out through his Spirit, so that we may see through the outward appearance of nature.

When we are in possession of this universal spirit (that is, the Spirit of Christ within us), then through his grace we may perhaps come to know the outward universal spirit of nature better than ordinary philosophy knows it.

As long as man does not possess the inner Scheidekunst (the art of separation): A historical term for chemistry, from the German 'scheiden' (to separate). In alchemical thought, it refers to both the chemical process of refining metals and the spiritual process of purifying the soul. within him to separate the holy from the unholy, the pure from the impure, he will also not succeed in the outward realm in separating the blessing from the curse, and