PREFACE.

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...fore me / in my presence / let burn; I have had to strike my own hands (if I wanted to know anything genuine in this matter)
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into clay and coals original: "Laimb vnd Kohlen"—referring to the messy manual labor of building and sealing furnaces with mud or clay and fueling them with charcoal., build furnaces / and tear them down again for modification;
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also break many large and small distillation glasses / similar jars and retorts in the work; travel far to please many an artist Künstner: here referring to practitioners of the alchemical arts, ranging from genuine masters to charlatans. (to learn something good from him) / and spend much
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thereon / before I realized / what False Chemistry Arg-Chymia: from the German "Arg" (wicked/deceitful), referring to fraudulent or "sophistical" alchemy intended to deceive. and ALCHEMY are.
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Before I now (praise be to GOD) graciously received the SPIRIT and gift of discernment in this
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By this consideration: Art is long, life is short. original Latin: "Hae consideratione Ars longa, Vita brevis." A famous aphorism by Hippocrates, often used by alchemists to lament that a single lifetime is hardly enough to master the Great Work.

art from GOD (to speak without vain glory) in the ORATORY ORATORIO: A place dedicated to prayer; in alchemy, this emphasizes that spiritual devotion is as necessary as physical work. through prayer / and the LABORATORY LABORATORIO: A place dedicated to physical labor; emphasizing the alchemical motto Ora et Labora (Pray and Work).
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through working / so that I learned in this case to reject the evil and lies /
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and instead to keep the good and truth / it is strange to me...