Mineral Stone, or the Highest Medicine

one day the time will come / when my marrow
has vanished / and my bones are dried up
/ that people will take me to heart in the grave /
and, if God permitted it /
would gladly reach out from death / but it
cannot be / therefore I have left them
writings / through which their faith and
confidence will have a seal of certainty and truth /
to testify of me / what my last will and
testament was / established for the poor
and all lovers of the mystery original: "Geheimniß," referring to the hidden knowledge of alchemy and divine nature / and although it
might not have been proper for me / to write so
much / I could not withhold it without
harming my soul / [but felt compelled] to chase
a glimpse and a light through the clouds / so
that the day might be noticed / and the dark
night, together with the gloomy and dark rainy
weather, might be driven away.

How the Archeus: the "internal chemist" or vital life force that Paracelsian alchemists believed directed the growth of all things now works further / through
the Spirit of Mercury original: "Spiritum Mercurii" in the earth / or in the
veins of the earth / so you should be thus informed / that
after the spiritual seed / was formed by the
influence of the stars original: "Impression deß Gestirns," the belief that celestial bodies "impressed" their qualities onto earthly matter to create minerals from above /
and was nourished by the elements /
that such a seed became / and turned
into a Mercurial water original: "Mercurialisch Wasser," a fundamental alchemical substance thought to be the "mother" or base of all metals /
just as initially the great world the macrocosm or universe was also
made out of nothing / except that
the Spirit hovered upon the water / there a
heavenly warmth had to awaken the cold, watery,
and earthly creation into a life / in the
great world it was the power of God / and the