PREFACE

just as they lack what they have, so they lack what they do not have. You possess a chemical formula, yet you neither exercise it yourself nor share it with others. How do you differ from the token of a miser? You fear that the secret might cease to be a secret, and that it might be defiled by impure hands. The more you fear, the more you degenerate from the primordial image of God. Certainly, in your judgment, God ought not to have revealed the mystery from eternity to the world, because it ceased to be hidden and has been poorly handled by many. O you, foolishly wise. How many days do you think the world will remain? You will have blessed yourself if you appear before the tribunal of Christ with your chemical secret formula committed to moths and dust rather than to a human brother. You will have achieved much if you enrich us for a short time with interest. To whom, indeed, will you leave that masterwork magisterium the goal or supreme achievement of an alchemical process of yours upon death? To the worthy or the unworthy? Do not fear the unworthy; while alive, publish and manifest it to the worthy. Your heirs will not search for worm-eaten and dusty pulpits, but for money chests. Your secret, however, might perhaps reach even more dishonest hands, and you will not be praised for it then. This will be your gain: you will not fly through the mouths of men while alive, nor will you be understood to have existed at all when dead. But let us leave canine filth to the dogs. Furthermore, there will not be lacking iniquitous judges, who will unjustly cry out that I am seeking revelations for free, and will offer, along with money, conditions of silence confirmed by oath.