Preface.

noble time and their own goods in vain. This occurred for the reason that they failed to find the right path at the very beginning; thus it followed that the end could also not be good. Because of this, many have almost become fools; they have despised and slandered the Art The "Art" refers to Alchemy or the "Great Work." as if it were void and false—indeed, a pure fraud. For that reason, they have spoken mockingly of the philosophers, and some have publicly declared that as long as the world has stood, no Stone of such powers The Philosopher's Stone. has ever been made, nor will any be made until the end of the world. But in such people, the saying of Christ is truly fulfilled when He says:

I thank thee, O God, and praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden it from the clever and the wise, and hast revealed it unto the simple Original: "Unmündigen," referring to the spiritually humble or "babes" in a biblical sense (Matthew 11:25)..

And this is one of the greatest reasons why this Noble Art has fallen into such contempt. This went so deeply to the heart of the highly-enlightened Brother Basil Valentine, likewise original: "item" the dear Philosopher and Physician Theophrastus Paracelsus, and others of their kind, that they