Part One /

...[so proud] that God punished him for it. And this is the ultimate reason why the ancients kept the Art original: "Kunſt." Here meaning the Hermetic or alchemical art of creating the Philosopher's Stone. so secret, and described it in no other way than through parables original: "Gleichnuſſen." Alchemists traditionally used allegories, myths, and metaphors to hide their processes from the "unworthy.", out of concern that many might set their hearts upon it and thereby forfeit their souls. But since in our current time the pure Word of God is preached to everyone, surely everyone knows without my reminder that he should first seek the Kingdom of God, and then temporal things will also fall to him; for it is told to you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord your God requires of you: namely, to keep God's word, to practice love, and to be humble before your God. The author is paraphrasing Micah 6:8 to emphasize that spiritual rectitude must precede material success in alchemy.

And I have wanted to mention these few things in order to warn everyone, because I write so freely and openly in this open field, and do not know who might receive these writings of mine (for I would much rather write nothing at all than to write as obscurely as the philosophers original: "Philoſophi." In this context, the term refers to "Natural Philosophers" or alchemists who came before him. have practiced until now, whereby many an honest man has come to harm, in that he had to work only by guesswork, but finally lost both time and property because he obtained nothing, having lost them both together) so that he should learn and apply such an Art for no other purpose than first for God's honor, and then for the benefit of the poor and needy. But if anyone should despise my sincere warning and cast it to the wind, letting greed overcome him, and