Two Treatises on the Nature of the Elements and the Fifth Essence

ON THE ELEMENTS

...a tiny spark original: "τῆς γνώσεως τῆς φύσεως" (tēs gnōseōs tēs physeōs) of the knowledge of nature shines forth! Who would not marvel at the Creatures, when he gazes upon such wonders? How can it be, O Man, that you contemplate the miracles of God without wonder? Why, though seeing, are you blinded? Why do you not investigate and praise the works of God whenever you see that primeval Substance, the first Matter of all things, in which Fire, Air, Water, and Earth shine with the same perfection with which they were created by God in the beginning?

Observe, I pray you original: "amabo," a polite form of address used to engage the reader, the separation of the four Elements. The spirit of Fire flies upward, carrying with it air, water, and earth which—condensed by the coldness of the air—seek their own kind; those things, I say, from which they were produced. The moisture of the Oil, which is water, is transformed into a mist and falls back down drop by drop. Earth rises like smoke and falls back down blackened. Air is received by itself. Who, in explaining the reason for this miracle, could forget the divine praises? Thus it is established, friend reader, that Fire alone is the life of all things, illuminating all and leading them to that splendor, which...

This page uses the laboratory process of distillation or sublimation—where substances are heated, rise as vapor, and condense—as a theological metaphor for the purity and interconnectedness of God's creation.