Ripley reviv'd, or, An exposition upon Sir George Ripley's hermetico-poetical works containing the plainest and most excellent discoveries of the most hidden secrets of the ancient philosophers, that were ever yet published / written by Eirenæus Philalethes ...

Water with Water accord will and ascend, And Spirit with Spirit, for they be both of one kind, Which when they be exalted make to de∣scend. So shalt thou unloose that which Nature erst did bind, Mercury essential turning into Wind; Without which natural and subtle Separa∣tion, May never be compleat profitable Genera∣tion.

FOr the Body though in its manifesto it be Sulphur congealed, and dry, yet in its occulto it is Mercury liquid, and moist: Now the Water which thou mixest with it hath this vertue, to open its pores, and then the Water of the Body will as natu∣rally agree and ascend with thy Water of Life, which thou didst put to it, as one Water will joyn with another.

Now as Sol hath a hidden Spirit, so hath our Mercury, which is in it invisi∣ble; for to sight it appears as other Mer∣cury, only a little brighter, but in effect

they differ wonderfully: which Spirit will as naturally unite with the Soul, or Fiery part of the Body, as Light will mix with Light, and then the gross part of the Body, and of the Water, in the bot∣tom of the Vessel, will be brought in ab∣sence of the Soul and Spirit to putrefie. So then these two Fiery Natures being Homogeneous, will readily mix, and will sublime together in form of a white Smoak or Vapour, as saith noble Arte∣phius, and there condensing in the top of the Vessel, that is, about the fides, and in the Concave of the Glass, will return again and circulate up and down, till it have destroyed the solidity of the Body, making it no Body, but subliming what is subtle, and what is earthly and resisting turning into Ashes, or an impalpable Powder, by Calcination.

And after Putrefaction is compleat by Circulation, the most fixed part which is called the Body of Fixion, the essential and most permanent part of both Body and Water, will ponderously be lifted up and carried aloft into the Air.

And without this Separation and Di∣vision;

all is nothing, for this is the very Key of the Mastery, it is the cause of Generation: therefore in vain is what∣ever is attempted without this, boiling the gross, and subliming what is subtle, that in the troubles of the stormy Sea, which works up and down as the Sea in the mighty Winds, what is pure may ascend, and whatever is impure may re∣main at the bottom; and when all that is pure is ascended, that which is left is called the Earth that remains. So Arte∣phius.