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 ...

Of two Conjunctions Philosophers mention make, Gross when the Body is with Mercury re∣incrudate; But let this pass; and to the second heed take, Which is, as I said, after Separation celebrate, In which the parties be left with least to colligate, And so promoted unto most perfect tempe∣rance, That never after may be repugnance.

BUt when as the Philosophers speak of Conjunction, it is warily to be con∣sidered of what Conjunction they do mean, for as it is a term very often used,

so is it very doubtfully to be taken. One Conjunction which they speak of is gross, which is properly Amalgamation, it is the first Operation after the preparation of the Mercury.

But this is not the Conjunction here to be understood, but a more secret by far, in which man worketh nothing at all, but stands by only and beholds Na∣tures Operation. And this work is done without any laying on of hands, and very quickly, when the Matters are prepared and made fit. This work is therefore called a Divine Work.

This Conjunction is far more intimate than the gross, for this is an union per minima, or intima, so that the essence of the one, enters the essence of the other, so as to make it but one substance.

This maketh a temper which man by no Art could make, for even as Water mixed with Water is inseparable, so is it now with these principles. Now is con∣cord, amity and friendship made, for now the hot and the dry, will embrace the cold and moist, and now patience is made between the Water and the Fire.