AN

EXPOSITION
UPON THE

Sixth Gate,
WHICH IS

CONGELATION.
 The Sixth Gate Opened,
Which is

CONGELATION.
Congelation, &c. It is of soft things in duration of colour white, &c. How to congeal he needeth
not much to care for Elements: But Congelations be made in divers wise of Spirits, &c. Of Salts
dissolved, &c. and then congeal'd, And some dissolveth congealing manually, &c. But such
congealing is not, &c.

Having largely run through the first five Gates, in which is all the difficulty, pre-supposing now
that you have passed the shades of the Night, and are now come to the approaching of the Day,
whose dawning is to be seen soon after the darkness of the Night, 1382] and is discovered by
variety of gay Clouds, which run before the Sun in its up-rising.

The first remarkable way mark that you are to meet with, is the whiteness of the Compound, for
the Peacocks tail though with its gayness it refresheth and delights the beholder, yet those colours
are but transient; but the white is a stable colour, and it is thy first Harvest, in which the moisture
is vanquished; and volatile Natures are fixed.

The Work as it is the long-wished Haven, so it is performed without any help of the Artist, any
more then to continue a due degree of outward heat; for know that thou hast not so great a desire
after this sight, but Nature hath as great an appetite to obtain it, for it is the end of all her former
Operations, from the attaining whereof thou canst not hinder her, if the external heat be continued
as it ought.

Yet about this the whole company of Alchymists do mightily busie themselves, who have nothing
more in their hopes then to make our great Elixir; do mainly [383] labour after Congelation,
though in their Solution, in which the Key of our Coagulation resteth, they are as stupid as
Blocks.

Some dissolve Metals with Corrosives, others Salts, and afterwards filter them, which they think
graduates them, with which trumpery they intend no less a Coagulate, then the true permanent
Tincture: but alas they are deceived, for they work not upon the right Matter.

Others although they happen to stumble in part upon the right Matter, yet herein they erre, that
they understand our Operations preposterously, and interpret our meaning contrary to our true
intent; for all that they dream of, is such Operations which are to be performed by hand: thus they
dissolve and congeal, but stumble in operandi modo.

For our Congelation is no such thing as this, but in every point it is contrary to it; for in our
Operation Nature only works, who therefore doth bring forth a true, and not a Sophistical
Operation.

Our Congelation dreadeth not the Fire, For it must ever in it stand unctuous; And it is also a
Tincture so bounteous, Which in the Air, &c. Moreover congeal not, &c. But that like Wax it will
melt anon withouten blast, For such congealing accordeth not, &c. Which Congelation availeth
us not.
For as in our Solution we do not make our Gold volatile as to shew, as Fools may do, but actually
it is made fugitive, so as that by no Art of man it can ever be fixt again, but only by that Nature
which made it volatile; so also our Fixation doth make our flying Spirits so Fire-abiding, that they
by no Art of man can ever be burnt away, yet it will flow like Wax.

Nor is it fixed in manner of flying Spirits in Vegetables, which are fixed by burning into an
Alcali, for it will never relent neither in the Air nor Water, like to a congealed Salt.

Nor yet is our Congelation a formal [3851 Transmutation of a thing by another seminal virtue, for
then it would become of a Stony, Flinty, or Adamantine nature; but by its own internal virtue, the
Mercury is changed into Sulphur incombustible, yet so as that the Mercuriality retains
some of its qualities in a very noble remarkable way, furnishing the Compound with a fusible
unctuosity, when at the same time the Sulphur retains that fluxibility with a most noble
incombustibility.

So then take this for the Touch-stone of all thy Alchymical endeavours, if ever thou intend any
thing commendable in our Art; see that thy Medicine be of an easie fusion, so that when it is cast
on a plate of Metal heated, it may enter it, and flow on it like Wax or melted Pitch; yea let the
flux be so easie, that it may flow upon Mercury, and enter it before its flight, otherwise brag not
of thy skill, for thou art yet in a way of Sophistry, out of which thou shalt never escape, without a
more then ordinary providence of God.

If thou therefore list to do weel,

Sith the Medicine shall never else flow kindly,
Neither congeal without thou first it putrefie,
First purge, then fix the Elements of our Stone,
Till they together congeal and f low anon.

That thou therefore mayst be sure of thy Work, and not repent thy cost and pains, as many do
when it is too late, take my counsel, and know that thy Medicine never can nor shall flow as it
ought, except thy Solution be Philosophical.

Know then that our Solution is not an ordinary vulgar dissolving of Bodies, either by Corrosives,
or any other way; but our true dissolving is nothing else then putrefying, that is, a destroying of
the Compaction wholly with a preservation of the Species. This Operation be sure to make before
thou dream of Congelation, for then thy Spirits will naturally fix and flow together, congealing
and relenting so long until they come to [3871 a perfect Powder impalpable, which then hath
ingress into all Metals, penetrating their very profundity, and altering them radically.

For when the Matter is made perfectly white, Then, &c. But of such time thou mayst have long
respite, Ere it congeal, &c.

And after into grains red as bloud, Richer, &c.

So then our Congelation is nothing else but the whitening of the Bodies, of which the Philosopher
speaketh, when he saith, Whiten thy Body, and burn thy Books, lest our hearts be broken.

This is the Haven at which after many a nights watching, and days labour, thou mayst with Gods
blessing hope at length to arrive; but in the mean season be patient, and expect the Harvest in its
season.
First thou shalt have thy Body whitened, and all become a white living Water, which being
moved on the Fire continually, [388] will turn first into greater, and after that into smaller grains,
till all at length become a Calx of an exquisite fineness, and transcendent brightness, which is our
Lilly Candent, which in the end of thy Operations by continual decoction will be turned into a
purple redness, which is our wonderful Secret.

The Earthly grossness therefore first mortified in moisture, &c. This principle may not be denied,
&c. Which had, of whiteness thou mayst not miss, &c. And if, &c.

The cause of all these strange alterations in one Glass, on one subject, with one decoction,
without laying on of hands, is from the internal disposition of the Compound, which at the first is
gross and Earthy, therefore in decoction it becomes very black, it being the nature of all moist
gross things, by the Fire to acquire such a colour. And this is according to the intention of all
Philosophers, that although thou seekest white [389[ and red, yet thou must at first make black,
before thou canst make white profitably.

But when once thy Matter is become truly black, rejoyce, for this death of the Body will be the
quickning of the Spirit, and then both Soul and Body will unite into a perfect whiteness, which is
our Kingly Diadem.

The end of the sixth Gate.