Pernety - A Treatise On The Great Art.pdf - cyjack.com

The Great Art page 59Treatise on the Great WorkThe aim of this Art is to discover the source of long life and riches, two foundations upon which thehappiness of this human existence rests. It has always been a mystery; and those who have treated ofit, have in all times spoken of it, as a Science, the practice of which contains something surprising,and the result of which partakes of the nature of the miracle in itself and in its effects. God, theAuthor of Nature, whom the Philosopher proposes to imitate alone, can enlighten and guide thehuman mind in the search for this inestimable treasure, and in the labyrinth of the operations of thisArt. So all these authors recommend one to address one’s self to the Creator, and to demand fromHim this favor with much fervor and perseverance.Should we be surprised that the possessors of such a beautiful secret have veiled it in the shadowsof hieroglyphics, fables, allegories, metaphors and enigmas, in order to keep the knowledge of it fromthe multitude? They have written only for those whom God deigns to enlighten concerning it. Todecry them, to declaim strongly against the Science, because one has made useless efforts to obtain it,is a low vengeance; it is to hurt one’s own reputation, it is to publish one’s own ignorance, andpowerlessness to succeed. Let one raise his voice against those vulgar chemists, those souffleurs,those burners of charcoal, who, after having been duped by their own ignorance, seek to make dupesof others. I would willingly join this class of critics. I would even wish for the voice of Stentor tomake myself better heard. But who are those who concern themselves with speaking and writingagainst Hermetic Philosophy? People who are ignorant of it, I wager, even of its definition; peoplewhose ill-humour is excited by prejudice. I appeal to their good faith; let them seriously considerwhether they understand that which they criticize; have they read and re-read twenty times and more,the good authors who treat of this subject? Who among them can flatter himself that he knows theoperations and processes of this Art? What Œdipus has given them knowledge of its enigmas, and itsallegories? What sibyl has introduced them into its sanctuary? Let them remain then in the narrowsphere of their knowledge: ne sutor ultra crepidam. Or, since it is the fashion, let them bark aftersuch a great treasure which they despair of obtaining. Poor consolation, but the only one whichremains to them. And would to God that their cries could be heard by all those who waste theirwealth in the pursuit of that which escapes them, instead of knowing the simple processes of Nature.Monsieur de Maupertuis thinks differently of it. Under whatsoever aspect one considers thePhilosopher’s Stone, one cannot, says this celebrated Academician, prove the impossibility ofobtaining it, but its value, adds he, is not enough to balance the slight hope of finding it, (Lettres). M.de Justi, Director General of the mines of the Empress-Queen of Hungary, proves not only thepossibility of it, but its actual existence, in a discourse which he has given to the Public, thearguments of which are founded on his own experience.