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ANEXPOSITIONUPON THEThird Gate,Which isSEPARATION.The Third Gate Opened,Which isSEPARATION.Separation doth each part from other divide,The subtle from the gross, the thick from the thin;But manual Separation see thou set aside,For that pertains to Fools, which little fruit doth win.But in our Separation Nature doth not blin,Making division of qualities Elemental,Into a fifth degree till they be turned all.Having now run through two of the twelve Gates, I am come to the third,which is Separation, which begins so soon as the Matters have been so longcirculated, as to begin to hold one of another. This Operation the AncientSages have denominated Division of Elements, which afterwards they saymust be joined with a perpetual union. This separation is by others calledExtraction of natures, and the parts separated are compared to two Dragons,the one winged, and the other without wings.Artephius, who for Age and Candor was next to Hermes, the most eminent,calls this Separation the Key of the Work, which according to him is aSublimation in a continual Vapour, that what is Heavenly and subtile, mayascend aloft, that is, to the upper part of the Vessel, and there take thenature of a Body heavenly, or Spirit; and what is gross may remain below,in the nature of a Body earthly, which is the end of our mastery, to bring110