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ANEXPOSITIONUPON THEFourth Gate,Which isCONJUNCTION.The Fourth Gate Opened,Which isCONJUNCTIONAfter the Chapter of natural Separation,By which the Elements of our Stone dissevered be,The Chapter here followeth of secret Conjunction,Which Natures repugnant joyneth to perfect unity,And so them knitteth that none from others may flee,When they by the Fire shall be examinate,They be together so surely conjugate.Having run through the Chapter of Separation with a plain stile, we shallnow come to the life of all, which is Conjunction; for we seek not a tingwhich may be capable of Separation, but which may abide in all trials, theparts being impossible to be separated one from another, for so ourTinctures ought to be, or else it will be wholly unprofitable for our purpose.For Separation is but the middle motion, by which we pass from the unarysimplicity of Gold, to the millenary plusquam perfection of our Stone;before which can be attained, there must be a loosing of the Compages ofthe Body, that so the Spiritual Fire, or tincture may be set loose; whichbeing loosed, will certainly multiply it self with that by which it wasdissolved, with which it is necessary that it should Radically be mixed andunited, so as that both the dissolvent and the dissolved may make onetogether.This then is the benefit of our Water, that it doth not only reduce, open andmollifie our Body, and cause it to send out its Seed, but it is actually131