Page 33 - Book of Composition

another that when one of them is effected, then the other of them begins;
and when the other is effected then the whole Magistery is ended.

King Calid : By what means does this Magistery need two creations and
two confections, when as you said before the matter of it, and the way of
it, to be one and lineal ?

Morienus : True it is that you have said: for this whole Magistery
consists of one thing, and of one way, for its own disposition is such as
the other is.

King Calid : Therefore what manner of disposition is that with the which
you said before the whole Magistery to be affected ?

Morienus : O good king, God convert you to a better mind. This is that
disposition which cannot be effected with hands; but many wisemen
have been inquisitive concerning the difficulty of it. For they have said,
if any man by his learning and labour shall find out this disposition, he
shall by the knowledge of it easily bring to pass the whole Magistery, but
he who cannot find it out by his learning and labour, the whole secret
shall be kept from him.

King Calid : What manner of admirable disposition is this ?

Morienus : If you shall diligently look into the sayings of the wise men,
you shall quickly understand it: for they have said of it, this disposition is
the mutation of natures, and a wonderful commixtion of the hot and
moist of those natures wit h cold and dry, by a subtle disposition.

King Calid : When as this disposition is not made by the hands of men,
therefore what manner of thing is that with which it may be effected?

Morienus : And this disposition is made (as the wise men said) because
Azoc and fire do cleanse and wash Laton, and do utterly take the
obscurity from it. For the wise men said, if you dispose the order of your
fire rightly, Azoc and fire, by the help of God, will suffice you in this
disposition, whereupon Elbo says : “make white the Laton and break the
books, that your hearts be not corrupted.”

King Calid : But is this disposition before or after putrefaction ?

Morienus : The disposition goes before putrefaction, but before such
disposition there is none at all.

King Calid : Therefore what manner of thing is it ?

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