Page 29 - Paracelsus Three Books of Philosophy

not one only of those things which have the eternal in themselves, but also of those
things which have sustained and nourished that eternal. There is a twofold eternal: one
of the kingdom and domination; the other of ornament and honour. That flowers
should not be eternal is clean contrary to philosophy; which though they wither and
perish, yet at last they shall appear in the general meeting together of all things. There
is nothing created out of the Great Mystery but shall have an image without the
firmament.

There ought to be neither more nor less than four mothers of all things, as all
procreation shows. Not that the Great Mystery, whereof we now treat, can be found
out by way of universal demonstration what manner of thing it is, according to its
properties in the beginning: but the Great Mystery is rather known and understood by
the last mysteries and by the procreations which did spring and proceed out of the first.
It is not the beginning, but the end that makes a man a master and philosopher. The
knowledge of a thing according to its perfect nature is found out only in the end of its
being. Possibly there might have been more elements made than now there be. But in
the utmost knowledge of all things there are but four to be found. And though we may
suppose that it had been easy for God, who created but four, to have made them many
more; yet when we see that all mortal things consist but of four only, we may conclude
that more than these could not well stand together. And it is most likely that when the
said four elements perish, that then others shall arise according to every essence unlike
the former: or that after the destruction of the creatures already made, there shall be a
new great mystery, the knowledge whereof will be greater and better than of the
former. But this we lay not here as a fundamental, yet he that would understand the
beginning of the world must of necessity consider that it had its rise out of the
elements: and as there are four elements so there are four worlds, and in every one a
peculiar kind, taught how to subsist in their necessities.

But though all things subsist in the said four elements, we do not mean that the
four elements are in all things, or that the four elements dwell in all. The reason is,
because the world which is separated and procreated of the element of fire hath no
need of air, water, or earth. So the world of air needs none of the other three. Which is
true also of the earth and water. Concerning the elements, we teach not that the world
cannot be preserved without the four elements, but rather that every thing is preserved
by that one element from whence it sprang. And though I deny it not, but that the
firmament doth nourish the world by its elementary virtues which do wholly descend
fiery on the earth: yet that nourishment is not necessary. Nor will the world perish of
itself, for it hath sufficient to sustain itself, as the other world maintained itself without

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