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The Natural Fire · Modern English
Original English
that eternall, and infinite, cherishing and heating all Things. The truth is Life which is nothing else but Light, and heat proceeded originally from God, and did apply to the Chaos, which is elegantly call'd by Zoroaster, Fons fontium, & fontium cunctorum, Matrix continens cuncta. The Fountain of fountains, and of all fountains The Matrix containing all Things. Wee see by Experience that all Individuals live not onely by their own heat, but they are preserved by the outward universal heat, which is the life of the great world. Even so truly the great world it self lives not altogether by that heat which God hath inclosed in the parts thereof, but it is praeserved by the circumfused influent heat of the Deitie; For above the Heavens God is manifested like an infinite burning world of Light and Fire, so that hee overlooks all that he hath made, and the whole. Fabric stands in his heat and Light, as a man stands here on Earth in the Sun-shine. I say then that the God of Nature employes himself in a perpetuall Coction, and this not onely to generate, but to preserve that which hath been generated: for his spirit and heat coagulat that which is Thin, rarifie that which is too grosse, quicken the dead parts, and cherish the cold. There is indeed one operation of heat, whose method is vitall, and far more mysterious
Modern English
that nature is eternal and infinite, cherishing and warming all things. The truth is that life, which is nothing other than light and heat, originally proceeded from God and applied itself to the chaos, elegantly called by Zoroaster “the fountain of fountains, and of all fountains the womb containing everything.” [Vaughan’s rendering:] “the fountain of fountains, and of all fountains the matrix containing all things.” Experience shows that individuals live not only through their own heat, but are preserved by the external, universal heat which is the life of the great world. In just the same way, the great world itself does not live entirely through the heat which God has enclosed in its parts. It is preserved by the surrounding, inflowing heat of the Deity. For above the heavens God manifests himself like an infinite, burning world of light and fire, overlooking everything he has made; and the whole structure stands in his heat and light as a person here on earth stands in sunshine. I say, then, that the God of Nature engages in perpetual digestion, both to generate and to preserve what has been generated. His Spirit and heat coagulate what is thin, rarefy what is too gross, enliven the dead parts and cherish the cold. There is indeed one operation of heat whose method is vital and far more mysterious
Socrates
Reading Magia Adamica · The Natural Fire · Page 117 · Passage A
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Thomas Vaughan’s complete 1650 Magia Adamica publication, with all historical preliminaries and the complete appended Coelum Terrae, original and modern English, fresh translations of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, full poems, eight historical marginal notes, the complete recovered printed corrections, 312 annotations and the complete supplied Diotimos study apparatus.
Historical Text and Translation
Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), Magia Adamica: or The Antiquitie of Magic, with Coelum Terrae. London: T. W. for H. Blunden, 1650. Governing transcription: EEBO-TCP A64768.0001.001. The Getty Research Institute copy supplies surviving first-edition page images; the 1656 issue supplies explicitly disclosed missing or defective material. The complete shared 1650 errata are recovered from the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica copy of The Man-Mouse.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
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The historical text is public domain; the EEBO-TCP Phase I transcription is released under CC0. The supplied 2026 reading, translations and Diotimos editorial material are published with the site owner’s authorization.
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