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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement

Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici

Treatises on the True Salt and the Universal Spirit of the World

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Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi PhilosophiciBook Two · Chapter 3

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English Page · Branch 127 of 251

Book Two · Chapter 3

French

1621 pp. 157–159 · scans FR177, FR178, FR179

L’eau est celle qui lave les taches, le feu est celuy qui consomme & separe toutes impuritez d’avec la pure essence. Et tout ainsi que son precieux sang (qui est la vraye eau) purge les vices & lave l’homme de la mort que la corruption mortelle du pere terrestre luy a procuree, L’eau dissout & purge aussi les lies & ordures excrementeuses qui engendrent corruption en toutes les substances. Le feu du sainct Esprit consomme & separe l’impurité excrementeuse des pechez: le feu semblablement divise celle de la substance des choses, laquelle à cette occasion doit estre mortifiee afin de se regenerer. Et cette mortification est la putrefaction & digestion qui la rendent plus apte à recevoir le benefice de separation. Cette mortification se fait en nous alors que le Soleil du sainct Esprit dardant ses divins rayons autour du globe interieur de l’homme, qui est le cœur, ils l’eschauffent jusqu’au centre, & y consomment peu à peu les corrompantes affections du vieil Adam. Le feu chimique en la mesme sorte reverberant les pointes de ses flammes autour du corps qu’il veut purger, a cette vertu de brusler & aneantir ce qui y est d’impur & d’estrange nature, selon le plus ou le moins que cette impurité est rebelle & inobediente à dissolution & separation, qui puis apres s’accomplit par distillation. C’est donc le droict chemin que la nature tient aux regenerations de toutes choses, lesquelles n’auroient aucun effect louable en la medecine si elles ne renaissoient par le moyen du feu & de l’eau.

1621 pp. 157–159 · scans FR177, FR178, FR179

Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici: Book Two · Chapter 3

1621 pp. 157–159 · scans FR177, FR178, FR179

Water washes away stains; fire consumes and separates all impurities from the pure essence. And just as his precious blood, which is the true water, purges vices and washes man from the death brought upon him by the deadly corruption of his earthly father, so water also dissolves and purges the lees and excrementitious filth that engender corruption in all substances. The fire of the Holy Spirit consumes and separates the excrementitious impurity of sins; likewise fire divides impurity from the substance of things, which must therefore be mortified in order to regenerate itself. This mortification is the putrefaction and digestion that make it better fitted to receive the benefit of separation. Such mortification takes place in us when the Sun of the Holy Spirit darts his divine rays around man’s inward globe, which is the heart; they heat it to the centre and consume there little by little the corrupting affections of the old Adam. In the same way, chymical fire, reverberating the tips of its flames around the body it seeks to purge, has the power to burn and annihilate whatever within it is impure and of alien nature, to a greater or lesser extent according to that impurity’s resistance and disobedience to dissolution and separation, which is afterwards accomplished by distillation. This, then, is the straight road Nature follows in the regeneration of all things, which would have no praiseworthy effect in medicine unless they were reborn through fire and water.

1621 pp. 157–159 · scans FR177, FR178, FR179

About This Reading Edition

The complete French text of 1621 with a new English translation, all three books, preliminary texts, nine concluding sonnets, original errata, 299 annotations and the complete supplied study apparatus.

Historical Text and Translation

Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement, Traittez de l’harmonie et constitution generalle du vray sel, secret des Philosophes, & de l’Esprit universelle du Monde. Paris: Jérémie Périer and Abdias Buisard, 1621. The governing witness is the BnF/Gallica reproduction, ark:/12148/bpt6k656273. The reproduced privilege is dated 6 November 1620; the separate eighty-page Poème philosophic of 1620 is outside this edition.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The historical text printed in 1621 is in the public domain. The supplied 2026 French reading text, new English translation, introduction, notes and complete study apparatus are published with the site owner’s authorization.