Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici

Name: Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici
Author: Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement

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

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Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi PhilosophiciBook Two · Chapter 4

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English Page · Branch 157 of 251

Book Two · Chapter 4

Book Mode

French

1621 pp. 223–225 · scans FR243, FR244, FR245

Dieu a voulu que son propre Fils nostre Redempteur, fust luy mesme regeneré en son humanité par l'eau du Baptesme & le feu du sainct Esprit. Non pas qu'au centre de sa Nature il eust besoin aucun d'estre purgé, mais seulement parce qu'il estoit parmy le monde & les hommes souillez de corruption; ausquels il vouloit en tout & par tout estre vray patron de renouvellement & purification: leur donnant un visible & ample tesmoignage qu'il estoit quant à la chair de leur nature; non pas souillé ny corrompu, mais passible & mortel aussi bien qu'eux. Semblablement la bonne mere nature a voulu que son fils premier né, qui en son centre est de substance pure, fust neantmoins renouvellé & comme regeneré par l'eau & le feu; c'est à dire par la separation de ce qui est terrestre d'avec ce qui est igné; de ce qui est espais d'avec ce qui est subtil; & pour dire en un mot de l'impur d'avec le pur. Ce qu'entend Hermes disant qu'on separe la terre du feu: non pas que l'on doive faire separation de sa terre propre ny de son propre feu: Car l'homme ne separera point ceux que Dieu a conjoints; mais seulement de ce qui est impur & grossier, d'avec le pur & subtil de la substance de cette terre & de ce feu propre, qui sont les parties ou Elements de nostre esprit corporifié.

Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici: Book Two · Chapter 4

1621 pp. 223–225 · scans FR243, FR244, FR245

God wished his own Son, our Redeemer, himself to be regenerated in his humanity through the water of baptism and the fire of the Holy Spirit. This was not because the centre of his nature had any need to be purged, but because he was among the world and human beings stained by corruption. To them he wished to be, in everything and everywhere, the true pattern of renewal and purification. He gave them visible and ample testimony that in the flesh he shared their nature: unstained and uncorrupted, yet capable of suffering and mortal as they were. Likewise, good mother Nature wished her firstborn son, pure in substance at his centre, nevertheless to be renewed and, as it were, regenerated by water and fire. That means separating what is earthly from what is fiery, what is dense from what is subtle—in a word, the impure from the pure. This is what Hermes means when he says that earth is to be separated from fire. It does not mean separating the subject’s own earth from its own fire, for human beings will not separate those whom God has joined. It means separating the impure and coarse from the pure and subtle in the substance of this earth and its own fire, which are the parts or elements of our embodied spirit.

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.