Likewise, imperfect metals and defective precious stones can be brought to a high degree and transmuted, and crystal can be tinged so that it is held equal to the most precious stones. Many other things, which must not be disclosed to the godless world, can also be accomplished through it. The frequently mentioned philosophers, as well as all true Christians whom God has endowed with this art and jewel, have regarded these excellent things and others like them as the lowest and least part of this mastery. Compared with the glorious knowledge of heavenly things already discussed, they are altogether as nothing.

You should know truly that anyone to whom the Most High grants this gift regards all money, possessions and other temporal things upon this earth as no more than mud in the street compared with heavenly goods. His heart and longing are directed only towards this: that in eternal life he may behold and enjoy in a heavenly manner, in deed and truth, what he has seen here in an earthly figure or form. The most wise King Solomon likewise testifies to this in the Book of Wisdom, chapter 7, saying: I prized wisdom above kingdom and principality, and accounted riches as nothing beside her, as mere sand; silver is to be regarded as mud beside her.

Those who desire this art in any other fashion, merely to obtain temporal honour, riches and pleasure, must therefore be considered true fools. What they have sought so long at great cost, toil and labour, tormenting and grieving their hearts, senses and minds, can never come to them. The philosophers therefore held temporal riches—possessions and money—in contempt, regarded them as insignificant and even destructive. This was not because wealth is evil in itself, for Genesis 2 and other places praise it as precious and a glorious gift of God, but because of its shameful misuse. It does not bring good towards God; rather, it greatly obstructs a person’s attainment of the true and proper good, and turns everything else that is otherwise right in this world into a perverted condition. The widely celebrated Marcellus Palingenius Stellatus recognised this well and expressed it earnestly in the following verses, saying:

O greed and impure craving, You vile, accursed love of money! For the remainder, see Palingenius himself, Under Sagittarius, almost at the end.

From this one can judge how the highly enlightened man just mentioned—who truly possessed this art, as can be seen from his Zodiac of Nature—held temporal things such as money and gold as nothing beside virtue. Thus all of them, as stated before, greatly preferred wisdom and the knowledge of heavenly things to earthly and perishable things. Throughout their lives and in all their conduct, they looked solely to the outcome and end, finally striving to gain imperishable praise and an immortal name after their departure. The wise King Solomon teaches this in Proverbs 16: Take wisdom, for she is better than gold, and understanding is better than silver. Again, in chapter 22: A good name and reputation are more precious than great riches, and skill is better than gold and silver. Likewise the wise man Sirach admonishes in chapter 24: Take care to preserve a good name, for it endures more surely than a thousand treasures of gold. Because of these virtues and others like them which flow from this philosophy of the stone, they could never exalt and praise it highly enough, as already mentioned. They therefore applied every diligence in their writings so that the art might be further propagated, wisdom accepted and life conducted accordingly. To the unwise, however, all of it is obscure, dark and difficult to understand, as Solomon continually laments in his Proverbs from the beginning to chapter 8, diligently exhorting people to seek wisdom. Ecclesiasticus 3: Dear child, willingly remain in a lowly condition; that is better than everything the world pursues. The higher you are, the more humble yourself, and the Lord will favour you. For the Lord is the Most High and does great things through the humble.