The Signature of All Things — trans. John Ellistone (1651)

47. Thou sayest, Tell me the Baptism? and I have already told it thee. Every Hunger is a Desire after its Property, now if thou givest again the Property of Death to the Hunger of Death, then Death increases, but if thou givest him heavenly Property, then Death receives it not, for Hell is against Heaven; therefore thou must give Death and the Anger of God to Death, and in this Anger give him heavenly Essence, viz. the Baptism, and so the Baptism will swallow up the Death into itself, and then the Anger dies in the Death through the Baptism, but not presently; thou must first keep the Process of Christ, and suffer the baptized to preach, that is, appear in his divine Form and Colours; exceedingly persecute and Plague him, and give him no Rest; for so the right Mercury becomes Working and active; and when he has shewn all his Wonders through the old Adam, then thou must cast the old and new Man into God's great Anger, and slay the old Man, ventilate him, and hang him naked on the Cross, and again take him thence, and lay him into the Putrefaction, viz. into the Grave.

48. And then Christ will arise from Death, and appear; but only his own know him: He walks about in heavenly Form, and sometimes in his own [Form which he had here] until the Feast of Pentecost, for now here is tried in him the highest Perfection, whether he will persist in the Angel's Form, and eat only of the divine Essence; and then comes the Holy Ghost, and proceeds with his Power out of the whole Corpus, viz. out of the Body and Soul, which then tinctures the dead and broken Being; as it may be seen in the Day of Pentecost, where Saint Peter tinctured three thousand Souls at once with his heavenly Mercury, and delivered them out of Death.

49. Dear Seekers; herein lies the Pearl; had you the Universal, then you could also tincture as Saint Peter did, but your covetous Death withholds you and shuts you up; for you seek only Covetousness and temporal Honour in the Pleasure of the Flesh, to generate yourselves in the Night's Property; therefore the Pearl hides itself from you; yet the Day shall again appear when the wrathful Anger of God is fulfilled, satisfied and appeased in. the Blood of the Saints, and turned to a Love-Life; and the Time is near.

Process.

50. Every Creature keeps in its Generation and Propagation to its own Kind; the Male to the Female, and the Female to the Male: Now God said to Adam and Eve after the Fall, The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head; He said not the Seed of the Man: Herein lies the Baptism of Nature: The Male has the Fire-Spirit, and the Female the Water-Spirit to the Tincture; now the Mercury is a Fire-Life, and makes himself a Body according to his Hunger and Desire; now the chief of the Work is in the Beginning to give the Fire-Hunger a Love-Virgin out of its Kind for its Consort, that so his wrathful Hunger may be changed into a Love, and then they sleep together in their own Marriage Bed: Now the Devil is an Enemy of this Wedlock, who soon comes with a strange Desire, and tempts these married People, but dares not lay an Hand of Violence on them, but only afflicts and Plagues them with a false strange Desire; now if they yield their Desire to his Will, and his Desire overcomes them, then they become Enemies to one another, and bring forth a false Child; for Christ said, An Evil Tree bringeth forth Evil Fruits; and a good Tree good Fruits.

51. Therefore the Artist must beware, and keep himself from such Anger, and yet must prepare a Cross for this married Couple; for he is their Foe and Friend, that so they both in their Marriage Bed of Love Might lift up their Desire to God, and so with their Desire God's Essence may be pregnant in their Desire, and then in their Copulation they shall beget such a Child, which they (understand the Mother, viz. the Female) shall nourish in their Belly, till it be ripe.

52. In the meantime let the Mother take heed she bear no Love to any other besides her Consort, and also not imagine after strange Things, else she will imprint a Spot or Mark on the Child; she must continue simply in one Love, till the Child be perfect as to its Body, which comes to pass in the fourth Month; yet according as the Parents are of one or other Property, so Strife and Contrariety will arise in the Essence in the Child, when the Child is to receive its Soul's Life.

53. But when the Essence is in its wrestling Combat, the Artist must assist the Soulish, viz. the fiery Property, till the Soul's Spirit attains its Life, then he appears in the Woman's Form and Lustre: Now the Artist supposes that he has the Child that is born, but there belongs a further Time to it, till the Soul grows strong, and then it appears and shews itself in its red and white Coat.