The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony. xi. 



that they were getting worse day by 

 day, and that for their impenitence God's 

 everlasting punishment was hanging 

 over them ; and I made haste to with- 

 draw myself from the evil world, to bid 

 farewell to it, and to devote myself to 

 the service of God." * After the manner 

 of his age, as he goes on to inform us, he 

 took refuge in a monastery, where the 

 time that he could spare from his de- 

 votions was made use of for "the study 

 and investigation of those natural secrets 

 by which God has shadowed out eternal 

 things." Here, in this pious retirement, 

 there was ultimately revealed to him 

 " that great secret which God ever con- 

 ceals from those who are wise in their 

 own conceits." As appears from the 

 Currus Triumphalis and other of his 

 works, he belonged to the religious order 

 of S. Benedict, and he is said to have 

 been canon of the priory of S. Peter in 



* See Basil Valentine's treatise, entitled "Practica, 

 with the Twelve Keys and an Appendix," p. 313 of The 

 Hermetic Museum Restored and Enlarged, Vol. I., London, 

 4to, 1893. 



