Before acceding to the bishopric of Worcester in 1617, the sixty-six-year-old John Thornborough had already been the Dean of York, the Bishop of Limerick in Ireland, and Bishop of Bristol. He had been a firm favourite of Elizabeth I, whose churchmanship, like Thornborough's, was broad, if not evangelical. He remained popular with James I. His removal from Bristol to become Bishop of Worcester was a promotion agreed by the King, who approved of a book written by Thornborough commending the arrival of the Scottish monarch and advocacy of a political union between the two countries, to better secure the personal union of the crowns.
Thornborough was a theoretical alchemist inspired by Paracelsus. In his long life, which lasted nearly a century, he was a friend of John Dee, Simon Forman, and Robert Fludd. He also knew Shakespeare's son-in-law. In 1621, he published an alchemical journal titled Lithotheorikos (“The Stone Theorist”). Two years later, Robert Fludd dedicated his Anatomiae Amphitheatrum to Thornborough.
Thornborough was no stranger to suffering. He outlived his wife, and a son committed suicide. Another son squandered the fortune of a monied wife who became financially dependent on her father-in-law. He was also dragged into controversy in matters of Anglican polity. The accession of Charles I marked a new direction for the Church of England, as it leaned more towards its Catholic roots. This movement gained momentum when the conservative William Laud became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. In 1638, an eighty-seven-year-old Thornborough ordained the Puritan-leaning Richard Baxter as a priest. The decision was an apparent snub to the Laudian party. Indeed, when Baxter took up his living at Kidderminster, he rapidly fell in with radical Puritan sympathies, even going as far as to campaign for the abolition of the episcopacy and the disestablishment of the Church of England. This doubtless embarrassed the aged Thornborough, whose tolerance was sorely abused. But, as we shall see from an analysis of this funerary monument, he was motivated by genuine Christian instincts. The Bishop had fallen foul of the conservative faction of the Church, who regarded Baxter's ordination as a dangerous affair. They sought revenge on the elderly bishop in a dispute over age-old rights to store hay in the cathedral. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, perhaps?
Here are images of the lower portions of the north and south sides of Thornborough's impressive funerary monument (albeit badly damaged in the Civil War) :
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This is a picture of the monument in toto, taken from the south side:
Above the head of Thornborough's effigy is written in Latin, "Mors nubecula transiens, Laborum finis, vita ianua scala coeli. Mihi lucrum". The meaning in English is: "Death is a passing cloud, the end of the labyrinth, Life is the door to heaven's ladder. For me, profit."
At the feet of the effigy are written the words,
"Qui dormis attolle caput quia in informitate virtus, in Morte vita, in tenebris Lux." The capitalisations cannot be ignored. Thornborough intended them as he had set about designing the tomb and selecting its inscriptions fourteen years before his death at nearly 91 years of age. The English translation reads,
"You who sleep, raise your head for in weakness there is strength, in Death there is life, in darkness there is Light."
The intention is to convey the sense of duality common in the secret tradition, namely that of opposition and the desire to achieve balance by ascending the "Jacob's Ladder" of conscious gnosis, from the Labyrinth of this world.
The words "Denarius philosophorum / Dum Spiro" are inscribed on the north of the monument. The inscription translates as, "Of the Tenfold Teaching (or 'Containing Ten Philosophies') / While I breathe, I hope." "Dum spiro spero" is attributed to the third-century BC philosopher Theocritus, who wrote, "While there's life, there's hope, and only the dead have none." The key to interpreting the inscription's meaning appears on the tomb's south side.
On the other side is written, "In Vno 2o. 3a. 4r: 10 non Spirans". "In Vno" / "In vano" translates as "to no avail", "pointless," or "futile". The cipher points to the Diocesan shield immediately below, an argent (silver) of ten torteaux (dots). The formation of the torteaux in a downward 4, 3, 2, 1 formation first appeared in an illustrated book of psalms belonging to the cathedral dating from circa 1200. The oft-stated view that the coat of arms first took form in 1675 is refuted, as it dates back to the medieval period; at least to the time of the psalter. Ultimately, the shield may originate from the local Giffard family, who had an episcopal connection with the cathedral in the Middle Ages (source: David Morrison, 'Worcester Cathedral Monuments', 2018). It is apparent they relate to the four stages of alchemical transformation, from the base elements to the purified spirit form inherent within.
The ten torteaux in the coat of arms held esoteric significance for Thornborough, who saw in their pattern various alchemical paths or stages leading to the denary or ten-fold philosophy; the "Philosopher's Stone," explaining the mystery of earthly life and, ultimately, what lies beyond the portal of death, in the world of eternal spirit. Thus, the ten-fold philosophy in fact points to the singularity, the all-ness and unity lying at the heart of all alchemy.
The first clue is the inscription to the ten-fold philosophy on the north side; the second is the coat of arms on the south side; and a third lies concealed in the words "Non-Spirans." Without breath is a curious motto, but it surely alludes to the alchemical element of Air, representing the self-conscious mind. This highlights the dichotomy in a futile quest for regeneration on Earth, ultimately culminating in the cessation of physical life. However, it is also an allusion to the Holy Spirit of God as the life-giving Breath, breathing upon the Man of Desire, imparting each of the ten-fold wisdoms he is required to master on his journey of self-awakening.
Significantly, the ten torteaux descend in an inverted triangle, the symbol of Earth and Water in alchemy. Earth relates to the dry Qualities of stability and solidity. Water to the Quality of wet and cold, mutability and change. This reinforces the idea of death in a material sense. However, we must not lose sight of the sequencing of the dots, which bottom out at 1, the Monad or Unity; the perfect, indivisible number. Thus, assuming there is an alchemical message in the sequence, which is clear. Unambiguously the case, we can see the monument points to the four elements (Earth, Water, Fire, and Air) accompanied by the three Principles or Qualities of soul produced from these four elements (Sulphur, combined Fire and Air); Salt, (the body, combined Earth and Water); and Mercury (spirit, combined Air and Water), The Principles of Sulphur and Salt combine in the alchemical symbol for Mercury (below) to form a cipher for the elan vital, “divine breath” or vitality of undiminished and perfected spirit lying at the centre and origin of all things:
We see in the 4, 3, 2, 1 configuration in the monument a cipher for the alchemical code. The four elements are contained within the three principles, which in turn transform into the dual nature of the fiery-water of spirit, Mercurius.. This in turn, in harmony and balance, demonstrates the singularity and one-ness of all in the divinity from whence everything originates, and to which everything returns. In 1856, local scholar Octavius Fox presented an essentially Pythagorean solution:
"The monad, or unit, is not only the point from which all extension proceeds, but it also symbolises the First Principle, the origin of all, spirit. The decad represented the line, as being bounded by two points or monads. The triad stood for the perfect figure - the cube, length, depth, and width. The decad, or denarius, indicated comprehensively all being, material and immaterial, in the utmost perfection: hence the term 'decus' or 'denarius' (both of which stood for the number ten).” (‘Notes and Quaries for Worcester').
We can see how the centre, Mercury, is the reintegration of binary opposites, the duality of all things; where 4 becomes 3; 3 becomes 2; and 2, becomes 1. We see the binary about us everywhere: in order, chaos; good, evil; flesh, spirit; mortality, immortality; the penitent and impenitent thieves betwxist Christ; the pillars of Jachin and Boaz in Solomon's temple; the kabbalistic pillars of judgment, mercy; Death and Light (the twin "Morte vita, in tenebris Lux" mentioned above and carved above the bishop's effigy) and much more besides. However, imbalance achieves balance and unity in the Monad, Divinity and Spirit of the one, true God at the singularity, 1. Indeed, another message in the inverted triangle of the numerological cipher, which the torteaux represent, is that of Divinity descending to Earth for the redemption of nature as the god-man.
Numerologically, it should not be overlooked that 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 10, the decad. Ten reduces to one thus: 10 = 1 + 0 = 1. And so 10 represents the completion of the transformation or transformation of material matter to bring it back to spirit. It represents the reintegration of being from the four elements, the three principles, and the two binary forces to the centre, one. Indeed, the first law of Hermeticism is that “All is from One”. We see a similar cipher in the triadic formulae within Thornborough's own coat arms on the right side, below the words "non spirans", where each tree is crowned with three red dots within a criss-cross of pattern resembling crux decussata, typical of the coats of arms of bishops, and symbolic of the location of a Christian site:
Neither should the ten red dots on the diocesan coat of arms be ignored by the passing kabbalist, who will be reminded of the ten sefirot, or divine attributes/emanations , through which the spirit manifests in the material world and insinuates itself upon the minds of the living.
Ultimately, the ten sefirot represent a labyrinthine path to reintegration with the Divine Unity, or Monad, represented by the crown, Kether, through thirty-two intersecting, serpentine paths entwining the four worlds of the Tree of Life, the structure of reality. The four worlds correspond with the alchemical Elements: "Asiyah" equates to Earth, the material world); "Yezirah" the world of formation and abode of the lower spiritual intelligences equates to the element of Water); "Beriah", the realm of heaven equates to Air); and "Aziluth", the world of the eternal, unchanging unity equates to Fire). This is demonstrated by two pairs of four descending dots in the diocesan coat of arms representing the binary, 2, of judgment and mercy; and the row of four dots along its top, 3, representing balance. This concealed 2, 3 and 4 pattern of three parts terminates with the single dot in the centre, thus:
This 4, 3, 2, 1 pattern is alluded to in Thornborough's "2o 3a. 4r. 10" inscription. It is essentially an alchemical cipher, since everything culminates in a fifth Element in the Centre, Spirit. We must recall that the Kaballah is ultimately alchemy, a stylised codification of the ancient Egyptian study of Nature. The result is always the Centre, the Unity, regardless of the numerical system of addition or multiplication you choose to consider. After all, the Fall of man is nothing other than his descent (evolution) from the Centre to the circumference or edge of physicality and his resurrection (involution) from the circumference to the Centre. Thornborough is therefore telling us that the single, central dot, the tenth, is the All; and is a portal leading to and from the labyrinth of conscious physical life. It leads from and returns to the realms of Heaven and Earth. Our mission is to become "Men of Desire" like Thornborough , on the quest for reconciliation, regeneration, and reintegration with that from which we originate.
At the east side of the monument, on its exterior, are written the following sentences in Latin:
"Mors vitam eripit, non intermit, quia licet mortui esse definant, non tamen parent, sed in Gemini vivunt. Aestas abijt, fed alter iltam addycet Annus: Solem nox abruit, fed ipsam statum dies abuget, et in fie nonissance resurgent mortini. Monumentum monet mectem non fugee fed trankationis; Non enim e vita fugete, fed exite dicimur, ut ubi fepelitur pecae tun cum peccante, resurgabt peccans fine oeccato. Venienten nemo hilaris recipit, nisi qui fe ad illam diu composuerit, fed de tumulo follicitus, quid expectat femel certi, exoptat fape ferio, ut qui in freto labirum, diu navigavut, in portu fecuritstus et falutis tandem requiestat. Hanc ipsam quam agimus vitam cum morte dududimus wuo tudue, quia ciun erescimus iosi, decrescut vuta: et licet vius fut vitae introutus, niukti tamen funt exitus. necvenim nobis hac in vita peregrinantibus habitandi domum, fed commitsndi diversirium dedut Deus."
In English, this profound inscription reads as follows:
"Death rescues life, for although they are dead, they do not perish, but live in the world. Summer is gone, but another year adds another: Night burns the sun, but the day drives away its state and the dead rise again in the unknown. The monument warns us not to flee nor to be silenced, For we are not told to flee from life but to go out so that when sin is poured out upon us, the sinner rises again unable to be influenced by it. No one receives him who comes cheerfully, except he who has long composed himself for it but has risen from the grave, what does he expect from a certain woman, he longs for a happy rest, so that he who has sailed long in the labyrinth of the sea, finally rests in the port of prosperity and happiness. This very life which we live, we live with death because as we grow older, our desire decreases, and although life is an entrance to life, there are no exits. Neither has God given us a home to dwell in, but a diversion to commit."
The word "labyrinth" reappears, as does the overriding theme of the binary and the soul's liberation from it through death. Death, then, is a transmutative event or process which "rescues life" and delivers us from the negative disembodied intelligences adversely influencing our thoughts and which "pour" sin upon us.
There are other messages contained in this enigmatic tomb, but we can peer through the centuries back to a man who, through his "eccentric studies", created an allegory in stone pointing to humanity's ultimate destiny beyond the grave.
Article (c) M.R. Osborne, 2025
The First Law of Hermetics – All is from One
