Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 186 of 204
John French to the Reader · 1650 · Passage 3
Source reference
- Historical English witness
- 1650 PDF image 18, PDF image 19
Historical English · 1650
Now to say, that pure Philosophy is true Divinity, will haply bee a paradox, yet if any one should affirm it, he would not be heterodox. When Job had been a long time justifying himselfe against God, which I conceive was by reason of his ignorance of God, and himselfe; God undertakes to convince him of his errour by the principles of Nature, and to bring him to the knowledge of both: as you may see at large, Job 38. Can any deny that Hermes, Plato, Aristotle (though pure Naturalists) were not most deep Divines? Doe not all grant that the two first cha. of Gen. are true Divinity? I dare also affirm that they are the most deep and the truest Philosophy. Yea, they are the ground, and sum of all Divinity, and Philosophy: and if rightly understood, will teach thee more knowledge of God, and thy selfe, then all the books in the world besides.
Modernised English
To say that pure philosophy is true divinity may seem a paradox; yet anyone who affirmed it would not be unorthodox. When Job had long been justifying himself against God—which I take to have resulted from his ignorance of both God and himself—God undertook to convince him of his error through nature’s principles and bring him to knowledge of both. You can see this at length in Job 38. Can anyone deny that Hermes, Plato and Aristotle, though natural philosophers, were profound theologians? Does everyone not grant that the first two chapters of Genesis are true divinity? I also dare affirm that they are the deepest and truest philosophy. Indeed, they are the foundation and sum of all divinity and philosophy. Rightly understood, they will teach you more about God and yourself than all the other books in the world.
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · John French to the Reader · 1650 · John French to the Reader · 1650 · Passage 3
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The complete supplied Latin–English edition of the Twelve Treatises, Epilogue, Enigma, Parable, Dialogue of Mercury and Treatise of Sulphur, with original preliminaries, John French’s historical English address and its separately labelled modernisation, 101 annotations and the complete study apparatus.
Historical Text and Translation
The Twelve Treatises and their concluding texts follow the selected 1606 Herzog August Bibliothek witness. The Dialogue uses the 1607 Cologne printing; the author’s preface and Alsted epigram use Frankfurt 1611. Sulphur uses the 1616 Munich and Rome witnesses. John French’s 1650 address is separately identified as historical English reception.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
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The historical Latin texts and John French’s 1650 English address are in the public domain. The new translation, modernisation and editorial apparatus were prepared with AI assistance for Diotimos Editions in 2026 and are published with the site owner’s authorization.