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Anonymous

Candida Phoenix Philosophica

The White Philosophical Phoenix

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Candida Phoenix PhilosophicaPart II — Chapter 13: The Controversy Over Light

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Facing Pages · Branch 336 of 411

Part II — Chapter 13: The Controversy Over Light

Book Mode

German & Latin

215

Neque enim DEUS quicquam creavit, quod conservare noluerit, nec ulla unquam creatura à principio creationis usque ad præsentem horam mutata fuit, vel esse desiit. Quare etiam fallit neotericus ille S. qui Instit. Physic. l. 6. cap. 4. quæst. 9. pag. 531. expressè scribit: Lux Substantia fuit, quia, inquit, terminus creationis fuit, quemadmodum etiam pag. seq. fatetur, Terminum creationis semper fuisse Substantiam, & tamen postea alio in loco, Lucem Qualitatem esse, statuere conatur: Etenim cum Substantia fuit, illam secundum supra citata fundamenta adhuc Substantiam esse, necesse est.

215

Candida Phoenix Philosophica: Part II — Chapter 13: The Controversy Over Light

215

God created nothing that he did not will to preserve. No creature has ever changed its being or ceased to exist from the beginning of creation to this present hour. Thus the modern writer S. is mistaken. In his Institutions of Natural Philosophy, Book VI, chapter 4, question 9, page 531, he expressly writes that light was a substance because it was the terminus of an act of creation. On the following page he likewise admits that the terminus of creation was always a substance; yet elsewhere he attempts to maintain that light is a quality. Since it was a substance, the principles cited above require that it still be a substance.

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About This Reading Edition

An anonymous Hermetic treatise of 1680, presented in its original German and Latin with a new English translation, 279 explanatory notes, the historical phoenix frontispiece, an introduction, reading guide, outline, glossary, bibliography, and original registers.

Historical Text and Translation

Anonymous, Candida Phoenix philosophica. Frankfurt am Main: Christian Hermsdorff, 1680. The chosen witness is the Wellcome Library copy digitized as b32993456; German and Latin, with French, Greek, and Hebrew passages retained.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The 1680 source is identified as public domain by the Wellcome/Internet Archive record. The supplied 2026 transcription, English translation, introduction, notes, reading guide, outline, glossary, bibliography, and editorial arrangement are published with the site owner’s authorization. The frontispiece is retained from the supplied edition and credited to its historical witness.