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Eleven books by a shoemaker of Görlitz who wrote, by his own account, because he could not help it. Ten of them stand here in the seventeenth-century English of John Sparrow, who translated Boehme within a generation of his death and whose prose is itself now four hundred years old; where that English has drifted out of reach, the facing pane carries a modern register — the same text with archaic inflection and spelling normalised by rule, never paraphrased. Nothing is reworded, and where no register appears beside a passage it is because the rules found nothing to change.
The eleventh book is not in English at all, and it is the reason this note exists.
Des trois principes de l'essence divine, printed at Paris in 1802, is the same work as Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence, which stands here as the second book — the same twenty-seven chapters in the same order, opening `Du premier principe de l'essence divine` against Sparrow's `Of the first Principle of the Divine Essence`. Its translator was Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, who gave the last years of his life to putting Boehme into French, and who has a shelf of his own in this Lycaeum.
That makes a closed circuit inside this archive, and it is worth naming plainly. Saint-Martin translates Boehme. La Iniciación, printed in Montevideo a hundred and forty years later, traces its own descent through Saint-Martin. A reader can therefore follow one thread from a German mystic of 1619, through the French philosopher who carried him into another language, to a Spanish-language monthly of the 1940s that claimed them both — and read every step of it in the original.
The two are shelved as one work rather than two because that is what they are. They are not set as facing panes: an English translation of 1619 and a French translation of 1802 are two independent readings of a lost German original, and pairing them line by line would assert a correspondence neither translator ever claimed.
183. Car, U volonté prononce , et l'enfant de la puissance et de l'étemelle douceur est la parole que la volonté profère. ; et. ce qui procède de la parole prononcée, est l'esprit , lequel , dans la puissance aiguë de Dieu , dans le centre de la renaissance de l'éternelle base afifective ( ou de l'angoisse dans l'éclair de feu, dansT^igu du brisement.des ténèbres et dans l'ouverture delà lumière dans la douceur) •ort éternellement de l'éternelle volonté , et de la parole de Dieu par le fiât aigu de la puissance du père -, et c'est l'esprit saint de Dieu. Il est la puis» ^ance du père; il sort du père, de. la. boucbe de Dieu par la parole» (288) en. 14^ Im porte des merveilles de Dieu dans les roses du l^s, 84. Ici la raison se demande : Oîi va l'cspril saint de Dieu lorsqu'il sort du père et du fils par la parole de Dieu? Vois, toi, Adam malade , ici la poyte du ciel est ouverte , elle est aisée à reconnoître pour celui qui seulement le vent sincèrement. Car, l'épouse dit: Viens ; et que celui qui a soif vienne là. Or, celui qui vient là , boit de la source de .'a connoissar.ee de l'éternelle vie , dans l'odeur et la rerlu du lys de Dieu dans le paradis.
285. Ainsi qu'il a été exposé , la base de la trînité sainte dans une essence divine et indivisible Dieu le père , le fils, l'esprit saint , est pro venue de rien , de toute élernité ; elle est toujours engendrée par soi-même , et de soi-même de toute éternité , sans commencement ni fin ; mais demeurant en soimême , resserrée par rien , n'étant soumise à aucune localité , ni limite , ni place ; elle n'a aucun lieu pour son repos ; mais sa profondeur est plusV grande que nous ne pouvons le penser. Cependant, là il n'y a aucune profondeur , mais l'inscrutable éternité ; et celui qui voudroit ici chercher une limite et une fin , seroit confondu par la divinité , car il n'y en a point : c'est la limite de In nature. Or, le scrutateur indiscret seroit comme Lucifer qui vouîoit, dans son orgueil, s'élever au-dessus de la divinité. En effet , comme il n'y avoit point de lieu, il ^^' 14- ( 289 ) avança en lui - même dans la colère ignée , et il fut perdu pour la fontaine du royaume de Dieu. 86. Maintenant, vois le lys , toi noble ame', pleine des angoisses et des affeclions de ce monde. Vois - la trinité sainte a en soi une éternejle volonté • la volonté est le désir. Or, le désir, ce sont les ét'er- «elles essences dans lesquelles se trouve Tafgu ou réterne! fiât , qui sort du cœur et de la bouche de Dieu par l'esprit saint. Et la volonté qui sort de l'esprit , est la puissance divine 5 la volonté la saisit cetje puissance, et la retient; le fiât la crée, de f^içou qu'amsi toutes les essences sont en elle comme dans Dieu même. La fleur de la lumière sortant du c<Pur de Dieu, fleurit en elle , et cependant elle n'est pas Dieu ; mais la chaste vierge [ou la sophie ]de l'éternelle sagesse et inteliigencciet je traite souvent d'elle dans ce livre.
387. Enfin la vierge ou la sophie est devant Dieu • elle s'incline vers l'esprit dont sort la puissance [ c est parla qu'elle est la chaste vierge de la sagesse: elle est dès lors la compagne de Dieu pour la joie de Dieu ; elle se contemple dans les éternelles merveilles de Dieu, et dans cette contemplation elle devient soupirante après les merveiUes dans l'éternelle sagesse qui cependant est elle-même ; elle se désire ainsi en soi-même , et ses désirs sont les éternelles essences qui tirent à soi la sainte puissance ; l'âpre fiat les crée, de façon qu'elles existent en substance ; elle est une vierge ; elle n'a jamais engendré, et elle ne prend aussi rien en soi ; elle se porte vers l'esprit saint qui sort de Dieu ; elle ne { 290 ) *"• '*• rétrograde point , et ne tire rien à soi ; mais elle plane devant Dieu , et est la fleur de la végétation divine. , 88. Ainsi la vierge ou la sophie n a non plus aucune volonté de s'imprégner avec quelque chose ; mais sa volonté est d'ouvrir les merveilles de Dieu : c'est pourquoi , sa volonté dans les merveilles , est d'apercevoir les merveilles dans les éternelles essences ; et l'âpre fiât crée celte même volonté virginale dans les essences. Cela est une substance qui demeure éternellement devant Dieu, et dans laquelle les éternelles merveilles de la vierge sophie ou delasagesse de Dieu , sont manifestées.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
183. For, the will pronounces, and the child of the power and of the eternal sweetness is the word that the will utters; and what proceeds from the pronounced word, is the spirit, which, in the sharp power of God, in the centre of the new birth of the eternal affective base ( or of the anguish in the flash of fire, in the sharp of the breaking of the darknesses and in the opening of the light in the sweetness ) goes forth eternally from the eternal will, and from the word of God by the sharp fiat of the power of the father; and it is the holy spirit of God. He is the power of the father; he goes forth from the father, from the mouth of God by the word. (288) en. 14^ The gate of the marvels of God in the roses of the lily, 84. Here reason asks: Where goes the holy spirit of God when he goes forth from the father and from the son by the word of God? See, thou, sick Adam, here the gate of heaven is open, it is easy to recognise for him who only wills it sincerely. For, the spouse says: Come; and let him who thirsts come thither. Now, he who comes thither, drinks of the source of the knowledge of the eternal life, in the odour and the virtue of the lily of God in paradise.
285. As it has been exposed, the base of the holy trinity in a divine and indivisible essence God the father, the son, the holy spirit, is proceeded from nothing, from all eternity; it is always begotten by itself, and of itself from all eternity, without beginning nor end; but dwelling in itself, straitened by nothing, being subjected to no locality, nor limit, nor place; it has no place for its repose; but its profundity is greater than we can think it. Nevertheless, there there is no profundity, but the inscrutable eternity; and he who would here seek a limit and an end, would be confounded by the divinity, for there is none: it is the limit of nature. Now, the indiscreet scrutator would be as Lucifer who would, in his pride, raise himself above the divinity. In effect, as there was no place, he ^^' 14- ( 289 ) advanced in himself into the fiery anger, and he was lost for the fountain of the kingdom of God. 86. Now, see the lily, thou noble soul, full of the anguishes and the affections of this world. See: the holy trinity has in itself an eternal will; the will is the desire. Now, the desire, those are the eternal essences in which is found the sharp or the eternal fiat, which goes forth from the heart and from the mouth of God by the holy spirit. And the will which goes forth from the spirit, is the divine power 5 the will seizes it this power, and retains it; the fiat creates it, so that thus all the essences are in it as in God himself. The flower of the light going forth from the heart of God, flowers in it, and nevertheless it is not God; but the chaste virgin [or the Sophia ] of the eternal wisdom and intelligence, and I treat often of her in this book.
387. Finally the virgin or the Sophia is before God; she inclines herself toward the spirit whence the power goes forth [ it is thereby that she is the chaste virgin of the wisdom ]: she is thenceforth the companion of God for the joy of God; she contemplates herself in the eternal marvels of God, and in this contemplation she becomes sighing after the marvels in the eternal wisdom which nevertheless is herself; she desires herself thus in herself, and her desires are the eternal essences which draw to themselves the holy power; the harsh fiat creates them, so that they exist in substance; she is a virgin; she has never begotten, and she takes also nothing into herself; she carries herself toward the holy spirit which goes forth from God; she does not { 290 ) *"• '*• retrograde, and draws nothing to herself; but she hovers before God, and is the flower of the divine vegetation. 88. Thus the virgin or the Sophia has no more any will to impregnate herself with anything; but her will is to open the marvels of God: that is why, her will in the marvels, is to perceive the marvels in the eternal essences; and the harsh fiat creates this same virginal will in the essences. That is a substance which dwells eternally before God, and in which the eternal marvels of the virgin Sophia or of the wisdom of God, are manifested.
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.
Saint-Martin's French rendering of Boehme's 'Von den drei Principien göttlichen Wesens'. The same work stands in this estate in English as boehme:2. The title page also advertises 'L'Aurore naissante, du même Auteur' from the same booksellers — Saint-Martin's translation of the Aurora, whose English counterpart the estate holds as boehme:1. Reading the two versions against each other shows what a Martinist made of a German shoemaker's theosophy.
→ boehme:2
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.