Fetching
One moment.
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.
16i. Dans l'essence astringente de la teinture du ver de l'ame , il infecte l'essence astringente qui devient fortement attirante , et acquiert une volonté de tirer tout à soi , et cependant ne le peut pas : Car la volonté conçue ou concentrée ne se laisse pas volontiers saisir 3 mais elle est une faim sèche , infernale, et ardente de tout avoir ; et quand même elle auroit tout, sa faim cependant n'en seroit pas diminuée. Mais c'est la faim et la soif éternelles de l'abîme ; la volonté du feu infernal , et de tous les démons qui , coniinuellement, ont faim et soif, et cependant ne mangent rien ; or ils ne s'assouvissent qu'en attirant à eux la source colérique des essences de l'astringent , de l'amer , et de la puissance du feu. C'est en cela que consiste leur vie et le rassasiement de leur colère : tel est aussi l'état de l'abime infernal. 62. Voilà quelle est la source du premier principe. Il ne peut pas être autrement en le considérant à part de la lumière de Dieu. Il ne peut pas non plus se changer , car il a été ainsi de toute éternité. Or , de cette source ont été extraites, les essences du ver de l'ame dans le tems de sa création , par le fiât de Dieu ; elles ont été créées, dans le paradis, en f^ce de la lumière de Dieu, qui a envisagé l'éclair de feu , et l'a contenu dans une profonde douceur, et humilité. 63. Car, puisque l'homme devoitétre éternel, il tit.. il t 321 7
2tk'voit donc aussi être de réternel. En effet rîeik n'est créé de la fontaine du cœur de Dieu , attendu qu'il est la limite de la nature, et n'a aucune semLlable essence. Rien de saisissable n'entre là. Autrement ce seroit aussi un encombrement et un abîme et cela ne peut pas être. Ainsi de toute éternité il n'y a eu rien autre ( hose que la source d'où la divinité s'élève aussi toujours de toute éternité, comme cela a été dit ci-dessus. 64. Or., cette source de l'esprit de l'ame est éternelle ; sa teinture est aussi éternelle , et telle qu'est ia source pendant tout le tems de ce monde, tant qu'elle tient à cette maison élémentaire do pliair , telle est aussi la teinture et la demeure de )'ame. y^eis quelque source,soit la divine ou l'inferJi.iîe , que la base aflfective incline ; dans cette liiême source le ver vit , et il mange de ce même jjrincipe , et il est un ange ou un démon , quoique Le n« soit point dans ce monde que soit son jugeîuent ; car il est entre les deux portes, tant qu'il vit daji« la chair, àmoins qu'il ne se plonge dans l'ahîmç, ce dont je traiterai très profondement et tr^ exactement lorsque j'écrirai sur \q% péchés d|S hommes. Lisez ce qui concerne Caïn. 65. L'entendement qui ne reconnoît rien dans la lumière de la nature , s'étonnera d'uu tel écrit ; il croira que cela n'est pas ainsi , et que Dieu n'a point tiié ni créé l'homme d'une semblable source. Maintenant vois, toi , aimable raison , et cher entendement. Compte ici tes cinq sens ; je veux te montrer si cela est vrai 5 je veux le convaincre que tu n'as pas I. a^ V f ( 322 ) CH. i5.
3le moindre molif de t'appuyer sur une autre base , à fnoins que tu ne voulusses laisser le démon aigrir ton cœur dans la bestiale raison , et mépriser la lu-* mière de la nature qui est cependant en la présence del7ieu. Or, si tu es sur une semblable voie bestiale, laisse là mes ouvrages sans les lire; ils n'ont pas été écrits pour de tels pourceaux, mais pour les enfaus qui doivent posséder le royaume de Dieu ; car jo les ai écrits pour moi> et pour ceux qui cherchent , et non point pour les sages et les prudeus de ce nlonde. €6. Vois ce que sont tes cinq sens , dans quello puissance ils existent , ou bien comment ils viennent dans la vie de Thomme ? D'où vient ta vue , pour que tu voies dans la lumière du soleil ; et non autrement? Considère-toi hautement si tu veux être instruit dans la nature, et te vanter de la lumière de la nature. Tu ne peux pas dire que tu vois seulement par là lumière du soleil ; il faut aussi qu'il y ait quelque chose qui reçoive de la lumière du soleil et ait un commerce avec la lumière du soleil ; de plus la prunelle qui est dans tes yeux n'est pas le soleil , mais elle est dans le feu et l'eau , et elle reçoit son éclat de la lumière du soleil ; c'est un éclair qui dérive du fiel igné , astringent et amer, et l'eau le rend doux. A la vérité, il n'est question ici que de l'extérieur, ou du troisième principe dans lequel sentie soleil, les étoiles, et les élémens : il' en est ainsi dans toutes les créatures de ce monde. •'By. Or, que fait donc l'ouie pour que tu entendes ce qui sonne et remue ? Diras-tu , que cela vient dii cou de la c^ose e;^térieure qui sonne ainsi ? Non ^ «n- î^. ( 323 )
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.
16i. In the astringent essence of the tincture of the worm of the soul, he infects the astringent essence which becomes strongly attracting, and acquires a will to draw all to itself, and nevertheless cannot: For the will conceived or concentrated does not willingly let itself be seized 3 but it is a dry hunger, infernal, and ardent to have all; and even though it had all, its hunger nevertheless would not be diminished thereby. But it is the eternal hunger and thirst of the abyss; the will of the infernal fire, and of all the demons who, continually, have hunger and thirst, and nevertheless eat nothing; now they satiate themselves only in drawing to themselves the choleric source of the essences of the astringent, of the bitter, and of the power of the fire. It is in that that their life consists and the satiating of their anger: such is also the state of the infernal abyss. 62. Behold what the source of the first principle is. It cannot be otherwise in considering it apart from the light of God. It cannot either change itself, for it has been thus from all eternity. Now, of this source have been extracted the essences of the worm of the soul in the time of its creation, by the fiat of God; they have been created, in paradise, in the face of the light of God, which has envisaged the flash of fire, and has contained it in a profound sweetness, and humility. 63. For, since man was to be eternal, he tit.. il t 321 7
2was then also to be of the eternal. In effect nothing is created of the fountain of the heart of God, seeing that it is the limit of nature, and has no like essence. Nothing seizable enters there. Otherwise that would be also an encumbrance and an abyss and that cannot be. Thus from all eternity there has been nothing else than the source whence the divinity rises also always from all eternity, as this has been said above. 64. Now, this source of the spirit of the soul is eternal; its tincture is also eternal, and such as is the source during all the time of this world, so long as it holds to this elementary house of flesh, such is also the tincture and the dwelling of the soul. Toward whatever source, whether the divine or the infernal, the affective base incline; in that same source the worm lives, and it eats of that same principle, and it is an angel or a demon, although it be not in this world that its judgement is; for it is between the two gates, so long as it lives in the flesh, unless it plunge itself into the abyss, whereof I shall treat very profoundly and very exactly when I shall write upon the sins of men. Read what concerns Cain. 65. The understanding which recognises nothing in the light of nature, will be astonished at such a writing; it will believe that this is not so, and that God has neither drawn nor created man of such a source. Now see, thou, amiable reason, and dear understanding. Count here thy five senses; I will show thee whether this be true 5 I will convince thee that thou hast not I. a^ V f ( 322 ) CH. i5.
3the least motive to lean upon another base, unless thou wouldst let the demon embitter thy heart in the bestial reason, and despise the light of nature which is nevertheless in the presence o7f God. Now, if thou art upon such a bestial way, leave there my works without reading them; they have not been written for such swine, but for the children who are to possess the kingdom of God; for I have written them for myself, and for those who seek, and not at all for the sages and the prudent of this world. €6. See what thy five senses are, in what power they exist, or rather how they come into the life of man? Whence comes thy sight, so that thou seest in the light of the sun; and not otherwise? Consider thyself loftily if thou wilt be instructed in nature, and boast thyself of the light of nature. Thou canst not say that thou seest only by the light of the sun; there must also be something which receives of the light of the sun and has a commerce with the light of the sun; moreover the pupil which is in thine eyes is not the sun, but it is in the fire and the water, and it receives its brightness from the light of the sun; it is a flash which derives from the fiery, astringent and bitter gall, and the water renders it sweet. In truth, there is question here only of the exterior, or of the third principle in which are the sun, the stars, and the elements: it is thus in all the creatures of this world. •'By. Now, what then does the hearing do so that thou hearest what sounds and stirs? Wilt thou say, that this comes from the sound of the exterior thing which sounds thus? No, «n- î^. ( 323 )
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.