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.
1Ils attirent à eux et i]!. remjîlissent la chamTirft de la profondeur , ou bien la voloirti? libre et nue dans Tame 5 ils portent le coup d'œii. des étoile:» dans le* pqrtes de l'ame , et ils inqualifient ayec l'aigu da coup d' œil ; ils remplissent , avoc. 'de la chair, les portes brisées des ténèbres ; ils combattent constamment pour la domination , par le moyen de la première volonté de laquelle ils sont sortis ; et- ils s'abandonnent à la volonté commeà leur père qui seconde volontiers leur puissance: car ilest sombre et ténébreux , et ils sont rude« et astrisgens; en outre, amers et froids ; et leur vie est une source de feu bouillante,avec laquelle ils régnent dans ràme,dans le fiel, dans le cœur, les poumons et le foie, ainsi que dans tous les membres de tout le corps, et l'homme est leur propriété. L'esprit qui est dans l'éclair porte la constellation dans la teinture de sa propriété , et modifie les pensées selon le gouvernement des astres qui s'emparent de la circonscription ou du corps , le domptent , et introduisent dans lui leur rudesse amère. n. Entre ce^ deux régions se trouve alors la porte de la lumière , comme dans un centre, enfe»*mée par de la chair ; elle brille en. soi-même dans les ténèbres ; elle s'élève contre la puissance de la colère et des ténèbres : et elle étend ses rayons dans le son An brisement. De là sortent les portes du l'oir, de l'ouïe, de l'odorat, du goût et du tact ; et quand les portes atteignent les rayons doux , agréables et aimables de la lumière , alors ils deviennent extrêmement joyeux, et courent dan« leur plus haute région, it«i SI lil (334) CR iff ?"* I« c«„r ou dans leur véri.able demeure, dan, les esseuces de P,»prie de l'ame,c,ui reçoit .^I avec ,o.e, e. «c ™Vivfe par ce mojre„. ' *
2dans 1 élément ea,. , qui par ,« douce joie deviZ -ng : car toutes lesré«ions se réjouissen eu elle ë a^ persuadent qu'elles ou. reçu de nouveau la no'ble Vierge soPH.., tandis que cependant elles n'en ont r '" 7"""*'''' "'^«"^ 1"« le soleil éclaire la «erre, ce don, toutes les essences de la terre se ré lou.ssen,, croissent et poussent. De-là, la teimurj . eleveda„s toutes les plantes et les fleu;s. ta- El .1 faut sérieusement ici considérer dans ,uo, et ue ,égio„ se réjoui,: car le soJe eioiles ne saisissent pas la InmiA^^^- • />,«* u , ^ ' iumière divine comme Jont les essences de Tama ^t ««^ i ]';im^ «. • . j "« » ame , et encore seulement de amequi est dans la rége«éralion j mais ils goûtent la douceur q.i ,est représentée dans la tetture a endu que lesang du coeur da„. lequel Pâme nage est SI doux qu'il ne se compare à rien par Moïse , de ne point manger de fô chair dans son -ng; car la vie est dedans. 0^, la vie animale „" doit point pénétrer dans l'homme, de peur que son esprit n'en soit infecté. 4"e 6on i5. Les trois régions reçoivent chacune leur lu- "r Tl ^^""^^-^--^ ^e 'a teinture dansle «ang, et chacune retient sa teinture. La région des ^.oiles retient la huniéie du soleil, le premSr JrÏ -pe retient l'éclair du feu;et l'essence des sainte âmes reçoit la digne et chère lumière de la vierge ol tu. i6. ( 335 ) de soPHrc : toutefois dans ce corps périssable , ceê saintes amcs ne reçoivent que ses rajons seulement , avec lesquels elle combat dans la base affective, contre les assauts industrieux de l'ennemi , comme le témoigne Saint-Paul. (Ephes. 6 i i6.)
3i6. Et quoique la chère lumière demeure quelque tems dans quelques uns , lorsqu'ils sont dans la' ré* génération , elle n'est cependant pas permanente dans la maison des étoiles et des élémens , dans léi génération extérieure j mais elle demeure dans son centre , dans l'ame. Xa porte du langage* 17. Comme maintenant la base affective est dani la libre volonté, alors la volonté se contemple selon ce que les régions ont introduit dans les essences , soit bon, soit mauvais ; soit que cela soit en rapport avec le royaume du ciel ou avec le royaume de l'enfer. Ce que le coup d'oeil atteint , il l'introduit dans la volonté de l'ame. Or , le roi demeure dans l'ame ; et ce roi est la lumière de tout le corps ; il a cinq conseillers qui siègent tous dans le son de la teinture , et chacun d'eux éprouve ou essaie ce -que !• coup d'oeil a introduit dans la volonté par son influence , soit bon, soit mauvais ; et les cinq conseillers sont les cinq sens. 18. D'abord le roi donne cela i*'. aux yeux , pour voir si cela est régulier ou difforme. Les yeux le donnent 20. aux oreilles pour entendre d'où cela vient , si cela vient d'une région juste ou fausse , si ( ^^6 ) tft. 1^,
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.
1They draw to themselves and they fill the chamber of the profundity, or rather the free and naked will in the soul 5 they bear the glance of the stars into the gates of the soul, and they inqualify with the sharp of the glance; they fill, with flesh, the broken gates of the darknesses; they combat constantly for the domination, by means of the first will whence they are gone forth; and they abandon themselves to the will as to their father who willingly seconds their power: for it is sombre and tenebrous, and they are rude and astringent; besides, bitter and cold; and their life is a boiling source of fire, wherewith they reign in the soul, in the gall, in the heart, the lungs and the liver, as well as in all the members of all the body, and man is their property. The spirit which is in the flash bears the constellation into the tincture of its property, and modifies the thoughts according to the government of the stars which seize the circumscription or the body, tame it, and introduce into it their bitter rudeness. n. Between these two regions is found then the gate of the light, as in a centre, enclosed by flesh; it shines in itself in the darknesses; it rises against the power of the anger and of the darknesses: and it stretches its rays into the sound of the breaking. Thence go forth the gates of the seeing, of the hearing, of the smell, of the taste and of the touch; and when the gates attain the sweet, agreeable and amiable rays of the light, then they become extremely joyous, and run into their highest region, it«i SI lil (334) CR iff into the heart or into their true dwelling, into the essences of the spirit of the soul, which receives all with joy, and is revived by this means.
2in 1the element water, which by its sweet joy becomes blood: for all the regions rejoice themselves in it and persuade themselves that they have received anew the noble virgin SOPHIA, whilst nevertheless they have r '" 7"""*''''' "'^«"^ 1"« the sun lights the earth, whereof all the essences of the earth rejoice themselves, grow and push forth. Thence, the tincture rises in all the plants and the flowers. ta- And .1 must seriously here be considered in what and what region it rejoices itself: for the sun and the stars seize not the divine light as do the essences of the soul, and yet only of the soul which is in the regeneration; but they taste the sweetness which is represented in the tincture, seeing that the blood of the heart in which the soul swims is so sweet that it compares itself to nothing by Moses, not to eat of the flesh in its blood; for the life is therein. 0Now, the animal life must not penetrate into man, for fear that his spirit be infected by it. 4"e 6on i5. The three regions receive each their light according to the modification of the tincture in the blood, and each retains its tincture. The region of the stars retains the light of the sun, the first principle retains the flash of the fire; and the essence of the holy souls receives the worthy and dear light of the virgin or tu. i6. ( 335 ) of SOPHIA: nevertheless in this perishable body, these holy souls receive only her rays alone, wherewith she combats in the affective base, against the industrious assaults of the enemy, as Saint Paul testifies. (Ephes. 6 i i6.)
3i6. And although the dear light dwell some time in some, when they are in the regeneration, it is nevertheless not permanent in the house of the stars and of the elements, in the exterior generation; but it dwells in its centre, in the soul. The gate of language. 17. As now the affective base is in the free will, then the will contemplates itself according to what the regions have introduced into the essences, whether good, whether evil; whether that be in relation with the kingdom of heaven or with the kingdom of hell. What the glance attains, it introduces into the will of the soul. Now, the king dwells in the soul; and this king is the light of all the body; he has five counsellors who sit all in the sound of the tincture, and each of them proves or essays what the glance has introduced into the will by its influence, whether good, whether evil; and the five counsellors are the five senses. 18. Firstly the king gives that i*'. to the eyes, to see whether it be regular or deformed. The eyes give it 20. to the ears to hear whence it comes, whether it comes from a just or false region, whether ( ^^6 ) tft. 1^,
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.