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.
12. Car ,ce fut à cause du boire et du manger ter ' restre , et par leur moyen que l'homme paradis «laque fut emprisonné par l'esprit de ce monde , qu£ inamtenant inqualifie avec tous les hommes. Auss£ nous est-il témoigné par l'écriture sainte et par la raison, que l'homme dans le règne élémentairede co ( 2 ) CH- t^ inoncle, n'est pas clicz lui. Car, Cbrisl dit : iJ/o« royaume n'est pus Je ce monde. Et il a tîil à ses ap6* • très : A- vout ai rappelés de ce monde. En outre: La chair et le sang ne peuvent pas posséder le royaume de Difu. 3. Aussi voyons -nous que le royaume de ce monde se brise et périt pour Thomnie. Puis donc qu'Adam a porté Viniage du royaume de Dieu qui éloit éternelle et impérissable, et qu'il exista dans \k paradis , nous rte pouvons pas dire avec Fondemenl, quM ait porté l'image du royaume de ce inonde ; car ce monde est passager et périssable , tandis que l'image en Adam étoit permanente et impérissabhe. 4. Ainsi si nous voulions dire qu'Adam eîit vécu dans la source des quntre élétnens avant sa cbule, nous ne pourrions pas soutenir qu'Adam n'eût pas été une image périssable; car les quatre éléraens doivent passer à la fin > et rentrer dans l'élément simple.
25. D'ailleurs, s'il avoit é!é assu^èii à celte source, alors la cbaleur et le froid a«roienl dominé sur lui. Cependant nous voyons dans Moïse comment Dieu , après la chute , lui a fait d'abord par l'esprit ou l'anï^e du conseil de ce monde, un babit de peaux, et Ten a revêtu 5 et comment cela est caché sous le voile dans Moïse , de manière qu'on ne peut pas Iq voir il découvert, ainsi que nousl'indique ce qui •'est passé dans Israël. En outre , s'il avoit été tout imimcnt de terre et des élémens, alors il auroit pu J)rûler dans le feu , et se noyer dans l'eau , et s'é0 bo.s et l<.s pierres. Ce,,eM<)a„l il est «T-rrit • 0„'» ry.^o.,.e„,r„„ver^..„.-,L,^,,',J;,;- . q..e »,eu cr<^a a„ commencée,,,. Caril a .4 1 les qu.ire ..lemens provenant <te l'é-lftnen» .,. , n>a„de Oans .eq..el Adam ne fut pn.rc.'T ' ^ 7- Le iPXie Hil dans Moïse : Oii'il f„i r.A' a , paradis en Héhron ; c'esl^.Awl , ' "' '* enlrela divinité et l'âh- .' ''"""''""'^"'•■» c„„ '""" ''" royatitete infernaf SOPHIE on de la chaste rier-e Hp 1, J '. «. j 1. '"^'^Ss j ne la sas^esse d vin» -?.-<•.• rf«„. /. Uree de Mon- /tf ''""f'"'^''^- ."L?:t;i:jtr^;:ci:r""^^r'^^''^^ ;V.en.eUe..,„,edeCo:Ïir^^^^^ 9- Car, lies, ais.'.de «aisir et devoir àlaterre-^ f N Ill !» ( 4 ) cH. 17' ^ux pienes , que les quatre élémens ont e^lé en un , ;"'«e la terre et les p.er.es ont é.é engendrées daus t colère dans Venflammemeni de l'élément. En effet , Lnsfdérer con^bien .a été une grande colère que celle qui a ainsi coagulé l'eau si durement.
3•o En outre on voit là l'extraction des quatre été- „,ens dans la colère du feu; on j. voit avec quelle promptitude l'air puissant sort du feu ; et que la Pierre ou le bois ne sont autre chose qu'un souffre de Lu et de la terre; or si la teinture est consumée par la colère, alors ils deviennent en cendres, et finaiernent à rien. C'est ainsi que ce monde avec les aualre élémens deviendra à la fin en un nen , et u ^V aura que leur ombre et leur figure qui resteront dans l'éternel élément des merveilles de Dieu. Corn. „,ent penserois-tu donc que Dieu ait créé des quatre emuves l'homme éternel , puisque ces effluves sont absolumeu t périssables ? .r. y »/ Il A la vérité, nous devons dire qu Eve a été créée dans cette vie périssable; car elle est la femme de ce monde. Mais alors cela ne pouvoit pas etro autrement , car l'esprit de ce monde avoit par sa leinture surmonté et possédé Adam , de l;^çon qu .1 tomba en sommeil , et ne pouvoit point engendrer de soi l'image virginale , selon l'aperçu de la noble et chaste vierge de la sagesse deDieu , qui avoit été unie à lui aumo^endu/im^u* ou de l'effluve céleste, leqneUimhus étoit la matrice en lui.Là ensuite, dans ^a dcpressioD,il eut pour associée la femme élémencw. 17. ( 5 ) taire ou Eve , qui , dans le triomphe de l'esprit de ce monde , fut figurée selon la forme animale , dérivée d'Adam.
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.
12. For, it was because of the terrestrial drink and food, and by their means that the paradisiacal man was imprisoned by the spirit of this world, which now inqualifies with all men. Also is it testified to us by the holy scripture and by the reason, that man in the elementary reign of this ( 2 ) CH- t^ world, is not at home. For, Christ says: My kingdom is not of this world. And he has said to his apo6s- tles: I have called you back from this world. Besides: The flesh and the blood cannot possess the kingdom of God. 3. Also do we see that the kingdom of this world breaks and perishes for man. Since then Adam bore the image of the kingdom of God which was eternal and imperishable, and that he existed in paradise, we cannot say with foundation, that he bore the image of the kingdom of this world; for this world is passing and perishable, whilst the image in Adam was permanent and imperishable. 4. Thus if we would say that Adam had lived in the source of the four elements before his fall, we could not maintain that Adam had not been a perishable image; for the four elements must pass at the end, and return into the element simple.
25. Besides, if he had been subjected to this source, then the heat and the cold would have dominated over him. Nevertheless we see in Moses how God, after the fall, made him first by the spirit or the angel of the council of this world, a habit of skins, and clothed him therewith 5 and how that is hidden under the veil in Moses, in such manner that one cannot see it uncovered, as what came to pass in Israel indicates to us. Besides, if he had been quite simply of earth and of the elements, then he could have burned in the fire, and drowned in the water, and s'é0 wood and the stones. Nevertheless it is written: 0n'» ry.^o.,.e„,r„„ver^..„.-,L,^,,',J;,;- . that God created at the beginning. For he has .4 1 the four elements proceeding from the element, world in which Adam was not created 7- The text says in Moses: That he was created in paradise in Hebron; that is to say, between the divinity and the abyss of the infernal kingdom SOPHIA or of the chaste virgin of the wisdom Hp 1, J '. «. j 1. of the divine wisdom of the eternal soul 9- For, it is easy to seize and to see by the earth f N Ill !» ( 4 ) cH. 17' and by the stones, that the four elements have been in one, since the earth and the stones have been begotten in the anger in the inflaming of the element. In effect, to consider how great an anger that has been which has thus coagulated the water so hardly.
3•o Besides one sees there the extraction of the four elements in the anger of the fire; one sees there with what promptitude the powerful air goes forth from the fire; and that the stone or the wood are nothing else than a sulphur of fire and of earth; now if the tincture be consumed by the anger, then they become into ashes, and finally into nothing. It is thus that this world with the four elements shall become at the end into a nothing, and there shall be only their shadow and their figure which shall remain in the eternal element of the marvels of God. How then wouldst thou think that God had created of the four effluvia the eternal man, since these effluvia are absolutely perishable? Il In truth, we must say that Eve was created in this perishable life; for she is the woman of this world. But then that could not be otherwise, for the spirit of this world had by its tincture overcome and possessed Adam, so that 1he fell into sleep, and could not beget of himself the virginal image, according to the perceiving of the noble and chaste virgin of the wisdom of God, which had been united to him by means of the limbus or of the celestial effluvium, which limbus was the matrix in him. There afterwards, in his depression, he had for associate the elementary woman 17. ( 5 ) or Eve, who, in the triumph of the spirit of this world, was figured according to the animal form, derived from Adam.
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.