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.
160. Et de ce même limbus, au lems de la colérique corporisation de la ter. e , les quatre élémens sortirent comme d'une fontaine, et ce qui avoit été manifesté en infinité par la vierge de la sagesse de Dieu devmt les éloiles,comme étant une vertu ou une extra-généralion du limbus. Elles sont la cinquième essence par rapport aux quatre élémens ; elles ne sont point séparées des quatre élémens, mais inqualifiant tous ensemble. Elles sont cependant extraites des quatre écoulemens avec leur essence aiguë ; elles sontl'attract des quatre élémens , ou , comme je puis l'établir en comparaison , elles sont l'homme , et les élémens sont la femme ; et le cœur de ces choses est l'élément dans une seule essence , où l'élément pur , et les essences qui sont dans cet élément pur , sont' la vertu des merveilles et de la sagesse de Dieu, et se nomment paradis , une demeure de joie. 5i. Or l'esprit des éternelles essences (qui est intelligent , et a la connoissance et le sentiment , et l'épreuve de toute chose , dans lequel est la ^urce qui est dans l'homme) fut soufflé à Adam par la sagesse de Dieu , par l'impulsion de la volonté qui procède devant soi; et cela de l'ame éternelle , des portes brisées de la profondeur. Il lui fut soufflé par la paroleavecl'esprit mouvant deDieu. Ainsi : i^. l'homme a en arrière de soi le contact iSe l'abîme de l'éternel tourment , comme un lien ou ^fl. 17. ( 21 J un nœud indissoluble; 2". il a devant soi le cœur ou la lumière de Dieu comme un éclat de la joie et de Penflammement du paradis, qui s'élève dnus les essences avec la lumièredela jubilation ; et 3"", il a au-dessous de soi l'écoulement des quatre élémens dans la génération du limbus qmétou en lui.
252. Tant qu'Adam plaça sou imaginalion dans le cœur de Dieu, le paradis fut vif en lui; Talliance de l'abîme étoit alors un paradis, où la joie s'élevoit dans le bouillonnement. Le royaume de ce monde , comme provenant de l'élément , auroit aussi dans l'alliance tenu à l'homme, mais inférieurement , et tant qu'il plaça son affeclion dans le cœur dé Dieu , le royaume de ce monde nepouvoit l'alteindre, et étoit impuissant devant lui, comme ce monde l'est devant Dieu. 53. Ainsi l'esprit et Tarne d*Adam restèrent aa milieu dans le paradis du royaume de joie , quarante jours, qui ne furent pour lui que comme u» jour. Tout se porta v^rs lui, et te rechercha : lo. Le royaume de l'enfer de l'éternelle origine, de l'âme ténébreuse, duquel son ver-d'ame étoit sorti dans la brisure des portes ; 2®. la divinité du royaume du ciel, dans la brisure des portes , brillant devant lui, et le regardant joyeusement ; et 3o. l'esprit des étoiles et des élémens l'attirant à leur alliance, er le désirant fortement. 54. Or Adam étoit en effet dans la tentation: car son anie colérique , provenant de l'origine du premier principe, étoit dans la joie par la lumière dè^ Dieu 5 et la s^ource de ki colère rendoit la joie ascen-^ :;i I ! ( 23 ) CH. 17» danle , parce que la lumière rendoit tout joyeux et doux en lui et autour de lui, afin qu'il pût s'incliner Ters l'amour ; et par ce moyen , il éloif bien réelkment dans le paradis sur la terre. "^^ 55. Les quatre éléraens de ce monde , ainsi que le soleil et les étoiles ne pouvoieut poïniinqualijier en lui ; il n'aspiroit point l'air en soi 5 mais l'esprit de Dieu dans la vierge sopuie étoil sa respiration , et enflammoit le feu dans son esprit.
356. Mais étant ainsi dans le paradis , entre l'enfer et le royaume de ce monde , lié à l'un et à l'autre , et cependant libre aussi dans la puissance de Bien ; alors il s'aperçut ou se contempla lui-même dans la grande profondeur du royaume de ce monde ,. dans lequel aussi les grandes merveilles sont radiées dans le centre (comme nous voyons que l'homme les a découvertes et mises au jour par l'éternel penchant de son esprit , ainsi que cela est devant les yeux). Dans cet aperçu ou dans cette contemplation , il se livra à son imagination , et il succomba dansl'attract : car l'esprit de ce monde le saisit» comme une mère imprime une marque à un enfant dans le sein maternel ; et il fut enceint ou imprégné de l'attract de l'esprit de ce monde. Dès lors il fut aveugle en Dieu , et ne vit plus Dieu, ni sa vierge SOPHIE dans sa base affective. Ainsi le royaume du ciel demeura , quant à soi , dans le paradis , dans son principe, dans les portes brisées du tout-puissant ; et la sophie y resta cachée dans le centre. Ce royaume éloit dans Adam; t/p^tefois Adam n'éloit point en Dieu par sa base affective , roaifi eu. 17» ( 23 ) dans l'esprit de ce monde ; il étoît sans force dans lé royaume de Dieu : il tomba en bas , et dormit.
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.
160. And of this same limbus, at the time of the choleric corporisation of the earth, the four elements went forth as from a fountain, and what had been manifested in infinity by the virgin of the wisdom of God became the stars, as being a virtue or an extra-generation of the limbus. They are the fifth essence in relation to the four elements; they are not separated from the four elements, but inqualifying all together. They are nevertheless extracted from the four flowings with their sharp essence; they are the attract of the four elements, or, as I may establish it in comparison, they are the man, and the elements are the woman; and the heart of these things is the element in one single essence, where the pure element, and the essences which are in this pure element, are the virtue of the marvels and of the wisdom of God, and are named paradise, a dwelling of joy. 5i. Now the spirit of the eternal essences ( which is intelligent, and has the knowledge and the feeling, and the proof of every thing, in which is the source that is in man ) was breathed into Adam by the wisdom of God, by the impulsion of the will which proceeds before itself; and that of the eternal soul, of the broken gates of the profundity. It was breathed into him by the word with the moving spirit of God. Thus: i^. man has behind him the contact of the abyss of the eternal torment, as a bond or ^fl. 17. ( 21 J an indissoluble knot; 2". he has before him the heart or the light of God as a brightness of the joy and of the inflaming of paradise, which rises in the essences with the light of the jubilation; and 3"", he has beneath him the flowing of the four elements in the generation of the limbus which was in him.
252. So long as Adam placed his imagination in the heart of God, paradise was living in him; the alliance of the abyss was then a paradise, where the joy rose in the boiling. The kingdom of this world, as proceeding from the element, would also in the alliance have held to man, but inferiorly, and so long as he placed his affection in the heart of God, the kingdom of this world could not attain him, and was impotent before him, as this world is before God. 53. Thus the spirit and the soul of Adam remained in the midst in the paradise of the kingdom of joy, forty days, which were for him but as one day. All carried itself toward him, and sought him: lo. The kingdom of hell of the eternal origin, of the tenebrous soul, whence his worm of soul was gone forth in the breaking of the gates; 2®. the divinity of the kingdom of heaven, in the breaking of the gates, shining before him, and looking upon him joyously; and 3o. the spirit of the stars and of the elements drawing him to their alliance, and desiring him strongly. 54. Now Adam was in effect in the temptation: for his choleric soul, proceeding from the origin of the first principle, was in the joy by the light of God 5 and the source of the anger rendered the joy ascen- :;i I ! ( 23 ) CH. 17» dant, because the light rendered all joyous and sweet in him and about him, so that he might incline himself toward the love; and by this means, he was indeed really in paradise upon the earth. 55. The four elements of this world, as well as the sun and the stars could not inqualify in him; he drew not the air into himself 5 but the spirit of God in the virgin Sophia was his respiration, and kindled the fire in his spirit.
356. But being thus in paradise, between hell and the kingdom of this world, bound to the one and to the other, and nevertheless free also in the power of God; then he perceived or contemplated himself in the great profundity of the kingdom of this world, in which also the great marvels are radiated in the centre ( as we see that man has discovered them and brought them to light by the eternal inclination of his spirit, as this is before the eyes ). In this perceiving or in this contemplation, he gave himself to his imagination, and he succumbed in the attract: for the spirit of this world seized him, as a mother imprints a mark upon a child in the maternal bosom; and he was with child or impregnated with the attract of the spirit of this world. Thenceforth he was blind in God, and saw no more God, nor his virgin SOPHIA in his affective base. Thus the kingdom of heaven remained, as to itself, in paradise, in its principle, in the broken gates of the almighty; and the Sophia remained there hidden in the centre. This kingdom was in Adam; nevertheless Adam was not in God by his affective base, but eu. 17» ( 23 ) in the spirit of this world; he was without force in the kingdom of God: he fell down, and slept.
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.