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.
1QnoîqnVn lui-ra^me il ne sente point de mal , cependant sa colère s'enflamme selon le premier principe , dans les portes de la profondeur , où demeure l'ame , et c'est une vraie abomination devant lui. 78. Observe tout ce que tu laisses entrer dans ta base affective ; si ton ame n'est pas inclinée vers Dieu , de façon qu'elle repose sur lui dans la foi et dr.ns la sécurité , alors tout est péché pour toi , quelque chose que tu fasses. Car tu introduis une affection terrestre dans les portes de la profondeur où va l'esprit de Dieu , et tu souilles l'élément quiest devant Dieu. 79. Diras-tu : Comment cela peut-il être, puisque Dieu demeure dans le ciel ? ô}! toi , ame aveugle, pleine de téntM^res! le ciel où Dieu demeure est aussi en toi comme Adam sur la terre étoit dans le paradis. Ne porte pas ta pensée hors de ce monde , au-dessus des étoiles, comme l'enseigne l'antechrist. Il ment comme ledémon même. Dieu estpar-tout;le fondement de l'enfer est aussi par-tout,comme dit le prophète David : Si Je m'élance vers l* aurore , ou bien dan& Venfer , tu es là ; de plus : Oà est le lieu de mon repos ? n* est-ce pas moi qui remplis tout? Mais je regarde à celui qui souffre. Celui dont l'esprit est brisé est celui dans qui Je veux demeurer ; en outre : Je veux demeurer dans Jacob , et Israël sera m^jn ta^ lernacle, 80. Entendez bien. Il veut demeurer dans les esprits brisés et rompus , et qui traversent les portes des ténèbres , et c'est en ceux-là qu'il veqt pénétrer. «»• 17- ' ( 33 )
281. C'est pourquoi , préserve-toi de la séduction. Ne dis pas: Je suis dans les ténèbres, le seigneur ne me voit pas ; il ne voit ni ce que je pense , ni ce que je fais. Dieu est dans les portes de la base affective , dans les portes brisées , où l'ame est devant la clairl face de Dieu,et où toutes tes abominations sont con» nues devant Dieu , et tu entaches l'élément de Dieu. Tu trompes la chaste vierge ou sophie , qui s'est donnée à toi , dans ta base affective , pour ta compagne, et qui demeure dans son centre, et t'avertit de tes voies impies : si tu la suis, que tu te convertisse, et que tu t'élance vers elle par une sin* cère pénitence 5 alors elle couronne ta base affective avec la sagesse et l'intelligence, afin que tuîpuisses tout-a-fait te dérober au démon 5 mais sans cela lu tombes de péchés en péchés , et d'abominations en abominations ; tu rends ta mesure pleine 5 tu la fais déborder : alors le démon l'attire dans son rè-ne ^ tu fais fort bien son service , car tu es un vrai fouet pour les enfaiis de Dieu, non-seulement par tesmépris , mais aussi par les œuvres de \es mains ce que le démon n'ose pas faire ; tu lui donnes un bon serviteur 5 il l'amuse même encore avec le nom de Dieu, pour que tu le portes en effet sur tes lèvres et <iue même lu l'enseignes ; mais Xd^^ cœur e^ 'un meurtrier et un voleur , et tu es entièrement mort au ro;yaume du ciel. 82. C'est pourquoi , ô! chère ame, éprouve-toi pour savoir à quoi tu inclines ; heureux pour toi .[ c est à la justice , à l'amour , à la fidélité et à U vérité , ainsi qu»à la chasteté , à la modestie et à la Iv i ^^ 11 ( 34 ) CH. 17;
3miséricorde î lu en retireras du fruit. Mais si tu inclines du côté opposé , alors descends dans ton sein , examine ton cœur charnel et éprouve-le ; réunis toutes tes pensées ensemble dans une prison , et rends-loi terrible à Ion cœur de chair , de façon que les élémens tremblent en toi. Le démon cajoleur et menteur , qui s'est établi dans ton cœur de chair , ne manquera pas de s'éloigner ; il sentira c© coup qui ne lui agréera pas ; tes pensées deviendront tout autres. Ce n'est point une ame non exercée , qui enseigne cela ; elle Va éprouvé ellemême; c'est pourquoi cela doit rester comme un mémorial et un continuel avertissement. Quiconque le souhaite , n'a qu'à en laire l'essai , il en retirera des merveilles. 83. Or donc , lorsqu'Adam et Eve eurent mangé du fruit terrestre , ils eurent honte l'un de l'autre ; car ils s'aperçurent qu'ils avoient desmembres bestiaux pour leur propagation corporelle ; ils brisèrent des arbustes , et les tinrent devant ce qui faisoit leur honte. La voix de Dieu vint hautement dans le jardin , dans leur base affective, et ils se cachèrent derrière les arbres dans le jardin. 84. Ici nous voyons clairement , et nous comprenons bien que Dieu , dans le commencement , n'avôit pas créé une pareille image avec des membres de bêle pour la reproduction ;car ce que Dieu crée pour Témmité n'a aucune honte de soi -, aussi ils s'aperçurent d'abord qu'ils étoient nus. Les élémens les avoieut possédés , mais ne les avoient revêtus d'aucun habit. En effet , ils ne le pouvoient lias 5 car l'esprit de l'homme n'étoit point de Tessence et de la propriété des élémens , mais des essences éternelles.
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.
1Although in himself he feel no evil, nevertheless his anger kindles itself according to the first principle, in the gates of the profundity, where the soul dwells, and it is a true abomination before him. 78. Observe all that thou lettest enter into thy affective base; if thy soul be not inclined toward God, so that it repose upon him in the faith and in the security, then all is sin for thee, whatever thing thou do. For thou introducest a terrestrial affection into the gates of the profundity where the spirit of God goes, and thou soilest the element which is before God. 79. Wilt thou say: How can that be, since God dwells in heaven? ô}! thou, blind soul, full of darknesses! the heaven where God dwells is also in thee as Adam upon the earth was in paradise. Carry not thy thought out of this world, above the stars, as the antichrist teaches. He lies as the demon himself. God is everywhere; the foundation of hell is also everywhere, as the prophet David says: If I dart myself toward the aurora, or else into hell, thou art there; moreover: Where is the place of my repose? is it not I who fill all? But I look to him who suffers. He whose spirit is broken is he in whom I will dwell; besides: I will dwell in Jacob, and Israel shall be my tabernacle. 80. Understand well. He will dwell in the broken and ruptured spirits, and who traverse the gates of the darknesses, and it is into those that he will penetrate. «»• 17- ' ( 33 )
281. That is why, preserve thyself from the seduction. Say not: I am in the darknesses, the lord sees me not; he sees neither what I think, nor what I do. God is in the gates of the affective base, in the broken gates, where the soul is before the clear face of God, and where all thy abominations are known before God, and thou stainest the element of God. Thou deceivest the chaste virgin or Sophia, who has given herself to thee, in thy affective base, for thy companion, and who dwells in her centre, and warns thee of thy impious ways: if thou follow her, that thou convert thyself, and that thou dart thyself toward her by a sincere penitence 5 then she crowns thy affective base with the wisdom and the intelligence, so that thou mayest quite steal thyself away from the demon 5 but without that thou fallest from sins into sins, and from abominations into abominations; thou renderest thy measure full 5 thou makest it overflow: then the demon draws it into his reign; thou doest very well his service, for thou art a true scourge for the children of God, not only by thy contempts, but also by the works of thy hands, which the demon dares not do; thou givest him a good servant 5 he amuses him even still with the name of God, so that thou bear it in effect upon thy lips and that even thou teach it; but thy heart is a murderer and a thief, and thou art entirely dead to the kingdom of heaven. 82. That is why, O! dear soul, prove thyself to know to what thou inclinest; happy for thee . it is to the justice, to the love, to the fidelity and to the truth, as well as to the chastity, to the modesty and to the Iv i ^^ 11 ( 34 ) CH. 17;
3mercy! thou wilt draw fruit from it. But if thou incline on the opposite side, then descend into thy bosom, examine thy carnal heart and prove it; reunite all thy thoughts together in a prison, and render thyself terrible to thy heart of flesh, so that the elements tremble in thee. The cajoling and lying demon, who has established himself in thy heart of flesh, will not fail to withdraw; he will feel this blow which will not please him; thy thoughts will become quite other. It is not an unexercised soul that teaches this; it has proved it itself; that is why that must remain as a memorial and a continual warning. Whoever wishes it, has only to make the essay of it, he will draw marvels from it. 83. Now then, when Adam and Eve had eaten of the terrestrial fruit, they had shame one of the other; for they perceived that they had bestial members for their corporeal propagation; they broke shrubs, and held them before what made their shame. The voice of God came loftily into the garden, into their affective base, and they hid themselves behind the trees in the garden. 84. Here we see clearly, and we well comprehend that God, in the beginning, had not created such an image with members of a beast for the reproduction; for what God creates for eternity has no shame of itself; also they perceived firstly that they were naked. The elements had possessed them, but had clothed them with no habit. In effect, they could not do it 5 for the spirit of man was not of the essence and of the property of the elements, but of the eternal essences.
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.