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.
1penl dût briser la tête du serpent animal, mais du démon , et détruire l'abîme de l'enfer. En effet la punition du serpent animal fut qu'il devoit rester un reptile venimeux , sans pieds , et manger la terre , et avoir société avec le démon. Car c'est ainsi que paj-oissent tous les mauvais esprits dans l'enfer, dans leur propre forme, selon leur source, savoir , des serpens , des dragons , des . reptiles horribles , et de méchantes bétes. io5. Le démon ne comprit point cela, puisque Dieu parla du serpent, et le condamna à être un effroyable, reptile , et il imagina, que cela ne le concernoit point. Il ne sait pas non plus encore son îugement;il en apprend seulement quelque chose de la bouche de l'homme , qui l'annonce dans l'esprit de Dieu, quoique l'esprit de Dieu ne lui déclare pas en entier son jugement , mais le tout dans la profondeur, tout-à-fait dans l'élqignement, de manière qu*il ne l'entend pa^ entièrement ; car toutes les prophéties , même sur la méchanceté des hommes , sont données de cette manière aux hommes éclairés; ils n'ont pas l'envie de les rendre plus claires, afin que le démon n'apprenne pas tout-à-fait le dessein de Dieu , et ne répande pas son venin dessus. Toutefois , dans cet endroit , il y a des choses très importantes, que l'on ne doit pas révéler au monde; car elles demeurent pour lo jugement de Dieu , afin que lo démon ne produise pas là-dessus de nouvelles sectes , et n'induise pas les hommes dans le doute \ ainsi il faut les passer jusqu'au tems du lys. j* en. 17. ( 45 )
2106. Si maintenant nous considérons la grandeur de l'amour et de la miséricorde, que Dieu a dirigés vers l'homme, nous trouverons assez de motifs d'écrire et d'enseigner ces choses , attendu qu'il y va de notre éternel salut, et de la délivrance de la gueule de l'enfer. C'est pourquoi Je vais poser la base du messie promis , pour qu'on entende mieux les éî;rits qui se présenteront , particulièremant Moïse , dans son livre de la loi , car cela est nécessaire- Toutefois , celui qui ne veut rien voir , Dieu soit à son aide ! Il faut qu'il soit bien aveugle , car il approche le teras de la visite des Juifs , des Turcs et des Payens endurcis. Que celui qui veut voir , voie. La lampe de l'époux sera bientôt allumée. Il désire que celui qui veut être au rang des Convives , se prépare un habit de noces. 107. Ordonc^la raison dit : Comment Adam et Eve ont-ils pu reconnoîlre ce que Dieu enlendoit par le briseur de serpent ? Oui ,' à la vérité , ils ne le reconnurent pas entièrement ; ils virent seulement que le démon devoit s'éloigner d'eux , et ne se laisseroit plus voir extérieurement ; mais la base affective dans le centre de l'éruption de la vie , dans l'élément , devant la chaste et pudique vierge delà sagesse de Dieu, l'entendit très bien ; car elle reçut un cher et digne hôte. En effet la parole que Dieu le père leur proféra , au sujet du briseur de serpent, sortit du cœur et de la bouche de Dieu ; c'étoit une étincelle de l'amour provenant •du cœur de Dieu , qui avoit été de toute éternité ( 46 ) CH. 17.'
3dans le cœur île Dieu , dans lequel amour , Dieu le père avoil considéré et choisi la famille des hommes avant que le fondement du monde fût posé, afin qu'ils pussent vivre en lui , et afin que cette même étincelle pût être dans l'ascension de la vie ; or Adam , dans sa création exista aussi dans cotl^ parole. 108. Et c'est ce que Paul di<: V homme fut choUi en Jésus - Christ^ avant la création du monde. Loin donc cet amas de doutes que l'on enseigne maintenant sur la prédestination j ce n'est pas là la vraie intelligence. Je t'expliquerai Paul en son lieu, au sujet de sa prédestination , quand j'écrirai désaffection» bestiales des hommes , qui tiennent des loups et desdogues,qui ne veulent point laisser entrer en eux le briseur de serpent , par le mo^f en duquel le père céleste les attire à soi , en son fils Jésus-Christ , par son homification , ses souffrances el sa mort : ils ne veulent pas supporter cet altract , car ils ont les essences du serpent qui altirent en enfer, or, cela ne vient pas de Dieu , qui , «n effet , ne voudroit pas les abandonner 5 mais cela est provenu de leurs inclinations bestiales , semées en eux par les étoiles et'par le démon , ce que Dieu connoit bien , el ce qui fait qu'il ne veut pas jeter les perles devant les pourceaux et les chiens. Si cependant ils se converlissoient, et qu'ils marchassent dans la régénération , il seroit alors possible qu'ils atteignissent le trésor, quoique cela arrive raicment ; c'est pourquoi , Dieu connoit les siens. 109. Ainsi, comme cela a été exposr, cette mémp en. 17. ( 47 )
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.
1pent should break the head of the animal serpent, but of the demon, and destroy the abyss of hell. In effect the punishment of the animal serpent was that it should remain a venomous reptile, without feet, and eat the earth, and have society with the demon. For it is thus that all the evil spirits appear in hell, in their own form, according to their source, to wit, serpents, dragons, horrible reptiles, and wicked beasts. io5. The demon comprehended not that, since God spoke of the serpent, and condemned it to be a frightful reptile, and he imagined that that concerned him not. He knows not either yet his judgement; he learns only something of it from the mouth of man, who announces it in the spirit of God, although the spirit of God declare not to him entire his judgement, but the whole in the profundity, quite in the remoteness, in such manner that he understands it not entirely; for all the prophecies, even upon the wickedness of men, are given in this manner to enlightened men; they have not the desire to render them clearer, so that the demon may not learn quite the design of God, and may not spread his venom upon it. Nevertheless, in this place, there are things very important, which one must not reveal to the world; for they remain for the judgement of God, so that the demon may not produce thereupon new sects, and may not induce men into doubt; thus one must pass them over until the time of the lily. j* en. 17. ( 45 )
2106. If now we consider the greatness of the love and of the mercy, that God has directed toward man, we shall find motives enough to write and to teach these things, seeing that our eternal salvation is at stake, and the deliverance from the maw of hell. That is why I am going to lay the base of the promised messiah, so that one may better understand the writings that shall present themselves, particularly Moses, in his book of the law, for that is necessary. Nevertheless, he who will see nothing, God be his help! He must be indeed blind, for the time approaches of the visitation of the Jews, of the Turks and of the hardened Pagans. Let him who will see, see. The lamp of the spouse will soon be kindled. He desires that he who will be in the rank of the Guests, prepare himself a wedding habit. 107. Now then reason says: How could Adam and Eve recognise what God understood by the bruiser of the serpent? Yes, in truth, they recognised it not entirely; they saw only that the demon was to withdraw from them, and would let himself be seen no more exteriorly; but the affective base in the centre of the eruption of the life, in the element, before the chaste and modest virgin of the wisdom of God, understood it very well; for it received a dear and worthy guest. In effect the word that God the father uttered to them, touching the bruiser of the serpent, went forth from the heart and from the mouth of God; it was a spark of the love proceeding from the heart of God, which had been from all eternity ( 46 ) CH. 17.'
3in the heart of God, in which love, God the father had considered and chosen the family of men before the foundation of the world was laid, so that they might live in him, and so that this same spark might be in the ascension of the life; now Adam, in his creation existed also in this word. 108. And it is what Paul says: Man was chosen in Jesus-Christ, before the creation of the world. Away then with that heap of doubts that one teaches now upon predestination; that is not the true intelligence. I will explain Paul to thee in his place, touching his predestination, when I shall write of the bestial affections of men, who hold of the wolves and of the mastiffs, who will not let the bruiser of the serpent enter into them, by means of whom the celestial father draws them to himself, in his son Jesus-Christ, by his homification, his sufferings and his death: they will not bear this attract, for they have the essences of the serpent which draw into hell; now, that comes not from God, who, in effect, would not abandon them 5 but that has proceeded from their bestial inclinations, sown in them by the stars and by the demon, which God knows well, and which makes that he will not cast the pearls before the swine and the dogs. If nevertheless they converted themselves, and that they walked in the regeneration, it would then be possible that they should attain the treasure, although that happen rarely; that is why, God knows his own. 109. Thus, as this has been exposed, this same en. 17. ( 47 )
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.