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.
1principe , provenu du premier principe , a régénéré l/wmme de nouveau par soi-même , cl Ta délivre du lien colérique : chacun de ces principes doit relier à son rang dans son éternité ; et cependant Dieu seul est le seigneur et le seuUoul puissant 5 toutefois l'éternel lien est indissoluble : autrement la divinité seroit aussi dissoluble ; mais tout doit rester à Dieu pour sa joie et pour sa gloire. Il est le seul créateur de toutes choses , et tout doit être à découvert devant lui , ainsi qu'il est écrit : tu verras ei tu te réjouiras de la punition des impies. Or , cependant , dans le second principe il n'y a aucun désir pour la vengeance. Mais dans l'aigu du brisement du premier dans le second , là où l'aine s'éIciace du tourment dans la joie paradisiaque, elle se réjouit , de ce que l'instigateur qui l'a tourmentée est prisonnier , et de ce qu'elle est maintenant en sûreté devant lui , de même que c'est alors une joie dans le royaume des cieux , de ce que l'orgueilleux démon est prisonnier dans le premier principe, de manière qu'il ne puisse plus contrister le ciel , et enflammer l'habitation de l'élément pur et saint. 17. C'est pourquoi, il y a aussi dans le ciel une grande joie au sujet de ce monde , de 03 qu'il y a là un principe d'engendré ; d«^ ce qu'aiUM ir' démon ne peut plus faire n^age de la colère qu'il n répandue et allumée dans le tems de sa création , mais qu'il est prisonnier entre deux règnes qui , tous les deux , sont bons. , 18. Ainsi lu dois enlendre ce que c'est, quand cm 18. ( 61 )
2récriture parle de la vengeance contre les impies , de ce qu'il y a sur cela une joie parmi les saints. Car la rage et le tourment de l'enfer sont la joie du ciel ; s'il n'y avoit aucun tourment , alors il n'y auroit aucune ascension. Mais lorsque la lumière vient dans le tourment colérique , alors c'est une pure joie. Or dans les ténèbres il y a intérieurement une opposition avec soi-même , et c'est là-dedans qu'est engendré l'éternel ver. 19. C'est pourquoi lu dois savoir que Dieu est ainsi tout en tous. Là où il n'est pas dans l'amour , en lumière, il est en ténèbres , dans l'àprelé et dans l'angoisse ; car avant le tems de la création il n'y avoit rien que la source , et en outre la divinité ; le tout demeure en éternité , et il n'y a aucun autre fondement ; tu ne trouveras rien de plus. Dispensetoi de chercher dans la profondeur, car c'est la limite de la nature. 20. Quoique ces manifestations soient restées cachées depuis le commencement du monde, cependant comme il doit , efin , s'en aller dans son Ether,et dans la destruction 5 tout ce qui est caché dans la nature se découvre. Aussi il y aura de très grandes choses manifestées qui ne l'ont point encore été ; et c'est là le mystère de Taurore du jour. C'est pourquoi il est tems de s'éveiller , car le réveil des morts est proche. 2i.Lorque Dieu prononça la sentence à Adam et lui prépara le briseur de serpent pour sa consolation et son assistance dans ses afflictions sur la terre 3 il prononça aussi la sentence àEve, et l'é1 ( 62 ) CH. 18. lablit formellement pour être une femme dans ce monde , et lui dit : Je te préparerai de j;randes douleurs quand tu seras enceinte ; tu engendreras des enfans avec douleur, et ta volonté doit être soumise à Ion mari , et il doit être ton seigneur.
392. Ici il est clair comme le soleil que, dans le comniencemenl, l'homme n'avoit pas été fait pour engendrer d'une semblable manière; car le tout dv^voit se passer sans douleur, sans engrossertient bestial , sans femelle et sans mâle. C'est pourquoi le briseurde serpent devoil être engendré d'une vierge sans la semence de l'bouune. Quoique depuis la chute, cela doive se |jasser selon la manière humaine , ceci a eu lieu seulement afin que la divinité pût entrer dans la chair, et que l'ame déchue pût être engendrée de nouveau de la chair ténébreuse, ou de la mort à la vie. Dureste , le héros est absolument le fiis de la vierge , et une vierge dans sa base atlective , semblable au premier Adam dans la création. 23, Car tu dois essentiellement et soigneusement considérer quelle personne est le Christ. Il est premièrement Dieu , et il est engendré dans le père de réiernité ; du père de l'éternité ; de toute éternité ; sans commencement ni fin ; de la profondeur du lout-puissant ; des portes brisées de l'aigu de Dieu. €Îans l'habitation oîi le père attire l'aimable joiedanj son éternelle volonté; d'où la volonté est élernelnient imprégnée de la vertu attirée de la lumière, de laquelle imprégnation le père conçoit la seconde \olonté d'engendrer la puissance 5 et cette concepcn, 18. ( 63 ) tion est sa parole 9 que le père prononce de la volonté , devant la volonté. Or , ce qui est prononcé demeure dans la bouche du père , comme une parole conçue par la seconde volonté. L'expansion qui s'étend hors de la parole prononcée, et qui sort de la volonté par la parole , est l'esprit de la bouche de Dieu , ou l'esprit saint; et ce qui est prononcé devant la volonté , est l'éternelle sagesse de Dieu> la vierge de la chasteté , ou la sophie.
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.
1principle, come forth from the first principle, has regenerated man anew by itself, and has delivered him from the choleric bond: each of these principles must bind in its rank in its eternity; and nevertheless God alone is the lord and the sole all-powerful 5 however the eternal bond is indissoluble: otherwise the divinity would also be dissoluble; but all must remain to God for his joy and for his glory. He is the sole creator of all things, and all must be uncovered before him, as it is written: thou shalt see and thou shalt rejoice at the punishment of the impious. Now, however, in the second principle there is no desire for vengeance. But in the sharp of the breaking of the first into the second, there where the soul darts forth from the torment into the paradisiac joy, it rejoices, that the instigator who has tormented it is prisoner, and that it is now in safety before him, just as it is then a joy in the kingdom of the heavens, that the proud demon is prisoner in the first principle, so that he can no more sadden the heaven, and inflame the habitation of the pure and holy element. 17. That is why, there is also in heaven a great joy on the subject of this world, of 03 that there is there a principle begotten; of that thus the demon can no more make use of the anger that he spread and kindled in the time of his creation, but that he is prisoner between two reigns which, both of them, are good. , 18. Thus thou must understand what it is, when cm 18. ( 61 )
2scripture speaks of the vengeance against the impious, of there being upon that a joy among the saints. For the rage and the torment of hell are the joy of heaven; if there were no torment, then there would be no ascension. But when the light comes into the choleric torment, then it is a pure joy. Now in the darkness there is inwardly an opposition with itself, and it is therein that the eternal worm is begotten. 19. That is why thou must know that God is thus all in all. There where he is not in love, in light, he is in darkness, in harshness and in anguish; for before the time of the creation there was nothing but the source, and besides the divinity; the whole abides in eternity, and there is no other foundation; thou shalt find nothing more. Dispense thyself from seeking into the depth, for that is the limit of nature. 20. Although these manifestations have remained hidden since the beginning of the world, nevertheless as it must, at last, go away into its Ether, and into destruction 5 all that is hidden in nature discovers itself. Also there will be very great things manifested which have not yet been so; and that is the mystery of the aurora of the day. That is why it is time to awake, for the awakening of the dead is near. 2i.When God pronounced the sentence to Adam and prepared for him the bruiser of the serpent for his consolation and his assistance in his afflictions upon the earth 3 he pronounced also the sentence to Eve, and estab1 ( 62 ) CH. 18. lished her formally to be a woman in this world, and said to her: I will prepare thee great pains when thou shalt be with child; thou shalt bring forth children with pain, and thy will must be submitted to thy husband, and he must be thy lord.
392. Here it is clear as the sun that, in the beginning, man had not been made to beget in a like manner; for the whole was to pass without pain, without bestial impregnation, without female and without male. That is why the bruiser of the serpent was to be begotten of a virgin without the seed of man. Although since the fall, that must pass according to the human manner, this took place only in order that the divinity might enter into the flesh, and that the fallen soul might be begotten anew from the tenebrous flesh, or from death to life. For the rest, the hero is absolutely the son of the virgin, and a virgin in his affective base, like the first Adam in the creation. 23, For thou must essentially and carefully consider what person the Christ is. He is firstly God, and he is begotten in the father from eternity; of the father of eternity; from all eternity; without beginning nor end; from the depth of the all-powerful; from the broken gates of the sharp of God; in the habitation where the father draws the amiable joy into his eternal will; whence the will is eternally impregnated with the virtue drawn from the light, of which impregnation the father conceives the second will to beget the power 5 and this concepcn, 18. ( 63 ) tion is his word 9 that the father pronounces from the will, before the will. Now, that which is pronounced abides in the mouth of the father, as a word conceived by the second will. The expansion which extends out of the pronounced word, and which goes forth from the will by the word, is the spirit of the mouth of God, or the holy spirit; and that which is pronounced before the will, is the eternal wisdom of God, the virgin of chastity, or the sophia.
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.