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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.
16i. Le mystère que nous n'avions jamais connu auparavant , se présente à nous. Nous n'en avions jamais non plus connu la base , et nous ne nou^ sommes jamais jugés digne d'une semblable maDifestation, mais puisqu'elle se montre à nos yeu* avec la grâce de Dieu par la miséricorde du gracieux fils de Dieu , notre seigneur Jésus-Cbrist , nous ne voulons pas ainsi être un paresseux , mais travailler dans le jardin du lys pour l'amour de notre prochain , et pour les enfans de l'espérance , parliculièrement pour le pauvre malade Lazare , qui est étendu , blessé dans Babjrlone , et qui après sa douloureuse maladie sera guéri dans l'odeur du lys. Quand il sera sorti de Babylone , nous voulons lui présenter dans Hébron une racine , dont il éprouvera la puissance, et afin qu'il sorte de Babylone en état de santé. 6s. Car la vierge sophie nous a fait présent d'une rose , au sujet de laquelle nous écrivons avec de» paroles conformes à ce que nous voyons dans les merveilles} et nous ne pouvons en écrire autrement , ou bien notre plume seroit brisée , la rose »ous seroit enlevée, et nous serions comme nous étions auparavant 5 -d'ailleurs la rose est dans le centre du paradis dans la main de la sophie , elle nous atteint dans le même lieu, où elle es, venue au-devant de nous dans les portes de la profondeur, et nous a offert son amour. Là nous sommes situés «nr la montagne vers le nord , en combat et en tempête devant Babel. Mais cette sophie , notre homme terrestre . ne l'a ni vue ni connue.
263. C'est pourquoi nos écrits tiennent à une autre école dans aquelle le corps terrestre , avec ses sens , n a jamais étudié ni jamais appris l'A , B , C Car dans la rose de la vierge so«,.p,. nous avons appris' A , iJ , C , que nous supposions propre à éclairer les sens de la base affective , mais cela ne pouvoit pas être : ils sont trop rudes et trop ténébreux ■ ils «e pourraient pas saisir l'objet, e, c'est à causé de ce a que e corps terrestre doi, rester ignorant dans cette école , et sa langue ne pourroit pas s'élever a cette .science. Car le tact , le goût et l'inclinauon pour cette école, restent cachés dans les portes de la profondeur dans le centre. C'est pourquoi nous aurions tort de nous vanter de cette école; Wr elle n'est pas la propriété des sens et des affecSion. de l'homme terrestre. Si nous nous éloignons de la noble vierge «ophu qui est dans 1« centre ( 8o ) CH- '8nous n'en savons pas plus qu'une autre sur cette école, comme cela arriva à Adam, lorsqu'il passa du paradis de Dieu dans le sommeil qui le surmonta : il ne connut plus rien du paradis à son réveil dans ce monde, et n'aperçut plus sa chère vierge sophie. 64. C'est pourquoi nous n'avons aucune puissance , force , ni intelligence pour enseigner les merveilles de Dieu dans notre volonté terrestre , nous ne connoissonsrien en cela selon notre être naturel, et personne n'a rien à exiger de notre volonté propre , car nous n'avons rien.
36s. Mais voici ce que l'esprit déclare : Si vous sortez de Babel dans la douceur de Jésus-Christ , alors l'esprit vous donnera dans Hébron des professeurs avec une grande puissance , par laquelle puissance les élémens trembleront , les portes de l'abîme s'ouvriront'; et les maladies sortiront de Lazare par la parole et les prodiges de ces hommes; car le tems est prf-s , l'époux vient. 66. Si maintenant nous consultions notre propre raison , et que , dans la contemplation de notre haute connoissance , nous aperçussions ce que le inonde a introduit en faveur de Babel dans cet article , dont nous voulons traiter ici, dans lequel l'antechrist s'est établi , et a montré sa grande puissance ; notre propre raison pourroit bien nous retenir, à cause du grand danger de la colère de l'antechrist qui pourroit nous résister. Mais puisque cela se présente à nous sans noire connoissance, uous aimons mieux être obéissans à la voix de Dieu c». 18. ( 8t ) qu'à la crainte terrestre, dans l'espérance que noiis tecluistbnserou notre corps terrestre (ce qui est ncanmoius sous la permission de Dieu à laquelle nous ne devons pas nous opposer ) , nous voulons cependant considérer moius ce qui estpérissab; que ce q.,1 es. à venir. Ces. là où il nous faut atle.ndre ; c'est la noire vraie patrie , celle d'où nous sommes sortis en Adam. Or, l'espri. appelle l'a..en. 1.0.1 de tous les hommes sur ce miroir, 67 On a jusqu'à présent honoré 'et invoqué I» ......e verge Marie et les autres sain.s qui ont existe .Cl ; cependant dans la base de la lumière de
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.
16i. The mystery that we had never known before, presents itself to us. Neither had we ever known the base of it, and we have never judged ourselves worthy of a like manifestation, but since it shows itself to our eyes with the grace of God by the mercy of the gracious son of God, our lord Jesus-Christ, we will not thus be a sluggard, but labour in the garden of the lily for the love of our neighbour, and for the children of hope, particularly for the poor sick Lazarus, who is stretched out, wounded in Babylon, and who after his painful malady will be healed in the odour of the lily. When he shall have come out of Babylon, we will present to him in Hebron a root, of which he shall prove the power, and that he may come out of Babylon in a state of health. 6s. For the virgin sophia has made us a present of a rose, upon the subject of which we write with words conformable to what we see in the marvels; and we cannot write otherwise, or else our pen would be broken, the rose would be taken from us, and we should be as we were before 5 besides the rose is in the centre of paradise in the hand of the sophia, it reaches us in the same place, where it came before us in the gates of the depth, and offered us its love. There we are situated on the mountain toward the north, in combat and in tempest before Babel. But this sophia, our terrestrial man has neither seen nor known.
263. That is why our writings belong to another school in which the terrestrial body, with its senses, has never studied nor ever learned the A, B, C. For in the rose of the virgin SOPHIA we have learned A, B, C, which we supposed proper to enlighten the senses of the affective base, but that could not be: they are too rude and too tenebrous; they could not seize the object, and it is because of that that the terrestrial body must remain ignorant in this school, and its tongue could not raise itself to this science. For the touch, the taste and the inclination for this school, remain hidden in the gates of the depth in the centre. That is why we should be wrong to boast of this school; for it is not the property of the senses and of the affections of the terrestrial man. If we withdraw from the noble virgin SOPHIA who is in 1the centre ( 8o ) CH- '8we know no more of this school than another, as that happened to Adam, when he passed from the paradise of God into the sleep which overcame him: he knew nothing more of paradise at his awakening in this world, and no longer perceived his dear virgin sophia. 64. That is why we have no power, force, nor intelligence to teach the marvels of God in our terrestrial will, we know nothing in that according to our natural being, and no one has anything to exact of our own will, for we have nothing.
36s. But here is what the spirit declares: If you come out of Babel in the sweetness of Jesus-Christ, then the spirit will give you in Hebron professors with a great power, by which power the elements shall tremble, the gates of the abyss shall open; and the maladies shall go out of Lazarus by the word and the prodigies of these men; for the time is near, the bridegroom comes. 66. If now we consulted our own reason, and if, in the contemplation of our high knowledge, we perceived what the world has introduced in favour of Babel in this article, of which we will treat here, in which the antichrist has established himself, and has shown his great power; our own reason might well hold us back, because of the great danger of the anger of the antichrist who might resist us. But since that presents itself to us without our knowledge, we had rather be obedient to the voice of God c». 18. ( 8t ) than to terrestrial fear, in the hope that we tecluistbnserou our terrestrial body ( which is nevertheless under the permission of God to which we must not oppose ourselves ), we will however consider less that which is perishable than that which1 is to come. It is there that we must wait; that is our true fatherland, that whence we came out in Adam. Now, the spirit calls the attention 1.0.1 of all men upon this mirror, 67 Men have until the present honoured and invoked I» ......e virgin Mary and the other saints who have existed here; nevertheless in the base of the light of
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.