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.
161. Ensuite quand l'arae veut revenir, elle trouve .de grands obstacles sur son chemin 5 car cet te teinture si précieuse et sibelle, brille devant l'éléujcnl, comme un drap souillé. Là se trouve le démon 5 il vous lit les lois qui concernent cet objet : la pauvre ame tremble ; le doute commence ; et quaud il s'agit de briser les portes amères du cliélubiu , elle s'eflraie sans cesse que la colère de Dieu ne la saisisse et ne l'enflamme , comme cela arrive aussi véritablement, si elle n'est pas engendrécde nouveau euChrist par une sincère pénitence. 62. C'est pourquoi , ô ! homme, pense que ce que lu sèmes ici tu le receuilleras. Prends ton exemple eu Caïu. Voudrois-tu le persuader que ce fût là une fable inventée. Demande seulemeut à ton propre esprit ; il te convaincra , à moins que tu ne sois déjà trop forlemeut Ué par le démon. 63. Considère les effioyables punitions de la colère de Dieu depuis le commencement du monde jusqu'à présent. Le déluge est une punition deTimpudicilé , par le moyen de quoi la colère de Dieu ;tl ( ,s4 ) "• '^ Touloit noyer le malras ou le foyer de l'ardeur impudique ; c'esl pourquoi il punit le mondepar l eau : car l'eau est la matrice de toutes clioses.
264. C'est pourquoi Dieu a établi lui-même le maxiaVe entre Adam et Eve , et les a liés fermement par une forte chaîne . lorsqu'il dit : L'I^mmeabandonnera son pir. et »a mire , et .'attachera à «. femme, et les deux seront une seule chair. Dieu toléra leur ardeur , en tant qu'ils dévoient être unis dans un amour fidèle et chaste , comme un corps à ses membres , et en outre se proposer la génération des enfans dans la crainte de Dieu : autrement, l'ardeur en soi-même sans le fidèle amour de i'<.«.aii«, est absolument un attract bestial et un péché ; et si dans le mariage tu ne cherches que l'ardeur , il ne le place pas d'un cran au - dessus d'une bêle. Fais donc attention à ce que tu es ; sans cela , dans ta bestiale génération . tu agis contrea première création , et tu es comme toutes les betes^ car le saint homme en Adam n'élo.t pas destiné à s'engendrer ainsi , mais de soi-même , dans un nrand et chaste amour. 65. C'est pourquoi, 6! homme , considère com „ent tu uses de ton ardeur bestiale ; elle est en soi une abomination devant Dieu , soit dan» le mariage, soit hors du mariage. Mais le vrai «""O"; «" * fidélité dans la crainte de Dieu peuvent voiler cette «deur devant la face de Dieu ; et par le fil» de la vierge, tu peux engendrer une créature pure non souillée . si la confiance '1«'"«"^* ,*" 'f^j^"- . ,, 66. Mai» pour les prostitués et les débauchés ta. 20. ( i55 ) qui courent ainsi, dans l'ardeur, hors du mariage > nous n'avons rien de plus à leur dire. Aussi nous lie voyons , dans la lumière de la nature , qu'abominalioD» dans la colère de Dieu, et si une sincère pénitence ue se fait pas avec Marie-Magdeleine , dans la régénération , nous ne voyons que la colère de Dieu et le feu infernal pour récompense. Amen. Vu juste et pieux .4bel. Im porte de F église
3chrélienne. 67. Puisqu'Adam et Eve s'ëloient donc adonnés à l'esprit de ce monde , et vivoient dans deux règnes : savoir ; dans le saint élément devant Dieu , et secondement dans Textra-génération des quatre élcmens qui alteignoient le règne le plus extérieui * ou le royaume de la colère , alors aussi des enfans de deux espèces furent engendrés par eux ; savoir : un détracteur et un homme pieux , comme cela se voit chez Abraham dans Isaac et Ismael , aussi bien que dans Jacob et Esau. 68. Quoique l'église de Babel se vante beaucoup ici de son élection , d'après le plan de Dieu , elle a cependant aussi peu de connoissance de ces choses que la tour de Babel en a de Dieu , elle , dont le sommet devoit atteindre jusqu'au ciel 69. Quand même il seroit possible qu'un enfant ne passât pas de la colère do Dieu dans l'amour , cependant l'amour paroît pleinement dans la brisure des portes , et ce n'est que faute de pénitence que l'homme se laisse retenir par le démon. ( i56 ) CH. îo. 70. Et l'encroûtement dans la progéniture n'est pas tel que Tame , hors du sein de la mère , soit morte devant Dieu , ou que Dieu ne voulût pomt d^elle. La colère a beau être dans le bouillonnement du père, Dieu n'est pas moins le père, et il engendre de soi-même son aimable cœur , et son amour dans la joie , dans les portes brisées. Seroitil donc divisé d'avec lui-même parce que sa colère est sous la racine de l'amour ? se combat troil-il donc lui-même? sa colère est sa force , sa toute puissance , et un feu dévorant ; et son cœur dans l'amour est son humble douceur ; toutefois ce qui s'approche et se jète dans sa colère , doit êlre saisi par la colère. , 1 i>
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.
161. Afterward when the soul will return, it finds great obstacles in its way 5 for this tincture so precious and so beautiful, shines before the element, like a soiled cloth. There is found the demon 5 he reads you the laws which concern this object: the poor soul trembles; doubt begins; and when it is a question of breaking the bitter gates of the cherub, it takes fright unceasingly lest the anger of God seize it and inflame it, as that happens also truly, if it is not begotten anew in Christ by a sincere penitence. 62. That is why, O! man, think that what thou sowest here thou wilt reap. Take thy example in Cain. Wouldst thou persuade thyself that that were an invented fable? Ask only thy own spirit; it will convince thee, unless thou be already too strongly bound by the demon. 63. Consider the frightful punishments of the anger of God from the beginning of the world until the present. The deluge is a punishment of impudicity, by means of which the anger of God ;tl ( ,s4 ) "• '^ would drown the matrass or the hearth of the unchaste ardour; that is why he punished the world by water: for water is the matrix of all things.
264. That is why God himself established marriage between Adam and Eve, and bound them firmly by a strong chain, when he said: The man shall abandon his father and his mother, and shall attach himself to his wife, and the two shall be one single flesh. God tolerated their ardour, inasmuch as they were to be united in a faithful and chaste love, as a body to its members, and besides to propose to themselves the generation of children in the fear of God: otherwise, ardour in itself without the faithful love of the soul, is absolutely a bestial attract and a sin; and if in marriage thou seekest only ardour, it places thee not a degree above a beast. Give attention then to what thou art; without that, in thy bestial generation, thou actest against the first creation, and thou art like all the beasts; for the holy man in Adam was not destined to beget himself thus, but of himself, in a great and chaste love. 65. That is why, 6! man, consider how thou usest thy bestial ardour; it is in itself an abomination before God, be it in marriage, be it out of marriage. But the true love and the fidelity in the fear of God can veil this ardour before the face of God; and by the son of the virgin, thou canst beget a pure creature not soiled, if the confidence '1«'"«"^* ,*" 'f^j^"-. 66. But for the prostituted and the debauched ta. 20. ( i55 ) who run thus, in ardour, out of marriage, we have nothing more to say to them. Also we see, in the light of nature, only abominations in the anger of God, and if a sincere penitence is not made with Mary-Magdalene, in the regeneration, we see only the anger of God and the infernal fire for recompense. Amen. Of the just and pious .4bel. The gate of the church
3christian. 67. Since Adam and Eve had then given themselves up to the spirit of this world, and lived in two reigns: to wit; in the holy element before God, and secondly in the extra-generation of the four elements which reached the most exterior reign or the kingdom of anger, then also children of two kinds were begotten by them; to wit: a detractor and a pious man, as that is seen with Abraham in Isaac and Ishmael, as well as in Jacob and Esau. 68. Although the church of Babel boasts much here of its election, according to the plan of God, it has nevertheless as little knowledge of these things as the tower of Babel has of God, it, whose summit was to reach even to heaven 69. Even though it were possible that a child should not pass from the anger of God into love, nevertheless love appears fully in the breaking of the gates, and it is only for want of penitence that man lets himself be retained by the demon. ( i56 ) CH. îo. 70. And the encrustation in the progeny is not such that the soul, out of the bosom of the mother, be dead before God, or that God would not have it. The anger may well be in the boiling of the father, God is not the less the father, and he begets of himself his amiable heart, and his love in joy, in the broken gates. Would he then be divided from himself because his anger is under the root of love? would he then combat himself? his anger is his force, his omnipotence, and a devouring fire; and his heart in love is his humble sweetness; however that which approaches and casts itself into his anger, must be seized by the anger. , 1 i>
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.