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.
17.. Mais il est possible de sortir de \^°f''-' .'est ainsi que son aimable cœur est engendré de la colère , qu'il appaise la colère et s'appelle v^.ment le paradis ou royame du ciel ; or , dans le/»?-^ du ciel , sa colère n'est jan^ais connue. Cesl pot^rnuoi , là aussi son élection va toujours sur les Ifans de son amour qui appartiennent au royaume du ciel. Et Saint-Paul ne dit pas autre chose de se. élection ; mais il pense que ceux qm s'aPP-f ^^ de lui , qui marchent dans son alhance , et qu. a donnent à lui , le père les attire par l'e^P"» -'" • par la mort du Christ , dans l'élément ?";.«*«-«"''' père. Isaie dit . ( 44- v- O : "« vous effrayez pas , lous, Jacob, mon serviteur, et vous,hommep.eux, que j'ai choisi. ■ J. Mais que Dieu ait l'intenl.on d'arrêter la voknté de quelqu'un et de la rendre ténébreuse, Cil. 10. ( 15; ) par un dessein formel, cela n'est pas vrai. L'esprit de Dieu se relire de l'impie qui ne combat que pour la puissance du feu ; car cet impie s'éloigne luimême de Dieu , et ne veut point de Dieu. Dieu ne se retire de personne. L'homme a une volonté libre , il peut s'attacher à ce qu'il veut 5 mais il est retenu par deux côtés , par le ciel et l'enfer : celui auquel il s'adonne , devient celui dans lequel il reste. 73. Caïn n'a pas été rejeté dans le sein de sa mère. Quoique Dieu n'aime point une fausse semence 5 cependant elle demeure libre , elle peut agir sur la colère ou sur l'amour. L'une et l'autre la reçoit , comme Saint-Paul dit lui-même (Rom. , 6, V. 16) : A qui que ce soit que vous vous soumettiez en obéissance comme esclave, vous demeurez l'esclave de celui à qui vous obéissez , soit que ce soit au péché , pour la mort , ou bien à Dieu, pour la justice.
274. Il est vrai que Dieu ne peut voir les méchantes âmes par les yeux de son amour , mais par ceux de •a colère : toutefois il est un investigateur des cœurs , et il sait bien ce qu'il y a dans l'homme, et ce que cet homme fera , lors même qu'il est encore une semence ; il ne veut point jeter les perles devant les pourceaux , mais la fausse semence n'est point de la volonté de Dieu, ni dans son plan; autrement, il auroit fallu qu'il eût voulu aussi le démon. 75. Ne sais-tu pas que l'alliance de l'éternitéest libre, et s'opère elle-même? Or, ce qui en elle &*iucline yevsDieuy est aussi engendré enDieu. Cei If' \n ( i58 ) '^«- *«• pendant l'amour ne reporte poin, f °» «f °" ^^^ i colère , mais l'amour est engendré de la colère et es. entièrement libre. C'est pourquoi aussi, dans l'amour , le cœur de Dieu est une autre personne que le père (et ne rentre point dans la colère) , et l'expansion est l'esprit saint. X Pourquoi l'ame de l'homme ne passerott-cUc pa^aussi de la colère dans l'amour , si elle deveno.f Tne autre créature engendrée dans l'amour? Sa.ntPaul dit : Ce«« que Dieu a prédestiné, , il le. a au,., sanctifié, , afi^ qu'il, furent re,.emblan, à«>n.mag,. La prédestination est dans son élection ; ,1 élit conlinuellemenl son troupeau : ceux qui viennent a lui , il les prédestine à l'éternelle vie. Loin donc <,„è quelqu'un qui désire ardemment de venir a lu. , il l'arrête, et ne veuille pas le prédestiner ; sa volonté est d'aider tous les hommes , et le Christ dit lui-môme: Fenez à moi, .-ou, tou, qui tte,fat,gui. et qui été, chargé, (c'est-à-dire, vous qui êtes chargés avec vos péchés) ,ie vou, soulagerai; c^ qui signifie : Je vous prédestinerai sûrement , et ,e vous attirerai à moi; il ne s'agit seulement que de se présenter. . j.
377. Maintenant qu'y a-t-il donc dans les voies do rimpie, pour qu'il ne vienne pas? L'épée de colère de l'ange Chérub, qu'il ne veut pas briser. Le inonde llatieur et doux dans ses caresses, plait trop à sa cLair et à son sang. Il ne veut pas rompre son affection, ce dont il a cependant la puissance i s'il la brise , il est aussitôt attiré de Dieu, par le Christ , vers le père 5 et à l'inslaat il est choisi pour CH. 20. ( '% ) enfant de Dieu, et devient d'une image de serpent une image angélique. 78. Car tant que l'image est dans la colère , elle est l'image du serpent; mais si, dans le brisement^ elle sort de !a colère, alors il lui est figuré par le briseur de serpent une image céleste , et la tête du serpent est brisée. Les deux règnes combattent l'un et l'autre , et celui qui l'emporte, figure l'image. 79. C'est pourquoi on voit combien dans Adam et Eve la colère a été grande , tellement que le royaume de la colère a vaincu plutôt que le royaume céleste 5 et l'homme détracteur est né plutôt que l'homme pieux. 80. Mais aussi la faute en est aux parens. S'ils n'avoient pas péché, et laissé entrer en eux la colère, cela ne seroit pas arrivé : il en est de même encore aujourd'hui. 8r. Quoiqu'il soit vrai que la nature s'empare de l'enfant , et le figure dans le sein de la mère ; cependant la région des étoiles n'a rien autre chose que l'image dans les quatre élémens , et non point l'image dans l'élément saint. 8a. Quand même cette région figureroit un homme, à l'extérieur, assez bestialement , avec peu d'intelligence, cela ne fait rien: l'homme extérieur est la bête des étoiles ; mais l'intérieur dans l'élément est l'image de Dieu : or, l'image divine ne se forme point dans l'extérieur, mais dans l'élément ijitérieur.
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.
17.. But it is possible to go out of the \^°f''-' .'it is thus that his amiable heart is begotten of the anger, that he appeases the anger and is called truly paradise or kingdom of heaven; now, in the kingdom of heaven, his anger is never known. That is why, there also his election goes always upon the children of his love who belong to the kingdom of heaven. And Saint-Paul says nothing else of his election; but he thinks that those who approach him, who walk in his alliance, and who give themselves to him, the father draws them by the spirit, by the death of Christ, into the element ?";.«*«-«"''' father. Isaiah says ( 44- v- O ): be not affrighted, you, Jacob, my servant, and you, pious man, whom I have chosen. J. But that God should have the intention of arresting the will of someone and rendering it tenebrous, Cil. 10. ( 15; ) by a formal design, that is not true. The spirit of God withdraws itself from the impious one who combats only for the power of fire; for this impious one withdraws himself from God, and will not have God. God withdraws himself from no one. Man has a free will, he can attach himself to what he wills 5 but he is retained on two sides, by heaven and hell: he to whom he gives himself, becomes he in whom he remains. 73. Cain was not rejected in the bosom of his mother. Although God loves not a false seed 5 nevertheless it remains free, it can act upon the anger or upon love. Both the one and the other receive it, as Saint-Paul says himself (Rom. , 6, V. 16): To whomsoever you submit yourselves in obedience as a slave, you remain the slave of him whom you obey, be it that it be to sin, for death, or else to God, for justice.
274. It is true that God cannot see the wicked souls by the eyes of his love, but by those of his anger: however he is an investigator of hearts, and he knows well what there is in man, and what this man will do, even when he is still a seed; he will not cast the pearls before the swine, but the false seed is not of the will of God, nor in his plan; otherwise, it would have been necessary that he had willed also the demon. 75. Knowest thou not that the alliance of eternity is free, and operates itself? Now, that which in it inclines toward God, is also begotten in God. Ne If' \n ( i58 ) '^«- *«• vertheless love carries not back into the anger, but love is begotten of the anger and is entirely free. That is why also, in love, the heart of God is another person than the father ( and re-enters not into the anger ), and the expansion is the holy spirit. X Why should the soul of man not pass also from the anger into love, if it became another creature begotten in love? Saint-Paul says: Those that God has predestined, he has also sanctified them, so that they were resembling to his image. Predestination is in his election; ,1he elects continually his flock: those who come to him, he predestines them to eternal life. Far then that someone who desires ardently to come to him, he should arrest him, and be unwilling to predestine him; his will is to aid all men, and the Christ says himself: Come to me, you all who are weary and who are laden ( that is to say, you who are laden with your sins ), I will relieve you; which signifies: I will predestine you surely, and I will draw you to me; it is only a question of presenting oneself.
377. Now what is there then in the ways of the impious one, that he comes not? The sword of anger of the angel Cherub, which he will not break. The flattering and sweet world in its caresses, pleases too much his flesh and his blood. He will not break his affection, whereof he has however the power; if he breaks it, he is at once drawn of God, by the Christ, toward the father 5 and in the instant he is chosen for CH. 20. ( '% ) a child of God, and becomes from an image of serpent an angelic image. 78. For as long as the image is in the anger, it is the image of the serpent; but if, in the breaking, it goes out of the anger, then there is figured for it by the bruiser of the serpent a celestial image, and the head of the serpent is broken. The two reigns combat one another, and he who carries it, figures the image. 79. That is why one sees how much in Adam and Eve the anger has been great, so much that the kingdom of anger vanquished rather than the celestial kingdom 5 and the detractor man was born rather than the pious man. 80. But also the fault of it is the parents'. If they had not sinned, and let the anger enter into them, that would not have happened: it is the same still to-day. 8r. Although it be true that nature seizes the child, and figures it in the bosom of the mother; nevertheless the region of the stars has nothing else than the image in the four elements, and not at all the image in the holy element. 8a. Even though this region should figure a man, exteriorly, bestially enough, with little intelligence, that matters nothing: the exterior man is the beast of the stars; but the interior in the element is the image of God: now, the divine image forms itself not in the exterior, but in the interior element.
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.