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.
1et que notre prînre Michel est venu a son secours ? On voit bien par là comment les princes et les troues des anges combattent contre le royaume de la colère , et assistent les hommes ; car la raison de cela est que le démon stimule la colère de Dieu contre les hommes : or , les anges de Dieu , et les prince^; des trônes l'arrêtent à leur tour , parce que vraiment Dieu ne vent point le mal. 91. Il nous faut particulièrement au sujet d'Abel et de CaVn , remarquer quels ont été leurs plaus et leurs intentions. Caïn a été un cultivateur , et Abel im berger. Abel avoit fondé son troupeau sur la bénédiction de Dieu , pour se nourrir par la bénédiction de Dieu ; et Caïn s'étoit fondé sur son propre travail , pour se nourrir par sa propre industrie. Alors Eve s'attacha à Caïu , et Adam à Abel. Car, elle regarda Caïn comme le prince de la terre àqui le règne apparienoit , et elle supposa que comme un héros , il donneroit bien la chasse au démon quoiqu'elle ne connût pas ce démon. 92. Mais si l'on cherche très profondément voici la vraie base que Von trompe. Eve étoit l'enfant dans la matrice d'Adam , de façon que si Adam n'avoit pas été vaincu , il auroit engendré de soimême dans une grande chasteté et une grande sainteté 5 mais comme la matrice d'Adam fut imprégnée de l'esprit de ce monde , alors Dieu devoit construire de là une femme charnelle, qui ensuite aussi fut ardente dans son premier fruit , et fut infectée du démon , de même que le limbus en Adam. ( i64 ) «H- »«• q3. C'est pourquoi aussi ils ont engendré un enfen. impie qui "'«voit que des vices C"P.des, «eU qu'en a eu Eve qui vouloit ê.re semblable a D.eu. îer.aiaemeu. Adam a été aussi infecté deces mêmes poisons; aulremen. il ne seroi. paseulré dans lespril de ce monde. • eu r ,ïn •
2P4 Ainsi en un mot , tel fulauss. son fils Ca.n , îl supposa qu'il éloit le seigneur de la terre ,et ne vit point de bon œil que son frère eût aussi quelques avantages. Delà il résulta que quand .Iv.tquoc frère é.oit agréable devant Dieu , il le vexa , et imagina qu'Abel ponrroit bien être seigneur sur la Le -il ne s'occupa point de la cra.nte de D.eu dans ses sacrifices , quoiqu'il sacrifiât .epenJan i ,„ais comme un hypocrite , et dans la vue d'e.endre sa dominaiion. • i y.- « a^ Et ici commence le royaume anlichrétien , oî; l'on donne devant Dieu de bonnes paroles, tandis que le cœur est possédé parla cupidité et ne s'occupe qu'à dominer par la puissance e 1 1 autor.te sur le malheureuxquiseconfieeu Dieu. C'est pourquoi l'antecUrist a son Dieu danssa cassette et dans ?a forte de sa puissance , et il a à sa suite l hypoisie et l'astuce. Dans sa prière d ne désire de Dieu que le royaume de ce monde -, son cœur ne cesse point de persécuter et de chasser le pauvre Abel. Mais Abel s'adresse au seigneur et son cœur s'incline vers l'amour de Dieu dans la véritable image ; car il désire le royaume céleste , et ,ci ba. les bénédictions de Dieu , pour le soutien de sou existence corporelle. CH. 20. ( i65 ) 96. Or, le démon ne peut pas souffrir qu'une éfi^ise sainte parvienne à croître dans son pays ; il veut toujours tuer Abel , comme en effet cela arriva alors. Dès que Caïn ne craignoit point Dieu , le démon obtint un accès en lui , et réveilla la cogère innée en Caïn contre Abel , de façon qu'it le lun.
397. Là ccrlnlnement , tons les démons se seront félicités , et auront dit : Maintenant le royaume est encore à noifs ; ce dont Adam et Eve furent effrayés lorsqu'ils virent que celui qu'ils avoient pris pour nn prince étort tm meurtrier ; et ils se privèrent des droits du mariage pendant soixanle-dix ans , comme les traditions rabiniques le publient. 98. Quoiqu'il en soit, ils désirèrent cependant beaucoup un autre briseur de serpent ; et aussi leur rœur s'inclina-t-il alors vers Dieu , de façon que soixanle-dix ans après ce meurtre , ils ont engendrenn fils saint craignant Dieu , qui a établi de nouveau la pure église de la crainte de Dieu et de la promesse faite au sujet de la semence de la femme r c'est lui qu'ils ont nommé Seth^eX qui engendra à son tour un fils pieux, nommé Enos. Alors on a commencé à annoncer et enseigner Dieu manifestement, et l'église chrétienne s'est toujours élevée comme un petit troupeau malgré toutes les. tempêtes du démon. 99. Mais Caïn s^éleva en dominateur au-dessus f>e sa famille , d'où est venue la dominaiion et ley gouvernemens de ce monde , le tout engendré selon i*iufluence des étoiles , par l'espiit du grand monde ^ ( 166 ) ™. ao el nonpoî.f ordonné ainsi par la claire diviui.é, comme le suppose le dominaleur Caïu. _ ,00. Il es. vrai que comme le mo.ule élo.t a.nsi devenu méchau. e. meurtrier , il falloit qu'.l y cul des juges Cl <les niagis.raU pour que la colero fût conletiue par la punition el par la cramle. Toutefois si lu .lois resté dans l'amour, tu u auro.s eu aucun mailre ; mais .les frères et des s«ur* qui se seroieni chéris.
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.
1and that our prince Michael came to his succour? One sees well thereby how the princes and the thrones of the angels combat against the kingdom of anger, and assist men; for the reason of that is that the demon stimulates the anger of God against men: now, the angels of God, and the princes of the thrones arrest it in their turn, because truly God wills not evil. 91. We must particularly upon the subject of Abel and of Cain, remark what have been their plans and their intentions. Cain was a cultivator, and Abel a shepherd. Abel had founded his flock upon the benediction of God, to nourish himself by the benediction of God; and Cain had founded himself upon his own labour, to nourish himself by his own industry. Then Eve attached herself to Cain, and Adam to Abel. For, she regarded Cain as the prince of the earth to whom the reign belonged, and she supposed that as a hero, he would well give chase to the demon although she knew not this demon. 92. But if one seeks very profoundly here is the true base that one deceives. Eve was the child in the matrix of Adam, so that if Adam had not been vanquished, he would have begotten of himself in a great chastity and a great holiness 5 but as the matrix of Adam was impregnated with the spirit of this world, then God was to construct from thence a carnal woman, who afterward also was ardent in her first fruit, and was infected by the demon, just as the limbus in Adam. ( i64 ) «H- »«• q3. That is why also they begot an impious child who had only covetous vices, such as Eve had who would be like to God. Certainly Adam was also infected with these same poisons; otherwise he would not have entered into the spirit of this world. • eu r ,ïn •
2P4 Thus in a word, such was also his son Cain; he supposed that he was the lord of the earth, and saw not with a good eye that his brother should have also some advantages. Thence it resulted that when he saw that his brother was agreeable before God, he vexed him, and imagined that Abel might well be lord upon the earth: he occupied himself not with the fear of God in his sacrifices, although he sacrificed nevertheless, but as a hypocrite, and with a view to extending his domination. a^ And here begins the antichristian kingdom, where one gives good words before God, whilst the heart is possessed by cupidity and occupies itself only in dominating by power e 1 1 authority over the wretched one who confides in God. That is why the antichrist has his God in his casket and in the force of his power, and he has in his train hypocrisy and cunning. In his prayer he desires of God only the kingdom of this world; his heart ceases not to persecute and to chase the poor Abel. But Abel addresses himself to the lord and his heart inclines toward the love of God in the true image; for he desires the celestial kingdom, and here below the benedictions of God, for the sustenance of his corporeal existence. CH. 20. ( i65 ) 96. Now, the demon cannot suffer that a holy church should come to grow in his country; he will always kill Abel, as in effect that happened then. As soon as Cain feared not God, the demon obtained an access in him, and awakened the innate anger in Cain against Abel, so that he killed him.
397. There certainly, all the demons will have congratulated themselves, and will have said: Now the kingdom is again ours; whereat Adam and Eve were affrighted when they saw that he whom they had taken for a prince was a murderer; and they deprived themselves of the rights of marriage for seventy years, as the rabbinic traditions publish it. 98. Be that as it may, they desired however much another bruiser of the serpent; and also their heart inclined then toward God, so that seventy years after this murder, they begot a holy son fearing God, who established anew the pure church of the fear of God and of the promise made upon the subject of the seed of the woman: it is he whom they named Seth, and who begot in his turn a pious son, named Enos. Then men began to announce and teach God manifestly, and the christian church has always raised itself like a little flock in spite of all the tempests of the demon. 99. But Cain raised himself as dominator above his family, whence has come the domination and the governments of this world, the whole begotten according to the influence of the stars, by the spirit of the great world, ( 166 ) ™. ao and not at all ordained thus by the clear divinity, as the dominator Cain supposes. ,00. It is true that as the world was thus become wicked and murderous, it was necessary that there should be judges and magistrates so that the anger might be contained by punishment and by fear. However if thou hadst remained in love, thou wouldst have had no master; but brothers and sisters who would have cherished one another.
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.