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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.
185. Car dans la langue de la nature , le mot himmêlj ciel, a un autre sens. La S3rllabe him sori du cœur , ou de la vertn du père , ou bien des essences de l'a me , el pousse au - dessus de 6oi dans le ternaire saint ; là elle se serre avec les deux lèvres, et porte au-dessous de soi le nom de l'ange, c'est-à-dire, que la syllabe mfx, sigHifie l'humilité des anges , de fa^on qu'ils n'élèvent point leur cœur , en volant par orgueil dans la trinilé ; mais comme dit Isaie : Que^par liumililé ils se sont couvert la face avec leurs ailes devant le Dieu saint , et s'écrient sans cesse : Saint, Saint, Saint, est le Dieu des armées. 86. Ainsi tu comprends que cet ange est plus grand qu'un ange dans le ciel ; car il a i** un corps humain céleste ; il a 20. uneame humaine; il a 3o. l'éternelle épouse céleste , la vierge de la sagesse ou la Sophie ; el il a 4**. la tfinilé sainte : nous pouvons donc bien le nommer une personne dans la trinité sainte dans le ciel ; uu vrai homme dans le ciel ; et dans ce monde un roi éternel , un seigneur du riel et de la terre. 87. Son nom, /«^«//v, signifie cela très particulièrement dans la langue de la nature. Car la syllabe jhe est son ensevelissement hors de son père dans l'humanité, et la syllabe sus est l'iniroduclion de Tanie au-desAus du ciel dans la Iriïité , d'autant que la syllabe sos perce dans le hatit, au travers de toutes choses.
268. On a encore plus à comprendre dans le nom de cristus qui ne concerne point son incnmalion; mais qui passe comme un homme nais, «.nf au iravers de la mort: car la sjrilabe chris perce au travers de la mort et signifie son en- , dans la mort et le puissant combat ; mais la sj-llabe tus signifie sa forte puissance par laquelle .1 sort et traverse la mort ; et on entend très par..cuhèreraent.da„s la parole , comment elle sépare le rojraume de ce monde , et le monde ange!.que 1 un d'avec l'autre , de même que comment elle demeure en Dieu dans l'homme angéhque, car la sjrllabe tos est pure et imniortellc. «g. Il est vrai que nous pouvons bien ici être muets par rapport au monde j nous avons toutefois écrit pour nous; car nous comprenons ceci asse^ bien, et cela est aussi suffisamment clair pour 1 arbre du lys. Par ce lys la personne du Christ dans ses opérations et dans son essence sera bien démontrée au lecteur , et il la comprendra bien. Je vais le diriger vers la tentation du Christ dans le désert après son baptême ; puisses-tu ici ouvrir Us yeux ! et ne pas parler comme l'esprit en Babel , qui dit : Nous ne savons pas ce qu'a été sa tentation ; ainsi nous en mettons la fauie sur le démon , de ce qu'il a été assez effronté pour tenter le Christ. Nous disons en oulre : Nous ne voulons point creuser là-dedans , nous voulons différer jusqu'à ce que nous y soyons , alors non, le verrons. Ils défendent même à celui qui voit ri ( 244 ) ^^' "• «L'avoir des yeux , et de chercher et de creuser ; ils rappellent un extravagant , et ils le trafteiit d'hérétique et de fabricaleur de nouveautés.
390. O ! vous , aveugles animaux en Babel , qu'avons-nous à faire avec vous , puisque nous ne sommes pas nés dans votre royaume ? Pourquoi voulez-vous arracher notre cher Imraanuel de nosyeuK et de notre cœur , et nous rendre aveugles? C'est un péché pour nous d'écouter vos bavardages, etc [Je supprime ici quelques déclamations, ] Par vos paroles mielleuses vous faîtes que les hommes se poussent les uns et les autres vers Babel. Est-ce là où le royaume du Christ sera connu? ou plutôt ne balisez-vous pas par-là la funeste église de blasphème en Babel? où votre ccpur apostolique est-il dans l'amour? la douceur du Christ est -elle un objet de dérision pour vous? C'est lui qui dit : Jimez-vous les un» et les autres , suivez-moi ; alors on reconnoUra que vous êtes mes disciples ( Jean i3 : 84 , 35. ) On vous a dit que la colère briile dans Èabel : quand elle s'élèvera , alors les élémens trembleront et Babel brûlera dans le feu. gi. La lenlation du Christ nous découvre bien sa personne ; c'est pourquoi ouvre les yeux, ne te laisse point troubler par Babel ; il en coûte le corps et l'ame : car c'est le rude combat d'Adam dans le jardin en Eden , auquel Adam n'a pas pu résister et auquel ici le précieux héros a résisté; il a remporté la victoire dans son humanité , dans le ciel, et sur ce monde. CH. 21. ( 245 )
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.
185. For in the language of nature, the word himmel, heaven, has another sense. The s3yllable him goes out of the heart, or of the virtue of the father, or else of the essences of the soul, and pushes above it6self into the holy ternary; there it presses itself with the two lips, and bears below itself the name of the angel, that is to say, that the syllable mel signifies the humility of the angels, so that they raise not their heart, in flying by pride into the trinity; but as says Isaiah: That by humility they have covered the face with their wings before the holy God, and cry unceasingly: Holy, Holy, Holy, is the God of armies. 86. Thus thou comprehendest that this angel is greater than an angel in heaven; for he has i** a celestial human body; he has 20. a human soul; he has 3o. the eternal celestial spouse, the virgin of the wisdom or the Sophia; and he has 4**. the holy trinity: we can then well name him a person in the holy trinity in heaven; a true man in heaven; and in this world an eternal king, a lord of heaven and of earth. 87. His name, Jesus, signifies that very particularly in the language of nature. For the syllable jhe is his burial out of his father into the humanity, and the syllable sus is the introduction of the soul above heaven into the trinity, inasmuch as the syllable sos pierces into the height, through all things.
268. There is still more to comprehend in the name of christus which concerns not his incarnation; but which passes like a man born, safe through the death: for the syllable chris pierces through the death and signifies his entry into the death and the powerful combat; but the syllable tus signifies his strong power by which .1 he goes out and traverses the death; and one understands very particularly, in the word, how it separates the kingdom of this world, and the angelic world 1 the one from the other, just as how it dwells in God in the angelic man, for the syllable tos is pure and immortal. «g. It is true that we may well here be mute in respect of the world; we have however written for ourselves; for we comprehend this well enough, and that is also sufficiently clear for 1 the tree of the lily. By this lily the person of Christ in his operations and in his essence will be well demonstrated to the reader, and he will comprehend it well. I am going to direct him toward the temptation of Christ in the desert after his baptism; mayest thou here open thy eyes! and not speak like the spirit in Babel, which says: We know not what his temptation was; thus we lay the fault of it upon the demon, that he was effrontery enough to tempt the Christ. We say besides: We will not dig therein, we will defer until we be there, then we shall see it. They even forbid him who sees ri ( 244 ) ^^' "• to have eyes, and to seek and to dig; they call him an extravagant, and they treat him as a heretic and a fabricator of novelties.
390. O! you, blind animals in Babel, what have we to do with you, since we are not born in your kingdom? Why will you tear our dear Immanuel from our eyes and from our heart, and render us blind? It is a sin for us to hear your babblings, etc [ I suppress here some declamations, ] By your honeyed words you make men push one another toward Babel. Is it there that the kingdom of Christ will be known? or rather do you not thereby build the fatal church of blasphemy in Babel? where is your apostolic heart in love? is the sweetness of Christ an object of derision for you? It is he who says: Love one another, follow me; then men shall recognise that you are my disciples ( John i3 : 84 , 35. ) You have been told that the anger burns in Babel: when it shall rise, then the elements shall tremble and Babel shall burn in the fire. gi. The temptation of Christ discovers well his person; that is why open thy eyes, let thyself not be troubled by Babel; it costs the body and the soul: for it is the rude combat of Adam in the garden in Eden, which Adam could not resist and which here the precious hero resisted; he carried off the victory in his humanity, in heaven, and over this world. CH. 21. ( 245 )
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.