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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.
1terrestre. Et il hiî en fut accordé un. Alors îl saisit le corps avec Tame , les porta sur le sommet du temple, et dit : Laisse-toi tomber en bas ; car tu es puissant , et tu peux tout faire , et le monde verra que tu es Dieu, et que tu as vaincu. C'est là le véritable esprit séducteur par lequel le démon veut toujours monter au-dessus des trônes, au-dessus de la divinité : or, il ne va jamais qu'en lui-même, dans le feu infernal ; Qt il n'atteint pas la divinité. 107. Ici Adam fut aussi éprouvé , pour savoir s'il mettroit fermement son imagination dans le cœur de Dieu , auquel cas il seroit resté dans le paradis ; mais comme il détourna sa base affective du cœur de Dieu , vers l'esprit de ce monde , et qu'il voulut iponler au -dessus de l'humilité, et être égal à Dieu • alors il alla au-delà du trône de Dieu , dans l'esprit de l'àprelé et de la colère. 108. C'est pourquoi l'ame du Christ devoit ici être vraiment éprouvée , pour savoir si elle vouloit aussi mainlenant s'envoler dans l'orgueil , dans la puissance du feu , puisqu'elle avoit reçu le pain du ciel 5 ou bien si elle vouloit ne voir que le cœur de Dieu dans l'humilité, et s'y abandonner,pour qu'eilçi fut uniquement attachée à la volonté de Dieu • qu'elle devînt un ange d'humilité , et qu'elle ne se reposât en rien sur elle-même , pour voler dans sa piopre puissance. io<j. L'on voit ici la principale œuvre du démon : coii;menl il emploie l'écriture , en disant : Les anges te soutiendront de leur main ; tandis que cependant il n'éloit pas là question du corps, mais de VeuaiQ ( 252 ) CH. 21*
2qu'il vbuloît m3ner dans l'orgueil , afin qu'elle pût «e séparer d ; i'amour de Dieu , et se laisser porter par les anges ; qu'elle se séparât de rechef du nouveau corps, qui sans cela peut bien voler; qu'elle pût prendre un élan en bas dans le vieux corps , et se reposer sur les anges , et qu'elle pût ainsi de nouveau se détourner de Dieu,vers l'esprit de ce monde. iio. Mais on voit la vaillance du Christ. Quoiqu'il fût debout avec son corps terrestre au sommet du temple, il recommanda cependant son corps terrestre àDieu^et sefîa en lui,comnie étant par-tout enDieu; et il dit au démon : // esi écrit : Tu ne tenteras point le seigneur ton 2>i£r//. Ici véritablement l'orgueil du démon dans la colère fut renversé ; et l'humilité ,la force et la puissance demeurèrent à notre Christ. L'ame du Christ entra dans le ternaire saint , dam l'humble amour, et se maria avec l'humble, chaste vierge de la sagesse de Dieu , ou la sopuie. m. Comme donc le démon avoit perdu des deux côtés , il vint avec une dernière puissante tentation, ainsi qu'il en avoit agi avec à Adam : il lui offrit de lui donner tout l'Univers , s'il vouloit se prosterner devant lui , et l'adorer. 112. Adam aussi avoitété préoccupé de ce monde; il vouloit attirer ce monde à lui , et être ainsi par là égal à Dieu , puisque Dieu avoit attiré ce monde à soi, pour j manifester ses grandes merveilles; alors Adam se dit , dans l'ame : Tu es l'image de Dieu, tu dois aussi agir ainsi; pour lors tu seras comme Dieu. Mais par-là il se détourna de Dieu ^ vers l'esprit de ce monde. CH. 22. ( 253 )
3ii3. Or, le second Adam devoit soutenir la vocation du premier. Ainsi alors il fut éprouvé , pour savoir si l'anie vouloit demeurer dans l'homme nouveau , saint et céleste, et dans la miséricorde de Dieu, ou bien dans l'esprit de ce monde. 114. Or l'ame du Christ résista , comme un digne héros, et dit à Satan : Retire-toi^ Satan ^ tu dois adorer Dieu^ ton maître , et ne servir que lui. Je ne puis jamais être des tiens. Là le congé , ou l'arrêt fut prononcé au démon, à l'enfer, etaurègnede ce monde; le digne héros tiiompha; le démon fut obligé de s'en aller, et le terrestre fut surmonté. Alors le digne héros marcha au - dessus de la lune , et reçut en son pouvoir toute la puissance dan? le ciel , en enfer , et sur la terre ; il régna par son ame dans le ternaire saint, dans le corps extérieur, au-dessus de la mort et de la vie. 11 5. Alors ce monde est passé en propriété au Christ ; car il l'a soumis : il pouvoit vivre en Dieu , et il n'avoit point besoin de nourritures ni de bois-» sons terrestres. 116. Le lecteur doit savoir que, dans la tentation , le combat a eu lieu entre le corps et l'ame , et que cette tentation nous concerne aussi. Le Christ nous a conquis. Si nous mettons notre entière confiance dans le Christ , nous vaincrons en lui, le péché, la mort, le démon , l'enfer et aussi ce monde : car il a soutenu le derniercombat dans sa mort, oïl il arompu l'épée du Chérubin ; il a détruit l'enfer du démon , et il a emmené captive la captivité , ce que tu peux lire là où il est question de la mort du Christ. (2.^4 ) CH» 2*-
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.
1terrestrial. And one was accorded him. Then he seized the body with the soul, bore them upon the summit of the temple, and said: Let thyself fall down; for thou art powerful, and thou canst do all, and the world will see that thou art God, and that thou hast vanquished. It is there the true seducing spirit by which the demon will always mount above the thrones, above the divinity: now, he goes never but into himself, into the infernal fire; and he reaches not the divinity. 107. Here Adam was also proved, to know whether he would put firmly his imagination in the heart of God, in which case he would have remained in paradise; but as he turned away his affective base from the heart of God, toward the spirit of this world, and would mount above humility, and be equal to God; then he went beyond the throne of God, into the spirit of the harshness and of the anger. 108. That is why the soul of Christ was here to be truly proved, to know whether it would also now fly away into pride, into the power of the fire, since it had received the bread of heaven 5 or else whether it would see only the heart of God in humility, and abandon itself thereto, so that it might be uniquely attached to the will of God; that it might become an angel of humility, and that it might repose in nothing upon itself, to fly in its own power. io<j. One sees here the principal work of the demon: how he employs the scripture, in saying: The angels shall sustain thee with their hand; whilst nevertheless it was not there a question of the body, but of the soul ( 252 ) CH. 21*
2that he would l3ead into pride, so that it might separate itself from the love of God, and let itself be borne by the angels; that it might separate itself afresh from the new body, which without that can well fly; that it might take a spring downward into the old body, and repose upon the angels, and that it might thus anew turn away from God, toward the spirit of this world. iio. But one sees the valour of Christ. Although he stood with his terrestrial body upon the summit of the temple, he recommended however his terrestrial body to God, and trusted in him, as being everywhere in God; and he said to the demon: It is written: Thou shalt not tempt the lord thy 2>God. Here truly the pride of the demon in the anger was overturned; and the humility, the force and the power remained to our Christ. The soul of Christ entered into the holy ternary, into the humble love, and married itself with the humble, chaste virgin of the wisdom of God, or the sophia. m. As then the demon had lost on the two sides, he came with a last powerful temptation, as he had acted with Adam: he offered to give him all the Universe, if he would prostrate himself before him, and adore him. 112. Adam also had been preoccupied with this world; he would draw this world to himself, and be thus thereby equal to God, since God had drawn this world to himself, to manifest there his great marvels; then Adam said to himself, in the soul: Thou art the image of God, thou must also act thus; then thou shalt be like God. But thereby he turned away from God, toward the spirit of this world. CH. 22. ( 253 )
3ii3. Now, the second Adam was to sustain the vocation of the first. Thus then he was proved, to know whether the soul would dwell in the new, holy and celestial man, and in the mercy of God, or else in the spirit of this world. 114. Now the soul of Christ resisted, like a worthy hero, and said to Satan: Withdraw thyself, Satan, thou must adore God, thy master, and serve only him. I can never be of thine. There the leave, or the sentence was pronounced to the demon, to hell, and to the reign of this world; the worthy hero triumphed; the demon was obliged to go away, and the terrestrial was surmounted. Then the worthy hero marched above the moon, and received in his power all the power in heaven, in hell, and upon the earth; he reigned by his soul in the holy ternary, in the exterior body, above death and life. 11 5. Then this world is passed in property to the Christ; for he has subdued it: he could live in God, and he had no need of terrestrial nourishments nor drinks. 116. The reader must know that, in the temptation, the combat took place between the body and the soul, and that this temptation concerns us also. The Christ has conquered us. If we put our entire confidence in the Christ, we shall vanquish in him, sin, death, the demon, hell and also this world: for he sustained the last combat in his death, where he broke the sword of the Cherub; he destroyed the hell of the demon, and he led captive the captivity, which thou canst read there where it is a question of the death of Christ. (2.^4 ) CH» 2*-
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.