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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.
148. C'est pourquoi le Christ a fait deux testamens : Tun dans l'eau de l'éternelle vie , et l'autre dans son vrai corps et dans son sang , afin que si la pauvre ame éloit de nouveau souillée par le démon , ©lie pût cependant par le second , entrer de nouveau dans le corps du Christ : et si elle se convertit avec repentir de ses péchés passés, et qu'elle mette de nouveau sa confiance dans la miséricorde de Dieu , alors elle marche de nouveau dans la première alliance et elle peut aller au second testament , et s'appro'cher de Dieu. Alors elle sera reçue avec pie , comme dit le Christ : Qu'il y a plus de joie dans le ciel pour un pécheur qui fait pénitence , que pour quatre-vingt-dix-neuf justes qui n'ont pa» besoin de* pénitence. 49. La raison dit ici : Je ne vois que du pain et du vin , et le Christ a donné aussi du pain et du vin à ses disciples? Réponse. 50. ISons avons dît que le baptême , à l'extérieur, est de l'eau 5 que l'eau intérieure est l'eau de l'éternelle vie ; que la trinilé sainte baptise , comme cela se voit au Jouvdnin , où trois personnes parurent : le fils dq Dieu dans l'eau 5 le père dans la voix du verbe ; et l'esprit saint au-dessus de l'eau tolanant sur la tête du Christ ; or, toutes les trois personnes ont baptisé dans la divinité cet homme ChrUt. 5i. Il en est de môme aussi dans la cène. L'exléClï. 2^ ( 277 )
2lieur est le pain et le vin , comme ton homme extérieur est aussi terrestre ; et l'intérieur, dans le testament du Christ , est sou corps et son «aw^que reçoit ton homme intérieur. Entends bien ceci : l'ame reçoit la divinité ; car elle est esprit , et ton nouvel homme reçoit les véritables corps et sang du Christ , non-seulement comme une pensée dans la foi (quoiqu'il faille que la foi y soit aussi ), mais sushiautiellement, ce qui est incompréhensible a l'homme extérieur. 52., Là ce qui est saint ne se transforme point dans la substance extérieure , pour que tu puisses dire du pain que tu manges avec la bouche extérieure , et du vin que tu bois avec ta bouche extérieure , que ce soit là la chair et le sang du Christ. Non , mais c'en est l'enveloppe 5 toutefois ils ne peuvent être compris ni renfermés par l'enveloppe 9 de même que ce monde élémentaire ne comprend pas le corps du Christ dans le saint élément, ou de même que le corps extérieur, en nous , ne peut pas comprendre le corps intérieur de l'ariie. La dernière cène du Christ t'apprend cela aussi , lorsque le Christ s'assit à table avec ses disciples , et leur donna, à boire et à manger,selon sa manière particulière , ses saints corps et sang cachés sous le pain et le vin. 5^. Car tu ne peux pas dire , quand lu manies le pain sacré : Ici je tiens dans mes mains le corps du Christ -, je puis le toucher. Non , mon frère , le pain extérieur est un pain terrestre, fait des élémens extérieurs 5 et \ç pain insaisissable, existant ( 278 ) *. 25dans l'élément saint est le corps du Christ , qui l'est offert dans son alliance et dans son testament , sous le pain exlérieur. C'est là ce que reçoit ton nouvel homme ; et le vieil homme reçoit le pain extérieur : ainsi de même pour le l'in.
354. Ne me parle point de l'éloignement et de l'absence du corps et du sang du Christ ; l'ame n'a pas besoin de courir loin après eux. Aussi le corps terrestre du Christ , dans son sang terrestre , n'est point la nourriture de l'ame dans ce testament ; mais la pure divinité est la nourriture de l'ame ; et le corps saint du Christ est la nourriture du nouvel homme , dont l'ame s'est revêtue par le corps de Jésus-Christ. Le corps et le sang de Jésus-Christ nourrissent le nouvel homme , et si le nouvel homme demeure fidèlement dans le corps de JésusChrist , alors on lui donnera la noble perle de la lumière de Dieu , afin qu'il puisse voir la noble vierge de la sagesse de Dieu , ou la sopuie ; et celte Sophie prend la perle dans son sein , et va constamment avec l'ame dans le nouveau corps , avertissant l'ame de ses fausses voies. Quant à ce que c'est que cette perle , je voudrois que tous les hommes la connussent ; mais combien est elle peu connue ! Hélas ! cela est devant leurs yeux. Elle est plus belle que l'éclat du soleil ;elle est un plus grand trésor que le monde entier ; mais quoiqu'elle soit eu évidence, elle est cependant aussi très occulte. 55. Or 5 la raison dit : Que reçoit donc l'impie qui n'est pas régénéré ? Réponse. Ecoule , ô ! toi , raison, ce que dit Saint-Paul : C^est pourquoi^ CH. 2,\ ( 279 ) comme il ne dislingue pas le corps du Christ , il- le reçoit pour son Jugement. Le seigneur dit aussi par les prophètes: Ils s'approchent de moi avec les lèvres ^ mais leur cœur est loin de moi ; enfin il est dit cidessus : Celui qui ne vient pas da Dieu , entre dans sa colère,
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.
148. It is why the Christ made two testaments: the one in the water of the eternal life, and the other in his true body and in his blood, in order that if the poor soul were anew soiled by the demon, she might nevertheless by the second, enter anew into the body of the Christ: and if she converts herself with repentance of her past sins, and if she puts anew her confidence in the mercy of God, then she walks anew in the first alliance and she may go to the second testament, and draw near to God. Then she shall be received with joy, as the Christ says: That there is more joy in heaven for one sinner who does penitence, than for ninety-nine just ones who have not need of penitence. 49. The reason says here: I see but bread and wine, and the Christ gave also bread and wine to his disciples? Answer. 50. We have said that the baptism, exteriorly, is of water 5 that the interior water is the water of the eternal life; that the holy trinity baptises, as that is seen at the Jordan, where three persons appeared: the son of God in the water 5 the father in the voice of the word; and the holy spirit above the water hovering upon the head of the Christ; now, all the three persons baptised in the divinity this man Christ. 5i. It is the same also in the supper. The exteClï. 2^ ( 277 )
2rior is the bread and the wine, as thy exterior man is also terrestrial; and the interior, in the testament of the Christ, is his body and his blood which thy interior man receives. Understand well this: the soul receives the divinity; for she is spirit, and thy new man receives the true body and blood of the Christ, not only as a thought in the faith (although it be needful that the faith be there also), but substantially, which is incomprehensible to the exterior man. 52., There what is holy is not transformed into the exterior substance, that thou mayest say of the bread that thou eatest with the exterior mouth, and of the wine that thou drinkest with thy exterior mouth, that it is there the flesh and the blood of the Christ. No, but it is the envelope of it 5 however they cannot be comprehended nor enclosed by the envelope 9 even as this elementary world comprehends not the body of the Christ in the holy element, or even as the exterior body, in us, cannot comprehend the interior body of the soul. The last supper of the Christ teaches thee that also, when the Christ sat at table with his disciples, and gave them, to drink and to eat, according to his particular manner, his holy body and blood hidden under the bread and the wine. 5^. For thou canst not say, when thou handlest the sacred bread: Here I hold in my hands the body of the Christ; I can touch it. No, my brother, the exterior bread is a terrestrial bread, made of the exterior elements 5 and the unseizable bread, existing ( 278 ) *. 25in the holy element is the body of the Christ, which is offered to thee in his alliance and in his testament, under the exterior bread. It is there what thy new man receives; and the old man receives the exterior bread: so likewise for the wine.
354. Speak not to me of the remoteness and of the absence of the body and of the blood of the Christ; the soul has not need to run far after them. Also the terrestrial body of the Christ, in his terrestrial blood, is not the nourishment of the soul in this testament; but the pure divinity is the nourishment of the soul; and the holy body of the Christ is the nourishment of the new man, wherewith the soul has clothed herself by the body of Jesus-Christ. The body and the blood of Jesus-Christ nourish the new man, and if the new man remains faithfully in the body of Jesus-Christ, then there shall be given him the noble pearl of the light of God, that he may see the noble virgin of the wisdom of God, or the sophia; and this Sophia takes the pearl into her bosom, and goes constantly with the soul in the new body, warning the soul of her false ways. As to what this pearl is, I would that all men knew it; but how little is it known! Alas! that is before their eyes. She is more beautiful than the splendour of the sun; she is a greater treasure than the whole world; but although she be in evidence, she is nevertheless also very occult. 55. Now 5 the reason says: What then does the impious man receive who is not regenerated? Answer. Hear, O! thou, reason, what Saint-Paul says: It is why, CH. 2,\ ( 279 ) as he distinguishes not the body of the Christ, he receives it for his Judgment. The lord says also by the prophets: They draw near to me with the lips, but their heart is far from me; finally it is said above: He who comes not from God, enters into his anger,
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.