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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.
1kurs et de' grands travaux pour l'ame, jusqu'à ce que , par le souffle de Dieu qui revint en elle , elle sereumaunesecoude fois, pour briser les chaînes du démon 5 elle entra en combat avec lui , jusqu'à ' ce qu'il f«l par terre ,.el qu'elle lui eût déchiré son voile. Alors l'ame vit de nouveau sa chère vierge •opittlt- Quant aux délicieux avantages qui alors en résultèrent ,)'aimerois bien mieux les voir éprouY^r au lecteur lui-même , que d'être obligé de les écrire. , , ii i a4. Ainsi l'ame désira d'autant plus la noble perle 9 xnais cette perle étoit disparue, et devoit être engendrée de rechef. Tel qu'un grain de sénevé que Von sème, est petit et peu remarquable, quoiqu'ensuite il en croisse un arbre ; telle est la perle qui pousse dans l'ame , dans le soin de la vierge SOPHIE. Cêsi pourquoi garde pticieusement ce que iu as ; la misère est Un mauvais hôte. Ne laU&e point le démon te saupoudrer de sucre. Ouoique le royaume de ce monde te paroisse aussi doux que du sucre ; o<jpendant il n'y a en dessous «ue du fiel. Songe seulement que la pauvre ame . dansce mpnde , ainsi que dans t^cbair et dans ton •ang, n'est point che. elle ; elle doit voyager vers un autre pay^. C'est pourquoi ne laisse pas lede^ mon la couvrir ainsi avec les etwuis de la ohair j <^r c'est ui^e entreprise bien sérieuse que d'en chusiçr h4émon> d'autant iiu« cela. b« stfoitpaa tu CH. 24. ( 193 ) tiotre pouvoir, si le cher héros Jésus-Christ no nous ser ouroit.
225. C'est pour cela qu'on ne doit pas être si présomptueux que de railler les enfans de'Dieu , qui sont en combat avec le démon. Songe qu^il te faudra y venir aussi ; si tu n'y viens pas dans tes beaut: fours de santé, il faudra que ce soit à ta mort^ lorsque la pauvre ame devra se séparer du corps r alors il faudra qu'elle entre en combat \ il n^y a pas d'autre expédient ; car il faut^u^elle sortetlti corps et de l'esprit de ce monde: aloî*s il y a 'deux portes ouvertes, l'une du royaume dii ciel ,' et l'autre du royaume de l'enfef : il faut qu'elle entre dans l'une des deux; il n'y a pas d'autre lieu, ni d'autre place liors de ce monde. * 26. Malheur à elle ! si elle est alors riidèment Jiée dans le péché , si elle n'a fait que pécb^er èans cesse dès le point du jour , qu'elle soit ainsi tevétne de la colère de Dieu , qu'elle n'ait accumulé sur elle que les pures dérisions, dont elle a couvert les enfaus de Dieu , de façon qu'elle soit entièrement détenue dans la colère de Dieu , et qu'elle soit à peine suspendue à un fîl ! 27. O ! combien cela sera dur. Pense alors sî celte ame ne deit pas rester un ^ems dans les dédains qu'elle a versés sur les enfans de Dieu?pbufra-t-elle aussi atteindre à l'instant la noble vierge -SOPHIE dansTamour et la miséricorde de Dieu? oti est aussi l'arbre de la noble perle , qui a été semé comme un petit grain de sénevé, et a poilissé dans la persévérance , comnais ua laurier ? oà trou- ( 294 ) ^' 2^' vera-Vil sa sève pour croître , si Tame est ainsi dans le bain de la colère? Oh! il y en «a plusieurs dans qui ce grain ne croîtra pas bien dans l'éterqjté. ; C'est pourquoi le Christ dit : Dans la résurrection, ils se surpassent les uns les autres en clarté , pon^me le soleil , la lune et les étoiles.
328.. A qii9ï te servent donc rii'aintenant l'or et Targept que tu as ici- , ainsi que les honneurs et ta puj^^aftce^, puisque tout e«la t'abandonne , et qu'il lauti^ue^q t>a .séparas ? à quoi te servent les dérisipps fit , les mépris quetu verses sur lesenfans de Dieq , ^insi que tes cupidités et tes envies , s'il faut maintenant que tu te baigpes toi-même là-dedans avec.itçe grande honte, et dans de grandes angoisses ? Là tu n'en retireras qu'une grande humiliatipp devant lesanges de Djeu -, et tous les démons se moqueront de toi , de ce que tu as été une plante de.Die\ij.de ce que tu as eu en outre devant toi , un si long espace de tems ; et de ce que tu n'e:f maintenant qu'iyie petite branche sèche et maigre29. Ou bien que penseras-tu jsi ta branche est en eflet desséchée, et q^e.tu doives éternellement te baigner dans la colère de Dieu , là où aussitôt toa image humaine te sera enlevée , et sera figurée comme une bêtç hideuse , un vei: , un serpent , le tout selon tes impulsions, et les oeuvres que tu auras fa^l4 ici bas ; là pu teft œuvres seront éternellement devaat tes jreux, en figure dans la teinture, et.te tourmenteront assez pour que ta pensée n'ait pas d'autre aliment ? $i tu n'avois pas commis telle ou telle faut^jju aurois pu parvenir jusqu'à recevoir le CH. 24; ( ^95 }
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.
1rows and great labours for the soul, until, by the breath of God which came back into her, she revived a second time, to break the chains of the demon 5 she entered into combat with him, until he was upon the ground, and until she had rent his veil. Then the soul saw anew her dear virgin sophia. As to the delicious advantages which then resulted from it, I would much rather see them experienced by the reader himself, than be obliged to write them. , , ii i a4. Thus the soul desired so much the more the noble pearl 9 but this pearl was disappeared, and was to be begotten of new. Such as a grain of mustard-seed which one sows, is little and hardly remarkable, although afterwards a tree grow of it; such is the pearl which shoots in the soul, in the care of the virgin SOPHIA. It is why keep preciously what thou hast; the misery is a bad host. Let not the demon sprinkle thee with sugar. Although the kingdom of this world appear to thee as sweet as sugar; nevertheless there is underneath but gall. Think only that the poor soul, in this world, as well as in thy flesh and in thy blood, is not at home; she must travel toward another country. It is why let not the de- mon cover her thus with the vexations of the flesh; for it is a very serious enterprise to chase the d4emon from it, inasmuch as that b« stfoitpaa tu CH. 24. ( 193 ) our power, if the dear hero Jesus-Christ did not succour us.
225. It is for that that one must not be so presumptuous as to mock at the children of God, who are in combat with the demon. Think that thou wilt have to come to it also; if thou comest not to it in thy fair days of health, it will have to be at thy death, when the poor soul shall have to separate herself from the body: then she will have to enter into combat; there is no other expedient; for she must go out of the body and of the spirit of this world: then there are two gates opened, the one of the kingdom of heaven, and the other of the kingdom of hell: she must enter into one of the two; there is no other place, nor other room out of this world. * 26. Woe to her! if she is then rudely bound in the sin, if she has done nothing but sin without ceasing from the point of day, if she be thus clothed with the anger of God, if she have accumulated upon herself nothing but the pure derisions, wherewith she has covered the children of God, so that she be entirely detained in the anger of God, and that she be scarcely suspended to a thread! 27. O! how hard that will be. Think then if this soul must not remain a time in the disdains that she has poured upon the children of God? shall she also be able to attain at the instant the noble virgin SOPHIA in the love and the mercy of God? where is also the tree of the noble pearl, which has been sown as a little grain of mustard-seed, and has shot in the perseverance, as a laurel? where shall it fi- ( 294 ) ^' 2^' nd its sap to grow, if the soul is thus in the bath of the anger? Oh! there are several in whom this grain will not grow well in eternity. It is why the Christ says: In the resurrection, they surpass one another in clearness, as the sun, the moon and the stars.
328.. To wh9at serve thee then now the gold and the silver that thou hast here, as well as the honours and thy power, since all that abandons thee, and that thou must separate thyself from them? to what serve thee the derisions and the contempts that thou pourest upon the children of God, as well as thy covetousnesses and thy envies, if it is needful now that thou bathe thyself therein with a great shame, and in great anguishes? There thou shalt draw from it but a great humiliation before the angels of God; and all the demons shall mock at thee, that thou hast been a plant of God, that thou hast had besides before thee, so long a space of time; and that thou art now but a dry and lean little branch29. Or else what wilt thou think if thy branch is in effect withered, and that thou must eternally bathe thyself in the anger of God, there where at once thy human image shall be taken from thee, and shall be figured as a hideous beast, a worm, a serpent, the whole according to thy impulsions, and the works that thou shalt have don4e here below; there where thy works shall be eternally before thy eyes, in figure in the tincture, and shall torment thee enough that thy thought have no other aliment? If thou hadst not committed such or such a fault, thou mightst have attained to receive the CH. 24; ( ^95 }
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.