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.
1gracieux secours de Dieu. Tes railleries sont devant tes ^eux, et te couvrent de honte , en sorte que tu es réduit à souhaiter de pouvoir seulement laisser entrer une bonne pensée dans ton ame j car le bien est devant toi avec l'éclat d'un ange , et à cause de tes grands péchés , tu n'oserois pas en approcher par ta base affective , encore moins le contempler ; mais tu dois, ainsi éternellement, te repaître de tes railleries , de tes blasphèmes , et de tes péchés , et être éternellement dans la honte. Quand même tu désirerois de te porter vers l'amendement, la lumière te repousse néanmoins , et te renverse par terre dans une grande confusion ; tu marches seulement ainsi en toi-même, dans ton ver rongeur , audessus du trône de Dieu , et il en est de toi comme de quelqu'un qui est sur un rocher , et qui voudroit se jeter dans un goufifre incommensurable : plus il y découvre de profondeur , plus il tombe dans l'incommensurabilité. Ainsi tes propres péchés , tes railleries , les blasphèmes en mépris de Dieu , seront Ion feu infeinal ,qui le tourmentera éternellement ; nous disons ceci dans la parole de vie. 3o. C'est pourquoi, ô ! ame chérie , détourne-toi , ne te laisse pas prendre par le démon ; ne compte pour rien les mépris de ce monde : toutes tes tristesses doivent être converties en de grandes joies.. Quand même tu n'aurols pas dans ce monde de grands honneurs , de la puissance et de la richesse , cela n'y fait rien du tout ; lu ne sais pas si demain ne sera pas le jour où tu dois pansera ton tour.. La ( 2^ ) Clf. «4J
2morçeaii de pain de l'indigent lui est plus agréable que ies meilleurs mets à Thomme opnleut -, quel avanlage ce dernier en a-t-il donc , si ce n'est qu'il voit l>eaucx)up de choses ; qu'il lui faut se tourmenter dans| beoucoiip de choses, et qu'il lui iautàla fin rendre compte de toutes ses ceuvres et de toutes ses administrations, comme ayant été un régisseur dans ce monde. Il faut qu'il rende compte au «ujet de tous ses serviteurs , s'il a été pour eux d'un mauvais exemple , et s'il les a égarés , en sort© qu'ils aient marché sur la voie des impies. Alors leur pauvre ame appelera éternellement la malédiction sur ses supérieurs ; car tout est en figure dans la teinture. Pourquoi te portes-tu donc avec tant d'ardeur après les honneurs passagers de ce mondeFCherche plutôt l'arbre de la perle ; prends-le avec toi, et il te vivifiera éternellement par ses fruits. 3i. Oh! n'est-ce pas pour toi un bien-être délicieux , quand Tame ose voir dans la trinité sainte , dont elle est remplie, que ses essences croissent ainsi dans le paradis , où s'élève sans cesse le chant de louange dans les merveilles de Dieu j oà , le fruit toujours croissanl , s^élève à l'infini , selon ta volonté ; où tu disposes de tout ; où il n'y a ni crainte , ni envie , ni souffrance 5 où il j a un pur amour entre les uns et les autres ; où une forme se réjouit de l'autre -, où chaque fruit croît selon ses essences , comme la manne , dans le désert , étoit une imap© pour Israël , laquelle manne offroil à chacun un goût analogue à ce qu'il désiroit dans ses essences ? en. 24. C*97> JDe la voie par oit Von entre:
33a. Ame chérie , si tu désires cette voie , et que tu veuilles l'obtenir, ainsi que la noble vierge SOPHIE , dans l'arbre de la perle , tu dois y apporte^ la plus sérieuse attention. Ce ne doit pas être une hypocrisie de la bouche , tandis que le cœur en est bien loin. Non , tu n'obtiendras rien par ce moyen. Tu dois recetiillir ta base affective avec toutes tes pensées et ta raison , tout ensemble en une seule volonté , comme étant résolue à le convertir , et à te défaire de tes abominations ; tu dois mettre tes pensées en Dieu , dans sa miséncorde , avec une ferme assurance que tu l'obtiendras. 33. Si,ent'objectant tespéchés,le démon te dit cpie cela nepent pas être,que tu es un trop grand pécheur, ne t'effraie pas 5 c'est un menteur , qui veut portet dans toi l'épouvante ; il fait comme s'il n'ëtoit paà là , mais il est là , et se défend comme un limier méchant. Et tu peux tenir pour certain que tout ce que tu introduis de doutes et de timidité dans ta base affective , n'est antre chose que ses propres suggestions. 34. Car il n'y a que deux royaumes qui agissent «ur toi : l'un est le royaume de Dieu , dans lequel est le Christ qui désire te posséder ; et l'autre est le démon qui -désire aussi te posséder. Or , ici le combat est urgent pour la pauvre ame ; car elle est au milieu. Le Christ lui offre le nouveau vêtement , et le démon lui offre le vêtement de péché î or , s'il est ( Î98 ) en. 14
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.
1gracious succour of God. Thy railleries are before thy eyes, and cover thee with shame, so that thou art reduced to wish to be able only to let a good thought enter into thy soul; for the good is before thee with the splendour of an angel, and because of thy great sins, thou wouldst not dare approach it by thy affective base, still less contemplate it; but thou must, thus eternally, feed thyself with thy railleries, with thy blasphemies, and with thy sins, and be eternally in the shame. Even though thou shouldst desire to bear thyself toward the amendment, the light repulses thee nevertheless, and overthrows thee to the ground in a great confusion; thou walkest only thus in thyself, in thy gnawing worm, above the throne of God, and it is with thee as with some one who is upon a rock, and who would cast himself into an incommensurable gulf: the more depth he discovers there, the more he falls into the incommensurability. Thus thy own sins, thy railleries, the blasphemies in contempt of God, shall be thy infernal fire, which shall torment thee eternally; we say this in the word of life. 3o. It is why, O! cherished soul, turn thyself away, let not thyself be taken by the demon; count for nothing the contempts of this world: all thy sadnesses must be converted into great joys. Even though thou shouldst not have in this world great honours, power and riches, that makes nothing at all to it; thou knowest not if to-morrow will not be the day when thou must pass in thy turn.. The ( 2^ ) Clf. «4J
2morsel of bread of the indigent is more agreeable to him than the best messes to the opulent man; what advantage has this last then of it, if it be not that he sees many things; that he must torment himself in many things, and that he must at the end render account of all his works and of all his administrations, as having been a steward in this world. He must render account on the subject of all his servants, if he has been for them of a bad example, and if he has led them astray, so that they have walked upon the way of the impious. Then their poor soul shall eternally call the malediction upon its superiors; for all is in figure in the tincture. Why bearest thou thyself then with so much ardour after the passing honours of this worldFSeek rather the tree of the pearl; take it with thee, and it shall vivify thee eternally by its fruits. 3i. Oh! is it not for thee a delicious well-being, when the soul dares to see in the holy trinity, wherewith she is filled, that her essences grow thus in the paradise, where the chant of praise rises without ceasing in the marvels of God; where, the fruit always growing, rises to the infinite, according to thy will; where thou disposest of all; where there is neither fear, nor envy, nor suffering 5 where there is a pure love between the one and the other; where one form rejoices in the other; where each fruit grows according to its essences, as the manna, in the desert, was an image for Israel, which manna offered to each a taste analogous to what he desired in his essences? en. 24. C*97> Of the way by which one enters:
33a. Cherished soul, if thou desirest this way, and if thou wilt obtain it, as well as the noble virgin SOPHIA, in the tree of the pearl, thou must bring to it the most serious attention. It must not be a hypocrisy of the mouth, whilst the heart is far from it. No, thou shalt obtain nothing by that means. Thou must gather thy affective base with all thy thoughts and thy reason, all together in one single will, as being resolved to convert thyself, and to rid thyself of thy abominations; thou must put thy thoughts in God, in his mercy, with a firm assurance that thou shalt obtain it. 33. If, objecting to thee thy sins, the demon tells thee that that cannot be, that thou art too great a sinner, be not affrighted 5 it is a liar, who will bear into thee the terror; he does as if he were not there, but he is there, and defends himself as a wicked hound. And thou mayest hold for certain that all that thou introducest of doubts and of timidity into thy affective base, is nothing else than his own suggestions. 34. For there are but two kingdoms which act upon thee: the one is the kingdom of God, in which is the Christ who desires to possess thee; and the other is the demon who desires also to possess thee. Now, here the combat is urgent for the poor soul; for she is in the midst. The Christ offers her the new garment, and the demon offers her the garment of sin; now, if it is ( Î98 ) en. 14
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.