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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.
153. Dans cette même joie , dans la source d'eau , s'élève la gracieuse source de l'insondable amour, et c'est le second principe qui s'élève de-là.En effet, tout Vengendrement tombe dans un cordial amour ; car l'astringence aime maintenant la lumière , par la raison qu'elle est bienfaisante et belle. Eu égard à cette amabilité bienfaisante , elle se rend douce , joyeuse , et humble; et l'amertume aime mamteLnt l'astringence , en ce qu'elle n'est plus ténébreuse , ni âpre , ni attirante à soi , mais douce , trailable,pure et claire. 54. Là se montre le ( sens ) du goût , de façon que l'un goûte l'autre , et s'imprègne dans l'autre avec un grand désir , ensorte qu'il n'y a plus qu'un pur amour. Ainsil'amertume se réjouit dans sa mère , et s'y forlifie ; et dans sa grande joie , elle sort au travers de toutes les essences , annonce au second principe que l'aimable enfant est né : toutes les essences s'en aperçoivent, et se réjouissent en voyant le cher enfant. De-là résulte l'ouie qui estla sixième forme. Alors , la roue de Vengendrement est en triomphe ; dans cette grande joie , la génération ne peut plus se tenir à l'étroit , mais elle sort bouillonnant joyeusement , et alors , chaque essence engendre de nouveau un centre dans le second principe. 55. Là , commence l'insondable multiplicité 5 car l'esprit bouillonnant et sortant du premier et second principe , confirme et consolide tout. Il y a dans ni. 4. (53) toute la génération comme une universelle végétalion , et une multiplication en une seule volonté ; Vengendrement atteint ici la septième forme , savoir, particulièrement, la multiplication dans une essence amour -, et dans cette septième forme se trouve le paradis ou le règne de Dieu , ou le divin et incalculable engendrement d'une seule essence dans tous
2les êtres. 56. Quoique la langue d'aucun homme ne puisse développer ceci, ni le calculer , ni sonder cet abîme, cil il n'y a ni nombre ni lin 5 nous avons cependant le pouvoir d'en parler comme un enfant parle de son père 5 mais de sonder toute la profondeur , cela nous étourdiroit , car Dieu lui-même n'a ni commencement ni fin. 57. Or, si maintenant nous voulons parler de la sainte trinité , nous devons d'abord dire qu'elle est Dieu -, et celui qui s'appelle le père et le créateur de toutes choses , celui-là est tout puissant et tout eu tous. Tout est sien, et tout est venu de lui , en lui et par lui , et demeure en lui éternellement. Secondement , nous pouvons dire qu'il est triple en personnes , et qu'il a engendré de lui, de toute éternité, son fils qui est son cœur , sa lumière , son amour , et ils ne sont cependant pas deux essences , mais une seule. Et , troisièmement , nous pouvons dire , selon l'écriture , qu'il y a un esprit saint qui sort du père et du fils , et qu'il n'y a qu'une essencs dans le père , le fils , et l'esprit saint , et ceci c£t parler avec justesse. 53. Car vois. Premièrement , le père est l'essciice ( ^4 ) en. 4,
3originelle de toule les esseuces. Or , si lo second principe ne pénétroit pas et ne s'élevoit pas dans la génération du fils , le père seroit une vallée ténébreuse. Ainsi tu vois secondement , que le fils qui est le cœur , l'amour , la lumière, Paduiirable et douce bienfaisance du père , ouvre un second principe dans sa génération , et , si l'on peut parler ainsi , délivre le père âpre et colérique , de l'origine du premier principe , et le rend , comme je pourrois dire , aimant , et miséricordieux. Il est dune une autre personne que le père ; car, dans son centre , il n'y a rien qu'une pure joie , de l'amour et des délices. Maintenant , tu vois aussi troisièmement , comment l'esprit saint procède du père et du fils. Car , lorsque le cœur ou la lumière de Dieu est engendré dans le père , alors , de la source d'eau lumineuse 5 dans l'enflammement de la lumière , il s'élève dans la cinquième forme un esprit extrêmement aimable , ne répandant que des affections délicieuses au goût , à l'odorat. C'est là l'esprit qui dans l'origine étoit l'aiguillon amer dans l'astringente mère ,et qui fait maintenant dans la source aqueuse de la douceur, des milliers de centres sans fin et sans nombre , et tout cela est dans la source d'eau. 59. Or , tu comprends bien que l'engendrement du fils prend son origine dans le feu , et acquiert sa personnalité et son nom dans l'enflammement de la douce, blanche, et chire lumière, laquelle est luimême , et se rend elle-même l'aimable parfum , le goût et la douce bienfaisance du père , et est véritablement le cœur de Dieu et uiîc autre pcrioinie. Car en. 4. C 55 ) il apporte et ouvre dans le père le second principe ; et sa propre essence est la force et la lumière. C est pourquoi il est justement nommé la vertu oulapuusance de Dieu.
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.
153. In that same joy, in the source of water, rises the gracious source of unfathomable love, and it is the second principle which rises thence. In effect, the whole begetting falls into a cordial love; for the astringency now loves the light, by the reason that it is beneficent and fair. In regard to that beneficent amiability, it renders itself sweet, joyous, and humble; and the bitterness now loves the astringency, in that it is no longer tenebrous, nor harsh, nor attracting to itself, but sweet, tractable, pure and clear. 54. There shows itself the ( sense ) of taste, so that the one tastes the other, and impregnates itself in the other with a great desire, so that there is nothing more than a pure love. Thus the bitterness rejoices in its mother, and fortifies itself therein; and in its great joy, it issues through all the essences, announces to the second principle that the lovable child is born: all the essences perceive it, and rejoice in seeing the dear child. Thence results the hearing which is the sixth form. Then, the wheel of the begetting is in triumph; in that great joy, the generation can no longer hold itself in the strait, but it issues boiling joyously, and then, each essence begets anew a centre in the second principle. 55. There begins the unfathomable multiplicity 5 for the boiling spirit, issuing from the first and second principle, confirms and consolidates all. There is in ni. 4. (53) the whole generation as it were a universal vegetation, and a multiplication in one single will; the begetting attains here the seventh form, to wit, particularly, the multiplication in an essence love; and in that seventh form is found paradise or the reign of God, or the divine and incalculable begetting of one single essence in all
2beings. 56. Although the tongue of no man can develop this, nor calculate it, nor sound that abyss, where there is neither number nor end 5 we have nevertheless the power to speak of it as a child speaks of his father 5 but to sound the whole depth, that would stun us, for God himself has neither beginning nor end. 57. Now, if we will now speak of the holy trinity, we must first say that it is God; and he who is called the father and the creator of all things, he is all-powerful and all in all. All is his, and all came of him, in him and by him, and dwells in him eternally. Secondly, we may say that he is triple in persons, and that he has begotten of himself, from all eternity, his son who is his heart, his light, his love, and they are nevertheless not two essences, but one single. And, thirdly, we may say, according to the scripture, that there is a holy spirit which issues from the father and from the son, and that there is but one essence in the father, the son, and the holy spirit, and this is to speak with justness. 53. For see. Firstly, the father is the essence ( ^4 ) en. 4,
3original of all the essences. Now, if the second principle did not penetrate and did not rise in the generation of the son, the father would be a tenebrous valley. Thus thou seest secondly, that the son who is the heart, the love, the light, the admirable and sweet beneficence of the father, opens a second principle in his generation, and, if one may so speak, delivers the harsh and choleric father from the origin of the first principle, and renders him, as I might say, loving, and merciful. He is then another person than the father; for, in his centre, there is nothing but a pure joy, love and delights. Now, thou seest also thirdly, how the holy spirit proceeds from the father and from the son. For, when the heart or the light of God is begotten in the father, then, from the luminous source of water 5 in the inflaming of the light, there rises in the fifth form a spirit extremely lovable, shedding nothing but affections delicious to the taste, to the smell. It is there the spirit which in the origin was the bitter sting in the astringent mother, and which now makes in the aqueous source of sweetness thousands of centres without end and without number, and all that is in the source of water. 59. Now, thou comprehendest well that the begetting of the son takes its origin in the fire, and acquires its personality and its name in the inflaming of the sweet, white, and clear light, which is itself, and renders itself the lovable perfume, the taste and the sweet beneficence of the father, and is truly the heart of God and another person. For en. 4. C 55 ) he brings and opens in the father the second principle; and his own essence is the force and the light. It is why he is justly named the virtue or the power of God.
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.