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.
1mëdecîu, mais dans la veriu de Dieu, /ai qui^par son pouvoir , produit la bénédiction dans un buisson d'épines , pour qu'il végète 3 lui qui est la veràu dans toutes choses , et qui l'est aussi dans une voix y laquelle n'a, par elle-même , aucune puissance. 27. Ainsi la mode a pris que chacun se lie à des temples de pierres , tandis que le temple de Dieu en Christ est resté grandement vide. Mais quand 00 a vu tous les maux qu'avoient produits les disputes , alors on a établi des coqciles , et on a fait des lois que chacun devoit garder sans peine de sa vie. Ainsi le temple du Christ a été converti en un temple de pierres , et les témoignages de l'esprit saint en une Igi mondaine. Alors l'esprit saint n'a plus parlé librement, mais il ne pouvoit parler que selon les lois des conciles; s'il condamnoit leurs erreurs, ils le per« sécutoient. Ainsi le temple du Christ devini toutà-fait obscur dans |a connaissance de l'homme. Si quelqu'un venait à être engendré de Dieu et qu'il enseignât dans l'esprit sai/it, comme cela u'étoil point conforme à leurs lois , il devait être un hérétique. 28. Ainsi s'accrut Içur puissance -, chacun les ré*» véra ; ils fortifièrent d'autant plus leurs lois dans la puissance de Saint-Pierre ; et ils s'élevèrent si haut qu'ils n'eurent point de honte, devant Dieu, do s'établir comme maîtres au-dessus des apôtres , et prétendirent que la parole de Dieu ou la doctrine des saints devoit recevoir sa valeur de leurs décisions ; que dès qu'ils instiluoient une chose , cela vei^oit ua ^^ 2^- < 367 ) Pieu ; qu'ils étoieat les admiuistrateurs de Dien dans fa parole ; et qu'on devoit croire à leurs lois • car elles étoielit la voie de la justification du pauvre pécheur devant Dieu.
2^9. Que devint donc la nouvelle naissance en Christ, par l'esprit saint ? N'es-tu pas Babel? une demeure de tous les démons dans l'orgueil ? Contemple seulement dans la révélation de Jésûsl Christ , comment l'esprit saint la représente. [ Je supprime des déclamations inutiles. ] 3o. Il est vrai que tu dois retirer fa subsistance de ton ministère, et qu'on doit te soigner si tu es disciple du Christ; toutefois ton esprit ne doit pas s'attacher à la cupidité, mais au Christ. Tu ne dois pas uniquement te reposer sur ta profession , mais te donner à Dieu , afin que Dieu parle par toi. Alors tu es dans le temple de Dieu , et «on pas dans Je temple de la loi d'invention humaine. 3i. Vois Saint-Pierre à la penlecôte , où il convertit, dans une seule prédication, trois mille personnes. Il ne parloit pas par la loi des pharisiens, mais par l'esprit de Moïse et des prophètes et par le temple de l'esprit saint qui pénéiroit et éclairoit le» pauvres pécheurs. Ainsi tai,qui enseigner les perse, eu lions, réfléchis sur cela. D'où as-tu poussé? Du premier tronc : de ce tronc d'où on est tombé du temple du Christ dans les inventions humaines ; d'où on a mis en avant des docteurs , selon le désir et l'inclination des oreilles des hommes , seulement pour l'apparat , afin que par-là tu devinsses grand dans ton orgueil. Or comme tu n'as ç}iercb| ( 368 ) cti. 26i que cela , alors Dieu l'a Taissé tomber dans urt sens perverti , en sorte que c'est de toi que viennent ceux qui blaspbêment la vraie doctrine du Christ.
332. Vois, d'où les Turcs sont-ils poussés? De ton sens perverti. Lorsqu'on vit qu'on ne s'occupoit que de l'orgueil , et qu'on nefaisoit que se disputer sur le temple du Christ , et que cela ne reposoit que sur la base et l'invention de l'homme ; alors parut Mahomet jil chercha une institution qui fût agréable à la nature , puisque chacun ne s'occupoit que de cupidités et qu'on étoit tombé du temple du Christ et aussi de la lumière de la nature, dans une confusion d'orgueil, et que c'éloit à qui orneroit le mieux l'école antichrétienne. Alors il se fit aussi des lois, et une doctrine puisée dans sa maison. 33. Ou plutôt croîs-tu que ceci soit arrivé san» sujet? Oui, l'esprit du grand monde a ainsi institué cet homme dans les merveilles , puisque les autres , ne valoient rien de mieux ; alors il falloit que la lumière de la nature fut dans les merveilles comme un Dieu de ce monde , et que Dieu fût aussi près de l'un que de l'autre. Les témoignages dans le testament du Christ sur lesquels tu t'appuies , et que le Christ nous a laissés pour alliance , sont exposés à des constestations. En outre , tu les contournes selon ton orgueil, et tu les lais plier sous ta loi. Tu ne t'occupes plus de l'alliance en Christ , mais de la cupidité. C'est à cela que lu rapportes tout , et cependant un bois qui ne brûle point n'est pas du feu , quoiqu'il devienne bientôt du feu en l'enflammant j il CH. 26. ( 369 ) en est de môme d« l'alliance sans la foi. C'est un bois qui ne brûle point, et que l'on voudroit nommer du feu.
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.
1physician, but in the virtue of God, he who by his power, produces the benediction in a bush of thorns, that it may vegetate 3 he who is the virtue in all things, and who is so also in a voice, which has, by itself, no power. 27. Thus the fashion took that each binds himself to temples of stones, whilst the temple of God in Christ has remained greatly void. But when 00 one saw all the evils that the disputes had produced, then one established councils, and one made laws that each was to keep on pain of his life. Thus the temple of the Christ has been converted into a temple of stones, and the testimonies of the holy spirit into a worldly law. Then the holy spirit spoke no more freely, but it could speak only according to the laws of the councils; if it condemned their errors, they persecuted it. Thus the temple of the Christ became altogether obscure in the knowledge of man. If some one came to be begotten of God and if he taught in the holy spirit, as that was not conformable to their laws, he must be a heretic. 28. Thus their power increased; each revered them; they fortified so much the more their laws in the power of Saint-Peter; and they raised themselves so high that they had no shame, before God, to establish themselves as masters above the apostles, and pretended that the word of God or the doctrine of the saints was to receive its value from their decisions; that as soon as they instituted a thing, that was worth a ^^ 2^- < 367 ) God; that they were the administrators of God in the word; and that one must believe their laws, for they were the way of the justification of the poor sinner before God.
2^9. What then became the new birth in Christ, by the holy spirit? Art thou not Babel? a dwelling of all the demons in the pride? Contemplate only in the revelation of Jesus Christ, how the holy spirit represents it. [ I suppress some useless declamations. ] 3o. It is true that thou must draw thy subsistence from thy ministry, and that one must take care of thee if thou art disciple of the Christ; however thy spirit must not attach itself to the covetousness, but to the Christ. Thou must not solely repose upon thy profession, but give thyself to God, in order that God may speak by thee. Then thou art in the temple of God, and not in the temple of the law of human invention. 3i. See Saint-Peter at the pentecost, where he converted, in one single preaching, three thousand persons. He spoke not by the law of the pharisees, but by the spirit of Moses and of the prophets and by the temple of the holy spirit which penetrated and enlightened the poor sinners. Thus thou, who teachest the persecutions, reflect upon that. Whence hast thou grown? From the first trunk: from that trunk whence one fell from the temple of the Christ into the human inventions; whence one has put forward doctors, according to the desire and the inclination of the ears of men, only for the display, in order that thereby thou mightst become great in thy pride. Now as thou hast sought ( 368 ) cti. 26i only that, then God has let thee fall into a perverted sense, so that it is from thee that come those who blaspheme the true doctrine of the Christ.
332. See, whence are the Turks grown? From thy perverted sense. When one saw that one occupied oneself only with the pride, and that one did nothing but dispute upon the temple of the Christ, and that that reposed only upon the base and the invention of man; then appeared Mahomet; he sought an institution which should be agreeable to the nature, since each occupied himself only with covetousnesses and since one was fallen from the temple of the Christ and also from the light of the nature, into a confusion of pride, and since it was who should best adorn the antichristian school. Then he made himself also laws, and a doctrine drawn in his house. 33. Or rather believest thou that this happened without subject? Yes, the spirit of the great world has thus instituted this man in the marvels, since the others were worth nothing better; then it was needful that the light of the nature should be in the marvels as a God of this world, and that God should be as near the one as the other. The testimonies in the testament of the Christ upon which thou leanest, and that the Christ has left us for alliance, are exposed to contestations. Besides, thou turnest them according to thy pride, and thou makest them bend under thy law. Thou occupiest thyself no more with the alliance in Christ, but with the covetousness. It is to that that thou referrest all, and nevertheless a wood which burns not is not fire, although it become soon fire in enkindling it; it CH. 26. ( 369 ) is the same of the alliance without the faith. It is a wood which burns not, and which one would name fire.
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.