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.
1nous vivrons comme des anges , et nous mangerons des fruits paradisiaques : car là il n'y aura plus ni crainte , ni effroi , ni mort. Farce que le principe de l'enfer sera, à cette dernière heure, englouti avec les démons , le principe paradisiaque et le principe infernal ne se verront plus l'un et l'autre, ni ne concevront plus une seule pensée l'un de l'autre pendant toute l'éternité. Les parens ne penseront point à leurs enfans impies dans Peufer , ni les enfans a leurs parens; car tout sera complet, et le partiel cessera. 21. Alors ce monde, dans le paradis, paroîtra en figure comme une ombre j mais la substance de l'impie disparoît de là et demeure dans l'enfer. Car chacun sera suivi par ses œuvres 5 et il y aura par rapport à cette figure de toutes choses, et par rapport aux fruits du paradis, une éternelle joie dont nous jouirons sans interruption. Ça'à cela nous aide la trinité , Dieu le père , le fils, l*esprit saint, Jmen i Ce qui manque ici , cJterche-le dans les antres parties de ces écrits ; particulièrement sur Moïse et tous Us prophètes, et sur le règne du Christ. Véritable instruction sur la confuse Babel; pour la consolation de ceux qui cherchent, et pour servir de témoignage contre les détracteurs. 21. Quoiqu'il se manifeste à présent tant de doctrines et d'opinions diverses 5 cependant le détrac- ( 38o ) CH. 27.
2teur qui n'est né que de ce monde , ne doit pas pour cela agir si précipilamnient > et rejeter , tout à la fois , ce qu'il ne comprend pas : car tout n'est pas faux. II y a beaucoup de choses engendrées du ciel, lequel c«V/veut à présent faire un autre siècle , qui se montre avec sa vertu , au plus haut degré , et qui cherche la perle. Il voudroit bien ouvrir la teinture dans sa substance , afin que la pertu de la divinité parût en lui, et qu'il fût délivré de la vanité : c'est ce qui est arrivé dans tous les siècles, comme l'annoncent les histoires ; et cela est bien connu de ceux qui sont éclairés. 23. Car plusieurs cherchent à présent , et ils trouveront alors rl'un, l'or; l'autre, l'argent; un autre, le cuivre; un autre, l'étaiu ; et cependant cela ne doit pas s'entendre des métaux, mais de l'esprit dans la puissance et dansles grandes merveilles de Dieu , dans l'esprit de l'éternelle puissance. 24. Et quoiqu'on cherche ainsi dans les mystères par l'instigation et l'impulsion de l'esprit de Dieu 5 cependant chacun cherche dans sa forme , dans le champ qui lui appartient , et dans lequel il est : et aussi c'est là qu'il trouve ; et ce qu'il trouve il l'apporte à la lumière , afin que cela brille : or , c'est le plan du grand Dieu d'être manifesté dans ses merveilles. Et ainsi tout ne vient pas du démon , comme le monde en Babel le répète dans sa grande folie : car là on jète tout dans un tas, on veut tout livrer au feu , et mettre l'épicuréïsme à la place. S.5. Vois, je t'ofî're une juste comparaison dans un bon semeur. Un semeur travaille son champ do CH. 27. ( 38i )
3tout son pouvoir , et y sème du bon froment. Or , il y a aussi d'autres grains parmi le blé ; et quand même il seroit pur , cependant la terre fait pousser d'autres plantes , ainsi que des épines et des chardons parmi le froment. Mais que doit faire le semeur ? doit-il donc rejeter ou brûler totalement la semence du cru , à cause des épines et des mauvaises herbes ? Non ; mais il la bat , et crible ce qu'il y a de mauvais ; il emploie la bonne semence pour sa nourriture ; il donne la mauvaise à ses bestiaux ; avec le chaume, il fume son champ : et ainsi tout lui devient utile. 26. C'est ainsi qu'on dira au détracteur qu'il est une mauvaise plante , et on le jètera aux bestiaux . or, si maintenant il se trouve une autre semence parmi le froment ( tandis qu'il le crible et le vanne), et qu'il ne puisse pas la mettre de côté, doit-il pour cela ne pas employer le froment pour sa nourriture? chaque espèce de grain n'a-t-il pas néanmoins sa fertu ? L'une fortifie le cœur , l'autre l'estomac , la troisième les membres : car une essence seule ne fait aucune teinture; mais toutes les essences ensemble font les sens et l'intelligence. 27. Va dans une prairie , et considère les fleurs et les plantes qui croissent de la terre; là chaque plante est plus belle et plus odoriférante que l'autre et souvent, cependant, la plus méprisable a la plus grande vertu. Maintenant le médecin vient et cherche ; mais il tourne , en général , son affection vers les plus grandes et les plus belles plantes. Comme elles poussent excessivement dans leur végétation ( 382 ) CH. 2j. et qu'elles sont fortes en odeur , il imagine qu'elles sont les meilleures, tandis que cependant une herbe petite et de peu d'apparence, lui seroil peut- être plus utile dans sa médeciue , pour le malade dont il prend soin.
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.
1we shall live as angels, and we shall eat paradisiacal fruits: for there there shall be no more fear, nor terror, nor death. Because the principle of hell shall be, at this last hour, swallowed up with the demons, the paradisiacal principle and the infernal principle shall see one another no more, nor shall they conceive a single thought one of the other during all the eternity. The parents shall not think upon their impious children in hell, nor the children upon their parents; for all shall be complete, and the partial shall cease. 21. Then this world, in the paradise, shall appear in figure as a shadow; but the substance of the impious man disappears thence and remains in hell. For each shall be followed by his works 5 and there shall be in respect of this figure of all things, and in respect of the fruits of the paradise, an eternal joy whereof we shall enjoy without interruption. To that may the trinity aid us, God the father, the son, the holy spirit, Amen! What is wanting here, seek it in the other parts of these writings; particularly upon Moses and all the prophets, and upon the reign of the Christ. True instruction upon the confused Babel; for the consolation of those who seek, and to serve as a testimony against the detractors. 21. Although there manifest themselves at present so many diverse doctrines and opinions 5 nevertheless the detrac- ( 38o ) CH. 27.
2tor who is born only of this world, must not for that act so precipitately and reject, all at once, what he comprehends not: for all is not false. There are many things begotten of the heaven, which will at present make another age, which shows itself with its virtue, in the highest degree, and which seeks the pearl. It would indeed open the tincture in its substance, in order that the virtue of the divinity might appear in it, and that it might be delivered from the vanity: it is what has happened in all the ages, as the histories announce it; and that is well known to those who are enlightened. 23. For several seek at present, and they shall find then, the one, the gold; the other, the silver; another, the copper; another, the tin; and nevertheless that must not be understood of the metals, but of the spirit in the power and in the great marvels of God, in the spirit of the eternal power. 24. And although one seeks thus in the mysteries by the instigation and the impulsion of the spirit of God 5 nevertheless each seeks in his form, in the field which belongs to him, and in which he is: and also it is there that he finds; and what he finds he brings it to the light, in order that it may shine: now, it is the plan of the great God to be manifested in his marvels. And thus all comes not from the demon, as the world in Babel repeats it in its great folly: for there one casts all into a heap, one would deliver all to the fire, and put the epicurism in the place. S.5. See, I offer thee a just comparison in a good sower. A sower works his field with CH. 27. ( 38i )
3all his power, and sows there good wheat. Now, there are also other grains among the corn; and even though it were pure, nevertheless the earth makes other plants grow, as well as thorns and thistles among the wheat. But what must the sower do? must he then reject or burn totally the seed of the crop, because of the thorns and the bad herbs? No; but he beats it, and sifts what there is of bad; he employs the good seed for his nourishment; he gives the bad to his cattle; with the stubble, he manures his field: and thus all becomes useful to him. 26. It is thus that one shall say to the detractor that he is a bad plant, and one shall cast him to the cattle. now, if now there is found another seed among the wheat ( whilst he sifts it and winnows it ), and if he cannot put it aside, must he for that not employ the wheat for his nourishment? has not each kind of grain nevertheless its virtue? The one fortifies the heart, the other the stomach, the third the members: for one essence alone makes no tincture; but all the essences together make the senses and the intelligence. 27. Go into a meadow, and consider the flowers and the plants which grow out of the earth; there each plant is fairer and more odoriferous than the other and often, nevertheless, the most despicable has the greatest virtue. Now the physician comes and seeks; but he turns, in general, his affection toward the greatest and the fairest plants. As they push excessively in their vegetation ( 382 ) CH. 2j. and as they are strong in odour, he imagines that they are the best, whilst nevertheless a small herb of little appearance, would perhaps be more useful to him in his medicine, for the sick man of whom he takes care.
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.