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.
128. Voici ce que tu dois comprendre par-là. Le ciel est un semeur ; Dieu lui donne la semence ; et les élémens sont le champ dans lequel la semence est semée. Or , le ciel a les constellations , et reçoit ainsi la semence de Dieu , qui s^me tout à la fois l'un avec l'autre. Alors les essences des étoiles reçoivent la semence dans le champ; elles inqualifient avec elle , et s'élèvent en plante , par ce moyen , jusqu'à ce que, dans la plante ) il y ait aussi une semence. 29. Or , maintenant , il y a plusieurs espèces de végétaux selon les essences des étoiles , et cependant la semence de Dieu qui , au commencement , a été semée , est dans le champ, et croît ainsi l'une avec l'autre \ Dieu doit-il donc rejeter toute la récolte, sur cequ'elle n'est pas d'une m^m« essence? cela n'est-il pas dans ses merveilles ? cela n'est-il pas la joie de sa vie , et cela ne vivifie-t-il pas sa teinture? Ainsi par comparaison. 30. C'est pourquoi , ame chérie , réfléchis à ce que tu fais ; ne juge pas si promptcment , et ne te laisse pas abrutir par cette multitude d'opinions : car la mauvaise plante n'appartient point à la noble semence. L'esprit de Dieu se montre à chacun de ceur qui le cherchent ; mais à chacun , selon le mode de ses essences. Or ^ comme la semence do «^H- ^7- ( 383 ) Dieu est semée dans les essences , si le chercheur cherche dans le désir divin, il trouvera la perle selon %t% essences , et ainsi par là les grandes merveilles de Dieu seront manifestées.
23i. Si tu veux maintenant savoir la différence, et ce que c'est qu'une fausse semence ou une mau^ vaise plante , conçois un faux esprit, dans lequel n'est ni la perle , ni Tesprit de Dieu , et tu le reconnoîtras à sa production , à son od^ur et à son goût. Si c'est un avantageux , un ambitieux d'honneurs , un cupide , un méchant, un détracteur des enfans de Dieu , qui jète tout confusément, et veut dominer par là , alors sache que c'est une semence de corruption et un chardon , qui sera criblé et rejeté par le semeur de Dieu. Eloigne-toi de lui • car c'est une roue de confusion qui n'a aucune base,' m aucun suc , ni vertu de Dieu , dans sa floraison ; mais qui croît comme un chardon , qui ne fait que piquer, et ne porte d'ailleurs aucune bonne V semence. •^ 3i. La bonne odeur de la plante que tu dois, maintenant , chercher dans la multitude des opinions, n'est que la nouvelle renaissance de l'homme corrompu , adamique , mixte , dans le corps de Jésus-Christ, dans la vertu de l'esprit saint, comme une nouvelle ame devant Dieu , dans l'amour et l'humilité, qui ne se repose point sur l'orgueil la cupidité, le vain honneur, ni sur des guerres et des révoltes particulières des inférieurs contre les supérieurs 5 mais qui, comme un grain de froment. ( 384 ) CH- ^7croît en palîence et en douceur parmi les épines, et donne son fruit dans son tems. 33. Ainsi , vois : où il y a une telle végétation , cela est engendré de Dieu , et la noble vertu est en elle. Eloigne-toi des autres qui enseignent la rébellion des inférieurs contre les supérieurs : car ce sont des cbardons , et ils piqueroient. Dieu vannera lui-même son froment.
334. On ne gagnera point les lys dans la guerre ou les combats ; mais dans un esprit amical , doux, gracieux , avec une bonne raison qui rompra et dispersera la fumée du diable , et qui croîtra dans son tems. Ainsi que personne ne dise , quand le combat commence : Celui-là vaincra; maintenant cela ira bien. Et que celui qui a le dessous et est terrassé, ne dise pas ; Ainsi f ai été dans V erreur ^ je dois mû prêter à l'autre çpinion , et aider à persécuter ce parti. Non , ce n'est pas la voie , cela ne vient que de Babel. 35. Que chacun entre en soi-même , et travaille à faire de lui-même un homme juste; qu'il craigne Dieu , et agisse bien 5 qu'il pense que son œuvre paroîtra dans le ciel devant Dieu , et qu'il est à toute heure devant la face de Dieu , et que toutes ses œuvres le suivront. C'est alors que le lys de Dieu croîtra , et que le monde sera dans son siècle. Amen. r IN. C385) A P P E N D I X, C'EST-A-DIRE, * ■ ■ # -fondamentale et vraie description de la triple vie dlans rhomme. X. CowMK dans nos écrits précédons, il y a quelques mots dans lesquels nous pourrions cfr^ ininteIKgibles au lecteur, pariiculièrement, lorsqtie nous avons écrit que lors de la résurrection deé morts dans le corps de Jésus-Chrisl , nous gérions éam lie fcrnaii»e saintj comme nous l'avons appelé le ternaire saint, la terre sainte,ce qu'il ne faut cependant pas entendre ceci de la terre,raais du saint corps provefm de la sainte vertu de la trinité de Dieu ; et comme dans nos écrits, le ternaire saint s'entend particulièrement de la porte de Dieu le père , d'où toutes choses sortent comme d'une seule essence /
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.
128. Behold what thou must comprehend thereby. The heaven is a sower; God gives it the seed; and the elements are the field in which the seed is sown. Now, the heaven has the constellations, and receives thus the seed of God, who sows all at once the one with the other. Then the essences of the stars receive the seed in the field; they inqualify with it, and rise into plant, by this means, until, in the plant, there be also a seed. 29. Now, at present, there are several kinds of vegetables according to the essences of the stars, and nevertheless the seed of God which, at the beginning, was sown, is in the field, and grows thus the one with the other; must God then reject the whole harvest, on the ground that it is not of one same essence? is that not in his marvels? is that not the joy of his life, and does that not vivify his tincture? Thus by comparison. 30. It is why, cherished soul, reflect upon what thou doest; judge not so promptly, and let not thyself be brutified by this multitude of opinions: for the bad plant belongs not to the noble seed. The spirit of God shows himself to each of those who seek him; but to each, according to the mode of his essences. Now, as the seed of «^H- ^7- ( 383 ) God is sown in the essences, if the seeker seeks in the divine desire, he shall find the pearl according to his essences, and thus thereby the great marvels of God shall be manifested.
23i. If thou wilt now know the difference, and what a false seed or a bad plant is, conceive a false spirit, in which is neither the pearl, nor the spirit of God, and thou shalt know it by its production, by its odour and by its taste. If it is one who seeks advantage, an ambitious of honours, a covetous one, a wicked one, a detractor of the children of God, who casts all confusedly, and would dominate thereby, then know that it is a seed of corruption and a thistle, which shall be sifted and rejected by the sower of God. Remove thyself from him; for it is a wheel of confusion which has no base, nor any juice, nor virtue of God, in its flowering; but which grows as a thistle, which does nothing but prick, and bears besides no good V seed. •^ 3i. The good odour of the plant that thou must, at present, seek in the multitude of the opinions, is nothing but the new new-birth of the corrupted, adamic, mixed man, in the body of Jesus-Christ, in the virtue of the holy spirit, as a new soul before God, in the love and the humility, which reposes not upon the pride, the covetousness, the vain honour, nor upon wars and particular revolts of the inferiors against the superiors 5 but which, as a grain of wheat. ( 384 ) CH- ^7grows in patience and in sweetness among the thorns, and gives its fruit in its time. 33. Thus, see: where there is such a vegetation, that is begotten of God, and the noble virtue is in it. Remove thyself from the others who teach the rebellion of the inferiors against the superiors: for these are thistles, and they would prick. God shall winnow himself his wheat.
334. One shall not win the lilies in the war or the combats; but in an amicable, sweet, gracious spirit, with a good reason which shall break and disperse the smoke of the devil, and which shall grow in its time. Thus let no one say, when the combat begins: That one shall conquer; now that will go well. And let him who has the worse and is thrown down, not say: Thus I have been in error, I must lend myself to the other opinion, and aid to persecute this party. No, that is not the way, that comes only from Babel. 35. Let each enter into himself, and work to make of himself a just man; let him fear God, and act well 5 let him think that his work shall appear in the heaven before God, and that he is at every hour before the face of God, and that all his works shall follow him. It is then that the lily of God shall grow, and that the world shall be in its age. Amen. r IN. C385) A P P E N D I X, THAT IS TO SAY, * ■ ■ # fundamental and true description of the triple life in man. X. As in our preceding writings, there are some words in which we might be unintelligible to the reader, particularly, when we have written that at the resurrection of the dead in the body of Jesus-Christ, we should be in the holy ternary, as we have called it the holy ternary, the holy earth, which however one must not understand this of the earth, but of the holy body come of the holy virtue of the trinity of God; and as in our writings, the holy ternary is understood particularly of the gate of God the father, whence all things go forth as from one single essence
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.