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.
1Dieu et les anges ; où est la perfection , le pur amour , la joie , la connoissance ; où il n'y a aucun tourment; que la mort et le démon ne peuvent toucher , ni connoître , et qui cependant n'a ni terre ni pierre pour muraille. Or, il y a un tel intervalle entre le paradis et ce monde , que ceux qui voudroient passer d'ici en ce lieu là , ne le pourroient,et que ceux qui voudroient de là passer jusqu'à nous , ne le pourroient pas non plus. Lucifer, avec le royaume des ténèbres, est au milieu , et personne ne peut y atteindre que par la nouvelle génération , dont Christ parloit à Nicodèrae. Les âmes •des saints et des régénérés , doivent y pénétrer eu traversant la mort des ténèbres. Le principal pasteur , Jésus - Christ avec les anges , les y conduit sur sou char marital , ce que tu trouveras en son ordre , et à son lieu convenable. 8. Mais je dois travailler , puisque, par la grâce de ]a vertu divine , il m'a été accordé , en partie , de connoître la voie qui conduit au paradis, et qu'il convient à chacun d'opérer l'œuvre de Dieu , dans laquelle il se trouve ; car Dieu , aussi , exigera de chacun le compte de ce qu'il aura opéré dans ses .jours de labeur en ce monde ; il exigera cette oeuvre qu'il aura donnée à chacun,avec l'intérêt, et nevou* dra pas la recevoir nue et sans fruit ; sans quoi il liera les pieds et les mains au serviteur paresseux,. et le jètera dans les ténèbres , où il faudra bien qu'il travaille, mais dans l'angoisse et dans la dou« leur d'avoir négligé la tâche journalière qui lui ( Ï23 ) CH. 9. avoît été donnée ici , el dans laquelle il a été trouvé un serviteur inutile.
29. Je ne veux donc pas abandonner ma tâche journalière , mais travailler dans la voie , autant que je pourrai, el quoique je puisse à peine compter les lettres de celte haute voie , cependant mon travail sera assez grand pour que plusieurs aient de quoiy apprendre toute leur vie. Celui qui s'imagine la bien connoître , n'a pas encore appris la première lettre au sujet du paradis. Car, il n'j^ a aucuns professeurs de celte voie dans cetleécolej iln'y a que des écoliers. 10. C'est pourquoi , le prétendu pasteur , avec son bonnet doctoral, ne doit pas se croire si subtil en ces matières , niy jeter ses dédains si hardiment : car il n'en a pas hi moindre notion , tant qu'il les couvre de ses railleries. Que seulement , il ne se complaise pas tant dans sa couronne ^ et qu'il ne se vante pas de son appel humain , comme s'il étoit placé dans son élection par ordre divin , tandis qu'il n'y est point établi par Dieu , mais par la faveur des hommes ! Qu'il ne ferme pas à tant de gens la voie du paradis, que lui-même il ne connoîl pas ! Car , il doit rendre un jour un compte sévère de son installation par la faveur des hommes. Puisqu'il se vante de son appel divin , el que, cependant , l'esprit de pieu est loin de lui , il est un trompeur , et il ment à la Divinité. 1 1 . C'est pourquoi , chacu n doi t bien prendre garde à ce qq'il fait. Je dis en outre , que celui qui s'ingèr9 en. 9. ( 129 )
3d'être pasteur sans la vocation divine,et sans la cotlnoissancede Dieu, est un voleur et un meurtrier; il n'entre point par la porte dans le paradis, mais il croasse avec les chiens el les loups dans la caverne des voleurs , et ne s'occupe que de sa gourmandise el de sa propre gloire. Il n'est pas pasteur , mais il est lié à la grande prostiluée, à l'anleclirist , et quoiqu'il se croie pasteur , il n'est pas connu dans le paradis. 12. Christ nous enseigne et nous avertit fidèlement des tems à venir , où chacun dira : Voyez , ici est le Christ 5 il est là ; il est dans le désert ; il est dans la chambre : n'y entrez point , et ne croyez point cela. Car, de même que l'cclairpart de l'orient , el brille jusqu'à l'occident 5 de même aussi sera la venue du fils de l'homme. i3. C'est pourquoi , fils de l'homme, vois s'il n'en est pas ainsi lorsque les faux pasteurs qui n'ont point reçu la vocation divine, sedisputent toujours , el que chacun dit : Accourez à moi , ici est le Christ , là est le Christ , et que chacun juge Tautre ^ le condamne à l'enfer, détruit l'harmonie, et éteint l'amour dans lequel l'esprit de Dieu s'engendre 5 par là , il ne produit que de l'amertume ; il égare le simple , en lui laissant croire que Christ est un pasteur de disputes ; et ainsi il provoque ses adversaires ; il excite des guerres et des meurtres , tandis qu'il n'y auroit que l'esprit de Dieu qui dût être la voie du paradis. 14. Christ dit : Almez^vou» les uns les autres 5 c'est à cela ^ue l'on reconnaîtra ^ue yous étex mes dl&cipleê^ I. 9 II 1 y ( i3o } CH. fi
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.
1God and the angels; where is perfection, pure love, joy, knowledge; where there is no torment; which death and the demon can neither touch nor know, and which nevertheless has neither earth nor stone for wall. Now, there is such an interval between paradise and this world that those who would pass from here into that place could not, and those who would from there pass to us could not either. Lucifer, with the kingdom of the darknesses, is in the midst, and no one can reach thither save by the new generation, whereof Christ spoke to Nicodemus. The souls of the saints and of the regenerated must penetrate thither in traversing the death of the darknesses. The principal pastor, Jesus Christ with the angels, conducts them thither upon his marital chariot, which thou wilt find in its order, and in its suitable place. 8. But I must labour, since, by the grace of the divine virtue, it has been accorded me, in part, to know the way which leads to paradise, and since it behoves each to operate the work of God wherein he finds himself; for God, also, will exact of each the account of what he shall have operated in his days of labour in this world; he will exact that work which he shall have given to each, with the interest, and will not wish to receive it naked and without fruit; without which he will bind the feet and the hands of the lazy servant, and will cast him into the darknesses, where he will indeed have to labour, but in the anguish and in the sorrow of having neglected the daily task which ( Ï23 ) CH. 9. had been given him here, and wherein he was found a useless servant.
29. I will not then abandon my daily task, but labour in the way, as much as I shall be able, and although I can scarcely count the letters of that high way, nevertheless my labour will be great enough that several may have wherewith to learn all their life. He who imagines he knows it well has not yet learned the first letter on the subject of paradise. For, there are no professors of that way in that school; there are only scholars. 10. It is why the pretended pastor, with his doctoral cap, must not believe himself so subtle in these matters, nor cast his disdain there so boldly: for he has not the least notion of them, so long as he covers them with his railleries. Let him only not complacently delight so much in his crown, and let him not boast of his human calling, as if he were placed in his election by divine order, whilst he is in no wise established there by God, but by the favour of men! Let him not close to so many people the way of paradise, which he himself knows not! For, he must one day render a severe account of his installation by the favour of men. Since he boasts of his divine calling, and since, nevertheless, the spirit of God is far from him, he is a deceiver, and he lies to the Divinity. 1 1 . It is why each must take good heed to what he does. I say moreover, that he who intrudes9 en. 9. ( 129 )
3to be pastor without the divine vocation, and without the knowledge of God, is a thief and a murderer; he enters not by the gate into paradise, but he croaks with the dogs and the wolves in the cavern of the thieves, and occupies himself only with his gluttony and his own glory. He is not a pastor, but he is bound to the great prostitute, to the antichrist, and although he believe himself a pastor, he is not known in paradise. 12. Christ teaches us and warns us faithfully of the times to come, when each will say: See, here is the Christ 5 he is there; he is in the desert; he is in the chamber: enter not there, and believe not that. For, even as the lightning parts from the orient, and shines to the occident 5 even so also shall be the coming of the son of man. i3. It is why, son of man, see whether it is not so when the false pastors who have not received the divine vocation dispute always, and when each says: Run to me, here is the Christ, there is the Christ, and when each judges the other, condemns him to hell, destroys the harmony, and extinguishes the love wherein the spirit of God begets itself 5 thereby, he produces nothing but bitterness; he leads the simple astray, in letting him believe that Christ is a pastor of disputes; and thus he provokes his adversaries; he excites wars and murders, whilst there would be nothing but the spirit of God which should be the way of paradise. 14. Christ says: Love one another 5 it is by that that one shall know that you are my disciples. I. 9 II 1 y ( i3o } CH. fi
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.