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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.
1r 30. Mais si nous pensons à Ilqrigine duipremiei; principe , alors .nou^ t^'oi^v-on^ J'espèce de Ijarjjr.e j. ainsi que celle de la volonté relativement à l'arl^re 9 n(Wfi: tîouvon^ .là rabm%4Q} V.^er e^ làp la oolère. Ptti y nous ^rpu ypns la volonté de Te^fçr et 4e: 1^ colèrp 'f npu§ trç^vons de plus la volonté du diémon* Nous trouvons l'enviouse. volonté de toute& les créatures de.cç mpn^^ ^-.poui^uo^i toutes sont ennen^ies, se baï^^Sjçnt^ .s^ ^iaprdent.y ^eV^ ;ba|tent. ^a ç^ièro raison, je vais te montrer l'arbre de la tentation , et tu pourras regarder Moïse ep face: 4 seulement), .t^en» Ion esprit attentif pour saisir. 3i. Je t'ai soux^ donnéi^enteiidre dans ce livre , ce qu'es tresMQfiÇej de toutes. l,es essçaçes j-mais comme; il est ici de la plus haute utilité 4^^ recon^ zioître la base,]» vais te l'exposer très complètement et très profondément, afin que tu puisses la tecpnnoître également en. toi-même. Tu pourras aussi la reconnoitre dans toutes les créatures , et dans le premier objet qui se présentera : ce que tu contempleç , ou ce que tu peux avoir continuellement dans ta pensée , tout cela doit être autant de témoignages. Je peux prendre pour témoins le ciel , la terre, aussi bien que le soleil , les étoiles et les éléxuens 5 et cela , non pas par de simples paroles et ea ^. iO. ( 161 ) promesses, mais je dois te représenter toutes ces choses dans leurs vertus et dans leur essence. Tu n'as dans ton corps aucune puissance qui puisse tVri convaincre. Seulement , ne laisse pas obscurcir ton ame par l'esprit de mensong», l'ancien sérpeiit , car îî a mille artifices. '
23a: Quand il voit qu'il ne peut pas pénétrer dans l'homine avec le doute sur la miséricorde de Dieu , il lui rend la conscience légère , de manière qu'il considère tout comme rien ; il plonge son ame dans Passoupissement , de façon qu'il ne s'estîme guère ; comme si tout n'étoit que peu de chose. Que les choses (fiVmes aillent comme elles pourront:il ne veut pas se tourmenter le cœur pour elles , et il laisse le docteur s'en occuper comme étant chargé d'en répondre. Ainsi l'ame marche aussi légèrement dans ceci , qu'un tourbillon de vent , ou qu'un torrent. Aussi Christ en parle , et dit : Le démon arrache la parole de leur cœur , pour qu'ils ne la saisissent point él ne deviennent point croyans et saints , et qu'elle ne prenne point racine. 33. Autrement , si les perles pouvdient croître et les Ijrs pousser , il ( ^ démon ) pourroit être dévoilé , alors chacun le fuiroit , et il resteroit dans un grand mépris. C'est là la marche qu'il a suivie depuis le commencement du monde , et quelque vive que soit sa défense , néanmoins , malgré sa fu-* reur et ses vacarmes , il croîtra au milieu de son royaume imaginaire , un lys dont le parfum atteindra jusque dans le paradis de Dieu , comme le .témoigne l'esprit. I. ri ( i62 ) Ce. io« 54. Vois, toi , fils dePhomme , veux-tu parvenir facilement à ces connoissances?Réfléchis seulement sur ta base à^affection et considère-la -, tu trouveras tout en elle ; tu sais que d'elle viennent la joie et la souffrance , le rire et les pleurs , l'espérance et le doute , la colère et l'amour , l'altract pour une chose et aussi la répugnance pour cette même chose, ïu trouves en elle la colère et la méchanceté, et aussi l'amour , la douceur et tout ce qui est bon et agréable.
335. Ici on se demande : Pâme ne pouvoit-elle pasi demeurer dans une seule volonté , c'est-à-dire , dans lin pur amour , comme Dieu même ? C'est là où gît le point , le but et la connoissance. Vois,si la volonté B'étoit que dans une essence, l'ame n'auroit aussi qu'une qualité qui donneroit la même teinte à la Volonté;et ce seroit une chose immuable, qui resteroit toujours enrepos,elneferoit jamais rien de plus^ c'est-à-dire, qu'elle feroit toujours la même chose. En cela il n'y auroit aucune joie, ni aucune connoissance , ni aucun art , ni aucune science d'accroisfsement , et il n'y auroit aucune sagesse ; et de même si la qualité u'éloit pas à l'infini, tout seroit un rien, et il n'y auroit ni affection^ ni volonté pour quelque chose ,. car il n'y auroit qu'une seule chose. 36. Or, on ne peut pas dire que la divinité entière , avec ses trois principes , soit en une seule volonté et une seule manière d'être ; il y a une distinction à faire. Quoique le premier et le troisième principe ne soient point appelés Dieu ( et aussi n'est-ce pas là Dieu ) , ils sont , cependant , son fjH. 10. ( i63 ) essence, où la lumière de Dieu et son cœur sont toujours engendrés de toute éternité, et c'est un seul être comme le corps et l'ame dans Thomme.
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.
1r 30. But if we think upon the origin of the first principle, then we find the species of the tree, as well as that of the will relatively to the tree 9 we find there the aby4ss, hell and there the anger. Then, we find the will of hell and 4of 1the anger; we find moreover the will of the demon. We find the envious will of all the creatures of this world, — wherefore all are enemies, hate one another, tear one another, fight one another. For this reason, I will show thee the tree of the temptation, and thou wilt be able to look Moses in the face: 4 only, hold thy spirit attentive to seize it. 3i. I have often given thee to understand in this book, what the matrix of all the essences is; but as it is here of the highest utility 4to recognise the base, I will expose it to thee very completely and very profoundly, so that thou mayest recognise it likewise in thyself. Thou wilt be able also to recognise it in all the creatures, and in the first object that shall present itself: what thou contemplatest, or what thou canst have continually in thy thought, all that must be so many testimonies. I can take for witnesses the heaven, the earth, as well as the sun, the stars and the elements 5 and that, not by simple words and in ^. iO. ( 161 ) promises, but I must represent to thee all these things in their virtues and in their essence. Thou hast in thy body no power that can convince thee thereof. Only, let not thy soul be obscured by the spirit of lying, the ancient serpent, for it has a thousand artifices. '
23a: When he sees that he cannot penetrate into man with the doubt upon the mercy of God, he renders his conscience light, in such manner that he considers all as nothing; he plunges his soul into drowsiness, so that he esteems himself but little; as if all were but a small matter. Let divine things go as they may: he will not torment his heart for them, and he leaves the doctor to occupy himself therewith as being charged to answer for it. Thus the soul walks as lightly in this, as a whirlwind of wind, or as a torrent. Christ also speaks of it, and says: The demon plucks the word from their heart, that they may not seize it nor become believing and holy, and that it may not take root. 33. Otherwise, if the pearls could grow and the lilies push forth, he (the demon) could be unveiled, then every one would flee him, and he would remain in a great contempt. That is the course he has followed since the beginning of the world, and however lively his defence be, nevertheless, in spite of his fury and his uproars, there shall grow in the midst of his imaginary kingdom, a lily whose perfume shall reach even into the paradise of God, as the spirit testifies. I. ri ( i62 ) Ce. io« 54. See, thou, son of man, wilt thou attain easily to these knowledges? Reflect only upon thy base of affection and consider it; thou wilt find all in it; thou knowest that from it come joy and suffering, laughter and tears, hope and doubt, anger and love, the attract for a thing and also the repugnance for that same thing. Thou findest in it anger and wickedness, and also love, sweetness and all that is good and agreeable.
335. Here one asks: could the soul not remain in one single will, that is to say, in a pure love, like God himself? That is where the point lies, the aim and the knowledge. See, if the will were only in one essence, the soul would also have but one quality which would give the same tint to the will; and it would be an immutable thing, which would always remain at rest, and would never do anything more; that is to say, that it would always do the same thing. In that there would be no joy, nor any knowledge, nor any art, nor any science of increase, and there would be no wisdom; and likewise if the quality were not to infinity, all would be a nothing, and there would be neither affection nor will for anything, for there would be but one single thing. 36. Now, one cannot say that the entire divinity, with its three principles, is in one single will and one single manner of being; there is a distinction to be made. Although the first and the third principle be not called God (and also that is not God), they are, nevertheless, his fjH. 10. ( i63 ) essence, where the light of God and his heart are always begotten from all eternity, and it is one single being like the body and the soul in man.
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.