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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.
14o. En outre, Adam étoit créé de la parole ou du cœur de Dieu , afin qu'il pût être son image et sa ressemblance 5 il étoit très puissant dans tous les trois principes ; aussi grand qu'un prince , ou un trôneange. Mais lorsque cet arbre , qui seul portoit des fruits terrestres parmi tous les autres arbres , se trouva ainsi dans le jardin d'Eden , Adam s'en laissa éblouir à plusieurs reprises , parce qu'il savoitque c'étoit l'arbre du bien et du mal ; en outre , la puissance de l'arbre pénétra aussi en lui fortement ^ comme étant également en lui , de façon qu'un attra et corrompit l'autre; et l'esprit du grand monde pénétra aussi Adam fortement , de façon qu'il fut infecté^etque sa vertu fu! surmontée jalorsPhomm» te. li. ( 1B9 ) paradisiaque disparut ; et le cœur de Dieu dît : Il n'estpas bon que l'homme soit seul, formoDs4ui ua aide qui soit près de lui. 4i. Ici Dieu a vu sa chute , et qu'il ne pouvoit se soutenir ( puisque l'imagination et l'attract d'Adam étoient si fortement portés vers le royaume de ce monde , et vers le fruit terrestre) -, il a vu qu'Adam n'engendreroit point de soi un parfait homme paradisiaque , mais un homme infecté par l'attract , et qui tomberoit dans la corruptibilité \ et le texte de Moïse l'annonce plus loin très réellement : Et Dieu laissa tomber un profond sommeil sur l'homme , et il s'endormit. ^^^^^ ■fci^^'^'^'^^B^^^i» CI90) CHAPITRE DOUZIEME. De Touverture des saintes écritures ; des circonstances a considérer hautement Za porte (Tor , dont Dieu favorise U dernier monde dane lequel le lye croîtra,
2I. v-iHER lecteur , j'auroîs besoin de la langue d'un ange pour cette description , et toi d'une intelligence angélique si nous voulions nous entendre l'un l'autre. Mais quoique nous ne les ayons pas, nous voulons, cependant , avec notre langue terrestre , parler des grandes œuvres de Dieu , selon notre don et nos connoissances -, ouvrir l'écriture au lecteur , et lui donner , en outre , l'occasion de penser avec quoi la perle peut se chercher et enfin se trouver. Nous voulons travailler dans notre œuvre journalière et pour ceux qui après nous y entreront , jusqu'à ce que la perle du lys soit trouvée. 2. Ici donc , la raison demande : Combien de tems donc Adam a-t-il été dans le paradis avant la chute , et combien de tems a duré la tentation ? Jo ne peux rien dire de cela , d'après l'écrit de Moïse fur la création , car cela est resté caché pour une grande raison ; mais je veux te montrer la merveille de Dieu , et y creuser autant que cela m'est donné dans la connoissance , afin que tu puisses apprendre à mieux considérer la tentation et la chute d'Adam. 5. Chère raison , vois , maintenant , dans le miroir des opérations et des faits de Dieu. Lorsque Dieu apparut à Moïse dans le buisson ardent , il dit: Ote tes souliers j car ici est un lieu saint. Qu'est-ce que c'étoit que cela ? Dieu lui montra parla sa naissance terrestre ; car il vouloit lui donner une loi dans laquelle l'homme pût vivre , si c'étoit possible , et obtenir par-là la sainteté. Mais qui fut celui qui la lui donna , et ordonna à l'homme de vivre en elle ? Ce fut Dieu le père, de son centre ; c'est pourquoi cela arriva avec le feu et le tonnerre : car dans le cœur de Dieu , il n'y a ni feu , ni tonnerre ^ mais le très saint amour.
34. Maintenant la raison dit : Dieu le père n'est donc pas avec son fils un seul être ? Oui , il est un seul être et une seule volonté. Par quel milieu a-t-il donc donné la loi ? Far l'esprit du grand monde, puisqu'après sa chute Adam et tous les hommes y ont vécu ; ainsi l'épreuve fut faite pour savoir si l'homme pourroit vivre dans cette loi en confiance en Dieu ; c'est pourquoi il la promulgua avec de grandes merveilles,et il l'environna de splendeur , comme cela se voit à Moïse , qui avoit une face lumineuse ; et quand il se fut choisi ce peuple ^ il détruisit les enfans des incrédules , et conduisit le peuple dans le désert par des merveilles et des prodiges 3' c'est par-là que fut faite l'épreuve pour «avoir si l'homme pourroil vivre dans une parfaite obéissance sous cette clarification. 5. Qu'arriva-t-il alors? Moïse fut a^jpelé par Dieu, du milieu des enfans d'Israël , sur la montagne deSinaï, et il y demeura quarante jours : là il voulut éprouver ce peuple, pour savoir s'il étoit possible qu'il mît sa confiance en Dieu , pour qu'il pût être nourri du pain du ciel , afin d'arriver à la perfection. Or, alors le peuple fut tenté, car Moïse s'éloigna d'eux au milieu des nuées et des colonnes de feu , et s'arrêta quarante jours, lia Tame du majoris mundi , ou de l'esprit du grand inonde , fut en combat de rechef contre l'éternell© base affective de Dieu, l'une en opposition de l'autre. Dieu exigeoit l'obéissance , et l'ame de ce monde exigeoit Tattracl de celte vie passagère , tel que de manger , boire , jouer et danser : en outre, ils choisirent pour Dieu de leur ventre un ve^a d'or , afin qu'ils pussent vivre sans loi.
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.
14o. Besides, Adam was created of the word or of the heart of God, so that he might be his image and his resemblance 5 he was very powerful in all the three principles; as great as a prince, or a throne-angel. But when this tree, which alone bore terrestrial fruits among all the other trees, was found thus in the garden of Eden, Adam let himself be dazzled by it several times, because he knew that it was the tree of good and evil; besides, the power of the tree penetrated also into him strongly, as being equally in him, so that the one attracted and corrupted the other; and the spirit of the great world penetrated Adam also strongly, so that he was infected and his virtue was overcome; then the paradisiacal man te. li. ( 1B9 ) disappeared; and the heart of God said: It is not good that man be alone, let us form4 him a help that be near him. 4i. Here God has seen his fall, and that he could not sustain himself (since the imagination and the attract of Adam were so strongly carried toward the kingdom of this world, and toward the terrestrial fruit); he has seen that Adam would beget of himself no perfect paradisiacal man, but a man infected by the attract, and who would fall into corruptibility; and the text of Moses announces it further on very really: And God let a deep sleep fall upon man, and he slept. ^^^^^ ■fci^^'^'^'^^B^^^i» CI90) CHAPTER TWELFTH. Of the opening of the holy scriptures; of the circumstances to be highly considered The gate of gold, wherewith God favours the last world in which the lily shall grow,
2I. v-iDEAR reader, I should need the tongue of an angel for this description, and thou an angelic intelligence if we would understand one another. But although we have them not, we will, nevertheless, with our terrestrial tongue, speak of the great works of God, according to our gift and our knowledges; open the scripture to the reader, and give him, moreover, the occasion of thinking wherewith the pearl may be sought and at last found. We will work in our daily work and for those who after us shall enter therein, until the pearl of the lily be found. 2. Here then, reason asks: How long then was Adam in paradise before the fall, and how long lasted the temptation? I can say nothing of that, according to the writing of Moses upon the creation, for that has remained hidden for a great reason; but I will show thee the marvel of God, and dig therein as much as is given me in the knowledge, so that thou mayest learn to consider better the temptation and the fall of Adam. 5. Dear reason, see, now, in the mirror of the operations and the deeds of God. When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he said: Take off thy shoes; for here is a holy place. What was that? God showed him thereby his terrestrial birth; for he would give him a law in which man might live, if it were possible, and obtain thereby holiness. But who was he that gave it to him, and ordered man to live in it? It was God the father, of his centre; that is why this happened with the fire and the thunder: for in the heart of God, there is neither fire, nor thunder, but the most holy love.
34. Now reason says: God the father is then not with his son one single being? Yes, he is one single being and one single will. By what medium has he then given the law? By the spirit of the great world, since after his fall Adam and all men have lived therein; thus the proof was made to know whether man could live in this law in confidence in God; that is why he promulgated it with great marvels, and he environed it with splendour, as this is seen in Moses, who had a luminous face; and when he had chosen himself this people, he destroyed the children of the incredulous, and led the people into the desert by marvels and prodigies 3' it is thereby that the proof was made to know whether man could live in a perfect obedience under this clarification. 5. What happened then? Moses was called by God, from the midst of the children of Israel, upon the mountain of Sinai, and he remained there forty days: there he would prove this people, to know whether it were possible that it should put its confidence in God, so that it might be nourished with the bread of heaven, in order to arrive at perfection. Now, then the people was tempted, for Moses withdrew from them in the midst of the clouds and the columns of fire, and stayed forty days. The soul of the majoris mundi, or of the spirit of the great world, was in combat afresh against the eternal affective base of God, the one in opposition to the other. God exacted obedience, and the soul of this world exacted the attract of this passing life, such as to eat, drink, play and dance: besides, they chose for God of their belly a calf of gold, so that they might live without law.
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.