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.
1dessus de la limile de la nature , ce dont il sera amplement traité en son lieu. J'ai seulement présenté ici cela brièvement afin que lu comprennes mieux mon écrit jen quoi consiste la base de l'écrilurejqu'il n'y a rien de nouveau , et qu'il n'y aura, non plus, rien de nouveau , si ce n'est seulement une vraie connoissance de l'esprit saint , de l'essence de toutes les essences. Vu sommeil d*jidam, 16. Adam n'a point mangé du fruit avant sa cliule , jusqu'à ce que sa femme ait été créée de lui. Seulement 5 ses essences et son penchant en ont mangé par l'imagination, en esprit , et non par la bouche. C'est pour cela que l'esprit du grand monde l'a saisi , et a inqualifié puissamment en lui ; car à l'instant la soleil, les étoiles, et tous les quatre élémens ont combattu avec lui puissamment , et si fortement qu'ils l'ont vaincu, de façon qu'il s'est laissé tomber dans le sommeil. 17. Maintenant, pour un homme intelligent il est aisé de conclure et de savoir que dans Adam , lorsqu'il étoit en image de Dieu , il n'y avoit aucun fiommeil et qu'il ne pou voit y en avoir. Car, Adam étoit une image telle que nous serons quand nous ressusciterons de la mort. Là , nous n'aurons besoin ni des élémens, ni du soleil, ni des étoiles, 'non plus que d'aucun sommeil ; mais nos yeux seront toujours ouverts , et éternellement , pour contempler la majesté divine , dont nous tirerons notre nour« CH. la. ( 197 )
2riture et notre boisson ; et le centre dahs la multî* plicité ou dans l'expansion de la génération , nous donnera une joie pure et de pures délices. Toutefois, Dieu ne tirera de la terre pour le royaume céleste , aucun autre hoin-me tel qu'étoit le premier avant la chute ; car, il avoit été créé de l'éternelle volonté de Dieu , et elle est invariable et doit subsister. C'est pourquoi , pense sérieusement à ces choses. 18. Toi , ame chérie , toi qui nages dans un baia ténébreux , dirige ton affection vers la porte des cieux, et cherche quelle a donc été la chute d'Adam, pour que Dieu en ait un si grand dégoût , qu'Adaiu n'a pas pu rester dans le paradis ? Contemple et considère le sommeil, et tu trouveras tout, 19. Le sommeil n'est autre chose que d'avoir été subjugué. Car, le soleil et le sydérique sont toujours en puissant combat avec les élémens , et l'élément eau ou la matrice, est trop foible devant le fea et les étoiles ; car elle est l'abaissement oulecoulerbas dans le centre de la nature , comme tu l'as va ci-dessus en plusieurs endroits» 20. Or , la lumière du soleil est comme un Dieu dans la nature de ce monde; elle enflamme toujours par sa puissance , les étoiles , d'où ces étoiles qui sont une essence réellement terrible et angoisseuse ,. s'élèvent toujours en un triomphe vraiment joyeux ; car cette lumière est une substance. C'est ainsi que la lumière de Dieu enflamme et éclaire la rigide et. ténébreuse ame du père : et de-là , la joie et les délices divins s'élèvent dans le père par le moyei* d£ la lumière^ V, ( içS ) flT. li.
32T. Ainsi , ce même triomphe , ou cel éUvement fait toujours dans la matrice de l'eau, comme un Louillonnemenl. Car, toutes les étoiles jèlent toujours leur puissance dans la matrice de Teau, c'està-dire 5 qu'elles sont en elle. Ainsi , la matrice est désormais toujours en bouillonnement et en t lèvement, d'où vient l'accroissement dans le bois, dans î'iierbe , dans les plantes et dans les animaux. En éfifet 5 le régime supérieur du soleil et des étoiles , «insi que des élémens domine dans toutes les créalures 5 il est en elles une (loraison ou une végétation 5 et sans sa puissance , il n'y auroit dans ce monde , dans le troisième principe , aucune vie ni mobilité danâ aucune chose sans exception. 22. Or, la créalu)*tt vivante ; savoir: l'homme ^ fes animaux et les oiseaux ont en eux la teinture : car dès le commencement , ils sont un extrait de la i|ualité des étoiles et dos élémens , par le fiât : et dans la teinture , est le feu toujours inflammable , qui attire sanscessela puissance de Teau , ou l'huile j de là vient le sang dans lequel gît la noble vie. 23. Mais le soleil et les astres enflamment contîîîuellement la teinture , car elle est ignée ; et la teinture enflamme le corps , par le moyen de la matrice de l'eau , de façon qu'il est toujours chaud et bouillonnant. Les astres et le soleil sont le feu de la teinture , et la teinture est le feu du corps. Ainsi tout est en bouillonnement ; et lorsque le soleil descend, de manière que son éclat ne soit plus là, alors )a teinture devient foible , car elle n'a plus aucun êtllumement de !a part de la puissance du soleil , et \\ *} ■t m. 11. ( 199 )
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.
1bove the limit of nature, whereof there will be ample treatment in its place. I have only presented this here briefly so that thou mayest better understand my writing, wherein consists the base of the scripture; that there is nothing new, and that there will be, no more, anything new, save only a true knowledge of the holy spirit, of the essence of all the essences. Of the sleep of Adam, 16. Adam ate not of the fruit before his fall, until his wife had been created of him. Only 5 his essences and his inclination ate of it by the imagination, in spirit, and not by the mouth. It is for that that the spirit of the great world seized him, and inqualified powerfully in him; for in the instant the sun, the stars, and all the four elements combated with him powerfully, and so strongly that they vanquished him, so that he let himself fall into sleep. 17. Now, for an intelligent man it is easy to conclude and to know that in Adam, when he was in the image of God, there was no sleep and that there could be none. For, Adam was an image such as we shall be when we shall rise from the death. There, we shall have need neither of the elements, nor of the sun, nor of the stars, no more than of any sleep; but our eyes will be always open, and eternally, to contemplate the divine majesty, whence we shall draw our nourish- CH. la. ( 197 )
2ment and our drink; and the centre in the multiplicity or in the expansion of the generation, will give us a pure joy and pure delights. Nevertheless, God will draw from the earth for the celestial kingdom, no other man such as was the first before the fall; for, he had been created of the eternal will of God, and it is invariable and must subsist. That is why, think seriously upon these things. 18. Thou, dear soul, thou who swimmest in a tenebrous bath, direct thy affection toward the gate of the heavens, and seek what then has been the fall of Adam, that God should have so great a disgust at it, that Adam could not remain in paradise? Contemplate and consider the sleep, and thou wilt find all, 19. Sleep is nothing else than to have been subjugated. For, the sun and the sidereal are always in powerful combat with the elements, and the element water or the matrix, is too feeble before the fire and the stars; for it is the abasement or the flowing down in the centre of nature, as thou hast seen it above in several places. 20. Now, the light of the sun is as a God in the nature of this world; it always inflames by its power, the stars, whence these stars which are an essence really terrible and anguishing, always rise in a truly joyous triumph; for this light is a substance. It is thus that the light of God inflames and enlightens the rigid and tenebrous soul of the father: and thence, the divine joy and delights rise in the father by means of the light. V, ( içS ) flT. li.
32T. Thus, this same triumph, or that raising makes always in the matrix of the water, as a boiling. For, all the stars always cast their power into the matrix of the water, that is to say 5 that they are in it. Thus, the matrix is henceforth always in boiling and in raising, whence comes the increase in the wood, in the herb, in the plants and in the animals. In effect 5 the superior régime of the sun and of the stars, as well as of the elements rules in all the creatures 5 it is in them a flowering or a vegetation 5 and without its power, there would be in this world, in the third principle, no life nor mobility in anything without exception. 22. Now, the living creature; to wit: man, the animals and the birds have in them the tincture: for from the beginning, they are an extract of the quality of the stars and of the elements, by the fiat: and in the tincture, is the fire always inflammable, which draws without ceasing the power of the water, or the oil; thence comes the blood in which lies the noble life. 23. But the sun and the stars inflame continually the tincture, for it is fiery; and the tincture inflames the body, by means of the matrix of the water, so that it is always warm and boiling. The stars and the sun are the fire of the tincture, and the tincture is the fire of the body. Thus all is in boiling; and when the sun goes down, in such manner that its brightness is no more there, then the tincture becomes feeble, for it has no more any kindling on the part of the power of the sun, and \\ *} ■t m. 11. ( 199 )
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.