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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.
1the third birth in thee, just as an apple upon a tree is the third birth or geniture of the earth, and hath not its vegetation in, from, or within the earth, but from above the earth; and if it were a spirit, as thy soul is, it would not suffer the earth any more to tie or bind it to corruption. 37. But thou must know, however, that the apple on its stock or branch, with its innermost birth or geniture, qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the word of God, through whose power it is grown out of the earth. 38.* But since the wrath is in the body of the mother of the apple, this same mother cannot get the apple out of the palpable birth, and the apple must remain, as to its body, in the palpability, in death. * A new translation of this par. has been substituted for Sparrow's rendering. 39. But in its power, * in which its life standeth, wherewith it qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the word of God, this apple will, in its mother, in the power of the word at the Last Judgment Day, be set or put again into its heavenly place, and be separated from the wrathful and dead or mortal palpability, and spring up in the heaven of this world, in a heavenly form, and be a fruit for men in the other life. [" Here understand, the power of the Principle, " out of which the apple and all things grow, will, " in the renovation of the world, spring up again " in paradise with the wonders."] * " But in its power," etc. " But in its power (the virtue wherein the apple's life consists) wherewith it qualifieth with the Word of God, this apple will, in its mother," etc. 40. But seeing thou art made out of the seed
2of the earth— [" Red earth is fire and water, conceived " with or by the Word Fiat out of the " matrix of the earth: when man imagined " or set his desire into the earth he became " earthly."] —and hast set or put thy body back again into thy mother, therefore thy body also is become a palpable, dead or mortal body, such as thy mother is. 41. Thy body hath the same hope which thy mother the earth hath, viz. that at the Last Judgment Day, in the power of the word, it will be set or put again into its first place. 42. But seeing thy astral birth standeth here on earth in the wrath, and qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the love in the word, (just as the fruit on the tree doth, for the power of the fruit qualifieth or uniteth with the word), therefore thy hope standeth in God. For the astral birth or geniture standeth in love and wrath, and that, in this time, it cannot boast of, on account of the outermost birth or geniture in the flesh, which standeth in death. 43. For the dead or mortal flesh hath encompassed the astral birth, and man's flesh is a dead carcass, whilst it is yet in the mother's body or womb, and is encompassed with hell and God's wrath. 44. But now the astral birth generateth the animated soulish birth, viz. the third, which standeth in the word, wherein the incorporated or compacted word lieth hidden in its heaven. [" The Sulphur to the (production of the) soul " is the first Principle in the eternal willspirit, " and cometh to life in the third Principle, and " so liveth between love and wrath, and hangeth
3" to both."] 45. Now, since thou hast thy reason, and art not like the apple on the tree, but art created an angel and the similitude or image of God, instead of the expulsed devils, and knowest how thou canst with thy astral birth, in the part of love, qualify or unite with the word of God, therefore thou canst, in the centre of the word, set or put thy animated or soulish birth into heaven, and thou canst with thy soul, even with thy living body in this dead or mortal palpability, rule with God in heaven. 46. For the word is in thy heart [Deut. xxx. 14],[Rom. x. 8], and qualifieth or uniteth with the soul, as if it were one being; and if thy soul standeth in the love, then it also is one being. And, thou mayest say, that according to thy soul thou sittest in heaven, and livest and reignest with God. [" Understand, according to the spirit of the " soul, with the image out of the animated or " soulish fire."] 47. For the soul, which apprehendeth the word, hath an open gate in heaven, and can be prevented by nothing; neither doth the devil see the soul, because it is not in his country or dominions. 48. But seeing thy astral birth standeth with the one part in the wrath, and that the flesh through the wrath standeth in death, thereupon the devil, in the part of the wrath, seeth continually even into thy heart, and if thou lettest him have any room or place there, then he teareth out from the word that part of the astral birth which standeth in the love. 49. Then thy heart is a dark valley: And if thou dost not labour and work quickly again to
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.
1the third birth in thee, just as an apple upon a tree is the third birth or geniture of the earth, and hath not its vegetation in, from, or within the earth, but from above the earth; and if it were a spirit, as thy soul is, it would not suffer the earth any more to tie or bind it to corruption. 37. But thou must know, however, that the apple on its stock or branch, with its innermost birth or geniture, qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the word of God, through whose power it is grown out of the earth. 38.* But since the wrath is in the body of the mother of the apple, this same mother cannot get the apple out of the palpable birth, and the apple must remain, as to its body, in the palpability, in death. * A new translation of this par. has been substituted for Sparrow's rendering. 39. But in its power, * in which its life standeth, wherewith it qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the word of God, this apple will, in its mother, in the power of the word at the Last Judgment Day, be set or put again into its heavenly place, and be separated from the wrathful and dead or mortal palpability, and spring up in the heaven of this world, in a heavenly form, and be a fruit for men in the other life. [" Here understand, the power of the Principle, " out of which the apple and all things grow, will, " in the renovation of the world, spring up again " in paradise with the wonders."] * " But in its power," etc. " But in its power (the virtue wherein the apple's life consists) wherewith it qualifieth with the Word of God, this apple will, in its mother," etc. 40. But seeing thou art made out of the seed
2of the earth— [" Red earth is fire and water, conceived " with or by the Word Fiat out of the " matrix of the earth: when man imagined " or set his desire into the earth he became " earthly."] —and hast set or put thy body back again into thy mother, therefore thy body also is become a palpable, dead or mortal body, such as thy mother is. 41. Thy body hath the same hope which thy mother the earth hath, viz. that at the Last Judgment Day, in the power of the word, it will be set or put again into its first place. 42. But seeing thy astral birth standeth here on earth in the wrath, and qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the love in the word, (just as the fruit on the tree doth, for the power of the fruit qualifieth or uniteth with the word), therefore thy hope standeth in God. For the astral birth or geniture standeth in love and wrath, and that, in this time, it cannot boast of, on account of the outermost birth or geniture in the flesh, which standeth in death. 43. For the dead or mortal flesh hath encompassed the astral birth, and man's flesh is a dead carcass, whilst it is yet in the mother's body or womb, and is encompassed with hell and God's wrath. 44. But now the astral birth generateth the animated soulish birth, viz. the third, which standeth in the word, wherein the incorporated or compacted word lieth hidden in its heaven. [" The Sulphur to the (production of the) soul " is the first Principle in the eternal willspirit, " and cometh to life in the third Principle, and " so liveth between love and wrath, and hangeth
3" to both."] 45. Now, since thou hast thy reason, and art not like the apple on the tree, but art created an angel and the similitude or image of God, instead of the expulsed devils, and knowest how thou canst with thy astral birth, in the part of love, qualify or unite with the word of God, therefore thou canst, in the centre of the word, set or put thy animated or soulish birth into heaven, and thou canst with thy soul, even with thy living body in this dead or mortal palpability, rule with God in heaven. 46. For the word is in thy heart [Deut. xxx. 14],[Rom. x. 8], and qualifieth or uniteth with the soul, as if it were one being; and if thy soul standeth in the love, then it also is one being. And, thou mayest say, that according to thy soul thou sittest in heaven, and livest and reignest with God. [" Understand, according to the spirit of the " soul, with the image out of the animated or " soulish fire."] 47. For the soul, which apprehendeth the word, hath an open gate in heaven, and can be prevented by nothing; neither doth the devil see the soul, because it is not in his country or dominions. 48. But seeing thy astral birth standeth with the one part in the wrath, and that the flesh through the wrath standeth in death, thereupon the devil, in the part of the wrath, seeth continually even into thy heart, and if thou lettest him have any room or place there, then he teareth out from the word that part of the astral birth which standeth in the love. 49. Then thy heart is a dark valley: And if thou dost not labour and work quickly again to
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.
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