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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.
1* "And though indeed it is the third mother"—in the sense of, " In spite of being the third mother." 97. But when the third mother is kindled in the light, then it standeth in the created heaven of the holy life, and shineth through the second mother, the seven spirits, whereby the seven spirits get a friendly, courteous will, which is the love of the life, as you may read in the eighth chapter of this book, concerning the lovebirth or geniture of God. 98. But through the third mother they cannot constantly or permanently shine, for the third mother standeth in the house of darkness; but they often cast a glimpse upon the third mother, even as if it lightened, whereby the third mother many times becometh very longing, and rejoiceth highly, but is soon bolted up again by the fierceness of God's wrath. 99. The devil also danceth at this gate, for it is the prison wherein the new man lieth hid, and wherein the devil lieth captive. 100. I mean, in the house of the deep of this world. Though indeed [in] the house of flesh and the deep all [things or parts] qualify with one another as one body, and are one body, only [with] distinct parts or members. The Deep in the Centre. 101. Now behold! When the seed is generated, it standeth in the centre or midst of the body in the heart; for there the mother catcheth the Ternary or Trinity. 102. First, the astringent spirit catcheth hold, and that draweth together a mass or lump out
2of the sweet water, that is, out of or from the unctuosity or fatness of the blood of the heart, or from the sap or oil of the heart. 103. Now that oil hath clearly the root of the Ternary or Trinity in it, viz. the whole man; for it is just as when kindled tinder is cast into straw. Now it may be asked, How comes this to pass? 104. Here now is the true ground of man; observe it exactly, for it is the lookingglass of the great Mystery, the deep secret of the humanity, about which all the learned, since the beginning of the world, have danced, and have sought after this door, but they have not found it. 105. But I must once mention, that now is the Dawning or Morning Redness of the Day, as the Doorkeeper will have me do. Now observe: 106. Just as was the first mass, out of which Adam became a living man, so also in like manner is every mass or seed of the Ternary or Trinity in every man. Observe: 107. When the Salitter or fabric * of the six qualifying or fountain spirits (which Salitter is the seventh naturespirit in the space or room of this world) was kindled, then the Word or Heart of God stood everywhere in the centre or midst of the circle of the seven spirits, as a heart, which [heart] at once replenished all, viz. the whole space or room of this world. * " fabric " (Gewirke). See Ch. 26, par. 3.
3108. But seeing the deep, that is, the whole space of this world, was the body of the Father, (understand the Father of the Heart of God), understand the Father's body, and the Heart in the whole body did shine forth, viz. the Father's lustre or brightness, then the corrupted Salitter was affected or possessed everywhere with the light; and the Heart of God could not fly out from it, but did hide its lustre and shining light in the body of the whole deep, from the horrid kindled spirits of devils. 109. When this was done, then the qualifying or fountain spirits became very fierce and vehemently struggling, and the astringent spirit, as the strongest, drew very terribly together in the seventh naturespirit the fabric and effects * of the other five; from whence the bitter earth and stones came to be, but [they] were not yet driven together, but moved in the whole deep. * " fabric and effects " (Gewirke). See Ch. 26, par. 3. 110. In this hour the mass was drawn together; for when the Heart of God did hide itself in the Salitter, then it cast a glance again on the whole space or body, and thought how it might be remedied again, whereby another angelical kingdom might be in the deep of this world. 111. But the glance was the lovespirit in the Heart of God, which in that place of the glance affected or possessed the oil of the water, where previously the light was risen up. 112. Here consider Saint Peter's glance, that was cast upon him in the house of Caiphas: it is the very same. [Luke xxii. 61]
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.
1* "And though indeed it is the third mother"—in the sense of, " In spite of being the third mother." 97. But when the third mother is kindled in the light, then it standeth in the created heaven of the holy life, and shineth through the second mother, the seven spirits, whereby the seven spirits get a friendly, courteous will, which is the love of the life, as you may read in the eighth chapter of this book, concerning the lovebirth or geniture of God. 98. But through the third mother they cannot constantly or permanently shine, for the third mother standeth in the house of darkness; but they often cast a glimpse upon the third mother, even as if it lightened, whereby the third mother many times becometh very longing, and rejoiceth highly, but is soon bolted up again by the fierceness of God's wrath. 99. The devil also danceth at this gate, for it is the prison wherein the new man lieth hid, and wherein the devil lieth captive. 100. I mean, in the house of the deep of this world. Though indeed [in] the house of flesh and the deep all [things or parts] qualify with one another as one body, and are one body, only [with] distinct parts or members. The Deep in the Centre. 101. Now behold! When the seed is generated, it standeth in the centre or midst of the body in the heart; for there the mother catcheth the Ternary or Trinity. 102. First, the astringent spirit catcheth hold, and that draweth together a mass or lump out
2of the sweet water, that is, out of or from the unctuosity or fatness of the blood of the heart, or from the sap or oil of the heart. 103. Now that oil hath clearly the root of the Ternary or Trinity in it, viz. the whole man; for it is just as when kindled tinder is cast into straw. Now it may be asked, How comes this to pass? 104. Here now is the true ground of man; observe it exactly, for it is the lookingglass of the great Mystery, the deep secret of the humanity, about which all the learned, since the beginning of the world, have danced, and have sought after this door, but they have not found it. 105. But I must once mention, that now is the Dawning or Morning Redness of the Day, as the Doorkeeper will have me do. Now observe: 106. Just as was the first mass, out of which Adam became a living man, so also in like manner is every mass or seed of the Ternary or Trinity in every man. Observe: 107. When the Salitter or fabric * of the six qualifying or fountain spirits (which Salitter is the seventh naturespirit in the space or room of this world) was kindled, then the Word or Heart of God stood everywhere in the centre or midst of the circle of the seven spirits, as a heart, which [heart] at once replenished all, viz. the whole space or room of this world. * " fabric " (Gewirke). See Ch. 26, par. 3.
3108. But seeing the deep, that is, the whole space of this world, was the body of the Father, (understand the Father of the Heart of God), understand the Father's body, and the Heart in the whole body did shine forth, viz. the Father's lustre or brightness, then the corrupted Salitter was affected or possessed everywhere with the light; and the Heart of God could not fly out from it, but did hide its lustre and shining light in the body of the whole deep, from the horrid kindled spirits of devils. 109. When this was done, then the qualifying or fountain spirits became very fierce and vehemently struggling, and the astringent spirit, as the strongest, drew very terribly together in the seventh naturespirit the fabric and effects * of the other five; from whence the bitter earth and stones came to be, but [they] were not yet driven together, but moved in the whole deep. * " fabric and effects " (Gewirke). See Ch. 26, par. 3. 110. In this hour the mass was drawn together; for when the Heart of God did hide itself in the Salitter, then it cast a glance again on the whole space or body, and thought how it might be remedied again, whereby another angelical kingdom might be in the deep of this world. 111. But the glance was the lovespirit in the Heart of God, which in that place of the glance affected or possessed the oil of the water, where previously the light was risen up. 112. Here consider Saint Peter's glance, that was cast upon him in the house of Caiphas: it is the very same. [Luke xxii. 61]
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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