Fetching
One moment.
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.
1** The German substantive rendered by Sparrow " mind " in this par. is Gemüthe, mind, soul, heart, feeling, disposition. The word is specifically applicable to the organ of feeling, rather than to mind, as " mind " is ordinarily understood. 95. For in respect of this light, understanding and government, is man distinguished from the beasts, and is an angel of God; as I shall clearly shew when I write of the creation of man. 96. Therefore observe exactly, and take notice of the order of this book, and then thou wilt find whatsoever thy heart desireth or ever longed for. 97. Thus you find in man three fountainsprings. First, the power in thy whole mind ***, which signifieth God the Father. Then secondly, the light in thy whole mind, enlightening the whole mind, which signifieth God the Son. Then thirdly, there goeth forth out of all thy powers, and out of thy light also, a spirit which hath understanding. *** " whole mind " (gantzen Gemüthe). See par. 94 above. 98. For all the veins, together with the light in thee, as also thy heart and thy brain, and all whatsoever is in thee, make or constitute that spirit; and that is thy soul; and it well signifieth the Holy Ghost, which goeth forth from the Father and the Son, and reigneth in the whole Father; for the soul of man reigneth in the whole body. 99. But the body or the bestial flesh in man signifieth the dead corrupted earth, which man through his fall hath so framed to himself; of which more shall be spoken in its due place.
2100. [" The soul containeth the first principle; " and the soul's spirit the second principle " in Ternario sancto, in the holy Ternary; and " the outward spirit, viz. the astral, containeth " the third Principle of this world."] * * In Sparrow's translation this par. is not marked as one of the additions by J. B. himself in 1620. In the German ed. of 1656 the par. is treated as an addition, and no alteration was made by Gichtel in the ed. of 1682. 101. Thus you find also the Ternary of the Deity in beasts; for as the spirit of a man is, and existeth, so is it also in a beast, and therein is no difference. ** ** " for as the spirit of a man is," etc. Sparrow has given a literal translation of the German. The par. could be rendered thus: " for the spirit ariseth and existeth in a beast just in the same manner as in a man." 102. But the difference lieth in this, that man is made by God himself out of the best kernel or pith of nature, to be his angel and similitude, and God ruleth in man with his holy spirit; so that man can speak, discourse, distinguish and understand all things. 103. But a beast is made of the wild nature of this world; the stars and elements have generated beasts through their motion, according to the will of God. 104. So existeth the spirit in birds, fowls and worms also; and all hath its threefold source in similitude to the Ternary in the Deity. 105. You see also the Ternary of the Deity in wood and stones, as also in herbs, in leaves and in grass, only these are all earthly.
3106. However, nature generateth nothing in this world, be it what it will, and though perhaps it should stand or continue but scarce a minute, yet it is all generated in the Ternary, or according to the similitude of God. 107. Now observe: In wood, stone or herbs there are three things contained, nor can anything be generated or grow if but one of the three should be left out. 108. I. First, there is the power, from which a body comes to be, whether wood, stone or herbs. II. After that, there is a sap in that thing, which is the heart of the thing. III. Thirdly, there is in it a springing, flowing power, smell or taste, which is the spirit of the thing, whereby it groweth and increaseth. Now if any of these three fail, the thing cannot subsist. 109. Thus you find in everything a similitude of the Ternary in the divine being, look upon what you will; let no man make himself so stark blind as to think otherwise, or to think that God hath no Son and no Holy Ghost. 110. I shall make this more plain and clear when I come to write of the creation; for I do not borrow of other men in my writings: And though indeed I quote many examples and testimonies of God's saints, yet all is written by God in my mind, so that I absolutely and infallibly believe, know and see it; yet not in the flesh, but in the spirit, in the impulse and motion of God. 111. It is not so to be understood that my reason is greater or higher than that of all other men living; but I am the Lord's twig or branch, and am a very mean and little spark of his; he may set me where he pleaseth, I cannot hinder him in that.
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** The German substantive rendered by Sparrow " mind " in this par. is Gemüthe, mind, soul, heart, feeling, disposition. The word is specifically applicable to the organ of feeling, rather than to mind, as " mind " is ordinarily understood. 95. For in respect of this light, understanding and government, is man distinguished from the beasts, and is an angel of God; as I shall clearly shew when I write of the creation of man. 96. Therefore observe exactly, and take notice of the order of this book, and then thou wilt find whatsoever thy heart desireth or ever longed for. 97. Thus you find in man three fountainsprings. First, the power in thy whole mind ***, which signifieth God the Father. Then secondly, the light in thy whole mind, enlightening the whole mind, which signifieth God the Son. Then thirdly, there goeth forth out of all thy powers, and out of thy light also, a spirit which hath understanding. *** " whole mind " (gantzen Gemüthe). See par. 94 above. 98. For all the veins, together with the light in thee, as also thy heart and thy brain, and all whatsoever is in thee, make or constitute that spirit; and that is thy soul; and it well signifieth the Holy Ghost, which goeth forth from the Father and the Son, and reigneth in the whole Father; for the soul of man reigneth in the whole body. 99. But the body or the bestial flesh in man signifieth the dead corrupted earth, which man through his fall hath so framed to himself; of which more shall be spoken in its due place.
2100. [" The soul containeth the first principle; " and the soul's spirit the second principle " in Ternario sancto, in the holy Ternary; and " the outward spirit, viz. the astral, containeth " the third Principle of this world."] * * In Sparrow's translation this par. is not marked as one of the additions by J. B. himself in 1620. In the German ed. of 1656 the par. is treated as an addition, and no alteration was made by Gichtel in the ed. of 1682. 101. Thus you find also the Ternary of the Deity in beasts; for as the spirit of a man is, and existeth, so is it also in a beast, and therein is no difference. ** ** " for as the spirit of a man is," etc. Sparrow has given a literal translation of the German. The par. could be rendered thus: " for the spirit ariseth and existeth in a beast just in the same manner as in a man." 102. But the difference lieth in this, that man is made by God himself out of the best kernel or pith of nature, to be his angel and similitude, and God ruleth in man with his holy spirit; so that man can speak, discourse, distinguish and understand all things. 103. But a beast is made of the wild nature of this world; the stars and elements have generated beasts through their motion, according to the will of God. 104. So existeth the spirit in birds, fowls and worms also; and all hath its threefold source in similitude to the Ternary in the Deity. 105. You see also the Ternary of the Deity in wood and stones, as also in herbs, in leaves and in grass, only these are all earthly.
3106. However, nature generateth nothing in this world, be it what it will, and though perhaps it should stand or continue but scarce a minute, yet it is all generated in the Ternary, or according to the similitude of God. 107. Now observe: In wood, stone or herbs there are three things contained, nor can anything be generated or grow if but one of the three should be left out. 108. I. First, there is the power, from which a body comes to be, whether wood, stone or herbs. II. After that, there is a sap in that thing, which is the heart of the thing. III. Thirdly, there is in it a springing, flowing power, smell or taste, which is the spirit of the thing, whereby it groweth and increaseth. Now if any of these three fail, the thing cannot subsist. 109. Thus you find in everything a similitude of the Ternary in the divine being, look upon what you will; let no man make himself so stark blind as to think otherwise, or to think that God hath no Son and no Holy Ghost. 110. I shall make this more plain and clear when I come to write of the creation; for I do not borrow of other men in my writings: And though indeed I quote many examples and testimonies of God's saints, yet all is written by God in my mind, so that I absolutely and infallibly believe, know and see it; yet not in the flesh, but in the spirit, in the impulse and motion of God. 111. It is not so to be understood that my reason is greater or higher than that of all other men living; but I am the Lord's twig or branch, and am a very mean and little spark of his; he may set me where he pleaseth, I cannot hinder him in that.
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.
No commentary for this page.