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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.
1or taste of all the powers: 58. Just as the Holy Ghost goeth forth from the Father and the Son, and is the sharpness or proof of all powers, and in his moving or rising up bringeth all that which is good again into all the powers of the Father, whereby the powers of the Father are impregnated again, and so continually generate the taste. 59. But that which is not good the Holy Ghost speweth out, as a loathsome abomination, as it is written in the Apocalypse [Rev. iii 16]; and as he spewed out the great prince Lucifer in his pride and perdition; for the Holy Ghost could no more endure to taste the fiery proud stinking quality. And thus it happens to all proud stinking men. 60. O man, let this be told thee, for the spirit is earnestly jealous in this thing especially: Desist from pride; or else it will be with you as it befell the devils. There is no jesting or trifling herein; the time is very short, thou wilt suddenly taste it, I mean the hellish fire. 61. Now as the Holy Ghost proveth all, so the tongue also proveth all tastes: and if the same pleaseth the spirit, then the spirit bringeth the same into the head, to the other four counsellors before the princely seat, and there it is proved whether it be profitable or wholesome for the qualities of the body. 62. If so, then is it brought to the mother, the heart, which giveth it to all the veins or powers of the body, and then the mouth and hands lay hold of it. 63. But if it be not good, then the tongue spits or speweth it out, before it comes to the princely council.
264. But though the taste be pleasant to the tongue, and is a good taste, but yet is not serviceable and useful for the whole body, then it is rejected nevertheless, when it comes before the council, and the tongue must spit or spew it out, and touch it no more. 65. The fifth princely counsellor is the feeling; which fifth counsellor ariseth also from all the powers of the body in the spirit, into the head. 66. As all powers go forth from God the Father and Son, in the Holy Ghost, so one toucheth another, from whence existeth the tune or Mercurius, so that all the powers sound and move themselves. 67. Else if one did not touch another, nothing would stir at all, and so this touching maketh the Holy Ghost stir, so that he riseth up in all the powers, and toucheth all the powers of the Father, wherein then existeth the heavenly joyfulness or triumphing, as also tuning, sounding, generating, blossoming and vegetation or springing, all which hath its rising from this, that one power toucheth another. 68. For Christ saith in the Gospel [John v. 17], I work, and my Father worketh also. And he meaneth this very touching and working, in that every power goeth forth from him, and generateth the Holy Ghost, and in the Holy Ghost all the powers are already clearly stirred, by the going forth of the Father. 69. Therefore the Holy Ghost floweth, boileth and riseth up from eternity to eternity, and kindleth again all the powers of the Father, and maketh them stirring, so that they are always impregnated.
370. In such manner it is also in angels and men: for all powers in the body (Corpus) arise, and touch one another, or else angels and men could feel nothing. 71. But if one member be too much stirred, it crieth to the whole body for help, and the whole body stirs, as if it were in a great commotion or uproar, as if the enemy were at hand, and cometh to help that member, and to deliver and release it from the pain. 72. This you may see if a finger be but hurt, crushed or wounded, or any other member of the body, be it which it will; presently the spirit in that place runneth suddenly to the mother, the heart, and complaineth to the mother; and if the pain do but a little exceed, then the mother rouseth up and awakeneth all the members of the body, and all must come to help that member. Now observe, 73. Thus one power continually toucheth and stirreth another in the whole body, and all the powers rise up into the head before the princely council, which princely council proveth the stirring of all the powers. 74. Now if one member stirreth too much, and at any time hurteth a princely counsellor; (as by seeing, it would be in love with that which it ought not to be in love withal): 75. As lord Lucifer did, who saw the Son of God, and fell in love with that high light, and moved and stirred himself so very much, intending to be equal with him, or indeed to be higher and brighter than he; such stirring or meddling the counsellors reject.
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.
1or taste of all the powers: 58. Just as the Holy Ghost goeth forth from the Father and the Son, and is the sharpness or proof of all powers, and in his moving or rising up bringeth all that which is good again into all the powers of the Father, whereby the powers of the Father are impregnated again, and so continually generate the taste. 59. But that which is not good the Holy Ghost speweth out, as a loathsome abomination, as it is written in the Apocalypse [Rev. iii 16]; and as he spewed out the great prince Lucifer in his pride and perdition; for the Holy Ghost could no more endure to taste the fiery proud stinking quality. And thus it happens to all proud stinking men. 60. O man, let this be told thee, for the spirit is earnestly jealous in this thing especially: Desist from pride; or else it will be with you as it befell the devils. There is no jesting or trifling herein; the time is very short, thou wilt suddenly taste it, I mean the hellish fire. 61. Now as the Holy Ghost proveth all, so the tongue also proveth all tastes: and if the same pleaseth the spirit, then the spirit bringeth the same into the head, to the other four counsellors before the princely seat, and there it is proved whether it be profitable or wholesome for the qualities of the body. 62. If so, then is it brought to the mother, the heart, which giveth it to all the veins or powers of the body, and then the mouth and hands lay hold of it. 63. But if it be not good, then the tongue spits or speweth it out, before it comes to the princely council.
264. But though the taste be pleasant to the tongue, and is a good taste, but yet is not serviceable and useful for the whole body, then it is rejected nevertheless, when it comes before the council, and the tongue must spit or spew it out, and touch it no more. 65. The fifth princely counsellor is the feeling; which fifth counsellor ariseth also from all the powers of the body in the spirit, into the head. 66. As all powers go forth from God the Father and Son, in the Holy Ghost, so one toucheth another, from whence existeth the tune or Mercurius, so that all the powers sound and move themselves. 67. Else if one did not touch another, nothing would stir at all, and so this touching maketh the Holy Ghost stir, so that he riseth up in all the powers, and toucheth all the powers of the Father, wherein then existeth the heavenly joyfulness or triumphing, as also tuning, sounding, generating, blossoming and vegetation or springing, all which hath its rising from this, that one power toucheth another. 68. For Christ saith in the Gospel [John v. 17], I work, and my Father worketh also. And he meaneth this very touching and working, in that every power goeth forth from him, and generateth the Holy Ghost, and in the Holy Ghost all the powers are already clearly stirred, by the going forth of the Father. 69. Therefore the Holy Ghost floweth, boileth and riseth up from eternity to eternity, and kindleth again all the powers of the Father, and maketh them stirring, so that they are always impregnated.
370. In such manner it is also in angels and men: for all powers in the body (Corpus) arise, and touch one another, or else angels and men could feel nothing. 71. But if one member be too much stirred, it crieth to the whole body for help, and the whole body stirs, as if it were in a great commotion or uproar, as if the enemy were at hand, and cometh to help that member, and to deliver and release it from the pain. 72. This you may see if a finger be but hurt, crushed or wounded, or any other member of the body, be it which it will; presently the spirit in that place runneth suddenly to the mother, the heart, and complaineth to the mother; and if the pain do but a little exceed, then the mother rouseth up and awakeneth all the members of the body, and all must come to help that member. Now observe, 73. Thus one power continually toucheth and stirreth another in the whole body, and all the powers rise up into the head before the princely council, which princely council proveth the stirring of all the powers. 74. Now if one member stirreth too much, and at any time hurteth a princely counsellor; (as by seeing, it would be in love with that which it ought not to be in love withal): 75. As lord Lucifer did, who saw the Son of God, and fell in love with that high light, and moved and stirred himself so very much, intending to be equal with him, or indeed to be higher and brighter than he; such stirring or meddling the counsellors reject.
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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