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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.
1thou not know that thou wert a creature, and hadst not the fan and castingshovel in thy own hand or power? 166. O, why do I pity thee, thou stinking goat? O thou cursed stinking devil! how hast thou spoiled us? How wilt thou excuse thyself? What wilt thou object to me? Objection. 167. Thou sayest, if thy fall had not been, man would never have been thought of.* * " never have been thought of " (erdacht worden), " thought out". St M. renders the idea very well: " n'eût pas été conçu dans l'imagination divine," " would not have been conceived in the divine imagination." Answer. O thou lying devil! Though that should be true, yet the Salitter out of which man is made (which is also from eternity, as well as that out of which thou art made), had stood in eternal joy and bright glory, and had likewise risen up in God, and had tasted of the gracious, amiable, blessed love in the seven spirits of God, and enjoyed the heavenly joy. 168. O thou lying devil, stay but a little, the spirit will discover thy shame to thee; tarry but a little while longer, and thy pomp, pride * and pageantry will be at an end. Stay, the bow is bent, the arrow will hit thee, and then whither wilt thou fall? The place is ready provided and prepared, it wanteth only to be kindled; wilt thou bring fuel ** lustily to it, that thou be not frozen with cold? Thou wilt sweat very hard: Dost thou suppose thou shalt obtain the light again? No, but hell fire. Smell thy sweet love, guess at it, what is that called? Gehenna; yes, that will be in love with thee eternally.
2* "thy pomp, pride," etc., lit., "thy show will be over." ** " wilt thou bring fuel." The German form is more emphatic, being in the imperative mood, "only bring fuel," etc. 169. Woe, woe, poor miserable blinded man, why sufferest thou the devil to make thy body and soul so dark and blind? O temporal good, and the pleasure and voluptuousness of this life! thou blind whore, why dost thou go a wooing and a whoring to the devil? 170. O security! the devil watcheth for thee. O highmindedness! thou art a hellish fire. O beauty, pomp or bravery! thou art a dark valley. O potency of dominion! thou art a raging and a tearing of the hellish fire. O selfvindication or vengeance! thou art the fierce wrath of God. 171. O Man! why will the world be too narrow for thee? Thou wilt needs have it all for thyself; and if thou hadst it, thou wouldst not have room enough. O, this is the devil's highmindedness, who fell out of heaven into hell. 172. O man! alas, O man! why dost thou dance with the devil who is thine enemy? Art thou not afraid* that he will thrust thee into hell? Why dost thou go on so securely? Is it not a very narrow stick on which thou dancest? Under that small narrow bridge is hell! Dost thou not see how high thou art, and how dangerously and desperately thou goest? Thou dancest between heaven and hell. * "art thou not afraid," or "dost thou not care," or "art thou not mindful." 173. O thou blind man! how doth the devil mock at thee? O, wherefore dost thou trouble heaven? Dost thou think thou wilt not have
3enough in this world? O blind man! is not heaven and earth thine? Nay, God himself too? What dost thou bring into this world, or what dost thou take along with thee at thy going out of it? Thou bringest an angelical garment into this world, and with thy wicked life thou turnest it into a devil's mask or vizor. 174. O thou miserable man, return, the heavenly Father hath stretched forth both his arms and calleth thee; do but come, he will take thee into his love. Art thou not his child? He doth love thee. If he did hate thee, he must be at odds with himself. O no, it is not so: there is nothing in God but a merciful, amiable love and bright glory. 175. O ye watchmen of Israel! why do ye sleep? Awake from the sleep of whoredom, and dress or trim your lamps: The Bridegroom cometh, sound your trumpets. 176. O ye covetous, stiffnecked and drunken roisterers! how do you woo and go a whoring after the covetous devil? Thus saith the LORD, Will ye not feed my people which I have committed to your charge? 177. Behold I have set you upon Moses' chair, and entrusted you with my flock; but you mind nothing but the wool, and mind not my sheep, and therewith you build your great palaces. But I will set you on the stool of pestilence, and my own Shepherd shall feed my sheep eternally. 178. O thou fair world, how doth heaven complain of thee? How dost thou trouble the elements? O wickedness and malice! when wilt thou leave, and give over? Awaken! awaken! and bring forth, thou sorrowful woman; behold thy Bridegroom cometh, and requireth fruit at
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.
1thou not know that thou wert a creature, and hadst not the fan and castingshovel in thy own hand or power? 166. O, why do I pity thee, thou stinking goat? O thou cursed stinking devil! how hast thou spoiled us? How wilt thou excuse thyself? What wilt thou object to me? Objection. 167. Thou sayest, if thy fall had not been, man would never have been thought of.* * " never have been thought of " (erdacht worden), " thought out". St M. renders the idea very well: " n'eût pas été conçu dans l'imagination divine," " would not have been conceived in the divine imagination." Answer. O thou lying devil! Though that should be true, yet the Salitter out of which man is made (which is also from eternity, as well as that out of which thou art made), had stood in eternal joy and bright glory, and had likewise risen up in God, and had tasted of the gracious, amiable, blessed love in the seven spirits of God, and enjoyed the heavenly joy. 168. O thou lying devil, stay but a little, the spirit will discover thy shame to thee; tarry but a little while longer, and thy pomp, pride * and pageantry will be at an end. Stay, the bow is bent, the arrow will hit thee, and then whither wilt thou fall? The place is ready provided and prepared, it wanteth only to be kindled; wilt thou bring fuel ** lustily to it, that thou be not frozen with cold? Thou wilt sweat very hard: Dost thou suppose thou shalt obtain the light again? No, but hell fire. Smell thy sweet love, guess at it, what is that called? Gehenna; yes, that will be in love with thee eternally.
2* "thy pomp, pride," etc., lit., "thy show will be over." ** " wilt thou bring fuel." The German form is more emphatic, being in the imperative mood, "only bring fuel," etc. 169. Woe, woe, poor miserable blinded man, why sufferest thou the devil to make thy body and soul so dark and blind? O temporal good, and the pleasure and voluptuousness of this life! thou blind whore, why dost thou go a wooing and a whoring to the devil? 170. O security! the devil watcheth for thee. O highmindedness! thou art a hellish fire. O beauty, pomp or bravery! thou art a dark valley. O potency of dominion! thou art a raging and a tearing of the hellish fire. O selfvindication or vengeance! thou art the fierce wrath of God. 171. O Man! why will the world be too narrow for thee? Thou wilt needs have it all for thyself; and if thou hadst it, thou wouldst not have room enough. O, this is the devil's highmindedness, who fell out of heaven into hell. 172. O man! alas, O man! why dost thou dance with the devil who is thine enemy? Art thou not afraid* that he will thrust thee into hell? Why dost thou go on so securely? Is it not a very narrow stick on which thou dancest? Under that small narrow bridge is hell! Dost thou not see how high thou art, and how dangerously and desperately thou goest? Thou dancest between heaven and hell. * "art thou not afraid," or "dost thou not care," or "art thou not mindful." 173. O thou blind man! how doth the devil mock at thee? O, wherefore dost thou trouble heaven? Dost thou think thou wilt not have
3enough in this world? O blind man! is not heaven and earth thine? Nay, God himself too? What dost thou bring into this world, or what dost thou take along with thee at thy going out of it? Thou bringest an angelical garment into this world, and with thy wicked life thou turnest it into a devil's mask or vizor. 174. O thou miserable man, return, the heavenly Father hath stretched forth both his arms and calleth thee; do but come, he will take thee into his love. Art thou not his child? He doth love thee. If he did hate thee, he must be at odds with himself. O no, it is not so: there is nothing in God but a merciful, amiable love and bright glory. 175. O ye watchmen of Israel! why do ye sleep? Awake from the sleep of whoredom, and dress or trim your lamps: The Bridegroom cometh, sound your trumpets. 176. O ye covetous, stiffnecked and drunken roisterers! how do you woo and go a whoring after the covetous devil? Thus saith the LORD, Will ye not feed my people which I have committed to your charge? 177. Behold I have set you upon Moses' chair, and entrusted you with my flock; but you mind nothing but the wool, and mind not my sheep, and therewith you build your great palaces. But I will set you on the stool of pestilence, and my own Shepherd shall feed my sheep eternally. 178. O thou fair world, how doth heaven complain of thee? How dost thou trouble the elements? O wickedness and malice! when wilt thou leave, and give over? Awaken! awaken! and bring forth, thou sorrowful woman; behold thy Bridegroom cometh, and requireth fruit at
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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