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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.
1joyful, for they all receive their rising and life in the power of light. 23. Again, they all generate the light, and all are together alike the father of the light, and the light generateth no one spirit, but maketh them all living and joyful, that they always continually stand in the birth. 24. Behold, I will shew it thee once more, that so by any means thou mayest apprehend it, that this high work may not take place in vain without profit to thee. 25. The astringent quality is the first spirit, and that attracteth or draweth together and maketh all dry: The sweet quality is the second spirit, and that softeneth or mitigateth the astringent: Now the third spirit is the bitter spirit, which existeth from the fourth and the first. 26. So when the third spirit in its rage rubs itself in the astringent, then it kindleth the fire, and then the fierceness in the fire riseth up in the astringent. In that fierceness now the bitter spirit becometh selfsubsisting; and in the sweet it becometh meek or mild; and in the hard it becometh corporeal; and so now it subsisteth, and is also the fourth spirit. 27. Now the flash in the power of these four goeth forth in the heat, and riseth up in the sweet spring water or fountain; the bitter maketh it triumphing; the astringent maketh it shining, dry and corporeal; and the sweet maketh it meek and mild; and so it receiveth its first shining and lustre in the sweet; and here now the flash, or the light, subsisteth in the midst or centre, as a heart.
228. Now when that light, which standeth in the midst or centre, shineth into the four spirits, then the power of the four spirits riseth up in the light, and they become living, and love the light; that is, they take it into them, and are impregnated with it, and that spirit which is so taken in is the love of the life, which is the fifth spirit. 29. Now when they have taken the love into them, then they qualify, act or operate for great joy; for the one seeth the other in the light, and so the one toucheth or stirreth the other. 30. Then the tone riseth up; and the hard spirit beateth, striketh or thumpeth; * but the sweet maketh that beating or striking mild; and the bitter divideth it according to the condition or kind of every quality; the fourth causeth the ringing; the fifth causeth joyfulness; and the compacted incorporated sounding is the tone or tune, or the sixth spirit. * "beateth, striketh or thumpeth" (pochet), "beating," etc. (Pochen). See Ch. 10, par. 119. 31. In this tone riseth up the power of all the six spirits, and becometh a palpable body, to speak after an angelical manner, and subsisteth in the power of the other six spirits, and in the light; and this is the body of nature, wherein all heavenly creatures, ideas, figures and sprouts or vegetations are imaged or fashioned. The Holy Gates. 32. But the light, which subsisteth in the midst or centre in all the seven spirits, and wherein standeth the life of all the seven spirits, whereby all seven become triumphing and joyful, and
3wherein the heavenly joyfulness rises up: 33. This is that which all the seven spirits generate, and that is the son of all the seven spirits, and the seven spirits are its father, which generate the light; and the light generateth in them the life; and the light is the heart of the seven spirits. 34. This light is the true Son of God, whom we Christians worship and honour, as the second Person in the Holy Trinity. 35. All the seven spirits of God together, are God the Father. 36. For no one spirit of them is alone or without the others; they all seven generate one another; for if one were wanting the others could not be. 37. But the light is another Person, for it is continually generated out of or from the seven spirits, and the seven spirits rise up continually in the light; and the powers of these seven spirits go forth continually in the glance or splendour of the light in the seventh nature spirit [Or spirit of nature], and do form and image all in the seventh spirit; and this outgoing or exit in the light is the Holy Ghost. 38. The flash or stock or pith or the heart, which is generated in the powers, remaineth standing in the midst or centre, and that is the Son; and the splendour or glance in all the powers goeth forth from the Father and the Son, in all the powers of the Father, and formeth and imageth all in the seventh naturespirit, according to the power and operation of the seven spirits, and according to their distinction and impulse. This is the true Holy Ghost, whom we
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.
1joyful, for they all receive their rising and life in the power of light. 23. Again, they all generate the light, and all are together alike the father of the light, and the light generateth no one spirit, but maketh them all living and joyful, that they always continually stand in the birth. 24. Behold, I will shew it thee once more, that so by any means thou mayest apprehend it, that this high work may not take place in vain without profit to thee. 25. The astringent quality is the first spirit, and that attracteth or draweth together and maketh all dry: The sweet quality is the second spirit, and that softeneth or mitigateth the astringent: Now the third spirit is the bitter spirit, which existeth from the fourth and the first. 26. So when the third spirit in its rage rubs itself in the astringent, then it kindleth the fire, and then the fierceness in the fire riseth up in the astringent. In that fierceness now the bitter spirit becometh selfsubsisting; and in the sweet it becometh meek or mild; and in the hard it becometh corporeal; and so now it subsisteth, and is also the fourth spirit. 27. Now the flash in the power of these four goeth forth in the heat, and riseth up in the sweet spring water or fountain; the bitter maketh it triumphing; the astringent maketh it shining, dry and corporeal; and the sweet maketh it meek and mild; and so it receiveth its first shining and lustre in the sweet; and here now the flash, or the light, subsisteth in the midst or centre, as a heart.
228. Now when that light, which standeth in the midst or centre, shineth into the four spirits, then the power of the four spirits riseth up in the light, and they become living, and love the light; that is, they take it into them, and are impregnated with it, and that spirit which is so taken in is the love of the life, which is the fifth spirit. 29. Now when they have taken the love into them, then they qualify, act or operate for great joy; for the one seeth the other in the light, and so the one toucheth or stirreth the other. 30. Then the tone riseth up; and the hard spirit beateth, striketh or thumpeth; * but the sweet maketh that beating or striking mild; and the bitter divideth it according to the condition or kind of every quality; the fourth causeth the ringing; the fifth causeth joyfulness; and the compacted incorporated sounding is the tone or tune, or the sixth spirit. * "beateth, striketh or thumpeth" (pochet), "beating," etc. (Pochen). See Ch. 10, par. 119. 31. In this tone riseth up the power of all the six spirits, and becometh a palpable body, to speak after an angelical manner, and subsisteth in the power of the other six spirits, and in the light; and this is the body of nature, wherein all heavenly creatures, ideas, figures and sprouts or vegetations are imaged or fashioned. The Holy Gates. 32. But the light, which subsisteth in the midst or centre in all the seven spirits, and wherein standeth the life of all the seven spirits, whereby all seven become triumphing and joyful, and
3wherein the heavenly joyfulness rises up: 33. This is that which all the seven spirits generate, and that is the son of all the seven spirits, and the seven spirits are its father, which generate the light; and the light generateth in them the life; and the light is the heart of the seven spirits. 34. This light is the true Son of God, whom we Christians worship and honour, as the second Person in the Holy Trinity. 35. All the seven spirits of God together, are God the Father. 36. For no one spirit of them is alone or without the others; they all seven generate one another; for if one were wanting the others could not be. 37. But the light is another Person, for it is continually generated out of or from the seven spirits, and the seven spirits rise up continually in the light; and the powers of these seven spirits go forth continually in the glance or splendour of the light in the seventh nature spirit [Or spirit of nature], and do form and image all in the seventh spirit; and this outgoing or exit in the light is the Holy Ghost. 38. The flash or stock or pith or the heart, which is generated in the powers, remaineth standing in the midst or centre, and that is the Son; and the splendour or glance in all the powers goeth forth from the Father and the Son, in all the powers of the Father, and formeth and imageth all in the seventh naturespirit, according to the power and operation of the seven spirits, and according to their distinction and impulse. This is the true Holy Ghost, whom we
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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