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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.
1Observe the Depth. 4. There are seven spirits of God, all these seven have moved themselves, and the light therein hath moved itself also, and the spirit, which goeth forth out of the seven spirits of God, hath moved itself also. 5. Now the Creator intended, according to his Ternary, to create three hosts, not one from another, but one by another,* as in a circle or sphere. * " not one from another, but one by another " (nicht weit von einander, sondern eins am andern), " not far [apart] from one another, but close [together] to one another." Instead of " far " and " close," St M., to bring out the idea more clearly, prints " detachées " (detached) and " unies " (united). 6. Now observe: As the [seven] spirits were therein in their moving, boiling or rising up, so also were the creatures: In the midst or centre of each host was the heart of each host incorporated or compacted together, out of which an angelical or great or chief prince proceeded or came to be. 7. And as the Son of God is generated in the midst or centre of the seven spirits of God, and is the life and Heart of the seven spirits of God, so there was one angelical king created in the midst or centre of his circumference, sphere, extent or region out of nature, also out of nature's heaven, out of the power of all the seven qualifying or fountain spirits, and that now was the heart in one host, and he had in him the quality, might, power and strength of his whole host, and was the fairest among them, or of them all. 8. Just as the Son of God is the heart and life and strength of all the seven spirits of
2God, so also is that one king of angels, in his host. 9. And as there are seven principal qualities in the divine power, out of which the Heart of God is generated; so there are also some mighty princely angels created in each host, according to each head or chief quality, the number of which I do not exactly know; and they are with or near * the king, and are leaders of the other angels. * "with or near" (neben), "by the side of, close to, near." 10. Here thou must know that the angels are not all of one quality, neither are they equal or alike to one another in power and might: Indeed every angel hath the power of all the seven qualifying or fountain spirits, but in every one there is somewhat of one quality more predominant and strong than another, and according to that quality is he also glorified. 11. For such as the Salitter was in every place, at the time of creation, such also was the angel that came forth; and according to that quality which is strongest in an angel, he is also named and glorified. 12. As [in] the flowers in the meadows, every one receiveth its colour from its quality, and is named also according to its quality, so are the holy angels also: Some are strongest in the astringent quality, and those are of a [dusky or grey] brownish light, and are nearest of quality to the cold. 13. So when the light of the Son of God shineth on them, then they are like a brownish or purple flash of lightning, very bright and clear in their quality.
314. Some are of the quality of the water, and those are light, like the holy heaven; and when the light shineth on them, then they look like to a crystalline sea. 15. Some are strongest in the bitter quality, and they are like a green precious stone, which sparkleth like a flash of lightning; and when the light shineth on them, then they shine and appear as a greenish red, as if a carbuncle did shine forth from it, or as if the life had its original there. 16. Some are of the quality of heat, and they are the lightest and brightest of all, yellowish and reddish; and when the light shineth on them, they look like the flash or lightning of the Son of God. 17. Some are strongest in the quality of love, and those are a glance of the heavenly joyfulness, very light and bright; and when the light shineth on them, they look like light blue, of a pleasant gloss, glance or lustre. 18. Some are strongest in the quality of the tone or sound, and those are light or bright also; and when the light shineth on them, they look like the rising of the flash of lightning, as if something would lift itself aloft there. 19. Some are of the quality of the total or whole nature, as a general mixture; and when the light shineth on them, they look like the holy heaven, which is formed out of all the spirits of God. 20. But the king is the heart of all the qualities, and hath his circumference, court, [or province] quarters or residence in the midst or centre, like
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.
1Observe the Depth. 4. There are seven spirits of God, all these seven have moved themselves, and the light therein hath moved itself also, and the spirit, which goeth forth out of the seven spirits of God, hath moved itself also. 5. Now the Creator intended, according to his Ternary, to create three hosts, not one from another, but one by another,* as in a circle or sphere. * " not one from another, but one by another " (nicht weit von einander, sondern eins am andern), " not far [apart] from one another, but close [together] to one another." Instead of " far " and " close," St M., to bring out the idea more clearly, prints " detachées " (detached) and " unies " (united). 6. Now observe: As the [seven] spirits were therein in their moving, boiling or rising up, so also were the creatures: In the midst or centre of each host was the heart of each host incorporated or compacted together, out of which an angelical or great or chief prince proceeded or came to be. 7. And as the Son of God is generated in the midst or centre of the seven spirits of God, and is the life and Heart of the seven spirits of God, so there was one angelical king created in the midst or centre of his circumference, sphere, extent or region out of nature, also out of nature's heaven, out of the power of all the seven qualifying or fountain spirits, and that now was the heart in one host, and he had in him the quality, might, power and strength of his whole host, and was the fairest among them, or of them all. 8. Just as the Son of God is the heart and life and strength of all the seven spirits of
2God, so also is that one king of angels, in his host. 9. And as there are seven principal qualities in the divine power, out of which the Heart of God is generated; so there are also some mighty princely angels created in each host, according to each head or chief quality, the number of which I do not exactly know; and they are with or near * the king, and are leaders of the other angels. * "with or near" (neben), "by the side of, close to, near." 10. Here thou must know that the angels are not all of one quality, neither are they equal or alike to one another in power and might: Indeed every angel hath the power of all the seven qualifying or fountain spirits, but in every one there is somewhat of one quality more predominant and strong than another, and according to that quality is he also glorified. 11. For such as the Salitter was in every place, at the time of creation, such also was the angel that came forth; and according to that quality which is strongest in an angel, he is also named and glorified. 12. As [in] the flowers in the meadows, every one receiveth its colour from its quality, and is named also according to its quality, so are the holy angels also: Some are strongest in the astringent quality, and those are of a [dusky or grey] brownish light, and are nearest of quality to the cold. 13. So when the light of the Son of God shineth on them, then they are like a brownish or purple flash of lightning, very bright and clear in their quality.
314. Some are of the quality of the water, and those are light, like the holy heaven; and when the light shineth on them, then they look like to a crystalline sea. 15. Some are strongest in the bitter quality, and they are like a green precious stone, which sparkleth like a flash of lightning; and when the light shineth on them, then they shine and appear as a greenish red, as if a carbuncle did shine forth from it, or as if the life had its original there. 16. Some are of the quality of heat, and they are the lightest and brightest of all, yellowish and reddish; and when the light shineth on them, they look like the flash or lightning of the Son of God. 17. Some are strongest in the quality of love, and those are a glance of the heavenly joyfulness, very light and bright; and when the light shineth on them, they look like light blue, of a pleasant gloss, glance or lustre. 18. Some are strongest in the quality of the tone or sound, and those are light or bright also; and when the light shineth on them, they look like the rising of the flash of lightning, as if something would lift itself aloft there. 19. Some are of the quality of the total or whole nature, as a general mixture; and when the light shineth on them, they look like the holy heaven, which is formed out of all the spirits of God. 20. But the king is the heart of all the qualities, and hath his circumference, court, [or province] quarters or residence in the midst or centre, like
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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