Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
Concerning the examination that took place before the assembled clergy, 30th July 1613, as mentioned in Scultetus's diary, Boehme himself states the following, in a document of the 3rd April 1624, written as an answer to the Council : — " When I appeared before him " [Gregorius Richter] to defend myself and indicate my " stand-point, the Rev. Primarius exacted from me a " promise to give up writing, and to this I assented, " since I did not yet see clearly the divine way, nor did " I understand what God would later do with me. On " the other hand, the Rev. Primarius, together with the " other preachers, agreed to say nothing more about the " matter from the pulpit. He, however, did not keep his " word, but, on the contrary, never ceased slandering me " and spreading shameful accusations against me, mis- " leading the whole town thereby, and disgracing me in " the eyes of all ; so that I, with my wife and children, " was made a spectacle, and must have been as a clown " and a fool among them. Moreover, by his order, I " gave up for many years (1613-1618) all writing or " speaking about my knowledge of Divine things, hoping " vainly that the evil reports would at last come to an " end, instead of which they only grew worse and more " malignant."
As a natural result of these prolonged persecutions,
INTRODUCTION xlvii
the attention of a large number of learned men was drawn to the workman-philosopher. Many who were, like Schwenkfeld and Weigel, highly dissatisfied with the current orthodoxy and inclined to secede, naturalists and physicians, customs officials and noblemen, both in Gorlitz and in the neighbouring towns, became his friends and patrons, and represented to him that he should not bury the talent he had received; that he ought to obey God rather than men, and so on. At the same time, the increasing pressure of his own interior impulse compelled him to give a form at last to that which was fermenting within him ; and, after a silence of five years, he again took up his pen, and during the next six years of his life wrote a number of his more considerable works : The Three Principles, The Threefold Life of Man, the Signatura Rerum, the Mysterium Magnum, and many others. As long as only MS. copies of his books were circulated among his friends, objectors heard little of them, and no opposition was raised. But towards the end of the year 1623, three little devotional works, Of True Repentance, Of True Resignation, and Of the Supersensual Life, were printed together under the title Way to Christ and published by Sigismund von Schweinitz; and then the storm broke afresh. To the slanders he uttered from the pulpit, the Primarius now added poetical effusions in the shape of Latin verses of an abusive character, some of which (7th, 26th and 27th March 1624) were later printed and circulated. The beginning of one of these productions runs thus : —
" Quot continentur linear, blasphemies
Tot continentur in libro sutorio,
Qui nil nisi picem redolet sutoriam,
Atrum et colorem, quern vocant sutorium,
Pfuy ! Pfuy ! teter sit foetor a nobis procul ! "
(The shoemaker's book contains as many blasphemies as lines. They have a dreadful odour of shoemakers' pitch and blacking, etc.)
The clergy of Liegnitz, spurred into opposition by xlviii THE THREE PRINCIPLES
Richter, also lodged a complaint about the heretic before
the Town Council of Gorlitz, and on the 26th of March
1624 Boehme was summoned again to the town-hall.
The memorable record of this sitting is still preserved ;
it runs as follows : —
" Jacob Boehme, the shoemaker and rabid enthusiast,
• " declares that he has written his book To Eternal Life,
" but did not cause the same to be printed. A nobleman,
" Sigismund von Schweinitz, did that. The Council gave
" him warning to leave the town ; otherwise the Prince
" Elector would be apprised of the facts. He thereupon
" promised that he would shortly take himself off."
The chief pastor's triumph was now complete, as is shewn in his verses of the 27th March : —
" Gorlicium tandem te sutor pellit ab urbe,
Et jubet ire illuc, quo tua scripta valent."
(At last, 0 shoemaker, the town of Gorlitz drives thee forth ; get thee now where they will know thy worth, etc.)
Concerning the examination that took place before the assembled clergy, 30th July 1613, as mentioned in Scultetus's diary, Boehme himself states the following, in a document of the 3rd April 1624, written as an answer to the Council : — " When I appeared before him " [Gregorius Richter] to defend myself and indicate my " stand-point, the Rev. Primarius exacted from me a " promise to give up writing, and to this I assented, " since I did not yet see clearly the divine way, nor did " I understand what God would later do with me. On " the other hand, the Rev. Primarius, together with the " other preachers, agreed to say nothing more about the " matter from the pulpit. He, however, did not keep his " word, but, on the contrary, never ceased slandering me " and spreading shameful accusations against me, mis- " leading the whole town thereby, and disgracing me in " the eyes of all ; so that I, with my wife and children, " was made a spectacle, and must have been as a clown " and a fool among them. Moreover, by his order, I " gave up for many years (1613-1618) all writing or " speaking about my knowledge of Divine things, hoping " vainly that the evil reports would at last come to an " end, instead of which they only grew worse and more " malignant."
As a natural result of these prolonged persecutions,
INTRODUCTION xlvii
the attention of a large number of learned men was drawn to the workman-philosopher. Many who were, like Schwenkfeld and Weigel, highly dissatisfied with the current orthodoxy and inclined to secede, naturalists and physicians, customs officials and noblemen, both in Gorlitz and in the neighbouring towns, became his friends and patrons, and represented to him that he should not bury the talent he had received; that he ought to obey God rather than men, and so on. At the same time, the increasing pressure of his own interior impulse compelled him to give a form at last to that which was fermenting within him ; and, after a silence of five years, he again took up his pen, and during the next six years of his life wrote a number of his more considerable works : The Three Principles, The Threefold Life of Man, the Signatura Rerum, the Mysterium Magnum, and many others. As long as only MS. copies of his books were circulated among his friends, objectors heard little of them, and no opposition was raised. But towards the end of the year 1623, three little devotional works, Of True Repentance, Of True Resignation, and Of the Supersensual Life, were printed together under the title Way to Christ and published by Sigismund von Schweinitz; and then the storm broke afresh. To the slanders he uttered from the pulpit, the Primarius now added poetical effusions in the shape of Latin verses of an abusive character, some of which (7th, 26th and 27th March 1624) were later printed and circulated. The beginning of one of these productions runs thus : —
" Quot continentur linear, blasphemies
Tot continentur in libro sutorio,
Qui nil nisi picem redolet sutoriam,
Atrum et colorem, quern vocant sutorium,
Pfuy ! Pfuy ! teter sit foetor a nobis procul ! "
(The shoemaker's book contains as many blasphemies as lines. They have a dreadful odour of shoemakers' pitch and blacking, etc.)
The clergy of Liegnitz, spurred into opposition by xlviii THE THREE PRINCIPLES
Richter, also lodged a complaint about the heretic before
the Town Council of Gorlitz, and on the 26th of March
1624 Boehme was summoned again to the town-hall.
The memorable record of this sitting is still preserved ;
it runs as follows : —
" Jacob Boehme, the shoemaker and rabid enthusiast,
• " declares that he has written his book To Eternal Life,
" but did not cause the same to be printed. A nobleman,
" Sigismund von Schweinitz, did that. The Council gave
" him warning to leave the town ; otherwise the Prince
" Elector would be apprised of the facts. He thereupon
" promised that he would shortly take himself off."
The chief pastor's triumph was now complete, as is shown in his verses of the 27th March : —
" Gorlicium tandem te sutor pellit ab urbe,
Et jubet ire illuc, quo tua scripta valent."
(At last, 0 shoemaker, the town of Gorlitz drives you forth ; get you now where they will know your worth, etc.)