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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.
146. In the syllable Na- it inclineth inwards, and in the syllable -me it comprehendeth the heavenly substantiality: and this is done in the will of the soul. 47. And when we say wer-, then the whole creature goeth along in the will: for wer- hath the whole centre, and with the syllable -de, it layeth itself down in obedience in the meekness, and will not kindle the wer- in the fire, as Lucifer had done. 48. And when we say ge-, then the soul goeth into the heavenly substantiality, as a quiet child without anger, and then -hei- is the powerful entering upon the cross, into the Number Three, where the soul's will presseth into the Majesty, into the light of God; with the syllable the soul's will hath comprehended the Holy Ghost. [In the syllable] -get, there the soul's will goeth forth with the Holy Ghost: for the brightness of the Majesty shineth in the will, and the Holy Ghost goeth along in the glance of the Majesty upon the chariot of the soul; for the will is the soul's wedding chariot, with which it rideth in Ternarium Sanctum into the Holy Ternary, wherein the Holy Ghost sitteth with the brightness of the Deity. The Second Petition. Dein Reich komme. Thy Kingdom come. 49. Dein, there the poor soul giveth itself up again into the will of God, as God's child. 50. Reich, here the soul giveth itself into the virtue and power of the angelical world, and desireth to come out of the deep of the waters into the power of God.
251. Komme, in the syllable Kom-, it goeth into the virtue and power, and apprehendeth it: and with the syllable -me, it maketh the heaven be open, and goeth forth with the apprehended power into the kingdom, as a sprout: for the -me maketh the lips be open, and letteth the sprout of the will go forth, and lets it grow softly by degrees. The Third Petition. Dein Willen geschehe wie im Himmel also auch auf Erden. Thy Will be done as in Heaven so also on Earth. 52. Dein, here the soul doth with its will, as in the first and second petition: it casteth itself into God's will. 53. Wil- is its desire to will the same with the Holy Ghost: -len, with this syllable it taketh in the spirit with the will into the centre, as into the heart, and willeth that its will in the Holy Ghost should flow up in the heart. 54. Ge-, with this syllable it goeth into the will: -sche-, with this syllable it worketh the work of God: for there it doth what the counsel of the Father is, what the Heart of God wills: as the soul of Christ suffered itself to be hanged on the cross, and as we in misery bow down under the cross: -he, in this syllable it taketh patiently what God worketh; it boweth itself as a child.
355. Wie, there it goeth again into the voice of the high Majesty. Im, is the Heart of God, out of which the spirit goeth forth: in which will it would be. Him-, is again the creating of the creatures; -mel, is the soul, that is, it willeth to act in the will of God, like the angels, who do that which God's will accepteth. 56. AI-, there it comprehendeth that will, and driveth it on, with the syllable -so, out of its centre into this world, into the outward Principle. Auch, there it affordeth all whatsoever it hath in itself out into the outward, out from itself into this world. 57. Auf, with this syllable it apprehendeth the same again, and desireth that its substance should not be dissipated: for it only letteth the will of the substance go forth through the closed lips to the teeth, and desireth that the form of the will should remain as a figured substance eternally. 58. Er-, with this syllable it bringeth its substance into the spirit of this world upon the earth, and there the will shall work wonders, as in the kingdom of the angels in the power of God: the will must manifest the hidden secrets of God: -den, with this syllable it sheweth that they must not be done in the fire of the anger, in which the devil dwelleth: for this syllable doth not break up the centre: they should be done in meek love, and yet be taken out of the Er-. The soul shall mightily rule in all hidden secrets: but it must not let in the devil.
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.
146. In the syllable Na- it inclineth inwards, and in the syllable -me it comprehendeth the heavenly substantiality: and this is done in the will of the soul. 47. And when we say wer-, then the whole creature goeth along in the will: for wer- hath the whole centre, and with the syllable -de, it layeth itself down in obedience in the meekness, and will not kindle the wer- in the fire, as Lucifer had done. 48. And when we say ge-, then the soul goeth into the heavenly substantiality, as a quiet child without anger, and then -hei- is the powerful entering upon the cross, into the Number Three, where the soul's will presseth into the Majesty, into the light of God; with the syllable the soul's will hath comprehended the Holy Ghost. [In the syllable] -get, there the soul's will goeth forth with the Holy Ghost: for the brightness of the Majesty shineth in the will, and the Holy Ghost goeth along in the glance of the Majesty upon the chariot of the soul; for the will is the soul's wedding chariot, with which it rideth in Ternarium Sanctum into the Holy Ternary, wherein the Holy Ghost sitteth with the brightness of the Deity. The Second Petition. Dein Reich komme. Thy Kingdom come. 49. Dein, there the poor soul giveth itself up again into the will of God, as God's child. 50. Reich, here the soul giveth itself into the virtue and power of the angelical world, and desireth to come out of the deep of the waters into the power of God.
251. Komme, in the syllable Kom-, it goeth into the virtue and power, and apprehendeth it: and with the syllable -me, it maketh the heaven be open, and goeth forth with the apprehended power into the kingdom, as a sprout: for the -me maketh the lips be open, and letteth the sprout of the will go forth, and lets it grow softly by degrees. The Third Petition. Dein Willen geschehe wie im Himmel also auch auf Erden. Thy Will be done as in Heaven so also on Earth. 52. Dein, here the soul doth with its will, as in the first and second petition: it casteth itself into God's will. 53. Wil- is its desire to will the same with the Holy Ghost: -len, with this syllable it taketh in the spirit with the will into the centre, as into the heart, and willeth that its will in the Holy Ghost should flow up in the heart. 54. Ge-, with this syllable it goeth into the will: -sche-, with this syllable it worketh the work of God: for there it doth what the counsel of the Father is, what the Heart of God wills: as the soul of Christ suffered itself to be hanged on the cross, and as we in misery bow down under the cross: -he, in this syllable it taketh patiently what God worketh; it boweth itself as a child.
355. Wie, there it goeth again into the voice of the high Majesty. Im, is the Heart of God, out of which the spirit goeth forth: in which will it would be. Him-, is again the creating of the creatures; -mel, is the soul, that is, it willeth to act in the will of God, like the angels, who do that which God's will accepteth. 56. AI-, there it comprehendeth that will, and driveth it on, with the syllable -so, out of its centre into this world, into the outward Principle. Auch, there it affordeth all whatsoever it hath in itself out into the outward, out from itself into this world. 57. Auf, with this syllable it apprehendeth the same again, and desireth that its substance should not be dissipated: for it only letteth the will of the substance go forth through the closed lips to the teeth, and desireth that the form of the will should remain as a figured substance eternally. 58. Er-, with this syllable it bringeth its substance into the spirit of this world upon the earth, and there the will shall work wonders, as in the kingdom of the angels in the power of God: the will must manifest the hidden secrets of God: -den, with this syllable it sheweth that they must not be done in the fire of the anger, in which the devil dwelleth: for this syllable doth not break up the centre: they should be done in meek love, and yet be taken out of the Er-. The soul shall mightily rule in all hidden secrets: but it must not let in the devil.
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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