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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.
1the history which Babel makes a stir about; for prayer hath two things in it; one is the earnest will, which presseth forth out of the miserable smoky house of the heart, out of the soul in great humility, and giveth itself up into the Heart of God, which became man, as into the tree of life. 98. And that is called Glau- [Glauben], and then the will eateth of the divine power, and that [is the other, and] is called -ben, for the spirit of the soul apprehendeth it, and holdeth it with the tongue to the teeth; (understand it according to the language of nature); and lets the Holy Ghost go forth out of the virtue and power which the will introduceth into the soul, out of the virtue and power which the soul hath apprehended; even as it mightily goeth forth, out of the heart through the apprehended virtue and power, through the teeth; for in the virtue and power of God nothing consumeth: The more the will apprehendeth, and the soul eateth, the more is the virtue and power, and the mightier and more joyful is the body of God, that is, the body of Christ; not that it is greater at one time than at another: No, for it is always greater than all; only the virtue and power in the great wonders of joy climb up out of eternity into eternity [or from eternity to eternity]. 99. Understand us accurately, according to its
2precious depth, thus; When we pray, we do not only speak before God; indeed the will boweth itself before God; but it entereth into God, and there is filled with the power and virtue of God, and bringeth that into the soul: The soul eateth at the table of God, and that is it of which Christ said, Man liveth by every word of God. 100. The Lord's Prayer is God's Word, and hath seven petitions, and an entrance [introduction] and Amen, or conclusion, which together are nine in number, and the tenth is God himself: With the entrance of the Lord's Prayer the will of the soul entereth into the Father; and with the seven petitions it receiveth whatsoever is the Father's, for thereby it becometh an angel again; for in the seven petitions it attaineth the heavenly and divine centre of nature; and in the Amen it compriseth all together and dwelleth therein; for it is the body of the soul, it is the flesh of Christ, the body of God; that is the ninth number in Ternario Sancto; herein is the tincture, heavenly and divine; and the tenth number holdeth the cross, into which no creature can go: the will of the soul only goeth thereinto: The will of the soul is as subtle as the spirit of God, and God's spirit rideth also in the will of the soul; it is his chariot which he loveth to have. 101. Understand us thus: The mere Deity is Spirit, and as thin as a will; but it is become man, and the thin spirit of God dwelleth in the
3humanity, so that our souls may well come to God; and so when the soul thus eateth of the body of God, then it getteth also the body of God on to it, and is the child of God: God in Christ is the tree; and our souls, in its holy body, are the boughs and branches thereof. 102. Let us be revealed to you, O worthy Christianity, [from the east to the west], from the rising to the setting: The time is near wherein the Bridegroom will fetch home his Bride: Be not blind, but see: Buy you oil, O you foolish virgins: Go forth from the whoredom of covetousness, and of pride, or else you will not taste of this [Wedding-] Supper: Whosoever shall not have the body of God on the soul shall not be guests, neither can they enter into the kingdom of God. 103. And so now, when we speak of the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, we find that he [God] is the tenth number; for it is said, Dein ist das Reich, und die Krafft, und die Herrligkeit in Ewigheit: Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory in Eternity. That is, God himself in his Number Three [or Trinity]; for, understand it rightly, thus: The kingdom is the Father's, he is it all; and the virtue or power is the Son's who is also all in the kingdom; and the Holy Ghost is the glory, for he possesseth all in the kingdom, and is the life in the kingdom. 104. And this Trinity is of the eternal liberty,
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.
1the history which Babel makes a stir about; for prayer hath two things in it; one is the earnest will, which presseth forth out of the miserable smoky house of the heart, out of the soul in great humility, and giveth itself up into the Heart of God, which became man, as into the tree of life. 98. And that is called Glau- [Glauben], and then the will eateth of the divine power, and that [is the other, and] is called -ben, for the spirit of the soul apprehendeth it, and holdeth it with the tongue to the teeth; (understand it according to the language of nature); and lets the Holy Ghost go forth out of the virtue and power which the will introduceth into the soul, out of the virtue and power which the soul hath apprehended; even as it mightily goeth forth, out of the heart through the apprehended virtue and power, through the teeth; for in the virtue and power of God nothing consumeth: The more the will apprehendeth, and the soul eateth, the more is the virtue and power, and the mightier and more joyful is the body of God, that is, the body of Christ; not that it is greater at one time than at another: No, for it is always greater than all; only the virtue and power in the great wonders of joy climb up out of eternity into eternity [or from eternity to eternity]. 99. Understand us accurately, according to its
2precious depth, thus; When we pray, we do not only speak before God; indeed the will boweth itself before God; but it entereth into God, and there is filled with the power and virtue of God, and bringeth that into the soul: The soul eateth at the table of God, and that is it of which Christ said, Man liveth by every word of God. 100. The Lord's Prayer is God's Word, and hath seven petitions, and an entrance [introduction] and Amen, or conclusion, which together are nine in number, and the tenth is God himself: With the entrance of the Lord's Prayer the will of the soul entereth into the Father; and with the seven petitions it receiveth whatsoever is the Father's, for thereby it becometh an angel again; for in the seven petitions it attaineth the heavenly and divine centre of nature; and in the Amen it compriseth all together and dwelleth therein; for it is the body of the soul, it is the flesh of Christ, the body of God; that is the ninth number in Ternario Sancto; herein is the tincture, heavenly and divine; and the tenth number holdeth the cross, into which no creature can go: the will of the soul only goeth thereinto: The will of the soul is as subtle as the spirit of God, and God's spirit rideth also in the will of the soul; it is his chariot which he loveth to have. 101. Understand us thus: The mere Deity is Spirit, and as thin as a will; but it is become man, and the thin spirit of God dwelleth in the
3humanity, so that our souls may well come to God; and so when the soul thus eateth of the body of God, then it getteth also the body of God on to it, and is the child of God: God in Christ is the tree; and our souls, in its holy body, are the boughs and branches thereof. 102. Let us be revealed to you, O worthy Christianity, [from the east to the west], from the rising to the setting: The time is near wherein the Bridegroom will fetch home his Bride: Be not blind, but see: Buy you oil, O you foolish virgins: Go forth from the whoredom of covetousness, and of pride, or else you will not taste of this [Wedding-] Supper: Whosoever shall not have the body of God on the soul shall not be guests, neither can they enter into the kingdom of God. 103. And so now, when we speak of the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, we find that he [God] is the tenth number; for it is said, Dein ist das Reich, und die Krafft, und die Herrligkeit in Ewigheit: Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory in Eternity. That is, God himself in his Number Three [or Trinity]; for, understand it rightly, thus: The kingdom is the Father's, he is it all; and the virtue or power is the Son's who is also all in the kingdom; and the Holy Ghost is the glory, for he possesseth all in the kingdom, and is the life in the kingdom. 104. And this Trinity is of the eternal liberty,
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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