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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.
17. How the eternity hath moved itself to creation . . 75 10. The ground of the creation is clearly to be understood by the inward man 11 10. Of the creation of the Fifth Day; also the creation of the elementary spirits 20 11. How God on the Fifth Day created all living creatures 2 11. The life of the creatures consisteth in the matrix out of which they are created 9 Cross. 8. What the hanging on the cross was .... 71 Damned. 2. The several kinds of conditions of the damned are not only four, but infinite: they have all forms but the light 56 18. The here acted fopperies are the treasure of the damned soul 27 Darkness. 1. Of the forms in the dark nature: the darkness longeth after the light 27 2. Of darkness: according to which God is said to be a consuming fire 90 CHAP. Darkness. VERSE 5. Out of what darkness is generated; also of the Father's property 20 5. How the flash dissipateth the darkness ... 38 6. God is not guilty of any one's remaining in darkness . 18 Day. 17. It is asked whether the night or the day be best . 24 Death. 2. How death trembleth at the life .... 72 8. What is, and is called, death 37 8. There is no death in the eternity; also what is called the eternal death 38 9. After the curse death was in all fruits, whence we eat death 16 14. How men must go through death and hell of the devils into the merits of Christ .... 14 Deity.
21. The pure Deity, the birth of the Trinity, and the angelical world, are every where present . . 48 2. The author will shew the form of the Deity . . 59 2. The Deity is subject to no alteration .... 66 4. Without and beyond nature the Deity is called Majesty; and in nature it is called Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Wonder, Counsel, Power . . 86 16. Of the pure Deity; also how the soul attaineth the body of God, and becometh the child of God . .101 Deliverance. 3. Of the deliverance of the soul 57 3. In what manner the soul hath deliverance ... 58 Departeth. 18. How the soul is that departeth from the body without conversion 23 Desire. 2. What the desire is, and what it worketh ... 11 2. What the impregnation of the desire is, whereby it generateth ... 12 7. Of the desire of the light, and of the desire of the Fire 67 8. How the desire maketh not itself, but is made .. 52 8. Whence our desire after the highest good proceedeth, and whence it hath its sustenance ..55 9. The first desire of man is for power, honour, and glory .. 19 The second desire is for riches, plenty, and voluptuousness ... 20 9. The third desire is for the kingdom of heaven . . 21 9. How the desire goeth inwards into itself to God . 69 10. All lieth in the will: the desire assume th where nothing is 9 10. The desire and the will are two distinct things . . 13 Despair. 14. Advice not to despair i n distress 60 Devil. Devils.
35. Why the devil is called a prince of this world . . 18 5. A prince doth as readily serve the devil, as a poor shepherd doth; yet each of them heareth his office for God 65 8. When it is that the devil standeth in fear ... 12 9. The devil and this world strive with the soul . . 5 9. The tricks of the devil when the soul heareth any thing taught concerning the New Birth .... 25 9. The tricks of the devil when the teacher slandereth, and when he reproveth fully according to his duty 26 9. The devil hath kindled the life of the evil beasts in himself: Also in what forms the devils shape their bodies in hell 56 10. The devil dwelleth near us: He hateth the light, and is the poorest creature in the crown ... 23 11. Of the great mystery of the anger, and of the devil: Also of the two dominions in man: Also of the totally false soul's figuration, outwardly courteous, and inwardly a devil, which so betrayeth itself . 42 14. Of our misery; of the great assaults of Satan against man: Also where it is that the devil hath power . 30 14. How the devil hath gotten power in the outward dominion: Also how the poor soul is between two dominions in the deep 49 14. How the soul is released from the devil ... 50 14. Of the seven cords of the devil, with which he holdeth the soul fast withal 51 CHAP. Devil. Devils. VERSE
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.
17. How the eternity hath moved itself to creation . . 75 10. The ground of the creation is clearly to be understood by the inward man 11 10. Of the creation of the Fifth Day; also the creation of the elementary spirits 20 11. How God on the Fifth Day created all living creatures 2 11. The life of the creatures consisteth in the matrix out of which they are created 9 Cross. 8. What the hanging on the cross was .... 71 Damned. 2. The several kinds of conditions of the damned are not only four, but infinite: they have all forms but the light 56 18. The here acted fopperies are the treasure of the damned soul 27 Darkness. 1. Of the forms in the dark nature: the darkness longeth after the light 27 2. Of darkness: according to which God is said to be a consuming fire 90 CHAP. Darkness. VERSE 5. Out of what darkness is generated; also of the Father's property 20 5. How the flash dissipateth the darkness ... 38 6. God is not guilty of any one's remaining in darkness . 18 Day. 17. It is asked whether the night or the day be best . 24 Death. 2. How death trembleth at the life .... 72 8. What is, and is called, death 37 8. There is no death in the eternity; also what is called the eternal death 38 9. After the curse death was in all fruits, whence we eat death 16 14. How men must go through death and hell of the devils into the merits of Christ .... 14 Deity.
21. The pure Deity, the birth of the Trinity, and the angelical world, are every where present . . 48 2. The author will shew the form of the Deity . . 59 2. The Deity is subject to no alteration .... 66 4. Without and beyond nature the Deity is called Majesty; and in nature it is called Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Wonder, Counsel, Power . . 86 16. Of the pure Deity; also how the soul attaineth the body of God, and becometh the child of God . .101 Deliverance. 3. Of the deliverance of the soul 57 3. In what manner the soul hath deliverance ... 58 Departeth. 18. How the soul is that departeth from the body without conversion 23 Desire. 2. What the desire is, and what it worketh ... 11 2. What the impregnation of the desire is, whereby it generateth ... 12 7. Of the desire of the light, and of the desire of the Fire 67 8. How the desire maketh not itself, but is made .. 52 8. Whence our desire after the highest good proceedeth, and whence it hath its sustenance ..55 9. The first desire of man is for power, honour, and glory .. 19 The second desire is for riches, plenty, and voluptuousness ... 20 9. The third desire is for the kingdom of heaven . . 21 9. How the desire goeth inwards into itself to God . 69 10. All lieth in the will: the desire assume th where nothing is 9 10. The desire and the will are two distinct things . . 13 Despair. 14. Advice not to despair i n distress 60 Devil. Devils.
35. Why the devil is called a prince of this world . . 18 5. A prince doth as readily serve the devil, as a poor shepherd doth; yet each of them heareth his office for God 65 8. When it is that the devil standeth in fear ... 12 9. The devil and this world strive with the soul . . 5 9. The tricks of the devil when the soul heareth any thing taught concerning the New Birth .... 25 9. The tricks of the devil when the teacher slandereth, and when he reproveth fully according to his duty 26 9. The devil hath kindled the life of the evil beasts in himself: Also in what forms the devils shape their bodies in hell 56 10. The devil dwelleth near us: He hateth the light, and is the poorest creature in the crown ... 23 11. Of the great mystery of the anger, and of the devil: Also of the two dominions in man: Also of the totally false soul's figuration, outwardly courteous, and inwardly a devil, which so betrayeth itself . 42 14. Of our misery; of the great assaults of Satan against man: Also where it is that the devil hath power . 30 14. How the devil hath gotten power in the outward dominion: Also how the poor soul is between two dominions in the deep 49 14. How the soul is released from the devil ... 50 14. Of the seven cords of the devil, with which he holdeth the soul fast withal 51 CHAP. Devil. Devils. VERSE
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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