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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.
118. The star which hath broken the seal is appeared. . 4 3. Wherefore God hath sealed us, and left us blind . 60 3. The seven forms are the seven seals of God, out of which the powerful Word is generated ... 21 3. The time is that the seven seals are broken open . 38 3. Of the glassy sea. The six seals are the birth of the eternal nature . 44 3. Wherefore the Word of God must enter into the sharpness of death, where he broke the seven seals in the soul .54 3. How any in God have power to open the seven seals in the desirous mind 68 3. The seals are hidden from the whore till she hath devoured herself .... 75 CHAP. Seal. Sealed. Seals. VERSE 4. The spirit openeth the seals in the thoughts: He manifesteth the Deity in nature: He is the power of the brightness . 82 5. The seals bring their wonders to light under the worldly government 64 Search. 2 . How w e may search aright and find .... 4 Seventh. Seventy-two. 9. What the seventh number in the centre is ... 74 9. In the number seventy -two lieth the greatest secret, the original of contention 79 Selves. 3. Admonition to consider our selves: Also of heaven and the anger of God 28 Senses. 3. Of the birth of the kind love, and of the sixth form of nature, wherein the five senses are to be found; God maketh the genetrix 1 Sermons. 18. The Antichrist is a hindrance to the soul with filling people's ears with sermons 35 Sex. Sexes.
29. By a flaming iron the two properties in male and female sex are deciphered 47 9. Of the two kinds or sexes, masculine and feminine. Why the man is the head 111 Shepherd. Shepherds. 13. A reproof against the whore; also of a simple shepherd that shall feed us 44 14. The true catholic way; also who is a true shepherd of Christ 20 18. How can a wolf make a shepherd over sheep . . 44 14. The false bishops appoint shepherds according to favour, and in respect of their a r t .... 21 CHAP. Shepherd. Shepherds. VERSE 15. A speech to the false shepherds of Christ ... 20 15. A speech to the Antichristian shepherds of the new order 22 18. The ways of the good and of the bad shepherds . . 43 Signs. 9. How the twelve signs, part themselves into two governments 72 Simple. 3. Advice to the simple holiness 85 Sin. Sinners. Sins. 11. The false soul seeketh after uo righteousness, but only that it may cover its sin 44 11. How the sinner should have his forgiveness pronounced 64 11. How God forgiveth our sins when we pray to him . 54 11. How he is mistaken who supposeth he is delivered from his old sins, when he sinneth anew . . 57 Snare. Snares. 6. Of our snare, and the excellence of patience . . 34 12. Men should not look after pomp and pride; also which are the snares and nets of the devil . . 40 14. The world is full of snares to entangle the poor soul; also what that is which hindereth that the devil do not devour every soul 43
314. An exposition of the seven cords or snares; also an exposition of what the soul uhdergoeth in the trial before it getteth through 53 Sodom. 8. How the devil's purpose concerning Sodom was nullified 47 Son. Sons. 3. Of the Son, the brightness of the Father, what proceedeth from, and i s created by it ... .3 3. How we must seek the Son of God in the manger, if we will find all 30 4. The Son is one with the Father; also what his sole will is called 71 6. Of the two sons, the one saying yes, the other, no . 26 CHAP. Sophister. Sophisters. VERSE 5. The sophister looketh upon the wisdom of the world; but this author not; he mentioneth his joy in the wonders of God 1 10. The author speaketh to the sophister, and the stubborn whore that sitteth upon the stool of pestilence . 34 11. Of the sophister, who is the devil's priest; also of those that fall into sins against their will . . 43 11. The sophister is as profitable to the Church as a fifth wheel to a waggon 74 11. The sophister were better in a hogsty than in a pulpit 75 5. Admonition to the children of God concerning the contention o f the sophisters 70 9. A reproof against the slanderings and blasphemings of the sophisters i n the pulpit .... 29 Soul. Souls. 1 . The soul is a fire and needeth food .... 4 1. How the soul dwelleth in the body, and is captivated by the human spirit 10 1. The soul liveth in another substance besides the spirit o f the elements 11
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.
118. The star which hath broken the seal is appeared. . 4 3. Wherefore God hath sealed us, and left us blind . 60 3. The seven forms are the seven seals of God, out of which the powerful Word is generated ... 21 3. The time is that the seven seals are broken open . 38 3. Of the glassy sea. The six seals are the birth of the eternal nature . 44 3. Wherefore the Word of God must enter into the sharpness of death, where he broke the seven seals in the soul .54 3. How any in God have power to open the seven seals in the desirous mind 68 3. The seals are hidden from the whore till she hath devoured herself .... 75 CHAP. Seal. Sealed. Seals. VERSE 4. The spirit openeth the seals in the thoughts: He manifesteth the Deity in nature: He is the power of the brightness . 82 5. The seals bring their wonders to light under the worldly government 64 Search. 2 . How w e may search aright and find .... 4 Seventh. Seventy-two. 9. What the seventh number in the centre is ... 74 9. In the number seventy -two lieth the greatest secret, the original of contention 79 Selves. 3. Admonition to consider our selves: Also of heaven and the anger of God 28 Senses. 3. Of the birth of the kind love, and of the sixth form of nature, wherein the five senses are to be found; God maketh the genetrix 1 Sermons. 18. The Antichrist is a hindrance to the soul with filling people's ears with sermons 35 Sex. Sexes.
29. By a flaming iron the two properties in male and female sex are deciphered 47 9. Of the two kinds or sexes, masculine and feminine. Why the man is the head 111 Shepherd. Shepherds. 13. A reproof against the whore; also of a simple shepherd that shall feed us 44 14. The true catholic way; also who is a true shepherd of Christ 20 18. How can a wolf make a shepherd over sheep . . 44 14. The false bishops appoint shepherds according to favour, and in respect of their a r t .... 21 CHAP. Shepherd. Shepherds. VERSE 15. A speech to the false shepherds of Christ ... 20 15. A speech to the Antichristian shepherds of the new order 22 18. The ways of the good and of the bad shepherds . . 43 Signs. 9. How the twelve signs, part themselves into two governments 72 Simple. 3. Advice to the simple holiness 85 Sin. Sinners. Sins. 11. The false soul seeketh after uo righteousness, but only that it may cover its sin 44 11. How the sinner should have his forgiveness pronounced 64 11. How God forgiveth our sins when we pray to him . 54 11. How he is mistaken who supposeth he is delivered from his old sins, when he sinneth anew . . 57 Snare. Snares. 6. Of our snare, and the excellence of patience . . 34 12. Men should not look after pomp and pride; also which are the snares and nets of the devil . . 40 14. The world is full of snares to entangle the poor soul; also what that is which hindereth that the devil do not devour every soul 43
314. An exposition of the seven cords or snares; also an exposition of what the soul uhdergoeth in the trial before it getteth through 53 Sodom. 8. How the devil's purpose concerning Sodom was nullified 47 Son. Sons. 3. Of the Son, the brightness of the Father, what proceedeth from, and i s created by it ... .3 3. How we must seek the Son of God in the manger, if we will find all 30 4. The Son is one with the Father; also what his sole will is called 71 6. Of the two sons, the one saying yes, the other, no . 26 CHAP. Sophister. Sophisters. VERSE 5. The sophister looketh upon the wisdom of the world; but this author not; he mentioneth his joy in the wonders of God 1 10. The author speaketh to the sophister, and the stubborn whore that sitteth upon the stool of pestilence . 34 11. Of the sophister, who is the devil's priest; also of those that fall into sins against their will . . 43 11. The sophister is as profitable to the Church as a fifth wheel to a waggon 74 11. The sophister were better in a hogsty than in a pulpit 75 5. Admonition to the children of God concerning the contention o f the sophisters 70 9. A reproof against the slanderings and blasphemings of the sophisters i n the pulpit .... 29 Soul. Souls. 1 . The soul is a fire and needeth food .... 4 1. How the soul dwelleth in the body, and is captivated by the human spirit 10 1. The soul liveth in another substance besides the spirit o f the elements 11
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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