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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. What joy or recreation the wicked soul hath . . 26 18. Of the condition of the soul, that converteth at the very last 2 8 18. Of the condition of the earnest zealous soul that feareth God 29 1. In the eternal nature without the light of God is the pain and torment: Only the angels and souls proceed from the eternal nature. Why outward things are transitory; also the cause of the fall of our souls 16 2. Men should not trust their souls with the dissemblers and hypocrites 5 2. Angels and souls are eternal 64 12. How the Antichristian souls are after death till judgment 28 18. How the spirit of God cannot be awakened in some souls: Also what soul can, and what cannot, be converted 47 CHAP. Sound. VERSE 4. Further description of the sound and its operation . 73 4. How the will which thrusteth forth from the heart produceth and formeth the sound ... 74 Space. 1. How the vast space desireth contraction, and that there must be a contrary will, or else nothing would be, neither darkness nor light, life nor death . . 33 2. What hath shut the vast space into a narrow room . 15 Sphere. 10. The sphere of the wise magists and mathematicians is not perfect: of the wonderful turning of the wheel o f nature 25 Spirit. Spirits. 1. The spirit of God is not subject to the band of the eternal nature 13 2. The brimstone- spirit is the will in the four forms, wherein the devils dwell 37 4. The spirit desireth to bring the light forth in its deepest depth 1
24. Of the seventh form: Also~how a spirit is, and how it subsisteth 5 4. A similitude describing the out-flown air and spirit of God . . . 79 4. Of the further working of the spirit .... 81 4. How the spirit differeth from the body ... 84 4. The spirit is not the light, but the blower up of the light . 85 5. Men should not judge, lest they fall on the sword of the spirit, which will reprove the world for sin, righteousness, and judgment 4-7 5. How the spirit of this world may know itself . . 28 5. How the spirit that proceedeth from God, openeth the understanding of the mind ... 29 5. How the spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Word 37 5. Whither the spirit goeth when it goeth forth from the Father and Son 39 5. How the Holy Spirit revealeth the opened seals . . 42 5. The aim of the different wisdom. The touch-stone to try whether the spirit of God, or the spirit of the devil speaketh . . 74 CHAP. Spirit. Spirits. VERSE 5. How the spirit hath brought all the three Principles into a body . 89 5. The comparing of the spirit of man with the eternal spirit, and the Number Three .... 90 5. As the world is spoken forth from the spirit, so it is also in man's spirit 91 5. The spirit of man hath in itself the kingdom of God, of hell, and of this world: Also how all was without being till the A and O ... 92 5. The centre was but one spirit: How all came to be thick, gross, and hard, as it were opposite to the Majesty of God 99
35. How the air or wind is not the spirit of the Number Three 102 6. How the spirit of God ruleth in us; and how the soul attaineth the paradisical garland .... 32 6. As the spirit is, so is the body of it .... 59 7. How often unwillingly the Holy Ghost is called a devil, and the devil accounted a good spirit . . 60 8. A similitude of the going forth of the spirit in a redhot iron 6 8. How no spirit desireth to come out from its mother again 5 9 9. He on whom the understanding of this spirit falleth, he understandeth it 4 9. Of the root of the fire- spirit, and of the impotent airspirit ..54 10. How the spirit of God hath planted and created a model in his will 15 11. Of the breathing in of the air-spirit, and of the spirit of the soul .15 11. How the spirit of this world introduceth its government also in the seed 34 14. How we are subjected to the sj/irit of this world from our entrance into the womh of our mother . . 4 17. How the outward spirit should look after outward things 6 18. How the outward spirit hath insinuated itself into the soul 3 4 3. How the six spirits have executed their fierce might in us 50 4. Wherefore, and of what the spirits are created . . 29 4. The spirits are created out of the centre of the eternal mind .31 4. How the creation of the spirits was .... 36 CHAP. Spirit. Spirits. 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.
118. What joy or recreation the wicked soul hath . . 26 18. Of the condition of the soul, that converteth at the very last 2 8 18. Of the condition of the earnest zealous soul that feareth God 29 1. In the eternal nature without the light of God is the pain and torment: Only the angels and souls proceed from the eternal nature. Why outward things are transitory; also the cause of the fall of our souls 16 2. Men should not trust their souls with the dissemblers and hypocrites 5 2. Angels and souls are eternal 64 12. How the Antichristian souls are after death till judgment 28 18. How the spirit of God cannot be awakened in some souls: Also what soul can, and what cannot, be converted 47 CHAP. Sound. VERSE 4. Further description of the sound and its operation . 73 4. How the will which thrusteth forth from the heart produceth and formeth the sound ... 74 Space. 1. How the vast space desireth contraction, and that there must be a contrary will, or else nothing would be, neither darkness nor light, life nor death . . 33 2. What hath shut the vast space into a narrow room . 15 Sphere. 10. The sphere of the wise magists and mathematicians is not perfect: of the wonderful turning of the wheel o f nature 25 Spirit. Spirits. 1. The spirit of God is not subject to the band of the eternal nature 13 2. The brimstone- spirit is the will in the four forms, wherein the devils dwell 37 4. The spirit desireth to bring the light forth in its deepest depth 1
24. Of the seventh form: Also~how a spirit is, and how it subsisteth 5 4. A similitude describing the out-flown air and spirit of God . . . 79 4. Of the further working of the spirit .... 81 4. How the spirit differeth from the body ... 84 4. The spirit is not the light, but the blower up of the light . 85 5. Men should not judge, lest they fall on the sword of the spirit, which will reprove the world for sin, righteousness, and judgment 4-7 5. How the spirit of this world may know itself . . 28 5. How the spirit that proceedeth from God, openeth the understanding of the mind ... 29 5. How the spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Word 37 5. Whither the spirit goeth when it goeth forth from the Father and Son 39 5. How the Holy Spirit revealeth the opened seals . . 42 5. The aim of the different wisdom. The touch-stone to try whether the spirit of God, or the spirit of the devil speaketh . . 74 CHAP. Spirit. Spirits. VERSE 5. How the spirit hath brought all the three Principles into a body . 89 5. The comparing of the spirit of man with the eternal spirit, and the Number Three .... 90 5. As the world is spoken forth from the spirit, so it is also in man's spirit 91 5. The spirit of man hath in itself the kingdom of God, of hell, and of this world: Also how all was without being till the A and O ... 92 5. The centre was but one spirit: How all came to be thick, gross, and hard, as it were opposite to the Majesty of God 99
35. How the air or wind is not the spirit of the Number Three 102 6. How the spirit of God ruleth in us; and how the soul attaineth the paradisical garland .... 32 6. As the spirit is, so is the body of it .... 59 7. How often unwillingly the Holy Ghost is called a devil, and the devil accounted a good spirit . . 60 8. A similitude of the going forth of the spirit in a redhot iron 6 8. How no spirit desireth to come out from its mother again 5 9 9. He on whom the understanding of this spirit falleth, he understandeth it 4 9. Of the root of the fire- spirit, and of the impotent airspirit ..54 10. How the spirit of God hath planted and created a model in his will 15 11. Of the breathing in of the air-spirit, and of the spirit of the soul .15 11. How the spirit of this world introduceth its government also in the seed 34 14. How we are subjected to the sj/irit of this world from our entrance into the womh of our mother . . 4 17. How the outward spirit should look after outward things 6 18. How the outward spirit hath insinuated itself into the soul 3 4 3. How the six spirits have executed their fierce might in us 50 4. Wherefore, and of what the spirits are created . . 29 4. The spirits are created out of the centre of the eternal mind .31 4. How the creation of the spirits was .... 36 CHAP. Spirit. Spirits. 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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