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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.
1dwelleth in the liberty, as a glance or brightness of a still joy [habitation]; and the Word [proceeding] out of the powers of nature is the fire of the light, out of which the shining goeth forth, and enlighteneth the whole deep of the Father; so that it is one essence together, but with three distinctions, where every distinction hath a centre, and may be called a Person. 64. For, the Father generateth the nature out of the eternal still liberty, which is himself, and yet in the stillness is not called Father; but in that he is desiring [or generating], and comprehendeth a will in himself, to [have] the genetrix of nature [to be] ; there he is known to be a Father, from whom all things proceed, as out of his first will through all wills. 65. Even as the mind of man is but one only will, which is desiring, and yet conceiveth in it, out of the eternal will, innumerable wills, and one always goeth forth out of the other. Whereby we see and find, that the first will is master, and the other recomprehended wills lead to light and darkness, to joy and sorrow; according as they conceive anything good or evil in them, as reason can discern. So it is also in the Father, in nature, but not in the liberty; for there, there is nothing in himself, but the light eternity. 66. Seeing then a twofold comprehension thus proceedeth out of one will, as to joy and sorrow,
2love and hatred, therefore each hath its birth to will [or to a contrary will, out of one and the same point] again, out of one into many: Nature hath its will to the sharpness of its stern generating: and the first will of the Father, (which ariseth out of the light eternity), to the still meekness: even as the still eternity is, in itself, a still soft joy, without substance. 67. Thus there is a twofold driving in one only substance, and therefore also two centres are generated; the one tendeth to meekness, and the other to fierceness, and yet are not separated: for the fierceness in nature is the first, and out of the fierceness is the meekness generated, which is the other; and one without the other would be only a still eternity. 68. Therefore now, the meekness is the Son of God, which dwelleth in the still eternity, and mitigateth the wrath, and is therefore called the Son, because he is generated out of the Father's nature; and is called the Word of the Father, because he is, with the glance of the eternal liberty, [proceeding] out of the eternal liberty (out of the wheel of the essences, out of the forms of nature, as the life of nature) expressed in the liberty of the Father; and is called a Person, because he is a self-subsisting essence, which doth not belong to the birth of nature, but is the life and understanding of nature; and is called the Heart of the Father, because he is the virtue and power in the centre of
3nature; and he is in nature, as the heart in the body, which giveth strength and understanding to its members; and is called the light of God, because the light is kindled in him, and taketh its original in him; and is called the glance [or brightness] because, in the eternal still liberty, he maketh a glance [or lustre] which taketh its original out of the sharpness of the eternal nature, as is mentioned before. And he is called the love of the Father, because the first will of the Father, to the genetrix of nature, desireth only this his most beloved Heart, and this (in the will of the Father) is the best beloved above nature, and yet is his essence: And is called wonder, because he is the Creator of all things, by whom all things, out of the centre of the essences of the Father, are brought to light, and being; so that the nature of the Father standeth in great wonders. 69. And this is the diversity, [and the cause] that the Father and the Son are called two Persons, and yet are but one God in one only essence; that is, the Father is the generator of nature, because it is generated by his will, out of the desire; and because his Heart separateth itself from nature, and is not comprehended by nature, and exerciseth a several centre, viz. the love; and the Father exerciseth the centre of wrath. In the sharpness of the Father is the fire, and in the sharpness of the Son is the light, and yet they are in one another, as fire and light.
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.
1dwelleth in the liberty, as a glance or brightness of a still joy [habitation]; and the Word [proceeding] out of the powers of nature is the fire of the light, out of which the shining goeth forth, and enlighteneth the whole deep of the Father; so that it is one essence together, but with three distinctions, where every distinction hath a centre, and may be called a Person. 64. For, the Father generateth the nature out of the eternal still liberty, which is himself, and yet in the stillness is not called Father; but in that he is desiring [or generating], and comprehendeth a will in himself, to [have] the genetrix of nature [to be] ; there he is known to be a Father, from whom all things proceed, as out of his first will through all wills. 65. Even as the mind of man is but one only will, which is desiring, and yet conceiveth in it, out of the eternal will, innumerable wills, and one always goeth forth out of the other. Whereby we see and find, that the first will is master, and the other recomprehended wills lead to light and darkness, to joy and sorrow; according as they conceive anything good or evil in them, as reason can discern. So it is also in the Father, in nature, but not in the liberty; for there, there is nothing in himself, but the light eternity. 66. Seeing then a twofold comprehension thus proceedeth out of one will, as to joy and sorrow,
2love and hatred, therefore each hath its birth to will [or to a contrary will, out of one and the same point] again, out of one into many: Nature hath its will to the sharpness of its stern generating: and the first will of the Father, (which ariseth out of the light eternity), to the still meekness: even as the still eternity is, in itself, a still soft joy, without substance. 67. Thus there is a twofold driving in one only substance, and therefore also two centres are generated; the one tendeth to meekness, and the other to fierceness, and yet are not separated: for the fierceness in nature is the first, and out of the fierceness is the meekness generated, which is the other; and one without the other would be only a still eternity. 68. Therefore now, the meekness is the Son of God, which dwelleth in the still eternity, and mitigateth the wrath, and is therefore called the Son, because he is generated out of the Father's nature; and is called the Word of the Father, because he is, with the glance of the eternal liberty, [proceeding] out of the eternal liberty (out of the wheel of the essences, out of the forms of nature, as the life of nature) expressed in the liberty of the Father; and is called a Person, because he is a self-subsisting essence, which doth not belong to the birth of nature, but is the life and understanding of nature; and is called the Heart of the Father, because he is the virtue and power in the centre of
3nature; and he is in nature, as the heart in the body, which giveth strength and understanding to its members; and is called the light of God, because the light is kindled in him, and taketh its original in him; and is called the glance [or brightness] because, in the eternal still liberty, he maketh a glance [or lustre] which taketh its original out of the sharpness of the eternal nature, as is mentioned before. And he is called the love of the Father, because the first will of the Father, to the genetrix of nature, desireth only this his most beloved Heart, and this (in the will of the Father) is the best beloved above nature, and yet is his essence: And is called wonder, because he is the Creator of all things, by whom all things, out of the centre of the essences of the Father, are brought to light, and being; so that the nature of the Father standeth in great wonders. 69. And this is the diversity, [and the cause] that the Father and the Son are called two Persons, and yet are but one God in one only essence; that is, the Father is the generator of nature, because it is generated by his will, out of the desire; and because his Heart separateth itself from nature, and is not comprehended by nature, and exerciseth a several centre, viz. the love; and the Father exerciseth the centre of wrath. In the sharpness of the Father is the fire, and in the sharpness of the Son is the light, and yet they are in one another, as fire and light.
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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