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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.
190. Now as the spirit of eternity hath formed and framed all things, so also the spirit of man formeth them in his word, for all ariseth from his centre: for the human spirit is a form, figure, and similitude of the Number Three of the Deity; whatsoever God is in his nature, that the spirit of man is in itself: and therefore he giveth every thing its name, according to the spirit and form of every thing, for the inward speaketh forth the outward. 91. And as this world was from eternity hidden in the nature of God, and stood in the wisdom, and, as may be said, hath a beginning and end from the Word of the centre, spoken forth from the outgoing spirit of the centre; (understand, out of the substantiality of nature, into a comprehensible substance, where this world appeareth as a Principle, having its own source and government); so also the name and similitude of God, viz. this world, is in the spirit of man; and it speaketh them forth with its word in the same manner as they were spoken in the nature of God, from the spirit of God in the wisdom, where then they were seen in the light of God. 92. Observe it rightly, accurately, and deeply: the human spirit in its threefold form hath all the Three Principles in it, viz. the kingdom of God, the kingdom of hell, and the kingdom of this
2world; and it speaketh forth from itself, from the source, and form, of every being, whether it be heavenly, earthly, or hellish, as it hath been spoken forth [or expressed] by the spirit of God from eternity, in the invisible substance of the eternal nature, as a figure or spirit of the Word of God; and was without substance, till the A and O, and in the A and O, in the beginning and end: so also the spirit of man speaketh it forth in beginning and end without substance, for the substance was once created in the creature. 93. And observe us thus further, concerning the language of nature, when we say: ImAnfang S chuff Gott Himmel undErden [in the beginning God created heaven and earth] : then we name [or express] all that, out of which heaven and earth was created, and this the mind [enlightened by God] in the light of God understandeth. 94. For as the form of this world was seen in the light of God, before the substance [was], so also the mind in the light of God seeth it in the creation, as it is brought into essence or substance; for nature in the spirit of man, and nature in the spirit of God, according to the Three Principles, are of one [and the same] essence or substance; the human spirit is a perfect sparkle from it. 95. But you must know; that as the eternal nature hath not the glance and might of the Majesty in its own power, so that it can comprehend
3the Number Three in Ternario Sancto, (although indeed the Number Three dwelleth in nature, and yet there is a difference between the seven forms of nature and the Number Three), so there is also a distinction between the soul's spirit of nature, and the Number Three of God; so that the spirit of the soul, when it imagineth back into nature, into the centre of the wrath, loseth the Majesty, and in the wrath flieth out above the Majesty; and then may be called a reprobate devil [or cast-away]. 96. The mind may understand the word, and the forming of the word, thus: Observe, When the three-fold spirit of man saith Schuff, [which signifieth created,] then the mind may observe the form of the generation of the word; first, the spirit [or breath] frameth the word in the mouth, and not in the heart, and closeth the teeth together, and hisseth through the teeth, like a kindled fire, which denoteth the comprehension: for the lips open, and the hissing is the fire from whence goeth the air: understand it thus. 97. Before time [was], the world was in God, but without substance: Now Lucifer, the great prince out of the centre of nature, awakened and kindled the wrath and fire, which was not known in the eternity; for he would domineer in the might of the fire, above God, and therefore the source of fire became his habitation.
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.
190. Now as the spirit of eternity hath formed and framed all things, so also the spirit of man formeth them in his word, for all ariseth from his centre: for the human spirit is a form, figure, and similitude of the Number Three of the Deity; whatsoever God is in his nature, that the spirit of man is in itself: and therefore he giveth every thing its name, according to the spirit and form of every thing, for the inward speaketh forth the outward. 91. And as this world was from eternity hidden in the nature of God, and stood in the wisdom, and, as may be said, hath a beginning and end from the Word of the centre, spoken forth from the outgoing spirit of the centre; (understand, out of the substantiality of nature, into a comprehensible substance, where this world appeareth as a Principle, having its own source and government); so also the name and similitude of God, viz. this world, is in the spirit of man; and it speaketh them forth with its word in the same manner as they were spoken in the nature of God, from the spirit of God in the wisdom, where then they were seen in the light of God. 92. Observe it rightly, accurately, and deeply: the human spirit in its threefold form hath all the Three Principles in it, viz. the kingdom of God, the kingdom of hell, and the kingdom of this
2world; and it speaketh forth from itself, from the source, and form, of every being, whether it be heavenly, earthly, or hellish, as it hath been spoken forth [or expressed] by the spirit of God from eternity, in the invisible substance of the eternal nature, as a figure or spirit of the Word of God; and was without substance, till the A and O, and in the A and O, in the beginning and end: so also the spirit of man speaketh it forth in beginning and end without substance, for the substance was once created in the creature. 93. And observe us thus further, concerning the language of nature, when we say: ImAnfang S chuff Gott Himmel undErden [in the beginning God created heaven and earth] : then we name [or express] all that, out of which heaven and earth was created, and this the mind [enlightened by God] in the light of God understandeth. 94. For as the form of this world was seen in the light of God, before the substance [was], so also the mind in the light of God seeth it in the creation, as it is brought into essence or substance; for nature in the spirit of man, and nature in the spirit of God, according to the Three Principles, are of one [and the same] essence or substance; the human spirit is a perfect sparkle from it. 95. But you must know; that as the eternal nature hath not the glance and might of the Majesty in its own power, so that it can comprehend
3the Number Three in Ternario Sancto, (although indeed the Number Three dwelleth in nature, and yet there is a difference between the seven forms of nature and the Number Three), so there is also a distinction between the soul's spirit of nature, and the Number Three of God; so that the spirit of the soul, when it imagineth back into nature, into the centre of the wrath, loseth the Majesty, and in the wrath flieth out above the Majesty; and then may be called a reprobate devil [or cast-away]. 96. The mind may understand the word, and the forming of the word, thus: Observe, When the three-fold spirit of man saith Schuff, [which signifieth created,] then the mind may observe the form of the generation of the word; first, the spirit [or breath] frameth the word in the mouth, and not in the heart, and closeth the teeth together, and hisseth through the teeth, like a kindled fire, which denoteth the comprehension: for the lips open, and the hissing is the fire from whence goeth the air: understand it thus. 97. Before time [was], the world was in God, but without substance: Now Lucifer, the great prince out of the centre of nature, awakened and kindled the wrath and fire, which was not known in the eternity; for he would domineer in the might of the fire, above God, and therefore the source of fire became his habitation.
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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