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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.
129. And then the astringent Fiat, in the fiery essence of the soul, figureth for the soul an image of the imagination that is in its will: whatsoever the essential fire of the soul desireth, that will be figured in the soul, viz. * earthly figures: that which the will of the heart casteth itself into, that image the Fiat of the soul will make; that is, as far as the third Principle, and the spirit of the stars and elements have power. 30. So that if the will of the soul casteth itself into the kingdom of this world, then the outward kingdom hath power to bring its imagination into the inward Principle; and if the inward Fiat perceiveth that in the fire of the soul, then it becometh pregnant with it, and retaineth it. 31. And then the soul hath the image of a beast in the third Principle, and that cannot be destroyed for ever, except the will of the soul returneth again out of the earthly lust, and pierceth into the love of God again, and then it getteth the image of God again, which may be done only in this life, while the soul is essentially in its 2 aether, in the growing of its tree; but after this life it cannot be done. 1 sternness, sharpness, or eagerness. 2 ground, or soil, or bed of earth. * "earthly figures," etc., lit., "earthly figures, wherein the soul's will entereth, as avarice, pride, or whatever it may be that the will of the heart casteth itself into."
232. Thus you may understand what the soul, spirit, image, and turba are. The soul dwelleth in itself, and is an essential fire; and its image standeth in itself, in the imagination in the light of the soul, if it cleave to God; if not, then it is in anxiety in the wrath of darkness, and is an * abominable l image, or an image of the devil. 33. The turba of the soul, which destroyeth the divine image, is the essential wrathfulness; and it is caused by the imagination, or false love and 2 representation, and therefore all lieth in the imagination: the image consisteth in that which we permit to come into our desire. 34. It is very necessary for us to strive continually against the earthly reason of flesh and blood, and to yield the spirit of our wills into the mercy and love of God, and always cast ourselves into the will of God, and not account earthly 3 goods and pleasure our treasure, setting our desire therein, which will destroy the image; for it is a turba of the image of God, and bringeth earthly properties into the image. 1 vizard, or monster. 2 Or imaging. 3 Or profit. * "abominable image" (Larva), "mask," or "larva" grub.
335. l To sum up all: Christ said, 2 Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also; according to which 3 God will judge the secrets of mankind, and sever the clean from the unclean; and give that which is false to the turba of the fire to be devoured; and that which is holy, which is entered into God he will introduce into his kingdom. AMEN. 1 Or to conclude. 2 Matt. vi. 21. 3 Rom. ii. 16. [ Here the printed book includes Bohme's The Claris (pages numbered separately, i— vi and 1—52). ] (Note ed.: an electronic text version of the Clavis has been prepared earlier. It can be found in the archive.org) A CATALOG OF THE BOOKS WRITTEN BY JACOB BEHMEN 1. Anno 1612. He wrote the first book called Aurora, the Rising of the Sun, and he, being accused as author thereof, this book was laid up by the Magistrate at Gorlitz, at Court, and command given him that he should henceforth (being a simple layman) refrain writing of books, which did not belong to his profession and condition. Whereupon he did refrain for seven years, but afterwards, being stirred up again by the Holy Spirit of God, and also being encouraged thereto by the entreaty and desires of some people that feared God, he betook himself to his pen again, and proceeded in writing, and perfected, with good leisure and deliberation, the rest which follow, viz.: 2. Anno 1619. The second book, Of the Three Principles, together with^i Appendix of the Threefold Life of Man.
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.
129. And then the astringent Fiat, in the fiery essence of the soul, figureth for the soul an image of the imagination that is in its will: whatsoever the essential fire of the soul desireth, that will be figured in the soul, viz. * earthly figures: that which the will of the heart casteth itself into, that image the Fiat of the soul will make; that is, as far as the third Principle, and the spirit of the stars and elements have power. 30. So that if the will of the soul casteth itself into the kingdom of this world, then the outward kingdom hath power to bring its imagination into the inward Principle; and if the inward Fiat perceiveth that in the fire of the soul, then it becometh pregnant with it, and retaineth it. 31. And then the soul hath the image of a beast in the third Principle, and that cannot be destroyed for ever, except the will of the soul returneth again out of the earthly lust, and pierceth into the love of God again, and then it getteth the image of God again, which may be done only in this life, while the soul is essentially in its 2 aether, in the growing of its tree; but after this life it cannot be done. 1 sternness, sharpness, or eagerness. 2 ground, or soil, or bed of earth. * "earthly figures," etc., lit., "earthly figures, wherein the soul's will entereth, as avarice, pride, or whatever it may be that the will of the heart casteth itself into."
232. Thus you may understand what the soul, spirit, image, and turba are. The soul dwelleth in itself, and is an essential fire; and its image standeth in itself, in the imagination in the light of the soul, if it cleave to God; if not, then it is in anxiety in the wrath of darkness, and is an * abominable l image, or an image of the devil. 33. The turba of the soul, which destroyeth the divine image, is the essential wrathfulness; and it is caused by the imagination, or false love and 2 representation, and therefore all lieth in the imagination: the image consisteth in that which we permit to come into our desire. 34. It is very necessary for us to strive continually against the earthly reason of flesh and blood, and to yield the spirit of our wills into the mercy and love of God, and always cast ourselves into the will of God, and not account earthly 3 goods and pleasure our treasure, setting our desire therein, which will destroy the image; for it is a turba of the image of God, and bringeth earthly properties into the image. 1 vizard, or monster. 2 Or imaging. 3 Or profit. * "abominable image" (Larva), "mask," or "larva" grub.
335. l To sum up all: Christ said, 2 Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also; according to which 3 God will judge the secrets of mankind, and sever the clean from the unclean; and give that which is false to the turba of the fire to be devoured; and that which is holy, which is entered into God he will introduce into his kingdom. AMEN. 1 Or to conclude. 2 Matt. vi. 21. 3 Rom. ii. 16. [ Here the printed book includes Bohme's The Claris (pages numbered separately, i— vi and 1—52). ] (Note ed.: an electronic text version of the Clavis has been prepared earlier. It can be found in the archive.org) A CATALOG OF THE BOOKS WRITTEN BY JACOB BEHMEN 1. Anno 1612. He wrote the first book called Aurora, the Rising of the Sun, and he, being accused as author thereof, this book was laid up by the Magistrate at Gorlitz, at Court, and command given him that he should henceforth (being a simple layman) refrain writing of books, which did not belong to his profession and condition. Whereupon he did refrain for seven years, but afterwards, being stirred up again by the Holy Spirit of God, and also being encouraged thereto by the entreaty and desires of some people that feared God, he betook himself to his pen again, and proceeded in writing, and perfected, with good leisure and deliberation, the rest which follow, viz.: 2. Anno 1619. The second book, Of the Three Principles, together with^i Appendix of the Threefold Life of Man.
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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