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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.
1179. At the 3 point of the line, Number 10, Soul standeth; which signifieth the original of the eternal spirits, viz. of angels and souls of men; for the 4 point signifieth the centre in nature, where the threefold spirit manifesteth itself by nature, which again signifieth the magic fire in the Father's property, from whence the angels have their original, and also the souls of men. 180. We must here understand the ground and original of an eternal spirit; for nothing is eternal, except it have its original from the eternal magic fire: the original is not to be taken for the true spirit, but for the centre, viz. the cause of the spirit. 1 Or angle. 2 Or meant. 3 Or angle. 4 The point of the arm at the left hand. The Soul's Will; Number 11. 181. Every right spirit is understood in the light of life, 1 with the understanding; for no right understanding can be in the fire, but in the desire of the light; and therefore the fiery will must bend and incline towards the Heart of God, that is, towards the power of the light and understanding, as may be seen here, where the Soul's Will standeth upon the line of the Cross, marked with the Number 11, and there receiveth power from the Heart of God, and so *it becometh an understanding spirit. Will, Number 12; and Soul, Number 13.
2182. For it receiveth the power of the light, in the meekness and humility, and goeth with the spirit of its will (that is, with the noble image and similitude of God) through the power of the Heart, into the second Principle; that is, into the light world, as may be seen in the other 2 circle at the right side of the Heart, where, Number 12, Will standeth, and Soul, Number 13, which signifieth that the soul goeth out of the source of the fire, which is the Father's property, and entereth into the Son's property, and dwelleth in the divine power in the hght world. 1 Or, and so is the understanding. 2 Or half globe. * "it becometh an understanding spirit," lit., "it is born" or "generated as an understanding spirit." HOLY GHOST; Number 14. 183. ! Without the point of the Cross, Number 14, HOLY GHOST standeth, signifying the Holy GHOST, who ariseth from eternity in the will of the Father, at Number 9, before the 2 point at the left hand, and bringeth himself through nature, along through the Heart and divine power at the right hand, out 3 from nature, and also through the power of angels, or of the spirit of the soul, quite out, and dwelleth in the liberty in the glance of the power and Majesty; and is in nature, yet not comprehended by nature, but in the property of the divine power only. Image; Number 15.
3184. Beyond the word HOLY GHOST, Number 15, Image standeth, also without nature, which signifieth that the noble image groweth out of the fire of the soul, as a flower groweth out of the earth, and hath no feeling of the fiery property; for the fire is, as it were, swallowed up in it, and yet it is there, but in another source (viz. in the desire of love), a light flaming fire in the divine property. Abyss; Number 16. 185. After Image, standeth Abyss, Number 16, signifying that the true image standeth in the abyss 4 beyond all source, and dwelleth in nothing, viz. in itself only, and through it God dwelleth; therefore there is nothing but the divine power that can find, move, or destroy it; for it is not in nature, although it ariseth from nature in its root, yet it is quite another thing, as an apple differs from the 5 tree; though it be upon the tree, and receiveth virtue from the tree, yet the sun also giveth virtue to it, and so the divine Sun (viz. the Majesty) giveth virtue to the image. 1 Or Beyond. 2 Or point of the Cross. 3 Or beyond. 4 extra, without. 5 the tree it groweth upon. Of the word Omnipotence, Number 17; and Wrath, Number 18.
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.
1179. At the 3 point of the line, Number 10, Soul standeth; which signifieth the original of the eternal spirits, viz. of angels and souls of men; for the 4 point signifieth the centre in nature, where the threefold spirit manifesteth itself by nature, which again signifieth the magic fire in the Father's property, from whence the angels have their original, and also the souls of men. 180. We must here understand the ground and original of an eternal spirit; for nothing is eternal, except it have its original from the eternal magic fire: the original is not to be taken for the true spirit, but for the centre, viz. the cause of the spirit. 1 Or angle. 2 Or meant. 3 Or angle. 4 The point of the arm at the left hand. The Soul's Will; Number 11. 181. Every right spirit is understood in the light of life, 1 with the understanding; for no right understanding can be in the fire, but in the desire of the light; and therefore the fiery will must bend and incline towards the Heart of God, that is, towards the power of the light and understanding, as may be seen here, where the Soul's Will standeth upon the line of the Cross, marked with the Number 11, and there receiveth power from the Heart of God, and so *it becometh an understanding spirit. Will, Number 12; and Soul, Number 13.
2182. For it receiveth the power of the light, in the meekness and humility, and goeth with the spirit of its will (that is, with the noble image and similitude of God) through the power of the Heart, into the second Principle; that is, into the light world, as may be seen in the other 2 circle at the right side of the Heart, where, Number 12, Will standeth, and Soul, Number 13, which signifieth that the soul goeth out of the source of the fire, which is the Father's property, and entereth into the Son's property, and dwelleth in the divine power in the hght world. 1 Or, and so is the understanding. 2 Or half globe. * "it becometh an understanding spirit," lit., "it is born" or "generated as an understanding spirit." HOLY GHOST; Number 14. 183. ! Without the point of the Cross, Number 14, HOLY GHOST standeth, signifying the Holy GHOST, who ariseth from eternity in the will of the Father, at Number 9, before the 2 point at the left hand, and bringeth himself through nature, along through the Heart and divine power at the right hand, out 3 from nature, and also through the power of angels, or of the spirit of the soul, quite out, and dwelleth in the liberty in the glance of the power and Majesty; and is in nature, yet not comprehended by nature, but in the property of the divine power only. Image; Number 15.
3184. Beyond the word HOLY GHOST, Number 15, Image standeth, also without nature, which signifieth that the noble image groweth out of the fire of the soul, as a flower groweth out of the earth, and hath no feeling of the fiery property; for the fire is, as it were, swallowed up in it, and yet it is there, but in another source (viz. in the desire of love), a light flaming fire in the divine property. Abyss; Number 16. 185. After Image, standeth Abyss, Number 16, signifying that the true image standeth in the abyss 4 beyond all source, and dwelleth in nothing, viz. in itself only, and through it God dwelleth; therefore there is nothing but the divine power that can find, move, or destroy it; for it is not in nature, although it ariseth from nature in its root, yet it is quite another thing, as an apple differs from the 5 tree; though it be upon the tree, and receiveth virtue from the tree, yet the sun also giveth virtue to it, and so the divine Sun (viz. the Majesty) giveth virtue to the image. 1 Or Beyond. 2 Or point of the Cross. 3 Or beyond. 4 extra, without. 5 the tree it groweth upon. Of the word Omnipotence, Number 17; and Wrath, Number 18.
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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