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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.
1210. But the three Persons are free from the Cross, and touch not the line, which signifieth that God is free from nature, and is not comprehended 1 in nature; but he dwelleth in himself, and indeed also in nature, but is not comprehended by that which doth not 2 yield itself into him. Of the Heart in the Cross. 211. The Heart in the cross signifieth, first, that the Heart of God hath manifested itself in nature 3 by the Principle of fire, whence the majestic light ariseth: secondly, it signifieth the manifestation in the humanity, wherein the Heart of God hath manifested itself with a human heart; and how that human heart hath obtained the comprehension of the Holy Trinity, as it is the centre in the cross, where we must understand the inward man, viz. the inward heart. 212. And we may see that the HOLY GHOST at the right line, Number 14, goeth forth from the Heart in the light world; which signifieth that the HOLY GHOST dwelleth in the new-born heart (viz. in the Image), and continually bringeth the will of the image into the divine light world: and as this Heart in the cross is united 3 to the Holy Trinity, so must the human heart (understand the inward man) be united 3 to the Deity, that God may be all in all in him, both will and deed. 213. But the word SON, Number 41, standing above over the line of the cross, separated from the Heart, signifieth that the man Christ is become Lord 4 of All,
2and is king over this whole circle: For God hath manifested himself in the humanity, and this man comprehendeth the whole divine 5 essence in him; for there is one and the same fulness, one God and divine essence, in him and without him: we can * 6 find God nowhere else but in the 7 essence of Christ, therein 8 is the whole fulness of the 9 Godhead bodily. 1 Or by. 2 give up itself to him. 3 Or with. 4 Or over all. 5 Or substance. 6 Or know, or acknowledge. 7 Or substance. 8 Col. ii. 9. 9 Or Deity. * "find God" (erkennen), "to know, perceive, or recognize." Heaven; Number 42. 214. The word Heaven, upon the upright line of the cross, Number 42, signifieth, first, that heaven is in the man Christ, and also in us, and that we must enter by his cross and death into him, in his heaven, which is himself; for upon the cross, Heaven is opened again, and born anew 1 in us. Secondly, it signifieth that the true divine heaven is a habitation 2 of the divine desire, viz. of the divine magia; therefore it cannot be said that we enter into it, but that we are begotten 3 in it, 4 out of Gods fire in the divine 5 essentiality, and no otherwise but upon the cross, viz. through and in the birth of the Holy Trinity. Pure Element; Number 43. 215. The words Pure Element, Number 43, upon the upper line of the cross, signify the internal world, out of which the external, with the four elements, is brought forth, and its 6 essence standeth in the internal root.
31 Or to us. 2 for. 3 Or into it. 4 Or by. 5 Or substantiality 6 Or substance. Holy Ghost; Number 44. Son; Number 45. 216. Moreover, it is to be noted, how those 1 words stand, begin and end; for they begin at the outward circle at the left hand, where above, Number 5, the Holy Ghost's character V standeth, and below, Number 8, 2 Essence; and they go through the two circles at the right hand, to the 3 second space, which signifieth the original of the pure divine element, the habitation and 4 essence whence it ariseth, viz. from the spirit of the eternal Mystery in the divine essentiality , viz. in the essence of the great Mystery: and yet it is manifest only in the second Principle, viz. in the essence of the Son and Holy Ghost, as above at the circle on the right hand may be seen, Numbers 44 and 45. Father; Number 46. Holy Spirit of Divine Wit, Wisdom, and Understanding; Number 47. 217. *The pure element is the working in the true heaven, and it shutteth itself in and out with the cross; it is the springing or stirring in the fire and in the heaven of light, whence the divine essentiality (understand the essence, and not the spirit of God) is a life: for it reacheth not into the essence of the Father, Number 46, below which circle there standeth Divine Wit or Wisdom: for the element giveth not divine wit [reason or understanding]; but the Holy 5 Spirit, Number 47, giveth divine 6 wisdom and 7 understanding. 1 Viz. Pure Element.
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.
1210. But the three Persons are free from the Cross, and touch not the line, which signifieth that God is free from nature, and is not comprehended 1 in nature; but he dwelleth in himself, and indeed also in nature, but is not comprehended by that which doth not 2 yield itself into him. Of the Heart in the Cross. 211. The Heart in the cross signifieth, first, that the Heart of God hath manifested itself in nature 3 by the Principle of fire, whence the majestic light ariseth: secondly, it signifieth the manifestation in the humanity, wherein the Heart of God hath manifested itself with a human heart; and how that human heart hath obtained the comprehension of the Holy Trinity, as it is the centre in the cross, where we must understand the inward man, viz. the inward heart. 212. And we may see that the HOLY GHOST at the right line, Number 14, goeth forth from the Heart in the light world; which signifieth that the HOLY GHOST dwelleth in the new-born heart (viz. in the Image), and continually bringeth the will of the image into the divine light world: and as this Heart in the cross is united 3 to the Holy Trinity, so must the human heart (understand the inward man) be united 3 to the Deity, that God may be all in all in him, both will and deed. 213. But the word SON, Number 41, standing above over the line of the cross, separated from the Heart, signifieth that the man Christ is become Lord 4 of All,
2and is king over this whole circle: For God hath manifested himself in the humanity, and this man comprehendeth the whole divine 5 essence in him; for there is one and the same fulness, one God and divine essence, in him and without him: we can * 6 find God nowhere else but in the 7 essence of Christ, therein 8 is the whole fulness of the 9 Godhead bodily. 1 Or by. 2 give up itself to him. 3 Or with. 4 Or over all. 5 Or substance. 6 Or know, or acknowledge. 7 Or substance. 8 Col. ii. 9. 9 Or Deity. * "find God" (erkennen), "to know, perceive, or recognize." Heaven; Number 42. 214. The word Heaven, upon the upright line of the cross, Number 42, signifieth, first, that heaven is in the man Christ, and also in us, and that we must enter by his cross and death into him, in his heaven, which is himself; for upon the cross, Heaven is opened again, and born anew 1 in us. Secondly, it signifieth that the true divine heaven is a habitation 2 of the divine desire, viz. of the divine magia; therefore it cannot be said that we enter into it, but that we are begotten 3 in it, 4 out of Gods fire in the divine 5 essentiality, and no otherwise but upon the cross, viz. through and in the birth of the Holy Trinity. Pure Element; Number 43. 215. The words Pure Element, Number 43, upon the upper line of the cross, signify the internal world, out of which the external, with the four elements, is brought forth, and its 6 essence standeth in the internal root.
31 Or to us. 2 for. 3 Or into it. 4 Or by. 5 Or substantiality 6 Or substance. Holy Ghost; Number 44. Son; Number 45. 216. Moreover, it is to be noted, how those 1 words stand, begin and end; for they begin at the outward circle at the left hand, where above, Number 5, the Holy Ghost's character V standeth, and below, Number 8, 2 Essence; and they go through the two circles at the right hand, to the 3 second space, which signifieth the original of the pure divine element, the habitation and 4 essence whence it ariseth, viz. from the spirit of the eternal Mystery in the divine essentiality , viz. in the essence of the great Mystery: and yet it is manifest only in the second Principle, viz. in the essence of the Son and Holy Ghost, as above at the circle on the right hand may be seen, Numbers 44 and 45. Father; Number 46. Holy Spirit of Divine Wit, Wisdom, and Understanding; Number 47. 217. *The pure element is the working in the true heaven, and it shutteth itself in and out with the cross; it is the springing or stirring in the fire and in the heaven of light, whence the divine essentiality (understand the essence, and not the spirit of God) is a life: for it reacheth not into the essence of the Father, Number 46, below which circle there standeth Divine Wit or Wisdom: for the element giveth not divine wit [reason or understanding]; but the Holy 5 Spirit, Number 47, giveth divine 6 wisdom and 7 understanding. 1 Viz. Pure Element.
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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