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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.
1and remain as the raven, and not return to the ark, desiring to enter into it, but mind only to possess the kingdom of this world in glory and state. Also it betokens that the generation of this raven would have the chief place, pre-eminence and government, in the second monarchy (like the devil in the wrath of God), as histories witness that it so came to pass. 40. Afterwards he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated upon the earth; but when the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, she returned again unto him unto the ark; and he put forth his hand and took her to him into the ark (Gen. viii. 8, 9). This set forth and denotes the figure of God's children; who soon after come also under the government of the raven's property, and are brought into the government of this world; for they are also with Adam gone forth out of the ark, to behold and prove this evil corrupt world, and live therein. But when their spirit can find no rest in the earthly dominion, then they come again before the ark of Noah, which is set open in Christ, and Noah receives them again in Christ, into the first ark, whence Adam departed.
241. Moreover, the raven betokens the sharp Law of Moses, in the fiery might under God's anger, which binds and slays man, and brings him not into the ark. But the dove betokens the gospel of Christ, which brings us again into the ark, and saves the life. For the mount Ararat does, as an exact type and figure, point out unto us the kingdom of Moses; and the Ark, wherein the life was kept and preserved, signifies the humanity of Christ. 42. And he stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth a dove out of the ark; and it came to him about evening, and lo ! she had plucked off an olive leaf, and brought it in her mouth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and let a dove fly forth out of the ark, which returned not to him any more (Gen. viii. 10, 11). The spirit in Moses shows by these three doves, and the raven, which Noah sent forth out of the ark, a great mystery, which albeit he does not clearly unfold, yet for certain is couched therein. The raven does also denote the Law of Moses in nature, which will remain in its selfhood, and will not return in true resignation and self-denial, under the obedience of God, but will enter in to God by its own strength, power, and ways.
343. The first dove signifies the prophetical spirit, which arose under Moses, viz. under the outward Law and offerings, and pointed through the offering into the ark of Noah, and Christ. This prophetical spirit went all along through the office of Moses; it indeed flew under Moses, but it tended again into the ark with its prophecy, as the first dove which Noah sent forth flew indeed into the world, but came again into the ark of Christ. 44. The second dove with the olive branch, which also came again to Noah into the Ark, denotes the Word in the Covenant of Noah, which came forth out of the holy ark of God into this world, viz. into our humanity, and plucked off an olive leaf in the world, and brought it to Noah, that is, it plucked off a branch from our humanity, and took it into the holy Word, viz. the mouth of God, as the dove the olive leaf and brought the branch to holy Noah, that is, to God the Father. But that it was an olive leaf denotes the unction of the holy spirit, that the same should anoint the humanity, and bring it again with this dove into the holy ark. 45. The third dove which Noah let fly, which came not again to the ark, betokens the kingdom of Antichrist upon the earth, which indeed is flown forth with its doctrine out of the ark, but its spirit remains only upon the earth, feeding upon the fat grass [upon the riches, honour, and beauty of this world], and so it stays only in selfhood [and returns not to the ark] ;
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.
1and remain as the raven, and not return to the ark, desiring to enter into it, but mind only to possess the kingdom of this world in glory and state. Also it betokens that the generation of this raven would have the chief place, pre-eminence and government, in the second monarchy (like the devil in the wrath of God), as histories witness that it so came to pass. 40. Afterwards he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated upon the earth; but when the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, she returned again unto him unto the ark; and he put forth his hand and took her to him into the ark (Gen. viii. 8, 9). This set forth and denotes the figure of God's children; who soon after come also under the government of the raven's property, and are brought into the government of this world; for they are also with Adam gone forth out of the ark, to behold and prove this evil corrupt world, and live therein. But when their spirit can find no rest in the earthly dominion, then they come again before the ark of Noah, which is set open in Christ, and Noah receives them again in Christ, into the first ark, whence Adam departed.
241. Moreover, the raven betokens the sharp Law of Moses, in the fiery might under God's anger, which binds and slays man, and brings him not into the ark. But the dove betokens the gospel of Christ, which brings us again into the ark, and saves the life. For the mount Ararat does, as an exact type and figure, point out unto us the kingdom of Moses; and the Ark, wherein the life was kept and preserved, signifies the humanity of Christ. 42. And he stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth a dove out of the ark; and it came to him about evening, and lo ! she had plucked off an olive leaf, and brought it in her mouth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and let a dove fly forth out of the ark, which returned not to him any more (Gen. viii. 10, 11). The spirit in Moses shows by these three doves, and the raven, which Noah sent forth out of the ark, a great mystery, which albeit he does not clearly unfold, yet for certain is couched therein. The raven does also denote the Law of Moses in nature, which will remain in its selfhood, and will not return in true resignation and self-denial, under the obedience of God, but will enter in to God by its own strength, power, and ways.
343. The first dove signifies the prophetical spirit, which arose under Moses, viz. under the outward Law and offerings, and pointed through the offering into the ark of Noah, and Christ. This prophetical spirit went all along through the office of Moses; it indeed flew under Moses, but it tended again into the ark with its prophecy, as the first dove which Noah sent forth flew indeed into the world, but came again into the ark of Christ. 44. The second dove with the olive branch, which also came again to Noah into the Ark, denotes the Word in the Covenant of Noah, which came forth out of the holy ark of God into this world, viz. into our humanity, and plucked off an olive leaf in the world, and brought it to Noah, that is, it plucked off a branch from our humanity, and took it into the holy Word, viz. the mouth of God, as the dove the olive leaf and brought the branch to holy Noah, that is, to God the Father. But that it was an olive leaf denotes the unction of the holy spirit, that the same should anoint the humanity, and bring it again with this dove into the holy ark. 45. The third dove which Noah let fly, which came not again to the ark, betokens the kingdom of Antichrist upon the earth, which indeed is flown forth with its doctrine out of the ark, but its spirit remains only upon the earth, feeding upon the fat grass [upon the riches, honour, and beauty of this world], and so it stays only in selfhood [and returns not to the ark] ;
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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