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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.
1do betoken, the soul from the first Principle, and the soul of this world, viz. the outward spirit of the outward life. These must go with Isaac, that is with Christ in the old Abraham, that is, Adam, to the offering of God; and Abraham, that is, the man Adam in his children, must himself cleave the wood upon which the offering must be burnt; that is, when he confesses Christ then he cleaves the hearts of the wicked, who run with him to the death and the offering of God. For Adam in his humanity clave God's love and anger; and now also Abraham must cleave the wood for the offering; for Christ should also cleave death and life asunder, and offer up himself upon the cloven wood of death and life, unto God's anger.
210. And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off (Gen. xxii. 4). Here the spirit points at the sleep of Adam, wherein he slept to the angelical world; and on the third day after his falling asleep, when as now the woman was made out of him, and the fall effected, he saw Christ, viz. the place of God in the Covenant afar oft Also herein is included the resurrection of Christ on the third day, where he saw his place (where he would and should offer and give up man to God his Father), viz. the Last judgement, and the final offering, afar off: Also it signifies, that Abraham in the spirit saw the offering of Christ afar off, viz. above two thousand years then to come. And that the spirit says, Abraham lifted up his eyes on the third day, and saw the place, is nothing else but that Christ did again lift up on the third day our human eyes out of the grave, from the dead, unto God; and also that it was yet afar off in, the days of Abraham: Thus the spirit does allude with the outward figure at that which was and is to come. 11. And Abraham said unto the two young men which he took with him, Abide you here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you (Gen. xxii. 5). The figure of it internally stands thus:
3The two young men must tarry there with the ass, and not go at this time unto the offering, only Abraham and Isaac must perform that; that is, we poor children of Eve must abide with the first and third Principles of our life, this our time with the ass, viz. with the outward body here in this world. But Christ in Isaac, and Abraham in Adam, must go forth to the offering; that is, Christ stood in Abraham's, viz. Adam's, person, and also in his heavenly humanity; who should alone go, and offer up the offering of his body to the angerfire of his Father, and worship for us, unto God his Father. Therefore he said he would go yonder, that is, when he should offer up his life he would go yonder, that is, to God, and worship for us, unto God. 12. This points at his ascension according to the humanity, when he had finished the sacrifice he went thither,l and worshipped in our assumed humanity, unto God his Father; that is, our assumed soul, in divine power and property, does pray and intercede for our weaknesses and ignorances, unto and before God. Therefore says Abraham, We will go yonder and worship; that is, we, God, and man, and when we have worshipped we will come again to you; that is, we poor children of Eve must in the mean while tarry with the ass, until the time of its offering and prayer be out; and then he comes again unto us; when we have finished the course of the outward assinine life.
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.
1do betoken, the soul from the first Principle, and the soul of this world, viz. the outward spirit of the outward life. These must go with Isaac, that is with Christ in the old Abraham, that is, Adam, to the offering of God; and Abraham, that is, the man Adam in his children, must himself cleave the wood upon which the offering must be burnt; that is, when he confesses Christ then he cleaves the hearts of the wicked, who run with him to the death and the offering of God. For Adam in his humanity clave God's love and anger; and now also Abraham must cleave the wood for the offering; for Christ should also cleave death and life asunder, and offer up himself upon the cloven wood of death and life, unto God's anger.
210. And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off (Gen. xxii. 4). Here the spirit points at the sleep of Adam, wherein he slept to the angelical world; and on the third day after his falling asleep, when as now the woman was made out of him, and the fall effected, he saw Christ, viz. the place of God in the Covenant afar oft Also herein is included the resurrection of Christ on the third day, where he saw his place (where he would and should offer and give up man to God his Father), viz. the Last judgement, and the final offering, afar off: Also it signifies, that Abraham in the spirit saw the offering of Christ afar off, viz. above two thousand years then to come. And that the spirit says, Abraham lifted up his eyes on the third day, and saw the place, is nothing else but that Christ did again lift up on the third day our human eyes out of the grave, from the dead, unto God; and also that it was yet afar off in, the days of Abraham: Thus the spirit does allude with the outward figure at that which was and is to come. 11. And Abraham said unto the two young men which he took with him, Abide you here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you (Gen. xxii. 5). The figure of it internally stands thus:
3The two young men must tarry there with the ass, and not go at this time unto the offering, only Abraham and Isaac must perform that; that is, we poor children of Eve must abide with the first and third Principles of our life, this our time with the ass, viz. with the outward body here in this world. But Christ in Isaac, and Abraham in Adam, must go forth to the offering; that is, Christ stood in Abraham's, viz. Adam's, person, and also in his heavenly humanity; who should alone go, and offer up the offering of his body to the angerfire of his Father, and worship for us, unto God his Father. Therefore he said he would go yonder, that is, when he should offer up his life he would go yonder, that is, to God, and worship for us, unto God. 12. This points at his ascension according to the humanity, when he had finished the sacrifice he went thither,l and worshipped in our assumed humanity, unto God his Father; that is, our assumed soul, in divine power and property, does pray and intercede for our weaknesses and ignorances, unto and before God. Therefore says Abraham, We will go yonder and worship; that is, we, God, and man, and when we have worshipped we will come again to you; that is, we poor children of Eve must in the mean while tarry with the ass, until the time of its offering and prayer be out; and then he comes again unto us; when we have finished the course of the outward assinine life.
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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