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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.
1Isaac and Rebecca, as Christ's figure; and inwardly he plays with Mary, as Adam's essence, and with Christ's, as the virginlike divine ens. 17. And the spirit of Moses says further, And the servant caused the camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at evening time, even about the time that women use to go out to draw water (Gen. xxiv. 11). This signifies and notes out internally, how the mystery of the nature of the three Principles, being the bearers or carriers of the formed wisdom of God, has laid itself down by the divine fountain without the city. The city betokens the hidden mysteries of the divine holy ens of the formed wisdom; about which, the nature of the three Principles 1 has laid itself; for nature is external, and a carrier of the mysteries of God: it lies by the wellspring of God, viz. by the birth of the holy Trinity. 1 Or, the three Principles of nature. OF ISAAC TAKING A WIFE The outward figure is thus explained: 18. At evening: that is, in the last days of the world, or towards the evening time in man. When the eternal night draws near, then God brings his bearer,l viz. the will of the Father's nature, which lies down, by the fountain of the divine property in man, and will there give his camels, viz. his will, drink. Like as towards the evening, that is, in the last time, he did lay his will to the human nature in the ens of Mary, by the true wellspring of the Covenant, and there gave the human nature drink.
219. And as the servant of Abraham, standing by the well of water in Mesopotamia, did purpose and endeavour to fulfil his master's will, and yet did not look upon himself [and cast about in his reason] how it should be, but commended his cause to God, to do as he would please, and only set a lot before him, that he might see what way God would lead and direct him; even so also the spirit of Moses does here play in the figure of Christ. For nature in the ens or seed of Mary was the servant of God, which pitched down before the ens of the Covenant, as an instrument of God, and gave God the honour, and committed it unto him, how he would bring it to the holy virginity in the holy ens of the Covenant in Mary; as here Abraham's servant commended it to God, when he came before the fountain, how he would lead him and whither, or what he should do; that God might bring him to the true virgin, whom God would give his master's son. 20. So likewise it was not effected by and from the purpose, understanding or power of nature, that nature was brought to the holy ens
3in the Covenant, and married the divine Virgin in the ens of the Word of God. Nature understood nothing of it, how it should be brought to pass, or what it should do to purchase or accomplish the same. It knew not the holy virginity in the Covenant. But when God's command did sound or speak unto it, by the angel Gabriel, then it gave God the honour, and committed it to him what he would do and work through it; that God might espouse it to the virgin of wisdom. As here Abraham's servant prayed unto God, that he would bring to the fountain of water the right virgin which God had chosen for him. 1 Or, carrier. 21. For by the well of God nature shall know what kind of virgin shall come and give the camels, or the bearer, nature, drink. As Rebecca came forth by God's instigation, and gave the camels of Abraham's servants drink, so likewise the divine virginity in the ens of Mary came and gave the essence in the seed of Mary, drink; and took the human nature for a spouse and consort.
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.
1Isaac and Rebecca, as Christ's figure; and inwardly he plays with Mary, as Adam's essence, and with Christ's, as the virginlike divine ens. 17. And the spirit of Moses says further, And the servant caused the camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at evening time, even about the time that women use to go out to draw water (Gen. xxiv. 11). This signifies and notes out internally, how the mystery of the nature of the three Principles, being the bearers or carriers of the formed wisdom of God, has laid itself down by the divine fountain without the city. The city betokens the hidden mysteries of the divine holy ens of the formed wisdom; about which, the nature of the three Principles 1 has laid itself; for nature is external, and a carrier of the mysteries of God: it lies by the wellspring of God, viz. by the birth of the holy Trinity. 1 Or, the three Principles of nature. OF ISAAC TAKING A WIFE The outward figure is thus explained: 18. At evening: that is, in the last days of the world, or towards the evening time in man. When the eternal night draws near, then God brings his bearer,l viz. the will of the Father's nature, which lies down, by the fountain of the divine property in man, and will there give his camels, viz. his will, drink. Like as towards the evening, that is, in the last time, he did lay his will to the human nature in the ens of Mary, by the true wellspring of the Covenant, and there gave the human nature drink.
219. And as the servant of Abraham, standing by the well of water in Mesopotamia, did purpose and endeavour to fulfil his master's will, and yet did not look upon himself [and cast about in his reason] how it should be, but commended his cause to God, to do as he would please, and only set a lot before him, that he might see what way God would lead and direct him; even so also the spirit of Moses does here play in the figure of Christ. For nature in the ens or seed of Mary was the servant of God, which pitched down before the ens of the Covenant, as an instrument of God, and gave God the honour, and committed it unto him, how he would bring it to the holy virginity in the holy ens of the Covenant in Mary; as here Abraham's servant commended it to God, when he came before the fountain, how he would lead him and whither, or what he should do; that God might bring him to the true virgin, whom God would give his master's son. 20. So likewise it was not effected by and from the purpose, understanding or power of nature, that nature was brought to the holy ens
3in the Covenant, and married the divine Virgin in the ens of the Word of God. Nature understood nothing of it, how it should be brought to pass, or what it should do to purchase or accomplish the same. It knew not the holy virginity in the Covenant. But when God's command did sound or speak unto it, by the angel Gabriel, then it gave God the honour, and committed it to him what he would do and work through it; that God might espouse it to the virgin of wisdom. As here Abraham's servant prayed unto God, that he would bring to the fountain of water the right virgin which God had chosen for him. 1 Or, carrier. 21. For by the well of God nature shall know what kind of virgin shall come and give the camels, or the bearer, nature, drink. As Rebecca came forth by God's instigation, and gave the camels of Abraham's servants drink, so likewise the divine virginity in the ens of Mary came and gave the essence in the seed of Mary, drink; and took the human nature for a spouse and consort.
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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