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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.
126. Understand, that the nature of man shall remain, for it is not so rejected of God, as if clean another new man should arise out of the old; but [the new man] shall arise out of Adam's nature and property, and out of God's, in Christ's nature and property; so that man is become an Adam-Christ, and Christ a Christ- Adam; a Man-God, and a God-Man. And therefore the figure continued still among the Jews; and for this cause they were not all converted to Christ; that so nature might keep its figure and due right; for it shall deliver up its children under the law, viz. the figure of Christ, to God the Father, in Christ. But its figure shall be proved in the fire of God, so that it shall be known who has been the true child of the natural law in the figure of Christ, that has been born in the spirit in the law out of the figure of Christ, and who has not. 27. It is not he that has the words and title of the law, that is a Jew, born in the figure and in the law; but he who is born of the promise in Abraham's faith. He that lives in the figure of Christ, viz. in the law in profession, and practises (with mouth and heart) the same, the law of God in Christ's figure has comprehended, and will bring him into the fulfilling of the figure. 28. For it does not depend alone on man's knowing, that Christ has given himself into the law, and is become the fulfilling in the law,
2as the titular Christian boasts; but it depends on God's order, 1 on the mercy of God. Whosoever has been a true Jew, and has put on Abraham's faith in the law, he has put on the ens of Christ, which Abraham conceived or apprehended; which ens of faith the humanity of Christ has fulfilled; and it is hidden to him what it is, for he works in the office of nature in the law of God, which Christ has taken into himself and fulfilled; so that he serves God in the office of nature, and the office of nature serves Christ, for it is become Christ's own propriety. 29. For unto him all power is given both in heaven and on earth (Matt, xxviii. 18), under which power the office of nature also is, in the law. For God, in the spirit of Christ, is even the selfsame who gave the law and the office of nature to do righteousness; together with the figure of the kingdom of Christ, with the ens of faith, to Abraham and Moses; and he is also the very same who fulfilled the faith, and the law. 30. Thus the Jew works in his faith in Christ's office, viz. in the law, wherewith Christ governs in nature; and has put on Christ in the Covenant, and in the ens of faith in Christ's figure, which Christ has fulfilled.
331. For the Christian who confesses Christ in the flesh, works in his faith in the flesh of Christ, and has, in his faith, the law of nature, viz. God's officer, to do uprightly. For Christ rules in the law of God (which he has fulfilled and made a servant) in his children, and kills the law of sin through the fulfilling of his love in his blood and death; both in them who live in the dominion of his law, and also in them who live in the dominion of his conquest, as the Christians do. 1 Ordinance. 32. For the faith which presses or comes in unto God in the law, in the figure, in the Covenant, the same comes unto God in the ens of Abraham's faith, out of which Christ was born. And he that comes in unto God in the fulfilling of the same, does come or press into God in the humanity of Christ, viz. in the whole process of his suffering, death, and resurrection. 33. A Christian is Christ in the inward humanity; and a Jew is Christ in the figure, and in the office of his law, viz. according to nature. But now Adam in his nature and Christ in the divine nature are but one person, one only tree. Who now is here that judges (Rom. viii. 34)? 34. St. Paul says, There is no respect of persons before God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and they
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.
126. Understand, that the nature of man shall remain, for it is not so rejected of God, as if clean another new man should arise out of the old; but [the new man] shall arise out of Adam's nature and property, and out of God's, in Christ's nature and property; so that man is become an Adam-Christ, and Christ a Christ- Adam; a Man-God, and a God-Man. And therefore the figure continued still among the Jews; and for this cause they were not all converted to Christ; that so nature might keep its figure and due right; for it shall deliver up its children under the law, viz. the figure of Christ, to God the Father, in Christ. But its figure shall be proved in the fire of God, so that it shall be known who has been the true child of the natural law in the figure of Christ, that has been born in the spirit in the law out of the figure of Christ, and who has not. 27. It is not he that has the words and title of the law, that is a Jew, born in the figure and in the law; but he who is born of the promise in Abraham's faith. He that lives in the figure of Christ, viz. in the law in profession, and practises (with mouth and heart) the same, the law of God in Christ's figure has comprehended, and will bring him into the fulfilling of the figure. 28. For it does not depend alone on man's knowing, that Christ has given himself into the law, and is become the fulfilling in the law,
2as the titular Christian boasts; but it depends on God's order, 1 on the mercy of God. Whosoever has been a true Jew, and has put on Abraham's faith in the law, he has put on the ens of Christ, which Abraham conceived or apprehended; which ens of faith the humanity of Christ has fulfilled; and it is hidden to him what it is, for he works in the office of nature in the law of God, which Christ has taken into himself and fulfilled; so that he serves God in the office of nature, and the office of nature serves Christ, for it is become Christ's own propriety. 29. For unto him all power is given both in heaven and on earth (Matt, xxviii. 18), under which power the office of nature also is, in the law. For God, in the spirit of Christ, is even the selfsame who gave the law and the office of nature to do righteousness; together with the figure of the kingdom of Christ, with the ens of faith, to Abraham and Moses; and he is also the very same who fulfilled the faith, and the law. 30. Thus the Jew works in his faith in Christ's office, viz. in the law, wherewith Christ governs in nature; and has put on Christ in the Covenant, and in the ens of faith in Christ's figure, which Christ has fulfilled.
331. For the Christian who confesses Christ in the flesh, works in his faith in the flesh of Christ, and has, in his faith, the law of nature, viz. God's officer, to do uprightly. For Christ rules in the law of God (which he has fulfilled and made a servant) in his children, and kills the law of sin through the fulfilling of his love in his blood and death; both in them who live in the dominion of his law, and also in them who live in the dominion of his conquest, as the Christians do. 1 Ordinance. 32. For the faith which presses or comes in unto God in the law, in the figure, in the Covenant, the same comes unto God in the ens of Abraham's faith, out of which Christ was born. And he that comes in unto God in the fulfilling of the same, does come or press into God in the humanity of Christ, viz. in the whole process of his suffering, death, and resurrection. 33. A Christian is Christ in the inward humanity; and a Jew is Christ in the figure, and in the office of his law, viz. according to nature. But now Adam in his nature and Christ in the divine nature are but one person, one only tree. Who now is here that judges (Rom. viii. 34)? 34. St. Paul says, There is no respect of persons before God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and they
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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