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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.
1the Jewish Government or Kingdom on Earth, and also Christendom, is typified under it. Showing how it would go with them * * Gen. xlix. [49] 1. BY the first three sons of Jacob is typified in the figure the kingdom of perished or corrupt nature, viz. the Adamical man, what it is; and by Judah, Christ is typified, who should come and bring the Adamical man into his kingdom; but by the other eight sons of Jacob is typified only the figure of worldly offices, states and governments; signifying how the Adamical man would manage the superior dominion, and how also the inward figure of the kingdom of Christ would stand close by it. 2. For here in the outward figure is first typified where each tribe or stock would have their dwelling and habitation, and what their office in Israel would be. But near to it stands always the figure representing how the outward and the inward man would stand close by one another; and how the kingdom of nature and the kingdom of grace would dwell one by another; also how the seven properties of nature in God's anger, according to the first Principle, would also put forth or explicate themselves, and introduce themselves into figure, to the divine manifestation: Which the Reader should well observe and consider, for we will explain both the inward and the outward figure. THE TESTAMENT of ZEBULUN
23. Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea, and at the haven of ships, and reach to Zidon (Gen. xlix. 13). This first is the outward figure, showing where this tribe or stock will dwell in the promised land: but the spirit also has its figure to which it points. 4. for Zebulun, in the Language of Nature, in sense, is called a desire or longing that goes to God, which longing resides with good people; and it signifies here that the Adamical man would dwell near God, and that he would have delight and refreshment from the divine co-habitation [neighbourhood]. For Jacob begat Zebulun of Leah, who otherwise was not esteemed, because she was tender-sighted and blear-eyed, and not so fair as Rachel was; which Leah, put her hope in God, that he would bless her, that she should be fruitful and bear children to her husband Jacob. 5. Now when she bare Zebulun, she said, God has pleaded well for me (Gen. xxx. 20); that is, I turned my desire to him, and he has fulfilled it for me. Now his will dwells with mine, and she called him [Zebulun] a near dwelling or co-habitation, that is, God dwells with me, and now also will my husband dwell with me in love; and it signifies that the grace of God in his mercy and compassion shall still dwell with the poor Adamical perished or corrupt children of flesh, and not forsake them in their misery.
36. But it has more respect to the Covenant, that the children of the Covenant in their Adamical nature would be a near co-habitation in hope, and that the outward man would not apprehend the kingdom of Christ, but would be a near co-habitation with it, where Christ should dwell in the inward ground, viz. in the spiritual world, and Adam in this time [of the life; world or outward life], and yet be a cohabitation. 7. For as the spirit has by Judah declared Christ in the flesh, so now here he declares that our outward man would not be Christ, but be a co-habitation of Christ; Christ would possess the inward ground; as he also says, My kingdom is not of this world. Therefore the outward mortal man should not say of itself, I am Christ; for he is only a cohabitation of Christ, as the outward world is only a co-habitation or near neighbourhood to the kingdom of Christ; for Christ is the inward spiritual world, hidden in the outward visible world; as the day is hidden in the night, and yet they dwell one by, near and with the other. VI THE TESTAMENT of ISSACHAR 8. Issachar is a strong-boned ass, and he lodges in valleys, between the borders or hills of the country. And he saw rest, that it was good, and the land, that it was pleasant and fruitful; but he has bowed his shoulders to bear, and is become a tribute servant (Gen. xlix. 14, 15).
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.
1the Jewish Government or Kingdom on Earth, and also Christendom, is typified under it. Showing how it would go with them * * Gen. xlix. [49] 1. BY the first three sons of Jacob is typified in the figure the kingdom of perished or corrupt nature, viz. the Adamical man, what it is; and by Judah, Christ is typified, who should come and bring the Adamical man into his kingdom; but by the other eight sons of Jacob is typified only the figure of worldly offices, states and governments; signifying how the Adamical man would manage the superior dominion, and how also the inward figure of the kingdom of Christ would stand close by it. 2. For here in the outward figure is first typified where each tribe or stock would have their dwelling and habitation, and what their office in Israel would be. But near to it stands always the figure representing how the outward and the inward man would stand close by one another; and how the kingdom of nature and the kingdom of grace would dwell one by another; also how the seven properties of nature in God's anger, according to the first Principle, would also put forth or explicate themselves, and introduce themselves into figure, to the divine manifestation: Which the Reader should well observe and consider, for we will explain both the inward and the outward figure. THE TESTAMENT of ZEBULUN
23. Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea, and at the haven of ships, and reach to Zidon (Gen. xlix. 13). This first is the outward figure, showing where this tribe or stock will dwell in the promised land: but the spirit also has its figure to which it points. 4. for Zebulun, in the Language of Nature, in sense, is called a desire or longing that goes to God, which longing resides with good people; and it signifies here that the Adamical man would dwell near God, and that he would have delight and refreshment from the divine co-habitation [neighbourhood]. For Jacob begat Zebulun of Leah, who otherwise was not esteemed, because she was tender-sighted and blear-eyed, and not so fair as Rachel was; which Leah, put her hope in God, that he would bless her, that she should be fruitful and bear children to her husband Jacob. 5. Now when she bare Zebulun, she said, God has pleaded well for me (Gen. xxx. 20); that is, I turned my desire to him, and he has fulfilled it for me. Now his will dwells with mine, and she called him [Zebulun] a near dwelling or co-habitation, that is, God dwells with me, and now also will my husband dwell with me in love; and it signifies that the grace of God in his mercy and compassion shall still dwell with the poor Adamical perished or corrupt children of flesh, and not forsake them in their misery.
36. But it has more respect to the Covenant, that the children of the Covenant in their Adamical nature would be a near co-habitation in hope, and that the outward man would not apprehend the kingdom of Christ, but would be a near co-habitation with it, where Christ should dwell in the inward ground, viz. in the spiritual world, and Adam in this time [of the life; world or outward life], and yet be a cohabitation. 7. For as the spirit has by Judah declared Christ in the flesh, so now here he declares that our outward man would not be Christ, but be a co-habitation of Christ; Christ would possess the inward ground; as he also says, My kingdom is not of this world. Therefore the outward mortal man should not say of itself, I am Christ; for he is only a cohabitation of Christ, as the outward world is only a co-habitation or near neighbourhood to the kingdom of Christ; for Christ is the inward spiritual world, hidden in the outward visible world; as the day is hidden in the night, and yet they dwell one by, near and with the other. VI THE TESTAMENT of ISSACHAR 8. Issachar is a strong-boned ass, and he lodges in valleys, between the borders or hills of the country. And he saw rest, that it was good, and the land, that it was pleasant and fruitful; but he has bowed his shoulders to bear, and is become a tribute servant (Gen. xlix. 14, 15).
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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