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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.
1manifestation, not as if there were any severing or division, but it appears so in the manifestation. 110. This threefold manifestation is according to the Trinity; for the center wherein it is, is the only God according to his manifestation: the fiery flaming spirit of love is that which goes upwards, and the meekness which proceeds from the love is that which goes downwards, and in the midst there is the center ([1] of) the circumference, which is the Father, or whole God, according to his manifestation. [1]or 111. And as this is to be known in the divine manifestation, so it is also in the eternal nature, according to nature's property; for nature is but a [1] resemblance of the Deity. [1] picture, representation, or shadow 112. Nature may be further considered thus the flash of the original of fire is a crack, and salnitrous ground, whence nature goes forth into infinite divisions, that is, into multitudes or varieties of powers and virtues; from which the multitude of angels and spirits, and their colors and operations proceeded, also the four elements in the beginning of time.
2113. For the [1] temperature of fire and light is the holy element, viz. the motion in the light of the Unity; and from this salnitrous ground (we mean spiritual, not earthly salnitre) the four elements proceed, viz. in the [2] compressure of the fiery Mercury, earth and stones are produced; and in the quintessence of the fiery Mercury, the fire and heaven; and in the motion or going forth, the air; and in the disruption or rending of the desire by the fire, the water is produced. [1] temperament or harmony [2] compression or impression, in every place that follows, where that word is used 114. The fiery Mercury is a dry water, that has brought forth metals and stones; but the broken or divided Mercury has brought forth wet water, by the mortification in the fire; and the compressure has brought the gross rawness into the earth, which is a gross salnitrous Saturnine Mercury. 115. By the word Mercury, you must understand here, in the spirit, always the outflown natural working Word of God, which has been the separator, divider, and former of every substance; and by the word Saturn, we mean the compressure. 116. In the fifth property, that is, in the light, the eternal Unity is substantial; that is, a holy spiritual fire, a holy light, a holy air,which is nothing else but spirit, also a holy water, which is the outflowing love of the Unity of God, and a [1] holy earth, which is all-powerful virtue and working. [1] Ternarium Sanctum
3117. This fifth property is the true spiritual angelical world of the divine joy, which is hidden in this visible world. The Sixth Property ( Jupiter X ) 118. The Sixth property of the eternal nature is the sound, noise, voice, or understanding; for when the fire flashes, all the properties together sound: the fire is the mouth of the essence, the light is the spirit, and the sound is the understanding wherein all the properties understand one another. 119. According to the manifestation of the holy Trinity, by the effluence of the Unity, this sound or voice is the divine working word, viz. the understanding in the eternal nature, by which the supernatural knowledge manifests itself; but according to nature and creature, this sound or voice is the knowledge of God, wherein the natural understanding knows God; for the natural understanding is a platform, resemblance, and effluence from the divine understanding. 120. The five senses lie in the natural understanding, in a spiritual manner, and in the second property (viz. in the motion in the fiery Mercury) they lie in a natural manner.
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.
1manifestation, not as if there were any severing or division, but it appears so in the manifestation. 110. This threefold manifestation is according to the Trinity; for the center wherein it is, is the only God according to his manifestation: the fiery flaming spirit of love is that which goes upwards, and the meekness which proceeds from the love is that which goes downwards, and in the midst there is the center ([1] of) the circumference, which is the Father, or whole God, according to his manifestation. [1]or 111. And as this is to be known in the divine manifestation, so it is also in the eternal nature, according to nature's property; for nature is but a [1] resemblance of the Deity. [1] picture, representation, or shadow 112. Nature may be further considered thus the flash of the original of fire is a crack, and salnitrous ground, whence nature goes forth into infinite divisions, that is, into multitudes or varieties of powers and virtues; from which the multitude of angels and spirits, and their colors and operations proceeded, also the four elements in the beginning of time.
2113. For the [1] temperature of fire and light is the holy element, viz. the motion in the light of the Unity; and from this salnitrous ground (we mean spiritual, not earthly salnitre) the four elements proceed, viz. in the [2] compressure of the fiery Mercury, earth and stones are produced; and in the quintessence of the fiery Mercury, the fire and heaven; and in the motion or going forth, the air; and in the disruption or rending of the desire by the fire, the water is produced. [1] temperament or harmony [2] compression or impression, in every place that follows, where that word is used 114. The fiery Mercury is a dry water, that has brought forth metals and stones; but the broken or divided Mercury has brought forth wet water, by the mortification in the fire; and the compressure has brought the gross rawness into the earth, which is a gross salnitrous Saturnine Mercury. 115. By the word Mercury, you must understand here, in the spirit, always the outflown natural working Word of God, which has been the separator, divider, and former of every substance; and by the word Saturn, we mean the compressure. 116. In the fifth property, that is, in the light, the eternal Unity is substantial; that is, a holy spiritual fire, a holy light, a holy air,which is nothing else but spirit, also a holy water, which is the outflowing love of the Unity of God, and a [1] holy earth, which is all-powerful virtue and working. [1] Ternarium Sanctum
3117. This fifth property is the true spiritual angelical world of the divine joy, which is hidden in this visible world. The Sixth Property ( Jupiter X ) 118. The Sixth property of the eternal nature is the sound, noise, voice, or understanding; for when the fire flashes, all the properties together sound: the fire is the mouth of the essence, the light is the spirit, and the sound is the understanding wherein all the properties understand one another. 119. According to the manifestation of the holy Trinity, by the effluence of the Unity, this sound or voice is the divine working word, viz. the understanding in the eternal nature, by which the supernatural knowledge manifests itself; but according to nature and creature, this sound or voice is the knowledge of God, wherein the natural understanding knows God; for the natural understanding is a platform, resemblance, and effluence from the divine understanding. 120. The five senses lie in the natural understanding, in a spiritual manner, and in the second property (viz. in the motion in the fiery Mercury) they lie in a natural manner.
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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