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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.
1less, barren and dry ; and then the Holy Spirit proceeding from God, taketh Possession of the Forms of Life : And maketh His Dominion prevail. He kindleth the Forms of Life with His Flames of Love, and then the high Knowledge of the Centre of all Things ariseth, according to the inivard and outward Constellation or astral Complexion of the Creature , in a very subtle drying Fire , attended with great Delight. Whereupon the humbled Soul presently desires to sink down into that Light, and esteems itself to be nothing, and quite unworthy of it. 8. And thus its own Desire pierceth into that Nothing, {viz., into that wherein Qod creatcth) and doth what God will therein, and the Spirit of Qod springeth forth through the Desire of the resigned Humility ; and so the human Self immediately followeth the Spirit of Qod in trembling and humble Joy ; and thus it may behold what is in Time and Eternity, for All is present before it. 9. When the Spirit of Qod riseth up as a Fire and Flame of Love , then the Spirit of the Soul descendeth, and saith, * Lord, ‘ Glory be to thy Name, not to me ; thou art able to take to thy- ' self Virtue, Power, Strength, Wisdom, and Knowledge; do as ‘ thou wilt, I can do nothing, I know nothing ; I will go no ‘whither but whither thou leadest me as thy Instrument; do ‘ thou in me and with me what thou wilt.’
210. In such an humble and total Resignation the Spark of Divine Power falleth into the Centre of the Forms of Life, as a Spark into Tinder, and kindleth it, viz., the Fire of the Soul, which Adam made to be a dark Coal in himself, so that it glimmereth. And when the Light of Divine Power hath kindled itself therein, the Creature must go on as an Instrument of God’S Spirit, and speak what the Spirit of God dictateth to it ; and then it is no more in its own proper Possession, but is the Instrument of God. ix. But the Will of the Soul must without ceasing, in this fierydriving, sink into nothing, viz., into the deepest Humility in the sight of God. For no sooner doth the Will of the Soul in the least Measure go on in its own Speculation or Searching, but Lucifer layeth hold of it in the Centre of the Forms of Life, and. sifteth it, so that it entereth into Self. It must therefore continue close to resigned Humility, as a Well doth to its Spring, and must suck and drink of God’S Fountain, and not depart from the Ways of God at all. 12. For as soon as the Soul eateth of Self, and of the Light , of outward Reason, it goeth on in its own Opinion; and then its Doings, which it sets forth for Divine, are but from the outward Constellation, or Influence of the Stars , which presently layeth hold on the Soul, and maketh it dry. And then the Soul goeth on in Errors , till it yield itself up again into Resignation, and Of True ‘Resignation .
3acknowledging itself anew to be a defiled Child \ resisteth Reason , and so getteth the Love of God again. Which is harder to do in that Case than it was at first ; for the Devil bringeth in strong Doubts now, and will pot easily leave his Fort of Prey. 13. This may be seen clearly in the Saints of God from the Beginning of the World. For many who have been driven by the Spirit of God, have yet oftentimes departed from Resignation into Self , viz., into their own Reason and Will, in which Satan hath cast them into Sins, and into the Anger of God ; as appeareth by David and Solomon , also by the Patriarchs, Prophets , and Apostles ; who have oftentimes committed great Errors when they have departed from Resignation into Self viz., into their own Reason and Lust. 14. Therefore, it is necessary for the Children of God to know how to behave themselves when they will learn the Way of God. They must beat down and fast away their very Thoughts ; and desire nothing, nor have the least Will to learn any Thing, unless they find themselves to be in true Resignation ; so that Qod's Spirit leadeth, teacheth, and guideth Mans Spirit and that the human Will which is attached to itself j be ivholly broken off from its own Lust, and resigned to God.
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.
1less, barren and dry ; and then the Holy Spirit proceeding from God, taketh Possession of the Forms of Life : And maketh His Dominion prevail. He kindleth the Forms of Life with His Flames of Love, and then the high Knowledge of the Centre of all Things ariseth, according to the inivard and outward Constellation or astral Complexion of the Creature , in a very subtle drying Fire , attended with great Delight. Whereupon the humbled Soul presently desires to sink down into that Light, and esteems itself to be nothing, and quite unworthy of it. 8. And thus its own Desire pierceth into that Nothing, {viz., into that wherein Qod creatcth) and doth what God will therein, and the Spirit of Qod springeth forth through the Desire of the resigned Humility ; and so the human Self immediately followeth the Spirit of Qod in trembling and humble Joy ; and thus it may behold what is in Time and Eternity, for All is present before it. 9. When the Spirit of Qod riseth up as a Fire and Flame of Love , then the Spirit of the Soul descendeth, and saith, * Lord, ‘ Glory be to thy Name, not to me ; thou art able to take to thy- ' self Virtue, Power, Strength, Wisdom, and Knowledge; do as ‘ thou wilt, I can do nothing, I know nothing ; I will go no ‘whither but whither thou leadest me as thy Instrument; do ‘ thou in me and with me what thou wilt.’
210. In such an humble and total Resignation the Spark of Divine Power falleth into the Centre of the Forms of Life, as a Spark into Tinder, and kindleth it, viz., the Fire of the Soul, which Adam made to be a dark Coal in himself, so that it glimmereth. And when the Light of Divine Power hath kindled itself therein, the Creature must go on as an Instrument of God’S Spirit, and speak what the Spirit of God dictateth to it ; and then it is no more in its own proper Possession, but is the Instrument of God. ix. But the Will of the Soul must without ceasing, in this fierydriving, sink into nothing, viz., into the deepest Humility in the sight of God. For no sooner doth the Will of the Soul in the least Measure go on in its own Speculation or Searching, but Lucifer layeth hold of it in the Centre of the Forms of Life, and. sifteth it, so that it entereth into Self. It must therefore continue close to resigned Humility, as a Well doth to its Spring, and must suck and drink of God’S Fountain, and not depart from the Ways of God at all. 12. For as soon as the Soul eateth of Self, and of the Light , of outward Reason, it goeth on in its own Opinion; and then its Doings, which it sets forth for Divine, are but from the outward Constellation, or Influence of the Stars , which presently layeth hold on the Soul, and maketh it dry. And then the Soul goeth on in Errors , till it yield itself up again into Resignation, and Of True ‘Resignation .
3acknowledging itself anew to be a defiled Child \ resisteth Reason , and so getteth the Love of God again. Which is harder to do in that Case than it was at first ; for the Devil bringeth in strong Doubts now, and will pot easily leave his Fort of Prey. 13. This may be seen clearly in the Saints of God from the Beginning of the World. For many who have been driven by the Spirit of God, have yet oftentimes departed from Resignation into Self , viz., into their own Reason and Will, in which Satan hath cast them into Sins, and into the Anger of God ; as appeareth by David and Solomon , also by the Patriarchs, Prophets , and Apostles ; who have oftentimes committed great Errors when they have departed from Resignation into Self viz., into their own Reason and Lust. 14. Therefore, it is necessary for the Children of God to know how to behave themselves when they will learn the Way of God. They must beat down and fast away their very Thoughts ; and desire nothing, nor have the least Will to learn any Thing, unless they find themselves to be in true Resignation ; so that Qod's Spirit leadeth, teacheth, and guideth Mans Spirit and that the human Will which is attached to itself j be ivholly broken off from its own Lust, and resigned to God.
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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