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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.
1and yet possesseth nothing ; and as the Fire dwelleth in Water, and yet possesseth it not ; Also, as the Light dwelleth in Darkness, and yet possesseth not the Darkness ; a's the Day is in the Night, and the Night in the Day, Time in Eternity, and Eternity in Time«$ so is Man created according to the outward ‘ Humanity, he is the Time, and in the Time, and the Time is the outward World, and it is also the outward Man . • 21. The inward Man is Eternity and the Spiritual Time and World , which also consisteth of Light and Darkness , viz., of the Love of God, as to the eternal Light , and of the Anger of God 5 66 The Way to Qhrist. as to the eternal Darkness ; whichsoever of these is manifest in him, his Spirit dwelleth in that, be it Darkness or Light . 22. For Light and Darkness are both in him, but each of them dwelleth in itself, and neither of them posse^seth the other ; but if one of them entereth into the other, and will possess it, then that other loseth its Right and Power. 23 <r The passive loseth its Power ; for if the Light be made manifest in the Darkness , then the Darkness loseth its Darkness , and is not known or discerned. Also on the contrary, if the Darkness arise in the Light and get the Upper- hand, then the Light and the Power thereof are extinguished. This is to be observed also in Man. *
224. The eternal Darkness of the Soul is Hell , viz ?, an aching Source of Anguish , which is called the Anger of God ; but the eternal Light in the Soul is the Kingdom of Heaven, whereTcho fiery Anguish of Darkness is changed into Joy . 25. For the same Nature of Anguish , which in the Parkncss is a Cause of Sadness , is in the Light a Cause of the outward and stirring Joy . For the Source or Original in Light, and the Smirce in Darkness are but one eternal Source , and one Nature , and yet they, viz., the Light and Darkness , have a mighty Difference in the Source; the one dwelleth in the other and begetteth the other, and yet is not the other. The Fire is painfid find consuming , but the Light is yielding, friendly, power j id, and delightful, a sweet and amiable Joy . 26. This may be found also in Man ; he is and liveth in three Worlds ; the First is the eternal dark World , viz., the Centre of the eternal Nature which produceth or generateth the Fire, viz., the Source or Property of Anguish . 27. The second is the eternal light World , which begetteth the eternal Joy , which is the Divine Habitation wherein the Spirit of Qod dwelleth, and wherein the Spirit of Christ receiveth the human Substance , and subdueth the Darkness, so that it musj; be a Cause of Joy in the Spirit of Christ in the Light .
328. The Third is the outward visible World in the fotHT^Ei^- ments and the visible Stars ; though indeed every Element hath its peculiar Constellation in itself, whence the Desire and Property arise, and is like a Mind. 29. Thus you may understand, that the Fire in the Light is a Fire of Love, a Desire of Meekness and Delightfulness ; but the Fire in the Darkness is a Fire of Anguish, and is painful, irksome, inimical and full of Contrariety in its Essence. The Fire of the Light hath a good Relish or Taste, but the Taste in the Es-* sence of Darkness is unpleasant, loathsome and irksome. For all the Forms or Properties in the eternal Nature, till they reach to Fire, are in great Anguish. ^ Of Regeneration . 67 Chapter II. How Man is created . H ERE we are to consider the Creation of Man . Moses saith, ‘ God created Man in His Image, in the Image ‘of God created He him.’ This we understand to be both out of the eternal and temporal Birth ; out of the inward and spiritual World which he breathed into him, into the created Image'; and then out of the Substance of the inward spiritual World \ which is Holy . 31. For as there is a Nature and Substance in the outward T tfiwld ; so also in the inward spiritual World there is a Nature and Substance which is Spiritual ; from which the outward World is breathed forth, and produced out of Light and Darkness , and created to have a Beginning and Dime .
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.
1and yet possesseth nothing ; and as the Fire dwelleth in Water, and yet possesseth it not ; Also, as the Light dwelleth in Darkness, and yet possesseth not the Darkness ; a's the Day is in the Night, and the Night in the Day, Time in Eternity, and Eternity in Time«$ so is Man created according to the outward ‘ Humanity, he is the Time, and in the Time, and the Time is the outward World, and it is also the outward Man . • 21. The inward Man is Eternity and the Spiritual Time and World , which also consisteth of Light and Darkness , viz., of the Love of God, as to the eternal Light , and of the Anger of God 5 66 The Way to Qhrist. as to the eternal Darkness ; whichsoever of these is manifest in him, his Spirit dwelleth in that, be it Darkness or Light . 22. For Light and Darkness are both in him, but each of them dwelleth in itself, and neither of them posse^seth the other ; but if one of them entereth into the other, and will possess it, then that other loseth its Right and Power. 23 <r The passive loseth its Power ; for if the Light be made manifest in the Darkness , then the Darkness loseth its Darkness , and is not known or discerned. Also on the contrary, if the Darkness arise in the Light and get the Upper- hand, then the Light and the Power thereof are extinguished. This is to be observed also in Man. *
224. The eternal Darkness of the Soul is Hell , viz ?, an aching Source of Anguish , which is called the Anger of God ; but the eternal Light in the Soul is the Kingdom of Heaven, whereTcho fiery Anguish of Darkness is changed into Joy . 25. For the same Nature of Anguish , which in the Parkncss is a Cause of Sadness , is in the Light a Cause of the outward and stirring Joy . For the Source or Original in Light, and the Smirce in Darkness are but one eternal Source , and one Nature , and yet they, viz., the Light and Darkness , have a mighty Difference in the Source; the one dwelleth in the other and begetteth the other, and yet is not the other. The Fire is painfid find consuming , but the Light is yielding, friendly, power j id, and delightful, a sweet and amiable Joy . 26. This may be found also in Man ; he is and liveth in three Worlds ; the First is the eternal dark World , viz., the Centre of the eternal Nature which produceth or generateth the Fire, viz., the Source or Property of Anguish . 27. The second is the eternal light World , which begetteth the eternal Joy , which is the Divine Habitation wherein the Spirit of Qod dwelleth, and wherein the Spirit of Christ receiveth the human Substance , and subdueth the Darkness, so that it musj; be a Cause of Joy in the Spirit of Christ in the Light .
328. The Third is the outward visible World in the fotHT^Ei^- ments and the visible Stars ; though indeed every Element hath its peculiar Constellation in itself, whence the Desire and Property arise, and is like a Mind. 29. Thus you may understand, that the Fire in the Light is a Fire of Love, a Desire of Meekness and Delightfulness ; but the Fire in the Darkness is a Fire of Anguish, and is painful, irksome, inimical and full of Contrariety in its Essence. The Fire of the Light hath a good Relish or Taste, but the Taste in the Es-* sence of Darkness is unpleasant, loathsome and irksome. For all the Forms or Properties in the eternal Nature, till they reach to Fire, are in great Anguish. ^ Of Regeneration . 67 Chapter II. How Man is created . H ERE we are to consider the Creation of Man . Moses saith, ‘ God created Man in His Image, in the Image ‘of God created He him.’ This we understand to be both out of the eternal and temporal Birth ; out of the inward and spiritual World which he breathed into him, into the created Image'; and then out of the Substance of the inward spiritual World \ which is Holy . 31. For as there is a Nature and Substance in the outward T tfiwld ; so also in the inward spiritual World there is a Nature and Substance which is Spiritual ; from which the outward World is breathed forth, and produced out of Light and Darkness , and created to have a Beginning and Dime .
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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