Memoirs of the life, death, burial, and wonderful writings, of Jacob Behmen

Works are like so many honeycombs (Psalm 19:10), assiduously collected, formed, organized, and filled by him during a long life, drawn from all the spiritual writers, or mystic flowers, ancient and modern, "from the apostolic Dionysius the Areopagite, down to the great Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambray, the enlightened original: "illuminated"; referring to a state of spiritual clarity or divine inspiration Madame Guyon, and Monsieur Bertot." And, if the translator has any degree of spiritual judgment and may be allowed to express his humble opinion, the very last book of this "mystical bee," entitled An Address to the Clergy ("a few of the last pages of which were written by him not many days before his death"), is like quintessential clarified honey itself, collected out of all the rest.

But now, to give the reader a brief idea of how this translation began and has proceeded so far: after finding that all of Jacob Boehme's original: "Jacob Behmen's" writings were perfectly orthodox, and that the vast majority of them were plain, practical, spiritually awakening, comforting, instructive, and based on experience original: "experimental"; in 17th-century theology, this refers to "applied" or "lived" faith rather than theoretical study; and finding that much of what at first seemed very dark and complex was capable of becoming clearer and clearer by degrees—offering hope that even the darkest and most complex parts might in time, if God willed, become clear, distinct, and easy as well—the translator, being moved and encouraged in his own heart by this hope, began to make many large extracts of the most plain and moving parts. He did this not only for his own use, but for the use of several of his religious friends as well. Then, after seeing their good effect and how well they were received, he finally attempted an entirely new translation of THE WAY TO CHRIST, etc., in the hope that this excellent description of Jacob Boehme's own experience (which was the only book he ever published during his lifetime, and which has gone through four different editions in our language) might, in a more modern style original: "dress", appear less archaic original: "antique", strange original: "uncouth", and obscure, and thus meet with a more favorable reception in our English-speaking world.

This design was executed accordingly, providing great edification to the translator's own heart. And he further in— The text continues on the next page with "terspersed," completing the word "interspersed."