The 4th Letter [Epistle]

...[understand] the tongues of the Apostles, although they spoke from only one tongue, yet their heart and spirit were opened to the listeners in GOD; so that they all understood the same language, each in his own, as if the Apostles spoke with his own tongues.

21. Thus it is only possible for God that one spirit understands and grasps another: For I fear indeed that I shall be difficult to understand in many places of my writings, but in God I am quite easy to the reader, if his soul is grounded in God, from which knowledge alone I write.

22. For I have little from the historical art original: "historischen Kunst." Boehme uses "historical" to refer to academic or book-learning that is merely external and intellectual, rather than the "living" knowledge gained through spiritual experience. of this world, and I do not write for the sake of the pride of their art, for I am not born of their art, but from the life of GOD, so that I may bring forth fruit in the Paradisiacal Rose-garden of God.

23. And not for myself alone, but also for my brothers and sisters, so that we may become one holy body in Christ, God our Father, who has loved us and provided for us in Christ before the foundation of the world was laid.

24. Therefore, just as Christ did not spare His life, nor did His true disciples, but freely proclaimed the Kingdom of GOD, even if they suffered mockery and death in this world for it, only for the sake of the Heavenly: So we should not be too greatly terrified by temporal mockery and death for the sake of the heavenly life, and thus pray that GOD would deliver us from all evil and give us unity in one mind.

25. But that I am difficult for you to understand in several points in my writings is a sorrow to me, and I wished that I could share my soul with you, so that you might grasp my mind.

26. For I understand that it concerns the deepest points, on which most depends, where I have used several Latin words: But my meaning rests in truth not merely in the Latin tongue, but much more in the language of nature Natur-sprache: A central concept in Boehme's thought, referring to a mystical, primordial language where the sound and form of words perfectly express the inner essence and "signature" of the things they name..

27. For something has also been opened up to me, to ground the spirits of the letters from their origin original: "Urkunde." Here referring to the foundational source or primal evidence of the letters' meaning and their spiritual resonance., and I would very heartily like to inform you of those same words which I have used, in which you have a misunderstanding: But because space is required for it, and it cannot be done now in haste,