SATAN'S DEFENSE

 Reposted from Nov 2017

British Museum
Milton
Plate 15

 Milton, Plate 9, (E 103)
"For Satan flaming with Rintrahs fury hidden beneath his own mildness
Accus'd Palamabron before the Assembly of ingratitude! of malice:
He created Seven deadly Sins drawing out his infernal scroll,
Of Moral laws and cruel punishments upon the clouds of Jehovah
To pervert the Divine voice in its entrance to the earth
With thunder of war & trumpets sound, with armies of disease
Punisbments & deaths musterd & number'd; Saying I am God alone   
There is no other! let all obey my principles of moral individuality
I have brought them from the uppermost innermost recesses
Of my Eternal Mind, transgressors I will rend off for ever,
As now I rend accursed Family from my covering.

Thus Satan rag'd amidst the Assembly! and his bosom grew     
Opake against the Divine Vision: the paved terraces of
His bosom inwards shone with fires, but the stones becoming opake!
Hid him from sight, in an extreme blackness and darkness,
And there a World of deeper Ulro was open'd, in the midst
Of the Assembly. In Satans bosom a vast unfathomable Abyss.   

Astonishment held the Assembly in an awful silence: and tears
Fell down as dews of night, & a loud solemn universal groan
Was utter'd from the east & from the west & from the south
And from the north; and Satan stood opake immeasurable
Covering the east with solid blackness, round his hidden heart   
With thunders utterd from his hidden wheels: accusing loud
The Divine Mercy, for protecting Palamabron in his tent." 

On Plate 9 of Milton Blake constructed a portrait of Satan which is useful in recognizing Satanic activities as they appear among men. Clues to noticing Satan's influence:

Hides in others actions:
"flaming with Rintrahs fury hidden beneath his own mildness" 

Accuses:
Accus'd Palamabron before the Assembly of ingratitude! of malice:

Creates appearance of sin: 
"He created Seven deadly Sins" 

Prevents one from listening to one's conscience by providing distractions:
"To pervert the Divine voice in its entrance to the earth
With thunder of war & trumpets sound,"

Claims authority:
"Saying I am God alone   
There is no other!" 

Threatens: 
"transgressors I will rend off for ever,"

Divine Vision becomes opaque, indiscernible:
"and his bosom grew     
Opake against the Divine Vision"

Creates a distorted experience of reality:
"And there a World of deeper Ulro was open'd"

Blots out the light of truth as darkness descends and the inner man morns the loss:
"and tears
Fell down as dews of night, & a loud solemn universal groan"

Suppresses functioning of the Zoas:
"universal groan
Was utter'd from the east & from the west & from the south
And from the north"
 
Casts doubt on the Divine Vision's merciful activities.
"and Satan stood opake immeasurable
Covering the east with solid blackness, round his hidden heart   
With thunders utterd from his hidden wheels: accusing loud
The Divine Mercy, for protecting Palamabron in his tent."
  

Satan's goal is to prevent the message of the Divine Vision (Poetic Genius) from being discernible in the minds of men. 

Looking inward we find that the same activities which we notice in Satan dwell within ourselves and within our society.

Romans 7
[22] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
[23] But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Romans 7 (Phillips translation)
21-25 - When I come up against the Law I want to do good, but in practice I do evil. My conscious mind whole-heartedly endorses the Law, yet I observe an entirely different principle at work in my nature. This is in continual conflict with my conscious attitude, and makes me an unwilling prisoner to the law of sin and death. In my mind I am God's willing servant, but in my own nature I am bound fast, as I say, to the law of sin and death. It is an agonising situation, and who on earth can set me free from the clutches of my sinful nature? I thank God there is a way out through Jesus Christ our Lord.

THE REACTOR & ACTION

Yale Center for British Art

Jerusalem

Detail of Plate 69

The integrity of a man, his identity as an individual human, is the source of action. If one does not behave in accordance with his true inner nature he is dishonest within himself. Blake reserves the word action to what comes from the true man, not from what we might call his persona, his outer shell. 

Albion is not an individual but a representation or image of the total of humanity. Albion's reactor is presented as the force which is reveled when envy divides Albion. Henceforth there is no cohesion within Albion, he is confused. The stage has been set for a new drama to take place: one in which the wholeness of Albion sleeps while his parts continue to divide him through errors in perception.

Jerusalem, Plate 43 [29], (E 191)
"Then the Divine Vision like a silent Sun appeard above
Albions dark rocks: setting behind the Gardens of Kensington
On Tyburns River, in clouds of blood: where was mild Zion Hills
Most ancient promontory, and in the Sun, a Human Form appeard
And thus the Voice Divine went forth upon the rocks of Albion    

I elected Albion for my glory; I gave to him the Nations,
Of the whole Earth. he was the Angel of my Presence: and all
The Sons of God were Albions Sons: and Jerusalem was my joy.
The Reactor hath hid himself thro envy. I behold him.
But you cannot behold him till he be reveald in his System       
Albions Reactor must have a Place prepard: Albion must Sleep
The Sleep of Death, till the Man of Sin & Repentance be reveald.
Hidden in Albions Forests he lurks: he admits of no Reply
From Albion: but hath founded his Reaction into a Law
Of Action, for Obedience to destroy the Contraries of Man.     
He hath compelld Albion to become a Punisher & hath possessd
Himself of Albions Forests & Wilds! and Jerusalem is taken!
The City of the Woods in the Forest of Ephratah is taken!"

The term 'reactor' is used only in the above passage but Blake gives us further information about the use of the term action.

Descriptive Catalogue, (E 543)
 "Antiquity preaches the Gospel of Jesus.  The
reasoning historian, turner and twister of causes and
consequences, such as Hume, Gibbon and Voltaire; cannot with all
their artifice, turn or twist one fact or disarrange self evident
action and reality.  Reasons and opinions concerning acts, are not
history.  Acts themselves alone are history, and these are
neither the exclusive property of Hume, Gibbon nor Voltaire,
Echard, Rapin, Plutarch, nor Herodotus.  Tell me the Acts, O
historian, and leave me to reason upon them as I please; away
with your reasoning and your rubbish.  All that is not action is
not worth reading.  Tell me the What; I do not want you to
tell me the Why, and the How; I can find that out myself, as well
as you can, and I will not be fooled by you into opinions, that
you please to impose, to disbelieve what you think improbable or
impossible.  His opinions, who does not see spiritual agency, is
not worth any man's reading; he who rejects a fact because it is
improbable, must reject all History and retain doubts only."

Descriptive Catalogue, (E 550)
"How do we distinguish one face or 
countenance from another, but by the bounding line and its 
infinite inflexions and movements? What is it that builds a house 
and plants a garden, but the definite and determinate? What is it 
that distinguishes honesty from knavery, but the hard and wirey 
line of rectitude and certainty in the actions and 
intentions.  Leave out this line and you leave out life itself; 
all is chaos again, and the line of the almighty must be drawn 
out upon it before man or beast can exist." 

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 565)
"Some People flatter themselves
that there will be No Last Judgment & that Bad Art will be
adopted & mixed with Good Art That Error or Experiment will make
a Part of Truth & they Boast that it is its Foundation these
People flatter themselves   I will not Flatter them Error is
Created Truth is Eternal Error or Creation will be Burned Up &
then & not till then Truth or Eternity will appear   It is Burnt up
the Moment Men cease to behold it I assert for My self that I do
not behold the Outward Creation & that to me it is hindrance &
not Action it is as the Dirt upon my feet No part of Me." 

Annotations to Lavater, (E 601)
"But as I understand
Vice it is a Negative--It does not signify what the laws of Kings
& Priests have calld Vice we who are philosophers ought not to
call the Staminal Virtues of Humanity by the same name that we
call the omissions of intellect springing from poverty 
     Every mans <leading> propensity ought to be calld his
leading Virtue & his good Angel    But the Philosophy of Causes &
Consequences misled Lavater as it has all his cotemporaries. 
Each thing is its own cause & its own effect   Accident is the
omission of act in self & the hindering of act in another,  This
is Vice but all Act [<from Individual propensity>] is
Virtue.  To hinder another is not an act it is the
contrary it is a restraint on action both in ourselves & in the
person hinderd. for he who hinders another omits his own duty. at
the time 
     Murder is Hindering Another 
     Theft is Hindering Another 
     Backbiting. Undermining Circumventing & whatever is
Negative is Vice 
     But the orgin of this mistake in Lavater & his
cotemporaries, is, They suppose that  Womans Love is Sin.  in
consequence all the Loves & Graces with them are Sin"

Annotations to Watson, (E 613)
"The Man who pretends to be a modest enquirer into the truth of a
self evident thing is a Knave   The truth & certainty of Virtue &
Honesty i.e Inspiration needs no one to prove it   it is Evident
as the Sun & Moon  He who stands doubting of what he
intends whether it is Virtuous or Vicious knows not what Virtue
means. no man can do a Vicious action & think it to be Virtuous.
no man can take darkness for light. he may pretend to do so & may
pretend to be a modest Enquirer. but is a Knave"

 

SATAN & DEISM

Wikipedia Commons
Jerusalem
Plate 26

Part of what Blake meant by Satan can be understood in the light of what he said about Deism. When the philosophers of the enlightenment discarded orthodox Christianity they created a structure to hold their own religion, Blake called it Deism. Also Blake referred to it as the Synagogue of Satan because the traditional God of the Jews and the Christians was replaced by the God of This World, whom Blake recognized as Satan. Some of the characteristics are named in this passage.

The Deists:

1.) Taught that man is righteous by nature,

2.) Preached vengeance for sins of others,

3.) Caused war

4.) Did not practice forgiveness

Satan, to Blake, is known by his works and his works are seen in his followers. The follower of Satan is the self-righteous person who seeks to punish those who don't measure up to his standards, who accuses others and exonerates himself for the same offenses, who considers forgiving others a sign of weakness, and who would rather see the suffering of war than the blessings of peace.

Introduction to Chapter 3 of Jerusalem, To the Deists

Jerusalem, Plate 52, (E 200)
 "You O Deists profess yourselves the Enemies of Christianity:
and you are so: you are also the Enemies of the Human Race & of
Universal Nature. Man is born a Spectre or Satan & is altogether
an Evil, & requires a New Selfhood continually & must continually
be changed into his direct Contrary.  But your Greek Philosophy
(which is a remnant of Druidism) teaches that Man is Righteous in
his Vegetated Spectre: an Opinion of fatal & accursed consequence
to Man, as the Ancients saw plainly by Revelation to the intire
abrogation of                  
Experimental Theory. and many believed what they saw, and
Prophecied of Jesus.
  Man must & will have Some Religion; if he has not the Religion
of Jesus, he will have the Religion of Satan, & will erect the
Synagogue of Satan. calling the Prince of this World, God; and
destroying all who do not worship Satan under the Name of God. 
Will any one say: Where are those who worship Satan under the
Name of God! Where are they? Listen! Every Religion that Preaches
Vengeance for Sins the Religion of the Enemy & Avenger; and not
the Forgiver of Sin, and their God is Satan, Named by the Divine
Name   Your Religion O Deists: Deism, is the Worship of the God
of this World by the means of what you call Natural Religion and
Natural Philosophy, and of Natural Morality or
Self-Righteousness, the Selfish Virtues of the Natural Heart. 
This was the Religion of the Pharisees who murderd Jesus.  Deism
is the same & ends in the same.

 Voltaire Rousseau Gibbon Hume. charge the Spiritually Religious
with Hypocrisy! but how a Monk or a Methodist either, can be a
Hypocrite: I cannot concieve.  We are Men of like passions with
others & pretend not to be holier than others: therefore, when a
Religious Man falls into Sin, he ought not to be calld a
Hypocrite: this title is more properly to be given to a Player
who falls into Sin; whose profession is Virtue & Morality & the
making Men Self-Righteous.  Foote in calling Whitefield,
Hypocrite: was himself one: for Whitefield pretended not to be
holier than others: but confessed his Sins before all the World;
Voltaire! Rousseau! You cannot escape my charge that you are
Pharisees & Hypocrites, for you are constantly talking of the
Virtues of the Human Heart, and particularly of your own, that
you may accuse others & especially the Religious, whose errors,
you by this display of pretended Virtue, chiefly design to
expose.  Rousseau thought Men Good by Nature; he found them Evil
& found no friend.  Friendship cannot exist without Forgiveness
of Sins continually.  The Book written by Rousseau calld his
Confessions is an apology & cloke for his sin & not a confession.
  But you also charge the poor Monks & Religious with being the
causes of War: while you acquit & flatter the Alexanders &
Caesars, the Lewis's & Fredericks: who alone are its causes & its
actors.  But the Religion of Jesus, Forgiveness of Sin, can never
be the cause of a War nor of a single Martyrdom.
  Those who Martyr others or who cause War are Deists, but never
can be Forgivers of Sin.  The Glory of Christianity is, To
Conquer by Forgiveness.  All the Destruction therefore, in
Christian Europe has arisen from Deism, which is Natural
Religion."             

---

In William Blake's Jerusalem, Minna Doskow, explains why Blake used the philosophers of the Enlightenment to represent the forces which bound man to materialism:

"The error of the Deists begins, Blake tells us, by teaching 'that Man is Righteous in his Vegetated Spectre.' We have only to look at Rousseau's praise of natural man or the writings of Locke and Hume, praised by Voltaire, which glorify man as a natural creature of sense and reason to find the truth of Blake's statement. For Locke man is simply the sum of his sense impressions and his reflections on them. Similarly for Hume man is 'nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions which succeed each other with inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux and movement.' Here is Blake's 'Vegetated Spectre' or merely natural man whom the Daughters of Albion circumscribe, bind, and sacrifice to their own ends - the Deistic conception of man bound by purely physical nature. Through their theories of sensation Locke and his followers have 'bound Englishmen to dead nature and imprisoned them in the cavern of their material bodies,' a process which together with its consequences, is summarized in the dedication and explored in the chapter." (Page 34)  

 

SEEING ONESELF

British Museum

Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

 What is it that we try to hide from Ourselves?

In this passage Albion is attempting to hide Jerusalem. Albion has fallen in love with Vala, the Veil that forms a curtain which makes Nature appear enticing to the inner man. So Albion is torn between Vala and Jerusalem who functions as the light which makes the Divine Vision visible to Albion. Believing that he has sinned and unable of accept forgiveness, Albion wants at all costs to hide Jerusalem, thus concealing his error.

Without the light which Jerusalem would provide, Albion went through the motions of self-annihilation without being honest with himself. He tried to cover up his error by turning away from the inner realization and toward trying to make amends to his Children. He tried to cover himself with moral virtue while projecting cruel laws. He had closed an avenue of restoring his ability to see the Divine Vision, hence he embarked on a journey through alienation and suffering.

Jerusalem, Plate 22, (E 167)
"Then spoke Jerusalem O Albion! my Father Albion
Why wilt thou number every little fibre of my Soul               
Spreading them out before the Sun like stalks of flax to dry?
The Infant Joy is beautiful, but its anatomy 
Horrible ghast & deadly! nought shalt thou find in it
But dark despair & everlasting brooding melancholy!

Then Albion turnd his face toward Jerusalem & spoke              

Hide thou Jerusalem in impalpable voidness, not to be
Touchd by the hand nor seen with the eye: O Jerusalem
Would thou wert not & that thy place might never be found
But come O Vala with knife & cup: drain my blood
To the last drop! then hide me in thy Scarlet Tabernacle 

For I see Luvah whom I slew. I behold him in my Spectre
As I behold Jerusalem in thee O Vala dark and cold

Jerusalem then stretchd her hand toward the Moon & spoke

Why should Punishment Weave the Veil with Iron Wheels of War
When Forgiveness might it Weave with Wings of Cherubim          

Loud groand Albion from mountain to mountain & replied
Plate 23
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! deluding shadow of Albion!
Daughter of my phantasy! unlawful pleasure! Albions curse!
I came here with intention to annihilate thee! But
My soul is melted away, inwoven within the Veil
Hast thou again knitted the Veil of Vala, which I for thee       
Pitying rent in ancient times. I see it whole and more
Perfect, and shining with beauty! But thou! O wretched Father! 

Jerusalem reply'd, like a voice heard from a sepulcher:
Father! once piteous! Is Pity. a Sin? Embalm'd in Vala's bosom
In an Eternal Death for. Albions sake, our best beloved.         
Thou art my Father & my Brother: Why hast thou hidden me,
Remote from the divine Vision: my Lord and Saviour.

Trembling stood Albion at her words in jealous dark despair:
He felt that Love and Pity are the same; a soft repose!
Inward complacency of Soul: a Self-annihilation!                 

I have erred! I am ashamed! and will never return more:
I have taught my children sacrifices of cruelty: what shall I answer?
I will hide it from Eternals! I will give myself for my Children!
Which way soever I turn, I behold Humanity and Pity!

He recoil'd: he rush'd outwards; he bore the Veil whole away     
His fires redound from his Dragon Altars in Errors returning.
He drew the Veil of Moral Virtue, woven for Cruel Laws,
And cast it into the Atlantic Deep, to catch the Souls of the Dead.
He stood between the Palm tree & the Oak of weeping 
Which stand upon the edge of Beulah; and there Albion sunk       
Down in sick pallid languor! These were his last words, relapsing!"

CONTRARIES

Wikipedia Commons

Man Sweeping the Interpreter's Parlour

Scene from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress

It is not easy for us to grasp how contraries can be equally true, but since we live in a time when divisions seem to be how we define ourselves, it is a necessary exercise. The exercise of seeing may be helpful in understanding how to bring together two contraries. Think of two contraries, lets say wrath and pity, as existing at the extremes of a vast expanse of space. If we attempt to focus on wrath, pity will be totally out of focus. We wouldn't be able to see it clearly enough to describe it. If we change our focus to see pity clearly, wrath will be only a blur. There is a point of focus where both wrath and pity are part of a clear picture. This allows us to see the contraries as equally true. However it we insist on not focusing so that we see them both, but concentrate on one or the other, we experience the false reasoning which negates the finely balanced contraries.

Rintrah as Wrath and Palamabron as Pity worked together as brothers until Satan interfered by exchanging the harrow, the instrument of pity, for the mill, the instrument of reasoning. Satan introduced the false reasoning which took away Palamabron's ability to practice pity or drive the harrow.

In this passage of scripture we see how differing treatments are necessary to deal with differing individuals. A gentle form of wrath, a reprimand, is required for the rule-breaker; a mild sort of pity, encouragement, is offered to the timid; the weak who are those with distorted thinking, are offered help to see more clearly.      

1st Thessalonians
Phillips Translation

5:13b-18 - Live together in peace, and our instruction to this end is to reprimand the unruly, encourage the timid, help the weak and be very patient with all men. Be sure that no one repays a bad turn by a bad turn; good should be your objective always, among yourselves and in the world at large. Be happy in your faith at all times. Never stop praying. Be thankful, whatever the circumstances may be. If you follow this advice you will be working out the will of God expressed to you in Jesus Christ. 

Jerusalem, Plate 43 [29], (E 191)
"I elected Albion for my glory; I gave to him the Nations,
Of the whole Earth. he was the Angel of my Presence: and all
The Sons of God were Albions Sons: and Jerusalem was my joy.
The Reactor hath hid himself thro envy. I behold him.
But you cannot behold him till he be reveald in his System       
Albions Reactor must have a Place prepard: Albion must Sleep
The Sleep of Death, till the Man of Sin & Repentance be reveald.
Hidden in Albions Forests he lurks: he admits of no Reply
From Albion: but hath founded his Reaction into a Law
Of Action, for Obedience to destroy the Contraries of Man.     
He hath compelld Albion to become a Punisher & hath possessd
Himself of Albions Forests & Wilds! and Jerusalem is taken!"

SATAN

 Repost from July 2013

Wikimedia
Illustrations to Paradise Lost
Thomas Set, Image 3
'Christ Offers to Redeem Man'

The concepts which Blake dramatized in his poem Milton took form while he was living for three years in Felpham under the patronage of William Hayley. Blake's dominant function was his imagination which he felt called to express in prophetic poetry. His mentor (in Eternity) John Milton became the vehicle through which he could explore the struggles of a poet to overcome the resistances which he encountered in his effort to deliver his message of redemption.
 
Blake came to realize that Satan was not a force who had power over him. Satan could be recognized as a negation which opposed the mental movements working to create his poetry. Satan could be identified as a state not an entity. One enters the state of Satan by allowing one's own selfhood to take control of one's psyche and determine one's behaviors. The state of Satan is characterized by accusation, deception, inconsistency, destructiveness, and self-righteousness. When Blake saw these qualities enacted in Hayley he knew he had to make changes. He had to acknowledge that the negation of his work as a poet was within himself as well as outwardly in Hayley. And he had to return to London in order to avoid falling away from his great task as a poet - opening the minds of men to a perception of the infinite.
 
W. J. T. Mitchell in his chapter Blake's Radical Comedy in Blake's Sublime Allegory, edited by Curren and Wittreich explains the challenge that faced Blake:
"Blake seems to have been more interested in understanding what it means to be a prophet in an age that does not believe in prophets than in making himself look good at the expense of Hayley. Insofar as he 'serv'd / The Mills of Satan as the easier task' and hid his wrath during his stay in Felpham he had jeopardized his whole prophetic mission. Hayley's loss of temper only redeemed Blake from the charge of ingratitude; it did not solve the problem of how to be a prophet. Like Milton, Blake must have seen that Satan was not primarily Hayley or the Establishment but his own Selfhood, that part of him that doubted his calling enough to keep him in Felpham for three years." (Page 292)

Milton, Plate 3, (E 97)
"They Builded Great Golgonooza Times on Times Ages on Ages
First Orc was Born then the Shadowy Female: then All Los's Family
At last Enitharmon brought forth Satan Refusing Form, in vain
The Miller of Eternity made subservient to the Great Harvest
That he may go to his own Place Prince of the Starry Wheels
Plate 4          
Beneath the Plow of Rintrah & the harrow of the Almighty
In the hands of Palamabron. Where the Starry Mills of Satan
Are built beneath the Earth & Waters of the Mundane Shell
Here the Three Classes of Men take their Sexual texture Woven
The Sexual is Threefold: the Human is Fourfold

If you account it Wisdom when you are angry to be silent, and
Not to shew it: I do not account that Wisdom but Folly.
Every Mans Wisdom is peculiar to his own Individuality
O Satan my youngest born, art thou not Prince of the Starry Hosts
And of the Wheels of Heaven, to turn the Mills day & night?  
Art thou not Newtons Pantocrator weaving the Woof of Locke
To Mortals thy Mills seem every thing & the Harrow of Shaddai
A scheme of Human conduct invisible & incomprehensible
Get to thy Labours at the Mills & leave me to my wrath,

Satan was going to reply, but Los roll'd his loud thunders."  

Milton, Plate 7, (E 100)
"The first, The Elect from before the foundation of the World: 
The second, The Redeem'd. The Third, The Reprobate & form'd
To destruction from the mothers womb: follow with me my plow! 

Of the first class was Satan: with incomparable mildness;
His primitive tyrannical attempts on Los: with most endearing love    
He soft intreated Los to give to him Palamabrons station;
For Palamabron returnd with labour wearied every evening
Palamabron oft refus'd; and as often Satan offer'd
His service till by repeated offers and repeated intreaties
Los gave to him the Harrow of the Almighty;"

Milton, Plate 7, (E 100)
"What could Los do? how could be judge, when Satans self, believ'd
That he had not oppres'd the horses of the Harrow, nor the servants.  

So Los said, Henceforth Palamabron, let each his own station
Keep: nor in pity false, nor in officious brotherhood, where
None needs, be active. Mean time Palamabrons horses.
Rag'd with thick flames redundant, & the Harrow maddend with fury."

Milton, Plate 8, (E 102)
And all the Elect & all the Redeem'd mourn'd one toward another  
Upon the mountains of Albion among the cliffs of the Dead.

They Plow'd in tears! incessant pourd Jehovahs rain, & Molechs
Thick fires contending with the rain, thunder'd above rolling
Terrible over their heads; Satan wept over Palamabron
Theotormon & Bromion contended on the side of Satan            
Pitying his youth and beauty; trembling at eternal death:
Michael contended against Satan in the rolling thunder
Thulloh the friend of Satan also reprovd him; faint their reproof."

Milton, Plate 9, (E 103)
"For Satan flaming with Rintrahs fury hidden beneath his own mildness
Accus'd Palamabron before the Assembly of ingratitude! of malice:
He created Seven deadly Sins drawing out his infernal scroll,
Of Moral laws and cruel punishments upon the clouds of Jehovah
To pervert the Divine voice in its entrance to the earth
With thunder of war & trumpets sound, with armies of disease
Punisbments & deaths musterd & number'd; Saying I am God alone   
There is no other! let all obey my principles of moral individuality
I have brought them from the uppermost innermost recesses
Of my Eternal Mind, transgressors I will rend off for ever,
As now I rend this accursed Family from my covering.

Thus Satan rag'd amidst the Assembly! and his bosom grew     
Opake against the Divine Vision: the paved terraces of
His bosom inwards shone with fires, but the stones becoming opake!
Hid him from sight, in an extreme blackness and darkness,
And there a World of deeper Ulro was open'd, in the midst
Of the Assembly. In Satans bosom a vast unfathomable Abyss."   

Milton, Plate 11 [12], (E 104)
"And the Mills of Satan were separated into a moony Space
Among the rocks of Albions Temples, and Satans Druid sons
Offer the Human Victims throughout all the Earth, and Albions
Dread Tomb immortal on his Rock, overshadowd the whole Earth:
Where Satan making to himself Laws from his own identity.      
Compell'd others to serve him in moral gratitude & submission
Being call'd God: setting himself above all that is called God.
And all the Spectres of the Dead calling themselves Sons of God
In his Synagogues worship Satan under the Unutterable Name"

Milton, Plate 14 [15], (E 108)
"I will go down to self annihilation and eternal death,
Lest the Last Judgment come & find me unannihilate
And I be siez'd & giv'n into the hands of my own Selfhood
The Lamb of God is seen thro' mists & shadows, hov'ring          
Over the sepulchers in clouds of Jehovah & winds of Elohim
A disk of blood, distant; & heav'ns & earth's roll dark between
What do I here before the Judgment? without my Emanation?
With the daughters of memory, & not with the daughters of inspiration[?]
I in my Selfhood am that Satan: I am that Evil One!              
He is my Spectre! in my obedience to loose him from my Hells
To claim the Hells, my Furnaces, I go to Eternal Death." 

Milton, Plate 32 [35], (E 132)
"Distinguish therefore States from Individuals in those States.
States Change: but Individual Identities never change nor cease:
You cannot go to Eternal Death in that which can never Die.
Satan & Adam are States Created into Twenty-seven Churches       
And thou O Milton art a State about to be Created
Called Eternal Annihilation that none but the Living shall
Dare to enter: & they shall enter triumphant over Death
And Hell & the Grave! States that are not, but ah! Seem to be."

STATE OF SATAN

Yale Center for British Art
Jerusalem
Plate 37

Perhaps the reason we are inclined to accept Satan as an evil force who spreads havoc in our world is because we need someone to blame for our own mistakes. If Satan made me do it, its his fault not mine. But there is no end to the damage which we do if we do not realize how and why we do what we do. One way that Blake teaches us to understand Satan is as a State through which one is passing until the error that supports the misguided behavior is corrected. We could say that the error to which we ascribe is projected onto Satan, because we do not accept it as a part of our own psyche.

When Blake writes about Annihilating the Selfhood, he is referring to this event: recognizing that we are in a state of error and eliminating it. The danger of remaining in a state of error is that it spreads from one person to another, and if it succeeds in one situation it reappears in other situations. Blake's myth can be seen a catalogue of the spread to everyone and everything which is touched by him, of the disease caused by Albion's loss of the Divine Vision. 

Jerusalem, Plate 49, (E 199)
"Remove from Albion, far remove these terrible surfaces.           
They are beginning to form Heavens & Hells in immense
Circles: the Hells for food to the Heavens: food of torment,
Food of despair: they drink the condemnd Soul & rejoice
In cruel holiness, in their Heavens of Chastity & Uncircumcision
Yet they are blameless & Iniquity must be imputed only           
To the State they are enterd into that they may be deliverd:
Satan is the State of Death, & not a Human existence:
But Luvah is named Satan, because he has enterd that State.
A World where Man is by Nature the enemy of Man
Because the Evil is Created into a State. that Men               
May be deliverd time after time evermore. Amen.
Learn therefore O Sisters to distinguish the Eternal Human
That walks about among the stones of fire in bliss & woe
Alternate! from those States or Worlds in which the Spirit travels:
This is the only means to Forgiveness of Enemies.              
Therefore remove from Albion these terrible Surfaces
And let wild seas & rocks close up Jerusalem away from
Plate 50
The Atlantic Mountains where Giants dwelt in Intellect;
Now given to stony Druids, and Allegoric Generation
To the Twelve Gods of Asia, the Spectres of those who Sleep:
Sway'd by a Providence oppos'd to the Divine Lord Jesus:
A murderous Providence! A Creation that groans, living on Death. 
Where Fish & Bird & Beast & Man & Tree & Metal & Stone
Live by Devouring, going into Eternal Death continually:
Albion is now possess'd by the War of Blood! the Sacrifice
Of envy Albion is become, and his Emanation cast out:

Come Lord Jesus, Lamb of God descend! for if; O Lord!            
If thou hadst been here, our brother Albion had not died."

Milton, Plate 38 [43], (E 139)

"I come to discover before Heavn & Hell the Self righteousness
In all its Hypocritic turpitude, opening to every eye
These wonders of Satans holiness shewing to the Earth     
The Idol Virtues of the Natural Heart, & Satans Seat
Explore in all its Selfish Natural Virtue & put off
In Self annihilation all that is not of God alone:
To put off Self & all I have ever & ever Amen

Satan heard! Coming in a cloud, with trumpets & flaming fire     

Saying I am God the judge of all, the living & the dead
Fall therefore down & worship me. submit thy supreme
Dictate, to my eternal Will & to my dictate bow
I hold the Balances of Right & Just & mine the Sword
Seven Angels bear my Name & in those Seven I appear             
But I alone am God & I alone in Heavn & Earth
Of all that live dare utter this, others tremble & bow
Plate 39 [44]
Till All Things become One Great Satan, in Holiness
Oppos'd to Mercy, and the Divine Delusion Jesus be no more"

Jerusalem, Plate 25, (E 170)
"Why did you take Vengeance O ye Sons of the mighty Albion?
Planting these Oaken Groves: Erecting these Dragon Temples
Injury the Lord heals but Vengeance cannot be healed:            
As the Sons of Albion have done to Luvah: so they have in him
Done to the Divine Lord & Saviour, who suffers with those that suffer:
For not one sparrow can suffer, & the whole Universe not suffer also,
In all its Regions, & its Father & Saviour not pity and weep.
But Vengeance is the destroyer of Grace & Repentance in the bosom
Of the Injurer: in which the Divine Lamb is cruelly slain:
Descend O Lamb of God & take away the imputation of Sin
By the Creation of States & the deliverance of Individuals Evermore Amen

Thus wept they in Beulah over the Four Regions of Albion
But many doubted & despaird & imputed Sin & Righteousness       
To Individuals & not to States, and these Slept in Ulro."

GOD, MAN, SATAN

Harold Bloom in this passage near the end of his chapter on Blake's Milton in Blake's Apocalypse, demonstrates connections in Milton between the two greatest influences on Blake: the Bible and John Milton. In the three works, the Book of Job, Paradise Regained and Blake's Milton, the triangle of relationships he observes is among Man, God and Satan.

Blake's Apocalypse by Harold Bloom, (Page 362)

"Like the Book of Job and Paradise Regained, Blake's Milton is a study of gathering self-awareness. Job and Milton's Son of God come to recognize themselves in their true relation to God. Blake's Milton recognizes himself as God or imaginative Man and proceeds to purge from himself everything opposed to that recognition. But whereas the Book of Job and Paradise Regained identify sonship to God with obedience to him, Blake's Milton urges us to 'seek not thy heavenly father beyond the skies' but rather 'obey thou the Words of the Inspired Man.' Job and Milton's Son of God overcame the temptations, which in Job are deeply involved with inner conflicts. Blake's Milton is close to Job in that he must rid himself of the conviction of his own righteousness before he can resolve the conflict within himself. 

The clearest link between the Book of Job, Paradise Regained, and Milton is that the protagonist of each work must overcome Satan or a condition brought on by Satan's activity. Here Milton occupies a kind of middle position with respect to both the earlier works. Like Job, Blake's Milton must overcome his Satanic situation or inwardness, rather than Satan himself. But like the Son of God, Blake's Milton must resist overt Satanic temptations as well. Blake's Milton is both a suffering man, like Job and a Son of God, very like Milton's Christ."  

Illustrations of the Book of Job
Satan Before The Throne of God
Butts Set

Job 1

[9] Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
[10] Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
[11] But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
[12] And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 42

[1] Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
[2] I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
[3] Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
[4] Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
[5] I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
[6] Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

---

New York Public Library
Milton, Plate 8
Satan and His Two Brothers

 

Milton, Plate 38 [43], (E 139)

"The Spectre of Satan stood upon the roaring sea & beheld
Milton within his sleeping Humanity! trembling & shuddring
He stood upon the waves a Twenty-seven-fold mighty Demon
Gorgeous & beautiful: loud roll his thunders against Milton
Loud  Satan thunderd, loud & dark upon mild Felpham shore
Not daring to touch one fibre he howld round upon the Sea.

I also stood in Satans bosom & beheld its desolations!           
A ruind Man: a ruind building of God not made with hands;"

---

Wikimedia Commons 

Paradise Regained 

Christ placed on the pinnacle of the Temple

Paradise Regained

By John Milton 

"Cast thy self down; safely if Son of God: 
For it is written, He will give command
Concerning thee to his Angels, in thir hands
They shall up lift thee, lest at any time
Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone.
To whom thus Jesus: also it is written, 
Tempt not the Lord thy God; he said and stood.
But Satan smitten with amazement fell"

 

WRATH & PITY

Wikimedia Commons
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Plate 36
Little Girl Found

There are those in need of nurture and protection; we can call them the innocents, the children, the vulnerable, or the lambs. In the broad scheme of things these spirits who are not prepared for the harshness of life in the material world, are looked after by eternal spirits 'to keep them all from harm.' However there are wrathful elements in the physical world - the wolves and tygers - who would attack the bodies and minds of the vulnerable. Although they may fall prey to the destructive forces in their physical beings, their spiritual beings are provided for by those who 'Receive each mild spirit, New worlds to inherit.' In their new world the lion lies down with the lamb because 'everything that lives is holy.'

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, SONGS 20, (E 13)  
"Night
The sun descending in the west.
The evening star does shine.
The birds are silent in their nest,
And I must seek for mine,
The moon like a flower, 
In heavens high bower;
With silent delight,
Sits and smiles on the night.

Farewell green fields and happy groves,
Where flocks have took delight;  
Where lambs have nibbled, silent moves
The feet of angels bright;
Unseen they pour blessing,
And joy without ceasing,
On each bud and blossom,
And each sleeping bosom.

They look in every thoughtless nest,
Where birds are coverd warm;
They visit caves of every beast,
To keep them all from harm;  
If they see any weeping,
That should have been sleeping
They pour sleep on their head
And sit down by their bed.

SONGS 21
When wolves and tygers howl for prey  
They pitying stand and weep;
Seeking to drive their thirst away,
And keep them from the sheep.
But if they rush dreadful;
The angels most heedful,    
Receive each mild spirit,
New worlds to inherit.

And there the lions ruddy eyes,
Shall flow with tears of gold:
And pitying the tender cries, 
And walking round the fold:
Saying: wrath by his meekness
And by his health, sickness,
Is driven away,
From our immortal day. 
    
And now beside thee bleating lamb,
I can lie down and sleep;
Or think on him who bore thy name,
Graze after thee and weep.
For wash'd in lifes river,   
My bright mane for ever,
Shall shine like the gold,
As I guard o'er the fold."

---

Isaiah 11
[1] And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
[2] And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
[3] And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
[4] But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
[5] And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
[6] The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
[7] And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
[8] And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
[9] They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 65
[24] And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
[25] The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.