MHH 24

Wikipedia Commons 

Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Plate 24

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 24, (E 43)

"Jesus was all virtue,and acted from impulse: not from rules. When he had so spoken: I beheld the Angel who stretched out his arms embracing the flame of fire & he was consumed and arose as Elijah. This Angel, who is now become a Devil, is my particular friend: we often read the Bible together in its infernal or diabolical sense which the world shall have if they behave well
I have also: The Bible of Hell: which the world shall have whether they will or no. 

One Law for the Lion & Ox is Oppression"

 

 

"Jesus was all virtue,
and acted from impulse: not from rules."

This was Blake's mantra; he was an extreme antinomian: dictionary definition - "a person who maintains that Christians are freed from the 
moral law by virtue of grace as set forth in the gospel."

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

 

"Jesus was all virtue,

and acted from impulse: not from rules. When he had so spoken: I beheld the Angel who stretched out his arms embracing the flame of fire & he was consumed and arose as Elijah. 

Note. This Angel, who is now become a Devil, is my particular friend: we often read the Bible together in its infernal or diabolical sense which the world shall have if they behave well 

I have also: The Bible of Hell: which the world shall have whether they will or no. 

One Law for the Lion & Ox is Oppression (Erdman 43-4)

 

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How did the Angel become a Devil and become Blake's friend? Because
he turned into Elijah; from being an Enforcer of a set of laws he became
a prophet, using the Bible intelligently rather than blindly.

By reading the Bible in its infernal or diabolical sense Blake meant using
it as poetry rather than legally.  Blake continually preaches this message,
to read and understand the Bible in that sense.  He did that with almost
every word he wrote.  Study Blake's use of the Bible; it runs through 
virtually all his poetry.

The picture of Nebuchadnezzar closely resembles the one in this plate:

From Wikimedia commons

This picture was a development from the Plate above and an illustration of the Book of Daniel.
[24] This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king:
[25] That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, " O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king:

June Singer said "the kingdom of God - that is Imagination - is a gift of grace to be found in those men who have been chosen to receive it." (The Unholy Bible page 172)