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British Museum Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts |
But the fourth feature of Jesus came into Blake's consciousness as a new experience. It came from Beyond. That is to say it was not an inward expression of Blake's psyche; it came like the Son of God who had joined the three friends in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. It wasn't something he thought of; it was something that happened to him.
Daniel 3
[19] Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his
visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego:
therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the
furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
[20] And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to
bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the
burning fiery furnace.
[21] Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and
their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst
of the burning fiery furnace.
[22] Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the
furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that
took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
[23] And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell
down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
[24] Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in
haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellers, Did not we cast
three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said
unto the king, True, O king.
[25] He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in
the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form
of the fourth is like the Son of God.
[26] Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning
fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come
hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the
midst of the fire.
[27] And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's
counsellers, being gathered together, saw these men, upon
whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their
head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of
fire had passed on them.
[28] Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and
delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the
king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve
nor worship any god, except their own God.
It was the experience of forgiveness and self-annihilation, which are two sides of the same coin. No one forgives until he has found the grace to annihilate at least momentarily the law bound accusing Spectre which is his Selfhood. And this is only possible as an act of the Imagination, which is Eternal, which is Christ. Whenever you successfully annihilate your old self to the point of truly forgiving another, the eternal Christ is alive and at work in your soul. In fact it is he who does it. He is in you, and you are in him; that's Eternal life.
Reduced to its barest essential that's what Jesus finally came to mean for Blake. The only unique thing about the man of Nazareth was that he taught forgiveness of one's enemies. In this sense he incarnated God. God is love, is forgiveness. "If Morality was Christianity, Socrates was the Saviour." Unlike Socrates Jesus was a man in whom God dwelt through his vision and his acts of forgiveness.
The significance of the resurrection lies in the coming to life of Forgiveness, Jesus, in you and me. In this way we defeat death.
Everlasting Gospel, from Notebook, (E 875)
"There is not one Moral Virtue that Jesus Inculcated but Plato
and Cicero did Inculcate before him; what then did Christ
Inculcate? Forgiveness of Sins. This alone is the Gospel,
and this is the Life and Immortality brought to light by Jesus,
Even the Covenant of Jehovah, which is This: If you forgive
one another your Trespasses, so shall Jehovah forgive you,
That he himself may dwell among you; but if you Avenge, you
Murder the Divine Image, and he cannot dwell among you; because
you Murder him he arises again, and you deny that he is Arisen,
and are blind to Spirit."
It's quite a trick (or gift) to go from time to eternity.
Colossians 1
[25]
Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God
which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
[26] Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and
from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
[27] To whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory:
[26] But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 17
[1] These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
[2] As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
[3] And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Letters, To Butts, 1804, (E 757)
"I speak with perfect confidence and certainty of the fact which has passed upon me. Nebuchadnezzar had seven times passed over him; I have had twenty; thank God I was not altogether a beast as he was; but I was a slave bound in a mill among beasts and devils; these beasts and these devils are now, together with myself, become children of light and liberty, and my feet and my wife's feet are free from fetters."
Jerusalem, Plate 27, (E 173)
"He witherd up the Human Form, By laws of sacrifice for sin: Till it became a Mortal Worm: But O! translucent all within. The Divine Vision still was seen Still was the Human Form, Divine Weeping in weak & mortal clay O Jesus still the Form was thine. And thine the Human Face & thine The Human Hands & Feet & Breath Entering thro' the Gates of Birth And passing thro' the Gates of Death And O thou Lamb of God, whom I Slew in my dark self-righteous pride: Art thou return'd to Albions Land! And is Jerusalem thy Bride? Come to my arms & never more Depart; but dwell for ever here: Create my Spirit to thy Love: Subdue my Spectre to thy Fear, Spectre of Albion! warlike Fiend! In clouds of blood & ruin roll'd: I here reclaim thee as my own My Selfhood! Satan! armd in gold."
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