LAW OF CHRIST

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galations 6:2

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The law of Christ is incompatible with the law of punishment. The law of Christ recognizes that we are all neighbors who share the same burdens which are not laid upon us by a punishing God but by a loving Father who weaves together the joys and woes for the sake of our souls.

Auguries of Innocence, (E 491)

"Man was made for Joy & Woe
And when this we rightly know
Thro the World we safely go
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine 
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine
The Babe is more than swadling Bands
Throughout all these Human Lands
Tools were made & Born were hands 
Every Farmer Understands
Every Tear from Every Eye
Becomes a Babe in Eternity"

Blake saw that it was impossible for Jesus to respond to the individual needs of disparate people by applying the same rules to everyone. When Jesus was in conversation with the lawyer who wanted to trap him in an error, Jesus told him a story which allowed the legalist to apply his intellect to a real situation.

Luke: Chapter 10

[23] And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:
[24] For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
[25] And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
[26] He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
[27] And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
[28] And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

[29] But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

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It is not the letter of the law but the spirit of the law which we should aim to follow. Jesus expected his followers to seek the truth in the instruction which he gave them, not a formula which they could apply without considering the consequences. Blake saw that Jesus understood that abiding by the law without being aware of it's purpose destroyed the benefit of seeking God's guidance.  

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 21, (E 43)

"The Devil answer'd; bray a fool in a morter with wheat. yet
shall not his folly be beaten out of him: if Jesus Christ is the
greatest man, you ought to love him in the greatest degree; now
hear how he has given his sanction to the law of ten
commandments: did he not mock at the sabbath, and so mock the
sabbaths God? murder those who were murderd because of him? turn
away the law from the woman taken in adultery? steal the labor of
others to support him? bear false witness when he omitted making
a defence before Pilate? covet when he pray'd for his disciples,
and when he bid them shake off the dust of their feet against
such as refused to lodge them? I tell you, no virtue can exist
without breaking these ten commandments: Jesus was all virtue, 

and acted from impulse: not from rules.  

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Romans: Chapter 8 

[31] If God be for us, who can be against us?
[32] He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
[33] Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
[34] Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
[36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
[37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
[38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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First Corinthians: Chapter 13

[7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
[8] Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
[9] For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
[10] but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
[11] When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
[12] For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
[13] So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Love is the virtue through which God is made manifest and through which we become God's instruments.

Songs of Experience, SONGS 44, (E 26) 
"The GARDEN of LOVE  

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:  
A Chapel was built in the midst, 
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,  
And Thou shalt not. writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,       
That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be: 
And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars, my joys & desires."

Fitzwilliam Museum
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Garden of Love, Plate 44

In this short poem from Songs of Experience Blake expressed the attitude that religion without joy and love is a desecration of God's intention for mankind. The children who had enjoyed playing on the village green, found that a religious ediface has replaced the scene of their innocent play; that they were prohibited from expressing the liberty of pursuing their joys and desires. After learning from the priest that 'all joy is forbidden' they saw before them only the open grave. Blake affirmed instead that: 

"THERE is NO NATURAL RELIGION [b] (E 2)

  VII The desire of Man being Infinite the possession is Infinite
& himself Infinite
     Conclusion,   If it were not for the Poetic or Prophetic
character. the Philosophic & Experimental would soon be at the
ratio of all things & stand still, unable to do other than repeat
the same dull round over again
     Application.   He who sees the Infinite in all things sees
God.  He who sees the Ratio only sees himself only.

Therefore God becomes as we are, that we may be as he is"