Milton, Plate 26 [28], (E 124)
"And every Natural Effect has a Spiritual Cause, and Not
A Natural: for a Natural Cause only seems, it is a Delusion
Of Ulro: & a ratio of the perishing Vegetable Memory."
Letters, To Butts, (E 724)
"But if we fear to do the dictates of our Angels & tremble at the
Tasks set before us. if we refuse to do Spiritual Acts. because of Natural
Fears or Natural Desires! Who can describe the dismal torments of such a
state!--I too well remember the Threats I heard!--If you who are organized
by Divine Providence for Spiritual communion. Refuse & bury your Talent in
the Earth even tho you should want Natural Bread. Sorrow & Desperation
pursues you thro life! & after death shame & confusion of face to eternity--
Every one in Eternity will leave you aghast at the Man who was crownd with
glory & honour by his brethren & betrayd their cause to their enemies. You
will be calld the base Judas who betrayd his Friend!"
Descriptive Catalog, (E 544)
"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 [P 45] 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 im-
probable 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."
In Auguries of Innocence Blake is showing that nothing can be viewed in isolation. Even the most distant effects have causes not attributable to natural events. Every act has consequences.
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British Museum
Young's Night Thoughts
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Pickering Manuscript, (E 490) "Auguries of Innocence ... A Robin Red breast in a Cage Puts all Heaven in a Rage A Dove house filld with doves & Pigeons Shudders Hell thro all its regions A dog starvd at his Masters Gate Predicts the ruin of the State A Horse misusd upon the Road Calls to Heaven for Human blood Each outcry of the hunted Hare A fibre from the Brain does tear A Skylark wounded in the wing A Cherubim does cease to sing The Game Cock clipd & armd for fight Does the Rising Sun affright Every Wolfs & Lions howl Raises from Hell a Human Soul The wild deer wandring here & there Keeps the Human Soul from Care The Lamb misusd breeds Public strife And yet forgives the Butchers Knife The Bat that flits at close of Eve Has left the Brain that wont Believe The Owl that calls upon the Night Speaks the Unbelievers fright He who shall hurt the little Wren Shall never be belovd by Men He who the Ox to wrath has movd Shall never be by Woman lovd The wanton Boy that kills the Fly Shall feel the Spiders enmity He who torments the Chafers sprite Weaves a Bower in endless Night The Catterpiller on the Leaf Repeats to thee thy Mothers grief Kill not the Moth nor Butterfly For the Last judgment draweth nigh He who shall train the Horse to War Shall never pass the Polar Bar The Beggers Dog & Widows Cat Feed them & thou wilt grow fat The Gnat that sings his Summers song Poison gets from Slanders tongue The poison of the Snake & Newt Is the sweat of Envys Foot The Poison of the Honey Bee Is the Artists jealousy The Princes Robes & Beggars Rags Are Toadstools on the Misers Bags A truth thats told with bad intent Beats all the Lies you can invent It is right it should be so 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 ..."
Complete Auguries of Innocence.
What is
this spiritual agency other than connections among various
happenings in this world and in the spiritual world. Acts
performed in human lives influence the spiritual condition of the
person who performs them and of others who are touched by them.
Carelessness about the treatment of the weak and vulnerable is
not innocent although the consequences may be unintended. If we look only for natural causes and connect events only through what we can weigh and measure, we are not aware of the harm or good which results from ordinary or extraordinary acts. The outer and the inner are not distinct areas; what is done outwardly is a consequence of inner acts and affects the inner life as well as the outer life. If a man choose to live according to outward considerations exclusively, his inner being will be starved and will atrophy.
Gospel of John
Chapter 12 [35] Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. [36] While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
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