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.