Blake seeks to provide the Golden String which can lead us through the labyrinth of our experience or his own poetry.

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Church 6

From Larry's Blake Primer
 
National Gallery

Blake suffered intensely from the subtle forms of economic oppression and railed against them. His anger sparked the most searching critique of the restrictive structures of society and of the psychic attributes associated with those structures.

Wesley lacked Blake's prophetic mind, but he had a concern for souls that led his converts first to an elevation of character and soon to an elevation of economic station. In the simplest natural terms Wesley's converts replaced drinking and gambling with praying and singing hymns--and became prosperous, just as the Quakers had done in earlier generations.

Wesley held extremely conservative political views, but unlike most Tories he loved the poor. He devoted his life to helping them raise their circumstances, all of course a byproduct of his concern for their souls! While Blake denounced and railed against the social evils of the day, Wesley picked up one by one the fallen members of the underclass and instilled in them a means of lifting themselves up into the middle class.

He taught them for example to "gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can". The admonition won sufficient adherents to make a tremendous contribution to the humanitarian movement. Blake wrote about the prisons of the mind; Wesley systematically visited real prisons his entire life and organized helping institutions to address the needs of prisoners and to ameliorate their distress.

Wesley had a life changing message and organizational genius as well. Through his religious message and his Methodist societies he contributed significantly to the relief of economic distress and oppression. In contrast Blake's message was virtually incomprehensible to the kinds of people most responsive to Wesley's. In fact it is incomprehensible to most people today because it requires a level of  consciousness impossible for the materially minded.

Wesley and Blake may have been the two greatest men produced by England in the 18th Century. The work of Wesley and his fellow evangelists had immediate and far reaching consequences in the life of the world. For example his preachers exercised a great civilizing influence on the American frontier. The Methodist Church today represents the best of the American way, theologically and socially enlightened beyond the generality of the population.

Blake's work in contrast was far ahead of his time. It had no immediate visible influence, yet it offers the best hope of the future for the English speaking world to break out of the strait jacket of dead materialism. The present age needs a spiritual revival as desperately as did Wesley's.

But the Wesleyan style of revival has less to offer the modern mind than it did to the 18th Century underclass. The Blakean vision has a great deal to offer to the best minds of this century, the relatively few minds capable of an individual form of spiritual creativity. The mind of Blake offers the strongest possible protection against the mindless conformity that threatens the human race.

Although Blake did have a copy of a Wesleyan hymnbook, we lack evidence of direct first hand experience with a Methodist group. Most certainly he would have found the discipline distasteful. But Methodism was one of the rare forms of English religious life that Blake had good words for.

In the prose introduction to Chapter Three of 'Jerusalem' he defended Methodists and Monks against what he deemed to be the hypocritical attacks of Voltaire and the other philosophies. He named Wesley and Whitefield as the two witnesses of Revelation 11.3, the archetypal image of the rejected and despised prophet of God (cf Milton 22:61; Erdman 118). He grouped Whitefield with St. Teresa and other gentle souls "who guide the great Wine press of Love".

Jerusalem, Plate 72, (E 227)
"And the Four Gates of Los surround the Universe Within and
Without; & whatever is visible in the Vegetable Earth, the same
Is visible in the Mundane Shell; reversd in mountain & vale
And a Son of Eden was set over each Daughter of Beulah to guard
In Albions Tomb the wondrous Creation: & the Four-fold Gate
Towards Beulah is to the South[.] Fenelon, Guion, Teresa,
Whitefield & Hervey, guard that Gate; with all the gentle Souls
Who guide the great Wine-press of Love; Four precious stones that Gate:"

To  the best of our knowledge Blake belonged to no organized church. We do know of two groups which might generically qualify as churches, using the word its broadest possible sense. The first gathered around the radical publisher, Joseph Johnson, Blake's primary employer and the friend of Mary Wollstonecraft, Joseph Priestly, Richard Price, Thomas Paine and other radical intellectuals. While the conventional church exists as a primary bulwark of the status quo, Joseph Johnson's group by and large conceived of Christ as a revolutionary. Dissenters of a variety of persuasions, they were united by their awareness of the need for social and political change. They considered this the primary agenda of any truly spiritual communion.
     

Wikimedia Commons
Illustrations to Blair's The Grave

Blake was in accord with these ideas. The Johnson group nurtured him and provided the communal support which we generally associate with church groups. The second group gathered around Blake in his last decade. It was made up of young artists, some of them devout. They looked to Blake for aesthetic and spiritual guidance and provided him the communal support that lent grace to his last years.

       After Blake's Moment of Grace around 1800 he might have joined a church could have found one whose primary doctrine was the forgiveness of sins. But like Milton before him and Lincoln after him he never discovered a church that met his qualifications.

       Anyone who loves Blake and has had a happier experience of the church could wish for him more in the way of community. Alienated from the worshiping community by its partial theology and partial practice, he was confined to his own visions and the nurture he could find at the outer fringes of the church. In addition he learned from the Christian classics of the ages, particularly the off beat ones. St. Teresa was a favorite.   We know little or nothing of how the Ranter tradition came down to him.

All of these are elements of the Universal Church upon which Blake drew and to which he belonged. Blessed with a worshiping fellowship beyond that of his wife, his lot might have been happier and his witness plainer to others.

      Even so the church is fortunate to have his contribution. Isaiah and Jeremiah, not to mention Jesus, also suffered alienation from their communities. At the deepest level none of the four men rejected the church, but rather the church rejected them. Blake was too deeply attached to the priesthood of the believer to be able to  submit to any spiritual authority politically assigned: Let every man be "King and Priest in his own house". In the words of Foster Damon "The Church Universal was the only church that Blake recognized. Its doctrine is the Everlasting Gospel, its congregation the Brotherhood of Man, its symbol the Woman in the Wilderness (which he pictured), its architecture Gothic."

 

Thursday, February 24, 2022

MORAVIAN MOTHER 5

Wikipedia Commons
Joseph of Arimathea preaching to the inhabitants of Britain
 
 Luke 24 (Phillips Translation) 
45-47 - Then he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures, and added, "That is how it was written, and that is why it was inevitable that Christ should suffer, and rise from the dead on the third day. So must the change of heart which leads to the forgiveness of sins be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."


Blake's mother was surely aware of the missionary activities of the Moravians who aimed to bring the Gospel to people in far flung locations. They experienced the joy and satisfaction of living in community under the guidance of the spirit and wanted to share it.

"They sent out the first missionaries when there were only 300 inhabitants in Herrnhut. Within 30 years, the church sent hundreds of Christian missionaries to many parts of the world, including the Caribbean, North and South America , the Arctic, Africa, and the Far East."

Arthur Freeman wrote this for the Center for Moravian Studies:

"A third mark of the Gemeine was mission. Christ had given his church a mission. Each one of the Gospels concludes with some equivalent of a commissioning of his disciples. In John Jesus sends his disciples as his Father had sent him (e.g. John 17:18). Both the life and activity of the Gemeine carry out this mission.Its life expresses the very relationship which Christ calls the church to facilitate for others and which gives those exploring the Gospel an experiential referent. In I John 1:3 others were invited into the fellowship with the Father and the Son which constitutes the life and fellowship of the community.

Hence for Moravians a crucial step in mission was always the planting of a Gemeine where the life with Christ was lived out and could be experienced by others. The mission as action was going where Christ would have the Gemeine go, keeping in mind that mission and evangelism was God’s business. One had to discern, follow, and participate in what God was doing. What then began as preaching excursions into areas surrounding Herrnhut, following the spiritual experience of 1727, in a few years brought Moravians to the West Indies and North America and then to many other parts of the world to “win souls for the Lamb.” Within ten years Moravians had gone also to Greenland, Surinam, South Africa, the Gold Coast, Algeria, Arctic Russia, and Ceylon."

From the beginning to the end of his career Blake saw that the nations of the world were one people joined by one spirit which spoke to all according to their various means of reception. Albion was Blake's symbol for undivided mankind. All nations were contained and expressed by Albion or by the 'Poetic Genius' as stated in Blake's earliest Illuminated Book. 

ALL RELIGIONS are ONE (E 1)

"PRINCIPLE. 5. The Religions of all Nations are derived from
each Nations different reception of the Poetic Genius which is
every where call'd the Spirit of Prophecy."

Blake's prophetic message was taken from the book of Numbers and quoted on the first plate of Milton. Damon tells us that prophets do not predict the future but reveal Eternal Truths. To spread such truth to all nations Blake accepted as his mission 'awaking to Eternal Life' all those who sleep in the 'land of shadows.'

Milton, Plate 1, (E 95)
 "I will not cease from Mental Fight,
     Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
     Till we have built Jerusalem,                     
     In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Would to God that all the Lords people were Prophets.
                                        Numbers XI. ch 29 v."

Jerusalem, Plate 4, (E 146)
"Of the Sleep of Ulro! and of the passage through
Eternal Death! and of the awaking to Eternal Life.

This theme calls me in sleep night after night, & ev'ry morn
Awakes me at sun-rise, then I see the Saviour over me
Spreading his beams of love, & dictating the words of this mild song.  

Awake! awake O sleeper of the land of shadows, wake! expand!
I am in you and you in me, mutual in love divine:"

Blake is specific in naming nations to make it clear that Albion is inclusive and that his prophetic words are appropriate for everyone, everywhere.

Milton, Plate 31 [34],(E130)
"And all Nations wept in affliction Family by Family
Germany wept towards France & Italy: England wept & trembled
Towards America: India rose up from his golden bed:
As one awakend in the night: they saw the Lord coming            
In the Clouds of Ololon with Power & Great Glory!"

Jerusalem, Plate 24, (E 170)
"Thy Sons came to Jerusalem with gifts, she sent them away
With blessings on their hands & on their feet, blessings of gold,
And pearl & diamond: thy Daughters sang in her Courts:           
They came up to Jerusalem; they walked before Albion
In the Exchanges of London every Nation walkd
And London walkd in every Nation mutual in love & harmony
Albion coverd the whole Earth, England encompassd the Nations,
Mutual each within others bosom in Visions of Regeneration;      
Jerusalem coverd the Atlantic Mountains & the Erythrean,
From bright Japan & China to Hesperia France & England.
Mount Zion lifted his head in every Nation under heaven:
And the Mount of Olives was beheld over the whole Earth:
The footsteps of the Lamb of God were there: but now no more     
No more shall I behold him, he is closd in Luvahs Sepulcher."

Jerusalem, Plate 72, (E 227)
"These are the Land of Erin

All these Center in London & in Golgonooza. from whence
They are Created continually East & West & North & South
And from them are Created all the Nations of the Earth           
Europe & Asia & Africa & America, in fury Fourfold! 
[Legend on image] 
Continually Building. Continually Decaying because of
Love & Jealousy

And Thirty-two the Nations: to dwell in Jerusalems Gates
O Come ye Nations Come ye People Come up to Jerusalem
Return Jerusalem & dwell together as of old! Return
Return! O Albion let Jerusalem overspread all Nations            
As in the times of old! O Albion awake! Reuben wanders
The Nations wait for Jerusalem. they look up for the Bride

France Spain Italy Germany Poland Russia Sweden Turkey
Arabia Palestine Persia Hindostan China Tartary Siberia
Egypt Lybia Ethiopia Guinea Caffraria Negroland Morocco          
Congo Zaara Canada Greenland Carolina Mexico
Peru Patagonia Amazonia Brazil. Thirty-two Nations
And under these Thirty-two Classes of Islands in the Ocean
All the Nations Peoples & Tongues throughout all the Earth

And the Four Gates of Los surround the Universe Within and       
Without; & whatever is visible in the Vegetable Earth, the same
Is visible in the Mundane Shell; reversd in mountain & vale"

Jerusalem, Plate 97, (E 256)
"Awake! Awake Jerusalem! O lovely Emanation of Albion
Awake and overspread all Nations as in Ancient Time
For lo! the Night of Death is past and the Eternal Day
Appears upon our Hills: Awake Jerusalem, and come away

So spake the Vision of Albion & in him so spake in my hearing   
The Universal Father. Then Albion stretchd his hand into Infinitude."

Inscriptions, (E 671)                  
     "Albion rose from where he labourd at the Mill with Slaves
     Giving himself for the Nations he danc'd the dance of Eternal Death"

Revelation 22
[1] And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
[2] In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
[3] And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
[4] And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
[5] And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. 
 
 

Saturday, February 19, 2022

MORAVIAN MOTHER 4

Library of Congress
Book of Urizen
Copy G, Plate 21

Symbolically the words heart and love are used as synonyms. In this passage from Road to Salem by Adelaide Fries we see how the Moravians equated the love within Christ with the love within the heart of mankind. William Blake may have grown up with the understanding that within our hearts is that love given by God but unless it is kept alive by faith and practice it may sleep unexpressed. 

From Road to Salem:

"It quoted the address which Brother von Watteville then made to the children, in which he 'spoke of the inexpressible blessedness which came through the birth of Christ,' spoke also of the 'flame of love' which burned in the heart of Christ, leading Him to give himself for the redemption of the world, which should kindle an answering flame in the heart of every child who heard the story. He told them that each child was about to receive a lighted wax taper, tied with a small red ribbon, to remind them all of what he had just explained to them; and the account in the old church paper even gave the verse he sang for them:

'Oh little Jesus, Thee I love!
Kindle a pure and holy flame
Within the heart of every child
Like that which from Thine own heart came.'" (Page 132) 
 
Songs of Innocence, Songs 9, (E 9)
"Little Black Boy
 
And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love,
And these black bodies and this sun-burnt face      
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

SONGS 10  
For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear
The cloud will vanish we shall hear his voice.
Saying: come out from the grove my love & care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.

 

Blake personified in the Zoa Luvah as the emotional nature of man. In its unfallen state it was uncontaminated by the distortions which characterize love's expression on our world. Blake looked at the dynamics of the Four Zoas to show ways in which each perfect state had become destructive rather than productive. Much of what Blake said about Luvah were expressions of his condition in the fallen world. In his poem William Bond, Blake recognized how love should be sought in the fallen world in which we live. The world of sorrow and darkness is the same world which moved the heart of the Christ to suffer for the redemption of the world. 

Songs and Ballads, William Bond, (E 497)
"I thought Love livd in the hot sun Shine                 
But O he lives in the Moony light
I thought to find Love in the heat of day
But sweet Love is the Comforter of Night

Seek Love in the Pity of others Woe
In the gentle relief of anothers care               
In the darkness of night & the winters snow
In the naked & outcast Seek Love there"


Blake used Jerusalem, the Emanation of Albion, the Eternal man, to represent the unfallen condition which gave access to the total love of the Eternal which was universally available. But access to the spiritual dimension is also provided in this world. Man is capable of passing through the gates to heaven when he recognizes them and accepts the invitation. There are however obstructions which the individual must clear away before the way is open. 
Jerusalem, Plate 24, (E 170)
"Yet thou wast lovely as the summer cloud upon my hills
When Jerusalem was thy hearts desire in times of youth & love."

Milton, Plate 5, (E 98)
"And this is the manner of the Daughters of Albion in their beauty
Every one is threefold in Head & Heart & Reins, & every one
Has three Gates into the Three Heavens of Beulah which shine
Translucent in their Foreheads & their Bosoms & their Loins
Surrounded with fires unapproachable: but whom they please
They take up into their Heavens in intoxicating delight"

Jerusalem, Plate 9, (E 152)
"I took the sighs & tears, & bitter groans:
I lifted them into my Furnaces; to form the spiritual sword.
That lays open the hidden heart: "

The Moravian religion is said to be a Heart Religion since the relationship with the Savior, to them, is first experienced through the heart. Understanding of the Christ comes from the head and develops after the love from God is experience by the heart. 


"The theological understanding of the Ancient Moravian Church was particularly formed by its dividing all theological and ecclesial matters into essentials, ministerials and incidentals. For it the essential was the relationship with the Triune God expressed in the three-fold response of faith, love and hope. In the Zinzendorfian period we have the emphasis on basic truths or fundamentals, and Heart Religion (the heart relationship with the Savior) -- somewhat equivalent to the essential of the Ancient Church. This is a very explicit theology, though it is not a systematic theology. Zinzendorf, for example, did not write a systematic theology because he theologically believed that it was not possible -- one cannot know and express God that way."

Jerusalem, Plate 86, (E 244)
"I see thy Form O lovely mild Jerusalem, Wingd with Six Wings
In the opacous Bosom of the Sleeper, lovely Three-fold
In Head & Heart & Reins, three Universes of love & beauty"


Zinzendorf's refusal to formulate a systematic theology parallels Blake's using symbolic language to express in his poetry and designs the truth which he could not express in prosaic or scientific language. The struggle between Luvah and Urizen demonstrated the division between the heart and head which he experienced internally and which plagued the Age of Enlightenment in which he lived.  

Jerusalem, Plate 52, (E 201)
"Your Religion O Deists: Deism, is the Worship of the God
of this World by the means of what you call Natural Religion and
Natural Philosophy, and of Natural Morality or
Self-Righteousness, the Selfish Virtues of the Natural Heart. 
This was the Religion of the Pharisees who murderd Jesus.  Deism
is the same & ends in the same.
 Voltaire Rousseau Gibbon Hume. charge the Spiritually Religious
with Hypocrisy! but how a Monk or a Methodist either, can be a
Hypocrite: I cannot concieve.  We are Men of like passions with
others & pretend not to be holier than others: therefore, when a
Religious Man falls into Sin, he ought not to be calld a
Hypocrite: this title is more properly to be given to a Player
who falls into Sin; whose profession is Virtue & Morality & the
making Men Self-Righteous.  Foote in calling Whitefield,
Hypocrite: was himself one: for Whitefield pretended not to be
holier than others: but confessed his Sins before all the World;
Voltaire! Rousseau! You cannot escape my charge that you are
Pharisees & Hypocrites, for you are constantly talking of the
Virtues of the Human Heart, and particularly of your own, that
you may accuse others & especially the Religious, whose errors,
you by this display of pretended Virtue, chiefly design to
expose.

Jerusalem, Plate 98
"And the Bow is a Male & Female & the Quiver of the Arrows of Love,
Are the Children of this Bow: a Bow of Mercy & Loving-kindness: laying
Open the hidden Heart in Wars of mutual Benevolence Wars of Love
And the Hand of Man grasps firm between the Male & Female Loves  
And he Clothed himself in Bow & Arrows in awful state Fourfold
In the midst of his Twenty-eight Cities each with his Bow breathing"

Four Zoas, Night V, Page 62, (E 343)
"When satiated with grief they returnd back to Golgonooza     
Enitharmon on the road of Dranthon felt the inmost gate          , 
Of her bright heart burst open & again close with a deadly pain 
Within her heart Vala began to reanimate in bursting sobs       
And when the Gate was open she beheld that dreary Deep          
Where bright Ahania wept. She also saw the infernal roots        

Of the chain of Jealousy & felt the rendings of fierce howling Orc" 
Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 85, (E 360)
She burst the Gates of Enitharmons heart with direful Crash
Nor could they ever be closd again the golden hinges were broken
And the gates broke in sunder & their ornaments defacd       
Beneath the tree of Mystery for the immortal shadow shuddering

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 95, (E 368)
If we unite in one[,] another better world will be      
Opend within your heart & loins & wondrous brain
Threefold as it was in Eternity & this the fourth Universe 
Will be Renewd by the three & consummated in Mental fires
But if thou dost refuse Another body will be prepared"

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 86, (E 369)
Los trembling answerd Now I feel the weight of stern repentance
Tremble not so my Enitharmon at the awful gates    
Of thy poor broken Heart I see thee like a shadow withering
As on the outside of Existence but look! behold! take comfort!
Turn inwardly thine Eyes & there behold the Lamb of God
Clothed in Luvahs robes of blood descending to redeem
O Spectre of Urthona take comfort O Enitharmon   
Couldst thou but cease from terror & trembling & affright
When I appear before thee in forgiveness of ancient injuries   
Why shouldst thou remember & be afraid. I surely have died in pain
Often enough to convince thy jealousy & fear & terror
Come hither be patient let us converse together because  
I also tremble at myself & at all my former life

Enitharmon answerd I behold the Lamb of God descending
To Meet these Spectres of the Dead I therefore fear that he
Will give us to Eternal Death fit punishment for such
Hideous offenders Uttermost extinction in eternal pain"  

Friday, February 11, 2022

MORAVIAN MOTHER 3

British Museum
Jacob's Ladder
c.1799-1807

Psalms 133

[1] Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

Another name for the Moravian Church is Unity of the Brethern or Unitas Fratrum in Latin. The early origins of the Moravian movement came in 1457 AD when John Huss declared that the Bible, not the Pope or bishops, was the final authority for the church. "Hus wanted to return the Church in Bohemia and Moravia to the practices of early Christianity: performing the liturgy in the language of the people, allowing lay people to receive both the bread and the cup during communion, and eliminating Papal indulgences and the idea of purgatory." There were both successful and unsuccessful attempts by the people of eastern Europe to follow the beliefs introduced by Huss. It wasn't until 1722 that disaffected bands of Protestants from Moravia were given refuge on his estate in Saxony by Count Zinzendorf.

The community which grew on Zinzendorf's estate at Herrnhut became an experiment in living together in Brotherhood as is implied by the name Unity of the Brethern.

"Count Zinzendorf's ideal was a fellowship of all Christians, regardless of denominational names, and the Moravian Brethren sought in the Diaspora not to convert people to the Moravian Church but to awaken the hearts of believers and make them better members of the churches to which they already belonged."

John 10 
[16] And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
[17] Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
[18] No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 17
[11] And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
[21] That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
[22] And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one
[23] I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

The concept of Brotherhood depends on the love which is know as agape - love which is self-giving not self-protecting, or self-agandising. It aims to freely provide for the needs of others rather than seeking to receive a reward in return. When Blake wrote the Clod and the Pebble he pointed out the difference between the agape love which characterizes brotherhood and selfish love which uses a semblance of love to benefit oneself at the cost of others. Brotherhood is unifying, selfishness is divisive.

Songs of Experience, Plate 32, (E 19)
"The CLOD & the PEBBLE                 
Love seeketh not Itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care;
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hells despair. 19

     So sang a little Clod of Clay, 
     Trodden with the cattles feet:
     But a Pebble of the brook,
     Warbled out these metres meet.

Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to Its delight:
Joys in anothers loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heavens despite."

When Blake wrote of Brotherhood he discriminated between the the earthly and the heavenly. The Brotherhood which may be experience in our present circumstances is an image of the Universal Brotherhood of Eden - the eternal dimension. When Jesus met with his disciples after the resurrection, he emphasized to them that unity or oneness, 1) among his followers, 2) between himself and his followers, and 3) between his followers and God, is what we shall do on earth if we live in the Eternal Dimension.  

Milton, Plate 23 [25], (E 119)
"Remember how Calvin and Luther in fury premature
Sow'd War and stern division between Papists & Protestants
Let it not be so now! O go not forth in Martyrdoms & Wars
We were plac'd here by the Universal Brotherhood & Mercy
With powers fitted to circumscribe this dark Satanic death
And that the Seven Eyes of God may have space for Redemption."

Milton, Plate 32 [35], (E 131)
"But the Divine Humanity & Mercy gave us a Human Form           
Because we were combind in Freedom & holy Brotherhood"

The Brotherhood to which Blake referred results from the internalization of God, or to a realization that like Jesus we are incarnations. The selfish love of Vala is external or of the earth, the brotherly love grows from recognizing the God which is within our hearts, and minds and bodies and spirits.

Jerusalem, Plate 4, (E 146)
"I am not a God afar off, I am a brother and friend;
Within your bosoms I reside, and you reside in me: 
Lo! we are One; forgiving all Evil; Not seeking recompense!      
Ye are my members O ye sleepers of Beulah, land of shades!"

Jerusalem, Plate 29 [33](E 176)
[Vala speaks]
"Born of the Woman to obey the Woman O Albion the mighty
For the Divine appearance is Brotherhood, but I am Love"

There is much more that Blake says about Brotherhood but nothing is more powerful than this passage. If we realize that we subsist "by Brotherhood & Universal Love" how can we fail to seek to know that Universal Love or to implement that Brotherhood.

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 133, (E 401)
"And One of the Eternals spoke All was silent at the feast 

Man is a Worm wearied with joy he seeks the caves of sleep
Among the Flowers of Beulah in his Selfish cold repose
Forsaking Brotherhood & Universal love in selfish clay
Folding the pure wings of his mind seeking the places dark
Abstracted from the roots of Science then inclosd around   
In walls of Gold we cast him like a Seed into the Earth
Till times & spaces have passd over him duly every morn
We visit him covering with a Veil the immortal seed
With windows from the inclement sky we cover him & with walls
And hearths protect the Selfish terror till divided all 

In families we see our shadows born. & thence we know | Ephesians
That Man subsists by Brotherhood & Universal Love     |    iii c.
We fall on one anothers necks more closely we embrace |   10 v   

Not for ourselves but for the Eternal family we live
Man liveth not by Self alone but in his brothers face            
Each shall behold the Eternal Father & love & joy abound

So spoke the Eternal at the Feast they embracd the New born Man
Calling him Brother image of the Eternal Father. they sat down
At the immortal tables sounding loud their instruments of joy
Calling the Morning into Beulah the Eternal Man rejoicd"  
 
 

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

MORAVIAN MOTHER 2

Yale center for British Art
Jerusalem
Plate 76

Wounds of Jesus the Christ

Head wound - crown of thorns and striking of his head were used in mocking of Jesus

Hand wounds - pierced with nails to be hung from cross

Foot wounds - body supported by nails driven into the feet

Side wound - pierced by soldier's spear; water and blood flowed from wound

__________________

Matthew 29
[27] Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
[28] And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
[29] And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
[30] And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
[31] And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
 
John 19  
[28] After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
[29] Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
[30] When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
[31] The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
[32] Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
[33] But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
[34] But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 
[35] And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
[36] For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
[37] And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
 
John 20
[19] Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
[20] And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
[21] Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
[22] And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
[23] Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
[24] But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
[25] The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
[26] And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
[27] Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 
[28] And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 


In the article Recovering the Lost Moravian History of William Blake’s Family by Keri Davies and Marsha Keith Schuchard we can read the letter that Blake's mother wrote when applying for membership in the Congregation of the Lamb which was the Moravian group meeting in Fetter Lane.

"The Moravian Church archive also contains a letter of application from Catherine Armitage, expressing the same intense “Blood and Wounds” Moravian spirituality as her husband’s...The letter bears no date, but is probably written at the same time as her husband’s, 14 November 1750."

"My Dear Bretheren & Sistors
I have very littell to say of my self for I am a pore crature and full of wants but my Dear Saviour will satisfy them all I should be glad if I could allways lay at the Cross full as I do know thanks be to him last friday at the love feast Our Savour was pleased to make me Suck his wounds and hug the Cross more then Ever and I trust will more and more till my fraile nature can hould no more at your request I have rit but I am not worthy of the blessing it is desird for I do not Love our Dear Savour halfe enough but if it is will to bring me among his hapy flock in closer conection I shall be very thankful I would tell you more of my self but itt is nothing thats good so now I will rite of my Savour that is all Love
Here let me drink for ever drink
nor never once depart
for what I tast makes me to cry
fix at this Spring My heart
Dear Savour thou has seen how oft
I’ve turnd away from thee
O let thy work renewd to day
Remain eternally
Catherine Armitage"


This letter displays the emphasis on the Wounds of Jesus and on the Cross on which Jesus was crucified. These ideas dominated the theology of Count Zinzendorf the primary Moravian Church leader who died in 1760 when William Blake was a young child. The Zinzendorf theology focused attention on the suffering of Jesus as payment for the sins of individuals. By participating in the pain, physical and mental, which Jesus endured on the cross and in the events leading up to the crucifixion, Zinzendorf taught that the penitent became worthy of having his sins forgiven. Jesus was seen as the Lamb whose blood was shed as a sacrifice for sinful mankind.
 
Isaiah 53
[1] Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
[2] For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
[3] He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
[4] Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
[5] But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
[6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
[7] He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
[8] He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
[9] And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
[10] Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.