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"