IMAGINATION

1st Corinthians 15
[44] It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
[45] Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
[46] But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual.
[47] The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
[48] As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.
[49] Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
[50] I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

British Museum
Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

Within sentient beings is the ability to create images. To different species, the world appears differently because their senses and brains are constructed differently. A dog's world is said to be dominated by smell. A butterfly constructs his reality through an eye which produces multiple images. Migrating birds are guided by vibrations to which humans are insensible. We would not recognize the world we now know if we were given another being's senses as a replacement for our own. We construct our world by mentally ordering sensory data through mental processing to build images.

To Blake the ordinary process of producing images is analogous to a higher level of image building or consciousness which is Imagination. The human infant is immersed in a world of sensation which he must decipher with his physical brain. Blake tells us that we are immersed in a reality of spiritual sensation which we can decipher with our Imaginations to produce images of Eternity. For Blake the exercise of Imagination was almost automatic, for others it must be cultivated to be actualized.

Annotations to Berkeley's Siris, (E 664)
"Knowledge is not by deduction but Immediate by Perception or
Sense at once   Christ addresses himself to the Man not to his
Reason"

Blake uses the word Imagination to point to the ability to perceive not through sensation, reason and emotion but though immersion in the universal being whom he calls Albion. Imagination may be described as a direct, unprocessed experience of an outer world which connects through our inner world with the unity of all life. To Imagination the inner world is pregnant with the outer, and the outer with the inner. The fruit which is borne in the inner produces abundant manifestations outwardly. Man has the opportunity through Imagination to engage in a process of shedding his garments layer by layer until he is released into the Divine Presence.

Annotations to Wordsworth's Poems, (E 666)
"Imagination is the Divine Vision not of The
World nor of Man nor from Man as he is a Natural Man but only as
he is a Spiritual Man Imagination has nothing to do with Memory"

To live in the world of Imagination is to give less credence to the conventional world of exchange of material things and more attention to the exchange of ideas and images. If we could see our world less in the form of property and power and more in the form of empathy and relationships, we could enter the Eternal world by being carried by the Fiery Chariot of Contemplative Thought.

A Vision of the Last Judgment,  (E  560)
 "If the Spectator could Enter into these Images in his
Imagination approaching them on the Fiery Chariot of his
Contemplative Thought if he could Enter into Noahs Rainbow or
into his bosom or could make a Friend & Companion of one of these
Images of wonder which always intreats him to leave mortal things
as he must know then would he arise from his Grave then would he
meet the Lord in the Air & then he would be happy   General
Knowledge is Remote Knowledge it is in Particulars that Wisdom
consists & Happiness too.  Both in Art & in Life General Masses
are as Much Art as a Pasteboard Man is Human Every Man has Eyes
Nose & Mouth this Every Idiot knows but he who enters into &
discriminates most minutely the Manners & Intentions the
Characters in all their branches is the
alone Wise or Sensible Man & on this discrimination All Art is
founded"    

Jerusalem, Plate 36 [40], (E 181)
"Los shudder'd at beholding Albion, for his disease
Arose upon him pale and ghastly: and he call'd around
The Friends of Albion: trembling at the sight of Eternal Death
The four appear'd with their Emanations in fiery
Chariots: black their fires roll beholding Albions house of Eternity               
Damp couch the flames beneath and silent, sick, stand shuddering
Before the Porch of sixteen pillars: weeping every one
Descended and fell down upon their knees round Albions knees,
Swearing the Oath of God! with awful voice of thunders round
Upon the hills & valleys, and the cloudy Oath roll'd far and wide

Albion is sick! said every Valley, every mournful Hill
And every River: our brother Albion is sick to death.
He hath leagued himself with robbers! he hath studied the arts
Of unbelief! Envy hovers over him! his Friends are his abhorrence!
Those who give their lives for him are despised!                 
Those who devour his soul, are taken into his bosom!
To destroy his Emanation is their intention:
Arise! awake O Friends of the Giant Albion
They have perswaded him of horrible falshoods!
They have sown errors over all his fruitful fields!              

The Twenty-four heard! they came trembling on watry chariots.
Borne by the Living Creatures of the third procession
Of Human Majesty, the Living Creatures wept aloud as they
Went along Albions roads, till they arriv'd at Albions House."

Annotations to Berkeley's Siris, (E 663)
 "Jesus considerd Imagination to be the Real Man & says I will
not leave you Orphanned and I will manifest myself to you   he
says also the Spiritual Body or Angel as little Children always
behold the Face of the Heavenly Father" 

John 14
[16] And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
[17] Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
[18] I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
[19] Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 

Jerusalem, Plate 71, (E 225)  
"For all are Men in Eternity. Rivers Mountains Cities Villages, 
All are Human & when you enter into their Bosoms you walk 
In Heavens & Earths; as in your own Bosom you bear your Heaven 
And Earth, & all you behold, tho it appears Without it is Within 
In your Imagination of which this World of Mortality is but a Shadow."

.

REJECTING ERROR

British Museum
Small Book of Designs
from Book of Urizen

Fire is thought of as the great consumer because it transforms matter into smoke and ash. Since the remains after a fire appear to be less that the original substance, if we didn't know the law of conservation of matter we would assume that matter had been destroyed. Instead matter in the solid state has changed into matter in a gaseous state, and energy stored in the fuel has been released as heat and light. Blake uses the image of fire as a transforming force more than as a destroying force. Blake is interested in the transition man makes from temporal to eternal, from mortal to immortal.

The Last Judgment for Blake is such a transition. What is consumed is the Old Man so that the New Man may be born. Or we may say that the accumulation of error which limits man's growth is burned up and he is left with a fresh slate. To be consumed is not to be punished or tortured but to be purified or refined in order to release man from his imprisonments.

Songs of Innocence & of Experience, Song 52, (E 30)
To Tirzah  
"Whate'er is Born of Mortal Birth,
Must be consumed with the Earth
To rise from Generation free;
Then what have I to do with thee?"

Marriage of Heaven & Hell, Plate 14, (E 39)
   "The ancient tradition that the world will be consumed in fire
at the  end of six thousand years is true. as I have heard from
Hell.
   For the cherub with his flaming sword is hereby commanded to 
leave his guard at the tree of life, and when he does, the whole 
creation will be consumed, and appear infinite. and holy whereas
it now  appears finite & corrupt.

Marriage of Heaven & Hell, Plate 22, (E 43) 
"When he had so spoken: I beheld the Angel who stretched out
his arms embracing the flame of fire & he was consumed and arose
as Elijah."

Milton, Plate 18 [20], (E 111)
"Orc answerd. Take not the Human Form O loveliest. Take not
Terror upon thee! Behold how I am & tremble lest thou also
Consume in my Consummation; but thou maist take a Form
Female & lovely, that cannot consume in Mans consummation
Wherefore dost thou Create & Weave this Satan for a Covering[?]  
When thou attemptest to put on the Human Form, my wrath  
Burns to the top of heaven against thee in Jealousy & Fear.
Then I rend thee asunder, then I howl over thy clay & ashes
When wilt thou put on the Female Form as in times of old
With a Garment of Pity & Compassion like the Garment of God      
His garments are long sufferings for the Children of Men
Jerusalem is his Garment & not thy Covering Cherub O lovely
Shadow of my delight who wanderest seeking for the prey."

Milton, Plate 25 [27], (E 122)
"The other two Classes;
The Reprobate who never cease to Believe, and the Redeemd,       
Who live in doubts & fears perpetually tormented by the Elect
These you shall bind in a twin-bundle for the Consummation--
But the Elect must be saved [from] fires of Eternal Death,
To be formed into the Churches of Beulah that they destroy not the Earth"

Milton, Plate 25 [27], (E 122)
"Crave not for the mortal & perishing delights, but leave them
To the weak, and pity the weak as your infant care; Break not
Forth in your wrath lest you also are vegetated by Tirzah
Wait till the Judgement is past, till the Creation is consumed
And then rush forward with me into the glorious spiritual    
Vegetation; the Supper of the Lamb & his Bride; and the
Awaking of Albion our friend and ancient companion.

So Los spoke. But lightnings of discontent broke on all sides round
And murmurs of thunder rolling heavy long & loud over the mountains
While Los calld his Sons around him to the Harvest & the Vintage."

A Vision of the Last Judgment, (E 565)
    The Last Judgment is an Overwhelming of Bad Art & Science. 
Mental Things are alone Real what is Calld Corporeal Nobody Knows
of its Dwelling Place   it is in Fallacy & its Existence an
Imposture  Where is the Existence Out of Mind or Thought Where is
it but in the Mind of a Fool.  Some People flatter themselves
that there will be No Last Judgment & that Bad Art will be
adopted & mixed with Good Art That Error or Experiment will make
a Part of Truth & they Boast that it is its Foundation these
People flatter themselves   I will not Flatter them Error is
Created Truth is Eternal Error or Creation will be Burned Up &
then & not till then Truth or Eternity will appear It is Burnt up
the Moment Men cease to behold it I assert for My self that I do
not behold the Outward Creation & that to me it is hindrance &
not Action it is as the Dirt upon my feet No part of Me. What it
will be Questiond When the Sun rises  do  you  not  see  a  round 
Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea O no no I see an Innumerable
company of the Heavenly host crying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord
God Almighty I question not my Corporeal or Vegetative Eye any
more than I would Question a Window concerning a Sight I look
thro it & not with it."

A Vision of the Last Judgment, (E 562)
 "What are all the Gifts of the
Spirit but Mental Gifts whenever any Individual Rejects Error &
Embraces Truth a Last Judgment passes upon that Individual" 

---

Isaiah 48
[6] "You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I make you hear new things, hidden things which you have not known.
[7] They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, `Behold, I knew them.'
[8] You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and that from birth you were called a rebel.
[9] "For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.
[10] Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

Exodus
[1] Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Mid'ian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
[2] And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

Hebrews 12
[22] But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
[23] and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
[24] and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.
[25] See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
[26] His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven."
[27] This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain.
[28] Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe;
[29] for our God is a consuming fire.
. 

CATHEDRAL CITIES

Yale Center for British Art
Jerusalem, Copy E, Plate 54

The alternative to Eternal Life surrounding Jesus enthroned in the heavens is Eternal Death which man would experience if the body of Albion were allowed to fall down into the deeps. In the post The Divine Humanity we saw that the whole process of the life of mankind could be incorporated in a single universal body. We can see this ultimate fall into the deeps as a mental breakdown of an individual when the integration into a unified mind has been lost. The breakdown in society following the destruction of war or natural disaster would be equally devastating. 

We can postulate in our own times the consequences if the whole structure which holds together the functioning of our civilization were destroyed by a cataclysmic event. Blake postulated spiritual and mental conditions which would result if what holds together the mind, the body or the society were to lose their integrity. To Blake it is the Divine Family which as an expression of God's mercy prevents Albion from slipping away. We met the four and twenty elders in considering the images of the Last Judgment; we meet them now as those in whom the Divine Family appeared.
 
We learn that Blake associated the four and twenty elders with the twenty-four cathedral cities of Britain. Blake was critical of the established religion of his day but used the cathedral cities as means or redemption. 

A church like a city is not a physical structure or an organization but is the people who comprise it. Blake could condemn the organization while he recognized the value of the human components whose lives were expressed collectively through the organization. The cathedral cities were a valid symbol for the spiritual protection provided by God's mercy because individuals sought through the church to listen to God's word.

Jerusalem, Plate 36 [40]
"O! how the torments of Eternal Death, waited on Man:     
And the loud-rending bars of the Creation ready to burst:
That the wide world might fly from its hinges, & the immortal mansion
Of Man, for ever be possess'd by monsters of the deeps:
And Man himself become a Fiend, wrap'd in an endless curse,
Consuming and consum'd for-ever in flames of Moral Justice.      

For had the Body of Albion fall'n down, and from its dreadful ruins
Let loose the enormous Spectre on the darkness of the deep,
At enmity with the Merciful & fill'd with devouring fire,
A nether-world must have recievd the foul enormous spirit,
Under pretence of Moral Virtue, fill'd with Revenge and Law.     
There to eternity chain'd down, and issuing in red flames
And curses, with his mighty arms brandish'd against the heavens
Breathing cruelty blood & vengeance, gnashing his teeth with pain
Torn with black storms, & ceaseless torrents of his own consuming fire:
Within his breast his mighty Sons chaind down & fill'd with cursings:     
And his dark Eon, that once fair crystal form divinely clear:
Within his ribs producing serpents whose souls are flames of fire.
But, glory to the Merciful-One, for he is of tender mercies!
And the Divine Family wept over him as One Man.

And these the Twenty-four in whom the Divine Family    
Appear'd; and they were One in Him. A Human Vision!
Human Divine, Jesus the Saviour, blessed for ever and ever."

Jerusalem, Plate 71, (E 225)
"And these the Names of Albions Twelve Sons, & of his Twelve Daughters
With their Districts. Hand dwelt in Selsey & had Sussex & Surrey
And Kent & Middlesex: all their Rivers & their Hills, of flocks & herds:
Their Villages Towns Cities Sea-Ports Temples sublime Cathedrals;
All were his Friends & their Sons & Daughters intermarry in Beulah
For all are Men in Eternity. Rivers Mountains Cities Villages,
All are Human & when you enter into their Bosoms you walk
In Heavens & Earths; as in your own Bosom you bear your Heaven
And Earth, & all you behold, tho it appears Without it is Within
In your Imagination of which this World of Mortality is but a Shadow."

Milton, Plate 42 [49], (E 143) 
"And I beheld the Twenty-four Cities of Albion
Arise upon their Thrones to Judge the Nations of the Earth
And the Immortal Four in whom the Twenty-four appear Four-fold
Arose around Albions body: Jesus wept & walked forth
From Felphams Vale clothed in Clouds of blood, to enter into     
Albions Bosom, the bosom of death & the Four surrounded him
In the Column of Fire in Felphams Vale; then to their mouths the Four
Applied their Four Trumpets & them sounded to the Four winds"

S Foster Damon's book A Blake Dictionary has a long section on the Cathedral Cities including a map with their locations. On Page 72 he writes:

"Despite Blake's continuous attacks on established churches, he recognized from the beginning that 'the Gothic Artists who Built the Cathedrals' were true Christians; and that, in spite of all errors and corruptions, the central idea of the churches was their fundamental and eternal reality; and that this reality, in crucial times, was bound to manifest."
. 

THE DIVINE HUMANITY

British Museum
Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

Blake's images of the Last Judgment were a way for him to present the journey of man and of mankind through life. As we have seen the Eternal realm is represented in the upper part of the pictures. Kathleen Raine, however, tells us that the Divine Humanity includes all of the process of circling through the states and returning to the origin.
 

Reading on Page 152 of Golgonooza: City of Imagination:     
"Not only is the Divine Humanity the sum of all the blessed spirits who together comprise the 'heavens' but so with all the 'states' of being, whether of the heavens or the hells. Within the greater being of the Divine Humanity all these States exist, like organs of a single body. Of all these human States the Scriptures provides Blake (following Swedenborg) with representative types of 'All that can happen to Man in his pilgrimage of seventy years'... Thus the groups of figures, or individual figures, in Blake's composition are representatives of collectivities, the composition as a whole representing the universal body of the Divine Humanity, the Grand Man of the Heavens. So understood the painting's approximation to an organic unity comprising in a single life all the figures, whether in the celestial, the infernal or intermediate regions becomes understandable; as does the appearance of a flow, a circulation of life within the unity - the Person - within whom all humanity is seen to live and move and have our being." 
 
Acts 17
[18] Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him [Paul]. And some said, "What would this babbler say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities" -- because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
[19] And they took hold of him and brought him to the Are-op'agus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is which you present?
[20] For you bring some strange things to our ears; we wish to know therefore what these things mean."
[21] Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
[22] So Paul, standing in the middle of the Are-op'agus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
[23] For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, `To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
[24] The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man,
[25] nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything.
[26] And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation,
[27] that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us,
[28] for `In him we live and move and have our being';
as even some of your poets have said, `For we are indeed his offspring.'

Milton, Plate 13 [14], (E 107)
"The Bard replied. I am Inspired! I know it is Truth! for I Sing
Plate 14 [15]
According to the inspiration of the Poetic Genius
Who is the eternal all-protecting Divine Humanity
To whom be Glory & Power & Dominion Evermore Amen"

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

Jerusalem, Plate 49, (E 198)
"O Polypus of Death O Spectre over Europe and Asia
Withering the Human Form by Laws of Sacrifice for Sin            
By Laws of Chastity & Abhorrence I am witherd up.
Striving to Create a Heaven in which all shall be pure & holy
In their Own Selfhoods, in Natural Selfish Chastity to banish Pity
And dear Mutual Forgiveness; & to become One Great Satan
Inslavd to the most powerful Selfhood: to murder the Divine Humanity    
In whose sight all are as the dust & who chargeth his Angels with folly!"

Jerusalem, Plate 61, (E 212)
"Before I had ever beheld with love the Face of Jehovah; or known
That there was a God of Mercy: O Mercy O Divine Humanity!
O Forgiveness & Pity & Compassion! If I were Pure I should never
Have known Thee; If I were Unpolluted I should never have      
Glorified thy Holiness, or rejoiced in thy great Salvation."

Design of the Last Judgment, (E 554)
To Ozias Humphry Esq
"many Infants appear in the Glory
representing the Eternal Creation flowing from the Divine
Humanity in Jesus who opens the Scroll of Judgment upon his knees
before the Living & the Dead
     Such is the Design which you my Dear Sir have been the cause
of my producing & which but for you might have slept till the
Last Judgment"

Jerusalem, Plate 16, (E 161)
"All things acted on Earth are seen in the bright Sculptures of
Los's Halls & every Age renews its powers from these Works
With every pathetic story possible to happen from Hate or
Wayward Love & every sorrow & distress is carved here
Every Affinity of Parents Marriages & Friendships are here       
In all their various combinations wrought with wondrous Art
All that can happen to Man in his pilgrimage of seventy years
Such is the Divine Written Law of Horeb & Sinai:
And such the Holy Gospel of Mount Olivet & Calvary:" 

. 

MAN WALKS FORTH

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 138, (E 406)
"The Sun has left his blackness & has found a fresher morning     
And the mild moon rejoices in the clear & cloudless night  
And Man walks forth from midst of the fires the evil is all consumd
His eyes behold the Angelic spheres arising night & day
The stars consumd like a lamp blown out & in their stead behold
The Expanding Eyes of Man behold the depths of wondrous worlds 
One Earth one sea beneath nor Erring Globes wander but Stars
Of fire rise up nightly from the Ocean & one Sun
Each morning like a New born Man issues with songs & Joy
Calling the Plowman to his Labour & the Shepherd to his rest
He walks upon the Eternal Mountains raising his heavenly voice   
Conversing with the Animal forms of wisdom night & day
That risen from the Sea of fire renewd walk oer the Earth"

From Page 307 of Fearful Symmetry by Northrop

Wikimedia Commons
The Four and Twenty Elders

Frye:

"Urizen so far has taken the lead, for the apocalypse is the clearing of the human brain, which is Urizen's rightful place. The imagination sees the physical world as the underground or Platonic cave of the real world, the den of Urthona. Men have just beaten their swords into plowshares, and by the ingenious modulation of the 'harrowing of Hell' symbol Blake  has Urizen plow up the surface of this cemetery of buried seeds. An imaginative spring is approaching, and the seeds begin to push upward into eternal daylight. Man may now recover, in order, the world of Luvah or unfallen Generation, the eternal soil, and the world of Tharmas or Beulah, the eternal garden. As this represents the recovery of innocence, a long and very beautiful interlude in pastoral symbolism deals with it. The last spring has now gone through the last summer and is waiting for the harvest of the last autumn, a season which can no longer be called 'fall.'

As Urizen reaches into the stars for the sickle all creation begins to pour out human life. The sea, the home of the daughters of Oceanus who fell with Prometheus, gives up its dead; slaves and all kinds of crushed and denied life grow into maturity; and animals and plants take on human character. The 'metamorphoses' in Ovid, in which nymphs collapse into vegetable and watery existences, are images of the Fall; and in the resurrection they change back to human forms. Luvah gathers the vintage, Tharmas threshes the corn and Los, now Urthona, grinds the corn. The entire imagination of Man is made into bread and wine, and as the poem dies away a second winter approaches, a winter not of death but of repose and of the storing of food, an untroubled sleep before Man awakens for the eternal feast with the other Gods in the hall of reconquered stars."

Revelation 14
[13]And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"
[14]Then I looked, and lo, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.
[15] And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat upon the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe."
[16] So he who sat upon the cloud swung his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
[17]And another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
[18] Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has power over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe."
[19] So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God;
[20] and the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse's bridle, for one thousand six hundred stadia. 
. 

TRUMPET'S SOUND 3

A Vision of the Last Judgment
Page 51 Drawings of William Blake: 92 Pencil Studies
By Sir Geoffrey Keynes

This post is a continuation of TRUMPET'S SOUND 2.

The upper part of The Vision of the Last Judgment, surrounding the image of Jesus seated on his throne, represents conditions in the unfallen world. In the Eternal world beyond time and space man is not passing thought the states characterizing fall and return. Man has traversed the states of error which led him downward or brought him upward. Under the Lord's  protection he has embraced Truth. Humanity is shown in the blissful condition of enjoying the Mental Delights of "conversing with Eternal Realities as they Exist in the Human Imagination."

A Vision of the Last Judgment, (E 561)
     "Around the Throne Heaven is opend & the Nature of
Eternal Things Displayd All Springing from the Divine Humanity
All beams from him Because as he himself has said All
dwells in him He is the Bread & the Wine he is the Water of
Life accordingly on Each Side of the opening Heaven appears an
Apostle that on the Right  
Represents Baptism that on the Left Represents the Lords Supper

All Life consists of these Two Throwing off Error & Knaves from
our company continually & recieving Truth or Wise Men into our
Company Continually. he who is out of the Church & opposes it is
no less an Agent of Religion than he who is in it. to be an Error
& to be Cast out is a part of Gods Design    No man can Embrace
True Art till he has Explord & Cast out False Art such is the
Nature of Mortal Things or he will be himself Cast out by those
who have Already Embraced True Art    Thus My Picture is a
History of Art & Science 
Society Which is Humanity itself.  What are all the Gifts of the
Spirit but Mental Gifts whenever any Individual Rejects Error &
Embraces Truth a Last Judgment passes upon that Individual 

     Over the Head of the Saviour & Redeemer The Holy
Spirit like a Dove is surrounded by a blue Heaven in which are
the two Cherubim that bowd over the Ark for here the temple is
opend in Heaven & the Ark of the Covenant is as a Dove of Peace  
The Curtains are drawn apart Christ having rent the Veil The
Candlestick & the Table of Shew bread appear on Each side a
Glorification of Angels with Harps surround the Dove 
     The Temple stands on the Mount of God from it flows on each
side the River of Life on whose banks Grows the tree of Life
among whose branches temples & Pinnacles tents & pavilions
Gardens & Groves Display Paradise with its Inhabitants walking up
& down in Conversations concerning Mental Delights 
     Here they are no longer talking of what is Good &
Evil or of what is Right or Wrong & puzzling themselves in Satans
Labyrinth But are Conversing with Eternal
Realities as they Exist in the Human Imagination   We are in a
World of Generation & death & this world we must cast off if we
would be Painters Such as Rafael Mich Angelo & the
Ancient Sculptors. if we do not cast off this world we shall be
only Venetian Painters who will be cast off & Lost from Art 
     Jesus is surrounded by Beams of Glory in which are
seen all around him Infants emanating from him   these represent
the Eternal Births of Intellect from the divine Humanity   A
Rainbow surrounds the throne & the Glory in which youthful
Nuptials recieve the infants in their hands   In Eternity Woman is
the Emanation of Man she has No Will of her own There is no such
thing in Eternity as a Female Will
     On the Side next Baptism are seen those calld in the Bible
Nursing Fathers & Nursing Mothers  they have Crowns the
Spectator may suppose them to be the good Kings Queens
of England  they represent Education   On the Side
next the Lords Supper.  The Holy Family consisting of Mary Joseph
John the Baptist Zacharias & Elizabeth recieving the Bread & Wine
among other Spirits of the Just
made perfect. beneath these a Cloud of Women & Children are taken
up fleeing from the rolling Cloud which separates the Wicked from
the Seats of Bliss.  These represent those who tho willing were
too weak to Reject Error without the Assistance & Countenance of
those Already in the Truth for a Man Can only Reject Error by the
Advice of a Friend or by the Immediate Inspiration of God it is
for this Reason among many others that I have put the Lords
Supper on the Left hand of the Throne for it appears so
at the Last Judgment for a Protection"

TRUMPET'S SOUND 2

This post is a continuation of TRUMPET'S SOUND. We reached the bottom of the page

A Vision of the Last Judgment
Page 51 Drawings of William Blake: 92 Pencil Studies
By Sir Geoffrey Keynes

by following the Fall on the left side of Jesus. Blake's account continues the circular movement from the bottom on the right of Jesus moving upward. The area surrounding the throne will be included in a later post.

A Vision of the Last Judgment, (E 558)
"while the Wicked contend with each other on the brink of 
perdition.  on tho Right a Youthful couple are awakd by
their Children an Aged patriarch is awakd by his aged wife He is
Albion our Ancestor patriarch of the Atlantic Continent whose
History Preceded that of the Hebrews & in whose Sleep or Chaos
Creation began,  at their head
the Aged Woman is Brittannia  the Wife of Albion   Jerusalem is
their Daughter  little Infants creep out of   
ground       flowery mould into the Green fields of the
blessed who in various joyful companies embrace & ascend to meet
Eternity 
     The Persons who ascend to Meet the Lord coming in the Clouds
with power & great Glory. are representations of those States
described in the Bible under the Names of the Fathers before &
after the Flood Noah is seen in the Midst of these Canopied by a
Rainbow. on his right hand Shem & on his Left Japhet these three
Persons represent Poetry Painting & Music the three Powers in
Man of conversing with Paradise which the flood did not Sweep
away 
     Above Noah is the Church Universal represented by a Woman
Surrounded by Infants There is such a State in Eternity it is
composed of the Innocent civilized Heathen & the Uncivilized
Savage who having not the Law do by Nature the things containd in
the Law.  This State appears like a Female crownd with Stars
driven into the Wilderness She has the Moon under her feet      
     The Aged Figure with Wings having a writing tablet & taking
account of the numbers who arise is That Angel of the Divine
Presence mentiond in Exodus XIVc 19v & in other Places this Angel
is frequently calld by the Name of Jehovah Elohim The I am of the
Oaks of Albion 
     Around Noah & beneath him are various figures Risen into the
Air among these are Three Females representing those who are
not of the dead but of those found Alive at the Last Judgment
they appear to be innocently gay & thoughtless   not among
the Condemnd because ignorant of crime in the midst of a
corrupted Age    the Virgin Mary was of this Class.  A Mother
Meets her numerous Family in the Arms of their Father these are
representations of the Greek Learned & Wise as also of those of
other Nations such as Egypt & Babylon in which were multitudes
who shall meet the Lord coming in the Clouds 
     The Children of Abraham or Hebrew Church are represented as
a Stream of Light   Figures on which are seen Stars
somewhat like the Milky way they ascend from the Earth where
Figures kneel Embracing above the Graves & Represent Religion or
Civilized Life such as it is in the Christian Church who are the
Offspring of the Hebrew  
Just above the graves & above the spot where the
Infants creep out of the Ground Stand two a Man & Woman these are
the Primitive Christians.  The two Figures in  flames
by the side of the Dragons cavern represents the Latter state of
the Church when on the verge of Perdition yet protected by a
Flaming Sword.  Multitudes are seen ascending from the Green
fields of the blessed in which a Gothic Church is representative
of true Art Calld Gothic in All Ages   On
the right hand of Noah a Woman with Children represents the State
Calld Laban the Syrian it is the Remains of Civilization in the
State from whence Abraham was  taken    On the
right hand of Noah A Female descends to meet her Lover or Husband
representative of that Love calld Friendship which Looks for no
other heaven than their Beloved & in him sees all reflected as in
a Glass of Eternal Diamond 
     On the right hand of these rise the Diffident & Humble & on
their left a solitary Woman with her infant these are caught up
by three aged Men who appear as suddenly emerging from the blue
sky for their help.  These three Aged Men represent Divine
Providence as opposd to & distinct from Divine vengeance
represented by three Aged men on the side of the Picture among
the Wicked with scourges of fire 
     If the Spectator could Enter into these Images in his
Imagination approaching them on the Fiery Chariot of his
Contemplative Thought if he could Enter into Noahs Rainbow or
into his bosom or could make a Friend & Companion of one of these
Images of wonder which always intreats him to leave mortal things
as he must know then would he arise from his Grave then would he
meet the Lord in the Air & then he would be happy
...
    Above the Head of Noah is Seth this State calld Seth is Male
& Female in a higher state of Happiness & wisdom than Noah being
nearer the State of Innocence beneath the feet of Seth two
figures represent the two Seasons of Spring & Autumn. while
beneath the feet of Noah Four Seasons represent [our present
changes of Extremes] the Changed State made by the flood. 
     By the side of Seth is Elijah he comprehends all the
Prophetic Characters he is seen on his fiery Chariot bowing
before the throne of the Saviour. in like manner The figures of
Seth & his wife Comprehends the Fathers before the flood & their
Generations when seen remote they appear as One Man. a little
below Seth on his right are Two Figures a Male & Female with
numerous Children these represent those who were not in the Line
of the Church & yet were Saved from among the Antediluvians who
Perished. between Seth & these a female figure with the back
turnd represents the Solitary State of those who previous
to the Flood walked with God  
     All these arise toward the opening Cloud before the Throne
led onward by triumphant Groupes of Infants. & the Morning Stars
sang together
     Between Seth & Elijah three Female Figures crownd with
Garlands Represent Learning & Science which accompanied Adam out
of Eden  
     The Cloud that opens rolling apart before the throne &
before the New Heaven & the New Earth is Composed of Various
Groupes of Figures particularly the Four Living Creatures
mentiond in Revelations as Surrounding the Throne these I suppose
to have the chief agency in removing the 
old heavens & the old Earth to make way for the New Heaven & the
New Earth to descend from the throne of God & of the Lamb. that
Living Creature on the Left of the Throne Gives to the Seven
Angels the Seven Vials of the wrath of God with which they
hovering over the Deeps beneath pour out upon the wicked their
Plagues   the Other Living Creatures are descending with a Shout &
with the Sound of the Trumpet Directing the Combats in the upper
Elements in the two Corners of the Picture      on the Left hand
Apollyon is foild before the Sword of Michael & on the Right the
Two Witnesses are subduing their Enemies    Around the Throne
Heaven is Opened     On the Cloud are opend the Books of
Remembrance of Life & of Death before that of Life on the Right
some figures bow in humiliation before that of Death on the
left the Pharisees are pleading their own Righteousness the one
Shines with beams of Light the other utters Lightnings & tempests
A Last Judgment is Necessary because Fools flourish"