Bohme III

new primer

CHANGE LINE SPACING HERE

According to Blake Ezekiel once acted out a bizarre symptom of the prospects of the Israelites, lying for an inordinate period of time on his left side, then another period on his right. Mr. Blake had a conversatiion with him about that and asked him why he had done it; the answer came clearly: "the desire of raising other [people] into a perception of the infinite" (Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 13. Who can doubt that William actually had that interview with Zeke? B Extracts from "PREFACE TO THE READER" of 'Signature'

(Bohme wrote this preface in straight prose pointing out the use of the "language of Zion", which he used much more often that William Blake did.  He was able to maintain the common devout language to express the divergences that he (and Blake as well) held regarding orthodoxy.)
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THIS book is a true mystical mirror of the highest wisdom. The best treasure that a man can attain unto in this world is true knowledge; even the knowledge of himself: For man is the great mystery of God, the microcosm, or the complete abridgment of the whole universe: He is the mirandum Dei opus, God's masterpiece, a living emblem and hieroglyphic of eternity and time; and therefore to know whence he is, and what his temporal and eternal being and well-being are, must needs be that ONE necessary thing, to which all our chief study should aim, and in comparison of which all the wealth of this world is but dross, and a loss to us.
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This is that wisdom which dwells in nothing, and yet possesses all things, and the humble resigned soul is its playfellow; this is the divine alloquy, the inspiration of the Almighty, the breath of God, the holy unction, which sanctifies the soul to be the temple of the Holy Ghost, which instructs it aright in all things, 

This is the precious pearl, whose beauty is more glorious, and whose virtue more sovereign than the sun: It is a never-failing comfort in all afflictions, a balsam for all sores, a panacea for all diseases, a sure antidote against all poison, and death itself; it is that joyful and assured companion and guide, which never forsakes a man, but convoys him through this valley of misery and death into the blessed paradise of perfect bliss.

If you ask, What is the way to attain to this wisdom? Behold! Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, tells you plainly in these words; "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me;" [*2] or as he

[p. 4]
says elsewhere, "Unless you be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of heaven:" or as St. Paul says, "If any man seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise." [*1]

Herein lies that simple childlike way to the highest wisdom, which no sharp reason or worldly learning can reach unto; nay, it is foolishness to reason, and therefore so few go the way to find it: The proud sophisters and wiselings of this world have always trampled it under foot with scorn and contempt, and have called it enthusiasm, madness, melancholy, whimsy, fancy, etc., but wisdom is justified of her children.
...............
This is the true theosophic school wherein this author learned the first rudiments and principles of wisdom, and to which we must go if we would understand his deep writings: For we must know that the sons of Hermes, who have commenced in the high school of true magic and theosophy, have always spoken their hidden wisdom in a mystery; and have so couched it under shadows and figures, parables and similies, that none can understand their obscure, yet clear writings, but those who have had admittance into the same school, and have tasted of the Feast of Pentecost.

And this does not seem at all strange to the children of divine Mercury; for the mysteries of philosophy, divinity, and theosophy must not be profaned, and laid open to the view of the outward astral reason, which turns all to its selfish pride, covetousness, envy, wrath, and cunning hypocrisy; and therefore a parabolical or magical phrase or dialect is the best and plainest habit and dress that mysteries can have to travel in up and down this wicked world: And thus parable have a double and different respect and use; for as they conceal and hide secrets from the rude and vulgar sort, 
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We see here a mixture of New Testament wisdom and esoteric wisdom, such as "the sons of Hermes" and "children of divine Mercury"; this indicates that (like Blake) Bohme did not consider the Bible to be the sole Word of God.
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[p. 5]
patient to bear anything but what suits with their common conceits and opinions, so likewise they sweetly lead the mind of the true searcher into the depths of wisdom's council. They are as the cloudy pillar of Moses; they have a dark part, and they have a light part; they are dark to the Egyptians, the pharisaical sons of sophistry, but light to the true Israel, the children of the mystery.
(This also shows the unorthodox way with which Bohme used Scripture; it also gives evidence that he, too was widely read.)
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And therefore whoever will be nurtured and trained up by Sophia, and learn to understand and speak the language of wisdom, must be born again of and in the Word of Wisdom, Christ Jesus, the Immortal Seed: The divine essence which God breathed into his paradisical soul must be revived, and he must become one again with that which he was in God before he was a creature, and then his Eternal Spirit may enter into that which is within the veil, and see not only the literal, but the moral, allegorical, and anagogical meaning of the wise and their dark sayings: He then will be fit to enter, not only into Solomon's porch, the outer court of natural philosophy, sense and reason, but likewise into the inward court of holy and spiritual exercises, in divine understanding and knowledge; and so he may step into the most inward and holiest place of theosophical mysteries, into which none are admitted to come, but those who have received the high and holy unction.
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(Blake said:
    "Ive a wife I love and that loves me.
    Ive all but Riches Bodily"
Paul, the apostle wrote in Philippians 3:
"What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ"


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I will now endeavour briefly to hint to the reader what this book contains, though in it the spirit of wisdom cannot be delineated with pen and ink, no more than a sound can be painted, or the wind grasped in the hollow of the hand: But know, that in it he deciphers and represents in a lively manner the Signature of all Things, and gives you the contents of eternity and time, and glances at all mysteries.
In a word, his intent is to let you know the inward power and property by the outward sign;
But the proud scorner that will take no warning is of Lucifer's regiment, who saw the mystery of God's kingdom to stand in meekness, simplicity, and deep humility, and therefore out of his pride would aspire to be above the divine love, and harmony
[p. 7]
of obedience to God's will, and so fell into the abyss of the dark world, into the outmost darkness of the first principle, which we call Hell, where he and his legions are captives; from which the Almighty God of Love deliver us.

I will end with the words of the author at the conclusion of the book, where he says thus; "I have faithfully, with all true admonition, represented to the reader what the Lord of all beings has given me; he may behold himself in this looking-glass [*1] within and without, and so he shall find what and who he is: Every reader, be he good or bad, will find his profit and benefit therein: It is a very clear gate of the great mystery of all beings: By glosses, commentaries, curiosity and self-wit, none shall be able to reach or apprehend it in his own ground; but it may very well meet and embrace the true seeker, and create him much profit and joy; yea be helpful to him in all natural things, provided he applies himself to it aright, and seeks in the fear of God, seeing it is now a time of seeking; for a lily blossoms upon the mountains and valleys in all the ends of the earth: 'He that seeketh findeth.'" And so I commend the reader to the grace and love of Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Footnotes

^3:1 Cor. ii. 10.

^3:2 Luke ix. 23.

^4:1 1 Cor. iii. 13.

Plate 55

“PLATE 55

When those who disregard all Mortal Things, saw a Mighty-One

Among the Flowers of Beulah still retain his awful strength

They wonderd; checking their wild flames & Many gathering

Together into an Assembly; they said, let us go down

And see these changes! Others said, If you do so prepare       

For being drived from our fields, what have we to do with the

    Dead?

To be their inferiors or superiors we equally abhor;

Superior, none we know: inferior none: all equal share

Divine Benevolence & joy, for the Eternal Man

Walketh among us, calling us his Brothers & his Friends:       

Forbidding us that Veil which Satan puts between Eve & Adam

By which the Princes of the Dead enslave their Votaries

Teaching them to form the Serpent of precious stones & gold

To sieze the Sons of Jerusalem & plant them in One Mans Loins

To make One Family of Contraries: that Joseph may be sold      

Into Egypt: for Negation; a Veil the Saviour born & dying rends.

Plate 55

But others said: Let us to him who only Is, & who

Walketh among us, give decision. bring forth all your fires!

So saying, an eternal deed was done: in fiery flames

The Universal Conc[l]ave raged, such thunderous sounds as never t

Were sounded from a mortal cloud, nor on Mount Sinai old

Nor in Havilah where the Cherub rolld his redounding flame.

Loud! loud! the Mountains lifted up their voices, loud the

    Forests

Rivers thunderd against their banks, loud Winds furious fought

Cities & Nations contended in fires & clouds & tempests.       

The Seas raisd up their voices & lifted their hands on high

The Stars in their courses fought. the Sun! Moon! Heaven! Earth.

Contending for Albion & for Jerusalem his Emanation

And for Shiloh, the Emanation of France & for lovely Vala.

Then far the greatest number were about to make a Separation   

And they Elected Seven, calld the Seven Eyes of God;

Lucifer, Molech, Elohim, Shaddai, Pahad, Jehovah, Jesus.

They namd the Eighth. he came not, he hid in Albions Forests

But first they said: (& their Words stood in Chariots in array

Curbing their Tygers with golden bits & bridles of silver &

    ivory)    

Let the Human Organs be kept in their perfect Integrity

At will Contracting into Worms, or Expanding into Gods

And then behold! what are these Ulro Visions of Chastity[!]

Then as the moss upon the tree: or dust upon the plow:

Or as the sweat upon the labouring shoulder: or as the chaff

Of the wheat-floor or as the dregs of the sweet wine-press

Such are these Ulro Visions, for tho we sit down within

The plowed furrow, listning to the weeping clods till we

Contract or Expand Space at will: or if we raise ourselves

Upon the chariots of the morning. Contracting or Expanding Time!

Every one knows, we are One Family! One Man blessed for ever

Silence remaind & every one resumd his Human Majesty

And many conversed on these things as they labourd at the furrow

Saying: It is better to prevent misery, than to release from

    misery

It is better to prevent error, than to  forgive the criminal:  

Labour well the Minute Particulars, attend to the Little-ones:

And those who are in misery cannot remain so long

If we do but our duty: labour well the teeming Earth.

They Plow'd in tears, the trumpets sounded before the golden Plow

And the voices of the Living Creatures were heard in the clouds

    of heaven

Crying: Compell the Reasoner to Demonstrate with unhewn

   Demonstrations

Let the Indefinite be explored. and let every Man be judged

By his own Works, Let all Indefinites be thrown into

    Demonstrations

To be pounded to dust & melted in the Furnaces of Affliction:

He who would do good to another, must do it in Minute

    Particulars

General Good is the plea of the scoundrel hypocrite & flatterer:

For Art & Science cannot exist but in minutely organized

    Particulars

And not in generalizing Demonstrations of the Rational Power.

The Infinite alone resides in Definite & Determinate Identity

Establishment of Truth depends on destruction of Falshood

    continually  

On Circumcision: not on Virginity, O Reasoners of Albion

So cried they at the Plow. Albions Rock frowned above

And the Great Voice of Eternity rolled above terrible in clouds

Saying Who will go forth for us! & Who shall we send before our

    face?

(Erdman 204-5)

Notes on Plate 55:

This plate begins with an account of activity of ‘those who disregard all mortal things’, in other words the Eternal Ones. They had observed the redemption of Albion and his parts (described in the previous chapter). Some wanted to 'go down’ to Beulah, but others urged caution: 'don’t get mixed up with the dead’, they said, because the Divine Man had forbidden them Satan’s veil (prevalent in mortal life). “a veil the Saviour born and dying rends”.
“So saying an eternal deed was done..” Blake proceeds to picture the tumultuous event.  It led to their election “of the Seven Eyes of God” (Night 1 of The Four Zoas dwells on the Seven Eyes, and Milton Percival has a chapter on them; it’s very profitable to read both of these interpretations.)

plate 52a

|The Spiritual States of


|the Soul are all Eternal  


Rahab is an       |   To the Deists.      |Distinguish between the

Eternal State                              Man, & his present State  

He never can be a Friend to the Human Race who is the Preacher
of Natural Morality or Natural Religion. he is a flatterer who
means to betray, to perpetuate Tyrant Pride & the Laws of that
Babylon which he foresees shall shortly be destroyed, with the
Spiritual and not the Natural Sword: He is in the State named
Rahab: which State must be put off before he can be the Friend of
Man.

You O Deists profess yourselves the Enemies of Christianity:
and you are so: you are also the Enemies of the Human Race and of
Universal Nature.  Man is born a Spectre or Satan and is altogether
an Evil, and requires a New Selfhood continually and must continually
be changed into his direct Contrary.  But your Greek Philosophy
(which is a remnant of Druidism) teaches that Man is Righteous in
his Vegetated Spectre: an Opinion of fatal & accursed consequence
to Man, as the Ancients saw plainly by Revelation to the intire
abrogation of
Experimental Theory. and many believed what they saw, and
Prophecied of Jesus.
Man must and will have Some Religion; if he has not the Religion
of Jesus, he will have the Religion of Satan, & will erect the
Synagogue of Satan. calling the Prince of this World, God; and
destroying all who do not worship Satan under the Name of God.
Will any one say: Where are those who worship Satan under the
Name of God! Where are they? Listen! Every Religion that Preaches
Vengeance for Sins the Religion of the Enemy & Avenger; and not
the Forgiver of Sin, and their God is Satan, Named by the Divine
Name   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 and 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 and 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 and Morality and 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 and especially the Religious, whose errors,
you by this display of pretended Virtue, chiefly design to
expose.  Rousseau thought Men Good by Nature; he found them Evil
and found no friend.  Friendship cannot exist without Forgiveness
of Sins continually.  The Book written by Rousseau calld his
Confessions is an apology and cloke for his sin and not a confession.
But you also charge the poor Monks and Religious with being the
causes of War: while you acquit and flatter the Alexanders and
Caesars, the Lewis's and Fredericks: who alone are its causes  its
actors.  But the Religion of Jesus, Forgiveness of Sin, can never
be the cause of a War nor of a single Martyrdom.

Those who Martyr others or who cause War are Deists, but never
can be Forgivers of Sin.  The Glory of Christianity is, To
Conquer by Forgiveness.  All the Destruction therefore, in
Christian Europe has arisen from Deism, which is Natural
Religion.                         

I saw a Monk of Charlemaine     Arise before my sight

I  talkd with the Grey Monk as we stood                       
in beams of infernal light

Plate 52

Gibbon arose with a lash of steel                            
And Voltaire with a wracking wheel
The Schools in clouds of learning rolld                      
Arose with War in iron and gold.

Thou lazy Monk they sound afar                               
In vain condemning glorious War                                
And in your Cell you shall ever dwell                        
Rise War and bind him in his Cell.

The blood. red ran from the Grey Monks side
His hands and feet were wounded wide
His body bent, his arms and knees         

Like to the roots of ancient trees


When Satan first the black bow bent
And the Moral Law from the Gospel rent
He forgd the Law into a Sword
And spilld the blood of mercys Lord.
Titus! Constantine!  Charlemaine!          

O Voltaire! Rousseau! Gibbon! Vain
Your Grecian Mocks and Roman Sword               
Against this image of his Lord!

For a Tear is an Intellectual thing;                      
And a Sigh is the Sword of an Angel King
And the bitter groan of a Martyrs woe                        
Is an Arrow from the Almighties Bow!

(Erdman 200-202)

Notes:
 

In Chapter Three, To the Deists, Blake gave free rein to his life long hostility to Conventional Religion, which in upper classes at least boiled down to Deism.  They believed in a God who created the world (like a monstrous watch, and left it to function thereafter on its own; This God (in the far away) had little or now concern for his human creatures. This was about as opposite to Blake faith and values as one could get.

So In Plate 52 he resorted to detailed reasoned arguments, pretty much tearing that faith to pieces.

In particular “Natural Morality or Natural Religion” was the way Deists described their faith.  

Quakers believed ‘there was that of God in every man’, and Blake (like Christians) might have said that of God in the Redeemed men.

Anyway Blake goes on to excoriate those who call Christians hypocrits:

“Man must and will have Some Religion; if he has not the Religion

of Jesus, he will have the Religion of Satan, & will erect the

Synagogue of Satan. calling the Prince of this World, God;”

There he describes Deism as the Religion of Satan.  

I know of nothing in Blake’s corpus eloquent than the Monk of Charlemaine:

"O Voltaire! Rousseau! Gibbon! Vain

Your Grecian Mocks and Roman Sword               

Against this image of his Lord!

For a Tear is an Intellectual thing;                      

And a Sigh is the Sword of an Angel King

And the bitter groan of a Martyrs woe

Is an Arrow from the Almighties Bow!"

 

Boehme and Blake

Disregarding Milton and Shakespeare Blake may be considered a look-a-like of the man who had lived in an earlier century.

1. Both were raised in comfortable lower middle class families.
    Blake in London,
    Boehme in Goerlitz, Germany.

2. Neither had a formal academic education, but through voracious reading they became highly learned men, particularly in terms of the Perennial Philosophy.

3. Both became apprentices of a respectable trade:

   Boehme of shoe-making,

   Blake of engraving.

4. Both practically lived in the pages of the Bible and gave highly individualistic interpretations of it.

5. Both scorned the conventional religions of their land:

In Germany everyone automatically belonged to the state religion.

In England a multitude of ‘sects’ had risen; the young Blake had flirtations with some of them, but in adultood was committed to none.

6. Both depreciated Reason in favor of Vision.

7. Both married a girl named Catherine/Katarina and lived through periods of poverty.

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More on 5:
From William Law's Boehm; this from The Teutonic Theosopher

"In this my earnest Christian seeking and desire, the gate was opened unto me, so that in one quarter of an hour I saw and knew more than if I had been many years together at an University; at which I did exceedingly admire, and I knew not how it happened to me; and thereupon I turned my heart to praise God for it.

"For I saw and knew the Being of all Beings, the Byss and Abyss; also the eternal generation of the Holy Trinity; the descent, and origin of this world, and of all creatures, through the divine Wisdom; I knew and saw in myself all the three Worlds; namely, the Divine, Angelical, and Paradisical World and then the Dark World, the original of the Nature to the fire; and then thirdly, the external, and visible World, being a Procreation, or External Birth; or as a substance expressed, or spoken forth, from both the internal and spiritual Worlds; and I saw, and knew the whole  working Essence in the evil, and in the good; and the mutual origin, and existence of each of them; and likewise how the fruitful bearing Womb of Eternity brought forth, so that I did not only greatly wonder at it, but did also exceedingly rejoice."

William Law said of Boehme's writings, "The true ground of every doctrine and article of Christian faith and practice is there opened in such a ravishing, amazing depth of clearness of truth and conviction as had never been seen or heard in any age of the Church."

Do you remember how often Blake's pictures had three levels, especially Illustrations of The Book of Job.
Blake used 'Gates' often in his poetry.
Both men used 'time' with great freedom. 

For Blake there was a corresponding three fold category of Heaven, Hell and Beulah or of Eternity, Ulro, and regenerated Beulah.

Another  corresponding triad was Jerusalem, Rahab, and Tirzah.

Blake and Boehme

Blake and Boehme

In a letter to a friend and supporter, John Flaxman Blake had this to say:

"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; Milton lovd me in childhood &
   shewd me his face
Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years
    gave me his hand
Paracelsus & Behmen appeard to me."

Of all the sources of Blake's inspiration Boehme (whom he spelled 

Behmen) was the one whose style (and values perhaps) most resembled 

his own. It would pay great dividends for any Blake student to 

give close attention to his work.  There's a multitude of close 

correspondence between the poetry and thought of the two 

Visionaries.

About 30 years older than Milton Jacob Boehme had a number of 

English followers; the Behmenites were said to be absorbed into 

the Society of Friends.  

 "“Jacob Behmont’s Books were the chief books that the
Quakers bought, for there is the Principle or Foundation of their
Religion.” A Looking Glass for George Fox, 1667, p. 5 

Many of Blake's visions resemble those of the German shoe maker.

Blake had no children; Boehme six. Blake's poetry was ignored for 

the most part; Boehme's writing led to persecution. Sir Isaac 

Newton thought that his theory of gravitation was inspired by 

something Boehme.

Blake read the English translation of Rev. William Law, four 

voumes between 1764 and 1781 (when Blake was 24); and in Plate 22

of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell we read:

 "Any man of mechanical talents may from the writings of 

Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volume of equal

value with Swedenborg's..."

"What influenced Blake most in [Behmen's writings] was Behmen's 

aanalysis of the psyche and the interaction of it's parts.  There 

....are three worlds: the Dark Fire-World, (Hell or the 

Subconscious). Above is the Light World (Heaven) (Read Damon page

40 for the rest of this quote.)

Going on "Heaven and Hell are essential to each other; they exist

simultaneously in God....The third World is the Outer World of 

Nature. (Damon of pages 39-41 has a comprehensive and excellent

write up on Boehme.)

Blake and Boehme

In a letter to a friend and supporter, John Flaxman Blake had this to say:

"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; Milton lovd me in childhood &
   shewd me his face
Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years
    gave me his hand
Paracelsus & Behmen appeard to me."

Of all the sources of Blake's inspiration Boehme (whom he spelled 

Behmen) was the one whose style (and values perhaps) most resembled 

his own. It would pay great dividends for any Blake student to 

give close attention to his work.  There's a multitude of close 

correspondence between the poetry and thought of the two 

Visionaries.

About 30 years older than Milton Jacob Boehme had a number of 

English followers; the Behmenites were said to be absorbed into 

the Society of Friends.  

 "“Jacob Behmont’s Books were the chief books that the
Quakers bought, for there is the Principle or Foundation of their
Religion.” A Looking Glass for George Fox, 1667, p. 5 

Many of Blake's visions resemble those of the German shoe maker.

Blake had no children; Boehme six. Blake's poetry was ignored for 

the most part; Boehme's writing led to persecution. Sir Isaac 

Newton thought that his theory of gravitation was inspired by 

something Boehme.

Blake read the English translation of Rev. William Law, four 

voumes between 1764 and 1781 (when Blake was 24); and in Plate 22

of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell we read:

 "Any man of mechanical talents may from the writings of 

Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volume of equal

value with Swedenborg's..."

"What influenced Blake most in [Behmen's writings] was Behmen's 

aanalysis of the psyche and the interaction of it's parts.  There 

....are three worlds: the Dark Fire-World, (Hell or the 

Subconscious). Above is the Light World (Heaven) (Read Damon page

40 for the rest of this quote.)

Going on "Heaven and Hell are essential to each other; they exist

simultaneously in God....The third World is the Outer World of 

Nature. (Damon of pages 39-41 has a comprehensive and excellent

write up on Boehme.)

Boehme

In a letter to a friend and supporter, John Flaxman Blake had this to say:
"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; 
Milton lovd me in childhood and shewd me his face 
Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, 
but Shakespeare in riper years gave me his hand 
Paracelsus and Behmen appeard to me."    

Of all the sources of Blake's inspiration Boehme (whom he spelled  Behmen) was the one whose style (and values perhaps) most resembled  his own. It would pay great dividends for any Blake student to  give close attention to his work. There's a multitude of close  correspondence between the poetry and thought of the two  Visionaries. 

About 30 years older than Milton Jacob Boehme had a number of 

English followers; the Behmenites were said to be absorbed into 

the Society of Friends.  

 "“Jacob Behmont’s Books were the chief books that the
Quakers bought, for there is the Principle or Foundation of their
Religion.” A Looking Glass for George Fox, 1667, p. 5 

Many of Blake's visions resemble those of the German shoe maker.

Blake had no children; Boehme six. Blake's poetry was ignored for 

the most part; Boehme's writing led to persecution. Sir Isaac 

Newton thought that his theory of gravitation was inspired by 

something Boehme.

Blake read the English translation of Rev. William Law, four 

voumes between 1764 and 1781 (when Blake was 24); and in Plate 22

of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell we read:

 "Any man of mechanical talents may from the writings of 

Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volume of equal

value with Swedenborg's..."

"What influenced Blake most in [Behmen's writings] was Behmen's 

aanalysis of the psyche and the interaction of it's parts.  There 

....are three worlds: the Dark Fire-World, (Hell or the 

Subconscious). Above is the Light World (Heaven) (Read Damon page

40 for the rest of this quote.)

Going on "Heaven and Hell are essential to each other; they exist

simultaneously in God....The third World is the Outer World of 

Nature. (Damon of pages 39-41 has a comprehensive and excellent

write up on Boehme.)

Blake and Boehme

In a letter to a friend and supporter, John Flaxman Blake had this to say:

"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; Milton lovd me in childhood &
   shewd me his face
Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years
    gave me his hand
Paracelsus & Behmen appeard to me."

Of all the sources of Blake's inspiration Boehme (whom he spelled 

Behmen) was the one whose style (and values perhaps) most resembled 

his own. It would pay great dividends for any Blake student to 

give close attention to his work.  There's a multitude of close 

correspondence between the poetry and thought of the two 

Visionaries.

About 30 years older than Milton Jacob Boehme had a number of 

English followers; the Behmenites were said to be absorbed into 

the Society of Friends.  

 "“Jacob Behmont’s Books were the chief books that the
Quakers bought, for there is the Principle or Foundation of their
Religion.” A Looking Glass for George Fox, 1667, p. 5 

Many of Blake's visions resemble those of the German shoe maker.

Blake had no children; Boehme six. Blake's poetry was ignored for 

the most part; Boehme's writing led to persecution. Sir Isaac 

Newton thought that his theory of gravitation was inspired by 

something Boehme.

Blake read the English translation of Rev. William Law, four 

voumes between 1764 and 1781 (when Blake was 24); and in Plate 22

of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell we read:

 "Any man of mechanical talents may from the writings of 

Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volume of equal

value with Swedenborg's..."

"What influenced Blake most in [Behmen's writings] was Behmen's 

aanalysis of the psyche and the interaction of it's parts.  There 

....are three worlds: the Dark Fire-World, (Hell or the 

Subconscious). Above is the Light World (Heaven) (Read Damon page

40 for the rest of this quote.)

Going on "Heaven and Hell are essential to each other; they exist

simultaneously in God....The third World is the Outer World of 

Nature. (Damon of pages 39-41 has a comprehensive and excellent

write up on Boehme.)

plate 51

Plate 51

For a better image try the Blake Archive Works (Firefox won't do that right now).
This picture separates the two halves of Jerusalem (Plate 100 is of the same type.)

On page 330 of Erdman's The Illuminated Blake instead of making his own notes he
extensively quoted page 397 of Lesnick's Forms; here are some extracts:

'Stones of fire' is mentioned near the end of Plate 49 and in the Prologues of Gates of Paradise 'To the Sexes':
"Mutual Forgiveness of each Vice 
Such are the Gates of Paradise 
Against the Accusers chief desire 
Who walkd among the Stones of Fire"

From Plate 49:
"Learn therefore O Sisters to distinguish the Eternal Human
That walks about among the stones of fire in bliss & woe
Alternate! from those States or Worlds in which the Spirit travels:
This is the only means to Forgiveness of Enemies[.]

The following two lines indicate that the speaker is a fallen one:

"Therefore remove from Albion these terrible Surfaces
And let wild seas & rocks close up Jerusalem away.."

In Lesnick's words, "This vision of the stones of fire...that must be removed is the center of the poem". Removing the vision, one falls.

Several prints of this plate title it Vala, Hyle and Scofield.
The spiked crown make Vala the whore queen. She is slumping and holding her head.
Hyle is a smaller version; Scofield is slumped, walking in chains.




 

Plate 52

|The Spiritual States of
|the Soul are all Eternal
Rahab is an | To the Deists. |Distinguish between the
Eternal State | |Man, & his present State

He never can be a Friend to the Human Race who is the Preacher
of Natural Morality or Natural Religion. he is a flatterer who
means to betray, to perpetuate Tyrant Pride & the Laws of that
Babylon which he foresees shall shortly be destroyed, with the
Spiritual and not the Natural Sword: He is in the State named
Rahab: which State must be put off before he can be the Friend of
Man.
You O Deists profess yourselves the Enemies of Christianity:
and you are so: you are also the Enemies of the Human Race & of
Universal Nature. Man is born a Spectre or Satan & is altogether
an Evil, & requires a New Selfhood continually & must continually
be changed into his direct Contrary. But your Greek Philosophy
(which is a remnant of Druidism) teaches that Man is Righteous in
his Vegetated Spectre: an Opinion of fatal & accursed consequence
to Man, as the Ancients saw plainly by Revelation to the intire
abrogation of

- 200 -

Experimental Theory. and many believed what they saw, and
Prophecied of Jesus.
Man must & will have Some Religion; if he has not the Religion
of Jesus, he will have the Religion of Satan, & will erect the
Synagogue of Satan. calling the Prince of this World, God; and
destroying all who do not worship Satan under the Name of God.
Will any one say: Where are those who worship Satan under the
Name of God! Where are they? Listen! Every Religion that Preaches
Vengeance for Sins the Religion of the Enemy & Avenger; and not
the Forgiver of Sin, and their God is Satan, Named by the Divine
Name 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. Rousseau thought Men Good by Nature; he found them Evil
& found no friend. Friendship cannot exist without Forgiveness
of Sins continually. The Book written by Rousseau calld his
Confessions is an apology & cloke for his sin & not a confession.
But you also charge the poor Monks & Religious with being the
causes of War: while you acquit & flatter the Alexanders &
Caesars, the Lewis's & Fredericks: who alone are its causes & its
actors. But the Religion of Jesus, Forgiveness of Sin, can never
be the cause of a War nor of a single Martyrdom.
Those who Martyr others or who cause War are Deists, but never
can be Forgivers of Sin. The Glory of Christianity is, To
Conquer by Forgiveness. All the Destruction therefore, in
Christian Europe has arisen from Deism, which is Natural
Religion.

I saw a Monk of Charlemaine
Arise before my sight
I talkd with the Grey Monk as we stood

Plate 52

In beams of infernal light

- 201 -

Gibbon arose with a lash of steel
And Voltaire with a wracking wheel
The Schools in clouds of learning rolld
Arose with War in iron & gold.

Thou lazy Monk they sound afar
In vain condemning glorious War
And in your Cell you shall ever dwell
Rise War & bind him in his Cell.

The blood. red ran from the Grey Monks side
His hands & feet were wounded wide
His body bent, his arms & knees
Like to the roots of ancient trees

When Satan first the black bow bent
And the Moral Law from the Gospel rent
He forgd the Law into a Sword
And spilld the blood of mercys Lord.

Titus! Constantine! Charlemaine!
O Voltaire! Rousseau! Gibbon! Vain
Your Grecian Mocks & Roman Sword
Against this image of his Lord!

For a Tear is an Intellectual thing;
And a Sigh is the Sword of an Angel King
And the bitter groan of a Martyrs woe
Is an Arrow from the Almighties Bow!

(Erdman 200-202)

Plate 50

Plate 50

Therefore remove from Albion these terrible Surfaces
And let wild seas & rocks close up Jerusalem away from
PLATE 50
The Atlantic Mountains where Giants dwelt in Intellect;
Now given to stony Druids, and Allegoric Generation
To the Twelve Gods of Asia, the Spectres of those who Sleep:
Sway'd by a Providence oppos'd to the Divine Lord Jesus:
A murderous Providence! A Creation that groans, living on Death.
Where Fish & Bird & Beast & Man & Tree & Metal & Stone
Live by Devouring, going into Eternal Death continually:
Albion is now possess'd by the War of Blood! the Sacrifice
Of envy Albion is become, and his Emanation cast out:
Come Lord Jesus, Lamb of God descend! for if; O Lord!
If thou hadst been here, our brother Albion had not died.
Arise sisters! Go ye & meet the Lord, while I remain--
Behold the foggy mornings of the Dead on Albions cliffs!
Ye know that if the Emanation remains in them:
She will become an Eternal Death, an Avenger of Sin
A Self-righteousness: the proud Virgin-Harlot! Mother of War!
And we also & all Beulah, consume beneath Albions curse.
So Erin spoke to the Daughters of Beulah. Shuddering
With their wings they sat in the Furnace, in a night
Of stars, for all the Sons of Albion appeard distant stars,
Ascending and descending into Albions sea of death.
And Erins lovely Bow enclos'd the Wheels of Albions Sons.

Expanding on wing, the Daughters of Beulah replied in sweet
response

Come O thou Lamb of God and take away the remembrance of Sin
To Sin & to hide the Sin in sweet deceit. is lovely!!
To Sin in the open face of day is cruel & pitiless! But
To record the Sin for a reproach: to let the Sun go down
In a remembrance of the Sin: is a Woe & a Horror!
A brooder of an Evil Day, and a Sun rising in blood
Come then O Lamb of God and take away the remembrance of Sin
End of Chap. 2
(Erdman 199-200)

Notes:

"The Atlantic Mountains where Giants dwelt in Intellect;"
Blake referred here to the time of yore before the cataclysmic Flood.

Jerusalem was closed up from it by "the Spectres of those who Sleep:"

"A murderous Providence! A Creation that groans, living on Death."
All this is a cogent description of the Fall (Creation came after the Fall). 

"Albion is now possess'd by the War of Blood! the Sacrifice
Of envy Albion is become, and his Emanation cast out:"

"Come Lord Jesus, Lamb of God descend! for if; O Lord!
If thou hadst been here, our brother Albion had not died.
Arise sisters! Go ye & meet the Lord,"

This sentence is completely biblical. It refers of course to
the story of Lazarus and his sisters (Mary and Martha)
(Luke 10:38-42), a prelude to the first 'resurrection'

This paragraph is ascribed to Erin, speaking to the Daughters of Beulah.

"Erin, the ancient name of Ireland, is the western most of the British Isles."
Damon

 They respond: "take away the remembrance of Sin" stated twice.

"to let the Sun go down
In a remembrance of the Sin: is a Woe & a Horror!"
That homely adage is seen in the lower right of the picture as a small arc
sinking into a black sea (Erdman p.329.
Like most of Blake's pictures, this one shows many things to many people.
Erdman saw two crowned heads, but Morton Paley showed a third one with a crown.
One obvious interpretation might be three zoas, the middle one Urizen,
the other two pensive with their head on their hand.
Above I see a veiled Vala. I'm completely unable to give any reasoned
interpretation of it, although Plate 51 is said to be related.

Plate 48

Therefore I write Albions last words. Hope is banish'd from me.

PLATE 48
These were his last words, and the merciful Saviour in his arms
Reciev'd him, in the arms of tender mercy and repos'd
The pale limbs of his Eternal Individuality
Upon the Rock of Ages. Then, surrounded with a Cloud:
In silence the Divine Lord builded with immortal labour,         
Of gold & jewels a sublime Ornament, a Couch of repose,
With Sixteen pillars: canopied with emblems & written verse.
Spiritual Verse, order'd & measur'd, from whence, time shall
     reveal.
The Five books of the Decologue, the books of Joshua & Judges,
Samuel, a double book & Kings, a double book, the Psalms &
     Prophets 
The Four-fold Gospel, and the Revelations everlasting
Eternity groan'd. & was troubled, at the image of Eternal Death!

Beneath the bottoms of the Graves, which is Earths central joint,
There is a place where Contrarieties are equally true:
(To protect from the Giant blows in the sports of intellect,     
Thunder in the midst of kindness, & love that kills its beloved:
Because Death is for a period, and they renew tenfold.)
From this sweet Place Maternal Love awoke Jerusalem

With pangs she forsook Beulah's pleasant lovely shadowy Universe
Where no dispute can come; created for those who Sleep.          

Weeping was in all Beulah, and all the Daughters of Beulah
Wept for their Sister the Daughter of Albion, Jerusalem:
When out of Beulah the Emanation of the Sleeper descended
With solemn mourning out of Beulahs moony shades and hills:
Within the Human Heart, whose Gates closed with solemn sound.   

And this the manner of the terrible Separation
The Emanations of the grievously afflicted Friends of Albion
Concenter in one Female form an Aged pensive Woman.
Astonish'd! lovely! embracing the sublime shade: the Daughters 
     of Beulah
Beheld her with wonder! With awful hands she took                
A Moment of Time, drawing it out with many tears & afflictions
And many sorrows: oblique across the Atlantic Vale
Which is the Vale of Rephaim dreadful from East to West,
Where the Human Harvest waves abundant in the beams of Eden
Into a Rainbow of jewels and gold, a mild Reflection from        
Albions dread Tomb. Eight thousand and five hundred years
In its extension. Every two hundred years has a door to Eden
She also took an Atom of Space, with dire pain opening it a
     Center
Into Beulah: trembling the Daughters of Beulah dried
Her tears. she ardent embrac'd her sorrows. occupied in labours  
Of sublime mercy in Rephaims Vale. Perusing Albions Tomb
She sat: she walk'd among the ornaments solemn mourning.
The Daughters attended her shudderings, wiping the death sweat
Los also saw her in his seventh Furnace, he also terrified
Saw the finger of God go forth upon his seventh Furnace:         
Away from the Starry Wheels to prepare Jerusalem a place.
When with a dreadful groan the Emanation mild of Albion.
Burst from his bosom in the Tomb like a pale snowy cloud,
Female and lovely, struggling to put off the Human form
Writhing in pain. The Daughters of Beulah in kind arms reciev'd  
Jerusalem: weeping over her among the Spaces of Erin,
In the Ends of Beulah, where the Dead wail night & day.

And thus Erin spoke to the Daughters of Beulah, in soft tears

Albion the Vortex of the Dead! Albion the Generous!
Albion the mildest son of Heaven! The Place of Holy Sacrifice! 
Where Friends Die for each other: will become the Place,
Of Murder, & Unforgiving, Never-awaking Sacrifice of Enemies
The Children must be sacrific'd! (a horror never known
Till now in Beulah.) unless a Refuge can be found
To hide them from the wrath of Albions Law that freezes sore     
Upon his Sons & Daughters, self-exiled from his bosom

Draw ye Jerusalem away from Albions Mountains
To give a Place for Redemption, let Sihon and Og
Remove Eastward to Bashan and Gilead, and leave

PLATE 49
The secret coverts of Albion & the hidden places of America

(Erdman 196-7) 

*************************************************************
 Notes:

Plate 48 starts with 'the merciful Saviour in his arms
Reciev'd him [Albion] and set him on the Rock of Ages coming from Isaiah 26:3, 
'everlasting Rock.'

     Rock is very persuasive in the Bible and in Blake:
When the Children in the wilderness from Egypt moaned because of lack of water, 

Moses angrily struck a rock, from which came 'everlasting water'  God penalized 
him for that lapse by prohibiting from from entering the Promised Land.

This is an example of the ambiguous way Blake (an the Bible as well) dealt with 
the events of the O.T.

The Divine Lord is working (timelessly) before Abraham or Moses: "Before Abraham 
was I am" was spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of John. (Many Bible students 
believe that Jesus was reported to have said he existed before Abraham; however 
a better idea (IMO) was that 'I am' was used elsewhere as a name for God. 
the books of the Bible: "from whence, time shall reveal. The Five books of the 
Decologue", etc. This is a step down from Heaven to earth (from the Eternal to 
the temporal).

Like so many of these posts Blake gives an alternation: heaven, fall to earth 
("I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven") (Luke 10:18; memorialized by 
Milton in Paradise Lost.)

"Eternity groan'd....at the image of Eternal Death!" we understand 'Eternal 
Death' to mean being born (from Heaven to 'this vale of tears'.

"a place where Contrarieties are equally true:" which is to say 'Beulah', the 
first in man's descent from Heaven.

   And on and on and on he goes.

38

PLATE 38 [43]
They saw their Wheels rising up poisonous against Albion
Urizen, cold & scientific: Luvah, pitying & weeping
Tharmas, indolent & sullen: Urthona, doubting & despairing
Victims to one another & dreadfully plotting against each other
To prevent Albion walking about in the Four Complexions.

They saw America clos'd out by the Oaks of the western shore;
And Tharmas dash'd on the Rocks of the Altars of Victims in
Mexico.
If we are wrathful Albion will destroy Jerusalem with rooty
Groves
If we are merciful, ourselves must suffer destruction on his
Oaks!
Why should we enter into our Spectres, to behold our own
corruptions
O God of Albion descend! deliver Jerusalem from the Oaken Groves!

Then Los grew furious raging: Why stand we here trembling around
Calling on God for help; and not ourselves in whom God dwells
Stretching a hand to save the falling Man: are we not Four
Beholding Albion upon the Precipice ready to fall into
Non-Entity:
Seeing these Heavens & Hells conglobing in the Void. Heavens over
Hells
Brooding in holy hypocritic lust, drinking the cries of pain

From howling victims of Law: building Heavens Twenty-seven-fold.
Swelld & bloated General Forms, repugnant to the Divine-
Humanity, who is the Only General and Universal Form
To which all Lineaments tend & seek with love & sympathy
All broad & general principles belong to benevolence
Who protects minute particulars, every one in their own identity.
But here the affectionate touch of the tongue is closd in by
deadly teeth
And the soft smile of friendship & the open dawn of benevolence
Become a net & a trap, & every energy renderd cruel,
Till the existence of friendship & benevolence is denied:
The wine of the Spirit & the vineyards of the Holy-One.
Here: turn into poisonous stupor & deadly intoxication:
That they may be condemnd by Law & the Lamb of God be slain!
And the two Sources of Life in Eternity[,] Hunting and War,
Are become the Sources of dark & bitter Death & of corroding
Hell:
The open heart is shut up in integuments of frozen silence
That the spear that lights it forth may shatter the ribs & bosom
A pretence of Art, to destroy Art: a pretence of Liberty
To destroy Liberty. a pretence of Religion to destroy Religion
Oshea and Caleb fight: they contend in the valleys of Peor
In the terrible Family Contentions of those who love each other:
The Armies of Balaam weep---no women come to the field
Dead corses lay before them, & not as in Wars of old.
For the Soldier who fights for Truth, calls his enemy his
brother:
They fight & contend for life, & not for eternal death!
But here the Soldier strikes, & a dead corse falls at his feet
Nor Daughter nor Sister nor Mother come forth to embosom the
Slain!
But Death! Eternal Death! remains in the Valleys of Peor.
The English are scatterd over the face of the Nations: are these
Jerusalems children? Hark! hear the Giants of Albion cry at night
We smell the blood of the English! we delight in their blood on
our Altars!
The living & the dead shall be ground in our rumbling Mills
For bread of the Sons of Albion: of the Giants Hand & Scofield
Scofeld & Kox are let loose upon my Saxons! they accumulate
A World in which Man is by his Nature the Enemy of Man,
In pride of Selfhood unwieldy stretching out into Non Entity
Generalizing Art & Science till Art & Science is lost.
Bristol & Bath, listen to my words, & ye Seventeen: give ear!
It is easy to acknowledge a man to be great & good while we
Derogate from him in the trifles & small articles of that
goodness:
Those alone are his friends, who admire his minutest powers[.]
Instead of Albions lovely mountains & the curtains of Jerusalem
I see a Cave, a Rock, a Tree deadly and poisonous, unimaginative:
Instead of the Mutual Forgivenesses, the Minute Particulars, I
see
Pits of bitumen ever burning: artificial Riches of the Canaanite

Like Lakes of liquid lead: instead of heavenly Chapels, built
By our dear Lord: I see Worlds crusted with snows & ice;
I see a Wicker Idol woven round Jerusalems children. I see
The Canaanite, the Amalekite, the Moabite, the Egyptian:
By Demonstrations the cruel Sons of Quality & Negation.
Driven on the Void in incoherent despair into Non Entity
I see America closd apart, & Jerusalem driven in terror
Away from Albions mountains, far away from Londons spires!
I will not endure this thing! I alone withstand to death,
This outrage! Ah me! how sick & pale you all stand round me!
Ah me! pitiable ones! do you also go to deaths vale?
All you my Friends & Brothers! all you my beloved Companions!
Have you also caught the infection of Sin & stern Repentance?
I see Disease arise upon you! yet speak to me and give
Me some comfort: why do you all stand silent? I alone
Remain in permanent strength. Or is all this goodness & pity,

only
That you may take the greater vengeance in your Sepulcher.

So Los spoke. Pale they stood around the House of Death:

In the midst of temptations & despair: among the rooted Oaks:
Among reared Rocks of Albions Sons, at length they rose
(Erdman 133-38)

PLATE 39 [44]
With one accord in love sublime,

Notes:

In 82 lines of turgid, opaque prose Blake here expressed his feelings.  I can at best point out a few lines that ring a chord of recognition:

In line 1 'they' appear to be the four zoas, and they witness the devastation of the Fall.

In line 12 Los breaks into words:
"Then Los grew furious raging: Why stand we here trembling around
Calling on God for help; and not ourselves in whom God dwells
Stretching a hand to save the falling Man: are we not Four"; Los of course is the most creative of the 'Four'; he's in favor of doing something.   In a detailed description of various forms of fallenness among which Blake appropriated a passage from Milton 34:2-3:
"And the two Sources of Life in Eternity[,] Hunting and War,
Are become the Sources of dark & bitter Death & of corroding Hell"

A few Lines (42) on Blake picked up the theme of War (of two kinds): "For the Soldier who fights for Truth, calls his enemy his
brother:
They fight & contend for life, & not for eternal death!
But here the Soldier strikes, & a dead corse falls at his feet"

Line 48: "We smell the blood of the English": shades of the nursery rhyme: 'fee. foh, fih, fum', said the giant in the beanstalk.

And so it goes; read in detail there are many references, many allusions, etc. from throughout Blake's works that would undoubtedly lend meaning of this Plate.
In line 80 "So Los spoke....."
One interesting thing about this plate is the dichotomy between extreme pessimism and and echo of the great poets alternation of moods
Pictorially the plate has little to offer except the uqiquitous kneeling figure, seen also in Plates 5 and 34. (this from Erdman's Illuminated Blake, p. 317).