The Norton Anthology of English literature. Volume 2

A man carried a monkey about for a shew, & because he was a little wiser than the monkey, grew vain, and conceiv'd himself as much wiser than seven men. It is so with Swedenborg; he shews the folly of churches & exposes hypocrites, till he imagines that all are religious, & himself the single [PLATE 22] one on earth that ever broke a net.

Now hear a plain fact: Swedenborg has not written one new truth. Now hear another: he has written all the old falshoods.

And now hear the reason: He conversed with Angels who are all religious, & conversed not with Devils, who all hate religion, for he was incapable thro' his conceited notions.

Thus Swedenborg's writings are a recapitulation of all superficial opinions, and an analysis of the more sublime, but no further.

7. In the Ptolemaic world picture, Saturn was in Blake now forces on the angel his own diabolic the outermost planetary sphere; beyond it was the view of angelic biblical exegesis, theological spec- sphere of the fixed stars. ulation and disputation, and Hell. 8. The "seven churches which are in Asia," to 9. Aristotle's treatises on logic. which John addresses the Book of Revelation 1.4.

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120 / WILLIAM BLAKE

Have now another plain fact: Any man of mechanical talents may from the writings of Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen1 produce ten thousand volumes of equal value with Swedenborg's, and from those of Dante or Shakespear, an infinite number.

But when he has done this, let him not say that he knows better than his master, for he only holds a candle in sunshine.

A Memorable Fancy

Once I saw a Devil in a flame of fire, who arose before an Angel that sat on a cloud, and the Devil utterd these words:

"The worship of God is, Honouring his gifts in other men, each according to his genius, and loving the [PLATE 23] greatest men best. Those who envy or calumniate great men hate God, for there is no other God."

The Angel hearing this became almost blue; but mastering himself, he grew yellow, & at last white, pink, & smiling, and then replied:

"Thou Idolater, is not God One? & is not he visible in Jesus Christ? and has not Jesus Christ given his sanction to the law of ten commandments, and are not all other men fools, sinners, & nothings?"

The Devil answer'd; "Bray a fool in a mortar with wheat, yet shall not his folly be beaten out of him.2 If Jesus Christ is the greatest man, you ought to love him in the greatest degree. Now hear how he has given his sanction to the law of ten commandments: did he not mock at the sabbath, and so mock the sabbath's God?3 murder those who were murderd because of him? turn away the law from the woman taken in adultery?4 steal the labor of others to support him? bear false witness when he omitted making a defence before Pilate?5 covet when he pray'd for his disciples, and when he bid them shake off the dust of their feet against such as refused to lodge them?6 I tell you, no virtue can exist without breaking these ten commandments. Jesus was all virtue, and acted from im[PLATE 24]pulse, not from rules."

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.7

Note. This Angel, who is now become a Devil, is my particular friend; we often read the Bible together in its infernal or diabolical sense, which the world shall have if they behave well.

I have also The Bible of Hell,8 which the world shall have whether they will or no.

One Law for the Lion & Ox is Oppression.

1790-93 1790-93

PLATE 25

1. Jakob Boehme (1575�1624), a German shoemaker who developed a theosophical system that has had persisting influence on both theological and metaphysical speculation. Paracelsus (1493� 1541), a Swiss physician and a pioneer in empirical medicine, was also a prominent theorist of the occult. 2. Proverbs 27.22: "Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him." "Bray": pound into small pieces. 3. Mark 2.27: "The sabbath was made for man." 4. Cf. John 8.2-11. 5. Cf. Matthew 27.13-14. 6. Matthew 10.14: "Whosoever shall not receive you . . . when ye depart. . . shake off the dust of your feet." 7. In 2 Kings 2.11 the prophet Elijah "went up by a whirlwind into heaven," borne by "a chariot of fire." 8. I.e., the poems and designs that Blake is working on.

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A SONG OF LIBERTY / 121

A Song of Liberty1