The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell

The Argument.     Rintrah roars & shakes his fires in the burdend air;     Hungry clouds swag on the deep     Once meek, and in a perilous path,     The just man kept his course along     The vale of death.     Roses are planted where thorns grow.     And on the barren heath     Sing the honey bees.     Then the perilous path was planted:     And a river, and a spring     On every cliff and tomb;     And on the bleached bones     Red clay brought forth.     Till the villain left the paths of ease,     To walk in perilous paths, and drive     The just man into barren climes.     Now the sneaking serpent walks     In mild humility.     And the just man rages in the wilds     Where lions roam.     Rintrah roars & shakes his fires in the burdend air;     Hungry clouds swag on the deep. Plate 3     As a new heaven is begun, and it is now thirty-three years     since its advent: the Eternal Hell revives. And lo! Swedenborg is     the Angel sitting at the tomb; his writings are the linen clothes     folded up. Now is the dominion of Edom, & the return of Adam into     Paradise; see Isaiah XXXIV & XXXV Chap:     Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and     Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to     Human existence.     From these contraries spring what the religious call Good &     Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason[.] Evil is the active     springing from Energy.     Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell. Plate 4     The voice of the Devil     All Bibles or sacred codes. have been the causes of the     following Errors.     That Man has two real existing principles Viz: a Body & a     Soul.     That Energy. calld Evil. is alone from the Body. & that     Reason. calld Good. is alone from the Soul.     That God will torment Man in Eternity for following his     Energies.     But the following Contraries to these are True     Man has no Body distinct from his Soul for that calld Body is     a portion of Soul discernd by the five Senses. the chief inlets     of Soul in this age     Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason is     the bound or outward circumference of Energy.     Energy is Eternal Delight Plate 5     Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough     to be restrained; and the restrainer or reason usurps its place &     governs the unwilling.     And being restraind it by degrees becomes passive till it is     only the shadow of desire.     The history of this is written in Paradise Lost. & the Governor     or Reason is call'd Messiah.     And the original Archangel or possessor of the command of the     heavenly host, is calld the Devil or Satan and his children are     call'd Sin & Death     But in the Book of Job Miltons Messiah is call'd Satan.     For this history has been adopted by both parties     It indeed appear'd to Reason as if Desire was cast out. but the     Devils account is, that the Messi[PL 6]ah fell. & formed a heaven     of what he stole from the Abyss     This is shewn in the Gospel, where he prays to the Father to     send the comforter or Desire that Reason may have Ideas to build     on, the Jehovah of the Bible being no other than he, who dwells     in flaming fire.     Know that after Christs death, he became Jehovah.     But in Milton; the Father is Destiny, the Son, a Ratio of the     five senses. & the Holy-ghost, Vacuum!     Note. The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of     Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he     was a true Poet and of the Devils party without knowing it     A Memorable Fancy.     As I was walking among the fires of hell, delighted with the     enjoyments of Genius; which to Angels look like torment and     insanity. I collected some of their Proverbs: thinking that as     the sayings used in a nation, mark its character, so the Proverbs     of Hell, shew the nature of Infernal wisdom better than any     description of buildings or garments.     When I came home; on the abyss of the five senses, where a     flat sided steep frowns over the present world. I saw a mighty     Devil folded in black clouds, hovering on the sides of the rock,     with cor[PL 7]roding fires he wrote the following sentence now     percieved by the minds of men, & read by them on earth.     How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way,     Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?     Proverbs of Hell.     In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.     Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.     The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.     Prudence is a rich ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.     He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.     The cut worm forgives the plow.     Dip him in the river who loves water.     A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.     He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.     Eternity is in love with the productions of time.     The busy bee has no time for sorrow.     The hours of folly are measur'd by the clock, but of wisdom: no     clock can measure.     All wholsom food is caught without a net or a trap.     Bring out number weight & measure in a year of dearth.     No bird soars too high. if he soars with his own wings.     A dead body. revenges not injuries.     The most sublime act is to set another before you.     If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise     Folly is the cloke of knavery.     Shame is Prides cloke. Plate 8     Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of     Religion.     The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.     The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.     The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.     The nakedness of woman is the work of God.     Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps.     The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the     stormy sea, and the destructive sword. are portions of     eternity too great for the eye of man.     The fox condemns the trap, not himself.     Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth.     Let man wear the fell of the lion. woman the fleece of the sheep.     The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.     The selfish smiling fool. & the sullen frowning fool. shall be     both thought wise. that they may be a rod.     What is now proved was once, only imagin'd.     The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbet; watch the roots, the     lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant, watch the fruits.     The cistern contains: the fountain overflows     One thought. fills immensity.     Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid     you.     Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.     The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn     of the crow. Plate 9     The fox provides for himself. but God provides for the lion.     Think in the morning, Act in the noon, Eat in the evening, Sleep     in the night.     He who has sufferd you to impose on him knows you.     As the plow follows words, so God rewards prayers.     The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction     Expect poison from the standing water.     You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than     enough.     Listen to the fools reproach! it is a kingly title!     The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of water, the     beard of earth.     The weak in courage is strong in cunning.     The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the     lion. the horse; how he shall take his prey.     The thankful reciever bears a plentiful harvest.     If others bad not been foolish. we should be so.     The soul of sweet delight. can never be defil'd,     When thou seest an Eagle, thou seest a portion of Genius. lift up     thy head!     As the catterpiller chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs     on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.     To create a little flower is the labour of ages.     Damn. braces: Bless relaxes.     The best wine is the oldest. the best water the newest.     Prayers plow not! Praises reap not!     Joys laugh not! Sorrows weep not! Plate 10     The head Sublime, the heart Pathos, the genitals Beauty, the     hands & feet Proportion.     As the air to a bird or the sea to a fish, so is contempt to the     contemptible.     The crow wish'd every thing was black, the owl, that every thing     was white.     Exuberance is Beauty.     If the lion was advised by the fox. he would be cunning.     Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without     Improvement, are roads of Genius.     Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires     Where man is not nature is barren.     Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be     believ'd.     Enough! or Too much Plate 11     The ancient Poets animated all sensible objects with Gods or     Geniuses calling them by the names and adorning them with the     properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations,     and whatever their enlarged & numerous senses could percieve.     And particularly they studied the genius of each city &     country. placing it under its mental deity.     Till a system was formed, which some took advantage of &     enslav'd the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the     mental deities from their objects: thus began Priesthood.     Choosing forms of worship from poetic tales.     And at length they pronounced that the Gods had orderd such     things.     Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast. Plate 12     A Memorable Fancy.     The Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked     them how they dared so roundly to assert. that God spake to them;     and whether they did not think at the time, that they would be     misunderstood, & so be the cause of imposition.     Isaiah answer'd. I saw no God. nor heard any, in a finite     organical perception; but my senses discover'd the infinite in     every thing, and as I was then perswaded. & remain confirm'd;     that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God, I cared     not for consequences but wrote.     Then I asked: does a firm perswasion that a thing is so, make     it so?     He replied. All poets believe that it does, & in ages of     imagination this firm perswasion removed mountains; but many are not capable of a firm perswasion of any thing.     Then Ezekiel said. The philosophy of the east taught the first     principles of human perception some nations held one     principle for the origin & some another, we of Israel taught     that the Poetic Genius (as you now call it) was the first     principle and all the others merely derivative, which was the     cause of our despising the Priests & Philosophers of other     countries, and prophecying that all Gods [PL 13] would at last be     proved. to originate in ours & to be the tributaries of the     Poetic Genius, it was this. that our great poet King David     desired so fervently & invokes so patheticly, saying by this he     conquers enemies & governs kingdoms; and we so loved our God.     that we cursed in his name all the deities of surrounding     nations, and asserted that they had rebelled; from these opinions     the vulgar came to think that all nations would at last be     subject to the jews.     This said he, like all firm perswasions, is come to pass, for all     nations believe the jews code and worship the jews god, and what     greater subjection can be.     I heard this with some wonder, & must confess my own     conviction. After dinner I ask'd Isaiah to favour the world with     his lost works, he said none of equal value was lost. Ezekiel     said the same of his.     I also asked Isaiah what made him go naked and barefoot three     years? he answerd, the same that made our friend Diogenes the     Grecian.     I then asked Ezekiel. why he eat dung, & lay so long on his     right & left side? he answerd. the desire of raising other men     into a perception of the infinite this the North American tribes     practise. & is he honest who resists his genius or conscience.     only for the sake of present ease or gratification? Plate 14     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.     This will come to pass by an improvement of sensual enjoyment.     But first the notion that man has a body distinct from his     soul, is to be expunged; this I shall do, by printing in the     infernal method, by corrosives, which in Hell are salutary and     medicinal, melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the     infinite which was hid.     If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would     appear to man as it is: infinite.     For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro'     narrow chinks of his cavern. Plate 15     A Memorable Fancy     I was in a Printing house in Hell & saw the method in which     knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation.     In the first chamber was a Dragon-Man, clearing away the     rubbish from a caves mouth; within, a number of Dragons were     hollowing the cave,     In the second chamber was a Viper folding round the rock & the     cave, and others adorning it with gold silver and precious     stones.     In the third chamber was an Eagle with wings and feathers of     air, he caused the inside of the cave to be infinite, around were     numbers of Eagle like men, who built palaces in the immense     cliffs.     In the fourth chamber were Lions of flaming fire raging around     & melting the metals into living fluids.     In the fifth chamber were Unnam'd forms, which cast the metals     into the expanse.     There they were reciev'd by Men who occupied the sixth     chamber, and took the forms of books & were arranged in     libraries. Plate 16     The Giants who formed this world into its sensual existence     and now seem to live in it in chains; are in truth. the causes     of its life & the sources of all activity, but the chains are,     the cunning of weak and tame minds. which have power to resist     energy. according to the proverb, the weak in courage is strong     in cunning.     Thus one portion of being, is the Prolific. the other, the     Devouring: to the devourer it seems as if the producer was in     his chains, but it is not so, he only takes portions of existence     and fancies that the whole.     But the Prolific would cease to be Prolific unless the     Devourer as a sea recieved the excess of his delights.     Some will say, Is not God alone the Prolific? I answer, God     only Acts & Is, in existing beings or Men.     These two classes of men are always upon earth, & they should     be enemies; whoever tries [PL 17] to reconcile them seeks to     destroy existence.     Religion is an endeavour to reconcile the two.     Note. Jesus Christ did not wish to unite but to seperate     them, as in the Parable of sheep and goats! & he says I came not     to send Peace but a Sword.     Messiah or Satan or Tempter was formerly thought to be one of     the Antediluvians who are our Energies.     A Memorable Fancy     An Angel came to me and said. O pitiable foolish young man!     O horrible! O dreadful state! consider the hot burning dungeon     thou art preparing for thyself to all eternity, to which thou art     going in such career.     I said. perhaps you will be willing to shew me my eternal     lot & we will contemplate together upon it and see whether your     lot or mine is most desirable     So he took me thro' a stable & thro' a church & down into     the church vault at the end of which was a mill: thro' the mill     we went, and came to a cave. down the winding cavern we groped     our tedious way till a void boundless as a nether sky appeard     beneath us & we held by the roots of trees and hung over this     immensity; but I said, if you please we will commit ourselves     to this void, and see whether providence is here also, if you     will not I will? but he answerd. do not presume O young-man but     as we here remain behold thy lot which will soon appear when the     darkness passes away     So I remaind with him sitting in the twisted [PL 18] root of     an oak. he was suspended in a fungus which hung with the head     downward into the deep:     By degrees we beheld the infinite Abyss, fiery as the smoke     of a burning city; beneath us at an immense distance was the sun,     black but shining[;] round it were fiery tracks on which revolv'd     vast spiders, crawling after their prey; which flew or rather     swum in the infinite deep, in the most terrific shapes of animals     sprung from corruption. & the air was full of them, & seemd     composed of them; these are Devils. and are called Powers of the     air, I now asked my companion which was my eternal lot? he said,     between the black & white spiders     But now, from between the black & white spiders a cloud and     fire burst and rolled thro the deep blackning all beneath, so     that the nether deep grew black as a sea & rolled with a terrible     noise: beneath us was nothing now to be seen but a black tempest,     till looking east between the clouds & the waves, we saw a     cataract of blood mixed with fire and not many stones throw from     us appeard and sunk again the scaly fold of a monstrous serpent.     at last to the east, distant about three degrees appeard a fiery     crest above the waves slowly it reared like a ridge of golden     rocks till we discoverd two globes of crimson fire. from which     the sea fled away in clouds of smoke, and now we saw, it was the     head of Leviathan. his forehead was divided into streaks of green     & purple like those on a tygers forehead: soon we saw his mouth &     red gills hang just above the raging foam tinging the black deep     with beams of blood, advancing toward [PL 19] us with all the     fury of a spiritual existence.     My friend the Angel climb'd up from his station into the mill;     I remain'd alone, & then this appearance was no more, but I found     myself sitting on a pleasant bank beside a river by moon light     hearing a harper who sung to the harp. & his theme was, The man     who never alters his opinion is like standing water, & breeds     reptiles of the mind.     But I arose, and sought for the mill, & there I found my     Angel, who surprised asked me, how I escaped?     I answerd. All that we saw was owing to your metaphysics: for     when you ran away, I found myself on a bank by moonlight hearing     a harper, But now we have seen my eternal lot, shall I shew you     yours? he laughd at my proposal: but I by force suddenly caught     him in my arms, & flew westerly thro' the night, till we were     elevated above the earths shadow: then I flung myself with him     directly into the body of the sun, here I clothed myself in     white, & taking in my hand Swedenborgs volumes sunk from the     glorious clime, and passed all the planets till we came to     saturn, here I staid to rest & then leap'd into the void, between     saturn & the fixed stars.     Here said I! is your lot, in this space, if space it may be     calld, Soon we saw the stable and the church, & I took him to the     altar and open'd the Bible, and lo! it was a deep pit, into which     I descended driving the Angel before me, soon we saw seven houses     of brick, one we enterd; in it were a [PL 20] number of monkeys,     baboons, & all of that species chaind by the middle, grinning and     snatching at one another, but witheld by the shortness of their     chains: however I saw that they sometimes grew numerous, and then     the weak were caught by the strong and with a grinning aspect,     first coupled with & then devourd, by plucking off first one limb     and then another till the body was left a helpless trunk. this     after grinning & kissing it with seeming fondness they devourd     too; and here & there I saw one savourily picking the flesh off     of his own tail; as the stench terribly annoyd us both we went     into the mill, & I in my hand brought the skeleton of a body,     which in the mill was Aristotles Analytics.     So the Angel said: thy phantasy has imposed upon me & thou     oughtest to be ashamed.     I answerd: we impose on one another, & it is but lost time     to converse with you whose works are only Analytics.     Opposition is true Friendship. Plate 21     I have always found that Angels have the vanity to speak of     themselves as the only wise; this they do with a confident     insolence sprouting from systematic reasoning:     Thus Swedenborg boasts that what he writes is new; tho' it     is only the Contents or Index of already publish'd books     A man carried a monkey about for a shew, & because he was a     little wiser than the monkey, grew vain, and conciev'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 [PL 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 Swedenborgs writings are a recapitulation of all     superficial opinions, and an analysis of the more sublime, but no     further.     Have now another plain fact: Any man of mechanical talents     may from the writings of Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, 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 [PL 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 morter with wheat. yet     shall not his folly be beaten out of him: 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     sabbaths God? murder those who were murderd because of him? turn away     the law from the woman taken in adultery? steal the labor of others     to support him? bear false witness when he omitted making a defence     before Pilate? 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? I tell you, no virtue can exis without breaking these     ten commandments: Jesus was all virtue and acted from im[PL 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.     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: which the world shall have     whether they will or no.     One Law for the Lion & Ox is Oppression Plate 25     A Song Of Liberty     The Eternal Female groand! it was heard over all the Earth:     Albions coast is sick silent; the American meadows faint!     Shadows of Prophecy shiver along by the lakes and the rivers     and mutter across the ocean! France rend down thy dungeon;     Golden Spain burst the barriers of old Rome;     Cast thy keys O Rome into the deep down falling, even to     eternity down falling,     And weep!     In her trembling hands she took the new, born terror howling;     On those infinite mountains of light now barr'd out by the     atlantic sea, the new born fire stood before the starry king!     Flag'd with grey brow'd snows and thunderous visages the     jealous wings wav'd over the deep.     The speary hand burned aloft, unbuckled was the shield,     forth went the hand of jealousy among the flaming hair, and     [PL 26]hurl'd the new born wonder thro' the starry night.     The fire, the fire, is falling!     Look up! look up! O citizen of London. enlarge thy     countenance; O Jew, leave counting gold! return to thy oil and     wine; O African! black African! (go. winged thought widen his     forehead.)     The fiery limbs, the flaming hair, shot like the sinking sun     into the western sea.     Wak'd from his eternal sleep, the hoary, element roaring     fled away:     Down rushd beating his wings in vain the jealous king: his     grey brow'd councellors, thunderous warriors, curl'd veterans,     among helms, and shields, and chariots horses, elephants:     banners, castles, slings and rocks,     Falling, rushing, ruining! buried in the ruins, on Urthona's     dens.     All night beneath the ruins, then their sullen flames faded     emerge round the gloomy king,     With thunder and fire: leading his starry hosts thro' the     waste wilderness [PL 27]he promulgates his ten commands,     glancing his beamy eyelids over the deep in dark dismay,     Where the son of fire in his eastern cloud, while the     morning plumes her golden breast,     Spurning the clouds written with curses, stamps the stony     law to dust, loosing the eternal horses from the dens of night,     crying     Empire is no more! and now the lion & wolf shall cease.     Chorus     Let the Priests of the Raven of dawn, no longer in deadly     black, with hoarse note curse the sons of joy. Nor his accepted     brethren whom, tyrant, he calls free; lay the bound or build the     roof. Nor pale religious letchery call that virginity, that     wishes but acts not!     For every thing that lives is Holy