Page:The prophetic books of William Blake, Milton.djvu/43

 Clouded with discontent & brooding in their minds terrible things.

They said: O Father most beloved! O merciful Parent!

Pitying and permitting evil, tho' strong & mighty to destroy.

Whence is this Shadow terrible? wherefore dost thou refuse

To throw him into the Furnaces? knowest thou not that he

Will unchain Orc? & let loose Satan, Og, Sihon & Anak,

Upon the Body of Albion? for this he is come! behold it written

Upon his fibrous left Foot black: most dismal to our eyes.

The Shadowy Female shudders thro' heaven in torment inexpressible:

And all the Daughters of Los prophetic wail: yet in deceit

They weave a new Religion from new Jealousy of Theotormon.

Milton's Religion is the cause: there is no end to destruction.

Seeing the Churches at their Period in terror & despair,

Rahab created Voltaire; Tirzah created Rousseau:

Asserting the Self-righteousness against the Universal Saviour,

Mocking the Confessors & Martyrs, claiming Self-righteousness,

With cruel Virtue: making War upon the Lamb's Redeemed:

To perpetuate War & Glory, to perpetuate the Laws of Sin.

They perverted Swedenborg's Visions in Beulah & in Ulro,

To destroy Jerusalem as a Harlot & her Sons as Reprobates,

To raise up Mystery the Virgin Harlot, Mother of War,

Babylon the Great, the Abomination of Desolation.

O Swedenborg! strongest of men, the Samson shorn by the Churches:

Shewing the Transgressors in Hell, the proud Warriors in Heaven,

Heaven as a Punisher, & Hell as One under Punishment:

With Laws from Plato & his Greeks to renew the Trojan Gods

In Albion: & to deny the value of the Saviour's blood.

But then I rais'd up Whitefield, Palamabron rais'd up Westley,

And these are the cries of the Churches before the two Witnesses.

Faith in God the dear Saviour who took on the likeness of men:

Becoming obedient to death, even the death of the Cross.

The Witnesses lie dead in the Street of the Great City:

No Faith is in all the Earth: the Book of God is trodden under Foot!

He sent his two Servants Whitefield & Westley: were they Prophets,

Or were they Idiots or Madmen? shew us Miracles!

P. 22 CAN you have greater Miracles than these? Men who devote

Their life's whole comfort to intire scorn & injury & death.

Awake, thou sleeper on the Rock of Eternity, Albion awake!

The trumpet of Judgment hath twice sounded: all Nations are awake,

But thou art still heavy and dull: Awake, Albion awake! 19