The Marriage of Heaven and Hell — The Voice Of The Devil
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell — The Voice Of The Devil
William Blake
All Bibles or sacred codes have been the cause of the following
errors:--
1. That man has two real existing principles, viz., a Body and a Soul.
2. That Energy, called Evil, is alone from the Body; and that Reason,
called Good, is alone from the Soul.
3. That God will torment man in Eternity for following his Energies.
But the following contraries to these are true:--
1. Man has no Body distinct from his Soul. For that called Body is a
portion of Soul discerned by the five senses, the chief inlets of Soul
in this age.
2. Energy is the only life, and is from the Body; and Reason is the
bound or outward circumference of Energy.
3. Energy is Eternal Delight.
Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be
restrained; and the restrainer or reason usurps its place and governs
the unwilling.
And being restrained, it by degrees becomes passive, till it is only
the shadow of desire.
The history of this is written in Paradise Lost, and the Governor or
Reason is called Messiah.
And the original Archangel or possessor of the command of the heavenly
host is called the Devil, or Satan, and his children are called Sin and
Death.
But in the book of Job, Milton's Messiah is called Satan.
For this history has been adopted by both parties.
It indeed appeared to Reason as if desire was cast out, but the
Devil's account is, that the Messiah fell, and formed a heaven of what
he stole from the abyss.
This is shown 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 Christ's death he became Jehovah.
But in Milton, the Father is Destiny, the Son a ratio of the five
senses, and the Holy Ghost vacuum!
_Note._--The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and
God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true
poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it.
Verse breaks and indentation are preserved. Wrapped lines have a hanging indent. Width adapts to your screen.
Complete poem text from the cited public-domain source edition.
Read the original source ↗
