So spoke Los as we went along to his supreme abode.
Rintrah and Palamabron met us at the Gate of Golgonooza
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 t229
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!
Miltons 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 Lambs Redeemed;
To perpetuate War & Glory. to perpetuate the Laws of Sin:
They perverted Swedenborgs 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 Transgresors 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 Saviours blood.
“But then I rais’d up Whitefield, Palamabron raisd up Westley,”
And these are the cries of the Churches before the two Witnesses[‘] t230
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!
Can you have greater Miracles than these? Men who devote
Their lifes 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! t231
Lo Orc arises on the Atlantic. Lo his blood and fire
Glow on Americas shore: Albion turns upon his Couch
“He listens to the sounds of War, astonishd and confounded:”
“He weeps into the Atlantic deep, yet still in dismal dreams”
Unwakend! and the Covering Cherub advances from the East:
How long shall we lay dead in the Street of the great City
How long beneath the Covering Cherub give our Emanations
Milton will utterly consume us & thee our beloved Father
“He hath enterd into the Covering Cherub, becoming one with”
“Albions dread Sons, Hand, Hyle & Coban surround him as”
A girdle; Gwendolen & Conwenna as a garment woven
Of War & Religion; let us descend & bring him chained
To Bowlahoola O father most beloved! O mild Parent!
“Cruel in thy mildness, pitying and permitting evil”
“Tho strong and mighty to destroy, O Los our beloved Father!”
“Like the black storm, coming out of Chaos, beyond the stars:”
It issues thro the dark & intricate caves of the Mundane Shell
“Passing the planetary visions, & the well adorned Firmament”
The Sun rolls into Chaos & the Stars into the Desarts;
“And then the storms become visible, audible & terrible,”
“Covering the light of day, & rolling down upon the mountains,”
Deluge all the country round. Such is a vision of Los;
When Rintrah & Palamabron spake; and such his stormy face
“Appeard, as does the face of heaven, when coverd with thick storms”
Pitying and loving tho in frowns of terrible perturbation t232
“But Los dispersd the clouds even as the strong winds of Jehovah,”
“And Los thus spoke. O noble Sons, be patient yet a little”
“I have embracd the falling Death, he is become One with me”
O Sons we live not by wrath. by mercy alone we live!
I recollect an old Prophecy in Eden recorded in gold; and oft
Sung to the harp: That Milton of the land of Albion.
Should up ascend forward from Felphams Vale & break the Chain
Of jealousy from all its roots; be patient therefore O my Sons
These lovely Females form sweet night and silence and secret
Obscurities to hide from Satans Watch-Fiends. Human loves
“And graces; lest they write them in their Books, & in the Scroll”
“Of mortal life, to condemn the accused: who at Satans Bar”
Tremble in Spectrous Bodies continually day and night
While on the Earth they live in sorrowful Vegetations
O when shall we tread our Wine-presses in heaven; and Reap
“Our wheat with shoutings of joy, and leave the Earth in peace”
Remember how Calvin and Luther in fury premature
Sow’d War and stern division between Papists & Protestants
Let it not be so now! O go not forth in Martyrdoms & Wars
We were plac’d here by the Universal Brotherhood & Mercy
With powers fitted to circumscribe this dark Satanic death
And that the Seven Eyes of God may have space for Redemption.
“But how this is as yet we know not, and we cannot know;”
“Till Albion is arisen; then patient wait a little while,”
Six Thousand years are passd away the end approaches fast;
“This mighty one is come from Eden, he is of the Elect,”
Who died from Earth & he is returnd before the Judgment. This thing
Was never known that one of the holy dead should willing return
Then patient wait a little while till the Last Vintage is over:
Till we have quenchd the Sun of Salah in the Lake of Udan Adan
“O my dear Sons! leave not your Father, as your brethren left me[.]”
Twelve Sons successive fled away in that thousand years of sorrow
“Of Palamabrons Harrow, & of Rintrahs wrath & fury:”
“Reuben & Manazzoth & Gad & Simeon & Levi,”
“And Ephraim & Judah were Generated, because”
“They left me, wandering with Tirzah: Enitharmon wept”
“One thousand years, and all the Earth was in a watry deluge”
We calld him Menassheh because of the Generations of Tirzah
Because of Satan: & the Seven Eyes of God continually
“Guard round them, but I the Fourth Zoa am also set”
“The Watchman of Eternity, the Three are not! & I am preserved”
Still my four mighty ones are let to me in Golgonooza
“Still Rintrah fierce, and Palamabron mild & piteous”
“Theotormon filld with care, Bromion loving Science”
You O my Sons still guard round Los. O wander not & leave me
“Rintrah, thou well rememberest when Amalek & Canaan”
Fled with their Sister Moab into the abhorred Void
They became Nations in our sight beneath the hands of Tirzah.
And Palamabron thou rememberest when Joseph an infant;
Stolen from his nurses cradle wrapd in needle-work
“Of emblematic texture, was sold to the Amalekite,”
Who carried him down into Egypt where Ephraim & Menassheh
Gatherd my Sons together in the Sands of Midian
“And if you also flee away and leave your Fathers side,”
“Following Milton into Ulro, altho your power is great”
Surely you also shall become poor mortal vegetations
Beneath the Moon of Ulro: pity then your Fathers tears[.]
When Jesus raisd Lazarus from the Grave I stood & saw
Lazarus who is the Vehicular Body of Albion the Redeemd
Arise into the Covering Cherub who is the Spectre of Albion
By martyrdoms to suffer: to watch over the Sleeping Body.
Upon his Rock beneath his Tomb. I saw the Covering Cherub
Divide Four-fold into Four Churches when Lazarus arose
“Paul, Constantine, Charlemaine, Luther; behold they stand before us”
“Stretchd over Europe & Asia. come O Sons, come, come away”
Arise O Sons give all your strength against Eternal Death
“Lest we are vegetated, for Cathedrons Looms weave only Death”
A Web of Death: & were it not for Bowlahoola & Allamanda
No Human Form but only a Fibrous Vegetation
A Polypus of soft affections without Thought or Vision
Must tremble in the Heavens & Earths thro all the Ulro space[.]
Throw all the Vegetated Mortals into Bowlahoola
But as to this Elected Form who is returnd again
He is the Signal that the Last Vintage now approaches
Nor Vegetation may go on till all the Earth is reapd
So Los spoke. Furious they descended to Bowlahoola & Allamanda
Indignant. unconvincd by Los’s arguments & thun[d]ers rolling
They saw that wrath now swayd and now pity absorbd him
“As it was, so it remaind & no hope of an end.”
“Bowlahoola is namd Law. by mortals, Tharmas founded it:”
“Because of Satan, before Luban in the City of Golgonooza.”
But Golgonooza is namd Art & Manufacture by mortal men.
In Bowlahoola Los’s Anvils stand & his Furnaces rage;
Thundering the Hammers beat & the Bellows blow loud
Living self moving mourning lamenting & howling incessantly
Bowlahoola thro all its porches feels tho’ too fast founded
Its pillars & porticoes to tremble at the force
Of mortal or immortal arm: and softly lilling flutes
Accordant with the horrid labours make sweet melody t233
The Bellows are the Animal Lungs: the Hammers the Animal Heart
The Furnaces the Stomach for digestion. terrible their fury
Thousands & thousands labour. thousands play on instruments
Stringed or fluted to ameliorate the sorrows of slavery
“Loud sport the dancers in the dance of death, rejoicing in carnage”
The hard dentant Hammers are lulld by the flutes[‘] lula lula
The bellowing Furnaces[‘] blare by the long sounding clarion t234
“The double drum drowns howls & groans, the shrill fife. shrieks & cries:”
“The crooked horn mellows the hoarse raving serpent, terrible, but harmonious t235”
Bowlahoola is the Stomach in every individual man.
Los is by mortals nam’d Time Enitharmon is nam’d Space
But they depict him bald & aged who is in eternal youth
All powerful and his locks flourish like the brows of morning
He is the Spirit of Prophecy the ever apparent Elias
Time is the mercy of Eternity; without Times swiftness
Which is the swiftest of all things: all were eternal torment:
All the Gods of the Kingdoms of Earth labour in Los’s Halls.
Every one is a fallen Son of the Spirit of Prophecy
“He is the Fourth Zoa, that stood arou[n]d the Throne Divine.”
“Loud shout the Sons of Luvah, at the Wine-presses as Los descended”
With Rintrah & Palamabron in his fires of resistless fury.
“The Wine-press on the Rhine groans loud, but all its central beams”
Act more terrific in the central Cities of the Nations
Where Human Thought is crushd beneath the iron hand of Power.
“There Los puts all into the Press, the Opressor & the Opressed”
“Together, ripe for the Harvest & Vintage & ready for the Loom.”
They sang at the Vintage. This is the Last Vintage! & Seed
“Shall no more be sown upon Earth, till all the Vintage is over”
“And all gatherd in, till the Plow has passd over the Nations”
And the Harrow & heavy thundering Roller upon the mountains
And loud the Souls howl round the Porches of Golgonooza
“Crying O God deliver us to the Heavens or to the Earths,”
That we may preach righteousness & punish the sinner with death
“But Los refused, till all the Vintage of Earth was gatherd in.”
And Los stood & cried to the Labourers of the Vintage in voice of awe.
Fellow Labourers! The Great Vintage & Harvest is now upon Earth
The whole extent of the Globe is explored: Every scatterd Atom
Of Human Intellect now is flocking to the sound of the Trumpet
“All the Wisdom which was hidden in caves & dens, from ancient”
Time; is now sought out from Animal & Vegetable & Mineral
The Awakener is come. outstretchd over Europe! the Vision of God is fulfilled
“The Ancient Man upon the Rock of Albion Awakes,”
He listens to the sounds of War astonishd & ashamed;
He sees his Children mock at Faith and deny Providence
Therefore you must bind the Sheaves not by Nations or Families
You shall bind them in Three Classes; according to their Classes
So shall you bind them. Separating What has been Mixed
Since Men began to be Wove into Nations by Rahab & Tirzah
Since Albions Death & Satans Cutting-off from our awful Fields;
When under pretence to benevolence the Elect Subdud All
From the Foundation of the World. The Elect is one Class: You
Shall bind them separate: they cannot Believe in Eternal Life
Except by Miracle & a New Birth. The other two Classes;
“The Reprobate who never cease to Believe, and the Redeemd,”
Who live in doubts & fears perpetually tormented by the Elect
These you shall bind in a twin-bundle for the Consummation–
“But the Elect must be saved [from] fires of Eternal Death,”
To be formed into the Churches of Beulah that they destroy not the Earth
For in every Nation & every Family the Three Classes are born
“And in every Species of Earth, Metal, Tree, Fish, Bird & Beast.”
“We form the Mundane Egg, that Spectres coming by fury or amity”
“All is the same, & every one remains in his own energy”
Go forth Reapers with rejoicing. you sowed in tears
“But the time of your refreshing cometh, only a little moment”
“Still abstain from pleasure & rest, in the labours of eternity”
“And you shall Reap the whole Earth, from Pole to Pole! from Sea to Sea”
“Begining at Jerusalems Inner Court, Lambeth ruin’d and given”
“To the detestable Gods of Priam, to Apollo: and at the Asylum”
“Given to Hercules, who labour in Tirzahs Looms for bread”
Who set Pleasure against Duty: who Create Olympic crowns
To make Learning a burden & the Work of the Holy Spirit: Strife.
T[o] Thor & cruel Odin who first reard the Polar Caves t236
Lambeth mourns calling Jerusalem. she weeps & looks abroad
“For the Lords coming, that Jerusalem may overspread all Nations”
“Crave not for the mortal & perishing delights, but leave them”
“To the weak, and pity the weak as your infant care; Break not”
Forth in your wrath lest you also are vegetated by Tirzah
“Wait till the Judgement is past, till the Creation is consumed”
And then rush forward with me into the glorious spiritual
Vegetation; the Supper of the Lamb & his Bride; and the
Awaking of Albion our friend and ancient companion.
So Los spoke. But lightnings of discontent broke on all sides round
And murmurs of thunder rolling heavy long & loud over the mountains
While Los calld his Sons around him to the Harvest & the Vintage.
Thou seest the Constellations in the deep & wondrous Night
They rise in order and continue their immortal courses
Upon the mountains & in vales with harp & heavenly song
With flute & clarion; with cups & measures filld with foaming wine.
“Glittring the streams reflect the Vision of beatitude,”
And the calm Ocean joys beneath & smooths his awful waves!
“These are the Sons of Los, & these the Labourers of the Vintage”
Thou seest the gorgeous clothed Flies that dance & sport in summer
Upon the sunny brooks & meadows: every one the dance t237
Knows in its intricate mazes of delight artful to weave:
“Each one to sound his instruments of music in the dance,”
To touch each other & recede; to cross & change & return
These are the Children of Los; thou seest the Trees on mountains
“The wind blows heavy, loud they thunder thro’ the darksom sky”
Uttering prophecies & speaking instructive words to the sons
Of men: These are the Sons of Los! These the Visions of Eternity
But we see only as it were the hem of their garments
When with our vegetable eyes we view these wond’rous Visions
There are Two Gates thro which all Souls descend. One Southward
From Dover Cliff o Lizard Point. the other toward the North
“Caithness & rocky Durness, Pentland & John Groats House.”
“The Souls descending to the Body, wail on the right hand”
“Of Los; & those deliverd from the Body, on the left hand”
For Los against the east his force continually bends
Along the Valleys of Middlesex from Hounslow to Blackheath
Lest those Three Heavens of Beulah should the Creation destroy
And lest they should descend before the north & south Gates
“Groaning with pity, he among the wailing Souls laments.”
And these the Labours of the Sons of Los in Allamanda:
And in the City of Golgonooza: & in Luban: & around
“The Lake of Udan-Adan, in the Forests of Entuthon Benython”
“Where Souls incessant wail, being piteous Passions & Desires”
With neither lineament nor form but like to watry clouds
The Passions & Desires descend upon the hungry winds
For such alone Sleepers remain meer passion & appetite;
The Sons of Los clothe them & feed & provide houses & fields
“And every Generated Body in its inward form,”
“Is a garden of delight & a building of magnificence,”
Built by the Sons of Los in Bowlahoola & Allamanda
And the herbs & flowers & furniture & beds & chambers
Continually woven in the Looms of Enitharmons Daughters
In bright Cathedrons golden Dome with care & love & tears
For the various Classes of Men are all markd out determinate
In Bowlahoola; & as the Spectres choose their affinities
“So they are born on Earth, & every Class is determinate”
But not by Natural but by Spiritual power alone. Because
The Natural power continually seeks & tends to Destruction
Ending in Death: which would of itself be Eternal Death
“And all are Class’d by Spiritual, & not by Natural power.”
“And every Natural Effect has a Spiritual Cause, and Not”
“A Natural: for a Natural Cause only seems, it is Delusion”
Of Ulro: & a ratio of the perishing Vegetable Memory.