William Blake (1757–1827). The Poetical Works. 1908.
Selections from ‘Jerusalem’To the Jews
Jerusalem, the Emanation of the Giant Albion! Can it be? Is it a truth that the learned have explored? Was Britain the primitive seat of the Patriarchal Religion? If it is true, my title-page page is also true, that Jerusalem was, and is, the Emanation of the Giant Albion. It is true, and cannot be controverted. Ye are united, O ye inhabitants of Earth, in One Religion—the Religion of Jesus, the most ancient, the Eternal, and the Everlasting Gospel. The Wicked will turn it to Wickedness, the Righteous to Righteousness. Amen! Huzza! Selah!
‘All things begin and end in Albion’s ancient Druid rocky shore.’
Your Ancestors derived their origin from Abraham, Heber, Shem, and Noah, who were Druids, as the Druid Temples (which are the patriarchal pillars and oak groves) over the whole Earth witness to this day.
You have a tradition that Man anciently contain’d in his mighty limbs all things in Heaven and Earth: this you received from the Druids.
‘But now the starry Heavens are fled from the mighty limbs of Albion.’
Albion was the Parent of the Druids, and, in his Chaotic State of Sleep, Satan and Adam and the whole World was created by the Elohim.
T
To Primrose Hill and Saint John’s Wood,
Were builded over with pillars of gold;
And there Jerusalem’s pillars stood.
The Lamb of God among them seen,
And fair Jerusalem, His Bride,
Among the little meadows green.
Among her golden pillars high,
Among her golden arches which
Shine upon the starry sky.
The Ponds where boys to bathe delight,
The fields of cows by William’s farm,
Shine in Jerusalem’s pleasant sight.
The Lamb of God walks by her side;
And every English child is seen,
Children of Jesus and His Bride;
Lest Babylon, with cruel Og,
With Moral and Self-righteous Law,
Should crucify in Satan’s Synagogue.
Near mournful ever-weeping Paddington,
Standing above that mighty ruin,
Where Satan the first victory won;
And the Druid’s golden knife
Rioted in human gore,
In offerings of Human Life?
They groan’d aloud on Tyburn’s Brook:
Albion gave his deadly groan,
And all the Atlantic mountains shook.
Tore forth in all the pomp of War;
Satan his name; in flames of fire
He stretch’d his Druid pillars far.
Down thro’ Poplar and Old Bow,
Thro’ Malden, and across the sea,
In war and howling, death and woe.
The Danube roll’d a purple tide;
On the Euphrates Satan stood,
And over Asia stretch’d his pride.
From every nation of the Earth;
He wither’d up Jerusalem’s Gates,
And in a dark land gave her birth.
By laws of sacrifice for Sin,
Till it became a Mortal Worm,
But O! translucent all within.
Still was the Human Form Divine;
Weeping, in weak and mortal clay,
O Jesus! still the Form was Thine!
The Human Hands, and Feet, and Breath,
Entering thro’ the Gates of Birth,
And passing thro’ the Gates of Death.
Slew in my dark self-righteous pride,
Art Thou return’d to Albion’s land,
And is Jerusalem Thy Bride?
Depart; but dwell for ever here;
Create my spirit to Thy love;
Subdue my Spectre to Thy fear.
In clouds of blood and ruin roll’d,
I here reclaim thee as my own,
My Selfhood—Satan arm’d in gold!
Thy cruel patriarchal pride;
Planting thy Family alone,
Destroying all the World beside?
Of his own House and Family;
And he who makes his Law a curse,
By his own Law shall surely die!
Shall walk; and mine in every land,
Mutual shall build Jerusalem,
Both heart in heart and hand in hand.
If Humility is Christianity, you,. O Jews! are the true Christians. If your tradition that Man contained in his limbs all animals is true, and they were separated from him by cruel sacrifices, and when compulsory cruel sacrifices had brought Humanity into a Feminine Tabernacle in the loins of Abraham and David, the Lamb of God, the Saviour, became apparent on Earth as the Prophets had fore-told! The return of Israel is a return to mental sacrifice and war. Take up the Cross, O Israel! and follow Jesus.