<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=536911" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Everlasting Gospel</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">The vision of Christ that thou dost see <br>Is my vision’s greatest enemy. <br>Thine has a great hook nose like thine; <br>Mine has a snub nose like to mine. <br>Thine is the Friend of all Mankind; <br>Mine speaks in parables to the blind. <br>Thine loves the same world that mine hates; <br>Thy heaven doors are my hell gates. <br>Socrates taught what Meletus <br>Loath’d as a nation’s bitterest curse, <br>And Caiaphas was in his own mind <br>A benefactor to mankind. <br>Both read the Bible day and night, <br>But thou read’st black where I read white. <br> <br>Was Jesus gentle, or did He <br>Give any marks of gentility? <br>When twelve years old He ran away, <br>And left His parents in dismay. <br>When after three days’ sorrow found, <br>Loud as Sinai’s trumpet-sound: <br>‘No earthly parents I confess— <br>My Heavenly Father’s business! <br>Ye understand not what I say, <br>And, angry, force Me to obey. <br>Obedience is a duty then, <br>And favour gains with God and men.’ <br>John from the wilderness loud cried; <br>Satan gloried in his pride. <br>‘Come,’ said Satan, ‘come away, <br>I’ll soon see if you’ll obey! <br>John for disobedience bled, <br>But you can turn the stones to bread. <br>God’s high king and God’s high priest <br>Shall plant their glories in your breast, <br>If Caiaphas you will obey, <br>If Herod you with bloody prey <br>Feed with the sacrifice, and be <br>Obedient, fall down, worship me.’ <br>Thunders and lightnings broke around, <br>And Jesus’ voice in thunders’ sound: <br>‘Thus I seize the spiritual prey. <br>Ye smiters with disease, make way. <br>I come your King and God to seize, <br>Is God a smiter with disease?’ <br>The God of this world rag’d in vain: <br>He bound old Satan in His chain, <br>And, bursting forth, His furious ire <br>Became a chariot of fire. <br>Throughout the land He took His course, <br>And trac’d diseases to their source. <br>He curs’d the Scribe and Pharisee, <br>Trampling down hypocrisy. <br>Where’er His chariot took its way, <br>There Gates of Death let in the Day, <br>Broke down from every chain and bar; <br>And Satan in His spiritual war <br>Dragg’d at His chariot-wheels: loud howl’d <br>The God of this world: louder roll’d <br>The chariot-wheels, and louder still <br>His voice was heard from Zion’s Hill, <br>And in His hand the scourge shone bright; <br>He scourg’d the merchant Canaanite <br>From out the Temple of His Mind, <br>And in his body tight does bind <br>Satan and all his hellish crew; <br>And thus with wrath He did subdue <br>The serpent bulk of Nature’s dross, <br>Till He had nail’d it to the Cross. <br>He took on sin in the Virgin’s womb <br>And put it off on the Cross and tomb <br>To be worshipp’d by the Church of Rome. <br> <br>Was Jesus humble? or did He <br>Give any proofs of humility? <br>Boast of high things with humble tone, <br>And give with charity a stone? <br>When but a child He ran away, <br>And left His parents in dismay. <br>When they had wander’d three days long <br>These were the words upon His tongue: <br>‘No earthly parents I confess: <br>I am doing My Father’s business.’ <br>When the rich learnèd Pharisee <br>Came to consult Him secretly, <br>Upon his heart with iron pen <br>He wrote ‘Ye must be born again.’ <br>He was too proud to take a bribe; <br>He spoke with authority, not like a Scribe. <br>He says with most consummate art <br>‘Follow Me, I am meek and lowly of heart, <br>As that is the only way to escape <br>The miser’s net and the glutton’s trap.’ <br>What can be done with such desperate fools <br>Who follow after the heathen schools? <br>I was standing by when Jesus died; <br>What I call’d humility, they call’d pride. <br>He who loves his enemies betrays his friends. <br>This surely is not what Jesus intends; <br>But the sneaking pride of heroic schools, <br>And the Scribes’ and Pharisees’ virtuous rules; <br>For He acts with honest, triumphant pride, <br>And this is the cause that Jesus dies. <br>He did not die with Christian ease, <br>Asking pardon of His enemies: <br>If He had, Caiaphas would forgive; <br>Sneaking submission can always live. <br>He had only to say that God was the Devil, <br>And the Devil was God, like a Christian civil; <br>Mild Christian regrets to the Devil confess <br>For affronting him thrice in the wilderness; <br>He had soon been bloody Caesar’s elf, <br>And at last he would have been Caesar himself, <br>Like Dr. Priestly and Bacon and Newton— <br>Poor spiritual knowledge is not worth a button <br>For thus the Gospel Sir Isaac confutes: <br>‘God can only be known by His attributes; <br>And as for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, <br>Or of Christ and His Father, it’s all a boast <br>And pride, and vanity of the imagination, <br>That disdains to follow this world’s fashion.’ <br>To teach doubt and experiment <br>Certainly was not what Christ meant. <br>What was He doing all that time, <br>From twelve years old to manly prime? <br>Was He then idle, or the less <br>About His Father’s business? <br>Or was His wisdom held in scorn <br>Before His wrath began to burn <br>In miracles throughout the land, <br>That quite unnerv’d the Seraph band? <br>If He had been Antichrist, Creeping Jesus, <br>He’d have done anything to please us; <br>Gone sneaking into synagogues, <br>And not us’d the Elders and Priests like dogs; <br>But humble as a lamb or ass <br>Obey’d Himself to Caiaphas. <br>God wants not man to humble himself: <br>That is the trick of the Ancient Elf. <br>This is the race that Jesus ran: <br>Humble to God, haughty to man, <br>Cursing the Rulers before the people <br>Even to the Temple’s highest steeple, <br>And when He humbled Himself to God <br>Then descended the cruel rod. <br>‘If Thou Humblest Thyself, Thou humblest Me. <br>Thou also dwell’st in Eternity. <br>Thou art a Man: God is no more: <br>Thy own Humanity learn to adore, <br>For that is My spirit of life. <br>Awake, arise to spiritual strife, <br>And Thy revenge abroad display <br>In terrors at the last Judgement Day. <br>God’s mercy and long suffering <br>Is but the sinner to judgement to bring. <br>Thou on the Cross for them shalt pray— <br>And take revenge at the Last Day.’ <br>Jesus replied, and thunders hurl’d: <br>‘I never will pray for the world. <br>Once I did so when I pray’d in the Garden; <br>I wish’d to take with Me a bodily pardon.’ <br>Can that which was of woman born, <br>In the absence of the morn, <br>When the Soul fell into sleep, <br>And Archangels round it weep, <br>Shooting out against the light <br>Fibres of a deadly night, <br>Reasoning upon its own dark fiction, <br>In doubt which is self-contradiction? <br>Humility is only doubt, <br>And does the sun and moon blot out, <br>Rooting over with thorns and stems <br>The buried soul and all its gems. <br>This life’s five windows of the soul <br>Distorts the Heavens from pole to pole, <br>And leads you to believe a lie <br>When you see with, not thro’, the eye <br>That was born in a night, to perish in a night, <br>When the soul slept in the beams of light. <br> <br>Did Jesus teach doubt? or did He <br>Give any lessons of philosophy, <br>Charge Visionaries with deceiving, <br>Or call men wise for not believing?… <br> <br>Was Jesus born of a Virgin pure <br>With narrow soul and looks demure? <br>If He intended to take on sin <br>The Mother should an harlot been, <br>Just such a one as Magdalen, <br>With seven devils in her pen. <br>Or were Jew virgins still more curs’d, <br>And more sucking devils nurs’d? <br>Or what was it which He took on <br>That He might bring salvation? <br>A body subject to be tempted, <br>From neither pain nor grief exempted; <br>Or such a body as might not feel <br>The passions that with sinners deal? <br>Yes, but they say He never fell. <br>Ask Caiaphas; for he can tell.— <br>‘He mock’d the Sabbath, and He mock’d <br>The Sabbath’s God, and He unlock’d <br>The evil spirits from their shrines, <br>And turn’d fishermen to divines; <br>O’erturn’d the tent of secret sins, <br>And its golden cords and pins, <br>In the bloody shrine of war <br>Pour’d around from star to star,— <br>Halls of justice, hating vice, <br>Where the Devil combs his lice. <br>He turn’d the devils into swine <br>That He might tempt the Jews to dine; <br>Since which, a pig has got a look <br>That for a Jew may be mistook. <br>“Obey your parents.”—What says He? <br>“Woman, what have I to do with thee? <br>No earthly parents I confess: <br>I am doing my Father’s business.” <br>He scorn’d Earth’s parents, scorn’d Earth’s God, <br>And mock’d the one and the other’s rod; <br>His seventy Disciples sent <br>Against Religion and Government— <br>They by the sword of Justice fell, <br>And Him their cruel murderer tell. <br>He left His father’s trade to roam, <br>A wand’ring vagrant without home; <br>And thus He others’ labour stole, <br>That He might live above control. <br>The publicans and harlots He <br>Selected for His company, <br>And from the adulteress turn’d away <br>God’s righteous law, that lost its prey.’ <br>Was Jesus chaste? or did He <br>Give any lessons of chastity? <br>The Morning blushèd fiery red: <br>Mary was found in adulterous bed; <br>Earth groan’d beneath, and Heaven above <br>Trembled at discovery of Love. <br>Jesus was sitting in Moses’ chair. <br>They brought the trembling woman there. <br>Moses commands she be ston’d to death. <br>What was the sound of Jesus’ breath? <br>He laid His hand on Moses’ law; <br>The ancient Heavens, in silent awe, <br>Writ with curses from pole to pole, <br>All away began to roll. <br>The Earth trembling and naked lay <br>In secret bed of mortal clay; <br>On Sinai felt the Hand Divine <br>Pulling back the bloody shrine; <br>And she heard the breath of God, <br>As she heard by Eden’s flood: <br>‘Good and Evil are no more! <br>Sinai’s trumpets cease to roar! <br>Cease, finger of God, to write! <br>The Heavens are not clean in Thy sight. <br>Thou art good, and Thou alone; <br>Nor may the sinner cast one stone. <br>To be good only, is to be <br>A God or else a Pharisee. <br>Thou Angel of the Presence Divine, <br>That didst create this Body of Mine, <br>Wherefore hast thou writ these laws <br>And created Hell’s dark jaws? <br>My Presence I will take from thee: <br>A cold leper thou shalt be. <br>Tho’ thou wast so pure and bright <br>That Heaven was impure in thy sight, <br>Tho’ thy oath turn’d Heaven pale, <br>Tho’ thy covenant built Hell’s jail, <br>Tho’ thou didst all to chaos roll <br>With the Serpent for its soul, <br>Still the breath Divine does move, <br>And the breath Divine is Love. <br>Mary, fear not! Let me see <br>The seven devils that torment thee. <br>Hide not from My sight thy sin, <br>That forgiveness thou may’st win. <br>Has no man condemnèd thee?’ <br>‘No man, Lord.’ ‘Then what is he <br>Who shall accuse thee? Come ye forth, <br>Fallen fiends of heavenly birth, <br>That have forgot your ancient love, <br>And driven away my trembling Dove. <br>You shall bow before her feet; <br>You shall lick the dust for meat; <br>And tho’ you cannot love, but hate, <br>Shall be beggars at Love’s gate. <br>What was thy love? Let Me see it; <br>Was it love or dark deceit?’ <br>‘Love too long from me has fled; <br>’Twas dark deceit, to earn my bread; <br>’Twas covet, or ’twas custom, or <br>Some trifle not worth caring for; <br>That they may call a shame and sin <br>Love’s temple that God dwelleth in, <br>And hide in secret hidden shrine <br>The naked Human Form Divine, <br>And render that a lawless thing <br>On which the Soul expands its wing. <br>But this, O Lord, this was my sin, <br>When first I let these devils in, <br>In dark pretence to chastity <br>Blaspheming Love, blaspheming Thee, <br>Thence rose secret adulteries, <br>And thence did covet also rise. <br>My sin Thou hast forgiven me; <br>Canst Thou forgive my blasphemy? <br>Canst Thou return to this dark hell, <br>And in my burning bosom dwell? <br>And canst Thou die that I may live? <br>And canst Thou pity and forgive?’ <br>Then roll’d the shadowy Man away <br>From the limbs of Jesus, to make them His prey, <br>An ever devouring appetite, <br>Glittering with festering venoms bright; <br>Crying ‘Crucify this cause of distress, <br>Who don’t keep the secrets of holiness! <br>The mental powers by diseases we bind; <br>But He heals the deaf, the dumb, and the blind. <br>Whom God has afflicted for secret ends, <br>He comforts and heals and calls them friends.’ <br>But, when Jesus was crucified, <br>Then was perfected His galling pride. <br>In three nights He devour’d His prey, <br>And still He devours the body of clay; <br>For dust and clay is the Serpent’s meat, <br>Which never was made for Man to eat. <br> <br>Seeing this False Christ, in fury and passion <br>I made my voice heard all over the nation. <br>What are those… <br> <br>I am sure this Jesus will not do, <br>Either for Englishman or Jew.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=William+Blake">William Blake</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=536911" data-title="The Everlasting Gospel de William Blake" data-description="The vision of Christ that thou dost see Is my vision’s greatest enemy. Thine has a great hook nose like thine; Mine has a snub nose like to mine. Thine is the Friend of all Mankind; Mine speaks in parables to the blind. Thine loves the sam..."></div> </div> </div>

solid border dashed border dotted border double border groove border ridge border inset border outset border no border blue green red purple cyan gold silver black