individuals: sta te s can change, although individual id e n titie s can 'never change nor cease.* H ierefore, sta te s can be
annihilated but individuals cannot, for "You cannot go to Eternal Death in th a t which can never Die" (M 32,24); "Hie imagination is not a S tate: i t is the Human Existence its e lf" (M 32.32). Hie essen tial man cannot be annihilated, the poet explains, because imagination is unannihilable. Satan, who is M ilton's Puritanism or natural relig io n , has attempted to enslave man through fear of annihilation, ju s t punishment for sin against S atan's spurious moral code, but the Divine Humanity cannot die. Satan set
himself up as god and created the tyrannical Church, conprised of "...th o se combin'd by S atan's Tyranny, f i r s t in the blood of
War
"And sa crifice & next in Chains of inprisonment, are Shapeless Rocks
"Retaining only S atan's Ma thematic Holiness, Length, Bredth & Highth,
"Calling the Human Imagination, vhich is the Divine Vision & Fruition
"In which Man liv e th etern ally , madness & blasphemy against " Its own Q ualities, v^ich are Servants of Humanity, not Gods
or Lords.
(M 32.16-21)
Hie relig io n against which Blake r a ils has deified reason and its proportions and condemned as blasphemy the imagination of man, which is in tru th God in man. Hie Divine Vision also condemns
the Church, the Bride of C hrist, in p late 33, He s ta te s th at when they f i r s t married, he thought th at his Church would "love h is loves and joy in h is d elig h ts." She becane jealous and cru el, however, and the Lord has lo s t h is love for the Church, who loves and serves Satan. For th is cause has Milton descended.
to redeem relig io n through h is annihilation. The etern al portion of Milton cannot die; i^ a t w ill be annihilated is h is Selfhood, Satan.
The inhabitants of Beulah attem pt to confort Ololon, who laments for the ann ih ilatio n of Milton, and they show her the 'Four States of Hunanity in Repose,* and the Four universes of the Zoas, which were a t one time a glorious single universe; "But when Luvah assumed the World of Urizen in the South / A ll f e ll towards the Center sinking downward in dire Ruin." (M 34.38-9). Ololon sees the chaos, the corpse of Albion, and the wars of man, wherein "Brotherhood is chang'd into a Curse & a F lattery / By Differences between Ideas, th a t Ideas themselves (Wiich are / The Divine Members) may be sla in in offerings for sin" (M 35.4-6). Ololon cannot see Golgonooza beyond Ulro, for i t cannot be seen u n til one becomes "Mortal & Vegetable in Sexuality." Like Thel, Ololon is faced with a choice between entering the world of
generation or remaining in E ternity; unlike Thel, Ololon is equal to the sacrifice and so descends to the 'vegetable' world of Los and Enitharmon, thereby opening a wide road to E ternity. This action reverses the action in Paradise Lost, where Sin and Death create a wide road to h e ll by th e ir passage. The images of the wild thyme and the lark recur here, messengers bringing news of O lolon's descent to Eden and to the Twenty-seven churches.
Ololon descends into the world as 'a Virgin of twelve years' who appears to Blake in h is garden a t Felpham, which had been
prepared as a place for the poet to record " a ll these Visions / To display N ature's cruel holiness, the deceits of Natural
164 Religion" (M 36.24-5). This, then, is the cen tral reason for the descent of M ilton, (in B lake's view, England's la s t and fin e st prophet) and of Ololon, the divine Vision: they are come to a s s is t Blake in recording h is Visions, which show the error and cruelty of natural relig io n , and rationalism 's Church.
Blake asks th a t Ololon comfort h is w ife, y et Divine Vision w ill not be deflected from her quest. M ilton's shadow hears th at Ololon has cone for him, and condenses and consolidates h is
strength for the encounter. Yet within the m ajestic and
beautiful shadow, Blake sees M ilton's selfhood, th a t Satan within him: "I beheld Milton with astonishment & in him beheld / The Monstrous Churches of Beulah, the Gods of Ulro dark, / Twelve monstrous dishuraaniz'd te rro rs. Synagogues of Satan" (M
37.15-7). Here the poet e x p lic itly sta te s th at what Milton has come to destroy i s w ithin himself. On the surface beautiful and m ajestic, lik e h is works, nevertheless Milton has w ithin him and has put into h is works the spectre of selfhood who is Satan or relig io n . Milton also descends to Blake's garden and Satan is te rrifie d by h is descent. At th is point the poem becomes rather confused, as Satan "stands upon the roaring sea," Milton is in B lake's garden, and y e t Blake sta te s th at he 'a ls o '—presumably meaning 'along w ith' Milton—"stood in S atan's bosom & beheld its d eso latio n s.' However, the passage is not important for the positions but for the perceptions of the p rin cip les. The ruin he perceives in S atan's bosom is the ruin th a t the Church has
caused; a ruined man, who is the tenple of God, ruined palaces, furnaces of a fflic tio n , "Arches & pyramids & porches, colonades &
€ domes, / In vrtiich dwells Mystery, Babylon? here is her secret
place, / From hence she comes forth on the Churches in delight? / Here is her Cup f i l l 'd with i t s poisons in these horrid vales, / And here her sc a rle t Veil woven in pestilence & war? / Here is Jerusalem bound in chains in the Dens of Babylon" (M 38.22-7).
Milton confronts Satan, statin g th at he has power to
annihilate Satan and to become a greater Satan u n til one greater s t i l l should depose him, for th a t is how Satan's E ternity is
ordered. S atan's purpose, and th at of h is p rie s ts and churdies, 1 is to teach men to fear death. Milton has come to teach men to
despise death, to go to s e lf annihilation, and thereby to liv e in E ternity. Satan reasserts th a t he is the only God and th at h is purpose is to make a ll things lik e himself and to destroy the 'Divine Delusion,* Jesus. The 'S tarry Seven' c a ll on Albion to awake, and the Eternal man a rises but cannot walk and so sinks back to h is couch.
On p late 40, Ololon confronts Milton, saying th a t she sees h is struggle with Urizen, th a t he is giving himself to
annihilation th a t Man might be redeemed. She fears th at she. Divine Vision, has been the cause of the erro rs of natural
relig io n , of Newton, V oltaire, and Rousseau. M ilton's answer is th a t everything th at can be annihilated must be in order to bring about regeneration. Hearing th is , Ololon realizes th a t she is M ilton's emanation, and as such must join with him in his
sa crific e . She fled in to the depths of M ilton's shadow, and the S tarry Eight (of whan Milton/Blake/Los/Ololon is the eighth) combine and become "One Man, Jesus the Saviour." C hrist has
166