He is opaque and contracted. Yet mercifully there is a limit to his opacity and contraction, named by Blake Satan and Adam; else he would sleep eternally. The capacity remains to hear the Voice of the Son of God and live, and until that moment he is guarded in tender care by the “mild and gentle” Saviour.
It is Heaven’s purpose to awake him.
“Then all in great Eternity, which is called the Council of God,
Met as one Man, even Jesus—to awake the fallen Man.
The fallen Man stretched like a corse upon the oozy rock,
Washed with the tide, pale, overgrown with the waves,
Just moved with horrible dreams.”
Albion like Milton must tread the difficult way of self-annihilation and judgment.
His Day of Judgment is given with marvellous wealth of detail in The Four Zoas, Night IX. But there are still finer passages in Jerusalem which lead Albion to his final beatitude.
“Albion said: O Lord, what can I do? my selfhood cruel
Marches against Thee ...
I behold the visions of my deadly sleep of six thousand years,
Dazzling around Thy skirts like a serpent of precious stones and gold;
I know it is my self, O my Divine Creator and Redeemer.
Jesus replied: Fear not, Albion; unless I die thou canst not live,
But if I die I shall arise again and thou with Me.
This is Friendship and Brotherhood, without it Man Is Not.
Jesus said: Thus do Men in Eternity,
One for another, to put off by forgiveness every sin.
Albion replied: Cannot Man exist without mysterious
Offering of Self for Another? is this Friendship and Brotherhood?
Jesus said: Wouldest thou love one who never died
For thee, or ever die for one who had not died for thee?
And if God dieth not for Man, and giveth not Himself
Eternally for Man, Man could not exist, for Man is Love
As God is Love; every kindness to another is a little Death
In the Divine Image, nor can Man exist but by Brotherhood.
So saying, the Cloud overshadowing divided them asunder;
Albion stood in terror, not for himself but for his Friend
Divine, and Self was lost in the contemplation of faith
And wonder at the Divine Mercy, and at Los’s sublime honour.”
Thus Blake leads man back into his ancient simplicity and unity. Order is restored; and the four mighty ones that warred within to man’s distraction, led captive by Los, are content each to perform his proper function, and so to prevent any further disturbance of the peace.
That is a fine consummation, but it is not Blake’s last word. Perfect man must have a perfect City to dwell in. Albion redeemed must build Jerusalem. Blake began Milton with the fond contemplation of England’s fields and meadows that he had loved in his youth. Calling for his weapons of war, he sang:
“I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my Hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant Land.”
That vision may seem as far off as the vision of the prophet who declared, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” But the world’s master-spirits have never been content that a man here and there should save his soul.