Preface.
The Stolen and Perverted Writings of Homer & Ovid: of Plato & Cicero.
which all Men ought to contemn: are set up by artifice against the Sublime
of the Bible. but when the New Age is at leisure to Pronounce: all will be
set right: & those Grand Works of the more ancient & consciously & professedly
Inspired Men, will hold their proper rank, & the Daughters of Memory
shall become the Daughters of Inspiration. Shakspeare & Milton were
both curbd by the general malady & infection from the silly Greek & Latin
slaves of the Sword.
Rouze up O Young Men of the New Age! set your foreheads against the
ignorant Hirelings! For we have Hirelings in the Camp, the Court & the
University: who would if they could, for ever depress Mental & prolong
Corporeal War. Painters! on you I call! Sculptors! Architects! Suffer not the
fash[i]onable Fools to depress your powers by the prices they pretend to
give for contemptible works or the expensive advertizing boasts that they
make of such works; believe Christ & his Apostles that there is a Class of
Men whose whole delight is in Destroying. We do not want either Greek or
Roman Models if we are but just & true to our own Imaginations, those
Worlds of Eternity in which we shall live for ever; in Jesus our Lord.
And did those feet in ancient time.
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.
Would to God that all the Lords people were Prophets.
Numbers XI. ch 29 v.
PLATE 2
