Milton (excerpts)/Preface
The Stolen & 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. Shakespeare & 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 fashonable 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 forever; 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.