ABSTRACT
Bridal mysticism has a long tradition in Christianity but the Moravians are perhaps the first church congregation to have made it primary to their worship. The most innovative feature of Moravian pastoral care was marriage guidance. For Zinzendorf and his Moravian followers, sexual intercourse was a sacramental act. Earthly marriage was an interim matter, preparing for and pointing to the heavenly marriage with Christ; more than a metaphor for the mystical relationship with Christ, it was a celebration and re-enactment of the soul's relationship with God. William Blake's Moravian inheritance can be traced throughout his life from his mother's first involvement with the Moravian Church, extending long after Catherine had supposedly left the congregation, even to how his death was reported. The distinctive Moravian ideas of sacramental sexuality as the earthly image of the divine marriage, sanctification of the genital organs, even the inherent contradictions of Zinzendorfian thought, left an identifiable mark on Blake's poetry.
