Tags
blood, Edward Taylor, glory, Grace, Literature, Meditation 13, poem, Poetry, salvation
Stanza 5
By me all lost, by thee all are regained.
All things are thus fall’n now into thy hand.
And thou steep’st in thy blood what sin had stained
That th’stains and poisons may not therein stand.
And having stuck thy grace o’re all the same (35)
Thou giv’st it as a glorious gift again.
Summary: The eschatology of Christianity is both personal and universal; it is both in time and beyond time. The time before the Fall is brought forward into eternity. The tree of life which was lost in the Fall in the Garden is in the New Heavens and New Earth. (Rev. 22:2) The rivers of Eden return as the River of Life. (Rev. 22:1) What was had – and lost – is given “as a glorious gift again.” There is also the person eschatology: The damage done by sin is remedied by blood of Christ – which is both a healing gift of grace, and what makes the poet fit to receive grace.
Notes:
By me all lost, by thee all are regained.
This language of “all” comes directly from motto for this poem, “All things are yours .. the world or life or death or the present or the future”. This theme of “all” played a substantial element of Puritan theology. Thomas Watson wrote an entire book on the subject, “The Christian’s Charter.” Often this “all things” is contrasted at length with good which we can have in this world: goods which do not keep. So for instance, George Swinnock, in chapters 14 & 15 of The Fading of the Flesh, contrasts the difference between what is had the graceless and gracious (one who has received grace) in this world and the different between the sinner’s and the saint’s portion in the life to come.
The all received by grace is not merely the consummation of the world and a life to come. It is a thing present now in this life.
A passage by Thomas Brooks may help to understand what is regained:
O sirs! if God be your portion,
then every promise in the book of God is yours,
and every attribute in the book of God is yours,
and every privilege in the book of God is yours,
and every comfort in the book of God is yours,
and every blessing in the book of God is yours,
and every treasury in the book of God is yours,
and every mercy in the book of God is yours,
and every ordinance in the book of God is yours,
and every sweet in the book of God is yours;
if God be yours, all is yours.
Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 2 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 66.
All things are thus fall’n now into thy hand.
There is an irony in this line: in the fall all was lost; but now through the reversal of sin and death by Christ suffering death for others sin, and thus the “all” falls into his hands.
And thou steep’st in thy blood what sin had stained
That th’stains and poisons may not therein stand.
There has been an irony in Christian imagery that the blood of Christ washes the sinner clean. A much later song which became well-known through the Salvation Army’s use:
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
The perhaps the most direct biblical allusions which line behind this line
Isaiah 1:18 (AV)
18 Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the LORD:
though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.
There is also the imagery of the sacrifice which runs through the Bible. What is always so strange of these passages is how something can be cleansed with blood? Blood would never make anything clean.
Taylor explains that the sin which has stained his life is removed by means of the blood shed, because the blood takes the place of the sin stained. The garment becomes so soaked in blood that there is no room for the poison and stains
There is an implied image of the thing being cleansed being a garment. The image of the garment being cleansed is present in certain rules concerning being unclean, but perhaps is most directly taken from Jude 18, “the garment spotted by the flesh.”
And having stuck thy grace o’re all the same (35)
Thou giv’st it as a glorious gift again.
The restored garment – the restoration of the entire life – is given back to Taylor as a gift. One relationship here is found in the return of the Prodigal Son. The son who has hatefully rebelled against his father and lost his inheritance returns home to hope for the life of a servant is given a glorious robe and invited to a feast.
This also is similar to the imagery of Pilgrim’s Progress where Christian is given glorious clothing to make his new life.
Also note that the grace conveys “glory”. The hope of the Christian is glorious, but is also glory:
1 Peter 1:3–9 (AV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Thus, while the renovation of the Creation will be glorious, there also will be glory of each individual. We will become glorious. In the Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis wrote, ““the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”
Union with Christ
One final note on this stanza is the blood which is graciously given which makes him fit to receive the grace. Blood is as intimate as could exist. Moreover, the life is in the blood. Lev. 11:17. The is this life blood which works the transformation. His identification as being covered in this blood is the gracious condition which makes “all yours.”
Musical:
And thou STeep’Tt in thy blood what Sin had STained
That th’STains and poiSonS may not therein STtand.
And having STuck thy Grace o’re all the Same (35)
Thou Giv’ST it as a Glorious Gift aGain.
The repetition of the sounds as noted, tied these lines together.
The scansion has some interesting features:
and thou STEEP’ST in THY BLOOD what SIN had STAINED
that TH’STAINS and POIsons may NOT therein STAND
and having STUCK thy GRACE o’re ALL the SAME
THOU GIV’ST it as a GLORious GIFT aGAIN
The accents tracks the alliteration, so that each underscores the other. Thus, the rhythm and the sounds each seek to press the emphasis on meaning of the words.
memoirandremains 