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Edward Taylor, Meditation 35.5

14 Wednesday Jul 2021

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Stanza Seven

But oh! Thy wisdom, Lord! Thy grace! Thy Praise!

Open mine eyes to see the same aright.

Take off their film, my sins, and let the rays 

Of thy bright glory on my peepholes light

I fain would love and better love thee should,

If ‘fore me thou thy loveliness unfold.

Stanza Eight

Lord, clear my sight: thy glory then out dart:

And let thy rays beam glory in mine eye

And stick thy loveliness upon my heart,

Make me the couch on which thy love doth lie.

Lord make my heart thy bed, thy heart make mine.

Thy love bed in my heart, bed mine in thine.

Summary: These last two stanzas should be taken together. They amount to first a praise to God for his wisdom (in providence). Second a prayer for sight. Third, a prayer for communion with Christ. Rather than examine these elements by stanza, it would be clearer to look consider them by them.

Notes:

Praise of God

But oh! Thy wisdom, Lord! Thy grace! Thy Praise!

The praise of God’s wisdom and grace and frequent in the Bible. But perhaps the most pertinent allusion in these lines comes at the end of Romans 11. In chapters 9-11, Paul has been unpacking the doctrine of election and speaking of the manner in which God so orders the history of humanity as to give display of both his mercy and his judgment.

The poet’s meditation has been sparked on the mystery of being chosen by God:

Lord am I thine? Art thou, Lord, mine? So rich!

How doth thy wealthy bliss branch out thy sweets

Through all things present?

Accordingly, Paul’s spontaneous outburst of praise for God’s mercy in salvation seems particularly relevant here: 

Romans 11:32–36 (AV) 

32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 

33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. 

Petition, Open my eyes:

Open mine eyes to see the same aright.

Take off their film, my sins, and let the rays 

Of thy bright glory on my peepholes light

I fain would love and better love thee should,

If ‘fore me thou thy loveliness unfold.

Lord, clear my sight: thy glory then out dart:

And let thy rays beam glory in mine eye

We can segregate the petitions as follows:

First, “Open my eyes to see the same aright”. The “same” is the wisdom of God. This is a prayer to be able to see the wisdom of God in its working out of providence. 

This prayer to open my eyes likewise comes in connection with Paul’s understanding of the providence as shown in election, In Ephesians 1, Paul, having spoken of the manner in which believers having been “chosen in [Christ] before the foundations of the world” (Eph. 1:4) Paul launches into a prayer which contains the language of eyes being opened to see the providence of God:

Ephesians 1:15–19 (AV)

15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Second, there is a prayer to remove the hinderances to his sight: “Take off their [my eyes] film, their sin.” This is paralleled by “Lord, clear my sight.”

This prayer concerns what in technical parlance is called “noetic effects of sin.” This has to do with the manner in which sin distorts our understanding of the world. A full explication of the doctrine would overwhelm a post. To put it in a summary fashion (based upon Romans 1), sin affects my ability to know/understand; it affects my desires, emotions, and affections; in short it makes me incapable of knowing of what is good and evil, right and wrong. To have a debased mind is to have a mind which cannot probably evaluate anything. 

Taylor’s prayer is based upon a close reading of Romans 12:1-2. He is praying for a mind which is conformed to the right understanding provided by God.

Romans 12:1–2 (AV) 

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The reprobate mind of Romans 1:28 is to be the mind which is “able to prove” in Romans 12:2. It is not as clear in English, but the Greek of Romans 1:28 is a mind which is not capable of making judgment. The Spirit transforms the mind to make it capable of making correct judgment.

Taylor’s prayer is that his mind is becomes capable of rightly evaluating the work of God.

If sin did not occlude his sight, he would see 

                        the rays 

Of thy bright glory on my peepholes light

I fain would love and better love thee should,

If ‘fore me thou thy loveliness unfold.

The beauty of God is always apparent; it is always showing in the world. The trouble is that we do not rightly see God’s glory. Taylor prays that God would strip the sin from his life so that he could rightly see God.

Second petition

The first petition is object: remove the impediments from my sight. The second petition is subjective: make me receptive to that vision:

And stick thy loveliness upon my heart,

Make me the couch on which thy love doth lie.

Lord make my heart thy bed, thy heart make mine.

Thy love bed in my heart, bed mine in thine.

Think of it like this: Imagine a blind man in an art museum. At first, he would be unable to see anything. He would first need vision to see anything at all. But if he were to see, he would need to see with judgment. 

An artist does not paint with the hope that none will see or understand. His hope is to affect someone. 

Yet with God the hope is that His artist will transform us: Taylor prays not merely that he will rightly see God’s providence, but that it will “stick upon my heart.” May I see and be transformed: not merely for a moment, but may the transformation be permanent.  (I can’t find my copy of Rilke at this moment, but I remember a line – I believe it is from a poem on seeing a bust of Apollo, ‘you shall be changed’)

The prayer is that his heart be transformed. 

The third petition

There is a third petition which fits as subsection of the second: he prays not merely that he be capable of being affected by the sight of God but that there be a complete union. The language in this concluding petition is language which sounds, frankly, odd in our Modern way of speaking about salvation: Jesus is thought as a ticket to “Heaven” [the Eddie Money song, Two Tickets to Paradise, comes to mind], but that is not at all the way Taylor is conceiving of the matter: the idea is not that I, as I am at present will go to Heaven, but that I will be radically transformed to be fit for heaven.

The language of marriage sounds “stark mad” to our ears, but I truly hits the point. Marriage requires a radical transformation of the individuals: we must become something different an “us” for marriage to be its intended end.  It exposes our selfishness and demands are transformation. How can one raise children and be a loving spouse without dying to self?

But faith requires and demands day-by-day a greater death to self: the good of our Lord supersedes our present hopes and plans. How then can we enact such a death to self? It is only by means of an abiding sight of the beauty for Christ and our desire for Christ’s glory? The language of eros which is the human parlance for loss of selfish ambition for the glory of another which will suffice:

And stick thy loveliness upon my heart,

Make me the couch on which thy love doth lie.

Lord make my heart thy bed, thy heart make mine.

Thy love bed in my heart, bed mine in thine.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 35.4

03 Saturday Jul 2021

Posted by in Edward Taylor, Jonathan Edwards, Joy, Sanctification, Sanctifictation

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Stanza Six

Oh, that the sweets of all these windings, spout

Might, and these influences strait and cross

Upon my soul, to make thy shine break out

That Grace might in get and get out my dross!

My soul up locked then in this clod of dust

Would lock up in’t all heavenly joys most just.

Summary: While the expression become a bit tangled in places, this stanza is a prayer that God would work out all the contrary and difficult means of providence for God’s glory, the poet’s sanctification, and ultimate joy.

This is major theme of Christian theology and was a particular note among the Puritans: Trial, Sanctification, Joy.

aluminum dross processing machine - YouTube

Note

The principal allusion which stands behind this stanza seems to be 1 Peter:

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. 

The elements of this passage which appear in the stanza are as follows:

That Grace might in get and get out my dross

There are difficult and contrary aspects to life:

all these windings, spout

Might, and these influences strait and cross

Upon my soul, to make thy shine break out

Peter: ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations

The purpose of trials is sanctification:

That Grace might in get and get out my dross!

Peter: 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:

The particular image of God removing “dross” is found in 

Proverbs 25:4 (AV)

4 Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.

Isaiah 1:25 (AV) 

And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross.

The image of “dross” refers to the process of purifying melt. The “dross” is the impurity mixed with the ore.

This concept is a commonplace in Puritan theology: As Thomas Watson writes, “But how shall we attain to heart-purity?..[By] fire, Acts 2:3. Fire is of a purifying nature; it doth refine and cleanse metals; it separates the dross from the gold; the Spirit of God in the heart doth refine and sanctify it; it burns up the dross of sin.”

Thomas Watson: “The goldsmith loves his gold when it is in the furnace, and so does God love his children when he places them in the crucible of affliction; it is only to separate the dross, not to consume the gold. “Whom he loveth, he loveth to the end.”

The end is joy:

Oh, that the sweets of all

My soul up locked then in this clod of dust

Would lock up in’t all heavenly joys most just.

Jonathan Edwards, the son of Taylor’s fellow pastor, was to write in Religious Affections in a manner quite consistent with Taylor’s sixth stanza: God brings trial to bring about sanctification which ends in joy:

It has been abundantly found to be true in fact, by the experience of the Christian church; that Christ commonly gives, by his Spirit, the greatest, and most joyful evidences to his saints, of their sonship, in those effectual exercises of grace, under trials, which have been spoken of; as is manifest in the full assurance, and unspeakable joys of many of the martyrs. Agreeable to that, 1 Pet. 4:14: “If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory, and of God resteth upon you.” And that in Rom. 5:2–3: “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and glory in tribulations.” And agreeable to what the apostle Paul often declares of what he experienced in his trials. And when the apostle Peter, in my text, speaks of the “joy unspeakable, and full of glory,” which the Christians to whom he wrote, experienced; he has respect to what they found under persecution, as appears by the context. Christ’s thus manifesting himself, as the friend and Saviour of his saints, cleaving to him under trials, seems to have been represented of old, by his coming and manifesting himself, to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the furnace

Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections, ed. John E. Smith and Harry S. Stout, Revised edition., vol. 2, The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 454.

Particular clauses:

Oh, that the sweets of all these windings: The sweet end of all the various trials, the “windings” of life.

Spout/Might, I will admit this phrase is obscure. I take it mean something like a waterspout, or a pouring out of something strong and, here, dangerous. But it is not clear to me.

these influences strait and cross

Upon my soul, Strait: narrow, difficult. Cross, painful, contrary.

to make thy shine break out: Here “shine” is a synonym for “glory” or light. Taylor uses the image of light frequently to refer to God.

That Grace might in get and get out my dross!: The prayer here is that the transformative grace of God would enter his soul expel the sinful dross, the impurity in his heart.

My soul up locked then in this clod of dust

Would lock up in’t all heavenly joys most just. 

He here transforms the Platonic/Neo-platonic idea of the body being a bare trap for the soul. The soul is in a clod of dust, for the body will die, and return to dust. But here something happens: into this body is locked-up heavenly joy.  The concept of heavenly joy being locked up also comes from the passage in 1 Peter quoted above: 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” The words “reserved” and “kept” are fairly strong terms in the Greek. In particular, the word “kept” has the idea of an actual military guard. These joys are indeed “lock up” safely.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 35.3

01 Thursday Jul 2021

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Stanza Three

How many things are there now, who display’th?

How many acts each thing doth here dispense?

How many influences each thing hath?

How many contraries each influence?

How many contraries from things do flow?

From acts? From influences? Who can show?

Summary:  If all things are mine, then what is the full number of things. What are the endless relationships between all things? How does each part influence the rest?

Notes:

The individual lines present no real problem beyond the first line, “How many things are there now, who display’th?” The difficulty is with the word “who”: it could be God who “displays” all things. But more likely the “who” is being used as we would use “what” or “which”. Thus, the sense would be, “How many things are there displayed in the world?” 

For the sense of “display” we have the image from Calvin (likely known to Taylor) that the creation is the theater of God’s glory. Thus, the objects in the creation are displays of God.

How many acts each thing doth here dispense?

How many influences each thing hath?

How many contraries each influence?

These are scientific questions which were very much “live” at the time of Taylor. There was enormous curiosity into how the various objects in the world interrelated. When we think of the various conflicts with supposed witches, we also need to realize that the conceptions of witchcraft as influence at a distance is in effect bad science. Things which we confidently “know” would have been bare possibilities. 

Who can show? Who knows the answer. 

In tone, the stanza has a feel for the book of Job, particularly the concluding section wherein God asks Job a number of questions about the natural world, which Job is unable to answer in any form. The effect of this questioning in the poem is put the reader into a place where he (or she) must admit, “I do not know the answer. I do know the whole of the world, or the relationships between all things therein. How can show? Only God would know that answer.”

Stanza Four

How glorious then is he that doth all raise

Rule and dispose and make them all conspire

In their jars, junctures, good-bad ways

To meliorate the self-same objection higher?

Earth, water, fire, winds, herbs, trees, beasts and men,

Angels, and devils, bliss, blasts, advance one stem?

Stanza Five

Hell, earth, and heath with their whole troops, come

Contrary winds, grace, and disgrace, sour, sweet,

Wealth, want, health, sickness, to conclude in sum

All providences work in this good meet?

Who, who can do’t, but thou my Lord? And thou

Dost do this thing; yea, thou performst it now.

Summary: In a flurry of nouns and images, are poured out. The effect is an overwhelming jumble of events, all seeming to move in contrary purpose to one-another. Hell versus earth, contrary winds; water and fire; and so on. The important part comes in the middle of stanza five: “conclude in a sum”. God has knowledge of all things and in his providence brings all things for his glory: And thus will lead to the conclusion of how “all things are mine” can be a blessing.

Notes:

How glorious then is he that doth all raise

Rule and dispose and make them all conspire

Since it is impossible to know all things that are, it is a greater wonder that God can have sovereignty over all things: He rules, disposes of, and holds them in a conspiracy, they “conspire” toward a common end.

The doctrine of providence, which is asserted in these stanzas was of great importance to the Puritan world:

The doctrine of a special providence in disposing of all events, whether good or evil, is of great importance; it forms a fundamental truth in our holy religion; it is the strong pillar of the believer’s faith, it is the cardinal point in Christian experience, and contains one main ground of practical godliness.

Indeed, till we have given to this doctrine, not a cold assent of the head, but a cordial reception in the heart, it will be impossible for us to live as we ought in any condition, and specially in a scene so shifting as the present; we may content ourselves for a while, but we have no lasting or solid basis whereon to rest; we can never be thankful for present mercies, nor be patient under any troubles, nor cherish a scriptural hope of deliverance out of them.

Thomas Watson, Spiritual Life Delineated; With the Detection and Exposure of Some of the Popular Errors of the Day (London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1838), 233. Upon the basis of a knowledge of God’s providence, one can be contented and see that all events which take place are for good.  As Thomas Boston was to write, “That the dispensations of providence are altogether perfect and faultless, however they appear to our carnal hearts.” Thomas Boston, The Whole Works of Thomas Boston: Sixty-Six Sermons, ed. Samuel M‘Millan, vol. 9 (Aberdeen: George and Robert King, 1851), 62. Boston will go ahead and argue the point. 

To make sense of this, we must realize that what is good is not always what is immediately pleasant. Sometimes what it good is also what is evil: Jesus was murdered on false charges and for political expedience, and yet the result of the good of humanity, the conquering of death, his exaltation as King. 

Taylor is anxious to exalt this contrary working of God

to conclude in sum

All providences work in this good meet?

Who, who can do’t, but thou my Lord?

Only God could strike a straight line with a crooked stick. This is a continual theme among Taylor co-religionists. Thomas Boston’s series of sermons, The Crook in the Lot consider this at length.

The language of these stanzas seems suggested by Psalms such as 148:

Psalm 148:7–10 (AV)

7 Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: 8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word: 9 Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: 10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:

Edward Taylor, Meditation 35.2

28 Monday Jun 2021

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Stanza Two

Lord am I thine? Art thou, Lord, mine? So rich!

How doth thy wealthy bliss branch out thy sweets

Through all things present? These the vent-holes which 

Let out those ravishing joys our souls to greet?

Empower my powers, sweet Lord, till they raise

My ‘ffections that thy glory on them blaze.

Summary: Having set forth his general complaint, the poet turns to make a direct address to the Lord. This prayer carries a different tone than many of the other poems by Taylor. Here the vein is closer to the Song of Songs. This is the language of lovers “am I thine.” In stanza eight, he will pray, “make my heart thy bed.” In between these points will be a meditation which is the answer to the prayer in this stanza that God will “let out those ravishing joys” to enflame his soul. He prays that he may have such an experience that his affects will blaze.

Notes:

Lord am I thine? Art thou, Lord, mine? This line comes almost directly from Canticles 2:16, “My beloved is mine, and Iam his: he feedeth among the lilies.”

Song of Solomon 2:16 (AV)


So rich! An expression of how much the poet has (if he is the Lord’s and the Lord’s is his). The modern idiom would make this ironic in a way wholly inappropriate here.

How doth thy wealthy bliss branch out thy sweets

Through all things present? The good things of God are God’s  “Wealthy bliss” and “thy sweets”. 

This goodness is propagated throughout the creation: This will provide the basis for Taylor’s mediation on ‘all things’ things are thine. The issue which the middle stanzas of the poem will answer is the implicit question: How can the seeming evil in the world be a good which is mine?

These the vent-holes which 

Let out those ravishing joys our souls to greet?

The idea here is interesting: it seems to be a breach between heaven and earth whereby “ravishing joy” is passed into creation which is then apprised and “greeted” by the soul. The picture is clear enough. But if Taylor was making an allusion, I am not certain where he gained an original. 

Interestingly, I found some evidence of “ravishing joy” prior to Taylor: The precise phrase was used by Thomas Watson, “but there is a blessed sight a coming, ‘they shall see God;’ and in him are all sparkling beauties, and ravishing joys to be found.” Thomas Watson, “Discourses upon Christ’s Sermon on the Mount,” in Discourses on Important and Interesting Subjects, Being the Select Works of the Rev. Thomas Watson, vol. 2 (Edinburgh; Glasgow: Blackie, Fullarton, & Co.; A. Fullarton & Co., 1829), 273.

He also uses similar phrases elsewhere in the same volume, “

“If the joy of FAITH be such, what will the joy of VISION be? the sight of Christ will amaze the eye with wonder, and ravish the heart with joy.” Thomas Watson, “Discourses upon Christ’s Sermon on the Mount,” in Discourses on Important and Interesting Subjects, Being the Select Works of the Rev. Thomas Watson, vol. 2 (Edinburgh; Glasgow: Blackie, Fullarton, & Co.; A. Fullarton & Co., 1829), 267.

the soul shall not so desire God, but it shall still be full; nor shall it be so full, but it shall still desire; so sweet will God be, that the more the saints behold God, the more they will be ravished with desire and delight.

Thomas Watson, “Discourses upon Christ’s Sermon on the Mount,” in Discourses on Important and Interesting Subjects, Being the Select Works of the Rev. Thomas Watson, vol. 2 (Edinburgh; Glasgow: Blackie, Fullarton, & Co.; A. Fullarton & Co., 1829), 269.

But this citation from the introduction to Richard Sibbes’ sermon, The Bride’s Coming, interestingly has the same tone of intimacy and was well as this particular phrase, “For what ravishing joy, what inexplicable sweetness shall then everlasting[ly] possess our souls, whenas we who have been a long time contracted to our Lord and husband, shall see that blessed time come, when we shall have that glorious marriage between him and us, really and royally solemnised, in the presence of God and his holy angels.” 

Empower my powers, It is unclear precisely what Taylor means. It could be the power of the soul to apprehend the “ravishing joys”, or the power of the soul be responsive (or perhaps both). The end-result is plain enough. An interesting expansion on this idea is found in Taylor’s near predecessor, “What is love to God?—Methinks a lax description best suits my design. This divine love,—it is the unspeakable enlargement of the heart towards God; it is the ecstasy and ravishment of the heart in God; it is the soul’s losing itself in God; it is the continual working of the heart towards God. Every faculty of the soul is actually engaged; the mind is musing and plodding how to please God, and enjoy him; the will is graciously obstinate, the policy of hell cannot charm it off its object; the affections are all passions in their eager motions towards God; the conscience is a busy-body, necessitating the whole man to a jealous watch.

James Nichols, Samuel Annesley, “How to Love God with all Our Hearts, Souls, and Minds,” Puritan Sermons, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 574.

that thy glory on them blaze. Rather than the affections blazing with glory, glory blazes on the affections. It is an interesting image.

Prosody:

Lord am I thine? Art thou, Lord, mine? The accent comes on the first syllable: LORD am  i THINE? I would scan the next clause with an accent on both LORD and MINE. There is an internal rhyme: thine/mine.

Lines 2-4 of the stanza have two enjambments: This matches the sense of this bliss pouring out everywhere: it is not even contained in the line. 

Empower my powers: not only repeats the sound, but the sense is repeated by means of a noun being made the direct object of the verb of the same stem.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 35.1

25 Friday Jun 2021

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Meditation 35

The motto for this meditation comes from the next clause in the “all things are yours” promise of Paul to the Corinthians: 1 Corinthians 3:22 (AV)
“Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;”

Stanza One
Oh! That I ever felt what I profess.
‘T would make me then the happi’st man alive.
Ten thousand worlds of saints can’t make this less
By living on’t, but it would make them thrive.
Those loaves and fishes are not lessened
Nor pasture overstockt, by being fed.

Summary: If I truly believed that “all things present were mine” (for my good) – I do profess this, but I do not “feel” this. The knowledge is not a sufficient basis to engender the matching emotional response. This promise is so great that if ten thousand others also claimed this promise, the promise would not be in the least diminished. Thus, the poem begins with a statement of implied desire: a desire to feel what he knows to be true. The poem is itself a means to engender this response.

Notes:

That I ever felt what I profess: This is the necessary confession of all who claim belief: If what we profess is true, then why do not experience the happiness which is the rightful result of that knowledge? Taylor is going to expand primarily upon the theme of providence: that contrary events will still work out ultimately for the good of God’s people. I would then think, Oh, this seemingly bad thing is for my good (and thus my happiness, ultimately).

Can’t make this less: The “this” is the trickiest element in the stanza (perhaps the poem). Normally, a pronoun would refer to some explicit noun within the poem itself. But considering these options does not make sense of what follows: neither his profession, nor his happiness answer to the image of loaves and fishes, or an overstocked pasture. But if we consider the promise which is the motto of the poem, the promise that all things are yours, we can understand what follows: If ten thousand people in addition to me were to claim this promise, they could not exhaust the promise.

Living on it would make them thrive: If we took this promise to heart, if we lived on the promise that all things are mine and that God makes all things for our good, then we would thrive in this world.

I’m currently going through Gonzales’ The Story of Christianity. Early on he makes an observation that the focus of the Lord’s Supper in the primitive church was upon the Resurrection and Ascension, and was thus a joyful event. Our present emphasis is much on the crucifixion, and so the Supper is somber.

When I consider the tone of much of the Church (at least in the circles I can see), the piety is to focus upon Good Friday more than Easter morning. While a frivolous glee would be damaging, I wonder what a well-grounded happiness suffused through-out the church do for the church.

Loaves and fishes: There are stories in the New Testament of Jesus miraculously feeding thousands – which much food left over. Jesus prays in thanksgiving for a small number of fish and loaves and then proceeds to break and serve bread until everyone is filled. In the same way this promise cannot be depleted by being fulfilled.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 34.5 (praise)

23 Wednesday Jun 2021

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Stanza Six

Death tamed, subdued, washed fair by thee! Oh grace!

Made useful thus! Thou unto thine dost say

Now Death is yours, and all it doth in’t brace.

The grave’s a down bed now made for your clay.

Oh! Happiness! How should our bells hereby  35

Ring changes, Lord, and praises trust with joy.

Summary: First there is a prayer and thanksgiving to God for death having been vanquished and turned into an agent of good. Second, there is an explication and exhortation to the reader, made by God to us, which tracks the logic of the motto 1 Cor. 3.22, “death is yours.” The explication is that death is no longer a danger but now a good. Third, Taylor speaks in his own voice, calling the reader to praise with him. Therefore, you (like me) should be praising God for this transformation. 

Notes

Death tamed:  Death has been brought to heel. There is a reading of Job in which Leviathan and the Behemoth are Satan and the Death. Death, rather than a dangerous beast which can act on its own, has now been “tamed”.  The idea of death as a monster was already present, for instance in Paradise Lost, Satan comes upon Sin and her offspring death at the gates to Hell:

Before the gates there sat 

On either side a formidable shape. 

The one seemed woman to the waist, and fair, 

But ended foul in many a scaly fold, 

Voluminous and vast, a serpent armed 

With mortal sting. About her middle round 

A cry of Hell-hounds never-ceasing barked 

With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung 

A hideous peal; yet, when they list, would creep, 

If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb, 

And kennel there; yet there still barked and howled 

Within unseen…

The other shape, 

If shape it might be called that shape had none 

Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb; 

Or substance might be called that shadow seemed, 

For each seemed either, black it stood as night, 

Fierce as ten furies, terrible as Hell, 

And shook a dreadful dart: what seemed his head 

The likeness of a kingly crown had on.

Milton's Paradise Lost - Sin and Death at the Gates of Hell
William Strang, 1896, Sin and Death at the Gates of Hell

I have not been able to find a specific instance of death being said to be “tamed” in any contemporary literature. The image is quite striking.

washed fair by thee! The first two lines of this stanza are directed to the Lord who has washed Death and left it now attractive. 

Thou unto thine dost say/ Now Death is yours The poet continues as the speaker, but here he changes to second person: The Lord says to us “Death is yours.” But the line is written as repetition of what he has heard. Speaking to the Lord, he says, “[Lord] thou dost say.” In this, Taylor is writing prophetically, proclaiming the word of God to the reader. This is interesting how the Puritans used the concept of prophecy and applied it to preaching: I am proclaiming the revelation of God. 

and all it doth in’t brace. Everything included in death, all that it embraces (is yours). 

The grave’s a down bed now made for your clay. Death is referenced as a “sleep” for believers. Thus, Paul writing to the Corinthians in chapter 15, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” Your clay, you mortal body. 

Oh! Happiness! How should our bells hereby

Ring changes,

At first, it is unclear who says “Happiness”, but use of “our” in the next clause identifies the speaker as Taylor to the reader: you and I should ring “our bells” for happiness. 

Prosody

The most interesting rhythm is in the first line of the stanza

Death tamed, subdued, washed fair by thee!

DEATH TAMED SUBdued WASHED fair 

Stanza Seven

Say I am thine, my Lord: Make me thy bell

To ring thy praise. Then death is mine indeed

A hift to grace, a spur to duty; spell   40

To fear; a frost to nip each naughty weed

A golden door to glory. Oh I’ll sing

This triumph o’er the grave! Death where’s thy sting.

Summary: The poet ends with a conditional praise: It is conditional, because it depends upon the work of the Lord as to Taylor “Say I am thine”, if this is true, then death is a blessing to me. He then prays for the existence of the poem, “Make me thy bell”: cause me to be able to praise you for the transformation of death. He then lays out benefits of death. It is ends with a song of triumph over death.

Notes:

Say I am thine, my Lord The first petition of the prayer. There is no condition in Taylor upon which to ground this petition. For instance, if you read the opening prayer in the Iliad, the priest to Apollo lays out what he has done for Apollo and then asks for Apollo to return the effort. Here, Taylor posits no grounds to be made the Lord’s. 

Make me thy bell: In the sixth stanza, he calls upon the reader to ring his bell. Here, he calls upon God to make him a bell, to sing praise.  As Peter writes, the end of salvation is praise of God, “that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Pet. 2:9)

Then death is mine indeed: He affirms the offer of death and then proceeds to spell out how death is a benefit:

A hift to grace: “hift” is obscure. Perhaps a “help” or “gift”. The sense is clear, it is a benefit to grace.

a spur to duty: This could be, since I will not live long, I should work hard. But I think the better understanding comes from 1 Cor. 15 and the long discussion of the sureness of the resurrection for believers. Having said that death has been overcome, Paul then uses this as a basis for work: it will not be lost, “1 Corinthians 15:58 (AV)

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

“If we had such a persuasion of this, we could not be so cold and careless in duty, and so bold in sin; but we have a wavering trembling assent, and some imperfect opinions about the things of God, and. not a full persuasion: 1 Cor. 15:58, ‘Therefore be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.’ If we did once know and were persuaded of this, if we had an evidence of things to come, and things unseen, we would be more steadfast and unmovable in the work of the Lord. If our expectations were greater, our observation of God would be greater, the business of eternal life would not be so neglected; conscience would not be so sleepy, nor should we venture upon sin so often as we do; this would put life into every exhortation you hear and read. Alas! we press and exhort day after day; it works not, why? because it is not ‘mingled with faith in them that hear it,’ Heb. 4:2. What earnest affections of soul would there be towards God and heavenly things if we did truly believe these things.” Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 13 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1873), 370–371.

“Since your labor, says he, is not in vain in the Lord, be steadfast, and abound in good works. Now he says that their labor is not in vain, for this reason, that there is a reward laid up for them with God. This is that exclusive hope which, in the first instance, encourages believers, and afterwards sustains them, so that they do not stop short in the race. Hence he exhorts them to remain steadfast, because they rest on a firm foundation, as they know that a better life is prepared for them in heaven.” John Calvin, 1 Corinthians, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), 1 Co 15:58.

Spell/ to fear: All fears ultimately rest upon the fear of death. Since death has been quelled, the basis for fear is dispelled. A spell, it means to ward off fear.

a frost to nip each naughty weed: Recalling that all things will be brought into judgment (1 Cor. 3:13) And, grace, as Barth will write centuries after Taylor, tears up sin by the roots. It is his kindness that leads us to repentance. Rom. 2:4.

A golden door to glory. Rather than leading us to death, death leads us to glory. 

Oh I’ll sing

This triumph o’er the grave! Death where’s thy sting.

 This first is a near quotation to 1 Cor. 15:54-57, “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Edward Taylor, Meditation 34.4 (painting death)

21 Monday Jun 2021

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Stanza Five

The painter lies who pencils death’s face grim                      25

With white bare butter teeth, bare staring bones,

With empty eyeholes, ghostly looks which fling 

Such dread to see as raiseth deadly groans,

For thou hast farely washed death’s grim grim face

And made his chilly finger-ends drop grace.

Summary:  The commonplace image of death was (and often is) as a death’s head, a bare grinning skull. To see the image is to cause fear. But now that God has reworked the nature of death it is wrong to represent death in that manner. God has washed Death’s face and now those skeleton fingers “drop grace.”

Notes

The painter lies who pencils death’s face: This opens the address of the stanza. It is a “lie” to paint death as a fearsome skeleton. The why this is false will explained in the couplet at the end. 

This style of representing death had long been a commonplace.

ghostly looks which fling / Such dread This is an interesting way to explain the effect of the artwork. The dread is in the painting. It is then flung into the eyes of the viewer. 

Such dread to see as raiseth deadly groans The dread inspired in the viewer is broadcast as “deadly groans”. Thus, we have an interesting movement of the dread: from the painting, into the eyes of the viewer, from the mouth of the viewer and presumably to yet another.

For thou hast farely washed death’s grim grim face

And made his chilly finger-ends drop grace.

The “thou” would be the “Lord” of the first line in the poem. From speaker generally concerning the representation of Death, the poet turns to the Lord and addresses him. The Lord has “washed” death’s “grim grim face” and has forced death to be a means of grace “made his chilly fingers”. 

Prosody:

This stanza contains a great deal of alliteration. 

Line 25: Painter – pencil

Line 26, B: bare, butter, bare, bones

Lines 25, 28, 29, 30: death, dread, deadly [a near rhyme within the line], death, drop

Lines 27: assonance: empty eyeholes

Lines 25, 28, 29, 30: grim, groans, grim, grim, grace. This progression in sound marks the progression in arguments: grim, groaning death becomes grace.

The painter lies who pencils death’s face grim. 25

With white bare butter teeth, bare staring bones,

With empty eyeholes, ghostly looks which fling 

Such dread to see as raiseth deadly groans,

For thou hast farely washed death’s grim grim face

And made his chilly finger-ends drop grace.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 34.3 (the transmutation of death)

18 Friday Jun 2021

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Stanza Four

And still thou by the gracious chemistry
Dost of his carcass cordials make rich, high, 20
To free from Death makest death a remedy:
A curb to sin, a spur to piety.
Heaven’s brightsome light shines out in Death’s dark cave.
The golden door of glory is the grave.

Summary: The body of Christ is made into a medicine. Death itself is transformed into a good thing: rather than being a final tomb, it is a golden door to glory.

Notes:

Taylor’s concepts and imagery are quite consistent and easy to find in his contemporaries. Indeed, the contemporaries provide excellent comment on his meaning in these short lines.

Thou …his: The poet seems to be directly addressing God. The first line of the poem is addressed to “Lord.” But here there is a distinction being made between God and Christ. This is the place where Christian theology can become extraordinarily stretching. God is tri-personal, a tri-unity. Christ is God and man: two natures, one person. Thus, God who cannot die and man who must die meet in an extraordinary manner.

Gracious chemistry: the concept of alchemy and chemistry are not necessarily well-distinguished at this time. A fundamental goal of alchemy was the transmutation of lead to gold. Here, God performs a transmutation of turning death into a means of life. There are two transformations: the carcass of Christ is made into a “cordial”, i.e., a medicine. Second, death is made into a “remedy”.

File:An alchemist in his laboratory. Oil painting by a follower o Wellcome V0017652.jpg
An alchemist in his laboratory. David Taisniers

To free from Death: Death is referred to as a sovereign:

For death (in which the Bridegroom first cometh to us) is, in itself, “the king of terrors:” other afflictions—as poverty, reproach, imprisonment, debt, exile, sickness, &c.—are inferior fears, which possibly may be escaped, and out of which there is oftentimes deliverance; but death is the sovereign lord and king of all of them, from whence there is no return. He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more, but passeth presently unto the highest tribunal, there to receive the eternal judgment, whether of absolution or of condemnation.

James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 684–685. This has it basis in Hebrews 2:14-15 and in Romans 5:14, “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses.” Thomas Boston has a striking use of this concept:

Death reigns among them. See where they sit, Matth. 4:16. ‘In the region and shadow of death.’ The whole society are a parcel of condemned criminals, John 3:18 that know not how soon the sentence shall be executed upon them; their father the devil ready to be the executioner; they are all in a dying condition, their souls have got their death’s wounds, and they are pining away in their iniquity, while in the meantime their eyes are held that they cannot see the preciousness of the Physician. Nay, they are dead already in a spiritual sense; God, the life of the soul, is departed far from them. O! why will ye stay in the congregation of the dead? Come out from among them to the Lord of life.

Thomas Boston, The Whole Works of Thomas Boston: An Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, Part 1, ed. Samuel M‘Millan, vol. 1 (Aberdeen: George and Robert King, 1848), 650.

makest death a remedy: Now rather than being a means of condemnation and loss of God, death has been transformed into a means of good. Taylor names three:

A curb to sin, Thomas Boston explicates this concept:

Consider ye must die: Heb. 9:27, “It is appointed unto men once to die.” Death is certain, and therefore repentance is necessary. O if men would realize death to themselves, sinners would soon find it necessary to turn a new leaf. One hearing Gen. 5. read in the church, was so impressed with the thoughts of death, that he presently betook himself to a new course of life, that he might die well. We must all meet with death, lie down in the grave; let us view it aforehand, and see how it calls us to repent. Look to thy dying hour, and to thy grave, O impenitent sinner, and consider these few things.

  1. Wouldst thou be content to die as thou livest? Thou livest in thy sin, without God; wouldst thou desire to die so? Many indeed entertain Balaam’s wish, for the death of the righteous, while they care not for their life, Num. 23:10, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.” But remember he did not get it, chap. 31:8, “Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.” And while death is so uncertain, it is the hanging of an eternal weight on a hair, to look to get matters mended then, that are not mended now.
  2. Consider, what will a sinful life look like on a death-bed? How will ye be able to look your unrepented-of guilt, and a long eternity in the face together? Ezek. 22:14, “Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.” Sin sits easy now on a sleepy conscience, while health and strength lasts, and death appears not. But when death stares thee in the face, and the awakened conscience flies upon thee, it will cut thee to the heart, that thou hast not repented before.
  3. What will it be to die, and go to another world with a load of unrepented-of guilt on thy back? Look to your grave aforehand; think with yourselves, how will it be to lie down there with your bones full of your iniquity? Is it not best now, to shake off and east away your transgressions, as knowing that however ye may live with them, ye cannot die with them well.
  4. At a dying hour ye must part with the world, and the enjoyment of your lusts. The foul feast ye sit at now, death will overthrow the table, and the sad reckoning for it comes in then, and continues for ever. O rise up now, and leave it by repentance. Part with these things at God’s call, which ye must part with ere long, whether ye will or not.

Thomas Boston, The Whole Works of Thomas Boston: Sermons and Discourses on Several Important Subjects in Divinity, ed. Samuel M‘Millan, vol. 6 (Aberdeen: George and Robert King, 1849), 434–435.

a spur to piety. Richard Baxter wrote an entire book on the subject published by Banner of Truth as Dying Thoughts. Just as the thought of death drives one to repentance, contemplating death teaches us to prepare for another world. Thomas Brooks (referencing also the King of Terrors):

Look, as a crucified Christ hath taken away the guilt of sin, though he hath not taken away sin itself, so he hath taken away the sting of death, though he hath not taken away death itself. He spake excellently that said, ‘That is not death, but life, which joins the dying man to Christ; and that is not life, but death, which separates the living man from Christ.’5 Austin longed to die, that he might see that head that was crowned with thorns. ‘Did Christ die for me,’ saith one, ‘that I might live with him? I will not, therefore, desire to live long from him.’ All men go willingly to see him whom they love, and shall I be unwilling to die that I may see him whom my soul loves? Bernard would have us never to let go out of our minds the thoughts of a crucified Christ. Let these, says he, be meat and drink unto you, let them be your sweetness and consolation, your honey and your desire, your reading and your meditation, your contemplation, your life, death, and resurrection. Certainly he that shall live up to this counsel will look upon the king of terrors as the king of desires.

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 5 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1867), 215.

The golden door of glory is the grave. Thomas Brooks uses quite similar imagery. As he explains:

Eighteenth place, Death is nothing but the believer’s inlet into glory. Death is the gate of life, it is the gate of paradise; it is the midwife to bring eternity to bed. When Jacob saw the chariots that were to bring him to Joseph, his spirit revived, Gen. 45:27. Ah, Christian! death is that chariot that will bring thee not only to a sight of Jacob and Joseph, but also to a blessed sight of God, Christ, angels and ‘the spirits of just men made perfect, Heb. 12:23, 24. Here we meet with many inlets to sin, to sorrow, to affliction, to temptation; but death, of all inlets, is the most happy inlet; it lets the soul into a full fruition of God, to the perfection of grace, and to the heights of glory; and why, then, should a gracious soul be unwilling to die?

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 461–462.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 34.2 (The King of Terrors)

17 Thursday Jun 2021

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Third Stanza

Poor wretched man Death’s captive stood full chuff
But thou my gracious Lord didst find relief
Thou King of Glory didst, to handy cuff
With King of Terrors and dashed out his teeth, 15
Pluckest out his sting, his poison quellest, his head
To pieces breakest. Hence cruel death lies dead.

Summary: Having passed his introduction, the poet turns to the explanation of his motto, “Death is yours.” The movement is clear: Humanity was under the sway of Death without escape. God found a way to defeat death. Death is now dead.

Notes

The motto:

“Death is yours.” This needs some explanation. The verse cited, in context reads,

1 Corinthians 3:18–23 (AV)
18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

The people of Corinth were playing favorites and counting themselves as part of a faction of Paul o Apollos or Cephas (Peter). Such factions are wisdom of the world. And why would claim only Paul or Apollos?

“This turns their slogans completely on their head, with the significant difference that the pronoun is plural, not singular. Thus, they may not say “I belong to Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,” not only because that is to boast in mere men, but because that is the precise opposite of reality in Christ. In him, as Eph. 1 will say in lofty cadences, God has begun what he will eventually bring to full consummation, namely “to bring all things in heaven and earth under one head, even Christ” (Eph. 1:10); therefore, all things are yours (plural).” Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987), 153.

The personification of death:Death is here presented as a monster which God defeats: Death has “capatives”; therefore, Death has the capacity to make captive. Death is the “King of Terrors.” Death has teeth, a sting, poison, and a head. Death has also been killed.

Death holding captives:

This comes from Hebrews 2:14–15, “14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (AV) Here is specifically the “fear of death” which is used to hold us captive.

The Defeat of Death

The primary allusion for this stanza comes from 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, where Paul writes that due to the Resurrection of Jesus, the power of death has been destroyed. Taylor takes much of his imagery from this passage: “54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (AV)

The breaking of death’s head comes from Genesis 3:15, “15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

chuff: here morose, sullen. “full chuff”, does he mean “despair”?

Handy cuff: struck with a hand

Dashed out his teeth
This seems to be an allusion to Psalm 3:7 “7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.” (AV)

King of Terrors, Rosslyn Chapel

King of Terrors This comes from Job 18:14, speaking of one being brought to death as a judgment, “14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.” (AV).
This was understood as a reference to death, “Death is of all terribles the most terrible, and is therefore called the king of terrors. But those who have taken God in Christ for their refuge, have what may comfort and establish them, even in that case. Even from the last enemy God it a refuge.” Thomas Boston, The Whole Works of Thomas Boston: A Soliloquy on the Art of Man-Fishing, ed. Samuel M‘Millan, vol. 5 (Aberdeen: George and Robert King, 1849), 66.

Rutherford used the image with the idea of ruling over men, “By one man’s offence, there was a cruel king, death the king of terrors, who hath a black sceptre, set over all and every man without exception.” Samuel Rutherford, Christ Dying, and Drawing Sinners to Himself (Glasgow: Samuel and Archibald Gardner; Niven, Napier & Khull, 1803), 501.

In this sermon by Matthew Sylvester, we see very similar thoughts and imagery to that used by Taylor: “DIRECTION I. Be thoroughly persuaded of, and heartily affected with, a life to come. (2 Cor. 4:17, 18.)—This is the “poise” and pondus of religion; (Heb. 11:6;) this is the heart and strength of godliness. (Acts 24:14, 15, 25.) It is this that strips that king of terrors, death, of all his frightful looks and strength; this spoils his fatal conquest, gripe, and sting. (2 Tim. 4:6–8; 2 Cor. 5:1–10; 1 Cor. 15:51–58.)”. James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 659.

The phrase itself was remarkably common in Puritan writing, whether Public (such as Sylvester’s sermon) or in private correspondence such as this by Thomas Brooks, “Now you should always look upon death under scripture notions, and this will take off the terror of death; yea, it will make the king of terrors to be the king of desires; it will make you not only willing to die, but even long to die, and to cry out, ‘Oh that I had the wings of a dove, to fly away, and be at rest!’ At death you shall have an eternal jubilee, and be freed from all incumbrances. Now sin shall be no more, nor trouble shall be no more, nor pain nor ailments shall be no more.” Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 5 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1867), 454–455.

King of Glory: This is an allusion to Psalm: 8–10 “8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” The allusion is quite apt, because the original is a reference to Jesus’ Ascension where he enters having defeated death:

“When Christ ascends into heaven after his sore conflict with his enemies and his glorious victory over them, wherein he appeared to be “the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle” [v. 8], and the word was proclaimed to the gates and doors of that everlasting temple of God, that they should be lift up, that the King of glory may come in, the heavenly hosts are represented as inquiring with wonder and great admiration, “Who is this King of glory?”, as being in their eyes a very wonderful person, and one that had done very wonderful things, as though some very new thing appeared, a remarkable person coming, appearing in such wise as never had been before, a person that appeared with very wonderful glory, and such an one as that it was wonderful that one, with those things that had appeared in him of late and now appeared, should have the title of “the King of glory,” as though it was admirable that such glory should be united with those other things that appeared in this person, which yet it most plainly appeared there had, that appeared in him, by which he appears sufficiently to merit the character of the King of glory, viz. his appearing so strong and mighty in battle, as he had done, and gaining such a glorious victory, as he had done. And therefore it is answered, “The Lord strong and mighty,” etc. [v. 8].” Jonathan Edwards, Notes on Scripture, ed. Harry S. Stout and Stephen J. Stein, vol. 15, The Works of Jonathan Edwards (London; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 282.

The Defeat of Death:

Christ before his death had been combating with the powers of darkness and all the subordinate instruments. Death was Satan’s beast of prey that was set upon him; but our Lord foiled it in its own dungeon. The battle between Christ and death was begun upon the cross; he grappled with it there, and they went tugging and wrestling to the grave. Christ, like a prudent warrior, carried the war into his enemy’s country, and there got loose of the grasp of death, foiled it in its own territory. He arose, and left death gasping behind him; so that the quality of the grave is quite altered. Before it was a prison, Satan’s dungeon; now it is a chamber of repose, a bed of ease, ever since Christ slept there.

Thomas Manton, “The Saints Triumph Over Death,” The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 2 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1871), 445

And is it much ‘far better’ to die, that we may be with Christ, than to live here a conflicting life? Why should we then fear death, that is but a passage to Christ? It is but a grim sergeant that lets us into a glorious palace, that strikes off our bolts, that takes off our rags, that we may be clothed with better robes, that ends all our misery, and is the beginning of all our happiness. Why should we therefore be afraid of death? it is but a departure to a better condition? It is but as Jordan to the children of Israel, by which they passed to Canaan. It is but as the Red Sea by which they were going that way. Therefore we have no reason to fear death. Of itself it is an enemy indeed, but now it is harmless, nay, now it is become a friend, amicable to us, a sweet friend. It is one part of the church’s jointure, death. ‘All things are yours,’ saith the apostle, Paul and Apollos, ‘life and death,’ 1 Cor. 3:22. Death is ours and for our good. It doth us more good than all the friends we have in the world. It determines and ends all our misery and sin; and it is the suburbs of heaven. It lets us into those joys above.

Richard Sibbes, The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; W. Robertson, 1862), 340.

Death lies dead: I don’t know if he means an allusion here to either Donne’s “Death thou shalt die” or Owens’ “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.”

Prosody:

The first line is hard to scan. The effect depends upon how one takes the word “poor” at the beginning. It could read solemnly, “POOR WRETched MAN,” with a heavy accent on “poor.” But one could read the line Poor filling in like a connective word introducing the topic.

The interesting effects are in lines 15-18:

With King of Terrors and dashed out his teeth, 15
Pluckest out his sting, his poison quellest, his head
To pieces breakest. Hence cruel death lies dead.

There is no way to force these lines into smooth iambs. The pause in line 15 between TERrors – and makes for a run up to DASHED OUT his TEETH. Perphas Taylor had a cheat syllable of DASH-ed to create iambs.

Line 16 I scan:

PLUCKest OUT his STING, his POIson QUELLest, his HEAD – an enjambment: which creates some movement to line 17

Line 17

to PIEces BREAKest.

We get a long pause before when come to the conclusion of death’s death.

The strong initial consonsants:

With King of Terrors and dashed out his teeth, 15
Pluckest out his sting, his poison quellest, his head
To pieces breakest. Hence cruel death lies dead.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 34.1 (unspeakable words)

15 Tuesday Jun 2021

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1 Cor. 3:22 Death is yours

My Lord I fain would praise thee well but find

Impossibilities block up my pass.

My tongue wants words to tell my thoughts, my mind

Wants thoughts to comprehend thy worth, alas!

Thy glory far surmounts my thoughts, my thoughts  5

Surmount my words: hence little praise is brought.

But seeing non-sense very pleasant is

To parents, flowing from the lisping child

I conju[r]e to thee, hoping thou in this

Will find some hearty praise of mine enfoiled              10

But though my pen dropped golden words, yet would

Thy glory far out-shine my praise in gold.

Summary: 

The first two stanzas of this poem begin with a complaint that he is unable to offer sufficient praise to God. The argument of the first stanza is that, I cannot think sufficient thoughts of you and thus I have no sufficient words. This is true, because God’s worth is greater than any thought or word I could express.

A golden pen, which I absolutely cannot afford

Praise of the ineffable:

The second stanza continues the same vein: Even if I could write word of gold, you would still outstrip human speech. But, parents take delight in the nonsense words of a child; and so I hope that you will take delight in my words.

The text which may lie behind Taylor’s introduction is found in Paul:

2 Corinthians 12:1–4 (AV) 

1 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 

There is also a text related on the question of speaking:

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: 

1 Peter 1:8 (AV). It is not merely a matter of Taylor’s personal inadequacy: Built into the very nature of a discussion of God’s glory is the inability to capture it in words. We have here two related concepts. First, there is the inadequacy of language generally. Second, the effect of such glory renders the human being unable to articulate the effect.

Jonathan Edwards draws these strands together in the concept of happiness:

Happiness is very often in Scripture called by the name of glory, or included in that name in Scripture. God’s eternal glory includes his blessedness, and when we read of the glorifying of Christ, and the glory which the Father has given him, it includes his heavenly joy. And so when we read of the glory promised to or conferred on the saints, and of their being glorified, their unspeakable happiness is a main thing intended. Their joy is full of glory, and they are made happy in partaking of Christ’s glory. 

Jonathan Edwards, The Miscellanies: (Entry Nos. 833–1152), ed. Harry S. Stout, Amy Plantinga Pauw, and Perry Miller, vol. 20, The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2002), 466.

John Gibbon writes of “unspeakable comfort,” “Here is unspeakable comfort for every humble, though doubting, soul; every contrite spirit, that hungers and thirsts after righteousness.” James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 5 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 324. 

Thomas Boston names heaven and hell both places of unspeakable:

Heaven’s happiness must needs be unspeakable, in respect of the society there. The saints going thither shall no more be in a lonely condition, but have the pleasant society of other saints perfected, holy angels, the man Christ, and God himself. The society of saints here is very comfortable, how much more the general assembly of them in heaven? There are the angels, the courtiers of the great King burning with love to God, and warm love to the saints. Yea there is the tabernacle of God with men, Rev. 21:3.

Hell’s horror must be unspeakable also, in regard of the society there. The appearance of one evil spirit now strikes the children of men with terror; but who can conceive the horror of being cast into one prison, with the damned crew, to hear the hissings of these serpents, the roarings of these devouring lions, the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of the teeth of the wicked sunk in despair? and that for ever!

Thomas Boston, The Whole Works of Thomas Boston: A Soliloquy on the Art of Man-Fishing, ed. Samuel M‘Millan, vol. 5 (Aberdeen: George and Robert King, 1849), 411.

In these instances, we can think of two ways in the glory spoken of is unspeakable: First, are the necessary limitations of language. When speaking of “heaven” or God’s glory, we are involved in a necessary abstraction, because such things are not concrete in the world. Therefore, language is to analogy:

83. THEOLOGY. The things of Christianity are so spiritual, so refined, so high and abstracted, and so much above the things we ordinarily converse with and our common affairs, to which we adapt our words; and language not supplying of us with words completely adapted to those high and abstracted ideas, we are forced to use words which do no otherwise exhibit what we would than analogically. Which words in their ordinary use do not in everything, but only in some part, exhibit what we intend they should when used in divinity; and therefore [does] religion [abound] with so many paradoxes and seeming contradictions. And it is for want of distinguishing thus in the meaning of words in divinity, from what is intended by them in their ordinary use, that arise most of the jangles about religion in the world. And to one who is not much [used] to elevated thought, many things, that are in themselves as easy and natural as the things we every day converse with, seem like impossibility and confusion. ’Tis so in every case: the more abstracted the science is, and by how much the higher nature those things are of which that science treats, by so much the more [will] our way of thinking and speaking of the things of that science be beside our way of thinking and speaking of ordinary things, and by so much the more will that science abound with paradoxes and seeming contradictions.

Jonathan Edwards, The “Miscellanies”: (Entry Nos. A–z, Aa–zz, 1–500), ed. Thomas A. Schafer and Harry S. Stout, Corrected Edition., vol. 13, The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2002), 249. Taylor could use “golden words”, but such words would necessarily be less than the original.

Analogical words are problematic when speaking of divine things, because only by there being some middle term, something the creation which has a correspondence on some point with the divine can the discussion take place. 

The sheer difficulty of this process is seen the Scriptural language of things such as “pure gold transparent as glass.” (Rev. 21:21) Pure gold is not transparent, and such was the limits of language for John. Jesus speaking of hell in terms of fire, and “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12, 13:42). We are left with Milton’s “darkness visible.”

My thoughts/ Surmount my words: This adds an additional level to the ineffable object of praise. Taylor points to thoughts which he cannot articulate. This may point to Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” The NRSV has it: “26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”

Thinking of the difficulty in speaking of divine things casts a certain light on Wordsworth’s famous lines,

To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

He is arguing for a divinity in nature. 

Be seeing non-sense very pleasant is

To parents, flowing from the lisping child

The one way to approach God in all of this is as a child. This plays upon both the very human analogy, but also upon the language of Jesus in Matthew 18:

Matthew 18:2–4 (AV)

2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Conjue: I assume this is a misspelling of “conjure” used in the archaic sense of “solemn appeal”.

Enfoiled: covered in gold.

Prosody:

I rather liked this bit:

My tongue wants words to tell my thoughts, my mind

Wants thoughts to comprehend thy worth, alas!

Thy glory far surmounts my thoughts, my thoughts  5

Surmount my words: hence little praise is brought.

The effect here is to run each of the lines together, like thoughts which fall down the stairs one after the other. He does this with two techniques. First, by means of enjambment: he begins the fourth on the third; the sixth line begins on the fifth. 

He second he uses a great deal of repetition:

My tongue wants words to tell my thoughts, my mind

Wants thoughts to comprehend thy worth, alas!

Thy glory far surmounts my thoughts, my thoughts  5

Surmount my words: hence little praise is brought.

My tongue wants words

my mind Wants thoughts

surmounts my thoughts, my thoughts   5

Surmount my words

There is slight variation:

to tell my thoughts, 

to comprehend thy worth

There is the alliteration on “worth/words”

Also of note is the repletion of “g” and “l”:

But though my pen dropped golden words, yet would

Thy glory far out-shine my praise in gold.