Edward Taylor, Meditation 39.4

03 Tuesday May 2022

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Edward Taylor, Edward Taylor Meditation 39, Meditation 39, poem, Poem Analysis, Poetry, Poetry Analysis

Fifth Stanza

I have no plea mine Advocate to give.

What now? He’ll anvil arguments great store

Out of his flesh and blood to make me live.

O dear bought arguments: good pleas therefor.

Nails made of heavenly steel, more choice than gold

Drove home, well clenched, eternally will hold.

Notes:

Since a lawyer is limited by the facts of the case (attorneys’ pleas spring from the state/

The case is in), and since this case is so dire, they “knock me down to woe”, the poet has nothing to help:

I have no plea mine Advocate to give.

There is nothing particularly musical about this line: it is a plain statement of fact. And this leaves him with the wholly prosaic question:

What now?

The first line and-a-half of this stanza contain no clever image, interesting musical devices. It is just a clear statement of fact. But when we turn to the Advocate’s work, the stanza becomes “poetic”. This is an interesting rhetorical tactic by Taylor, increasing the rhetorical fireworks when it comes to the Advocate’s work.

How will the Advocate plead for the poet, when the facts are against the poet?

He’ll anvil arguments great store

Out of his flesh and blood

The image striking: the argument will come from the Advocate’s own “flesh and blood”. Moreover, he will not merely take these arguments, they will be hammered like a blacksmith with iron at a furnace, He’ll anvil arguments.

The picture is grotesque and wonderful: how does not take an hammer and anvil to one’s own body? And yet it is out of the body of the Advocate that the defense is raised.

Here is a central mystery of the Christian claim. All human beings have a body which is ultimate derived from the body of Adam. All people are of one body: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.” Acts 17:26 (ESV) Thus, in both a representative and physical sense, all human beings are born “in Adam”.

The Son of God is “made flesh”. (John 1:14) Christ then lives a sinless life, and yet suffers the death allotted to all of Adam’s descendants. Being innocent, and being representative, he bears the weight of the judgment against sin: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) In the end he is vindicated (as evidenced by this resurrection, Romans 1:4). Christ becomes a new Adam. (Rom. 5:12-19) As raised, he stands as a new humanity.

⁴²So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. ⁴³It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. ⁴⁴It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:42–49 (ESV) Much, much more could said on this point from the New Testament. But is without question the doctrine of the Apostles that the physical body of Christ in life, death, burial, and resurrection, becomes the plea for our salvation: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) The way in which that life of Christ becomes our life is a further discussion. The point here is that Taylor says nothing but what the Bible teaches. In a roughly contemporary work, William Gurnal uses an image which reminds of the language here in Taylor:

“He lived and died for you; he will live and die with you; for mercy and tenderness to his soldiers, none like him. Trajan, it is said, rent his clothes to bind up his soldiers’ wounds; Christ poured out his blood as balm to heal his saints’ wounds; tears off his flesh to bind them up.”

William Gurnall and John Campbell, The Christian in Complete Armour (London: Thomas Tegg, 1845), 6.

These arguments made from the body of the advocate bring life, “to make me live.” As Paul writes: “But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Romans 4:23–25 (ESV)

These arguments come at great cost, “O dear bought arguments”. They will also work, they are “good pleas.”

The final couplet makes an in ironic use of nails:

Nails made of heavenly steel, more choice than gold

Drove home, well clenched, eternally will hold.

At one level, “nails” references the strength of this argument: They are “heavenly steel.” They are more precious that gold. And they have been fit so well, that the argument will be valid for all eternity: “Drove home, well clenched, eternally will hold.”

The final line contains two pauses, which slows down and underscores the proposition raised: This argument will stand.

The use of nails as the image for the argument then alludes to the basis for the argument: Christ’s sacrificial death. He was nailed to the tree, and in so doing, our sins were nailed to the tree. In this seeming loss, there was victory:

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Colossians 2:11–15 (ESV)

Edward Taylor, Meditation 39.2

29 Friday Apr 2022

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Third Stanza

Lord, hold thy hand: for handle me thou may’st

In wrath but, oh! A twinkling ray of hope

Methinks I spy thou graciously gracious display’st.

There is an Advocate: a door is ope.

Sin’s poison swell my heart would till it burst,

Did not a hope hence creep in’t thus, and nursed.

Notes:

Lord, hold thy hand: for handle me thou may’st

In wrath but, oh! A twinkling ray of hope

The accented first syllable with the vocative “Lord” presses the urgency of the whole. Nothing precedes “Lord;” no “dear Lord”, “Oh Lord” et cetera. He has no time to slow his plea.

The prayer is that God not discipline him in anger. This alludes to

Psalm 6:1 (AV)

O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

In the original Hebrew, there is no injection “O”, it begins directly Yhwh [the name of the Lord, rendered into English as “Lord” following the custom of the earlier Jews to not use God’s covenant, and to substitute Adonai, “Lord”]

Next notice the alliterative H: hold, hand, handle, [wrath], and then, hope. The H’s draw attention to the danger faced by the poet. But the final H changes the direction of the poem’s movement. God has the right to judge him; this is indicated by the “may’st”; there is a moral permission for God’s action.

A twinkling ray of hope

Methinks I spy thou graciously gracious display’st.

There is an Advocate: a door is ope.

Here the rhyme works perfectly: hope/ope. The use of “poetic” “ope” not only makes the rhyme, it connotates something special by use of “special” language. The second line makes good use of an adverb/adjective graciously/gracious.

The poet faces danger: God is set to strike him in wrath. And there at the final moment he sees a “ray of hope” through an opening door: He sees and “Advocate.”

Sin’s poison swell my heart would till it burst,

Did not a hope hence creep in’t thus, and nursed.

This introduces an idea which is not intuitive in our contemporary understanding of “sin,” even within the church. Sin only pretends to be a pleasurable thing. We speak of temptation and sin as luxurious pleasures which we must forego, often for no apparent reason. A common conservation is to question “why” this is forbidden. Why would God not let me X.

The understanding of sin presented by Taylor is quite different. He never denies the degree to which is he tempted toward sin. But he also understands that sin is its own punishment. To ingest sin is a danger. No matter how desirable it may seem, it is poison.

Notice the correspondence of God’s judgment upon him and sin bursting his heart with poison: the danger of sin and the judgment of God are two sides of the same event. Notice that his heart is also saved from the poison of sin by the very same hope: His heart would have failed, “Did not a hope hence creep in’t”. The hope then “nurses” his heart to health.

Thus, the hope of his advocate saves him from the wrath of God and the danger of sin. In all salvation of God, the salvation is from death & sin (which are inseparable).

Edward Taylor, Meditation 39.1

25 Monday Apr 2022

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Edward Taylor, Meditation 39, poem, Poetry, Poetry Analysis, Puritan Poetry

My sin! My God, these cursed dregs

Green, yellow, blue streaked poison hellish, rank,

Bubs hatched in nature’s nest on serpent’s eggs,

Yelp, chirp, and cry; they set my soul a-cramp

I frown, chide, strike, and fight them, mourn and cry

To conquer them, but cannot them destroy.

Notes:

The poem begins with a pair of contrasting exclamations:

“My sin!” Followed instantly by “May God”. And are the two poles upon which the poet hangs, harangued by sin, pleading to God for help.

The insistence of the language here overcharges the meter. For instance, nearly every syllable must be read as accented, spoiling the iambic form. It is as if man is being attacked from all sides by every sort of monster.

Sin is described in terms of an infestation of vermin:

The sins are “cursed dregs” (cursed is two syllables). The vermin are of every color: “Green, yellow, blue”. The vermin is “streaked poison,” and “hellish.” He cannot contain his disgust, they are “rank,” “bubs” (larvae?). “Nature” has not yet been overtaken by the Romantics sentimental view of the wilderness. This would be particularly for a family on the edge of an immense and often dangerous wilderness, where dangerous animals abound and infection means death. The disgust is so great that the description is not quite clear: the bubs are hatched on (not from) serpent’s eggs.

Serpent serves two purposes: first, a serpent would be dangerous. Second, the Devil is a serpent. The Serpent in Paradise has now overrun the world and the poet’s soul.

When the pests break free, they “yelp, chirp, and cry”. They are of every sort whatsoever.

They injure his soul, “they set my soul a-cramp” (they give him cramps in his soul).

Nothing he does will destroy these sins:

I frown, chide, strike, and fight them, mourn and cry

To conquer them, but cannot them destroy.

In writing like this, he is the vein of John Owen writing in Mortification of Sin:

And, indeed, I might here bewail the endless, foolish labour of poor souls, who, being convinced of sin, and not able to stand against the power of their convictions, do set themselves, by innumerable perplexing ways and duties, to keep down sin, but, being strangers to the Spirit of God, all in vain. They combat without victory, have war without peace, and are in slavery all their days. They spend their strength for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which profiteth not.

This is the saddest warfare that any poor creature can be engaged in. A soul under the power of conviction from the law is pressed to fight against sin, but hath no strength for the combat. They cannot but fight, and they can never conquer; they are like men thrust on the sword of enemies on purpose to be slain. The law drives them on, and sin beats them back. Sometimes they think, indeed, that they have foiled sin, when they have only raised a dust that they see it not; that is, they distemper their natural affections of fear, sorrow, and anguish, which makes them believe that sin is conquered when it is not touched. By that time they are cold, they must to the battle again; and the lust which they thought to be slain appears to have had no wound.

John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 20.

Second Stanza

I cannot kill nor coop them up: my curb

‘S less than a snaffle in their mouth, my reins

They as a twine third, snap: by hell, they’re spurred:

And load my soul with swagging loads of pains.

Black imps, young devils, snap, bite, drag to bring

And pick me headlong hell’s dread whirlpool in.

Notes

The second stanza continues his despair.

I cannot kill nor coop them up: my curb

‘S less than a snaffle

Note the alliteration: Cannot, Kill, coop, curb, which switches to S in the second line. ‘S, less, Snaffle.

He can neither kill, nor can he restrain (coop, as in cooped in or a chicken coop) sins.

When he tries curb them by means of a rein put in their mouth, they “snap” the reins. They are monsters, “spurred” on by “hell” itself.

The damage is upon his soul: “load my soul with swagging loads of pains”.

This is an excellent. First, there is the use of the word “load” as both verb (load my soul) and noun (loads of pain). There is the alliteration on l & s: Load my SouL with Swagging Loads of pain. There is the alliteration on the long O: load, soul, load. The image is marvelous: the load is great that he swaying, staggering, “swagging” under the burden (to move slowly with a great weight, swaying from side-to-side).

These monsters not merely sins, they are devils seeking to kill in him hell’s whirlpool:

Black imps, young devils, snap, bite, drag to bring

And pick me headlong hell’s dread whirlpool in.

The insistence of his enemies is shown by the three quick verbs: snap, bite, drag. The last verb opens an entire clause “young devils … drag to bring and pick me headlong”.

There is also the strange detail: these are “young devils”. This seems to harken back to the image of the sins hatching on serpent eggs.

The language in these two stanzas reminds of phrases from The Tempest:

PROSPERO [to Caliban]

Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou’rt best,
To answer other business. Shrug’st thou, malice?
If thou neglect’st or dost unwillingly
What I command, I’ll rack thee with old cramps,
Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar
That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

PROSPERO [To Ariel]

Fury, Fury! there, Tyrant, there! hark! hark!

CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, are driven out

Go charge my goblins that they grind their joints

With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews

With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them

Than pard or cat o’ mountain.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 38, conclusion

07 Thursday Apr 2022

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Seventh Stanza

My case is bad, Lord, be my advocate.

My sin is red: I’m under God’s arrest.

Thou hast the hit of pleading; plead my state.

Although it’s bad, thy plea will make it best. 40

If thou wilt plead my case before the king

I’ll wagon loads of love and glory bring

Judgment is coming, the court is set; but the Advocate has been appointed. The poet’s fear that he may be rejected has been met with

nor doth refuse

The vilest sinners case that doth him choose.

What then is left but to retain the attorney? And so we come this final stanza, a prayer as petition. The first two lines state his situation and request:

My case is bad, Lord, be my advocate.

My sin is red: I’m under God’s arrest.

These lines are interesting, because they are in the style of Hebrew poetry, which roughly stated entails to syntactically parallel lines where the second repeats and intensifies the propostion of the first.

The first states the matter generally: My case is bad: a bad case could be any unpleasant situation. The second line repeats the structure: My X is Y. But here, rather than the ambiguous “case” we have the more specific “sin.” Rather than bad, the sin “red.” By red, Taylor is alluding to Isaiah

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.

Isaiah 1:18 (AV)

The reference to red being the color of sin is explained in 1:15, which speaks of their acts of bloody violence, “your hands are full of blood.” The verse also illustrates well the nature of Hebrew poetry: First clauses in parallel:

Though you sins be as scarlet

Though they be red like crimson.

Second clauses in parallel

They shall be white as snow

They shall be as wool

In our poem the second clause contains more variation in structure.

Line 1, second clause,

Lord, be my advocate.

The second line does not repeat the request but instead intensifies the need:

I’m under God’s arrest.

By repeating the need rather than the request, he intensifies the expression of his desperation.

Thou hast the hit of pleading; plead my state.

Although it’s bad, thy plea will make it best.

“Hit of pleading” is admittedly unclear in the detail, though the general sense is apparent: You have the ability or strength to make such a plea. It sounds idiomatic (“hit the bottle,” “hit the bricks”), but I have not heard it before. You have this ability, plead (make an argument to the court on my behalf).

My state is bad, but you can put it in the best light.

The use of pleading/plea in three consequence lines is quite effective:

Thou hast the hit of pleading; plead my state.

Although it’s bad, thy plea will make it best. 40

If thou wilt plead my case before the king

I’ll wagon loads of love and glory bring

Does the final couplet make for a bribe: If you give them this I will give you that? No. God is no need, and thus is not fulfilled by the praise. But praise and thankfulness is the appropriate response to forgiveness. For instance, David’s great penitential Psalm 51 ends:

Psalm 51:19 (AV)

19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

But perhaps it is best understood by its negative, what if there is no thankfulness for a benefit received:

Luke 17:11–19 (AV)

¹¹And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. ¹²And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: ¹³And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. ¹⁴And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. ¹⁵And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, ¹⁶And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? ¹⁸There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. ¹⁹And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 38.4

05 Tuesday Apr 2022

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Fifth and Sixth Stanzas

What sayest my soul? Here all thy deeds are tried. 25

Is Christ thy advocate to plead thy cause?

Art thou his client? Such shall never slide.

He never lost his case; he pleads such laws

As carry do the same, nor doth refuse

The vilest sinners case that doth him choose. 30

This is honor, not dismay: nay

No habeas corpus gainst his clients came

For all their fines his purse doth make down pay.

He non-suits Satan’s suit or casts the same.

He’ll plead thy case and not accept a fee. 35

He’ll plead sub forma pauperis for thee.

Having laid the justice of the court, the poet now turns to himself. And in the manner of Psalm 42 (“why are you downcast O my soul”), he addresses his soul: by this he means himself, his mind, his desires, his life.

Soul what do you say?

This end cannot be escaped: Here all thy deeds are tried. You are coming to this court, what will you do about this day? Are you frightened? As will be raised in the final stanza, the count against the poet is serious: he is guilty and will receive a death sentence is someone does not intervene.

The argument is direct (for Taylor).

Is Christ thy advocate to plead thy cause?

This question is not quite “rhetorical”. It is not just, well since he is your advocate. It is rather think: He is truly your advocate? As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:5, examine yourself if you are in the faith.

This manner of self-counsel is a form of righting one’s thoughts which is used in the Scripture. (See for example: https://memoirandremains.com/2015/08/04/six-questions-to-ask-in-the-midst-of-trial-and-depression/ )

The answer sought is “Yes.” Yes, Christ is my advocate:

¹My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

1 John 2:1 (AV)

What then flows from that? If he is my advocate, I am his client

Art thou his client?

Yes. Then what follows? He never ignores his work as advocate:

Such shall never slide.

And in that there is great comfort:

He never lost his case;

How so? He makes the right argument

he pleads such laws

As carry do the same,

But what about me? Perhaps he will not take my case

nor doth refuse

The vilest sinners case that doth him choose.

There is no one who has been rejected in coming for mercy. The only sin which will not be forgiven is the sin for which one does not repent. (There is the difficult issue of “Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”. But what can be said is there is no instance in Scripture of someone making an honest repentance and their sin not being forgiven. The relationship between those points is beyond Taylor’s poem.)

That leads to a further question: but what of his honor?

This is honor, not dismay:

This then leads to a difficult line. A writ of Habeas Corpus requires an imprisoning authority justify to a judge the imprisonment. It is a relief for a wrongfully imprisoned person:

nay

No habeas corpus gainst his clients came

Perhaps Taylor means no such writ is needed, because his are never imprisoned:

For all their fines his purse doth make down pay.

Since there fine has been paid, they were not imprisoned, therefore, they don’t need a writ of habeas corpus.

Satan means the “Accuser”. In Revelation 12:10, he is called the accuser of the brothers. In Job 1-2, “The Satan” (a title, not a name) refers to the one who accuses Job. Satan brings an accusation, but the defense is so strong the judge throws the claim out, there is a “non-suit.”

He non-suits Satan’s suit or casts the same.

And yet another implied objection: But I cannot afford this attorney. I have nothing with which to pay:

He’ll plead thy case and not accept a fee. 35

He’ll plead sub forma pauperis for thee.

Sub forma pauperis is permission for a pauper to proceed with his action without the need of paying the costs of court.

And so, every objection is raised and rejected:

30 Wednesday Mar 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in George Herbert, Uncategorized

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George Herbert, Love III, poem, Poetry, Poetry Analysis

Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lacked any thing.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:

Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,

I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

My dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:

So I did sit and eat.

The poet has come to the door of Love and welcomed him. The scene is much like the image of Wisdom inviting the young man to come to eat:

Proverbs 9:1–6 (AV)

¹Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: ²She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. ³She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, ⁴Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, ⁵Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. ⁶Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

And then like the withdrawn lover in the Song of Solomon, he draws back:

Song of Solomon 5:5–6 (AV)

⁵I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. ⁶I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

Why then will he not enter, even though he has been invited. He is Guilty of dust and sin.

Dust and sin are closely linked together, because the primal sin brought about the judgment of returning to dust:

Genesis 3:19 (AV)

¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

And here is the beauty of Love. It sees that poor sinner, undressed and unfit to enter. He begins to slink back, and Love says, is there anything you need?

Deuteronomy 2:7 (AV)

⁷For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Yes, someone who is worthy to be here. To which love responds, you will be that guest.

Here is the beauty of the Love of God: it does not love the sinner because the sinner is worthy. Rather, the love of God makes the sinner worthy of the love. The love of God transforms the object so loved:

Romans 5:6–10 (AV)

⁶For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. ⁸But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. ¹⁰For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Ephesians 5:25–30 (AV)

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; ²⁶That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. ²⁸So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. ²⁹For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: ³⁰For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

1 John 4:7–11 (AV)

⁷Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. ⁸He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. ⁹In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. ¹⁰Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

It is a wonder how Herbert so aptly pictures this love which goes and takes the one who is not fit and makes him fit to enter.

And then he says, I have marred the eyes you have made. I cannot look on you, Love. Let me go away as my shame deserves that. No, you will not go. There is blame, but who bore your blame? That is Christ:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (AV)

²¹For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Our sin is placed upon Christ; and the merit and righteousness of Christ becomes our. He bore the blame and thus making us fit invites us to a feast:

Matthew 8:10–11 (AV)

¹⁰When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. ¹¹And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

The last line of this poem is marvelous, it is simple and direct. His sin has been carried, his shame taken by another. The insistence of love has overcome all objections, and so there is nothing but to sit and eat.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 38.3, What a thing is man?

26 Saturday Mar 2022

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Third & Fourth Stanza

Soft; blemish not this golden bench, or place

Here is no bribe, nor colorings to hide

Nor pettifogger to befog the case 15

But justice hath her glory here well tried.

Her spotless law all spotted cases tends

Without respect or disrespect them ends.

God’s Judge, himself; and Christ attorney is

The Holy Ghost registerer is found. 20

Angels the sergeants are, all creatures kiss

The book and do as evidences abound.

All cases pass according to pure law

And in the sentence is no fret, nor flaw.

We have moved to the court. The participants are noted:

God is judge.

Christ ,attorney

Holy Ghost, bailiff; court reporter (registerer)

Angels bring the parties in

All creature is produced as witness and evidence.

God’s judgment is perfect:

First, there is no corruption: “no bribe”.

Second, no bias: “nor colorings to hide”. Related, God is no respecter of persons: rich and poor have the same law. Lev. 19:15; James 2:1

Third, no lawyer can obfuscate the truth, “no pettifogger”. Bayer Cropscience AG v. Dow Agrosciences LLC (D. Del., Mar. 13, 2015, Civil No. 12-256 (RMB/JS)) [pp. 11-12] (“As such, it argues, this evidence supports Bayer’s understanding that MS Tech’s commercialization with Dow infringed its retained patents. Bayer pettifogs. This argument is a red-herring and must be put to rest.”)

Fourth, there is sufficient evidence “all creatures … do as evidences abound.”

Fifth, all adhere to the decision, “all creatures kiss the book.”

Sixth, the decision is just, “But justice hath her glory here well tried.”

Seventh, all is tried to a perfect law

Her spotless law all spotted cases tends

Without respect or disrespect them ends.

And

All cases pass according to pure law

And in the sentence is no fret, nor flaw.

These statements are all in answer to the question of the second stanza:

But flesh complains. What right for this? Let’s know

For right or wrong, I can’t appear unto’t.

And shall a sentence pass on such a suit?

That is the purpose of the opening word, “Soft.” Be quiet, speak softly. What you are saying makes no sense. You ask, How can this judgment be fair? Well, let us look to the court: The judge is perfect. The law is perfect. The record is perfect. The evidence is perfect. The lawyer is perfect.

Well, then what complaint is left?

As a final note, the couplet on these two stanzas work well musically and rhetorically:

Her spotless law all spotted cases tends

Without respect or disrespect them ends.

We have alliteration as a product of the repetition and reversal: the law is without defect, “spotless law”. The cases are of defective parties, “spotted cases.” The near rhyme of “law all” produces a sound chiasm l-aw – aw – l which holds the spotless-spotted together.

And

All cases pass according to pure law

And in the sentence is no fret, nor flaw.

Here the the last words, “no fret nor flaw” work quite well also. The no-fr, nor-fl create very close sounds which parallel meaning.

Psalm 19:7–14 (AV)

⁷The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. ⁸The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. ⁹The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. ¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. ¹¹Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. ¹²Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. ¹³Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. ¹⁴Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 38.2, What a thing is man?

25 Friday Mar 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Taylor, Job

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Edward Taylor, Job, poem, Poem Analysis, Poetry, Poetry Analysis

Second Stanza

How do thy angels lay before thine eye?

My deeds both white and black I daily do?

How doth thy court thou panellst there them try?

But flesh complains. What right for this? Let’s know

For right or wrong, I can’t appear unto’t.

And shall a sentence pass on such a suit?

How can I appear before the tribunal of God? How even do angels appear before God? This first question is a bit obscure, but I believe it an allusion to a question from Job. And that allusion provides an opening to understand this stanza.

The story of Job concerns the Accuser (“the satan”) appearing before God. He twice challenges God concerning Job saying that Job only obeys because God is good to Job. God permits the accuser to strip Job of his children, his wealth, his physical well-being. Job’s friends appear to comfort Job and tell him: You are being punished because you have sinned. You need to repent.

I have heard in a series of lectures that Job’s friends take on the position of the accuser against Job. Part of the evidence come Job 4, where the first friend Eliphaz claims to have heard a mysterious spirit tell him that God finds no one right:

Job 4:12–21 (AV)

¹²Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. ¹³In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, ¹⁴Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. ¹⁵Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: ¹⁶It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, ¹⁷Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? ¹⁸Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: ¹⁹How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? ²⁰They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. ²¹Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

The argument goes: God does not find even the elect angels pure before his eyes – which us, who are made of dust? The stanza alludes to this question: It is not as depressing as Job, the poet merely asks, What is the judgment of God on the angels (Eliphaz says God condemns the angels, which goes beyond the evidence). And if God judges the angels, what about someone like me whose actions are not all virtues: some of my acts are good, some bad.

This then leads to the development of Taylor’s thought:

But flesh complains. What right for this? Let’s know

For right or wrong, I can’t appear unto’t.

And shall a sentence pass on such a suit?

Stated vernacularly: “how is this fair?” How can God judge when: I’m flesh, what I am I to do? This also is Job’s question in response to the condemnation of his friends:

Job 9:1–12 (AV)

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? 3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. 4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? 5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger. 6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. 7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. 8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. 9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. 10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. 11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not. 12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?

What we have in this stanza is an abbreviation of Job’s quandary: Who can stand before God’s judgment? And if that is so, then what can I do? Taylor does not go as far as Job’s friends, but he does see the ultimate judgment which is coming and asks, how will I survive this judgment?

As Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress says to Evangelist:

He answered, “Sir, I perceive, by the book in my hand, that I am condemned to die, and after that to come to judgment, Heb. 9:27; and I find that I am not willing to do the first, Job 16:21, 22, nor able to do the second.” Ezek. 22:14.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 38 “What a thing is man?”

24 Thursday Mar 2022

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Edward Taylor, law, mercy, poem, Poem Analysis, Poetry, Poetry Analysis, Psalm 8

Meditation 38

1 John 2:1

Oh! What a thing is man? Lord, who am I

That thou shouldst give him thy law? (Oh, golden line)

To regulate his thoughts, words , life thereby.

And judge him wilt thereby too in thy time.

A court of justice thou in heaven holdst

To try his case while here he’s housed on mold.

Prosody:

OH! what a THING is MAN? LORD who am I

That THOU shouldst give HIM thy LAW? (Oh, GOLDen LINE)

To REGulATE his THOUGTS, WORDS, LIFE thereby.

And JUDGE him WILT THEREby TOO in thy TIME.

A COURT of JUSTice THOU in HEAven HOLDST

To TRY his CASE while HERE he’s HOUSED on MOLD.

I take the first syllable as accented due to the exclamation point; this shifts the accent from the first syllable. This changes tracks the cadence of the original question, “What a thing is man?” The paired accents with the pause: MAN? LORD place the weight of the questions on the word “LORD.” The accent on LAW with a question mark (and double pause) create a secondary focus on LAW.

The three accented syllables in a row in the third line draw attention to the scope of the law.

The fourth line is interesting because it lacks a “thou” before “wilt”, which must be then implied by the accent on “wilt.”

The couplet follows standard iambic.

Motto Verse

The motto comes from 1 John 2:

¹My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: ²And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

³And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

1 John 2:1–3 (AV) The imagery comes from a law court:

“CASE I. Here is comfort in case of discouraging fear.—“O,” saith a believer, “I fear, my grace is not armour of proof; I fear, the cause will go against me at the last day.” Indeed, so it would, if thou wert out of Christ: but as, in our law-courts, the client hath his attorney or advocate to plead for him, so every believer, by virtue of the interest, hath Christ to plead his cause for him: “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1.) What, though Satan be the accuser, if Christ be the Advocate? Christ never lost any cause [that] he pleaded. Nay, his very pleading alters the nature of the cause: Christ will show the debt-book crossed with his own blood; and it is no matter what is charged, if all be discharged. Here is a believer’s comfort:—his Judge will be his Advocate.”

James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 5 Peter Vinke, “Of Original Sin Inhering” (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 470. And:

“So saith the Apostle 1 John 2:2. I write unto you, little Children, that ye sin not, and if any man sin, (that I shall take notice of by and by) we have an Advocate with the Father, and he is the propitiation for our sins: So that when an ungodly man sins, there the sentence of death comes out against him; But the Lord saith concerning his Children, Let their souls be pardoned, for I have found a ransom: Thou sayest, the best have their sin; True, but one man hath a ransom, hath a price paid for his sin, and thou hast none, none for ought thou knowest: In that condition wherein thou art, thou canst not know that thou hast any: Here’s the difference between Gods dealing with his Children & others, one sins, and the Lord acknowledges a propitiation presently, a ransom, a price, a pardon that’s laid in; but he acknowledges it not for thee.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, “The Fourth Sermon,” in The Difference between the Spots of the Godly, and of the Wicked (London: N.P., 1668), 90–91.

Summary:

Who am I, that you, God, would give me to me the law by which you judge me? You give it to me in this life that it will regulate the course of my life. And this law is good, it is “a golden line” (measure).

Allusions:

Line 1

Oh! What a thing is man?

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Psalm 8:3–5 (AV) A common scornful jibe of some atheists is “Do you really think God cares about something as insignificant as human beings on out of how who knows how many planets in a universe of trillions of stars?” Same question in the Psalm.

Line 1-2

Lord, who am I

That thou shouldst give him thy law?

David has inquired of Nathan the prophet as to whether David can be a “house” (a temple) for God. Up until that time, Israel had a tent, not a fixed building. God replies that He will build a “house” (a dynasty) for David and that an everlasting king will come from that line (the Messiah, the Christ). David replies to this news:

¹⁸Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? ¹⁹And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD? ²⁰And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant.

2 Samuel 7:18–20 (AV) This is an interesting allusion: In the poem, the immediate concern is the “law” why the motto is the Christ’s advocacy. This allusion ties the ideas together.

Line 3:

To REGulATE his THOUGTS, WORDS, LIFE thereby.

This is a concept which is found in various ways throughout the Bible, particularly the Old (or better, First) Testament. For example:

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

Deuteronomy 4:5–8 (AV)

7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

Deuteronomy 6:7–8 (AV)

Lines 4-6

And JUDGE him WILT THEREby TOO in thy TIME.

A COURT of JUSTice THOU in HEAven HOLDST

To TRY his CASE while HERE he’s HOUSED on MOLD.

The matter of a last judgment is found a few places. This is perhaps most particular behind these lines:

12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

Romans 2:12 (AV)

As for the housed on mold – or made of dirt—there is a lovely image Psalm 104. Rather than being an image of our disgrace (we are just dirt and water, a bag of chemicals), the image of condition is a picture of God’s mercy to us:

⁶The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. ⁷He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. ⁸The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. ⁹He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. ¹⁰He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. ¹⁴For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Psalm 103:6–14 (AV)

Edward Taylor, Meditation 37, the conclusion

19 Saturday Mar 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Taylor, Uncategorized

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Edward Taylor, Edward Taylor Meditation 37, poem, Poem Analysis, Poetry, Poetry Analysis

Am I hopped on thy knees, yet not at ease? 31

Sunk in thy bosom, yet thy heart not meet?

Lodged in thy arms yet all thing little please?

Sung sweetly, yet find not this singing sweet?

Set at thy table, yet scare taste a dish 35

Delicious? Hugged, yet seldom gain a kiss?

Why, Lord, why thus? Shall I question call

All relation to thyself? I know

It is no gay to please a child withal

But is the ground whence privileges flow. 40

Then ope the sluice: let something spout on me.

Then I shall in better temper be.

The closing stanzas now continue with the petition. Line 41 begins a series of balanced questions: If I possess such a state, then why do I not experience the benefit of that state?

The images all revolve around the state of being a child:

Sitting on a parent’s lap, held against the chest, arms folded around the child, a lullaby sung to child. Then, the child is at the table; then hugged. But the child is not at ease, his heart is troubled. There is food, but nothing to eat. I am hugged, but not kissed.

The structure of the questions is emphasized by starting each line with an accented syllable from line 32 through 36.

This leads to the existential query

Why, Lord, why thus?

Why do I know myself to be in this relationship to you, Lord; and still do not experience the benefits and joys of that relationship? What has gone wrong?

Shall I question call

All relation to thyself? I know

It is no gay to please a child withal

But is the ground whence privileges flow.

Should I question my relationship to you? It is not a trifle (a gay, “nosegay”?) to distract a child. To be in a relationship with you is a claim, a ground for privileges. He is pleading here the promise of 1 Corinthians 3:22-23, “All things are yours … and you are Christ’s.”

The poem is pray based upon a promise: Here God is a promise. You promise to that all things are mine, and that I am Christ’s. If I am Christ’s, if I am a child in my father’s lap, then I plead the promise, the status: This is the ground upon which I claim my privilege:

Then ope the sluice: let something spout on me.

Then I shall in better temper be.

Open to me your grace, let me experience you grace, then I will not continue to be so distraught. This poem is interesting because it ends with poet less hopeful than many other poems. He is distraught at the end. He plainly says he is in a poor temper.

I find this interesting because it shows the honesty of these meditations. To end on this note is not a public posture of piety or godliness. The tone is almost surly. I say it is “honest”, not because a negative expression is more honest, but because one would display this unhappiness as a show of piety or godliness.

There is a false piety which is always pleased. But the Scripture is filled with such wrestling. “How long O Lord, will you forget about me forever?”

We should note that Taylor has not despaired. He merely feels God is distant, and that distance merely draws him to plead with God. The difficulty drives him to seek relief from God.