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Edward Taylor, Would God I in that Golden City Were.3

13 Wednesday May 2020

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Edward Taylor, Literature, marriage, poem, Poetry, Would God I in that Golden City were

At this point, the poet continues on with the absurdity which lies at the heart of Christianity: How and why could or would God be joined to us?

I have heard atheist mock Christian belief with the ridiculous thought that God – if there were a God – would concern his Godship with a particular set of beasts roaming around on a small planet around an insignificant star in the midst of an enormous universe.

However, that absurdity is the nature of the Christian claim. One can reject it; but it is silly to think that one has come upon some novel insight. Even before we realized the size of the universe, we were well aware of the ridiculous claim.

Here Taylor presses home the point: it would be more reasonable to believe a king married a flea than to believe God should have dealings with us:

My Maker, he my husband? Oh! Strange joy!
If kings wed worms and monarchs mites we should
Glory spouse shame, a prince a snake or fly
An angel court an ant, all wonder would.
Let such wed worms, snakes, serpents, devils, flies.
Less wonder than the wedding in our eyes.

At this point, it would be useful to take time to consider what is meant by “marriage in this context. It plainly cannot mean an actual human marriage. Rather, marriage is one of the many images which God has given in the world to help us understand what it means for God to love us.

First, it is not the only image: other incompatible images are used such as Father and son or Lord and servant or Creator and creature. There are, for instance, 95 different images used to describe the Church in the New Testament.

To understand this marriage imagery, John Piper helps in his bookSex and the Supremacy of Chirst:

In answering this question let’s remember that knowing someone in the fullest biblical sense is defined by sexual imagery. Genesis 4:1, “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain.” Knowing here refers to sexual intercourse. Or again in Matthew 1:24- 25 we read, “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” He “knew her not” means he did not have sexual relations with her.

Now I don’t mean that every time the word know is used in the Bible there are sexual connotations. That’s not true. But what I do mean is that sexual language in the Bible for our covenant relationship to God does lead us to think of knowing God on the analogy of sexual intimacy and ecstasy. I don’t mean that we somehow have sexual relations with God or he with man. That’s a pagan thought. It’s not Christian. But I do mean that the intimacy and ecstasy of sexual relations points to what knowing God is meant to be.

The language of marriage and sex helps as a metaphor to understand God’s love. Since we could not understand God directly, God created metaphors in the world so that could understand God analogically. The metaphor helps to understand the original.

Taylor continues on with this theme of the absurdity of God’s love. The analogy of a King wedding a mite is insufficient. Christ’s love for me makes less sense than a king marrying an ant:

I am to Christ more base, than to a King
A mite, fly, worm, serpent, devil is,
Or can be, being tumbled all in sin,
And shall I be his spouse? How good is this?
It is too good to be declared to be thee.
But not too good to be believed by me.

Human sin makes a human being more unfitting of relation to God than does mud make a worm less fitting to an emperor. And yet this Good News (which is the meaning of Gospel) is not too good to be rejected

The heart of the Gospel is not going to heaven, it is being with God. We are not seeking a place but a friend and more than a friend.

In this stanza, Taylor hits upon the grace of God which first works upon us before we believe and love Him. The Spirit first speaks these words to us before we believe. As it reads in 1 John, we love Christ because he first loved us:

Yet to this wonder, this found in mee,
I am not only base but backward clay,
When Christ doth woo, and till his Spirit be
His spokesman to compel me I deny.
I am so base and forward to him, he
Appear as wonders wonder wedding me.

The poem ends with a prayer that Spirit work upon his heart to make him into the man who can be conformed and fitting to this call:

Seeing, Dear Lord, it’s thus, thy Spirit take
And send thy spokesman to my soul, I pray.
Thy saving grace my wedding garments make:
Thy spouses frame into my soul convey.
I then shall be thy bride espoused by thee
And thou my bridegroom dear espoused shalt be.

Marriage is the beginning and end of the Bible. In the Garden of Eden God performs the first marriage. The eschatological hope of the Church is the marriage party of the Lamb.

Edward Taylor, Would God I in that Golden City were.1 (Imposter syndrome)

08 Friday May 2020

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Taylor, Literature, Uncategorized

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Edward Taylor, Heaven, poem, Poetry, Revelation, Would God I in that Golden City were

A meditation on Canticles 4:8

This poem begins with an unmistakable picture of the heavenly Jerusalem come down to earth. In the first stanza, the poet tells us that his soul would become “inflamed” if he were only to see that city filled with saints and angels.

To understand the function and bite of the poem, you must first know what Taylor alludes as he writes:

Revelation 21:9–27 (AV)

9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which arethe names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. 27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

It is a city of remarkable beauty. And unlike the Garden of Eden, the serpent (something which would “defile”) the whole cannot enter:

 

Would God I in that Golden City were

With jaspers walld, all garnish, and made swash,

With precious stones, whose gates are pearls most clear,

And street pure gold, like to transparent glass.

That my dull soul might inflamed to see

How saints and angels ravish are in glee.

 

If I could only see that joy, how it would overcome my soul. He then begins to imagine what he could do if he were present in the City. “His story” would be his testimony of Christ’s redemption. The poet is unworthy of entrance – and yet his entrance his story would be the greatness not of himself, but of Christ who would love someone like him (as we shall see as the poem progresses):

Were I but there, and could but tell my story

‘Twould rub those walls of precious stones more bright;

And glaze those gates of pearl with brighter glory,

And pave the golden street with greater light.

‘Twould in fresh raptures saints and angels fling.

But I poor snake crawl here, scare mudwalld in.

The bite is in that last line. The poet is the defiled thing which has no right to entrance.

As an aside to the poem, there is the concept of being an imposter. When placed in a position where one is thought well of, where one is given position or power, the person who stops to self-reflect knows himself to be a fraud.

This poem points at a theological basis for that sensation: It is the heart of the Christian religion that human beings are meant to be with God. To be in the image of God is the highest possible conception of a human being. And simultaneously, we understand ourselves to be ruined creatures.

This remarkable inconsistency in our self-understanding creates a tremendous conflict in our self-understanding. As Lewis writes in Prince Caspian:

“You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,” said Aslan. “And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.”

If only I were to come to heaven, what praise I could bring. But if I were to come to heaven, I would be the serpent in Paradise.

Edward Taylor, Would God I in that Golden City Were.3

15 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Taylor, Literature, Uncategorized

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Edward Taylor, Horror, Mites, poem, Poetry, Replusion, Sin, Worms, Would God I in that Golden City were

The previous post on this poem may be found here.

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I am to Christ more base than to a King
A mite, fly, worm, ant, serpent, devil is,
Or can be, being tumbled all in sin,
And shall I be his spouse? How good is this?
It is too good to be declared to thee
But not too good to be believed by me.

This stanza repeats the theme of the previous two stanzas: the wonder that God should love human beings; that Christ should join himself to such as us. There are two movements which must take place to fully appreciate what the poet does here: the first is to fully understand what he does in the poem itself. The second is to move past our natural prejudice in favor of ourselves.

The stanza breaks neatly into two; the break taking place in the middle of the fourth line (the 34th line of the poem). The first portion reads:

I am to Christ more base than to a King
A mite, fly, worm, ant, serpent, devil is,
Or can be, being tumbled all in sin,
And shall I be his spouse?

The them of this section is the sheer improbability that Christ should love the poet. There are three aspects of this: First, there is the comparison of Christ to a king and the poet to a loathsome creature. Second, the reference to “being tumble all in sin.” Third, that such a one should be brought into intimate relationship.

Technically, the second line is the key here: The first line sets up the comparison Christ equals a King. The second stays to ten syllables but then crams it full of stresses:
a MITE, FLY, WORM, ANT, SERpent, DEVil is. The lien can only be read very slowly and then tails off. The idea picks up in the third line OR can be, which comes along as an afterthought. Of these vermin, ants, worms, and serpents appeared in the previous stanza.

We miss the horror here if we don’t stop to realize what life is like without houses which are sealed against the weather, and screens, and traps, and poisons, and medicines and antidotes. Imagine being invested with mites or worms and being unable to rid your body of the beasts infecting you. Imagine ants and flies getting into and spoiling all of the food which you could have. Imagine fearing that a snake would strike unaware and kill. And most moderns could not imagine any sort of devil that did not exist only in horror movies and was capable of being driven off with a crucifix. When you read this line, you must have a sense of disgust, fear and an uncanny horror.

The purpose of this bestiary is to evoke the sensation which should be stirred by the real reason for wonder: sin. Why should God have anything to do with those in sin? We are supposed to real revulsion and then that explained by the word “sin”:

Psalm 5:4–6 (AV)
4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. 5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. 6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
We fail to understand what is happening here as long as we think of sin solely in terms of discrete actions. Yes, sin entails discrete acts of sin. But is also a status offense (as such things are called in the law). It is like being an illegal alien in a country: the status is an offense even without additional bad acts. The Mosaic covenant aims at this concept by the matter of being ritually clean or unclean. Many things which were morally neutral were unclean. Likewise inanimate objects could be “holy” because they were dedicated to God.

To be tumbled in sin is to be subsumed it: to be repulsive, unclean.

And yet, it is precisely such repulsive people who are brought into intimate union with Christ. The poet cannot understand it, but for all that, he will not reject it but believe it:

How good is this?
It is too good to be declared to thee
But not too good to be believed by me.

We see in this a hint at why “belief” is at the core of receipt of justification, right standing with God. To believe this gift is to receive it with joy and thankfulness. It is not a bare historical opinion that some event took place. It is a joyful reception of something marvelous being offered.

Edward Taylor, Would God I in that Golden City Were.1

19 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Taylor, Literature, Uncategorized

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1 Corinthians 15, Edward Taylor, Glory of God, God's glory, Heaven, poem, Poetry, Resurrection, salvation, Would God I in that Golden City were

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(Jasper)

Would God I in that Golden City were,
With jasper walls all garnished and made swash
With precious stones, whose gates are pearls most clear
And street pure gold, like to transparent glass.
That my dull soul might be inflamed to see
How saints and angels ravished are in glee.

The reference here is the city of the New (heavenly) Jerusalem:

18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

Revelation 21:18–21 (AV).

Meter: Note in the first line there is the standard iamb, followed by a trochee which forces attention upon the I: would GOD I in that GOLden CITy WERE. It is his presence in the place which is emphasized in the meter.

Paraphrase: The poet wishes that he could be present in the age to come, in the heavenly Jerusalem come down to earth (for the goal of Christianity is not some far away place, but heaven and earth together). The trouble lies with his “dull soul”. This is a constant them in Taylor: the present inability to truly enjoy the glory of God. In the Ascension poems, he would that he could bare the sight of Christ entering into glory and being seated. Here, he wishes for the age to come. This tension will only be resolved by the resurrection:

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15:42–44 (AV).

Were I but there and could but tell my story,
‘Twould rub those walls of precious stones more bright:
And glaze those gates of pearl with brighter glory;
And pave the golden street with greater light.
‘Twould in fresh raptures saints and angels fling
But I poor snake crawl here, scare mud walled in.
Reference “I poor snake crawl here”. I an ironic reference to Genesis 3:1 where the Serpent (Satan) appears as a snake to tempt Eve. Genesis 3:15 makes reference to the “seed/offspring of the serpent”. Being subjected to the Fall and the Curse, human beings have now been brought low.

Meter: “Story/Glory”, end the first and third lines. The line scan 11 syllables with a feminine rhyme on the 10 & 11th syllables.

Paraphrase: The story of the poet’s salvation (his coming to this city) of such a marvel that if it were known, it would impart a greater glory to the place than is possible in the mere stones and gold. Those things are beautiful, but the story of the poet’s salvation is greater still.
May my rough voice and blunt tongue but spell my
My tale (for tune they can’t) perhaps there may
Some angel catch in an end of’t up and tell
In heaven when he doth return that way
He’ll make they palace, Lord, all over ring
With it in songs, they saint and angels sing.
Meter: In the first line of the phrase “blunt tongue” again creates a pair of accented syllables by running a trochee after an iamb. The effect is jarring, underscoring the bluntness of his tongue.

Reference: The purpose of salvation is bring glory to God. As Paul writes in Ephesians:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Ephesians 1:3–6 (AV)

Paraphrase: The poet is unable to sing in any manner worthy of God’s glory (much less saints made perfect or the angelic world). Therefore, he will “spell” his story: he will write it out in this poem. His hope is that by spelling it out, an angel may over his story and bring the story back to heaven where the angel’s far greater abilities will make it possible to recount the story (given in this poem) in a song worthy of God’s gory.

As Charles Wesley wrote:

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

 

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