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Edward Taylor
Edward Taylor (circa 1642 – June 29, 1729) was an English-born American preacher, poet, and physician whose ministry and writings made him a significant figure in colonial Puritanism. Born in Sketchley, Leicestershire, England, to William, a yeoman farmer, and Margaret Taylor, he grew up in a Nonconformist family during the Commonwealth period. After losing both parents—his mother in 1657 and father in 1658—he worked as a schoolmaster until the 1662 Act of Uniformity barred him from teaching due to his refusal to conform to the Church of England. In 1668, he emigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony, enrolling at Harvard College in 1671, where he graduated with a divinity degree. Taylor’s preaching career began when he accepted a call in 1671 to serve as minister in Westfield, Massachusetts, a frontier town he led for over 50 years. His sermons, over 60 of which survive, emphasized God’s grace and the believer’s relationship with Christ, reflecting his role in administering communion and defending orthodox Congregationalism against liberalizing trends like those of Solomon Stoddard. Alongside preaching, he wrote over 200 Preparatory Meditations, poetic reflections on Scripture, though he forbade their publication, and they remained unknown until 1937. Married twice—first to Elizabeth Fitch in 1674, who bore eight children before her death in 1689, then to Ruth Willys in 1692, with whom he had six—he died at age 87 in Westfield, leaving a legacy as a devoted pastor and one of America’s earliest literary voices.
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Edward Taylor delves into the profound desire to truly feel and live out one's faith, expressing the overwhelming joy and richness that comes from being in a deep relationship with God. He reflects on the intricate ways in which God's glory is displayed through various elements of creation and circumstances, highlighting the divine orchestration of all things for a higher purpose. Taylor's prayerful words express a longing for God's wisdom and grace to illuminate the soul, transforming it to reflect His beauty and love.
Things Present
Oh! that I ever felt what I profess. 'Twould 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. These Loaves and Fishes are not lessened Nor Pasture over stock, by being fed. 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? Impower my Powers sweet Lord till up they raise My 'Fections that thy glory on them blaze. How many things are there now, who display thee? 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? How Glorious then is he that doth all raise Rule and Dispose and make them all Conspire In all their Jars, and Junctures, Good-bad wayes To meliorate the self same Object higher? Earth, Water, Fire, Winds, Herbs, Trees, Beasts and Men, Angells, and Divells, Bliss, Blasts, advance one stem? Hell, Earth, and Heaven with their Whole Troops come Contrary Windes, Grace, and Disgrace, Soure, Sweet, Wealth, Want, Health, Sickness, to Conclude in Sum All Providences Works in this good meet? Who, who can do't, but thou, my Lord? and thou Dost do this thing. Yea thou performst it now. Oh, that the Sweets of all these Windings, spouse Might, and these Influences streight, and Cross, Upon my Soule, to make thy Shine breake out That Grace might in get and get out my dross! My Soule up locks then in this Clod of Dust Would lock up in't all Heavenly Joyes most just. 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 Rayes 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, Cleare my Sight, thy Glory then out dart. And let thy Rayes beame Glory in mine eye And stick thy Loveliness upon my heart, Make me the Couch on which thy Love doth ly. Lord make my heart thy bed, thy heart make mine. Thy Love bed in my heart, bed mine in thine.
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Edward Taylor (circa 1642 – June 29, 1729) was an English-born American preacher, poet, and physician whose ministry and writings made him a significant figure in colonial Puritanism. Born in Sketchley, Leicestershire, England, to William, a yeoman farmer, and Margaret Taylor, he grew up in a Nonconformist family during the Commonwealth period. After losing both parents—his mother in 1657 and father in 1658—he worked as a schoolmaster until the 1662 Act of Uniformity barred him from teaching due to his refusal to conform to the Church of England. In 1668, he emigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony, enrolling at Harvard College in 1671, where he graduated with a divinity degree. Taylor’s preaching career began when he accepted a call in 1671 to serve as minister in Westfield, Massachusetts, a frontier town he led for over 50 years. His sermons, over 60 of which survive, emphasized God’s grace and the believer’s relationship with Christ, reflecting his role in administering communion and defending orthodox Congregationalism against liberalizing trends like those of Solomon Stoddard. Alongside preaching, he wrote over 200 Preparatory Meditations, poetic reflections on Scripture, though he forbade their publication, and they remained unknown until 1937. Married twice—first to Elizabeth Fitch in 1674, who bore eight children before her death in 1689, then to Ruth Willys in 1692, with whom he had six—he died at age 87 in Westfield, leaving a legacy as a devoted pastor and one of America’s earliest literary voices.