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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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Sermon Summary
Edward Taylor reflects on the beauty and sweetness of God, comparing it to a rose of Sharon, expressing a deep desire to fully experience and be enraptured by God's love and presence. He acknowledges the impact of sin on the world and the need for God to cleanse and restore the soul to its original state of paradise. Taylor longs for a deeper connection with God, yearning for His grace to fill and transform his heart, ultimately seeking to have God's beauty and glory shine through his life.
The Reflexion
Canticles 2:1 "I am the rose of Sharon." Lord, art thou at the Table Head above Meat, Med'cine, Sweetness, sparkling Beautys, to Enamour Souls with Flaming Flakes of Love, And not my Trencher, nor my Cup o'reflow? Ben't I a bidden guest? Oh! sweat mine Eye: O'reflow with Teares: Oh! draw thy fountains dry. Shall I not smell thy sweet, oh! Sharons Rose? Shall not mine Eye salute thy Beauty? Why? Shall thy sweet leaves their Beautious sweets upclose? As halfe ashamde my sight should on them ly? Woe's me! For this my sighs shall be in grain, Offer'd on Sorrows Altar for the same. Had not my Soule's, thy Conduit, Pipes stopt bin With mud, what Ravishment would'st thou.Convay? Let Graces Golden Spade dig till the Spring Of tears arise, and cleare this filth away. Lord, let thy Spirit raise my sighings till These Pipes my soule do with thy sweetness fill. Earth once was Paradise of Heaven below, Till inkefac'd sin had it with poyson stockt; And Chast this Paradise away into Heav'ns upmost Loft, and it in Glory Lockt. But thou, sweet Lord, hast with thy golden Key Unlockt the Doore, and made a golden day. Once at thy Feast, I saw thee Pearle-like stand 'Tween Heaven and Earth, where Heavens Bright glory all In streams fell on thee, as a floodgate and Like Sun Beams through thee on the World to Fall. Oh! Sugar sweet then! My Deare sweet Lord, I see Saints Heaven-lost Happiness restor'd by thee. Shall Heaven and Earth's bright Glory all up lie, Like Sun Beams bundled in the sun in thee? Dost thou sit Rose at Table Head, where I Do sit, and Carv'st no morsell sweet for mee? So much before, so little now! Sprindge, Lord, Thy Rosie Leaves, and me their Glee afford. Shall not thy Rose my Garden fresh, perfume? Shall not thy Beauty my dull Heart assaile? Shall not thy golden gleams run through this gloom? Shall my black Velvet Mask thy fair Face Vaile? Pass o're my Faults: shine forth, bright sun; arise! Enthrone thy Rosy-selfe within mine Eyes.
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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.